Divine Enmity (Catnipz)

XIV. Truth hurts.

An idiot.

A damn idiot.

That's what Kim Minji was.

Since the incident with archery, Haerin hadn't stopped running into her everywhere around camp. Before, she could barely see her beyond the mess hall, but now all she did was collide with her. And every time, Kim Minji would look at her with a mocking smirk.

It was hard for Haerin to admit that Hades' daughter was truly the best in camp, not because she thought so herself, because she was far from it, but because it was a fact. So damn perfect, and she had humiliated Haerin more than once.

It was envy because Haerin couldn't muster the same confident attitude. Because she always looked so perfect, because she was skilled in combat, moving across the field, wielding swords.

As long as Kim Minji continued to see Haerin as an inexperienced newbie, the air of superiority the raven-haired girl carried wouldn't fade.

However, as much as it irritated her, for now, there was nothing more she could do.

In recent days, Haerin had been going to the training field constantly, but without Danielle, because both of them knew they wouldn't accomplish anything together.

Heeseung helped her a lot, teaching some moves and training her in hand-to-hand combat. Initially, they didn't use real swords, only sticks they wielded like they were. They trained until they were exhausted.

Ryujin also tried to "help" her. Ryujin was utterly sadistic. Before the training, she made her run five full laps around the lake, supposedly to work on her endurance. The daughter of Ares watched with amusement as Haerin ran with her tongue out, nearly stumbling. But her endurance had indeed improved.

Ryujin was much tougher and more chaotic than Heeseung. Heeseung showed her the moves step by step, while the daughter of Ares preferred direct combat until Haerin learned.

And if she thought Ryujin was horrible, Yeji could be even worse. The two daughters of Ares were going to kill her one day.

At that moment, she unsheathed her own sword.

Yes, she had a personal sword.

Wooyoung forged a sword for her, very light and shiny, with the handle perfectly crafted for her grip. He even engraved a small "H" on the handle itself. Haerin couldn't have been happier about it, because at least she didn't have to use the camp's rusty swords anymore.

He also made her a small armor, not much, a very light breastplate and a scabbard for the sword. Haerin felt very light with all of it.

When she arrived at the training field, Kim Minji was at that moment surrounded by four guys with swords. Haerin recognized their faces, three children of Ares and one of Hephaestus.

Oh, Choi San is there.

The four campers attacked the raven-haired girl at once, and Haerin was surprised at how quickly she evaded them. Their swords clashed and resounded, and Kim Minji managed to kick one of them in the chest, sending him stumbling back, giving her some time to focus on the other three.

Two of them attacked together, causing the raven-haired girl to just crouch down and let the others take the brunt of the attack from the other. She used that moment of confusion to subdue the third, bringing her knee to the boy's stomach and hitting her own elbow against his to disarm him.

The boy she had kicked before came back, but he didn't have time to attack, as Kim Minji, with two swords in hand, pointed one at him and the other at another camper.