I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.
October 15th, First Year… I should've known Leona was the one behind all this in the first place! But then again, he's one for doing his dirty work in the shadows… especially when he's got his underlings, Ruggie mostly, doing said dirty work, after all...at least Jack knows between right and wrong. Apparently, all these accidents are leading up to the main event: taking down Malleus Draconia the day of the games. But Riddle's not one for letting him get away with such a thing. We've got a plan in mind to stop Leona in his tracks and put an end to this brouhaha...I just hope things don't take a turn for the worst.
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Niho was deep in slumber, stirring when the sounds of dripping became louder than last time. The sound disturbed her until she sat up, eyes opening. However, something was off. The smell around her room was musky, almost earthy. "The smell of…earth?" Why did her room smell like- wait, she wasn't in her room!
She saw she was inside a cave of sorts.
"Oh Zazu, do lighten up and sing something for me with a little bounce in it." Scar, lying on his back, drawled towards the hornbill trapped in a makeshift cell composed of animal bones, a carcass.
"Oh… I would never have had to do this for Mufasa." Zazu growled under his breath, but it didn't go unheard by Scar, who in a split second was close to him in anger.
"What? What did you say? I…am…the KING!" he growled, emphasizing each word. Soon, by the entrance, three hyenas entered.
"Hey Boss! We got a bone to pick with you." Banzai started.
"Scar, there's no food, no water… We're hungry!" Shenzi explained.
"What are you complaining to me for? Eat Zazu." Scar scoffed like it wasn't his problem to begin with.
The hyenas weren't too happy with that answer. "I thought things were bad under Mufasa..." Banzai muttered, but Scar heard it and growled threateningly at him.
"What did you say?! Get out!"
"But we're still hungry!" Niho felt herself fading out of the dream as those words echoed.
"If he can't stand being compared to him, maybe he should try harder." was what she thought as she was pulled back to her sleep.
"Hey, wake up."
Wait, why the hell was she hearing Jack?!
Her eyes cracked open and saw it was light outside. The night went by THAT fast?!
'Was that just a dream?' she wondered. But then froze, looked up and saw Jack, who had pulled back the blankets from her body. Which was still clothed in pajamas. Awkward..."Get out right now!" she shrieked, ripping the blankets from his grasp and throwing whatever she could at him to shoo him away if he saw too much. Jack tried to dodge her onslaught of makeshift weapons but got hit several times, causing a ruckus.
"What is going on here?!" Rajni yelled, throwing the door open. She, like Niho, was in sensible sleepwear but had a t-shirt and plaid shorts with her sandals acting as slippers. Her hair was down, undone and slightly bedhead-ish from her braid before she retired for the night. But she looked rather irked to be woken up at such an ungodly hour, as by her pinned down ears and narrowed eyes, fangs bared once she saw Jack cornered. "What are YOU doing here?!"
"I just wanted to-guh!" But Rajni shoved him out of the room and forced his back to the wall.
"You're lucky you weren't a burglar, or else I'd have ripped your throat clean out!" she snapped at him with her pupils slitted like a cat's for emphasis. "You're staying out here where you can't bother us getting dressed for the day! Move and you'll regret it, understood?!" Jack didn't trust himself to speak and nodded mutely. Rajni took the answer and stomped back to her room, but not before making sure Niho wasn't vulnerable to being seen in the nude as she got dressed.
"Huh? What are you doin' in our dorm?" Grim decided to wake up as he scratched behind his ears.
"I'm on my morning run. Today's the day of the Spelldrive tournament, and I wanted to make sure you didn't mess everything up by oversleeping." Jack finally answered.
"Oh! Yeah, you're right! We gotta catch the bad guys so they'll squeeze Ramshackle House into the tournament as a reward!" Grim remembered and hopped off the bed just as Niho had finished pulling a brush through her hair.
"Let's give it our best shot!'' She prayed as she tightened her ponytail, making sure her t-shirt and jeans looked in place for the day.
"I'll see ya at the tournament grounds." Jack sighed but gave a look. "Don't you dare go back to sleep!"
