CHAPTER ONE

Sunfire Academy

“Who in the hell are you?” Mikasa snarls, standing up and swaying weakly. Black strands of hair hide her eyes until she waves them away with her hand. Her vibrant, angry, and confused purple eyes focus steadily on Usagi.

Usagi takes a step back. “I...uh...” From all the isekai games Usagi has played, she knows that revealing her name and that she's from another universe usually doesn’t get you killed instantly. Most times.

“My name is Usagi Matashi!” she blurts out.

Mikasa spits, “Do you take me for a fool? Spit it out—where are you from? What do you want?” She steps closer, her fists turning black as shadows emanate from them. Usagi steps back, raising her hands in front of her as a shield.

“I-I swear! You know, I kind of imagined you being kinder, but maybe I should have seen it coming. No one makes kind villains in games—” Usagi sputters until she is cut off when Mikasa shoots a ball of black shadow her way, making her jump to the side.

“W-wait!” Another shadow ball comes at her, and Usagi jumps away.

Mikasa keeps shooting shadow balls at her, but Usagi jumps for her life, literally, managing to dodge all of them.

Mikasa groans, “What are you? Some kind of rabbit? Stop jumping!”

“Then stop shooting at me!” Usagi screams as she dodges another ball.

Mikasa stops, but not out of kindness—she can barely stand, her form weak.

“Are you mocking me? Is...is that it?” the mage says between breaths. “Just wait until...until I...” She takes a step forward, sways, and Usagi steps closer, sensing that Mikasa won't attack anymore.

Mikasa stumbles another step forward before collapsing, unconscious.

Well, Usagi didn’t imagine her encounter in a fantasy world to be so... life-threatening. However, with the mage now unconscious, lying among the flowers with her face in the soft grass, Usagi kneels down beside her, still ready to jump back if it's a trap. She slowly taps Mikasa. Once, twice, then another five times before being sure that the mage is out cold. She stands up and turns to the ‘portal.’

It looks more like a ruin, with stones now overgrown with grass and flowers sprouting from it. Did the mage try to do something with it? It looks pretty burned up—the stone is covered in ash, and the grass around it is gone, leaving just ash and earth.

“Am I dreaming...?” Usagi mumbles, walking around the ruin and looking around. It doesn’t really feel like a dream. If dreams feel this real, then it’s Usagi’s first time having one like this. The landscapes...

They feel so, so familiar. Usagi’s eyes widen as she catches sight of the very big city in the distance. Large houses adorn the mountains and lands.

The city of Eyphia.

The city that was part of ‘Magical Fantasy 1.’

How could she be right here? How?

Usagi can’t believe what she is seeing. A game she loved as a child, spending hours and hours just to see how the story unfolded. Playing all night long until her mom came in and banned her from playing for weeks. She loved this game. Not only was it a significant part of her childhood, but it also inspired her career at the company. She wanted to help create a game that children would love playing, a game that would become a cherished memory and a part of their childhood, like it was for her.

She still remembers how her younger self always dreamed of being in a world like this. Going on quests, slaying monsters for gold, and having magical abilities.

And now, standing here, staring at a city she once viewed only on a screen, Usagi can’t help but stare with wide eyes.

“Please tell me it’s not a dream,” Usagi says. “Please let me feel how real it is.”

Right after that sentence, something collides with her back. A very cold and very painful force. Usagi lets out a painful yell as she is thrown across the grass, colliding with a nearby stone and exhaling sharply from the impact.

“I...ugh...I didn’t mean it literally...” she groans in pain. How she can still talk after that nasty hit is a wonder.

Looking up, she realizes what happened. The mage has awakened and probably shot Usagi with one of her shadowy bubbles. Usagi frowns, thinking they would hurt much more, but she shouldn’t test her luck any further.

The woman that is now on her feet, still looking weak, walks closer. Her hand raised and covered in shadows. “Do I need to shoot you again, or will you already talk?” she growls. Usagi stares at her, mere meters away from her, she looks very imposing, her eyes glowing and glaring down at her beautifully, and her hair, swaying in the wind like her robe.

