Volume 10 - CH 1

Chapter 1: Curtain Call

Atlantis 6:00 AM

Some kind of sleep-rousing sound rang out.

A kind of unknown mystery sound, so vivid that it was as if there were several hundred types of animals running in the room. It caused me to have an illusion of dreaming about a group of animals running around in South Africa.

So noisy, really is super noisy, what kind of rotten zoo is this!?

I covered my ears tightly, but that soul-rousing sound was still persistently ringing.

Wait a minute, when did my room have a zoo? It can’t be that there’s some whatchamacallit thing invading again, right?

Realizing this, I immediately got up from my bed; only then did I discover that the strange sound had come from that mystical cell phone that never ran out of battery.

At six o’clock in the morning, the cell phone that didn’t have any alarms set up at all had somehow issued an enigmatic sound on its own to wake me up.

I hurriedly climbed over to turn off the phone’s alarm, and after staring blankly for a while, I was awake.

That’s right, this is the Black Dorm…Yesterday, after Lake Town flooded, we all evacuated from the scene and directly returned to the school. And Leido and his two brothers, and the assistant and the others were sent to the medical team. When we got back to the school, it was already very late, so after listening to a brief explanation, everyone automatically scattered.

It was said that, the Black Willow Ridge group had also returned shortly after that.

Nn…The final competition is finally over.

With a “pa,” I fell back onto the bed. There was a feeling of being completely out of strength and wanting to stay in bed.

Just when I planned to continue sleeping for a bit, that cell phone that can automatically emit sounds suddenly loudly sounded again. But this time, it wasn’t the sound of animals wildly running. I lazily reached out my hand to pick it up—

“Did you sleep to death!?” As soon as it connected, an extremely hostile tone immediately came from the other side.

I clearly knew that he couldn’t see me, but my body still involuntarily reacted right away. I instantly became wide-awake, immediately jumping off from the bed to the floor. “Uh…Morning, Senior. I’m awake. I’m awake.” I’m gonna die. Senior hardly ever calls me. Usually he would directly walk up to my room and kick the door, and sometimes, when I’d clearly locked the door, it would actually still be kicked open by him.

“The curtain call ceremony will be held today.”

Senior’s cold tone gave me a very shocking news, causing me to be unable to react for a moment. “Gah? Why is it so fast?” We just came back yesterday and today we’re having the curtain call. Isn’t that a bit too hurried?

This kind of feeling was just like dying today and then being immediately cremated tomorrow, so promptly that even the family members wouldn’t be notified.

“Because of the unexpected incident with the Ghost King, all the representatives had to be first sent back to their schools for their safety. And since the follow-up action would be quite troublesome, the General Assembly needed more time, so the curtain call ceremony that was to be held three days later was changed to today.”

So that’s the reason why. Speaking of which, because of the unexpected incident this time, there really were a lot of rules that changed. Even the five-team competition had turned into ten teams in the end; it might have broken a record, I guess.

Just when I was going to ask something, I suddenly heard a certain very familiar rumbling noise coming from the other end of the phone, “Senior, you’re at the airport?” I heard the sound of a plane taking off.

…Wait a minute! There shouldn’t be the sound of a plane taking off at the school, right!? Just where did you run off to?

“I’m out on a mission, and I’ll hurry back later.” An impatient voice drifted over after the plane took off.

You’re out on a mission…You’re actually out on a mission!

You just came back yesterday, and in the same night, you actually ran out on a mission!

Isn’t it said that after completing the array, you would be very tired, very tired, and then so tired that you would have no energy? Why would you still go on a mission!?

All I can say is, sure enough, black robes are all not human, “Uh…Then what do I have to do?” Waking me up so early in the morning, I suppose Senior probably didn’t do that just to tell me he’s on a plane for a mission, right?

“Every member has to attend today’s curtain call ceremony, so after eating breakfast, you need to hurry to the players’ lounge to gather, got it!?”

“Oh, I understand.”

“Then that’s it.”

With a “pa,” that side very straightforwardly ended the call.

I looked at the cell phone that had been hung up and was emitting “du du” sounds. For three seconds, my mind was rendered completely blank.

Oh, that’s it?

Speaking of attending, I wonder if Yido and them…Forget it, it’s better if I don’t think too much.

Right now I have another problem; if Senior’s not here, then who should I go borrow a bathroom from?

How troublesome.

In the end, I borrowed Andy’s bathroom.

After all, in the entire Black Dorm, other than Senior’s, his room is probably the only normal one. I don’t even dare to go to Randall’s room again, much less the others whom I don’t know.

