Today is the start of Wielders of Charms. Nothing was too perfect yesterday so I think, we just really stayed here to prepare mentally.
Well, except the ugly and noisy creatures went here.
But yeah, I just did it yesterday. I participated in tests such as physical examinations to see if we could and if we were mentally fit, mock competition in the arena just behind the hostel, and rest.
I no longer socialized. I didn't come here for that. I don't care if they don't like me because of the impression I show or if they like me because I'm strong. All I want and all I need is to win and finish this competition.
It was early in the morning, actually it was only 3:30 AM, I was awake. I was probably the first to wake up. They are all still asleep here. Blake that, still snoring. I also put a pillowcase between Crimson and Freesia just in case something happens and there will be more trouble.
Because everyone is still awake at 6 and the competition is starting at 7. Alas, that should be our wake-up time. What are we going to do backstage for two hours? End? Will you compete with Lia — on the wall?
So boring. To the point that it's nice to stumble just to do something.
Yesterday, facilitators told us that any outfits will do so I just decided to opt for a casual white shirt, brown wide-leg pants, and black sneaks for later. It will be bloody because this day is so yeah, I need to wear something comfy and easy to remove so even though I want to wear skinnies, it will be difficult for me to remove them in case I get bathed in blood or get injured.
I opened the door leading to the balcony and watched the night sky. Then all of a sudden, a black raven appeared and went in front of me. “The Headmaster wants to talk to you.”
What else does Hades need? “Yeah, sure. Direct me to him.”
“Good morning, my child. How are you?”
“It's okay. Miracle and you're the one who wants to talk to me now. Is something happening or will happen?”
I just wanted to greet you before you join the competition. Now is the start, right?” I just nodded. “I have no other intention but to wish you to win this competition without inflicting a major injury that could affect you profoundly.”
“I understand. Thank you for that. I will win this competition and I will take home the trophy. After that, I will use my victory to change and make this world system more relaxed.”
I heard him chuckle. Ha! Rejoice now, Hades. You don’t know how to attack you backward. “I'm happy with your wish, my child. I can say you're my child. Thank you very much. Do you want to say something?”
“Nothing yet.”
“In that case, I'm going to cut the conversation between the two of us. Take some rest, my child. You will have a fierce battle soon.” The raven flew away afterwards.
Gosh, Hades play a lot of cards. He's just concerned with me because I'm his son and I'm the only inheritor of his throne. Like duh, he wouldn't act like this to me if he won't use me for his one and only goal: to colonize the Demetria by winning the Enchanted War using me.
I know, he has that goal to achieve, and I understand his goal. I keep saying that. He has a point. But then I think, his process is really wrong. He has a nice output but his process sucks.
I don't know if he's just adapting the same process as the government officials of Demetria are doing or if he's just like that even from the start.
After a few minutes, I entered my room again and started preparing for later. Right after I got dressed, Thoreau woke up and he looks groggy and still not in the right mood. “Good morning,” I greeted him.
“Good morning too,” he answered in a husky voice. I pointed where the bathroom is when he stood up and he went there immediately. A few minutes later, he spoke. “You woke up early, huh?" Then he closed the door of the bathroom.
“Of course, the assembly time is 5 AM. It's already 4:30. It's almost time for me to have breakfast.” I faced him after fixing myself. “What time are you coming back to the Academy?”
Thoreau shrugged. “It still depends on them. All we know is, by 6 AM everyone should be here.”
I flinched a bit. “Gosh, you should be at the Academy right now to prepare!”
“They won't wake up this early.” He chuckled. “What time do we all sleep? It'll be early, then you'll wake them up this early? No thanks, I still want to live.” I laughed at that. “Especially Blake.”
“Yeah, I agree. With that position of his and his snoring, I think, there will be an earlier Enchanted War in this room when I wake up to that.” We both snorted.
“Are you ready?” I faced him with brows furrowed. “Are you ready for the competition?”
I lifted my shoulders and smiled. “I think so.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Nervous, excited, uninterested yet curious — you know, mixed emotions and feelings.” He just nodded. “I want to continue but there's a part of me that I'm really only doing for my curiosity's sake. It's like, this isn't my cup of tea, this isn't my thing.”
