An: to make up for the previous short update, here's a 16 page update. Enjoy! (Also, for those of you who don't know, this ^ is Nana of After School)

---

 

 

Jessica felt the familiar weight of eyes watching her as she opened to speak.

 

“I’m sorry,” she spoke clearly. “But I think Miss Kim was mistaken. I don’t really like to duel.” Jessica admitted truthfully. At one point in her life, dueling was everything to her. But things were different now.

 

Taeyeon frowned and BoA smirked. From the smirk, Jessica realized she wasn’t going to get out of this as easily as she had hoped.

 

“Really?” BoA narrowed her eyes and Jessica felt trepidation creep up. “That’s too bad. I heard you were quite the prodigy at dueling back in Mahoukotoro. It’s a shame you don’t plan to show us your skills.” BoA’s words and smile however, conflicted each other.

 

Jessica gulped. She hadn’t been trapped like this in years. It was not a good feeling. ‘I would hate to play chess with her.’

“I really don’t want to duel,” Jessica stayed firm. With Yuri gripping her shirt tightly, all Jessica wanted to do was leave this room immediately.

 

Suddenly, BoA pulled out her wand and fired a curse. Jessica braced herself.

 

But the spell wasn’t headed towards her.

 

It was aimed at a girl next to her. The girl was clearly surprised and had no chances of dodging or countering.

 

Jessica was the only one who could react.

 

“Protego!”

 

The girl sighed in relief but BoA wasn't done. She quickly fired another curse.

 

“What are you doing?” Jessica demanded as she countered the curse, which was once again, not aimed at her, but the girl next to her.

 

“You seem to have very good reflexes,” BoA commented off-handedly. “Anyways, since you won’t duel, it’s her turn.”

 

“Well, then why are you firing at her here?” Jessica growled. “This isn’t the arena.”

 

Jessica absolutely hated bullies, and BoA right now, was acting like the alpha bully.

 

BoA smiled, a fake apologetic smile. “My bad. If you would please come up then, Kang Seulgi Hufflepuff, first year,” she said, addressing the girl, who shakily walked into the dueling space.

 

“I hope you don’t mind if we have a friendly duel,” BoA grinned and Jessica had to give the poor girl some credit. There was no way Seulgi could back down but she didn’t panic. Instead, she placed herself  in front of BoA, back straight and eyes defiant, but Jessica could see just how nervous the girl was.

 

Seulgi was after all only a first year, and BoA, big bully or not, was the dueling champion. The difference in experience was incomparable.

 

They bowed towards each other and Seulgi readied her wand while BoA let her wand dangle by her side, completely relaxed. Jessica gulped. She feared what BoA was trying to do.

 

Seulgi fired a spell, sending a fireball in BoA’s direction, which BoA easily dodged. Seulgi continued to shoot spell after spell, all of which were deftly avoided by BoA who had yet to lift up her wand.

 

Finally, the barrage of spells stopped. Seulgi stood panting at the end of the dueling arena. She knew she was being played. The real duel had yet to start.

 

BoA stared Seulgi down, the corner of her lip lifting the slightest bit as she raised her wand. Then, everything exploded.

 

It was curse after curse. Seulgi was only barely able to hold off each of the spells. BoA advanced on her prey, increasing the intensity each time.

 

Jessica closed her eyes. This is what she hated about dueling. Dueling was supposed to be an elegant exchange. One was supposed to be merciful towards their opponent. It was supposed to be a beautiful art. Yet this was anything but.

 

This was a one-sided massacre.

 

Seulgi winced as a spell grazed her arm, yet BoA continued playing with her, prolonging the match further than necessary.

 

Jessica couldn’t take it anymore.

 

As BoA shot three consecutive spells at Seulgi who was completely defenseless, Jessica finally whipped out her wand.

 

“Expelliarmus!”

 

BoA’s wand shot out her hand and looked to Jessica with mock surprise. “You should know better than to interrupt a match.”
 

Jessica glared at the older girl. “That was not proper dueling.” She jumped onto the platform and bent down to check if the Hufflepuff girl was okay.

