Chapter 7: The Gauntlet

Percy shuddered in his coat of bronze, severely aware of the fitted armor tight against his skin. The hairs on his body would have been standing on end if they had any space to rise beneath his shiny carapace. Yet despite its grip on him like a second skin, the crafted armor let him move like it wasn't even there. Its superior craftsmanship made anxious shuffling very accessible.

Percy's metal heel dragged against a floor of seastone, its surface smooth and slategrey. The burnished plane reached out two hundred feet in any direction, carrying nothing but the sea. It formed a dome of deep ocean water, black as night for anyone who couldn't claim the sea as their home. But Percy could see through it just fine, maybe even better than if it wasn't there, and the sea revealed to him the source that seemed to be shaking the realm itself.

A single long bench wrapped the circumference of the seastone floor. Above and behind it, another bench. Above that, another. Each encircling row packed with armored bodies. Those three benches were, without a doubt, the loudest. But the circular amphitheater rung higher and higher, towering so far into the water that it seemed it would crumble into itself.

Craning his neck to see the uppermost row, Percy nearly stumbled back over his own feet. Those seats put the nosebleeds in Madison Square Garden to shame. And still, even they were packed with citizens of Atlantis who appeared to be competing over who could sound the most feral. Every single spiraling row was voicing its fervor as Atlanteans bore down on the first demigod son of Poseidon in the better part of a century. He was their main event today, and it didn't seem that they could get more excited.

Percy could feel their voices in his feet, his chest, his throat, his skull.

The merpeople began singing some kind of fight song in gyrating unison. The lyrics began at the bottom and, line by line, crawled their way up the impossibly large colosseum and then back down before the cycle repeated. At any point, the Atlanteans not singing were beating on their stone seats, dull and quiet thuds that came together and carried the rhythm across the towering stands.

But the spectators' thrumming cadence was only a fraction of the volume. A line of mermen at the base of the amphitheater, two hundred feet ahead of Percy, beat on massive ceremonial drums and set the pace of the song. The echoes of their mallets against their batter drumheads reverberated inside the demigod's Celestial Bronze helmet. He wrenched it off of himself to ensure his ears didn't explode off of his head. Even without it on, the collective roar was still deafening, between the singing and the shouting and the drums and his own heartbeat. And against it all, Percy found himself smiling.

The energy surrounding him was electric, and even ahead of the grim fate that could befall him, right now, he felt like a quarterback taking the field on Superbowl night. In a sense, the comparison wasn't far off considering Atlantis' view of the Gauntlet. It sort of was a landmark sporting event, and the demigod's presence only made this one more significant.

Percy traced the first row of seats opposite to the drumline, searching between the mass of mermen wrapped in golden armor. In the center of them all, he found Ascalon shouting along to the undulating fight song that had once again found its way to the bottom of the stands. Surrounded by his battalion of soldiers, the merman in sea-green armor met the demigod's eyes with a grin and a raised glass. After gulping it down, he pointed before gesturing overhead with both fists.

Percy didn't understand, scrutinizing Ascalon to figure out if he was drunk or trying to signal some strange secret message. He realized it was neither when the merman forcefully pointed twice more, mouthing 'you' before pantomiming the gesture again with bared teeth. The demigod smiled, shifting his attention to the towering crowds of Atlantis and echoing the motion.

When he raised his fist and sword overhead, the entire colosseum erupted, from floor to open ceiling. Percy was amazed that the structure hadn't come crashing down on his head. He laughed as he pumped his arms again, and the thundering crowd mirrored him with thousands upon thousands of their own fists.

Ascalon had told him that the people had been looking forward to the Gauntlet since it'd been announced those few months ago. It being run by the newfound son of Poseidon had only added to the sheer novelty of the sacred event. And Percy could see their exhilaration on full display. The demigod raised his helm and sword a few more times before he started to genuinely worry about the foundations of the aquatic amphitheater.

Percy's arms fell to his sides, and he looked up past Ascalon, past rows and rows and rows until he came upon the jeweled royal box that jutted from the stands. Emeralds and sapphires traced its outline as well as the extended quartz deck that its occupants could step out onto. Velvet sheets hung from its pristine white ceiling, draping arcs over the viewing port and giving it the appearance of heavy curtains bound open.

Standing on the protruding deck, his muscular forearms leaning against the inscribed quartz balustrade, was the Prince of the Sea with a sneer stretched across his face. On a slightly raised platform behind him, his mother sat in a regal chair of white and gold, her face a mask of indifference and her body robed in a modest chiton the same purple as her irises.

Percy could feel her gaze on him, so heavy that they might as well have been face to face and not a football field apart. The demigod donned his helm and rechecked the straps of his armor as if it'd deflect the goddess' intensity.

And he defiantly stared back. Lingering until his eyes moved on their own to the two shapes flanking her, stepping into view on either side of her royal seat. He looked away then. The euphoria that the crowd had given him was suddenly dulling, giving way to the anxiety he'd been wrestling with all of last night. And neither Triton nor Amphitrite were really why.

