chapter 22: Training with Athena

"Is something wrong?" Miko asked and everyone looked over worried.

"No, just uh, some um, nothing" he responded, Shiro was a bad liar naturally, so that didn't fool her.

"Hey, don't lie, if there's something wrong, tell me" Miko insisted, making the young hero more uncomfortable.

"Seriously, it's nothing, I'm fine" he replied, and she finally relented "Fine, if you say so," she said.

Shiro sighed, switching to Amo-vision, which happened with a thought, he saw everyone's emotion, Daichi had a big red flame around him, scaring the shit out of Shiro.

"I guess that's what rage is" he mumbled.

"Hmm, you said something?" Miko asked.

"Um, yes, tell me about your skill," Shiro asked.

"Well, uh" Miko looked bothered, Shiro noticed this "Is something the matter?" he asked.

"I avoided that topic in particular because I know you have no Skill" Miko answered.

'Wait a minute, how did she know that?' he thought.

"How did you…" he was interrupted by her, "I was there during your spark essence test, I saw it all" she replied.

'Come to think of it, I remember seeing her there, among the candidates' Shiro thought as he remembered a flashback of seeing Miko during his test. There was silence for a moment until Shiro gave a small laugh, "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Well, nothing, it's just that I'm glad you considered my feelings, not many people do that…" he paused "But it's ok, I love Skills, I've been studying them for years now," he said as he pulled out a burnt notebook.

"This is one of the books I use to take note of people's skills" he offered her the note and she went through it amazed by the detail in the drawing and work.

"Wow, this is incredible" she commented.

"So please, don't be bothered by me not having a Skill" he smiled.

'In fact, I can't really call myself that anymore' he thought.

She held the book and looked at him, finally noticing his beauty.

Gabriel, Osirus, and Inari were all passive abilities that didn't require activation, so they were always activated, which means Shiro's conversation about Skills, and Inari's charisma were being used.

Miko stared at Shiro, holding her chest, and her heart was pounding like crazy.

Shiro noticed this, "Is something wrong?" he asked confused.

"Oh, I uh" she stuttered, blushing hard "It's ok, in fact, you can do a profile on me in your notebook" she whispered the last part.

"Sure ok," he said excitedly, and suddenly the lunch bell rang.

"Oh, maybe later" he smiled at her, which even made her blush more, she suddenly stood up and ran away.

"Hey, wait!" he called out, "Was it something I said?" he asked himself confused.

A few moments later, after school. Shiro vanished before anyone could ask where he went.

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In the alley stood Shiro, "Alright, let's do this" he said to himself as his body glowed and a lightning bolt hit him and Orion was once more, flying to the sky, he saw everything around him.

Activating Trouble Sense and Sense of Heimdall, he could see and hear everyone that was in an emergency, from car accidents, fires, and villain attacks to suicide, rescue missions, and natural disasters.

All in 2hrs he had taken care of over a hundred cases, after that, it was all the news had to talk about on every single channel in nearly every single country.

"On today's top story, Orion, a new hero saved a train wreck accident, victims were pulled out in record time and those who were injured were instantly healed," a reporter in Canada said (Canada).

"Orion, a new hero that debuted in Japan, saved nearly 200 people in a plane crash, the plane had been reported to have an engine failure midflight, and emergency responders were waiting at the estimated crash site, but Orion saved the day" A British reporter spoke (London).

And many more came in, at this point, everyone was talking about Orion and wanted to know who he was.

In the weeks that followed, Orion was still the top news, Shiro had begun his training with Sentinel and also the deities.

Sentinel worked him hard, but the basis was simple, build enough strength and resilience to handle the force and blowback of the surprise he promised to give him after the training, he had him do this by cleaning up Shaghoian beach, much to the pleasantries of Inari, Xiwangmu, Frigga and the other deities that heard, especially Arthemis and Venus, who had taken interest in him, much to Greyr and Thyra dismay.

However, the training with the Gods was a completely different matter entirely, their method was so diverse and unpredictable that Shiro learned not to expect anything when going and just to be open-minded to what was happening.

It all started with Athena wanting to train the boy, Athena's method looked easy at first, until it took a drastically horrific turn.

She taught Shiro the way a wise leader handles things, and how to handle difficult situations, it was all easy on paper until Athena teleported with Shiro to a location, where she told Shiro to make it to the top of a mountain, that this was his task to fulfil, however, on his way to the top, he noticed a small village, and the people there were being attacked by strange creatures, which Athena identified as demons, without even hesitating or thinking, Orion rushed to help, and even with the might of Orion, he soon realized that there was too many of them, he tried to evacuating the people, but the demons would always catch a few, no matter what he did, people died nonetheless, frustrated that he couldn't do much, his frustration only increased, when he saw Athena sitting and watching, almost unamused.

"Why did you bring me here? To teach me that I can't save everyone?" Orion roared at Athena, she was still and silent.

"Well, forget it, I won't give, I won't stop trying until I save them" Orion redetermined trying and failing once more.

"That's all good and all, but there is a saying 'It is calmest at the center of the storm' Shiro" Athena finally spoke.

"What does that have to do with anything" Orion retorted.

"What was your original task?" Athena asked, and Orion remembered and looked at the mountain.

Realizing his mistake in an instant, he made his way to the mountain, as he went, people cried and screamed for help, many times he was tempted to turn around and help, but "No!" he steeled his nerve and made his way up to the mountain.

Once he arrived, he found a sword there at the peak, even if it was still sheathed, its glow was intense, he pulled it out of the sheath and the light shined, all the people dead or alive, along with all the demons, the forest, the sky, even with the mountain itself vanished and Orion and Athena found themselves back in the room they started.

Then Orion realized "It was all an illusion," he said.

"Indeed" Athena responded, "And I believe you learned something" Athena held his shoulder "Shiro, there are times that your feelings and emotions will get the best of you, I know this because that was how Hermes spotted you, wasn't it?" she asked.

Orion renounced silence, but agreed nonetheless, "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but never forget common sense Shiro my dear" She smiled.

"Yes ma'am, and I'm sorry for yelling at you" he bowed his head apologizing.

"No, it was expected, but never forget" she responded.