"What have you done?"

He remained silent.

I slammed my fist on the ground. "Why did you have to kill him?!"

"I did what I had to do," he said. "He was going to kill you."

"But you didn't have to take the life out of him!" I yelled. "You. . . you could've just given him a gash in the arm!"

"He could still hurt you with his daggers if I did that."

"Well, I could beat him by myself just like before!" I said. "He didn't have to die!"

His eyes flickered, and something passed over him. He shook his head and blinked as if he just woke up.

"Oh no. . ." His sword clattered to the ground. "D-did I do this?"

"Yes, you did," I replied grimly. "How could you, Poseidon?"

"I. . ." He took a step back. "I-I'm deeply sorry. I didn't mean to— I was trying to protect you and. . ."

I tuned out from his excuses. I can't believe he was able to kill someone so easily, and just like that in front of me. He could've just knocked him out like I did earlier, and he would still be fine and breathing.

As I stared at the dead body of Apollo, a harsh realization hit me.

All of this, this fighting, hurting, and. . . killing, this will go on and on as long as the Artifacts are out there in the world. They're the reason why we're here, and the reason why I trained to fight and defend myself from the Rouges. Because they're the enemy, and they will use the Artifacts for bad.

But are they though? Although they were Chosens like us, are they really evil? Will they use it to hurt people and rule the world?

Even if they would, is it all worth it? Was it worth the pain and bloodshed to get all the Items? If we ever got them all, what would we use them for? Would we let it dust in the school basement, or would we use them for something else? Were we the evil ones?

Now that I think about it, I never knew why we're collecting them in the first place, other than they're too powerful in the wrong hands. Hell, even Hera didn't give me a straight reason why I should collect them.

I sighed. I don't know what to think anymore. What have I gotten myself into, volunteering to be involved in a scavenger hunt/battleground and thinking that I would survive without a scratch?

Maybe I shouldn't ha—

"A-amelia?" I heard Poseidon say. "Are you okay?"

I perked up. Poseidon sat down beside me and averted his gaze.

"Amelia. . . I'm sorry. I really am." He sighed. "I-I know that this might be hard for you to understand, but. . . you should know that the moment you told us that you wanted to help us find the Artifacts, there will be times when you will have to make a tough choice for the greater good. The arrow Apollo shot was too close to get to you. I thought that I wouldn't get to you in time, I swear. But then I stopped it in time, and you were okay, so I thought it was over. It turns out it wasn't.

He closed his eyes. "I don't know what happened, but I felt something get into my head. I wanted to protect you at all costs, so. . . I did the deed. And now, I regret it. I'm not hoping for you to forgive me, but I only hope that you understand that. . . there are no winners in war. There are consequences and we will always lose something, may it be a weapon or someone's life."

At that point, I began sobbing, and Poseidon hugged me. He stroked my hair and whispered softly to me.

"It's okay, Amelia," he said. "It's okay."

I don't know if it is.

"S-sei?" I stuttered.

"Yes?"

"I. . . don't know what to say," I admitted as I tasted my salty tears. "I know that you didn't mean it, but I. . . I just don't know how to react. . ."

"Amelia, I understand, " he said. "I just wish I gave you some sort of warning so you wouldn't have to be in this state. I'm sorry."

I sniffed.

"Let's get out of here." Poseidon stood and picked up his red-tipped sword, blood still dripping on its edge.

Standing, I looked once more at Apollo. "But what about him?"

"Artemis and Hermes will get to him," he said, his tone hesitant. "It will take us more time to get down the mountain because of the hammer, so we should get moving."

With Argentum on his shoulder and sword at hand, Poseidon walked to the hammer and started tying it up with the ropes earlier. I let myself linger near the dead body, still wondering what I could've done to prevent my enemy from dying.

Maybe if I stepped out of the arrow's way, Poseidon wouldn't have to get angry at Apollo and kill him.

Before I even realized, Zeus and Athena jogged to my direction. Other than some bruises and tears on their clothes, they looked fine.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked. "Where's Hermes?"

"Ames, you wouldn't believe what just happened to us!" Zeus looked down. "Whoa, what the hell happened to him?"

I bit my lip.

"Oh," he said. "Did Poseidon. . ."

I turned away. "Let's not talk about it here. Please."

"Hm. It was about time something like this would happen." Athena crossed her arms.

Zeus elbowed her. She glared at him.

"Whatever, brother." She began walking. "I'm going to leave you two and help Poseidon with the hammer."

"Don't bother leaving us, we're coming too." I trailed behind her when I thought I saw Apollo's hand move.

"So. . . What happened with you and Athena when you were fighting Hermes?" I asked Zeus as we descended the mountain.

I was walking beside him while he and Poseidon moved in front with the tied hammer. Meanwhile, Athena was a few feet behind us, covering us with her shield just in case any of the Rogues get conscious and attack us again.

"You were going to tell me something about it, right?"

"Oh yeah. That." Zeus shrugged. "Well, it's not that interesting."

"He clearly wants to tell you the story!" Athena hollered.

"Shut up sis!" Zeus yelled back. "I wanted to make her curious about it! And you've ruined my plan!"

"No, not really," I said. "You didn't have to plan anything. I was still going to listen anyway."

To be honest, I just want him to distract me from what happened earlier. . . Since we began climbing down the mountain, Poseidon was giving me the cold shoulder. I wanted to talk to him but he wasn't into the conversation so I left him to his devices.

"Okay! So, we kicked his butt and—" He paused, then grinned. "Wait, no. We singed it."

