The Battle of the Barrier

**Beginning**

During the prophecy of the Time Lost Notus sent monsters up to stop camp assisting Chronos from getting his hourglass back and opening the Lotus Hotel. He lost control of these monsters and they camped out by the barrier for almost six months, attacking demigods and causing the camp to live in fear. The Hunters of Artemis had to step in to help protect the camp, slowly picking away at monsters and saving campers. Sadly, campers, hunters, and nature spirits lost their lives to the monsters at the barrier while they were stationed there.

It is not known why the monsters stayed at the barrier for so long or what caused Notus to lose control of them.

**The Battle**

After months of preparation, Emil Volkoff (unclaimed son of Nike) and Noah Winters (son of Athena) led the campers outside of the barrier to eradicate the threat. Volkoff led an air assault consisting of pairs of demigods in chariots dropping celestial bronze darts on the monsters and reloading as fast as possible. Winters led the infantry into the heart of the battle as the darts were being dropped to sneak up on the monsters.

The battle lasted thirteen hours. From dawn until dusk and into the dark. A total of 561 monsters were in the forest, 526 were killed and 35 were captured. 6 demigods died during this time.

Eva Smith (daughter of Ares) and Blythe Gottesman (daughter of Thanatos and legacy of Iris) rode pegasi above the monster camps and shot up flares to signal the battle beginning, letting the chariots know where they would be bombing and the infantry know that they could attack.

Volkoff's air strike focused on bombing the nest of flying monsters that were stationed in the trees for the first portion of the battle. Once the majority of the flying threats, such as dragons, were destroyed the remaining undestroyed chariots fanned out to other areas to assist in raining hell on the monsters from above.

Winters split the infantry into two groups, one led by himself and another led by Ajex Drakos (son of Thanatos, legacy of Hades). While Winters led a frontal assault on the heart of the monster camp Drakos led a small group of campers deeper into the battle to rescue a demigod named Aster Lemming (son of Hemera). Lemming had been captured on his way to camp by a venti named Fred and subsequently needed medical attention, which Drakos and his team provided in the rescue.

There was initially a fourth prong to the attack, to send a team to target the monsters all the way in the east and drive them back towards the center. As the chaos of the battle started only two demigods made it through to the eastern front, Otto Artizar (unclaimed daughter of Nemesis) and Adrianna Mendoza (daughter of Hermes). Artizar arrived on the eastern front first and attempted to drive the monsters back. Mendoza arrived at the eastern front distracted and subsequently fell to a monster attack. Artizar attempted to avenge Mendoza's death on her own, but was unable to until Briar Harwood (daughter of Demeter and hunter of Artemis) arrived the two managed to decimate the entire eastern front. Artizar and Harwood made their way back to the command position, Artizar carrying Mendoza in her arms.

Syth Perseus and Skye Tupelo (children of Poseidon) were part of the group Drakos led deeper into the battle. Perseus, using the gods' innate hatred of him, insulted Zeus while he and Tupelo were being attacked by laestrygonians and cyclopes. Zeus, either looking for a legitimate reason to help or a possible accident to finally remove Perseus from his life, struck down multiple monsters with godly lightning. Tupelo gave another reason for Zeus to cast down his lightning and he did so, assisting the demigods once more.

The other half of Drakos' group, consisting of Magnus Wilhelm (son of Hephaestus), Lucem Esqueleto (son of Hades), and Gabe Baker (unclaimed son of Hephaestus), rescued Lemming and split up to go face the monsters.

Baker met up with Desmond Winchester (son of Tyche) and the two took out monsters together before Baker was injured and had to be taken to the command post to be healed. Baker later returned to the battle despite being barely healed and fought alongside Ian Conners before the two were dragged off to the command post in the final hours of the battle.

Esqueleto offered Lemming some assistance then had to return to fighting monsters. He managed to dispatch some to Tartarus, but they overwhelmed him and he had to crawl into the bushes to hide, too injured to go any farther. Later he was found by Anubis Nguyen (son of Rhapso) and taken to the infirmary, where, despite the best attempts of Doc (daughter of Asclepius) he succumbed to his injuries after the battle was over.

Wilhelm and Drakos worked together to destroy monsters in the area for the majority of the battle, but eventually the two had to be taken to the command post before they overexerted themselves.

