One minute.
The countdown had begun.
No one in the room knew about the invisible clock that was ticking above their heads except Bell and Mr. Alfonsi. To everyone else, all that mattered was the sudden, crushing realization that the danger had escalated beyond anything they'd prepared for.
"What kind of overpowered ass ability is this?!" yelled Peneri; a very reasonable question.
One had already been hard enough to deal with, taking the efforts of numerous people just to match up to him equally.
Now there were five.
"I don't want to dance!" Peneri screamed.
Thankfully, the four figures that stepped out of the portals were inferior to the original. They moved with the same techniques, the same instincts, shared the same memories and personality, but lacked the weight that was behind every strike the original would throw.
That didn't mean that they were a piece of cake.
The real Mr. Alfonsi was being held back by Quinn.
It wasn't nearly as clean as before. Quinn was taking hits now, shallow cuts and bruises stacking up, but he was still standing firmly, preventing the main body from assisting his clones.
"You are one tough old nut," the original laughed.
Another clone was being handled by Kevin and Ernit together. Ernit wanted desperately to peel away and support the others, but he'd realized early on that the moment he did, Kevin would fall. And if Kevin fell, the balance would tip so fast that it would be faster to sneeze than to survive.
A third was being engaged by Maya, Peneri, and Grace. Maya no longer had the luxury of vanishing at will and was forced into direct combat, while Peneri's bubbles and Grace's ability to manipulate weight would create brief openings for them to survive.
It was never enough for them to go on the counterattack, but sufficient enough that their heads were still attached to their necks.
Grace and Peneri couldn't see who was behind the mask of the third person in their group, but it didn't take a genius to realize that it was Maya.
Grace wanted to ask why she had been hiding her ability to turn invisible all this time, but it wasn't the right place or time to do so.
She was also hesitant to admit that she knew her identity because it would be a confession of guilt that she was here purposely to follow her and Bell, rather than it being a coincidence. At least if she pretended not to know, she could still potentially lie her way through it.
As for Peneri, not much was going on in her mind other than desperation to live.
"Mr. Alfonsi, did I ever tell you that when I had you last semester, you were one of my favorite teachers?" said Peneri.
"Oh, really? Where would you rank me?"
"At least top ten."
"Ms. Acheson, thanks for the backhanded compliment," Mr. Alfonsi smiled as he sent a sword that nearly cut off her arm before it was repelled by Grace, who made the sword lighter with her ability at the last second before clashing it with her daggers.
The fourth Mr. Alfonsi was being faced by Diana alone.
The fifth—
Bell was staring him down.
Mason continued his work from afar, cycling buffs desperately, pushing his exhausted body to keep everyone standing. He had drunk a Star Potion that Bell had handed him earlier, not knowing what it was, but feeling the effects of the boosted star energy production.
But even with the boost, he was on his last leg, about to run out of energy with a few more buffs.
Blades screamed through the air. Ice shattered against steel. Bubbles popped mid-flight before they could reach their target. The basement rang with metal-on-metal clashes and the wet sound of blood hitting stone.
With this many fighters, it would've been reasonable to assume they'd trip over one another or bump into each other's backs.
They didn't.
The basement was massive — absurdly so. Tall ceilings, open spans. It had once been designed to house an entire illicit operation, a production floor for a specific drug, before it had been shut down years ago.
Just a small fun fact that was mentioned in the novel to explain why the main character had been able to bounce around the room like crazy without constantly hitting the walls.
The simple and short truth is that no one here could win against the Mr. Alfonsi standing in front of them.
But they didn't need to win.
They only needed to survive until the time ran out. Of course, most of them didn't know this, so to them, they were fighting a losing battle and were just desperate to prolong their life.
Everyone had it rough, but the worst positions belonged to Diana and Bell.
Both were alone. Both were facing a Trinity Academy teacher by themself, and remember, these teachers were hired not just for their minds, but for their ability to kill and protect the students.
They were the cream of the crop.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that none of them could truly injure their enemy, who was talking to them casually throughout everything as if they were truly at a dinner rather than fighting for their lives on the line.
Their only real option was to defend and endure all the damage that was accumulating on their bodies.
For Diana, who was fast and able to conjure ice at will, the task to defend herself was brutal but manageable even on her lonesome. Every exchange demanded perfect timing, but at least she could dictate the pace somewhat.
Bell didn't have that luxury. He had far worse than her.
Even against a weakened clone, he could barely react to Mr. Alfonsi's speed. It was light-years beyond any of the enemies he's faced since he was brought into this world. The only comparable thing would be the one swing his older brother Cyro had shown him during their spar. And that one swing felt like he was watching a mountain fall in his direction.
