"Bel, are you okay?!

" He asked aloud, as the man jumped back to avoid the fireball and subsequent explosion.

"Yeah... he's not strong enough to hurt me, but it caught me off guard,

" Bel said, wiping his mouth with the side of his hand, although it did not seem that necessary.

'... Such a weird habit to pick up,' Noah thought, but did not voice it, instead turning back towards the guy, who had managed to go unscathed.

"Humpf, seems you are weaker than the rumors sugest,

" the man said, clanking his fists together again.

"Seems you're as tough as your mouth is large,

" Noah retorted, taunting the man.

The blessed furrowed his brows, but relaxed again, not responding for a minute, as he thought.

"I guess you being here from the house means ou already cleared it out, huh... Guess those pawns were mostly useless,

" he said after a second, taking a glance around.

"Unless killing the workers was their sole job, yeah, pretty damn useless,

" Noah shot back at him, making sure to measure his reaction.

"Oh, they managed to do that? That's better than what I anticipated,

" Noah furrowed his brows at the man's answer, a flash of red pulling his attention to the side.

"Bel, wait!

" he yelled, but it was too late, and the boy lounged at the attacker, a streak of red lightning taking over half of Noah's vision, before it clashed with the man's steel-like body.

Noah watched as ball of sparks flew, almost as if lightning had struck a metal pole. Unsurprisingly, Bel was deflected after hitting the man, flying into the vegetation to the side, before crashing the outer wall of the mansion into a cloud of smoke. Behind Noah couldn't yet see the man, but tunelled above him, to take a better look and drop upon him.

What he saw from above, though, slightly shocked him. The man's body looked to be covered up in a metallic film, just like before, this time however, that film on his arms seemed cracked. Not only that, his arm had missing bits, like it was made of solid metal, that fractured and lost its pieces, leaving large gaps behind.

"Fucking damnit!

" The man yelled, franctically searching for Noah through the faint smoke from the impact, while glancing at his arm.

'Interesting, but with that blessing, burning him is gonna be a waste of time,

" Noah thought, as he noticed the man's arm not turning back, remaning as a solid piece of metal, while the rest of his body turned normal again. Noah decided to take a bet, launghing many small fireballs around him, to keep him put, while creating a round spike using his flames.

"What—

" the man yelled confusedly, covering his head with both arms, as he felt the irradiated heat from the fireballs that flew around him, before they exploded. The firepower was not enough to hurt him, but that was not the objective anyways.

Noah was still falling, gaining speed rapidly, whilst still not using most of his blessings, since he was outside. 'Let's test this **er,

" he thought, as he dropped upon the man, holding the dark-red spoke he'd created from compressing down the fire.

"UURGH!

" the man grunted, as a loud metalic screech rang on Noah's ears, making him cringe. The spoke scratched through the insides of the man's arms, its tip pressing on the man's back. Noah had focused on hardness, not temperature, which was not the right choice.

"You **er!

" the man screamed, as he ducked, jolting both arms sideway, and throwing the spoke—and Noah—to the side, though only embers flew that way.

"What?!

" the man yelled, confused, while not finding his agressor anywhere.

Noah had, again, Tunelled his way up, using his sideways momentum to accelerate away, now seeing everything from above, far enough to not feat being seen under the veil of darkness. '... What the hell are you doing again?' he asked himself, as he saw a red lightning among the trees, as Bel dashed towards the man once again. Without caring much, he glanced at the man, who had already seen the flash of red from Bel's attack. 'Interesting, he's back had a spot turned metallic, but it doesn't seem... Heat!

" he finally realized, a grin appearing on Noah's lips.

As Bel closed in on the man, who gritted his teeth, ready to use his arms do defend, Noah tunelled once again. Now, above him, using the downwards momentum from the previous fall. He started materialized something new he hadn't created before, a cilinder, about two meters high. The faint red emmited by his Asset Weaponization improved Hell Flames was nowhere bright anough to pick anyone's attention. Unless when watching from afar, where a faintly red thing appeared mid air.

