Hours passed in the cold of the night.

  The conversation quieted, and Rhena was inching closer and closer to sleep with every word. Quill noticed it before he urged her to get some rest.

  Quill decided to stay behind on the bench. It had been a very long day, and there were so many things to digest. He met people, fought against other mages, and grew closer to Rhena. For a few hours, it was as if he were just a normal mortal, living his life as he had when he was human.

  Quill found himself staring at his hands. He had been inside this body for more than a month now, but this was the first time he had acknowledged his mortality. He’d forgotten what it was like to be ‘human’.

  He remembered his years of isolation under an abandoned village with nothing but the books to keep him company. He remembered the days when he didn't need to eat, sleep, or drink a lick of water just to survive. He was in every way weaker now, but he felt more alive.

  It was a strange feeling.

  Looking back, Quill had never once loathed having Yereth as a sister. His conversations with Haref felt natural, and though he was hard to talk to, he couldn't say he hated it. Even Rhena's presence was warm, despite the constant ragging.

  Quill shook his head. There was a divide in his sense of self, now lost on who he truly was. Was he still the immortal lich that had lived for centuries, or did some part of him change when he acquired this mortal body? His mind was fighting against his body, and it was a strange thing to think about to say the least, pondering on his own existence.

  He didn't have any answer to the questions ringing inside his head. All he could do now was to shake them off as he did many times before, letting it simmer for another time to ponder on.

  Quill pushed off the bench before he let out a sigh. The moons were climbing down the midnight sky, and it was about time to get back to his room. Narrah and Rognor were most likely still sleeping there, but his body couldn't wait until morning.

  And just then, a figure emerged from the edge of his vision.

  It was Elarah.

  Her golden hair hung over a high ponytail, the scar on her neck visible to anyone to see. An eye for an eye, as they say. Despite the scarf hiding it, the stain was perfectly visible, a grim reminder of their fight in the streets a few weeks ago.

  It was just as she deservedQuill still remembered the scar Elarah gave Yereth. Because of her Fire Wisps, it was a reminder of the events that happened, and there was nothing Quill or Yereth could do to escape that night.

  “Why are you here?” Quill clenched his fist. Despite the aggressive tone he carried with his voice, Elarah didn't so much as flinch.

  “I’m here to settle things.” Elarah crossed her arms, slinging her golden hair over her shoulder. “Come with me.”

  “And why would I do that?” Quill said.

  “Think of it as a favor.”

  Quill was tired. It had been a long day, and he was nowhere near sober to engage in small talk with someone he loathed.

  “A favor?” Quill said. “Do me one and leave before I stamp another scar on your body.”

  “You’ll have your chance.” Elarah turned before she flicked her head, gesturing for the field ahead and motioning for Quill to follow.

  She was planning on settling it with a duel.

  Quill wanted nothing more than to put her in her place, and she was giving him the perfect chance to do so.

  He started and followed her to the field with silent compliance, passing trees and shrubs along the dirt path. The shadows from academy buildings stalked her figure, and for a moment, her hair turned gray with a trick of the lights from the lampposts.

  They eventually arrived at the field, a large section of grass cornered by four lampposts on each corner. That was when Elarah stopped and turned to him. Her eyes burned against the darkness of the night, the anger seething from her iris.

  Quill liked the look on her face.

  It was going to be hard trying to beat up an unwilling mage.

  “Per academy rules, no permanent maiming and killing is allowed,” Elarah said. “Though I doubt you’d want to end it there.”

  “I’m glad we both agree on that.” Quill clenched his fist, getting ready for the duel, before Elarah then wobbled, stumbling over herself. Quill hadn't noticed before, but she was clearly drunk. She must've come from the foodhall.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Quill failed to see the reason why she would choose now of all time to fight him. He hadn't pursued his anger in the interest of the academy, but maybe it was different for her. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was a way to gain her name back as a mage. Either way, the passion in her eyes was true.

  There was only one way to settle a conflict when words weren't going to mean anything.

  Quill assumed his side of the field before Elarah started on her end. He then turned and drew the Scripts for his Marble Puppets, the symbols shimmering faintly in the chill air, and the golden elf was honorable enough to honor the rules of a mage duel.

  When Quill finally finished, Pen and Notebook materialized from chunks onto the battlefield. Their Marble Armor churned in the darkness, glowing dimly as steam rose from their surface. They flanked Quill with spears ready to strike against Elarah, and with a nod from the golden elf, the fight started.

  Pen and Notebook dashed towards Elarah, their spears driving through the wind. Elarah, in turn, cast her signature spell with a Quickscript, sending Fire Wisps straight towards the Puppets.

  The Puppets sidestepped the first one, resulting in an explosion right behind them, but Notebook was too slow when another burning butterfly fluttered straight for him, Marble Armor colliding straight with an explosion that whipped the wind.

