"Do you hear yourself, Rook?!" Kalim shouted in horror when he heard this, "Something like that is out of the question!"
Lotus could see Vil's expression growing darker and darker as Kalim continued disheartened by this event, "Hey, Vil, do you have any idea how stupid the stunt you just tried to pull is?! 'We have to put on a show that makes all who come after us look like nothing but potatoes.' Isn't that what you told us?! Those were your words, but…"
"Enough." Lotus stated bluntly shocking all of them at once.
"Lotus..." Kalim looked to her in surprise, "But-!"
Lotus turned to Vil and said, "We still have time... Rook, just get Vil to go and have him clear his mind a little."
"Lotus?" Rook raised a brow in bewilderment.
"Hey, Lotus, what do you mean?" Grim frowned, "Can't you see that this is seriou-!"
"Rook..." Lotus scowled with a cold glare which surprised everyone silent before them as she stated sternly, "You have sharp eyes... So tell me... What is... the color of Vil's magic stone right now?"
"Roi de Poison's magic... stone..." Rook's eyes slowly widen upon realization and quickly turned to Vil only to find him staggering, "Vil!"
However, Rook was pushed away as a pitiful laughter rose from the dorm leader's lips, "Hah… Ah hah hah… I'm the one…who wants to know that most of all… But I realized something. THAT WE HAD NO CHANCE OF WINNING!!! So that's why I… I… Why I decided to take care of Neige myself…!"
"Ffgna?! The heck? The juice that spilled on the floor is starting to move again?!" Grim cried out in horror, "I-It's spreading all across the floor, y'know!"
"What's this smoke?!" Kalim hacked a cough as he struggled to breath, "I-It's getting…hard to…breathe!"
Lotus scowled and reached out to pull Yuu and Grim back, "Poison gas!"
"Yuu, Kalim, don't breath the smoke in!" Rook warned them and quickly had them all back away with a grimace, "Vil's unique magic is "Fairest One of All! With it he can put a curse on an object. This mist is from the cursed juice turning into a gas. The moment you breathe it in your body will start to succumb to paralysis. But can he really manipulate a single bottle of juice to transform to this extent?"
Rook gasped as it dawned upon him, "He can't be!"
"There's no can or can't." Lotus scowled, "He's in the process of overblot."
"Please, don't look at me… Don't look at me like that!" Vil shouted desperately as he tried to shoo them away in a futile attempt and screamed, "Why? I wanted to be the most beautiful in the entire world, but why am I this… Ugly, ugly, UGLY!!!!
"Roi de Poison… You could never be ugly!" Rook responded firmly hoping to ease the situation.
"That's right! Besides, neither Neige or Rook ended up drinking the juice!" Kalim added, "You haven't hurt anybody yet. So, Vil, you need to come to yours senses…"
Kalim struggled to breathe as he was left in a coughing fit.
"Silence! What could you possibly know?! Even if everyone around the world forgives me, I will… I will never forgive myself!" Vil shouted as blot suddenly gushed out from his body.
"There's black ink coming from Vil's body! Just like that time with Jamil… Ack!" Kalim coughed painfully.
As Grim coughed, he managed to say, "The poisoned juice is spreading across the floor more and more and melting it as it goes, y'know!"
"Will that happen to us if it touches us?!" Yuu cried out in a last ditch effort as he could feel his body growing numb.
"Heh, heh heh heh… That's right. That's what I'll do. If I make the beauty of everyone but myself rot and melt away..." Vil chuckled as the blot slowly began to creep up over him, "That will make me the fairest one of all, won't it?"
"The fairest or the most forgetful one." Lotus sighed in dismay as she continued to stand before him unperturbed by the poison, "As they say, you are your own hardest judge."
"Lotus?!" They stared at her in disbelief upon seeing this.
