—hello! as a heads-up, this is a courtesy notification letting you know that this specific chapter is actually the last of three in this update. if you've ended up here as a result of clicking through an email or alert of some sort for this update, please navigate to episode 23. that's the first actual chapter for this update's specific batch of chapters. thanks!

「 episode 25; arc 6.3 」 —first respite (b-side)//duel— 「 yerim iii 」

“Oh, there they are!”

“Yeojin, Yerim! Over here!”

“Jinsol, I don’t think you need to stand on the seat for them to see you.”

A bell chime marking the entrance of a violet-haired girl and a shorter brunette at her side rang out across a small diner. Despite the relatively modest size of the establishment, Yeojin was surprised to see it fairly packed—between the apparently ongoing lunch rush and the name that the business had made for itself as one of Mobius’ most accessible dining spots, Eyedi’s was not a restaurant which would ever seem to struggle with making ends meet.

Greeted by a host at the front who saw that her job had already been done for her, she was happy to send the Neophytes to convene with their already assembled friends as she handled the next party in line. Walking past mostly filled booths occupied by groups of people engaging in mealtime conversations, Yeojin and Yerim arrived at theirs to the sight of five smiling faces.

“What took you guys so long?” Heejin asked, rising from her seat and giving the two a quick hug. Jinsol rose next, repeating the gesture and allowing the two entry into the semi-circle shaped booth from their end. They settled themselves in the middle next to Jungeun, the woman of fire welcoming them with a nod in the midst of a yawn. The electric couple took their seats once more across Hyunjin and Sooyoung, the group now fully accounted for.

“I was showing Yeojin around Mobius a bit!” Yerim said. “We stopped by the Council House for a while. We must’ve spent longer there than I thought, since I didn’t even realize that Hyunjin had texted me the first time. Sorry!”

“All good. No time to stop by the MBC Arena, then?”

Yerim shook her head in response to Hyunjin’s question. “No, unfortunately not. If we did, we would have been even more late…”

“You wouldn’t have gotten to see much, anyway,” Sooyoung said after a sip of cold water from an iced glass. “Big match today, starting pretty soon even.”

Jungeun’s voice came next, albeit after another yawn. “Yeah, forgot that the semi-finals are today. That place must be a madhouse right now, including the streets around it. Probably for the better that you didn’t go.”

“You’re not usually this tired, Grandma,” Hyunjin teased the Adept sorceress. 

Jinsol was quick to chime in, spreading smiles around the table. “No beauty sleep last night?”

“With how late we got back? Forget it. Threw my very precise sleep schedule out of sync,” Jungeun said, dismissing the notion with a wave of her hand. She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms as she looked around the area. “I woke up an hour ago. Didn’t even eat yet. Your lunch is my breakfast.”

In the middle of the group’s laughter, a curious Yeojin was looking for an opportunity to press her curiosity on the mention of an arena and semi-finals. Her questions were delayed, however, as a darkness-aligned woman in a black beret approached the table.

“If it isn’t my favorite troublemakers,” her voice climbed over the group’s. It was matched with a playful grin which widened as she handed out seven laminated menus around the table. Eyes of deep violet and dark brown scanned the group, settling on Yeojin with a raised brow. “Including a new one. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Huh? M-me?” Yeojin stammered. Though she was caught off-guard, she sensed nothing but a friendly aura emanating from the waitress. “Uh, it’s Yeojin. Nice to meet you.”

“You as well, love,” she responded in kind. “I’m Eyedi.”

“Wait, so this is—”

Eyedi confirmed Yeojin’s suspicions with a preemptive nod. “Yes, this place was my idea. Your friends here won’t admit it, but without me, they’d be out of luck when it comes to finding great food at a reasonable price in Mobius.”

“Oh, get over yourself, woman,” Sooyoung teased with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, resulting in a light push against her shoulder from the owner herself. “No one called your food great. It’s alright.”

“Just alright? Then why do you keep coming back, I wonder? With new faces, even!”

“To humor you, mostly.”

“Right, right,” Eyedi said slowly, sarcasm dripping without end. “Then why don’t you humor me some more by figuring out what you want to order by the time I get back?”

With a wink as her parting gift, Eyedi left to handle another table nearby, leaving the group to scour the menu for their chosen meals. Given their history of frequenting the establishment, they were quick to decide. Yeojin didn’t take much longer, settling on a platter of mixed seafood as per Yerim’s recommendation.

“By the way, I was totally gonna win last night. Just saying.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“You didn’t have a chance, Jinsol.”

“Yes, I did! Wait, Jungeun, why are you taking Sooyoung’s side?!”

Yeojin put her menu down just in time to see Jinsol darting her eyes between Jungeun and Sooyoung with a pout. Jungeun’s following shrug facilitated the birth of a smirk on Sooyoung’s face. “Just being realistic, given how it went last time you two dueled.”

“But that was super close!” Jinsol protested. 

“Not close enough,” Hyunjin countered, her eyes glued to her phone screen as she rested her head on Sooyoung’s shoulder. “Gotta step it up, Jinsol.”

