2024-01-25 09:47:00"We were told to draw on our emotions for this," she starts, not touching her food. "Anger is what most went with, as that's the way people usually feel when they wish to start a fight. Rather than that, I thought of something worth fighting for, and the attack came naturally"
"You used a spell?" Mac asks, speaking a bit too loudly for my comfort. "What kind?!" Looking at his eyes, then Diana's, you'd never guess they were the same color. Hers are cold and aloof, while his are full of life, unable to stop sparkling. Even she finds his enthusiasm charming, if her smile is anything to go by.
"It was a basic attack spell just a concentration of magic power. Mine was golden, and destroyed the target entirely."
So she's officially dangerous now, In a fight, she beats everyone else here. No wonder they had the A-ranks start off with that. Probably expected them to pass on what they learned so us lesser ranks can do it without blowing our heads off.
"It was like a light," the girl continues. "It left my palm, then I controlled it the way I did that crystal orb Maya starts sulking immediately, resting her head on the table. Don't blame her, as that probably means she's gonna suck at it. "It didn't explode when it hit the dummy, it simply crashed into it physically, somewhat like a car might."
So it was just a basic hit with magic energy. Must be what we'll all be starting with. Nothing flashy like fire or lightning. I sure hope that bit comes back later.
"Well, this was informative, Diana says, standing up. "The next class starts in ten minutes. You lot best hurry along as well.
The moment she's gone, Maya snorts. "Don't like her."
"Why not?" Mac turns toward her, then lets his eyes wonder back to Diana's retreating form. "She's cool"
"She's looking down on us."
"What? She was perfectly polite"
"She was comfortable because she doesn't think enough of us to be bothered by anything we do or say.
When did she get that? I mean, I have a feeling she's right, but what on earth clued her in? Maya must be the intuitive type, then. Well, I definitely didn't take her for a bookworm, anyway.
"Jealousy?" lan whispers to me.
"Don't think so. She's probably just reminded of the girls back home." With Maya's weight, it's a safe assumption she wasn't popular. That's one of the unspoken rules of highschool. All fatties are losers, with the odd exception of some football players.
As lan and I split from the rest of them, I notice the mean redhead from the library stalking toward us, two dark-haired girls on either side of her. I avoid eye contact and simply keep walking, but she goes out of her way to bump into me.
"Oops, sorry."
"No problem."
"Hey, you're the kid who can teleport, right?" Smiling up at me, she reaches forward and grabs my arm. "That is so cool.
"Uh, thanks." What do you want and why are you holding me?
"My name's Maria. What's yours?"
"None of your business," lan interjects, taking her by the wrist and prying her fingers off of me. "Whatever scheme you're cooking, we want no part of. Let's go, Hotaru." Well, that's certainly not what you should say if you want my name to be a secret.
Maria's eyes sparkle with mischief immediately. "Hotaru, huh? Is that from Edo?" Surprised she got that right away.
Did not peg her for the bookish sort
"Yes.”
"You mean you travelled all the way here from Edo?"
"Western States."
"Oh, wow. That's even further." Is it? I thought it was about the same. "Awesome. We should totally hang out sometime."
I'm about to turn to lan for help, but he's already on it, quickly grabbing me, turning me around, then pushing me forward "He's not interested.”
Once a few seconds pass, I look at him. "She warits me to take her somewhere, doesn't she?"
"Maria never does anything nice without a plan hidden in there somewhere. Yeah, she wants something from you."
"Can I expect her to try again?"
His jaw clenches, a flash of worry crossing his eyes. "Bet. She doesn't take no for an answer and you didn't give it, either. Next time, don't be like a sad puppy, or she'll walk all over you."
In Duelling, the teacher is the young man Mac and I met before. He's already inside, sitting on the edge of his desk, gazing out the window. Once the room is full of all the same people as our Levitation class, he turns to look at us.
No desks for this. Must be a purely physical class.
"I trust you all made use of the advantage we provided?"
Well, he's definitely not the subtle type, then. We were definitely expected to talk to the As. Must mean there will be Cs flocking to us after this. Did they base it all around Duelling? If this is the class that got the As first, it must be the most important one.
Hopping off his desk, the teacher spreads his arms. "Since we're out of dummies, you'll be attacking me"
The usual mumbling starts, each students wondering if they heard him right. I'm a bit surprised, too. Sure, he's way better than all of us, but the odd strong attack should still hurt, right?