Lotus sighed again adding to the shock on Vil's face, "So, you messed up and decided that you can't forgive yourself for trying to do something so ugly. So, you're now going to let yourself overblot? Hah... Vil, I told you that the current generation should see the past leaders as milestones to meet and build upon. However, what've your doing now, letting yourself overblot, makes you lower than the mistake the Beautiful Queen once did. Only she was strong enough to maintain her own life and make up for her mistakes. Are you trying to say that you can't even do something like that when you have a talent that can match up to her in the near future?
Lotus scowled, "The Beautiful Queen made one mistake and took on an ugly appearance for the remainder of her life, but no history book ever said that he life ended there. She returned and found the strength to move on with those who stuck with her despite this. You have the strength and effort to make yourself reach this level of beauty and power, but are those really not enough for you to stand up again? To be so dazzled by the beauty of others, you've made yourself blind of your own surroundings. Did you not think that the results of your rival's beauty is also a result of your own efforts?
Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone else yet could see the blot having stopped from proceeding, Lotus explained, "When you polished yourself into a daimond, you've ultimately began the long journey of polishing others. Vil, Neige's beauty today was also the result of your own efforts. Because you've presented to him a model and a goal, yourself. Niege is not only your rival, but also an indirect student polished by you. If you say what you've done is ugly to the deepest abyss, then what does that make the mistakes of what Niege made in the past? So, if you fall now, then don't you think every other talents you've led will fall down the same path as you? Believe me, Vil. Once you fall into hell now, Niege will definitely follow suit on his own. The only reason we can see the stars is because we have the blackest night. Beauty and ugly are never too far apart. So, let me ask you this, Vil... In all your life, which was the most beautiful you in your memory? ... Or have you long forgotten them all?"
"Th-That's..." Vil staggered back hesitantly before shouting back in anger and frustration, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Suddenly, the blot overwhelmed him as a strong energy pushed Lotus back with a strong impact. The wave of energy from him was strong and she could feel it, but she refused to stumble as she readied herself.
"Lotus! Get back here!" Yuu reached out to her but failed to grab hold as Rook pulled him back.
"Stop! He's too close to the poison!" Rook shouted as he could only watch in horror as Vil's form become dark and gloomy with a black dress and dark blue cloak.
A dark viel barely covered a part of his face in a lace as the rest were of silk which flowed back behind him from the gold crown both ends were attached to. His hands were decorated with a sharp claw on each fingertip and a large dark figure of a woman in a black hood and a crooked back floated over Vil's head. Having lost all sense of reason, he sneered, "The suffering won't last long. You'll stop breathing soon. Your blood will freeze… Then you'll never open your eyes again. Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha! Ah hah ha ha ha ha!"
"My goodness, Vil… What a terrifying and mournful form you've taken…" Rook muttered in disappointment but continued rather impressed, "Despite all that you are so ominously beautiful. I don't want to take my eyes of this form of yours… Yet, my vision is getting blurry…"
"Crap. I can't muster up any strength…" Kalim grimaced as he struggled to stand.
"I'm getting…dizzy, y'know…" Grim cried pitifully under the effect of the poison.
Seeing this, Lotus grimaced as she had wanted to stay behind, but it would be difficult for her to do so if the others fall under the effects of the poison behind her, especially Yuu and Grim. As Vil loomed dangerously closer to them all. Lotus grumbled, "Looks like I have more important matters first..."
With a quick sprint, she picked up Grim and Yuu before giving Rook a hard push from behind, "Take Kalim and let's go! Kalim, whistle with all your strength!"
"H-huh?" Kalim looked to her in confusion and in a daze.
"Whistle!"
"R-Right!" He quickly managed to snap out of it a little before he threw his two fingers between his lips and managed to make a loud whistle.
Suddenly, a black shadow dashed past them and feint a swipe at Vil causing him to reel back in surprise, "What?! Guh?! Why you… Don't get in my way!"
Upon looking back, Kalim cried out in surprise, "Th-That was…the magic carpet?! What's it doing here?!"
"Good grief. I thought something like this might've happened."
They could see a dark shadow on top of the flying carpet as the figure shouted, "Everyone, get on!"
"JAMIL!!"