Alice nodded to Evelyn. "Everyone! Focus your power on me!" She shouted as she loaded the remaining enchanted bolts into her crossbow and began to chant the words of exorcism.

"You're on the right track with those blessed bolts, but your powers won't be able to function that way" called out Miss Rachel from behind the energy field. "Tsubaki and Evelyn are the most experienced in exorcism," she continued "You two should concentrate your efforts on exorcising the dragon from the ballroom, while the others keep it subdued, or at least distracted while you two prepare yourselves."

Evelyn flew to Tsubaki's side as the dragon began to grumble deeply within itself. Smog surrounding the beast, no one could see where exactly it was, for the neon green electrical current had ceased to course around the creature. Still, Lotus and Dot fused as one had senses keen enough to attack the dragon's legs as it attempted to rise once again. It turned to face the fusion, its mouth glowing violet as it prepared to loose a powerful blast of energy.

"How many spell tags do you have on you?" asked Evelyn as she landed lightly on the ground beside the girl. "Perhaps if we can time our incantations at the same moment, we'll have enough power to exorcise it from this room."

Daniel stopped in his tracks as Lotus rocketed off. He took a step back and shouted, "Catch this!" As he threw his sword to Lotus. He noticed the words of exorcism being chanted and began to chant as well, hoping to aid the three girls in the exorcism.

Phora appeared with tears still in her eyes, and noticed Lotus being nearly incinerated by the dragons energy projectile. Deciding for once to abandon her heriditary magic, she fired a wave of pure arcane energy to counter the enemy's. "You owe me big time!" She roared as she lashed out with her claws.

It was a little shameful, but after Tsubaki's bark, her bite was somewhat lacking. More-or-less she had stayed on the sidelines after a her first sigil catching her breath, looking to maybe protect someone with a arx if they needed it.

When Miss Rachel called her name out she blushed and jumped a little, growing even redder as she was noted as being "experienced". She didn't have the heart to correct her, she just hoped her mom chewed out the guy that mistranslated that line in her transcript. Evelyn's sudden presence didn't help, as Tsubaki began to nervously riffle through her satchel. "Two- er.. three-ish? I'm sorry! But-" she caught Evelyn's judgmental glare for a moment which caused her pause. "But Adi carried some around before his... vacation? He might still have some to bolster our chances. I could try that and signal you when ready, or we can try now. I'll trust your call over my own any day."

---

[Generic Derrek snark off camera or something]

Logan’s expression softened as the missing club members suddenly returned. With the final window shattered, he allowed his rifle to disperse as he sidled to the back line and took a knee. He gazed sullenly at the floor while he waited, not wanting to get in anybody’s way.

"Oh, hey Evelyn...Wow...Nice..." Id was sleep talking as usual. She rolled on her side into a ball and began sucking her thumb.

Lotus dashed into the smog that surrounded the dragon. Lotus moved silently through smog. Lotus's ears twitched as she caught Daniel's voice.
"Catch this!" Daniel's short sword came clattering to the ground.
Lotus dashed over to it and picked it up. Lotus turned the sword so the blade was facing downward. She noticed how it looked like a cross. She began to think of movies and pictures of people using the upside down sword to be a grave marker because it looked like a cross.
I have an idea...But I have to be fast. She took in a deep breath.
This is the first time I've done it. Lotus dashed towards the demon jumping out of the smog. She had both hands around the hilt of the downward facing short sword.
"PATRIS ET FILII, ET SPIRITUS SANCTI. REVERTERE AD ABYSSUM!" Lotus repeated what she'd heard Daniel chant earlier with Evelyn's cross. She wanted this to end. First Carter, then her roommate, now her friends. Who knew what others this beast had hurt, but now Lotus was going to end it. One way or another.

His hand was primed for another, the dragon was drenched but then came Lotus. He had to lower his hand and stifle the bolt he had readied to loose as he now would probably electrocute Lotus as well, not to mention that he couldn't see the dragon all that well. Joy. "I... better find some other use for myself." He stated as he stepped back from the fray, his form dissapearing from sight and settling near the wounded. Being honest with himself, he didn't think there was a chance they could handle this beast and he wasn't sure how he could help but he didn't really have a choice. The chanting for a hopeful exorcism began ahead of him, but he was immediately distracted by Lotus yelling the chant. He stepped forward, eager to see the result.

Evelyn's eyes widened as she realized what Lotus was about to do. The tiger-girl was going to take on the demon dragon alone. It was reckless, very reckless; reminding her of something that Carter would have done. Her heart began to race as she relived the moment of Carter being dragged through the gates of hell. It was a horrifying moment she knew that would haunt her for the rest of her life. She couldn't stand to have another incident befall anyone else on their team. She looked hesitantly back at Tsubaki, knowing that if she were more confident she could count on the girl to support her, but she needed to act quickly. Evelyn couldn't wait for her to muster up the courage to plunge into the thick smog that surrounded the dragon.

