Seeing You Here Again

Earlier, Rosanna was only eating cheesecake while Leslie was watching her. The matter earlier left a scare in the receptionist so she hid away in the VIP lounge where she could freely use the child as an excuse. Besides, she had a replacement who was napping in the VIP lounge.

Who would know that some pissed off mercenaries, whose contracts were terminated, would break in this administrative back alley? They wanted to break things in the VIP lounge but found a vulnerable woman and a child instead.

It's just that… they didn't know Rosanna wasn't alone. Mediis and three more hellhounds were around her and waiting patiently while everyone else was outside. When the men appeared, Mediis prepared for the worse. She was barred from making contact unless given an order, but she didn't want to let them touch a strand of Rosanna's hair.

The encounter escalated in a heartbeat, and Caliga gave orders on Noah's stead. The four hellhounds tore the men in a few seconds of confusion and bewilderment. Before the men knew what happened, they were already dead.

"Rosanna, come."

Noah's voice broke Rosanna's reverie, and she only turned to look at the owner of the black dogs that tore the humans about to attack her. That was the only time that she realized that Noah wasn't someone her daddy's minions could not mess with. He was the master of the hellhounds, and that meant he had the skills to make them obey.

She only nodded and broke off from Leslie's hold. She ran to Noah and even raised her arms, asking to be carried. The man did so with just one arm and looked at Leslie.

"Don't worry. They only did what they needed to. They won't attack you."

The two receptionists were still planted on the ground. Leslie only twitched when she realized that the bodies were now all gone. Only the blood remained.

"Noah, I'm scared. Let's go home." Rosanna wrapped her arms around his neck and shoved her face against his shoulder to hide.

"En, we're heading home. Thank you for looking after her." Noah only left a few words and walked out of their sights. Behind him were clouds of breaths as if four dogs followed him out.

…

"Theresa…?" Noah put Rosanna on the booster seat on the bike and dialed for her assistance. After receiving her greeting with confusion, he told her about what happened in the VIP lounge. "Something happened in the VIP lounge. Can you take care of it for me?"

"Hm? Let me… oh, my. Uhm, don't worry. Consider it done."

Theresa was shocked to receive a call from Noah just minutes after their meeting. It was good that she was already in her station by then. Just as she sat down, it rang. When she answered it, she was doing a routine check on their other agents.

She didn't have to scour the lounge footage since someone hysterically called in what she saw in their cameras. Since Noah asked her to deal with it, Theresa knew that it was Noah who caused it.

When Theresa pulled out records, she saw that those men attacked the two women. Her eyes glared and called in the cleaners.

Of course, she filed a report about the incident. Since her report surfaced just minutes after the panic, security only felt a little guilty to let those thugs roam around freely.

It wasn't a question… how Noah did it. Theresa knew that he was a witch, and he could do things normal humans could not. Of course, this was a learning material for the team. They would be supporting Sleepydog, and so they should know how he worked.

…

He only left Rosanna sleeping on her bed as he decided to attend to the luggage he picked up from the hunter. In his room, he broke the lock and inspected the contents. Among the designer tops, bottom, and even underwear; there were boxes bound by magic. If he forced opening these boxes, they would send signals to whoever was protecting it.

On the front-most pocket, Noah recovered the man's passport. "Luca Allsworth? From London."

He then inspected all the documents presented to the immigration just to get cleared for entry. "He's on a work visa for charity work—with SCC? Hm, how interesting. I wonder if they knew I'm onto this guy right now."

He got to his feet and packed the luggage properly. Noah then took a shower and changed into more casual clothes. He checked up on Rosanna and asked her to sleep through his absence. He was going somewhere, and it would be better if she just stayed home.

Coaxing her into thinking that she's already a big girl and she'd make her Mommy proud, Noah managed to leave Rosanna in the company of the hellhounds. He only took Caliga with him… and went to the hospital to where Luca should have been taken.

After tricking the nurses to locate him, Noah walked inside a ward where Luca was still sleeping. He then closed the door and drew the curtains to conceal the room from civilians. With Caliga watching the door from outside, the only way in was the windows.

"I already saw you open your eyes. No need to feign sleeping." Noah sat on the edge of the bed and had his leg on it as well. He then reached out to use a finger to clear Luca's forehead from strands of his hair.

"Seeing you here again… I can't shake off the feeling that you're so much more than a witch." Luca opened his eyes and met the gaze of the man who he remembered as a witch of Asmodeus instead.

He had researched about those witches and knew that these witches were most likely underground workers rather than ones on the surface.

Power had no space in their riches, and they rarely fought as they were more likely into intel gathering and surveillance.

"You're not wrong." Noah smiled and trailed his hand down to trace the shape of Luca's face, using only the tip of his middle finger. "I went through your stuff. You have business with SCC?"

"I'm not falling for this." Luca moved his hand to catch Noah's, but the witch removed his hand away faster. The hunter slowly got up as he still had electrodes on his body. "Did they send you to kill me?"

"Depends on the 'they' you refer to." Noah kept his hands to himself as he coolly sized up the young master.

Like Noah himself, Luca had improved so much visually. His already-shapely body seemed to have more trained muscles just like how his arm now had very defined contour. It was no wonder why he was only bruised when he was rammed by a car.

Luca only blinked and soon frowned at the man. "Are you… not helping Bomberman? You're—"

At the mention of that name and the word 'help', Noah threw deathly daggers straight at Luca's eyes. The hunter couldn't help but feel like he was being taunted by Death to take another step closer. Those dark eyes had a little glow of blue in them, and they pushed Luca's mind to see Noah as a hellhound himself.

The hunter swallowed the lump in his throat before relaxing even under such an intense gaze. "You… are… why are you here?"

"To kill Bomberman." Noah recalled the glares and chose not to smile anymore. "Those sealed boxes, what are those?"

"Huh? No, I can't tell you that."

"Then, I'll dispose of them."

Luca then leaned closer to grab Noah's arm. "No, no… don't—! My father will be mad if I lost them all! Erm, wait!"

Noah stifled his laughter too late that it made Luca red because of embarrassment. The hunter then leaned back onto the bed and cleared his throat—hopefully, his face as well. "You're a witch. I shouldn't let you know. Please understand. Besides… we're enemies—wait…

"You said you came here to kill Bomberman?" Luca's eyes widened as his mind just finished processing what he just said earlier.

"I told you before… we're not enemies." Noah turned away to finally let out his laughter. This young master was too easy to tease. He only said a few words, and Luca already begged him. This kind of power… how much of it could he wield?

This was the most fun he had without spilling blood and heating up.

Luca actually sighed inwardly. If they were actually enemies, then he might have to die today. Moreover, this man had his saint tech. Without them, he might not be able to fight as well as he could. All he had left was that power ring that granted him the ability to wield the light of grace.

He then scratched his cheek. "Uhm, since you have my luggage, you must have taken a look at my passport. Hi, my name is indeed Luca Allsworth. My uncle is a big donor to SCC. I came to see their president and discuss business instead."

Noah's eyes then slid to the side as he managed to get a piece of important information without even trying. He then turned to Luca again and revived his smile; he even pushed his fringe curtain behind his ear.

"It's Noah. It would be very nice to be your acquaintance, Luca."

Luca didn't know why Noah was behaving this strangely, but he didn't hate it. A witch of Asmodeus was a loaded source of information. Maybe… maybe this man knew a thing or two about the rising…

More than anything… the location of Satan's cambion.

Luca also smiled back, making Noah's eyes light up a little. "It's nice to meet you, too, Noah."