A/N: I watched a good chunk of the Oscars today... Just to see Tegan and Sara... I love them... This chapter was mainly written by jeffgangfan.
It was funny how he managed to find the weakness of the bizarre creature and gave up hope at the same time. That resulted in him staying frozen on the spot - his mind couldn't come up with any solution for disconnecting the priest and the snake. Unlike what was supposed to happen in books when the protagonist's life flashed through his eyes, where some kind of motivation from his family, friends, and love interest would help him regain the strength needed to defeat the villain, Nico's mind went completely blank.
The priest finally uttered his first sentence since he caught Nico. "Son of Death, you have failed to take life away from me!" with the sound of a dry, disintegrating throat.
Nico jumped at the opportunity without fail. "How do you know who I am?"
"Scummy bastards coming from the Underworld to steal my soul! They do not know I am the eternal guardian of this island!"
"How dare you threaten the order of natural life?!" Nico tried to gain authority in his voice, hoping that he sounded righteous enough. "Who gave you the right to defy death?"
"I'm too important to the people on this island! I myself created a magical barrier that surrounded Bali, protecting them from various kinds of monsters."
Nico turned his head as he tried to hide the smirk trailing on his face. There was a chance that he could convince the priest to put him down before anything else. Gathering himself some confidence, he shouted to the undead priest, "Hey! I have some information you might want to know! In fact, you'd die to know about it!"
The priest seemed outrageous; the Great Ular lowered its head as the priest silently ordered his serpent-limbs to tighten their grips around Nico, their fangs ready to sink deep into Nico again. The priest was standing in front of his 'incompetent' opponent, Nico, as the obedient Ular laid its head on the ground. Nico tried to move his arms, which were tightly bound to his body.
"Did you know that your magical barrier failed to surround the island and has retreated to surround Tanah Lot only?" his voice sounded accusing enough.
"Fallacy you utter!" the priest roared, and for a second, Nico thought it was funny how the old man in front of him had a floral way of speech.
"It's true!" Nico protested, not letting fear slip in his voice. "Monsters are now being attracted to the island because your barrier proved useless!"
The grip of the limbs on him loosened for only a second then tightened around him even more. The priest howled indignantly then he glared at Nico, his eyes, or whatever are those inside the eye sockets, seemed to have a dull gleam. Nico feared what would happen to him, now that the person in front of him showed the sign of madness and desperation.
"I will not have any of this nonsense! You'll be swallowed wholly by the Ular!"
Belying whatever the priest was ranting, the Ular shuddered and dropped dead. Nico couldn't believe in his eyes when the arms of the priest started to lose the scales and rotten unnaturally rapid. He wiggled out of the loosening grip and stood up confidently with the knife in his hand. His enemy howled at the disintegrating arms in disbelief and frustration so Nico took the chance to stab him at his left ribcage, where the heart lay.
Unlike the priest, who was surprised to see the weapon had sunk deep into his chest, Nico knew that it wouldn't help defeating the undead at all. The priest was a mania and Nico had had a rough guess on his weakness. However, he needed more confirmation.
"You see, even your magic betrayed you," Nico said sternly. "The snakes no longer serve the right purpose so they returned to their inevitable death."
"Impossible!" the priest cried out in desperation. Now that all the snakes had turned into dust, their master looked more vulnerable and weaker than ever. In fact, he was nothing but a skinny and quivering old man.
"Do you realize what have you become? Do you even remember your name?" Nico went on interrogating the man.
"It doesn't matter!" the old priest hissed, his hands possessed an unusual pale color. "I must live to protect the island!"
"You know you're lying, right?" Nico retrieved the knife and threw it away. He hoped that it would show the priest how the son of Death could easily defeat him without a weapon. "You're only a mania, you cannot protect anyone!"
Seeing that the priest had gone speechless, Nico continued. "Your barrier no longer protects the island. It only protects you from death. You are afraid of Death, your fear is what keeps you alive."
The raven-eyed point his index finger at the priest, who had fallen down onto his knees. His fingertip touched the old man's forehead as Nico whispered the final sentence. "Now you shall perish."
The ground opened up in rifts despite the tiles and the cold light of purple rays shot up from the rifts. The sky went dark as if it were night already. The eyes of the priest were widely opened and he grabbed Nico's shoulders, pleading with a hoarse and breathy voice. Nico looked at the mania with an unmoved expression on his face. The unyielding ground had swallowed the priest up to his thighs and Nico slowly untangled the skinny fingers away from his shoulder, his facial expression softened as he said, "I promise you peace for your soul after Death."
In spite of not knowing who the Death god was here in Bali, Nico knew there was one rule that applies to every mania when they found serenity, they would not suffer punishment in their soul form. Only their bodies endured the eternal punishment. It was safe to promise that to the priest.
The ground returned to its normal state, not a single crack was evident on the tiles. The sky became clear enough for Nico to stare down at his dirty and battered appearance. His left arm was bleeding and nausea took over him when he saw to large bite marks. He tried to assure himself that there was no poison in the bites because the snakes were supposed to be dead a long time ago. Nevertheless he found an empty pharmacy and found some gauze to stop the bleeding. Wincing in pain as he poured some antiseptic on the wounds, Nico wanted nothing but to head back to the villa and lay down in the bed for another slumber.
He felt like dying when he finally collapsed on the bed after walking up to the hilly path. Nico wondered where Percy was but then his eyelids drooped down along with the sweats from his forehead.
A/N: Um... If you want more percico, I have some other fics that I wrote... If you're interested...