When I got to the players’ lounge, it was probably past seven. As soon as I opened the door, pretty much everyone had already arrived.

“Morning, Yang~~” The five-colored rooster head waved at me. He was sitting beside the table, and in front of him, the table was full of sesame seed cakes, fried breadsticks, and rice milk. A very normal breakfast. The abnormal part is that there were enough servings for about a dozen people piled on top of it. It looks sort of like the scene of some eating competition. “Do you want to have breakfast?” He completely didn’t look like someone who just got seriously injured yesterday, and was instead very much alive and kicking; not even a little scratch could be seen.

The words “amazing vitality,” other than being used to describe cockroaches, can probably be used to describe this kind of person too.

“What kind of nonsense about cockroaches are you thinking about so early in the morning.” Following in behind me, Senior disliked that I was obstructing the road, and kicked me, who was blocking the entrance, two steps forward.

“Na, nothing.” I hurriedly ran ahead, until I was at a safe distance away, before I dared to turn my head back and give a sheepish smile.

With just a glance, I could tell that he was in an extremely bad mood, so it’s best if I provoke him as little as possible.

“Che!*” Senior, who looked like he had been busy all night, was too lazy to bother with me. After only rolling his eyes at me, he headed toward his sofa throne and sat down, not paying attention to anyone.

[T/N: Scoffing sound]

Gasai, who was originally reading a book nearby, closed the book, “It’s finally over…” He sighed like an old man basking in the sun.

“Nn…Nn yeah.” Toward this unclear comment, I froze for a moment, and then nodded, completely unaware of how I should respond.

“Aih, it’s going to become boring again.” The five-colored rooster head stuffed a fried breadstick into his mouth, causing one to want to ignore his sigh.

In fact, I think your personal life shouldn’t be boring at all. You can tell just by looking at the people, who were angered until they wanted to kill him, chasing behind him every single time.

Just when the room had gradually returned to being quiet, a knocking sound came from the door.

Everyone turned their gaze to me in unison.

Alright, I get it. Not only am I the closest to the door, I’m also the odd-job man, so I’ll go and open the door, okay?

After opening the door, standing outside were two unexpected visitors, “Hello, Atlantis Academy’s players.” The first one reflected in my eyes was Barbalis Academy’s representative, Felicia. She was smiling quite happily, similarly giving one a very comfortable feeling. “It’s been some time since we saw you guys. Was your journey pleasant?”

I froze for a moment, and stepped back. She walked in very naturally, as if this was their lounge and not ours.

“Good morning the two of you.” Gasai stepped forward to welcome them, and very politely greeted, “I heard that both of your performances at Black Willow Ridge were very brilliant. It’s a pity that we couldn’t witness it with our own eyes. It seems that we’ll have to wait until we receive the video sphere before we can see your graceful bearings.”

“That’s of course. How could Tenli and I possibly give the chance to be in the limelight to others?” Felicia laughed very heartily, “Unless our opponents are you representatives of Atlantis Academy. In which case, we can only admit defeat.” She shrugged, and laughed again; she didn’t take last time’s incident to heart at all.

To be honest, in this entire competition, other than Yido and the others whom I already know, I felt that they might be the easiest to get along with, because Felicia’s character was quite straightforward; she didn’t seem to be scheming anything.

“We came here this time, because we have to directly head back to Barbalis after the awards and the curtain call, so we came to say goodbye early.” Tenli, who came in after her, slightly bowed; her tone was still so calm, “This school competition has allowed us to witness the experts from different sides and learn just as much valuable experiences. We really look forward to being able to exchange moves with all of you again next time.”

“Same here.” Senior, who had already appeared behind me at some point, also returned the bow, “We feel the same way. Thank you very much.”

I took a step back, feeling that they were talking rather happily; I should move away a little.

“That’s right. That’s Student Chu?” Just as I was about to turn around and make a run for it, Felicia’s voice directly sounded behind me, and I could only turn my head back and put on a smile. “We also saw you last time. The you from that time isn’t quite the same as now. Looks like you gained a lot during the competition too.”

The me from that time is different from now?

Really? I doubtfully looked myself up and down.

I should still be an Earthling, right? I didn’t feel like I had turned into a Martian.

With a “pa,” Senior directly smacked the back of my head, “He didn’t change much. Wait until he qualifies for a robe level one day before you praise him.” His eyes were facing Felicia, but I felt that he seemed to be talking to me.

