As they approached the doorway of the mansion, the turning of the knob could be heard. The trio stopped with Vanessa throwing Tibaut his armour before making her way towards the basement.

“(Phew, at least she knows it's dangerous.)” Tibaut thought as he rushed to put on his armour.

He supposed his opportunity to put his gauntlets to use came early and readied himself

It was quite some time into the night and Elizabeth had taken the time to dim some of the lights, leaving the room darkened compared to earlier. Whether this would be to their detriment or their foes would have to be seen.

(“Tsk, all I have on me is this wooden sword!”) Elizabeth complained as she reached for her side. There was no reality her sword would have been repaired in a single day, and to give herself a challenge she assaulted trained with Tibaut using a wooden sword.

She was also far more bare than Tibaut. She had just returned from a shower and wore only a long flowy skirt with a pair of tights underneath and a sleeveless shirt.

The door soon opened and Tibaut readied various fireballs.

They both braced themselves for the man in black but the figure who opened the door didn't seem to be him or any of his minions.

It was a woman, just barely shorter than Elizabeth. She wore a hooded cloak that looked to be a part of her shirt. Based on the seams that were visible around her chest and went to her back it seemed she either made the modification herself or paid for such a shoddy job.

The hood didn't obscure her face, though. He could tell she had purple hair that was somewhat messy.

Now that Tibaut got a better look, her shirt was almost like a dress. It extended to her knees with the skirt section splitting into two parts. Combined with the fact it was sleeveless, it almost reminded him of one of those China dresses that he saw in a lot of ecch- certain mangas.

Under it, she wore a dark pair of pants with a few tears. Whether they were added for fashion or scars of battle was to be seen.

In her hands were two-

(“What the fuck are those things?”) Tibaut thought. She held two massive tonfas. Both were as long as her arm. Not forearms, her entire arm. If that wasn't enough, they were barely thicker than his flexed biceps. Even assuming it was hollow, those things would still be ridiculously heavy to dual-wield. Elizabeth could probably do it, he could too if it wasn't a tricky opponent like the priest or the man in black, but who the hell did this woman think she was showing up before them with those massive things?

Speaking of massive, she also had a sizable ches-

“Like what you see?” She asked as she noticed Tibaut’s gaze.

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Based on her reaction it seemed she was expecting them.

“I've seen bigger and better.” He responded.

The woman gave a small chuckle.

“(Gah, did I really just say something like that?) So who the hell are you?”

Standing in the open doorway, she turned her head to Elizabeth. They coldly stared at each other, with Tibaut serving as no more than an observer, as far as they were concerned.

“Hey, come on, you can't just come into our house and give us the silent treatment.” He complained. The tension was killing him. He just wanted to fire off his balls and get it over with.

“Chill out, redhead. This isn't about you.” She answered. “I assume you're the Elizabeth he mentioned? Ha, I thought you looked delicate but that's a mean look you have in your eyes.”

“Is that so? Then I'll have to educate you on not judging a book by its cover.” She coldly stated. “And who is this "he" you mentioned?”

She stretched her arms out, like she was getting ready to exercise and started moving her head as she thought about something.

“I guess I can tell you this much. He doesn't want you going anywhere tonight, little girl. Ah man, I thought this was going to be easy since you seemed like you were going to stay here all night. Tch, and the bastard cheaped out saying there's a high chance I do nothing but recon.” She mumbled to herself.

“Uh, are you supposed to complain about your employer?” Tibaut asked.

“Who gives a shit? He gave me a job and as long as I do it, the bastard will be happy. Now can we please stay like this until, uh, you got a clock? I'm pretty sure I told him I'd only work from midday today to midnight.”

“You're not here to kill us?” Tibaut asked.

“Please don't mention killing, I'm not getting anywhere the amount of money to be doing something like that tonight.” She answered as she slumped her shoulders.

“You're here to stall us? Tibaut, go on ahead, I'll distract her.” Elizabeth said as she inched closer to the other woman.

“Wha- are you serious? What about you? Wouldn't it be better to take her on toge-”

“Tibaut!” She raised her voice. “Whatever that bastard is planning seems to be time-sensitive. I can handle her, just get going!”

She closed the gap between them and her punch was blocked by one of the tonfas. Based on the ring it made and the lack of dent, it appeared the metal was an inch or two thick.

The hired goon tried to sweep Elizabeth's legs but she backed away quick enough, to counter her by stomping on one of her own feet. Unfortunately, Elizabeth could tell she was wearing a metal boot, so the stomp did jack diddly.

The woman quickly brought her torso downwards, twisting unnaturally to avoid a fireball. It did however hit a nearby wall and created a big cloud of dust. Before either Tibaut or Elizabeth could capitalise, the dust suddenly fell, in less than a moment. Elizabeth blocked the tonfas swung her way and an unnerving sound came from both of her arms.

Tibaut landed a punch on the woman and managed to back away before she landed a counter kick from throwing herself back unnaturally. She flipped away a few meters and soon stood back on her feet.

Tibaut opened the door and nodded at Elizabeth before leaving.

The woman looked at Tibaut from a nearby window and turned back to Elizabeth.

“You don't seem very competent at your job,” Elizabeth said as she felt heat sear through her arms.

“Who said anything about stopping him? That cheapskate only paid for you. Sigh And I can see why.” She whispered under her breath.