The battles have intensified, and Alexandria's crew had already taken down several of the elites including the second in command brought down by Valentina and her time stopping powers using his own sword. As far as numbers go Veronica was ahead killing three and now matching off against the staff user that had a weapon made from her skin. Not far behind in kill count was Eve she had taken out two. Of course, in her own style she did it to prove a point rather than just for the rush of the kill.

  Glade faced off against the commander of the elite using the iron ball and a lot of the other materials that she had picked up along the way to make a copy of his blade to face off against him. Usually, she wouldn't do something like this however she wanted to prove a point that even though her power was that of nature she could still take it and beat someone with their own weapon.

  Eve probably had the most daunting challenge of all as far as size and strength went Eve was probably when you put all the core crew members side by side considered the weakest as far as strength went. Nobody could match her in hand-to-hand physical combat. Veronica came close purely due to her strength and as far as techniques go the two of them were on even footing. However, she was facing two elites one with a riot shield and electrified baton the other dual sais. At this point the person in the most precarious predicament was probably Eve and she was going to be the one that would probably show everyone that expectations could be subverted.

  Eve took in a few deep breaths centering herself as the elites circled around her. She had not moved from the spot she had stood in after throwing her knives and killing the two bare handed elites in the room. The gauntlet users had yet to move and there was a reason. Alexandria and Gale had turned their rifles on them and as Eve waited for her assailants to make a move Alexandria spoke from across the room.

  "The matches are set at this point. If either of you move before one of them is concluded." She cocked the rifle drawing the hammer back and staring down the sight at the one who was closest to Eve. "I will blow a hole through your head."

  Gale did her best to mimic Alexandria. She knew the basics of a rifle, but Alexandria looked like she knew exactly what to do and her threat was not idle by any means and Gale had to do her best to make the other one think twice about moving.

  A playful giggle escaped Eve's lips as she padded her hands on her upper thighs then her waist her stomach and then finally moving on her chest. Her fingers lightly tapping blades and handles of the varies daggers that adorned her chest. Some in small sheaths other barely held on by a piece of thread hugging the handle keeping it close. She could feel her heart beating her eyes were closed as she listened to the footsteps of the men circling her.

  The sai user barely made a sound it is if he was dancing on the floor. However, the riot shield and stun baton user she could hear him from a mile away. A smirk crossed her face as she decided that he needed to be dealt with first. That shield was enough of a problem, but the real threat was the electrified stun baton.

  She was quite nimble and there wasn't many that could catch her, but if that electrified stun baton hit her, it was over. She would not be able to do much, so she needed to avoid it at all costs. She took in a deep breath and held it. Her right hand finally stopped above her right breast touching one of her favorite daggers. She grabbed the handle and started to roll her shoulder.

  The two men weren't looking at her hands they were focused on her head believing that was the best target to hit since she wasn't that tall and the men towered over her. Just like the two guards at the four-way intersection they would soon come to realize that size did not matter in this fight.

  The sai user moved first spinning his right sai in his hand bringing the left one down pointing it to the ground as he thrust forward. Eve sidestepped spinning on her right foot and as her right foot moved to the right and the toes hit the ground she pivoted on the ball of her left foot ducking low and pulling the dagger from its sheath spinning it in her hand stabbing the sai user in the knee. Even though the pain should've been intense he did not scream. The right sai fell out of his hand as he went down to try and grab her arm and in the same instance came up and above her head with the left sai trying to stab her in the back of the neck.

  A devious grin crossed her face as she twisted the dagger in his knee feeling the breakage of ligaments and cartilage in his knee as he buckled. His strike faltered and brushed against her cheek cutting a small ribbon of skin off of it. She leaned backwards a bit disappointed that the sai user struck first. She wanted to save him for last, but it looked like he wanted to die. She pulled the dagger out flipping it up splattering his own blood into his face as she stepped forward with her right foot bending down both knees and then springing up with her left bringing the blade up and thrusting it through the bottom of his chin. She could feel the blade slice into the center of his tongue as she spun it forward towards the opening of his mouth and ripped it out. A piece of his tongue, a few of his teeth and a chuck of his lip burst out of his mouth as she ripped it open. He was now staggered as his other leg gave way and know he was on both his knees.

