Chapter Six ~ Hunter or Hunted

Note: A bit shorter than I wanted, but I am happy with the overall chapter. For the fair person who mentioned my love for Percy Jackson you are 100% spot on. PJO and HP are actually my favorite worlds to write my way into. So when I began this story I wrote in the form I most commonly write my characters. I felt a nervous Izuku wasn't really a fit here, especially not given all he is going through at the moment.

The arrow sailed through the air with all the precision he could have mustered, which given that he was blessed by one archery inclined deity and under the tutelage of another, was quite something to say the least. Soaring like a bullet toward the bullseye, or in this instant, the giant's eye.

He had known from the moment he laid eyes on the beast that it would not be something he could beat with sheer brute force. Although his godly blessings had far increased his physical abilities, Hephaestus' most of all, even their combined might have not empowered him enough to beat something this large.

Which meant if he could blind it before the fight even began than the advantage shifted in his favor.

What he had not counted on was the giant's speed to deviate vastly from what something of its size should have been able to muster. With a swipe of its clawed hand, it snatched the arrow from the air. Its head craned to the side, past the hand now obscuring its vision. One beady, bloodshot eye focusing solely on him.

Snap

The arrow broke from a mere clench of its hand. With a snarl it threw the arrow aside, a puff of fire spewing from either nostril.

"Would you believe that was an accident?"

ROOAARRRR

"Thought not. Oh shit!"

Izuku ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the kanobo. The metal club struck the stone wall beside him, creating sparks and sending shards of stone in every direction. His surroundings shook, loose bits of stone and stalactites crumbled down around him.

Another swing came down and Izuku dove forward to avoid it. Notching an arrow half-way through his roll Izuku shifted into a more stable kneel, having but a split second to take aim and fire before being force from his position once more.

The arrow impacted into the hard patches of natural armor dotted across the beast's chest, plinking off harmlessly without so much as a flinch. Avoiding another strike he tried again to the same result.

"Hey," Izuku ducked under a swing, thanking his godly attributes for letting him make it this far, "do me a favor," a swift twist, the bat passing a hair from him, "and hold still!" Another arrow bounced back at him.

ROAAARRRRRRR

Fire spilled from the fanged maw of the cyclopean beast, threatening to encompass the whole cavern in its blinding heat. Izuku hardly had time to dive behind a collection of stalagmites as it reached him. Curiously, although his clothes were singed from the attack, burned through in some places even, there were no burns.

Not that he had much time to think about that right now.

His cover shattered into a million pieces above him, with the giant's club passing through them with ease. It did not take much thought for him to realize one hit would likely be enough to put him down for good. He doubted there would be another visit from Apollo any time soon.

Rolling onto his back as another swing tore through his cover, he blinked through the pebbles raining down on him; fully aware that a moment sooner and that might have been bits of his skull instead. Putting his feet against the cave wall beside him he pooled strength into his legs and pushed off.

Sliding across the dirt-covered floor brought him into a neat angel with the beast. His arrow twang from the string, this time finding purchase in a gap between plates formed at the bend of its waist. Black blood splattered from the wound, earning him a guttural, pained roar from the monster.

The cyclops paused in its attacks, giving Izuku precious time to retreat a few paces back toward the cave entrance. Below him the grown rumbled with a soft thud as it angrily bought the kanabo down into an unfortunate skull. Limply holding at the weapon it ripped the arrow free with its un occupied hand. Its singular eye narrowing at the inky blood coating the missile before shifting to the oozing wound blackening its ash-toned skin.

For some reason, Izuku got the feeling this thing was not particularly used to seeing blood that wasn't from some unfortunate hiker or his dog.

Another arrow sailed into its vision, bounding off a few inches from the joint of its shoulder. Slowly it turned back toward the offending archer. Its lips upturned into a snarl, a gravely rumble echoing from its throat. Cold fury burned behind its one eye, the gaze of a beast defending its home morphing into that of a monster out for blood.

"Oops?"

Another snarl, fire spewing from between its teeth. Izuku hardly had time to register what was happening before it had opened its maw and belched a great ploom of crimson flames. There was no cover this far back in the cave, and the entrance was too far for him to just turn and run. So he did the smart thing.

Simply meaning he crossed his arms in front of him and braced for the intense heat that would follow. He felt the flames surround him, the heat licking across his body. He felt his clothes crumble to ashes around him, and his bow wither as it was burnt to a husk. But there was no pain, only a comforting warmth surrounding him.

