— - — -
[10%] chance to blind, stagger, cripple, or bleed!
— - —
"You're so dead," Ares growled out at me, pushing forward.
I ducked under his slash and parried the next one. He twisted his sword, and his jab went glancing off of Riptide. He backpedaled but turned his shoulder, trying to ram into me. The watery armor extended, catching his shoulder and pushing him away. The sheer force of the impact pushed me back a few inches.
There were no two ways about it—his strength truly was monstrous. If I hadn't been reinforcing every movement I made with water, I honestly think he would've sent me flying. I had to be careful here. I knew I lacked the raw power to take on a god. Getting in his head was my only option.
— - —
4:12:34
— - —
I was drawn out of my thoughts as I looked at the timer again. Damn it. This Limit Break was draining fast. Well, I guess I'd just have to abuse it while I could.
— - — -
[270][MP] - [20%] chance to blind, stagger, cripple, or bleed! - [100 x 43] + [100 x 15] = [-][5800][HP]
— - —
I flashed under Ares now, Riptide heading straight to cut his leg. He jumped up in the air, only to get smacked by another elemental whip. My watery arms exploded forward, latching onto Ares. They steamed in the summer sun, and burned his shoulders, pulling him into another combo.
"Argh!" Ares screamed out, a bloody cut appearing on his right shoulder. "You fucking bitch!" He slashed again; this time, I was forced to jump up to avoid his sword. I tried to sidestep, to move back towards the water, but Ares seemed to know what I wanted. He outmaneuvered me, pressing so hard I had to put all my concentration on not getting sliced into pieces.
"Taking me seriously now?" I panted, a little bit of sweat forming on my forehead as I kept deflecting his blows.
"You got lucky," Ares said, scaling back as I unleashed another ring of mana. He dodged it and came toward me, his black leather duster trailing behind him. His sword glinted like fire in the sunrise. "That was bound to happen. Luck runs out. Still doesn't. I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited, and I quite literally can't die."
I smirked at him, launching another barrage of flaming [Nike's Leap] mixed in with a barrage of fireballs and blasts of seawater. The water splashed in his eyes, allowing my fireballs to make an impact on him. They slammed into him, lighting his jacket on fire. Ares roared in annoyance, trying to put out the flames. Unfortunately, it wasn't as much of a distraction as I'd hoped. He deflected two of my slashes and a [Nike's Leap], but a little spin let my second one burrow into his ribcage. I'm not going to lie, I was really getting the hang of this thing. I should've been focusing more on my offensive powers all along.
[Nike's Leap] was quickly becoming one of my favorite moves. By expending a little more mana, instead of just moving fast, I entered a dimensional void. Because of Limit Break, I couldn't tell how much, but I knew it was just a little bit more. Anyways, the dimensional rift let me instantly teleport to my desired location whenever I wanted to, regardless of distance. Well, within reason. I don't think I could [Nike's Leap] to camp, for example. Maybe if I leveled it up more and cranked enough mana into it, I could use it across entire cities. Cross-country, though—I'm not too sure about that one.
"What I mean is, even if I can't beat you, I'm sure Piper or someone will," I laughed at him, beginning to bluff.
"You're really not that tough." Ares screamed in pure frustration.
"What does that even mean? You're getting your ass handed to you! I'm very clearly stronger than you!" See, if there's one thing I know about people like Ares, they hate being told that their achievements mean nothing just because of who their parents are. Hell, one time, I almost got punched in the face for chanting daddy's money at some kids after they said Grover looked like a marionette puppet. If I was right, this would start to piss him off. Unluckily for him, all of those myths Annabeth tried to drill in my head before I left started coming back to me. Oh, I was about to have some fun.
"It means, you must be really weak," I continued, relentlessly hurling fireballs at him. His sword flashed up impossibly fast, cutting through my fireballs like they weren't even there. I remembered our meeting from last night. "Gods can't steal each other's symbols of power. That means someone else did it for you. It was Luke, wasn't it? He must've taken the lightning bolt, you caught him, and then he must've hammered you so bad he bought your silence."
"You don't even know what you're talking about, godling," Ares said fiercely. The tips of his duster caught fire. "I've been fighting for years! There's no way a demigod could beat me!"
"What about when you fought Hercules, huh?" I grinned at him. "You ran away with your tail in between your legs, and then complained to Zeus. Daddy's boy, through and through, huh? Uncle really had a chip off the block with you!"
