A Boundless Shadow

Let the Games Begin!

In the end, it always comes down to the survival of the fittest.

Valion Scarlet Academy, the academy that was known to be the forge of the greatest members of society. Majority of the population who have attended this school have reached unimaginable pinnacles, whether you're royalty or not, everyone has a chance to be the greatest. Though like every rose, it too, has its thorns. The school holds an annual tournament to distinguish the students who have higher aptitudes for greater futures or pursue a path that is still successful but not compared to the excelling students. Though, this year might just be more exciting compared to the past tournaments...

Before the tournament, every student is divided amongst the 12 pillars. These pillars allow various students with large varieties of weapons from swords to guns. These pillars will be called: The Bow, The Sabre, The Trident, The Spear, The Sword, The Scythe, The Quarterstaff, The Shield, The Dagger, The War Hammer, The Scepter, and the Mace. Everyone is automatically assigned a Pillar when they are enrolled in the Academy and therefore, fight for that Pillar to be the most victorious among the rest. Lastly, the rules, allow to provide an insight into how the tournament makes it fair but highly competitive. There are three rules in total, these are: The competition allows death as it uses a developed avatar in a real-world simulation but mangling the opponent is absolutely forbidden. The second rule, abilities are allowed in the arena but the limit is Absolute Principality class abilities. Lastly, Betrayals are allowed but it has the risk of demotion of points so an absolute reason must be placed as to why betrayal was implemented.

Now, enough of the rules and explanation, I wonder how these candidates will fair against this competition.

~~~~Eleanor's POV~~~~

It's been almost a few months since I've had that experience of meeting Leonora along with Xavier. It seems that my views on certain ideologies seemed to differ now as what I've faced cannot be easily comprehended so quickly. Though it did also change my perspective towards Xavier, when I first perceived Xavier at the Royal Ceremony; my original thought was he might possibly be close guarded and prefer to stay with his family. Though after facing that certain occurrence, my entire view of him drastically changed. 

Presently, I've seem to be more drawn towards him as time goes on when we hang out. It seems that we developed a certain friendship after what happened, we hangout almost everyday; usually I meet with him at the school's library as that's where he usually spends a lot of his time at. There were times when I did consider if I'm intruding on his personal time but every time we meet and talk, he tends to close the book he was reading and listen to me ramble wholeheartedly. There was also a time where we hanged out so late in the night that I accidentally fell asleep beside him and laid my head on his shoulders. 

When I woke up, I arose to a couch with a blanket covering me and pillows underneath my head. There my memory came to and attempted to look for Xavier, though I noticed that he was actually at the other end of the sofa; it seems he was just reading his book and keeping me company. The way he held the book with one of his hands and a gentle smile plastered on his face, I couldn't help but have my heart race when I saw that scene. I then noticed Xavier look up a little and then gently turn his head towards my direction, in that situation, I quickly lied back fully and pretended as if I was still asleep. Unable to know what he's doing anymore, a chuckle could be heard coming out of his mouth. Indistinctively, my head turned as if to pretend I was in the phase of waking up, but unfortunately my eagerness got the better of me and my eyes opened to a hazel eyed, black with green tip faded into his spiky drop cut hairstyle; smiling towards me. In that moment, my entire face felt flushed and I hid under the covers, there he chuckled gently and that's when I slowly removed the blanket over me.

There, he held out his hand soft-heartedly and I took it; there he took me up and looked down towards me with a soft smile. There, he told me,

"It's the next morning now, granted it is still quite early so unfortunately the cafeteria is still preparing all the food for breakfast. But is there anything you wish to do?"

There, I pondered for a due to still waking up but also having a think of what I want to do, there an idea popped in my head and smiled towards him. There I said,

"Would it be possible to go for a walk? That's if you aren't busy and I want to freshen myself up as I woke up"

He smiled and bowed while replying, "Of course we can do so, I'll wait for you at the lobby while you do what you need to do"

I smiled quite ecstatically and went to go get prepared to make sure I don't keep him for very long. There I went to freshen myself up due to being asleep, and grabbed the extra clothes in my bag just in case as I knew I'll be staying out longer than anticipated due to the studies I have. After a few more minutes, I was fully ready and went to head towards the lobby where Xavier is. As I was just about to call for Xavier, I see him holding his phone, with a grim expression plastered on his face. with that, I proceeded to walk towards him to check how he is when he looks at me while pointing his phone towards me. It was then that I realised that the tournament has now finally announced the teams we are designated for this annual tournament.

***

"-Ward"

"-Dward"

"Edward!"

The last call of my name shock me out of my delusion and proceeded to look at Christian with a confused look as I was obviously not giving him the light of day for when he was speaking to me. He sighed, then got up from his seat and patted me on my back, there he walked towards a store that sells repair parts for the motorcycles we have at home. Now I'm here, sitting alone in the middle of a mall while trying to collect what Christian was trying to talk to me about; that is until I realised I have a little memory bank of some sorts with me. With that, I smile a bit and call out Matahari and Lunaria through the mental connect we have with each other; there they replied almost instantly from the call.

"You called for us My Lord? Apologies for not replying back sooner. We were attempting to grasp the understanding of the society of today"

I chuckled under my breath and replied, "It's quite alright Matahari, I understand that it has been so long since you've experienced society foremost. You both are more than welcome to discover and explore what this world has to offer. I simply called you both to ask if you both if you heard what Christian was talking to me about earlier as I wasn't listening and I know you both have a mental connection and could hear what he could be saying".

There was a long pause coming from the other end that lasted for a couple minutes and then I heard Matahari take a sigh and answered back,

"Apologies Lord, I was too Engrossed in scouring the Internet that I may have shut that out and was not listening as well"

After that response from Matahari, Lunaria then responded back,

"Apologies for not being as responsive but he asked you if you have ever experienced a illusion like state where you were experiencing something similar to real life but not entirely. It was a vague question he asked but nothing short of something similar to what we encountered"

With what Lunaria mentioned, I started to ponder for a bit to contemplate whether I have experienced something similar to what she mentioned. After a bit of time, there hasn't been something that comes immediately to mind as of yet; there I sighed and got up from my chair to head to the store where Christian was heading towards. As I saw him, I began to wave towards him until my phone and heard his phone play a loud alert. My hand immediately reaches for my pocket and checked what the alert is all about, there the blaring screen plasters all over my face of the announcement,

'It's SHOWTIME! To the Edward Von Solaria of the Solarian Empire, you have been designated to the Pillar of the Sword. I do hope you provide the grandest of entertainment in this year's tournament. Till then!'

No announcement of who sent it through. The Owner of the Competition, they never do really show who they are, so I wonder if there is a hidden agenda behind it.

***

"The time has finally begun, all announcement have been dispatched, with everyone designated to their Pillars. This year is double the amount of people compared to the past. Especially with the people that will be currently attending this year's one. Things are finally spicing up!" The person then proceeds to place their glass on a coaster. "Time's are changing and I am looking forward to gathering more data, please do entertain us all, my contestants..."

Cackling then pierces the room that it could even pierce the sky