Chapter 351
That momentum made him land firmly, right between Aldraya and the exit, cutting off her escape route with the finality of an unshakable gatekeeper.
He now stood upright facing Aldraya, forming a living barrier.
Both of his hands rose to shoulder height, spreading to the sides like wings about to close.
Right hand to the right, left hand to the left—a formation that signaled an intent that was non-aggressive yet unmistakably firm, a human cage meant to restrain, not to strike.
He then stepped forward, slow and measured, approaching Aldraya, who was trapped between him and the bedroom wall.
Each step creaked softly against the wooden floor, creating a rhythmic beat that underscored the tightening encirclement.
Aldraya froze in place, like a porcelain statue halted mid-escape.
Her body, which had been darting forward moments ago, now went still, perhaps processing Theo's reaction speed and the sudden no-exit situation closing in around her.
Her expression was hard to read in the faint dawn light, but her rigid posture revealed shock mixed with heightened alertness.
She did not retreat, yet she did not advance either, caught within a distance that continued to narrow.
"An escape?"
Theo's instinct to finish the chase peaked, his body tensing like a lion about to pounce, the muscles in his arms and legs coiling for a restraining leap.
But Aldraya's stillness turned out to be nothing more than the gathering of explosive potential.
Before Theo's force could surge forward, the girl's body spun with dizzying speed.
A perfect one-hundred-and-eighty-degree rotation, so smooth and fast it was almost an illusion.
The spin was not without purpose.
With agile footwork and precise calculation, she slipped out of the reach of Theo's arms as they closed in, escaping the human cage just before it fully sealed.
The momentum of that rotation redirected her back toward her original target—the bedroom door.
And this time, nothing stood in her way.
Swiftly, even before Theo, having lost his target, could regain his balance, Aldraya shot forward.
Her steps were light yet driven by determination, carrying her across the short distance toward the exit once more.
Her movements were so fluid that everything before—from the embrace to the elbow strike, from stillness to flight—felt like a choreography designed solely to achieve this perfect moment of escape.
"So sneaky. But not fast enough!"
Annoyance and burning resolve turned exhaustion into pure fuel.
Theo did not waste time dwelling on his failure.
The moment Aldraya's silhouette vanished through the doorway, the hunter's instinct fully awakened.
His powerful legs drove his body forward in a brief but violent burst, turning the quiet dormitory corridor's wooden floor into a launch strip.
His speed was astonishing, a sprint that devoured distance with terrifying efficiency.
Within seconds—perhaps fewer than three breaths—his shadow had caught up and merged with the fleeing one ahead.
He closed the gap at a pace that made her earlier spin feel like slow motion.
Now he was directly behind Aldraya's back, close enough to feel the wind from each of her steps, close enough to catch the faint scent of soap and the tension radiating from her body.
His position was perfect for a final restraint.
With only a slight extension of his arms, his strong hands could land and clamp onto Aldraya's shoulders from behind, locking her joints and ending her escape entirely.
His momentum was still full, and his intent was clear.
All choices now lay in Aldraya's hands.
One second of hesitation, one less agile step, and her escape would end within Theo's grip—a hold that would not be easy to break this time.
"Your movements are easy to read, Theo."
Aldraya gave no pause.
Before Theo's shadow could truly touch her back, her body was already in motion, launching into a sequence that twisted perception itself.
She spun—not once, but three times in succession—each rotation a perfect one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, creating a bewildering visual vortex within the narrow corridor.
Her movement was no longer mere running, but an elegant yet calculated dance of evasion, a pirouette that transformed straight momentum into complex rotational motion.
Each spin carried her farther from the exit that had been her initial target, instead guiding her back into the room, toward Theo's still-messy bed.
Her feet, which had been pounding the floor moments earlier, suddenly lost contact with the ground.
She lifted into the air, briefly freeing herself from gravity and from Theo's hands, already poised to seize her.
Her upper body bent gracefully, her pale, unreadable face hovering mere centimeters above the mattress, as if skimming its surface in a final gesture of respect—or perhaps a silent mockery.
That airborne moment was brief, yet it felt eternal in the eyes of Theo, who was chasing her.
Aldraya looked like a ghost, an ethereal being unbound by ordinary physical laws.
Her inverted, spinning form in midair was the peak of her cunning and agility, a display of physical capability far beyond what her age would suggest.
It was a move impossible without either brutal training or extraordinary natural talent.
Then, as softly as a falling leaf, her feet touched the wooden floor again.
Her landing was perfect, silent, right beside the bed, placing her once more inside the room she had meant to escape.
She now stood facing Theo, who was forced to halt at the doorway, stunned by the acrobatics he had just witnessed.
"In that case, try guessing this move!"
Theo's surprise lasted only a fraction of a second before his competitive instinct ignited.
If Aldraya was playing with spins and acrobatics, he would respond in the same language—with a bit of sly improvisation.
His body, trained in multiple combat disciplines, suddenly spun on its axis like a top struck into motion.
But the spin was deliberate, shifting sideways toward the head of the bed where his pillow lay.
In a single, fluid motion that merged rotation and reach, his left hand snatched up the large, firm kapok-stuffed pillow.
His spin ended precisely as he faced Aldraya again, and without a moment's hesitation, the force of that rotation flowed into his left arm.
The pillow launched from his hand—not as a casual throw, but like a soft projectile fired from a human slingshot.
The heavy pillow flew fast and flat, heading straight for Aldraya, who had just landed.
"How complicated."
The room turned into a chaotic, silent battlefield.
Pillows and bolsters, once ordinary furnishings, became airborne projectiles in a strange yet intense duel.
Cheers were replaced by dull whump and thud sounds each time a pillow struck, followed by sharp breaths or swift dodging movements.
Theo and Aldraya—two allies who had only moments ago been planning an infiltration into a foreign family—were now locked in an exhausting, childish war, as if all the tension and bottled emotions had found their most innocent outlet.
The statistics of defeat were eventually etched clearly onto their bodies.
Theo took five solid hits straight to the groin, forcing him to double over in pain several times, yet he stubbornly continued to counterattack.
Meanwhile, Aldraya, whose face was usually unreadable, was struck ten times by pillows and bolsters, leaving faint red marks across her cheeks and forehead.
To be continued…