When she heard his words, Charlotte felt an ominous feeling bloom in her chest.
As hot-tempered as she sometimes is, she is, at the end of the day, Akame's disciple, and as such she has the skills deserving of it.
And now, the instinct she has honed is warning her that she must take this fight seriously.
*CLANG*
With an abrupt sound, she briefly glanced at where it came from and found a sword bouncing on the ground after hitting her barrier.
'I didn't feel that either.' She controlled her mana and enveloped Erica with it.
"Erica, would you like to enjoy a ride on a magical roller coaster?" She asked while maintaining her eyes on Hai's figure.
Erica stopped eating and turned to look at Charlotte.
"Hum!" She nodded with excitement before hopping off the chair and walking toward Charlotte.
The latter picked her up and hugged her.
"Now that preparations are finished…" Hai spoke before trailing off.
*SWIISH*
He fired two blades, one from behind Charlotte, and another from her left.
*CLANG*
*CLANG*
Sadly, it had no effect.
"This barrier sure is annoying." He commented in a light tone, not seeming bothered at all.
Then, before Charlotte could open her mouth, she instinctively focused her barrier on her right side.
*BOOM*
With a thunderous sound, she looked at where it came from and found Hai standing there with his arm stretched and his fist clenched hitting the air.
'You've gotta be kidding me.' Charlotte felt like screaming out loud at this. He already has magic and technique, but now, he is absurdly fast and strong too? Charlotte could feel that she had to put more mana in that area because the initial amount she put in wasn't enough to maintain it.
"What are you? A monster?" She blurted out while blinking away.
Appearing in the hallway outside the kitchen, Charlotte took in a deep breath.
At least she tried to.
Looking behind her with trembling eyes, she found him there preparing another punch.
Not wasting even a single second more, Charlotte teleported away from there.
'What was that?' She felt her heart beating faster, but it wasn't for a good reason.
She is a space-type mage.
One of, if not the outright most annoying type to deal with.
She has high mobility, perception, and defensive and offensive power.
However, Hai is not only faster and stronger than her but also looked like he could follow her teleport.
Feeling a chill creep up her spine, Charlotte suddenly turned around and focused her mana in one spot.
*CLANG*
*RINGING*
Gritting her teeth, she looked at Hai who suddenly appeared behind her and attacked with a dagger made of his prototype of anti-mana metal.
As the dagger clashed with her barrier, the former lacked enough power to pierce the latter, even when Hai was wielding it.
'Indeed, physical prowess isn't the answer.' Hai noted inwardly while watching as the vague silhouette that was Charlotte struggled to defend against his attack.
'It seems that she isn't used to fighting opponents whose aspect surpasses hers by a huge margin.'
From Hai's point of view, Charlotte seems like a prodigy that is both talented and hard-working but is lacking in real experience in fights.
Maybe she fought against some disciples and her master, but no one aside from that.
'This must be one of the reasons why Akame put us here.' He released his dagger and it inflated like a balloon before exploding in a mist of toxic metallic gas.
"Wha-!?" Charlotte became flustered at such a sudden turn of events but in the next instant her eyes relaxed, her pupils went back to their usual calm state and her aura seemed to calm down.
In a swift motion, all the gas was caught in a bubble using the fabrics of space and then a crack appeared inside the bubble.
*SHATTER*
As the crack expanded, it shattered taking away the bubble as well as the gas inside it.
Calmly looking around with her spatial sense, Charlotte noticed that she could perceive Hai better than with her own senses, hence, she closed her eyes.
"Oh?" Noticing that the gaze on him disappeared, Hai who was hidden in the ceiling let out a surprised sound.
He could feel something resembling a gaze locked on him, but different from before, this time he couldn't perceive where it originated from.
"Quite the good trick. Would you teach me if I ask nicely?" He asked while his figure blurred as he dodged an attack and made an iron spear come from the ground below Charlotte.
*CRUMBLE*
However, the spear crumbled before it materialized anything aside from the tip.
'Seems like the ground is the most well-protected part of the barrier.' He concluded but didn't feel disheartened that his attempt was futile.
"Why would I do it?" Charlotte retorted while sending a barrage of attacks toward him that disappeared before touching any walls, ceiling, or furniture in the room.
Hai calmly observed this and shifted his eyes to her.
"Pretty please?" He asked and received a spatial slash in the face as a response.
"I refuse." Charlotte spoke back.
"What can I do for you to change your opinion?" Hai, who was crouching on the top of a desk asked this while raising his upper body that he bent in a 90° manner backward to avoid the previous slash.
"If you die, I might think about it." She snorted and used her magic to lock him in place.
Sadly, she was reminded once again of the brutal reality that Hai was faster than her.
*BOOM*
Not only dodging her attack by vanishing from where he was, but Hai also controlled the metal on the sole of his shoes and used it as a foothold to kick it and hurled himself toward Charlotte by making a guan dao and swinging it toward her side.
Charlotte saw the incoming attack and instead of blocking, she backed away making sure that Erica was brought along and unscratched.
Meanwhile, Hai pursed his lips seeing this.
'This is really a bother.' Not being able to see Charlotte is making it hard for him to try to swing his weapon for a more precise attack, thus making him have to guess where he is even attacking in the first place.
The only saving grace is that he at least knows where she is, and although her silhouette still needs to improve until Hai is able to see it clearly enough, this much is barely enough for now.
'This should be about enough.' He mused before his eyes narrowed.
"Hey, Charlotte." He suddenly called her while also sending a barrage of attacks her way.
"What?" Charlotte nearly snarled in annoyance.
