Okay very important before we start:
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I'll try my best to respond to them, but rn I don't have the time to, so it'll have to wait for a bit. Regardless, your support is appreciated and I thank you guys so much!
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Footsteps echoed down the hallways, and one of the Arena staff walked over, along with a Tesserarius. "Thalia Grace? Your presence is required in the debrief hall. Please follow Tesserarius Deacon…"
Turning to her, the arena staff continued, "And Persia Hallie? Please follow me and prepare yourself. Your trials are about to begin."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Persia stepped out onto the arena floor, amidst jeering and booing from the stands.
From the moment her name was announced, disbelief and shock had already rippled through the crowd.
"Blasphemy!"
"Isn't Lady Vesta a virgin goddess-how is she a demigod child of Vesta? How dare she disrespect the goddess?"
"Pathetic child! Her mother isn't even an Olympian!"
"Oh great, another useless sack of shit."
She forced a neutral expression on her face as she stepped on the sandy arena floor. She wasn't about to show weakness to the romans-she was strong, she told herself.
Comments like this weren't going to beat her down. She would show them who she really was by defeating any opponent in her way.
Regardless, she rubbed her twin rings as her opponent stepped forwards.
An Immunis of cohort ten.
He stood confidently in front of her,
"Bring it, you filth. Children of Vesta belong in the dumps. Not Rome."
She gritted her teeth as her twin karambits appeared, causing him to smirk. "Puny knives. What are you gonna do, poke me with them? Scawwy."
"You'll find out soon enough." She spat out between gritted teeth as she readied her knives. The Immunis grinned, readying his shield and Gladius.
He nodded at the stands, where the head directorate stood.
"Begin!" The head directorate yelled, and the Immunis advanced quickly, sprinting across the sandfly floor with his shield at the ready, his sword positioned to stab her. Dusty clouds of sand kicked up behind the legionary's feet as he charged at her.
Unfortunately for him, she was faster.
With nearly blinding speed, she dashed forwards, kicking up the sand behind her on the arena floor. She watched as the Immunis' eye widened and he braced himself for impact.
She smirked. It's gotta take more than a shield to stop me.
With that, smashed into his shield at full speed, shoving the legionary back and causing him to stumble, even though he had hastily braced himself for impact.
He barely had time to yell as she dived into a roll, with his burly frame which had towered over her at the beginning of the match now frantically struggling to regain his bearings and balance while keeping track of her movements.
Barely aware that the crowd had fallen silent, she decided to toy with the Immunis for a bit. Darting around him, she grinned as she felt the familiar sense of adrenaline coursing through her veins. The Immunis was panicking how, his heavy shield unable to keep up with her relentless offense as she danced in and out of his guard, taunting him with every move as he tried desperately to land a hit.
The silent crowd though, realizing what was happening, wasn't exactly happy. After all, it was a Roman's unspoken code of honor to finish a fight quickly and fairly.
Yet, this upstart illegal demigod was here, taunting a Roman legionary. A comrade.
The tenth cohort was already filled with angry mutters as legionaries pointed and whispered hastily with each other, sharp and unwelcome gazes staring at her as she continued this effortless dance.
Finally though, the Immunis grew increasingly sluggish as fatigue set in. Opting to throw away the shield, the Immunis attempted to fight her with one blade only, hoping to match her agility.
Of course, no one knew that they possessed the blessing of Artemis and were companions of the goddess Artemis-rather, Diana in Rome, other than a few who had met them at the entrance and the camp prefect herself.
Grinning widely, she pushed herself even further as she ran rings around the Immunis, occasionally feinting attacks just to bait the Immunis into an offensive move, which she would them match almost immediately and add a counter attack on top.
Realizing he was at a severe disadvantage, the Immunis had to make a choice. He either matched her offense with defense, or use the hood old 'the best defense is a good offense' strategy.
He chose the latter.
Of course, she immediately noticed his shift in combat stance and timing. Deciding to let this play out further, she lazily matched his offence before realizing that this was the legionary's best efforts.
"Boring," she muttered. "Well, time to show you what a 'dumpster child' can do."
Striking out with blinding speed, the Immunis immediately attempted to counter with his own offensive, but he was simply too sluggish and slow to even dream to land a hit on her.
Two jabs later, she feinted an opening, and the legionary, having grown extremely desperate, fell for it.
She grinned.
Dropping down low to avoid the strike, she balanced herself with one hand as she did a roundhouse kick, sweeping the Immunis' legs out from under him. The bulky frame of the legionary crashed down ungracefully onto the sand, a cloud of dust flaring up as his sword clattered to the ground, some distance away.
Wasting no time, she leapt on top of the legionary, planting a knee on his chest as she pinned him to the ground.
"Yield."
The Immunis had no choice but to accept his defeat, with two very sharp and deadly daggers crossed over his throat.
"I yield."
With that, the crowd erupted into chaos.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Reyna could only stare in wonder as she watched Persia wipe some dust off her new purple t-shirt.
She had expected weakness from the child of Vesta. Showing up injured was already a sign of weakness many Romans frowned upon. And a child of a peaceful goddess that stood for protection and family…
There wasn't, quite frankly, a worse combination out there.
