______________________________________________________________________________________As Damien grew bored of his solemn isolation in the Hades cabin, especially when his sister had went off to pitch to Zeru about joining her on her literal life-or-death quest, he decided that the best way to cure his growing frustration that
was disguised as boredom was to make up for lost time and spar a bit with things of his literal creation.
So that’s when the souls of the underworld manifested into the living world as skeletons with leather shoulder pads, iron helms, and a sword-and-shield combo. And since this would be him using nothing but the skills he had been honing for three years now, summoning over seven souls made into aged flesh and bone would be no problem.
The skeletons circled around him and he smirked. They always had the same tactics and thought the numbers game would help them in their chances to land a hit on him.
Oh, they didn’t realize how wrong they were.
As they all came lunging forward with half of them raising their swords and coming down for downward vertical slashes, the rest did the same, but had their iron swords coming from below.
Damien stood completely still, eyes closed. The whistling blades of Shadowhunter contrasting against that unique sound that emitted when metal dug into soil at a high speed. He zeroed in on it and as he opened his eyes, he turned 180 degrees clockwise.
Metal-on-metal resounded through the empty training grounds and three iron swords, though they were sturdy enough to give him some push back, they did not budge as Damien looked at the weirdly frightened skeletons.
And a moment later, as he turned back, he flipped into the air, his hold on the three irons swords shifting entirely to the point where the skeletons found themselves falling forward, Damien sweeped those that were coming for upward strikes with a single leg sweep, cutting off the hands of the skeletons that held the three swords.
“Oh no..” The six skeletons said in unison as Damien landed on his feet.
In a clean sequence of actions, he spun his body around, kicking the heads off of the skeletons in such a fluid, graceful motion that they couldn’t get another word in as their bodies faded into the shadow for whence they originated from.
“How boring.” Damien whined as he sat on a headstone, sighing out.
It wasn’t as though he wanted someone to give him a true challenge, but if he was going to become stronger than Zeru, he needed
something to push him past his current state. He needed to be pushed into a wall so he could find some ways, no matter how creative or underhanded, to move past his obstacle, which in turn would improve his skills.
But with how weak the skeletons of the underworld were, he couldn’t hope to improve his powers by fighting them.
“I need a real challenger.”
A black raven perched high on a branch above the Hades Cabin graveyard It was eyeing the display of combat by Damien curiously before relaying a mental message to its owner.
Seraphina walked aimlessly through the camp. Like a few others today she had woken up late, but did so purposely. She had no interest in the Obstacle Tower as she felt it didn't really push others to their limit and was more like a slightly dangerous game. But if she wanted to play a dangerous game she'd just play Capture the Flag.
She wore a black crop top leather jacket with a white Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt and a metal chain resting diagonally across her frame. She had heard of the events of the early morning due to the pet rumor mill of camp. Her trusty Raven had been informed by her cousin's eagle that Zee was going on a quest with Erin and a few others. Sera decided to keep her mind off of it for now. Her cousin was the strongest person she knew, besides herself of course, so if anyone could come back safely from this it would be him. Then again, he was a smidiot, a smart idiot, so who knows what kind of trouble he'd get himself into.
She was more concerned for his "secret" girlfriend Fi. She knew she would not be able to handle Zee being away on a quest for so long. She'd drive herself crazy by being way too deep in her own head. But Sera was sure that Zee was spending as much time with her as he could before he had to leave. She'd go check on her after.
The pressure of someone's shoulder bumping into her arm brought Sera out of her own head and back into the world of camp. She was ready to deal with whoever wasn't paying attention to where they were going when she noticed two younger demigods running with swords of all things. She had to stop herself from literally fuming. She couldn't believe they could be so irresponsible.
"Hey, you two! Watch where you're going and stop running with swords! You'll poke your eye out and no one likes pirates. Look at Mr. D."The two stopped in their tracks and glanced at each other before turning around and slowly walking away. Once they figured they were at a considerable enough distance away they started running again.
