The noise of chittering slowly forms throughout the room as a soothing melody pys throughout the school. “Ugh…” I stretch out my arms, feeling my muscles pull from one another as they slowly liven up. I subconsciously look towards the mana board expecting there to be something written on it - nothing. I hear a loud high pitch voice.

  “Ugh! Why is history css always this draining?!” A girl with bright orange hair excim to a girl wearing clear circur gsses.

  The girl with gsses replies with her soft but resounding voice, ”Really? Didn’t you find that lesson interesting? About how there used to be magical creatures roaming the nds 100 years ago?”

  The orange haired girl replies in a monotonous voice, “Y’know, I sometimes forget that you’re a history nerd.”

  “Haha… lets get going to lunch then, shall we?” The girl with gsses slowly strolls her way down the stairs, escaping the girl’s gaze.

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

  “A lively bunch,” I mumble to myself. “Ahhhh-hhaaaaaa…” I yawn. I begin to feel both of my eyes getting teary. I instinctively wipe them off and stretch out my neck, hoping to get rid of the soreness. 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 around from observing 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. I double tap the surface of the blue crystal making it illuminate it’s hollow insides, giving the blue hue of the crystal a bright refine color. It flickers a few times before dispying a holographic screen of my school schedule. “Seems like I got combat practice css next.” I nonchantly 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 as I quickly jolt my head towards it’s direction. I could tell that the curtains were made out of soft white fabric and were transparent - the greenery of the trees seeping through. “Rexing atmosphere,” I think to myself. I slowly get up from my seat. I grab my bag and katana that were ying on the side of my desk. I look over at the clock, “Guess I’ll just go to lunch,” I tell myself.

  As I set foot outside of the cssroom, I feel the light bump of somebody to the side of me. I slowly look over and see a bobbing hair bun. My eyes follow the flow of the hair down to their face. ”It’s a girl,” I instinctively think to myself.

  “Hey now, stop doing that…!” A soft voice utter from the girl.

  “I didn’t mean to do that, sorry, sorry,” another girl replies back to the hair bun girl. I slowly look ahead of me. The first detail that struck out to me about her was their bck eyepatch covering their left eye. “Another girl,” I quickly step away from the girl that bumped into me.

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

  I notice both of them whispering to one another about something. 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 tell them. Then after some polite mundane interactions, the two girls went on their way. “I should get going to lunch before it’s too te,” I look out the window to the side of me - the light blue sky staring back at me.

  Because Magi Prep Academy is 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 had the points to eat infinitely of course. I step into the food court and notice how it was much rger than I had initially thought. The ceiling of the food court seem to be about 5 meters tall and the surface area of the food court was rge enough to fit a few dozen cssrooms. The floor was made of white clear marble, the round tables were set in an orderly fashion complemented by the neat design of the chairs, the wall on the left that lead out to the court yard was made entirely out of gss, and the abundant smell of the pleasant mixed aroma of all the cuisine was apparent throughout the food court. There was also an outdoors area in the court yard for students who preferred to eat outside. I looked around to see if I could spot Xavier. “Doesn’t look like he’s here yet.” I walk over to the section that had eastern cuisines and grab a few sushi to pce onto my pte. “Alright, that should be enough.” I made my way over to the court yard - pte in hand - and notice a familiar silhouette sitting in one of the tables. As I got closer, the sunlight slowly reveals him. “Oh, hey, isn’t the food here great?!” He enthusiastically calls out to me.

  I let out a small chuckle, “You sure are enjoying yourself, Xavier,” I reply.

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

  “I suppose you’re not wrong,” I reply to him as I pull out a seat and sat down. Before I stuffed a piece of sushi in my mouth, I notice Xavier gncing between me and my pte.

  “Still not a fan of western dishes?” He asks me as he devours his pte filled with mixtures of eastern and western cuisine.

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

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

  “Then why do you keep on asking me that same question whenever we dine with one another?” I ask.

  “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 smirk on his face.

  I stuff a 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 instantly replies - food in his mouth.

  “No hesitation huh…”

  A sudden female voice loudly shouts, “There’s no need for you folks to be doing this to someone this defenseless. This is just shameful!” Me and Xavier both instinctively jolt our heads over to the sound of the shouting.

  “Hmmm, and who are you to be interrupting us…?” A male student with nefarious shaped eyes ask the female student. His uniform emblem color was yellow - a 2nd year student.

