Amidst the cheers of the gods that continued to echo in the hall that might be more appropriately called a 'colosseum' than a 'meeting room', Taufik's eyes were fixed on Hades.
An indescribable atmosphere formed between them that even affected the entire hall with how the cheers of the audience slowly faded away.
One second, two seconds, and a few moments later, no sound could be heard anymore, Kratos was still lying on the ground unconscious due to too much blood loss, Agon who was the referee in this duel also did not enter the arena to announce the winner, suddenly everyone realized that the match was not over, because according to the rules, this was a life and death duel before one of the two contestants breathed his last, the match would still continue.
"... Why did you stop? The match isn't over yet, kill him, kill Kratos"
Hades' cold voice sounded in the crowded yet silent hall; the atmosphere became tense, and an uncomfortable feeling could be felt in the air.
"Why? Kill him and you will come out as the winner"
Hades' voice was heard again, Kratos' brothers and sisters who were watching from the audience had a strange look in their eyes, their eyes seemed to say that they were ready to rebel if necessary, calling it a 'rebellion' might be a bit wrong, because the four of them including Kratos who was lying on the ground unconscious only put their loyalty to one figure, and that figure was not there at the moment, they were only loyal to that figure, they were only loyal to Zeus and not to Olympus as a whole.
"... What are you waiting for? Kill him"
Said Hades for the umpteenth time; hearing this, Kratos' brothers and sisters tightened their grip on their weapons; their wings were ready to flap at any time if Taufik would make a move that they were afraid he would do.
But unlike what they had expected, Taufik, who had been looking at Hades, then lowered his head with a sigh that didn't escape his mouth, after that he looked back at Hades with a completely different expression, it was like a disturbed expression that adults show when a child they don't know very well is acting too annoying.
"... Who are you to order me around?"
Taufik said in a different tone, then he looked left and right, when his eyes fell on the three winged gods who were standing while holding their weapons tightly like people ready to fight, Taufik sighed again.
"... What are you guys doing there? Quickly take him and give him treatment, why are you standing there like an idiot?"
Bia said in confusion as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"What? Just come down here and take him, or do you also want me to kill him?"
Bia said nervously, she then looked at Hades, but seeing Hades who did not do anything and did not say anything, Bia breathed a sigh of relief and then invited her brothers and sisters to go help Kratos.
After that, the three of them then went down to the arena and approached Kratos. Bia immediately checked Kratos' condition and breathed a sigh of relief that Kratos was only exhausted and had lost a lot of blood; Bia immediately told Zelos to support Kratos and immediately told him to go with Nike. While Bia herself turned to Hades, lowered her head, and then spoke.
"Thank you for your generosity, Lord of the Underworld"
Bia said to Hades but did not get any reply from Hades, but Bia was not disappointed because she had expected it to be like that. Bia then raised her head again then turned towards Taufik.
"For you too, With all my sincerity, on behalf of my brothers and sisters, we thank you for sparing our brother's life, in the future, no matter what your relationship with Olympus is, if you ask, I promise, the four of us will always be ready to help you..."
Taufik, who heard what Bia said, could only grin awkwardly because if Bia knew what Taufik's purpose was in coming here and what he had done, Bia probably wouldn't have said that.
Earlier, Hades had mentioned the matter of Taufik 'having a connection with the disappearance of Zeus and the others'. However, Taufik did not 'confirm' this, so Hades' statement was still 'possible' and Bia would not possibly think that far ahead, so, with a forced smile, Taufik said.
"... well~ I don't think Kratos is willing to do that, but I'll accept your offer; please take care of your brother because he is something like an Idol for humans in the future"
"... I'll do that, once again, Thank you... I don't know what business you have with us, the Olympian, but I hope it will go smoothly... Alright, I'll go now, and Be careful, because you don't know what Lord Hades is thinking"
Said Bia, giving a warning to Taufik before walking away from the meeting hall.
