- Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Slums -

(Feng Mian's Perspective)

"Hm...so you're my first opponent, huh?" I mused, staring at the tiny girl in front of me - Qing Yue.

"Hehe, don't underestimate me just because I have a small body!" she yelled back in response. "Yes, I'm jealous of your body - especially those boobs - but that doesn't mean small bodies don't have their advantages!"

H-Huh...what? My...my boobs? Erm...that just made things a lot more awkward...

I shook my head. I had an enemy in front of me right now, and my goal was to eliminate her. I pulled out my twin pistols, Gemini, one in each hand, and took aim.

Qing Yue, realizing I was done talking, quickly cast a spell.

"Potentia Excitant: Celeritas!"

After boosting her own speed, she dodged behind cover, running out of view. I grinned, and followed. Rounding the corner, a bullet just barely grazed past my face - she had expected me to chase her.

Damn, that was close...

Not letting her get the chance to fire another bullet, I took advantage of the slower fire rate of hand cannons compared to my twin automatic pistols, and unleashed a barrage of bullets straight down the narrow alleyway.

Qing Yue, once again, just barely managed to round the corner in time. I cursed, and followed once again.

Before rounding the corner this time, though, I purposely paused for a brief moment, letting Qing Yue's bullet pass through in front of me before finally turning the corner and emptying what was left of my two guns' magazines directly in front of me.

This time, however, it seemed that Qing Yue wouldn't be able to round the corner in time, even with her speed boost spell. I smiled, knowing that victory was within reach...not.

Qing Yue suddenly spun around, and in her hands was the amber necklace she always wore ever since the Advancement Exams. My eyes widened as a bright golden light enveloped her, and took on the shape of a bell enclosing her inside. My bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the golden bell's surface - directly back at me.

"Tch...Glacier Form: Wall!"

Slamming the ground, a chill emitted from my body, and the tight alleyway was completely cut off by the wall of ice I conjured. I heard the sound of bullets hitting the ice, and after several ricochets, the bouncing sounds stopped. But even then, I didn't get rid of this blockade of ice, since I knew Qing Yue would be waiting for me on the other side, ready, waiting for the moment I dropped my defenses.

The most annoying thing about that bell of hers - Golden Fortress - was the fact that attacks from inside the bell could pass through, but attacks from the outside could not. Which meant...if I got rid of this ice wall right now, that would be walking straight into a death trap.

Come to think of it...that artifact of her's is overpowered, huh? She can just stay inside that thing for as long as she wants - wouldn't that just give us a free win in the test to enter Fragment? Oh, but wait...in the actual preliminaries coming up...we have to not only fight other teams, but also make it past some kind of terrain. Qing Yue can't move freely inside her Golden Fortress...actually, wait. Can she? I don't know for sure. I would have to ask her once this fight is over.

That being said...either way, for this paintball fight, it's more than enough. If she's smart...she'll just keep that thing up forever. I should...probably just get out of here, and look for someone else to eliminate.

Speaking of...I received a present from principal Song as well - Qing Yue wasn't the only one.

The only problem?

...The Cloak of Invisibility is in Xuan Kai's Space Locket.

Haiz....looks like I'll have to take him out first, then.

With a new goal in mind, I turned around, and fled the battle with Qing Yue in search of a new target.

******

(Qing Yue's Perspective)

...The ice is thawing.

I concentrated, and held my hand cannon, Queen, firmly. The moment the ice melted, I would shoot, eliminating Feng Mian...Feng Mian?

The ice was completely gone now, but I saw no sign of Feng Mian. Frowning, I willed Golden Fortress to go away, and it returned back into my beloved amber necklace. Walking closer to where the ice had been, I scratched my hair in confusion.

"Where the heck did she go...?" I murmured to myself. Then, after a while of pondering, I shrugged. "Whatever. If she ran away, all I have to do is find someone else, hehe~"

Spinning around, I continued exploring the slums, waiting for someone else to challenge me.

******

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

Hm...where to now? I've pretty much explored most of these slums already. There are six people left apart from myself. They've gotta be around here somewher-

...Wait. A presence? Pretty nearby too...I didn't notice this until now because the hostility emitting from this presence was minimal to none.

Such a low hostility factor...so...someone who doesn't want to fight? Oh man, that's gotta be Lan Xiao Su.

I fell into thought. What do I do...? Eliminate her right here and now? That would be the most sensible move if I wanted to win this mock battle, but...to me, winning this isn't all that important. What's important is that all the girls learn something from this experience. If I eliminate Lan XIao Su right here, she'll have gained nothing from this mock fight, and will undoubtedly be vulnerable at the actual preliminaries coming up soon.

...Okay. I've decided. I'll lure her out. Force her to fight me. But really...it's going to be more of a psychological fight then a real one. If I can show her that fighting isn't really all that bad and difficult...maybe she won't be so scared anymore.

I slowly headed towards the presence, but was careful to move in a way that didn't make it seem like I came here particularly for her. I walked carefully, as if I didn't know what was here, and was looking out for any surprises or traps.

My plan was this:

I would make myself seem as vulnerable as possible - basically, using myself as bait to bait out her inner urge to eliminate me from the competition here. If I can do that...even if I do really end up getting eliminated, it would be worth it, in my honest opinion. Like I said - victory here was nothing compared to letting one of the girls learn something important for the future.

Of course, there's a high chance this plan wouldn't work at all, for example, if Lan Xiao Su just really had no intention of causing any harm or winning this fight, and just hoped to hide here for the rest of the competition. But in that case, I had a backup plan as well - just in case.

After thinking these things out, I approached the location Lan Xiao Su was hiding at, and slowed down my pace. Taking a deep breath, I paused, entered actor mode, and resumed walking.

Lan Xiao Su seemed to be hiding behind several green garbage trolleys lined up along the side of the walls of one of the buildings. I only spared her direction a single glance, however - too quick to be even noticed. Then, in an exaggeratedly loud voice as I got closer to her hiding spot, I spoke.

"Whew...there doesn't seem to be anyone around here. Finally...I can take a break and just relax..."

After these words, I got closer and closer to her hiding spot, until the only thing separating us two was the line of garbage trolleys. But I pretended to not know she was there at all, and instead turned around, and sat down - directly in front of her. With my back leaning against the garbage trolley, I purposely made a very dramatic movement of setting my gun, Ace, down on the ground, making sure it made a loud clacking noise as it came into contact with the cold, hard pavement.

I could feel her presence directly behind me, and honestly, this was pretty awkward for myself as well. I wasn't used to having an enemy so close to me - after all, I would've eliminated them before they could even get this close, under normal circumstances. But obviously, Lan Xiao Su wasn't an actual enemy, I just 'labelled' her as one for the sake of this mock battle in preparation for the upcoming preliminaries to enter Fragment, so that my Third Eye would register her as a 'foe'.

I heard no noise coming form behind me whatsoever, not even the slightest of breaths, but despite this, I knew she was back there, stiff from fear and nervousness. The Third Eye was omnipotent, and no amount of hiding or concealment techniques could pass by it unnoticed.

I grinned slyly, looked up at the sky, and began waiting. Waiting for her to make her decision.

Now then...Lan Xiao Su...how long can you hold up, I wonder?