Chapter 62- Laughing Nightmares (Part 2)
Glaring at the weird clone standing in front of her, Elise tried to understand what kind of thing it was. It didn't seem to be something that exist in this world. In fact, she had never heard of a creature like this one before in TOI so she can exclude the possibility that its something that lives in Divine Sapphire.
The next thing she deduced was that this creature was just exactly as strong as she was. How did you find that out, you may ask. Well, the fake Elise was unleashing her aura in its full glory without any restraints so she could clearly feel her level of strength. The two were equal in that area.
'It tried to attack me so it's safe to assume that it's hostile.'
"Who are you?" Elise asked as her eyes turned sharp like blades. Her breathing calmed down greatly and her heart became as tranquil as a divine lake untouched by the howls of the wind.
She looked like a supreme goddess, a calm yet dangerous goddess.
However, the enemy didn't respond, not that Elise expected them to respond in the first place. Instead, the fake Elise charged toward her at full speed.
The clone's arms were moving behind her and then, out of nowhere, it pulled out a sword that was eerily similar to Soul Eater that Elise possessed.
'It can also clone my weapon?' Clicking her tongue, she unsheathed her sword and met the clone halfway.
*BAAAAAAAAAAANG*
The two swords clashed violently, the sparks of fire generated from the blades covered their expressions from each other. Yet, even in between those sparkly things, Elise could see the dark abyss that was the clone's eyes.
They were so devoid of any human resemblance that it almost scared her. It was even colder and emotionless than a hard machine.
The clash was equal in everything. No matter how much Elise tried to overpower her opponent, the other Elise simply stepped up and made it even again.
"Hah!" With a hiss, she pushed the clone away before charging toward it again. This time, she secretly activated Gravity Manipulation. Then, ever-so-slightly, she altered the weight of her enemy.
This skill, as strong as it was, didn't possess that much prowess because of its low level. However, even with that, with constant practice, Elise learned many secrets about it.
For example, Elise can alter the weight of another object/creature. However, the bigger the change, the more mana it consumes. With experiments, she deduced that the most she can affect is around 10 kilograms give or take before her mana pool is completely exhausted. (A//N: By affecting 10 kilograms, it means that she can make her opponent heavier or lighter by 10 kilograms. Hopes that explains it. Oh, 10 Kg is 22 pounds for the American readers.)
Back to the fight, the clone that was about to land on her legs felt the sudden change and that made her lose balance for a split second. Elise was searching for that moment, so she quickly closed the distance between them and slashed with her sword.
The Soul Eater was such a great sword, even though it should've been heavy, it was actually comfortable in her hand as if she had trained with it for a long time. The compatibility was just impressive.
The sword approached the clone at an alarming speed. When it was barely a few inches away from her, the clone did something that took Elise aback.
Instead of trying to dodge, she simply extended her arm to meet it halfway as if it was the most obvious thing to do. *
*Swish*
The sword sliced through her hand like butter. But, the moment it tried to exit from the other side, cutting the arm in half, it suddenly got stuck.
'Huh?' Elise didn't get what happened in the first tenth of a second.
The flesh around the sword suddenly twisted and turned before it engulfed the sword completely, fixing it in its place.
Then, with her other hand, the clone stabbed Elise. Her sword was aimed at Elise's throat.
'No, you don't.'
Ducking down, the sword Bareilly grazed Elise's hair, cutting a few strands of it before passing her.
Then, without waiting any longer, Elise pulled the sword out and backed away. She wanted to take a few deep breaths and analyze what just happened.
However, the clone didn't seem to be keen on the idea of giving her those precious first few seconds since it immediately attacked her again.
*BANG*
Elise had no choice but to clash with the clone again and again and again. The two moved left and right and clashed like two raging tornadoes that want to shred each other to pieces.
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
Each thrust, each slice, and each slash sent a shiver down Elise's spine. Even though she was fighting a deadly opponent and even though she was playing with her own life, she still couldn't stop herself from feeling some… excitement.
The fight, the adrenaline rush, and the feeling of sweat accumulating on her face was such an exciting feeling for her. Bear in mind, Elise was never someone who enjoyed fights since she knew they were merely a stupid gamble with one's life.
Yet, at this moment, a small smile crept to her face. Her eyes had a weird glint to them as she parried and attacked ruthlessly like a blood-thirsty beast or a battle-junky that desired to swim in the blood of their enemies.
'Show me more!' She thought in her head in the spur of the moment.
The calmer Elise would've been shocked beyond words at the attitude she was giving right now. This was her? Impossible. Since when did she enjoy deadly battles? Did she lose her mind because of stress? That was possible in this case.
Elise wasn't at any disadvantage since both of them were even in everything. However, she can't stop herself from starting to get exhausted from the constant exertion of power. She had been like this for the past 5 minutes.
The clone simply fought her with a blank face as if it didn't matter to her whether this was a good fight or not. She simply wanted to kill Elise and that was it, no hidden motives or scheming plans. Just a full-on all-out offense.
Using her skill, Elise kept on altering the opponent's balance point left and right. Her method was to use the skill for a split second before deactivating it and then reactivating it again. This reduced the amount of mana she needed for her skill to stay activated while also sparing some of it to keep her body enhancement activated for longer.
After an unknown amount of time, Elise felt her body starting to tire out. She can't forget that she was still feeling exhausted from the constant fighting. Her plump, red lips were agape as she breathed in and out audibly. Her big chest was rising up and down rhythmically along with it. Her looks now weren't worse at all, in fact, this state she was in made her look like a wild yet an incredibly seductive woman.
"Aren't you tired?" She asked with a sarcastic tone.
Then, rested the sword on her shoulder and continued.
"I know that this isn't a mere game. Isn't it time to reveal who you are? The fun is diminishing quickly."
The clone looked at her blankly for a while without making any reaction.
'Sigh, it obviously won't…'
However, before she could even think about it, a weird occurrence happened. The clone in front of her contorted her face to form what could only be described as a pure, evil grin that shook her to the core.
No one should ever see themselves looking so contorted and evil ever in their lifetime. It was akin to a nightmare.
Elise's sarcastic expression turned gravely serious in a moment.
After that, she lifted her hand and clicked her fingers together. The sound reverberated around them. So much so that the whole place literally shook violently.
The streets cracked, the buildings started to crumble and the sky was literally peeling off like a sticker.
"Woaaah!" Losing her balance, Elise felt her body sway left and right as the ground beneath her cracked and turned to rubble.
'What the hell is going on now?! It's really turning into a sick fucking joke!'
In a matter of seconds, the whole world around her turned into pure destruction
All the destroyed debris and what remained of the place were then swept away so simply, leaving both of them in a place that could only be described as a void.
Elise looked beneath her at the endless darkness and questioned how she was still floating in the air after all of that.
However, her mind didn't have the luxury of thinking about anything else at the moment as in front of her, the grinning clone finally opened its mouth and uttered one single word.
"Smile."
"Huh?" Elise groaned confusedly.
Then, everything changed again.
(A//N: Happy new year, everyone. I hope you all have an amazing year with great success. I wasn't intending to write another chapter for the non-priv readers tonight, but here it is. I have one request for all my precious readers, I would love it if you give this book some of your precious golden tickets to help me out. I will be endlessly grateful for your support. Have a great day, guys :) )