New Place to Begin

A battle

The haze of battle had long since consumed her.

She barely felt the sword in her hand as she tore through the undead, uncaring of the dirt, grime, and blood that began to coat her face and clothes.

Distantly, she was aware that Sakura was near her, also holding the line as best she could. Behind them lay the last few defenses put in place to guard the entrance to Olympus.

The trenches and traps laid all down the street helped to thin the sheer number of undead, but many still slipped across the defense lines and thundered towards the buildings, lashing out at any who got in their way.

Chaewon was momentarily distracted from her battle at the call behind her.

"Launch!" screamed one of the Hephaestus campers, and Chaewon watched in awe as a heavy, burning boulder was launched from one of the catapults, landing with a huge crash only meters in front of her. It crushed a number of the monsters, but most simply continued towards them, moving around the new obstacle.

"Chaewon!" she heard from beside her, and she jolted back to reality just in time to dodge the swing of a mace. As the sharp head missed her face by only inches, she brought up her sword and stabbed the undead creature straight through the skull. Unable to dwell on it for longer than a few beats, she kicked the thing off her blade and continued fighting against the seemingly endless flood.

The battle continued for what felt like hours, and soon, all Chaewon was aware of was the hiss of the creatures, the swing of her sword, and the blood that coated her blade.

However, a break in the onslaught brought her back to reality.

"It's slowing down," Sakur said, sounding as breathless as Chaewon felt.

Chaewon ripped her sword out of the chest of a body before her, turning to face the end of the street. "No it's not," she said grimly, raising her sword once again and ignoring the ache in her arms. "We've just reached the eye of the storm."

Ahead of them, Yunjin approached, still riding the black chariot, and when she met Chaewon and Sakura's eyes, there was no recognition.

Whoever this was, it wasn't Yunjin.

"Hold the line!" Sakura cried, raising her own blade as Yunjin approached.

Behind them, she heard more demigods assembling, lining up to further defend the building from the undead who continued to slip past.

Eventually, her chariot came to a halt and Yunjin stepped onto the ground. She fixed Chaewon with a cold gaze, and, with no small amount of dread, Chaewon noticed that her eyes were not the dark brown she'd known. Instead, they shone a deep red, only clear when the bright street light shined directly on her.

She raised her midnight sword, the Sword of Hades , and with that, the real battle began.

They'd been backed to the very last of their defenses, and when Chaewon spared a glance at the other side of the street, where Yeji, Eunbi, and Ryujin fought, she saw they were faring similarly. They faced Hades himself as he approached the building from the opposite side of his daughter.

Around them, the other campers were occupied with the army of undead, still fighting to keep them back from the entrance. Kazuha and Jimin were in there somewhere, fighting against the brainless, violent creatures.

Chaewon dodged a flying dagger once again, running forward to strike with her sword. She parried Yunjin's own sword and swung at the girl's side with all her strength. A black shadow formed at the last minute, acting as a shield. Chaewon's blade simply bounced harmlessly off the thing.