Percy did not miss this moment of distraction.
"Now," he said to the rest of the group.
Together, they charged.
Thalia went straight for Luke. The power of her shield was so great that his dragon-women bodyguards fled in panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone. But despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lighting erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.
As for Percy, he did the stupidest thing in his life. He attacked the Titan Lord Atlas.
He laughed as Percy approached. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armour. "Go on, then!"
"Percy!" Zoe said. "Beware!"
Percy knew what she was warning him about. Chiron had told him long ago: Immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once Percy attacked, however, Atlas was free to attack back directly, with all his might.
Percy swung his sword, and Atlas knocked him aside with the shaft of his javelin. Percy flew through the air and slammed into a black wall. It wasn't Mist anymore. The palace was rising, brick by brick. It was becoming real.
"Fool!" Atlas screamed gleefully, swatting aside one of Zoe's arrows. "Did you think, simply because you could challenge that petty war god, that you could stand up to me?"
The mention of Ares sent a jolt through Percy. He shook off his daze and charged again. If he could get to that pool of water, he could double his strength.
The javelins point slashed toward him like a scythe. He raised Riptide, planning to cut off Atlas weapon at the shaft, but his arm felt like lead. The sword suddenly weighed a ton.
And Percy remembered Ares' warning, spoken on the beach in Los Angeles so long ago: When you need it most, your sword will fail you.
Percy tried to dodge, but the javelin caught him in the chest and sent him flying like a rag doll. He slammed into the ground, his head spinning. He looked up and found he was at the feet of Artemis, still straining under the weight of the sky.
"Run, boy," she told him. "You must run!"
Atlas was taking his time coming towards Percy. Luke and Thalia were fighting like demons, lightning cracking around them. Annabeth was on the ground, desperately struggling to free her hands.
"Die, little hero," Atlas said.
He raised his javelin to impale Percy.
"No!" Zoe yelled, and a volley of silver arrows sprouted from the armpit chink in Atlas' armour.
"ARGH!" He bellowed and turned towards his daughter.
Percy remembered the words of the prophecy: The Titan's curse must one withstand. He couldn't hope to beat Atlas. But there was someone else who might stand a chance.
"The sky," Percy told the goddess. "Give it to me."
"No, boy," Artemis said. Her forehead was beaded with metallic sweat, like quicksilver. "You don't know what you're asking. It will crush you!"
"Annabeth took it!"
"She barely survived. She had the spirit of a true huntress. You will not last so long."
"I'll die anyway," he said. "Give me the weight of the sky!"
Percy didn't wait for her answer. He took out Riptide and slashed through her chains. Then, he stepped next to her and braced himself on one knee—holding up his hands—and touched the cold, heavy clouds. For a moment, Artemis and Percy bore the weight together. It was the heaviest thing he'd ever felt as if he were being crushed under a thousand trucks. He wanted to blackout from the pain, but he breathed deeply. He can do this.
Then, Artemis slipped out from under the burden, and Percy held it alone.
Every muscle in his body turned to fire. His bones felt like they were melting. He wanted to scream, but he didn't have the strength to open his mouth. He began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing him.
Artemis fought directly with Atlas.
Atlas, in his full battle armour, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And Artemis, a blur of silver. She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change forms as she maneuverer. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Zoe shot arrows at her father, with the help of Bianca, aiming for the chinks in his armour. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just went madder and kept fighting.
Thalia and Luke went spear on sword, lightning still flashing around them. Thalia pressed Luke back with the aura of her shield. Even he was not immune to it. He retreated, wincing and growling in frustration.
��Yield!" Thalia yelled. "You never could beat me, Luke."
He bared his teeth. "We'll see, my old friend."
Atlas advanced, pressing Artemis. She was fast, but his strength was unstoppable. His javelin slammed into the earth where Artemis had been split second before, and a fissure opened in the rocks. He leapt over it and kept pursuing her. She was leading him back toward Percy.
"Get ready," She spoke in Percy's mind.
"You fight well for a girl." Atlas laughed. "But you are no match for me."
He feinted with the tip of his javelin and Artemis dodged. Atlas' javelin swept around and knocked Artemis' legs off the ground. She fell, and Atlas brought up his javelin tip for the kill.
"No!" Zoe screamed. She leapt between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage.
He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.
"Zoe!" Bianca shouted as she ran towards the huntress.
Then, Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph in his face.
Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.
"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.
As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed his javelin staff. It hit the earth right next to her, and she pulled backwards, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her. Percy saw him coming down on top of him, and he realized what would happen. He loosened his grip on the sky, and as Atlas slammed into him, he didn't try to hold on. He let himself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all he was worth.
The weight of the sky dropped on Atlas' back, almost smashing him until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.
"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"
Atlas was trapped under his old burden.
Thalia backed Luke to the edge of a cliff, but still, they fought on, next to the golden coffin.
