He started rubbing his head.

"It was that obvious?"

"You'd have to be an amateur not to notice."

The man black spoke to them.

"Ow, man. Why'd you go and cool him off for? I can almost guarantee something interesting was going to happen." He said in a playful tone.

Soon one of his subordinates whispered something in his ear.

Even with his mask on you could tell his face started shifting at whatever he was being told.

"tsk, fine."

His whole mood suddenly changed and his playful demeanour was thrown to the wayside.

He tightened up his stance and his eyes seemed focused.

The surrounded pair noticed this and Tibaut soon prepared himself. Elizabeth didn't look too concerned by this and grabbed his hand.

"You don't expect to fight like this do you?"

Tibait quickly pulled it back.

"Oi, wait a minute. In front of these guys?" He asked discreetly.

"What does it matter, they're all gonna be dead anyway." She responded as if it was already decided.

Tibaut wasn't too confident in this, so he did what he thought was best for the moment. He took his shirt and used it to hide both their hands.

"Tibaut." She said in a low voice after having her hand wrapped in his sweaty and somewhat sooty shirt.

"Just do it already."

She scoffed and healed him fully, but the light was hidden by the shirt. Those in black watching didn't know what to think of this sight. After all, what was the point of the shirt? The man in black with the burnt cloak was first to respond.

"I see. Is it a ritual of some kind? How archaic. I wonder how many times you'll be able to do it?"

The pair that was surrounded both had to hold in their amazement at his confidently incorrect assessment. They unwrapped their hands and Elizabeth, seeing an opportunity, responded "So what? There's no way to tell the ones that still work today and those that don't. Even if you have an encyclopedic knowledge of them, there is too much overlap to know the one I'm using for certain. As long as you don't know the conditions, how will you stop me from doing it again?"

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He didn't respond and the figures around started closing in.

"At least let me put my shirt back on," Tibaut said while breathing heavily.

("It seems his stamina is still low. Looks like I'll have to be the one putting most of the work now on.") Elizabeth thought as she readied herself.

Just as she said that something neither of them could predict happened.

Tibaut was pulled away from her to directly in front of the head honcho.

"What the?" He looked at the man's hand and noticed something in his hand. Due to the darkness, he never noticed it but it was a string thinner than a hair.

("Did he really drag me here with that"!?)

He quickly burned it using some fire magic he put on his finger and quickly tried to back away. All the man in black did was go "hmph" before landing a blow in his stomach.

A moment later Tibaut heard the sound of glass breaking behind him with a few coughs after.

He wanted to see what was going on but it seemed like he was going to have his hands full.

A kick flew to his head that he was able to barely guard.

("Shit are these steel-toed!?") He thought as he heard an unpleasant cracking sound come from his arm. He tried to gain some distance but the man wouldn't let him. He grabbed his shirt in an attempt to stop him and Tibaut used the opportunity to tackle him and push him back. The man in black came back with another kick and Tibaut responded with one of his own. Their legs connected and the sound of them hitting was noticeable. They stood there for a moment before making their next move. The man pushed himself straight towards Tibaut while Tibaut positioned himself for an uppercut. Shockingly the man jumped over Tibaut in his attack. Tibaut himself took a moment to realize what had happened and turned around right into his kick. It was amazing he was even standing after that but the onslaught wasn't over. Tibaut barely moved his hand in front of his face in time to stop the stiletto. It was just a few centimetres away from his eye. The stab to his hand left him gritting his teeth but the man in black wasn't done. He kicked Tibaut in the stomach but he saw this as a blessing. He used the force of his kick to gain distance and was now several meters away from him.

He looked back to his hand and muttered

"That's all, you bastard?"

The man responded with a single glance. They both soon ran back to each other. Though Tibaut fired off some of his magic, none of it hit and they were forced back into hand-to-hand combat. Tibaut had now somewhat gotten used to his movements and parried attacks he couldn't before.

He tried to create a fireball behind the black marauder but the man quickly dispersed it by stabbing into it and in the same motion aimed a kick for Tibaut's head. Tibaut blocked while also realizing why his surprise attack didn't work.

("Damnit, the light it produces is too obvious.")

As if laser-guided his stiletto soon made its way into Tibaut's chest, specifically towards his heart. Tibaut knocked the weapon away, by striking his hand and launched a close-range fireball. The man tried to stab it but soon realized he wasn't the target. It was the ground to the side of them. The blast knocked them both away.

("If I were even a few inches closer, I'd be dead right now.") Tibaut thought as he picked himself up. Around him was covered in the smoke of the blast.

Before the dust from the blast could even settle he narrowly dodged the villainous-looking weapon, getting only a nick on his neck. Releasing the disadvantage he was at here he quickly jumped out.

There he didn't see his opponent, but an odd sight instead.