That glare, that beautiful glare that is directly aimed at her.

How can such a woman be a villain.

Usagi jumps up suddenly, startling the woman, making her take a step backwards but Usagi comes closer until their faces are just centimeters away. Usagi stares at her with wide adoring eyes and a big smile.

“I love you!”

...

Silence follows. The sounds of birds singing and the wind waving through the air are the only soft sounds cutting through it.

Mikasa stares wide eyed at the smaller woman in front of her. A very big and deep blush spreads across her pale cheeks. What is this woman thinking? How can she say something like that? Isn’t she afraid? The question flow through her mind. Surely this woman has a dead wish.

The hand that Mikasa still has in the air, weakens and the shadows fade.

"Who... just who are you?" she whispers weakly.

Usagi, realizing how strange that sentence sounded, jumps back to put some distance between them. "My name is Usagi Matashi. I, uh, I don’t really know how I got here," she continues. "But I am normally from Tokyo-"

Mikasa scowls. "To...ko? I’ve never heard of this land or city you’re speaking of," she says.

"Oh, no, no! I think I should probably start from the most logical beginning..." Usagi mumbles the rest before starting again. "I am not from this universe."

...

"Well, I should have seen that one coming," Mikasa sighs, turning away and pinching the bridge of her nose.

Usagi frowns and jumps closer to her. "What? You’re not surprised?! Why are you taking this as something that happens daily?"

Mikasa looks at her over her shoulder with a dark, tired, and most of all, annoyed expression. "I am not surprised because it's probably my fault."

"Uh, what?"

Mikasa turns back around with an annoyed huff, her eyes glancing to the side at the ruin that resembles a portal. "I thought..." Mikasa whispers. The mage walks up to the ruin, placing her hand on the cold stone and closing her eyes. Usagi gasps as she sees some black energy flow through it. Mikasa opens her eyes and frowns.

"I somehow opened a portal to another world and kidnapped you here."

"KIDNAPPED! With all respect, I think-"

Mikasa turned sharply, giving Usagi a piercing glare. "I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t even think something like that would work..." She massaged her forehead in thought. "But that would explain the runes on it... Teleportation portals normally don’t have those..."

Usagi fiddled with her hands. “I don’t want to interrupt, but—”

“Then what does a portal like that do here...” Mikasa turned again, cutting Usagi off, and stopped in front of the ruin. She closed her eyes and lifted her hands, a large, black, glowing magic ball forming between them as if she were cradling something.

“Uh... Mrs. Mage, I don’t—”

“Quiet. I need to concentrate.” The black energy began connecting with the portal, and the runes started glowing, then vibrating, growing lighter and lighter, catching Usagi’s eye.

“I really—”

Before Mikasa could do anything else, the portal exploded, sending them both flying. The explosion was so bright that they had to close their eyes before landing again on the grass.

Mikasa stood up, her mana now very low. If she tried to cast anything else, she would probably fall unconscious again. She grabbed her forehead, where a cut had likely been made by one of the sharp stones. She groaned. “What was that?” she mumbled. “I didn’t do anything wrong. How could it explode?”

“I want my bed,” the smaller woman said, still lying on the grass with her face in some flowers, mumbling her words.

Mikasa steps over her, ignoring her prone form, and walks to the portal—or rather, what remains of it. Where it once stood are now broken stones with vanished runes. Even the flowers and greenery that once adorned it are gone, burned by the explosion. Mikasa’s jaw clenches, her expression blank as she stares ahead.

‘How little control must I have to...’ she thinks, but even her own thoughts fade into the unknown, into the darkness where they always go.

"...I don’t think it was your fault."

That voice. She had nearly forgotten she wasn’t alone. How bothersome. She glances over her shoulder at the unknown woman, who is slowly standing up from the grass. Flowers and grass stick out from her hair as she stretches, her attire oddly out of place.

