Chapter 20: Yūto's Performance

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth—wake up!"

Akko's eyes opened after hearing the sound of an unfamiliar voice. She looked around her to see that she was not in the hotel room that she bought but in some sort of storage room that was crowded with towers of useless junk and was illuminated by the bright beautiful light of the moon.

In front of Akko were two girls. One of them was obviously Elizabeth, while the other was the human friend who Elizabeth refused to speak much of—Samantha.

Samantha was shaking Elizabeth who was lying on the ground with strange black smoke coming out of her body. Her eyes also seemed to be rolled to the back of her head, hinting that she had lost consciousness.

"Dammit! What spell were you hit with!?"

"Human…I think it would be wise to stop messing around…"

Samantha and Akko looked up at the dark corner where the new voice was coming from. Walking out into the light with such a confident stride was Annabella, the mother of Elizabeth. While wearing the same traditional outfit, she wore a strange black mask that covered only her eyes.

"Give back what you stole from the catacombs…"

Walking alongside Annabella was a black cat, which Akko recognized as Lilith.

The girl known as Samantha stood up and snarled at the vampire woman.

"I can't believe you would hurt your own daughter like that! Don't you care about her!?"

"Of course I do," Annabella said. "Which is exactly why I put her to sleep. I don't want her to see me killing her best friend…"

"You're not killing anyone and I'm not going to let you have "that"! On my honor as a witch…"

The moment Samantha put her hands together, a blinding green ethereal light emitted from her palms. Taking form from the light was a great sword with seven green gems embedded with the blade.

Akko leaned in closer and quickly recognized the design of the sword that Samantha wielded.

"Isn't that…the Shiny Rod!? Wait…why does it look like a sword?"

"On my honor as a witch and my honor as a knight…I—Samantha Pendragon will strike you down!"

Annabella simply scoffed as she held out her right hand, inviting Samantha to start the fight. The green-haired girl let out a loud battle cry as she launched herself at the vampire. She swung her sword down and the blade seemed to hit an invisible wall conjured by Annabella's hand. A powerful wind erupted from their clash, enough to push Akko away while screaming for dear life. The brunette girl flew into the deepest corner of the storage room and whatever else happened in the battle she could not tell.

Obnoxious ringing knocked on the doors of Akko's consciousness repeatedly, easily breaking her from the realm of dreams. The brunette witch grumbled with saliva running down her mouth as she looked over at the clock—it was 8 in the morning.

"The Entrance Exam starts at 11."

Akko turned to the front of the bed to see the Spirit of Woodward hovering over her.

"But it's best to start getting ready if you want to get to the train early."

"Yeah yeah…"

Akko lazily got out of my bed and quickly freshened up. Once she was done, Akko put on the same boyish clothes she bought from the clothing store the night before and cast the metamorphosis spell on herself to transform into Yūto Minazuki.

Making sure that he looked the part, Yūto placed on his coat and tied his shoes. He also took the blade, Hrunting, and hid it inside his sleeve.

"Make sure no one sees that blade," Woodward stated. "You could get in trouble. It's a very powerful relic that was lost for centuries."

"Noted," Yūto replied while staring at his wrist. "The blade is so strange…I tried using transformation magic to make it look like a stick and it just…didn't work. Do you know anything about Hrunting?"

"…a great warrior used it to kill a demon. That's all."

"Okay, time to hit the road."

After paying for the hotel, Yūto made his way to the Britain train station, which luckily was not as busy as usual. In a few hours, the train took the blue-haired boy and the centuries-old witch spirit to the gorgeous city of London.

Yūto took out a printed piece of paper that had directions and the insignia of Sorbates Academy.

"The Entrance Exam is taking place…inside the Great Ben?"

"It says there is a room reserved."

"The internet said I have to demonstrate an impressive spell to pass. I didn't have to do that for Luna Nova, all I had to do was pay an expensive tuition."