"Don't you dare start up with me!" she yelled at him as he was leaving and she went downstairs to the kitchen.
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Outside, some clouds had gathered in the sky, but not enough to conceal the blue. Above, streamers of flag banners were hung up in different colors, where bright yellow-green lanterns swayed, strung onto the banner lines. The walkway to the coliseum was packed with vendors and booths of all kinds, selling food to wares to crafts and the like. White tents canopied the tables as souvenirs of all kinds glittered the roads, all of which led to the wide stone coliseum where two large raven statues faced one another acting as the archway to the entrance.
People walked around the cobblestone paths, some were crowded at the booths, and others talking amongst themselves.
"Hm, excellent attendance again this year. I'll have to check how the kiosks are doing. After all, now that I'm the head of the planning committee, we can't have merchants underreporting their sales, now can we?" Azul was the first to speak as he was walking, cane in hand as he was flanked by his right hand men.
"Housewarden, everything's ready at the coliseum. The players will begin arriving in ten minutes." Jade double checked the time for report.
"Jade, Floyd, excellent work." the sophomore comments back.
"Hey, Azul, what's the deal?" Floyd perked up with a bored gaze, "Why do you have the players' procession starting at the east building this year? The paths are so clogged with attendees that it'll be real hard for the players to get through 'em!"
"That was a special request for a certain client. I'm not privy to ALL the particulars." was all Azul said for an answer.
"Ah, I understand. So this is related to that magic-boosting potion you were making yesterday." Jade raised an eyebrow at that, like he was reading the dorm leader's mind.
"Wait, you understand WHAT? What does rerouting the players have to do with magic potions?" Floyd seemed to be the only one who didn't get it, and whined for the answer, drawing a few weirded gazes in his direction.
"Shhh. Someone might overhear us. Lower your voices." Jade calmed him. Floyd saw he was smiling and mirrored it back, his interest piqued.
"Ooh! Is something shady about to go down?"
"That potion is only going to last for about thirty seconds. What could he possibly be plotting, I wonder?" Azul tapped his chin in mock thought with a smarmy smile.
"Azul, you needn't feign ignorance. You know exactly what he's planning, don't you?" Jade poked back as the two smiled towards each other.
"Do I? I wonder! Heh heh heh." The inside joke was only known to them but it only confused Floyd more.
"Aw, come on! Tell me too!" he whined.
"Hee hee. And I was just thinking I wanted to refurbish the lounge, so this offer came at a most opportune time. But that's enough chit-chat. Time is money! Let's go see how concession sales are going." Azul had dropped the subject abruptly as he snapped his fingers, forcing the two to follow after him and they slipped into the sea of people.
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"Myaaah! Get a load of all the food stands! They got churros and funnel cakes, and… Ooh, is that jerky?" Grim's nostrils flared at the wafting of various smells of savory to sweet as he was carried by Niho, who was walking with Ace, Deuce and Rajni. Both boys wore their Heartlabyul uniforms and both girls had worn their normal clothes.
"It all smells good...but don't even think about swiping stuff, you little thief." She squeezed Grim's ribcage as a warning, which got a small squeak of pain out of him.
"Man, I can't believe I didn't make the team after all that." Ace huffed in defeat, Deuce couldn't help but agree with him.
"Me neither…" all their work went down the drain just like that.
"There's always next year." She tried to lighten their spirits.
"Well, we have an important job to do anyway. We should focus on that." Deuce snapped out of his sad thoughts and picked up the walking pace.
"Yeah, good point. Focused. That's us." Ace nodded, following suit.
"One small mistake and the whole domino line could topple into catastrophe." Rajni warned as she followed behind them.
"Whoa, what's a corn dog?!" Grim perked up, as one vendor was yelling out to buy corn dogs and the gremlin grew curious. "I wanna try one! Come to papa, whatever you are!"
"Eat later! We need to go!" Ace smacked him on the head as his other hand grabbed Niho to pull her with them to their location.
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Leona and Ruggie stood outside Savanaclaw's dorm, a mild breeze in the air.
"The players should be reachin' the stadium soon." Leona theorized.
