Chapter Text
The man sniffed the air and grunted, gripping his spear. "Not buttered toast."
He turned his head and continued marching along with the monsters, thinking of his friend. Within the confines of his armor, he heard a soft meow.
He smiled.
"Oi!" one of the other four armored monsters yelled. "Keep your head on the path! Wait. Hold on. What is that smell?"
The man frowned. "Probably the smell of Erebus's boosts, brother. We're traveling with many who suffer from it."
The other man rolled his eyes. "For the last time, it's not a curse, Iapetus. It's a blessing. He gave us these new bodies, and he gave them," he said as he gestured to all the weaker monsters, "stronger abilities. All good things."
"These 'new bodies' are too similar to each other for my taste," Iapetus said, looking at the other two large, armored monsters. "Wouldn't you agree? Krios? Koios?"
Krios shrugged. "We are stronger now. That's all that is important for a war."
Koios nodded. "Yes. I hate to say it, but Hyperion is correct. These are not curses."
Hyperion, the man who had argued with Iapetus, now grinned. "See? Besides, you should count yourself lucky to be with us after that stunt you pulled a couple of years ago."
Iapetus gripped his spear. "I told you. I was misguided. After what happened recently to our brother, I could not stand by any longer. He did not deserve what that leader did to him."
Hyperion shivered. "Agreed. Being torn apart like that, ugh. What metal did that leader even use?"
"Some otherworldly one," Koios said. "The same kind our new weapons are made of."
Hyperion smiled and unsheathed his gold twin swords. "Can't wait to use these babies."
Iapetus gripped his spear. "Same. Spilling the blood of demigods... I missed it."
"Huzzah to that!" Hyperion yelled. "Huzzah!"
The smaller monsters grouped between the four Titans all cheered.
"Kill the demigods!"
"Spill their blood!"
"Burn down that camp like we did the first!"
"Ground their bodies to dust!"
Krios laughed at the monsters excitement and cracked his knuckles. "Yes! I can't wait to meet that Son of Jupiter on the battlefield."
"Remember," Koios said. "Our only job is to kill. Play no favorites."
"Fine," Krios said. "But if one of you gets the chance to kill him, tell him I wish him the worst."
Hyperion swished his twin swords through the air. "Of course, brother. Does anyone else have messages?"
"Should you fight Artemis," Koios said. "Tell her that her grandfather is disappointed in her."
Hyperion grinned. "I'll keep that in mind. Iapetus, anything?"
"That daughter of Athena," he said. "Give her my regards. When we traveled through Tartarus, I saw the bits of her that would be easy to exploit. Bad parts of her that she didn't notice. Parts that eventually led to Perseus Jackson disappearing. Give her my thanks for that."
Krios chuckled. "Do they really think they stand a chance without Perseus?"
Koios glared at him. "Remember that they took out Kronos in minutes. Easily. Do not underestimate your opponents."
"Yeah, but they're missing both their leader and that stupid Satyr," Hyperion said. "Two important figures. Two leaders, gone. Watching them struggle to -"
Koios picked up a rock and chucked it at Hyperion. "What did I just say?"
The rock bounced off Hyperion's helmet, but it sent the desired message.
"Fine," Hyperion grumbled. "This fight will be difficult. Happy?"
Koios nodded. "Yes. Although, once some of our half-brothers join, it should get easier."
"How angry do you think Clytius is?" Hyperion asked with a smirk.
"Probably infuriated," Krios said. "He really wanted revenge against that Pluto girl, but instead, he's stuck guarding that stupid water dude."
Immediately, a blast of water shot out of the ground, directly into Krios's face, sending him crashing to the ground.
"You idiot!" Koios hissed through his teeth. "Didn't you learn from last time? Never trash talk a primordial."
Krios wiped off his face. "But - he's super far away! Trapped! How did he -"
"How do you think?" Iapteus asked. "He sensed it. Just because he's trapped doesn't mean he can't react."
Krios grumbled and pushed himself up. "Fine. I won't trash talk anymore. Happy?"
Koios nodded. "Yes."
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"There it is!" Hyperion said, pointing one of his swords forward. "The rendezvous point!"
The group of monsters all walked out of the forest, entering a clearing with a massive Monster Donut in the middle. As they approached, monsters began to stream out and cheer. Iapetus gripped his spear tightly as he walked closer to the establishment.
Hyperion laughed as the group reached the building. "Thank goodness! I was getting tired of walking!"
He dropped down onto one of the outside chairs, making it shake. "When will our brothers get here?"
