Gold amongst the shadows.

Notes:

Welcome back dear readers, to another chapter of Under the Hunters Moon.

Where I kindly ask you to GET HYPED!

In this chapter, we witness a fight between two Goddesses.

Now before we get to the fight, I would like to preface it with two words.

Anime bullshit.

What do I mean by that? Well if this fight doesn't feel like something from a Shōnen anime I have done something very wrong.

These are two Gods fighting, so it should feel overpowered as fuck.

But enough with this mortal prattle, on with the show!

The Land of Shadows, Dún Scáith.

When the fight first begin Artemis had thought it would be over quickly because what being could hope to stand up to one of the twelve Olympians outside the scattered titans or the dead giants, this notion was quickly corrected as she watches the other Goddess slip in and out of the first two arrows she had fired at her before knocking the last one away with a spin of her spear. With the kick, the Queen of the land of shadows delivered to the Moon Goddess would have split a mortal in two, but as Artemis blocked the kick with her bow and her body was sent flying through tables and into the wall on the other side of the hall, Artemis started to reconsider her last though.

The follow-up from Scáthach was almost as bad, she threw the replica spear at Artemis with enough force and power behind it to punch through the crystal wall Artemis was kicked into, kicking up a cloud of dust. forcing the Goddess of the hunt to dodge, the hem of her bomber jacket being torn by the air pressure from the spear throw alone. In the dust, Artemis rolled to a stop, not breathing or making a sound, while she couldn't see her opponent, she couldn't see her either.

"What's wrong Graeca? Don't tell me that love tap took you out already?" Called Scáthach as she summons another spear to her hands with a calm smile on her face.

Artemis grinds her teeth at the blatant disrespect and draws back her bowstring, being one of the twin archers she did not need any arrows or quiver to load her bow, the arrows fold themselves into existence when she draws her string, and with rapid speed, she fires off four arrows from the cloud of dust before dashing out. Artemis hears the tell tail clang of Scáthach deflecting two of them as the tables and wall shatter behind her as she dodges the last two. Which is a considerable feat seeing as her arrows flew at supersonic speeds comparable to a Barrett M82.

Artemis moving with the speed and grace of the hunt runs wide around her prey firing arrow after arrow at Scáthach, but the infuriating Goddess with spears laughs as she knocks each one from the air with spinning spears as she follows Artemis with her eyes, tracking her easy enough, before with a burst of speed charges Artemis once again before throwing one of the recreated spears, making Artemis leap over the spear as in crashes into the wall on the far end of the room, the wall collapsing as it strikes. If Artemis' arrows were like a round from a Barrett M82, Scáthach's spears were that of a Howitzer shell.

As Artemis leaps over the spear, Scáthach makes it to her, and begins her dance of slashes and stabs with the barbed spear of death, Artemis is forced to dodge and dance with her avoiding the weapon the best she could, her natural speed and grace making sure she's not struck with the spear. Knowing her bow is useless at the range, Artemis twists her form into that of a Tiger and strikes back at Scáthach forcing her back as she dodges the deadly claws of the predator, gaining distance, even one so slight, Artemis capitalizes on the advantage twisting her form once again into a hawk and slips past Scáthach's swing to clip her wings to get above before changing into a bear and trying to crash down onto her. But Scáthach quickly rolls from the slam before popping back up to spin on her heel to try and sink the tip of her weapon into the hide of the bear. Artemis shifts back to her human form before jumping back and firing an arrow at her prey and smiles as she sees it sink into the chest of Scáthach, shooting her backwards and slamming her down through the row of tables.

Arming her bow again, knowing a single arrow wouldn't put down another god, she watches Scáthach jump back to her feet and swings her spear just in time to deflect the incoming arrow, Scáthach laughs once again.

