‘’Run little girl!’’

 

A growing teenage Chaeyoung with terror in her eyes ran as fast as her legs can; her lightning element helping her speed up but it was no use to an experienced elzard

 

A manic laughter echoed in Chaeyoung’s ears and she could feel tears slowly being gathered in her eyes

 

‘Jisoo-unnie…even Jennie-unnie…Lisa…mom, or dad’ Chaeyoung thought helplessly

 

‘Please…help’

 

She was in a forest with the night accompanying the surroundings making it dark…

 

But this is one place she’s not familiar with at all because she was trying to help a stranger…

 

However

 

Who would have thought that this ‘helpless’ stranger is actually strong and…

 

Chaeyoung shakily grabbed herself tightly and bit her lip to stop herself from screaming out of fear as she remembered what happened earlier

 

She shakily took a breath and then stopped breathing at all as a dark deep voice echoed in the forest

 

‘’You think you can hide my domain little girl?’’

 

A drunken slur can be heard from his voice before that same manic laughter boomed once again making fear grip Chaeyoung’s heart.

 

‘’Think again!’’

 

‘’Ugh!’’

 

Chaeyoung cried out in pain as vines suddenly grabbed both of her hands and feet, lifting her up in the air. Then a voice close to her ears finally made her entire body shake in fear

 

‘’I finally found you’’

 

He chuckled and walked closer to the now tied up Chaeyoung who was struggling with all her might but she was unable to get out of the vines’ tight grip, signifying how strong her assaulter is.

 

He smirked ‘’I admit you surprised me with that sudden attack back there…but now?’’ He clenched his fist and Chaeyoung yelped in pain feeling the vines gripping her more than ever, slight blood slipping out of its leaves.

 

‘’There’s no escape’’

---

‘’Welcome to one of my personal training ground’’

Jisoo looked on with amazement seeing different targets around the forest area that is quite far from their home and near the mountains. It took them at least two to three hours to get here.

Jisung smiled seeing Jisoo’s excitement and looked back seeing Hyuna already preparing snacks for them. ‘’Honey…we’re not even getting started yet’’ He sweat-dropped but received a heated glare making him shut up

‘’Just do your thing Jisung’’ Hyuna smiled sweetly so Jisung just nodded quickly and turned his attention to the four girls.

‘’Here, I’ve bought many daggers from our weapon’s collection and it should be enough for training. They’re a special kind of dagger wherein the connection between your element to the dagger is much more enhanced.’’ Jisung demonstrated by pushing his lava element to the dagger making the tip of the dagger glow brown red. He launched it and the tree it struck melted at its intensity.

Chaeyoung hummed ‘’I got to admit, even if I do hate their guts, they sure are strong.’’

‘’I wonder if I could do that…’’ Jennie murmured, picking up the dagger and charging her own lava element before throwing it also to a tree. The tree’s bark melted but it stood strong.

‘’I’m glad you’re still training your lava element Jennie’’ Jisung nodded with a smile ‘’Keep on training it and you’ll be able to melt the trees like what I did.’’

‘’So, what are we going to do dad?’’ Lisa asked, picking up the dagger and inspecting it.

‘’I’m glad you asked’’ Jisung smiled before tapping the earth making more hidden targets appear around them

‘’I’m going to need to see your accuracy’’ Jisung stated ‘’Your accuracy really matters because daggers are mostly used as throwing weapons. After the accuracy test, I’m going to teach you how to improve your stealth when ambushing someone.’’

Jisoo nodded ‘’That makes sense; the dagger is a light weapon so it will be easier to ambush someone with a weapon like that to create more silence.’’

‘’Correct’’ Jisung nodded as well making Hyuna just giggle quietly at the corner; her eyes looking happily between Jisung and Jisoo

‘’They look like each other so much…’’

‘’Patience is what needed in this training which I hope you all have it’’

Jennie snorted ‘’It’s pretty hard to believe you mastered it dad since you’re such an impatient person’’

A blur and suddenly, Jisung is behind his second daughter while holding his dagger in reverse grip; its tip nearing Jennie’s neck dangerously

Jisung chuckled making Jennie gulp inaudibly ‘’I admit it took some time for me to master this but I wanted a weapon like the dagger so I worked hard for it.’’

Jisung looked down and nodded in approval for Jennie’s quick action of putting up her earth armor to protect herself

‘’Good reflexes’’ He then looked at Chaeyoung with one eye ‘’And you can stop charging that dagger with lightning’’

Chaeyoung let out a breath and stopped the flow of her element; her instincts are sometime over reacting but it’s better than getting hurt.

‘’So why don’t we get started?’’ Jisung let go of Jennie who also dropped her armor. He looked at his eldest and nodded towards her

‘’You can start Jisoo’’ Jisung said

Jisoo looked at the red mark on the target in front of her and threw her dagger (almost lazily). It hits the bullseye mark and continued on hitting the others perfectly.

Jennie and Lisa almost wanted to drop their mouth in shock as Jisoo threw her daggers with no hesitation as if she’s been doing this for years.

‘’Well, it should be expected if Chaeyoung is good at swords and that’s her chosen weapon’’ Jennie muttered, frowning at the display of strength of her sister who was, in her opinion, showing her true strength by leaps and bounds.

And judging by Jisung’s pleased expression, he would probably take her up as his student for this training.

‘’Great job Jisoo’’ Jisung smiled happily, giving her a thumbs-up. Jisoo just nodded in acknowledgement and watch Jennie step forward as she also started throwing daggers but with much more aggressiveness than Jisoo, almost breaking the targets at how hard she’s throwing.

‘’Probably adding the hardness of her earth element’’ Jisung noticed and can’t help but feel proud at the strength of his daughters and even their ingenious uses of their elements.

Jennie has hit all of the bullseye as well making her smirk in pride. Jisoo hummed and has to admit her sister really is a natural at almost everything.

