Emerald’s POV:

Emerald stood in the arena of Helios Imperial Academy, feet on packed earth, dressed in the academy uniform: black trousers, white sleeves neatly tucked, red tie, belt cinched at the waist, black vest, clean-cut suit. Elegant in the way that institutions insist upon.

The arena was oval and ancient-looking, as though history had shaped it rather than hands. Not many had gathered, but those who had made themselves known, their voices carrying through the space as though it had been built to hold them.

She looked far too clean for what was about to happen, and she knew it. Hair neatly pinned, boots catching the reddish sun like mirrors. Those around her thought the same. Emerald, however, wasn’t thinking about any of that. Her eyes were fixed, and they hadn’t moved.

The young man before her was dressed in a grey sleeve, a black cravat, and ash trousers. His golden eyes darted to her nonchalantly, the strands of his golden hair lifted easily by the wind. His hands were in his pockets, as though he had nowhere better to be.

His attire defied academy protocol entirely. He looked, if anything, like a man on his way to a noble ceremony, and everything about how he held himself confirmed it. The duel did not appear to concern him.

Something about this man made Emerald’s blood boil. He had ignored the academy’s instructions outright, and the opening ceremony was a day away, yet he still hadn’t bothered with the uniform.

But his insolence was the least of it, merely the cherry on top. She was here, standing in this academy instead of a prestigious university, because of him.

Because she loathed him. Leomaris Runerth. The very person she had sworn to drag down and kill.

’You won’t get off this easily, Leomaris. I will make your life miserable. That was exactly why I insisted on settling this through a duel when I still had the chance to refuse.’

Her gaze dropped to the magic circle on the back of her right hand. She adjusted her glasses.

’My ability, Confession, isn’t meant for combat, but it’s enough to bring you down, and it starts today. You bastard... you will pay for all your sins.’

Her attention shifted to the officiator for the duel, a man in a black suit and dark glasses approaching the field, and that was when Emerald assumed her stance, exactly as she had practiced.

This was a war, not a mere duel.

—

Leomaris’s POV:

Everything in the arena faded, crowd, officiator, the packed earth beneath his feet, until only she remained in focus. His eyes hadn’t left her.

There was something familiar about her. It stirred in him quietly, just out of reach... her name, her presence, something. He couldn’t place which, or whether it mattered.

’I don’t remember anyone named Emerald in the novel, and Leomaris doesn’t recognize her in his memories either. So why does she feel so unsettling?’

He paid close attention to her clothing, noting the cleanliness of her uniform.

’Before this duel, the officiator asked if I would forfeit and hand the Calamity position to Emerald without a fight. I refused. Emerald also refused, but why? Looking at her closely, she seems too fragile and refined to be here. Even her uniform suggests she has no experience in combat.’

Leomaris drew his hands from his pockets and rubbed them together, warming them slowly, the friction doing its small work. Then he began to move, loosening himself up, keeping the stamina from going cold.

"Our situation is rare. It has happened before and was settled through duels like this. However, those cases involved veterans, and even without a full understanding of their abilities, they still put on quite a spectacle by fighting hand-to-hand."

His eyes moved across the crowd. Two hundred, roughly. He’d known he would end up here eventually, that much had always been inevitable. He simply hadn’t expected to arrive so quickly.

"Hm... this isn’t going to be half as interesting as they came here for. I doubt she can even throw a punch... I’ll feel bad hitting her, but I have to. I need this victory."

He had no fighting techniques to speak of. Perhaps that was naive. He believed it wholeheartedly regardless, that his strength alone would carry it.

The officiator broke away from his conversation with a staff member and stepped onto the field, wooden microphone in hand. When he spoke, the arena carried it everywhere.

"Good morning, cadets. It has been some time since this academy was surprised by its own, and yet, here we are. The two standing before you are tied for fifth place. There can only be five Calamities. That much we all know. The final position will be settled today, by duel."

The crowd cheered, mostly the first-year students, eager to witness their first duel in less than a week at this academy.

The officiator looked to Leomaris, then to Emerald, a moment of confirmation passing between them. "Now." He raised his voice. "Let the duel begin!"

Leomaris assumed his stance, composed on the outside.

’Forgive me, young girl. You have no idea what you’re up against. Twenty-five years of life. Years of anime. I can break a rib with a single strike.’

The crude joke hadn’t even finished landing before his attention moved. The officiator’s too. Everyone in the stands. All of it turning, at once, toward Emerald.

She trembled so hard the ground shook beneath her. Her head wouldn’t rise. Her body had stopped listening entirely. "I am sorry. I shouldn’t have gone against you."

Then she was on her knees, she hadn’t decided to go there, but there she was. "Please forgive me. I forfeit."

The tears came freely, her broken heart bleeding into the arena until everyone around her felt the weight of it.

She turned to the officiator, past composure entirely. "Please." Her voice cracked. "I forfeit!"

"What the heck?" Leomaris murmured to himself.

Confusion was etched across his face, his mouth agape. He didn’t need to use his ability to know if this girl was lying, her reaction and the crowd’s told him everything he needed to know.

"What? He threatened her? Disgusting."

"Didn’t you hear her? He probably threatened her into forfeiting the duel."

"No wonder. You don’t know who he is? He’s Rosay Runerth’s younger brother."

"Duke Godfrey’s youngest son? I’ve heard he’s a good-for-nothing bastard."

The murmuring wouldn’t settle, it filled the arena and deepened his confusion with it. He had known the original Leomaris had enemies. He simply hadn’t thought to look for one here, in a girl this young, with this much hatred in her eyes.

His expression darkened through the declaration. The victory was welcome, he wouldn’t pretend otherwise, but Emerald’s anger sat unresolved in his mind. He couldn’t place it. Couldn’t find the source of something that felt that old.

’Since Samael is the Vice Captain of the Unholy Priests, I had him handle any threats from them against me. He is meant to serve me for a year, after all. So I doubt this girl is one of them. And if she’s someone I wronged personally... why don’t I remember her?’

While Leomaris stood there, still turning it over in his mind, the officiator approached, having sent others ahead to help Emerald out.

He came closer than was comfortable. His eyes were cold in a way that had nothing to do with professionalism. Resentment, if Leomaris had to name it.

"One piece of advice, boy, being a Calamity is about control. Threatening others won’t make you one; it will only earn you resentment. That was a poor move. It doesn’t matter that your father is a Duke or that your sister leads one of the strongest Calamity factions. It all comes down to your own abilities. Don’t be surprised if you lose that position before the semester ends."

The officiator walked away without looking at him. The crowd’s disgust was unanimous, and Leomaris felt it, the weight of it, just for a second. Then he smiled.

"That’s a clever move, Emerald. You gave me the title of Calamity... but also the heaviest burden I can carry."

The news would spread, it always did. Everything he’d built would be called into question. How he’d become a Calamity.

Every alliance, every carefully secured ally, was suddenly uncertain now. Emerald had delivered the most lethal punch of the duel without throwing a single one. He never saw it coming.