Hi all readers! I hope that cliffie tormented you day and night! This chapter may make Percy seem way too powerful at first, but read on and see what happens. You never know when you get godly interference…
"Luke," I growled. "Apparently your back healed."
"Kronos has made me more powerful than ever before," Luke said with a snarl. "I will have no trouble dispatching you." He drew a transparent sword, which I eyed with interest. "A new mineral discovered by Lord Kronos. Celestial diamond. Its name is Отрава Героев."
"Heroes' Bane," I said, surprised that the unfamiliar language came so quickly. A diamond sword named Heroes' Bane. Just what I needed.
He spun, and attacked. He whirled his sword around with a combination of brute force and grace. His sword struck mine…and cleaved through it.
"You have got to be kidding me," I said out loud. My trusty sword Riptide, made by Zoë Nightshade, had just been destroyed beyond repair. I almost gave up then and there.
Luke put Отрава Героев to my neck. "It's about time I killed you," he said, grinning. I felt warmth on my chest, beating. At first I thought it was my heart, but the heat was unnatural.
I began to glow with a blue light. Luke seemed not to notice. Отрава Героев cut deeper into my neck. There was a loud crack and Luke was thrown into the air, his sword glinting in the light. He landed with a grunt on a sand dune. He got up, surprised.
I raised half of Riptide to defend myself as Luke came toward me, growling. He picked up the diamond sword and readied a blow.
A word leapt unbidden to my lips. "Разрушитесь!" I said. Luke's sword shattered into a thousand pieces. I could barely contain my surprise.
"Impossible…" Luke said, holding the hilt of his demolished sword.
More unfamiliar words rose from my mouth. "Щит! Поднимитесь!" I said. A blue bubble of energy surrounded me. Everything was tinged with blue, but my eyesight was sharpened.
"But…but…" Luke stuttered. I could see fear in his eyes. I saw something else, too: myself. I looked different. My eyes were glowing sky blue, and an unseen power was rippling my hair, like the wind.
I began to rise into the air. Luke was staring, mesmerized with fear. I had complete control of the bubble, and hatred was coursing through my body. I knew that if Luke came into contact with it, he would be destroyed. I readied myself for the final strike…
Meanwhile, at Mount Olympus
I was watching the TV in his room at Mount Olympus with growing apprehension. Impossible, I thought to myself. The boy wielded power greater than any he had seen, greater than any immortal I had seen. The necklace seemed a good deal to me, as I didn't care about others being drained of energy.
The boy had wrecked my reputation, and now this?
I hated him. He was the reason I was embarrassed twice in front of all the Olympians. He was the reason for many things I won't go into. He was the reason of…well, you get the idea.
He was unworthy to wield such power. I had to do something. I could not give such power to his opponent, as even I was not that powerful.
"Hmmm, what can I do?" I mused aloud.
An idea struck me. I could not give such power to the boy Luke, but I could give him power to imitate Percy…
I snapped my fingers for some magic. A wave of exhaustion enveloped me. It was heavy magic. I immediately fell asleep.
Back to the middle of nowhere
I was ready to strike Luke down for all that he did. Something was holding me back, but I brushed away the unexpected mental resistance contemptuously. The barrel of blue energy surrounding me seemed to pulsate. Luke was backing away.
Out of nowhere, a flash of light blinded me. I opened my eyes to find Luke…in a golden bubble almost exactly similar to mine. His eyes were glowing like Apollo in the desert.
I did the only thing that made sense: I rammed the bubble. He rammed back. When the bubbles connected, they crackled, and repelled each other. I pulled back with a pained expression. He did the same.
We rammed each other again, with so much force that we were both blown across the desert, skidding in the sand. I feinted to the right with my bubble (I know that sounds weird,). Luke tried the same maneuver, and we ended up on reversed sides.
I groaned. Luke groaned. I didn't even see what was going on here. A shimmering face of Annabeth appeared in my head and snapped, "He's imitating you, Seaweed Brain! Stop fighting!"
I needed to be sure. I wiggled my bubble from left to right. Luke wiggled his bubble from left to right. Okay, this is seriously weird, I thought.
I lowered my bubble to the ground. So did Luke. "Пойти." I said, and my bubble dissipated. Luke spoke the word, and his bubble disappeared. I walked up to him and held out my hand.
He gripped it, and I shook, prompting him to do likewise. A brilliant idea struck me. If these words seemed to have power over the magic of the necklace then maybe, just maybe…
"Я клянусь на всей моей власти, что я становлюсь вашим союзником, и может волшебство быть выпущенным." I said, the words coming to my mind easily. It was a pledge of loyalty, bound by magic. It also released the imitation enchantment.
Luke repeated them, and there was an immediate change in his expression. All the degradation from him working with Kronos was gone. His face seemed fuller, and you could tell he was good again.
He was about to say something when he collapsed onto the ground. I immediately kneeled down and checked his pulse. He was dead.
The amulet around my neck crackled and died.
Not a cliffie, but then again, you want to know what happens next. Power always has a drawback. This is the first time I've updated twice in a day, and probably the last. If you want to know exactly what Percy says to control the amulet, copy-paste it into a translator for Russian-English.