Diana's P.O.V
Looks like I have officially become a hunter that Artemis had wanted. Perhaps it's been a long time since Artemis waited for someone like me.
"Now rest, hunter Diana." Artemis said. "Rest by my side until you've recovered."
I nodded and my body went limp as I rest for the night.
For once in quite a long time, I actually have dreams. This time, it's about a boy sneaking up on Olympus, and the Gods are having this conversation. I can actually see myself sleeping on Artemis' throne as Artemis is in the form of a 30 feet tall goddess. This boy just took Aphrodite's Dove and Athena's Owl, which is the two symbol of powers for both goddesses. He made it back to Camp Half-Blood before anyone notices.
My dream followed him to Camp Half-Blood. As I took a closer look it turns out it's one of the people I knew, Jason Standler. He was in a quest while I had to rescue his group so he could resume his quest. I can't believe he would do such a thing. This could start a civil war amongst the gods, and the results will be catastrophic if not stopped.
I woke up early in the morning, and I'm now in the middle of the woods. I still feel very weak and exhausted, and whenever I would try to move my body, pain will course throughout my whole body.
It was disappointing to see that I am in the middle of the woods. I guess Artemis wants to see if I can make it alive with my current condition.
Athena's P.O.V
I was back from Camp Jupiter, where the praetor Bella had sent more and more demigods to Mount Othrys since they broke more of the rules and I was surprised when I came back to Mount Olympus to find out my sacred symbol of power was missing. I asked Zeus for help.
I told Zeus what was the problem, and Zeus's expression turned grim.
Just then, Aphrodite came, and she was looking for her dove as well. Seeing that Aphrodite had lost her symbol of power too, I thought that one of her children might have taken the owl, but Aphrodite denies it.
But I have the intuition that Aphrodite's children weren't the prime suspect. Someone was here yesterday I can sense it, a hunter of Artemis. Diana, it has to be Diana. Then I and Aphrodite confronted Artemis.
"So, where is this Diana?" I asked. "We know that she had been by your side the whole night."
"Diana has been exhausted! She fainted while I'm watching her!"
"I don't really want to hear your excuse. She has 5 days to return my owl and Aphrodite's dove to us, or there will be war."
Diana's P.O.V
What's more frustrating than holding the sky is when after holding the sky, you're left in the middle of nowhere, and I have to find my way out of here.
I realized the forest is not too far from Camp Half-Blood, since this looks familiar, so I decided to take the path straight to Camp Half-Blood.
I stumbled a couple of times while walking, especially when my body hasn't recovered from my time holding the sky, which could take a couple of weeks at most.
I stumbled across camp, and the campers noticed me and welcomed me. It's been quite a while since I have visited this camp, and I really missed this camp.
"Welcome back, Diana." Chiron said, as he cantered slowly towards me. He is always delighted whenever I came here.
I looked around, and noticed that the camp has changed. There are more training grounds and archery ranges. The swimming pool is enlarged and there's this training course where your endurance will be tested.
I just decided to go to my cabin and when I am about to do so, Athena and Aphrodite appeared in front of me.
I was already tired from the sky, now I'm guessing that they wanted me to go on another quest.
"Diana Vasquez. You are hereby charged for stealing our symbol of power." Athena said.
My eyes widened. "But I never stole your symbol of power! This is a mistake! Someone is trying to frame me!"
"Oh, save your explanations, Diana!" Aphrodite said. "You will need it in Court." And just like that, Aphrodite and Athene grabbed my hands forcefully and we appeared at Olympus. Then the next thing I knew is that I'm at Olympus, being interrogated by Artemis herself. The Olympian Gods grew to 40 feet tall in order to intimidate me.
"Perhaps I shouldn't fell asleep while watching you." Artemis snarled at me, as she brought out the Hephaestian Cuffs. She knew that I would break out of the Celestial Bronze cuffs in no time so they decided Hephaestian Cuffs are the best bet to restrain me. I started writhing and struggling as Athena and Aphrodite tighten their grip on me. I writhed more as Artemis placed the Hephaestian Cuffs on me and put the chains all around my body so I cannot move or struggle.
"Milady, please! I would never steal any of the gods symbol of power." I pleaded.
"And how little choice you have left me since I let you stay here. That's why I kicked you out of Olympus, because you have stolen Athena's and Aphrodite's symbol of power."
I struggled with all my strength, but it really feels like I'm holding the sky again.
"Now, I must say whipping will be the best choice of punishment. Godly whipping, to be precise." Artemis said.
"Hmm... please elaborate, what does Godly Whipping mean?" Aphrodite asked.
"Where we grow 40 feet tall and the whips are made from hephaestian whips, and that will tore Diana's skin little by little. Other materials won't be effective since I knew that the only material that Diana is not able to break right now is the Hephaestian materials."
"Anyways Diana, since we're feeling generous, you can choose your punishment. You can either be whipped to death, clubbed to death, or fight me. That is, when I'm still in this form." Artemis said.
All of the options are impossible. If I am whipped, then I can risk dying, and the same as clubbing, and keep convincing them I'm innocent is not going to work. But wait.... I might tell them about the dream I just had!
"Artemis..... please listen. When I was asleep, I had a dream." I told them. "Jason Standler, he snook upon this throne to take both of your symbols of power." I gasped for a while, then continued. "He.... he took it to Camp Half-Blood."
For a while, none of the gods even commented.
"And why should we believe your story?" Athena asked.
"Because.... it's the truth." I told them. Some gods looked skeptical, while some gods are starting to believe my story.
The gods considering whether to punish me or not.
"Well, tell you what?" Artemis said. "We will let you go. But there's something else."
I stood and waited for Artemis to speak more.
"The demigods around the camp are sentenced to holding up the sky, and most of them don't want to. If you will take the beating for them, that would be great." Artemis said.
That's just ridiculous. Why would I take the beating for a person whose fault was theirs?
"And why should I? They're getting punished so they can learn their lessons." I told her.
"But... most demigods can't hold the sky for even an hour. We have 1 demigod died from the sky." Artemis said.
"But.... if I substitute them, can you make me not hold the sky again? Can you just whip me?" I pleaded with her.
Artemis seemed to consider this for a moment. "Sure." Artemis said, as she released me from the cuffs.
"And one more thing." I told Artemis. "If there's more demigods broke the rules, can you at least not send them to hold the sky? How about whipping from the gods?"
"Hmm.... That would be in my consideration list, yeah." Artemis said. "Anyways, I've got another quest for you. Can you go travel down the Camp Half-Blood's destroyed labyrinth? There's suspicious activity down there."
I smiled at her. "Alright!"
I was about to sprint away when Zeus said, "Wait Diana!"
I stopped and faced Zeus.
"Good lu-" Suddenly, Ares appeared on his throne, and his hair is apparently on fire, and he's angry about something. I quickly got down from Olympus so I won't be victim of one god's wrath. I continued down to Camp Half-Blood and to go to this destroyed Labyrinth that Artemis was talking about. It might be a labyrinth that was destroyed centuries ago. I looked for Zeus's fist, and I got down to the labyrinth. This isn't the labyrinth I used to know, and it's not really dark as I used to visit a few centuries ago. It could be because my body was glowing silver, since Artemis allowed me to keep the two silver gemstones and I have been integrating the gems inside me a couple of centuries ago.
