When I reached the edge of the crater, I squatted and peeked down the slope. The small figures of Athena and Zeus stood near a large, foreign object.

"Guys!" I yelled at them.

The two of them looked up. Zeus waved both of his hands around while Athena moved her hand to her ear.

"Amelia, we've finally got the Artifact out." She gestured her hand to the object next to her. "It's very heavy, so we'll need a hand on this one."

"Okay."

"Zeus will climb back up first so you two will pull the hammer up," she said, and Zeus went over to one of the dangling ropes. "I'll stay here and assist you below in case the Item falls down."

Zeus started climbing. It didn't take long before he was close enough for me to stretch my arm and pull him up.

"Hey, Ames." He patted my shoulder.

I raised a brow. "Ames? What is that?"

"Why not? I decided it's a cute nickname for you." He grinned.

"Okay," I said. "This is really not the good time to say that, you know."

"Yeah, my bad. Ames." He glanced at something behind me. "Wow, you really knock the hell out of Apollo. Guess you did learn something from me. Good job."

I turned away as heat began to rise on my cheeks.

"Thanks. . ."

Zeus cleared his throat. "Anyway. . . Let's pull this hammer up."

The two of us turned back to the crater where Athena just finished tying up the hammer's handle onto the two ropes.

"It's ready," she said. "Now, lift it up slowly."

Zeus and I stood in front of the rocks where the ropes were tied and gripped a portion of the rope.

He glanced at me. "Ready?"

I clenched at the rope, my knuckles almost turning white. "Yeah. Let's do this."

"And. . . Pull!"

As soon as we began hauling the Artifact, my arms felt like they were the ones being pulled at in a tug of war. My hands throbbed and some of my strength faded with every pull.

I planted my feet on the rocky ground as firmly as I could, but it seemed that it wasn't enough to keep myself from slowly sliding to the edge of the cliff.

They were not kidding when they said it was heavy. I felt like I was lifting a whole house!

"You okay?" Zeus asked. He didn't look like he was struggling.

"Yeah, maybe," I exhaled. "Athena, how much longer are we going to pull this thing?"

"You're already halfway there," she said. "Just keep going."

I groaned. We continued pulling for some time until I caught a glimpse of the Artifact's long handle.

"Finally!" I said as we made one last tug on the ropes. The hammer slid onto the cliff. I let go of the rope and collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

My calloused hand throbbed in pain. "Ow."

"Are you okay? Does it hurt that bad?"

"I'm going to be fine," I lied.

I really could use an ice pack.

"Alright, if you say so." His eyebrows furrowed. "Stay right there, have some rest. I'll just toss the rope back to Athena."

I nodded.

He walked back to the cliff, leaving me lying on the floor. I sighed.

Well, at least we got the Artifact. All we have to do now is to get out of here and—

I rose and turned around. "Poseidon!"

There he was, standing with his back facing me. He panted heavily as he stared at someone lying on the ground.

He beat Artemis!

He swiveled towards me and grinned, his eyes gleaming with energy. "Amelia."

I ran to his direction. When I got to him, I gazed in worry at his bruised face.

"Look at your lips! They're busted!" I exclaimed. "And your eye. Oh god. . . A-are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's nothing. Artemis was a tough opponent." Poseidon touched his lower lip, then dropped his gaze. "Your hands."

"Oh." I looked at my red palms. "It's the hammer. It was too heavy but we eventually got it up."

"That's great. I knew you could do it." He crouched down and took the bow sitting next to Artemis. "Well, well. I suppose we're hitting two birds with one stone tonight."

"Argentum!" I said, my eyes widening at the sight of the silver bow. "This is amazing! We'll bring another Artifact back to base!"

"That's righ—" he paused and gazed above. "Get down!"

He suddenly pushed me down as darts flew toward our direction. Moaning, I slowly looked up and saw Hermes hovering above us with a blowgun in his hand.

"What the— How is he even flying?" I wondered.

"Oh no. He's using Talaria, the winged sandals." Poseidon pointed at the old-looking shoes Hermes wore. As I looked closer, I could see the flapping bird-like wings attached to the soles of the sandals.

"That could only mean one thing. . ." Poseidon looked at me. "That's Hermes, and he was able to activate the Item's power."

