an illusion of mind

what just happened?

that was what everyone had in mind when the duel was done in Regina's victory.

in their perspective, Suzi had stopped moving all of a sudden when Regina had stopped laughing, and Regina just walked up to her and pushed her to the ground and won.

"what the hell is this?" Rica yelled while Arron simply gawked at the sight.

"did she do that on purpose?" asked.

"no, that's impossible, Suzi would never let herself be defeated with such ease... something must have been wrong... Regina definitely did something..." Bella said her eyes never leaving the arena she was watching the fight very intently, after Regina stopped laughing, Suzi broke out into a cold sweat and shivered, she must have been struggling to move, was it a binding curse? she put a hand on her chin in deep thought.

"it's illusions." a new voice joined from the side, "the answer is illusions." all of them turned to see Adam, he was finally speaking to them, Rica frowned and he continued, "Regina utilized illusion to probably scare Suzi."

"that's also impossible, the Suzan I know isn't scared of anything, she had to have done something. is it a curse?" Bella practically glared at Adam, she can't accept that Suzi lost so easily and humiliatingly.

"if it really is illusions then how did she manage to stop Suzi from moving?" she narrowed her eyes on Adam as if she got him there.

"I wouldn't know, I'm not an illusionist." he said shrugging.

Bella gritted her teeth and turned to look back at the arena, no she couldn't accept that, there had to have been something, something she did...

Bella jumped on the arena and ran over to her friend, Suzi held out a hand for her and helped her up, she noticed Suzi's face was soaked with sweat and her hand was shivering and trembling.

she definitely did something...

she helped Suzi up and brought her over to the group of Royal class students, "let's ask her ourselves then." Adam said gesturing at her.

"let her rest, that Regina definitely did something to her..." Bella glared at him.

"tsk, whatever."

after a while Suzi finally came to her senses and spoke up, "I lost...?" her tone was half questioning and half realisation.

"yeah, and pretty badly too." Adam said snickering to himself.

"shut up, let her speak." Rica smacked him in the back of the head.

"ow! hey! why'd you hit me?" he exclaimed rubbing his head to ease the pain.

Rica just ignored him and leaned in closer to Suzi.

"you have to tell us what happened, how did Regina win?"

"...what?" Suzi finally fully came to her senses, "w-well... when she stopped laughing... everything around me became dark..." she spoke and shivered as she remembered what happened.

"a-and I lost all mobility... I just couldn't hear... see, smell or move..." she said shuddering and hugging her knees to herself.

"...that can't be illusion magic can it?" David said, shivering slightly hearing the description.

"a-and there was this black figure..." she said shivering.

"black figure?"

Suzi nodded, "y-yeah and it walked up to me... and pushed me to the ground..." she said shuddering.

"that's what Regina looked like in her eyes..." Bella mumbled under her breath.

"is that truly just illusion magic?" Rica put a hand on her chin in deep thought.

"yes, yes it is." a new voice said from behind Rica breaking her out of her thoughts, she turned to see Regina walking up to them.

Suzi's eyes widened and she shivered even more.

"calm your friend down, it was just an illusion~" Regina said waving her hand in the air.

"that didn't sound like illusions to me, it sounded like you took her senses away from her." Bella glared at her.

"illusion magic can be used to achieve that." she shrugged and gestured at Suzi who flinched at her movement, "you only have yourself to blame for picking a fight with me." she said her tone indifferent to the state of the poor girl.

"Regina Pectos, what you did to your classmate was inconsiderate, you must apologize now." Amanda finally spoke, her usual giddy demeanour gone replaced by a serious and angry one.

"inconsiderate? little princess what do you know about being considerate?" Regina scoffed and chuckled as she met the princess's gaze.

"I know enough to tell that you owe her an apology." she said her eyes boring into Regina.

"what if I don't want to~" Regina smirked trying to hold her laughter in with her hand.

Amanda's eyes narrowed on her and she gritted her teeth, "I am the princess of this country and I won't let you hurt any of my friends." she spoke her tone growing angrier by the second.

"listen princess your friend hurt herself by trying to fight me, I did nothing, I simply beat her fair and square."

"you call that fair?" she practically spat.

"I used my own abilities how would it not be fair? or do you yourself want a taste of what she got princess~" Regina's eyes gleamed in amusement as her smile turned manic.

"okay, let's stop for now before things get out of hand..." David tried to intervene.

"Axe boy, keep out of this." Regina said her smile fading to show a scowl at his interruption.

"A-axe boy...?" he stuttered taken aback by the nick name, Arron just laughed at him from the side.

"you know what? yes, I will duel you too." the princess spoke confidently her eyes shone and her heart resolved to deliver justice.