"Not bad Graeca, not bad at all." She says as she stands and pulls the arrow from her and tosses it away, "Looks I will have to take this a tad more seriously, huh?" The Goddess of the lance says with a bloody grin and before Artemis can even consider what Scáthach meant by that, her eyes go wide as Scáthach summons six lances around her that float in the air before Scáthach smiles and lunches them at Artemis two at a time, forcing the Goddess of the hunt to dodge and twist out of the oncoming slot, the impacts of the spears shake the castle to the core as they leave craters in the ground and shatter the walls and in the middle of dodging the lances shot at her like shells, Scáthach appears admits The Barrage Before the last two spears even fire with an upwards swing with her personal weapon catching Artemis in the side and flings her skyward with a laugh.

The barbs and hooks dig into the side of the Goddess of the hunt and tear her mortal flesh, spilling the golden ichor that hid just beneath. Artemis ignores the ripped flesh and broken rib, twisting in midair and arming her bow before lining up a shot that would hail down arrows on her foe, but her line of sight is interrupted when Scáthach kicks one of the tables at her. Artemis quickly pulls out one of her hunting knives and cuts the table in two before it hits her, but to her shock, Scáthach is right behind it, grinning her mad grin as she plunges her lance into Artemis' stomach and twists it before they both slam into the wall behind Artemis, pinning the Moon Goddess to it with a scream.

"I have you now Graeca!" Scáthach yells in triumph as she summons another spear into her free hand before driving it down towards Artemis' head. With a howl, Artemis swings her arm armed with her hunting blade, extending it to serve the arm of Scáthach that was coming down with her conjured spear, before drawing it back at Scáthach's screams and plunging it into the Lancer's chest. Piercing her breast bone and into her divine heart and twisting it, Artemis shifts to her older form before kicking the Goddess of Dún Scáith off of her to the ground below. Gripping the spear that was pinning her to the wall and pushing with her feet while pulling with her arms she removes the barbed spear from her body and frees herself from the fall, Artemis screams as she removes the hooked and barbed spear from herself, feeling every inch as it rips and tears at her insides.

Artemis lands on the ground, tossing away the lance, and looks up to see Scáthach doing the same, pulling her hunting blade from her chest and tossing it away. Both Goddesses take a deep breath, focusing their divine power on healing the wounds on their immortal bodies. Scáthach's arm grows back in a burst of blood and shadow, as Artemis feels the wound in her stomach close. Scáthach holds out her newly formed arm calling her divine-killing weapon back to her as Artemis re-summons her bow.

"So, you're a war god then?" Artemis asks, it made sense to her, she had seen Ares pull off the same trick with the floating and attacking weapons, but Scáthach just laughs at her.

"War god? Polite of you to say Graeca, but no, I am no war god." Scáthach explains, "the mastery I have over my weapon comes from untold millennia of killing the monsters and half faded gods trapped in the land of shadows and mastering the art of war magic. No, I am no war god." Scáthach says with a smile.

"If you are no war god, then what divine domain do you belong to?" Artemis asks, honestly confused, Scáthach had fought on par with Ares himself.

"That is simple Graeca," Scáthach says as she spins her lance once more, "I am the mistress of Dún Scáith, Witch-Queen of the land of shadows, and…" Scáthach's grin grows to a smile full of teeth as she summons dozens upon dozens of her replicant spear above the head of Artemis all pointed at the Moon Goddess, "The Goddess of Death!" She cries out before the crimson rain of spears collapses upon Artemis.

Harry Potter, the Land of Shadows.

Harry had lost track of when the last time he slept, or ate, or had something to drink Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time he had stopped and rested. He had been down in the Crags of the Shadowlands for what felt like weeks, and it has been fighting, walking, fighting, running for his life, and more fighting. He had lost count of how many monsters he had killed, the only thing keeping him moving was the fear of death and the hunt feeding his body with every kill.