"Everything's set. We're ready to go whenever." Ruggie looked to his superior with a mischievous grin, and Leona mirrored it back.
"Last year's champion will be up first- that's Diasomnia. Hah! My heart's pumping now."
"Sha ha ha! Then let's get going!"
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On one of the side streets, spectators lined the roads as the PA system feedbacked slightly from being switched on. Then someone spoke in a welcoming tone.
"...Welcome, one and all, to the Night Raven College interdorm Spelldrive tournament! Thank you for your patience. The players will be entering the stadium momentarily!"
"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" the audience cheered.
"First up will be last year's champions. But can lighting really strike thrice? Give it up for the Reigning Light… DIIIIIAAAAASOOOOOMNIIIIIAAAAA!"
"WOOOOOOOOO!" the people began to go ballistic when the players appeared. However, concealed in the shadows...
"Ooh, what a crowd! It should be plenty large enough… Sha ha ha!" Ruggie, too, watched as the dorm members appeared one by one. But once he made sure a certain few appeared, he got to work. " First, to drink Azul's potion…" He decapped the bottle with his hand and tipping the glass bottle forward, the dark yellow liquid was swallowed with one gulp. But Ruggie's tongue had tasted the last drops of it. "Urk?! Blech! What IS this?! It's awful! It's like…stew someone aged in a gym sock." his gag reflex kicked up, but he pushed it aside. "Urgh… Okay, get it together, Ruggie. Let's go. Time to fire off my signature spell… " he gripped the pen, the stone burning like a flare. "Let's send the audience running like a stampede of wildebeests! Okay, folks… "Laugh With Me!" "
A few people standing closer to where Diasomnia made its entrance felt the ground beginning to shake and nearly fell over one another as someone asked, "Huh? What's that sound?" He strained to hear rumbling and looked up expecting thunder and lightning but saw none. He looked down the street next and squinted but his eyes widened at what was seen.
"What is going on over there? There's a whole bunch of people charging at the players!" true to word, numerous innocent spectators began to trample several of the dorm members like they were running on a fast treadmill. Some began to get caught in the ensuing chaos, unaware of why they were moving so sporadically.
"Wh-whaaaaa?! My body, I can't control- Ah! Out of the way! Out of the way!"
"EEEEEK! Don't push me!"
"Run! Before you get crushed!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!'' The scene became complete pandemonium as more people got swept into the storm, controlled by Ruggie or not, they were all heading towards the dorm members, crushing them involuntarily.
"What? What's happening?! Spectators are converging in some sort of reckless stampede! Everyone please, calm down! I beg of you!" The MC tried to quell the excitement but it did little to keep the crowd under control as their screams of confusion and fear grew.
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
Ruggie was amazed at the scene unfolding. "Whoa… Azul's potion is insane! Look how many people I can control at once!" but he cringed in pain as he held a hand to his ribs, the toll taking its turn on him. "I don't know how many more… …I can handle, but this…should be enough!" he smiled through the pain. "Let's see what you do now! Surely you wouldn't use magic against civilians? You're the Prince of the Fae, Malleus. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't dare! So get squashed instead! Shyeheehee!" he sneered as the chaos grew.
"The rush of stampeding spectators is headed right for the Diasomnia players…! Everyone, run away! Please, run awaaaaay!" The MC shouted as the chaos kept ensuing.
Two boys further, leading several during the event, stopped when they saw the crowd heading right for them.
"If they keep coming, we're gonna get crushed! Everyone, protect Malleus!" the first, with silvery hair, ordered. The few behind obeyed as they ran back to their leader.
"This way, Housewarden! Malleuuus!" Several people began to grab at his clothes. Trying to fight back, it was all in vain. "N-no! We're too late! Oof! We're getting crushed!"
"AAAAAH! MALLEUS! NOOOOO!" the two were swallowed into the mass.
"It worked! Exactly as we planned it!" Ruggie's grin grew.
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Ruggie raced back to Savanaclaw, struggling to breathe once he made it to the spelldrive stadium. Leona looked up as he arrived. "… Leona, I did it! Did you see the broadcast?"
