Making a Video Game Company to Get My Waifu - Chapter 26 (Patreon)

I should really just let that line hang, turn around and walk away. Go murder the Kampe personally like I was planning.

This situation seemed to get too quickly fucked up out of nowhere. Either it was the Fates, or Eris, and it's best leave it and let tempers cool down.

Actually...

"Eris, were you responsible for this?"

"Asterios," she responded with a serious tone I never expected from her. "Right now I'm distracting all of Olympus from what's happening with you in the Labyrinth. Thus far they're still taking the 'wait and see' approach. But the moment you kill Atlas, Zeus will notice and will just start blasting." 

"Wait, you're doing what?"

"So, make sure to remember. Don't break the xenia. Don't..." Eris make a sound like she was retching. "Actively be provocative. If she attacks defend everyone, don't fight back, and don't defend yourself either."

"What!?"

"You can take it and survive. Trust me. Also keep using that passionate shounen speech you keep succeeding with. Well, that's all. I'd tell you good luck, but one, fuck Tyche. And two, I'm rigging the dice heavily in your favor. Ta-ta~." Then I heard something like multiple explosions before the connection seemingly cut of.

I was back in the present, glaring at Artemis. All of that seemingly taking place in my mind, with time almost frozen from how fast that talk was.

I was sure of it now. All of this, this argument, this riled up anger and miscommunication? It was either the Fates, Eris or both. I felt like Eris actively not giving a straight answer, more or less confirmed it.

Or maybe I'm wrong and judging the chaotic goddess too harshly.

But truthfully...?

I just don't fucking care.

The gods or whatever may have fully orchestrated this situation.

But the actions I take now are my own.

Because fuck you, Artemis and the high horse you're riding on!

"You know I don't actually remember the beginning that well." I said, just letting those memories—Asterios' and the Minotaur's—those that were coherent, play out in my mind. "I remember a warmth that I was ripped away from, then a dark hole. Divine constitution meant I could survive for a long time without food, and what food I was thrown in, well, I came to call it aged grape meat. Didn't exactly have the words for 'rotten meat' till later on. The Labyrinth didn't exactly come to be this big and have so many beings living in it, till way later on. And then one day I found something new. Or rather someone, a child like me."

"Yes, and every time you killed and ate them. What of it—" Artemis began, finding an opening.

"Nope." I smiled without any humor. "Nah, that comes later. See at first horns, bull head and whatever, I did start out as a kid, and I thought the other kid placed there was for me to have a friend. Of course, naturally, they saw my face, scared and ran away." I said with a shrug. Thalia and Percy snorted, before Percy covering his mouth, in embarrassment, while Thalia tried to act like she didn't do so. "Next part I remember it two different ways, either I ran after them because I thought we were playing, or I ran after them because the hunger was getting too much, and I wanted them to help me. We ran and ran and then..." The breath got caught in the listening demigod kids' throats. "The kid hit his head.

"Or tripped and fell down. He just stopped moving. I called for him. Poked him. Asked him, begged him to get up." I met Artemis eyes with all the bitterness I felt in that moment. She looked a bit queasy but still angry, burying any pity down. "They started to become pale. They were no longer a person but a dead thing. And then they started to smell tasty, and the hunger gnawed at me again, so I left, till I came back because the smell was overbearing and..." I looked aside and shrugged. "I ate." I looked back, emotions felt drained from me. "And I stopped being hungry."

"...And thus the Minotaur was born." Zoe said somberly.

"Probably. I cried at that point, knowing instinctively that I committed some kind of sin, but I wasn't sure what. At that point I stopped being a kid and was just another beast. Because well, no matter how I try to justify it to myself, from then on, the games? Well, I hoped those kids injured themselves. That they got clumsy and fell from high places, that they messed up in someway and died. I meant I won the game and had food."

"Wow. And I thought claw machines were rigged." Percy said, before he could stop himself.

I snorted. "Heh. Yeah." Stopped walking and looked up. "Still didn't kill any of them. Not outright. Still didn't take that step. Until a demigod snuck in the mix and tried to kill me." I sighed and looked down. "Shame he didn't succeed."

"What?" Annabeth blinked as she took in everything I said. Bianca was staring at me with resolution, listening to everything intently.

"Yeah, he talked too much. Or he wasn't fast enough. Maybe he only just learned that he was a demigod right then. Sadly that made me stop holding back. I fought, I won and from then on, the game wasn't a game. It was a hunt. Anyone I caught I made them food."

"Is there a point to this story? Are you bragging or are you looking for pity? For you will find neither in me." Artemis sneered.

"I want nothing from you." I glared back. "I'm asking why were there kids in the Labyrinth. Why did that whole situation have to happen? Why was Minos allowed to run free doing this shit?" I said, my anger hitting up, finding my feet moving again, as I paced once more. "What? You didn't want to protect the little boy because they had cooties or something?"

"Apollo is meant to protect young boys."

"HA! Apollo? Really? Heck, I can't even imagine him protecting anyone. Literally I can't imagine it or see him bothering to do that. It's not even something people even think to associate with him. But fine, there were young girls too, why didn't you save them? If you needed a demigod to act through, then why didn't you send a Huntress?"

