章節 22: Time to break your seal

Edgard looked at the seven seemingly normal teens while they were waiting for him to react. Edgard walked towards the exit and opened the doors, gesturing the seven to follow him. The Academy was huge in size and as expected they had to take a lot of turns and walk for a while before they reached their destination.

"Come in and stand in a line, young lads." Edgard commanded as he led the seven into a hall which had contrasting design than other parts of the Academy.

The interior of the room was semi-spherical while the walls and the floor were built with Quartz. The walls had symbols ' ౧ ౨ ౩ ౪ ౫ ౬ ౭ ౮ ౯ ' inscribed in them while the diameter of the circular floor was roughly 15 meters and had a circle of 5-meter diameter with a Hexagram inscribed inside the circle in the centre of the room.

"Headmaster Edgard, if you don't mind me asking, would you please explain what those symbols mean?" Erina asked like a little girl filled with curiosity as she placed a finger on her lower lip.

"Those symbols represent the numbers one to nine in an ancient language. And in turn, each number represents one of the ancient families. The ancient family lines were the guardians of the seal on the dark forces as well of this world."

"And now they are gone, so what now?" Leo stepped towards the centre of the circle trying to have a closer look as he asked in a serious tone.

"If there's something the ancient families taught us, then it would be to believe that there is always a way and all we needed to do was to search for it. They are gone, but that isn't going to make anyone in this world give up without facing the dark forces. The fact that they are gone only highlighted the need for unity and strengthened the bonds between the neighbouring kingdoms."

"So, it brought Unity?" Sai asked with a doubting face as he stared at Edgard for a reply.

"You can say that." Edgard flashed a small smile as he looked at Sai.

"Leo, stand in the middle of the circle. It is time, 'Time to break your Seal'. Stand firmly and I suggest you to just stay calm and try not to pass out." Edgard stood outside the circle facing Leo while the other six stood behind him.

Edgard closed his eyes and lifted his hands while projecting his open palms at Leo. The room was lightly lit with Qi bulbs which looked pretty much the same as any other electrical bulb on Earth but had a gem inside the glass bulb instead of a filament. In a few seconds, the room dimmed and the six could see a string of Qi being drawn towards Edgard from the ground, the walls and even the Qi bulbs. Edgard was in his 60's but the aura he emitted and the density of the Qi that surrounded him swiftly was clear evidence for the seven that he was no normal man.

His body started to become less visible as the golden Qi surged from his toe to head. Edgard started to recite a spell which was inaudible to the six behind him who were still wondering if it would hurt to have a seal broken. The symbols on the walls shone in a golden colour just as the circle and the hexagram while the same golden symbols appeared on the space above the circle. Soon a semisphere made of thin Qi formed around Leo which covered the entire circle. The symbols were about 30 centimetres in height and revolved on the semispherical Qi around Leo.

"Mucyate!" As Edgard shouted out the last word, Leo felt as if a large rock fell on his head while his heart felt as if it was being squeezed. The Qi in the flying symbols flew into Leo as they revolved around him. A sudden burst of Qi rushed out of Leo which shook the six behind Edgard and soon everything went back to normal and the Qi around Edgard dispersed.

"Are you okay, Leo!?" Edgard walked up to Leo who was sweating profoundly with closed eyes as he panted heavily while still standing.

"I am okay, but I will be frank. That was a horrible experience." Leo said with a mocking smile as he opened one of his closed eyes.

"Hahaha. The ceremony of breaking the seal isn't the same for everyone. You seven are the only ones who have to go through such crude experience. I will explain later." Edgard laughed at how strong Leo acted even after taking in such a heavy blow to his brain and heart.

"So, who wants to be next!?" Edgard turned back to face the rest of the gang as he asked.

The rest of the gang hid behind Clint who had no reaction on his face while the rest only peeked at Edgard and Leo in despair. Edgard and Leo weren't much surprised by such a reaction from the other five cause they knew how they would feel after seeing such reactions from Leo.

"Is there an option 'I will Pass, no thank you.' headmaster?" Erina stood last in the line as she asked slowly while she peaked at Edgard.

"No. At most the only options you have are 'Me' or 'Definitely Me' little girl." The five sighed and trembled in fear as a shiver rode up their spine.

"I will go next." Clint walked up casually to the centre of the circle while Leo walked slowly towards the wall and sat down leaning on the wall.

The same procedure was repeated over and over for the rest of the five as well after Clint, starting with Sai and then Aiko, Reeva, Ian and ended with Erina. But what surprised Edgar was that none of the seven passed out as he expected them to.

The seven sat down on the floor and panted heavily except Clint who wasn't much affected by the intensity of pain. Edgar and Clint helped the six up and led them back into his office. The seven were given some cream coloured juice to drink, after which the seven felt as if all the pain and sweating they had a second ago was only an illusion.

"What was that juice?" Ian asked slowly as he eyed the juice bottle on Edgard's table.

"Just a potion for pain and calming the body. You will learn all about these sorts of potions soon in the academy."

"So, Headmaster, you said we were the only ones who have to go through such kind of ritual to break our seal, why? Is the ritual for others easier?" Reeva asked with a straight face as she put down the empty cup.