P.J and the Prison of the Gods ( Book #1 : ✓ )

Further Strain

"Come back here and fight coward!" Oceanus cried out in anger.

"Why don't you come out here and get me Barnacle Bitch?" I shot back.

Oh that got him mad. He sped forward just like I had, skimming across the water like a jet ski. As he approached, he drew a five foot long sword out of thin air. True I could do that too if I wanted, but using pure godly energies is liable to get me killed at this point. I waited for him to get closer. He closed the gap to thirty feet...then twenty...ten.

In one fluid motion, I dodged to the side and slice with my knife. A cut appeared on Oceanus's shoulder. He turned to face me, and I smiled.

"Care to try again?" I goaded.

Instead of attacking, he waved his hand. At first, nothing happened, but then a deep, loud call filled my ears. Something enormous leaped clear out of the water. It was a blue whale, fully grown at one hundred feet in length, weighing about one hundred and fifty tons. And it was flying right towards me, propelled by jets of water Oceanus controlled.

I braced my self and did something that amazed me. I caught the whale. With a cry a pure will, I stood back up to full height and hurled the whale back at Oceanus. I looked at my hands in time to see the red aura of Ares fading away. The whale hit Oceanus smack dab in the face. I lost track of him for a minute.

That was a big mistake. The water erupted next to me, and Oceanus shot out like a rocket, sword drawn. I spun around and parried his strike. I sped away on the water. Oceanus came after me. Our swords clashed again and again. It was like fighting while roller skating at high-speeds across the ocean. Oceanus turned sharply away, blinding me with the wave that hit me in the face. When my vision cleared, I saw the flash of his sword just before I went skipping across the water again.

I fired off several arrows while I still had the advantage of distance. Several hit their mark, getting an oof out of him every time. I grew a huge tree right out of the ocean floor, raising it until it breached the surface and surrounded it self around Oceanus. He twisted and writhed while the branches wrapped themselves around him. Calling on the power of Hephaestus, lord of the forges and fire, I sent a blast of flame at the tree, setting it ablaze and Oceanus with it. I huge column of water rose up, extinguishing the flame.

Oceanus advanced, still smoking from the fire. He raised his sword, but I reacted fast enough to slice his wrist and make him drop his sword. He sped backward, putting distance between me and him. Before I could start firing more arrows, he raised a huge tidal wave, about three hundred stories tall, halfway to Olympus, if it was still there.

I froze. Son of Poseidon or not, invulnerable or not, this was going to–

A crack filled the air, followed by five more. Six neat little bullet holes had appeared on Oceanus's face. In shock, Oceanus dropped the tidal wave on himself. I shot forward and, just as he saw me coming, sliced his head clean off. He wasn't dead, but he certainly wouldn't be bugging me for a while.

I stopped walking on water and casually swam back to Clarisse and Chris. Chris's revolver was still smoking. He spun it, and I heard a click indicating it had reloaded. We reached New York without any further complications.

But once we were in New York, things once again got complicated. The door of Orpheus now had Ladon himself guarding it. Clarisse drew her sword, but Chris stopped her. They both looked at me. I close my eyes and tried to make the Earth swallow Ladon whole. Instead, pain shot out from my chest, threatening to send me into a coma. I kept trying while the pain worsened. I started coughing up tainted ichor, but I kept trying, which probably only made things worse. Finally, just as I felt my lungs shriveling into nothing, the earth opened up a massive crack, and Ladon fell in. I closed the crack and collapsed, letting the pain consume me.