Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Chapter 1

Chapter 23: Magic Unchecked

"Huh?!" Ace and Deuce yelped in unison, hands flying to their necks.

"H-Holy shit.... You're RIGHT!" Ace said, looking back up at Trey with wide, shocked eyes.
"T-Trey-senpai..."

Trey huffed, shaking his head.
"...I told you, didn't I?" He said. "My 'Doodle Suit' only lasts for a short time... But it can overwrite the characteristics of anything."

He squared his shoulders, gripping his magical pen tight in one hand.
"...So I overwrote the characteristics of Riddle's magic with mine!"

Cater actually choked in surprise.
Looking up at him, Kat saw that he was gaping at Trey, eyes full of shock and disbelief.

"Th--That's even POSSIBLE?!" He spluttered again, looking around at the drifts of cards.
"No way.... What the hell kinda cheatin'-ass loophole is that?!"

Fighting down another sniffle, Kat rubbed her eye one more time, looking over at Riddle.
He was staring, baffled, at Trey, face white, aside from that bizarre black liquid dribbling down it.

He seemed to mouth something, then raised the scepter limply.

Trey flicked his pen slightly.
A small shower of cards appeared by the head of the scepter, pattering down to the ruined ground by his feet.

Riddle shook his head, then turned, pointing the scepter at Cater.
"--WITH YOUR HEAD!" She heard him gasp, and the redhead flinched, throwing both his arms up over his face.

Trey swung his pen again.
Another small flurry of cards appeared in the air around Cater, tumbling down through the air.

Riddle pointed the scepter at Kat's group, still huddled on the ground.
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" He cried, voice cracking.

Kat flinched, but once again all that happened was another shower of cards.

Again, and again-- wherever Riddle's trembling hand turned the scepter, a flutter of cards drifted down.

Staggering back, he clutched at his head, grabbing fistfuls of deep red hair in shaking hands.

"Wh-- Why.... Why are only CARDS appearing?! WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!"
He tore at his hair with a helpless scream, actually pulling out a few chunks.

Kat couldn't stop herself from wincing in sympathy, recoiling.
Th-This was....
It was terrifying, but it was also just sad....

Trey strode forward slowly, pen still gripped in his hand.

"Riddle," he ordered.
"Stop this. Now. Take this any further, and it really WILL be too late for you."

He gestured to the ruined garden, at the dorm students still scattered around, frozen in shock.
"Can't you see it?! How everyone is looking at you?!"

Turning her head, Kat-- saw it.
She saw exactly what Trey was talking about.
Each and every student was looking straight at Riddle, with pure, unmitigated horror.

Then the whispers started again, rising through the desolate, hellish surroundings.

"--Was serious! He was-- seriously gonna do it..."

"No way... H-He was really gonna kill that first-year-- l-like, for real?! He's insane... Literally insane!"

"....He's--  a monster..."

Riddle staggered back, like he'd been struck again.
He didn't fall, but his upper half slumped over, going limp like a marionette whose strings had been cut.