If Leona looked scary before, now he was terrifying... In the same way as with Riddle's Overblot, nobody could tell if it was Leona the one controlling the giant monster behind him or vice versa. If Leona raised an arm, so did the monster. If the monster turned to the side, Leona followed him.

Then, Leona raised his right arm so the giant monster would lift its right claw, then he roared loudly like a furious, wild beast. "If I can't change the world, I'll reduce everything to sand! Everything is useless... EVERYTHING!" He yelled.

Even though he was going to take some time to forgive Leona for the hurt he had done to him, Ruggie couldn't help but frown with a small gleam of sadness in his eyes. "Have you felt this way all this time...?" He asked aloud. You never said anything..."

Noticing this, Jack walked over to him and tightened his hand around his magical pen. "Ruggie. Don't stop and let's bring him back to his senses!" He told him with fighting zeal.

At that very moment, they felt the earth tremble again and large cracks opened in the ground. Part of the ground rose, forming rocks of different sizes in a tortuous and irregular shape, making it difficult to cross.

"It's ridiculous to think that a traitor, a simple hyena, and a handful of herbivores can stop me," Leona scoffed. "You will be the first to turn into miserable mountains of sand!"

"Any good ideas in mind, Yuu?" Grim asked, waiting for any strategy like their last battle.

"Nothing too great yet, but that glass is smaller than the ones from before, I wouldn't be surprised if it's going to be harder to hit," Yuu pointed out. They also had the disadvantage of not having any nearby places where they could take cover from the attacks, the open space in the stadium was vast, the closest walls were the stands and they were too far away to run towards them without being stopped.

"The good thing about that is that it contains less ink, so the battle time should be short," Riddle added. "Cater, use your Unique Magic if you find the chance."

"Understood," Cater agreed and motioned for Yuu to come closer and whisper something in his ear.

"Sounds good to me," Yuu said before joining Grim, who had given his first fire spit before missing and only hitting one of his claws.

Leona frowned in annoyance, but he simply shook his hand and the charred part of the paw regenerated in a few seconds with the viscous, black substance he kept producing. "Oh, I quiver with fear!" He said mockingly.

"Dammit!" Grim exclaimed in frustration.

"I hope he doesn't move too much, he seems to be fast with those four legs," Ace said before launching an ice attack that was a few centimeters from hitting the glass, but it was strong enough for Leona to feel strong pain in the head. "Ugh!" He yelled.

After listening to Ace, Ruggie had an idea. "Not moving too much?" He repeated. "I can do somethin' about it. Laugh With Me!" A small flash of light shone from his magical pen, he looked at Leona and crossed his arms without moving from his place. With that, he could force him to perform the same position, and Leona felt a force controlling him to do so. Even the monster was unable to move.

"What do you think you're doing, you stupid hyena!?" Leona growled as he internally struggled to free himself.

"Hurry up! It's hard to control this one," Ruggie warned as he struggled to resist his dorm leader's strength. It didn't help that he was still exhausted from the Kings' Roar attack he suffered just minutes before.

Ace wasted no time and repeated his same attack, with the difference that he hit a bullseye. Jack decided to do the same. Leona growled angrily, but the cracks in the dirty glass barely extended."It's very thick," Jack said in frustration.

"Ugh!" Ruggie exclaimed before staggering, showing he had lost his grip on his Unique Magic, and Leona realized that he could move again before smiling evilly.

"I won't let you do anything! Off With Your Head!" Riddle exclaimed before aiming a collar at Leona's neck, only for him to deflect it casually with one of the lion's claws.

"Are you a self-claimed smart, little boy, and haven't you learned that this doesn't work on me?" Leona laughed out loud. "I really am surrounded by idiots!"

He said as much before charging one of his claws with plant magic and slashing it at him, but Deuce acted fast and lunged at Riddle to grab him and leap away before the attack landed. At that very moment, Cater gestured to Yuu, who ran to his side with Grim's company.

"Sorry for the abruptness, but are you okay, dorm leader?" Deuce asked quickly as he helped him to get up.

