The End of an Olympian

26 | The Battle

So on day 7, I stormed into Olympus with the other gods on my side. We met Zeus and his followers in the throne room. Shit was about to go down.

1020 words

Percy

"Zeus!" I bellowed. I have to admit I looked intimidating with my armor, wolf stare, and Riptide in hand.

The other gods rose defensively but made no move to attack.

Zeus sneered at me in an animalistic way. "You dare enter the throne room you so desperately want to tear down?!" he thundered.

"I don't want to tear it down," I said calmly, yet firmly. "I want to make it better. Everything can be improved."

Zeus scoffed at this. "Gods do not need to improve. We are superior. Our word is law. Our desire is will. And our opinion is fact."

I knew I couldn't argue with someone who blatantly ignored his own illogical train of thought—I mean seriously, opinion and fact cannot be equivalent—so instead, I got to the main event.

"Let's end this war. Let's see who is really supreme. I challenge you, Zeus, to a duel. Winner takes all: the throne, how to free the Maris Astéria people, and Olympus itself. First to yield or first to have their essence disseminated, unable to reform immediately loses. No seconds as backup. No breaks permitted. Powers are allowed. Symbols of power as our only weapons. And it's confined to Olympus."

Zeus, though was arrogant, was not so keen on this idea. He knew I was good in a fight and had only improved my skills over time. He, on the other hand, had grown complacent and had not improved. That's not to say he wasn't extremely powerful. It just meant he risked losing face somewhat and didn't want to damage even a bit of his ego should I put up a good fight. Before he could talk his way out of this, I played on his pride.

"Don't tell me the 'king of the gods' is incapable of taking on a god he supposedly rules over. Are you really so weak that you are forced to rely on your children to secure your own throne?"

I saw Zeus's nostrils flare in anger as his face became red.

"You really think you can defeat me?" he boomed. "You are pathetic and weak. I will crush you."

"Enough talk!" I shouted. "Do you accept my terms for this duel and swear to abide by them on the River Styx?"

With a look of haughty disdain, Zeus agreed. "I accept your terms, Perseus. I swear it on the River Styx. But a new king will not ascend. Not now. Not ever."

Zeus stood up and summoned the Master Bolt to his hand in a very dramatic fashion. Armor forgotten in his moment of arrogance. And once the battle started, I'd make sure he'd be too distracted to retrieve it. A costly mistake on his part. The other gods quickly got out of the way as the first blow struck.

Our weapons met in a large blast of light. Electricity spread out everywhere. It burned tapestries and seared marks into the walls and floor. Both of us were pushed back from the force of the hit but were quick to recuperate. 

Zeus sent unrelenting beams of lightning at me. I managed to deflect a majority of them, but some hit me hard. That's when the pendant Luke gave me kicked in. Soon, all the blasts of electricity I couldn't divert were absorbed and stored in the pendant, no longer harming me. Still, I had yet to get under his guard.

I felt a tug in my gut as the water from the fountains on Olympus rushed towards us. I sent thousands of gallons right at Zeus. He tried to push it away by control the air, but all he managed to do was create a small barrier that absorbed maybe half of the impact. He came out soaking wet as he threw his bolt like a javelin. Each time it missed me by a hair because the water slowed it down just enough for me to dodge, it would return to Zeus's hand only to be thrown again.

I took advantage of this as I started attacking the ends to his bolt where Hephaestus said I should. After some time, it could've been hours or seconds or minutes, I saw a crack in the lightning. Don't ask me how I knew this to be true, but I could sense its strength deteriorating. My pendant was not on absorbing hits, it was also draining the power from the weapon. I had some serious thank you cards to send after this.

Through our entire duel, our powers were battling it out still. From whips of poisonous water to blasts of ozone-filled air, strikes and blows landed randomly on each of us.

My armor was dented and never got a moment of respite to repair itself. I couldn't say for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if the almighty god of the sky insisted he would never need his armor since he believed no one would pose a threat to him. Or maybe that would've been a pathetic justification for not summoning it at the beginning of the battle. And he was paying for it dearly now.

With one powerful hit aided by a concentrated jet of poisonous water, I enlarged the fissure in the Master Bolt. We saw the long rod become fragile right in front of our eyes. There was a pause in fighting out of pure shock when Zeus's bolt exploded.

Shockwaves were sent out in all directions. The stone garden that the fight had moved to was completely obliterated (same as all the other areas we fought in). Pieces of rock slammed into me and sent me flying backward. The only good thing was that Zeus too was sent flying. Except he couldn't control his fall as he might have because he was in a daze. The loss of his symbol of power was a devastating blow. Zeus was immensely weakened just the same as his chances of winning the duel.

With one final blow from a fist of water and the flat edge of Riptide used more like a baseball bat, I sent Zeus flying to the edge of Olympus.