Hey guys! Happy New Year! Got a brand new right chapter up and ready to go. This is pretty much the climax of the story, so obviously, there is going to be a fight scene.

Enjoy!

Chapter 19:

Despite the chaos, Ace could still hear Claire's desperate sobs. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying that his death was swift and painless. However, his supposing doom was taking quite a bit longer than he thought. Finally mustering the courage, Ace opened one eye and then the other, unable to comprehend what he was witnessing.

"What is this?!" he sputtered.

Instead of rose trees, glimmering colorful shapes of hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades spun brightly around him and Deuce whose jaw was also hanging open. It was like being surrounded by their own personal light show.

Deuce hesitantly reached out to touch one of the spades, and it spun on its axis even faster. "The rose trees… they just… but how?"

"Riddle, that is enough!" Trey said as he walked onto the field towards the two first years.

"This is Doodle Suit!" Cater gaped, the first to recognize the Unique Magic surrounding Ace and Deuce. "But what…? How…?"

"Guys!" Claire ran over with Grim by her side. She tripped and scraped her knees but ignored the sting. "Guys, are you okay?"

"Claire, what are you still doing here? Get out of here!" Deuce exclaimed.

"Not without you guys!" Tears streamed down Claire's face, and she hastily wiped her eyes. "I… I thought… If I had magic, I could've…"

Seeing Claire sob and blame herself reminded Deuce of that night when he listened to his mom cry, asking his grandmother if she was the reason for all of her son's wrongdoings. He felt a stab of pain and guilt. Grim gave Claire an awkward pat on the cheek and glared at Ace and Deuce as if this was their fault.

Flustered and unsure what to exactly do, Deuce was about to awkwardly reach out to her for a hug (or something?) when –

"Oh geez, enough with the self-sacrificing blubbering speech," Ace groaned. "Just save yourself. Or are you still waiting for that princess carry?"

"Stop joking around!" she snapped through a blubbery voice, "This isn't funny. You two almost died!" However, she immediately stopped crying and wiped the tears from her face, saving the two guys the awkwardness of trying to comfort her.

"Wait, the collars are gone too!" Grim exclaimed, pointing to their necks and his. Ace and Deuce looked down and felt their magic flowing through their system again.

"Wait," Deuce looked even more confused, "but how…?"

"I told you," Trey said, appearing before them and helping Ace pull his leg out from the root. "My 'Doodle Suit' can overwrite anything for a short period of time." He glanced over at the Heartslabyul duo before nodding in satisfaction and tended to Claire's scraped knees.

"I simply replaced Riddle's magic into mine," he continued as Ace, Deuce, and Claire stared with incredulity.

"You're kidding me!" Cater said, standing next to the group now. There was awe in his voice. "Isn't that like a cheat code?"

Trey glanced at Claire and gave a wry smile. "I guess you're right. There's more to my magic than just party tricks." He reached out and patted her head in comfort. "Sorry about all this. I'll take care of it from here."

"What are you two doing over there!" Riddle roared in anger at Trey and Cater. "Get out of the way! Off with your head! Off with your head!" However, more and more card suits popped out instead. "Why? Why?!" he wailed in confusion, "Why are cards coming out instead?!"

Trey turned and stared expressionlessly at the Heartslabyul dorm head. "Riddle, stop this," he said firmly, "You're only hurting yourself. Look around you!"

The garden was a sea of terrified faces. Their head, their own dorm head, just tried to kill one of them.

However, Riddle was distracted, realizing now why his Unique Magic failed. "Trey… That was Doodle Suit… It overwrote mine. That means his magic surpasses mine. My magic… it's…"

"That's not true," Trey insisted, taking a step towards him. "Riddle, let's calm down and talk this out."

"Are you saying that I'm at fault, too?" Riddle snapped, moving away. He pointed his scepter at Trey who quickly stopped and raised both of his hands up.

"Riddle, please…" Trey said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Even after all this time?! Even after I worked so hard to enforce these rules?!" Riddle's face contorted with pain, and there was a crack in his voice. "I've endured so much this whole time. I sacrificed everything! And now… No, I refuse to believe that it was all for nothing!" He tried to use his magic again, but Trey blocked it once more.

