Anna slowly walked to school all alone, with her eyes dazed and glossed with a mysterious glow. She looked around the open streets and the bustling shops, where people of noble blood roamed wearing regal clothes and fancy dresses.
Taking a deep breath to fill up her lungs, she silently murmured underneath her breath, “This world has truly gone mad.”
…
The day was neither particularly cold nor particularly hot, with the temperature just being right. Along with the occasional gusts of wind and the cooling enchantments placed on their school uniforms, the students of Vizwel Royal Academy walked all around campus with little care of the bright sun above the sky.
From the open gates of the academy, students walked in as large hordes like colonies of swarming black ants. If one looked down from the sky, it was like swats of black dots diffusing from a funnel which was the gate.
Occasionally, amongst the dense crowd of students, one would find stars that glowed brilliantly among the sea of geniuses.
Kain and Alice walked with stride as their charming faces caused the hearts of many to skip a beat.
Rhett Convir arrived alongside his gang of goonies. One of them carried a bag of potions and the other carried a luggage full of high-quality weapons. With Rhett’s nature of being a battle-lusting warrior, it didn’t take a genius to realize that he planned on going on another expedition to the labyrinths below to train himself and prove to be ready for the time he leads his tribe as the new Duke Convir.
Next up was a dazzling trio of kingdom-toppling beauties. Holly and Elaine walked side-by-side along each other with Rob in the middle, and to show off his magical skills, they appeared directly within the campus with a brief flash of light, displaying his skill with teleportation magic.
Lastly were Noel and Anna who arrived inside the school in secrecy. No one noticed them arriving and simply ignored them, giving the duo their much-desired peace.
“And unbeknownst to all, in this peaceful day that was both normal and habitual, a seed of chaos shall bloom into a fracture within fate!” Winston murmured radically as he fiddled with the silver ring in his hand and licked his lips.
From the shadows of the crowded gate, he resumed his walk and kept a close eye on his target as his gaze pierced through hundreds of meters and into a certain building, into a certain room that housed plain white beds and frilly white sheets.
“It’s time to raise the stakes and force these stagnant protagonists their much-needed push.” Winston smiled and, with one step, disappeared into thin air.
…
“Another dream?” Noel asked incredulously as the two sat down on a bench, a similar bench that could be found all over the campus which could help weary students rest from walking all over the gargantuan academy.
“Yes, another dream,” Anna sighed and deflated like a balloon.
“This…” Noel hesitated before asking, “Do you mind if I read that… dream of yours?”
“Sure, go ahead. You’ve already done it last time,” Anna accepted without much care, loosened up the mental defenses she had placed around her mind, and allowed the slimy tentacle of mind magic to interact with her brain.
In the next moment, Noel closed his eyes and processed the hazy yet still perceptible dream Anna had, and just like her, he too began to frown from the befuddlement he felt.
“That was Duke Bloodthorn… and Lance?” Noel murmured as he opened his eyes with a sharp glint. “And that last person… Is he perhaps connected with Mammon?”
“I don’t know…” Anna clicked her tongue as she glared at the ground with an annoyed look. “I always don’t know! Why do these dreams keep even coming… What do they even mean?”
“First it was Mammon, then the dreams, then now this? Who even was he? Why did he kill Duke Bloodthorn? And this… Does this also mean he has Arch-level combat power?!” Anna slumped down her shoulders and grabbed her hair frustratedly.
“Calm down,” Noel said coldly as he tried to analyze the dream. “From my years of experience, I could safely tell that there’s a reason behind everything. Just like before, this is clearly not just a simple dream, but instead something similar to a transmitted message… across space and time.”
“A prophecy, if you will,” Noel murmured as his eyes glimmered with iridescent light.
When Anna heard the word prophecy, her mind came to a sudden halt and she felt her soul shake abruptly. Prophecy… But this ability… It should only belong to the Saintess—Holly Lavestine!
“But how? Transmitting messages from the future to the past, it’s an ability that would cause a paradox with its temporal nature. Sending that message back in time would theoretically mean the message would have never been sent since the future where the events that transpired did happen would never come to exist in the first place…”
“This is something that could only happen within the domain of the gods…” Noel glanced at Anna as the suspicious feeling within his mind spiked.
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“Don’t look at me like that,” Anna hurriedly said to quell down Noel’s suspicions and waved her arms frantically. “I don’t know how this even happened. Besides, you and I both know only the chosen Oracle of God could ever receive a prophecy and to be an Oracle means I need to have an incredibly high affinity with Holy Magic!”
“That’s true…” Noel frowned and looked up to the sky. “Then perhaps… It’s the world giving you a message of an event that, in theory, would prove to be disastrous.”
“But why does the death of Arvil Bloodthorn warrant such great danger that an unknown entity would mess with fabrics of time just to send a message that could potentially avert that disaster?” Noel asked to the air and closed his eyes to try and solve this puzzling mystery.
…
As soon as the familiar ding sound echoed across the hallways and rooms, cheers rang out and students heaved a sigh of relief. Teachers packed up their bags and gave their final words before bidding goodbye and letting the students eat their lunch.
From one classroom to another, students walked alongside their friends, while some were alone with nobody else to hang around with. Some carried books and went to the library, others went to the cafeteria to buy lunch, and others brought their lunch box with them and ate out in the open fields of the academy.
