Erica could see the stars twinkling through the window as she lounged in the tub; they were awfully bright that night.

She had always loved taking long soaks in the bathtub; the feeling of hot water relaxing her muscles, with steam rising from the surface, and the scent of lilacs from the potion she'd poured into it pervading her senses―everything about it was just perfect. It was almost a chore to get out. She only managed to force herself to exit the tub when the water had grown cold.

With water and suds of soap trailing a path down her body, Erica grabbed a towel off the rack to her left. She wrapped it around her torso, enjoying the feel of the fabric caressing her breasts. Turning her head, she looked into a full body mirror. She smiled. Her reflection smiled back.

"My, but you are a sexy woman, aren't you?"

After winking at her own reflection, Erica headed back into her bedchamber.

As was proper, her bedroom was more extravagant than any other room in Dorehan Tower. The cylindrical room was very spacious, and it had soft beige carpet that felt like velvet caressing her feet as she walked. Covering the walls were expensive pieces of artwork and decorations; handcrafted tapestries, stunning portraits of her, and masterful landscapes. Situated around the room were several busts of herself, each one made by a different artist. She'd had them commissioned during a trip to Attoré, a city located in the Atlantia province. They were well-known for their stunning statues and pottery.

Moving to the beautifully crafted armour, Erica opened it and pulled out a sheer nightgown. Letting the towel pool around her feet, she donned the gown, a translucent white dress that went down to her bare feet but did nothing to hide her body. Then she stepped away from the towel and walked over to her bed. Cassidy would pick the towel up tomorrow morning.

It happened just as she was about to climb into bed and go to sleep. The feeling of someone's killing intent―when a person's desire to kill was so strong that it resonated with the hearts and souls of others, pushing down on them with feelings of oppression―swept through the room. Erica only had enough time to widen her eyes before the glass window that granted her a view of Ashtown shattered, and a figured wrapped in a familiar cloak of darkness shot in, landing on the floor, their cloak billowing around them like the wings of a bird of prey.

Surprised or not, Erica still reacted quickly.

"I call upon the, Kami-no-Kaze, grant me the speed of flight!"

With wind emitting from her feet, Erica moved faster than humanly possible, avoiding the swing of a sword that appeared in her vision. She slid along the carpet, gliding backwards until she was several feet away from her would-be killer. When she stopped moving, Erica narrowed her eyes and glared at her adversary.

It was the same elf that she had fought on the train. She could tell, as not only were they wearing the same cloak, but the way they stood was the same. She still couldn't see underneath their hood, so she knew not whether this person was male or female. Erica would have wondered about the spell they were using to conceal their face, but she had other thoughts on her mind.

How had this elf gotten up here? Her bedchamber was near the top of the tower. There was no way anyone should have been capable of climbing this high. Had they flown up here? Was that even possible? Surely, Alchemy could not grant one flight! The very notion was absurd!

She didn't let her enemy know how shocked she was, and instead feigned nonchalance, staring at the elf hidden behind his or her veil with a gaze of boredom.

"You again." She smirked. "I guess you were so enthralled by my beauty that you just couldn't stay away from me. You've got good taste, for an elf."

Her assailant didn't say anything, but they did tighten their grip on the blade they were holding. What was this? Was the elf angry? Good. People who were angry could never make good judgements. Their anger clouded their ability to think, which meant they would make more mistakes―mistakes that Erica could capitalize on.

She looked down at the weapon in the elf's hand. It was an elven sword. The curvature of the blade gave its origins away. Human swords were almost always straight blades with the exception of falchions. This was too elegant to be a falchion. The intricate carvings engraved along the blade's polished surface, waves and symbols that were foreign to her, told her as much. The hilt was made of wood, and although she could not determine the type, its golden grains reflected moonlight well, making it practically glow in the dark.

The elf, most definitely angry at her remark, decided not to give her any time to conceive a plan. Mere seconds after she spoke, the elf charged at her with a clear intent to kill.