Flashback
It's been 2 and a half weeks after I was used as a vessel to rejuvenate the mist back to the entire world. I kept the two gemstones with me and I seek to keep them within me permanently.
Fortunately, it's possible, but it involves me putting them inside my body, so I asked Artemis and Hecate to do it.
"Diana, are you sure you want to do this?" Artemis asked. "You will become more powerful, but the process.... it will be incredibly painful since it will involve drilling it into your insides."
I took a deep breath and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Yes, I want, Milady. besides, I will grow even stronger than ever."
"Alright, if that's what you want." Artemis said. "Now lay down."
I laid down, and she grabbed what looks like a hephaestian hooks and she grabbed my breast and tore my right breast open. I screamed as hard as I can as I tried to endure the excruciating pain of my breast being torn by the hooks and Artemis opened it wide enough to insert the silver gem deep enough into my breast and she proceeded to tore my left breast now. I screamed in extreme agony since it hurts so much. Artemis was right, the process will be incredibly painful, but this is the point of no return and I have to keep going ot else this will only be a waste of time.
The process took 3 hours, because Artemis needs to apply extremely large force to tore my flesh and skin open, and Artemis did succeeded inserted the two silver gems inside my system, and I could see that my breast is healing incredibly fast as of now.
I beamed. "Thanks, Artemis! I really appreciate this!"
Artemis smiled. "Anything for my most loyal hunter!"
End of Flashback
It was really a relief that I still have my powers enhanced as of now. I just realized that I have the power to summon and shoot moonbeams. It's really cool, but I decided not to use it until it's really needed, and I really need to use it right now. I shine the moonbeams emanated from my body to the room, and I continued to investigate. So far, nothing, but I know that there will be something around here soon or later, so I don't want to cease my search right now. There might be more gems distributed across the world as of now, but what I'm looking for is the silver gems, which increases my powers a hundred fold.
I continued to look around, and I saw something strange. It appears some of the Hephaestus campers were down here, but why? And how did they get down here in the first place?
I went there, and one of the Hephaestus campers spotted me, and he gasped. "D-Diana!"
"Yeah, it's me." I said, toning down my body's glow. "I'm just on a quest to investigate suspicious activity that has been going on here for centuries. So, can anyone tell me what's going on?"
"Ohh... it's Hephaestus's campers secret that we have underground forges in case the campers need to store something top secret."
I remember the campers made this battlesuit, but they're nowhere near effective to even touch me or deal damage to me.
I looked inside the door, and I noticed there's a blast door up above me. I ripped apart the blast steel door and opened the door and went up. This is... this is the Hephaestus Cabin! So, this is what happens when the Hephaestus campers went hiding! I guess not even Chiron knows about this. But at least I know this time.
Anyways, I walked out of Hephaestus' cabin and went outside and I was back at Camp Half-Blood. Just then, a conch horn blew, and we were called towards the campfire.
As soon as we arrived at the campfire, Chiron told us that there will be civil war amongst the gods. Chiron told the campers to just calm down, but, just like last time, campers are starting to take sides, and this time Artemis and Athena will be going on a war against Aphrodite and Ares.
"I will update you with the latest information. For now, that's it." Chiron said.
Just then, the Athena campers started crowding with me in order to get me to join them.
"Please, Diana! You will be a valuable ally! We need you!" Mark and the others started begging me.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go now." I said, before leaving the camp.
I ran my way towards the woods, and I saw a bunch of Nymphs.
"Diana! Oh thank the Gods you're here! Did you hear the latest civil war the Gods are going to plan?"
"Yeah. I hear they're going to plan a war. But.... I have to stay loyal to Milady. I will join her no matter what. I will try to convince Artemis to stop, but that's all I could do."
"Please do!" The nymphs said. "I don't want my beautiful home torn because of wars."
I saw the Hunters, and I reunited with the hunters. The Hunters are apparently preparing for war.
"Diana, you have returned." Artemis and the other hunters said.
"Yes, Milady." I told her.
"Anyways, we hunters are preparing for war. Diana, I have a special program to train you before the war." Artemis said. "Thalia, you will be in charge of the hunters for this time."
"Yes, Milady." Thalia said.
"Alright. Diana, follow me." Artemis said. She power sprinted as I followed her to an isolated area. I was following her with greater endurance and speed as I power sprinted along Artemis, to increase my endurance also.
It took me 14 hours in order to just follow Milady to this designated spot where Artemis chose, and I'm still running now. My heart is already beating very fast and I realized that Artemis is taking me to the Arctic Circle. As soon as I reached the Arctic Circle, I was incredibly exhausted. My legs are cramping, and my heart couldn't take it anymore. I guess I had discovered my new limit on endurance, and I'm going to boost my endurance if I'm going to survive on this war.
"Welcome to the borders of Alaska." Artemis said. "Here, I shall train you for 14 days. After 14 days, you will have 3 days of free time before the war begins. In this training, you will fight me, but I will be as big as 50 feet tall."
I frowned. I never fought Artemis as a 50 foot giant before. But I've fought her before, and it's incredibly hard, as I have to move faster and fight harder everytime since Artemis is not making this easy for me.
Anyways, I looked around, and it's winter now, which means it's cold around here, and temperatures can reach -60 degrees celsius, since this century is known as the Ice Age, and it's ice age is more severe than ever. I need to use magic to cancel the cold, but since I've got the two gemstones in my system, I was able to resist the cold even more, and my body glowed more silver than the other hunters naturally.
"Milady, why do you need war? We can just settle the problem just by punishing the people responsible!"
"Because, Diana, it's not easy to end wars with the God of War. If I ever caught you deserting the war..."
Hearing that I shivered and kneeled. "No Milady. I won't ever abandon your side, ever."
"Ok good. Now stand up. We need to start your training."
I stood up.
"Now, first of all, you need to sleep." Artemis said. "You are tired. You are no good to me when you're tired."
I nodded, and I find a nearby place as I lied down on the ice and fell asleep.
Dreams found me, and it was Ares. He was angry because someone had stolen his war chariot. He suspects that some demigods are jealous of him that they ended up stealing the war chariot. Ares suspects that it's one of Athena's kids, since they're one of the clever ones that can sneak up on Ares anytime and stole his war chariot.
Anyways, he's becoming out of control now, yelling to other gods and declaring war on Artemis and Athens because Artemis is supporting Athena. Meanwhile, Aphrodite, supports Ares just because she's his girlfriend.
Apparently, Ares had gained support. He now has Aphrodite, Dionysus, Poseidon, Hera, Hermes and Hephaestus, which means that there's 7 Gods supporting Ares compared to 5 on our side.
I felt this war is just pointless, and I am going to do my best to convince Milady so that the war won't ever start. I have to convince her, because I know I am holding to the last threads of my humanity, and if this war did ever start, I might let go of the last threads clinging me to humanity and becoming only Artemis' very loyal hunter my entire life, without a heart, without feelings, only numbness will be present inside my heart, and I can't let that happen. I will do anything Artemis says, but I cannot do the impossible. I shall keep all the remaining humanity that is within me. And if I ever have to put up in kill or be killed situations, I would have probably kill them so I would survive.
The scene changed to Thalia and the hunters.
"Diana! You here?" Thalia said through dream.
"Yes! I'm here! How's it going there, Thalia?"
"It's been hard! Milady instructed me to prepare the hunters for war, and guess what? We get dirty tricks in our sleeves and we should get the upperhand in the war."