 

To her surprise, Seulgi gave her a blinding smile, reassuring the girl that she was okay.

 

‘She’s a fighter,’ Jessica thought, impressed.

 

Frowning, Jessica straightened up and faced BoA.

 

“You’re my opponent, now. I will show you what a real duel looks like,” Jessica flared.

 

BoA smiled easily as if she had expected this, even planned for this to happen. “Unfortunately, only top ranked duelists can challenge me to a duel unless I challenge them to a duel. You are unranked, and therefore unqualified to challenge me.”

 

Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Are you backing down from a challenge, champion of the Slytherin house?” she emphasized.

 

BoA merely raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Not at all. But I don’t just duel anybody, you know. If you want to duel me,” she smirked. “You have to defeat Kim Taeyeon.”

 

Jessica looked down towards Taeyeon and saw her glaring back up at her. ‘She must be happy,’ Jessica mused. ‘That girl always looks like she wants to kill me. Nows her chance.’

 

“I’ll do it,” Jessica confirmed.

 

“No Jessica! Don’t do it!”

 

All heads turned to look at Yuri, who looked beyond furious. Jessica frowned at Yuri's uncharacteristic outburst. “I’ll be fine.”

 

“You don’t know what you’re up against,” Yuri insisted, shaking with intensity. “Kim Taeyeon is a monster.”

 

Jessica raised an eyebrow as BoA chuckled.

 

“I see you haven’t forgotten then,” BoA smirked as Yuri glared at her.

 

“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Yuri growled, this time glaring at Taeyeon.

 

Taeyeon stared back cooly. “I had to do what I had to do,” she stated with a voice like steel.

 

Jessica watched all this with furrowed eyebrows.

 

“Don’t do it Jessica. Don’t duel her. She’s not on the same level as the rest of the third years” Yuri warned one last time, but Jessica shook her head, setting her glare on BoA.

 

“I have to.” Jessica fumed. She was going to teach BoA a lesson on abusing her powers and she would beat Taeyeon to get to her.

 

‘Don’t worry Yuri-ah. I’m also not on the same level.’

 

Jessica and Taeyeon stared at each other from opposite sides of the platform. There was always an unspoken tension between the two. Now that they were formally opponents in a dueling match, the tension escalated until it filled the entire room.

 

“This did not go according to plan,” Tiffany muttered helplessly to herself as she watched on with worried eyes, ignoring the look Hyoyeon shot her.

 

“Begin,” BoA announced.

 

Taeyeon and Jessica bowed towards each other according to dueling etiquette and the duel was on.

 

Jessica waited for a spell to come flying at her as soon as she stood up straight but it seemed like Taeyeon wasn’t striking anytime soon. She was staring at Jessica with a inquisitive look and assumed a relaxed stance.

 

“You haven’t drawn out your wand,” Taeyeon pointed out cooly.

 

Jessica started with surprise and tried not to let the emotion show on her face. ‘Ah, that’s right. They’re still at the level where they’re dueling with wands.’

 

Jessica disliked dueling with wands. It limited what she could do. Free hands offered for more versatility and more room for experimenting. Ever since she got skilled enough to duel without her wand in her first year at Mahoukotoro, she hadn’t dueled with a wand.

 

“...Right.” Jessica reached into her pocket and slowly revealed her wand.

 

BoA eyed the girl’s relaxed demeanor. ‘I thought she was a skilled duelist? Forgetting to pull out one’s wand at the beginning of a duel is a rookie mistake, one that is usually only made once in a duelist’s lifetime for the consequences of such a mistake are dire and deadly. She’s lucky Taeyeon let her go on that.’

 

BoA frowned. ‘But why is she so calm?’

 

Despite it not being in her nature to strike first, Jessica needed to end this duel as soon as possible in order to get to BoA. Acting quickly, she muttered a quick silent apology to Taeyeon and unleashed a seven strike combo. 

 

Jessica watched Taeyeon’s eyes widen in surprise, not expecting such intensity from the get go. However, Taeyeon was clearly no pushover as she quickly dodged two shots, deflected four, and dodged the last two.

