Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

Consul of the Underworld: Grinding Phase

Chapter Twenty Six: Bosses and Cooldowns

Beta: ShadowofAxios

Rushing out of the woods that surrounded the village, the couple ran through the visible wards like they weren't even there.

"Is it supposed to be so easy?" Pyrrha asked skeptically.

"No," Alkaid informed her grimly. "Someone brought the wards against intrusion down. That was probably what we saw just now."

"You sure it wasn't just whatever is causing all this magic to linger in the air?" Pyrrha asked. "This place is literally overflowing with magic."

"I think that's because of what's going on over there." Alkaid replied gesturing to where the streets were swarming with empousai and monstrously large animals who were battling a bunch of winged figures on the far side of town, all whilst the vampiric monsters loudly complained about the 'pesky magician'.

"True," Pyrrha conceded as they ran towards the heart of the village. "It's a good distraction too."

"I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," Alkaid replied as they neared the middle of town. "They're working out of the village's community centre. It's where the magic is thickest."

"Guards!" Pyrrha shouted as a squad of empousai standing watch in front of the building spotted them and began advancing towards them.

"I see them," Alkaid acknowledged even as she easily took them out with a simple Axel Shooter.

"This is too easy," Pyrrha growled warily as they began closing the remaining distance to the community centre. "Whoever is attacking now is doing us a big favour."

"Don't jinx us," Alkaid warned almost prophetically as moments later in a swirl of Mist a new figure appeared directly ahead of them and blocked their path.

"It's too late for that, I'm afraid." The beautiful woman with long dark hair braided with threads of gold and piercing green eyes said with a taunting smile. She was wearing a dress was black as night and that covered in twinkling stars.

With that get up… There can only be one person this is.

"You're going to fight us Circe?" Alkaid asked as confidently as she could manage when faced with a goddess. "Isn't that against the rules?"

"Considering your status, daughter of Hades? It's a gray area. One I'm all too happy to exploit." The minor goddess of magic and self-proclaimed inventress of spells declared with a bloodthirsty grin.

With a snap of her fingers, billows of Mist escaped the bottom of her dress and quickly filled their surroundings. With nary a thought, the bank consolidated into a mob of animal men, dressed as a phalanx of hoplites.

"Kill them!" The goddess ordered her conjured minions, sending them charging towards the demigods in a disorganised mob.

Apparently whatever discipline these men, if they were men and aren't just pure conjurations, had before has been lost in their transformation. Alkaid thought as she assessed the situation.

"We need to get close," Alkaid informed Pyrrha as she fired off a Axel Shooter, Phalanx Shift to thin the beastial ranks. "I won't be able to beat her in a magical duel."

"Clear the way and I'll handle the bitch," Pyrrha promised as she cut the head off a charging panther man.

"Working on it," Alkaid replied as she gathered her magic for a spell even as she used shadowbolts to fend off any animal men that got too close. "Επικαλούνται: βροχή φωτός (Invoke: Rain of Light)!"

A collection of magical circles appeared behind Alkaid which each fired out a powerful beam of energy that scythed through the mass of Circe's twisted minions. They fell by the dozen but still numbered in the hundreds and the daughter of Hades decided she needed a little more firepower.

"Firestorm!"

At her command, a pair of fire tornadoes roared to life at the heart of the enemy horde and joined her beams in reaping a deadly toll in the enemy's lives.

"Oh! Pretty good. For an amateur," Circe critiqued Alkaid's spellwork cooly. "Why don't I show you how it's done."

At that the goddess causally waved her hand and caused a cloud of Mist to surround her warriors where it clung to them like a protective cloak. One which proved more than capable of deflecting or outright tanking Alkaid's magic.

"Cheating off the bat? Do I scare you so much Circe?" Alkaid taunted, trying to goad the goddess.

"Cheating? Really, is that the best you have to say?" Circe said with a sad shake of her head even as she used the Mist to conjure a dozen rockets and sent them flying towards the demigods. "This isn't one of your silly little video games, girl. This is a real battle and as they say, 'all's fair in love and war'."

"I agree." Alkaid gritted her teeth as the ground rumbled and chunks of rock shot off into the sky, intercepting the missiles and causing them to prematurely explode.

The shattered remains of the missiles fell towards the ground but while still in the air they shifted back into Mist from whence they came, only to reform into a hail of arrows.

Cursing inwardly, Alkaid called on the shadows in the area, they rose with frightening speed, coiling around her and Pyrrha in a protective slithering wall as they halted the arrows from striking them. The rain of projectiles thus doing little more than take out a whole chunk of Circe's own Mist constructs.