Percy stole another quick glance at the sovereign box, his vision narrowed to the towering mermen that Amphitrite was nestled between. The ones who guarded the palace. The ones who were all bigger than Triton. The ones who were actually supposed to run the Gauntlet.

The Manus Dei.

Hand of God. Ascalon had needed to tell Percy what it meant since it was Latin instead of Greek for whatever reason. The Manus Dei was a cohort of the elite-of-the-elite mermen who successfully completed the Gauntlet. There were so few of them that each time a new contender tried to join their ranks, it was beheld as a public spectacle hosted in the Atlantean arena. Today's stands were particularly crowded, considering the contender, but this was the underwater city's recurring Superbowl.

Apparently, Triton and Amphitrite had pitched this Gauntlet as something that Percy was a willing participant in. The official story was that the demigod had purposely confined himself over the past months to train, hoping to prove himself to his Olympian father by earning the holy rank. A total lie, of course, but one that the populace bought, so at least their collective excitement was genuine.

None of them had any idea that he was supposed to die here.

The sink in Percy's chest was echoed by a newfound silence blanketing the arena. The demigod looked up again to find Amphitrite standing on the alabaster deck, her hands clasped in front of her as she looked out over the railing. The goddess' sheer presence had quieted the entire populace.

Her long black hair drifted behind her, half of it done up in intricate patterns while the rest still fell to her mid back. A serene smile swept across her face, and Percy shuddered, recalling how he'd thought she resembled his mother. The similarity of her smile was almost eerie.

The goddess was wrapped in the same ethereal glow that Percy had seen in his first meeting with her. And now, surrounded by the city, he could feel their divine reverence for her, the crowd holding in a collective breath as they waited for her to speak.

"People of Atlantis," she finally said.

Percy's jaw dropped behind his helm. Her voice was beautiful. Powerful and melodic in just the three words she'd spoken. It carried from her like a current, spiraling through the arena and reaching the thousands on thousands of citizens craning to listen.

"It fills me with great pride to see so many of us here today to bear witness to another running of our fabled Gauntlet." She paused. "It has certainly been some time since anyone has had the gall to do so."

The amphitheater erupted with laughter as if she'd delivered the funniest joke in the world. On the deck, Amphitrite was beaming down at her people, her eyes holding her mirth as she waited for the crowd to slowly quiet.

Percy couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. The kindness in her voice, nothing at all like the spitting malice she'd addressed him with in their meeting. The genuine joy of her gaze and her brilliant smile when looking out at the crowd. She couldn't be faking it. It just wasn't possible.

Amphitrite leveled her eyes to the floor of the arena, to Percy. The demigod could physically feel her demeanor change, and he involuntarily shivered.

"Our challenger today," she announced, her charismatic voice rolling over the arena, "Perseus Jackson, son of Lord Poseidon."

Deafening cheers echoed as Amphitrite raised her hands overhead.

"We wish you luck, young demigod. May a just hand determine your fate."

More applause and the tempo beating of drums. Percy's stomach roiled at the goddess' words and Triton's malevolent grin as he stepped out beside her. But he couldn't dwell on them long before the drums reached a crescendo and instantly silenced.

He jerked towards the drumline only to find it gone, as if it'd never been there. In its place stood seven mermen in simple togas with their hands clasped in front of them. They looked carved from granite, their faces equally stone and their heads shaved. Above them floated a single merman wearing a bright pink suit and blinding smile.

"L-L-Ladies and Gentlemen," he roared into a microphone held between both hands, "Round Oneeeeee!"

His voice bounced all the way up the colosseum as he rolled in a circle and held his words for too long. Percy couldn't help but smirk at his antics, his flamboyant voice reminiscent of a WWE wrestling announcer.

"A lone telekhine!"

Percy kicked up from the floor and willed himself backwards when the center of the smooth seastone parted into itself. It folded down into the ground and left behind a deep square of darkness the size of his old apartment living room. From inside, a prismatic lift slowly rose until it filled the gap entirely, returning the slategray stone to a seamless smooth. The only change: there was now a seal demon sitting on it.

The monster uncoiled from a daze and climbed to its haunches. It had a dog-like face with a long snout and intelligent eyes. Its flubbery torso was black and sleek like a seal's, but Percy could see the strength in it when it straightened, leaving the monster nearly seven feet tall. The telekhine clenched its clawed hands and pawed the floor with its webbed, half-human feet.

It looked tired with its half-lidded eyes, and Percy felt a pang of guilt at the thought of having to fight it on the sole premise of its species. Then it lunged with bared razor teeth.

Percy jerked to the side, kicking off water like it was solid, and spun around the telekhine while swinging his sword. His blade sliced towards its back, but the monster was agile. It ducked forward and shot its heels at the demigod, who threw his own head back to dodge by mere inches.

