Don’t you just hate it when you have to enroll on your own in a new school? Lots of problems pop out during the process and you have to run around the campus. Even though I hate the process, I was thankful for it since I met a lot of people who became my friends.

***

So here we are. The headmaster brought me to a church-like interior part of the academy, there, at the end of the hall, two women—no, out worldly beauties are standing wearing Priestess shrine clothes. The other one is wearing full white while the other is black. Both have golden garments on their clothes. It looks like their magical tools.

“Good morning Headmaster. Is this the new student?”

The two girls bowed to us while keeping their balance.

But man! Those breasts sure are bountiful. Just looking at them makes my heart pound hard.

“Emina, Lia, thank you for sparing time despite your busy schedule.”

“It’s our pleasure to follow the Headmaster’s request.”

The one in white clothes is Emina, and the one in black is Lia.

Are beauties supposed to be in this position?! They look like two flowers on a hill top.

“I understand that we had to do a ceremony for this man, but why is a King’s knight here?”

The one they called the King’s knight was Sora. He’s inside the room and is leaning on the wall while smiling at the women. For some reason, the two of them bears animosity towards him. Do they have some kind of history?

“Please don’t mind him. Especially you Lia, he’s one of your God’s saint. Please show some respect.”

Sora’s a saint? No, no, no, it’s probably just a magician’s title.

“Please proceed with the ceremony, I don’t like getting late for class.”

“Oh? If so, why don’t you go ahead and leave? Your presence here is enough of a nuisance for us.”

“Unfortunately I can’t leave my friend here alone. Moreover, he’s a new comer.”

I could feel the tension between Sora and Lia. I can almost see sparks between their stares.

“Now, now, everyone has something to do, right? Let’s not make any more delay to the ceremony.”

Ah! Thank god the Headmaster interrupted. Who knows what would happen if things get out of hand.

Then, the headmaster let me stand in the center of a magic circle on the floor. Lia stood up on the right side outside the magic circle while Emina was on the left.

“Now, we will begin the ceremony. Please, prepare yourself.”

Emina told me while pulling out a golden wand from behind her.

““Oh gods in the heavens that watches the earth””

This seems to be longer than I thought.

““Exercise thy divinity over us mortals and prove thy supreme existence.””

They started waving their wands like they’re writing something on the air. It seems that it’s not just any formality huh.

“Lend me the power of Light!” “Lend me the power of NIght!”

--Oh, so they’re different in the middle.

““We know thy name”” “Helius” “Darkus” “Judge this man.”

Suddenly, the lines under my feet shined and I started getting wrapped in black and white magic.

“Now, let see if you’re a Helius or a Darkus.”

The light keeps getting stronger and stronger by the second. I really don’t know what will happen to me after this, but things are getting weirder by the minute. I could feel the light moving on my skin like water.

As I let it continue, suddenly, the water-like feeling changed into a biting-like one.

“Ouch!”

--Is this supposed to be like this?!

“Hey, hey, what the heck is happening to Key? You didn’t turn the ceremonial spell into a sealing spell by mistake, did you?!”

Apparently, Sora seems to know what’s happening to me.

“Darkus saint, can your magic eye see what’s happening!?”

The light already took my vision away and I can only hear them yelling at each other.

“I can. The patterns around the magic circle changed drastically. I didn’t notice it changing until the effects we’re applied.”

“How is that even possible?! I’m sure we created a ceremonial spell, there’s no way it would change into a sealing one.”

I don’t know what faces they’re making, but I can slightly tell judging by their voices.

But this thing sure hurts a lot—this is not the time I should be feeling the pain! I’m getting sealed! I’m too young to die!

I tried to struggle free from this sealing magic when suddenly; some unknown voices entered my head.

[[I found you!]]

--Found me? Who the heck are you?!

Then I could feel a heavy weight being dropped on my shoulders.

[[Take heed heretic, for we are the great gods that watch over the heaven and earth, the Guardians of this realm, and the ones who grants everlasting power to those worthy seekers.]]

Did they read my mind? Leaving that aside, why are they talking to me. Not even mentioning trying to seal me.

“Hang on Key! I’ll pull you out!”

