- Altaira's Sworn Enemy -

Her long red hair reached her ankles. She was taller than both Celeste and Estelle and whoever she was, she could withstand Celeste's deadly sword movements. She had a pair of crimson red eyes and she was dressed in a simple brown and green robe. She was wielding shinsu.

"Little girl, you can't hurt me if you keep wielding your sword like that. You can't even get close to me" said that woman.

"Really?" Celeste forced herself to smile.

'This woman... her strength is no less than me. We're on the same level. But the way she controls shinsu is unique and more flexible than me. If things keep dragging like this, I might be defeated. What should I do?'

"You won't be able to defeat anyone if you are hesitating like that" said the woman. "I've observed your movements. You are hesitating and contemplating whether your movements are right or not, whether you might fall into enemies' trap or not. You are too calculative."

"Those eyes... you also have the Red Echo eyes," said Celeste.

"So you knew. Even though these eyes will only work even more effective after you hit me once, but if you use it well, it could even see enemies' pattern clearly, no matter how fast they are," said the woman. "Our powers may be on the same level because I am someone's sworn enemy, but the difference between our experiences is something you can't deny."

Celeste couldn't deny that it was true. Even when she was good with sword and even used her butterflies to assist her, she couldn't find an opening to kill her within one shot.

Red Echo eyes would work better if she hit her, doesn't that mean that if she recklessly attack, the red- haired woman will get stronger? Then the only way to defeat her was to kill her with a single shot. But it was too hard and troublesome when she was being suppressed here.

"You are too hesitant. You are too afraid of losing. If you can't overcome your weaknesses, let alone touching me..."

She created five bangs together in the same time.

"You will die here in my hands instead."

There was a smirk on her painful face.

Celeste dodged one, two, three and blocked the fourth one. The fifth one hit her directly and she let out a painful cry.

With her blue butterflies around, she may be healing herself. But her energy was draining. If her power was depleted, she was done for.

"I'm not someone who will bully those who are younger or weaker than me. Why don't you give up and let me find my sworn enemies? I won't bother you," she suggested.

"I won't," Celeste firmly said.

If she gives up right here, then wouldn't that prove she was weak? The others were fighting against the sworn enemies as hard as they could, how could she give up? She would prefer to die in a battlefield instead of surrendering.

'I just need some time!'

Meanwhile, in another hand, Charlotte and Estelle were placed to fight against a blue- haired woman. Her soft blue hair was rather short as it reached her shoulders. Her blue outfit was made for fighting but in the same time, it made the aura of a noble woman surrounding her even stronger. It was made to fight, but it wasn't so plain but stylish. On her right hand, there was a spear.

Her eyes were the eyes of someone who had seen death over and over again to the point that losing someone important won't do much pain for her. Those eyes were the eyes of a person who had been through a lot of things, living too long and losing the enthusiasm that she would feel when she joined a fight. The blue eyes of hers were cold and frosty. And when they changed to red, the crimson red color couldn't hide those feelings.

Everything felt so boring for her. The same scenery that kept repeating, the same activity that she had to do, the same goal that she had on her mind. There was nothing new for her. And due to her strong desire to get stronger and smarter, she became less and less interested with her surroundings.

It was until she encountered this strange opponent. Encountering an opponent who was stronger than her, she was left with no other choice but to stay even more vigilant and prepared. Not to mention that she had someone else to assist her during this fight. But even though that would have been her usual style, the opponent who she encountered was a little bit different.

Fighting for awhile, there was something within her that made her felt awake from a long sleep. The scent of lotus was on the shinsu and right on each petal. The expressions that she made reminded her of someone who she knew, someone who she cared deeply for.

She felt... awake.

Charlotte inwardly admired whoever has this person as his or her sworn enemy. Even though she was an irregular with her power reaching B- rank regulars or something, this person could actually restrict her and showed no sigh of tiredness. Instead, it was Estelle who was starting to be exhausted.

'This woman is really amazing,' she thought.

"Just who on earth are you?" Charlotte asked for her identity.

"Anan," she answered.

"Anan?" Charlotte echoed.

"Khun Anan Rain," she introduced herself.

The two words "Khun" and "Rain" made Charlotte's eyes widened in shock. Estelle was not an exception either.

"What?!"

"You... are a descendant from Khun Family...? Rain.....?"

'Then does this mean... this person is related with brother?!'

Charlotte found it hard to believe. Her brother never said that he had a sibling here in his second life. But right now, his sworn enemy admitted her identity and she had the strong feeling that she wasn't lying. If this sworn enemy wasn't lying, then why brother never mentioned this person to her?

Anan observed her expression. Her opponents looked surprised and bewildered which was a good chance for her to hit them when they were distracted. She didn't know what was wrong with her identity that made them surprised but this was the right moment to defeat them.

'The brown one is suspicious and strong. The pink one....'

Since she couldn't defeat the brown one in short amount of time, then it would be better to get rid of the other one first so that they can't work together. This will decrease their chance of obtaining the victory.

There was something on the sky. That something fell from the sky and hit Estelle directly which made her let out a painful cry.