She expected her to be weak, not even having any sort of weapons or even training.
She was wrong.
Cohort ten was badly humiliated. The supposed policing force within New Rome, accepting only veterans and elites, was humiliated by a 'newbie' as their officers and legionaries were toyed around and played with.
Cohort Nine suffered a quick defeat, with their choice of representatives putting up a sloppy fight. Cohort eight swapped their representatives quickly, but it didn't change much. Cohorts seven and six also submitted quickly, having expected a slightly easier fight initially and having no last-minute swap outs to try to one-up Persia.
Now, she was dueling with a legionary from the fifth, Frank Zhang. The bow wielding Asian was a good shot, firing off arrows at a steady pace, the bowstring flashing as arrows soared towards persia.
She didn't see the other girl advancing on Frank like the other opponents she had defeated. Was she pinned down by the barrage of arrows?
A slight glimmer of hope shone in her heart. The Romans, she had always believed, were superior. The Greeks had been described as rowdy and undisciplined in the myths. She knew that Persia was good, but she hoped that Frank could triumph over the girl, to reaffirm their dominance.
And then her hopes were dashed as she looked at Persia.
The tanned ravenette's eyes were flashing dangerously as she twirled and dodged, sidestepping or ducking over arrows. Strangely, she wasn't advancing onto her opponent, even though she clearly saw that Frank had no armor and weapons other than his bow and a short Pugio that she could easily disarm. The ravenette was moving in place, never really advancing except to dodge speeding arrows sent her way…
Wait.
She looked closer as she analyzed her stance, the way her eyes barely moved from a locked point-
Persia was analysing Frank's skill. Her eyes were sharp and harsh as she stared at frank, her muscles barely flexing as she effortlessly moved, silently and quickly with unmatched precision, like a silent hunting wolf that was ready to pounce on her prey at any moment.
Her blood ran cold as she watched the pair continue in this strained standoff. With a sudden jolt, she realized that Persia wasn't just a good warrior.
She was the best warrior, fighting with skill that the romans had never seen before.
Her unorthodox style of fighting had led her to topple one challenger after the other, her twin karambits reflecting light off their deathly sharp edges as she swung and spun and danced around like a tornado, defeating every opponent she had.
And she didn't even seem to be fazed or tired by the prolonged matches. Not even a drop of sweat was present on her forehead.
Watching in awe, she stared as persia leapt up and did a backflip over an arrow. She noticed her hands reaching towards her wrists-was she wounded in any way? What trick did she have up her sleeve?
A second later though, her question was answered. A silver bow emerged in her hands, elaborately designed yet stunningly simple. The nocks ended with a tiny snarling wolf's head, and the arrow shelf had a deer's head engraved onto it. The grip also had a simple yet beautifully made diamond texture to it, and the bowstring was made of an odd material like nothing she had ever seen before.
Silvery and shimmering, it seemed to hold up very well as Persia effortlessly nocked an arrow and drew back on the bowstring, the silvery projectile coming out of a quiver-when did she even get that? and narrowly missing frank's face. She stared in amazement as Persia reloaded with inhumane speeds as she rapidly sent arrows towards frank, never actually hitting him while forcing frank on the defensive.
That's a smart move, she thought, pinning your enemy down to close the range. Indeed, Frank was pinned down, barely able to move as Persia continued her relentless advance. Every now and then she would circle to frank's left or right flank, forcing him to change course or dodge the arrows, wasting valuable time and space as she closed the range.
She watched with a a mix of awe and shock as Frank clumsily pulled out his Pugio, having realized what Persia's strategy was. Too late though, as Persia descended onto him like a raging cyclone, karambits already at hand while her bow was nowhere to be seen. Must be an enchanted weapon, she thought, as Persia swung her blade down onto frank's cross guard. A small smile broke on her face.
So she can make a mistake after all-
And then frank went down in a cloud of dust and sand as his legs were swept out underneath him.
The crowd clapped politely, having expected the outcome long ago. It seemed that no matter what, Persia would always triumph.
Maybe the Greeks did have an advantage over the romans, she thought, as she half-heartedly announced Gwen, the centurion of the fifth cohort. She's just gonna be humiliated…she thought, sighing as she watched the blonde daughter of Ceres square up as she stood proudly on the arena floor, her Gladius reflecting sunlight off it's shiny imperial golden surface as Persia sized her up, before settling into a stance with her twin blades.
Gwen looked her up and down, striking green eyes focused on her opponent. She knew that Gwen had no chance of winning, no matter how skilled she was.
Frankly, she pitied the centurion. She was one of the most talented officers within new rome, and her talent was wasted simply because she didn't have reference letters or any prestige, and was the daughter of a plant goddess that not many looked up to.
She refused her gaze on the centurion, who turned her gaze onto the crowd. Their gazes met for a second, and she gave Gwen a reassuring nod.
You got this.
Scanning the crowd in front of her, she watched as gwen took in a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded at the directorate.
"Begin!"
Neither Gwen nor Persia moved, the gazes locked onto each other.
