Arthur pursued the figure silently and calmly. This chase lasted only a few minutes and soon Arthur turned to face a dead end alley.
This alley was between the stands and all the noise of cheering and applause was above it. Aside from being a little dark, all that was there was the hooded figure, facing Arthur.
"What do you want?" The figure spoke to Arthur lightly. This voice had a feminine touch, but not too obvious, and it carried a slightly irritated tone.
"Good night to you too, Magikeen. I just saw you passing by and I was wondering if you could help me with something. After all, we are co-workers." With a smile on his face, Arthur didn't mind the other party's irritation.
"I won't repeat it again…what do you want?" This time, Magikeen's voice carried obvious irritation and a menacing energy began to spread through the surroundings.
Sensing this peculiar energy, Arthur's eyebrows arched slightly. 'It is not a Killing Intent, much less something like Will. What kind of oppressive energy is this?'
But, he quickly feigned ignorance with that and asked directly: "You know, I am a person who likes to fight. You saw this from my challenge to Shadow. I learn a lot when I do this, so... would you like to have a sparring session with me?"
"We can't!" Magikeen said coldly. Her voice didn't contain unwillingness, but as if it were impossible.
"Oh, don't worry. I remember Arena rules. But can't we do this in the private room from before?" Arthur replied after noticing what she meant. But with a quick thought, he came up with another solution.
Mercenaries couldn't fight people of a lower level, because it would be too much. Levels E through C could interact a little with each other, but from Level B onwards, it was too wide a margin to be crossed with skill alone.
"Why do you want to do this? I'm a B-level mercenary, whereas you're just a C-level. The distance between the two is too long to cross. And even if you're good at fighting, don't think only you know how to fight around here." After saying what he had to say, Magikeen started to approach Arthur, intending to leave.
"Let's see... You dodged my question, which probably means we can use it. Also, I know you want to fight. And even if I get hit, it'll still be worth it." Arthur smiled with the corner of his lips before making way for Magikeen.
Hearing his words, the departing Magikeen figure suddenly stopped her steps. After a few moments of silence, her voice came out, a little colder and angrier.
"If I win, you'll owe me a favor. And if you win, I owe you a favor too. This favor must not be denied and will be requested when the winning party sees fit. Let's go now!" As soon as she was done, her hurried footsteps walked towards a staircase, which led directly to the private rooms.
With a goofy grin on his face, Arthur soon followed.
***
As soon as they reached the room, which was empty and silent, Arthur closed the door, as he was the last one through. The atmosphere soon became awkward, with the two of them there alone, but Magikeen soon broke the silence.
"Let's get this over with. I still have matters to settle." She spoke as she opened the door that led to the white room, where Arthur and Shadow had spar before.
"It's up to you!" Again, Arthur followed behind Magikeen.
As soon as they entered the room, they didn't linger and climbed onto the fight stage. It was as clean and white as before.
"So how's it going to be? Do we start right away?" Arthur took the stage with an unpretentious and calm expression. Although he wasn't quite like that inside. His heart was excited for the things that would follow during this spar.
"You can attack whenever you want. Every time you attack, I will counterattack, as I am one level higher than you. That's the maximum advantage I'm going to give you." With the cloak covering her entire face, Magikeen faced Arthur. It was almost impossible to see what was underneath, as if it were a black hole that sucked in all the light.
"What about this cape? Won't you take it off?" As he snapped his fingers and warmed himself, Arthur glanced over and asked.
"Take it off if you can..." In a teasing voice, Magikeen's hands reached out and beckoned Arthur with her fingers, teasing him even more.
"As you wish!" An amused smile appeared on Arthur's face, and he could charm any girl who might see this scene.
As if he were the wind, Arthur ran towards the hooded figure of Magikeen and his body spun before leaping and giving a spiral kick.
Taking this high-speed kick, Magikeen, as if she had predicted, just took a big step back. Dodging the kick by a deliberate close, she counterattacked Arthur with another kick, but direct and fast, without excessive movement.
