Atalanta's Return: Chapter 7

Diana's P.O.V

We have reached Orlando, and with two claps of Mary's hand, the huge boeing jet shrank back to the size of a coin and she tucked it into her pocket.

In Orlando, things are quite different than the ones in New York. The subway train is quite complicated, as in New York, there's a definite path of where you can go. Here, I have to study the maps very meticulously so I wouldn't get lost.

"We can go through the subway." I told Mary, Josh, Jarren and Melody. "It's the fastest way to the stadium."

"If you say so." Mary said, and then we went to the subway to take a subway train for the fastest way to the stadium.

I went with them, as we walked on the side of the street. I could sense monsters whenever they are nearby, and it's best to avoid the monsters as best we can, so that we don't get in trouble with the mortal authorities. We went to a sign called Orlando Subway Station Stadium (OSSS). That indicated where we needed to go, and we walked to that tunnel. We saw an old lady with her pet walking up the stairs, which tells us that she had recently exited the train, and we continued our descend towards the underground station.

I continued to watch that old lady and her pet, and she made her way back down. I wonder if she had forgotten something or she may want to meet someone.

"Excuse me." The old lady said, as she went pass us, but that's not what happened. What happened was the old lady stood on one end of the stairs and her pet on the other. They got us boxed in.

As I watched, the old lady turned into a horrible monster, an Echidna.

"Take cover!" Josh said, as Melody, Mary, Jarren, Josh and I took a step back. The dog, which is just 5 steps away, transformed into a chimera.

"It's nice to have you here, Demigods!" Echidna said. "Now we can finish these meddling half-bloods before we..."

I wasted no time to draw my longbow and nock it at the Echidna. I expected her to disintegrate into dust, but she just winces in pain. This in turn gave Mary time to swat the monster and we are forced to run or fight. I chose to fight, as I drew my hunting knives and charged at the Echidna. The Echidna was fast, but I was a lot faster. I sliced, she dodged and tried to grab my legs with her snake-like body, but I jumped and kicked her hard on the face which causes her to skid for over 5 meters.

The Echidna's eyes widened. "I have never seen any half-blood who fought this well... Perhaps..."

I drew another arrow at lightning speed and shot it at the Echidna's neck. The Echidna started to disintegrate.

"Perhaps you will leave us alone! We have important matters to do!" I told her, while looking at her straight in both her eyes.

"No!! You will fail!" The Echidna screeched. "You will....."

Then the Echidna dissolved into ashes.

"How.... how did you do that?"

"Oh.. I always have the ability to do that. I'm one of Artemis's Hunters after all."

"No," Mary said. "I mean, how you can punch the Echidna with so much force. Most of us who did that either break our bones or sprain our wrists."

"I'm not sure. I was always able to do that, which I thought that the hunters can also do, but it turns out that they cannot. I'm started to think that I am not just a mortal."

"Yeah, I can sense it inside you. Mortals do not really radiate this kind of presence. Yours are.... impressive. You got talent for magic, Diana!" Melody said.

"Yeah, perhaps." I told her, as we purchased tickets from the booth and then we're on our way to Orlando Stadium.

The tickets that we just purchased can get us to anywhere, especially the stadium. We waited for a train, and then one arrives, and we got to the train. I looked at the clock just right in front of us. It said 18:00, which is almost time for dinner, and I'm getting hungry.

"Hey, do you know any place where you can get dinner?" I asked them.

"I'm not sure." Josh said. "Let's go look around after we departed from this train."

The train has an onboard computer that displays where we are at right now. Right now, it's only two stations left before we reached Orlando Stadium, and we are getting hungry because we haven't gotten the chance to eat lunch yet. We waited for another minute as the train reaches the next station and the gate opened. We gave way to people who wants to exit the train on the left side and to the people who wants to enter the train on the right side. After about 45 seconds, the gates close again and we are heading to Orlando Stadium.

As soon as we got to the station that leads to the stadium, we immediately disembark the train and started looking for restaurants. The restaurants are: Duck King, Yoshinoya, Sushi Groove, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kenny Rogers,

"Guys, lets go to Sushi Groove." I suggested. But I could see the disapproving look on Josh's face.