"Well that's good, considering that we're like powerful hunters at hand. We should be able to take out the demigods with no problem."
"Yeah, but words came out that there's this demigod son of Ares who is very strong. He said he can take out the hunters of Artemis with ease." Thalia frowned.
"Then that boy has much to prove. I never saw him at Camp, so they could be lying about it."
"So much for a child of Ares. Intimidation is always the first step. Well we hunters don't get intimidated easily. Besides, we have a truly powerful weapon. You." Thalia smiled.
"Who? Me?"
"Yes. People knew what you did throughout the ages, and people knew how fierce you can be on the battlefield. Basically, we need a weapon that is so massive, so fierce and so relentless that its very presence frightens the enemy into submission. And we have such a weapon. You."
"Are you kidding?" I laughed at this. It has been about 50 years since the world of Demigods knew I existed to beat the elder monsters back to Tartarus, and they don't seem to stop coming back to the upper world, and so I decided to beat them over and over again until they get a clear message of what they should do: Avoid me or fade.
"No, I'm not kidding. You're the most powerful hunter on earth, Diana. You should be proud of yourself. You have feats other hunters cannot achieve. You even completed The Hunters Challenge a millenia ago, a challenge no other hunters can complete."
I smiled at that. It was a relief that I was able to accomplish what other hunters cannot.
"Anyways, I hope we will talk again. Good luck on your training with Artemis." Thalia said, and with that, the dream faded.
I woke up still on the ice, and I noticed my skin had gotten cold. I noticed Artemis is still with me.
"Get ready, Diana. Your training will start soon." Artemis said. "And... for your first training, it will be whipping."
My eyes widened. "Whipping, Milady?"
"Yes. In times of war, when you are captured or in the middle of a battlefield, pain is your worst enemy. Too much of it and you will crumble. Let's overcome that and increase your pain tolerance."
I sighed. "Alright."
"During pain tolerance training, you will be stripped naked, and tied to a tree or a ground or a rock and you will be whipped for 2 minutes continuously. As your pain tolerance increases, you will be more fit and tough enough to fight me."
I nodded. A price to pay to enter wars is that I have to be tough enough to withstand enough physical pain so I can push myself more and tolerate more pain as the training progresses.
"Now, you have 30 minutes to eat." Artemis said, as she waved her hand and a buffet of everything that I like to eat is there. My eyes widened as I ate as much and as fast as I can within 30 minutes. I ate about 40 pieces of beef sushis, 4 beefs weighing 12 ounces each and 10 burgers, and that's within 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes is up, the table of foods disappear with a wave of Artemis' hand. "Now, let's go to your first training."
I followed Artemis, and as I was lead to a forest, Artemis stripped me naked and held a pair of hephaestian ropes and use it to tie me to a tree with my face facing the tree. Then Artemis began to whip me harder and harder.
"Ugh!" I screamed as each whip struck my back. "Ugh!!! UGH!!!" It was getting unbearable each moment, and I really wanted to cry in pain, but I gritted my teeth and took the beating. I closed my eyes as I screamed in pain with each whip.
"UGH!!... UGH!!!!... UGH!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!! AGH!!!!" I screamed as Artemis stopped whipping. Then she grabbed my shoulders and turned me around.
"Looks like you need to work on your pain tolerance." Artemis said. "You're still not ready for the war."
"I'm sorry, Milady." I said, as I took a deep breath and exhaled, then my body returned to normal. "Now, let's do it again, Milady."
"Alright, Diana." Artemis said, as this time she uses carbon steel cables to whip me. She began to whip me as hard as she could but she ended up snapping the cables into two and I didn't feel a thing. Indeed my skin already evolves so much as to become extremely armored and is immune to any material other than the Hephaestian material. Unless, of course, my skin is moist or wet. She switches to Hephaestian whips again and this time she whipped me very fast.
"Ugh! Ugh!!! Ugh!!!!! UGH!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!" I yelled those as I were getting whipped. It's so very painful that it felt like my skin is tearing off. Artemis kept whipping me at a rate of 2 whips every second, and she whipped me for a long 5 minutes.
"AHH!!! G-GAH!!! HUH!!!! UGH!!!!! AGH!!!!!! GAH!!! UGNH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled as Artemis threw her last whip. This time I was able to handle the pain better since I managed to make less noise than last time.
"Nice Job Diana." Artemis said. "Now you're ready to fight me." Artemis said as she grew to 50 feet tall. My eyes widened. I wasn't told that I would be fighting Artemis right after I got whipped!
But I have no choice. I got ready in a fighting stance and shot a heavy arrow at her left knee. Surprisingly, Artemis dodges and she turned around to smack me with her right hand. I power shuffled backwards and simultaneously nocked 3 arrows at once at Artemis. Artemis managed to dodge 2 of them but one of them hit her the left side of her chest. I gritted my teeth to try to ignore the pain from the whips 1 minute ago. The whips still hurts like hell. I bet if I hadn't had to be whipped before fighting Artemis, then I would be alright. I gritted my teeth more in pain, and I was so focused in my pain that I hadn't noticed that Artemis had fired an arrow at me. I barely dodged, missing by millimeters and charged at Artemis, and since she's in the form of a giant, I have to power jump to get to her chest and stab her in the chest and power jumps away quickly. Artemis looked like she succumbed to pain, and she glared at me and charged at me. I waited, and as soon as she strike, I dodged, and simultaneously about to strike her ankle but Artemis anticipated the trick. She lifted up her legs just before I managed to land a strike and she brought her foot down on me while I'm lying face down. I was crushed by Artemis itself. This is probably the first time I've experienced how it feels to be crushed by a giant. It's extremely painful, and I screamed in pain before I managed to muster up enough torque to turn my body to facing up and started lifting Artemis's leg. I gritted my teeth since the pain is unbearable, but throught incredible amount of pain, I managed to lift Artemis's leg high enough and enough time for me to escape. I escaped, but Artemis shot an arrow aimed directly at my chest. I didn't have time to dodge as the arrow hit square in my chest. But the amazing thing is that I feel little pain and the arrow didn't even penetrate my skin. Apparently my armored skin was headed to the right direction of evolution. Artemis then grabbed me and pinned me against the ground with her hands.
"Too distracted out there, Diana!" Artemis chided. "Time for another session of whipping!"
Then Artemis continued to tie me to a rock with hephaestian rope, but this time I was facing Artemis. She brought out her hephaestian whip and started whipping me very hard and very fast from her 50 foot form.
"UGH!! AGH!!!!! GUH!!!!!!! AHH!!!! UGH!!!!!!!! UGHH!!!!!!!!" I screamed and gritted my teeth in order to try to ignore the pain, but the pain here is way too much to ignore. This is more like godly whipping, since each whip is so hard and my skin started coming off.
I gritted my teeth as hard as I can that I could feel my teeth were breaking, and my head's about to explode. But what's more painful is the whips I received on the front torso.
"AGH!!! AGH!!!!! UGH!!!!!!! UGHH!!!!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! HUH!!! HUH!!!!! HUH!!!!!!!!!" I continued to scream in pain as Artemis grabbed my shoulder and f'orcefully turned me around so I was facing away from Artemis.
