Indigo Eyes

Chapter 129

Cressida had attacked first but Percy was right behind her as they fought Kronos who was stepping in roots that wrapped around his feet. Grover stopped his magic too early though, the roots were not thick or strong enough to hold the Titan but they annoyed him.

They fought through the hearth, kicking up coals and sparks.

Kronos slashed an armrest off the throne of Ares, but then he backed Percy into his father's throne before kicking Cressida back into him, her back slamming into his chest.

"Oh, yes," Kronos said. "This one will make fine kindling for my new hearth!"

And Percy shoved Cressida to the floor as he met Kronos's blade with his own, a shower of sparks raining down.

Kronos was stronger, much stronger, and Percy's arms trembled before it felt like someone hit his ribs with a hammer; before his body felt more powerful. Cressida had sent a plume of flame towards his ribs, imbuing him with her strength as Percy pushed Kronos back and struck again - slashing Riptide across his breastplate so hard he cut a gash in the celestial bronze.

He stamped his foot again and time slowed. Both Percy and Cressida tried to attack but they were moving at the speed of a glacier.

In the back of his mind though, Percy was glad that they were at least moving. He didn't want to think about what would happen if Cressida couldn't move right now.

Kronos backed up leisurely, catching his breath. He examined the gash in his armour before smiling smugly at them. "It is too late," he boasted. "Behold!"

He pointed to the hearth and the coals glowed. A sheet of white smoke poured from the fire, forming images like an Iris message. Nico and Percy's parents were fighting a hopeless battle on Fifth Avenue, ringed in enemies. In the background Hades fought from his black chariot, summoning wave after wave of zombies out of the ground, but the forces of the Titans' army seemed just as endless. Meanwhile, Manhattan was being destroyed. Mortals, now fully awake, were running in terror. Cars swerved and crashed.

Then the scene shifted.

Typhon.

A column of storm was approaching the Hudson River, moving rapidly over the Jersey shore. Chariots circled it, locked in combat with the creature in the cloud. The gods attacked. Lightning flashed. Arrows of gold and silver streaked into the cloud-like rocket tracers and exploded. Slowly, the cloud ripped apart and Typhon's visage became clear.

Typhon's head shifted constantly. Every moment he was a different monster, each more horrible than the last. Cressida was perhaps the only person able to look upon his face without being driven insane as the rest of them focused on his body.

He was humanoid but his skin seemed stranger, and it was the colour green, with blisters the size of buildings and blackened patches from aeons of being stuck under a volcano. His hands were human, but with talons like an eagle's. His legs were scaly and reptilian.

"The Olympians are giving their final effort." Kronos laughed. "How pathetic."

Zeus threw a thunderbolt from his chariot. The blast lit up the world and Olympus rumbled beneath their feet.

Typhon staggered a bit with a smoking crater on top of his misshapen head, but he roared in anger and kept advancing.

Percy glanced at Cressida whose eyes told him the same thing, that Kronos's magic was beginning to loosen up as they moved a little faster. His attention was focused on the fight and his final victory.

Percy was praying that his father came through.

Typhon stepped into the Hudson River and barely sank to mid-calf.