In the main room, they saw several older grade teachers dragging two chairs into the center of the arena. Evans and Cole were tied to them.

"You'll all be outcasts once they learn of this!" Evans shouted. "I knew you had a lot of the teachers around your thumb, but to this level...Cole is the only other Ophiuchus."

Lloyd stepped out from where it seemed the Aspected were typically brought in. "Yes but he failed me. He became uncontrollable in his own jealousy of the Celestic boy. I gave him power and he didn't channel it for the greater good of Ophiuchus. No, instead he saw the new one as a threat and proceeded to stray from our goals."

The other teachers moved, to face Cole and Evans, beside Lloyd.

Vincent backed away into the hallway. "What do we do? They outnumber us, and out power us? They got Evans really quick," Vincent explained.

"He probably thought they would have a trap waiting for him at the entrance we came through, so he went through the arena entrance," Theresa replied.

Will let out a sigh. "Well we can't exactly go in weapons held high, because weapons are his tools, aren't they?"

Theresa stared blankly at Will. "What are you talking about?"

Vincent quickly caught her up on everything that was relevant. He didn't want to go into all the details so he stuck to the information about Lloyd. Theresa nodded through the story.

"That makes more sense, okay. So no weapons. But what do we do to defend or fight?"

Vincent wasn't sure how to answer that. His powers felt natural without needing a medium like a weapon. "I suppose you do what I do. Just feel your powers through a different channel that doesn't require thought of weapons."

Will and Theresa frowned. "That sounds impossible," Will sighed.

"You have to trust me. I don't know what would happen if we used our weapons against their creator."

The other two nodded and both agreed to try.

"Thanks. It'll help us in the long run, I'm positive," Vincent explained.

"Well I suppose it's now or never," Will replied.

Vincent began to walk around the corner. Will and Theresa followed right behind him. Before they got more than a few steps out from the hallway, they watched as Lloyd began grow and morph into a massive black cloud.

"Your powers won't intimidate me, Lloyd!" Evans shouted.

Vincent wondered what he meant. He had no idea that Ophiuchus powers could do something like this. Cole looked just as shocked and surprised as Will and Theresa. Vincent was sure he looked the same, but he was trying to keep his composure. He needed to be brave.

"You're foolish if you believe that! My powers are as unending as the Aspected that grant me them!" Lloyd replied. His voice seemed distorted and muffled. It escaped from multiple parts of the massive shapeless form that he had become.

Vincent straightened up. He felt there was no use to take their time. He had to do something now, or Evans and Cole were in danger. "Lloyd!" he yelled.

The other two following Vincent stood up straight. The three watched as a face-like shape moved to the back of the cloud that made up Lloyd.

"Celestic's boy has made his prodigal appearance. You're too late to save your teacher. He's caused me too many problems. You all have. I've come too far to have you and your friends mess it up for me."

"We've done nothing against you!" Will shouted.

"Ah but you have. You have been looking for a way to stop the Aspected in their current forms. And then this boy appears and has the power to do so!"

Vincent frowned. "You are using the Aspected and those innocent people to harvest power from!"

Lloyd's form let out a booming yell. "Aspected are energies meant to be used by the Signed. I just happened to be the one to step up and do it."

Lloyd's comment gave Vincent an idea. He looked to his wrist where the calendar was. He knew he could contact nearby Hunters and Heads. Even if the Heads were on Lloyd's side politically, he was sure that attacking students and a teacher could be the fuel they needed to stand up together against him. He quickly pressed his hand to his wrist, hoping for the best.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Before he could do anything else, Lloyd's form shimmered and caused darkness to shoot out in sharp spear-like shards. Vincent threw himself out of the way. The shards pelted into the ground and remained stuck.

The floor of the gym-like classroom was now littered in deadly shards. Every few feet one of the spikes jetted out. Vincent was glad that the arena was spared the assault. He was sure the other teachers wouldn't have escaped.

Vincent looked over to see if Theresa and Will were okay. Theresa had dodged the shards with no problem, but it seemed as if Will was caught by one barely.

"I resisted using my weapon and somehow was able to push the shard to only catch me a bit," Will commented. Vincent smiled. They were mostly alright. Their previous wounds were still healing, but they were still fit to fight.

"Lucky moves, weak ones," Lloyd replied.

Vincent waited for Lloyd to send another volley of shards, but nothing came. Instead Lloyd seemed to radiate energy towards them, causing the building to continue to shake and rumble with each pulse. Bits of the ceiling crumbled down over the training section. The target dummies swayed and began to fall over.

