Chapter 116 Hatching

"Here." Elena raised her head up and collected the grilled meat on a stick that Lance had passed to her. The half Demon took a seat next to her and dug into his own meal.

"Thanks." Elena eyed the boy for a few moments before turning to her food and sinking her teeth into it.

She had been travelling with the trio of boys for a few days now. It had been a bit over a week since Divinity's Bout had started, and she had only met them on the second day. They had started off on the wrong foot, but had quickly gotten along after that. Aside from the snarky comments of Barak and Balak, Lance was pretty well behave most of the time, only being rough and rude with his friends. He was more reserved when interacting with Elena.

"How is it?" Lance took a break and asked, licking his lips as if savoring the taste of the spices used to cook the meat.

"It's nice. Your mom must be a nice cook." Elena said, a small smile gracing her lips.

Lance was frozen for a few seconds before shaking his head and sighing. "My mother did not teach me to cook. I learnt it on my own." He replied, casting his gaze to where he two friends were. The twin brothers were shoving at each other and laughing, while keeping their sticks of meat out of reach of each other.

Elena hummed but did not say anything else. She heard the contempt in Lance's tone of voice when he spoke, so she easily understood that his mother was a sore subject.

Silence reigned before Lance asked a question that shocked Elena.

"Elena... Do you um, do you have a significant other?" Lance mumbled under his breath, making sure that the twins could not hear him.

"A- A what?!" Elena stuttered loudly, earning the attention of the two Demonic brothers.

"Shh, reduce your voice." Lance cast a scowl in the brothers' direction before waving his hand to create a wind barrier around the two of them. It was strong enough just to block out the sound they were making. If anyone managed to hear anything, then it would just be jumbled jargons.

"W-why do you want to know that?" Elena mumbled, red faced. Unintentionally, her thoughts drifted to a certain dark skinned man that she had met in Fort Bender. She shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts, but thanks to Lance, his face constantly lingered at the back of her mind.

"Just curious." Lance smirked, happy that he had made her flustered. But he himself was a little bit annoyed. From her reaction, it was easy for him to tell that she indeed had someone in mind.

'Well, let's see which one of us gets to take her heart!' He declared war in his mind and turned back to his stick of meat, digging in and leaving Elena to herself.

After they had all eaten, the fire was put out and the group went to sleep in their tents. A magic circle had been drawn around their camp to alert them if anyone was coming, and a smaller one erected a barrier around them, so they were well protected through the night.

When morning came, Elena was the first to wake up. She stretched in her sleeping bag a bit before getting up and freshening up. By the time she was done, the other boys had woken up and were preparing to go.

,m Lance stepped out from his tent without a shirt, exposing his scale covered back that led a trail from his nape to his lower back, where a tail that was tipped by a stinger was extended. Elena was surprised. She had never seen any sign of Lance having a tail before.

"Where do you hide your tail?" The words slipped out of her lips before she could stop herself. She immediately wished she did not say anything, as it might be a sensitive topic.

"Oh, that?" Lance asked in a carefree manner. Elena failed to notice the mana around the boy fluctuate before his tail morphed into a mass of shadows. He then slipped on a shirt, and the shadows were pressed smoothly against his back, hiding the tail. "Pretty neat, huh?" He grinned.

"Yeah. I'm clumsy with magic, so I doubt I can do something like that." Elena sighed and turned to continue packing her things. Her talent for magic was not too clear from what she had been told. While her skills leveled up quite decently, her control had always been quite basic, so she had been told that her talent was weak by most people around her. Only her parents and Baba Yaga had never spoken those words to her.

"Well, I can teach you." Lance walked over to the red haired girl with a grin. He finished rolling up his tent in his hands and waited beside her to hear her response.

"Really?" Elena spun around with wide eyes, only to end up face to face with Lance. Her eyes went wide and she took a tentative step back, putting some space back between them. It made Lance's spirits fall, but he hid his expression well, maintaining his smile.

"Yeah, sure. What are friends for, right?" He grinned, easing the atmosphere and making Elena smile, tilting her head.

"Thanks, I guess..." She said. 'Friends, huh?' She thought.

"Oi! Lovebirds!" Balak's unruly voice suddenly cut through the atmosphere as the shirtless boy strutted out from his tent, his firm muscles exposed for all to see.

"Screw you!" Lance turned around, eyes red while Elena just laughed it off. She did not see any of them ever getting any position beyond the friend title in her books.

Crack!

All of a sudden, a cracking sound reached Elena's ears from behind, and she spun around, eyes wide. She hurriedly dashed into her tent and approached the large egg that she had kept with her for protection. A large, long crack ran down the side of the egg, very obvious and easy to spot. Behind her, the other boys also rushed in.

"What happened?!" Lance quickly asked.

"It's hatching!" Elena said, gasping when a golden light shone from within the egg.