"Hey."
I stopped my thoughts and turned my head toward the voice.
And there he stood.
Another teen.
He was taller than me and looked at least a few years older. His black hair was trimmed into a buzz cut, and his dark brown eyes looked straight into mine. His skin was brown, not white.
It was the same teen who had stared at me the last time I trained.
Number 125.
Silence settled between us.
I didn't answer and only stared back at him.
125 was the first to break the silence.
"You wanna duel?"
That was all he said.
I looked into his brown eyes and thought about the question.
A duel?
Normally, I would have ignored him and continued training. There was no reason to spar.
But something—
Something inside me wanted to accept.
To fight.
Not because of him.
It was just that my body wanted to move.
The training I had done before felt wrong, as if something was off. And no matter how many times I repeated the same slash, it wouldn't change.
But somehow—
I had the feeling that it wouldn't be the same in a duel. And before I could even understand why—
I nodded.
125 returned the nod and raised his shortsword, readying himself.
I threw away all the useless thoughts in my head and lifted my own sword into stance.
At first, neither of us moved.
We simply stared at each other with our swords raised.
Then I felt it.
A ripple of mana spreads from his body into the air.
It felt strong.
The amount of mana he had must have been a lot.
Having seen enough, I made the first move.
Step.
I stepped forward and delivered a diagonal slash toward his left side.
Shing.
The strike wasn't strong.
I hadn't put much force into it.
It was more of a test.
Clang.
125 blocked it easily, shifting his sword to the left. Our blades clashed before I stepped back to end the exchange.
Then he moved.
Step.
He stepped forward, turned his sword, and delivered a horizontal slash toward my left side.
Shing.
I pushed my right arm to my side and turned the sword so that its tip pointed down, blocking his strike.
Clang.
Steel met steel as our swords clashed.
But—
The enhancement in my arm wavered.
The mana in my core rippled for a moment, which weakened my mana flow. My strength failed, and I skidded half a meter back from the force behind his strike.
125's eyes widened for a moment as he saw me slide back. He stepped back, too, keeping his gaze fixed on me.
At the same time, I was baffled by the exchange.
I had enhanced my arm exactly as always. There had been no mistake on my part.
But still—
The mana had rippled, disrupting its flow and, in the end, breaking the enhancement.
I didn't know why.
And I had no time to figure it out as 125 continued with another attack.
Shing.
A frontal slash aimed at my chest.
I raised my sword and held it horizontally in front of his sword, trying to block it. But a moment before our blades met, I felt it again.
A ripple spreads from my core.
I reacted immediately and tilted my sword slightly.
Clang.
Barely in time.
His strike was heavy, but by angling my blade, I was able to let his sword slide along it and pass my body. But even though I parried, I still felt the force of the blow, and my arms trembled slightly.
At the same time, my body began to heat up. The warmth appeared in my chest and spread through all my limbs.
Not enough to burn.
But enough to be felt.
125 pulled his sword back and followed up with a stab aimed at my left shoulder.
Swoosh.
My enhanced eyes saw the tip of his sword clearly as it drew near.
Then—
It blurred.
The enhancement broke down, making me feel as if I were blind.
Instinct took over, and I jumped to the side.
Swoosh.
Barely dodging the stab.
My vision blurred further.
By now, I had started to have a feeling that it wasn't because my enhancement broke. I couldn't even see the boy in front of me clearly anymore.
Then—
It sharpened again.
But…
Too sharp.
I could see every single drop of sweat on his forehead. Every rise and fall of his chest.
Not just my eyes—
My other senses sharpened too.
I could hear my own heartbeat clearly. Even his breathing sounded loud enough to ring in my ears.
It was too much.
Far too loud.
My nose picked up the stench of blood and shit that still clung to my clothes. It made me almost vomit.
The heat in my chest rose further like a fire that burned inside me. Sweat began to stream down my forehead.
125 noticed that something was wrong and immediately pulled his sword back.
"Something's—"
But he was already too late.
I felt it.
A small, sharp snap inside my chest. Directly from my core. The moment I felt it, the heat surged again, even more violently.
It felt like I was burning.
Mana burst through my body, flooding every part of me.
Then—
Suddenly, it was all sucked back into my core.
The mana flowing through my body vanished at once, as if a drain had opened inside me. And the heat that had filled my body burst outward, raising the temperature around me.
125 felt it too and stumbled a few steps back.
My legs weakened, and I was about to fall.
But—
Thud.
I slammed my sword into the ground and used it to keep myself upright.
"Ah!"
A gasp escaped my lips before I forced them shut.
The mana that had been dragged back into my core rippled violently inside my chest and began to form a kind of coat around my heart.
Bathump.
I felt it with every beat.
Bathump.
A pulse of mana spreads out from me.
Bathump.
With every beat, another ripple spread outward—
Bathump.
Only to be sucked back in again.
Bathump.
It felt as though my heartbeat had become loud enough to echo through the entire arena.
Then it changed.
Bathump.
With each beat, something else spread from my body.
Bathump.
A red, translucent wave.
Bathump.
I didn't need to know what it was.
Bathump.
Because I felt it.
Bathump.
Mana.
My mana.
I had never been able to see it before.
I could only faintly sense it.
But now—
I saw it.
A red wave of mana left my chest with every beat of my heart before it was drawn back in again.
125 eyes widened at once.
He saw it too.
And—
He wasn't the only one.
The guards and the other teens around us had stopped what they were doing and turned toward me, surprised.
At first, the wave of mana was only faintly red.
Bathump.
But—
Bathump.
With every beat, the color deepened.
Bathump.
Until it became a bright, crimson red.
Bathump.
The next wave was different.
It wasn't a faint ripple.
Nor a small pulse.
BOOM.
It sounded like a small explosion as all the mana inside my core erupted outward. A tsunami of crimson surrounded me while the temperature rose so high it felt as though I were standing in fire.