The Son of Storms 20

“It has been many years since we last sparred,” Artemis admitted as they stopped for a brief moment, her auburn hair whipping in the air from the force created by their knives clashing together, an intense look in her silver eyes. “You are still playing defensive.”

“It is not playing Artemis,” her older sister—half, but semantics hardly mattered when the Olympians were concerned—said, suddenly relaxing her arms. With the force she had been exerting to keep Athena’s arms at bay, the Huntress faltered forwards, inertia carrying her past the deadlock for just a nanosecond. In a blur, Athena’s fist shot past her guard, aiming to bury itself in her sternum. However, Artemis wasn’t deterred in the slightest, as with the flexibility of a snake, she managed to twist her torso enough to make the attack just brush past her chest. But, Athena wasn’t known as a Goddess of War for no reason, as before her very eyes, her sister’s fingers turned just enough for the knife to turn towards her. It left a shallow scratch on her breastplate. “That could have ripped your chest open. You have become complacent, Artemis. Fighting monsters has made you forget what it means to fight someone like you.”

“You speak as if there is a war coming,” she rolled her eyes, disengaging her wrists from Athena’s as her knives vanished, their armor replaced by togas clasped at their shoulders. “Is this about the Great Prophecy?”

“The monsters grow stronger and more numerous,” Athena frowned, and she agreed with her sister silently as a nymph brought forward pitchers of lemonade. Taking the proffered glass, she sighed at the cool liquid traveling down her throat, her sister drinking hers quietly for a moment before she continued. “While I find it highly improbable, it is never a bad thing to prepare for every eventuality. Not with two of them roaming the Earth.”

“They are going to cause some havoc, but I doubt it will ever be on Olympus’ doors,” she shook her head, silently filing away that Athena didn’t seem to know about Jupiter’s son yet, and remembering the scores of demigods her father had spawned across the ages. Even Perseus and Hercules, the most powerful of them all, hadn’t been anything she would even remotely put close to gods, or at least, not until her father had made the latter into one. Even Dionysus, an Olympian, was by far the weakest of them in raw power, owing to his human origins. “I doubt it will ever matter beyond the mortal world's destruction.”

“Hubris is unbecoming of you O Huntress,” Athena raised a sculpted eyebrow, her blonde mane flowing in a sudden draft as she looked at the clouds above, the throne room hidden behind the mists. “Even the Titans were brought low by the unlikeliest of chances, and it was their hubris and disregard of danger that led to it. We should learn from the mistakes committed by others, and eliminate any chances of them being repeated.”

“You speak as if w-Phoebe?” she trailed off, feeling her connection to her handmaiden pulse, the faint emotions she could feel through the bond between them turning from growing amusement to burning irritation within an eyeblink. It wasn’t out of norm for her oldest demigod Huntress to be irritated—it was the best behavior one could expect from Ares’ children normally, but what was perplexing was the…relief and bewilderment she could feel from Zoe.

The next moment, Phoebe’s emotions turned into the raging fires of Hades, her emotions intense enough that even Artemis felt her eyes widen. Dampening the incoming flux of emotions as she felt Zoe’s confusion turn into alarm and worry, Artemis looked in the erection of the Camp, where her Hunt was resting for now. Deigning it to be nothing more than a scuffle with some camper, the Huntress turned towards Athena, muffling her connection to her Hunters for the moment. “Father’s decree doesn’t seem to be having any effect on the animosity between the campers and the Hunters.”

“It is a two-sided affair,” she shook her head as they moved out of the arena, and Artemis wrinkled her nose as she caught sight of a nymph pulling someone towards the bath spaces, “it is futile to hope for the competition and the aggression behind it to die down without a common thing to aim it at. Until then, Father’s way of at least avoiding bloodshed and keeping it periodically sated through this game is the only solution I see—beyond actually enforcing punishments of course. Why do you bring it up now?”

“My Hunters are excited and angry at the same time,” she explained, “most probably someone from the camp said something and now Chiro-”

“The camp is completely quiet, Artemis,” Athena interrupted her, tilting her head slightly as her eyes lost focus for just a second. “Everything is fine with the demigods. Whatever your Hunters are doing, it doesn’t involve the demigods.”

‘O Goddess, I beseech thy presence. Things are getting out of hand.’  Zoe’s voice echoed in her head, a pulse of…fear passing through the bond between her and the Titaness. And that stopped her short, her hand freezing on its way to pluck a flower. Zoe was never afraid, not unless the rest of her Hunters were in fatal danger.

‘Zoe, what is it?’ She thought back, frowning as she reached out to her Hunters, feeling several of them draw on her Blessing more deeply as if they were fighting a herd of monsters, ‘is the-’

‘Phoebe and Evans came to blows,’ her Lieutenant interrupted her, pushing an image of Phoebe’s fist impacting the demigod’s face through their connection, ‘the Hunters jumped in to attack him the next moment, and my lady…I feel he is ab-Great Hera!’