"Stop, Mr. Rosehearts!" Crowley yelled, "If you keep using your magic like this, your crystal will be covered in blot!"

Blot? Claire looked over at Crowley with alarm. What did he mean by that? She could hear the genuine fear in his voice.

"I… I am… I am the only one who is CORRECT!" Riddle roared his face bright red with anger. "No one else can stand in my way!" Suddenly, a black ink mist surrounded the garden, covering the grass.

"Wait," Deuce flinched as he tried to move away, "Isn't this the same mist from the mines –" His question was drowned out by a loud scream. Thick black blobs shot out of Riddle's magic scepter and surrounded him like living black vines. They wrapped around him tightly, consuming him.

"RIDDLE!" Trey yelled.

The black darkness gathered and grew bigger and bigger, taking on a life of its own until formed into a giant twenty-foot floating monster. It wore a giant tattered black-and-red dress and held up an enormous red rose tree as a club. The face was a broken glass heart container with blank ink oozing from the crack on the front, and a large golden crown perched on top of the head.

It looked a lot like the ghost monster they fought in Dwarf's Mine. Claire could feel her body shiver though not from the cold. Even though the monster clearly screamed 'evil', there was something else about it that made Claire freeze in terror – like it was Death, creeping up to steal her soul.

Floating in front of this strange monster like a puppet was Riddle. He wasn't hurt from the transformation, but that definitely didn't make the situation any better.

The black ink had covered Riddle's body, wrapping around his hands and face, and his tattered cape was ripped on the bottom. The white roses that appeared on his waist were stained with black instead of red, and his clothes and heels were soaked with the darkness that had consumed him.

"What's going on?!" Claire turned to Deuce and Ace for answers, but they were just as stunned and horrified as she was.

Meanwhile, Riddle stared down at his hands and turned them slowly as he took in his new appearance. Then, he laughed maniacally.

"Those foolish to disobey me… I will rid them from my world! From now on, all must answer to me as King Riddle!" His voice was harsher and raspier and reverberated through the whole garden. His face was ghastly pale, and his gray eyes were now red with malice and hunger. Wisps of red flames glowed around his right eye as he stared down at Claire, Ace, Deuce, and Grim. "And I'll start with you pests!"

"RUN!" Trey yelled.

Everybody scrambled out of the way just as the crazy monster slammed the rose tree down at where they were just standing.

"Off with Your Heads! Off with all of your heads!" Riddle's screams echoed around the room. The creature responded to his command and mimicked his gestures as destruction.

"He went into Overblot. And right in front of me, the headmaster," Crowley wailed as they took cover.

"What the hell is Overblot?" Grim gawked at the giant monster looming behind Riddle.

"Overblot is a state that all mages must avoid. All that negative energy he built up has made him lose control over his emotion and magic," Crowley explained in rather detail despite the situation they were in.

"That's too long-winded. I don't get it!" Grim said.

"Me either!" Deuce said.

"Ah geez. It means that he is in evil-berserker mode!" Cater yelled as the powerful shockwave slammed into them, sending them tumbling to the ground like playing cards.

"At this rate, Riddle's life will be endangered," Trey said as the Overblot dorm head continued to rampage.

"We need to get the students out of here!" Crowley said, finally taking charge of the situation. "Losing his life would be terrible, but even worse would be…" He paused before shaking his head. "Anyways, you guys get the staff and the other dorm leaders to come and help – wait, where are the first years?!"

Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Claire were nowhere to be found. Realizing what was going on at the same time, Trey, Cater, and Crowley slowly turned to the Overblot Riddle.

"EAT THIS!" Ace charged forward and sent out a blast of his wind magic at the monster.

"Go, cauldron!" Deuce sent out his signature move. The giant black pot slammed against the monster's arm.

"Taste my Great Grim's Fire Special!" Grim blew out a large ball of blue fire. The magic attacks distracted Overblot Riddle and allowed some of the students nearby to escape out of the Rose Maze.

"You," Riddle said, glaring down on them. "How dare you get in my way!" The monster behind him raised its arm and slammed the giant rose tree to the ground again.

