[Third person POV]
Bianca and Nico raced down the dimly lit hallway of the school, their footsteps echoing against the walls. Panic and urgency clung to the air. Without missing a beat, Bianca extended her hand toward her younger brother.
"Let's get going," she said, voice sharp and determined.
Nico grabbed her hand but suddenly hesitated, looking up at her with concern. "Wait—what about Percy?"
Bianca skidded to a stop, her brows knitting together. The na alone made her pause. "Are you saying we should go and get him?"
"Well, yeah," Nico replied, shrugging. "I an, I don't doubt Lucian's got things under control, but let's be honest—having Percy on our side never hurts."
Bianca considered it for only a mont before nodding. "You have a point... Alright, let's find him."
Without another word, the siblings darted into the nearest patch of shadow. Darkness wrapped around them like a living cloak, swallowing them whole. In an instant, they vanished from sight and slipped into the realm between light—traveling swiftly through blackness like two silent ghosts.
As they glided through the shadows, Bianca sniffed the air sharply, her senses fine-tuned. "He's nearby," she muttered, her voice carrying through the void. "I can sll the ocean."
Nico gave her a sideways look. "That's so weird…" Then, with a teasing grin, he added, "Oh right—you're a 'Stalker' now. I forgot about your creepy bloodhound senses."
Bianca rolled her eyes, not bothering to look at him. "Shut up, Nico, or I'll smack you into next week."
Her focus sharpened again. As a supernatural Stalker, Bianca possessed rare tracking abilities—abilities that allowed her to follow a target through almost any terrain by detecting traces of scent, aura signatures, or even faint psychic imprints. Percy's aura was practically radiating off the ground.
"We're here," she said flatly. She grabbed Nico by the collar, and the two of them burst upward from the shadows, erging beside the school's outdoor sports field.
Bianca narrowed her eyes in the direction of the gymnasium. Instantly, she could feel it—a pulsing, chaotic swirl of ocean-blue aura swirling like a storm inside.
"Nico... Percy's fighting soone. His aura is flaring like crazy. It's erratic."
"Seriously?" Nico asked, eyes widening. "Then what are we standing around for? Let's move!"
Without hesitation, they sank back into the shadows, swimming through the darkness like sharks through the deep. They slid beneath the gym doors unnoticed, and as they erged once more, the sight that greeted them froze them in place.
Percy Jackson was a blur of movent, a storm in human form. He ran and leapt across the gym floor with breathtaking agility, twisting midair like an acrobat, his form perfectly balanced as he dodged fiery projectiles launched at him from every direction.
Explosions rang out like cannon blasts. Blazing tal balls streaked past him, slamming into walls and doors with devastating force, leaving smoking craters behind.
Bianca and Nico gawked at the chaotic scene. Percy was battling a group of six massive Laistrygonian giants—each one nearly two ters tall, covered in swirling tattoos, and wearing strange na tags with absurd titles like Skull Eater and Marrow Sucker.
With a flick of his trident, Percy summoned a towering wall of water that surged up to catch an incoming fireball. The water encased it instantly, trapping the molten core inside the wall of liquid. He pulled the water encased orb close to him.
Then, with a smooth jump and a spinning flip, Percy turned and spun in a corkscrew. The orb of water followed his spin, turning into a ring of swirling water as he built montum.
When he landed, he pointed his trident forward, and the orb launched like a torpedo—slamming into one of the Laistrygonians just as the giant raised its own cannon ball in defense.
The two collided with a deafening crash. Water exploded outward, and the flaming projectile inside detonated in a burst of steam and pressure. The force of the blast hurled the giant backward, engulfing it in the explosion. When the smoke cleared, it collapsed, unmoving—clearly dead.
"Nice one, Percy!!" shouted a booming, cheerful voice from nearby.
Bianca's head snapped toward the sound. A tall, bulky young Cyclops stood at the edge of the gym, waving excitedly. His single large eye sparkled with admiration.
"Don't think you alone can stand against us, son of the sea god!" one of the giants roared—this one wearing a tag that read Joe Bob. He hurled two more flaming cannonballs in rapid succession.
"Percy isn't alone!" the Cyclops bellowed, catching both projectiles with his bare hands—his skin unburned despite the flas.
"Tyson!" Percy exclaid, a mixture of shock and joy in his voice.
The Cyclops grinned wide. With an impressive spin, mimicking Percy, Tyson used his montum to launch both cannonballs back at the giants like deadly fastballs.
The flaming spheres struck two Laistrygonians square in the face. The sheer impact lifted them off their feet and slamd them against the gym wall with a sickening crunch.
They slumped to the ground, lifeless, leaving sars of blood on the concrete. When their heads tilted forward, Bianca and Nico saw their skulls had caved in from the force of the hit.
Percy spotted a Laistrygonian giant take aim directly at Tyson with another molten cannonball. His instincts kicked in before he had ti to think.
"Tyson, look out!" he shouted.