Bell had memorized Mr. Alfonsi down to the smallest habits, the angle of his shoulders before a dash, the pause before a feint. The patterns of how his swords would be conjured.
When others were drawing attention, it was easy enough to dart in, strike, and withdraw.
But now, it was just him.
And even with an inferior version of Mr. Alfonsi in front of him, Bell was barely able to activate Unbound Step in time whenever his blocks failed. Thin cuts bloomed across his arms, blood seeping through his sleeves.
"Oh?" Mr. Alfonsi remarked as Bell stepped back, a gust of wind snapping his cloak aside and exposing the academy uniform beneath. "You're a student at the academy?"
"That's right," Bell replied, turning his head just in time as a sword passed mere centimeters from his skull.
For the first time, Bell felt sweat slide down his forehead.
He wasn't nervous, not mentally. This wasn't the first time he'd stared death in the face.
But even if his mind was at peace, his body was feeling the pressure now. The strain of constant reaction, the cost of every misstep.
"Do I know you, by any chance?" Mr. Alfonsi asked.
"No."
"Ah. Are you sure? I know most of the students at the academy. I'm trying to rack my brain on who can repel my sword with their body, and… none are coming to mind. Please be a good student and tell me your name."
Bell slammed both shortswords together, barely blocking the strike that Mr. Alfonsi sent his way as he was talking.
The impact sent him flying backward. He rolled hard across the floor, snapped his gaze upward—
—and activated Unbound Step just in time, repelling the incoming blade with a sharp recoil of force just as it phased through his body in that split moment where he was invulnerable to all attacks.
"What an interesting ability you have there."
Bell clenched his teeth.
He already knew he wouldn't last long against the main body as even Quinn was having a difficult time just staying alive, but fighting a clone had its own disadvantages as well.
Mr. Alfonsi didn't consider the clones to be him.
What did that mean?
It meant his code didn't apply.
Even after realizing Bell was a student, the clone didn't hesitate to attack with full force. Every strike carried killing intent.
Elsewhere in the room.
"Diana," the Mr. Alfonsi facing her said as he punched straight through a thick wall of ice separating them, shards exploding outward, "I truly feel sorry for you."
"I don't need your pity."
She launched herself upward, fired three ice arrows midair, landed, and flipped away as a blade sliced through the space she'd occupied a heartbeat earlier.
"It's a shame I couldn't be there that night," he continued casually. "I would've joined in."
"Fuck you!" she swore.
Peneri heard it from across the battlefield, surprise flickering through her. She had never heard her best friend curse before. But staying alive demanded her focus, and she forced herself to look away as well as keep her focus on her own battle.
"Don't misunderstand," he laughed. "I'm not saying I would've been on his side. Oh no, no, no. I don't swing that way. Hahahaha. No. I would've done to him exactly what he did to you." His sword passed so close that it brushed Diana's collarbone. "Aren't I just the kindest teacher you've ever had?"
"That's not justice," Diana snarled as she stomped twice, twin waves of ice surging forward. "That's vile."
For a brief instant, Mr. Alfonsi saw her blue eyes flash red and then return to normal.
He dismissed it.
There were countless star abilities in the world. Nothing was truly strange in a battle between starwalkers. And red eyes weren't exactly impossible to have. After all, one of his students had red eyes. Bell Agnus was his name. He happened to be the same person that he was talking about in his conversation with Diana.
But if he'd known the truth that her vampiric blood was reacting to the scent of blood wafting into her nose, causing her hunger to stir up, making one of the signs of a vampire — the red eyes, to flash, he would've without a doubt abandoned everything to capture her and flee the scene.
It's been forever since a vampire has been spotted.
Even if she refused to join their side, even if she resisted every attempt at control, the research value of her body and blood alone was immeasurable. She was a future weapon capable of leveling cities. A weapon that he would love to get his hands on.
'Calm down. Calm down,' Diana repeated to herself over and over.
But her thoughts refused to settle. It wouldn't be easy for her to clear it.
The blood in the air made her head spin. The longer the fights went, the more blood that was being shed as well, so unless she escaped the room, it wouldn't be possible to escape the scent that smelled so so so pleasant to her.
Bell was also here in the same room as here.
Her worst nightmare — the worst fucking person in the world to her… he was here. Mere meters away, a part of her was even tempted to forget about Mr. Alfonsi for a second and to attack Bell.
But her friend's life was also in danger. The lives of others could also be compromised.
She couldn't be selfish.
And as for Bell, Diana was on his mind too.
Watching the way she moved, her speed, her raw power, Bell felt a hundred percent sure now that her dormant vampire blood had fully awakened.
'She awakened a lot earlier than she did in the novel.'