Demigods and Dimensional Warps

Weapons, Training, Trauma... Just Standard Demigod Stuff

Abigail watched as one by one, everyone made excuses and left. Before Kaite could leave, she pulled on her sleeve. "Hey, is there somewhere I can get weapons that actually work?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot I wanted to take you to the weapons shed. If nothing suits you there, we might be able to ask the Hephaestus cabin for a custom weapon." She responded as Abigail got up. "Just remember, nothing too strenuous. I don't want Will to be mad at me because you couldn't follow doctor's orders."

———

Abby said nothing as they made their way to the weapons shed. It was always amazing what could be found in there, some weapon used by an ancient Greek hero or heroine or even a villain, could be found just gathering dust. Abby didn't seem to react to the sheer amount of weapons in the room but she gravitated towards the knife section.

"You know, knives are a much riskier decision when it comes to defending oneself. Sure I have one, but that's more of a worst case scenario tool. Wouldn't you be better off with a more ranged weapon?" Katie asked.

"I usually use knives. I know how to use a sword and other ranged weapons but I feel more comfortable with knives. I was specifically looking for throwing knives." Abby admitted. "However there don't seem to be many here."

"Someone else might have snatched them all up already. Sorry about that." Katie said, a little sheepish.

"Doesn't matter." Abby said, with a grin in her voice. She grabbed several blades and put them into various sheaths on her belt. "This will work for now."

———

Training in the arena felt nice, but it reminded her a little too much of SAO. Heck, the whole place felt a little too much like a video game. Monsters that respawned after a random period of time, rare weapons, magic powers, all of it was now her reality. Sati'd heard stories about one person who fought the same monster three or four times.

Unlike in video games though, there was no end to the number of combos she could try out. Often in games, there were set moves and numbers of strikes one could pull off. The freedom was fun, but it brought back bad memories.

Sati sighed and put her sword down. Who was she kidding? She was a normal person outside of being a gamer. Everyone else here but Gili had some sort of weird power that made them special. Sati couldn't do anything without a VR headset.

"You taking a break?" Someone asked. Sati looked up, startled, and saw Katie's brother walking down into the arena.

"Something like that." She said awkwardly.
"You mind if I take a swing or two?"

"N-no, not at all." Sati didn't understand why he was asking. Surely if he wanted to he could just tell her to move.

The boy, Percy she thought his name was, pulled out a pen and uncapped it. A sword unfolded into the air. Sati looked on in awe as he whaled on one of the practice dummies. He reminded her of Kazuto.

———

What felt like a long time later, Percy noticed her gawking. "What is it? Is my form off? I haven't practiced in a while. My mom disapproves of swinging weapons in the house."

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong. You just remind me of my brother. He also uses one-handed swords." Sati quickly said. "In fact, I was wondering if I could have a sparring match with you?"

"Are you sure?" Percy asked. Sati nodded, readying her borrowed sword.

There was no start countdown, like in games. Percy just launched himself at her and she just barely blocked in time. This guy was definitely strong. Sati went skidding back after one attack. It was clear that he had fought in multiple life or death matches and destroyed anyone in his path.

Percy came in again and she managed to parry his blade away. This isn't working. How can I win? She wondered as her and Percy exchanged more blows. She had been praised in SAO for having high agility stats, but that was all useless here. Or was it?

The Four-Part Vertical Square! It was a series of blocks and strikes that when delivered correctly, formed a square in the air. However, she would likely only get one chance before he caught on.

First, the under block. Percy struck toward her leg but instead of jumping she blocked it, knocking his sword back. Percy readjusted his stance and came in from above instead. The second strike was an upper block. Their blades skated off each other as she adjusted her grip. Sati spun quickly to come in for the third strike, as Percy blocked the attack to the side.
It wasn't until the final strike when she ran into issues. As she prepared to strike from the other side, where Percy wasn't guarding, Sati realized why it felt familiar. This had been exactly what she had done when...

Clang! Percy's sword met her frozen one as it was knocked out of her grasp. Sati, blind to the real world, collapsed as Percy pointed his sword at her throat.

"My win." He panted.