The battle started when Magellan and his men neared the island. They saw that the army of Lapu-Lapu divided into three groups. When the warriors saw the foreigners, they started screaming and rushing towards them. For half an hour the Spaniards kept shooting their crossbows but to no avail. Lapu-Lapu and his men eventually came into contact with them as Magellan and his men came into the island.

Pigaffeta wrote that Magellan meant to scare the warriors by burning their houses. Instead this provoked them more and they became furious and started attacking resulting in the death of some of his men. When a poisoned arrow hit Magellan in the right leg, he gave the order to retreat slowly but they all ran away except 8 of them including Pigaffeta who escorted the captain. Lapu-Lapu’s men targeted their legs because they had no armor in that part of their body. Magellan himself received a blow in the leg from a kampilan(a long edged Muslim sword) and a spear in the arm. He was able to kill a warrior with his lance but his injuries made him weak and was finally outnumbered and stabbed and killed by the mob all at once. It was said in Pigaffeta’s records that Magellan resisted the force in order for his men to make it safely to the boat. When they got aboard the ship they saw them behead Magellan.

Datus Humabon and Zula did not participate in the battle because of Magellan’s request for them not to. They observed from a distance and after the battle negotiated with Lapu-Lapu to return his corpse in exchange for merchandise. But Lapu-Lapu refused and up until now Magellan’s remains were never recovered. It is said that the soldiers who survived the battle of Mactan were poisoned in a feast given by Humabon resulting in the order of Juan Sebastian del Cano,successor of Magellan, to depart immediately and return to Spain in fear of Humabon’s betrayal.

In the Philippines, Lapu-Lapu is known as the first National Hero to fight against outside forces. Whatever the accounts were, it is true that he did succeed in his refusal to acknowledge a foreign king as his ruler.