"Haha right, we call him Black Jack, he's a good horse," John grinned, "saved him from a couple of smugglers while in Chicago, and like Artemis said we got caught up by the police, basically branded as outlaws and now we can't enter the city without being chased by cops."
Percy blinked, "woah, okay I swear John after this is done we're so going to have a long talk."
John agreed. Percy wished them good luck, telling the two to report to Thalia to find their place in the ranks. With that done Percy began searching through the entire army, making sure everyone knew what to do and where to be.
Soon they were closing the three hour mark, only half an hour to go. Percy stopped at the front of the gathered army and meet Rob, Julia and Thalia.
"Are we ready?" Percy asked.
"Ready as we'll ever be," Rob sighed, "I just wished we had more time to prepare."
"We deal with the cards given to us Rob," Julia stated, "and so far we are ready as we can ever be."
Percy sighed, "we could sure use some devine help right about now. I mean, shouldn't they have noticed something's wrong with us by now?"
"We can't rely on the Gods," Thalia rolled her eyes, "they probably don't have anyway to get here anyway."
"Yeah, but even so, I just wish they could find a way to help us somehow," Percy grumbled.
Ping!
Your wish has been granted!
Percy blinked, 'oh you have got to be kidding me!' He opened his skill list and there it was;
Wish— Make one wish a week. 40% chance of success, less the more ridicules the wish is. (Used. Waiting time 6 days and counting.)
Percy rolled his eyes dismissing the box, just as a giant white portal tore open above the demigod army.
"What is that?!"
"Are the titans attacking?!"
They all scrambled to get ready, Rob ordering the troops to ready themselves for anything.
"Morpheus is it Hypnos?!" Thali asked.
"Relax Thalia," Percy said with a casual wave, "it's the cavalry."
"What?"
Out of the portal twelve balls of light came flying out, each a unique colour. Percy spotted his father' sea green hue, and Zeus' electric yellow. The balls of light came flying down, each moving to a particular area.
Poseidon's ball stopped in front of Percy, it slowly took the form of the Pegasus staff, glowing brightly. Percy grinned as he grabbed the staff, feeling it's power, his father's power, wash over him;
Ping!
You have obtained a Godly weapon you can connect with!
+1000% HP
+1000% MP
Perfect water control
Summon any amount of water
Absolute control over the sea
Cleaning Polluted sources of water
Earthquake creation
Percy grinned twirling it around, "thank dad."
Zeus' orb stopped in front of Rob, which was surprising. But the reason was revealed as it slowly took on the form of the Golden Eagle of Roman. The sight of the Eagle instantly made every Roman there feel twenty times stronger, their symbol had arrived, and with it, they couldn't lose.
A red orb, presumably Ares' orb, took the form of a box that exploded, transforming into a heap of swords and other weaponry. Then a pink orb, Aphrodite's, came up, took the form of a box, and exploded sending out rays of light to every demigod there. The pink light covered them whole, dawning everyone there without armour with a set of their own.
Percy didn't get one, and the few romans who had their own set, like Rob and Julia, didn't either. But everyone else had their own armour.
Then an orb glowing like the sun descended, it condensed into the form of an arrow, clearly one of Apollo's toys, and landed in the hands of Michael, who looked at it in awe.
A green and purple orb came down together, mixing well. They then exploded outwards sending seeds of green and purple light into the very ground of the dreamworld. For a moment nothing happened, and then the ground began to rumble as plants started exploding outwards.
The entire tunnel was covered with flora, Percy noticed wine creepers, thorny bushes and a few other deadly looking plants. They were gifts from Dionysus and Demeter!
A fiery red ball came flying down like a heavy ball of lead, crashing into the ground behind the army. The ball then began cooling down, sitting in place, before a blue delta symbol appeared on the surface. Percy didn't know what it was, but judging by the looks on the Hephaestus kids' face they did.
A grey ball then came down and floated over the demigod army. It slowly started to disintegrate into dust that touched the heads of everyone there, making them glow grey. And when the grey dust touched Percy's he got a notification;
Ping!
You have got a new blessing!
Speed of Hermes!
Temporary boost in speed! 20% more faster!
Time limit— 24 hours!
Percy grinned, this was awesome! Guess he was wrong, the Gods really do care!
