Chương 35: Sweet Tooth

Moments before Ava and Adam finished their battle in the library, Noah and Cyrus were still trapped in the hallway. Noah tried to move. His boot sank deeper into the floor. The ground stretched beneath him, sticky and thick, clinging to his legs like melted marshmallow. Every step became slower than the last. Every attempt to shift his weight pulled against him. His footwork was useless like this. The Royal Arts needed movement. Speed. Precise steps. And Millie had stolen all of it.

At the other end of the hallway, Millie licked her lollipop and tilted her head.

"Big brother told me about you two." Noah raised his sword, trying to pull his foot free. Millie pointed at him.

"The dumb-looking one is a swordsman, so shutting down his footwork should do the trick." Noah blinked.

"Dumb-looking?" Cyrus glanced at him.

"She means you."

"I know she means me." Millie then pointed her lollipop toward Cyrus.

"And the nerdy-looking one thinks too much with his head." Cyrus's expression flattened.

"So random variables will overload him." The ceiling above Cyrus began to sag. A thick golden substance slowly dripped down, stretching like honey as it poured toward him. Cyrus looked up.

"Oh, wonderful." He lifted a hand, ice forming around his fingers. Millie smiled.

"If you freeze the temperature too much, it should harden." Cyrus paused. The honey-like ceiling continued dripping. Noah looked between them.

"She knows how your ability works." Millie nodded proudly.

"My ability is called Candy Land." Noah and Cyrus both looked at her.

"It lets me give candy-like properties to my surroundings." She took another lick of her lollipop.

"For example, this floor is sticky like melted marshmallow, and the ceiling is acting like honey." Then she stopped. Her black eyes widened.

"Wait." She lowered the lollipop.

"Big brother said I shouldn't give up my element of surprise." A long silence passed through the hallway. Millie looked down.

"Oops." Cyrus slowly adjusted his glasses. Noah stared at her. For a moment, neither of them knew what to say. Then Millie raised her gun. Noah's eyes sharpened. She fired. The bullet shot toward his head. Noah tilted just enough for it to pass by his cheek. Then the bullet changed. It expanded in midair, swelling like bubble gum until it became a sticky pink bubble. Noah barely had time to react before it slapped against his face. The bubble popped. Sticky remnants clung to his skin. Then they began to burn.

Noah hissed in pain and tore at the gum-like substance, but it stretched between his fingers.

"Damn it…" His face twisted.

"This ability is ridiculous." Millie tilted her head.

"Thank you?"

"That was not a compliment." Cyrus looked between the frozen honey above him and the sticky floor below.

"If I use too much ice, we will get frozen to the floor." He adjusted his glasses.

"And my Regalia is not especially useful against a ranged fighter like her." Millie smiled around her lollipop.

"Just melt into the floor and sink away." She fired again. Noah tried to dodge, but the marshmallow-like ground held his legs down. More bullets struck his arms, chest, and shoulder. Each one expanded into sticky gum, clinging to him before bursting and burning against his skin. Noah gritted his teeth. The pain sank into him. His black spots flickered. Then he looked at Cyrus.

"Freeze the floor." Cyrus glanced at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Freeze everything." Cyrus frowned.

"You are sure? Even if you break out, your mobility will be terrible on the ice." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Noah smiled through the pain.

"So be it." Another gum bullet struck his side and popped. He winced.

"Besides, I have too many burns on me now." Cyrus stared at him for a moment. Then he sighed.

"You are becoming worryingly comfortable with saying things like that." He raised his hand.

"Ability Activate — Niflheim." Cold exploded through the hallway. The melted marshmallow floor hardened in an instant, locking into a frozen sheet beneath Noah's legs. The honey dripping from the ceiling also froze, turning into golden, glass-like pillars around Cyrus. For a moment, both of them were trapped. Millie blinked.

"That seems bad for you." Noah lowered his body. Darkness gathered beneath his skin. Then he released it. A burst of black energy tore through the frozen marshmallow around his legs. The ice cracked apart as Noah launched himself forward, landing hard on the cold floor. He was free. The movement hurt. His burned skin pulled painfully as he straightened. But he was standing. Noah reached up and ripped the frozen chunks of gum from his face and body. They broke away like brittle candy, leaving red marks beneath.

His breathing steadied. Millie raised her gun again. Noah lifted his sword.

"She'll figure out a way around this soon." Golden circles began to form faintly beneath his feet, unstable against the slick ice.

