"What you did went against nature itself!" Suddenly, she unsheathed her blade and pointed it at me.

"Hey, woah!" I held up my hands, "What about what he did here? Is that fine, huh?" I took a step closer to her, and her hand wavered.

"What he did was evil, but technically it never went against nature… All souls reached the underworld, where they were judged properly, and not by a mortal!" She growled, "You're an ally, but do that again, and I don't care who you are, I'm killing you."

Taking a deep breath, I tried a smile to calm her down. It didn't work.

"We got off on the wrong foot, how about we start again?" She nodded, "I'm Daniel, from Camp Half-Blood. I'm here to rescue you, the others as well, they're waiting upstairs."

"Rebecca. You're that new kid who's the child of Ragnos, right?"

"Yep, now how about you lower that, huh?" I pointed at her sword. She stared at the tip for a bit, before sheathing it.

"So, the others are already free then?"

"If things are going as planned, the prison is ours from the inside."

"The only way we can escape is if we shadow travel away, there's no other way-"

"You can't be serious! Look at the state you're in. How are you going to take all of us at once?"

She frowned, "I can manage just fine."

"Last I heard that skill of yours isn't without dangers of its own, and I for one don't want to become one with the shadows or fall from the sky because you miscalculated. Now get a move on and give me a hand with Terry."

"You mean that big man? He's almost dead, Thaddeus made sure of that."

"Until he's dead-dead I'm not leaving him behind."

I dug through my pockets as I made my way back to Terry, pushing aside dozens of monster trophies until my fingers brushed against one of the few ambrosia blocks I had on me. Handing one to Rebecca, I stuffed the other into the unconscious man's mouth in small pieces, forcing it down his throat.

He didn't wake up, but with the wounds he had, it wasn't surprising.

Carefully pulling out the four knives keeping him pinned against the wall, I let his weight rest on my shoulder while Rebecca took his other side.

Going as quickly as we dared, I finally opened the door, only to find a flurry of blades pointed straight at my face.

"Lower your damned weapons, can't you see that they're with us." Julius' gruff voice ordered the prisoners.

"Daniel?" Robert's surprised face looked at me through the crowd, and I threw him a smile. There were others too, Hector, Anton, Jim, George, Tatiana and one of Sophia's siblings, Justin.

"We can do reunions later," The centurion interrupted us, "Here." He threw me my swords, "And let's go. Everyone understand the plan?"

"I will, once you explain what it is."

"You do what you do best." He replied, "Almost everyone has been given a sling, the legionaries know how to use them, they'll take out anyone that makes the mistake of spotting us. We've fashioned some grappling hooks out of stuff we found in the building, they'll get us over the walls. We try to keep this quiet for as long as we can."

"I knew I wouldn't leave without having to fight my way out." I sighed.

"Well, pray it doesn't come to that." He rolled his shoulders, "Alright, it's now or never. Go!"

The door was carefully opened, and the sound of a stab was a sign that the first monster had already been found.

Wasting no time, we sprinted across the courtyard towards the wall I had recently scaled, the slingers quickly taking out those on the prison's rooftop and walls.

It felt like no time at all before we were scaling down the far side, a patrol of about eighty or so casually passing underneath us, not realizing what was dangling above their heads.

Then it was onto the second wall, with a similar approach.

"So far so good," I muttered, looking at the centurion.

"Don't you fucking jinx it."

I nodded, pulling out my bow and quickly ending one of the monsters standing around at the bottom of the wall, slingers taking out the other five.

No problems so far.

Not until the final wall.

"What's the plan after we're among the tents?"

"We make a beeline towards the city, killing any monster we meet on the way. There's no way this many of us can remain unspotted, so don't stop for even one second, not even if Medusa herself looks you in the eyes, yeah?"

I nodded in response and started descending over the far side with my knives, the first wave of prisoners following close by on ropes.

Suddenly, a large growl came from below us, followed by more and more shouts joining in, even as the slings whirred into action and took out the witnesses.

Landing on the ground, I drew my swords and stood at the ready, cynocephali arriving with blades drawn and very angry.

They were dead by the time the first prisoners reached the ground, slings held high above their heads ready for the next arrivals.

There we waited, killing everything approaching us as alarm bells rang inside the fort. Every minute we wasted meant a slimmer chance of escaping.

Yet we held the position at the base of the wall until everyone was on the ground. No order had to be given for us to start running once the last man's feet touched the earth.

Darting past tents and killing those monsters stupid enough to get in our way, I could hear more and more enemies joining the chase behind us.

A whistling sound filled the air, and I saw Julius falter, as he briefly looked behind himself.

"Fucking…" Was all he could say before an explosion erupted amidst our group, sending us flying in all directions.

I was on my feet in the blink of an eye, just in time to watch as we were surrounded by dozens of enemies. The prisoners that had survived the explosion were either staring at the small crater in shock or getting ready for a last stand.

"Julius, Julius, Julius." Purred a voice, and a woman appeared, slowly striding out of the crowd. She was twirling a golden pilum artfully between her fingers, "What was your plan, exactly?"

"Lina." Julius spat, "You can go fuck yourself, as can the Augur. We're leaving, whether you stand in our way, or let us go."

"Oh, really?"

"You know who this is?" He pointed at me, "He's the-"

"The son of the Greek primordial, yes, I've heard the tales. You were the one who killed Brutus, David, and Steven. Big mistake," She tutted, "That means you'll have to watch your friends die as I leave you alive for Dravin to finish off." She smirked.

"Who are you?" I shouted, letting my blades down, "Maybe we can work out a deal, these folk don't have to die if I'm the one you want."

