Chapter 26: The Beginning of The Golden Age
That morning, Casanova awoke to a mysterious sound. He crept out of his room down the hall, and saw something that he was confused about. Keiko was walking down the hall as well, but there was something peculiar about him. Keiko was a sleepwalker, but he had never done any random actions in his sleep that proved to be threatening. In fact, he hadn't done anything like that for the past several days since Casanova got back. The last time that this happened, Casanova had to glue together a vase that Keiko broke and then carry him back to his room with his shadow. Casanova did the same tonight, but Keiko put up a fight, since he had just been practicing with Himura only hours before that. In the end, Casanova won and promptly carried him back. But before he went back to bed, he caught another peculiar sight. He heard noise from the library, and there he found Kaoru and Julianna playing a game of chess.
" Why are you still up? It's 5 o'clock in the morning." he asked in a confused and sleepy voice."
" Because we can." Julianna whispered. " Kaoru couldn't go to sleep, so we came to the library. And eventually started playing chess. And this one game has lasted for 2 hours. Don't ask how."
" Kaoru can you even see those pieces ? No offense, but you're blind and the sun hasn't even risen yet."
" Yes, I can. I still remember where everything on the board goes. Even if I can't remember all I would have to do is feel the piece and the piece next to it to see which one I should capture. Also, no offense taken."
" Well I'm going back to sleep." he said. He began to leave the room, but Julianna called him. " Are you just going to leave Keiko on the couch ?"
" He's fine. He could go to sleep anywhere and he would know exactly how he got there when he wakes up. Now before I go, is Mitsuya still awake ?"
Julianna shakes her head, and Casanova keeps walking. But then he hears a book fall from one of the shelves before he can walk out, followed by the " OUCH" sound. He checked behind the case to see Mitsuya rubbing the back of his head.
" How long have you been back there ?"
" An hour."
" Julianna, you didn't notice him back here ?"
" I guess we were too focused on the game to see him come through the door."
Casanova peers over to look at the book that Mitsuya is reading. " The Basics of Possession and Other Worldly Apparitions."
" I'm not even going to ask." He took a seat on the couch as well, and watched the chess game. Soon, he was asleep.
At 8 A.M. when Himura entered the library, he saw all five of them in seemingly uncomfortable positions. Kaoru and Julianna had just begun round 3 of their chess game, and it wasn't going to end any time soon. This was normal for Himura, so he just rolled with it. He went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast per usual, adding extra rice for Mitsuya because he knew he would eat all of his in less than two minutes. Mayuri woke up and helped him too. It was usual for Mayomi to sleep in, so she wasn't going to be seen for at least another 2 more hours before the daily lesson.
" Those kids are crazy. I expected them to be up this early, but it still amazes me."
" Well they're our crazy kids now. We're responsible for them. To me, they make every day seem brighter." Mayuri said with a smile.
" Looks like I might have a crazy wife too." This remark was met with a slap to the face.
" Are you sure that you're okay? You shouldn't be up and washing dishes this early. You could go into labor any day now. I said I could handle all of the work."
" Himura, when have you ever known me to be completely dependent on you? I might be your wife now, but I still don't forgive you for all of those weird things you said about me when we were in tutoring. You've been doing dishes and cooking and cleaning and doing chores for the past 6 months now. Let me do something. I'm fine, honey." She kissed on the cheek, and he did it back.
" So if it's a boy, I'm thinking we should name him Chase. If it's a girl , I think we should name her Violette."
" What's wrong with just naming her Violet? Why must you be so extra?"
" Because it makes it more unique, and it won't matter anyways because I know that it's going to be a boy." For this, he got a punch to the arm.
" Aaahhhhh, young love in the making. Kids grow up so fast these days." Mitsuya said, as he sat at the table. They didn't even notice him.
" How long have you been there?" Himura asked with a confusing look.
" This entire time."
Surely enough, Mitsuya needed two extra bowls of rice. At the same time, he also had to feed Remy, which caused his face to be decorated with baby food by the end of the meal. At least she was struggling to learn how to walk by now, so that was one load that he could take off of his shoulders. Keiko on the other hand was going through a phase where he wanted to learn how to cook, and after Mitsuya constantly compared Himura to Joichiro from Food Wars, Himura began to give both of them lessons. It all culminated in a cooking contest to determine who was the better cook. Sources tell us that Himura tried to sabotage Mitsuya's meal in favor of Keiko, but he must have forgotten who the main character was. When Mayomi finally woke up, she became a taste tester. Needless to say, she preferred Mitsuya's ramen over Keiko's roasted ham.