When the temperature dropped a few hundred degrees, he slowly cracked open his eyes. All that remained of his bow was a withered, blackened husk of twisted branches dotted with a patchwork of smoldering amber cracks. But the hand holding it was fire.

In fact both hands, his arms, and when he took a frantic glance from the appendages to his body overall he found not a single burn. The same sun-kissed tan he had developed on the beach, the paper-white scars drug across his chest, not a single patch of red was to be found.

"I'm fire-proof?"

"Gruh?" The monster seemed to share in his confusion, anger dissipating into a dull curiosity for the briefest of moments.

"Okay," Izuku released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Most of his clothing had been incinerated by the flames. His shirt and shorts were now a pile of ash at his feet, his prized sneakers were a melted mess gumming between his toes, and a pair of singed boxer shorts hardly contained his modesty.

He bent down slowly, careful not to set the beast off again, and removed the dagger Artemis had gifted him from its smoldering sheath. Instead of rising back to his full height, he adjusted into a low fighting stance, twisting the blade into a reverse grip.

"I'm fireproof, and you're arrow proof," his eyes narrowed into a glare at the beast, the death of his sneakers would be avenged in blood, "now let's find out whose faster, and if you're knife proof."

Charging forward Izuku's mind argued that this was equivalent to suicide, but a much louder part was focused on only one thing…

'Those were limited edition!'

Artemis had not thought much of the teen she had brought on this hunt. He was weak, nervous, and was woefully ignorant of the world around him. In truth, she had thought that among the gods she was least among those fit to mentor him.

Not that she feared what she would surrender should she mark him with her blessing. Among her siblings, she was perhaps the most pragmatic, bar Athena, perhaps. The Titans were a serious threat to not just the balance of power within Greece, but to the whole world. What laws of nature governed them held a much looser grip than it did upon younger pantheons. Little stood between them and the shroud that divided divine and mundane, and she knew the mortal world could not handle such upheaval.

For the good of all she would gladly sacrifice sixty to seventy odd years of her life, such time was but a wink of the eye for immortals.

But perhaps it would not be so much of a sacrifice as she thought.

There was an untapped strength lurking behind that careful mask of a nervous young man that he projected. She had seen it once, watching as all the council had when Izanagi had presented them with Izuku's run in with the slime creature. That willingness to act, the instinct to move, a quick wit in the eyes of adversity.

But every personal interaction had presented her with the same conclusion. Izuku Mydoria was just too unsure of himself to be a hero, at least with any comparison to the legends of old. That first jump into the fray had been a burst of adrenaline, a once in a lifetime.

Or so she had thought.

She had been privy to some of his occasional spars with Ares, a rare occurrence for when Hephaestus was more concerned with his contraptions than actually training his charge. Although she could count the blows the greenette had landed on the god of war with one hand, he stood firm through every bout. For every time he was knocked down he would rise again, twice as determined.

It had been her hope he would display some of that same fire once under her own wing.

Right she had been. While perhaps, she had expected some of the poor luck that followed divinely blessed beings—a cosmic counterbalance if ever there was one—she had, however, not expected him to bring down an adult monster with no formal combat training. That said, he had apparently done so with brute strength alone.

Be that as it may, she knew most of the creatures of this land in passing. Her hunts had taken her many places, and afforded her many friends. Kappa, while far from one of the most dangerous beast on these islands, were a fearsome creature when encountered. Added to the fact they were much stronger in their domain, this particular instance being a specific section of a stream, Izuku had basically accomplished the mundane equivalent of beating a grizzly bear with his bare hands.

He was strong, having taken turned the blessings of a handful of unrelated gods into a well of divine power. It was almost strange how well he could harness his blessings, binding them in a way reminiscent of the demigods of yore. But strength only went so far in their world. Fortunately, Izuku had the wit her meathead of a brother lacked. Having fallen into the role of a warrior with otherworldly ease.

Hades, even with minimal training he had taken to the bow at quicker strides than most of her huntresses had ever. Given he held the blessing of her idiot brother, but his sway over the domain of archery was shaky at best, nonexistent when pressed with her own. It was like he had been bred for this roll.

Something about him lit a fire in her chest. It was like seeing a face of an old friend once more, warm in a way, pleasant almost.

So of course she had decided to quash those feelings and do something to prove they were unjustified. After all, a beast like this had been nothing to her at his age, only a true companion could hold so little experience in their world and manage to take down an Ogre of all things, a fire ogre at that. This was more a lesson of humility for him…and perhaps a means of denial for herself if the argumentative part of her mind, the ever vocal Diana, had anything to say about it.

