Chapter 35: Leo

"Wandering aimlessly through the Dark Forest," I muttered to myself, mentally chiding Reyna about giving us such poor instructions on where we were meant to go.

She had stood in front of the entire legion, commanding the three girls to go search for the three boys who had disappeared. She had said that Frank and herself, the two praetors and most respected figures in the legion were going to provide backup and wander into the forest. Then, what had she done? She had disappeared and left command to Frank and me.

What experience do I have in commanding an entire legion of angry roman soldiers screaming for blood? On top of that, who was the one who blew up New Rome? Now, who was the one who was temporarily in command with Frank? There was no way that she seriously thought that I was best for the job.

I would never understand that woman.

Frank and myself were walking side by side, with the entire legion behind us, down a narrow pathway in near pitch dark, the only semblance of light being provided by the silvery orb drifting across the sky, providing the bare minimum illumination that was required without me needing to summon my fire and light our torches.

The torches only had a short duration, so we had to preserve them, not only for their light but also for the warmth that they provided. North Scotland was especially chilly this time of year and since the majority of our force was not used to dealing with extreme temperatures, I realized that lighting the torches sooner rather than later was an inevitability.

I summoned a minuscule speck of scarlet into my right palm, before whispering to Frank, "Tell the legion to stop, its time to light the torches and warm everyone up."

Frank stopped instantaneously and held out his right hand in a 'stop' position.

The message was seemingly communicated even in this fading light, noted by the sound of weapons being sheathed and armour clumsily clinking together. The group of around 100 demigods had shrunk dramatically, there were an incomprehensible number of casualties and wounded. It would be a miracle if this final battle went in our favour.

Nonetheless, I calmly walked up the line of demigods, absentmindedly tapping my left arm on my armour, while carefully lighting up the stubs of wood, keen not to set fire to our reinforcements. As I wandered down the group, I saw familiar faces that greeted me with weary smiles, mostly from my old buddies at the Hephaestus Cabin. The Romans seemed to also warm up to me, smiling at me as I provided them with a source of light and heat. Seemingly Reyna's trust of me was good enough that they no longer held a grudge for me destroying a part of their home. That was a definite positive.

I finally made it near the end of the convoy, the last cart holding the make-shift shelter for all the wounded and the dead. I jumped up on top of the cart, tapping one of the horses lightly on the muzzle before making my way inside.

"Haemostat please," I heard a voice plead out, the tone indicative of his extreme irritation. The voice belonged to none other than Will Solace, the most accomplished healer, including those from both camps. Both his authority and experience were so great that even the typically stubborn and proud roman healers seemed to defer to him as their leader. Before talking to him, I observed a smaller boy with a strikingly similar head of blond hair frantically run around, briefly rummaging through a brightly coloured box before brandishing a pair of scissor-like apparatus and transferring them to Will.

Officially, my task of lighting torches down our friendly line was completed. But, I wanted to survey the wounded and dead; gathering a strategy of what to do, a plan of attack if you will. I'm sure Frank already had one, but I was still undeniably curious.

"You alright there Will?" I asked gently, walking up towards the Son of Apollo.

He didn't even look at me, instead keenly focused on the patient he was currently treating, a boy around our age who appeared to be a roman soldier. The healer began to pinch around an incision with his scissors, his eyes narrowing as his brow furrowed in deep concentration. After seemingly stemming the bleeding, Will took two large places backwards as he handed over the treatment of the injured boy to a girl who was standing just behind him.

After briefly wiping the pouring perspiration from his forehead, the blonde slumped down in the chair to his left, exhausted. He seemingly ignored my question from earlier, too absorbed in both his work and perhaps due to how tired he was. There was a second chair next to him, and I immediately sank into it, grateful for how relaxing and refreshing it was to finally sit down, not in injury but to relax from the traumatic turmoil that had just unfolded over the last few hours.

Will finally flicked his head up, seemingly noticing me for the first time.

"Yeah, I'm alright Leo, how are you doing?" Will finally replied, after acknowledging my presence with a wry smile. I looked into his piercing blue eyes, gone was the usual happiness and mirth. Instead, it was replaced by forced solemnity and a pensive gaze.

I suddenly felt, observed.

Like he was simply looking upon me to find any faults and if I was injured in any shape or form. It appeared compassionate, but I still couldn't dash feelings of uncertainty whenever I was around the guy. Nevertheless, I was good friends with the guy, we went way back.

"How are casualties and wounded looking?" I muttered gravely, hanging my head slightly. All the injuries and deaths could be partially attributed to me. If I didn't have to deal with my body losing control over the last few weeks, which reached a peak in the recent battle, I perhaps could've saved some of them from a horrific fate.

"Not good at all Leo," Will replied, staring up at the ceiling, looking exhausted, but also wistful, perhaps even optimistic about the future. "Out of the hundred or so demigods that we started with, maybe sixty remain if that. Both the Twelfth Legion and the groups that we got from Camp Half-Blood are a shadow of their former strength. If the tide of battle turns against us, if we lose our momentum for even a second, we could be in a very dangerous position," He muttered, his head still keenly observing the ceiling, drinking in its simple, shoddily boarded up interior. "However, with the star power that we've got, I wouldn't count us out at all," Will explained, lightly twirling one of his blond locks around his middle finger and cracking a dazzling smile.

"Yeah, the only issue is that we've lost six of our big guns" I laughed out, feeling slightly more at ease after talking to someone else.

"Seven," Will corrected. "You can't forget Nico," Will muttered out, his eyes looking out far into the distance, a faint smile turned his lips upward and the crinkles around his eyes slightly softening.

"Yeah sorry, I bet he'll maul me for forgetting him," I laughed out, any residual suspense and worry, fluttering out of me as I had the first relaxing and stress-free situation in a while. It was simply a casual conversation… about death and the wounded. That was the closest that demigods got to normal though.

Will hadn't appeared to hear me, instead continually staring off into the distance, inevitably thinking about Nico. Nico had an odd way of putting a lot of people off, except for Will. They grew closer together and their affection for each other was undeniable, it was quite admirable, instead of being repelled by Nico's dark and sinister aura, the son of Apollo learned to look past it, embrace it even.

My mental soliloquy was interrupted with Will abruptly standing up. Another girl had called him over to help with someone on the table.

Will briefly turned over to me, "It was nice talking Leo," he declared, before spinning back on his heels. His face immediately changed into a mask of calm, focused purely on helping others without any regard for himself. It was a quality that I and anyone would envy. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I never even heard them coming… as thunder echoed in the background.

