The moonlight stretched across the academy's training grounds, silver and still. Everyone else had gone home.
Everyone… except two.
Jinhyuk stood under the night sky, arms crossed.
Rina stood ten paces away, her breath misting in the cold air.
"I didn't think you would be the one to ask me for a spar," he said, eyebrow raised.
"I need to confirm something," she replied, her voice cool, but her eyes serious. "About your strength."
"…Or about your face?"
She blinked. "No. Not that."
A pause.
"…Not yet, anyway."
---
The Duel Begins
No crowd. No cheering.
Only silence—and the hum of mana filling the air.
Rina summoned ice blades in both hands, eyes focused. "I'll go all out."
"Then I'll only go halfway," Jinhyuk said calmly.
That irritated her.
She lunged.
But every strike, every ice spear, every flash of mana—missed.
He was moving like water—slipping through her attacks with practiced ease.
She was powerful, but he was calculated. Clinical. Efficient.
And when she overextended—just slightly—he was there behind her, hand lightly resting on her shoulder.
"Don't push your core so hard," he said softly. "You're cracking your own meridians."
---
She Stepped Back, Heart Racing
"I didn't even feel you move…"
He didn't respond.
Just looked at her with those quiet, indifferent eyes.
---
Suddenly, her knees buckled.
The pressure she forced into her mana veins was too much—she was collapsing.
Before she hit the ground, Jinhyuk caught her. One hand under her back, the other holding her wrist.
Her breathing was heavy. Flushed.
> [Your Heart Rate Has Increased]
[Condition: Light Overdrive Burn]
[Emotional State: Shaken]
"…You could've beaten me from the beginning, couldn't you?" she whispered.
He looked at her, expression unreadable.
"Yeah."
She stared up at him, silent.
And in that moment—between the cold night wind and his warm grip—she felt something strange bloom in her chest.
Not just curiosity.
Something worse.
---