an illusion of mind

"hell no."

"what?! why~~" Regina whined like a child being denied candy.

"I'm not going to antagonize the second years, because SOMEONE decided to do so." Adam glared at her.

"but if you don't participate, who else would!" Regina threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

"figure something out yourself, I'm not planning on getting in a fight with the seniors for no reason." he said turning away from her and walking away.

"wait! Adam!" she chased after him but he ignored her, "come on! you owe me!" Regina said and Adam paused.

"when did I owe you?" Adam turned to her his hands crossed.

"back in the first mission, I defended you from getting eliminated, remember?" she tapped a finger on her head as if she's mocking his memory.

"... Tsk! fine, I'll participate, but only this once and because I owed you before." Adam said turning away from her reluctantly accepting.

Regina lit up and jumped up in excitement, "great! now we have four people!" she skipped away from Adam and before she turned the corner she yelled across the corridor, "come to the Adventurer's club at 4:30!" she said before disappearing.

Adventurer's club lobby, at 4:30

all of the first year students chosen to fight against the seniors were here.

"so first off we need to know each other's battle style and abilities to be able to fight as a team, the 'Tradition of trials' is a team battle you see, so being able to fight as a team is really important." Adam explained to the other members, Regina rested her head on her hand yawning every once in a while, she was bored to death.

"I will begin, I utilize dual daggers to fight and I specialize in ambushes and moving in the enemy's blind spot." Adam explained his fighting style.

after he finished Suzi stood up and explained hers, "I'm what you guys would call a berserker, I use my fists to fight in a combination of grabs slashes and punches, I utilize condensed mana to mimic claws so my fists act as a blade." Suzi explained before sitting down.

Evelyn stood up and held a palm upwards, a strange pink energy coalesced on top of it creating a dagger, at this the other's eyes widened and they took a closer look, it looked like mana was manipulated so freely into that, "what is this...?" Adam asked, there was no way it was a single spell to create a single dagger that would be too inefficient that's why creation spells weren't too common, mages focused on destructive and healing spells.

"my ability." Evelyn said clenching her palm and breaking the dagger the mana dispersed into the air.

"ability?" Suzi asked looking up at her.

"it's sorcery, you guys wouldn't know, I witnessed it before, I'm in sorcery class too." Regina said quipping in from the side.

"yes, it's sorcery, my ability allows me to freely create objects out of mana." Evelyn said, "I utilize that to fight in battle." she said simply.

"interesting..." Adam said and they remained quiet for a few more moments before they all turned towards Regina expectantly.

"oh~ it's my turn~ sorry guys~ silly me~" she bumped her head with a fist sticking her tongue out feigning aloofness.

"anyways, I use illusion magic as some of you know, and I am also well versed in close range combat, I can use every weapon there is, and I rely a lot on my agility and dexterity to move around flexibly in battle." Regina said putting a hand to her chest.

"alright, so I got the gist of it, Suzi, you will be the vanguard, Regina and I will ambush them, Regina can use her illusions to distract them and disorient them, and you Evelyn... I don't know I'm not very familiar with your kind of ability, just do what you need to help out in battle." Adam said explaining everyone's role.

"alright, is that it?" Suzi asked simply relaxing on a chair.

"yeah, pretty much, let's see each other at the end of the week, make sure you guys are ready for battle." Adam said and he narrowed his eyes on Regina, "especially you, you're the cause of all this so you better fight your hardest." he spoke a hint of irritation on his voice.

Regina shrunk back "yes sir!" she said her voice shaking in forced discipline.

Adam just shook his head and sighed, "you're like a child, be more mature..." he said before getting up and leaving the lobby, the two others soon followed after him.

Regina stayed behind for a little, like a child...?

she pouted glaring at the door before she sighed and got up and left the lobby too.

Regina sat alone at a café sipping on her hot cup of coffee, in prism there were a lot of businesses like this, cafés, restaurants, shops, grocery stores, everything a students might need, and they would get an allowance each month for their daily needs and also some left over after the shopping for personal use, as a royal class student Regina got more than the usual for normal students.

but right now she wasn't here for nothing, no, she was here for-

before she could finish her thoughts several grunts and groans were heard around her and all the people in the café were knocked out, she paused mid sip as she put her coffee cup down, she turned in her seat to the right her blood red eyes scanning the area.

some men and women that were sitting in the café previous to her arrival had knocked out all the people in the café.

"my lady, we are here to deliver an order from her..." a woman with brow hair and green eyes, wearing a suit bowed down on one knee in front of her, as other ones in similar suits knocked out the workers utilizing a transparent mask that emitted gas when masked on the people.