 

Pushing down the adrenaline in case she acted too rash, Taeyeon regarded her opponent more seriously. Jessica stood completely relaxed, watching her with seemingly bored eyes and something in Taeyeon snapped.

 

Pushing herself forward, she responded with her own deadly combo - two hexes, two jinxes, and five curses  - nine in total.

 

‘Dodge that, Jung.’

 

To Taeyeon’s surprise, Jessica did exactly that. Without even raising her wand, Jessica sidestepped quickly, swaying her body to avoid the spells. After the smoke cleared, Jessica stood completely unscathed.

 

‘How?! There were no openings!’ Taeyeon gripped her wand in determination.

 

The onlookers held their breath in surprise. They had never seen anyone dodge Taeyeon’s special nine combo attack like that before. Even BoA had trouble completely avoiding everything.

 

Next to BoA, Jung Yunho felt BoA clench her fists in excitement. Observing the look on her face, Yunho came to a realization.

 

‘I see what you’re trying to do now. You should really become an actress, BoA.’

 

Yuri, who had been watching the exchange with clenched fists, relaxed. She was wrong, she realized. ‘Jessica is not the one who needs to worry.’

 

Yuri’s eyes drifted towards Taeyeon and felt her eyes soften. ‘Looks like you finally found your match, Kim Taeyeon, someone you can rightfully call ‘rival’”.

 

Jessica looked sadly at Taeyeon, and Taeyeon fought back a scoff. Her opponent was looking at her with pity. 

 

'Sorry Taeyeon-ah. Hopefully, we can duel properly next time.'

 

‘It was never my match to win,’ Taeyeon realized, as Jessica raised her wand. Taeyeon braced herself for what was coming. ‘The outcome of this match was decided long before it started.’

 

No one heard what spell Jessica muttered, if she did mutter a spell, but one thing was sure. No one, not a single soul in the room, had ever felt such immense raw magical power.

 

Taeyeon watched, half in awe and half in fear, as the tip of Jessica’s wand exploded in a flash of bright gold light. Taeyeon could only stare as the light grew brighter and bigger as Jessica collected more and more magical energy.

 

She felt her skin prickling, almost burning, at the presence of such power. Unable to stand any longer, she dropped to her knees.

 

Kim Taeyeon wasn’t a fool. She knew she lost. Slowly, she let her wand hand drop to her side, leaving her completely defenseless  - the sign of surrender.

 

Closing her eyes, Taeyeon braced herself for unimaginable pain.

 

Only that it never came.

 

As quickly as the immense power came, it disappeared just as quick. As soon as it disappeared, everyone gasped, glad to be able to breathe again and immediately stared at Jessica in both awe and fear.

 

Taeyeon was the first to find her voice. “W-what was that?”

 

Jessica reached out a hand, which Taeyeon took hesitantly, and pulled her to her feet.

 

“Fennikkusu no Taito.”

 

“What?” Taeyeon asked once again, unsure if she heard incorrectly. It didn’t sound like English.

 

“Rise of the Phoenix,” Jessica translated. Taeyeon gulped as their eyes meet. She swore she saw Jessica’s eyes flicker gold for a second. “It’s a spell I’ve been working on.”

 

‘I lost,’ Taeyeon chuckled humorlessly to herself. ‘I’ve been terribly devastated.’

 

She watched Jessica walk up to BoA.

 

‘Yuri-ah. You were wrong. Jessica is the true beast here.’ Taeyeon grimaced, watching the brunette walk away from her. 

 

BoA rarely ever regretted her decisions, but at this moment, as Jessica glared at her, BoA truly regretted ever provoking the girl. The chill that went down her spine was one of pure fear. She had deeply underestimated the girl.

 

‘Truly a master duelist.’

 

“Jessica,” Yuri whispered, eyeing her friend worriedly.

 

Jessica took a deep breath. It'd been a long time since she last dueled. She chuckled to herself humorlessly, reminiscing of the times when dueling used to be fun. 