"Yeah. That was nice work, Ruggie. So long, Malleus. This year, the throne is mine." Leona chuckled with mirth.
"Long live the king! Sha ha ha!" Ruggie led the chant as the underlings followed with glee.
"Long live the king! Hooray!"
"I believe we've heard enough." Riddle's voice cut the air like a dagger, shattering the triumphant atmosphere. All eyes whipped towards the group heading their way. Riddle leading the charge as everyone else followed suit, scowls on their lips.
"The Jig is up, Posers." Niho added with a snarl. Both Ruggie and Leona were shell-shocked to say the least, seeing four of the five Heartslabyul boys confronting them, alongside the new student, Rajni and Grim as well as Jack. Seeing him, Leona regained cool headedness.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Heartslabyul kids. And is that Jack? You transfer to Heartslabyul on us, frosh?" he glared at Jack who merely gave an emotionless gaze back towards the junior.
"Nah. I just don't feel like celebrating the underhanded accomplishments of a bunch of cowards." he hissed with fury, sending Leona into a mad glare.
"You filthy traitor!"
"At least HE is honest about the truth instead of hiding it, unlike YOU, Leona." Rajni stood in front of him and sent the prince a glare that made him back away a tad.
"You have tarnished a proud Night Raven tradition. As housewarden of Heartslabyul, a dorm focused on orderliness, I cannot possibly overlook this." Riddle declared, pointing his staff towards the guilty.
"Listen, kiddies- save your heroic speeches for someone who cares, all right?" Leona scoffs, brushing off the threat.
"Honestly, coming into our territory with only a handful of people… It's like you WANT a beating." Ruggie sneered with glee.
"You want us to take care of 'em, Boss?" one underling asked.
"Sure. Have a little fun with 'em." Leona snapped his fingers as he released the hounds. Deuce, Ace and Jack took the front line and dealt with the first wave with their power as well as their fists. Rajni was their secondary fighter, and with just three punches, she dealt a deal to any rebels that snuck past the freshman, making them whimper in fear and run from her ferocity. Riddle and Cater guarded Niho as they and Grim used firepower to handle the stronger adversaries: from trick illusions of dopplegangers to Riddle's UM.
"Off With Your Heads!" With that one command, the last few stronger ones fell.
"Urk… He's so strong."
"Man, housewarden's are no joke."
"Hmph. Nothing but a lot of hot air. Ace, Deuce, are you all right?" Riddle looked up, making sure the two troublemakers were fine.
Ace kicked one guy he was fighting in the face and nodded over his shoulder. "Yeah. That was nothin'."
"You bet, sir!" Deuce sent a thumbs up after another went scurrying from the rain of blows.
"Tch. I knew those chumps'd be no match for Riddle." Leona scoffed, seeing the results of the fight.
"Shyeheehee! Maybe not! But this doesn't change the fact that they were too late to save Diasomnia." Ruggie denounced. But what came next made him lose his snarkiness.
"Oh? That's quite the interesting claim." a deep voice swept the air as one figure appeared from the dust alongside two familiar figures from earlier. All three wore different renditions of black and green uniforms: jackets, pants and boots with horned caps, slight accents of silver or purple for contrast to the tones in cloth.
"They seemed right on time to me." the tallest one replied. His minty green hair was slicked up as his pale skin and gold-like eyes narrowed at the Leader and his right-hand man of Savanaclaw.
"Indeed. It's thanks to them that not a single one of the Diasomnia House's players got hurt." The other confirmed, Silvery hair swept in front of his forehead rather lazily, irises the color of an Aurora blazed bright.
"Thought you had gotten rid of them? Well, you thought wrong!" Niho smirked as Ruggie felt the air choke him with confusion.
"What? How?! I saw you get swallowed up by the stampede!"
"Oh! About that…" Cater raised a hand with a sly grin. "So it turns out those were actually duplicates of me, made with my signature Split Card spell."
"What?" Leona glared at him next when he heard that.
"I must admit, I really dig those Diasomnia House outfits. They're so extra! I'll DM you some of my selfies later." Cater kept gushing, causing Lilia to laugh.
"Is that right? If I knew you were such a fan, I'd have gladly loaned you mine."
