THIS SAGA MUST END. FOR ARTHUR IS GETTING RATHER ANNOYING NOW.
/= [DAY 79] =/
After a half hour of waiting, Lin Yi and Tino had come back a little wounded, but alive. Matthew was able to heal them up pretty well, and they reported that all the doji on their side were assembled and ready for something to happen. The witnesses did nothing to mention what they had witnessed to the others, and for good reason too. Lovino apparently needed a change of clothes because it was "too damn hot" and he sweated all over it. Yeah, sure. Charice didn't want to say it.
"So no one is obviously out there…" Roderich nodded. "That's good."
"Until we start fighting till complete destruction…" Ion answered. "I can't help but worry about us a little."
"More on the doji than the actual masters…" Li Xiao stated. "Cause the doji's bodies have been altered to have more obvious souls…"
"Yes." Ludwig held Feliciano close to him. "I can't help but worry for them."
"Sheesh…this whole thing is getting messed up." Vash sighed. "And the fact that we're the most vulnerable."
"I'm getting worried about something…"
"What's wrong, Kiku?"
"If this entire thing is going as par the manga as I'm sure that it is…" Kiku looked up. "We're missing a lot of crucial information."
"Such as…?" Tino asked.
"Who the moderator is…the one that has been chosen to run the entire thing…and who the doji is…the middle ground."
"I want to say Arthur." Lovino spat. "Because he's such a bitch."
"What are we going to do now…?" Erika asked.
"For now, we wait." Ludwig commanded. "If we're going to charge into this, we're risking someone getting destroyed."
"Yeah…"
/=+=/
Charice walked into the room and saw Kiku reading the manga that he was talking about the entire time with a blank look on his face. She could barely feel the light touch of Matthew on her arm as they hovered just a few feet away from him.
"Researching?"
"Just a little." He stated. "In case anything is repeated."
"L-like what…?"
"Well…for starters, both Jealousy and his master have a fascination toward the leader of the Good Doji Club."
"Fascination?" Charice rubbed her chin. She knew Rizal looked up to Ludwig, but she didn't know if Antonio had anything…
"And so much so to the point where Jealousy kills his first master to get closer, getting to the second master-"
"First…master…?"
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"OH SHIT!"
/=+=/
"C-Charice? Do you really think that's what he's going to do?"
"In this realm, Rizal's War-Torn phase is more likely to come out, I'm sure of it! And he's definitely going to do it, if at least think about it…" She shivered. "I have to stop this…"
"But I thought in the manga, Yamato handles it. Wouldn't that mean Ludwig has to solve this?"
"It'll be too late! Ludwig's smarter than Yamato, so he has more stuff on his plate! We have to save Antonio ourselves!"
"Yeah…"
"…are you scared?"
"A little…but we have to do this. Until Rizal goes too far…"
The two of them raced down the hallway, making sure that their guard was up and not going to be attacked by anyone. She knew this was utterly stupid, but this was something that she had to do. Besides, she's Charice. She's prone to do stupid things because of otaku intuition. Most of the time, she's right.
"Matthew?"
"Yes?"
"If something happens and it gets too much, I want you to make a run for it."
"Charice? Why?"
"Because all the nations that have been turned into doji are the most vulnerable people in this plane. If you break now, nothing is going to save you. At least if I break, then I can heal myself back to normal."
"No. In this realm, I'm supposed to protect you. And I'm going to do that."
"Matthew…"
"You helped me before, Charice. Please."
"…"
She was about to say something when she felt a huge chill run down her back. They both turned their heads to see that Antonio and Rizal were standing just above them, smiles on their faces that were sincere as mass murderers before they pull out the knife. And that was true.
"Charice…nice to see that I don't have to find you." Antonio stated. "Do you want to talk to me?"
"I'm worried about you, Antonio." She answered. "You're going to get killed if what I think is correct?"
"You're worried about me…how nice of you…" He smiled. "No wonder Lovino is so attracted to you."
"Lovino is not attracted to me! You know why? Because he is a FLAMING HOMOSEXUAL!"
"C-Charice…!"
"Ah…Rizal. Do you mind?"
There was nothing, making Charice utterly worried. He looked up and saw Rizal stare him down before his hand turned into a drill and punctured his stomach without a second thought. Charice screamed before he dropped the body to the ground, his eyes glowing red.
"Matthew…!"
"I'm on it."
He jumped to his aid just as Charice looked up and saw Rizal strike just a few feet away from her face. She turned and saw that his eyes were completely red and she froze. Rizal had no idea who she was now in this mode. She was about to panic about it when she felt warm hands on her back. She turned her head and saw that it Toris, a smile on his face.
"Don't you remember your own sister, Rizal?" He asked calmly.
He stopped, and Charice panicked. Toris was on the other side, wasn't he? CRAP, I can't move…!
"I will handle her. Why don't you deal with Matthew?"
"No, Matthew! Run!"
He looked up and saw her face pleading before he swallowed his pride and took off with Antonio on his shoulder. Charice watched him run before another doji jumped in front of him. She immediately realized that he was Berwald (ack! Poor Tino), and with one smack the two of them were sent flying.
"Your doji is weak compared to mine." Toris smiled. "You're foolish to try to save him alone."
"She's not alone, bastard."
She looked up and saw as Ion spun toward Berwald and knocked him out of the way, then turned and saw Li Xiao smack off Toris's hand and slam him into the wall (gently, as Charice seemed to get from him). As Rizal went to make a move, she heard a gun click, and Vash was at his head with his gauntlet into a gun.
"You're not moving a muscle."
"Hey, Antonio!"
