~ [Music Recommendation: "Tiptoe Thru The Tulips" by O'Neill Brothers (instrumental only) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter XD ~

Ducis almost fainted. He couldn't believe what he was seeing - his most revered and innocent master, as what he thought, was pinning a girl down! And he could have sworn he saw him just finished kissing her amidst the shattered debris from the barrier. Yes, he saw them kiss before so it shouldn't be something too shocking … though that time was crucial and needed. But this was just different! They were in a secluded place, only the two of them, a man and a woman, and again, he was pinning her down! Ducis' naughty mind thought of a hundred things that they could have done already.

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"It has been more than half an hour … are they just starting? Or have they already finished the did?" Ducis' mind went nuts. "Has my master been defiled? Is he no longer … a virgin? My poor innocent master! Noooooooo!"

"ELLIOT!" Luna screamed so loud that many of the creatures in the forest were startled. "What in the … 12 realms are you doing to my Rania?!" In her shock, she changed her usual expression of 'what in the world' to '12 realms'. "How dare you take advantage of her! WRAAA!!!"

Elliot got up and clicked his tongue. Luna quickly ran towards Rania and helped her get up. Once up, she scowled at Elliot's direction like an angry tiger protecting her cub.

"Hmf! I'm punishing her, she deserves it," Elliot scoffed. The sulky expression on his handsome face was so apparent amidst the dark surroundings. Nonetheless, he still looked as the gorgeous prince he was despite the surly appearance.

"You're punishing her?" Luna raised one of her eyebrows. "Are you an 'S'?" she blurted out. Turning to Rania, she continued, "And you, are you an 'M' to be allowing him to punish you?"

"... Huh?" Rania and Elliot chorused.

"Ha! … ha ha ha … of course, you two wouldn't know," Luna let out a dry laugh. "Nevermind that, YOU!", she pointed to Elliot, "Apologize to Rania right now!"

Elliot squinted his eyes. "If you knew the reason, you'd probably punish her, too". Then, he stuck out his tongue, teasing Luna.

Luna was shocked. This was the first time … well, maybe not the first time since he's been a sour guy from the very first moment they met, and that's when they still didn't know each other, but still … It had been a long time since Elliot acted this way.

"T-this guy … what could have caused him to be like this?" Luna thought.

"Ahm … Luna," Rania caught her attention, "Actually, for some reason, I think I do deserve the punishment," she said shyly. "I'm sorry. Please don't be angry with Elliot".

Luna's eyes widened. "What did you do?" she asked with pursed lips.

"Ahm … I'll …," Rania sighed. "I'll explain later. I'm really sorry".

Luna crossed her arms and sighed. Her eyes rolled in dismay and that was when she noticed - a bite mark on Rania's neck! Elliot was about to leave the pavilion when Luna grabbed his shoulders with intense pressure, much to Elliot's surprise.

"What now?" Elliot raised his eyebrows.

"Y-youuu … dare … assault … Rania?!" Luna yelled in anger. "What is that bite mark in her neck?! You dared hurt her?!"

"Huh? Bite in my neck?" Rania blinked her eyes. Then, she raised her hand to her neck, trying to feel where it was. "Aw!" she blurted when she felt a light sting on the side of her neck. There really was a bite mark. Her face flushed when she remembered Elliot nibbling on it and sucking it a few moments ago. She didn't think it would leave a mark.

Elliot didn't notice it as well until Luna pointed it out. His irritation and sour mood instantly washed away and turned to worry and guilt instead. He immediately approached Rania looking like a sorry puppy.

"Rania, I'm so sorry! I didn't - ugh ..." he sighed.

"Pft! I thought you're still angry at me?" Rania chuckled.

"I am! But … I never intended to harm you physically," he mumbled. Elliot then raised his hand towards her neck to heal the bite mark. "I'm really sorry".

"Ahhm … Elliot," Rania tried to interrupt him.

"Hm?" Elliot halted. "What is it?" his gentle voice was back.

