Book 4 - Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 31; All Caught on Stream

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter 31; All Caught on Stream".

Jade steps out and states "And there we have it." while putting a hand over his chest.

Jamil turns on-guard as he turns to face him.

Grim then pops out as well and shouts "So, you finally show your true colors! I bet you thought you were real slick, pullin' the wool over our eyes!"

Jamil is shocked and nervously asks them "How… How much of that did you hear?!"

Jade crosses his arms while politely smiling a smile that didn't reach his eyes before he answers "All of it, from start to finish. Your entire conversation from the moment you left the lounge…" Jade smirks as he pauses for a second before continuing "...has been live-streamed to the world from Azul's smartphone." Jamil exclaims "WHAT?!"

Jade then further explains to a very panicked Jamil "Azul's Magicam livestream presently has five thousand active viewers. It's trending online under the topic: 'A Certain Magicians' School's Dirty Little Secret.' It's your moment in the sun, Vice Housewarden. Naturally, all the dorm students are gathered in the lounge, watching you." Jade then menacingly smiles.

A whole bunch of Scarabia students then show up running. Student A asks "Vice Housewarden Jamil, is everything you just said true?" Student B then exclaims "Have you really been deceiving us this whole time?!"

Grim then crosses his arms and loudly insults Jamil "Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing! You're a fraud, through and through!"

Jamil tries to change the situation to his favor and stutters out "Y-you… You've got it all wrong. I…!"

Jade then crosses his arms again with a frown as he states "Don't even try to talk your way out of this one. The mind control magic you used on Azul is hard evidence. Jamil…"

Jade pauses before fully exposing everything "It's been you all along! You've been using your signature spell on Kalim and making him throw Scarabia into chaos!"

Jamil lets out a loud annoyed breath or noise of being pushed to the edge. He then says "I was trying to avoid escalating matters, but you leave me no choice."

He then gives Azul his first real command "Azul, I command you! Subdue and restrain them all." Azul seems to pause for a second before saying "...Yes, Master." Jade takes a single step back and says "Azul, no. You don't want to do this. Snap out of it."

Jamil is then smug again as he crosses his arms and shouts at Jade "Pleading with him won't help!" Azul states in return "Yes. I am Jamil's loyal minion…"

…

Only to pause and shake his head, his pupils then turn back to normal and he tells Jamil "Or at least, you wish I was."

This throws Jamil for a total loop and he shouts "WHAT?!"

Azul pushes up his glasses as he tells Jamil "Jamil, you said the funniest thing to me earlier. Allow me to return the favor."

It's now Azul's turn to be smug as he tells Jamil "You thought I was an arrogant magician, but you were sorely mistaken. An embarrassing misjudgment for the vice housewarden of Scarabia – the dorm that embodies the spirit of mindfulness."

Jamil is thoroughly confused and shocked as he shouts "What's going on?! I know you made eye contact! I had you under control!"

Azul waves his hand as he answers "Please. I'm a competent magician. I always prepare for all eventualities before I act. Isn't that right, Floyd?"

Floyd is then seen there as well. Floyd then starts to say something to Jamil, but his voice is now much much deeper "I think you let your guard down a little too soon there, Sea Snake."

Everyone, well everyone except for the Octavinelle trio, is very shocked about Floyd's voice change. Grim even shouts "MRAH! What's with your voice?!" Floyd cheerily explains "I signed a contract with Azul and got this rad deep voice for it~ Whaddaya think?~ Do I sound all cool and frizzled now?~ In return, I offered Azul my signature spell, Bind the Heart."

Azul crosses his arms as he further explains "And if you don't know what that spell does, your face is going to crack when you hear this: It jams an opponent's magic and diverts it elsewhere."

Yuu is then also seen to be there, just not saying much, she says her thoughts "That's the magic he was using in the Coral Sea! The one that kept our magic from hitting! So you used Bind the Heart to divert the mind control magic!" Azul nods as he tells her "Correct, brilliant deduction, Yuu."

Azul further explains what has happened and what he was doing "After swiping it from Floyd – ah, correction. After taking it as collateral, I used it to evade Jamil's mind control spell. Then I pretended to be his thrall and got Jamil to spill his true intentions as he gloated."

Grim shakes his head as he says "I gotta hand it to ya, Azul. You're real dastardly!" Azul pushes his glasses up and frowns as he tells Grim "I prefer to be called an intellectual."

But Azul then gets right back into his explanations "At any rate, I quickly deduced that Jamil was the only person Kalim would care about enough to fight back against Jade's signature spell. And that was the underpinning of my whole plan."

Kalim is then heard stuttering "Ja…mil?" Before slowly walking into view, he then asks "What is this? What's going on?" Jamil looks panicked as he stutters "K-Kalim…"

Kalim tries to deny the truth despite it all being in front of him, asking "Y-you were controlling me? That can't be true, right? I've been having occasional blackouts lately where hours have passed the next time I come to… But those were just dizzy spells or me nodding off, right? I tend to doze off anywhere as it is. You've always gotten on my case for it." Kalim then starts to beg, as if what he was doing before wasn't a lesser form of it "So please, say it isn't so! Tell me I was just nodding off!"

Jamil stays silent though.

Kalim continues to deny the situation and truth, begging, pleading, desperately "Mind-controlling me, plotting to expel me… You would never do any of that! Jamil, you're… the last person that would ever betray me, right?! After all, we're best friends, right?!" If you look closely Kalim even has tears in the corner of his eyes.

Jamil then starts to laugh, at first it was just a chuckle but it then turns to actual laughter before insane laughter.

Kalim is set off and takes a step back out of nervousness and asks "H-hey… What's wrong?" Jamil answers "Oh, I'll tell you Kalim. I'll tell you EXACTLY what's wrong!" Kalim asks "Huh?"

Jamil then goes on a bit of a rant of insanity "You've been the same for as long as I can remember. Oblivious, gullible, foolish… AND I HATED IT! You trot along merrily in ignorant bliss, utterly blind to my suffering! Every time I see you smile, it makes my skin crawl! I'm sick of it! There's no point in maintaining my façade now. You have no idea how many days I've spent wishing that you would just go away! But that ends today!"

Kalim looked heart-broken and hurt as Jamil went on.

Jamil then finishes off his rant by shouting "Myself, my family… I don't care about ANY of it anymore!"

Kalim shouts "W-wait! Jamil!"

Jamil then uses his unique magic/signature spell on a much much larger scale "The one you behold is your master… When I ask you a question, you will answer! When I give you a command, you will assent! SNAKE WHISPER!"

All of the Scarabia students then start to whine in pain and clutch their heads. One complains "Urgh… My head…"

The Octavinelle trio, the Ramshackle duo, and Kalim are the only ones seeming not being put under his spell and all show extreme shock to what he's doing.

Azul shouts "Wha– Did he just mind-control the whole dorm at once?!"

Jamil seems to struggle slightly still by using his signature spell/unique magic on such a large scale but still gives them all a command "All of you, eject Kalim and the Octavinelle guests from the premises!"

All of the students answer in unison "Yes, Master."

Kalim shouts "Jamil?!" and tries to run towards him but is grabbed and pulled back by the others before he can.

They then start to fight the students.

The screen then fades to black as "To be continued" plays before fully turning off.