He could feel every wound on his body weigh him down with pain, every bite, every slash, and every claw mark twitched and ached with every step through the suffocating shadows he walked through. He had to rely on his hearing down here, for his eyes could not see through the shadows, not to mention he had lost his glasses some time ago. He hobbled forward, pushing himself far past his breaking point because he had to get home, back to Hogwarts, back to Atalanta, back to Hermione and Ron. He would not die here, he refused to. Sometimes, in the darkness of the chasms, he could make out the faint footsteps behind him, egging him on, to not turn back because he was almost there, and whatever he did, to not look behind him. For only death was waiting for him, so he didn't, he moved ever onward.

Before long and after many more blood-filled hunts, he had found the stock of iron thorns, and he began to climb, his palms slicing open on them, but still, he pushed himself forward, onwards, and upwards to the castle so much like his home.

Dún Scáith, The Land of Shadows.

The throne room of Dún Scáith was a mess of rubble, craters, arrows, and spears. Not much was left standing in the wake of the fight between the two Goddesses, the throne itself was shattered by the swing of Scáthach's spear when Artemis had dove behind it to avoid another barrage of lances. Pockmarks littered the ground, stained gold with the blood of the gods, for every shot that Scáthach had not dodged or blocked had landed and torn from her flesh and blood.

As Scáthach stood up from the latest exchange of blows, the half of her head that was blown away from one of Artemis' arrows rapidly regrows itself in a gruesome display of blood and bone, Artemis pulled the lance that had pierced her side to her armpit from her as both Goddess of death stands back up, breathing heavily.

"I must say Graeca," Scáthach says as she calls her spear back to her hand from where it had fallen, "This has been one of the best fights I've had in a millennia." With a smile.

"Fuck. You." Is all Artemis says back to the Goddess of Dún Scáth, but all Scáthach does is laugh and get back into her ready position to charge the Goddess of the hunt.

"Perhaps later, for now, I need to jam my big hard lance deep into you and find your heart," Scáthach says with a smirk before taking off in a burst of speed, appearing before Artemis, stabbing down at the hunter as she dives away, rolling away from the follow-up slashes from the Goddess of Dún Scáith. Artemis dives and picks up the hunting knife discard earlier, drawing her second one before turning to face the charging Goddess of Death. They clash in a dance of sparks from their weapons and the intent to carve the other one to pieces. Artemis knocks the barbed spear away, then swings one of her silver blades to gut Scáthach, to her surprise Scáthach takes the blow, and a waterfall of golden ichor pours from her belly. But the Goddess of Dún Scáith took the blow and capitalized on the momentary surprise to wrap her hand around Artemis' throat and picking her up, thrusting her lance forward, aiming for the Goddess of the Hunt's heart.

"Bleed for me Olympian!" Scáthach screams in the face of Artemis.

Artemis thinking fast stabs a hunting knife through the arm of Scáthach, making the Witch-Queen release her throat, Artemis twists her body, removing her heart from the path of the lance and landing a kick to the side of Scáthach's head, booting her away. But Artemis did not escape the exchange without injury as the lance ripped through her side before she landed the kick, and as Scáthach went flying the barbed and hooked spear was ripped from her side in a brutal fashion spelling more of Artemis' golden blood.

Artemis quickly closes the wound before putting her blades away and re-summoning her bow to release a barrage of arrows at high speed at Scáthach as the Goddess of Dún Scáith crashes into the ground and skids across the stone floor. As the smoke from the arrows clears Scáthach stands up, peppered with arrows and holes where they had punched through her body, leaking golden liquid to the floor, the wounds quickly close as she sneers at Artemis before calling forth a wall of red lances, hundreds floated in the air all pointed at the chaste huntress, too many to dodge without getting hit, and with but a gesture Scáthach lunches the barrage at Artemis.