Of course she would step in when he needed help, but only after letting him see that he still had much farther to go before he could compete with the likes of her…and by extension the Titans.

Fortunately, with Hestia and Hephaestus' blessings he was fireproof, which gave her some wiggle room with the overall standard of this little pop quiz. Why he had yet to use any of their other abilities yet were beyond her, however.

All of that in its entirety was thrown out the window the moment her charge came flying out of the cave at mach speed. Hurtling through the air before crashing into a nearby tree. She had nearly jumped from her perch before he stumbled from the shattered husk of an oak.

"Alright you big bastard," he said, raising his had toward the cave beckoningly, lowering himself into a semi-passible stance, "I'm faster, you hit like a truck, and you dont like being stabbed repeatedly. Got it, noted."

Even from the distance her godly eyesight could make out a network of scrapes and cuts covering his body. Nothing too deep, but enough to mark him with red streaks of mortal crimson. Some were even sealing themselves slowly, her brother's blessings taking root.

Where on earth was his bow? Forget that, where in Tartarus were his clothes? Although she appreciated the satin silver of his underwear, they left very little to the imagination.

She felt heat rising to her cheeks.

Thankfully she was not left much time to dwell on those thoughts as the objective of this hunt came charging out of the cave. Most of the leathers she had seen it decorating itself with on her scouting runs were gone, either slashed or burned off. Its gray flesh pulsated with red-hot veins of liquid fire, but dotted amongst them were a number of oozing wounds. Each precisely located between the hard exoskeleton plates armoring its hide.

Izuku dove toward her at the last second, diving out of the way as the beast crashed blindly into the very same tree it had previously smashed her charge into. The kanabo that it carried had seen better days, the already blunt weapon cracking in places and rounded in others.

Admittedly, he had been in there for some time, but she had assumed it was due to his own reluctance to be seen. After all, she should have felt if his life was in grave danger, a type of danger sense awarded by her domains. But here he was.

Beaten, bloody, and bruised, but undeniably no worse for wear than his opponent. Which was quite the feat given the size difference.

She jumped from her perch, landing nimbly and silently on her toes beside him. She look looked down at him curiously. From his place face-up on the ground, he offered her an awkward, lop-sided smile in return.

"Uh, hi?" he tried weakly.

Fight as she might, she could not help the playful smirk pulling at her lips, "I assume you would like some help with this hunt?" Of course he did, she was a goddess, and this was a beast far outside his ability.

"No thanks."

"Very well then I shall -," she stopped halfway through notching her arrow, "You do not require my aid?"

"No, I think I've got this one," he bounced back to his feet in one fluid motion, surprising her. "I think I figured out why you brought me out here." He rolled his muscular shoulders, working out a kink, before lowering himself into a running stance. The whole time, his eyes locked with the beast struggling to free its horns from the tree's trunk.

Oh?

"I thought I was gonna die at first," he glanced back at her with a shrug and that same, stupid grin, "but the more I fought, the more I started to understand how the blessings worked. I feel like I can kinda keep up with him now. That thing still hurts like hell though." He used his knife to motion toward the kanabo.

"I think you are meant to avoid blows from an opponents' weapon." She shot back playfully, cursing herself for being so flippant at this moment.

"Probably," he nodded, sinking a bit lower as the ogre finally freed itself and rounded its bloodshot eye on them, "but what doesn't kill you…"

Without another word he dashed forward, meeting a bullish charge from the beast head on.

Had this idiot really turned the careful instruments of a godly blessing into a blunt force weapon? She brought him up here to teach him some task were beyond him, and he had just…decided to attrition his way through the whole thing? Fates above, even she hadn't known those blessings would fortify him enough to take an impact like that!

'Men…' she snorted, watching as he clashed with the creature near the center of the clearing.

The ogre had expected Izuku's charge through the rage of its berserk state, brining its club down in a heavy swing that would require Izuku to doge unless he wanted to be struck. Instead, the teen defied logic and dove forward. Twisting in the air as he did and brining his dagger in a wide arc.

A splash of black blood alerted her that he had managed a strike. In return, the ogre tried to stomp on him, abandoning its weapon for a series of heavy footfalls meant to trample the poor boy. As Izuku darted between its feet, she spotted the reason behind this sudden change of tactics.

Onyx liquid seeped from the Ogre's wrist, the attached hand handing limply from the joint. He had managed to sever its tendons so quickly, in one attempt? What on Olympus was Hestia feeding this boy?

