The week passed slowly. Perseus spent most of it doing jobs on the computer for hours at a time, only breaking for meals and to use the bathroom. What little free time he gave himself he used to relax by playing video games and chatting with Neptuna. Sometimes he would text his friends, either Victor from last week or a girl named Ginger. Neptuna assumed that Ginger was the redhead in that picture Perseus has in his wallet. The picture was likely around five years old. The week consisted of the same routine every weekday until Friday hit. Neptuna didn't fully understand what it was Perseus did, but it seemed he worked for a number of people on a freelance baseus. It was a slow, dull week. For both of them.
When Friday hit Perseus only did about four hours of work before he finished up and started to text Victor to arrange some hangout time that would lead up to a simple walk in the park at night. Nothing crazy like last week. The two have clearly known each other for a long time, being more like brothers than friends. Victor was wearing some handmade pants, parachute style with a small cloth sash with a simple red t-shirt as his top. The two started by playing games together, some co-op video game. Chatting back and forth and working together. Eventually it started getting dark and the two saved their game before going outside and walking to the park. The weather was nice, with a slight chill of the night. The park was basically empty with only a few night joggers here and there. The park walkways were lit by old fashioned looking street lamps and had park benches and picnic tables throughout the park as well as a disc golf course. The place started getting more empty. It felt abandoned now.
Neptuna started to feel nervous, and Perseus could tell. It was making him nervous as well. He started to anxiously look around. He looked around, when Neptuna spotted a light heading right for them and shouted “Look out”. Perseus reacted quickly, grabbing Victor and taking him out of the line of fire. The light hit the floor with a blast. Victor couldn't help but shout out. “The hell was that!?” Perseus was already in battle mode. Adrenaline pumping, his first priority was making sure Victor was out of the line of fire. “Get down, behind that rock.” but before Victor could even ask why a man walked out from the trees.
Dressed in white slacks and a yellow t-shirt, the man was of average height and mostly slender. Blond hair, blue eyes. His facial features were slightly trimmed, and slightly feminine. A literal pretty boy. His voice also had a feminine touch to it. “Those reflexes. It's clear to me you have an Armata. Seems the boss will get his money's worth after all.” Victor was really confused, Percy practically commanded him. “Duck behind that rock over there, I've got this jackass covered.” Victor trusted Percy and went to duck behind the rock, peeking over to watch. “This is some crazy shit.” he exclaimed. Percy was already thinking over how and when he aroused suspicion. The only time he used it in front of people was at the warehouse.
“(This guy was obviously hired by someone that knows about the Deus Armatus. Only people that know about it as far as I know right now are other people with the same powers. And only one guy in the city has the power, money, and willingness to hire someone to do something like this. Gregory McGonagall, the head of the local mafia. Given his own crew by his dad to test his leadership.)” “McGonagall has an Armata too.” Percy said out loud. The blond responded with a somewhat snarky tone. “Oh we have a clever one over here.”
Percy always wondered how such a small crew produced the sheer amount of cannabis and shrooms in such a short time. Now the answer was clear; McGonagall had an Armata that he was using to boost production. A super green thumb Armata. Percy had a good guess as to what god he was paired with. “His Armata is Demeter, goddess of harvest.” Now the blond was actually impressed. Percy tried now to figure out what Armata this blond pretty boy had. He noticed if he focused there was this sort of “second sight”, and in this second sight everything was black with outlines minus the blond who’s outline was filled with a golden shimmer. This golden shimmer combined with the fact that the attack looked like white fire… “And yours, is Apollo. God of the sun.” Now the blond was really impressed.
He clapped. “You are either really good at guessing, or a goddamn psychic. No matter, my job is to make sure you can’t interfere with the boss and his plans. I’m not going to hold back.” The man extends his arms out in front of him, crossed at the wrists, then to have the wrists touching with palms facing one another. “Crossbows of the Sun God, Apollo!” Two small crossbows, mounted to the man's wrist, showed up in a flash of white fire. They were kinda small, gold with white accents. Percy had no choice but to take out his weapon. He extended out his right hand and made a cuping motion. “Trident of the Sea God, Neptuna!” Rushing water moves shaping the trident shape in his hand before the water becomes the blue metal trident.
Nicholas was confused. Did his opponent who was clearly male say ‘Neptuna’? As in the female personification of the sea god? No time to be distracted, he had a job to do. Even if this guy had the sea god, he was a green horn. Power means nothing without the skill to use it and Nick had a few years of experience with an Armata. He started to fire arrows of white fire at the guy with the trident. The crossbows auto reloaded and created their own arrows. They could fire at a surprisingly rapid pace, and having two allowed him to fire twice the arrows twice as fast.
Percy reacted quickly, creating little walls of water and ice to block the arrows as he moved in closer, not wanting to risk using a big ranged attack and scaring up the park. Creating a wave like he did in the woods would also take a lot out of him and make it hard to keep fighting if he missed. Best not to risk it. For now the best course of action was to stay on the defensive and move in close to attack. Apollo’s attacks got bigger and bigger and started shooting faster and faster as Percy drew closer. Apollo tried backing up as he shot to keep his distance and would jump back as Percy started making attacks now that he was in melee range without making wave attacks that would take more energy and damage the land. Percy uses his powers to give himself a boost by jetting water and ice from his feet. Apollo had no choice but to use his crossbows to block. He then pushed off to gain more distance doing a similar jet using his fire and light powers to create white fire from his feet.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Nicholas was a bit surprised. Was this guy learning on the go or had he been holding back? The fact the guy had so far only used his powers for maneuverability gave Nick the impression his opponent wasn't giving it his all. Why was he holding back? Did he not find Nick a threat or consider his life in danger? Is he arrogant just because one of the big three of the Greek mythos chose him? Sure he wasn't exactly giving it his all, Nick expected to be fighting some no named greenhorn who had yet to even have a chance to explore the powers he’d been given. The time for going easy was over. It was time to pull out all the stops. If the chosen of Poseidon was not a threat before then he clearly was now. Nick had planned on eliminating him either way. Nick was a ‘shoot first ask question later’ kinda guy. If told to assess a threat and if necessary remove it he usually skipped the assessment part.