"Don't think so much of yourself, graecus. Everyone here is important, they're our plan B if you ever decide to attack. As for who I am, thank you for asking." Her smile was not at all pleasant, "I am Lina Schmidt, a legacy of Aquilo."

"Aquilo?" I racked my brain for the Greek version, "Boreas? I know some children of Boreas-"

Her glare made me stop in my tracks, and the monsters around us took a step closer.

"Daniel…" Came the whisper beside me, and I glanced to the side to see Rebecca looking up at me.

"What?"

"Get her to use her powers, she can control the wind."

"Why would I-"

"Just trust me, get her to blow out the torches!"

Sighing, I took a confident step forward.

"Okay, so maybe I hit a nerve with that whole Boreas stuff, but you must understand, you look a lot like the twins. White hair, white face, white… Well, everything. Except for that spear over there."

I saw her face play over a range of emotions before it settled on pleasure.

"This?" She smirked, "I'm sure others might recognize this." She looked pointedly at the centurion.

"I'll take that back… Mark my words, you bitch."

"You are in no position to be talking to me in that way, Julius."

Her voice was starting to get incredibly annoying.

"Oh, just shut the fuck up already!" I threw my knife straight at her face, her eyes widening and her hands lifting reflexively.

A blast of wind knocked some of us off our feet, myself included, right as a hand closed around my wrist.

"Everyone! Grab someone!" Rebecca yelled into the darkness, and I did as told, willing my knife back into my hand. I heard the monsters lurch forward and my fist closed around the hilt of the blade.

Suddenly, my surroundings turned pitch black, the stars along with the moon itself disappearing from the sky. My stomach churned as I dropped straight through the ground into a free fall and air whistled past me. As for the cold… It chilled me to the bone.

Closing my eyes, I suddenly crashed against the uneven cobbles of someplace other than the enemy camp and groaned.

Similar reactions came from others all around me.

Slowly sitting up, I noticed that laying on the ground beside me, with drool flowing down her cheek, was the ambassador, unconscious.

As I got up to help her, I let out a sigh of relief, the army of monsters that had been around us was gone.

However, my heart fell as I realised that we were missing a decent chunk of our number. How many of us died in that explosion, and how many were left behind, I didn't know, but regardless, it was depressing.

"Where are we?" Robert asked, he too, getting back on his feet.

"This is the forum!" One of the Romans gave a laugh tinged with relief, "We're safe!"

"The centurion… Where is he?"

That one question caused everyone's smiles to droop as they too noticed just how many of us remained. Much to my surprise, all Greek prisoners were accounted for.

"Okay, listen up guys and girls! We've lost some of our people, but we can't rest just yet!" I told everyone, "The Augur's bound to send patrols after us, and we need to get back to camp before they find us." I pointed at two of the nearest prisoners, "You two take Terry, and if you don't mind, I'll leave Rebecca to you, Rob."

"Sure thing man."

"I know all of you are tired, but let's keep in mind that it's much safer behind the walls, plus there's food."

In the distance an arc of lightning crashed against the ground, appearing from clear skies. The ground shook under our feet and our surroundings were briefly lit up, accompanied by one of the loudest explosions I had ever heard.

"What was that?" Hector asked.

"The centurion's final words." The first legionary that had spoken muttered sadly.

Staring in that direction for a few seconds, I finally set off towards the camp, the sound of bare feet on cobbles soon following me.

"So tell me again… What the hell happened?" Viscount said, massaging his temple.

"Went inside, killed some guards under the cover of night, made a potential ally, found Julius-"

"Wait, wait, wait! That's my first question. Potential ally?"

"He's an exiled roman, Alex Morin if the name means anything to you."

"Alex? Fuck…"

"Is he bad news?"

"In a way, yes. It means that we're dealing with more than just the worst of the worst. He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and the senate wanted someone to blame, so he was exiled."

"That's horrible."

"The senate was never perfect, it's made its fair share of mistakes ever since it came into being. Alex is one of them, and there've been multiple movements to change some of these judgements, give them a second chance."

"I assume it never worked."

He shook his head, "Sometimes we're just too fucking proud to admit our own mistakes. That man could easily be fighting on our side right now, if not for Roman pride. Was he at least willing to help?"

"About as willing as someone is with a blade pressed to their back. I forced him to promise on the River Styx not to speak about me, just in case, though I doubt it was necessary. He'll help when the time's right. Hopefully, he'll still be alive then."

"I agree, now, please continue. You met Julius, and…"

"I got some information from them."

"Spiked pits, strange crate, cyclopes."

"Yep."

"Nobody knew what was inside that crate?"

"Nope, only that it was big and angry."

"And then you met Thaddeus?" Grawon sat up in his seat, the glint in his eyes telling me enough to know he had history with the man.

I nodded, "Went down into his personal hell he ruled over… I-I-"

Viscount held up his hand, "I heard enough about the son of Orcus to know what you saw, and I'm thankful you killed him."

"No, he did more than that." Grawon grinned, "Didn't you? You destroyed his soul."

"I don't regret my actions… If anyone, he deserved it." I spat on the ground.

"I'm not judging you for your actions, on the contrary-" Grawon was interrupted by the legate.

"You tried escaping after that, correct?"

"Yes, we got as far as their camp before we were spotted and surrounded. Julius met a certain Lina, whom we managed to trick into extinguishing the torches, after which Rebecca managed to get most of us out via shadow travel. Nothing interesting happened after that."

The legate formed a steeple with his fingers.

"Grawon, can you check with Vespasian on the health of the prisoners, I want to talk with them as soon as possible to see if they have any other details that might be of use."

Centurion Grawon bowed his head and briskly strode out of the tent.

"Now, Daniel, can you describe the layout for me, please? As much as you can remember."

