With a dagger on her left and a drakon bone sword to her right, Annabeth fully rushed me down. I raised my Stygian blade against her, and the worst-case scenario happened. Full close combat. Annabeth slashed twice towards my midsection. Her sword cut through my shirt as her dagger narrowly missed right after. I backed off to examine the damage, but Annabeth didn't allow it, as she was still on the offensive.

I don't remember Annabeth being this good up close in personal, but I had to adapt fast, or I was going to be sliced open by her. I parried her sword easily three or four times. It was hard to keep track because of our speed. Annabeth aimed low and I met her with my own sword. Our exchanges were far too fast to see. The crowd was having a hard time trying to visually absorb every hit and trade. All they had to know was that it was dead even so far. I always had faith in my swordplay. I relied more on my powers when I was smaller but caught up quickly without any formal training. Over the years, I had gotten even better. The only ones who could truly beat me in a swordfight was a seasoned child of Ares, Percy, Jason, and Reyna. Not that bad for a child of Hades.

However, that confidence didn't help me against Annabeth. I knew I was better when it came to swordplay, but it was that knife of hers that gave her the upper hand. Dual-wielding both a sword and an Imperial gold knife seemed like overkill, but it was like Annabeth was born to be a master at it. I parried all of her sword strikes with ease, only to be met with a nick to the arm or a cut to the cheek right after. Her dagger skills were otherworldly, and they were far too fast to parry as well.

She went for an overhead slice with one hand as I blocked it instantaneously. I held tightly with both hands and pushed back on her blade. Using a sword one-handed was for those who were fast with a blade, the problem was that they would lack ample strength in all their strikes. It was a trade-off that worked for demigods like Percy, who had that natural strength to compensate for it. Annabeth wasn't one of those demigods, and I used that against her to push her off-balance.

Annabeth didn't seem concerned as she lowered herself slightly and stabbed me in the right thigh with her dagger. I felt the blood loss instantly. I looked down to see the damage and saw a good amount of blood flowing down my leg and into the floor. This was my first mistake as Annabeth kicked me backward while I wasn't looking. I didn't go too far, but I fell in some mud feeling dazed. I got up quickly and created some distance. Annabeth tried to follow as she reached for my sword arm, but I pushed her off me and made my escape. I had to check these wounds.

With my back at the walls of the arena, I looked downwards to see a shallow cut that stopped bleeding. I was confused. I knew it wasn't a major cut, but the initial amount of blood had set me into a panic. I looked up to Annabeth and saw her running towards me with a small grin. She wants me to panic, to lose my cool, and not think straight. I couldn't allow that. I was moments away from being attacked by Annabeth again, but this time I had a plan.

Annabeth ran towards the ends of the arena to strike once again, but I was ready. I met her halfway and parried all of her sword attacks. With each swing of her sword, the second attack of her knife would follow soon after. She continued to give me shallow cuts along my legs and even tried to cut up my shirt some more. She was going to pay for that, and I mean that literally. This was my favorite shirt after all.

Annabeth's face was that of determined fury. I don't know if she had the same look when she fought Clarisse, but she was fighting me as if I was a monster myself. There was no hesitation or second-guessing. It wasn't like she was trying to kill me either though. Her cuts were shallow, and her sword swings were deliberate. She wanted to dish out as much damage as possible without killing me. She gave me the role of a monster and slashed accordingly.

With another slash at my midsection, I blocked it with two hands again and we were at a stalemate sword-wise. With her free hand, Annabeth went to stab one of my legs. She was quicker than the last time. If I wasn't ready then I would be in serious trouble, but I had a plan brewing in my mind. I closed my eyes and focused on the earth before me. Summoning a bunch of weak undead was easy, but a stronger more durable undead skeleton was way harder. Luckily for me, I just needed a few limbs and not the whole body for my small plan.

Mere seconds before her knife impaled my leg, a skeleton hand grabbed Annabeth's knife arm tightly, stopping the attack in its place. Annabeth couldn't believe it and turned to the hand. What she saw was a skeleton half sprouting from the floor. His body wasn't even fully formed as he lacked a skull and only had his torso and both arms holding Annabeth down. She started to pull from the skeleton, but the position she was in didn't allow her more strength. She had to hold me off with her sword arm while her knife arm wasn't a threat anymore. The skeleton held it with a vice grip. With her knife arm occupied, I swiped at her sword arm and her drakon bone sword fell to the floor. She turned back to me with panic in her eyes before I punched her in the gut, and she fell.

I focused again and caused a mini fissure to appear below the drakon bone sword and it fell in its depths.

Annabeth exchanged her knife to the other hand and sliced the skeleton arm off her. Sweat rolling down her cheek as she felt the blow to her stomach before getting up.

"I better get that sword back." She said in a low haunted voice.

"You'll get it later. After this match is over."

