1 days earlier, after the third trial.
"Why... why did you do that?!"
Aldren's voice echoed through the teleportation sector.
Several eliminated students nearby turned their heads toward them.
Noir, however, remained completely calm.
"For someone I've only known for a few days, aren't you getting a little too personal?"
She glanced toward Mei Mei.
"Miss mei mei simply used an advantage she had."
Aldren's expression hardened.
"No. That's not what I'm talking about."
He stepped closer.
"Do you even understand what this trial is about?"
Noir's expression finally changed.
"Do you understand what it means to betray your own team?"
"Yes."
The answer came hesitantly.
Silence followed.
Clenching his teeth, aldren looked at noir for a long moment before turning toward Mei Mei.
"...I was wrong."
Mei Mei raised an eyebrow.
"You really do embody the philosophy of your clan."
Mei Mei smiled.
"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"It's not exactly praise."
She shrugged.
"Good. Evil. Betrayal. Loyalty."
Her eyes drifted across the crowded sector.
"People love pretending those things are simple."
She chuckled.
"Someone saves a hundred people and they're called a hero. Someone sacrifices one person to save a thousand, and suddenly they're a monster."
Her smile faded slightly.
"The truth is..."
"Most people aren't good or evil."
"They're simply people making choices based on what they believe matters."
She looked directly at Aldren.
"We were about to fight each other to see who would be the last one standing."
"So I did what I had to do to win."
Aldren clenched his fists.
"You ordered Noir to break my Crystal Core."
"Yes, and she followed out of her own, Free, Will, and i did it because that was the easiest way to eliminate you."
She tilted her head.
"But Aldren..."
Her smile returned.
"I don't think you have the right to judge me."
Aldren frowned.
"And why's that?"
Mei Mei gestured toward him.
"You're someone incredibly favored by magic."
She laughed softly.
"You were born with advantages most people could spend their entire lives trying to obtain."
"So tell me..."
"How different are we, really?"
Aldren didn't answer.
Mei Mei stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"Besides..."
"I'd rather not make a scene."
She glanced around at the dozens of students watching them.
"There are already enough people staring."
Her smile became playful again.
"So let's not embarrass ourselves in front of an audience, alright?"
Aldren clicked his tongue.
"Hey man just let it go." Frank said trying to calm down Aldren.
And Aldren for the first time in his life had no answer.
...
....
It was the fourth trial that Aldren finally had the chance to confront mei mei, he stood with his war axe resting against his shoulder.
The weapon was almost absurdly large.
Its blade was wider than his torso, its haft nearly as tall as he was.
Yet he held it with one hand.
Across from him stood Mei Mei.
Her long green hair drifted behind her, and her yellow eyes remained fixed on Aldren.
Neither moved.
They had fought together before.
Against Noah.
That had been enough for both of them to understand the basics of what the other could do.
But fighting beside someone was different from fighting them.
Aldren lowered his axe.
His eyes remained fixed on Mei Mei.
"You knew exactly what you were doing."
Mei Mei's expression didn't change.
"This again?."
"You knew Noir would listen to you."
"Yes."
"Yet you still did it."
She nodded
Aldren's grip tightened around the waraxe.
Then.
BOOM!
Aldren moved.
His first step was clean.
Second.
Third.
The enormous axe swung downward.
Mei Mei stepped sideways.
The blade missed her by inches.
She immediately noticed something.
Aldren didn't recover from the swing.
He simply.
transitioned.
"And you still ordered her to do it."
His body went from the end of the swing directly into another movement.
"Are you surprised?"
Mei Mei ducked.
Aldren immediately twisted.
Normally, he would have to shift his weight, plant his foot, and rotate his body before changing direction.
Aldren stepped forward.
He didn't.
His movement simply.
skipped.
One moment he was finishing his swing.
The next, he was already behind the axe.
He removed the transition.
"No, im angry."
"That's obvious."
"You used someone else's loyalty to destroy mine."
Mei Mei's smile thinned.
The axe came around again.
She jumped backward.
The blade passed beneath her feet.
Aldren followed.
He crouched.
Mei Mei prepared for the jump.
Then.
He didn't crouch.
He simply jumped.
The sequence had been removed.
The physical action that should have preceded the jump was gone.
His body rose from a standing position with the same force that should have been generated by the crouch.
"Noir made her own choice."
"Because you told her to!"
Aldren descended.
The axe came down.
Mei Mei raised both hands.
The world twitched.
The axe struck the platform.
BOOM!
Stone cracked.
But the impact didn't behave correctly.
The force traveled sideways.
Aldren's eyes widened.
The enormous shockwave that should have spread outward from the axe instead bent around Mei Mei.
She had made the attack behave incorrectly.
"And?"
Aldren's jaw tightened.
He pulled the axe free.
"Don't reduce her to that."
For the first time, Mei Mei's expression became slightly more serious.
Mei Mei was already moving.
She kicked off the ground.
Aldren raised his weapon.
Her foot should have collided with the flat of the axe.
Instead.
Her momentum suddenly went backward.
Her body moved toward Aldren while her foot moved away.
The contradiction lasted only an instant.
