Rafi fixed her gaze on Alicia. The mage’s aid was gone; her aim wavered like a candle in wind. She bit down on fear and steadied herself, shield up for the next storm.

If luck favored her, that strange force would blow past in fifty seconds, like a squall leaving clear sky. That was the best outcome she dared imagine.

Worst was a beast breaking leash: Alicia losing control at fifty seconds and going berserk. A training-room death felt like a bitter, airless end.

She clung to one line in the dark: she had to win.

Alicia didn’t care what brewed across from her. She saw Rafi set her stance, so she set her goal like a countdown star—defeat Rafi within fifty seconds.

Alicia dropped her weight forward and stepped; she flew in like a hawk diving. Her long blade cleaved down, but a blue bow rose like a shield and caught it.

Rafi blocked, yet the floor webbed with cracks under her feet, a map of pressure. Her hands shook like leaves; they wouldn’t hold another strike.

Alicia blinked at the block, surprised, but her motion rolled on like a tide.

She planted one hand on Rafi’s bow, vaulted over her crown, and swept a horizontal cut, a crescent of steel across the back.

It hit. Rafi dove forward on instinct; the gash was only a few centimeters, a red line that wouldn’t sway the next exchange.

“Tch.” Alicia clicked her tongue, a spark of annoyance skipping off steel.

—Thirty seconds left.

The thought flashed in both minds like mirrored lightning.

Faster. She had to be faster, like fire chasing dry grass.

Alicia carved the air three times; three flaming slashes flew at Rafi, meteors on a straight path.

Rafi watched the arcs and understood: they were herding her like sheep to a pen. To strike back, she had to ride that current.

She moved along the safe lanes, slipping between blades like a fish through reeds. On the last dodge, Alicia appeared where expected, and Rafi drew her bow to full in a heartbeat.

“Ice Arrow: Absolute Zero.”

The arrow left with a hiss of winter; Alicia had to catch it on her blade. Fire and frost braided together and birthed a dense white mist.

Alicia stared, heat prickling under the chill. Hurricane Arrows had screamed wind before; she’d thought Rafi’s magic was air. Ice hit like a second face.

Rafi took the chance and slipped away, cutting distance like a shadow at dusk. If she couldn’t block, she would cancel—ice against fire—and it worked.

—Ten seconds left.

Panic nipped Alicia’s heels. If she didn’t finish Rafi now, trouble would bloom like black thorns.

If the Demonblade Awakening ran over two minutes, reason would slip its leash. She might kill Rafi by accident, souring ties between the Moser Empire and the Ailusen Empire.

If she ended the awakening early, she’d stall against a near S-rank like a cart in mud. Her stamina was already bled by the Demonblade; she’d be the first to fall.

If she lost, Ling would be someone else’s. No. Ling was hers, a moon she wouldn’t let anyone steal.

Up in the seats, Ling felt a sudden chill, a goosefeather cold. She tugged her hand back from a big sister’s lap, startled for no reason she could name.

Alicia’s aura burst like a storm refueled, and Rafi’s gut tightened. Another power-up? Even protagonists didn’t get a second serving like this.

Boom.

Alicia stepped, and the ground behind her split, a jagged scar. The arena held only a racing silhouette and a tail of fire like comet hair.

Speed jumped beyond Rafi’s eyes. She was launched, body tumbling like a broken kite; a deep wound opened across her chest.

Alicia now stood where Rafi had been, but her blade no longer burned. The Demonblade’s shine dulled to ash, and Alicia herself swayed like a tree in hard wind.

“Enough. You’re out of bounds. I win.”

Alicia’s words fell like a seal on wet clay. Rafi tried to rise, struggled, then stopped, the fight leaking out of her like rain.

Abrupt, and because Alicia had surged, the match ended in a way no one expected.

Winner of the bout—Alicia.

Alicia left the training room to a waiting embrace, Ling’s arms warm as spring and her voice soft with worry.

“Are you hurt?”

“How could I be? I’m strong. Just tired,” Alicia said, bravado like lacquer over fatigue.

Ling lifted a hand and cast Perfect Restoration, a blossom of light opening, healing like dew.

Energy flooded back. Her body felt new-forged. Alicia couldn’t pretend she wasn’t stunned.

“Mind giving me one too?”

That annoying voice came from behind—Rafi’s, bright as a pebble tossed at a window.

She had seen Ling’s magic when she walked in. Curiosity and a stubborn streak tugged her; she wouldn’t let Alicia be the only one spoiled.

Ling didn’t overthink it. In her heart’s novel, Rafi was part of her own harem; of course she’d bring her in.

Another Perfect Restoration bloomed, and Rafi’s wound closed safe and clean, a red thread vanishing into skin.

A month’s recovery gone in a heartbeat. Rafi stared and blurted, “What magic is that? It’s unreal—this complete.”

Before Ling could answer, Alicia pulled her into her arms, a guardian fox bristling, and leveled a wary stare at Rafi.

“You said you wouldn’t mess with Ling anymore.”

“When did I say that? I said Ling’s ownership was yours. I never said I wouldn’t get close to her.”

Alicia froze, a beat late. Had she been tricked?

Ling finally let the storm out. “Idiots! Since when am I something you can gamble over?”

Watching their quarrel, Rafi’s mouth curved, a thin crescent, tide-dark.

—Just a little more. Slow and steady. It’s all within control. You’ll be mine, sooner or later.