A haze of white smoke mixed with snow blocked the view. I couldn't see clearly what was happening, but I could confirm one thing that the previously narrow alley now had enough space for me to breathe.

As I looked around, the man named Johan appeared from behind the fading mist.

Casually, Johan walked very slowly while squeezing the blood from his severed hand.

"What is the meaning of this?"

I wondered what his purpose was.

Johan stopped exactly five meters away from my current position. I quickly took out one black sword from my coat, preparing to slash.

Not having enough experience, my body losing nerve impulses meant I couldn't just start attacking.

The flick of a finger could indeed increase the acceleration of the mind so that my body's reflexes were fast enough to deflect an attack in a short time. But that effect lasted for about 10 seconds.

On the other hand, according to my knowledge so far, to create an atomic reaction required some kind of body movement that was translated into quantum language. Since all human ancestors are likely to have come from genetic engineering, that means Johan also has the same condition as me, he can't just attack me before his body goes into transmission mode.

Johan in the fog then answered him.

"Ask yourself what you've done."

"I don't remember having any dealings with you before."

Hearing what I said, she then walked to the side. I followed but took the opposite direction.

We walked away while forming a circular pattern.

In a relaxed manner while keeping my posture upright, I dragged my sword along the ground creating a long curved line. At that moment, Johan spoke again while imitating what I was doing now.

"Ah, my goodness Miss White, you forgot about it, weren't you the one who deliberately interfered in my affairs?"

"You mean, your two colleagues?"

"Exactly. They are poor men, you shouldn't greet them so casually. When a beautiful woman comes up to him, of course most men would feel nervous."

"Then it's my fault, I really apologize. Greeting with flowers or chocolates might be a good choice, but there's something you should know, Mr. Johan. As a woman I also feel nervous, so I-"

I paused before continuing.

"-Killed them all."

The quiet sound waves of my soft voice created a small smoke that could make Johan react. He then tilted his own head as if his neck was about to break, with his thick hair partially covering his face, making me unable to see what facial expression he was showing until when a strong wind showed it to me.

Johan, she showed a wide smile, so wide that it could probably tear her face.

That's the code.

Slash!

Blood formed a sword that appeared from the cut of Johan's hand trying to slash at me, fortunately I quickly flicked my fingers so that my body reflexes became very fast.

Jumping backwards trying to get away.

Slash!

Johan slashed again, this time I parried it with the black sword, deflecting the slash so that it hit the wall of the building.

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The building split into two with the upper part falling down towards me while spreading a thick cloud of smoke.

Behind the smoke, I once again saw the red color of blood coming towards me, blood that was probably much thicker than a knife trying to cut my head, but out of reflex, I avoided it by tilting my head so as to create minor damage with a small section of hair cut off near my ear.

Not only that, the remains of a severed hand now grabbed my arm.

Damn it.

Immediately, I flicked my fingers and grabbed the hand piece and a fire started to burn it.

The hand was consumed by the fire and became black smoke in the air.

There was a pause after the exchange of attacks stopped. Johan and I seemed to be in a state where our bodies entered a non-transmission mode, where we could not simply unleash our abilities.

This was good news but also bad.

At that moment, Johan's horrible smile was replaced by a calm expression. He tried talking to me again.

"A Pyro user?"

"And you, a Hydro user."

More precisely someone who could manipulate one of the types of water molecules in the blood. This person was no doubt trying to buy time.

Any blood here could be a weapon for him.

"I'm guessing, could it be that you're of pure-blood descent? There aren't many elemental magic users in this country, some are of noble origin and some are of knightly descent. Miss White, where are you from?"

"Do you think I will answer that?"

"Fufufu... Let's exchange information."

Johan with a small grin said that while holding his upright posture.

He then stuck the sword into the ground and then looked at me.

I looked to see if he was trying to attack me or not. But I didn't see any signs of further transmission.

"Alright, I'll ask first. How much do you know about me?"

I took the bait while hiding the hand gesture under my coat.

Johan replied silently, he then looked up at the sky to try to exhale quietly. When he was done, one of his intact hands placed a finger close to his own lips.

Clak!

Johan bit his finger until it broke, at the same time, the blood clot from the severed arm suddenly thickened into bone, flesh and skin, restoring the structure of his hand to its original state.

He regenerated his own body.

"Pretty much."

Johan replied with a flat expression, then continued.

