Lotus pulled out a silver needle and shot it straight at the suction cup as she hurriedly jumped in in a flash and grabbed a hold of the two before whisking them away to the side.
"Yes! Safe!" Deuce cheered in relief when he saw the two was all right.
"Th-Thanks, Lotus..." Ace sighed in relief, "Even though, you're not feeling well, right now..."
Lotus wore a small wry smile. She then slowly retreated to the side as she watched the group jump back into action. Yuu grimaced nervously as passed by him. She whispered, "Observe, Yuu... Watch carefully... This is Azul, remember?"
Yuu raised a brow and turned to Lotus but found that she had continued till she was already against the glass wall again in a staggering manner. He looked back at Azul in confusion as he said nervously, "Observe... But what is it...?"
Lotus watched with a smile as she finally saw the student's mind began to turn in a more favorable path. Unbeknownst to her, Leona was watching her carefully out of the corner of his eyes.
"Who are thou?" the voice echoed in her head again, "Thou has... an very old soul..."
"My strike just now... Should've seemed very familiar to you..." Lotus responded politely through her mind, "To be recognized by an ancient beast such as yourself, I truly am flattered, sir. Thus, I shall not beat around the bushes. This lowly one is a reincarnation of a flower..."
There was a slowly shift in the ground, however, the others were too busy fighting off Azul to notice it as Lotus smiled weakly, "It's been a long time..."
"It has..." The voice responded in a more respectful note, "Let this old sir greet her majesty..."
"It is all well." Lotus responded bluntly, "You carry on your back the lives of so many young ones. Do not forsake your duties for your respect to me."
"Then, this one shall do as they are told." He responded before continuing, "This young one... please forgive him... He has been... unable to let go of a lot of events in life."
Lotus bit back laughter when she noticed Yuu shout, "Ace, Deuce, Grim! Give me a hand and attack from the rear!"
"Understood!" Deuce responded and leaped to his feet.
"You got it!" Ace and Grim shouted as they struck for the rear.
Lotus watched on as she pondered quietly, "I had thought it was that form of situation for him... Even though he has accomplished so much..."
Lotus looked to Azul's overblot form and swirled her energy in that small bit of his brain left unmanipulated by the blot. Finally, she heard it.
"I was only ever meant to be inside an octopus pot."
Little children with fish tail for legs swam around a small plump octopus boy who seemed to be merely about the age of five teasing him. The image of the shivering and timid octopus boy with wavy silver hair was a large contrast to the current figure before her now. So, this was Azul...
"Unlike the other merfolk, I had legs covered in suction cups. I was an introverted child who could never speak their mind. No good at school or sports, I was left all alone. A dumb, clumsy octopus."
Finally, she heard one of the merfolk children complain about him being slow while playing and the word lame came up.
"Ohh, really?" Azul muttered in a threatening tone, "Then, why don't you just leave me by and go run around playing your pointless games!"
"I lack the tail to swim quickly." Azul admitted before arguing his point, "But, instead I have 1o arms and legs I can move at will. That means I have five times the ability to write tomes than those two armed fools. I can spit out the ink needed to write spells at any time. Just you wait. Someday, I'll put you insolent mers in your damn place!"
It was then that, during his pursuit for knowledge that he caught the attention of Jade and Floyd during their elementary school years. He had two friends who follow him everywhere as the two was the first to recognize his achievements, but Azul didn't seem to mind their awes very much since he was probably too used to complaints and criticisms from the other merfolks.
"I kept studying like that until several years later..." Azul continued.
Sure enough, he finally achieved it during his middle school years. "It's a deal". A magic capable of taking other's abilities in exchange for whatever they wished. Just like she thought, Jade and Floyd was the first to figure it out who it was as the other merfolks had their prideful abilities taken from them for their wishes.
"I haven't forgotten what happened for even a moment. Those who made full of me. The faces of those who bullied me." Azul explained, "I bid my time, observing them from a distance. Their weaknesses, their failings... I know it all!"
He smirked, "Press on their weak points and I can take their fast tail. If I know what's bothering them, I can take their beautiful singing voice. With this golden contract, I am unbeatable!"
"I am no longer the dumb, clumsy octopus left all alone." Azul stated firmly, "Everything is under my control with this power. All those who ever made fun of me, will now kneel before me."
Lotus listened to his story quietly in thought. Finally, she said as Floyd managed to break through the seashell pendant on the woman, "You've come a long way and have grown since then."
"Eh?"
She closed her eyes and breathed a small sigh of relief as she called out Little Jun to enter the mental space with her. Within the dark murky waters, they found him. Azul in his dorm uniform with the cane of the Octavinelle dorm.
Azul opened his eyes in bewilderment upon the unfamiliar voice and saw that it was a woman with flaming red hair that seemed to blaze under the currents of the dark waters. Her purple and gold eyes seemed to pierce into him as his opened wide in surprise, "Wh-Who are you? Where am I?"
