I spun on my heels to face the voice that had called to me so coldly. His face was hidden by an old Corinthian helmet. Two large almond shaped eye holes with a rather prominent nose protector that sloped downward towards his mouth. Cheek plates covered most of the remaining visibility of his face. He wore bronze armor that was brilliantly studded and recently damaged. His yellow, orange and gold tunic beneath was equally tarnished with dirt and blood.

A spear stood threateningly long in his right hand, and a large circular shield in his left. Everything about this man screamed of status, and of danger.

"Bloody fucking hell, Desmond. I told you we needed to leave!" Lucifer berated me, echoing my own thoughts as I sized up the man standing before me.

"Agreus... I-" Gregorios stammered before being cut off.

"Enough, peasant." Agreus started. "If I wanted to hear pig shit, I would visit a farm."

His cold hazel eyes set onto me. "You. You will come with me, or you will die. Whichever you choose, my father will get his prize." His spear point tilted menacingly until it was trained directly on my heart.

"What should we do, Lucifer?" I asked, my mind running through a million and one possibilities.

"As I have said, we need to flee. I doubt he fully comprehends the extent of our abilities. Let us feign engagement, and use the opportunity to return to Lilith and Asterion." He commanded.

With a nod I felt for the divine handshake within, less then a second had passed before I was feeling it surge within my every muscle. Intoxicating power coursing through my veins.

"Are you daft boy? Did you not hear a word I said?" Argeus took a step forward, relaxing his spear hand. This was my moment. Power surged through my legs as I leapt forward into a dizzying sprint, keeping left so as to slip by his unwieldy spear.

Pain wracked my face as his shield deftly jut out over his right arm, colliding with my nose. I fell prone beneath him as my legs whizzed out from under me. A groan managed to escape my lips as the stars and blackness left my eyes. Agreus stood over me, a wicked smile plastered on his face.

"Death it is. I will enjoy killing you, whelp." His spear rose and he brought it down heavily, aiming for my face.

Barely managing to roll out of the way, his spear cracked the hard wooden floorboards beneath us, splintering them with an inhuman force. I scrawled to my feet as I checked my bloody nose. Broken, again...

I'd lost the divine power, caught off guard by his attack, so I quickly sought it once more. Warmness enveloped my body as I drew Argo.

"Remember Desmond. Our win condition is to flee, not to fight." Lucifer warned.

"I know, but I'd rather not take another one of those to the face." I replied, setting my battle stance.

Argeus stood slowly with a bored sigh, his eyes never having left me. "You are weaker than he said you would be... What a shame, all that damage done to one as great as Theseus, all for a simple boy like you." His bored expression turned hateful as he took a fighting stance of his own. "He broke so easily, you know. Theseus. I had expected so much more from a childhood hero of mine..."

Rage filled my mind as I dashed forward with a guttural cry. Argo sliced through the air as if equally angered by the mention of its former master. His shield rose and caught my blade easily, knocking me off balance. His spear slid out from under it, aiming for my mid section.

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Desperation fueled my movement as I spun left to avoid the deadly shaft. Desperation gave way to opportunity as I continued my momentum, steeling my blade for a stab into his right flank. Argeus twisted with a practiced grace, his shield squarely blocking my blade.

With a thrust his shield smacked into my chest, sending me backward awkwardly as I attempted to stay upright. His spear plunging once more at my mid section, offering no reprieve. With a powerful sideswipe I managed to deflect it, if just barely.

Argeus, as if expecting the maneuver, bashed my chest once more with his shield, easily sending me prone. His spear once again raised to the ceiling in order to cut into my exposed flesh.

"His legs, Desmond! Sweep his legs!" Lucifer called out from within.

Wordlessly, I took the instruction, slashing at the back of his knees with my shins. With a grunt his legs buckles under the unexpected strike.

Rising up to a kneeling position, I summoned all the strength I could muster and punched into his face. Pain exploded from my knuckles as they crashed into the bronze helmet. Argeus howled in pain as the metal cleanly dented into his face.

"Now, Desmond! Run for the door!" Lucifer commanded, but I refused to flee. Not from this man who had obviously hurt Theseus so. 'I can beat him' I thought, lost within my blind rage.

I raised Argo with a white knuckled fury and stabbed for the only still exposed parts of Agreus's face. His eyes. Unfortunately, he was the more experienced warrior; and raised his shield to deflect the blow with relative ease. He then shifted his weight and momentum, using the edge of the shield to smack it into my nose, again.

Stumbling back, I managed to catch myself on a wooden beam. Wiping snot and blood from my face and clenching my jaw with the pain of it. Agreus pulled his disfigured helm off his head, revealing long dark blond hair and a striking face that was contorted with outrage.

"I'll gut you like a fish, whelp." He hissed as he rose to his feet, lunging his spear at me from afar.

At range, his attacks were easy enough to see through and parry, but left me with no room to close the distance. He continued his flurry of strikes, each aimed at a vital piece of my being.

We continued on like this, in our elaborate dance of death for what felt like an eternity. Each strike he made missing by only just a hair, but giving me the space to take a step forward, to which he would step back.

"The spear, Desmond. Shatter his spear and he has nothing to keep you away with." Lucifer finally directed, and I immediately seized the opportunity.

Agreus jabbed his spearhead forward, aiming for a killing strike within my skull. Deflecting the blow upward and back, I leapt forward using my free left hand to grip his spears shaft. I felt him tug backward, but upon infusing more divinity within my arm, he found it largely inescapable. With my blade arm I chopped downward, snapping the spears shaft in two.

"There, you coward. Now you can't keep me away." I glowered back at him.

"Hmm, perhaps you are stronger than I thought. It is of no consequence though. You will still die." His words were confident and unwavering.

"Agreus, you waste our time with these frivolities." A strange melodic voice bellowed from the roof opposite from the courtyard. I glanced up to see who it was, but saw only blinding golden light.

A sound echoed out into my ears, like a plucked string. I felt a sting in my chest as something punctured it. Vertigo and confusion took me as darkness clouded my vision. I dropped to the floor once more, Argo falling from my grasp clanking loudly beside me. Lucifer's divine energy bled from my body, its precious warmth leaving me cold.

Moments passed before my vision returned, only to find Agreus standing above me with red hot fury. His foot rose and subsequently fell heel first into my chest, knocking the precious remaining wind from my lungs. I could hear Lucifer shouting instructions, but could not understand the words. Again his foot rose and smashed into my chest. Then my face. A fourth, then a fifth and sixth.

Tears filled my eyes as the pain radiated outward, I tried to force my mind to think through the pain. Tried to understand what was happening, but instead all I saw was Agreus's spear rise above me, the strange figure from the rooftop above him backlit as if by the sun itself. His mouth moved as if saying words, but I could not understand them.

Instead all I understood was pain, exquisite pain as his broken bladed spear cut through my chest and deep into my body. I could feel my eyes go wide with surprise. I knew this pain, I had felt it before. It was death...

I peered down and saw him twist the spear in my chest several times, a new agony blossoming from within it.

"Damn it, Desmond! Don't you die on me!" Was the last thing I heard before the blackness.