"Won't you be hurt?" asks a blonde girl with pigtails "What if someone hits you really hard? Roger told me some students destroyed the dummies whole."
"I'm tougher than a dummy." He looks around for a bit, then his eyes land on me. Oh, crap. Not this again. "You there. Come and hit me." That's all he says. No instruction, no anything. If it hadn't been for Diana, I wouldn't even know where to begin. He was really banking on us getting that info from the others. Must be the sink or swim type. "Right forgot. My name's Nen Lockwood. Just call me Nen"
Yet he insisted on a sir' earlier. Was he just screwing with me? The soft grin he's got on now says yes.
Something worth fighting for. I don't know what it was for Diana, but I can picture mine perfectly. A person's charred remains turning to ash beneath my feet.
The spell comes exactly as Diana described it a very small orb of light. Rather than green, however, mine happens to be pure white. I do to it what I did to the crystal ball, sending it toward the teacher. The light smacks him on the side of the head, where it disappears, nothing visibly happening to him.
"Perfect control," Nen says in response, frowning, "but absolutely no power to speak of. Somebody else go now"
Why? Why do I have no power? Was I just bom weaker than the other witches here? Power is the one thing I can't afford to be without. I'll need it to do what I must.
I give it another try, the attack also landing right on Nen's face. Just as with the first one, he takes no damage. Damn It! is it the damn ring!? I knew it would be a limiter, but I never imagined it would be this disruptive.
Of all the others, no one truly stands out. Most of them manage to hit him, but no one does any damage. Despite this, Nen regularly compliments their power. Is he just taking the hits on to test them? No interference of any kind? So even if I was stronger, against someone like him, it wouldn't mean much.
I have to get stronger.
Target practice is all we do for the rest of the class. No fancy magic gets thrown around no elements, or spirits of the damned, or anything of the sart.
Next class to come is Spirituality. The teacher is that girl Nen was talking to earlier, a grin on her face as we shuffle inside. This classroom has no windows, and instead of desks, we're all expected to sit down on the ground, a crystal ball in front of each of us.
"Take your seats, kids. You're gonna love this one." Once we're all seated, the teacher holds up her arm, showing that she's wearing the same pendant as the rest of us. Hers has a cat's profile on it. "Name's Quinn, and I'll probably be the nicest of the teachers you'll meet here. You guys had Nen just before this, right? Don't let him get to ya. He's never happy Oh, they're friends, alright. "Now, who here has wondered what these bracelets are?"
Every single person raises their hand, making the teacher chuckle.
"Right on. They were picked out by us, after performing a thorough examination of each and every one of you. Yes, we stalked you for a bit, but that couldn't be helped." That's... something we should have been warned of ahead of time. "How many of you know what a spirit animal is?"
I do, more or less, but it's not like I can give the clear definition, lan seems utterly disinterested, barely keeping his eyes open.
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 11
A boy with glasses raises his hand, and the teacher points at him, not saying a word. "It's supposed to represent who you are most like in the animal kingdom, right?""Well, sort'a." Walking over to the board, she starts drawing some sort of circle on it. "Not every animal represents exactly what that animal is like. Dogs are energetic and friendly, but they're also loyal. A single one of these traits being pronounced in you could mean your spint animal was the dog"In other words, if two people were both dogs, they would not necessarily be exactly alike."Mine's a crow, by the way. You've already met Nen, that little kitty cat." He seems like the sort of cat you wouldn't want to give a bath to, to be exact. "Damon, the vice-dean? Wolf. Marissa's a dog. The two of them are hella similar, yet have different animals. So you see, it really can go any which way."Seems like random nonsense thus far.
