Duel Lyceum

Promotional Duels (1)

It took a long time for everything to return to normal following the tournament. They had two weeks free of class, and when their lessons finally resumed, they became aware that there was a new principal. The principal was strict but had a kind heart. To introduce the new principal, the school held a feast that served as a public apology for the events.

'We will be considering this tournament void and I will implore you all to return cards that may have been taken as part of the tournament,' he told the cohort, 'and if you see any suspicious activity, I implore you to report it to me. I will not tolerate another tragedy like this.

'Furthermore, I value the connection between teachers, students and principal more than anything, that is why, in these past few weeks, I have been hard at work planning a real tournament. It is planned for next year, but various pros have shown interest in supporting it.'

Cheers and applause sounded through the hall. One boisterous second year shouted 'which ones! Which one!' over the din.

'Which ones, you ask,' the principal said, 'I can confirm that High Dragon will be there.'

The blast of sound blotted out Emily's gasp.

As agreed between Emily, Lyder, Miriam and Jones, the information regarding the Water God would remain secret, but the word got out anyway from the other people present, leaving Lyder and Jones to be publicly celebrated and applauded while Emily was shamed for being controlled by the Water God. Luckily, any shaming did not go far, as the two heroes, Lyder and Jones, were always next to the villain, Emily.

As for the Water God, she just floated around Emily and Lyder. Only they could see or hear her, but she had proven to be a rather humorous companion. Lyder was at first reluctant to talk to her, but his distrust faded when he discovered some of the rules placed onto the gods. If someone summoned them, they were forced to carry out, to the best of their abilities, the orders. She claimed that it was extremely difficult duelling Sebastian and Lyder knowing that they could die.

'And,' she said, 'can you stop calling me the Water God?'

'What else are we supposed to call you, then?' Emily said, 'God of Water?'

'I have a name, you know.'

'What is it?' Lyder said.

'It's Aara. You could have asked me if I had a name.'

'It's not our job to do that.'

It was a week later when Asha opened their door, sleeping bag and suitcase in hand. 'Can I live with you all?' Bowing so deep that her hat fell of the floor with a little bounce.

The room was already cramped, with the two mattresses occupying over half of the room and the shards of wood from the bed frames occupying another quarter. Asha did not seem to notice.

'I want to get better at duelling, so I want to spend time with the best duellists in the school!'

'We aren't the best duellists, are we?' Lyder said. He looked to Miriam. 'I mean, Murel and Varnyard are still here, right? And probably all the people a higher grade than us.'

'Yeah, Murel's still here. He's still in the hospital. When I went to visit him, he told me that he would be duelling Lyder for his promotional match!'

'And Varnyard said he wanted to be mine,' Jones said.

Jones had signed up to do his promotional match next month so he could progress from dorm C to dorm B. Emily and Lyder, however, had grown fond of dorm C and did not want to leave it. They liked the freedom dorm C offered and they had grown attached to its inhabitants, who were always carefree, relaxed, and just as likely to ditch class as they were.