#'cause like that's not a regular flash bomb. that's not light bulb light. Apollo is the SUN GOD. that's all UV bby

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 39 (SPOILERS)

"No flash photography, please / Oops. My bad. Ha-ha" Is that... a common accident during battles?

"Say the word . . . and I will bore a hole between this moron emperor's eyes." I feel like it's not gonna be that easy. It probably took a ton of effort just to get that one scratch on his face because that's how boss battles are.

"Only the word CORN was still visible." Ooh, that's a bad omen. Remember what happened with Triptolemus?

"You summoned a spirit?" . . . "A small one." Ey! But if having an invisible wind spirit ally wasn't enough to do more damage, I'm concerned.

"We are not going to make say hello to my little friend a thing." Even now, in the most dire of circumstances... "Leo . . . a seven-foot-tall barbarian is holding a crossbow against the side of your head." . . . "It's all part of the plan!" PLSSSSSS HE'S ABOUT TO DIE They are all about to die and these two are having this exchange, someone please give these two a higher sense of self-preservation

"Albatrix, if the demigod speaks again, you have my permission to shoot him." 1) Albatrix, nice name. 2) Yeah, that's about what I expected to come of Leo and Apollo's exchange. 3) Unfortunately, I doubt Leo is going to keep his mouth shut for long, if at all.

"Are you telling me . . . that your great army surrounded this place, invaded, and couldn't even find a chair?" Apollo, careful. You're going to end up with a crossbow to your head, too. Bet the Waystation is hiding it in some hidden room. Hypothetically, it could just block a room off with no doors or staircases or hallways leading to it. It could just Cask-of-Amontillado that thing and no one would ever find it again.

But also, coulda just scouted the place. Impatience leads you to your doom.

"But most of my forces are merely lost . . . They'll be back." Like the Terminator. Anyway, don't tell me we have another Thanatos-Doors-of-Death dealio again. "about half his monstrous troops fell into a giant chute marked LAUNDRY." LMAO NEVER MIND The Waystation is the deadliest opponent on this battlefield. "The rest fell into the furnace room. Nobody ever comes back from the furnace room." Now, they're dead. Bet Leo could come back from the furnace room, though. Probably find a lot of bones there. "And his mercenaries . . . wound up at the Indiana Convention Center." You know, there's probably an entrance to the Labyrinth somewhere in this Waystation.

"Blood dripped down" SO IT IS BLOOD! They're not at ichor stage yet, assuming there are stages to becoming a god.

"This is the only deal. You will let your hostages go. You will leave here empty-handed and never return." Confidence is nice, but Apollo has one (1) ukulele and idk how Marcus Aurelius' quote is going to help them win the stand-off.

"I want you to avert your eyes. I am about to reveal my true godly form." Is he trying to get the Germani holding the hostages to close their eyes so they won't react as fast when he attacks them or Commodus? That's risky, but better than no plan at all.

"which of his deepest fears that bee swarm might feed on." The bees! Not the bees! Anything but the bees!

"Commodus and his men could have looked away. They didn't." Well, there goes that plan. "My body superheated" Uhh. "Then the screaming began." They didn't die? I guess monsters and almost-gods are more resilient against it. Could also be that Apollo's operating at, like, half a percent of his normal power. All I know is they're holding up a lot better than Jason did.

"silhouettes were burned across the tile floor . . . Their clothes had also lightened by several shades." This is... a lot like what nuclear bombs do, isn't it? Conclusion: Apollo can sometimes be radioactive. Stay away from that guy.

"my skin was now the color of maple bark." That's kind of brownish, medium grayish, sort of ashen. "I thought I looked quite nice this way" You think you look nice looking like someone diluted the paint before coloring you in? I'm glad your self-image has improved.

"horrible skin cancers I'd just given myself." Oh no, wait, he can irradiate himself with that move? "an antique flashbulb." We have bigger problems. Rick Riordan calls light bulbs flashbulbs.

"Alright, guys. This has been fun, but I'm gonna melt his face now, 'kay?" I love how casually he just says that.

"I was a second father to you. I gave you purpose!" "A second father even worse than the first" Yeah, Lit has not had good experiences with fathers. That was the wrong card to pull.

"and tumbled into the void." Wait, the void? I thought this was a window? Did the Waystation change where the window leads? Did he fall into the furnace room?

Okay, so final face-off presumably over. Kinda disappointed that this means we won't get all three of the Triumviratees together in the final book. I guess they're not all fighters so it wouldn't have worked out anyway, but that's still a let-down. On the bright side (lol this was a very bright chapter), this was a satisfying conclusion aside from the above.

Do all the people in the room have skin cancer now?