Chapter 14: A Barrier?!

They were seemingly frozen in time, rather than in ice.

“Ah. Shit.” Evan said.

“We should go find Liz and Gram” lime said.

“Good idea.” Evan said.

“Then let’s go.” Suika said.

They went to the cafeteria.

“Evan, what the hell's going on?” Gram asked.

“This is a barrier. It’s like how they let you host custom private matches in games and stuff. My husband came up with it, using that as his idea. It’s one of the reasons they allowed this contest at all. It seals us in a thing that my husband spent around two hours explaining. Basically, it makes any of the damage that happens here go back to normal when it’s released. So if we blow up this building, it will be repaired after the barrier either shatters or is dispelled. It’s to be used in fights during the competition, or between mages in any way and the technique for learning and using it can be found in the competitions guides and rulebooks. It also says it in the papers Evan had you sign earlier. It is a requirement in the competition, though.” Lime explained.

“So, why did you guys not tell us about this?” Gram asked.

“Well, first, neither me nor lime expected something like this to happen already. I was planning on having lime explain it to you during our training session, and then teach it to you after.” Evan said.

“Wait, you said it’s to be used in fights, so..” Suika trailed off.

“Yeah. Somebody is fighting.” Lime said.

There was an explosion nearby, and the room shook from the force.

“Jesus! What was that?!” Gram asked.

“Gram, get ready.” Liz said.

“Oh, right, Gotcha!” Gram said.

Liz sent her mana towards Gram, fusing the two, and a bright light appeared in front of her, transforming into a sword, as Gram disappeared.

Liz shone with a bright light, which shattered, revealing Liz holding a sword, and wearing a new outfit.

A sword that looked like any old normal iron sword held in her hands, and….

“Evan. What did you do?” Liz asked, slightly annoyed.

“Uh. I truly, honestly, really swear to god, I didn’t mean for you to actually wear it into battle. Though, on that note, I made it a lot stronger than the armor that usually appears, and it covers a lot more space. Well, in most places it does.” Evan said nervously.

“Okay, fine. But there’s a single problem here, Evan. Do you by any chance possibly know what that is?” Liz asked with a very scary smile.

“Errr. It’s that you look like-“ Evan started.

“ITS A MAGICAL GIRL COSTUME, FOR GODS SAKE!!!!” Liz yelled.

“Ow! My ears! I get it, Jeez. It was a joke.” Evan said.

“And it was actually my idea. Plus, it looks quite good on you.” Lime said.

“Yeah, it really fits. Especially since it’s a more refined and less childish dress. It actually makes you seem more mature. The dark red is nice, It fits your personality well.” Suika said.

“Yup! I did my best to research what would work perfectly!” Evan said, proud of his work.

“Actually, even I have to say, this is quite nice. The more I’m calming down the more I’m starting to think it’s actually a good fit. Sorry for yelling, there’s a lot of detail here. How long did you work on this for?” Liz asked, slightly impressed.

“Oh. I went into a place where time was stopped, so I’m honestly not sure. Quite a while, though. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist.” Evan said.

“Guys. Fighting is going on down there. Let’s stop talking and start moving. But yes, that dress suits you perfectly.” Gram said.

“Fine, Gram does have a point. And thanks. Let’s go.” Liz said.

They went downstairs.

The sounds of a fight came from the track.

“What the heck is that? Hey, Evan. Didn’t you say that there were lots of other Arks in our school? I don’t see anyone else that can move.” Liz asked.

“Do you think people want to pretty much yell out loud that they’re a mage or an Ark? No. Some people want to stay hidden. Due to how a barriers mana detection system works, if you use a spell that hides your mana you won’t get dragged into a barrier. If a barrier occurs, you are just like all the other people in that area. I'm going to go around and test the barriers integrity. It seems to have been made rather hastily. And there's another person here.” Evan said.

“Hm? Oh, sure. Don’t go too far.” Lime said.

Evan left to go to another room. He disappeared with a dumb special effect.

“Don’t you guys hate being apart?” Liz asked.

“It’s more of a distance thing. As long as he stays on school property he should be fine.” Lime said.

They headed to the field.

Yuki was minding his business, and going about his day. It was after lunch, in the middle of class, when it happened.

“Sir, can you please continue the lesson? Sir? Wait, what’s going on? Nobody’s moving. Are they dead?” Yuki asked, backing up.

“They aren’t dead. I see, now. Do you know what magic is? What’s your name?” Said a boy, popping up out of thin air, with a dumb looking special effect.

The boy looked to be a kid like him, a little younger.

