I sharply sliced to the right just as Kaeya came at me with a downward diagonal strike in the same direction. The clang of our blades rang out in the air, and I swiftly transitioned into my next move. Developing an attack pattern has been one of the key focuses in Physical Combat. Instructor Xiao insisted that to properly focus on our opponent in a fight, we shouldn't let ourselves think too much about how to strike next.

With my sword now outstretched to the right, I backhanded up to the left, aiming straight for Kaeya's exposed chest. Fighting sword-to-sword came with benefits and drawbacks. While I could easily situate my weapon against his, that also meant my attacks were similar enough for Kaeya to effortlessly parry. He did just that—lunging out and knocking my sword back down to the right with aggressive force. Like me, Kaeya launched into his own backhand. He cut upwards, and I had to tilt my right shoulder back to avoid an impromptu haircut.

He was quick.

I sliced to the right once more before he could get a chance to readjust with another diagonal, but Kaeya didn't have that same move in mind. The tip of his sword pointed straight for me as he shot forward in a lithe jab. For the second time, I barely escaped the silvered edge of his purple sword, twisting to the side and placing a palm on the ground to steady myself. His move just now was different from the swordplay styles I'd seen in class. It seemed more refined, more elegant.

Keeping my eye on his footing, I noted that he wouldn't be positioned for another straightforward jab. A parrying diagonal, then. Deciding to throw in a surprising move myself, I repeated the same horizontal strike as I advanced further. This time, I'd like to see how Kaeya blocked a physical attack with an elemental boost.

I drew out the Anemo from within my core and let it breeze through my arm, caressing down the sword until it became an extension of my blade as I lashed out. I expected Kaeya to avoid my weapon, but there was no easy way for him to counter Anemo—not when cutting through it would only spread the energy in two directions.

With a creeping smile, I watched his expression pinch ever-so-slightly. Got him.

Kaeya suddenly vanished, and the Anemo attack shot through the forest behind him. The trees shuddered, but they were the only ones affected.

In a split second, Kaeya reappeared in mid-air with his arm drawn back. A shock of surprise filtered through me as I watch him mirror my horizontal strike with a glint of mischief in his eye. How had he done that?

Grabbing the hilt of my sword with both hands, I brought the weapon up to block his attack. It pushed me backward, and I grit my teeth as he harmlessly landed on the ground. Kaeya languidly skipped backward until he was out of range, swirling his sword in the air.

Kaeya regarded me. "Hm, not bad."

"That was a fancy move," I said, readying my sword once more. "You're fast."

Which meant I had to be faster. A charged attack wasn't something I got to practice with recently, but there was no time better than the present. I had enough stamina to fit in three—maybe even four—charged attacks. Before Kaeya took hold of the floor, I slashed my sword at him in a multitude of directions, amping up my speed with each strike. Left. Up. Right. Down.

He parried them all with his own charged attack, but I succeeded somewhat by knocking him backward.

I charged.

Kaeya continued to fall back.

Charged attack.

Kaeya parried.

I faintly wondered why Kaeya's charged attacks took on a more defensive style. Wielding a sword meant having the advantage of a lighter weapon that is easy to handle. Speed was our friend, and with speed, we could move forward. Was he holding out on me?

I wouldn't let him.

With added strength, I went all out in my final charged attack. Kaeya didn't parry this time, and I noticed all-too-late the familiar stance he adjusted to—just low enough to avoid my strikes. The point of his sword jabbed forward, and I rolled out of the way as fast as I could after having my combination strikes interrupted. Except, his attack was different from before.

It wasn't his sword he intended to hit me with, it was a burst of Cryo energy.

My eyes widened as I watched the icy blue sheet of pure Cryo shoot out from his sword. With how fast it came at me, there was no dodge to the left or right I could make in time. Like a stone, I dropped to the ground and felt a cold wash from above. My heart pounded loudly in my chest at the close call, and I felt a heavy weight settle around my face. Looking down, I saw the ends of my hair weren't as lucky as the rest of me. The strands froze together in sparkling chunks of ice.