‘’Great job’’

Jisoo complimented her making Jennie flustered a bit at the sudden comment and replied hastily

‘’S-shut up! That was too easy anyways’’

Jisoo chuckled as Jennie looked away from her to watch Chaeyoung finish hers quickly because she used her lightning element to speed up the process.

‘’You look like you were just stretching you hand’’ Lisa pouted as Chaeyoung passed her

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes but a playful smile on her face ‘’Good luck out there’’

Lisa smirked and twirled her dagger confidently

‘’I got this.’’

 

She didn’t

 

Lisa almost failed miserably because she only hit the bullseye once and even managed to land one out of the target. She could almost here the suppressed laughter of her family minus Jennie because she was certainly enjoying teasing Lisa

 

‘’Wow Lisa, you almost got them all’’ Jennie snickered making Lisa glare at her

 

‘’I’m trying okay!’’

 

Jisung sighed and advised her ‘’Try bending your wrist more and concentrate Lisa.’’

 

Lisa sighed and thought ‘’Looks like I have to use…it even in a different way’’

 

‘’What?!’’

 

Chaeyoung blinked after Jennie yelled when Lisa have finally hit the bullseye perfectly like all of them. The devilish smirk in the maknae’s face shows that she probably did something for her horrible aim.

Jisoo and Jisung also looked confused that Lisa suddenly got that right after just one advice ‘’Well…’’ Jisung commented ‘’That was…quick’’

Lisa happily made it back to the girls with Jennie looking at her as if she pranked all of them at the display

 

‘’You’re not a dark elzard are you?’’ Jennie said making Lisa look at her incredulously

 

‘’Why the hell made you think of that?’’ Lisa asked

 

‘’Because I thought what I’m seeing is an illusion since you got pretty horrible aim’’

 

Chaeyoung snorted and Jisoo outrighted laugh at her sister’s savage response

 

‘’Yah!’’

 

Jisung chuckled and shook his head ‘’Onto the next part of your accuracy training if all of you are done’’

 

The scowl in Lisa’s face disappeared after huffing and everyone looked at Jisung for instructions who tapped his feet again as the targets now started moving all around the girls

Jisung grinned and threw his dagger to one of the moving target’s bullseye mark, once again making them amazed at how he hit that without even looking at them.

‘’Now, you hit the targets as they are moving.’’ Jisung instructed ‘’And let’s play a little game. The loser will have a punishment.’’

The four girls suddenly tensed but a shimmer of excitement and challenge is in their eyes

‘’The one with the least bullseye shot will be the loser. Jisoo, you’ll start again’’

---

‘’Lalisa I swear’’

 

Jennie growled hearing loud laughter from the maknae and even snickers from Chaesoo making her blush in embarrassment.

Lisa looked at her tauntingly, waving her own dagger to Jennie as if she was a baby

 

‘’Aww I’m sorry unnie that you had to lose, I truly am’’ Lisa said with a ‘caring’ tone. Jennie wanted to punch Lisa on the face if it wasn’t by her dad’s earth encasing her lower body and has an earth-like mask covering her face…but what’s different is that the earth somehow looks slight transparent that Jisung doesn’t want to spill how he made it like that.

So, everyone could see Jennie’s face despite wearing a mask

Speaking of Jisung, he is also trying to hide his laughter seeing the state of his youngest and even Hyuna couldn’t stop the giggles escaping .

‘’How did you even get so good with the aiming?! You were horrible at that when we were practicing the bow and arrow back when we were children!’’ Jennie shouted

Lisa laughed and stuck out her tongue ‘’ I’m just amazing like that’’ She boasted

‘’So,’’ Jisung cleared his throat but snickers are escaping him making Jennie glower at him angrily ‘’Since Jennie apparently missed at least five of the bullseye targets, she lost the game. Chaeyoung and Lisa also almost lost the game since they missed four bullseye targets. I was really about to make another game but alas Jennie lost.’’

Jennie scowled at that making Jisung looked at her with a glint in his eyes and continued speaking to ChiLiChaeng.

‘’For the punishment, the three of you will be hitting the wood on top of Jennie’s head.’’

Oops, forgot to mention the wood on top of Jennie’s head

‘’After hitting that, you can go and eat the snacks that Hyuna prepared.’’

‘’That’s it?’’ Jisoo asked

‘’Nope’’ Jisung smiled ‘’As part of Jennie’s punishment also, you must add your element to your dagger. Instead of the normal amount, try adding more power to it so that you could also get used in using stronger elemental attacks with your dagger’’

‘’I swear, dad has the worst punishments even when me and Lisa were just children…heck even with Jisoo, we experience either the most embarrassing or just the worst.’’ Jennie sulked after hearing the condition.

She really needs to drill Lisa on how the hell did her aim get even better than her…her! The one with the hawk-eye vision!

‘’Looks like I’m getting rusty’’ Jennie also can’t help but blame herself because she’s been neglecting her main weapon. Heck she couldn’t even remember the last time she trained using the arrow.

This training session really made her realize that and was secretly thankful because she would be able to rectify her mistakes.

And a plan of revenge is now slowly brewing in her mind, especially to a certain maknae

‘’First up, Jisoo since you perfectly finished the past challenges’’ Jisung smiled proudly making Jisoo blush a bit at the compliment and can’t help but let out a small grateful smile

‘’Your training session is really nice too…dad’’

Jisung beamed happily at that and stayed quiet, not wanting to ruin the rush of happiness flowing in him. Hyuna smiled lovingly at him and could also feel herself getting motivated to get stronger as well.

Jisoo looked at her funny-looking sister and could only chuckle at the sight. Jennie growled and yelled

‘’Just do it already!’’

Jisoo charged her dagger with the air element and swirls of wind started surrounding the dagger. Jennie gulped and could only trust her sister’s aim, but she readied her earth element just in case.

The air element can also make things sharp…but she got her earth element readied for that

 

SWISH

 

Jennie let out a breath of relief and flinched slightly feeling the air molecules attacking her as well.

