I said that this chap would be the 'duel' between Herc and Kore. I forgot that it would take like 6K+words until we get there, so not yet! Instead, it's time for our heroine!

PS. Here's a digest of Korecres' blessing (River Fortress: Iron of Styx) to clarify things.

➀ Nullification of all damage caused by non-organic materials including noble phantasms and other phenomenons, divine and mortal alike. This does not apply to alien materials that aren't native to planet earth.

② Great resistance against all damage including biological forces, such as poison and injuries caused by hand-to-hand combat. This does not apply to suffocation or sicknesses caused by fatigue and starvation.

③ Enhance physical prowess. Coupled with his blood blessing from Persephone, it acts as a combination of Natural Body (A+) and Regeneration (A+), the latter being active as long as his feet remain on the ground. Sounds familiar, aye?

④ A person or beast with an equal rank of divinity (A+++~) or an Anti-divinity weapon of one rank below (B+++~) can bypass the effects of this blessing. This does not apply to ③.

So yeah, it's an overall upgrade from Achilles' blessing. I mean, if you have a C-rank divinity, Achilles' blessing would lose effect, and that's not mentioning his heel.

On we go!

Bear girl meets Demigod boy

My father was NOT happy after my little incident at Olympus.

As a matter of fact, he was furious. Hades was the kind of laid-back man who would always adopt an objective perspective whenever he approached a problem. You could say that he was one of the most chill gods in Greece, second only to Hestia. And he was frenzied.

I would dare say that he would've challenged Zeus to a duel right there if Poseidon hadn't stepped in and whispered into his ear at the very last moment. And speaking of our almighty King of the gods...his attitude was queer, to say the least. His wife had directly insulted his guests, and he had shown no sign of stopping her...exactly as Hermes warned me.

Come to think of it, Zeus didn't seem the least surprised by Hera's blatant disrespect. Did he orchestrate this entire mess in the first place? He couldn't have, right? I mean, what good could have come out of that? Though I was certain that he did pull a few strings, it was hard to tell. My right eye didn't work on him as I expected, and I couldn't read any sort of emotion from his stone-cold facade.

All in all, I was fed up with my debut. While I did earn the approval and interest of quite a few Olympians (my father had taken note of who had shown a positive reaction and who hadn't, YIKES), the shitty truth is that I've managed to launch myself into a sea of deep shit.

Oh, and did I mention that kid Heracles was my executioner? The guy who could probably benchpress Achilles with all his invincibility on top? I mean, while Achilles could nullify most attacks, his iron skin loses its effect once it's attacked by one who has a higher level of divinity, or by a weapon with anti-divinity properties. At least, that was what Styx told me.

Anyway, what remains now is to haul my ass over to Mount Pelion, where Alcides is training with the famous centaur, Chiron. Despite my chances of winning being rather slim, I still haven't given up hope.

You see, while Hera forced me to challenge Alcides to a duel and make him admit his loss, she didn't specifically mention what kind of duel we must partake in, or how many times I could issue a challenge. For all I care, it could be fishing. Please let it be a fishing contest.

Though, somewhere deep in me, I was still skeptical that might work. Hera wasn't the kind of goddess to make loopholes. Maybe she wasn't that shrewd?

I mean, the ancient Greeks had this kind of stereotypical image of heroes which is great muscles and brutality with a dash of glory and monster-slaying on top. No ethics but only power is needed for demigods, I've heard quite a few souls say.

Hera could've assumed like all ancient Greeks that I would take her challenge as a violent one. Well, jokes on her. I'm gonna spread the idealism of non-violence until a colossal asshole shows up.

"Master, we've reached the borders of Arcadia. Once we cross the narrow sea ahead, we shall reach mount Pelion."

A calm but strangely sultry voice broke through my reverie. Lifting my head, I realized it was already evening, and the dimming light of Helios was nearly swallowed by the shroud of aunt Nyx. My long shadow wavered as a feminine figure took shape within it.

"Thanks, Dusa. I must say, with this 'compass', I do not even need to search for the stars for guidance through the night."

"Yes. I've never seen anything like this. It must be one of the many artifacts the Olympians had."

