HP: Embrace the Darkness

The man leading the way looked back at Ases. His black robe almost blended into the rainy night, like a bottomless pit, and his face could not be seen at all.

But even if he wasn't wearing a hood now, Ases couldn't see clearly.

After looking back for just a few seconds, the man found that Ases's speed slowed down, his body paused, and he stretched out a pale finger.

Ases narrowed his eyes and dodged subconsciously, expressing his rejection with his actions, but the man did not retract his hand, and just kept it in mid-air, as if he expected Ases to compromise, which made people feel a little confident that he was in control of the whole situation.

The two men were in a stalemate for a moment, and Ases' brain forced itself to wake up. He tried two things at once: one was thinking about what the man intended, and the other was observing the man calmly out of the corner of his eye.

Just as he was about to refuse again, he caught a glimpse of a hideous scar on the man's wrist bone which was about to be submerged in his sleeve.

A sound suddenly flashed through my mind, but disappeared in an instant before I had time to think about it.

Ases darkened his eyes, gathered all his thoughts, chuckled twice, as if the brief stalemate just now did not exist, took the initiative to extend his hand, and considerately blocked the rain here.

The man grabbed him without mercy, and a cold magical power flowed along the contacted part to his brain, temporarily numbing the stinging pain from the needle.

"I have a way. I can definitely escape without you."

What a reasonable statement.

Aces wanted to laugh at an inappropriate time.

"You can't leave me."

"That's right, you followed too closely."

After saying this, the man said no more and waved his hand without even looking back. The much lighter gray mist quickly gathered into a wall behind Ases, blocking the golden light's pursuit.

Ases only heard a loud bang, and then saw the man flying in front of him stagger suddenly. Without thinking too much, he reached out and grabbed the man.

The two rushed into the woods at the last moment when the golden light broke through the gray fog.

There were many trees in the forest, and they were densely packed together, unlike the empty space at the cliffs by the sea. Even if he wanted to chase, he would not be able to catch up in a short time. Ases slowed down his pace and distanced himself from the man without leaving any trace.

When there are enemies, they can have a temporary cooperative relationship, but without the enemy as a glue, no one knows whether the other party will suddenly turn against them and attack them.

The man continued to gallop all the way without slowing down.

In the end, Ases did not take action, but followed him to a slightly open area. The fog here was the thickest in the forest, almost condensing into water, and this seemed to be the man's territory. As soon as he walked in, Ases felt a chill, which was almost as cold as the man's magic.

Ases took a few steps back, walked out of the area covered by the thick fog, and silently watched the man fiddling with the ground.

After watching for a few seconds, he figured out the clue.

"You want to keep fighting?"

"Ah."

This was the first time that Ases had seen someone who was even more stubborn than Helbo. He looked at the man curiously for several times, but still didn't understand, so he tried to analyze the man's behavior from other angles.

"Do you have a grudge?"

The man paused, "No."

"You have a unilateral grudge?"

“…No, today is the first time we meet.”

Ases didn't understand even more.

"what are you doing then?"

"Reciprocity is reciprocated."

In just a few words, the man had already set up his magic circle. He supported himself on the ground with both hands and poured a huge amount of magic power into the ground.

The wonderful patterns light up one by one.

Another unfamiliar magic circle.

Ases' eyes flashed, and his magic power suddenly burst out. He retreated again, cautiously leaving the range of the magic circle a few meters away before stopping and looking down inside.

The lines on the ground covered with soil shine brightly as if they were given life. Mysterious and ancient lines intertwine, and a vast breath comes through the torrent of time.

As the light gradually grew stronger, this area temporarily became the man's domain, and the scope of influence was quite large.

Ases raised his hand, and felt the magic power flowing slowly in his body, and his heart sank.

"You want to fight to the death?"

"It's not necessary." The man suddenly looked at Ases and said meaningfully, "But if you blow up the last two nodes, I'm afraid we will have to fight to the death."

There was a storm in Ases' heart, but his face was still full of confusion.

"Just for this?"

"Ah."

The man's silence left Ases speechless. He stared at the man for a few seconds and suddenly felt something strange.

Normally, people who are not good at speaking will either not answer or use the simplest words to express their meaning, but this person is different. His expressions tend to be ambiguous and every word and sentence can be conveyed with different meanings. It doesn't seem like he is not good at speaking, but more like he is used to talking to smart people and doesn't like nonsense.

I really hate smart people.

Ases lowered his eyes, a faint smile on his lips.

"Athis Cavendish, call me Athis, what about you? Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The man was checking the magic circle. When he heard Ases' question, he made a change on the ground without a pause, as if talking to himself: "If the magic circle is carved wrong, it will be ineffective at best, or even hurt yourself at worst."

Asis was about to ask again when a golden light flew in from the side of the tree. He sighed, knowing that he had no chance to ask again, and then slightly turned his head to avoid the golden light. The golden light passed by him and rushed straight into the magic circle, landing right in the center.

"It seems that I have interrupted your friendly communication. For the sake of courtesy, should I apologize to both of you?"

Ases' pupils shrank, and no matter how strong his mental strength was, he lost consciousness for a moment.

Although the voice was hoarse, it was vaguely discernible as a female voice.

He had no habit of discriminating against women. Even so, his first reaction when he saw the petite figure of the other person was not to think of her as a witch.

Ases began to reflect on his preconceived ideas and to discard his invisible "prejudices".

The golden light spread at this time, and the first thing that caught the eye was the golden hair as gorgeous as the sun, hanging down to the ankles, complementing the white ankles. When she walked, the golden hair shone brightly, making the snow-white skin more crystal clear.

Unfortunately, there were no lustful men here, and the two men simultaneously turned their eyes away, only staring at the woman's face which was shrouded in a ball of golden light and whose true features could not be seen clearly.

"No need to apologize. It was my fault for fighting in front of such a beautiful lady... We were disrespectful."

Ases took a step forward, bowed gracefully, and spoke in a tone as gentle as a spring breeze, silently transforming the cold and murderous aura that had just arisen into a gentle breeze and drizzle, and he no longer had the intention to take action.

It's not about being sympathetic to women, it's about knowing that you can't win, and a man who knows the times is a hero.

The woman standing there gave him the same feeling as Merlin, even more elusive than Merlin.

It would be better to fight Merlin than to fight her, after all, Merlin is not as murderous.

"You are so sensible?" The witch chuckled, but Aethel didn't hear any emotion in it. "I thought you would be obsessed with Severus Snape to the end."