 

Jisoo really let poured her element well and made her way to Hyuna for some snacks who welcomed her whole-heartedly

‘’You were amazing’’ Hyuna smiled before it turned sad ‘’I’m just sad that we didn’t watch you grow this strong…’’

Jisoo shook her head ‘’Thanks anyways’’ Jisoo muttered before grabbing a sandwich and taking a bite, watching Chaeyoung take her position and charged the dagger with her lightning element.

To not delay with Jennie’s punishment, Chaeyoung quickly threw the dagger but also made sure that she didn’t put too much energy that was sadly noticed by Jisung.

‘’Chaeyoung, I thought I told you to release more power’’

Chaeyoung shrugged ‘’I did, by a slight percent’’

‘’Smart-’’ Jennie rolled her eyes but was smiling inwardly because the girl she likes doesn’t want to hurt her too much.

Jisung looked at her and just shook his head but a slight amused smile in his face ‘’smart mouth you have there, just like your father’’ He smiled melancholy but Chaeyoung tensed hearing the name of her biological father and wordlessly made her way to Jisoo who apparently noticed her tense mood.

‘’Hey, you okay?’’ Jisoo whispered

Chaeyoung was already in her second sandwich and nodded, the food clearly calming down her dark thoughts ‘’Yeah, don’t worry.’’

Thank God for Hyuna’s cooking…or just generally, the foods

Lisa smirked mischievously making Jennie growl

‘’When I get out of her, I’m going to cut your bangs with my arrow’’

‘’I like to see you try loser’’ Lisa said smugly and charged her water element, the dagger glowing blue and accepting the water that Lisa is giving to it.

‘’Why are you taking so long?!’’ Jennie finally snapped after a minute of Lisa charging her dagger

Lisa smiled innocently

‘’Just you wait’’

Then she threw the dagger

---

‘’I’m going to kill you’’

Jennie glared menacingly to Lisa who was hiding behind Chaeyoung as Jisoo started drying Jennie’s wet form because apparently the maknae was taking too long to charge her dagger because she’s putting a huge amount of water to the dagger so that when it hit the target, it will bring down the same amount of water that Lisa charged to it.

And apparently, it was almost the same amount as a huge gallon of water that could provide to at least two houses

‘’I can do it myself’’ Jennie looked at her sister who was drying her up with her air element.

Jisoo shrugged ‘’It’s faster than you steaming the water up.’’

‘’I agree with her Jennie’’ Jisung said ‘’Your fire element is not that high yet’’

‘’I’m working on it!’’ Jennie protested while Chaeyoung was in deep thought

‘’That was not that high yet?’’ She thought as she remembered Jennie teaching her how to manipulate the fire element.

The elzard world sure is scary

Chaeyoung’s eyes darkened ‘’definitely scary…’’ She thought darkly

‘’So, for our last lesson today’’ Jisung started speaking cutting of Chaeyoung’s thoughts as they finished eating

‘’Is stealth’’

Jisung touched the ground with his hands and closed his eyes. Soon, the earth started shaping four Jisung to the left of the creator. Jisung wiped a sweat from his face after concentrating so hard and started explaining while looking at the amazed expressions of his four daughters

‘’As you can see, this is not a real human’’ Jisung cut off the arm of one Jisung and it grew back with the earth element of Jisung supplying it.

‘’But an earth clone. This is a high-level manipulation of element since it needs to look exactly like you. It’s high level for me because my clones can take more hits before really dispelling. In your girls’ level, you can only create a clone as a distraction. One hit, and it’s out.’’

‘’So, are we going to dispel these clones of yours as part of our stealth training?’’ Jisoo said

‘’Yes, you will. Wait for at least 2 minutes for them to move around the forest. The farthest you can get from here is just a kilometer. Maximize the trees’ darkness and become one with your surroundings. Stay quiet and don’t make any sound, even your breathing so keep it as quiet as possible.’’ Jisung nodded to his clones who started going to different directions with the girls’ sharp eyes following them intently, already deciding which one is theirs.

‘’I’ll take North’’ Jisoo said to them

‘’I’ll take West’’ Chaeyoung also informed them

‘’I’ll take South then’’ Lisa grinned, already looking at the clone Jisung going there

‘’I’ll go for East’’ Jennie grumbled, and nodded in thanks to Jisoo for making her dry. She wouldn’t admit it but Jisoo’s element sure felt nice.

‘’Now,’’ Jisung looked at them seriously

‘’We wait.’’

---

‘’Stealth huh’’

Jennie thought in her mind as she went to the east part of the forest, closing her eyes to somehow feel any vibrations to the earth they are all stepping in. She immediately located her sister and Chaeyoung who apparently jumped up making her lose connection to them.

She then sensed Lisa who was apparently stopping in one place, probably doing something with her element right now.

‘’It’s just a kilometer so I should be able to expand it more’’

Jennie concentrated harder and now her range has reached a kilometer around her; making her also feel her parents’ presence back at the training ground.

She felt another earth element clash against hers and she was in full alert as it was near her

‘’Damn I didn’t know they could use some spells despite being clones’’ Jennie cursed. The clone she’s chasing has probably sensed her and started running away through the trees.

‘’It will probably stay that way too, and because of that, it might assume I would also jump at the trees but I’m not the strongest elzard for nothing’’ Jennie smirked, raising her hand and it started glowing brown, as well as her eyes so she shouted her technique

‘’Earth Smash!’’

Jennie punched the ground and immediately at least 200 meters of the ground is now shaking. Jennie didn’t put much power to not make her target aware of where she is.

If she did, the trees were probably falling right now

She quickly felt a presence and immediately jumped up, looking on to her left with deadly cat eyes. She easily maintained her balance despite the still shaking ground and quickly saw the clone of her father now starting to jump up again in the tree after the shaking has stopped.