When the dumbstruck Charlotte turned her head around, she found Estelle was struck by a blue- colored lighting that came from above. That lightning must be controlled by Anan!

"Where are you looking at?"

Anan was serious with that hit as she immediately knocked out Estelle. Now, Estelle was unable to fight her. And when Charlotte was worried about Estelle, she took that chance to swung her spear towards her. Of course she caught it with both of her hands by reflex.

"Ugh...!"

"You are quite fast..." Anan said. Her voice and her words made Charlotte felt seriously uncomfortable. "But... you shouldn't have caught this one directly."

Charlotte faintly saw lightning on the spear and was sure that there was something on that spear.

[Time- Manipulation Skill- Time Pause]

She stopped Anan's time for a moment and jumped backward to evade the attack. Seeing the amount of electricity placed in the spear, though it wasn't enough to kill her, but Charlotte was sure that the amount of electricity within the spear could paralyze her and give Anan some time to kill her.

She didn't think that she had to use a hourglass against a sworn enemy.

The time moved again and Anan finally showed some emotions. She looked surprised to see Charlotte managed to evade her attack when the distance was too close, but she quickly regained her composure.

'How could she do that?'

She looked at her opponent coldly as she swung her spear, trying to figure out the trick.

'This woman... from the beginning, I can't copy her techniques after directly accepting her first attack. My Red Echo Eyes are completely useless against her... could it be... she's an irregular?'

'Estelle said before that her eyes changed into red because she's using that Red Echo Eyes. As far as I know, those eyes are ineffective against irregulars. Right now she must have discovered that there is something wrong with me. No, she's very sharp and quite strong. She must have known my identity right now.'

These two looked straight at each other. They were aware that their opponents were not someone to be underestimated.

'If she's an irregular... then there is a high chance that she's not my opponent. Because I'm a sworn enemy of someone, I can't display my full strength. Otherwise... I would love to fight an irregular head on.'

"Let me see how capable you are," Anan said as she showed a rare smile. However, that smile was the smile of a hunter who was smiling at their prey.

Their opponent really was not ordinary. While Anan felt interested in fighting an irregular, Charlotte started to feel rather interested. She was interested with the sworn enemy who could force her using her hourglass to evade her attacks.

"Then you have to be careful."

To satisfy herself with a proper fight, this was the reason why Charlotte didn't just stop the time and defeated Anan with a single shot. It was indeed convenient to stop her opponent's time and kill her opponent when they were helpless, but where was the fun and excitement?

She decided to use her fan instead of fighting empty- handed.

'This is going to be interesting.'

Anan took several steps forward, swinging her spear as she walked closer to Charlotte who was waiting for her. Then, she leapt forward.

Her spear hit her tough fan.

After confronting her earlier, Charlotte was certain of something. Anan's movements were firm and heartless as she kept aiming for her opponent's vitals. There was no hesitation. Each attack has been planned meticulously. How much energy she had to put on each attack... the risk of using this and that skills... she had thought of them all in short time. She didn't look down on her opponents, not even a bit. She was also a fast- learner, observant and adaptive.

She only had one spear, but somehow it looked like she was wielding a hundred spears together.

'As expected from a Khun.....' Charlotte thought, feeling that this was quite a problem.

She could also attack Charlotte from any directions. For Charlotte, it felt that every single movement that Anan did was in order to close the gap between the two of them. She knew herself very well and found ways to block and attack her back, making up for her weakness.

With her hourglass, there was no need to be afraid of Anan. But since she wanted to have a satisfying fight, she purposely restricted herself. Not to mention that if she can't even win against a sworn enemy who was supposed to be weaker than her, how could she win against her future opponents who were far stronger and superior? And Anan wasn't aiming for her vitals anymore to end this fight quickly. They wanted to satisfy themselves with this fight.

'It would be nice if Khun could be this strong as well,' Charlotte earnestly thought. 'If I could make sure that he would be this strong....'

Then she could be more assured and be more at ease. Because Khun was important to her, she didn't want to lose him.

In one hand, she wanted to have him to obtain more power. But she had changed the plot. Icarus/ Rachel was the one who was supposed to heal Khun. But she took over that role without thinking much since she cared for him a lot. And that actually put her in trouble.

'Khun....'

"Gah!"

Distracted, Anan managed to land an attack right on her abdomen and made her pushed away, though she wasn't pushed that far.

'Oh no....!'

Lightning from above struck Charlotte down. When Charlotte saw that coming, it was too late for her to do anything. All she could do was to let out a cry in pain before she fell on one of her knees.

"Damn it..." She cursed and clenched her fists.

In a battle, there was a consequence for being arrogant, distracted and carelessness. Even a hunter may ended up as a prey if he was not meticulous enough. And that was Charlotte's current situation.

Anan prepared her spear and threw it through far distance. She had aimed for her head when Charlotte changed the form of the fan into a sword, gathering strength to block and hit away the spear. Anan ran and caught that spear, jumped on the air with it.

She didn't give her a break at all.