‘Zoe? ZOE!’ Artemis shouted through the link, feeling Zoe close off from their shared mind space. Frowning, she turned towards the Camp’s direction, eyes glowing a faint white as she flashed away to her Hunters, or at least, attempted to. Athena’s hand landed on her shoulder softly, and she glared at the Wisdom Goddess, “What is the meaning of this Athena?”

“You realize you can’t physically interfere in their altercation, right?”

“I will do whatever it takes to protect my Hunters!” She whispered furiously, wrenching her shoulder away from her hand, her form glowing molten silver, as she summoned her bow to her hands, intent on stopping her father’s spa-

“Remember Father’s directions, Artemis.”

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Fuck being civil. 

This was his only thought as Harry felt his face break through asphalt, feeling the ground splinter beneath him like a clay pot as the daughter of Ares kicked his skull deeper into the Earth. It had probably been just a minute since she had first punched him, and with her attention lifted from the veil of mist, the other Hunters were quick to notice the commotion—hard not to, a part of him thought sardonically, what with the whole diner shattering from the force of the Huntress’ attack.

And now, they were quick to draw their arrows and unsheathe their weapons at the perceived slight he had performed against their second-in-command. He could hear their jeers and threats, muffled behind the ringing in his ears as he felt Phoebe remove her foot from his head. Behind them all, he heard Zoe curse and shout for order, warning the Huntresses not to attack him.

“How dare you?” the one above him growled, leaning down to pull him up by the back of his neck, and Harry blinked his eyes open as he stared at the furious Huntress, who seemed to be frothing at the mouth with all that anger in her eyes and expression, the air around her burning hotter and hotter as a red aura seemed to manifest upon her, a crimson shade coming over her irises, “You…ignorant, arrogant, foolish child!”

“Ve-Very easily,” he answered, the cobwebs in his mind drifting away as the clarity born of a demigod's blood and battles came over him. Anger and pride both surged through his veins along with adrenaline, and Harry raised his palm towards the daughter of Ares, a wandless banisher leaving his hand. The woman obviously felt some sort of danger, as she began to swerve to the side while dropping him. But it was too late.

His feet touched the ground as Phoebe flew away from him, spinning through the air from the force of his magic as he glared at her. Pulling upon his magic, Harry summoned his wand to his hand and raised a shield in front of him, blocking the arrows as he looked at the dozens of Huntresses before him, several of them staring at the barrier between them with shock. However, while he wasn’t showing it, Harry was too left gobsmacked by the sheer amount of damage those arrows had dealt to his shield. A moment later, his confusion cleared up as he saw the bronze tint on the arrowheads by his feet. Of course, the magical nature of celestial bronze was going to make these things quite a lot more powerful than the mundane ones.

Magic wasn’t going to help him much here—or at least, not the magic he knew now, he realized with a grimace. Once again reaffirming his decision to learn and better himself at offensive and defensive magics, Harry snapped his wand back into its holster as he manifested his sword. Well, he needed to shake the rust off anyways. Taking a step forwards, he blurred into motion, punching the nearest Huntress in her chest before she could even realize what had happened, the daughter of Apollo launching backward into another girl with a shout. Twisting around, he parried a slash from an enraged Phoebe, the daughter of Ares back on her feet once more as the crimson around her skin burned even brighter, and Harry grunted as he found his arms stunned from the impact.

Incinerating a couple of arrows with a flex of his wrist, he backed away from the huntress, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zoe shout at the hunters on his right, commanding them to lower their bows. 

Well, at least someone had a working brain between their ears. Though, he couldn’t expect anything else from Ares’ children. Blocking a head-on with a grunt of exertion, Harry felt his feet slide back on the asphalt, the skin on his fingers seeming to slowly roast as the Huntress returned with a vengeance, face twisted in a hateful snarl as her sword was met by his. Half a dozen arrows came whistling through the air towards him, and he smirked at the baleful eyes before him as he twisted the very air around them, shattering and splintering the shafts. 

“I am not a run-of-a-mill human or some lowly demigod you and your Goddess may have bullied and hunted over the years,” he grit his teeth, pulling on his strength as he felt his muscles strain to the extreme, his bones feeling as if they were grinding against each other inside his arms as he pushed her back for a moment with a heave. “I am the son of the Skyfather, and you…you are nothing!”

With that statement, Harry pulled upon the clouds, his demigod powers practically purring at being used again as the heavens obeyed his will, the sparks of power in the skies above turning into a raging bolt of energy. The world glowed blue as the energy dropped, and he heard the beginnings of the Hunters’ scream as the crack of thunder drowned their voices. Slashing at Phoebe’s hastily put up guard, Harry slid his xiphos down the length of the blade, locking it with her at the crossguard, and he grabbed her other hand with his, using every bit of his strength to prevent her from moving away as he grinned at her.