He noticed that she was in a rather old fashioned clothing to which added to the mystique around her. However, Peony didn't flinch and responded, "I'm called Peony... I've been watching you for a while now, Azul..."
"Wh-What are you trying to do?" Azul scowled caught completely off guard before he realized his current appearance before clearing his throat nervously, "I mean, apologies. You surprised me just now."
Peony shook her head, "It's of no problem, Azul. I should be apologizing for snooping into your mind."
Azul raised a brow in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"You overblotted, Azul." Peony responded bluntly.
"I overblotted?!" Azul's eyes widen in bewilderment, "I-I'm not dead already, am I? But-"
"You're not." Peony shot it down immediately in a calm voice, "You've been subdued by the prefect, Savanaclaw dorm leader, and your friends."
Hearing this, Azul breathed a sigh of relief, "Then, what am I doing here? And what is this creature?"
"This is a kirin I raised. Also, I was curious." Peony answered, "You worked so hard to get vengeance, but, for this, you want to erase your past. Why?"
"Why?" Azul looked to her in confusion after realizing that his internal monologue had been overheard and pushed his glasses into place with a humph, "Hmph! You've never experienced such shame before, so how would you know.'
"I don't know. That's why I'm asking." Lotus responded bluntly without much change to her expression, "It's because I don't know that I want to know why you're trying to do this?"
"I need to teach them and make them pay for their mistake on their knees-!" Azul began with a sneer but was cut off immediately.
"I don't care about that." Peony said bluntly, "You already said that."
"Then, what..." Azul frowned with a perplexed look.
"Why are you trying to erase your past?" Peony questioned.
"Because it's embarrassing." He responded bluntly.
"It's embarrassing because you were bullied for your weakness." Peony understood that easily, "But... Why are you trying to erase it while seeking for their apologies?"
"Huh?" Azul raised a brow.
Peony responded, "You want their deepest and sincerest apologies, but you also want to erase your past. It's contradictory."
"How is that so?" He scowled but asked regardless.
"You want to erase the past that you want everyone to recall and regret upon so they could apologize to you." Peony responded, "I won't tell you to stop trying to erase them. But, if you erased all the evidence, how would they recall their error to apologize to you. That they were at fault for bullying you for who you were."
For once, Azul was left baffled upon the realization of his own actions but didn't want to give in that he was wrong in any sense.
"However, if they used this to gain an upperhand, then-"
Peony raised a brow, "The past you and the current you are the same person, but you're not timid anymore nor are you submissive at all. But, why is it that you don't want others to learn not to judge you for who you were back then or they'd regret it now? You worked so much just so you can erase all traces of your achievements from being clumsy? Why? The Sea witch also did not have a model figure, but history has remembered her to be generous and never hid herself even when she reached adulthood with her body shape. She continued to stand proud with her magic. Everyone respected her despite her figure and continued to do so regardless of her errors later in life where she encountered her own greed."
"She had also been greedy?" Azul raised a brow in bewilderment.
Peony nodded, "When you leave school, search it up. There was a point in time where she grew greedy and used the favored princess of the king to gain the power of the trident and become the sea's ruler. However, that costed her greatly. You should know her price."
"Could it be..." Azul frowned as he recalled something, "Her moray eels... It was said that she became more generous after the loss of her two eels..."
Peony nodded, "In the event where she gained her newfound powers, she had accidentally struck her only two friends disintegrating them into bubbles. The loss of them aggrieved her so much, the king and human prince she was trying to get along with had to work together to bring her out of her grief and moment of insanity. She learned from her own greed and returned the crown and trident then was never found again. Yet, as you can see, some still found her for contracts."
Azul nodded as he was at a loss for words. Peony watched curiously as she continued, "Sometimes, I wonder..."
"Hm?"
She shook her head and continued, "Think it over if you want, but I have a question, Azul. I hope you would have an answer for me eventually, if not now."
"Go ahead?" He spoked up having snapped back to his senses.
"Why..." Peony muttered in confusion, "No matter how much greed or desire they have, why do mortals continue to want more? Even when they said they were satisfied with what they have, they ended up wanting more later?"
She just couldn't understand it. She looked to the similarly confused Azul with a blank look uncertain of what response she would receive.
All these years...
"A human has a loving family and good income, but wants a mansion and to monopolize and ruin other people for their own prospect. A merchant has a good life and good business, but still has dreams of wanting to monopolize the entire economy and the lives of others. An emperor has a kingdom, wives and concubines, many children and good life but wants to conquer over others for more for a mere title." Peony recalled her past life and the people she had met during that life as she said her words carefully, "Why... why is it that they just keep wanting more to the point that they would even walk over the bodies of others for something that they isn't a "need" but a "want"?"
"That's..." Azul slowly processed this information in his head with a grimace, "This is a very heavy philosophy, isn't it? Hm..."
A little distressed, he frowned, "This question... is very complex..."
Peony thought for a bit before shaking her head and sighed, "It's all right. Let's first bring you back. Your vice-dorm leader and his brother is very worried about you right now. Jun..."