"What happened here?"
Artemis looked at the closest person to her, which was a nymph, for answers.
The nymph seemed to be terrified of something. Her eyes kept darting back behind her as if she was checking for anything following her.
Her ears were also perked up in high alert which was a tell-tale sign that something bad happened.
Artemis noticed right away that there was large circular pattern made of the grass.
It seemed like a shockwave happened here, but it was strange that she couldn't feel it while coming back.
The bits and pieces of arrows were littered around also supported her conclusion.
Upon further inspection, the arrows looked as though they were cut by something sharp as the edges of the pieces were too defined.
She wondered who did it because she knew how indestructible sliver arrows were by mortal standards.
So, Artemis came to the conclusion that another god must have been here and a fairly powerful one at that.
The nymph stammered inaudibly, "It- It was the male."
Her eyes landed on the nymph again and asked, "Who?"
"A-h. It- it was-."
Artemis figured that the nymph wasn't in the condition to talk properly.
"It's alright. You don't have to say anymore. Go rest, I'll check it out myself."
"Ah! B- but-"
"It's okay. You can go rest." The goddess patted the nymph's shoulder. "What direction?"
T-T
Her footsteps made no noise as she traveled.
Not even the leaves made a sound as she ran.
She knew the forest like the back of her hand so moving through the woods was extremely easy.
It wasn't hard to trace the direction they were moving in because there were no attempts to cover up the fighting.
Instead, it seemed like they wanted her to follow, leaving large scars in the trees.
Artemis didn't know who it was, but she was going to beat them into a plup whoever it was.
Clang
Clang
The sound of clashing steel in the distance caused her to speed up.
As she got closer, Artemis made sure to make no noise.
Her silver eyes peered through the bush at the man-made clearing in front of her.
Deep lacerations tore through the ground without any form of remorse.
Uprooted trees formed a vague perimeter like a makeshift arena.
She wasn't close enough to see what was happening inside.
"Fuck that hurts. You little shit. You're dead meat," a rough voice shouted.
T-T
Minutes prior.
The man in front of him appeared out of nowhere and attacked him.
Just from the first strike, Percy could tell that the man was fairly powerful.
For some reason, the man was focused on him from the very beginning, which allowed Percy to lure him away from the Hunters.
Although powerful, Percy felt like this person was beatable if fought correctly.
Not for a second did he let his guard down.
At the beginning, it didn't look like the man wanted to kill him, not from what Percy could tell.
But as the fight prolonged, the man in front of him began to get more agitated and aggressive.
The man was saying things but none of it entered Percy's ears.
There was no need to listen to someone that attacked first.
He wasn't some punching bag.
Of course, Percy fought back.
He parried every attack that was launched at him with considerable ease.
His enemy's attack pattern was extremely simple.
Attack and if that didn't work attack harder and more.
It was a bit more complicated than that but that was the gist of it.
Percy had given him some cuts, but they weren't anything life threatening.
At most, it could get infected if left alone for long enough.
While he was fighting the guy, something caught his eye.
It was the fact that the man was bleeding gold.
Percy couldn't tell if it was actually gold or just golden colored blood.
He wasn't able to get a good look, but the more he fought the more he no longer wanted to fight.
There was something unique about the person he was fighting, Percy just didn't know what.
Either way, the man's blood meant that he was someone important.
This person was probably someone he shouldn't offend, but at this point it was already too late.
If Percy could go back in time, he would probably try to avoid this fight instead of testing his skill.
At this point, Percy didn't have a single scratch on him, which surprised himself at how well he was taking the fight.
Not that he let it get to his head.
That would be the worst thing he could do in this situation.
Suddenly, Percy heard a soft tap behind him.
He had to end it as soon as possible.
It could get dangerous.
Percy didn't know whether or not the person behind was a friend or foe, but he couldn't take his chances.
He had to end this fight first.
An opportunity soon revealed itself.
He took this chance to curl his sword around his opponent's and applied a large amount of strength to flick the sword away, effectively disarming his opponent.
It happened so fast that Artemis didn't even have time to say anything to the men.