"What?"

He laughed. "Funny story. The dude was busy throwing darts at us while Athena covered us with Aegis. He eventually ran out of ammo so he turned into an eagle and started clawing us with his sharp talons and stuff. His claws were really long that I got some scratches from them." He pointed at the tears on his sleeves.

My eyes widened as I noticed a few wounds on his exposed skin. "Did it hurt?"

"A little, but I had worse," he said. "Ask me what happened next. I'm getting to the best part."

I gave him an amused look. "Then what happened?"

"I built up some lightning on my hands and aimed it at him," he said. "It took a few tries, but I soon got him and man, it burned! I singed him so bad he almost smelled like roasted chicken, and the best thing was he almost looked like one!"

"Wait, that's almost the same thing you did to him in the museum." My eyebrows wrinkled. "Except that he was a tiger back then. And he smelled more like burnt hair."

Zeus frowned. "So you don't think it's hilarious?"

"Uh. . . nope."

Athena laughed behind me. "I told you so, brother!"

"Shut up Athena!" Zeus shouted. "At least I'm trying to be funny! Unlike you!"

Her footsteps stopped. "Everyone, take cover!"

We turned around to see arrows and darts raining in our direction. With her shield, Athena blocked some of the projectiles while the rest of us ducked for cover.

"Zeus, Poseidon! Get yourselves and the Artifact away from here!" Athena said. "Amelia, your arm is already fine, right?"

"I— uh, yeah!"

"Good, then you and I can distract them while they run."

I took out my staff and stood on guard as Artemis and Hermes came into view, their weapons pointed at us.

Letting go on his side of the rope, Zeus drew his sword. In my peripheral vision, I saw Poseidon do the same.

"We won't leave you alone with them!" Zeus said.

"That's not a request, you two!" Athena stopped a couple of arrows, then turned around and gave her brother a glare. "Get the hell out of here now!"

Zeus matched his sister's look. Their staring contest didn't last long when a shower of darts rained over their path, cutting them off. Fortunately, they dodged them in time. Athena resumed blocking the missiles while Zeus and Poseidon carried the hammer once more and hurried down the mountain path.

Artemis and Hermes continued their barrage of attacks while slowly approaching. I made myself as low as possible while I defended myself from the incoming darts and arrows. Athena, on the other hand, easily blocked them with Aegis.

"You know, I should probably have a shield too," I said to her. "I don't want to get hit by one of those numbing darts again."

She threw me a side glance. "Just try not to get killed by the arrows then, alright? Then we can talk about having shields later."

Hermes swooped in from above, but Athena raised her shield. The darts bounced off and dropped to the ground.

"Close call," I mumbled.

From the distance, Artemis pulled the string of her bow, loaded with a couple of arrows, and aimed at us.

"Athena. . . Artemis is gonna shoot at us!" I exclaimed.

Arrows flew to our direction. I ducked for cover while Athena jumped out of the way, her shield still blocking Hermes' darts.

"Well, I'm trying to not get us paralyzed here!" Athena shouted as more darts came to her way. "Now's the time to put that training to good use!"

"B-but I didn't even train with Poseidon for my powers!"

"Just do something!"

My knuckles turned white as I gripped my staff in panic.

What should I do now?

"Okay, okay." I breathed. "Think happy thoughts. Just think of nice, happy thoughts. . ."

Athena turned to me with her eyebrows raised. "This is not the perfect time for doing that, Amelia!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to do something!"

I swung my staff against an incoming arrow and hit it like a baseball. To my surprise, it flew back to where it came from but Artemis merely moved her head away to dodge it.

Oh, come on! That was my best move!

Tossing the bow away, Artemis took out a couple of knives and rushed to me. I swallowed as her eyes raged with anger—our distances reduced and our faces got closer.

Before she could jump at me with her daggers, a flash of bronze shot towards her and hit her in the stomach, taking her down. The shield bounced back and returned to Athena, who caught it with her hand.

My jaw went slack as she strapped Aegis behind her. Below her feet was an unconscious Hermes with the wings of Talaria still flapping.

"I've been wanting to try that for a long time," she said, smirking. "Thankfully I had these two people to test the move."

I blinked. "You know. . . That kinda reminds me of Ca—"

"Don't even start, Amelia." She kicked Hermes in the back for good measure. "Let's catch up with the boys before the two Rogues get conscious."

We both sprinted as fast as our legs could handle. The time we took to go down was much quicker than the times we climbed, which was a relief for me.

I can't wait for this long night to be over.

Soon enough, we spotted Zeus and Poseidon waving their hands nearby. The hammer stood beside them while the silver arrow rested on Poseidon's shoulder.

"Sis! Ames!" Zeus yelled. "Are you two okay?"

Athena and I skidded to a halt. I sat on the ground, panting.

"I'm fine," Athena replied. "I'm not sure about her though."

I took a deep breath. "I'm just exhausted, nothing to worry about."

"You can rest later in the hotel," Poseidon said. "For now, let's get out of here. I don't want us to stay here any longer."

"Good idea," Zeus said as he went over the hammer. "I'm sick of carrying this the whole time. My arms are getting sore."

A black car pulled to a stop from the distance and honked its horns. The four of us stared at the foreign vehicle.

"Wow, that's nice." I tilted my head at the car. "You guys already called someone to pick us up that fast?"

"No, but I was about to." Poseidon clutched the sword hanging beside him.

The driver's door opened, revealing an unexpected face.

"Giovanni?"