He lunged at me in the blink of an eye. The blunt side of his sword hit mine at the edge, as he rode it down.
Normally, it was a technic used with a steel sword.
I immediately brought up my leg and distracted him by kicking at the air next to his stomach, and when he tried to defend it, I pulled my sword away and took three steps back.
He smirked at my direction. "Not bad, Fifteen. Not bad."
I clicked my tongue, violently lashing back at him.
Somewhere near, Sasha and Nada watched the attacks move faster and faster.
***
"Damn! Was she always this strong?" Sasha asked, scratching her head in shock. "Even in the novel they said she was a fast learner and never needed to be educated about a certain things. But I didn't know it would take her less then a month to... Get here. Did she really absorb all those attacked styles by herself?!"
Nada snickered, crossing her arms as she watched Aefia move forward. "Listen... I am not her... But I can tell you that Fia did actually learn a few things by herself. Although... She altered her steps with something else."
"What did she do?"
Her hazel eyes tracked the way Aefia aimed her heel directly at Helio's side while her arm held a blade directly at the opposite side beside his head.
"The thing that wasn't written in the novel... Is that Fia has a thing for figure-skating. She loved staying up late, watching people skate on ice and pull out powerful moves. By the time she turned twelve, she was already practicing for it as a hobby. Though her parents never objected, sometimes because of their harsh treatment... She would miss days. But when she came back, somehow, she would be much more stronger at it.
"Her trainer once said that if Fia ever wished it, she could easily land a spot for Olympics if she came of age. But then she was against it for some reasons. Just recently, by the time she turned fifteen, she stopped being in the ice ring. Though... I suppose she was busy doing something else huh?"
Sasha looked baffled at what she just heard. "So... You are telling me she invented steps like this all by a simple sport?"
"Do you really think figure-skating is simple?" Nada asked, raising an eye-brow. "Why don't you ever try it? You have to perfect it until jumping and landing without falling is just a simple task to you."
"Hah... Well I guess you are right." Sasha rubbed the back of her neck, then looked away.
"She only gets her flexibility from it though." Nada added a bit later.
"What?"
"Yeah... I am actually impressed she knows how to wield a sword. For someone who grew up in a house which brought blood-bath everywhere she went. To finally see her stand up and fight back... I am more then just proud actually."
***
The battle ended with both sides breathing heavily. Aefia grabbed her knees and panted, still gripping her sword tightly.
"You fight quite well..." Helio spoke after a while, wiping his forehead with his sleeved before glancing towards the others. Then walked towards her with an unreadable expression.
He shoved past her. Aefia glared at his face, straightening up.
"Hey—woah!" She gasped as he grabbed her by her elbow and led her towards a quiet corner.
Once out of earshot, his grip loosened a bit to allow for her to yank her elbow away.
"What do you want?!" She whispered-shouted at his face.
He held his hand out, signalling for the wooden sword. Frustrated she handed it back, but before she fully let go of it, he yanked it.
The action got her stumbling forward half a step until the rubber of her sneaker collided with his ones. He leaned down towards her ear, enough for his breath fanning out at the side of her face. She kept her eyes fixed at his in a glare.
"If I were you, I would be careful of... Nada." He warned, his tone unlike usual. "She seems to keep too much of a constant eye on you."
"Of course she would! She is my cousin!" Aefia gritted her teeth, glaring up into his eyes. Though she was only three inches shorter then him.
"You know what I mean by that. I am aware she is your cousin. I had heard of it," he answered back.
She tried to fight his grip, but his hand clamped onto her wrist, pinning her in place.
"Besides that... As your Squad leader, I have noticed something. You are hiding many things," he whispered back.
She scoffed. "What can I possibly hide that is going to hurt the squad?"
He stayed silent for a while. Then let out a deep breath before lowering his voice again.
"That evaluation of yours? What did the physician say? And what medicine are you taking?"
Aefia's head spun. Her vision blurring at the edges as her pulse picked up, and her head throbbed. And suddenly, her bones felt brittle again. A weird sort of nausea threathened to swallow her.
"What...?"
"You heard me." He pulled back a bit.
"No. No, not. That..." She pushed him back a little, just enough to lean against the wall as she broke out into a cold sweat. "I heard shit. Repeat what you just said."
His brows furrowed as he watched her hit her ears. "What?"
"My ears are ringing. I am sorry about that," she rubbed her head. "Just... Hold on. I need time to recover from this."
"Does it happen all the time?" He asked again, reaching out a hand to check her forehead.
Her hand shot out faster and smacked it away. Then without a second word, she pushed him backwards into the open again. She continued to walk towards nowhere with her hand holding her throat.
He tried to run after, just in case. But he stood frozen.
When he looked down, dripping red wires held him down. It only let go a bit later, when she was way out of reach.
