Gasping, Li tried to get up despite his headache. For a moment he was vulnerable, fully open for an attack, but it never came. A few meters in front of him was Iseul, she knelt on the ground, her chest falling and rising rapidly.
There was now only one thought on her mind, with a deep breath, she stood and raised her sword. Dashing towards Li, she struck down at his left shoulder but he blocked it again. This time he was looking at her face.
'N-no way, he's seeing me? How?' Li was staring directly at her eyes, his face contorted in pain.
'I-i see you, I don't want to forget, I refuse. I WON'T FORGET' Li's chest was filled with a strange emotion, one he had not experienced before. It was Desire.
It flowed from his chest to his arms and his sword, then it traveled to Iseul's hands and then, her chest. It resided deep within her, giving her power, his emotions.
He wanted for her to see herself from his point of view, and his friends. The image of someone strong, someone kind and capable. She wasn't alone, and he would not forget.
For a moment Li saw her face clearly, It left him in awe.
"She's… beautiful" he hadn't realized that he said that out loud.
With a gasp she pulled away from him, startled by his sudden emotions. For a moment they knelt, unable to speak. Li could see her now, how he did not know.
'Maybe she deactivated her Aspect'
But he was more confused by what he did. 'What was that just now?' some strange energy had flowed from him to Iseul. 'What is it?' suddenly a realization hit him, his Aspect Ability, Teacher.
He had given her some of his power, part of his own memories. 'But how?' that he didn't know. He looked at Iseul, who was as confused as him, she was crying. She looked at herself and then at Li, she wanted to say something. Finally, she found her voice.
"You really think so, Li?" wiping her tears with the sleeve of her arm, she smiled brightly at Li and said, "Get up, we are not finished."
Li understanding what she said, stood with a smile and answered, "Yes I really do, now, time for round two."
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.
Iseul dashed towards Li at astonishing speed, this time subtly altering his vision with all her focus. At the last second, her image distorted just enough for Li to miss her by a millimeter.
Ducking under his sword, she brought up her own and hit Li in his chin. Except of jumping back, she followed her momentum and spun around Li's back, and appeared behind him.
Raising his sword, Li struck out the space in front of him in a daze as he struggled to regain his senses, 'why does everyone keep attacking my nose?' he thought in outrage. But no one was there to receive the hit.
Instead, he got a kick to the back of his knee, and as he fell, something solid collided with his face. Everything was white for a moment, as he got a hold of himself he was struck again in his liver.
The hit sent a wave of pain through his entire body, which on the contrary made him focus more easily. Standing up, he began to scan his surroundings, he would catch her this time.
Seeing her, Li moved with a lightning-fast dash and closed the distance in an instant. Slashing his sword down at her shoulder, he was surprised to see the sword go through and Iseul instead turned into two, and then four, and then eight.
There were now eight Iseuls running circles around him. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. If his eyes and essence sense were not working, he would simply not use them. Putting everything in his nose, he concentrated on her smell.
He stood there frozen as the Iseuls took their turn attacking him, some were real while some were illusions. Some connected while some did not. As another Iseul came forward to attack his right, he raised his sword to block, Iseul finding her moment changed places with another illusion and attacked his left hand.
Suddenly she was thrown off her feet as a sharp pain rang through her stomach. Looking down she saw that he had struck her with the pommel of his sword. 'It was a faint' she cursed in her mind.
Regaining her footing, she dodged as Li's sword brushed past her cheek and disappeared again. Li straightened himself and took a deep breath. He was ready.
"Come on, what happened?" he shouted to tease her, unfortunately, he had not learned what happened the last time he'd tried that trick. Suddenly he became deaf. He couldn't see or smell her anymore. He was completely cut out from the world.
He didn't have time to panic as something struck his temple and he was thrown on his back. Standing above him was Iseul, she had finally returned his senses and he could see her now.
Li watched in shock as Instructor Rock announced the winner.
"The winner is… ISEUL."
.
.
.
Extending a hand towards Li, Iseul helped Li up to his feet. It was a bit hard cause Li was surprisingly heavy. Holding his temple, Li said in a joking tone, "You beat my ass thoroughly, what happened to holding back." Now he clutched his chin as well, his tail dropping a little.
"Hah, I said I wasn't going to hold back. And what were you doing helping your enemy mid-fight?" Iseul said while looking at Li with a dobbies expression.
"It just sort of come on its own, I didn't know I could do something like that." Li said while thinking, 'My chin hurts' he was still upset about that.
"Well, we can talk about it later, just not here." She said while nodding in Instructor Rock's direction.
"I'm fine with that—YO that was awesome. She completely kick your ass, that's Iseul for you" Li was interrupted when Dante jumped on his back and started petting his head.
"Stop that…" Li pouted in annoyance but his tail said a different thing as it started wagging on its own.
"Aw don't be shy, you like this don't you, what a good bo—" Dante didn't get to finish his sentence as he got dragged down by Gael.
"Now show some manners would you?" Gael looked at Dante with annoyance as he was dangling in mid-air trying to free himself.
"I get it, I get it. I'm not a kid, put me down at once." Dante said while trying to free himself from the grasp of the giant holding him.
Li chuckled as he saw them argue. "Now, put him down of the air jail, I'm sure he learned his lesson—" Suddenly, Li felt a sharp presence look at him from behind, he jerked his head back to look for it but no one was there. They all noticed his reaction as they stopped and looked at him.
Finally, Instructor Rock asked, "Is something bothering you, Li?"
Li finally looked at them and answered honestly, "No nothing, probably my imagination."
***
Li was finally back in his room. Everything was just as it where before, neatly organized. Putting his communicator on the table, he sighed and hopped on the bed as he closed his eyes, he could sleep now.
.
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'Aian—'
'…'
'Wake up Aian'
'…'
'—sigh—'
'…'
'Wake up, Li, someone is watching you'
Li was suddenly jolted awake by the thing he heard, it was King Night's voice. Looking around his room in a flash, he scanned his surroundings and jumped out of bed. All the hair around his body stood up as he looked at his room.
Everything was where he put it, no one was there. Was this just a dream or something serious? Trying to calm his rapidly beating heart down, he took a deep breath and went to check his belongings.
He didn't want to touch them in case there was any evidence, like a fingerprint or a scent. "Wait a scent!!!" with a deep breath, he pushed his ears back with one hand and concentrated on his sense of smell.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the smell of scented shampoos and oils, his books, and the filtered air were all the same. 'There!' there was a faint scent of a man near his communicator but as soon as he caught it, it disappeared.
"God dammit, focus, don't forget that scent. Remember it," he focused on the memory and the smell of that man, but he couldn't make sense of it more than that.
'It's like he wanted me to find out' If the man knew him well enough he would leave something for Li to find out. 'But why is there nothing else? It's like he just teleported in and out of here…' he couldn't make sense of it. Why make him believe someone was watching him? 'Just to fuck with my head'
"…"
"This was deliberate"
Taking a deep breath, he straightened himself and looked at his table.
"Do your worst, I dare you."
"…"
"I should report this to Instructor Rock."
'But he may not believe me'
"There is probably a lie detector somewhere around right?"
"Fuck it, what is there to lose." He reached for the door and went outside to find Instructor Rock.