Her eyes tracked him as he darted between the consecutive attacks, having a few narrow missed but always managing to put just enough reflexivity in his movements to redirect if needed. Then, as it seemed as though he had flown too close to the sun, he swiped with his dagger once more.

Another slash of inky black and the beast was forced to a knee, its Achilles cut. Had that been why he let the fight move to the clearing? There was little room for him to move around inside, in fact despite the cramped conditions for it the Ogre had the hulking mass of its body easily limiting multi-directional attacks. Now however Izuku's increased speed, coupled with the lumbering movements of the beast, afforded the teen a great advantage.

Fates help her he was actually going to manage it.

The teen darted over the back of the monster like a chimp bouncing through the trees. Coming to rest on its shoulders with the intent of striking it in the soft grooves of its neck. Only before the blow could be struck the creature lashed out snatching the teen.

Izuku yelped, either in shock or pain, as he was forcefully hoisted from his position by the creature's working hand. Knowing what would come next she notched an arrow, took aim, then…halted.

That sickly yellow eye locked her gaze, its tusked mouth curling into a cruel smile as it put the struggling young-hunter between her and it. It dared? To taunt her, defy her? In her own domain? She would…she would…what could she do? Even she was aware of there being no guarantee she could best it in a single shot, and if she failed to do so Izuku would likely follow.

Her bow lowered. Something low rumbled in the creatures chest, like a breathy chuckle. It knew exactly what it was doing.

"Release him, beast." She challenged, but its laughter grew louder, as if to mock her helplessness.

"Dont. Think. Its. Gonna do. That." Izuku gasped for air. Was that idiot really making light right now, with his life on the line? Where was the scared boy from a few months prior? Even a few days prior?

It tried to stand, but the wounded leg faltered beneath it. It puffed angry plumes of fire from its nose, tightening its grip of the teen with an angry glare. Izuku gapped for air, and for a moment she thought his lungs might pop.

Her mind raced, desperate to think of how to solve this issue. Her pride at proving how inferior he was was going to be the death of him, and perhaps the mortal realm as a whole. Every possible solution arose, and was batted down just as quickly.

For a moment she considered trading places with him. She would reform, with time, but Izuku was still very much a mortal and bound by the laws of such.

With that very intent she took a step forward, determined to play her part for the pantheon. Her movement brought her the attention of the beast, its great yellow eye swiveling toward her with a twisted gleam. That, fortunately, lasted but a moment before the orb was carved from its socket by a quick upward slash from Izuku, who had managed to wiggle his arm free.

The blow, combined with the need to escape the pain, threw the ogre's head back with a blood-curdling roar booming out. Countless magma like veins erupted, spewing forth a fire that had threatened to engulf the entire clearing. Burning so hot that Artemis was forced back a fair few paces lest she face serious injury.

Izuku, thankfully, was fine outside the ever tightening grip of the beast. Blessings born of two fire-related deities made him immune to all but the most potently divine flames.

As the fire died away the beast had grown somewhat larger, clawed fingers darkening and elongating, gray sink shifting to a warm red hue, and what had once been an eye burning from its socket to be replaced by a glowing ball of fire. The new eye flared, a strip of crimson striking across its center before shifting in her direction, then to the boy in his hand.

Izuku coughed up blood through a sharp wheeze when the surrounding grip tightened. He threw a few desperate strikes at the beast, but was being held at a greater pace now. One lucky blow had been enough for the creature to take him as a threat.

Artemis had prepared to step in once more before Izuku's movements became less panicked, a more precise blow severing the tendons in its wrist. Its hands fell limp and Izuku crumbled to the ground, hardly managed to keep on his feet. The weapon in his hand clattered to the ground, the teen seemingly too tired to even hold onto it.

Even across the great space between them she could see the tightening of his features as his body was wracked with pain. His muscles pushed to their extreme from the beating they had endured.

It was becoming glaringly obvious that if she did not step in to end this whole affair soon, it would likely be the death of him.

Not that the idiot would give her much chance.

With its slightly less damaged hand, the ogre brought down a loose flaming fist, intent to finish off the human. Artemis had dashed forward to intervene, hoping to at least somewhat redirect the blow, but even she knew in her heart the distance between them would not afford her time to do so.

Proving he was neither down nor out, and just as he was about to become a green pancake, something appeared in Izuku's hand. Whatever it was swung in a semi-circle, striking the ogre on the back of its fist. The appendage was forced violently to the side, cracks forming in the armor-like plates with some shards of the material being flung across the clearing.

"Alright asshole," Izuku spat a wad of blood into the dirt, "Let's see how you like taking a beating for a little bit."