Frank:

Leo had just departed, on a trip to bring warmth and light to the remainder of our forces. I didn't appreciate it at all. What it had done was simply left me alone with my thoughts and inhibitions. Reyna hadn't given us explicit directions, she was supposed to command the forces along with me, we were the two praetors. The two leaders and she had vanished. Granted, the reason was undeniably valid, but it still felt… off.

My mind was wandering, reflecting on everything that we had done, then it dawned on me. Had we made a meaningful contribution, a difference? Sure, we had repelled a deadly monster invasion, but our goal was to protect Harry, that was the one thing that Chiron had asked us to do. Right now, Harry was off at the Ministry of Magic and we had let him go. The decision still didn't sit correctly with me, but what choice did we have? A monstrous army comprised of our worst nightmares was going to destroy the most famous school of magic on the planet, and I had grown quite fond of said school.

Then, three of our most skilled warriors had disappeared, then four more had gone looking for them. We had schemed to go help Harry after this, but it was impossible given our current plight.

My mind continued wandering, my inattentiveness bringing me an unwanted surprise.

"How's it going?" Someone asked from behind me. I spun around quickly, my hand seamlessly brandishing the bow, as I made a move to remove an arrow from the quiver. A monstrous girl occupied my entire field of view and it instantly clicked who it was.

"What do you want Clarisse?" I breathed out exasperatedly, rapidly clicking two fingers on my right hand in boredom as I laid my weapons down.

"Nothing much," she replied, "I just wanted to talk to a fellow son of Ares about what we are going to do?"

"Mars," I hastily corrected. "Either way, our plan of attack is useless when we don't have a clue what enemy we're up against. Percy, Jason and Nico are currently fighting whatever the enemy is. On top of that, we're missing our prime strategists, with Annabeth and Reyna both looking for the guys!"

"So, what you're saying is that we don't have a plan at all?" Clarisse replied, a smirk dawning on her face.

"No, we do have a few plans, it's just that we can't put any of them into action and execute them effectively without knowing what we're up against." I reasoned, surely thinking that a daughter of the war god would understand.

"Spoken like a true strategist," Clarisse replied, a rare smile on her face as we began our conversation about battle tactics. Clarisse immediately began speaking, as I brandished a piece of parchment I had smuggled out of Hogwarts and began to introduce our plans, only to be immediately cut off by Clarisse.

"I understand what you're saying Frank, but if you just let me make a few adjustments, it would be even better," she urged. I was in no mood to argue and handed off the roll of papyrus to the daughter of Ares, eagerly waiting for her adjustments.

We walked silently side by side, the rough scribbles on the scroll and the light stomping of feet in the mulchy soil the only real sounds as we continued our crusade through the musty woodland.

Surely that son of Hephaestus should be back, I thought, my mind threatening to wander in the sheer mundanity of our expedition.

BANG!

I started slightly, taking a few backward paces and nearly colliding with a majestic pine to my right. I watched as three streaks of white-hot lightning collided with the earth. A sonorous echo produced by the rapid claps of thunder, threatening the very existence of my eardrums as I dropped down to the ground, clutching my ears in agony. The thunder seemed to disorient our entire force, I heard a loud commotion immediately erupt from our two flanks. My mind instantly jumped to the worst conclusion: we were being attacked.

Panic ensued, I immediately broke away from the front of the line, frantically rushing down to the back of our cohort, where the infirmary was stationed, we had to protect those who were already wounded, perhaps it was a force of stragglers who were trying to assassinate those who were the weakest.

Once Clarisse and I had reached the back, I saw what we were up against.

Mountains of Laistrygonians and Hyperboreans formed an insurmountable initial shield, with swathes of horrific creatures bringing up the flanks. How had these creatures managed to coordinate themselves so well, timing their attack to a single clap of thunder? Were they so coordinated that they timed it with the thunder to mask their motions? If so, that was seriously impressive.

"A sneak attack," I muttered to myself, this must've been this 'mastermind' that Percy, Jason and Nico would've been fighting at this very moment. This was their goal, after we destroyed their initial force, assaulting Hogwarts, the rest immediately pulled back. Once the heavy hitters were out of the way, send the rest of the survivors in and attack the reinforcements. Whoever was planning this enemy's plan of attack was extremely battle-smart and aware. But I should've seen it coming. It was a classic tactic. We were preparing for the fight ahead and we had let our guard down. I mentally chided myself, it was my fault this happened, and now I had to coordinate a tired and dishevelled fighting force against a terrifying enemy.

I ran to our flanks, Leo had stumbled out of the infirmary, muttering profanities at the sudden jolt to our so-far quite peaceful outing. Thankfully, our paranoia had forced us into unceasingly wearing our armour, so we were still somewhat prepared for the oncoming battle.

"Everyone out!" I yelled out, briefly spinning around to make sure that my message was communicated, "Assume forward echelon defensive line!"

Within moments, the legion began to fan out around me, assuming the strong defensive formation. Leo, who was beside me was the only one level with me, assuming joint control of the group. The echelon defensive formation is highly effective, especially when attempting to control a slightly larger area of land, which this convoy commanded.

Everyone from the legion managed to arrange themselves accordingly, while the remaining Greek Cabins had their own smaller chain of command, with each leader of the cabin being the head of their slight diversion of the diagonal. The diagonal formation playing a role in visual coordination, so hopefully, I could focus more keenly on the battle, and my fellow legionnaires would understand without me having to explicitly give out orders.

The head Laistrygonian began to wander forward, his lumbering limbs uprooting smaller saplings and rumbling the roots of the taller foliage when it dawned on me. These giants were so massive, even in this forest, their movement was limited. If we could encircle them, and perhaps disrupt their main fighting force, we stood a chance. Especially with the Demeter Cabin remaining intact, their control of flora would be invaluable. While thinking, I almost didn't see the fist hammering downwards from a ninety-degree angle.

Leo dived, throwing me to the left, as the fist of the eight-foot behemoth left a small crater, as dust and dirt exploded outwards, veiling the giant's advance.

"Katie!" I screeched out, dodging another fist from the giant, his armour glinting palely in the dying light. "Send the Demeter Cabin to the left flank, cut off their forces of Dracanae and Earthborn. Manipulate the plants to your advantage!" I continued, narrowly dodging a conglomeration of earth and rock that a nearby Earthborn had flung blindly at me.

"Got it!" Katie replied before a few demigods followed my instructions, weaving the undergrowth to their will. I continued to bellow out orders, gathering the fighting force, keen to orchestrate a deadly strike.

