DA : Chapter 107: Anthem of Anarchy III

"Most likely," she said while her eyes flashed green. "Atlas used mercenaries even during the early stages of the modern man and did it again in the last Titan War. I don't doubt that Pontus will make use of mortal forces and even if he doesn't make them join him through blackmail or fear, he could instigate them to attack us."

"In fact, we can be almost certain he will," Percy said with a frustrated sigh. "That island was proof of that but now the question is, which country?"

...

That made them go silent as they contemplated the possibility of having to face down mortal armies as well and the fallout due to it. There were several very powerful countries with weapons and the capacity to cause mass destruction as a whole.

They knew that once revealed there would be entire countries screaming for their blood. Calling them demons, abominations, proof of blasphemy, and so forth. However, the idea had been to open up once the threat of the Olympians was over and if necessary, essentially bully and intimidate such countries or groups into non-violence.

They didn't want to conquer and control the world. Were they willing to ally and help friendly or neutral countries? Yes, but if any mortal groups wanted to remain hostile, as long as they stayed at a distance and stewed in their own anger rather than try to cause damage, then that was fine even if they kept a weary eye.

They would only use aggression as defense but until then the mortals would be given the benefit of the doubt … unless certain actions directly damaged a facet of one of their domains but that was a completely different can of worms to deal with.

Percy quirked an eyebrow as he looked at one particular screen with a European talk show, a priest-well-Cardinal from the looks of it, very eagerly claiming the proof of the divine with the 'holy' angel cutting down some pagan being and other such 'miracles' happening days after. One such being Percy sending his pack to use the shadows to bring survivors and corpses alike near emergency centers where the mortal rescue forces wouldn't be able to reach otherwise.

Sadly there had been some Olympian affiliated beings investigating as well so they couldn't do much without tipping their hands or adding more violence to the area. Speaking of Olympians…

"Thalia," Percy asked, taking his eyes off the crowing clergyman. "Any news on the Olympians?"

Thalia blew a strand of hair out of her face before answering, "Headless chickens is the trend right now but Athena is reigning the lot in. They're getting frantic since Poseidon is MIA for them now too. Several of the Argos are stocked and ready but so far none have left."

"And once they do, what?" Jason asked, speaking for the first time in days. "Shoot them out of the sky? Otherwise they can and will start dropping bombs once they find the city."

"We could always force them down with some storms," Thalia responded easily before grimacing. "But that still means facing them on the ground."

"And the Olympians will hide at the back," Nico muttered while folding his hands under his chin.

"Not if we can draw them out though," Andy cut in getting the council's attention.

"And how exactly can we do that? At this point none of the Olympians or the few gods with them go out alone so any tries will lead to battle. Worse is that all of them are in or near mortal populations which is just another repeat of Cordoba," Styx responded.

"The Fall of Cordoba," Rhea murmured as she looked at one screen displaying that very headline. "That one's going down in the history books," she added grimly while many of the council members grimaced at the thought.

Silence reigned for a while as thought on the newest problem. How exactly could they get to the Olympians without needing to attack and essentially slaughter the demigod forces around them?

The Olympians were still gods and even if they got the drop on them, there was no way for a fight to break out without some massive damage to the surrounding area and demigods, regardless of how tough compared to regular mortals, could simply not last within the presence of gods fighting at full tilt. This wasn't like Hestia's abduction either considering that she wasn't resisting when Percy took her.

"Maybe all we need is the proper lure and bait," a new voice said making all turn to the entrance of the throne room to see Hestia walking in, growing with every step.

"Hestia!" Rhea said as she and Percy stood to approach her but she raised a hand to stop them.

She approached steadily, not looking anywhere near rested enough and Percy could hear Ladon whining in the need to come to his mistress and make sure she was okay. Still, she came and gave him, Rhea, and Andy a quick kiss before plopping down on her throne while looking around before settling on Phoebe.

"Athena is the current head and as long as she is there, the Olympian forces have direction," Hestia continued. "Without her, taunting and luring the other Olympians will be easy enough, after all, we have plenty that they would want," she said before looking to Percy and giving him a look that let him know he would probably not like this plan.

"And what exactly would you want to use as a bait for her?" Nico asked with narrowing eyes.

"Me," Hestia replied while adjusting in her throne to get comfortable. "The Olympians still don't know what happened and Poseidon keeping his distance is a good thing for now. We know they will have to travel during the day since they don't all our capabilities and would avoid the night as much as possible.

We also know Athena will likely be part of the invasion force since she commands the main lines. All we need to do is separate her enough that one of us could engage and subdue her," Hestia continued while looking at Andy intently.

Andy caught the look and nodded before addressing the council. "We need to move our timetables forward. Thanks to Cordoba, we not only have to worry about to divine factions but the mortals as well. Removing Athena will cause enough chaos for the rest of the forces to be easy to pick off before they get here." She then looked at Percy specifically.

"One or two of us fighting whatever forces specifically travel with Athena should be more than enough of a window."

"And what would keep other gods from interfering?" Jason asked. "We don't even know if Athena will be the only one of her ship, in fact, I expect several minor gods to be present with each group and the ships can carry upwards of 200 troops each."