She twisted through the impossible movement and landed beside him.
Aldren swung.
Mei Mei ducked.
The axe passed over her head.
Aldren immediately transitioned into a horizontal strike.
Mei Mei jumped.
He followed with an upward swing, destroying the platform beneath her.
She should have been launched backward.
Instead, her body seemed to fall sideways.
"I didn't."
"You did, you knew she'd follow you."
She landed against the invisible barrier surrounding the platform.
She kicked off it.
Straight toward him.
Aldren's expression changed.
"She chose to."
Aldren brought his axe up.
Mei Mei's fist struck the weapon.
CRACK!
Aldren's arms shook.
The force of her punch traveled through the weapon.
Then suddenly reversed.
The axe jerked toward Aldren.
His grip almost broke.
Steadying his grip he replied
"You put her in a position where refusing you would mean betraying her own loyalty."
Mei mei let out a little laugh before replying
"And you think you know what's best for her?"
"I know enough to know she shouldn't have been used like that."
Aldren released one hand.
The axe rotated.
He caught it again.
Then he attacked.
His movements became increasingly complicated.
He began removing unnecessary movements from his attacks.
There was no longer a clear beginning or end.
A downward strike became an upward strike without passing through the recovery position.
A horizontal swing became a thrust without retracting the axe.
A dodge became a counter without completing the dodge.
Aldren was effectively cutting pieces out of his own movements.
Mei Mei found herself being forced backward.
A small laugh escaped Mei Mei.
"Used?"
"Yes."
"You've known her for what?"
Aldren hesitated.
"...A few days."
"A, few, days."
Aldren stepped forward.
His foot landed.
Except
The ground behaved as though it hadn't been touched.
His foot sank several centimeters.
Aldren stumbled.
His eyes widened.
Mei Mei attacked.
He immediately removed the recovery sequence and swung.
The axe should have completed its arc.
Instead, the blade abruptly stopped halfway through.
He abandoned the attack.
He jumped.
Mei Mei followed.
Aldren removed the crouching sequence.
He launched himself upward.
But halfway through the jump.
His upward momentum became downward.
Mei Mei repeated it slowly.
"You've known her for a few days, Aldren."
Her eyes sharpened.
"And somehow you've already decided what she should and shouldn't do."
Aldren twisted in midair.
He managed to land.
Barely.
Mei Mei was already there.
Aldren's expression hardened.
A fist struck his stomach.
THUD!
Aldren doubled over.
"Because some things are wrong regardless of how you justify them."
Another hit.
"Are they?"
"Yes."
"Who decides that?"
Then another.
He raised his arm.
Mei Mei's punch should have struck his guard.
Instead, her fist passed through his arm.
Aldren frowned.
She had made her own attack behave as though his defense wasn't there.
"Everyone knows it's the wrong thing to do.."
Mei Mei smiled.
"That's not an answer."
"People shouldn't betray those who trust them."
"And your telling me you wouldn't?."
Aldren blinked.
"What?"
He swung the axe.
Mei Mei stepped inside its range.
Too close.
The enormous weapon became useless.
Aldren attempted to transition into a knee strike.
Mei Mei made his supporting leg bend in the wrong direction.
His sequence broke.
She struck him across the face.
THUD!
Aldren staggered.
"I'll ask you again, if your kingdom ordered you to abandon someone you cared about to save a thousand people, what would you do?"
"I'd refuse."
"Even if refusing meant those thousand people died?"
Aldren's expression faltered.
"I'd find another way."
"There isn't one."
"Then I'd find one."
Mei Mei's smile disappeared, as she changed forward.
He tried to retreat.
His foot moved backward.
His body moved forward.
Another contradiction.
He stumbled directly toward her.
Mei Mei grabbed his collar.
She drove her knee into his stomach.
THOOM!
Aldren was lifted off the ground.
He tried to transition into a recovery.
Mei Mei contradicted it.
His body fell before he could complete the sequence.
CRASH!
"That's the difference between me and you, I can choose aldren, but you, you always leave yourself an escape route."
Looking up at her, Aldren's eyes narrowed.
"You don't know me."
"Neither do you know Noir."
That stopped him.
Mei Mei continued.
"You say you defend her, you say I'm exploiting her, you say I'm taking advantage of her loyalty."
She stopped for a second.
"But what does Noir actually want?"
Silence.
"Did you ask?"
Aldren's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
"You gotta be kidding me, you didn't?."
This time the laughter that camed out of Mei wasn't cocky but one that resemble disbelief.
"Did you ask her whether she regretted it?"
Silence.
"Did you ask whether she wanted to follow me?"
Nothing.
"Did you ask whether she considered what she did wrong?"
Aldren's fingers tightened around the axe.
"No."
"Then what exactly are you defending?"
Aldren's voice became quieter.
"Her right to choose."
Mei Mei stared at him.
"Then why are you angry that she chose something you don't approve of?"
Aldren looked away.
"Because..."
He struggled for the words.
"Because there are choices that hurt other people."
"So?"
"So they matter."
"They do."
Mei Mei nodded.
"Which is why I accept that my choice hurt you."