"Ares to the right, attack the right flank, catch them in a pincer grip, prevent their retreat and cut off their reinforcements. Legion! You must remain with me, we are the true defensive line, we must protect the wounded in the infirmary."

A loud bellow came out from my fellow demigods, but I wasn't done, there was a major issue with our right side. With the Ares Cabin focusing on the attack, only the Hecate and a few other cabins along with part of the legion would be faced with a full-frontal assault. After barking out a few more orders, our attack could finally commence.

Leo and I charged blindly forward, attacking the first three Laistrygonians that appeared in our path. The fluid motion between the two of us, the transition from the lunge of a spear to the thrust of a hammer destroyed their defensive line, which opened up the opportunity for a counter-attack.

"Leo, branch off with the right side, we're relying on your gadgets and your skills to disrupt and cause turmoil within their lines."

Leo nodded swiftly, before calling out his own orders.

The battle was going confusingly well, Leo's half of the warriors began their counterattack, first butchering the initial lines of Laistrygonian Giants, before cutting a bloody swathe through the troops of the enemy.

The same could be said for our groups, the Laistrygonians simply melted with the effects of the archery, their only counter to their long-range utility to clumsily throw giant rocks and heaps of earth at our lines. With careful coordination, this was anything but effective, only a minor nuisance at best. It was almost like it was too easy. I thought nothing of it, simply pleased that our attack was going so well and that everyone was working together like a well-oiled machine. So well, that I let my guard down, foolishly.

I finished cleaving through a set of twin empousae with my spear before stepping back and ordering another volley of arrows to be shot into the enemy line. Mars had provided me with a plentiful supply of utility arrows. I decided that trying this arrow would be good. I didn't know what it did, perhaps my father should invest in labels for his arrows.

I launched the projectile, before it exploded above the enemy lines, showering them in a deluge of water. It wasn't what I wanted, but at least it displaced them. I laughed slightly, this battle was going too easily. I got cocky, and that was my downfall.

I heard a large bellow erupt from the undergrowth behind us, and dozens of Hyperboreans spilt out from behind the foliage. These Hyperboreans had the unique ability to turn the air immediately around them freezing. Due to this, the temperature dropped by at least five degrees with them still being extremely far away.

Damn!

This frontal force was only a diversion. These Hyperboreans wanted to escape undetected and launch a rear attack. The whole time I had been aiming to set up a pincer assault and push through the opposing force, but they had flipped the scales by setting us up perfectly. Whoever was commanding this assault couldn't be one of these braindead giants, they were crafty and adept at commanding these troops.

If only Bob was still here.

The friendly titan would've singlehandedly helped us turn this battle around, but he oddly refused to enter the forest, he looked apprehensive, even terrified at the prospect. Maybe he had something against forests? Or maybe he knew exactly what we were going up against and didn't fancy his chances. Looking at this, I didn't blame him for bailing on us.

"Leo!" I screamed out, desperate for the little midget's help at a moment like this. The Hephaestus kids were the only ones who I could easily deal with these creatures. Of course, I could shape-shift, but then these people would lose their main commander, who would be the one who would lead them and order them on their new plan of attack. Shape-shifting would have to be a last-ditch solution to this, but in this situation, it might be necessary.

The battle died down, the opposition forces seemed to relax, knowing victory was at hand. The Demeter Cabin retreated to us, the convoy was the only thing between us and the Hyperboreans, and in front of us was still a quite intimidating force. Even the usually bloodthirsty Ares kids had pulled back on their offensive manoeuvre once they realized that we were trapped.

There was only one way out of this, and it required unbelievable co-ordination and a lot of luck. Leo and the remainder of the Hephaestus Cabin galloped up towards me as I explained my plan to them. Thankfully, the enemy was gracious enough to allow me a few minutes to think over a plan, almost as if they were awaiting orders to strike from another force, the true mastermind behind this attack.

Leo being our only fire user would be the head of this formation, while everyone else focused on providing support.

"Assume Phalanx Shell," I echoed to the legion. Only the Athena, Ares and Hephaestus Cabins, along with the Legion understood my orders. Camp Half-Blood could barely be described as well-versed in combat strategies. Their strategies seemed to rely on purely either outthinking the opponent or charging blindly into battle, hoping to overpower the foe. But, the assimilation of the two camp's culture, it wasn't hopeless.

The phalanx formation is meant to create a shield protecting everyone who was in the formation, thus creating an impregnable defence. The only issue is that it required extreme care and precision to be effective. As the two camps assimilated into the ideal formation, Leo took the head. The phalanx worked by putting your best men on the front, to both push forward and break the enemy formation as well as do the majority of the damage. The rear would act mainly as a defensive unit, to protect our flanks from assault. In this case, we arranged the Phalanx, with Leo, the Ares and Hephaestus Cabins at the front, who were the most physically capable and a devastating front force would be our only hope here, to blow through the Hyperboreans before they could coordinate more effectively. We needed a quick decisive blow if we wanted any chance and I had to trust that the Phalanx would hold together. I had placed the Athena Cabin at the back, hopefully, their craftiness and stratagems could hold back the assault from their original force.

If we broke apart, we would be butchered. If we lost Leo, we would similarly also be slaughtered. Those two were of paramount importance.

I gave the order for the Phalanx to march forward, but the Hyperboreans didn't appear to be moving forward, instead of standing there oddly, with a dumb expression on their faces as if their commander had abandoned them, leaving them on their own.

The Phalanx relied on the use of spears, as a method of ranged attack, but in our haste, we were significantly lacking in quantity, thus we were immediately crippled from the outset. I had my spear and was doing my best to lead by example, with the Hyperboreans not moving until we were directly on top of them, perhaps it was too late.

This 'two-pronged Phalanx' as I had dubbed it, had a major drawback. We were focusing our attacks through the pushing force in front, with the defensive force behind, to prevent us from being overwhelmed. If only we had a secondary force that could protect our flanks, this formation would be almost impenetrable, foolproof even. Our rear-guard was severely undermanned.

Despite this, the phalanx was a tried and tested formation, with the Hyperboreans not even standing a chance, as we gradually yet effectively pummelled our way through. Seems like their commander abandoning them had thrown them into a panic, allowing us to capitalize.

The Phalanx was a Greek strategy but was immediately deemed obsolete by the Roman's by the legion's manoeuvrability and strategy, but in a situation where we were so overwhelmed, I had to hope that against a disorganized opposition (without the orders from the commander which had conveniently cut out at this moment) this primitive strategy would hold out.