It was too late for the clone however

Jennie charged her dagger with her lava element and whispered

‘’Earth Trap’’

Clone Jisung jumped out of the way to avoid getting trapped and its eyes widened now seeing Jennie waiting for him to jump at her direction

‘’I wouldn’t have thought Physics would help me in luring it to me’’ Jennie smirked because she calculated the displacement where Clone Jisung would jump away if she placed her earth trap in the right position.

‘’Bye’’

Jennie stabbed it from the neck as it melted from her lava element.

Jennie let out a breath and whispered ‘’I should probably return now that I’m done’’

BOOM!

A flash of electricity is what she noticed from her far left and noticed immediately that it’s Chaeyoung. Jennie twirled her dagger and gripped it, deciding that it’s better to see how the others are doing than her being bored back at the training ground.

‘’I wonder where she’s going though? Since it looks like she’s heading North…’’

Jennie pursued her lips and knew immediately where she’s going

With Lisa

‘’Let’s see here…’’

Lisa closed her eyes and used the nature around her to become her line of sight. She can only do this with a specific distance but since this is just a kilometer, she can absolutely do that. She quickly found her dad’s clone and noticed that it was hiding in the dark. Quite clever too because if it wasn’t for Lisa’s grass element, she would have missed it.

‘’This is going to be easy’’ Lisa smirked,

She let the vines carry her to not make any sound towards her target and there it is; just concentrating its earth element around the area to make sure it’s not going to be found by Lisa

Too bad Lisa has a strong grass element.

Her hands glowed green and the clone snapped its eyes opened to see vines wrapping around it tightly. It was about to escape but it was too late.

‘’If it has dad’s real power, it would have dodged it already’’

SLASH

‘’Good thing that it’s not though.’’ Lisa whispered and watched the clone wither back to the ground ‘’I better get back now…’’

BOOM!

‘’What was that?’’ Lisa blinked and saw that there were falling lava at the north part of the forest. She knows only three people who has the lava element and that’s Jennie, her dad, and Yeri.

‘’What’s going on?’’

Feeling dread creeping up to her, she gripped her dagger tightly and ran towards the northern part of the forest, which was quite far from hers.

With Chaeyoung

Chaeyoung sighed and used her lightning element to zip towards various of trees. She made sure to stay up in the air instead of the ground since the clone might have Jisung’s real element instilled in it. Despite it being a clone, she doesn’t want to underestimate it.

If there was one thing that her life has taught her, is that to never hold back to an enemy.

Chaeyoung gripped the dagger tightly, remembering what taught her that lesson. ‘’Revenge…when I finally expose the dirt on the council, I will make sure to get revenge’’ She thought darkly

Even though she was reprimanded by her Bom-unnie and even Jisoo for thinking like this, she can’t help it especially since Seungri is apparently one of their professors.

It’s hard to contain her anger after everything they have been through

Chaeyoung smirked after finally roaming around the forest. She was lucky enough to find the clone because her element will certainly not help in finding it…

But it’s certainly useful in killing it stealthily

She charged her lightning element to the dagger and it sparked lightning. Apparently, it made a sound as the clone’s ears perked up and started running away to get out.

Chaeyoung’s eyes observed the way its running and threw her dagger

SLACK!

The clone spasmed for a bit as it was hit by a lightning-charged dagger before finally withering down to the ground.

‘’Easy’’ Chaeyoung smirked smugly before grabbing the dagger once again. She was about to return back to the training ground but a feeling tugged her to the North area and that’s when she heard it

BOOM!

Her eyes widened and she immediately sprinted quickly to the North area with only one thought

‘’Jisoo!’’

With Jisoo

Jisoo sighed, looking at the withering clone of her dad. She watched it return to the ground and could only smile to herself. She got the clone in just three minutes, that’s got to be a great record for her training and she can’t wait to tell Bom about it.

‘’Looks like I haven’t got rusty after all’’

It was thanks to her air element that she was able to see the clone; the ability to fly surely is useful and more power also means more speed. It doesn’t mean she’s as fast as Chaeyoung but it’s still a good boost of speed.

She quickly found the clone that was just jumping from tree to tree. She blended well in the darkness thanks to countless of training.

‘’Dalgom…’’

A small light appeared next to her and there’s her elemental beast, wagging his tail happily before Jisoo’s cheek at finally able to see his master.

‘’Whoa there Dalgomie, easy,’’ Jisoo whispered and smiled lovingly to her dog ‘’We’re training right now and I need you to act as decoy. I’ll send you over to another spot using my air element and when the clone looked at you confusingly, I want you to blind it with your light powers okay?’’

Dalgom nodded and Jisoo sent him forward without the clone noticing it because it was busy jumping away.

Dalgom is also fast on his feet so Jisoo knows that she has absolutely no reason to worry. Jisung doesn’t know what kind of elemental beast she has so it’s safe to assume his clones won’t too.

Dalgom looked innocently as the clone of Jisung walked closer to him, a confused expression on its face, wondering why a dog is doing in a forest.

Dalgom barked and glowed brightly making the Jisung clone shout in pain, covering its eyes and that’s when Jisoo struck him down.

‘’Got you.’’

STAB!

Now back to the current time, Jisoo knelt down and played with Dalgom’s ears to show her appreciation

‘’Great job buddy’’

Dalgom yipped happily before tensing, a growl escaping his mouth and looking behind Jisoo. He barked angrily and the moment Dalgom barked, a figure burst out of its hiding spot with a glowing wind sword surrounding his arm as it is aiming towards Jisoo.

Jisoo’s battle instinct activated as she turned around

CLANG!

As if the sound of metal happened between them but it was only the sharpness of wind. Jisoo glared angrily at the figure in front of her, her wind-charged dagger against his wind-like sword.

‘’An attack...again’’ Jisoo growled and was struggling to overpower the figure, her knees buckling at his sheer strength.

‘’Just…what…would…I need to…do to get you out of our….’’ Jisoo’s form started glowing white, her light element increasing her physical strength as she surprised her attacker with a kick to the side.