“I believe that under the instructions of Prince Icy Flame and the school, next time we meet he should already be a robe level.” Tenli smiled slightly, then walked up to me, and stretched out her hand, “Let us each offer blessings to the way ahead.”

I looked at Senior, and he nodded at me. I hurriedly reached out my hand to hold Tenli’s hand, “Uh…I wish you all the best.” I heard the five-colored rooster head making a “pfft” sound.

What else could I do! How would I know what blessings I was supposed to offer!?

Looking like she didn’t mind at all, Tenli slowly bowed, “I wish you all the best as well, avoiding misfortune, having gains, wisdom, and light; the spirit of the Snow Country who dominates happiness shall bless you.”

Ha? So this is how you offer blessings?

I started thinking, should I tell her that I hope the Jade Emperor, Mazu, or Buddha will bless you…

[T/N: The Jade Emperor is one of the representations of the first god]

[T/N: Mazu is a Chinese sea goddess and Queen of Heaven, whose religion is very popular in Taiwan.]

Why does it sound like it’s on a much lower level?

Behind me, Senior suddenly reached out his hand, and pushed my head down.

It’s gonna break, it’s gonna break, it’s gonna break!

“Blessing Barbalis Academy to be just as successful, upright, clean, righteous, and carefree; the Elven God who dominates the infinite shall shine on the path of the Snow Country’s Fairies.” Senior softly said beside my ear, and I hurriedly repeated after him.

“Thank you for both of your blessings. On behalf of Barbalis Academy and all of the Snow Country’s Fairies, I thank the two of you.” Tenli smiled again, and then with Felicia beside her, they simultaneously bowed as salutations.

After a few seconds, Senior released his hand, and I quickly retreated to the side, very afraid that he would grab my head again.

“Then that’ll be all. It’s almost time, so we’ll head back to prepare first. We’ll see you at the curtain call ceremony later.” Felicia hooked her arm through Tenli’s and walked out, still warmly waving goodbye to us.

“See you next time.”

The curtain call ceremony officially started at nine.

Due to the school’s image and other factors, this time Senior and senior Gasai didn’t wear their robes that represented their robe levels. Instead, just like me, they changed into the clothes of the school’s representative team. Even the five-colored rooster head was ordered not to wear his Taiwanese visitor outfit and flip-flops.

Although he complained a lot, later on he still surrendered under Senior’s tyrannical power. This made me once again understand that Senior’s position is much higher than the five-colored rooster head’s; even he doesn’t dare to rebel against Senior. This really is a good phenomenon. At least there’s someone who is able to step on his head.

Looking at Senior next to me, in fact, he didn’t look that bad wearing the representative team’s clothes. However, the competition has already gotten to the final curtain call before we got to see him wearing this once; it feels quite unfortunate.

“You’re looking for a beating?” A lazy sentence drifted over, and I immediately didn’t dare to continue thinking nonsense.

“Held every four years, the curtain call ceremony of the large-scale joint school competition, officially begins now!”

Following the huge sound that spread throughout the entire school, the silence was broken, and Senior and I walked side-by-side out of the first large-scale arena.

The surrounding clamor seemed as if it hasn’t happened for long time as it directly entered my hearing. The entire floor was shaking from the resounding cheers of the audience. I raised my head, and surrounding the arena was a packed audience, with people everywhere I look. All the announcers that appeared from the start to now were side-by-side in the air. Their different wings had different colored lights, and looked very gorgeous and beautiful.

“Today’s final curtain call ceremony will still be presided by me, Lindy, so please advise me.” An announcer with silver wings represented all the other announcers as she waved to the audience, immediately attracting a huge applause. “This year, there were many schools that participated in this large-scale joint competition, and the teams were also some of the most enthusiastic in the past years. However, due to limited space, the top ten participating teams will replace them in this curtain call ceremony, and the follow-up procedures will be assigned to each school one by one.”

While listening to the announcer, I secretly glanced around. Sure enough, no one in the curtain call ceremony was wearing robe level clothes. They were all wearing clothes that represented their own school.

In Senior Randall’s team, even Chifuyu and the others were too.

Despite similarly being in the same school, Chifuyu and the others’ representative clothes were somewhat different from ours; the colors and style were a bit different. The only ones that didn’t change were probably the clothes of Seven Hill Academy’s representative team. They were dressed exactly the same from start to end; not even one accessory was missing. This made me increasingly feel that they really are a mysterious team. No one even knows their true appearance and whatnot, since they’re covered from head to toe.

“Next, we would like our judges’ representative to comment on all the grading criteria and assessments of this competition.”