Percy was left with no choice but to back off as the chosen of Apollo was now suddenly on the offensive again. This time he was not only firing large shots at a rapid pace using his weapon but he was also using his abilities for evasion simutanualy. Forced on the defensive for a bit Percy did his best to work his way back in for a close range attack. Rather than dodge or block the Apollo warrior shoots right at him point blank forcing him to stop in order to block by creating a wave but he still takes some damage. Bleeding slightly he flows his block into an attack giving his opponent a solid slash before they can back off.
Nicholas huffs a bit and grips his cut arm. “(He could have used that opening to kill me. I don’t care why he's not giving it his all and not going for the kill and I don't care. It’s time to end this.)” He fires at the Poseidon warrior from this range knowing he’ll block. Then while his vision is obscured by a wall of water he aimed his second crossbow and fired at the statue in the park. The same one that the guy in red hid behind when he had to move from that rock. The Poseidon warrior probably didn't even realize that his friend moved.
Perseus had more than enough time to block the shot fired at him. When the water dropped he noticed the second bolt going right for the statue. Percy races in front of it, barely getting out in front with a small barrier of ice and water taking the brunt of the damage. “You want suits after us?!” Nick was shocked. “(That was why he’s been holding back? To avoid scaring the land and drawing attention?)” “Your friend ducked behind that statue” Victor made a few grunts and he moved farther away to duck behind another object. Percy’s blood begins to boil. Not only was he angry at his opponent for nearly killing his friend but at himself for losing track of his movements. The time for being delicate was over. Now was the time to end this, in an all out attack.
Percy’s stance lowered, he shifted his hands on the trident. The tip was now facing backwards behind him. His hands close together. Nicholas couldn't help but take a step back. The energy of the person standing before him up till now had been like a gentle stream. A stedy, gentle flow. Nick had a hard time picturing the man harming a fly. Now it was more like the crashing waves of a coming storm and emanating pure malice. The stance Percy took seemed familiar to Nick. For a second he saw a flash of the image of a samurai. This was a katana stance, used in Iaido. An art based on drawing out the sword quickly, striking in the same move, then resheathing it. Nick had seen this sort of stance before back when he visited Japan. In fact it was the exact stance as someone else Nick once had a spar with. Another Deus Armatus user, the chosen warrior of Susano’o.
Percy jets in at high speed, adjusting his hands as he makes an uppercut swing at high speeds, creating a wave of water as he does so. Nick jumps back at the start of the rush but by then it's too late. At the beginning of the upper cut swing Percy calls out a name for his powerful attack. “Anaklusmos!” Nick falls to the ground after the attack. No longer having the will to fight, he just lays there bleeding. “(I’m done for. I’m in no condition to keep fighting. This place will likely be my grave. I’ve never been one to believe in the whole ‘life flashes before your eyes stuff’, but being close to death makes you rethink your life and the regrets you have.)” Nick thought back to his mother and sister. How he mistreated them and pushed them away. He always had a bad habit of acting like he was better than others and that only grew when he was chosen by Apollo. “(If only I had a second chance…)” he thought to himself. “(I would do things differently.)”
Everything went black as Nick lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again he was shocked to find himself in a hospital bed. He looked around in a bit of his panic and stopped in shock upon seeing two ladies beside his bed in addition to the nurses. “Mother? Sister?” he asked in confusion. Even after everything he did, his family came to see him. “We’re here.” his mother said before the two grabbed Nick's hand. He smiled as a tear rolled down his eye. “I got my second chance… I don't deserve this.” he hugged them and swore to never let go.
Percy was standing above the unconscious man as it started to rain. Huffing a bit and gripping his arm. “Victor, use your sewing kit to patch him up. I’ll make sure an ambulance picks him up.” Victor moved over and got to work as Percy called 911 to report the injury. After improvising some first aid for both Percy and the man he fought Victor and Percy hid and waited to make sure the man was picked up before moving on. Victor broke the silence. “So uhh… You’re like… a superhero now?” Percy chuckled and took his time explaining what was going on the best he could with Vector then summing it up in a sort of TL;DR way “So you were chosen by a god that put its soul in a weapon and is now bound to you and gives you powers. There are others like you, one of them is Gregory McGonagall who sent that guy after you because of the warehouse thing from last week. Now you're in danger because he thinks you are a threat to him and his operation. Fantastic. And here I am with no way to back you up. I mean I can’t do much against people that can toss around attacks made of water or light or whatever that can take out buildings with relative ease. I’ll still hang out with you and I’m not saying anything to anyone. Mostly because it would all sound crazy. But if crazy stuff goes down you are on your own.”
Percy expected nothing different. Victor is fine in a normal fight but the last thing Percy wants is to watch him die. “I’m getting my physical tomorrow. We can catch up again next weekend. Hopefully they’ll just accept that I’m accident prone and not ask too much. I’ll let you know what else comes up involving this.” With that the two said their goodbyes and went home. Percy almost immediately dressed down and plopped into bed as soon as he was home. Quickly drifting off to sleep.