Chapter XIV. Lied's Distress


Entering the third day of the Harvest Festival, Lied stood in front of the path's fork where he promised to meet back with Isabelle, Acheron, Ryūko, and Iruma, who brought Naphula along with them. When the latter twin asked if Lied obtained the Vases of Endings, a grim expression blackened his face with shadows of dismay. He did indeed find said artifact, but he broke into waterworks telling the quartet that Elizabetta stole it from his hands. How exactly did that happen?! Let's rewind back into the dawn's intense manhunt.

Lied needed to stealthily navigate his way out of competitors' reach after Dali and Suzie announced his finding's worth. On the way, he bumped into Elizabetta by coincidence and instantly backed away knowing what power of seduction she could land on him at any given moment. Would he be lying if he didn't want to get wrapped around her finger? Yes, he would, but it was vital for him to protect the vase at all costs, even if Elizabetta said she loves him in some way. But that's not what occurred.

"I'm very sorry. I've been giving our last meeting some thought." She apologized, "After telling you I loved you, I took everything you've collected. How awful of me. When I said I loved you like everyone else. that wasn't exactly. Lied, I, I have to admit... don't love you that much! I mean, you're not that strong! In fact, you're a bit of a creampuff. You're standoffish and gaudy! And you're a lot shorter than me!"

"Hint: I'm always trying to stand with my tail so no one can tell what my height really is!" Disclosed the emotionally betrayed Lied.

But that wasn't the only thing she had to say, she asked if Lied have always looked at her in a perverted way, even stating his denial was contradicting his actions of ogling her - that was a sort of man she despises. Utterly knocked out by such words a man would never be able to take from a lady, Lied's soul metaphorically escaped his body before the vase had been taken by Elizabetta by the moment he regained consciousness.

Taking a moment to analyze the chain, Ryūko had connected the dots to find the logic behind Lied's defeat. It was almost as if she was playing a game of chess in her head, despite not sleeping for two nights straight.

"Check." Said muttered, "There is a clear contradiction in such a testimony. Full Love Gauge is never active around those she is enamored by any means, as I suppose she could be polyromantic at this stage of life."

"Huh? Then what's your point?" Asked Acheron, Iruma, and Lied.

"What Ryūko is saying is while it is true that she despises those giving a crass gaze upon her beauty, the likeliness of using hatred is little to none, considering we know your friendship with her and how you view her as an older sister - hence the nickname you granted on Lizzie." Continued Isabelle, "The chances of wishing to see your face of despair is also at a cold trail with little motives, as far as I have spoken with her, meaning this is not the same Elizabetta of our class at all."

Iruma concurred with his sister's and housemate's words and mentioned something they too had witnessed for themselves.

"You two were thinking what I've been thinking the whole time?" He asked.

His half-demon sister nodded as she stood up with a finger pointing up to the sky as she said the following, "In a nutshell, whatever she said was contextually out of her own character while only a single part stayed true, but such is only a shared thought with many ladies. Ergo, this only means... my friend, the person in front of you... was actually another person controlling your sights - a conjuring illusionist ripping out your weakness to their upper hand! Hmph, checkmate!"

She pointed down to Lied's heart, referring to the weakness kept inside for so long, one that can cause immense heartbreak. While she wasn't sure who had this ability, Ryūko wanted to ensure that at some point of the competition, her vow to bring her team justice and have her vengeance done for her work to bring such opponent down.

Akin to what occurred to the twins, their housemate, and Jazz, Lied was indeed a victim of Coco's illusion magic. What's odd is that despite being the caster, he had no idea what kind of illusion did his prey see, which aligns his statement that he didn't know what Lied saw at the time of infliction.

It was time for the team to get down to much serious business. Iruma suggested they would have to speak with Elizabetta personally to confirm the facts. Lied's spirits resurfaced with a slight chance Ryūko was right with her prosecution-like statement, he put on his headphones and took out a book and game console into his two hands. During his training, Robin noted Lied's concentration heightens when he's cornered. The task was to enhance it by multi-tasking. He had to read a book in one hand, play a game in another, listen to music blasting into his ears, and attempt to steal Robin's five senses. His Controller (Sensory Bandit)ability to steal a person's senses is capable of changing based on mana and concentration. He used the exact same thing to bring his power to the highest potential in order to find Elizabetta through every message other speak. He succeeded in finding her, but oh dear, did he listen into something out of context that badly.

Turned out, Clara and Elizabetta were in a hot spring with Keroli. Oh, worry not about Kamui because her wolf ensured he would never get a single peek. He's just as perverted as always. But relaxation wasn't the only thing on their minds, unbeknownst to them Lied had been onto their conversation from great distances. As compensation, Keroli wanted both Elizabetta and Clara to participate in a plan. There was a small problem for Lied at this point, he was only hearing voices so he made himself some form of excuse to try stealing one of their gazes. However, this indirectly caught the cool queen's attention, stating that she felt an uncomfortable presence which the taller demoness stated that only a pervert would do such a thing. This was another word that Lied never wanted to hear as a comment for him, cutting off his concentration while he was able to identify their location without knowing well what Keroli's plan was. But this was least he could investigate, then it was about time they embark on a mission to retrieve what they obtained fairly. What stopped the team from going was that Naphula was only noticed at the initiation of their movement, which Lied was not given an explanation for yet.


At Keroli's kingdom, Kamui stood at the throne's stairs welcoming back the girls with Keroli, extremely happy to notice those three returned with a fresh and clean fragrance after their bath. They took a short ride (sans Kamui who was in flight) to the other side of Block Two with their discussion up for their targets.

