Previously…

As the monsters charged, he lifted the cursed blade to strike, I tried to move away, but found myself frozen to the ground, only to wait for my death coming towards me. I knew the moment the blade touched me, I would begin to fade. The hunt would lose their blessings should I fade, and be no more. I closed my eyes, cursing myself for my foolishness for falling for such a trap.

As I waited for death to arrive, it didn't come. Replacing it was a cry that sounded throughout the woods.

Now…

Artemis

Before I even opened my eyes, I knew that something stopped the blood cloaked figure and that the mood of the fight had changed to one of surprise. As I opened my eyes, I saw the reason why, and out of all the things that I've seen in my life, this was definitely a first.

There in front of the blood cloaked figure was a gleaming black wolf with eyes that pierced even the day with a gold color so pure that made Apollo's gold palace look like it was made of cheese. He had bitten off the hand of the blood clad figure, forcing the man to run, abandoning the sword. As the man ran, he was swallowed up by the earth. Immediately, the wolf ran back, grabbed the sword of Kronos, threw it up into the air where it disappeared, before joining the battle.

As I took in the battle, I was shocked to see that there were other creatures besides the black wolf fighting besides the hunters, leaving the monster with no chance of surviving as their leader had disappeared, leaving them in complete chaos. As the wolf blazed through, tearing through his opponents, I caught sight of the other animals that were fighting alongside my hunters. Among them was what I could only describe as the opposite of the white siberian tiger, its fur glistening black while its stripes were silver instead of white, except for one line on the center of its head which was gold matching with his and the wolf's eyes. Besides Thalia was a blur that caused monsters to disappear until I realized it was an eagle that was weaving in and out of the trees with unnatural speeds and razor sharp claws. Christina was injured while Jackelyn was assisted by bear and snake working together to take down a cyclop and four harpies. Shocking her to the core was when she saw a black dragon, no doubt one of the last of its kind, breathing fire upon the hellhounds as she saw what she swore was the Nemean Lion, being that the hellhounds couldn't even scratch its hide as it killed them in a flash, except that its metallic hide was also black.

In a matter of minutes, the small army of monsters were all but dust covering the forest as the hunters rounded up the last of the monsters, keeping a wary eye on the black animals, especially the black Nemean Lion and dragon who seemed to watch them in amusement. Today was something that would take a while to comprehend, but once all the hunters gathered together again, aiding the injured and looking at me for instructions, I had to take charge again. The only thing that I knew for sure was that this strange company was not just what they seemed.

"Thank you for saving my hunters, but I'm afraid you'll have to reveal yourself before you do anything else, the next move could be your last." I said, drawing an arrow aimed at the wolf. Even Thalia was surprised that the other animals narrowed their eyes and looked ready to attack, for almost the entire hunt thought that it was the dragon that was the leader. The wolf on the other hand just looked at me before chortling. He stood up from his spot as he slowly walked to me, his barkish laughters slowly turning human before there stood a young man with messy black hair with a lone streak of gold that accompanied the streak of gray. The streak of gray was all I needed to know, when the eyes stared right into mine I knew immediately who stood before me, for his eyes were sea-green, belonging to the son of Poseidon that disappeared two years ago, Perseus Jackson.

"Percy!" shouted Thalia, surprised with joy that after all this time her cousin finally showed up. In a flash, lightning coursed through her and shot towards Percy, only for it to die out the moment it touched his armor, forgetting that she was supposed to be angry at him, she was stunned while she was figuring what she did wrong with lightning bolt.

"I missed you to Thals, but I'm afraid you're going to have to get on my level if you want to fry me." smiled Percy before turning towards me and knelt. "Lady Artemis, it's been a while."

"A while?! Two years, you left, and we barely calmed down you father otherwise he would've brought down Olympus with an earthquake! How did you manage to avoid me for two years? Where did you find those animals? And is that the Nemean Lion there boy?" I asked, glad that I found him before Apollo, dealing with the biggest headache of the era if he did. I was more upset with the fact that he showed up, meaning that he chose to show himself to me instead of me successfully hunting him down. Ever since the throne room when he received my blessing, there was something that made me feel at unease when around him.

