Free Web NovelChapter 247: Party trick
"Ahhh, I see what it is..." a cold voice said, the sound cutting through the hall with sobering clarity.
Clara’s eyes narrowed instantly.
The voice had not come from within the block of ice.
It had come from behind her.
Slowly, Clara turned, staring coolly through the haze of frost and cold.
"You did all this for some fleeting glory...A lesser man would’ve probably died..."
A dark figure moved in the darkness stepping through the haze of steam and vapor, his silver eyes glowing eerily from within the mist.
Klein’s face paled.
"Shit..."
With a wave of her hand, the cloud disappeared revealing a familiar silver-eyed figure within it.
Merlin stood several paces away completely unharmed, silver lightning drifting lazily around his body while his demeanour remained calm and unreadable.
The frozen figure trapped within the pillar abruptly cracked apart with a sharp horrendous crunch before collapsing into glittering fragments of ice.
Klein slowly lifted his hand, loosening his tie his brows furrowing into a serious expression.
Merlin stood with his back turned to them, with arms clasped behind him.
He slowly turned around, his silver eyes meeting Clara’s blue ones.
Merlin gazed at Clara silently for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.
"You young people truly are so dramatically impatient these days."
His lips curled forming a small smile.
"You’re all so eager to die before experiencing the fullness of life."
The silver lightning throughout the chamber vanished and with it, the pressure Merlin was exuding.
But despite that, the atmosphere within the icy hall felt infinitely more terrifying.
"You know," he said calmly, "for someone who came all this way seeking answers..."
His silver eyes slowly brightened.
"...you’re remarkably eager to die."
The instant the words left his mouth, Klein’s expression changed completely.
He suddenly felt his hair stand on end.
The frozen chamber shuddered violently as terrifying currents of lightning erupted in every direction, instantly vaporizing entire sections of ice into steam.
"What the hell..."
The thought had barely formed in Klein’s mind when an overwhelming force erupted from Merlin’s body, the harrowing blast in its aftermath distorting the air itself and sending jagged cracks racing across the walls of the hall.
Clara’s eyes widened slightly and for the first time since they’d arrived, she suddenly looked uncertain.
"I.....I...I killed him," she murmured, her eyes narrowing in contemplation, then widening in disbelief whilst staring at the figure standing in front of her.
Then Merlin vanished.
"CLARA—!"
Klein dashed forward, blurring through the air with inhuman speed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosions ripped through the hall sending several jagged cracks throughout the already damaged wall and large jagged fragments of icy debris flying through the air.
A split second later, Klein violently flew backward with a pained scream, shattering several blocks of ice.
Merlin slowly strode forward casually brushing a piece of frost off his suit.
Then he turned toward her.
Clara suddenly felt her heart hammer away frantically.
Silver lightning danced wildly through the air around Merlin’s floating figure as his glowing eyes stared down at her with terrifying calmness.
And despite all the power flowing through her body...
Clara suddenly realized she could no longer move at all.
He turned around gliding across the floor with violent tendrils of lightning following in his wake.
The entire hall hummed with power, the very air vibrating around them uncontrollably.
The fabric of space shifted violently, expanding and contracting simultaneously, with several jagged cracks running through the air.
Klein’s eyes ignited, golden flames dancing around him as he exploded forward.
A heartbeat later, Klein stood in front of Clara, his form blurring from the burst of inhuman speed. But a split second later, he flew backward, launched through the air once more.
His body violently burst through the massive doors in a tangled mass of limbs, bouncing several times on the marble floor before he skidded to a stop.
Panting heavily, he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth before lifting his wary gaze toward the tall figure standing calmly at the far end of the corridor.
The elegant butler stood with perfect posture, one hand resting politely behind his back while the other adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses with effortless composure.
"Is he going to join the fight too. I don’t sense any killing intent from him."
Victor smiled brightly.
"If you think I’m going to intervene, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you."
His smile widened.
"I’m merely a butler so I’ll merely be a spectator this time. Feel free to fight without holding anything back. In fact, you shouldn’t hold anything back. Your very life may well depend on it."
With that the elegant butler straightened, smoothing over some non-existent wrinkles on his suit the very picture of refined nonchalance despite the chaotic mess unfolding around him.
