The game of tag was incredibly annoying in Riddle's opinion. They are wasting their time here! Just running around, keeping the Leech Twins away from Jonah. Even Riddle slowly became tired just from using too much magic. Floyd's unique magic was annoying. He kept on reflecting on all of their attacks which he redirected to Jonah, nonetheless! If only he still has his Off With Your Head, he would render that eel useless!

*cling...*

It was like everyone stopped to react. "What was that light just now?" Jonah asked, looking around just like the rest of them to see where the flicker came from.

*cling...*

"Ah..." Riddle gasped, making everyone turn to him. His chest glowed and he felt magic flowing inside of him. He pressed his hand to his chest once the light dimmed down. What just happened?

"Wha-?!" Jonah turned to Grim who was rubbing the top of his head. That's when he realized that there was nothing on top of the cat's head. "My anemone's gone!"

Jonah patted Grim's head repeatedly, lips curling into a wide smile. "It's gone! You're free!" he cheered, picking up Grim by the hips and twirled around, laughing cheerfully, not even realizing the fact that his eye once again turned green and glossed over because of the counter curse and the twins suddenly disappeared from his vision.

"Does this mean the contracts are broken?" Trey asked loud, but there was a hint of excitement in his tone.

Cater laughed. "Leona must've pulled through!"

Jade's eyes widened slightly as he turned to Cater. "...What did you say?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Floyd whined, looking back and forth at the fishes in irritation.

"After Jonah had a talk to Leona," Jack spoke up, smiling proudly. "He suddenly wanted to call Riddle..."

"Oi, Jack."

"Yes?" Jack looked to the prefect. Minutes had passed since Leona told Jonah and Grim to get out and those two didn't even complain. After that, it was like Leona stopped functioning. He just kept staring at the spot where Jonah once stood until he spoke again a few seconds ago.

"Give me your phone." Leona stretched out his hand, opening his palm to the wolf. "I need to talk with that Red Prince."

"Wait..." Ruggie frowned at Leona in disbelieve. "Are you..."

Leona gave them a sideways glare. "Do it before I change my mind."

Ruggie and Jack exchanged a glance. The corner of Ruggie's lips curled up as he shrugged, still confused but accepting the unexpected change. Jack took out a phone, quickly dialing up the number he often sent mail recently. A few seconds of ringing later, the other side finally picked up. ["Hello?"]

"Senior Trey," Jack greeted. "Is Senior Riddle with you?"

["Yeah. We just have some talk. Any problem?"]

"Senior Leona wants to speak with him."

["Okay...?"]

There was a sound of footsteps, so Jack gave the phone to Leona. "Here."

Picking the phone, Leona lifted it next to his ear. He could hear a small sniffling sound before Riddle's voice, which sounded hoarser than usual, came in. ["Hello?"]

"Oi, your boyfriend just trespassed to my room. He said he knows what's Azul's weakness is."

["What?"]

Leona stood up from his bed and started pacing around. "All of you is going to dive tomorrow again, right?"

["We have to, but..."]

The lion groaned, massaging his temple. "Look. I don't know or even care what happened earlier, but whatever it was it must've ended badly. Which means Azul would be merciless on the last day."

["He can't do that. He made a deal with me that he won't be able to control Jonah or the environment."]

Leona paused, jaws hung open. He pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment to let out a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Once he calmed down, he brought the phone close again. "I'm not going to question about your deal, but the point is, that Pirate Brat is going to need all the help he can get underwater." He glanced to the other two, staring at them as if telling them to pay attention too. "In the meantime, knowing that the contract isn't actually invincible, we can find a way to steal it again."

["And how are you going to do that? If Azul knows that Jonah knows his weakness, he will put even higher protection to the contract."]

"Not if he somehow leaves them for two seconds. All we need is a very big distraction." The lion's lips curled up into a smirk. "Like a party."

"Ruggie and I spread out the false invitation of the Savanaclaw's End of the Semester Party in Mostro Lounge today to every dorm," Cater grinned. "With that many people, the staff will be overwhelmed and Azul would have to see the chaos and get away from the safe."

"And from the looks of things," Riddle smirked victoriously at the two twins. "It seems like we've won."

