Harry had a lot of spirited women together, many of them who didn't get along with each other. That could pose a bit of a problem, but that being said, they were united under one common goal. The destruction of Belasco's empire and the simple taking down of the man himself.

Harry sighed, he could most certainly work with this. He saw Kara, Ananym, Faora, and Illyana standing around. Clea was in the middle practically, trying to be the peace maker. That was a role that Harry wouldn't envy his worst enemy, never mind someone that he actually got along with.

"Whatever issues you all have, I'll work them out later," Harry said and there was no question how he planned to work it out. If they defied his orders this time, well the consequences would be on their heads. "Now, we've got Belasco."

"Well it's easier said than done I think," Clea said but Illyana shook her head in the negative.

"You don't have to come to him, he'll come to you," Illyana said and there was the pitter patter of little demon feet approaching them.

The hoards made their way towards them and they were far more dangerous, far more immense than the small group of demons that fought them earlier.

"Divide their forces," Harry said to Clea. They wanted to play games, well he could really throw off their plan, and he could play a few games of his own.

It was obvious that they wanted to overwhelm them with numbers. Clea and Harry drew a barrier, splitting the demon army in half, allowing them to take their forces more easily. It was simple magic, but it was overlooked because of how simplistic it was.

"Perfect," Ananym said, licking her lips but she slunk off into the shadows. She couldn't afford to be seen by her father's henchmen. Even though they intended to not let any of the demons return there alive, she still really couldn't risk being caught, or that word would be brought back to her father.

Illyana soldiered forward, and took off one of their heads. She wasn't wasting any time. The more of these she slayed, the more she was going to bring Belasco out in the open.

Harry could hear the frustrated yowls of demons that were off in the shadows. It was like music to his ears and more fell with blood splattering about the ground, staining it.

The green eyed wizard planted his fist into the ribs of the creature and then pulled back. He reached through his chest, burning a hole through it and yanked out his fowl demon heart.

Then he whipped his hand back, impaling another demon with the still beating heart of the demon that he just killed. Physics wise, he wasn't sure how that worked but magic wise, it made perfect sense, and as people knew, physics was the bitch of any kind of magic.

Clea placed one of the demons in a cage and when he tried to claw his way out, the residual magic vaporized him. The blood curdling screams were not lost on them.

"If you give them an inch, they'll take an entire foot, remember these aren't cuddly bunnies, they're evil demons," Harry said and Kara shook her head.

"I don't know, I think that bunny rabbits can be pretty evil," Kara said darkly.

"Just stay focused," Illyana said, swinging her enchanted blade and slicing the demons asunder with brutality.

"Yes, I know that you don't have the training that I do, but don't wilt now," Faora said, managing to maneuver two demons to take each other out. None of them were inclined to stop, one was wounded, one was killed on impact.

And now both of them were dead upon impact when Faora introduced a blunt force blow to the back of the demon's head.

"I got this one," Kara yelled, nailing the demon with an enchanted dagger and causing him to blow into blood chunks on the ground. She paused for a moment, the blood staining her costume, and her odd discomfort was not something that made Faora shake her head.

"You can't be disgusted with a little blood, I know Zor-El made you live a sheltered life…..bet you didn't even kiss anyone, although I'm sure you spent a lot of time kissing his ass," Faora said, hacking apart the demons that tried to grab onto her. She was ruthless in her efficient attacks because around her training if you let up, you died.

"How about I just kick your….."

"Faora, Kara, heads up!" Harry yelled, annoyed that their bickering almost got them killed. A large winged demon landed down next to him, trying to get him for easy prey but Harry wasn't that easy.

Harry smiled, it was time to really level the playing field. He cast a simple charm on them, filtering the light in Limbo into yellow sunlight. The demons didn't realize the significance to what Harry did, so they soldiered completely on, unaware that their plans would be screwed.

Faora smiled, she knew what that meant, and her eyes glowed. It took a bit of control for her to lock onto her enemies and use her heat vision in an efficient manner. But when she did, one should let the power flow.

The demons didn't have a chance.

Kara smiled, and she closed her eyes. She pursed her lips and used her super breath to knock a pair of demons down to the ground. This allowed Illyana to leap up and slash at them with their swords.

A trio of demons felt an unnatural pressure in the back of their heads and they exploded. Ananym watched from the long distance, undetected.

"So, the second group, we should take care of them soon, right?" Clea asked and Harry smiled.