"One question at a time. As for where I've been, I've been busy for the last two years clearing my mind, training, and assembling the Deathseekers." answered Percy, unbothered by the barrage of questions, but his reply was enough to create more questions. Even the injured hunters sat up as they saw the saviour of Olympus and the animals behind him, asking each other what was going on, why was Percy here all of a sudden, and most of all, what were the Deathseekers?

"Percy, what are the Deathseekers?" asked Thalia, brimming with questions just like the rest of the hunters, except she didn't want to wait, she wanted answers about what happened for the last two years immediately.

"Finally, the question everyone wants to know. Why don't I introduce you to them?" said Percy. Even though his tone seemed neutral and his face was emotionless, I could see that his eyes were dancing with joy. Still childish after all this time I see, I thought letting out a sigh. As I looked at the animals slowly walking to then, I had a hunch at what was about to happen, Percy's eyes gave it away after all. As I looked over to Thalia, I once again saw the old Thalia that disappeared once Annabeth betrayed her and Percy left to who knew where. I looked back just in time to see the animals transform into several other boys dressed in a similar dark garb, except each had an insignia on each shoulder, which I quickly noticed was one was the animal they previously were and the other an insignia of their godly parent.

Easily, I knew who most of these demigods were; the tiger a child of Nike, an asian with a buzzcut except for the fact the top of his head was spiky instead of even, the eagle a child of Zeus, who looked surprisingly like Thalia with piercings and hair that spiked out everywhere compared to the child of Nike, the bear a child of Hephaestus who was no doubt the tallest and burliest, and the snake a child of Apollo, who had a mask that had incredibly small dots everywhere so he could see as it still concealed his identity surprising well. As for the boys who were the dragon and Nemean Lion, the dragon boy was by far the youngest and had an insignia of a flame that changed color constantly while he dared to stare at me, his eyes flickering wildly, while the other instead had a lion head that was part of his armor and stood there, emotionless as he scanned the hunters as if he already perceived them as enemies. Already, some of the boys were getting on my nerve as I slowly drew my hunting knives, noticing that Thalia did the same thing.

"Artemis, Thalia, put the knives away, meet Ryan, Xekes, James, Blayze, and Nemean." said Percy.

"Nemean, so he is the Nemean Lion! How can the Nemean Lion turn into a human?" I said as the hunters drew their bows, knowing of how dangerous the Nemean Lion was after all I had told them about it. Immediately, "Nemean" turned metallic yet he was human as out of his palms shot two swords, no, claws of the actual form of the Nemean Lion.

"Enough! Tell your hunters to stand down now and I will explain just as you ask. Despite our numbers, every single one of you would be in for the fight of your lives regardless of human form or not." ordered Percy, eyes brimming with power as they constantly switched color, reminding me of when he was blessed, how they changed colors when receiving them. I was tempted to order them to attack to show him how a boy could never match a Hunter, but my hunters fought enough today and several were already injured enough. There would always be another time after all. As I looked at Percy once more, I realized two years didn't change him at all, here he was, still fighting for his friends.

"Stand down, set up camp here, the only people that are to be in my tent are Thalia and Percy, the rest of you can hear it from Thalia afterwards, I assume you wouldn't show up unless something dire is about to happen." I said, looking at Percy as he nodded curtly. Pulling out my the small box, I tossed it on the ground and walked into the suddenly enlarged tent, followed by Thalia and Percy. "Now, you can start by explaining what on earth are the Deathseekers." I demanded, finally about to get some real answers.

"Simple, the Deathseekers are male hunters in the newly formed hunt led by me that only accepts males." said Percy with a smile on his face.

So, not sure if that went as well as I planned in my mind, attempted to make what you mortals call cliffhangers, but meh. Btw, I know boys may not have as much reason to turn their back and scorn love and such like the hunters(depends on your opinion), but the reason I made this was more for the adventure! On to the next crappy chapter!