The man's eyes widened in shock as Eliza immediately stepped forward and to the side, letting the dull edge of the wooden sword scrape against the left side of her neck. In the same movement, she swung the staff and landed a solid blow into the man's side.

He gasped in pain and tried to step backward, quickly bringing the sword down into a defensive position. But Eliza still wasn't done. She followed the man with her other foot, swinging with the back end of the staff in a downward swing.

The man raised his sword using both hands to block her swing. He managed to intercept her attack but left his midsection completely open in the process. With her back leg, Eliza planted a sidekick directly into the man's stomach.

His eyes bulged in shock as he staggered backward from the force of the kick, gasping for air.

Space created; Eliza stepped forward and shifted her grip lower on the staff. She swung the now longer portion of the staff at his head. With a solid crack, the staff hit the man's head, and his knees buckled, sending him to the ground.

Eliza stepped back and looked down at the man kneeling before her. Her hit had dazed him but hadn't knocked him unconscious. Raising her staff to deliver the finishing blow, he panicked, quickly dropping his sword and holding his hands up to cover his face,

"Hey hey hey," He said quickly in a panicky voice, "It's over; I'm already down; why are you still going?"

"Didn't you say a moment a go that you would give me 'the beatdown of my pathetic lifetime? Naturally, I'm going to return the favor," Eliza said with a bright smile. The man began to panic more as he crawled backward on his hands and feet.

"N-N-No need for that; I learned my lesson. I won't bug you again." He said in a desperate, pleading voice.

Eliza stopped and stabbed the bottom of the staff into the ground. She looked down at the man with a sigh, "You had the nerve to pick a fight with me, and this pathetic display is all that you have? Why don't you scamper off to the man who put you up to this and tell him that if he's going to do stuff like this, to actually send someone that would be a challenge." She then turned to walk away.

The man clenched his teeth and, grabbing the wooden sword, stabbed the sword at Eliza's back. She stepped to the side, easily dodging the man's attack, having completely expected the man to do something like this. Eliza put a foot forward and tripped the guy sending him crashing back down into the grass.

"What could you possibly have hoped to achieve?" Eliza asked incredulously.

The man pushed himself onto his hands and feet and began to turn to come at her again. But Eliza swung her staff once again, hitting him directly on the back of the head. She walked past, and he collapsed back down unconscious," No, wait, don't answer that, I don't care."

Eliza walked back towards the group, and Demitrus gave an appreciative whistle, "No mercy, eh?"

"Problem?" Eliza asked.

"Nope, just appreciation, It was satisfying to watch, thank you," he said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Didn't do it for you," Eliza said looking away.

"I know," he said, giving her a little bow; he smiled, "Would you honor me with a dance, Princess?"

Eliza's right eye twitched, "This isn't exactly a ballroom."

"And I'm not exactly asking you to a traditional dance," Demitrus said as he twirled his wooden sword before raising it up to rest across his shoulders. He walked over to an open space and looked back at her, grinning.

"Sure, sure, gives me an opportunity to shut you up." Eliza said as she moved to go stand across from him, "Don't blame me for what happens." Eliza said, getting into position, a small smile on her face at the anticipating of knocking Demitru's annoying smile off his face.

Demitus beckoned her over with his once free hand while he stood in a casual, easygoing stance. Almost as if he wasn't taking this seriously. And somehow, that irked Eliza.

Eliza immediately swung an attack, aiming directly at his smug grin. He easily stepped back, and the swing passed the front of his face by a small space.

He then stepped in and jabbed his sword at Eliza's side. By twisting her body, Eliza easily dodged the jab, and she swung the staff in retaliation. He ducked under the swing and struck at her exposed side with his sword.

Eliza sidestepped and swung, hitting the sword with the top of the staff, pushing it away from her body. The sword jab missed, and using the other end of the staff, Eliza stepped forward and struck at Demitrus. He danced backward, avoiding her swing, The smile on his face wider than before.

"It seems the combat prowess of people from the empire isn't exaggerated," he said.

Eliza snorted, "Please, you haven't seen anything yet."

"Is that so? You mean you know how to do more than just sweeping attacks? Color me impressed." he said with a taunting grin. Eliza's eye twitched again.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Eliza dashed forward and made as if to swing with another sweeping attack. Demitrus didn't even attempt to use his sword to dodge and instead leaned back. Like Eliza expected.

She stopped mid-swing and instead jabbed it towards his stomach. The smile grew wider across Demitrus's face.

And it was a clean hit--if Demitrus had been there. Eliza's eyes opened wide in shock as Demitrus seemed to vanish right in front of her. And then the realization hit her. Immediately she swung the staff in a wide arc behind her. And her staff was blocked by Demitrus's sword.

Both his hands were used to block, and they shook from the force of the impact. However, He still looked at her from behind the sword with an excited gleam in his eyes, "Nice reaction."

Eliza glared at him as she immediately spun and did a wide arcing swing from the other direction. Demitrus easily ducked under it, but that was what Eliza was expecting. She stepped forward and delivered a sidekick directly at him. He dodged backward, and Eliza followed, swinging as if she was doing an overhead strike.

But instead, she pivoted once again and swung behind her in a wide sweeping arc. Her suspicions were confirmed when Demitrus again had to block her attack as his illusory clone disappeared. Eliza then stepped forward and stomped on his foot, holding it in place as she shoved him forward, and he fell backward crashing into the ground.

"Doesn't Irodil teach never to use the same trick twice?" Eliza said as she placed the edge of her staff at Demitrus's throat; she kept her foot on his ankle to make sure he was still there.

Demitrus released his sword and put his hands out in front of him in surrender, "heck, if I know, I don't follow him."

