17 || Tʜᴇ Aʀᴇɴᴀ

It read a special note to me:

Long-time no see, Perseus. Heard your powers were stripped, and it would be easier to tear you to pieces. If you want your friends back, meet me at the Arena. We would fight fair-and-square. Ask Tartarus where it is, if you do not know it.

Sincerely,

Gerlos

Fucking shit. Hope you can protect me, Chaos.

-OO-

Perseus tore the malicious note of the wooden wall.

Fuck. How did they fucking even get on the ship, we had Tartarus's protection! And what the heck is this 'Arena'.

I ran to the right-hand side railings of the ship, before jumping off. I landed with a loud thump on the blood red grounds of Tartarus.

I prayed to Uncle Tartarus, "Hey Uncle, got to talk to you, teleport me to your palace, NOW!"

I was instantly teleported to the large manor of the governor of monsters, the blackish design contrasting with the environment.

I was on the outside of Tartarus's room, I went to open it, before I was stopped by a Cyclops.

"No one is to go in, Lord Tartarus is going to have a personal meeting."

"Shut up, Dumbass. He is going to have that 'Personal meeting' with me."

He straightened, before bowing. "I am sorry, Lord Perseus. Please, go inside."

He opened the door for me, for which I nodded at him, showing a sign of appreciation. The bulky Primordial sat on his throne, he looked at me with a lazy eye.

"What is the matter, Perseus?" he said with his all-so-lovely grump tone.

"The matter? Are you seriously asking me this? Gerlos fucking took my wife, and my friends to this 'Arena', and you are asking, 'what's the matter'? Are you mad? You said you would give us protection from them till we heal? What happened to the shitting protection? Hmm? Answer me!"

"Calm down, Nephew. The protection guarded you from the attacks, and their senses. But it doesn't guard you when monsters come near the ship and see it. I can't do that; they are much stronger than me."

"Fine. But what the heck is the Arena?"

"Arena, you say? Why?"

"Gerlos is inviting me to the Arena. She says I have to fight them fair-and-square to get my friends back."

"That is a dangerous place, Perseus. I had created the arena for enjoyment, I was the reigning champ, but when Gerlos came, I was weak, and I was defeated. I was tossed out from my own creation. She knows each and every secret of the place, be warned."

"Blah, Blah, I don't give a fuck! Just tell me where the fuck it is."

"It is the exact middle of Tartarus. Just below my heart, I can transport you, if you like, because you would need every inch of strength you have."

"Yes, please."

With a snap, Tartarus teleported me into the exact middle of a big, dusty field. A cheer rippled through the surroundings, I looked around me, it was a big audience. Every monster, big or small was there.

My wife and my friends were in a cage which was hovering in the air.

"Percy!" they screamed.

"Oh, you came?" came a sound to my right.

I turned angrily towards the voice, Gerlos was smiling sadistically, she was sitting on a throne made out of stone, with 'Champion' written on the base area.

"Gerlos." I whispered.

"Of course, it's me, young Titan. Now, I hope you are ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"The competition of course, it was all written in the note. I will be the last person you face, if you can even reach me. This competition will last for three days, 5 matches." She announced the last part.

"What if I lose?"

"Well," she opened her legs, just enough to let me see her long legs stretching out, and a glimpse of her red panties to be seen.

"I always lusted for you, Perseus. Now, I will fulfil my desire, I will fuck you, and make you see how my guards torture you precious wife." She made a pout.

She was definitely prettier than Aphrodite, like 10 times prettier. But I am loyal to my wives, and will stay like that forever.

A flame ignited in me.

"You dare threaten my wife?"

"Of course, dear. After all, you cannot defeat me now." She cackled with negative energy basically flowing out of her, her evil laughter seeping into my very bones.

"Then bring it on!" I screamed at her.

"Then, let the tournament begin. Select your weapon, Perseus."

"I choose my sword, Shadow."

"Ahh, the god killer. Hmm, such a nice, feisty, sexy side of you, Perseus. Guards, bring the Mother Hydra."

The gates at my opposite end opened, with a ferocious roar, the blue bodied, grey scaled, the first Hydra to exist came into my sight.

The humongous beast's large breath was enough to disbalance me, as I fell to the ground on my butt.

I used my sword to help me stand back up, "Let the match begin." Gerlos shouted.

The Mother Hydra came rushing at me, her large canines visible from a long distance, she hovered, before she flew straight towards me. With a tremendous speed, she came and blew fire at me.