"Such a sweetheart! Though I think yours would be a little small for me." Cater admitted sheepishly.
"All right, can we get to the point?" Leona snapped with impatience thin.
"Riddle told us everything. So we had him put on that little charade for us." Lilia put it straight.
"And made you believe what you saw was real." Rajni nodded.
"So, then… Malleus?" Ruggie asked, scared to know the answer, even if he already knew it beforehand.
"Oh, he's in tip-top shape, of course! He's been clearing up the chaos, using his magic to guide all the people safely back to the coliseum. You can thank him later." Sebek nodded stiffly.
"H-how could this happen?!"
"There's something called 'staying behind to make sure the job is done'. But you were too blinded by greed and power to actually finish the job." Niho spat at him.
"…Tch. Whatever. I don't even care anymore." Leona huffed after a long silence.
"What?" Ruggie turned to him.
"I'm done. It's over."
"Boss, what are you saying?!"
"Are you payin' attention? If Malleus is able to take the field then we got no chance of winning. There's no point even trying. I'm out." Leona threw his hands up in surrender and dropped them to his sides in defeat. Ruggie's mouth opened and closed, choking for words or air, like a fish out of water.
"Y-you can't just…! Malleus might still be in the game, but we took out all the other dorms' best players, right? But without you on the field, I don't even know if we'd have a shot at the top three! You're just going to abandon our dreams?"
Leona was in the middle of sauntering away but stopped as Ruggie finished and sighed, "For all the talk about "the world watching," this is still just school kids playin' a game." he turned to look over his shoulder at him, giving a one-shoulder shrug. "All you wide-eyed tenderfoot talkin' about your dreams… Pfft. The whole thing amused me, so I threw you a bone. That's all this was."
"What do you mean? What happened to working together to "turn the world upside down"?" Ruggie's face began to look crushed as he backed away from Leona with hurt.
Leona turned around towards him with a narrowed look. "Are you seriously still goin' on about that? All right, fine. You wanna hear the truth? You're a hyena who grew up in a dump, and I'm a second born prince who won't ever be king. And there is NO turning that around!" he jabbed a finger in his direction with emphasis on the 'NO'.
Then the bottle of emotions within Ruggie cracked wide open, "What? You gotta be kidding me! What is this? You can't just quit after we've come this far!" that seemed to get the others to agree with him.
"You can't do this to us, Boss!"
"You're gonna play, even if we gotta drag you out there kicking and screaming!"
Leona's teeth were grinding as their shouts started to get to him and his already thin patience, "Bah, I'm so sick of this nonsense...Shut UP, you nobodies!" he roared with all his guttural fury.
Niho froze as she heard the dreaded dripping sounds once again, and it could only mean one thing. "Oh no… an overblot is coming soon..." she whispered as she looked up at Leona.
An Angry air surrounded the demihuman as his hands were swathed in dark gold light. His teeth bared, eyes full of fury, he began muttering something and when he finished, clouds of sand began to manifest, causing Ruggie and the other Savanaclaw students to freeze and cry in pain.
"Aaagh…"
"Gwaaah!"
"What?! My nose is dryin' out… M-my eyes hurt!" Grim shielded his eyes with his paws as he felt the effects almost immediately. Jack visibly tensed and backed away in surprise.
"Everything the housewarden touched is turning to sand?!"
"That'd be my signature spell. "The King's Roar." Ironic, ain't it? Nothin' the savanna hates more than a drought. Yet its prince's magic desiccates everything- reduces it to sand." Leona smirked with a killer look, forcing Rajni to look away.
"He...He never told me of his power..." she murmured with fear and confusion.
"B-boss… It huuurts…!" Ruggie choked as he collapsed to his knees, hands wrapping around his throat as he heaved for just a gulp of fresh air.
"Ruggie's arm! The skin is cracking!" Deuce saw it with wide eyes. True to his word, Ruggie's arm began to sprout long jagged cracks like a brittle wall about to be smashed down, his skin becoming more like sandpaper every second.
"Your spell can legit dry out a HUMAN BEING?!" Ace felt like throwing up at the sight.
