As the space rift continued to expand, like a wound forcibly torn open in the world, the edges of the rift flickered with unstable and dangerous purple arcs. Moments later, a ferocious Fire Dragon suddenly burst out from it, its jagged bone spurs and dark scales gleaming with a cold metallic luster in the dim light.
Norbert slowly scanned the ant-like figures below with its dull yellow vertical pupils, a low, rumbling growl emanating from its throat like distant thunder, filled with menace. A hot breath accompanied by the smell of sulfur exhaled out, distorting the nearby air slightly.
On the dragon's back, William stood there leisurely, his figure as steady as a rock, the hem of his dark blue coat gently swaying with the wind from the rift.
As the dragon's muscular tail completely exited the rift, the spatial gap quickly closed behind both man and dragon, as if it had never existed. On the dragon's back, William leaned forward slightly, a simple action yet exuding a sense of dominance. His gaze quickly swept over each face below—
"Oh, what a coincidence, the runaway little mouse is hiding here?"
His voice wasn't loud, yet it traveled clearly across dozens of feet, reaching Athena's ears with a cat-and-mouse kind of teasing, "You were hard to find."
Athena's lips pressed tightly together, her hand gripping the Magic Wand in her sleeve turned white from the force. Fear and humiliation intermingled in her pupils, yet she forced herself to stay silent for the moment, with her upright back appearing especially rigid.
Soon after, William's gaze lazily moved to the figure beside her, raising an eyebrow as if discovering something interesting, his tone becoming more flippant—
"That must be... oh?" mimicking Snape's drag of the note, looking up and down, "Zeus's taste is really... the legends are true, Lord God King is indeed indiscriminate, appealing to all ages..."
This mocking taunt instantly ignited Hera's fury.
Having never experienced a "beating," all Hera's fear actually stemmed from Athena, and wasn't solid.
"You blasphemer, shut up!"
Hera shrieked, magic power swirling around her, her coarse appearance rippling like a wave, slowly distorting, then revealing her truly grand and luxurious visage again, her dark brown hair fluttering without wind.
But William merely nonchalantly cleaned his ears.
"Alright, today I'm not here for you two."
His gaze passed over the two women who appeared pleasing on the outside but reeked of inner decay almost to the point of nausea, falling upon the figure cloaked and hooded at the center of the altar, "So, let me finish my business first, then we'll talk about your issues—"
Saying so, he leaped off the dragon's back, falling rapidly but landing lightly as a feather, without making any sound. Norbert also landed behind him, exhaling with sparks in its breath, its massive body vaguely shielding William, its vigilant eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.
Then, William began to walk towards several people, his footsteps clear in the suddenly eerie silence, as Athena and Hera almost instinctively held their breath, now only able to wait for the plot to unfold—
"Ashwinder Party?"
Finally, William stopped ten paces away from the black-robed figure, his tone flat, not asking but rather confirming a label.
The heavy hood moved slightly, as if nodding.
Then, without any warning, a blinding, ghostly green light burst out from William's sleeve like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, tearing through the air with a deathly aura and the Killing Curse's characteristic shriek, striking accurately and without error at the chest of the black-robed figure.
"Boom!"
With a muffled sound.
The black-robed figure's body suddenly stiffened, then collapsed limp like a puppet with strings cut, sprawling onto the cold altar floor, the hood slipping off, revealing a pale and unfamiliar middle-aged man's face, eyes wide open, the last flicker of life in his pupils extinguished.
Everything happened too quickly.
Athena and Hera were stunned.
They anticipated all sorts of possibilities—
Fierce confrontation, strange magical means, perhaps even some doomsday forbidden magic... yet they never expected that this figure, who set up such a massive scene, even dragging them down with him, who had accurately identified their true identities two and a half minutes ago... was so effortlessly defeated? Unable to even mount a proper defense or dodge?
A sense of absurdity clogged their throats; if this "Prophet" was merely an empty threat, then what they now faced seemed to still be that "unbeatable" William Richard, that Demon.
The two exchanged a glance, confirming the best course now—
Find a way—make a getaway!
However, things did not unfold as the duo imagined—
Seeing the "Prophet" fall, William first instinctively taunted, "What, the Prophet didn't foresee this..." but then he paused, his expression slightly retracting, even his brows furrowing. His gaze lingered on the corpse on the ground for a moment, then moved beyond—
In William's view, a thin, almost transparent black mist, yet still visible, seemed to have its own life, leisurely "crawled" out from the black-robed figure's eye sockets, then dissipated into the air—
In the next moment, it re-coalesced in the air, rapidly entering the body of another hunched-over Ashwinder Party member in a black robe nearby.
William's gaze followed.
"Roar—"
Norbert lowered its head, its threatening dragon roar indicating it sensed the threat.
At the same time, that originally unremarkable, hunched black-robed man, after the black mist entered the back of his head, his body barely perceptibly trembled and then, slowly and unusually steadily, he straightened his bent spine, like a machine rusted for years suddenly poured with lubricating oil, moving without a hint of stiffness...
Then, he turned, the heavy hood still masking his face, but William could feel a calm "gaze" piercing through the shadows, landing on him.
Thus, the black-robed figure, with a voice almost identical to the previous body's, deep and steady, slowly spoke, its voice clearly resonating in the silent cave—
"You've arrived."
"...Please, stop with the stale trope."