She started her whipping very fast. "UGH!!! UGH!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!! AGH!!!! G-GAH!!!!!!! D-DDAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!" Her whipping gets more intense by the second, and I know I have to beat Artemis in a duel so I can escape from further whipping. But Artemis had been right. I need to work on my pain tolerance, since It's been so long that I've received pain this much, and my skin getting armored that my pain tolerance wasn't evolving. I noticed the parts that Artemis whipped me was bleeding. It's up to me to endure the immense whipping because after this I will be fighting against Artemis again.
"AGH AGH!! RAGH!!!! UGH!!!!! UGHH!!!!!! GGAH!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled as Artemis threw her last whip for now. In total, that was 10 minutes of continuous whipping, so I'm not sure how to describe how bloody my body had become.
Within nanoseconds, Artemis already told me to fight her again, with her form still at 50 feet. This time, I was more than determined to defeat her, because I know that if I do not defeat her now, I will be whipped again. I immediately lunged at her ankle, using all of my momentum to make her lose balance. Immense stress were put on my legs, ankles, and also on the tendons connecting to my ankle. I struggled with all my strength to push her, because clearly Artemis was using some kind of magic so it would be incredibly hard for me to even move her. It's also painful because of the wounds in my chest, torso and back and since the muscles are bulging, it made it hurt so much more, but I managed to grit my teeth and tolerate the pain. I managed to move her legs and make her lose her balance and she fell to the ground. I immediately got on top of her but at the same time, I am aware of the hands she moved in order to grab me, so I went through a couple of obstacles of her hands and at Artemis' third attempt, I decided to slash her hands, which bled golden ichor. Artemis screamed in pain as her other hand tried to smack me. I jumped up and once I landed on the ground, pain surged across my back and front. I cringed in pain as I saw some blood from the wound from the whip are closing but the blood keeps flowing. I looked at Artemis just in time to shuffle back as her gigantic hunting knife struck in front of me. I then grabbed her hand and using her hunting knife as a momentum, I power jumped and punched Artemis's throat. Artemis toppled on the ground and it seems that she smiled in satisfaction. Then as I saw, Artemis shrank back to her original size, about the same height as mine.
"Well done, Diana!" Artemis said. You have raised your pain tolerance a little. "Your next training will be in 10 minutes. Now get some rest."
10 minutes? She couldn't be joking? This is hell, I have to admit, but 10 minutes between trainings is just pure hell, and right now I am unable to cope with it. But after the end of my 14 days training, I will become a hunter that Artemis had been dreaming off since she had her first follower.
I rested for a while, and I could see blood from the whip wounds on my body flowing and they're definitely closing. I closed my eyes for a while, taking advantage of the time given by Artemis. I concentrated and tried to breathe deeply to reduce the pain in my body.
After 10 minutes, Artemis set me a course and I will run 150 miles in 3 hours. That's very hard, and it might become impossible when I have to be whipped first.
"Come here, Diana." Artemis said. "Whipping comes first, then the endurance and speed test."
As usual, Artemis tied me to between the trees, with me suspending in the middle of the trees with the Hephaestian ropes in place. I saw Artemis brought out her hephaestian whip and started whipping me very hard.
"AGH!!!! UGH!!! UGH!!! UGH!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!! OHH!!!! AHH!!!! UNMH!!!" I continued to scream after each whip thrown at me, Artemis whipped mostly my back first and the wounds that didn't get to cover up completely re-opened and it causes more pain. Artemis is using more and more power to whip me, and each time, my body was torn worse and worse, but my body will be made better, more armored than before, and I will be stronger. Artemis started whipping my limbs, starting from my arms, hands, legs, thigh, calf, knee, elbow, and others, and wounds started to open up in those areas.
I counted that was 1350 whips in 900 seconds, and after that, Artemis turned me back and started whipping me on the front side.
"UGH!!!! ARGH!!!! AHGH!!!! FUUUU!!!!! HUNH!!! UGH!!! UGH!!! UGH!!! UGH!!! UUGH!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled as Artemis threw her last whip on me, which is precisely on my shoulder. Then Artemis told me to run 150 miles in 3 hours. "Now remember! Every minute past the 3 hours mark is every minute I will whip you on your next training!"
"Y-yes.... M-M-Mi-lady!" I stuttered, as I began to stumble as I tried to run across Alaska. I watched as blood began to drip onto the ground, which comes from my own body, and I gritted in pain as I tried to switch in phase between Aerobic and Anaerobic. The blood keeps on coming out of my body, and I started to feel light headed. I decided to stop in the middle of the way to rest for a while to let my body heal.
It took 20 minutes, and even though my body wasn't fully healed, the bleeding had stopped, so I was fit to continue. I power sprinted across Alaska, and around the tracks Artemis told me to do. It was impossible to run 150 miles in 3 hours with the current pace I am in, but I have to do it or else I will be whipped more by Artemis.
I continued to run, and my wounds are threatening to open again. There's no way I am able to run 150 miles in 3 hours!
I looked at the wristwatch Artemis gave me earlier. It was already one and a half hour into the run, and I haven't reached 70 miles yet. I continued to run along the tracks and power sprinted along in order to make up for the lost time. My running speed reached 90 kilometers per hour, and I was hoping that I could reach the finish line before the 3 hour mark ends, and if I took longer than 3 hours, then every extra minute or hour will be an extra whipping added to my time.
My heart was beating incredibly fast. I took every deep breaths I managed to muster up and I let my breath go but I also ground my teeth while doing that so I could get the extra oxygen on my blood so I can go longer. I kept running, and sure enough, the wounds in my body are closing, and I was back running fine again.
I managed to get to the finish line, which is at the starting point, and I took 4 hours and 45 minutes, which means before my next training, I have to be whipped for 1 hour and 45 minutes continuously, which will be so much pain involved. But that's the punishment I have to face because I haven't met Artemis's standard.
Artemis appeared beside me. "Diana, that's not even my standard."
I bowed in shame.
"Now your next training will be strength training. But since you have taken so long in your sprinting, I have to whip you for 105 minutes straight."
I ground my teeth, and looked at my body. They already healed, but the scars were still there, and it took about 1-2 months for my body to heal completely without any scars.
Artemis led me to a rock and I was tied there with Hephaestian ropes. My back was facing Artemis as she whipped me more and more.
"UGH!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!! FUUUUUU!!!!!! AGH!!! GAHH!!!! UNGH!!!! IT!!!! HURTS!!!!! UGH!!!! AHH!!!!!!!!!" I continued to scream louder and louder as Artemis whipped me faster and harder.
"You will be a tough hunter, Diana!" Artemis said, as she threw another lash at my back.
"UGHH!!!!!! YES, MILADY!" I yelled.
"You will be a weapon!" Artemis kept throwing lashes at me.
"AGH!!! YES MILADY!!" I screamed.
"You will not fail me!" Artemis said, throwing her hephaestian whip at my shoulder.
"AHH!!! YES MILADY!" I screamed.
"Listen to my words, and you will become better than anyone else in the world. Do you hear me, Diana?" Artemis said, throwing more whips at my back, this time harder.
"UGH!!!!!!!!!!!" YES MILADY!" I yelled. I could feel I was being molded to a hunter that Artemis really sees me as, and it might be a journey through hell and back, but there's no really easy way around it.
