I think it's time to start getting to the climax of this part; both Dante's and Libra's stories, since they're both "heroes," you already know how this will end.
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I was walking to a place full of branches and plants; the heat was awful, and my whole suit was soaked with sweat. It was as if Apollo knew I was hiding, and he was, and that's how he was trying to drag me out of my hiding place. Thank goodness for Demeter and Gaia, who neutralized the heat a bit, or else everything would have dried out.
"It's so hot, isn't it, my beautiful lady," said my stalker, or rather, Orion, son of Poseidon. I don't know what's wrong with Poseidon's sons; they're all crazy about women, just like their father.
After that incident, I went back to the village, which I stumbled upon while looking for something to earn some money. He complained that I hadn't waited for him and hadn't stayed to witness his glory, his fighting prowess, and his showmanship; he didn't say it exactly like that, but that's what I gathered he meant.
I decided to ignore him and go on with my life, but I am not convinced that was the best option since he started following me.
"How long are you going to keep following me?" I asked apathetically, without breaking stride.
"It is a knight's duty to protect a beautiful lady from danger," he declared proudly.
"Didn't you say I was a hunter? When did you become a knight?" I said listlessly; in this heat, I didn't feel like getting angry with this guy.
"You're right, I am a hunter, the best in the world, only when there are beasts and monsters around, but when I see a beautiful lady, I become a knight," he said with complete confidence.
"You've never seen my face. Maybe I'm not beautiful, maybe I'm ugly, maybe I'm a freak or something worse, maybe I'm a monster," I said, turning to look him in the eyes.
"I don't think so," Orion said.
"So?" I asked doubtfully. "How do you know?"
"Intuition," he said with a smile.
I just rolled my eyes, turned around, and continued on my way to the next city, without this hunk of muscle and zero brain following me around.
...
While sipping on a non-alcoholic drink, since I have the same problem as my father, I looked around.
No one was coming near our spot, and I knew why.
"This drink is pretty good, but the one at home is better," said the giant who isn't really a giant.
"And here I was thinking of working as a mercenary, but I guess that's not going to work out," I declared.
"Hmm, and why is that?" he asked curiously.
"Because of you," I said, pointing at him. "You follow me around and intimidate people; I don't know what we look like together, a dwarf and a giant, what a funny and sad combination," I complained, throwing the glass to the ground and breaking it.
(Note: Orion is 8 feet 9 inches tall and 5 feet 5 inches tall).
Now I regret it; I'm going to have to pay for the glass.
Orion stared at me as if nothing I said affected him.
"Hey, why are you covering one eye with a cloth? Are you missing an eye?" he asked innocently.
"Because if I saw you with both eyes covered, I'd turn you to stone," I explained.
"Really?" he said, sounding a little excited.
"No," I replied curtly.
This is all thanks to Apollo, since his false prophecy says he has to defeat a woman with one red eye and one blue eye. I cover my red eye because I hardly know anyone with that characteristic other than my brothers and my own father.
"Now that I think about it, you've never told me your name; I was going to say something to you, but I remembered that detail," he said after taking another sip of his drink.
"You don't deserve to know my name, especially with your caveman-like hunting style," I said, mocking him.
"What are you talking about?" he said indignantly, slamming his fists on the table, breaking it. "That's the best way to hunt; brute force rules over all those dangerous beasts."
"I think your neck muscles are blocking blood from reaching your head, which is why you can't think. The best way to hunt is with precision and finesse," I declared, as my mother, Artemis, taught me.
"You don't deserve to know my name, especially with your caveman-like hunting style."
"That's how I learned it." "I bet I can hunt more beasts than you in a day," he said with a confident smile.
"Oh," I said, crossing my arms and legs to look at him with a superior air, "you're challenging me."
"It's not a statement," he replied.
"Well, let's see if that's true, so-called better hunter," I remarked, still staring.
"Who's going to pay for all the damage they've done?" the owner of the place said, glaring at us.
We both stood there silently, unsure what to do, as if moving would bring about a horrible and painful death.
...
"Fifty beasts hunted," Orion said proudly, but there was a problem. I had also hunted fifty.
"A tie, how boring," I declared unenthusiastically.
