The House of Hades

Chapter 29: Leo

Chapter 29!

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Chapter 29: Leo

Leo stared into the red, unblinking eyes, of the giant he was supposed to fight. He knew now, that he had seriously underestimated Mimus. Yeah, he had been prepared for him to be twenty feet tall, but he definitely hadn't been prepared for a giant with muscles rippling in his arms, big beefy hands that looked like they could crush Leo like a gnat, and a huge black club, spiked at the end. And then there were the snake trunks for legs...

There was only one thing to do.

"I'm - uh - not the son of Hephaestus!" Leo said quickly. Mimus frowned.

"NOT THE SON OF HEPHAESTUS?" he bellowed.

"Yeah!" Leo yelped, "I'm the son of...um...Aphrodite!" the giant looked confused for a second, then stretched his lips into a leer,

"Why, then, is your hair on fire?" Oops. That tended to happen when he was nervous. Leo could practically hear Jason rolling his eyes. Great. Leo glanced nervously at the huge club, and the sword of Hades Mimus held.

"Fine, I am the son of Hephaestus! And I will destroy you!" Leo yelled, trying to sound braver than he felt. He summoned te biggest fireball that he could, and lobbed it at Mimus. But it just splashed against his chest, and didn't do any harm,

"I am the bane of Hephaestus!" Mimus laughed, "Naturally, I am immune to fire!"

Uh-oh. Then Leo mentally slapped himself. He had forgotten his Mimas-fighting weapon of awesomeness. Slowly, he inched his hand towards his pocket.

"My turn!" Mimas said roughly, and swung his club at Leo, who dived out of the way. Okay, plan B. He whipped out the black disc, and pried off the cover, revealing a control panel full of buttons, and blinking lights. He pressed one, and the disc glowed white-hot. Then he threw it at Mimas like a frisbee. It slashed across his chest, opening a deep gash, and returned to his hands.

Mimas roared in anger, and swung his club at Leo again, but this time Leo was ready. He tossed the lid of the disc into the air, and it morphed into a full length shield that he used to deflect the blow. Then, scrambling out of the way of Mimas's next blow, he pressed another button on the disk, and it turned into a huge hammer. A flaming one. Leo took deep breath, as Mimus looked at him in bewilderment.

"Fight, you coward!" Mimus yelled, "or are you as much of a spineless worm as your father?" That did it. No one insulted Leo's dad like that except him (long story, involving he, Leo, nearly getting blasted into a million pieces). Leo faced Mimus, and scowled at him, hoping his expression was giving off an I'm gonna kill you kind of vibe. Judging by the amused look on Mimas's face, it was more like, fine, but please don't kill me! The monster army that had formed a circle around them jeered and laughed, calling for blood.

Leo stared into Mimas's glowing red eyes...and they both charged at the same time.

The problem was, Mimas being twenty feet tall gave him a bit of an advantage, so Leo had no choice...but to jump.

Mimas's club came crashing down to his head, but Leo jumped out of the way, and before Mimas could process what was happening, scrambled up his huge arm to his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Mimas roared. As an answer, Leo shouted, "for Hephaestus!", and plunged his sword into Mimas, just next to his collarbone. Yeah, the hammer had transformed into a sword. It could do stuff like that. Leo jumped from the shoulder, and slashed at Mimas's chest on the way down, rolling when he hit the ground. Mimas bellowed in rage, and jabbed at him with the sword of Hades instead. Leo met the blow with his own sword, and returned with one of his own. They exchanged a flurry of blows, Leo's weapon transforming from one weapon to another so fast he could hardly keep up. Sword, hammer, spear, dagger, club...normally Leo wouldn't be able to fight with any of those weapons, but he felt energized, adrenaline pumping, his hands seemingly just knowing what to do, like when he was tinkering with one of his machines.