Chapter 23: Traps of Fire and Ice

Start from the beginning
                                    

Where we would be waiting.

A shape flew a way in front; Jason. A jumble of yells and roars followed him. The monsters must've had bad night vision because I could hear them slamming into each other.

'Here I am, you rotten scum!' I heard Jason scream at the monsters.

I hesitated, waiting for the signal. Almost.

The sky suddenly lit up, sparked with forked lightning. I could see a figure must've been Jason, outlined in the white light. It lasted less than a second before fading.

That was the signal.

I lit my finger on fire and placed on the ground. As soon as the flames made contact with the oil trail we'd set up, the fire roared and spread. The fire followed the oil around in a circle until the monsters were surrounded, the blaze encompassing the lake and amphitheatre.

Azelle concentrated hard again, and I heard her murmur one word, 'Now!'

A sudden explosion was visible in the light of the dancing flames. The lake burst as the campers and Chaos warriors were shot out of the water where they'd been hiding in an air bubble, courtesy of Percy. They all unsheathed their weapons, looks of pure fury on every face.

The monster roared and attacked.

Metal clanged on metal. Shrill screams haunted the air and the fear was almost tasteable.

Time for Azelle to play her part.

The young daughter of Poseidon screamed at the top of her lungs, holding the sound for a good ten heartbeats. The lake erupted once more, spraying everyone and drenching only the monsters form head to toe. It didn't reach all of them, but it reached enough to even the odds a bit.

Part one; complete.

For part two, Azelle balled her fists and breathed in, holding her arms into her chest. Then, in a single flowing motion, she thrust her arms out and spread her fingers.

Every monster that had been soaked suddenly froze as the water coating them solidified into thick ice. The look in Azelle's eyes was so intense, I fell backwards onto my butt.

When the monsters left over discovered that their brethren had been frozen, they tried to break them out of their ice prisons. They soon discovered, however, that if they tried to shatter the ice, they would shatter the monster inside. It was genius.

The only was to fix it was for it to melt. And that would be hard to do until the sun came up in about six hours. We had to hold out until at least then.

Azelle and I drew our respective weapons-me, my sword, her a dagger-and raced out of the shadows to join the fight.

The battle seemed more eerie and more surreal in the firelight, like I was watching an movie and replaying the action part over and over.

I felt like our battle scene was stuck on repeat, because everywhere I looked, it all seemed the same; weapons clashed, campers and warriors fell, monsters tearing at everything, no conscious to stop them. It reminded me, oh so painfully, of the Giant War, the one in which I'd died.

I was determined to survive this time; to see to it that every one of my friends made it through. I would never forgive myself if Percy or any of the seven died. Or if any of my Chaos friends perished; Clarisse, Luke, Travis, Bianca. Or even Azelle, who I hadn't known for very long. I couldn't let anything happen to her.

I couldn't let anything happen to anyone. I was going to make it my duty to put every other life before my own. Yeah, that's right. I, Leo Valdez, have a conscience and soul that says to protect others. Problem? Didn't think so.

          

I fought like a maniac. I sliced through monsters like paper, setting random infernos away from our side and relighting the wall of fire when it went dim.

We were doing well, but we couldn't last. Not against the amount of monster that were coming at us.

Percy's POV

Slash, kick, stab, roll, jump, dive, slice, jab, swing, duck.

All the moves I was ever taught spun around in my head, jumbling into one big battle plan. I didn't particularly care what the creature was, I just killed it.

My sword, Riptide-which I'd retrieved and kept in sword form-left a trail of desolation in its wake. No monster stood a chance against the devastating bronze blade.

There were hoards of dracaenae, empousai, hellhounds and laistrygorians. Other, stranger, monsters lingered among them, but I didn't have the time nor patience to figure out what creatures the were.

Until, that is, I came face to face with a monster I had hoped would stay dead a few centuries.

'Destruction will destroy your pathetic camp,' Kampe hissed, green poison dripping from her twin swords.

