A Nascent Kaleidoscope. Chapter 630: Arachne 13

Salem POV

I stood next to the doorway.

I wasn't offended that I was relegated to a door guard. I knew that I had very little to input on that situation inside. I was good at killing and magic, not placating grief or bringing back others from the dead.

Perhaps it was the trust given that made my mood not sour at doing this thankless duty. It was a strange but not unwelco feeling to have others put trust into .

"Move." The blue-haired girl commanded.

I cast her one look and ignored her, not moving.

That seed to upset her even more. Her nostrils flared, and it looked like she was suppressing her anger from boiling over.

Wilhelm did say that this bunch weren't the reasonable types. I had already seen for myself, so I already knew what to expect.

"I said move." She spoke more firmly. "I demand to know what's going on in there."

She had seemingly been attacked as well, eliciting the tiniest smidgen of sympathy. I knew, from experience, that resurrecting was not a…..pleasant sensation.

However, all of that disappeared when I thought about how she spoke to Wilhelm.

In response to her demand, I increased the wardings over the door further, in a very obvious manner.

At my age, I thought my pettiness had all but been ground away by the waters of ti. But sohow, I seed to pick up these bad habits from that lecherous man.

I knew that she had magical prowess, so I knew she could see what I did.

"You—"

I circled a finger in the air in front of and cut off all sound. It only took a mont for her to realize that none of her words reached , and that just infuriated her further.

However, instead of verbally raging—not that I would hear it—she instead reeled back and threw a punch.

I admit, it was rather strong, shattering a great many of my haphazard spells that I had placed. But it stopped before , rely blowing my hair back.

I looked nonchalantly at her fist in front of my face. "Child, stop while my patience remains intact." I was not usually this rciful, but it has been new experiences for many months now since eting Wilhelm.

I believe I could allow myself this much without getting angry.

I know Wilhelm would not like to destroy this train. He seed particularly fond of it, even excited when talking about how it works. It was rather…cute to see him so.

Truthfully, I mostly just didn't care to swat a gnat while I was doing sothing more important.

She furrowed her brow; I don't think she was used to people being so dismissive of her. "Do you think I can't tear down your spells?"

"Yes." I said dismissively.

I really was doing this on purpose, wasn't I? I can freely admit that I would often taunt my foes in these pointless quests, knowing that they were dood to fail. But well and truly, this was just out of pettiness from .

Looking in the eye, she reached up as if to grab at the door.

I slapped her hand away.

She slamd her hand onto the side of the train; characters I didn't recognize crawled up every corner.

I raised an eyebrow, and the shadow under stretched out and scaled upwards around the corridor as well, devouring it.

She flicked her hand, producing one of those strange bladed weapons.

I raised a finger in front of her, and an intense gust of wind sent her hurling back as she used the blade to stab into the floor of the train to stop her backward montum, tearing a gouge out of it, eliciting a groan and screech of tal in the process.

I believe we both looked down at the damage now done to the vehicle and frowned.

She stood up straight, looking at with narrowed eyes, and then she walked back towards one of the train exits, stepping outside. I turned on my heel after casting several more spells on the door and went towards the opposite exit, also walking outside.

I ignored all the other passengers, simply depositing a few dozen of my grimm in the shadows around the door for now. What did their gazes have to do with ? If they dared to try and touch that door, they would find death waiting for them regardless.

The area outside was large and vacant, devoid of any populace for as far as the eye could see.

I looked up.

It was still bright outside, contrary to my preferences; thus, I called upon a storm to gather. I was not as adept as Wilhelm, due to the nature of his storm calling, but I had been doing this far longer.

The girl looked up, unfazed, then looked back at .

The girl flicked her wrist without warning. One of those weapons flew through the air at my head.

I gestured to the ground, and a hand made of earth burst out and knocked it away.

A bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, and the girl casually threw up another of those weapons, blocking it with ease.

How amusing.

When was the last ti I had a fight with soone by magical ans? A real fight with soone who uses magic and wanted to kill . Not simply stepping on so bugs that were too arrogant for their own good.