The announcer passed the baton, and I saw Director Jing walk out from the judges’ bench. A fair amount of applause sounded from the surroundings.

I continued to look to the other side. Sure enough, I didn’t see Yido and the others on Alis Academy’s side. But it seems that representatives had come, several people whom I’ve never seen before. They were probably selected from the same school to substitute them, right?

To be honest, I was slightly disappointed.

“In this large-scale competition, the grading criteria of the review is as announced before; the analysis and scoring is based on skill, impromptu reaction, leadership, cooperation, ability, team spirit and so on.” Director Jing’s voice spread to the whole stage, and the audience that was originally somewhat noisy immediately quieted down, entering a state of silence in just one second. “Among this, we saw many teams that were unable to successfully cooperate or excellent individual performances with strong and weak points, etc. Hopefully, during this competition, all of you players have realized this point yourself. After all, in the future, regardless of what standard, for individuals or the people around them, it is considerably important. In order to avoid the time being dragged out too long by us, the judges’ comments will stop here.”

Then, an uniform applause immediately sounded in the surroundings again.

Lindy flew to the middle of the stage, and raised her hand up high, “Let us once again thank the judges for their hard work during this competition, and the two teams of blue robes and red robes that were dispatched to cooperate in the competition.” Saying that, the audience immediately cheered enthusiastically, “Next up, is what everyone has been looking forward to the most, the announcement of the rankings!”

As soon as her words fell, the surroundings instantly grew so quiet that even a needle falling on the ground could be clearly heard.

“This ranking award has a total of the following: first, second, and third place, which is also the top three. Outstanding individual award, outstanding team award, outstanding new partners award, outstanding partners award, and the top three outstanding players chosen from each team’s performance.” Lindy loudly declared, “The winner of the outstanding individual award, the black robe of Atlantis Academy’s second representative team, Prince Icy Flame.”

Cheers and some kind of suspected-to-be-whistling sounds came from everywhere. Senior smiled slightly, and then lightly bowed at the audience.

“The outstanding team award, the white robes of Alis Academy’s representative team, the Water Fairies’ three Glendor brothers, Yido, Yado, and Leido. However, because the representative team was injured during the last battle, and is currently recuperating, the award will be accepted by a representative of the same school.” I saw that stranger who was standing on Alis Academy’s side also bowed at the audience. “The outstanding new partners award goes to both red robe Yukino Chifuyu, and white robe Ryan Scar of Atlantis Academy’s first representative team. Similarly, the outstanding partners award goes to Barbalis Academy’s purple robes Tenli and Felicia. Yukino Chifuyu and Ryan Scar are the new up-and-coming double partners. In the future, please expect much of both of their performances.”

Looking at Chifuyu and Ryan’s happy expressions, I clapped hard along with the surrounding applause.

I think that it was only natural for them to receive the award. You can tell just by seeing how well they work together every time.

“Next, is for the outstanding players in each team. We assessed many outstanding players and chose the top three among them. But because some have already received individual awards, in this name list, we ask them to please give in a little, and let this award be shared with other players.” Lindy smilingly said, and then I don’t know if it’s my misconception, but I noticed that she secretly glanced at Senior. “Of the top three outstanding players, the first place goes to Atlantis Academy’s first representative team’s black robe, player Misia D. Randall. The second place goes to Seven Hills Academy’s representative team’s player Wei Tian, and third place goes to Atlantis Academy’s first representative team’s player Geng, who uses Snake Eyes with ease! This year’s outstanding players had two non-robes, so please give them all a round of applause!”

Strange, I thought that Mohander from Clear Wind Academy would probably be selected, since he used a very strong weapon when he fought Senior. Although it seems that it still wasn’t as strong as Senior’s.

“Because Clear Wind Academy wasn’t aware that Tenju had been replaced, and brought the imposter to participate in the competition and harm the other players, their score was severely penalized in this competition.” Standing in front of me, Senior glanced at me and said.

Oh, then I understand. That’s also true, since no matter how powerful the face-changing person is, he was actually not discovered after infiltrating them to participate in the competition and even staying with them for quite a while. I feel that Clear Wind Academy being penalized was still kind of reasonable.

After all, even Senior who wasn’t from their school knew that he was an imposter. It’s a bit embarrassing that they themselves didn’t realize that.

