VALKYRIE SMASH

A loud bang resounded following the closure of a large double gate. Standing in front of it was a young woman with long lime green hair, her head lowered as she clenched her fists letting anger slowly take over her.

"Haaa~ now that was interesting!!!"

The cheerful exclamation of the clown by her side was like a jab to her stomach.

"Pheme, I am not in the mood for your shenanigans."

Sensing the hostility in the air, the other Olympians quickly dispersed, not wanting to deal with the headache.

"I do not care!" Pheme replies as she twirles on the tips of her feet. After a moment she came to a stop and turned to Artemis, grinning from ear to ear. "What made you think Atropos would just stand there and let you kill her sister?"

Artemis gritted her teeth.

"That wasn't Lachesis." She said. "You were there when we cremated her body."

"Well she could use the artifact, Right? And besides, do you think Atropos would take the hit for a fake?"

Obviously, Artemis herself didn't believe that. Until the arrow pierced the heart of her ally, she didn't have a single doubt about the enemy being a fake.

"Well, this isn't the first time your ideals blew up in your face, isn't it?" Pheme went on, rubbing salt on the freshly reopened wound. "You lost a lot of your subordinates, your brother and almost got yourself killed. All because you wanted to preserve the enemies' chastity."

"You think I care what you or anyone else think?"

"No no, don't get me wrong! I'm actually impressed by your dedication." Pheme shrugged. "To think you would still act the same after what happened with that Pendragon brat. Oh! Wasn't that battle the one where Lachesis died? What a coincidence! Well, at the very least you weren't the one who killed her."

Artemis summoned her halo and vanished. It was the only choice she had with the anger boiling inside her, otherwise she would've done something she would regret if Pheme continued poking her.

The Nephilim world was infested by the Fallen forcing her allies to retreat before retrieving the Key. Zeus didn't seem to care as much about it as he did about Atropos' death and because of that she earned not only his scrutiny but that of the other faction leaders. Even with most of her people banished to Fallen Worlds, the raven haired stubborn woman was still a powerful warrior that had the respect of many and had quite a bit of influence.

'Those Nephilim…'

From the very start, the campaign itself was quite suspicious, which is why it was given to Atropos. It wasn't that often that one comes across an already destroyed world that has yet to be infested with Madness. Even the humans from the lowest of lower realms would find a way to keep them far from extinction so if one wants to harvest Aether for the ritual then it has to be deliberate. Wiping out the vast majority of the dimension's sentient species without attempting to hold the Ritual…

'Was it a trap after all…?'

The huntress wasn't the first to reach that conclusion, however just like the others she had no clue on who set it up. Perseus, the one who first discovered the world, was now dead and with him went the secret of how he did it. Looking at the circumstances behind his death makes it clear that he was silenced by someone, most likely whoever guided him to that world in the first place.

"Welcome back, milady."

Snapping back to reality, Artemis realized that she had been standing in the garden at the center of her castle for quite a while after teleporting there.

"Atlanta…" glancing behind her, she let out a long sigh and then smiled weakly. "I'm back."

Standing behind her was a woman dressed in a black and white maid uniform. Seeing her one would think she's one of the many servants tending to the castle, however the truth was that she was a high ranking officer tasked with running Artemis' domain while she was away, which made her hobby of dressing in maid uniforms sound quite weird.

As the two made their way inside Artemis began with the obvious question.

"Did something happen while I'm gone?"

Atlanta was silent for a few seconds which was in itself an answer.

"Some of the apprentices… aren't so happy about the new recruit." She heaved a sigh and then continued. "The councilors are asking for the Scissors to be confiscated from him as well."

"Karim, huh…"

Artemis immediately understood who she was referring to and could only grit her teeth at his mention. With both Atropos and Apollo gone what remained of their Forces was absorbed into hers, leaving her responsible for everything that happened in the Nephilim world. One of those responsibilities was a human survivor from that world. The boy showed great potential, having mastered the Runes for flight and teleportation as well as spatial distortions and black hole creation. He also managed to survive against the brainwashed Nephilim queen despite having no combat experience and that alone earned him an audience with Zeus who accepted him among their ranks and put him in Artemis' care.

The problem was, not everyone liked the boy. He betrayed his own people to join the other side, and he used the chaos created by the Fallen invasion to steal Atropos' artifact, something that left a very bad taste in Artemis' mouth.

"Forget about him." She said eventually. "My concern is those so called Nephilim."

According to the intelligence gathered by Perseus the Nephilim had two worlds under their control, the second being where they first met Lachesis' clone. Right after the Ritual concluded, the enemy used the portal in the palace to summon reinforcements from the second world and presumably escaped through it taking the Key with them.

"Unfortunately, Zeus has ordered us to leave them be for the time being."

Artemis could only sigh, rubbing her temples as she recalled the conclusion of their meeting. With the enemy having Lachesis' Needle they're able to peek at the Tapestry of Fate, giving them the advantage in a defensive battle. They had proven themselves to be much more capable for a mere lower realm, and with how many wars Zeus was waging simultaneously, the majority agreed to leave them be for the time being.

"I have no choice but to wait…"

Having experienced such a humiliating loss Artemis was rearing to go and get her revenge, but with clear orders to stand down she had no choice but to restrain her anger and wait. Unfortunately, the harder she tried to do so the more difficult it became. The dread of the sabertooth staring down at her was still fresh in her mind, keeping her awake at night. It was a humbling experience, forcing her to remember that no matter how high the realm she belonged to was, there were still some out there capable of dragging them through the mud.

'Just you wait…' she thought, a faint glint in her eyes. 'I will definitely hunt you…'