"About almost a week ago, I got word that my comrades had perished and the swords they were carrying had been stolen. Naturally, as a colleague, I searched various places where the swords might be sold, and then I found you."

This guy. He had quite a few connections.

"You're lucky."

I commented as I looked at my arm that was covered in white synthetic fabric. There was a spot of red-colored blood there, so I moved my palm to clean it.

The base material of my office uniform and coat was designed to prevent water molecules from penetrating so deeply, with the graphine base material mixed with some synthetic meterials causing liquid objects to barely penetrate it.

With ease, I wiped away Johan's blood that clung to me, otherwise I was afraid it would kill me.

Johan was up ahead, watching what I was doing.

"Now it's my turn to ask."

"Go ahead."

He grabbed his sword then took another slow step, I quickly followed him again so that we formed a circular pattern.

"Compared to the other six elementals, a Pyro elemental user is very difficult to find, they usually hide in large cities or very remote villages. The historical records say that pyro users originated from the nobles of the Scaramur kingdom, after the kingdom fell, the descendants of the nobles spread to various parts of the world and they became very invisible, some historians even thought that the descendants of pyro users had long been wiped out. But in fact, they are all wrong, pyro-users are actually still left and you are one of them."

Johan continued to babble while guessing my identity.

"I heard news that in the Northern kingdom, a noble family was destroyed. The head of the family was killed, their servants were destroyed but the family heir disappeared somewhere. That heir is named, Thedore La Charlotte. Is that your true identity, Miss Charlotte?"

We then stopped, behind the fading smoke, my eyes sharpening slightly before my mouth opened and answered.

"That is correct."

Accompanied by the sound of the wind, Johan seemed to realize something, he then closed his mouth to hide his expression. The skin around his face showed how the emotion overflowed.

"My nails....fufufua, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..."

A terrifying laugh like a dead man filled my cooling earholes.

From Johan's small eyes, I saw a terrifying glint, he bent his neck like a broken twig, besides all that, that wide smile showed a sign of danger.

He then stopped laughing and said.

"You're lying."

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

I fired with the handgun. Bullets fell around where I was standing. At the same moment, the projectile that was fired penetrated Johan's body, causing his body to be pushed backwards.

Before he fell, the fresh blood that came out of the body now floated in the air creating a blood-red ice crystal.

Clak!

In no time, I flicked a finger to bend the impact of the ice crystal as it flew towards me.

The crystal reflections spread out in various directions, mostly hitting buildings and houses. Some innocent citizens might have become victims.

I passed through the white smoke to try to enter a house. The house had three floors and there was a woman who had died as a result of our fight, at the location where her body was, there was a chair made of wood and the floor under her feet was also made of wood.

Once again, I flicked my finger, a small flame appeared, before the flame disappeared I stuck my hand on the wooden table, where the woman's corpse was.

"Thank me as I will pay for your cremation."

With that voice, I released the woman's burning corpse onto the wooden floor setting off fires that spread with the wind. The white smoke now turned black, growing larger as the houses in contact with this place caught fire.

But with this source of fire, it would also expose the location. Johan stepped through the smoke. Instantly our eyes met and I saw his eerie smile widen.

I threw my white coat into the air and immediately flicked a finger. The explosion of gravity around me created a shockwave that shattered the roof of the building.

Slash!

The sound of wind from the throw of one of my black swords cleared away some of the fog around me. But I didn't throw at Johan.

The sword flew at high speed. It struck a group of knights heading towards the center of the commotion, which was where I was.

Even though it was now morning where some people chose to sleep, with the fire raging, everyone would surely wake up.

I jumped away from Johan as he was too late to react. He was fooled when I threw my white coat into the air, fortunately because of this smoke, his visibility was also limited just like mine.

I landed on the ground and headed towards the crowd, the white coat that was flying flew right over me, I grabbed it and quickly put it back on.

Next to the crowd of people moving away from the smoke, there was me mingling with them trying to act as if I didn't understand what was happening.

Meanwhile, Johan who was still on top of the burning building caught everyone's attention. All eyes were looking at him.

The knights were running around leaving the corpses of their comrades who had been killed.

I saw the corpse when my footsteps passed beside it, horizontally the head of a knight was split into two also showing the contents of his brain which was filled with white and some blood red color.

And the black sword that caused it all was stuck into the ground at a slight angle. It all made me realize that my body's reflexes were stronger than I thought.

"That's enough, I'm leaving this town."

I whispered silently while trying to escape.