For a few tense moments, everyone was silent, awaiting who would be the loser in the cat-and-mouse game of standoff.
It was Persia who moved first.
Slowly inching forwards, her twin karambits gripped tightly in a defensive stance, she stepped forwards, her twin knives glinting and shining their eerie light from the cracks in her blades as Gwen also begun her advance, shield raised.
Ripples of impatience and murmurs spread through the crowd.
Shooting an annoyed glance at those around her, she refused her gaze back onto the two combatants just as Persia's bow once again appeared in her hands. Unlike with Frank, every single arrow smashed into Gwen's shield, slowing her opponent's advance as Persia kept up a steady rate of fire into the wooden and steel construct.
"What is she playing at?" She heard a centurion nearby mutter, and she shot a sharp glance at said centurion. To be honest, she didn't know what Persia's goal was exactly too. But she was willing to bet that she had a good reason for this minor barrage of arrows.
By now, Gwen's shield was beginning to resemble a pincushion. Persia quickly fired off two more arrows, sailing just over the rim of the shield and forcing Gwen to duck, with one arrows nicking the plume of her helmet, before Persia's karambits reappeared in her hands and she charged. As Gwen readied her shield and braced for impact, she noticed that Persia's shots had mostly landed near one spot-just to the left of the shield's center.
What was she trying to achieve?
Both girls met in a clash of imperial gold and obsidian black, dust kicking up all around them as they began dueling in earnest. Gwen kept a tight defensive perimeter, her shield always following Persia's body as she tried to take jabs at the nimble daughter of the hearth goddess, though none connected. In return, Persia also scored no hits on Gwen, though she noticed that Persia seemed to be more than happy to score hits onto Gwen's shield…
She noticed glints of silver lying on the sand. With a jolt, she realized those glints of silver were bits and parts of the silvery arrows Persia had fired herself, now mostly cut out of the shield, with only their tips and parts of their shafts remaining, lodged firmly into the sturdy wood of the construct. Gashes were also appearing on the shield, she noticed, as Persia's knife cut through it like butter-
Wait.
Looking closely, she took note that the gashes were also concentrated around the area where the arrows had landed.
Was she trying to cut the shield open?
Someone nearby, an optio, scoffed. "Look at her. Is she trying to break the shield?"
"She doesn't have to. Why didn't she just grab the shield and rip it off her opponent? Even better, smash into the shield like what she did to that insufferable guy from the tenth."
"She can't," a familiar voice said. Turning around, she noticed that Dakota was for once, sitting very still and staring at the fight with clear concentration. "I think she knows that Gwen isn't a pushover-"
"Oh, shut up."
But her thoughts were indeed back onto Gwen. She noted that Persia was actually putting in effort, judging by the speed and agility she was demonstrating, as well as the ferocity of the hits that she was pulling off. Some strands of hair were beginning to stick to her face, and for once the girl looked like she was actually trying to win.
Her efforts were clearly paying off, however. By now, the shield had chunks of it missing. Gwen's footwork was also becoming more and more sluggish, and she was also visibly tiring even from a distance. Still, when persia attempted to lunge towards her shield, a quick overhead stab was sent her way and she quickly rolled away.
"See?" Dakota said, slight smugness in his voice. "Gwen isn't a pushover. You should have appreciated her skill well before she was forced into the fifth."
But she cared little about the reputation and prestige of the fifth cohort for now. Gwen was clearly beginning to suffer from fatigue, and Persia knew it, pushing as hard as she could against the daughter of ceres. A rouge swipe nearly took off her helmet plume, and while Gwen did try to stab Persia after recovering from a dodge, she missed.
The deadly dance was going on for longer than she had expected, and clearly by the reactions of the crowd, what they expected. Some were beginning to root for Gwen, while others were also looking on with interest or disbelief as they watched the drawn-out fight prolong even more, as opposed to the bored and uninterested expressions that adorned their face in other duels. Murmurs and cheers were also beginning to sound, and the crowd was finally getting more and more lively with each passing second.
And then, Gwen, chose the exact right moment to dash forwards and jab her Gladius towards persia, halting her opponent's advance and sending her into a hasty backtrack.
But it was a bit too late.
The imperial gold Gladius barely touched the perfect skin of Persia, but it was enough for an angry, thin red line to open up on Persia's arm, blood instantly welling up as Persia attempted a counterattack. Gwen narrowly dodged, but even from the stands, she could feel the change in attitude of Persia. Her calculating gaze and swirling green-crimson eyes instantly hardened and a cold glint settled in as she began an attack in earnest, parrying a Gladius strike and slamming onto the shield with both her knives and body, and then wrenching her knives apart.
A dull crack sounded that echoed across the now silent arena.
Out of the corners of her eyes, she took notice that every single person was now focused solely on the duel. Gwen's shield eas now sporting a massive crack down the left side, just next to the center of the shield, as Persia launched herself at the centurion, deflecting the sharp point of the Gladius that was sent her way as she slammed into the shield, completely breaking the wooden part of the shield and sending both combatants to the ground. While Persia barrel rolled over the shield and onto the ground, standing up in a fluid motion that screamed of gracefulness and extreme skill, Gwen was struggling to get her shield off her as she stood up shakily. An angry purple bruise was forming on her forearm, and she thought that it would be a matter of time until Gwen was finally defeated.