For a day, we hunted almost every beast, animal, or monster in the forest. We only spared the sacred animals.
In fact, most ordinary animals are sacred to a god, whether it's the eagle, the turkey, the dog, the deer, doves, and so on. I even saved Orion, who almost killed a bear; I saved him from being turned into a cockroach by my mother.
"Then I think I win," the son of Poseidon said simply.
"And why do you think that?" I asked him doubtfully.
"Because I'm stronger," he said, flexing his muscles.
"That doesn't make sense; besides, I could easily be stronger than you." I declared something Orion didn't take seriously.
"Just because you're good with a bow doesn't mean you're stronger than me," Orion said simply.
"Want to find out?" I challenged.
...
Right now we're in the desert, far from anyone or anything that might bother us, though the sweat is pouring off my body. I'm dying to finish this and take a shower.
He loosened his suit a bit to let some air in, not to mention it was all wet and didn't fit well.
At that moment, Orion arrived with an almost cubic rock, which would serve as the tabletop.
"Here it is. I couldn't find any rock that looked like a table, so I had to make one," he explained, justifying his delay. "So, what are we going to do?"
"An arm wrestling match, something my father taught me a long time ago," I said, rolling up my sleeve and showing my skin. "We'll face each other, and we'll place our elbows on the rocks and hold hands; we'll use our strength, and if one of our torsos touches the rock, they lose."
"That sounds interesting; I like it," he said, placing his elbow on the rocks and getting comfortable.
"You can't lean on anything," I warned him, doing the same.
We both held hands as if greeting each other and stared intently.
"On the count of three, we begin," to which he nodded. "One, two, three."
With that, I started to exert force, and he did the same.
I immediately realized that this guy wasn't just talking nonsense; he was strong, strong enough to make me push myself.
I never dedicated myself to training my strength or muscles, since I didn't want to end up like this guy, but now I regret not having trained a little more.
Seeing that he was starting to gain the upper hand, I had to use my secret weapon: Haki.
Orion's eyes widened as he saw the increase in my strength, enough to start overtaking him, so he began to use all his power.
I did the same, using everything I had to beat him.
The stone I had brought was already cracking and about to break.
We were both in the heat, sweating and breathing heavily; neither of us spoke, since doing so drains energy.
I started using my body weight to gain the upper hand, something my opponent also began to do.
We were almost evenly matched, but I could lose; I was capable of losing against my father or my mother Artemis, but not against someone I barely knew.
So I eased up a little and, by decreasing my force, made him almost lose, something that surprised Orion, causing him to lower his guard. With all the strength and acceleration I could muster, I slashed and pulled my opponent's wrist, sending him crashing against his side of the stone, giving me the victory.
"Yes, in your face, loser," I declared, pointing at him.
Orion stared at the rock and the completely shattered ground beside his torso, his hand lying on the floor, a trickle of blood dripping from it.
I started dancing, ignoring him, since all that mattered to me was winning, period.
Suddenly, I realized something was casting a shadow on me, only to see Orion standing right in front of me.
I didn't know what it was going to be, since he'd lost; maybe he'd go crazy, something that always happens to guys like him, so I got ready.
He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me closer. I didn't sense any malice or anything like that, but it made me uncomfortable. I was going to complain so he'd let go, but the words he said froze me to the spot.
"LET'S GET MARRIED," I declare with a shout to the four winds.
"What?!" I yelled back.
"Marry me. You're an incredible woman, a great hunter on my level, and incredibly strong, plus you have an enviable body; you're perfect to be my wife," he said confidently.
My mouth hung open, which he didn't see because of the suit, but I was in shock.
I had to escape and get rid of this guy.
"Look, what's that?" I said, pointing behind him.
"Where?" he asked, turning around.
At that moment, I was going to run as fast as I could, but as he turned, he hit me on the head with a sledgehammer, knocking me to the ground.
"Oh, sorry, I hurt you—" He didn't say anything else, because the blow, combined with the sweat and the fact that the suit had loosened, caused my head covering to fly off, revealing my black hair and face. "I knew you were beautiful."
I just stared at the sky, more specifically at the sun, in a panic. The moment I looked up, I felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
I quickly stood up and, before Orion could react, I punched him, sending him flying. Then I leaped back a great distance.
