We all imagine ourselves as the agents of our destiny, capable of determining our own fate. But have we truly any choi when we rise? Or when we fall? Or does a force rger than ourselves bid us our dire? Is it evolution that takes us by the hand? Does sce point our way? Or is it God who intervenes, keeping us safe? If someone asked Elizabeth that, then she would answer 'gods are merely people that watch down aertain themselves with our problems'. She had the advantage of knowing that they cared not for them sine had left her aloer rejeg the deal that got her in this pbsp;Even if the other side didn't fulfill its part and stuck her in a family with a heritage of heroes. If Akira was asked that. Then he would ahat 'gods are those that seek to proted send their vessels to fight for the good of all'. He would cim to be such a vessel under a glorious mission and that ahat opposed his will was evil. He, after all, had accepted one of such deals and lived (And almost died) following it through, even if he decided to ditch his job and run away. He still thought of himself as one blessed by the gods. Not that he was... Oher hand, if you asked Rena or Rossie...They would answer mostly the same 'Who cares?' The first one only cared about those that she deemed dangerous to Akira... And the sed...Well... She was another of worms entirely. But Elizabeth was thinking of these meanihings because she didn't know how to deal with this situation. "This might get...Tricky." Said the armirl while raising once again her shadowy wings and materializing a sed obsidian sword iher hand. "Justice will prevail you craven [Vilin]!" Cimed Akira, he raised his sword once again pointing at yer. "Let's go, Rena!" And so he dashed after calling his panion. For her part, the red-haired girl just shrugged and dashed right behind him. Hiding in his shadow, the armirl felt the urge to use a few of the shadow motes still ging to the dark coat of Akira. But decided to restrain herself, she didn't want to tip her hand this early in the fight. So for now she focused on dealing with Akira first. He came down bearing all his might into one downward attack. How did she know? "[Justice] Downguard Ssh!" Screamed the bck-haired kid, she was tempted to try and parry the attack. But since she felt...Something odd in how he called the attad his sword was starting to shine. She decided to dodge to one side instead. The armirl used the shadows to propel herself to the right while leaving a choice of shadowy spears ready to impale the bck-haired kid. She didn't get a ce to see how Akira dealt with her surprise though. Sihe red-haired girl was waiting to see how she would dodge and came bearing down on her once again with her ominous red sword. And she could swear there was an ominlint in her eyes... " [Armor Peion]." And there it was again, somehow she had a feeling that they were doing something different, but couldn't get an inkling of what. But if she was being kind enough to call her attack she would use that information too! She wasn't sure how that sshing motion was meant to be an armor peion attack though. She could uand it if it was something like a stab... But that was a normal downward ssh...? So she pced her swords in an X fashion and braced herself for the attack, she nning on parrying the attad redireg it, after that Rena would be open for an attack from her shadowy wings. So wheack hit her swords and she prepared to redirect the might of the red-haired girl she was caught in a surprise by the result. "AAAAND THE [Demon Sying Sword] drew blood once again!" Said the announcer. The armirl was left w how that worked though? First, she tried to blo attack that didn't hit as hard as she expected. Then her armor was hit with several sshes that came from within the armor...? She could feel using her shadows and after searg inside she found nothing inside... So where did that attae from? Magibsp;She was thinking about that but atack from the red-haired girl brought her back from her musings. Mostly because the bitch attacked at her face crag half of her mask and revealing her face for a few seds. She quickly covered herself in shadows and jumped back while the shadows crafted a new face c for herself. Even if these didn't have the same durability as her normal face pte. "AAAAAND WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?" Said the crazy old man announcer creating a natural stop for a few seds, Elizabeth used that to ter herself and use shadows as impromptu bandages on the wounds all over her body. Rena used that ce to release Akira who now was dangling downwards from shadowy s. "Miss [Demon Sying Sword] has awakened a subset skill!" Said the announcer. Revealing the trick for Elizabeth. So she didn't ihe name of the attack but the name of a skill? A quick [Identify] brought her the answer she wished for. Armor Peion:Allows the caster to imbue his on with simir types of attacks that are then realized directly in the body of the target and outwards. It ehe user to pierce through thick armor, shields, ical barriers, increasing the damage dealt to the enemy. This skill is particurly valuable against heavily armored oppos or those with strong defensive capabilities, as it allows the user to overe their prote and inflict signifit damage. It only works if the caster has the ability to pierce said defenses and has a somewhat long cooldown."AAAAND DON'T THINK WE DIDN'T NOTICE IT [Warden Of Justice] ALSO AWAKENED A SUBSET SKILL!" Said after that the crazy old man. "EVEN IF HE DIDN'T MAO LAND HIS ATTACK!" And at that, the crowd ughed while cheering for Akira. But she had more important things to worry about. Such as... Excuse me what? Ih this skill, the user iheir ons, and fists with additional power, amplifying the impact of their strikes. It allows the user to el his [Holy] affinity into their attacks, imbuing them with forms of elemental forbsp;The user's blows beore devastating, capable of breaking through defenses and dealing greater damage to their oppos. This skill also ehe user to temporarily enhaheir own physiagical attributes, boosting their speed, strength, eive abilities to a heightened level. It is a versatile skill that adds ara yer of strength and impact to the user's offensive capabilities.

