Ace and Deuce both held up their magic pens while Grim looked at the magic crystal attached to his collar. As they did, they all gasped in shock when they saw that tiny black splotches had somehow appeared inside their gemstones!
"Ffgna?! There are some weird black blotches on my crystal?!" Grim exclaimed. He held up his magic gemstone and frantically tried to scrub the splotches off from it. But they stayed in place, much to his horror. "I can't wipe them off with my paw!" Grim yelled in a panic.
"There should be smudges that look like drops of ink on the crystal. Those are the blots created from using magic." Crowley explained. "Ah...! If I look close, there's small smudges on my magical pen as well...!" Deuce exclaimed.
"There's some on my magic pen, too!" Ace added as he tried to wipe the black smudges off his magic pen's crystal, but they wouldn't come off. "Blegh, it's so dirty!" Grim said with a look of disgust. "It doesn't look good. Will it go back to normal?" Alice asked worriedly. Crowley nodded. "Why, yes." he said.
Grim and Alice both breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm relieved~! Phew." Grim exhaled in comfort. "With enough rest, the blots will vanish in a matter of time. Magical crystals don't only help with performing spells, but they also prevent blots from accumulating directly within the caster." Crowley explained.
"They are truly a wonderful item that can shoulder your burdens." Deuce hummed in understanding. "I see. So you mean that if our crystals start to darken, we need to properly rest." he said. "That is correct. Eat well, sleep well, and normal blots will disappear on their own." Crowley said with a smile.
Grim smiled and nodded. "How 'bout that!! Then when I become the greatest wizard ever, I can fire off spells like "bang! bang!" with no problem! I always eat my fill and sleep like a rock." Kira scoffed. "That's a big understatement." she muttered.
"Ahem!" Crowley cleared his throat again. "There's also another important matter I need to discuss." he said before he turned towards Alice, wearing the most serious expression on his masked face. "Miss Liddell, would you please come closer?" he said, motioning Alice to come to him.
Alice obeyed as she walked up towards Crowley's desk. "Yes, Headmaster?" she asked timidly. "Please tell me, where did you get that jewel? How did you suddenly possess it?" Crowley asked, pointing at her Crystal Heart.
"Back when Riddle-san went into Overblot and attacked me, a crystal dove suddenly appeared before me and gave it to me. She said that it would help me save his life." Alice explained. "We still have no idea where it came from." Ace added. Crowley nodded as he hummed.
"Hmm...I see. How interesting." he murmured in thought. "What is it, Headmaster?" Ace asked curiously. "What Miss Liddell currently has in her possession is a Crystal Heart, a rare legendary gemstone that has been greatly sought after for many eons." Crowley said in a serious manner.
"And what exactly is a 'Crystal Heart'?" Deuce asked inquisitively. "What I must tell you all is of great importance, so listen carefully. The Crystal Heart is unlike any magical gem known in existence. It possesses power far greater than even the crystals on your pens." Crowley explained.
Alice looked at her Crystal Heart in awe. "So my desire to help Riddle-san was so strong..." Alice began to say. "...That the Crystal Heart granted her the power to save his life." Ace finished, his cherry red eyes wide with amazement. Crowley nodded.
"Indeed. There were all together four Crystal Hearts in total. Even the Great Seven were aware of the gems' existence." he continued to say as he gazed towards the window. "But long ago, when evil forces tried to steal the gems for their own selfish purposes, they decided that it was too dangerous for them to be exposed."
"So they've entrusted four unnamed young maidens to hide the gems at the farthest corners of the globe and their locations were a secret that they took to their graves. And for many years, those jewels had remained untouched. Up until now."
"But how did they come to be?" Aria asked. Crowley then turned his gaze towards the students. "A most intriguing question, Miss Oceanspray. Time and again, magic historians tried and failed to uncover the secret of the Crystal Hearts' origins. Therefore, their origins still remain a mystery to this very day." he replied.
"The amount of mana a person has varies from person to person, but aside from very special cases, the difference doesn't really affect the maximum blot a person can tolerate." Grim tilted his head in confusion. "What do that mean?" he asked.
"That means, people like Mr. Rosehearts, who have a lot of mana, have to be exceedingly careful about how much blot they are accumulating." Crowley said. "Concerning the Crystal Hearts, however, it is unknown if a maiden with a Crystal Heart would succumb to blot as there is no written record of it."
"If you aren't paying attention and just keep using a bunch of magic, you're gonna get covered in blot." Ace said. "Well, with the amount of mana all of you possess, I don't think there's any danger to that. Isn't that great!" Crowley surmised with a bright smile on his face. Ace glared at him, not believing his words.