"That's so messed up!" Niho nearly hurled when she felt the dryness beginning to overtake her as well.
"Leona, I cannot allow this to continue! Off With Your Head!" Riddle shouted as he waved his staff, only for Leona to counter it back with his own, surprising the ginger.
"Myah?! Riddle's collar bounced right off!"
"Maybe you're some kinda prodigy, kid, but don't go thinkin' you're smarter than your elders. I aced my Protective Magic classes in my sleep." Leona glowered at Riddle, who clicked his tongue, showing he was backed into a corner. "Hah! How do you like that, Ruggie? Does it hurt? Is your mouth too dry to keep licking my boots? That was your finest talent, too." Leona directed his gaze at Ruggie, who clawed at the ground, his digits only picking up sand in a feeble attempt to crawl away.
"Nngh… G-gaah…" his voice got raspier with each guttural noise.
Jack began to fear the worst. "If we don't stop, Ruggie's gonna…!"
"This ends right here!" Niho moved forward, only to be stopped by an arm in front of her. Rajni stood in front of her.
"Leona, cease this monstrosity! This is not like you! You're not the Leona I knew before!" Leona merely gave her a cold glare as he pushed his spell.
Riddle shielded his nose and mouth with his cape as he spoke, "If you have that much power, why do this?!"
""Why?"" Leona said the word like it was mud. "What do you care, kid? You gonna scold me? Try to talk me down? Don't you get it? Power alone ain't enough to make waves in this world. Look at Ruggie here. He's like a muzzled dog. Pathetic, ain't it? Hard not to pity him."
Ruggie turned up to the sky, the dryness of King's Roar starting to make its way to the rest of his body. "Urrr…ggghhh…" His cheeks began to hollow out, eye sockets starting to sink in as they began to roll back in his skull.
"That's enough!" Jack screamed as he ran forward with a warcry, "Unleash the Beast!"" his body became bathed in white light as he leapt high into the air, only for him to shapeshift mid-jump and land on the ground, not with two feet but FOUR. The white light around him disappeared, leaving a large white wolf before the others.
Riddle was shaken from the result. "What just-"
"AAAAARRRRROOOOO! GRRRRR! AAARRROOO!" The wolf before them snarled and howled as it charged towards Leona, huffing through its nose with anger. Niho saw him run with amazement in her eyes.
"He…transformed?!" she breathed.
Leona, completely taken by surprise, backed away. "Whoa, what just- Gah!" But Jack leapt at him and pinned him to the floor by his shoulders.
"He broke Leona's concentration! "Off With Your Head!"" Riddle took the chance to stop him and sealed off Leona's spell.
"GAAAAAH!" The heaviness of the collar weighed on Leona as his head smacked into the ground and his spell stopped altogether. Ruggie immediately sat up and gasped for mouthfuls of clean air, only to cough upon exhaling, still feeling the dryness of his throat getting the better of him.
Cater grinned with victory, "That was beautiful, Riddle! You stopped Leona's magic cold!"
"And he let go of Ruggie! This way, quickly!" Deuce ran up to him and guided the hyena-hybrid far away from where Leona lay defeated.
"Sebek, let's get the wounded somewhere safe." Silver took the chance to follow Deuce's example and guide the others to the sidelines.
"Do not presume to order me around, Silver!" Sebek bit back but followed regardless.
Leona finally got to his feet, the collar not making things any easier, and grabbed it with both hands. "No… NO! You can't collar a lion! And Jack!" he turned his eyes onto the freshman. "How did you… Transformation potions are forbidden! Where did you get that!" He wasn't asking.
Jack, having shifted back to his humanoid self, stood tall as he glared at Leona with some pride yet stern anger. "I didn't use a potion- that's my signature spell. With it, I can transform myself into a wolf."
Leona's face finally soured. "Ha! What's that saying? Every dog has his day? Well I guess you had yours!"
"Housewarden Leona..." He clenched his hands into fists at his side. "I want you to know… I only came to this school because of how much I admired you! What happened to the man you used to be?"
