Chapter 54
Three hours later the entire group was in the backstage hallway on stand by to perform.
"Ten minutes to showtime." Jamil muttered looking at his watch.
"They'll be calling on us any minute now. Let's get backstage and ngh…" Vil began but soon winced and moved a hand to his rib.
"Are you certain you're alright Vil?" Rook asked as everyone looked at him.
"I've taken a painkiller potion and covered up my scratches with makeup. I'll be fine." Vil said as he took a deep breath and looked back at easy.
"Oui, if you say so." Rook said.
"Vil, um please let take the center spot." Epel spoke up shocking everyone.
"What?" Everyone around them exclaimed.
"Epel are you seriously dropping that on us at the last second?" Ace asked.
"Ace is right. Why would we change it up right before we go on?" Jamil added.
"Filling Vil's shoes ain't exactly easy." Grim pointed out.
"But just look at Vil. He's barely vertical." Epel countered. "Vil, you said we had to win this, but what if you run out of stamina right on stage? I don't wanna see you embarrass yourself in front of an audience."
"Monsieur Pommette." Rook sang.
"I've kept my agreement with you. I've grown way stronger and more charming than when I first enrolled. I'm not just cute and sweet. I'm a legit poison apple now. I'll take Neige down so please." Epel said.
"You've grown bold, worry not though. As long as the spotlight shines on me I wouldn't leave the stage even were I to be struck by an errant boulder. I'm going to keep struggling to the bitter end. I won't lose hope in my victory. That's what real villains do. So give this villain a chance to stay on stage to the very end." Vil chuckled.
"Alright If you're really set on it." Epel conceded.
"Hmph do you even have room to worry about other Epel? You tend to start making mistakes as soon as you feel eyes on you. Have you forgotten the way you flubbed the hook at the audition?" Vil smirked.
"H-hey! You don't have to bring that up now." Epel commented.
"You asked me to give you center role. I except you to captivate the hearts of the audience, my poison apple." Vil said placing a hand on Epel's shoulder.
"Yes sir!" Epel nodded.
"Attention, NRC entrants it's almost time to go. Please stand by." A stage hand informed them.
"Well this is it." Vil said taking a deep breath.
"Let's go bag ourselves a 1st place trophy!" Ace grinned.
"Yeah! I worked myself up so much earlier. I'm actually relaxed now." Deuce said.
"Alright! I'mma captivate those viewer's hearts." Epel smirked.
"Just do like we practiced. Don't worry. We'll do just fine." Jamil reminded them.
"You're right Jamil. Let's make the most of this and have fun with it." Kalim grinned.
"Okay, you guys listen up. My tuna bonanza is resting on your shoulders. You better win this! You hear me!" Grim stated.
"Put on the fairest show of all! You've got this!" Odette cheered.
"Come NRC tribe! Let us away to the field of battle." Rook said.
"It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Here at the National Arcane Academy Culture Fair at the NRC. The SDC musical presentation is about to begin." The host said as the crowd was already cheering.
Music begins to play as he continued. "Introducing our first performance. It's the entrants from the school hosting the culture fair NRC Performing. Absolutely Beautiful!"
They take the stage and begin their performance. By the end the performance everyone is panting and huffing heavily.
"Is it over?" Epel asked
Everyone is shouting, cheering and whistling. The Vil fangirls can be heard screaming and crying out his name.
"Wow! A full audience standing ovation right from the first song. These were the NRC entrants led by Vil Schoenheit. In an incredible opening performance." The host said as the group made their way backstage again.
"Thank you everyone!" Vil called out and waving to the crowd before he followed his group.
"You guys did great." Odette greeted them as she handed them each a water bottle.
Vil barely made it backstage before he nearly fainted.
"Whoa! Vil!" Odette called out as she tried to catch him.
"Someone bring me a spray bottle and bandages." Rook ordered a nearby stagehand.
"I stayed standing on the stage to the very end didn't I?" Vil muttered.
"Yes indeed the whole team did." Rook reassured him helping Vil lean on him.
"Vil, you really pulled it off." Epel added.
"You didn't miss a single note or step." Odette confirmed.
"You've got some serious guts Vil." Deuce complimented.
"Vil isn't the only one deserving of praise. That was the finest performance yet for each and every one of you. I'm proud to have shared the stage with you all." Rook praised them.
"It's a little early to start patting ourselves on the back don't you think? It's not over until we hear the results." Jamil pointed out.
"But we've done all we could do. I'm sure our power shone through to everybody watching." Kalim grinned.
