The girl immediately turned towards the man who somehow none of them had noticed until this point in time.
There was a tense moment of silence in which the girl's eyes widened in horror. She spared a glance at Dumbledore that confirmed that he didn't know who this pers- monster was.
The man was standing with the support of his silver cane and had a golden monocle on his right eye, the only eye that was currently open and looking at them.
Before anyone could react, the webs in the area wound into sharp spears piercing the man's body.
"Hahaha~ What a cute little welcome for me Cheek.", the man said while laughing at the silky white spears that had pierced him.
Harry who was afraid for the man watched in absolute shock as not even a single drop of blood escaped from his body.
"I was wondering which numbskull it was that tried to corrupt my blessed and colour me surprised. I didn't expect it to be you Cheek. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."
There was silence for a moment that not even Dumbledore chose to break. Dumbledore simply looked at Cheek and then at the new man carefully and analysed him a little slowly.
He wore black knee-high boots, a dark robe and a pointed black hat while the most intriguing of all was the golden monocle fixed over his right eye.
"Who are you?" The woman asked as she glared at the man who hadn't introduced himself yet.
"I doubt you don't know me so I assume this is just your attempt at performing humour, though your jokes are just as bad as ever...But I shall humour you. My name's 'Amon' or maybe you could call me…Mr. Error. Worry not, I won't do anything bad to you, aren't we all on the same side? Against those pesky outer gods?"
The girl trembled slightly and Dumbledore performing his role of a spectator noticed it easily. But seeing Cheek stuck in her position as if she'd seen a ghost Dumbledore asked the next question, "...who?"
"What~!? I've been away for a few years and the two of you've already forgotten me? *sigh* I understand you haven't had as much time as me in this world, but you still haven't learnt anything about me? Just how weak are you guys? And you still decided to mess with my blessed?"
"Naive…" The man shook his head in an amused disappointment.
There was silence in the air as Amon finished his rant but seeing no recognition from him he spoke again, "And here I thought Cheek being your acquaintance would've told you a little about me. Tsk. I gave you more credit than you deserve. Foolish kids. I guess the founders were right in ignoring you for the numbskulls you are."
Dumbledore's eyes widened at the random information drop and he almost immediately pulled out his wand and waved a spell out of it.
A red bolt of light flew at blinding speed, travelling through the air until it reached Amon who just swatted it away with his staff like he was casually waving away a fly from his face.
The spell landed on the roots behind Amon and instantly exploded into a fiery inferno which Dumbledore had to wave his wand to direct away from them since although 'They' could bear it, Harry's body would've been burnt to ash.
"Is that a way to treat someone who's speaking?" Amon asked with a polite frown on his face.
It was at that moment that Cheek swiped her hand and caused a wave of black flames to flow over Amon.
Except when she waved her hands nothing came out of them.
"What are you trying to do with waving your arms in the air?" Amon asked looking like he was puzzled and then his lips moved up ominously as he waved his hand-
"Did you want to make these flames?"
-and caused a small black flame to appear in it.
"Yo- You!? You're really here!!" The woman gasped as she took a step back. Dumbledore too was looking at the man with a slight frown, yet he appeared to be far more composed than Cheek who was clearly panicking as her hands trembled in fear.
'As expected of a Spectator.'
"My blessed told me you've been tormenting him all year Cheek. He told me you keep trying to get him to surrender to you. He said if he wouldn't come to you, you would've caused him to lose control."
Amon looked at the woman with narrowed eyes and then with a dangerous glint in them he asked, "Is that true Cheek? Did you really do this?"
Cheek composed herself and spoke with a kind smile that gave her the aura of a kind elder sister who cared very much for you.
"I wouldn't have done anything if I knew he was 'Your' blessed."
'I need to charm him!! That's the only way to leave!'
"Hmm….I understand." Amon said as if having been charmed by the girl's attempt which caused 'Her' smile to deepen, except that was when he said, "But I suppose punishment's due. So that you don't even think about repeating what you just tried to do to me."
Amon then adjusted his monocle and, with a sinister smile that promised he was up to no good, suddenly vanished from in front of the three people.