"He became a selfish and ambitious monster. NOT someone I knew from the beginning, that's for sure," Rajni joined his side and could only look at Leona with a mock-sad yet angered look.
Her comment obviously stung Leona, but he didn't show it as the lion spat back to Jack, "Shut up… Your dreams got nothin' to do with me!"
"I understand the irony of me being the one to say it, but it pains me to see you like this. You'd be wise to confine yourself to your room and try to calm down!" Riddle snapped back, standing farther behind them.
"What do you know about how I feel?!" Leona roared at Riddle.
"Would that the lion king of the savanna could witness this absolute farce? No, if you ask me, the collar suits you far better than a crown ever could." Lilia walked between Rajni and Jack with a malicious smile, looking at Leona like he was garbage.
"…Huh?!" Leona glared at Lilia, but the latter retained his dark exterior and continued to berate him, circling him like Leona was the prey now and he was its predator.
"You may bemoan the fact that you're not higher in line to be king. But with that sensitive ego of yours? That so quickly directs all your petty anger at your retainers… Well, the idea of you ever contending with a REAL king like our Malleus- is absolutely laughable. Even if you COULD defeat Malleus, so long as that's how you choose to conduct yourself? You would never be fit to rule!" By the time he finished, Lilia ended up back where he started.
Leona's face paralleled the earth as the scowl took up his face during Lilia's speech. Soon, he snapped. He started to chuckle which slowly morphed into a maniacal laugh. "Hah… Ha ha." He looked up, inhaling deeply. "Yeah, you're probably right. No you're EXACTLY right…! Ha ha ha ha! I will never become king. No matter how hard I try!" He lost his smile near the end.
"Why would ANYONE actually want to be king? It's nothing but a burden." Niho argued, but the look Leona gave her nearly made her back away, but she stood firm.
"It's more than you would ever realize, magicless mouse!" His anger began to grow with each word he threw at her.
"Myah?! All my fur's standin' on end!" Grim clung to her leg in fear as he felt the air change around him. Actually, EVERYONE started feeling it. Riddle mostly.
"The magic power within Leona is surging… I don't think my collar can hold it!" He started straining to keep it on for just a few more seconds, but he felt his grasp weakening.
Lilia however, closed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation. "No. That isn't magic power. That's negative energy, which means…" Then his eyes opened with fear.
"No... way!" Rajni felt it like him.
"Everybody, get down!" Cater screamed. The skies overhead turned dark, winds kicked up more sand than before, and a loud bang made the collar vanish into thin air.
"Riddle's collar flew off?!"
"I've been loathed since the day I was born. I've never had a place, never had a future! None of my hard work is ever rewarded! How could any of YOU possibly understand? MY disappointment?! MY pain?! AAAAAAAAAH!" Leona let out a massive scream which morphed into a lion's roar, forcing Niho to shield her ears from the noise. But the dreaded drippings as before came back as a waterfall in her eardrums. The sounds of the fast dripping with the furious Roar forced her to shut her eyes, her brain rattling inside her cranium from the ringing of the noises. Just as she was about to scream, the noises ceased...
Her eyes opened. But she saw something that made her jaw drop.
Leona's complexion was paler than normal, a sickly brown tone. His eye color was darker green than normal, one of which, the left, burning with a golden flame. His hair was wild and untamed like a mane with his bangs pushed up and back, revealing black webbing across his forehead, almost like a circlet crown. Large gold necklaces clung to his collarbone, from which a fur-like shoulder piece, equally wind and unkempt, hung from his shoulders. A corset-like piece wrapped around his waist, melding into dark orange and black sashes. Belts covered in gold gripped his hips, along with 2 feet worth of fabric, which draped behind him like a skirt. Black armor-like padding, the same as what Riddle's boots had when he went psycho, covered his legs, leaving his ankles with gold anklets and bare feet, of which showed off long and gnarled toenails, sharpened and black. The black ink trails from his upper arms to hands, where each wrist had numerous golden bangles.
Leona's mouth unleashed a bloody roar, like the actual lion inside was taking hold of him, "GRRRRRAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!"