‘’Lives!’’

The figure grunted in pain as he crashed against the tree harshly. He stood up like a robot and started whispering in a faint voice

‘’Lava Sprout’’

The earth started shaking and slowly, a mini volcano started erupting from the ground. Jisoo tensed and the shaking grew even stronger as the volcano exploded, releasing lava out from its core

BOOM!

‘’Dalgom quick dodge those! You can’t get hit by a lava element’’

An affirmative bark was all she heard and the figure is now already charging at Jisoo with an intent to harm.

‘’Air Slash!’’

Jisoo released a strong half eclipse sharp wind but the figure swatted it away like it’s nothing. Jisoo gritted her teeth because she can’t put much power due to her moving around to dodge the lava.

‘’Dalgom! Blind him!’’

Dalgom quickly appeared in front of the attacker and started glowing white. He effectively blinded the attacker but yelped when he swatted Dalgom away, his lava quickly hitting the poor dog.

Jisoo charged her dagger with the light element, making it stronger than before as the light element focused on the physical aspect, she would be able to inflict a bigger damage to the attacker. She charged forward and used the opportunity that Dalgom created for her to stab the attacker in his sides.

The attacked howled in pain and pushed Jisoo away with his air element

Jisoo regained her senses quickly and barely rolled out of the way from the lava. She grabbed Dalgom and started healing him, running around and seeing the mini volcano still sprouting lava out of its core

‘’When will that stop?’’

Jisoo gritted her teeth, not noticing the figure is now flying towards her with quick speed

‘’Lava Slash’’

Jisoo cried out in pain as the wind-kind of sword was fused with lava. ‘’That’s a high manipulation of element! Fusing two elements in one attack…’’

Her shoulders already hurting from the burns of the lava and apparently her attacker is not done

‘’Air Force’’

Dalgom tried to bite the figure but he swatted the white dog away with his other hand while Jisoo was thrown back at the tree, the darkness surrounding her as the shades of the tree blocked her from the sun.

‘’Damn it…it’s hard to fight when I’m all alone’’ Jisoo’s mind flashed to Chaeyoung as she was the one who was with her whenever they’re getting attacked by these masked figures

She could feel the air trying to choke her but she resisted by also letting out her air element but as the figure stepped closer, the air surrounding her is getting stronger and stronger, slowly overcoming her own power.

She almost forgot how strong these masked figures are…

‘’Chaeyoung…I…need you’’

‘’You….’’

An enraged growl was heard and Jisoo could finally breath again as she gasped for air, her eyes looking up and could feel relief flood to her system seeing the back of the girl she loves.

‘’Chaeyoung…’’ Jisoo smiled in relief but then shivered at the cold aura that Chaeyoung is releasing right now

And she also forgot how scary Chaeyoung is when she’s angry…

‘’You again…you bastards’’ Chaeyoung angrily scowled, her eyes b with hate and anger upon seeing Jisoo getting hurt by these masked figures again. She exploded with a burst of dark lightning as she shouted

‘’I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!’’

‘’Lightning Strike!’’

With a dagger by her hand, she charged towards the masked figure with unmeasurable speed and stabbed him harshly at the other side. Then she charged her other hand with lightning before striking it towards her opponent; an angry scowl on her face as she kept on pushing more lightning to her attack.

‘’R-rosie’’

Jisoo looked to her side and saw Jennie, watching Chaeyoung with wide eyes at the brutality she’s seeing from the younger girl.

‘’You’re not going anywhere’’ Chaeyoung growled and slamming the ground as she shouted

‘’Lightning Trap!’’

The figure was trapped with lightning and retaliated by covering himself with earth, forming a dome inside the lightning cage.

Chaeyoung let out a ‘tsk’ sound, not noticing the earth forming behind her.

‘’Chaeyoung watch out!’’

Chaeyoung could feel the harsh burning on her back and turned around seeing the masked figure molding himself out of the earth behind her and clearly attacked her with a direct hit lava.

Chaeyoung gritted her teeth, her anger numbing the pain and she just answered with another lightning slash in which her opponent just blocked before kicking her on the stomach.

‘’Rosie!’’ Jennie quickly went towards her, the lava from the volcano not affecting her at all. She then stopped dead in her tracks after hearing Chaeyoung speaking in a low voice, still looking at the figure with anger and hate in her eyes.

‘’If you think I’m done in one attack…’’ Chaeyoung chuckled before sneering ‘’You’re in for another fight.’’

Jennie watched Chaeyoung get up and fight once again, her thoughts are in haywire at what she’s seeing right now ‘’An attack from another unknown figure but this time, it’s a man. And also…’’ She bit her lip, looking at Jisoo who was still healing herself and Dalgom while out of the lava’s way and then looking at the battling Chaeyoung

‘’It looks like Jisoo and Chaeyoung encountered this one before too…’’

Jisoo bit her lip in thought as well ‘’Damn it, we can’t release our full power here…not with them here…’’ She looked at the mini volcano and she knows she needs to stop that so that they could have their ground back.

The answer came quickly

In a form of water

‘’Cascading Water!’’

A huge amount of water suddenly came from above and smashed the mini volcano that the figure created. Chaeyoung, who sensed the large amount of water energy from above, immediately jumped away. She looked at Jennie who was now in the tree branch and Jisoo is next to her as well looking well fixed up now along with her elemental beast.

‘’You took too long’’ Chaeyoung looked to her left ‘’Lisa…’’

Lisa smirked ‘’I knew you needed my help’’ She looked at the almost ruined cloth of Chaeyoung and splashed her with a bit of water.

Chaeyoung flinched, feeling the water hit her back before relaxing a bit as it soothed her wound

‘’You look pretty angry at him’’ Lisa nodded towards the figure and observed how Chaeyoung clenched her jaw

‘’You know who it is?’’

