The wind swept cold across the mortal realm, rustling through dense woods cloaked in night. The stars shimmered above, a perfect canvas for the divine twins moving silently below them.
Apollo strode across a ridge, golden bow slung across his back, his footsteps making no sound against the stone. Beside him moved Artemis, twin blades glinting faintly in the moonlight. Her silver eyes scanned the darkness like a predator seeking prey.
"Still no trace?" Apollo asked, annoyed.
Artemis crouched beside a gnarled tree, her fingers brushing the bark. "There was a portal opened here," she said. "Not long ago. Likely when Leonidas took the girls away."
Apollo's eyes narrowed. "Then we're close."
Artemis rose. "If we find Nyx or Medusa, we can draw the Fallen King into the open."
They pressed onward, deeper into the wild. The forest thickened, the energy grew… heavier.
Then it happened.
Apollo suddenly paused mid-step. His golden eyes twitched. "Do you feel that?" he whispered.
A pressure. Cold. Sharp. Divine.
Artemis turned around slowly.
The trees bent unnaturally. Shadows twisted. The wind stopped.
Then came the voice.
"I should've known you'd come looking."
It echoed from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
A swirl of gold, black, and white energy erupted in front of them. In a flash of crackling red lightning—Megumi Valentine appeared, hovering inches above the ground, his divine aura rippling around him.
His wings—one angelic white, one black as night—stretched outward behind him. The halo above his head shimmered like a crown on fire.
Apollo instinctively drew his bow.
Artemis unsheathed her blades.
"You shouldn't be here," Megumi said coldly. "And you shouldn't be near them."
Apollo sneered. "You're protecting monsters."
Megumi's gaze burned into him. "You're calling them monsters… when you're hunting them for merely existing."
Artemis stepped forward, trying to find calm. "They're a threat to Olympus."
Megumi's voice turned sharp. "So was I, wasn't I? When I did nothing but love someone."
The moment cracked like glass.
Apollo loosed an arrow.
It blazed like the sun.
Megumi vanished.
He reappeared behind Apollo mid-flight, caught the arrow with two fingers, and snapped it.
Apollo spun—too late.
Megumi drove his fist into Apollo's chest, sending him crashing into a rock formation, splitting it in half with a thunderous shockwave.
Artemis rushed him, twin blades moving like silver lightning.
Megumi met her blades with his forearms, sparks flying. They clashed in a blur of motion, divine energy lashing through the trees and sky.
Artemis flipped over him, landing behind—and Megumi swept his arm back, sending a shockwave of red lightning in her direction. She dodged, barely, but her footing cracked beneath her.
Then Apollo returned, golden aura burning bright.
He summoned the Solar Spear, thrusting it toward Megumi's back.
Without looking, Megumi reached behind and grabbed it mid-lunge.
The entire forest trembled.
Megumi turned, eyes burning gold.
"I told you," he said slowly, "stay away from them."
And with a surge of unfiltered divine power, he shattered the Solar Spear and exploded outward in a wave of force so violent it uprooted the trees and cracked the sky.
Apollo and Artemis were sent flying—crashing into the ground yards away, stunned.
Megumi stood amidst the wreckage, his aura swirling around him, cloaked in fury and judgment.
He looked at them both.
"If you come near them again…" he whispered, voice resonating like thunder, "…I will do more than defend."
He vanished in a flash of red lightning, the wind howling in his wake.
Apollo and Artemis lay in silence, bruised and breathless.
Artemis touched her ribs and winced. "He's stronger than we thought."
Apollo stared at the scorched earth around them.
"No," he whispered. "He's worse."