~ The Bane of the Twin Archers ~

SAPHIRA

Saphira hurtles up the snowy slopes, driving herself as hard as she can through the deep snow. Her muscles scream in protest, begging her to stop and rest but she does her best to ignore them. There is another flash of lightning overhead, immediately followed by a ear-popping boom that sends a vibration through the snow around her legs. Orion has to be proving himself to be too formidable an opponent if Thalia is summoning that much lightning. The fact that he still is alive despite the fact that both daughters of Zeus, one being a goddess, are against him in combat terrifies Saphira.

Maybe she and her two allies whom are right on her heels can help tip the scales, but… she's not sure. It took millennia for them to even have a shot at killing him the first time around -something that Praetor Reyna ended up doing herself- and most of that time was spent just trying to track him down.

The thought brings a painful twist to her heart as she recalls who had led the charge in the hunt for the Archer Giant. Centuries of failure, frustration, stress, and anger… and all Saphira could do all that time was do all she could to support and assist her. The thought that Orion was the cause of that begins to drive out the fear from her veins, replacing it with a cold desire for revenge.

At last, Saphira, Laura, and Clarisse reach the final bend of the mountain trail, rising up over a mound to lead into a clump of boulders overlooking a wide clearing. The clearing is ringed by only a few trees, some of which are splintered or smoking from lightning strikes. On one side, there is the sheer rock wall rising up into the sky, and a high, howling drop on the other side. It's a far-less than ideal battle arena.

The combatants are engaged in a deadly dance that takes them all over. Artemis and Thalia, dipping from cover to cover, taking shots with their bows when they can at their agile foe. Orion sidesteps and spins, narrowly avoiding each arrow while returning fire with his own bow. His arrows are massive, much longer than the arrows of the Hunt and fashioned with deadly barbs. His arrows splinter wood from the trees and shrapnel from the boulders that Artemis and Thalia dive behind.

Above them on the rocks, Saphira sucks in a deep breath, trying to come up with a plan. They have the element of surprise on their side. Orion probably thinks that the Wolves are still keeping them busy with the earlier battle, so he wouldn't be expecting reinforcements to arrive. If they can manage precise shots from here, they can injure him, perhaps incapacitate him long enough for Artemis to deliver a killing blow.

"What are we waiting for?" Clarisse demands, snapping Saphira from her thoughts. "Let's get down there and skewer that bastard!"

"Don't be foolish! Orion is a deadly warrior. We have to take him by surprise," Saphira says.

"We need to act fast. I don't think Lady Artemis or Thalia can hold out much longer," Laura says. Not a second after these words leave her lips, do they prove themselves to be true.

Thalia, evidently having run out of arrows, has swapped to her spear and shield. Quickly nodding to Artemis, they seem to form some sort of plan for a maneuver between them before they act upon it. Artemis moves first, rising up with a spin to fire three arrows at once as Thalia vaults up over the boulder. Saphira recognizes the maneuver; it is one where one combatant will attempt to create a suppressive diversion to make an enemy unable to defend from the other's attack. Normally it works against most foes… but Orion is not like most foes.

He spins around Artemis' shots while swinging his bow, bringing it around in a full arc to smash into Thalia, throwing her to the snow. He then swiftly and expertly nocks an arrow to his string and fires it at her, almost point-blank range, but she just barely manages to get her shield raised in time. Still, the power of his bow and the size of the arrow is enough to knock her shield back into her head, apparently dazing her. Before Orion can take advantage of her helplessness, Artemis charges to her rescue, landing a solid kick to his jaw and sending him staggering away from Thalia.

"You will not touch her!" the goddess screams with fury in her silver eyes, drawing her long hunting knives.

Orion for a moment seems to consider taking another shot at her, however he notes her blades and a wicked grin curls through his lips. He tosses his bow away and draws his own single knife; a deadly serrated blade of celestial bronze that would practically be a sword in Saphira's hands, but in the grasp of the giant, it's only a dagger.

