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Irene’s heart sank as she watched the duel unfold, a sense of despair engulfing her.

True to her expectations, Violet was getting utterly wrecked. When Violet had first summoned dozens of clones, Irene had clung to a flicker of hope, wondering if there was any chance of a turnaround.

That hope crumbled faster than a house built on sand.

Violet’s fighting style resembled that of a rabid puppy charging at a wolf. The wolf could easily dispatch the puppy, yet the pups would throw themselves at the predator without a care, exhausting it with their relentless attacks.

Had it not been a duel, it might have ended in a draw, as the opponent would have simply walked away, fed up.

However, when a decisive victory was required, the glaring skill gap became an insurmountable wall that mere numbers could not overcome. You can’t just punch through a tank with your bare hands.

‘You should have fought back more aggressively! You should have used your strength to escape!’

Irene blamed herself for not providing her any assistance.

The inside of the duel arena had turned into a bloodbath after nearly twenty minutes of combat. The other students watching the fight were grimacing and retching, leaving the scene in disgust.

The sight of clones shattering looked eerily similar to that of a human being hurt. It was disturbingly unpleasant. Even Irene, who had become somewhat accustomed to bloodshed from dungeon raids, found it overwhelming.

Thus, the end of the duel came.

To anyone watching, Violet appeared utterly exhausted. Noticing that she wasn’t using any unique abilities, it seemed her magical power had also dwindled.

‘No way…’

On the monitor showing the inside of the duel arena, Violet was seen smiling madly while gripping her sword. Martina approached her. It was clear that a single strike would incapacitate Violet.

Then, something strange happened.

The transparent barrier surrounding the duel arena began morphing into an opaque, milky form. The monitor relaying the interior suddenly went dead, displaying a “<Connection Lost>” signal.

Students murmured in confusion at the abrupt turn of events. Irene too was startled and stood up. The panicked members of the student council were seen frantically operating their devices.

‘What the heck is going on?’

***

Violet reformed all her clones except for one. She now had a surplus of magical power.

A dark, smoky sword energy erupted from her sword with the ferocity of a small volcano, causing Martina to flinch involuntarily.

To avoid being seen, Violet hid her left hand behind her back and made a hand sign. Magical energy flowed out, manipulating parts of the virtual reality spell of the duel arena.

She smirked internally. The security system here was terrible. With this maneuver, both the inside and outside of the duel arena were perfectly isolated. It should last about ten minutes.

Recalling the previous situation, there had been too many watching eyes. With that Helios girl present, revealing her true form right now was out of the question.

And even for a long-awaited amusement, it was necessary to block external views.

But why did she need to hide? Why was she fighting?

A question mark rose in Violet’s mind. Perhaps because only part of her was severed off, her purpose and memories felt fragmented and faint. Thus, Violet couldn’t fully grasp what kind of being she was or why she was here.

The hazy memories indicated that she was gradually sending herself somewhere after some uncertain attempts.

Well, it didn’t matter.

One thing was clear: before her lay unresolved grudges from a short, messy school life.

So, let’s savor the moment.

Violet began to circulate all the magic within her body.

“Magical power is almost depleted… I don’t understand anything about release or enhancement… This is a hassle…”

“Hey, what are you mumbling about?”

Ignoring Martina’s somewhat flustered gaze, Violet raised her sword with the eager expression of a gourmet about to eat a steak.

What she was to wield was sadism, and what she would savor was the screams.

Magical energy coursed through her legs, saturating each muscle fiber with superhuman strength. The joints and muscles in her arms felt distinct from what she had known before. Her optic nerves and pupils quivered, expanding her vision as her nerves accelerated, making the world around her feel slow.

As if drawing a bowstring, her muscles contracted, and Violet leapt violently from the ground.

“…Krak!”

Martina was startled by the speed beyond her imagination and barely managed to parry the attack with her rapier. The strength and speed were so different that she nearly dropped the hilt.

‘What the hell? Is this crazy girl on drugs or something?!’

The insides of the duel arena filled with the sound of hissing sword energy and sharp metallic sounds.

Seeing it as just a moment of carelessness, Martina focused on defending and then attempted to counterattack again. She moved, spun, and maneuvered for a counter. The sharpened tip of her sword, charged with white magical power, aimed for Violet’s neck.

‘Gotcha!’

Violet nonchalantly parried it using the handguard of her one-handed sword.

In the next moment, that blood-red blade flew right in front of her eyes, and Martina felt a burning sensation on her left cheek.

“Ugh…!”