Hephaestus' divine symbol was clutched in the same hand that had been holding his dagger. Glowing with the eternal flame of the forge and still humming from the blow it had struck, as if having just rung against the anvil. So far he had shown little aptitude for the greater depth of his divine blessings. When had he managed a corporeal summon?

While she had been somewhat stunned by this turn of events, his opponent seemed unperturbed. Its other arm swung toward the teen, hand flying limply alongside it. Izuku ducked under the swing, bringing the hammer with him in a diagonal, then as he rose he flipped faces. His summoned weapon twisting as it rose up, then came down hard on the creature's elbow.

ROAARRR

A sickening crunch echoed out as the hammer made impact. Bones shattering as its forearm bent at an awkward angle, chitinous plates all but shattering.

Had the hammer gotten bigger?

Another wild swing from its still unbroken arm, a desperate attempt to catch Izuku in the space between its mutilated appendages. With a swiftness reminiscent of her own, her charge stepped forward, bringing the hammer to the dirt before swinging it up in an uppercut. It made impact just under the ogre's chin, hitting hard enough to shatter most of its teeth, one tusk flying past the goddess and impaling itself into a tree.

To her amazement, the entire bulk of the creature was lifted off the ground, if only two or three feet. Having leaned unsuspected into the swing, and with a wounded heel, it had little means to right itself and fell back into the dirt.

Now was her chance, a quick shot to the jugular and she could -

Beating her to the punch, once again, her protégé dashed onto the creature's torso, the hammer in his grasp growing as he went. When he finally stopped atop its upper chest, it had reached the size of a sledgehammer.

"Gr-gruh?"

"Yeah, gruh," gripping his weapon with both hands he brought it up and down one last time, landing a blow in the glowing red eye glaring back at him.

"That was…unexpected." She offered, fighting to keep the surprise off her face as she approached him.

He slowly hobbled off the beast as it began to fade into a fine black powder behind him. He greeted her with a lop-sided grin. After a few paces, he stopped, putting the head of his hammer into the soil and leaning on the long wooden handle.

She raised a brow at his attempt to appear carefree. But it was obvious most of his weight was being pressed into the tool, likely the only thing keeping him standing. Was there a reason he needed to play this off, especially after what he had just accomplished?

"A bit lackluster, though," he acknowledged, looking back at the half-dissolved creature over his shoulder.

Artemis crossed her arms, leaning on one foot, "Says the one that just used a divine symbol as a blunt force object." She inclined her head toward his makeshift crutch.

"Huh? Oh cool how did I- oops!" His surprise upon realizing his accomplishment vanished into a mild panic as his summon dissipated into a flash of flames. Sending him unceremoniously tumbling onto the earth below. "That hurt, a lot."

"Being beaten by an ogre with a club or falling on your face?" She peered down at him with an alarmingly common, impish smile. She was beginning to fear it would affect her image.

"Mostly the sharp blow to my growing sense of pride…and maybe face thing."

With a roll of her eyes she helped him up, trying in vain to explain the basics of summoning godly power so that he might at the very least use her brother's blessing to heal some of the more major injuries. Unfortunately, none of her family had taken the time to explain how their powers worked.

Which was to be expected, gods were fickle things. They had been born to these powers, understood them from the moment they entered the world. For them, they needed no explanation. There were a great many downsides to this, the most pressing of which was her sudden need to carry the boy back to their camp.

Flashing the two of them back would be a simple matter of snapping her fingers. Izuku however was a pulsing bomb of divine energy. Having used his power so bluntly had strained his body, and she feared another influx of godly magic could very well make him pop.

He had protested of course, but after falling on his face a few times he had relented. The trip back had been long an tedious. By the time they neared the clearing the sun had begun to sink below the horizon.

"I've got it from here, thanks for the help I - oof," Izuku had tried to break free from her grasp, hobbling a few steps before tumbling forward. He huffed, rolling on his back and looking up at her, understandably annoyed.

"You were saying?" She quirked a brow, fighting at the smile teasing at her lips. Did he just roll his eyes at her? Brave.

His gaze shifted over her shoulder, blinking in confusion. He raised the one hand not propping him up, pointing at a spot behind and above her, "How long's that been there?"

She turned, following the path of his gaze to a tree behind her. Far up the trunk sat a makeshift hunting stand. It was situated rather close to the clearing, far too close for her to have not noticed it by now. Leaving the boy for a moment, she clambered up to the stand, putting herself in place of its owner.

There she was greeted with a small tunnel through the leaves and branches. Offering perfect vision…directly into the heart of their camp.