“You're uncertain.”
“Exactly! I'm not sure at all. I'm not making a big decision that will affect everyone, Thoreau. As much as possible, I don't want that. If I'm ever going to make a decision, I only want the one with minimal effect on those people around me.” I took a deep breath. “I don't know, I can't understand myself sometimes. It's like...I just want to sleep.”
“Do you want to stop?” Thoreau motioned his hand for me to sit beside him so I did.
I shook my head. “It's not like that, Thoreau. I still want to continue because I'm already here. As I told Mom, I'm not representing myself in this battle but the Schiz Academy and the City of Aurora. It's okay if I only carry my name, I will back out from the beginning, but not eh. What I am carrying is the pride of Schiz Academy and the City of Aurora, Thoreau, I can't back out.”
Thoreau smiled and patted my shoulder. “I understand, I finally did. And you know what, Tantan? I'm proud of you. You're such a brave woman.”
“Thank you, Thoreau, very much.”
A few minutes before my phone rang, we both woke up every single of them. Thoreau just kicked Crimson and Blake and yeah, they're both wide awake now. Meanwhile, these three girls here are acting like princesses. “Hey! Wake up! Have breakfast first then come back here! Hey! Goodness!”
The three just threw me pillows and kicked my legs. And because it was almost 5, I threw the pillows back at them and faced the boys. “What the? The Wielders of Charms are about to start.”
The girls also got up afterwards and made the bed. They said goodbye to me by hugging me one by one and teleported back.
They should do this kind of farewell to the finals. Not now eliminations.
I just ordered earlier an egg sandwich and an iced coffee as breakfast. I was late if I was still in the cafeteria to eat so I had to eat while walking to the arena. We didn't gather anymore because we already knew the procedures so we would take care of ourselves.
Which is a good thing because I don't want someone to always guide me even though I know where to go.
I am always the type of person who is independent. Yes, I accept guidelines but I don't want to be guided most of the time. Maybe my way of saying that I already know what, when, where, or how to do a thing or maybe just my way of saying that “Hey, I can do this on my own.” because obviously, I can do things I want as long as I know what are those.
As I threw the plastic wrapper of the sandwich, three women stood in front of me. “Hey Regalia, don't expect to win anymore. Unless you're just a newcomer, you don't know who you're hitting.”
I first took the straw away from my mouth and then smiled. “Oh, thank you very much for your nonsensical reminder. I understand if you're concerned about my well-being so yeah, thank you very much. However, I'm not asking for your opinion.” I rolled my eyes at them and even bumped one of them as I walked away.
When I was at the door where I would come out later, a sorceress approached me. “I see that you're overly confident.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your compliment.”
“You know what, Regalia? You're sick in everyone's nerves.”
“Wait a minute.” I spewed away the straw a bit and shot her a confused gaze. “Do you all know each other? As in all of you?”
She smirked. “Well, you got it. And so? What if we all know each other?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I just noticed that you are all weaklings who have nothing to be proud of.” I mentally smirked as she glared at me. Yes girl, gone mad! “That's why you have the same habits. Y'all know each other. Well, I won't be surprised if you have something in all of your pants against me. You also don't know me so you aren't aware of what I am capable of.”
Then one of the guys near us let out an amusing snicker. “Really? We didn't think that you still have something capable of. Can you cite an example then, outcaste?”
Outcaste, huh? “Of course, I'll cite one for the sake of everyone's knowledge. Well, I can just kill you all in just one attack.” And there, everyone's pissed off. “And oh, bonus information, y'all should be bowing before me. I'm not a Regalia. My Mom's not a Regalia too.”
I faced them all with a smirk that I am sure they will be annoyed with and stared at the sorceress in front of me. “I am not a sorceress, but I already mastered using dark spells. So yeah, I advise you to know your grounds before executing an action.”
I don't think what I did is such a good move or not. Yeah, I have that intention to annoy them all, but I think…I have gone overboard. But, that's okay. And at the very least, they would be determined to kill me.