Sera conjured a small orb of fire in her hand and was going to launch it when she heard Mr. Poe's voice in her head. She sighed and dissipated the flame before making a slight smirk. She twirled her hands into the air and she was enveloped in a wall of flames before seeping into the shadows beneath her.
She re-appeared in the cover of flames a couple of feet in front of Damien. She loved dramatic entrances. Once the flames died down she smiled at the son of Hades.
"A little birdy told me you were looking for a real challenge.""Caw!"
"Okay, a regular sized manly bird told me. You happy?" She asked with a roll of her eyes.
Damien smirked as the heat of Sera’s magical fire formed in front of him and had a more defined smirk when he caught the sight of her. She was a beauty who deceived most by also being a talented witch. With the exception of his sister, Sera was probably the strongest girl at this camp that Damien had all of the respect for. Maybe it was due to his legacy being her mother, but there was definitely more than that to it.
“You know I’m always happy to see you, Sera.” He would say, keeping his smirk as he kept his place on the tombstone.
"Everyone is, Damien. I'm the spark that lights everyone's lives." She said with an almost devilish green.
"But I meant bird brain up there. I mean, my smart and trusted avian companion. You see he gets a bit sensitive about these things." She could feel her trusted Raven's dark eyes glaring down at her. But she knew that he knew it was all love between them. She just enjoyed teasing him a little.
She returned her focus back to the Dark Prince of Hell.
"The dead just don't fight quite like they used to, do they? Do you need to warm up a little more or can my flames finish the job?" She was admittedly antsing for a good fight and knew that Blake was someone capable of giving her one.
“By all means.” As he said that and as he gestured to them with Shadowhunter’s two blades, the skeletons that still remained looked at him, almost as if the empty holes where their eyes used to be held aspects of fear within them. But since they were, as Sera said, dead, the pain they’d feel would be nonexistent.
“And maybe add a little style, too? They might be empty husks but they deserve a proper send-off.”A little style, eh? Style was something Seraphina just so happened to specialize in.
"One order of style coming right up." Originally she planned to just incinerate them, but Damien was right. They deserved a proper send-off for their efforts of satisfying combat hungry demichildren.
She mentally said a prayer offering them respect for their sacrifice and pulled her chain down from her torso. She whipped it around a bit aiming at empty spaces as if she were just stretching a part of her own body. With the last whip of her chain a small spark of purple fire could be seen before it quickly expanded and surrounded the chain completely.
Sera noticed that their bones were rattling in anticipation, fear or acceptance. Whatever they were feeling wouldn't last long as their final executioner was ready. She swung her flamed chain above her head like a lasso and once she had built up enough for the launch she did so and wrapped the chain tightly around the skeletons and herded them together for their final farewell.
"Boom." And with that one simple word her flames spread from her chain to completely envelop them until it left nothing but ashes underneath.
A low whistle emitted from Damien’s lips, showing no sorrow for his creations.
“Hot damn. That must’ve hurt like a mother—!” Damien laughed, letting Shadowhunter fall to the ground and stabbing itself into the soil as he clapped, approaching the daughter of Hecate, taking a moment of silence, one that would see Damien smile at her.
“Lets see if you can do the same to me.” He said as his left arm quickly extended in a straight jab, aimed for her face.
Sera had received quite a few lessons upon entering the mythical world of demigods and monsters. The first, her older cousin taught her. Never let your guard down. Damien may have dropped his favored weapon, but she was here to spar. The moment she appeared in the ring she had her defenses raised.
The second thing she learned from knowing the son of Hades. Never trust a smiling devil.
Sera weaved out of the way of his jab narrowly avoiding it, which meant Damien would stagger forward. She didn't hesitate to counter as her chain withdrew to her arm and wrapped itself around her right forearm. She then sent her right fist towards Damien's abdomen to deliver a gut punch enveloping her fist in flames right before contact. She
had thought about returning the favor of attacking his face but she didn't want to risk the wrath of a certain daughter of Iris in the process.
