"Your greatness as a person will not be defined by the hands you win, but the ones you fold."

Maybe this time, Percy thought, it would be better to fold his cards then play them out against the Goddess of the hunt.

She stood there- illuminated by the light of the waning moon- in her beauty. The way her Auburn hair fell down her shoulder.. Her skin illuminated in the reflecting silver light... How her eyes glowed that beautiful shade of Silver

Okay. Maybe he was a bit entranced by her- But that didn't change the fact she was holding a knife- glaring at him. In his personal demigod experiences, a pissed of goddess with a knife would not be very good to fight against.

He rose Riptide into a more defensive-is stance. He wasn't one to be technical with his sword-craft. He simply relied on his pure instinct alone. Even with the curse of Achilles, he tried to put himself in the least amount of risk possible.

"Lady Artemis." He said, trying to break the tension between the two of them, nodding in Acknowledgement. Her glare pierced through him, but it seemingly was one more of annoyance then any anger

"Peruses Jackson." She said, pausing, before speaking again, her voice seemingly cutting through the air like a knife through butter. "I do not wish to harm you, and I'd request you withdraw."

He was a bit surprised, but not that much. He easily deduced this was due to the respect Artemis held for him, after he had not only befriended Zoe- but took the sky for her. He did not wish to harm Artemis or even fight her. She didn't hold anything against her, but she was stopping him from ruining Zeus plan, and his loyalty to his father was a trump card over any other emotions in his mind.

So he layed his card down on the table. "Unfortunately, you will find I cannot do that, so it seems we have reached a impasse, M'lady." He tried to be as respectful as possible. His mind was already calculating if he could get around her- But this was the wilderness, and she was literary a hunting goddess- she'd outspeed him.

His only hope to win- knock her down long enough for him to set off the Greek fire- or he could fold his cards. He would not do that by any means.

So he rose his sword into a more middleground stance, and prepared for any volley of attacks she would throw that him. The hunting goddess had shown restraint, but realizing there was no other way to stop him, she threw the first attack, a lunge with her knife. He jabbed, with superhuman speed- his battle reflexes were the only things that helped him dodge it.

As he striked, jabbed and striked again, attempting to put pressure on her left side, adjusting his footwork as such, she shifted with incomprehensible speed, her stance entirely changing. Now she struck to the left. She was targeting any places that could possibly knock him down or of balance. But he had fought against many types of combatants before- both quick and slow. He anticipated the jab she threw with only a millisecond to spare, and his blade barely blocked the hit.

As the rhythm of the fight settled, he was forced onto the defensive- as the speed of Artemis's attacks had offset his balance- Left, Right, Left, Right- in sort of a pattern of sorts. He would block one and she'd be always attacking from a new angle- the Achilles curse was the only that that saved him from being flayed alive in some parts.

But now, he had been pushed a few meters back, and Artemis, overconfident in her fighting abilities, shifted her guard, overextending. Now- Percy lashed out. A jab, a jab, and a strike, barely allowing her to defend, before barreling towards her- and knocking the knife out of her hand with a quick succession of strikes- a wide swing to the left followed by a tight one from the bottom.

He now sprinted past the goddess, knowing disarming her had bought him only a few seconds- but he muttered in the language of Atlantis- and the seal on the Greek fire container broke. From her- it was a few hundred meters distance to hitting the encampment. He tensed his muscles, and threw as hard as he could.

A burst of green flames flared up, so tall and bright, a beacon visible for the next 20 kilometeres. He heard the rushing of blades behind him, and turned last second, only barely blocking the strike- Now he was caught unprepared. He would have to retreat- that was not just a probability , but a fact.

He had won the card for now, and did not need to engage her any further,atleastt for any good reason. So he sent a few wild strikes to try to offset her- in a acutal battle this would of likely resulted in his death- but he just needed to close distance back to the stream.

The rest of the hunters had closed distance now- firing arrows at him- but he closed enough distance that even if Artemis grabbed onto him- his momentum would carry him into the river. He swan divided, and now swam of at olympic level speeds.

He had a few regrets about that mission, sure. He had obviously pissed of the moon godess- but he'd deal with that later.

For now, he had succeeded