"An Olympian god asking for a fair duel? That is new.

"

Sam said as he took out his reaper sword. Athena didn't mind his remark, in fact, she actually agreed with him.

"If that is a provocation that won't work. In fact, I believe no matter how bad you think the Olympian gods are, they would be worse in my opinion. Now, let's just get this done with.

"

As she spoke, her body condensed further and within a flash she became the size of a normal human. She landed on the ground gracefully and waved her hand. Energy condensed into a sword. She dashed towards Sam.

Sam also got off of Harbinger and made his move toward Athena.

The two swords clashed. There is no use of elemental energy. It is all neutral spiritual energy and the clash between them is purely neutral as well.

The two blades clashed and a keening sound came out of thin air.

Athena looked at the sword in Sam's hands and said.

"It is a good sword. You crafted it?

"

"Yes.

"

Sam said with a smile and slipped to the side, in process he attempted to slice Athena on her arm, but she already anticipated it and slipped along with Sam in the same direction. Both of their blades separated and Sam initiated the attack this time.

He aimed for her head directly with a stab, Athena parried the strike to the side and for a moment, it became a fencing match between the two. Sam just focused on her head and didn't want back down. It is almost like he wouldn't relent unless he hit her head at least once.

Athena was in the defensive just for a bit, but soon she managed to follow those parries with her own counter attacks with ease and she aimed for Sam's neck every single time.

The clashes looked fierce as with each of them the surroundings tremored. The spiritual energy turned sharper every second because of their auras.

The sword fight continued for the next three minutes and finally Sam made a different move. As his stab went straight for her head, he kicked the ground and rose in the air.

The angle of the stab changed and he aimed for the heart.

Athena almost got caught off guard. Almost.

She slipped to the side and blocked Sam's attack, before sliding her sword against his and aiming for his arm.

Sam stepped on the ground and kicked her before she could land a slash on his fingers.

But of course, Athena didn't take the kick full on.

She tried to dodge and the kick brushed past her abdomen, but for that she had to divert the sword strike. Sam missed the sword strike, almost. But the sword suddenly morphed into a spear and the spear tip was charging at Sam.

The spear tip left a very small scar on Sam's face as he dodged.

He looked at Athena with a smile as she spun her spear.

Even though she is an energy being at the moment, Sam could clearly see all of her features. She is a tall woman with long hair. Sam doesn't know her skin complexion, but her eyes are filled with the battle spirit and confidence that Sam rarely saw.

There is certain pride in her eyes and it is unlike the ones he usually saw in the eyes of these young masters and even the gods he came across.

It is refreshing to see such pride.

Athena charged forward gracefully with repeated thrusts from the spear.

Sam dodged them narrowly as he stepped back. He didn't even use the sword in his hand. But Athena is not stupid enough to get used to his rhythm like before. She is very composed. Even though Sam looked like he is dodging right now, he is not really on the backfoot. He is very calm and confident.

After five of six thrusts, Sam caught the next one that came at him. He grabbed the spear and pulled Athena towards him. She was pulled forward and lost her Rhythm.

Sam extended the sword in his hand to stab her.

Athena controlled her body and made the spear extend even more creating a distance between her and Sam. The sword didn't manage to reach her, but the next second, she saw the sword disappearing and a spear appear in Sam's hand while his hand was still in that thrusting motion.

She forcefully halted in her tracks and used the momentum to slide to the side. Sam swept the spear while Athena did the same with her.

Both of them moved in a circle and switched their positions before breaking the contact.

Sam also spun the spear in his hands. He had a smirk on his face.

Athena threw her spear at Sam and ran after it with another spear.

Sam threw a spinning kick to the spear on its shaft and made it land behind him. He then charged forward and blocked the spear Athena is thrusting at him with his own.

Now the fight turned into a classic spear fight.

Sam is trying to sweep her off with the swings, but she on the other hand is trying to just get a clean stab.

While Sam and Athena are fighting to their heart's content, the city's formation and Sam's beasts are under full stress.

They are not exactly losing it, but the frequency of the puppets is so damn high.

The puppets are using the formation maze to their advantage as they tried to escape smoothly before they reached the formation of the city.

The beasts are assassinating them as much as possible, but still they managed to reach the formation and they are just exploding after they did that.

When they exploded, the parts of the puppets are spreading far and wide as they stuck to the surface of the dome the formation created, before they are releasing another explosion.

This explosion is different. It is more similar to an EMP from back on earth. The only difference is that this explosion is far less absolute and couldn't penetrate the formation immediately.

Of course, Sam also sensed this, but he has full faith that the beasts and the formations could handle it, so he left them as they were.

But the people inside the city are not feeling the same.

With every explosion that is happening on the formation, they are feeling a bit anxious. The formation is thinning a bit in the area where the explosion occurred and it appeared like a vulnerable point until it recovered.

It is understandable of course, but Sam couldn't care less. As long as they didn't do anything stupid like messing with the formation, then he is fine.

"Your formation is quite good.

"

Athena praised as she kicked Sam in the chest and tried to throw the spear.

Sam slid on the ground before he stabilized himself. He dodged the spear that came and threw his own spear at Athena.

Athena stepped back and tried to dodge, but Sam already appeared near the tail of his spear and kicked it.

The spear shot forward. Athena missed the timing and a gash was left on her arm.

"Your formation is also quite good.

"

Athena looked at the gash on her body. It is not recovering directly. It seems like she really only kept limited energy within this body and she would disappear after taking a certain level of damage.

Her body is also mimicking what a real body of hers would have reacted like when faced with such an attack.

So, if Sam cuts off an arm, unless she has regenerative powers for her original body, then she wouldn't be regenerating her arm here just because she is an energy being right now.

Sam was impressed by such integrity which is very rare to seen in Olympian gods that he had encountered.

Athena extended her hands and two daggers appeared. One of them is a normal dagger, but the other one is a throwing one. She threw that at Sam without hesitation.

Sam dodged to the side, but the dagger just followed him around like a homing missile.

Sam didn't hesitate and just increased his speed, he sped towards Athena. He took out a dagger of his own and clashed with her once again.

He aimed to cut her neck off, but Athena blocked his approach with a kick and spun before trying to stab him on the side.

Sam used his arm to block her by her elbow and tried to slash her arm off.

Athena of course dodged once again, she used the contact Sam had with her as leverage and tried to twist him by his arm and stab him in the back.

Instead of resisting the twist like she expected, Sam just rolled with it and made her roll over. He wanted to take the mount position and finish her off. But the slash he aimed at her throat landed on her collar bone, while a stab barely brushed past Sam's abdomen as she slid from underneath him.