Nico's Quest

Chapter 5

The moment they entered the portion of the Duat where Bast was, it was easy to see why she needed help. There were demons everywhere. Every. Freaking. Where.

"Not good," Nico groaned and jumped off Anubis's back. He remembered what Anubis had told him, and he knew that Anubis probably needed to plunge straight into the middle of the fray, since that's where Bast was fighting. A course of action like that would probably take every bit of power and concentration that Anubis had, and Nico knew he'd only be in the way.

"Wait here!" Anubis ordered, and shape-shifted into his half-human, half-jackal form, growing so that he stood twelve feet tall before he raced forward and literally dove into the legion of demons surrounding Bast.

Nico covered his mouth and fought back the nausea, but was surprised when it wasn't so bad this time. He only felt sick for a couple seconds and then he was fine.

"Wait here," he muttered. "Yeah. Like that's going to happen."

He wasn't psycho enough to think plunging into a sea of Egyptian demons was a good idea, namely since he wasn't an un-killable god like Anubis and Bast were, but that didn't mean he was going to stand by and do nothing while they fought for . . . well, not their lives, but while they fought their hearts out like they were currently doing. He could at least cut down some of the demons who stood between them and the exit, help clear a path and all.

So that's what Nico did.

It worked to his advantage that all the focus was on the two gods. It meant that he could slice down his enemies from behind, and that was something Nico had absolutely no moral qualms against. Percy would have balked, he knew, but Percy was a morally better person than Nico, and Nico would be the first to admit it. That didn't mean Nico was a bad person. People like Percy needed people like Nico on their sides, Nico knew. They needed people who weren't honorable to carry out black bag ops, or drastically thin out their enemy's troops by any means necessary.

Nico cut down a dozen demons who never even realized he was there before they began to realize he was a threat. And that was when the real fun started. The demons began converging on him, like they'd enjoy nothing more than tearing him to pieces. Which was funny, because that was exactly how Nico felt about them. He felt his demigod reflexes begin to shift into overdrive, giving him a heightened sense of awareness, and with that came the incredible feeling that made him feel more alive than he could describe.

Combat.

Battle.

War.

It was what demigods were hardwired for, all of them, even the ones who claimed they wanted nothing to do with it. Sometimes, like now, Nico felt like this was the reason he was alive.

And it made him damn glad that they hadn't gotten some boring happily-ever-after when the Battle of Manhattan was finished. It made him glad there were still enemies to kill.

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What have you gotten yourself into, you stupid cat?" Anubis berated Bast the moment he was close enough for her to hear.

"About time, dog!" shouted Bast, right back at him. "What took you so long?"

Anubis gave her a wordless growl as he cut down demon after demon and fought his way to the cat goddess's side. "You've been waiting, what, five minutes?" he asked he was close enough to speak without having to shout over the dying wails of demons between both of them.

"More like ten!"

"You've always been a drama queen, you know?" said Anubis. "We just didn't have a word for it back at the dawn of civilization. Otherwise you'd be the patron goddess of drama queens and divas, you annoying -"