A BLACK HEART Chapter 21
A/N:- So, yeah… there's going to be action in this chapter! Lots of it! Hope you enjoy!
Percy stood there, menacingly as Maresca taunted him.
"What happened? You won't drop down from there? Cat got your tongue?"
Percy smirked. "I was, but now that you've mentioned it… I want to see you make me come down!"
Assunta smiled and a huge black colored snake rose up in the air from the ground and gulped the demigod whole.
But, as expected the serpent burst into numerous tiny pieces but the goal was achieved. Percy Jackson was in the air, and as he was falling, the tiny bits of the snake shifted form into numerous murderous piranhas and covered the son of Poseidon.
Those too met with the same fate as Percy landed on his knees. But before he could get up, a hand hit his back, and suddenly, out of nowhere, flames appeared.
They engulfed the demigod's body and covered it all as Maresca turned around and jump-kicked his fiery body back into the wall as dust and smoke rose up causing Reyna and Jason to gasp and cough.
Before the smoke dissipated, a voice came from behind, a fried piranha in his mouth, his canines on display. "Is that all?"
The mafia boss just smirked, laughing internally at her foolishness, of course, this guy was not going to go down with just flames. But before she could think what next to do, Percy was on top of her, his blazer burning and his fist raised, and as it connected, Maresca almost thought that it was going to tear her face off.
She flew back into a series of walls and before she could hit the ground, Percy, who was standing there, held up his hands like he was Iron Man ready to deal damage with his repulsors, as his arms glowed brightly and a massive beam of flames aimed straight at Maresca hit her.
The entire scenario was bright for a few seconds and then turned dark again as they all could see Maresca standing there, leaning against the wall in the middle of a lot of smoke, coughing, her shirt burning and in tatters.
"Ok, now how did you do that?" She asked, trying to get up as she spit out ichor.
Percy grinned as he took off his blazing blazer, showing off his biceps. "Just something that I got from my mother's side."
Assunta laughed as she grabbed her shirt and tore it off since the burning shreds were hindering her, revealing her black sports bra and toned abs as Reyna gasped audibly, earning a sad look from Percy. "I told him to fire proof my clothes! But at least, my Van Heusens are safe! Wanna go for some hand-to-hand combat next?"
Percy smirked. "Thought you'd never ask!"
With that, the two lunged at each other. Hands and legs flying in the air with blinding speed, so much so that Jason couldn't even keep track of anything except for the occasional burst of gold or red blood.
Maresca grabbed his leg and threw him into the air but Percy intercepted the next move and Volleyball smashed her straight into the ground.
Before he could land however, Maresca rolled to the left and jumped, her hand on his head as they twirled in the air and Percy got thrown into another wall.
The son of Hades ducked under a volley of fire cannons as his fist connected directly with her chin, in an uppercut as black and red lightning surged from his arm and straight into her head, her eyes widened, Maresca's body spasming with electricity as she flew in the air.
Percy followed as she broke through the roof and into the night sky, hurtling through and just as she was about to lose momentum, her eyes widened as she saw the son of Poseidon in front of her, his arms raised.
She had to do something quick and just before the fist connected, she flashed behind him and roundhouse-kicked him into a series of buildings, making the demigod groan as he crashed through a satellite dish.
Just as he slowed down in the air, Maresca's punch hit his chest as he got slammed back into another building.
He groaned as he thought about the amount of damage he was causing. But then waved it off knowing that the gods would pay. But still, he really had to stop crashing into houses.
Percy coughed up blood and stepped aside to dodge the crescent kick coming his way. He aimed a punch straight to her face, but she did the same as the fists connected and they both flew back, falling back in the building from where they had started.
After getting out of the rubble, however, both lunged at each other with renewed vigor, their hands connecting as each one tried to push the other down, but the other resisted.
Percy kicked at her stomach as she punched his chest, making each other spit out blood. But, this time, there was something different, the liquid that Maresca spat was red.
Everyone was shocked, but Percy used this moment to his advantage as he kicked her back and before she fell, he grabbed her neck and threw her back.