"There are three levels, as we observed during the scouting mission. The entire thing is one narrow slope upwards, each level separated by gates. If we were to get through the walls, we'd have a long struggle up the slope, with projectiles crashing down on us from all sides."

"The towers?"

"From what I saw, they have some pretty heavy machinery in there, that's what stopped us during our escape. There's not enough space for them to shoot straight down, so there's that, I guess."

"And what of the final level? You said the prison was there, no?"

"Exactly. I'm not sure what happened with those that stayed behind, but I'm going to assume the worst and say the prison is empty. However, that still leaves the unicorns, who'd probably be worth more to us alive. Pretty sure the Augur's tent is also up there, but other than that, nothing worth mentioning."

He stayed silent for a while, before digging into one of his pockets and pulling out a small slip of paper, quickly unfolding it.

"Thank you, for everything." He smiled, "Now, I have some information for you."

"Is that a letter?"

He nodded, "From one of our sponsors, delivered by pigeon. He was the target of an attempted assassination not long ago. He describes the assassin as… Well, have a read for yourself."

I took the piece of paper and looked at the letters scrawled across its surface.

Legate Viscount,

An assassin was sent to end me, just as you said would happen, and for saving my life you have my gratitude. I managed to capture her for but a few moments, dark black hair, murky green eyes, olive skin, maybe that'll help you identify the failed killer.

I looked at Viscount.

"Description fits Valentina."

"I'm getting the hang of the Augur's thought process." He smiled, looking at his nails.

However, she managed to escape when she detonated the hangar, including the supply plane housed within. She is probably badly wounded, but not dead, my guards failed to find her corpse.

The supplies from the Zhang family are arriving soon. I have contacted them to ask about keeping the plane they're delivering it with, to use it during the next supply drop.

With the refugees here, that'll be the last one we'll be able to send for quite some time, but in turn, it has enough supplies to last you a while. With the "terror attacks" in LA, the mortals are going to find my actions suspicious, mist or no mist.

"What terror attacks is he talking about?"

"I'm a bit out of the loop myself-" He scratched his head, "-But I assume it's how the mortals perceive the souls of the damned crawling out of the underworld."

It was about as logical as things with the mist usually were, so I shrugged, and turned my gaze onto the final part of the letter.

Tomorrow. 11 a.m. No specific location, you'll see them.

Be ready.

Francis Alvarez

"It's not the best news, but looking at how things could've gone, it's by far not the worst situation."

"That's one way to put it. With Valentina alive, it's only a matter of time before the Augur figures out his plan failed, and your prison break sure as hell won't help his mood. He'll be out there as soon as he spots the plane, ready to burn those supplies."

"So we get a few cohorts together and wait for the supplies outside."

"No." I raised an eyebrow, and he sighed, "I've already discussed this with the centurions, and have given orders to disassemble this camp tomorrow morning. We'll await the supply drops in New Rome, after which we set up on the banks of the Little Tiber."

"So this is it then? The final play's happening soon?"

"Look, Daniel." He stood up, "I know your father promised help, but I can't wait for it forever. Once we move out, there's no going back, and once we've made camp, we can't wait forever. The more time we spend sitting on our asses, twiddling our thumbs, the more time the Augur has to prepare backup plans, and call in more reinforcements."

"I get it, but isn't this too hasty? We don't even have a solution for the Serene problem yet."

"We've still got two days until then. We'll figure something out."

"Alright." I smiled, "What can I do to help?"

"You? Rest. The cohorts are more than capable of disassembling the camp, and we need our best fighter in tip-top condition for tomorrow."

I smiled at the remark.

"In that case, good night."

"Good night to you too and thank you… Really."

"It was my pleasure," I smirked.

My arms complained as I drew aside the tent flaps of Viscount's new tent, as did my entire body as I walked slowly forward.

I hadn't felt this much discomfort since my first few weeks at camp, training with Sam. Whatever I had done to Thaddeus, combined with the fighting and shadow travelling, had done its number on me and my body yearned for rest.

The Greek tent was illuminated from within, while all others surrounding it were dark. So many figures were outlined by the light inside that I couldn't make out individual forms through the tent wall.

Stepping inside, I smiled as I looked over the joyful faces of the campers. Rebecca was the only one who wasn't present, understandably.

As I passed them, I got more than a few grateful pats on the back, finally reaching the far side of the crowd, only to find myself standing before two faces whom I hadn't expected to be there.

The first of the two, stepped closer, her grey eyes twinkling in the light from moisture.

Suddenly, red-hot pain erupted across my face, and I looked at Sophia's raised palm, reaching for my cheek.

There was no second swing as her shoulder drooped and she closed the distance between us with a hug.

Nico joined, and I squeezed him tightly too.

"You're a fucking idiot, you know that?" She muttered into my shoulder.

"I'm alive, aren't I?" I smiled, rubbing her back.

She pushed me away, "If you ever dare to leave on another suicide mission-"

"Hey!" I held her hands together to stop her from slapping me again, "It isn't technically a suicide mission if I return alive, right?"

"You're fucking impossible." She couldn't hold back the chuckle, no matter how angry she was trying to be. Pulling away from the hug, she looked at me for a while, before finally glancing down at herself, only to reel back in shock, "Oh, gods be damned!" She dusted herself off, "Your cloak is like an old rag."

"Ah, right. There's at least two dog-headed men's worth of dust in this thing." I slapped my chest, sending a cloud of sulphurous dust into the air, much to the dismay of everyone inside.

I couldn't even smell it anymore, that's how much time I'd spent in and around it.

"What did you do?" Nico looked at me, some of his wonder that had been absent for a while now glimmering in his eyes once again. Or maybe it was just the tears from the monster dust.

