The dinner went well, although there was a bit of awkwardness between them but nothing major happened. Cygnus only gave Astrophos a look but he remained silent. After the dinner, they went their own way and enjoyed the rest of the night.
Mr. C was silently wiping the counter while Nina was on the couch and was reading a book. Ezio went up to his room and so did Cygnus. The night was finally silent even after the chaos that happened the night before, so they were particularly relaxed and calm.
Outside the inn, two silhouettes were watching from afar, they were waiting for the right time to attack. Kidnapping may be below their ranks, but it was the only solution they can think of before the tower made their own move.
As darkness descended inside the inn, Alastor and Meliore made their move. One of them went straight to the window of Ezio's room. She broke the window without creating a noise because of her magic. She entered the room and was about to grab the sleeping boy on the bed but someone grabbed her hand and pushed her away.
"It's already midnight and yet the Grand Mages are still busy," the voice sneered towards the woman who tried to abduct a child. The candles on the walls lit up. Meliore and Nina came face to face but there was no Ezio.
"How did you know?" Meliore stood up straight then she stretched her neck and her arms. "Did Astrophos tell you anything?"
Nina laughed, "The man doesn't even know about this plan of yours, so how could he tell us anything? He is too cowardly to do that but he will be helping us to stop you."
A magic circle of the darkest magenta Meliore had ever seen appeared below her followed by an explosion. Meliore avoided the explosion by jumping up and landing on the side wall but the moment her foot touched the wall, another magic circle was activated followed by another explosion.
Every surface of the room was rigged with magic circles that exploded whenever someone other than its creator touched them. Meliore had no other choice but to step on one of the magic circles in order to propel herself out of the room. She braced herself from the impact and surrounded herself with a barrier as she hit the wall beside the window where she came from.
She was expecting for the wall to break judging by how strong the explosions were but to her surprise she only bounced off from the wall. Nina watched all of this nonchalantly, she appeared to be even bored while looking at the woman.
"It would be difficult for you to escape this place, so you should give up on it." Nina told her kindheartedly although she was looking at Meliore with a mocking glance.
The woman did not let Nina's words deter her, instead she let go of her cloak and reinforced the body shield she surrounded her body. With her magic, she summoned vines covered with thorns that attacked Nina. This vine covered thorns moved at a fast speed and aimed at her. Nina dodged and exploded the vines but Meliore did not stop there, she raised both of her hands then a green magic circle appeared above them where thorns appeared and flew to every direction.
A purple-colored dome appeared around Nina that helped her defend against the attack. She also placed her exploding spells around the dome which in turn exploded the thorns. Nina did not remain passive, as she sent explosive spells towards Meliore.
The room was filled with explosions and sharp thorns piercing through the walls and floor but the room still remained enclosed. Meliore frowned at the magic they used to seal the room, what she needed to do was to break it by force. Without hesitation, Meliore summoned a large tree and modified its branches and leaves to fill the room, then she added more mana to expand the size of the tree. She also made sure to add thorns on the tree she summoned.
At the pressure of the power, the barrier that was surrounding Ezio's room broke and so did the room. Now Meliore had more space to move. She then let the branches of the overgrown tree enclose the dome that was protecting Nina. Once the branches covered every inch of the dome, she let her palms meet and with that action the branches tightened around the dome.
"Don't underestimate my explosives!" Nina did not waver and exploded the dome that was surrounding her. She escaped the sticky situation with only scratches but she was still smiling. "You should be more careful of your surroundings."
Meliore was about to fly away from the woman but her feet were planted in the air. She looked down and saw that there were chains attached to her ankles and in that short moment multiple explosions happened around her. She raised her hands to protect her head because the silvery-white barrier that she surrounded herself with was not able to withstand the impact of the explosions.
Alastor, who was acting as the decoy, came face to face with the butler and Astrophos, whom they thought had already left. He only smirked and shed all pretenses since he was already discovered.
"I didn't expect to also see you here," the question was directed to Astrophos. He then held the collar of his coat and pulled it away from him. As the cloak reached the ground, Alastor disappeared and appeared before Astrophos with his fist pulled away and ready to hit him.
Mr. C moved in front of the mage and crossed both of his hands in front of him to defend from the blow. The punch created a smoke after it touched the butler's arms but the butler did not move nor fall. Alastor's serious face showed a crazy wide grin after the man remained standing after taking a blow from him.
"Aren't you great?" He remarked. Without leaving any gap, his right hand went for another punch covered with red lightning then followed by another until a barrage of such punches rained on him.
The butler did not bat an eye even after the attack. He was already being pushed back but he still stood his ground and even his clothes were already torn from the attack. Alastor did not stop though. He did not care if the man would fall or be pushed back forever.
Astrophos did not stay idle, from the side he opened fire with metal bullets towards Alastor. The man didn't flinch, he just fortified his body with red lightning to defend against the outside attack. Astrophos did not stop though, he continued with his attacks and even added some twisting bullets with sharp ends to the attack. His attack was now focused on one spot on the Grand Mage's body.