"You cannot kill me, Artemis, not alone," he sneers, flipping his knife from one hand to the other, as if trying to taunt her.

"Let us test that theory!" she snarls before springing at him with the speed and grace of a panther.

The two rivals engage in a knife-fight that is almost too fast for Saphira to follow with her eyes as they dip, dart, spin, and slash. Despite Artemis' ferocity and skill, Orion is right. She cannot kill him without the help of a demigod, and the one with the best chances is out cold in the snow. It'll have to be up to Clarisse or Laura, as Saphira is no child of the gods.

"We have to get down there. She won't be able to kill him unless you two help her!" she declares.

"What about Thalia?" Laura hisses.

"I'll get her to cover, just help Artemis!"

"I'll lead in close-quarters if you keep me covered, Laura," Clarisse growls.

Laura nods her head, and Saphira does the same in response. In now silent agreement, the three girls vault over the rock and slide down the slope into the clearing. Just as they reach the bottom, Orion somehow manages to break Artemis' defense and hurl a powerful punch to her jaw. The goddess grunts and falls with the giant looming over her, ready for the kill.

"Yaaaah!"

Clarisse's battle cry distracts him just before he can strike with his knife, as she leaps into the air and thrusts her spear downward at him. Orion sidesteps with a whirl to swing his knife, but his blade only glances off her shield. As if he had super senses, he leans back just far enough to avoid a direct hit from Laura's arrow, though her shot does slice through his cheek. It's a superficial wound, but one that clearly surprises him as he's shoved back by a mighty bash from Clarisse's shield. Artemis also looks surprised at their sudden arrival, though her surprise quickly shifts to relief as she realizes that the odds are evened up once again. For a split second, fear flashes through Orion's expression, though it quickly fades as his mechanical eyes whir and rotate with their red glow.

Meanwhile, Saphira sneaks her way to Thalia. The lieutenant still seems to be much too incapacitated, despite that she's now starting to come to. She's too vulnerable to leave out here, so Saphira grabs her by her quiver strap and begins to drag her through the snow towards the rocks.

"Ungh," Thalia groans, probably trying to protest.

"You need to recover, Thalia!" Saphira hisses, keeping an eye on the fight only a short distance away. Thankfully, Orion is far too distracted battling three opponents to notice them making their escape, though he still is somehow managing to fend them off, just barely. Saphira hauls Thalia behind some large boulders. After setting her against the face of the rock, she examines her for any serious injury. She exhales in relief when she sees its only a nasty bruise forming on her forehead; result of the impact of her shield on her head.

"I'mmm okur," Thalia says, her speech a little slurred.

She is definitely not okay.

"No you're not," Saphira sternly tells her. When Thalia tries to rise again, she's gently but firmly pushed back down. "You're not fighting in this condition."

Glancing over the rock, she sees the battle still going on just as fiercely as it was. Orion is wounded, though the cuts on his forearms and torso are nowhere near dangerous, and he's left his marks on Artemis and Clarisse. Artemis bleeds golden ichor from several light slashes on her arms and a single gash in her hip. Clarisse has a bloody nose, though she retains the fury in her eyes. Laura is the only one uninjured, as she has been keeping her distance and firing arrows from across the clearing.

Saphira wishes she had brought more reinforcements with her, but many of her sisters and their allies seemed too injured to leave unprotected.

"S-Saph."

She returns her focus to Thalia, who finally seems to be coming to more clearly. She's squeezing her eyes hard with each blink, as if trying shake away the daze from her vision. She's recovering, but she's not ready to fight again.

"I'm here, Thalia," Saphira replies. She wishes she had some ambrosia or nectar on her to speed things along.

"Where is Artemis?" Thalia demands.

"Still fighting Orion. Clarisse and Laura are helping her."

The sky child exhales a growl. "I need to get back in there."

"Not like this you won't," Saphira says as Thalia attempts to stand on wobbly legs. "You need to recover more."

Thalia reluctantly lets herself be pushed down again, however she grabs Saphira by the sleeve of her jacket and looks her dead in the eyes.

"Then you help them."