She quickly stepped back, touching her cheek to find blood streaming down. As Violet’s gaze swept over her face, she grinned. There was no time for indignation.

‘Fast…! Her skill just spiked out of nowhere!’

Martina rejected the situation entirely. That couldn’t be right. That brat was just a first-year student. She was only making one last desperate attempt. If she had planned to win, she would have used her unique abilities. It was proof that she was under pressure. There had to be a chance for victory still.

“Looks like you can’t summon more clones, huh?”

With a hint of feigned calmness, Martina teased, and Violet tilted her head.

“Clones? For a piece of trash like you?”

“…!”

Violet felt a sense of absurdity.

She should know her place. How dare a B-class hunter give her orders?

She had no intention of wasting her precious and beautiful self on this insignificant girl. Even if a whole brigade of such trash came at her, she could sweep them all aside alone.

Seeing the ‘me’ from now failed against such a common awakened one and whining felt incredibly foolish.

Violet decided she needed to wrap things up quickly, or she’d run out of time for fun.

One step, two steps. Violet charged forward once more like a bullet.

“What the hell!… You! Why were you hiding your strength?!”

“Me?”

Under the onslaught of relentless sword strikes, Martina screamed as if her lungs would burst.

Now she was nearly choked for breath. That wasn’t human.

Just moments ago, the girl in front of her had wielded her sword as if it was no more than a wavering reed. Martina had simply swung her sword diligently like a farmer harvesting grain, slicing through clones without care.

Yet the current attack was something she couldn’t possibly handle. The sounds of blades tearing apart common sense, her skill with a sword—this was not something a first-year student or even someone of that age could possess. Where had this monster come from? She couldn’t fathom it.

-Kak-kang! Kakak-kang!

The sound of collisions echoed, sending a jolt up her arms.

It came flying in. She couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t dodge it. That blood-red sword energy’s firepower was beyond anything she could imagine. Not just that, the speed, direction, and form of the sword were all overwhelming.

If the weapon she carried hadn’t been a valuable relic, it might’ve broken by now. Step back, step back—her only option was to retreat.

Even in this turmoil, Violet was smiling. She was enjoying herself far too casually. Her expression was akin to a elementary student crushing ants beneath her foot, an innocent smile without a speck of dirt.

Violet’s sword strikes were simple yet devastating, flawless in execution. The harmony of primal violence and mechanical precision evoked the image of a giant meat grinder spinning violently. In the face of hopelessness, Martina gritted her teeth. Once entangled deeply, there was no escape. Absolutely none.

“Argh!”

Her face was continually marked with large and small wounds. Violet was relentlessly targeting her face.

‘She’s doing this on purpose! She’s toying with me!’

Swallowing her humiliation, Martina came to terms with reality. Whatever she had done, that Violet had significantly improved in swordsman skills. She too had to use her methods.

Violet, leisurely swinging her arms, looked at Martina’s rapier and spoke with a glint of interest.

“That sword, I haven’t seen it in a while. A student of the scholarship officer used it. Huh? You wouldn’t know what I’m talking about, would you?”

“…Shut up!”

Martina had made up her mind. Despite the huge drawback of consuming vast amounts of magical power, her only way to bring that down was with the power of this relic weapon.

They collided once more.

A blade came flying at her face. She felt a burning pain in her ear. Did she get her ear sliced off? But she found an opening. She targeted the enemy. The scarlet flames that had previously burned Violet’s clones surged from her blade once more.

“…Eat this!”

The wave of fire unleashed at close range was absolutely unavoidable.

She instinctively sensed victory. This should have been how it went from the start. The emptiness left behind by her drained magical energy had been filled with lethargy, but Martina raised the corners of her mouth.

With a thunderous roar, blood-red magical power soared vertically. Flames split to the sides, and Violet rushed through.

“W-What the!”

“Magic can be countered with magical power. You didn’t know even something as simple as this?”

‘That wasn’t something you could merely counter!’

Martina’s eyes filled with the color of despair.

She struggled.

In a moment of distraction, she lost her grip on her rapier, which soared above the duel arena. It seemed to be a statement of defiance, yet a spinning kick came flying in. Violet caught it, holding it close like a hug, and threw it back.

The technique seemed to leverage strength to send it away.

As Martina barely regained her balance, Violet leaped up close to her, delivering a knee strike to her solar plexus.

“Cough!”

It felt like a siege engine was pummeling her. Her body flew and crashed against the barrier surrounding the duel arena. A loud thud resounded, and Martina fell to the ground.

She could not breathe. She felt weak. It was painful.

Martina raised her head, staring blankly at Violet above her. Any resistance beyond this was futile.

