Nothing Like Going on a Raid With Friends – Part 4
King Arthur seemed to be devoured by the darkness of Tartarus.
He didn't even say anything; not a scream.
Just that fixed stare on Harry and Percy before disappearing into the darkness.
Percy slowly walked toward the cliff and couldn't help leaning his head over to look downward, while feeling that strange voice seemingly trying to lure him in.
But when he saw no trace of Arthur, he let out a sigh and couldn't help collapsing into a seated position on the sand, while Excalibur stabbed itself right beside him.
"I really still can't control you properly," Percy said while looking at Excalibur before shifting his gaze toward the broken wooden sword lying nearby.
His training sword had been destroyed.
"Oh crap… Master Einjard is seriously gonna beat the hell out of me for this," Percy said after seeing his teacher's gift in that state.
And the dwarf definitely wasn't the friendly type.
Harry, meanwhile, also let out a sigh before falling backward onto the sand, completely exhausted.
He was sure he could only cast one or two more spells before ending up completely drained of magical energy.
Illusions cost less magic than making them real enough to cause damage.
"Tssss," he hissed, finally feeling the pain in his shoulder now that the adrenaline was leaving his body, turning to look at the wound on his shoulder that wouldn't stop bleeding.
Without thinking much about it, he reached into his magical bag and pulled out an ointment for wounds.
"Percy!" he called before tossing one of the several jars he had toward his brother, who also had burns across his back.
Harry spread the ointment over his own wound himself.
Meanwhile Percy tried looking over his shoulder without being able to reach properly, until Annabeth walked over and glanced at him.
"Give it to me. I'll help," she said while letting out a sigh.
She genuinely had no idea what those two brothers had been planning.
She had simply trusted them.
And luckily, they pulled it off.
She couldn't help feeling like those two were honestly terrifying sometimes, with the way they managed to pull off such insane things like that.
"Ouch, ouch!"
Grover's scream rang out as he was attacked by his own Chinese cabbages, which were currently causing complete chaos across the battlefield.
Meanwhile the Venomous Tentaculas were already gathering acid filled seeds to spit at him.
"Hey! Can somebody give me a hand here?!" Grover shouted.
Possibly out of all of them, he was the least physically exhausted at least.
Percy, Annabeth, and Harry couldn't help laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing looked after such an unbelievably dangerous battle.
"You guys really are idiots," she couldn't help saying while opening the ointment to spread it over Percy's injured back, injured while saving her.
But before she could say anything else, she felt something.
So she turned around.
Percy and Harry turned around too.
Then they saw Arthur climbing back up over the cliff, pulling himself upward with his hands, wearing a dark expression.
He pushed off the edge and jumped directly toward Percy and Annabeth.
Percy tried grabbing Excalibur while shoving Annabeth out of the way.
But Arthur reached him much faster and grabbed his wrist.
Then drove a knee directly into Percy's chest, sending him rolling across the sand.
Annabeth instantly tried moving to attack.
But Arthur stopped her stab and slightly lowered himself before punching her directly in the stomach.
That made Annabeth spit everything out before collapsing to her knees right in front of Arthur, who looked at her with complete coldness.
"You truly are disappointing. As Athena's daughter, you disgust me. You don't deserve to consider yourself her child," he said with complete contempt while slowly moving his hand toward Excalibur, still stuck in the sand.
"You've already wasted too much of my time. You think you accomplished something. You're nothing but children who don't even understand how the world truly is. You have no idea what those wizards and witches could achieve. The chaos they could bring. You cannot stop me from accomplishing my goal. I won't allow it. And anyone who stands in my way will die beneath my sword," Arthur said calmly.
As though he were talking about something completely normal.
His hand tightened around Excalibur's hilt and, the moment he did, his entire aura changed.
An invisible pressure, not like Ares', but absurdly powerful, crashed down over everyone.
Even the previously crazed plants became completely frozen.
Like when a massive dragon stares directly at you.
"Morgana taught you well. To lie, manipulate, win through deception. But it's time to stop playing around. If you don't want to hand me Hades' helm, fine. Then I'll take it from your bloodstained hands," Arthur said while pulling on the sword.
And everyone present, the moment they saw that movement, felt that the instant that sword left the sand, they would all die immediately.
And their bodies trembled, filled with panic.
Even so, both Harry and Percy quickly pulled out their wand and Riptide, ready to fight him.
But Arthur only seemed to mock them with a single glance.
After all, with Excalibur in his hand, there was nothing that could stop him.
He only needed Hades' helm, and after that going to the world of the living to finish his work would be child's play.
But then his body suddenly stiffened.
And he looked back down toward the sword embedded in the sand.
Then pulled again.
But it didn't move even a centimeter, despite being stuck in nothing more than the gray sand of the Underworld.
Arthur pulled again before placing his second hand on it too.
And started pulling with force while the veins in his arms bulged, showing just how much strength he was putting into it..
And even then it didn't move.
"What…?" he said with complete confusion written across his face.
Both Harry and Percy exchanged confused looks.
