“Okay, okay…I get it…” I muttered as Feng Mian pulled on my ears painfully.

“You…still haven’t told me why!” she yelled. For the record, her yells were pretty loud and high-pitched. My ears couldn’t take it.

“I-I’ll tell you later. But isn’t there something more important you should be doing?” I replied, hoping to change the topic.

“Ah, right. My parents. Don’t worry, I know where they are.”

“You do?”

“Mhm. They are in this guy’s lair,” Feng Mian said as she pointed towards the area on the solid gravel where the demon had turned to mist.

“I see…and where did you get this information?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She sighed. “When he called me for the first time to inform me he had captured my parents, the first thing I did was make sure he really had them. So we struck a deal. I would work for him as long as he allowed me to see them in person once, and never harmed them in any way.”

“…I see.” Certainly, that did make sense. “Well then…let’s go.”

Feng Mian nodded and beckoned me to follow her.

*****

We were inside a different alleyway in the slums of Shenzhen. After countless turns in the narrow roads that weaved between worn-down buildings, we arrived at…a blank wall.

“Hey…you sure this is the place?” I asked, looking over to Feng Mian.

“Yes. The wall that you see is merely an illusion,” she explained, and seemed to be signaling me to do something (though I didn’t know what) with a gaze. After a few seconds, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

She sighed and facepalmed dramatically. “Illusions are Shadow Magic. And in order to dispel them, you’ll need…” she prompted me once more.

“…Light Magic.” I finished.

“Can’t believe it took you that long to figure it out…” she muttered disappointedly.

I chose to ignore that, and began channeling the mana in me…but then stopped abruptly.

“Er…I’m out of mana.”

“…”

“Hey…it’s not my fault. The only source of mana since the duel was taking just the minimal amount needed through my illusion, in order to support it.”

She sighed once more. I feel like people tend to groan a lot around me…

“Fine. I’ll cast some magic for you,” Feng Mian said after a short while.

“Right…thanks.”

She then called upon the mana inside her and released it, forming a giant ice rock, directly above my head.

“Holy shit-!” I cried before moving instinctively to dodge it.

Crrash!

The rock (ice) came crashing down, and shattered to pieces on the floor.

“Hey…you trying to kill me or what?!” I yelled, panting.

“Oops, finger must’ve slipped,” Feng Mian replied casually, folding her hands behind her head in a relaxed manner.

“That has nothing to do with casting magic!”

“Glacier Form: Rock!” Yet again, a giant rock of ice formed above my head.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”

“One isn’t enough. right? Consider this a luxury.”

And the same process repeated for about 7 times before she finally stopped.

“Hey now…you’re lucky…I don’t…consider you…an enemy…” I panted while slightly bent over, hands on my knees.

“Well…Just think of that as your punishment for not telling me anything about your ‘actual plan’ or whatever,” she said poutingly. “Go on, hurry up and dispel the illusion.”

I sighed and concentrated my newfound mana. “Level One Light Magic – Dispel!”

A brilliant radiance shone in the air, lighting up the entire slums. After a blinding flash, the wall was gone and in its place, was a stairway leading downwards, as a side entrance into the basement of a building.

“Now then…ladies first?”

“Hmph. Nice try. Hurry up,” Feng Mian commanded.

*****

The stairway seemed to be endless. After about 10 full minutes of walking, with the surroundings getting darker every step, we reached the bottom. A sole eerie green light dimly lit the room, and it seemed to be emitting from a lantern.

“Well…how welcoming,” I muttered quietly.

“This is how it is. Follow me,” Feng Mian replied.

I complied and hurried after her. We were heading to a deeper part of the room.

“Here it is…but there’s a lock on it,” Feng Mian arrived before a massive door, enclosed in large steel chains with a lock at the center, and knocked quietly. “Mom? Dad?”

Silence. She tried knocking again, harder this time. “Hello? You guys okay? It’s me, Feng Mian!”

“F-Feng Mian…? Is that really you…?” a female voice responded timidly. Judging from her tone, she seemed to be in need of water and very exhausted.