  he extra power from this skill es from sacrifig status points and funneling temporarily into the [Holy] element.

  The boost into the user es from sing status temporarily from one side to another, if no input from the user is received it will prioritize taking from extra stats then from stitution, intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

  The rea of the armirl was uandable. " I call Bullshit on this development." Said the girl after finishing giving some form of repairs to her wrecked armor and face pte. "You..." Started saying Rena "...Aren't the blonde girl?" What? "I told you she wasn't Elizabeth but you wouldn't believe me, Rena." Added the bck-haired kid. "First of all she isn't blonde, her hair is bck like mine, and sed of all her eyes are red, Elizabeth's are blue." Finished sagely the bck-haired kid. The red-haired girl was still looking at her suspiciously. "And finally..." Started saying in a serious tone. "Elizabeth is there." And poi a blonde girl in the crowd. She was standing stoid posed, her blonde hair was long and silky, and she was dressed in a white almost silver with some blue ats here and there. She had a sky blue skirt and shirt uhe white coat and a pair of leathery boots. If nothing else, she had the posture and gre well enough, she only raised an eyebrow when Akira called her 'Elizabeth' as if he was a mere bug growling at his betters. Elizabeth already liked her. You could feel the air of self-assurand unwavering belief in her abilities. As an answer, she only grabbed a of soda and with a flick of her hand threw it in the dire of Akira. This harmless of soda was hit with a blue lighting that was shot from the blonde girl and in a sudden was accelerated beyond the normal speeds possible. For his part, Akira hastily raised his sword to defend himself only to find the soda stopped by the barrier of the arena. "PLEASE DON'T INTERFERE WITH THE FIGHT AND WAIT YOUR TURN IN AN ORDERLY MANNER!" Said the crazy old man. You could see a few cracks here and there in the arena, a testament to the power of the skill used by this mysterious blonde girl. " Hah!" Spat the armirl. " Wish you had said that before that red-haired psye into the arena!" Said the armirl. The announcer for his part didn't deem that worth his attention since he only answered "TIHE FIGHT!" as if she hadn't said a thing. But now she somehow uood why they were made to fight. They wahem to awaken skills, or to be more precise, subset skills. She thought of this as something dangerous, since... Wouldn't they awaken random skills made just against specific sarios? She didn't think Rena's skill would be useful besides against armored enemies like herself. And since she wasn't looking that good that skill looked like it ed not only her mana but stamina too. Powered weren't that good at managing their mana after all. Well besides those like Akira that had experience using these resources, sihat brat didn't seem that fazed even though his skill looked to be of a higher order than the one Rena awoke. His skill also seemed more useful si could be used as a self-buff if she was reading it read well. Dammed people blessed by fate(Tropes) and their power(Cheats)! "So... Who are you then?" Asked Rena once again fog her red-eyed gre on her. " Didn't you read? I'm [Shadow Empress] a student of the MPI" Said in a mog tohe armirl. She of course didn't wait for the obvious retort Akira nning. And in one insta her shadows from across the arena floor. Soon enough all the arena floor was covered by her shadows. " And you two, really shouldn't fight someone you don't know the limits of their power." And after that Elizabeth focus inwards. 'Use remaining stats on Strength, stitution, Agility, Dexterity ahem all to 30' And just like that she now was faster than both Akira and Rena. She was still behind Rena in strength, but in exge, she could taer the damage than before. The sudden rise in stitution helped to accelerate the healing of her several wounds too. But she didn't pay too much attention to that, she only gave herself a few seds to bask in the feeling of a rush of power c throw her body and then refocused once again on the fight. " So now you are stu this situation." And so she dramatically threw her sword towards them. Not as an arrow or spear, not even in the form of attack, she just threw it and it made an ar the air before sinking a few meters in front of both hero wannabes. "HAH! If you think some shadows scare us you are wrong!" Said Akira while once agaiarted shining and then he sent all that towards the floor. Making himself a patch of dirt for himself and Rena, even if it only was that of a few meters. "..." The red-haired girl didn't answer and only leveled her swainst her. Raising her guard and watg closely at her. " A valiant effort. I appud your bravery, even if misguided it almost looks adorable how you py as a [Hero]. " Answered in a mog tohe armirl. "You thought you were special, didn't you?" Said the armirl. She didn't make a motion of an attack, she only threw her other sword like the first one. They both looked at it while being on guard. The sword made an arc simir to the other ohe only difference was that when it was at the apex of its fly... From the