Turning swiftly, he steps forward, drawing his sword and raising his shield.
Behind him, crystals in red, green, blue, and yellow colors spin, hovering in the sky.
The four crystals emit beams that intertwine and merge, forming a circular pattern with lines crisscrossing into intricate designs. As they spin faster, the crystals rise higher.
Suddenly, a group of warriors cloaked in black, their eyes flickering with blue ghostly flames, surge forward like a tide, brandishing their swords and spears.
Why are they faceless?
His thoughts are abruptly interrupted by an oncoming wave of heat.
A hot blast sweeps past, forcing him to step back as his mask heats up. The warriors charging towards him instantly turn to ash.
The ashes scatter in the wind, and a figure clad in black but marked with red patterns approaches. The heat radiating from his patterns distorts the light around him, and he wields a crimson longsword.
A strange hum follows, and he brings his face close, swinging the heated blade to sever his opponent.
With a clang, he blocks with his shield and quickly thrusts his sword forward, but a hum sounds again, and a blue barrier forms at the tip, keeping the sword a short distance from his body.
Retreating, his sword seems heavy but moves with surprising speed, blocking another strike by anticipating the next move.
A risky parry with a switch of hands and a forward swipe of his right-handed sword brings another hum as the blue barrier again stops the attack.
Their movements slow from fast, as they shift from testing each other to clashing in earnest, the interplay of hot and cold creating a flicker of blue and red lights.
A mix of icy and fiery auras blends as they move, the scenery shifting with them.
Surrounding warriors turn to ash from the lingering heat of the flames, creating a bizarre mix of red and blue lights amid the rising mist, lending the battlefield an ethereal and surreal air.
As the wind clears the fog...
The crimson blade pierces a throat, but the expected gush of blood does not follow; the blue light has dimmed to invisibility, leaving only a black statue in its place.
The fiery longsword clatters to the ground as the black-clad figure with red patterns falls, the glow from his patterns dimming to near black before he too becomes another corpse.
The blue light gathers from small to large, returning to the sword he once held; the masks on the sword's hilt and the shield's center flicker with blue light before dimming.
Silence returns to the scene.
"Ring, ring, ring!"
The alarm of a Nokia phone rings out, and Liu Bin sits up abruptly, peeling off his sweat-soaked pajamas. He quickly dresses in neatly folded clothes, folds his blanket into a rectangle, slips on his slippers, and rushes to the dining table.
There awaits a lovingly prepared breakfast of savory beef noodles.
Even the cooling time is perfectly timed by his mother. After washing up, Liu Bin sits down and digs eagerly into his meal with chopsticks, savoring every moment.
The bowl is soon empty, and Liu Bin glances at the Nokia beside him—it's time to go.
Grabbing his backpack and changing shoes, he dashes out the door, ready for school.
This is a typical busy morning for an ordinary high school student and the beginning of our story.