XVII

Percy was nervous, extremely nervous. Even though he had his friends with him which eased the nervousness quite a bit, it wasn't much, but it eased him quite a bit. Percy didn't know why he was nervous, he was extremely confused as to why he was nervous, he already did this before, multiple times even, when they would make a grand feast at Camelot, Percy would just hang out with Arthur and Merlin, not really doing anything. Percy shook his head and turned towards his friends. Edeline and Wymer both had looks of nervousness.

"Ready to go?" Edeline asked, turning towards Percy. Percy nodded, albeit a little sheepishly. Wymer let out a nervous laugh, trying to get rid of the jitteriness. Percy looked in front of him, seeing the massive castle that dwarfed every single building in the kingdom. Not one building matched the castle, it was that majestic. Percy still wasn't sure if it was as majestic or more majestic than Camelot, Percy still didn't know.

Edeline sighed, opening the big double wooden door and entering. Instantly Percy heard the sound of laughter and enjoyment, merrymaking was all around the place. People were just out having fun, each one of the crusaders were either drinking alcoholic beverages, or drinking non alcoholic beverages, it really depended on the person. Wymer had a small smile on his face whilst looking around the building. The castle interior was as grand as Percy imagined it to be. The ceiling seemed to stretch up, filling the room with loads of breathing space. The interior itself was grand and magnificent to no compare.

The ceiling was littered with stones that seem to glint in the night, mosaics were dotted around the stones, as if portraying life like scenarios. The paintings were that good that Percy thought the paintings itselves were moving. Percy needed to blink twice before he realized what it was. Wymer too was looking around with glee and excitement, as if he was back to being a kid that just got candy. Edeline though was calm, as if already participating in multiple feats. Like this grand feast was just second nature. Though Percy could tell she was a little nervous, she hid it extremely well with her calm demeanor.

"Wow! This place is amazing." Wymer said, looking around in wonder, absorbing the beauty of the castle.

"Yeah, it is quite a spectacle." Edeline replied, giving a small nod of agreement. Percy was still silent, admiring all of it without even moving his mouth, Percy did have to give credit to the makers of the castle, it was pretty cool.

"So, what do we do now?" Wymer asked, looking at Percy and Edeline. The two shared a look, giving a small shrug in unison towards Wymer.

"This is a grand feast, it's not really that formal, well, your clothes are, but it's still a feast, so you can have fun without the damned upper classes breathing down your necks." Edeline said. Wymer gave a small nod. Percy looked around, and sure indeed there were some people that were acting pretty civilized. There were some people that were acting polite, there were some having straight out brawls, good thing those brawls consisted mostly of arm wrestling etcetera, they also did it at the corner which meant the place was somewhat peaceful.

All around, you could hear the sound of laughter and enjoyment, it was extremely delighting, the atmosphere was so wonderful that it made Percy grin. The three looked around, taking in all of the surroundings, bearing the sound of merriment and laughter. Percy smirked, he rarely got to see these kinds of feasts, there were a few times in Camelot that they held these kind of feasts, where the common folk were allowed into the castle which were Percy's favorites. But mostly it was only for the upperclassmen, these grand feasts were mostly for the rich.

The sound of footsteps echoed the castle, the room suddenly turning silent. The laughter turning into whispers, whispers turning into silence, the whole room was filled with cold dead air. Percy looked around, wondering why the sudden silence. Percy spotted the culprit, eyeing him at the other side of the room. At the other end of the room stood a tall proud man, a few feet away from his throne. He wore a magnificent flashy robe, the crown on his head reflecting the chandelier light. The various gems and jewelry on his crown and as rings were glinting, as if marking a form of superiority.

Everyone was silent. Dead silence filled the room. Percy stared at the king, waiting, wondering what his next move would be. The king laughed, a wholehearted one. Percy was confused, extremely confused. The room slowly filled up some chuckles, lightening the tension of the room a little, but there was still silence amidst the small chuckles.

"You're all so tense, this is a feast, a place of merriment, feasts are for fun and entertainment. If you want to brawl it out, do it at the corner, if you want to get feisty and frisky, there are rooms upstairs if you know what I mean." The king said, immediately the room bursted out with laughter, the music resuming, the sound of instruments and laughter entering the room again, which hopefully would stay.