It was a clear-cut defeat.

“…Yeah, I lost. I’ll surrender…”

She barely managed to croak out, gasping. All she wished for now was for the barrier to be lifted.

The barrier did not disappear.

“…?”

She looked around. The announcement from the student council that should have been heard from the speaker was absent. The barrier had turned opaque before that. Why?

“…Spending two whole minutes just to deal with a single girl. I’ve really lost my touch.”

Shaking her head, Violet slowly raised her left hand, moving her fingers as if typing in the air.

“Pain intensity set to 70%. For now, at 100%, and if I tweak a few values… Hmm, is 150% the limit? Also, I can adjust the perceived passage of time as well. The maximum is 50%. It’s doable. Good.”

Violet was satisfied.

Thanks to this, the internal time in the duel arena had now extended to 16 minutes. This was feasible.

Muttering, Violet walked over to Martina, picking up the red rapier that had fallen nearby. The rapier vanished.

“I’m taking this. Got it? Now, shall we play a bit?”

“Wh-what are you doing? That’s…”

“Could you just stay still?”

Suddenly, clones, which had popped up from nowhere, grabbed her legs and severed her ligaments.

“A…? Ah? AAAAAAH!”

Martina screamed in agony. The pain didn’t cease. The clones now severed all of her remaining tendons.

“Let go!! Argh! I won’t let this go!”

“Hmm? Did you not understand? I told you, let’s play together. Why are you being so dramatic? This is just virtual reality. While the pain is amplified, so to speak.”

Ignoring Martina’s half-hearted threats, Violet continued to murmur.

Sounds of clattering echoed. Saw blades, screwdrivers, wrenches, scissors, and other assorted tools fell to the ground.

Violet carefully picked up one of the tools as if inspecting a gift. It was a hand saw.

Then, she grabbed Martina’s tied hair and yanked it upward. Her face was a mess, stained with flowing blood and tears.

“If you want to cry, go ahead. No one is here to hear you. See the barrier?”

It was only then that Martina finally looked around. The barrier had turned opaque.

“You really have no awareness, do you? The barrier and internal broadcasting devices are all down. Just a simple application of spells.”

“Ugh… How did you… What does that mean?”

“Nothing special. I learned this trick while under the sycamore. Hmm, I guess you don’t know who that person is.”

Violet kept rambling on. Those listening might not have comprehended, but she didn’t care. This was her sort of routine before she toyed with her victims.

“This virtual reality training system is quite outdated. It offers high realism but limited functionality. The scale was so large that it could only be used in the main building. However, it proved useful for operations or some missions. For example…”

The clones began to cut off her fingers with the scissors.

“When you need to interrogate a target you can’t injure, just like right now.”

“Gaaah! AAAAAAH! AHHHH!”

“Why are you exaggerating? I told you, this isn’t reality! Once the barrier lifts, everything will go back to normal, right? Ahha, that’s right…”

As Violet listened intently to the anguished screams, something seemed to come to her. The hazy memories of the past resurfaced, and her crimson eyes shone with newfound interest.

“I remember now. Wasn’t I called a retard and a loser? That stung a lot back then.”

“When did I…!”

“I don’t know? I don’t remember that well! When was it… Ah, whatever! Personally, I’ve just become curious to try something right now.”

With all her remaining venom squeezed out, Martina growled.

“Hey..! Stop…! If I get out of here… I won’t let this go! I’ll report you!”

“Is that so? Go ahead and try. Even if you manage to leave here, you’ll never be able to do that.”

This time, a skewer plunged into her spine. Her whole body felt like it was being seared by electric shocks, and she flailed in agony.

“Around seven minutes left. Though due to the time delay, it’s about 14 minutes inside… but I’m not sure if that’s enough.”

Violet poked the edge of Martina’s nose with the hand saw. The cold saw slid across her forehead, and even amidst pain, her senses returned sharply.

“Ugh… Awkward… just a moment… What… do you want to do?”

“Well, from the sounds of it, you’re holding up pretty well. What do you think I’m going to do?”

Violet playfully traced the saw across Martina’s nose, and Martina realized what was about to happen to her.

She thrashed in despair.

“Argh…! S-stop! Stop! No more! AAAAAAH!”

The hand saw moved.

The sound of scraping echoed as warm blood flowed. Violet savored the fragrant screams that echoed in her ears. The clones on both sides were also busy holding her arms and legs, engrossed in their tasks.

“From my experience, it takes about half an hour to drive someone insane. It wouldn’t be bad to set a new record this time.”