"Crawl around, suckers!" Hermes laughed. "This is for what happened to me the last time!"

Hermes loaded his gun and resumed shooting us with darts. Poseidon and I scrambled to dodge the incoming projectiles, splitting up in the process. I evaded the darts by running around as randomly as I could so Hermes couldn't predict my moves. I took out my staff and tried to hit away the missiles coming too close to me.

As I ran towards the cliff, I saw Zeus helping Athena climb back up on the edge. They both turned to me in confusion.

"Amelia—"

I pointed at the sky. "Look up and run!"

Right then and there, a small needle pierced through my skin. A stinging burn shot through my right arm, and a second later, my limb went numb on my side.

"Just. . . great." I muttered, wincing in pain.

I continued dodging the darts with one useless arm, but then Hermes turned his attention to Athena and Zeus and aimed his dart gun dangerously at them. The siblings froze.

"You!" Hermes glared at Zeus. "I'm going to kill you for shocking me with your stupid lightning!"

He flew towards him, shooting Zeus with everything he got. Athena whipped up Aegis from her back and shielded themselves just in time.

Zeus peeked from behind the bronze shield. "Hey, man. I'm sorry about the. . . you know, misunderstanding. Let's just—"

"Save your excuses for someone else!" Hermes spat. "You can't fool me, the god of mischief, twice!"

Hermes flew closer to them, urging Zeus and Athena to run away to escape the attack. Zeus blocked some of the darts with his sword while his sister followed behind him with her shield raised.

While our flying foe was busy targeting them, I sneaked towards the cliff where Hephaestus' Artifact was. I pressed my staff down the ground to shorten it and kept it on my belt. With my one good arm, I held the handle of the hammer and began dragging it as far away as I could from the battlefield.

I didn't get far when an arrow suddenly landed just a few inches from the hammer, startling me. I looked up to see Apollo loading another arrow and directing it at me once more.

"No, no, no. . ." My heart beating hard inside my chest, I tried to pull at the hammer again with all my one-handed might, but it barely moved an inch.

No, I can't let them have the hammer. I can't let them win again.

Time seemed to slow as Apollo let go of the arrow and everything in the background blurred. I held my breath as the arrow's sharp tip flew closer by the second.

"Amelia! No!"

Poseidon jumped in front of me and slashed his sword towards the arrow and sliced it in half. The two pieces landed like mere feathers beside me. I stared in shock, speechless at how the cause of my doom was symmetrically cut.

That was. . . way too close for comfort.

Poseidon turned around and looked at me, the heaviness of his ocean blue gaze crashing down at me like a wave. I swallowed.

"Posei—"

Apollo shot more arrows before I could even continue. Poseidon swiveled and swung his sword at the projectiles. With every arrow down, he took a step forward and slashed his sword harder than before. His arms tensed and bulged with every swing.

As he slowly approached Apollo with the aura of a predator, Apollo's movements became clumsy, his grip on his arrows shaking and his eyes visibly worried. He was about to load another arrow when Poseidon swept his free hand to Apollo's bow, knocking it off his hands. The archer stepped back and tripped on a rock. Poseidon stood above him, his sword dangerously pointed at his face.

"Poseidon!" I shouted. " What are you doing?"

Apollo raised his hands in surrender. "I-I give up! You can take the Artifact, j-just let me live!"

"Let you live?" Poseidon repeated. "Give me a single damn reason why I should do that."

"I— because. . ." Apollo stammered as he stared at the sword. "It's. . . it's because I-I'm a Chosen, like you! Y-you'll need me for—"

"That's not a good reason," Poseidon deadpanned, slowly raising the sword above his head. "It's your loss then."

"No! Stop!" I screamed. "Don't do it!"

But it was too late. He struck down the sword to Apollo, piercing it down his chest. As Poseidon pulled his sword up in a swift motion, Apollo let out a pained gasp.

"NO!"

With my arm still numb, I scrambled towards my dying enemy. I searched around frantically for something that could stop the blood that was gushing out of his wound, but there was nothing I could do.

It was too late.

Tears streaming down my face, I looked up to Poseidon, who stared down at the dead body with not a single emotion.

I choked down a sob. "W-What have you done?"