Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

👑 The Beautiful Tyrant: Chapter 19 👑

After school the four stepped out the mirror to Pomefiore, looking at the impressive castle-like building in front of them. "I guess there's going to be more dancing and singing for the selected ensemble members," Deuce says as they walk the walkway leading to the building.

"Well, yeah," Ace states.

"Grrrr...." Grim growls in Anger as Angel holds him. "I'm still sour that I lost to you two."

"Hey, guys!" Kalim happily greets as the four approach the door.

"Oh, hey. It's Kalim nd Jamil," Grim says as they head towards the four. "What are you guys doin' here?" he curiously asks.

"We passed the audition screening," Jamil answers. "Did you pass as well?"

"We sure did!" Ace confidently says.

"So you performed well at audition! That's great!" Kalim praises.

"They totally left ME out, though!" Grim whines. "This really yanks my tail..."

"I think even Vil would be hard-pressed to fit YOU on the team," Jamil mumbles.

"Cheer up, Grim," Kalim says as he looks at him. "Want a cracker?" He says as he put his hand in his pocket.

Grim flinches. "Urgh, not this again! Somebody tell this guy that crackers aren't the answers to everything."

"But don't you like food, Grim?" Angel asks with a smirk.

"Yeah, but not from HIM!" He retorts.

"You there-the group of five with a cat," a student calls out. "Halt!"

Deuce looks around, seeing that there were two students standing outside of the dorm's door and see that the student's description was not too far from the truth. "Are you talking to us?" he asks.

"I see some of you passed the SDC ensemble audition," the student says as he looks at the five, specifically the four.

"Yup!" Kalim happily answers. "Vil asked to see us. Would you mind taking us to him?"

The other student smirks. "Heh...Not so fast," he says, making everyone confused. "Nobody simply waltzes into our dorm!" He declares.

"Huh?" Everyone asks in confusion.

"The gates of Pomefiore are open only to those who exhibit both beauty and strength!" The other student declares. He takes his glove off and throw it in front of the five. "The gauntlet is thrown. Pick it up!"

"Wait, I'm confused," Kalim says as he picks up the glove and inspects it. "Why did he just throw a literal glove at us?"

"Stay sharp, Kalim!" Jamil says as he takes his pen out. "Incoming!" He says as he puts up a shield from an attack from the students, surprising everyone at the sudden change in actions.

"Whoa?! What's going on, here!?" Ace says as he takes his pen out as well, preparing for any attacks. He glances at the other, also confused by the sudden actions of the students, only to summon a shield up right at the time a spell almost hit him, the shield disappearing after the hit. The four looked at each other and nodded, Jamil and Ace taking up the front while Kalim and Deuce stood at the back, looking for any wayward spells to protect Angel and Grim, who were quite confused as well. What in the world caused the change in the students? The students continued to attack the four, with the four only summoning spells to cancel out their attacks, and shields when necessary if it passed Ace and Jamil. Even Deuce had to summon a shield every now and then in order to protect himself. As the students were attacking, Jamil noticed a pattern, seeing that they weren't throwing spells continuously, seeing that as a spell was being summoned by one student, the other student released a spell, and vice versa, and a plan came up. He looked to Ace, seeing that though his shields were flimsy enough to disappear after one hit, it did do the job of stopping the spells in their track.

"Ace," Jamil calls out, getting his attention. "Try to focus on the students after they attack. There's a pattern there," he says as Ace looks at him with a puzzled expression but did as he was told. He looked closely and noticed what Jamil was talking about, seeing that the students were only covering for each other while the other was preparing their spell. He looked to Jamil and nodded, understanding the purpose now. Jamil blocked a spell coming for Ace as Ace prepares a spell, aiming it towards the student just releasing the spell, giving him no time to react as the spell lands a hit on him, making him grunt in pain. For Jamil, he aptly dodged the spell and released his own spell towards the other student, their eyes widen at the incoming spell and tried to summon a shield to block it, only to fail as he gets hit instead, kneeling in pain.

"Rgh...You're not half-bad," the student grunts.

"Just remember," the other student says. "This is only the beginning. The road to true beauty is long and fraught with peril...Rgh..." he collapses, leaving the six confused.

"Why in the world would they attack us unprovoked?" Jamil curiously asked, putting his pen aside.

"Let's just get to the ballroom for now," Deuce says as they head inside.