For a moment, neither Pale nor Kayla moved or said anything, instead staying rooted to their spots out of sheer shock. Professor Marick stared at them both for a few seconds before crossing his arms.

"Well?" he asked. "Are you going to step forwards or am I going to have to kick you both out of my class?"

Pale's mind was moving a mile a minute as she considered the possibilities before her. Obviously, she didn't want to fight Kayla, and Kayla didn't want to fight her, but it wasn't like either of them had an option; Professor Marick had obviously done this on purpose, but to what end, she couldn't figure out. Perhaps it was simply to prove a point, or to otherwise mess with them in some way. Whatever it was, she supposed the why of it didn't matter nearly as much as the fact that there didn't seem to be a way out of it.

And so, with great reluctance in her heart, Pale began to step forwards, heading for the makeshift arena in the center of the classroom.

"Pale…?" Kayla questioned, her voice small. "We're really doing this…?"

"So it would seem," Pale answered without looking back.

"Don't try to pull your punches too much," Marick warned. "This is meant to test your fortitude in a life-or-death situation. The class won't do you much good if you're only giving a fraction of your effort."

In layman's terms, that meant he wanted a show, and he'd know if they tried to hold back. Pale let out a slow exhale before reaching for her sheathed knife, her hand brushing against its hilt. Part of her was tempted to unclip it from her belt and toss it outside of the arena, but she knew Professor Marick would view that as her pulling her punches, so she reluctantly kept it on her hip.

Kayla, meanwhile, still looked very uncertain even as she made her way to the other side of the arena. The two of them stopped at opposite ends of it and stared each other down, Kayla shifting nervously from side to side as she stood there, biting her lip. Pale couldn't blame her for it, either; this was a fight she never expected to find herself in, and it was unnerving her just as much as it was Kayla.

The one silver lining was that Virux still had her firearms under lock and key, so Marick couldn't accuse her of holding back by not using them. At the very least, that mitigated a lot of the damage she could do, but she'd still have to be careful not to hurt Kayla.

"Combatants ready?" Marick called out, his voice echoing through the room.

"Ready," Pale grunted.

"R-ready…" Kayla said, much more quietly.

"Standby… begin!"

Pale moved first, as she expected she would; Kayla was still out of sorts from having been selected to fight her, and so Pale closed the distance in just a few seconds, her fist already cocked back. She'd intended to strike Kayla across the jaw, but froze when she saw Kayla's eyes widen with surprise; Pale hesitated at the last second, which gave Kayla just enough time to backpedal, causing the incoming punch to miss completely. Pale stumbled slightly as she overextended, and in that moment, Kayla did something that surprised even her.

She pulled out the blade on her hip, then lightly poked Pale in the arm with it, just enough to draw blood.

Pale's eyes widened when she realized what Kayla had just done. And sure enough, a moment later, Marick's voice came booming across the arena.

"Stop!" he called, causing both of them to freeze. He pointed to Pale. "You, show your arm."

Pale obliged, lifting up her arm, allowing the thinnest trickle of blood to begin trailing down it. Marick stepped forwards and took her arm in his hands, examining it carefully before nodding.

"First blood has been drawn," he declared. "The winner is Kayla. This fight is over."

A few of the students began to murmur among themselves, apparently surprised at how easy it was to end the fight. Pale hadn't expected it, but apparently Marick's rule about only fighting to the first drop of blood was very literal. Then again, that made sense – he was trying to train them up, not get them wounded or killed.

Still, apparently they weren't supposed to discover that particular technicality this early on in the year, if the baleful glance he gave to her and Kayla was any indication. All the same, he motioned for them to leave the arena anyway.

"Stop," he said once they'd left the arena. The two of them paused a short ways away from the teacher, and he motioned to them both.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"As you can tell, neither of these two bothered to raise a magical barrier," he declared. "That was the first mistake. The second was that they were both too hesitant."

"They're best friends!" Cal shouted, all while Cynthia tried to shush him, to no avail.

Marick seemed unperturbed, however, instead crossing his arms once more. "Yes. How would you suggest someone fight a friend of theirs?"

"What?"

"It's not a trick question. Today's friend can be tomorrow's enemy just as easily. We are currently in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity between the major kingdoms, but are any of you so foolish that you believe it will last forever?" Marick shook his head. "Those days of peace are going to fade at some point, and when they do, your allegiances ultimately lie with your family members and the kingdoms who rule over you, not to your friends from over the border. Ultimately, those of you who survive those kinds of times will be the ones who understand that it isn't personal."

Silence reigned over the room for several seconds before Marick let out a sigh.

"You and you, step into the arena."

XXX

Dueling, as it turned out, could be very intense if it was between two people who were trained in magic and had no real reason to hold back. A few students tried the same trick Kayla had pulled, but it hadn't worked out for any of them, and a few had walked away with nasty puncture wounds until Marick had hurriedly healed them.

