Soon we were all on our way again, trekking down the paths we already walked and praying we got back to where we once were in time. Everyone was exhausted and had all lost hope, but they still tried to light of things by chatting amongst themselves and cracking a joke every now and then. Hayi and Jeongguk both led the way while we all fell in line behind them. Little did we know, a great battle awaited us in the Valley of the Giant, what I call it now after our previous battle. 

As we drew closer and closer to the valley, a loud buzzing sound caught our attention. We brushed it off, thinking it was nothing, but soon we were halted by Hayi atop a hill before the valley. I looked to her with confusion, but seeing the look on her face, I saw that even someone as brave and daring as her could show fear. She stood, mouth agape and eyes wide as she slowly lifted an arm and pointed down into the valley. As we all turned our heads, we dropped our belongings and joined Hayi, frozen in fear at the sight. A large army of rowdy centaurs ran amuck in the valley. They lit fires, played loud and awful music from their instruments, and ran around with weapons in hand. The task of getting rid of them would've been easier if their group were smaller, but we were way out numbered. 

"Well," Hyeri spoke up, tucking her hands into her pockets. "What do we do now?" Her tone was calm but by her appearance, I could tell she was afraid to go in like the rest of us. 

We all looked around, wondering what to do. Taehyung, however, quietly took his bow off his back, handing it to Dasom who took it in confusion. We all turned our attention to him, wondering just what he thought he was doing. 

"We fight, that's what," Taehyung said, looking up at us as he took off his quiver and handed it to Dasom as well. He put his hand out and summoned his silver bow made from moonlight. I looked at him in shock. From the months I'd been here, I learned that Taehyung only summoned said bow in emergency situations. It was a sacred bow to him, as it was given to him by his mother at birth after all, and only Artemis children could even touch it. Taehyung swore to only use the bow if he truly needed it or there were a war to be fought. Hongbin had one as well, but he was restricted from using the bow often for one reason and one reason only; the bow drained energy from the wielder with every shot taken. These bows were the Artemis children's lives, and it is the reason Taehyung had only used a normal bow up to this point. 

"Dasom, do you know how to use a bow?" Taehyung asked, holding his moonlight bow up to examine it. 

"K-kind of?" Dasom stuttered, looking at the items in her hands. 

"Good enough. You can use my bow until the end of exams," Taehyung replied with a reassuring smile when Dasom looked at him with horror on her face. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Taehyung, don't do this," JHope spoke up, putting a hand on Taehyung's shoulder with a serious expression on his face. "Without me." He grinned from ear to ear as he summoned his own bow, gifted to him by his father as well at birth. JHope's radiated with light and heat emitted from it while flames whipped about like the burning sun itself. Unlike Artemis bows, Apollo's bows didn't need energy from the wielder to work. They just needed the sun to be out. By morning, JHope tended to use his own bow. By night, he used his normal weapons. He carefully took of his belongings and handed it to Ilayda with a smile. "Take care of these for me, all right?" 

The boys all followed in the two's example, taking out their weapons. Suga wielded a sectional spear made from Stygian iron. Rapmon unsheathed his sword that crackled to life with electricity. Jimin took out his beloved Cupid. Hongbin prepared his bow and arrows while Jeongguk took out his poison tipped darts. Dasom, who was still not used to or acquainted well with all of us, raised a brow, questioning Jeongguk's weapon choice. She'll soon learn the boy may have used a simplistic weapon that seemed like it wouldn't do much, but he had many tricks up his sleeve. I've trained with him many times in battle class. On his seemingly small body, he hid throwing knives, throwing stars, daggers, grenades, smoke pellets, and much more. These seven may look like they couldn't do much as a battle team, but in reality, they were the toughest fighters in school, ranking in the top twenty students when it came to skills in battle. Even Hongbin, who had a sick and frail body, fell in seventeenth place with his skills.

Hyeri smiled and nodded, unsheathing her dagger but Jimin stopped her. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked her worriedly.

"Preparing for battle, what does it look like I'm doing?" She retorted, taking a bandanna out and tying it around her head.

"No," Taehyung replied. "You girls and the children are going to be our backline. We're not letting you fight this battle."

Taehyung turned around, starting to lead the way into battle, but Hyeri swiftly got past him, grabbing his arm and holding behind his back. He cried out in pain as she held him still, holding her dagger to his neck. "Don't be so cocky, moon boy. We may be girls, but we can fight. When you guys got your butts whooped by the giant, who saved you, huh? That's right. We don't need your protection, but you need us. Got it?"