My musing had distracted; one of her weapons sneakily bypassed my 'defense.'

It had 'penetrated' , or rather the look on her face thought it had for a brief mont. My body burst into mist, and monts later, I walked several steps to the side out of the mist cloud that had abruptly co into being before dispersing.

The girl broke into a sprint, throwing more and more of those weapons.

I floated up into the air and cast dozens of minor spells at each.

Very quickly, this field was turned into a battlefield of clashing magics.

Annoyed, she continued to use those swords, but they started turning and moving in other ways mid-air.

However, I was more than experienced with such things with all the tis Wilhelm and I have played around.

Lightning fell from the sky. Fire rolled across the ground. Ice froze the air. And the Earth squealed with each of my gestures.

Wilhelm was accurate in his earliest assessnts. The Elents were second nature to cast to those of us that hailed from Remnant. He once said that when it cos to elental manipulation, we could put out twice the scale and scope with half the effort in comparison to him.

I ran a finger across the air.

Fire and wind combined, converged, pressed, and then exploded.

The girl danced around the field, avoiding as much as she could. Even with every step followed by an explosive might that would obliterate a normal human, she skillfully avoided any aningful harm.

I had to admit, she was skilled.

I followed along with her form with a finger, a black ball growing at the tip before it reached its precipice and shot out. It hit the girl head-on, enlarging before suddenly disappearing, eating away everything that it had touched, leaving not even earth behind.

However, I narrowed my eyes.

Out of the earlier dust that had been kicked up, I saw a silhouette jump out, launching at . Very narrowly, I moved my head out of the way; a blade flashed by, and the wet feeling of blood started to flow down my cheek.

The girl, stepping on the air through spell usage, had reached in the sky, and her fist reeled back to punch .

I scoffed and pulled my hand up.

The earlier earthen hand shuddered and burst out of the ground, fully forming into a golem, growing bigger and bigger until it towered over both of us. Before she could reach , it slapped her out of the sky and back onto the earth.

The girl skipped across the ground a couple tis before flipping onto her feet. She ripped off her long sleeves, and across her arms, different tattoos appeared. I was not privy to their aning or significance, but her deanor shifted.

She shot forward much quicker than before, and dozens of her swords flew through the air.

I held my hand up, conjuring a shield to block, noting how they pushed through the spell, almost reaching .

The girl had run up the golem's arm when it tried to smash her into the ground. She ran up to its head and, with one punch, blew its head to pieces, collapsing the golem's structure.

I held both my hands up, one above and one below, and cast one of my newest spells. Normally, I did not like to use things like Spell Words or Spell Circles. I prided myself on being able to perfect any spells to not need to rely on anything.

However, the more I branched from the magic I knew, the more I had to lean into such things.

If even the Spirit of Knowledge – now Goddess – used such things, then why should I be ashad?

"Marionette"

Two ethereal hands appeared in the air, one above her and one below her. From the fingers, ethereal strings stretched out and latched onto her, taking hold of her movents completely. Despite her struggling, she couldn't break free, but she was certainly putting up a fight.

Layering twelve different curses together, it seems simple on the surface, but it's quite the difficult spell to break.

The strings began to tighten, and I started to pull her limbs in every which direction.

The tattoos on her arms glowed, and through gritted teeth and a pained groan, she shouted. "Excarnation Rite."

The many discarded weapons on the ground bulged and distorted; crows pushed out of them, the blades disappearing as what appeared to have been made of holy texts then turned to crows.

I scoffed, and a black, inky-like substance dripped down from until it beca a waterfall. My shadow connected to the ground and spread outwards. Hundreds of red eyes blinked inside of it before shooting out.

My Nevermores launched out and attacked all those birds.

Her skin began to rip at the joints as she fought against , suspended in the air.