In the defense of her significant other, Heejin was quick to speak up. She linked her arm around the taller girl’s, bringing their hands together and interlocking their fingers. “I think she could’ve managed. And next time, I won’t lose either, even if Sooyoung goes—”

“Heejin—”

“Absolute, was it?”

Eyes fell on Yerim.

She blinked as her seniors regarded her quietly. Sooyoung sighed to herself, her attempt at cutting Heejin short ultimately failing as the conversation still ended up being steered in the wrong direction. “That’s what Heejin said when she joined us on the bleachers,” Yerim explained slowly, uncertain what to make of the shift in atmosphere over the group. “She said you had gone Absolute, Sooyoung.”

Feeling a piercing gaze of frost upon her, Heejin gulped.

It was coming from the opposite swordswoman of the group, an icy cyan hue cutting through her with stern disapproval. In a similar vein, Jungeun gave Heejin much the same glance as Sooyoung, though less severe in nature.

Seeking some level of assistance, Heejin’s eyes found those of her bandaged best friend. Hyunjin slowly sunk into her seat with raised eyebrows as an advisory sign of caution, though it was too little too late. She was left to silently mouth her thoughts to Heejin, the girl of electricity reading her lips with a deepening frown.

Big oof.

“So what was that about, anyway?” Yerim asked, still chasing after an answer. “It was like you were on a totally different level, Sooyoung. I’ve never seen you fight like that before…”

“I can’t lie, I’m really curious too.”

Though the ongoing adjustment to having a social life and friends once more had been keeping her mostly quiet throughout the gathering, the girl of wind felt compelled to speak as she remembered the sight—Sooyoung’s odd eye entirely submerged in light, with her greatsword undergoing  a metamorphosis as she broke the conventional limits of the human body. In the name of boundless curiosity, she joined Yerim’s side. “That was...well, to be honest, it was kinda sick. How the heck did you do that, Sooyoung? And what’s it even about?”

“It wasn’t sick.”

Sooyoung’s dismissal was quiet and without eye contact, her eyes wandering the diner as she took a silent breath. So that she might protect them, she shot down their valid investigation with a shake of her head. “It was an effect, just like any other. Guess you might consider it a temporary buff. That’s all it is. Nothing worth glorifying.”

“Really?” Yerim said with due disbelief. Much to Sooyoung’s dismay, the young Neophyte’s drive for knowledge made it difficult to stop her advances, something she well expected given her older sisters. “It certainly seemed like there was a lot going on. I’ve never seen an effect that requires such preparation, much less one where the magus’ body acts as the center point for multiple effect containers…”

Yeojin was close to following up on Yerim’s heels once more, but she found herself interrupted by a lackadaisical Jungeun with an entirely unamused look in her mismatched eyes. “Seriously, guys. It’s nothing special. Don’t overthink it.”

Confusion compounded within the Neophytes. Seeking at the very least an explanation behind the dramatic reversal of the table’s mood, their eyes found Heejin and Hyunjin—both unresponsive, as Heejin actively avoided eye contact with a darkened expression while Hyunjin minded her business on her phone. Jinsol was the only one to return their focus as they looked to her, and as much as it looked like she wanted to speak on the matter, it was with a pained grimace that she made it clear she was in no position to do so.

With further inquiry silenced, the Neophytes were left to nod quietly. 

Though the ambiance between the sorceresses returned to normal minutes later, both Yeojin and Yerim couldn’t help but feel a little put off by the rushed repudiation of a line of questioning they believed themselves to be justified in pursuing. For Yeojin especially, the manner in which they were brushed off felt all too similar to the response she received from Sooyoung and Sunmi, and it didn’t sit particularly well with her at all.

As she was roped back into an active conversation, the girl of wind took a light breath, content to just leave the awkward mood behind. Yerim had done much the same, so there was little reason to continue pushing for an answer that might not even exist.

“Alright, ladies.”

Some time later, Eyedi had shown herself in front of the group once more. Clicking a pen in one hand, she tapped the end of it against a small notepad in the other, looking at the sorceresses expectantly. “Gonna mix things up by trying something new for once in your lives, or are we just gonna ignore ninety percent of my finely curated menu like usual?”

With every order that Eyedi scribbled down, she nodded in a rhythmic, systematic fashion, as if she had already been expecting everything said. Finishing up, she gave her favorite regulars a dramatically played up sigh while she collected their menus. “Disappointed, but not surprised! Yeojin, do me a favor and break the mold from your friends here by ordering something different next time you’re around. Your food will be out in a bit, girls. Hang tight!”

The group saw her off with nods of thanks amidst their laughter. Moments after she vanished into the backroom, a sudden outburst of noise broke through the area. It was a mixture of loud whistling and cheering, focused around the bar and lounge near the far side of the diner. Yeojin had to stand up in her seat to sneak a peek at the source of the commotion over the edges of the booth—a huge number of people were crowded around a colossal TV hanging on the wall, with more and more people joining the congregation by the second.

“Sounds like the semi-finals are starting,” Hyunjin said, turning back towards the table. Reaching underneath the booth, she retrieved a drawstring backpack and opened it, rummaging through it for a moment.

