Hal suddenly woke up and looked down at his stomach. The shirt he was wearing was violently torn and bloodied, but once he checked, there was no wound.
"Don't worry, I made sure to patch you up perfectly" he turned and saw Elizabeth seated on the ground with a glass of some sort of orange juice in her hand.
She placed it down as she called out, "Tai, your friend is back from the dead" Tai came running to Hal and knelt in front of him with a worried expression on his face.
"I can't actually believe you're alive. It looked so horrible. The wind blew so much out of you" Hal did not want to imagine what blew out of him, but whatever it was, he did not want it happening again.
"Did I actually die?" Elizabeth intervened to answer his question with a jolly tone, "Yeah had actually, your heart had stopped beating, but your brain was alive long enough for me to bring you back"
Hal trembled in place, so he was actually dead. The mere thought sent his mind into a state of disbelief as Elizabeth finally finished her drink with a satiation sigh, after which she moved to stand in front of the two boys.
"Okay, that must have been enough to send your souls into overdrive, so let's carry out some channelling" Hal knew what the process of channelling was; it was the method by which people like them fix soul flame into their souls to ignite evolution.
But just because he knew what it was, it didn't mean he knew how to do it, so this seemed like a great opportunity to do so, plus as long as it wasn't another fight with her, it was worth doing.
Elizabeth made them sit upright, but with a relaxed spine and shoulders, and hands in their laps, before giving them a set of instructions.
"So we all know how to access our souls right, what I want you to do is focus on your soul flame like it was a wave of water, and then focus your will in a way that forces the wave to flow into the ocean that is your soul"
Hal did exactly as Elizabeth commanded and soon found himself facing his soul again, but this time, there was a large soul flame scorching his soul.
How was he supposed to imagine this as a simple wave of water, but at the same time, what would Elizabeth do to him if he failed such a simple task
He focused on the flame and tried his best to see it as a wave of water, but instead, his soul retaliated and tried to burn him.
"Who do you think you are? You are my soul, so you follow my rules. Now, become a wave already," he increased the potency of his will and directed it to his soul.
The soul once again tried resisting, but it was helpless in the hands of its master. The raging flame that scorched his soul morphed into a roaring wave that crushed into the vast ocean that was his soul.
Hal felt his soul burn as if the wave was still a flame that now scorched his soul from the inside. He struggled to maintain the position given to him by Elizabeth, only to feel someone touch his shoulders.
"Don't give up yet, embrace the pain for when it's all over, you will be stronger and your soul will have grown a little more vast"
He knew that voice belonged to only Elizabeth. He felt a little relief calm his soul that continued to burn from within until the process was finally done.
Hal was sweating buckets when he fell to the ground alongside Tai "We did it, we carried out channelling"
Elizabeth giggled as she looked down on them "Don't celebrate just yet, who knows how many more times you will need to carry out channelling to achieve an evolution, but until then, you are stuck training with me"
Elizabeth stretched and let out a yawn as she said in an excited tone, "Same time tomorrow, I can't wait to see how long you survive this time"
Hal and Tai went for a shower. They soaked their bodies in the hot bath as Hal leaned back and said in a humbled tone, "I can't believe I have to go through all that again"
"Well, it's the price for power, you have to work for it in this world, even chosen scholars like you have you need to work for your power"
Hal had to agree with Tai on this one; despite being a scholar and having privileges provided to him, he still wasn't instantly powerful. He also had to work to obtain power; he looked down at his hands as a question ran through his head.
"I want to defeat Elizabeth" Tai nodded at him as he held his chest "To be fair, I was afraid that entire battle and at first it felt like a liability, but at some point in the battle, it helped me think on my toes. If only I hadn't overridden it"
Tai turned to Hal and smiled, "You know what, let's give ourselves an objective"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Hal was bothered by the question; they already had too many objectives that they hadn't fulfilled yet, and this guy wants to add another
Tai's smile widened "Whoever can put a scratch on Elizabeth, however tiny it may be, will have the other take on all their responsibilities for the entire next day"
"Are you sure about this, Tai? Besides, I don't think Mr Faizo will accept such an arrangement" The joy in Tai's eyes disappeared as he realised that Hal may have a point, but then a deep voice sounded behind them.
"I'll allow it, good sportsmanship is highly advocated by the noble class" The two boys turned around and Mr Faizo, who was adorned by a tower and without his glasses.
The sight was truly a sight to behold. The butler's body was toned like that of a seasoned hunter. He looked down at their astonished faces and frowned, making his already serious face appear menacing.