She would be correct.
Finally untangling her left arm from the shield, and with both hands clutching the Gladius tightly, Gwen charged. Persia, after a moment of deliberation, also dashed forwards, both of them meeting once again in a flurry of strikes, flashes of gold and black amidst a cloud of dust and sand, kicked up by their furious movements. Gwen was somehow thrown onto the ground amidst the chaotic blurs of the two combatants, but she rolled to the left and quickly stood, narrowly avoiding a pouncing Persia who quickly followed suit as they clashed once again.
She was thoroughly impressed by the talent showcased by the two. She knew that Gwen was a top-notch fighter within rome, and her skills in combat were nearly unparalleled. Still, Persia was managing to outperform her even though Gwen was already a master at fighting techniques, and was possibly the best swordswoman rome had seen in nearly decades,
Gwen, down on the arena floor, suddenly lost her footing. She stumbled, and half a second later was pressed onto the ground, her own Gladius nearly touching the base of the throat. Letting out a yell, she managed to flip herself over and both combatants began rolling around on the sandy arena ground, exchanging blows, before they finally came to a stop. One of Persia's karambits lay some distance away, but Gwen was also disarmed, her Gladius sticking out of the sand a few hundred yards away.
Persia had won again.
The crowd cheered half-heartedly, though some in the first, second and seventh were cheering in earnest. Some centurions also had a smug smile on their faces, and she thought he noticed coins exchanged between some members of the crowd.
Watching as Gwen accepted a hand from persia to pull her up, she got up and announced the next opponent Perlia would face.
They were so going to lose.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Thalia, finally out of the briefing room, anxiously rushed to a nearby legionary on standby.
"Hi there," she said, a little bit breathlessly, "Where can I watch my cousin's trials?"
The legionary gave a dismissive wave. "Just go under one of the archways. Ask someone else, they'll lead you there."
Somewhere in the arena, he crowd erupted into cheers once again.
Hurrying through the maze of halls that snaked under the seats of the colosseum, she ran into a head of golden blonde hair. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She hurriedly began, but stopped when she noticed the familiar pair of grey eyes that stared back at her.
"Wait…Annalise?"
The blonde girl seemed equally shocked, before she cautiously extended her hand. "Yeah, but call me Annie."
Reaching out a hand, she shook her former opponent's hand as they stared at each other. "Nice fight," She finally said after a few tense moments, and Annie smiled as well, breaking the tension between them.
"Yeah, nice fight. I thought you were about to win, to be honest, and…"
"Ah, don't remind me," she sighed, "I don't know why I fell for your feint..but regardless, nice tactics. I'm happy I lost to you instead of those snobby idiots at the top."
Annie chuckled. "Well, that's fine. They normally don't get to fight regardless, so it would've been a good humbling match if you managed to get past me. Anyway," she said, changing the topic, "Why're you running about in such a hurry?"
"Well…you know, my cousin. She's out there fighting now-"
"You mean Valer-I mean….what was her name again…Persia?"
"Yeah, her." She said, but was slightly confused at why Annie called her closest friend and secret crush by another name. "Why did you call her val-something?"
"It's a long story…but, I'll explain it later. Now, I assume you want to go see her fight?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Well, I'll explain on the way. Follow me," Annie said, gesturing at her as she turned and strode down the hallway, her stride full of pride and purpose, blonde hair fluttering behind her.
She followed the blonde as Annie began to explain everything to her.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Back down in the arena
Persia wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow as she faced down Decanus Johnston of the first cohort.
Her trials were finally coming to a close. The remaining cohorts didn't really put up much of a fight, and the officers, though having good stamina and techniques, failed to predict her every move and were afraid of battle wounds.
Needless to say, her duels with them were often swift and quick.
Sizing up her opponent, she hoped this would be an easy fight. Her opponent was a stocky, buff guy with an average height. Still, she felt like this would be no different to her previous fights. The first cohort's armor scheme consisted of a piece of elaborately decorated Lorica Segmentata, beautifully polished in it's silvery-white glory.
Ornamental but not practical.
While other legions had chain mail armor, called 'Lorica Hamata's, and officers had scale armor called squamatas, The first cohort had its own unique plated armor, forged form a polished silvery-white armor and silver trimmings. It looked the part of a roman legionnaire, but it surely limited their movement, as she noticed her opponent moving around more sluggishly than the others.
Plus, it was connected by a series of joints and buckles. It could be easily broken.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation as the buff Decanus spoke up. "Child of vesta, you're going down today. The might of the first will crush you."
Sighing, she issued a calm retort. "Well, you don't know how many people have said that to e today. Guess where they are now?"
She hated it when people insulted her godly parent. Even if she wasn't her true flesh and blood.
Growling lightly, the Decanus pointed the tip of his sword at her. "You, girl, should learn your place. Shut up."
With that, he shot a look at the head directorate.
"Begin!"
