66 Clashing

"..." Strangely, Elizabeth awoke to the sounds of "total warfare." She couldn't even be mad that her nice little nap was cut short as even with the few hours she'd spent sleeping, her ever-strengthening body was already satisfied. Instead, the BOOMs of explosions, CLANGs of clashing cold arms, and PEWs of gunfire were what held her interest, as her home had somehow turned into the frontlines for World War Three…

Elizabeth got up and left her room, Dawnbringer in her left hand and the Inferioria blade on the other. Yet, nothing of threat was to be found outside her room, nor was there anything remarkable even as she took in the sight of the hallway. Cautious and confused by the turmoil that had spawned for no apparent reason, Elizabeth did her best to sneak out to figure out exactly what was going down.

As she approached the sounds of war, on the first floor, a small audience had formed to watch a play match between Atid and Luca. This play match loosely described what regular people would call insanity as Atid and Luca were fighting. Only, their fight involved guns and swords…

Luca, held his own with dual pistols similar to Elizabeth, while Atid fought with a single sword. Alas, guns and swords were just the tip of the iceberg when one accounted for all the absurd Qi abilities thrown around, as most of the truly game-changing moves involved Qi in one way or another.

When Elizabeth finally made it down to the first floor's training area and found the source of the war-like noise, the first thing she experienced was a flashbang-esque side effect upon witnessing Atid's glistening water-coated sword clash with Luca's mirage-like gun. Of course, with the effects of her Timeworn Eyes, the impairment to her sense quickly saw their effects dissipate, but in the short half second or so that she'd been unable to see anything, the two "play fighters" had clashed many more times.

After coming back to her sense, Elizabeth stood static by the entrance of the training area as this high-level fight had fully ensnared her attention. Even with Timeworn Eyes working at their peak performance, she had trouble comprehending the moves those two used. But, the skill and strategy behind each move was so purposeful, so clean… Elizabeth couldn't help but view the fight as a thing of art, as she slowly forgot about everything aside from the crazy fighting playing out in front of her.

Even after Jane found Elizabeth and waved to try getting her attention, she was met with a total lack of response, as Elizabeth's eyes seemed to have glazed over in contemplation of all the advanced techniques being pulled in the fight between masters. However… as the fighting progressed and Elizabeth took note of more things about this new master-like entity which could rival her dojo's master, the blank look of admiration of a fight's art gradually morphed in the lustful greedy smirk of a total devil.

'This new guy… Hahaha! He has magical items as well? Heh…' All sorts of devilish thoughts crossed Elizabeth's mind as she stared at the various pieces of gear Luca carried with him. The guns? Magical. The bullets? Also Magical. Even his clothes and auxiliary support items contained obviously magically forged techniques applied to them.

'Mhmm?' Upon closer look, even Atid had Magical items on his person too. Elizabeth could even recognize some forging techniques that had been applied to his sword and combat apparel.

Just as she had those thoughts, a familiar feeling of death threatened a chill down her spine as Atid seemed to have been caught by checkmate. As if he had teleported, Luca somehow appeared behind Atid with one of his guns squarely placed on Atid's temple. Yet, Elizabeth didn't feel a chill because of Atid's predicament, rather… behind Atid, Luca was placed in an arguably worse position as Atid's blade, held at icepick grip, drew a thin line of blood right above Luca's Larynx.

What made Luca's position worse was his obvious loss against Atid's speed. Of the two, Atid had consistently proven his superiority in terms of physical prowess, if not be the fact that he had fought until now with a sword against a gun, then because of the constant small victories he'd achieved every time it came down to physical blows between the two.

What would determine winner or loser had this fight have been to the death was whether Luca could pull the trigger faster than Atid could activate his Water Qi. Alas, this was just a play fight between old friends. Thus, reaching this deciding point, Luca dropped his guns and sighed as she said, "Alright, alright… you win, again..."