While Kaoru was busy reading Remy a section of A Farewell to Arms in braille, Mayomi was again training with the rest of the kids. For the past several days, there had been an obstacle course put in place for them to complete while she was chasing them. This of course, led to there being only one complete route that they could take, which Mayomi already knew all of the tricks too. Whenever somebody got caught, they would have to work on combining their Karada and Yunibasara skills. In case you didn't know, these skills develop both the body, and the mind respectively. Karada Tactics strengthen the flow of physical energy which allows for enhanced strength using one's own force, while Yuni Basara allows for total concentration in order to enhance one's magical abilities to peak condition. So far, Mitsuya was the only one who hadn't been caught yet. Therefore, he didn't have to learn anything about it. Plus, he was pretty sure that he memorized some information about it from one of his dad's old journals.
As Mitsuya was running through the forest, leading Casanova, Julianna and Keiko, he had to jump over a pond, climb and swing from multiple trees, jump over a dozen boulders, swing from a vine, and manipulate the wind to lift dozens of trees. Too bad that Mayomi was waiting for him at every obstacle. For more than 15 minutes, he had to run away from her while everyone else cleared their tasks.
" ARE ANY OF YOU GOING TO HELP ME?" he shouted frantically. He wasn't used to training for this long. The look on his face when all three of them shook their heads with a smirk was priceless. As time went by, though, it got easier. Mitsuya just kept running until he felt that his heart was going to give out. As soon as he made it to the final boulder, Mayomi pounced on him. For the rest of the week, Mitsuya had to go through constant mental and physical training. This included having to dodge numerous attacks from all ends in order to keep his strength up, while holding his breath to build up endurance, meditating underwater, and lifting boulders. The four other kids stayed outside every day to watch him train. Day by day, night by night you could hear his war cries. It even kept Remy up at 3 o'clock in the morning. Some days he chose to run 3 miles back and forth while the others just watched casually from the patio.
" Kaoru, has he always been like this?" Casanova asked.
" Not unless he was trying to get first place or had something to prove. So I guess the basic answer would be yes."
" I remember once, he stayed after school for 4 hours practicing how to do a service ace with the older kids. He didn't make one shot." Keiko said.
" Oh, I remember that. He was late picking me up from school that day. But why were you there?" Kaoru exclaims.
" He made me set for him when all of the big kids left. The next day, the ball still didn't go past the net."
" I don't get how he can have so much stamina after everything that's happened." Julianna says.
" Well, it's natural for him. When he was younger, he always said that he would do whatever it took to become the number one mage and create peace between the human and magus societies. I don't know about the first one, but I think he's holding on to the second goal by a thread. He doesn't talk about it much since dad left, but it's still with him."
" You sure do believe in him a lot, don't you, Kaoru?" Casanova asks.
" He's my brother, of course I would. Through thick and thin, I'll always believe him. Because I know that he'll never give up. That's his Magus Oath."
" What's that? Some kind of promise?" Keiko asks.
" No, it just brought back a memory. When we were younger, our instructor at the Osaka Branch made us make pledges when we went with our parents. The pledges had to be completed by the next time that we went there. Mitsuya just let his pile up so he could accomplish them all at once. It was the only time that I've ever known him to procrastinate. When he did them all at once, it gave him more motivation."
On September 25th, Mitsuya had to perfect the combination of Karada and Yunibasara. The purpose of this activity was to see how Mitsuya could enhance his magical abilities to the point where they would be able to negate those of the people around him while maintaining the ability to manipulate the physical properties around him. Mayomi put a water balloon on his head and instructed him to use only his own force to pop it. This was the fifth attempt. Keiko, Kaoru, Casanova, Mayomi, Mayuri, Julianna and Himura all formed a heptagon around Mitsuya, who was standing in the center. The grass below them began to align with a red light the shape of the seven sided figure. All at once, their bodies began to radiate different types of energies. Kaoru was white, Keiko was silver, Casanova was black, Julianna was red, Himura was yellow, Mayuri was purple and Mayomi was blue. Suddenly, the pressure coming from all of their auras instantly connected and were directed right towards Mitsuya. He struggled to stand up on two legs, and was having a difficult time balancing the balloon on his head. It almost fell off several times as he was constantly put down by the strength of their pressure. All he had to do was concentrate. Circulate all of his magical energy throughout his body, making sure everything was balanced, as it should be. He took a deep breath, and held it in. When he opened his eyes, only one turned golden this time. A fiery aura eruption consumed his entire being, as it constantly changed colors. Everyone else was pushed back, and Mitsuya was able to form the field around himself.
