The Battle of Manhattan

Once More Unto the Breach

Elijah slid down the railing of the stairs, wincing again as he landed. His legs were definitely not happy with how active he was. But he needed to do all he could to defend Manhattan.

He drew Lepída, and ventured out past the glass doors. Though he couldn't see them, he could feel the ground shake as the opposing army marched toward the City Hall building. He was unsure how they'd fend off this wave, seeing as how it feels a thousand times larger, when he saw something. A glint in the clouds, but he wasn't sure he saw correctly, given the whole sky is pitch dark. It's probably somewhere from ten thirty to eleven at night. Kronos is probably screwing with time, because it doesn't seem like it's been that long.

His thoughts were forced away from whatever he might've seen in the clouds, as he caught glimpse of the first line. A full line of Cyclopes led the army, followed by two lines of telekhines, wolf-like sea demons, three lines of Laistrygonian Giants -hairy, cannibalistic giants averaging eight to ten feet, and armed with explosive bronze wiffle-balls the size of cannonballs- an innumerable amount of dracanae, and five Hyperborean Giants, giant frosty humanoids, as tall as the buildings around them, armed with literal huge oak trees that might've been ripped straight from their roots.

Too late to set Greek fire traps... Elijah thinks. Not that they'd do much, anyway. Most of this force is immune to fire, due to their working in the forges of Tartarus, or living in volcanoes.

He hears something, and he turns to see the Hermes force standing, practically shaking in their armor, a look of pure terror on their faces. And who's to blame them? Elijah'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared. But he was ready to die, with the consolation that he'd be going to Elysium, a reward for fighting and dying heroically in this war to protect the gods.

He wasn't going to make a heroic rallying speech. He didn't want to tell these teenagers behind him that they'd emerge victorious, so long as they fought hard and well. He wasn't going to tell such a blatant lie. They couldn't win. He didn't usually believe in impossibilities, or hopeless situations, but this was definitely an exception. And there wasn't a thing he could do.

So, instead of a speech, Elijah simply raised his sword, and took on a mask of courage. The other campers seemed encouraged, themselves, and they, too, raised their arms, some even shouting approvingly. This last act of courage would spark a fire within these campers' souls and spirits, and whatever was about to happen would be remembered as the three hundred Spartans facing off against some one hundred thousand Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae.

The wave of red hot courage even spread to the other side, making the first enemy line falter slightly. A warm breeze that carried the scent of iron or copper swept across the battlefield, and the Hermes side was instantly healed of any physical injuries they may have acquired in the previous battle, from Elijah's legs, to Lanie's arm. It also filled them with strength, and a sense of peace, and they all knew, in that moment, they would die, but were comforted in the reassuring fact that they would go down swinging, and would achieve Elysium, on top of that. And that's all a Greek really wants.

Then they charge. The entire Hermes side simultaneously attacks, as if driven by some hive mind. The archers let loose arrow after arrow, hitting chinks perfectly, taking down multiple monsters at a time, focusing mainly on the Hyperboreans.

Elijah and the other charging demigods hit the Cyclopes just as the second Ice Giant fell, crushing multiple monsters, and sending devastating shards of ice everywhere. The demigods ducked, sliced, dodged, and stabbed at the Cyclopes, who were trying to get a good visual and stumbling as they did, sometimes onto other monsters, shocked by the flat out suicidal rush of the campers. Soon, the third Giant went down, and several more monsters died. But it still wasn't enough.

Whatever magic or blessing or whatever that had possessed them was starting to wear off. But just as they were starting to tire, shouts of pain and death started to emit from the other end of the army. Monsters were just exploding into dust with no explanation. Then Elijah saw the sleek, black pegasus, moving almost too fast for him to observe. Upon its back was seated Percy Jackson, battered, but excited, and, though Elijah couldn't see it, pride shone greatly in the sea spawn's eyes. Then, it was gone.

Elijah shook it off, and went to strike at another Cyclops, but the energy boost was fading, and he wasn't quick enough to notice the club swinging at him until it was too late. He flew into the air, unscathed by the club, due to the blessing of Ares that he didn't even know was on him, or even that it could be bestowed to any that wasn't a child of Ares. He could hypothetically be, given he was unclaimed, but Travis and Lanie both had the blessing, as well, so that's an invalid method of thinking.

He never made it to ground. He was caught by Percy and his pegasus, Blackjack. They dove down at impossible speeds, Blackjack kicking several Cyclopes out, before landing in the spot in front of the clashing forces. Both climbed off the horse, and he took off, going to bash more monster skulls in. Percy drew his sword, Riptide, and advanced on the monsters. Elijah was a few paces behind him, keeping sure to stay out of Riptide's reach.

Percy suddenly broke into a sprint as he neared the force, and slid baseball style into the fray, taking out several legs with his sword, the Campers making short work of the fallen enemy. He got right back up, and slammed into the Laistrygonian force, ending several as soon as he hit them. He grabbed a wiffleball, and launched it at a barrel of them, the whole thing going up in smoke, and all monsters within fifteen feet of the barrel were instantly vaporized, and several more were shredded with shrapnel.

He ran at the last remaining Ice Giant, then ran up it. Using his sword as a sort of climbing pick, Percy scaled the Giant in record time, while the Giant flailed about. Percy raised his sword, and sent it down, killing the Giant. The Giant became an ice sculpture of itself, before it exploded, ice impaling everyone nearby. That included Elijah, who was going blade to blade with a Cyclops.

Elijah was pierced in the stomach by a large shard of ice, about a foot and a half long. It went deep in him, and the pain was immense. His vision became clouded, before passing out from the pain.

Percy ran to his fallen comrade, killing the Cyclops before it could get the chance to deliver the final blow to Elijah as he lay on the pavement. His heart was lead, and the guilt was extreme. Percy quickly extracted the shard and put a sloppy bandage on the wound to help with the bleeding, and got Annabeth to take Elijah to the base the Camp had set up in a hotel for medical attention.