Bia said suddenly before she even walked halfway out of the Arena, while turning back to Taufik, and then added.
"Can I ask you some questions?"
'Did she notice something?'
Taufik replied nervously.
Seeing Taufik who looked nervous with an awkward smile, Bia tilted her head slightly, then asked.
"... Why do you look nervous?"
"Eh? N-Nothing, I'm , occasionally... I get nervous when someone as beautiful as you talk to me for too long, it's a kind of mental illness"
Said Taufik, who even he himself did not know what the meaning behind those words was; Taufik could only smile awkwardly again to cover his embarrassment while inside Taufik was screaming.
Taufik kept looking at Bia to see how she would respond but he didn't expect that Bia would show a response that he didn't expect at all.
Taufik exclaimed inwardly because he saw that Bia's face was currently blushing.
'What the... Why your face is like that?'
Bia immediately blushed, she didn't expect a reply like that, for Bia who was often involved in battles due to the missions Zeus assigned, Bia had a muscular body like a man, and the compliments she often received were 'She's Strong', 'She's very strong' or 'Bia is very Extraordinarily strong' the point is the impression that Bia gave off was that she was a strong Goddess, but deep down, Bia was still a Woman, but she had never received a compliment that said that she was 'Beautiful' this was the first time, so Bia was a little unprepared for the 'Attack' that came suddenly.
Moreover, the 'attack' came from Taufik, who is not far behind Adonis in terms of handsomeness, while Adonis himself was often considered the epitome of male beauty, that even captivated the Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite herself and Persephone, furthermore, Taufik said that sentence with an awkward impression which added a plus point in Bia's eyes, if Taufik knew this, he would get goosebumps because of cringe.
Still, with a blushing face, Bia said again.
"What are you saying? I'm not that pretty, don't say nonsense"
"A-Ah~ I'm sorry, that was also one of the effects of the illness I had... Forget that, what did you want to ask earlier?"
"I see, poor you, about that question, I just want to ask a simple question, what's your name?"
"A-Ah, Name, yeah~ Name, I-Its T-Ranjana, yeah, That's my name"
"Oh~ Tranjana?... Tranjana... Tranjana... That's a good name, I'll remember that... Okay, I've taken a lot of your time, I'll be going now, see you next time, Tranjana~"
Said Bia while winking at Taufik, then turned back towards the exit; when she was outside, Bia spread her wings and immediately flew away quickly to catch up with her brothers and sisters. While Taufik could only watch all of that with cold sweat pouring down his cheeks, not knowing how to react.
"... *Hufft* It's already over... F*ck! What the hell even that? *Sigh* I don't know anymore... Eh, wait?"
With Bia already gone, Taufik immediately remembered something, he then slowly raised his head and looked around him, and sure enough, the hundreds of gods were staring at him silently.
"Ahh... Aha-Ahaha~ You all picked a bad time to be silent, did you all do it on purpose?"
A large hall, hundreds of gods, but not a single one reacted, seeing this, Taufik also fell silent.
"... *Ukhum* I'll go back to my seat first before we continue our conversation"
Said Taufik who then slowly walked towards his sofa where Aksara and Lembuswana were.
# A/N- "I don't know if there are one or two readers who have reached this chapter; if there are, then I say thank you, nothing important; I just want to ask about the previous four chapters, as you know, last month, or should I call it last year? Hehe ~ just kidding, as you know, before, I didn't upload many chapters because my work became too busy because of the end of the year so I didn't have time to write, but in every little free time I had, I did some research by Reading a few action book and did some experiments using AI to create a battle situation, and learned from it, the previous four chapters (Vs Kratos) were the result of that, so I want to ask, what do you think about those chapters, are they good enough or not? Just in case there is someone who has made it this far, please reply with a comment on this paragraph, Please!!... Maybe that's all; in the future, look forward to the new chapter because starting today, the new chapter update will be back to normal... Maybe, Ahh~ Happy New Year"