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 12
All the students are staring at the smiling teacher with wide eyes. She looks like just an ordinary, happy-go-lucky woman, but she's got more power than a weapon of war. It's really hard not to be scared of her right now. Are all the teachers this strong? What about Damon and the dean theri? Are they even better?Erin raises her arms, and the blinds on the windows all fold down. Candle-like flames appear around the room next, only without the actual candles themselves, allowing us to faintly see."Time to see something fun. Would ya'll mind moving the desks to the side? I'll need the floor for this."Once we're done, she starts drawing a circle in the middle of the room, three separate chalks moving on their own to hasten it. I look at the circle on the board to see if it's the same one, but that one's already gone. Is that why they're single-use only? They vanish once used?Upon finishing, Erin moves out of the circle and looks around the room. "Now, this bit's very important, Do not
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 13
Each of us takes a seat in the front row, the room mostly dark, with only a few candles preventing total darkness from surrounding us"Sorry if this one's not gonna be fun at first. You really need to get the theory down before we do anything else. Otherwise, you'll end up hurting or killing yourselves."He hands us each a thick white book, then shoves his hands into the pockets of his coat and sits down on the floor."Go through the first chapter repeatedly until the hour is up. It's not long, but I need you to absolutely have it all down. Without the basics, you're gonna get in trouble when you try to cast"It's the most boring thing imaginable. All sorts of spells get named, but neither one described. Apparently, abstract magic is the sort of magic that simply does something. That's how the book puts it, at least. It's not about creating fire, or controlling water, or shooting lightning, It's about following the proper rules of each spell, then casting it to get the desired effect
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 14
HOTARUThe month comes to an end, and the changes in all us students are undeniable. As we stand here, in the school's lobby, I take a look around to scope out the competition.There are, of course, the ten A-ranks. Good control and good power comes naturally to all of them. Diana and Roger are the stand-outs from what I've seen, as they took studying seriously the most. It makes sense that not all of them are exemplary, as hitting the books is a big part of magical education. Having the power and skill to pull off a spell means nothing if you don't know how to enact it.This has led me to assume I am most certainly among the ten best students. All the other As are around my level, but I'm confident I could best most of them in most areas.Antoine, for one, is flopping. I've yet to hear him answer a question honestly. It's a bit hard to tell how poorly she's doing, since we never get homework or get graded, but he's sure to be moved down to B-rank right now.The standards of the ranks
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 15
Damon gives a single clap of his hands, making everyone go quiet for the fourth time. "Now, since there are so many teams, it will be impossible for you to do this two teams at a time. We will have five battles happen simultaneously, the opposing teams decided at random. Each teacher will oversee one battle."He nods toward the others Nen, Quinn, Erin, Ling and Marissa. It's Marissa who steps forward, dressed in the same outfit as always. Each battle will take place in an area we've prepared. Each area is different, but they are all very wide. You will need to find the opposing team first. You win by destroying these." She holds up some sort of armband, a small wooden plaque attached to it. "Each of you will wear this. Each of you will aim to destroy this, Knocking your opponent out is fine, The areas have been enchanted to prevent kill shots from being lethal, so anything goes."Of course it does, We're all way too inexperienced for them to further limit us. Yes, each of us probably
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 16
The front door to the post office breaks inward, a tall, blonde young man standing on the other side. Just like the rest of us, he's got his school uniform on, but he's already discarded the vest and tie."Hey, Hotaru. Sorry about this"Rather than aiming for Rosa or Yan, as predicted, he throws himself at me, aiming a punch at my head. Flames burst into life between us, cutting him off and forcing him to move back. It's not a lot of fire maybe enough to consume a watermelon whole but Mac happens to be wary of it.Maria starts throwing small, orb-shaped flames at him, with each one getting swatted away by lan's forearms. Not a single bum appears on him, however, the protective spell Borg already in place. True witches can use that one all the time, without even trying. With Mac, it definitely takes some focus, which he's free to do since he knows he can't go making flowers sprout in a place like this.I throw a basic projectile at him, the green light flying around his head. Since thi
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 17