"Later, man, we'll have enough time tomorrow. And this goes for everyone." I looked around at the tent's inhabitants, "We'll be moving camp tomorrow, and it's going to be a long day as a whole, so we should all get some well-earned shut-eye. I definitely need it after that slap."

The daughter of Athena jokingly punched my shoulder.

"Ah shut up, it could've been much worse."

"Look at you, all full of energy for a stab victim."

"Alright, lovebirds, settle down!" Robert chuckled, causing both of us to blush as we quickly got into bed.

Bob clapped his hands twice, and the light shut off.

"Did he say anything new?" Sophia whispered.

"Who, Viscount?" I saw the outline of her head bob up and down, "The sponsor survived the assassination attempt, but the plane was destroyed by her."

"I heard about some of this from Mary. Shit… So what now?"

"The Zhang family's sending a new one, there'll be a big supply drop tomorrow."

"The Zhang family?"

"Don't tell me, you know them?" I asked, raising a tired eyebrow.

"You should too. Frank Zhang was one of the seven, after which he became Praetor. He settled down in the mortal world after and made millions, though that part of his story is vague. Probably because information about the sponsors is meant to be a secret and having a mythical hero as a sponsor kind of goes against that rule."

"Never quite understood why it's a thing in the first place."

"They're who pay for New Rome's expenses. Kill them, and you cripple the city."

"Guess that's a good reason to keep them secret then." I smirked, "By the way, completely different topic, but did you find your sword and lion skin?"

"Wasn't hard to miss… Man, did I miss the lion skin. It makes you feel like a god… like you're immortal. I can understand why you enjoy your cloak, it's exhilarating to use."

I smiled, something about that sentence bothering me, "God..." I muttered, "God? Guys."

"Dan, you just told us to get some sleep. Can you shut it please?" Michael Larson groaned into his pillow.

"No, this is important! The Serene problem, with the god-tier sacrifice, you have any ideas about that yet?"

"Wh-Are you fucking serious?" She spluttered, "I was sitting in a hospital bed, drugged out of my mind with a hole through my stomach. Yeah, that was just what I was thinking about in my spare time!"

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist! Just answer this… Would your lion cloak make a good sacrifice?" She stayed silent for a long while, "Sophia?"

"Fuck you."

I smiled.

"Guess that's one problem off the checklist then."

"I just said I missed the thing! Why-" She sighed irritably, "If she doesn't accept it, I'll shove it down her bloody throat."

"Cheer up, we're one step closer to our goal."

She let off a groan, "You want to ruin anything else for me today, or can we say goodnight?"

"Goodnight!" Came the response from almost the entire tent. I muttered it back and closed my eyes.

I woke up with a start when something clattered on the ground outside our tent.

"For fuck's sake," I looked at my hands. Trying to close my eyes and go back to sleep, I gave up quickly, "Fine, then I guess I won't sleep."

Slowly getting up, I looked around the tent. Everyone else was still sleeping soundly, the lucky bastards. Sophia's dreams must've taken a strange turn because she snorted unexpectedly.

The only way I could cover my laugh was to walk outside. Once through the tent flaps, I felt the laugh die in my throat.

The fortress was almost completely barren.

Three or so dozen tents were all that remained standing from the hundreds that had previously occupied the space inside the walls, and I could see the latrines from where I stood. That was a first.

Hell, there wasn't even a fort to speak of anymore, the half further away from the city already taken down and packed onto carts.

A soldier walked past me, and I focused on him.

"Good morning," I called out.

"Sir?" He said after nodding back a greeting, stopping in his tracks, and standing to attention.

"What time is it?"

"About half past nine."

"Thanks." I smiled, dismissing him.

It wasn't hard to spot Viscount, wearing his cape and plumed helmet, standing at the forefront of a crowd of civilians. About a hundred and fifty of them all-in-all, the few that had stayed behind rather than escaping with the others.

I knew that keeping them here had been a hard decision for Gloria to make, and most of those that had stayed had useful skills, like medical knowledge or engineering experience.

Slowly, I walked over to Viscount, surprising him as I stopped by his side.

"Good to see you awake, Daniel."

"Not gonna lie, I could've used another hour or two of sleep." I rubbed my eyes, "How's it going

"Well, we'll be waking everyone in the remaining tents ten minutes from now. If everything goes as planned, we'll be set up near the Forum with half an hour to spare."

"I have some good news regarding that."

"Regarding what?" He raised an eyebrow, "The assault?"

I nodded, "Serene."

He took a step closer.

"Come on man, spit it out already."

"Sophia's lion-skin cloak might be the perfect thing to give her."

"That's brilliant!" He laughed, "And I assume that was her idea? Couldn't have been easy, deciding to give away such a powerful piece of equipment."

"Well, you're right about the not-easy part, but I was the one to bring it up."

He chuckled, "So she didn't take it too well then?"

"I mean, she was about as happy as any of us would be when facing such a situation, but she'll understand."

"Oh man, I'm honestly surprised that you're still alive after yesterday." He stared at the crowd before us, "When she learned where you'd gone, I honestly feared for my life."

"That's Sophia for you."

As silence fell between us, I put my hands into my cloak pockets and grimaced as I touched the cold flesh of an ear.

Lifting out a fistful of war trophies, the legate looked at me in disgust.

"You're not planning to give those to me, are you?" he asked, leaning away from my collection, and wrinkling his nose.

"I've got a least another pocketful of this shit. Who else should I give it to?"

Before he could reply, Grawon walked over to us.

"You had time to visit the Temple Hill gift shop?" He slapped my shoulder, an incredibly cheery gesture from the otherwise stern centurion.

"Judging by the contents of his pocket, I wonder if he's even left anything for us to fight," Viscount took a tooth from the pile.

