Leona questions, "So. What horrific experiments does the acting director have in store for us?"

India lets out a snicker and a devilish grin, "Whee hee hee, I'm glad you asked! To start with... I'm gonna strap you all to chairs so you can't move, and examine you with a brunch of probes. That way I can score some sweet data on the correlation between stress and blot accumilation!"

"What?" Briar asks, shocked.

Even Riddle is stunned, "Wha... Do you really think you can get away with such outrageous behavior?!"

"Uh, no?" Idia bluntly points out, "I was doing a bit. Sheesh. It's like you've never heard a joke before."

"Rgh... Yeargh...!" Riddle growls in anger.

"That's not funny at all, Idia," Briar replies with a frown.

"In all fairness, I have to agree with Briar, it wasn't remotely funny," Azul says.

"Agreed," Vil responds, "You've taken our clothes and magic away. We're completely at your mercy."

Ortho turns to Idia, glaring at his brother, "Idia, come on! They're already upset we hauled them out here against their wills. Scaring them will only make it worse!"

Well, now. I see you possess the compassion your brother sorely lacks," Vil says.

"Besides, subjecting them to excessive levels of stress won't yield accurate data," Ortho says.

And Vil says after hearing the comment, "Never mind, I take it back. You're exactly like your brother."

"Anyway, we brought you all here because we'd like you to help us collect data," Ortho says, "You're all highly-valuable specimens since you overblotted but weren't consumed by Phantoms."

"What are Phantoms?" Vil asks.

"When you overblot, all the blot you can't hold spills out and takes on a giant form. You guys saw the faceless monsters that appeared behind you, right?" Idia explains.

"Faceless monsters...?" Briar questions and thinks.

Just then, Briar remembers the times when Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, and Vil overblot. Each of them has a shadow appearing behind them. They don't have a face, and the heads look like they're made of glass filled with ink blot.

Then Briar asks, "You mean those monsters that appeared when they overbot? Back at the school?"

"Yes. We call those Phantoms," Idia answers, "You weren't exactly yourselves, so I don't know how much you registered... But when you overblotted, you were able to use magic way beyond your normal reserves. Do you know why?"

Briar shakes her head in response.

Then Idia answers, "It was because of those monsters. Phantoms feed on blot that's filled with the practitioner's darkest emotions. It's their energy source."

Everyone becomes shocked to hear it. Briar is even more shocked, because she somehow been able to sense the negative emotions the others gave off before overblotting.

Idia continues, "Blot is toxic matter that's generated when you use magic. Normally, it's nothing but a debuff. But when you're in overblot mode, that debuff turns into a buff. That's why overblotted mages instinctively blow through their reserves and keep generating blot. The Phantoms suck it all up and get a bigger and bigger POW bonus. And once the mage exhausts the last of their reserves...their job as an incubator is finished."

"An...incubator?" Riddle questions.

"Yup," India replies, "It's like you're an energy drink. Once they've drunk the last drop, the empty can gets chucked in the trash. The caster is gone, leaving only a monster that's driven by hunger and negative emotions. They wander the land, refusing to let go and spewing hexes all over the place. Hence the name Phantom. At that point, either the Arcane Response Unit steps in and slays them... Or they're captured and brought here for research. Though I've heard of ultra-rare cases where they manage to blend in with direbeasts and other wildlife and hide in the mountains.

"I mean, I knew that if someone overblotted and spent all their magical reserves they would die..." Jamil says.

"But the monster living on after that? It's a bit hard to believe," Azul adds.

Idia continues, "Well, there aren't too many cases that escalate to the point of creating Phantoms. The thing about overblotting is... You have to be a capable mage with a pretty big magic pool for it to happen at all. So it's about as rare as rolling four SSRs on a single 10-pull in a gacha game with stingy draw rates. I mean, most competent mages tend to be careful and show a bit of self-control. Yet there was a whole slew of overblots in the past few months, and all at the same school. It's like, why does our school keep churning out so many SSR Epic Troublemaker cards, amirite?" and lets out a snicker, "Whee hee hee."

"...You have a gift for rubbing people the wrong way," Leona replies.

"Okay, so we were brought in for research. Were you the one who issued that order, Idia?" Azul questions.

"Uhh..." India responds.

But Ortho interrupts, "Styx personnel are prohibited from disclosing such information to outside parties. Let's just say that in addition to the agents Styx deploys worldwide... we have a global network of informants."

Leona remains silent after hearing it.

"As we've just established..." Ortho continues, "The Styx Institute of Magic Science has conducted much research on blot over the years. One of our primary focuses is studying ways to safely and effectively utilize blot."