"What about you?" Saphira protests, unwilling to leave her defenseless.

"I'll be fine, but you have to help them. Orion's too strong, even for the three of them. He's gotten more powerful somehow."

More powerful?

"Go, Saph!" Thalia urges her.

As much as she doesn't want to leave her alone, Saphira knows she must obey. She hastily gets to her feet and leaves Thalia where she is, drawing an arrow from her quiver and fitting it to her bowstring as she hurries back to the fight, and not a second too soon.

Clarisse makes a thrust with her spear, driving it upwards at Orion's face, but the archer giant bobs his head out of the way and snatches the shaft of the spear near the point. He wrenches it from her grasp and slams the shaft against her shield with enough force to dent it, knocking her onto her back. Without losing his flow of motion, Orion ducks beneath Artemis' kick with a spin, swinging the spear through her legs and flipping her off her feet. Hefting the spear up, he then hurls the spear at Laura, who barely manages to dive out of the way after firing a returning shot.

Already back on her feet, Clarisse charges him despite no longer having her spear. Orion meets her with his knife, striking it against her shield and spinning her with the impact. Despite this, Clarisse doesn't lose her footing, simply allowing the motion to carry her around for a mighty swing of her shield. Unfortunately, it doesn't connect as Orion easily sidesteps and swiftly reaches out to grab her by the head and throw her across the clearing, right into Laura. Both girls crash into a heap, and neither gets back up.

Orion then makes a near-fatal error, taking a moment to gloat at his feat. In that split-second moment, he doesn't see Artemis diving at him with a snarl, only barely managing to turn and flinch away so that her knife only slices off his ear instead of his entire head.

"Argh!" he roars with such force that the snow around him is blasted outward. Artemis shields herself from being blinded by the fluttering snow and swiftly springs at him to attack again. Orion parries her blades with his and prepares to take a stab at her midsection, but his strike never even gets into motion.

Saphira frees her arrow from the string, letting it whistle through the air to skewer right through Orion's wrist.

The giant cries out and curses in Ancient Greek, saying several things that Saphira would only dare utter in the most dire of circumstances. He turns to face her, and despite only having mechanical eyes, he manages to stare her down with the fiercest glare, though the glare only lasts for a moment before it becomes one of surprise.

"You! I thought you were killed years ago, Titan girl!" he exclaims.

At first, Saphira is bewildered. What is he talking about?

Then, it hits her, and Orion seems to realize his mistake in identity.

"Oh, I see now… You are not Nightshade, no. You are the other Hesperide outcast," he growls, losing his surprise in place of a sneer. "The one who always followed Nightshade around like a lost puppy."

Saphira's blood runs cold, and it's not from the weather. The mention of that name brings back centuries' worth of memories.

Zoe Nightshade, the former lieutenant of the Hunt, once Saphira's best friend… as well as her own blood relative. She had accompanied her on many hunts for the Archer Giant, never succeeding. The centuries of failure and frustration took a great toll on Zoe, something that Saphira had always done her best to help her for. The two were close, closer than anyone else in the Hunt… until that dreaded quest to save Artemis that Zoe led almost five years ago, a quest that took her to her death at the hands of the titan Atlas.

Saphira regrettably hadn't been around to accompany her for that quest. She had already been occupied with a hunt for a particularly troublesome hellhound, and when she returned from her mission, she was met by the news of her closest friend's death.

"The family resemblance is strong. You look like her," Orion sneers. "I can't wait to make you share the same fate she did."

The sadness melts away into cold fury as Saphira reaches over her shoulder for another arrow.

"You are unworthy of even speaking her name," she growls.

"Me, unworthy? Stupid girl, I am the finest hunter to ever live! So great that even Artemis nearly broke her oath for me," he cackles.

"Even thousands of years later, you still believe that nonsense!" Artemis snarls, circling him so that she and Saphira have him trapped between them. "That rumor was due to my idiot brother who thought I was developing feelings for you. I never thought of you as anything other than a friend, though now all you are is a fiendish, bloodthirsty beast, slaving away to the likes of Gaea!"

