Elizabeth felt it was Right, this was her. It was who she was supposed to be, who she was destined to be, she felt the Thunder course her veins, it invigorated her, and each muscle was just waiting for her intent. It was almost as if her whole body was ready to fulfill her whims.

As if just a thought…. was all it would be needed for her to move from her spot on this place to the other side of this forest.

As if...

“Elizabeth?” A small voice asked from her side.

Elizabeth had barely registered the voice when her body shifted to turn and stare at the one who spoke. The movement was so fast that Elizabeth almost winced thinking she would pull a muscle, that didn’t happen. Instead, she found herself staring at Rossie.

“I am okay.” Elizabeth tried saying, but her voice sounded closer to Thunder than to what a normal human should, it was almost as if her voice had been channeling the Lightning, it made her back shiver. “Sorry, sorry, getting used to this.”

She reeled back the mana and tried to focus it inwardly, to make it settle within her Core, but it was too hard, the Thunder Mana didn’t behave like the Shadow Mana. Where one would settle calmly at the back and reel in rage at the provocations.

The Thunder Mana felt more like it was a raging continuous storm, and it would turn icy cold when angered. It was a weird feeling.

“What happened to your clothes Eli-Eli? Why do you look like….well, you.” Rossie asked confused.

Elizabeth took this time to settle more into herself and…examine herself.

She noticed a few things, first…She no longer could use shadows to expand her senses, or more accurately, she had a pseudo-awareness of what was happening around her, but it wasn’t like before, when every shadow gave her information.

No, this was more like…a radar? a sonar? Something like that, she was getting data from the electromagnetic waves her body was radiating as some kind of radar, or was it lidar? Either way, she was aware of what was happening in a 360º radius around her, but it wasn’t as good as to let her look at herself…Unless?

“Partial Shift - Electric Mana into Dragon eyes.” Elizabeth shifted part of her electric mana into a sphere and threw it into the air, it shifted into a eye for a second, just long enough for Elizabeth to take in her new image.

–

https://i.imgur.com/n8qR9xI.png

–

“....A.” Elizabeth couldn’t say anything else, she was literally herself, it wasn’t as much as how she usually looked like herself in her other shifts. No.

This was different, her [Elemental Weaver] shift was closer to how she looked when she was twelve but with a fancy magical girl regalia.

Her [Stardust Weaver] Shift was closer to how a younger Elizabeth would look, but this?

This.

This was…Elizabeth Starbright top to bottom, her blonde hair, her blue eyes, her chest, her figure…her Aura. It was what Elizabeth looked like; it was closer as if she had just donned new clothes.

And that was the next thing, she was…not wearing a Magical Girl Regalia, no. She was wearing what a modern [Heroine] would wear, and her hair…it wasn’t as much as that it was blonde, but more like it was Golden, and to be honest, it was closer to energy than hair at this point.

Same as her eyes, instead of pupils, it looked closer as if her eyes had been turned into a tesla coil as her iris seemed to radiate small discharges of electricity, and if that wasn’t the worst of all…

She remembered what name she had said when she thought of this…”Thunder Queen.” She had not shifted into a Magical Girl version of herself that wielded Thunder. She had shifted into…The Thunder Queen is the Heroine persona of Chloe Ashcroft.

And worse of all, it felt right.

“Are you okay Eli-Eli?” Rossie asked from the side, “What happened to your…minions?”

Her what? They were….

Elizabeth couldn’t feel them anymore, she could barely feel Beatrice, but anyone else? She returned blank.

“Rise.” Elizabeth commanded to her shadow, but nothing came. She still could feel her connection to the [Shadow Haven] of course…

No, it was more like she still could feel the connection to her [Soulscape], but the connection to the [Shadow Haven] was veiled, as if a shadow membrane had covered it whole and was hiding it. Instead Elizabeth could feel a storm raging in another place of her [Soulscape].

Interesting. “So what else changed?” Elizabeth wondered aloud as she tried to run through the spells. She knew she could…create some of the magic circles, but it was harder, not in the sense that the spells had become harder to make, but in the sense that her Shadows seemed to be more attuned to spellcasting, while her Thunder was more like something that was designed to bludgeon her problems away.