"Yes, we should, in a fashion," Harry agreed, seeing the demons drop to the ground one by one. Kara and Faora seemed to be in a competition with who could slay the most monsters.

He was getting a fix on Belasco, he was a secure wing of his palace, under the heaviest protections imaginable. He must have been still wounded, because he would have been arrogant enough to think that his protections, his normal protections, would have held otherwise. There would be no other reason why he wouldn't have saved his own skin.

'So, you caught him better than you thought, Illyana,' Harry thought, lifting his hand up and nailing the demon in the face, knocking his head completely off.

But finding Belasco and finishing the job, that was two different things. Finding him would be the easy part, actually doing anything, that would be tricky. But they were getting close to doing part one of their mission.

"I think that's all of them," Clea concluded, allowing the last demon to turn into a hoard of mice as it dropped to the ground. They scrambled around and were crushed by a large stone cat that Harry created.

"Yes, I think that is," Faora said, indulging herself in a little bit of pest extermination with her heat vision, frying the remaining rodents.

"More are on the way, remember we split their armies," Harry said, hoping none of them would get in in their heads to relax, at least until the mission was dead.

He would never relax until Belasco was done. Perhaps he wasn't as fanatic about taking him down as Illyana, but he did have a score to settle with the demon lord of Limbo.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there was one person there who had more of a fanatic desire to see Belasco gone than Illyana did. He wondered what reaction she would have to the fact that they had a common ground with her of all people. It would be something akin to great outrage, he had a feeling of that much.

"The barrier won't hold forever, we better move," Harry said and the girls all nodded.

Soon, Belasco would have nothing to hide behind. He was getting closer and closer to his enemy, and soon he would pounce.

A portal was opened up and the group slipped inside. They would stalk their enemies and get them on the other side, it would be a surprise that no one could see coming. At least until it was too late.


Belasco monitored the progress of his minions to try and get his two pawns back onto his chessboard. Much to his absolute agitation, they were not any closer to being back underneath his tender watch and underneath his eye. All of his minions failed him and they would be punished gravely in due time.

The demonic entity felt his anger continue to increase the more that he waited. He was not a patient demon lord by any stretch of the world and the fact that his patience was being tried, tested to this degree caused him great anger. One would say even greater rage to be honest.

"Report back only when you have them and not a second before," Belasco thundered. He did not want to hear the reports that their numbers were dwindling. Most because it wasn't anything that he didn't already know.

He slumped forward on the chair, the pain that he suffered did not improve his mood, in fact it put him in a more towering and fouler mood. With his mouth hanging open, blood splattering down from his lips, he prepared for to do his very worse. That was all those who failed him and those who tried to wound him deserved.

His very worse naturally could be quite nasty. Actually it could be more than nasty come to think about it. His blood stained knuckles curled up, as he waited to see where he would go next.

He could see his plan sliding out of focus, where did things go so wrong? Well he had some theories of where it could have gone wrong, but he refused to take personal accountability. It was the fault of guards who had not watched certain people under his dominion. They were already punished.

That being said, several more snags had been presented with this plan. The Sorceress Supreme was a nasty addition to the plan and one that Belasco needed to focus on if he wanted to increase his rule of this domain and beyond.

Then there was Harry Potter, who proved to be more dangerous than he thought. There was a renewed fury. Belasco initially assumed that time underneath the watchful eye of his relations would have broken him.

That was an annoying miscalculation on the part of Belasco, he had to admit that, as much as he was loathed to do so.

Illyana…..well every second she was gone, it lead to his plans being thrown completely into peril. Belasco could not describe exactly how important she was to his plans.

'If she has been imprinted with his will, then all that work would be lost,' Belasco thought, but he scrapped by, trying to find new and rather cruel ways to salvage some doomed plans but even all but the best laid plans of mice and men often went south.

Then there was Riddle, oh Riddle, someone who Belasco wished he could crush like a bug. But his soul containers prevented him from doing that.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Riddle in a long time, not that he shed a single tear over that fact. It would be just as well if Riddle perished from the elements, never being seen again. The arrogant child thought that he was more powerful than he really was.

Belasco tried to heal himself but the wounds just opened anew when he removed his hand. He would need to sacrifice innocent lives to gain the necessary "kick" for a lack of a better term to jump this healing magic. He continued to place his hand on his heart and then he removed his hand.

Again and again, there was no chance to jump start the healing factor. She forged a sword that could even wound him.

All roads went back to Harry Potter. Belasco had the prophecy that charlatan made in the mortal world. The fact that he knew something that Riddle obsessed over, really caused his mouth to water with anticipation.

