Volume 1 - Prologue: A Duel

A soothing melody echoes throughout the academy grounds.

Chattering slowly fills the room.

“Ugh…” I stretch out my arms, feeling my muscles pull from one another, slowly livening up. I look towards the mana board, nothing written. The sound of a conversation catches my attention.

“Ugh! Why is history class always this draining?!” A girl with bright orange hair exclaims to the girl right besides her - she's wearing circular glasses.

”Really? Didn’t you find that lesson interesting? About how there used to be magical creatures roaming the lands 100 years ago?” The girl with glasses softly replies.

“Y’know, I sometimes forget that you’re a history nerd."

“Haha… let's get going for lunch then, shall we?” The girl with glasses slowly strolls her way down the stairs, escaping the enthusiastic girl's gaze.

“Ah! Look, you’re trying to change the subject!” The enthusiastic girl quickly stands up from her seat and follows behind.

“A lively bunch,” I mumble.

I yawn, my eyes slowly tear up. I wipe them off and stretch out my neck, the soreness still present. I sit there, silence slowly fills the room. I look around. Empty. I hear the muffle sounds of birds chirping outside the windows. Vague sunlight beams pass through the window curtains giving the room a magical feeling. I notice the specks of dust floating in the sunlight beams. I guess I’ll look at my schedule.

I bend over to the side and grab a blue crystal the size of an eraser out from my school bag. Double tapping the crystal, it illuminates its hollow insides, giving the blue hue of the crystal a brighter color. It flickers a few times before displaying a holographic screen of my school schedule. Seems like I got combat practice class next.

I toss the blue crystal into my bag, it stops illuminating as soon as it reaches the vicinity of my bag’s opened zipper.

The sound of wind blowing onto the window curtains catches my attention. The curtains are made out of soft white fabric, slightly transparent. The greenery of the trees seeping through. Calming atmosphere compared to when class was active a few minutes ago. I don’t dislike it.

I slowly get up from my seat. I grab my bag and katana that were perched on the side of my desk.

I look over at the clock hanging on top of the doorway. “Guess I’ll just go to lunch,” I say.

I step foot outside of the classroom.

“Ah!” A feminine voice yelps softly.

I feel a slight bump to my left shoulder.

I slowly look over and see a bobbing hair bun. My eyes follow the flow of the hair down to their face.

She's pretty cute.

“Hey now, stop doing that…!” The timid girl utters.

“I didn’t mean to do that, sorry, sorry,” another girl replies back. I slowly look ahead of me. An eccentric girl wearing an eyepatch lightly jogs over. I distance myself from the girl that bumped into me.

The timid girl sighs and quickly turns around, facing me. “S-sorry about that,” she deeply bows and quickly runs over to the other girl.

I notice both of them whispering to one. I take a look at the katana strapped to the left of me.

Yeah, I guess it’s rare to see a magic weapon out in the open like this huh. I should probably say something just in case they get the wrong impression of me.

I slowly raise up my right arm giving them a reassuring gesture, “Don’t worry about it,” I try saying in a reassuring tone. Then after some mundane interactions between us, the two girls went on their way.

I look out the window to the side of me - the light blue sky staring back.

I should get going to lunch before it’s too late,

I start walking.

Magi Prep Academy is one of the many military schools supported mainly by the kingdom, the lunch system here is different from many other schools. It’s like an all you can eat buffet - well if you have the funds to eat infinitely of course.

Entering the large food court, I notice crowds of people around. This is a lot bigger than I thought.

It looks like the ceiling of this place stretches to be 16 feet tall and the surface area of the food court is almost large enough to fit a few dozen classrooms. I look down, slightly tapping my feet at the white clear marble flooring. The round tables are set in an orderly fashion complemented by the neat design of the chairs, the wall on the left that leads out to the courtyard is made entirely out of glass, and the mixture of different aroma cuisines fills my nostrils.

There seems to also be an outdoor area for students to eat too. Just how much funds does this place get on a yearly basis? Now, where is Xavier at?

I look around, nothing.

I walk over to the section with eastern cuisines and grab a few sushi to place onto my plate. Then I made my way over to the courtyard - plate in hand.

There he is.

A familiar silhouette sits at one of the tables. Getting closer, the sunlight slowly reveals his face.

“Oh, hey, isn’t the food here great?!” He enthusiastically calls out to me.

“You sure are enjoying yourself, Xavier,” I say..

“Well, it’s not everyday that we get to eat food this good!”

“I suppose you’re not wrong.” I pull out a seat and sit down. I notice Xavier glancing between me and my plate.