  “I am Ursu Vergs,” she calmly answers the group of male students standing a few feet from her. I could see her sharp ruby red eyes, her bangs were hair clipped neatly to the side of her right eye, and her uniform color was a hue of dark blue - complimented by her silky white long hair.

  “Wait, THE Vergs family?” One of the ckeys behind the nefarious shaped eye student panic.

  “H-hey, boss, we shouldn’t mess around with someone who’s apart of royalty. We’ll get in massive trouble!” Another ckey utter. The boss frantically gnces at the student hiding behind Ursu, then at her. I could see his facial expression becoming more irritating by the second. He quickly stuffs his hand into his pocket, revealing a pendant with a shiny light orange colored gem dangling in his hand. “Is he really going to do it?” I gnce over at Xavier and see him stuffing himself while being fixated on the moment. “He really has no control huh,” I look back at the situation at hand. “Well, even if the guy does challenge her to a duel, there’s no way he’s winning. After all,” I inspect Ursu - her face unfazed, “She seems to have something that he doesn’t have.”

  Ursu stands in pce, staring back at the male student with nefarious shaped eyes, “So, you’re going to be challenging me to a duel?” She asks.

  “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 back.

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

  “Eh… seems like something interesting is happening,” said a deep and monotonous voice. I gnce over at the direction of where it came from and see two students standing near one another. The contrast between both their heights were the most notable. The tallest one had spiky grey hair and his bangs were long enough to cover his eyes - contrary from his lean physique. The shorter one had red hair that was tied up in a ponytail and his face was feminine enough to almost mistake him as a female student. The difference between both of them were off putting, but it looks like they’re probably friends with one another. “Seems like they’re also interested… no,” I look around the court yard and see how crowded it had gotten over the past 5 minutes, “Looks like this whole situation has everyone interested.”

  “Oh, are they both going to fight each other?” Xavier randomly asks.

  I look over at him, “Yeah, seems like they’re both going to have a duel in the court yard,” I answer.

  Both of the combatants walk to the center of the grass filled court yard. TSH, TSH, TSH. They both stood facing from one another a few feet apart. I could feel the tension of the crowd building up as every second went by, almost as if that was the main cause as to why the air was getting warmer. Meanwhile Xavier was still carefree as usual, stuffing himself with the st pieces of food on his pte.

  “Equip your weapon,” Ursu tells the nefarious shaped eye student.

  “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 and then immediately shatters into dozens of blue circur mana particles. The mana particles float for a few seconds before forming into his magical weapon - a crossbow. It floats in front of him. He reaches out his right arm and grabs ahold of the crossbow’s handle. “This is my weapon. A crossbow,” he tells Ursu.

  Ursu looks at his weapon, “I would’ve expected you to wield a close combat weapon. I guess I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover,” she comments.

  “What about your weapon?” he asks.

  “Worry not, you don’t have to worry about me equipping it. The arena has already activated.” As she says those words, I notice the court yard swiftly being enveloped by a dark shade of blue. After a split second, the darkness instantly dissipates - the clear blue sky present once again.

  “Oh, seems like she’s the same deal as you, Jun,” said Xavier.

  “Yeah, looks like it,” I respond. I get up from my seat with my empty pte. However, as I get closer to the entranceway leading into the cafeteria, I feel a presence of something in front of me. I look down at my pte and grab ahold of my utensil. I throw it lightly in front of me - BSHH. The utensil falls to the grass. “Yeah, seems like me and Xavier are locked in here with them…” I look over at Xavier and see him coming up to me with his pte. “We’re both stuck in here with them,” I tell him. Xavier’s expression becomes confused and then quickly goes back to normal as if realizing what I just had said. I pce my pte on a pilr of stone right of me.

  “Wait, are we just going to be under fire then?!” Xavier excims.

  I nod, “There’s no other way of us getting out of here,” I reply.

  “Man…”

  “At least we’re not alone here,” I point over to the grey haired and red haired students I spotted earlier.

  “What a relief!” Xavier says as if we’re both going to be saved.

  “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 Ursu and the male student. Ursu’s eyes were 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 stood out compared to the leather scabbard that sheathed the weapon. Ursu 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, making it parallel to her face. The breeze blows on her hair, swaying it to the right gently. Her sharp red eyes shone brightly in between the rapier. “Now then, are you prepared?” She asks the nefarious shaped eye student.

