Seeing Death After Life (HoO Leo fic)

Chapter 5: "It's Here"

"IT'S COMING."

Leo opened his eyes and gasped. He look around him and saw no immediate danger. He sighed and thought of sleeping when a noise clambered towards him.

"Are you alright, Valdez?"

Leo looked and saw Makaria, her face contorted in a worried expression.

"I'm fine, Makaria." Leo said, trying to ease her fears. "It takes a lot of things to make the Supreme Commander of the Argo II to fall." He added with a wink.

"I don't think so." Makaria inferred. "Not that the 'Supreme Commander of the Argo II' is easily beaten, that much is true. But the way you writhed and shuffled as you slept..."

They were disturbed by a loud, eerie howl somewhere inside the forest the two were close to. It's cry sent shivers down the unbreakable son of Hephaestus's spine. He had a fleeting look of recognition.

He took his companion's hand, and signaled Festus to prepare for take off.

Before they could leave however, a monster with a lion and a goat's head, the body of a lion, and a serpent as a tail ran and held on to Festus's left leg. With an unimaginable strength from the monster, it brought Festus crashing back to the ground.

"What the heck is it with everyone trying to stop me from flying my freaking dragon?!" Leo shouted. "I just fixed him earlier for gods' sake!"

Meanwhile, Makaria looked absolutely terrified. Her eyes darted towards the monster and she whispered softly.

"Chimera..."

If Leo didn't know more, I would've dismissed it as something small, but he knew that this night would become worse. Much worse.

"Valdez! The risen hero! I have come for your blood! Not many deserve to have a chance to fight with me, so when you die again, smile for me!" A voice said from behind.

When Leo loked back, the Chimera stopped attacking, only eyeing us in what he thought looked like hunger. Behind it, a plump woman approached.

"Lady, if you think reading monsters is awesome, then you probably have more than enough money for dog food." Leo said.

She eyed him, as if he was insane. Makaria whispered something else now.

"Echidna..."

He's heard it from Percy once on the Argo II; that time he fought the Chimera and Echidna at the St. Louis Arch. He wasn't able to beat her back then, and I have doubts that I will now.

"Godling, to answer your question, I feed my children demigods. I don't have to pay; I spared no expenses whatsoever." She said with an evil sneer up her lips.

She then looked at Makaria; who was still frozen in fear. She smiled with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Goddess, you need not meddle any more with this demigod. Step back, and watch the fireworks, girl. Otherwise it'll be me who you'll be against. Remember that."

Makaria, who was probably scared as hell, didn't move away. In fact, she walked right next to Leo.

"I w-w-will n-not." Makaria's shaky voice tried to sound convinced, but failed. But otherwise, she surprised her companion by showing any kind of resistance whatsoever. She probably deserved an ice cream or two after this debacle.

"You've sealed your faith, goddess." Echidna hissed, spitting the last word. "Welcome to die."

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Next chapter:

A battle of epic proportions!
It's Leo's time to show everyone that HE was the boss in these parts.

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AN.
Sorry for the hiatus. Was really busy with school. I apologize for the lack of content that this chapter has, but I promise that by the end of the next week, I'll be done with this fic. I'm sorry again for my lack of updates, as this was because of schoolwork and family outings. In other words, sorry.

Just know that I'll never leave this fic. Ever.

Or at least until I'm done.

Just trust me on this.

I would like to thank all my readers, and FioreKuberick for being a wonderful friend and colleague in the world of writing. To my other readers, I'm glad to say that soon, we will have a collaboration fic that will take place after the Giant War. Two authors and two different styles of writing, I hope you'll enjoy it.

Once again, thank you and I'll see you guys soon.