MOONLIT [Discontinued]

ARC II (1): Rise Shall the Fallen

"But Milad—" Celyn was cut off by Artemis. "I know you all want to join in. Believe me, this won't be the greatest idea. We will be fighting close-quarter in an enclosed area. Too many of us may result in inefficiency and even friendly fire. This is a job best done by a smaller group." The rest of the hunters sullenly nodded their heads and retreated into the forest.

As the first rays of the sun peeked through the trees and onto the mansion in front, the group of 5 advanced with the finesse of jaguars. Reaching the oversized gate of the establishment, Artemis found the guard to be sitting in the guard room, sound asleep.

'Stupid males,' Artemis snorted as she snapped her fingers and the gate opened noiselessly, revealing to them a vast-sized lawn, complete with a pool and a horse stable yonder that, complete with its own small ranch. A gravel driveway led to the main building, a 3-floor house that was more a palace than a mansion. Parked near the humongous door to the mansion was a horseless carriage, a modern invention that used a steam engine to turn the wheels rather than being pulled by horses.

Artemis's mission was simple; get in before they any hostiles wake up, kill the Manticore and Lamia in their sleep or with as little of a tussle as she could, let her hunters take care of the mortal hooligans, and get out fast.

As such, they used the kitchen door to enter, rather than the obvious front door. What Artemis didn't expect, much less her hunters was to stare at the wrong end of around 15 infantry rifles pointed at the door the moment she opened it.

'Shit! These bastards knew,' Artemis cursed in her mind. She didn't break a sweat though. She was in no danger from these petty guns. Heck, she wasn't in any physical danger from anything. In fact, she hadn't lost a drop of ichor in the past 2 millennia due to battle wounds. Her hunters could be affected still, could be.

A familiar blue glow enveloped her body the moment the rifles unloaded the bullets as Artemis stood protectively in front of her hunters. Almost in slow motion, she could see the bullets cut through the air in a swiveling motion as 15 rounds collided with the blue aura around her body. Time returned to normal and 15 clinks were heard as all the bullets fell on the ground, not one penetrating Artemis's defense, neither causing any deformity to it as the ethereal blue glow receded.

Such was Percy's blessing. No Percy's promise. He had promised that nothing would harm her and nothing did. This was his parting gift, one she could never repay. "Thank you, Perce," she muttered with a fond smile. Even with him gone, his gifts still surrounded her. Artemis turned back her attention to these mortals.

Lamia and the Manticore weren't here. 'Fucking cowards,' Artemis thought. She was too high It was below her to deal with these pathetic mortals, her hunters were enough for this. These Remington 8s were notoriously slow to reload, as Artemis recognized from Ares's infatuation and how he took one to Council meetings. With a snap of her finger, the rifles turned into wooden sticks.

As the thugs gaped at her, she leaped over them and into the house in search of the 2 monsters, screams filling the background as her hunters took care of the mortals.

Hunting knives out, she started barging into every room on the second-floor corridor, the place where she felt the monsters were. The fifth room she broke into was almost the same as the others, a bed in the middle, a small table with chairs in the corner along with a big window, and a wardrobe and dresser.

She had almost left this one too until she felt a ripple in reality. The Mist, she realized and snapped her fingers. A ripple went around the room and seemingly out of nowhere the Manticore appeared before her. The blue glow surrounded her once again as it deflected the Manticore's spikes.

She threw her hunting knives at the beast and successfully trapped it to the floor with one knife through its tail and the other through its throat. Instinctively she rolled away as a heavy celestial bronze net dropped right where she was a second ago.