'Really?' I asked sarcastically. 'Destruction will destroy. Gee, never would've figured that out on my own.'

'You're soul will be sent to the Underworld and your puny camp will be overrun.'

'I'm pretty sure that's what they said last time. And the time before that,' I smirked. 'Somehow I'm still here, and so is the camp.'

'Gah!' Kampe lunged.

I dove swiftly to the side, flipping into a commando roll before ending up standing. She slashed at me with her poison tipped blades, trying to land a blow in a chink in my armour.

But my armour had been cleverly designed by Leo Valdez himself. It was functional, comfortable and drastically improved. There weren't many chinks.

But, there was some.

Kampe kept coming at me. I feinted towards her head and she crossed her swords to block my way. But then I switched paths, going directly for her unprotected chest. At least, unprotected until a grizzly bear popped out of her ever changing belt and snapped at my sword.

I stumbled back just in time to avoid having my hand bitten off. She thrust one of her swords out at my side, but it bounced off my chest plate. While her arm was still extended, I used Riptide to twist one of her poisoned blades out of her grip.

She growled at me and lunged with her other sword, attacking with a harsher ferocity. I pressed back, but my strength was waning in this fight. If I could get to the lake ...

I stepped back in the direction of the water, trying to seem inconspicuous. But my luck is never that good. Kampe figured out what I was trying to do, and blocked my way.

'Oh dear,' she cackled. 'No water for you, Mr Chaos warrior.'

She had me, I couldn't hold out long without the water. Then an idea came to me.

If I couldn't go to the water, I'd bring the water to me.

I breathed in sharply, and then blew, slowly letting all my breath out. It probably looked strange, but it worked. I spiral of water briskly snaked from the lake, across the battlefield and rained down on me.

Instantly, I felt rejuvenated. My senses opened up, and I saw her next move before it came.

I jumped back, avoiding a slice to my side. I ducked under her guard and jabbed at her legs. But a lion reared up and roared at me. I grimaced and stepped back.

I recoiled as she swiped her sword and it passed mere inches from my face, still covered by the helmet Leo custom designed for me. Her other sword still lay some distance behind me, unreachable by Kampe.

I jumped over her poisoned blade as she took a swing at my legs. Then I thrust at her sword arm.

That was my mistake.

Kampe swung her arm back and lashed back just as quickly. She struck my sword hand with the hilt of her sword, and Riptide went clattering out of my grip.

With a joyous screech, the monster swooped down on me. I could feel her heavy claws digging into my armour.

'I hope you said your goodbyes,' she drawled.

I stared her down, determined not satisfy Kampe in my final moments.

I had yet another idea.

Chaos (and probably Annabeth once) had explained to me that 70% of the body was made of water. He taught me that I could control water wherever it was. So, I tried that.

I concentrated on the water inside Kampe, and froze it solid. I got the idea from Azelle's freezing trick.

Next, I had to move. That was easier said than done. I struggled, but Kampe was really heavy. What the Hades did she eat for breakfast every morning? Strike that, I didn't want to know.

Kampe's frozen body began to quiver, and I knew that she was just about to break out of her ice prison. I growled in frustration.

Then Kampe shattered into a million pieces, so fine it was like icy dust.

When the dust faded away, Annabeth smiled at me from beneath her helmet. She stomped on the remainder of the dust for good measure and gestured for me to follow her into battle.

 'Thanks, but why would you do that?' I asked as we ran.

She smirked, 'Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Anymore stupid questions?'

I shook my head as a grin broke out across my face, and I ran towards what could possibly be my death.

There we go; the battle has begun. That was kinda fun to write. Tell me what you think about the Kampe battle scene, because I don't think I'm very good at making those.

Again, no question for this chapter because my competition is still running. I've only got two entrants so far, if you want to enter, comment to PM me.

If you have any ideas for monsters, POV's or anything for the battle you can comment of PM also.

Thanks for reading, guys. And anyone who actually reads my authors notes, have some cookies!!!!!
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