Narrator / December 28th

Something had to be done. Even in a coordinated attack against Samael, the demigods found themselves still unable to get around to his immense combat ability and adaptation. Anything kind of trick they had seemed to fail against the multitude that he had. The closest thing they had was Annabeth's drakon-bone sword that was effective against his Vibranium armor.

They had dealt a lot of damage to that armor in the fight, but they assumed it would be repaired like it already had been a couple of times. But, there was one person in the group of demigods who wasn't going to sit around and wait for the next attack. Even if she knew that the combined effort of five people, who were each individually stronger than she was, was useless, she was still going to try. It was the least she could do.

Chloe left Camp Half-blood on short notice, leaving nothing more than a note to her friends behind: Went out shopping for arrows. She figured the best spot for her to find Samael was in an excluded place, away from any help.

She found herself in a forest just outside of New York. Sunlight peered in through the treetops, and the trees themselves ranged from large to puny.

Just like usual, it didn't take long for Samael to show up. Dark cloud rolled in just above that blocked out the sky and made it look like it was still night time. A spiral of dark energy shot down from the clouds in a beam of light, and Samael stepped out, holding his dual-sided silver blade. His armor had been completely repaired, and no signs of yesterday's battle were shown on it.

"You've come to face me alone" Samael questioned. His voice was deep and echoed, but Chloe could tell that it wasn't his normal voice, as if his helmet was giving off some kind of voice changer. He sounded kind of like Darth Vader, if Chloe was asked to describe it.

"I hope you're not underestimating me" Chloe replied

"Hera must have chosen you for a reason. I don't doubt that" Samael said as he twirled his dual-sided blade, which in turn made the wind whir

"How about you fight me person to person" Chloe dared, removing her helmet and tossing it a couple of feet away

"Nice try, but it's not going to work" Samael denied as he lunged forward and slashed his blade horizontally. Chloe's blue katana quickly appeared in her hand and she blocked the strike.

Chloe grit her teeth. "Coward"

Samael ignored her comment and backed up. Chloe thrusted her sword forward and caught him off guard, making him stumble back. She kept up the pressure but it was evident that in just a few moments, he was adapting to her graceful fighting style.

And just like everyone else, she found that battling a southpaw was never easy. Samael swung his sword again and Chloe ducked under it. She swept him off the ground and he landed on his back. Before she could stab her sword down onto his chest to try and break through it, he swiped his leg and tripped her as well.

On Samael's left were hard rocky stairs that led down to the ground of the small mountaintop they were on. Samael attempted to stand up Chloe tackled him and the two went rolling down the steps, until about thirty seconds later they hit the ground. They both recovered slowly and grunted in pain as they stood up. They both lunged at the same time and their blades collided with sparks.

"You can't possibly defeat yourself" Samael said as he continued to block strikes

Chloe scowled and a shield formed in her other hand. She brought it up and uppercutted him with it before slashing him across the chest. He stumbled back and held his sword out in front of him defensively.

It wasn't like she came in here without a plan and on a whim. She definitely had one trick up her sleeve that she knew he had no counter to. One plan that was going to defeat him.

"Come forth and meet your demise" Samael motioned her forward

She scowled and lunged, but her sword was instantly disarmed. She countered any incoming strikes but blocking his sword with her shield and landing a nice punch with her free hand. The two went evenly match for a bit until Samael stepped up his game and began to slowly overpower her.

Chloe could tell he was getting cocky again, which meant it was time to put her masterplan into fruition. Last night, she had spoken to Hera, who had given her a special weapon she could use to take down Samael. She continuously blocked incoming swings with her shield while her other arm was limp at her side.

In that arm, a ten inch dagger came to life. She quickly swung that arm up and cut Samael across the side of his arm with the dagger, and the material made an irritating screech. Samael backed up a couple of steps, and on his arm where the dagger had cut, a slit with sharp edges was in the armor, and blood was trickling down it.

"I figured that the only thing stopping me from beating you in a fight was your armor" Chloe said. "So a dagger that can cut through it would be perfect"

Samael touched the blood with two fingers and held it up to his helmet so that he could see it, as if it was a rare diamond he had never seen before.

"That's certainly a first" Samael muttered as he made a fist with the hand that examined the blood

Chloe grinned confidently and the two lunged at each other. Their blades clashed but Samael was struggling to keep up as Chloe was more agile and flexible with her smaller weapon. Once Samael would swing his large blade, there was a small opening that Chloe would exploit in order to hack away at his armor.

It seemed as if Samael was getting ticked off that he was being beat, because his fighting style was beginning to become less composed and more aggressive. Chloe would occasionally dodge behind trees and Samael would slash, causing the entire tree to collapse.

"You're going to have to be quick than that" Chloe teased as Samael hacked away multiple trees

Her dodging wasn't random either. Samael had cut away just the trees she wanted him to, and they call came tumbling down onto him. A large shockwave of dust shot out and she shut her eyes and turned her head away to prevent being blinded.

When she opened her eyes, the smoke was clearing and Samael crawled out from beneath the trees, missing his sword. "You've got spunk, but your luck's run out"

Samael unsheathed his feather-dagger and charged forward. Chloe swiftly sidestepped out of the way and dropped her shield to make space for another secret weapon that she had.

"You can't run forever" Samael growled as he slashed

Their daggers collided and the material from Chloe's began to dig into Samael's so he backed up and attempted to kick her, but she moved out of the way. Samael thrusted the blade forward but Chloe deflected it and her other hidden weapon formed in her free hand - a small grey arrow.

Chloe strategically dodged behind a tree and Samael slashed it, nearly cutting it down. She then lunged and stabbed the arrow right into the slit where her dagger had first cut his armor.

