Chapter 74

**Merianna**

The more Dermon evaded my blade, the more the anger inside of me seemed to boil. He had yet to try to make a strike against me. All he had been doing was dodging my attacks by a hair’s breadth, as if to mock me and remind me of the gap of power that stretched between us.

I needed to land at least another clean hit. I wanted to see him bleed so badly that I could barely stand it.

As I swung my blade at him again at speeds that normal people wouldn’t be able to dodge, he simply smiled and moved out of the blade’s path at the last moment. If I weren’t staring at the man that had ruined my life, I might’ve felt like I was sparring with Noch. Not even my wide range spells had any effect on him even though I could see my attacks shaking the structure of the barrier and cave.

Before anyone else managed to get this far into the caves, I wanted to make Dermon bleed. I needed to inflict as much damage on him as he had inflicted on my family. For that, I needed to be faster. I needed to catch up to his movements. I needed to be faster than him.

I could feel the current of my element buzzing throughout my body. If only I could move as fast as the lightning itself. Just as that thought burned through my mind, I finally managed to swing my scythe just that small fraction faster.

Dermon lightly touched the left side of his cheek and seemed surprised that there was actually a small bit of blood that appeared on his fingertips. A sneer started slowly stretching across his face as he glanced back at me, panting across from him.

“I will say this again, young one. You are exceptionally interesting. I truly would love to have you by my side.” He remarked as he licked the blood off his fingers.

I huffed in disgust. “That will not happen. Not even when I end up in a coffin.”

“How unfortunate.” Smirking, he lifted his hand and sent a shock of air exploding into me.

The force of the sudden blast of air felt like I had been hit by a solid stone wall. I had no control over my body as I went careening into the barrier that was still encircling the cavern. I couldn’t believe that he did this to me again. How many times was I going to be sent flying by this guy? The ringing in my ears that accompanied the impact was starting to get on my nerves.

I squinted up at him, only to find that my vision was blurry. I must have been hit harder than I thought this time. I could make out his mouth moving, as if he was telling me something, but I couldn’t hear anything over the incessant ringing.

His silhouette seemed to get closer as I tried to quickly regain my senses. Only, it didn’t happen fast enough. Before I knew it, I felt a strong hand grip my throat and restrict my breathing.

Furiously, I swung my arm out to slash him with my weapon, only to have it effortlessly knocked out of my grasp. The pain that accompanied the action told me that Nelia was going to be furious once I ended up in her hands.

Desperately I tried scratching or twisting the arm that had a hold of me. Feeling around for my magic didn’t seem to work either. It was as if the contact that Dermon had with my skin buried my magic under a thick layer of sludge that I couldn’t reach through. I had the nagging feeling at the back of my thoughts that it was because of fear. Pure, unadulterated fear.

He was sneering at me with his teeth bared in a ridiculous imitation of a smile. It was while I was being pinned in this helpless state that I heard a thunderous boom ricochet around the space we were in.

I could barely make out where the sound was coming from, but hoped that it was because of Hezerial trying to get to me.

Dermon dragged his eyes away from my reddening face and smirked to himself. “Looks like you are saved once again little new blood.”

Before I could try to wheeze out a question or retort, he suddenly disappeared from my sight. For a moment, I was too preoccupied with trying to breathe again that I almost missed hearing him crash into one of the cavern’s walls again. And this time not because of me.

“My Lady!” Hezerial cried out as he quickly scooped me up into his arms. To think that I would actually be happy to see him appear right then…

“You still alive over there, Demon Spawn?”

“Urgh, and here I thought that Zerial was my knight in shining armor.” I croaked back. My throat hurt like hell, but that wasn’t going to stop me from having the last say where Noch was involved.

“Glad to know you’re not among the dead yet.” He shot back with a grin.

“They didn’t want me, apparently. They say I’m too rowdy.” Zerial gave an exasperated sigh at my reply.

“Please don’t even joke about dying, My Lady.” He asked pitifully.

“Well, if the dead don’t want her Angelic, then she has no choice but to gallivant around topside with us living beings for the rest of eternity. All you need to do is help Arasule finish developing her Eternal Youth elixir and you’re set.” Noch chuckled as he stepped up next to us and nonchalantly examined me in Zerial’s arms.

“Do I look worse than I probably feel?” I croaked with a raised eyebrow.

“Ag, you’ll live. No need to get dramatic.” His grin was definitely something I still wanted to get rid of at some point. Right now though, my body hurt too much to do anything about it and Hezerial’s aura itself felt like it was slowly healing me already.