I slid under her, turning up the other side. Somehow, she knew this move, and she swatted me towards the metal walls of the field.

My back, and the backside of my head like hell. It was as if I was stomped on by Chaos himself. I got up, with a little unsteadiness, and my body shaking with pain, I stood upright.

I glanced at my wife and friends, with renewed vigour I rushed towards the Mother of all Hydras.

My sword in my hand, I used a shadow as a trampoline, before I leaped upwards. As I reached up, I was about to fall on her, but with a slight distance, I was behind, and so I fell onto the ground.

While falling, I inserted my sword in the Mother Hydra's right-side, black blood surged out of the wound, and fell like a waterfall on top of me.

She wailed in pain; Shadow could do some incredible damage. With a stomp, I came to the ground, it was basically Niagara Falls up there.

I used the shadows of every monster in the arena, before converting it into a dome-sized ball, which had spikes.

I pushed my hands forward, commanding the ball to go forward. It rolled its way to the wounded Alpha, before impaling her. She fell onto the ground, she was on her final breaths, the little hope to be left alive was gone as the ball rolled over her, impaling her with all sharp points.

"The win goes to Lord Perseus."

Boos rang all over the place, the strongest Hydra defeated by a mere demi-Titan. It was shameful to all the monsters.

"So, you won this one, so what? Take some hours off, you are given some time to rest. Then shall the next challenger be announced."

The whole crowd got up and cheered, before they started to go towards the exits.

I was pulled by the guards, they practically dragged me towards my room, I saw Zoe, she had tears in her eyes. She wiped them, before showing me a thumbs up, mouthing 'Nice match, good Luck."

I was tired, so my eyes closed, fading my vision into empty blackness.

I woke up in a some-what comfortable bed. It was made out of cotton, it seemed. I touched my body, just to see what was left of it.

I sat upright, before looking around me. It was a small room, with a table, a TV, and a bathroom.

When I viewed the table, a bowl of 15 Ambrosia Squares was placed on top of it. A sticky note rested beside it,

Take this, Perseus. Get ready for the next match, it will heal you up, and return your energy and stamina. ;)

Gerlos.

God, why the heck is she obsessed with me. I walked towards the table, and pulled the chair back.

I sat on it, and took an Ambrosia Square, and popped it into my mouth.

It felt warm, it melted the moment it was covered by my mouth. I could basically feel my body speeding its recovery.

The Taste of Hestia's blue coloured cookies filled my mouth. With an instant reaction, I gulped it down.

I ate all of them one-by-one. Each giving me different tastes. My body was completely healed by square number 4, but as I hate 11 extra's, my strength and stamina increased ten-fold for a temporary time.

I could feel my powers almost reaching my immortal state. I went out of the room, I looked left and right, but I saw no one there. I tried remembering the path to the field, and followed my instinct.

After about a few minutes, I heard the chanting of only a few people, "Perseus! Perseus!"

I followed those voices and came back to the deathbed of the First Hydra. The mother of them all.

"Perseus has come, let the second round begin. Bring forth the killer of all, the merciless, the first Demon, bring forth Gram, the God Butcher.

A large, bulky dude came out of the gate in front of me, he had black eyes, and black tendrils coming out of his back.

"So, this is the Titan of Darkness, I expected more. Rumour has it that he himself killed two Primordials, and put the Olympians just above their deathbed, all in the same day."

"Fight him yourself, Dumbass. You can see what he can do."

"I shall take you up on that offer."

I took one look at Zoe, before focusing back on Gram. What a simple name for the first Demon, it is so unoriginal, and does not at all suit his personality.

"Let the match begin." Gerlos announced.

The Demon extended his hand, but nothing happened. He tried it again, but still nothing happened.

"What have you done, Perseus?"

"Well, you demons use invisible darkness to, you know, throw things around. But I am the Titan of Darkness, so I just took your ability to control that Darkness, and I just made you the weakest Demon." I stated simply.

"Weakest Demon? You have no idea what I can do, Perseus."

"Then show me."

With a sly grin, he started levitating. "Do not forget Titan, I am the son of Lucifer and Abaddon, the strongest angel, and a Knight of Hell."

With a flick, I was sent steaming towards the metal walls, again. The Pain somehow lessened, perhaps because of the extra energy, and Adrenaline.