I laughed along with them, spotting a group of children casually playing with wooden swords nearby. They had been our nimble helpers during training, running around with water.

"Hey!" I waved at them, making them stop mid-playfight, "I have something for you. Who wants some sick war trophies?"

The charging horde of children was a far more terrifying sight than any monster horde.

Sophia

With a smirk I counted the ten dollars and pocketed it, winking at the Hecate cabin counsellor. Taking Bob's bet had been the easiest money of my life.

The last wooden plank of the camp had been dumped onto a cart five or so minutes before ten. Having found the counsellor, all that was left was to wait for the second cohort to return from their scouting mission.

A horn rang out, and the legion stood to attention at once, all their feet lifting and falling in unison as the march began. While the cohorts were spread out to cover as much space as possible, we Greeks had been given the direct task of defending the civilians.

As we strayed further and further from our old encampment, I noticed Daniel's black cloak, Viscount's red cape and a random legionary staying behind, staring at the packed dirt and trampled grass.

"I'll be right back Nico, gonna see what they're doing," I told the Son of Poseidon, who gave an absentminded nod as he stared in awe at the ranks of gleaming legionaries.

Daniel noticed my approach and gave me a broad smile.

"Come to check out the show?"

"What show?" I stared at them in confusion, "What are you gonna do?"

"It's good that you're here, I was just thinking about fetching you. Wanna explain Mark?" Viscount looked at the legionary, who gave a goofy grin in return.

"With pleasure. Hey, I'm Marcellus." He extended a hand, and I lightly shook it, "This here..." He unexpectedly retracted his arm and before I could do the same, he slapped a device roughly the size of my palm, into it. "This here's a bomb."

I felt lightheaded.

"I'm sorry, but would you mind taking it out of my fucking hand?"

"Don't worry about it, it's completely safe. Well..." He muttered something under his breath, "It's safe." He shrugged.

Without asking him again, I shoved it back into his hands and stepped back. He reminded me of Cabin Nine's very own Harvey Brooks, whose age mixed poorly with high explosives, though that didn't stop him from being the main designer of the fireworks used during the Fourth of July show.

However, I had seen and heard John telling him off too many times to count. His unlucky grenade testers normally left with fewer fingers than what they'd started off with, though compared to Michael Larson, they were the lucky ones. The Hebe cabin counsellor had lost an entire arm while throwing a bomb. Thankfully, John had been close by and had managed to save the limb.

"Just tell me what this is going to be without handing me unstable explosive devices," I said, crossing my arms, "Please."

"Fine by me," He shrugged again, "So you'll need something that'll get you through the wall, right?"

"Right."

"And we decided that one big bomb would cause too many issues, right?"

"Just get to the fucking point already."

"Right, right… Right. Umm, so place five of these bad boys close together, step back a bit to avoid debris and death by inferno and press this button. Voilà, you now have a new doorway."

"Five of those things will bring down a wall?"

"In theory, but that's why we stayed behind, to check it out. Rather here, than someplace where the Augur can see and plan ahead."

"They'll hear the explosion regardless of where you do it, probably see the plume of dust too."

Viscount's eyes glinted, "And that, my wise friend, is what we call taking a risk. Risk and progress don't cancel each other out, but only by taking great risks can you achieve the most progress in the shortest amount of time. I'd rather he know that we've got something up our sleeves than have these fail during the battle. No offence Mark."

"None taken!"

"Let's just see fireworks!" Daniel smiled, clapping his hands together.

"Oh, we'll see much more than that hopefully," Marcellus smirked. He took out a control pad, flipping two switches, "It's now primed."

"Wait, wait, wait! There's one right next to us!" I said, pointing at the legionary's bell where he'd hung the device he had shoved into my hand.

"Ah don't worry about it, the bag behind me has eight more in it."

I felt my face pale.

"Could you, maybe, put those further away."

"Live a little Sophia, we're gonna be fine!" Daniel shoved me playfully.

"That's what I'm trying to do!" I said through gritted teeth.

"There aren't any electronics in these babies, so there's no way they'll explode." He pointed out at the campsite, "But the other six? Since the flip of those switches, they are primed and ready to fire. So… Can I?"

Handing out ear protection, almost as an afterthought, he opened a button encased in plastic and waited for us to be ready.

As he pressed the button, the screen on the pad came to life and counted down from three. Bracing for the blast, it reached zero and then unexpectedly blinked onward to minus one.

"What? Fucking piece of shit." I read off Mark's lips. Opening the control pad with a deft flick of his wrist, and revealing the electronics inside, he connected two seemingly random wires.

Despite knowing that children of the smith god tended to know their electronics, it was still unnerving to watch him play around with high explosives like it was nothing more than some silly game.

As the counter reached minus ten, the explosion went off, sending a shockwave through the ground and air that forced me to turn my face away. Dirt was kicked up high, and as that settled, the green flames of Greek fire started burning the ground to glass.

Between the explosion and us stood Daniel, his cloak lifted to block all the clods of earth flying our way. Three small divots of dirt shot into the air near us, the golden glint revealing that some Imperial Gold shrapnel had dug itself deep into the ground there.

Once the fires died down, and the dirt settled, all that remained was a deep crater in what had been the courtyard only yesterday.

"Fucking hell." Daniel laughed, and I couldn't help but join in, despite nearly getting killed by highly explosive metal shrapnel. The wall would stand no chance.

"Mark, you've fucking done it!" Viscount laughed, patting the legionary on the shoulder vigorously, "How many more can you make?"

"Well, the nine I still have, need only a few finishing touches, so I can have maybe twelve of them ready by the time we're assaulting Temple Hill."

"Good man, good man!" The legate grinned like a madman, "Now then, let's catch up to the others."

