Lionel was released from confinement after a day under observation, and he immediately left to look for Sarah.

As he arrived back at the dormitory, he found that Sarah's locker was empty and her bed was unoccupied.

He went to look for her everywhere but couldn't find her.

Deciding to put it aside for the meantime, he headed to the Armory. 

As he walked, he saw an 8 person team that had just exiting a mission and was receiving praise from the everybody around them, receiving applause from the large area outside the missions hall.

"They finished an Easy mission!"

"Seriously? It's been only a week. That's only the second group that has finished a mission above Very Easy!"

"Amazing"

She was a warrior, and the team consisted of 2 archers, a mage and 5 warriors.  And they surrounded her as if she was the most important member of their group. 

"Sarah! You're awesome!"

"We wouldn't have been able to finish the Beastmen mission without you"

"You're incredible. We can slowly finish the missions one by one now"

Sarah was receiving all the praise and accolades from her teammates, and apparently was the strongest member of her team. 

"Ah.. Sarah?" Lionel approached

She suddenly shrank away, looking terrified of him. 

Her teammates blocked the way with the other warriors, 4 big muscular men standing in front of him. 

"Who are you? What do you want?" 

"I just want to talk to Sarah for a while" Lionel said. 

"It's ok... let him pass" Sarah said. 

The men moved aside as Lionel approached. 

"Not here... follow me" Sarah said, walking away. 

Lionel sighed and followed her to a quiet corner. 

"Sarah I..." Lionel started

"Stop! I know that you didn't intentionally rape me. I know that while your nearly killed me, you also saved my life and now I am much more powerful because of it. But.... I can't face you right now. Just seeing you makes me terrified. 

I can still feel you inside me, hurting me when I see you. 

I'm still terrified that you will accidentally turn me to stone, that your touch will kill me, or that you will.. do that to me again. "

"Sarah.. I'm sorry. I didn't mean...I wasn't in control of myself" Lionel said. 

"I know. And that's why I don't hate you. I just cannot see you anymore. Please don't disturb me anymore" she said and walked off without looking at him. 

Lionel stood there silently, completely stunned. How did it turn out like this? 

But he noticed everyone was giving him cold looks. 

Sighing, he went to see Vulcan.

"Hello can I ... oh!" the gold woman said 

"Can I see Vulcan?" Lionel asked. 

"P...please wait a moment" she said

Vulcan walked out with a strange look on his face.

"Hello Vulcan" Lionel said. 

"Here is your Warhammer. I hope you take care of it this time" he said 

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while. 

"What's going on?" Lionel asked. 

"Everyone has been talking about you, what you did to that innocent girl. Your reputation... isn't the best right now" Vulcan said. 

"I know. I was not in control of myself at the time. I was looking for her to apologize" Lionel said

"You know, it's not my role to judge. Believe me, we the Greek Gods have our fair share of rapes and adulterers. Half the Demi-Gods were a product of the Gods raping a mortal. It's just that.... that girl was earmarked to be a Paladin and possible War Maiden. That can't happen now that she's no longer a... you know" Vulcan explained. 

"Oh!" Lionel said, realizing what happened.  

"Anyway, here is your warhammer. I've reinforced it multiple times with more orichulcum and adamantium. It should be able to even take a few blows from Thor's hammer Mjolnir!" Vulcan said proudly. 

"It can match Mjolnir?" Lionel asked expectantly 

"I didn't say match. I said that it can take a few blows from Mjolnir. Magical weapons like Mjolnir you have to earn and won't come from shops like these" Vulcan laughed. 

"But I thought you created weapons of the gods?" Lionel asked. 

"Your hammer has the basic structure to be a godly weapon. But it needs to be blessed with power, it needs to grow and evolve by itself. It needs to develop it's own identity and soul. That, is up to you. You won't get a finer weapon even in the End of Days unless you get one already owned by someone who has grown their weapon" Vulcan said. 

"I understand. Thank you Vulcan. How much do I owe you?" Lionel said, checking his points.

He gasped as he now had over 450,000 points!

"I won't charge you anything. Regard it as being under warranty. You bent it within a week! But the first step in growing your weapon is to name it.  Go and try it out!" Vulcan smiled. 

"Thank you very much Master Vulcan. I will take your words to heart" Lionel said

Lionel suddenly thought of something and brought out the gorgon's skin. It was decapitated without a head, but it was in once piece overall. 

"By the way, can you do something with the body of this Gorgon?" he asked. 

"Oh! A Gorgon skin! It's skin could be used to create clothes. Gorgon skin, especially the snake part is resistant to magic, has healing abilities and has a degree of resisting damage! I can make a snakeskin armor with this. Give me a few days" Vulcan said. 

"I'll leave it to you then" Lionel smiled as he waved goodbye

He walked directly to the missions room and met Hebe who wasn't smiling.

"I heard what you did to that beauty Sarah!" Hebe looked mad at him. 

"I didn't mean to. I was unconscious you know!" Lionel defended himself. 

"I know! But I also know you've been absorbing the powers of the many monsters you faced!" she said. 

"So what? I need to get stronger!" Lionel answered

"I know that too. But when absorbing the powers of demons, there is always a price! You will not only absorb their powers but also their anger, their hate, their lust... all their destructive emotions... you absorb them all! If not for that girl's love for you, and we found very few people who could give you their love, you would not have been able to recover!" Hebe said. 

"Sarah.. loves me?" Lionel asked. 

"Well, after what happened, maybe not any more. You not only took her purity, you also turned her into a demonic entity like yourself! She has been ripping through her missions like you were, with her Vampire-Werewolf-Zombie abilities that you gave her!

When she saved her schoolmates, she demonstrated extreme bravery, self sacrifice, generosity, faithfulness and love for her fellow man. These are the noble qualities that she was chosen to be a Guardian. But in her latest missions, all I could sense from her is rage, lust, hatred... all the negative emotions that I sensed from...you" Hebe said. 

"But you never told me this about me" Lionel said.

"You are different. You were chosen for your bravery and need for redemption. She was going to be a paladin, while you were a warrior seeking redemption, an eternal struggler. Now both of you have become warriors of vengeance!" Hebe said

"I was supposed to be an eternal struggler? Warrior seeking redemption? What does that mean?" Lionel asked. 

"I shouldn't have told you that. There have always been many types of hero tropes. Even though I call them tropes, they really are real Guardian types, based on their history and emotional makeup. The Eternal struggler is the most self sacrificial hero, but one that will go to the end to fulfill their mission, even sacrificing their lives." Hebe said

"Sounds pathetic" Lionel said

"True. They are the most pathetic, most often never gaining the recognition of their efforts. But to me, they are the most admirable. This is the only types of hero I would trust my life to, because they won't let me down" Hebe sighed

Lionel stood silently. Unknowingly, he screwed up badly. Hebe suddenly approached him and placed his hands in hers and looked him in the eyes.

"I still support you. To me you are still me eternal struggler. It's just... I'm disappointed. When you came back from your previous missions, you had that... smell. I hate that smell because it turns me on. I also hate it because every time Hercules gets back from a mission smelling like that, all my senses scream to not trust him." Hebe said

"I'm sorry, Please place your trust in me. I won't let you down again" he answered

"I know you won't" Hebe said, hugging him tightly.