Chapter 182: An Odd Encounter

1 hour prior...

In the pitch-black forest only illuminated by moonlight, 2 fully armoured people were hopping from tree to tree in a great hurry, sticking together and matching each other's speed. 

One was a beautiful, stern-faced girl, her red hair tied into a ponytail that fell down and touched the scythe strapped around her back. She was accompanied by a fairly tall man of lean stature, his rough-looking purple hair flowing in the air, a faint glow coming from his now red pupils, a black and purple spear on his back instead of his partner's scythe.

They were of course none other than Alex and Abby who had just received their signals to engage.

They both decided to keep their weapons on each other as to not just suddenly pull them out of their inventory when storage rings were supposed to be disabled. Plus, they did not weigh that much so it did not even slow them down in the slightest thanks to Moby's expert craftsmanship. 

As they were nearing their destination, Alex, who was leading the way managed to spot something ruffling in the distance using his knight vision… something was undoubtedly wrong…

'Wait! Stop!' Alex ordered, opening a mind-link between him and Abby, putting his hands out to stop her.

'What are you doing?! My lord asked for us to reach him as soon as possible! He might be in trouble and requires our assistance! Explain yourself! What's the meaning of this!?'

'Shhh! calm down! I sense something ahead!'

'What!? Really!? I don't feel or see anything? How do you know?'

'Well, It's part of being a knight, I'm still not perfect at it but I'm getting there. There's no way we could go help Moby when these guys are in the way. I'm sure they've already seen us too. Plus, these guys definitely have a purpose for being here. Taking them out would also end up helping out in the end. They might be some sort of back up in case the main force fails,'

'Ahhh... I see… nice thinking! We'll take these guys out then immediately rush over to help my lord,'

Alex nodded at Abby's words before taking a deep breath, looking in front of him as he yelled with a confident voice. 

"Hey! Show yourself! We know you're there! No point in hiding anymore!"

No one answered…

Near-complete silence with only the sound of a few crickets and animals that were very common in the forest.

Then, right before Alex was about to make another threat, sound could now suddenly be heard.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

The noise of clapping accompanied by a peal of subtle cute laughter could be heard from behind a tree, making both Abby and Alex stop and look at the direction of the sound, killer intent in their eyes ready to rain attacks if needed.

A skinny, short girl emerged out from behind the tree, her hands still clapping. Her silky smooth looking hair was as white as snow and only fell down right above her shoulders. Her breasts could not even be seen through the large long, pure white coat that was clearly too big for her, completely covering her mouth, only showing her beautiful white eyes, eyebrows and nose. Despite her hair being white, she had fair, smooth skin making her look no older than any other student, the look of pure joy in her white eyes. She looked almost like a cute ghost, not like anyone either he or Abby had ever seen in their 2 months of school so far.

"Wowie! What a surprise! 2 love birds have scurried off to somewhere they should have never gone. You actually managed to sense my presence! Hehe, I'm impressed! I thought I was hiding pretty well! So, what are you fellows doing in such a fine neck of the woods? Where you trying to be adventurous and make love? If so then I'm going to have to rain on your parade but beyond here is out of bounds. I'm sowie, but you need to find somewhere else to go and continue your love making. Now shoo! Hehe,"

"C-cut the crap girl! We're clearly no such thing! Now, are you part of the Zexis gang? If not then get out of our way and l-" Alex said before being suddenly and abruptly interrupted by a sight he never expected to see in a million years.

*Slap*

His opponent had suddenly slapped herself in the face, seemingly out of nowhere, greatly startling him and Abby that both stared at her in confusion.

Then, what confused them even more, was that the opponent that had been standing in front of them had completely changed out of nowhere. Everything on her body that was previously white had just suddenly turned pitch black, all of her hair, eyebrows, and even clothing, confirming that she was wearing magic armour, immediately transformed. Her fun looking eyes full of enthusiasm switching into something much more serious, she was like a completely different person. 

'What the fuck is going on!?' Both he and Abby thought in unison.

"You idiot! Those guys are important enemies! You can't just let them go free! How much more stupid can you get!?" She said, her attitude and playful voice now being much deeper and more grave.

"Wait… Now that I can get a closer look… yeah! You're right! These are important enemies! good job Yami-chan!" she said, in a playful mood, her hair switching back to white.

"God damn it Hikari, one of these days you're going to get us both killed with how brain dead you are. The boss has let us, by us I mean you off with so much shit that I doubt she would have let something as big as this slide," 

"Yami-chan! You're always so stressed! Just relax and take it easy like me! Hehe, everything worked out fine didn't it?"

"It worked out fine because I was here dipshit! Fuck! You're useless without me!"