Thalia had tears in her eyes. Luke had a bloody slash across his chest, and his pale face glistened with sweat.
He lunged at Thalia, and she slammed him with her shield. Luke's sword spun out of his hands and clattered to the rocks. Thalia put her spear point to his throat.
For a moment, there was silence.
"Well?" Luke asked. He tried to hide it, but there was fear in his voice.
Thalia trembled with fury.
Behind her, Annabeth came scrambling, finally free from her bonds. Her face was bruised and streaked with dirt. "Don't kill him!"
"He's a traitor," Thalia said. "A traitor!"
"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth pleaded. "To Olympus. He… he'll be useful."
"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please you—"
Luke couldn't finish his speech. An arrow was shot right into his shoulder. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell.
"Luke!" Annabeth screamed.
They rushed to the cliff's edge. Below them, the army from the Princess Andromeda had stopped in amazement. They were staring at Luke's broken from on the rocks.
Then, they heard a voice from behind.
"Argh, I came late to join the fun."
They looked behind just to find Drako in his human form with his bow in hands.
"At least, I could shoot down a bigshot," he said carelessly.
Before any of them could say anything, one of the giants looked up and growled, "Kill them!"
"Oh, so we still have some more preys!" Drako said cheerfully.
He was so against the mood right now. Thalia and Annabeth were crying, and Percy wasn't happy. But here he was, smiling like a little child.
Thalia was stiff with grief at the border of the cliff, tears streaming down her cheeks. Percy had to pull her back as a wave of javelins sailed over their heads. The three of them ran for the rocks, ignoring Atlas and leaving Drako back.
"Hey! Anyone of you wants to fight me!" Drako shouted. "I just killed Ladon, and I want to fight a little more."
He let all of his aura out, intimidating the little monsters. They cower in fear, and they didn't dare to take a step forward.
"Then," Drako let out a creepy smile. "Fuck off."
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I decided to post this chapter since they end the battle against Chrono's forces. Since I posted 5 chapters this week on webnovel, and I only posted 3 on P@treon, you guys will have to wait until I recover this 2 chapters there.
I'm 100% sure that there are not going to be any chapter until Wednesday or Thursday next week.
Hope you enjoyed!
You can always go to P@tren to give me mone--Cough- support my great work. :)
"Artemis!" Percy yelled as they ran.
The goddess looked up; her face almost as grief-stricken as Thalia's. Besides her was Bianca, crying. Zoe lay in the goddess' arms. She was breathing. Her eyes were open. But still…
"It's a fatal wound," Artemis said. "Her lungs are crushed."
"The stars," Zoe murmured. "I cannot see them."
"Nectar and ambrosia," Percy said. "Come on! We have to get her some."
No one moved. Grief hung in air. The army of Kronos was just below the rise, and Drako was the only one holding them in position. Even Artemis was too shocked to stir.
The army of monster backed a bit because of Drako's pressure, but they started to come up again. They were hundreds of strong monsters there, most of them were at T3 level and dozens of them were at T4 level (Tiers are going to be explained in info at the end of the chapter).
Drako wasn't in the best conditions to fight, as Ladon's poison was still on his body. He healed more than he loses, but he was still pretty low on HP and MP. He didn't really want to fight this army right now.
But, Drako heard a strange buzzing noise.
Just as the army was coming over the hill, a Sopwith Camel swooped down out of the sky.
"Get away from my daughter!" Dr. Chase called down, and his machine guns burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering.
"Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.
"Run!" he called back, his voice growing fainter as the biplane swooped by.
This shook Artemis out of her grief. She stared up at the antique plane, which was now banking around for another strafe.
"A brave man," Artemis said with grudging approval. "Come, we must get Zoe away from here."
She raised her hunting horn to her lips, and its clear sound echoed down the valleys of Marin. Zoe's eyes were fluttering.
"Hang in there!" Percy told her. "It'll be all right!"
The Sopwith Camel swooped down again. A few giants threw javelins, and one flew straight between the wings of the plane, but the machine guns blazed. They realized with amazement that somehow Dr. Chase must've gotten hold of celestial bronze to fashion his bullets. The first row of snaked women wailed as the machine gun's volley blew them into sulphurous yellow powder.
"Agh…" Drako murmured in the distance. "What a waste of EXP."
"That's… my dad!" Annabeth said in amazement.
They didn't have time to admire his flying. The giants and snake women were already recovering from their surprise. Dr. Chase would be in trouble soon.
Just then, the moonlight brightened, and a silver chariot appeared from the sky, drawn my the most beautiful deer. It landed right next to them.
"Get in," Artemis said.
Annabeth helped Percy get Thalia on board. Then, Percy helped Artemis with Zoe. They wrapped Zoe in a blanket.
"Hey, are you going to left me here?"
"Don't waste more time, Drako," Artemis said. "You still have your own wings to get out of here.
"Ok, ok."