The telekhine whirled around already lashing its taloned hand, but Percy had shed any apprehension of fighting it. He caught the limb at the elbow with a slick uppercut of his blade, severing it mid-swing. The monster hissed before it unhinged its maw to bite, but Percy headbutted its chin before it could gain any speed. The strike of the demigod's bronze helm on unprotected cartilage stunned the telekhine, and it couldn't recover before Percy cleaved it horizontally through the torso.

It faded silently into golden dust, swallowed by a burst of cordial applause from the amphitheater. Percy breathed evenly through his nose, corralling his heart rate that he realized had gotten too high from the initial shock. He mentally berated himself; Ascalon had told him that the monsters of the tournament were prisoners, not just randoms caught for sport. He couldn't hesitate again or it'd only tire him out more.

The light applause faded quickly, considering Round One was barely even a formality. Percy had to remember that the most important thing in the Gauntlet was endurance; the tournament was a continuous event with no designated breaks. Besides the period of bringing up the next opponent, the demigod would have no time to rest, and he had no access to ambrosia. The ever-increasing strength of opponents – which only started with monsters – was only one half of the challenge. The other half was longevity, and his resilience in water could only take him so far.

"R-r-round Two!" the emcee shouted, somehow wearing a different outfit – neon green this time, "The first of the Oceanid Abominations! Tauroktopus!"

The floor melted into darkness again, and the lift rumbled back up with its twisted quarry. A hulking navy bull with cruel, twisting horns and feral eyes that bore hatred. Its front legs shook with strain while its back two didn't exist. In the place of half a bull was a mess of tentacles, packed together like a squid but each tendril home to a myriad of purple suckers.

Before the floor could fit back into place and Percy could have a reasonable reaction to the bizarre creature, it ripped from the seastone at impossible speeds. Only the distance between them let the demigod react in time. He willed himself towards the floor as the bull shot upwards with lowered horns, leaving a shockwave of water in its wake.

Percy watched it tear past him and continue its blaze straight towards the crowds. The demigod's heart lurched and he tore after the monster, rocketing through the water in pursuit, but he was too slow. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight as the monster reached the edge of the water dome. A resounding crack echoed across the colosseum.

Cheers shot up right after. Percy looked out to see the hybrid creature shaking its head violently, and in front of it, water reverberated like a struck solid wall between it and the roaring citizens of Atlantis.

"Saved by the Lifeguards!" the man with the microphone shouted.

Percy wheeled towards the voice, finding the seven mermen in togas all holding their hands out, their palms open. Veins protruded from their foreheads, but they still wore stone expressions. Their arms rotated in sync, one fluid circular motion that spun the bull back towards the center of the arena.

It huffed through its huge nostrils and billowed steaming smoke before charging at Percy again. The demigod lined up against the accelerating monster, having only a few moments to steel himself before it was upon him. Gritting his teeth, he slashed his sword with both hands, willing the water behind him to hold him in place. The bull twisted its head to meet the arcing blade, catching Percy's leveraged strike against its horns.

The demigod's forearms shuddered as the collision rang and the monster barreled past, but he'd followed through on the strike. He smirked beneath his mask as two twisted horns floated in the water ahead of him, gleaming white in the surrounding floodlights of the arena.

The bull struck another wall of water, bellowing in agony from its unchangeable vector. It shuddered again, whirling around amidst more shouts from the crowd before charging. This time, Percy didn't wait for it to reach him. He torpedoed through the arena, leaving behind his own shockwave, as he bridged the gap between himself and the bull's lowered bare head.

With his blade held tightly against his chest, he waited until the last moment before exhaling roughly and thrusting his sword. The tip tore straight into the charging bull's skull, and the duelists' momentum continued them on their trajectories. Percy's body, headed by his sword, ripped through the entire form of the bull until he came out the other side.

Immediately, the demigod began slashing wildly at the writhing mess of tentacles that made up its bottom half, their purple suckers singeing against his bronze armor. Poison. As the bull dissolved into dust and Percy dispatched the last of the toxin ducts, he realized how lucky he was to not have had any of the tendrils reach his skin. His armor flecked with rusting bronze, but it was still most intact, just hissing the last of the poison away.

More applause from around the amphitheater, more loudly this time with a few whistles thrown in between.

Percy drifted back towards the floor while the emcee rose to announce Round Three. Another Oceanid Abomination – the umbrella term for mangled descendants of the children of Oceanus, the Titan of the Sea. The demigod could feel the beginnings of his fatigue. His breath was taking longer to catch, and his heart was beating too quickly. He needed to do better.

The lift rose to reveal an angler fish the size of a small car, its hanging bulb sparking and its body covered in dragon-like scales. Percy charged it instantly, not giving his opponent the chance to act first. He dove while swinging his blade, catching the huge angler fish unawares for brief, precious seconds.

The fish gawped and spun away, but not before the demigod's arcing blade severed its caudal fin. With its back rudder gone, the monster could only inch forward in the water, no longer having a tail to thrust its huge bodyweight. It spun back around with its thin, bristling teeth bared as Percy made another run at it.

