"How about a duel to see who is the strongest fire magic user, boys?"
Hans' words silenced the three boys. Eric lowered his sword as he stared intently at Hans. Zane's eyes widened in disbelief. They both looked at Noam, who was still silent with a sharp stare.
In hiding, Hana gasped in horror when she heard that, "Duel? Is he crazy, asking a child to duel?"
Rose gave Hans a searching look, "It seems he's too crazy about fire magic. He wants to defeat the descendants of the famous Fire Kingdom and prove that his fire magic is the most powerful."
Arion refrained from snorting, "Then he should challenge the current king, not his descendants. He wants his magic to be recognized, but he's challenging a child. What a coward.
A moment of silence, "What's in it for me?" Noam replied sharply. He didn't know the man's plan, but he had a bad feeling about it.
Hans smiled mockingly, "What? Don't tell me you're afraid of losing?"
Noam clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Don't fuck with me! You think I'm trying to mess with you!" he said in a high tone of annoyance. He knew that his two friends were looking at him worriedly, but he knew what he had to do.
Hana looked at the whole scene worriedly, "Please don't be provoked, Noam," she murmured in a worried tone.
Arion looked closely at Noam's face, "Although he looks very irritated, he is not provoked by the enemy's words. He seems to be aware of the enemy's provocation.
Hans frowned, "How disappointing. I thought the descendant of the King of the Kingdom of Flames would be very strong and confident like him. Not a coward like you," he said in a disappointed tone, but Noam knew it was false, especially when he saw Hans hiding his grin with his hands.
Noam snorted, "You think I'm going to fall for that? You should try harder," he said with a mocking grin. Who did this man think Noam was? He knew exactly what his intentions were.
Besides, he had experienced such provocative words many times before, especially with Eric when the two of them started to compete, with Zane always accidentally getting caught in the middle. Therefore, such cheap provocation would not work with Noam.
Eric and Zane breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Noam would not fall for the enemy's provocation. Although they both trusted Noam, it was just that his nature, which did not like to be underestimated, sometimes came out at the wrong time and had the possibility to destroy all their plans. Fortunately, Noam managed to survive this time.
Hana breathed a sigh of relief when Rose nodded in agreement with Noam's words. Meanwhile, Arion was satisfied that he had guessed correctly a few moments ago.
Hans raised an eyebrow, "Oh? You're tougher than you look," he said with a slight tone of admiration. He didn't think the little boy could stand his provocations, although as far as he was concerned, Noam was the one whose temper exploded the most among the three.
Hans hummed, "How about this. If you manage to defeat my fire magic, we'll release the servant and return her to you."
"Hans!" Dean called his name in a sharp tone as his expression turned to dislike. They had never talked about this.
Hans snorted amusedly, "Take it easy. Do you think I'll lose that easily?"
Dean gave him a cold look, "No, I don't. But I don't like you making deals without my consent."
Hans just stayed silent when he saw Dean's cold look, which felt piercing to him. He didn't think that Dean would be angry about it, because Dean was usually happy to see such a gel. This guy even considered it a form of entertainment when he or Herris ruthlessly finished off the enemy. Especially when their strength was much weaker than those two.
"Alright, I allow it." Dean's cold look became bright again. A happy smile even appeared on his lips.
Hans blinked in surprise, "Oh?"
Dean chuckled, "Nothing wrong with a little entertainment, right?" he said cheerfully, shrugging his shoulders indifferently, which made Hans return the grin. The three boys became uncomfortable with what the two were talking about.
Dean looked at Noam with a broad smile, "In exchange, when you two fight, I won't attack your friend and that black-haired boy over there can keep trying to destroy my mind magic or come and watch."
Eric and Zane gasped at the offer. It might have sounded tempting, but given the huge difference in their powers, the offer was nothing short of suicide. Noam could be sadistically killed by the enemy if he accepted.
Noam paused to consider the offer. He glanced at Zane, whose shoulder hadn't stopped bleeding even after being frozen, and at Eric, who had failed to cut the thread binding Nova. On second thought, the offer was actually not too bad. But...
"So what?" Hans' question snapped Noam out of his thoughts. He looked sharply at Hans, who was grinning.
"How can we be sure you're not lying?" Noam asked seriously, which made Eric and Zane look at him in horror, not expecting Noam to actually think about their offer.
Dean chuckled amusedly, "Because I don't like to break promises, son."
Hans hummed happily, "Then I'll take that as an agreement," he said finally, without even waiting for Noam's answer.
Noam widened his eyes in surprise, "Wait..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Hans was already running towards him with a sword that was already engulfed in flames. A maniacal grin appeared on his lips at the thought of the duel they were about to have.
Quickly, Noam enveloped his sword with his fire magic and parried Hans' attack. The attack felt different than before. It was hotter and heavier. Noam tried to hold on before pushing Hans' sword away so he could jump away.