"And what? Have them be hunted down one by one?" Artemis snorted. "Was that what you hoped for and never got the chance to do?" She smirked, like she got one over me.

"Were you listening?! Just being obtuse? Why did you yourself act then? What? You're gonna say a god shouldn't directly act? When back then, that's all you guys did? Had you acted early, I wouldn't have been a threat because I didn't even know how to fight!" I snorted at her answer. "And hunt down your Hunters? As if you don't hunt monsters regularly. It would have been no more dangerous than that. But this time, it's one put in a cage, doesn't know how to do anything without people literally throwing kids into said cage, and now that's a step too far for you? And you still didn't answer me, why were there kids in the Labyrinth?" I cried out, anger leaking more and more in my voice.

"The Labyrinth wasn't just some territory that could be traversed. Had I ended up trapped there, then Minos would likely be able to bargain with the gods for more power than his station." Artemis said coldly.

I snorted and laughed. You know, I said that I didn't care one way or another about Minos, but now I'm starting to hate him.

"Fuck Minos." I shook my head. "Really? That's the reason you're going with? You're a goddess, what the fuck can Minos do to you?"

"He is still a demigod of Zeus, and it was his kingdom." Artemis said back.

I stood, threw my head back and laughed.

My laughter echoed hauntingly in the Labyrinth.

"Are you fucking serious?" I giggled. It sounded demented, the kids even took a step back. Bianca didn't. Rather she looked like she was about to cry. That just made the rage boil hotter. "What? You're gonna argue that a demigod in any way has the same standing, the same importance as an Olympian? And son of Zeus? Why would that matter?" I loomed over Artemis. I'm sure my smile looked demented and maniacal. "You're Artemis. Oh sure, Athena might be his favorite for how useful she is, but you're the one he always dotes on. The one he grants any request to. And you're telling me Minos is of the same importance." I sneered at the name.

"And you are speaking far too casually to this goddess, monster." Artemis growled back, sliver light shining from her. It tingled against me but did nothing else. Artemis blinked at that, but pushed through. Only with a more cautious look in her eyes. "And what? Why are you arguing about wanting to die? Were you trying to argue that you were innocent?"

"No." I said, standing back straight, and eyes burning hot as I stared down the goddess. "I know what I am. There's no denying that. The past can't be changed, only accepted. The Minotaur was little more than a beast with no mind at that point." I cried out. "What I'm asking, begging for, is an answer: Why was I forced to become a monster?" I said, and for some reason Artemis looked at me with wide-eyes and shock. I didn't bother to think on why it was raining in the Labyrinth. "Had I died a beast, at least then when I gained a mind, I wouldn't have to realize that I now live with a river of blood on my hands." I seethed. "But no seven boys and seven girls kept showing up there every seven years, till finally Theseus came to free me from this hell." My eyes narrowed as a though entered my mind. I thought that I genuinely wish was just from brainfart. "Huh. Lots of sevens. Funny that."

In Camp Half-Blood, Cabin #7 is Apollo's cabin. Niobe had seven boys and seven girls. Apollo was said to have been born on the seventh day of the month. Which month is debatable, but definitely the seventh day—

Wait.

No.

No, no, no, no.

Artemis was born on the seventh day of the seventh month. Apollo was born later that day, or a few days later.

I genuinely wished it wasn't what I suspected.

Artemis flinched. She hid it with natural ease, as if she did this many times before. But I was looking for a reaction and found it.

Khaos damn these fucking twins.

"Heh,"

I was frozen shocked.

"He... hehehe..."

I covered my face with my hand, only now realizing my cheeks were wet with tears.

"Heheheha... HAHAHAHAHA!" I threw my head back a laughed.

"Eeeer, guys, he's laughing maniacally, that's never a good sign." Thalia said, opening my aegis replica shield.

"Uuum, Asterios, buddy you okay? Come on, we were all chilling out together now, remember?" Percy said

"W-We can't fight him he controls the Labyrinth." Annabeth said nervously.

Then I stopped laughing. I let out a loud sigh.

"The laughing stopping means its a good thing, right?" Thalia asked.

"No." Zoe drew her bow. "No, it's not."

I ignored them all, looking at Artemis through the gap in my fingers.

"Seven boys, seven girls, seven years." I said and Artemis froze, her face paling with shame. "You twins really are despicable."

"Shut. Up." Artemis growled. "Any more words I could consider a blasphemy against the gods."

"You were born on the seventh day of the seventh month. Apollo was born later that day or a few days later. The numbers were never a coincidence, were they? Anyone rational would think Minos was mocking or insulting you and your brother, but no. The whole thing was a ritual of appeasement while punishing the Athenians."

"Hold your silver tongue or I will rip it from you." Artemis growled back, showing her clenched teeth.

"Were you and Athena fighting back then? Was it Apollo and Athena, and you didn't do anything because he asked you not to?" I chuckled.

"Wrong. And I have let you speak long enough. One more word against me or my brother and you will face the divine judgement you wished for!" Artemis said.