"Aww.... I wanted to eat some burgers." Josh protested.

"And I wanted to eat steak." Mary also protested.

I took a closer look at the restaurants. Apparently, there are many seats in front of the restaurants, and people are buying foods from Duck King and then bring it to sit near Burger King.

"You know what we should do?" Jarren said. "We should each go in pairs. Melody, you go with Diana. Mary, Josh and I will go together."

Meanwhile, back at the Underworld

Stella's P.O.V

I can't stop crying over the death of my mother. I'm sure that if my father Josh hears about this, he would cry for such a long time.

It's hard to pull myself back together, but I have to. Hades and Persephone needs me.

As I wiped the last drop of tears from my eyes, I looked at the underworld and was aghast of what I saw. The underworld is already in chaos and they're trying to barge inside the gates of Elysium. The magic holding the gates could no longer repair as fast and they give way. Finally, only the physical barrier of the gates are there, and the souls barge through and they came pouring in numbers. I ran towards them, squeezing through the souls so I can get to Elysium and put a black darkness barrier around the shadow. Since the ones who went through are not much, it's still easy to contain them.

"Well done, Stella." Persephone clapped her hands, and the souls are banging against the barriers. I made the barriers push them backward as Hades and Persephone used magic to repair the gates on Elysium.

The gates are making progress and I have to sprint towards the door and to the underworld in order to escape as the gate is closing, There, I made the barriers from outside Elysium, and the souls kept banging on the black barriers that I made. Sure enough, the barrier held, and I hoped the barrier could hold until Hades and Persephone can repair the magic seals.

Back at Orlando

Diana's P.O.V

"Jarren is right, we should go in pairs. We can't get risk getting captured by the enemy." Melody said, as she stood by me.

"We'll meet up right at the end of the restaurant row after we're done at 18:50." Josh said, as I went with Melody, and Josh, Mary and Jarren went to the other way.

"Come, Diana! Walk with me!" Melody said in excitement. To tell the truth, I am excited as well, because I am also wishing she could teach me more magic.

"Wanna eat at Sushi Groove?" Melody asked.

"Sure thing!" I said happily. "Sushi is my favorite food."

Then, we went to Sushi Groove to order some food. We lined up at the counter. Melody was fiddling with her fingers, and suddenly, we were called by the cashier, despite the fact that so many people lined up. The cashier gestured us to come closer to the counter.

"Yes, may I take your order?" The person by the cashier said.

"Umm..." I looked at the menus. I really liked spinach sushi. They're really yummy. But instead I decided to choose beef sushi because it's been quite a while since I've eaten protein foods. I'm also considering ordering two eggs. "I'm going to order that beef sushi right there," I pointed to the billboard on the right that says "Beef Sushi; buy 5 portions for only $2.50. It was a sweet deal, and besides, I've got a lot of mortal cash in my wallet, so I decided to order 4 portions. Note that one portion equals 4 Sushi's. "And... two half-fried eggs."

"I'm just going to order three spinach sushis, thank you." Melody said.

"Ok," The cashier began inputting that data in. "Now, what would you like to drink?"

I looked around, and saw a couple of big people walking with a platter on their food. I snapped my attention back at the cashier and looked at the drinks. Since there's mineral water, I and Melody decided to order that. "Just mineral water, please."

"Okay..." The person by the cashier began inputting that into the system too, and when the total orders came, it came out as $7.50.

"That's seven dollars and fifty cents."

I rummaged through my pockets. Thankfully, I found an unspent 10 dollars in my pocket, and decided to use that to pay for the meal.

I paid, and then the cashier gave me change of $2.50. "Enjoy your dinner!"

The workers there were very fast. A lot of them are preserved using water steam, and that makes the sushi here fresh to eat. We waited for a while until our dinner is ready. I looked at the clock above the restaurant. Now it said 18:20.

The waiter handed us the foods we order and we went to find a table. There's a table for the both of us just in front of us, so we went to that table and ate there.

