The Sea and The Moon

Chapter 18

Artemis stood behind me with her bow in her hands ready to bring it up at a moments notice. An arrow wasn't on the string at the moment, but I knew that once she drew the string back, an arrow would be there in the blink of an eye.

"Hello, Big Brother. I'll have fun killing you. Don't think you're little goddess friend will be able to help you," the 'Nico' said in a distorted voice. It was no better than nails on a chalkboard or a knife scraping on a bottle.

"You are not my little brother," I growled.

It just smirked and brought up it's sword for the first strike. I instinctively raised my own sword to block, but I hadn't realized the speed of which his would move. He swung at me, but instead of at my head where I expected, he feinted and stabbed at my stomach instead. I felt it graze my side and warm blood immediately gushed out of the wound.

I ignored it and sliced my sword towards his exposed neck, but was shocked to find that a second later, he held the blade with two of his fingers just a couple centimeters away from his face. He twisted his hand and I felt the blade jerk a little. I looked back and my eyes widened in amazement and a little fear as I saw that he had snapped the tip clean off. I now held a sword that was half the original size, the other half still in his two fingers.

As he lifted his sword to finish me off, I prayed to every god I knew of in hopes that one would be able to help me. I waited for the blow, but none came. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Nico was staggering back with an arrow implanted in his right hip. I guess there was a goddess that could help me. Artemis.

I looked back only to see her flying through the air ten feet and slamming into a rock. She struggled to get up, but undead hands rose from the ground and held her in place, rendering her useless for the remainder of this battle, which was not looking too bright for either of us.

"Artemis!" I yelled. I turned back to 'Nico' and glared at him. He just had an amused look on his face and dismissed my look of fury.

"Now that the pest is gone, we can really fight."

"You want a real fight? Well I'll give you a real fight!" I shouted at him. I was too angry at him to even think about what I was saying. There was no way that I could ever keep up with the skill that was being displayed in front of me. Not in swordsmanship, not in strength, not even in godly powers. There was not way I could survive unless I found a way to utilize my smarts... Which were pretty much nonexistent. So, I was screwed.

He advanced on me again, his sword twirling all around his body. He was like a hurricane of blades and I couldn't even distinguish where his sword actually was. I managed to block most of the strikes, but some broke through my defenses. By the time he was done with his onslaught, I was covered in cuts all over my body. My clothes were so soaked in blood that you couldn't even tell what the original color was.

While I was struggling to stay alive, 'Nico' was looking like it was the best day of his life. There was not a single mark on him. In fact, he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. His smile was as wide as ever, and his eyes showed only a cruel delight in their murky pools of darkness.

In a final effort to save my own ass, I threw my hands out and channeled as much power into the as possible. Fire burst free from both hands and enveloped him while skeletal hands held him in place as I roasted him alive. Unexpectedly, I didn't hear the screams of pain that I had anticipated, only mirthless laughter booming from the center of the fire.

I let it dissipate and there he stood, perfectly fine. Not even his clothes were singed by the scorching heat of Hephaestus and Hestia's blessing. The undead hands had been commanded to let go and grab me, as his command over the undead overruled my own. There was really no hope for me now.