CHAPTER 116: POINT NEMO

Hermes leaned back, lips curling into a slow grin at this plan.

"A damsel-in-distress plot? Never thought I’d see the day Ymir Glace played the princess waiting to be rescued by a knight."

"Shut up, Potentia." Ymir rolled his eyes, but the faintest hint of color touched his ears.

Hermes let out a low chuckle, though beneath it his pulse thrummed with something fiercer. This wasn’t just theater. This was a hunt. And if Eirwyn truly was in the Void, frozen, waiting...

Then Hermes would be the one to find him. And this time, he wouldn’t let him slip away.

"So... When do we start?"

***

The television anchors were practically salivating.

"Breaking news! Magnarok has kidnapped Cryoshift!"

The screen cut to a female reporter strapped into a helicopter seat, headset pressed to her head, wind from the rotors tearing at her blazer. "That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, we are live over the middle of the South Pacific, at Point Nemo—the farthest location from any landmass on Earth. This region is infamous as a spacecraft graveyard, where NASA and other space programs have disposed of hundreds of decommissioned satellites and stations. And today, it has become a battleground!"

Her camera feed panned down, showing a vast stretch of cobalt waves broken by the eerie carcasses of fallen spacecrafts. Giant cylinders of scorched metal and charred wings jutted up from the water like the bones of drowned titans. In the middle of this desolate graveyard stood a tall figure of molten fire.

Magnarok, holding a smaller, pale figure against his chest!

Cryoshift, the prince of ice, appeared limp, his head bowed dramatically, white hair hanging in tangled strands.

"And now," the reporter shouted over the roar of the blades, "a challenger has arrived! A new hero with the power of ice to rival Magnarok’s magma! Ladies and gentlemen, meet Copy Cat!"

Hermes had already consulted Somner and Aphrodite about this plan.

They gave him the green-light and Somner asked Eris to let Hermes go on the solo mission to ’rescue’ Ymir.

But this was also his first solo mission, so Somner insisted they had to make it count.

That’s why Hermes and Magni had to do this play fight for the news coverage to show how cool Copy Cat really is.

Hermes stood on the corroded hull of a fallen satellite, waves lapping against his boots. He tossed a chunk of ice into his mouth, crunching it with exaggerated slowness. The cameras would see it as flair, a hero showing off the source of his powers.

Only he knew the truth: a single drop of Ymir’s blood frozen into that cube, activating his Power Thief ability.

He spat out the rest of the ice with a little smirk, licking the chill off his teeth before turning his gaze to Magni.

"Unhand him, you volcanic bastard!" Hermes roared in his most dramatic voice, fists clenched. "Or taste the frost of justice!"

Magni tilted his head, trying to look menacing, but his eyes glowed with mischief. "Do you know what this is, Brother Modi? This is a sacred rite in Voidling courtship. The rival must prove his worth by facing the beloved’s chosen guardian. Only if he survives can he take the potential mate away."

Ymir snarled, thrashing in his arms. "Potential mate? You reeking slab of lava, I’ll rip your tongue out and freeze it to your forehead!"

Hermes’s lips twitched. He fought the urge to laugh outright. The cameras couldn’t hear the words, thank every god in existence.

"Don’t worry, Your Highness," Hermes said sweetly. "I’ll rescue you from this terrible suitor. Even if you don’t look particularly grateful."

"You’re both insufferable," Ymir muttered, but his ears were turning pink again.

The fight began.

Magni flung a torrent of molten rock into the sea, steam exploding upward in a massive plume. Hermes countered with a sweep of his hand, ice spearing up to shield him. The impact thundered across the ocean, shockwaves rippling outward.

Reporters screamed in delight. Helicopters angled for better shots.

"What a clash, ladies and gentlemen! Ice versus fire at the edge of the world!"

Hermes darted forward, his movements fluid and theatrical. He let the frost whip from his fingertips, weaving ice-lances that struck with a crack of shattering steam.

But his strikes were calculated, angled just shy of Magni’s core, flashy enough to dazzle the audience without actually harming his friend.

Magni, for his part, was loving it. He roared like a beast, swinging his lava-coated fists wide, his molten aura boiling the seawater around him into white mist. He even stomped on a half-submerged spacecraft, sending a spray of burning metal into the air.

"Magnificent, isn’t it?" Magni whispered, low enough only Hermes could hear. "The dance of rivals over the bones of fallen starships. Do you not feel the poetry, Brother Modi?"

Hermes sidestepped an incoming plume of magma, flicking frost across Magni’s cheek. "Focus, Magni, or I might accidentally freeze your face off!"

Magni only grinned, teeth glowing with molten cracks.

Behind them, Ymir struggled in Magni’s hold, snapping, "Can you idiots keep it moving?"

Hermes laughed, then launched himself into a spinning kick, ice trailing from his boot like a comet tail.

Magni blocked with a forearm of molten rock, sparks and snowflakes bursting where their powers clashed. The sight was perfect for the hovering cameras.

The battle raged for ten minutes, a choreographed storm of ice and magma, carefully balanced between spectacle and restraint.

Hermes even let Magni score a dramatic hit, sending him crashing through the carcass of an old satellite, which cracked open like a metal egg.

Hermes emerged, brushing soot off his shoulders, grinning like a showman.

By then, six helicopters circled the scene, their cameras eating up every frame. The world below saw a hero rising. Copy Cat, the new savior who could face down Magnarok and live to tell the tale.

Finally, Hermes and Magni exchanged a look. It was time.

Magni raised his fist, magma glowing brighter than ever. "Guess you can’t handle the heat, Copy Cat! I’ll be taking my prey now!"

He roared for the cameras, before leaping backward into a Rift that shimmered open behind him. Ymir vanished with him, swallowed by the dark tear in the sky.

Hermes shouted a heroic line for the benefit of the world. "This isn’t over! I’ll save you and avenge your honor, Cryoshift!"

Then he hurled himself into the Rift after them.

***

The moment the Rift sealed behind them, silence fell. The roar of helicopters, the pounding of waves, the fevered cries of reporters.... All gone.

The Void stretched around them, an endless canvas of black stone and molten rivers, a world that seemed stitched together from nightmare and decay. The three of them stood together on jagged ground, the air hot with sulfur and frost at once.

Magni finally let Ymir go, brushing imaginary soot from his chest. "That went well. Did you see the way I nearly vaporized that satellite? Poetic, if I may say so."

Ymir rubbed his temples, clearly resisting the urge to kill him. "If you may say so? Even C-rank Threats have more flair than you, Rockhead."

Hermes laughed, stretching his arms.

The adrenaline from the staged fight hadn’t left him yet, but now it sharpened into something else. He glanced around the molten landscape, eyes narrowing.

"All right, gentlemen. Playtime’s over. Now the real hunt begins."