Playing Dodgeball

Still in a daze about what he almost ended up doing earlier, Luca felt like he saved himself from overstepping his boundaries. After finding Rosanna playing 'floor is lava', the man thought of bringing her to stay with Noah. She might even end up sleeping next to Noah in that queen-size bed.

Luca was too distracted that he didn't feel that something was amiss in the room. He just opened the door without knocking in fear of waking up Noah. It's just that… when he did, he saw something else was happening.

Someone was… someone was…

The hunter caught Rosanna by the shoulder and stopped her from looking inside the room. However, his eyes were rather sharp and glaring as he kept them on that man next to Noah. Was he really poking his head inside Noah's shirt? He even had the audacity to feel Noah underneath and past his waistband?

Noah's head was turned away, but he could gauge Luca's expression by the weight of his glare. Actually, he didn't turn away because he was embarrassed. It was most likely because he couldn't stifle his laughter enough to keep a straight face. He got caught; the spike of this feeling was the first, and he wanted to laugh it out.

It was the same for Mephisto.

Mephisto was a demon; he had unrivaled senses. He knew Luca was approaching, but he was curious as to how Noah would react if he got caught. Realizing that Noah was only laughing out in the hilarity of the situation made him want to burst out laughing as well.

It's just that they couldn't… or else Luca would not flip.

"Can you stay here for a while?" Luca didn't look at Rosanna's curious gaze. He left her outside the door, closing it shut behind him. He then glared some more at the two men. "Would you like to make yourselves decent now? Or should I shoot one of you?"

"Don't be so mad, Mr. Allsworth." Mephisto pulled back a little as he spoke, but his head was still inside the shirt. He shouldn't be seen by Luca after all. His little stunt might cost him quite a lot, but he had a feeling that Asmodeus wouldn't even talk his head off.

A vein on Luca's face popped as he heard the polite address. It was as if it was mocking him as the person continued to hide underneath Noah's shirt. "Don't you 'Mr. Allsworth' me! Get out of there!"

Noah reached for the blanket and covered the two of them with it. Mephisto finally removed his head from under the shirt and gazed at Noah's laughing face. The two cracked out silently before the demon snuck close to steal a kiss from his little Noah. He then moved away, keeping the blanket on his head.

"I know I look ridiculous at the moment, but there will be a time when you'll find out about me." Mephisto would wink if his face was seen. "Consider this… not the time for such a revelation."

Snap. The blanket dropped to the ground, making Luca gasp. He then eyed at Noah who was only running his hand across his chest to calm himself down. Moreover, his red face was going to be too much for Luca one way or another, and he knew it.

Rosanna knocked on the door before calling out. "Can I see Mephy now?"

"Mephy?" Luca frowned at the door, soon noticing that Noah had gotten to his feet and picked up the blanket from the floor. "Who's Mephy? That guy's Mephy?"

"Mm." Noah only glanced at Luca and smiled before he went to the door and opened it for Rosanna. The girl looked inside and didn't see her favorite uncle. The witch only reached out and petted her. "Sorry, Mephy had to leave as soon as possible. He'll just see you later."

"Okay." Rosanna pouted before fishing from her pocket. As soon as she saw what she took out, her beaming smile was back on her face. "Theresa gave me candies earlier. Noah, do you want one?"

Noah didn't like sweets, but he still took one and popped it inside his mouth. He needed something to have his tongue play with.

He just didn't speak with Luca as much before covering himself with the blanket again. Since he wanted to sleep, Rosanna only sat in the space made by Noah's fetal position and lied down shortly.

The hunter held his tongue from asking, but he didn't want to overstep boundaries. He had no right to get jealous, but he felt like he burned to the roof upon seeing the scene.

Luca could only leave the room again and distract himself with work.

…

After deliberately sleeping and giving no care in the world, Noah finally woke up. His body was doing so much better, and the little heats were also gone. He saw Rosanna curling up next to him, her small hands clutching on the blanket. He gave the blanket to her, and he got up from the bed. However, he sat back down while eating the rest of the snacks Rosanna brought.

Seeing that it was already three in the afternoon, he figured that so much work had been done already. Then again, no one woke him up.

Caliga could connect their minds now, and the hellhound could send him signals when something went wrong. In the end, there was nothing to report about.

He then got to his feet and left a note for Rosanna again. He stepped out of the room, leaving a last look at the four hellhounds watching over the little girl.

The witch walked across the hallway and gauged the busy workplace. As he looked into offices that dealt with the nationwide operation of SCC, he was reminded of his old company. It was only a year, and he didn't think that the disastrous company Christmas party would be his last.

"Oh, you're awake."

Noah flicked his eyes in front and saw Howard walking up to him.

"Are you up for some work now? We're trying to develop an upgrade for the guns of our elite squad. Seeing the power of those witches from last night, I just thought they're too weak indeed."

Howard kept on blabbering since Noah didn't cut him off or make any excuse to leave. The two continued to walk towards the basement while Noah listened to the inventor's ramblings.

It wasn't like Noah was just tolerating it, but he was really drawn to talkative people. He was not a person who would talk so much so when someone was speaking, he listened through and through. It was something that he had not dropped yet.

However, why would he when he needed to listen so gain even the most acute details he could use to his advantage?

When they arrived at the basement, Luca was trying out a gun created from witch tech and comparing the specifications to his top-grade saint tech. Of course, they were all sub-par. This witch tech was only developed by Howard ten years ago. The saint tech had been around even before the first rising of Satan.

"The aim was good, but the weight is not balanced enough for me to swing it—oh, Noah…" Luca turned to the scientist recording his findings. However, his gaze met with Noah who was walking towards them with Howard.

"Mr. Allsworth, how are the guns?" Howard noticed the sudden strange tension in the air. However, he ignored it as they were there for business.

"They… they're much better than I expected for something sold for less than ten million." Luca felt strangely annoyed by the address. "Also, doctor, please call me Luca. I am part of the elite squad at the moment. Calling me with so much formality is… unnecessary."

A shadow of a teasing smile was on Noah's face when Luca spoke. He just avoided being noticed when he picked up a gun and checked it.

It wasn't like Laquisha's witch tech gun which was made by lesser demons. The power the knock-off could hold wasn't even ten percent of Laquisha's peak performance.

Just like how Noah would test Laquisha's guns, he uncouthly applied force on both halves of the gun and…

Piak! The rifle broke so easily that even Noah was shocked by it. Even the force it could handle was nothing like an original witch tech gun. Yes, he had also destroyed some of Laquisha's guns this way, letting her know of their poor quality.

"Noah!" Luca called out as he was not even finished reviewing the gun. Even the scientist in charge of recording findings was upset as Noah destroyed their specimen that cost ten million in production plus labor.

"Sorry…" Noah placed the gun back down and tried to retreat as if a dog denying that he broke it.

However, Howard only picked it up. He inspected the broken ends and tossed the gun back on the table. "Shit, what a trash.

"I was thinking of elevating the magic output of this model and had been researching on balancing its weight. Tch, but what did I get? A gun that breaks easily."

Actually, Howard was upset because his gun didn't even resist a second of Noah's force. He had seen footage of Noah's fighting style, and he knew that Noah relied on his speed and weight. This man didn't have much power if he didn't move…

Yet, he broke the gun within a second. It only meant that the new model was too subpar and couldn't protect its user from magic surges.

"Testing the fragility of my guns isn't what I called you here for, Noah." Howard still snorted as he felt humiliated by this witch. He then turned to Luca as well. "While you guys aren't busy fighting to cover our asses, can I invite you two to play dodgeball?

"Only that you're dodging balls that are way smaller."