In any case, by the time they were dismissed and sent on their way, Marick's classroom was a complete disaster, to the point where Pale wondered if it would still be in one piece by the time they went back it for their next class.

"And, once again, I'm sorry for stabbing you."

Pale's musing was interrupted by Kayla sheepishly apologizing once more. A vein twitched in Pale's head, and she sighed.

"Kayla, for the hundredth time, it's okay," she assured her. "And, honestly, you handled that far better than I could have."

"Thanks, I-" Kayla paused, her eyes widening. "...Wait, you were really going to punch me?"

Pale didn't give her a response, and instead the two of them continued walking along to the cafeteria in silence. Cal and Cynthia had split off from them after Dueling Class was over; apparently, Cal's headache had gotten bad enough that he'd finally decided to throw in the towel and seek some help from the healers, and Cynthia had decided to accompany him, with the promise that they'd head for the mess hall as early as they could. For now, though, it was just Pale and Kayla.

"Hey."

Or at least, it should have just been the two of them. Pale's eyes widened as she froze mid-step at the sound of the voice behind her. Slowly, she set her foot down and turned to face the speaker, along with Kayla.

They both came face-to-face with Joel and his entourage, standing at the other end of the hallway.

"Joel," Pale grunted. "What do you need?"

Joel's eyes narrowed gave her a cocky smirk. "I just wanted to speak with you a little bit. Is that not allowed?"

Pale didn't dignify that comment with a response, instead turning back around and continuing to walk to the mess hall, Kayla following after her. Naturally, Joel and his friends came jogging after them.

"Hey, wait up!" Joel said, coming up alongside them. "I just want to talk to you for a bit."

"I"m not interested," Pale replied instantly. "Go away."

"Now, is that any way to speak to your-"

"Joel, whatever this is, I do not care," Pale said bluntly. "If this is your attempt to assert dominance over me in some way, then just know that it means nothing to me. Your attempts at petty schoolyard bullying are beneath me, and I won't play along with whatever it is you're trying to pull, because I find it to be completely pathetic. Understand?"

Joel stared at her for a moment, and Pale thought she'd just managed to defuse the situation.

At least, until a gust of wind sent her to the ground.

That wasn't enough to stop her, though; she was instantly back on her feet, one hand falling to the knife at her belt.

Or it was, until someone came charging at her from down a nearby hallway and grabbed hold of her arm, slamming it to the ground and forcing her to drop the knife. It didn't take much for her to realize it was Sven.

Kayla reacted in the blink of an eye, lightning already dancing across her fingertips as she leveled them at Sven, only for Joel and his friends to ready magic of their own in turn. Nobody moved for several seconds until Sven, of all people, kicked Pale's knife away and released her, dusting himself off in the process. He turned and gave Joel a baleful look.

"These people are beneath you," he said simply.

"Oh, come on!" Joel protested. "We were just trying to have some fun!"

"I wasn't aware your idea of fun consisted of beating up women. Perhaps your father would like to hear about that?"

Joel paled at that, though it only lasted for a moment before he recovered. "Seriously? My dad hired you for a reason. We own you."

Sven's eye narrowed. "You don't own me, you little fucking brat. I work for your father, and only temporarily. Or do I need to explain the terms of the contract to you once more?" He shook his head, then turned to Pale, glaring at her. "Don't ever point a weapon at my ward again, or I'll tear you limb from limb then and there, rules of the Luminarium be damned. Do you understand?"

Pale simply returned his glare with one of her own. Neither one of them said anything, and finally, Sven let out a tired sigh, then turned and began to walk away. Joel gave Pale and Kayla one last look of sheer mirth before turning and following after him.

And the moment they were all gone, Kayla was at Pale's side, helping her up.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"More or less," Pale confirmed as she picked up her knife and returned it to its sheath. "I'd say I'm more confused than anything."

"You're telling me… what in the three hells just happened? Sven made it sound like the last thing he wants is to watch over Joel…"

"I can't blame him," Pale said dryly. "Put yourself in his shoes – he is, or at least he used to be, the warrior-king for the northern barbarians. Whatever brought him here, I doubt he's happy about being forced to guard someone like Joel for the better part of a year." She rolled her shoulder, testing to make sure her arm felt fine, which it did; apparently, Sven had been feeling merciful today, which wasn't something she was used to associated with him. "Look, let's not dwell on it now. I'm hungry, and I'm sure you are as well, plus we've still got a full week of classes ahead of us, too. Let's just go get some food for now."

Kayla hesitated. "If you're sure…"

"Positive. Come on, let's get moving."

With that, the two of them continued on their way, apprehension in their minds.

Whatever had brought Sven here, Pale knew it couldn't be anything good, and yet at the moment, they were both powerless to do anything about it. At the very least, it seemed to constrain him from killing them outright, which was good enough for her.

Sven's time would come eventually, but for now, there were more pressing matters to attend to.