“AAAAAH! P-please… AAAAAH!”

The sawing continued in steady motions.

Suddenly, Violet regretted not having a plane. If only she had one, things might have been more entertaining. Then her illustration would have been closer to her imagination.

“AAAAAH! I-I’m sorry! Please! I was wrong…! Ugh!”

Even amidst begging, the sawing never ceased.

Scrape, scrape. Scrape, scrape. Scrape, scrape.

***

Rage and fatigue washed away in her mind.

Turning her head, she saw Martina lying fallen before her.

What happened?

“I don’t know! We don’t remember well. You were the only one left, Unit 1, and you fought hard.”

“Ugh, I’m really tired.”

Right, she remembered doing her best in battle. Martina’s strength had slowly waned, ultimately allowing her to land a critical hit on them. Was it a victory through overwhelming tactics using clones?

The weight of the one-handed sword in her right hand felt heavier than usual today. She felt exhausted.

At the moment she turned to look at Martina, she involuntarily flinched. What on earth had happened?

The girl looked like a complete mess. Her entire body was riddled with wounds, and her face was… so mangled it was hard to look at. Was it because of her attacks? Had she managed to maim her like that using clones?

The barrier surrounding the duel arena looked murky. At some point, the barrier transformed into a transparent state. She could feel people watching us from outside.

“…What in the world just happened…”

She heard murmurs from the speaker. Moments later, the victory announcement rang out.

“…Duel concluded. Martina Perian’s incapacitation confirmed. Violet Rugilinn, victory.”

The barrier began to slowly lift. Her vision twisted, and the space warped. The elements that had comprised the scene in front of her began to gradually change, like a computer graphic glitching out.

In the blink of an eye, she was back in reality again. The wounds on her body and her torn clothes reverted to their original form.

“Ugh… Ugh!”

Martina emitted a short scream as she awakened. She sat there, dazed, wandering her eyes all over, frantically touching and rubbing her face. Was she checking if her face was still attached?

What was the problem?

“Ugh… Ugh! I’m… intact… I’ve come back… Ugh…”

“…What’s going on?”

As the student council members walked into the arena, I approached Martina, bewildered.

“Hey, I won, right? You admit it?”

“Uh…?”

The moment Martina made eye contact with me, her face hardened. The moment I was about to press her again, she started trembling all over like she had caught a fever and began crawling away in panic.

“Ah… No…! Yes!… No! Don’t come near me! Stay back!”

As I walked towards her, she recoiled in horror.

This girl kept trying to stand up but kept falling as if her legs had no strength. Was she unable to accept the situation she lost?

I stepped up to her, and the now-pale Martina suddenly burst into tears. She began desperately rubbing her hands together, begging. The surrounding spectators shifted uneasily.

“Ugh… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…! Please… I won’t say a word! Really! Ugh…”

“Hey! What’s with you?!”

As I leaned towards her, the trembling Martina gasped and stuttered, eyes wide.

“Ugh… Please!… Please!… No…! AAAAAAAH!”

Martina shrieked, and then she fainted. Water trickled down between her legs. I was at a loss for words at the sight.

I didn’t understand why she was acting like this. Was the defeat that shocking? Just a moment ago, she had been more composed than this.

Martina was carried away on a stretcher, unconscious. The student council members seemed dumbstruck and merely shrugged.

After several inspection procedures and completing the signatures, I turned around and saw Irene descending from her seat in the duel arena.

“…Irene, I won.”

“Yeah, thankfully you did, but… what on earth happened? Why is Martina like that?”

As I listened to Irene’s explanation, I found out the barrier had been blocking the outside for over ten minutes. By the time it became transparent again, and the internal camera and speakers activated, Martina was already collapsed in front of me.

“…I’m not sure. I just fought like crazy, and suddenly there she was, knocked out.”

I felt tired and drained, and I didn’t really know. I was so caught up in the battle that I wasn’t aware of much. Irene still looked puzzled but didn’t ask further.

I had won the duel. The management board would be disbanded. There were also several responsibilities I had to ask about.

But it had been a truly tiring experience. This duel had taught me quite a lot.

“That was close…! She was incredibly strong.”

“Yeah, we could have easily lost. You know almost all the clones you had are gone, right? You have to recreate them all from scratch.”

There was a lot to think about. But for now, resting was the priority. The mental fatigue from this faux virtual reality was immense. Keeping focused for over thirty minutes wasn’t an easy task.

I exited the arena along with Irene.

The cold wind swept across, stealing the warmth from my face. It was already the end of September.

I received news that Daphne had awakened three hours later.