Pits be damned! Talk about reduce, reuse, recycle. The bint is taking that to new heights. Alkaid cursed as the dissipating corpses of her Mist warriors reforged themselves into rows upon rows of serrated spikes that attempted to impale the two demigoddesses.

Alkaid felt the spikes strike harmlessly against her shadowy barrier but somehow Circe had laced them with some kind of magical component that nevertheless shredded several layers of her defensive wards.

Gritting her teeth, the young sorceress conjured a magical platform below her to avoid anymore ground attacks, all the while panting from the battle's frenetic pace. It had been a while since she fought a god, something she never enjoyed.

Taking the breather for the chance it was, Alkaid glanced over the battlefield at Pyrrha who was closing in on Circe. Her wards hadn't fared quite as well as Alkaid's own and she'd ended up with a nasty wound on her hip but she was already using the brief reprieve Circe gave them after unleashing her attack to down a healing potion.

Not that it was much of a break as moments later Circe renewed her attack, this time conjuring a trio of cannons and pointing them directly at Alkaid.

"I heard you half-bloods used these to great effect in defense of your pathetic little Camp, did you not?" Circe said with a sick little smile as a multicolored glow built up in the mouths of the cannons. "Why don't I let you have a taste of that? Return to sender as it were."

With her awful joke made, the goddess snapped her fingers and the cannons fired, unleashing three streams of raw magic at Alkaid.

"Mirror Alice!" Alkaid cast, sending the beams hurtling back at Circe. "Now that's returning to sender."

"Quite," Circe said with a frown even as she dismissed the cannons and the deathrays they fired with another snap of her fingers.

"And as for what you said earlier?" Alkaid said with a grin as she noticed that Pyrrha had gotten into striking distance. "Yeah, this isn't a video game. You should have kept an eye on the the fighter!"

Circe just shook her her head, "Did you think I would forget something that elementary?"

At her words, the Mist next to her solidified into a warrior that easily parried the blow Pyrrha had intended for the goddess. Said figure wore authentic looking Ancient Greek armor and worse looked like a dead ringer for the legendary Odysseus.

Oh shit! If that simulacrum has even a tenth of the original's skill than we're screwed.

"I see you recognize who my little puppet is based on." Circe said with a smirk. "And just to assuage some of the fear you might be feeling, it sadly only has half the skill of the original. Unfortunately for you, that's more than enough to deal with the brute you call your wife."

"Pyrrha, that's-"

"Odysseus, I know." Pyrrha shouted back as she barely avoided a slash from the Mist construct. "Met him once in the Underworld."

Alkaid's distraction cost her though as Circe exploited it to launch a massive fireball at her.

The building heat tipped her off and reacting just in the nick of time, the sorceress countered with a Frost Bolt that neutralized the opposing spell and shrouded the area in steam, adding to the already present Mist and making it even harder to see anything.

That might have been a miscalculation. Alkaid cursed as she was forced to duck under the talons of a harpy that had just appeared out of the fog.

"Frost Nova!" Alkaid cast, clearing out her immediate vicinity of threats and giving herself more room to work.

Her opponent wasn't feeling generous enough to give her respite though and conjured up a firestorm around her.

"Oval Protection!" Alkaid cast just in time to save herself from being incinerated but not enough to avoid getting singed. "I really hope Pyrrha is having a better time of this, because I'm getting owned."

Now wasn't that a foreign feeling? Usually I'm the one having an easier time in a fight.

Even as Alkaid was being hard pressed by Circe's superior magic, Pyrrha found herself in a tough spot as well as she caught the Mist version of Odysseus in a weapons lock, her labrys struggling against the construct's xiphos

Sweet fucking hell, why this sneaky fucker? Pyrrha thought furiously as she struggled to use her weapon's superior weight and her own enhanced strength to overpower the bastardized Mist puppet.

Unfortunately, just when it seemed like she would succeed it skillfully disengaged. Instead of breaking its guard like the redhead had hoped, all that resulted was her own guard being left wide open.

Exploiting this weakness, the construct thrust at her, hoping to score a hit before she could recover but Pyrrha was better than that and moving with agility that her muscular build often deceived her opponents into thinking she lacked, she managed to dance out of the way just in time.

"You're a good approximation," Pyrrha noted as the two circled each other warily. "But still nowhere near the real Odysseus' level. I held my own against him when we sparred, I can take down a poor copy like you."