“It that we couldn’t get a booth closer to the big screen,” Jinsol lamented. “I think Eunbi is up right now…”

“Got you covered.”

With a wide smile, Hyunjin procured her quarry: a ten-inch tablet with a crystal clear high-definition display. Jinsol’s eyes lit up like stars as she started to tap her feet excitedly beneath the table. “Oh, you came prepared! Nice, Hyunjin!”

Quick navigation through a number of app icons brought Hyunjin to a livestream of the same broadcast being shown on TV. Propping the tablet up through a kickstand on its case and setting it to fullscreen, she placed it in the center of the table, allowing the whole group a comfortable view of the forthcoming event.

“Whoa...what is that?”

“That’s Mobius’ Magus Battle Circuit Arena! People call it the MBC for short.”

The subject of Yeojin’s question which Yerim was happy to answer was revealed in full via a wide panning aerial shot—a titanic stadium with a see-through dome ceiling. The outer design of the structure was closely similar to the Mobius Council House, bearing the same architectural aesthetic and thematic colors of black and white. It was fitted with twelve spires along the edges of the glass roof, each similarly equipped with one of the Twelve’s representative animals. The closest thing Yeojin could equate the stadium to was that of a football field, though she could tell even at a glance that the entire structure was noticeably bigger. 

Apart from a giant rendition of Mobius’ infinity dodecagram emblem carved into the gray stone tile floor, the field itself was a vast sector of space absent of any noticeable terrain whatsoever with seating wrapped around its entirety in five layers. Unfathomably huge screens hung in rows from the ceiling, allowing spectators at the topmost level close-up views of the action below via drone cameras which were flying about the area. Going by the sheer volume of the crowd coming through the tablet’s speakers, Yeojin had to wonder if she would’ve gone deaf were she in attendance with the nearly one hundred thousand people packed to the brim in the stands. 

Akin to that of a concert crowd, many of the fans present were waving banners and signs dedicated to one of two celebrities—both of which Yeojin saw in full as the cameras cut to a closer view of the playing field. A man and a woman both well into their late twenties stood a couple hundred feet apart from each other, the infinity loop of Mobius’ insignia resting squarely on the floor between them.

“Wait, what’s happening exactly?” Yeojin asked, looking between her comrades. “The crowd’s going absolutely nuts. They’re like...stans or something.”

“What the hell is a ‘stan?’” Jungeun remarked slowly, unsure what to make of the entirely foreign word Yeojin had just uttered.

“Uh...something from my world. Came from a dumb blue bird app that people used to use a lot,” Yeojin explained as best she could, though her clarification only served to confuse Jungeun further. “It’s slang for someone who really likes something or someone. Anyway, is this some kind of sport?”

“Remember the spar Jungeun and I had?” Hyunjin asked, the smirk on her face steadily growing.

“Yeah, that was awesome. Is this kinda like that?”

“Is this kinda like that, she asks!” Jinsol mimicked, laughing with a wicked smile that threw Yeojin for a loop. “Oh, Yeojin! If you liked that, you’re gonna love this!”

“Good afternoon, Mobius, and welcome to the first semi-final match of the 144th annual Master Single Circuit Grand Prix!”

Further explanation to Yeojin’s question was cut short by the sound of an announcer properly starting things off, to which the crowd erupted with even more noise. 

The livestream feed transitioned to a view of a raised glass platform between the second and third levels of the audience seating. Two women clad in sleeveless buttoned dress shirts and jeans waved to the excited spectators nearby as they stepped onto the platform from an open door nearby. They briefly graced the lucky few closest to their platform with high fives before addressing the stadium at large. As the array of mammoth-sized display screens overhead shifted to their arrival, they invited further volume through the raising of their hands and were immediately met with another booming surge of cheers.

“Seems like a lot of people have been waiting for this one, Sunny,” the blonde-haired caster to the left of the platform deduced with a smile. Her golden odd eye met the bright azure iris of her partner with a nod. “They’re getting pretty antsy. Best not to waste any more time!”

“Yeah, I think everyone in attendance is gonna agree with that one, Hyoyeon!” the second announcer said with haste. She fixed her brown locks behind an ear fitted with a high-fidelity microphone earpiece which kept her voice clear over the roused crowd around her. “Then let’s get the formalities out of the way, everyone! As much as they don’t need to be introduced, let’s say hello to today’s duelists!”

“Duelists?”

Heejin answered Yeojin’s question with an excited grin. “Magi who train professionally to duel as a sport!”

Yeojin blinked. Figuring out what she was actually watching, her interest was multiplying upon itself. “Then...that’d make this—”

“A tournament match!” Jinsol exclaimed, her voice bursting with excitement. “And not just any tournament match! This is the semi-finals of the Master Single Circuit Grand Prix! That’s the second biggest tournament of the year, right after the Team Circuit Grand Prix!”

“Representing IZ*ONE as their esteemed leader who scored a top five seed this year, I’d be shocked if we didn’t all know her already!” Sunny began, her boosted voice almost losing the competition of sound against the roaring crowds. “Ranked third in last year’s Master Single Circuit GP, the woman whose flames burn hotter than the sun itself, it’s Kwon Eunbi!”

