Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter forty-three

Dazai POV

From what I could tell, we arrived in Midtown in just enough time to keep our forces from being overrun ahead of schedule.

As we ran through the war zone, the remainder of the Athena cabin, the Hunters of Artemis, and the nature spirits that could leave, slowly divided themselves up amongst the little skirmishes that had broken out all over the area. Though Chuuya and I both knew that we could easily deal with any of the small fights on our own, we both also knew that this was the time to stop distracting you with small play and pull out the better cards.

The pair of us weaved through the crowds of demigods and monsters, pushing as close as we could get to the Empire State Building, to where our defenses needed us the most. For the next hour we fought like the world was ending, watching one another's backs while keeping the careful distance between us that would keep each of us alive.

The moon had been high in the sky for a long while by the time that we were pushed back to only a block between us and the Empire State Building at any given direction. I knew that had it just been me and the rest of camp, we would have been pushed back to this point a long time before this. The other demigods weren't as used to fighting so late in the night as Chuuya and I were, nor for so long. They were growing tired and that was making them reckless. The number of injured demigods lying on the ground or missing in general were enough proof of that.

Off in the distance I could see a golden shine that might have been mistaken for the early morning sun if it wasn't for the straying lights circling around it. Kronos was riding towards us on a golden chariot as an easy dozen Laistrygonian giants carried bright torches around the titan. He was moving at an easy pace, leszurly even. Something that I noticed that he tended to do when he was feeling overly confident, not because he was as cocky as he appeared to be, but because he was saving his energy and letting the enemy wear themselves out first. Smart tactic, but extremely annoying to be on the other side of.

The enemy had managed to back us up ten more feet before worry started to seep into my movements. It was far too early for us to be taking this fight up the Olympus just yet, we needed to hold out for longer, but the allies around Chuuya and I were dropping fast. But just as those thoughts started, they were stopped by a sudden and blaring noise tearing across the battlefield.

A hunting horn.

It wasn't just one either. After the initial noise, a whole symphony of the instruments sang out from all around us, creating their own haunting concert echoing through Manhattan.

At some point in the battle Thalia had made her way over to Chuuya and I as all of the forces, enemy and allied alike, were scrunched together. I glanced at the girl and found her frowning at the noise.

"This isn't you guys," the Hatrack guessed from her expression as I had, "is it?"

The forever younger girl shook her head at the question. "No, all of the Hunters are already here," she confirmed. "This isn't us."

The haunting melody grew louder and louder as the source of it drew closer, the echo throwing off my sense of just which direction it was that they were coming from and how many there were, but I knew that they were coming fast.

I looked down at Chibi, but found him already looking up at me, the dagger that I had given him glinting dangerously in his hand as his one in Yokohama would be when we're in situations like this when he could afford to take reckless shots at the enemy and hit an alley.

"Enemies?" He questioned, the dagger glowing dangerously in his hand as if it would burst into flames at any given moment, just like the original explosion that had created Suribachi City.