I could hear Sora calling out to me.

--What do you want from me?

I asked the gods not with words, but with thoughts.

[[You, you possess power we gods banished from this world.]]

--Is that even enough reason to kill me? I haven’t even learned about it.

I want to try and use this magic to ease my life you know.

I tried to move my limbs despite being restrained by unknown force.

[[Resistance is futile heretic.]]

--Fuck you!

I managed to move my hand and open my eyes using all my strength. It’s pretty tiring.

After doing so, the heavy weigh on my shoulders slowly disappears. But then suddenly, another voice came to my mind.

[I’ll set you free. Don’t mind them. I’ll be the one who’ll take responsibility.]

A mature gentle female voice, it sounded so light that it warmed my body up just listening to it.

[I’ll tell you this once young one: live and learn everything about this world, ignore the ones that call you heretic, and defeat the true evil that lies from within. For those are the key to save this world, or destroy it. It will be up to you to decide this world’s fate.]

Even if it sounded irresponsible, I could feel every emotion she was trying to show. Despite the noise I could hear inside my head from the voices of other entities, I could tell which one is hers.

--Am I some kind of protagonist? This kind of responsibility is kind of cliché.

I could hear her giggle and then said, “Everyone is a protagonist of their own lives, it’s their choice to take responsibility of it and make it wonderful.”

After the last struggle, black and white light dispersed into thin air and the magic circle below me broke and the floor cracked. The oracles, the headmaster, and Sora, we’re all dumbfounded while looking at me exasperating.

“What the heck just happened?”

Sora, who is holding a dagger stuck to the floor asked me first.

“*huff* I think, *huff* I just *huff* made enemies just by *huff* breathing the same *huff* air as you.”

I’m so tired I’m breathing roughly.

Sora ran towards me and put my arm around his shoulder to support my weakening legs. After that, he looked at the two oracles who were still trying to understand what happened just now.

“Don’t look at us like that! We don’t have anything to do with the sealing ceremony. All we know is that the magic circle here is for blessing ceremony.”

“Of course I know that, I got blessed here myself.”

After shifting his gaze towards me, he looked at the headmaster who was busy studying the broken magic circle.

“Headmaster, I’d like to talk with you privately. Lia, Emina, don’t utter a word of this to the head priest.”

“Why? Explain your--”

“Just don’t! We have to hide this from the world or else we’ll be in grave danger.”

The two oracles and I saw Sora’s face like we’re looking at a madman. He has cold sweats coming down from his head and his arms were visibly shaking.

“Do you have any idea what happened?”

The Headmaster looked at us with a puzzled face.

Skipping a few lines, we are now in the headmaster’s office. It’s quite different from before I came here. It feels like the place is isolated somehow.

They probably used some kind of magic. Magic sure is convenient.

I’m currently sitting on a chair with a long back. It’s quite comfortable—this is not the time I should be idling! I’m tired. Dead tired for some reason. I can feel my strength disappearing from my body.

Sora and the Headmaster looked at me who, is breathing heavily while looking pretty weak.

“Sora, what does your magic eye see?”

“Wait a moment, Invoke: Eyes of Truth.”

--What’s with those weird lines?

Suddenly, the stars from Sora’s eyes glowed and popped out. The magic circles are now in front of his vision with weird writings on rotating on it.

“What is it, dude?”

Tracing his gaze, he looked at me from head to toe carefully like looking at an expensive painting. Is he some kind of art critic?

“This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of sealing technique. However, it’s broken. It’s the source of Key’s weakening state. It’s draining his mana in an attempt to repair itself.”

Since I have no idea what they’re talking about, I shut my mouth.

“Sealing technique, if you can see it and I can’t, that means it has a [Mana Camouflage] script attached to it. Since I was also not able to detect it, maybe it also has [Mana Dispersal].”

Sora looked at me while looking impressed.

“That’s one heck of a seal. But I think this has something to do about what happened earlier. The magic circuit suddenly changed—metamorphosed from blessing to sealing. I never heard of such event.”

Suddenly, the headmaster looked grim. I think he know something.