“That is enough.”

And just like that, the bolt right above their heads was absorbed by a silver bubble, five hundred million volts of energy vanishing into nothingness as the screams of the Hunters echoed in the now empty block. Frowning as he looked up, Harry reached out with his powers towards the sky, confirming whether his attack had indeed vanished, or was it some elaborate illusion from the Hunt’s witches. However, his attention was drawn by the Hunt as they instantly snapped into attention, looking serious yet somehow smug at the same time, some of them giving him those arrogant, now you are fucked looks as Zoe sighed with relief, pulling up the girl he had punched. Before him, Phoebe took a short, sharp breath as she closed her eyes, her hands still holding up her sword as the crimson around her died down, and now that things were calm—or at least, appearing to be, he saw how she visibly lost some of the definition and muscles mass on her arms and the parts of her legs that were visible, the very veins bulging out on her skin swelling down.

“My Goddess,” Zoe breathed silently, and a hush fell over his ears as Harry looked behind him, the hairs on his neck standing up in alarm, all of his instincts screaming at him to sheathe his blade. To bend his knees. To look down at the ground in supplication and awe as the Light of Olympus, the Diamond of the Heavens walked before him. A warmth began to grow upon his back, and Harry saw the silver light radiated by the Huntress, reflected in Phoebe’s eyes as she stared behind him.

“Remove your hand from her, now.”

That wasn’t phrased as a request.

Slowly uncurling his fingers from around the huntress’ wrist, Harry brought his left hand down by his side, and that seemed to signal something to the daughter of Ares, as her sword retracted in segments, before shifting around to form the vambrace around her forearm. In return, he too willed his blade to diminish, feeling the weight of the ring settled upon his finger as he turned around, laying his eyes upon Artemis for the first time. Besides the fiery, liquid silver irises and the rich, autumn-hued hair, all Harry saw was a twelve-year-old girl before him, dressed in the customary silver clothing of the Hunt.

Physically that was.

On the metaphysical, it felt as if he was staring into the cold, barren landscape of the moon itself, the very air around the Goddess seeming to leech the warmth out of it. How this entity also personified nature and childbirth, Harry would never know. But still, Chiron had hammered the etiquettes and the manners one was expected to show when in an audience with a god, and he was nothing if a dutiful student. Kneeling down on one knee, he lowered his head and put one arm on his raised knee, the other by his side, “Lady Artemis, the Huntress. It is an honor to be greeted by your presence.”

“My Lady,” Zoe walked closer, giving him a look as she passed him before coming to a stop by Artemis’ left, “Ella is fine, just two cracked ribs and a broken wrist. The rest of the Hunters are completely unscathed.”

“Not for the lack of trying on his part,” the Goddess responded, her face more expressionless than the statues the mortals carved in her name as she took a step forward. For a single moment that stretched on for a dozen, Harry saw her sandaled limb inch closer and closer to the splintered road, a premonition of sorts coming over him. The intuition, the instinct that came with the divinity that flowed inside them all. And even though every fiber of it screamed at him to run, to hide, to somehow make the entity before him not grind him into paste…Harry was as powerless as Callisto had been.

Artemis’ foot touched the ground, and Harry felt his shoulders creak as a weight descended upon his body, a crushing force that threatened to freeze him from the inside, yet burn his body from the outside like he was in a superheated oven. And if that wasn’t enough, Artemis’ seemed to actually revel in the pain she was causing him, her gigantic, ancient existence pressing upon his mind as her energy pressed upon his body like a tangible weight. He had felt his father’s power before, and he had even felt the freezing storms that were Taranis’ domain threaten to swallow him, but never had he experienced a god’s wrath focused upon him.

“You come to sup near my hunters.”

His head slowly lowered inch by inch, his neck feeling like it might snap any moment under the power of the Moon goddess as she took a step closer, the sound of her sandal moving against the rubble excruciatingly slow and loud in his ears.

“You dare to talk about things that are unspoken and unheard for centuries.”

One of his ears bled, and soon the other did too as he felt his hearing go out, warm blood trickling down his neck only to dry up under the heat around him as he saw his nose run red, a drop of blood falling to the ground before his eyes.

“You have the impertinence to talk about my hunter’s past, and advise her on…Burying something?”

His head slammed into the ground, followed by his whole body as pressure upon his back increased twofold, and Harry groaned silently as he felt the cracked rib shift dangerously inside him, his chest feeling like it may implode upon itself any moment. His eyes dilated, and his breath turned shallower as he felt the air inside him leave his lungs, even twitching his fingers became an impossible task for him as he felt the burn in his very blood, the ensuing silence making his suffering somehow even more painful for him.