With the se sounding voice of the directorate echoing through the arena, the Decanus advanced. She widened her eyes slightly, seeing as that her opponent was rushing towards her faster than she anticipated. Still, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
Twirling her knives casually, she ducked and rolled to the side, crashing into the decanus' leg in the process and forcing him off balance, all while dodging a fortuitous yet sloppy swipe at her. The decanus snarled, having realized he wasn't playing with a weak animal he thought he was up against, and began attacking in earnest. She could see it in his eyes, the cold, calculating fury seeping through, how his stance instantly hardened and straightened, how his stabs and blocks grew precise and swift.
But he was still way out of her League.
Rolling under yet another unsuccessful jab, she taunted the decanus, "Is that all you've got?"
That did the trick.
She could see his gaze fill with fury, and he advanced on hee with newfound speed and rage.
All the more easier to get him to tire out.
She dashed and rolled across the sandy arena floor as the decanus launched his attack with newfound anger, intending to release his rage on her. His imperial golden Gladius cut through the air with resounding swooshes and nearly came into contact with her multiple times, but she mostly allowed them to happen.
Just to add to his frustration.
Sure enough, he began to break form, his tight discipline gone as he began taking mad jabs and even clumsy swipes at her. No roman was drilled in swiping and slashing with their sword-they were expected to stab and poke from behind the relative safety of their tall shields.
She could see his muscles bulge in both his arms and jaw as he gritted his teeth a dn attempted to just try and draw blood. Within her, a tiny voice yelled, "let him draw blood! Let him have satisfaction and then completely stomp all over him!"
She wasn't that cruel. Not yet, at least.
Keeping up the dance, she saw frustration and despair building in the decanus' eyes. His moves were erratic, his stance was half gone, and his body Gleisner with a light sheen of sweat and his hair stuck to his forehead and cheeks. Sand and bits of fine dust also stuck to his exposed muscular legs as they kicked up more sand, and he was just taking mad stabs and swipes at her, completely neglecting his shield.
She could see him slowing down, his eyes begging for this fight to end, for there to be a miracle where he drew blood, where he overcame her defensive dance and took her down.
It is time. It is time.
"Fine," she muttered under her breath, and then, feigning a swipe, purposefully lingered just a bit too long before daring away.
Grinning with a mad glee and a glint in his eye, she saw the decanus leap forwards and slash at her.
S sharp pain, much more painful than she had anticipated, flared up in her arm. Turning in time, she saw the edge of the gladius just barely running across her skin as an angry red line formed on her skin.
Darting away, she calmly raised her hand to dab at the wound.
For some reason, it seemed to hurt more than usual. But it didn't matter-it was a small cut. She would heal.
Bringing her hand away, her fingertip came away red. Looking at the decanus, who stood still, grinning maniacally, she smiled.
"All of this for less than a pint of blood. Well, let me show you what I can do."
With that, she dove headfirst back into the duel.
Her twin karambits flashing, she kicked the decanus in his midsection as her karambits got to work, smashing the hilt of one over his helmet as the other went an slashed a few buckets open. She then turned 360 degrees as she kicked his yield away, spraining his arm, while her karambits flashed at his neck as she slammed into him.
"Yield."
On the ground, with karambits pressed against his neck, he had no choice but to croak out his surrender.
Polite yet muted applause came from the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Thalia's lighting blue eyes staring at her from beneath an archway, along with a familiar head of blonde.
I wonder how many demigods in this crowd recognize me?
Her thoughts though were cut short by Reyna's voice, announcing her next opponent. "Centurion Octavian, augury of the legion, FIrst cohort!"
Cheers erupted amongst the crowds, particularly from those in the first, as a skinny, frail-looking kid with a head of blonde stepped out from under the archway. Despite his unimposing size, he was grinning and smiling radiantly at the crowds as he waved.
She scoffed. Does this centurion think he's some kind of star, about to put on a live performance? Pathetic.
He couldn't even wear his cuirass right. Lopsided, with a slightly oversized tunic, his helmet stuck haphazardly atop his head, his belt hung loosely as his scabbard scraped the ground.
She knew better than to judge people based off their appearances though.
In his hand was a tall pole, with an ornately carved eagle perched atop. Beneath it, a small square banner hung from the base of the eagle, with the legion's name- LEG XII- and a massive I, in roman numerical, encased within a pillar-like object with lightning bolts coming out from the side, as well as "Cohortis Prima" underneath, all in gold, etched into the crimson banner that comprised of the square shaped fabric.
She immediately went of left as she noticed his "weapon" of choice. The pole radiated power and was also made out of imperial Gold, which would just add salt to the wound.
She was beginning to regret taunting her opponent with that light cut. She could feel her energy draining slowly, and her muscles weakening slightly, just from that one small cut.
What would that massive eagle do if it hit her?
Shuddering at the thought, she readied herself as she prepared for the announcement from the directorate. Yet, the scrawny blonde kit seemed to be taking his time, walking around the stands as he slapped hands and chatted with those at the bottom row, the eagle reflecting the sunlight off it's feathers as it bobbed up and down.