After 1 hour and 45 minutes, my body was covered with wounds from the lashes and I wasn't in any position to do much training, but Artemis told me to do 1500 proper pushups with a life sized car placed on my back. It was very heavy, and blood coming out of my wounds everytime I strain my muscles quite a lot, but I managed to do all 1500 proper pushups in 45 minutes. As soon as that's done, I put the car in its place and fainted from exhaustion and blood loss.
I woke up, and what really looks like day, it's actually at night, but the sun is revolving around the earth 24 hours a day here, and it's what's it called by The Midnight Sun. Anyways, my wounds have healed and Artemis sat beside me.
"Hello Diana." Artemis said, actually rubbing my hands as she walked it up to my chest. I noticed that I was clothed again. "Now, did you see my purpose? Why I was whipping you?"
I was really skeptic about what I was going to say. My skin, flesh and bone always evolved, but they seem to be unable to evolve to resist the Hephaestian materials, but I could feel that my body is evolving very fast to become more armored and better. Other than that, I don't have anymore explanation.
"Umm.. I'm afraid not Milady." I said.
Artemis placed her hand on my shoulder. "The whipping is to make your system produce more blood. As you can see when I whipped you earlier, you lose blood, and you get drowsy quickly when you lose blood. Your body will be evolving to replace blood faster than before. That's one of the main goals. The secondary is your skin, flesh and bone becomes more armored."
So that's why Artemis whipped me before every training. She wants me to bleed, so she could see my body producing more blood as well as increasing the capacity of my body to be able to hold blood and that it very useful for my body, and that could allow my hibernation to remain longer, or if necessary, have enough energy to break from my prison underground or somewhere I might be captured.
"Diana, we should continue your training." Artemis said. "Now, to train your flexibility. In times of combat, you must have the flexibility to do acrobatic stuff, perform feats that other people cannot do, and move through tight spaces without getting hurt."
"Yes, Milady." I said.
"And since I am feeling generous now, you will not be whipped now."
I sighed. I thought I was getting whipped again.
"Here's how it's going to work. You will stand here, and just perform any sorts of acrobatics. I will judge you on how well you have done. If I am not satisfied, you will get whipped, and this time it will be painful."
"Yes, Milady."
"Alright Diana. Get ready.... GO!"
Then I start performing acrobatics, ranging from backward sit ups and putting my legs behind my head, and kicking behind until my legs reached my shoulder from behind, and I did more amazing feats of acrobatics involving flexibility. I just hoped that Artemis is satisfied with me. I continued to pull off moves that involves stretching myself to my limits, twisting my body from side to side with incredible contortions, and doing other movements that were beyond master acrobatics.
After that, Artemis clapped her hand. "Well done Diana! That was amazing! As I promised to you, you will not be whipped for now. But on the next training you will, because you're going to fight me again."
"Fight you again, Milady?" I asked.
"Yes, and this time I will not go easy on you Diana, so you better be prepared." Artemis said.
My body had evolved to do quite more since Artemis trained me today. I know that Artemis is pushing my evolution-on-going power to its extreme limits so I can become a formidable weapon.
After just 5 minutes of rest, Artemis told me that I will be fighting her after I am whipped for 40 minutes continuously. Artemis found a tree adjacent to another one and tied me in the middle of the tree after stripping me naked again. Then, Artemis began to throw her whip.
"AGH!!!! UGH!!!!! OOHHHHH!!!!!! UGH!!!!! UGH!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed as Artemis threw her whips at me.
"You will be our weapon, Diana!" Artemis said as she threw the whips at me.
"UGH!!! Yes Milady!!!" I yelled as I took the beating.
"You will serve me, and you will not fail me!" Artemis said, throwing her whip at my torso.
"AHHHH!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!" I screamed as more whips lashed at me.
"You will be loyal to me!" Artemis kept whipping me.
"UGH!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!!" I yelled.
"You won't desert me! For as long as you live!" Artemis said, throwing her whip at my back and arms and legs.
"ARGH!!!!! YES MILADY!!!" I yelled harder.
"Listen to me! You're not going to talk to anyone who captures you! Even another god or titan!" Artemis said, as the whip seemed to get bigger and she whipped me harder.
"UUUGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!" I yelled even harder.
"And don't ever fail me, hunter Diana! You will be strong! As strong as you can be, Diana! Do you understand?" Artemis whipped me harder and harder.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!!" I yelled harder.
After 40 minutes, I was let go, and, you guessed it, my body was covered with lash wounds, and it's all over them. I was incredibly lucky that I have trained myself to produce more blood from my system, and just then, Artemis grew 50 feet tall. This is it. I have to take her down, or else more whipping awaits.
I readied myself, and this time Artemis move faster than ever. I blocked a strike with my hunting knife and lunged at her ankle to stab it, but by then Artemis stepped back and she could have stabbed me if I hadn't shuffled back a few inches. I saw the blade hit the ground millimeters from me and I jumped onto the hunting knife, but Artemis immediately pulled the knife back, so I quickly placed my feet on the ground, while trying to ignore the coursing pain throughout my whole body and charged at Artemis. Artemis jumped and disappeared. Just then, arrows appeared from all over the place, at most 40 meters away, and they started firing at me. I figured it must be Artemis. I dodged all the arrows, since they're large, but one hit me with such force that I lurched forward and is pinned down by the massive arrow. I cringed in pain as my whole body courses with great pain since not only the part where I got shot at is hurting, but it's also from the whipping before I fought Artemis. I grabbed that arrow and felt some kind of a crater the size of a large caliber bullet on my back. I figured that the arrow that I just caught can be useful. Just then, the arrows stopped firing, and Artemis is back to be seen as a 50 foot giant goddess. I held onto this arrow and charged at her, using it like a giant battering ram. That is my mistake, because Artemis simply sidestepped and smacked me aside, sendimg me 50 feet away. I cringed in extreme pain as I tried to get up, trying to ignore the overwhelming pain inside me. I stood up, and I charged at Artemis. Artemis allowed me to approach, and I faked a strike, instead I drew my bow and nocked 4 arrows at Artemis. Artemis managed to dodge two of them, but the other two arrows hit Artemis' right thigh and left elbow. Artemis winced in pain a little, and she fired four arrows close to each other. I managed to dodge all of them and power-charged at Artemis, and as I was about to stab Artemis, she brought her hunting knife down which landed just inches in front of me. Fortunately, I have incredibly fast reflexes, so my head managed to bump into the hunting knife, but it didn't slam into me full force as I deflected some of my running energy to the side, and with enough torque, stepped inside again. Artemis blinked, not anticipating this, but she managed to draw her bow and as soon as I was just 1 centimeters near her bow, Artemis fired, and I grabbed just around the tip of the arrow to avoid getting pierced by the arrow. I was pinned down with the arrow, but I managed to knock the arrow aside as I stood up. But just then Artemis stood beside me and pinned me to the ground with her bare hands.
"Good try!" Artemis said. "But you haven't tried your best. Time for another 2 hours of whipping!"
I was already bleeding from the previous whip. I don't think I can survive this, because my body was already as bloody and torn up as it is.I was brought to a nearby tree and I was tied again with a Hephaestian rope that suspends me just in the middle between the two trees, and Artemis started whipping me.
"AGH!!!! UGH!!!! UGH!!! UGH!!!! UGH!!!!! UGH!!!!!! GUH!!!!! HUNH!!!!!!!!" I yelled as Artemis kept whipping me.
"You will try your best, Diana!" Artemis said, as she threw her whip at me.
