NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53: The defiance
"Do you have anything to say, my student?"
Zayn slumped in his chair while his mentor was still sitting before him.
He looked around in confusion and then saw the smile on his mentor's face.
He tried to speak when he felt the bloody iron taste inside his mouth.
It took him a moment to realize that he was bleeding from his nose.
Xane said in his head, [I don't know what you experienced, but you suddenly started crying and shaking in the chair.]
Zayn stared at Xenor and mentally asked Xane, <How long was I out?>
[For around 2–3 minutes.]
Zayn rubbed the blood off, now in a state of shock. He could not believe that only a couple of minutes had passed.
It had felt like hours to him. As Zayn rubbed off the blood, he felt a tremor in his hands.
That pain, those beasts' teeth, the way they tore apart his body into pieces. He looked up at Xenor and gulped down.
Xane observed Zayn in silence. He did not know what Zayn had experienced, but he was sure of one thing: that Xenor had used an illusion hex art on them.
Those illusions were the only things that targeted the one with body control.
He had already experienced them a couple of times, but none of the earlier illusions caused internal bleeding.
Xenor asked again with a smile, "My student, you still have not answered me."
Zayn looked at his mentor while shivering.
Xane said in his head. [Just cut your tongue or dig your finger into your palm. Physical pain is the best way to overcome mental fear.]
Zayn did not want to feel more pain. He wanted to beg his mentor.
Unknowingly, he started thinking aloud, <Yeah, it would be much better if I begged him. No, no, that will only lead me to much more pain in the future. But those beasts, I don't want them to eat me again.>
Xane heard everything, and it hit him that Zayn was having a panic attack, so he shouted. [Just cut your tongue, dammit!]
The loud voice inside his head shook Zayn.
In fear, he just followed the command and bit his tongue hard.
He bit it so hard that a jolt of pain passed through his entire body. Water formed in his eyes, ready to drop at any moment.
In panic, he bit so hard that now his tongue started to bleed. But this pain did help him snap out of his panic state.
He started taking deep breaths and then looked back at his mentor.
He saw that plastered smile back on his mentor's face. His face started to resemble the faces of his family.
It was the same smile those guys used to make whenever they forced him to do stuff.
As he remembered his self-promise, an equally wide smile formed on his face as he said, "My dear master, I would like to repeat myself."
As Zayn spoke, the tears from earlier started falling down his face, but that only enhanced the extra-wide smile on his face.
Xane looked at the scene with interest. He knew Zayn had a low tolerance for pain, so he had doubts that he might back down.
But he never knew this crybaby even had this side to him. He loved it.
Xane was not the only one, as Xenor also looked at the boy in front of him with wide eyes.
He knew the boy had his mental endurance, but surviving that…Xenor stared at the Zenaris' boy in interest.
Now he really wanted to see just how far this boy would go.
Xenor just grabbed the hex art before Zayn and placed it on the side. "If you want to do that, sure. I don't care about the ritual operating costs."
"You just have to pay the hex art price. I want 3 points for every use of hex art."
Zayn continued to stare at Xenor without saying a word.
Not caring about that, Xenor continued, "But keep in mind, every day you waste looking for the world will make you fall further behind your peers in terms of hex arts. That's all I have to say. You can go before I change my mind."
After saying that, Xenor started going through the papers while completely ignoring Zayn.
Zayn looked at his mentor with hollow eyes and bowed to him in silence.
With that, he started dragging himself out of the lab.
As he moved back to the corridor, he started wiping the tears from his face as his expression shifted to pain.
He remembered the thing that had just happened in the lab as his face turned slightly red.
He cursed in his head, <Shit, it's so hot here.>
Xane poked at him, [Oh yeah, it's completely normal for sweat to come out of the eyes. Don't worry, they even gave those sweats a special name.]
Zayn said nothing, as he was really ashamed to have cried there.
Xane laughed in his head, [We call them tears. Haha, Zayn, from now on, I will call you crybaby Zayn.]
<Dude, can you please stop? I feel like dying right now.>
[As you say, crybaby Zayn.]
Zayn countered back, <Xane, you bitch, at least I am man enough to face our mentor head-on. I did not hide like a little girl in someone's head.>
[Oh, crybaby, you are going to cry more. What do you want, this uncle to sing a lullaby for you?]
<Xane, you little girl, go hide back. What if something more dangerous came again? Don't you piss your panties there. Let this big bro handle everything.>
[Zayn, you stupid crying bastard…]
Both of them started cursing at each other as Zayn dragged himself out of the castle.
They kept bickering with each other until they were out of the castle.
As they were out in the open dark sky, both of them stopped.
Xane asked a genuine question. [What did you even experience in that illusion?]
Zayn was about to answer when he heard loud clapping from behind. "Oh, look who decided to show up."
Zayn turned back in confusion as he saw this group of 4 guys standing behind him.
He saw the blond guy, who looked like their leader, was clapping at him.
He tilted his head in confusion and asked, "Who are you guys?"
The moment he asked that question, he suddenly felt a hand on his face.
Before he could do anything, the other guy slammed his head straight down on the hard track.
Boom!
Everything blurred out for a moment as Zayn looked up at the night sky, which suddenly started to turn red.