Yvon is confronted. It goes about as well as could be expected.
Yvon scowled. That was his default expression. He was scowling more than normal. He looked at the completely bloodsoaked researcher in front of him. "He did what?!"
"He just made a spellcasting motion like this..." the researcher waved his hand in a vague casting motion, "Said a few words, then the cleric hit us with light, and then our bloodstones were just gone! It soaked the whole place! So many valuable research materials gone in an instant..." Yvon wished he had Lucia leave behind Cyrus's copy of From the Far Reaches of Hell. He would have had more clue about what Cyrus just did.
Yvon made the executive decision to use his perfected bloodstone when he heard the party of do-gooders in the hallway instead of waiting. He didn't want the thing melted by the meddling professor.
Cyrus had been talking non-stop about strategy and tactics on the way downstairs. He then saw Therese through the doorway and simply ran through at the sight of his student strapped to a board. "Therese!"
Yvon's voice echoed in the room causing Cyrus to spin around to look. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? Destroying valuable artifacts? You disappoint me Cyrus, I took you for a more logical man."
"Headmaster Yvon! What do you intend to do with her?" Cyrus looked around. Where was the headmaster? Where were his lackeys?
"The girl went poking around in my secrets. I fear she can't be allowed to live. And so I'll finish off student and teacher... in one fell swoop."
"You'll not lay a hand on my pupil. I'll see to that!"
"You seem terribly agitated Cyrus. It's not good for the humors..." Yvon revealed himself by lifting and hurling the bookcase he had been concealed behind. Cyrus had to drop to the carpet. This also left him as a sitting duck for the spell blasted by a researcher which had hidden himself behind the board Therese was strapped to. Another fellow cast a tornado at Alfyn from his own hiding place. Ophelia hastily threw an elemental barrier on Therese while a panther dance boosted Olberic sprinted to get to Therese.
"You used one of those blood-crystals!," said a horrified Cyrus. While he had discussed the possibility with the party as they ran here it was another thing entirely to see the warped headmaster in person. The demonic Yvon was an incredibly disturbing sight. Cyrus could not help but notice as he analyzed the situation that Yvon had dumped the books from the shelf before chucking the shelf at him.
"You will taste the power I summoned from the far reaches of hell!" Yvon declared as Therion dashed in for a few stabs. Primrose focused on dancing for now. The plan had been for Primrose to keep dancing to keep everyone's defenses augmented until they weakened the headmaster enough for the exorcism. H'aanit held off on using the arcane leghold and focused on getting rid of the research fellows as they needed to get rid of other distractions. Olberic and Ophelia were preoccupied with the defense of Therese with healing magic at regular intervals. Therion and Alfyn were there to help keep Yvon occupied until they were ready. H'aanit joined them once she had finished knocking out the last fellow.
Cyrus kept analyzing Yvon through the fight. He wished he'd seen the crystal before Yvon used it on himself. It would be easier to do the mental calculations of how much holy magic this was going to take if he had seen the original article..
The fight was a long one. While they were aiming to follow orders from Cyrus, it was difficult to keep from getting hurt and Cyrus knew he might not get to finish his plan before they had to kill Yvon in self-defense. He hung back and analyzed Yvon when he wasn't calling forth arcane firestorms storms to break enemies. He called orders to Therion and H'aanit about where to cut as Alfyn switched to healing. As Yvon lost control of his body, Cyrus pointed out the openings while preparing for what he needed to do. He unsheathed his own rune-inscribed dagger as H'aanit caught on to the signal.
Therion's shackles clamped around the unholy headmaster. Ophelia's holy light broke Yvon while H'aanit took aim.
"P-preposterous!" said Yvon as his own body refused to obey his brain. Cyrus chanted as he drew his hand along the dagger. He didn't need to open a new cut to get his own blood sample. Primrose boosted Ophelia's magic power.
"Now! H'aanit! Ophelia!" called Cyrus. H'aanit snared Yvon with the exorcism leghold trap and watched him come crashing down.
Yvon gasped as the snare sapped his fiendish strength. "I am... all powerful!... I... am eternal! Imm...or...tal!" Exactly on cue, Alfyn's concoction of Addlewort further paralyzed Yvon. Therion dumped a corrosive on Yvon before Cyrus plunged the dagger down into Yvon's chest and twisted.
Ophelia screamed, "Oh, Sacred Light!"
Cyrus jumped back to let the sacred attack cleanse the foul energies from Yvon's body. "Immortal? And now it is Alfyn's turn..." he said anxiously. The party members had varying opinions on if they would want to save Yvon from his own stupidity. They did, however, all agree that reversing demonic transformations was something they wanted to know how to do. Alfyn practically pounced on the pathetically writhing Yvon with a concoction already mixed. Yvon looked almost worse now as he had only partly transformed back. They could see where the light magic had penetrated Yvon's veins through the dagger which still stuck out of his chest. Some parts of the body were still transformed.
"Lies! They were all... lies!" Yvon's very soul refused to relinquish the power that was killing him. He could not take the kindness and let go of what he had conducted so many experiments for.
Cyrus got closer to Yvon as Alfyn and Ophelia did their utmost to get this man to live. "Lies? who lied to you!?" He really should have added his own boost to Ophelia's power for this procedure.
"I don't know if this is working! My healing magic has no effect on most parts of his body!" Ophelia cried to Alfyn. Alfyn was shaking his head too as he applied massive amounts of ground up grape products.
"It ...cannot end... like this! It... must... not..." Yvon coughed as his body rejected the healing light again. Ophelia and Alfyn both stepped back as the headmaster's body darkened and crumbled to dust.
Cyrus was already headed to get Therese down as Ophelia and Alfyn looked at the dust. Ophelia fought the urge to vomit. "I didn't think a body would ever look like that..."
Elsewhere, Lucia was wondering who the heck would/could grade blood magic homework as she flipped through Cyrus' notes. She only had the ones which were tucked into his copy of From the Far Reaches of Hell. She kicked herself for not picking all of his pockets. She decided she should go back and check out the oubliette later. The handwriting on the newer pages in between the yellow parchment was coming in two distinct kinds. Cyrus' enthusiastic translations, while legible, were a messy scrawl compared to the lettering of the second writer. Never in her years of work had Lucia seen such divine penmanship.
Don't worry, the party doesn't die in this story. They will olive. Can't say the same for some other people. Thanks again to all the kind readers, reviewers, followers, and people who actually added my stuff to their favorites! My ego likes input.