Inside a classroom building.
Li Yunyao, her bearing icy and fierce, had been cornered by a Heartless.
Her gaze was grave. The instant the Heartless lunged, she yanked down a curtain with her left hand and threw it over its head.
The Heartless swiftly tore through the curtain and locked onto its prey in the darkness. Its thick, barbed tail swept out in an instant.
Several desks went flying. The barbs scored their surfaces, sending wood chips spraying through the darkness.
Thud, thud, thud!
Li Yunyao gripped the sword's hilt in one hand and braced her left palm against the blade three finger-widths from its tip, raising it horizontally across her chest.
Clang!
The tremendous force drove her backward.
She hopped lightly onto a desk and rolled across it, bleeding off the force.
Her knees bent.
Her body leaned forward.
Before her opponent could react, she charged straight at it.
Hah!
A sharp cry rang out.
Years of relentless training had given Li Yunyao an exceptional instinct for combat.
In the darkness.
The girl closed her eyes.
She heard the Heartless's heavy breathing, the drip of slime from its chest, and the strained creak of a desk beneath its weight as it climbed onto it. She also heard its thick tail slicing through the air...
Straight toward her face.
Striking to kill!
And so, as she charged, the girl tilted her head slightly.
The Heartless's tail whipped past her ear.
A sharp barb caught her hair tie.
The black elastic snapped and flew into the air.
The girl's bound hair streamed loose.
She brushed past the Heartless.
Crack!
Both figures paused.
Li Yunyao leaned forward, flipped over with one hand planted for support, and landed steadily, flicking her snow-white longsword.
Blood stained the blade.
Drip!
Drip!
But on closer inspection,