"Ah..." Came from the twin eels mouth. Jonah didn't blame them. He never would've thought that Leona would actually go through the plan. He let out a small laugh. They actually managed to pull it all through. If the contracts are destroyed, then all the anemones, not just Grim, but Ace, Deuce, and everyone else's is gone. Not only that, but that also means he's no longer bound to Ashengrotto. The prefect couldn't read his mind again. And Riddle gets his unique magic back. This is great! The table had turned in their favor. They won-

"Gck!" The boy gripped his eyepatch, pressing it down hard. What's... What's happening? Why does it hurt so much?

"Jonah's what's wrong?" Grim patted his cheek softly, trying to gain his attention. But the pain was nearly unbearable.

"My eye..." Jonah gritted his teeth. "It hurts..." Winching he lifted his gaze. Nearly all of them were looking at him with confusion and worries. Jonah's eye accidentally landed on Riddle. And it clicked. He felt this before. Back when Riddle had his breakdown during his, Ace, and Deuce. Also, before Leona disintegrated his arm. And everything led to...

Jonah's eye widened, gasping loudly. "Ashengrotto..."

Floyd turned his head toward him. "Huh? What's wrong with Azul?"

"We need..." Jonah looked at everyone, panic started to fill his chest. "We need to go back to Octavinelle."

Floyd was impatient, unfortunately. Nobody saw him swimming past them, or when he grabbed Jonah by the neck, pushing him down to the ground. Everybody raised their gem, but Jade had placed himself between his brother and the other.

"Oi, you better explain what is going on with Azul," Floyd growled. "And I'll know if you're lying or not."

"I don't know!" Jonah screamed, trying to push away the image of Azul's angry face from his mind. "But we have to go back! Or else..."

"Or else what?" Floyd yelled, tightening his fingers.

Jonah coughed, trying to pull Floyd's hand away, but the eel was stronger than him. He could still breathe for his fish gills, but the pressure was still uncomfortable, and who knew what will happen when he turned back into a human. But he had to say this, even if he didn't want to say it, or believe it for that matter.

"I know you hate me for everything..." he wheezed, "But you... You have to trust me..." Floyd was pushing his throat harder. It hurt, a lot yes. But he had to say it. "Or... He'll overblot."

All of them were shocked. "Overblot?!" Cater gasped.

"Eek?! Again?!" Grim screamed.

Jade glanced back at Jonah. His eye was shining pleading for help. For them to trust him. He didn't look like he was lying. He would never lie, even in these three days of the contract, he was still doing this fair and square. 'A captain of his words' as he had said.

Jade turned to his brother. "Floyd."

Floyd turned his head around, staring at his twins in surprise. "But Jade-"

"Our main priority is saving Azul now," he said, "If what all of them were saying is true, then Azul's mental is very unstable now." He turned to the other students. "Let's put our differences aside for now and go back before things get even worse."

Floyd huffed. "Tch, I get it..."

He let go of his hand and swam back, leaving Jonah panting in relief. Riddle and Grim swam toward him, helping him float again. Jonah looked up at Jade, mouthing, "Thank you." Jade just nodded, then looked at the others. "Everyone. Follow us. Our checkpoint is closer than yours."

They didn't protest, knowing that they have a bigger situation waiting for them back at school. Jade wasn't kidding when he said their checkpoint was closer. It was located in a small pathway not far from the museum, hidden in a field of seaweed. Jade stretched out his hand, summoning their portal, and chanting, "[Magic Mirror, answer to me]. [Take us all to NRC]!"

The seaweed waved to the currents created by the portal, surrounding them as some sort of cover. When the seaweed waves slowed down, what left were bubbles.

-----

"Your lightning magic, and that guy's athletic abilities...! Give them all to me!" Azul screamed as he shot his magic circle toward a student who stood next to Jamil and Kalim. The boy was screaming as his magic was ripped apart from his body. His magic flew back to the hysteric prefect, leaving the boy crumbling to the ground like the others, moaning in pain.

"Wh-Whoa! What is Azul doing to everyone!?" Kalim asked, looking past Jamil's shoulder who refused to let him step forward. "All of them are collapsing one after another!"

"It looks like his unique magic can take everything from someone even without signing a contract," Leona spoke up, reflecting back the magic that Azul shot toward him. "Maybe the contract itself was just used to keep the magic in control."

"Eh!? That's fucking overpowered!" Ruggie screamed.

"Forbidden magic like this is going to build up an excessive amount of blot in an instant," Jamil added, which cause Kalim to gasp.

Leona clicked his tongue. "Cih, how annoying."

