CHAPTER 10; MARIA

CHAPTER 10; 

  MARIA

In a split second, my body swelled up with murderous rage which in turn changed the formerly colorful surrounding to one that was soaked in shades of black and white as my left iris turned black and my pupils became white, with the reverse happening to my right eye, with no hesitation I looked back, ready to kill even if it meant using [pure energy] as my eyes flashed backwards in a straight line at the voice that had stunned me.

"Who are you?" 

My eyes quickly met with the owner of the voice, only to see that it was the boy who I saved from the pool, quickly, I dropped my murderous rage [Luckily it all happened in the split of a second, so he probably didn't notice] and calmly replied.

"I'm Henry, Henry Le Noir…." I said with a bright smile "And you are?" I politely asked, and in response looked away.

"Hmph." He pouted, with a look of unwillingness on his face. My mouth opened agape as I cringed at the sight of a boy pouting but quickly regained myself.

'I guess he looks like a girl, he might as well act like one.' I thought to myself.

"You know I saved you, right?" I said to him, "So you might as well answer..." I suggested only to be met with more of his pouting as he locked his arms and looked away from me.

"Haa." I sighed in frustration as I turned around to leave, waving my hand at him to signal that I was going.

"Wa-wait." He said in a faint voice as I just ignored and kept walking.

"WAITTTT!!" He screamed as I quickly replied her aggressively.

"What do you want?" I said to him with an irritated look on my face, if he wasn't going to be courteous then I had no reason to be either.

"CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M INJURED!!!!" He screamed in a slightly embarrassed voice with his ears and cheeks turning red as a result. 

"If you see a young lady injured, you should help her out." The *BOY* said in an entitled tone which pissed me the fuck off.

"What the fuck did you jus-. "I almost responded as I quickly processed what I just heard,

"Wait, you're a girl?" I asked, and she responded with a nod.

*

I carried the girl on my back as I walked back to the first trial.

[Why was I carrying her?]

Because she simply wouldn't stop pestering me about how I needed to repent to her for assuming she was a boy and that I had seen her naked which, to be honest made little to no difference to me [I mean...every human on this planet simply looked wayyyy too young for me].

'You know you're probably the first virgin guardian to ever exist, right.' Kritic said to me as my ears quickly turned red.

'Shut the hell up.' I quickly replied in embarrassment as Diablo's laughing kept on ringing in my head.

"Ho! I thought you simply lacked what it took to be a man but I guess even you must be affected by a girl like me huh?" the annoying brat on my back condescendingly said, probably as a response to seeing my ears turn red.

"Well, I can't blame you." She said again as her grip on my neck tightened and I could feel her beaming from ear to ear. 

"My name is Maria." 

*

  After what seemed like a never-ending journey spanning just ten minutes in real time with the little girl on my back, we soon got back to place where the first trial was held; just a few meters away from the gate of the 'cradle'.

By the time we got back to the first trial; the 'Grave of Weapons', there was absolutely no one in sight which, almost made sense since everyone had probably already chosen a weapon for themselves and already made their way to the mana pool but, what didn't make any sense was that we didn't meet a single person along the road on our way back and even though I passed out for hours in the mana pool, not a single person had made it to the pool. So, if no one had made it to the pool and we didn't meet a single person on our way back, how come there was no one here.

  "Get back." I quickly whispered to the girl on my back who seemed to have a questioning look on her face from the sudden change in my attitude [which I totally understood, I mean, this was a seven-year-old child].

  "Stay behind me no matter what." I said to her as soon as she got down from my back and I used an arm to pull her behind me like a father protecting his child from danger.

Fog began to surround the 'grave of weapons' as I heard multiple laughs from a distance, "Hahahaha." One laugh resounded more than the rest as a pair of black boots stamped its way through the fog, even from a distance, I could see the boots; their soles were made with black iron that glistened through the fog, the body of them was made with very strong leather from the hide of a dark wolf, although they needed lace, he didn't wear them which was very unique but the most unique trait of all were the sizes of the boots, if anything, I would have thought they belonged to a monster of some sorts with how big his boots were.

I quickly turned around to see the place where he was coming from as I pulled Maria along with me in an attempt to protect her from whatever was happening, as I did so I felt her hands tighten around my wet shirt as she shivered behind me. The boots approached us steadily as I began contemplating what to do and how exactly to fight in this fragile body whilst protecting someone who was just as fragile as I was. 

I slowly turned around, trying to take Maria's hands off my shirt as she held on to me with an intense grip, I took a look at her to see that she was still shaking as I held on to her other arm and looked her in the eyes, her big eyes looked scared as she looked back at me with fear and concern.

"You might not know this," I said to her as one of my hands gently patted her head, "but I'm the son of the patriarch" I continued as her eyes widened upon hearing my words.

"And it's my duty to protect you no matter what, so…Maria Le Noir of house Noir, I Henry Le Noir swear to you as the son of the patriarch that; as long as I walk, no harm shall befall you, as long as I breathe not a single person here can touch you, and as long as I am a Le Noir, I would serve my purpose till my death." I declared as her expression calmed down a bit. 

"So, I need you to trust me, and not move a single inch from here, do you understand?"

"Yes." Maria responded to me as she nodded her head, gently letting go of her grip on my shirt.

"I'll be back." I said as I dashed off into the grave of weapons, if I was disadvantaged naturally then all ii had to do was even out the playing field with something that wasn't natural. 

I looked around the grave in search for the only weapon I wanted to use; in my time at the planet of the second test I used and mastered many weapons over the years but amongst all of them only one suited the most, the one that most complimented my natural abilities as someone who had a {destroy} command.

I ran through several swords, daggers, spears, shields and traditional weapons of all sorts, but none of them was what I needed, after running for a few more seconds I would sight my weapon of choice from afar as I quickly dashed towards it, picked it up and ran back to where Maria was, standing in front of her as I put on my weapon and screamed.

"Come at me you bastards." My voice echoed throughout the grave as everywhere fell silent for a moment, and then, from the thick fog came several shadows with several peculiar shoes and amongst them; the boots with the iron sole.

The shadows quickly walked out of the fog to reveal seven hefty figures surrounding us.

"Gloves, huh?" One of them said as he looked at my arms to see the weapon I had chosen, causing the rest of them to look at me as they all laughed wildly.

From amongst them, the man with the iron boots began walking towards me and stopped just in front of me and I was now standing face to face with him as a smirk ran across his face,

"Well, this'll be fun."