"Your power isn't going to stop us from saving them," Vincent said as he stood up and braced himself against the waves of energy.

Lloyd chuckled. "I'm so powerful than you believed the mere energy that comes from me is what I planned to stop you with."

Shadows stretched out of the massive cloud. The loomed towards the three, splitting into three sections going towards them individually. Once the shadows being casted were a few feet away from the three, Aspected forms began to rise from them.

A shadow crab rose in front of Will. A massive set of scales began to tower over Theresa. Vincent wasn't sure if Libra truly had any Aspected, but Lloyd seemed to control the scales that were cloaked in shadows.

Before Vincent, a familiar snake rose up. The snake wasn't as large as the one that Cole had controlled in the forest, but instead seemed longer. The black scaled snake gazed around the room before it's red eyes settled on Vincent.

"Another snake? I see you don't understand my Zodiac," Vincent taunted. The snake lunged forward. Vincent held his celestial energy up and blocked the oncoming beast. The momentum pushed Vincent back and caused him to push passed shards. A few caught him around his shoulders.

Theresa easily danced around the swinging scales as they crashed into the ground. Her expression told Vincent that she could sense where the attacks were going to go. He wondered if the aether element that went with her Sign was a part of that.

Will was battling against the Aspected crab as he fought anything else; fiercely. He used his fists to jab and punch the dark shelled creature. He carefully moved around the pincers to avoid any more damage. His attacks seemed to be hurting the Aspected, but not as much as his weapon would have.

Vincent attempted to stop the snake how he has stopped all the other Aspected so far. The stardust surrounded the snake as it began to straighten up once more.

"You cannot stop my Aspected!" Lloyd shouted.

Vincent knew that these shades were not real Aspected, but he had to try. He began to focus all his might on separating the Aspected from the shell that was Lloyd's power. Lloyd simply laughed at his attempt. It didn't feel the same. There was no give to the Aspected. Instead, the snake bared it's fangs and lunged through the thick flurry of stardust. Vincent reached up to stop the snake with more celestial energy but it was already upon him. He grabbed hold of the snakes mouth as it tried to clamp down on him.

"It's time you die, Vincent. With you gone, Celestic will be erased from existence and Ophiuchus will remain the best thing to have happened to the Signed."

Vincent held the snakes mouth. It took his entire being to keep it from sinking it's fangs into him, or even worse, eating him. Theresa and Will were too busy to help him. The crab and scales were destroying the surrounding area.

Vincent hoped Evans couldn't see him. He didn't want to disappoint the person who discovered who he truly was.

The building's main entrance burst open. All 11 other Heads made their way into the gym and arena area. With no hesitation, Bran, the Taurus Head, ran to the snake and grabbed it. Celestial energy in the form of earth burst around the snake and caused it to disperse. Alex, the Cancer Head moved a water-like wave from her fingertips to disperse the scales and crab.

"What is the meaning of this, Lloyd?!" Bran demanded. "This is not the research we've been allowing! Harming and killing students and faculty is not the way to progress Signed!"

"You're small minded Bran. I've ascended the means of Signed and Aspected. I could rid all of you!" Lloyd screeched.

Bran turned towards Vincent. "You must stop him. You're the only Signed with the power the separate such beings and power. We can hold back the Aspected shades."

Vincent blinked a few times. He looked over to Will and Theresa. They both nodded and readied themselves beside the Heads. Vincent stood up and held his celestial orb at the ready.

"You all will die!" Lloyd yelled. Dozens of dark Aspected creatures began to rise from the ground. Shards slowly began to shoot out of the cloud.

Bursting into a sprint, Vincent moved between the Heads and his friends that occupied the Aspected. Biggers shards began to land in his path, crashing into the gym floor. Vincent dodged them and jumped into the arena that Lloyd hovered over.

Lloyd's voice screeched louder and harder than before. The arena floor began to crack and bigger pieces of the ceiling fell.

"You can do it Vincent!" Evans cheered. The other teachers near Evans and Cole had seemingly already left.

Vincent looked up to the endless void that Lloyd created. Images of snakes and darkness were all that he could see. There was no more Lloyd Argo. Vincent sent his stardust into the cloud. He could feel the battle it waged with every fiber of his being. It was like being bombarded by venomous bites and blasts of darkness.

Darkness began to circle around Vincent's vision. He felt as if he was about to faint. His wounds began to sear with pain.

"Just a little more, Vincent!" Evans shouted as he struggled to get free. His voice sounded much further away than he was from Vincent.

"Celestic...is here to stay!" Vincent grunted. With a final push of energy, the cloud released a final scream as it burst into stardust.