Percy closed the distance and lowered his shoulder to strike its lower jaw, but the fish shut its mouth tight and struck down with its hanging bulb that moved like another limb. Percy's muscles spasmed and he shouted as electricity conducted through him as well as his bronze armor. His grip unconsciously tightened on the hilt of his sword, and he shuddered against the current as the angler fish reopened its mouth.

Calling to the water, Percy let it wrap and jerk him away from the electrifying grip of the bulb. He slashed vertically the moment he could move again, catching the angler fish biting forward. In place of the demigod, it caught a mouthful of his blade ripping into its lower jaw and out through its scaled forehead.

Round Four began before the dust from the angler fish had even reached the seastone floor. The golden powder showered the newest entrant to the Gauntlet, the last of the Abominations. A pistol shrimp with claws larger than its body. Percy's eyes were still twitching from the electric shock, but he thought the little guy was kind of cute.

Then it snapped its claws. Bubbles of water ricocheted from them, piercing through the sea like little missiles. The demigod's eyes widened, and he was extremely grateful for the two dozen yard gap between them that let him dodge most of the screaming projectiles. But then one struck his chest.

The wind erupted from his lungs and it felt like he'd been punched straight through his armor. He coughed violently but kept spinning to avoid the bubbles that might as well have been metal-piercing bullets. The creature was smaller than his hand, but he realized how easily it could kill him if he made a mistake.

Percy set his jaw and shot forward, feeling the water around him and letting it twist and turn and guide him through the rain of bullets fleeing from the shrimp. He ducked and dodged and rolled and even cut one of the bubbles in half before closing the gap to the ocean floor, and he was already swinging his sword.

The shrimp disappeared beneath his blade, and Percy let out a sigh. But gasps went up from the surrounding audience. The demigod slightly inclined his head to see past his sword, and his mouth gaped like a fish. Beneath the tip of his blade, the shrimp had locked a claw around its edge and was holding it in place.

Percy's sword suddenly began to shake, its edge slightly glowing, and the demigod knew for certain that, in some impossible show of strength, the shrimp was about to shatter his weapon. He jerked it back towards himself, lifting the shrimp from its place on the seafloor, and pistoned his foot against the flat of his blade as if he were scraping gunk from it.

The shrimp let go of the weapon, caught beneath a metal boot, and vanished as it met the floor again. A poof of golden dust billowed from either side of Percy's boot, letting him earn his sigh of relief as the colosseum roared.

"The monsters are all g-g-g-gone!" the emcee shouted, his suit suddenly baby blue, "Round Five, the hoplite!"

Soldier.

Percy took shuddering breaths, fighting to steady himself. The exertion was getting to him, but he had to push it down; there was a long way to go. The demigod exhaled slowly and spun to find his opponent rising from the stands.

A merman in clean white armor, a bronze trident held in one hand. A standard member of the Atlantean army – probably a newer recruit.

The soldier drifted to eye level with Percy. His helm had no mask, and the demigod could see on his pale blue face that he was only a few years older than him. About the same age as Luke.

"It's an honor, Lord Perseus," the boy said.

Percy winced.

"Just Percy is fine."

"Not for me."

The teenage merman smiled, loosely gripping his trident and dancing his fingers around its staff. He was watching the demigod in silence, no malice visible in his dark blue eyes. Percy eyed him suspiciously, immediately untrusting of the cordial boy, but it was hard to scrutinize someone who had such a child-like smile. It looked like his face rested in that position. Thin, kind eyes and a crescent smile between slightly full cheeks.

"What's your name?" Percy finally asked.

"Arcos."

"Arcos, why aren't you attacking me?"

The merman slightly shrugged, smirking like he was in on some private joke.

"In the Gauntlet, even though there are no breaks, it's permissible for opponents to show their respect by giving the competitor a few moments."

"But you don't know me," Percy pressed, "How do you respect me?"

Arcos smiled again.

"My Kybernetes is Ascalon. He told me a little about you after I was designated as one of your opponents."

Percy huffed; that was a worse answer than Arcos being a secret agent for Triton. Did his instructor lie about believing in him? Had he sandbagged the tournament?

"Did he tell you to take it easy on me or something?" the demigod asked through his teeth.

"He told me to try and kill you."

Percy brightened, a grin washing away his bout of agitation.

"Try."

Arcos' face fell deadly serious, and he stabbed his trident. Percy swept back, just enough to avoid the tip, and twisted before kicking the flats of the prongs. His opponent keeled sideways while the crowd roared its approval for the start of the bout. Balancing himself with a rough swing of his tail, Arcos launched forward with a lateral slash of his trident.

Percy read the move, barrelling straight into Arcos' wide swing before it could gain full momentum. He led with his vambrace, crashing his armored forearm into the merman's weapon where the spokes met the staff. Arcos' face washed with shock as the awkward impact knocked one of his hands from his trident. Percy was already spinning in the merman's guard, lashing his sword at Arcos' splayed arm that'd been emptied of its weapon.

