DA : Chapter 151: Goodbye

Her gaze shifted to him even as she blocked a large tree branch, grunting slightly as she shoved it back. Just her look alone already got him talking, sparing her the energy and focus.

"The Hunters, over half are gone!" the demigod shouted before cursing as another shift in the soil tripped him up.

...

Annabeth's heart skipped as she heard that, dread building in her gut as she thought about some of the unwillingly drafted demigoddess within the group, especially her three sisters.

A part of her mind remained calm and reasoned that they'd been taken, already knowing that the council had stated they would try to pick out those surrendering but at the same time remembering that in this chaos, picking them out and taking the time to transport them away wasn't easy. Still, she steeled herself as she put some faith and hoped that at least some had only been taken.

Still, she could see why the demigod who'd reported was panicked. The Hunt was their main offensive force suited to long-range considering Artemis' blessings and teachings were intended as such rather than strengthening archery and gave more towards Healing and Theft/Stealth for Apollo and Hermes respectively.

"What about the remaining?" she asked as she cut through veins trying to tangle a demigod beside her.

"Scattered," the roman demigod breathed as he backpedaled from a rising root. "Some were running as if the devil was on their tail back to the camp, others joined up with other groups," he continued before suddenly pausing as he looked directly at Annabeth and took a shaky gulp. "Some spotted Jackson near where the largest group of Hunters were."

'No wonder the Hunt was cut down so drastically,' Annabeth thought with a grimace, having been informed by her mother of the exact details of that even over a decade ago and how Percy saw the Hunt. 'Still, I hope Lola, Arianna, and Mia are okay,' she thought silently before looking back to the demigod.

"Where is he no—"

Crash!

She was cut off as she ducked down behind her shield on reflex, feeling all manner of wood chunks and dirt pelted at her before a voice roared out.

"Jackson!"

She lowered her shield along with the other demigods nearby to see Artemis pulling herself out of a pile of crushed trees. Her silver helmet was gone leaving her auburn hair to flow, her silvery eyes glowing with cold fury as ichor dripped down her busted lip.

Across from her stood Percy, his own face pulled into narrowed glare while only one of his blades remained drawn. His stance looked at ease even if Annabeth could see he was coiled like a spring, his focus never leaving the feral goddess.

Annabeth along almost any who were close enough to see hunkered down and went silent as the two major fighters confronted, knowing that even getting caught up in their fight would spell doom. Annabeth was also wondering how long it would be before Apollo came, knowing he wouldn't leave his sister to fight alone.

"Artemis," Percy growled slowly, his voice dripping with venom as the very darkness around him seemed to pulse and writhe.

All was still for almost a minute, some not even daring to breathe before, by some hidden signal, both shot at each other.

Clang!

Annabeth's ears were ringing with the explosive collision as the shockwave knocked over trees and demigods alike with the two fighters stalemated at the center. Her eyes watched as they suddenly blurred into motion, their blades only wisps of silver and black with spark after spark.

Annabeth was sure only the immortals present could even really see some of the arm movement while the demigods could barely track as Percy and Artemis moved back and forth between the clearing their first collision created.

"M-monsters," she heard a demigod behind her whisper and looked back to see his panicked eyes desperately trying to follow the fight even as he shook like a leaf in a storm.

'Monsters is right,' she thought as she returned her attention to the combatants, seeing them move with a savagery more expected of beasts yet with a precision and mastery befitting of immortal warriors.

Each swing intended to kill, every block or dodge instantly answered with equally deadly counters. She watched as the greatest of heroes fought with the currently strongest goddess of Olympus. Then Artemis used a dual strike and seemingly caught Percy by surprise, his guard opening just enough for Artemis to follow with a crushing kick.

The blow landed against Percy's hastily placed forearm even as he grunted, his feet gouging out earth and wood as the force bled off but he wasn't down by a long shot. She squinted as she barely saw Percy suddenly close in and enter Artemis' guard before he lashed out with a vicious right hook, slamming it into Artemis' half-placed guard and blowing her clean off her feet. The goddess barely even had time to impact the ground before Percy blurred next to her and punted her through several trees.

