Chimera, Final Part
When the chimera saw Percy, it seemed to ignore Harry for a moment, drawn by the stronger demigod scent coming from Percy's body, the scent of one of the children of the Big Three.
The chimera charged straight at him. Percy, barely able to stay on his feet, held his sword with both hands, his expression serious, while the hellhound standing beside him lunged forward as well.
And Percy, rooted in place, raised his wand again while holding the magical tome in his other hand, ready to use everything he had left.
The hellhound and the chimera collided, but instead of what anyone would expect, the beast passed right through it. The animal had been created by Harry's illusion magic, and as the chimera stumbled forward, it ended up falling straight toward Percy, who hadn't moved an inch.
The chimera didn't understand what had just happened, but it opened its jaws anyway, ready to swallow Percy whole.
But before it could even touch him, something suddenly latched onto its legs, biting down with force.
It was the hellhound.
The chimera's jaws snapped shut just inches from Percy, who remained standing in the exact same spot, eyes closed, as if focusing with everything he had.
Then, in the next instant, he opened them and shouted,
"I want to cut!"
He swung his sword with all his strength.
The blade struck the chimera directly across the face, and a cut appeared instantly, running from its eye down to its jaw. It wasn't deep, but blood began to flow, and that eye looked damaged.
The chimera let out a pained roar.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Percy didn't feel the poison. He didn't feel the exhaustion.
He only saw the blood.
His grip tightened around the sword.
"It works…" he muttered under his breath, a faint smile forming, half relief, half challenge.
He could finally cut it.
Enraged, the chimera struggled harder against the hellhound's jaws, tearing at it with its claws, ripping at its own legs in its attempt to break free.
And it spat fire.
Harry reacted instantly, conjuring a wall of earth that shielded the hellhound from being burned alive. But it also forced the creature to release its grip, letting the enraged chimera break free as it tried to lunge at Percy no matter what.
Percy rolled across the ground the moment the beast charged, and in the next instant, his body vanished from sight thanks to his brother's magic.
Chains burst out of the ground, wrapping around the crazed monster. There were far fewer than the ones Sirius had summoned before, but enough to buy Percy a moment to get away.
The chains shattered almost instantly.
The chimera unleashed fire in every direction, trying to burn Percy even while invisible.
The heat was so intense that the air itself seemed to warp.
The ground blackened and cracked beneath the flames, as if the place itself couldn't endure that fire.
But then, from within the flames, the hellhound leapt through them, parts of its fur scorched, and clamped its jaws around the chimera's neck while it was still spewing fire.
At that exact moment, Percy broke out of invisibility and appeared right above the hellhound, jumping and stabbing downward, aiming to pierce straight through the monster's head.
But the chimera shook itself at the last second.
Percy's strike missed, though it carved another cut in the same place as before, worsening the damage to that eye.
Percy clenched his teeth.
He had been so close… close enough to feel it.
But it wasn't enough.
And he knew he wouldn't get many more chances.
The beast thrashed wildly, still spewing fire as the hellhound refused to let go of its neck.
Percy, about to fall, grabbed one of the chains still wrapped around the chimera's neck and was yanked violently for a moment—
Before letting go and being flung away.
But just before he hit the ground, a sphere of water appeared beneath him, softening the fall. He passed right through it, landing soaked, but immediately pushed himself back up, ignoring everything, and ran toward the chimera again, vanishing from sight.
Meanwhile, Harry hadn't moved from his spot.
Sweat covered his face from how quickly he was casting spell after spell. His vision had started to blur slightly, and his breathing turned uneven.
Each spell felt heavier than the last, as if his own body was starting to reject the magic.
His fingers trembled slightly around his wand.
But he couldn't stop.
And in that state, a fireball suddenly shot from the chimera's mouth straight toward him.
He barely managed to react, throwing himself to the side and rolling across the ground as the flames grazed his shoulder, sending a sharp sting of pain through him.
That brief loss of focus shattered his illusions.
Percy became visible again, right as he was closing in for another strike.
The chimera saw him instantly.
And lashed out.
Percy raised his sword to block, but the force sent him flying several meters back, crashing into a row of trash bins that thankfully softened the impact.
Even so, the hit knocked the air out of his lungs.
For a second, his body simply refused to respond.
His vision shook violently before snapping back into focus.
Meanwhile, after getting Percy off of her, the chimera used all her strength to attack the hellhound that still wouldn't release her neck, and started clawing at it with her paws, as if she wanted to tear through its flesh and skin to pull its insides out.