Orion's smirk disappears, replaced by a look of pure hate.

"You know, I was considering only taking you as my prisoner after I defeat you and kill every single one of your precious hunters, but I don't think I can wait to savor the sight of your blood spilling over the ground," he growls, flipping his massive knife into a forward grip.

Saphira was expecting him to go for Artemis first, seeing as how the goddess is the greater threat to his life, but instead he surprises them both and goes straight for Saphira. She doesn't even have time to aim, as his speed lets him close the distance and with a lightning-fast swing of his knife, he snaps her bow in half. She gasps and stumbles back, unprepared for his sudden attack though she quickly recovers her composure thanks to Artemis intercepting and taking Orion's attention off her. Saphira drops her hands to her belt and rips her knives from their sheathes.

She almost doesn't even want to get close to the two vicious whirlwinds that clash again and again. Artemis is so dizzyingly fast and Orion is no slouch either. Sparks fly from the clash of their knives, until the goddess attempts to feint with her left and slash with the right, but Orion doesn't fall for her trick. He catches her blade on the hilt of his and twists downward, forcing the knife out of her hand. Before he can take advantage of her misbalance, Artemis turns her stumble into a forward-falling spin to lash the heel of her foot in a vicious kick against his jaw. The giant grunts as he falls back into the snow while Artemis regains her footing and springs into the air like a pouncing panther, driving her knife straight down towards his throat. Orion intercepts the descending blade with his open palm, bellowing in pain as the knife pierces right through and stops just short over his jugular.

Artemis snarls and slams her other palm over the hilt's end in an effort to force it through his hand, but the giant is too strong and manages to hold it up even with her weight behind it. He then lands a solid hook to her cheek with his unoccupied fist, packing enough force to roll them over. Not bothering to pull his bleeding hand free, Orion clasps his other hand around Artemis' throat, making the goddess retch as she struggles to breathe.

Now, Saphira has her opening.

Breaking into a near silent sprint, she darts through the clearing and leaps high to land on Orion's back, balancing herself as she drives both knives down into his shoulders. The giant first gasps, then screams, rearing up off of Artemis and throwing Saphira from his back with his momentum. She lands with a backwards roll onto her feet and launches herself at him again, this time diving low for a shallow cut through his right calf. Landing in front of him, she spins around to punch her knife right into his stomach.

At that moment, she feels a large, heavy hand grab her head and lift her into the air like a doll. She can feel her body ripping through the frigid winds as she's suddenly hurled across the clearing, landing with a hard thud that the snow did little to cushion. Saphira isn't so winded that she doesn't duck in time to dodge the incoming knife; her knife that was pulled out of Orion's gut by himself.

Before he can advance on her, he's knocked onto his hands and knees by a flying knee to the back by Artemis, who dives into a roll to land beside Saphira.

Orion no longer looks so smug now. His hand, shoulders, calf, and stomach all bleed. None of those wounds look to be deep enough to pose much danger… even if they are, it wouldn't matter. Saphira is no demigod. All she can do is fight long and hard enough to give any of the present demigods time to recover and rejoin the fight, so that they and Artemis can deliver the killing blow.

After snatching up her knives and scrambling to her feet, Saphira charges him with Artemis right at her side. This time, Saphira goes high, leaping up with a twisting flip to slash at his head as she goes over him. Orion bobs his head away, but her attack was distraction enough for Artemis to close the distance and land a solid punch to his jaw. She doesn't cease in her assault, hitting him with two more hooks and then a spinning heel to his chest. Saphira notices that the goddess' hands are shimmering with silvery light; she's enhancing her strikes with her powers.

Wasting no time in taking advantage of Orion's stumbling, Saphira darts in and attacks with two slashes, leading left. The giant back steps and raises his arms to defend himself, earning a cut on his wrist when her knife slices through. She then retreats and tosses one of her knives to Artemis who catches it without missing a beat as she then takes over once again. The moon maiden rocks him with a hard right hook encased in her silver aura. The blow rocks Orion sideways and leaves him unable to defend himself in time from the slash of the knife that rakes its way across his chest.