"What? You angry that someone pointed out that you are no different than your father. That if someone appealed to your pride, and you'd discard even the Title you're meant to carry." I laughed. "Thing is, I told Bianca that 'that gods aren't human', a lesson so that they don't expect you guys to act human, or be patient and understanding when you act irrational. But truthfully? I think I just don't want them to deal with the disappointment of expecting anything of you. But you Artemis? Somehow you're even going against a Title you're meant to uphold. Or maybe once you have the Title it doesn't fucking matter if you act on it or not." I walked up to her, putting myself between Artemis and everyone else, as I felt her rage rise, matching my own. Eris' words echoed one more time in my mind, as I spat out the words. "Or maybe its because all those fancy Titles are add-ons.

"I mean for fuck's sake, you even ordered Agamemnon to kill his own daughter, Iphigenia, if he wanted the wind to sail to Troy. So ultimately, it doesn't fucking matter if they're kids or maidens. You're just the Hunting Goddess of the Wilderness that slaughters anyone and anything to indulge in bloodlust. Because you sure as fuck don't care about children. Paidotrophos? You're more rightfully, Artemis Apankhomenê."

Her fist moved.

The demigods cried out.

I controlled space, to move everyone hundred meters or so away.

The goddess fist moved with divine might. I over layered dozens of Minotaurs onto myself. Those who were known for their durability. Those that were known for being a monster you can't fight straight on, and need trickery. Those that were indomitable.

BOOM!

The punch landed on my face, and I felt like it should have broken my neck and spine. Guess even held back to a mortal-ish form, a god stick packs a punish.

There was a shockwave from the hit. As I focused I could feel the effect the Labyrinth, the Ancient Greek Texture was having on her. Renewing her in a sense. Empowering her.

And suddenly she was cut off. I didn't order the Labyrinth to do it, it did it on its own.

For a moment, shocked silence captured the room, as everyone beheld what happened.

The goddess had struck a monster, and all it did was make the monster's face move a little. Admittedly I was cheating with all the Minotaurs empowering me. Most who died in the endeavor. Unusable for now.

It was still a shocking image to see. The gaping Artemis certainly seemed to think so, with shock and fear showing in her face.

"M-My lady!" Zoe cried out as she ran to Artemis' side. The goddess had stepped back from me, looking at her hand in shock, and me in pale white fright. "You've broken the xenia, Artemis."

"You utter filthy worthless—" I moved to Pasiphaë as she began cursing and casting spells in Greek.

I hugged her and muffled her spells as I held her in my chest.

"Mother, I'm fine. Please calm down, this was nothing." I said soothingly, then whispered. "I know you're angry, I get it, but don't take revenge. Trust me, this will be even better than anything we can think to punish her with." Probably. I'm not sure what Eris has planned.

"What does it mean for a god to break a xenia?" Percy asked.

"Zeus would be the one to decide the punishment." Annabeth said. "But since he's not here, it would fall on the injured party." She looked at me and my mother with worry.

"I will take whatever punishment you want." Artemis said with something that sounded like a mix of a sob and a pant. "Leave my Hunters out of it, and if you try to take my chastity, know I will fight you by claw and teeth—"

"I said it before." I said, not even looking at her. I stared at my mother, to make sure she had calmed and was okay. She nodded and reluctantly let me step away from her. "I want nothing from you." I turned to face Artemis. "Let me make this clear, I loath you. Someone suggesting that I should take you as a wife, or a lover, or even just desire you in the shallowest sense for carnal pleasure, I would take that as a foulest of insults, and see it as reason to start a blood feud with that someone." Artemis looked more struck by these words than any I said before, for some reason. "So no. I will not demand punishment on you. Let the Fates handle that."

Artemis paled and looked like death was coming for her.

I then... turned to leave.

"H-Hey, were are you going? We still have Atlas to deal with?" Annabeth, bless her heart, tried to fix this situation, but sadly it had already imploded.

"Some of the tougher monsters are still surviving. The Labyrinth need to be strengthened to hold the sky for longer, so I'll go deal with them myself." I said. "Also, I really don't want to be around her right now. So best to go punch something to cool off.

"Why?" Artemis growled... yet her voice almost seemed to have a hint of pleading. "Why do you keep judging me for not protecting children, when other gods have those duties and fail them? Eileithyia, Hermes, even Hera. All of them are meant to protect children in some way, yet only me you condemn? The one actually doing something!" She shouted.

"Why...?" I was actually struck by that question, as I paused to think about it. "Why indeed?"

"See! You're just a hypocrite man, who's only attacking a woman because she's actually active and doing something you failed at, as your kind normally would!" Artemis cried out.

"I guess it's because," the answer was on my lips. A bit embarrassing, but I don't give a shit right now. "I think at some point I actually did expect something from you." I said, stunning her into silence. "You are the one most active. The god living among humans, so you should be the closest to us, the one who understand our struggle and pains the most." I sighed, looking at her with dismissive pity. "And because of that, it hurts that much more when you fail in that duty. It would have been better if you were neglectful from the start, or never had the Title, Protector of Children. At least then there would be no false hope."

And right then, those words struck Artemis, slaying all will to fight from her.

I turned and left to find the Kampe, so I can cave her face with my fists.