ground, several spears of shadow suddenly rose! Seeking to impale both fighters while they were guarding themselves against the armirl and the swords she had thrown. " I hope you enjoyed your little py because it ends here, kneeling against your [Empress] ." tiaunting the armirl, while Akira and Rena fought off the shadow spears. All the while she covered herself in shadows and stuck close to the arena floor, hiding herself among the shadows. "[Justice] SLASH!" screamed Akira while trying to destroy the shadow spears that kept going for him. At this point he was full of wounds, oo deadly, but plenty to wonder how much he could keep going. For her part Rena wasn't wounded, since she specialized in speed. But a single wound was all that was o get her out of bat. And while she guarded Akira's back with almost zealous effort. Akira...didn't. " See...So...vulnerable..."Said the armirl while jumping from the back of Rena striking her with her fist in the bad sending her flying against one of the arena walls. "RENA!" Screamed Akira, trying to go after the girl. Of course, he couldn't since he was dealing with plenty of shadowy spears. " If only your partner guarded your back as you did his..." Said the armirl, she was liking the act of a [Vilin]... Maybe a little too mubsp;"You will not defeat Akira..." Said the red-haired girl while breathing hard, she even attempted to take off her pte mask. " Oooh no, nothing of that... A [Hero] Must guard his secret identity!" Said the armirl who dashed forwards while sending more shadow tendrils toward Rena. She quickly raised her sword to deflect them, but since she couldn't defled dodge she couldn't get out of the way before the armirl was in front of her. " So keep the face pte on...Some of us don't have a plete oer all." Said while pointing to her ote that was half made of shadows. And then they both started fighting. A swordsman and a brawler. Sihe armirl wasn't wielding any on, since tact with the sword was dangerous if the red-haired girl invoked her skills. The armirl choose to fight using her hands and redireg the attacks of Rena. Maybe before when their stats were closer it would be impossible to do this. But sinow she was a third faster than Rena... It was easy enough to redirect her attacks. And so she did. One by one she kept redireg the sword with her hands. And sed by sed the eyes of Rena started showing more dread. "You are toying with me." Said with ahe red-haired girl. " Yes." Was the only answer she got. "Making a point right now. Fuck around and you will find out." Said the armirl before striking at the stomach of the red-haired girl. Emptying her lungs of that pesky oxygen she was using to stay scious. In one move she had taken out the red-haired girl. "AAAAND WE HAVE A KNOCK OUT BY the [Shadow Empress]!" Said the announcer. She just gred at him to shut him out. At least he had the grace to shut himself even if by a few seds. "AND AS YOU SEE THE OTHER TESTANT 'T DEAL WITH THE [Skill] OF THE [EMPRESS]!" tinued saying after thinking what to say. "PERHAPS ITS TIME TO MOVE ON TO THE MATCH?" Added the announcer. That crazy old man was thinking of ending this? Akira looked somewhat torn sihere was both relief and frustration at that statement. " No." Both got surprised by the answer of the girl though. "Wha..?" Said Akira fbergasted. "BEG YOU PARDON?" Added the crazy old man. "You both wahis fighting. And I haven't broken any ruling..." Said the armirl. "Not yet anyway...Wouldn't want to finish this prematurely would you?" And then she snapped her fingers like one of the teachers of this goddammed academy. Soon enough Rena rose from below the shadows, her mask otless. Even if you could see a trail of blood from below it. Her clothes were also intact even after su intense brawl. But she was unscious. "YOU [VILLAIN]!" Screamed Akira who started shining more brightly than before. The shadows now were almost banished from the arena too. Not by his effort, but more by the trol of Elizabeth, she was a good girl. She could read the room so she made it look like Akira was the reason the shadows were bag off. After all... If the [Hero] Shines brightly moved by the power of friendship the [Vilin]'s power would redu effectiveness... Right? "Amm...Miss [Shadow Empress]...That...Isn't... A fair [Hero] fight." Added the crazy old-man announcer. To that the armirl couldn't help but ugh, she evehrough the five stages of a vilin ugh. She started slowly ughing while slowly and gradually increasing the volume and iy of her ugh. Her pleasure and fidence are obvious to everyog the fight. Akira of course took this opportunity to materialize more silver armor in his body granted by his skill. At that point, the ugh of Elizabeth achieved its peak in malicious joy, after which it slowly started subsiding into small chuckles frand finale. Where she observed the crowd, the [Hero] in front of her, and the announcer. "Heroes' fights are always fair," She said in a mog tone " After all ' A [Hero] must fight and find the way to deal with any problems that e their way. ' " And finished quoting the words of the announcer. The very same words he had said when she pined about going in a 2 vs 1. He now looked like he had bitten a very bitter bug. Wonder why?