 

 

---

Mahoukotoro, First Year

 

“Culture and traditions are of utmost importance here at Mahoukotoro. With that, please feel free to explore any of the clubs here.” Once the headmaster dismissed them, all of the first years stood up.

 

It was the annual activities fair. Every year, each club at Mahoukotoro would host a stand to invite the underclassmen and anyone else who was interested to join the club.

 

“Come on!” Nana quickly took ahold of Sooyeon’s wrist and dragged her towards a particular stand where two upperclassmen stood, two boys, one wearing red and one in blue.

 

“Hello,” Nana greeted. “My friend and I would like to join the Dueling Club.”

 

The two upperclassmen regarded them carefully, until one of them, the one in blue robes, spoke up. “Sorry kiddos, but the dueling club doesn’t accept first years.”

 

“Why not?” Nana frowned. This was the first time she heard of such a rule.

 

This time, it was the Senpai in red that answered. “Kaga Sensei made it a new rule this year. It’s to keep first years from getting hurt in duels. But,” he grinned as he handed them a flyer. “You can come watch tryouts.”

 

Nana took the flyer and side-eyed Sooyeon, who could only sigh at the mischievousness playing in Nana’s eyes. That look meant trouble for her.

 

 

---

 

 

The two walked side by side into the grand dueling hall. It was a giant square shaped room with multiple raised platforms in various shapes. Sooyeon assumed they were the dueling arenas.

 

Nana and Sooyeon filed behind the other first years and sat on the bleachers designated for the onlookers of the trials.

 

The dueling club trials was a huge deal in the school. As one of the most prestigious dueling clubs among Wizarding schools, Mahoukotoro’s dueling club bragged of  years of awards and appraisals. Senseis and students of all years including the Wakai’s, and sometimes even alumni of the dueling club, came to watch the trials. Though not a mandatory event, it was safe to say the entire school and more were sitting inside this room.

 

Sooyeon and Nana found themselves seated among the other first years. Sooyeon spotted the Headmaster to her left, and counted that all seven Meijin were present in the room. While Sooyeon was calm, Nana, who was sitting next to her, did not stop shaking her leg in anticipation. If Sooyeon knew her friend well, which she liked to believe she did, Nana was definitely planning something. Sooyeon could only hope the plan didn’t include her.

 

“Thank you everyone for coming,” a Sensei in bright golden robes stood up onto the middle platform. “For those of you who don’t know me, I am Kaga Sensei, head of our prestigious dueling club here at Mahoukotoro.”

 

The students cheered in excitement.

 

“Now,” Kaga continued. “With no further ado, let the trials commence.”

 

The structure of the trials were simple. A contender would stand up onto the platform, and a current member of the dueling club, preferably the same year, would step forward as the opponent. One didn’t have to win the match to become a member, though it helped to win, but Kaga Sensei ultimately had the final say whether or not someone was to be accepted.

 

The trials started with the second years and moved upwards until the seventh years.

 

Sooyeon watched everything with eager eyes. She’d never seen so many dueling styles before. She mostly dueled her mom and dad, and sometimes they would bring in one of their friends to train with Sooyeon, but she’d never seen anything like this.

 

It was fun, Sooyeon mused, to spot the weaknesses and strengths of each duelist, especially in the older more advanced members of the dueling club. In her mind, she was already forming dueling strategies against each duelist in case she should ever have to duel any of them in the future.

 

While Sooyeon watched with careful eyes, Nana stayed uncharacteristically quiet next to her.

 

Finally, the last person finished his turn. Few had passed, only about seven out of the fifty or so that tried.

 

“Are there no more contenders?” Kaga Sensei asked, as he stepped forward once the last contender had gone.

 

There was a beat of silence as his eyes swept across the room.

 

“No?” Kaga asked once more. “I guess- “

 

“Wait! We volunteer!”

 

Sooyeon probably had the funniest bewildered look on her face right now, for not only did Nana just volunteer, which was already ridiculous enough, but the girl dared to grab Sooyeon’s hand and raise it in the air too.