"I know you don't really mean that Yami-chan! We're one of the-"

Alex and Abby did not fully understand what in the hell was going on as it was their first time ever witnessing such a thing. Colour changing and split personalities were not a very common sight to say the least. But in a world filled with superpowers, it would not be too hard to believe the existence of such a phenomenon. So, despite their lack of concrete knowledge, they felt like they had a fairly good idea from what they had managed to observe so far.

She kept on switching every time they wanted to talk, they were almost like 2 completely different, clashing people forced into inhabiting the same body. 

Due to the extensive catalogue of anime that Alex had watched, he completely understood what their names were meant to be, Hikari being light and Yami being darkness. His opponent did seem like someone from country X, where Japan used to be located over 100 years ago. He was still unsure of what was going on with the split person ordeal but he assumed that their names had deeper meaning since the white-haired counterpart seemed to be more light and joyful and the black-haired one seemed to be more dark and serious.

The 2 kept on arguing, not even paying any attention to Abby and Alex who were both still standing in front of them, their conversation dragging on with seemingly no end in sight.

"I don't have time for this shit! Get the fuck out of my way or I'll force myself through!" Alex yelled, summoning lightning out of his spear to attack the unknown person in front of him who was getting more and more on his nerves.

However, even though she seemed completely distracted, she still managed to easily sidestep out of the way like it was nothing, making Alex go wide-eyed. 

That confirmed that their opponent was clearly strong. So, they both decided to wait and inspect "their" actions. They could not act too hasty and just force their way through quickly like they had first wanted.

"Hey! How rude! We were having a conversation here! Didn't your mommies teach you any manners?" The white hair girl said with clear annoyance.

"Hey! Ren! Come here!" She ordered, seemingly to no one.

Then, from behind another tree from where they stood emerged a short, blonde-haired boy, a nervous look on his otherwise stern, rigid face.

"Yes, you called? lord HikariYami," He said, bowing down not even daring to look at her in the eyes.

"Hey! Renren! I told you to call me tan this week! Not lord! Did you already forget?"

"N-n-no! Of course not lor-I mean HikariYami-tan!"

"Kfukfu! Much better!" Hikari said before switching back to Yami,

"Oh my god can you stop being such a fucking otaku! At this rate we'll never get any work done! Ren, analyze their powers for me!" She ordered in a harsh voice, sending shivers down his spine.

"O-okay H-Hikari Yami-tan…"

"Call me lord! Say tan one more time and I'll fuck you up!"

"Y-yes lord!" He said, taking in a gulp of saliva, closing his eyes before doing what he was told.

Blue mana surrounded and swirled around his right eye, allowing him to gauge the strength of his enemies. It was a useful ability when someone's watch could not be seen, which was what was happening in their case right now since their opponent's watches were under their armour. 

"Do you think I'm just going to stand here and do nothing? Think again!" Abby yelled as she hastily bolted over towards the short boy's location with immense speed, boosting herself from her feet with fire, swinging her flaming scythe down with immense vigour. 

However, when she attacked, it seemed like it did nothing but create a crater on the ground under her. What she hit was nothing but an illusion, it was almost like swinging at the air.

"H-how!?" Abby blurted before the familiar sound of clapping suddenly entered her ears

*Clap* *Clap*

"Impressive! You sure are quick missy!" A cute sounding voice came from above them, making them both look up only to see both of their opponents just sitting casually on the top of a tree, Ren looking nervous while Hikari was just eating bites from a nearby apple.

Part of Alex's knight ability allowed him to have better sensory and vision. And, despite the fact that he was not able to see past her illusion, he still felt a feeling deep inside of himself that there was something wrong even before Abby had attacked but his uncertainty didn't allow him to stop her from attacking as there was still great doubt in his heart.

Then, suddenly, a yellow barrier a few kilometres in front of them, exactly where Moby was located was erected out of seemingly nowhere, which probably meant that they were too late to help Moby out and his fight had already started. And, with that barrier around the area, it would be much harder for them to enter. 

"Ooowie! It seems like Nagsy and Jaysy have finally started their fight with the big guy! When I was chosen as backup and scout I thought that I would not get the chance to fight since I know the 2 boys will definitely take care of the main target! I thought they just sent me here for no reason and that I would be bored all day but thank you for proving me wrong! Thanks to you, This night will be so super duper mega fun! Isn't that right Renren?" Hikari said, looking down at her opponents before turning to see the shaking, beyond frightened Ren to her side with a smile.

"Y-yes of course HikariYami-tan is never wrong!"

"Didn't I order you to call me fucking lord!?" She switched, her hair turning black, preparing herself to punch him, pure anger and annoyance in her voice making Ren pass out just from her screams alone as it felt like he saw his life flash right before his eyes.