My clothes were on fire, my abs could be seen, as that part had been ripped off. I could see many monsters, Gerlos, Zoe, Hazel and Piper -I don't know why- in a trance. All of them were staring at me. Some were even licking their lips.

I involuntarily shivered, just think about fucking a monster.

I got up again, and looked straight ahead. But Gram was not there. I looked to my right, but the scene was the same. I was a little late looking towards my left, as he came flying at me with unknown amounts of speed, and he punched me hard on my left cheek.

I was thrown into the crowds. I thankfully fell on firm ground, when I opened my eyes, I was sitting on some green-coloured, sticky goo.

"Eww!" I exclaimed.

"Do you accept your defeat, and surrender?" Gram asked me from the middle of the ground.

"Never."

"Then you must accept death."

He did the same thing he did before, but I was ready now.

As he came towards me, I stayed still.

When he was 5 inches from my face, I used my hand to cover his hand. With a loud bang, everyone could see that I had held him by his palm, and he was pushing forward.

I used nearby shadows, and stretched them to act as hands to cover more of his hand. I rotated him, and threw him high up in the sky.

Using my last option, I channelled my inner powers, the first forces of Nature, Light and Darkness, and shot one mega beam.

With surging speed, it hit Gram square in the chest, he let out a high pitched scream, Light came out of his eyes and mouth -that I absorbed-, and he fell limp on the ground. His eyes were burned to ashes, and his mouth was his bloodiest area.

I blinked my eyes again, before I fell to the ground. Like I have said before, Channelling Light and Darkness together is a very tiring task.

I still had some consciousness left, from which I heard:

"Lord Perseus is the winner of this match. Everybody come back tomorrow, and see the fight of one of the worst monsters alive. Take Perseus back to his quarters."

I saw Gerlos giving me a soft smile, before I closed my eyes, and fell into the realm of Hypnos.

I felt someone poking me, I awoke immediately, and summoned my sword in my hand. Within a second, my sword was on the throat of the stranger.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

I could not see her through the hoodie she was wearing. She took off the cap, and I realised who she was.

"Auntie- "

"Just call me Nyx sweetie."

"Okay, Nyx, what are you doing here?"

"I came to free you of course."

"What about the others?"

"What about them? Sure, you will miss them, but it's okay, you can find new friends, or a new wife, for example, me." She pointed to herself.

I rolled my eyes, "It is no time to flirt with me, Nyx. I will not leave them here. Can you find the statue of my brother?"

"I have already found it."

"Where is it?"

"Hidden in the depth of my brother." She answered.

"That sounded wrong." She spoke to herself.

"Yes, but where?"

"Where the Leviathans thrive."

"Well...?"

"It has no name, but it is rumoured to hold an arsenal so fierce, it can kill all the Titans -except you- with one bomb.

"Can you go fetch it?" I asked.

"Are you mad? Why should I get myself killed? But, I have a map, you can go there and recover it, after fighting Gerlos. Heard she got a little something for you, Darling."

"I know right. She is so annoying."

"Well, that's your problem. Now I think I should go, your Ambrosias are in their regular place, your match starts in 10 minutes, get ready fast."

She vanished into the nearest shadow.

God. The pain and tiredness still lingered. He ate up thirteen out of the fifteen, and put two of them in his shadow world, before he got ready.

He opened his door, and followed the same path as yesterday. The small chanting had increased, it seemed as half the crowd cheered for me.

He entered the field to find all of them sitting patiently, they became quiet once he came out of his end.

"Now that my dear Perseus has come, we shall continue his matches." She spoke so sweetly, I internally cringed at her voice. As you cannot just accept that someone who wants to kill the whole word, has a crush on you.

"Bring Hela, the strongest child of Odin, and the Goddess of Norse Hel."

A sexy lady in a tight suit came out of the other end. She was pale white, and her tight suit ended near her nether parts. It covered her curves, and made her more eye boggling.

The tight costume was a mixture of Green and Black. It perfectly contrasted with her pale skin, she had some black makeup of some sort covering the area around her eyes, her black hair reached to her butts.

God, what have I gotten myself into?

"Hello, Perseus. You look... hot!" she said the last part with her breath, and it sounded much sexier and it looked like she was trying to seduce me.

I looked towards Zoe, and when I saw her, I was trying not to laugh. Her face had gone red, and she was trying to get free from the cage to murder Hela. Her face was flushed, and she looked very angry, in a cute, jealous way.