Kaeya found the time to chuckle. "Frosted tips look good on you."

I glared upward and pushed away from where he towered above, but as I tried to recover from my crouched position, my foot slipped on the frictionless surface. I didn't notice the thin sheet of ice that now glazed the ground under my feet. If I crashed down now, there was no doubt Kaeya would take this opportunity to end this duel for good, but I wasn't done yet.

Midway through my fall, I carefully angled my hips to the side enough to outstretch my legs reaching where Kaeya stood. Go for his legs. Not letting the biting impact of the solid ice deter me, I kicked out and hooked one foot around his ankle, bringing him down. Having a Cryo Vision didn't prevent him from also succumbing to the icy ground, and I watched as he stuck out an arm to break his fall.

His elbow crashed down next to my face, close enough for me to seize his bicep in a vice grip. I hauled myself up and over his body. Kaeya was now lying on his back, sword clattering just out of reach, and it was me who towered above—legs secured on either side of his torso to prevent escape.

At this sitting position, my sword felt heavier as I lifted it for a lethal strike. I blew a piece of frozen hair away from my face as I looked down on him—Kaeya was not at all alarmed. My arms quivered slightly, and I cursed the hesitation that held me at bay. I wouldn't really be striking him. There's no way he could get out of this.

"I win," I panted. Leaning forward, I brought the edge of my sword to hover right at his neck.

Kaeya smirked. "Really? I'm feeling like quite the winner myself."

"You call this a winning position?" I laughed. "If this was a high-stakes duel—if I was a real enemy, you'd be dead right now."

"As it happens, I do consider this a winning position. Though, if you wanted me on my back, all you had to do was ask." Kaeya's eye squinted in amusement, and he leaned forward so that my blade pressed up against his skin. "It's about time you took me seriously, Lumine."

I balked, easing back with the sword and stammering out, "This isn't productive. I'll fall back now, and we can go again."

With hot cheeks, I abandoned our conversation and rolled off of Kaeya—who was still smirking. It was even more embarrassing knowing that I had an audience. Though I couldn't spare the time to see their reactions, I wasn't sure if I wanted to.

Kaeya picked himself up with ease, swooping down to grab his fallen sword and brushing dirt off the front of his shirt. All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the duel shifted—Kaeya. His posture went from languid to rigid, his teasing eye sharpening to serious focus. Before I had time to process the compromising position I was just in, and before I could even think of my next move, Kaeya was on me in a flash.

Directing another frigid Cryo attack with his sword, Kaeya charged at me. I leaped out of the way just in time, but then another sheet of Cryo shot from his sword. Two elemental attacks back to back? That was unheard of.

If it's elemental attacks Kaeya wanted to use, then I would respond in kind. I stuck out my left arm and faced an open palm in his direction. Swirling a tight ball of Anemo in front of me, I maintained the whirl of energy until it collected Cryo particles that lingered in the air. The original teal tinge of Anemo shifted into the Cryo's signature icy blue. The cool wisps of Anemo in my hand quickly got even colder, and I held back a shiver as whipping blades of Cryo whirled about. Dead leaves littering the ground were drawn into the vortex, and I sensed that I would have to dispel the energy soon.

Not yet.

Taking a step forward, I commanded the swirled effect to pull in more. I needed to grab Kaeya, too. He weighed more than a handful of dead leaves, so the process was slow, but I noticed his legs stagger. That was enough. With his balance lost, I dispelled the energy in an even larger explosion of Anemo swirled with Cryo. The blast blew him backward, and the ends of his hair were coated in a fine veil of frost.

I smirked. "Frosted tips look good on you."

Before Kaeya could properly recover, I reached back into my reservoir of Anemo where an accumulation of energy from my previous Anemo attacks had built up to a point where I felt it would burst. In my mind, I had an idea for something big—something I hadn't tried before. In Vision Studies, we had gone over everyone's elemental skills and how they could work to craft an elemental burst. Of course, I never got to take part in those exercises, so now I had to work with what I could think of at the moment.