Dusa, my first and the most loyal servant was one of the souls that resided in my father's domain, but with a sacred oath on sister Styx that she shall not reveal her true name lest she gets sent back to the realm of the dead, she was permitted to travel by my side as my shadow. In this case, quite literally.

It wasn't like she couldn't materialize without my presence, but it greatly inhibits her ether supply from the underworld, forcing me to sustain herself entirely via our connection in order to maintain her as my guardian spirit. As long as she is in my proximity which is about a hundred meters, I have a spirit with technically a nigh-infinite mana supply.

Of course, she'll need to rest in the underworld if she sustains serious injuries, but besides that, she had no apparent weakness. Now, she was acting as my guide through the Greek landscapes.

Did I need the compass my father gave me? This time, probably not.

With a flick of my hand, I dropped the equipment into my shadow which it swallowed with a slight ripple. A convenient dimensional space that acts as a storage/portal via particle decomposition and reconstruction, my father had explained. Hades' authority as a god was decomposition, and this was an extension of the abilities I inherited from him as his offspring.

I glanced at the massive shadow a boulder cast across the rocky plains of the mountainside and cracked my neck with a sigh.

"Shadow traveling across the sea, no matter how narrow, would take too much mana from my body, as well as alert Poseidon of our presence. Not like he has a bone to pick with us, but it might be safer to travel tomorrow morning by a raft-"

I sensed a shudder pass through Dusa from our mental link.

"Dusa? Are you all right?"

"Master, if you please...let's travel through the shadows. I...I'm not...fond of crossing the sea, even in a spiritual form."

I kept silent for a few seconds as I watched Dusa squirm uncomfortably under my gaze. Seeing that she would rather not elaborate on that matter, I nodded with a shrug. Dusa immediately relaxed, with a smile on her face.

"Allow me to express my deepest gratitude, my master."

Dusa leaned over and kissed my cheek. I rolled my eyes at her antics. You would think a young boy like me might get flustered, but living with Demeter and Persephone tends to make you immune to skinship.

"Let's set camp then. I'll go hunting this time. Prepare for the night, would you?"

"Of course, my lord."

Shaking my head with a faint smile of my own, I reached into my shadow and brought out my silver bow and arrows. Most of my weapons (except my Scythe from Percy) were enchanted by Hecate, the goddess of magecraft herself. It wasn't that powerful compared to actual god-made constructs, but it was far superior to any other weapon a mortal could've made.

Muttering a quick thank-you and a promise to bake her my apple-flavored meat pie (I learned from grandma), I ran into the woods to find some game for dinner. Despite the fact that I constantly fed on the ether in the air, my body always felt hungry.

"A deer might do...wait...is that a bear paw...? How in Tartarus can this pawprint be so...big?"

And a big pawprint it was. Reaching more than two feet, it was massive. Could it be one of those phantasmal beasts Percy told me about?

My right eye scanned through the forest and stopped at a tiny dot lit up in the semi-darkness of the forest. Closing my right and opening my left eye, I peered in that direction. Almost immediately, I recognized the outline of a gigantic, hulking bear.

Curious about what it was doing, I decided to take a quick peek. I knew I was taking unnecessary risks, but hey, I'm a demigod. My life's direction is decorated by a big, fat, sign that reads DANGER AHEAD. And speaking of fat...

"God damn that's a fat bear..."

Shadow traveling after sunset in the darkness of the woods couldn't have been easier. A few seconds later, I was already perched on top of a tree, several kilometers away from where we set camp. Below me, I saw the ancient Greek version of an obese bear on steroids, with a severe case of diabetes on top. ...Steroids? Diabetes?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. The strange knowledge that kept popping into my head was getting more frequent. Was it the knowledge of the gods?

The bear sniffed the air as if sensing something out of line. I sank into my own shadow, concealing my presence. After a few seconds of sniffing, the six-meter-long bear went back to eyeing a certain thing hanging on the branch of a tall tree. A nest of bees.