(Usagi wears a cozy hoodie with jeans.)

Usagi grimaces as she walks up to the mage, likely to have heavy bruises by tomorrow.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“How would you know better?” Mikasa snaps. Usagi waves her hands in a gesture of peace.

“I mean, you looked like you did everything right! Even then, you’re probably very low on mana, so it’s impossible for you to do something so... well, so strong,” she says, waving her hands around as she talks. “The portal itself was probably damaged the last time you used it, and since I’m here, I’d guess kidnapping a random person into a different universe can go wrong in many ways! I don’t know much, so I don’t blame you for ignoring what I say, but some portals can react badly to certain magical elements a person has. Seeing that you’re a shadow bender, the portal might have pushed back your magic. That might be more likely than the other theories—”

Mikasa fully turns to her. “Why do you know so much?” Her voice is both annoyed and confused.

That was probably unwise of Usagi, letting her gamer nerdy side take over and blabbering on. Even more unwise would be mentioning that, in her world, there is a video game based on Mikasa’s world, where people know her entire history, including the fact that the woman in front of her is the main villain. Still unbelievable.

"I... uh," Usagi shrugs. "I used to study other worlds in my free time. You know, worlds with magic and that kind of stuff. Never knew it was real, but I liked the idea of it, so I learned as much as I could about it."

Nice save. 1:0 for Usagi

"You mean your world has no magic?" Mikasa crosses her arms. "What kind of world is that?" She scoffs, and Usagi mumbles, "A boring one."

"But then why would you study magic if your world doesn’t even know what it is?" Mikasa presses. This lady is a curious one.

"It’s like..." Usagi waves a hand. "Magic is like a fantasy we created. Magic isn’t real for us, but we like to imagine it is, and that’s why we create our own knowledge about it. We put it in everything: fantasy books, movies, video games—"

"Video... what?"

"It’s like... you know what, forget it," Usagi groans.

Explaining it all would exhaust Usagi. Thinking about her world, she nearly forgets that there’s probably no way for her to go back.

"Wait. Doesn’t that mean I can’t go back anymore? The portal I came through is destroyed."

"Looks like it," Mikasa sighs. The mage looks much calmer now; somehow, her entire aura has softened. Minutes ago, she nearly killed Usagi with her strange shadow bubbles, and now she stands there with a calm, maybe even tired, expression. “I can’t stay here for long; Lucile is probably looking for me now...” she pinches her nose “And what do I say if she sees me with...” she looks up at me with a flat look, but she doesn’t continue further.

“Hey! What’s with that face!?”

“I guess I’ll have to take you with me.” She pushed some hair out of her face and looked me up and down with a critical eye.

“...”

“Why are you suddenly making such disappointed expressions?!”

Ignoring the smaller woman’s blabbering, which sounded more like two rabbits fighting, she walked up to her and placed a hand on her head before closing her eyes.

“...what exactly are you doing?” Usagi looked up at her like a child staring at a strange person offering them a cookie.

Or something like that.

“I won’t take you with me if you look like a homeless person. I don’t need more complications than what will probably come.”

“H-homeless person!? This hoodie was very expensive, for your information! I spent my paycheck—”

There was a puff of black smoke, like one of those confetti cannons that explode with various colors at birthday parties. The only difference was that this one released only black smoke before it faded away. Usagi blinked.

“There we go,” Mikasa nodded, looking satisfied.

Looking down at herself, Usagi gasped. Her entire outfit had changed. She now wore a very expensive-looking short robe. Its colors were beautiful: dark red with golden waves decorating it. It was shorter than Mikasa’s robe, more practical.

Usagi looked up. “Did you just conjure up a very expensive robe out of nowhere?!”

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. “Of course, not out of nowhere. I just had one lying around in my closet and teleported it here. You can’t just conjure things with magic whenever you want.”

"And what happened to my old clothes?"

"..."

