Saga of Atlantis

He wore the academic uniform of a third-year student.

His voice resonated throughout the auditorium, making the cheering of the students come to a halt.

"Let’s go." Spinning the volleyball on my index finger, I said to Berg, ignoring the guy.

"Who is he?" Berg asked as we both moved towards the crowded registration booth.

"Just a random dog," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

But as the whole auditorium was silent, my voice echoed throughout the area.

"But he looks just like a human," Berg replied, adding salt to the insult.

Good job, boy.

"Eden! Come down here right now!" The guy on the court roared in anger.

"Ignore him," I said to Berg as he tried to reply to him.

"We would like to join the club," I said to the person present inside the booth as the crowd made way for me.

"Y-yes, sir, I w-will register you for the next selection game," he replied, trying to keep himself composed.

"P-please go on towards the main court," he continued, handing us two forms.

I turned back as I moved towards the main volleyball court in the middle of the auditorium, with Berg following just behind me.

As we moved towards the court from the back of the auditorium, Grace also arrived, talking with someone.

Another woman with long, dark caramel-colored hair caught my attention.

Her sharp, dark black eyes turned towards us, and as she looked at me, a conflicted smile appeared on her face.

"We are having more students than we anticipated," she said as she looked around the crowd. "Well, I am the teacher responsible for this activity club."

"The class teacher of the first-year Cerium class, my name is Geilna Strom," she introduced herself as the students who wanted to participate formed a circle around her.

She is also the class teacher where Grace and my siblings are studying.

"Raoul, your joiners need your help." She called out for someone, and a third-year man started to move towards us. It didn’t take long for him to arrive in front of us—the same one who tried to attack me.

"Yes, professor?" he asked as he looked towards Geilna.

"Help these students wear the safety equipment and make someone from the third year be the referee," she replied.

"Yes," he replied, turning towards us, his eyes meeting mine.

"Hello, motherfucker," I said with a smile, waving my hand.

His face immediately flushed with anger that he desperately tried to control.

Raoul Nightshade was the heir of the Nightshade dukedom and one of the few people I knew from my childhood—someone with whom I always had a beef.

Well, I have beef with every Duke heir, so that’s nothing new.

Moreover, I was pretty close with his sister, so I always saw him in my childhood.

He brought us to the side of the court, where quite a few pieces of safety equipment were present, which he helped the students wear.

"I can do it myself," I said to him as he brought the equipment toward me.

"Let me do it." But before he could reply, another voice resonated from behind.

I looked back and found Professor Geilna coming towards me.

She brought me away from the crowd towards the other corner.

She also took the equipment from Raoul as she brought the guard towards my elbow and started to tie it. "How long has it been since I saw you, Eden?"

"Five years, give or take," I replied, extending my hand for her to have an easy time tying the guard.

Geilna and Sophia were in the same class in their academic year, and they were both as close as sisters because of that.

I knew her from the time I knew Grace and Sophia.

The last time I talked to her was when I broke Grace’s heart by rejecting her.

"You have grown a lot," she said, looking up at my face as she extended her hand, touching my face. "You didn’t come to my shoulder when I last met you."

"People grow," I replied, lowering my head a little so she could place the helmet on my head. "People change."

"Grace told me about you joining the management committee and being her partner."

"Evelyn did that," I rebuked before she could say anything.

"Are you going to try to win her again?" she asked.

"All I am asking is that she forgives me for what I did."

"Ha, like that is going to be easy for her," she replied, letting out a dry chuckle.

She moved back as she looked at me.

"Tch, when did you become so handsome?" she said, clicking her tongue as she observed me from top to bottom.

"I always was," I replied.

"You became narcissistic as well."

"I did not." I replied with a smile, as I knew I had become one.

"Do not do anything that will break her again, Eden," she whispered as she moved close to me. "You don’t know how painful it was for her to overcome that."

"Are you going to stop me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"No, why would I? Like Sophia, I also want her happiness," she replied, shaking her head. "But that doesn’t mean I will make it easy for you."

Saying so, she moved in front of everyone and clapped her hands.

"Okay, everyone, I have something to say," she said, bringing everyone’s attention towards her.

"Eden here is saying that he alone is enough to win against the best of the third year in the game, which means he is saying he can beat Raoul’s team alone."

As she spoke, almost immediately, I felt quite a few glares directed towards me, and not a single one of them seemed happy about what she said.

I stood there, smiling, as I knew where she was going with this.

"And it saddens me to hear how a newbie is saying he is better than those who have played the game for three years straight."

"So I would like to propose a game against them; should we do it?"

""YES!""

"Should we?"

""YES!""

As the shouting of these idiots ended, she turned back towards me and smiled.

"Should we, Eden?"

’ohh..boy you are going to make everyone go against me, huh?.’

I thought, looking at her mischievous smile.

If I say no, right now I will be embracing myself in front of the whole audience.

And if I say yes, I will embrace myself after miserably losing after boasting that I could defeat them easily.

No one’s even gonna doubt that I said those words, as she is known throughout the academy for being an upright and just person.

She seriously wants to embrace me in front of the whole academy.

No, she wants me to make a joke of myself in front of Grace.

The more I think about it, the more my smile turns into a grin.

She has a good plan, and I have to give it to her.

"Sure, let’s do it," I replied with a smirk, playing along with her plan.

"Great!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands again. "We will have an exhibition match between Eden and Raoul’s team.

"This will be an interesting showdown, everyone! Get ready for some exciting action!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, completely unaware that I had just been set up for a potential embarrassment.

"Hey, bro, what’s up with the sudden challenge?" Breg asked me as soon as Geilna moved away.

"Don’t mind that; focus on your match later," I replied, tapping his shoulder. "Because this one is going to be a short one."

I moved towards the other side of the net, waiting for them to get ready.

"Are you sure you want to do it?" Grace asked as she arrived beside me.

"Have a little faith in me, will ya?" I replied, smiling.

"Don’t lose," she said before turning back, leaving me alone again.

A referee arrived at the side of the net, and Raoul’s team also gathered on the other side of the court.

"You’ve grown too cocky, haven’t you?" Raoul barked, glaring at me.

"You know, Raoul, I met Evelyn just a few hours ago," I said, and with the mere mention of his sister, his face twisted with an uncomfortable expression.

"She is as beautiful and sweet as you are an arrogant prick."

"You! Bastra—"

"The match will begin now. All move to your positions," the referee interrupted.

"The rules are simple:

Physical contact with the ball is not allowed.

The use of mana to attack the opposite party and the ball is allowed, but do not seriously injure the opposite team member.

When the runes start to glow, the gravity within the court will become zero; beware of that.

The game ends when one team has 21 or 25 points, with one match consisting of three sets, and the winning team takes two out of three."

"NOW!"

"THE LUNAR VOLLEYBALL GAME BEGINS!"