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“My Lady,” Zoe began softly, looking at Evans with critical eyes as she approached Artemis, giving Phoebe a mild glare as she saw the daughter of Ares stare at the slowly stilling demigod with satisfaction in her eyes, “He is to die. Yet, I beseech thee to recall his past deeds of valor, wherein he didst save our huntresses at the camp when the Hydra and other fell beasts assailed us. Stay thy wrath, O Goddess.”

“You speak truly,” Artemis’ answer was but a whisper, and yet, in the harrowing silence, it was as loud as any shout could be, “Very well, I shan’t punish him further, but he is still going to remember his folly of insulting Phoebe.”

"She was not without blame, my lady," Zoe uttered the words quietly, her voice low enough that none but Artemis may hear it, and the Titaness saw how her Goddess’ jaw tightened at the words, the bond between them pulsing with anger yet curiosity, "The boy did utter those words, but only when Phoebe persisted in needlessly remarking upon his choice to sit in the same diner as we, and called him a lecher, and threatened him with how thou wouldst have punished him for it. His words were cruel, yet it was Phoebe who first raised hands and endangered our sisters as well as the mortals. Even I cannot fault him for desiring a meal and he only gave a greeting as an interaction."

However, before Zoe could even fathom Artemis’ response, Phoebe gasped, falling to her knees before them, only for a hand to catch her by her midriff, propping up the woman and conjuring a chair for her in one smooth motion.

“Listen to her, dear sister. After all, it isn’t their fault they decided to indulge themselves. Were we not as eager to throw hands when we were but children?” the man chuckled, standing tall and powerful as he looked at the woman before him, “Daughter mine, have you not learned your lesson yet? Pulling upon the Blessing so much, and just for what? A backyard scuffle? Were your own fists and feet insufficient for the task of teaching the boy centuries younger a lesson?”

“Forgive me,” Phoebe gasped out, her face pale as she wiped her lips, staring up at the towering figure with reverence and fear in equal measure, “Father.”

“Are the Hunters not learning manners these days?” the God of War called out as he shifted slightly, his crimson mane flowing as he stared down at the Hunters before him, “At least the boy had the grace to kneel before Artemis when she appeared, and yet the paragon of virtue and civilized existence stand in open slight against a God? Kneel.”

Reminiscent of how Artemis had inflicted her powers upon Evans to make him grovel, Ares’ presence too descended upon them, cloaked as it was by the bounds of their sealed forms. It wasn’t a show of force like her Lady had intended hers to be, but it was just as oppressive in its own way, and Zoe shuddered as she felt the heat, the sickness, the unsavory smells and sights of war invade her senses as the Hunters all kneeled instantly, the younger ones quickly losing their awe at meeting the God as they barely controlled their stomachs.

“Ares, cease your actions this instant,” Artemis growled, alleviating the pressure on the Huntresses’ bodies and souls as she batted away the War god’s presence with a flex of her own power, keeping the dark, burning aura at bay with the soothing feel of a flower’s caress, “Don’t forget your limits, and certainly not the fact that the Hunters are my handmaidens. This is your first and the last warning.”

“Brat,” the god laughed loudly, turning around finally to look at the auburn-haired goddess, who shifted her form to match him in age, his eyes staring down the two women before he looked down at Evans’ downed form, “You kill a few monsters, chop off a few cocks, bully a hundred demigods, and think you are hot shit. Athena is falsely called out on her hubris Artemis, for never have I seen an immortal as drowned in their own arrogance and importance as you. You fought Apollo, and lost, and it took you a century to recover. Do you think you have a chance against me? Go and fight some hellhounds Artemis, and don’t wallow in the delusion these mortals have created of you being some ultimate warrior goddess of Olympus.”

“Yo-”

“Yeah Yeah me,” Ares cut in with a roll of his fiery orange eyes, waving off a seething Artemis casually as he kneeled by Evans, “But that’s not what I was here for anyways. I needed to have a chat with our half-brother…and well, my control slipped.”

"It was thou who didst meddle with the emotions of Phoebe and Evans," Zoe realized, eyes widening as she stared at the War god, "For what? To make them fight and bring injury upon the Hunters? Thou wouldst have known that, save for a few, none of the Hunters can stand against Evans."

“What I did, I did for reasons that are none of your concern, Lieutenant,” Ares answered, grabbing Evans by the back of his tattered shirt and pulling him up as he stood on his feet, staring at the blood stuck on his front, as well as the snapped shoulder with a critical eye, “and you have the balls to call me a savage sadist. Anyways, I will be taking him off your hands Artemis, enjoy your virgin feminist movement.”