“Other than that, Evil Spirit Academy had repeatedly played tricks during the competition. It’s said that after arriving at Black Willow Ridge, they once again obstructed the competition from proceeding, and the evidence was taken out by the maintenance team on the spot. Not being forced to withdraw from the competition is already very fortunate for them, so this time they wouldn’t be able to contend for a spot in the rankings.” Glancing at Evil Spirit Academy, the only spot in the entire arena that seemed to create a dark space and ignite will-o’-the-wisps, Senior said, “In Black Willow Ridge, other than Barbalis, the other teams’ performances were said to be mediocre, so it looks like Barbalis’ team should be leading ahead of the other teams by many points in that fight.”

“Oh.” So that’s the case. I secretly glanced over, and Felicia, who just so happened to look over, smiled brilliantly as she secretly waved at me; I quickly nodded as a greeting.

“Next up is what everyone has been looking forward to the most. The top three in this competition, just who will be the ones to win the awards!?” Lindy used a tone that left one in suspense, and then with a snap of her fingers, a golden card appeared on her hand. She used a very, very slow speed to flip it open. That speed was so slow that it felt as if bottles would start to be thrown out from the audience. Then, she gasped, “Yeah! This competition would definitely cause everyone’s glasses to fall*. Unexpectedly, the third place of this competition is—the astronomy school, Alis Academy!”

[T/N: cause to be surprised]

I heard the applause in the arena, and the players representing Yido and them cheered then hugged each other. Even if they aren’t participants, for their school to rise up on the competition rankings, it would still make one very happy, right?

“Following that, there are two teams in the runner-up. In this competition, the two most promising teams are tied for runner-up at the same time, and those are our two home teams, Atlantis Academy’s first representative team and second representative team! Both teams have the same score, and with a considerably high score, they lead far ahead of all the other teams!”

Runner-up?

I was stunned.

I don’t know if it’s happiness or some other emotion, but in fact, I’ve always thought that according to Senior and the others’ performance, it should be…

As if they had the same doubt as me, the cheers in the arena weren’t that enthusiastic, and were replaced by many questioning voices.

“Next, is the championship team that is the focus of everyone.”

Ignoring the questioning voices in the whole arena, Lindy looked at the last name on the card, “Has never attended the large-scale competition before, receiving the highest outstanding award on their first time being listed, the sacrificial incantation school that obtained the highest overall score among all the assessments and requirements! After surprising everyone at the start, sitting on the throne with only a few points in difference, the final champion of this large-scale joint school competition is—”

Seven Hill Academy!

The surroundings fell quiet.

Not a sound could be heard…Maybe everyone had the same frame of mind as me right now, completely not understanding why Seven Hill Academy, which didn’t have any achievements and also participated in this competition for the first time, would win the highest award in one fell swoop, while our school that was the most anticipated would only be runner-up.

Secretly glancing at Senior and the others’ expressions, I found that they weren’t surprised at all. Even the five-colored rooster head had that as-expected expression.

Could it be that Seven Hill Academy is actually stronger than our school?

Looking at that team whose true nature has yet to be known, my heart was still full of doubts.

“Perhaps everyone would be surprised at the first place winner.” The one who broke the silence was the announcer. In a voice not light nor heavy, it caused many of the silent audience to cast their attention back to her, “But please think back carefully, to when each team headed toward their location to carry out their mission, to what the scene that everyone saw was, together with Seven Hills Academy’s remarkable performance before; then it should be easy for everyone to understand why the first place this time is Seven Hills Academy.”

“In overall skills, impromptu reactions, leadership, cooperation, ability, and team spirit, etc., the judges all agree that Seven Hills Academy is the most suitable to obtain first place!” After Lindy, Lucia spoke, “Please cheer for our winner of this sports meet!”

After saying that, the belated cheers and applause immediately sounded from the surroundings.

Maybe I’m not too clear on it, but I guess, after watching the appended video, I should be able to understand it too, right?

The several announcers from the official start of the competition up to now raised their hands up high. Beautiful colorful sparks simultaneously burst out in the entire sky, sweeping down around the whole arena like a waterfall. So spectacular that it made one unable to tear his gaze away.

The sparks didn’t stop after a long time, and fireworks continued to burst in the sky, rumbling as if to declare the end of this tense competition for the final time.

“Next will be the award ceremony. The General Assembly will send the prizes to this year’s winners, and because the first prize cannot be bestowed publicly, it will later be personally escorted and sent to Seven Hills Academy by the General Assembly’s black robes. Please give another warm round of applause to all the hardworking teams this year.” Under all the clamor, the announcer’s voice seemed to be mixed together with the sound of the fireworks, and for a moment, I didn’t listen carefully.

Turning my head, I saw that Senior seemed to be watching the fireworks above.

Then, he curved his lips, and smiled.