The pain made the hellhound release its bite and fall to the ground, letting out a pained whine.
The chimera seemed ready to deliver the final blow to finish it once and for all, but before she could, Harry appeared right in front of both of them, pointing his wand at the chimera's face, and shouted, "Flash".
Then, a burst of light flickered instantly, blinding the eye of the chimera that could still see, making it take a few steps back.
At the same time, Harry turned and pointed his wand toward the hellhound. "Depulso", he said, as the animal's body was pushed out of the beast's reach.
But the moment he cast that spell and saw the hellhound being pushed away, Harry felt a complete weakness take over him, as he dropped to his knees, as if that had spent the very last reserve of energy left in his body.
His arm lowered slightly, unable to hold the wand firmly.
He felt his body empty… completely drained.
Even staying conscious was starting to become an effort.
Right then, the chimera recovered its vision and saw Harry standing in front of it. Its mouth opened to finish off once and for all one of those three pests that kept interrupting its meal.
At that moment, Percy, who was lying among the trash bins, stood up, and his body started to change slightly, as he immediately threw the sword in his hands straight toward Harry… or rather, Harry stood up from the trash, no longer having Percy's appearance.
At the same time, the Harry standing in front of the chimera changed into Percy's exhausted and poisoned appearance, barely able to stand, struggling to breathe. He turned slightly, watching the sword flying toward him, and raised his hand, catching it.
His fingers closed around the hilt.
There was no doubt. No hesitation.
It was now… or never.
Right as the monster's mouth closed over half of his body.
But almost immediately, the chimera stopped, its mouth seeming to close more slowly. Then something started to come out from its forehead.
The tip of Percy's silver sword.
And as it became clearly visible, the chimera's body started turning into black dust slowly, starting from its head.
The beast's roar broke halfway through, twisting into something unrecognizable.
Its body began to crumble as if it had never been solid, as if its existence was being erased.
What could be seen was Percy holding the sword upward from inside the chimera's mouth, which ended up piercing through its own head with the force of its jaws against Percy's blade, while he was still breathing with difficulty, but looking at the chimera with a slight smile as he watched it disappear.
His body finally gave in.
The sword slipped from his hands as his vision darkened completely.
He couldn't hold on anymore.
"Percy", Harry shouted.
Every step hurt, but he didn't care. His only concern was reaching him. He could barely walk with one injured leg, with a cut that slowly let blood out, one of his shoulders also burned, and he was completely exhausted from using illusions, barely staying conscious, but still trying to get closer to his brother no matter what.
The hellhound was lying not too far away, breathing with difficulty, unable to move, only able to look toward the boys… before slowly sinking into the shadows.
They had done it. They had defeated the chimera, against all odds, and completely injured, but they had managed to win.
Harry reached Percy, and fell to his knees in front of him, no longer able to move at all, and he knew Percy obviously couldn't either.
They just had to wait for Grover and Annabeth, and they could save Percy.
In that instant, a furious scream seemed to alert Harry, who was barely holding onto his consciousness.
"Nooo… you damned bastards!!" the female roar full of fury echoed, shaking the surroundings for a moment, as birds all across the area flew away at once, and a primitive fear began to rise in the chest of every living being nearby.
And of course, Harry as well, who could barely move his head to look toward where that scream came from.
And when he did, his eyes widened in shock and fear. There, he could see the woman from the train, who had seemed like a normal woman the last time he saw her. But now, through his slightly blurred vision, he could see how she was growing in size, green scales covering her entire body, which seemed to be deforming, while a massive tail, similar to Medusa's, no, even thicker and larger than Medusa's itself, formed from her legs. And Medusa at least still looked somewhat human even in her most horrible form, but the monster that appeared in front of them was completely a horrifying creature, far larger than Medusa, and it even seemed like it could keep growing if it wanted to.
She looked at them with fury as she roared, "You disgusting demigods killed my princess. Now I will devour you for her," roared Echidna, the mother of monsters, showing her horrifying sharp teeth from her mouth.
Almost immediately, her massive body moved toward them at a speed faster than any high-speed train.
Her mere presence made the air grow heavy.
It wasn't just fear…
It was something deeper.
Something instinctive.
As if everything in that place knew that something like her shouldn't exist.
Harry couldn't help but open his eyes fully for a moment, for the first time since all of this had started.
Harry realized they could truly die.