Chaeyoung let out a deep breath before answering ‘’No…only that he is our enemy.’’

‘’Is it linked to the shadow monsters?’’

‘’…I don’t know’’

‘’Jennie,’’

Jennie looked at her sister questioningly whose face pointed towards the mini volcano

‘’Do your best to deactivate that spell, as long as that is around, it will just recharge anytime soon.’’

Jennie hesitated to do her sister’s bidding because of her pride but recalling Chaeyoung’s pained face earlier after getting a direct strike from it is embedded to her brain.

So, she nodded and started heading towards the mini volcano. Apparently, the figure noticed and started heading towards her, hand glowing brown red and it released a quick lava strike.

Jennie’s eyes hardened and retaliated with her own lava element. It seemed to be effective as both attacks tried to overpower one another but apparently, they seemed to be tied; probably because the figure has been taking damage since earlier while she was in full health.

Vines suddenly grabbed both of the masked figure’s ankle and pulled them, making the target slip for a bit but he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid Jennie’s attack.

‘’I’ll handle this unnie!’’ Lisa yelled, her vines quickly melting from the fire that the figure is creating with his hands.

‘’Lisa,’’ Chaeyoung quickly called out her attention ‘’Stay back, prepare an all-out attack when he’s trapped in, preferably as big as your earlier attack.’’

Lisa looked at her and slowly nodded

‘’We’ll give you some time’’ Chaeyoung said to her and watched Lisa’s form slowly glowing a blue hue around her.

‘’Jisoo-unnie!’’

Jisoo looked ahead and saw Chaeyoung looking at her, nodding towards her. Jisoo nodded as well and started initiating an attack; her hands being surrounded by wind as she closed her eyes to concentrate deeply.

The masked figure could feel himself getting lifted from the ground and struggled against the spell. Jisoo clenched her fist harder and pushed more power to keep him still.

Chaeyoung jumped up high, her clenched fist glowing and sparkling at the same time as she punched the figure until he was drilled to the wet ground.

A choked gasp of pain escaped from him and apparently, the two weren’t done. Jisoo jumped back to the ground as well, rushing to their opponent with eyes turning white

‘’Light Blast!’’

Chaeyoung gripped the figure’s neck, eyes cold with the same tone of her voice

‘’Electric Shock’’

The masked figure spasmed against the strong lightning Chaeyoung is inflicting upon him and he was face to face with Jisoo’s direct light attack.

BOOM!

Creating an explosion from both of their attacks, the masked figure was able to create a small earth to lessen the damage but it still ing hurt as Jisoo’s light beam easily destroyed his earth well. He could feel the moment the beam made contact, Chaeyoung let go of him and zoomed towards Jisoo to get out of the explosion’s impact while he made contact with at least three trees, breaking them with the power of the light element.

Jennie and Lisa watched in awe; they have never seen Chaesoo work together like this and from the look of their eyes…

It seems like they’ve been doing this for a long time…

Their battle-hardened eyes plus the hatred in Chaeyoung’s made their skills in manipulating their elements much more visible to them.

‘’Now Lisa!’’

Lisa nodded and saw how the figure is struggling to get up now

‘’Cascading Water!’’

Jennie watched the volcano dissipate back to the earth just in time to jump away from Lisa’s powerful water attack.

‘’That should probably make him stay down’’ Jennie murmured. The four of them watch the water slowly die down and the figure is laying at his position motionless

‘’We didn’t kill him…right?’’ Lisa asked ‘’We still need to know his intentions attacking us’’

A twitch from his form made them tense again

‘’We didn’t’’ Chaeyoung growled ‘’It’s as if they have the body of a tank; can take direct hits and still stand up.’’

‘’Girls!’’

Everyone looked at the source and saw Jisung and Hyuna quickly going towards them as they looked in shock seeing the destruction of the forest.

‘’What happened?’’ Jisung asked

Jennie pointed to the now standing figure, who was obviously taking deep breaths after taking so many attacks and even attacking with some of his own

‘’That happened’’ Jennie answered her father and immediately, Hyuna and Jisung turned to council mode that made even Chaeyoung tremble feeling the aura of power radiating off of them; the pressure making their knees buckle but strangely, the masked figure stood strong, noting that he apparently has some more moves hidden underneath.

‘’You’re going to pay for hurting our daughters’’ Hyuna growled, eyes are now radiating light wisps of energy

‘’Scatter Shot!’’

Multiple light blasts appeared in small fragments and headed towards the masked figure with incredible speed

‘’Lava Wrap!’’

The floor surrounding Jisung suddenly turned lava and started shaping into solid whips, quickly taking hold of the figure tightly and a sizzling sound was heard at the same time Hyuna’s attack came in contact.

Debris started going all around them from the intensity of their attacks and the four daughters of the council head stayed strong on their ground despite the strong wind hitting them from the force of their attacks

‘’This…this is the power of the council’’ Chaeyoung thought, her eyes showing with respect and a bit of envy as well.

It’s like all of their power is just a puppy compared to the council heads…

‘’I need to get stronger…’’ Chaeyoung thought, looking at Jisoo’s slightly reddened neck ‘’I have too…’’

‘’W-what?!’’

Lisa’s yell snapped her out of the thoughts and everyone watched in shock seeing the figure, clearly struggling, now using the light element to regain some of his strength.

He looked emotionlessly at every person and quickly started to retreat, turning around and started running away.

Chaeyoung growled ‘’Stop!’’ She charged lightning to her legs and started dashing towards him in an attempt to finish the job

‘’’Chaeyoung no!’’

‘’Solar Flare!’’

Chaeyoung screamed in pain, as soon as she was in hand’s reach to the figure; he suddenly turned around and made the blinding light move to make her stop in her tracks.

She held her eyes in pain, and could feel everyone is also affected judging from the surprise shouts from them. When she finally regained her bearings, her almond eyes struggled to open but all she could see right now is the forest trees staring back at her.

