(Qing Yue's Perspective)

Hm...now then, who's left?

After eliminating Lan Xiao Su, only Feng Mian, Yu An Xue, Mei Gui, and Obsidia remained apart from myself. Out of the four, Mei Gui would probably prove to be the most troublesome opponent - she was the strongest, after all, especially after the newly unlocked abilities she recently gained with her Apoxyia form. It seems that the whole incident with her getting kidnapped and whatnot may actually be a blessing in disguise.

Not that I was happy or anything having one of my allies taken away from me, but what I mean to say is that everything turned out okay in the end, and all's well that ends well. That being said, perhaps it didn't turn out okay after all, since now I'm stuck here trying to come up with a solution on how to defeat her.

Yes, I could just keep my Golden Fortress up until Mei Gui decided to go for someone else, but that was pretty unsportsmanlike, and well - if we were the last two standing, there would be no one else to go for. I would have to face her at some point, so might as well do it now.

Even if I really did decided to just use foul play and keep my Golden Fortress up at all times, it would still result in a draw. She wouldn't be able to harm me, but similarly, I wouldn't be able to harm her either, given her insane mobility and agility. I needed a flawless, out-of-the-box plan to defeat Mei Gui. And it needed to be executed perfectly as well.

And after some walking, I found that plan.

After carefully analyzing the advantages and disadvantages Mei Gui and I possess compared to each other, I noticed there was one thing I knew, and she didn't - the ricochet perk of these bullets. Even though I couldn't be 100% sure Mei Gui didn't know about this already, I was 99% sure she didn't. I only figured it out after facing Lan Xiao Su, after all.

Maybe...just maybe, I can utilize this to defeat Mei Gui. You know what they say - knowledge is power.

Actually...wait. Will Mei Gui even use a gun? She can only maintain her Apoxyia form for ten minutes, so what will she do once that time expires? If I remember correctly, Old Man Leng gave her a sword as her weapon. Yes, the sword did have a ranged projectile attack as well, but that thing did serious damage. I doubted Old Man Leng had a 'harmless' version of it, similar to these bullets. Hm...will it be like with Amane, where if she touches me, I'm eliminated?

But perhaps, I was thinking a bit too hard, since suddenly, a bullet whizzed right above my head, just barely missing me. I immediately ducked behind cover, trying to pinpoint the direction the bullet had come from.

"Level One Psychic Magic - Detect Presence," I whispered, scanning all around me for signs of any enemies. But the results? No one.

No one is close to me? Then that means the bullet that nearly hit my head just now...was from a sniper, far far away. And the only one with a sniper out of our circle, is Obsidia.

Sneaky sneaky, huh? She's a problem...again, I could just use Golden Fortress and keep it on at all times, but that's just kind of unfair to the other contestants.

Hm...just wait until I find you, Obsidia! You have until then to try and eliminate me. But if you can't, and I get into range to use Queen...you're done for!

With a new goal in mind, I set off in the direction the bullet had came from, careful to keep crouched and staying out of the line of sight of any openings. Obsidia was an accurate sniper - I knew that much from the battle we had with the Bloodthirsters. The reason she missed just now was probably just because she was too far away. Even the best snipers can't hit 100% of their shots, after all.

*****

- Meanwhile, Elsewhere -

(Obsidia's Perspective)

Gr...damn it! I missed again. Zero out of two. I had fired two shots so far - one on Xuan Kai, the other on Qing Yue - and...missed both of them. The first time was because of wind, but this second shot was inexcusable. Yes, I had never shot from this extreme range of about 2,000 meters before, even as a sniper, but even then, I feel like I could have hit her there, if I was just more experienced and...well, better.

...That was my one and only chance to eliminate Qing Yue, and I blew it. She knew I was watching her now, and would be more careful. I definitely cannot engage in close combat with her, since she had her Golden Fortress, so I had to stay at range...the only thing I could do now was try and find another snipe on her somehow, as she made her way over here.

Should I switch locations like I did last time? No...she will predict that. She thinks I am going to go to a different spot than where I shot from, so...staying here is the safest option.

Ah...what gun fight. This is more like a damned mind game...not my strongsuit.

I focused, and tried following her movements using the very slight openings created by the space between the buildings and my angle. But the windows for this were too small. Every time I spotted her, she was already out of my line of sight before I could even pull the trigger. Her body was small too, compared to the other girls, making her an even harder target.

But then, something else attracted my attention. Multiple gunshots in a row, coming from my south. I spun around, packed up Whisper, and immediately moved to another building in order to get closer to the action. I needed to redeem myself with a good snipe. I needed to secure a kill before Qing Yue found me first.

After pinpointing the location of the fight going on, I set down Whisper on a suitable building and looked into the scope. After adjusting it for a bit, I found what I was looking for - two girls, in the middle of a heated fight. Neither was using any buildings was cover, but instead generating their own cover with spells - Ice Magic, in particular. The two combatants were, of course, Feng Mian, and Yu An Xue. Both had an Ice Element affinity, and they were having an intense showdown within a medium-sized open area where nothing else stood in the way.

In my opinion, Yu An Xue had the upper hand here. Not because of their magic capabilities, but because of their weapons. Yu An Xue's weapon was a pulse rifle - a mixture of range, burst damage, and stability. On the other hand, Feng Mian's weapon was a pair of pistols, which were full-auto, so she could essentially just hold her finger down on the trigger, creating spam fire.

But if she did so, Yu An Xue could just hide behind cover and create new cover whenever Feng Mian destroyed one. And when Feng Mian ultimately runs out of bullets like all guns do, that was her chance. She could peek out, or even deadlier, prefire her pulse rifle. Since for the purpose of this mock battle, just one bullet was enough to eliminate someone, she could use the last bullet of her 3-round burst to hit Feng Mian. Her pulse rifle, Oculus, had an upwards spray pattern, after all.

This was difficult to pull off, but not impossible. I was sure Yu An Xue could do it...it was only a matter of whether or not she realized her advantage in this situation or not.

Well...I suppose it doesn't matter. Whoever wins, I will merely snipe them. For now, I will watch the battle unfold. Humans are foolish creatures, after all. When they emerge victorious in a fight, they tend to let their guard down, even if only for a brief moment. But that instant is all I need.

But then, I realized something.

What if...they don't finish their fight before Qing Yue gets here?

...It seems I would have to set up some defensive measures.

With this in mind, I turned around, and cast a single spell.

"Level Three Water Magic - Thunderstorm."

Dark clouds began converging above the area I designated, and soon enough, rain was pouring down furiously, accompanied by loud thunder and lightning strikes from time to time.

There...that should prevent her from sneaking up behind me.

With this, she couldn't climb up this building I was on. Her Blessing Magic was not boosted with the power of Chaos like Xuan Kai and Mei Gui's are, so she could not jump up here with a simple Potentia: Salire spell. Climbing was her only option, and now, with this, even that was eliminated. The storm also served as a good disguise for me, and made it hard for people to see me from the other side.

With all this done, I went back into my original position, and locked down aim on my two targets.