Daniel

"You guys see anything?"

"Nothing." Replied three voices almost at once.

The supply drop was due any minute now, and it had been my turn to scout ahead. Septia, Salvius and Ratimir were three legionaries from the fourth cohort that I had selected for this job, with a dozen or so others waiting for us further back, and the rest of the cohort behind them.

"What if there won't be any action at all?" Septia asked.

"That'd be the dream, but I highly doubt that the disappearance of our camp's walls went unnoticed," I replied.

"Any of you have a cig? Feel like I need one right now." Ratimir patted himself down.

"Asking from the wrong people dude," Salvius replied, earning a glare from the man. Salvius was about to accept the staring contest when his eyes widened, "Down!" He whispered loudly, and all of us dropped as one.

"What did you see?" I asked, trying to turn around as quietly as I could.

"Movement. They're coming down the road."

"You sure it's monsters?" Septia slowly drew her sword.

"Well, it sure as hell ain't our guys marching from down the road from Temple Hill."

"Shit... We need to take them out and then rush back home to inform the others."

"Their patrols aren't exactly made up of just a few ballsy bastards, they bring an entire army's worth of assholes for a single scouting mission!"

"I'm well aware." I grunted, "I'm also aware that this might not be a scouting party but their vanguard. Which one of you is the fastest?"

They exchanged glances until finally, all eyes settled on Septia. She raised an eyebrow.

"Once the trap is sprung, sprint as fast as you can to the next group, warn them then don't stop until you get to the legate. " The girl nodded, and I turned to the others, "Alright, Salvius, can you see where they are, what numbers they have?"

The legionary peaked over the side, and stayed like that for a while, before turning back towards us.

"They're slowly heading down the Via Praetoria, or what remains of it. A minute and they're beside us. About fifteen of them. Monsters, no captain visible."

"That must mean the bigger force is right behind them. Hit them hard, and hit them fast, we won't have time for drawn-out duels, got it?"

"Yessir!"

"No heroics either, remember your training and defend each other's backs. There'll be plenty of death in the coming days, no need for you three to join that number."

Silence fell over us, all of us trying our best to keep calm, our breaths as steady as they could be right before a fight. The tramp of boots got closer and closer, until I took one final breath, watching as a bicephalus warrior strode past us.

Slowly, one of its heads turned to face us. Eyes widening, its mouth opened, ready to cry in alarm. My knife entered its mouth, the two monsters nearest to it cut down shortly after as I pounced on the enemy.

In the short time it took for them to react to the ambush, we had already killed ten of them.

Ratimir and Salvius locked shields, holding off three cynocephali while I jumped between the two other monsters, slicing through the iron sword of one before me whilst thrusting into the stomach of the other one, both turned to dust.

The fucking monster dust was in my mouth again, its gritty texture grinding under my teeth.

Salvius stabbed the last cynocephalus in the stomach and twisted the blade violently, ending the fight abruptly.

"That wasn't that bad." Ratimir laughed, sheathing his sword.

An arrow skittered off his helmet, and he ducked behind his shield.

"You just had to fucking jinx it, didn't you?" Salvius asked, holding up his shield as well, and closing ranks with his brother-in-arms.

Marching down the road was a much larger force of hundreds of monsters, far enough to still feel like it'd be a while until they arrived, but close enough to fire arrows that could hit us with a little bit of luck.

"We holding out against them sir?" Came the question, worry in Ratimir's voice.

"What sort of fucking question is that?! RUN!" I roared, waiting for them to start retreating before following them.

Arrows were falling around us, but they didn't seem to be all that well-aimed. They were, however, slowly gaining on us, and soon we'd have to slow down and turn to face them just to deflect the arrows.

The other legionaries joined us, quickly picking up the pace we were dictating. Even with them, we'd not stand a chance against those numbers.

A distant horn blow echoed over the ruins of New Rome, and I soon realized that it belonged to us as an entire cohort's worth of soldiers stepped out from behind ruins, and quickly formed a shield wall across the road, leaving just enough space for us to fit between two shields.

Turning around to keep the arrows from shooting us in the back, the distance between the enemy and us drastically changed.

"Break formation!" I shouted, and we sprinted the last hundred or so meters. One legionary's legs buckled as an arrow struck them in the back, two others stopping for a moment to pick him up.

We passed the first line just in time, for as soon as the hole closed behind us, the first monsters were crashing against it, like the raging sea against a cliff face. Drawing in deep breath after deep breath, I realized that I had yelled enough curses during that final sprint that I'd have made sailors all over the world proud.

"You'll be alright, mate!" One of the legionaries slapped the face of the injured man lightly a few times, "It's just a broken rib, the arrow glanced off."

"Doesn't stop it from hurting like buggery, does it?" He grunted back, before getting quickly taken away by a medic.

The entire formation was pushed back by one step as the brunt of the enemy force joined the charge.

"REPULSUS!" Centurion Magnus bellowed over the noise, and the first line stabbed at the enemy as one, a mushroom cloud of dust puffing into the air. With the entire first line basically gone, the cohort had no trouble moving forward.

This happened three more times before the enemy realised that it was doing no real damage by smacking on the shield walls, even though I could see a few casualties emerge from the back of our ranks.

They retreated far enough to be out of range of a pila volley, and arrows started raining down on us moments later. Shields were raised in response.

As I wracked my brain, trying to formulate some sort of plan, more legionaries appeared atop a nearby house's ruins, some of them holding pila, others slings.

"IACE!" Another command, this time from a feminine voice, and a swarm of javelins rained down on the bunched-up mass of monsters, who had failed to realise what was going to happen.

After a second volley, they were gone, no more than a few dozen of them left, running back down the way they'd come.

