Bodin drew a giant spider in seconds, which sprouted at Candy, knocking her down into a tree. Sehki shadow-whipped it back, glaring.

"Isn't she your friend?"

"I'm getting rid of a snake in the grass," drawing out a wolf who raced after the young lady. Her new ally slipped into the darkness to retrieve her as the quadrupedal construct slammed into the tree, hiding behind one not too far away.

"You okay," watching her head spin, dazed.

She froze up an ice pack over her back. "Owh. The far we are," spotting a pixie approaching them, which exploded on them. The ink around their body morphed into tre e shaped monsters that slammed Sehki into the ground.

"The heck are these?"

"Nymphs, they're older fae who practiced earth and water magic so well they merged with nature at times," ripping a pillar up to knock one away while breathing quick bursts of ice around them to get Sehki back.

His shadow quickly crushed them down, only to see flowers spraying pollen at them. His domino mask saved his face but hurled his shadow to knock them away.

"Great, we break his art, his ink stays around," backing up with her. A nymph charged at them, who launched a small flame and ice claw, colliding into water, slicing off the nymph construct's arm.

"Water, duh! Candy, shape your pillars to look like nymphs!"

"S-sure!" She turned dirt into nymph shapes, and the ink cobbled around their bodies, forming into them. The two ran towards Bodin, protected by the wolf and spider, who had them cornered.

"You can devour this candy quickly."

"On my mark, fire your ice in the air," he whispered to her. "Personally, I prefer my sweets in good condition."

"You weren't chosen by our queen and king! This is our opportunity for our families to have a better life! I won't let her waste it away!"

"How does cornering her in a forest help with that?"

"Out of the way," he yelled, ordering the animals to jump at him. Sehki smacked a fireball from his shadow airborne.

"Now!"

Candy fired two claws of ice at the flame sphere, exploding it into a downpour that spread and dissolved all of Bodin's creatures. He attempted to draw more, but Sehki weaved his power through the tree shade, pulling him toward her, who fired at his hand.

Unable to draw, Bodin panicked, now at their mercy. Sehki formed a claw to catch some of the remaining water and chucked it into his head. His pupils barely shifted back to normal, demanding they let him go, but Candy held all his limbs.

"Just tell me what's wrong, please!"

"Get off~wait, Candy?! Argh," clutching his hand, going back and forth. Sehki had his shadow restrain him, while searching his body for something wrong, eventually coming across bite marks on his body: some gone, one recent.

"This might be weird," taking a picture for her to see. "Kiss him there with your ice. If my hunch is right, then we can either burn or freeze whatever magic's controlling him. Kay with that?"

Her cheeks went red as he held Bodin down, nodding and spreading her mouth across his neck to freeze the marks. The artist's tense and heavy breaths continued as Sehki tried Fire and Water on the remaining to make an impact.

One of his pupils remained purple, while the other reverted to normal. "Candy, stranger? What was I doing? Did I fight you?"

"You're okay now," panting over him.

" I just feel like I need to rest a little, bit," his head leaned, cushioning on the dirt.

Alarmed, the two of them took him to the medical center. The prince asked for Bethany.

"She's been gone for a few weeks. Something along the lines of an emergency."

Somethings up, thanking the additional worker and letting them know about the mark.

Checking Candy's Quilter, the two found an image of Sven taking pictures with several people she was familiar with with Professor Gorgon but hadn't seen in a while, a clip from Rigal's podcast calling Ainsley the weakest of the four up until around the months ended, and a flyer for improving one's physical and mental vitality.

"I get it now, she's tricking them into signing waivers to experiment on."

"But Sven said he wanted the training to get stronger," finding his posts where his friends and him would humiliate and strip off people's clothing, uploading it to massive likes and reposts.

"Give a douche a draco, and he goes from a disease to a danger," happy some comments were calling this out, thinking about Twin Dust's warnings. "Calypsa hasn't been a part of this, has she?"

Candy shook her head, showing her posts, mostly campus events around the same time these would be taking place. The two left the Chiron Center to see her leading a bunch of people to the Malefic Marshed.

"A diversion," spotting Professor Delta and Luminite talking to students as Gorgon led others into the Pastors of Pluto. "Where's Ainsley now," searching to see Rigal's podcast was just ending with them in it. "They'd probably be back in about an hour. Still want to continue the plan?"

"If this can stop them from hurting more people," tightening her fists, "then we have to try."

The two slipped into the Digital Art Studio, as she navigated him through the different exhibitions, halls, and rooms with her powers. In those brief seconds he could appreciate people's personification of the constellations, storyboards of animation, and other artwork on display, agasted at a room where they found Gorgon ripping a student's work of art to shreds in front of them.

"You have time to create this, yet this is your limit," kicking them away.

"Please, I just want more energy and free time," on the ground, clearly drained.

"Freedom leads to questions, painting seeds of doubts and betrayal. I need Lord Ainsley's subjects to be loyal knights."

"I don't need to fight. Won't whatever they are make a great ruler already?"

"We've been too weak willed, and if our people aren't aligned with us, we'll take their skills for ourselves. Enjoy being fertilizer for our future," sprawling snakes across his body, quickly turning to stone and silencing his rapid screams.

Sehki and Candy only looked on, appalled.