Arcos could do nothing as Percy's sword sheared through the armor at his shoulder, too quickly to be slowed down as it plunged further. Percy's eyes widened, horrified as he tried to pull back his blade from tearing into his opponent's skin. His terror suddenly had no target as Arcos was wrenched from his grasp, surprise still written across his pale blue features, and deposited back to his seat several rows above Ascalon.

Thunderous applause echoed through the colosseum while a bewildered Percy traced the citizens leaning over their seats and shouting. At the foot of the arena, where the drumline had been, the synchronized Lifeguards pulled their palms back to themselves, clasping them again.

He realized they were literally lifeguards. Ascalon had briefly mentioned that there were measures in place to protect the opponents in the arena, but Percy would never have guessed what they were. They must have been essentially the judges of the tournament, deciding when someone had lost and saving them from lasting injury. The seven stone-faced mermen returned to their stillness while the colosseum continued to rage.

Percy thought they seemed kind of like monks, with their shaved heads and their stoic dispositions. Although they were working in sync, their hydrokinesis was incredible – particularly for mermen. Quick, powerful, and so precise over the volume of the entire dome of water. If he knew that their protective policy extended to him as well as his opponents, he'd feel safer in the arena. But ideally, he wouldn't have to find out.

The emcee roared over the crowd, reining them in while Percy's gaze shifted to the royal box. Breathing heavily, he allowed himself a satisfied smile when he saw Triton's hands tightly gripping the quartz railing, his teeth almost bared and his shark eyes glinting.

"Horsemen!" the god suddenly boomed and the amphitheater went wild, drowning out its flailing announcer.

Two hippocampi dove from the sea above the arena, circling around each other. They formed a double helix of salmon pink and sea green, and Percy recognized the former from his first moments awake in Atlantis. The half-horses came level with Percy and shot off in opposite directions, the salmon one whinnying in his direction.

"Young Master!" he neighed, drifting alongside the demigod.

The intricate white markings that designated the hippocampus as part of the army had been repainted more starkly. The trident shone between his brown eyes, the staff halfway down his muzzle and the detailed prongs splitting apart on his forehead.

"You again," Percy laughed, running a hand down his hide before kicking a leg over his back.

"Me again," the hippocampus echoed, "They assigned me to you as punishment for being too curious when you first arrived. But this will be fun!"

Percy dug his hands into a thick coral mane, grabbing fistfuls after the hippocampus nudged him to.

"I wouldn't call the Gauntlet 'fun,' the demigod murmured, "Anyways, what's your name?"

The hippocampus winced, and Percy's brows knitted at the physical reaction; horses could wince?

"Skiptectondromedus."

So that was why. Percy blanched at the mouthful, staring as the horse tilted his head back.

"How's Skippy?" the demigod finally said.

The hippocampus' eyes widened.

"Skippy," he considered, "Yes!"

"Alright, Skippy. Let's get this done."

Across from the duo, the sea green hippocampus, far more muscular than lithe Skippy, lowered his head before being mounted by a tall merman in silver armor. The man's face was hidden behind his helm, but Percy wouldn't have been looking at it anyways, his eyes too fixated on the huge lance being hefted in one of his thick hands.

Before Percy could say anything, the floor erupted with jutting pillars and arches of seastone, a dozen at a time climbing higher and growing branches of more smooth rock. Corridors melded together above and around Percy, spires breaching further up into the water as they laid out labyrinths and intertwined circular cones and flat dead ends.

The announcer's voice echoed from all sides, bouncing across the walls alongside the brightened arena floodlights.

"Round Six! Horsemennnn Variation! Begin!"

Skippy rocketed forward down the thin corridor of seastone, and it was all Percy could do to hold on following the sudden acceleration. His heart was immediately thrumming as Skippy took tight turns seemingly at random, arcing beneath stone arches and climbing up formed holes of smooth rock. Percy could feel their elevation changing, and he visually searched every artificial atrium they shot through while they moved up and down through the churning maze.

"Young Master!" Percy lowered himself against Skippy's back to listen. "This is a jousting match! The difference between victory and defeat is staying on your mount! Do not let go!"

"Okay!" the demigod shouted back.

Their voices were muffled over the groan of shifting rocks and the roar of the crowd that would be watching spurts of salmon and sea green dart through the morphing maze in search of each other.

Getting used to the speed, Percy laughed beneath his helm at Skippy's tight turns and rolls that spoke to the creature's impossible agility. Skippy's head was constantly set straight forward, his eyes on either side of his face perpetually aware of their surroundings. Percy, on the other hand, was on a neverending swivel, scrutinizing every passageway for just a blur of sea green.

Percy hunched as Skippy took his next turn, and they yelped in unison as a thick silver lance erupted from the wall ahead of its wielder. The demigod threw himself to the side, letting go of Skippy's mane with one hand and hanging off of his right half, legs kicking the water behind him.