And it wasn't over. Next came a blue and green ball, similar to the tail feather of a peacock, making Percy believe it was Hera's ball. Surprisingly Hera's ball floated down and landed in front of Thalia's open arms. The daughter of Zeus just as surprised as everyone else when the ball started to open up, revealing a bracelet in the form on a peacock.
Percy narrowed his eyes and observed it;
Hera's charm,
This charm acts as a last line of defence, if the wearer is attacked it automatically explodes, harmless to the wearer, but destroying everything else around them.
This charm has been locked to be used against only Kronos
"Thalia, where it now," Percy called out, "it's very powerful a last line of defense against Kronos. It explodes, taking everything around it with it, don't worry though, it won't' harm you."
Thalia looked suspicious, "you sure?"
"I'm sure," Percy nodded, "trust me."
Thalia looked at Percy and sighed. She slipped on the charm and grumbled, "I swear if this things blows me up you're the one who's going to have a single armed girl friend."
"You would still be hot sweetie," Percy grinned, "plus I can always say, 'would you like a hand?' would never get boring!"
Thalia rolled her eyes and just then another orb came down, this one was grey and purple and it landed directly in front of Annabeth's open arms. It took the form of a book, which the daughter of Athena grabbed and looked over, her eyes widening all the while.
Percy was about to ask Annabeth what she was looking at when the final orb came floating down. It was silver, glowing like the moon itself, this one belonged to Artemis, Percy just knew it. It floated down towards him of all people and grew bigger.
And then it popped open revealing a giant black and grey dog that brought a smile to Percy's face. "Leo!" Percy cried out as he charged at the dog.
"Master!" Leo cried back as it tackled Percy to the ground licking his face with it's extra large tongue.
Percy chuckled, "stop it boy that tickles!" he laughed as Leo got off him. He stood up and scratched the dog behind the ears smiling, 'thanks Arty,' he thought, the goddess really knew exactly what he needed.
Percy turned around to the army. Everyone was busy checking out their new armour, some had already replaced the makeshift weapons Percy made for them with the new weapons pile Ares had provided. Percy felt just a little hurt, but meh, can't win them all.
He scratched Leo behind the ears, "you ready for a fight?"
"Born ready!" Leo barked.
"Good, stand with Marcia Leo, you and her will work together, understood?" Percy asked.
"Got it!" Leo barked as he shadow traveled to Marica's side. The demon looked curious but said nothing, choosing instead to node at Leo before turning to face front.
Percy looked to Morpheus, "how long before they arrive?"
"Twenty minutes," Morpheus answered. Percy grumbled, it was time.
"Alright everyone listen up!" Percy took off into the air, allowing everyone to see him as he floated in the middle of the air, "the Gods haven't given up on us yet! They sent us these gifts for us to use! Everyone grab a weapon, but keep the ones I made with you, just in case. Micheal, come up front, you too Annabeth! And will a child of Vulcan or Hephaestus please tell me what that thing is?!" Percy pointed at Hephaestus' gift.
Michael and Annabeth quickly ran forward, while Charles Beckendorf walked right behind him. They reached front of the army just as Percy floated back down.
"What's the arrow for Michael?" Percy asked.
"It's a bomb," Michael stated looking at the glowing red arrow, "it has my dad's power in it, meaning we can use it to blow shit up!"
Percy frowned, "how strong is it?"
"I think it can level a building if used the right way."
"Then we save it. Keep it ready for Kronos, chances are I'm the one who's going to face him, so if you see a shot, take it. Understand?"
Michael nodded. Percy then turned to Annabeth with her eyes on the book, "what is it?" he asked.
"It's a spell," she grumbled, "or something. It has the power to turn the tide of the battle, but she refuses to say what exactly it will do! She just says 'you will know when the time comes' whatever the Hades that mean!"
Annabeth growled in frustration, Percy couldn't help but smile, she was always the same. "Look Annabeth we don't have time to this now...keep to book in hand, trust Athena's words, if she says we'll know when to use it then we will."
Annabeth gave a heavy sigh and nodded, walking back to her squad. Percy then walked towards Charles who was already checking the heavy sphere out, along with a few other children of Hephaestus.
"What is it?" Percy asked them.
"It's a construction orb," Charles responded, "dad put in some kind of machine, when activated it can transform into said machine."
"Huh, cool. Turn it on then."