“Mom? Yes, it’s me! Just hang on…I’ll get you out!” Feng Mian called back. “Is Dad okay?”

A deep male voice answered. “Yes, I’m fine! Feng Mian, why are you here? If that man catches you-“

“He’s dead,” I replied in her stead.

“What…who are you?” the female voice from earlier, Feng Mian’s mom, asked skeptically.

“H-He’s a friend of mine!” Feng Mian interrupted before I could answer. “A-Anyway, Xuan Kai, come help me get this lock open…ngh!”

“…Right.”

I went closer to her and inspected the giant lock in the middle of the door. “Hm…we don’t have the key for this.”

“Great, I didn’t know that, thank you for the info!” Feng Mian said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. “I definitely won’t be able to do it…but if it’s you, couldn’t you just use brute force and blast the door open?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I replied. “Hey. You might want to back away from the door, as far as possible.” I hollered towards the door, raising my volume.

“W-What, why?” Feng Mian’s mom asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

“Mom, it’s okay! We’re about to break the door open, so just to be safe, get away from it as far as possible!” Feng Mian cried.

“Alright, we will do as you say.” Feng Mian’s dad replied. He seemed to be more reasonable than her mother. Though I couldn’t blame her, to be honest. A random guy comes out of nowhere and declares he’s going to blast the door open? Yeah…I would be suspicious too.

After hearing a “Okay, we’re ready” from Feng Mian’s father, I closed my eyes and concentrated my mana, visualizing it into a perfect sphere, then exploding and spreading to every tissue of my body.

“Level One Fire Magic – Fireball.”

Immediately, a massive orb of fire formed in my outstretched right hand, and I threw it towards the steel door.

BOOM!

The attack made contact, but the door only shook a bit. “Guess I’ll use a little more power…”

“Level One Fire Magic – Fireball.” Once again, I called upon my mana and formed a sphere of fire in my palms. I let it go and it struck the door once more, yet still, to no avail.

“Well…it’s working, but this is going to take a while,” Feng Mian said. “Do you have anything more powerful?”

“I do…but will you risk them getting hurt?” I asked back. “You know I can’t control my power very well.”

“Ngh…you’re right. Then what should we do?”

After thinking about it for a moment, I grinned. “I have an idea…”

I walked closer to the door. Putting a finger on the lock gently, I chanted. “Level One Metal Magic – Metal Morph.”

As soon as I finished chanting, I felt the lock become soft and liquidy, and dropped to the floor in a sorry heap. The chains, unable to attach to a fluid, swayed to the sides. I took a deep breath, and pushed open the door.

That’s right. Metal Morph – a Level One Metal Element spell, capable of changing the attributes of a metal substance. The lock seemed to be made of steel, after all. Normally, it would be impossible to alter something of this size, but thanks to my power-multiplying ability, it was a walk in the park.

“Feng Mian…I’ll leave the rest to you,” I said, backing away.

“You really never fail to surprise me,” Feng Mian beamed happily at me, cheeks tinged with a slight pink.

Just when I thought I had redeemed myself-

“Oh, but this doesn’t mean you won’t be explaining things to me later tonight.”

Well, shit…

*****

– The Next Day (Xuan Kai’s Perspective) –

…I’m tired.

Very, very tired. Why, you ask?

Well, I got a 2 hour-long lecture last night from Feng Mian after she sent her parents back to their old residence, and probably will get another one from Qing Yue today. By the way, if you were wondering, Feng Mian, being the forgiving type, decided to tell everything we did in full detail to Qing Yue as punishment for me.

I don’t understand why she’s so pissed, can’t she see that I had a reason for not telling her the complete plan? I mean, yes, it was partly because I didn’t trust her completely yet, but mostly it was just that I didn’t trust her acting skills.

Let me explain. I had only told Feng Mian a bit of my true plan, in order to make sure the operation goes flawlessly. And it did…except for one minor part. I didn’t expect Feng Mian to break down sobbing when she realized that I (my doppelganger) had died. I wasn’t worth the trouble, really.

