Nothing Like Going on a Raid With Friends – Part 1
The air seemed to tense the moment Arthur recognized the sword. His face, already cold before, now looked like a glacier as he stared directly at Percy. Or rather… at the sword in his hands.
The one that once belonged to him in the past and helped him conquer lands that later formed Camelot. The one that named him King of England and that he obtained thanks to Merlin.
Everything else seemed to stop mattering for a moment, while his gaze appeared to drift back into the past; to the moment that very same sword was shattered in what may have been the hardest battle of his life. Even harder than the fight against Mordred, where he lost his life.
"Well… I didn't know it was called that," Percy said calmly, though without lowering his guard, with a serious look, as if he genuinely didn't care about the name. The only thing that mattered was that the sword belonged to him.
"That sword belongs to me," Arthur said in an icy tone.
"No, it doesn't," Percy replied immediately while frowning.
"That sword belonged to my aunt. And she gave it to me a long time ago. Even if it didn't belong to me, it would still be hers," he added.
Arthur let out a snort for a moment, as if he had just heard the most shameless thing in the world.
"Fine. Then I only need to reclaim it, and Hades' helm as well. That will only improve my chances of completing my mission," he added, confident that only the true King of England should possess it, and that obviously was not Percy, but Arthur himself.
Arthur took a stance with the wooden sword, which Percy normally only used to annoy Harry thanks to its ability to bounce magic away. But in Arthur's hands, a sword that looked like nothing more than a training blade felt different.
As if it were the sharpest sword in the world.
Capable of cutting through anything, showing that his experience in the art of the sword was far beyond any swordsman Percy had crossed paths with before. Maybe only Mordred gave off a similar feeling; the one who spent his entire life sealed in Avalon with nothing but his sword.
Arthur, with a simple guard stance alone, was already showing why he had once been a legend.
Without wasting time, Arthur pushed his feet against the gray sand of the Underworld, moving beyond what a normal human should be capable of.
Percy's eyes widened slightly, raising Excalibur with both hands barely in time into a defensive position.
Just as Arthur appeared in front of him with a sideways slash.
CLANG!
Both swords collided.
A tremor ran through Percy's wrists, nearly making him lose his sword from the force of the attack. At the same time, Arthur released one of his hands and directly tried to grab Excalibur to snatch it away in one swift motion.
But before he could even touch it, Annabeth's shout rang out.
"Grover, now!"
Right after that came the sound of the satyr's wooden flute, followed by the sound of a projectile flying at surprising speed straight toward Arthur.
Arthur, with his absurd reflexes, barely shifted his gaze to see what was attacking him, only catching sight of something that looked like a green seed flying toward his face.
Which for barely a millisecond made him show a look of complete disdain, without stopping his hand.
But the green seed suddenly exploded, and a disgusting green liquid burst out.
The moment Arthur saw the liquid, he threw his body backward thanks to his danger sense.
The green liquid shot directly toward where Arthur had been standing and splashed onto the ground. When it touched the black sand of the Underworld, smoke immediately began rising from it, corroding the sand the instant it made contact.
It was obviously acid. And a pretty powerful one.
Meanwhile, Percy also had to throw himself backward, since part of the liquid nearly splashed onto his leg.
Then he turned his head toward Grover.
In front of the satyr stood a massive plant similar to a Venus flytrap… absurdly huge, with mouths almost as large as Grover's head, but filled with sharp teeth and massive roots covered in spikes that moved vividly, while sticky green saliva dripped onto the ground, causing the same smoke as before to rise from it.
At the center of each of the plant mouths, venom slowly gathered inside small seeds, which swelled before being spat directly toward Arthur.
And some toward Percy too.
Percy moved to the side, dodging another seed while giving Grover a confused look.
"Hey!"
"Sorry! It's hard to control!" Grover answered quickly while starting to blow into his flute.
The Venomous Tentacula moved violently the moment it heard the music, whipping its massive vines around while seeming unable to properly distinguish between enemies and allies.
Arthur looked at the plant for a moment, but immediately moved again, dodging the seed, and rushed toward Percy.
"Grover, more to the left!" Annabeth shouted instantly while analyzing Arthur's movements. "Percy, don't fight him head on!"