A dual-sided explosion of noise broke free, both from the stadium itself and the crowd gathering around the TV at the other end of the diner. The footage cut to a closeup of the serene frame of the woman standing on the field. Dressed in a matching bright red combo of a form-fitting athletic tank top and leggings, her opposing hues of searing scarlet and dark green beneath a head of shoulder-length black hair regarded the uproar of fans cheering her on with composed grace.

“And across from her, we’ve got the comeback kid who surprised us all with a clutch victory yesterday to seal his spot here as a top eight contestant, marking his third consecutive year of joining that illustrious club!” Hyoyeon continued, pacing about the platform with Sunny. “Yes, with the head honcho who saw his faction to a second place victory in last year’s Team Circuit GP, it’s a showdown of commanders! Folks, give it up for NCT 127’s very own leader, the sublime scion of shade, Lee Taeyong!”

Once again, torrential applause erupted from both the tablet and the diner. A camera drone swept by the man standing across Eunbi, giving the magus born of shadow a proper closeup. With short hair dyed lavender matching his altered iris and a relaxed fit of a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, he gave an open wave and a bow to all sides of the surrounding stands. Beneath the curved smirk he showed his fans was the confidence of a well-trained competitor, something the more reserved Eunbi was keen to keep under wraps.

“Now let’s get our duelists equipped, shall we?”

As per Sunny’s invitation, two figures entered the field from opposite ends. Dressed in shirts bearing Mobius’ insignia with a bold “MBC Staff” printed below it, they were easily made out as tournament officials. They approached the two duelists in unison, each holding a small metallic box. Coming to a stop at their sides, they flipped the cases open, revealing a thin wrist strap with a small LCD display affixed to it.

“What are those things?” Yeojin asked as she watched both contestants equip them to their arms of choice. “They look like smartwatches…”

“Barrier scanners,” Sooyoung answered her team’s Neophyte. “Sensors underneath the screen measure the remaining strength of your shield every time it comes up, and it gets relayed to their systems.”

With the two duelists fastening the scanners to their wrists, Yeojin made full sense of Sooyoung’s explanation. Their shields of light flashed into existence across their body, the barrier runes imprinted on their clothes glowing brightly. The barriers remained solidly materialized for a moment before vanishing the next, and with their disappearance, an overlay came up on the screen—portraits of both Eunbi and Taeyong labeled with their associated groups and individual ranks, each sitting in dedicated lower corners of the display. Next to them, a segmented white gauge extended along the bottom of the screen from each, stopping on the sides of the MBC’s logo between them. The same overlay showed up on all of the stadium’s hanging screens, giving live spectators the same information as those watching from home or elsewhere.

“Live health bars?” Yeojin mumbled underneath her breath, stricken by disbelief. “Is this just a shounen anime tournament arc and a fighting game wrapped up in one package…?”

“And now, all we’re missing are those beautiful, beautiful weapons!” Hyoyeon shouted. The crowd was quick to rally with her. “Let’s bring ‘em out, you two!”

From the odd eyes of two of Mobius’ top-rate duelists, blinding flashes of crimson and amethyst light surged forth simultaneously.

Yeojin’s jaw started to drop as she watched a column of spiraling fire erupt from beneath Eunbi, reaching just below the ceiling’s hanging monitors. Fanning out, the duelist made a grand display of turning her flames into heated streams which came back down in front of her extended arms. They surrounded two dense clouds of mana that she had effortlessly summoned, and in another instant, they blinked into existence right as a massive explosion of fire went off behind her—twin swords with opposite single edge blades and hilts of crimson leather, runes inscribed across the length of their steel. Even though Eunbi’s steel took the form of proper length short swords, Yeojin’s eyes perked up as she saw them materialize, being reminded of her own dual daggers. 

Synchronized with Eunbi’s showcase of might was Taeyong’s own. Spheres of violet manifested behind him one by one in a chaotic, unpredictable manner, flying around him with increasing speed. With more and more spawning and racing around his frame, he was eventually hidden from sight entirely, veiled within a blurry sphere of conjoined shadows. A moment later, they came to an abrupt stop before careening to the floor. Settled atop the tiled arena floor, each one erected a high reaching spire of dark thorns, revealing him once more. Standing amid his forest of twisted barbed pillars, Taeyong was now fashioned with a rectangular tower shield made of lavender metal in one hand and a sharpened lance of polished obsidian in the other, each one standing almost as tall as him. 

As their over-the-top summoning sequences came to an end, Yeojin couldn’t help but think aloud. “All of that just to call their weapons? That was...excessively dramatic.”

“And really cool, right?!”

Jinsol could hardly contain herself. She nearly dislodged Heejin from her arm with how much she was excitedly bouncing in her seat. “Eunbi’s swords are so awesome! And the way she makes her fire come down, and then that explosion, it’s like, whoa! But then you’ve got Taeyong submerging himself in darkness and then, bam, his lance and shield combo! Like, hello?!”