"Don't think about that now, you've helped me," Riddle said before squeezing his scepter in frustration, it was true that for a moment he felt like an idiot for trying to use his strongest attack. "I knew it wasn't going to work, but I had to try..." He murmured.

"This is not the time to think about that!" Ace exclaimed after opening a hole in the monster's chest with his wind magic. "And at times like this, we must use everything we have. You see?"

He pointed to the hole he made in the monster, only for it to regenerate by itself with the oozing ink.

"Hey, monster! Over here!" Grim exclaimed from another side.

Leona turned again and looked at him over Yuu's shoulders, Cater took a second to cast fire magic at him, which he hit on one of the giant lion's sides. In response, Leona put a hand on his abdomen. He growled before looking at the floating rocks, pointing to the closest ones with his arm, and, showing that he could control their movement, launched them directly at the trio. Yuu quickly ran away, but Cater stayed on his ground, smiled mischievously, and quickly vanished into thin air in tiny sparks of light.

Leona stepped back, confused by what he had just witnessed, and the monster followed suit. "What the...?" He asked aloud before looking around and ignoring a burning that arouse in his chest.

"Here!" Cater exclaimed from another side. He was spotted and Leona clawed at him with fire magic, but Cater disappeared a second before taking damage.

Before Leona could ask what the hell was going on, the burning in his chest became much less tolerable, and cried out in pain. He found the cause of that damage by intercepting Cater and Riddle, aiming magic attacks at the glass face, and Yuu lifting Grim into his arms to make it easier for him to fire his fire spits at the same spot. Tiny specks of glass falling to the ground had formed from the contact between the fire and the sand floating in the air.

"But how is this possible!? How could you just disappear like that?!" He demanded to know for an explanation for Cater standing there without having seen him move.

"Those were my clones made with Split Card," he quickly explained before quickly launching a plant attack that was avoided by Leona, but that didn't make him lose pride with that distraction. "It seems that the 'mes' and I are at our best today!"

That idea of ​​confusion had been what he had whispered to Yuu earlier, asking for his help to make the result more successful, Grim joined the idea to reinforce their attack while the clones confused him. Afterward, Riddle joined them to combine their fire abilities, causing the glass to crack even more with the heat and emptying a small part. Hence the cause of Leona's internal burning by losing part of the origin of his evil force.

"You damn cheater!" Leona exclaimed furiously before directing more rocks at breakneck speed towards Cater, now certain of targeting the real one, but Riddle quickly slammed into him and created a protective barrier with his magic that blocked the hard rocks. Yuu winced at this.

"Come forth, cauldron!" Deuce could be heard before a huge cauldron slammed into one of the sides of the glass, successfully increasing the cracks.

Leona growled in anger, but then noticed Yuu, and threw a sudden claw between him, Cater, and Riddle, forcing them to separate and move away. "If that's the way things are, I'll start with the weakest one," he murmured.

Making sure there was nobody close enough to help him, Leona slammed both fists hard into the ground, opening a thick crack that went towards Yuu at breakneck speed.

"Yuu, Grim, watch out!" Cater exclaimed.

Yuu was able to let go of Grim to get him to safety, but he was unable to flee before the rift reached his feet. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, but the crack stopped short of catching him and he was barely able to react when Leona ran at him in a tackle, lunging at him and pushing him to the ground, like a lion attacking a gazelle. Yuu yelled in pain from the impact.

"Yuu!!" Grim, Riddle, Cater, Deuce, and Ace exclaimed before being violently blocked by the giant lion's claws, preventing them from passing.

"Let him go, you giant cat!" Grim demanded with a mixture of fury and fear for his human.

Leona brought his face a few centimeters from Yuu so that he needed to divert his to one side to feel less uncomfortable. Yuu tried to get up, but Leona's strong hands pinned him to the ground and he could barely move his legs. He felt that green-eyed look, accompanied by the flaming flame in his eye, penetrating through him like an arrow. "What are you going to do now, little herbivore?" He asked mockingly. "Are you going to scream, resist and whimper like the good prey you are? Are you going to ask for help in vain?" He squeezed his wrists tightly. "I promise you won't feel a thing..."

