Curse of the Triblood

Chapter 39

Aphrodite POV

I was in the Olympian Colosseum at night under the starry sky. If I didn't have a hand in making Rome, the Colosseum would have never been as famous. The entire place was made of white marble and gold. It's bigger than the one in Rome and was far grander. All the gods were in attendance and some of the Olympian council. Ares was supposed to go on a two-on-one fight against Apollo and Hermes. Everyone was cheering and smiling and laughing. Surprising since our kids just found out there is an entranceway for Kronos' army to enter and kill them, all just two hours ago.

I looked into my compact mirror and saw that Percy had just left Silena from the infirmary. I laughed at Silena's expression when she heard about my epithets. Thankfully she didn't have to hear about the more complex versions of myself. There are some things a mother doesn't want her daughter to find out. It was so much easier when Percy was the only one worshiping me, and he knew me enough where I didn't have a hundred split personalities and only one conscious at the same time.

Everyone was cheering and screaming for the fight to begin. I could see some gods already drunk off of wine. One minor-minor god, a name I give to gods born in the last century from two minor gods, spilled some wine on my dress. I looked at my ombre black and red gown and frowned. The god began apologizing and groveling. I waved my hand, and the wine stain disappeared. I fixed my gold necklace and moved my long hair over my shoulder. The god took the hint that I was ignoring him and moved far away from me.

Ares was wearing his blackened armor and had his large sword freshly sharpened. Hermes had his winged shoes flapping at speed so fast it looked slow; all that could be heard was the buzzing of the wings. He had a short sword at the ready. He was wearing bronze armor that gleamed, prepared to take any blow for his wearer. Apollo was wearing golden armor and was standing on his sun chariot. This time it actually looked like a chariot on fire. The horses were on fire too. Poseidon got really angry when he saw it, and it took Apollo a century to convince him the horses were okay.

"Who do you think will win?" a nymph asked another nymph.

"I don't know. Maybe, Hermes, he is the fastest god," she replied.

"Are we sure this is fair? Two Olympians versus one?" a minor god asked.

"They are fighting the god of war," a minor goddess answered.

"Apollo is so cute," a nymph swooned.

War will happen any day now, and we are here watching three idiots duke it out. Athena said it would be wiser to prepare for war and not play sword fights with each other. I hate her stinking guts, but when she's right, she's right. I hate to admit but.. sh-she's r-r-r... Argh, I can't even force myself to think about it properly!

Once it began, Hermes rushed over to Ares at speed faster than humans could comprehend. The only way to describe it was literal godspeed. Give Percy a century, and he'd give Hermes a run for his money, literally. Hermes was already in front of Ares before most of the other gods realized he had even moved.

Hermes swung his sword, and Ares was barely fast enough to dodge the attack and parry the other swing. Hermes swung a few more times, and Ares moved just enough for Hermes to barely miss each strike. But Hermes then cut him in his exposed arm, drawing ichor. In return, Ares tripped Hermes and kicked him with enough force to send him flying into the wall on the other side of the arena.

Apollo fired several arrows towards Ares. Ares cut two in half, but the other three hit his armor and got stuck. Hermes ran back faster than the eye could track and tried to cut off Ares' head. Ares then bent backward as if he was limboing and caused the swing to miss his head. The sword grazed over Ares' helmet, just missing a decapitation.