"Enjoy yourselves my people, this can possibly be the night of your lives." The king said. Percy shook his head and turned towards Wymer and Edeline who were laughing a little.

"So, where do you want to go first." Edeline asked, turning towards Percy. Percy gave off a small shrug, not really knowing where he wanted to go. He was fine going anywhere, as long as his friends were there, he was fine.

"Let's just have fun, I'm willing to try out that tasty chicken." Wymer said, eyeing the chicken at a long table. The table itself was lined up with food that stretched up to the end of the room. Percy shook his head and followed Wymer to the food table to which he happily chowed down onto the chicken.

"I'm pretty sure that's a turkey." Edeline stated, Percy nodded in agreement.

"I don't care, chicken, turkey, they're almost the same thing." Wymer said chowing down onto the turkey, occasionally grabbing some water and instantly slurping it down. Percy chuckled a little, shaking his head disapprovingly in a joking way.

"Damn it Wymer, your appetite is unquenchable." Edeline said with a small laugh, a wholehearted one. Wymer kept eating and eating whilst Percy walked around with Edeline, looking around the room and admiring how beautiful it was, the room that is.

"So what do think will happen in the upcoming weeks?" Edeline asked, Percy shrugged. He was getting extremely anxious, in the next few weeks. They were about to be sent off to do some missions and stuff, it'd be his first time actually fighting as a crusader. Percy had to admit, he did get a bit rusty from not fighting actual real monsters. All he did was train with Edeline, he didn't actually get any real monster to human combat experience.

"Anyways, I'm feeling a bit crowded, want to go out and get some fresh air?" Edeline asked, raising her eyebrows. Percy shrugged, giving off a small nod. Edeline grabbed Percy by the wrist and practically dragged him out of the palace, opening the big double doors and onto the serene outside world. Percy shook his head, feeling the soft cool breeze brushing up against his skin, Percy had to admit, it was pretty calming.

Percy turned towards Edeline who was breathing the air with a sigh of relief. Edeline was right, the palace was starting to get a little bit crowded, also the smell of liquor and booze was pretty strong which was also a reason. Inside the palace was tinted with the smell of liquor and alcohol, outside was serene and calming. It was getting pretty late, all of the common folk were probably asleep which gave the city a comfortable silence, the city glowing in the night sky from the city lights.

"Pretty calming isn't it?" Edeline asked, Percy nodded, giving her a small smile.

"I'd give almost everything to always be like this, to be at peace with both my surroundings and myself." Edeline stated, Percy nodded in agreement.

"But, we're crusaders, it's an occupational hazard, very rarely do crusaders fight and live to tell the tale." Edeline stated. Percy knew what she felt, the feeling of going into a battle without coming back, the fear that this day might be your last, it was honestly scary, but Percy learned to live with it, as a demigod who was cursed, he needed to adjust. Edeline shook her head, giving off a small chuckle.

"I'll stop my blabbering, I'm probably annoying you." Edeline said, Percy shook his head awkwardly, giving her a small comforting smile and a thumbs up. Once again the two fell into a comfortable silence, just admiring the beauty of it all.

"Well this is quite a view isn't it?" A voice said, Percy jumped a little at the sound, Edeline looking towards Percy. She instantly went to a knee. Percy raised his eyebrows and looked behind him, seeing the king himself. Percy widened his eyes and bowed before him.

"Ah, no need to bow, I'm just here to enjoy the night sky, like you two are doing right now I presume?" The king asked. Percy slowly stood up, giving a small nod. Edeline followed suit, looking at the king with wide eyes.

"What a lovely night sky, it's not all the time I can get out of the castle and get some nice fresh air you know?" The king said, the king himself was around his mid thirties. He wore jewelry fit for, well, a king. The crown that adorned his head symbolized that he was the king and ruler of this land. Percy stood there awkwardly as the king kept startgazing whilst Edeline was at the corner with a huge grin on her face.