Not being prepared for a quick and proficient reaction, Arthur's movements seemed to accelerate even more, as if he had pressed a button, and his spiral kick became a real stunt that made him avoid the kick while still in the air.
As soon as he had his feet on the ground, Arthur didn't even take a slight breath before advancing towards Magikeen with a punching motion, but with an open palm. His intention was to take the cloak and use it to his advantage over Magikeen.
But, his intentions were brilliantly thwarted by the quick and effective blocking of hers. Although Arthur wasn't putting all his strength into it, he clearly wasn't putting in little.
Thus, the fight between the two became a kind of catch game of Arthur trying to catch Magikeen's cloak while she deflected or dodged his blows.
The force Arthur put into his movements also began to grow, and his imposition before Magikeen began to put pressure on her. She seemed to have reached her limit of strength too.
When Arthur saw that she had reached that limit, the strength in his muscles become greater and he was prepared for his final move. But before he could break a smile of victory on his face, Magikeen made an unexpected move with him.
His palm was still open and very close to the cloak, but Magikeen's hand quickly took hold of it. But instead of holding Arthur's hand as usual, she actually laced her hand with his and pressed her finger to his wrist, causing his hand to bend back and his movement to be interrupted with pain.
And the movement did not stop there. The 1.70m Magikeen figure moved to approach and swung one leg over Arthur's arm, which due to sudden pain lowered, and her body spun. It was a great application of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
"Aargh!" Arthur's entire body suddenly weakened and his face kissed the white stage floor. His arm was trapped between Magikeen's legs, while her lightweight figure was on top of Arthur's body holding his arm close to the chest.
"Give up and I won't break your arm!" Magikeen yelled in an authoritative voice.
"Hahaha... Break it if you can!" Arthur's voice was like a scream too, but it didn't contain anger or authoritarianism, but rather amusement.
As if it were a bomb that had suddenly exploded, in Arthur's defined arm, the muscles swelled and became much bigger and sculpted. As he injected his strength and Force into his arm, and his entire body, Arthur tried to get up.
Magikeen, who had been on top of him this entire time and holding his arm tightly, was shocked to see the sudden burst of muscle and Arthur's attempt to get up.
Due to this moment of surprise, she had no time to react before Arthur swiveled his body and arm, reversing positions.
"Aa!" A female scream came out of Magikeen's mouth as her body was suddenly thrown onto the stage and Arthur's body was on top of her, almost face to face.
The hood had come off her head and a mask covering all the face was all that had on display. The eyes were covered in a thin material that didn't let you see through, and the hair wasn't showing either.
Also, she was feeling a tingling sensation in the region of her chest, and her left arm was being held by one of Arthur's hands.
Before she could look down, she heard Arthur burst out laughing and say:
"You know... it must be really boring if you disguised yourself like that. But your scent, your voice, your gaze, and even the soft touch of your skin and the feeling of holding your wrists... it's all the same, Hanna!" Arthur's voice came closer and closer and his green eyes also glowing stared at her. His nose also seemed to suck in all the good smell around.
The bright green eyes behind the mask looked shocked and surprised in the extreme.
'How does he…how does he know it was me!?!? He memorized all this about me, even after just one encounter??? An almost impossible thought popped into Magikeen's mind and left her in shock.
But, before she could think too hard, her gaze looked at the source of the tingle and nearly widened...
Arthur's hand was firmly gripping a soft bulge that was under the cloak and her hand was gripping his wrist, as if not letting go. Arthur looked completely insensitive to this, as if he hadn't even noticed, but his hand was clearly squeezing lightly.
The face beneath the mask immediately turned bright red and a startled female scream echoed through the room, startling Arthur.
"Get ouuut!" Just as Magikeen's scream echoed through the room, a formless blue energy immediately pushed Arthur away, as if a giant hand had grabbed hold of him and thrown him away.
Arthur didn't even have time to understand what happened and his body hit the wall on the other side, and his head also hit the wall, knocking him unconscious.