If they can.
“Good morning, citizens of Magic World! Today we celebrate the 130th Wielders of Charms! Make some noise!” The audience made a loud noise that echoed in the whole arena. Gosh, you automatons. “And now, on this day, we will now officially open the 130th Wielders of Charms competition by starting with the Union of Magic Acting Director-General, Mr. Kinetlch Arcenum.”
Acting Director-General? Where is the very Director-General of the Union of Magic? “Hey, cat!”
“My name is Pitch!”
“Why are you angry? Duh, I will address you by your name if I only know!”
“Hasn't Crimson told you yet?”
“Shall I say I don't know if he told me?” It's nice to talk to you sometimes. “By the way, I have a question.”
“Hurry up because I’m eating.”
“Then, what now? Think you're going to use it and not mouth ah.”
“Just speak up, meow!”
“Only the Acting Director-General is here in the competition so what I'm going to ask is, what happened to the Director-General of the Union of Magic?”
There was silence with him so my suspicion grew that something else was happening in this world. Well, can't help but to. “The Director-General of the Union of Magic suddenly disappeared during the year 1915, five years before the first Enchanted War took place. Many say he may have been dead or committed treachery to side with Dreich but nothing was confirmed about the Director-General.”
“Eh? Who is that Director-General?”
“You'll know at the right time.”
“What the h*ll? I will tell no single soul about this!”
“You told them you and Governess Amber aren’t Regalia, right?”
“At least I didn't disclose them the exact information! I just gave them a hint for them to know what they should act!”
This cat doesn’t really believe me. Okay, I actually told them that we're not Mom's Regalia and that's the truth. I didn't disclose any specific details about that so nothing wrong there. At least, it served as a warning for them not to mess with me because they didn’t know me.
“Dametriel Schiz.”
“Who?” Just making sure I hear correctly.
“Dametriel Schiz, the founder of Demetria, and is relative to Geminid Schiz.”
“Well, just by the last name, they're really relatives. But wait, founder of Demetria? It means, she’s older than Halina!” If she's the founder of Demetria, it means she's way older than Sorceress Halina who is 200-something years old. Is she still alive? She's a Schiz, so maybe it's a bit impossible for him to die…? Unless, of course, something bad happened to her like Geminid Schiz.
“Yes. Her younger sister was the first empress of the Demetrian Empire. When she reached the age of 22, she became the Director-General of the Union of Magic after her father stepped down.”
“Political dynasty?”
“Uh-huh. Since the Union of Magic is the most powerful political party organization in the whole Magic World, they are more powerful than the Imperial Family, or Royal Family today.”
“But they're just a political party organization. They're not really politicians.”
“Yes, but they are the supervisors of every kingdom leader so even if they are not politicians, they have more control.”
I snorted. “Tss.”
“You know what? Just focus on that first. You'll also know everything when you come back here.” If I can still come back.
“Okay, okay! Thanks for the info, Pitch. By the way, your name is cute.” Before it meowed angrily, I cut our telepathic communication and diverted my whole attention to the two girls, one sorceress, and one witch, fighting each other.
Witches or warlocks and sorcerers or sorceresses are siblings so it is utmostly rare for the two races to be seen fighting. And yeah, the facilitators just did the right job. They fought the sibling race. And now, I think they're both under a spell because their movements aren't that good anymore.
This is the third fight so far and yeah, one game to go and I'm the one out there.
“The representatives for the fourth game now shall come forth,” One of the facilitators announced. As the door opened in front of me, I stepped outside confidently. “Ahrina Tantiana Regalia, 17, wind mage, ability mimicry, currently the Top Female Magician in her school, the sole successor of the city of light Aurora, representing Schiz Academy from the Kingdom of Demetria.”
As I stopped, I turned to the part where the Schizians are sitting and busy cheering my name. I smiled at them and bowed. I did the same as I looked at everyone as well as the Royal Family. My gaze landed on Crimson. He smiled and nodded. “Please do your best.”
