Atalanta's POV

School settled into a new pattern, with Silena becoming an annoying part of my life. She hasn't done anything suspicious yet, so I've just decided to ignore her.

Spring break finally came around, and the camping trip came around; Aris, Katie, Silena, and I all managed to get permission to go camping.

Aris's mom, Ms. Tonya, and Katie's mom, Ms. Rebecca, were chaperoning us.

"Hey, Atalanta, will you hurry up with the firewood." I heard Silena call out to me.

"It would go faster if you helped."

"hump, I would, but I don't want to mess up this outfit," Silena told me while motioning towards her pink outfit, which made it look like she was prepared for a trip through a safari or rain forest instead of the regular campsite that we were staying at. The worst part of her outfit was her pink deerstalker, which hurt my eyes just looking at it. Especially with the pink highlights, she's gotten recently.

I simply rolled my eyes as I finished moving the kindling in my arms to a more comfortable position; I think that if we use all the wood at camp combined with this, we probably have enough to make a fire last for an hour or two. Which, based on the setting sun, should last long enough for everyone to cook their smores and get to bed.

"How much more wood do we need?"

"This should be enough for tonight, assuming we don't keep the fire going for too long, but if y'all want to make smores tomorrow, then I'll need to get more tomorrow."

"Ok, then! Let's get back to camp; the others are probably waiting!" Silena exclaimed before promptly walking in the wrong direction.

"You're going the wrong way," I told her as I began to walk towards the campsite.

"Wait, Ata, the campsite is this way."

"No, it's not," I shot back.

"How do you know?" She asked me, now following next to me.

"I just remember," my answer was simple.

Silena wisely decided to take a second to think before speaking, probably stopping herself from walking right into an insult.

It doesn't matter what she tries to ask me, though; there's no way for me to explain to her how I know which way the camp is. It's like an instinct to me; whenever I'm out in the wilderness, I never seem to get lost. Even if you were to knock me out and throw me into a random part of the forest, I would be able to make my way back to the campsite.

"Fine, but if we end up lost, I'm blaming you."

"Don't worry; I'm sure we can ask any monsters we encounter for directions."

"Monsters!" Silena squeaked out. Her expression was so good that I decided to continue my teasing.

"Of course, don't you know that this forest is haunted?"

"Oh, you're not talking about actual monsters, are you? Don't you know that those stories are fake," Silena was either mocking more or legitimately thought I believed in monsters.

"What do you mean actual monsters?"

"Actual monsters, you know, like things that can kill innocent people," Silena said while reaching into her bag.

Well, that's true; monsters like that do exist. I'm one, after all, a monster that will do anything for the sake of my selfish happiness. Even kill heroes and innocent people.

"Hey, Atalanta, how often do you do your hair to constantly keep that part of your hair white?" Silena asked while pulling out a hairbrush.

"Silena, I naturally have a streak of white hair."

"Ha, I knew you act like an old person, but I didn't know your hair was already going white!" her face lit up slightly.

"At least I don't have to dye my hair for it to look good," I shot back, annoyance showing on my face.

"You're really defensive of your hair, aren't you," Silena said while removing the deerstalker from her head, "hee-hee... I'd never expected that from you."

I just ignored her. I was under no responsibility to explain to her why I cared about my hair.

Besides, how would I explain to her that I care about my black hair because it reminds me of my mother's hair in this life and my sister's hair from my past life?

To me, my black hair serves as the sign Miyu and I are siblings, in place of the amber eyes I've lost.

"I know, Atalanta, why don't we do each other's hair! I can help you mask your white streak!" Silena offered bubbly.

"No."

"Why not?" Silena asked me as a sad understanding slowly crept onto her face. "Unless you don't think you can help me? Atalanta, do you only know how to brush your hair straight?"

"I don't need your help," I responded, unable to understand why she had such a serious expression on her face when she said that last part.

"Of course, you do. Don't worry; I'll help you!"

I let out a sigh as we finally reached the campsite after Silena said that.

"See, I told you this was the right direction," I distracted Silena by poking fun at her ability to get lost.

"Fine, you win."

"Ata, Silena, what took so long?" Katie called out to us.