"Where did he go?" Cheek immediately asked Dumbledore with a sense of despair on her face.
Just as Dumbledore was about to reply, his eyes shifted to her protruding belly, and Cheek's attention shifted to it too.
"Oh? 'He' is ready to come out. I guess 'He' wanted to meet 'Him' too." Cheek said sarcastically as she 'carefully' caressed her belly by punching it.
"Who is-"
"No! I'm not talking about 'Him'. I'm leaving. You can handle the aftermath, whatever it is. I'm not going to get involved in this further. The warning was enough for me."
"You are under my protection."
"Ha~! I knew you'd try and bring this up again. What do you think I've been doing all year? Sitting around twiddling my thumbs? I've figured out how to reach the founders, they can keep me safe from 'Her'. But you know what? It doesn't matter how hard you try. You will never be able to keep me safe from 'Him'."
Dumbledore frowned deeply.
''He' is stronger than 'Her'?'
Dumbledore's lips turned thin and shifted into a frown and just when he was about to open his mouth again, the weight in Cheek's belly shifted.
There was a splash of water that made her robes wet after which suddenly something fell out in between her legs.
Stepping back a little, Cheek allowed a small pink-faced baby to come into view. The baby's hands danced around in the air for a few seconds before its mouth opened and instead of a cry, a shrill scream of death erupted.
Cheek stepped back and shielded herself while Dumbledore immediately rushed in and dragged Harry away from the centre, protecting him just as his body began to spasm and mutate.
Harry suddenly lost consciousness when Dumbledore pointed his wand at him.
Once Harry was safe, Dumbledore walked back toward the baby.
Cheek was bleeding because of the terrible speed at which the baby separated from her, but her eyes constantly scanned around the area as if she was afraid of suddenly being eaten alive by her shadows.
'I can't leave this body behind!'
'I've suffered enough from doing so once!'
She quickly pulled out a mirror from her pocket and tossed it into the air, her hand punched towards it and she was about to enter it and escape away into the mirror world when saw Dumbledore place Harry a little away and walk towards the now transforming baby.
Dumbledore looked at the baby and calmly flicked his hand.
Cheek's vision suddenly blurred as she felt her Sea of Subconscious suddenly be hit by a storm. Her body bubbled as her hair flew into the air as if it were alive and trying to rush away from her head.
Dumbledore had used the ability, Mind Storm. It caused a storm in the sea of subconscious surrounding them. It was a hard ability to deal with for demigods since there were plenty of weak points in one's psychic body.
Especially in Gods who were already maddened.
It made them easily hear the sounds of at least a thousand people screaming knowledge into their ears. It was torture. Especially when the knowledge itself was corrupted from beings both on the planet and from deep within the cosmos.
As if someone had pressed the fast forward button on the baby's life, along with its scream and its features started to change, first, its reddish skin slowly turned pale, and then its height and weight started to increase.
Slowly the baby was no longer a baby but appeared as a toddler that stood on his two legs. After which with his first step he raised his hand.
It was at this point that both Cheek and Dumbledore froze in their spot as they realised something was wrong.
The toddler with its arms extended screamed and wailed in the most unholy way imaginable, both Cheek and Dumbledore immediately understood that the cry was no longer a cry of pain from corruption but one of fear.
*AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
The ability Dumbledore had used wasn't strong enough to cause this effect. Even if it was a maddened god. This was the scream of someone fighting death.
The toddler grew, passing from about four years old to about ten in an instant, and then slowly until it aged to thirteen before it slowly moved rapidly towards the age of twenty-five.
Clothes sprouted out of nowhere and covered the man who had long stopped screaming with his head bowed low as thin black hair fell on his face and covered the eyes on his face that were further hidden by his tall wide hat from everyone else.
Dumbledore clenched his wand tighter while Cheek gulped audibly.
That was when the man finally opened his eyes as a mischievous smirk played on his lips.
His fingers twirled as a golden monocle formed in between his fingers which he calmly placed on his right eye.
And then the man looked at Dumbledore and Cheek, opened his mouth, speaking for the first time, as he simply said-
"Boo."
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A/N : Here's your extra chapter, enjoy!
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