"Oh no," Ruggie said involuntarily upon watching the first-year boy going to go through the same thing he did, and shot towards a plant attack that reached his legs that was enough to slow down the effect of King's Roar.

"Prefect!" Jack exclaimed with concern. Now more than ever he wanted to transform into a wolf to help him, but he didn't want to hurt Yuu in the process of attacking Leona, so he had no choice but to throw an ice attack at him that hit his back and made him reduce the force of his grip.

Yuu tried to take the chance, kick and shake free, but Leona grabbed him again, but with less power. "No way. You're not going to escape from me!" He growled.

Before Yuu could feel the fabric of his clothes dissolving into small molecules of sand, Grim took advantage of his small size to avoid the monster with all the speed his four legs gave him and run towards Leona.

"Grim, wait!" Deuce exclaimed in an attempt to stop him.

"I told ya to release my henchman, you evil monster! Funyaa!" He exclaimed before releasing a breath of fire at him.

Leona raised his head to look at him, in a way that not only reduced the risk of hitting Yuu as well, but it was possible for Grim to hit one of Leona's shoulders squarely. The burning was enough to make him roar in pain.

"How 'bout that one!" Grim exclaimed proudly before noticing Leona's angry look and swallowing hard. "Uh oh..."

Leona punched him in the stomach, knocking him painfully to the ground. "Augh!"

"Grim!" Yuu yelled with a start before imitating Leona's look and squeezing with all his might the arm that was still holding him on the ground. "How dare you!?" He exclaimed furiously before slapping him with his free hand so hard he felt it sting.

Everyone in the room jumped and looked at the scene in surprise. It was the second time since the first investigation that almost everybody there had seen Yuu hit someone physically, it was the first for Riddle. Even Leona seemed surprised, he did not expect the one he considered the weakest to show guts against him.

Jack couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for the prefect to steadfastly refused to fight him for information, but able to confront someone who outnumbered him and made no secret of fear, the only reason he could think of at that time was that seeing people he cared about to get hurt gave him the courage to lay hands on someone.

"You were right, Leona. That little guy has his claws," Ruggie thought quickly before taking advantage of Leona's lack of attention and squeezing his magical pen once again. "Laugh With Me!" He exclaimed before raising both arms.

As a consequence, Leona raised his, giving Yuu the chance to break away and run towards Ruggie and Jack. Grim got up and followed him. "Are you okay?!" He asked him.

"I am now. What about you?" Yuu asked. He made a note to remember to thank the three of them for their important help.

"Get behind me," Jack insisted before turning to Leona, who had levitated back into the air and was glaring at them. "Grr... You're that strong and decided to give up anyway!" He exclaimed, still disappointed by the actions of the leader he admired.

"Shut up! This guy, that guy...! TO SAND WITH YOU ALL!" Leona yelled back.

After saying that, he raised an arm and amassed a strong amount of magic there, and the surrounding floating rocks moved quickly and violently. They all waited for the rocks to be thrown at them, Riddle ordered Ace and Deuce to stand behind him and Cater while they created a protective shield and Jack was about to transform into a wolf to avoid the rain of attacks.

But they saw their assumptions as wrong after, instead of throwing them, Leona clenched his fist and the rocks immediately disintegrated into clouds of sand that combined into a thick mist and made it hard to breathe. His intention to turn everything to sand had been made even clearer...

"I see nothing! Where is Leona?" Jack exclaimed as he tried to look around.

"Let's not part, Grim!" Yuu said as he took him in his arms. "It's easy to get lost like this."

"You're right," Ruggie agreed as he covered his mouth and nose with his arm. "Jack, don't you split up either. Leona must have done this to attack when we least expect it. Stay alert."

"Understood," Jack answered, his ears pricking up so he could detect at least one sound coming from Leona or his monster.