"Is this it, goddess?" Percy's voice wrung out as he lazily held his Viking sword at his left side. "So much for the elite of Olympus."

The words only infuriated the goddess more as she got up, backhanding a large tree that nearly fell on her and turning it into mulch. Annabeth started to get worried as she felt the pressure build as the goddess' frame started to pulse mixes of silver and god. She could see the rage frothing and rising with every blow, feel the intensity of the moon's glow above them as the bitter adversaries assaulted each other. 'She isn't going to …' she thought in horror before she realized she was going to.

"Artemis don't!" she shouted but it fell on death ears.

"Jackson, after everything you've done, I'm going to make you pay!" Artemis roared, shaking the very forest around them as she started to grow and glow.

"Eyes away!" Annabeth shouted over the suddenly billowing winds even as she planted her feet firmly and only just barely noticed Percy's sudden smirk.

She couldn't contemplate on it as not a moment later something akin to a miniature, compressed warhead exploded before her. Even being immortal, the harshness of the sudden glow forced her to look away and to her horror, she heard a few short screams meaning some demigods had in fact not looked away. The heat and light faded quickly and she looked to see the Olympian goddess in all her glory.

Standing at nearly thirty feet, she was adorned in silver body suite fit to practically resemble a second skin and matching her cascading silver hair and solid silver eyes lacking sclera or pupils. She could also make out the lines and grooves of small, scaled sized plates within the body suite covering her torso, abdomen, and most of her back.

Over the suite were celestial bronze greaves and bracers along with some plates along the outer thighs and shoulders. Lastly were the twin silver knives in her hands, each as long as her forearms and an extended guard passing slightly over her knuckles.

Even in the thick of battle Annabeth had to commend Leo and Hephaestus for their redesigned armors used by the Olympians in their divine forms.

Each had been restructured and refitted with more in mind that the standard warfare of ancient Greek times. Still, she didn't have time to admire the craftsmanship as a dark chuckle drew her gaze to Percy only for her eyes to widen. He stood at the same size as Artemis but only constructed of darkness with his glowing icy blue eyes and that same smirk.

"Now we're getting somewhere," he chuckled before rushing the goddess at a speed that Annabeth barely followed.

In a blink he was there and even as Artemis made a swipe at him, he ducked and twisted around her limb, rapidly tangling the enormous goddess until he stood right behind her. His lips of shadows drew near her ear as he had one hand wrapped around her neck, the other holding the back of her left hand, her right left immobilized by tendrils of darkness even as the goddess rapidly pulsed silver trying to break the grip.

"How about we go somewhere a little more private?" he asked before giving a fang grinned as Artemis paused in her struggles for just a moment, gritting her teeth.

Before she could retort though there was a sudden glow from across the battlefield and a familiar voice.

"Artemis!" shouted Apollo as he blazed through the forest, burning the trees and shadows alike away in a golden fury as he grew to his godly height of fifteen feet and looked ready to assume his divine form as well.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to do at that moment as Apollo quickly closed the distance, his sword already primed to stab right where Percy's head was, the master of darkness narrowing his glowing eyes at the approaching Olympian. But, before Apollo could get within striking distance, a white blur suddenly collided with him after having burst through the canopy.

Crash!

A cloud of dust and ash was blown into the air as the ground shook from the impact though both Artemis and Percy seemed completely unbothered by it as the goddess resumed her struggles as the pulses of power coming off her started to increase in intensity. 'I have to get the demigods back or they'll be vaporized if they're too close!' she thought in alarm as she prepared to command them back but her attention was turned again to a choked gasp.

Her eyes fell to the crater only to see her husband held in the air by the throat as Jason, now at fifteen feet as well, glared at the choking god.

"Get out of here Percy, we got it covered," the second winged god said almost coolly as he kept his eyes locked with the struggling sun god.

