Mu Qing panted until he reached Octavinelle. He slammed open the door, "Shīzi! What did you do?!" He stomped to Leona. Who was too busy trying to fend off Azul who tried to strangle him. Mu Qing went in between and pulled them apart, "what the fuck is going on?!"
Azul pointed to Leona, "he started it, Mu Qing!"
Mu Qing facepalmed his face with both his hands and glared at them, "explain what he is talking about.
Leona was about to speak when Azul held up a hand, "Also Mu Qing, it isn't just this lion, I'm furious at! Those scoundrels behind you have been making trouble behind your back the entire time you've made your position as my third guard! They haven't been open to you either and why I had to demand them stay away from you." He pointed to Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Jack.
Mu Qing sat down and Floyd and Jade stood close to him, he turned to his companions. "Tell me everything then. What happened?"
Jack sighed, "I'll explain it!"
Flashback
Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Jack assembled a plan to understand what Azul's ulterior motives were with Mu Qing.
Ace groaned, "okay, Azul's rule of keeping Qing is firm" he muttered, "but I don't trust him. Especially when he looks at his deals like they're invulnerable, but he must be hiding something."
Deuce mentioned, "actually there is a safe in Azul-san's office."
Ace brow raised an eyebrow, "how'd ya know that, Deucey?"
Deuce snarled, "shut up, firecracker head!"
Ace shrugged while Deuce continued, "I know about this because Ruggie-sempai spied on the empty office whenever Qing-san and Azul have their hang-outs! That's supposed to be our thing, (me, you, Grim, and him)!" He shouted in fury.
"YUP!!!" Ruggie grinned as they screamed as he materialized before them, "shishishi! You should've seen your scaredy-ass faces!"
Grim yelled, "shut up, hyena boy! We were just playing around with you! Our awareness capacities are off the charts!"
Leona yawned behind them startling them, "I'm impressed...I never thought I'd see the day that the two one-brain cells became a connection! Listen, kiddos, all the magic loopholes that come with it."
Ace gasped, "where did you come from?!"
Leona smirked, "couldn't help but overhear...yes, all magic has a drawback. Is your memory capacity depleting or something? Pampered, Rule-crazed Riddle's Unique Magic could lock people's magic? If it's hard for you to believe that their magic is indomitable, I would have hit your idiots on the heads for assuming that!"
Deuce folded his arms, "sorry my attention span died when you started talking...you still invaded Qing-san's privacy." He murmurs angrily.
Leona felt his temper rise a bit, 'why am I even helping these morons? How the hell did kitten even become BFFs with them, anyway?'
He sighed, "what I mean is even the best mages can't just perfect spells...if they were anything like the RSA snooty pansies, so the Azul's contracts should also have a flaw, which is why he's keeping them in a safe in the first place. I guess that Azul must've still had the deals Kitten wanted to be rid of it and is preparing for new clients behind his back!"
Deuce growled, "using Qing-san like that, I can't fucking stand it!"
Jack hummed, "I get it, so there's a way to beat the contract, after all.
Challenging the Leech brothers is beyond us, except for Panther, no matter how you slice it.
We'd be better off trying to find a chip in the contract scroll's legendary armor on land instead. I see what you're gettin' at.
I dunno, though. Tells me it's a foul play."
Ruggie gave him a dull look, "I don't think playing the honorable knight is the time to be the solution for Honey Badger's situation. I'd use this baby!" he grinned as he held a key. Leona's brow went up to his forehead, "a key?"
Ruggie grinned widely, "Being the Teachers' Pet comes with its benefits! And a lot of it! Every time Honey Badger shaped something in the school and for being the cause for the Savanaclaw to dethrone Diasmonia" Leona grinned, "it's a dream come true to me!" Then his face changed to anger, "the way that lizard was looking at my Kitten like that pisses me off!"
Ace, Deuce, Grim, Jack, and Ruggie nodded aggressively in agreement.