I thought Annabeth would crack by now. We were both tired, but she had only a dagger left. That dual-wielding style was something else, but I handled it. How many tricks could she have up her sleeve? The longer this match goes on, the better she would be. Even moments like this are perfect for her. She gets to think for herself, plan her next move. She knew I didn't want any more close combat encounters, so she stood there and waited on me.

I looked towards the crowd and saw all of them chanting. Most of the Greeks were chanting for Annabeth, but curiously, the Romans were chanting my name. This shocked me. I was the first Greek to make it to Camp Jupiter and most of the campers barely tolerated me at that time. I guess things change after a big quest against the mother of all things. Then again, I did work alongside their praetor when bringing the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-blood. Uniting both camps. The Romans must have thought highly of me because of that.

With newfound confidence, I ran towards Annabeth ready to fight. I knew Will would hate me for this, but I didn't care about close quarters fighting anymore. I already beat her in a sword fight. I didn't need to fear her knifing skills. Annabeth put her dagger up and parried my first hit. She was on the defensive now, and she was doing a good job pushing off all my advances. With every strike, Annabeth chose to roll out of the way instead of blocking or parrying. She would only do that if she needed to. I slashed at her legs and she did a full jump in the air to dodge. She had so much energy left that it was insane.

Annabeth parried another hit before rotating herself as she tried to hit me with the back of her knife's hilt. I dodged it and smiled.

"Stealing moves from Percy now?" I spoke.

Annabeth smiled while slashing. "So talkative, what happened to the doom and gloom kid who hanged out with ghosts and played Mythomagic?" She asked.

"You wouldn't believe it, but he grew up."

With those words, I noticed that there was still a skeleton hand hanging from Annabeth's hair. It wiggled in the wind with every knife stroke. Still grasping to Annabeth's golden locks of hair.

'Thank you, unknown dead soldier' I thought to myself.

Annabeth parried another hit of mine before coming in close for a stab. In that moment, I grabbed the arm of the skeleton and tugged it towards the ground. Annabeth felt the pain immediately.

"Ow ow ow, let go of my hair!" She screamed.

I let go of it feeling a little bad for her, but not bad enough as I still kicked her as hard as I could across the battlefield. I thought she would fall hard but she landed on her feet all catlike. Annabeth pulled the skeleton arm off her and threw it to the earth, where it was engulfed back to Hades.

Annabeth still had the look of worry on her face, but she didn't seem as tired as I thought. I was the opposite. I had all the confidence in the world, but I was getting more tired by the second. Best to end this now.

Annabeth pulled her baseball cap from her side. Crap, I should've taken that when I had the chance. She wore it quickly and disappeared from my sight. I looked around the arena knowing that it did no good. Annabeth wasn't dumb enough to taunt me while invisible, and with a knife on her, she would try for a more devastating blow to end it and I wouldn't even see it coming.

From behind me, I felt a small change in the wind and saw Annabeth in the corner of my eye. She reappeared and was about to strike. I didn't have the chance to block it or dodge. She was too quick. I had to force myself to shadow travel.

Darkness took over, and I saw a city I haven't seen yet, before reappearing in another spot in the arena. Shadow traveling had its ups and downs. Traveling a few hundred miles wasn't as hard as it used to be. I had practice when delivering the Athena Parthenos. The problem was using shadow travel for only a few feet. Most of the time I would get it right, and other times I would shadow travel to another city by accident before teleporting to where I actually wanted to go. It was like a taxi driver making another stop on your way home, except the stop he made was thousands of miles away.

I couldn't afford to make such mistakes. I already did it twice in this battle and I'm already feeling the effects of it. Annabeth put her cap back on and disappeared. I was ready this time, as she appeared behind me again and I parried her hit. Our weapons clashed and I went for a stab before Annabeth put her cap back on and disappeared.

"Oh, you want to play at this game?" I said in a woozy voice.

"Sure, you can't hit me anyway."

I swung at the air and presumably missed. Damn, she was throwing me off my game.

I gave myself a small slap. I had to think for once. The best she could do is attack my blind spot. As long as I pay attention to that, I'm good. Now, where is —

Before I could finish my thought. Annabeth appeared right in front of me. We were nose to nose before she had her knife ready to strike. There was no time for a parry or block. I only had one choice as I shadow traveled away. I did it right this time and was at the back of the arena. Waves of tiredness washed over me. I didn't have much strength left. I looked towards the spot Annabeth and I were, and she was gone. I looked around again and didn't see her.

I was starting to panic and kept my back towards the wall. No more blind spots for her. I only had to focus on my front and be done with it. I was planning to wait for now. I had to parry her next move and survive if I wanted to win.

However, I didn't understand her plan. She could still hit me while wearing her cap. Why disappear and reappear to attack me? She gave me time to respond for no reason. What's her endgame?

Minutes passed before I heard it. I heard her close to me. I looked around and saw nothing. Where was she? What was she doing? The crowd had the same anxiety as I did as there was no more chanting in the arena. Everyone wanted to know where she was. That's when it hit me. The sound I heard earlier was that of feet scraping on something. The arena floor was all muddy, so it had to be the wall. I didn't really think about it till now. That was my fatal mistake.