"We had to get enough wood to keep the fire going for an hour or two," I glared at Katie.

"Let's not fight, but instead start, let's get to cooking smores," Aris added in, and her mother, Ms. Tonya, decided to follow suit.

"I've got the lighter, Katie. Could you go get the food out of me and your mother's tent?" She asked Katie.

"Hey, where's Ms. Rebecca?" Silena asked while moving to sit down next to where we plan to build a fire.

"Rebecca is currently sleeping in our tent."

I moved the sit the wood we had got down next to where Silena was sitting. My soft arms were slightly sore from being poked by some of the twigs.

"Wow, Mom, Ms. Rebecca goes to sleep early," I heard Aris say as I set down the wood and started to place the kindling in a manner that would make it easy to light.

"I think something she drank didn't agree with her," Ms. Tonya said absentmindedly, not thinking any of us would get what she was really saying.

I knew it from the smell when we were driving down to the campsite, but Katie had accidentally grabbed her father's thermos when Ms. Rebecca asked Katie to grab her drink.

Clearly, her father was planning to spend the night drinking, probably with Aris and Silena's fathers, and had tried to get a head start.

I wonder if he's as lightweight a drinker as his wife. I mean, Ms. Rebecca's already out of it after a single cup. Not that I expect that much from Katie's mom, especially since she didn't even realize she was drinking alcohol.

It's a real good thing she wasn't driving, though. I would rather not force my Dad to leave the bachelor's party he was attending to pick me up from the police station.

Still, though, I hope my classmates don't end up with any extra siblings due to this camping trip.

We got the fire going and made smores, and everyone else partakes in small talk until the sunset while I barely talked. Aris and Katie got tired and went to our tent. Our campsite had two tents, one for the kids and one for the adults. Ms. Tonya wanted to stay awake until all the kids went to bed. She really is the mother of that overly responsible Aris. But I eventually managed to convince her to go to bed while I made sure the fire was completely out. Silena decided to wait with me.

I did want to make sure that the fire did not reignite or that the embers didn't start a forest fire, but I also wanted to enjoy the view of the moon.

The full moon out tonight was beautiful, especially on the backdrop of the starry sky, free of any light pollution.

Just like always, the view of this world's moon wiped away any of the worries in my heart. It truly was more beautiful than the moon of my last life.

Kiritsugu gave me his dream and my failure to see it through. My promise to protect Miyu that I don't know if I managed to succeed. And the cold feeling of death I felt at the end of my life.

All these things I experienced under the full moon and should associate with it, yet I don't. Whenever I look at the moon, I feel like I can sense Mom's presence, her arms around me like I'm a child in need of her protection.

Not only that, I don't know why, but it feels like the moon is a part of me.

A smirk appeared on my face.

Ha, what am I, some kind of Dead Apostle? I wonder if Crimson Moon would be willing to share, well, assuming he even exists in this world.

"Hey, Atalanta, what's up?" Silena asked me, interrupting my ogling of the moon, "you seem out of it."

"I'm just enjoying the sight of the moon."

"What's so enjoyable about that rock?"

"Don't you find it beautiful?"

"Not really, it's just the moon," Silena replied with a shrug.

"I guess we see two different things," I sighed and got up from the put-out fire. If I couldn't understand my fascination with the moon, how could someone else?

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going for a walk, alone."

"You shouldn't do that. What if you get lost?"

"I told you earlier; I don't get lost. Just go to bed."

Silena sent me a glare. "Fine, just be careful."

I didn't respond, choosing instead to quietly walk into the forest.

I made my way towards a stream I saw earlier this morning; it was about half a mile from camp.

The frigid air felt good on my face as I slowly made my way to the creek.

Overall, it took me around 25 minutes to walk to the stream.

Looking at the brook, I walked over to a clear area by the stream and sat on a nearby round rock. Now I can just enjoy the night sky alone without anyone bothering me.

As I was sitting there, I felt something crawl up onto my hand. A quick glance down revealed the presence of a baby squirrel crawling onto my hand.

The baby squirrel had fluff fur and big cheeks. Its huge eyes meet my own.