It went surprisingly well at the start, despite the absence of the spears, our shields provided us with an ideal way to batter away from the rocks and earth that were thrown our way, and Leo did an impressive job or steering clear of, or melting any frost breath the Hyperboreans projected toward us. There was just one more flaw that I didn't take into account.

"Hahaaaa, what has happened now, you idiots!" Clarisse foolishly blabbed out. "There's no way you can break through our formation, you'd need to go above us!"

I wanted to crush Clarisse's throat at that exact moment. She had just revealed our other flaw to the opposition, one that could be easily capitalized on because of their size!

Almost immediately, the Hyperboreans immediately became more agile, more structured, and the attacks from our flanks became more co-ordinated, and we were losing structure. The back part of the phalanx began to drift apart. This mysterious commander had clearly returned from his 'sabbatical.'

To compound our woes, at that exact moment, a humungous Hyperborean emerged. He was at least twice the height of the other giants, his height was clearly more than 50 feet, towering above our formation. As expected, he blew his ice breath towards us from above, clearly heeding Clarisses' advice and I had no choice. I had to give the order.

"Scatter!" I screeched out, and immediately our formation broke apart. The left and right flanks divided away, leaving the main force at the front of our formation isolated. Problematically, it left Leo stranded in No Man's Land. Our attack had collapsed, and with no order, we were going to get slaughtered. I watched helplessly as Leo was forced into an individual duel with the largest of the Hyperboreans, and my heart sank as he was flung away, out of eyeshot into the depths of the forest, with the giant trailing after him.

I made to move towards him, before being cut off by a wall of ice, created by Hyperborean breath. I drew my bow and picked out a second arrow almost immediately. Silently pleading for this arrow to do something useful, I let the dart fly. My heart stopped as the shaft bounced harmlessly of the giant's skin. The giant looked unphased, taking another step towards me.

I was prepared to roll to the right to dodge his fist before the ice giant spontaneously combusted. I watched as the arrowhead conjured up a mystical fire that consumed the entirety of the monster. I sighed out in relief, before running up towards a second Hyperborean.

Unbeknownst to me, a second giant had conveniently relocated itself, slapping me with his free hand backwards, down a slope to the base of a tree. It felt like a giant iceberg had just collided with my head, carelessly tossing me to the side.

The agony and pure fury radiated off of me in waves.

The anger inside of me was unparalleled, and all the pent-up frustration exploded.

"A Dragon?" I heard someone exclaim.

I roared in pain, shifting into a dragon was an experience that was unparalleled in intensity, it left me completely exhausted. I drew inspiration from some of the books that Hogwarts had so generously provided, as well as some of my Grandmother's tales about dragons. Now, I had never seen a Chinese Fireball before, but I remembered my grandmother's stories, but I had simply dismissed as mythology and thought it was her being her typical nonsensical self. Only after being exposed to this crazy world that I realised that all her stories were true. Her descriptions of dragons were alarming, especially to a little boy. I channelled all that fear and fury into my transformation.

The Chinese Fireball was a terrifying dragon, but there was no way to hold onto a transformation that I hadn't prepared for or was ready for whatsoever. The only benefit I had going for me was that no one expected this little boy to turn into a towering Liondragon.

I turned to the lines of Hyperboreans and torched them instantaneously, scorching a swathe in the ranks. But then I made the foolish mistake of turning my back to them. I turned around in an attempt to incinerate the force now behind us, the original enemy. I managed to cough a tiny fireball out, my power rapidly waning, holding such a transformation was incredibly taxing, especially on a younger body. To compound this, a troop of massive Hyperboreans, each about half my height had managed to get themselves onto my tail. How had this happened? It was hopeless now. I was on a timer.

I pooled the remainder of my waning strength to my wings, determined to get off the ground and char these fools on my back. It's almost impossible to describe the act of getting a dragon into the air, it was equal parts agonising, yet strangely liberating. I had flown before, even with a dragon, but with such an odd and a new dragon that I had never shifted into before, it was a new experience. Unfortunately, flying turned out to be a blunder. Since I was weighed down by an inexorable force of giants, getting into the air was impossible, their cumulative weight unbearable to the point that I collapsed back onto them.

Then it all went black.

Thankfully, I came to moments later, the battle had descended into utter chaos, with both the enemy and our force lacking the depth and strategy to outclass one another. The agonising throb in my head was merciless like a jackhammer was incessantly pounded away in my head, the symptoms of changing shape were rarely this bad, but this was the price that likely had to be paid for such an exhausting and taxing transformation.

The only good thing that had come of this, was that the Hyperborean force was completely devastated.

I stumbled back up onto my feet, my boots slipping on the chilly and recently thawed mud and silt exuded by the forest floor. Unbelievably, the entire forest wasn't burning from both my dragon and my arrows and I counted my blessings for that at the very least.

I unsuccessfully attempted to wipe the tiredness from my eyes. My vision was fuzzy like a light grey cloud had descended over the entire battlefield. With my severely hampered mobility, I stumbled over to a nearby tree to support my weight. At least now, we didn't have to deal with the towering giants and could focus our attack purely on the original force.

I hastily drew my bow, pulling out an assortment of arrows, not caring which one I shot. This was another mistake, in a steadily growing list of blunders that I had recently piled up. In my bewildered stupor, archery was not a task that I really should've been doing.

It showed.

I missed my first target, a hellhound that had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Instead of taking it down silently, (with what turned out to be a freezing arrow), the creature was now alerted to my presence. The canine immediately ran towards me, tackling me to the ground with overwhelming force.

I gagged as I felt the wind knocked out of me, and I slumped to the ground defeated. After all this time, I was going to die at the hands, or paws rather of a stupid canine.

I closed my eyes, awaiting death's sweet embrace…

But it never came.

I opened my eyes to the sensation of golden dust falling lightly on me. I saw Clarisse towering over me, as she bent her hand down, to help me up. I smiled in gratitude, which she returned, as I felt reinvigorated like a load had been lifted from my back. I instantly felt more optimistic and renewed with a fervent vigour.

As I stood up (not without a light wobble), I immediately began surveying my surroundings, the battle on two fronts had now finally been focused back into a mono-directional battle, but the opposing troops were far more coordinated, must this mysterious commander that I had wondered about? Who were they? What did they gain from this?

I was just about to give the call for the Demeter Cabin to manipulate the undergrowth to our advantage, when I saw a second hellhound, bounding towards our convoy, undoubtedly keen on feasting on our infirm.