"I'd like you two to charm our enemies so we can increase our points and score as high as possible." Said Keroli, "Of course, we'll split all the earnings evenly."

"Enemies? Oh, are we going to go after the Legend Leaf and the Shining Shrub?" Asked Elizabetta.

That was in fact, incorrect. However, it also proves that Elizabetta never stole the Vase of Endings from Lied at all, proving Ryūko's intellectual game of chess at certain checkmate. Keroli, on the other hand, was no interested in either the Legendary Leaf or the Shining Shrub. She rather was thinking about all the points amassed by her rivalling classmates. Her cool gaze was upon Picero's castle down in sights beneath the amber skies painting the forest in maple. Her goal at the next witching hour, was to take down that exquisite castle to dust in order to obtain points. This was no robbery - this was war.


Inside the castle, one of the students came with a message in Picero's throne room, where Azuki told them to pipe down in Picero's presence. The castle guard informed in that their base was under siege with an mass of opponents unknown. The army outside was outnumbered by the uncountable units of magical beasts under Kamui's command, decimating the frontlines and causing competitors to injured or forfeit the Harvest Festival unable to move forward. Picero was irritated by Keroli's warning message whereby he would agree to hand over both is points and castle- such would be destroyed with everything it held if otherwise. One thought of going with the former to remain unharmed, but Konatsu objected they all collaborated and forged a space where they fought side-by-side. The castle was more than a safe place from danger, it was a haven of unity and kindredship from moments where competitors nearly lost to give up on the festival. Memories were created and to hand it over to another empire was dishonoring what they had made as a fortress inside its walls. Moved by her determined spirit holding a virtue her allies shared with, the other members of Picero's council all agreed to remain guarding the castle and fight against the Magical Beast Kingdom. While the emperor of the castle himself told them to take the points in his domain and leave beforehand, Konatsu spoke against it as she and everyone else loved the court at its foundation where many refugees began to fight for its survival. Plus, Picero initially planned to use himself and the castle as a decoy against enemy destruction before letting everyone flee from the warzone. Goemon concurred in spirits akin to his comrades, where all would battle unanimously until the end of the Harvest Festival. Once he reluctantly gave in, all Picero could not sway was how weird he thought everyone was.

The stage showed a valiant game of combat and defense. Keroli's servants and soldiers fought to break through the gates, while Picero's army was behind it at the ready with all the strength they were able to muster. From a distance, Kamui was impressed that his foes were able to resist attack from his side with great tenacity. But that just to beginning. You see, Mr. Hat noted that despite his low level of summoning beasts, he truly possessed gentlemanly traits. The only was for him to be worthy of such thing left was to win in an argument against his tutor. Mr. Hat questioned and nagged on details from clothing tailors and posture to presenting oneself and keeping essentials, these were merely simple provocations that Kamui must refrain from responding in a boisterous and vulgar manner. He had to argue like a true gentleman by fighting with eloquence.

"All my brethren, hear my call!" He called through a megaphone, "The inhabitants of this castle hunt magical beasts for points, but our queen is different! She loves beasts and treats us as noble warriors who fight alongside her! Let us return her kindness and love! Those who have strong command over words... have command over others as well! Let us give this castle as our token of affection to our beautiful queen!"

An incredible display of using diplomatic provocation against a political opponent! Kamui's speech, which would be subjected as propaganda with truth (given the points beasts hold in the competition), proved effective to boost the bestial aggression of his allies.

But it wasn't long before they managed to break through with a ramming log. Goemon stood at the frontline of defenses to implore the winds of the cloudy night to lend him strength. Vepar told him and Picero that he mustn't think of others as objects just because they were able to control them with their powers. Even without replying, speaking with them will bring a response through what they do. Simply put, the winds are Goemon's friends as the waters are Vepar's companions. And so, that was where his newly developed technique of his Wind Blade, Wind-Sword Save, was born by the power of the winds around him and his fighting spirit to protect his comrades. He gracefully blew away the beasts away from his range of attack, thanking the winds afterwards and impressing Kamui again, who soon envied him for swooning the ladies of his alliance without the intention to. A tiger-like beast accused Goemon of flirting with the girls, but a couple of other beasts had to bring him back to reality with their goal to bring the castle down for Keroli. That was in fact true, but Kamui could not tolerate Goemon accidentally frolicking with ladies in his presence. As such, he called on bull-like beasts of boss ranks to the battlefield. This war was not going to end very well, but this was Keroli's way to being crowned this year's Young King.

Isabelle, Acheron, Ryūko, Iruma, Lied, and Naphula were hiding in nearby plants away from the battle zones, watching the great war between Keroli and Picero. It looked as though there was no way confirming the facts with Elizabetta would be possible, but would they find the time to do so? Would this jaw-dropping event of night go down in Babylus history of all Harvest Festival held? Would the Vases of Endings ever be retrieved again? Look out for what's left to arrive in store!


~Interval~

Back at the hot springs, Clara proposed to her friends to play of Pinpokoporonoho after getting out of the bath. Neither Keroli nor Elizabetta knew anything about this game, the former thought it was a game of table tennis/ping-pong whereas the latter thought it was a round of pocket billiards (aka pool or snooker, depending on how many balls are used). But it was neither of those things. Pinpokoporoncho turned out to be fire dancing! Who would have thought such a term for that sport existed?!