It reminded me of the small creatures that lived on or around the Emiya estate. Miyu played with animals like this one all the time.

I reached down and petted the baby squirrel's head until it quickly ran up my other hand and then hopped on top of my head.

"What are you doing?" The little creature didn't even acknowledge my question. It made a little noise before plopping down on my head.

"Don't you need to get back to your home, to your mother or father?" I asked the squirrel absentmindedly.

Part of me want to shoo the creature away, but I couldn't bring myself to. Even as the creature messed up my hair while turning my head into a bed.

"Ow," I complained as it pulled some of my hair. "Stop that."

The squirrel didn't respond at all. My reflection in the water showed that it had fallen asleep.

What an annoying animal... but for some reason, I can't bring myself to dislike him.

I gently moved off the top of the round rock and sat down in front of it. A shiver ran down my spine as I leaned against the cold stone.

The sound of the stream was oddly soothing, it almost felt like I was listening to a lullaby. My eyelids closed as a feeling of contentment grew inside me. There won't be much time until Silena reaches me, so I might as well enjoy this small moment. Her pungent odor can't ruin this.

"Ata, you shouldn't go off alone, it isn't safe. You should use the buddy system," Silena said once she got to the stream.

"I don't need a buddy." An aggravated frown formed on my face as I opened my eyes.

Conversely, Silena's face lit up like a Christmas tree once she saw the squirrel sitting on my head.

"Wowwww, how cute!" Silena squalled with her annoying voice. The baby squirrel sprung awake in surprise, causing it to accidentally jump off my head. I casually pulled my left hand out of my hoodie pocket and caught him. If I didn't then the squirrel would've gotten hurt by the fall.

I scowled at Silena, who had the decently to look sheepish once she saw how scared the small squirrel looked.

"Oh, sorry," Silena said while moving to try and pet the squirrel, but it tried to back away from Silena.

"You're scaring him," I told Silena as I petted the squirrel's head. "It's ok. Don't worry, everything is all right."

My voice calmed the small creature. "Ok, Silena, it should be fine for you to try and gently pet him."

"Really!" Silena quietly cheer as she reached out to pet the squirrel only for it to run a couple of seconds later.

"Why'd it run from me?" Silena whined as we watched the fuzzy creature run away.

"Because you were too rough."

"What?! I was as gentle as possible!"

I eyed Silena before sighing. "I'll show you how to properly handle animals later."

"Do ya know a lot about animals?"

"My mom and dad teach me a lot about them. "

"Your mom? You haven't mentioned her before."

"Hmh," I hummed in agreement. I've never talked about her with any of the kids.

"Wanna talk about her?" Silena inched towards me as she asked. Her curiosity was tangible.

"Why?" There's no reason for her to be interested in Mom.

"Just wondering about your mom, you never talk about her."

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that she never comes up."

Silena sat next to me. "So, I can ask about her?!"

"Sure, I don't see any reason you couldn't."

"What's your mom look like? Is she pretty?"

That's an easy question. "Yeah, she may be the most beautiful person I know."

Only Miyu could compete with Mom. I wonder what kind of woman Miyu has grown up to be.

"Really? Well, I guess you had to get your looks from somewhere."

"Looks?!" I repeated as the complement caused my body language to change. "No, an ugly person like me isn't anywhere near my mother."

People have constantly complemented this body as cute, adorable, beautiful. Especially this body's relatives on Dad's side. But that isn't true as long as my disgusting soul is connected to it. A soul steeped in blood can't be beautiful no matter what anybody says.

"Ugly?" Silena looked at me before glaring at me. "That's right your weird, but I wonder if it's because you're like me."

"Sorry, what was that? I was distracted."

"Is your mom like mine, not normal?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Are you like me?" Silena clarified.

"We both have ADHD and Dyslexia," I tilted my head in confusion.

"That isn't what I meant! How about this, is your mom not around?"

"She's around enough," I answered quickly.

One thing I don't like talking about is how long Mom can disappear. There was one time we didn't even hear from her for half a year. It left me constantly worried that something bad had happened to her.

"Really? Enough for her and your dad to show their love?"

"Must everything return to love with you? My parents may, at the very most, respect each other, but they certainly don't love each other."