I used chopsticks to eat the sushi's, and they taste really good. This restaurant is good, and it made me want to go back here again.

I took my time eating here, and I ordered a big portion because I need it. My enhanced strength, speed, accelerated healing factor had come at a cost. My metabolism is high, so I need much food, and to my luck, the sushi's that I order are very big, and there are a total of 16 big sushi's. I started to eat another one and one after another.

Well, it seems that I have quite an appetite, but for some reason, I was able to eat more than this without suffering a loss of mobility, endurance and strength.

Melody used her chopsticks to eat the sushi's. I continued to ate mine while taking a drink after eating about 2 sushis, and then continued to eat again.

Just then, I sensed something, and apparently it was trouble. I tensed up a moment, and looked left and right.

Melody noticed me doing it. "Diana, what's the matter?"

"Sorry... I just sensed something from that direction." I pointed towards where Mary, Josh and Jarren are, which is right on the edge of Burger King's restaurant.

"Oh... okay."

"And by the way, can I learn some more magic?" I asked with enthusiasm.

"Sure! Wanna learn them now?" Melody asked.

"Maybe later. I don't want the mortals to know that there's such thing as magic." I said.

"Well, alright." I said, and I finished the last batch of sushi in front of me.

Melody finished hers too, but she gave two pieces of the sushi to me. "Want some?"

"Thanks!" I said, as I gladly ate them. They're actually more delicious than the beef one that I just ate. Now I didn't feel hungry anymore, nor do I feel full.

I looked at the clock above the Sushi Groove restaurant. It says 18:40, which is 10 more minutes before the scheduled regroup, but we decided to regroup anyway.

We regrouped at the designated spot where Josh told us where, which is at the end of the restaurant row. We saw Mary, Josh and Jarren.

"Well, here we are." Melody said.

"Now, where are we going?" I asked.

"We need to find a place to stay. This is too late at night to go raid the Stadium." Jarren said.

"Yeah, but where?" Josh asked.

"I got it covered." Mary said, as she took us outside where no one is listening. Once we were outside, she began to explain to us the hotel that we will be staying at.

"We're going to stay at Stanford Horel." Mary told us. "The room is big, and I order it just for one night, so if you'd like to eat again, there's a buffet down on the lobby."

"Alright." We all said as a bus pulled over and we got in. Mary got stuck when she tried to fit in, and I had to force her through the narrow opening. I put my right legs behind and my left in front and started pushing her. It was just a gentle push to get her in.

After that, I sat beside Mary and Melody, while Jarren sat with Josh.

"How.... did you do that?" Mary asked me.

"Pushing you in the bus?" I asked to confirm. "Well, let's just say that I'm one of Artemis's hunters and I was granted incredible strength just like you."

Of course, my past had been a blur. I'm not sure what happened of how I was able to obtain incredible strength, speed and agility, and what's weird is when I became a hunter, I had obtained these skills, as well immunity towards drugs, diseases, poisons of all types.

After about 20 minutes, we arrived at Stanford Hotel, and Mary checked us in. Mary told us she's still hungry so she will settle in for buffet. The hotel manager gave us four buffet tickets, two for dinner, and two for breakfast tomorrow, since Mary had ordered two rooms for stay. I looked around the hotel. The walls are apparently made of concrete, and black tiles lined up across the building that made the sign, Stanford Hotel. The bellboy was helping carrying luggages up the stairs from the entrance to the hotel.

Now this is what's weird. I've been carrying my bows and arrows along with me, and no one seemed to notice.

"I'm still hungry." Mary said. "Does anyone want to eat buffet with me?"

I looked awkwardly at her. Looking at her, she might have finished every food in the buffet before they can make new ones.

"I'll go with you." I told her. Not only eating more food makes me energetic, but also it was stored inside my body. Once, I ate very much until I was very full, and it took me 4-5 days of hunting with no food to make me hungry again. I'm sure this is one of my opportunity to do that.