With a guttural cry, I rushed forward, spear in hand, before launching the projectile with vicious force, cleanly impaling the massive dog, which let out a weak cry before disintegrating into nothingness. It made me quite sad to kill another hellhound because Mrs O'Leary was Percy's dog, and while she wasn't currently with us, having disappeared mysteriously, it felt wrong to kill another hellhound.

No, these were cold-blooded killers, not anything like the amicable hound that I was familiar with.

With two clean steps, I jumped up onto the cart holding our make-shift sickbay. (the horses were nowhere to be seen). Inside, I saw the Apollo healers barely keeping everything and everyone together. The sounds of battle and the constant assaults on the group were undeniably both mentally and physically taxing on the healers. They relied on stability and safety, and we couldn't even provide that for them.

What if something happened, and we were forced to retreat, what would become of them? Could we save them in time to retreat? Then what would happen to the wounded and the dead? We couldn't just abandon them.

"Urghhh!" I exclaimed while tearing at the threads of hair stubbornly rooted to my head. Being a battle commander was unbelievably frustrating, having to juggle the possible scenarios and explanations behind tactics creating a minefield of chaos within my mind, while constantly having to wear a mask of calm as I commanded the troops.

Two more legion members were carried into the infirmary by another young Apollo boy, and it dawned on me that I wasn't in the battle. The force was nothing without a commander. I hurried out of the infirmary, landing back of the ground, with an oddly satisfying squelch.

The battlefield had devolved into a marshy mess, littered with puddles of mud from the recently thawed ice, carelessly trapping both friend and foe.

I dashed forward, slicing through two telekhines which tried to ambush me from the right. I ran behind up a small hill, before grabbing the lone tree roughly with my free hand, before anchoring myself to the spot. This allowed me a view of the entire battlefield, so I could cleanly and more effectively manoeuvre the troops from this altitude.

Immediately, it dawned on me.

There was a small gap that was emerging as the legions of Dracanae and Telekhines began to drift apart.

"Ares and Athena!" I called out, pleading that they could hear me over the din of the battle. I noticed that the Hephaestus and Demeter Cabins were fighting their own skirmishes and the Twelfth Legion was desperately trying to defend the infirmary, leaving me with only one option. "Surge through the gap in between their ranks, split their army apart from within!" I bellowed.

I prayed that they had heard me, and the message was seemingly relayed, as the children of Ares and Athena flowed directly into the centre of the battle and began to mercilessly cut down the unsuspecting monsters. Overall, it seemed that the tide of battle had turned in our favour.

I charged down the hill, confident that we could crush the enemy.

As soon as I ran down, a ghastly screech echoed from the area from behind us. It was a sound that I was terrified by, it was our Achilles heel.

Lycanthropes I thought, as I saw the pack of wolves stand above us, on top of the opposite hill that I was just on. The battle stood still, as everyone drank in the sight of the wolves. Werewolves like these could only be killed with silver, and if anyone of us was bitten, we would also turn into a werewolf.

AROOOOOOOO!

I had prayed that after the demise of Lycaon, we had seen the last of these hideous creatures, but evidently not. None of us had any way to hurt a werewolf. The only one in the entire legion who carried silver was Reyna and one of her dogs. But we had access to neither, thus we had no way to rid ourselves of these monsters.

I slowly panned to our forces, they had all came to the same realization as us. We were completely screwed.

I was immediately thrown into a dilemma. How can we save both the infirm, while also escaping away from the werewolves?

I immediately locked eyes with Clarisse, the impromptu second-in-command after Leo had disappeared.

What was taking him so long?

The Daughter of Ares' face sunk, and I immediately knew that she was thinking of abandoning the infirm, to preserve our forces and run away.

The thought disgusted me, but there was no way to defeat these lycanthropes. Ordering a retreat was going to be the only option.

I sighed in my head, just about to give the command for everyone to retreat. But just before I yelled it out, I saw Hazel's innocent face pop up in my head.

Would she approve of me abandoning the defenceless healers and the wounded? She was such a compassionate and wonderful person, completely void of any vindictive qualities. There was no way that she would be able to look at me in the eyes if I acted so selfishly.

But then I also recognized that sacrificing everyone to try and save a few healers would be suicide, and equally selfish. It was a complete Moral dilemma, I didn't know what I do. Do the strategically smart thing or do the morally right thing.

Mars had always said that strategy, doing the thing that statistically won the battle was of paramount importance. But what was the point of fighting if you couldn't protect the innocent, those who had given up everything and needed you to protect them. Without them, what did you have to fight for, your strength would be gone. The fight would already be lost.

But I also knew that only I could do what was necessary.

So, I gave the order.

"Everyone!" Retreat. We must abandon the current objective and regroup! We have no way to kill the lycanthropes!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

The response was immediate, there was very little structure, but everyone except for me turned tail and ran away. As she was making her escape, I approached Clarisse, grabbing the Daughter of Ares firmly by the arm before yanking her back to talk to her.

"Don't come back for me," I ordered, before turning my back, and ushering her away with a brief flick of my hand. I never looked back but had a sneaking suspicion that her face bore confusion and worry. Despite that, I heard her footsteps echo away through the undergrowth.

The monster army cheered, which confirmed my suspicions. We lost if we ran away.

The werewolves continued to snarl at me from atop the hill. I had to rescue the healers. If they got captured, killed or worse… then there was no way we could survive the upcoming battle. It was all down to me.

I imagined myself, my arms lengthening, stretching into wings. My eyesight sharpened and my mouth curved awkwardly into a beak. I imagined a Harpy Eagle, an eagle adapted perfectly to soaring in the rainforest and in between trees. It was perfect.

I left the group, my talons barely scraping the ground as I leapt into action. I immediately descended in front of the carriage holding the infirmary. Before any of the monsters registered that I had shifted, I changed back into my normal self and ran inside. There were two legionnaires that I had stationed previously, to guard the healers. I looked at them grimly, locking eyes with Will Solace specifically, who they all seemed to defer to as their leader.

"You came for us?" He asked, slightly puzzled as one of his eyebrows raised inquisitively.

"Yeah, there was no way I was going to abandon you guys," I muttered, cracking a half-hearted smile.

The horses that normally carried the infirmary were gone, so the only way to move them was to get another horse and I knew exactly where to get one.