"That can't be true; if they didn't love each other, then you wouldn't exist!"

"Isn't it obvious? My parents made a mistake." I told her, though truth be told, I don't know the situation around my birth. I would rather not know how I was conceived, in this life or the last.

"Wait, are you saying that you're a mistake?"

"Of course, I'm a mistake."

"How could you say that?!" Silena exclaimed, strangely angry at what I said, "When we came to pick you up, it was clear to me that your father loves you. Doesn't your mother love you?"

I looked at her, confused by the sudden change in topic. "Of course, she does," though I don't deserve it.

"Do you love your parents?"

Huh, what kind of question is that? "Why wouldn't I love Mom or Dad?"

"I don't know; I can't get a read on you for some reason. Still, though, you can't be a mistake if your parents love you and you love them back!"

"You make it sound like just having a bond with my parents now, and it retroactively makes it so that they didn't have me by mistake."

"If no one thinks something is a mistake, then it's not a mistake. And even I don't think you're a mistake, and you annoy me to no end."

I chuckled at that, "What, am I just a happy accident then?"

"No, you're Atalanta, nothing else. Not a mistake or an accident, just a normal kid. And unfortunately, my friend."

I had to stop myself from laughing. I'm a normal kid. I don't even know why I'm even saying all this to Silena, a foolish 8-year-old, even if she was emotionally mature for her age.

I was about to retort when the itching feeling from my nose increased, and I started to smell something. It smelt like pig and acid. This smell isn't a normal smell; it is more like the scent Mom, or I give off. It was definitely magical in nature. It was too animalistic; it couldn't be a human unless it was some magus using Beast Magecraft.

I quickly got up and started to move in the direction of the smell.

"Hey, where are you going? I'm not done with you."

"I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." I lied to her as I made it to the tree line.

"Ugh, fine, but will be continuing the conversation when you get back," Silena grumpily called out.

I just ignored her and kept walking, and started to run in the direction of the smell once I was out of sight. It seems to be moving in Silena, and I's directions and is coming from the direction opposite of the camp. I'll probably be able to meet it about a mile and a half from the camp if I hurry. I should be able to hide the damage of the fight from the other campers.

I focused and started to project a bow and some arrows. I need to start arming myself now since I haven't been able to regain my ability to project weapons instantly.

I'd covered around half the distance before my bow was done, and I had around a dozen arrows with a quiver to hold them. I let out a sigh; this was pathetic. I didn't project Kanshou and Bakuya as they are too heavy for me to with my weak child body. At least I've regained the ability to reinforce objects slightly.

After placing slight reinforcement on my clothing so that it could serve as armor, I projected a small knife in case I got forced into close combat. But I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that.

My weak body will put me at a major disadvantage in close combat against any magus capable of using reinforcement magic on themselves, especially if they're using Beast Magecraft to reinforce themselves.

It would be best to assume the source of the magical energy is physically stronger than me, even without reinforcement, though. After all, a child will never be stronger than a healthy adult. At least my body in this life is very athletic and fast, so I should be able to keep the fight at a distance.

I notched an arrow as I neared the source of the magical energy. I climbed up a large tree that was on top of a hill. This way, I can get a bird' eye view of my surroundings. Luckily, the full moon was providing enough light for me to see despite it being nighttime.

A gasp almost left my mouth at the source of the magical energy.

It was a boar of some phantasmal species; the amount of magical energy it had was far higher than a regular human. Physically, it was around twice my size and had a very muscular body. It was standing in a clearing. Its tusks were enough to run me through.

It is, without a doubt, stronger than me. And that's not including any magical abilities it has. My instincts are telling me that I have to be careful or it will kill me.

I could try the anti-phantasmal version of Nine Lives, but it would take too long to trace the stone axe, and the magical energy required would alert the Boar to my location.

So, the best move would be to go with my original plan and try to kill, or severely wound, it in one shot.

"Come out, half-blood, I know your there," the boar suddenly said as its movements towards the camp stopped.

What? The boar can talk? And what does it mean Half-blood? Is it referring to me? No, it doesn't matter; I need to focus on how I can kill this creature. I need to use my training from my past life; the teachings of the magus killer can still be used in fights, not against magi.

