41 Chapter 41

Alex was darting around like a pinball. His wings felt heavy, burning from strain. He had never flown for so long, much less with pulling the stunts he was doing.

The Furies were on him like angry hornets, with whips that cracked louder than thunder every time they aimed at him. Alecto swung, her yellow teeth split into a sick grin, and Alex barely dodged; the whip grazed his cheek, leaving a burn that stung like melted wax.

He dove, then shot up again, trying to shake them off. No luck. One of the sisters— Alecto had called her Megaera— was right there, whip-lashing out and trying to coil around him like a snake. Alex twisted in the air— close call; he felt the heat off that one. He pushed higher, his breath coming in sharp gasps.

Then the last Fury— Tisiphone — joined the party, aiming for his wings. "Not happening," Alex muttered, swerving at the last second with a strong flap to his left.

His moves were getting sloppy, though; he could feel it.

The Furies were all over him, their attacks syncing up in a way that left Alex no room to breathe. He ducked, dodged, and rolled through the air, sword swinging wildly. He managed to clip Alecto with a shadow spike once, but it was a lucky shot; she hissed and backed off, just a bit.

They were wary of coming to a close to him. It was obvious why, seeing as a single well-placed slash or stab of his sword would make quick work of them, sending them back to the Underworld. 

He needed to find a way to get close and personal— it'd be fairly uncomplicated if could he get them within his sword range. Truly, fighting in the air against three monsters that did it for millennia put him at a disadvantage. He just hoped being a sadist wasn't a requirement to being able to properly fight without footing. 

Alecto came at him again, whip finding his arm this time. It didn't hurt much— the sleeve of his jacket protected him from most of the damage, but when the Fury twisted the handle of the whip, he felt the bone break under the pressure.

The pain assaulted his nerves, and he hissed, though not for long. There was another audible snap, and the pain disappeared all of a sudden. Alex grinned. The sun was completely gone now, and he felt stronger than ever. That also meant most of the wounds he got meant nothing.

Still, the strain on his wings was still there. Mixing it with the boost from the dark, Alex felt weird— his body wasn't sure whether to be tired or not. 

Alecto had her eyes widen in shock. Seizing the moment, he pulled the whip towards him, and the Fury came tumbling through the air in his direction. He spun his sword gleaming, trying to hit her in the neck.

Missed by a mile.

She had recovered mid-flight, flapping her wings out of the way. Alex tried to go after her, but her sisters covered her with their whips, and he had to stop his chase if he didn't want some burns to heal. 

The fight was turned into a blur of moves. He was running on fumes, trying to keep up. They had incredible strength, the three of them, and they were incredibly fast. Alex's advantages relayed upon his celestial bronze sword and the fact that he could heal from most of the damage they gave him.

But he didn't know how long the last one would last. He had scars for a reason. If his regeneration was as good as he wanted it to be, his skin wouldn't have any imperfections— he knew people's eyes always wandered to the scar near his mouth.

Whips cracked, slicing the air inches from his face. He dived, pulled up, and then dived again, leading them on a wild chase, still trying to figure out a way to get close without getting turned into a medium-rare steak. 

At the last second, he pulled up in a flip. For a second, he saw the ground from above, upside down.

He was hoping to catch them off guard. It worked, sort of. Megaera looked stunned, but not for long. He barely got his arm swinging when her fist cracked against his nose.

Blood spurted out like a hose, and he flew backwards uncontrollably. Only when he was a good feet away was he able to regain control of his direction. The pain lasted longer this time, but another snap later, and his nose was not so smashed anymore. Megaera faltered.

"Is that it?" Alex gazed at her with a sneer. "My grandma hits harder than that." 

The scathing sarcasm of his tone seemed to set her off; in a blur, she was in front of him, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him at her sisters.

Alex was thrown around like a ragdoll, from one Fury to another. It was getting hard to see straight, to think straight. Every hit, every lash of the whip, knocked the wind out of him a little more. And yet, the pain didn't last for long; though he noticed the time it took him to heal seemed to grow longer.