Skippy pressed upward, and Percy groaned as he pulled himself back upright, willing the water to carry him. Behind them, the lancer and his mount blew straight through the stone wall with a barrage of fists and legs alongside the weapon. They threw themselves into pursuit, climbing after the fleeing pair of bronze and salmon.

Spinning between melding stone walls, Percy couldn't believe the entire winding structure had risen from the floor he'd been standing on. Skippy bucked upside down as a spire suddenly jutted out inches from his face, and Percy tightened his grip before he saw their pursuers explode straight through another formed spire below them.

"Up! Up!" Percy shouted, moving one hand to his sword.

Skippy danced through more fractures of the wall, and Percy thought they were finally pulling away until his mount suddenly stumbled.

"My Lord?" Skippy sputtered, his muzzle shaking.

"Skippy?"

The hippocampus didn't respond, slowing as it jerked its head to one side. Percy followed, and he realized they'd risen high enough to be on level with the royal box. A wall had fallen away, and it revealed Triton standing on his deck, his eyes closed and his mouth murmuring. Skippy bucked, and the demigod quickly guessed what was happening.

"Skippy! Don't listen to him!"

The hippocampus looked back at Percy, braying helplessly, and the demigod clenched his jaw at seeing how quickly their opponents were gaining on their slowing forms. His mind went to the only thing he knew about horses.

"Do you like sugarcubes?!"

Skippy snapped out of his strange trance.

"The fabled squares of sucrose?"

"Uh, y-yes?" Percy stuttered, "Get him out of your head and let's win, and I'll get you five sugarcubes!"

The hippocampus looked nervous.

"But they immediately melt in the ocean."

"Twenty sugarcubes! I promise you'll get them!"

Skippy moved like a creature possessed, rocketing upwards at breakneck speeds moments before their opponents reached them. He spun through the maze that was slowly thinning, having expended its material now that they were so far from the floor. As the pair began opening up into water, still shooting past the audience, the sparse structure gave Percy a stupid idea.

"Take that turn into the half-made corridor and immediately turn one eighty!"

With silent affirmation, Skippy tore into it and did exactly that, giving Percy devastating whiplash. But the demigod had to shake it off, and he shuddered while turning his sword to aim with the flat of the blade. He waited for a count of two before spurring Skippy forward and swinging his weapon like a baseball bat.

In a t-bone collision, Percy's silver-armored opponent could do nothing as the flat sheet of Celestial Bronze echoed a deafening clang against his cuirass. He careened from the back of his hippocampus, who whinnied and tried to slow down, while the mangled structure surrounding all of them crumbled at once.

The slategrey pillars and arches and spires fell away to reveal Percy still on the back of his hippocampus, his arms shaking after striking such a heavy opponent with the flat of a blade. Below him and still sinking, the merman lancer loosed his grip on his weapon, instead moving to remove his helm. His square face exuded astonishment that quickly melted into a smile, growing further away as he fell towards the resmoothed floor of the arena.

From all sides, the spectators shouted,

"Per-se-us! Per-se-us!"

The chant continued while Skippy gently swam out from beneath the stunned demigod. Percy turned to his new friend, who looked as close as one could get to a smiling horse.

"I hope we can get the sugarcubes next time I see you, Young Master. Until then, I will be avoiding Lord Triton at all costs," he said sheepishly.

Percy thanked him, and the horse bowed to the demigod before spinning for the roaring amphitheater and vanishing into the open sea alongside his sea green companion.

Percy drifted down through the arena, holding his arms above his head as the crowd echoed with his name. He made sure not to look toward the royal box as he passed it, continuing his descent to the seastone floor, where the announcer had joined in on the chant.

In the front row, Percy found Ascalon beaming proudly, clapping along to the beat of roar.

"FINAL ROUND!"

The arena fell silent even more quickly than it had when Amphitrite had walked out on the deck. Now, leaning on the railing was Triton, who'd bellowed the heavy words over the entire audience. Ascalon's face had fallen, and the merman offered a sorrowed glance up towards the Prince of the Seas. Amidst the Lifeguards, the Gauntlet's emcee was at a total loss.

Percy's stomach roiled, knowing what was coming.

"We, um, We are– it's–" the announcer stuttered, the novelty of his changed orange suit lost on just about everyone. He punched his own chest and cleared his throat. "You heard Lord Triton!" The bright grin came back. "Straight to Round Twelve! A taste of the might of the Manus Dei!"

An air of shared awe accompanied the descent of the final opponent of the Gauntlet. The only sound in the colosseum came from the royal box, where two tridents rhythmically struck each other. Their owners, two members of the Manus Dei, welcomed their companion, who wore the same unmarked, dark grey armor from the neck down.

