Writing this out a little earlier so I can get it up in time. It's pretty satisfying, being productive. Plus, less sleep equals less time alone with the things in my head. That came out wrong. Ignore that. Anyhow, the aftermath of Kaneki and Zoe's dispatching of a goddess, in which the Hunt fights two people. Have fun!
Artemis was lying on the cold dirt ground for a long time. Around her, she could hear the sounds of her Hunters calling out for their mistress, punctuated by sudden screams and eerie silence afterwards. She cursed her own inability to move, energy sapped by the god-killer that had been turned on her by one she had thought was her friend, even a sister. Still, she knew(much to her irritation) that she had gotten off lightly, for she could already feel her energy returning, albeit really slowly. Something that could have happened if she had been engaged in one on one combat with Kaneki Ken alone, still wielding his cursed blade, she probably would have been killed rather that left unceremoniously in a field, listening to the sounds of quick battles around her with no chance of helping those that were essentially her children. One of her younger Hunters had stumbled onto her body while running away from something(or someone), cried out in alarm and rushed to help her up, only for something akin to red strings to snag her and pull her into the darkness, too fast for her to even cry out for help. As the sounds of her girls grew softer with each minute, she wondered what the duo would do to her after they had defeated everyone who had been sent to hunt the mortal man. Perhaps they would come back to finish the job. Zoe Nightshade, the Lieutenant of the Hunt, who had been with her through countless hardships and times of trouble, had turned her back on the goddess who had taken her in when she had been cast aside, forgotten and the girls that she had fought with for centuries on end. For a single mortal man, who had never showed up on the radar of the gods and goddesses until he had stepped from the shadows in order to protect the newly discovered son of Poseidon, his mother and afterwards, Camp Half-Blood. Who was willing to fight a god with nothing but a sword. Of course, now she knew better.
Kaneki Ken. Looked like he was in his mid-twenties, and without a single drop of godly blood in his veins. A mortal man, according to all their knowledge, one that had somehow found his way into the Underworld, and then into Tartarus, where he apparently spent his days becoming the bane of monsters and gods alike, wandering the pit and killing everything that stood in his way. On hindsight, that knowledge alone should have warned her that the man was not to be taken lightly or trifled with, but appearances were deceiving. It was hard to be afraid or wary of a man who was sleeping with his apparent god-killer as a backrest. Of course, said person was lying amongst a huge amount of monster dust, so that probably should have been enough to warn her. Fighting him and cutting off his hand after disarming him should have been enough to stop him. Unfortunately, this mortal somehow grew a new hand, or reattached it considering she didn't see the severed hand despite the fact that it should have landed somewhere near where she had collapsed. So now they had a man toting a sword that could kill gods and regenerate severed limbs. She was starting to wonder whether or not he was some monster which had disguised itself as a human. Then again, she couldn't think of a monster which had the intelligence to pretend to be a human, managed to find a powerful sword and a regenerative ability strong enough to regrow a severed hand. She attempted to see if she had enough energy to unleash her divine form in order to warn the other gods. She didn't. However, she finally had enough energy to get up from her position on the ground, which she did, and staggered around, hoping that she wouldn't come across a corpse. Slowly gaining energy as she walked, Artemis surveyed the damage done to the forest.
From time to time, she would see signs of a scuffle. A broken bow, or a hunting knife just lying discarded on the floor. Three or four arrows peppering a tree, or perhaps a broken one with the slightest hint of blood on it. She could see that Kaneki had gone to town, there were many trees that had gotten a new makeover courtesy of a sword, some had even collapsed due to the lack of stability a tree has when a blade cuts through almost all of its base. There were no signs of Zoe however, which she didn't know how to feel about(it could be a good thing if it meant she wasn't participating in the subduing of her fellow Hunters, or it could be a bad thing because she was helping, there just weren't signs of it). Stepping over a tripwire made from that odd red string, she hesitated before returning to it. Gently, she drew a hunting knife and tapped it lightly, releasing the weapon afterwards and leaping back to what she hoped was a safe distance. Just in time, considering what happened afterwards. The string snapped in two and suddenly more shot from the ground and the surroundings, silent and terrifying(she watched one punch through a tree like it was paper), wrapping around the weapon she had dropped and trapping it in a glowing red cocoon. She shivered, imagining that happening to one of her Hunters. She wondered how she hadn't seen any of her girls or the duo that were hunting them, considering traps like this one were probably littering the forest floor. Eyes widening as soft footsteps echoed behind her despite the dirt muffling the sound, she turned around and drew her bow, immediately nocking an arrow. She was correct in assuming that it was an enemy, the man of the hour had decided to grace her with his presence. She quickly checked for the sword, only to find it absent, replaced by a metal briefcase that seemed too plain for something he would lug around for fun. Artemis guessed that the sword was stored in said briefcase and immediately released an arrow. To her annoyance, the arrow bounced off the briefcase like it had been made of rubber instead of enchanted silver, not making a single dent in the new accessory. Kaneki smiled, sensing her irritation. Gently setting down the briefcase, he cracked a knuckle, pushing it down with his thumb and creating a sickening sound that was more akin to a bone snapping. Rotating his neck and removing the cloak that he had been wearing since she had first met him(it revealed a skin tight black bodysuit which looked incredibly fragile, but appearances were deceiving). They stood at a standstill, Artemis hesitating to trigger a fight while remembering how Zoe had essentially stabbed her in the back while the mortal man served as a distraction, discreetly scanning her surroundings for flickers of movement and the glint of metal, only to find nothing. Kaneki noticed her gaze and grinned, spreading his arms in a gesture that oozed confidence.