Saphira closes in from behind while he's occupied with Artemis and with a snarl, jams her knife upward into his side. Orion gasps in pain and surprise, then roars as Saphira twists the blade in deeper. Even if she cannot really kill him, such a wound is sure to slow him down some.

Her belief in that is what leads to her mistake.

Despite the wound, Orion somehow moves just as fast as ever, so fast that it catches her off-guard and she's ill-prepared for the powerful backhand that sends her flying into the snow. Stars dance back and forth across her vision, but despite that she manages to focus enough through her daze to see Artemis getting punched twice in the face and attempting to retaliate with a kick, but Orion catches her ankle before it can land. With his giant's strength, he easily swings her off her remaining foot and whips her around through the air. He lets go, and the goddess crashes through a pine with enough force to shatter the trunk to splinters, and she does not stir after that.

"A-Artemis," Saphira stammers, struggling to form her words as she fails in her attempts to stand.

Her feeble call draws their adversary's attention to her; his mechanical laser-focused eyes zeroing in on her, as if highlighting his target. The fact that he's unarmed means little. He could break her with his bare hands if he so wished… which he likely does.

"You… I think I'll kill you first," Orion growls, advancing on her with long, confident strides.

Saphira can do little to defend herself, only gasp when he flips her onto her back with a single flick of his foot to her stomach. She gasps again, this time from the sudden, immense pressure on her chest beneath his boot. Another shift forces the air from her lungs and fearful realization overcomes her; he intends on crushing her to death!

Weakly clawing at his boot and his ankle, her attempts at fighting back are pitiful. Frantically, she searches for her knife, a sharp rock, anything she can use and finds that there are no weapons to aid her. She can only stare up in terror at the giant that glares down at her, seeming to find glee in killing her this way.

"Look into my eyes, you pitiful little bitch!" he rasps. "I want to see the light fade from your-"

BOOM!

Whatever he was going to say is lost to the ages as a brilliant flash of light and a thunderclap cut him off. The force of the explosion had sent him airborne to crash against the mountainside, leaving him in a heap of charred, smoking flesh and clothing.

Saphira rasps for breath, desperately taking in the air that was being denied to her lungs to recover. In her recovery, she manages to roll onto her side and spot Thalia standing at the edge of the clearing. Her expression is haggard, yet she holds her spear up high, pointing it at the sky. Saphira can feel the electricity building in the air as the daughter of Zeus prepares for another blast. Orion is already stirring, but even he cannot simply shrug off such a blow from a child of the sky god.

"Haaah!" Thalia screams with all her might as a second bolt of lightning hurtles down from the sky to ricochet off her spear-tip and blast Orion in the chest, throwing him back against the rocky walls for a second time.

Thalia's legs buckle and she sinks to her knees, hunching over and leaning heavily on her spear. She must have used the last of her strength in that attack, leaving herself not even able to stand anymore. Even so, she manages to growl a command.

"Get him!"

It takes Saphira only a second to realize that the order was not meant just for her.

As Orion begins to get to his feet once more, his recovery is interrupted by an arrow sprouting from his shoulder blade, causing him to cry out and collapse again. Then, he makes another attempt to get up, only to be dropped again, this time by a spear impaling his chest. Saphira drags her gaze around to find Laura and Clarisse have recovered, and wear expressions of grim triumph. They both nod to Saphira, and even without words, she understands.

Taking only a moment to find her knife in the snow, Saphira retrieves it and begins to shakily, but surely make her way towards Orion, gripping the hilt of her blade tight. The giant coughs and sputters, spitting his golden ichor onto the icy ground. His strength seems to be sapped, unable to do any more than just bring himself up onto his knees, not even bothering to remove the spear or arrow from his body. She almost cannot believe that his smirk is still present.

"Heh, what are you going to do, little girl? You are neither demigod nor a god. You cannot kill me," he sneers.