Our formation stood for a while longer, then the command was uttered, and the front rows broke ranks, moving forward to finish off the few monsters that had yet to turn to dust.

I jogged over to Magnus and Fred who were talking with a young woman I had seen plenty of times before, but I never could remember her name.

"You couldn't have come at a better time." I told her, "But why is the second cohort here? Aren't they supposed to be in reserve?"

"Nico's scouting party ran into similar troubles as yours, so Viscount split us up. Grawon's half is with the third cohort, and I'm here with you guys. We met Septia on our way here, so we came as fast as we could."

"Thank you, Vicky." Fred smiled at her, "I have a feeling we're going to need as many swords as we can spare."

She bowed her head in acknowledgement, but her reply was interrupted by a shout from one of the soldiers. Whatever they had said, however, was lost over the distance.

"What's the problem, Paulus?" Centurion Magnus yelled over to him.

"This ain't no monster!"

"What?" He marched forward, the rest of us rushing to catch up to him after his sudden departure.

A figure lay on the ground with a pilum sticking out of his chest. Whatever blood had once flowed through his veins was now pooled around him and trailing down his cheek from his mouth. He had been dead for a few minutes by now, the pilum had ended his life quickly.

"You know him?" I asked, looking at the centurions around me.

"Oswald Washburn, a descendant of Mercury." Vicky muttered, "He was exiled after he abandoned one of his wounded comrades to save himself. He had every chance to take him to a medic, and save his life, but he chose his own instead."

"That sounds like he was just panicking and made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment. It could happen to anyone, and it's completely human to make mistakes. That doesn't make someone evil."

"Who said anything about him being evil?" She snapped, "Believe me, many of us didn't agree with the Senate's decision, but the family of the dead man wanted justice." Vicky finished the sentence with a sigh.

"The Senate had its flaws." Fred said to himself, "It always did."

"I've heard that a few times already." I shrugged, "At least you can learn from your mistakes and not let this happen again. The Augur never would've pulled off this civil war if he couldn't garner such a strong influence with all the exiles."

Magnus snorted, "You would think we'd grow and change, but we've had plenty of chances before this war to do so and look where that got us."

"However bad it might sound, maybe this war was what was needed to finally set things straight."

"Maybe…" Fred finished the conversation, a sombre mood descending on us all.

The distant rumble of something pulled us from the depressing situation, and we looked all around, expecting to see a new army of monsters marching down the road.

But the road was empty, and the ground wasn't shaking either, a good indicator of a big force approaching most of the time.

On the horizon, a big, black spot appeared, and as it grew, it took up the form of a large cargo plane.

Late, but not lost, the supplies had arrived.

Sophia

"It only dropped three supply boxes! That's not good... That's really not good!" Michael muttered, staring at the parachutes floating towards the ground.

"Patience Michael, you can't expect them to give us all the supplies they promised in a single flyby," Viscount said, not taking his eyes off the plane which was already coming around for another flyby.

"One looks like it's dropping near Daniel's group and another near Nico's, but that third one is falling right in the middle, closer to the enemy than what counts as healthy," I pointed out.

The legate took out his binoculars and looked at the box in question.

"Sophia, Michael, you two take the First Cohort and defend that supply box before the enemy gets to it."

"Yessir!" Michael saluted, "Ave Romae!"

"Ave!" Viscount replied. I hadn't heard that phrase for a long time now, and it meant that the Romans were finally regaining some of the spirit they'd lost during the first battles of this war.

Joining Michael at the forefront of the First Cohort, who had occupied a row of half-destroyed buildings, I started helping the centurion position the cohort, constantly checking the descending box and correcting him.

I pulled the hood of my Nemean lion skin over my head and shook my hands to get rid of the battle jitters.

"At the ready!" Came the order in Latin, and columns were created, perfect for the small remnants of streets that we'd have to traverse to get to our target. "Forward… March!" Michael shouted.

And just like that, we were off, split apart into small groups, yet still close enough together to be able to help each other should the need arise.

Stepping over rubble and ruin, it felt like a lifetime before we reached a street intersecting our path and in turn, an entire row of destroyed multi-storey houses that perfectly blocked us from continuing forward.

"Shit! Which way should we go now?" Michael cursed to himself, looking first left, then right, "Sophia, take some people with you, circle around the left, and I go right. Don't bother waiting for us, we all know where we're heading, we'll meet there." I nodded, the boxes now on the ground and clearly visible thanks to the red smoke billowing into the sky.

If we could see it, so could the Augur's forces.

Without saying another word, the cohort was split in two, and just like that, I was the sole leader of a hundred men and women.

We jogged down the road until we found a good enough opening in the blockade to continue our journey. Finally, a clear line of sight opened to the package, and we wasted no time gathering around it.

"Right, we're running out of precious time, so I want all of you to find yourself a chokepoint amidst these ruins and defend it. I want a dozen slingers around the box, sniping whatever you have a clear sight on."

All we had to do was wait for Michael, which was hopefully not going to be long.

Only the distant clatter of swords carried over the dead city of New Rome, as well as the nervous jangling of the legionaries' equipment filled the silence.

Then I saw it, the first dozen monsters vaulting over a wall in front of us, right before shields smashed together before me, and an arrow lodged itself into their surface. Arrows began falling, and the rectangular shields closed tightly against one another, while a few opportunistic lead shots whistled over the cohort's head.

Even as the first monster wave was funnelled into the chokepoints, and the shield walls braced for impact, I knew it'd be hard to keep them out. The Augur didn't keep these warriors around for their quality or their swordsmanship skills, but rather because they had fighting spirit and brute strength to back it up.

Drawing the zig-zag blade that had once belonged to Brutus, which I had recently named Bolt, I watched as those under my command milled around the interior of the large building's ruins we were defending, automatically reinforcing the positions they thought fit.