If the facsimile could feel offended it didn't show it, instead just launching into an flurry of attacks like a damn hurricane. This time trying to overwhelm Pyrrha through the sheer speed of its attacks.

It swung its blade so quickly that it rivaled Percy and Luke at their best. The daughter of war however had sparred against both and was thus perfectly capable of keeping the faux Odysseus at bay.

Parrying with a grunt, the daughter of war felt her muscles strain from the action. Unfortunately, like when dealing with Percy and Luke when they got into the swing of things with a sword, she was unable to do more than fend him off.

Ugh, I might say I can beat it but I'm honestly not sure I can. Pyrrha privately admitted to herself as the simulacrum backed off at last. Not unless I try something different. Maybe that? It's unpolished, but what do I have to lose?

"You should be honored," Pyrrha said as she began channeling her magic through her labrys. It wasn't as receptive as her wand and it had taken months of practice to get even as good as she was, which wasn't very, but it would be good enough. "I've never tried this on an actual opponent."

Her words seemed to cause the simulacrum to tense and tighten its guard. Not that it would help it. Not against this.

"Eat this! Surge, Water and Heaven!" Pyrrha incanted as she swung her labrys down in a powerful slash. "Tidal Slash!"

As she finished the incantation for her spell, her magic combined with that of the gem of water element magic that she had socketed into her weapon, and together conjured a tidal wave to come crashing down on the construct. Unlike a typical tidal wave though this was only as thick as the width of her labrys' blade but lost none of its fury for its small size and easily cut the faux Odysseus cleanly in two.

"Heh, eat your heart out, Jackson."

"Ichor!? My ichor?" A terrified scream from further into the mist told Pyrrha that the simulacrum wasn't the only thing she'd managed to cut with her spell. "No, no, this can't be happening!"

Note to self, respect magic water. Pyrrha thought and received a feeling of agreement from the gem of water magic in return.

"I have to get out of here!" The goddess screamed in a panic. "Oh by the Pit, what if this scars!?"

With that the goddess, who through the fading mist had clearly only received a light cut along her arm, teleported away while howling like she'd lost a limb.

"Wow, I didn't know she was that much of a, uh…" Pyrrha made a wave motion to a disheveled and sweat covered Alkaid. She also looked like she got a deep tan. It actually looked good on her.

Gotta convince her to give the look a try sometime.

"Coward, yes." Alkaid replied, oblivious to Pyrrha's thoughts. "Circe was always more a manipulator then a fighter. Now if it were Hecate, we'd be dead and sipping tea with Father."

"I'd have thought your dad would've showed up if she picked a fight. God vs. god and all that." Pyrrha admitted as they made their way further into the village unimpeded. "I mean I get not stepping in for Circe if she's got such a big weakness, but if we were in real danger with no chance then I'm pretty sure someone would step in to help."

"Mayhaps Lady Persephone. Lady Hecate and her are close, so she would give her a tongue lashing. She's learned well from Lady Demeter." Alkaid shrugged, shifting uncomfortably and scratching her tanned skin.

"You're probably right," Pyrrha agreed. "So you ready for this?"

Alkaid nodded. "Let's do this."

Acting as the well oiled team that they were, the couple stormed into the main hall of the community centre in a whirlwind of magical bullets and deadly swings of a Celestial Bronze labrys. Not that the bunch of magicians standing around a 3D image of Camp Half-Blood at the hall's centre even seemed to notice.

They didn't even seem to flinch as they died. Even as Alkaid and Pyrrha started to cut them down they just kept chanting.

It wasn't until they were down to the last man, an elderly man, that they got a response.

"Too late, you foolish children. T-The speelll is completeee…" With that, he sagged against the wall.

"'Kaidy, please tell me he's lying." Pyrrha said with a fearful undertone.

Alkaid ignored her wife for a moment and spun around to look with horrified eyes at the projection, which showed a massive storm of dark magic was coalescing and building in power in the skies above Camp.

"Can the wards stop that?"

"I don't think so," Alkaid replied as she tried working on a counterspell, causing bands of green lightning to streak through the cloud seemingly trying to box it in. It wasn't working though and all it was managing to do was drain her reserves.

Cutting the spell, she stepped back to reassess the situation and think up another approach.

Of course, this was exactly the moment when the Fates decided it was time to make her life more difficult. In a loud explosion, a section of the wall on the far side of the hall shattered inward and in walked Sakura's wayward disciple, Angel.