Ruggie continued, "he gets a lot of magical items from Sam, Crewel, Trein, Ashton, and Crowley. He even has a library and Magical Items archive or the MI room for short." He shows them the key, "this key can open the doors of any keyhole! To demonstrate!" They turns as he headed to a random door and placed it closer to the keyhole. The gang watched as it changed form and fit the exact measurement and design of the door. He inserted it and turned it and then, he opened the knob and it revealed an empty classroom.
Jack hummed in curiosity, "I wonder what this classroom used to be?"
Leona shrugged, "who knows probably just one of the vacant classrooms of the school?"
Ace noticed something before Ruggie closed the door. Like a dark shadow.
Ace whispered to Deuce and Grim, "that was weird. Something was in there!"
Deuce and Grim looked at each other and then at Ace, "are you seeing things now?"
Ace shouted, "shut up! I know what I saw!"
Ruggie waved him off, "never mind that!" He placed the key in Ace's hand, "don't lose this key! It's valuable!" Deuce raised a skeptical brow, "you use it to steal the food from the cafeteria though."
Ruggie chuckled, "heheshishishi! Guilty as charged! And what can I say? Every one of those items has some unique abilities!"
Ace took the key from Ruggie as he, Deuce, Grim, and Jack left, the hyena student muttered to Leona, "what're the chances those poor bastards will get caught by Azul's ploy?"
Leona shrugged, "99% that octopus likes to play innocuous, and when his prey is lured, that's when he strikes at them. I feel almost sorry for them, but I'm not too eager about getting my hands dirty." Leona looked down, 'not yet anyway...'
Octavinelle
Azul's Office
They snuck near where Azul was making conversations about Mu Qing's decision to hand his title as leader of the dorm.
Azul hummed, "while I admit this decision of Sea Pearl was unexpected and taking residence at Heartslabyul and Savanaclaw, it may be a learning experience for the creature."
Floyd groaned, "can I squeeze him now? I can't stand he was one to kiss Siren before I did!"
Azul gritted his teeth inwardly, "tempting, but Leona has the quality of a lazy lion. Though he may have some affection for Sea Pearl, I doubt he'd risk his neck for his friends. I concur with your view that he would be problematic to have as a foe, but the rivalry is a two-way street. Leona would be a fool to think he could take on me as an enemy.
Jade raised an eyebrow, "So you choose to allow sleeping cats to lie down for the time being? All right. Very well..."
Floyd whined, "what? I wanted to smack that smug grin off his mug, too!"
The two left as Azul told them to keep surveillance.
Jack, Ace, Deuce, and Grim snuck inside the office once the coast was clear.
Jack scanned the area and saw there was no one in sight.
Deuce said as he looked at the passcode setting and a key. "We need to figure out the code!" He neared the key close to the vault and transformed it to the exact measurement. He inserted it as he tried to open it, and he realized, 'We needed a passcode too.'
Jack warned, "they are coming back!"
Deuce quickly turned the inserted vault to lock as he, Ace, Grim, and Jack bolted to the couch near them.
Azul entered the room and entered the passcode and key he had. He grabbed a few golden contracts and counted them like they were bills for the electricity.
Deuce looked closer, "isn't that Qing-san's contract? Why are there two other ones?"
Azul sighed sadly, "it's bad it's a year he signed up for, however, having him around for the whole year is worth it! Of course, I won't let my Precious know about this but I have a hundred clients to convince by the time his deal is over."
Deuce put a hand over Grim's to prevent him from yelling "I knew it!"
With that, he left. Ace, Deuce, Jack, and Grim scampered away to rant about it.
Jack growled, "I knew Azul was planning behind Panther's back!"
Grim yelled, "took the words outta my mouth! We gotta get Mu Qing away from those creeps!"
End of Flashback
Ace turned to Mu Qing, "and that's why we agreed to let you sleep over at Savanaclaw or Heartslabyul. We didn't know if they were going to do something dirty to you!"
Mu Qing nodded, "I knew, Xīn-xīng, not about that part where my deal would come to an end." Deuce gapped, "I'm surprised you're not mad, Qing-san. You must've figured it out before we did!" His eyes shone with glee and admiration.
