Back at the Plaza, Thalia asks Percy what Prometheus showed him. Percy describes the vision of May Castellan, and Thalia explains that Luke told her about May’s glowing-eyed episodes but never their cause. Thalia warns Percy not to excuse Luke’s choices and admits concern that Annabeth may hesitate if forced to fight him, because Annabeth has always defended Luke.

Percy gives Pandora’s jar to Thalia to lock away and falls asleep. In his dreams, Percy sees Poseidon’s undersea palace under siege, with Tyson and other Cyclopes charging into battle after the armory is breached. The dream shifts to Kronos’s army camped at the ruined Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium, where Kronos questions Ethan Nakamura about the failed attack on Percy and seems suspicious that Annabeth may have protected Percy’s vulnerable spot.

During the same dream, Kronos briefly weakens and Luke’s voice breaks through, causing Ethan to suspect Luke is still resisting possession. Kronos denies it, threatens Ethan, and orders Queen Sess to prepare a surprise while Hyperion moves the main force into Central Park. Percy then dreams of May Castellan years earlier at Camp Half-Blood, where May tries to become the Oracle despite Hermes’s fears; because of Hades’s curse, the attempt destroys her mind and leaves her with terrifying glimpses of Luke’s future.

Annabeth wakes Percy at twilight, armored despite her injury. Percy tells Annabeth about the approaching army but withholds the revelations about May and Luke’s possible resistance. At the reservoir, Percy assigns Grover, Annabeth, Thalia, the Hunters, and the Athena cabin to hold Central Park while the other cabins guard Manhattan’s entrances against possible feints.

Kronos’s army attacks through the park. The defenders use Greek fire, arrows, Athena tactics, and nature spirits to slow them, but Hyperion strides across the reservoir and forces Percy into single combat. Drawing power from the water, Percy creates a personal hurricane that weakens Hyperion, allowing Grover, Leneus, and the satyrs to trap the Titan inside a massive maple tree.

The victory is interrupted when Kronos unleashes the Clazmonian Sow, a giant winged pig whose attacks scatter the defenders and panic the nature spirits. Percy grapples onto the sow and is dragged across Manhattan until Blackjack rescues him. Percy activates the Hermes statue from Grand Central Terminal and the stone lions at the public library with Daedalus’s command sequence, and the automatons destroy the sow before Percy and Blackjack fly back toward the continuing battle.