The Dark Lord the prophecy referred to was up for question, well Riddle was a self-styled Dark Lord. He took his powers to heights that many mortals would not dream of.

That being said, there were those far darker and far more dangerous. Outside of that world of self-styled wand wavers with their weak, watered down, brand of magic, Riddle was a small player. He was an ant on the speck of the multiverse. He had enough cunning to avoid a certain eternity of tormant, at least for the short time but Belasco fully intended to make up for that lost time.

'In the end, that fool will end up like all of the rest who thought that they could get out of a deal with me,' Belasco whispered and he was excited with the end.

His attempts to heal failing continued to throw him into a towering temper.


The second hoard of demons was taken down with a furious attack and that left the group at a bit better of a place than they were before but at the same time there was still a lot to do.

"Well, you did manage to do well enough, slinking in the shadows," Illyana said, staring at Ananym and the girl stared back at her.

Both of the girls were trying to burn a hole through each other and they didn't really need heat vision to do so, it was extremely intense. Neither backed off from their glaring contest with each other.

Clea shuddered, there was enough hatred between the two of them to power a small planet. Harry was off with Faora and Kara scouting to make sure there was no one else on the outskirts. Which caused her to be saddled with baby sitting these two, something that Clea would not wish upon her worst enemy but there she was, stuck with these duties.

The threat of what Harry would do to either of them dialed back their antagonizing to cattiness, as opposed to brutality lingered. But they were trying to push each other's buttons so the other could make the move.

"Or are you seeking out his favor, still?"

"Well you should speak of his favor…because you're the one who is obsessed with taking him down," Ananym said and Clea blinked.

"Ananym….."

"Or has he left a bigger impression on you then either of us thought?' Ananym said, in a low whisper, trying to bait Illyana into an attack but so far, no dice.

To her credit, and using whatever bit of self control she could muster, Illyana did not lash out. Even though she wanted to rip out Ananym's throat and strangle her with it. "Well, it's obviously not as big as the impression that you dream that Harry left on you."

Ananym's eye twitched at this slap to her face but she said nothing.

Kara and Faora returned back, walking next to each other. Neither made eye contact with each other when they made their journey. It might have been for the best given the antagonistic relationship they shared with each other.

"Where's Harry?" Clea asked, he was rather conspicuous by his absence.

"He will be returning in a few minutes," Faora said, she could not believe that he made them walk back together alone but she supposed that it was a test. Kara decided to inform them of the other part of why Harry didn't return back just yet.

"He might have saw Belasco."

"Do you jump like a dog every time you hear his name?" Ananym asked, smiling as Illyana's hands tensed around the hilt of her sword.

"Well, obviously you dream about being Daddy's lapdog," Illyana said, her lips curling into a sneer and Clea cringed at where this was going.

This was not going to a good place, and she really hoped that Harry would return before these two tore into each other because she didn't want to answer to him.

Even Kara and Faora locked eyes and looked nervous. They were antagonistic to each other but these two took such a relationship to an entirely new and extremely unhealthy level.

"I'm not…I hate my father more than you ever could dream to," Ananym said, of course the reasons why it was so was that Illyana was brought in and she was cast aside despite her loyalty. "I've trained my entire life, while you're his planned child bride who he gave power to expand his immortality, and it backfired on him in a big way….."

"You really think that you have me figured out, don't you?" Illyana asked, eyes flashing dangerously and Ananym smiled.

"Ladies," Clea said nervously and Faora grabbed Illyana around the waist, while Kara grabbed Ananym, managing to hold them both into place, and hoping that the battle didn't happen.

"Then again, maybe a little slut likes it like that."

"Let go of me….."

Illyana broke free of Faora's grip, or maybe Faora allowed her to break free, it wasn't really certain. Clea was about to move in to put a barrier up just as Ananym slipped free from Kara's grip.

The two of them were about ready to clash with each other. In fact, both were intend to fry each other with a very powerful bit of magic.

A shield appeared around them. Clea blinked as their magical attacks hit the shield and they bounced off the shield.

Illyana flew to the left, landing hard on the ground, feeling the soreness of her backside as it hit the ground.

Ananym bounced off of the ground hard as well. Nothing was injured with the two girls, except for their pride. Which might have caused the worst wounds of all from a mental perspective, even worse than anything from a physical perspective.

"So, you decided to ignore me, despite the fact that I warned you what would happen if you did."