Before he could land the third hit, Maresca stomped on the ground and millions of people dropped from the sky, entirely black, as black as a black hole, their features completely invisible except for the outline.
'Shadow warriors,' Percy grimaced as he thought. This was going to be tough.
But nevertheless, they all ran towards him, only one goal in mind.
"KILL PERCY JACKSON!" Maresca roared as she rested in a corner. Her immortality had not really been affected as her wounds were still healing, her broken bones mending themselves.
Then why? How?
Swords came his way, and Percy dodged and sidestepped, blocking them with his hands as he used all of his taekwondo knowledge in this fight, ducking under the attacks and then doing a perfect 540 kick combined with a punch to the gut.
He used an uppercut against another warrior, making it fly in the air and then jumped and kicked its head back, effectively removing it from its shoulders as the sword it was holding impaled another shadow.
"Huh, that was cool!" Reyna exclaimed, feeling not a single bit of shame of not going to help her friend, something that Jason was definitely feeling.
Percy kicked a shadow back and then grabbed the legs of the one in front of him and threw it back into its colleagues, effectively turning them into smoke too.
He ran and climbed on another one and punched its eye, then jumped off and flip-kicked a third. But a shadow grabbed him and threw him back into another one.
Percy slammed the one behind him with his head then broke free from the grasp and punched a hole straight in the stomach of another one.
He slammed his elbow on another's head then used its blade and impaled a third as he looked on over his shoulder to see even more warriors arriving.
Percy was getting tired of these games and decided to finish it off as time seemed to slow down as he clapped his hands and instantly, each one of them was chopped cleanly into half and dissipated into smoke.
And before he could recover, he got the worst jumpscare of his life. Through the huge cloud of dust and smoke, the terrifying face of Maresca's jaw entirely unhinged and glowing as a beam of white light was aimed straight at him.
At this, Reyna too had to close her eyes, something that Jason had been doing for a long time as they ate their ambrosia-flavored popcorn.
When the light dimmed, everyone could see a burning hole in the wall, and the man that was standing in front of it, his chest smoldering as he coughed up blood, his eyes wide open.
He stood there for a moment and no one could believe their eyes, too shocked to even say or do anything except gasp.
But then, the figure fell forward and dissipated into black smoke.
"WHAT!?" Maresca exclaimed, obviously angry as her jaw was set back right. "Now how did he do that?"
Percy came from behind and grabbed her shoulders and threw her into another wall as Reyna was just even more shocked.
There were so many things happening all at once. One, Maresca had gotten even more hotter after she tore her shirt off. Two, there was a huge abundance of walls in that area that never seemed to run out as they both just found ways to throw each other in them. And third, Percy had just used something that he called-
"Shadow clones! Extremely useful!"
Maresca growled as Percy's leg connected with her arm, breaking the bone into two and pushing her back into the ground.
This was getting out of hand and she really had to do something about it. She didn't have enough time to think about the issue as Percy's forehead slammed into hers.
Before he could headbutt her again, her lips moved and two words came out of it, something that Percy really had not expected her to say, even if he had been warned.
"Domain Expansion."
Instantly, everyone stopped moving as time stopped, yet again and black tendrils shot out of Maresca's body everywhere, encasing the entire place in a black void.
For a moment, nothing happened, but then, smoke rose as the ground cracked, and entire buildings rose up, tip first as the entire place rumbled deeply, occupying what Percy thought to be Manhattan in an innate domain.
"Sin City!" Maresca said, triumphantly as the son of Poseidon turned around, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Don't tell me you named this place after a Frank Miller movie?"
Assunta wore a surprised look on her face. "What? I liked that film!"
Percy rolled his eyes and the battle resumed.
Maresca lunged at him, kicking him back into a building as he sighed. How many more buildings were going to be broken down, like seriously? Even if this one was fake, it still hurt like hell.
He was getting tired of this as he flew through the air, but before he could hit another house fire bullets were shot at him.
Percy twirled in the air and dashed forward, avoiding any close encounters with those deadly things that broke through glass and several layers of cement, especially when they were coming in the form of a volley.