I looked towards Hela, who was in very close proximity with me, my breath hitched. I am definitely going to get a beating from Zo, and the others once they hear about this from Zoe.

I walked back a little, she purred at me, before smiling sexily.

"Let the match start." Gerlos announced, I noticed she said it very quickly. I looked at her for a second, and she was almost the same as Zoe, but she was not showing that much Jealousy.

Hela pulled her hair back, and it turned into a helmet of sorts. She took out two twin swords from her back.

I summoned Shadow. I guess she heard about the sword, as she looked fearful when she saw it.

She slashed at me, which I parried and turned just a second before the oncoming sword was about to hit me. I blocked it, and with a difficult manoeuvre -where I twist her sword with my sword, grab her wrist, and press on a pressure point- I threw her right-hand sword towards one end of the field.

She angrily pushed me with her other hand, and I fell behind. I fell on the floor, she was about to bring her sword on me with a downward arc, but I rolled towards the right, and I just heard the sound of her sword hitting the red surface.

I sighed with relief.

I got up and disappeared within my own shadow. I ate one of the two pieces of Ambrosia I saved. The moment I saw her vulnerable, I came out of her own shadow and hit her square in the chin.

She was sent flying into the air, I could sense that she was on the brink of unconsciousness, and so could Zoe because she yelled, "Take that you, Bitch. Never come near my husband."

So typical.

Hela's body came down with an inconsiderable speed. When her body touched the surface, A large bang was heard for the surrounding 2 Kilometres, minimum. Dust swirled around the arena for a few minutes. I could tell that she was now unconscious, and would stay like that for at least another week.

Her armour had retracted, and she was vulnerable.

"Kill that Bitch, Perseus. How dare she try to seduce you." Yelled Zoe from her cage.

But I could not. I was, and will always be honourable, I would not kill someone when he or she was this vulnerable, and the only way I could kill her was with Shadow, and I do not want her powers and domains.

I shook my head, to which Zoe punched the cage's bar. She mouthed, "I will deal with you later."

I was afraid of this, when women say this, you know you are in trouble. I looked towards Gerlos, who had a smirk planted on her face, as if saying, Good Riddance.

"Now the match is over, everybody go back to- "Gerlos started to say, but I cut her off.

"No Gerlos, I have enough strength to fight the fourth match. I just want two Ambrosia, and then I can fight."

"Are you sure, Perseus?" she asked sincerely, which was totally unexpected.

"Yes, Gerlos."

"Bring him what he asks." A few monsters brought two Ambrosia's to me, which I ate rapidly. The few scratches I had were instantly repaired. I ate the one that was still in my pocket dimension.

I nodded towards Gerlos, who nodded back.

"Release the Kraken." She yelled.

The gates opened again, but tentacles came out of it. I looked towards Gerlos with a confused face, with my hands spread, when a tentacle tossed me high up in the air, it fucking sneaked up on me.

When falling down, I used shadows as a cushion, so I would not get hurt. I landed on the large mattress-of-a-structure, and walked out of it.

When I looked towards where the tentacles were, now I realised why it was the fourth stage, the final stage before Gerlos.

The Kraken was a monumentally large squid. It had 20 tentacles, each behaving differently, but all̥ had the same target, me.

It released a screech before each tentacle rushed towards me, the first one I was able to deflect, but the other banged me on the ground.

It held me in place, not letting me move, however much ever I tried to wiggle free. It had an iron grip.

One tentacle crawled around my head, before tying it around my head. It started to pull it, bones were breaking in my body from being overstretched, I was losing my consciousness, fast.

I could faintly hear Zoe screaming at Gerlos to let her free, but all of it was to no avail. Gerlos gave a sad look towards me.

I closed my eyes for my end, but it never came. I don't know why, I felt a sudden boost in my energy, my one eye turning Black, and one eye as bright as the sun -including my Pupil, Iris and Eyeball-, I blasted the squid off me.

Zoe looked up, and her mouth remained open, not believing what just happened.

I felt my powers strengthening to the power I held when I was battling the Gods. I shot a bolt of Darkness at the gigantic Squid, which made it fall, and then I shot a beam of Light, which burned through the skeleton and flesh of the Kraken, that it made a big hole vertically, and due to some luck, the hole's lane passed its heart, making it the killing blow.

But the newly recovered power faded back into lockup, and I fell onto the ground, unconscious.

Words: 3678

If you wanna see how all the characters look like, then check the description of the book, all links are given there.