"What is this?" The redheaded German girl asked as she surveyed the slaughtered remains of the Titanic followers. "Why are all my prey dead?"

"'Cos we killed them," Pyrrha said warily as she stepped between Alkaid and the new arrival. "They wer-"

"My prey!" The other girl dressed in a white dress with a provocatively low neckline and high skirt alongside a host of angel wing shaped accoutrements, which incidentally made her look like some kinda slutty angel, hissed angrily. "How dare you steal my kills?"

Alkaid found the other magician to be far too annoying to deal with and ignored her, continuing her work. Not that she was making any progress. Biting her lip, she had to admit that whatever the spell the Titan cultists had used wasn't going to be easily dispelled.

"You two will pay for stealing my chance to impress Sakura-sama!" The crazy redhead shouted angrily as she conjured a large magic circle from which floated out a squad of puppets that were each a metre tall, hovered just off the ground and fell into three distinct types.

At the front were a dozen angelic looking puppets with with a torso of a female humanoid that ended in a sharp triangular point instead of legs, gigantic wings for arms that were stuck in a pose that had them stretched forward, and a small halo over its eyeless head. These were supported by another six similarly angelic looking dolls with a torso of a female humanoid, a fish like tail, wings for arms, a arrow shaped head, and a large halo that hovered over its head. All of which were led by one of their number that was mostly humanoid in shape, with wing-like thrusters protruding from its spine, and a bird-like head capped by a halo.

"Allegrettos, attack the kill stealers! Vivances, provide them with support fire! Obbligato, buff your troops!" The German girl shouted, sounding unhinged.

"Is she seriously giving orders to puppets?" Pyrrha asked, as she smashed one of the most numerous puppets, an Allegretto apparently, into kindling with a swing of her labrys.

"If she bothered to bind some kind of spirit to them or program some kind of intelligence then it's not exactly as stupid as it sounds," Alkaid replied with a shrug as she blasted another of the Allegrettos with a shadowbolt while summoning a Oval Protection to shield them from the beams of holy energy that the Vivances were literally singing into existence at them.

"How are these things even supposed to attack us?" Pyrrha asked curiously as she gestured at a Allegretto. "They don't even have hands!"

As if to answer her question, the Obbligato raised its hands as if in supplication and a familiar aura surrounded the remaining Allegrettos signaling that they were under the influence of the Haste spell. Using this buff to full effect they proceeded to blitz around Alkaid's barrier, all whilst firing rapid bursts of holy energy from their halos.

"Did you need to jinx us again?" Alkaid told her wife dryly, as she tried and failed to line up a shot at one of the fast moving puppets.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha said as she released a gout of red hot flames at another that was coming in for a strafing run.

"Debuff: Patience!" The crazy sorceress shouted.

"What's that supposed to do?" Alkaid wondered aloud, even as the answer presented itself.

"Ugh! This is getting us nowhere!" Pyrrha growled irritably. "I'm going out there."

With a fierce roar, the daughter of Ares raised her labrys above her head and charged out of the safety of Alkaid's Oval Protection and smashed a Allegretto to pieces. With a raging snarl that made her look like a berserker, the warrior made a beeline for the puppet's summoner with a angry warcry.

"Take out that commander puppet first," Alkaid shouted at her bespelled lover even as she puzzled over how to dispel whatever was affecting her. It felt like no magic she'd ever encountered and she was loathe to risk using something that not only might not work but could possibly even backfire.

"Got it," Pyrrha shouted even as she weaved her way through the fire of a pair of Allegrettos trying to flank her from both sides and causing the fast moving puppets to shoot each other up instead.

A couple of the Vivances moved to target Pyrrha but Alkaid moved quickly to neutralise the whole lot of them with a Axel Shooter, Phalanx Shift. That this also took out all but a couple of the pesky Allegrettos was just a bonus.

The Obbligato evaded most of the barrage with exceptional maneuverability, like something out of an anime and as a result they earned only a few glancing hits that left scorch marks. Done with its evasion, it raised its hands apparently in preparation to cast some kind of spell.

"Ray of Hea-" Angel incanted, but was interrupted when the Obbligato puppet she was channeling her spell through was cut in half by Pyrrha literally throwing her labrys at it.

"What!? That isn't a throwing axe? How did you manage that?" The German woman shouted, flabbergasted.

"I'm a daughter of Ares! Weapons do what I want!" Pyrrha declared as she spun around to sweep Miló's flamethrower over the two remaining puppets that were trying to rush her from the rear.