He disappeared from there, grabbing a piece of rubble and appeared behind the lady, whose fingers were still glowing and threw it hard at her body, sending her crashing through a window.
Another fire beam got aimed at him and he dodged it narrowly by jumping in the nearest building, walking through the corridor.
At the end of the hallway, he saw her, hands glowing and sped straight towards the woman, and grabbed her arms, turning around, threw her on the roof of a house.
She hit the ceiling with a thud and kept rolling while groaning, but before he could get up, a hand pushed her deeper, making her eat concrete.
Percy stood there on one of the roofs, breathing heavily. But before he could even move, the building in front of him exploded, making the roof break apart and fly in the high as it rode the flames, Maresca in the center of it all.
Lava flew everywhere as buildings caved in and the son of Poseidon realized suddenly something about domain expansions. Each domain had a guaranteed sure hit effect, but this one didn't, making him deduce that this was an incomplete one. Made only to enhance abilities.
And that enhancement was clearly understood as he looked around.
The entire ground had turned orange as the roof he was on top of fell as well, forcing him to jump back, but just as he was in the air, two large fiery arms grabbed the buildings on his side, making Percy's eyes widen in shock as he looked turned to the side.
Before he could get out of there, the fiery hands slammed the uprooted cemented structures, him in between, as the glass broke and the concrete cracked.
Before Maresca could cheer, however, the buildings got sliced up in half and flew apart revealing a smirking Percy Jackson, his arms spread out as the lava beneath the woman's roof exploded upwards.
Maresca grunted and roared in anger as a wave of flames went straight towards the demigod, but he just stood there.
"I'll show you," He said, as the fire stopped right in front of him, his eyes glowing as a silver halo surrounded him. "What true skill is."
Maresca's eyes widened and the man in front of her raised a hand and shook his head.
Everyone had to close their eyes as a white glow spread over the entire terrain, again. No sound came as it subsided and Jason was shocked to see what had happened.
A gigantic hole was there in the middle of Assunta Maresca's chest and in the walls behind her as the innate domain evaporated.
The woman was too shocked to even say anything, gaping as blood fell from her wound onto the ground as she did too, hitting the floor with a thud.
And that was the shocking but anticlimactic end of the Italian Mafia Boss.
After the recovery of Percy, they left the rubble, but before they could leave the place back, the demigod turned around and dropped a leaflet on the ground.
"That's gonna help the others who lost their homes due to this too."
"Well, thank god that it was in an isolated and secluded place and only two buildings got destroyed in the middle of the battle!" Jason exclaimed.
Of course, all of them were tired, but they still had a long way to go from home.
-TIME-SKIP-
Percy was walking beside the pool, chilling with his legs deep in the water. They were back in his hometown, New York and were headed to Arizona and had decided to make a little stopover at a resort with a huge lawn.
It had been a day since Maresca had been killed. He had searched for Ashley all over the place, but couldn't find her anywhere and so he decided that she must've fled or her bodyguards had taken her somewhere safe.
He let out a heavy sigh. Things had been getting tougher. He was getting weaker and stronger too, the raw power of the gods that ran in his veins was corroding his body from the inside. And he knew it was going to be a matter of time before he exploded.
But, he didn't have time to think about that as out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blonde-haired girl walk out, and instantly, something looked familiar.
He got up and followed, and instantly took in the fact that she had noticed him. The woman smirked and ran around the corner, making the demigod speed up.
After a moment, when they had covered a significant distance and were far away from the pool, she turned around, her poisonous green eyes glowing brightly. And he instantly recognized her.
This was the same girl from the Westover hall, the one who had poisoned him.
Percy's face however changed expressions when he heard a gun cocking right next to his forehead.
'Shit.' He thought as he turned around to see the man in question right next to him, Ernesto Miranda, wearing the most stylish Elvis Presley clothes, his hair slicked back.
Several other people stepped out of the back of trees and looked at him and one man held his tied up friends.
"What happened?" Miranda asked. "Jackson, the hunter…. Hunted?"
A/N:- So! That was the end of the twenty first chapter! Wish I could say the same about the twenty first century, but, oh well! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Leave reviews down below for me to read! Bye! Have a nice day!