I reinforced the steel arrow and pulled back my bow. Even if this bow was a terrible copy, it should be able to wound the boar if I can hit the soft parts of its skin. The first thing I need to hit is its eyes first, though.

As I was about to release the arrow, my heart skipped a beat at that moment; my skin started to tingle in excitement. It was the same feeling I got when I thought about the hunting trip Mom promised that the two of us would go on this summer. I crushed the feeling down in a moment; they will only get in the way.

The Boar was starting to move in my direction again, "Stop hiding! It'll be more fun too if you face e like a ma..." The Boar didn't get to finish its statement before a black steel arrow hit its left eye. Unfortunately, it seems like even the Boar's eyes were strong, and the arrow only destroyed its eye. But I was already expecting that. After all, nothing is ever that easy for me. I mean, even the act of just going camping has led me to encounter a phantasmal creature, something that is on the level of true magic.

Truly, I'm destined to fight in any life, aren't I? At least villains are less likely to die in sequels. I'm not really hoping to take another sword to the chest. That really wasn't a fun experience last time.

There wasn't match time to think, though, as I prepared to fire another arrow while changing location. The Boar, meanwhile, was charging in my direction at an incredible pace, uprooting anything in between us in the process.

"Ugh, don't you have any pride, half-blood," The Boar whined. Before letting out a huge huff, I almost thought something had left its mouth.

Still though, what is this Boar going on about? Of course, I don't have any pride.

I tried to fire an arrow at the Boar's right eye, but the arrow was stopped, no it melted. Now that I looked closer, I could see a green haze around the boar.

Could it be some sort of acid? That would explain the acidic smell from earlier.

"ha, how do you like my acid, you pride less bug." The Boar said while gaining on me.

So now I'm a bug, not even whatever a half-blood.

I broke into a run, in the direction away from the Boar. That acid just made the Boar even more dangerous; my reinforced clothing will probably only last a short time before the acid breaks through. And, even with my hood pulled up, my face is still exposed, so I need to prevent the Boar from exploiting that.

Besides, this jacket is a gift from Mom, and I would rather not mess it up when I don't have to.

Luckily, the acid doesn't seem to last long; I need to attack when the acid won't melt my arrows.

The Boar was almost in position to see me when I tried to fire an arrow at its leg. The arrow only slightly dug into the Boar's hide.

"ha, I've got you now. Hahaha, to think the half-blood is just some little girl."

"Will you just shut up? Your constant laughing is getting annoying," I told the annoying Boar, "What is it that you want, Mr. Boar?"

"Isn't it obvious, and I'm not just any boar."

"Oh, are you the Calydonian Boar? Maybe the Erymanthian Boar?" I mockingly asked him.

That's it, to think I've forgotten about that weapon. My statement made me remember a pointless weapon that's only good at killing boars in Unlimited Blade Works that I inherited from my EMIYA.

I need to distract this idiot long enough to project the weapon, though.

"No, I'm Carl the Unstoppable."

"Carl?" I almost stopped my tracing when I heard the boar's name. I had to have misheard him.

"Yes, now tremble in fear, in the presence of Carl," the Boar, Carl, screamed without a hint of self-awareness, "You have angered me, but I'll still give you the honor of stating your name. Now, who shall be my first kill!"

I just glared at the Chunibyo, "My name is Atalanta Moonlit."

Before I could say anything else, Carl interrupted me, "Muhahahaha, Atalanta, killing you will make me famous; I'll surpass the fame of the Calydonian Boar."

"Um, do you really think killing some kid will make you famous? And who will you be famous among? is there some secret boar society or something?"

"Shut up; I won't fall for your tainted words. Prepare to die." The boar shouted as it ran towards me.

I haven't finished projecting a spear; luckily, I'm projecting it in the air behind me, leaving my hands open to fighting.

Jumping in the direction of Carl's left side that way, the boar will have trouble seeing me due to its left eye being destroyed.

I quickly fired two arrows at the non-muscular of each of the boar's left legs. Just like before, the arrows barely wounded it.