"Seems I hit a nerve," He rubbed over his jaw, which he was sure had been broken by the last punch before he was able to free himself. 

Alecto lashed her whip out, but Alex simply tilted his head out of the way— he was getting used to the way they moved.

"Your words will be your undoing, little demigod," Alecto spoke with a venom one would think Alex had killed her whole family. Ironic, seeing that she was a monster. 

He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you guys need to lighten up. Ever heard of a joke?"

With the way they snarled their teeth, he guessed not. As he kept defending, his eyes would flash to the hill, hoping a barrage of arrows would appear out of nowhere. He didn't mind having one or two piercing him if it meant killing these things. 

But no arrows came. It was just Alex, his wings, and his sword against the fury of the Furies— pun intended. 

Tisiphone thought she saw her chance, and dove at him from above, aiming her whip. Alex twirled by only flapping his right wing. A spike of pain shot through his overworked muscles, but he managed to avoid the strike.

He took a deep breath before narrowing his eyes, feeling the rush of adrenaline— or was it the night's power?— pulsing through his veins.

The Furies exchanged a look, probably having a silent conversation he had no hopes of figuring out. 

He feigned a dive in hopes of drawing them in. Alecto took the bait, swooping down in a blur. Almost. Alex pulled up at the last moment, Alecto's whip slicing through the air where he'd just been. 

His agility seemed to piss them off even further. They attacked at the same time, whips coming at him from all sides.

Alex narrowed his eyes and spun. His sword was a blur, deflecting every blow as he tried to counter by sending thin shadow spikes towards them. One strike grazed his hand, another his leg, but the wounds closed— just not as quickly as before.

"Is that all you've got?"

They didn't answer his obvious taunt. However, he'd noticed something. It wasn't that they were avoiding getting close per se, but more like they were avoiding his right side like the plague. Anyone with two fingers worth of forehead could guess it was because his right hand was his sword hand.

Time to switch things up. 

Megaera had charged at him without her sister, probably fueled by overconfidence and the mulling expression on Alex's face, thinking she'd found an opening. He extended his arm in a piercing movement and the Fury was forced to block with the handle of her whip. 

That cut off her vision of him, and he took the chance. He willed for a spike to leave his fingers, striking the handle as he threw his sword to his left hand. He could hear them from afar; the screams of warning from her sisters.

It seemed that she realized at some point what he was doing, but when she finally deflected the shadow spike away from her, Alex sunk the sword deep into her gut. Her scream split the night, and Magaera exploded into golden dust, leaving an odd scent of sulfur lingering in the air. 

One annoyance less, he thought, but there was no time to celebrate. Alecto and Tisiphone were visibly angrier, attacking him again with a ferocity that bordered on madness.

They were relentless. Each move, each dodge, each parry saved him by a breadth's hair. Their attacks felt as if he was trying to stop a speeding truck in its tracks. He danced between them, sword flashing and wings straining against the night air.

Alecto wrapped her whip around Alex's sword and yanked, trying to disarm him. Alex held on, pulled forward by the motion. They crashed together in mid-air and he went for the kill, but another whip wrapped around his neck, pulling him away.

His throat felt like it was being crushed. The way Tisiphone had pulled had him feel like his head was about to be ripped off as it burned his skin. He tried to search for air, but it refused to come to his lungs. Lightheadedness began to wash over him, and he tried to pry the whip off, ignoring the searing fire on his fingers. 

"Look at him dangle," The Fury cackled, twisting her whip and tightening the hold. 

As a last resort, he zeroed in on Tisiphone, flapping his wings as hard as he could. They smashed into each other, with him tackling her, and shot up into the sky.

Alex ignored how heavy his wings felt, and pushed the Fury higher and higher, breaking through the clouds. The world disappeared below them; he could almost make out his truck from here. 

Still, though the grip loosened a bit, the whip was still around his neck. 