“Okay, yes. I can work with this.” Elizabeth said as she stretched herself and turned to look at the minions all around, she could percieve their faint pressences almost as if they didn’t had as much purchase upon the world.

Most still managed to remain, but those that had been wounded no longer regenerated and instead had to retreat, they stayed wary of her, always keeping a wide margin. Elizabeth hadn’t understood why till one stray shadow spear from [The Shadow Tide] went flying in her direction.

Elizabeth hastily tried to summon a [Shadow Shield], but the same motions had totally different results.

Instead of a shadow wall raising in front of her, a couple pillars of Thunder rose, between them several lightning bolts started darting from one side to another, making a web of Thunder. Elizabeth was too surprised to react till the Shadow Spear stuck her hastily made barrier, it was at that moment that several tidbits of information resurfaced into Elizabeth’s mind.

Number one, her reflexes had changed what would usually happen, her reflex to raise a shadow shield made a thunder shield.

Number two, her thunder manipulation skills costed as much as her Shadow ones, she had quite literally shifted her skills and mastery into another element. Now, she only needed to acclimate to this change.

Number three, this Lightning wasn’t normal. They were anathema to the Shadows, she now understood why her [Shadow Haven] had made that barrier to isolate itself from her. Why her Minions gave a wide berth to her mana, why they didn’t came to her.

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Number Four, a memory also rose to the very top of her mind, the memory of Chloe explaining her life, her suffering…These…these were not only her [Heroine form], no, these were her Lightning too, her Thunder. Elizabeth did not only change into a convenient form to channel Thunder.

Elizabeth had turned into what Chloe could have become, nay. Elizabeth had turned into what she herself could have become if not for her inheritance, if not for the meddling of the world. If not for the machinations, the changes. This was…

“My Divine Right.” Elizabeth whispered the last part, it felt right. She was sure of this. This was the real way to use her power, her shift.

Not what she had done before, not what she had used it in a time of need, no, to return to who she was supposed to be. It was thrilling, the feeling of Lightning coursing her veins as if it was mana instead of blood. Was this the reason why Chloe and Alexanders always acted so sure of themselves when they channeled the Lightning?

She wasn't sure.

But even so, she raised her arm and pointed at the [Shadow Tide], the almost gigantic tide made out of shadows, the anathema of all that was living, a stark contrast with her own shadows.

"Railgun." And channeling the superiority feeling she was experimenting right now, she focused her power into her shoulder, then the into her elbow, her hands, her fingers. The electricity danced around her, and as the skill came into fruition...

Nothing happened, Elizabeth was sure it had activated correctly, and yet...

No, wait a second. She could perceive it, a tunnel of highly polarized magnetic force in front of her. But something was missing, she needed something else.

Following her Instics, she pulled into the earth below them, pulling the iron sand from within the land and condensing it into marble. Elizabeth focused on that small marble and pulled it straight into the magnetic tunnel her skill had made.

*BOOM!*

Elizabeth felt the thrill as her power turned into a hurricane, as the small marble came in contact with the magnetic tunnel Elizabeth felt the magnetic forces be excited beyond reason, the marble interacted with the primal force and it shot at almost five times the speed of sound.

Elizabeth felt the sound of barrier break as the marble flew straight at the [Shadow Tide], too fast for Elizabeth to process the power behind this attack. She had been at the other end of it once, when she was weaker. When she didn’t understand better.

She had thought that the attack would be a good way to probe the defenses of [The Shadow Tide], for it had been used on her before, she had thought she understood it.

She was wrong.

What Alexanders had used against her was not like what Elizabeth had used, what Chloe had used to stop the fight between her and Akira almost two years ago… It was not what Elizabeth had used.

If Alexanders Railgun was someone using a slingshot, then Chloe’s Railgun was someone using a bow.

But Elizabeth’s Railgun?

This was the jump straight into siege cannons.

