*AN* There is a poll on my profile asking what idea for a story do you want me to write next and what do you think the pairing for this story should be
Raze POV
I heard the crowd roar as I entered the stadium. The praetor, Reyna raised her hand for silence.
"Romans, we have a recruit here for the tests. Raze, Son of Neptune and adopted son of Vesta."
The crowd went silent, then murmuring was heard all across the amphitheatre.
"Silence!" Yelled Reyna. She continued, speaking to me, "You will face a series of tests, you will face the centurion of each cohort, one by one without break. It will decide what cohort you get placed in. All weapons and powers are allowed. All fights are to incapacitation or yielding. NO serious injuries or death blows."
I nodded quickly my assent. Reyna spoke again.
"Fifth Cohort, Junior Centurion, Dakota Blanc, Son of Bacchus."
A portly demigod, obviously drunk stumbled down. He had a red stain around his mouth and a drink - was that Kool-Aid - in his hand.
He drew a gladius as I drew Riptide. We got into fighting stances and circled each other. Suddenly he charged forward before swinging an overhead strike at me. As it swung down I swiped my blade through the air, deflecting it off to one side. He stumbled forward past me and I turned around as he, got once more into a fighting stance and watched me. Obviously taking a more careful approach.
I made the first move this time, dashing forwards as he raised his blade to parry my attack, I leapt, somersaulting over his sword, then spinning swiping my sword he leapt forwards, dodging my blade before rolling and facing me. I walked forwards, my blade at the ready. Dakota leapt towards me, stabbing, I parried before twisting my blade, disarming him, not literally though, the first move I had ever learned. Pointing my blade at him, I spoke,
"Do you yield?"
"Yes", He responded before picking up his weapon and walking away.
Reyna spoke again,
"Victory to Raze. Next Opponent. Fifth Cohort, Senior Centurion, Gwendolyn Gardner, Daughter of Ceres."
A tall, strong-looking girl, about twenty-three or so walked down into the arena. She carried a spear, and twin swords, wearing light-weight armour, she obviously wasn't someone to mess with. She smiled at me as she walked out and we both settled into fighting positions. I selected Hyperion's spear and Krios's shield as my weapons while returning Riptide in pen-form to my pocket. I heard a gasp from the male praetor. Evidently he recognised the weapons.
I watched her as we circled, she had a perfect stance, prepared to strike and block at all times. Then, we stopped. Bringing my shield into position for defence I charged, spear thrusting for her midsection. She quickly deflected my point with her blade before counter-thrusting with her spear. I sharply blocked, bringing my shield across my body as I pulled my spear back into a ready position. I swung the shield like a discus, slamming into and shattering her spear. She quickly drew her second sword. She swung her blades in twin slashes. Luckily I managed to block both with my shield before thrusting it forward. Slamming into her chest she stumbled backwards. I then swung my spear, knocking her to the floor and aimed my point at her throat.
"Yield?" I asked impassively.
"I yield", was her response
Cue Reyna. "Victory to Raze. Next Opponent. Fourth Cohort, Junior Centurion, Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto."
A girl about fifteen strode down to the arena. She carried a Spatha, a cavalry sword. She whistled and suddenly like a blur, a tan horse pulled up next to her. I could hear him and I wanted wash out his mouth, the things he was saying. Unfortuantley I knew this horse, he was my half-brother Arion. To counter her obvious advantage I did one thing. I closed my eyes and concentrated.
Romans POV
What was this guy doing? He was standing there with his eyes closed, no weapons drawn while Hazel carried a sword and rode on Arion. People gasped as a black speck appeared high in the sky, growing larger, plummeting towards the earth
Raze POV
I smirked, then opened my eyes to a magnificent sight. Blackjack. He had grown quite a bit now, he was two meters tall and the same in length. He had a wingspan of ten metres. I quickly climbed up onto him and drew Riptide. I brandished my sword and charged. I quikly swung past Hazel, Blackjack was incredibly fast in the air, probably equal to Arion but on land he was much slower. I swung straight at her, she quickly parried and swung the but of her sword at Blackjack but luckily I diverted him just in time. Our fight when on for a while but eventually it ended the same way as the other two. My weapon at her throat.
"Senior Centurion, Frank Zhang, Son of Mars." That came from Reyna. A burly baby-faced guy came from the stands. He carried a bow over one shoulder and a spear in his hands. I drew Iapetus's spear and prepared as he unexpectedly slammed his spear into the dirt, leaving it standing there. then he pulled out his bow. I realised what his plan was, to wear me down with the bow before taking me out with the spear. I smiled before reverting the spear back to it's place on the bracelet before choosing a different weapon. A bow, more specifically, Lelantos's bow, the titan of the air. We both immediately fired a hail of arrows at each other, he shot a lot of arrows but nowhere near as many as me. My first arrows I shot, hit his arrows, either diverting them off course or disintegrating them. My second volley traced a line of arrows directly around his body. his faced paled before he picked up his spear and - wait, did he just slam it into the ground, before jerking it up, breaking the point? - I found out why not a moment later. A grey skinned skeleton popped out of the ground. A spartus. I immediately drew some knives. These were stygian iron throwing knives, capable of sending spirits such as these straight back to the underworld. the spartus, disgustingly, grabbed two of it's ribs before ripping them off and charging straight towards me wielding them like hunting knives. I countered by chucking half a dozen of these knives. Luckily, one of them made it past the guard of the spartus, sending it back to the underworld. Frank looked on in shock, evidently no one had beaten his spartus that quickly in a long time. He looked at me at a look of resolve hardened on his face. Suddenly he seemed to change, growing and transforming into a massive bear. A Kodiak by the looks of it. I knew these animals, the males could way up to three tons and while solitary, these animals could very easily kill a human encroaching on their territory. I quickly concentrated, before sending blasts of highly-pressurised water at him. Eventually this wore him down, knocking him unconscious. When he came to, following some water to his face. He went cross-eyed, looing at the sword pointed at him.
"Raze wins again. Next Opponent, Third Cohort, Junior Centurion, Leo Valdez, Son of Vulcan."
*AN* Hey guys thats it for now. Four centurions, that was like a thousand words. I get up the next chapter up soon, my school year finishes tomorrow and I can start writing a bit more often and seriously. :) Until then have a nice week!
JJD