Without warning or preamble Jason suddenly let go of Apollo only to deliver a forward kick, sending the god barreling back. Without a glance back a white longsword appeared in the winged god's hand before he chased after the sun god, ignoring everything else.

With those two gone her eyes shifted back to Percy only to see even more shadows covering Artemis, suppressing the pulses of her power and keeping her shackled.

"Hope you said goodbye," Percy whispered before the darkness expanded around them, swallowing them into a lightless void before it collapsed with no sign of either god.

Annabeth scanned around and expanded her senses but she couldn't detect either of them. Her hands were shaking as she kept hearing the echo of his last words and nervously swallowed at the implications. She had no doubt of the results … or the chaos that would follow with the army.

Luckily she was shaken of such thoughts as fell back on her training and role as commander in place of her mother. "Form up!" she hastily ordered, some of the demigods shakily responding and closing ranks as they kept wearily glancing in the direction of white and golden flashes along with the occasional sound of metal colliding.

Seeing them all together and noting that more than just demigods from her unit were with her, she nodded and quickly started jogging, the demigods soon following. Thankfully the ground seemed to be settling making the movement easier and soon enough they managed to join up with more cohesive groups already reforming. She spotted her brother and made her way to him, seeing the relief flash in his eyes as he recognized her though she briefly hoped the blood on him wasn't his.

"Status," she ordered as the demigods quickly started to form ranks, weapons aimed at the few directions of noise marking immortal combat.

"A good chunk of the Vanguard is back together and I saw Hermes' Scouts grouping up again. Amazons are trying to support Hera," he said while gesturing further north before scoffing, "At this point they're just adding to the body count. As for Bellona, it looks like she ran off in the direction of Apollo and Jason to try and turn the tables. I can't say for the other gods or the rest of the army but I'd assume more than just Jason and Percy are attacking."

"Jackson disappeared with Artemis in toe," Annabeth said curtly, neither seeming too worried about the fact nor as if to dismiss it as unimportant.

The demigods present that had not witnessed the savage exchange and departure looked at her in shock and she could practically hear their morale dropping by the second.

Taking Artemis was a two-fold blow, taking away a source of confidence due to her added power and also taking away one volatile goddess scaring a good chunk of demigods into fighting or else. She just knew tomorrow was going to be all sorts of messy, to speak nothing of what Apollo might do.

"Well …" Allen continued after a pause, looking as if he'd eaten something questionable and didn't know whether to like the taste or not. Considering what he knew about Percy's concern for them along with his own distaste for the goddess after she drafted Lola, Annabeth could understand why. "… Anyways, Hephaestus is with his Smiths and they're forming up closer to the camp itself but Leo is gone."

"What!?" she asked in surprise. Why would he leave?

However before she could begin to form up any plan or properly form up the demigods near her, she paused as she felt a buzzing, specifically in the breast pocket of her shirt beneath her breastplate. She went noticeably rigid causing several of the demigods to look at her in concern but she didn't pay them any attention.

With almost robotic movement she sheathed her sword before reaching over the top of her armor and digging around. 'Please no, please no,' she recited almost religiously as she soon found source of buzzing, lifting up to show a little red button connected to her necklace.

As big as a nickel and made of celestial bronze surrounding the enchanted red plastic, it buzzed and blinked in her clammy fingers. Her heart started to race as she stared at the device that not only had her attention but of the surrounding mortals. Now she knew why Leo had left … and just how much worse the night had just gotten.

In her hands was a buzzer linked to a panic button … a button that went off if a certain being wasn't within five meters of it or intentionally pressed. Built and programmed by Leo assisted by herself and Athena over a year ago, water and fire proof, capable of standing pressure levels meant to crush steel, and all the while discreetly hidden in plain view.

Regardless of what was going on around her, this took priority as her body and mind reacted instantly as a warning flash came off her. Not a moment later she was gone in a flash, heading straight for Ogygia with only one goal in mind.

Get to Cloelia as soon as possible…

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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.

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