She pushed Taehyung away, causing him to stumble a few steps towards the group of boys before they turned to us. The girls looked to each other and nodded. Dasom drew her bow. Hayi tossed an unactivated grenade about in her hands. Hyeri gripped her dagger tightly, and I summoned my whip. We all looked at the boys confidently. 

"Ready to brawl, boys?" I asked, nodding to Hayi.

She grinned and pulled the pin out with her teeth before chucking it into the army of centaurs. As soon as we heard the explosion, we rushed into battle. Yoogeun and Ilayda stayed a safe distance behind us. While we all fought, Yoogeun defended Ilayda with his guns, shooting any centaur that came close. Soon he became so immersed in the battle, he drfited from Ilayda, leaving her by herself. By the time he saw through his bloudlust, he turned to find a centaur charging right at her. There was little she could do besides stand there in shock. For some odd reason, the girl didn't seem to waver. Yoogeun ran to her, shooting wildly at the centaur and missing every time.

"Ilayda! Watch out!" He shouted, sprinting towards the little girl.

Ilayda hugged JHope's belongings tightly, shutting her eyes tight in fear. As the centaur jumped on her, a dome of dark magic covered her, causing the centaur to fly back and land on the ground painfully. Yoogeun stopped before Ilayda, blinking in amazement at what just happened. Ilayda looked around and smiled, giggling softly. 

"I think Mommy is watching me," she said with a bright smile on her face. Yoogeun looked at her with astonishment. She really didn't need his help after all. What else could this tiny girl do?

Meanwhile, our teams held off the centaurs well. Taehyung, JHope, and Hongbin showered arrows upon the centaurs. When the centaurs came too close to the archers, the three simply turned their bows into close ranged weapons, pounding the monsters over the heads with their bows before piercing through their hearts with arrows. Hyeri and Jimin became a tag team with Jimin charging in and slashing at the centaurs, but when the centaur tried to return an attack, Hyeri jumped in, hopping over Jimin and plunging her dagger into the monsters and causing them to disappear into the wind with a loud cry.

Suga's spear wielding was the most magnificent thing I've ever seen. He could stand in one place and poke his spear about. But if the centaur were out of range, he simply split the spear into sections and he swung it about, the connecting chains clinking together. Just a scratch with the tip of his spear turned the centaurs to ashes. Rapmon fought alongside Suga, his sword electrocuting every monster it touched. He may always be busy with school and his presidency, but Rapmon never fell behind the other boys when it came to battling.

Meanwhile Hayi and Jeongguk hopped about. Jeongguk would throw his darts at one centaur in one area, then sprint off to a different area, grabbing knives from his sleeves and stars from his pockets to throw. Hayi was even on the backs of these creatures, jumping from centaur to centaur as she planted a bomb on each of them. She worked her way across the centaurs like a gymnist across the competition floor. I wasn't surprised, however. These two may joke around and skip school often, but when it came to these kinds of things, they were experts.

Soon however, our little mistakes began catching up to us. Every missed or repeated movement, the centaurs saw and took it as an oppurtunity to attack. We all began to fall one by one. As we became corraled and trapped, we looked around for any possible solutions. 

"We're not going to be able to win this," Hyeri said softly, realizing that all of this was a mistake. "There's too many of them and too little of us."

"What do we do?" Jimin asked.

We all went silent, glancing at Hyeri whose expression dropped, her words coming out slightly choked. "Give up."

"Hm?" Ilayda suddenly hummed, causing us to look at her suspiciously. "What's that, Mommy?" 

"Ilayda, who are you talking to?" I asked, worried she was probably going crazy. 

"Shh, I'm talking to Mommy. She's talking to me in here," Ilayda grinned and pointed to her head. "Okay, Mommy. I'll do that!" She turned to me and held her hands out. "Can I have my whip back real quick?"

I obliged and slowly handed her the whip. Stepping out into the open area, the centaurs turned towards her, ready to attack at any moment. Ilayda didn't seem to fear them. She scanned over the monsters and raised her whip, spin it around above her head before cracking it at the ground. We all shook and stumbled as the ground began to rumble and shift. A crack in the Earth soon appeared and Ilayda jumped in excitement as a large hellhound crawled out of the crack. 

"Cuddles!" She squealed, running up the hound and hugging it. The hound whined like an actual puppy before placing her on its back. It then growled, striking fear into even our hearts. "Did you bring friends?"