"Indeed all we can do now is pray that lady luck smiles upon us." Rook said.
'Well a dragon prince did maybe that's more powerful than lady luck. I wonder if everyone enjoyed the performance.' Odette thought as they made their way to the dressing room.
Out in the stands the crowd was still cheering."Acey! Deucey! They killed it up there." Carter said turning to Riddle and Trey.
"I was ready to have both their heads if they made a poor show of it but that was a splendid performance. It did NRC justice." Riddle complimented.
"Good grief I was tense just watching that. My palms are all sweaty." Trey laughed.
"Come on Trey, you sound like a PTA mom." Carter joked.
"Our dorm's problem pair have carried out their duty. I'll make them some tea once they return to the dorm. It's the least I can do." Riddle said.
A few seats down the Octavinelle trio were applauding the performance. "I have to hand to Vil he delivers and his quality exceeds all exception. They'd draw enough of a crowd to fill this place even if the NRC Tribe was the only act here." Azul stated.
"Daaaang! That school of bettas fish got some moves. Now I wanna dance." Floyd grinned.
"I'm curious Floyd. I know you love dancing and singing why didn't you audition for the SDC?" Jade asked.
"Seriously if you'd make the cut to be a member I could have had a say in how the group was managed." Azul said.
"What can I say? I wasn't in the mood at the time. But crabby and sea snake looked like they were having a good time maybe I should audition next year." Floyd's shrugged.
"That should be quiet a sight not that there's any guarantee your mood will be better next time around. I suppose. Oh by the way Floyd. I thought you were on drink vending duty right now? You're not carrying your drink cooler." Jade pointed out.
"Oh? I got tired of hawking so I left it by the entrance with a sign saying free drink." Floyd laughed with a shrug.
"What!? Are you out of your mind? Go get it right now!" Azul ordered.
"Maaaan, I don't wanna. The Floyd cafe is closed for business today." Floyd whined.
"Well now. That's a bit of a pickle." Jade chuckled.
"Sigh what am I going to do with you? I'm taking the cost of those drinks out of your pay just so you know." Azul informed him.
A few rows up the Savanaclaw trio was still standing. "Vil's stage presence was incredible but the freshman held their own up there. They're not half bad." Jack grinned.
"Whew, I was scared outta of wits when all the lighting related program data vanished after rehearsals. Thank goodness we got it restored in time." Ruggie sighed.
"I set it up to automatically save data to the cloud and it paid off big time. We were this close to dealing with some giant hissy fit from Vil otherwise it's ostensibly a culture fair event but there's a lotta commercial interests tied up in the SDC. Then again knowing the head mage he's probably got it insured somehow." Leona commented.
"I'm not exactly some computer whiz, but I'm still confused about what happened. The equipment wasn't busted or anything, how did data get wiped without anything else affected? What could cause that?" Ruggie asked.
"Aside from Leona most of the sport club guys are pretty bad with tech. We could always bring the equipment over to Ignihyde later and ask them to investigate it." Jack suggested.
"Maybe it went over you chumps' heads, but there were traces of a massive spell cast over the whole arena. If I were to guess…" Leona began.
"Well? Don't keep us hanging." Ruggie said.
"Meh, never mind, we've got enough work to do today as it is without adding more to the pile. The SDC is up and running that's good enough for me. There's no relaxing for us until this place is closed again." Leona reminded them.
Towards the back of the seating area sat the Diasomnia group. "That was somewhat entertaining worth fixing up the stage to see it I'd say." Malleus chuckled.
"What's this, Malleus? You seem even more engaged than you were at my live show." Lilia chuckled looking amused as ever.
"Have you taken leave of your senses? Lilia your performance clearly had more of an element of surprise that left the audience wowed. Why your singing was like the voice of a vengeful spirit risen from the grave. It had me trembling." Sebek praised.
"Lower your vice Sebek, the next team's performance is starting." Silver informed him. "We were given a generous invitation here let's enjoy the entire show." Malleus said sitting back down in his seat.
"Next up the RSA entrants!" The host announced.
"Oh! Neige and the boys are up mew can do it!" Chenya cheered from beside Trey.
"Hello everyone!" Neige shouted as he waved as he and the seven dwarfs took the stage. "I hope you all enjoy this song and sing with us." He said and their performance started.
Thanks for reading and sticking around. I can't believe this arc is 20 chapters long. Jeez. And it's still not over but almost. Honestly this Arc only has 2 chapters left. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. At the end if this arc I'll put a longer note about this story.