  She flicked the blood off of the blade and stepped in front of him. He was just sitting there both sais had fallen out of his hands. She grabbed another blade with her right hand spun them both around inward walked up to him and jammed both of the blades into either side of the top of his skull. His eyes flashed and rolled back into his head as his body crumpled. She pulled the daggers out letting his body wither forward onto the floor. She kneeled down and wiped her blades on his gear and spun around spinning the right-handed dagger blade pointed out spinning the left-handed dagger with the blade pointing out as well bent her knees and took a defensive stance facing the riot shield and electrified stun baton user.

  Eve had killed the sai user so swiftly. She did get a cut on her cheek which pissed her off. The devious smile that she had on her face was gone her eyes narrowed her nose wrinkled and very faintly a growl escaped her lips. She lowered her head looking at the man in front of her. She was covered in the sai user's blood and a bit of her own trickled down her cheek as a single drop fell and splashed quietly on the floor.

  The riot shield user was impressed. The sai user wasn't as big as he was, but he was formidable. They both towered over Eve by at least a foot or more and she took him down so skillfully, but she did not come out unscathed. The only reason his blow did not land in the center of her neck was because once Eve had driven her dagger into his knee, she spun it around to tear at the ligaments and shave at the bone to make him buckle.

  The big man cleared his throat. "Very impressive little one. You had your sights set on me. I could tell, but he moved faster, and I let it play out. I thought he had you for a moment there, but you seem to know the human body very well. With a single twist of your knife, you were able to take him down to size and break his face open like a piece of fruit. You will not do that with me."

  Eve let out a giggle finally smiling as she tilted her head to the side. "Think what you want, but you will die here."

  The two of them just stood there staring at each other no other words were spoken and now Eve was tied with Veronica's kill count.

  The battle between Veronica and the staff user had the moment was merely a circling with both of them trying to get the better of the other. Veronica would move in and throw a few jabs and then try and kick the guy's knees from under him, but the staff was at least three to perhaps six feet long his reach was immense. Even though Veronica was tall she wasn't able to get inside his reach so easily. Every attempt at an attack against him was blocked.

  She was started to get frustrated as she looked out of the corner of her eye watching Eve completely decimate the sai user. She smiled. "It looked like my little sister is whopping one of your guy's asses."

  The man chuckled. "Huh, you're not going to get me to advert my gaze so you can strike. If he died to that child, then that's his own fault. I will not fall to you."

  Veronica took in a deep breath knowing that now was the time to use patience. Her opponent was extremely skilled and even though she usually had the strength advantage it was like she was fighting herself. It was time for her to focus and use one of her new techniques that she had been working on for a while now. She exhaled that deep breath and brought her feet together making a v. She brought her hands above her head and brought them down in a pyramid motion like a prayer and bowed her head not taking her eyes off of the staff user. After a moment she closed her eyes and started to focus. One of the things she was trying to perfect was the fact that her outer skin and some layers of her muscles were hardened, but once you got below that to her organs those were soft. Her bones weren't as hard but were at least coated and could be protected. Her goal was to be able to make her entire body as hard as her skin and her inner muscles. If she could do that, she could break the man's defense, but she needed to make sure she didn't break the staff. It could be a formidable weapon in the future and being able to trick someone to thinking that the staff was her ace in the hole would allow her to train her body even more and that would be an even deadlier combination than the skills she used now.

  She started to breath in deep and exhale. One, two, three, four, five, six. She uttered seven and could feel the wind break in front of her as the staff user came in with a full-frontal strike. She smiled her eyes popped open she was still in the bowed stance as she looked up at him.

  His eyes went wide, but it was too late. She ducked underneath the attack pulled back her right fist and twisted her wrist as she did so. All that time she had been standing there focusing she was hardening her hands and her arm all the way up to her elbow making sure even the marrow in her bone was made of that material that coated her skin. She found the way to do that was through meditation. She learned it while in her cave sanctuary. She could only do small parts of the body from her fingertips to her elbow was the most that she could do at the moment. Also, from the bottom of her feet to the bottom of her knee so she could only utilize basically the bottom and top half of her body, but this would be enough.

  He had gotten impatience and decided to do something that was even worse than turning and looking at what Eve was doing. Her wrist was half twisted, and she brought her arm all the way back cocked like a shotgun. She stepped forward with her left foot and bent her knee bringing her right foot forward and thrusting her fist. He had left an opening on his left side, and she figured might as well just take his heart. As she brought her fist up, she spun her twisted wrist and impacted right on the left side of his chest below his heart and went up. She could feel the light armor that he had on rip and twist as her knuckles bored into his skin and then blood poured out of him as her fist went up into his chest and smashed his heart. She could feel it break underneath her knuckles and shatter like a piece of fruit being hit with a mallet.