Looking over at Reyna, she noticed the praetor was annoyed at this display, but otherwise was tight-lipped and kept to herself even when Octavian passed. Thalia seemed to be annoyed as well, as she turned to look back under the archway Her cousin stood, asking questions at annie as she gestured to Octavian.
Finally, as Octavian came close to completing his little parade, he turned and looked at the head directorate, who seemingly nodded back at him. Octavian smiled a radiant smile, before continuing his final fe meters and then proceeding to walk up to the starting point-
And then ran full speed at her, the eagle's pole now across his torso as he yelled and charged.
"BEGIN!" The head directorate yelled, and she immediately Dashed to the left, cursing under her breath About foul play. Feeling the hair on the back of her neck rise, she dicked down and rolled instinctively just in time to dodge a swipe from the heavy eagle. Standing back up, she thanked hr instincts silently as She watched Octavian stagger, made to go off-balance by his swing.
Well, it seems like he didn't have much up his sleeve if he could only use the pole in ranged attacks.
Grinning slightly, she dashed forwards, karambits extended at her sides, but before she could land a hit on the scrawny blonde, he suddenly raised the pole and slammed it's butt on the ssndy arena ground. Eyes wide in shock, she felt the air fill with ozone, watched as electricity cracked and blasted out in a radius all around Octavian, speeding towards her like a wall of glowing lightning blue energy.
The lighting felt familiar though, but she couldn't place what it was that reminded her of the familiarity-
But before she could even try to backpedal, it slammed into her.
She heard shocked gasps in the stands and a sharp cry coming from under the archway thalia was in, but she couldn't do anything as she was flung backwards and slammed heavily onto the ground. Lightly groaning in pain, she hauled herself up-
And went flying once again as a heavy metal object smashed into her gut at full force.
She felt her ribs crack and her gut wrenching painfully as she flew backwards, one of her karambits flying out of her grasp as she smashed into the ground a second time. This time, she checked before rolling back over and pushing herself up, before ducking again to avoid another strike from the eagle that adorned the top of the pole, now stained with blood as it had cut into her midsection lightly.
She awaited a cry of coul play-she was instructed to not maim or harm any contestants. So why was this allowed to happen?
She felt warm liquid trickling down her skin as she stood, her dropped karambit reappearing on her finger as a ring. She had to think this through and formulate a plan…
But with the eagle being able to send out a literal wall of lightning, she doubted her capabilities.
Still, if her opponent wanted to play it unfairly, she could do it too…but how? She was significantly weaker than before in terms of powers, and her only reliable strategy was to use her agility and speed to overcome his clumsy and slow swings.
Unless, she broke the rules and used her powers.
Sure, it would drain her, but she would be fine. She just needed to get that damn pole out of his hands.
Concentrating, her palm lit up on fire and she threw a small concentration of flame at Octavian. Members in the first cried out and protested, with echoes of "FOUL PLAY" and "CHEAT" coming from the crowds, but most stayed silent as they watched the battle unfold.
Glancing back at thalia, she could feel a trickle of blood coming out of her mouth, but she wiped it away-
Wait.
Thalia.
Thalia Grace was a daughter of Zeus.
And Zeus was the god of lightings and the skies…
So, wouldn't his roman counterpart be the same…and could this pole contain some of the god's power? Explain why she felt familiar with the energy?
Still, regardless of the origin, it was a use of Powers, powers that were outside of swordsmanship, archery and personal skill.
his was already a breach in the rules.
And it her opponent was going to play dirty, she might as well try.
The golden eagle came swooping in again as she let another concentrated mass of fire at Octavian, but this meant she was not able to fully dodge the eagle mastiff and it slammed into her. She felt herself lifting off the ground slightly once again as her right side throbbed in pain and agony. Luckily for her, she salvaged the move and gracefully rolled onto the ground, quickly recovering and standing back up. By now, she noticed her scrawny opponent was tiring rapidly, and she smirked.
"Let's see if your pole can keep up, you cheater."
Quickly, she charged at him before he completed his swing. His eyes widened as he saw her move, and he tried to keep up the momentum to smash the eagle into her again, but she was already past the eagle mastiff's range and was able to simply leap over the pole the eagle rested upon. Quickly, she concentrated, and feeling a tug in her gut, forced one of the pipes in the arena wall to burst as she called upon her water powers.
The crowd fell deadly silent.
Thrusting her hand at Octavian, who was quite shocked to see this, she forced the water at him, already feeling a gut-wrenching pain as she tried bending the water to her will, her head throbbing as the geyser of water smashed into a stunned Octavian and blew him off his feet, the cohort's eagle flying out of his grasp and landing unceremoniously on the sand.
Immediately, she ran forwards, even though her vision was swimming and she felt dizzy, yet somehow managing to crash on top of Octavian before he could even draw his gladius.
"Yield," she gritted out, watching as two octavians nodded shakily beneath her, fear brimming within their eyes a she released her grip and stumbled up. Water continued to gush out of the pipe and onto the sand, turning it into mud, but she could care less as she dimly heard Reyna announce the winner of the duel, and that her next opponent was Reyna herself.
But she couldn't fight. Not anymore.