"Hey!"

"Now that you look less suspicious, you can come with me for the time being," Mikasa said, starting to walk toward the line of trees farther away. Usagi jumped up and ran to keep up, walking beside the Mage and staring at her. Mikasa kept her eyes straight ahead with a plain expression.

"Where are we going?" Usagi asked.

"I am a student at the Sunfire Academy. We are going there, and we will discuss what we're going to do in my chamber."

Usagi’s eyes widened. Sunfire Academy was the largest and most renowned academy known. The academy accepted every student with magical abilities. However, the costs to join the academy were very high. If you were lucky, you would be invited if your magic was unique or strong enough. It was true that the academy accepted only the most talented students. It taught students how to control their magic and, most importantly, how to fight with it. Sunfire Academy specialized in teaching students the art of combat. Everyone who joined the academy had the desire to become a strong and talented mage, alchemist, healer, or soldier in the army. The academy built stronger students and taught them the ways of war.

Knowing Mikasa’s family name, her entry was probably paid by her mother. House Axmond is known to be a very rich noble house. There are four houses that are pretty popular in Eyphia. The first and most known is house Axmond, then comes house Hokashi, house Levett and house Rosenkranz.

“And if they kick me out when they see me?” Usagi asks, with a bit of a hesitation.

“I try to talk it out with the school director. She is a close friend of my mother.” Her eyes then narrow at a random tree as her eyes darken “The worst thing that can happen is...” she trails off.

Usagi stares at her with a scared look. She just made it more scary!

Would they kick her out or burn her alive? Is it really that criminal to break into a very high-status academy?

‘Well, the one that included burning would be interesting if you ask me’

Usagi stops. Was that her mind? Or is she getting delusional? Looking around the sees nothing but Mikasa that stares at her with a raised eyebrow over her shoulder. She probably stopped walking when she saw Usagi wasn’t next to her anymore.

“Did you hear that?” Usagi blurts out. Mikasa frowns “Heard what?”

Maybe the tiredness is getting to her. With a small shake of her head Usagi walks up to the mage “Forget it. It was just a rabbit”

“The only rabbit I see is the annoying one next to me”

“...did you just call me rabbit?”

“Don’t forget the annoying part.”

“You’re the one who kidnapped me, so stop grumbling about it!”

“I wasn’t planning on kidnapping a stranger, for you interest”

-------------------

Sunfire Academy

Lucile walked through the halls filled with students, looking worried. Mikasa had missed some lessons today, and when the teacher asked where she was, Lucile said she wasn’t feeling well. She knew it was a lie. Even the teacher looked surprised; Mikasa wasn't a bad student. She was one of the strongest. As the school’s president, Mikasa held a strong reputation among the students, though no one dared to approach her. Lucile, being the vice president, was well-liked for her kind and warm personality.

Lucile stopped in her tracks as her eyes caught sight of someone she would gladly ignore, but it looked like he was walking directly toward her.

Yoru Axmond. Yoru was Mikasa’s twin brother. They were like two sides of the same coin. Like Mikasa, he was known to be cold and silent. Everyone said they were more alike than any twins could be. But Lucile knew better. One thing Yoru had that his sister didn’t was a cruel and manipulative nature. He did everything to get what he wanted, everything that made him stronger. He was indeed a very talented combat fighter.

As Yoru walked directly toward Lucile, students turned and made space for him. Some stared at him with adoring eyes, while others with respect. He was known to have many admirers. With his shoulder-length black hair and striking purple eyes, he caught many eyes.

He stopped before her, hands in his pockets, his cold expression fixed on the woman in front of him.

Lucile schooled her features into a plain expression.

"Yoru," she said, waiting for him to speak.

"Did you see Mikasa? She skipped some lessons," he asked, as cold as ever.

Lucile clenched her hands into fists. "She isn’t feeling well. She stayed in bed."

Yoru scoffed. "Stop lying already."

Lucile narrowed her eyes at him. "I’m not," she gritted out.

