[Third Person Pov]
Sebastian charged forward like a living inferno, his footsteps scorching the ground and leaving a blazing trail of fire in his wake. At the same time, Lucian moved in perfect synchronization, swinging his scythe downward with expert precision, the weapon humming as it cleaved through the air toward Agares.
Agares reacted instantly, deflecting the strike with a powerful sweep of his spiked tail. The impact sent a burst of sparks spiraling outward as metal met demonic force. Using the recoil to his advantage, Lucian guided Sebastian's momentum, subtly redirecting him and allowing both of them to pivot sharply back toward Agares. Lucian followed up with a relentless series of strikes, his movements fluid and unyielding.
Sparks erupted with every clash as Lucian shifted his weapon mid-combat, transforming it seamlessly through its different modes. The scythe elongated into a spear, which he hurled like a javelin toward Agares with deadly accuracy. When the weapon was knocked aside, Lucian recalled it instantly, reshaping it into a sword before it even reached his hand, continuing the assault without missing a beat.
Nearby, Annabeth dropped to one knee, grimacing as she wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand. Her vision swam briefly, but her focus sharpened when she heard the terrified screams of people caught too close to the battle. Drawing in a steadying breath, she called out firmly, "Nebula."
A swirl of purple mist gathered beside her, coalescing into Nebula's reconstructed form. "Yes, ma'am?" Nebula asked, her voice calm despite the chaos.
"I need you to create an isolated, illusionary battlefield," Annabeth said quickly. "Like what Circe did during her fight with Lucian. Do you think you can manage it?"
Nebula paused, calculating. "I should be able to," she replied slowly, "but it will require a significant amount of energy. I'll need to enter power-reserving mode to sustain it."
"Do it," Annabeth ordered without hesitation.
She extended her hand toward the scattered remains of Aerarius. The liquid metal shuddered, vibrating as if awakening, before shooting toward her at incredible speed. It flowed and reshaped itself at her command, ready to be weaponized once more.
Across the battlefield, Lucian had already switched tactics. With a bow now in his grasp, he loosed an arrow brimming with malevolent energy, its curse potent enough to kill a normal demigod in a single strike.
Agares caught the arrow mid-flight, spinning with its momentum in a fluid, almost elegant motion. Without breaking rhythm, he hurled it back toward Annabeth.
Annabeth reacted instantly, conjuring a magical force field around herself. The barrier shattered upon impact, but it slowed the arrow just enough for her to transform Aerarius into a sword and deflect it aside. The cursed energy detonated next to her in a violent surge, the shockwave rattling her bones but leaving her standing.
At that moment, Nebula released a dense fog of purple mist that rapidly blanketed the entire area. The magical haze warped the space around them, twisting perception and reshaping reality into an illusionary landscape. Because it had been formed so quickly, little detail was woven into it—the ground beneath them was pitch black, and the darkness stretched endlessly in every direction, broken only by the shifting mist.
"Hahaha!" Agares laughed, his voice echoing unnaturally through the void as shadowy soldiers began to rise from the ground around him. "You demigods and your little hero complex."
Everyone attacked at once.
Annabeth joined the charge, wielding both Nox and Lucerna while holding Aerarius in one hand. With the other, she combined magic and alchemy, weaving spells into her strikes as she pressed forward without hesitation.
Agares answered with raw power, manipulating quakes and vibrations to throw his attackers off balance. He moved between them with unsettling grace, weaving through their attacks as though they were little more than inconveniences. He maneuvered around Lucian's shadow soldiers effortlessly, moving at a speed that was difficult to track while unleashing blasts and storms of hellfire in every direction.
The ground split apart under the combined force of Lucian's and Agares's powers, earthquakes rippling outward with every clash. Fire and lava glowed through the widening crevices, transforming the battlefield into a nightmarish hellscape.
Thanks to Annabeth's mastery over ritual magic, weaving spells into existence came more easily in this warped environment. With a single hand sign and a sharp word, she conjured a binding spell that wrapped around Agares, locking his body in place.
Above him, Lucian's Hydra manifestations reared their heads, throats glowing as they unleashed concentrated blasts of energy. The power slammed into Agares, melting the ground beneath him and forming a molten crater.
"Oh man," Agares said, grinning even as the energy engulfed him, "this is actually starting to be fun!"