“A big part of professional dueling is the aspect of showmanship,” Yerim said to Yeojin as Jinsol’s giddy energy calmed down for a moment. “Over the years, the culture behind it has become ingrained with the idea of building up hype through their introductions, as well as utilizing fighting techniques that are as eye-catching and flamboyant as they are effective.”

“So it’s kinda like when wrestlers come out to their theme song or something,” Yeojin replied with a nod. “Okay, I kinda get it, I think.”

Sunny’s voice rose over the deafening cries of the stadium once more. “Alright, Mobius! It’s time for the most high-profile match of the tournament yet to get started! Count it down with us!”

On Sunny’s mark, a buzzer started to sound off at regular intervals. Aligned with it was a visual countdown on screen starting from five, each second cutting between opposing closeups of Eunbi and Taeyong. At the end of the countdown, Sunny and Hyoyeon raised a single hand each, shouting to the heavens in unison alongside the rest of the arena as the final and lengthiest of the buzzer’s rings went off.

“Duel...start!”

The announcers brought their hands down at the end of the buzzer, commencing the semi-final match without further delay. A twenty minute timer appeared between the two shield gauges at the bottom of the screen. It began to count down, and not a second later, a series of fiery explosions immediately followed. 

Without hesitation, Eunbi’s odd eye flashed with crimson as a mass of her dust spawned behind Taeyong. She ignited it with a steep breath as she broke out into a forward sprint, coalescing it into chain detonations that bid the man of darkness to make quick use of his feet. Dashing to his left with a held breath, Taeyong barely outran a line of explosions which followed him closely, forcing him to keep moving as they threatened to engulf him. 

“Leave it to Eunbi to open things up with a bang as she always does!” Hyoyeon cheered alongside everyone. A particularly excited group of girls holding up a series of Eunbi and IZ*ONE-themed posters and banners appeared to be beside themselves as the dual-wielding duelist found herself in an advantageous position off the bat. “All of that mana, brought forth in the blink of an eye! Are we sure this girl isn’t a Grandmaster yet?!”

Fast approaching her opponent, Eunbi took a deep breath and maintained it as she leapt forward with her swords raised. Seeing Taeyong slide to a stop and anchor himself in place with his shield raised to block, she exhaled swiftly through her nostrils, summoning hastily converted pockets of mahogany mana on the floor around him. From them, craggy stalagmites pierced the tile floor as they crashed up from earth below. The ground Taeyong stood began to split apart, and the start of a localized tremor promised to disrupt his footing. 

Having expected some manner of trickery, Taeyong was quick to release his own held breath, though only partially. Through a pre-prepared two-stage conversion, the dark duelist manifested a bed of pressurized winds at his feet. It rapidly expanded upwards and outwards, blasting him off the floor and freeing him from Eunbi’s earthquake.

“A last second escape from Taeyong!” Sunny exclaimed. Shock quickly claimed her expression, as it did the rest of the audience. “Wait, that’s not an escape at all!”

Eunbi was caught off guard as she realized it herself—Taeyong’s movement option was not a defensive retreat. Quite the opposite, he had opted to send himself flying in the direction of the airborne sorceress, his lance fully extended to pierce her mid-descent. With her aerial momentum still driving her upwards, Eunbi raised her foot and swiftly slammed it down against the top of the lance’s tip, gaining even more height with a jump off of it and disarming Taeyong in one fell swoop. 

Yeojin could scarce believe the degree of skill and forward thinking that she was seeing from both competitors, much less the fact that barely twenty seconds had passed thus far. Her jaw remained dropped as she watched Eunbi materialize an airborne crimson effect container just ahead of her. Her body acting as its breaking force, she crashed through the runic circle with light bursting from her flaming iris. What followed was another chain of controlled explosions, this series even more potent as the air vibrated with each one. They traveled in a downwards line opposite to her, chasing the now falling Taeyong.

A move that properly surprised everyone at the stadium and Eyedi’s alike followed. Hyoyeon burst into impressed laughter as she ran to the edge of the platform with Sunny, leaning over the railing in full. “Oh, man, look at this guy! Even Eunbi’s crazy pressure won’t stop Taeyong’s well-practiced use of resumed conversion, and to pull it off with a move like that?!”

Eyes primed and focused on the ground below him as he began to descend, Taeyong willed his lance out of existence and returned it to dust before it even hit the floor. Releasing his hold on his shield’s handle, he kicked it under his feet. With the delayed release of the rest of his breath, his plan became apparent—quickly hardening ice began to form on the ground beneath him, rushing forwards and expanding into a lengthy track. Slamming down onto the frozen path with built momentum, he effectively turned his shield into a skateboard sans wheels. With the velocity from his descent, he skated along his icy trail with ease, easily outpacing Eunbi’s detonation line. His road of frost curving as it continued to extend itself, he made a wide turn with his approach to the far end of the arena, heading towards Eunbi who had finally touched ground herself.