"Guys spread out!" Claire ordered, keeping a safe distance away, "Your collar will be reactivated once Trey's magic runs out, so you guys need to finish this before then!"

"W-wait!" Cater sputter in terror, grabbing Claire before she could follow the others. "What are you guys trying to do?!"

"You guys said his life will be in danger if we don't do anything!" Claire exclaimed, trying to shake him off, "So, we're going to do something!"

"Absolutely not!" Crowley said, coming over, "This is far too dangerous for first-years!"

"We just need to snap him out of it, right?!" Deuce said, sending out another cauldron to the monster. Riddle hissed in pain but before he could turn and attack, Grim shot out another blast of blue fire from behind.

"And I still need him to say, 'I'm sorry' and 'It's all my fault.'!" Ace roared as he sent out a stream of wind to allow Grim's fire to burn brighter. "I'm not letting him off the hook!"

"Ace, watch out!" Claire yelled and pointed as Overblot Riddle sent out a firestorm. She was about to run as well, when, to her surprise, Trey stood in front of her and waved his magic pen. A jet of water blasted out and weakened Riddle's attack just enough for Ace to duck and escape.

"Guys, I'll use my Doodle Magic to overwrite Riddle's magic," Trey said, "When that happens, use that opportunity to hit him with all you got."

"Joining the uprising?" Ace gave a half-grin. "Sounds good! We'll be counting on you, Vice Dorm Head!"

"Thank you, Vice Head!" Deuce said. "We won't let you down!"

"Headmaster." Trey turned to the man. "Please get the others to safety."

"Wait a minute," Crowley said, bewildered that the calm and collective Trey was rushing headfirst. "This is far too dangerous! I cannot let you guys go through with this!"

"He's right!" Cater said, furious at the sheer stupidity the group decided to dive into. "What are you doing, Trey? This isn't like you! There's no way we can win against Riddle when he's like this!"

"I can't lose him." Trey looked down and gritted his teeth. "There's so much I still need to tell him." He didn't say anymore, but his face was contorted with pain.

Cater exhaled sharply and shook his head.

"Fine, damnit," he cursed, "I'm not cut out for this, but if there's no other way, I'll support the newbies, so focus on Riddle." He divided into four with his Split Card Unique Magic and quickly headed off into the battlefield.

"But, I…" Crowley sighed in defeat as everyone left him. "Very well, I will leave this to you all," he said before heading off to protect the other terrified students.

"What's this?!" Overblot Riddle roared, seeing the new additional players, "You think adding more of you will stop me?! Off with your heads!"

"Doodle Suit!" Trey said, standing his ground. Riddle's magic was immediately transformed into sparklers. Claire could see the sweat running down Trey's face. There were only so many more times he could keep doing this before he hit his own limit.

Just how long could he hold it for?

"Again! You are getting in my way, Trey!" Riddle snarled. The monster roared and slammed its rose tree to the ground, and Trey grabbed Claire before the spot they were standing on turned into a crater.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We need to fall back!" Cater yelled as the monster started to play Wack-a-Mole. He and his three clones quickly ushered the others for cover.

"Ace, Grim!" Claire yelled, "Use that fire combo like we did before!"

"On it!" Ace said, already sending a blast of powerful wind with a wave of his magic pen. Soon, Overblot Riddle was surrounded by a huge fire.

"Good. That should hold him off for a second. Claire, leave with the Headmaster," Trey said, pointing to the exit.

"What – I can't do that!" she exclaimed.

"Listen to him! You don't have magic!" Deuce shouted, "If something were to happen again…" He couldn't finish his sentence.

Claire knew there was sense in what Trey and Deuce said, but she couldn't will herself to leave. Riddle was in trouble, and everybody was trying to save him. Was her role to run away and let everybody take the burden?

"Just leave this to us!" Ace insisted, seeing Claire's hesitation. "Trey and Cater are here. They are more than enough to help."

"Then promise that won't die on me! None of you!" Claire demanded.

"Again, with the stupid dramatic one-liners. No one is going to die!" Ace retorted back.

