Isabella’s voice continued to ring out across the square, clear and confident. She’d kept the audience captivated throughout her whole monologue.
Now, it was time for the next part of the event.
"And now, to demonstrate the true potential of these wands, I’d like to call up someone special!" She turned, extending a hand toward where Melisa stood. "Melisa Blackflame, would you join me?"
[Oh boy, here we go,] Melisa thought as she stepped forward. The crowd’s reaction was immediate - a wave of whispers and pointed fingers that made her tail curl tighter around her thigh.
"The nim girl?"
"Did you hear what she did at the gala?"
"They say she saved the king..."
[Yeah, yeah, I’m the magical purple girl. Keep staring, why don’t you?]
But Melisa kept her face neutral as she climbed the steps to join Isabella on stage. The kitsune’s pink tail was swishing with barely contained excitement.
"Now," Isabella purred, her voice dropping to a more intimate tone that somehow still carried across the square, "let’s show them what these babies can do."
She handed Melisa one of the wands, its polished surface warm against her palm.
"Hit me with your best shot, Mel." Isabella continued, stepping back with her own wand at the ready.
Melisa couldn’t help but smirk.
"Careful what you wish for. You know how worked up I can get you."
"..." For once, Isabella looked like she hadn’t been ready to be flirted with. She blinked, cheeks blushing faintly.
A ripple of shocked gasps and nervous laughter ran through the crowd. Even Lord Malachim looked like he was fighting back a grin. Princess Aria’s eyebrows had shot up, though that calculating look never left her eyes.
[What? If they’re gonna stare at the nim girl, might as well give them something to stare at.]
Melisa raised the wand, feeling the smooth wood beneath her fingers. It was different from using her hands - more precise, more focused. Like trading a paintbrush for a fine-tipped pen.
"Illumi, nerca, var fal!" she called out, using the wand to draw the spellsign. The movement was crisp, clean, perfect. A sphere of blue flame burst into existence, hovering above the wand’s tip.
Isabella’s response was immediate.
"Ventus, spirare, defendere!" Her own wand moved in an elegant arc, drawing the parrying spell’s sign. The wind magic caught Melisa’s flame and dispersed it harmlessly, sending sparkles of blue fire dancing through the air.
The crowd erupted in gasps and exclamations.
"Did you see that?"
"The spellsign - it was so precise!"
"That thing can draw spellsigns?"
[Hell yeah it can,] Melisa thought, unable to suppress her grin as she prepared another spell. [And we’re just getting started.]
She and Isabella traded spells back and forth, each more impressive than the last. Fire met wind, light clashed with shadow, and all of it controlled with a precision that had the nobles leaning forward in their seats.
Even Aria looked genuinely intrigued now, her grey eyes following every movement of the wands with keen interest. The princess had dropped her mask of cold indifference, replaced by something that looked almost like... wonder?
[Well, if no Shadow Mages show up, at least Isabella’s invention is going to make us rich,] Melisa thought as she deflected another of Isabella’s spells. [Though I guess that means I won’t get to show off my-]
"Goodness, what a wonderful invention."
The voice cut through the air like a knife through silk. Melisa turned to see a woman stepping forward from the crowd. Her emerald hair cascaded down her back in elegant waves, and her violet eyes seemed to glow with an inner light.
[... Why do I get the feeling things are about to get interesting?]
The woman moved with the kind of grace that screamed ’danger’ to every nim instinct Melisa possessed.
Her smile was pleasant, friendly even, but something about it made Melisa’s tail bristle. She already didn’t like this lady.
Melisa’s tail twitched as the emerald-haired woman’s voice rang out, cool and cutting like a blade wrapped in velvet.
"A nim creating something like this?" she said, gesturing lazily toward the wands on display. "Surely, it’s a scam. A clever one, perhaps, but a scam nonetheless."
Isabella’s ears flattened against her head so quickly Melisa swore she heard the little swish. The kitsune’s green eyes burned, her lips curling into a snarl. Oh no. If Melisa didn’t step in now, Isabella was about to go full inferno on this lady.