"Are you lacking confidence in your ability to perform spells Atsuko Kagari? I recall seeing your talent blossom a hundred times."

"I'm…more on what spell I should use really…"

"Hm…any spell would do. How about a fire spell? Can you do that?"

"Oh yeah! Fire spells are a cakewalk for me!"

Yūto walked into the Great Ben with his head held high. As he entered the massive clock tower he saw an old man in a long robe wearing a wizard's hand standing next to a sign that said "Sorbates Entrance Exam This Way".

"There it is!"

The blue-haired boy bowed politely to the old man before following the sign and entering the dimly lit room. At the far side was a long table with three middle-aged men with the same wizardry attire sitting with observate looks on their faces.

One of the men was bald with black lines and Luna Letters tattooed on their head—despite that he had emerald eyes. The man in the middle had short light brown hair and an itchy-looking beard. And the last guy had long white hair and golden eyes. On the right side of his lip was a cut that caused something sharp.

Their serious eyes quickly drained the confidence of Yūto before entering, making him feel like a mere peasant before royalty. He bowed politely.

"Hello there," Speaking first was the man in the middle. "My name is William Mountbatten. You can call me Professor Mount."

The bald guy spoke next.

"I am Paul Charis."

And finally was the white-haired man.

"And my name is William Mountbatten as well."

"Okay…wait, your name is Mountbatten too? Are you guys related?"

"No," both Williams stated.

"Don't get confused with William I and that guy William II," the brown-haired wizard stated with a nonchalant expression.

Yūto scratched his head in confusion.

"A-alright?"

Paul cleared his threat.

"So, please state your name, where you come from, and give us your reason as to why you want to join the Family of Sorbates."

"Y-yes! My name is Yūto Minazuki! I was born in Japan and I am the only child…to an old magical family that had since lost its roots. I desire to become a witch—I mean wizard! Wizard, sorry!"

"And why do you want to be a wizard, despite your family seemingly abandoning the practice of magic?"

"B-because…"

Yūto struggled to come up with a reason. At first, he thought of just simply stating the true reason—that he was inspired by Shiny Chariot and wanted to be a performer. But Yūto could vividly remember how the students and teachers of Luna Nova reacted to such a statement. Knowing how the magical world sees people like Chariot, he tried to come up with a different explanation, one that could land him the spot in the wizard school

"Because...I think magic is…pretty cool?"

The room was dead silent. The three men leaned forward, their eyes trying to peer holes into the body of Yūto.

"Let me get this straight," William II spoke up in a low and intimidating voice. "You want to learn magic…because you think it's "pretty cool"?"

"Y-yeah…?"

"That's…SPLENDID!"

All three men clapped in unison while wearing grand smiles. Yūto's mouth was hung agape by the reaction.

"It warms our hearts to hear that this generation still sees magic as a wonder to be admired! Nowadays, people turn to other things like technology and social media! Glad to see another rare magic enthusiast!"

"Y-yeah! Thank you!"

As the three men continued to clap, Yūto spoke to Woodward using only his mind. The witch had the capability to communicate with her partner via telepathy.

"I can't believe that ACTUALLY worked! I mean…that was pretty simple."

"Sometimes a simple solution is all you need to solve a complicated problem," Woodward stated. "But the exam is not over yet, Atsuko Kagari."

"Yeah…I know."

"Now that we are familiar with you," William I commented. "It is time for us to see what you can do! Show us one spell that would really cause us to say "WOW"!"

"Alright! I promise you won't be disappointed!"

Yūto took out his wand from his pocket and placed it close to his chest. He closed his eyes and softly prayed.

"Please…let this fire spell be the best it could possibly be. Let this flame burn as bright as my will to never give up…"

Yūto held up his wand and shouted the words of the enchantment with all his might.

"Trisank Taiz Tinare!"

A gigantic glowing orange magic sigil appears on the ground and releases a tornado of flame. The three adult wizards' eyes widened at the destructive power of the spell displayed. Not wanting to be burned they quickly took out their wands and cast a shield in front of them.