Suddenly, several splashes appeared behind Azul. The diving squad, along with the Leech Twins had arrived, landing on the platform. All of them couldn't believe what they were seeing. The once beautiful blue enchanted water was now nearly black, corrupted by the ink that kept flowing from the prefect on a rampage. The amount of body that was loitering on the ground was too much. Among them, Ace looked up, still cradling Deuce in his arms.

"Captain!" Ace screamed. Jonah immediately turned toward the voice. His eye widened and he swam toward the fallen friends.

"What happened to Deuce?" Jonah asked.

"Azul took away all of his magic." Ace looked down at the weak and pale blunette. "He's barely breathing..."

"Azul!" Jade swam forward. "Just what are you doing!?"

"Ew, what's this?" Floyd kicked the black stuff away from his shoes. "What's going on?"

Recognizing their voice, Azul turned around, head titled far to the side, eyes half-opened, and a craze daze smile plastered on his lips. "Jade, Floyd, ah... You've finally come back to me." He sighed nearly dramatically and he hugged himself. "Those bastards went and destroys all of my precious contracts. That's why..." He stretched both of his hand toward them as if he was inviting them for a hug. "Please give me your magic, too." He took a shaky step forward, still smiling. "Hey, please give it to me!"

"Stop this instant!" Jade shouted. "Your unique magic is too strong and to top it off, it should not work without the contract. You should know best what would happen if you do not follow the procedure!"

Azul pouted, lowering his hand to the side. "It's all gone, you know... Everything..." He snorted before laughing out loud. "There is no way in hellfire I'm going back to my old self!"

"Ya know~" Floyd stepped forward, standing next to his brother, looking pissed and disappointed at the same time. "You're way lamer now compared to your old self, Azul."

"Ah~ Is that so?" Azul tilted his head to the other side, eyes became wide. "In the end, I'm just a trashy, dumb octopus who can't do anything by himself, huh!" His voice became louder and more desperate as he summoned more magic circles. "That's why, in order to go back to my ideal self, I'll just steal everyone's magic! Beautiful singing voices, and even strong magic... All of them will be mine! Hand them over to me!"

Shooting the magic circle like a storm everyone who was lucky enough ducked, but those who are unfortunate got their magic to absorb for the prefect.

Floyd glanced down to the ground, noticing more black, mud-like stuff flowing down. He pulled Jade back but noticing how strange it was. "The hell is that?' he muttered. "Those black mud is coming out from Azul's body... It's not ink, is it...?"

"He's using his unique magic too much." Jade's eyes slowly widened. "He has long surpassed the limit for blot. At this rate, he will...!"

Jonah suddenly shot up to his feet, running to the front and ignoring the scream of panic from Ace. "Ashengrotto! Stop it!" he screamed. "You will go into overblot!"

"Ah, Captain Argentum!" Azul giggled, turning around. "What's with the panic face? I thought you would be happy from this turn of event."

"What's there to be happy?!" Jonah screamed back, breath raging in both panic and anger. "You can die!"

Azul hummed in confusion. "And why do you care, Captain? Don't you hate me?"

Jonah's breath hitched as he stepped back. "I..."

"I've thrown away all my feelings toward you, Jonah." Azul's voice was monotone as he took a step forward, in which Jonah stepped back, fingers trembling to reach for his cutlass. "You are no longer significant in my life. Your petty power of friendship speech won't pull me back to your side, Argentum!"

Jonah gritted teeth. His hand now curled up around the hilt. "Then I'll just have to snap you out of your own mind by force." Ripping his eyepatch away and pulling out his silver cutlass, pointing it to Azul. "This is your captain's order! All hands on deck!"

The rest of the diving squad ran in front of the twins and took out their pen, acting as their shield, while the remaining standing lounge invasion team, ran next to the captain, brandishing their weapon once again. All of them responded in unison, "Aye, aye, Captain!"

Azul sighed, shaking his head disappointedly. "Even now, you're trying to steal what I deserve. That's so not heroic."

"Good then," Jonah smirked. "I'm always suited to be a villain."

Azul laughed hysterically, throwing his head back as if the captain just shot out a joke. The corrupted gem on his cane finally cracked a blot shot out, surrounding Azul in a tight blanket before exploded, corrupting the sea with more ink. Ace hunched down to protect Deuce, Jamil threw his on body and Kalim to the ground, even the Leech Twins were speechless and frozen in their spot. The pirate gang stood their ground, weapons ready to face their latest enemy who they used to know as Azul Ashengrotto...