Sparks explode like like fireworks. Blurry figures sped through the sky, clashing repeatedly and causing loud explosions wherever they were.

Their blades met again, each one pushing against the other. One of them was clad in white, the maniacal grin on her face and the bloodshot eyes enhancing her beast like appearance. She pushed against a short sword with five long claws extending from each of her fingers. As their power struggle went on for more than a second she raised her other hand and clawed at her opponent forcing her to back away.

The second one was a young woman with green hair. Unlike her opponent, she was extremely calm, her eyes studying everything in front of her as she determined the best course of action. Teleporting away, she slammed the bottoms of her short swords together, triggering a mechanism that linked the two weapons into one. A thin string appeared immediately after connecting the tips of each blade and at that moment the two swords turned into a single long bow.

“As if I would let you!!!” CS shouted, rushing the close the distance as her opponent began creating arrows. She could’ve easily teleported and cut the distance in an instant, but flying and hopping around allowed her to build up momentum with increased strength behind her blows.

Artemis was aware of that fact. She had already calculated how much she needed to back away for her to revert to using the bow and arrows. She was a hunter after all. Engaging in close combat wasn’t really her style. 𝒪𝓥𝐿xt.𝓒𝞸𝗆

CS created a small barrier under her feet and arms giving the illusion that she was dashing through the sky. An arrow cut through the air heading straight to her face, almost piercing her between the eyes, but then it passed through unrestricted, the only thing it touched was the afterimage of the Valkyrie left behind the moment she dodged.

More arrows followed and CS accelerated even further. As she closed in on the Olympian woman, the danger of her getting hit increased dramatically, but that didn’t stop her. Artemis clicked her tongue and launched the last arrow. The white beast dodged it and came close enough for her claws to reach the green haired woman, but before she could take a swing at her she disappeared.

Artemis knew that wasn’t the end of it and held her bow up the instant she appeared at her destination. Though she braced herself for the impact, when the claws hit her bow she felt a violent tremor ravage through her entire body.

“You sure are resilient.” CS said, continuing to push with everything she got. “Are you going to get serious or what?”

Artemis kept her silence as usual. She twisted her hand splitting the bow apart and turning it into twin swords then used the free one to slash at CS’ left flank. Having seen the attack coming, the Valkyrie simply reached out with her free hand and grabbed the blade, killing its momentum before it hit her body.

“C’mon!!! I’m starting to get disappointed here!!!” CS spoke, still. “You’re the great Artemis, right? Show me what makes you so dangerous! Show me why Nino warned us about you!!!”

“Warned you about me?” Artemis said, her eyes narrowing into a sharp glare.

Though she seemed to be struggling against CS when it came to pure physical strength, that changed all of a sudden as the pressure from her swords grew exponentially. CS noticed that and her smile widened even further.

“Say, you have one among you, right?” The Olympian woman asked. “Someone who can see the future…”

Concluding that she would lose the power struggle, CS kicked with her right leg forcing Artemis to back away.

“Who knows!?” She shouted, forming a small platform under her feet and using it to launch herself.

She swung her claws and the huntress met them with her blade. Their weapons bounced against each other with a loud metal clatter, but soon enough one of them began to have the upper hand.

With each strike Artemis was increasing the strength of her Force Field, but instead of using it to protect herself she was coating her weapon in most of it. CS felt the results soon enough. As she was spreading her own Force Field equally through her armor it was incapable of handling Artemis’ enhanced blades.

“I’ve been wondering for a while now.” She said. “your kind is… peculiar, to say the least.”

“Oh yeah?”

“You seem human at first, but a closer look reveals that you aren’t even flesh and blood. You’re practically made out of machines, but you’re also capable of using Rune, which means you have souls, at the very least.”

“I don’t get what you’re talking about!”

Being too focused on the twin swords, CS found herself falling for a fake opening the green haired Olympian left for her. When she moved aside to dodge the claws, time seemed to slow down for CS as she felt something strike her in the stomach. Artemis kneed her one, cracking her white armor. She slammed the pommel of the sword in her right hand on her back then swung her leg for a kick.

CS found herself tossed quite a long distance away, but she recovered her balance with a flip and crouched down on an invisible platform, launching herself once again with the same grin still on her face.

“It would’ve been quite a problem if you were nothing but machines, you know.” Artemis said before teleporting. She appeared high above her previous location with three arrows already knocked on her bow. “If someone out there is capable of creating machines with the consciousness needed to use halos and Runes, it would’ve been quite a big problem for us.”

Releasing the string sent the arrows flying. CS had no choice but to teleport out of their way. She appeared right behind the Olympian, prepared to swing her clawed hand, but once again her attack was stopped with such ease it caused her somewhat of a shock.

“Well, I’m more interested in the fact that all of you seem to be female.” Artemis said. “Were you like this from the start? Or did you eliminate the males once you no longer had any use for them?”

“I thought you were the silent type.” Said CS. “Guess I was wrong!”

For an instant, the Valkyrie channeled all of her Force Field to her claws. It was a very risky move as it left her with only the white armor to protect her, but she saw no other way to raise her odds against such a powerful opponent.

Once again the two found themselves amidst another power struggle. Just as each of them was about to go for the next attack, they heard a weak detonation and quickly got away from each other, teleporting away right after. With how fast they were moving, the intervals between the shockwaves seemed to stretch for an eternity. CS had abandoned using her Sabertooth to focus on the priority target she came across, but if she didn’t she probably would’ve been forced to take it down just like the rest of her allies.

The Titans have released four shockwaves so far. CS instinctively knew to use teleportation in order to avoid them. From the looks of it the area at the center, encircled by the mountainous giants, seems to be safe from the shockwaves as they spread out. Going there would’ve saved them a lot of trouble, but her opponent seemed adamant about staying in the area affected by the shockwave and the Valkyrie understood why.

The moment she appeared, CS found herself under a concentrated shower of green arrows falling from the sky. She knew that trying to use teleportation to escape them was meaningless as she would be met with another shower the moment she appeared in a new location.

That said, she didn’t really have to evade or escape. The arrows were nothing more than a distraction. Since they didn’t have the power of a Force Field enhancing them she didn’t have to worry about any damage they might deal. She increased the output of her own Force Field and began looking around for the green haired Olympian. Even as the arrows began hitting her all over the place, she continued to focus on the search until she spotted a spark near the ground.

“Found you!”

Putting every bit of strength she had into her leg, CS kicked off the invisible platform shooting down toward the ground like a meteor, causing a violent sonic boom that scattered the raining arrows.

“A strange race made entirely of females. Souls trapped in a synthetic shell.” Artemis said, her eyes on the fast approaching meteor. The arrow she was preparing seemed somewhat different from the rest. It was enveloped in a green aura, but since direct contact with an object is required to coat it in a Force Field, it seemed meaningless to do it for a ranged weapon. “The carcass itself isn’t so strange. The problem lies in the souls themselves.”

For a single instance, her eyes moved to the two identical girls battling above one of the giants. At first, Artemis thought it was nothing more than a coincidence, but then crimson spear said it all.

Without a doubt the girl Atropos was fighting is her younger sister Lachesis, but that’s what has confused Artemis the most.

Lachesis was dead. Her corpse was brought and displayed along with those who chose to go against Zeus. The likelihood that her death was faked was very low, but if that really was the case then how was she still around?

‘Reincarnation?’ The huntress thought. ‘If so, why does she still have her memories and appearance?’

The simple fact that one of her dead acquaintances came back has made the strange new race called the Nephilim all the more intriguing. Unfortunately she was forced to wait until the Key was in their hands before she could learn more about them. Until then all she could do was make sure they weren’t completely eliminated.