While I won't say that I wish I had my old body back, since I've grown used to this one, I won't deny that I wish I had the power it gave me back. If it did, then I would be able to crush this boar-like it was nothing but an insect.

Carl let out a breath that spread acid in the area, forcing me to retreat, giving Carl time to turn so that he could see me with his right eye.

Carl charged towards me, I didn't have any time to get out of the way of its charge, so I moved myself to grab onto its tusk before it could stab me and spun myself on top of the tusk. It looked like I was doing a handstand on the boar's tusk, but this is not a good situation if Carl uses his acid breath.

My hands are already burning from holding the tusk; I need to get away from it as soon as possible.

But before I had a chance to do anything, the boar threw its tusks to the side as hard as possible, launching me into a tree. And throwing my bow out of my hand to a couple of feet to my left.

"Ugh," I instinctively let out a high pitch cry due to the pain. My back was throbbing in pain. If it weren't for my reinforced clothing, then my back would probably be broken. But this was probably one of the best outcomes; at least there's no distance between us.

I need to focus on projecting the spear; splitting my focus is causing the projection to take too long.

"Ha, now's my moment," Carl declared with excitement. He began to charge again, straight at me.

I quickly tried to move to grab my bow, but my body felt heavy. What's causing this?

Wait, the burning feeling in my hands, this isn't normal. I took a quick glance at my hands to see they were bleeding, and a green mucus was on my hand. Poison.

Poisoned or not, if I don't get up, I will be killed.

I don't have much time; the boar will run me through in less than 10 seconds. Time seemed to slow down.

The feelings I had been crushing down were raising up; my instincts were crying out for me to do something. What am I missing? I need to remember Kiritsugu's training.

Seven seconds.

The more I try to think, the more my instincts cry out. They're telling me to follow them, to stop thinking.

Three seconds

I still couldn't move. Even if I could, I don't have enough time to get out the way.

I started to panic. If I fail now, then everyone else will die. I can't let that happen!

For a moment, my control over my feelings slipped, my instincts ran wild.

A single second before Carl ran me through; a white shield was blocking Carl's tusks. My instincts told me what it was—a shield made of pure moonlight.

It felt like a gate had opened inside me; my body felt lighter despite the poison still affecting me.

"What is this," Carl asked, but I didn't answer him. Instead, I quickly jumped to my bow.

My arrows were thrown around, none were within range, but I only needed around 10 seconds to finish my projection.

As I moved towards the bow, I caught sight of the moon. It felt different than usual, it still felt comforting to me, but now it felt like it wanted me to command it.

I could tell instinctively that this power I was feeling was coming from the moon and that that shield was made from that power. But now isn't the time to be thinking about that.

But, producing the shield was fast, taking less than a second. I need to reproduce that effect to produce an arrow, as all my arrows were launched in the opposite direction of the bow.

Reaching my bow, I grabbed it and turned to try and create an arrow out of moonlight.

When I made the moonlight shield, it felt like I was taking the moonlight surrounding me into my body. So, I tried to replicate that feeling.

I imagined the surroundings and took the light into my body, I felt a slight burning sensation under one of my eyes, and I could see a soft white glow from part of my magic circuits.

A white arrow started to form, its white glow illuminating the surroundings. I could feel that there was a massive amount of waste in the process to solidify the moonlight, but it will work for now.

Even if the moonlight arrows are currently weaker than even the reinforced steel arrows, they should be able to hurt the boar if I aim for a weak point.

"How …" Carl started before I fired the arrow at its right eye. Carl tried to block it with his acid, but the arrow was unaffected because it was made from pure moonlight and is immune to corrosive attacks.

After all, moonlight can't be destroyed by acid.

I quickly fired two more moonlight arrows at the boar's right eye, completely blinding the boar.

I stopped firing my bow and quietly moved to hide in a different position. Carl charged at my last position, running directly into a tree.

My projection finished, and I launched the spear I was projecting directly into Carl; the wound was almost certainly fatal. But I made sure not to call him. After all, I have questions for him.

I cautiously moved towards the boar. I took care to make sure I didn't release Meleager's spear.