The arrow instantly began to take affect. Samael stumbled back and dropped his feather-shaped dagger. He walked around as if he was extremely dizzy and leaned against a tree.

"What did you do" He demanded, his voice quiet as if he was about to faint

"It's an arrow gifted straight from Hypnos" Chloe answered as Samael pulled it out. "I've been saving one for a special occasion"

"How flattering" Samael replied, his voice louder as he resisted the spell

Chloe figured now would be a good time to pin him onto the ground and remove his helmet, so she attempted to do just that, but Samael dodged the thrust of her dagger cleanly. The wind whirred heavily for a moment as he dodged, and she could see a faint silver outline glow from his black armor.

Thinking it was a simple fluke, Chloe continued to try and strike Samael, but he was dodging nonchalantly. He gripped her wrist and squeezed tight enough for her to drop her dagger.

"I said... your luck's run out" Samael repeated before judo flipping her Annabeth-style

She quickly extended out her hand and grabbed her dagger before jumping back to her feet. A metal staff appeared in Samael's hand and he twirled it lazily.

He swung it multiple times at Chloe but he wasn't nearly as good on offense as he was defense. Then, he stepped inside her guard like Jason did with his enemies and disarmed her of the dagger, which went flying behind him and stabbed into the ground. He hacked the staff horizontally and hit her hip which staggered her, and then kicked her into a tree.

The staff contorted until it shifted into his silver dual-sided blade. He went to try and stab it through her, but a golden chain that was ignited with a bright fire erupted from somewhere in the woods and wrapped around his left wrist, holding him back.

Chloe turned to her right and Ryan made himself visible in the sunlight. His red armor was extremely damaged from yesterday's fight, and provided minimal protection. He had his helmet off and the right side of his arm was tattered with multiple scratches.

Samael's feather-dagger appeared in his free hand and he cut the chain off his wrist. Ryan's red katana shimmered into in his hands and the two met in the middle, their blades clashing. Now that Samael had been hit by Hypnos's arrow, Ryan was on an equal level with him as they traded strikes to each other's armor.

But before long, Samael was beginning to counterattack using his swift dodges and Ryan's armor was beginning to shatter. Samael held his sword flat in front of him and it began to spin like a helicopter rotor. Ryan made this mistake of thrusting his sword forward, and upon impact, it got sucked into the spin and thrown to the side. Samael stopped spinning his blade and swung his blade upwards which uppercutted Ryan without enough force to lift him up the ground an inch monetarily and dropping him onto his back.

Having readied his blade for the kill, Samael barely managed to dodge as Chloe stabbed her dagger from behind. He turned on his heel and the two continued their fight until Ryan's golden chain wrapped around Samael's neck, holding him in place while Chloe slashed her dagger across his chest, causing another slit in the armor with ragged edges. Samael dropped his dual-sided sword and it looked like he was giving into the spell.

"It's over" Ryan declared as he stood up and wrapped the chain around his own wrist. He nodded and Chloe slowly stepped forward to remove the demigod's helmet.

Chloe placed her hands on the side of Samael's head, but before she could push up and take off the helmet, she felt a sickening feeling in her gut. She looked down and Samael had a small and intense ball of fire in his hand, and it was hovering just above her gut where the sensation had gone off.

"Don't move" He warned. "Take the chain off or I won't hesitate to blow this forest off its roots"

Ryan looked hesitant but Chloe nodded and he unwrapped the chain from his wrist, dropping it to the floor and holding his hands up in surrender. Samael spun on his heel and kicked Chloe back before sending the fireball forward. Ryan titled his head and dodged but the ball made contact with a tree a couple of feet behind him and exploded.

Samael and Chloe were safe from the explosion, but Ryan had been close enough to have been sucked in. It was plausible that he might be dead. Chloe waited anxiously for the smoke to clear while Samael was hoping he had finally gotten a kill.

Once the smoke cleared, it was evident that Ryan had survived, but he was unconscious and most of his armor had broken off. Chloe didn't hesitate to thrust her dagger forward and stab Samael straight in the gut as he turned around. He made a sickening gagging sound and placed two hands onto Chloe's as if to make sure she didn't push it forward.

"At least one of you would kill me" Samael chuckled

"You'll live. Barely" Chloe assured

"Kill me or you'll regret it" Samael said, almost begging

Chloe extracted her dagger and socked him in the eye with the same hand. His helmet shattered upon impact in the exact same spot and in the same shape it had the day before. He fell backwards but he turned and attempted to crawl away.

"You're not getting away this time" Chloe said as he placed one foot onto his back and stopped him

Kneeling down to one knee, Chloe hovered the dagger just below his chin. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and attempted to push it up so that it would cut him, but she punched the back of his head and threw the dagger as far as she could. It landed with a clang on a rocky beach about fifteen feet away. Vines erupted from the ground and held Chloe back while Samael crawled towards the knife. She struggled but she had nothing to cut the vines, and her pure strength alone wasn't enough to pull the vines from their roots.

"Wait!" Chloe cried but Samael was getting closer to the dagger

Chloe, deciding she wasn't going to let this guy kill himself before she got answers, tugged with all her might and finally freed herself from the roots. She ran towards the beach and quickly snatched her dagger just as Samael extended out his hand to grab it.

"You're not dying until you give me answers" She insisted

"Chloe" He grunted, the voice sounding a bit... familiar. "Finish it"

She used one leg to roll Samael onto his back, and she was horrified to see a familiar eye looking back at her from the hole she had made in his helmet. It instantly made her nauseated as she looked back and forth in between his stomach where he was bleeding out and that eye.

It was him...