The snazzy display of action and stellar technical skill behind it kept the crowd in a sustained excitement. Loud whistles broke out around the bar, and Jinsol and Heejin’s eyes alike widened with exhilaration. Hyunjin, Jungeun, Yerim, and Sooyoung had less of an observable reaction, though it was clear they were properly invested—it seemed to Yeojin that they were taking it in as a learning experience more than anything else, in the hopes of potentially applying some aspect of what they were seeing to their own battles.

“Leave it to a pro duelist to do something like that,” Hyunjin spoke up, thoroughly fascinated by the maneuver. “Smart and flashy. Can’t ask for more.”

As for Yeojin, the only thing present at the forefront of her mind other than her bewilderment was the burning question of how. “I don’t get it,” she started, struggling to piece the move together. “He had already converted two steps down his directional bias from darkness to air...I get these guys are Masters, but wasn’t that three-step conversion from darkness to ice right after way too fast?”

“It wasn’t a three-step conversion. It was a single step, from air to ice.”

Sooyoung’s focus remained glued to the livestream as she lectured her junior, repeating a keyword Yeojin had just heard from Hyoyeon. “Resumed conversion—the act of only releasing a small amount of your held breath when you reach the converted step you’re aiming for. You get less mana out of it than if you had exhaled fully, but you pick up where you left off on the elemental wheel. Basically, you’re trading a bigger or more worthwhile effect in favor of not having to start your conversion from scratch for the next.”

“It’s an advanced technique that isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Jungeun added with a nod. “Until you drill it with proper practice, your conversion will completely reset regardless of how little you breathe out. On top of that, you need to be planning ahead for how your next available elements can help you handle whatever’s coming your way.”

“Like all of this delicious, affordable food that Sooyoung weirdly thinks is just alright!”

An outside voice stole the group’s huddled attention from the tablet screen. It was a giggling Eyedi, hands full with plates of freshly cooked meals. An additional waiter at her side held more, and the two of them handed them out accordingly. “Who’s winning?”

“Just started. No clean hits yet,” Jinsol reported, her eyes immediately returning to the duel as she started cutting into a steak. “Eunbi’s got this, though.”

“After that? Forget it,” Hyunjin countered after a hearty swallow of a mouthful of food. “You know how out of your mind you have to be to make a play like that? This is an easy win for Taeyong, you delusional Eunbi stan.”

In an honest plea to the universe, Jungeun whined underneath a muttered breath. “Please tell me we did not just assimilate that word into our vocabulary…”

Jinsol let loose a cocky laugh in response, shaking her head with a smug grin. “Fat chance! How out of your mind do you have to be to think his weakness to electricity could stand up to Eunbi’s level eight affinity to it? Out of all of IZ*ONE’s duelists, she’s the second worst matchup for him right after Minju! He might as well start packing his bags!”

Eyedi stifled a laugh as she watched Hyunjin quickly procure a wallet from the insides of her back pocket. Sliding out a crisp black and white dollar bill with Mobius’ city emblem and a profile portrait of the masked Fourth Frog on it, she placed it on the center of the table in front of the tablet and locked eyes with Jinsol. “Twenty big ones on Taeyong winning.”

“Oh, is that what we’re doing?”

“Are you guys seriously—”

Jungeun was left to sigh in defeat as the rattling of the table interrupted her. Jinsol had just placed a matching bill on top of it, fearlessly accepting Hyunjin’s challenge. “You’re on.”

“Missed the life lesson on the dangers of gambling, did we?” Eyedi remarked with a playful roll of her eyes. “Let me leave you all to your food before I’m subjected to watching one of you go into debt. Enjoy, loves!”

Their lunch in full swing, Yeojin found an opportunity for a question that she had meant to ask earlier, reminded of it by the camera cutting to a brief dual view of spectators waving posters and signs of the two duelists’ groups. “So, IZ*ONE and NCT 127...these two duelists are the leaders of those, but what are they exactly?”

Having just finished a sip of her drink, Yerim answered her friend first. “They’re professional duelist factions, otherwise known as groups, signed under sponsor agencies who handle and organize them. NCT 127 is actually a faction managed by one of the biggest sponsors in the world, SM Entertainment!”

Yeojin blinked. “Huh. It almost sounds like they’re idols from the music industry…”

“It’s not a far off comparison!” Heejin said with a nod, supporting Yeojin’s belief. “Lots of people do actually refer to professional duelists as idols! As far as Mobius is concerned, idol culture kind of revolves around both artists and duelists alike.”

“How many of these groups are there, then?” Yeojin asked.

“Quite a few,” Yerim said. “There’s hundreds of sponsors each with their own number of factions. Off the top of my head, some of the more famous groups with more high ranking duelists would be ones like EXO, MAMAMOO, Seventeen, GFRIEND, Pentagon, EXID...there’s a whole bunch!”

“Hey, so the announcers, Sunny and Hyoyeon, right? Before they retired, they used to actually be part of one of the most famous factions Mobius has ever had!” Jinsol spoke up, offering Yeojin a spot of trivia. “During their prime from about eight to five years ago, Girls’ Generation dominated big time! The Single Circuits, the Team Circuits, the Double and Triple Circuits...they were consistently at the top of every bracket! Hell, there were a few Single Circuits where half of the duelists in the top eight were all Girls’ Generations members!”

