Death and His Many Friends: Chapter Nine

Percy moved in a blur as I struggled to parry his attacks. Sparks flew as I tried to sidestep away from his monstrous offensive. His face was calm, yet contained, as if he was holding back. After failing to block his attacks, he hit me in the gut with his sword handle, sending me slamming to the ground.

The wind was pushed right out of me, and my vision was hazy. I stood up with unfaltering determination to prove to everybody that I wasn't just some kid. I swung wildly at Percy, who suprisingly was caught off-guard as my blade got to within an inch of his face, before he shoved me back a considerable distance. The hard rain was making my vision even worse, and it seemed to give Percy a massive power boost. As I blocked his blows, I felt my arms getting weaker and his sword getting heavier. I tried to get away from it, but I was pulled back into the fray by Percy's hacking maneuvers. When he struck my blade, at last, my arms gave way and I was quickly disarmed. He held his sword in a decapitation gesture, but then hesitated, and instead punched me in the face with so much impact that I slid across the circle a few feet.

I could already taste blood, and my whole body was in pain. I thought about what Percy would do to me after I was knocked unconcious. Was he really going to kill me? I reached for Deathbringer, which was a few inches from my hands. I struggled to get it, but once it was in my hands Percy was high in the air, with his sword in a death strike maneuver. The rain blinded my eyes as I looked to the stormy skies. In a few moments Percy would not kill me, but deal a considerable amount of damage with the blunt end of his blade, maybe crushing my ribs and puncturing a lung.

Deathbringer strangely hummed with energy as Percy was a feet inches above me. I aimed Deathbringer to the sky, and suddenly jets of black lightning shot from the tip of the blade, blasting Percy back into the sky and onto the floor. The whole croud was roaring with excitement as I got to my feet.

Percy was shaken, but defenitely not beaten. The spot in his chest where the black lightning had hit was scorched, but was quickly put out by the rain. With his bronze sword glimmering in the rain, he lunged at me, sword first.

Suddenly my body started to fail me, for the black lightning had sapped all of my strength. I buckled to the ground, but managed to deflect Percy's blow, sending us both back a few feet from each other.

It's no use, I thought to myself. We may have some similarity in strength, but his endurance will outlast mine. I still could not get up, and Percy was not letting up. He gathered his breath for a moment, and began to walk slowly towards me, as a hunter walks around his prey before he strikes.

Percy suddenly closed his eyes, and began to gather raindrops into a huge ball of water. I shakily got to my feet, and realized that I was doomed.

The ball of water suddenly errupted into a roaring jet of water going straight at me. With all my strength, I pointed Deathbringer at the blast of water, and an even larger strike of black lightning fired at an alarming speed. It collided with Percy's attack, exploding in a huge mix of water and electricity. The circle where we stood exploded into pieces, sending flying rocks at the audience, who quickly dodged them.

With my ears ringing, I could see the blurry image of Percy, drained of his power as well, but still had some fight left in him. He reversed his hold of the blade, taking advantage that it could not hurt mortals, and hurled it at me using the rain as an accelerator.

Just before it hit, it spun around to the blunt side of the blade, which dug into my chest. With blood spurting from my mouth, I fell to the floor, my body wrecked. The last thing I heard before blacking out again was the cheering croud.