Every nerve in her body lit up as she hurtled towards the fire, but thankfully, her body did not light up like it would have without Arius. Not a hair on her arms was so much as singed.

Her vision became consumed by the inferno. Even the light of the fire did not seem as harsh to her anymore.

Within the next second, they were engulfed by the flames. Val could feel the intense heat, but only insofar as she enjoyed it. Being wrapped in fire felt like she had been swaddled in a clean banket, fresh out of the dryer.

All the while, she had Arius’s arms held around the backs of her shoulders, clutching at the front of her chest. Val clung to his hands there with her own. Most of all, the touch of his skin felt hot to her.

The fiery sensation left as quickly as it had overtaken her. Brighter sunlight greeted her on the other side of the fire.

Behind her stood Arius. “Welcome to the place where you should have came to the Summit.”

The two of them had appeared in another small plaza. The intense roar of the brazier sounded from behind them.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes!” she said, too loudly. “Why do you ask?”

“You just became still when we went through the fire,” Arius mused.

A pause held between them. It was neither profound nor awkward, but that made for an achievement in and of itself.

“I’m going to get Foofy. Wait here.” Arius jumped back through the fire, leaving Val alone in a strange place.

People milled about the plaza here too. With Arius gone, more passersby gawked at her. A few whispers started up.

On top of that, Val swore that someone lifted their phone up tacitly and took a picture of her. That man ducked his head and scurried away.

“Um.” She followed him with her eyes, noting the street that he utilized for his escape. Maybe she should bring that up to Arius.

As her thoughts flitted to him, he reappeared through the fire with a bundled-up Foofy in his arms.

Foofy squirmed with all his might to get out of Arius’s arms, yet he held him fast in a broad hug. Unable to kick or bite, Foofy had both his legs tied together and his snout muzzled shut. Red cords of Arius’s power had rendered him immobile.

“Let him go! What is wrong with you?” By pure reaction, Val called upon Divine Judgement to slash through both Foofy’s binds and Arius’s arms.

Like that, Arius was forced to drop him.

Free of the magical rope, Foofy tumbled to the ground and landed roughly upon the brick plaza. Whether from pain or fright, Foofy yelped. Both were unacceptable as far as Val was concerned.

Next, she called forth a secondary impact from Divine Judgement before Foofy could attack. Val blasted Arius backwards so that he returned to the brazier.

Fire could not burn him and neither did it force him to teleport. Rather gracefully, Arius worked with the momentum and did a backflip through the flames. He landed on his feet on the other side of the burning brazier. Red light streaked around him as his power stayed activated.

Both of his hands lifted into the air. “I know that looked bad, but just let me explain.”

“You hog tied Foofy!” Val shouted. She did not want to listen to any of his whining excuses.

His arms stayed up in the air. If she had left any scratch upon Arius, there was no evidence of golden blood on his forearms. “He was squirming too much,” he tried to say. “I did not want to drop him and send him to some random fireplace or candle in New Gate, nor a forest fire or volcano across the continent!”

Were those the dangers of fire transportation if they were to become separated in the fire? Val could feel her eyes bug out of her head. For a second, she let her guard down.

On the other hand, Foofy did not understand that now was the time for the humans to talk. He picked himself up, ran around the brazier, and snapped straight for Arius.

Since he was supposed to be the second most powerful god in existence, she expected Arius to have quick enough reactions to avoid Foofy for some reason. Then again, he was a divine dog, so expecting a god to dodge Foofy was equivalent to a mortal evading the charge of a regular Doberman Pinscher.

Flying forward, Foofy latched onto Arius’s arm.

Sticking up his arm like that had been the most that Arius could manage.

Foofy growled and thrashed hard enough to jerk him around.

“Off,” Val cried. “Foofy, off!”

That command, he did not know very well. Her mastery over her divine beast meant nothing in this case.

Unruly, he chomped down on Arius harder. That lasted for only a second more. Foofy’s growl thickened, then lightened into a whimper.

“Having a taste of my blood was a mistake, dog,” Arius spit.

Foofy released Arius from the vice of his jaws. Immediately afterwards, he started yowling out of pain and hobbling to one side. Foofy looked ready to collapse.

“No! What are you doing to him? Please stop!” Val rushed to help support Foofy, letting him lean all of his weight onto her. Both of her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

This poor doggy trembled all over.

A hard huff came from Arius with a roll of his eyes.

Did he dare just roll his eyes while he was putting Foofy through agony?

The imposition of pain onto Foofy ceased. As soon as it did, Foofy took up in snarls more savage than before. He started to attack Arius again.

“Control your divine beast!”

Val forced out Keep the Peace in a heavy wave. Hugging him close, she felt each breath slacken as Foofy calmed down.

“That’s better,” Arius said. Subsequently, he let his voice rise up to speak to Foofy. “I’m sorry, Foofy. I know that you did not want to attack me, if only your master had not lashed out first.”

“Are you blaming this on me?”

Arius ignored her in favor of dedicating his full attention to Foofy. He had the audacity to reach his hand out to Foofy’s head.

“Don’t touch him,” Val snapped.

The only way that Foofy would allow Arius to touch him after that would be from Keep the Peace. Val would never use her power to force Foofy to get along with his assaulter.

By the way that she had her arms around his neck, she wrenched at Foofy’s head to give him more space away from Arius’s outstretched fingers. “He’s still mad at you.” She lifted Keep the Peace enough to drive home that point.

Foofy let out a rumbling growl.

“Okay,” Arius said hastily. His fingers curled around into a loose fist. “We have just caused a scene here. Let’s get going.” He made sure to turn two dials on the brazier, extinguishing both the fire here and the one in New Gate before walking away.

Though they had put on quite the show here in this new place, no one had stayed to watch. Those people who had stared at Val while she was standing there alone were nowhere to be seen. Everyone had disappeared from the vicinity.

This reminded Val of the man who had left first, the one who had taken a picture of her.