Without another word, Evelyn launched herself into the smog, her wisps spiralling about her and illuminating her path through the smoke as she flew through the air. She could hear Alice murmuring the incantation to exorcise the demon, and had also noted that Li had joined her as well. Following suit, Evelyn too began to chant the incantation to exorcise the demon, her eyes glowing brilliantly as she approached her target. She arrived just in time to see Lotus leap into the air with a crusader's sword raised over her head.

Lotus thrust the sword into the dragon's head while yelling "PATRIS ET FILII, ET SPIRITUS SANCTI. REVERTERE AD ABYSSUM!"

There was a loud cracking sound that could be heard all around them as if the entire building were going to fall down on them. The eerie music emanating from the dragon came to a sharp end, as it groaned like a wounded animal. Swooping down, Evelyn grunted from exertion as she lifted Lotus from the head of the dragon just as it began to flail about. The wooden floorboards beneath the dragon opened up revealing a great dark abyss with a distant red light emanating from its bottom. Scrabbling at the edges of the floorboards with its claws, it struggled to stay above ground, though a great gust of wind sucked it into the depths and the floor immediately resealed itself.

A great sigh seemed to pass through the halls of the building, as if the building itself was relieved that the malevolent spirit had left its confines. It looked as if time was moving backwards as the children watched the shattered glass of the great bay windows rise up and reform themselves into solid panes of glass once again. White sparkles began to fall from the ceiling, and music began to play. In the blink of an eye, the entire ballroom was filled with their schoolmates dancing the night away as if nothing had happened.

Phora waved her arms about. "Hahaha, yes! Now it's time to watch them eat my magic dust!" She flew towards the refreshment table as Alice watched while shaking her head. She was still catching her breath from the shock. Her weapon dissipated and she walked up to Lloyd.

"Next time, I'll expect you to make yourself far more useful, agreed?" She said coldly.

Daniel stopped chanting and helped Evelyn set Lotus on her feet. "You're so brave," He said. "How many guys can say their date stabbed a demonic dragon in the face and cast it into hell?"

Damian blinked a few times, looking around a bit anxiously before seeing everything back to normal. "Wow." Somehow that psychotic catgirl and the others did it. He exhaled in relief, smirking before his gaze turned to the face in front of him at the start. s***, he couldn't think of anyone who had suffered more than her perhaps. His face turned to one of concern as he gazed into Fiona's eyes. "Hey... You alright?" He knew that was a dumb question but he hoped for the best. Perhaps the damage wasn't so bad.

Lotus fell over from her spot in the ballroom. She had done it. She couldn't believe it. Her paws covered her face slowly changing back as the two entities separated. Lotus had finally stopped laughing and remained laying back down on the floor. She sat up and looked at Daniel as he asked his question.

"You're so brave," He said. "How many guys can say their date stabbed a demonic dragon in the face and cast it into hell?"
"I'm not sure. Knowing about Omnivident anything is possible." Lotus chuckled.


Id woke up to music. She looked around the ballroom her eyes stopped at the snack table before her.
"Oh Yeah...I was about to spice things up." Id reached into her vest pocket and retrieved her lighter. She glanced around the room her eyes catching those of her classmates and teachers. They were tired from fighting the demons. She paused before sighing.
"Damn it Ego. Why'd you have to come with a conscience?" Id put her lighter back into her pocket before helping herself to some cake that was on the table.

Logan allowed himself to look up as the ballroom returned to its natural state. Once again, the chamber was filled with people dancing, talking, eating, and generally having a good time. He smiled sadly, comforted by the fact that at least some of the club members were capable of protecting them. As the moment passed, though, he returned to sulking. The boy lost himself in thought for several moments, until realization suddenly dawned on him.

Logan shot upright and immediately bolted for the banquet tables. Weaving through the crowd with seemingly practiced expertise, he made his way to the large punch bowl in a matter of seconds. A weak excuse for his absence was better than none at all. It had been a good fifteen or twenty minutes since he and the others had disappeared from the ballroom. Fortunately, nobody had seemed to notice, but that was still more time than he could afford to lose. The Scot said a silent prayer as he poured two cups of punch, then began to skirt the tray-laden tables in search of his date. He shuffled along as quickly as he could manage without spilling the drinks.

Fortunately, Bernice hadn’t moved very far since Logan was whisked away.

