KINGDOM OF MAGIC

Rising tension... And fading memories?

Jolie looked at her sparring partner, her black eyes beginning to possess a faint yellow glow.

"I don't intend to lose this fight."

"You mean sparring match, right?" Xero retorted, grinning as well.

Jolie's lips twitched as she narrowed her eyes in disgust, when all those feelings dissolved into one big sigh.

"Yeah, whatever." Jolie smiled, ready to spar. She lunged towards Xero, throwing out a punch simultaneously.

Xero, who was smirking, languidly stretched out a hand to intercept her punch while yawning. There was a mild boom sound originating from the collision.

"See, You..." Xero's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes squinted, he gritted his teeth as he realized there was a buzzing pain in his hand, the one he used to intercept Jolie's punch!

I felt a shock just now... What was that about? Xero thought.

Meanwhile, Zora set his gaze on Castro, with Mana seeping out from him. His eyes had a purple glow as he rose his head up. He widened his feet and stretched one hand outwards.

"Are you ready, Castro?"

Red, illusory flames coalesced on Castro's hands. He grinned and looked at Zora, still assuming his stance.

"Bring it on. Though you'll have to go easy on me... I have an arm that's healing." He said with an awkward smile.

"I'll be attacking first this time." Zora sad as he lunged towards Castro, who was already running towards him.

Huh? That fast? Zora thought.

"You think I'd let you get the jump on me?" Castro shouted, jumping in a attempt to land an anticlockwise spinning kick to Zora's torso. Zora, noticing this move, raised his arms to block this attack, but, in the last second, Castro missed his target.

I don't have enough time to block... Might as well use Reinforcement! Zora thought. Castro made Zora think he was using his left foot for the spin kick, but instead, it was a decoy! He landed a spin kick on Zora's face with his right foot instead!

This attack raised a lot of dust as it was reinforced with a lot of Mana. Castro squinted his eyes because of the dust, not seeing Zora clearly, but there was one thing he was sure of...

He was still suspended in the air!

Castro's eyes uncontrollably widened despite the dust not cleared, he struggled to keep his mouth from going agape to no avail. As the dust cleared, he saw Zora holding his leg.

"Hmmph! You have good combat prowess, and good physical abilities... But your Mana output is still quite low!"

Hopefully you and that existence's Mana will be in sync soon... Zora silently added.

He dropped Castro gently and clapped his hand together, signalling the end of the sparring match.

Jolie was on the ground, her face gloomy, she sighed and looked up, only to see Xero with his outstretched hand.

"You lost, but at least you know you're better now... Your punches are shocking, literally!"

Jolie furrowed her eyebrows and scratched her head, unsure of what the latter part of his statement meant. Regardless, she shrugged, paying no mind to it. She held Xero's hand.

"Trust me, I'm not planning to lose next time..."

"Yeah, yeah... " Xero said as he raised her up.

Zora glanced at all the students, who by now have gathered around him, including Castro.

" So, by now, you should have a self appraisal of how much you've honed your skills or how strong you have become. For those of you that have scored low in the said self appraisal, you can still get stronger through training. For those with a high appraisal, congrats, keep up the good work. I can see you all are tired, so we'll stop here for today. Tomorrow, we will continue from where we stopped."

"Yes Sir!" The students said in unison.

"Well then... Dismissed!!!!" Zora said with a loud voice.

"Yes Sir!" All the students gave a bow.

∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

The sun had reached the center of the sky, and it was the hottest during this time. Castro was in his room, cooling off by using a fan made of raffia. Soon, Xero and Jolie walked in, each of them holding a cup filled with lemonade and ice, they were also trying to cool off. They stared daggers into Castro while sipping the lemonade.

In no time, Castro's eyes and lips twitched.

"What do you want?!" Castro lightly furrowed his brows.

"We're bored..." Xero and Jolie scratched their heads.

"Well, I'm bored to..."

"... So we were thinking, why not go to the outskirts." Xero interrupted Castro.

"Why do you want to..."

"... Just a walk there, then we'll greet the folks and come back. Please?" Jolie interrupted Castro once again.