"So I need to make this attack count." Darkness flowed along Noah's blade. Golden rings appeared beneath him. One formed in front of his feet. Then more appeared along the walls. Millie's ability had changed the floor. Cyrus had frozen it. The ceiling had become honey-like. But the walls were still untouched. Neither sticky nor frozen. If Millie tried to turn them into liquid candy too quickly, the hallway itself might collapse around her. Noah moved. He stepped onto the first ring and launched himself forward.

Then he kicked off the floor and hit the wall. A golden ring caught his foot. Royal March. He ran along the side of the hallway, using the rings as footholds. His speed rose with each step, his body cutting through the air as Millie tried to track him with her gun. She fired. Noah twisted past the bullet. Another shot came. He kicked off the wall, landed on another ring, and changed direction. Millie's black eyes widened. In a flash, Noah reached her.

"I can also create candy," Millie said. She raised her remaining hand. A massive wall of marshmallows burst into existence in front of her, soft and thick enough to swallow Noah's strike. Noah swung anyway. Before his blade touched it, Cyrus lifted one hand from behind him.

"Niflheim." Cold shot forward. The marshmallow froze solid. Noah's dark blade struck. The frozen candy split apart. Noah burst through the broken wall and continued his attack. Millie stepped back, firing desperately. Noah deflected one bullet with his sword. Another grazed his shoulder and burst into gum, but he ignored the burn and kept moving. Cyrus supported him from behind, freezing anything Millie tried to create. Marshmallow hardened. Syrup became brittle glass. Gum turned stiff and cracked.

For the first time, Millie was forced onto the defensive. Noah pressed forward, his sword flashing again and again. Millie stumbled back. Then her expression changed.

"Don't count me out just yet." Noah swung for her shoulder. Millie reached out and grabbed the blade with her bare hand. Blood spilled from her palm. Her face twisted in pain, but she did not let go. Noah's eyes widened.

"What are you—" The metal began to soften. His sword drooped in her grip. The edge lost its shape, turning thick and sweet as the steel melted into syrup. Noah pulled back, but the blade stretched between them, no longer a weapon and no longer solid. Millie smiled through the pain.

"I told you." The syrup dripped onto the frozen floor.

"Candy Land can give candy properties to my surroundings." She tightened her bleeding hand around what remained of the blade.

"That includes weapons too." Noah stared at his ruined sword. Cyrus clicked his tongue.

"That is inconvenient." Millie lifted her gun again. Noah let go of the hilt. The melted sword fell apart completely. For a moment, Noah stood unarmed. Millie raised her gun. Noah moved first. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt and yanked her close. His guess had been right. She could turn the floor into marshmallow. The ceiling into honey. Weapons into syrup. But she could not turn a living person into candy. Millie's eyes widened.

"Wait—" Noah slammed his forehead into hers. A sharp crack echoed through the hallway. Millie staggered. The gun slipped from her hand and hit the floor. Noah kicked it away before she could reach for it. Both of them stood there for a moment, breathing hard. Blood ran down Noah's forehead. Blood ran down Millie's too. Noah pressed one hand against his head and immediately regretted everything.

"That hurt way more than I thought it would." Cyrus sighed from behind him. Millie sat on the frozen floor, dazed and teary-eyed. Noah looked down at her.

"I win." His voice was strained, but firm.

"Let us through." Millie sniffled. Then her face crumpled.

"Big brother…" Noah blinked.

"He's really mean." The sticky hallway went still. Then the door beside them began to melt. The lock dissolved into syrup, dripping down the frame in thick golden streams. The library doors softened, sagged, and finally opened. Ava and Adam stepped out from the other side. Ava immediately looked at Noah's bleeding forehead.

"What did you do?" Noah pointed at Millie.

"I won." Cyrus adjusted his glasses.

"He used his head." Adam stared at him.

"Literally?" Noah looked away.

"Maybe." From the library doorway, Milo poked his head out. His glasses were cracked, his robe was torn, and several severed hands crawled weakly behind him.

"I lost too." Millie looked up at him, tears still in her eyes.

"Big brother…" Milo hurried into the hallway and rushed to her side, kneeling beside her. He gently checked the wound on her forehead, his expression filling with worry. Then he looked at Noah and the others.

"But I do not think these people mean any harm to our lady." Millie sniffled again. Milo helped her sit up. Noah lowered his hand from his forehead and looked toward the path ahead. The way to the throne room was open. All they had left was one more room. For real this time. Ava stepped beside him. Adam rested his spear against his shoulder. Cyrus looked down the hallway, his expression tense. Somewhere beyond that door, his sister was waiting. And beyond her… Medusa. Noah took a breath.

"Let's go." Together, the Fool's Tea Party stepped past the Aldrich siblings and continued toward the end of the castle.