Charlotte jumped away to evade that attack since Anan was really planning to hit her with the spear. And if she was one second too late, the large amount of electricity would attack her again. Though the wound was not fatal, but it still hurt a lot to be struck by lightning. She needed one moment to adjust herself with the present situation.

Anan was not a talkative person like most of the opponents that she encountered. She held the spear in front of her and raised it. The spear was slowly floating on the air.

Charlotte's eyes widened in shock when from a single spear, the single spear was divided into ten gigantic spears. Each of the spear was bigger than her, even bigger than Rak's normal size.

And Anan didn't even show any sign of fatigue after creating those ten gigantic spears. One could feel the power and the electricity on the spear and Charlotte was sure of one thing,

"....... I'm screwed," she said with a calm face and sighed like she should have expected this.

The first spear was launched.

Although Charlotte managed to block the first one, she could feel that the spear was heavy. And should an ordinary regular like Estelle or Estrella tried to stop this, they will turn into dusts instantly.

Anan just smiled, 'Since you could handle the first one... could you handle the three of them in the same time?'

The second and third spear were launched and Charlotte was pushed backward this time. She used shinsu to strengthened herself more and boosted her own strength with the lotus. But she was certain that she won't be able to block the fourth one if it came to her.

She jumped backward and let the three spears hit the ground. If she was late for a second, then she would be stabbed and killed by the three spears. The three spears cracked the ground deeply and if another spear was launched, it will be destroyed completely.

When she was on the air, again, the fourth spear was launched immediately. Charlotte relied on her fan to block it again like before.

And after that, she noticed a shadow. Leaving the fan to handle the fourth spear, she used her left hand to block Anan's fist.

'I'll use my fan to block this spear first' she thought as she decided to answer Anan's challenge.

"You sure are an interesting one," Anan finally spoke again. "Irregulars are surely different."

"So you knew," Charlotte said solemnly.

"They said that irregulars are mysterious but powerful existences. I always thought that it would be nice to challenge one."

"Sure, it is.... but you have to remember..."

Charlotte's right hand did not hold the fan any longer. Rather, she let it block the fourth spear according to her will and gathered strength to her right fist.

"DON'T BITE MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW!"

The punch that she gave towards Anan as a "gift" landed right on her opponent. Anan was blown away, holding her chest as she coughed. Charlotte didn't want to give her opponent any break just like what she did to her before and continuously attacked her. Anan looked like she was trying to keep up with her current speed, though it costed her being hit again and again.

She felt pain all over her body, but she still persisted. Her left hand caught her left fist and her right hand caught her right fist.

"What?"

Those red eyes were cold as they could ever be as she looked at Charlotte like a predator or hunter as she spoke,

"Don't underestimate me."

Anan was holding both of her hands very tightly. When Charlotte raised her head, she found the fifth spear was above her.

[Time Manipulation- Time Pause]

The fifth spear was so close in killing her if she didn't stop the time. It was so close with landing a fatal wound on her left eye. And Anan, as if she had expected that, she released the sixth, seventh and eighth spears in the same time and while she was doing that, she landed a hit towards Charlotte.

Charlotte who was blown backwards realized that she was about to be crushed by the three spears immediately paused the time of the three spears and herself. She had to stop herself from being blown further in order to stand up properly and use the orb to fight back.

'Orb? She also knows this technique?'

She strengthened the orb by adding the power of her hourglass. The orb changed its color into gold and when she used it, the orb destroyed the three of the giant spears together in the same time.

Anan felt amazed and impressed. The golden shinsu looked so pure, yet it was very deadly.

'Since I could boost the shinsu with the hourglass, what if I add my lotus as well?'

The color of the orb changed into gold pink as she launched more attacks to destroy the rest three spears. Anan simply watched her destroy the remaining three spears and didn't show any desire in stopping her. Instead, she just smiled in amazement.

When all the three spears were destroyed, Charlotte put her hand on her chest and smiled in relieve. She thought that the disaster has ended for a moment. And right at that moment when she was just sighing, she felt that the ground was rumbling and another spear show itself.

'What?!'

It was right then Charlotte remembered that she did not destroy the fourth spear. The fourth spear was supposed to be held by her fan.

She managed to evade the fourth spear just by reflex. Taking her fan back, she changed its form into a sword and then swung it towards the fourth spear, cutting it into half and destroyed it.

An explosion happened.

And from that explosion, Anan appeared with her fist and was ready to punch Charlotte who didn't have the time to dodge it. And this time, Anan decided to finish her in one strike. Charlotte knew that she didn't have the time to use any skills, but if she received her blow, it would probably just left her seriously wounded. But the wound won't be severe to the point that she couldn't fight.

She made up her mind that once Anan attacked her with her full power, she will just have to endure it and strike her back. Her sword was already prepared to kill Anan when she landed her last punch.

When she was about to hit her and have her blackened out, a lightning struck from the sky towards her direction.

Both Charlotte and Anan jumped backwards, dodging the lightning.

Charlotte sighed in relieve, 'Firstly I nearly died because of being burned. Second was because of the burst of my power. There's no way I'm going to die for the third time because of being struck by lightning. It sounds as cliche as dying because of being hit by a truck!'

"Who....?"