Chapter 550 - Why Show Hostility?
The night before...
It had come as a bit of surprise or even shock when Elora entered her residence and despite having sensed around and being sure that there was no one else in there besides her, she soon found a smiling Hal sitting cross-legged in a chair she was sure had been empty just seconds before.
"Hi" the young man said.
Needless to say, she was startled as was evident by her leaping back a few steps but she quickly recovered with the appearance of a Five ring skill circle right in front of her, out of which thrust blue chains composed of Cosmic energy.
Hal sneered at the display and with barely a show of effort and his legs still crossed, he swatted the chains aside with his bare fist,
*Bam!*
Elora furrowed her brows but did not let the 'little' display deter her as she summoned more Skill circle rings that all began to revolve around her and threatened Hal with the emergence of even more chains moving even faster and being even more deadly than the ones he had just swatted aside,
"I have no idea how you got in here, but I sure as well will know how you get out!" She said in a menacing tone that was devoid of coquettish behavior.
"You're being way too hostile. All I did was sneak into your residence and say 'Hi'" Hal said with his less still comfortably crossed.
Elora's upper lips twitched as she took on a battle stance which two of her chains that looked to be completely focused on attack seemed to follow and point at Hal as she said,
"Surely you should know that entering a lady's room without invitation and with such nefarious intentions like I am sure you have, is not to be met with anything but hostility"
Hal chuckled,
"There it is, the Double standards"
"What double standards?" Elora asked in confusion.
Hal shrugged,
"Just because I am male, you assume I have nefarious plans" he said.
"Don't you?" Elora asked and Hal paused before he said,
"That is beside the point. If it was a lady sitting here like I am, will you show the same level of hostility?"
Elora nodded with an expression that said the answer to that question should have been obvious,
"Of course, I'll show the same level of hostility. This has nothing to do with gender. No one sneaks into someone's residence as you have without an agenda. For all I know, she (the hypothetical lady) is here to kill me or even more likely, take advantage of me. I'm a very desirable lady after all" she said.
Hal eyed her from head to toe and back with his eyes highlighting her wonderful curves as he said,
"You sure are"
Elora ignored the look and the comment and tried to reject the fact that she actually felt commended instead of being annoyed or irritated,
"What? If you were in my shoes and a lady entered your residence uninvited, you wouldn't show her hostility?" She asked Hal who raised a brow before saying,
"We're getting off track"
"You're avoiding the question" Elora said,
Hal shrugged,
"I'm not" he said.
Elora relaxed her stance a bit before she said,
"Then answer the question"
"Alright then, I might not show hostility..." Hal began and Elora interrupted with a chuckle,
"You're a fool"
Hal acted as though she had not spoken and continued with his unfinished statement,
"... Not showing hostility does not mean I won't be alert. I mean, take this situation for example; I've been smiling with you while you look ready to skewer me with your chains, and yet I already know of the trap that is ready to activate right under this chair I'm seated on"
*Bang!*
Almost as soon as he was done talking, there was an explosive sound as a circle ring appeared suddenly under Hal and quickly bound him to the chair. Holding him tightly before then wrapping around him until he looked to have been trapped in a cocoon of chains.
Despite what looked to be a successful implementation of her inlaid chain traps in the room that took longer to activate as she hoped to catch Hal off-guard, Elora was not happy as was evident by the lack of a smile on her face,
"How did you know?" She asked Hal whose smile remained unchanged despite the cocoon bind,
Hal sighed,
"I know a thing or two about traps. You seemed much too interested in talking with me than in actually attacking me with the chains you had already summoned around yourself. Almost as though you were buying time for the accumulation of enough Cosmic energy and enough time to pass the energy to the trap without tipping me off.
Of course subtle as it was, I still sensed a bit of the energy and that is why I became sure of what had, up until that time, been a suspicion"
As he spoke, a bright royal blue glow shone beneath the chains and with a loud sound that sought to compete and win against the sounds of the chains' activation, Hal released enough force to break them all apart.
*BANG!*
It was so loud that Hal was glad he had already cast noise-canceling runes to avoid any interruptions which, considering what he was planning to do, were all unwanted.
The resulting force caused Elora to slide a few steps back but remained standing as she sent her chains at Hal who had now summoned his Cosmic Armament to swat them aside.
As he did so, he walked closer to Elora who now looked to be totally in battle mode as was evident by the increased ferocity of her chain attacks and those Hal could not swat aside on account of them being sneaky and many, he dodged with impressive displays of agility and insane reflexes.
*Bam*
*Bam!*
*Bang*
She was damaging a bit of her furniture in the process but Elora did not care. The defeating of Hal was much more prevalent than the damage of her chairs and desks.
She noted that Hal was taking this limited-space battle of theirs with levity and made to take advantage of that.
Indeed, every glimpse of Hal's face she got was the young man grinning with amusement as he swatted and avoided her chains without ever going on the offensive.
Elora smiled as she seemed to have finally cornered her opponent and made to deliver a crippling blow when she felt Hal grab her shoulder from behind and speak softly into her ear,
"Not showing hostility does not mean I don't know what I'm doing" he said as the 'Hal' Elora had been attempting to cripple waved at her with curious Dark eyes before dispersing like an illusion.
The Doxon lady made to leap away from Hal but found herself unable to.
Indeed, Hal's hand on her shoulder was causing her to feel so good that her legs were shaking with the pleasured tingling that was running down her spine,
"Mmngh" she tried and failed to stop the moan that leaked out of her lips while she struggled with the feeling of having all her defenses stripped down.
A feeling that was further emphasized with the disabling of all her skill circles.
Almost as though her mind could not handle keeping the skills active and submitting to the pleasured feel of Hal's hand on her shoulder at the same time and thus decided to focus on only one of the two.
Hal chuckled lightly as he said,
"Besides, why show hostility when there are much more fun ways to deal with you?"