"What are we gonna do about the werewolves?" A young Apollo boy said, his voice cracking with fear, as he hid near the back of the infirmary, desperately clutching to another young lady's (his sister I assumed) hand. The wolf howl had clearly spooked him.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan," I declared, before legging it out of the sick-bay. I landed slightly harder on my left ankle in my haste, which wasn't a good sign. The werewolves seemed to finally get their wits about them and charged down the hill towards me. The monster army also bellowed, before charging straight towards me. I knew I only had a few moments before they descended on top of me.

I desperately fastened the harnesses on my human body, hoping and praying to lady luck that somehow this transformation kept all the harnesses in the right spot. I hastily fastened the last few harnesses to my arms and legs, before imagining a horse. I thought of Arion's fabled speed and might. I thought of all the horses that I had seen, and the ones that had previously drawn this very carriage.

I felt my neck and torso lengthen, as my arms disappeared, moulding into a new pair of legs. I had no time to check if everything was working right, I was currently pulling a load that two horses were able to pull at a mild trot. I needed to put everything into this, not only to move the carriage quickly but only by myself. I put my back into it, letting my hooves and legs gallop freely away. I headed for the thicket, determined to reach the remaining demigods, then hopefully unloading the healers and the wounded, all before the lycanthropes caught up to us.

Now, the plan went awry almost immediately. Thankfully, being partially set on a hill made it much easier to gallop down towards the deposit of demigods. I felt the immense strain that it was to lug a ton of heavy equipment and demigods down, with ½ of the man (or in this case horsepower) required for such a task.

As I was running, I immediately heard the rabid snarling from two werewolves that were flanking me.

I knew that I could barely run away from them and I needed to be ridiculously lucky. If I got bit once, then it was game over. My hooves pounded away on the rough soil, tiny clouds of dust being thrown up in the wake of my movement. I didn't envy those currently in the carriage, mainly because they were being chased by werewolves and on top of that, they were transported in a very haphazard manner.

As I was clattering down the forest, I dared a look over my neck, as my mane continually bobbed up and down in tune with my rhythmic movements. The lycanthropes were a stone's throw away from me, but it dawned on me that I was only a hundred or so meters away from the rest of the demigods, who had wisely followed my strategy to retreat. All of a sudden, they turned around, as they saw a horse galloping with their infirmary, flanked by a pack or rapid lycanthropes, keen on murdering said horse.

The demigods continued retreating as I had ordered. But those who glanced back were, undoubtedly drinking in the irregularity of the situation. I hadn't told them my plan, but they surely must've assumed that it was me charging down towards them.

This chase had devolved into a desperate sprint to reach the rest of the demigods. If they could get away with the healers and the wounded, we stood a chance. I would have to fight this entire pack of werewolves by myself though, which I knew was impossible. We'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

I didn't dare to look back, I could practically feel the wolves salivated as their desire to brutally maul me radiated off the pack in waves. The ache all over my body swelled to almost intolerable levels as I neared the pack of demigods nestled in a convenient gap between the trees. Despite the now flat terrain of the forest, the real task was that while the distance was not too long, the trees posed a challenge. It was nigh impossible to navigate easily, but it had the added benefit of slightly throwing off the monstrosities that were currently trailing me.

Thirty meters away is when everything went wrong.

There was a majestic pine tree right in front of me, instead of diverting to the right to avoid it, I clumsily stepped to the left and collided headfirst into another tree. The sensation of yourself as a horse, colliding headfirst into a towering tree unexpectedly.

The force pulled me out of my transformation, as I shifted back into myself, lightly rubbing my head due to the incessant throbbing of my forehead. My mind momentarily wandered, forgetting that I was in a chase for my life.

The wheels had truly come off for my plan, as I watched the werewolves gradually catch up to me. The black beasts began slowing down, before cautiously beginning to encircle me, the kill was imminent. I staggered to my feet, determined to check on the healers within the carriage. There was no escape from this one.

The demigods were too far away to provide any meaningful aid at this point, and they were either way retreating. Under no circumstances had I ordered Clarisse to turn the ground around, unless they seemingly discovered some new way to kill these lycanthropes. Maybe if I could distract the wolves for long enough to allow the healers to escape, then we would have a chance in the following battle. It was the only chance that we had. There was the unlikely possibility that I could reason with these hounds, and with me being unable to kill them, I had no other choices.

I observed my surroundings, the door that opened to the infirmary was behind all the wolves. The only chance to protect them would be if I could distract the canines, which would allow them all to escape.

My head was spinning, but I tried to push the feelings of fatigue away, as I tried to concentrate on the task at hand. I didn't dare shape-shift. I doubted that I could even do it, given how much I had exerted myself recently, the injury to the head wasn't helping either.

I needed the wolves' attention on me.

"What do you get when you cross a wolf and a donkey?" I shouted out, straining to put a smiling expression on my face.

The joke clearly caught the lycanthropes off. I seriously doubt they were expecting the cornered Son of the War God to begin to mouth off as they were about to kill them. Their beady red eyes seemed to dial back in intensity, and they cocked their ears as if they were seriously invested in the joke.

The joke, of course, was a distraction. I needed to buy the healers and the wounded time to escape. While thinking this, I saw a curl of blond hair peek out from around the infirmary. The head then followed and I saw one of the female healers looking out at me, utterly terrified. Her piercing blue eyes peered into mine, desperately seeking commands.

I scoured the landscape, our troops were doing a good job of retreating, they never even stopped when they realized I had crashed or tried to come back with me. Clarisse at least knew how to follow the direct orders well, even if I was slightly regretting them now that I was in this position.

I hysterically tried to tell her to follow them, the logical course of action with my eyes, culminating in a slight nod of the head in the direction I wanted them to travel in.

The girl then nodded, before ducking back around the carriage. I hoped that my shenanigans had gone unnoticed by the wolves, who sat down like they were eagerly awaiting my joke. Gods, my supply for wolf jokes needed to be stocked up.

"I don't know, but I bet that it would be howl-arious!" I exclaimed, dramatically throwing my hands out, with a broad smile on my face, trying my hardest to appease these creatures.

The wolves actually seemed to enjoy that joke. Their tails started wagging! These lycanthropes, without Lycaon and this commander, who I assumed had gone silent again, were nothing more than easily appeased dogs. I guess time as a wolf had shed their human characteristics, which if they still possessed, surely would've alerted them to my ruse.

I saw the healers make their way out the cabin, all of them carrying different things. A few carried tools and a couple of bags of ambrosia, which were necessary for treatment. Others helped carry out the wounded on stretchers, and those who were fine enough to walk trudged behind them. Everyone seemed to be hurrying, which I didn't blame them for. The speck of our group seemed to grow larger in the darkness of the forest. Were they coming back? I doubted it.

