<h4>Chapter 104: Good night</h4>
The canvas depicting angels and demons, stretched across the white ceiling of the otherwise empty room. It portrayed the epic war between gods and demons--the same one described in the ancient scriptures.
The hollow interior of the room was adorned with sculptures, art pieces, and chandeliers.
Beneath the canvas, anky, fit man, who appeared to be in his 20''s, walked.
His ordinary ck-brown hair and matching pair of eyes revealed him to be Nathan Rivers.
Nathan was wearing a formal business suit— a tie, a coat, a white shirt, and ck pants—an unusual choice of attire for this otherwise asion, which was taking ce in the moonless night.
He walked out to the cantilevered balcony, which was extended from the room.
To his right Nathan found Ophelia Dcroix, who only greeted him with a simple nod, and smiled.
It was enough to make any man fall under her spell. But not Nathan —he was a cold and calcting man. But he didn''t mind asking for her numberter.
His cold, calcting gaze then shifted to the left, where itnded upon the enchanting beauty of Svena Darkthorn—someone whose number he couldn''t ask for. {?????????????????? ????????????????????????}
Standing beside her was Liam, positioned almost like her guardian, and Nathan silently nodded to himself that he would never request for Svena''s number.
Nathan retrieved a spectacle and put it on—it was a relic that enhanced the user''s vision.
With it, he peered down from the balcony onto the Thorn Grove Forest—the private forest belonging to the Darkthorn estate.
This was the ce chosen by Noah as the dueling ground.
The forest below was pitch ck—adorned by the embrace of night.
But, the tranquility of the night was short-lived.
—BOOMB!!
The vermilion cardinals —swirling inferno of incandescent hues ,danced in the embrace of night sky, their vibrant movements —a spectacr result of lithium chloride pin missiles which wasunched from a modified bazooka.
The zing violent tendrils of smatic fire, which surrounded Seraphina like a red dragon, curved around her, without making contact. It was as if an invisible spherical barrier shielded her delicate moonlit skin from the chemical fire.
Seraphina simply stretched her right hand forward, causing the zing red mes surrounding her to copse and shrink in size.
The thirty-feet-high mes immediately diminished, slowly reducing to the size of a spherical football, then to that of a tennis ball. Eventually, they imploded and extinguished like an ember, vanishing into thin air.
The red dragon was devoured by void.
Seraphina smirked, amused by the nature of attack that Noah used. It wasn''t magic-- something you would expect in a typical duel; rather, it turned out to be a bazooka. It was funny. Silly even, but it definitely captured Seraphina''s fascination.
At the distance, Seraphina''s gaze fixated on Noah, who stood with a contraption-like armament resting on his shoulder, emitting wisps of smoke from its four apertures—the modified bazooka.
Shphew! Shphew! Shphew! —At subsonic speed, four more pin missiles wereunched.
But mid-trajaectory—each missile fossilized into stone pirs. The ignition mas inside them turned into dust,
the engine propent froze into sculptures. Bereft of their momentum, the once-deadly projectiles plummeted to the ground, shattering into detritus of rocks and sand. The detritus rolled several meters, bouncing across the lush green grass, before finallying to a respectful halt at Seraphina''s feet—an inadvertent homage paid to her remarkable disy of magic.
As soon as Noah saw that, his figure vanished into thin air. He teleported away.
Seeing this Seraphina smiled, and let out, "Oh, this is definitely going to be fun..."
With graceful poise, Seraphina stepped forward, extending her arms to the sides. As she did, luminous green discs , resembling beautiful mand art materialized around her arms—it was a detection spell.
But before she could even do something, her steps ''clicked'' something on the ground.
Immediately, eight smoke grenades wereunched into the air.
Fwiiissshh! — the grenades began creating a thick haze.
It was a trap mechanism, Noah prepared earlier that day.
The smoke shrouded the entire area, obscuring Seraphina''s vision with darkness.
But all of this was making Seraphina amused. Thrilled even.
She never expected this kind of a ''duel''.
"Heh... What a guy!"— Seraphina chortled, her excitement reaching its boiling point.
The thrill within her boiled so much that it, caused her to burst into a fit ofughter— "Hahahahaha—ahhhhaghah," —it almost sounded like a maniacal cackle.
She chuckled uncontrobly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
The effects of theughing gas and tear gas was evident.
But suddenly, the green discs on Seraphina''s arms began to rotate and turned red—a detoxification spell.
