Chapter 2

"Spread out!" Gusion yells as they dodge the attack of the humungous giant swinging an old fortress to defend itself.

It roared that the ground shook and made almost all of the soldiers cower over him.

The giant seems to be made of mossy boulders. They have tried attacking it with swords and arrows but it did not cause damage to its rocky body. Their useless attacks can be compared to a baby trying to bite with his bare gums. And despite holding the tower as a weapon, the giant swings it easily like counting one, two and three.

Hiding behind a ruin, Gusion observes its movement. He tries to locate where the weakness of the giant is by shooting his daggers in spots that he thinks that would somehow become its weak spot.

The giant roars so loud it echoes throughout the land. The ground shakes as it takes sudden steps and slams the tower right on the group of soldiers provoking it but they managed to dodge its deadly offense. The plane became a land that seemed to be hit by a meteorite after the giant had lifted the fortress off the ground.

"Maybe I should attack its eyes," Gusion mumbles to himself.

"Give it a try, baby-face," Lesley encourages him. A smirk slowly creeps on the edge of her lips as she waits for his failure.

"Just watch and learn, baby, " he says before stealthily climbing up behind the giant who seems to be mumbling something, thus, not having the idea of Gusion's intrusion.

When Gusion reaches its head, he summons his daggers, both on his hands and the others are fixed behind him in midair and he jumps in front of the giant.

"I got you!" he exclaims as he holds his daggers with both hands and plunges it on one of its eyes. The remaining daggers shoot right on the same spot where he had hit the giant.

A simultaneous clanking sound of metal is heard as the daggers break in two and lamely falls on the grassy ground. The giant's hard, blue eyes stare at the attacker with a what-are-you-doing look on his face.

Gusion immediately retreats before he could be hit by the tower. He swiftly jumps off and lands on the ground safely.

"Who knew that giant eyes are so hard?" he asks himself, feeling a bit embarrassed. But dwelling on such embarrassment would do him no good so he simply brushed it off.

"I do," Lesley giggles at the sight of him. "You looked so lame back there, even shouting."

Gusion glares at the pink-haired woman. If only his stare could kill, Lesley would have long been dead but hurting her would also mean going against the household of the known magicians, the Vance.

"You knew yet you said I give it a try?" he scoffs in disbelief. "Are you playing around?!"

"Oh, the baby Paxley is annoyed. Remove that frown or you'll look like a grumpy, old baby," Lesley teased as she puts her gun behind her back. She steps forward and dusts off the dirt on Gusion's shoulders,  yet her smirk still remained.

She pinched both of his cheeks so the corners of his mouth would curve up. Her childish teasing had almost made him snap but he managed to control his anger.

"I think I know how to settle this one. Just sit back, relax and learn. If you want to be cool, follow my steps."

Gusion watches Lesley walk towards the giant, defenseless. He rolls his eyes in annoyance.

"Does she have a death wish?" he asks but instead of just watching, he decides to accompany her.

"What do you think you're doing, baby?" he teases her, switching his mood. "I would weep in my entire life if I lost my only baby."

"Whoah, your mood swings really amaze me. Anyway, Stone Giants like this guy are amiable, they are not dangerous," Lesley replies before facing the giant. "Not all things can be done through a fight. Remember that, baby-faced Paxley. And do not call me baby 'cause it creeps the hell out of me."

"It was meant to be like that in the very first place," he whispered.

"Hey! What's your name?!" Lesley yells as she waves her hands around to be noticed.

The giant stops and slowly looked around, trying to locate where the voice is coming from. Then, it stares at her.

"Grock," it replies. When it sees Lesley sitting down on the ground, it also followed and quickly drops himself to sit which caused another ground shaking.

"Have you found the owner of that fortress?!" Lesley asks him as she points at the fortress it is holding.

Grock shakes his head in response.

"No, I am still looking for them. I just woke up and saw no one," Grock replied. "I have been searching for days but I haven't seen anyone around here."

"What about going with us to Magical City?! There are people whom we could ask for help!"

"That...That would be great. You won't try to hurt me anymore, will you?" Grock asks.

"No, we won't! So, let's go!" Lesley exclaims and all of the guards that came with them finally come out from their hiding place.

"You knew about this yet you just moped around and watched the others attack it?!" Gusion asks with gritted teeth. He is annoyed that he cannot maintain the teasing side of himself.

"You suddenly attacked it before I could even speak," Lesley simply replies. "Plus, a mission that is done without any twists would be boring."

"Sometimes, your jokes are just not funny and is very much out of place," he comments. He holds his chin and thought for a bit. "How about letting me teach you?"