Harry flickered into the scene, no one knew how long he had stood there invisible, watching, waiting, plotting, waiting to see what they did.

"The two of you….I warned you that something would happen if you got into it," Harry said and Illyana looked at Harry, before bowing her head.

Ananym mocked Illyana's motions which caused the Russian Girl to flex her fingers around the sword that was back in her hand. Clea grabbed her firmly around the shoulder warningly.

"Well, good for you to keep your pet in line like that, Harry," Ananym said with a smile.

"The same goes especially for you," Harry said and her smile faded.

"You don't have any control over me, you know….."

Her sentence was cut off at the mid point. She was forced down to her knees like a dog in front of Harry, with her wrists and feet bound. She struggled against the grip as she tried to escape.

"Well, who didn't see that one coming?" Kara whispered and Faora, despite her initial agitation towards Kara, smiled and nodded.

"Oh, believe me, I do," Harry said and he looked into her eyes. She was both fearful and excited, a combination that was amusing on several levels. That being said, with Harry staring down at her, she knew that he was not one to be trifled with. "And I know how to keep people on leashes, trust me, I do."

He reached down and patted her on the top of her head, and she looked up at him. Illyana smiled and Harry turned towards her.

"Don't think that you're off the hook either, because that was reckless and if I wasn't here, the two of you would have skewered each other," Harry said and the disappointment in his voice was something that would torment anyone who had heard it.

"Yes, of course."

"I'll find ways to deal with you later, all of you," Harry said and he looked at Kara, who took a step back.

His power was something that called out to her, and he was a strong mate. Granted, she had gotten it all out of her system, for the most part, with Faora, and not a moment too soon. Harry had enough problems as they were. Illyana and Ananym made them look well-adjusted to each other.

"I'm only going to punish you once I've figured out a good way to make things sink in," Harry said and he stared them down.

He didn't say when, he didn't say how. He figured the anticipation of what he could do would burn them up inside and eventually Harry would have his way with them, with all of them.

Right now, he had work to do and Belasco was in the cross hairs. Finding that monster and putting him down once and for all was first and foremost on Harry's list of things to do.

He had a pretty good starting point, one of the last demons had a good idea where Belasco was holding up and Harry slowly began to figure out how to break through.

"We have a lot of work to do."


"We all know that we have to face him soon enough and this time, we have to beat him, there is no going around it," Harry said and Illyana nodded tensely in agreement, on pins and needles when Harry spoke with her.

The fact that she got one lucky shot in on him before did not even need to be told to her, oh she knew, believe them, she knew, big time.

"Something that you might find interesting," Ananym said and Harry turned his attention towards her. "That pathetic excuse for a Dark Lord that you've defeated has been flittering in and out. He's been riling my father up something fierce. They had a deal apparently and Riddle broke it."

"Not surprising," Harry said, he recalled a fair amount of this from the dark echoes swimming around in his mind. Not with any kind of clarity mind you but he did recall enough of it.

"Yes, and what do you think that you'll do with him?"

"Compared to Belasco, he's a nuisance," Harry said but Clea looked at Harry, her mouth wide open. "Yes, what is it?"

"You're saying that Riddle, he's been flittering in and out of Limbo at will?" Clea asked and Ananym raised her eyebrow, rather curious about this line of questioning. Without another thought, she nodded her head. She wondered where Clea was coming from now.

"Yes, I believe that I established that."

"If he found a way out, then perhaps it is possible for us to escape as well," Clea said and Harry frowned. "But, I take it that you think that it isn't going to be that easy, master."

"Possible, maybe, but yes, it won't be that easy," Harry said grudgingly, not wanting to get anyone's hopes up. Plus this dimension offered certain strategic advantages that he could use, until the point that he wished to return from it.

That being said, knowing that there was a way out would give him control. After his time at the Dursleys and his time in captivity, one thing Harry hated to have was a lack of complete control. It burned him up inside to many degrees.

"But surely if he can get inside then perhaps we could as well….."

"If you're a floating disembodied spirit, then maybe," Harry said, he was not willing to completely throw the chance out.

"There could be alternate routes out of here, routes that we didn't figure out," Kara said, speaking up for the first time. "I mean…..the Phantom Zone…..when the barriers collided….we got in here."

"That suggests that there is some kind of link between the mortal plane that Riddle was a spirit on and the Phantom Zone," Faora said but then she cupped her hand to her chin, closing her eyes as she thought about it. "It isn't the most improbable thing out there."

