"I will not explain anything to you, Kiana."
Xia Qi spoke with detached calm, watching as Kiana stubbornly pushed herself back to her feet. "The truth is something you must discover for yourself."
That placid expression, that infuriating sense of knowing more, grated on Kiana's nerves. Without another word, she clenched her fists and charged again. A straightforward, unadorned punch aimed directly for Xia Qi's face.
"Then I'll beat the answers out of you!"
"Too reckless… Hm?"
Xia Qi was about to chastise her for the thoughtless approach when she saw the feint. Kiana's body shifted mid-stride, her weight transferring as she pivoted. The right fist pulled back, and her left leg came up in a vicious, whipping kick aimed straight at Xia Qi's temple.
The gust of displaced air from the kick fanned Xia Qi's silver hair.
Whoosh!
The leg passed straight through Xia Qi's head without resistance. Kiana's eyes widened in momentary confusion at the lack of impact.
Which meant…
"A good feint. You're finally using your head a little."
Xia Qi's voice came from the side. She stood in an identical stance, but her posture was more refined, her balance perfect, every muscle group engaged with optimal efficiency. In one fluid motion, she lifted her own leg and delivered a sharp, precise kick to Kiana's exposed side.
"Ugha!"
The air rushed from Kiana's lungs as she was sent tumbling across the scorched earth, skidding to a painful halt in the ash. She pushed herself up, wincing.
"I will knock you down again and again, Kiana."
Xia Qi looked down at her, voice devoid of pity. "Here, you will not die. Your wounds will heal quickly. So, do not worry about being unable to stand tomorrow."
"Cough…!"
Kiana stubbornly found her feet, refusing to stay down. She glared up, defiance burning through the pain. "You… who are you?"
"I have told you. I am you. Kiana Kaslana."
Xia Qi's gaze remained locked on her younger self, a faint, weary disdain still lingering in its depths. She could not abide the memory of those wasted years—the childish self-indulgence, the willful stagnation while others bore the weight and marched forward.
"I am Kiana Kaslana!" Kiana shouted, the words raw with anger and a deeper, more frantic fear. "I won't let you take Mei and Bronya away from me!"
As she shouted, she launched herself forward once more.
But her words gave Xia Qi a momentary pause.
She had never considered such a thing. Even if she ached to seek out Mei, to stand beside her, to taste a meal prepared by her hands, to speak openly without the burden of secrets… she couldn't. It was an impossible luxury.
She was merely a ghost haunting the edges of this timeline.
Yet… if this misunderstanding could fuel Kiana's drive, sharpen her will…
Xia Qi's eyelids lowered slightly, the thought passing like a shadow.
No.
Kiana was upon her now, unleashing the Kaslana Gun Kata. But her form was sloppy, full of wild, passionate openings, relying solely on the monstrous physicality of her bloodline to create a blur of strikes almost too fast to see.
"Wrong! Your stance is unstable! Wrong! You're overcommitting! It's all wrong!"
While evading the onslaught with effortless grace, Xia Qi mirrored her movements. For every clumsy, powerful strike Kiana threw, Xia Qi demonstrated the corrected, perfected form immediately after—economical, controlled, devastatingly precise.
"I have suppressed my power to match your level. Watch, and learn, Kiana!"
…..
"Hah… Hah…"
Time had lost meaning. Kiana stood, legs trembling, her body a map of exhaustion, her clothes plastered to her skin with sweat. Yet, despite the ferocity of their endless sparring, neither bore any lasting physical wounds.
"The Kaslana Combat Arts…?"
"Correct."
Xia Qi watched her, posture still impeccable, her magnificent armor unsullied by dust or strain.
"But how can you know them! If you are me! Then who am I?!"
Kiana's voice cracked, frustration and confusion boiling over.
"You are Kiana Kaslana. I am also Kiana Kaslana." Xia Qi's gaze was an anchor in the storm of Kiana's emotions, watching as the minor bruises and aches from their last exchange faded from the girl's skin.
"What kind of circular nonsense is that?!"
Kiana stared, teeth gritted, fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. "There is only one Kiana Kaslana! And that's me! How dare you wear my face! I'll make you admit the truth!" Enraged, she shouted and charged again.
This time, the Gun Kata she employed was sharper, cleaner, the wasted motion noticeably reduced.
A thread of grim satisfaction tightened in Xia Qi's chest.
However…
---
In the real world.
"What's happening to Kiana?!"
Theresa Apocalypse stood wringing her hands by the hospital bed, her usually cheerful face etched with deep worry as she addressed the attending physician.
"Headmistress, her external injuries have healed completely. However, her neural activity is highly anomalous. She is experiencing intense, lucid nightmares—her somatic nervous system is reacting as if she is engaged in prolonged, strenuous combat. The muscle contractions, elevated heart rate, adrenaline spikes… it's all consistent with a severe night terror episode."
The doctor explained, his tone a mix of professional concern and academic curiosity. His eyes were fixed on Kiana, who lay rigid on the bed, jaw clenched, fists balled at her sides, her eyelids fluttering rapidly as if watching some private, violent tableau. He scribbled notes furiously.
"Dammit…"
Theresa's small shoulders slumped with helplessness.
"Please try not to worry excessively, Headmistress. The condition itself isn't directly harmful, though it is deeply taxing. What she needs most now is genuine, restful sleep. That said," he added, looking up, "I would strongly recommend a consultation with a psychologist specializing in trauma once she is awake."
"I understand. Thank you, Doctor. You may go."
"Yes, Headmistress."
After the doctor left, Theresa approached the bedside. She looked down at Kiana's strained face, her own delicate features clouded by a complex, unreadable emotion.
"Kiana…" she whispered, the name heavy with unspoken history.
---
Back in the Dream Space.
"Is that the extent of your resolve, Kiana?!"
In the perpetual twilight of the dream, Xia Qi looked down at her younger self, who had collapsed once more onto the ashen ground. Dissatisfaction edged her tone.
"Cough… Shut up… I can… do this all day!"
Kiana fought her way upright once again, swiping a grimy hand across her mouth before fixing Xia Qi with a glare that was equal parts fury and determination.
She had lost all sense of duration. There was only the cycle: attack, be countered, be thrown, heal, rise, and begin again.
Yet, the repeated defeats had not broken her spirit. Instead, a cold focus had begun to settle over the initial heat of her anger. She was learning, absorbing the corrections Xia Qi demonstrated with each brutal lesson, sanding down the rough, instinctual edges of her style.
But the core question, the source of her turmoil, only grew more suffocating.
"You… are you really me?"
"I am."
Xia Qi watched as Kiana stood, not immediately lunging into another attack, but holding her ground, questioning. A small, internal note of progress was made.
"But… how is that possible? How can there be two of us?" Kiana's eyes were wide with a profound, confusion.
The person before her was undeniably stronger, a master to her apprentice. And despite the harshness, the teaching was real. But the why of it all echoed in the hollow of her chest. Why would a future self need to do this? What was she being prepared for?
Hearing the plaintive question, Xia Qi looked at the girl—so fierce, so confused, so heartbreakingly young—and her own gaze deepened with a complexity that spoke of losses Kiana could not yet fathom.
-------
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