As the two sides struggled against one another, the legionaries were constantly trying to push back, to regain what little they'd already lost.

One Roman lifted their shield too high up, and the opportunity was taken, monstrous hands grabbing the side of the shield and trying to rip it away. As his friends rushed to help him, he collapsed, and a moment later was carried out of the shield wall, blood running down his ankle from a deep wound.

With the slingers focusing on the breach, the hole was closed before they could break through.

Already, we were down a soldier, and we were barely at the beginning of the fight.

Where the hell was Michael?

Daniel

I grunted in anger as I smashed through the leather and chain gauntlet of a bicephalus, my blade continuing into the space between its two heads.

As both the body and the severed arm disintegrated mid-air, I watched what remained of the last wave retreat.

"Get ready! They're already sending the next group!" Magnus shouted, and I sighed, quickly sheathing my swords, and once more pulling out my bow.

As the new arrivals approached our position, I let loose arrow after arrow, joined by dozens of slingers, while the first few ranks prepared for what was probably going to be our last pila volley. Two dozen or so legionaries were working as hard as they could to unpack the supplies into carts so we could retreat to a more defensible position.

So far, our casualties were low, but it seemed like they had endless monsters to throw into the meatgrinder, wearing us down bit by bit.

The enemy warriors charged, entering the killing floor as they did so. The desert of dust should've been a clear indicator that they weren't safe, yet they only seemed to realize their unlucky situation when the pila volley was loosened their way.

Stepping forward, past the shield wall, I stared down the already faltering charge, and they came to an almost complete stop. Maybe my reputation from the previous waves had finally reached them.

They were given no orders, yet they took multiple steps back, and I held up my hand for the slingers to stop. Whatever they were planning, I wanted to see.

From their ranks emerged a red-haired exile, glaring at them with murder glinting in her eyes.

"It looks like you've managed to frighten actual fucking monsters…" She growled, "Well done, I guess that's all I can say."

In her hands was a familiar golden pilum.

"Who are-"

"Zoe!" Centurion Fredrick shouted across the battlefield, "You have some nerve shoving your fucking face here."

"Oh Fred, please! Can't you see I'm having a conversation with this Angel of Death over here?" She pointed at me, "Plus I can see he recognizes my weapon."

Her smile was all teeth.

"I assume you want to talk, so talk!"

"Very well! While my troops grow a pair of…" She turned towards them to scream the last part, "BALLS!" Just like that, she was focusing on me again, "The last owner didn't fare so well when she had the unfortunate accident of being struck by a big fuck-off bolt of lightning. But in some form, I guess you're to blame for freeing the owner before her in the first place."

"Julius? What have you done to him?"

She smiled, "The grumpy old ass is fine, though I can't say the same about some of the others. The Pontifex wanted to make an example and so he did."

"And why should we trust you?" This time it was Magnus who was shouting.

"Magnus! Fancy seeing you here after you were enjoying your yoga club so much." I could see the centurion grind his teeth, "See, even though you exiled me, I know shit, as any true Roman should. As for why you should trust me… Why would I lie about him being alive? It'd serve me better if I told you he was dead, but of course, you guys wouldn't believe that because the old fucker is basically immortal in your eyes."

"Look, you ain't winning here today!" I interrupted the conversation, "So best you turn around and get back to your little Augur, or better yet, surrender, and we may yet spare you."

"You spare Ozzy?" She grimaced, "Doubt it, though our plan was never to beat you here… After all, the great Twelfth Legion Fulminata can't be defeated in such a simple battle." She chuckled.

The drone of the plane's engines got closer once more, preparing for a second flyby.

Just as the first package fell out of its back, a roar shook us to our very core. It reminded me of Pandora, but she couldn't be here... I'd feel her presence.

Glancing back at the exile before me, I could see her smile was unwavering.

Something big was coming, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be friendly. All of a sudden, Horatius' words about the big box popped into my mind.

Rising into the sky above Temple Hill was a winged, green creature, that let off another roar, along with a lance of searing flames.

A dragon… One that was easily larger than the plane, which it was heading towards.

The pilots seemed to notice something was off, because two boxes were pushed out of the plane's back at once.

With no more than twenty wing beats, it was upon the flying vehicle, and the sound of metal ripping apart screeched all around us. Aluminium debris scattered through the air as the plane violently pitched upwards, the remaining supply boxes in it slipping out of its back, along with specks of something that glinted bronze in the sunlight.

The beast turned around leisurely in the air, catching up to the dying vehicle quickly and grabbing the tail. It ripped it off as if it was made of paper, throwing it to the side.

We watched in horror as the plane started losing control, slowing its upwards movement until it stopped for a brief second, as if in a cartoon.

Then it plummeted towards the ground.

The beast did one final flyby, latching onto the open end of the plane, and blowing an inferno of flames from its maw down the length of the plane, the tongues of orange blasting out of the front windows, molten metal raining down onto whatever was unlucky enough to be underneath this scene.

The charred remains of what was once our supply plane crashed into the ruins of the colosseum, sending a ball of fire into the air.

"Shit..." I muttered, trying to prepare myself mentally for a fight with a dragon.

Much to our surprise, however, it turned around and flew straight back to Temple Hill.

I gripped my sword hilts hard and faced Zoe.

"Wasn't that a show worth watching?" She smirked, her pilum turning into a gladius, which she sheathed, "Enjoy the rest of your day, assholes."

And just like that she was gone behind a wall of monsters, who marched away as fast as they could, even though the centurion's orders to fire were soon followed by the whistling of projectiles and the smack of heavy shots hitting flesh and light armour.

They didn't retaliate and were soon out of range.