Clea held onto her amulet, and looked at it. It was buzzing with some energy but it was not completely there.

"It should work," she whispered, more to herself than the others there and Harry raised his eyebrow at her.

"Not enough of a connection?" Harry asked and she shook her head, her frown deepening.

"It doesn't make any sense."

"And I'm pretty sure that my father might not be responsible for your inability to escape, at least not completely," Ananym said and Illyana's eyes darted, to turn towards the witch.

"How do you know?"

"I hear things, my father tends to speak about his plans out loud, but I tend to limit my exposure to him to what's only necessary," Ananym said and Illyana continued her look of distrust towards her. Skepticism flashed through the eyes of the Russian girl and the demonic redhead looked back at her. "It's not like I'm hanging off of his every word when he speaks."

"I can tell that she's telling us only all that she knows for sure," Harry said but there was a sense of warning in his voice. He didn't believe that Ananym was completely telling the truth and his searching gaze nearly burned a hole through her head.

"Feel that?" Kara asked, her body shivered.

"Yes, I feel it, the barriers are shifting, again," Clea said once again. Her amulet felt a pull on it.

"It better not be another Phantom Zone invasion," Faora said, she wasn't really up to seeing any of that place again, as long as she lived.

"What, do you think that you can't handle them or something?" Kara asked and Faora's burning gaze locked on them.

"Not going to have this discussion with you," Faora said and Kara threw her hands up in the air.

"Do you think it's Phantom Zone creatures?"

Harry's response was short and fairly blunt. "No."

He could sense something was near. While the Horcrux had been taken care of, there was still a thread leading to Voldemort. It was very faint.

"Riddle might be trying to help us," Harry said and that got some gasps of surprise from the group.

"You're….you're not serious, are you?" Illyana asked, thinking about such of a thing and out outlandish it is.

"I'm not sure if it's intentional and I'm pretty sure that it's for his own gain," Harry said with a smile on his face.

The truth be told, he could kill two birds with one stone if he took out Riddle.

"So, you do have a plan?" Ananym asked and Harry paused, to consider his options.

He just might have a plan, yes.

"One that I think should work, all I'll need is a diversion and I'll find my way into the palace and deliver myself to Belasco."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Belasco isn't as strong as he was after the shot she gave to him," Ananym commented, she had seen him, he could not even heal himself. It was that bad.

"Good, that makes things all that much easier," Harry said.

All of the girls, even if they could not agree on much, could agree on one thing. When Harry had his mind set on something, it was best to allow him to do what he needed to do and to give him a clear path.

Once he took care of Belasco, Riddle was the next on his list, inadvertent help or not.

Illyana wished that she could come with Harry, but it would raise a red flag if they were both "caught" at the same time.

She would just have to allow these things to play out and hope that all went well.


A trio of demon guards didn't really know what hit them. Harry blew through them with a huge impact, knocking them all onto their backs.

The green eyed wizard preceded forward, intense look etched in his eye. He continued to proceed into the scene.

The demons that were down on the ground did not see him coming, then again that was his intention. Harry could see Belasco's palace right in his line of sight.

It would be tempting to burn it to the ground where he stood with the demon inside. But he could teleport out. He wanted to hear Belasco's foul heart stop.

Sadistic determination pressed Harry through the gates. He returned to a place that he knew all too well. A place he escaped but now with the strength he had, he blew open the gates like they were nothing. They cracked, crunched like they were tissue paper.

Another group of minions stepped forward, they were among the strongest of those guards.

Harry only had one word for them.

"Flee."

They chose to ignore it, which was fine for Harry. It was at the peril of their own lives. They were fools who went down and went down quickly.

Their bones reduced to dust, their blood boiled like lava. Magic could be cruel sometimes and it was the darkest of magic that Harry weld. He could fight fire with fire.

The demons fell like dominoes, hitting the ground and Harry took half of a step forward. He was waiting for it.

"You were foolish coming here."

Belasco turned up in the flesh, so to speak.

Harry smiled, he could not resist the live bait. He called that one, rather perfectly. Almost scarily so come to think about it.

"I was foolish coming here?" Harry asked and Belasco stepped towards him, evil intentions in mind. "You don't look too well these days. Did that paper cut Illyana gave you bother you that much?"

"It's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you."

"Well, what you're going to do to me is nothing."

Bright lights could be seen as both forces collided with each other. The War for Limbo was reaching a fever pitch and it hit its boiling point.

To Be Continued on August 20th 2014.