"Zoe isn't here, I told her to check the rest of the traps and make sure your precious Hunt was unharmed. If it were up to me alone, I would probably have killed them all, and you as well, just to send Olympus a message for trying to put me out of commission. But, since you all matter so much to her, Artemis-san, I have been merciful. Don't worry about your girls, they're fine. Relatively. The only things that they might have to complain about would be bruises and maybe the occasional sprained wrist if they put up a good fight." the polite, humourous persona that he had used in their first and second meeting was gone, replaced by an almost arrogant air that surrounded him and callous words that dripped with poison. She fought the urge to fight him, judging from the glint in his eyes, he was just trying to make sure that she wouldn't be in the right state of mind(that is, not blinded by rage) if she did try to fight. When she didn't reply to his taunt, a disappointed frown crossed his face for a few moments before he settled into a fighting stance, a sardonic grin back in place almost immediately.
"How about a wager? Fight me. Any weapons allowed, minus my own. I'll fight you with my fists. If you win, I'll tell Zoe to release the Hunt, come along with you and surrender my sword to King Thunderbritches himself. Hopefully, he won't get drunk off the power of having a sword that can kill gods and decide that it would be the perfect time to off his brothers." Artemis hesitated, running through the offer in her head and attempting to find a loophole in his words, but could only find insults to her father's ego and power complex. Despite the situation, she snickered at the deadpan way he had delivered the statements. Kaneki folded his arms over his chest and sighed at the continued silence.
"What was that thing you Greeks did...oh I remember now. I swear on the River Styx that I will honour my promise." thunder rumbled, signifying the binding of the oath. For a moment, she gaped at the sheer audacity of the male, mind whirring at a thousand miles a minute. It was one thing to offer one's most prized possession up, along with one's life in a single fight against a goddess, especially without the god-killer or a partner that had been responsible for taking her down earlier(the cut on her chest, already healed, throbbed gently despite the lack of an injury). It was another to bind that promise to an oath on the River Styx, which meant that his soul would be forfeit if he chose to break the oath, out of cowardice or anything else. Now that he was bound to fight her with consequences if he lost, she couldn't resist accepting the wager. Nodding instead of responding verbally, she drew back another arrow and aimed for his head. Rather than prepare for a battle, Kaneki looked as if he was getting ready for a performance, tugging at his sleeves and finally settled in a typical soldier's relaxed position, legs apart and hands crossed behind his back. He looked unruffled despite the arrow pointed straight at his cranium.
"If I win, you leave Zoe and I alone. I don't really care what you can do to me, but you've had an awful habit of punishing Hunters that have supposedly 'betrayed' you, and I would be less than pleased if that happened to her." despite the calm, almost conversational tone that he had adopted, she could see how his stance had tightened, feeling slightly unnerved at the blankness in those silver eyes as they blazed without emotion, like a forest fire. Unconsciously, her grip on the bow tightened as instincts that only awoke during the hardest of fights stirred and whispered for her to be wary. Trying to quell the sudden burst of anxiety that had welled up in her, she replicated his arrogant smile and for the first time, spoke.
"The only reason you won the first time was because you had Zoe to save you, boy. She isn't here now, do you really think you can beat the goddess that oh-so-easily beat you the first time? I'd like to see you try." her taunt did nothing but up the fire in his eyes from a forest fire to an inferno, reminding her of one of Hephaestus' forges, fire that wasn't controlled, but harnessed like a rabid dog held back by a chain. He gently shifted his hands to his sides, then pulled them up in a tight boxing stance.
"The only reason I lost the first time was because I didn't want to hurt anyone else. With the Hunters out of commission and Zoe off taking care of them, I can finally let loose. Before we start, I just want to tell you what I'm fighting for. What I have to lose." he paused, tilting a head in a gesture to make himself look thoughtful. The next words that came out of his mouth were bitter and spoken like they came from a veteran.
