How did I end up here on the school training ground, after school? Well, the answer to that question is right in front of me. Gasper, the son of a lord, challenged me into a duel. He had golden eyes, blond hair, wore a red jacket with a white shirt inside, and wore black pants. It was our school uniform.

“Can we not do this, Gasper?” I pleaded.

“No! I won’t forgive you, Kaleid. You’re going to steal my girlfriend,” he responded.

“No! It’s just a misunderstanding. I was helping her because she fell.” I told him as I recalled the incident.

I was on my way to the library when I noticed Lily carrying a box in front of me. Before I could say anything, she tripped, and I rushed towards her, gripping her waist. The scene that we made was straight out of a romance movie, where the protagonist helped one of his love interest from falling.

Awkward. The only word I could think of right now. Several students watched the scene. Some of them raised their eyebrows, the student with a textbook gasped, a girl’s mouth open, and the girl with glasses... fainted? Why? Was it too romantic?

“You okay?” I said as I looked at her emerald eyes.

“Uh, yeah, I-I’m f-fine, T-Thank you,” She replied, her cheeks, her ears, everything looked red.

“Hopefully, Gasper doesn’t see this scene,” I muttered to myself.

“Erm, can you let me go?”

“Oh! Sorry,” I let go of her waist as she stood.

“I better go before he found out!” Before I could walk away, I looked at the papers scattered around the floor. “Damn! Why do I have a kind heart?”

I helped her gathered the papers. After that, I walked away from the scene. At the library, as I was reading about magic and spells for my research. Gasper put his foot on the table, which surprised me.

“Hey! You can’t put your foot on the-,” Before I could continue, he cut in.

“I challenge you into a duel!” he pointed at me with his index finger.

“Huh?”

“Playing dumb, eh?” He took out his magic crystal and showed a picture of me with Lily from the scene.

“Its-.”

“No, more talk! You and me, one on one. Training ground, after school. Don’t be late,” He left me before I could refuse.

“Oh, shit!” I put my hand on my face as a sign of frustration.

“Feeling scared?” he said as I snapped back to reality.

“No, of course not. It’s just a misunderstanding.”

“Stop with your excuse!” he said.

“Can you please listen to me?”

“No!”

“Ugh.”

“Now, listen here, if I win, you will stay away from Lily, and as a punishment for you losing to me, you will be my lapdog.”

A lapdog? Seriously, this guy. I said, “What happened if I win?”

“The same thing will happen but vice versa,” he said.

“No! I-.”

“Stop! I’m not finished yet,” he interrupted, “ I haven’t told you the rules of the duel.”

“Is there suppose to be a rule?”

“Yes, because of fairness.”

He really dwelled into the gentleman type. I sighed before continued to speak, “So? What’s the rule?”

“Feeling cocky, eh?”

“Stop with the misunderstanding.” I sighed.

“Pfft. Save your excuse for later,” he sneered before continuing, “The rules are simple, first to drop the opponent's sword, win the game.”

“That’s it?”

“I haven’t finished,” he glared at me.

“Please continue.”

“As I was saying. Magic and spell are allowed in this duel, even the most dangerous ones.”

“Are you serious? We’ll get injured,” I told him.

“Oh! You do feel scared. If that’s the case. Then, I win. Now come here and lick my foot,” A sword appeared on his right hand as he pointed his foot.

“Nope, It's not happening. I didn’t raise the white flag yet.” I told him. Becoming his lapdog was the last thing on my list. No, it wouldn’t even appear on the list.

On my left hand, a pale light blinked, and a short blade appeared. I looked at it with disappointment.

“Hahaha…. Look how short your blade is, I guess that’s not the only thing short,” he mocked as he showed his long steel sword.

“Now, let’s begin,” he said.

We readied ourselves as we took our stance. My left foot was placed in front of my right foot. I took my right arm a bit farther behind and aligned the sword with my head. My left armed held in front as I was wielding a shield.

Gasper, on the other hand, widened his foot from each other. His sword was position below his waist. A smile formed on his face.

“Ready,” he said.

“Set.” I tightened my grip.

“Fight!” we screamed.

“Blink,” I muttered as I blinked behind him.

“Huh?” his mouth opened.

“Air Burst,” A gust of wind burst from my left hand and headed towards him.

“Water Wall!” he shouted as a wall of water formed from the ground, stopped my attack. When the wall deformed, Gasper had already vanished.

“Sense!” all of my fives sense went overload as they scanned my surrounding. Then, I felt a gust of human breathing behind me and heard a sword being swung. I ducked before it could hit me as I felt a heavy wind pass.

“Shit!” Gasper gasped as he appeared.

“Blink,” I blinked behind him. Then, shaped water around my sword and tried to stab his back.

“Fog!” Black smoke had blocked my view of him.

I covered my mouth and pushed myself back from the smoke. Then, Gasper rushed towards me.

“Kinectic Step,” My whole body began to accelerate, and I took few steps to avoid his attack.

“Ground Breakers.” He stabbed his sword at the ground, and a crack carved its way towards me as my foot stuck between the cracks, resulted in me fell on the ground.

My sword was still on my arm. I sensed Gasper rushing towards me. Behind me, Gasper was in the air, and his sword pointed towards me.

“Now! Prepared to lose! Water Cloak!” he covered his sword with water.

“Kinetic Step: Chains of Kaleid,” ten chains appeared from where I step previously, hurled towards Gasper, and chains his arms and legs, stopping him.

“Blink,” I blinked in front of him, and with one swing, his sword flew away from his grasp.

“No! Impossible! I should’ve won!” he screamed.

“Unchained!” the chains released him, and he fell to the ground. The chain dissolved into particles of lights.

“Looks like I won. Now you’re going to listen to me!” I told him as I smiled while looking at him on the ground.

“Tch! Fine, as a nobleman, I will be your lapdog and listen to whatever you requested,” he conceded as he turned his face away.

“Good. Now, listen to me,” I told him. He glared at me, and I could feel his anger inside those pair of gold eyes of his.

“Listen. Take this to your heart. You need to stop misunderstanding me about my relationship with Lily. Lily loves you, she told me herself.”

“Eh? For real?” his eyes sparkled as a star appeared in his eyes.

“Yes! I mean it.”

“Then, why was her face red on the picture?”

“Didn’t Lily ever told you about her strange allergy when eating apple, her skin will appear red?”

“Oh! Right, she did, hehe,” he scratched the back of his head.

“But why didn’t you tell me about your relationship with Lily in the first place?” he continued.

“Because, whenever I bring it up, you will instantly cut me off,” I glared straight to his eyes.

“Oh, hehe,” he giggled before continued, “but why didn’t Lily tell me about you? It will save you from my wrath.”

“If my girlfriend brings up someone else's name, I will instantly get jealous, and I guess Lily didn’t bring it up because you might get jealous and attacked me for no reason other than jealousy.”

“Wait? You have a girlfriend?” he asked as his eyebrows raised.

“No!” I glared.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know-,” he paused because he could feel my glared, “Okay, I will stop now.”

“So, are we good?” I held my hand to him.

“Yeah, I guess, and I’m sorry,” he gripped my hand and stood up.

“No worries, and as the winner of the duel, there will be no rewards or punishment,” I told him as we shook our hands.

“Oi! What you two doing here, after school.” The school guard yelled at us.

“Shit! Run!” I ran away.

“W-wait for me,” he followed behind me as the guard chased us.