"Anyways, I better get going, thank you for your company but I best be off." The king said. As he said it, Percy could feel a small rustling in the nearby bushes. Percy looked around cautious as to what was causing it. Slowly out of the bush came a monster like creature, it's skin pure black, it's teeth jarred and pointy, as if ready to lunge at you and take a bite. It's claws were extremely sharp and deadly like it could rip you to pieces.

The creature lunged at the king, ready to attack. Percy grabbed the sword that was strapped on his belt and jumped in front of the king, parrying the swipe of the creatures claws. Percy blocked the strike directed to the king, protecting him from death. Edeline blinked a few times before she knew the situation they were in. She instantly rushed beside the king and helped him up, carefully escorting him up the palace stairs. The monster turned towards the king, both Percy and the monster sharing looks until the monster charged at the king with its sharp claws.

Percy grabbed his sword and jumped, slicing the arm off the creature. Percy turned towards Edeline who was escorting the king into the palace. Percy turned towards Edeline with a serious face as i saying an invisible sentence.

"Get him out of here." Percy mouthed, Edeline nodded in understanding, quickly helping the king run to the door to be protected by the rest of the crusaders. Percy looked at the monster who was clutching it's arm. The arm gushed with black blood like a waterfall. Magically, the arm seemed to regenerate, growing back with much sharper claws. Percy gulped a little, looking at the monster with a serious face.

The monster charged towards Percy, raising its claws and bringing it down, ready to slice Percy to bits. Percy rolled to the side, avoiding the sharp claws and counter attacking. Percy raised his own sword and slashed, the slash cutting the monster straight in the chest, sending the monster flying. The monster collided with a stone wall, the monster laying lifeless next to the stone wall.

Not even a second later the monster raised its head, very much alive, locking its eyes with Percy. The monster pounced at Percy and opened its mouth to take a bite at Percy's face. Percy widened his eyes and slashed, the sword slicing through the monsters abdomen, cutting the monster clean in half. Percy looked at his clothes, disgusted, black blood dripping on his white tunic.

Percy turned towards the monster who was already getting back up, it's lower half completely regenerating as if nothing happened, not even a scar was left. Percy gulped, readying his sword to attack once again. The two exchanged blow after blow, Percy dodging each strike and damaging the monster, ranging from cutting the monster clean in half, and slicing its shoulders off, its arms off, nothing worked. Percy was getting really frustrated, he didn't know how to kill these things.

Percy readied his sword for another round, readying himself to slice the monster to pieces. The monster turned towards Percy, it's black slender like body shifting into something more human like, at first it's form was abstract, it almost resembled nothing. Until the monster suddenly stopped, Percy widened his eyes, his sword loose on his hand. Percy had his mouth agape, the monster slowly shifted into a more human like shape, its form choosing another.

Percy recognized it, the signature brown hair, the semi pale skin. Percy couldn't believe it. The monster was Arthur Pendragon. Percy instantly dropped his sword, placing his hands on his ears. Percy shook his head, his head started aching on a whole other level.

"This isn't real."

"This isn't real."

"This isn't real."

Percy kept chanting those words, yet it did close to nothing. The monster approached Percy, claws forming on the hand of Percy's best friend. Percy kept shaking his head in disbelief, not knowing what to do in the situation. The monster reverted back to its original form and launched itself in the air, raising its claw to end Percy's life. A bright purple light resonated from the very corner of the battlefield, the bright beam striking the monster in the chest, sending the monster flying.

Percy opened his eyes, looking around in confusion. Percy turned towards the corner of his eye, from the dark alleyway was silhouette, Percy squinted his eyes, seeing the form of an old man.

"It has been an extremely long time my friend." Flitch said, walking out of the alleyway with a small smile. Percy widened his eyes. Flitch's form flickered a bit, a bright purple light enveloping the old mans body. The light slowly died down, revealing his friend, Percy couldn't believe what he was seeing, he was shell shocked.

"Ah, it feels good to be back again." Merlin said stretching a bit, looking at Percy with a small smile.

"It has been a long time, eh Percival?" Merlin said with small smirk. Percy nodded, giving a small smile.

"Now, let's kill this monster properly." Merlin said, turning towards the monster who was rising up with regenerated limbs far deadlier than the last.