"hehe~ was it really necessary to do all this?" Regina asked looking around at the knocked out citizens, prism wasn't just an academy it was a city too, it had normal citizens along with school faculty and students.

"we must retain top secrecy, my lady." she replied not lifting her head up still bowing on one knee.

"say, Emma..." Regina said as she stood up and faced away from her.

"yes my lady?" the woman finally lifted her head up looking at Regina in curiosity.

"do you think I act like a child?" Regina said turning back to her pointing at herself.

the woman's eyes widened before it softened, "no my lady..." she said bowing her head again, not taking her eyes off the ground, you're a monster... not a child.... she thought to herself but she dared not voice her thoughts.

"what a relief~ also was the princess injected as per her order?" she put a hand to her chest and let out a breath, she then turned serious and smiled wickedly.

"yes, my lady..."

"did you wipe her memory?" Regina asked turning to her.

"we did."

"and the demons? were they planted as ordered?" Regina inquired.

"yes, my lady, we had two casualties while moving the demons to the designated area, but we managed to get the shadeskins to the cavern as ordered..." the woman said.

"yeah~ I already knew all this, I was there, and I did my part of the plan, make sure to relay it to her..." Regina seemed to have a contemplative expression before she pursed her lips drawing blood from her lips from the force.

"do not let her find out about the Tradition of Trials I'm doing... she will most likely order me to not do it... I want to have my fun... and if any of you ruin that for me... I will show your eyes what your face looks like. do you understand?" she crouched down and put a hand on Emma's shoulder, Emma shivered, this wasn't only meant for her, but for every member around.

the other members around paused and shivered at the threat.

"understood my lady..." Emma forced her fear down and nodded frantically breaking out into a cold sweat.

"alright, speak the order..." Regina sat back down and took a sip from the coffee cup.

"umm... my lady, she told me not to say it out loud but to hand you this..." Emma stuttered as she took out a metallic round object and gave it to her.

Regina raised an eyebrow her eyes widening slightly, it wasn't typical of her to send a hologram, this must be important...

Regina accepted the object and tapped a button under it and a translucent blue screen was projected in front of her the words on the hologram read words that absolutely shocked Regina...

I will be paying a visit to prism.

those simple words not only shocked Regina but also made her thoughts race, she'll be visiting?! when?! how?! and WHY?!

Regina bit her fingernails in anxiousness and she crushed the device under her grip, it broke as electricity zapped her hand but she didn't care, she looked down at Emma and she gritted her teeth, "she's coming here... and knowing her, she would announce her visit... did she tell you when she's coming?" Regina asked her tone no longer amused but concerned and anxious.

Emma's eyes widened and several members looked up also in surprise, "n-no... she didn't tell us... we weren't aware she was even coming my lady..." Emma replied stuttering.

Regina sighed and waved her hand in the air, "useless as usual, I need to get my mind off of this, tell me the progress with team P-1..."

"a-ah... the progress is going well my lady... the team is almost ready for the missions..." she said stuttering still stunned by the previous revelation.

Regina smiled widely, "good~ it'll be their first and last missions~ but don't worry our resources aren't going there for nothing~ we're going to benefit so much from this~" Regina's smile widened and she chuckled to herself.

Emma shivered, to disregard human life so easily... yes they were trained and genetically modified to not have the primal fear of death... but still... Emma looked up at Regina as she chuckled to herself.

"you are all dismissed, I will take my leave now." Regina said waving a hand at them before she started walking out of the door, "also, make sure this incident is covered up." Regina said simply.

"my lady..."

Emma called out to her.

"what is it?" Regina stopped and turned back slightly annoyed.

"what about the prince?"

"don't worry, he thinks I'm a Varcan, because of these~" Regina pointed at her blood red eyes and smiled, "he's still under that impression and I'm working under a deal to spy on his sister, he doesn't even know I'm just truly spying on him~" Regina smirked wickedly as chuckled to herself.

"I see... It was good we fed him that information from before..." Emma said looking down at the ground.

"yeah, now go, cover this incident up, wipe the casualties memories." Regina nodded before walking out of the door and closing it shut behind her.

and Emma immediately got to work, ordering the members to use the mark 2 masks for memory erasure, she specified the dosage to be for only one hour and to immediately leave after they're done.

that monster... she's coming here? I feel bad for these people... I hope she doesn't go overboard for their sake...

Emma let out a long sigh and also got to work, none of my business...