Matthew charges, and he's fast. Before I can react, he's already in front of me; swinging his golden lance. I block it with Riptide but I can feel Matthew's strength, even though I block it, he still manages to throw me off.

I fall to the ground, but I quickly rise up again. Matthew is not giving me time to recover; he closes in quickly and takes another swing. I manage to rise up just in time to dodge it. He follows up with another swing, I duck but he anticipated that and his knee connects to my face; knocking me back down.

I can feel blood running down from my nose. It's a funny feeling that you suddenly can feel pain again after a year being invulnerable.

Matthew smirks; he's enjoying this, but that just pisses me off.

He charges again; swinging his lance but I somersault over him, dodging his lance, he didn't expect that.

I land, turn around swinging my sword at full force. Matthew is surprised but he manages to leap backward in time. The tip of my sword brushes against his full plate and manages to tear of the stomach part a bit.

I didn't stop there; I thrust my sword right to him, he dodge to the right but I react quickly and use a side spinning front kick. It hits Matthew right on the chest.

'Oooff!' He grunts.

The full plate is hard, but Matthew is knocked off the ground. I stare at him.

'I don't want to hurt you.' I say.

Matthew chuckles, 'And you won't.'

Matthew rises and takes off his full plate; revealing a white buff body, like body-builder's buff.

That explains the strength.

I can see a wide brown scar running diagonally from Matthew's left shoulder to his right side of the stomach. Wonder where that came from.

Matthew puts up a stance, he stretches his arm to the back while holding and pointing the lance at me. He thrusts his lance; it's fast and it made an unpleasant noise, the kind of noise that says 'Get hit and you'll die'. I dodge it, but the lance still brushes against my chest.

'Gragghh!' I groan.

Blood is running down from my chest, it isn't deep but it's painful.

Matthew follows up with a front kick to my right ribs, it hits hard and I fall to the ground.

Matthew smiles, 'My mother would be so proud and happy. Today, I will kill Poseidon's favorite son and champion.'

I breathe heavily, 'Your mother loved Poseidon! How do you think she would feel if she can see you today?'

Matthew gives me a pitiful smile, 'But he didn't love her. He doesn't love me nor does he love you. He has no love for mortals, and why would he? He's a god, gods only care about themselves. My mother is a prove of that; I still remember how she smiles at me during our last moment at that ship. Telling me that everything is going to be okay when it's not. Today he will regret deeply that he abandoned my mother to her death.'

Matthew seems genuinely happy, but the way I see it his expression of happiness is twisted. He's happy like a child's happy, they look normal happy if you don't know the reason why their happy. But I know why he's happy, and that just makes it so wrong.

The odd thing is that I don't hate him or anything, I feel sorry for him. It's like seeing another Luke, but somehow I can understand this one much better.

I look at him, 'You're wrong Matthew. Our father cares a great deal for us—'

'Your father! Not mine! I have nothing to do with him!' Matthew screams and interrupts me.

I keep my calm and quickly reply, 'He's your father, whether you like it or not. Always have been and always will be. I saw him Matthew, he cares for us. He was crushed when he learnt that the only way to save him is for me to kill you, and he didn't want to do that. He tried to send me away, but I know that I can save him, and I can save you too Matthew.'

Matthew flinches, and I could've sworn that he actually looked troubled for a second even though he masked it again quickly.

Matthew sneers, 'Gods, Percy. They tell you anything they like, but in truth is that; Poseidon himself wants you to be here on this battlefield with me. They're gods Percy, and all gods are the same. Even the elder gods that are supporting us, they are the true faces of all immortals. Rotten to the core, we are nothing but dust specks to them.'

I thought to myself, there was a time when I'm Matthew. Thinking that the gods are incapable of human emotions. I know now that he resembles a lot like me in the past, like Luke as well.

I look at him, with sadness in my eyes; 'You're wrong Matthew. They created us; they feel emotions just like us, even greater perhaps. I've seen Hermes, as cheery as he can be; he was angry and sad when his son left us. Zeus, he was concern when his daughter decided to join the hunters. Our father… Poseidon… I saw how much he hated himself for letting this to happen. Matthew, I can tell you that Poseidon couldn't have possibly abandoned you and your mother. He loves you too much to let that happen.'