She could taste the salty and iron tasting blood in her mouth. Her insides were hurting badly, and possibly even had internal bleeding, and she could definitely feel that one or two of her ribs broke. Her vision swam and spun, her head throbbed in pain as beads of sweat rolled down her face from the use of her powers, and she had trouble breathing.
The crowd began to murmur, and them grew into hushed conversations before finally beginning to erupt in confusion as she stumbled away from the arena floor, her cuts and old wounds that reopened after the brutal assault onto her torso dripping blood, staining the sandly floor with droplets of red, along with a badly bruised midsection that flared and throbbed in pain, towards the archway Thalia and Annie stood.
The edges of her field of view were already beginning to blacken as she struggled to suck in air. Her lungs felt like they just didn't want to move, and it took her every once of effort tp breathe and walk towards Thalia, just some distance away. She could see thalia pushing against annie as she tried to hold back, but she didn't even care that thalia wasn't there to rush out and help.
Blood finally spilled over her lips and into a thin trickle down her chin as she neared Thalia. She could fairly hear Thalia yelling out and screaming at annie, but it was like hearing things through an echo chamber or a really long metal pimple.
Just a few more steps. Just a few more steps.
Finally, her foot stumbled into the archway, anf then her whole body crossed into the archway, finally followed with her other foot. She heard something behind her slide shut as Thalia sprinted towards her, her lightning blue eyes somehow still brightly glowing despite her vision rapidly dimming, concern and panic filled within her eyes as her mouth opened and closed, mouthing words that she couldn't hear.
Her legs finally gave away, the muscles refusing to work as she collapsed. She felt something-rather, Someone, catch her and eased her fall as she turned her head weakly to look,
The last thing she saw were a pair of lightning blue eyes before she passed out once again.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Thalia was furious as she screamed at Annie.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME GET TO HER? WHY, TELL ME WHI!?"
"BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HELP EITHER WAY!" Annie yelled back, clearly frustrated. "BESIDES, SHE'S ALREADY IN A BAD STANDING HAVING BEEN UNABLE TO FIGHT REYNA! DO YOU WANT TO HUMILIATE HER-"
"I DON'T CARE! SHUT UP!" She yelled, clamping her hands over her ears. "DID YOU SEE HOW BADLY SHE WAS WOUNDED? DID YOU SEE HER WOUNDS, HALF THE STITCHES UNDONE? WOULD YOU HAVE CARED IF SHE DIED OR NOT OR ONE STUPID TRIAL?"
She regretted those words as soon as she said them. Her eyes found Annie's, now filled with pain and shock.
"You think I don't care?" She uttered in a voice barely above a whisper, "She saved my life. She rescued me. I care, you snob. It's you who didn't. If you ran out there to help every time she was in remote danger, she'd be disqualified long ago. You are closer to her than me, and yet you still don't know her capabilities, her limits?"
She was speechless as Annie walked away. "If you did care, you would have let her walk in on her own initiative. At least she walked away by herself. At least she demonstrated strength and character. At least give her the pride and respect she deserves. Even if she was to die in battle, it would still be an honorable death to her. At least she fell, knowing that she defeated someone who was unjustly treating her. At least you can still get retribution by law and punishment. If you had run out there to help, you both would have been kicked out. Disqualified. And then, what? You can't get justice for Persia. You can't heal her, and you can only suffer as she dies in your arms. And then what are you going to do?"
She watched medics ferry persia away on a stretcher as Annie turned a corner, and then paused.
Turning around, steely gray eyes met her lightning blue orbs.
"Think before you act next time."
With that, annie turned the corner fully, her blonde hair disappearing behind a wall. Hanging her head in shame, she sighed and cursed herself under her breath before rushing after Persia.
"And it's because I care too much that I don't think before I act…"
She hoped that her getting seriously injured wasn't going to become a regular occurrence.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
A/N: And that's a new chapter for you all amazing readers out there!
Sorry for not updating this-IRL shenanigans caught up with me and now I'm forced to deal with them first. Me is sorry, please accept le apology.
Anyway, No summary this time around because it's just Persia beating up a bunch of people and then getting beat up herself. Next chapter is gonna get better, I promise, and if you feel like this chapter was very jumbled it's because I kept writing tiny bits and pieces and then stopping as I go do Irl stuff. Very sorry about this, but I hope you all understands ;-;
Anyway, I did get a few reviews so I'll do them here. I forgot what review i was last on though lol, so if I missed yours I'm sorry. Do let me know if that's the case.
Chapter 19:
CommanderDuck14: Yep, RSS Perlia ain't sinking anytime soon. Zeus intervening…Idk what drug i wasn on when I cooked that up lol, but meh I'm not changing it for now. Anyway, I'll be mostly following the general progression of canon events but wich some changes-hopefully that works…or maybe I just invent a whole new Plot. Who knows? Maybe I'll go high on caffeine or just some random mushroom I picked off the street and go ham lol. (Dw I don't actually do drugs and don't pick shrooms off the street to eat. I am not that insane yet)
Chapter 20:
CommanderDuck14: Tbh I do not know what car they should use so I just made that their car of choice a sports car. Lol. It seems like something Aphrodite would use anyway.