Atid, downplayed his victory by saying, "You only let me win because we're in my dojo." Then, after a short pause, he took back his words by playfully deciding to chalk up his superiority, saying, "Of course, even if you were serious I'd still totally destroy you~"

"Right..." Luca feigned sadness as people around him started cheering and discussing the battle he'd just taken part in. Still, as a battle-hardened practitioner, he'd long since discovered Elizabeth's presence. Being a worthwhile warrior, I'd be a shame on his name if he wasn't aware of his surrounding and missed a virtual copy of the young miss he'd been tasked to escort to this very dojo, just walking around; not to mention she was staring him down like he was a piece of steak...

Though, his opinion Elizabeth wasn't exactly good, as he could read the greed spilling out of her like braille to the blind. Even to this very moment, Elizabeth's covetous eyes would not even try concealing their intent. At first, he was a little curious about Elizabeth, as her uncanny resemblance to Sophie naturally brewed questions anyone might have. But after being looked at so predatorially, even if he didn't at all feel threatened by Elizabeth, her forthcoming nature repelled him somewhat.

…

"Hey, who are you?" Elizabeth, surprised as Sophie attracted her attention when she wasn't ready to see a doppelganger, said, "Me? Uh, I'm..."

Before she could finish her thought, Jane appeared as a savior once more, taking the awkwardness of interacting with this unknown person out of Elizabeth's hands, as she said, "Elizabeth! Are you ready for more training?" Though her acts of interloping were much appreciated, being subjected to more training right away brought a pained smile to Elizabeth's face.

'I can't catch a fucking break...' Elizabeth thought. Yet, her intentions to procrastinate were thrown back at her, as P scoffed and said, "Che! Break? Shit's about to get real, real quick and you want a break? I think I'd be in your best interest to "slave" away for a little while longer in the beginning so you can have your precious breaks later..."

P's monologue was cut short as Elizabeth's eyes landed on Sun's body. He had been walking casually over to her side, probably to greet her and make small talk. But, no matter how he tried to act normally, Elizabeth could read him like a book; both figuratively and literally…

"Elizabeth? Funny, I've never heard of you..." Sophie's tone when speaking was hard for Elizabeth to correctly judge. On one hand, the meaning of her words seemed like she was being rude and condescending, but as Elizabeth listened to the way she spoke as well as looked at the confused face she possessed while speaking, it was hard to tell what it was she meant.

Alas, this doppelganger didn't at all matter to Elizabeth as it seemed like Sun's matter eclipsed all others in priority at the moment. Elizabeth ignored Sophie and turned to Jane asking, "Who fought Sun?"

To Elizabeth's question, literally everyone who had been paying attention to her — Atid, Luca, Sophie, Jane, and Sun of course — gasped either out loud or mentally, as those that were mindful of their surroundings knew that she had only entered the room halfway into Atid and Luca's fight. Her ability to judge Sun's current state as wounded was amazing considering his distance to her and the speed with which she read his situation.

Jane, as someone more or less familiar with Elizabeth's skills as a doctor, was a less taken aback by Elizabeth's keen observation than most. Though she still had a bit of shock tainting her voice as she said, "He… lost a fight to Sophie." Then as someone who could read social cues, she whispered in Elizabeth's ear, "That's the girl you're ignoring..."

Whereas Jane knew how best to act according to the situation, Elizabeth was quick to ignore pretense as she directly stared at her doppleganger with scorn. Though, after a quick Status check, the degree of contempt she had for Sophie decreased, it was still there.

[Status Updating…

Status

Name: Sophie

Sex: Female

Level: 11

Rank: Early-Phase Martial Soldier

Affection Rating: Neutral… and Depreciating

Description: Naturally curious about your origin, Sophie's Affection for you had been slightly increasing. But, after being ignored and now being looked down upon so blatantly, her goodwill towards you is quickly depreciating.]

"Mhmm..." Sparks seemed to fly as Elizabeth and Sophie entered a staring contest of sorts; each thinking in different ways that the other needed to be disciplined. Elizabeth thinking, 'This wretched fuck… If I were stronger, she'd be toast.' While Sophie though, "Ignoring me? I'll just have to knock some sense into you..."

But, before the tension could collapse into action, both Atid and Luca made their way over to talk and make introductions...