"Alright, let's go." Mary said to me. "The Buffet is just to the right." Then Mary turned at the others. "Josh, Jarren and Melody, you know where the rooms are, right?"

They all nodded.

"Right.... Now let's get something to eat." Mary said, as we went to the passageway on the right. As we turned right, the buffet is just right in front of us.

Josh's P.O.V

We went up the stairs and continued to where our room is. Our room is 1415, and Mary's room is 1416, which meant it's a connecting door room.

I get hold of the keycard to room 1415, while Mary has the one to 1416. I got to the door, and swiped the card and we entered the door.

Once we entered the door, the first thing that I did was throw my backpack on the table. I never realized I was so tired until I rested on the sofa right in the middle of the room.

Diana's P.O.V

We handed our vouchers and then we took our seats. Mary and I went to find food. I went for the sushi, while Mary went straight to the sausages and beef. My plate was full with a whole bunch of sushi at my plate, while Mary got lots of beefs, and if you do the math, that's a total of about 40 ounces of meat.

"Wow, that's a lot." I commented.

Mary didn't say anything. We just dig in.

I ate my sushi slowly, but then I started eating faster, and went to get another food, this time a beef. I went to the beef section and noticed it was empty. Looks like Mary had taken it all, but after a couple of seconds, the workers returned with a batch of cooked beefs. I started taking two of those and grabbed 4 pieces of sushi, took a large cup and filled it with water, and returned to the table.

I sat down and ate, and when Mary looked at my plate, her eyes widened. "Wow, I never seen anyone eat this much. Is your stomach... a bottomless pit?"

Some people had been asking me that, "No, It's called storing food. I used to do this when I'm going on long journeys, where food and water were scarce. I'm not sure how I was able to do this but I was able to survive for the longest at around 2 weeks. That is, when I am on quests."

"Wow, what kind of quest involves you not eating for 2 weeks?"

"Chasing down and hunting boars, and it's part of the hunter challenge. No hunter has ever succeeded on this challenge. You have to hunt 20 boars. There is no time limit, but during the course of the hunt, you cannot eat, but you can only drink from the bottle that you have, and that's why no hunter has ever succeeded."

"Then, how did you manage to last 2 weeks?"

"I tried to eat and drink until I was very full indeed and took part in the hunt. I thought this would be a suicide mission since I had already filled myself up with so much food, and I try to fill up my water bottle until it's full. In case your wondering, it's a 5 gallon water bottle."

"Wow, 5 gallons of water isn't a water bottle anymore. It's a gallon of water that we used to drink from!"

"I know. Well, Artemis said that any water bottle can do, but she said we can't refill it, and I drank and ate as much as possible and set to hunt 20 boars."

"Then? How did you hunt go?" Mary asked.

I grabbed a steak, sliced it in half with one stroke, and cut it to another piece. "It did went well for the first 3 nights. I was quite burdened by the heavy gallon on my back, but I was able to take out 12 boars in 4 days. And don't underestimate those boars! They are really fast and they can pounce you if you are caught off-guard by one. 2 of the hunters died taking on this mission. And... sleeping in these conditions are harsh! You have to find a a sturdy branch that can support your weight so you can sleep while hanging up in the trees. It's necessary because one hunter had just been killed while sleeping on the ground, as the boars had this opportunistic kill since she was sleeping." I stabbed one piece of meat with a fork and stabbed another with the same fork and put them in my mouth.

"Then, what happened?" Mary asked.

"On the fifth day, something terrible happened. I was drinking my water, when a boar attacked. Of course, I dropped the gallon of water to the ground and whipped out my bow and arrow and fired at the boar, and that is my 13th kill. You won't believe how fast that took. From when I whipped out my bow and grabbing my arrow, it took less than 10 milliseconds. But as I was about to grab the gallon of water, Artemis herself appeared before me. She said that I couldn't drink from that bottle anymore because I had dropped it. I wanted to complain for not explaining about that earlier, but I can't because I am afraid I would be abandoning the hunter challenge, so I was forced to continue without water for the rest of the journey."

"That's harsh." Mary said. "What happens next?"

