True Blue ✷ Leo Valdez.

21: Leonidas.

    OF COURSE JASON GRACE was fighting a loosing battle, considering his opponent was literally a giant. When his lance snapped, eliciting a fiery golden explosion that shook the entire mountian, his friends (and Blaire) knew that they had to save him— or else he'd probably die. Meaning, for once, Jason Grace wasn't the one playing saviour.

  Jason was sitting at the rim of a crater. Enceladus stood at the other side, staggering and confused. The javelin's destruction had released so much energy, it had blasted a perfect cone-shaped pit thirty feet deep, fusing the dirt and rock into a slick glassy substance. Blaire was not sure how Jason was still alive, but she didn't have much time to think of that, because Piper and Leo were charging into action.

  Blaire wasn't exactly sure what either of them had planned, until Leo shouted, "Heads up!" And swung a large black metal wedge into the giant, sending him toppiling to the earth below, sliding into the pit.

Piper rushed over to Jason. "Jason, get up!" She called, and Blaire could tell she was using charm speak. She helped him to his feet.

  Blaire joined Leo, standing by his side, over a damaged peice of construction equipment—a long cannonlike thing with a single massive piston, the edge broken clean off.

    Enceladus was struggling to rise, an ax blade the size of a washing machine stuck in his breastplate.

  Amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free. He yelled in pain and the mountain trembled. Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but Enceladus stood.

  Shakily, he bent down and retrieved his spear.

  "Good try." The giant winced. "But I cannot be beaten."

  As they watched, the giant's armor mended itself, and the ichor stopped flowing. Even the cuts on his dragon-scale legs, which Jason had only recently inflicted, were now just pale scars.

  Blaire and Leo jogged over to the other two, staring in shock at the rising giant.

  "What is it with this guy?" Leo questioned, exsasperated. "Die, already!"

  "My fate is preordained," Enceladus bellowed. "Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."
 
  "Only by both," Jason said. The giant's smile faltered, and Blaire saw in his eyes something like fear. "It's true, isn't it? Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you."

  Great. They were going to die. The gods didn't care, they wouldn't help the mortals, not even in such an urgent situation. Not even when the aforementioned mortals were their children.

  "You will not live long enough to try!" The giant started stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

  "Anyone have a god handy?" Leo asked nervously.

  Blaire was about to speak up, to tell him the god's would much rather let them die, but Jason beat her to it.

  "Leo," Jason said suddenly, "if you've got a rope in that tool belt, get it ready." He leaped at the giant with no weapon but his bare hands.

  "Enceladus!" Piper yelled. "Look behind you!"

   It was an obvious trick, but her voice was so compelling, even Blaire bought it. The giant said, "What?" and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back.

   Jason tackled his legs at just the right moment. The giant lost his balance. Enceladus slammed into the crater and slid to the bottom. While he tried to rise, Jason put his arms around the giant's neck. When Enceladus struggled to his feet, Jason was riding his shoulders.