Mac runs up to the floor just above us, stopping to stare. Maria throws a small fireball at him, but he has no trouble punching through it.He's using the same spell as Rosa. Must mean she's our B. Good. She should be able to handle herself up on the rooftop, then, if the two enemies attack.Mac comes running toward me, Yan still his target. I get between them, letting my attack magic show. Mac holds a hand up above his eyes to stop himself from being blinded again as if I could pull it off now. With Haywire in effect, I'm nothing when it comes to magic.So instead, I latch onto him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling us both toward the hole in the wall lam's trap made. Maria keeps hitting him with fireballs, each one sending us deeper into the apartment. He struggles and thrashes, and as soon as he manages to grab my arm, easily pries it off of himself."It's a magic fight!""No rule says that." I grin at him, but it's all just bravado. In a physical fight, I wouldn't be su
The Witch's Revenge Chapter 18
An ord of light springs to life between his palms, which lan throws forward. Rocks break out of the ground and rise toward the light, wrapping around it in drones, soon forming a boulder. Rosa stops running, only staring at the spell in horror."GET DOWN!"Rosa throws herself on the ground, covering her head. I thrust my arms out, releasing the spell I prepared. This time, my timing is right, and lar's eyes widen as he realizes it.Haywire hits it directly, scattering the rocks in every direction. One of them hits his plaque, shattering it and ending the match. The light from his spell goes unstable and vanishes, the rest of the rocks and stones harmlessly falling down.As Resa stands back up, she has a nervous look on her face. "I screwed up."What? She didn't. She got it right; Her timing was perfect. We won! "What are you"Her armband falls off her upper arm, the plaque on it split in two,"It hit the ground when I did."The city vanishes, all eight of us back at the school lobby,
Latest Chapter
Chapter 63
"A spell gone wrong brought me here, I tell her, turning my palms upwards in a show of pacifism. I mean you no harm, I only wish to leave"The woman hisses, pointing one finger at me. "Then leave." From all around her, a whirlwind of petals comes flying toward me. I sense no true power within, so I let the spell hit me. The next moment, I'm in the middle of the rest, rushing through the trees. Then I'm above the ocean, one with the wind. Then I'm being pushed through a stone archway on a remote island.I get flung through it, and emerge back in New Sunshire. Well, that was a trip.Looking around, I see the others have realized what this is all about, too. With everyone going in and out of houses, the doorways are unable to fully close, letting some of the power of those inside them leak out. Perfect.I follow the stench of scented candles and expensive perfume, letting it guide me through an archway leading into a garden overcome by weed. I protect my body before stepping through, jus
Chapter 61
HOTARUOnce again, Quinn is the teacher sent to chaperone us on the field trip. The buses drop us off in New Sunshire, many miles away from regular Sunshire, all the way on one of Scotland's shores. Don't ask me to tell you if it's the east or the west, though. Maybe north and south? Scotland does touch the sea on all sides, right?"I can't believe you brought that," I mutter to Mac, who has a small plant in his lap. "You're gonna break it.""There's a burner moth somewhere in our room, and it keeps messing with my plants. Puffing out his chest as though he were personally challenged, he gets a serious look in his eye, which is not something you often see on Mac. "I'm not letting it have this one.""Why's that one special?"The blonde giant shrugs, looking down at his plant, a tender smile on his face. "It just is. Got the seed from the last one, so this'll be my first time going through multiple generations."I thought that was a regular thing to do, honestly. Well, I never did claim
Chapter 60
IAN"We don't have time for this." Maria approaches, and I can tell what she's going to do by the look in her eyes. Too late to stop her, I can only watch as her palm harshly connects with Hotaru's cheek, nearly knocking him back to the ground. "Wake the hell up."He looks at her, his face turning red, more clarity in his eyes. "Tll curse you into being bald." It's a genuine spell we've learned. Makes one wonder what sort of witch was bored enough to invent such a thing.We throw the dreamcatches into the fire, a large burst of white smoke rising from it, making us all pull back a little.The image that forma inside is nothing like the ones we saw in the bubbles. Instead, what we see is a woman- maybe a man with the same colors as Choronzon, only different features. They're wearing a black centurion-like armor, with absolutely no cloth attached to it, meaning no pants, cape or anything. The armor has jagged shoulder. pads and no sleeves, showing off a pair of thin, pale arms. They hav
Chapter 59
HOTARUPotions aren't really a class I remember all that much about, for whatever reason. Quinn is the teacher, and seems to be looking kind of stiff whenever our eyes meet. Why do I not remember this?I seem to remember the potions well enough, I just don't remember learning how to make any of them. What gives? It's a class we only take once a week, so it should be pretty memorableSeeing that one of the pages of my book has had its comer folded, so I turn toward it. 'Memoria Damnum: How to Delete Someone's Memories.I guess that explains it.With Mac no longer interested, Maya is the only other person who bothered to take it, and this is the one class she excels at. Doesn't take much magic control to make a potion work, so I guess it makes sense she'd put all her energy into this.it's the last class of the day, so we're all free to meet up once it's over. Other than Diana, I'm the first to arrive at the library, Maya probably heading off to meet with Erik first to try and steal eve