“I have a small clue about what happened earlier although I never saw it once, I only read about it in the Great Council Library.”

--Cool, something fantasy-like came out of the Headmaster’s mouth, although my situation is slightly grim, but still…

“It’s called [God’s Encroachment]. It says in the book that the one targeted by this are commonly Heretics and Evil god Fanatics.”

Since this topic is about me, I decided to cut in.

“Then, why me? I never knew about anything here. Not to mention that I’ve just arrived here yesterday.”

“I can understand young man. For now, we need to treat you as fast as possible, you’re mana is leaking every second.”

--He was thinking about my health huh. I thought he would just make a backstory about some person from the past before me.

“So what happens if I run out of mana?”

“If you run out of mana, you die, simple as that.”

So mana isn’t like in the games where you need it as a power source to use magic. In reality, it also serves as your lifeline.

Sora, please tell me that if I’m not in danger with it as a reason. You’re killing me with pressure you know!

The headmaster rushed towards the shelves and started looking for something. His body looks like he’s panicking, but he’s not.

He sure still looks calm despite having a person in front of him in a dying state.

“For now, we need to look for a way to repair the missing script on his seal. I certainly doubt that Sora can fix that even with his [Magic Eyes].”

I can interpret those words as worry and insult at the same time.

I wonder how Sora feels about it.

“Heh, if I have my [Black Hermit’s Dagger], I could have sealed it there.”

Then I could hear the Headmaster making a “Heh” sound from behind. Apparently, he thought it was funny.

“Is your brain getting dull? You can’t seal a seal, saying it alone is enough to convince you that it’s a contradiction.”

Even though I haven’t experience using magic yet, I can tell that it sounds absurd just by listening to it.

“Huh!? Give me my dagger back and I’ll prove it to you!”

Seems Sora lost his cool and got agitated. He doesn’t like to get embarrassed huh.

“No, you still have to wait for six days before I lift the ban. Since you violated a rule together with Miss Cherlaine Remlyzine Goldenbloom, I can’t give you an exemption.”

“B-but!”

“No buts! I can’t be soft to you even if you’re a king’s knight. It would ruin the reputation of the Academy’s Status.”

Getting defeated, Sora sat on the chair while grumbling.

I think it’s been an hour since we entered the Headmaster’s office.

The tired feeling I had since a while ago didn’t disappear. Although I was getting used to it, the moment I relax myself, it gets worse.

Sora kept looking at me while using his Magic Eyes. I think he’s monitoring my health’s state.

While at it, the headmaster kept on reading books on the shelves and kept his search for something to help me.

“I’ve been thinking.”

I spoke to Sora beside me since I was getting bored.

“If my seal isn’t repaired, I’ll die right?”

“Yeah, that’s why the Headmaster is doing a fast paced research about it.”

--Fast paced, huh? All I can see is him reading the books slowly. I wonder if the letters of their alphabet are small.

“I have an idea. I’ve seen this in some movies before. It’s just a theory though.”

“I’m all ears.”

Sora fixed his sitting position before letting me continue.

“If my seal cannot be repaired, isn’t it better to just fully break it?”

Looks like he expected that one, I can tell just by looking at that unchanging face of his.

“I think you already know about it. You are sealed for a reason. It’s quite a big risk to unseal you. It might either kill you, or the people around you. Just talking about past experiences, I’ve seen a seal getting broken and something bad comes out. It’s truly dangerous.”

Hopeless, huh…

“Well, if push comes to shove, we might have to resort to that.”

“Quick take back?’

“I am pretty curious about the thing that is sealed into or a part of you is.”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m some game.”

“Now, now, I’m sure you’re curious too, so don’t make a face like that.”

Che, this guy!

“Maybe it’ll be like: Power, SO MUCH POWER!!!!”

“Quiet down, Sora.”

The headmaster reprimanded Sora who was making a joke noisily.

Knowing him as a person of high status, this makes me change my opinion of him, in a positive way of course.

“Calm down dude. It does make me kind of excited. If i wasn’t in this kind of state, I’d gladly accept that kind of thing, but now’s not the time. It might kill me.”

Of course I’m worried of my own life. I haven’t done many things in my lifetime. Let alone travel in this new world.