"HUNH!!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!!" I screamed from immense pain.
"You WILL train to your absolute limit and be the hunter who I want you to become!!" Artemis threw another whip at me.
"AHH!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!" I yelled.
"You will not fail me!" Artemis whipped me harder than before.
"UGHH!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!" I yelled.
"You will not be an AWOL Hunter!" Artemis whipped me more.
"AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!!!!" I screamed louder. She had been saying those things that made us hunters loyal to her for a couple hundred times each year. That could sound like a cliche, but it's what kept us loyal to Artemis. And each time Artemis said something, she would surely whip me more, and as a result, more of my body is bleeding and more of my skin is tearing off.
After two hours had past, my body was bleeding everywhere, and I was in no condition to fight, but I know if I don't give my best shot right now, I would end up with more whips lashed onto my body and chances are, I would end up dying. On the bright side, my head was only hit once or twice, so it only bleed a little.
I can barely stand up, and I slumped down, too much pain to move.
"What's the matter, Diana?" Artemis smirked. "Cannot stand the pain from the whips? Well I'll tell you what. As soon as you defeat me, your training will stop for today."
I gritted my teeth more as I tried to stand up, trying to ignore the immense pain coursing throughout my whole bleeding body. I grabbed my hunting knife from the strap in my thigh and, trying to ignore the overwhelming pain coursing through my body, charged at Artemis and managed to stab her toe while moving very fast. I could see blood spreading like tiny drops everywhere whenever I turned around. I gritted my teeth from the pain, and suddenly I remembered to focus on my enemy, not on the pain I am experiencing. I jumped just in time as Artemis brought her hunting knife in front of me. I kicked her hunting knife, snapping her hunting knife into two and nocked 6 arrows at Artemis. Artemis managed to nock 6 arrows of her own, and it seemed to intercept mine, and they both exploded, blinding me. I shook my head and after about 2 seconds, I was able to see Artemis charging at me and I barely dodged as I jumped and got back on my feet, also cringing in immense pain coursing through my body. I really feel like I can't do this anymore, because the pain is getting unbearable. But it's going to get more unbearable when I lose this fight, so I continued to fight Artemis regardless of my condition. Just then, Artemis pointed a finger at me, and I figure she's about to fire a moonbeam. I power sprinted out of the way as moonbeam laser started emanating from her fingers and fired to where she pointed. I turned invisible, which is something I hadn't done for quite a while, but I figured it would be useless since blood keeps dripping down my body and Artemis could see me, but that's not the case. My blood is invisible to Artemis also, and Artemis kept looking around for me. This is my chance. I wanted to power jump, but I would be using too much of my muscle and it would cause lots of blood to be spilled onto the ground near me, but I have no choice. I power-jumped, and already blood came out of all of my wounds and I grabbed Artemis's neck. I turned visible again as Artemis tried to grab me in panic. But then I dropped down a little and, drawing both of my hunting knives with lightning fast speed, stabbed Artemis in her shoulders. She seemed tense and then I stabbed her back.
"I give up!" Artemis said. Then I pulled the hunting knives from Artemis and dropped down to the ground as I cringed in pain. Artemis returned to her normal size.
"Well done, Diana." Artemis said. "You learn another lesson. If you are unable to defeat your enemy, try to approach it with stealth. You're going to need to use invisibility mode more."
I noticed that as soon as I turned visible, the blood that were dripping off my body were visible now, and there's lots of them. It looked like 7 pints of blood had been shed from my system. I sighed as I collapsed.
"Sleep tight, Diana." Artemis smiled, as I drifted off to sleep.
Dreams found me, and I noticed that Thalia is also asleep, and she is reaching out to me.
"Diana!" Thalia said. "So, how was the training?"
"It.... was harsh." That's my only comment.
Meanwhile, in Olympus
Third Person's P.O.V
"So, how was Diana?" Athena asked. "Have you trained her to be our weapon?"
"She will be." Artemis said. "Ares might have a secret weapon, we don't know for sure, and that's why I kept training her for this 14 days. For this 14 days, I will train her and make her my weapon. I have trained her to go through one of the treacherous training ever, even harder than every kind of training in the world combined."
"Ooh..." Athena said. "I can see that. You even whipped her before she even started each of her training. That is incredibly harsh. No demigod wanted to be whipped before starting their training. Do you remember Dominic?"
Artemis laughed. "That boy of yours? Yeah. You whipped him just before he went to training, right? That was hilarious looking at him. You only whipped him for 10 times before telling him to run, and he can't because he is wincing in pain."
Athena then frowned. "Yeah, and he kinda resented me for that. It's amazing that your hunter has amazing faith in you."
"She's different than the other hunters. She's an evolutionary hunter. Everytime she went through a war, or battles that crippled her, her body evolves to combat that threat within a few years, and at the fastest a few hours."
Athena's eyes widened. "Really? That's amazing! So, why did you whip her?"
"To make her body hold up more blood, and make her body produce more blood." Artemis said.
"You do realize that come at a cost, right?" Athena said. "You have to feed her very often, or else she will starve really quickly."
"Yes I am aware of that. That's why I'm feeding her again when she woke up tomorrow. And I'm going to bring more challenges to her. This time I will bring up the real heat to her, and since I have seen how far Diana's body can push herself, I will bring in more near-impossible challenges to her, and I will make her a formidable weapon."
Zeus, Demeter and Apollo began to appear beside Athena and Artemis.
"Artemis, I have a request." Demeter said.
"Yes, Demeter?" Artemis said.
"Tomorrow, when you train this Diana girl, may I come too? It appears that she had pushed her body so much further than normal demigods can."
"Sure, and for special honor, you can tell her what to do." Artemis said.
Demeter's eyes widened. "Are you serious, Artemis? Like, tell her to lay down and get whipped?"
Artemis laughed. "Yeah. Perhaps. You can also tell her to serve you, or scream. I will make sure that she will obey."
Apollo, Athena and Zeus joined the conversation. "May we also tell her what to do?" The three said.
"Well, you have to take turns. And yes, you can tell her to do things. You can even tell her to bow down to you and step on you. But there's two things that you cannot do with her."
"Let me guess, sister..." Apollo smirked. "To rape her and/or kill her?"
"Looks like my brother gets it. You are not allowed to rape her and/or kill her." Artemis said.
"Can we make her spill her blood?" Demeter said. "I want her blood to water my plants. I just found out that her blood can make my plants really fertile and growing really fast and green. Please?"
Artemis thought about this for a moment, and they she made up her mind. "Yes, but not until I train her for today. So, what do you want to do more with my hunter?"
"Well, I was thinking of using Diana as a place to grow flower." Demeter said.
"And I was thinking of feeding Diana to a vulture." Zeus said. "Tell me, Artemis, can her liver grow back?"
Artemis glared at them. "You could have killed her! Her blood might be prosperous, but she's not a place where you can grow stuff! She's a hunter, not a flower pot!!"
"Perhaps not." Demeter said. "If only Ares were here, if her discovers Diana has this abilities, he will be wanting her so bad for her abilities and her loyalties."
"Ares will know that he will need to go through me," Artemis said. "And since he's our enemy now, it's too bad for him."
"Anyways..." Apollo said. "I also want to see her in action. I also want to see how far she can push her physiques."
"Well I tell you this, brother." Artemis said. "She can push her body beyond any other hunters I've ever seen. She is one elite hunter. I am very honored to have her by my side."