“Wow, you know a lot about this stuff, Jinsol,” Yeojin remarked towards Jinsol with an eyebrow raised in surprise. The electric markswoman took it as more of a compliment than her junior meant it to be, proudly popping the collar of her shirt. “I thought your group only got back three years ago?”

“Sure did,” Sooyoung answered with a curt breath, giving Jinsol an overt roll of her eyes. “Somebody just really likes professional dueling.”

“Maybe a little too much,” Jungeun teased. She felt one of Jinsol’s trademarked playful shin kicks in response, an act she was quick to reciprocate.

“So then what’s the deal with the different circuit types?”

“It’s as simple as it sounds,” Heejin answered Yeojin, the girl of wind paying close attention as she munched on fried shrimp. “The Single Circuit is a tournament with one-on-one matches, like what we’re watching now. Double Circuit, two-on-two. Triple, three-on-three. Anything with four or more falls under the Team Circuit.”

“They’re further divided by rank,” Yerim added while patting clean with a napkin. “An Adept Single Circuit would be exclusive to Adept-ranked magi. Meanwhile, an Intermediate Double Circuit would only allow teams of Intermediate magi to apply, like Heejin and Hyunjin.”

“Been there, done that,” Hyunjin said with a thumbs up, bringing a smile built from memories to Heejin’s face. “Did pretty well for ourselves. Top sixteen out of a couple hundred teams.”

“Wait, you guys fought in one of these?” Yeojin asked, taken aback by the reveal and almost forgetting to swallow her food in the process. “I thought this was a professional gig?”

Yerim was quick to handle Yeojin’s confusion. “It is, but the special annual Grand Prix Circuits are open registration for any magus who’s interested. Of course, as the tournament progresses, it usually comes down to matches between seasoned professional duelists. Aside from that, there’s also off-season circuits of all kinds which idols aren’t actually permitted entry into. It’s a chance for magi who don’t have sponsored training to have an even playing field for the whole tournament, as well as a chance for sponsors to scout for new additions to their factions.”

Nodding slowly, Yeojin absorbed the information dump piece by piece with great intrigue splashed across her face. “Damn...I never would have imagined something like this existing. Professional magus duels...”

A distinct sound of crackling thunder took over the conversation, and with it, an especially sharp whistle from across Eyedi’s bar.

The ensuing scramble that occurred during Yeojin’s impromptu lesson had left the two fighters near the center of the field again. Behind the safety of his raised shield, Taeyong was charging at Eunbi head on with his lance poised and ready. Coming at him in kind with a courageous sprint, the burning sorceress held her blades at her side, the release of her held breath bringing forth two golden effect containers in front of her. Cleaving them both, static electricity enveloped her frame as her swords started to spark. The crimson hues of her twin blades turned bright gold, and a surplus of manifested electric mana seeped into the steel, turning the runes upon the iron a matching shade.

“There it is, folks! We can’t say we didn’t see it coming!” Sunny called out with a grin. Eunbi’s fans made themselves especially heard. “Looking to snipe Taeyong’s weak point, Eunbi’s making use of her level eight affinity to electricity by means of elemental modification!”

Fitting of their bet, Jinsol’s smirk grew ever wider while Hyunjin paused her ongoing chewing to stare at the screen even harder. The alignment of her weapon fully shifted, Eunbi’s body continued to give off sporadic bursts of chain lightning as she and Taeyong got within melee range of each other. Rearing his arm, the dark duelist grunted as he anchored himself and his lance forward, hoping to force Eunbi to defend before she could mount an attack.

Thus, it was to his surprise that he found himself striking at nothing in particular one moment, and then suffering a critical hit the next.

In the same moment that Taeyong raised his lance and pierced the air, Eunbi had transitioned into a low slide, her knees skidding across the ground as he whiffed his strike above her head. Her barrier came to life in an effort to protect her knees, resulting in self-inflicted chip damage marked by the drain of roughly five percent of her health. It was a calculated risk, however, and one that paid off—the low-lying Eunbi managed to get close to Taeyong’s shins, slicing each one once with swift, deep lacerations as she slid underneath him between his open legs.

The resulting damage was immediate. Taeyong’s barrier flashed into reality and was instantly carved without mercy, cracks exploding like wildfire up both legs to his waist. The display of his barrier scanner as his life bar quickly shot from full to just over half empty. With the duel’s first proper clean hit landed, there was an explosion of wild cheering from Eunbi’s dedicated fanbase, not unlike a goal finally being scored in a soccer game. Included was Jinsol, the blonde-haired girl breaking free of Heejin’s grasp with a celebratory shout. “Yes! Nice! Get him, Eunbi!”

“Don’t celebrate just yet.”

“Huh?”

“No way! Just when you think Eunbi’s set the pace and gained the advantage, Taeyong reverses it again!”

Hyoyeon’s commentary shed light on Hyunjin’s remark to Jinsol. Looking back to the screen, the markswoman witnessed the scales being tipped the other way as Taeyong’s fans suddenly found a reason to howl over Eunbi’s.