Anemo was directly linked with air. What better way to launch an Anemo burst than from the sky itself? Using some energy to boost myself higher than any normal jump would, I wielded my sword as a conductor to release a gust of Anemo that surged from me like a miniature tornado. Falling lightly to the ground, I watched in satisfaction as it aimed itself in a direct path toward Kaeya. There would be no dodging my burst, not with the surface area it covered.

Kaeya staggered backward and ultimately got pulled into the gust surge, but just as it dragged him a few steps deeper into the forest, he jumped out to grab onto a tree's trunk with both hands. Using that as leverage, Kaeya's biceps flexed as he pulled himself from the Anemo's power.

In terms of elemental energy, I was spent. It would take another moment or two before I could attempt another palm vortex, and I doubted I could pull off another gust surge of Anemo any time soon. Kaeya was quite a distance away, buying me time to cool down—or so I thought.

"Was that an elemental burst?" he asked. "Impressive."

From where he stood by the treeline, Kaeya crossed both wrists above his head and brought his arms down with a bright flash of Cryo energy. The light faded to reveal a set of three intricate icicles that revolved around him. I narrowed my eyes and studied Kaeya as he waltzed forward. This had to be his elemental burst—a clever combination of defense and offense. Judging by the speed of the icicles, there would be no easy recovery after getting struck by one. How was I going to get close enough to land a hit with those in the way?

I would have to get the timing right and dodge between the icicles. I trained my eyes on each one as Kaeya advanced. One…two…three…same tempo. Just as there were three icicles, there were three openings. All I had to do was slip between them, hopefully catching Kaeya by surprise. Carefully, I stepped in an arc around him, quietly counting to myself.

"What's wrong? Can't handle the cold?"

Ignoring his taunt, I got comfortable with the rhythm. One, two, three. One, two, three.

Kaeya snapped forward with his sword, and I quickly sidestepped it, careful to avoid the rotating icicles. One, two, three. He attacked again.

There.

In favoring his right side, Kaeya's left was completely open. I trusted the upcoming gap in the icicles to remain consistent and darted directly for the opening. As I neared, the temperature around me dropped several degrees to a point where I would see my breath if I wasn't holding it in. Keeping my eyes on his weapon, I noticed Kaeya's head flick to the side where I crept in.

Out of nowhere, a fourth icicle appeared.

I was moving too fast, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself from smacking straight into the icicle. Dropping to the ground wasn't an option, not with how fast the icicle was going.

I couldn't get out of this.

Bracing myself for the pain, I drew up my free arm to at least shield my face. Even though it was empty, my left hand felt heavy. It was moving too slowly. At this rate, my entire front half would be frostbitten in less than a second. Why was my hand so heavy?

Time slowed.

I grit my teeth and hauled up the invisible weight with as much force as I could muster, not allowing confusion to cloud my determination. With one last final burst of energy, my hand shot up to the sky—I felt a release snap within me. The weight on my hand was gone. The fourth icicle barreling toward my face was gone. Kaeya was gone—knocked to the ground.

Something had smashed into the ground right in front of me.

My mouth fell open at the familiar sight of the sculpted Geo boulder that had smashed through the dorm walls so long ago. I looked down at my left hand. It tingled with remnants of energy, Geo energy. In awe, I reached out with the same hand to touch the glowing boulder.

It was solid. Real.

Just as my mind caught up to everything—the duel worked—my body gave out. A loud buzz blocked out all sound, and I lost control of my balance. For support, I casually leaned on the boulder, not wanting to alarm my spectators. With the duel over, they should be on their way to—my vision blurred in and out of focus as I tried to look for them. Not even the cherry red of Diluc's hair stood out to me.

Then, the boulder disappeared. Knees buckling, I didn't register any pain of collapsing to the ground just as all of my senses faded to nothing.