“[Raise and defend! Raise and block! Raise and TAINT!]” [The Shadow Tide] scream somehow was understood by Elizabeth, even though he shouldn’t had enough time to say all of that.

But it was meaningless.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEECH*

Her attack hit true, and now, where once stood a wall of [Shadows], there was a nice window.

It allowed Elizabeth to see into the [Shadow Tide], alas it didn’t punch through all the way in.

“[Almost scared me there for a second ‘Thunder Queen’, you are indeed a worthy heir for one of my former coworkers.]” [The Shadow Tide] smirked at her as he worked covering the hole within his Shadow Tide. “[But that is all, you are merely reinforcing the fact that you will be worthy to use as a sacrifice to get my sister back were she belongs….with me.]”

…Somehow Elizabeth thought that it sounded creepy.

“Eli-Eli?” Rossie asked from the side, Elizabeth had noticed how the Shadows had stopped trying to encroach near her. The same could not be said of Rossie.

“Rossie? I need you to be safe.” Elizabeth didn’t want to say this, she knew Rossie would hate it.

“Please…” Elizabeth heard someone else speak before Rossie answered, “...I don’t want to see you suffering again Mom.”

A single plea that made Elizabeth stop.

“Don’t…don’t make me hurt you.” It was the voice of a broken girl, followed by the sound of weapons being drawn.

Elizabeth was then painfully aware…The Valkyries surrounding Beatrice had turned their weapons not toward Rossie but toward her, and…she was seeing the beginning of sparks flowing through those weapons.

Elizabeth doubted that these little girls would be weak against her Thunder.

“......We will speak about this later young lady.” Rossie said not glaring at Beatrice, but still Elizabeth could see that she was angry. “Eli-Eli if I even think you are hurt I will unleash everything and come running towards you.”

Rossie said, kissing her ring as she was surrounded by Lightning and disappeared.

Was…was that her [Shadow Step]? Or perhaps it was now [Lightning Step]?

“Thank you…Mistress.” Beatrice said as she winced and clutched her chest.

That was weird.

“Don’t mind it, but we will need to talk about this…and them.” Elizabeth said pointing at the group of Valkyries, they never once sheated their weapons, and while most of them stood in overwatch making sure [The Shadow Tide] didn’t use this chance to attack them.

The most powerful-feeling ones kept guard on Elizabeth.

“That we will.” Beatrice said turning to look at the spot that no longer was a hole on the [Shadow Tide]. “Can you do that again? Or are you missing power?”

Elizabeth looked at her hands, she had enough power, most of the might of this attack hadn’t been exhausted. The magnetic tunnel collapsed a few second later after the iron marble flew throught it.

Then why had it dissipated?

Elizabeth took a second to think, it was not her mastery over Lightning, it was not a problem with her Mana Manipulation or her Lightning Mana Manipulation. No, was the marble the problem?

Elizabeth extended her hand towards the floor and called upon more iron sand, it reacted instantly and rose to her hand a if it was a whip made of living metal. It felt….ordinary, it was normal Iron sand, not reinforced in any way or form, it was versatil, it was potentially powerful yes.

But it was also mundane. It was not special by any measure of the word, and the only thing that made it stand out was the fact that it was dancing around Elizabeth, ready to react to her input.

“[Is that your thrump card? Mundane Iron?]” [The Shadow Tide] spoke, more and more shadow spikes bloomed on his [Shadow Tide], “[It will not work, you may be able to dispel and even vanish part of my shadows, but you will not be able to defend from all of our grievances. I only need one flesh wound, that is all it will take. You will not survive this.]”

And sure enough those spikes started raining towards Elizabeth, only now that she didn’t need to worry about Rossie, she had an easier time dodging. Of course her mortal limits wouldn’t allow her to weave out of all.

But her mind had the answer ready for her “Lightning Speed.” Her whole body energized and once again her hair turned from golden like blonde into golden energy, her world slowed to a crawl as all the information started flooding into her mind. Now that she didn’t have the advantage of a connection to her [Shadow Haven], she needed to parse it manually.

