"Fine, then let me have a good look."
Iron Hammer shot back without yielding an inch.
"Good, good, good. Since you're courting death, I'll grant your wish."
"Go."
Boom!!!
Nine fire dragons dove down at the same time.
Each one had its own angle of attack and trajectory.
Three dove head-on at Iron Hammer's skull, three swept in from the sides to block his paths of movement to the left and right.
Two dropped vertically from above, sealing off any chance of dodging upward, while the last skimmed along the ground straight for his legs.
The nine fire dragons worked in perfect harmony, like nine clones of one mind launching an assault at once.
As their dragon heads opened, the torrents of flame they spewed intertwined into an impenetrable net of fire.
"Interesting."
Iron Hammer looked at the surging sea of fire overhead. The smile vanished from his face, replaced by an intense focus.
He held the massive hammer horizontally before him and lowered himself into a horse stance.
His feet seemed nailed to the Arena floor. As his knees bent slightly, he lowered his entire center of gravity to its lowest point.
His breathing rhythm changed, from deep and steady to short, measured breaths at a fixed frequency.
That rhythm was exactly the same as the cadence of a hammer striking an anvil in a forge.
Thump, thump, thump—equal intervals, even force.
"Nine Smithing Forms: Second Form—Quenching."
Rather than meet any of the fire dragons head-on, he closed his eyes.
The instant he did, the hazy gray power of laws around his body withdrew inward, pouring into the head of the massive hammer.
The hammerhead's surface gradually shifted from charcoal gray to dark cyan, then into a cold silver-blue, like the deep blue chill-light left when red-hot iron was