Meleager was the hunter who was responsible for finishing off the Calydonian boar. The spear was what killed it after the original Atalanta drew first blood. Due to the spear being used to kill the Calydonian boar, his spear is especially good at killing magical boars, but nothing else.

I honestly think I could defeat Meleager myself.

Shaking my head to refocus, I finally spoke in a cold neutral voice, "Boar, are there any lingering effects to your acid or whatever poison you used on your tusk."

"Why would I tell you?"

"If you do, I'll spare your life." I lied to the boar.

"Do you think I need your mercy? I'm Carl, the unbreakable!"

"Unstoppable"

"What?"

"You said you were Carl the Unstoppable before."

Carl had a conflicted look on his face; he probably would say something stupid to try and cover up the change in epithet. I personally don't care about any of that, but I'll play his game if that gets me more info.

"Carl, is poison the way you want to kill someone? Someone as great as you shouldn't resort to such pathetic methods."

"Of course, I am! But I don't need you to tell me how great I am."

"Then why wouldn't you tell me about the poison?"

"Fine," Carl said with an annoyed expression, "I put poison on my tusk to stop anyone from moving after I hit them. It has no other effects. On that, how can you move after my invincible poison?"

"Such pathetic poison can't bother me." I lied, as even if I knew why I could move, I wouldn't tell him, "one more question, and then I will let you go."

"You would dare ask more of me." The overgrown pig squealed; he truly is making his own case for me to turn him into bacon.

"Of course, I just want you to explain something to me," I told Carl as I put weight onto the spear, causing it to dig into him, "oh, sorry. Did that hurt?"

"Fine, I'll honor you with one more answer."

"What is a half-blood?" I need to know what a half-blood is.

I'm not stupid; I can tell it is something related to Mom. After all, Mom is constantly claiming to be working overseas and has the same scent that I developed in this life. What if, instead of working overseas, she is actually doing something related to whatever a Half-blood is?

Could the feeling of joy that I get from hunting come from being a half-blood? It would make sense, given some of the things Mom has said over the years. Not to mention the feelings I have towards the Moon and how Mom likes looking at the Moon with me.

I'll need to get the answer when I go hunting with her this summer, but this idiotic boar can give me answers now. That way, Carl can be at least slightly useful.

"Huh, you don't know about half-bloods. Aren't you a half-blood?"

"How would I know if I'm a half-blood if I don't even know what a half-blood is," I told the boar.

"HA, you don't even know what you are? Let me enlighten you…." Carl didn't finish his statement; in the blink of an eye, Carl was dead, a gold arrow went straight between the boar's eyes. It went cleanly through Carl; it even pierced and broke my spear, causing it to break into motes of light.

I quickly turned towards the direction the arrow was fired from.

"You shouldn't go around talking to strangers, especially when you're still a little girl," a cheerful voice interjected as I laid eyes on its source.

There was a strange teenage boy, no older than eighteen, leaning against a nearby tree. He was wearing a sleeveless yellow t-shirt, blue jeans, and loafers. The guy's teeth were so white I would've sworn they were glowing. His short messy blond hair was the exact opposite of my own long silky black hair.

Everything about this guy was annoying, far more than he should be. I wanted to bash his head in the more I looked at his insufferable smirk. It felt like I was looking at that fake priest again.

"Who are you?" I asked him while stifling my annoyance.

Carl's body was turning to dust, leaving nothing but one of its tusks. Why? Did this boy do something to the body?

"Can't you tell?" The teenager asked with a widening smile. I felt like I was being made fun of. "Huh? I guess she really hasn't told you much. By the way, you know your glare isn't intimidating, right? If anything, it makes you more adorable."

Did this jerk really just call be adorable?! I hate when people call me that! Only my family can call me adorable.

"I wonder how adorable you'll be when you're full of holes," I said while reading my bow, "who are you, and where did you come from?"

"Wow, you really got lil'sis's stick in the mud attitude down pat, don't you?"

"Lil sis?" Who could he be talking about?

"Your mom, of course. What, didn't she tell you about me, your best uncle?" The blond idiot asked as he stood up.

"There's no way you're related to Mom," I told him. This guy was simply too different from her.