" Is it supposed to be changing colors like this ?" Mitsuya said, as his colors went from red to pure white, to silver to green to blue, then finally to gold.
" I feel like you released too much magical power and that was able to automatically cancel out everyone's force. Keep doing it until the blown pops", Mayomi said. Everyone was still being pushed back as Mitsuya gained more and more energy by the second. The balloon on top of his head kept expanding until it popped. Everyone clapped for him, even though his head and clothes were now soaking wet.
" Dang… he actually achieved something through procrastination. Who would have figured." Julianna whispered to herself.
The training on the basics was finally done. The previous activity had only focused on about 5 skills of what they would be taught in their second year at the Academy, according to Mayomi. It was now time for the basic knowledge of mage craft. This was mostly for Keiko, because he still didn't understand one thing about the United Mage's Society. Mayomi sat all of them down in front of a whiteboard at the table in the library while she explained.
" It is said that the first mages perfected their crafts using their understanding of the Earth and their own life energy. From this knowledge, they were able to create a system listing out the numerous magical properties which they discovered. The Principia Magus is a system still used today to divide and account for mage craft. The range is diverse, but it can be classified into enchantment, witchcraft, incantation, divination, necromancy and exorcism, and astrology. Further than that, the enchantment category can be split into other divisions, called affinity. With the exception of a few such as myself, all mages develop either one or two affinities at some point in life. There is darkness, wind, light, lightning, fire, earth and water. Further beyond that, there are properties which primarily connect to the spirit. These affinities are known as yin and yang. Yin is spiritual, yang is physical. But remember, just because you are able to use a technique from yin or yang doesn't mean that you possess that ability. People with ki, like Mitsuya,Kaoru and Himura can sense both the physical and spiritual energy of a person who they are familiar with. N iLike how Julianna can send anyone of you into spirit form. Now, for how you see these affinities in daily life. Himura has fire magic, Casanova has darkness, Mayuri has a little bit of both water and her healing has light properties. Keiko, Kaoru, Julianna and I have mostly yin properties because we can see souls. Meanwhile Mitsuya has wind, and his space magic could be considered a mixture of yang and aspects from astrology. When he gets possessed, he becomes yang."
" Ooooohhhhh, that makes sense. So since Kaoru can use touch to sense objects, doesn't that count as physical sensation ? So wouldn't she have yang too ?" Keiko asked.
" Well technically. In a way you would have it too since you can make other people's natural properties your own through touch. But since your powers came from artificial possession, you would consider it yin more than yang. You just have to work on it. Then you could perfect both."
" Wow, that's cool. And crazy at the same time. But it makes sense." Keiko says with a smile.
Himura entered the room, with a stack of papers neatly wrapped in ribbon in his hands. He sat them onto the library table and calmly announced. " They have arrived." All of the children quickly gathered around the papers, looking on in awe. Himura explained as he read the top page to them. It had this strange emblem in the shape of a phoenix directly on the top of the page, followed by a phrase written in ancient Greek. He cleared his voice and read.
" To Keiko Shimura,
You have hereby been granted permission by the United Mage's Society to participate in the seventy-second annual entrance exam of the Magus Academy. Your exam will take place at the headquarters of the European branch in Amsterdam. From Friday, October 9th to Monday, October 12th, you will take the exam with approximately fifty other prospective students. During this time, you will be tested on combat, martial arts, potion making, cooperation and magic concentration among others. If you pass or exceed the expectations of the tests, then you will be chosen to attend any one of the schools in the Asian or European branches. If at any time, you choose to forfeit your position or not go along with the rules of the test, participation in the five week summer training program is mandatory instead of admission to a school. If you pass, your regular school will be given a notice that you will be participating in advanced classes abroad. We remind you, this test is not mandatory. If you choose not to participate, you will not be allowed to go on any missions pertaining to mage safety. We hope that you have been practicing the many skills needed to complete these tasks. We look forward to assessing your skills in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
The Elders of the European Branch."
