Exit Stage Left.

Alisa's green eyes narrowed warily at the weapon in the hooded girl's hand. Even with the oversized rifle pointed at her opponent, her instincts told her to be careful. She could just faintly make out a hint of pale skin from beneath the low hood, along with what she thought was a tuft of white hair.

"Hmph! There's no need to be so mean!" Alisa sighed, twirling her ponytail around her finger. Then she pulled the trigger, sending a three-round burst of bullets at the hooded woman.

With barely hidden laziness, Alisa's opponent blocked the barrage with the flat of her blade. That sword sent shivers down the pink-haired girl's spine. Unlike the beautiful weapons used by Huntsmen, the sword was crudely forged. It was almost like a mixture of two blades, held together by a single large bolt in the centre. Half of the sword was a cold black colour, with a large handguard. The other half was a single-edged silver-coloured sabre with a staggered blade.

"Tch. How come bullets never work on people." She whined while drawing her knife. Instead of wielding the blade in her hand, she affixed it to the end of her rifle, using it as a bayonet. "I'm getting tired of talking to myself. You got a name or something? Hobbies?"

"Altera." The hooded girl curtsied politely, "You'd do well to remember the one who will take your life."

She dashed forward along the metal beam, her sword creating sparks as the tip scraped across the steel floor. When she slashed upwards, Alisa confidently swung her rifle downwards, intending to trap the blade underfoot. However, she quickly recoiled in surprise when she felt no resistance from the strike.

Altera had let go of the sword. In a panic, Alisa raised her rifle and fired, only for the hooded girl to spin around the slug and land a devastating kick to the side of her hide.

Pain flared through her head as she staggered backwards. Thankful for the pink aura surrounding her, Alisa grimaced as a realization began to set in. [That move just now.] Her mind recalled the first fight between Eric and Raishun. He had done something similar near the match's end… no, the two moves were nearly identical. [She's like a faster Raishun.]

Altera huffed pridefully and kicked her sword back into her hands. Without a word, she sprinted full speed towards Alisa, sword aimed to pierce through her heart.

Without a moment to spare, Alisa backpedalled as fast as she could. She tried aiming as best she could, but most of her shots missed their targets. Those that did were only deflected by the unnerving sword racing towards her. Right as it seemed she would be impaled, Alisa stopped dead in her tracks. Sticking her palm out to the side, she quickly formed a bullet, loaded it, and fired it at Altera's forehead.

Altera ducked, the shot whizzing over her head and into the darkness behind them. Before she could gloat, however, a bright light appeared behind her. She only had time to crane her neck before dozens of white-hot lines pierced her body. She writhed in pain, her mouth opening in a silent cry of pain before she exploded into a blue plume of fire.

Alisa blanched at the sight. The girl didn't scream, but she still collapsed onto the beam as the flames started to consume her.

"Sorry about this. I don't think this'll be enough to kill you, but you're not gonna feel pretty when you wake up." With one last look at her opponent, she turned to leave.

"Don't think you've beaten me." A distorted voice rang from behind her made her blood freeze in her veins.

Turning on her heel, she saw Altera standing a few meters away, seemingly untouched by the flames. The same could not be said for her cloak, which had been burned away, leaving only the hood that obscured her face. Without the covering, Alisa got a good look at her figure.

She was wearing what looked like a formal black button-up vest. Her similarly coloured skirt had white frills, which exposed a portion of her thigh that wasn't covered by her thigh-high brown boots. In terms of armour, she only had an elegant silver pauldron on her left shoulder.

"Oooh look at you!" Alisa cooed tauntingly, "Have you considered modeling? With a body like that, I know some people who can make you some real money."

The girl let out a choked sound and covered her chest with her free arm. She stuck out her other hand, the palm facing Alisa. A white-coloured aura began to gather at her palm, only to quickly disappear when Altera dropped her hand with a panicked gasp.

"Special bullets, a mouth that never seems to stop running, and an addiction to lien." The purple-eyed girl rattled off, slowly stalking towards her opponent. "You're definitely the Alisa I remember. But I liked your other name more. Red Riding Hood just has a nicer ring to it, don't you think?"

Alisa blinked in surprise, "I like Alisa better. It's the name my mother gave me after all!" She said while proudly placing a hand on her chest. "How do you know that name though?"

"Through the grapevine." Altera replied with calculated calm. She pressed a finger to her lips, "It's really a shame your mother died though. Taken down during a police raid, right? All without fighting back."

Alisa's body tensed up at the insult. She bristled with fury as her hand opened up to form several large bullets. Her hate-filled eyes locked onto Altera's. "I'm going to kill you now." She growled coldly.

Altera laughed and opened her mouth to speak. What came out next was a loud cry of pain as a large jagged spike embedded itself deep into her shoulder. Knocked off balance, she nearly toppled over the edge but caught herself on the same L-shaped railing she'd sat on before.

"You!... You used your forbidden technique! You cheeky bitch!" Grasping the spike in her shoulder, she pulled it out with a loud cry of pain. Blood sprayed onto the rafters below and dripped down her fingertip onto her sword. "The bullets that can pierce aura. The perfect weapon for a murderer."

The girl in green chambered another bullet and fired. It would've gone through her opponents head if it wasn't for the intervention of another hooded figure. They slammed into Altera, knocking her into the air. Reaching out her hand, Altera closed it, suddenly teleporting on top of the nearby stage lights.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." Altera hissed while grasping her injured shoulder in pain. "Feeling a little overprotective today? Herba."

The second hooded figure named Herba didn't respond. With a sigh, Altera shrugged and pointed her hand at the crowd of people.

"That was fun Alisa. We'll finish this another time."

With a distorted sound, she disappeared, leaving Alisa and Herba to face off against each other. The pink-haired girl searched the crowd for Altera and cursed under her breath when she couldn't find her.

"Where did she go!" She roared at Herba, levelling her rifle at her new opponents head. "I'm not playing around! I'll kill her!"

"Spare me your threats." Herba huffed in a mature feminine voice. "You're 10 years too early to even think of fighting me."

Without a word, Alisa held down the trigger. A barrage of her spiked bullets tore apart Herba's body, piercing clean through and embedding themselves into the rafters behind the duo. The attack didn't seem to faze her, as the holes quickly sewed themselves shut.

Herba didn't move. Instead, she only stared at Alisa with piercing yellow eyes.

"Don't look at me!" Alisa roared, charging forward with her bayonet. She didn't make it more than a few feet when her vision seemed to go haywire. One moment she was charging towards the hooded figure; the next, she was flying through the air with a large black thorn piercing her clean through the stomach.

"W-wha!?!" She choked out, blood spilling from her mouth as she collapsed onto the steel beam. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't catch her breath. Black mist clouded the corners of her vision, and her limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.

"Forgive Altera for acting that way." Herba bowed as she walked towards the fallen Huntress. "She tends to get excited when that boy is involved."

Reaching down, Alisa could feel her uniform becoming sticky and warm to the touch. No matter how hard she tried, every attempt to speak only caused more blood to spill from her lips.

"Poor girl. Let me ease your pain." The hooded woman cooed. Raising her blue spear into the air, she let it hover for a moment. "You can close your eyes if you'd like."

Alisa shook her head, eyes burning bright with anger. She wanted to scream, to yell in frustration at her defeat. But there was a part of her that was scared, ashamed almost.

[I'm sorry, mom.] She thought, a tear rolling down the corner of her eye. The last thing she saw was the woman's sad smile and the blue blur of her spear as it pierced her heart.