Chapter 97: Comments Of A Lord And His Jester.

Dark lord POV:

After squeezing the information out of my court mage I discovered that the bothersome elf I was strangling was my little Noxy's disciple, while that irritating jester was her non-blood-related brother. It would seem the excentric strays I took in a few years ago used to belong to my little Noxy. I'm sure having them around will help her settle in when I take her back to the Dark Palace. I wouldn't want her to throw another tantrum while I wait for her to come of age.

"HAHAHA! LOOK AT THAT SHE IS…!"

After my dispute with that old fool Gladstone, I had decided to go watch the finals of Walpurgisnacht as I hoped to spot my Noxy among the spectators, whilst trying to tune out that obnoxious pest floating next to me. However, when I heard my future brother-in-law uncharacteristically go silent, I got curious. I turned my senses away from the spectators as I looked at the screen displaying the arena, and to my surprise…

"*giggle*! Of course, she was a competitor! It seems my little Noxy wants to show off her talents to the world!"

It had slipped my mind due to me previously assuming she was an ancient mage hiding her age with magic. My beloved is still at an acceptable age to enter Walpurgisnacht. It was rather obvious in hindsight. Wherever she goes, she will always be the center of attention.

"It's not her!"

Just as I was imagining sweeping her off her feet after tonight's ceremony, my future brother-in-law interrupted my daydreams. In all the time I have known him, I have never seen him emit any kind of hostility. Yet today I witnessed the normally cheerful jester emitting a violent burst of bloodlust as he glared at the girl in the arena.

"What?"

"My sister if given a choice, would never use that name! Not even as a joke!"

As he said that I turned to look at the competitors names displayed at the bottom of the screen. And to my surprise it was one I recognized.

"Does my Noxy have a connection to the 'Lunaria'?"

It was then that I learned of my Noxy's tragic upbringing as well as the day the Lunaria faction became an enemy of the Dark Palace.

After the matches concluded, I pondered whether or not it would be worth fighting the sage so I could bring that girl's head as a gift next time I see my beloved. Though after envisioning the scene of my Noxy opening a present only to find her own severed head, I realized just what kind of message that would send and quickly discarded the idea.

I eventually recalled what my objective was in coming here and turned my senses back to the colosseum. I soon spotted something rather amusing. I saw my court mage tied up and wearing a pacifier while one of the Walpurgis officials was talking to a silver haired man with a thin transparent layer of water covering his face. It was a rather strange sight.

Suddenly, as the closing ceremony was about to start, I could sense the man turning to leave as a suspicion started forming in the back of my mind. That suspicion slowly turned into certainty as I watched him or rather, her make an appearance on the stage.

"Haha! As expected of my woman! She is truly fearless!"

"Oh! So, you figured it out?" My brother-in-law confirmed.

No matter how hard I throttled the pair. I couldn't get them to reveal my Noxy's location. It's why that crying court mage refused to join us in the VIP section of the arena. Maybe I should use him as bait to lure her out if she ever runs away again.

"So, are you not going to stop this? Last time you found her you freaked out and rushed off without a word!" My brother-in-law inquired as I was leisurely enjoying the show my beloved prepared for me.

"Why bother! That elf won't leave that man alone after this, and the little minx won't sit still when he does! So, this great lord will just enjoy the show until the little girl tires herself out!" I spoke as I relaxed in my seat.

"Sure thing! And I will record the moment she gets away for future generations of playboys to see you fail!"

"Stop calling me that! Once I get my hands on her, I will make sure to teach the two of you a lesson you may never forget!"

"Sure, if you catch her tonight, I'll call you whatever you want, but if you don't, I'll get to call you playboy until the end of time! HAHA!"

"You better not go back on your words!"

"Oh look! Its starting!" My brother-in-law said as he pointed at the strangely familiar guy who just spat out a couple of spriggans.

"As I recall! Was that not the rude new recruit the two of you wanted to show me?"

"Yeah, but then you got pissed and scared him away!"

"Hmph! Are all mages these days this impertinent? Between my court mage and that hooligan all the mages my Noxy are associated with seems to be rather audacious!"

"HAHAHA! You just reminded me! You're not going to believe this, but my sister used your appearance to. HOLY SHIT!"

Just then as my brother-in-law was about to reveal some vital information about my Noxy's ongoings the arena was split open along with my beloved. I wasn't too worried since she recovered from just a head in the past, though it seemed like Gladstone was done playing around as he brought out his set of mythical grade equipment.

"It seems even a sage can't take my little Noxy lightly! Now I'll just, hm!"

Just as I was about to take this opportunity to catch her before she fully recovered, she had regenerated her arm and launched a sneak attack using only half her body. Meanwhile, the other half of her body pulled out a strangely familiar contraption.

"*Giggle*! What an interesting fighting style!" I chuckled, as I watched my pair of Noxys play around with the world's foremost expert on enchantments.

"Hey, brother-in-law! Remind me, what was the inspiration for my aerial crafts magic canons again?" I inquired while looking at the bisected girl holding a miniaturized version of my court mage's greatest contribution to the Dark Empire.

"Ew! Gross! Don't call me that!"

"Whatever do you mean, Brother-In-Law!"

"Ack! Stop it! It's sending chills down my metaphorical spine! Anyways, the inspiration for it was the collaboration between my sister and her friend, 'the magic gun' which she is currently firing at that bearded armor set down there!"

"Her friend! Who exactly is this friend you speak of?"

"Whoa! Could you turn down the possessive boyfriend thing you got going on? This is the third time you've scorched this room with your aura!"

"Hmph! Who are you calling possessive? I merely wish to make sure my Noxy doesn't fall in with a bad crowd!"

"Pft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's so funny!"

"Oh man! You have no idea how funny that is! *giggle*"

"Tell me or else! Hm!"

Just as I was getting ready to throttle the information out of him, Gladstone had erected a spatial jamming field to stop my Noxy from dodging his next attack. As my Noxy had been immobilized as she was split once more, I thought this to be the perfect time to come to her rescue, but…

*BANG*

I seemed to have fallen into a trap as I was enclosed in a transparent barrier. It was rather sturdy as my strikes only managed to crack it slightly before recovering almost instantly. At first, I thought this was Gladstones doing, but…

*BOOM*

*Sizzle*

*Crack*

Just as he launched an energy slash to incinerate my beloved's remains, he was enclosed in an identical barrier. The sudden confinement caused his attack to backfire as it ended up trapped within the enclosed space along with him. Still, he was unharmed as his mythical-grade armor could easily defend against its own attacks and more. Meanwhile, as we were attempting to break the barrier, my beloved's voice entered our ears as her body parts began to reassemble.

"And that's checkmate boys!"