Rob, who was eating lunch with Elaine and Holly as usual, paused and looked up to see a certain trio in the far distance sitting down on a circular table and unpacking their food.
Grinning lightly, he took a sip of his iced tea and licked his lips.
“What are you smiling for?” Elaine asked curiously and tried to look where he was looking, but didn’t find anything of note other than some students frolicking around.
“It’s nothing,” Rob answered blandly and proceeded to take another bite of his sandwich.
On Anna’s side, she had considerably calmed down the inner turmoil she was feeling and regained her usual calm mental state. Biting into a spoonful of salad mixed in with chunks of meat, she savored the delicious taste in her mouth and mindlessly stared at the air in front of her as her mind floated to the clouds.
Noel and Winston were also the same; they ate their lunch in silence and enjoyed the experience while appreciating the beauty of nature all around them.
That tranquil silence was soon broken though as Anna widened her eyes in surprise. There was a sort of tug at the back of her mind, warning her of something. As for what that something was, she didn’t know, but that something felt bad and icky.
But, when she saw Winston’s wide eyes staring to the side, and as she followed his gaze, she felt she could deduce what that something was.
From the air, a bright blue ball of hot flames was flying directly towards Winston who was still halfway through biting into his sandwich.
Up in the sky, a young boy who was flying around and carrying a young drake which appeared to be his familiar had shocked eyes and tried to cast some sort of spell to dispel the blue ball of flames, but to no avail.
Noel acted quickly though, because before the blue fireball could even touch them, a barrier formed right in front of them and the fireball collided with it rather than them. There seemed to have been some slight miscalculations on his part though as the fireball diffused and expanded out like water, with licks of flames brushing right against Winston’s skin who was the closest to the point of impact.
When all was said and done though, and the fireball had fully disappeared, there was only a minor burn on his forearms and face, which elicited a sigh of relief from Anna.
“S-Sorry about that!” The young boy hurriedly landed on the ground and grabbed the floating drake beside him with a tight grip as he bowed for forgiveness. “M-My familiar was suddenly having an anxiety attack since it was his first time floating around, and I didn’t expect him to launch a fireball at you and-“
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Winston cut him off and waved his arm to show that the minor burn he received was a-okay. “Although I do need to spend some time in the infirmary to heal this thang.”
“I-I’ll help you go there! It was my fault this happened anyway, so I wouldn’t mind escorting you there!” The young boy hurriedly suggested.
“Okay? Heh, I guess exploiting free labor isn’t too bad,” Winston hummed and scratched his chin with a foxy smile. “Come on then, escort me like a damsel in distress!”
“Wait a minute, we’ll come too!” Anna hastily packed her lunch and stood up. The infirmary… Isn’t that where Lance resides most of the time while in school?! This is the chance of a lifetime!
Noel, who was peacefully eating his lunch, met Anna’s gaze and saw through her intentions. Sighing internally, he too packed his lunch and stood up, “Sure, I’ll follow too.”
“Wow! A whole entourage of free labor! Isn’t that nice?” Winston cracked a joke without much care in the world and led the way to the infirmary. “Just make sure to catch me when I fall!”
…
The cards have been set. Rob took another sip of his iced tea and his vision split in half. One showed his physical vessel’s gaze, while the other was a more god-like and omniscient view that spanned hundreds of meters.
Observing the group of four arrive at the infirmary, he grinned with a knowing smile and watched in silence.
As Winston lied down on a random bed and watched Lance walk up to him, the handsome vampire took a swift glance at the minor burn on his hand and the drake whimping in the hands of his owner and gave a knowing smile.
“A small accident, I presume?” Lance chuckled and sat down on a chair beside Winston. “I don’t think you’d need this much emotional support, so you three can just wait outside the room.”
“Although I do have some knowledge on teaching some familiars proper manners…” He smiled and eyed the little drake with a teasing grin. “You don’t mind leaving the drake with me for a while, don’t you?”
“O-Oh! Not at all! In fact, if you could help me ease down his constant anxiety strikes, I would be deeply grateful!” The boy hurriedly said and nudged the little drake to approach the vampire.
Lance leaned forward, grabbed the tiny drake, and placed it on his lap. Patting it gently on the head, the tiny drake growled bashfully and released a tiny snippet of flame.
“Well, this wouldn’t take too long, so you three just wait for a while,” Lance instructed and the three followed suit.
Now all alone in the room, Lance stood up and placed the drake on the chair while he turned around to fiddle with the tools placed on a nearby table. The scene remained normal and inconspicuous, but if one looked closely, they’d find Winston’s eyes glowing dimly with an imperceptible golden light, and Lance’s movements were slightly robotic as his gaze was lifeless.
Easy! Winston chuckled inwardly as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and grabbed the unmoving drake by the neck. Without any form of resistance, the drake watched calmly as Winston’s skin shed off to reveal a completely different person underneath, while Winston’s hand clenched tightly and blood exploded in a messy splatter.
Now’s the time for the main course! With a maniacal laugh, a dense array of purple and red covered the entire room, and the fabrics of space soon warped to an extreme degree. Arvil Bloodthorn… It’s time to make your sacrifice for the rise of vampires—and in turn, the rise of Lunacians!