章節 8: Grudge Match [Pt 3]

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It was a dark cold night in the Frost mansion, the ground was still wet from the heavy downpour that had happened earlier in the day. A dark silhouette rushed across the courtyard to the main building of the frost mansion, when he got to the doors, he tapped on the buzzer, in a few minutes a butler appeared and opened the doors, the light from the interior of the mansion shone on the dark silhouette and revealed him to be none other than Shimon Ragniel. The butler spoke first,

" Shimon, what are you doing here by this time of the night ",

" Hello Gerard, I have come to see the head of the house concerning something important, may I come in, it's quite cold out here", Shimon replied,

" Sure, sure come on in old friend" Gerard answered cheerfully.

Gerard and Shimon were the two oldest servants at the Frost mansion and were very good friends, Gerard went into the kitchen and returned with a cup of tea,

"Here you go, this should warm you up a bit", Shimon collected the cup and took a sip, he let out a sigh, Gerard started to speak, " As you know the Master of the house, Gale Frost, is currently away, in his place his younger brother, Master Baizard has taken over affairs concerning the Frost family",

" I am well aware" Shimon responded, " Is Master Baizard in right now? " he asked. " Yes he is " answered Gerard, he leaned in closer and in a lowered tone he continued " You seem like you came to see him for some kind of help, I won't ask what it is, but I will advise you as a friend to wait for Master Gale to return, after all, you and I both know how Master Baizard can be" he gave Shimon a knowing look." I know, but it can't be helped, I need to speak to him as soon as possible" Shimon answered, Gerard, let out a sigh,

" I will let him know of your presence, wait here", with this Gerard left the room. After a few moments he reappeared " The master currently has a guest but he will see you now, he's in the study" he paused and moved closer to his friend, he put a hand on Shimon's shoulder," I wish you luck old friend".

Shimon made his way to the study, once outside the doors he took in a deep breath and knocked on the door," You may enter" answered a voice from within. He gently opened the doors and went in, there were 4 people in the study, Master Baizard, his son Eroan and two other people; a man and a boy, who Shimon did not recognize. He quickly bowed

" Good evening Master Baizard",

" If it isn't Shimon Ragniel" Baizard responded, he paused to take a sip of the wine in his cup, " What can I do for you", Shimon raised his head and looked in the direction of the two guests, hesitantly he asked " May I speak freely sir?", " Of course, of course, these are friends of the Frost family, Master Zarek Litho, and his son Gerdi Litho" he gestured towards the two guests, he paused to let out a belch, Shimon could see that he was intoxicated and obviously in a very good mood, this was a good sign, Baizard continued " Go on speak".

Shimon lowered himself to his knees and placed his head on the floor " Sir, I have humbly come to request your assistance, my son Arnik has recently awoken his Magical circuit and dreams of becoming a mage, to achieve this he has to attend the Lirdunia School of Apprentice Mages, I humbly seek your financial assistance, He's a bright boy I'm sure he'll do well". " Ho" Baizard said as he began rising to his feet, he had a towering figure and was a very strong ice mage thus he had earned the nickname " Frost Giant", " You insolent man, hasn't the Frost family done enough for you and your son, you dare come to seek assistance again you vermin " he spoke loudly, his voice booming.

" Please sir "Shimon begged, " Please it is to fulfill my son's dreams, I only ask that you give him a chance ", "Shut up" Baizard answered, he walked forward and placed a foot on Shimon's head " You're a rat, a greedy rat, you should be satisfied with the crumbs that fall from the table but no, you want more," he said as he continuously rubbed his foot on Shimon's head, " Please sir, I'll do anything you want, all I need is assistance" Shimon responded. Baizard seemed to consider this for a while, and took his foot away from Shimon's head, " There's absolutely nothing someone like you can offer to me, nothing " he then turned to pick up his glass of wine and downed it all in one gulp, " But I will help you" he continued, he turned to face Zarek Litho " I will help you because the Frost family has always and will always continue to be generous to its allies and subjects" he said with a smile on his face.

" Oh thank you, thank you so much, sir," Shimon said excitedly bowing his head several times, looking over his shoulder Baizard spoke " But, what will you do for me in return, after all, if I'm helping you, I should be able to ask for something in return, the problem is there's nothing you can give me" he pretended to think for a while, " ok, I've decided, I'll help you if you'll kiss my boots"

Shimon swallowed hard, " What an undignified thing to do," he thought to himself, "but if it's for my son…", still on his knees he bent his head and kissed Baizard's boots, just as he was about to raise his head, Baizard spoke in a low voice " Not so fast, lick the sole ", Shimon hesitated, " Ho, didn't you say you'd do anything for your son, lick it," Baizard said, Shimon raised Baizard's boot slowly, stuck out his tongue and licked the sole. Baizard and Zarek burst out laughing, " Just like a dog," Biazard said amidst laughter, he walked towards his desk, and picked up an envelope, he threw it at Shimon who was still kneeling on the floor, " There you go, that should be enough for his fees, now get out, you disgust me".

Shimon picked up the envelope and silently left the room without looking at anyone's face. Once the door was shut, he walked a few steps before suddenly stopping and resting his head against the wall to his side, tears streamed down his face as he wept in silence.

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" I witnessed the whole thing, that's what happened and that's the only reason trash like you is even in a place like this" Gerdi said with a note of finality. Arnik was silent, his mind was racing, how could this be true, his father never told him this, so many thoughts clouded his mind and he unconsciously collapsed to his knees. Gerdi went on, determined to break the young man mentally, " Judging from your reaction, I assume he didn't tell you" he began laughing at Arnik " Of course he couldn't, he'd have probably died from the humiliation, such a coward " and with this, he continued laughing.

Inside Arnik's head, so many thoughts clouded Arnik's mind, Gerdi's words kept looping in his mind until all of a sudden everything went blank, he began rising to his feet and looked at Gerdi with one thing on his mind " DESTROY", suddenly there was a burst of flames as Arnik propelled himself at Gerdi with incredible speed, Gerdi barely managed to erect a wall of the earth just as Arnik slammed into it with incredible force shattering the wall in the process, Gerdi was too surprised to move, as he looked into Arnik's eyes, he could have sworn that he saw flames burning in them. An incredible battle ensued, Gerdi had no chance to attack and could barely keep up with defending Arnik's attacks, " He has so much destructive power, I can't keep this up for much longer" he thought to himself, just then Arnik sent multiple fireballs towards him and he just barely managed to erect a wall of earth, the force of the explosion was enough to knock him some distance away.

Gerdi rose from the ground and could feel blood trickling down his face, " You bastard " he yelled " You're a wild animal, so you must be caged" with this he began chanting something, and then slammed both fists into the ground, "Litho style: Earth Seal" he yelled out, several pillars began shooting out of the ground.

Arnik began avoiding the pillars by using his flames as a propeller and lunged at Gerdi, but before he could get to him, an earth pillar attached to his leg and pulled him to the ground, he covered his fists in flame and broke it, he began running towards Gerdi again and several more attached to his other body parts, he began struggling to get away but it was only a matter of time before he was overpowered and his entire body became stuck, the pillars began molding themselves into a solid ball of earth with Arnik at it's center. When it became a complete ball it began sucking mana away from Arnik's body, the effect of this was that Arnik became very weak. " No I have to keep fighting, I have to make him pay " Arnik thought to himself as he struggled to free himself but it was impossible and he soon succumbed to the darkness within the ball.