And immediately, his mind flew back to the time back at the dungoen.
"Intelligent..." He told himself. "Just to escape the conversation... She acted like that."
Then smirking, he walked away.
***
I stayed slumped against my dorm door. My elbow weeping crimson onto the floor as the strings recoiled back. My eyes stayed fixed up at the ceiling.
A drop of blood trickled down my nose, which I immediately wiped away.
"Freak... He knows..." I whispered into the thin air. "Is it because he has the healing element?"
Then silence.
Although... Not all of them was an act.
The cut wasn't, and the ears ringing wasn't.
It all happened without notice, and I was honestly kind of scared. Because it happened sometimes, when the symptoms were the worst.
I stood up on my own two feet, and started to walk towards my table. And the first thing that caught my eyes, were the notebooks and pens I had stacked up. Then the sword sitting perfectly at one corner of the table.
Then at the bottom drawer where I kept my medications. I reached out to it.
I will tell you all one thing... Leukemia is frustrating. So much so that I will do anything to get rid of it.
As I leaned against my desk to rest up, I couldn't help but shut my eyes. The ringing at my ears went on...
...until it didn't.
That was also the time I found myself falling hundreds of feets from the air. The air whipped past my face so fast, and I couldn't even look down or cushion the upcoming impact.
Though the next thing I knew... Opening my eyes was terrible pain.
My head thudded heavily against solid ground, and all the oxygen left my lungs until drawing another breath was more then just difficult.
When I did manage to open my eyes... My vision was upside-down—looking towards a peaceful and oddly quiet village down. And the ground below me... was like laying on a plank of wood off the cliff.
When I got back to my senses and moved my hands around, I was in-fact, at the edge of the cliff.
My head was tilted backwards in a sickening angle, which I honestly couldn't believe I was alive.
"Ugh... My head..." I whispered to myself while moving my head to the place that hurt the most. My fingers came away bloody.
The edges of my vision was slightly red. And even those painkillers couldn't do shit to help me get rid of that excruciating headache.
I carefully sat up. My sword was right at my left hand.
"Great... So I fell into a dungoen and found myself in a fatal position... Which may have also been my destiny at the end of the day." I sighed, rubbing my forehead and stood on my weak legs.
"Damn... Why am I the only one going through all this? Why not someone else take a share?" I looked up at the sky. "Just so you, universe, I am still fifteen. Let me fucking live!"
But it didn't answer back. Almost as if it was looking down at me and laughing at my statement.
I weakly lowered my head, looking down at the ground.
Almost instantly, the ground below me shook. My grip on my sword tightened, as I shifted and locked my heels onto the earth.
When I looked up, I found myself staring at a beast with three snake-like tongues looking at me with deep orange eyes. It's teeth reflecting my face as if reminding me of my final destination.
Regardless, I brought up my other hand and held the hilt of the weapon tightly as I surged forward. In a swing, the blade descended straight at its arm.
Though blood was dripping down my chin, I gave it no mind.
My vision was filled with the images of the new life I was finally starting to get addicted to.
So much so... My mother's harsh words did nothing to push me off the course.
Even thinking about it, a smile broke across my face.
It's tentacles lashed out violently at my direction, but I just raised my sword above my head and brought it down hard against them. Gore splashed at the ground around my feet. I may have been disgusted a bit.
As it let out a guttural scream, I used whatever skills I knew of my magic to try and strangle it.
Lucky me... Bleeding was a blessing.
Red strings shot out from either sides, and wound around the creatures legs before it could move. I tried to aim well and cut a limb or two off him.
Though, I realized it would be a fatal mistake.
See... Beasts like him don't know what is the difference between elemental magic and their own.
Since this type is a humanoid. Whose classification code was written as, "HU-0056-MTS"
And I could clearly see it written on its arms.
The thing about this code, it consists of three parts as you all can see. "HU" stands for human species. "0056" is the experimental number. "MUT" means Mutilated Species, Trojan.
I was certain for one thing... This was probably the faculty's doings.
I have read enough of the novel to have already memorized this part well enough. And maybe—just assuming—the reason I fell into this strange place, is because I knew enough about it to handle it well.
The only difficulty here... It can regenerate if it were humanoid. And if it were a "Trojan", then it is currently hiding its real form from me...
And it can hide it multiple times too...
Until it knows that I am defeated.
I don't have the other two volumes with me to clearly work out a way on how to defeat this monster... But I can assure you...
Nada's volume had a detailed paragraph of how it was done, and how hard it would be.
And she had told me about it so many times, just because she finds it genius.
"Thanks Nada," I whispered to myself as I raised my blade again. "Though much of the rest needs to be dealt a different way too..."
*********************
First draft: 05.11.2025
Rewritten: 16.09.2026