The display seemed to unnerve Angel and she took a step back in shock even as Pyrrha walked towards her, picking up her labrys on the way.

Angel seemingly distracted by Pyrrha's advance, Alkaid took her chance to launch her own attack on the opposing sorceress. Mindful that the other woman wasn't quite an enemy, she pulled her punches. But not by much.

"Silence," Alkaid hissed under her breath depriving Angel of her most powerful weapon, her magic.

Not that it seemed to work.

"Debuff: Diligence!" The angel obsessed redhead cast unhindered as she began backing away from Pyrrha.

Alkaid felt some kind of power being invoked, one which somehow wasn't affected by her Silence spell which was still in place. Fortunately, it didn't really work well on Pyrrha.

"You should give it up," the daughter of war informed her fellow redhead. "I'm a child of Ares. When it comes to beating an enemy, we're super determined. No amount of your mind magic is going to stop me."

"Mind magic? My powers are nothing so plebeian." Angel countered, seemingly offended. "They are my inheritance as a Nephilim."

"You are a half-angel?" Alkaid couldn't stop herself from snorting derisively. "I'll see it before I believe it."

"You dare doubt my parentage, you pagan scum!?" Angel shouted angrily, all thoughts of retreating from Pyrrha lost. "I'll show you that your vaunted parentage holds nothing in comparison to my own!"

"Bring it!" Pyrrha hissed as she got within close combat range.

I really shouldn't say anything in a fight. I keep jinxing us. Pyrrha thought as she reeled from Angel's reply, a powerful punch that sent her stumbling back.

Before she could recover, Angel lashed out once more and struck the arm that was clutching onto her labrys. The blow was so hard that despite her best efforts, the weapon slipped reflexively from Pyrrha's grasp and clattered to the floor.

"Son of a-!" Pyrrha snarled as she ducked under a fierce punch from Angel and countered with a jab to her stomach.

The German took the hit but its force was all but nullified by the glowing plate armor that had suddenly manifested over her body. Pyrrha, even with the buffs that her wife cast on her before any fight, felt her fingers break at the impact

What the hell? Before the daughter of Ares could ponder the matter any more, Angel lashed out with a kick and sent her flying. How the hell is she this tough? She fights like a rookie, her form is crap, but holy shit if she packs a punch!

"Pyrrha! Get down!" Alkaid shouted, as she cast one of her bigger spells at the armored form of their opponent. "Divine Buster!"

The green beam slammed into the girl who was seemingly consumed by its emerald fury and Pyrrha worried her wife had killed her. A moment later she almost wished she had.

Bursting out of the path of the beam and into the air above on a pair of brilliantly glowing white avian wings was their pesky opponent, who with the halo hovering over her helmeted head looked every bit the child of an angel that she claimed to be.

"Oh shit," Pyrrha whispered to herself as she felt a cold sweat roll down her neck. "This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

"Sacred Sweep!" Angel cast, conjuring a pair of beams of holy power to the left and right of her that rapidly swept the area in front of her.

"Jump over them! Don't let them hit you!" Alkaid warned. "They're too powerful for your buffs."

Taking the warning to heart, Pyrrha called on her inner gymnast and leapt over the beam heading towards her. This put her in the air for only a few seconds, but that was enough for Angel to practically teleport over and punch her square in the face.

I think she broke my nose! The daughter of Ares thought through the pain as she was once more sent flying, even as anger began pumping through her veins at the bitch who had did it!

This is bad! Alkiad thought as she realized that just maybe Angel wasn't just boasting when she said she was a Nephilim.

Turning from where she'd sent Pyrrha flying once again, Angel leveled a frightfully powerful glare at the daughter of Hades.

"Buff: Pride!"

Gotcha! Alkaid thought even as the beginnings of Angel's ability, she couldn't exactly call it a spell since it defied her Silence spell, began to take hold. Eat this!

"Incantare: Reddite quae sunt Caesaris Caesari et quae sun! (Incant: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's)"

Most spells might not have worked against Angel's apparently authentic angelic powers, but this would. It was after all based on a principle that was found in the Bible itself after all.

Under the influence of her own reflected power, at least Alkaid hoped so, Angel suddenly conjured a flaming sword to add to her astral armor and flew towards her in a charge.

One that was countered when Pyrrha, having retrieved her labrys, literally leapt onto the other redhead and began hacking away at her back with her weapon. Angel's armor held and with a barrel roll, easily dislodged the daughter of Ares. Unfortunately, Pyrrha had aced her landing and was on her before the supposed Nephilim could recover herself.