"What's happening?! Some kinda giant shadow is comin' outta him!" Jack gaped as he looked at Leona. From his body, a surge of black fog flew behind him to release a large lion figure on all fours, black furry mane billowing with the wind yet the face wasn't there except for a glass-like bottle leaking ink, wearing the small gold stopper as a makeshift crown.
"That's the incarnation of his blot!" Deuce connected the dots in a breath.
"Is he goin' into evil darkness berserker mode like Riddle did?!" Grim quivered.
"Ugh, here we go again!" Niho groaned in annoyance, having to do this a second time.
"Go! Seek cover and I'll stay behind to deal with him!" Rajni assured as she flipped back her hair.
"If you can move, seek shelter! Ace, Deuce, help me take the wounded outside! Lilia, please get help from the faculty!" Riddle yelled over the howling wind.
"On it!"
"Understood. Stay strong until I return!" both parties fled as Leona roared once more,
"Grrrrraaaaawwwwwrrrrr!"
"Why does this keep happening to us? This is soooo not my #brand!" Cater gripped his hair with exasperation.
"If you're afraid, feel free to run." Riddle didn't look over his shoulder to acknowledge the junior's cowardice and instead gripped his heart staff with a tight clench.
"Trey wouldn't let me hear the end of that. We do this together, Housewarden!" Cater relented.
"I dunno what's going on, but if we hit Leona hard enough, maybe we can snap him outta it?" Jack was ready to join the fray.
"I…I'll help too…" Ruggie, still feeling the dry lung, coughed but stood beside Jack with persistence. "No way am I taking what he said lying down!"
"So even the lowly hyena turns against me? Ah ha ha! What a total joke!" Leona smirked with his arms crossed.
"So, you're still able to speak? I thought you lost that." Niho threw back with a crass scowl.
"Niho, if we can take this guy down, they'll let us play in the tournament! Give it everything ya got!" Grim whispered to her.
Leona rained down hell as Niho threw Grim like a football forward as the other five ran into the ring. As Riddle and Cater took up the second positions, Ruggie and Jack fought barehanded with all they had. They were fast, but Leona was stronger.
"If I can't overthrow the world, I'll turn it to sand! It's pointless- all of it!" He cried in anger.
"Have you always felt this way? All this time…?" Ruggie choked on his words.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rajni demanded, grasping his arm.
"This has nothing to do with you!" He swiped at her, but she dodged his hit before it had a chance to connect with her and she forced him back with threw powerful spin kicks to the sternum. He slid back several feet and regained his balance.
Jack socked Ruggie in the shoulder. "Ruggie, let's hit Leona hard and knock some sense into him, fast!" Rajni ducked down, letting the two boys take over the combatancy, yet despite their synchronized like attacks, Leona didn't get hit once. He repaid them by kicking Ruggie away and sending Jack flying with a powerful wave of magic.
"Rgh… So strong! How can someone so powerful give up on everything?" Jack grunted as he felt the sting from the hit get to him.
"If all that power goes to his head, uses it for evil and loses it. Not that Leona is like that." Niho grimaced as Leona screamed,
"You're getting on my nerves. I'm gonna turn each 'n every last one of you to sand!"
"That's enough, Leona!" Rajni screamed as she hurled herself at him. She flew high into the air, arm raised back and hand clenched, ready to deliver the final blow. Her fist started to glow bright blue as she let out a scream of power, melding into a roar, as she threw all her strength into her final attack. "I'm doing this for your own good!" The light from her hand grew brighter as it made contact with Leona's face. Only to release a sound-splitting shockwave, hurling Jack and Ruggie off the ground and Riddle and Cater shielding their eyes from the light, Niho included. The rumblings ceased after a while and the light dissipated, the dust settling to reveal Rajni, huffing heavily as she stood over a fallen Leona. The incarnate was no more and Leona, lying flat on the ground, defeated, looked up at the skies in anguish.
"I wanted…to be king…" was all he whispered before losing consciousness. Rajni turned away after looking at him for a while and walked back to Niho, winded from using her power to put an end to Leona.
"Rajni, hold onto me." Niho pleaded as the ghost camera was raised to her eye and from the press of the button, she fell forward into her arms.