"Origin!" She shouted, and the remaining discarded blades on the ground jumped up, impaling themselves into the earth. They then began to move in lines, gouging out symbols and moving in a ticulous way until an eight-pointed star spell circle had been carved into the ground below. "Mandate." The spell circle on the ground glowed, and above us in the sky, a copy of it appeared. "Law. Calling. Verdict. Wheel. Purify. Judgent!"

Both the spell circles were linked in invisible ways and glowed brightly before it began to rain blades from above and below.

From below, those sa weapons shot upwards; from above, they rained down in a torrent.

She smiled smugly at , despite it being a 'suicidal' spell. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from it. The first one slamd right into her shoulder, the next broke my spell, and the third went through my hand.

And quickly hundreds, thousands more continued up and down.

I pulled my shawl around as the barrage ca.

It was impossible to count how many, just as you couldn't count the raindrops in a storm.

They continued to pour in both directions, and I felt the scathing edge as they pierced my flesh, delivering their 'holy' wrath upon my body.

Wilhelm said that they were made to contend with things heretical, and I was a cursed witch with the Dark Brother's heinous magics coursing through . What else was I to these things?

My Grimm died by the hundreds.

They took the strikes in my place, for the most part. Each strike burned and seared the wounds of my monsters, destroying them with ease. But I had many—many more to continue to fill the gaps. With each mont passed, more and more of them turned to dust, these weapons having an annoyingly excellent capability against my creatures of darkness.

While I could refill my Grimm at any ti, it took ti and effort, and I did not want to have to drag tens of thousands more over to the Grimmlands to stuff back into my shadow for no reason.

Still, not all of them were evaded by . Quite a few made it into my flesh, piercing through in various places.

It was oddly painful.

If I were not immortal, this would have been enough to kill many tis over.

"Go!" I commanded, and the shadows wrapped around quaked.

The pattering of rain—steel—ceased because sothing much larger had erged. My great Grimm Whale erged, but its head briefly, and devoured the Spell Circle in its entirety in the sky, destroying the spell before plunging back into the depths of my shadows.

I reerged, breathing uncharacteristically heavily.

I looked down, and there were quite a few of those blades impaled through my body.

The area around us was now unrecognizable. The green grass, the forest, and the warm sky had all disappeared.

That annoying girl rerged as well. His mangled and shredded body had joined back together like it had never been decimated in the first place. She gasped at first, but she stood up strongly, clearly being used to resurrecting.

Maybe she was tired, but she looked at like she had won.

However, I felt my lips curling upwards.

I stood straight, and her holy blades that were eating away at my flesh simply by touching had slowly started to push out of my body.

It was a different pain, one that made it particularly unpleasant. There was no such thing as 'holy' in this context in my world, and it felt like my soul was being burned as a result. But compared to everything I've experienced, this was still nothing.

She looked at as her blades hit the ground and the wounds on my body began to heal unnaturally fast.

I looked at her, matching her smile. "Did you think you're the only one cursed with immortality?" I asked her.

Just because I didn't like using spell circles didn't an I couldn't use them properly. Nor did I want to use them in a flashy manner.

I liked Shadow Magic, sothing I never bothered with before eting Wilhelm. I had an obvious affinity with the Darkness that made it easy to grasp.

Therefore, why did I need to craft my spell circles in the light when I could hide them in the dark?

I rely had to reach inside my shadow and pull out the completed spell circle I had created while talking.

I was copying soone else now. I admired that spell that Wilhelm acquired from that god friend of his. Mine was nowhere near as potent nor sophisticated, but I found it rather…practical.

Circle Spell circles appeared around the girl. One on each side, one above, and one below.

Each one of them is the sa, but slightly altered. Each one reached its own gravitational pull towards it.

My usual thods aren't to go for disembowelnt so vehently, but who told her to speak to my man like she did?

I turned around and walked away as she scread.

[Line break]

Wilhelm POV

Contrary to popular belief, reincarnation via Evil Piece wasn't so…extraordinary affair.

The Flesh was malleable. A severed head? Reconnecting it was extrely easy. But connecting everything—mind, body, and spirit? Now, that's what made these things beautiful pieces of magic.