Regardless, our original plan (the one I had told her) was that Feng Mian would bring me to that man, while I was pretending to be unconscious. Then, once the man got within range to inspect me, Feng Mian would hurriedly cast Ice Prison on him, and lock him in place. Then, I would drop the act and attack him while she trapped him.

But considering the large soundproof barrier he had laid down the last time I saw him, there’s no doubt that he was an Advanced Mage, or perhaps even higher. Because of this, I deduced that the fake plan wouldn’t work on him. After thinking about it for an entire day (hence the reason I was away from school, though Feng Mian seemed to think I was just escaping unwanted attention), I came up with the actual plan, utilizing the brilliance of illusions.

Indeed – the ‘Xuan Kai’ that Feng Mian was dragging around was merely an illusion of mine. From the moment we met up prior to coming face to face with that man, it had been an illusion. Meanwhile, the real me headed to the dark alleyway faster than Feng Mian, and climbed up the same roof that I had used last time. It was hard controlling my illusion detailedly from such a distance, and used up a lot of mana. Fortunately, beforehand, I had set the illusion to be constantly absorbing Shadow Element mana from Feng Mian while she was holding it.

Of course, I only took minimal amounts, making sure it’s just enough to support the illusion’s programmed movements. It probably gave her a little headache at most, similar to what one might feel if they had a tiny bit of blood extracted from their body. Mana was like blood in a way, after all.

I was able to do this since the spell I cast, Illusion Level Two, was in fact a Shadow Element spell. Luckily, this was one of the few level two spells that the school taught to everyone. It isn’t very useful in proper fights, after all…or at least that’s what they think.

Because of my passive power-multiplying ability (though I still don’t know how I could do it), I was even able to make someone think they are touching something – when in reality, they aren’t. Technically, this was supposed to be only something Illusion Level Three could accomplish, but I’ve already transcended such limits. I wonder…when I learn a Level Three spell, will it be as powerful as a Legendary-Tier one?

I think it’s also thanks to this power of mine that man didn’t find out anything fishy. So my illusions can even withstand the eyes of an Advanced Mage? Hm…that’s good to know. This could come in handy in the near future, when I go up against the Xuan family. There’s no lack of Advanced Mages in there…

Another reason I decided to go with this plan, was to see if I could fish any information out of him – and I did. I had already known this, but the man had said “that guy” at one point during the fight, implying there’s indeed someone above him. But what really was valuable was a certain term they leaked by accident. One I haven’t heard anything about for years…

…That’s right. The Midnight Syndicate. From what I know, it was an organized crime group that specialized in mass killings. It was said that all of its members were at least Advanced Mages, and they could all use Dark Magic of some sort. When that man transformed using Demonification yesterday, it only further strengthened my hypothesis. However, this organization was supposed to be wiped out by the IMF years ago. So why did this term suddenly pop up again yesterday? The remains? No. They wouldn’t have a clear hierarchy if it was merely the leftover escapees. But this will have to wait until further investigation.

To sum it up, I fooled both that man and Feng Mian. It was essential to make sure the plan goes seamlessly. But some people just don’t understand that, even after I explained everything to them already…

Looking back on it now, I might’ve been able to beat that man if we just used the plan I told Feng Mian. He wasn’t as strong as I expected. But at the time, I had no way to gauge his strength, and therefore chose the safe route. As long as the plan worked, it’s fine. All’s well that ends well.

*****

– ???’s Perspective –

A certain man sat on a black throne embedded with skulls and radiating a faint green light. Before him was a woman, wearing full-black clothes that complimented her brilliant violet hair. A mask covered her nose and mouth, and the first word a person would think of had they seen her outfit, would be ninja.

“And you are certain this information is true?” the man bellowed with a deep, dark voice, like that of a king.

“Yes, my sire. I saw it with my own two eyes,” the woman replied emotionlessly, kneeling on one knee, right arm crossed over the opposite shoulder.

“Heheh…it seems, things will begin to get even more interesting from here…” the man chuckled quietly. “Amethyst, your next mission is to get closer to this boy. Attend his school if need be. I will make the arrangements…”

“As you wish, sire.”

The man laughed. “Heheheh…now, I wonder…how will things play out from here?”