At the same time, Yūto was in the center of the firey tornado. Only bits of his clothes and hair were getting burned from the whole exchange.

"Okay, Atsuko Kagari," Woodward whispered. "Release the spell now. You don't want to burn down the entire tower do you?"

"I can't…"

"Hm? What?"

Yūto looked up at Woodward who was floating behind him. His eyes were dark while his pupils become red. His vampiric fangs were starting to become showable as he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

"I C-CAN'T—!"

"Akko? Akko!"

Woodward wrapped his arms around Yūto, her body releasing a soft golden glow.

"Calm down!"

The golden aura covered Yūto like a soft blanket. Seconds later, a warm sensation made all the tension fade from his body. The blue-haired boy turned back to normal and the fire tornado that surrounded him died down.

The room itself was a mess. There were burn marks and little pits of fire everywhere. The only thing that were not severely torched were William I, William II, and Paul.

Yūto started out with his head down in shame.

"I-I messed up! There is no way they will accept me—"

"That was amazing!"

"H-huh?"

Yūto raised his head to see the smiling faces of the three wizards.

"You displayed such great magical power!"

"You lacked control but that's nothing too hard to learn!"

"We would be fools not to accept such a talented soul like yourself! Yūto Minazuki—we hereby dub you a member of the Family of Sorbates!"

Yūto's eyes shined like stars as he grinned ear to ear and jumped for joy.

"YAY!"

"We will leave for Sorbates Academy tomorrow at 9 in the morning. Please do not be late."

"Yes sir!"

As Yūto left the Great Ben, he looked over his hands as if they were a bomb ready to explode at any second.

"I know that I'm not the best when it comes to controlling my magic…but that fire spell was way too intense!"

"It must be because of your vampiric-ification," Woodward stated.

Yūto turned to the spirit.

"So my magic is becoming more unstable the more I become closer to becoming a true vampire? Is there anything I can do to stop that?"

Woodward shook her head.

"The only thing that can save you…is Elizabeth herself. She would have to remove the vampiric essence she placed inside of you. But I think you and I both know she will not do that willingly."

"So…I'm really just going to accept that I will become a vampire…"

"…It may be a curse, but at the same time a blessing."

"What do you mean?"

"Now that you are a vampire, you have access to high levels of mana that no normal witch or wizard can obtain. Also, the strength to boot. All you simply have to do is not let the power take hold of you. And is it not lucky enough that we are going to a school? It will take some time to find the grimoire so you might as well take advantage of everything…"

"I see…and you will be with me through it all, right?"

Woodward nodded.

"I will be your partner through the blazing bright morning to the darkest nights. And I swear on my honor as a witch that we will be victorious in our battle to save the world."

"In my honor as a witch…"

Yūto went silent as the memory of Samantha fighting Annabella resurfaced in his mind. This did not go unnoticed by Woodward.

"Atsuko Kagari?"

"Huh? Sorry! Just thinking about something. Anyway, where should we stay? I'm not going back to that previous hotel—their beds were super uncomfortable! Felt like I was resting on a boulder!"

Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading! Hope you all enjoy the next chapters!

Please check out my own original novel, "The Branded Hero Volume 1: Baxter the Failure". The tale of a hero who has been outcasted by the world since releasing The Demon King: https/Branded-Hero-Baxter-ebook/dp/B0DPVSQXQX?ref=ast_author_dp

And please check out my webcomic, "The Curse of Gringerfield" on Webtoon and Tapas!

Webtoon: https/en/canvas/the-curse-of-gringerfield/list?title_no=970667

Light Novel on Version: /series/The-Curse-of-Gringerfield-Novel/info

My web novel— Yin & Yang: Between the Moments of Life and Death: /series/Yin-Yang-Between-the-Moments-of-Life-and-Death/info

Next Chapter: Study Session