"That line of yours doesn't being me any joy! Like, at all!" he shouted with an annoyed expression. Though it was valid information, it still didn't give any comfort for any of them. Just one misstep in the wrong direction, and anyone could lose control in a blink of an eye.
After seeing how it was for Riddle to go into Overblot, neither Ace, Deuce nor Grim ever wanted to go through that. "If you use too much magic and your crystal turns completely black, you'll go into "evil berserker mode" like Riddle?" Grim asked fearfully with wide eyes. "That huge evil spirit thing was super scary."
"The amount of blot a person accumulates is greatly influenced by their mental state." Crowley explained. "Anger, sorrow, fear, confusion... Being swathed in negative energy makes blot all the easier to build up, and Overblot occurs much more easily as well."
"Negative energy..." Deuce said softly to himself. Alice fell silent at that and turned her gaze away. Anger and sorrow. That was exactly what she felt when she was in that...dark, empty space.
Cold, gloomy and filled with loneliness. How horrible. It was just awful. Alice shuddered. "I hope that Riddle-senpai or anyone else doesn't have to go through that horrible experience ever again." she thought to herself. With her Crystal Heart, she can now ensure that it never happens again.
"The giant shadow that appeared behind Mr. Rosehearts when he was rampaging. They say that appears at the incarnation of negative energy fused with blot; however... The details aren't understood at this time." Crowley continued. "This is still so much we don't know about Overblot. Due in part to there being very few cases of it happening."
"Who would want more cases of that? I certainly don't." Ace said with a small glare. He lowered his gaze to the young blonde-haired girl beside him. Fighting against Overblot Riddle was one thing. Almost getting killed in the process was another. But...for Alice to get hurt like that...for her and her friends to nearly die...
He couldn't stand the thought of what would happen if he couldn't keep all the girls safe. He didn't even want to think about it. "It is truly fortunate that Mr. Rosehearts was brought back to his senses. If he hadn't..." Crowley said as he thought back to the battle back at Heartslabyul.
The anger. The hatred. The psychotic, menacing aura Riddle had around him. And that horrific Ink Ghoul he had manifested... "AHHHH-! I DON'T WANT TO EVEN IMAGINE! IT'S TOO AWFUL!" Crowley suddenly screamed as he gripped his head and began to freak out like a nut, startling everyone.
"Waahah! Don't yell like that, you've scared the crap outta me!" Grim yelled. "Headmaster, please control yourself." Jazmin said. "Ahem. Apologies. I lost myself there for a moment." Crowley said, taking a moment to clear his throat before maintaining his composure.
"This became long winded, but I hope you understand that using magic comes with certain dangers. You'll do well to never forget that." he cautioned. "Yes." the six students all said.
"And that brings your special lesson with your gracious headmaster to a close! Please return to your classroom." Crowley said, going right back to his cheerful, happy-go-lucky attitude with a smile. However, just before they could do that, there was just one more thing that needed to be addressed.
Alice slowly raised her hand. "Um, by the way, Headmaster, about a way to get us home...?" she asked. Everyone paused and turned their attention on him. The black-haired headmaster blinked in confusion before he was reminded of his four female students'... uh, special predicament.
Part of the deal of the four girls becoming students at Night Raven was that Crowley would find a way for them to return to their world. They didn't expect much result after spending only less than a month here, but they had hoped for some sort of report or update on the situation.
"Ah, aaaahhh~~~. A way to send you ladies back to your world." he anxiously stammered as the four girls looked at him expectantly. Crowley spread a timid smile as he quickly looked over to the side, moving his clawed hands at random papers on his desk.
"Of course I'm looking for one. I haven't forgotten or anything. But...err..." His voice trailed off when Kira narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a stern glare. "But...?" Kira asked as she crossed her arms and raised a suspicious eyebrow.
"Well, given my position as Headmaster of this prestigious school, I've been so busy lately." he finally said, chuckling nervously. Kira gritted her fangs angrily. "You stupid, boneheaded bird!" she thought, her eyebrow twitching once again. "You completely forgot!" Grim gave him a deadpan expression.
"Your eyes are all over the place." he flatly said. "I-I-I'm not lying. Getting ready for the Inter-dorm Magical Shift Tournament in October has had me swamped." Crowley stammered, quickly thinking on his feet and coming up with a reasonable excuse. "There's this meeting with the dorm heads after this too..."
That got the girls and Grim's attention. This was something they've never heard of before. "Magical Shift Tournament?" Grim asked, his cobalt-colored eyes sparkling with interest.