Chapter 58 - Challenge – Part 9

Nazar and Laura were in his bedroom, waiting for Baros.

However, Baros was already here.

“Nazar?”

Nazar heard the sound from the other room and stood up.

“It’s okay, I will go.”

Laura left the room and quickly returned, running.

“Holy shit, dude!”

“Hm?”

“You never told me he was that hot. And what’s with those sparkles around him.”

Nazar sighed.

“I hate him...” Nazar muttered to himself.

Baros entered the room and looked at Nazar.

“So, what happened to you?”

“Long story, Baros...”

Baros sighed.

“So, can you heal me? I have multiple broken bones and...”

“Yes. Got it.”

Baros closed his eyes and the whole room lit up with green magical energy.

In an instant, Nazar was healed completely.

Nazar clenched and unclenched his fist.

“Thanks, Baros.”

“You’re welcome. I shall take my leave now.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“Can you take over? My mind is not exactly in the right place at the moment.”

“Of course. I will keep an eye on the empire until you return.”

Baros was about to leave but he looked back at Nazar with an anxious gaze.

“”

“”

“”

“”

“”

Nazar nodded.

“”

“”

""

Laura looked between them in a confused manner.

“”

“”

Baros smiled and vanished into thin air.

Nazar stretched.

Laura looked at Nazar.

“What was that about?”

“...Nothing special. Just stuff about the empire.”

“So, you are completely healed then?”

Nazar nodded as he smiled.

“Not gonna lie, being healed feels much better.”

Laura gave him a blank look.

Nazar lay back on the bed and smiled in a relaxed manner.

“I thought it would take longer to heal… but man, this is much better.”

Nazar yawned.

Laura lay down next to him.

“Go to sleep now.”

“Uh, oh, yes. Got it.”

Nazar hesitated to close his eyes.

Seeing that, Laura wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Having his face buried in her chest, Nazar’s eyes opened in surprise.

“Don’t worry, I will be right here. I think you woke up because the distance between us was over a meter. So, I will stay close as long as you sleep, okay?”

“I can’t ask you to--”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

“Th-thanks,” he said as he closed his eyes.

To his surprise, he did not see that woman’s silhouette and didn’t hear her voice.

“Have you ever heard of a word called ‘Oxytocin’?”

“No...”

“It’s a hormone that is involved in lovemaking and bonding. It helps with anxiety and depression.”

Nazar opened his eyes.

“I am not depressed.”

“I know that but it should help a little, no?”

“I see...”

Nazar smiled.

“If you don’t mind, can you take off your t-shirt now? It will work better like that, no?”

Laura laughed.

“Perv ♡,” she said with a thin smile.

She sat up and took off her t-shirt.

Nazar was a little surprised.

“I was just joking but this works too. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

She pulled him closer to herself and he closed his eyes.

“Goodnight.”

လလလ

Many hours, in the morning, Laura was hugging Nazar very tightly in the bed.

Nazar groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

Opening his eyes, he found his face to be still buried in her chest.

However, he found himself confused.

“Wha--”

“You are awake?!”

Laura let go off Nazar and rushed out of the room.

Confused, Nazar sat up.

He looked at his hand.

“Huh, I am really healed.”

Nazar clenched and unclenched his face.

“I thought Baros appeared in my dream… So, he was actually here.”

Nazar eyes widened slightly and blushed.

“Shit! Did I really ask her to do that?!”

Nazar stood up and started looking for something in the drawer.

Looking at it, he sighed.

“I should really, really tidy this place up.”

He had thrown so many stuff into the drawers. Papers, parts of machines, broken action figures, some clothes, and more.

After searching for it, he found what he was looking for.

It was a small rectangular black device. It was Nazar’s back-up nanite-based clothing device. It allowed him to change his clothes at will, use the Ion armour, shields, teleportation, and do much more.

He placed the device on his chest and connected with his body immediately.

Unlike other people, it automatically activates once it comes to contact with him.

Nazar looked at himself in the mirror and fixed his hair.

“Maybe I should try different hairstyles for once?”

In his entire life, Nazar’s hair has always stayed the same. He always had a bedhead. He never tried fixing his hair in any way until today.

“Oh? What is this?”

Nazar frantically stopped fixing his hair once he heard Laura’s voice.

She walked towards the bed.

“Uh… Um...”

For some reasons, Nazar was very embarrassed.

“Uh, sorry about last night? For asking you to, uh, take off your t-shirt. I thought I was sleeping.”

“Haha. It’s okay.”

Laura picked up her black t-shirt and worse it.

“Everything was perfectly fine until a short while ago. I had to go to the bathroom but I did not want to wake you.”

“Ah, sorry about that.”

“As I said, it’s okay.”

Laura picked up her phone from the table and started using it.

“Oh, you slept for 12 hours. Nice.”

“Really?”

“Did you have any nightmares?”

“Nope. Thanks to you.”

Laura sat down on the bed and pointed at the empty space beside her.

“Come here.”

“...?”

Nazar looked at her with a confused look on his face.

“I said come here.”

Nazar sighed and did as she said.

He sat beside her.

“So?”

She wrapped her left arm around his neck and pulled him down.

Placing his head on her lap, she started stroking his hair.

“So, why are you so embarrassed about fixing your hair?”

She ran her fingers in his hair.

“I don’t know, honestly.”

“Let me see what I can do with it.”

“Oh no… Please don’t braid my hair.”

“Haha, your hair is too short for that.”

“Hm, true.”

“If...”

Laura paused before continuing.