"Fortunately, I already filled myself with more than enough water to keep me going for 6 days, and I decided to hunt the rest of the boar. On the way, I stepped on a poisonous plant, and it pierced my legs. I was in extreme pain, and I expected to die within minutes or hours. But what's weird is that I didn't feel any loss of strength or signs of me dying after a few hours, and I didn't die after a few days, and that's when I realized I got poison immunity. Most of them are quite easy, until the remaining 3 boar remains. After about 12 days, I started feeling exhausted, and had 2 more boars to hunt."

I remembered how I was not able to run anymore because I was so tired, sweaty and out of water and food. I remembered finding shelter on a tree and when I saw the boar, my vision wasn't like what it used to be. Yes it's still clear, but my vision is not hawk vision anymore. I then killed that boar with luck that hit its neck and there's only one left.

"After 14 days, I couldn't even bring myself up, as I was too tired to continue, but I know that this is one last boar, so I forced myself up with the remaining strength I have and limped towards the boar in front of me. I limped and then took a shot. I missed and I collapsed on the ground. I took the second shot from crouching position, hoping it would hit in his vital organs, but it hit his armor. At this point, I was already profoundly tired. I couldn't even aim properly, much less chase the boar. Then, luck came at last. The boar spotted me, and I put my bow behind my back and drew my hunting knives. I was already ready to pass out at that moment, and as the boar charged, I sidestepped and stabbed the boar, but it hit its armor. Then, I couldn't even stand anymore and I fell down in exhaustion, extreme hunger and tiredness. I saw the boar coming right at me, pinning me down with its massive feet, and as the boar is about to pierce me on my chest, I drove the hunting knives on his neck, and I pretty much collapsed after that. Then the last thing I saw is Artemis declaring me champion among the hunters before I pass out cold from extreme exhaustion."

"Wow, that must have been very harsh back then." Mary commented, but I know from her tone that she was incredibly surprised.

"And when I woke up in the hunters tent, I was told that I had passed out for 8 hours. I was like, What? 8 hours?! To be honest, I was surprised how I am still alive then. Artemis told me that I did a great job and as a celebration, she and the hunters offered me food and water, since I was still weak. At first, I need the help of one of the hunters to feed me, and after a while, my strength returned, and I was able to eat by myself again. I couldn't help but thank you for being awarded as the noble hunter of the millenia. After about 30 minutes, when I was fully reinvigorated again, we had a celebration declaring me the hunter of the millenia, and as to express her gratitude, she grant me the ability to turn invisible. After about 2 weeks, Artemis started sending me on solo quests to take on extremely dangerous monsters, and even get the golden apples, a feat that anyone won't be able to without help, and I did it alone."

"You're the hunter of the millenia? Nice!" Mary said excitedly, as we finished our dinner and went up the stairs. I was already full by the way, so I can survive for a couple of days.

We took the elevator, and Mary was holding a key card to room 1416. As soon as we're in 14th floor, we went insode the room and I put down my bows and arrows on the table.

"It's a good time to take a nap." I said, while stretching my arms, legs, neck, torso, and all the parts in my body to keep my body nimble, flexible and strong.

"Yeah, a good time." Mary said. "By the way, do you want to train weights with me when we get back to camp? I'm sure that you're a really strong hunter."

"Yeah sure, thanks!" I said with delight. "Though I have to alter my schedule with Melody."

"That's alright." Mary said, as we checked on the room adjacent to ours because I hear that they are having fun next door.

We went to the next door and saw Josh, Melody and Jarren are having a pillow fight.

All of a sudden, Josh froze for a moment, and Melody and Jarren who was in such a high spirit playing pillow fight, stopped as well.

"Josh? What's wrong?" I asked.

"No.... it can't be." Josh murmured. It was amazing that I could hear him murmur at such quite a distance.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"My wife.... she's gone..." Josh said, as he collapsed on his knees and started crying.

"Wait... who told you that your wife is gone?" Mary asked.

"Your mother, when we confronted her. She told me that she saw my partner's death in the underworld."