Artemis had no way to dodge them all, so she did the one thing she could think of and called up a domain she did not use often, she called upon the Moon. With a scream, Artemis uses her Authority over it to summon a vortex that leads directly to its silver surface to swallow up the portion of the barrage that would hit her, taking it directly to the moon. As the other lances crashed into the wall behind her, destroying it completely and opening it up to the shadows below the castle, Artemis closes the vortex before collapsing to one knee. The Moon wasn't a domain she uses often for how much power she needs to call upon its full power, other than the ability to see all when it was full, calling upon it was too costly, it wasn't hers by birth nor by conquest. The mortals gave it to her after they had stopped worshiping Selene during Roman times. Artemis was no Goddess of magic so she could not utilize the ancient mysticism surrounding it as Hekate could.

As Artemis was on one knee taking deep breaths from the strain her trick had caused on her, Scáthach was smiling.

"A very good trick Graeca, but let's see you do…" Scáthach abruptly turns her head before sighing, "Let's see if we can not finish this dance, no?" The Goddess of Dún Scáith says as she walks a few feet over, lining herself right across from the Goddess of the hunt and pointing her spear at her, "Let me show you how to kill a god, in one perfect peerless strike of a lance, hmm?" Scáthach says as she tilts her head.

The lance then ignited in an aura of malice and death, twisting red mist surrounding it, and Artemis could feel how hungry it was, hungry for blood, hungry for a divine heart. Scáthach sets the butt of the spear on the ground before her smile grows from a soft smirk to a bloodthirsty one full of teeth, and she tosses the lance skyward with her hand. Artemis could tell what it was as soon as the aura covered the lance, a divine curse, and a powerful one at that, one that when once used would always seek the heart and never fail to strike it, to implant into the body iron thorns that would rend flesh and snuff out mortality.

Artemis has never been so insulted in her existence.

"Gáe…" Scáthach says, beginning the curse as she spins on her heel and jumps into the air back flipping as she does.

Artemis was done, she had enough of this fight, of this hunt. She wanted to collect her son and leave this god's cursen place and now the ruler of the shadowed-filled hell hole wanted to use a divine curse to try and kill her! A curse created to rend flesh and end mortal lives!? She was Artemis of the Olympians! The Goddess of the Hunt! How dare this Goddess insult her like this! She wanted to use a curse that ripped flesh and snuffed out mortal lives, fine! Artemis would discard both.

So she did, Artemis' human guise split and cracked at the seams as she discarded both her flesh and mortal form, it burned away like paper in a blaze, as Artemis assumed her true godly form. Silver light enveloped the room as her flesh burned away, she grow to the size of her brother, her hair hung loose and blow in an ethereal wind taking the look of a Nebula full of stars, and her eyes no longer glowed like amber in the dark, but shined the silver of the full Moon, but still slitted like a cats eye. She wore a simple silver belted tunic with sandals that wrapped up to her knees. In her hands, she held her bow and a single silver arrow, whereas her brother had his harp, her father his master bolt, and her uncles the trident and helm respectively, she had a bow and a single arrow forged by the Cyclopsis.

As she arms her bow and pulls the string back, she lays upon it her divine domains of archery, the hunt, and instant death.

"I am Artemis of the Olympians, and you will heed my word!" Artemis calls out to Scáthach, "and that word is," Artemis releases her arrow, "BEGONE!"

"BULG!" Scáthach screams at the same time as she kicks the butt of her spear with her big toe, launching the spear at the Moon Goddess' arrow.

As the arrow and lance meet in mid-air, they struggle to overcome each other as a divine curse meets a thrice blessed arrow. The lance tries to go after a mortal vessel in the room but finds none, and begins to waver, Artemis' arrow, however. The Cyclopsis only ever forged her a single arrow, because a single arrow was all Artemis ever needed to end her hunt and kill her prey. So when the lance wavers the arrow does not and shatters the spear and rockets towards the Goddess of Death whose eyes were wide with surprise as the silver streak strikes her, and for the first time in forever, moonlight comes to the land of shadows as the arrow strikes with the force of a tomahawk missile.