A beam of light fell between us, destroying everything it touched and creating a large crater, but neither of us was harmed by it.
"What happened?" Poseidon's son said, astonished, rubbing his face where I'd hit him.
I couldn't answer him, as several disparate shots, which I could see were arrows, were coming my way.
I had no choice but to run and dodge everything I could.
Thanks to Haki and the eye of the ancient Egyptian god, I was able to see and dodge everything that was thrown at me.
I had to escape from there as quickly as possible, but a row of arrows blocked my path.
"Well, look who we have here, a little demigoddess who thinks she can escape the great sun god," I heard the guy's voice say.
(Note: Even though Dante isn't considered a god, Artemis is considered his mother by right, hence the demigoddess designation.)
"Damn it, you knew I'd be around here." I turned around to see Apollo in all his glory, soaring through the air.
"That's right, I received the prophecy that I would finally find you these days after you'd been running away for so long, which is why I increased the intensity of the sun on Earth," he declared proudly.
With that, he summoned a bow; he began to play it, and arrows rained down around him.
I just watched, annoyed.
The god's attack was frenzied, giving me no respite to breathe or aim my bow.
The god's gaze was fixed on me, so he didn't see Orion appear behind him and send him crashing to the ground with his mace.
This gave me time to summon my bow and get into position for battle.
Apollo rose from the ground, appearing unharmed, though a trace of ichor trickled down his arm, just a bit of dust and dirt.
"You dared lay a hand on a god?" he demanded angrily.
"And you dare attack my future wife?" he retorted.
At this, Apollo looked at me as if he wanted me to confirm what he'd said.
I made the sign of the cross with my hands, showing my refusal.
"You smell a bit of the sea; you're Poseidon's son; well, I think I'll have to beat you up first before I can go back to the brat," declared the god, ready for battle.
"So be it. I'll teach you a lesson so you never touch a damsel again in your life," said Orion, launching himself into hand-to-hand combat.
I watched as the demigod began to be beaten; however strong he was, he was facing a god, not to mention that Orion was used to fighting creatures of very low intelligence.
I had the opportunity to escape and disappear from Apollo's sight again, but I couldn't leave the idiot alone with him.
I quickly ran to where he was, and, using Haki along with the power of the bracelets, I punched him, sending him flying into a mountain.
"You came to help me," Orion commented cheerfully as he wiped the blood from his face.
"If I left you alone with him, I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully tonight," I replied.
This giant may be annoying, but he's not a bad person; he doesn't deserve to be abandoned when he's trying to help me.
"You know," Apollo said, walking toward us, his split lip visible. "I can ignore this blatant insult to me if you get rid of that woman by your side. And while you're at it, I'll give you fortune and glory; you'll have money and women galore. What do you say?"
"No thanks, I'm not interested," he said simply; I was somewhat surprised, since I know few people who wouldn't accept something like that.
"I see," the god said as he spat ichor from his mouth, summoning his bow and beginning to fire arrows in all directions.
If we were going to fight seriously, then this time I wouldn't hold back, and with that, using the power of the bracelets that emerged from my arms, I blocked all the god's shots aimed at us both.
"Wow, awesome," Orion declared upon seeing what I did.
I didn't stop there; striking the rings, I launched them toward the god, who blocked them one by one.
"Not bad; if I weren't a god, this attack might have been more effective," he said, quickly summoning a bow, kneeling, and firing an arrow imbued with the god's divine power.
We both leaped away from our position, dodging the attack, which exploded in a massive dome of heat energy.
The god didn't stop there; he kept firing, so I decided to counter.
Using the bow's magical power and Haki to predict the timing of each arrow's appearance, I drew the bow and fired without any ammunition on hand. The arrows appeared mid-air and were fired in multiple locations, destroying the god's attacks before they reached me.
This is the bow's great ability: to distort reality itself. Thanks to the bone of an interdimensional being used as the bowstring, it can generate arrows from various positions on the battlefield. It can even create a single, unblockable arrow, one that can't be blocked by anything in the world. But that consumes too much magical energy, which is why I don't use it.
Apollo clicked his tongue to dodge an attack from Orion's sword.
"It's my turn," the demigod declared, drawing back his bow, using his mace as an arrow, and firing.