"Are you that surprised that even a prestigious butler such as I would care about their physical appearance?" He joined the two of them in the water and added on saying
"I will supervise your training tomorrow and ensure the victor gets what they deserve" Hal was not thrilled by the fact that he had to go through that hell again tomorrow.
He kept on wishing that the next day would never arrive, but when did the world ever listen to a normal scholar who has even attained the power of a law?
Elizabeth had once again split into versions of herself,, but this time, one held the bow while the other held a spear.. Hal's eyes noticed Mr Faizo's presence, who was standing silently observing the battle.
Elizabeth instantly entered her first awakening as the spear surged with water while the bow flared with a dazzling flame.
Her armour became a gown with a slit running down the middle, though the spear wielder's gown was shorter and blue with frills running through her dress.
Hal was shaking in his boots as he prepared to dash forward, and then the battle began. There had only been one objective originally, and that was to separate the two Elizabeths so that they could have a fair fight of sorts.
And so each of them ran towards Elizabeth, they preferred Tai raced after the archer. He had grown faster since channelling and was able to reach the archer in no time.
There was something different about the way he was moving; there was fear in his eyes, but instead of limiting him, it was driving him forward.
Elizabeth was trying to aim at him point blank, but Tai reached out and grabbed the flaming bow and pointed it upwards before slashing forward.
Elizabeth jumped back, but Tai kept the distance between them short, slashing at whatever chance he got and not allowing Elizabeth to aim "What is wrong with this guy?"
Hal did not have time to think about that as a torrent of water came rushing his way, he ducked under it and side-stepped the immediate thrust of Elizabeth's spear.
Hal felt it rush through his soul, the hesitation, the deep-rooted fear. He kept dodging, trying to predict each of her moves, but the more he did, the more unpredictable she became
Elizabeth slashed down her blade, and Hal stumbled and fell back, only to be slammed by a huge wave of water that sent him reeling.
"What is happening to me?" Elizabeth began to walk menacingly towards him as if she doubted his ability to fight back
His body trembled and his eyes twitched as he realised his ability was not even activated, "She is going to kill me, I am going to die"
The fight or flight response, the mechanism that kicks in whenever one's life feels threatened, at this point, fight was not suitable; he would just end up dead, and so the only option left was to fight.
A deep fear gripped his heart, but it was not any ordinary fear; it was the fear that drove him to defeat Elizabeth, it was the fear of death, and when Hal saw the spearhead heading towards him, he moved.
His hair and eyes changed as he activated shared mind and boasted all his senses to their max, as he jumped out of the way of another of Elizabeth's strikes.
Running seemed useless against someone like her, so instead Hal decided to charge forward. He drew his daggers as he felt the adrenaline kick in
His entire body had kicked into overdrive. Elizabeth sent of torrent of water towards Hal, who used his soul-enchanted dagger to deflect the water as he continued to run forward.
He burst forth from the water and finally met Elizabeth. Her spear had a broader range, so if…, his mind seemed to blank out, all predictions suddenly blanked out from his mind as a new thought took their place.
'Predictions will slow me down, so instead I should trust instinct and base my actions on what she does in that exact moment"
His senses needed to be fast enough to keep up, and luckily for him, they were. Elizabeth thrust her spear forward at Hal, who leapt into the air and landed with the spear between his legs, which he brought together before twisting his body to dislodge her from her weapon.
But instead, Elizabeth split again as the other version appeared with the spear, while a new Elizabeth formed in front of him, holding a whip.
She instantly awakened the weapon, turning her armour into a purple gown like the others, but with lightning bolts as the design.
She lashed out, causing Hal to jump back from her. He took a minute to register each of their positions before he moved.
The spear wielder moved to meet him, and Hal knew her partner wasn't far behind. Her spear came down with the weight of a crushing wave,
Hal dodged and kicked the spear in her hands to move closer to the ground, and then he stepped on the spear before delivering a kick of his own to Elizabeth.
She stumbled back, but Hal did not give her a break as he brought down his soul-enchanted dagger that cut into the spear.
Elizabeth gritted her teeth as Hal brought her close and landed yet another kick on her chest. He did not want to die, and so the one who wanted him dead had to die first.
His ears twitched as he used his ordinary dagger to block the whip, which wrapped around the blade.
Hal thrust the dagger to the ground before jumping up and landing on it to push it into the ground. He stepped on the electric whip and felt his muscles tingle, but he did not want to die.
He bolted forward and narrowly dodged a slash from Elizabeth's spear. He ran across the whip and reached Elizabeth on the other side, and with one swift motion, slit her throat