Hal and Tai woke up early that day to begin their own training before the one with Elizabeth began. They jogged around the giant mansion and did a hundred push-ups.
Hal was happy that he was able to pull this off, and he only had Hal's training to thank for his new physical capabilities.
They carried out even more physical exercises as they let their chest be bare, forcing the maids who were cleaning in the field to stare and whisper among themselves, as giggles followed.
Hal did not know if their hushed comments were good or bad, but for now, he considered them good since they put a smile on his face.
After they were done with their early morning training, they took a bath and then got to work on their butler duties in the house.
Tai had to escort the duke on his own early morning exercise, since ever since he was announced as one of the candidates, the duke had grown extremely paranoid to the point that Hal had never laid eyes on him.
Meanwhile, he also had to escort Mr Faizo, who moved around the mansion, making sure everything around the house was being kept in its proper condition.
Hal also decided to mark different places around the mansion as they made their rounds, though he still couldn't mark any of the butlers or maids.
The soothing sun of the morning slowly morphed into the scorching sun of noon as Hal and Tai found themselves face-to-face with Elizabeth.
She wore a slim piece of black leather armour with a silver bangle on her hand. He turned his eyes to look at Tai, who gripped his sword with a sense of nervousness in his voice.
"We can do this, Hal" Hal nodded as he drew both daggers to face Elizabeth, who smiled and commented on his action ", Good choice pulling out a soul-enchanted weapon"
Elizabeth's smile soon turned to a sinister one as Hal felt murderous intent spill from her like a wave. She flicked her wrist and called upon a bow, then flicked again to call upon a double-edged blade.
"What the hell is a soul-enchanted weapon?" Hal's heart was gripped with fear as he saw Tai begin to tremble slightly
"Soul-enchanted weapons are objects embedded with a soul to give them mystical capabilities and attain a certain buff, but in the hands of Elizabeth, they can be taken further"
Hal's eyes widened as he saw Elizabeth begin to split into two people, one holding the bow and the other the sword, which caused him to back up a little, saying, "What do you mean?"
"It's her trait, one with war; it allows her to merge with a soul-enchanted weapon to make it an extension of her body, granting her enhanced control and to strengthen the weapon itself"
Tai's voice trembled with each word as Hal felt forced to ask, "Strengthen by how much?" Tai simply shook his head, saying, "I don't know, but we are about to find out"
Hal turned his eyes to the dagger gifted to him by the butler, thinking that all this time he owned a soul-enchanted weapon; no wonder it was much more effective than the one Tai gave him.
Tai touched Hal's shoulder "I'll handle the one with the sword, you take the one with the bow" Hal nodded as the two of them held up their weapons to prepare for the incoming battle.
Hal was still puzzled by soul-enchanted weapons, and who could blame him? One just split a person in two, and who knew if that was the only time it could
He took in a deep breath and bolted to meet their trainer, Elizabeth. Quickly aimed, as arrows appeared on the bow as she pulled it back, and then she fired.
The arrows came at him like a hail of rain, but he was ready. He called on his ability, causing his eyes and hair to regain their starry appearance.
If she was going to use her trait, he was going to utilise his gift. He called upon his marks and used parallel thinking to predict the trajectory of the arrows, and then he struck out.
He blocked every arrow that came his way, making swift motions to dodge those he couldn't block, and in his mind, there was only one objective: get in close and render a long-range weapon useless.
He finally got close enough and prepared to strike at her leather armour, only for Elizabeth to pull back with a quick motion and aim the arrow point-blank at his forehead.
'Is she crazy?' Hal let himself fall to the ground and quickly rolled out of the way as Elizabeth actually fired the arrow, which almost struck his leg
He quickly got to his feet as he felt his senses warn him of something behind him. He turned and blocked a sword slash from the other Elizabeth, only to realise that Tai was now stuck dodging arrows.
"In battle, don't expect your enemy to abide by rules, and any lead they give you on what they are trying to do is most likely a trap"
Hal pulled back, but Elizabeth did not give him the space he required. Instead, she simply delivered; she let her sword strike the ground and then delivered a heavy kick to Hal's abdomen.
He stumbled back only to see an arrow flying his way. He moved to avoid the attack, only to realise he was being attacked by two Elizabeths now. He moved to block the slash of her blade and then deflected the other's arrow.
But there were more coming his way, and Elizabeth pushed down harder with her blade, threatening to crush him under its immense force.
His eyes searched for Tai, who had already arrived to help him. He slashed down at the sword-wielding Elizabeth, who pulled back her blade as she twisted and ducked Tai's attack, which was left hurling towards Hal.
Hal used the brief period of peace to jump towards the arrows and deflect them from striking him or Tai. The two boys now stood back to back as two Elizabeths readied themselves to attack again.
"If things keep going like this, she might actually kill us", Hal spoke to Tai with urgency in his voice as Tai responded soon after
"Yeah, I know that's why we need to fight just like her and be unpredictable" Hal looked at the bow-wielding Elizabeth and saw her attack.
"Of course, our enemy won't let us strategise" Tai and Hal split up again and attacked the two foes in front of them, but this time they were going to give her a taste of her own medicine.
Hal ran towards the archer, who sent a hail of arrows flying in his direction, and again he deflected them, but this time backed away at the last minute, revealing Tai, who was following right behind him.
He twisted his body and met the swordswoman's blade with his dagger and dug his feet in the ground "Not this time"
He pushed her back and let his dagger slide down the blade of his enemy as he went for the blow on Elizabeth, but then, he felt a breeze, and that breeze grew into a gust of wind that pushed him back.
Elizabeth seemed to change entirely as her sword gained wind-like markings that glowed with a sky-blue radiance; her armour developed a sort of gown with a view of wind that rushed around her like a hurricane.
And the scariest part is that the swordswoman was not the only one; even the archer had transformed her own
Her leather armour became a gown of flames with a long slit running down the middle, and her arrows were set ablaze by the raging fire.
Tai fell back towards him and shouted, "She activated her trait" The swords lady bolted forward with a burst of wind that sent her speeding towards them.
Hal ducked her slash as he heightened his senses to better track her movements. The entire battlefield grew to chaos as the two Elizabeths swapped places to always keep Tai and Hal on their feet.
The flaming arrows blew on contact, and the gust covered the sword's range grew immensely. Hal had dodged her slash, but still ended up with a wound on his cheek as the wind moved to slice him.
He moved back only to dodge an arrow that blew up on contact with the ground. It felt like Elizabeth was everywhere, but Hal couldn't track her.
Elizabeth aimed with her bow, and Hal instantly knew she was going to aim at Tai, leaving the swords lady to attack him from behind.
He turned only to see Tai turning to deflect the predicted arrow, but instead, the swords lady stopped her movement towards Hal and threw her blade back.
The sword was carried by the wind and ended up stabbing Tai in the chest. He quickly attempted to turn 'If she was not aiming for him, then the arrow was not intended for Tai either'
Hal realised there was a flaming arrow hurling towards him, one he tried to dodge, only to realise Elizabeth had appeared behind him.
Her blade was covered by raging winds, and without hesitating, she drove her blade through his back and impaled him on her blade.