Even though Noch was grinning at me from ear to ear, something in the glint of his eyes when he gave that evaluation sent danger signals off in my primal instincts. I knew how protective Noch could get over Order members, but this was the first time I felt like I was on the receiving end of that protection. Even though the prospect gave me goosebumps. 

“You managed to arrive faster than I thought, Noch.” Dermon tittered as he effortlessly got back up to his feet. “The two of us were bonding quite nicely before you came.”

My hackles raised at his words. “If me wanting to rip you to shreds is bonding, then I don’t mind spending time with your ashes.” I bit out furiously.

I could feel Noch’s eyes on me as I glared at Dermon with all the hate that I possessed in my aching body. “It seems like you did a lot more than bond with my little star pupil Dermon.” Noch drawled as his attention got pulled back to the real maniac in the cavern.

“Oh it was nothing much.” Dermon said happily. “We were merely reminiscing about old times. She seems to have taken offence to my past activities while I was integrating myself with the Hunters. I just didn’t feel like doing the Hunter’s bidding all on my lonesome, so summoning a Wraith to take care of a Hunter that defected was the best option I had back then.” He said nonchalantly with a shrug.

My teeth ground together so hard that I could hear my molars groaning under the pressure. My hands unconsciously balled into tight fists that gripped Hezerial’s robes tightly enough for my nails to puncture the fabric. If my body wasn’t screaming out with every little move I made right then, I would have tried to go for his throat again right then and there.

My mind went blank though, when I felt a heavy, warm hand land on my head. Glancing over, I saw that it was Noch’s hand that had landed on my head. And all I could think was that I was extremely glad that I was not on the receiving end of his current glare…

It was like my anger itself fled at the face of Noch’s fury. Chancing a glance over at Zerial was just as soul shuddering. Long gone were the goofy and innocently cheery smiles. Zerial looked downright deadly. If his glare could physically harm his target, then Dermon should have been writhing in absolute agony right then.

I found it wise to keep my mouth shut and be content with staying out of whatever fray was about to erupt. You know you are still sane when you can still feel your instincts screaming at you to stay invisible…

“I must say…” Noch said eerily calmly as he slowly took his hand off of my head and manifested his staff. “I had my suspicions later down the line, but I didn’t expect the confirmation to make my blood boil this much.”

“You flatter me, Noch. It’s the first time you acknowledge me in this way.” Dermon replied with an equally calm tone and deviously sweet smile. He made it look like he was discussing nothing more than the day’s weather.

“Unfortunately for you, Dermon. Gaining my attention like this is never a good thing for anyone.” Noch replied darkly. I had to do a double-take. This was still the same Noch that I knew, right? This was still the goofy-up-to-no-good Noch that I grew up knowing, right?

Clearly, Noch had many more sides to him than I had previously thought. I was so glad that he never took me seriously in my whole life… I was actually missing that grin of his for once.

When I shuddered in Zerial’s arms, he seemed to come back to his senses and broke off the glare that he was shooting at Dermon.

“My Lady, how are you feeling now?” He asked as he cradled me closer to him.

“As Noch said, I’ll live. Your aura is doing me a world of good already, so I should be right as rain soon.” I replied with a weary smile. Of course, the ‘soon’ part was probably a big fat lie, but he didn’t need to know that.. 

“We might want to get out of this place first though.” I heard someone say from behind Zerial. Once he turned around to acknowledge the voice, I saw that it belonged to none other than the Council Head, Jernok. He gave me a clinical once-over with his eyes as well and turned to glance at Noch and Dermon, who seemed to be oozing magic out of their pores. I had never seen unstructured magic so potent before. There was no colour, no cast spells, no structure that was given to the magic that they usually merely contained. It was now wavering around them like a sheer curtain one could see straight through.

“I think you might be right. At the rate they are releasing magic right now, I doubt that their battle would leave this mountain standing afterwards.” Zerial commented as he nodded to Jernok and steadily started making his way towards the tunnel they had come from.

Indeed, escaping sounded like the best thing I’ve heard all week. I had no objections whatsoever. And even if I did, I knew that Zerial would have none of it anyway.

That thought of mine only solidified even more once I heard the first strike between the two come from behind us. The effect on the surrounding cavern was enough to make my outburst look like a mere scuffle. Zerial turned with me in his grasp and scooped up my scythe in one fluid motion. I quickly grasped it and made it smaller again for ease of travel.

I chanced a peek over Zerial’s shoulder to see what their battle looked like, but caught something entirely different out of the corner of my eye instead…

“Zerial! LOOK OUT!”