Angel tried to fend her off with her sword, but it was obvious even to Alkaid's relatively untrained eyes that the other sorceress was a total novice at swordplay and within a few moves Pyrrha had disarmed her.

"Smi-" Angel tried to cast, but Alkaid was quicker on the draw.

"Astral Break!" The daughter of Hades incanted, causing her opponent's astral armor to shatter in an explosion of blue light that left both Angel and Pyrrha otherwise unscathed.

Without any prompting, Pyrrha slammed the butt of her labrys carefully into the back of Angel's head, knocking her out.

She stayed down this time too, lying unconscious before them in a heap.

Pyrrha looked like she wanted to kick the German a few times, but Alkaid touched her shoulder. "Let's not kick her while she's down."

"I really want to." Pyrrha clicked her tongue.

"I know," Alkaid said even as used Incantare: Tiber Benedictiones (Incant: Tiber's blessings) to fix what damage they'd all received, even Angel, as best she could. "But we need to be the better person here. Diplomacy demands it."

Pyrrha growled in frustration but nodded.

I've fixed what I could but we'll need to have someone do a better job after this is all over. Alkaid mused as she finished healing what injuries she could.

She couldn't have her wife looking like a brute after all. Her nose was too cute for that!

"Now to deal with the other problem." Alkaid declared as she turned her attention to the storm.

It was wreaking havoc over Camp. It looked liked a good chunk of the fortifications they'd built preceding the Battle of Zeus' Fist was on fire due to lightning strikes. Even the Big House had taken a hit, though thankfully it wasn't burning down just sporting a decent sized scorched mark around a missing section of the porch.

Oh, Mr. D is not going to be pleased at all. Baba's probably going to cackle like a maniac when she hears about it though.

"Where to start?" Alkaid asked, genuinely stumped as she tried to make sense of whatever magic the Titans' pet magicians had used to conjure the storm.

"Maybe by telling me what's taking you two whippersnappers so long?" Baba Yaga's familiar voice asked irritably as she appeared out of nowhere to glare at the Potters from across the projection of Camp.

"What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked, shocked by the ancient Folk Hero's appearance.

"You two have gone for a week. A whole gods be damned week!" Baba shouted, her annoyance clear. "And I've been watching your little murderous munchkin the whole time! Now where the hells have you been?"

"We're dealing with a problem. Mina knows to behave, mostly."

"Have you met your daughter?" Baba retorted with a roll of her eyes. "Behave? Bah humbug!"

"Uh, if you want us to get home soon," Pyrrha said cautiously, wary of upsetting the dangerous witch. "Mind helping us with this?"

The borderline monster looked at the display Pyrrha was gesturing to and frowned. "That's impressive magic. Crude but impressive, at least in terms of the power behind it. Strategic magic?"

"Yes," Alkaid confirmed. "They cast it even as we killed them."

"Fanatics probably poured their very lives into it too," Baba said with a nod. "Using their death curses for this? A bunch of imbeciles."

"Can you shut it down?" Alkaid asked as a lightning bolt came dangerously close to hitting Camp's magazine.

"For a price, girly. I'm not a charity case."

"Name it," Alkaid replied confidently. While she had not much love for Camp herself, her siblings and a number of her close friends like Percy were there. She'd pay almost any price to save them.

"I want you to learn something for me," Baba said with a greedy grin, showing her crooked teeth. "I want you to prove you haven't been slacking off in your magical studies."

"What do you have in mind?" Alkaid asked warily. The last time she'd listened to Baba's advice and mixed curses into her spells, she found it a waste of time as her usual opponents just weren't affected by them.

"It's sort of a deadly curse, but could also be counted as a attack spell. So maybe a hybrid. Yeah, I guess it would count as that."

"What spell, Baba?"

"Nothing much, just the Prison Depths of Lake Cocytus."

"Lake Cocytus? I take it you're not talking about the river back home."

"Nope," Baba confirmed with a low cackle. "The lake is a lot scarier than your little stream. Trust me, I've been to both. And boy! The lake makes this old woman need a jacket or five. And the Lightbringer is not happy being stuck there. At all. He's liable to kill anyone who shows up to see his misery. He could try to be a bit more charming though, such a whiner."

Alkaid was getting a pretty good idea of where exactly this Lake Cocytus was and the knowledge was making her feel very uneasy, nevertheless she had to make this deal.

"Very well, I accept your price."