Dashing forward, Percy slid across the scorched gym floor and spun his trident around his body in a wide, circular motion. With precise timing, he slashed upward and sliced the fiery cannonball clean in two. The halves veered off harmlessly, one embedding into the bleachers, the other crashing against the far wall with a hiss of steam.
Still in motion, Percy twisted on his heel and rotated the trident back around his body into a reverse grip. He cocked his arm back and hurled it with all his strength.
The weapon flew like a thunderbolt, its tines shimring with oceanic power. It pierced straight into the Laistrygonian's chest, striking his heart with such force that the monster was flung backwards. The wall behind him exploded outward in a shower of bricks and debris, revealing the sunlight outside. As the trident buried itself deeper, the giant let out a strangled cry before disintegrating into golden dust.
Percy extended his hand, fingers spread. The trident vibrated, then whirled through the air, spinning rapidly as it flew back to him and landed perfectly in his palm.
"Thanks, Percy!" Tyson said with a big, goofy grin, clearly unfazed by the near-death experience.
"Don't thank yet, big guy. We've still got two more to handle," Percy said, eyes narrowing as he scanned the battlefield.
But then sothing strange caught his eye.
One of the remaining giants' shadows was stretching unnaturally long behind it—as if it were alive. Percy instinctively tensed. From the depths of that shadow, a shape launched upward.
It was Nico.
He erged mid-air, landing with a thud on the giant's shoulders, legs straddling its neck. Casually, Nico leaned forward over the giant's head, resting his elbows against its cranium as if he were lounging on a couch.
He lifted a hand in greeting. "Sup, Handbag. Miss us?"
"Nico?!" Percy blurted, stunned.
"Wha—?!" the giant shouted, confused and flailing.
"Sorry, not talking to you," Nico said with a sly smile. A dark pistol materialized in his hand—ford from shadow and obsidian. He pressed it calmly against the side of the giant's temple.
"You had so good shots earlier. Now it's my turn."
With a grin, he pulled the trigger. A concentrated beam of shadow energy erupted from the barrel and burst clean through the giant's skull, exiting from the opposite temple with a blast of smoke and darkness. The Laistrygonian let out a gurgle before its eyes rolled back, and it dissolved into dust beneath Nico's boots.
He dropped to the ground in a crouch, landing smoothly on his feet.
The final Laistrygonian, stunned by the sudden loss of his companions, turned in panic to face Nico and prepared to hurl his last cannonball. He pulled his arms back, gathering energy.
But before he could throw it—crack!—a black arrow streaked through the air and shattered the ball mid-charge. Fragnts of molten tal scattered uselessly across the gym floor.
The giant blinked in confusion. And then, as he felt extra weight on his palm, he looked back. Standing there in his massive hand—where the cannonball had once been—was Bianca.
She stood with graceful poise, holding her bow sideways across her chest. Between her fingers, an arrow of pure energy ford, glowing with ethereal light.
"Wha—" the giant stamred.
"Wrong move," Bianca said coolly.
She loosed the arrow, and a beam of focused power blasted forward. It struck the giant directly in the forehead, boring through his skull and leaving behind a large, clean hole. The monster's body swayed for a mont before it collapsed into dust like the others.
Bianca flipped into the air with dancer-like grace, landed smoothly on the gym floor, and slung her bow across her back with practiced ease.
"Hello, Perseus~" she said with a teasing smile, flipping her braid over her shoulder.
"Bianca too? What is happening right now?" Percy asked, utterly bewildered. Before he could demand an explanation, the sound of sirens pierced the air.
Red and blue lights flashed outside, and the front doors to the gym burst open with a crash. Teachers and staff poured in, coughing from the smoke and staring at the destruction: flaming walls, gaping holes, and the stench of scorched tal and sulfur.
One of the mortal students, still wide-eyed and trembling, pointed directly at Percy and shouted, "It was him! Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire! Coach Nunley saw it too!"
Percy's jaw tightened. "Oh, co on…"
"You have so seriously bad luck, Percy…" Bianca said, sighing with a wry smile.
"You think?" Percy muttered under his breath, his expression darkening.
Bianca gave him a quick glance, then raised her hand to her lips and exhaled deeply. A wave of shimring purple mist burst from her palms, sweeping across the room like a fog.
Having trained under Nebula, Annabeth's spirit of the Mist, Bianca had beco adept at manipulating mortal perception. Within seconds, the teachers and students all stood dazed, eyes glassy and unfocused.
"That should hold them for a while…" she whispered.
Percy let out a breath. "Thanks. Now seriously—what's going on? I doubt you both popped in just for a welfare check-in"
Bianca's smile faded.
"The camp," she said quietly. "It's under attack. We thought you might want to know"
Percy's face went from curious to ice-cold in a heartbeat.
"What?!" he barked. Then his tone dropped, grave and urgent, the first person that ca to mind when he thought about camp was... "Clarisse…" He muttered, his expression turned fierce as he said, "Take there. Now."
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