So first she discarded the information she didn’t need, she didn’t need to know the amount of grains of sand in the air, she didn’t need to know how many grams of iron sand she had available.

She did not need to know how much of her skirt was moving with the wind, she did not need to know how her hair was moving.

All she needed to know was how to move her body. How much clearance she had and how much she needed to make sure her mana wasn't overwhelmed.

So she followed the remaining data and moved how it told her to move, raise a little the left arm, do a half step forward, duck, jump, side step, kneel, jump again, move the head to the right, extend the arm forward... Elizabeth danced as the Lightning her body was emanating reduced to ashes the Shadow Spears that she hadn't been able to dodge. Even so, Elizabeth couldn't help but feel presured, she was surviving right now because she had used a spell similar to what this one achieved.

The speed was exhilarating yes, but she couldn't help but be painfully aware how much she was outclassed in the dominion over their respective elements, the fact that her most powerful mastery over an element had been eclipsed and she had then needed to turn all of that into an alternated one. Yeah, that didn't felt good.

Even though she felt as if Thunder was a second skin at the moment. She would need to study more the limits of these Shifts. Even so, she continued moving, dodging, and soon enough she was done.

"Is that all?" Elizabeth asked as she smirked, not a single drop of sweat or a wound on her body. Her clothes also looked pristine, but that was less of an indicator about how much that had been dangerous, since her clothes would remain pristine as long as she had enough Mana.

Or as long as she was able to use her mana anyway, her current one didn't seem that good for [Mana Clothes], she had noticed that her current ones were less fabric and more metal. Was Lightning Mana more attuned with metals and mechanic things?

Was that why Alexanders surrounded itself with so much technology? And why Chloe's HeroSuit was like that?

More things to delve into and check later, now? Now she had more worrying things to do.

"You had your chance, I didn't want to have to do this. Not now, not after I just got another one a few days ago...But well, desperate times desperate means." Elizabeth said as she raised her hand to the skies. "Beatrice, don't tell your Mother about this."

And with dedicated focus Elizabeth called something from the depths of her Soul, something she had stashed as far away as possible from everyone, she had stashed it in the most secure place possible, a place where she could notice immediately if something was to happen.

If someone wanted to tamper with it, or if this thing wanted to do anything.

"Hello. It is not good to see you again." Elizabeth said to the small object that manifested on her hand.

"[Is that your ultimate weapon? Jewelry?]" [The Shadow Tide] mocked her as the small gem-like object landed in Elizabeth's hand.

"No, this is just the beginning," Elizabeth smirked as she read the blue box that manifested in front of her. Without much thinking, she threw the orb into her mouth and swallowed it in one go, as if not to taste it more than needed. "Now...We get to see if that bug left is useful or not."

Notice:

Hero's Envy:

A hero is supposed to be someone that stand above the rest, they extend their hand to those in need, do they need money? Food? Medicine? You are the one who will willingly extend their hand and give what they need, should it be within your purview to do so. That is a Hero.

You seized from a fallen Hero his Armory; he was supposed to use it as a way to empower armies to fight a losing battle. So as to turn a common rabble into an Army of Heroes. He was to lead; instead, he hoarded it all for himself, be the treasures of this doomed World or the gifts from the dead gods.

Now, you hold the keys of his Armory. You hold the keys to the Armory of Heroes. Will you give these weapons and armor to those in need? Or will you use them to continue hoarding treasures like a greedy dragon?

That is up to you, Inheritor.

[Grants you the key to the Hero's Armory.]

[Allows you to summon any weapon that has been stored within this Armory.]

[Allows you to summon any armor that has been stored within this Armory.]

[Allows you to summon any shield that has been stored within this Armory.]

[You may connect this Armory with your own personal storage, inventory, or World.]

[Anything that is stored within this Armory may be resumoned again once destructed, so long you grant the materials for the reconstruction. Be this mundane material, Mana, or prana.]

[All weapons summoned from this Armory will return to it if their Mana is expended.]

[Anything summoned from this Armory may not be destroyed by normal means.]

[You may summon the objects from the Armory anywhere within your Domain.]