The only differences being his dark crimson, blood red eyes, silver hair still white as snow, and skin as pale as the dead.

And the fact that the boy was floating.

“Uh. Are you floating? Is that magic? What’s going on?” Yuki said, not listening to a word the boy had said.

“Okay, knows magic, kinda, check. Doesn’t listen, check. Freaks out like a person normally would, check. Lets see. Hmm. You have white hair? That’s rare, not many people outside of the vampire family have white hair. Though, yours isn’t that pure of a white. It’s almost grey, like an old person. Odd. Are you of our vampire family by any chance? No, you would be used to magic if that were the case. Oh! I remember father telling me that one of our great great something grandmas ran off and escaped the family. Perhaps you're related to her? Or perhaps a child from an affair? Hm. That would explain the dirty white hair, it was probably a lesser vampire, then. That would explain the impurities in your hair color, as well as your obliviousness to magic. Let’s check your fangs.” The boy said, opening Yuki's mouth.

“Ah! Indeed you have fangs. I think. It’s kinda hard to tell. I’ll have to ask my father for more information on the family. That explains a lot, though. Wait… no…. boy, how do you have mana? If you were a pure vampire I would understand a little bit, but this is the amount of mana the average greater vampire has. Ah, a pity. Your mana valves are a little clogged up. I don’t know how fast you could unclog them through practice, either. But this is strange. I’m glad I chose to come over here. Actually, Why are you being so quiet?” The boy asked.

“I have no idea what in the world is going on. Am I supposed to say something? I didn’t really want to interrupt you, either. In our family training, it is heavily emphasized that interrupting someone who is crazy could get you stabbed in the gut. I don’t think you’re crazy, but I have no idea, and I don’t really want to test it out.” Said Yuki.

“Huh. What kinda family training did you go through?” The boy asked.

“My moms long winded random speeches.” Yuki said.

“Your mother sounds like she is a very wise person.” The boy said.

“Was. She was. Well, actually, she wasn’t. It’s just that she said a lot of things that have stuck by me through the years. Strange sayings, but I like them regardless.” Yuki said.

“I see. Sorry for your loss.” The boy said.

“It was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter right now, either. I still don’t know what’s going on, or who you are.” Yuki said.

“Ah? Oh! I haven’t introduced myself, sorry. I’m Evan. Evan Vampire. I know. It’s a weird name. If the name, pale skin, silver hair, crimson eyes, and previous rant didn’t give it away, I’m a vampire. So my last name is quite literal. As for what’s going on, that would take a really long time to explain. I’ll cut it short. Two guys are on the track fighting with magic, and this is a barrier to prevent any actual damage in the real world. As for why you're here? This barrier detects mana. If there’s a living thing in the vicinity that has enough mana, it gets dragged into this place. You have mana. You got dragged in.” Evan said, tapping a desk.

“I’ll be honest, I still stand by my earlier statement of me having no clue what’s going on, but I think I kinda get the picture. Soooo. Vampire, huh? That’s kinda weird. Why are you here, anyway? Because of the fighting?” Yuki asked.

“Well, why I’m here in this classroom is because I detected you, and thought it might be interesting. As for why I’m in the barrier, I know magic, and I have mana. As for why I’m at school, it’s because I go to this school. I’m enrolled here.” Evan said.

“I’m pretty sure I would notice someone with such blindingly white hair. I’ve never seen you before.” Yuki said.

“Oh. It’s my first year. First time I’ve ever been here. Of course you haven’t seen me.” Evan said.

“Oh. I guess that explains it? Wait, no! I haven’t seen someone like you anywhere at all, or heard anything. I’m pretty sure there would be a little bit of talk. I mean, me having only slightly white hair made people start gossiping about me. A crimson eyed, pure Snow White haired, pale, pretty boy would be the talk of the entire town. No, the entire city! There’s no way in hell you live here! People that I’ve never even met before immediately recognize me because of this hair!” Yuki said.

“Wow. It’s because I live in the huge mansion that’s all the way over there. I don’t have any need to go out into the city.” Evan said.

Evan looked him over, one last time.

"Interesting." Evan remarked.

“Huh?” Yuki asked, confused.

“Well, you have quite the adventure ahead of you. I guess that isn’t a story for here, though. So I’m going to go back to my friends, I’ll see you around.” Evan said, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared. With just as dumb a special effect.

“Wai-damnit. What’s happening? He explained it, but it still won’t… whatever. I’ll just sit here and think it through calmly.” Yuki said, zoning out.

“Well, time to go see what happened while I was gone.” Evan said, nearing the others.