Noble Bell College in Fleur City is to host an arcane academy social. Crowley selects participants through a random drawing and, while Malleus is not selected, he is specifically invited by the host school, which pleases him. He wonders what he should prepare as a thank-you gift.
At Noble Bell College the students are welcomed by student council president Rollo Flamme, who takes them to see the school’s “incredibly unique and valuable magical artifact”: the bell of salvation (EN: bell of solace).
Rollo explains, “not only is the bell infused with magic, but so is its sound.The ringing of the bells carries magic through the city, safeguarding our people. Its sound suffuses the city with magic and spurs magical plants to grow rapidly.”
The students of Noble Bell College present the NRC students with special outfits for joining in a local festival and the students separate into three groups to explore the city, tasting croissants, financiers, macarons, grapes, grape juice, and baguette sandwiches.
After the festival all students from all schools are assembled in a hall and the bell of salvation begins to ring, to everyone’s confusion.
Flowers that look similar to flames begin to appear in the hall. A Royal Sword Academy student touches one and then collapses. Malleus observes, “The students near those flowers are fainting, one right after another.”
Malleus attracts a wealth of the flowers and begins losing strength, but he is saved by Silver and Sebek, who pull the flowers off of him.
The flowers absorb Sebek’s magic when he attacks and Trein orders the students to put away their magical pens.
Chenya and Neige fall to the flowers while trying to save the students of NRC and Trein realizes that they are firelotuses: plants believed to have been extinct that thrive on all manner of magical energy. Malleus explains that magic “serves as nourishment to help them bloom. And once they absorb the last of the mage’s energy…the mage loses their magic permanently.”
Rollo appears and reveals himself as the mastermind behind the chaos, with the aim of stripping every mage in Twisted Wonderland of their magic.
Rollo drops the NRC students through the floor and they are set upon by flowers in the city’s underground waterways. As they cannot use magic to destroy them the student pull them up by hand, but the town is already under attack.
Idia and Azul guess that Malleus was likely Rollo’s main target: he was not invited to a party, but baited into a trap. This realization enrages Malleus, who unleashes his “full magical might,” frying all firelotuses in the immediate area.
Trein observes, “The firelotuses absorb all kinds of magic. In this case, they eagerly devoured all the power Draconia radiated and as a result, they became overnourished and decayed naturally.”
Having lost most of his power in the initial attack in the hall Malleus is no longer strong enough to eliminate all the firelotuses in the city.
Realizing that they do not have enough time to weed all the flowers by hand, the students decide to use the bell of salvation to destroy the flowers in the same way Malleus has done.
The remaining students find a hidden diary in the student council room that is revealed to belong to Rollo, which they read.
In the bell tower Silver and Sebek volunteer to draw flowers away, leaving Malleus, Azul and Idia to confront Rollo alone.
Rollo lectures them on the evil of magic, calling them monsters, and Idia reveals what they learned from reading his diary: Rollo had a younger brother with powerful magic that manifested at a young age and one day he lost control of it, dying before Rollo’s eyes.
Idia suggests that Rollo is blaming himself for his brother’s death but Rollo insists that the blame lies with the other mages who were there that day and had the power to help, but did not do so: “The one time we needed them, and they stood by while my brother suffered, doing NOTHING!”
Rollo fights the three students and Azul takes the brunt of his attack, revealing that he has borrowed Deuce’s unique magic, enabling him to hit Rollo back with the same damage that had been inflicted on him thus far.
Rollo stands again to fight and Malleus declares, “I am now truly frightened by him!”
Rollo then invokes his own unique magic, Dark Fire (hidden meaning: smoldering desire) but loses to Malleus. After encouraging Malleus to ring the bell of salvation Rollo then attacks him again, but Malleus is impervious to Rollo’s flames.
The bell of salvation is rung and the firelotuses throughout the city begin to wilt. Rollo says the students are free to do with him as they see fit, but when students from Noble Bell College approach them Malleus claims that the flowers were a mystery, encouraging the story that Rollo worked together with the NRC group to save the city.
Malleus explains, “I’ve come up with a fitting punishment for you. Will you confess to your misdeeds or continue to feign innocence? The final decision is yours to make. You’ll be able to deceive others, of course, and even yourself. How you live with your deeds is up to you. You can come clean or hold your tongue. Either way, you’ll regret it. No matter which choice you make, you will spend the rest of your days racked with the fires of remorse.There’s no greater punishment I could inflict upon you, Flamme. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Azul and Malleus then insist that Rollo not cancel the main event of the social, to be held that night: the ball.
At the ball itself Neige and Chenya are revealed to have made a full recovery, and they tell the NRC students that Rollo insisted on cleaning up the main hall on his own.
After Rollo’s opening speech the NRC students reveal their gift for Noble Bell College: a live performance featuring one of Fleur City’s traditional songs. Listening to the lyrics, Rollo reflects on his younger brother’s love for magic.
Malleus leaves Silver and Sebek behind to approach Rollo alone, asking him to dance.
As they dance together Rollo says that he is “imagining a scenario where (Malleus’) smug expression turns to one of despair,” while Malleus responds, “I met a fascinating person here as well—one who made me feel fear for a single, fleeting moment. I’m grateful to you for providing me with such wonderful memories.”
Rollo says that he knows a villain like Malleus will one day bring about a great disaster and “One of these days, no matter how many years it takes, I’ll wipe away that smirk of yours, and your magic with it.”
Malleus responds, “Well, as long as you invite me, I’ll always accept.”
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 