And the punch made direct contact with Damien’s stomach. And it hurt enough to force him to hunch over, almost leaning towards her. But in the instant that her blazing fist connected, Damien grabbed onto her forearm, locking both of his hands around it, securing it in place. So even if she tried to jerk it away from him, it would be a tad difficult, especially as he fought through the singing pain coursing through his body as the fire was still burning his flesh.
“Nice try. But you’ll have to do better than that.”He quickly brought a leg around her inner-elbow, wrapping it and he himself looking like a leather-clad circle of a man and he locked his other leg on the opposite end of her arm and rolled forward. As momentum carried him forward, Damien took Sera down with him into an arm bar, whilst still holding her chain-clad arm, which surprisingly seemed to be still lit ablaze and proceeded to apply pressure to the exposed arm by pulling on it.
Sera couldn't tell if Damien was either foolish or brave, but she admired him either way. Not many would or even could take one of her flaming fists head on. She doubted any would have deliberately taken the damage to gain an advantage. And because of this she found herself at his mercy for however long that may be.
She could feel pain coursing through her arm as both Damien and her chain's grip tightened around her arm.
"Usually a man would have to buy me dinner before he could pin me down like this." She used her humor to get her mind off of the pain while she focused on something else. Her chain loosened just a bit underneath her arm as the end started to unravel and extend before reaching Damien's leg and wrapping itself around it. Once it was she lit it ablaze.
"Unless you want a peg for a leg I suggest you let go."“What? Oh, fuck--”A smirk of confidence faded from Damien’s face when he saw the purple flames suddenly appear on his leg and instinct took over. And in this moment, a few things happened in succession — the first being, of course, Sera’s arm was free. The second and third occurred at the same time as the fiery chain left Damien’s leg and so did Damien, his form falling into his own shadow that closed nearly a second later.
And then he reappeared six inches over Sera and his long leg came out of a darkness portal and down like an axe. Once again, the Son of Hades was aiming for her almost-too-beautiful-to-hit face.
Correction. Too-beautiful-to-hit-face.
Sera smirked once she felt her arm free from Damien's hold, but found herself quickly annoyed once he disappeared into the ground.
"Shadows." She dispelled the flames around her fist and chain and was about to get back up when she noticed a shadow overcasting her.
She rolled out of the way and turned back to see where his foot landed. If she hadn't known any better she would've thought he had something against her face. She quickly jumped to her feet and stomped heavily on the ground as she did so.
In that moment her own shadow extended from her foot and headed straight towards Damien's. If it connected it would lock him in place before steadily creeping up his leg.
"It takes two to do the dance of shadows."“Come now, Sera,” Damien smirked at her, raising up his hand,
“do you think you’re the only one who can manipulate the darkness?” Her shadow would be met with his own, keeping it at bay. Damien would mirror Sera’s action. In that instance, as his shadow kept hers occupied, it spawned to the side like a tree and its roots underground and sharp tendrils that could pierce through steel rose up and came at her from the left side.
Sera's eyes widened in false shock as Damien's tendrils came shooting out of the ground. She raised her left arm causing a wall of darkness to rise in response. It was reinforced enough to stop his shadows, at least for the moment. But that moment was all that she needed.
She raised her right arm and yelled out,
"Dark Binding: Torture of a Thousand Hands!" She knew from her copious amount of research into the world of Japanese comics and animation that yelling out your attacks not only made them all the more powerful but instilled a sense of fear in your target.
“Did you really just...call out your attack?” Damien asked, dumbfounded.
The part of her shadow fighting against Damien's would branch off into ten separate tendrils before reshaping into hands at their ends. The hands then targeted different points all over Damien's body to torture him with a thousand tickles.
“Wait..”A stolen breath was forced out of Damien’s mouth as he felt tendrils upon tendrils not only reach and touch him on his legs and underneath raised arms, focusing on the pits, he was cackling. It was hesitant in its nature and he tried to fight back and hold off the desire his body had, but Zeus Damn it, she’s good.