We turned back to the crack where an army of the undead and hellhounds soon crawled out, falling into proper formation with Ilayda in the middle of them. She looked around and nodded. Raising her whip, she cracked it in the air and pointed forward. "Charge!" She ordered. The army shot forward and began fighting the centaurs for us. We didn't even need to do anything. We all sat back, collapsing onto the ground in a depleted heap. These exams were turning out to be more work then they needed to be.

We watched as Ilayda and her army fought off the last of the centaurs, none of us even bothering to worry about her. We were all exhausted and she looked like she was having fun, so we let her be. By sunset, the battle was finally won. Ilayda thanked her minions and waved goodbye to them as they all sunk back into the ground, heading back to where they once came. Meanwhile, we gathered up all our belongings and straightened ourselves up. A few of us were injured, and we were all sore from the fight, but at least we got a chance to rest. With only a few precious moments of light left, we made haste and quickened our pace as we headed into the jungle. Hayi led the way and before long, a grin formed on her visage and she turned to face us. 

"It's up here!" She said cheerfully, pointing past a curtain of vines and foliage. With relieved expressions and thankful smiles, Jimin drew his sword, hacking away the obstacles before us. But as the temple was revealed, our hopes came crashing down as we stared at the crumbling ruins of what once was there.

"What? What is this?" I asked softly, flabbergasted. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Y-yeah," Hayi said, looking a bit surprised herself as she walked up to the temple and touched a cracked and worn down stone wall. "It didn't look like this when we got here a few days ago."

Rapmon let out a frustrated grunt and sat down on the ground, his head hanging low between his knees. "Guys, do you realize how long we've been doing this exam?" He asked, looking up at us with an exasperated look.

Taehyung's expression dropped. "No way. You're kidding me," he sighed deeply and hissed as he summoned his bow, firing an arrow off into the distance in frustration. He kicked the trunk of a nearby tree and pressed his forehead against it as he tried to calm himself.

"Why? What's wrong? Rapmon?" I asked, looking rather confused. 

"It's been more than half the time we were alloted. They moved the finishing point for the exam as to prevent any cheating from happening. We're too late. There's nothing here for us to benefit from," Rapmon replied, laying back on the ground with his arm covering his eyes.

I looked to Hayi for help, brows cinched together worriedly. "Do you know where the second point is?"

She shook her head with a sad expression. "I don't," she said, looking at the ground before looking back up. "I'm sorry. I wish I could do more to help... My hands are tied." 

"Damn it!" Jimin shouted in frustration, collapsing on the ground as he curled up. "We've been fighting and traveling all this time for nothing. This !"

"Jimin, the kids-" Hyeri spoke up, her voice softer than usual as she addressed him. I could tell she was disappointed as well.

"I don't care, Hyeri. I'm pissed," Jimin retorted. 

We all sat or stood around, glancing out into the jungle awkwardly as we went quiet. There was tension in the air. Mixed emotions brewed within each person; dread, guiltiness, desperation, hopelessness, and much more. I sat down, leaning up against a tree trunk. I was positive before, but I'm at a loss for words now. I shook my head, letting out a soft sigh.

"I don't care anymore," Hongbin said softly, catching the attention of several people. "I'll take an F. Who cares?"

"I'm with you, Hongbin. Screw this. I don't care if I have to clean the pegasi stables for the next three months. I want out," Hyeri added.

"Charon's probably going to make us do the obstacle course over and over again until we can't move anymore after this," JHope said with disappointed sigh.

Suga nodded, his eyes leering from side to side as he opened his mouth to speak. "I give u-"

"Don't you finish that sentence, Min Yoongi," a mysterious voice called out.

We all looked around, panicked by the sudden outburst. Taking defensive positions, we frantically searched for the source of the voice as a bright light illuminated from on top of the ruined temple. We covered our eyes, an instinct for most demigods as we knew such a bright and warm light must've meant a god or goddess was appearing before us. When the light died down, we looked up to see a woman stand before us, her wings spread like an eagle preparing for flight. Looking down to us, she smiled, her wings folding and seemingly disappearing into her back. 

"Hello, children," she greeted us warmly, crouching down and taking a seat upon a crumbling wall. "You seem tired."

"N-Nike?" Hyeri asked, her eyes wide.

Nike smiled brightly and nodded. "My, of course the daughter of my companion, Athena, would know who I am." 

"Who is Nike?" Dasom whispered to Suga.