Not to say I like them; I absolutely despised these things. But as a Magus, I could not say a bad word about the beauty in their design. Even Odin couldn't help but praise the design, despite his disgust for them as well.

It's unfortunate that I don't have any real ans to save the woman. Once soone is 'dead,' I have no way to 'bring them back' like this.

Hell, if it weren't for her being quick and talented herself and casting a spell at the mont of her death to preserve her own head, this may not have even worked.

Waver was standing in the corner with a vacant look on his face.

Karabo wasn't far away, closer to the door, also with a vacant look on his face.

I think two people might be having a coming-to-God mont, rather than one.

Trisha was lying on the bed, eyes closed.

She was…alive.

For lack of a better word.

"When will she wake up?" Olga asked softly, holding her hand.

Olga was sitting in Venelana's lap of her own free will. Or, maybe she was just so preoccupied with other thoughts that she didn't even register it. But regardless, Venelana held her in her lap, which seed to be helping soothe the poor girl.

Of course, in a normal situation, Olga would be protesting with all her might, but it was still cute.

"It shouldn't be more than two days, but most likely she'll be up in about a day." Venelana gently told her.

The train shook a few tis, startling everyone. I looked over my shoulder towards the direction of the source, frowning. "Seems like Salem is fighting soone." I could take a guess at who.

"Do you need to go help?" Venelana asked.

I shook my head. "I have a feeling that she's able to handle it." I was keeping my senses sharp, though; if I had any inkling that sothing actually went wrong, I would be out the door at my fastest speed.

And Salem was no pushover. There wasn't anything around here that could genuinely harm her enough that I needed to burst out of the room that she also couldn't put up a fight against.

And she wouldn't like if I stepped in unless she seriously couldn't handle sothing.

Regardless, I took out so supplies. Talisman writing supplies and I began to grind up ink while also taking out a tiny vial of blood, dripping a single drop into it.

My calligraphy skills weren't the best, but they were passable.

There was silence for a few minutes, and I could see their eyes on , wondering what I was doing. Even Olga, once she knew Trisha was 'safe,' had been rather quiet and contemplative. This whole thing must have been very ntally exhausting for her.

It took a bit of effort; this wasn't like the normal talismans I draw.

"Hold onto this." I handed it to Olga, giving her a sneaky pat on the head, much to her chagrin.

"What is it?" She looked at it, back to front.

"You practice Onmyōji, Lord Schweinorg?" Waver perked up.

"I dabble a bit." I smiled.

He looked at it and then at Olga. "You can think of it as a Mystic Code, a one-ti-use spell, in most cases. In the East, there's a division of spellcasters that practice this thod of spellcraft that differs from our magical foundations of magecraft."

He really was just a teacher, wasn't he?

"If that attack cos again, that should block it." I said simply.

At least, I was fairly sure it would. Considering I used a drop of Izzy's blood, that thing should ward off Death one ti unless a god interferes.

"...thank you." Olga said quietly, clutching the talisman tight in her arms.

"Father Karabo, you look like you want to be anywhere but here right now." I finally addressed the priest, who looked very out of place.

He shot a strained look, as if he was still trying to figure out if I was real or not. With a curt nod, he turned and went for the door, though as soon as he touched it, he stopped, looked at , then looked at Venelana.

"...If I may ask, why were you willing to do this?" His question wasn't directed at ; it was towards Venelana.

However, Venelana looked at him in confusion, then looked to as if wanting help.

"His Mystic Eyes let him look at my past; he knows a few things." I told her, not bothering to hide that.

The fact is, he knows that Venelana is a Devil, he knows that I'm a Half-Devil. Beyond that, I couldn't really guess his thoughts.

The tension might have stayed tense if the train didn't shake again and we could hear the sounds of explosions and rumbling coming from outside.

"There's no real reason." Venelana answered. "I did it simply because I wanted to; that's all." She continued to smile warmly, hugging Olga in her arms. "My reasons were selfish."