Then Ruggie seemed to remember something and crouched close to the group to whisper. "I should have asked earlier, but you had a battle similar to this in Heartslabyul, right? How did you win?"

"Ace distracted Riddle to finish breaking the glass on his head," Grim replied quietly.

"But only when there was little left to break. We still have a few hits left," Yuu added. It is easy to hit when the person who has fallen is distressed or stressed.

"It has sense, he wouldn't focus on attacking with confidence like that," Jack commented before glancing at the surrounding rocks. "I think I have an idea to take advantage of this ground."

Meanwhile, Heartslabyul's group was also on their toes and also took shelter behind a pillar.

"Tch, this sand is endless!" Ace complained. He couldn't use his wind magic to clear away the sand since it would give away their position before having a good plan.

"If only we had Trey's Unique Magic so he could change it for something else..." Cater could not help but wish.

"Pay attention, everyone. Leona could attack anytime," Riddle reminded them. "Cater, could you make more copies of yourself to confuse him?"

"Good idea, Leona will be distracted in his own trap with this. Split Card," he said before spawning four clones that dispersed into the distance.

They looked around, expecting to hear something like the monster's strong claws rushing toward them or Leona's roars, but there was nothing but silence...

Then the ground shook again, and they sensed strong turmoils on the floor. "Damn, another fake!!" Leona could be heard screaming, not too far away. "Show your faces if you're goin' to fight, you cowards!"

"Looks like he got one of the clones..." Ace muttered, pointing to the source of the sound.

"He must be close. Watch out," Riddle warned.

From his position, Leona got ready to create a new trench as the monster lurked closer, hoping to catch his unaware enemies in their hideouts in a vicious trap. But both stopped immediately upon strong footsteps running towards them. The noise was loud enough for Heartslabyul's group to hear.

"There!" Grim's shrill voice sounded before the echo of a pile of glass crashing, followed by a pained roar. The sand disappeared in a few seconds, and everybody could see the source of the previous noise: on top of a nearby rock, Grim, Yuu, and Ruggie were riding on the back of a transformed Jack.

Jack's idea consisted in climbing the uneven terrain to the top of a tall rock to get a better view of the terrain and locate Leona. They intercepted the giant lion's head among the numerous sand particles, and Ruggie aimed ice magic at the glass, causing the suspended sand to disappear.

"Guys!" Cater exclaimed when he saw them.

"Yahoo! Fresh air!" Grim exclaimed, relieved to be able to breathe smoothly again.

"Don't celebrate yet," Ruggie said as he saw there was still blot left in the bottle.

Leona was so enraged that with a wave of his arm, he caused the rock they were standing on to crack into pieces. Jack took notice of it and got down to the floor before suffering a worse fall. Grim grabbed Yuu's jacket as hard as his legs could, and the two young men made an effort not to fall as well.

"Are you okay?" Riddle asked as Jack rejoined the group.

"Yes, we could break the glass a little more," Yuu said after getting off Jack, who quickly returned to his original appearance. "And now we have an idea to finish him off."

"I'll cover for you while you explain it in the meantime," Deuce offered after realizing that Leona was about to attack them.

"I'm going with you. You'll tell us everything later. Hurry up," Ace said before following him.

"Wait, don't you two go alone," Cater said as he went after them and made two more clones.

"Keep him busy and hang in there. I'll go with you soon!" Riddle said as he approached the Savanaclaw group.

"They just mentioned that they distracted you that time to make the last cracks, Riddle," Jack said. "Does anyone come up with something for that?"

"Cater could create more copies of himself, but from experience, I know that will make Leona move a lot more," Riddle said as he watched his students in the fight, weighing whether he should join them sooner rather than later.

"I can make him stay still," Ruggie said.

"Let me tell him off to weaken him! I have several things to tell him, yanno?" Grim insisted.

"Me too, so I'm going with you," Yuu offered.

The dorm leader and the Savanaclaw duo looked at him as if he enunciated something crazy, and all of them paled.

"Are you crazy!?" Ruggie exclaimed. "Have you forgotten that he tried to turn you into mush!?"