Mu Qing sighed, "Azul, why are you so desperate to keep me at bay? Are you that adamant about obtaining my powers? If it makes you feel any better, just because I have them doesn't make me important."
Everyone blinked at him, "Siren, what do ya mean, not important?" Floyd asked.
Jade blinked in confusion, "yes, you exorcise demons, you're gorgeous, and you have powers beyond our imaginations."
Mu Qing scoffed, "not if you had them and failed every time you were supposed to safeguard whoever."
Ace sighed, "All right, Qing. You need to fess up to us."
Deuce grabbed his arm, "Ace, no!"
Ace jerked his arm from Deuce's grip, "No, we need to know what happened to you, Qing!"
Azul's eyes went up, "what do you mean, what happened to him?"
Floyd and Jade looked at each other.
Floyd sighed, "when he transformed into a merman using the potion you gave him..." Azul fantasized about a merman Mu Qing and grinned in a way that made Ace and Deuce want to punch him.
"Pay attention!" Jack growled loudly.
Azul rolled his eyes at them and proceeded to Floyd to continue.
Floyd's face took on a disturbed look, "he had several wounds all over his body and his back! There were so many of them that I lost track!"
Leona growled at Azul, "you made a potion that made him show his body?!" Then he fell silent as he saw the look on Azul's face.
His face had a maddening scowl and his eyes glinted with hate, "who hurt my Sea Pearl?!"
Jade glared, "that's what we were wondering and you and Jack-san look angered for some reason. Why? What do you know that we are ignorant?"
Ace, Deuce, and Grim looked at the two Savanaclaws who shuddered and gained looks of murder at the memory. "What do they mean by that?"
Mu Qing sighed, "you must've witnessed my Preceding Sins."
Azul, Jade, Floyd, Ace, Deuce, Grim, Leona, and Jack gapped at him, "sins?!"
Deuce stared at Mu Qing sadly, "Oh, Qing-san, no one should go through that!"
Mu Qing shook his head, "nonetheless, I did and I have to live with it for the rest of my life. Maybe coming to this world is my final banishment and to their pleasure, they're probably thrilled...I'm gone..."
Azul roared, "who gave them the right?! Sea Pearl, who are they?! I swear I will have Jade and Floyd, and I will make them suffer!"
Floyd made a knuckle sandwich, "just point them out to us, Siren! I am going to make them suffer."
Mu Qing sighed, "Floyd, I'm afraid to even with everyone, even with Lǜ Jiâo Jīnglíng, combined with their magic, none of you can match them in any way. And I guarantee to all of you they will retaliate and will instantly destroy you if you ever go against them."
Ace glared, "come on, don't doubt us! We'll do whatever we can to protect you from them!"
Everyone froze as he see Mu Qing folded in remembering the hateful, judgmental faces he's gotten ever since (and even before) he was accused of attacking Dianxia, "no, Ace! I swear they will be merciless!"
Leona growled, "so what?! We'll hit them back twice as much! What makes them so fucking powerful that they'll easily kill us?!"
The way Mu Qing looked despaired as he remembered those bastards.
Mu Qing blurted out, "because they are Gods!"
The room fell silent.
Ace gapped, "They're Gods?!"
Azul blinked, "why would they punish you by banishment?"
"Now the plot thickens." Jade frowned.
Jack insisted, "no, Panther you did nothing wrong!"
"What happened?" Deuce's soft voice was the breaking point for Mu Qing.
Mu Qing looked up, "I was arrested for attacking the Crowned Prince Xie Lian."
"No!" Ace, Deuce, and Grim refused to believe it.
Jack went to Mu Qing, "we're here to listen then..." he pulled him to his chest.
Mu Qing sighed, he knows he will be recalling that awful night.
"Here is what happened..."
_____ _____
Haha! You thought I was going to write Azul's Overblot episode huh? He will, but not yet. He will Overblot for another reason and it won't be just about Mu Qing or contracts.