“Whenever you are feeling tired or if you are facing another situation like last night, I want you to… You can always count on me, is what I am trying to say.”

Nazar felt her fingers stop moving in his hair.

“I would hate to see those close to me suffer. So...”

Nazar turned around and looked up at her.

“Try not to get hurt like that again, okay?”

Nazar felt her slender fingers move around on his cheek.

“Please?”

Nazar forced a smile on his face.

“Okay.”

လလလ

Friday, 4th of June - Planet Varu, Chochica Empire:

Planet Varu, unlike other planets in the Chochica Empire, was not very advanced. It resembled an historical world, full of Roman-style castles and towns.

It was a tourist attraction. One of the biggest attractions in the empire.

Right now, Lian was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in this historical looking town.

“”

She was talking to Baros using a communication device.

“- -”

She was chasing off a criminal who only steals objects which has historical significance.

“- -”

“”

Lian took a deep breath.

“”

“- -”

“”

Suddenly, Lian lost her balance and fell to the ground.

(That could have gone better...) She thought to herself.

Standing up, she found herself being thrown back to the ground.

“”

Lian, on the ground, tried to concentrate on the voice and find it.

However, it was moving very fast, so she had a hard time tracking it.

“- -”

“”

Lian sat up as she tried to follow the movement.

She looked down onto the ground, to see if anything was left behind from the thief.

However, she did not find anything.

“”

A loud laugh rang out.

Lian used that as an opportunity to find the thief’s voice but it was coming from many different directions, so she couldn’t locate it.

She looked around herself and noticed something.

“”

She was sitting on the ground in a small street that was covered in many walls.

The reason she couldn’t trace the thief’s voice was because of the echoes. And of course, the thief’s speed was exceptional too. However, the echoes made it hard for her to catch on to the thief’s voice.

She noticed that the thief was using a sound manipulating device too, which made his sound echo more than it should and masked his location.

“”

Even though her eyes and ears failed her, Lian smiled thinly.

Touching the ground, a large red circle appeared. The radius of the circle was over 5 meters.

“”

Suddenly, the magical circle blew up.

Lian had a force field around her, so she was not damaged by the explosion.

“”

“”

Lian laughed.

“”

Lian jumped.

“”

Jumping down, Lian punched the thief in the face.

“”

Lian punched her palm.

Collecting the magical energies in her right leg, she stabbed her foot into the ground and shot herself toward the thief, who was still covered in the remaining fog of the blast.

Shooting herself towards the thief like a rocket, the thief tried to move but he was too slow.

Lian collected magical energies from around her in her right palm and increased the force of her punch.

Punching the thief, he coughed blood.

“”

Following the trail of blood and the thief’s silhouette, Lian swung her right leg and kicked the thief in the head.

“”

The thief fell to the ground and the device started to glitch, revealing the form of the thief a little.

Lian jumped up once more.

“”

Collecting all the magical energies in her left and then slamming it into the face of the thief, a small explosion occurred, caused by the broken device.

Once the device was destroyed, it revealed the form of the thief.

It was a tall and thin man over 2 meters tall. He had rough grey skin.

From his arms and shoulders, silver spikes were coming out.

The bones in his face could be clearly seen.

The sclera of the eye was non-existent. Both of his eyes were pitch black. There was no hair on any part of his body.

He looks like just about any other person from his planet. Of course, there are certain parts of their bodies which differentiate them from each other, but they, overall, share the same features.

Nazar calls them “Slim Doomsday”.

“”

“- -”

Lian placed a barrier around the thief so he wouldn’t escape.

She then picked up the object he had stolen.

Looking at it, she frowned.

“”

She was looking at an artefact that resembled a coffee mug.

“- -”

“”

“- -”

Lian sighed.

“”

But she was not too happy with that.

“”

Suddenly, she found herself being held by her neck.

“- -”

“Oh, how pathetic.”

Whoever it was, it was moving too fast for Lian to see.

She couldn't even see the person’s silhouette.

“You don’t live up to your name, do you, Dulurian?”

“Ngh!”

Lian was thrown on the ground.

She looked at her hand and the object was missing.

“Who…? What…?”

“Stay down, magician. I am not done with you.”

The cold voice of this being who could not be seen sent chills down her whole body.

“As for you Dulurian… It’s time for you to die.”

The next instant, Xas was shredded into mince.

Lian sucked in a breathe.

“- -”

“As for you, magician...”

Lian found herself being held by her neck.

“You did well. Very well. So, I will let you live for now. But I have something worse than death planned for you.”

“Arghg!?!?”

Lian felt something enter her head.

“You have heard of a chemical called Syrax, right? It’s a chemical in the brain of angel breeds… No, angel creation is the right term.”

Lian’s eyes widened in horror.

“Once it gets in contact with metal, it triggers something.“

“The...”

“Yesssss. You get to relive your worst memories and feel all of that all over again.”

Lian struggled to free herself.

“Since the armour around me is made of metal and I am phasing my fingers through your brain...”

A burst of psychotic laughter rang out.

“Of course, it will last only a few hours but it’s worth seeing people suffer.”

Lian struggled to breathe and her whole body started to shake a lot.

“Enjoy, magician.”

Lian fell to the ground.

“”

In this hot summer, she was feeling very cold.

Shivering, she fell to the ground. Her eyes were wide open and looked lifeless.

Even though here eyes were open, she could not see anything. She was currently reliving the worst parts of her life in her mind.

Someone landed near Lian and picked her up.

“”

Baros gritted his teeth in anger as he vanished into thin air.

Appearing in the castle’s infirmary in Chias, Baros placed Lian on the bed.

“”