Chapter 20: The Distraction

There are a lot of different ways to fight

Percy jumped to his left when he saw a sword slashing at him from the corner of his eye. When he saw that his attacker was in fact one of his fellow slaves, he gave him a questioning look. "I need my freedom", was the only explanation he got from the guy, before the slave was stabbed in his back.

"No!", Percy yelled at the gladiator behind his fellow slave. He dashed toward the man, who still had his sword in the slave's body. Unable to block Percy's attack, the gladiator could dodge just in time by ducking, but Percy had already expected this. He changed the course of his sword and slashed the gladiator's throat.

His chest went forward and he gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming. He turned to see who had caused the sharp pain in his back, but his attacker was already occupied by someone else.

Not wanting to stab the man in his back, Percy looked through the chaos for Nico. When he saw the familiar pale boy being attacked by two guys, he ran toward him. Just in time, he stabbed in one guy's chest, while Nico did the same with the other one. They nodded to each other, before looking for any possible threats.

Percy let out a small battle cry, before dashing toward five fighting men, ignoring the still burning pain in his back.

The crowd roared at the gore, caused by dozens of men killing each other. Percy really hated the ones who loved bloodshed, especially the ones who thought it was all a game, but he had little time to think about it as he was attacked from both sides.

He blocked one strike, but was unable to do so with the other. An arrow hissed through the air, before Percy could hear the sound of the dead body of his other attacker falling on the ground. He smiled grateful at Hagan, before Percy pushed the soldier's sword away. He slashed his sword at the man's chest, but was blocked by the soldier's shield.

Percy fell back, inspecting his opponent. The soldier didn't give him time to do so though, by attacking him almost instantly. Percy dodged the strike, before dodging another, and another, and another. He groaned, but kept dodging the strikes. When he felt his opponent getting more exhausted, he smiled and slashed at the man.

The soldier could block just in time, but didn't have much strength in his arm anymore, since the sword flew out of his hands. Percy attacked the man again, but the soldier blocked the strike with his shield. He used both of his hands to give him more strength and managed push Percy's sword away.

Smirking from underneath his helmet, the soldier attacked Percy with his shield. Percy didn't think he would be able to block the heavy weight of that shield, so he dodged. The soldier didn't expect that and was thrown out of balance. Percy took advantage of that and killed the man by stabbing him in his groin.

Percy took a second to control his breathing and check his surroundings. The amount of fighters had dropped immensely, just in a few minutes. Now, only the better fighters were left fighting each other. Now, here comes the tricky part, Percy expected.

It was his instinct that saved him.

He turned just in time, avoiding being stabbed in his back. Instead, the sword just left a wound in his side. Gritting his teeth from the pain, Percy looked at his attacker. His eyes widened.

Luke smirked and slashed his sword toward Percy's neck, but he was able to block the attack just in time. Percy pushed the sword away and stumbled backwards. He locked eyes with Luke. "What are you doing, Castellan?", Percy sneered.

"Finishing my original task", Luke answered, before attacking again. Percy dodged the arc by going on his knees and slashed his sword toward Luke's legs. The man in question stepped back just in time, but this way, Percy had the time to stand.

Percy took his sword in both of his hands, before dashing toward Luke. With a battle cry, he slashed at the guy. Luke found an opening in Percy's reckless attack and stabbed his sword in Percy's gut. Percy spit out some blood and felt himself getting dizzier, but managed to keep concentrating on the battle. Before Luke could take his sword out of Percy's body, Percy kicked his head with his hilt with all the power he could get.

Luke let go of his sword and stumbled sideways. Percy had the urge to lay down and sleep, but he just bit is lip and walked toward Luke. He pulled Luke's sword out of his body while doing so. Percy gritted his teeth from the pain, but kept the two swords in his hands.

He narrowed his eyes at Luke, but he guessed it didn't make much of an impression. He was panting too much for that. "What happened to you, Luke?", he managed to ask. When Luke didn't react to his question, Percy made an attempt to stab both of his swords into Luke.

Percy expected Luke to dodge, but he didn't. His eyes widened as Luke just stood still to receive the blow. With blood streaming out of his mouth, Luke still managed to whisper something in Percy's ear. "Tell Thalia I'm... sorry", he breathed out the last word, before falling on the ground. Blood seeped out of his wounds as he closed his eyes.

Still confused at Luke's last words, Percy tried to stop the bleeding by putting his hand on the wound. He felt his conscious slowly slipping away, but he bit his lip until blood streamed out of it, to keep his consciousness. The battle wasn't over yet.

He looked around him, but what he saw, shocked him. As if planned, four men were fighting Nico all at once. Percy could see him struggle as Nico was forced backwards with every strike he received.

Percy frowned and walked toward them, struggling to keep his balance with every step. The ground under his feet started to shift, but he kept walking, his eyes focused on Nico. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do to save Nico.

He stopped walking and put his hands on his helmet. He had grown used to the thing, but knew that it was time to take it off. He smiled as he took the helmet of his head, revealing his face.

Luckily for him, two men who were fighting Nico had watched him doing that and were frowning at him. Nico took this as an opportunity to strike. Dodging one strike and blocking the other, Percy watched as Nico killed his attackers. In that moment, two arrows pierced the two distracted men's necks, killing them instantly.

Percy smiled at the thought that he was able to save his friend. He was just about to fall unconscious, when...

"BOOOOOOOOOM!"

[A/N]: MHUAHAHAHAHAHAA! :) So... Luke's dead, but still leaves some mysteries behind, Percy is being reckless again and everything just ended with a BANG xD I hoped you liked this chapter ;)

Question of last chapter remains: should I change the roman parents' names from Greek to Roman to give it a more Roman vibe? So Zeus will be Jupiter and Athena will be Minerva... Or should I just keep it like this?

To Di Blythe: *smiling evilly* I hope you liked it ;P

To awesomeness: Didn't kill your OC's ;P Dylan's role you'll see in the sequel... Since chapter 21 will be the last chapter (and the one after that the epilogue), you don't have to wait very long for that ;P I'm still debating about the name, though...

To Guest: I chose option 2 (already had that planned btw xD)

To gallantmon7196: No, it certainly wasn't good... xD I hope you like the chapter though ;)

'Till next time ^^

Xx Anny