Conflicting Emotions

- Feng Mian's Perspective -

It has been an hour since Xuan Kai, Qing Yue, and I departed from the Magic Training Room. I was currently lying in my bed, sleeping peacefully...not. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 6:00 AM.

...What should I do?

This question has been the only thing I could think about ever since Xuan Kai had saved me yesterday.

Shenzhen Magic High School. I had come to this school for one reason: Xuan Kai.

W-Wait! No! I d-didn't mean it like that...

What I meant was...I was given a job-

-No, more like...threatened, to steal that stone pendant he always wore around his neck. That man that had forced me to do this...he had my parents' lives in the palm of his hand. I can't disobey him...and yet...

...Why can't I bring myself to do it?

That day...when Xuan Kai saved me...I wondered at the time:

Why?

Why did he save me?

I was a thief. I was a person that would've murdered had that been the order given.

Yet despite all that, Xuan Kai had saved me. I...I just didn't understand...!

He had even exposed the stone pendant's whereabouts in the process of saving me! His shirt was burnt up, and his naked upper body-

N-No! I'm not imagining something weird right now! I swear! I'm ONLY focused on the thing around his neck, not his body!

Since he had caught me sneaking around in his house from last time, I hadn't been able to find anything even close to a stone pendant in his dorm. All this time...so he had kept it with him, huh?

Thinking about it logically, that would've been the most obvious answer. I didn't know why I hadn't thought of this earlier. Or...perhaps I had, but didn't want to take action...

Xuan Kai wasn't a careless person. He knew my objective was the stone pendant...yet when he saved me, the face he had...it was painfully clear that the only thing he was thinking about at the time was getting me somewhere safe. That left only one answer...

...He had forgotten.

Out of all things, he had FORGOT that I was the same person that had broken into his house and attempted to steal the priceless treasure left to him by his deceased mother. His only memory of his parents. I'm really...such a horrible person...

...What should I do?

Once again, the question hovered in my mind. Now that I knew where the stone pendant was, all I had to do was find an opportunity to snatch it. But the back of mind...it's telling me no. My inner heart doesn't want to do it, for some reason.

...But I have to. For the sake of my own parents, I have to do this. I closed my eyes and attempted to drift off to sleep.

*****

- 2 Hours Later, Shenzhen Magic High School -

...I know I already made up the decision to do it...

BUT I JUST CAN'T!

I never did end up sleeping..my thoughts are a mess right now.

I can't bring myself to take away something else from someone that had already had everything taken away from him. I just...can't.

On the other hand, that repulsive bastard that had captured my parents was threatening me with their lives to accomplish this task.

Do I really have to make this choice? My parents, who gave me this life, or Xuan Kai, who saved it. I just don't know...and the fact that Xuan Kai's sitting right beside me right now isn't making my conflicting emotions any easier. Mou...why did I choose to sit here again?

Ever since that day, my heart begins pounding rapidly whenever I'm around him. I don't know why, this has never happened to me before. Whenever he compliments me, I blush unconsciously. And when he said that he only saw Qing Yue as a little sister...I felt strangely happy for some reason. I want to be together with him every single day, and never leave...

But that's not possible. I know that. We were enemies from the start. Even if I want to...reality just doesn't allow it. We don't always get what we want in life, after all. That being said, I still cannot...just steal the pendant away from him. Therefore, I've made up my mind. A way to obtain the pendant fairly and justly.

I'll challenge him to a duel.

*****

- Xuan Kai's Perspective -

It was a bright, sunny day, though I didn't exactly feel as cheerful as the weather. I didn't realize it at the time, but we did miss out on a lot of sleep time in the Magic Training Room. I had it the worst, having used so much energy. I had an insane amount of mana in my Dantian compared to other people, but that still didn't mean I could use it forever. It does need time to charge back up, after all.

...Is what I'd like to say, but strangely enough, I don't feel anything in my Dantian anymore. It's like all the mana inside has just...left. Gone. I had discreetly attempted to cast magic, but to no avail. I was back to square one, weak and powerless.

However, one thing did remain - the stone pendant. It was still black like obsidian with a red rune-like symbol inscribed on it. Unlike when I had saved Feng Mian, the symbol wasn't glowing at all. You could still tell it was red, but no radiance bloomed from it.

I had spent the three hours since leaving the Magic Training Room worrying about this dilemma. In fact, I even tried to secretly go back to the training room to see if that changed anything, but Qing Yue had put on an identical lock to the one she cracked open before, in order to conceal the evidence...

...Though I doubted that would do much, considering the amount of destruction I laid to the various different sections. In any case - what was weird was that when I got close to the door, the stone pendant faintly began glowing, and I could use magic again, though only non-offensive spells that didn't require too much mana.

What I deduced from this, was that in order for me to use magic, I must have absorbed mana from something or someone beforehand. And if the stone pendant was glowing, that meant I had sufficient mana to cast spells. The exact volume of it would be impossible to gauge, but I could faintly tell from the level of tremor in my Dantian. It would be wise not to take in too much at once, considering the dizziness it had cost me last time.

Indeed - now I knew the reason why I hadn't died from that attack. It barely hit me in the first place - the stone pendant had absorbed nearly all of it. I was still sent flying by the sheer wind pressure, however. The rest just fell harmlessly to the ground, leading to the smoke and slight embers all around. I do remember the stone pendant glowing like crazy when I woke up, after all.

But there was something else I remembered too, albeit faintly...

...It was a voice. A female one. But what exactly it had said to me, I can not recall. But I'm sure that it wasn't anything good.

It was a typical day for me. I sat in my exclusive seat in the back of the classroom, bordering the window. Beside me was Feng Mian, fidgeting nervously with her hair for whatever reason. Perhaps she was still concerned about the monstrous results I had showed in the Magic Training Room?

But before I could debate any further, she spoke.

"Hey."

"...Yes?"

"Duel me."

"...Come again?"

Then, she stood up and took a deep breath. In a frighteningly loud voice that seemed as if its purpose itself was to gather all the attention in the world, she declared once more as she pointed her finger directly at me. "I, Feng Mian, challenge thee to a duel!"