Magic's Return: I Can See The Spirits

AN: Don't know why WN wasn't accepting Furr's picture.

Attempt two.

*Image*

...

"Heh."

A big smile appeared on Declan Dawncrest's face as he glanced at the article in front of him.

'A call for help!'

That was the heading of the title, it was posted by none other than the man he hated the most.

Vaan Astra Vesta.

If it was before, he wouldn't have cared much about the guy, after all, what could a new student possibly do?

This one, however, did much more than Declan thought he would.

Not only was he targeting the Swords Division ever since he had arrived in the Academy, but he has taken the role of the 'Hope' of the Vesta Family and with Vaelen's support, he had the power over most of the Vesta Family and even has influence over the Magic Division because of his rising popularity.

All of this had directly given him the position of his Rival.

Declan's match.

That was what students in the Academy called him.

Which, once again, wasn't a big deal until…

Until Declan was defeated in their first altercation.

Now of course, it was not a formal duel, with the Advantage Declan had as a Swordsman and his own skills that had been perfected to an unmatched level, he would never lose a duel against a Mage.

It was the matter regarding the Ancient Ruins.

While he had come out of the Ruins within 5 days, the couple had managed to spend more than 2 weeks inside, and while they didn't come out with anything substantial, just the fact that they were able to see a demon and a fight between a 7th Circle Mage of the Past Era going all out against her enemies was enough to overshadow all the stupid herbs and fruits that he had brought.

Of course, everyone knew that rather than skills, the factor deciding your results in the Ancient Ruins was luck. So this 'defeat' wasn't exactly something many people counted. After all, no one had control over their 'luck'.

Someone like Declan who had built his reputation through dominant performance for all these years had no reason to be worried about losing a game that depended on luck, everything would have been perfectly fine… until…

Vaan had stayed silent.

Which, he did not.

After coming out of the Ruins, the man 'accepted his mistake.' He officially stated that if he, as the Leader of the team, was able to keep Declan from leaving, breaking their team spirit, and leading to everyone separating and working on their own, the results could have been much better since under his leadership, they could have tailed the Advance Mage and noticed the demon and gotten more information about it.

He said that he failed as a Leader and apologized to everyone looking forward to their team's result.

His words were downplaying himself, however, even a child could tell what he was truly trying to imply.

Of course, that is, if the child can think.

These idiotic sheep, however, couldn't.

They simply followed his words and instantly turned towards him, talking about how he was the one who left and how he, as the senior most student in the team, should have been more responsible and shouldn't have left them alone, especially when Vaan was the one who invited him to his team. At the very least, he could have repaid the favor by guiding him a little.

With the first wave directed at him, more and more waves started flowing in the same direction, a few days later, he was already the sole person responsible for the team breaking up and unfinished results. People didn't even point a single finger at the Team Leader, who was supposed to keep the team together and not blame his teammates.

What's worse was that one of the members of the Sword Division turned on him, agreeing to Vaan and confirming that it was he who left first and was the one who initiated that conversation. With the student of his own department agreeing to Vaan's statement, Declan had no way to defend himself and could only take the blame while cursing the bitch who turned on her own Division.

It was Declan's thorough defeat.

He couldn't help but notice that for some reason, after Astra Elysia Vesta's visit, Vaan's tactics had gotten much more brutal and well put out than before.

He didn't know the reason behind it, however, for now, none of that mattered.

After all, he finally got the chance to get back at his enemy.

"A 90% approval rate huh…"

He muttered as he glanced at the Article in front of him with a big smile on his face.

"Declare my official statement."

Suddenly, Declan turned towards his assistant and spoke with a cold look on his face.

The Assistant, as if already expecting this, was already ready with a pen and paper, ready to note down everything Declan said word for word.

Declan nodded in satisfaction before he continued,

"Our esteemed Agresia Academy intends to teach its students how the real world works, for 5000 years, we have created an environment where we have everything the real world has, be it politics, our own currency, conflicts, companionships, and more.

In these 5000 years, we have created an environment where our Academy can also be called the representation of the real world, or the mini world.

And just like how you cannot leave the real world no matter what emergency it is, you shouldn't be allowed to leave our mini world either else it would defeat the purpose our Academy has been standing for the past 5000 years.

As much as I would want to help my junior here, I, for one, would be casting my vote against him leaving the Academy because before being his senior, I am a student of this Academy. A Student who wouldn't compromise with the Academy's beliefs no matter what."

A smirk appeared on Declan's face the moment he was done with his 'announcement'. He, however, was not done here.

"Now write another announcement, this would be sent solely to my men."

He spoke, his assistant turned the page, ready to write yet another long speech, however,

"If you or any people close to you gave your approval, you are dead."

Declan spoke a single line and a cold glint shined in his eyes. With this, he made sure that even if his message to the entire student body didn't work, his subordinates, who were easily more than 10% of the entire student body, would never vote in approval.

He didn't know why that bastard wanted to leave, however, if it was something he wanted, Declan would make sure that he didn't get it.

…

Soon after that, two Statements from Declan Dawncrest, one private and one public, were released. While the private one did the job, making sure that Vaan would never get the required votes to be able to leave the Academy.

The public one did much better than what many were expecting, especially after Declan's recent defeat.

The moment Vaan's request for help was released and soon became a hot topic in the entire Agresia Academy, many students who had influence in their own circle came forward in his support. Some wanted to curry favors, while some just wanted to be of help because they were impressed by his achievements.

Anyways, with all these people coming forward in order to help Vaan, the public opinion was greatly in his favor.

Heck, it didn't take long for the Official Pole to be posted on the SIC where students were allowed to give their votes. They could either vote for yes, or no, or not give a vote at all.

Of course, only a yes out of these three votes was helpful for Vaan because those who chose not to vote would automatically be considered as a no when the results were counted.

Anyways, despite all this, more and more 'yes' were voted and within just 30 minutes of the Poll being released, Vaan already had the support of 30% of the total student population and he hadn't even started with his main marketing tactics.

However, the moment Declan's announcement was released, things changed.

People who were trying to wash their hands in the flowing river and support Vaan started diminishing, their minds were clear,

Helping Vaan would make them one of the latecomers, they would simply be blending in with the rest of the rally and wouldn't be able to get real benefits out of it.

Declan, however, was different. Right now, with his negative position, not many would support him, so if they were the first to do it, they might get recognized by him.

Soon, the flow started changing as more and more statements agreeing with Declan's words started releasing.

Within the next 30 minutes, while the percentage of supporters only rose to 32%, the percentage of students with disapproval had already risen to 5% and till now, Declan's subordinates hadn't even made their moves.