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  His body tensed up and then went limp as he fell forward. She cursed for a second and brought her stance low bringing her right knee up to catch his body and then she kicked her foot up to knock his body back as she pulled her right arm out of his chest. His body flipped and tumbled to the ground landing a few feet from the exit door. The staff had stood up and started to sway as she flicked her right arm to get as much blood off as possible. She stepped forward and grabbed the staff with her left hand. She smiled spinning it around and slamming it down on the ground as he did. She felt the resonance as she did so as it seemed to meld into her. This was something that should only be wielded by her. This sound was purer then when the two times he had done it, and it was as if her body was singing to the room.

  She smiled spinning the staff around once again doing some kicks and show off her skills with the weapon as she kicked into the air and landed down left foot almost straight knee slightly curved. Right foot out at an angle with the leg straight. The staff ended in her right hand behind her at a diagonal. She pulled herself back up into a standing position and pointed the staff at the two gauntlet users. "You're next." She giggled.

  Without another word and to the surprise of everyone a gunshot went off. Alexandria had squeezed the trigger and the one gauntlet user that Veronica had just pointed at caught a bullet between his eyes. His neck jerked back, and blood splattered all the way up to the ceiling as his body crumbled to the ground. The other gauntlet user jumped back a few paces as Veronica cleared the distance jumping first with her left foot propelling herself into the air taking the staff jerking it back and coming through the air taking the staff and slamming it into the left side of the gauntlet users face. His skin on his cheek basically exploded as his head spun around and you could hear the crack of his neck echo through the room as his body spun for a moment went stiff and then crumpled to the ground.

  Veronica now had a kill count of five and Alexandria had killed one. Two elites remained. The shield and electrified baton user and then the leader with the longword. The leader with the longsword stopped for a moment with pacing around with Glade looking at the carnage that now surrounded him. Two of his men were taken out so quickly you could've blinked and missed it. The most eye-opening kill was Eve's. The way she ripped apart that sai user. He was one of the most skilled fighters the longsword elite had, and she took him down like he was nothing. The issue with the elites in this facility is that their training was mostly geared to fighting the five members or ability users that were captured there. So, everything they had everything they did was geared towards them. They had no idea of the other ability users out there in the world and did not take the time to enhance the repertoire of their abilities which is the reason why Alexandria and her crew were ripping them apart.

  The only mismatch at this point with Eve versus the shield electrified baton user. It was evident in the fact that Eve had not moved from her position aside from walking in a circle trying not to give the man any type of opening because at the moment she could not see one for herself. No matter what she did that shield would stop it and if she heisted even the slightest little bit or missed stepped once and baton hit her it was over. It wouldn't kill her, but it would knock her down and the only person who could get to her quick enough would be Valentina.

  Glade wouldn't move from where she was and right now Veronica had expended so much energy her trying to make a jump from almost halfway across the room to get to Eve would be insanity. The only other person that might be able to help would be Alexandria if she could fire a shot and get the man's attention then Eve could find an opening as he spun to protect himself from the bullet, but she wasn't sure of the strength of the shield. However, that point was moot because the longsword user seemed to be losing his mind in the moment.

  "How in the hell is this possible?! We were chosen because we were the top of any facility out there and we are bested by a bunch of no name people?!"

  Glade raised an eyebrow. She had not been a part of the crew for long, but she took pride in being part of a group and even though she hadn't met all the members yet seeing the display that Veronica and Eve and even Alexandria's ability to shot which paled in comparison to Tyra should her that these pirates were not to be trifled with.

  "This is utterly disgusting. I'm going to kill you bitch and then I'm going to kill your staff friend and then the women with the guns and then Eclipse I'm going to kill your daughter and have you watch." He paused for a moment hyperventilating a bit trying to keep his thoughts in order. "You I will kill you with my second in commands sword, but the kill that I'm going to relish the most is that little girl over there. I'm going to rip you to pieces and I'm going to scatter them across this facility as a reminder to anyone and everyone as to what happens when you fuck with the elite." He had essentially lost it.

  The only one of his elites who was alive, but was keeping their composure was the shield and electrified stun baton user. However, even though the longsword user was the leader the shield user was the oldest and the veteran of the group which was probably the reason why he was still alive not just because of equipment but because of his ability to assess the situation and right now he knew that the two people he did not want to fight were Veronica and Glade.

