The Prince Of Magic

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Pain. Blood.

These two were the only things that he can think about.

The cuts, bruises, and broken bones that was done upon his feeble body. His blood was starting to appear under his prone form on the ground, slowly and steadily forming a dark, red puddle.

Idly, he noted that his face and his hands felt a bit sticky, which was probably due to the blood that had stained some parts of his face and around his fingers.

'How did turn out this way...?' He thought, staring at nothing in particular, feeling hopeless.

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Clack ... Clack

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He heard the sounds of footsteps slowly make its presence known, coming towards his direction.

The sound was ominous and forbidding, causing his heart to beat painfully against his c.h.e.s.t as the figure of death loomed near and grew steadily closer to him.

But, he didn't pay it any mind as thoughts of the events from earlier began to play.

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His day had started out like any other.

Calm and peaceful. Mostly uneventful, as per usual.

His homeroom teacher, Miss Taiga Fujimura was still the same, cheerful and quite clumsy.

She hit her head on the podium again like yesterday, of which made nearly all students in the class laughed at her misfortune.

He was among the students that didn't laughed at her clumsiness. Rather, he felt concerned for her because he had seen her fall from the same action almost every time.

But, what he did not expect was for his life to be turned upside down in a span of a few hours.

When school had been done for the day, he left the classroom with the rest of his peers, also eager to return home, do his homework and procrastinate.

Then, just as he finished descending the stairs.

A flash of orange in the corner of his eye had caught his attention.

He saw that transfer student, walking in the direction where one of the hallways with a dead end was located. He followed the younger man and hid himself in the corner, silently observing.

It was Leonardo B. Harway, the new transfer student of Tsukumihara High School.

He saw him standing there in his peculiar orange uniform, standing in front of the wall that has a fire extinguisher in a boxed casing nearby. The younger man stood out, with medium-length blonde hair and green eyes. He also wore white gloves and boots.

He was curious as to what Leonardo was doing, just standing there with one hand on his hip.

When two minutes had nearly passed, he was about to leave when Leonardo did something.

The wall, the one that he had first thought was uninteresting and nothing particularly special, moved in a way that was similar to how a body of water would ripple when disturbed by an outside source.

The surface of the wall rippled, and Leonardo stepped into it as if there was a doorway to enter.

Shocked and surprised by what he had seen, he looked around and noticed that there was no one in the vicinity. All the noises that he heard were coming from outside, but none were nearby.

Disbelief and a dose of anxiety clouded his mind, he stood there, staring at the wall that he had seen Leonardo disappeared in.

After what he had witnessed, he found himself curious yet hesitant to make a decision.

He was curious to know what Leonardo got himself into, whatever he had done to make the door in to something like that, and what was on the other side of it.

But, at the same time, he had this feeling at the pit of his stomach that his life would change forever the moment he goes through that wall, and his mind tells him that it will never be the same.

Suddenly, a minor headache broke him out of his musings.

"Ngh...!" He grunted, raising a hand up to his forehead to ease the pain.

Lately, he was experiencing headaches these days and he found no reason as to why it was. Perhaps it may be related to something that happened to him in the past.

'Wait...' He asked himself, confused by the sudden thought. 'The... past...?'

He then quickly tried to recall his memories of his past, but to his dismay and concern, nothing came to mind. He found himself worried, wondering if he has a case of amnesia.

All he knows was the basic information about himself, such as his name, birth date, age, and etc. But, nothing more than that comes to mind, which greatly concerned him.

Then, before he knew it, he found himself standing before the wall and staring at it.

'Maybe...' He thought, feeling hopeful yet nervous. 'Maybe I can find the answer here...?'

No one can really answer his questions, and he was alone to find out for himself. While the life that he had experienced here was boring, he can't deny that it was quite peaceful.

'But...'

He closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of other people's laughter coming from outside in the campus. The usual noises heard in a school. The calm and peaceful atmosphere of the building.

As he thought about it, why does the feeling gave him an impression that it was not real?

What he experienced here. The peace, the bonds he made, and the people he met in this school. It does not feel like it was real to him. It was as if everything was simply a mirage, an illusion.

With only a few exceptions in this school, why does it feel like everything was fake?

And when he saw Leonardo did something to that wall, that was the first time he felt that something was real. It was as if his 'peaceful' reality was stained by what he had witnessed earlier.

He opened his eyes slowly, feeling even more determined as time goes on.

"So... I want to know." He muttered, solemn but calm and determined. "I need to know more, and I can't do that if I just stay the same... even if I'm afraid."

With a hand in front of him, he closed his eyes as he forced his body to stepped forward, bracing himself for the pain in case his thoughts from what he saw earlier was just an illusion.

His eyes opened wide when he felt himself go through and, surprisingly, not splattering himself dead on the center of the wall like stupid.

The small hairs on his body stood up as he go through. He feels a sort of energy wash over his body as he stepped forward a couple of times.

The sensation was quite weird. It was akin as to how a person would run through into a large sticky, plastic wrap in a sharp, burst of movement.

Then, his world had quickly turned dark, causing him to blinked rapidly to adjust his eyesight to the darkness. After a few seconds, his sight was adjusted and he found that he was in a dark room that only has a few low-lights to brightened the area.

If he were to describe the room and what was in it, then his answer would be the bas.e.m.e.nt.

The room looked like a bas.e.m.e.nt, and the description of it only impounded in his head as he looks around and saw the things that would be typically found in such a room.

... except for those human-size effigies that were standing a few feet away from him.

He stared at the effigies, curious and wary at the same time.

In any other event, he would not even give them a glance nor a thought. But after witnessing a wall, one that he had thought uninteresting and normal, rippled and actually turned out be a doorway in disguise, he was not exactly sure what to believe in anymore.

Moreover, there were strange glowing lines that are around the effigies' bodies. It reminded him of a circuit line that were usually seen on motherboards and such.

Ignoring the strange-looking effigies for the moment, he walked cautiously into the room, turning to look left and right, making sure it was safe.

And just as he was beginning to relax, a deep male voice spoke, startling him in surprise as it echoed and bounced off the walls of the room.

"Welcome, potential Master." It said in a cold and almost mocking voice. "Please take one Effigy, and prove your worth to enter this sacred tournament."

He looked around the room and noticed that there was no one present, which made him wonder as to where the voice had came from. It sounded as if it was nearby, but no one except him was there.

When he turned around, he received two surprises in his life.

One, there was now a digitized portal that appeared near the effigies. And two, one of the effigies is now moving and standing in attention in front of him, which almost gave him a fright.

Doing his best to suppress a shout of fear and surprise, he swallowed the urge down and looked at the strange effigy warily, noticing that it was just standing there, as if waiting for orders.

Then, the deep male voice spoke again, as if to answer his unspoken question.

"The Effigy in front of you will be your shield, weapon and the one that shall lead you to your true destiny. Use it to carve your way into this tournament, for it will only obey your commands."

The voice paused for a few moments, and when it spoke again, it gave him the impression that the owner of the voice was smiling for some reason.

"You may enter the portal door once you are ready."

Unsure of what to do in this strange situation, he stared at the effigy for a moment, idly noting that the circuit-like lines around its body was glowing blue, and walked to the portal.

He also took notice that the effigy was following him closely from behind, as if guarding him from an enemy, which makes him feel secure and somewhat happy to have the effigy by his side, despite still being confused by the situation he found himself in.

However, before he could step through, he heard the male voice spoke again.

The impression from before, that the owner of the voice may be smiling, grew stronger as he was left with these parting words that seemed oddly ominous.

"Now... how shall a young lamb play with the wolves?"

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