"He will definitely attack you. You can't defend yourself without magic!" Jack added.

"No, but Cater is busy, and you're the only ones who can use magic. And Grim will be with me..."

"Come forth, cauldron!" Deuce yelled, and an immense cauldron finally hit the glass in the monstrous face. Leona roared, clutched his head with both hands, and started painting heavily.

"And now thanks to Deuce it looks like he's weak now," Yuu observed, trying to be convincing.

Jack growled in exasperation at his insistence. "If you're so insistent on taking that risk, you'll take it on me," he decided.

"And me," Ruggie insisted. "I'd better immobilize him so he doesn't eat you alive."

"And I'll join you in the distraction," Riddle decided sternly. "I will not allow you to expose yourselves to danger just like that."

Yuu nodded and grabbed Grim in his arms. "We're not going to say no to that. This is what I have in mind..."

"Come forth, cauldron!" Deuce repeated, but the monster clawed it aside and hurled it at Ace, who narrowly avoided it.

Unfortunately, he lost his grip on his magical pen, and it fell into one of the trenches that had been opened in the ground. "No!!" He exclaimed in terror as he tried to get it back.

Leona saw him unarmed and decided to go for him. "Yes!" He exclaimed maliciously. "Here comes the first pile of dry sand..." He said threateningly before feeling a small hard blow to the head. "Ouch!"

Instead of a magic attack like the ones he had received so far, he realized that the cause of that one was a small-sized stone that fell next to him. He checked the origin of the trajectory and saw Yuu with Grim on his shoulders and Riddle standing a few steps behind with his scepter at the ready.

"Good shot, Yuu! I didn't expect you were going to hit him!" Grim congratulated him.

"Thank you," Yuu said quickly before looking bravely at Leona. "You said you wanted to go after the weakest, right? Well, here I am!"

Leona made a movement with his arm for the monster to claw at him, but Riddle stepped forward, pressed Yuu against his body, and made a force field that blocked the attack. Yuu felt safe next to Grim and Riddle like that, but he couldn't help but squeeze his eyes shut from the impact.

"Don't get in the way, little one!" Leona growled in frustration. "Stop being cowards and fight properly!"

"Look who's talking!" Grim replied with annoyance.

Leona's pupils contracted in anger upon hearing that. "HAH?! What are you implying?!"

"Just what you're hearing!" Yuu exclaimed. "You call us cowards, but don't you think that attacking the most defenseless one is the most cowardly thing in the world? Taking advantage of your strength and size to attack and induce fear for fun?"

Leona froze just hearing that. Was the herbivore without magic confronting him? First the slap and now he dared to hurt his pride!?

"Laugh With Me!" Ruggie took advantage of the new chance to squeeze his magical pen and lie face down on the ground, keeping his head up to pay attention to the scene.

Leona was forced to do the same and stared at the prefect. The creature also had to lay down. It's face was perfectly in the crosshairs for the rest of the group to attack.

"I'm not done yet!" Yuu continued and raised a hand to list everything he could think of about what he had seen of him so far. "You are a brute, a bully, and a bum! You encourage others like you to attack innocents and cause trouble! You prefer to use that strength to do damage rather than achieve great things, like joining a tournament you really wish to win!" He panted a bit to catch his breath. "The only coward I see here is you!"

He did not feel proud to say such harsh things, but a slight weight in his heart eased after he conveyed what he felt.

Riddle was alert in case Ruggie's Unique Magic wore out, but he couldn't help but look at Yuu in shock. He knew that Yuu could show a strong character, especially when he got angry or lost his infinite patience. But he wasn't used to see the calm prefect explode like that, and he only said all that to create a distraction.

"You didn't hold back..." Grim commented, nervous to see him act like that.

"I had a few things to say about him," Yuu replied as he panted after all that speech.

"It's about to break!" Ace exclaimed. "We're gonna win!"

"Hold him for a bit more!" Deuce asked.