Aldren looked back at her.
"But I don't accept that your pain gives you the right to decide that my choice was immoral."
Aldren's expression darkened.
"That's not what I'm saying."
"It is."
"No."
"It is."
"I am saying that there are lines people shouldn't cross."
"And I'm asking who drew those lines!."
Aldren raised his axe.
"My conscience."
Mei Mei's eyes narrowed.
"Exactly!."
She stepped closer.
"Yours!."
She tapped her chest.
"Not mine, not noir, not theirs."
She looked back at Aldren.
"Yours!."
Her face was full of restrained anger.
"Then by that logic, nothing is wrong."
"I never said that."
"You make everything subjective."
"No."
"Really now."
Aldren charged forward.
"You talk about freedom!"
Aldren swung.
"Yet you manipulate people!"
Mei Mei slipped underneath the waraxe.
"You talk about choice!"
Another swing.
"Yet you pushed Noir into doing what you wanted!"
"You don't understand freedom!"
Mei Mei roared.
She stared at him.
"Despite having it you don't understand the privilege of it, you think freedom means protecting people from choices you consider bad!"
Mei Mei's voice rose.
"That's not freedom!"
Aldren charged again.
"You think because you're strong enough to make your own choices, everyone else should be allowed to suffer for theirs!"
"You don't care about anyone."
The words hung between them.
"You keep pretending everything is just a choice."
He lowered his axe.
"Sometimes people are trapped, sometimes people don't have the strength to choose, sometimes someone needs to stand up for them, that's what I was doing."
Mei Mei stared at him.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she laughed.
It wasn't amused.
It was bitter.
"Stand up for them?"
Her hands began trembling.
"You really are unbelievable."
Aldren frowned.
"What?"
"You think you understand what it means to be trapped!?"
Her voice cracked.
"You?!"
Aldren didn't answer.
Mei Mei's eyes burned.
"You were born blessed!."
"You were handed power before you even understood what power was!!."
"You were given talent!."
"A name!."
"A place!."
"People who expect you to become something great!."
She pointed toward herself.
"And then you look at someone like me and decide that because I don't make the same choices you would..."
"I'm wrong?"
Aldren shook his head.
"That's not what I said."
"Then what gives you the right?!"
Her voice echoed across the arena.
Mei Mei's composure was long gone.
"What gives you the right to decide that my value is inferior to yours?!"
Aldren's eyes widened.
"You don't know what it's like."
"You're right."
Mei Mei laughed bitterly.
"I don't."
She looked away.
"For all your talk about protecting people..."
Her voice became quieter.
"you don't even know why some people need protection."
Aldren stared at her.
Mei Mei's hand curled into a fist.
Mei Mei stared at him.
"I believe people have the right to choose what they're willing to sacrifice!."
"Even others?"
"Especially themselves."
She paused.
"And that's where you're wrong."
Aldren frowned.
"How?"
Her voice was returning to its usual composed self.
"You keep saying you're defending Noir, but you're not."
Aldren froze.
"You're defending your image of her."
Silence.
"You've decided she's someone who needs saving."
"Someone too loyal to realize she's being manipulated."
"Someone who needs you to tell her what the right choice is."
Mei Mei smiled sadly.
"You're doing exactly what you're accusing me of."
His voice was quieter.
"I don't want to decide for her."
"Then don't."
Mei Mei lowered her hands.
"Let her decide."
Aldren's expression slowly changed.
"But..."
He looked back at Mei Mei.
"That doesn't make what you did right."
"You want to believe there's a clean line between good and evil, Theirs none!, theirs absolutely none!."
Mei Mei stopped in front of him.
"People aren't stories."
"They're living contradictions."
"They can love someone and hurt someone else."
"They can be selfish and generous."
"They can betray one person while protecting another."
"They can do something horrible for a reason they genuinely believe is right."
"And sometimes"
Her expression softened for the briefest moment.
"sometimes you make an ugly choice because the alternative is losing someone you can't afford to lose."
Aldren tightened his grip.
He charged again.
BOOM!
Aldren's body slammed into the platform.
His axe landed several meters away.
Before he could rise.
Mei Mei was already standing over him.
A final punch drove him flat against the ground.
Silence.
The Proxy flickered.
Then.
DEFEAT.
"So what gives you the right to judge me, you of all people!, after I told you five times in a row, why won't you just admit your wrong!."
Mei Mei stepped back away from Aldren laying body.
Aldren remained on the floor for several seconds.
He stared at the sky.
Before shouting.
"HAAAAAaaaaaaahhhh!!...."
Silence...
Then-.
"I DONT GET IT!!!."
Mei mei looked at him in disbelief.
"Did you go insane?.."
"Im not good with this philosophical talk, so my arguement might be weak, but... I don't think I'm completely in the wrong."
Standing up looking at Mei mei eye to eye.
"You asked me what would I do in that situation?, saving one person I care about while sacrificing a thousand or saving a thousand by sacrificing someone I cared about, well i have no idea."
Shrugging he smiled.
"But i'll figure it out, and when I do I'll tell you first hand"
Twirling her finger next to her ear.
"Your retarded."