Shattered

Atlas

"The sky," Percy pleaded to the goddess in chains. "Give it to me."

"No, boy," Athena wheezed out. Her forehead was beaded with metallic sweat, almost like quicksilver. "You don't know truly what you're asking. It will crush you!"

"I can take it! What I cannot do is face a titan."

"The weight of the sky will kill a mere mortal like you."

"I'll die anyway," Percy told her. "Give me the weight of the sky!"

Percy didn't wait for her answer. With haste, he took out Riptide and slashed cleanly through her chains. Then he stepped next to her and braced himself on one knee—holding up his hands—and touched the cold, heavy clouds.

For a moment, Athena and Percy bore the weight together. It was the heaviest thing he'd ever felt, as if I were being crushed under a thousand trucks. He wanted to black out from the pain, but breathed deeply.

Pretty much exactly the same as last time.

The human body often judges things in a weird manner. If you carry something light, you know it is light, and can pretty accurately guess how much it weighs. Carry something heavier, and you can still do the same.

The sky on the other hand only led to the response of 'TOO HEAVY!'

Then Athena slipped out from under the burden of the sky, leaving the son of Poseidon to handle the sky's weight alone.

Every muscle in his body seemed to have been ignited aflame. His bones felt like they were being smoldered in fire. He wanted to scream, but didn't have the strength to open his mouth. He began to sink, lower and lower to the ground, the sky's weight crushing him.

His mind was beginning to cloud, when suddenly the weight on Percy's shoulders halved. The dots in his vision faded, and his sight refocused.

"Zoe?"

The girl had sweat beading her forehead, Atlas had chosen to simply glower at the two of them. They hadn't challenged him for a reason.

He was too damn strong.

And Percy wasn't going to risk Atlas getting a chance at killing Zoe.

"We need you to fight," Zoe managed to grunt out, looking at him with mad grimace.

"I can't leave you under the sky!"

Zoe tried her best to glare at him, "Go, you insolent boy!"

Hesitantly nodding, Percy crouched lower, ridding himself from the overbearing burden.

Zoe let out a choked scream.

"I'll get Atlas under there. Hang on Zoe."

She tried her best to nod her head. Sweat began to pour down her face, moistening her copper skin.

Percy turned to face Atlas, who was locked in an intense duel with Athena.

Although weakened, the wisdom goddess was still a formidable foe, but Percy could see that the goddess wasn't at her best. Her movements were sloppy and she wasn't thinking straight.

Fortunately, Atlas wasn't a foe that required too much strategy. He simply relied on his enormous strength to overpower his enemies.

Percy turned to Bianca, she was crouched on the ground, firing arrow after arrow at the approaching monsters, it wasn't much, but she did what she could.

The daughter of Hades wasn't nearly strong enough to be more that a hindrance while fighting foes such as Atlas or even Luke, who was still a master swordsman.