But Harry nodded toward Percy, who immediately looked toward Arthur and rushed forward with Riptide in hand.
Arthur, unable to pull Excalibur from the sand, heard Percy approaching and lifted his gaze, staring directly at him.
"It's you," he said with a low growl, as if blaming Percy for being unable to lift the sword.
Normally Percy would've answered with his usual sarcasm or mocking attitude.
But now he was completely serious, holding Riptide with both hands.
And he rushed directly at Arthur and delivered a sideways slash.
Arthur stepped back to dodge and moved his hand toward Percy's neck.
But Percy ducked just in time.
Right when Arthur felt something hot.
But it had already struck his face.
Harry was standing not too far away, pointing directly at Arthur with a somewhat pale expression, with barely any magic left.
Percy took advantage of the impact that slightly shook Arthur and slashed directly toward his thighs.
Then threw himself to the side.
Arthur, wounded, tried to grab Percy again.
But the cut across his thighs interrupted his movement for an instant.
Right when something burst out of the sand in front of him.
Arthur couldn't see it, but he moved sideways just as something grazed through his shoulder, piercing it, while frost spread over the wound.
Arthur felt as if an ice spike had stabbed through him.
Leaving him immobilized thanks to the ice being embedded into the ground itself.
Arthur used his free hand to smash the ice spike and free himself.
But Percy appeared right then with an upward slash.
Only this time, the sword in his hand wasn't Riptide.
It was Excalibur.
"AAAAAH!"
For the first time, Arthur let out a dull scream of pain.
Thanks to that brief instant of confusion and shock from being unable to steady himself, Excalibur gave Percy and Harry the perfect opening to injure him.
With perfect coordination.
Even then, Arthur instinctively managed to raise his leg and kick Percy directly in the chest, sending him several meters backward.
Percy rolled across the sand, but quickly recovered and stabilized himself before standing back up right beside Harry with Excalibur in his hand.
Which now had the blood of its former wielder staining its blade.
And the blood of the one who was now no longer worthy of lifting it again.
That seemed to destabilize Arthur's mind even more as he stared fixedly at the sword while his face slowly filled with fury.
"Hahahahaha…" he laughed mockingly. "Fine. I don't need it. Of course I don't need something that comes from that woman," he said while placing a hand over the wound on his chest.
Unlike the other injuries, this one didn't seem to regenerate.
He lowered his gaze toward the blood covering his hand.
It had been a long time since he had seen his own blood.
A long time since he had felt the pain of death.
Because he was a spirit.
He was already dead.
At that exact moment Harry stopped murmuring something while the magical tome in his hands flipped through all its pages at incredible speed as the pages glowed faintly.
His face turned completely pale as he cast the spell using the very last trace of magical energy left in his body.
He almost collapsed onto the ground.
But Percy caught him before he fell.
Arthur looked genuinely confused, because he looked around, but no attack seemed to be coming.
Until he heard the sound of chains rattling behind him.
So he immediately turned around.
And this time, after so long, the curse preventing him from seeing magic seemed to fail slightly.
Maybe as one final glimpse of what it was capable of.
The shadows of Tartarus itself now seemed to form dozens, if not hundreds, of chains made from pure shadow, dark like living tentacles.
And they launched themselves toward him.
Arthur tried to move to dodge.
But one chain had already wrapped around one of his legs.
Then another wrapped around his wrist.
And within seconds, dozens of chains wrapped around different parts of his body, restraining him tightly.
"What is this?" he said in a confused tone while trying to move, as he felt a slight pull beginning to drag him toward Tartarus.
While struggling with all his strength to stay in place, his feet were slowly dragged across the sand.
And his gaze eventually settled on Harry before he let out a truly calm smile.
As if he were seeing something he had already expected.
"You're seeing it with your own eyes. A power you don't understand. One humans should never possess. That's why Zeus always keeps Hecate under watch. Ever since the magical world was created because of her. Who says a wizard couldn't appear one day and try to achieve the same thing as the gods? Bringing only destruction and the complete purge of the human world so everything can begin again. Magic that can be taught so easily to others should never exist. Because if Hecate ever decided to declare war against Olympus…"
Arthur never finished those words because another chain wrapped around his neck, stopping him from speaking further.
But using the strength in his hands, he barely pulled against it while his body continued being dragged away.
"I saw it in Morgana. And she isn't even Hecate's daughter. She's only a cursed witch. The magical world must be purged before they condemn everyone," he added.
The words "cursed witch" made both Harry and Percy frown.
But neither of them seemed to say much more.
More chains emerged from the pit of Tartarus and continued binding Arthur while he became wrapped inside a cocoon of dark chains, leaving only his golden eyes visible.
Eyes that, with a single look alone, seemed to show that at no point did he feel he was wrong.
That every wizard needed to be killed.
Just in case.
The four of them stared into his eyes, but none of them shared his thoughts in the slightest.
Because nobody gets to decide over the life and death of others.
Only the gods.
And so far, those gods had only proven they weren't entirely trustworthy either.
And above all, they weren't about to listen to a madman talking about annihilating an entire race just to be safe.