"Wait... you have a WIFE???" I asked, surprised at what Josh is saying.

"It's a long story." Josh told me sadly. Then Josh told me how he met Jessica, and hoe he had bonded with her with a promise to stop this protogenoi Goddess named Nadine. I've heard of Nadine before, she's a goddess who wants to take over the world, and this group, called The Godslingers, have stopped her time after time.

"Ohh... So, Melody and Jarren are your children?" I asked.

Josh nodded. "I didn't wanted to tell you earlier because it would have felt really awkward."

"It's not awkward. At rare times, half-bloods have children because they don't want to die out being hunted by monsters." I told him.

I can't help but feel pity on him, along with the other half-bloods. I've heard that this Lamia girl, daughter of Hecate gave monsters the ability to smell demigods, and they like to eat demigods as their meal, for example, Cyclops.

"Hey Diana, how about we practice our magic at later night?" Melody offered.

"That would be great, thanks!" I said, delighted. "But later though. I want to take a bath first. I haven't taken a bath today."

So I took a bath in room 1416. After I finished taking a bath, I relaxed for a moment. I looked at the clock in front of the room. It says 20:10, and I bet it would be a good time for me to practice magic with Melody.

I grabbed my bows and arrows and my enchanted quiver and I went to the next room via the connecting door, and then I was greeted by Melody.

"So, you ready for your sorcery lesson?" Melody asked.

"Yeah." I said, preparing to go with her, whenever she's willing to take me. Then, me and Melody went down using the lift and went outside where it's peace and quiet.

"Now, the first step is to calm yourself, and if you're able to do that, you can summon spells without saying the incantation spell."

"Alright." I said, while calming down. After a few seconds, Melody started teaching me basic incantation spells. Some of them include summoning moonlight on your hands. I brought my hands together and said, "Incantare: Lunae Lecem.", and moonlight appeared in my hand. It was bright from the palm of my hands. I seemed to be able to control it with my thought, the intensity of the light.

"And... very good. You're learning to control the intensity of the light." Melody said.

Then, Melody taught me other incantations that she believe to be useful for me. She taught me the spell so I can see in perfect darkness.

"Incantare: Videre in tenebris!" All of a sudden, I could see in perfect darkness, but for hunters, our senses are most acute in hearing and sensing. But this added spell knowledge could really add to my advantage.

I continued to learn new spells from her, and she said these are the basic spells. So far, I have learned how to enhance my vision in darkness, making moonlight appear in the palm of my hands, making objects levitate, and many others. Once we're done with the magic lesson, we head back upstairs. I head to room 1416 while Melody head to room 1415. I knocked on the door, and Mary opened the door.

"So, how did you find the magic lesson?" Mary asked.

"I find it interesting. I wished I can learn more magic spells. They're really interesting to learn."

"I also wished I could use magic, but I think I'm satisfied with who I am right now."

"Yeah, you can simply use your incredible strength." I said.

"It's night... so you might as well sleep." Mary yawned, and she winces in pain as she clutches her breast more. I'm not sure why she did that, but I sense something is wrong with her.

"Mary? What happened?" I asked. I'm sure that she has been holding her pain for a while now because I saw her clutching her breasts while on the stadium back there.

"Perhaps I should tell you about this..." Mary said to me. "I was one of the experiments conducted by my own mother."

"What?" I asked, surprised. "You're an experiment?"

"Yeah." Mary said sadly. "My mother used us as human experiments, because my mother knew that there would be no volunteers."

"So, this is why you became so big and strong?" I said.

"Yeah, and that had side effects as well." Mary told me. "My breast is expanding faster than usual, and I can't control it!"

"How can I help?" I asked her.

"Well, we just have to continue our quest, then you can help me."

"Alright then." I told her. I was still wondering if we could ever encounter Mary's mother and force her to give the antidote to her, but I'm tired, so we went to sleep.

Dreams found me, and I was dreaming about Atalanta, and who looks like Mary's mother.

"So, she is faster than you?" Mary's mother asked.