"Ahm … nevermind," she averted her eyes and blushed. In her mind, she battled against her own thought, "What are you thinking Rania? Don't even think about asking him not to heal it! He will think you're weird! Ugh … seriously, what's wrong with me? Why do I somehow feel like I want to keep it there instead? To remind me of his kiss? Waaa, noooo! Why would I even want to be reminded of such things? This is so weird." Her heart kept on pounding on her chest.

This was where Luna's keen observation came in.

"Rania … why do you look like you don't want him to heal it?" Luna just read Rania's mind.

Rania's flushed face turned redder. "H-h-huh?! W-w-what are you saying Luna?" Her body stiffened and trembled as an awkward laugh escaped her lips. It was a perfect hit on the mark - a bullseye.

Hearing this, Elliot was surprised. "She doesn't want it healed?" he thought. And for some reason, he, too, agreed with the idea. "Ugh … what did I just think that it's okay? As if I want the bite mark to remain on her? T-that's so … unethical! And disrespectful! No!" His face blushed at the thought of it.

Luna raised both of her eyebrows seeing Rania and Elliot's reactions. Even Elliot looked like he didn't hate the idea! Luna hit her face with her palm as she shook her head.

"Seriously … you two," Luna sighed. "Alright! Both of you! Rania! Elliot!" she pointed at them, "You're banned from flirting until we finish the next gate!"

Rania and Elliot were taken aback. But they nodded in agreement with Luna.

Luna turned to the still traumatized Ducis. "And you!" she pointed at him as well, "You lost the bet so you're gonna be my slave until the next gate finishes!"

At last, the night concluded with Luna reprimanding everyone. They went back to the chamber afterwards and rested. Luna ended up to be the one to heal Rania's love bite since the two lovers were too reluctant to remove it for some weird reasons. Hours passed and morning came, so as their focus and reasoning. Rania and Elliot felt thankful towards Luna for being the sole level-headed person despite last night's events. Ducis got over his trauma as well and thought it was normal for lovers to act foolishly sometimes.

Now, everyone was back to serious business. As per usual, they went to the Forbidden Forest to train. Elliot summoned Aqua from the Zweihänder and she came forth, not as a mermaid though, but in a Magi form. Her red orange hair remained but her outfit changed into a blue, off-shoulder, serpentina gown with water-like fabric. Small colorful seashells and glimmering white sands served as ornaments to it and pink pearls were her accessory.

"So, shall we get started?" Aqua greeted Elliot and the others.

Everyone nodded and took their positions - like a cross, with Aqua in the middle. Aqua was to demonstrate her powers while Elliot studied it and copied it. Rania, Luna and Ducis would be his sparring partner after to test his new learned skills. This was how they've been doing it in order to not only improve Elliot's skills, but also the others.

"Great!" Aqua clapped her hands. "As you may all know already, I govern water. So anything that water can do, I can too! For my offensive abilities, I can create water dragons or any water monsters," she demonstrated as she spoke, "water cyclones, tsunami, water splash, water bubbles, water spheres that can both entrap or attack, water golems and many others".

Elliot easily copied everything since they were done almost the same way as how other guardians did it.

"Now, for my defensive abilities, like other guardians, I have a water barrier, water wall, and other stuff. But what you'll find most useful are my special abilities," Aqua continued. "Like the clones Elliot faced, I can create almost - perfect clones, even their memories, if I want it to. Because water has memories … even memories from the oldest of times," she smiled gently.

"I see … that's why you knew a lot about me," Elliot replied.

Aqua bowed her head. "Indeed. And if you want, you can use this same skill to learn of your past. Though I suggest holding off until we finish the last gate". When she saw Elliot nod his head in agreement, she continued her lesson. "Aside from those, another important special skill is the water body. Like water, everything will just pass through you".

"Nice. That can be very useful".

And so, the team trained for an entire day. Aqua's special skills were special for a reason - they were a tad harder to do than the other guardian's skills. But nonetheless, our genius Elliot was able to do it, much to Aqua's surprise.

Night came, and morning came again …

Now, it's time to go to the next gate!

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Ps. I got inspired with Luna and Ducis' bickering moment on this chap by my granny and gramps (fellow author friends and senpais). I thank them with all my heart and i love them both.

You can check them out, "dreamygurl7968" (granny - Luna) and Reili (gramps - Ducis). And read their stories while you're at it.