Chapter 51
"Rook don't do it!" Kalim shouted as he appeared rushing pass Odette and Grim. He yanked the bottle away and threw it to the ground.
"Roi Dore what brings you here? Odette and Grim too?" Rook asked looking between the three of them.
"Jeez Kalim Why'd you go and smack the juice right outta Rook's hand?" Grim asked looking at the broken bottle on the floor.
"I made it." Kalim huffed out.
"Why are all of you here?" Vil asked looking distressed.
"We're worried about you Vil." Odette stated.
"Myah! The apple juice on the floor is bubbling and turning a poisonous purple color." Grim pointed out as he floated into Odette's arms.
"You used your signature spell to curse that juice didn't you?" Kalim asked.
"He what!?" Grim exclaimed.
'I thought so.' Odette thought as she glanced at the purple liquid than at Vil. "You were trying to take out Neige weren't you?" She whispered.
"I got a real bad feeling when I saw the look on your face after Neige's rehearsals. It was practically the same look I saw on Jamil's face right before he lost control of himself over the holiday break." Kalim explained.
V is speechless for a moment when he finally managed to talk he asked. "Rook why did you try to drink that? You had to have known that doing so wouldn't end well for you."
"I wanted to believe in you. You, who strives harder and reaches for greater heights than any other. I didn't want you to besmirch yourself by doing anything foolish, and if the apple juice was cursed I wanted to taste it. I wanted to taste the fruit of a poison derived from an obsession with beauty bordering on madness." Rook answered.
"How could you say something like that?" Kalim asked.
'He's truly is devoted.' Odette thought shaking her head.
Vil was stunned by Rook's brutally honest answer.
"Vil do you have any idea how foolish that was?! You said every other team here would look like spuds compared to us. You said we were going to have the best performance in the world. After all that, why stoop to this?" Kalim asked.
'Kalim calling someone foolish?!" Odette thought as she looked over at him. "Easy Kalim we want to be gentle with Vil right now." She said.
Vil began to laugh bitterly. "That's what I want to know, more than the rest of you even. But you see I've come to a realization. That I can never win! And that's why I'm going to handle Neige myself!"
The purple liquid on the ground began to bubble and steam.
"Myah! What now?! All the juice you guys just spilled is moving again. It's spreading all the over the floor." Grim pointed out.
"What's this smoke? C-can't breath." Kalim coughed out.
"Odette, Grim, Kalim don't inhale the mist. Vil's signature spell is Fairest of them all. He can use it to curse any object. The mist is the evaporated form of that curse liquid. If you breath it in you'll be immobilized. Yet would one glass of juice truly have such a drastic transformation? Ah you didn't." Rook explained as he made the group take a step away from Vil.
Odette quickly covered her mouth and nose with her under shirt and made Kalim do the same.
"Please don't look at me. Don't look at me with those eyes! Why? I want to be fairest of all, so why am I so,.. so ugly? Ugly? Ugly!" Vil cried out taking a step away from Rook.
"Roi Du Poison you are far from ugly." Rook stated gently.
"He's right Vil. You're not ugly." Odette repeated.
"Yeah! And listen Neige didn't drink the juice and neither did Rook. You haven't hurt anyone yet. So please Vil snap out of it." Kalim half begged.
"Silence! What do any of you know! What does it matter who forgives me? I can't,... I can't forgive myself!" Vil snapped as the purple mist to fill the hallway partially hiding the black ink that was beginning to cover Vil.
"Vil's body is giving off black ink. It's like what happened with Jamil." Kalim coughed.
"That poison juice is dissolving the floor and spreading more." Grim exclaimed.
"It might dissolve us if we touch it." Odette shouted as she pulled the other away from it. 'Oh no, we've failed. He's over blotting.' She thought.
"Yes of course, if I just melt everyone else into a hideous mess, then I'll be fairest of all won't I?" Vi laughed, his laugh turning crazy.
He fully over blots. The black had covered most of his body, down to fingertips which had gold claws on it. His face was a pale white with a purple glow over his right right and delicate ink over his forehead. On top of his head was a small crown and a veil under a larger crown and looked like peacock feathers. His outfit resembled the Fair Queen's outfit and the blot form behind resembled her hag form.
"Don't worry this won't hurt for long. It'll be over soon. Your blood will run cold and you'll never wake up again." Vil laughed as he took a step towards them.