 

Sooyeon felt Kaga Sensei and everyone else turn to look at them like she had a third eye. She desperately tried taking her hand back from Nana but Nana had a firm grip on her. When that didn’t work, she used her eyes to try and convey the message, ‘Uh hell no. This b**** is crazy. I don’t know her,’ to Kaga Sensei.

 

Unfortunately Kaga Sensei clearly didn’t get the message as he smirked at them and invited them up onto the platform.

 

Groaning, Sooyeon could only trudge her feet behind Nana as everyone made way for them. The atmosphere was insanely tense. No one said anything. Bearing the weight of the stares of the entire school, Sooyeon let Nana drag her up on stage.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Sooyeon saw Soojung staring at her worriedly. She forced a small smile to show she was okay.

 

“What’s your names?” Kaga asked, casting a voice amplifying charm on the two girls.

 

“My name is Im Nana, and this is my friend Jung Sooyeon,” Nana answered, staring proudly into the crowd. Sooyeon on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to disappear.

 

“Nana-san,” Kaga Sensei spoke. “You are the First Meijin, correct?”

 

Nana nodded, and the crowd shifted in murmurs. They all acknowledged one thing. Their First had some guts.

 

“You also know that the dueling club doesn’t allow first years anymore, right?” Kaga Sensei asked with a raised eyebrow

 

Nana smiled back. “I know. First years aren’t allowed to be part of the club, but you didn’t say we can’t try out.”

 

Next to Nana, Sooyeon bit back a scoff. ‘Geez, leave it to Nana to think of a loophole like that.’

 

Kaga Sensei laughed at the witty answer. “That, you are correct. What do you say then? May we commence?” he asked, looking out into the crowd and Sooyeon realized he was asking for the Headmistress’s approval.

 

Sooyeon followed his line of sight, and for a brief second, was caught off guard as she saw the Headmaster staring straight at her. Not knowing what else to do, Sooyeon maintained eye contact.

 

Finally, the Headmistress turned back to Kaga Sensei and gave the smallest of nods. The crowd erupted into cheers, urging the first years on.

 

Kaga turned towards the two first years with a friendly smile. “Well then, who wants to go first?”

 

Naturally Nana stepped forward. Taking that as her cue, Sooyeon descended the platform and hid in the shadows, waiting for her turn.

 

“Who’s going to be my opponent?” Nana asked.

 

Kaga turned to her with a small smirk. “I will be. I hope you don’t mind.”

 

The cheers amplified.

 

Nana mirrored his smirk. “I don’t mind at all Sensei. I’m honored.”

 

At the bottom of the platform Sooyeon rolled her eyes in exasperation. ‘Nana just challenged a Sensei. Of course. Why not?  Why am I friends with her again?’

 

Still, Sooyeon kept her eyes peeled on the match. It was one thing to watch a seventh year duel and another to watch a master duelist at work. It was somewhat of a shame Sooyeon wouldn’t be able to see him go all out considering his opponent was a first year.

 

‘Still, he better not underestimate Nana too much. She isn’t the First for nothing.’

 

The duel started out slow. Neither tried anything too risky. But knowing Nana, Sooyeon could tell her friend’s patience was starting to wear thin. The next move would probably be the one to set things off.

 

And she was right.

 

Suddenly, Nana advanced with great speed and shot seven consecutive shots as she jumped around the platform, hoping to trap Kaga Sensei.

 

The crowd roared in approval at the first year’s display of magic.

 

Kaga stood calmly as he waited for the spells to reach him, and then proceeded to side step all of them. With only three steps, he had dodged all seven attacks.

 

Sooyeon froze in shock. ‘That was almost like…’ From the corner of her eye, she saw Soojung looking confused and shocked as well.

 

Kaga quickly countered and shot a stunning spell which knicked Nana right on the shoulder, causing her to slump over.

 

The duel was over. The students in the audience went crazy. Despite her loss, the First showed a solid display of dueling potential.

 

Sooyeon watched with nervousness as Kaga helped Nana up. It was going to be her turn soon. And she didn’t know if it was anticipation or dread that was making her feel restless.

 

Finally, Kaga beckoned for her to come up. As she passed Nana on the stairs, she felt Nana grip her shoulder.

