[Ryong's POV]
No footsteps. Nor Presence. Nor warning.
The little boy appeared, seeming from thin air directly right behind Red where his back and vital points were completely exposed.
He's incredibly dangerous.
I was about to warn Red when he had already started moving straight for the boy.
!!
Could it be that he knew he was dangerous? Did he foresee this when he stood in this room?
As expected of the one using my power! Truly, thou are worthy of _____
Red: "Whoa, where did this cute little boy come from? His cheeks are especially soft here when I pull it.
... Never mind.
He's an idiot.
**
Standing in the middle of the library was a little boy dressed in an attire of the olden days where the collared shirt was accompanied by a bowtie with the boy dressed in shorts and leathered shoes. All this while he wore a wide-rounded spectacle to complete his outfit.
The boy seemed about 6 to 7 years old, similar to how Blue looked when she materialized. However, compared to Blue, the boy's race was that of a Caucasian boy with short silver hair.
"Hello, Mister!" was the first word spoken by the boy.
Without considering the situation he was in, Red immediately reached his hand down the boy's face, and with great strength... he started pulling... the boy's cheek.
"Man, these are gotta be one of the softest cheeks I have seen on a person."
The library, which was already quiet, went completely silent as the awkward atmosphere started creeping among the two people standing in the room.
Red continued pulling the boy's cheek without a care in the world, while veins were popping from the boy's face, slowly emerging one by one. It was uncomfortable for Ryong to continue watching the situation as the boy's patience seemed to be running out soon, with the veins seemingly about to burst.
Then, the pinching stopped. Red recovered himself while he surveyed around the library once again before opening his mouth.
"So... I assumed this library is under your care, right?"
That sentence was enough to catch the seemingly innocent boy off guard as his true expression was displayed for a split second before returning the facial expression of harmless and innocent. The boy continued acting, tilting his head curiously while looking at Red blankly.
Red proceeded to squat down, looking straight into the boy's eye, and proceeded to bring his head next to the boy's ear. This time, his voice was colder compared to when he first spoke to the boy.
"You may be able to fool some other humans with that appearance, but there's no way I wouldn't notice since the bloodlust you gave is this heavy."
The boy froze in silence once again. It was rather eerie for him to comprehend how much of a difference there was in the tone of the outsider's voice. But this was not enough to scare the boy.
No.
This was not the first time an intruder had wound up in the library unknowingly and caused a mess inside it.
With an eerie smile portrayed in his face, the boy raised his hand and snapped his finger. The snap then echoed through the seemingly endless rows of bookshelves while the ground on the once quiet library began rumbling and shaking violently.
The boy then began glowing in bright blue light as he started floating up towards the middle of the room...
[Mimicry: Gravity Well]
Usage 5/5 --> 4/5
AOE Damage
Summons a projectile that pulls the target towards the caster. At the same time, draining Mana from the opponent. The more Mana the target has, the larger the radius of the spell increases.
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Magic Requirement: 7th Magic Circle
Mana Consumption: High
... Only for him to be sucked back to the ground where he came from as his face was planted straight on the ground with a loud thud that echoed through the room.
His head received a concussion from being yanked to the ground and his nose bleeding due to it being smashed to the ground. The boy rose from the ground angrily as he turned his head around, finding the intruder that left a bruise mark on his cute face. With Red found in sight, the boy grabbed a book and was prepared to launch his attack... only for another black orb to appear once again, hovering above him.
"You... cheate___"
[Mimicry: Gravity Well]
Usage 4/5 --> 3/5
Once again, the boy's body was stuck to the orb like a magnet as the Orb sunk downwards exactly where it landed previously.
**
"Shit, the spell is not as strong as the one the deputy head uses."
[That's because he was using a wand. Thou are not using any item that has mana amplification.]
While Red was complaining about his magic spell output with Ryong, the boy was finally able to crawl out of the hole caused by the gravity spell.
With great anger dwelling inside him, the boy placed one of his feet forward and with a deep breath. He shouted:
"HOW COULD YOU LAND AN ATTACK ON SOMEONE WHEN THE PERSON IS TRYING TO INTRODUCE THEMSELF???"
