A surge of magic power instantly inflated Kabuda, its pitch-black body almost filling all the space within sight.
"?"
Hephaestus — the god of Fire and Craftsman, the anger that had just risen on his face was instantly replaced by astonishment — he prided himself on not being inexperienced, especially since in prehistoric times, Fire Dragons were even more common than Nifflers, but he had never seen a Niffler larger than a Fire Dragon!
Where did this thing come from? Was he dreaming because he was hammering things and fell asleep?
"Roar—!"
The enlarged Kabuda seemed to even have its calls change from "squeak" to roars. It blinked innocently, then shook its massive body in an attempt to shake off the dust scattered over it after smashing the dome — but it clearly overlooked its current size, as the dust only increased with its movements.
"You... whatever you are!"
After a brief shock came an even more turbulent rage, Hephaestus stomped the ground with his lame foot, and as he opened his right hand, the temperature in the forge room suddenly soared. The molten lava in the fireplace seemed to come alive, flipping the forging hammer towards the man.
As the hammer's handle entered his grip, flames surged from the man—
"Squeak?"
Kabuda looked down, tilted its head, and after brief contemplation, chose to take a deep breath, "Hiss—" its enormous lungs sucked every bit of air from the space into its mouth, and then, "Exhale—"
"Puff—"
The flame that had just risen above the man's head vanished like candles on a birthday cake in the light, leaving only a wisp of smoke.
"?"
"Damn, you actually—"
"Exhale—"
"Wait..."
"Exhale—"
"What are you going to do..."
"Hiss, exhale—"
"Enough!"
The God of Fire was completely enraged. He finally stopped insisting on making himself flame up and instead swung the hammer in his hand, aiming at Kabuda, who had crouched down to blow air, and struck under its chin— "Clang—" The crisp sound made the God of Fire pause slightly. He was certain this was not the sensation he expected when hammering flesh—
He looked up, staring at the lightly rippling blue barrier in front of the Niffler, just as he was about to speak, a huge force of rebound abruptly came from the barrier, sending the man flying backward, crashing through several walls and pillars behind him, landing in the ruins with his life uncertain—
"...squeak?"
Kabuda scratched its chin, feeling a bit itchy.
But, looking at the distant collapsed ruins, it understood that the yelling red-furred rodent was finally quiet.
Kabuda patted his bulging pocket, its form began to shrink. Soon, it picked up the Golden Cup that had fallen to the ground earlier, while the soul that was trying to "Possession" it half a minute ago stood dazed, eyes full of shock as if saying "What the hell did I just witness".
However, the matters clearly wouldn't end so simply, as Kabuda picked up the Golden Cup, several figures appeared behind it—
"Give it to me."
Athena extended her right hand, finally revealing the hand she had hidden in her clothes since the beginning — rough, wrinkled, full of ravines — completely disconnected from her young and beautiful face — and with her "command", Kabuda, as if stone-crazy, pulled out the half-pocketed Golden Cup—
"Tch."
At this time, a slight click of the tongue, with a hint of impatience, sounded next to Athena.
Immediately, a large hand covered in golden armor pressed firmly onto Athena's shoulder. At this moment, Kabuda, like waking up from a dream, instinctively shook its snout, then hastily stuffed the Golden Cup back into its pocket.
"...are you not planning to continue acting?"
Athena did not turn back, only spoke calmly.
"When was I exposed?"
"From the very beginning — my relationship with that guy isn't good enough for a calm chat—"
With the woman's words, she turned around, raised her hand to press down on that hand — Ancient Wizards don't use such intricate things as a Magic Wand, Wandless Magic is just basic — William's right arm, pressing on her shoulder, suddenly ignited blue flames, seemingly without temperature but burning more vigorously until it engulfed it completely—
Finally, under the woman's calm gaze, Ares stepped out of the flames, his golden eyes harboring furious anger.
"You... useless."
Athena showed no mercy for her half-brother, almost unhesitatingly opening her mouth to mock, "You even fell for such outdated low-level traps, was your brain digested by that old hag while still in her belly?"
"Do you think I would be grateful to you?"
Ares' expression was gloomy, clearly annoyed — but the fact was he was saved, or usually hearing such words, they would certainly have fought again.
"Now, we should discuss how to deal with this... Niffler? And, this spy—"
Athena didn't care about Ares' ungratefulness, she turned her head to look at the man and the Niffler who had gathered together, ready to seize the opportunity to escape.
"Uh..."
"Crack—"
But, without even giving Lucius a chance to argue, Athena raised her hand, which scared him into instinctively covering his head— but after several seconds passed, feeling nothing, he turned his head with the Niffler on his shoulder, seeing that even Athena looked surprised.
Obviously, the crisp sound of breaking glass was not her doing.
"Wait, it's me..."
Also hearing the noise, Ares instinctively turned behind him, finding around him countless cracks rapidly spreading in the air, with silver-purple light brewing among them, making his expression darker, as it reminded him of something—
"Roar!!!—"
The deafening roar sounded from the void, the next moment, a pitch-black claw tore through space, and a completely black Fire Dragon appeared with a furious roar, its spiked tail swung straight toward the man's face, with Ares having no time to think and only able to place his arms before him—
"Boom—"
The next moment, he too was sent flying, just like a certain "red-haired old monster" two and a half minutes earlier.
On the other side, appearing alongside the dragon's tail was naturally a dragon's head, without a hint of mercy, it opened its mouth and bit down towards Athena, who hadn't reacted either, accompanied by a crunching sound, and the woman's body began to "move separately".
"...that's all?"
Stepping from the void with Norbert, William looked somewhat puzzled as he blinked, scratching his neck with the redwood wand he had just raised, then naturally putting it away.
But it is certain that this was definitely not his original intention.