Percy quickly glanced behind him, and his eyes widened in realization at who it was.
"Ah! Mistress."
His first instinct was to bow, but he felt something coming from behind telling him to dodge.
A spear came out of nowhere like a raging rhino bolting towards its target.
He swiftly twisted his body to avoid it, but its trajectory was aimed at the mistress behind him.
All because he moved a inch.
No!
Percy couldn't let that happen.
It was his duty!
He squeezed every muscle to it's fullest.
His body groaned in pain due to being stretched abnormally, but he ignored the signals his body was giving him.
This was too important to him.
If he failed on his first official day, how could he face anyone back at home?
The absolute disgrace of being chosen yet failing on the first day.
He would be a complete laughing stock.
All his hard work to get to this point would be reduced to ashes.
Ancestor give me strength.
The spear was almost out of arms reach.
Please make it.
No. He had to make it.
Percy felt a tug in his gut.
His hand made a pulling motion.
Just as the spear was going to hit the mistress in the chest, it bloomed.
Like a flower.
It split in five perfect pieces.
Percy let out a sigh of relief.
But, it wasn't over.
An incoming punch from behind would also remind him of the situation.
His relief would soon turn into anger.
Now, it was his turn.
He couldn't let someone ruin everything he worked so hard for off so easily.
His arms firmly grasped the man's arm.
Got you.
Using the man's momentum against him, Percy flung him into a tree with all of his strength.
Artemis watched as Ares's body violently crash through several trees before his body finally slumped onto the floor.
It was a miserable sight of a god.
He looked more like a homeless guy that got roughed up a bit.
His clothes were in tatters, and his hair was wild and messy.
The only reason Artemis recognized that the man Perseus was fighting was because of his clothes.
And she only knew one god who would wear that hideous thing he called clothes.
That was Ares.
Percy abruptly got on his knees with his forehead on the ground.
"Mistress! I apologize for putting you in great danger. I do not deserve to be your guardian, please punish me!"
His words startled her.
Enough to the point where Artemis temporarily forgot that Ares had almost killed her.
All of the words came out of her guardian's mouth, Artemis could tell that he meant every word he said.
She could just feel it.
After years and years, the goddess developed a talent to read other people's intentions.
Just by their mannerisms and breathing patterns, she could easily see through their intentions.
From the information she gathered from him, Artemis could say for sure that his words contained no falsehoods.
"Rise. You did nothing wrong."
His figure trembled.
"No. I put you in danger. This is something I cannot forgive myself on."
Inwardly, Artemis sighed a little bit.
"I am completely fine. You can get up."
Although she had said this, Percy remained motionless.
She didn't know why he was being stubborn about it, but she found it cute.
The goddess also felt like he would remain like this if she didn't punish him.
What do I do...
Her eyes surveyed the landscape around for any possible inspiration before they landed on a small mountain.
It wasn't exactly far, but it wasn't exactly close either.
Perfect.
"Alright then. You see that mountain? Run there and come back to the camp."
Percy looked in the direction she pointed in, gauging the punishment, before lowering his head respectfully.
"As you wish."
After he left, Artemis's eyes landed on a collapsed figure.
She laughed cruelly and cracked her knuckles.
T-T
"ACHOOO!!"
Apollo sneezed.
Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?
He looked around for anything unordinary but could not find anything wrong.
Was I mistaken?
Scratching his head, he shrugged the feeling off.
T-T
Author's note: Hello! It's been a while hasn't it. There are some things I want to ask/talk about with you all!
How do I remove reviews? I looked at the reviews, and let's just say that someone wasn't having a good day. But, it doesn't really excuse what they said in any shape or form. If you see it or something similar on other stories please report them, that'll be much appreciated.
I just couldn't find a remove/report option. Maybe I'm blind but I couldn't find one. so I sent a bug report...
Anyways...
Second question? Would you guys prefer shorter chapters but more posts. Or the same thing I've been doing for the last few weeks. Lmk! Please leave some reviews!
Also for Perlia fans, I have another idea. Mayhaps a chapter long or a few i dunno yet.
That's all from me.
I appreciate all the feedback I get, Thank you all.