WOOF!

The bark startled me.

The lycanthropes were now resting easy, with them all looking at me impatiently, as if they were expecting another joke from me. Now, comedy wasn't my thing, it was more Leo. But, talking to Leo recently, with our forced partnership made me think similarly to him.

My eyes fluttered around everywhere, looking for some form of inspiration that I could turn into a pun or a joke, I went from staring at a weedy sapling rooted to the ground, to the mulch that coated the entirety of the forest floor, then to the stars before finally looking up at the silvery orb dangling in the sky.

The wolves weren't happy with the time I was taking, with several of them rearing up on their back legs, ready to strike.

"Okay okay," I muttered, attempting to pacify the wolves. "What do you call a wolf's favourite day?" I declared, making a large sweeping motion with my right hand.

Several of the canines barked answers, which I clearly couldn't understand.

"You would call it Moonday!" I exclaimed, trying my hardest to look enthusiastic, but it was difficult when I had delivered such a poor joke. The lycanthropes didn't look too impressed, looked angry even like my joke had offended them. Every single one of them stood up and began to walk in circles around me. I knew that I had maybe one joke left before they decided that I had outlived my usefulness, and I had to make it count to allow the healers and the wounded to escape.

They were making decent progress now, hobbling down through the undulating terrain, dodging through thickets of densely packed, stick-thin trees.

But I needed to drag this out, to keep the lycanthropes' attention for a few moments longer, then I could run away and hopefully escape.

Then, the worst possible scenario happened. I failed to keep the wolves' attention, and they abruptly realized that they had completely forgotten about the healers, their main task. With a loud howl, all the wolves turned their back on me, before attempting to run after the healers, who still weren't far enough away.

"STOP!" I yelled, putting as much force as I could muster into my voice. The harsh contrast of my screeching voice to the currently peaceful forest made the werewolves stop, as they all rotated to face me. "I've got one more joke!" I yelled, smiling and making it look enticing. The wolves gazed unwaveringly into my eyes, their blood-red eyes piercing deep into my soul. The silent message, of hurry up, was communicated effectively.

"What do you call a werewolf with no legs?"

The wolves had now stopped, facing me, with one of them approaching far too close for comfort, clearly not impressed by how I started my joke. It was now or never, I needed to distract all these lycanthropes away from the innocent.

My hand moved down to my spear, ready to draw as I emphasized the punch line.

"Anything you want because it can't chase you!" I yelled, advancing towards the aggressive werewolf before striking forward with the spear, crippling the canine. I immediately caught the attention of the monsters, outraged at my 'betrayal'.

All the wolves surged towards me, as I turned tail and ran away from them, blindly flailing through the thicket of trees. I dared a glance back and saw that the group was much further behind than they should've been. The pack surged towards me, then abruptly stopping in their tracks. Then again, after their pause, they sent three lycanthropes back towards the healers, as the rest of the pack began to hunt me down.

This was a less than ideal situation. This commander chose the worst possible moment to come back. If everything had gone according to my plan, then all the wolves would be chasing me and the wounded would escape scot-free. Now, they needed to be protected from three werewolves, with no method to kill them.

As I stumbled through the undergrowth, I tried to shift into a bird, attempting to escape the lycanthropes, which I assumed were aware of my ability to shape-shift. But as I willed my body to shift, nothing happened. It must've been the cumulative strain of shifting so many times recently, coupled with the head trauma that was preventing me from shape-shifting.

"At the worst possible moment," I cursed under my breath, frustrated at how none of my plans seemed to be working perfectly.

I didn't dare look back anymore, I could hear the canines gaining on me, their substantial paws making loud booming noises whenever they came into contact with the soft earth. I could hear them practically salivating at the thought of fresh meat, their wide jaws unhinged and dripping with putrid saliva.

I knew I couldn't outrun them, these dogs had unparalleled stamina and being worn out from recent strife, I knew I couldn't keep going. Despite that, I continued running through the night, before stopping and stringing an arrow to my bow. I notched the dart and let it fly. Before even looking to see the results, I continued on my mad dash.

The loud yelp that followed confirmed that the projectile had hit its mark.

The chase was going quite well until it all came crashing down right before my eyes.

There was a particularly large oak in front of me, and I attempted to jump over one of the roots of the tree.

The bottom of my left boot caught the root, sending shoots of agony up my entire left leg. The impact left me sprawling incredibly inelegantly across the forest floor. My left foot was already hurt from when I landed badly on it when I jumped from the carriage. Doing more jumps with a bad foot was a horrible idea, and it showed.

I was now laying on the ground, curled up in pain. I felt the thick layers of dirt and mud assimilating into my clothing, bleeding through the fabric and causing my skin to crawl from the cool sensation spreading across my torso. I cringed as I heard the lycanthropes catch up, once again forming a circle around me, cutting off any method of escape.

"I don't suppose you'd like any more jokes?" I pleaded, silently hoping that they would be foolish enough to fall for the same trap twice. The wolves' expressions remained unmoving, their beady red eyes retaining the same steely gaze. Their expression conveyed their message perfectly. They were going for the kill.

I wobbled back onto my feet, and raised my spear, ready to go down fighting to my last breath.

I stared the wolf in front of me. Looking him dead in the eyes, each one of us waiting for the other to falter first. The lycanthrope lurched forward on its front paw, and I took that moment to advance. I dashed forward instantly, spearing the creatures through the front paw, before shoving him to the side and trying to run away.

Miraculously, the wolf didn't take my head off immediately. I knew that I couldn't kill the werewolves, but I could still stun and hurt them. I immediately picked two arrows from my quiver, one looking normal, but the second one having a golden tip. I fired the normal arrow at a wolf attempting to come from my right flank, which struck him square in the snout.

The second arrow, I didn't have time to launch, and simply dropped on the ground, hoping that it did something useful. A few seconds later, a mountain of popcorn erupted from the arrow…

"What?" I muttered, extremely confused.

The buttery kernels exploded everyone, burying the wolves in a mountain of the buttery goodness. I was thankfully unscathed. I sighed to myself in relief, but equally in exasperation. Mars was supposed to be a serious war god. Why on earth had he given me a magic arrow, that deploys a fleet of popcorn? Incase I got hungry while slaying some empousae?

