"We will accept any and all offer of surrender," Thalia called across the clearing that divided the two hunts. The usual large field that the game would have taken place on had been halved. Unsurprisingly this did not seem to bother the two Hunts. They had assembled as soon as the situation had been made clear to them, though to make it fair Chiron had instructed the Hunters of Artemis to match their numbers to that of Orion's. That meant that the excess Hunters were now watching on the sidelines with the instruction to remove combatants from the field when they had been incapacitated. At the ends of the field were two flags, one red and one silver, guarded by their respective hunts. "So don't be afraid to give up."

"We won't accept any such offer, so don't waste your breath." Dante retorted, his chakrams held at the ready.

Chiron raised his hand for quiet and the assembled combatants turned to face him. "There will be no killing allowed in this fight," he declared. "Once your opponent is incapacitated they will be transported to the sidelines to receive medical care. The team that retrieves the opponent's flag first will be declared the winner. Are there any questions?"

One of Orion's Hunters rolled his eyes and put earbuds in, turning up the music so as to not hear anything else. Taking this as a sign of their readiness Chiron pulled out a whistle and one loud note rang through the trees. The ensuing barrage of arrows from both sides was massive. Seemingly unconcerned about killing the other Hunt arrows buried themselves in various body parts. The ones who moved first however were the Hunters of Orion. Before their archers had loosed their arrows those with more direct weapons were already bounding across the field. Leading the charge was Zain, two escrima sticks held at his sides as he moved, an arrow protruding from his chest and arm. Thalia met the son of Thanatos head on, her shield accepting the first strike from his stick. She pushed him back and leveled the shield at him, waiting for the customary wince that it caused in her targets. Evidently no such reaction was forthcoming from Zain however as he simply stared at her, the escrimas held ready, and waited for her attack.

Several yards away, Dante was circling with another Hunter who looked vaguely familiar. His chakrams were held loosely at his side and her knives were held in a similar manner. "I've heard about you," she said in a sing-song voice. She leveled a sword at him as she moved, smiling coldly. "Neat little trick you have, being able to go intangible."

Dante's eyes narrowed and he threw a chakram at her, the blade cutting through the air with blinding speed. Lydia smiled and didn't move as the chakram entered her chest. For a brief moment Dante was sure that he had killed her, until the chakram continued going and hit the Hunter behind Lydia. She brushed at the spot where the bladed circle had gone through her and winked. "I can do that trick too. I wonder who wins now?"

Orion and Artemis watched the battle beside Chiron, both of them intent upon their Hunts. The Hunters of Artemis that did not take place in the battle were tending to the wounded as they were transported to the sidelines. "Your girls are having a tough time."

"Check the numbers, Orion." Artemis scoffed. "More of yours have fallen than mine have."

Chiron stamped a hoof in annoyance and the two deities looked suitably abashed. "This battle is not for you two to settle your grievances, this battle is for your two Hunts to gain some margin of respect for one another's abilities."

"They might gain respect for their abilities, but respect for them as people is something my Hunt simply won't be able to do," Orion said simply with no antagonism in his voice. Artemis opened her mouth and he saw the beginnings of an argument form on her face and he held up a hand. "Do not mistake me, I hope that they do but I do not foresee it happening. My Hunters have very deep grudges against the gods to the last man."

"What do you mean, Orion?" Chiron asked, wincing as a silver Hunter cut down a red one and subsequently had a stygian escrima stick crash over her skull. "They may have fallen through the cracks, but that is not the gods' fault."

"Zain is a prime example," Orion said. "Dante is another one. Zain's younger sister represents mercy of a quick death. She has the ability to stave off death or to grant one a very quick passing. Zain on the other hand isn't so lucky. In a word, he is as immortal as we are. To an extent. He represents the darker side of death: suffering. He's been eviscerated, decapitated, burned and so on. But his body always puts itself back together. He's a very literal death magnet. But he can't die. He is doomed to suffer dying over and over but without the finality. He can't talk, not without an outside source, but he is fluent in all forms of sign language. Death is often silent, and so is he. Not by choice."

"What does he hope to gain by joining your Hunt?" Artemis asked softly, looking with pity upon the zombie-like red Hunter. No matter her thoughts on the Red Hunt, such suffering was against her morals and code as a Hunter. "Does he wish to die?"

"Not quite," Orion said. "He wants to kill Thanatos. He wants vengeance on the one who cursed him to this un-life."

"He wants to kill his own father?" Artemis asked, horrified. "Being a god aside, patricide is a terrible crime."

"I don't think he really cares," Orion said honestly. "Put aside your morals for just a moment and think of this from his perspective. Thanatos is the embodiment of death and yet he won't take him. I think that Zain believes that if he kills death he may finally be able to escape life."

"But that's-." Artemis began to argue.

Orion forestalled her with a raised hand. "Believe it or not I have already disillusioned him to this. He doesn't care."

The three fell silent as they took in the fight, unsurprised at how diminished both forces were. There were a handful of hunters left garbed in red and silver. Each of the combatants left were breathing hard and nursing various injuries. Dante had been reduced one chakram as he nursed a broken right arm, the bone poking out from his flesh. Thalia had lost her shield and seemed unable to put any weight on her left leg. Zain was a literal mess, a sword poking from between his ribs and several arrows in his back. Lydia and another silver were leaning on one another for support, though they had no visible injuries.

"Had enough… yet?" Thalia panted, her voice barely above normal.

"Not even close," Dante growled back. Zain echoed his sentiment by raising his escrima sticks once more. The Hunter leaning on Lydia raised her bow and loosed an arrow at Dante. It passed harmlessly through him, though the effort going intangible took was clear on his face.

All in all there were five silver Hunters and four red left on the battlefield. "Should we stop them?" Chiron asked, glancing from Orion to Artemis. He would leave it to them, they knew their Hunts better.

The two deities slowly shook their heads in unison. "We can't." Artemis said simply.

"I don't think we could." Orion agreed.

Chiron sighed, accepting this, before turning his attention back to the fight. Thalia's sword clashed against Dante's chakram, sparks arcing off their edges. They disengaged and clashed again, both of them aiming for the others' blatantly weak point. The flat edge of Thalia's sword slammed against Dante's broken arm at the same time that he stomped his foot on the instep of Thalia's wounded leg. The pain from their wounds were sufficient enough to force them both to blackout from the pain. They weren't the only ones. Zain, who had been fighting Lydia and the huntress beside her, simply pitched forward from exhaustion at the same moment that his two opponents did. The other fights ended in similar fashions until there were no hunters, red or silver, left standing. Those on the sidelines said nothing, merely stepped onto the field and went to take care of their wounded.

"So, after all that, a draw," Orion said, a sense of finality in his voice. "I think that is the best result that could have happened."

"I quite agree," Artemis said. "If one side had won they would have thought themselves superior while the other would have been bitter."

Chiron elected to be silent, but he felt a great sense of accomplishment. Even now he saw grudging respect in the eyes of the two Hunts, and even a few tense conversations taking place between silver and red. It was not a large step, but it was a good one in the right direction.