Suga glanced up at the goddess then back to Dasom as he whispered back to her, "The goddess of victory. Companion of Athena. Chariot driver of Zeus." Dasom nodded as she awed softly.

Taehyung straightened up and looked to her with a respectful expression, bowing his head slightly as he spoke to her. "May I ask what we can help you with? Why are you here?"

"Why else?" She replied, hopping down and walking to the middle of our group. She rolled her wrist, holding her open palm out before us as a glowing crystal ball appeared in her hand. "I came to offer you victory and an early finish to the exam."

The group looked at her in surprise. I felt as if a load had been lifted off my shoulders as I stared at the orb longingly.

"But why?" JHope asked, staring hard at the crystal himself. "Why did you come to us of all people?"

Nike smiled empathetically. "Because you have proven your worth. Of all my years protoring these exams, never have I seen a group undergo so many troubles and hold their composure so well. Not only did you fight a cyclops and survive, you defeated an entire army of centaurs! You're immense knowledge on power usage and survival skills have brought you so far. In fact, if you had only defeated the centaur army a bit quicker, you would've made it in time to find the temple intact. It'd only been destroyed a few hours earlier." 

"You mean... we can finish now?" Rapmon asked, standing up and approaching the goddess. 

Nike nodded. "Just reached for the crystal, my dear. You'll be transported back to the academy."

Rapmon took a deep breath and looked around at us before lightly touching the orb with his fingertips. A bubble wrapped around him, frightening him slightly as it lifted him off the ground and carried him away, back to the school. Everyone glanced around, muttering softly. We didn't know if this was some sort of trick, but we were all desperate enough to try it. 

One by one, we all approached Nike and touched the orb, instantly becoming enclosed in a bubble and floating away. Soon only three of us were left, Taehyung, Hayi, and me. Hayi approached Nike, slowly reaching for the orb. She looked up at the goddess and Nike shared an expression with her that I had not seen her express to any of the others. Her smile was warm and loving, as if she were looking at someone she favored. She leaned in and whispered something to the girl, causing her to smile before she touched the orb and disappeared with the others. Nike then turned to the two of us with an encouraging smile.

"Well? Come along, you two."

I turned my head towards Taehyung who gazed at me for a while before cracking a smile, something he hadn't done for a while now. He held out his head and raised a brow. "Shall we?" He asked. I nodded, returning a smile as I took his hand. We reached out and touched the orb, a bubble closing around us. Nike waved to us, her lips moving as she spoke to us. I could faintly here her words, as if she was trying to whisper a secret to me.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, glancing at Taehyung. "What Nike said just now?"

Taehyung shook his head with a placid expression on his face. "No. What did she say?"

"Uh, nothing," I replied, looking away. I watched as we floated over the exam maps. I observed how the landscapes collided, distinguishable lines between each of the maps to show where they ended. We floated over hills, mountains, forests, and so much more. Soon we floated high above the clouds and in a flash of light, we were back at the academy. I could faintly hear Nike's last words to us as the bubble popped, our feet touching the ground as we landed.

You two are a fitting pair. Best of luck, my child.

Later that night, after we all went home and rested up, a banquet was thrown just for our group. Awards were handed out to those who Nike saw deserved them. Everyone received high marks, of course. Dasom received an award for her outstanding display of ability and a congratulatory letter from the principal for her claim. Ilayda was given an award for her bravery and use of her skills. I was surprised when I received an award for my leadership and skills. I was also given a personal note from Nike explaining my award. It was something about the way I handled the situation, being able to use others weapons skillfully while also showing subtle signs of my hidden abilities. 

As everyone sat around in the emptied lunchroom, we chattered amongst ourselves as we dined. JHope approached me, tapping on my shoulder to catch my attention. He smiled his usual friendly smile, though I could see the slightest signs of nervousness in him. "Jiae, could I talk to you outside for a bit?" He asked, pointing towards the door. I nodded and obliged, leaving my seat and excusing myself as I followed him out of the dining room. We walked outside, taking a seat on the stairs of the building. Silence passed between us before JHope could work up the courage to speak.

"C-could I ask you a question?" He began, rubbing his nape and looking away slightly.

"What is it?" I tilted my head, a soft smile on my lips as I tried to make eye contact with him, though he avoided it.

"This is really hard for me to ask, and I hope you won't hate me for it-"

"JHope, how could I hate you for asking me a question? Don't be shy. Out with it-"

"Will you go out with me?" He asked, turning towards me with a serious expression on his face.

My face dropped as I stared at him in shock. 

Oh, no...