  He hovers his left hand over the ft nock and an arrow materializes out of mana particles. “Heh, you’re acting very confident for a first year!” He aggressively shouts. TWISH! He shoots the arrow at her direction. Ursu swiftly reacts in time and dodges the arrow. Immediately followed by her sprinting towards her opponent, taking advantage of the open window. “Is that all you got?” Ursu provokes as she closes the distance between them.

  “Tch!” TWISH, TWISH, TWISH! Ursu tactically deflects two of the incoming shots with her rapier and dodges the st one. The male student quickly increases his distance from Ursu by continuously firing shot after shot, in hopes of keeping her at bay. TWISH, TWISH, TWISH, TWISH! “Damn it! She’s too quick!” He excims as he sprints away from Ursu. He comes to a complete stop as he realizes that he had reached end of the barrier limit. He turns around to see Ursu slowly walking towards him a far distance away. “If you give up now, I will give you mercy,” Ursu tells him.

  As he stood there in pce, I notice him looking somewhere. I follow his eye movement and see his ckeys. They were outside of the barrier. I could see them nodding and shouting. “Looking at your friends won’t do you anything,” Ursu comments.

  “Seems like she noticed it too.”

  “Haha… I’m not asking them for help. I’m asking them for approval…” The nefarious shaped eye student slowly brings up his right arm that’s holding the crossbow and aims it towards Ursu.

  “Seems like he’s finally going to show some of his power, right Gigi?” Said a childish like voice. I gnce over to see that it came from the red haired male student.

  “Yes,” the tall grey haired student answers back.

  “This will teach you not to interfere with the business of 2nd year students,” the nefarious shaped eye student told Ursu as an intense aura of fme begins forming around his crossbow. FOOSH! The orange red fme becomes more aggressive, growing rger and rger by the second. Then all the fmes instantaneously condense - the orange red hue gone. “What just happened?” Xavier asked me.

  “Just from observing, I’m guessing that those fmes probably condensed into a powerful singur fme arrow,” I conclude.

  I look back over and see Ursu 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 Encasing Magic: Phoenix’s Wraith!” BAM! In a split millisecond, the arrow shoots out from the crossbow disappearing from my field of vision. The immense amount of air pressure the shot emits almost pushes me and Xavier back. I feel the air around me slowly change, "It's getting cold?"

  I hear Ursu’s faint voice, “Ice Creation Magic: Iceberg Barricade.” She flips her rapier - the tip facing the ground - and stabs it into the ground. A rge wall of pure ice rapidly forms from the ground up - BOOM! CRACKLE! The impact between the ice wall and the fme arrow bres throughout the whole court yard, even causing the transparent arena barrier to vibrate.

  "Jeez, just how much magic power does that guy have?!" Xavier shouts. I can barely just hear him.

  "I didn't expect him to have this much magic power, I guess I underestimated him a bit too much," I think to myself - feeling the wind pressure run through the crevices of my uniform. Once the wind had settled down, I frantically look around for both of the combatants. All that I could see was mist.

  "Hey, I think I see the girl!" Xavier tells me.

  I look at him and then follow where his eyes were looking at. I could faintly see Ursu kneeling behind the ice wall that she had created - half melted. "H-how is that possible, that was my strongest spell..." The nefarious shaped eye student utter with his shaken voice. Me and Xavier jolt our heads over to the direction of him, seeing that he was trembling in pce. I quickly look back at Ursu - to only see no one there. "Where had she gon-" before I could finish my thought, I spot Ursu from the corners of my eyes, already behind the male student.

  "It's over," Ursu calmly tells the male student. He slowly turns around - already too te - to see her charging up her final attack. "Ice Encasing Magic: Icicle Pierce." SLASH! Silence completely fills the court yard. She stands back up after the attack and composes herself. She sheaths her rapier and grabs her cover ying on the grassy ground. Then the sounds of loud cheering, whistling, and cpping all simultaneously bre throughout the court yard. She slowly walks up to the male student - already kneeling in defeat - and tells him, "I don't care if you learned anything from this battle or not. However, if I see you doing anything like this again. I won't be going easy on you next time." She turns around and walks out of the court yard calmly, disregarding the sounds of cheering.

  I look around me and see the barrier slowly disintegrate - the battle was over. I look over at Xavier to see him also looking back at me. “So, that’s what a duel looks like in real time,” he pauses - I hear a gulp come from his throat, “Now I really want to try having a duel with someone. It looks so fun!” He enthusiastically tells me. I notice his hands trembling and his eyes glowing in excitement.

  I feel my face slowly smirk, “I'm with you on that."