Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🦁The Usurper from the Wild🦁 Chapter 4

Once the battle was over, the boys took a breather, with Angel joining them to make sure they were okay. Once they collect their breaths, they looked at Crowley.

"Hey, Headmage, what's the deal? What does fightin' ghosts got to do with blot?" Grim asks with his paws on his hips.

"Direct your attention to the magestone on your collar, Mr. Grim," Crowley advises, making everyone look at their magestones. Angel looked at Grim's and saw spots of black on it.

"Myah?! My magestone looks all grungy now." Grim uses his arm to try and rub it off. "...MYAH?! It won't rub off!" Grim panics as he tries to rub it off faster and harder.

"Precisely. That inkly black stain is the byproduct of spellcasting known as 'blot.'"

Deuce looks at his pen. "There's some grime on my magical pen, too!"

"Ewwww! This is capital-G Gross!" Grim adds on, disgusted by the blot. Angel only sweat drops at Grim. It's not like it's bodily fluids or anything...

"Will it come off eventually?" Angel asks Crowley.

Crowley nods at the question. "It will."

"Phew! Had me worried there!" Grim says in relief.

"With sufficient rest, blot will vanish from your magestone. This is why a magestone is so valuable to magic users. Not only does it aid your casting, it also serves as a lighting rod of sorts, to prevent blot from accumulation within the caster," Crowley explains.

"I see. So when our magestones start to get cloudy, that means it's time for us to ease off," Deuce speaks up.

"Correct. Eat well and get plenty of rest and most of the blot will clear away."

"Gotcha, so when I become even a greater mage, I'll be able to fire off spells left and right! Pa-PEW!" Grim says in which Angel just scolds him.

"Didn't you hear him? Even the most powerful mages can't do that, Grim," Angel reminds him.

"Yeah, but after all, I do plenty of sleepin' and eatin' already," Grim adds on, making Angel sigh at his carefree attitude.

"People vary greatly in their capacity for magic," Crowley starts. "However, save for a few key exceptions, there is a little variance in most mages' tolerance for blot."

"What's that means?" Grim asks.

"In essence, it means that those who possess a great capacity for magic must be merticulous in their efforts to avoid accumulating blot, like Mr. Rosehearts, for instance."

"So folks who know their way around magic gotta lay off once in a while," Ace says, thinking. "Seems simple enough."

"Correct. That said, it isn't anything that mages at YOUR level need to worry about," Crowley says. "How very fortunate for you!" He says with a smile. They all sweat dropped at the semi-implied insult.

"I...guess that's only kind of an insult?" Ace mumbles to the group, who only nod at the statement.

"Anyway, I think I get it," Grim says as he thinks about the explanation. "Use magic, get blot. Blot bad. Sleep and food good. But is that really all it took to make Riddle activate berserker mode?"

Crowley sighs. "The accumulation of blot is significantly affected by the sorcerer's mental state. Anger, fear, panic, sorrow...Harboring those sorts of negative energies hastens the accumulation of blot by a significant degrees. This, in turn, leads to the dreadful state known as 'overblot.'"

"'Negative energies,' huh? Interesting..." Deuce mumbles.

"Do you recall the giant shadow that appeared behind Mr. Rosehearts? Such manifestations are believed to be the result of a fusion between blot and negative energies. I'm afraid that's the extent of what current studies have revealed to us, however. There remain many mysteries surrounding overblot. After all, there are not many opportunities for study and observation...."

"Let's hope it stays that way!" Ace says, crossing his arms.

"However, that is what I want to say," Crowley says as he turns to Angel. "We might be able to do some more research now that Miss Reika is here."

"Huh? What does Angel have to do with overblot?" Deuce asks.

"Miss Reika here might be what is known as a purifier," Crowley says, making Angel think about the phrase.

"A purifier?" Ace and Grim asks.

"A purifier is a special person who can help control overblot," Crowley starts to explain. "I've been doing research the past few days about what happened with Miss Reika after being in the barrier with Mr. Rosehearts. It seems to be the most effective explanation based on what happened to her; however, the problem is that purifiers have been extinct or hasn't exists in years."

"They have been extinct...?" Angel cautiously asks.

"Yes, you see, purifiers sense and take the blot from people who overblot, and they purify that blot inside their bodies. However, all cases of purifiers had magic, so with overblot colluding with their magic, it is not wrong to say that all of them had succumbed to the blot in their bodies, eventually the worse occurring, with many of them not surviving the young age of 27," Crowley says. Angel only looks at him in horror, shaking at the fact that the same fate will probably befall her. Ace, Deuce, and Grim only look at Angel in concern about the information. "But do know that is only because purifiers of the past had magic. Since Miss Reika here do not have magic, it is unknown as what will happen if she purifies people with overblot; however, we are lucky that she helped Mr. Rosehearts when she did. I would not advise for her to purify other people with overblot for her safety, in case for the worse, but it may be inevitable in the case of someone else overblotting. Hmm...Now that I think about it, it may not be far-fetched to assume that she can sense when someone is overblotting. How you ever felt or seen something off about Mr. Rosehearts before his change?" He asks Angel.

Angel thinks for a moment. She remembered certain aspects of it. "I...remember seeing a faint black mist when I first saw Riddle and got headaches and dizzy spells with a brief image..." she says, trailing off at the end, with Ace and Deuce being unsettled about the answer she gave.

Crowley nods at her description. "Yes, for some purifiers, those were the signs of someone experience the onset of overblot; however, they could not act on it until after it has passed, and even though, some of them did not survive the initial trial."

Angel only looked down at the information, processing everything Crowley has said so far. She thinks about Riddle. If Riddle wasn't purified, he wouldn't be here today. If she messed up, the same fate would have befallen him. She could only sit on the couch in Crowley's office, trying to make sense of the situation while Ace, Deuce, and Grim could only look at her in concern, trying to make sure that she's okay after hearing the horrifying information.

"Either way, it is fortunate that we were able to snap Mr. Rosehearts out of it quickly. If that had been allowed to continue..." Crowley says, making Angel more nervous and frightened at the thought, only to jump with Crowley's next words. "AAAAH! It is a prospect too terrifying to consider!" He yells, making everyone jump at his actions.

"Gah! W-what's your problem?! Yellin' outta the blue like that!" Grim says, trying to maintain his hearing.

"Ahem," Crowley says as he clears his throat. "Forgive me, I lost my composure. In summary, the use of magic is always accompanied by a certain degree of risk. And I expect you all to keep that in mind," he says as he stares at the three.

"Yes, sir," they all agreed, with their attention worried about the girl.

"Thus concludes your special lesson from the headmage himself! How wonderfully kind of me. How back to your classrooms with you," Crowley says with a smile. After the shock wore off, Angel quietly spoke up.

"Um...aren't you forgetting something, sir?" She quietly asks Crowley, making him think for a moment before remembering what he told her.

"Ahhh, yes...A means to send Angel home. Right. Right," Crowley says as he shifts his gaze away from the four, his voice gotten quiet. "I have been diligently searching for one, of course. I have certainly not forgotten! It is merely that I've been quite busy of late!"

"Your eyes got all shifty all of a sudden," Grim states, making Ace and Deuce agree with him.

"I-I'm certainly not lying! The October interdorm Spelldrive tournament is consuming a great deal of my attention at the moment! In fact, I've a meeting with the assembled housewardens immediately after this."

"What's a 'Spelldrive tournament'...?" Grim asks.