"Enough! None of you guys will leave the tea party until my say so!" Riddle bellowed. The giant queen monster grabbed several tree trunks lying on the ground and held them up like a pitcher winding up to throw.

"Incoming, Trey!" Cater yelled as the rose trees arched into the air before falling like meteorites.

"I got this!" Trey said.

The rose trees turned to card suits before they smashed into the ground. It was a small reprieve until the group realized Riddle was not done.

"Try and dodge this!" Overblot Riddle sent out a torrent of water again, this time pulling everybody into a current that was too strong even for Trey to handle.

Claire felt a rush go to her head as she went under the waves and desperately clawed to the surface. Desperate for oxygen, she spotted Grim swirling by, struggling for air, and managed to grab onto his paw. Once the two broke through the water, Claire clutched onto the trunk of a rose tree for support until the water drained out of the maze.

"Grim, are you okay?" she gasped and coughed. Everybody was soaking wet and spitting out water as they tried to gather their bearings.

"Is there a limit to this guy's magic?!" Ace yelled exasperatedly, shaking his dripping red hair. He jumped back to his feet and sent out another blast of wind.

"I'm the one who is right! I have to be!" Riddle yelled at the group. "If not, then what did I endure it all for…"

"Riddle," Trey hesitated, seeing the pain look on the dorm head's face.

"Focus, Trey," Cater said, getting back up. His small ponytail came undone, and he had to push away the wet orange bangs from his face. "If you don't, we're done for."

"You're right. Sorry!" The resolved return in Trey's eyes as he got back to his feet. "We're almost there, guys."

Struggling to get up, Claire noticed his heavy breathing now. The monster's arms seemed to drop and dragged the tree it was holding. This could be their chance to take Riddle down. If they could just find a weak point…

Scanning every inch of the monster, Claire's eyes suddenly caught a glint of gold shining just three inches below the top of its glass head. The flash persisted, and something in Claire's gut told her that she was staring at the answer.

"Deuce, attack the monster's face!" Claire yelled, "Break it!"

However, that was easier said than done. The creature swung the rose tree like a baseball bat, forcing everybody to dodge.

"It's too high! I can't get a clean shot!" he exclaimed.

"Here!" Trey called out. He, Cater (and the three clones) waved their magic pens, and the thick roots shot out of the ground, wrapping around the monster's arms and pulling it down.

"Let go!" Riddle screamed as he struggled. However, unlike before, he was weakened considerably, and the monster couldn't stand up in the sodden grass. Riddle sent out a blast of fire to burn the vines but the distraction brought enough time.

"Go cauldron!" Deuce summoned the largest and heaviest that he could muster, and it came crashing down on the monster's glass head.

Claire saw the glimmer grow larger and larger before the entire face shattered. Riddle and the monster howled in pain, both clutching their heads. The monster reverted back into black ink and writhed out of control as it tried to maintain its shape.

Was I wrong? That's… that's not true, is it? Mother?

Claire flinched and looked over her shoulder. That sounded like Riddle's voice, but why was it coming out from her head?

The darkness clinging onto Riddle twisted in pain as it struggled to cling onto him. With one final scream, the ink shot straight up into the sky.

"The blot! It's getting pushed out!" Trey yelled. Everybody held their magic pens up upwards. But instead of turning into smoke and dissipating like at Dwarf's Mine, all the black ink condensed and like a snake, shot straight back down to the group.

Before Claire could react, the black ink enveloped her like a powerful wind. She couldn't hear anything as the energy roared in her ears, overwhelming her senses and thoughts as she struggled to fight against this formless enemy. But any resistance she put up seemed to drain her, and she slowly dropped to the ground. Just before her mind slipped into nothingness, however, she could've sworn someone was calling out her name.

Author's Notes:

There we go! Wow, that was a lot to take in XD

Yana Toboso's Riddle Overblot design is insane! I remember just gawking at it wondering, 'how in the world am I supposed to put this beautiful design into words?!' before realizing that I will have to do this again six more times. lol

Showing all the Heartslabyul guys work together was a bit tough, but I'm pleased with what I have. Hopefully, Claire is okay after everything that happened.

-JD