"Decapitation, that is its weakness, if my memory serves me right you should be able to take care of this yourself, but I am a few hundred years old so my old man brain must be getting a bit rusty." Merlin said with a small smile, floating up in the air a few inches.

"Come on Percival, remember when you told me, well, not really told me but I read your mind that you could take on monsters with regenerative abilities with ease, I want to see you actually do what you were boasting about." Merlin said, Percy sighed, chuckling a bit, clutching his sword. Percy charged at the monster, the monster also charging, making a large slash towards Percy.

Percy sidestepped and avoided the slash with ease, going to the monsters side and making a slash, the monster moved out of the way, adapting to Percy's attack pattern. Percy clutched his sword and charged, jumping in the air and making a downward slash. The monster rolled out of the way, avoiding the strike barely. The monster turned towards Percy with anger, barring it's fangs, making an animalistic growl towards Percy. Percy twirled his sword and readied himself, the monster charging towards Percy with incredible speed.

The monster jumped, opening its mouth, revealing it's set of deadly sharp teeth, ready to rip you limb from limb. Percy smirked, readying his sword and slashing.

Slash

The monster landed beside Percy, it's head sliced clean off. Black blood leaking from the monsters body. Percy looked at the monster with a look of confusion. It was rare for a monster to actually die, usually they just turn to dust and go back to whatever hell they came from, this monster wasn't doing any of that, it was bleeding.

"You still got it Percival." Merlin said with a small smirk, looking at Percy with a smile. Percy turned towards Merlin with wide eyes, looking at his friend with a shocked look.

"Why the look? You look like you saw a ghost or a dead man." Merlin said.

"In fact, I should be saying that to you." Merlin said turning towards Percy. Percy looked at the ground in guilt, not really knowing what to say.

"How are you still alive?" Merlin asked, looking at Percy as if he was a ghost. Percy shrugged not really knowing what to answer.

"I mean, I saw your body, I saw you die, we put a funeral for you and everything, how?" Merlin asked, looking at Percy gobsmacked.

"I'll stop with the questions, I'm sure you don't know the answer, but still, I can't help but wonder." Merlin said with a small sigh. The two best friends shared a bro hug, it's been a long time since they've seen each other. The two pulled away with a large smirk on their faces.

"I knew it was you the moment you entered the shop, I just wasn't sure if you were real or not, but when I saw Arthur using his form, it immediately confirmed my theories and suspicions." Merlin said. The double doors opened, revealing multiple crusaders, holding a variety of weapons. Edeline and Wymer turned towards Percy with a look of confusion. The two approached Percy as if asking a silent question, what the hell happened.

"Where's the monster?" Wymer asked.

"Percival killed it." Merlin stated, the two turned towards Merlin with a look of shock.

"Not to be rude or anything but, who are you?" Edeline asked, Wymer crossed his arms as if saying, Percival you have got a lot of explaining to do.

"Well, let's just say I'm an old friend, figuratively and literally." Merlin said with a small smile, Percy too couldn't help but give off a small lopsided grin whilst Wymer and Edeline were confused as hell.

Word Count
3424
Words

A/N
So, this is the chapter, yeah, it might be a bit disappointing.
I am extremely confused as to how I'm going to go about this now, it's been so long haha *awkward chuckle*

My update schedule is so cracked and messed up that it's actually funny. I dunno when I will update next, so I'm not going to promise anything. For now, I think my best bet would be to update whenever I can. I dunno, I don't have a real update schedule right now. So whenever I can I will update, but that's the thing, whenever I can, which is not much, hence the extreme delay in this chapter.

Currently I am very busy, I have tests upcoming in the following weeks, and it's very important, I need to study and all that stuff, which sucks arse. I also need to submit projects that are due in a few weeks to a few days. Also, as I'm currently writing this chapter, I don't have Internet, so I'm writing this offline, it's been three days without internet now, it sucks. So, yeah, here I am, with nothing to do, and here I am, writing a chapter, or well, editing the chapter that has been due since a few weeks ago haha.

Anyways, I'm going to go now, see you guys on the next chapter, which hopefully won't be too long now.