Tisiphone let out guttural, beastly noises from her throat, trying to claw at him. But Alex wasn't about to roll over. Despite the beatdown he'd taken, he still had a lot left in the tank, and each cut, burn and bruise was slowly healing.

The air was too thin to breathe easily, and he thanked the Gods that the Furies also needed it to survive. They were brawling above the clouds, with Tisiphone keeping his sword arm stuck while he rained down punches on her head, splitting her face open like it was a watermelon.

She was still alive somehow; even with all the Ichor painting his knuckles gold. It pissed him off that they died with a simple stab from celestial bronze, but could take such a beating. 

There was a moment, right in the middle of the chaos, where Alex realized he could move his sword arm more than he thought.

With everything he had, he yanked his arm free and got his sword in play. The look on Tisiphone's face was priceless— like she couldn't believe what was happening. He'd enjoy reviewing it later.

Without missing a beat, Alex swung his sword at the whip, cutting it off and freeing his neck, before beheading the Fury with a clean, fast swipe. The burn finally felt like it began to heal. 

Tisiphone's scream was sharp but not as loud as her sister's. It cut through the silence up there before she just vanished into nothing, leaving Alex alone with the clouds and his heavy breathing.

Hovering there, way up high, the silence hit him hard. It was weird, going from all-out chaos to just... nothing. His breath was fogging up in the cold air, and his heart was still racing, but everything else was just so quiet.

Winning felt good for about a second before Alex realized he was just hanging there in the sky and still had to kill another one of those bat ladies before he could eat something. Christ, he was hungry. 

He took a deep breath, inhaling the cold air from such altitude, feeling it sting in his lungs. 

When he broke through the clouds again, soaked and freezing, he found that Alecto had retired herself to the ground, the hellhounds behind her. 

"Giving up already?" He sneered as he landed on the ground. His landing was more of a controlled crash the anything, but he was too tired to care

Honestly, he didn't know what had got to him; he wasn't mean, even when taunting during a fight. But there was this intense dislike he had for them, especially Alecto... he couldn't stop his mouth. 

The Fury gave him one last look full of venom. "This isn't over, demigod."

Alex snorted. "Yap yap. If I wanted to hear you talk, I would've shoved my arm up your ass and worked your mouth like a puppet!"

He probably shouldn't have his thoughts reach his lips, but again, they had just tried to kill him and his friends. 

Alecto disappeared in a whirl of dark smoke, leaving the hounds to slowly retreat; though he wasn't sure, they seemed reluctant to do so. "Guess they aren't fans," he muttered, limping towards the hill with the last of his energy.

Thought he was pissed at the Furies for targeting Thalia — actually, more like Hades. What type of stick did he have up his ass? Blaming her because he couldn't get it up — he had to thank them for making him realize something. 

The healing that came together with the power boost whenever it turned to night was finite— it didn't make him invincible. The burn on his neck was still healing, and a few cuts from Tisiphone's claws lingered on his face. That meant, going forward, he should focus more on avoiding attacks instead of tanking them— that is if he didn't want any more scars. 

It also meant that, seeing as how tired he was despite it being night, he'd have a goodnight of sleep.

As he approached, something in the air shimmered, and he walked through what felt like a curtain of warm air. What lay before him was something out of a fantasy—or a really well-funded historical reenactment.

Ancient Greek buildings that looked brand spanking new were sprawled along the valley, and there was a small army of teenagers decked out in bronze armour, sprinting up the hill towards him, led by... was that a centaur with a bow?

He supposed it wasn't as weird as flying, old-hags that worked in hell.

Still, looking at a climbing wall in the distance that seemed to have lava pouring over it, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "I must've hit my head harder than I thought."

That was the last thing he said before exhaustion took hold of him, and he face-planted on the grassy ground.

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A/N: Okay, took me a while to edit this one because I didn't like that much how the fight turned out. I think it's because we as people are used to having our feet on the ground and adding another dimension to the movement isn't exactly easy. 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!