‘’Damn it!’’ Chaeyoung punched the ground creating a dent, scowling darkly at not having to finish off their opponent.

‘’He must still be in the forest…’’ Chaeyoung stood up and was about to start finding him but a firm grip on her shoulders stopped her from her tracks.

‘’Don’t, he’s not within our range anymore.’’

‘’You don’t know that’’ Chaeyoung said angrily

‘’I do’’

Chaeyoung whipped her head to glare against Jisung’s serious eyes. She knew that Jisung probably used his earth element to locate the figure again but he probably used his air element to just fly and escape from their grasps.

‘’Chaeyoung dear…’’

Chaeyoung’s heated glare switched to Hyuna who was looking at her worriedly, her council mode gone in an instant seeing the only daughter of her best friend looking so full of…

‘’anger…’’ Hyuna murmured ‘’Why are you so…angry and even…’’

‘’hateful?’’ Chaeyoung asked before chuckling that then turned into a sneer ‘’I should be after everything we’ve been through’’

‘’What do you mean Chaeyoung?’’ Jisung asked and it made Chaeyoung so angry hearing that question

‘’It’s none of your business’’ Chaeyoung said coldly, pushing Jisung’s hand away from her shoulder and walking back to the other three girls.

‘’Chaeyoungie…’’ Jisoo whispered, reaching out to touch her back and soothed her by healing her injured back ‘’I’m fine…don’t worry about me. Remember what Bom-unnie said’’ She whispered to the younger girl’s ear.

Chaeyoung sighed and took a deep breath to calm herself down. It worked effectively and soon the anger in her eyes disappeared

‘’Yeah…’’

Chaeyoung collected her emotions quickly and looked back to Jisung and Hyuna

‘’Don’t worry about it,’’ Chaeyoung said in a monotone voice to ease the worries of her step parents ‘’I just don’t like others hurting Jisoo-unnie. I’m an overprotective woman, so I got really angry to see some nobody hurting Jisoo-unnie.’’

That seemed to have worked as Hyuna nodded at her reasonings since Chaeyoung probably has only Jisoo since they were children and seeing her get hurt probably triggered something inside Chaeyoung.

‘’The power to protect…’’ Jisung murmured but pondered about it. His mind recalling seeing the emotions in Chaeyoung’s eyes and somehow felt that there’s more to it than what she was saying. Nevertheless, it’s best to let it be for now…

It’s probably some assassin to get his family hurt or a kidnapping to scare off the council head

Jisung looked at his girls and smiled, feeling proud that they managed to held off a strangely strong assassin.

‘’Looks like I don’t need to worry as much as before’’ Jisung thought and watched how the four girls interact with each other; Jennie asking Chaeyoung if she was okay and even begrudgingly speaking to Jisoo but concern is evident in her eyes, Lisa giving a small smile to all of them and even exclaiming they looked badass fighting the masked figure, Jisoo just letting out a few small chuckles but the light in her eyes has dimmed a bit, and Chaeyoung responding equally to the three girls while slightly rolling her eyes to Lisa’s exclamation.

‘’They will be fine indeed…as long as they’re together.’’

---

Lunch came soon and Chaelisa decided to use this as a way to finally extract information about the well that mysteriously killed a shadow monster in it.

Chaeyoung nudged at Lisa who rolled her eyes but decided to initiate it anyways

‘’Hey dad…’’

Jisung looked at the two maknae of the family while Hyuna was speaking with her two other daughters with enthusiasm

‘’What is it, Lisa?’’

Lisa’s eyes turned into childlike curiosity as she asked

‘’What’s the history with the well behind our school?’’

Jisung looked a bit confused ‘’Why do you ask?’’

‘’I notice that Chaeyoung is always there’’ Lisa said brilliantly and Chaeyoung inwardly sighed ‘’Be thankful that we can talk without speaking’’ Chaeyoung looked at Lisa while thinking of that before looking at Jisung with a nonchalant face

‘’There’s always something about that well’’ Chaeyoung said lowly, continuing Lisa’s reason ‘’It strangely relaxes me whenever I’m in there; I tried expanding my elzard energy and noticed that it has the light element but there are other energies that I can’t explain that is tangled around it…if it makes sense.’’

Jisung looked surprised ‘’Wow, only a few people noticed that and even a fewer one asking about it. Though it never hurts to be a history professor again’’ He joked

Lisa snickered while Chaeyoung snorted

‘’You see,’’ Jisung smiled ‘’I was supposed to discuss to you about that well if our history lesson continued.’’

‘’So, you know what that ‘tangle of energies’ is?’’ Chaeyoung asked

‘’Not really’’ Jisung shook his head ‘’That well has been there even before the academy was established’’

‘’Why wasn’t it, I don’t know, destroyed or not moved at all?’’ Lisa asked

‘’That’s the mystery behind it but there are rumors that it’s what makes our academy so special. Many witnesses state that going near that well will calm even your deepest emotions, makes you feel tranquil’’ Jisung said with bliss in his tone

‘’It’s like you can conquer anything with the energy of the well almost hugging you, supporting you.’’

‘’So, what’s special about it is the motivation that it gives to students of whoever goes there and tried to feel its energy?’’ Chaeyoung said

Jisung nodded ‘’Sadly though, as generations passed by, the well’s purpose has not been noticed by many students. In fact, I think only the two of you have noticed it. I can’t blame others too since it’s in the back of the school where sometimes, no people go to.’’ Jisung said ‘’We all don’t want to take it down due to the observation that it might have been there since the beginning of the elzard world so it’s a tourist spot for us. Many historians go to our school to observe it and can only say that it’s been there for many generations. How long? That’s the question.’’

Lisa and Chaeyoung absorbed what Jisung said and looked at each other

‘’That’s…interesting but how is it going to help in defeating the shadow monsters?” Lisa bit her lip in thought and looked questioningly to Chaeyoung who immediately shook her head in denial at seeing Lisa’s look of ‘Should we tell him?’