"At least let me finish my sentences!" Castro said before lightly coughing. "Fine, let's go. We can even explore this place while we're at it..."

"Yeah! Let's go~" Xero and Jolie said in unison.

∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

During their exploration, the Langnon trio discovered that the inner circle of the Kingdom was where nobles are found, basically, the upper echelons of society are most concentrated in this area, adding to their knowledge that Rein kingdom has two divisions; the outer circle, which is for the lower and middle classes, and the inner circle, for nobles and the like. While there may be discrimination among the classes, the are allowed to freely move around each others' "territory" .

The lower class, people who barely make ends meet, live in the outskirts of each area they are in as this was the kingdom's way of making shelter one of the basic necessities that everyone has. These set of people in the society usually have low magic power and are most times unable to apply to be Magic Knights.

As the Langnon trio got closer and closer, even past the gate as this was en route to their destination, they heard no sounds; no children playing along the roads, no sounds of people making music on the roadside, no sounds of men drinking and roughhousing, no women gossiping in groups as they did chores. Nothing! They all had a sense of foreboding as sweat trickled down their heads.

As they got to the outskirts, they were met with the emptiness that was evident in the area. The stalls, homes and streets were empty, nor was there anyone found that could explain what was going on.

Castro and Xero just looked at the streets in shock, while Jolie was in a daze, like she was frozen in time

"W-What... H-Happened..." Castro stuttered.

"... Here. " Jolie completed.

"Strange... Almost like this area was cleared..." Xero cupped his chin, his brows furrowed.

"What do you think happened?" Castro turned to Xero, his eyes wide open.

"Perhaps they were relocated by the kingdom? Where would they be now?"

Jolie just stood, looking at the empty town in a daze. Tears fell from her eyes, her face reddening. Soon, she wiped her tears and just stared into space.

"You know, you guys could've just come clean on who you came to visit..." Castro said, his countenance turning gloomy. "...I was also looking forward to seeing them too. "Castro's eyes filled up with tears.

"Well, everyone is gone, there isn't much we can do about that. " Xero said, holding Castro's shoulder. He was holding back tears too.

It felt like the sun had set quicker than usual.

After that, there was a relatively long silence as everyone stood, deep in thought.

"Let's just go back." Jolie said breaking the silence.

Soon after, Castro, Xero and Jolie turned back, saying nothing to each other till they got back to the colosseum.

∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

Late in the evening.

In a dead end alley in Eastbay street, the next street after the Tower.

A man wearing a black hood and robe was standing two meters in front of a lady begging for her life. His slightly slender, thin body made a silhouette that covered the entirety of the lady.

"Please, don't hurt me! I'm begging you!!!!" She said as she crawled backwards, her light blue dress getting dirty. She already had few cuts on her shoulder caused by the mysterious man.

"Someone! Help me! Somebody! Anybody!!! Hel..."

"I already told you that won't work, right? The whole area has been isolated by magic, and even your measly attacks won't work either. You've been chosen as a sacrifice for our Father, you should be honored!" The man interrupted the lady, his expression warping with every word.

He swiftly approached the lady as her eyes widened with despair.

"That's the feeling I want from you!" He wore a maniacal smile as he dug a dagger deep into the lady's neck. She writhed in pain as she coughed up blood, she had difficulty breathing as the blood obstructed her airways. The man raised his head, breaking out in laughter as the hood fell. He lowered his head and turned to the lady, who was still twitching. It appears that she had already taken her last breath, her blonde hair stained with her blood.

Just then, a subtle wind passed by the 173cm tall man, passing his clean shaven head. He turned and saw a figure shrouded in darkness. He lowered his head and smiled.

"Is it done?"

"Yes, Phase one is yet to be complete, but this is a huge step to completion." The figure said on one knee with his left hand to his chest.

"Good, I think it's best we lay low for a while, don't want them noticing anything now... Do we?" The man said, his deep brown eyes being accentuated by the dim light that reflected in them.

"We will succeed. We have to. After all, it's all for our Father." He said with a very solemn tone, and a warm smile.