Hair the color midnight whipped about her face as Erica moved, backpedaling away from her elven foe as he swung at her. Several strands of her hair were cut off by the swinging blade. They drifted lazily through the air, follicles floating on a gentle zephyr, fluttering slowly to the ground. Within that frame of time, Erica had already finished her next chant.

"By the light of Amaterasu, I command thee! Radiance!"

A bright light flared into existence just behind Erica, blinding in its brilliance. In response to her chant, the elf knelt down on the floor and pressed their hands against the ground. Erica clicked her tongue when a magic circle stained her carpet, glowing an ethereal red. Seconds later, a large section of her floor jutted up from the ground, protecting the elf from her spell's blinding radiance. It wasn't what she wanted; she had been hoping to blind them, but at least her foe was unable to see her.

I can work with this.

"Bury the coldness in your heart, Suijin, I command thee! Shower those who would break the contract with icy death!"

Two shards of ice coalesced into existence in front of her, their forms glistening like pointed razors in the moonlit night. The first shard was launched straight at the barrier the elf hid behind. As the sharp, hard as diamond ice shard pierced the lifted stone floor with impunity, the elf ran out from behind it. That was when the other ice shard shot forward, going right for the elf's throat.

The cloaked elf raised a gloved hand. Appearing on the palm of his hand and expanding into the air was a magic circle, a six pointed star within two concentric circles that rotated clockwise and counterclockwise from each other; a pentagram. When the ice hit the circle, the shard melted, shifting back into water and splashing against the carpet covered floor. The circle then changed, the pentagram inverting and six symbols shaped like commas appearing along its edges at each of the star's six points. Six glowing red orbs appeared, formed from the commas. They shot at Erica like cannon balls fired from a cannon.

"Yee whose essence belongs to Izanagi! Rise up and protect me!"

The floor in front of Erica bubbled before six chunks of stone shot into the air, intercepting the spheres, which Erica realized were actually fireballs. However, there was something off about that. Alchemy wasn't capable of creating fire, unless...

I see, Erica analysed her enemy's technique. He's not creating fireballs. He merely transmuted the particles floating in the air into flint, and then he used the flint to create a spark, which he fed with oxygen to create fire. Clever.

The stones exploded and were consumed, but that was okay. They'd served their purpose.

"I call upon the powers of Susanowo. Strike down this fiend with lightning!"

Thrusting out her hand as it sparked and crackled, a bolt of pale blue lightning shot from her palm. It traveled toward the elf quickly, covering the distance between them in split second. However, the elven assassin seemed to have anticipated this, because before the lightning even lept from Erica's palm, a magic circle appeared in front of him. The bolt of lightning hit the circle and disappeared into it.

"What the―"

Erica's eyes widened. She only had a second to move out of the way before a bolt of lightning, the same one that she'd just tossed at her foe, tried to blow a hole through her back. It missed when she threw herself out of the way. Then it struck the far wall, piercing it and continuing on to the world outside.

Icy winds blew in through the hole. Erica shivered, but did her best to ignore the cold.

From now on, I am going to wear warmer nightwear.

"I see." Erica narrowed her eyes as the wind whipped her hair into a frenzy. "That spell you cast... you just deconstructed my lightning, and then reconstructed it behind me, didn't you?"

No wonder this elf had been able to split the flames of Amaterasu. Lightning was created from a variety of natural chemical reactions, and as such was nearly impossible to recreate using Alchemy. It required more than just an innate understanding of how alchemical reactions worked. Only those who understood how the elements worked inside and out, what chemical reactions created them, and what compounds composed them, could do such a thing. Anyone who could deconstruct and reconstruct lightning would have been more than capable of splitting apart an attack like Amaterasu's Flames―at least up to a ten aria chant.

The elf didn't answer with words, but rather, by slamming his hands into the ground. A magic circle appeared, and chains forged from the very stones of Dorehan Tower itself burst forth, traveling a winding path toward her. Erica glared at the chains as she prepared another quick chant.

The words were on the tip of her tongue.

However, just before she could speak her chant, the door to her room blew apart, showering her bedroom floor in wood splinters.