"Well, either way, I don’t care. Just inform her that Mother is quite displeased with her skipping lessons. Tell my sister she should stop making escapades; she’s not a child anymore."

Of course he told Lady Axmond that.

With a nod, he walked off. Lucile stood there, staring out of the large windows adorning the halls. Lost in her thoughts, her eyes caught something outside.

"Mikasa! Thank the stars..." She sighed in relief. Mikasa was making her way through the academy gardens, looking unhurt, which made Lucile relax.

Then her eyes caught sight of the woman next to her.

"Who is that?" Lucile wondered. The woman wasn’t wearing any academy colors.

(Every student of the academy has an outfit choice of their desire; the only requirement is that the attire includes the academy’s symbol colors: black, white, and gray.)

The woman walked behind Mikasa, looking like she was trying to hide behind the taller woman, who glared at her over her shoulder. Without another thought, Lucile made her way down.

---------------

“I swear, if you grab me from behind again, I will throw you out myself,” Mikasa growled at Usagi, who was hiding behind her and looking around with wide eyes.

“Do you really think it’s safe?” Usagi mumbled. Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Yes, now stop clinging.” She grabbed her by the elbows and pushed her forward.

Students walked by, staring at Usagi with confused and curious expressions until they saw the glaring woman next to her, then hurried off.

“Whoa...” Usagi stared at the garden, adorned with white roses and a fountain where some students were sitting, talking, and chuckling. The academy building was enormous, stretching so far that Usagi couldn’t see where it ended. As they walked out of the garden into the open area around the academy, where even more students were spending their free time, Usagi’s eyes caught sight of a black cat sitting on a lonely bench. Without another thought, Usagi made her way to the cat.

“Hello, you little thing,” she cooed. The cat looked up with a bored expression but didn’t resist as Usagi petted its head.

Mikasa, seeing that Usagi had suddenly left her side, groaned. “I swear to the stars...” Walking up to her, she glared. “Don’t just go anywhere like that!”

“But look at that cat! So cute!”

“I will kill you,” Mikasa snapped before grabbing the woman and dragging her along. Moving inside the building, Usagi was met with a crowd of students. The academy was so large, with so many halls in every direction, that it would be easy to get lost on your first visit.

Usagi watched in amazement as students waved magic through the air as if it were nothing. One student made a book levitate into his hands. Some even had weapons on their shoulders or backs.

A student approached Usagi, giving her robe a strange look before smiling widely—too widely, almost creepily.

The student held out a yellow potion. “Hey, want to try my new healing potion? For free!”

Usagi’s eyes widened. It would be great for her sore back. “Yes!”

Before she could grab it, another hand intervened and grabbed her wrist tightly. Mikasa glared at the student, who ran off at the sight of her.

Usagi pouted. “What was that for?”

Mikasa didn’t let go of her wrist as they walked down the hallways. “Don’t you have any sense not to take unknown things from strangers?”

“But she was kind to give me a healing potion for free!”

“That wasn’t a healing potion. That was a transformation potion,” Mikasa scoffed. “It would have transformed you into an animal.”

Usagi’s eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

“It was yellow,” Mikasa gave Usagi a flat look. “She probably saw you as easy prey, thinking you wouldn’t know such a thing.”

Usagi pouted.

“Where are we going now?”

“To the director. She’ll know what to do next.”

“Does she even know anything about... I don’t know, other universes?” Usagi asked.

“We’ll see. She knows almost everything. But try not to talk so openly about it. The last thing I need is students gossiping about you being from another world,” Mikasa grumbled.

“Another world?”

Mikasa stopped abruptly, making Usagi stumble and bump into her. Turning, Mikasa’s eyes met Lucile’s yellow ones. Lucile's long light brown braid lay over her shoulder, and her piercing gaze was fixed on both women.

“Who is that, Mikasa?”

===================

Fun fact of the day: Usagi is a Japanese word and means Rabbit in English!