Regina's eyes darkened and her smile faded completely to show an expressionless face, she looked up at the princess who was a few rows of benches high and her eyes shone brightly.

all around the princess everything darkened and she lost control of her legs as they wobbled, and she broke out into a cold sweat, she tried her hardest to stay standing, and she succeeded as her body shone in a golden light she repelled whatever force Regina had used on her, clearing her mind and returning her to normal.

"hoo~ interesting~" Regina just smirked and tilted her head as Amanda's body shone in a golden light.

"give up, you're illusions won't affect me." she spoke her voice was slightly altered as if leaning more into ethereal than normal.

"princess, I'd like to see you handle this." Regina spoke as her smile widened turning manic once more, her eyes shone with malice as Amanda's world darkened once more, the darkness was intense and she lost hearing in both ears, she couldn't see anything and her body dimmed down until the glow was gone, her legs gave out and she collapsed to one knee, an intense weight was put on her shoulders as if her head weighed way more than it should have.

it's like she's in a void... it's like she's.... dead...

just as quickly as the weight came it was gone and Regina stood victorious over the princess, and the other students rushed to her helping her up.

a tiny golden feather flitted in the air next to Amanda for a second before dissipating into thin air.

"Amanda!" Arron yelled as he rushed to her side and helped her up.

"Regina, I think you might have gone a little over board." Adam spoke as he walked to Amanda's side to see if she's okay.

"I did what I had to do, besides the princess was the one who started~" she shrugged and chuckled to herself.

"she's right... I'm the one who started, let go Arron." Amanda said tugging her arm out of Arron's tight grip.

"see~ even she says so~" Regina gestured at the princess.

"I agree... just know this, the next time we meet, I won't be as weak as I am now..." she said glaring up at Regina.

"sure~ sure~ whatever you say ~your highness~" she said the last words in a mocking and sarcastic tone as she laughed to herself.

"tsk, is she not afraid to insult royalty?" Rica clicked her tongue.

Adam was also looking at Regina strangely now, "Regina, I think you're going too far."

"Adam? I thought you had my back~" she said a little disappointed but there was no anger behind her tone, just amusement and sarcasm.

she stood at the opposite of 6 Royal class students, opposing all of them, she eventually just sighed and turned around leaving them behind.

"idiots, is it so hard to understand that I did nothing wrong?" she said leaving the training grounds, closing the door behind her.

"'nothing wrong' my ass." Rica said glaring at Regina's back, she had previously thought that she was a pure girl, turns out she was wrong.

"...I don't know why she's like this..." Adam spoke from the side his eyes lingering on the door.

"hey, maybe you should learn to control your girlfriend a little, yeah?" David patted him on the back and all heads turned to him as if he said something wrong, "...what?"

"she's not my girlfriend." Adam spoke a slight blush on his cheeks.

"really? then why are you always together?"

"because no one other than her ever spoke to me normally all of you scorned me remember?" Adam said glaring at all of them.

"all except you..." Adam looked towards Arron who was just talking with Amanda he turned to Adam when he noticed his gaze and smiled, "... never mind he's just an idiot..." Adam spoke simply.

"I agree, he is an idiot, but let's not change the subject, you know exactly why we're staying away from you." Rica spoke, at her words Arron looked down to the ground like a sad puppy, "why do they keep calling me an idiot..." at this Amanda chuckled and patted his back reassuringly, "don't worry you're not an idiot." she said still sweating from the earlier altercation.

"right I do, but you should at least give me a chance to change you know, some people regret their actions despite me being innocent." he said pointing at Rica.

"you never even gave me a chance for redemption, you know what, I'm starting to regret defending you from Regina, I should have went with her instead of staying here with people that won't even give me a chance." he spoke gritting his teeth in irritation.

"..." Rica just stayed silent through this, her expression strange, when she remembered Regina's word that day.

I can't with you people just hearing something and believing in it immediately.

there are so many possibilities yet you chose to believe what you're told, that's why I don't like you people.

and she pursed her lips, she let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding and she spoke under her breath, "fine... I'm giving you a second chance to redeem yourself..." she practically whispered, only Adam heard her as his eyes widened.

"you are?"

"yeah... I don't want to be someone who judges others based on what they heard from other unrelated people, that would just be foolish and idiotic..." she said her eyes turning a little sad, "I no longer wish to be blind..."

at this Adam's face brightened and he spoke up, "thanks a lot... I'll take this chance to prove myself..."

he smiled brightly and he spoke "thank you again, I'll take my leave now." he said as he turned and walked out of the training grounds.

her expression turned serious and a little hopeful "I hope you won't make me regret this..."

Rica no longer wished to be blind, to cower and listen to what other people tell her, if she was dubious about something she had to check it herself.

at this moment Rica had matured a little from her old self.