“I will.” Then I caught Mom staring at me too with a nervous smile plastered on her lips. “Don't be nervous, Mom. I will bring home the trophy.” She just nodded and applauded.
I diverted my attention to the door across me as it opens. “Sesaria Coleman, 19, sorceress, invisibility, one of the Top Overall Students in her school, representing the University of Enchantrie from the Kingdom of Enchantrie.”
Yeah, not gonna deny it, the cheerings for her were louder than mine. But hey, does that still matter? One factor why that is so is because the population of the University of Enchantrie is larger than that of Schiz Academy. Also, when that sorceress is defeated, her supporters will be silent.
She smirked as her gaze landed on me, so I smirked back. A few seconds later, we both bowed as a gesture of sportsmanship. “The fourth game of eliminations round of the Wielders of Charms shall now commence.”
I immediately opened my palm and ran so fast going to her, pushing her from behind using a wind tornado. As she stopped herself from traveling too far, I smirked. “Regalia now took the first attack,” one of the facilitators stated. “One quick blow.”
“You're underestimating an Enchantrian, Regalia.”
“Oh? In what way am I underestimating you, Coleman?”
She motioned her hands, creating a huge spell orb and breaking it into tiny pieces, and moved it towards my direction. Using my palm, I created a smoke sphere, strong enough to block those orbs, as my first form of defense.
The orbs hit my sphere and while those were a bit blocking my sight, I saw her running here with her wooden staff. I quickly levitated up into the air. “Do you really want to fight in that away?”
“Nah, just saving effort. After all, I'll win between us.”
Pissed enough, she became lost in everyone's eyesight. This Coleman girl tapped the staff's end on the floor twice, making her float as well. “Chill, huh? Let's see how that chilling of yours can save you.”
“I told you, just chill. Just finish your rampant and attack me.”
Doing what I said, she motioned her staff and recited some blah blah. I felt something heavy on my foot, so I checked what is it. Unlucky enough, I got to avoid her attack which is a direct front stab.
Okay, let's get serious.
I destroyed my smoke sphere and moved both hands.
“Subtypes of wind are tornadoes, dust, smoke, and storm clouds. The most uncommon subtype is dust because some studies are saying that dust is the product of wind and earth combinations. Also, it has the most damage effect on your enemy so only use it if needed.”
“Is that hard to do?”
“Actually, no. It's easy because it looks like you're still doing it with smoke. The only difference is, that dust will come out and not smoke.”
As specks of dust arise from the ground, her eyes widened, and quickly made a block defense before I moved all of it towards her. I took the opportunity and quickly went to him. I pushed her using another tornado attack and she fell to the floor.
I thought it was already my win, but as if a real heavy thing pulled me down, making my body hit the ground. Leche, how's that? When I looked at him, he was coming toward me so I quickly teleported away. My right leg became weak and when I looked at it, I had a wound.
And don't, I've never had a wound this long. Reached from my knee to my ankle.
Even though I still couldn't recover, a blunt object hit me so I was thrown away. Good thing I was able to cope up and quickly floated in the air.
“I see that you really want a real fight.”
The Coleman girl shrugged. “Who doesn't?”
We both fell to the floor. But then I saw her quickly stand up and run to me like an angry beast, with her sword pointing at me. In return, I moved my right hand, making her stop mid-way. Silence filled the arena as she dropped her sword while I'm taking some of her breath away. Almost drained out, I threw away the orb and immediately transformed my staff into a wind sword.
The Coleman girl glared at me while catching her breath. The tip of my wind sword is nearly touching her neck. “What are you waiting for?”
“Schizians' cheer and applause.” I moved the sword out, making it vanish, and stepped back to take my bow.
All the Schizians made noise and applauses which echoed in the whole arena, followed by everyone after a few seconds.
“The winner of the fourth game of this elimination round, Ahrina Tantiana Regalia from Schiz Academy!”
I showed a smile. Not because I am the winner, but I saw my friends', Mom's, and Crimson's joyful smiles. The latter nodded at me and raised his thumbs. “You did well. You did a great job.”
“Thank you,” I responded before closing my eyes to rest for now.