The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 161: My Limits

Chapter 161: My Limits

Nikolai did his best to focus as he rained punch after punch at someone that he once called a friend. He knew that he had already won, but it wouldn’t do for him to let his guard down just because he had Zoran pinned down beneath him.

"Yield!" Nikolai shouted.

"N-Never!" Zoran shouted back. "I won’t lose to someone like you!"

To his surprise, his enemy flashed a smirk as a shadow of darkness descended upon them. Nikolai knew enough to not rely on his eyesight whenever this happened, but it was still annoying as he all but stumbled around trying to see where he should land his next punch.

"On your right!"

His ears perked up at the familiar sound of Mineah’s voice. Quickly heeding her advice, he threw a punch right at the pitch black nothing on his right.

"Argh!"

For all intents and purposes, that shouldn’t have worked. However, Nikolai was glad to feel the crunch of Zoran’s bones hitting his knuckles. For a brief second, the shadows around them dissipated, showing him the current state of the clearing around them as well as his enemy’s bloodied face snarling at him. However, that brief second didn’t last for long as the shadows descended upon them once more.

"Hiding beneath your shadows, I see," Nikolai taunted as he raised his fist up in defense. In his mind, he was already casting more shield spells to cover his approach the moment he had his opening. "You can’t hide your cowardly face forever, Zoran."

"You dare call me a coward when you’ve been running from your mistakes for years?!"

Hearing his enemy’s voice, Nikolai smirked as he threw yet another punch at the pitch black darkness keeping him from seeing properly. Sure enough, his fists was greeted once more by the satisfying sensation of bones crunching against them. With a big windup, he pushed against Zoran’s punchable face, throwing the man out onto the sides of the clearing as the shadows around them finally dissipated.

"That’s where you’re wrong," Nikolai scoffed as he lightly shook the blood dripping from his fists. "I’m done running away from the past. In fact, I’ve already faced them."

"You... You dare say that?!"

Nikolai mentally prepared himself as he chanted out another shielding spell to protect him from the flames coming right at him. Casually dashing through, the heat did little to stop him as he was finally once more face to face with the man that constantly wanted him dead for a crime he didn’t commit.

Winding up his arm, Nikolai was somber even as he put his all into his next attack. "I wasn’t the one that killed Dahlia that day."

"W-What?!" Zoran stuttered, his face already bloodied into a pulp even as he stood his ground. "What are you even trying to-"

Unfortunately for the him, Nikolai’s fist had no plans on letting him finish his thoughts as it landed squarely on his jaw. With a sickening crunch, Zoran’s jaw shattered as he flew right at the nearest tree behind him. Colliding with a massive thud, Nikolai was quick to follow up right after he made sure that he wouldn’t be burnt by any other potential attacks that might come from a warlock of his caliber.

"Again, yield," Nikolai growled.

"N-Never..."

Narrowing his eyes, Nikolai sighed as he wound the final blow at the man that he once called his best friend. With a heavy heart, he-

"Lai!"

His eyes widened upon hearing his wife’s warning. Sure enough, something was wrong as Zoran pulsed with a dangerous aura that he only barely dodged before it inevitably exploded on his face.

***

From the sidelines, Mineah held her breath as a massive explosion engulfed the clearing once more. Her heart almost stopped at the sight of it, but thankfully, Nikolai emerged from the smoke without so much as an injury. His knuckles were bloodied, but he was fine otherwise.

"He managed to escape," Nikolai grunted more in annoyance as he shook his fists, flicking off some of the blood that still dripped from his knuckles. "That explosion almost caught me off-guard. If it hadn’t been for your warning, I might’ve been injured."

She weakly nodded as she let out a sigh of relief. "I only did what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t support you during the fight, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do that through other means."

Moving closer to him, Mineah smiled as she noted the few other minor injuries that Nikolai sustained. Thankfully, they were clearly small enough for them to be ignored, and some of them were even healing already.

"I’m glad you’re alright," Mineah breathed out as she smiled at him.

"No part in thanks to your warning, Mine," he smirked. "Besides, I told you I could easily take him. There was no need for you to be worried at all."

Mineah chuckled at that. She supposed that he was right on that one. She knew she should trust him and his abilities, but she just couldn’t help herself. It was her duty as his wife, after all.

"And yet I still wanted to be worried for you," Mineah chuckled as she inadvertently hugged his arm. "I’m your wife. It’s my right to be worried about you whenever you put yourself in danger."

"And as your husband, it’s my right to make sure that shouldn’t happen in the first place," Nikolai scoffed beside her even as he gently stroked her back in reassurance. "You don’t have to worry your pretty little head about me, Mine. If I say that I can handle it, it means that there’s nothing for you to be worried about. I know my limits."

"So does that mean that you’ll tell me if you think you might be defeated somehow?"

Nikolai smirked. "I’ll say it if I somehow find someone that can even defeat me," he chuckled. "Now, let’s go back to safety. I’m sure you’re tired from all this searching we just did. We can try again later."

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