At the end of her slide’s momentum, Eunbi had crashed into seemingly nothing as her body slammed into thin air and fell over. Stumbling back up, she made sense of it as the sun’s rays gleaming against it revealed it—a transparent glass wall born of light, the sight of which broke her composure for a moment. Though she knew what would come next, it was too fast for her to recover fully and counter in time. Chains of light flew in from behind her, ensnaring her by the wrists and ankles and keeping her locked in place even as she struggled against them. With them, the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps preceded the sharpened tip of an obsidian lance turned beige driving itself into her back.

Having held his breath since the middle of his approach, Taeyong had released a cunningly planned four-step conversion to light all at once. Manifesting into the two simultaneous effects of his wall and chains as well as an active elemental modification, he managed to turn the tables with a guaranteed critical strike against his opponent. The runes on his altered lance steadily exuded harsh white light as he swiftly his heel and dashed towards the immobilized Eunbi, leaping into the air with an aerial against her back. Eunbi’s body glossed over with light as her barrier came to life, and it was with a hardened face that Taeyong drove the end of his lance as deep into it as he could manage, fissures extending across the woman’s frame with blinding speed.

In a matter of seconds, Eunbi’s relatively healthy life lead was vanishing as her vitality began to plummet. Sunny was positively astonished, her voice climbing octaves in disbelief. “Unbelievable! Can Eunbi break out of this setup?! Or are we going to see a guaranteed one-hit weak point snipe from Taeyong?!”

Four piercing explosions answered Sunny’s question.

Through a strained breath in the middle of suffering a near total barrier collapse, Eunbi let loose a quick, fierce exhale through her nose. Her mana instantly materialized in thick, concentrated pockets near the center of each chain holding her back. Taeyong only just managed to stop his assault in time upon seeing them, quickly understanding the answer she had found. Pulling back, he dropped both his lance and shield and immediately went into two evasive backflips, distancing himself from the ignited escape that Eunbi had just triggered.

The chains broken apart by means of her explosions, Eunbi fell forward to the ground below. Gathering herself quickly, she transitioned from her fall into a handstand and jumped back to her feet, rematerializing her blades in her hands whilst flipping about in the air. Taeyong recalled his armaments in a similar instant, and after a single, measured breath of recovery from both, they burst into action to engage once more.

After the wild exchange of weak point exploitation from both duelists, Yeojin’s attention was fixed on the match overlay. With Taeyong’s shield at just over half health and Eunbi’s at only a fifth, she tilted her head in thought. “It’s barely been five minutes and it’s already almost over...are these matches always this quick?”

“This is a semi-final match in one of the biggest Grand Prix Circuits of the year with high-ranking sponsored duelists making extremely effective use of elemental modification to snipe weak points,” Sooyoung said between bites of her food. “This is just what the competition looks like at this level. Otherwise, consider this match one hell of an outlier from the norm.”

“Not to mention that it’s actually a best of three for Grand Prix circuits, so it’s still only just begun,” Yerim added, shedding light on the ruleset. “Points are gained either by fully breaking the enemy’s shield or by having a higher life total at the end of the time limit, at which point a referee pauses the match to heal both duelists—complete restoration for the fighter who lost, and partial healing for the winner. Healing your own barrier mid-match is also allowed, but in a Single circuit setting, it’s a strategy only really employed by duelists who have very easy access to one of the healing elements.”

“Another reason I’ll be walking out of this place twenty bucks richer,” Hyunjin added with a taunting smirk directed at Jinsol. “Your girl’s clockwise bias to fire is leaving her severely lacking in the realm of on-demand healing. Meanwhile, Taeyong’s super high affinity for water, air, and light? That’s a little something we like to call self-sustain, Jinsol. Guess you’ve never heard it, given that it’s the thing you failed to consider about this matchup.”

“Yeah, well, healing’s for nerds!” Jinsol retorted in poor fashion, having no proper comeback for Hyunjin’s legitimate argument. “Eunbi won’t need any of it! Just watch!”

“Oh, I can’t wait to tell Haseul about that one.”

“Wait, what? No, nevermind! I didn’t say that, Jungeun!”

Their booth erupting with laughter as Jinsol hastily reversed her statement, Yerim found herself feeling particularly at ease as she enjoyed an outing with close friends. Stomachs were full and satisfied as the afternoon progressed, the sorceresses enjoying each other’s company while watching the high-stakes match with great focus and intrigue. 

For a moment, Yerim’s thoughts wandered—watching the action, she couldn’t help but imagine what it might be like to step onto the arena floor as a competitor. The idea of being surrounded by cheering fans and dueling for glory with all of her friends watching seemed terribly overwhelming at first, but the more she considered it, the more she found herself smiling. It would undoubtedly be a fun learning experience, something she was always eager to have more of. Yerim was sure it would remain a fantasy, however, as her reality-hopping adventures as one of LOONA’s own had only just begun.

Yet, beyond her knowledge, the day where she would step onto the arena was fast approaching. Opposing her, she’d meet her enemy on the other side of the field—her best friend turned rival, the girl of wind who defied history.