"Shut up!" Maybe I pushed him too far. He shot at me full force. I tried to move as soon as I saw his legs tense, but I was too late. Ares punched me in the face, and I went shooting across the sand.
— - —
[-][10,000][HP]!
— - —
Damn, that guy hit like a truck. A few more of those, and I'd be down for the count. Hell, the only reason I could move right now after that one was because of the insane regeneration this water armor was giving me.
"Did I push the wrong buttons?" I replied, standing up and wiping a little bit of blood off of my chin. "Sorry, sorry. I just find it interesting how the greatest son of Zeus wasn't even a god at first."
Death wish. I have a death wish. This fight itself was only really competitive because of the Limit Break. That, and the fact that Ares seemed oddly distracted. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it felt like his composure was all wonky for some reason. Still, I wasn't immediately dying in a battle with the God of War. Maybe I was finally doing something as a demigod that I could be proud of. Not to mention, this whole armor thing probably looked cool as hell, too. I felt like I was a Power Ranger in one of the giant robots. The only real downside was the steep mana cost, but I didn't have to worry about that for the moment. As long as I was in fighting shape, it didn't matter. Well, somewhat fighting shape.
"Hercules got lucky!" Ares defended, stalking toward me. His sword dragged against the sand, cutting a deep line into the beach. "If it wasn't for Athena, he'd be a grease spot!"
"Speaking of which," I said, still lying down on the sand. The sunlight felt great on me. "She's kicked your ass a couple of times too, right? I didn't read the Iliad, but my friend told me you switched sides midbattle to help Hector and the Trojans and were still defeated by her— and then, lo and behold, you ran crying to Zeus. Am I in the ballpark, here?"
"That was different! Father already decided Troy would fall!" Ares yelled. For a moment, he actually whined like a little kid, being made fun of by his friends. I suppressed a grin—it was working! "Diomedes got lucky, too!"
"I get it, I get it," I placated, raising my hands. A small grin formed on my face. This one was the real kicker. "Pick on someone your own size, right? Well, maybe not that, either. The last time you did that, it didn't really work out. Did Otis And Ephialtes really trap you in a jar for thirteen months?"
"I didn't know that the jar would do that!" Ares screamed, raising his hands. A wave of fire spawned at his feet and shot towards me frighteningly fast. I rolled over, and it crashed into a sand dune. "They tricked me!"
"It's okay, man, don't worry. I'm not going to judge you based on your record," I hopped off the sand, flipping Riptide in my hands. I ignored the feeling in my face—the water was already swirling around it. "The God of War who runs from fights. A little bit rough on the performances there, but it is what is, right? I remember hearing a lot of older men your age have something called performance issues— is that what you're dealing with, too?"
"Shut your mouth!" Ares roared, and the fire behind his glasses burned so brilliantly that it left a steaming hole in his Ray-Bans. Maybe I crossed the line. "I'm going to kill you and drag your body to Olympus!"
— - —
2:21:52
— - —
We met in the middle with a truly breathtaking display of swordsmanship. Ares jabbed, lunged, slashed. I hate to admit this, even now, but he truly lived up to the moniker God of War. I'd never fought anyone like this before. If I didn't have Limit Break, I would've been slaughtered at a moment's notice. Each movement he made was incredibly precise, with the power of a semi-truck. If one of those things even clipped me, I had little doubt in my mind that I would be pulverized on the spot. I duck and wove gracefully, surrendering my body to [Lunar Veil]. The water poured out of my holographic avatar, pushing and pulling my body left and right, helping me dodge easily. Clang! Both of our swords met in the middle. I strained against his force, but more water came shooting out of the Pacific to reinforce my armor.
"Is that why you're so obsessed with Aphrodite? Do you feel the need to, like, prove your worth? Listen, I don't know if you know, but there's this mortal thing called Viagra—"
"Shut! Up!" Ares gritted his teeth. I hate to say this, but he caught me off guard right there. I was so focused on keeping Riptide from slipping, I didn't even notice his knee. It smashed into the hilt of Riptide, causing my grip to slacken. He knocked my blade out of my hands and tried to kick me in the chest.
FWOOM!
Water spilled out of the armor and wrapped around his leg at the least moment, not fully stopping his monstrous kick, but severely lessening its impact.
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