Maybe he was having trouble reconciling the idea of demons and hell in his head with what he now knew and the woman sitting over there helping a grieving child she barely knew.

He seed to take that at face value and willingly left the room.

With the door open, Sir Wiggles and Lady Wiggles ca running inside, hopping up to Olga. She was startled but quickly accepting of the two furballs. The faint phantom of a smile forming at her lips.

"Waver, why don't you go collect your thoughts? I'll et you at your room in a little bit; we have…the other matter to discuss." I told him.

Waver didn't look happy but resigned. It was sothing that needed to be cleared up at this point.

He gave a nod, heading out.

"Do you want so ti?" I asked Venelana.

"If you don't mind." She replied good-naturedly.

It was my turn to be kicked out. That is, Venelana needed to have a long and personal talk with Olga about everything. She is still almost completely in the dark about what's happened, and she needs to know the details.

Olga would probably not want to be overly pressured or intimidated by having other people around, especially with how vulnerable she is right now.

So, I left the room and closed the door behind .

I looked out the window and saw what had actually been happening while we were inside.

"That looks about right." I said to myself, noting that the scenery went from a green landscape to basically a barren wasteland.

I was a little sad I missed it, but Salem ca walking back over, entering the train like nothing happened.

It must have been impressive, because a lot of the people in the train were looking at her with much more trepidation than they were before.

Well, all except one.

The veiled woman was sitting nearby, looking completely unfazed.

Salem looked…pleased with herself.

"Did you have fun?" I asked.

She pursed her lips at my question but had a rare smile despite it. "Yes, it was…fun." She admitted.

"Did you fight Ciel?"

"She was interesting." Salem responded, answering my question. "Though, it seems her main strength lay in her inability to die rather than her power."

I nodded.

The Burial Agency was full of genuine monsters. Ciel was mostly a mber because she was immortal; otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been up to par.

"Have you settled your matters inside?"

"Mostly, Venelana is having a heart-to-heart with Olga now; I didn't want my presence to cause any concern." I nodded again, sneaking my arms around her. "Want to go question Waver with to see why his little assistant looks so…familiar?"

Salem raised an eyebrow. "I have been curious."

I was about to turn around with her on my arm and go find Waver's room, but sothing caught my eye that I hadn't noticed before. My eyes fell on the veiled woman; she looked my way as well.

That wasn't abnormal; we had been eyeing each other plenty of tis so far.

But what I noticed was that, ever so slightly, the bottom of her veil was lopsided.

Like, it had been cut.

Sothing I only would have noticed because I had committed her image to mory multiple tis now.

At the location, that would have been right where her neck was.

This assassination mystery is just getting more and more interesting.

[Line break]

Non-Canon Omake: The Little Spider, Chapter 13

Artemis was pleased as the event was being set up.

Normally, she cared very little about this 'capture the flag' ga they played. She would admit that it wasn't a particularly poor thod of training and teamwork coordination, but she had little ti for dalliances like this for her hunters.

Of course, it was also a good morale boost when she did bring her hunters around so they could stomp the 'campers' here.

But this ti was important because it wasn't just inflating the egos of her own hunters. She was going to show that girl that she knew very little about the world.

To show her that her hunters weren't pushovers and that she still had a lot to learn.

Artemis knew that under her guidance, she could make the girl a worthy hunter, perhaps the best she ever had.

She was also considering what she would ask in return for turning over the girl's pet to Olympus.

It was rare that she had a nearly blank check to ask from Zeus.

"Lady Artemis." Chiron trotted over to where Artemis was watching.

"Chiron, how are your campers? Prepared, I hope."

"As they could be." Chiron said simply.

"You treat them too softly, Chiron. In ages past, you would not have allowed such weakness and softness for the heroes you train." Artemis, while she didn't particularly care for the majority of the 'great heroes' that Chiron trained in the past, could freely admit that they were truly excellent.

Compared to the demigods that had co from the camp in recent years, it was like night and day.

