Hercules

As I entered the massive building, I was taken aback by the vast and empty hall in front of me. There wasn't a single thing in sight, and the silence was eerie. Looking up, I saw that there didn't seem to be any upper floors as the ceiling was too high to contain any second floors. I walked further in and still found nothing, making me wonder what this building was for. It was as if whoever built it intended it to remain vacant and unused. Nonetheless, I continued to follow Aunt Uriel and Lucile.

As we approached the end of the hall, I started to see the silhouette of a person standing there. However, when we got closer and could see it more closely, I noticed that it was only a bronze statue of a man posing.

Aunt Uriel walked to the statue and pressed its left eye.

I expected for a grand reveal like in the movies, but nothing happened.

Next, Aunt Uriel pressed the statue's lips and waited and again, nothing happened.

Clearly irritated, she pressed a few other places on the statue's body but when nothing happened, she shouted, "Where the hell did, he put the damn button this time?"

Not getting the result she wanted, she got angry and used her fists to solve the problem.

BOOOM

The bronze statue exploded into countless tiny pieces, revealing a long staircase leading down.

Satisfied with the result, Aunt Uriel turned to look at our horrified faces, "let's get in."

"are…. Are you sure it's OK?" I asked, not sure if the statue owner would be happy about her little outburst.

"why wouldn't it be OK?" she asked back as if nothing had happened.

I looked at the statue pieces then looked at her again, "Nothing I guess."

"Good, then let's go," she said and without waiting for us, started climbing down the staircase.

The stairs and the walls were made out of slippery black marble-like stone, giving a sense of luxury and horror at the same time, making me feel uneasy.

After descending for more than ten minutes, Lucile got tired, "why don't we just run down?"

"Because Alex and Asue can't keep up," Aunt Uriel answered without turning her head.

"Then let's leave them behind…"

"You are more than welcome to go ahead if you want…" Aunt Uriel said, knowing full well that Lucile would dare to face Hercules alone.

"No, I'm good…" Lucile answered in a low voice and continued the rest of the trip downward in silence.

After another ten minutes passed, I couldn't hold back my curiosity and asked, "Why does he live underground?"

"Because the temperature he is working in is too high and it can damage the main building structure." Aunt Uriel answered.

"I feel like we've been going down for hours..." I complained, feeling like my feet were going to detach.

As if waiting for me to embarrass myself by sounding weak, as soon as I completed my sentence, we reached the end of the stairs.

In front of us was an ordinary-looking wooden door. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary about the door was its size, as it was more than 5 meters tall.

Aunt Uriel looked at the door for a few seconds before saying, "Stay behind me."

She pushed the door without much difficulty. However, as the door opened, the temperature started to rise, making me feel like I was inside a volcano.

"Cool down the temperature Ander," Aunt Uriel shouted and a few seconds later, the temperature started to decrease.

Aunt Uriel walked past the door, and we followed.

When I walked past the door, I was surprised to see a smithy with state-of-the-art equipment merged with some old-looking forgery tools.

The room was filled with red light, giving it an ominous feeling, but it was really cozy and comfortable.

Before entering the smithy, I subconsciously expected to enter some great hall the size of the building above. However, the smithy was actually just a 5*5 room with a cave, just like the one in my room except much bigger, on one of its walls.

Every tool was placed in an orderly manner, reminding me of Malia, but just a simple look was enough to notice that this smithy was far more organized than Malia's room.

It was to the point that I couldn't even spot an out-of-place tool on the table.

"Does he have OCD?" I mumbled.

"Something like that…" Lucile answered with a hushed voice, clearly not wanting to draw attention to himself, but still unable to leave a question unanswered.

"Do you need something big sis?" a masculine voice came from the cave's direction, making us all turn around.

Coming out of the cave, there was a three-meter tall man with broad shoulders and bronzish brown skin. His hair was black, and when he got close enough, I could see his abnormally bronze eyes that looked like rusted metal.

"That sound..." I mumbled. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't remember where I heard it before.

As if finally noticing me, the man turned his head toward me and smiled, "Time for you to visit, tiger cub."

Suddenly it hit me, "You are the one who brought me here…"

Just before I completely passed out in the alley behind our apartment building, I heard the same voice calling me a tiger cub.

Before I could say anything, Aunt Uriel who compared to the man was like an ant in front of an elephant, walked toward him, jumped up, and hit him in the head so hard that it made the ground tremble.

"OW, what was that for?" the man complained like a wronged child.

"That was for the annoying statue…" Aunt Uriel said before looking back at me, "This is Ander, better known as Hercules and yes he is the one that brought you here."

I bowed my head and said, "Hello sir, thank you for helping me."

The man looked at me with astonishment for a few seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter, "are you sure he is David's son?" he asked turning to Aunt Uriel.

"Just give him time, I'm sure he will become someone worse than his father." Aunt Uriel said with a knowing smile.

I was a bit offended by their reaction but could do nothing so I just stood there and looked at the two of them with an annoyed look.

"So," the man looked at me before turning to Aunt Uriel, "I assume you are here to ask me to become his master."

"Well, that was easy…" Aunt Uriel exclaimed, a little surprised.

"Of course, David and I had a deal after all to …."

Suddenly, an unbelievably dense aura took over the room with Aunt Uriel as its center.

She looked too angry and I felt like she would kill someone the next second if someone didn't do something.

"You knew too? You know Mary was pregnant and didn't tell me?" Aunt Uriel hissed threateningly.

Hercules took a few steps back while raising his hands above his head like a man about to be arrested and said, "Sis, it's not like that. It was just a deal David and I made when we were kids."

Hearing him say that, the aura suddenly faded away as if it never existed and everything returned back to normal for a few seconds before another surge of a similarly powerful aura took over the room.

Hercules looked at Aunt Uriel before turning to look at Lucile who looked like a caged mouse, "when you said "too", do you mean he knew??" he asked Aunt Uriel without looking at her.

I didn't know how he concluded that Lucile was the one who knew about my mother's pregnancy, but his reaction made me feel like Lucile's life was really in danger.

"I have already punished him, so you can stop." Aunt Uriel said nonchalantly as if the aura didn't affect him at all.

Alas, Hercules didn't seem to hear her and started walking toward Lucile who was frozen in place with a frightened look on his face.

BANG

"What was that for?" the aura suddenly disappeared and Hercules turned to look at Aunt Uriel like he was wronged again, "He is the one who should be punished."

"I said I have already punished him… don't make me repeat myself." Aunt Uriel said and walked toward us.

I expected Hercules to insist on the matter but it seemed that he didn't have the guts to defy Aunt Uriel.

"We have more important matters to discuss. Apparently, the Cosmochameleon we defeated had an egg, and David stole it without any of us noticing." Aunt Uriel explained.

"had it formed a core?" Hercules asked, not shocked but intrigued.

"Yes, and a level 2 one at that."

"Where is it then?"

Aunt Uriel looked at me and said nothing.

"You can't be serious…" Hercules said, clearly not believing that I had absorbed a mythic core.

"Lucile gave him the core..." Aunt Uriel explained and before Hercules could say or do anything, she grabbed him by the ear, "I don't like repeating myself, do you understand?"

"Yes, yes..." Hercules said with a pained expression.