In the next moment, the smoke surrounding her dissipated.
Her figure became visible, which was seemingly unaffected by the previous effects of the gas.
Just as Seraphina regained herposure, a machete came shing from her right.
But, a massive pir of stone erupted from the ground,unching Noah into the air where he disappeared once again.
"Tcht!"— Seraphina''s tongue clicked, not out of annoyance but genuine amusement.
A smile adorned her beautiful face, reveling in the unexpected turn of events.
Of course, if Seraphina wanted, she could have put an end to the match the very moment it began, but she held herself back by a significant margin.
Not to mention that she was enjoying herself by these unexpected turn of events.
But suddenly, the entire Thorn Grove Forest was consumed by an intense, radiant light. Its intensity was so overwhelming that it seemed as if the sun itself had descended upon thend.
When the light slowly faded, a kaleidoscope of glowing golden butterflies painted the canvas of Thorn Grove, fluttering gracefully throughout the surrounding.
"What... Is this?" Seraphina asked, the words escaping her lips.
But, at that very moment, she sensed an alien presence behind her.
As she turned around, Seraphina saw Noah''s bruised figure aiming a stretched bow at her, which was devoid of any arrow.
Seraphina was amused, she couldn''t lie.
Impressed even.
She would have ended the match the moment it began but Noah''s strange tactics kept her interested in the battle.
But, enough was enough.
It had been 27 seconds since the match started, and Seraphina was no longer inclined to entern herself.
She brought her arms together, causing the red discs encircling her arms to rotate,ing together and transform into a sphere of pure blue energy.
"The match is over," Seraphina dered.
And indeed, it was over.
Fifteen meters away from her stood arge chunk of ice, encapsting Noah''s defeated body.
The match was over.
Noah lost. Just like that.
***
Noah''s POV:
—Snap! —"Ouch!"—I let out, as the flick of Seraphina''s middle finger hit my forehead.
"That really hurt! Why would you do that?" I asked.
But when I looked, I was unable to tear my gaze away from the mesmerizing ruby eyes of Seraphina.
In the next instant, my heart seemed to forget the pain radiating from my four broken ribs.
"Why didn''t you give up, kid? You could have seriously harmed yourself—and you did! I had no idea it had resulted in fractured ribs. You had fractured ribs the whole time! Why did you choose to keep on standing?" Seraphina asked, her genuine concern palpable.
It was only natural for Seraphina to show concern. After all, nobody would want to harm the person who had saved their own daughter''s life.
It had been three days since Svena began taking my medicine, and she was already experiencing significant improvement, feeling better than ever before.
Seraphina shook her head, a gesture filled withpassion.
cing her hand over the area where my broken ribsy, she did so with utmost care.
Her gentle touch and her soft skin came close to making contact with the exposed area. Currently I didn''t have any shirt on my torso.. So..
''Does she see me as her son? Well, I am around that age... or at least, my physical body is.''
With a simple utterance of the word "Heal," Seraphina cast a spell, though it sounded like an ordinary word.
Immediately the pain in my ribs subsided and my bones began to heal.
Of course, I could have asked Nano to heal me... But I wanted to see Seraphina''s healing magic since she is renowned as the strongest mage in the world.
And how much of her power did she actually use to fight me?
5%? 4%... It must be something along those lines.
"Huh... I suppose this is where it ends then," I murmured with a hint of disappointment.
For some reason, my heart began to grow strangely cold.
I just wanted to go inside a nket and sleep.
"Hmm?" Seraphina raised an eyebrow, clearly perplexed by my sudden emotional shift.
Shrugging off my mncholy, I waved my hand dismissively. "It''s nothing. Once Svena is healed and the other part of our agreement is fulfilled, I''ll be on my way."
''Right... this isn''t a fictional story where everything goes ording to n.''
''Seraphina won''t be my teacher now that I''ve lost, and I certainly cannot force her to.''
I should be satisfied with what I am getting out of this deal.
But as I gazed into her mesmerizing ruby-red eyes, a sense of sorrow welled up within me.
I may look like an 16 year old, but I was 23...
Well I would have been 24 the next month... But
Whatever
Who gives a shit.
"Noah, is everything alright? I used healing magic, didn''t I?" Seraphina''s velvety voice entered my ears.
"Yup, everything''s fine. Just feeling a bit tired," I replied, pulling up the nket and settling into the bed.
"Good night."