The god didn't have an opportunity to dodge, so he blocked it with his own bow, sending it flying several meters back.
I could see Apollo's expression; he was struggling to block Orion's attack at such close range. With a flick of his wrist, I seized the opportunity to retrieve the bracelets I had thrown to the god earlier.
Once the force of the attack dissipated, Apollo leaped into the air, landing on a completely red bowstring, as if he were the sun itself.
(Note: Doflamingo style)
In his hand, he summoned a spear and began drawing it back on the string, aiming it at Orion.
Using the bracelets as a springboard, I positioned myself a good distance from the god, and with a punch in the air, I launched five bracelets from my arm, imbued with Haki, at him.
He couldn't dodge them in his current position, so he quickly fired an arrow, but it missed its target, passing right by Orion without harming him.
I leaped to dodge my attacks and landed not far from Orion. He took advantage of this to pick up his mace and attack the god.
I propelled myself forward again and landed behind the god, ready to attack.
Orion and I began attacking him relentlessly, giving him no time to breathe. One attack to the god's right and the other to his left.
At one point, the god lowered his guard, allowing me to knee him in the nose, sending him reeling backward. But with incredible coordination, Orion and I landed a punch on Apollo, which he barely managed to block, sending him flying and destroying everything in his path, including a massive boulder the size of a giant.
We were both exhausted; we were both severely dehydrated, not to mention we were already tired before the fight.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," we heard the god's laughter in the distance, which made us tense up. "I wasn't expecting this at all, but I admit you put up a good fight."
At that moment, in the distance, an explosion and a dome of energy, like a sun, disintegrated everything within a two-kilometer radius.
We were both far away, but we felt the intensity of the heat from our distance.
Shortly after, Apollo was seen slowly levitating into the sky.
His face was bruised and covered in ichor; his arms were in no better shape. His expression was a mixture of pure hatred and amusement.
"Very amusing, but this ends now," he said, now serious; he held out his hand as if displaying a valuable object, only for a small, miniature sun to form.
From my position, I could feel the magical and divine power of that sun.
"I don't like where this is going," Orion commented, to which I simply nodded.
"With this attack, I will disintegrate everything: you two, this desert, this island, everything; nothing will remain to be remembered, as long as I am rid of you," the god spoke with certainty.
The tension in the air was almost hypnotic.
Just as Apollo opened his mouth, something slammed into him, slamming him to the ground.
Once the smoke cleared, I looked to see who had arrived and was shocked.
Above the god, standing on him like he was a rug, was Dante, my father, holding the Buster Sword over his shoulder.
"What's up, Apollo? Long time no see," he said with a smile.
"Youuuu," Apollo roared furiously upon seeing him.
My father simply jumped off the disc and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying a few feet.
"I can tolerate you sending men to kill my daughter with your bullshit prophecies, but I can't tolerate you coming here yourself and trying to kill her," he said in a voice that chilled me to the bone.
"You bastard, you can't do anything to me. What would my sister say?" the god spat out with hatred.
"She gave me permission to beat you to a pulp, so why do you think I took so long to get here? Besides, I can't kill you, but I can certainly beat you to death; that'll only cause me some trouble," Dante remarked, twirling his sword.
The god lunged at Dante with force, but Dante simply dodged and sent him sprawling to the ground with a single blow to the head.
Once he was back on his feet, my father raised his sword, and a thick aura surged out, engulfing the entire area and crackling with red lightning.
It was the first time I'd seen it, but I recognized it immediately: Conqueror's Haki.
The Buster Sword became imbued with both Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Apollo asked, still on the ground, his voice filled with both hatred and fear.
"A hero, but only to the people I care about," he replied, lowering his sword against the god.
"A hero, but only to those I care about," and with that, he brought his sword down on the god.
This made the ground tremble and generated a huge amount of wind and smoke.
Orion and I didn't know what to do and covered our eyes because of all the dust and sand that started flying around us.
Once it was all over, we both looked up, and our eyes widened.
In front of my father was a huge precipice, the bottom of which was invisible, as was its end.
"What a shame, he escaped at the last minute," my father said, turning to face us. "How are you, daughter? It's been so long," he said with a smile and a wave of his hand.