Trial Of Loyalty

Chapter 6: Trial Of Loyalty

Eleonora skipped around like a rabbit.

Around her orbited three glowing golden bubbles, each as large as an adult human head, with flames swirling inside and following her attentively.

Within those bubbles, her flames took the form of little foxes whose eyes shone with intelligence.

It seemed her magic had a life of its own, though only Eleonora knew how true that was.

Spreading her bubbles around, the fox woman warded off the darkness and improved her vision.

Consequently, two rodents became highlighted as though on a stage.

To see if she was still in shape, Eleonora allowed these two monsters to close in and attack her.

She handled their reckless charges with nimble, flexible dodges and swatted away the sharp tips of their tails with her own thick tails as if batting a fly.

"Hmmm! Looks like my hunting instincts are well-oiled," Eleonora told herself while smirking at the hopeless rodents.

She then crossed her ankles, taking a demure stance. She pushed out her chest and extended one hand forward while placing the other to the side.

With her chin up, Eleonora said, "Let's see how my ability goes."

In an instant, one of the bubbles shot at a rodent as though Eleonora had flicked it at her enemy.

Before the bubble connected with the rodent, it vanished, releasing the flames inside.

They elongated into a fox spirit that coiled around the rodent and held it in place.

The spirit bit into the rodent's neck while its body burst into flames, turning the creature to ashes in a few breaths.

The other rodent didn't flinch and charged at Eleonora in a frantic rush.

She placed one of her bubbles in front of herself like a crosshair, then gently pressed her left palm against it.

A flamethrower unfurled like a fan of nine fox tails.

It was not only beautiful but overpowering.

Eleonora was completely different from Noah, in more ways than one.

Her battle style grabbed attention, and her flames roared so loudly that the other rodents noticed the commotion.

They were no longer interested in the roses but in the golden-haired fox woman whose eyes shone like two suns.

Across from her, Noah sensed it was time to build their teamwork.

He moved through the darkness and approached the border marked by Eleonora's flames.

She felt his presence because of their connection formed by All Knowing Witch's Savior.

Without looking at him, she withdrew one of her bubbles, inviting him to the battlefield.

As darkness fell on five rodents, they slowed down, allowing Noah to catch up to them easily.

He dashed past two of them, slicing their necks with his blade hand and killing them in one move.

Meanwhile, Eleonora's flames splashed onto two more rodents, likely erasing them from existence.

In that chaos of flames, there was a sliver of darkness that Eleonora had created for Noah.

He slipped into it while invisible and closed in on the last rodent to end its life.

Everything happened so fast that Noah looked around in confusion, even feeling a bit disappointed.

On the other hand, Eleonora was so ecstatic that she skipped toward him and jumped into his arms.

"No problem whatsoever! I can control the shape of my flames, so it's easy to make room for you, handsome!" Eleonora beamed at Noah, so close that he only saw her twinkling eyes and his reflection in them.

He felt a rush of confidence and desire, leaning in to steal Eleonora's lips for himself.

It was their first kiss, gentle but full of meaning for both of them.

Her cheeks turned scarlet, and she leaned in to hide her face.

Not only had Eleonora just received a wealth of knowledge about kissing, but she also sensed Noah's happiness as he finally found someone who treasured him.

His love felt so precious and unique that she became embarrassed and ran away from him.

Kind of.

"I told you to ask me for anything, yet you went ahead and snatched my first kiss! If you dare to think I'm an easy woman, I'll hate you until you buy me the sweetest cake with white chocolate, bring it to me in bed, and read me a witch's romance story," Eleonora threatened while making her demands clear.

"You're oddly specific," Noah said, unaware that Eleonora would never hate him for something she wanted as well.

In response, Eleonora smirked and raised her demands. "Two cakes."

"I will get three, then."

"Okay, six cakes!" Eleonora beamed.

"Won't you get fat?" Noah asked the worst question.

Eleonora bit his ear in retaliation.

"It hurts."

"Nnnnn!"

"It really hurts."

"Nnnnn!"

-

Eleonora and Noah then squatted before the marble roses growing out of the corridor's wall.

Blood dripped from his ear, but Noah thought of it as a love bite and didn't mind at all.

Eleonora let that slide too.

Her eyes sparkled when she noticed a rose that didn't look special at first glance, and she carefully tore it off the wall.

She said, "It has mana engraved on it."

"Mana... so this rose has a specific role to fulfill," Noah thought aloud.

Eleonora nodded and looked around for more.

In the end, she found one more rose with mana carved on it.

She traced the engraving with her finger, carefully avoiding the thorns.

"Ah! I know what this trial is about! It's Trial Of Loyalty," Eleonora excitedly revealed, only for the trial to activate at that moment.

The roses dissolved into particles, and their mana wrapped around Noah and Eleonora.

It whisked them away from the corridor to a place neither of them ever expected to see.