Cackles would evolve and deepen, forcing the Son of Hades, future King of the Underworld, Commander of the Undead Skeleton Army, and owner of the most adorable Hellhound Pitbull any realm has seen, to bend the knee to Sera, the Tickle Monster.
“Damn you, Sera. Damn--” Damien interrupted himself with a deep laugh, coughing and laughing.
“--Hah--damn you!”Sera couldn't help but join in Damien’s laughter at the sight of her on the spot plan actually working. Her laughter sounded eerily similar to that of a witch, but with an adorable touch to it. She wiped a tear from her cheek and forced her shadows to retreat.
"Woo. That was fun. But how was that? Got your frustrations out about your sister's quest?" She knew that was what was on his mind. Why he had decided to fight with his skeletons this morning. And probably why he kept aiming for her face. Likely imagined that it was Zeru's. She really has to find a way to make those two friends. She would not let her face be a casualty of their rivalry.
Damien had simmered down. His chest didn’t feel as tight from all the out-of-breath cackling that Sera had forced him into and he took a seat on the same tombstone that he was on when Sera arrived.
“Now what makes you think I’m frustrated about that?” That was a lie, but he wasn’t going to openly admit he was actually quite furious about her going with Zeru and not choosing
him.
“Maybe I just felt like sharpening my skills with some of those manifested souls I command.” Another lie, but he smiled at her, crossing his arms loosely across his chest.
"Because I know you Damien Blake. More than well enough to know when you're lying and when something's bothering you." She stared at him with her deep purple eyes with irises that danced like her flames.
"Don't make me tickle you again. Now talk."The Son of Hades grumbled something through gritted teeth, not sure if he wanted to tempt her or call her hypothetical bluff.
“Okay, so maybe I am feeling a type of way about Erin’s mission. Maybe I wish she would’ve asked me instead of that egocentric cousin of ours. Maybe I don’t trust Zeru as far as I can stab him with Shadowhunter.” As on command and a direct response to his desire, as his arms lowered themselves, his two swords returned to his back, crossing over each other in a graceful manner.
“I mean, wouldn’t you?”Sera shook her head in response to his words and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Stab my cousin? I thought about it a few times. But I wouldn't be feeling how you're feeling. Instead I'd focus on Erin's safety and pray to the gods for her protection. Even if they're the reason she's in this mess. And unlike you I know that there's no one more trustworthy in this camp than that oaf, Zee. He's the type to fight the gods to protect the people he cares about and your sister is one of those people. I believe Erin knew that when she chose him. So if you can't trust him, trust her choice and trust that he'll do anything to make sure she's safe."Gods, what was it with the girls at this camp and their constant need to be right?
Of course, Damien trusted Erin’s choice. And of course, he knew that she wouldn’t have chosen Weather Boy if she wasn’t absolutely sure that was the best choice to maximize her success. He just hated that he was never asked, that he wasn’t an option.
“Fine, okay, I hear you.” He grumbled something under a breath. He stood up the next moment.
“But you can take this to the Underworld and back, Sera: if anything happens to her, I swear to every Pantheon in existence, Zeru is finished.” As he spoke, his two swords pulsed, once again responding to Damien’s desire.
Sera nodded showing that she understood and wouldn't interfere if it came down to that. But she had faith in her cousin and she knew the rest of the quest crew wouldn't let anything happen to Erin. She chose a rather capable team.
"Nothing will happen, but if it does I won't stop you. Now if you'll excuse me I probably have to check in on a different bird now."She lifted her hand slightly and snapped her fingers. Instantly be encircled by her purple flames before disappearing into the shadows below. Gods, that girl knew how to make an exit.
Crimson Flame,
Apoalo,
Bacon,
Sadu,
PuffPeace,
Dragonfly 9,
AtomicNut,
Little Bird,
Sky Blue,
Danyel