Artemis sighs as she doesn't see her prey stand again, and reverses back to her mortal guise before collapsing to her knees, she had used up too much energy too far away from the flame of the west and had drained herself. She had to find Harry and get out of her and recoup her lost power. As Artemis struggles to stand, she uses her bow to lean on and begins to walk to the door of the throne room that was somehow still standing, getting her son and leaving the only thought in her mind. So she was surprised when the door opened and in walked Harry.

He was covered in blood, his own blood, and what he was wearing was torn to shreds, showing bleeding wounds of claws, bites, and slashes as half his shirt was missing along with his glasses and one shoe. He was barely standing and clinging onto life, leaning on a red spear, taking slow and careful steps into the room before he began to collapse with a burst of energy Artemis crosses the room and catches him before he hits the ground.

"Harry!" Artemis screams as she does, "Harry, talk to me!? Please! Harry!" She says scared, not knowing what to do, she needed to get him Ambrosia and nectar now!

But as Artemis cradles the body of her child she hears him murmur, "I did it… I made it… I can go home…please…" the boy says before passing out.

"Don't worry Harry, I'll get you home, please, just, please keep breathing," Artemis says as she tries to lift the boy from the ground, but stops as she hears the laugh of another and slowly turns her head to the rubble by the door.

The rubble shifts and moves as Scáthach stands back up, fully regenerated from Artemis' greatest attack, an attack that should have scattered Scáthach's essence to the winds. Nothing short of Typhon or a higher god could have survived that blow.

Artemis' eyes were wide with shock as she asks, "How? My arrow should have killed you, it should have taken you years to regenerate from that!" Trying to understand what happened.

"Kill me? Kill me how Graeca?" Scáthach asks with a knowing smirk, "Perhaps you meant to scatter me over Dún scáith? Over the Land of Shadows? Tell me you jest." The Goddess of Death says as she cocks her hip and recalls her spear. "I am Dún Scáith and the Land of Shadows, and they are me. How does one scatter a goddess over themselves, hmm?"

And all at once, Artemis understood that Scáthach had been playing with her since the start of their fight. Artemis would have to destroy the whole of the lands of shadow and the castle that stood in it to kill Scáthach in any term applicable to killing a god. For as the Olympians had tied themselves to the flame of the west and their thrones of power, Scáthach and the Celtic gods tied themselves to places of power where only they reigned Supreme, and Artemis was standing in the heart of Scáthach domain.

As Artemis gapped, Scáthach smiled, "But alas the boy has arrived and so our fun stops here Moon Goddess, I must say I am impressed by the boy, he bested Sétante recorded by a day." The Goddess of Dún Scáith says before snapping her fingers and repairing the damage to the fortress that the battle of the two Goddesses had caused.

Artemis recalls her bow and grips it tightly as she asks, "Now what? Are you going to try and kill us both?" Artemis asks and Scáthach chuckles.

"No Moon Goddess, while it was a good fight and I welcome another in the future, for now, I must make sure the boy lives." Scáthach says as she stabs her lance into the ground, "and I must do so quickly, he has bled in the land of shadows, so the land of shadows has bled into him. If he stays here much longer the boy will never be allowed to leave. So move and let me carry him, I will need to heal him."

Notes:

And the battle of goddesses is over!

That was fun to write, I stopped it earlier than normal because I wanted to keep the mushy stuff for the next chapter.

You guys have no idea how hard it was not to put the word "Thot" after that "begone." Anyway, I hope you guys like it, and if you didn't know VinCredable updated his Harry Potter story, so go check it out. Because finally after ten years! The King has returned, so excited about that.

To explain the fight and why Artemis got the boot is pretty simple, Artemis isn't a fighter, she's a hunter.

Scáthach on the other hand is a straight-up warrior maid, she trained the greatest of Irish heroes and is a badass so powerful she somehow became a god. How does that work? No idea, we don't have the full story.

Also, how Scáthach used the Gáe Bulg is how it is described in the epic of Cú Chulainn, you're supposed to use your big toe and toss it over your head. Weird shit.