Meanwhile, at Alaska
Diana's P.O.V
I woke up on the ice, and as expected, my open wounds and my blood around my body were gone, but my blood that were spilled last night were still there, and grasses are growing quite fast at where my blood is spilled.
Just then, Artemis came to me.
"Good morning, Diana." She said, and I noticed that Demeter was with her.
"Morning, Milady." I said, kneeling down. "Umm... if I may ask... what's Demeter doing here?"
"She's here to watch you training. And... after your training, she's going to ask you to do something, and you will obey!" Artemis sternly told me.
"But Milady.... what if she told me to do something really stupid?" I frowned. "I don't want to do stupid things..."
"Do NOT disobey my orders, Diana!!!" Artemis snarled. "You may be powerful but you're still loyal to me! You will either obey or...."
I shivered more as fear rushed on my system. "Y-y-yes, Mi-Milady..." I said.
"Of course Demeter won't told you to do anything stupid." Artemis said. "Now let's go. Time for your second day of training."
I followed Artemis to an open spot and I sprinted while following Artemis to near the meadows.
"In here, your skills will be tested." Artemis said. "Demeter, would you like to test your powers against Diana?"
Demeter smiled. "Sure!" Just then, Demeter raised her hands, and the flowers started to move.
"Wait Demeter!" Artemis said, and Demeter lowered her hands and the flowers remained stationary as of now. "First, I have to give Diana here a good whipping."
"Whipping?" Demeter said. "Isn't that too much?"
"Diana, go tell Demeter about it." Artemis said.
"Yesterday, when I am trained, I am whipped first before I went through the trainings. It could take as long as 2 hours."
"Yes," Artemis said. "This time you will be whipped for 20 minutes."
"Yes, Milady." I said.
Artemis took me, and she stripped me naked again, and she grabbed a whip and started whipping me.
"UGH!!!! UGH!!!! HUNH!!!!! HARNH!!!!!! HARNH!!!!! AHH!!!! HARNH!!!!!" I screamed each time the hephaestian whips whipped my body.
"You're going to be a very tough hunter, Diana!" Artemis said, as she whipped me harder.
"HARNH!!!!!! YES MILADY!!!!"
I watched as Demeter looked at me, standing close to Artemis. "Did you do this everytime she began her training?"
"Yes, I sure do." Artemis said.
"Don't you feel that's too much? I mean, look at her. Her skin is tearing off, and it's started bleeding." Demeter said.
"I knew my hunter's limits, Demeter." Artemis said, as she threw another whip at me as I screamed in pain. "And apparently her limits kept pushing further and further."
Artemis kept whipping me until my entire body was bleeding again, and after 20 minutes, Artemis just let me go.
"Now, you're welcome to fight Diana, Demeter." Artemis told her.
Demeter just stared at me, looking skeptical. "Really? Why do you have to whip her before I go against her?"
"Because you will be surprised how fast and how strong and how smart Diana is at her full strength." Artemis said.
I then stepped into the meadows and Demeter also does the same thing. Her sword is at her hand and I charged at her. Thankfully, she isn't a fighter like Artemis, so she will be slower, but I also got whipped before facing Demeter, so I have to conserve my energy since my blood is dripping away my body. I power-charged at Demeter, running at 85 kilometers an hour and Demeter let my approach. She started at me with her eyes widen as she waved her hand and a series of vines wrapped around me. I cut those vines with ease and continued to charge her. As soon as I reached her, Demeter can barely block my strikes as I stabbed her in the stomach. I could see golden ichor blood coming out of Demeter.
Demeter stared at me wide eyed, and then at Artemis. "Really? Is this our secret weapon? She has become more than a secret weapon, Artemis! She's slowly losing her humanity!"
"And that's precisely what I want from her." Artemis said. "For one to lose her humanity in order to turn the tide of the war."
"So, you wanted Diana to lose her humanity just because of this stupid godly civil war?" Demeter asked.
"I know my hunter's limits, and I'm going to push her as long as she hasn't reached that limit yet." Artemis said.
"Well, alright."
I didn't realize I was so tired all of a sudden because my stomach is growling like crazy. I was light headed, hungry.
Artemis approached me. "Hungry, Diana?"
I nodded.
Just then, Artemis waved her hand, and there appeared 20 steaks, 40 sushis, and 20 vegetables. I started eating, and Artemis gave me a time limit of 2 hours of eating the foods in here. I started digging in and ate as fast as possible, trying to get as much energy as possible into my system. It turns out the steaks are 20 ounces in weight, and I finished that too, along with the sushi, and I didn't get to finish the vegetables since the time is already up when I was about to ate the 16th vegetable.
"Now that you're full Diana, let's see what Demeter wants." Artemis said.
I looked at my body, and they're definitely healing faster than before. I walked towards Demeter with Artemis and Demeter stayed there.
"Diana, I have something to ask of you." Demeter said. "I have these plants, but they won't grow optimally. I want your blood to water them, so they would grow beautifuly."
"Demeter! What you're asking is impossible!" I told her. "I can't have my blood spilled just for flowers!"
"And if you do not obey Demeter, hunter Diana..." Artemis said. "You will be discharged from the hunters, do you understand?"
I shivered more. "Y-yes...Mi-Mi-Milady......" I always crumbled whenever I was in Artemis' presence, whenever she was scolding me.
"Now, follow me." Artemis said, and I and Demeter followed her. Over there, Artemis brought a pair of cuffs and restraints so I wouldn't move. Artemis put it on my hands, waist, legs, and my entire whole body. I was facing up, struggling immensely with the bonds.
"You know it's no use, Diana." Artemis said. "You will never be able to break out of Hephaestian materials."
I sighed. It's been centuries that I wasn't able to break Hephaestian materials. I wonder what Hephaestus put in there in order to make it so powerful.
Then, Artemis brought out a knife, and it's made out of Hephaestian material also. She plunge it on my stomach and it hurts so much. But she didn't plunge it all the way, only on the surface because she knew if she goes any deeper, she would hit my internal organs.
It took her about 5 minutes to make cuts very deep on my stomach, limbs, and even my back. It's amazing how the hephaestian knife cannot penetrate my bones.
Then, Artemis started whippin me very hard and fast, and she even told Demeter to join her. Oh great! Now my body will be more messed up than ever. I screamed as every whip lashed onto my body.
"Really?" Demeter asked. "Is she that loyal to you that she is even willing to be whipped?"
"Well, she doesn't want to be whipped at first, but it's necessary for this training for her." Artemis said. "Diana, tell Demeter how your training goes."
My body feels like it wants to shut down from pain, but I managed to got the words out. "It's.... pure hell." I told Demeter. "I was whipped almost everytime before training. I even have to fight Artemis after getting whipped severely."
Demeter's eyes widened. "Wow, if I was Ares, I would have been very surprised. He would like to see that. But it's a shame that he declared war on us."
"Yeah." Artemis said, whipping me more, and I screamed in pain more. After what it seemed to be 30 minutes, Artemis and Demeter stopped whipping me.
"Now she's ready, Demeter." Artemis said. Then Artemis provided a huge bucket, about 1 cubic meters in volume. This is just insane! I only have 17 pints of blood in my system as of now! How am I supposed to provide 1000 liters of blood?