Upon hearing the shouting made by the boy, Red's head titled in confusion as he replied:
"So what...? Am I supposed to let you power up to give me a harder time?"
An expression of annoyance was shown across the boy's face as he calmly inhaled a deep amount of air before speaking again.
"It's called duel etiquette?? How can one execute a duel without knowing the etiquette and rules behind it?"
With even more confusion, Red questions the boy again, asking, "When did we decide it was going to be a duel?"
The boy once again snaps his finger, commanding magic to work. This time, a scroll of paper magically appeared out of thin air and landed on his hand. Opening up the scroll, the boy cleared his throat and began reading from it.
"According to the rules, a duel would automatically instigate when a dispute between 2 parties occurs. One must be allowed to be in their peak condition when they fight. Those who failed to adhere to the duelling etiquette must, hence, forfeit their victory."
As the boy finished reading the text from the scroll, he took a glance over at Red, hoping to garner some sort of reaction out of him.
Red, on the other hand, stood there dumbfounded by the whole situation. He quietly raised his voice, replying, "But... I don't want to duel with you."
The whole room went quiet again as both parties just stared at each other awkwardly. You could even imagine a lone tumbleweed rolling between the two.
Just as Red said that, the boy lowered his head and grabbed his shirt tightly. His face started turning red while his body started to vibrate.
Keeping his guard up, Red kept his hand loose, ready to draw his weapon at any time.
Then...
"Bwahhhhhh!!"
The boy started bawling his eyes out.
???
With confusion multiplying tenfold, Red's mind went empty as he couldn't comprehend what the hell was happening.
The boy's snot and tears were both leaking out simultaneously as the boy grabbed his shorts tightly again while looking straight ahead at Red with a fierce gaze, determined to get what he wanted.
"I... sob... want... sob... a duel."
"... No."
The room went completely silent once again... as if a black hole had devoided all the sound in the room.
The boy started crying again, with more tears flowing out as he pouted angrily and started stomping on the ground with frustration, throwing a fit of tantrum.
Red stared at the whole scene with a blank expression. The other being in his mind was also silent. There was too much information to process, but basically, Red won the battle by simply saying no to him repeatedly.
With a heavy sigh, Red ordered Blue to summon a portal. From the portal emerged two creatures, a snake and a bird/lion.
He then carries the two of them towards the little boy, squatting down and talking to him eye to eye.
"I might not want to duel, but you can try duelling with these two here."
The boy's expression, upon seeing the 2 animals, brightened up as he nodded his head happily while wiping the snot off his nose.
"Just remember, no violence."
The boy then nodded his head again, which prompted Red to release both Silver and White. From there, the 3 of them headed off, running around the library and started playing among themselves, where the boy's expression slowly changed into that's smiling brightly.
[How did ____.]
"He looked like he wanted to have someone to play with. After all, being cooped up here in this big room is bound to make you a little lonely, doesn't it?"
[Hm.]
"Now, let's not waste any more time. Time to head for the history section."
**
As our masked protagonist heads off, lying deep in the library were the librarian, Silver, and White, playing hide and seek amongst themselves. It had been such a long time since the boy had such fun.
The last time he was able to play this much was a while ago, but it had been so long that he couldn't remember her name or what she looked like.
This time, the boy was the seeker, trying to find his two new friends among the countless amounts of bookshelf.
Though, after searching for a long time, he was not able to find them at all. That is until the sight of White's tail could be seen at the corner of his eyes.
The boy quickly dashed toward where White was last seen, only to find both of his new friends unconscious on the ground.
Standing in the middle was a girl in a white dress grabbing White by her tail and Silver by his leg.
"Hey! What are you doing to my friends over there?!"
"The girl turned behind and stared at the boy before releasing both creatures. She then started walking up to the boy, going up to him closely face to face.
Upon having a girl that close to him, the boy's face was instantly dyed in the colour Red as he backed away immediately from the person in front of him.
"W..who are you?"
"Me? My name is Blue, but you. You can call me Big Sis."