Just as it was about to hit the ground—
"Mine—!!!" A desperate, last-ditch light flared in Cipher's eyes. She moved with her fastest speed, her target fixed solely on that falling coin! This was her final chance!
Yet, the instant her fingertips were about to brush the coin's cool surface—
*Bzzt!*
Another flash of an Infinity Gate! The coin vanished once more, right before her eyes!
Cipher lunged through empty air, landing gracelessly on the ground and kicking up a small cloud of dust.
She looked up just in time to see the final kitty-coin resting securely in the palm of Phaethon's outstretched hand—reunited with its "siblings."
"AAAAAAAHHHHH—!!!!"
Cipher completely lost it. She flopped onto her back on the cold ground, limbs flailing wildly as she beat the earth, letting out screams of pure, despairing rage, exactly like a certain shopkeeper who'd had her precious dried fish stolen.
"WAAAH—! I'm exhausted! You jerk! I stood there the entire night! Like an idiot! I could talk and make faces, but my feet were welded to the ground! Do you have any idea how numb my legs are?!
"Meow! Kids these days... no respect for their elders! Bullying a poor old lady who's lived for millennia! Wuwuwu..." She wailed and fake-sobbed, trying to garner sympathy with her "age" and "suffering."
Phaethon simply stood quietly a few meters away, looking down at her as she cried, yelled, and threw her tantrum.
He waited until Cipher's "sobs" subsided into sullen, watery glares directed his way.
Only then did Phaethon speak, his voice cutting clearly through the cool morning air: "Lady Cipher, may I please have my Balance Coins back now?"
"No! No! I won't!" The moment Cipher heard "pay back," she shot upright as if her tail had been stepped on, shaking her head like a rattle-drum.
"Those shiny little darlings are mine! I worked so hard for them... er, I mean...! I don't care! I don't care!
"Whatever goes into my pocket is mine! Making me cough up my treasure? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Just kill me! Kill me, I still won't give them back!"
Her refusal was absolute. She even stuck her neck out, adopting a stance of "take my life, not my money!" defiance.
Watching Cipher kicking her legs and carrying on with absolutely zero dignity on the ground, Phaethon felt a vein throbbing at his temple.
The constant light of the Dawn Device bathed Okhema, silently reminding him: this disheveled cat before him was, ultimately, the Demi-god of Trickery, bearing the weight of a world.
This knowledge made it impossible for him to truly stay angry at her.
"Alright, alright, Cipher," Phaethon said, rubbing the bridge of his nose heavily, a note of placation in his voice. "Get up. You are a Demi-god, throwing a fit at the gates of Okhema... do you want Aglaea to find out?"
Cipher, keenly sensed the softening in his tone and immediately seized the opportunity.
"Then... then give me back my kitty-coins!" She thrust out her hand, palm up, adopting a "I'll keep making a scene if you don't" posture.
"No." Phaethon shook his head decisively, crossing his arms as he looked down at her.
"I just let you go, and you'd immediately 'whoosh' away with the coins, then come right back to steal my Balance Coins again, wouldn't you?
"I can't very well spend my days crouched on the vault waiting for you, can I?" His expression was pure "I don't trust you."
"I swear!" Cipher immediately raised three fingers, trying her hardest to look utterly obedient and sincere, her ears standing stiffly at attention. "I swear by Zagreus! Once I get my coins back, I will absolutely, positively not touch a single coin from your little treasury ever again!" She even batted her big eyes a couple of times for added credibility.
Phaethon was so angry that he laugh by this, mercilessly calling her out: "Heh! Swearing to the Titan of Trickery that you won't employ any Trickery? Cipher, do you think I'm stupid, or do you think Zagreus would take my side?"
Cipher was stumped. She puffed out her cheeks and muttered under her breath, "...Then what do you want me to do?!"
Phaethon stared at her, enunciating each word with extreme seriousness: "I want you—to swear by Aglaea."
"Eh?!" Cipher's voice shot up an octave. "By... by the Seamstress Woman? You're serious?!"
Her face was a picture of resistance. Clearly, in Cipher's heart, Aglaea's weight and status far exceeded that of her Trickery Titan.
"Yes, her." Phaethon didn't yield an inch. "Only her name gives me the slightest belief that you, this cunning little cat, won't turn around and renege immediately."
Cipher was deeply conflicted. Her pretty brows knitted together as she looked from Phaethon's resolute gaze to her own trapped predicament and those crucial coins.
Finally, she deflated like a punctured ball, her shoulders slumping. She dragged her feet, raising her hand with extreme reluctance, her words slurred and rushed:
"F-fine then! Fine! So annoying! I, Cipher, swear... by Aglaea..." She squeezed the name out with difficulty. "As long as you, Phaethon, return all my kitty-coins... I... I won't steal your Balance Coins anymore... alright?! Hmph!"
The moment the oath was done, she immediately turned her head away, as if looking at Phaethon for a second longer was a loss.
"That's more like it." A trace of a satisfied smile appeared on Phaethon's face.
With a thought, he transferred the handful of coins into Cipher's waiting hand.
Feeling the familiar, warm texture, Cipher immediately clenched her fist tightly around them.
She let out a long sigh of relief, her cat ears twitching in joy and relieved.
Watching her like this, Phaethon felt even more helpless, but also a little amused.
However, his smile froze solid the very next second. Because he was sent flying by a kick imbued with Demi-god power!
(Phaethon: *Crap! I was careless! Too late to dodge!*)
*Hisss—!* Where did she kick? Ouch it is my kidney!
(Cipher: *Weak point strike!*)
Phaethon only felt an immense, yet precisely controlled, impact smash into his side!
He didn't even have time to assume a defensive posture before he was sent spinning through the air!
Cipher shook the leg she had used to kick him, as if brushing off non-existent dust.
The pitiful little expression on her face had vanished without a trace, replaced by one of extreme, mischievous sastifaction.
"Hehe~" She let out a light, triumphant laugh, sauntering slowly over to where Phaethon lay and looking down at him.
"Little guy, did you misunderstand something, meow? This Kitty only said she wouldn't steal your little coins anymore~" She deliberately drew out the words "won't steal," her tone rising playfully. "I never said anything about... not hitting you, did I?"