“Still not a fan of western dishes?” He asks me as he devours his plate filled with mixtures of different cuisines.

“I just prefer eating eastern dishes, it makes me feel at home.”

“It’s always the same answer eh,” he pokes.

“Then why do you keep on asking me that same question whenever we dine with one another?” I joke back, waving my fork circularly at him.

“Ho ho, well Jun, “ he gulps down the mess in his mouth, “People change, so that’s why I always ask,” he replies with a big smile on his face.

I stuff a piece of sushi in my mouth. “Even though you know if the answer will be the same?”

“Yes, even if I know the answer is going to be the same,” he replies instantly - mouth full.

No hesitation, huh...

“There’s no need for you folks to be doing this to someone this defenseless. This is just shameful!” shouts a female voice.

Xavier and I both look over to the direction of the shouting.

“Hmm, and who are you to be interrupting us…?” A nefarious male student retorts. His uniform emblem color is yellow - a 2nd year student.

“If you wish to know, my name is Ursula Verglas,” she calmly answers the group of male students standing a few feet from her. Her ruby red eyes shine in the sunlight, her bangs hair clipped neatly to the side of her right eye, and her uniform color a hue of dark blue - it all complements her silky white long hair. A timid female student hides behind her.

“Wait, THE Verglas family?” One of the lackeys panics.

“H-hey, boss, we shouldn’t mess around with someone who’s a part of royalty. We’ll get in massive trouble!” Another lackey utters.

The boss frantically glances at the student hiding behind Ursula, then at her. His facial expression twisting into irritation. He quickly stuffs his hand into his pocket, revealing a pendant with a shiny light orange gem, dangling in his hand.

I glance over at Xavier and see him stuffing himself while still paying attention to the situation. He really is nonchalant about this. Never change, Xavier.

I look back.

Ursula stands in place, staring back at the leader of the gang. “So, you’re going to be challenging me to a duel?” She says.

“O-of course! Just because you’re royalty, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re better than me when it comes to battling!” He answers.

Ursula lets out a slight chuckle and steps forward. “Alright then, give it your best shot.”

“Hm... seems like something interesting is happening,” says a deep and monotonous voice. I glance over at the direction of the voice and see two students standing near one another. One taller and the other shorter. Seems like they’re also interested.

I look around the place.

No, looks like everyone here is interested to see what goes down.

“Oh, are they both going to fight each other?” Whispers a voice in the crowd.

"Hey, hey, what's happening now?" Another voice whispers.

Both of the combatants walk to the center of the grass filled courtyard.

Tsh. Tsh. Tsh.

They both stand facing from one another a few feet apart.

Man, the tension is pretty insane. Even I can feel it.

I glance around the place, more students appearing one after another.

“Equip your weapon,” Ursula threatens.

“You don’t need to tell me that,” he scoffs. He lifts up his right arm, revealing his pendant to her, “equip.” The whole pendant illuminates for a second, then shatters into dozens of orange mana particles.

The mana particles float for a few seconds, then form into a crossbow. It floats in front of him. He reaches out his right arm, grabbing the crossbow’s handle.

“I would’ve expected you to wield a close combat weapon. A little disappointed,” says Ursula.

“What about your weapon?” he scoffs.

“Worry not, you don’t have to worry about me equipping it. The arena has already been activated.”

The court yard swiftly is enveloped by a dark shade of blue. After a split second, the darkness instantly dissipates - the blue sky peering through.

I get up from my seat with my empty plate. Then walk towards the entrance leading into the food court. I stop in place and grab the fork resting on my plate, throwing the fork ahead of me.

Bsh!

The fork bounces off an invisible wall, falling onto the grassy ground.

Yeah, it seems like Xavier and I are locked in here with them…

I look over at Xavier, seeing him coming up to me with his plate.

“We’re both stuck in here with them,” I say.

I place my plate on a pillar of stone right of me.

“Wait, are we just going to be under fire then?!” Xavier exclaims, he jolts around with his plate in hand.

I nod. “There’s no other way for us to get out of here that I know of.”

“Man…”

“At least we’re not alone here,” I point over to the other two students standing in place observing the battle.

“That doesn't really change the danger we're in though..." whispers Xavier.

Well, since we’re stuck in here. I might as well observe this battle and see what I can get out of it,

I look back over to Ursula and the male student. Ursula’s eyes closed. She gently opens them back up and motions over to her waist and takes off the long covering, revealing her magic weapon - a rapier. The crystal white hilt of the rapier stands out compared to the leather scabbard that sheathed the weapon. Ursula moves her right hand over to the hilt and grabs ahold of it, unsheathing it from the scabbard revealing a beautifully white crafted rapier. She slowly raises the rapier up in the air and then gently brings it back down between her ruby red eyes.