"Hopefully this will end quickly before there’s more to clean up."
Klein regarded him with curiosity for a few moments then burst forth with a roar.
His eyes ignited with orange brilliance, vivid crimson flames burning in their depths.
His muscles expanded bulging through the suit he wore, sharp unnatural cracking sounds emanating from within his body as the violent transformation continued.
His entire body took on a bright incandescent glow rapidly growing in size until he was an eight-foot-tall giant.
Molten heat radiated from his body in suffocating waves that set even the air around him ablaze.
The marble floor beneath his feet slowly began to crack from the ridiculous heat of the golden flames incinerating the painting on the wall freewёbnoνel.com
Victor calmly fanned himself with one gloved hand before releasing a weary sigh.
"Well, it’s certainly hot in here." He murmured dryly looking at the humanoid creature with a hint of amusement.
The corridor exploded apart from the sheer force of his acceleration as he charged back toward the ruined hall blurring through the air like a living meteor of fire and destruction.
A moment later, a series of explosions rocked the mansion once more.
Inside the hall, Merlin stared at the woman in front of him, his silver eyes gleaming with dark amusement.
Clara’s eyes glowed with azure radiance, her abilities activating simultaneously. Just then a bright blur whizzed past her.
Klein slammed into Merlin like a living comet, molten flames erupting violently from his gigantic frame as he unleashed a savage barrage of strikes fueled by a primal fury.
The molten giant roared launching several horrendous jabs through the air that pulverized the floor beneath them with sickening crunches.
A split second later, a cold voice echoed behind him.
"Well, that was quite impressive, but unfortunately you’re too slow."
Klein spun on his feet in the direction of the voice but found nothing.
The hall suddenly fell deathly silent.
Then sparks began appearing throughout the chamber, crackling ominously for several moments.
"Attacking me in my home," Merlin murmured calmly, his voice now echoing from every direction, "was your first mistake."
A moment later, the molten giant was violently launched backward through the air before crashing through the outer wall of the mansion entirely.
Stone and marble exploded outward as his massive body bounced across the frozen ground outside, carving a trail of destruction through the snow before finally skidding to a halt.
Inside the hall, Clara’s expression darkened.
This man...he was toying with them.
Merlin floated up into the air, streams of silver lightning dancing around him.
The space around him distorted almost imperceptibly at his passage.
"Shall we continue?" He asked his lips curling into a wicked smile.
Outside, the incandescent giant slowly rose to his feet, staring at the jagged hole left in his wake with uncertainty.
"What the hell is he?"
Inside the hall, Clara gritted her teeth, her eyes glowing even brighter.
Countless razor-sharp spears of ice materialized around her in a vast glowing formation.
The chamber erupted into chaos as hundreds of frozen projectiles screamed through the air toward Merlin from every direction, each one carrying enough force to pierce reinforced steel.
But then Merlin simply raised a hand.
The silver sparks around them disappeared then to Clara’s horror, the space bent.
The icy spears abruptly slowed down, seemingly moving in slow motion.
The frozen projectiles twisted unnaturally before veering off course entirely, embedding harmlessly into the walls, ceiling, and shattered floor.
Clara’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Without hesitation, she slammed her foot downward.
An enormous glacier burst upward from beneath Merlin’s feet, jagged streams of ice spiraling violently toward him then closing around him with a sickening crunch like the jaws of some colossal beast.
But then—Merlin vanished.
Clara’s eyes narrowed then widened.
"An afterimage! Dam—"
The glacier exploded apart instantly.
A heartbeat later, Clara’s instincts screamed in terror.
She spun around around but was already too late.
Merlin stood directly behind her, his silver eyes watching her with faint amusement.
Clara’s body erupted with a harrowing wave of freezing energy.
A violent storm of ice exploded outward from her in all directions, instantly freezing everything within dozens of meters.
The walls cracked beneath spreading frost while entire sections of the chamber vanished beneath thick crystalline ice.
A moment later, she staggered back, staring at the silver-eyed man in disbelief.
Merlin stood unaffected, staring at her with contempt.
"How..." she whispered.
Feigning ignorance, he looked around in seeming surprise.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"How are you not affected by my ability?"
He stared at him with an amused smile then shrugged, his grin widening.
"It would be insulting to be affected by a party trick, no?"
