I drew Myrtenaster as I entered the dorm after some time in the library and pointed it at Noir, who was standing at the foot of her bed, just like the rest of the girls. "Noir! For too long, you have attacked me, assaulted me, and made my magical life miserable! Let's have our final battle, one on one!"

"Oh?" Noir drew her wand and jumped from the second level to the main floor. "Well then, let's have the loser leave Henway, never to return."

"Fine by me!" I summoned a number of glyphs and flew forward, swinging the pommel of my sword at her smug face. She wobbled, but didn't seem to be hurt. "Cheater!"

"Yes, I am cheating, Snowflake," Noir said as she conjured a blue lightsaber blade from her wand and started fighting with it. "I have ten of every defensive charm there is over my whole body! There is no way you can hurt me at all!"

I parried her blade with mine, both of us moving at incredible speeds and looking like we had multiple right arms. While she was distracted, I summoned the Arma Gigas behind Noir, and it picked her up by her head, causing her to stop and go limp.

The giant suit of armor threw Noir out through the wall, and I followed her with a series of glyphs. While we were in the air, I changed direction and went into a diving kick, sending her into the ground and leaving a crater. I landed after her and before she could get back up, I levitated her into the air and delivered a glyph boosted roundhouse kick, sending her flying through multiple no-maj buildings.

I sped ahead of her and was waiting in the middle of the dorm. I could tell Noir was on her way, and I prepared myself. At the exact right moment, I launched an uppercut into her gut and embedded her in the ceiling, causing her to drop her wand. "I win, Noir. Now you have to leave."

Noir sighed. "If I must." Suddenly, she was gone.

"Hooray!" A crowd of my friends and the Henway faculty shouted from behind me, showing the area in a perpetual rain of confetti that never accumulated on the floor.

Principal Mercia walked up to me with a smile and a ring of keys. "Weiss, for your heroic act of making Noir leave and restoring peace to Henway, you will become the principal of the school. It's your kingdom now."

"Awesome!" I accepted the keys and joined the celebration as a familiar trumpet tune started playing.


I opened my eyes and woke up in my bed by the drafty corner. "And it was such a good dream, too." With a wistful sigh, I got up and started getting ready for another day of magic learning. "One of these days, Noir. One of these days."

As I rushed through my morning routine, I noticed that I had built some muscle up on my arms. It wasn't much, and it was very lean, but flexing enough made it visible. The uniform, even without the robe, concealed it very easily, though. It was one more thing Noir wouldn't know about. Not until the right moment.

On the way to the dining hall, I had enough time to marvel at how I was walking perfectly fine with the armored boots. Running was still a bit of an issue, but time on the treadmills helped with that. Once I got good enough with the glyphs, it would be even less of an issue.

Principal Mercia made her pre-breakfast announcement once everyone was present. "As of tomorrow, we will switch from the winter uniforms to the warm weather ones. That being said, if you want to continue wearing the winter one, you may do so at the risk of overheating. All I ask is that you do not mix the two sets. That is all, let's have breakfast."


"Whatcha thinking about, Weiss?" Phoebe asked me after potions class.

"Deciding whether to stick with the winter uniform or go back to the normal one," I said. "It's just a matter of whether I value the boots being hidden from Noir or not overheating more."

"I think you should go with the normal uniform." We went into the no-maj fitness clubroom and started working towards our hour for the day. "Noir's going to find out one way or another, you're already walking casually with them, and overheating won't be good for you. Let her think it's light until you kick her."

"I'm thinking of going for her face."

"Go between her legs. That will really hurt her."

I paused in my weight lifting to look at her. "I thought that was just a guy thing?"

"A girl kicked me there once in junior high. She was on the soccer team, so it really hurt. I wish I knew why she did it, though. Mason was there, so he can tell you more."

"Oh." A few memories of that day in the hall surfaced. "So she wasn't acting back then? I feel kind of bad about how I handled it now."

"Once Noir's down, it'll be a lot easier to kick her in the face."

I resumed the weight lifting. "And if it's in the duelling arenas, she won't have the help of her crew. I like that idea. I'm going to get stronger first, though. Much stronger."


