The Male Hunter | Olympus' Traitor #1

Chapter 45: Return of Heroes

Whirling around Percy could see a bright white light dying out, revealing hundreds figures clad in armor and bristling with weapons. The sight made tears well in Percy's eyes, to his left stretched three cohorts worth of Roman soldiers, a regal man astride a horse behind them. To his right stretched figures clad in Greek armor; some in a phalanx formation, some as swordsmen, and some as archers. However, it wasn't the sheer number of reinforcements that caused his reaction, it was who was in it. In front of the greek forces stood eight people that Percy had never expected to see on Earth again, Zoë Nightshade, Bianca Di' Angelo, Ethan Nakumura, Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, Charile Beckendorf, Silena Bueareard, and Luke Castellan. Upon taking a closer look at the Greek reinforcements, Percy could also see faces of those who had fallen during the Titan and Giant Wars.

Examining the Roman troops, Percy saw another familiar face. Located in the second cohort, and dressed in the armor of a Centurion, stood a man with a glowing yellow eye and four scars across his face. "Jacob," Hannah whispered from next to Percy. With a smirk on his face, the demigod son of Apollo sent a wink towards the handful of people who had turned to investigate the bright flash behind them.

However, this moment didn't last long as the man astride the horse spoke in a commanding tone. "Legion, defend the Eagle and drive back these barbarian!" he ordered in Latin, using his sword to point towards the Eagle Standard carried by the twelfth legion. It was smoking from overuse, and about to be overrun.

Immediately, the reinforcements lept into action. "For Rome!" they cried as they ran to reinforce their brothers and sisters in arms.

Seeing what was happening, Luke also took action. "Charge!" he shouted and then took off running towards the flank where the small number of Camp Half-Blood defectors were defending the Hunt's flank. The swordsmen charged in after him, the spear formation following suit. As Luke was leading his charge, Zoë took command of the archers and led them to group up with the Hunters.

" Zoë?" Atalanta exclaimed incredulously.

"Aye, tis me," the Huntress confirmed.

"But, you're-" Atalanta started.

"Dead?" Zoë interrupted. "Aye, as art all of us. Now I suggest that we focus on the battle at hand." Atalanta merely nodded, not exactly sure what is happening.

Romans were running by to reinforce their comrades when Percy noticed something. "Greeks, right flank!" he shouted, pointing towards where some of Annabeth's Greeks were approaching the Hunters, spears and swords bristling in between their shields.

Suddenly, a shout could be heard over the fray. "Cohort!" Jacob ordered in Latin. "Defend the auxilia!" he then led his troops over to the right flank. Jake then gave another order. "Incapacitate, but do not kill!" Then, with a roar the Roman cohort charged into battle. Immediately, Romans started falling. They were not aiming to kill, but the Greek traitors were. Then, as if a gift sent from the gods themselves, Leo swooped out of the sky with Festus and plowed his way right through the center of the enemy lines, sending Greek demigods flying.

He then went to swoop down for another pass, but a bolt of lightning struck him out of the sky before he could do so. "Jason," Thalia growled, shouldering her bow and bringing her spear and shield to bear. The Daughter of Zeus then started stalking resolutely towards the battle between Jacob's cohort and the traitors. Not willing to let her go alone, Percy pulled out Riptide and followed. This then caused Hannah and Clara to follow suit, Hannah forming her own spear from the Mist and Clara reverting her ring from the bow to the spear.

Upon closer inspection, they could make more sense of the situation. The Roman troops were breaking the Greeks, causing them to retreat back towards friendly lines. Off to the side they could see Jacob dueling Jason one on one, but he was losing. The Son of Jupiter was just too powerful and had gotten under his guard, rendering the spear Jake carried useless. It took all he had to defend himself with his shield. Noticing the reinforcements running towards Jacob, Jason tried to end it quickly, but before he could a burst of lightning blew him backwards. "Thalia," he growled as he got back to his feet, seeing his sister stalking towards him. He stood confidently at first, but then he saw the look in Thalia's eyes. It was a look of pure rage, resentment, hate, and pain. Jason knew that she wouldn't hesitate to kill him, and he was worried. With a cry, Thalia charged Jason. She attacked with a fury that nobody had seen before, Jason could barely keep up. "Now hold on," he panted out as he blocked a strike from her spear. "We can talk about this, you're my sister."