Chaeyoung decided to speak after a few moments of silence

‘’That’s…quite interesting indeed’’ Chaeyoung murmured ‘’ Though I do have a question…’’

Jisung nodded to Chaeyoung for her to proceed

‘’Have any elzard tried getting that energy if it seems so ancient? It must be powerful.’’

‘’Some have tried, but cannot. Because of the tangled energies, it’s hard to determine what kind of element should we use to get that energy. Some have tried every kind of element but it did nothing at all. It’s concluded that maybe it has an ancient seal to it that made any elzard trying to get it, not accomplish that task at all. We just let it be as a sign of respect to our ancestors and preserve it as much as we can.’’

Chaeyoung knew that they got the information they needed so she’ll probably talk to Lisa about it regarding their next plan of action.

‘’Okay, thanks dad!’’ Lisa grinned while Chaeyoung nodded in thanks

‘’No problem kiddos’’ Jisung grinned, not knowing their ulterior motive ‘’ I had fun speaking some history. Though I do wonder why do you go there Chaeyoung?’’

Chaeyoung stiffened before answering ‘’It’s like what you said…it makes me feel tranquil’’

Jisung knew that there’s more to Chaeyoung and even Jisoo’s past; he doesn’t know whether to ask them but it will probably take some time. He needs them to tell it to the family by themselves and when they’re ready if seeing Chaeyoung’s reaction earlier is any indication.

He needs to be prepared…

He looked at his family with a determined look

‘’I will protect this family…and I will make sure that our broken promises will be mended’’ He looked at the sky, imagining his best friends looking at them right now up above

‘’Chittip…Marco…Clare…Mason’’ He took a deep breath and a small fire has been let out after exhaling, eyes looking at his four daughters after Chaelisa now sitting with the other girls.

‘’I will do my absolute best to serve justice and give the best future for the elzard world…and that is making today’s generation strong and give hope to those who have lost it.’’  

---

‘’What happened?’’

The injured figure bowed at his master and said in an emotionless tone ‘’I escaped as soon as the council head appeared. I tested their strength and can testify that the four daughters are stronger than we think.’’

His master clicked his tongue in anger, grabbing the figure’s neck by his dark glowing hand ‘’Get back to your cell now Taeyang.’’

‘’Affirmative’’

Was Taeyang’s only answer as he entered his cell and a weird machine that is connected to it started glowing once again, knocking out the now known figure.

‘’So, they have been hiding their strength if Taeyang’s injuries are any indication. He must also be feeling weaker than ever since the machine is draining hiim’’ Seungri growled and launched an attack to a wall, destroying it ‘’Who was it that was protecting the other two for years?!’’

Seungri looked at the machine and could only chuckle, his anger disappearing ‘’It’s going to take another few years…I’ll back down for now. No matter how strong they’ll get when they graduate, I will still be stronger than any of them’’

His eyes glinted evilly in the darkness as soon as he turned off the lights of his secret hideout

‘’I will rule the council and soon…the whole world’’

---

“Where are you going?”

 

Jisung and Hyuna looked at their youngest daughter and sighed

 

No one can escape Jennie’s hawk-like eyes

 

“It’s night time.”

 

Jisoo raised an eyebrow at this “So, she recovered quickly from our battle…”

Chaeyoung tensed “I knew it…”

“Well, she didn’t unfortunately” Jisung said in a hardened voice “According to our senses, a shadow monster has been detected far north so we have to get going and defeat it.”

“What?” Chaeyoung murmured angrily, clenching her fist. Her mind flashing back when she was in her hold and the feeling of helplessness came back. Jisoo noticed it and was about to comfort her but pursued her lips instead when she saw Lisa already doing that for her.

Lisa grabbed Chaeyoung’s hand and stared at her determinedly “Well, it was no wonder I didn’t feel any sense of satisfaction after that event. She didn’t took enough beating from us” She smirked

Chaeyoung looked at Lisa and could feel herself calm down “Yeah…” She shakes her head and took a deep breath before managing a small smirk of herself.

Jisung then looked at Chaelisa “And no, you two won’t be going anywhere.” He said in a stern voice

“He’s right you two” Hyuna said with a saddened but firm tone “You all stay here and get some rest. I know Chaeyoung and Lisa will be having their Thief training tomorrow so get all the rest that you need.”

“Whatever” Chaeyoung murmured, once again remembering that stupid training she has to go through “If it wasn’t for Sandara snooping around while releasing my energy, I wouldn’t have joined this club.”

Jisung nodded and looked at Jisoo “I’ll leave you in charge”

Jisoo sighed but nodded “Yeah, you should go ahead before things get worse there.”

Jisung finally smiled “Thank you Jisoo” He looked at his wife before finally turning their backs on them and rushing out of the house.

“Rosie”

Chaeyoung looked at Jennie who was walking towards her with an emotionless face

“What is it?”

Lisa scrunched up her face and slightly pulled Chaeyoung close to her in which Jennie noticed that made her roll her eyes

“Don’t like her my ”

Jennie stared at Chaeyoung and softened her features “I’ll be watching you tomorrow…” She then smirked as she pat Chaeyoung’s cheek affectionately

“Do your best”

Chaeyoung let out a small blush before controlling it by smirking right back at her

“I know I will”

Jisoo clenched her jaw and looked away

“I will definitely be there as well…”

Lisa gripped Chaeyoung’s hand tightly, sensing that the battle wasn’t over with the shadow monsters and that hooded woman was probably not letting out her full powers as well.

“We have a lot of work to do…” Lisa mused before closing her eyes thoughtfully

 

“But as long as we’re in this together, we’ll finally avenge your death mom and dad…and we’ll protect the elzard world just like true elzard warriors.”

---

I'm alive y'all! I apologize again for taking a month to update this story but I do hope it's been well compensated with this long chapter. Stay safe everyone and I hope you look forward to Chaelisa's first training!