"Bella," Melisa said softly, placing a calming hand on her arm. "Relax." Experience more on freewebnovel
"Relax?" Isabella hissed, her tail snapping behind her like a whip. "She just insulted us—no, you. That’s not something I’m going to let slide."
Melisa tightened her grip slightly.
"I’ve got this," she murmured, her voice low but firm.
Isabella glared at the woman for a beat longer before exhaling sharply.
"Fine. But if she says one more thing, I’m snapping her in half."
"Duly noted," Melisa replied, suppressing a smirk as she stepped forward. Her gaze swept the square, taking in the crowd. Most of them were riveted by the confrontation, their whispers filling the air like a low hum. Aria sat perfectly still in the front row, her eyes locked on Melisa with a focus that felt almost predatory.
[This woman’s not here to negotiate or even criticize. Obviously, she wants a fight. Specifically, she wants us to look like the bad guys when it happens.]
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Melisa’s gaze flicked back to the woman. Her relaxed posture, the too-perfect smile, the way her hand hovered near the wand at her hip—it was all theater. She was playing to the crowd, baiting them into thinking she was the reasonable one.
"Different isn’t always a scam," Melisa said at last, her voice cutting through the murmurs. She let the words hang for a moment before adding with a small smile, "But then again, I guess I am different. Since I can actually use magic, and all."
The woman’s smile widened, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
"Different? Is that what they’re calling it these days? I call it suspicious. After all, a suspect in the queen’s murder shouldn’t even be out here. She should be in a dungeon where she belongs."
Melisa felt Isabella tense behind her, but she didn’t react. Not outwardly, anyway. Internally, she cataloged every detail: the woman’s calculated barbs, the crowd’s shifting energy, the way Aria’s gaze sharpened slightly at the mention of her mother.
[Stay calm. You’re not the one who needs to lose their cool here.]
"Rich, coming from a member of a terrorist organization," Melisa said, her tone so casual it might as well have been a comment about the weather. Then, with a smirk, she added, "Wouldn’t you agree, Shadow Mage?"
The woman’s smirk faltered for just a fraction of a second, but Melisa caught it. So did the crowd, judging by the sudden uptick in murmurs.
"Shadow Mage?" someone whispered.
"Is she really?"
"Why would one be here?"
Melisa resisted the urge to grin. Just like that, the tide was turning, and she could feel it. The woman, however, was quick to recover. She stepped closer, her expression as composed as ever, but there was a new edge to her gaze.
"Are you so desperate to die today, nim?" she murmured, her voice low enough that only Melisa could hear.
Melisa’s smirk deepened.
"I won’t be the one to lose."
For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, the woman’s polite mask shattered. With a snarl, she charged forward, her hands moving.
[Showtime.]
Melisa’s wand was up in an instant, the runes along its length sparking to life as she drew her own spell. The woman’s motions were practiced, elegant even, but there was something wild about them—a desperation that made Melisa’s tail flick in satisfaction.
"Ventus, spirare, vincula!" the woman shouted, finishing her spell. A gust of wind roared, pouring out from her hand toward Melisa, but she was ready.
"Lumina, escude, evapora!" Melisa countered, her wand tracing the spell faster than the woman’s hands could ever manage. A shimmering orb of light exploded between them, dissipating the wind harmlessly and bathing the square in a soft glow.
The crowd gasped, their murmurs growing louder.
"She parried it!"
"With that wand?!"
The woman snarled, stepping to the side as her hands moved to draw another spell. Melisa followed, her wand already in motion.
"Celestia, vena surgia!" Melisa’s voice rang out as a bolt of lightning shot from her wand. The woman dodged just in time, the crackling energy searing a line into the stage where she’d been standing.
"You’re faster than I expected," the woman said, her voice tight with barely concealed frustration. "But speed won’t save you."
"No," Melisa replied, her grin sharp as she raised her wand again. "But it sure makes you look slow."
The woman’s expression darkened, her hands glowing brighter as Essence gathered around her.
[Here we go. Let’s see if I can really make her lose it.]