Koios shrugged and sat across from him. "Who knows. Maybe three days. Maybe an hour."
"Then let's eat!" Hyperion bellowed. "Brothers, join us!"
Krios and Iapetus both sat in the last two seats, filling the circular table.
"You," Hyperion said, quickly pointing at a passing monster. "Go get us food."
The monster nodded in fear and ran into the building, climbing over the group that was still trying to enter.
"So," Hyperion said, looking at Iapetus. "Happy to see you siblings again?"
Iapetus nodded. "Of course. The giants will give a massive advantage. Remind me again, who will be joining us?"
Krios snorted. "Come on, brother. You remember."
Iapetus shook his head. "I think the Lethe is still giving me side effects."
Krios sighed. "Fine. Thoon, Periboia, and then the Giant twins."
"Ah. Right," Iapetus said. "That will be... interesting."
Hyperion smirked. "Are you missing Damasen, brother?"
"What?" Iapetus asked. "Of course not. He made his choices, and now he's where he deserves to be."
Koios nodded. "Good answer."
A telkhine walked up to the table, holding multiple boxes of donuts.
"H-here you go, s-sirs," it said.
Hyperion grabbed the boxes and placed them on the table, showing the monster away. As they began to eat, a horn blew. Turning, they all looked to a different part of the forest from the one they entered.
The trees and bushes rumbled until a giant mob of monsters burst out of it, running to the monster Donut. And behind them, four giants, all of whom also had new bodies and armor, followed.
Iapetus gulped.
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They were getting close to the camp. Iapetus could feel it. The massive group of monsters walked forward, inching closer and closer to the camp.
-
"There's so many of them," Thalia whispered in disbelief from the trees. "We need to get to camp."
She bounded away from the monsters, using everything in her power to go as fast and quiet as she could.
-
A bright, silver flash caught the attention of Iapetus. He shifted his eyes to look at the tree the flash had come from, just barely seeing it shake. Hopefully, no one else -
"Did anyone else see that?' Periboia asked.
Her siblings and step siblings all turned to look at her.
"See what?" Hyperion asked.
She pointed up to the tree. "A flash of silver. I didn't see what it was, only the flash. I think someone was spying."
"Hm," Koios said. "Troubling. If it was something with connections to the camp, they could be warned of our force. Perhaps we send someone to check?"
Thoon slowly raised his finger towards Iapetus. "You. Go kill."
Iapetus gripped his spear. "I'm not the fastest here, I think -"
Periboia shook her head. "No. Thoon is right. We can't fully trust you yet. If that was a demigod, then go kill it. We'll trust you then."
"...fine," Iapetus said. "I will."
-
"Go go go," Thalia said urgently. "We need to get to camp! The group is so, so much bigger than last time."
"We can't rest?" One of the hunters asked, currently packing up her tent.
Thalia shook her head. "No. No, absolutely no. We need to go now."
"Alright," Pheobe said. "We'll travel through the night, and then what? Continue traveling? It's not like we can -"
A massive man with a spear and silver armor burst out of the forest before stopping and staring at them. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, especially Thalia, who recognized him from the group of monsters.
She spoke as fast as she could, yelling so everyone could hear. But even she, the lieutenant of Artemis, was unable to beat the reaction time of a stronger than normal Titan.
"HUNTE- GAKH!"
-
Iapetus trudged back out of the forest and rejoined the group, walking alongside them and making no noise.
"Well?" Periboia asked.
Iapetus raised his spear. The tip was drenched in blood, and massive drops would fall to the ground every couple of seconds.
"They're gone," he said emotionlessly.
Periboia smiled. "Good. Well done, Iapetus."
Iapetus stayed silent and lowered his spear, just looking forward with no emotion.
And so they continued walking, content that their attack on Camp Half-Blood was still a secret.
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As they neared the hill itself, some monsters walked to the front of the group. They were imports from space, and all had no face, as well as tentacles where limbs would be. but other than that, they were humanoid. They all stood in front of the group and held hands, making what looked like a bubble appear around the group.
According to Erebus, it was an invisibility bubble. Anything inside would be impossible to see. Very useful for stealth and ambushes. The group walked forward until they reached the beginning of the hill and stopped.
"Here is good," Periboia said. "The invisibility bubble will hold. Let us rest."
All the monsters immediately laid down, tired from walking. But as Iapetus stared up at the starry sky, he only had questions for them.
"Did you miss me?" He whispered to himself before he began to drift off to sleep. But right before his eyes shut and he entered the realm of Morpheus, he asked his second question.
"Are you proud of me?"