"It's a different ti, Lady Artemis. The old thods wouldn't work well." He smiled wryly.

Artemis rely rolled her eyes; it wasn't her place, nor did she care to argue the point. "Let's hope they can at least put up a showing and keep my hunters entertained."

Chiron's lips twitched.

He wanted to retort and say sothing like, 'Most of your hunters have decades on all my campers,' but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"We had new campers this year; I was sure to inform them of the rules properly." Chiron stated.

Artemis wasn't oblivious to what he was implying. She knew he didn't want to just co out and ask her if she told her Hunters not to be heavy-handed, as it would sound sowhat insulting to her.

"Don't worry, Chiron, I told them no maiming or killing." Though she felt a little bit of maiming might be good for so of them, from what she could see at the 'camp.'

Both Goddess and Centaur watched as the ga began.

Annabeth took the lead on tactics, and Luke took the lead at the front.

Three teams had ford. One for defense that stayed back to defend the flag, one with Annabeth that took to the trees, and Luke's final group that did a direct charge and drew the most attention as they crossed the middle boundary of the field and arrows began to fly.

Artemis's lips curled up as a dozen or so campers were imdiately taken out in the foolish charge.

Though, she frowned when she noticed a few of her hunters fall to the Daughter of Athena's tactics in the forest, laying ambushes and tricking a few of her younger hunters.

Artemis noted that she would make a good Hunter too.

However, the ensuing fights went about as both of them expected.

While Artemis wouldn't say it out loud, she thought that the campers put up a better fight than she would have thought. Certainly an improvent from the last ti she was here, but still her face showed only contempt.

However, those thoughts were pushed to the side as she started looking around for the target of her current annoyance.

She watched her lieutenant approach the opponent's flag from the forests, her sisters with her as they silently stood behind trees, out of view at the boundary.

Artemis watched in anticipation, waiting for the girl to appear.

Perhaps she laid so sort of trap? She showed so knowledge in magic; did she conceal herself sowhere out of view, waiting to ambush?

There were many thods that Artemis could think of that Zoe would need to prepare for.

But, slowly, Artemis's pensive expression shifted into an ever-growing frown.

With every step her hunters took towards the flag, with every camper that was downed and taken out of the battle, her fists clenched tighter in her palms.

"...Chiron." Artemis gritted as Zoe lifted up the flag of the camp, signaling their win.

"...yes, Lady Artemis?"

"Where is the girl?!" She hissed out.

"I don't know." Chiron admitted.

"Why isn't she participating?"

"It's not a mandatory camp activity." Chiron inford her.

It took significant restraint for Artemis to not lash out.

It had been a very long ti since soone so openly snubbed her. Despite Arachne having absolutely no knowledge of what was happening, Artemis felt insulted.

Artemis hissed under her breath, her words echoing into the ears of every one of her huntresses. "Find the girl and bring her to !"

[Line Break]

The wailing of the hunter echoed throughout the camp.

The arrow sticking out of her eye—well, Arachne thought it would be painful and didn't fault the girl for crying out.

Though she did fault the girl for being stupid enough to fire the arrow in the first place.

Arachne didn't have any sympathy.

Though her wails attracted a lot of eyes, many people ran over.

Particularly, several more hunters arrived to see their crying, bloody, and distressed fellow hunter.

"Sister!" Arachne recognized Zoe at first glance. "Who has done this to you!?"

Amidst the cries of pain, she lifted up her hand, pointing at Arachne.

There was a beat of silence as their eyes landed on her.

"Yeah? I did it; the dumb cunt had it coming." Arachne crossed her arms.

"...I don't think that's helping." Percy whispered behind her.

"You!" Zoe's eyes widened, and then anger overca her. "How dare you! Do you know what you have done?!"

"I've got eyes." Arachne deadpanned. "Unlike soone." Arachne's lips curled up.

She had absolutely no pity for the stupid.

"Is this a jest to you?!" Zoe exclaid.

"Yes." Arachne responded without a second thought.