Chapter 58
He just gives me a wink, saying nothing. Alright. Keep your secrets."Dreamcatches are typically used to protect children" Diana continues, shooting lan a quick dirty look. "These would be woven in a slightly different pattern. The dream bubbles would have to go through them, where they'd remains until we burned the catcher and saw the dreams inside the smoke. That's the only method described here."If she knows that, she must have gone through the entire damn book. How? How can a person read so fast? She has to be using magic for it. If so, she better share.Antoine's fingers gently, reach for my lower back, giving me a pinch. I reach over to his face, flicking his nose harshly enough to make him wince. His response is to shove his fingers under my ribs, forcing me to squirrn back as I try to get away. This only results in my elbow hitting Maya in the back."Ow. Watch it, man. That hurt.""Sorry""Are you children quite done?" Crossing her arms, Diana starts to fume "Honestly. How ca
Chapter 57
ANASTASIAThe maid is beginning to irk me. The fool is incapable of dusting anything off without dropping it. The earrings we gave her are the only reason I haven't fired her aiready. If she can't offer good services, at least she can offer her energy. Shouldn't be long before her Soul Seed shows itself.I wish there were a quicker method. The Heralds are hunting for us relentlessly, always sending one of them to search. the globe. The Master is keeping us hidden from them, but that simply means wasting his power on things other than his revival, slowing things down even further.I enter Doctor Crowley's lab, the scanner set to recognize my eyes. Once inside, I walk over to the large glass wall, through which the Doctor is currently looking. "You called, sir?""It's about to happen""What is, sir?"A man is inside the other room, in the nude, strapped to the operating table. He keeps twitching around, his eyes flickering with a strange, red light. Every few seconds, a rune appears on
Chapter 56
"Weren't the Old Ones human once?""That's correct""Then how can they be infinite?"The class starts murmuring and muttering, everything along the lines of agreeing with her. I was about to ask a similar question, so I'm glad she opened the topic up.Grey looks like he's uncomfortable talking about this, but still decides to answer. "The Old Ones, the Light and the Dark-they are all people. Not one of them is the same thing they started as. Caught in endless wars, they diminished one another to the point of humanity, an existence of the lowest layer, managed to steal their power and overtum them.The same applies to the Dark and the Light, then."What about the Light and the Dark?" Diana asks, neglecting to read my mind."That one is slightly different." Grey tums back toward the board, his back as full of white as one might expect, drawing a few chuckles. He erases the tip of the pyramid entirely. "The Dark and the Light started out with two names, same as the Older Ones. Yahweh and
Chapter 55
The news covered that? How? With what footage? There's no chance any chopper could have withstood the magic being sent around that place. An illusionary jungle was created for miles around it, too. Did they just use words?The lack of an image is very likely to have the common masses just as fearful as the students are.Quinn, shoulders slumped, sits down on her chair. "I think you deserve to know. Really, I do. It's just not that simple. There are things you can never know about him things you aren't physically able to know. I'm sorry you're scared, and I'm sorry some of you will have to leave, but my decision is final. I'm not saying another word."She tries to make us focus on more nonsense with our guardianshaving them manifest into our world and such- but I'm pretty sure the mood is too dead for anyone to focus.Levitation is a welcome relief, as always. We simply practice some of our moves. Now that Rosa is gone, only Diana and I are actually capable of flight.Roger is here, to
Chapter 54
"Count me in," Antoine adds with a small smile, directing it at me. "Promise you're gonna wear that to class?"I walk up to him, resting a hand on his chest. "I only put this one on to not make a big splash on the first day back. Wait til you see the other ones""Y'know, my mom's a model. If fashion is your thing, I can score some outfits for you."Oh, where have you been all my life?Well, this past week. Before that, I wasn't all that into fashion. All I cared about was looking good. That and glorious vengeance, of course, but that urge has been sated."One small problem, lan starts. "Rosa isn't here."Right. That might be a problem. "Any of you hear from her?" Since we went on a brave quest to save the world, I mean.Nobody offers a response, predictably. With no signal or internet, we don't exactly have a habit of exchanging phone info, since we never get to use it while we're here. Figures nobody bothered to get hers."We could talk to a teacher about it?" suggests Maya. "I don't