"It's easier said than done!" Percy shot back while keeping his eyes locked on Arthur, who moved toward him while crouching for a moment, dodging the venom filled seed, and thrust his sword toward Percy.
Percy jumped to the side, barely dodging it, while the wooden sword tore through his clothes near his shoulder as if it actually had an edge.
Missing the attack didn't stop Arthur at all. He barely twisted his wrist, and the sword continued toward where Percy had rolled.
Percy raised his sword barely in time even while still on the ground, blocking the attack with both hands.
And the wooden sword slammed into his blade.
BOOOOM!
Sand burst upward for a moment while Percy felt the bones in his arms barely endure the impact, gritting his teeth.
The worst part was that Arthur recovered the sword without losing rhythm and spun it through his fingers before stabbing downward straight toward Percy's head.
Percy instantly moved his neck, and the wooden blade whistled past his head.
Arthur didn't even stop and swung the sword sideways, as if trying to cut Percy's head off with the wooden sword while dragging black sand behind it.
But it never reached Percy when…
"Protego!"
Harry, who had been watching carefully without lowering his guard, had managed to get close enough. He raised his wand from behind Arthur.
The barrier appeared in front of Percy just before impact.
BOOOOM!
The Protego shattered almost instantly. But it did manage to slightly deflect the sword. Just enough to save Percy.
Meanwhile, Harry raised his wand again while for a moment the pages of the magical tome seemed to move on their own, choosing a spell, which in a flash appeared flying toward the tip of Harry's wand while he himself muttered at incredible speed, to the point his words couldn't even be understood.
Arthur turned his gaze toward Harry the moment he sensed the danger of the attack. Even if he couldn't see magic, he could feel something massive about to be launched at him.
Arthur turned toward the position of Harry's arm and the sound of the spell, as if trying to remember it.
Then his eyes widened suddenly, as if among all his memories he recognized some of the words coming from Harry's mouth, and he jumped to the side after recognizing them.
Right then he felt a wave of cold brush past him, and something embedded itself not far away, and from the shape he understood it was something sharp.
But he didn't stop. He crouched again quickly, then stepped to the side.
He couldn't see them, but several blue ice stakes surrounded Harry and, with the pointing of his wand, they shot toward Arthur in bursts.
But the man who couldn't see magic was dodging them with absurd ease.
And that was the terrifying part.
Annabeth, who had been watching all of this, looked toward Percy and Grover, who immediately understood her idea.
Grover blew into his flute, and the Venomous Tentacula began spitting faster directly toward Arthur, while Percy placed his sword in front of himself pointing toward Arthur before charging toward him while trying to circle around his back.
Arthur's eyes moved across the entire battlefield while he continued dodging Harry's fireballs, and he raised the wooden sword just as one of the acid filled seeds exploded near him, slashing downward.
Splitting the liquid in half as it passed by both sides of him.
He dodged another one while turning for a moment, stopping Percy's slash aimed at his legs, before lifting his foot and kicking Percy in the stomach, sending him flying several meters backward.
And once again Arthur tried to grab Excalibur from Percy's hand, but Percy reacted in time and touched his pendant while the sword returned to his magical inventory.
At the same time, Riptide came out.
But Percy didn't attack; he simply let his body continue flying backward.
And he spun while striking the ice spike that was invisible to him with perfect timing, sending it flying toward Harry.
Harry's eyes widened for a moment, but he raised the magical tome almost enough to cover his mouth while pointing his wand toward the flame flying at him.
"Protego!"
When Arthur heard the defensive spell, he shifted his attention to block the attack he heard flying toward him.
Annabeth's dagger.
Arthur caught it easily in the air and spun it through his fingers with a movement impossible to follow, aiming to throw it back toward Annabeth.
But at that moment he heard Harry let out a painful cry.
So he turned toward him in alert, seeing Harry take the fire spell directly to the shoulder, leaving a bloody cut across it.
At that exact moment Arthur felt the cold already close to his eye, so he moved the wooden sword on reflex just as he heard another sound coming from behind him.
From Percy's side.
Arthur moved his hand before even thinking, knocking away Harry's attack as he turned to dodge.
But Riptide was already flying toward him.
And pierced through his leg.
Which for one second caused him to stop.
Long enough for several seeds spat by the Venomous Tentacula to explode around him and acid to rain down over his body.