While not exactly a weapon, a Large cilinder with spikes at the botton counted as a weapon, so, without noticing, Noah found a gap that allowed him to expand the usage of the skill far beyond what was normally possible. And looking down, he saw Bel once again get deflected, but this time, thrown towards the main entrance of the house. 'God damnit, Bel...' Noah thought, as he saw him fly over the road, still clad in lightning, onto the parking lot where the cars were parked, and drash head on against the blue ferrari. 'How the hell am I gonna explain this to Marcel tomorrow...' he thought to himself, although Bel had cancelled the lightning in time, only deeply denting the door.

About that time, Noah fell upon the man, the fiery cage embedding itself on the ground around him, and Noah closing the top, not allowing him to escape through.

"What the **?!

" the man screamed, as he looked around him to see a faintly glowing black thing all round, and a grate over his head. Noah did not give him time to think, as he threw his flames in through the top grate, bearing the pain from the fall on his knees and hips.

"ARGH!

" A grunt, followed by an inhumane scream shattered his ears, as he increased the temperature of his flames more and more. Noah could feel his Mana drain at a faster and faster rate, as the cilinder beneath turned into an actual furnace, and the man's screams ceased. Noah clad himself in healing flames, half pissed that the man had not burned just like he had anticipated, leading his mana to be mostly drained after what could have been called a dumb battle. On the bright side, Bel's attacks served as a diversion, letting him hit the man from blind spots, not giving him time to notice the cunning strategy the devil had surmised and executed flawlessly, suprising even himself.

"God,

" he cursed, as his joints were healed, making him think. 'I should somehow strengthen myself to take fall damage better. This is twice today already!' he told himself in anger, as he let the cilinder disappear into embers, leaving behind a scorched and ember red asphalt beneath, and a glowing red metal statue of the man he just defeated, albeit naked, and with arms half destroyed below the elbow.

"Noah! Did you—Whoa... Since when can you turn people into stone?

" Bel asked as he ran towards Noah, who was now standing and watching the statue cool down, waiting for the boy.

"I can't, this is his blessing's thing,

" Noah said, realizing there was no notification about absorbing his divinity fragment.

"Is he dead, then?

" Bel asked, looking at the thing.

"I don't know... I guess not, but something makes me feel he's somehow still alive in there,

" Noah said, staring at the statue, biting his lip.

"Want me to smash it?!

" Bel asked, a wide grin on his face as he kit his palm with his fist.

"No, thanks. You already destroyed a car I'll have to explain tomorrow how... Let's solve this guy later. We need to find the rest of the people,

" Noah said, making Bel scratch his head.

"Awww... I wanted to bust this asshole's ass... He somehow deflected me twice!

" Bel pleased, making Noah glance at him.

"Look at his arms. See the missing chunks? That was you,

" Noah said, the boy's eyes glowing.

"That's when I noticed everywhere we hurt him badly would turn into metal, and came up with this way to get rid of him. Hitting him head on would've been a pain,

" Noah told the boy, who was now incredibly happy.

"Ok, now, let's go,

" Noah said, turning away and taking a few steps towards the direction the man glanced in before the fight, towards the sleeping quarters of the employees of the mansion.

"Noah! Wait!

" Bel said, Noah assuming it was about him going with him, and paid him no heed, dashing towards the quarters.

"Noah! No! Wait! Come back here! Look!

" the boy yelled another time, this time catching Noah's attention, and making him stop dead on his tracks and look back, to Bel poiting at the statue.

"What is it?!

" he asked aloud, doing a full 180 and walking back towards the statue.

"Here! It's starting to turn back!

" the boy said, making Noah's eyes go wide, and him to run towards him, and see the statue from up close, creating a small flame to light it up.

As he arrived by the boy's side, he saw a something he was not happy with. The area around the man's left arm, where Bel had first injured him, had slowly stated to become flesh again, with its pieces missing, and blood slowly pouring out the fractured limb.

"Now this is gonna be a pain in the ass,

" Noah said, realizing the man might well turn back into the living and run away if they left him be.