Ichor

Commander (Part XXII)

A/N: It's unfortunate, but I'm wrapping this story up. It's dragging out and I'm running out of steam. If you have ideas to improve any parts of this story, comment or DM them and I'll think about making changes. You'd get full credit if I did. Sorry if the ending has come too quickly, but I rather finish than leave it incomplete. Here's a nice long final chapter with 3,000+ words. Thank you for understanding. Enjoy!

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Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

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The day was normal. Training started early. Lunch went by peacefully. Hints about not-so-unrequited love were dropped. No one expected anything different.

Then the war horns sounded.

Tartarus's army wasn't supposed to have arrived for another two days. But there they stood. There were thousands of Chaos Soldiers and hundreds of demigods with dozens of nature spirits. But there were hundreds of thousands of monsters. The Sea of Monsters was no comparison to the sea of monsters approaching. Their sheer numbers were enough to render the magical barrier useless.

There were your typical Greek myths—hydra, cyclopes, empousa, etc.—but there were also many unnamed. Ones that even the gods had forgotten. Ones that Chaos had chosen to forget.

Percy looked down from the precipice of battle, from Half-Blood hill towards the gathered monster army with an air of calm, confidence, dauntlessness. It was all fake.

Inside, Percy was terrified to his bones. He had faced a lot in his thirty-eight years of life. And he planned to face even more. But it said something that this sight shook him to the core.

Percy knew he had to steel his nerves for the sake of his friends and comrades. No matter how scared he was, others were more so. He had years of fighting large armies under his belt. Most privates were fresh out of the portal, newly inducted cadets. His generals had already pulled them into ranks and the demigods were gathered in a cluster too.

Percy addressed his old pals first. "Greeks! I stood before you once and urged you to 'fight stuff'," a few chuckles at the memory of his war cry from the Second Giant War. "I urge you now to fight again. Not for me or even for yourselves. But for the people you stand beside, the place you call home, the belief that good will prevail, or at the very least, we ought to work towards good despite who prevails. You have looked down on fear every day since learning you were a demigod, maybe even before then. This day is no different." Pushing down his disdain, he yelled, "For Olympus!"

The demigods shouted in unison, "For Olympus!"

Their cheers continued for a minute after. Once it died down, Percy addressed the Chaos Army.

"I have no right to command you to lay down your life for a people and a place you've no claim to. But I will ask my fellow Chaos Soldiers that you uphold your oath to protect innocents, to do your duty and fight against the evil of the universe, to stand alongside your companions in arms. For Chaos!"

They thrust their respective weapons or fists into the air while repeatedly chanting, "For Chaos! For Chaos!" At some point, others also hollered, "For Ichor!" The noise only increased as those with shields banged them with their weapons.

Mason felt the fear slowly fade into the background. Anxiety was still prominent, but not suffocating as it was moments before. Percy didn't need to be an enhanced empath to detect the courage swelling amongst the crowd. The monsters shuffled below them with a little more nervousness. Though they were strong in numbers, they were not coordinated for a full-scale invasion. And Percy used this to his utmost advantage.