Divergent Path

Torturous Development

Chapter 20: Torturous Development

Artemis felt a heavy swing nearing her head. She dropped to the ground and kicked low in a wide arc, sweeping her opponent off of her feet. The armored assailant crashed to the ground as Artemis stood up straight. The goddess felt a tingle on the back of her neck and somersaulted backwards, narrowly dodging a tendril of lightning that crashed down where she stood.

The armored attacker removed her helmet, revealing a mess of blonde hair and steely grey eyes. Annabeth watched, stunned, as a blindfolded Artemis whirled around and clapped her hands together, catching a golden gladius between her bare palms. On the other side of the sword, Reyna's eyes widened in shock as she wrestled the weapon away from the goddess. As Annabeth climbed to her feet and Reyna pulled on her sword hilt, Thalia charged her mistress with her lightning-tipped spear.

Artemis roughly pulled the gladius towards her as she surged forward, shouldering the Roman Praetor in the chin. The blindfolded goddess jumped back to avoid the slashing spear, smirking as her lieutenant growled. Thalia raised her spear and thunder rumbled in from Long Island Sound. The deafening noise distracted Artemis, and her available senses were too late to pick up on the recovered daughter of Athena. Annabeth lunged forward and stabbed the blind goddess' forearm with her dagger.

Artemis gritted her teeth as she bounded away from the trio of attackers and dislodged the weapon from her arm. Above her, a girlish shriek could be heard and she grimaced as she figured Apollo must have also taken a hit.

Overhead, Apollo erratically piloted his chariot, a flying Ferrari Spider, as he weaved between lightning bolts, arrows, and waves of fire. Jason lined up against the supercar barreling through the air toward him as he brought down another bolt of lightning. It hit the vehicle, causing a momentary sputter before Apollo tightly gripped the steering wheel with both hands and continued forward. Jason whirled to the side, narrowly dodging the car's hood before Apollo kicked the passenger door open and clotheslined the floating demigod, sending him into free fall.

The car's convertible roof was still retracted and Apollo winced as he pulled the arrow Frank had shot him with out of his shoulder. He snuck a glance in his mirror, still baffled by the fully dexterous gryphon flying through the air and nocking another arrow. He didn't have much time to focus on Frank's strange transformation before a wall of fire enveloped the car. Apollo coughed as he flew his car through the flames, ramming directly into the son of Hephaestus on the other side of the fire.

Leo gritted his teeth before his mouth morphed into a grin, and he gripped the hood of the car tightly as it continued forward with him latched on. His hands glowed white hot, sizzling as they started to melt through the car's exterior. Apollo's eyes widened in shock; his sun chariot was built to withstand temperatures as hot as lava and Leo was still slowly burning through it. The sun god barrel rolled his car, alternating directions before Leo eventually lost his grip and spiraled towards the ground.

Apollo pumped the brakes as Frank dove towards him, swerving to dodge the eagle-headed monster. Right as Frank seemed to overshoot the car, he transformed into the Erymanthian Boar. Apollo again let out a less-than-masculine shriek before the immense weight of the animal collapsed onto the Ferrari, sending the pair and the car crashing towards the ground. Jason and Leo, using wind and fire respectively to propel themselves upward, scattered as the modern chariot dashed past them.

The four women on the ground simultaneously paused, stunned, as a fiery explosion rocked the battleground. Apollo had stumbled out of the wreckage and was wielding his lyre as Frank, now the Minotaur, lifted the flaming car overhead and threw it up in the air to land on the god. Thalia used the confusion as an opportunity to stab her spear at Artemis. The goddess instinctively shifted her body to the right before locking her elbow at her side, catching the thrusted spear between her bicep and ribcage.