The hunters next to Zoe drew their bows, and Arachne took out her spear with a growing grin. Even Percy pulled out a pen from his pocket, clicking the cap as it turned into a sword.

Arachne wanted to ask about it but decided it was better to focus on the inevitable fight.

Just as the two sides were about to fight, a thunderous boom hit the ground, cracking the earth between them.

Chiron landed on the ground. "Enough!" He shouted, imdiately letting his presence be known. "Fighting inside of camp is strictly forbidden!"

"Thy camper hath maid my sister, Chiron!" Zoe pointed at Arachne in accusation.

Arachne didn't respond verbally; she raised her middle finger.

Zoe was about to pull an arrow back to fire until Chiron shouted again.

"Artemis!" He raised his voice, and a gentle hand grabbed Zoe's, stopping her from escalating.

"Zoe, hold your fury back for now; I will find out who is at fault." Artemis said lightly as the goddess appeared in front of everyone.

She had enough divine presence that even the onlookers felt a cold sweat down their backs.

"Chiron, I demand an explanation." Artemis looked at him.

Chiron didn't get upset at her demand; it was about par for the course for him. Instead, he looked around and then laid his eyes on Arachne. "What happened?"

"That dumb cunt shot an arrow at Percy. A caught it and threw it back." Arachne said simply.

"She lies!" The huntress that had been with the one with the arrow in her eye had imdiately shouted back in defiance. "They started it!"

Artemis frowned. "Your campers are at fault, Chiron."

"Your hunter shot an arrow at one of my campers, Lady Artemis." Chiron retorted. "Even if what she said is true, whatever she said, it doesn't excuse her trying to hurt one of my campers."

"Assassinate." Arachne interrupted as both god and centaur turned to him. "Back ho, if ya tried to kill soone with their back turned, that's what we call it. Don't know what you all call it here." Arachne shrugged.

Artemis frowned, but Chiron followed up. "Percy, can you back up what she says?"

"Yeah? I an, it was weird. She just ca over and started getting in Arachne's face. Arachne just ignored her, and we were going to go fishing, and she got mad and shot an arrow at for so reason. If Arachne didn't catch it, it would have hit right in the eye like that." Percy explained.

"Yet my huntress is hard." Artemis didn't back down. "I demand punishnt."

"Yer dumb hunter was the one at fault." Arachne shot back before Chiron had the chance to interject.

Artemis's eyes narrowed. "You dare speak to like that, mortal?"

"Lady Artemis, she's out of line, but she's not wrong." Chiron tried to placate her. "Your huntress was the one at fault; she suffered the sa fate she nearly brought upon Percy."

"It does not matter; my huntress is hard, and I demand satisfaction. As punishnt, she will be one of my hunters forevermore." Artemis said it simply, as if it were a foregone conclusion.

For Artemis, it was a quick and easy way to get what she wanted. At the end of the day, gods weren't considerate; they weren't understanding. It didn't matter that one of her hunters started things and was at fault. The facts to her were that her huntress was hard, and thus she was the one wronged.

"A would sooner kill every one of yer stupid hunters." Arachne delivered without an ounce of hesitation.

The surroundings went cold as Artemis's anger beca apparent. She didn't shout or scream, but simply her gaze was enough to make any bystanders start to back off.

The Goddess of the Hunt raised her finger, but before anything could happen, she paused.

"Artemis."

"Athena."

The two goddesses t one another; Athena stood at Arachne's side.

"Your daughter needs to be taught a lesson." The Goddess of the Hunt frowned.

"I believe I should be saying that about your hunters? Should we ask our uncle what he thinks about what happened to his son?" Athena asked.

Though, truthfully, Poseidon was watching everything unfold right now, as was everyone else.

The only reason Poseidon wasn't down there throwing his own weight around was because his son wasn't actually hurt.

Gods were precarious.

Fault, justice, right, and wrong weren't decided by humans; they were decided by the gods own interests being challenged.

"She will beco one of my hunters as punishnt."