Two young campers, Jake Hatfield (son of Thanatos) and Niki Vlahos (daughter of Athena) snuck into the battle to help the older campers fight. As Hatfield was being attacked by a monster, Vlahos heard his screams and went to try and help, accidentally delivering a fatal blow to the young boy. Sahil Khan (child of Thanatos) was patrolling the battle for anyone too injured to make their own way to the command post to receive medical treatment. Khan heard Hatfield crying out for help and shadow traveled the two of them to the command post, where Eddie Fernandez (son of Asclepius) did his best to heal the injuries. Hatfield succumbed to his injuries soon after, despite Fernandez's best attempts.

The chariots provided cover for many of the campers to retreat and recover from the attack, not allowing the monsters to have the same luxury. Those still in the field did their best to dispatch as many monsters as they could. The wind nymph Wispy used electro bombs to destroy as many monsters as she could in the battle, taking out entire swarms with the bombs.

Phoenix Soto and Elaine Montgomery used Chiron's opera mixtape to bring down the stymphalian birds, violating the Geneva Convention. Thankfully monsters do not have rights in the Geneva Convention. Chiron’s opera mixtape exploded and chased off many monsters as Soto and Montgomery flew around the battlefield.

The Minotaur, which had been locked in the main monster camp, broke through his box and began looking for things to attack. Volkoff drove his chariot as high as he could after baiting the monster and released the pegasi, letting the chariot crash on top of the Minotaur. Unfortunately Volkoff was also caught in the wreckage. Artizar went to help the demigod, but both got thrown and attacked. Volkoff kills the minotaur using his bare hands and the Minotaur's horn, Artizar doing her best to help. Both demigods were transported to the infirmary after the fight with severe injuries by Khan, who used shadow travel to get them there.

**The Field Office**

The Field office was the home of the infirmary and the refill station for the chariots. Campers too young to fight and any camper who was able to help heal were there to assist. Boyd Baudelaire and Mari Rivera (children of Hephaestus) handed out ammunition and repaired broken items.

After the battle was over the whole Command Post was converted to an overnight infirmary for the healers to finish treating the injured. Anyone who could be moved, either to their own cabins or to the big house, was.

Doc and Fernandez worked late into the night to heal as many people as they could. Many demigods barely escaped death by being saved by their friends using shadow travel or chariots to make sure they could make it back in time.

**Clean Up**

Neredia Thorne (daughter of Thanatos, Westly Jie (son of Janus), Moss Williams (child of Apollo), Blythe Gottesman (daughter of Thanatos and legacy of Iris), Elena Fraile (daughter of Notus, legacy of Rhapso, and Hunter of Artemis), Alistair Galen (child of Zephyros), and others participated in the final clean up effort.

Once the Minotaur was defeated and the rest of the large monsters had been destroyed campers began making their way back to the infirmary, leaving the cleanup crew in the field to finish off the smaller monsters and end the battle.

Jie, Fraile, and Galen captured 35 ophis, which were endangered species and a huge danger during the battle. Any demigod who killed one would receive severe punishment. Thankfully none were injured and all were brought back to camp to be transported back to their home environment by the Hunters of Artemis and the Monster Moving Company.

Thorne, Williams, and Gottesman killed the remaining monsters, with Williams officially ending the battle and dealing the final blow.

Multiple parties scoured the battlefield afterwards for trophies and lost items.

**Casualties**

*Minjun Kim* succumbed to his injuries on the battlefield and never made it off.

*Brooke Watson* succumbed to their injuries on the battlefield and never made it off.

*Lucem Esqueleto* succumbed to his injuries in the infirmary once the battle was over.

*George Rainford* succumbed to his injuries on the battlefield and never made it off.

*Jake Hatfield* succumbed to his injuries in the infirmary during the first hours of the battle.

*Adrianna Mendoza* succumbed to her injuries on the battlefield and never made it off.

**Aftermath**

The barrier was repaired after the battle and the bodies preserved for burning at the campfire five days later. The six fallen were given funeral rites and sent off to the underworld.

Athena showed up at the campfire to represent the gods and pay respects to the fallen. She gifted Winters a magic weapon and stated that she was proud of him and the others before returning to Olympus.