When Drako get into the chariot, Artemis pulled the reins and the chariot sped away from the mountain, straight into the air.
"Like Santa Claus' sleigh," Percy murmured, still dazed with pain.
Artemis took time to look back at him. "Indeed, young half-blood. And where do you think that legend came from?"
Seeing them safely away, Dr. Chase turned his biplane and followed them like an honour guard.
It must have been one of the strangest sights ever, even for the Bay Area: a silver flying chariot pulled by deer, escorted by a Sopwith Camel.
Behind them, the army of Kronos roared in anger as they gathered on the summit of Mount Tamalpais, but the loudest sound was the voice of Atlas, bellowing curses against the gods as he struggled under the weight of the sky.
"Ah, shut up stupid Titan," Drako said. "I'm more frustrated than you right now."
Annabeth looked strangely at this new boy she didn't knew anything about. "Why?" She asked.
"I wanted to fight Atlas at least, it would be great if I could kill him," Drako answered.
"Who was going to hold the sky if you kill him?" Artemis asked.
"I don't care about the sky," Drako shrugged. "Just let poor Ouranos embrace Terra one more time."
Artemis sighed, not wanting to talk more to the stupid dragon.
"Oh, you look pretty bad, Zoe."
Drako's arms started to take a golden glow. Then, he took Zoe out of the blanket and hold her in his arms.
"What are you doing?" Artemis shot a look at Drako.
"Trying to keep her alive," Drako said. "She's in a pretty bad shape. Can't you see it? She can barely breath with the lungs in that state."
Drako was using his skill [Holy healing claws] to try and keep Zoe alive. But it was difficult, really difficult. This was different from the time Tobio almost killed his childhood friend. Broken ribs, the spine was crooked and the lungs unrecognizable.
They landed at Crissy Field after nightfall. All that time, Drako was doing his best to save Zoe from the death.
As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew… you shot… oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"
Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-age mortal, I suppose."
"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"
"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you… left."
Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.
"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."
He said it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. Drako could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.
"Dad…" Annabeth faltered.
"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia interrupted. Her voice was urgent. She and Artemis were kneeling at Zoe's side, who was wrapped in Drako's arms, binding the huntress' wounds.
Both ran over to help, but there wasn't much they could do. They had no ambrosia or nectar. No regular medicine would help. It was dark, but they could see that Zoe didn't look good. She was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.
"Can't you heal her with magic?" Percy asked Artemis. "I mean… you're a goddess."
Artemis looked troubled. "Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I can try."
She tried to set her hand on Zoe's side, but Zoe gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess' eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.
"Have I… served thee well?" Zoe whispered. With Drako's cure, she was able to speak. But he couldn't save her.
"With great honour," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."
Zoe's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."
"I can try to heal you, my brave one."
But in that moment, Drako knew that she couldn't be saved by any healing. Zoe had known all along that the Oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. And yet she'd taken the quest anyway. She had chosen to save Artemis, and Atlas' fury had broken her inside.
Zoe looked at Bianca, and took her hand.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't guide you anymore," she said. "I hope you can grow into a strong and dependable Hunter."
"Don't say that," Bianca cried. "You can't die now."
Zoe smiled weakly and then, she saw Thalia, and took her hand.
"I am sorry we argued," Zoe said. "I was glad that we could be sisters for short."
"It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."
"Perhaps not all men," Zoe murmured. She smiled weakly at Drako. "It was an honour to fight along you. You're the first and only man that I'm going to respect in my life."
"Why do you think I'm a good man?" Drako asked confused. "I'm a Nephalem, I'm evil and holy at the same time. Do you think that you have seen through me in just a week?"
Zoe was shocked, she didn't expect this change in Drako.
"We had a promise, right?" Drako asked. "You swore on the river Styx that you would do anything that I ask one time, right?"
Zoe nodded weakly, but didn't understand what he meant.
"Then, you are becoming my Servant."
[You want to spend 1 Fate Point to make Zoe Nightshade your Servant?]
Yes, I want.
[Zoe Nightshade is not willing, you can't]
"Fuck," Drako cursed and looked towards Artemis, who was looking at the dragon with cold eyes. "Force her to do it, it will save her life."
Zoe was already dying; she couldn't hear well. She just sensed a forced trying to bind her to someone that wasn't Artemis.
"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."
A tear trickled down Artemis' cheek. "Are you sure, Drako? Can this save her life?"
"I will leave explanations for later," Drako said. "Trust me."
Artemis nodded. "Zoe, trust Drako and follow his order. You swore on River Styx, didn't you?"
"Lady Artemis?"
"Do it, please. Do your last work for your goddess?"
Zoe nodded with a smile, letting that strange force bind her towards Drako.
[Zoe agreed with being a Servant, choose class]
Drako smiled a little.
��Raise, my Archer."
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INFO
Tiers are going to be how I call the different power levels on DxD. Tier 3 are High Class beings, Tier 4 Ultimate Class beings and so.
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