As Zane and Eric were about to approach Noam, dozens of threads suddenly appeared in front of them, threatening to attack them and making them stop.
Dean hummed happily as he looked at the two boys from where he was standing, "I suggest you stay away, boys. We have an agreement since your friend fought my friend."
Eric gritted his teeth in annoyance, "You didn't give him time to decide!"
Zane looked worriedly at Noam, "Noam..."
From a distance, Rose snorted in annoyance, "Those guys really didn't give you any choice but to accept the deal."
Hana bit her lip in dismay as she watched Noam dodge and parry all of Hans' attacks. Although he looked calm, Hana could see that Noam was a bit panicked and frightened by the attacks Hans was giving him.
Arion frowned deeply, "The only real choice is to agree to fight and defeat him or not agree to fight and he will be killed. From the beginning the enemies left no choice but to agree to fight. How cunning.
"Come on, boy! The fight has just begun!" Hans shouted excitedly as he continued to strike with his sword, the flames of which grew larger and larger.
"I didn't say I agreed!" Noam protested in annoyance as he painstakingly parried and dodged Hans' attacks. It felt like the temperature around them was getting hotter and hotter, causing sweat to pour from his forehead.
Hans laughed loudly as his hand continued to strike Noam with his flaming sword, "But you have no choice if you want to free the maid!"
After that, the two flaming swords collided with each other, causing a loud clash with sparks surrounding the two thrusting swords.
Noam gritted his teeth in annoyance before using all his strength to push Hans' sword away, "Noisy!" he shouted, accompanied by his flames which grew stronger until Hans was forced to separate their swords.
Hans jumped back to get away before looking at the slightly burned edge of his sleeve. Not from the fire itself, but from Noam's fire. He felt it as Noam's flames began to grow.
Hans looked at Noam with a wide, mocking grin, "Our offer wasn't so bad after all, was it? Your goal from the beginning was to defeat us and your friend over there will at least have time to rest".
To be honest, he was a bit surprised when the boy's fire suddenly grew. He hadn't even expected the flames to burn the ends of his sleeves. Maybe it was the increase in magic that defeated Herris earlier, so he thought to start a cautious but still aggressive attack.
Noam clicked his tongue in annoyance and wiped his sweaty brow. The man couldn't keep his mouth shut even during their fight and that annoyed him. Every word Hans said irritated him.
"If you don't keep your word, I swear to burn you to ashes." Noam hissed sharply as his eyes stared intently at Hans, who stood relaxed and spun his sword, still surrounded by flames.
Hans chuckled amusedly, "I'm so scared," he said with a mocking grin.
Hans began to attack again with his sword, occasionally shooting flames from his left hand, which was not holding the sword. At the moment, his left hand was also surrounded by flames, which gradually burned the ends of his sleeves, but did not hurt his hand.
Since casting magic directly from his limbs was more dangerous, Noam could only cast his fire magic through his sword at the moment. To be honest, it was a bit of a hindrance, but he had no other choice if he wanted to avoid burning his hands with his own magic.
At the moment, Noam could only dodge Hans' fire attacks and parry Hans' sword. That meant he had to move faster. He also had to manage his fire so as not to exceed the limit his body could withstand.
Eric and Zane, who watched Noam's fight from a distance, could only stare worriedly. They couldn't interfere, not with Dean blocking them and the threads he had created blocking their way. The threads still hovered in front of them, as if threatening to attack if they continued to stubbornly push forward.
"Are we going to leave it, Eric?" Zane asked worriedly as Eric began to wrap his shoulder with his torn jacket as a makeshift bandage.
"What other choice do we have? Besides, your shoulder is pretty badly hurt," Eric replied as he watched the cloth he had just wrapped around Zane's shoulder begin to turn red with blood. The cloth wasn't enough to stop the bleeding, so he asked Zane to freeze his shoulder with the cloth.
Zane immediately did as Eric asked, his expression still worried, "But Noam..."
Eric looked at Noam who was still struggling to dodge Hans' successive attacks, "I don't know about you, but I see that Noam is getting serious about one-on-one combat. He wants to defeat the fire magic imitator himself."
Eric knew that what he said sounded ridiculous. But this was what he saw now. The look on Noam's face was no longer one of doubt, but of determination to defeat Hans. It was his fighting spirit and Eric didn't want to interfere.
It might sound cruel and like he didn't care about Noam, but Eric felt that Noam wanted to defeat the man himself. Not to show that he was a stronger fire magic user than his opponent, but because it was his fight, his first fight. He wanted to win it and help his friends.
Eric punched Zane's uninjured arm, making him turn his head to look at Eric, who smiled a small but confident smile.
"Trust him and think of another plan to free Nova and save Noam from something worse than exhaustion."