Mom's personality and appearance are the exact opposite of this fool. Yet, something about him looks similar; the more I looked at him the more I felt like I saw something similar to Mom.

"Yes, I am; just ask your Mom next time you see her."

"Fine, I will. Now tell me who you are, and explain what a half-blood is." I ordered him, even if this guy is clearly a liar, I might be able to get some truth out of him.

"Come on, my adorable little niece, you should know I'm not going to answer that," he said with a punchable smile, "That's a question for your mother."

The man started to get up, dropping down to the ground, "I've got to go, but it has been fun learning about you, even if I had to nudge you a little bit. I'll see ya later!"

The teen started laughing as he disappeared in a flash of golden light.

What just happened? And wait didn't he say something about learning about me; has he been stalking me? Since when?

My head was dizzy, and I don't feel like dealing with this right now; I'm going back to camp. I'll figure out how to deal with this in the morning.

Especially since I needed to find a way to hide my wounds first, and for most, I moved to look at my hands to see how bad the wounds were.

They were all gone as if they had been miraculously healed. At that moment, I felt most of the power in my disappear, and I let out a yawn. And I could tell, if I wasn't under the moon, then I would be on the ground sleeping right now.

I held back a second yawn as I made my way directly back to camp. I decided to go around Silena's location; I'd let her make her way back to camp on her own.

After all, she decided to walk out there on her own; she could make her way back alone.

I wonder how long she will wait around until she realizes I'm not coming back. A small smirk appeared on my face as I entered my tent, taking extra care not to wake up Aris or Katie.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

Silena wouldn't get back to camp until I found her in the morning, up a tree because she was scared of some bugs.

AN: Poll information at the bottom

Hello again, and thank you for reading the third chapter.

The next chapter will probably come out next month, as it's going to be a really long one, and I'm going to have to go back over several of the books to prepare for the next full chapter, and I am basically going to be adding probably around 10 to 20k more words to the next chapter since I feel the current version isn't that good. However, it might come out faster if I cut the flashback and the hunting trip in two like I did for this chapter, which was originally one with the last chapter.

The next chapter will be setting up Artemis and Poly's relationship, some of the main plot, and include a fight. Flashback time here we come.

For the fight in the next chapter, I could use some advice on writing fight scenes, so any tips would be appreciated!

Also, I want to clarify that a big part of Atalanta's story is dealing with herself as Shirou Emiya while reconciling that with the feelings that come with being Atalanta, daughter of Artemis. That's why I included that bit about Atalanta wondering about any other ways she might have changed, but instead of dealing with it, she just crushed it down to where she doesn't have to deal with it.

That, along with overcoming her traumas from her past life and finding purpose in this life, will make the bulk of Atalanta's internal conflict; what do y'all think about that?

Silena's role in this chapter was changed repeatedly. At first, I had her think that Atalanta was a monster; after all, Atalanta has all these unique powers and is super strange for an 8-year-old, along with the fact she had led Silena to an isolated place (the campsite). that was, in fact, the point of monster part of her conversation with Atalanta. The original version of the conversation would go with them talking past each other and Silena thinking Atalanta is a monster until they meet at camp, resulting in Silena running, thinking Atalanta is a monster that somehow got into camp and hilarity would ensue.

Also, another rewrite had Silena running into Apollo, who had knocked out Atalanta in this version so he could just bring her back to camp without any fust. Or, more accurately, Silena would go looking for Atalanta and find her unconscious in Apollo's arms, leading to her trying to fight Apollo to protect Atalanta (Obviously thinking Apollo was, well, just a monster, not a literal god). Obviously, Apollo would just knock her right out, but it would still be a touching moment to show how much Silena cares about her friends, even one's she finds annoying.

I don't think many other children of Aphrodite would do that. Hopefully, Luke doesn't turn her in this timeline.

By the way, I'm going to try and set up a poll with several options for what kind of Satyr friend Atalanta meeting at the beginning of fourth grade. They may, unfortunately, be an OC given how few Satyrs there are in canon, or when could go out of the way and make Atalanta's friend a Nymph or something.

Huh, so that's how you add horizontal lines.

Happy Holidays, and I hope everyone stays safe and gets their refunds for Cyberpunk 2077.