38 Tarto
“Did Zevien just confess….?” Erica uttered with a dumbfounded expression.
“Sure did,” Dan nodded with a grin as he looked at Vernisia, that was just stunned on the chair with her mouth wide open.
“Say, Vernisia, did you know Zevien before arriving at the academy?” Dan inquired.
Vernisia snapped out of her daze as her cheeks turned slightly red, but she quickly composed herself and shook her head, “no, I didn’t know about Zevien, nor did I meet him before arriving at the academy.”
“That’s strange…,” Dan muttered.
“Why?” Erica asked.
“Because Zevien seems to have known you beforehand,” Dan said thoughtfully, “he also started tearing up when he first saw you in the ceremony hall on the first day of the academy.”
“What? Really?” Vernisia was startled before remembering how Zevien would look at her and nodded, “the way Zevien looks at me every time is also one that is of great familiarity.”
“Anyway, what are you going to do?” Erica asked with a playful smile, “how will you respond?”
“I-I….,” Vernisia blushed, but then she thought of something and said, “ahem, I will not respond until I know the truth. He seems to have some secret, and it obviously involves me from how he interacted with me from the start.”
“But you also like him, right? It’s pretty obvious,” Dan cheekily smiled.
“Like and love is different,” Erica snorted before looking at Vernisia, “Verny, you shouldn’t jump to the gun. Zevien is a good guy and all. He is talented as well, but you should decide after spending more time with him with us as friends.”
…
“What?!” Dan was startled.
“Then what was that if not confession?”
Zevien rubbed his eyes and yawned, “chill, I just said what was on my mind at that time. Well, it did sound like a confession, and I don’t mind it. After all, I really do love her, and that is not going to change-“
“…ever,” Zevien grinned.
“I see. Well, now that you woke up, should we call Vernisia and Erica for your so-called surprise?” Dan asked before looking at the time, “it’s four in the afternoon now, and we will have to go train at 6 PM at my master’s dojo. We will be done by that time, right?”
“Easily,” Zevien nodded before activating his Digi-watch and contacting Vernisia and Erica to come to his dorm.
After a while, Vernisia and Erica arrived.
“So, what’s the surprise?” Erica asked, “let’s see what you’ve been doing for the last eight days.”
“Mhmm,” Vernisia nodded as she tried to act regularly, “show us what you got.”
Zevien smiled and told them to follow him to his room.
After everyone entered, he closed the door and looked at them with a serious expression, “I have created a magic spell, and it’s a never before seen one.”
“Oh?!”
Vernisia, Erica, and Dan were surprised.
“So, for the past eight days, you were working on creating a magic spell?” Dan asked as he scratched his head, “although it sounds unrealistic for someone of our age to create a magic spell as we had just awakened our magic labyrinths and haven’t even gone too deep into the magic world.”
Vernisia and Erica nodded.
“True,” Zevien nodded with a faint smile, “but I have a secret, and I will tell you about it partially. The first part is that I am living this life with you for the second time.”
“Second time? What do you mean?” Vernisia was confused, and so were Dan and Erica.
“In 8014, the whole world went backward in time. Everything rewound back to 8008, right before the opening ceremony of this academy,” Zevien spoke shocking words, “the only difference was that I retained my memories of it because you can say that I was the cause of this time rewind.”
“And I have been working with this magic spell with Vernisia before the time rewind,” Zevien said with a smile as he looked at Vernisia.
Vernisia, Erica, and Dan had their jaw dropped to the ground.
“You are kidding, right?” Dan asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“Obviously, he became brain-dead,” Erica said while shaking her head, “don’t tell me you were smoking some illegal stuff for the past eight days?”
Vernisia was silent with her head down for a few seconds before she looked at Zevien and spoke in a worried tone, “do you want to see a doctor?”
“Well yeah, it’s hard to believe, so screw it,” Zevien said with a laugh, “let’s get onto the main business.”
Zevien started creating spell formation internally by controlling his mana for a minute. After he was done with it, he closed his eyes and poured his feelings into his intent.
His wish, his ambition, his stubbornness, his determination, he poured everything when he activated this spell so that the fairies would feel this intent.
Vernisia, Erica, and Dan saw a meter big magic circle forming with a strange whirlpool portal and colorful sparks.
“Woah, what is that?” Dan said as he raised his eyebrows.
“How beautiful and mystical,” Vernisia was surprised.
“And dangerous as well,” Erica narrowed her eyes.
Vernisia and Dan nodded.
Zevien’s eyes were closed, so he couldn’t see. But from the magic circle, a paw came out.
The paw that came out was black and furry.
Vernisia and the other two gulped as they felt a suffocating pressure from the magic circle, and some invisible power bound their bodies.
They couldn’t even move their lips to speak while sweat fell like a waterfall on their faces.
On the other hand, Zevien finally opened his eyes and saw a creature coming out.
A black furry creature with ruby-black eyes, furry ears, and perfect whiskers.
‘A cat?’
Zevien was not feeling any pressure like Vernisia and others since the cat didn’t direct it at him.
‘Not even a humanoid spirit like Yowen? Damn, did my intent not even attract that level of a spirit?’ Zevien was speechless.
However, when he heard muffled groans, he looked at Vernisia and the other two before he was startled to see them sweating like pigs and having a fearful expression, “what’s wrong with you?”
“Meow~ I have restricted them.”
The magic portal that appeared in the magic circle disappeared as the cat fully came out and sat down in the air as if there was a floor of air below its feet.
The cat stared at Zevien while sitting elegantly, “do you want to form a contract with me, human?”
Zevien wasn’t feeling anything from the cat but seeing how it restricted those three and the mysteriousness he felt, he agreed, “yes, I want to.”
“Meow~ good,” the cat nodded with a satisfied expression, “Before going into the details of the contract, I will introduce myself. I am not a regular spirit but a Shaman Fairy Spirit. I have many names like Styxian, Hell Crian, Erebuxin, Umbra Shaman, Tartagust, but most fairies call me Lord Black. You can call me Styx or Tarto for short.”
“Tarto,” Zevien smiled.
“Meow~” the cat nodded as its ruby eyes gleamed, “this contract will be slightly different. It will last for five years only. In the next five years, I will let you borrow my power according to your limits but will not help you directly. If I deem you not worthy in the next five years, I will leave you. Simple as that.”