  Veronica single handedly took almost half of their men out of the equation in a matter of moments and now she had a weapon that could probably break anything in that room including his shield. So, he needed to stay the furthest away from her as possible. Which means Eve was his most ideal opponent. However, somebody who had not yet even made a sound was about to change the tide of the room well move it even more in favor to Crimson Judgement.

  A familiar sound echoed and reverberated through the room as Aurora started skipping towards Eve. Eclipse's face went white. She could not believe what daughter was doing at this moment. Even though before she had said that the carnage that Eclipse had done to the guards and the researchers up on the top floor was too much red this was even more than that. It was less people but more carnage because Valentina and Eve and especially Veronica decided that blood just needed to be everywhere, but somehow Aurora was able to find the cleanest route as she skipped towards Eve.

  She stopped and placed her hands behind her back as if she was standing at a resting position. She swayed back and forth looking up at the man with the shield. The man turned and looked down at her. He had only met Aurora once and he wasn't very fond of her. He did not care for her cuteness or her sarcastic mouth. In fact, one could say that she irritated the hell out of him.

  She looked up at him and tilted her head to the side. "Excuse me mister. How come you're just standing there walking in a circle? All of your friends at least tried to fight expect for those two over there. They just stood there and died, but you. You got this big shield and that zappy stick thingy and all you're doing is walking in a circle. Hell, I could walk in a circle. Does that mean I can beat you up?"

  Eclipse was speechless. Her mouth could've fallen off of her face and rolled around on the floor and it was quite for a moment after Aurora had finished speaking. Nobody could believe what was just said and at first the big man was keeping his composure until he heard a snort and Eve burst into laughter.

  "You got insulted by a child and not just a child. A child who you seem to really hate. You must feel like shit." Again silence.

  Aurora was still standing there in front of the big man swaying looking at him with a big goofy grin on her face.

  You could feel the tension and the stress coming off of him as his grip tightened on the baton. He had not faced her he had just looked at her from the side keeping his attention on Eve and it looked like he was about to lose it and then the final straw broke.

  "Mister, are you afraid?"

  Everyone's eyes widened. They could not believe what Aurora just said.

  It only took a moment. He turned bringing his shield down in front of him slamming it on the ground ducking low to get within striking range. He brought the baton back engaging the electrified hum and was coming down to smack Aurora right in the side of the head.

  A giggle echoed through the room, but it wasn't Aurora that was giggling it was Eve. Before he could fully realize the extent of his mistake it was too late. Eve moved like lightning coming up behind him. She dug her right-hand dagger into the small of his back making the strike he was about to land quiver and break just a tad. The electrified stun baton slipped from his hand and started to fall to the floor. Her left hand came a little bit higher at the side close to the bottom of his left lung and dug it into him and she wasn't slowing down. She cross drew two daggers out of the sheath from up to down spinning them upward moving closer to his back. He had buckled a bit. she jumped up on his armor that was wrapped around his legs and drove the two daggers one into each shoulder ripping them backward a bit and then forcing them into his back. He buckled again loosening the grip on his shield which fell forward.

  Aurora took one step back her hands still behind her back as she swayed lightly shuffling across the floor.

  The big man fell to his knees as his breathing went ragged. Eve pulled up on the daggers bringing her small body up as she jumped onto his shoulders. She drew another dagger from her back left-hand side along the shoulder blade. She jumped up in the air stepping on both of the handles of the blades that went into his back and driving them almost all the way into his body. Nothing but a small little piece of the handle stuck out. His knees buckled and his chest almost hit the floor as he weakly used his hands to keep himself from falling prone on the floor. She flipped over his head and bent down low two fingers bringing his chin up as she ripped the mask off of his face. She moved closer looking him in the eyes and tilting her head as she smiled.

  "You made the wrong choice going after the girl."

  His eyes widened as she put her right hand up one of the longest daggers she had and drove it into the crown of his head. His eyes crossed as he jerked back a bit as they rolled back into his head and his body crumpled to the floor. The man with the most composure in the room lost it because a little girl asked him if he was afraid and he decided to try and hit her with an electrified stun baton.

  The room went silent even Aurora stopped swaying. The only one left standing the last fight to be had was the longsword commander versus Glade and now he was alone surrounded by the blood and bodies of his comrades. The only thing standing in between him and escaping was basically a replica of his blade and a woman who wanted to rip him to pieces.

  Glade smile tilting her head to the side as she spoke. "You're all alone now. What are you going to do next?"