 

“Go get him.”

 

Sooyeon glanced at her from the corner of her eyes and came to a realization as she met the playful smirk of her best friend. Suddenly she wasn’t so nervous anymore. She smiled and Nana smiled back. They needed no words. Nana understood.

 

Nana quickly patted Sooyeon twice on the shoulder before continuing down the stairs.

 

Sooyeon watched Nana descend before looking up towards the stage where Kaga Sensei stood waiting for her.

 

‘Thank you Nana. For understanding me more than I understand myself.’

 

“I hope you don’t mind me being your opponent,” Kaga Sensei commented. Sooyeon merely shook her head as she positioned herself opposite him across the platform.

 

“It’ll be my honor,” she replied. And as they bowed to each other, wands readied, Sooyeon knew then, that what she felt was excitement.

 

Hundreds of eyes were on her then, but the only one she cared about was her best friend, who stood at the bottom where she stood previously, staring up at her with proud eyes.

 

For nearly an entire minute, all they did was pace in circles around each other, waiting for the other to strike first. Unlike Nana, Sooyeon had a lot more patience. She learned to wait after years of dueling with her mother. Acting rashly, especially against someone with ten times more experience, always ended in failure for Sooyeon.

 

Against master duelists like her mother, Sooyeon developed her own dueling style. She dueled like she played chess - with patience, complex tactics, misdirections, a calculating heart, and always many steps ahead of her opponent.

 

‘The girl is waiting for me to go first. Very well,’ Kaga mused.

 

He shot an experimental spell, aimed at the girl’s right earlobe, just far enough so the spell wouldn’t hit the girl. His intention was only to scare her. After all, against an opponent so young, his priorities resided solely in intimidation, not maiming.

 

To his surprise, the girl didn’t move at all. The spell shot past her, completely missing, exactly as he aimed it.

 

“So young and yet so cheeky.’

 

He shot another spell, this time aimed just enough to graze the girl’s left cheek.

 

Sooyeon merely tilted her head to the right, letting the spell fly harmlessly past her.

 

“You’re going to have to aim a lot better than that to win this duel, Sensei,” Sooyeon taunted just loud enough for only him to hear. She wasn’t smiling, but Kaga could sense the playfulness in her eyes.

 

Kaga smiled. He hadn’t had this much fun dueling a student in a long while.

 

Deciding to take things up a notch, he fired five successive spells aimed at five different parts of the body.

 

“It’ll be difficult to dodge this one, little one.’

 

Most third years panicked in the face of this successive five shot attack, but Sooyeon didn’t even flinch. Much to his surprise, the girl waited until he was sure this was going to end badly, and then merely took a step to her right, turning her body sideways, and effectively escaping all five attacks.

 

It looked exactly like how Kaga dodged Nana’s attacks from the last duel.

 

In a flash, Sooyeon raised her wand and shot her own counterattack.

 

Pleasantly surprised, Kaga deflected the spell, and was caught off guard at the force behind the spell. Unprepared, it nearly pushed him back half a meter.

 

He had underestimated the First’s friend. If his memory served him right, the opponent standing before him was an “outsider,” someone who joined the school without going through the Wakai system.

 

‘The first years are quite interesting this year.’

 

He eyed the girl standing in front of him, who maintained steady eye contact. Her eyes were playful and they seemed to say, ‘Are you going to be more serious now, Sensei?’

 

It was a provoking shot.

 

He smiled. Perhaps he had been too lax with this girl.

 

‘I’m glad you are having fun  Let me see the limits of your potential.’

 

For the next ten minutes, there was non-stop attacking and defending. The crowd watched in awe as a first year looked to be almost on equal terms as their Sensei, even if he was going easy.

 

Neither opponent had a second to breathe. Kaga was constantly moving, dodging, and sending complex spells. Sooyeon on the other hand, barely moved. Unlike Kaga’s dynamic style of dueling, Sooyeon preferred to move as little as possible.