From above, I heard the cap come off and I looked up. Annabeth had scaled the wall and came crashing down above me. I should've put two and two together and now I had no defense. There was nothing to parry or block. She would fall towards me and put her knife to my neck. I did what I had to, and shadow traveled away.

Big mistake as I didn't do it right and saw glimpses of China before coming back to the center of the arena. I fell on the muddy floor and felt the darkness take over. Any more and my molecular structure would come unglued. Before my eyes shut, I saw Annabeth right in front of me. Smiling in celebration.

"Can I give you a little tip, Nico? For the future." Annabeth asked.

I didn't give her a response besides some slurred words that weren't English.

She put her fingertips over my eyelids and closed them. The last words I heard before sleeping were whispers.

"Lay off the shadow travel, it's bad for your health."

I fell into a slumber forgetting everything.

…

I woke up on a couch in the middle of the viewing area. I woke up thinking it would be dark but there was still light outside. Usually, I would sleep for hours after extended use of my abilities, so that means someone woke me up. I turned and saw Hazel sleeping right next to me. Snoring up a storm as she slept like a baby. Ah, that's what woke me.

"She's been like that since Percy caused a watery apocalypse in the arena."

I turned to see both Leo and Calypso sitting on the opposite side of the couches. Calypso looked beautiful as always as she sat there with her hand to her chin. She was smiling at me as if she was in on a joke that I wasn't a part of. Leo was far less subtle as he was holding in laughter.

I felt my body tingle in the cold. "What happened. Who won?"

Leo was on the brink of tears. "You don't remember? You won by summoning Hades himself and fighting side by side. Also, Will join in, and Superman joined in, and Spider-man join—"

Calypso closed his mouth with one hand. "You lost to her, she really outplayed you there with the shadow travel."

I tried to remember everything. It took some time before realizing her plan.

"She wanted me to shadow travel. To wear myself out."

Leo pointed straight at me. "Bingo. You fell for it hard."

Calypso laughed. "You act like it wouldn't happen to you, babe."

"Oh, it would. I built the Argo II and Annabeth is still smarter than me. Gets on my nerves, really."

I ignored what both of them were saying. I still didn't get it.

"That's why she disappeared and reappeared instead of just attacking me while invisible?" I asked.

Leo frowned. "Yeah dude. Why hurt a friend when you can just make them fall asleep on their own. Pretty good plan if not a tad risky."

Calypso added on to it. "She was surprised you fell asleep so quickly though. She thought you would use shadow travel a few more times before getting KO-ed."

I sat there not knowing what to say. I used shadow travel early today and screwed up big time in the match teleporting to China. She couldn't factor that into her plan, but it still worked.

"Don't worry," Calypso added. "You still got losers coming up."

I started to laugh which freaked both Leo and Calypso out. Leo especially. I don't think he ever heard me laugh like this before.

"Uhh, dude, you lost." Leo said.

I stopped laughing to myself. "Who cares, I enjoyed the fight and Annabeth clearly had a plan while I screwed around. I'm happy for her."

Calypso looked at me closely. I didn't really know her that well, but she seemed to be the type to study people up close.

"You never really cared about this tournament, did you?"

I put my hands in the air. "Caught me."

Leo snorted. "Only a sore loser says that after they lost. Example: me after I lose this whole thing."

Calypso punched him before I heard the door from the back entrance of the arena swing open.

Standing in the door frame was Michael Kahale.

His armor was slick with blood. His sword was gone, and, on his back, he was carrying someone. The person on his back carried so many wounds that it was hard to count them all. There were multiple lacerations around his arms and his head had bumps from multiple separate beatings. His quiver was gone, and his bow was broken in half with only a piece of string holding it together. He was fading fast as Kahale dropped him on the couch. I looked down and saw Will Solace cover in bruises and blood. Unconscious.

"Someone take him to the infirmary." Kahale said.

I got up and tried to tackle Kahale. I didn't have any weapons on me whatsoever, but that didn't stop me from attacking him.

Kahale took the tackle easily and pushed me off. I wasn't at my peak condition and fell to a thud.

"You beat him to near death, you piece of garbage!" I went for another swing before Leo held me back.

Kahale didn't even flinch at my words. "He put up a good fight. It's not my fault he couldn't take a hit from a real Roman. Instead of fighting me, how about you heal him before it gets worse."

With those words, he walked away. I couldn't believe it. I knew he was trouble when he attacked Reyna, but I left it all for Frank and Chiron to handle. but no more. I had to handle it on my own.

"Kahale!" I screamed.

He gave me a small turn. Ready for what I had to say.

Leo kept holding me as I spit my words out like venom.

"You better keep winning in this tournament, because when we fight in losers, I won't just beat you, I'll end your miserable existence."

Sorry for the lateness. Next chapter coming this Sunday.