"You might want to stand back," charles said as he waved everyone away. Percy nodded and got everyone else to back away as well.. Charles pressed the glowing blue delta symbol and walked away. The ball began to wobble from side to side, before it started vibrating. And then it suddenly exploded into a storm of mechanical parts.
The orb exploded outwards and took the form of a giant metal tank. It had two large barrel cannons in the front and several machine guns attached to the sides. It had four surface to ground missiles attached to the back along with fog lights in the front.
Everyone had their jaws dropped in awe, while Percy could only do one thing. "We got a freaking tank!" he yelled throwing his hands up, "this is so fucking cool! We got a tank!"
Percy grabbed Charles and shook him violently, "please tell me you know how to drive the thing! Please!"
"I think so. Please stop shaking me," Charles replied in his usual monotone voice.
Percy did so, but he still couldn't stop grinning, "this is so freaking cool!" Charles and the others quickly got into the tanks and started operating it. They learnt the controls pretty quickly.
The demigod army now stood with newly made armour and weapons. The tunnel was only big enough for two cohort to stand side by side, and so they did with the rest standing behind them. In the middle of the massive army was the tank, TANK!, and near the back were the healers.
The greek attack squads stood towards the left flank, while the support squads stood behind the first cohort on the right. Percy had summoned his own servants and made them stand with the demigods, Timmy and Alecto were air support, with Marcia and Zed near the sides. Craig stood besides Percy and Rob near the front. Thalia and Julia were near the tank, Percy knew it would be the safest place for her, plus she would kill anything that even came near the tank. TANK!
Percy looked at the gathered demigods and sighed, he had a feeling this still wasn't going to be enough. He had way of evening up the score...but he knew he wasn't going to like it. People would free him, they would be weary of him and the Gods...they would be scared of him.
But he had no choice. He owed these people that much to try his hardest and not let hold anything back. CHAOS...CHAOS and Fate had put such a great burden on him, such a heavy one, Percy was smart enough to know he couldn't bare it all alone. He knew that if he tried he would fail.
And so, he wouldn't. He would need their support, but more importantly he would need them alive. And so he will do anything needed to ensure they lived.
Percy poured mana into the gem in his head and closed his eyes. He found himself in the grey well of souls of all the monsters he had killed in the last 24 hours.
It was filled with the upgraded animals, almost entirely by them. They snarled their fangs at him, but did nothing to approach because Percy had not chosen them. Percy kept going deeper and deeper into the well of souls and there, near the bottom, was a figure covered with ghostly grey flames. Percy chose him, and the gem began glowing.
Grey smoke started pouring out of Percy's gem, the others looked on curious as to what would come out and gasped as the figure materialised.
"My master," Hyperion bowed.
"Rise," Percy spoke clearly, "you will not harm any demigod you see, in fact you will be ready to give your life to protect them if need be. Do you understand?"
Hyperion growled, "yes...master."
"Good. You will be part of the front line. Here," Percy created a great sword for the Titan from the floor below and tossed it to him, "this is your weapon now."
Hyperion held it with his left hand growling as he spotted Rob carrying his flaming blade. He didn't say a word to the roman, instead turning to Percy and bowing, "master."
The people began to talk, Percy knew he just became a threat in their eyes. A demigod controlling a Titan? The world was going bonkers! But Percy wasn't done. He still had one more secret to reveal, after all it was like they said, in for a penny in for a pound, or something like that.
Percy's gem glowed again and another gigantic figure stepped out. This one did make people gasp in horror as Alcyoneus stood tall and whole once more. Even Thalia was startled, Percy had told her about this monster, but seeing and knowing were too different thing.
Alcyoneus bowed, "my master."
"We are about to face Kronos in battle, are you ready?" Percy asked.
"Always," Alcyoneus growled as he smirked a bloodthirsty smile.
"Stand with Hyperion, not biting," Percy instructed as the Giant did just that.
"Asshole," Hyperion spat.
"Kiss ass," Alcyoneus spat back.
"Enough," Percy snapped. He turned from the giant and titan to the greater demigod army. He could see their looks of horror and quite fear. He could see it, and he hated it. But he knew it had to be done.
Percy cleared his throat, "I know what you all saw must be afraid right now...afraid of Kronos, afraid of the army he brings to face us and now...afraid of me."