 

Kaga felt that the duel had gone on long enough. ‘Forgive me for using this on a student, Headmistress, but I cannot take it easy any longer. I do have my pride as a Sensei. She is an extraordinary witch, though, to have made it this far. I’m sorry little one, but this is going to hurt.’

 

“SHI NO HA!!!!” (Blade of Death)

 

Sooyeon’s eyes widened as Kaga’s wand all of a sudden exploded in a flash of bright red. She felt the power rushing towards her; It was like being into a hurricane.

 

“UNNIE!” Sooyeon clearly heard Soojung scream from the crowd.

 

However, instead of a direct hit like Kaga had expected, Sooyeon quickly shot another spell to counter his attack.

 

“KAMI NO TATE!” (Divine Shield)

 

Kaga watched in awe as the two spells collided, his' winning by the merest of fractions, forcing Sooyeon to kneel onto the ground as she got hit by the remains of his spell.

 

She quickly got back on her feet, another spell ready at her lips when a voice interrupted the duel.

 

“ENOUGH!”

 

Everyone turned their heads to who had spoken. It was the Headmistress, who had stood up and was currently glaring at Kaga and eyeing Sooyeon with such an intensity Sooyeon felt like she was hit by a stunning spell.

 

“The duel is over,” the Headmistress announced. Kaga bowed respectfully, dropping his wand at his side as Sooyeon did the same. It was a sign of surrender. The duel was over with no clear winner: a tie.

 

“The trials are over,” the Headmistress declared. “Everyone back to your classes.”

 

The students groaned discreetly, dissapointed at having the show cut short, but nonetheless shuffled out of the dueling hall, their lips itching to talk about what had just occurred in front of their eyes.

 

Kaga looked over to Sooyeon who was already on her way down the stairs. “You,” he inquired seriously. “Who is your mother?”

 

Sooyeon returned the suspicious look. “You must know her, Sensei...After all, that last spell you used...was Mother’s.”

 

Kaga felt a forced chuckle in his throat. ‘That explains everything.’

 

Taking a closer look at the girl’s face, he saw signs he couldn’t see before. ‘That face.Those eyes. That style of dueling.’

 

‘That minimalist style of dueling…’ Kaga reminisced. ‘Doing more with less.’

 

He had been in charge of the dueling club here at Mahoukotoro for many years, and was a duelist for even longer. In his many years of experience, there was only one person to ever master the minimalist style of dueling, and that was the person who came up with the style in the first place.

 

‘It’s been twenty eight years since I taught you,’ Kaga smiled. ‘And now, your daughter stands before me, already an amazing duelist, just like you.’

 

Kaga cleared his throat. “You are Soobin’s child.”

 

Sooyeon gave no acknowledgement, but Kaga knew he was correct. It was actually obvious now. He should’ve known from the start.

 

He suddenly laughed. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Soobin. We used to be in the same dueling club, Rising Sun.” He told her as he regarded Sooyeon carefully. “I see you’ve been practicing your mom’s signature minimalist dueling style.”

 

Sooyeon nodded.

 

“It’s a hard style to learn. I have to say I’m impressed that someone so young…”

 

A minimalist duelist dueled with the least amount of movement. The style focused on conserving energy. One must dodge all attacks, and with the least amount of effort. It was a terribly difficult style that required mastering of timing and spacing. If done incorrectly, it was terrible draining.

 

He eyed Sooyeon She didn’t look tired, even after dueling with him non-stop for fifteen minutes. Even he was starting to feel tired.

 

He smiled. “Send my regards to your mother for me. Tell her that it was an honor to face off against her famous minimalist style again,” he said before turning to leave.

 

“Oh and by the way, practice is everyday at 8:00pm. I look forward to seeing you and your friend here.”

 

Having heard Sensei, Nana grinned whole-heartedly. Her plan had worked out perfectly.

---

 

 

The Headmistress watched Jung Sooyeon walk through the halls of Mahoukotoro with Im Nana.

 

‘I have a feeling the Choosing will be quite eventful this year.’

 

 

---

An: Woo! What a rollercoaster. 

So many questions!

What is the Choosing? What's going to happen next? What was that phoenix spell?

Till next time, 

Sosh