Perseus: Artemis has a rebellious streak.

Ares continued his assault on me, as I desperately dodged his barrage of swipes and stabs. His technique was sloppy and barbaric, but as I had previously learned, trying to parry his attacks isn't a good idea. One of my advantages has proven to be a near fatal disadvantage. The knife in my off hand prevented me from properly parrying attacks with riptide, but it also allowed me extra offensive capabilities that had proven somewhat useful.

I don't think he even noticed the arrows sticking out of his back. Artemis fired off arrows with such speed that her arm was a blur, but the arrows had almost no effect other than ripping apart his clothes and wounding him with paper cuts.

Ares brought his sword down, and I swerved around him as he yanked it from the ground. I jabbed my sword at his back with all the strength I could muster in such a quick strike, before I rolled backwards with agility that seemed impossible to achieve in my armour as he spun around with a swing.

"I'm impressed, I expected you to start crying by now," Ares taunted, as he charged at me once more. I ran at him, facing him head on, and leapt to the side as his sword bore down on me.

"You…" I started, before trying to regain my composure. "You are making this easier than it should be."

"Funny," he said, swinging his sword through the air, "Cause from where I'm standing, you look like you're having a little trouble. Do you need me to-"

He was cut off when Artemis, tired of slowly killing him with paper cuts, leapt onto his back from behind. In one smooth motion, she had her legs around his neck in a scissorhold. Ares swung his sword above his head, as the goddess began to choke him out, and she desperately fended him off with her twin silver hunting knives.

I ran at them, sword drawn with the intent of giving Artemis the time she needed to suffocate him. He dropped his shield and went to grab at her arm, but I smacked his hand away with the blade of my sword, leaving a long, thin cut across his palm.

I dropped my knife to the ground and grabbed at his arm with my free hand, whilst fending off his blade with Riptide.

"What are you doing?!" Artemis asked as she went wild, stabbing at Ares's head with speed. Slowly but surely, her knives became layered with ichor.

"Giving you time to choke-"

"When was the last time you needed to breath air?!" She yelled at me.

I breathed out, held my breath, and then I cursed. Artemis wasn't trying to choke him out; gods don't need to breath. She was giving me an opportunity, an opportunity I was wasting.

I parried another sword strike, then freed his hand and ducked down, taking my drakon bone knife once more. I rolled backwards on my heels, avoiding the downward stab he'd hoped to get me with.

I stood, and would have gone straight back into the fight if it wasn't for the blonde haired girl standing at the labyrinth's entrance, watching as the last camper went through. I caught her eye, and gave her a quick nod. She did the same, and after lingering there for a few more seconds, rushed inside.

I turned my attention to Ares, and ran at him as he continued to flail his sword about his head. I channelled every ounce of power into riptide; power fuelled by rage. Rage from the fires that burned my camp. Rage from the dead that littered the ground. Rage at the betrayal of the god of war.

Slowly, my battle strategy, my lightning fast reflexes and my natural instincts all gave way to the rage. I lifted my foot, raising my knee to my waist, and sheathed my knife. Then I charged with a guttural roar.

Both Ares and Artemis's eyes widened as I ran at them, my sword glowing with golden energy and my legs moving me forward at supersonic speed. I met Ares with my blade and stabbed with everything I had.

Riptide tore through his chest and he screamed. I pressed on, forcing more power into my blade as I pushed it deeper and deeper into his body, and only seconds after my initial attack, the beam of golden light that emerged from my sword had burst through his back, as I further impaled him.

It was this moment of blinding rage that prevented me from realising that Ares's own blade had torn through my armour, and deep into the space between my shoulder and neck, and when I tried to pull riptide out, my arm screamed with pain.

I choked out a cry when Ares's fist clamped around my neck, and I was forced to release riptide as he shoved me back. I clutched my shoulder blade as my vision faltered, and I retreated a few metres.

Artemis continued to rain strike after strike on Ares's head, and ichor was slowly pouring down his scalp. He slashed up at her, but the attack had no strength or speed, and she parried it easily.

Discarding his weapon, Ares pulled at riptide with all he had, and slowly, the sword began to inch out. I extended my good arm, old lefty, and willed my blade back to me, and sure enough, it slid out of him swiftly and returned to my hand.

Ares roared and stumbled down to his knee. Watching Artemis slowly chipping her way through his skull, I could almost sympathize with him… almost. He raised his hands over his head, desperate to stop those silver hunting knives from ravaging his scalp further.

I sheathed riptide and through gritted teeth, I ran at Ares, ready to put an end to the fighting. He looked up just in time to see my celestial bronze boot meet with his face. I felt my foot crack on impact, but it had the desired effect: Ares slumped to the ground, completely out of it.

Once she was sure Ares was down for the count, Artemis hopped off of the brute, and walked over to me.

"That was fun," she said.

"Oh… yea, yes," I faltered, doing my best to sound calm and collected. "Best fun I've had in years, all right!"

"Perseus?" She began, with a raised brow. "Your helmet is leaking."

Now, let me just clear the air here; I was not crying. No matter what Artemis says, there were no tears being shed behind that mask, okay? Besides, if there were, you can't exactly blame me; my arm was barely still attached.

Ichor was flowing down my body at an alarming rate and I asked, "Gods can't bleed to death, right?"

"No," she replied. "But they can lose consciousness, better patch up that wound." With that, she turned away from me and tended to Ares.

A celestial bronze chain formed in her hands, and she began to wrap it around Ares's ankles. The chain appeared to get longer and longer the more she used, and before long the 'all mighty' god of war was wrapped up in metal from his ankles to his neck.

"What's going to happen to him?" I asked.

"If anyone is going to be able to drain him of his power, it's my father."

"What about them?" I gestured to the horde of skeletal soldiers around us. As if on cue, the skeletons began to crumble around us. "Oh."

"I still don't understand what he was trying to achieve," Artemis said.

"Why did you come to help, when all the other gods, even my father, turned a blind eye?"

"Zeus ordered us not to go; he felt it was more important to stay and guard Mount Olympus. But my hunters needed my help, so I… rebelled. I expect there to be a lot of backlash on my part when we get back."

I cocked my head. "You? A rebel? I think Thalia's rubbing off on you."