Saphira pauses only a few steps in front of him. She wants to do it… every cell of her being is demanding that she drive this knife through his throat… but he's right. No matter how much she wants to, she can't be the one.

"I know," she replies coolly. Her demeanor seems to confuse him, his smirk finally wavering in place of a frown. That's when she decides to drop the bomb on him with what she noticed, and who he failed to see recover.

"But she can."

With that, Saphira quickly tosses the knife to the waiting goddess who catches it without missing a beat. Orion only has time to widen his brow in surprise, before Artemis plunges the knife clean through his neck.

The death is quick. There is no clap of thunder, no brilliant flash of light. The greatest enemy of the hunt simply goes limp and keels over, slain like they would have done to any monster.

The Bane of the Twin Archers is gone.

Finally, Saphira collapses, her body no longer able to sustain her beaten and battered state. Before she can hit the ground, she's caught by Artemis, who cradles her in her arms and regards her with worry.

"Saphira!"

"I'm okay, milady," Saphira feebly reassures her. Artemis seems unconvinced and gently cups her cheek.

"Nonsense, you are injured! Laura, fetch a healer at once!" the goddess commands. Victory is apparently no excuse for slacking. Without a moment's hesitation, Laura is racing off to carry out her orders.

"I only need to rest. I'll be okay," Saphira tries to protest, but Artemis is having none of it.

"What you need is nectar and ambrosia. Your other wounds have reopened and you are bleeding as well!" she retorts. "I will not have one of my hunters be injured and denied healing. Do not argue with me."

Saphira hadn't even noticed that the other wounds she received from Lycaon had started bleeding again until she weakly touches a hand to her torso, and feels warm liquid; her blood. She can't be bleeding too much, but perhaps Artemis is right. She no longer has adrenaline coursing through her to keep her standing.

"Lady Artemis!"

Clarisse's call distracts the goddess towards the daughter of war. She's tending to Thalia, who apparently has passed out from the amount of power she had to exert in her final strikes. If not for her, Saphira would have been on her way to the Underworld. She'll be sure to give the lieutenant a proper thanks later, just as soon as she can function again.

Cursing in ancient Greek, Artemis begins to carefully lay Saphira down on the snow.

"Wait here. I must see that Thalia is okay," she says. "I will be right back."

At this point, Saphira is almost passed out herself, so all she does is nod and allow the maiden to lay her to rest before she gets up and briskly hurries to check on Thalia.

As she lays there in the snow, Saphira takes the moment to process what has happened. in battle, her mind goes into overdrive, and she doesn't really think. Now that she's not occupied with fighting for her life, the weight of everything that has occurred hits her. They killed not one, but two powerful enemies of the Hunt… they turned the entire tide of war, as the Wolves of Lycaon no longer have their leader to guide them, not for a long while at least. The Hunt can now recover and bring themselves back to full strength for the first time in nearly a year.

It almost doesn't seem real, how things may turn out to be okay after all.

Or so she believes.

Even in her weakened and deluded state, Saphira isn't so out of it that she doesn't notice the soft rumble that vibrates through the ground and the air. It's a familiar sound, one she had heard only a couple days before, and she did not forget. Thalia's lightning blasts must've been too powerful…

"Avalanche!"

Clarisse's cry rings out just as Saphira turns her gaze up the mountain. The thundering, falling white wall of death rolls down the mountain like a tidal wave, engulfing boulders, trees, everything in its path. Artemis and Clarisse, on the other side of the clearing, quickly snatch Thalia and drag her to cover behind the rocky slope, but Saphira is too far away, and she's too weak to even try.

"Saphira!" Artemis screams over the roaring avalanche, but there is nothing she or any of them can do.

All Saphira can do now, is simply stare at the incoming force of nature, horror gripping her heart as she lays there frozen. After everything that happened, this is it… this is how she goes. Gritting her teeth with the last of her energy, Saphira prepares for the inevitable. The last thing she sees is a shadowy blur seemingly materializing around her, just before her entire world is swallowed by the avalanche.

Then, everything goes black.