"Eh? What bullcrap, If you don't follow him, how are you using illusion magic?" Eliza said, lightly jabbing the staff into his throat.

"That's a secret," he said, holding up one of his fingers to his smiling lips.

"Now, now Eliza, it looks like this fight is over; how about you let him get up now? Leo said as he walked up. Reluctantly, Eliza removed the staff from his throat and stepped back.

Seeing that the fight was over, Leah ran over and grabbed one of Eliza's hands enthusiastically. Eliza tried to step back, but Lea followed with an excited grin on her face. An act so like Dyrene that Eliza couldn't help but remember her, and with that memory came the guilt, the overwhelming guilt.

Unaware, Leah continued speaking, "That was amazing; I don't think I've ever seen someone manage to knock down Demitrus like that!"

"P-P-Please step back," Eliza said, pulling away from Leah.

This time noticing that something was wrong, Leah stopped, a look of concern on her face, "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, Just give me a moment," Eliza said, Her free hands instinctively grasping for her pendant, but they found nothing. Instead, she opted to bury the butt of the staff into the ground and lean against it, tightly closing her eyes. But without the pendant to help comfort and focus her, she could not stop the memories as they flooded her mind.

The field littered with corpses, Dyrene's smiling face as she pushed Eliza away and told her to run before turning to look at the Demon…And Eliza running as the Demon let out a screech before she heard its strike land. And she ran, and ran, and ran—the screech ringing in her ears.

"What's going on, Eliza? Speak to us." Leo said, coming up beside her, his voice intermingling with the memories.

"I said I'm fine." Eliza hissed out, tightening her grip on the staff.

Leah and Leo awkwardly looked at each other, neither knowing what to do; then Demitrus spoke,

"Welp, You two clearly heard the princess, Nothing for us to do here." His words broke Eliza out of her thoughts, and she felt a surge of anger well up inside of her. Before she knew it, she had crossed the distance to Demitrus, who was still sitting in the grass, and she grabbed him by the collar. She pulled him up until his face was just in front of hers.

"I told you to stop calling me 'princess,'" She hissed, glaring at him. He had a slight smile on his face, and he slightly tilted his head.

"No, you didn't." He slightly tilted his head and smiled at her.

"Then I'm telling you to, Stop it." She growled, his attitude pissing her off even more.

His smile widened, "Welcome back." He said.

"Wha-?" Eliza began to say, and then the realization hit her. When it did, she let go of Demitrus's collar, and He landed back on the grass. Eliza stormed away a couple of steps before turning around,

"Why do you have to be this bloody annoying?" Eliza snarled at Demitrus.

He sat up, straightening out his shirt. "It worked, didn't it?" That annoyed Eliza because it had. And she hated how she now felt a bit indebted to him.

She clenched her fist, "Thanks." She hissed through her clenched teeth.

"Anytime," Demitrus said with a chuckle.

"Well, well, well, What do we have here? Demitrus being beaten and knocked to the ground? I never thought that I would see the day. By a girl, no less," Gary said, walking up to the group. Eliza turned to look and gasped in shock, seeing that Gary was wearing her pendant. She clenched her fist in anger until her knuckles were white.

"Hey, No need to be jealous because it's more attention than you'll ever get from a girl." Demitrus said with a shrug."

Gary's eye twitched. Clearly, Demitrus had touched on a nerve, and Eliza felt a bit of satisfaction. Gary's hand tighten on the hilt of the sword at his waist. But before he could do anything, Leo stood in front of him. Meanwhile, Leah came and stood behind Eliza, Using her to hide from Gary's sight.

"What can I do for you, commander? You don't often come out to the training fields," Leo said calmly, evenly meeting Gary's eyes with his blank look.

"Change in plans; your squad and another will enter earlier than the rest. You're to advance and assault the primary node for the region. If you manage to take it. You're to hold until reinforcements arrive." Gary said

"What about support if the threat is bigger than anticipated?" Leo asked

"Deal with it or die; it's up to you," Gary said with a shrug as he turned around to leave.

"That's it?" Demitrus said, leaning his head back, "You came all the way just to say that? Why not send one of your lackeys like you normally do? Your lackeys ditch you or something?"

"I learned something interesting that I needed to verify." He said, his eyes looking to Eliza. "How about it, Eliza, you settling in alright?"

"Cut the bullcrap and give it back," Eliza said, seething.

"It? Oh, you mean this?" He said, lifting the pendant, "hmm, I don't know, I've taken quite the liking to it. How about this, you get citizenship, and I'll consider it. Who knows, If you guys succeed in your mission, I might even consider the idea." He said as he turned around.

Eliza glared daggers into the Elf's back as he left.

"Is that the pendant from the rumors? That one that you almost attacked him for?" Demitrus asked, standing up and brushing the grass off his clothes.

"It is," Eliza said, taking a deep breath and unclenching her fist. She looked down at Leah, who was still hiding behind her, "Why are you hiding behind me?" Eliza asked.

"I don't like him, he looks at me weird, and it makes me uncomfortable." Leah said, poking her head out from behind Eliza, "Why is the pendant in the shape of a sword?" Leah asked, looking up at Eliza.

"It's my family's symbol. My parents gave it to me when I was little. It's the last thing that I have from them." Eliza said, a hint of sadness coming to her voice.

"Hmm, I see why you got mad," Leo said, turning to face the group and sighed, "Well, you heard our orders; let's get going." He said, tilting his head towards the open stone gate in the mountain.

He started off towards the gate, and Eliza started to follow behind. They had barely made it a few steps before Leo stopped and looked back, "You coming, Demitrus?"

Eliza turned to see that he was still staring off in the direction Gary had gone. Upon hearing Leo's voice, he seemed to snap out of it. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he said, turning and catching up.

The group returned their practice weapons and made their way to the gate.