The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 87--New Ideas

I probably could have ended the whole universe-shattering battle right there.

Honestly, if you think about it, even someone as terrifyingly overpowered as Chaos probably couldn't walk off a slab of Celestial bronze shoved directly through her heart. It's a pretty universal rule: no heart, no heartbeat, no life.

The trick is usually just surviving long enough against said primordial to get your blade anywhere near their chest cavity in the first place.

The point is, without her heart, Eternity would have faded. Poof. End of story.

It's a real tragedy that I completely missed it.

That's right—I choked. And it wasn't some epic moment where she twisted at the last millisecond to deflect my lethal strike with a smirk. No, she honestly thought I was already a corpse, remember?

It was entirely my fault. You see, when adrenaline is basically acting as a substitute for your blood, your brain stops doing the fancy math. The world narrows down to a pinpoint, and you just default to muscle memory.

So, I instinctively aimed for where a normal human heart would be sitting, right there on the left side of the chest.

But Eternity wasn't human. She was a primordial. Her biology was probably a swirling vortex of cosmic dust, bedrock, and pure bad attitude. Oh, and did I mention that she was as short as a dwarf?

So instead of a fatal heart-shot, my blade just sank right into her shoulder. Silver ichor pumped out of the wound.

But it was completely useless. I knew from fighting her that her wounds would heal almost instantly, unlike mine, which would just keep piling up.

I had my one golden shot, and I blew it.

Eternity's reaction time was basically negative zero. She snapped forward, spinning on her heel while clutching her glowing shoulder. Her eyes were wide, utterly flabbergasted. "You . . ." she hissed. "Are you not a demigod?"

"Dude, what are you even on about?" I snapped. I was furious with myself. "Demigods have brains, too, you know. Just admit you got outplayed."

Hey End, I thought, projecting my mental voice to the literal primordial entity living rent-free in my skull. Are we doing the flashbang thing for the next debuff, or is there another cosmic horror I should be worrying about?

She probably responded. Honestly, I don't remember.

Because that was the exact moment a solid, planet-ruling throne came flying directly at my face.

You know how people say your life flashes before your eyes?

Mine didn't. Instead, my brain just hyper-fixated on the sheer absurdity of getting squashed by a chair. A really, really big, ornate chair—with skulls all over. The very thing I had been freaked out about when I first saw it.

But the universe didn't really care about my preferences, did it?

I guess I could have been more alert. I could have kept my eyes peeled for airborne furniture. But seriously, who adds 'beware of flying thrones' to their daily to-do list?

The truth is, the only reason I didn't turn into a Percy-pancake was Eternity herself. When you're absolutely seething with rage, calculating the exact trajectory of a massive projectile is tough work. Instead of flattening me with the concentrated weight of a billion kingdoms, the massive seat merely clipped my arm.

Not that 'merely' was the right word. My arm felt like it had been run over by a steamroller. Twice.

I was launched.