Board Thread:Antaeus' Arena: Audience Chamber/@comment-1515612-20150804024815/@comment-24067344-20150808201638

8th Hero of Olympus wrote: All right, let's take a good and objective look at those examples of yours. I’m sorry to say that none of them are very compelling:

1) Annabeth—Now you did make one fair point, Annabeth has trained for 5 years longer than Percy (7 years longer than Nico), so she is definitely more experienced. HOWEVER, that doesn’t necessarily imply that she's more skilled, since Percy and Nico might be prodigiously skilled swordsmen, with more potential in this regard. As for Annabeth defeating Percy “several times”? Aside from their fight in “The Lightning Thief” movie (which is non-canon, since we’re dealing with the book series), I do not recall Annabeth ever defeating or even stalemating Percy in a straight-up fair fight. If you’re referring to how she defeated Percy in Capture the Flag in “The Bronze Dragon” I would point out that Annabeth only managed to do so with the element of surprise, by approaching Percy invisibly (wearing her Yankees cap) and disarming him before he’d fully realized what was going on. The fact that Annabeth chose to do it in such a way implies that she herself didn’t believe that she’d be able to defeat Percy in a straight-up fight.

2) Frank—Yes, Frank did display superhuman strength while fighting 100 Katoblepones in Venice and while fighting monsters in the Necromanteion. HOWEVER, you shouldn’t forget that both instances were only while Frank had the Blessing of Mars backing him up, a blessing that (similar to the Curse of Achilles) grants Frank invulnerability, superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and endurance. Hence it would be unfair to use that feat in a debate to prove which one of them is more skilled, since Nico wasn't ever similarly enhanced by Ares/Mars.

3) Percy in “The Last Olympian”—Yes, Percy did personally kill a large portion of Kronos' army in "The Last Olympian". HOWEVER, you shouldn't forget that he did so only while bearing the Curse of Achilles, that granted Percy not only invulnerability, but also superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and endurance. So, just like with Frank, it would be unfair to use that feat in a debate to prove which one of them is more skilled, since Nico wasn't ever similarly enhanced by the Styx.

4) Percy vs Resurrecting ghosts—First of all, there were only about 100 of them, not “hundreds”, but I’ll admit, that’s still a lot. Secondly, you shouldn’t forget that Percy also used a hurricane, not just his combat skills, to even his odds against them, and began to lose ground against the ghosts as soon as his hurricane vanished, even though they could already be killed by that point. It would be logical to assume that Percy most likely wouldn’t have held his own against them without the hurricane, so it’s unfair to use this argument in a debate to prove which one of them is more skilled, since that's an ability that Nico can’t utilize.

5) Percy vs Amazons—See, “Percy defeating the Amazons easily” is a huge overestimation, since Percy only fought and defeated 2 of them before riding out on Arion. Sure, Percy defeated both of them easily, but that is by no means a feat that Nico wouldn’t have been able to pull off.

6) Percy vs Romans—Yes, Percy did defeat dozens of Roman demigods by himself, “fighting like a demon” (as Frank said), since Percy’s unpredictable, Greek solo fighting style made him particularly dangerous to them, since the Romans are used to fighting as a group, allowing Percy to easily defeat multiple Romans at once. Yes, it looks better than Nico defeating only 6 Romans. HOWEVER, you should also recall that Nico was very much weakened while fighting the legionnaires (since he had just shadow-traveled a few seconds before), and wasn’t even going all-out against the legionnaires, whom he didn’t want to kill. So, it would only be logical to assume that a non-weakened Nico going all-out would have been able to defeat many more Romans simultaneously, much like Percy did in “The Son of Neptune”, since Nico also has what it takes for such a feat—he’s Greek, so Nico also utilizes an unpredictable solo fighting style, which makes him particularly dangerous to them. If any of the legionnaires are bigger and stronger than Nico, that won’t be a problem either, since Nico has once overpowered an entire group of 7-foot-tall Earthborn (who were definitely both bigger and stronger than any legionnaire), while being limited by being able to fight them with only 1 hand (since Nico was holding his scepter in the other), so logically, I’m sure that Nico would also have been able to pull off this feat, much like Percy did.

Annabeth: It was mentioned in The Crown of Ptolemy, that Annabeth defeated Percy several times. So yes, if Annabeth can defeat the best swordsman in Camp Half Blood, she can defeat Nico. Also, consider the fact that she has much more experience (She was 7 when she was alone battling monsters and all; that's 3 years younger than Nico) in the real world than Percy and Nico, plus 7 more years of intense training than Nico in Camp Half Blood. Also, consider the fact, that she herself had to save Thalia and Luke from The Cyclops.

Percy vs The Amazons: Yes, Percy only fought 3 Amazons and defeated them easily. But Also remember, Frank was impressed that Percy defeated them so easily. Nico on the other hand, could've defeated them, but not as easily, cause he never had any proper training in Camp Half Blood. I mean, Percy used a Greek Trick ( That Frank didn't know; being impressed and shocked after Percy used it on That Amazon). So yes, Nico would've done it as well, just not as easily.

Percy vs The Romans: Like I said earlier, since Nico never had real training in Camp Half Blood, it would've been less likely that Nico could defeat dozens of Roman Demigods like Percy did. Especially considering the fact, that Percy learned many moves and tricks. Also, consider the fact, that before the War Games started, Nico mentioned that The war games would be interesting tonight, Probably because he knew how powerful Percy was.

Now, there are many more examples of Percy only using his sword, and successfully killing many monsters, You said that Nico killed a group of Earthborn, which were much bigger and stronger than Nico, well, Percy has done that, but many times. Here are more examples:

Percy vs Arachne: Percy Killed Arachne. Yes, she was weak, but let us not forget that this is one of the largest monsters that Percy has every killed, and one of the fastest kills Percy has ever done too. Annabeth herself was impressed and shocked, wondering how Percy killed her so fast.

Percy vs Antaeus: Let us not forget, in The Battle of The Labyrinth, Percy killed Antaeus. Percy is the only demigod ever (Correct me if I'm wrong), that has ever killed Antaeus. This is one of Percy's greatest feats. This Giant was 15 feet tall, bigger than most, if not all the monsters that Nico has defeated. Percy is the only demigod that has ever defeated a giant, without a god, or help in any way. Yes, Annabeth told him he was The son of Gaea, but besides that, no other help.

Percy vs Polyphemus: In The Sea of Monsters, Percy defeated Polyphemus. Percy is the only one, who stood his ground against him. Not even Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, could defeat him. Grover was shocked, because Percy defeated a Cyclop much bigger and stronger than him and quite quickly as well. Yes, Percy stood his ground the first time, but got tricked, so the second time he and his brother finally defeated him for once and for all.