Oh Lord, has she been standing there the whole time? This isn’t good. He thought nervously as he approached. His fault or not, he had just committed an enormous faux pas. If he had to beg for forgiveness, so be it. He simply hoped to God that he would be able to patch things up. With the intent of putting his best foot forward, Logan decided to greet Bernice with the smoothest line he could muster.

“Oh my God, I’m so, so sorry. I come bearing gifts of repentance.” Logan knelt and lifted one of the cups he had brought in a gesture of offering. Then, thinking better, or perhaps worse, he raised the other cup.
“Do you want two? Because I have that many. The math checks out.”

Maximilian's eyes watched intently as his comrades slew the dragon and the world seemingly rebuilt itself about him, but as soon as the action had come to an end his typical composure returned. His eyes quickly returned to disinterested gaze and his posture slid from attention to relaxed.

"Good grief..." He exhaled deeply as he looked about the room.


In truth Maximilian was a bit relieved to see that everyone- especially Evelyn, was alright, but at the moment he felt quite a bit out of place.

Maximilian dug his hands deep into his pockets and immediately headed for the front door of the hall, the sooner he could leave the happier he'd be.

For the second time in the day Derrek was unexpectedly teleported someplace leaning back in a chair. The second time happened exactly like the first as he fell backwards and smashed into the ground. The sound caught Tsubaki's attention, who was at the same table, as it was not quite the answer she was expecting from Evelyn.

"You okay?"

Derrek blinked a few times and rubbed his head before answering "Genki. Kind of disappointed that the school wasn't reclaimed by nature though. And that my chair would betray me. I though we were bros, chair?"

Tsubaki nodded along. Honestly, there was no active hints as to whether Derrek was actually fine or not with that kind of dialogue, so she just trusted his opinion on the matter, and let him lay there. After she was done being distracted by him, her tiredness started to drift back to her and she excused herself and got up to leave.

"Hey, since you're up, mind giving a guy a hand?"

Her first though was to reach for him and help him up, but she stopped and thought for a second. "You know, you really saved our butts out there, and in my book that's enough to be friends. But really friendship should start on an equal ground, so I can't help you up, but I can do something else for you."

Derrek c*** his head in surprise at this response that wasn't a yes, from this girl that was supposed to default to yes. He found himself smirking though as she pulled of one of his shoes an gently tossed it into the crowd. He'd let her have this, and waited until after she was out of sight before making his shoe come hopping back to him.

OOC: Second last major post before the end.


Evelyn was much too dazed to realize that they had suddenly returned to the ballroom. The amount of pocket dimensions that she had stumbled into as of late was becoming a bit confusing for the girl. Still, she was thankful that they had survived their ordeal in one piece, more or less. She could not fathom the state of the psyche of those who had been possessed earlier, and there were bound to be consequences related to such events. Three more students gifted with Omnividence have been possessed now, thought brought their numbers up to five within the past four months. It was alarming, though they were fortunate to have banished the demon in every situation. Her only fear was that there would come a time when they would not be able to exorcise a demon; what would they do then?

Gradually, Evelyn realized that they had truly returned to reality. Her cream gown seemingly untouched by the ordeals they had experienced mere moments ago. It was a bit unsettling, though she understood that she was probably acting strange despite the joyous merriment of the Winter Ball all around her. She spied Maximilian making his way towards the exit and immediately followed after him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Please don't go" she said, briefly revealing her present fragility before her eyes flashed with awareness of how she had just presented herself, "I mean – You should stay. I need a friend I can count on right now."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bernice chuckled and looked down at the punch glass that she had been offered with a shy smirk.

"It's alright," she said with a smile while cupping it in both of her hands "Whoever was in charge of the confetti must have let too much go at once and we got lost in the blizzard." She looked up at Logan with soft doe-like eyes, and then hastily averted his gaze.

"Thank you for inviting me to the ball...Coming to Arclight Academy, I had no idea what to expect, but I'm glad that I met you..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fiona seemed momentarily shaken, having suddenly returned from the altered reality of the ballroom. Even though she felt a bit better physically, she remembered everything. Her mind was a torrent of thoughts and feelings, though she did not know how to express herself. Is this what the supernatural defense unit had been fighting all this time?

She remembered turning her back on the group, rejecting Miss Rachel's offer and instead being trained by Ms. Shields to subdue her abilities. It was a quiet life, a very simple life, and she began to distance herself from the others who had joined Miss Rachel's team. Still, despite seeking a "normal" lifestyle, she too had been dragged into that pocket dimension. Worse still, she had been possessed. It was a moment that she would never forget. Trapped in a swirling mass of darkness, with all your fears, and insecurities assaulting you unceasingly...

She snapped to attention as Damian asked how she was doing. Fiona put on a brave face and smiled, though it was a hollow expression.

"Yeah, I'm good" she said with a smile "Let's dance!"