"Well …" Styx started up as she looked at each of them. "Maybe it's time for the entire council to go on a little excursion," she said with a less than innocent smile…

...

( Leo POV )

Two Days Later

The minor god of the Forge and Advancement hammered rhythmically upon the sword of imperial gold, the heat of his forge turning his entire workshop into a Dutch oven and forcing all his sibling helpers out.

But it was better that way, letting him drown himself in his work during the late hours of the night. His shirt having been tossed aside hours ago leaving him in greasy overalls, his newly defined arms dripping with sweat as he worked on while his mind wandered.

It had been nearly a week since the world was shaken up with the "Fall of Cordoba" as it was called and the first sight of a tried and true angel.

You know, when he mused about angels showing up to hack apart gods he was being sarcastic! But those clear 10 seconds of footage with Hyperion of all titans being stabbed and turned into that white dust, he knew that titan was well and truly dead. Now not just the Olympians but entire world governments were making remarkable chimpanzee impressions while flicking shit at each other.

Never before had he cursed his redesigned TVs and computers that allowed demigods to use them safely without the threat of monsters since now everyone was basically scaring themselves more by constantly re-watching that footage or listening to global news on Cordoba.

Hell, for all intents and purposes a new religious movement has begun. Christians of every creed in Saint Peter's Square, Muslims moving in droves to Mecca, the Grand Isle Shrine in the Mie prefecture for Shinto believers, and so forth.

Of course no world level event is complete without conspiracy theorists! Some say that it was government testing of new super humans, others thinking aliens have finally arrived to duke it out with each other while taking the guise of religiously significant forms for shits and giggles. At this point Leo wasn't sure and considering there was absolutely nothing on that being within the archives of Olympus, they were flying blind.

"Stupid… Clang… freaking… Clang… angels… Clang… or demons," he gripped as he finished hammering out some dents in the sword before tossing it into the sharpen and polish pile.

He was about to grab another one when he heard a cough behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see his oh so lovely wife, Calypso, dressed in a simple tank top, sweats, and her hazel curls pulled into a bun. Glorious. She wasn't bothered by the heat having long grown used to it and some perks between the marriages of gods.

"Are you planning on staying out all night?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms.

"Maybe?" he replied with a shrug but it didn't look like his wife was amused.

"You know the fleet heads out in the morning. They need you to head the ships or are you going to let Hermes and Apollo drive?" she asked next, as if daring him to say yes.

No no, the only reason Apollo hasn't had an accident yet was because there was nothing to hit so high up and Hermes was a speed junky when traveling. He was not letting his ships go out in blazes of glory because of those two.

"No, I'll be in soon," he said somewhat shakily, his normally tanned skin paling considerably at the thought while Calypso gave him a knowing smirk.

"So why are you still out here?" she asked as she moved to look at some of the newly repaired swords and shields.

Leo sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Just … I guess the stress is getting to me," he answered.

Calypso snorted before looking at him. "I'm pretty sure Athena has developed a permanent eye twitch," she countered making him snicker.

That goddess had been on the receiving end of non-stop questions the moment news about Cordoba broke out. Moral was getting low after seeing one of the most dangerous titans cut down like that but Athena had managed to keep her cool with the help of Annabeth, Zeus, and surprisingly Dionysus.

Well, more like he'd snapped twice already after hearing complaints and whines for too long and turned nearly a dozen demigods into bottle nose dolphins. Thank goodness other gods were close enough to revert the changes, now everyone just keeps down when he's present and constantly offer him diet coke.

"Yeah," he hummed as he stretched his back to a series of loud pops. "Good thing Dionysus is staying back for defense of the city. I'm not sure we could afford the friendly fire."

"I'm worried about Lady Hera though," Calypso added getting a slow nod from Leo.

Ever since Ares' execution the goddess had been too quiet, barely responding to anyone or anything beyond her husband and sometimes Hephaestus. Some would think that the goddess was basically a living mannequin at this point but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

She was going with the offensive force and no one could stop her, otherwise they'd be the targets of her wrath. She'd nearly killed one demigod for making a comment on her dead son in passing, not having known the goddess was within earshot but luckily Demeter was with her and managed to stop her.

"It's a risk, no doubt about that," he agreed. "But at this point she's about as bloodthirsty as Artemis now."

That and he'd seen her training once late at night. It was then that he was reminded that she, along with the biggies like Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, had in fact fought on pare with titans and taken names too. And everyone thought Ares' aggression came from Zeus, how sadly wrong they were.

"Charming comparison," Calypso muttered as she set down a dinged sword. "But still, even as a god you should come and get some rest."

"Okay, just let me wrap up the last few swords," he replied as he picked up a larger, two-handed blade with a bent tip.

He set it in the fire and patiently waited as it heated, knowing this would probably be the last of the night otherwise Calypso might lock him out of the room and he really didn't like the couch.

"And here I wanted to give you a proper send off," he heard her sigh dejectedly making him glance back only to catch her walking away with a nice little sway to her hips.

Maybe he could set the sword down and get some rest … after completing his marital duties of course…

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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.

...

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