Although Leona felt weak, both physically and emotionally, his heart filled with anger, and he used all his remaining strength to break free. Ruggie tried to hold him, but couldn't help but back away, and Jack caught him just in time before he fell to the ground. "Hurry up, it's your turn!" Ruggie reminded him.

Jack nodded and ran over to Leona. Being aware that Ruggie could not resist Leona's strength for long, the plan had a second part in which Jack had an important role. Ruggie lost his grip right there and then.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Leona yelled before lunging at Yuu, pretending to grab him by his neck.

"UNLEASH BEAST!" Jack exclaimed before a howl echoed through the place, and light enveloped his body to transform him once more into the white wolf.

He charged with all his strength against Leona, fell on top of him, and the monster strumbled to one side.

"Come here, Yuu!" Riddle grabbed Yuu by the arm to get him away from Leona, and Ruggie joined them. They watched as Leona struggled to get the roaring Jack off of him, who resisted as best he could until he was pushed aside.

Before Leona could even levitate back to his position, Ruggie pointed his magical pen at him. "Laugh With Me!" He said before feigning a stumble and falling to the ground again.

As Leona fell onto the hard, rocky surface, Jack jumped on all fours towards the Overblot monster's face and returned to his original form... And a single bolt of plant magic from his magical was the final blow so the thick glass would break and release the remaining black liquid from inside...

"It broke!" Cater cried as he raised his arms in victory.

Ruggie nullified his Unique Magic and gaped at the result of his underclassman's decisive attack. "He did it," he murmured, still not believing his eyes.

Everyone turned their attention to the dorm leader, who had closed his eyes wearily. "I... will be... king," he murmured as he stopped levitating.

He slowly fell to the ground and gradually returned to his original form. The floating rocks disappeared, the uplifts returned to their places, and the stadium ground returned to its smooth, ample form. What was left of the ink monster vanished into thin air in the form of a black cloud, and the sky turned blue again.

"Is it over?" Riddle asked, hesitant to let his guard down.

"Dorm leader!" Jack exclaimed with concern. He caught Leona before falling to the ground and laid him down carefully.

The rest of the group was still exhausted from the battle, but they all approached them, and Yuu crouched next to Leona, followed by Grim. Jack gently shook Leona by his shoulder, waiting for some reaction. "Leona! Dorm leader Leona!" He called him.

"He fainted, just like Riddle before," Grim commented.

"I'm glad that at least it's over..." Ruggie panted. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should wake up soon," Cater replied. "We just have to wait a bit."

"The headmaster and the teachers should be coming here," Riddle commented. "I think this goes without saying, but we'll have to make him confess he organized the accidents after he wakes up."

Ruggie sighed in defeat and his ears flopped. "I guess there's no other way out of it, huh?" He asked while already imagining the possible consequences.

"At least the tournament can go ahead without any more people getting hurt," Deuce said before realizing that Yuu had been static since he knelt beside Leona. "Huh? Prefect, are you okay?"

They all turned their attention to him when he did not react. He kept his gaze fixed on Leona with wide eyes...

"Yuu?" Ace asked. Seeing he still didn't respond, he snapped his fingers right next to his ears to bring him back to reality. "Yuu! Planet. To Yuu! You're creeping me out!"

Nothing. The only movements Yuu made were breathing and blinking every long second.

"What's wrong with him?" Jack asked, starting to feel uneasy. "How can he be this still after everything that just happened?"

"Could it be that the battle traumatized him?" Ruggie asked. "If so, I don't blame him. Leona didn't hesitate to lay his hands on him. Should we take him to the infirmary?"

Grim punched him lightly in the stomach, only to receive no response. "It's happening again!" He exclaimed. I hope he doesn't walk like a zombie this time, yanno?"

"Again?" Riddle asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"He acted like this just after you came to your senses after your Overblot," Cater explained.

"It was only for a while, so he should be back to normal after a few minutes," Deuce added.

"Just after my...? Oh!" Riddle's big eyes widened in surprise as he got a slight idea of ​​what was happening with the prefect at that very moment...

[Published on 26/8/2022]

To Be Continued...