--Wait.

Isn’t that a great idea? I should go and travel this world. There might be things that are—no, there are many things that are not in earth. I’d like to see them after I recover from this. I’m burning up!

Just when I started having happy thoughts, my chest suddenly started feel cramped. I can’t breathe!

“Headmaster! Key’s showing signs of mana depletion, Hurry!”

--Can’t breathe!!!

My body feels like it’s breaking apart and would explode any moment.

I saw the headmaster jumped down the ladder and went towards me in a rush. He put his hands on my shoulder and took a good look at my eyes.

Suddenly, his face turned, not grim, but surprise.

“This is not mana depletion. It’s [Spirit Break]. If this goes on, his mana—his life will really disappear in one go.”

--That sounds way more dangerous before!

Isn’t just me, or my condition turned from worse to worst. Do the heavens forsake me this much!?

Sora on the other hand is looking at me with his Magic Eyes activated.

“Now that you said it, I’m starting to see his mana—not just that! I can see the script of the seals getting unraveled one by one. I think the mana camouflage is disappearing.”

“Is that so?”

The headmaster closes his eyes while facing me. Suddenly, he started chanting.

Ugh, I think he could use some breath mints.

“## >”

Two round magic circles appeared before the headmaster’s eyes. The circle has two layers of weird looking fonts rotating on different directions.

“I can now see most of the script. Since this isn’t as powerful as your magic eyes, I can’t maintain this for more than five minutes. If that happens, I need you Sora to be the one who continue on breaking it.”

““Break it?””

Both Sora and I got puzzled by him.

“I mean, we have to destroy the seal since there’s no other choice. We have to do this fast because it won’t be long before the [Spirit Break] happens.”

The headmaster stood beside Sora and pulled out a book from inside his robe.

Isn’t that book too big to fit in your robe? The robe must have magic.

“>”

The book made an unlocking sound and then flipped open. For some reason, his face is glowing. It’s probably because of the book having magical lights.

“#### ### ##### ## #### ## >”

After the Headmaster finished his spell, I suddenly got sprinkled by blue silvery dusts. Suddenly, lines, a lot of it, suddenly appeared around me. This is probably the Seal they’re talking about.

“No way, My Magic Eye didn’t see every layer!? I take back what I said earlier, my magic weapon isn’t going it cut it.”

“What do you mean Sora? What do you see?”

After making a gulp sound, Sora told the number while looking in awe and fear.

“There are at least 60 layers. 10 of them are advance level and there are at least 20 unknown ones. The other half are just spells to hide it. Judging from the script residue of the damaged seals, there are 100 layers over all.”

The Headmaster stiffened after hearing the exact number. Since I don’t really know much about magic, it’s probably something amazing again.

“Godfre…” the headmaster muttered.

“What?”

“No, not you, I meant your grandfather.”

--It’s very confusing!!!

“The one who made this set of seals is your grandfather. There’s no mistaking it, he’s the one who put this seal on you.”

“No, no, no, no, I can’t believe that. He died before I was born.”

The headmaster shook his head and then replied.

“He didn’t die, he disappeared.”

The room falls into silence.

I forgot the pain I’m feeling due to the shock. After all, who wouldn’t? The one who tied me up in this mess is him. Although I haven’t seen him, I have a lot of questions about many things.

“Cut the conspiracy-mystery thing! He’ll really die if we let this thing continue. And you Key, if you’re in pain, act like one.”

Now that Sora reminds me, the rupturing pain that I unconsciously ignored returned, doubled.

“#### ### ### ## # # ## ###### ## # #### #### ### >”

“### # ###### # ##### ##### ### ##### # ## >”

“###### ######## ###### ##### ##### ## ######### ### # ### >”

“As expected of the Headmaster, three advanced spells in one breath, still unparalleled as before.”

Sora got impressed of the staggering headmaster after using his magic.

“I’m not almighty like I was before during my youth.”

“What, did your years catch up?”

“Sora, Swords rusts in Time.”

I’m quite impressed with their composure during this time. But please, leave that for later! I’m about to die here!

--End of part 1--