Percy watched as the man came level with him. Creature felt more of an apt description, considering he seemed more mountain than man. Over seven feet tall and probably three Percys thick. His chest and shoulders pressed against the inside of his armor, and Percy thought he was seeing things until he realized the impressions weren't going away. In his hands, the merman held a double-edged trident, a weapon that Percy had never even considered existed.

The man wore no helmet. He looked seventy years old, with a silver beard and long silver hair that drifted past his shoulders. His eyes were sunken and lined with deep crows feet, as was his wry smile. There was something so familiar about his features.

"Good day, Perseus Jackson."

Percy forgot what he was thinking. The man's voice was deep as a canyon.

"I am Cadmus, the eldest of the Manus Dei. Defeat me and claim my place."

He said nothing else before snapping down his trident. Percy jerked his sword up to meet it, an instinctual terror in his throat as he willed the water at his back to brace him. When he caught the strike on his blade, his own breath choked him. He might as well have been hit by a car.

Percy's teeth rattled, and he groaned out from behind the clash by willing the water to pull him backwards. He let himself float away, not daring to take his eyes off of Cadmus. The man watched him with his deep-set eyes while Percy tried to get his arms to stop shaking.

Cadmus swung his trident from a dozen yards away, a swift downwards cleave, and Percy heard the attack before he felt it. A sonic eruption disoriented him before a shockwave struck his chest, blowing him backwards in a free spiral.

His eyes rolled in his head as his vision danced with dark spots, blood spilling from his mouth. The original wound from the pistol shrimp throbbed, and he felt the ache across his chest spreading down to his stomach.

The demigod caught himself only feet from the stands, where the audience watched in silent horror. He shivered and massaged his temples, anger building in his skull. He had to win. With a fist clenched and his hand tight on his sword, he ripped forward on a tendril of water as Cadmus watched with a raised eyebrow.

Percy gritted his teeth, slashing downwards towards the merman's head. The edge of his blade cleaved through a strand of silver hair, and then met nothing. His blade followed through harmlessly, cutting only water because Cadmus was suddenly behind him. Percy jerked to spin, but wheezed when a fist the width of his shoulder blades struck exactly between them. The shriek of bending bronze tore through the arena as Percy felt his second-skin armor dig into his back.

His breath hitched, and he felt himself choking until the water washed the blood from his throat. The audience groaned in unison, and Percy's breaths came weakly as he drifted belly-up. His grip on his blade was loosening, as was his foothold in cognizance. The demigod's tongue was lolling. He couldn't move. Why hadn't the Lifeguards ended the fight?

Percy felt himself sinking towards the seastone floor, only able to shift his eyes. He saw Triton hanging over the balustrade, his expression stone. Not ecstatic, nor hungry. Just stone. Amphitrite mirrored him, her jaw feathering and unfeathering, but Percy's vision was starting to blur, so he couldn't see them for long.

Cadmus suddenly took over his line of sight, entombing him in shadow. The old merman looked up to Triton before turning back to Percy and raising his double-edged trident. Tension filled the colosseum as the audience silently watched an execution. Cadmus' lips made a tight line as he thrust his weapon, and Percy's eyes almost darkened. They only remained open because of the sudden gasps that tore across the amphitheater, elicited by the trident prongs frozen an inch from Percy's sternum. The demigod's confusion at Cadmus' closed eyes wasn't enough to keep his own open any longer. His vision went black.

(Line Break)

"Get up."

The sneering voice forced Percy back into his own body. He blinked himself to consciousness, looking up into a towering circle of endless seats. All vacant. Percy felt the floor beneath him, the smooth seastone. He winced as he sat up, knowing he was only able to move because the water had healed him to some extent while he'd been asleep. It must have been a while, considering it'd been long enough to empty the entire colosseum.

Or nearly empty. Two people remained behind. More accurately, two gods. Triton drifted above Percy, his scowl returned, while his mother watched from the quartz railing of the royal box.

Percy kept his eyes on Triton while grasping around for his sword hilt, only standing after he'd found it. Righting himself forced a brutal jolt through the demigod's skull, and he shuddered from the sparking pain. He desperately needed ambrosia, but he'd even settle for a few pops of Advil. His legs were shaking, his breathing still weak.

Triton's rending gaze didn't let up, still baleful on the demigod. He said nothing for a few moments, frozen in time until he opened his palm to allow his golden trident to materialize.

Maybe it was because he was nearly delirious, but that set Percy off. White-hot anger pricked at his chest from all sides, dulling any and all of the pain stemming from the Gauntlet. He rose from the floor until he was level with Triton.

If this permanently-tantrumed god was going to kill him while he was already most of the way there, Percy wanted to know one thing before he did.

"Why do you hate me so much?!" he snapped.

Triton's eyes widened for the briefest of moments before they narrowed again. His navy jaw clenched tightly.

"You are the embodiment of my mother's shame," the god grated, his eyes somehow hardening further, "You will not come here and ask what you already know! Your mortal mother must have already raved to you about how the God of the Seas claimed to care for her like he had no other. That he said he would leave his divine wife for her!"