Yes, the bear was after honey. Percy taught me that bears tend to leave some of the honey behind. Perhaps I could wait for a free ride? Better, I could just snatch it away at the last moment. With shadow traveling, I'm confident in my chances of escaping.

Then, the bear stood up on its hind legs and started stretching. I blinked.

After stretching, the bear curled up into one giant furry wrecking ball. I widened my eyes. No, could it be...!?

The bear started to roll. Silver light lit up its black fur, turning them into a sacred shade of white.

One second it was a furball, the next second it was a mana-enhanced boulder of mass destruction. It tore through the air and flew right past the tree it was aiming for, and slammed itself into the rocky cliff ahead.

The ground shook at the impact as rocks tumbled down the face of the now decimated cliff. I stood there in silence, watching the whole epic scene unfold beneath my eyes.

"Did the bear just chuck herself into a cliff?"

Apparently, it did. Judging from the groans, it must've hit its head.

Now, the most sensible thing would've been to shoot down the honeycomb and calmly walk out of the scene. The bees' stingers were organic, but my skin was too tough for them to penetrate unless they were phantasmal beasts, which they are not. Even if they did somehow manage to get their stingers within me, an anaphylactic shock wouldn't have been a problem. However...

I looked back at the bear. Its legs were sticking out of the rocks like two chubby tree stumps. I looked at the honeycomb. I sighed. Me and my hypocritical bleeding heart.

Dropping down from my tree, I shot down the honeycomb without looking and raced across with a knife I whipped out of my shadow. The honeycomb fell on top of the knife and cut itself in half. Catching both halves in my other hand, I walked over to the bear who had at last dug itself out and was observing me with widened eyes.

I tossed it half of the honeycomb, and the bear caught it in its mouth. I noticed the teats on her belly. It was a she-bear.

"Here you go...err... . You are a mother bear, right? Hope your cubs will like that."

The bear's head bobbed up and down. A phantasmal beast she is. Perhaps a divine one? I did sense some divinity...and the faint scent of the moon. Is she...?

"Get away from my mother!"

A blur shot past the trees, revealing a girl of my age. She was dressed in bear fur, with long, green hair and sparkling emerald eyes. She sported an adorable scowl on her face as she bared her canines and growled at me as if daring me to take a step further.

I did the most sensible thing and stepped forward. In my defense, I was overexcited to finally meet someone of my age.

In a blink of an eye, her feet found themselves on the side of my head. I swear the force behind her kick was more than enough to snap the neck of a mortal man. Unfortunately for her, I was no ordinary boy.

Catching her by the ankle before she could kick me again, I twisted her around so that she would land in my chest. Successfully catching the wild girl in my arms, I hugged her. She squirmed in panic, biting me in the neck with all her might. She might as well been a lioness in human skin.

A sharp pain shot through my neck as blood started to trickle down, but I kept hugging her, one hand rubbing her back, with the other still holding the honeycomb.

"I apologize for stepping into your territory, though there might be a misunderstanding.", I said calmly in her ear. "Your...mother bear had an...accident while trying to hunt for honey, so I got the honeycomb for her instead."

The girl froze. Slowly, she looked at my hand holding half of the honeycomb, then the silver arrow still embedded in the ground, and finally, her mother bear holding the other half of the cleanly-cut honeycomb in her drooling jaw. Horror dawned on her face.

"I...I am...terribly sorry...", the girl squeaked. I chuckled and released the red-faced girl.

"My name is Korecres, son of Hades. May I ask your name, you who have a divine beast of Artemis as her mother?"

The girl's mouth opened wide in the shape of an O. A flicker of respect shone in the depths of her green eyes before her lips morphed into what represented a shy grin. She coughed once and puffed out her chest.

"Thou shalt call me Atlanta!", she declared with a proud huff.

My smile froze.

"Excuse me?"

The mother bear yawned.

First encounter with best girl in traditional anime misunderstanding & violence. Where did she learn to speak, you ask? Apparently, Artemis' blessing did wonders. Nanomachines, son!

Anyway, thank you so much for your opinions and interesting reviews! You guys rock!

As always, review and let me know your thoughts! It helps this story stay alive. X-kalibuuuur, over and out.