"Then it's a deal!" Baba declared and reached with a suddenly wizened hand into the projection and poked at the storm cloud. The image of the cloud was suddenly overlayed with a intricate web of glowing threads that Alkaid guessed were probably the magic that sustained it. The ancient witch studied the web for a second or two before using one of her long hideous nails to snag a knot and pull. The thread held for a moment but eventually snapped under Baba's efforts, unraveling the whole web in the process. As it did, the storm cloud dissipated as well.

"There," Baba said with a satisfied grin at her work.

"Thank you, Baba." Alkaid informed the immortal genuinely.

"Just pay me like you promised and we're good."

"Ya know, this was awfully convenient. I mean you showing up and all. Heck, even us showing up just as that Angel girl attacked. It's all pretty damn coincidental."

"I ag- What's this?" Alkaid asked as a note suddenly appeared in her hand.

Everything is hitsuzen. :)

The Amanos

P.S. We did it! XP

"Those monsters?" Baba shuddered, "I'm out! Just remember you ladies owe me a favor for watching the murder munchkin extra, got it?"

"That spell doesn't cover it?" Pyrrha asked, confused.

"That was that, this is this," Baba replied irritably. "Now enough of the silly questions. I'm gone."

With that she vanished as abruptly as she'd come, leaving the Potters to look at each other in mild confusion.

"So, um, drop Miss Nephilim off and head home?" Pyrrha asked after an awkward moment.

"I guess," Alkaid replied with a tired shrug. "Then we get that nose fixed. I will not have crooked eskimo kisses in this family."

While the Potters settled the loose ends of their mission, back in Camp Half-Blood Nico was hanging out with Will Solace and Cecil from Cabin 11 as they ran errands together for the repair crews fixing up Camp's defenses in the wake of that freak storm that everyone insisted was some kind of attack.

Nico wasn't buying it though. "I don't get why you guys are so worked up. It was just a bad storm."

"No it wasn't." Will insisted. "Camp doesn't get bad weather. It only ever happens when someone overcomes its wards. And considering the damage it caused, it was almost certainly an attack."

Cecil Markowitz, a son of Hermes, nodded in agreement.

"You're both just being paranoid." Nico dismissed with a shake of her head.

"It's smart to be a little paranoid. We are at war." Bianca's voice whispered suddenly into his ear.

Nico jumped even as his sister dropped her invisibility, chuckling at his reaction while stroking the cait sith kitten that was her latest familiar and the source of her new power to go invisible.

"Nice new trick," Cecil complimented. "You're shaping up into a bona fide warlock, huh?"

"I try." Bianca said with a proud grin. "It's all thanks to Big Sis though. She's the one teaching me."

Nico feels a little put out by that, he wants to learn magic too but it was pretty hard. Pyrrha usually just teached him how to fight with weapons and his skeletons.

"Don't be greedy, Nico." Gracie Gray, Big Sis' apprentice said teleporting in with a literal pop using something that she called apparition. "You're already a necromancer slash fighter, practically a death knight. If you picked up magic too, then you'll never have time to get good at anything."

Death Knight, huh? That actually sounds like a good goal to aim for… Now I just need to pick a mount. Hmm…

"Daydream later, Nico." Bianca chided him as she leaned over to pinch his arm. "We came over to fetch you for a reason."

Nico rubbed his abused arm irritably but just nodded at his sister to continue, though Gracie picked up the conversation instead.

"Sensei is back," Gracie said with a smile. "So let's go check in with her!"

"Big Sis is back?" Nico asked excitedly.

His eldest sister and her wife, Pyrrha, had been gone on a mission for a whole week! A whole lot longer than anyone thought they should have. A fact that had caused the whole family to be so worried for them. Even Lady Persephone had stopped by once to check in with Chiron if he'd heard anything.

"Is she okay?" Will, sensible as always, asked what Nico probably should have.

"She's fine. Tired but otherwise fine."

Nico breathed a sigh of relief at Bianca's judgement of things.

"Why are we still standing here talking?" Gracie asked impatiently. "The clock hands are moving!"

"Guys, could yo-"

Nico hadn't even finished his request to his friends when Cecil reached over and grabbed the stuff he was carrying.

"Go." The son of Hermes told him seriously. "We've got this."

Nodding, Nico followed after the two girls as they raced off to go see his Big Sis.

A couple days after her parents got back from their mission, Mina was shadowing her Mama as she oversaw her siblings, Mina's aunts and uncles, in Cabin Five as they worked on restoring and enhancing Camp's damaged defenses.