Matthew glares at me; he's angry, I can tell from his eyes.

Matthew clenches his teeth, 'And yet here we are. You're here with me, dueling to the death. I don't see Poseidon trying to save either of us. He's watching Percy, and he's hoping that you can kill me. Well, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint him.'

I stand up; 'You're wrong. I'm not here to kill you.'

Matthew laughs, 'Then? Are you going to preach me?'

'No… but I am going to save you.' I put my stance up, 'Your mother wouldn't have wanted this.'

Matthew's face is getting red, he screams; 'Don't talk about my mother! You don't know anything about her! And I certainly don't need you to save me!'

I look at him, and I wonder to myself; if I have never met Annabeth and the others, would this be me?

I reply to Matthew, 'Yes… You do need me to save you.'

Matthew let out a loud roar then he charges. He swings his lance right down, I evade to his left. The lance's blade comes crushing to the ground; it left a hole on the ground. I swing my sword and graze Matthew's right shoulder. He groans and swings his lance again, I evade it with the slightest movement possible and then swing my sword again; grazing his right side of the stomach.

He's angry, and even though his strength is even more terrifying. His swings are predictable and easy to evade.

He makes another swing, and I evade and graze his chest. He keeps swinging it wildly, and I keep evading and grazing him with my blade. I graze him all over his body but that doesn't seem to slow him down. Finally he makes a full wide swing, I evade this one as well then in continuous motion I slash his back knee; tearing off his right greave, dropping him one knee on the floor and then I slash his back.

He rises up again, but now I'm on the offensive. I swing my sword full force diagonally, from upper left to bottom right while he blocks it with his lance. Swinging it once, then twice; his hands are staggering, I can tell. I swing Riptide once more, but this time I disarm him.

Matthew isn't backing down; he closes in and attempts a wild right swing. I duck, spin and hit Matthew's stomach with a spinning left elbow. Matthew is on my back, he groans, and then I use my right elbow to hit Matthew's right side of the face, while my body is still facing the other way. He staggers, then I turn around, grab his shoulders and then my right knee connects with his stomach. He falls back and makes another attempt to hit me with his right fist; I dodge it, use the hilt of my sword to strike Matthew's right arm; he groans and then another hit to his face. Blood runs down from his nose, he staggers, then I give him a spinning front kick. He falls to the ground.

Matthew lies there helplessly. I point my sword to his throat, but Matthew just stares at me and then he laughs.

Matthew smirks; 'Go ahead. Kill me now, because I swear to the gods that I will not stop trying to destroy Olympus and all the gods within it. Kill me now Percy, make Poseidon proud.'

I breathe heavily, trying to catch my breath. Then I calm myself down.

'No… I said that I will save you, and even though it will take years for you to open your eyes. I'll be there to tell you that your mother didn't want this. She died in peace. That last smile that she gives you, she wasn't lying. She knew that Poseidon would protect you, she knew it all along that you'll live, she knew that everything was going to be okay for you.'

I click Riptide and it returns back to a pen. I look at Matthew's face, he's shocked. Deep down, he knows that I was right, even though he might not realized it just yet.

I turn around and walk away. I place my right hand on my right ribs; I think I broke one or two of them.

Suddenly there's a yell from behind me; Matthew. He charges in again. I react quickly; I click Riptide and it turns into a sword again and before Matthew gets closer to me, I point it to his heart. He stops right when the tip of my blade touches his chest.

Matthew laughs sinisterly, 'You're weak Percy. If you can't even kill me, you will never be able to defeat the rest of us.'

I look at him, resolved. 'Don't worry. I'll save them next.'

Matthew stares at me, he looks surprised for some reason. But then he smiles.

'You're a fool Percy Jackson. But in another life, we could've been comrades… Brothers.'

I reply, 'We still can be.'

Matthew smiles, 'This is my one gift to you… For you to stand a chance against the other sons of Poseidon.'

A bad feeling hits me; I don't like the sound of whatever Matthew is going to give me.

'For you. Brother.' He smiles.

When I realized what he's about to do, I was too late to stop it. He drives himself right through my sword. Riptide pierces his chest right through his heart and all the way out to his back.

Matthew then smiles as blood runs down from his mouth.