"How strong is your barrier?" He asked out of curiosity because he wanted to test something.
"And why would I tell you that?" She isn't that dumb to give away such information to her opponent amidst a battle.
Hai magically found room amidst his barrage of attacks to shrug his shoulders.
"Well, I'm asking because I want to test something but I wanted to be sure that you would be able to endure it." He commented lightly before pulling back and avoiding having his head sent flying.
"What are you even on about?" Charlotte clenched her fist and the space surrounding Hai distorted.
"Charlotte, try to not faint." The aura around Hai suddenly stilled and he took a deep breath.
"Wh-" Charlotte only had time to widen her eyes and enforce the barrier to the best she could.
*FUSH*
With a low sound of a gust of wind passing by, Hai's hand made contact with Charlotte's barrier.
"Hum… Not good enough." Hai pulled his right hand back and looked at his wrist.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
Charlotte meanwhile had a look painted in disbelief.
Right in front of her stood her barrier.
Almost completely cracked.
'What the hell is even he!? That thing can't be human! What the hell!' She was flipping a table in her mind.
That wasn't magic.
Heck, he didn't even strengthen his body with mana.
That was simple physical might.
But to affect magic, and space one on top of that…
"Hum… I dislocated my hand." Hai commented lightly while seeing his wrist in a strange shape.
Using his other hand he grabbed his wrist and fixed its position.
The sound of his bones popping back to their right places filled the now silent surroundings.
Charlotte kept looking at the man before her with mixed emotions while fixing her barrier.
She had some surprise with a tinge of anxiety and a little bit of annoyance.
Surprise due to the stunt he pulled.
Anxious in thinking what if this was a real death battle.
And annoyance by remembering how casual Hai was about such a deadly attack and how she herself didn't take him seriously when he warned her.
'Couldn't he be more reasonable at least?' She grumbles inwardly but doesn't pay much attention to it as she focuses again on Hai.
The latter opens and closes his fist before looking back at her.
"So, shall we continue?" He started to hum a melody to himself while adjusting his position.
Charlotte took a deep breath and focused her senses on him.
'If it weren't for those restrictions…' Had she been able to use her full power, she wouldn't be as cornered as she is now.
The ability to use space itself to attack and defend is what makes a space-type mage deadlier, but now, she has to be mindful to not damage the mansion or hit a person due to a stray attack.
'Wait, restrictions…' Her eyes widened when she remembered something.
A hologram appeared at the side of her field of view.
Giving a quick read at the hologram containing the rules, a grin broke on her face.
"Hahaha…" She found it so absurd that she couldn't help but laugh.
How could she have let it slip?
"Oho?" Hai on the other hand suddenly got curious as to why she suddenly started laughing.
"Ha~ It's my win!" She declared before releasing her barrier.
Then, Hai was able to see her blurry figure and Erica in her arms.
"Erica, when you arrive at the other side just stay still." Charlotte said before Erica's image disappeared.
Then, she turned back to Hai.
"It's my win. Right now, Erica is outside the mansion, out of your reach." Her voice earned a raised eyebrow from Hai.
"You do realize we would both lose, right?" He questioned but he was intrigued by this seemingly flawed idea.
"Yeah, so what?" However, her answer wasn't as logical as he expected.
"My first and foremost mission is to protect her. If you can't exit this mansion, then even if I lose I will still win, because I will have protected her." Her logic, even though with some loopholes still seemed useful enough to Hai.
And Charlotte didn't mention it, but right now she is bending space while using Erica's as a waypoint.
She is at the same time in the mansion but also beside Erica in a vague sense.
Something akin to a clone of sorts.
So, even in the scenery where he can go outside the mansion, she could quickly retrieve Erica.
While Hai didn't know all the details, he understand that she must have some sort of failsafe, and it finally clicked for him.
They didn't have a sure way to win because there was no limitation in time or another conclusive factor to decide a "winner".
Hence, even if one makes a move that would cause it to be their "loss", they could still make it a win in some way.
The rules were solid to delimitate them just enough for such loopholes to form.
"Damn, and it's me who was supposed to be cunning." He commented with a wry smile.
Then, he raised both hands.
"All right, it's your win. I never thought I would be outsmarted by such a simple yet effective trick." In truth, Hai had thought of such a possibility, but he didn't think that it would be feasible.
And this was what made him lose.
Hai while smart and cunning, was too focused on how to work around inside the box he was trapped in.
Due to his experience in the business world, most times he wasn't able to do plans that required him to "think outside the box" to outsmart his opponent because they all had the same ground and rules to play by.
And this caused him to lose to Charlotte.
Ironically, her lack of a more objectified vision and pragmatical thinking made her able to think and execute such a "bet" that would render both sides to "lose", something that a man with a business-oriented mind like Hai wouldn't do, most of the time.
"Well, that was something worth seeing." A voice suddenly echoed around them and the world started to get pixeled away.
The walls were deconstructed, the ceiling vanished like a lid being lifted; the floor glitched out of existence and both of them fell.
After barely a few seconds of free-falling, Hai and Charlotte found themselves in a spacious room.
The room had nothing special or noteworthy in it.
The hair on Hai's neck suddenly stood on end, prompting him to duck down.
His reaction enabled him to keep his head as not even a second later, something slashed above him.
Wordlessly looking at the source of the attack, he found Akame with one arm stretched and holding a folded fan in it.
"Now, shall we begin the real training?" A battle-hungry smile bloomed on her face while her reptilian eyes shone a shade brighter, displaying her excitement for all to see.
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