“You’re stronger than any Vampire I’ve ever faced, I’ll give you that,” Elise called out as she launched right back out of the smoke.

With a single puff of wind, the debris all scattered to reveal Vikram stationary with a smug grin, his lone eye following, “Heh, and you’re not bad for a pup. So, brat, what will you show me next eh?”

“Heh, you’ll see,” she replied with a smirk; though upon doing so her foot work put her several paces back with an unchanging defensive stance, “{I can’t beat this guy with conventional means… so, it’ll be like that time. Sacho, I owe you many times over for that day, for giving me the drive.} Here we go-”

Her right hand broke from the hilt of Sephiroth, drifting straight into her coat pocket from which several fabric-rapped balls were pulled, strings jetting out of the tops. Quickly said strings were brought up and into her mouth. With a bite and a yank, the strings remained behind as the balls were pulled, then quickly tossed with a bit of smoke jetting out the tops.

“Petwew!” she spat, the strings flying as the balls struck the ground around Vikram, bursting and unleashing multiple clouds of smoke.

“What’s this? Trying to blind me? Brats these days, hahaha!” he laughed.

“Not just that old guy,” she murmured as a sphere of Light Energy pooled together in her free hand, “Have it!”

With a toss as if tossing a baseball full force, the sphere flew forward straight into the cloud. Yet another blast went off, this one setting the smoke ablaze as well, intense flames of green pouring straight out of the cloud as it went up, followed by a yell from inside barely drowned out by the blast. The ground once more caved, this time right below Vikram.

“Go fly!” she shouted throwing her left arm up, bringing it back with Sephiroth reverse-gripped.

“Hoh?” Chromwell called, “What is she going to do with that?”

Almost immediately her arm flew forward and Sephiroth was sent flying forward while she arched forward, practically falling onto her knees and hands.

“She tossed her weapon like a spear, right in Vikram’s path. Not bad,” Chromwell concluded.

Right on que, Vikram’s figure dropped from the blast as the ground continued to cave under him, his garments singed as he fell, “Damn brat!” he coughed, “Huh?”

BLAM

Sephiroth slammed straight into him, the tip exiting straight out his back. Blood flew from his mouth as his head bounced forward, his body sent backwards crashing. Sephiroth’s hilt stuck straight out of his chest with only a little bit of blade showing, the rest having penetrated and gone clear through either still in or outside of his body.

Down onto a pile of rocks he crashed with flailing arms, “GYACK!”

With a tussle and a thump he rolled right down the rocks, resting in a crevice nearly fifteen meters below. Up top Elise stood with both of her arms held out and her palms facing bare towards Vikram, “I’m not done yet- Light Arrows!”

Light Energy flew up around her bare palms, extending itself outwards as if forming a little bubble. All at once multiple yellow arrow-shaped figures of energy flew forth from the bubble right down at Vikram, now struggling to stand. He looked up, teeth gritted with a sunken eye. The rounds all struck and compiled into another blast, followed by more and more and very many more micro-blasts as Elise kept on firing.

“You may not be weak to light but I’m sure if I hit you like this you’ll still feel it!” she yelled out.

From behind the trio maintained their view, Xander crossing his arms firmly with a narrowed eye, “She’s turned the battle against him so quickly.”

“How do you mean?” Chromwell asked, looking over to Xander.

“Vikram is already done. Those weren’t just smoke bombs. I know her style, those were no doubt bombs filled with more of that hemlock concoction of hers, and something else to make them explosive.”

“Heh, remarkable,” Leon chuckled, “And by that logic she probably has new kinds of poisons mixed in, or even on her own blade that she harpooned him with. Now that she has access to a military arsenal of drugs and toxins, there’s no limit to what she might do. Simply incredible.”

The rain of energy blasts maintained, right up until the very end as Vikram flew sky high out of the blast, “You damn brat, your efforts are totally futile!”

The wound in his chest was visible; though not her weapon, rather it was not where it had been left though it was still present. Via his right hand, Vikram held Sephiroth up and quickly hurled him right back at Elise. The blade clanged across the ground, resting beside her while Vikram kept up his movement, heading straight at her with hands grasped together, “I’m ending this with a little fire. Are you ready to die chi- URK.”

His hands released, a gap opening up while his arms twitched, followed then by his legs. His head fell back several notches as his eye began to quiver, “P-poison? I should be immune to poison! Unless- you!”

“Wolfsbane, the weakness of all Supernatural on Earth. Undoes transformations, always takes away some of the immunity a Vampire will naturally have, and then some. You underestimated me because of my age Arghaust, because I was alone, that is why you have lost!”

“HRRRAAAAAAA!” he yelled out, now falling right out of the air.

His form disappeared beneath the surface, falling straight back down into the collapsed pit before Elise who now stood rather emotionlessly. Her gaze moved down, staring into the darkness. The crash came not long after, multiple seconds after in fact. Finally with so very little wasted effort she bent down to grab hold of Sephiroth, standing firmly back up with a quarter turn after, her head turned as well with both eyes resting now on Leon and his group.

The trio stood calmly, casually even. Chromwell with both arms down, the sleeves of his robes just flapping in the breeze. Xander stood with arms folded over, seeming somewhat smug himself and even a touch bold. Then there was Leon in the middle with hands at his sides, his face being the only visible face among the three, holding with it a rather amused sort of look with a smile and warmed eyes.

“She’s good, I’ll give her that,” Xander commented.

“Yes, I agree. I can easily see why Azala lost to someone like her. Her powers are still growing, and already her selective brains for combat are unlike any other,” Leon chuckled.

“How do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious dear brother? Her use of fast-acting toxins to make up for her lack of experience and power, her resolve to make herself appear as unintimidating as possible to Arghaust, an old buzzard clearly underestimative of youth. His caution went out the window the minute Elise was alone. You and I both know that he would’ve gotten out of that smoke immediately if the other four had remained,” Chromwell concluded.

“Heh… fair enough. So now what? You want us to step in Leon?” Xander questioned.

“No,” he murmured, “I think… I’ll handle this one myself.”

“Huh?” Chrom uttered.

“Eh?” Xander followed.

“She is well beneath the two of you just as you are both significantly beneath me… but that’s all the more reason to take her cautiously.”

“But sir-” Xander began.

“She took out Arghaust who at his full could’ve given either of you two a mild run about. She nearly effortlessly walked him into his own downfall. What’s the sense in giving her the chance to nail either of you, eh?”

“Hmph… valid point,” Xander grumbled.

“Well then that’s decided I suppose,” Chromwell chuckled, “Bakuuva will cease to exist after this then.”

“Quite,” Leon muttered, launching himself up and forward with a single leap.

Leon flew high, several meters up and many more forward before dropping back down, landing upon both feet. Elise turned a full, Sephiroth held at her side as her view embraced the sight of Leon who now stood so casually before her. Swiftly, black mist jetted itself clear off of Leon’s cloak and into the air, drifting swiftly around him and clinging like a form of aura.

“I’ll say it once more Bakuuva, you’re just being used by the Lightonians. People like Wesley Ezdorth and Vega Abagor… even your Holly Bell, they’re looking at you only for military application, not because they want to help you.”

“So you’ve said,” Elise called, pacing to her left now with the tip of her sword held out, “But at the same time, look at what you guys have done. Am I supposed to just bow down and join you? After everything? Or should I willingly fight alongside the others to stop you? I am well aware that they’re using me… and right now, I couldn’t care less. I have a score to settle.”

“Heh, so be it,” Leon chuckled, spreading his arms apart from his body, “Then I guess this is where it begins, your downfall. Show me what you’re made of, Bakuuva!”