The cool breeze blows on her hair, gently swaying it to the right. “Now then, are you prepared?” Ursula says.

The gang leader hovers his left hand over the flat nock. An arrow materializes out of thin air. “Heh, you’re acting very confident for a first year!” He aggressively shouts.

TWISH!

He shoots an arrow in her direction. Ursula swiftly dodges the arrow. Immediately, breaking into a sprint towards the leader. “Is that all you got?” Ursula provokes as she closes the distance between them.

“Tch!” The leader ticks.

TWISH, TWISH, TWISH!

Ursula tactically deflects two of the incoming shots with her rapier and dodges the last incoming arrow. The male student quickly increases his distance from Ursula, still continuously firing shot after shot.

TWISH, TWISH, TWISH, TWISH!

“Damn it! She’s too quick!” He exclaims as he sprints away from Ursula. He comes to a complete stop as he reaches the end of the barrier limit. He turns around to see Ursula slowly walking towards him a far distance away.

“If you give up now, I won't humiliate you any further,” Ursula says.

He stands in place, his eyes jerking somewhere else off the battlefield. I follow his eye movement and see his lackeys yelling and waving their arms in the air.

“Looking at your goons won’t do you anything,” Ursula comments.

“Haha… I’m not asking them for help. I’m asking them for approval…” He slowly brings up his crossbow, pointing it straight at Ursula. “This will teach you not to interfere with the business of 2nd year students!” He shouts. An intense aura of flame begins forming around his crossbow.

FOOSH!

The red-orange flames begin growing larger and brighter by the second. Then all the flames instantaneously condense - the red-orange hue surrounding him, gone.

I look back over and see Ursula standing still, unfazed.

“I really hate that composed look you have. But, I bet you’ll go and cry to your royal family after this. Hahaha!” The male student says provokingly. “Eat this! Fire Creation Magic: Phoenix’s Wraith!”

BAM!

In a split second, the arrow shoots out from the crossbow, disappearing from my field of vision. The immense amount of air pressure the shot emits forces me to step back. I glance at Xavier, he’s blocking his face with his right arm.

It’s getting colder?

“Ice Creation Magic: Iceberg Barricade,” casts Ursula's faint voice through the wind pressure.

She flips her rapier - the tip facing the ground - stabbing it into the ground. A large wall of crystal clear ice rapidly forms from the ground up.

BOOM!

CRACKLE!

The impact between the ice wall and the flame arrow blares throughout the whole courtyard, causing the transparent barrier to vibrate.

"Jeez, the amount of power in this one attack is insane!" Xavier shouts. I can barely just hear him.

Feeling the wind pressure run through the crevices of my uniform, I look over at my plate I placed down earlier.

Broken, on the floor. Oh man, hopefully I don’t get penalized…

The wind slowly settles down. A cloud of mist covers the battlefield.

"H-how is that possible, that was my strongest spell..." Ursula’s opponent utters in disbelief, trembling in place.

I quickly look back at Ursula’s position - gone.

"It's over," Ursula calmly says.

I look back at the gang leader. He slowly turns around to see Ursula charging up an attack.

"Ice Encasing Magic: Icicle Pierce,” casts Ursula.

SLASH!

Silence completely fills the courtyard.

She stands back up after the attack and composes herself. She sheaths her rapier and grabs her cover laying on the grassy ground. Then the sounds of loud cheering, whistling, and clapping all simultaneously erupt throughout the courtyard.

She slowly walks up to the male student - already kneeling in defeat, staring at the ground.

"I don't care if you learned anything from this battle or not. However, if I see you doing anything like this again. I'll make sure to bring your family into this,” says Ursula.

She turns around and walks out of the courtyard calmly, disregarding the sounds of cheering.

The invisible barrier dissipates - the battle is over.

I look over at Xavier to see him also looking back at me with a huge grin on his face.

“Nope, I am not fighting you right now, Xavier,” I say, looking away from him.

“Awww, c’mon!” He whines.

The courtyard calms down.

I walk over to the broken glasses on the grassy floor. Poor plate of mine, you didn't deserve this.

I turn to the direction of Ursula. Her white silky hair swaying with each step she takes.

Ursula Verglas, was it? I better try avoiding her from here on out. Not someone I want to involve myself with.