"I have nothing to lose here. No one needs me and I shouldn't even exist. The world is better off without me. So I will fight till I die because the only fate for beasts like me is to curse the heavens until they bleed out. I hope you're ready," Kaneki Ken looked her straight in the eyes, and one of those mesmerizing pools of mercury darkened to black with red veins, "because I will not stop until I win." startled by the sudden colour change of one of his eyes, she hesitated before shooting the arrow. Kaneki ran straight at her, Artemis' brief pause allowing the projectile to skim and draw a line across his cheek that stitched itself back together before her eyes. Not wasting another moment to analyse his regeneration, she aimed and fired again and again and again until he reached a two meter distance away from her. By then, she had fired close to twenty arrows, aiming for various places just to throw off his momentum, which was largely unsuccessful. He batted the majority of them away, taking one through the chest while another pierced through his shoulder. Unflinching, he ripped out both arrows, the material of his clothes displaying similar properties to him and sealing the holes from the entry wound(she would think that the exit wounds would also have vanished). Ripping just the arrowheads from the projectiles, he threw both of them like they were throwing knives(then again, he was Japanese, so that would be shuriken?), both whirled through the air and she deflected them with her own hunting knives just as Kaneki Ken crashed into her with the force of a tsunami. She cursed when both of her weapons snapped under the first punch to her chest, moving away before the fist could collide with her chest. Ducking to avoid the axe kick delivered afterwards and rolling out of the way(stabbing a knife into his leg as she did so), she winced as the ground shuddered from the force of his foot, a dirt cloud flying into the air. Not one to waste time, she capitalized on the fact that there was a knife in his leg by jumping to her feet and dashing past the inhuman(because there was no way this monster was a mere mortal man) and leaving several lacerations across the side she had brushed past. Watching them seal up like the previous wounds, her eyes narrowed. She was at a disadvantage, for one hit from Kaneki would probably stun her long enough for something like that axe kick(she dodged another kick to the chest and it tore into the tree behind her as she stabbed another knife into the offending limb) to put her down. And with his regeneration ability(she quickly fired an arrow before following up with an arcing diagonal slice which she had to stop when he ripped out the knife and used it to break the blade of hers), she would need to wear him down so that she could actually do some damage. However, a voice in her head despaired, ignoring her determination, his regenerative ability must be strong enough to heal a severed hand and who knows what else. Not letting up on her assault even as Kaneki plunged a hand into his side to remove the remnants of the blade embedded in it, she shot even more arrows, hand blurring as she amped up her speed. His eyes widened before he dropped to the floor and punched it, throwing up clumps of dirt that blocked her vision of him.
As the fine dirt acted as a smokescreen, the larger clumps obscured her vision even further, which left her unprepared for the tree that shot towards her as the dust settled. She grimaced and moved out of the way of the improvised projectile, getting a palm strike to the face(her nose crunched under the force) when Kaneki, who had ridden the tree trunk surprised her as he flew past along with his ride. He hopped off, rolling into a standing position as the weapon smashed into another tree and caused several to topple(she briefly contemplated why the dryads didn't seem to be alarmed at their homes being destroyed). He sprang towards Artemis like a demented spring, a feral grin stretching across his face as he flipped in midair and collided with her feet first. She felt her ribs protest at the impact as the force of the twin impacts propelled her through the air. Artemis barely got any time to recover, forced to sink another knife into the flesh of her opponent even as she was still airborne because he dashed to catch up and had sent another punch towards her. Not even faltering for a split second, Kaneki's fist continued despite the knife in it, burying itself in her stomach. She gagged, the punch sending her into yet another tree, her head smashing against it as the rest of her body followed suit. Before she could gain her bearings, a kick pinned her to the tree like a butterfly pinned to a wall, applying enough pressure to keep her there even as the tree protested at the force. Artemis struggled futilely, stabbing the appendage that was cutting off her air supply repeatedly even as more pressure was applied to her neck. Kaneki looked on impassively as her vision swam and darkened. Withdrawing his foot just in time to give her some much needed air, he curb stomped her head into the ground. Feeling more bones crack, she stopped struggling as a surge of nausea overwhelmed her. Once again, her limbs were powerless and limp as Kaneki Ken turned her over to allow her to see the way his eyes had returned to silver, then to a dull grey as his breathing smoothened out. Drawing a fist backwards, he smiled.
"Lights out."
Another chapter that was basically a fight. I hope I did justice to the story. Anyway, I do hope that you enjoyed it. Leave a review or something. See ya.