Mina was so glad that her Mum and Mama were back from Japan, and especially from visiting the scary Amanos, safe and sound. She was especially glad that the weirdos that were the Amano kids hadn't hurt them.

When she'd heard they'd got dragged to the Overgods' domain, Mina had almost had a heart attack. Even she knew how crazy those two were, and for a goddess of madness to call someone dangerously crazy, that was saying something. But that was what the overgods were. So she was happy as a clam that her mothers were home safe.

Now if only they didn't come home and be all boring!

"Mama, I'm bored!" The goddess of serial killers whined.

"Sweetie, I'm working right now. I'll play with you when I can. Alright?"

"I wanna play now!"

"Then go bug Mum!" Mama sharply retorted her pretty eyes all angry and lively.

"Okay!" Mina agreed easily enough and teleported to Mum's office slash room in the Big House. The room was neat and tidy, just like Mum was with everything that wasn't Mama after a 'woopie' night. Ah, Rhip was in the corner, the sneaky devil, playing with something shiny.

"Got bored?" Mum asked knowingly without even looking up from the letters she was writing at a rapid, efficient pace.

"Yeah," Mina said with a sigh as she crawled into her Mum's lap, inhaling the sweet flowery perfume she was wearing. The woman accommodating her without a word.

"Well, you can sit with me as I work." Mum said patting her head affectionately, her fingers stroking her ashen locks. Mina really liked head pats. "That good?"

"Umm!" Mina replied happily as she snuggled into her Mum's frame, her warm body making her feel safe and sound. This was better than some woman's womb she used to open up back in London. Those got cold very fast but Mum was warm all the time.

"So what are you writing?" Mina asked as she curiously peered at the boring scribbles. Words were stupid and some times Alecto made her practice them. Stupid Alecto.

"Correspondence with other pantheons." Mum explained with a frown. That wasn't good, Mum should never frown, even if she frowned prettily. "We've received news that the Titans are recruiting and/or getting resources from their domains, so I'm trying to convince their gods to stop that."

"They don't wanna?"

"No," Mum admitted with a sigh, offering her another appeasing head pat.

Good job, Mum! Mina complimented as she luxuriated in her Mum's attention.

"As usual, gods will only act when absolutely necessary."

"Sounds right," the little goddess said sleepily, her mother's warmth lulling her into a doze.

"I know. Though I wish it wasn't. It'll save me and your Mama a lot of work if the gods were just a little more proactive."

Mina just nodded lightly, too sleepy to do more than that.

"But I guess that's a problem for later," Mum said as she leaned down to kiss Mina on the top of her head. "For now, why don't I put you to bed."

Mina wanted to protest taking a nap. She was a big girl damnit! But she couldn't bring herself to. Her Mum's warmth was too wonderful and sleep inducing.

"Stay with me?" Mina asked instead as Mum gently lay her down on her bed.

"Always," Mum said with a sweet smile as she sat down on the bed next to Mina and patted her to sleep and offered a loving kiss to her forehead.

I want to always stay warm like this, the goddess of serial killers thought as she let Morpheus pull her into the realm of dreams. I'll destroy anything that would dare take it away from me.

Done and done! Thanks to the awesome team of Nameless and Axios as always for this completed book!

Phew, man, it was a long road. Has it been a year or two? I can't remember but dang if it isn't satisfying. I remember starting this series when I was still in college. Now the Heroineverse has taken off! It's almost endgame with Alkaid and Andi, but Rhode has some ways to go.

Nameless: So this chapter marks the end of this book of COTU. Hope you enjoyed the ride! As for this chapter in particular, it's a little less action packed than the Battle of Zeus' Fist but we tried to make up for that by having two major duels in the chapter. Hopefully it was enjoyable nonetheless.

The gauntlet of Circe, Magicians and Angel was a heck of a battle. There was a lot to cover and we hoped we showed off why we love these awesome gals so much with the ass-kickery they can do!

Nameless: And Alkaid has made a couple of new enemies. What are we gonna do with such an extensive rogue gallery? I'm pretty sure comic book fans already can guess. And that's not all that the next book will cover. After all, Alkaid now has to go handle issues the Titans have created in the domains of other pantheons doesn't she? Wonder what'll happen there, huh?

So here's a visual guide to some stuff that you readers might find confusing.

Angel's Vivances are the dolem Vivance from RahXephon

Her Allegretto is likewise based off a dolem of the same name from RahXephon

The Obbligato is based off the Jehuty Orbital Frame from the Zone of the Enders franchise.

E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!