Deep within the mountains, on the shore of a small lake, 2 teens were fighting dirty. Ana raised a giant cloud of dust, mixed 5 boulders within, and hurled it towards her opponent.

“ROOAARRR!”

She heard a demon beast charging towards her from behind. Ana turned around, poured mana into the ground, made a stone spear, and pointed it towards the forest. But, there was nothing there.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Ethan emerged from the cloud and aimed for her head. A second before impact, the ground moved beneath his feat and he fell face first into a freshly summoned pile of mud. Ana then created a large pointy rock right above his head.

“Give up?”

- Smack! -

She felt a sharp pain on the back of her neck. The Ethan she was threatening turned into smoke and another Ethan was sitting behind her.

“What was that for?” she cried. It was her 3rd loss in a row.

“I could’ve killed you 3 times just now. You’re too easy to fool.”

“I’m not a fighter! I don’t get what you’re expecting from me.”

“You’re a mage, Ana. Even if you decide to build homeless shelters, raise funds for the poor, and become a God damn Saint, there will still be that one little shit who’ll try to murder you.”

“How do you know that?” she huffed. Ethan wanted to say he was that little shit, but held his tongue.

In his past life, every time he returned from a period of seclusion, with newfound power and a thirst for resources, he’d leave a bloody massacre in his wake. If you had what he wanted, he would take it, usually by force.

Since he didn’t respond, Ana walked away to cool off. ‘I shouldn’t pry into his business.’ She thought to herself. Ethan watched her go and fell into thought.

“Ana!” he eventually called. “I won’t always be there to protect you…”

She pretended to ignore him.

“You don’t have to be a fighter. I just want to make sure you can hold on until I find you.”

Since having that conversation, Ana dueled Ethan every day and lost a total of 16 times in a row. Despite this and unbeknownst to even her, she began liking these brawls. Even now, when faced with a peak level 0 mage that was hell bent on teaching her a lesson, she was scared but also excited.

The closer Charles got, the faster her heart beat. Mana rushed through her circuit in tandem with her blood, and her senses sharpened to the extreme.

“Die peasant!” Charles summoned a large ball of fire and shot it towards her. Ana ducked and barely avoided it.

Another ball was summoned and shot, then another, and then more. Although her hair got trimmed on several occasions, Ana was inwardly smiling.

‘What is he doing? If I was this sloppy, Ethan would’ve thrown me into the lake.’

Eventually, Charles stopped draining his mana and charged at her head on. She summoned a thin wall and he broke it with a fist covered in fire. She sent pebbles to attack him, and he created a large explosion around his body and scattered them all.

“Any last words, b**ch?”

“You’re a God damn idiot.” He was burning through mana like her rooster through cabbage.

Infuriated like never before, Charles burst into flames. He then slowly gathered the fire in his palm until a small ball reminiscent of the sun was formed. It was his family’s finishing move, Burst Nova.

Ana did not know this technique, but the amount of energy behind it was frightening.

‘Will I be able to dodge this? I definitely cannot block it’

She was too far away from anything she could hide behind. Her one exit was blocked, and there wasn’t enough time to reach it anyway.

‘What do I do?’ genuine fear began overtaking her reason. ‘What would Ethan do?’ She imagined him using a meat shield against the blast. But, even this crazy idea was pointless. Her classmates took so much distance from the fight their backs were cleaning the dust off the walls.

‘Run towards the walls or gate?’ she wouldn’t make it. ‘Beg for forgiveness? NO.’

In the few seconds Charles took to form his technique, she could’ve tried to disrupt it. She could have attacked but hesitated out of fear. Now, a yellow sun was shining in his palm and looked like it could swallow her whole.

“It’s your fault, peasant!” growled Charles while pointing the Burst Nova at her.

Sweat poured down Ana’s forehead, and not from the heat.

“You should’ve known your place.”

All strength seemed to leave her body, and she fell on her butt.

“Now, die!”

Charles shot the ball towards Ana. The entire courtyard got covered in light, and in the next moment, she was gone.