Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 31

"So, Azul..." Leona smirks. "How about you and I make a deal?"

The statement throws Azul off. "I'm...sorry?" He skeptically asks.

"What are you prepared to offer me if I return these contracts to you?" Leona asks, holding the contracts in his hand.

Azul thinks for a moment. "I-I'll do anything!" He exclaims. "I'll give you all the study guides you want. I'll write your graduation thesis. I'll pad your attendance. Anything-just name it!" Azul pleads, desperately trying to appease Leona in some way.

"Interesting," Leona says as he thinks about the offers Azul provided. "That's a pretty tempting offer..." He smiles.

Azul can see that the offers pleased Leona, his guard down as he slowly reaches his hand out to Leona, a smile on his face. "Then-"

"Here's the thing, though," Leona says, interrupting Azul and making him shocked at Leona's words. "No offense, but none of that's gonna be enough to justify returning these contracts," he smirks.

"What?" Azul looks at Leona in panic, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"See, Angel's got me over a barrel right now," Leona sighs. "If I don't help Team Ramshackle dispose of these contracts, they'll make a huge racket outside my room, everyday until morning."

Azul couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Huh...?"

"Basically, if you take their dorm away from them, they take my good night's sleep away from me," Leona states. "I want them gone from Savanaclaw, so these things have gotta go," Leona waves the contracts.

"And she put in an 'extra' condition of a hot, free meal!" Ruggie adds with a smile.

"THAT'S what this is all about?!" Azul yells in disbelief. "I could just get rid of her if that was the case!"

Leona and Ruggie glared at Azul's statement. "Sorry, Azul. You're just not quite as dastardly a villain as she is," Leona smirks as he thinks about her smiling as she stated her terms.

"R-ridiculous..." Azul stammers, looking at the contracts with a crazed look in his eyes. "Don't do it!" He yells.

"Now...Kneel before me." Leona says as the light appears. "King's Roar!"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Azul screams he watches a light flash in Leona's hands, the contracts turning into sand. Azul could only look in horror at the once contracts as piles of sand, slowly falling from Leona's hand to the ground. Azul could only slump down, looking at the sand. "Ah...Aaah....Aaaaaaah!" Azul screams, holding his hands out, trying to salvage anything that survives, only to fail since the desperate attempt only fully proved to Azul that they didn't exist anymore. "My...My...My golden contracts...." Azul mumbles, seeing the wind blow the sand away. "All...reduced to dust..."

Ruggie only looks at Azul's broken expression. "Azul's signature spell, It's a Deal..." Ruggie starts. "Once the contract scroll is signed, it cannot be damaged, regardless of how many people try."

"You made a show of how unbreakable it was several times, just to hammer that impression home..." Leona continues, crossing his arms. "But there's no such thing as a spell that's completely flawless. From what I saw, it looked like they were impervious to damage only under specific condition. Namely, either being in the VIP room or being in your hands." Leona smirks, looking at Azul's expression. "And judging by how easily my magic turned them to sand, I was right. The contract scrolls themselves are no stronger than any other sheet of paper."

"I...I don't believe this..." Azul says, looking at the two Savanaclaw members, smirking at him.

"Shyeheehee!" Ruggie snickers to Leona. "You could just knock Angel into next week for trying to blackmail you. I've been wonderin' why you'd go to all this trouble, and I think I've finally figured it out."

"Oh yeah?"

"You've made a contract with Azul before," Ruggie states. "This whole thing is a way for you to conveniently get rid of it."

Leona only smirks at Ruggie. "Hah...Nobody likes a snoop, y'know. I'm just a nice guy who can't ignore a friend in need, that's all. Heh heh." He chuckles.

"Haw! Listen to you, laughin' at your own jokes. I should've taken a peek at what kinda contract you made before you sanded 'em down." Ruggie says, putting his hands behind his head.

"Ah...Ahhh...." Azul says as he slowly stands up, getting Ruggie and Leona's attention.

"Hm?" Leona looks at Azul.

"Aaah, aaaaah..." Azul starts. "NGAAAAAAH! I HATE THIIIS!" He whines, shocking the two.

"Huh?!" Ruggie and Leona exclaim.

"It's gone. My carefully amassed collection of magic...My omnipotent power..." Azul mumbles.

"What in the world?" Leona asks, keeping his eyes on Azul.

"Talk about changing your tune..." Ruggie comments as he watch Azul.

"All of it, up in smoke!" Azul screams to the two. "How could you DO this to me?! Without that, I...I..." Azul starts to cry. "I'm back to being that 'silly little octo-twerp' again!" Darkness start to surround Azul, making Ruggie and Leona keep their guard up. "That's the last thing I want...I refuse, I refuse, I REFUSE!" Azul screams. "I don't WANNA go back to being my old self again!"

"What's going on?!" Leona says as he looks around, seeing that the darkness started to expand away from Azul. "There's a black aura growing..."

"This is your fault for gettin' his hopes up and then dashing 'em on the rocks, Leona!" Ruggie exclaims at him before facing Azul. "Okay, Azul. Let's all just...take a deep breath and chill for a second. Okay?" Ruggie says, pleading with Azul

"SHUT! UP!!" He yells at the two. "You don't know me! You don't know my life! All that time I spent being roundly mocked for my weakness...My intellect...Nobody could EVER understand!" Azul only stops, looking at the two and chuckles, the darkness only spreading and solidifying. "Heh. Heh heh heh..." Azul darkly chuckles. "Of course. It's so simple," he says calmly with a smile. "If you lose something...just take it back." He looks at the two. "Give them to me. Come on," he commands. "I want your prowesses....GIVE THEM TO MEEE!" He laughs manically at the two.