Key of Souls: Twisted Wonderland

Chapter 63: The Rebel of the Savanna

3rd POV

As fast as his legs would, Ruggie ran far away from Leona until he jumped out of the sand vortex and landed on the ground, still feeling the pain from Leona's Unique Magic. As soon as they saw him, Riddle, Ace, Deuce, Cater, Jack, and Grim quickly approached him to see if Ruggie was alright. "Ruggie, are you alright!? What happened!?", Jack asked with worry.

Ruggie slowly sat up and let out several coughs as he weakly pointed at the sand vortex. "Ack... Ack... D-Dawn... Leona has her... Please help her..." he said weakly as he coughed more.

Without thinking, Ace, Cater, and Jack took out their magical pens and combined their wind magic to create a whirlwind strong enough to break apart the sand vortex. Once it was clear enough, everybody was now witnessing the worst thing unimaginable: Dawn was being held captive by Leona; who looked like he didn't care what happened to this girl.

"If you have that much power, why do things like this!?", Riddle demanded; he wanted to attack Leona with magic but resisted the urge to do so out of fear of harming Dawn.

Leona gave a cold smirk at him and said, "Why...? How's knowing the reason going to change anything? Are you going to scold me and then comfort me? In this world, there are plenty of times when talent and effort make no difference." The lion-eared man took a glance at Ruggie who was still on the ground, agonized by the pain, and the girl who was now in his grasp while trying to escape but to no avail. "Just like Ruggie and this brat can't do anything to me right now. So pathetic. Truly pitiful..." At this point, Dawn was trying to fight out of Leona's grasp but to no avail because of his strength.

Ruggie opened one eye and saw the state she was in. "Haah... guugghh...!", Ruggie choked, trying to speak; he didn't know what hurt more: the pain he was suffering from or seeing Dawn being held captive like this.

Seeing Ruggie and Dawn in their current state made Jack finally snap, and he roared, "Knock it off!!! Unleash Beast!" The sound of a howling wolf was heard throughout the arena, and a bright light suddenly engulfed Jack. Soon, a big, white wolf was standing where he was now, and everybody was left speechless.

"That's...!?", Riddle gasped. The wolf growled as he locked eyes on Leona with angry eyes. Dawn couldn't believe what she was seeing right now; she forgot she was being held hostage momentarily. "H-he transformed!?, she exclaimed.

"Wha the hell!? Gah!", Leona yelled. Before he could react, the wolf charged straight at Leona at full speed and swiped his paw; forcing him to let go of Dawn out of shock. The wolf soon approached Dawn and said, "Hurry! Jump on my back!" Dawn was surprised that Jack could still talk despite being a wolf now, but she didn't have time to think about it as she quickly jumped on Jack's back and held on to him for dear life as he started to run away from the scene as fast as he could. With Dawn no longer in Leona's grasp, Riddle saw this as a golden opportunity. "Leona's guard is down! Off with your head!", he shouted and fired off his magic. "Gaah!!", Leona went as the magic collar locked itself around his neck and sealed away his magic.

Once they were far enough, Dawn got off Jack and rushed back to Riddle and the others; she was immediately brought into a big hug by Riddle, but she broke away from him to check on how Ruggie was doing. The hyena-eared boy was now on his feet as he let out several coughs; he managed to open his eyes and to his relief, he saw that the girl was alright.

"Very nice Riddle! You stopped Leona's magic!", Cater cheered.

"Dawn! Are you alright!?", Deuce asked.

"I-I think so.", Dawn answered, still in shock by what just happened. Just then, Jack returned to the group as well and transformed back to his human form; the moment he knew that she was going to be okay, he felt his heart beating in a strange rhythm he never felt before, but he dismissed it for now.