Athena didn't react. "You know the rules; they have to agree."

Artemis frowned. "Why are you defending her? Since when do you care so much about your children?"

"I'm simply following the rules."

Artemis twitched slightly; she didn't want to get into an argunt with Athena; she knew that such a thing was a losing battle.

"No wonder everyone hates you Greeks." Arachne had had enough, scoffing in annoyance.

Both Artemis and Athena looked at Arachne in disbelief. Chiron, too, nearly wanted to facepalm because he thought the tension was starting to fade, and now it was amplified once again.

"What? Did ya not know how everyone avoids you lot?" Arachne rolled her eyes.

Chiron wished she would stop speaking, as she was just digging her hole even further.

"Her arrogance and contempt towards the gods is more than enough to give a punishnt." Artemis seethed very openly. "Perhaps I can't force her into being one of my hunters, but a punishnt she will still receive." Her divine power crew. "I curse you; thy spear, which thee holds so much pride in, thy hands will now be bound, unable to wield it."

Arachne felt sothing sweep over her, and she recognized a curse when she saw it.

Athena didn't stop her; she didn't have the ground to stop her. Despite wanting to win her daughter over, she also knew her daughter had insulted Artemis openly as well.

Arachne furrowed her brow as she felt sothing strange, and with spear in hand, her hands unnaturally clasped together, forcing her to drop her spear.

As soon as her spear was out of her hands, it was like the invisible force disappeared.

She reached down to pick it up, but as soon as she touched the spear, her hands were once more invisibly bound. While she could technically hold the spear, it was impossible to actually wield it like so.

Athena sighed in her heart. "Daughter, perhaps this shall be a proper lesson to you on how to behave to show proper respect to the gods."

Artemis looked very pleased with herself as well. It wasn't what she actually wanted, but seeing the girl getting humbled soothed her bruised pride just ever so slightly.

Chiron was just glad that it didn't escalate further.

Arachne, though, she ignored them for the most part, looking at the spear in her hand and not being able to properly hold it. It made her…annoyed.

However, she didn't get angry.

Under the watchful gaze of everyone, her hands suddenly got enveloped in a blackish hue.

Artemis's eyes widened in disbelief, as did Athena's as Arachne tore the curse apart. She spun her spear in her hand and slamd it against the ground, looking right back at Artemis.

"....."

Silence perated the surroundings. Chiron, Athena, and Artemis all sort of just stared in disbelief at what just happened.

"What did you do…?!" Artemis was taken off guard. Despite everything, perhaps it wasn't overly surprising that she managed to destroy the curse. Artemis was aware of a certain spear that she wielded; perhaps that could have done sothing. But instead, she tore it apart through another thod.

"Daughter… How did you…destroy that curse? It was bestowed by a god; it should not have been so easily removed." Athena specifically used the word 'destroyed' because she could see what happened. It wasn't removed, magically dispelled, or even sidestepped.

It was very plainly destroyed.

Arachne rubbed her wrists and rely scoffed. "What? A just used my bloodline ability."

"I have no such ability!" Athena quickly rebuked.

"What? Of course not, it's from da's bloodline." Arachne spoke as if it were obvious.

"Wilhelm was a human." Athena responded.

"Why does everyone think that?" Arachne was at a loss for words. She reached up and pushed up her bangs, showing off her little horns. "Does this look human to ya?" Everyone stared at her tiny horns, barely more than knubs on her forehead, not even visible unless her hair was moved out of the way.

"...why, do you have horns?" For one of the rare tis in her life, Athena was completely and utterly confused.

Arachne blinked. "Because I'm a half-devil, are ya stupid?"

[Line Break]

A/N

The veiled woman was also a victim of the assassination attempt, if that wasn't clear.

Ciel despises Magi only a bit less than Dead Apostles. She's not faithful to the Church at all, she uses Magecraft blatantly when needed.

If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support , visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.m.c.o.m / astoryforone

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We also have two more Arachne chapters up after here, and the next Distorted Reflections if you're interested.

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