Then, Demeter waved her hands and suddenly vines started wrapping around me tightly. I was able to withstand it, since it's not made from hephaestian materials, but it's enough to squeeze the blood from my system. I could see blood slowly dripping from me and into the bowl. More blood dripped from my body into the bowl and I started feeling light headed. I feel like blood slowly drained from my body as I suffered slow and agonizing death. Actually, my body could produce blood very fast.
After 30 minutes had past, Demeter stopped, and I barely filled the bowl, but I could tell it's about 50 liters. I was let go, and I slumped down to the ground, unconscious.
I woke up after about 2-3 hours, and surprisingly I felt fine. I looked up and now there's Athena, Artemis and Demeter.
"Well done, Diana." Artemis said. "You've supplied more than enough blood for the flowers to grow! And I've given some of it to my hunters as well."
I just can't help but smile at her. I am now ready for the next training.
"Diana, your next training now involves underwater. First, you will be trained how to hold your breath longer, and this time it will specialize in your anaerobic respiration. I know this is harsh, so you need to hold your breath underwater for a very long time. And because of this, I will not whip you for now."
I sighed in relief. I will not get whipped this time, but I will stay underwater for superhuman levels, like about 20-30 minutes at a time. It will be very hard, but it will be worth it.
Anyways, Artemis led me to a pool of water that seems to be frozen on the top, indicating that it's very cold.
"This is where you will learn to hold your breath in extremely cold conditions." Artemis said, as she gestured me to enter the pool. I entered the water, and I could feel the water is incredibly cold.
"Now, I will be watching you from above. Now, your goal is 30 minutes." Artemis said, and as Artemis gestured her hand down, I took a very deep breath and my head went underwater. I remember this training! This training is for me to enhance my endurance greatly. I remember the first time I went here, I was struck with severe hypothermia and had to be in Artemis's care for several weeks. But the second time I got here, I felt fine, and it's not that cold. I guess it's because my silver aura protected me from the cold.
I looked around, and I saw fishes swimming around the water below me. The fishes are just swimming randomly and some are seem attracted to me. I just stayed silent as some of them nibbled on my skin, and they can't even get a bite out of it since it's very hard.
3 minutes into the water, I switched to Anaerobic respiration. This is a very good way to conserve my energy since it's cold, and that means I can conserve my energy more in these conditions.
After another 12 minutes had past, I switched to Aerobic, while still near the surface of the water. While I was using anaerobis respiration, my body was building up pain inside me, so I could not sustain that for very long, but fortunately once I switched to Aerobic, the pain is gone from my system within 30 seconds.
Anyways, I continued to stay underwater for another 15 minutes, and by that time, I was already begging for air. I guess I had maintained the respiration cycle well, and when I am not able to take it anymore, I power punched the thick layer of ice and got up and gasped and coughed and shivered from the cold.
Artemis just stood there, as she have been always have since I have to get out of the ice by myself.
"Well done Diana, maintaining the cycle of your respiration well." Artemis said. "You really remind me of Patrick Musimu."
"Patrick who?" I asked.
"Never mind." Artemis said. "Now, get some rest, and then you will be whipped again before you have to do a 150 miles distance sprinting in 3 hours time."
I nodded, as I got some rest. It was a rest that I need anyways because after this, I am going through brutal training with Artemis again. Getting whipped before any activities is incredibly brutal, because i would be going through pain in every step I make.
I rested for only 10 minutes, before I am told to resume my training. Artemis brought me to a nearby tree and tied me right side up and started whipping me.
"AGH!!!!! UGH!!!!! AHH!!!!!! G-GAH!!! HARNH!!!! HARNH!!!!! HARNH!!!!" I screamed as every lash on my body hits me.
As usual, it took 30 minutes, and Artemis warned me that for every minute that goes over the 3 hours time limit, it's an extra time that I have to get whipped. My body was dripping blood, but it seems to slow down after my time under the ice. I guess it slowed my bleeding down. Anyways, as soon as Artemis yelled "GO!", I started sprinting across Alaska in a 150 miles shuttle run.
It was harsh, to see my blood dripping almost everytime took a step, and it made me weaker overtime, but since this is the second time I've done this, my body produced much more blood than before, and that means I could cope with much blood loss.
I ran through the mist, through the woods, through the darkness and the shadows. I continued running across the dense jungle around Alaska, and it's surprising that it has a jungle, despite the fact that it's freezing cold at Alaska.
I kept running and running, and surprisingly, I was able to run really fast, but after about 20 minutes into running, I already felt lightheaded from loss of blood, so I decided to rest here for a while.
After about 30 minutes of rest, I started running again and apparently the wounds in my body were already closing. I continued to sprint again as I tried to make up for lost time from resting and after running very far, I managed to reach the finish line about 150 miles in 4 hours and 5 minutes time.
"Well, that's an improvement Diana," Artemis said. "But still more than an hour away from your goal. Time for another whipping!"
Artemis brought me to the nearest tall rock and chained me there. I was whipped brutally as Athena joined to whip me. I screamed in pain as each whip hit me.
"Wow, this hunter of yours must have been very strong." Athena said. "Stronger than most of the other hunters and the other demigods."
"Well, she's a special one. She's strong.... powerful, talented in magic, agile, fast, and last but not least, she's loyal." Artemis said.
"But still. I never thought any of your hunters are this strong." Athena said, as she threw another whip at me, and I screamed in pain.
"Yeah. Perhaps you underestimated a lot of my hunters much." Artemis said. "You shouldn't ever underestimate anyone. They could be more powerful than you."
"Yeah, true." Athena said, while she kept whipping me.
After 65 minutes, my body was covered with lash wounds, and I was told to do two handed pushups while Artemis and Athena, in the form of 70 foot giants, sat on top of me. I could feel their weights into my back really much. I could see that I am losing blood constantly while the two goddesses are on top of me and I managed to do one shaking push up as I watched my own blood flowed out of my body, and then another, and another, until I managed to do 200 and finally the two gods got off my back and I slumped down in exhaustion.
For some reason, I am already exhausted. But I know this training is far from over, and Athena came over to me and asked me to spill some of my blood to her. Artemis shot me with a glare, as if threatening me as of what will happen if I didn't do what Athena said. I reluctantly agreed, and Athena grew to 40 feet tall, grabbed me and squeezed my bleeding body, and blood spilled towards the small bucket. Fortunately, she only took 1 litre of them so I am still alright.
After that, I was told to fight Artemis again, and I managed to win since my body was in better condition.
"Nice work, Diana! I see you have improved your skills! Now get some rest! 12 more days of brutal training awaits you." Artemis said, as I got some rest.
Days have past and everyday, I am getting stronger and tougher, and I complained less. I was trained, tortured and motivated to become a fighting machine, like other people that went to war. I even felt almost numb, like almost all of my emotions are suppressed, as if I have fear no longer, even Artemis.
"You have done well!" Artemis said. "Now let's go back. The war might have already started."
I nodded, neither smiling nor pouting as I power-sprinted towards New York City. Apparently I wasn't too late, as Ares had prepared his army, along with us.
I went to the Camp, and saw that the campers had taken sides, and they're starting to go to war. I saw the Hunters of Artemis as I joined with them.
Thalia studied me. "You've changed, Diana." That's her only comment.
"Yeah." I said, while keeping my eyes on the battlefield. "For now, let's fight this war, and we shall win it!"
"We have to." Thalia said, and then we charged.