Instead of answering his question, there is something that has caught Lesley's attention.

"Your fiancee is coming over," Lesley whispers before walking at a faster pace. She knew that when it comes to Gusion, Guinevere has a short temper when a girl lingers around him. She has always tried to mark what hers for as long as she could remember.

"Gusion, may I have a word with you?" Guinevere asks as she glares at Lesley and irritation is very much evident in her tone.

"Is she trying to make fools out of us?! She knew from the start how to calm that Stone Giant yet she kept quiet in the beginning?!" she complains.

Gusion sighs fpr he no longer have the strength to explain to her. And explaining would only make her even more hotheaded and it would be too bothersome to calm her.

"Don't let it get to you," he says to calm Guinevere's angry nerves. Despite knowing his fiancee since childhood, Gusion has not known how to calm her down so all he could do is tell her.

While walking back to the city, Lesley approaches the two lovers.

"You should go and talk to Lunox to do something about Grock's size. If he goes in the city like that, it would be a disaster," she says and she notices the glares she's getting from Guinevere.

"And reserve your glares, young lady," she adds, "You do not want to be wearing an eyepatch as I do, do you?"

"Stop acting arrogant," Guinevere says with the calmest voice she could manage to say. Plus, Lesley is disgusted by her fake smile.

"It isn't arrogance," Lesley defends for she could tell the sarcasm behind Guinevere's voice, "It's simply a joke that royalties like you cannot get. You should, you know, step out from your palaces and mingle with your people to know what I mean."

Lesley suddenly covers her mouth when she sees Guinevere's fists.

"Oops, I think I said something so true that it offended you," she teased with a smirk on her lips. "Please, do feel offended 'cause that is what it's supposed to make you feel."

"Lesley, watch your mouth," Gusion warns as his glare worsens as if it could pass through her. Though he always teases her, he would not let her disrespect his fiancee or else Guinevere would run her wild imagination and cause an unnecessary ruckus. It would be problematic for him.

"Oh, yes, of course. The fiancé should protect his fiancee in public but please do give her a bit of lecture when you're in private, got it?" she says with a fake smile plastered on her face. She turned her back and raised her hand as a goodbye before disappearing from their sight.

"She is getting in my nerves!" Guinevere yells in fury as she hits the ground with her heels. "Why did she even come with us?!"

"Father had instructed her as well so we had no choice but to bring her over."

Upon reaching Magical City, the people become restless as they see the Stone Giant standing on their gates.

"Wait here for a minute," Gusion tells him and Grock nods in response.

Gusion heads to the Lion Academy and sees Lunox.

"Lunox!" he calls out to her. "I need your help with something."

"Ah, you've brought Grock over?" the mage asks him.

"Yes, and we need your help with his size," Gusion replies.

"Lesley came earlier saying that same thing," Lunox says which almost made Gusion snap in anger.

"I see," he simply commented. He held the bridge of his nose as an image of the female assassin appears in his mind with a teasing smile curved on her lips. He could do nothing but to simply shake his head with Lesley's actions.

The guards have been calming the crowd not to go chaotic while Lunox performs a ritual to decrease the size of the giant.

"It's been years, Grock," Lunox greets him.

"You still look the same," Grock replies, "Are you going to make me smaller?"

"Yes, so you could get in the city and look for the owners of that fortress you're carrying," Lunox replies.

The whole town watch Lunox perform a magical ritual. She drew a circle around her and upon closing her eyes, it glowed rays of gold. She raised her left hand, then her right. Then, within the golden circle, a shape of a star was slowly drawn. Lunox chanted a few spells and Grock decreases in size until he's only big enough to roam around the city.

"Thank you very much," he says.

"You'll be staying in the Paxley household for now, is that okay?" Lunox asks him after she finished her magic.

"Yeah, sure," he replies as he goes near the mage who tried to pierce his eye with a blade just a while ago.

"I'm sorry about your broken blade earlier," he sincerely apologizes.

"No, don't mention it," Gusion responds before they head back to the Paxley mansion. "Do forget about it."

"Are you feeling embarrassed about it?" Grock asks with innocence plastered all over its face.

"No," Gusion denies as he takes the lead on going back home.

"Gusion," Guinevere calls out but when he looks at her, she looks away and says, "Never mind. Take care."

"She looks like she wanted to say something, aren't you going to ask her?" Grock says.

"She's always like that. She'll tell me sooner or later when she feels comfortable talking about it," Gusion replies. "Lesley did say the truth about you being friendly."

"Grock is friendly of course," says the giant. "And Lesley is pretty and cool."

"You think so?"

Grock nods in response.

"But she needs to fix that attitude of hers," Gusion thinks.