  Dust clouds raised from the impact. Quill relied on the Marble Brains to take command of Pen and Notebook, but their reflexes were barely enough for the Fire Wisps. Pen dashed through the smoke, taking advantage of cover to close the distance before another explosion rammed straight for him.

  Quill checked his Mana Link.

  The explosions hadn't done much to his Marble Puppets, but cracks were slowly forming.

  He readied the Scripts for White Ball, conjuring one to his side before sending it flying through the smoke. Across the cloud, the White Ball rammed with an incoming Fire Wisp mid-air, sending another explosion reverberating, lifting the dust clouds.

  Quill wasn't going to win in a long-range engagement. His tricks from his fight with Gerald were obvious to anyone who saw it once, but he also wasn't willing to take a chance in melee with Elarah's burning hands. Instead, he chose to play the game like a Summoner, pulling back and letting his Marble Puppets deal with her.

  Pen and Notebook reached melee, driving spears to Elarah with the intent to kill. In the flutter of weapons and burning fists, Elarah landed a hit on Pen, setting off an explosion that tore at the wind.

  Pen’s Mana Link detached from Quill. Through the cloud of smoke, the Puppet's body crumbled in the explosion. When the dust settled, Notebook was the only one left, thrusts and jabs countering Elarah’s fleet of hands. They traded thrusts for blows, spear and fire flying in the air between them, and Notebook was barely holding on.

  Quill cast White Ball, conjuring three of them despite the mana cost before sending them straight for Elarah. A storm of Fire Wisps met them mid-air, stopping them entirely with a making it apparent that Notebook was on his own.

  Punch. Kick. Thrust. Notebook was barely holding off the barrage of fire fists Elarah was sending its way. The more time passed, the larger the cracks on the Puppets' Marble Armor were showing. Its body deteriorated with the explosions of Fire Wisps, and when Elarah finally managed a fist straight for its chest, an explosion came, followed by the Puppet flying.

  Notebook’s body crumbled the moment it hit the ground. The Marble Armor was strong enough to eat the Fire Wisps, but it wasn't enough to tank a single blow from Elarah's burning fists.

  Elarah had been taking it easy on her duel with Rhena.

  Quill was going to lose. He was sure of it. With no Marble Puppets left to defend him, he was going to be forced into melee with Elarah's burning fists. He still had White Application and Reversal to throw her off, but the same trick wasn't going to work a second time.

  Quill cursed. In the past few weeks, the golden elf had elevated her magic to a higher level than what Quill previously seen. She had evolved past herself, continuously growing and growing to a higher form of strength, and although her hand-to-hand combat was lackluster, she more than made up for it with her new Complex Spell.

  Quill was losing. His pride couldn't allow it, not against Elarah.

  Time slowed down. There was only one thing left to do when nothing else was going to work. Quill had to think. He had to grow. He had to evolve past himself within the few seconds it would take for Elarah to reach him.

  Quill's hands stirred in the expanse of slowed time. His fingers worked overtime, carving and writing a new set of Scripts on an empty canvas with the remaining mana he still had. He absorbed the mana he’d prepared in his Bluefae Amulet, granting him a small portion of extra mana to work with.

  Elarah wasn't going to give him the chance. She conjured a Fire Wisp his way, but Quill had already accounted for that. As he moved his fingers, His mouth cast a spoken Script for a White Ball, sending it flying to meet with the Fire Wisp mid-air. One after another, incoming Fire Wisps clashed with White Balls. It granted Quill the precious seconds he needed to make this work.

  Quill was in another world entirely.

  As his hands weaved the new Scripts, and as his mouth cast White Ball, his mind was on the verge of a breakthrough of a new spell, and it was all thanks to his Fast Mind Trait that his head wasn't bursting.

  The thought had come to him before, but he had no chance to practice it during the exam. If he could create a White Ball with his White mana, and if he could create Marble Brain with his White Mana, then he was more than capable of creating an immaterial object unlike his Marble Puppets that could move and change shape on command.

  Quill's mind stirred as if the world didn't exist. There was only him and his thoughts, the Scripts running all around his head like stars. It didn't matter if the spell was imperfect, and it didn't matter if it wasn't any good.

  There was only one shot to make it work, and he was going to make it count for the sake of his lifetime’s study. For Yereth's sake, he had to make it work. The last of his mana burned, and Mana Fatigue started to chew at his focus, but with the final explosion of Fire Wisps, he finally finished the spell.

  Quill pressed the final Script onto the canvas before a Fire Wisp swept straight for him. In his last thought, he issued a command to his new creation.

  A shifting shadow loomed in front, its form stirring and changing by the second. Where the Fire Wisp landed, a strange liquid stone expanded in the air to create a solid wall of white in front of Quill, protecting him from the brunt of the explosion.

  Thanks for reading!