"This should give me time to escape," I muttered quietly while rubbing the back of my head. The absurdity of the situation was starting to dawn on me. I had just buried an entire pack of sentient human-wolves under a mountain of a snack you take the movies. I had a strange desire to laugh.

I was about to turn around when I felt an impossibly massive weight on my back, and in vain, I tried to spin around to see what had delivered such an imposing force on my back.

I only succeeded in turning around enough to fall on my back, with a gigantic hound on my front. The werewolf had pinned me down completely, its meaty paws on both my arms, preventing them from moving, and thus cutting off any hope I had of escape.

The blood-red eyes of the hound stared deep into my sockets, and I could feel the unbelievable heat of the creature radiating down from his slobbering mouth onto my neck. I felt a few drops of his rancid saliva drop onto my face, but I couldn't even wipe it away, my arms were pinned to the ground. I cursed under my breath, for yet another time I had let my guard down after being in a commanding position. When was I going to learn?

My heart continued to sink as I heard noises erupt from my right. Undoubtedly it was the sound of the wolves trying to climb out of the popcorn, and I knew my time was up. I would be killed, or worse, turned into one of these hideous monstrosities.

I felt the paw of the wolf pinning me down trace absentmindedly on my arm, shredding through the sparse armour that still decorated my torso. A pool of scarlet burst from my wrist, as the pointy claw, descended further and further into my arm.

I was determined this time, to come to death with my eyes open. I would never close my eyes, abandon those around me, abandon my beliefs because I knew that I had made the right choice. I had allowed the healers to escape with their lives, and I saw the speck of the legion growing larger on the horizon. They could protect them from the werewolves, it was only a pack of 3.

After that revelation, I felt a huge burden shift off my shoulders, my task was completed. Protect the innocent, allow the healers to escape. I sighed out.

I was at peace.

As I stared back into those glowing eyes, I realised that I could finally come to terms with death, punctuated with the feeling of a claw ravage the upper layer of my skin. The appendage continuing to pierce further and further into my own body.

Leo:

Being flung head-first into a tree by an impossibly tall giant was not one of the highlights of the trip so far.

The phalanx formation had gone better than expected, with our limited force, as well as a chronic lack of spears which were essential for the phalanx formation to be a success. Then, of course, there was that blasted Daughter of Ares, belting out the main weakness of our formation. Then, conveniently, a larger-than-normal Hyperborean Giant showed up, destroyed our formation, before flinging me head-first into a said tree. Thank the gods I was wearing a helmet.

I sat up at the base of the tree, my head pounding from the force of the throw. The Hyperborean had carelessly chucked me at the tree and was now lumbering after me.

The fifty-foot behemoth wandered out from behind a tree, and I immediately got my wits together. If he caught me, I would become an ice-cube and if I was lucky, he would kill me quickly. If not, I would wake up in 50 years as the world was overrun with monsters.

Normally, with these Hyperboreans, I could simply melt them with enough fire, say by throwing a fireball at them or a tactic similar to that. So, obviously, as soon as I got up, I conjured up an inferno in my right hand, before thrusting my hand out, the ball of flame colliding with the Hyperborean, who seemed to completely shrug it off.

His husk seemed to radiate cold, immediately causing the temperature to plummet wherever he walked. The moist mulch of the forest was freezing under his stride, the brown soil turning momentarily into an odd, almost off-white colour, before melting and creating a marshy sludge once he took his next pace.

His cold demeanour almost reminded me of Clytius, how he seemed to drink in any heat that wasn't overly harsh or hostile. He was almost like the complete opposite of myself.

I gathered my surroundings, before again raising my right hand. The flames dancing elegantly in my palm. I closed my eyes as I focused, wanting for it to go hotter, clearly this wasn't cutting it.

I felt the fire swell and grow in size, and I immediately knew that it had increased dramatically in intensity. The typically scarlet flame had gone white-hot, and I again thrust my hand out, commanding the orb of light forward, throwing it out of my palm at the towering giant.

The Hyperborean collided with the fire. This time, the flame sizzled slightly in his skin, eroding perhaps a tiny portion of his outer membrane.

The giant at this point was closing in on me and I was ready to fight him.

The giant paused in front of me, before grabbing a large tree. Now, I didn't know what type of tree this was, but it wasn't one of those thin, spiny trees. No, it was a thick, chunky tree with roots that went down several meters, securely anchoring it to the ground.

When the Hyperborean's fist made contact with the tree, the tree's bark immediately froze over, and the giant's fist contracted around the tree.

He kept squeezing, and… SNAP!

I watched in awe, as the giant snapped that tree in half, before swinging the upper portion of the tree like a bat, it almost seemed as if he was going to smack me with the tree. He didn't have a weapon on him, so he decided to make one.

My eyes buggered out, there was no way that I could fight this guy head-on, not even I was foolhardy enough to take him on head-on. So, I did what anyone would've done in that situation.

"Come at me, you oversized buffoon!" I yelled, before flinging out several streams of fire at the giant. The Hyperborean seemed to not be harmed by the fire, it seemed to only minorly inconvenience him.

The Northern Giant let out a guttural roar before advancing on me. I had gotten him angry. Now comes the hard part, what to do?

I did the only logical thing that any sane human being would've done when confronted with a fifty-foot tall mountain of cold mass.

I ran.

I turned around, and as fast as my little legs could carry me, I dashed through the forest, the mad giant in close pursuit, almost comically waving his tree trunk, smashing through several other thickets of trees.

Despite the situation, I cracked a small smile, this is what my life was right now.

Running through a mystical dark forest, outside a British School of Magic, chased after by a crazy Northern Giant waving a tree trunk as a weapon. I smiled involuntarily, and with a crazy grin, I continued running, the dying wind lazily caressing my arms as I dashed through the undergrowth, cackling madly, as thunder echoed in the background.

A/N: Well. First off, I would like to thank everyone for the support of this story. This isn't something that I thought would be happening again, I fell out of love with writing for a really long time. But recently, I've realised how much I enjoy writing, and how much fun it can be. I definitely intend to finish this story, don't worry about that. This has been a crazy journey and has been a lot of good fun.

Anyways, sorry for the ridiculously long break, but hope this chapter was good enough to make up for it. It is just north of 11,000 words. I really tried to convey Frank's swirling thoughts, which would be befitting of a battle strategist trying to calculate for every single variable in a battle. It would be utter chaos in their mind. You might ask, "what about the ending? Of both of the perspectives!" All will be revealed in the future.

Oh, and it's now 12:01 where I live. Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a great Christmas and a great time!

~RedGods