Laura stumbled out of no-maj studies class. The lesson was on no-maj mass production capabilities. "They can make so much without magic. . ."

I sighed. "Isn't there anything you can learn about no-majes that doesn't leave you like this?"

"There probably isn't."

"SNOWFLAKE!" Noir shouted.

I ignored Noir and kept walking with my friends towards lunch. "Come on, there has to be something. Any ideas, Jack?"

"Hm? Oh, nope," Jack answered.

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL, SNOWFLAKE!"

I stopped ignoring Noir and faced her. "No. I don't have time for your silly challenge. Buzz off."

"You've got time."

"Deja vu is what I've got."

"Like you've just been in this place before?" Jack asked.

I gave him a fist bump for the meme without looking. "I beat you in our last duel, you know."

"That was a mistake. We're going to have a proper mage duel after lunch."

Phoebe stepped in front of me. "Hey, she doesn't know anything about mage duels."

"And I'm not about to go into something without information again," I added.

"You're turning it down? Well, I'm sure you know that it would tarnish your honor to turn it down, right?"

I looked between my friends before turning back to Noir. "My honor has no room for you. Let's go."

The Stupefy that hit the back of my head as we walked off was not entirely unexpected, so I didn't stumble much. "You will be there, Snowflake."

"Not after that."


Nikki found me in the clubroom, working on a written assignment for potions class while using the leg portion of a weight machine. "Weiss, you really should go take up Noir's duel."

"Is she screaming about me being a coward for not showing up?" I asked.

"Well, not screaming, but yeah."

I set my assignment down and stopped the weight lifting. "I really want to kick her in the face."

"There's no need for that kind of violence, Weiss." I gave Nikki a flat look. "Okay, it would be very cathartic, but it's not necessary."

I sighed. "You know what, I'm done. I'm done with Noir for the day. Go duel her for me. I don't care if she calls me a coward for having a seventh year duel her. I'm not about to get into something I know nothing about on her terms, especially when I have better things to do."

Nikki smirked at my short rant. "I was hoping you would say that."

"You just want to beat her yourself, don't you? What happened to not needing violence?"

"That was no-maj violence, Weiss. This is a duel of mages, and is much more refined."

"Riiight. Just tell me how it goes when you get back." As Nikki left, I picked up where I left off on the leg lifts and the potions homework.


"So how was it?" I asked when Nikki returned a few minutes later.

"Not very satisfying," Nikki said. "After I beat her with one spell, she started ranting and raving about you being a coward. That girl has a lot of hate in her."

"You're telling that to her number one and only target."

"Fair point. Nights must be difficult for you."

"The only good nights here have been ones without her." I finished my assignment, got off the weight machine, and went over to the punching bags. "I can count those on one hand."

"Right." Nikki went over to a pilates machine and started her workout. "Hey, if you became the president of this club, what's something you would do?"

"Immediately?"

"Not necessarily."

"Hmm." I imagined delivering multiple knockout blows to Noir's smug face before answering. "I'd probably get some kind of climbing wall set up in the back. That, or just learn some spells and make it myself."

"A climbing wall, huh? Sounds like fun. What about safety measures? No-majes are real big on that stuff, you know."

"Magic or something. Probably some padded mats too. Magical padded mats."

"Sounds like a plan."


After spells class was over, I stayed behind. "Professor Lovebreed?"

"Yes, Weiss?"

"Do wizards have rock climbing walls?"

"Hmm. . ." She tapped her chin with her wand as she thought for a bit. "Are you talking about the no-maj kind or an enchanted kind? Either way, I'm not aware of any."

"Darn."

"That being said, I do know a few enchantments that could be used. They are a bit tricky, though."

I made up my mind. "I'm willing to learn."

She smiled. "Well, that's good. I'd be happy to teach you on the weekend. Now get going."

I left the desk and saw Nelson already sitting in the back row. As I passed, we exchanged a friendly high five and he made a note about something. I presumed it was some kind of evaluation note and went on with my day.


Flight class came and went in a breeze. Thankfully, Noir did not bother me, and peace reigned for the rest of the day.