Twisted Wonderland: Glorious Masquerade - Let the Bell of Solace Ring

Chapter 4-4: Its Appropriate Use

Meanwhile, Briar and the others have reached the campus courtyard.

"We made it down the main street thanks to Rosehearts and Felmier. Now to enter the main building and head for the bell tower," Malleus says.

"I hope Housewarden Riddle and Epel are holding up okay..." Deuce says.

"Me too. I'm very worried," Briar says.

But Sebek says, "What's all this fretting? They both said they could handle it, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Just relax. I'm sure they're both fine!" Ruggie says.

"Yeah, you're right," Deuce says.

"I guess so. I do hope they're holding up," Briar says, still worried.

Idia whispers to Ruggie, "Dude, Ruggie... You lie as easily as you breathe... You've gotta know they don't stand a chance out there."

"Well, yeah, but they don't need to know that, do they?" Ruggie whispers.

And Malleus says, "Indeed they don't. Even should the flowers ensnare them... One of us will ring the bell before their magic is sapped completely. They were prepared to accept the risk when they volunteered. There's no need to cause undue concern."

"Right. That's one more reason we need to ring the bell as soon as we can," Silver says.

"Precisely. Besides, their outlook isn't all doom and gloom. After all, Epel has quite a useful signature spell," Rook says.

"Definitely. If he's able to make good use of his barrier magic, they might get through this unscathed. It's fortunate Epel has a signature spell that works on plants. Not all of us do. In fact, most of ours only work on people. For example, I doubt a certain someone could get plants to sign a contract for his signature spell," Jamil says.

Azul agrees, "Indeed. And I doubt another certain someone's spell would work, seeing as plants don't have eyes for him to look into."

"Y'know, that's a good point. I've never tried my signature spell on plants before," Ruggie says.

"Mine lets me store up magic that's been used against me and send it back. That won't do much good against flowers with no magic..." Deuce says, "I guess signature spells have a lot of limitations in how you can use them, huh?"

"And my magic won't have any effect on them either," Briar says.

"Well, yeah. And that's not even counting ones like mine that aren't good for fighting," Ruggie says.

But Azul says, "Now that's not true. Every signature spell can be used in combat. You just have to figure out its appropriate use. That said, we'll need to plan this carefully... Spells that take over someone's mind or control their movements hinge on the target having a will in the first place."

"Are we sure those flowers don't have wills of their own? We've seen plenty of them take on a human-like form," Sebek questions.

"Yeah, so, I was curious about that and studied some of 'em..." Idia says, "And, uh...they're just firelotuses that wormed their way into some of the students' robes. Either there's lingering magic in the robes from the students who wore 'em before... Or the robes themselves are imbued with magic, like our ceremonial robes. That's my take at least."

"Then they're just plants with no will or mind of their own. What would be an effective approach against them...?" Azul says, trying to think.

Suddenly, they hear screaming, "AAAAAAGH!"

Everyone rushes over to see the Noble Bell College students are getting tangled by the plants as their magic is being drained.

"Whoa, a bunch of firelotuses just burst out of the building!" Deuce cries out.

Jamil says, "Tch... Some fleeing students must've led them straight here."

"No one stop. Just keep going and shake them off," Malleus says.

Soon, the group rush to do just that before the flowers can stop them.