"Yes, she's way faster than me. In fact, she's also stronger than me." Atalanta complained.

"Don't worry. I'm going to use Mary here to kill Diana... was it... her name?"

"Diana, yeah." Atalanta confirmed.

"She will die tomorrow, when she raids the compound."

I woke up with a gasp. I woke up early as I woke Mary and the others up. I looked at the clock, which says 08:00. The first thing I did is grab my bow and quiver filled with arrows. Then I continued to wake everyone up. I went next door to wake up Melody, Josh and Jarren.

"Guys, wake up! We have a stadium to raid!" I announced.

"Ugh..." Josh groaned, and he started to squirm around, being a midget he was.

"Come on! We just woke up and we continue to raid the stadium?" Josh asked me.

"We took a rest just because it's late at night. Now let's go. You all had more than enough rest." I said.

I went back to my room and took a bath. After I finished taking a bath, Mary took a bath, and then we are ready to raid this stadium. To be precise it's one of the last stadiums that we could raid, and kill Atalanta once and for all.

As soon as we had taken a bath, we decided to leave the hotel, and we placed two breakfast vouchers on the room as Josh manipulated the mist into thinking that the we had never stayed in this hotel at all.

Oh, you must be thinking of how I can know if the mist is being manipulated! Well let me explain to you. I can sense and feel the mist being manipulated by anyone, at anywhere, and at anytime.

We walked out of the hotel, and to our luck, there's the stadium that we're going to raid, the famous Orlando Stadium.

We walked in pairs now, but this time it's different partner. I went with Josh, while Melody and Jarren went with Mary.

Josh looked at me and I could tell he was blushing, because he tried to supress his smile.

"You're... blushing." I told him.

Josh blushed even further. "Am... not!"

I keep staring at him, and he tried to avoid my gaze.

"Never mind." I straightened. "Let's keep going."

We continued towards the stadium. Josh and I are going to get Atalanta and kill her on sight, while Mary, Melody and Jarren are going to set the self-destruct sequence on the stadium. We entered the stadium together

I entered the stadium, and immediately we witnessed the runners are running their races to their deaths. As I watched, the runners are running against Atalanta herself.

As soon as Atalanta reached the finish line, the pneumatic tube rose from the middle of the stadium and shot out bronze necklaces that then chase the losers of the race and once they near a person, they opened up and close once they reach their necks. The former runners are then controlled as if they are a robot and they made their way to the back stage.

Atalanta noticed our entrance and she ran towards us. "Why won't you give up?"

"Because we have to put a stop on you." Mary said, as she went to make a grab Atalanta, but she just shuffled a few large steps backwards. "Try and stop me." Atalanta said, and she ran.

I ran after her, and finally sprinted. I got her by the throat and took her back.

"Now that you're here, why don't you tell us why you're killing runners?" I whispered at her coldly.

"I want to regain my virginity!" Atalanta said. "I can't live losing my virginity!"

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, you can't have it back." Josh said. "Once lost, you can't have it again."

"Perhaps I can help you." I told her. "How about we race from the track you just set? You and me?"

I could tell Atalanta was burdened by this choice, especially when I am a lot faster than her.

"Fine..." Atalanta said. "But no handicaps. We start from the starting line, and then go around that corner, and the finish line is here. Ready?"

"Ready." I said, as I went with Atalanta, feeling confident about this.

Josh, Mary, Jarren and Melody eyed me with melancholy expression. "Don't worry. I'll get through this." I told them.

As we got to the starting line, we readied. As soon as the whistle blew, I sprinted as fast as I can, passing Atalanta easily. As I turned corner, we managed to get even in speeds, but I got ahead of her again as we passed a straight line. As we turned corner, I was still ahead, and even on the finish line I was the winner.

The pneumatic tube shot a circular necklace, but this time it was aimed for Atalanta. Atalanta screamed. "No! This is not fair! I am the fastest mortal alive here! I cannot be beaten!! I cannot..."

The necklace was on Atalanta's neck, and she was also sent to the execution room. So much for a taste of her own medicine.