Demigod luck, Yes, very useful indeed. Also, literally anything can be used against earthborn as long as it's solid. I'd like to maybe experiment with Persia dropping a bus on them and crushing them. It's gonna be funny.
Perlia is indeed sailing! Hopefully I don't mess up my shit in upcoming chapters and cause this all to backfire ;-; sadly I have a track record of doing that soo…i hope that doesn't happen.
Anyway, thanks for the compliments and feedback on the Perlia stuff, and I'll see if I can put Persia through less injuries. It probably won't happen a lot from now on until the war games (Since someone is bound to get hurt), but apart from those it's gonna be smooth sailing and character building mostly…at least that's my prediction
Otherwise how would you do a slow burn? (Well I can't do it because my chapters are bloody long and I run out of things to write quickly but I'll try my best)
Chapter 21:
CommanderDuck14: Great poem man!
Well idk if that counts as one by the rhyming is nice. I'll try to maintain longer chapters with less fillers from now on though.
Chapter 22:
Ryan Fowler: Actually I did try do do that, but I don't think it would help. I'm not sure if Thalia can fit in with a stricter and less carefree Persia- I'll have to do some balancing for that. Plus, she has her own close quarters weapons and is a hunter of artemis who specializes in the usage of short weapons and agility. If I were to slowly shift her combat style to a roman one I don't think it would suit her, and she and Thalia would make not so good combat partners imo. Still' I'll consider it, and it's a great suggestion-maybe I'll use it in my other fic if I ever decide to rewrite it.
CommanderDuck14: My first reaction: Holy crap, that's a bloody long review.
My second thought, I GET TO READ SOMETHING!
Anyway, Yeah the Artemis scene is a bit out of place, but i really didn't know where to put it unfortunately. I kind of envisioned a POV cut (ike those funky things in the movies) but I executed that poorly so :/
Before I move onto the next point- empire steak building. Would be a great steakhouse name innit? But I get what you mean, don't worry about that
ANd yes, most of the things in this chapter was rushed. I didn write a majority of this lying on a hospital bed while being majorly annoyed and sleep deprived, so it's not the proudest chapter I have out there. Sorry about that.
As for the temple scene, I always see these in like Olympus oriented works (like Pertemis works where Percy gets injured and is healed by apollo because why bloody not) and I thought it'd be an interesting concept if Persia could communicate with Artemis through sacrifices. Plus, canon kinda already implied that was possible, with demigods praying or saying what they want their parents or any god to hear before sacrificing anything, so I thought it'd be nice to include that.
Also, somewhat inspired by "Daughter of Juno: Leader of demigods." It's a great work that I took some inspiration from, sadly it's been dead for quite some time…
Meanwhile, the gladiator trials were from…well, multiple works. I saw some chaos stories featuring it, I forgot if the "Imperator" series had it, and I also read it from "Daughter of Juno". Also thought it could be a nice change-you see in canon that percy just gets sorted into a cohort without even proving himself. I think it would give Thalia and Persia a great opportunity to show that they are capable of fighting (Obviously not thalia because she lost die to her hot-headedness), but it also sets up for something I'm doing in the later chapter(s). :p
Also, again, rushed things, so I forgot to write out the rules of the trials. It's basically capture the flag but no powers and it's a one on one duel instead.
As for thalia- Yeah, I know she could have beaten her adversary (annie), but I did want to show that Thalia's hot-headedness and impulsive actions would lead to her acting irresponsibly and thus causing unintended bad consequences. It was kind of a set up for this chapter, but again, rushed, so it wasn't properly portrayed. Initially, I wanted to show that Thalia has everything she needs to beat annie apart from brainpower, and that's where Annie set up traps and defeated Thalia, showing that a well-thought plan can beat the most skilled individual if they are impulsive and do things on the fly. But, of course I messed it up because it was rushed ;-;
Finally yeah, my training spell hs been going great. I think I'm doing better when it comes to combat and stuff like that, but it's very minor so I'll just pretend I kept up my current levels of writing instead. Though I agree with you-some things are going too fast, especially when I have no brain capacity to think or brainstorm up scenes, so I ended up glossing over a lot of things there. It could've been longer and more entertaining if only I didn't commit idiocy and write less ;-; hopefully I made it up for you this chapter lol. I'll try to learn a bit more about using time skips and scene breaks wisely, thanks for your little rant!
(Holy crap this was long)
EliteDaemon: Thanks mate! Though I can assure you Artemis woun;t come into play until much, much more later (I intend to somewhat finish the Perlia plot line before olympus is opened again).
And that's all for review responses. I'm legit making my IPad lag from the massive amount of words that I've written in this one singe chapter lol.
Anyway, if you're interested, drop a follow and/or favourite! (If you're interested with keeping up with the plot development, drop a follow-if you're simply interested in expressing support both are okay)
And it you're on wattpad reading this, adding this to your library or a vote is appreciated. Comments also work!
As usual, see you in the neck chapter that will be posted in never lol (nah It'll come out some time next month don't worry).
-le idiot out