"Oh Vil. What a frightful, sorrowful sight you are. And yet darkly dazzling. I can scarcely take my eyes off you. However clouded they may be." Rook sighed.
"Rook we need to leave now while we can!" Odette said taking a step back and pulling them back again.
"Ugh! I'm getting weaker." Kalim said as he leaned against the wall.
"I'm getting all lightheaded." Grim admitted as he drooped in her arms.
Something flew pass the group and pass Vil.
"What?!" Vil exclaimed looking at the flying object.
The object flew pass him and the group again.
"Urg! Get out of here you pest." Vil snapped.
"Is that you magic carpet? What are you doing here?" Kalim called out as the carpet made another pass then stopped in front of the group.
"Really now why am I not surprised? Everyone get on." Jamil said as he held his hand out to the group.
"Jamil!" The group shouted as they scrambled to get on the carpet and they zoomed off.
"You shall not escape." Vil hissed and fluttered after them.
It's raining outside as they leave the coliseum and end up on the empty stage.
"The skies were clear and sunny before yet now a tempest rages. Truly its; like a reflection of Vil's own heart." Rook commented as he looked up at the dark sky.
"Jamil we need to evacuate the staff and students now!" Kalim began to ramble until he looked around and realized the place was empty. "Wait, why is the whole place suddenly empty?"
"Remind me again how many years have I been covering for you every time you pull a crazy stunt? Of course I had the place evacuated already." Jamil said.
"What! But how!?" Grim exclaimed as he began to feel more normal.
"When I saw Neige looking for a staff member I asked for an autograph and used my signature spell on him. I told him to go entertain everyone outside the coliseum and everyone followed him out." Jamil explained.
"That's some classic Scarabia forethought." Odette said looking impressed.
"When I saw the look on Vil's face after Neige's rehearsal I had a bad feeling something was brewing, and I had a feeling SOMEONE would poke the hornet's nest and set off a worse case scenario." Jamil said looking at Kalim.
"Huh? Why are you making it sound like this is MY fault? I couldn't ignore it." Kalim countered, defending himself.
"We were trying to stop this from happening." Odette said coming to his defense.
"Whether your intentions were pure or not the results is the same. The hornet's nest has fallen. Now we have to figure out what to do about it." Jamil pointed out.
"Well you still pulled through for us. Thanks Jamil." Kalim said.
"Hmp! If you'd stayed out of it Neige would've been the only causality, now look at the mess you've made of things." Jamil stated.
"Even one causality is too much." Odette countered.
"Merveilleux Jamil! Your cunning eye doesn't miss the slightest hint of trouble from Kalim. Your bond runs deeper than that of a simple aid truly cest beau." Rook praised him.
"Please this is just years of experience for me, and more to the point; If I let this play out my whole plan to clean up my image will be completely ruined." Jamil sighed.
"Jamil! We did as you said and made up whatever excuses we needed to get of the rest of the staff and students out of the coliseum. We were checking for anyone else on our way out, but then this purple mist surrounded the whole coliseum." Ace shouted as he, Deuce and Epel jogged up to the stage.
"Just touching it was so painful, it felt like my skin was burning. We couldn't force our way through that. What's going on?" Deuce asked as they got on the stage.
"What's all the ruckus about?" Epel asked.
"Roi Du Poison has over blotted." Rook explained with a straight face.
"What?!" They exclaimed in unison.
"We'll explain later, he's coming for us." Jamil said as he turned in the direction of a crashing and rumbling sound.
A few people screamed as Vil appeared on the stage with his over blot monster behind him. "You shall not escape me. No one who sees my ugly visage shall live to tell the tale." He laughed madly.
"This is a culture fair. Our school's is playing host to a whole gathering of powerful mages. There's no way this state of affairs will go completely unnoticed." Jamil pointed out.
"We'll need to hold out on our own until backup can break through that poison mist." Ace said as he pulled out his pen.
"This is going to get rough." Jamil said doing the same.
"Yeah, plus if Vil runs out of magic before help arrives it could be fatal to him. We need to get him back to sense and fast." Kalim said.
"Today, I'm not gonna lose. I can't lose." Epel said getting into a fighting stance.
"Vil. I shall free you from your prison of pain." Rook vowed.
We finally made it to the overblot. 17 chapters later. Oof. Well thanks for sticking around. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.