Lovino ran into the room, heading quick to Antonio's position. He was still unconscious, but Matthew was still trying to close up the wounds. A few feet away, she could hear Kiku and Erika head into the fray, seeing just what had happened. Li Xiao turned to the freed Charice.
"You OK?"
"Startled, but good." She answered. "I was right though…Rizal tried to kill Antonio."
"He was going by manga standards. Once we get out of here, this will all be solved." He answered. "Everyone else is coming here, don't worry."
"All right…"
"Sweet…at least we'll be needed."
Everyone looked up as they saw Magnus and Gilbert standing over them, Gilbert bearing the gauntlets and hence she was panicking like heck. She hid behind Kiku and saw the rest of the Evil doji show up, some of the choices surprising. I mean, she couldn't imagine Seyel being the master of an evil doji (but then again, it was Heracles). Lukas being the master of Emil surprised her even more so. Anri to Francis…yes, even more. Wang Yao and Yong Soo scared her, even with the gauntlets being on Yong Soo. The chill that ran down her back was from Ivan. His doji was Natalya…and she had to be the ultimate evil.
"We. Are. Fucked." Charice blinked. "Please tell me the others are coming."
"I thought I told you this…?"
She looked up and saw the others run into the scenario, doji following soon after. Rizal hesitantly stole back Antonio (much to Lovino's dismay) as the people took their sides. Charice found herself hiding behind Ludwig, who was staring her down in a way that was creeping her out.
"You went out on your own."
"I had to…if I didn't, Rizal would've killed Antonio…"
"…I heard…I'm glad that I sent Li Xiao after you, then."
"Ah…you guys finally found each other."
Charice and Ludwig looked up to see Arthur and Alfred levitate from the sky, Alfred's gauntlet holding the both of them. She turned to Kiku, who mouthed what she already knew: "he's the middle ground". She looked back up to Arthur.
"Now you guys can finally answer the long question of what is stronger in this world: good or evil." He grinned. "Let the final war begin…"
Oh sh-
All the doji were clashing on each other. Charice couldn't help but scream and duck as everyone started clashing with each other. As she looked up, she saw Matthew shielding her as the Evil doji were starting their assault. He looked down at a terrified Charice as she finally looked up.
"How in the world are we going to get everyone back to normal?"
"I dunno…some of them seem to know about it, but…"
"Charice!" Kiku and Erika headed to her location. "We got clearance from Ludwig! We're heading to find Arthur!"
"ARE YOU INSANE? What about the rest of them here?"
"They'll be fine! We'll be back, come on!"
/=+=/
The four of them dashed as far as they could to try and find the two of them, panicking all the while. She was about to snap her neck when something jumped in front of her, making her scream bloody murder. Kiku stiffened and saw as Yao and Yong Soo came out of the bushes.
Shit, it's an ambush! She panicked.
"You're going after Arthur too, huh aru?"
"…hah?"
"Hey, you're not the only one who knows he's behind this da ze!" Yong Soo winked. "Besides, I'm not hurting my best friend!"
"…thank…god…" She sighed. "We have to find him before they start destroying each other."
"The doji are too fragile. They'll break like sticks…" Yao looked up. "How are we going to stop him aru?"
"We could always try breaking the thing that's holding the spell together…" Yong Soo rubbed the back of his head. "Right, da ze?"
"Are you trying to question my master's work?"
They all froze and turned to see Alfred standing behind them, his soul standing out completely as his body turned into that of a dragon. Charice screamed bloody murder as everyone else readied themselves. Erika looked up and placed her gauntlets up to see what was going on.
"Kiku…there is a huge concentration of magic in the forehead."
"So we aim there…"
"ALL RIGHT, da ze!"
Charice nodded as everyone charged toward the location, hearing the dragon roar about a thousand times and crashing itself into the ground, throwing her off. She found herself willing to try running up his back, noticing that Matthew was doing just about that. Being invisible, no one seemed to notice that. Thank god no one did.
"This is for everyone else…" Matthew's gauntlet turned into a sword. "Turn us normal…!"
He thrust it deep into the gem, causing the dragon to scream out loud. Charice shielded her eyes and saw as a bright light erupted from the dragon, and then she felt like she was flying…
/= [DAY 80] =/
"Gah!"
She sat up in her bed, looking down and realizing that everyone was perfectly all right. She grinned, jumped out of the bed, and headed out to change into her school uniform. As she washed her face in the bathroom, she noticed something strange: glyphs on the sides of her face that were glowing a bright yellow. She turned her head and saw that it was all over her scalp. Charice was about to panic when she saw that it went away at a thought.
"Huh…guess it's that type of thing."
She sighed as she threw on her school uniform and headed to the kitchen, grabbing her premade lunch and went to the door. When she opened it, she looked up and saw that it was Ludwig staring back at her. Of course, she screamed bloody murder and threw herself a few feet away.
"Charice."
"Um…h-hi…" She blinked. "What brings you here?"
"Do you have the mark too?"
"Hah?"
He proceeded to unbutton his shirt (throwing a mix of fear and interest in her), revealing that there was a marking on both his shoulders. She stared at him for a few minutes before quietly pointing at her scalp. He immediately knew what she meant, and rebuttoned his shirt.
"So all the people that were masters yesterday were marked…for what?"
"Do you think…the murderer had anything to do with this?"
"Maybe…for all I know, these are trackers or secret bombs." He sighed. "But I can't get it off."
"Arthur might know."
"Maybe not…this is definitely not something his magic can do." He answered bluntly. "All scars he makes are temporary. This is not."
"So…now what?"
"Well, they fade in due time, so I'm going to talk about Arthur about it. Once he figures it out I'm calling for a conference."
He had to call it that. Why, you hot, hot, hot man?
Wait, what?
/=+=/
And the Magic arc comes to an end ;D