For a brief moment, Percy suspended his anger. Of course, he had no idea about any of that. And it should have sounded insane, but the raw spite in Triton's voice made him think otherwise. He looked up at the royal box, seeing Amphitrite's stone face. It was eroding; he watched her swallow roughly. He almost felt bad. Almost. The anger overtook him again in the form of pure indignation.

"And that's why you hate me?!" Percy shouted, sweeping back from Triton, "Me?!"

"Yes!"

"Me! Who wasn't born yet?!"

The god paused before gnashing his teeth.

"Yes!" He glanced back at Amphitrite. "And your mother!"

A darker rage built in Percy's chest, his blood roaring in his ears. He launched forward with a shockwave, uncaring of the state of himself, and swung his sword at Triton's neck. The god grinned and caught it with his bare hand, silencing Percy's momentum in an instant. He clenched his fingers, and the bronze shattered like glass, leaving the demigod with a hilt without a blade.

A blow to the chest knocked Percy back a dozen feet, but he couldn't feel anything anymore. His anger wasn't close to abated, pure adrenaline keeping him upright in the water. He felt one of his teeth chip against his jaw as water began to swirl above his head. His rage found a voice, and the water split into two spirals.

"My mom!" Percy shouted as his stomach tightened, "Who obviously decided not to marry Poseidon!"

He thrust a fist forward, and an eruption of pressurized water rocketed past him, navy blue and roaring. It exploded against a stunned Triton, knocking him backwards.

"My mom!" the demigod continued, "Who he didn't help while she died saving me!"

Another fist of the sea, barreling past like a dark tendril and detonating like a bomb in Triton's face. The god spun with his trident.

"But nothing – nothing – for your dad?! Who caused all of it!"

Percy raised both hands overhead before shoving them forward, and the water that'd tightened like a harnessed whirlpool was expelled in an almost black burst the width of a house. But Triton had overcome his shock, and the god gritted his teeth in the face of the thick tendril. He raised a single straight hand in front of his face and cleaved it in two, parting the pressurized sea and tearing straight at the demigod.

Percy was helpless in the face of the Price of the Sea, feeling a huge navy hand wrap around his throat as the god's eyes leered inches from his own.

But there was something else there. Percy could see it even as his body failed him. Amphitrite had turned her back to the deck, and she said something the demigod couldn't hear. Triton's fist was shaking against his neck.

As his vision darkened, the demigod held tightly to his frustration. The sheer ridiculousness of Triton's reasoning. For all of their power, these gods were beings that acted on pure feelings, punching down whenever they needed to. They were never told 'no' or even to stop and think by anyone – it's not like they'd listen to anyone besides their more powerful counterparts, anyways. Emotionally, that sounded a lot like toddlers to Percy. On that note, still raging, he blacked out.

(Line Break)

When Percy woke up in a lavish bed in a room of gold, he didn't know where to begin. A shining chandelier hung down over him, and he was wrapped in a comforter that had to have been sewn from actual clouds. His head sunk into a pillow, his mind overwhelmed by the sheer brightness of all the precious metals surrounding him. The room only got weirder when Percy turned his head to the side.

Triton entered through a gilded arched doorway, drifting with his hands clasped behind his back. When he arrived at the demigod's bedside, Percy forced himself onto his elbows, ready to crawl away. His apprehension only climbed when Triton raised one hand alongside what could only be a physically painful smile across his face.

"Peace," Triton murmured, his voice heavier than Percy was used to.

The demigod said nothing, but he let himself lie back down. Triton let the silence stretch too long between them, but Percy also let it hang until the god finally sighed.

"It appears I have been unfair to you," he began, gingerly mincing his words, "I should not have broken your sword."

Percy laughed. He laughed. What the Hades was wrong with this guy?

"Yeah. That's what you did."

Triton's jaw clenched, but he shot no retort back.

"The Gauntlet has ended, and though you lost, you performed much better than I expected you to. I believed you would die against the monsters."

Percy rolled his eyes.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," he deadpanned.

"Be silent as I finish," Triton snapped before bringing his other hand out from behind his back. "I have mistreated you for reasons that, after speaking with my mother, I have realized that I must reevaluate."

Percy said nothing as Triton opened his hand.

"I want to train you in Atlantis and reconsider my opinion of you. For my benefit as well as yours. Say yes."

In his palm was a pen. With his pointer and his thumb, Triton uncapped it, and it grew into a sword with a three-foot blade. Inscribed at its base, right above the handle, Anaklusmos.

Riptide.

A/N: Honestly, a way longer chapter than I expected. I'm in a bit of a rush, so I can't respond to individual reviews this week, but I wanted to address one thing that I remembered. We're going to get a longer timeskip soon (A few months shy of two years) to get us to the beginning of TLT, where I can really start writing some of the things I want to haha. But there's gonna be some cool stuff before then (Like a quest or maybe two at the same time!) Anyways, that's it. I really hope you enjoyed, and please let me know what you think so far :)