Himura continues speaking. " The first step of our mission is a success. Operation Infiltration has been completed."
" How exactly did you do this?" Mitsuya asked.
" Well see, I myself didn't do this. My conspirators in Europe did it. The same people who helped Casanova forge new identities for Avery and Alexander. There was one still in the Organization. He created backgrounds for you, and gave you fake identities. Not only that, but you nobody knew about it. So now all four of you have been guaranteed entry, but to them, Casanova Vanguard, Julianna Cantrelle and Mitsuya Nieto are still exiled. You are now the children of several of my co-conspirators, only on paper. Oh, and Julianna and Keiko have to pretend to be siblings now."
" So what are we going to do after we successfully get accepted?" Keiko asked.
" Well first we have to make that successful. All four of you have to pass no matter what. Then you have to make sure to build a reputation within the school. Find out as much information as you can, build trustworthy relationships, but do it covertly. If you see any acts of moral wrongdoing, report them to me. We have to be smart about this. When we have enough evidence and support, then I'll be able to make my reappearance at headquarters. All of the dominoes will fall into place."
" And what if we should fail?" Mitsuya asked with an earnest look. Himura smirked at him.
" Then we try again. That's the only way that we live by. Listen, I believe in all of you. You can successfully complete this mission if you're motivated, and I believe that we've gotten to that point. You've all grown so much, and you can't let pressure and opposition prevent you from achieving your goals. That's just not how we do things. If we can't do something, then we try again, but make our efforts have a bigger impact. You all have something to accomplish. Casanova has the legacy of his father, Keiko wants to save his sister, Julianna is just here as my adoptive daughter and Mitsuya wants to find his mother's killer. If we keep pushing, the iron wall in front of you is going to break. I'm sure that there are other kids somewhere in the world training for this just like you."
Himura was right in that record. Somewhere in Europe, there was a girl training tirelessly to perfect a new technique with her fire and earth affinities. Somewhere there was another girl who was trying to figure out how to not exert her light magic too much. And then there was a young boy with mysterious eyes cursed by dark practices.
" What do the rest of those letters say?" Casanova asks.
" The same thing. The names are just changed."
" Wait, did you keep our names? Won't people get suspicious?" Julianna asks.
" Oh, we took precautions.
Keiko Shimura,
Casanova Hotaka Beaumont
Julianna Grace
And Mitsuya Akemi Hyedo."
Mitsuya sighs, and sheds a tear. He quickly wipes it away before anybody can notice.
" Are we ready?" Himura says. A collective yes erupts in the room. Mayomi even sheds a tear.
In the throne room lies everyone slaughtered, with the exception of one person. The blue haired girl that Eliot spoke of stands above them all. She wields her knife and waves it to dispose of the blood.
" That wasn't fun at all." She said.
" Survival games are never supposed to be fun." Carmen said with a confused look.
" Welcome, number 7. You'll make a fine edition." Eliot said, sighing. The girl smiled at him. But then she turned her attention somewhere else. Her fierce glance met Angel's, who was standing at the door.
" I'm not going to like her."
Back at Tsubasa Manor, Mitsuya was back in bed. His mind was blank until he started thinking about something. " Didn't Dad used to tell us a bedtime story? About that place from ancient Greece… Elysium. And that place where Cain went... Nod." He sat up. " Dazai Nieto… I'm coming for you."
Himura was still up too in his study. He was looking over an old letter. " I'm not letting you take over the syndicate. Whatever it takes, I'll stop you… Aramis."
A few days after that happened, somewhere in Europe, the girl who had escaped from the slaughter of the artificial mages found herself starving and in poverty. There was nowhere she could go where she wouldn't be killed. Begging for shelter and food didn't help. In a matter of moments she fell unconscious on an empty road in the middle of nowhere. It was raining, and she couldn't move. But then she felt someone put an umbrella over her head. She didn't have the strength to move, so she simply asked " Who are you?" The person sat on the ground and gave her a slice of bread.
It was the voice of a woman who she heard. " You can call me Elle."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Chase_Jones
Chase_Jones This is the true final chapter. I tried to end it on a training episode, with some emotion packed into the finale. Hopefully it was good enough for everyone. The next chapter after this is the basic information, followed by the final scene.
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