He flexed his arms, shattering Annabeth's bindings with brute force. Snapping his fingers, his sigil flared beneath Captain. Hellfire erupted upward, destroying the construct and reducing it to nothing more than a floating wisp that slowly began to reform.
Chains suddenly snaked around Agares, summoned by Lucian's chain-sickle and guided by his magic. They coiled rapidly, tightening as Lucian pulled them taut and activated the Binding Force enchantment, attempting to suffocate him.
Agares tilted his head slightly, wearing a nonchalant grin.
"Wow," he said casually, "I almost felt that, you know."
"Oh Heavenly Father, who art in Heaven—"
The smug smile vanished from Agares's face.
His head snapped toward Annabeth as he realized what he was seeing. She hovered in the air with her hands clasped tightly together, lips moving in a quiet prayer, her voice trembling but resolute. A Bible verse—ancient, sacred, and utterly incompatible with his existence—flowed through her magic. It was a method deliberately chosen to make her power effective against demons of Agares's nature.
For the first time since the battle began, Agares reacted with something close to alarm.
He vanished in a flash of infernal distortion, teleporting away from Lucian's chains just as they snapped shut. The enchanted links clattered uselessly onto the magma-soaked ground below, hissing as they struck molten stone.
"You bitch—what the hell do you think you're doing?" Agares snarled.
Before anyone could react, he reappeared above Annabeth and drove his fist downward. The blow sent her plummeting from the sky like a fallen star.
"ANNABETH!!" Lucian screamed.
She struck the ground with explosive force. The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, the earth quaking violently as the floor split apart beneath her. Cracks raced through the battlefield like lightning scars, molten light glowing from below.
Lucian shadow-stepped instantly, reappearing beside her and dropping to one knee at her side.
She wasn't moving.
Blood ran freely from her nose and mouth, staining the shattered ground beneath her.
"MOTHER!" her spirits cried out in unison as they manifested beside her, their voices filled with panic and fury.
Dark energy began to seep from the seams of Lucian's armor, dulling its once-polished surface as something far heavier settled into his presence.
"She's alive," Lucian said quietly, his voice low and steady despite the storm brewing within him. "Aerarius took the worst of it."
He slowly rose to his feet and turned his gaze upward.
Agares hovered in the air above them, hands clasped behind his back, a visible sneer carved across his face.
"I'll leave you to tend to her," Lucian said coldly.
"I'm going too," Nox snarled as he stood, the darkness around him deepening, growing heavier and more oppressive.
"You'll only get in my way," Lucian replied without hesitation or remorse.
He lifted off the ground, becoming weightless as he ascended toward the demon in the sky, completely ignoring the flash of hurt that crossed Nox's eyes.
"That little lass certainly put me in a foul mood," Agares sighed, running a hand through his head in irritation. "Invoking his name, of all things. And just when things were starting to get interesting."
"You haven't seen a bad mood yet," Lucian said, his voice dripping with restrained menace.
The darkness around him intensified, rolling outward in suffocating waves as he closed the distance between them. He stopped directly in front of Agares, close enough to look him straight in the eye.
"Trust me," Lucian continued quietly, "after what you did to Annabeth, you're about to experience something far worse than a. Bad. Mood."
Agares stared down at him, unimpressed, a crooked sneer twisting his expression.
"You are a frog at the bottom of a well," Agares said calmly. "You believe yourself strong because those around you are weaker. Your understanding of the world is confined to the small bubble of your pantheon."
He leaned in closer, their faces now only centimeters apart.
"You dare threaten someone who has seen more wars than the number of years you've been alive?"
"My experience stretches across countless of your lifetimes," Agares continued, his voice low and contemptuous. "So I hope you understand why I look down on you… and your so-called threat."
"And that," Lucian snarled, "is going to be your biggest mistake yet."
His aura pulsed outward in violent waves of power, the space around him warping under the pressure.
Agares's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"Then allow me," he said as his infernal aura erupted around him like a blooming hellfire storm, "to show you just how vast the skies truly are, little tadpole."
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A/N: Happy 400 chapters 🥳🤗 🥳 🎊 🎉
Can't believe we've made this far, thank you everyone for the amazing support you've all shown ♥ Hopefully I'll still see ya 400 chapters into the future! 🎂