Povas cursed more than he ever had before, knowing that no one could hear him; it came from a blend of anger and pain. The sword hadn't cut anything vital, but he definitely had some internal bleeding to deal with. Also, reality was shredding itself apart before their eyes.

If I had just been faster…

HawkMoth was cackling beneath a great white nothingness that was slowing reaching out to the classmates. The dark purple confetti scattered around the Cour Marly - filled with akumas - were becoming restless. Chloe and Ladybug were beside him, staring in horror as tendrils of reality fluttered in the winds. "P-Povas," they spoke in unison, "w-what now?!"

He wanted to give them a definite answer, but he had never faced the destruction of reality on his mission before. He heard Adrien and Alya moving the rest of the class back, especially Alix. She was screaming at her father, though it was hard to hear over the storm.

"How could you do this?! You want everyone in Paris to DIE?!"

"I need her," HawkMoth snapped, "I need her more than you will ever know!"

"Ladybug," Povas yelled over the winds, "get everybody out of here while I distract him-"

"But you're hurt worse than any of us!"

"I can-" He was about to tell her how he could handle himself, but a great surge of pain raced up his spine, cutting him off. "…We…go…"

Chloe carefully helped him off the coffin. Ladybug kept her eyes on the large white blob in the air. It was hard to describe beyond it being…well, nothing. It was reaching for the confetti, as if it were trying to…!

The akumas are still active inside them!

The class was gathered by the broken part of the wall near the front entrance. Chloe and Adrien slipped Povas over their shoulders as Ladybug, Alya and Nino stood near the bottom of the stairs. "We need to get out of here quicker," she told the others, pointing to the floor, "Because if any of those tentacles touch the confetti, I fear they might-?!"

Her fears were coming true. One by one the confetti rose into the air, touched by the tendrils and fluttering side by side before the class. They merged together, forming a big…hovering…

No…

Three ginormous akumas made of confetti were fluttering in the air – and that was merely the beginning of the oddities. Every time one of the tendrils touched a surface, reality stretched, and contorted, and let loose something unfathomable.

How are we supposed to stop this?!

Part of the courtyard walls were crumbling like dust. The winds turned into bubbles and petals. A scent of cinnamon lingered in the air. Adrien could barely focus on one thing. "Uh…so…this is a bit more than we've dealt with before."

"We can handle it."

The class turned to Juleka. They had to have heard her wrong…only, she showed no signs of any joking around. Instead, she crossed her arms and looked each of them in the eyes. "I said we can handle it, just like we were ready to handle the akuma the first time."

Max fixed his glasses as he stood beside Nathanael and Lila, keeping them safe from the vision of the akumas. "We had a plan for dealing with the akumas – and we had confetti. Now we have nothing, and Povas is hurt."

"Then we come up with something here and now. If Marinette, Alya, Chloe, Graham, Adrien and Lila are going to risk their lives for our city, then so should we."

Sabrina nodded vigorously beside her. "Someone should get Povas out of here and to the nearest doctor."

Povas shook his head despite the agreements Adrien and Chloe murmured. "I stay until we can find a way to defeat him."

Chloe was getting extremely anxious. She could see little of the wound on his chest, but from the way he was heavily breathing, she knew he could possibly only last a few more minutes at the most. "We need a plan first, and you need immediate medical attention!"

Lila groaned, drawing attention to her and Nathanael as their eyes fluttered open and they sat up. "Whoa," she saw the akumas, "where did those comes from…and what is that white cloud doing overhead?"

BOOM!

The ledge cutting off HawkMoth from the classmates exploded, showering the group in concrete. HawkMoth stood atop the coffin, the glass rippling like liquid. The three huge akumas kept to his sides as he held the staff and scepter in the air. "Just you wait," he snapped, "because soon, I will have my wife! MY QUEEN!"

Alya glanced at Ladybug. She could see the panic in her eyes. She could feel the tension in the way her spots were shaking.

Okay. We can do this. Marinette can lead us. Adrien can keep us going. Chloe can churn on our spirits. Graham can give us directions. I can…I can…um…?

She felt someone take her hand. It was Nino, and he was giving her his biggest smile. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear.

"Let the villain do all the work."

It took her a moment to register what he said and how it could help them. When it finally did set in, she smiled nearly as wide as him. "You can be a real genius sometimes."

"Uh, you mean all the time."

She ignored him and turned to Ladybug. "We need to get rid of the scepter. If it vanishes, then so should the storm."

"We already tried cataclysm. How do you suggest we destroy it now?"

"Forget destroying it," she pointed to the large rift in reality above HawkMoth, "it just needs to vanish."

Povas had overheard Alya, and he could see the wheels turning inside Ladybug. She pulled in the class for a huddle and began to elaborate with Alya and Nino.

This could work…it has to work – we have no other choice…if something does go awry…I'll just have to do my part…even if no one else knows what that part is.

MY FIFTIETH CHAPTER :D I never thought I would make it this far in a story...ever! Thank you all for your support, but this story is still going, because we still have a big baddie trying to destroy the world. What do YOU think Alya and Nino have planned? Just you wait, because this is the final showdown, the move to end all moves - if it works, that is!

Until the next chapter!