A DAY'S WORTH
Chapter 12
AN: So, it has been pointed out to me that the details I gave in the last chapter about Harry's story differed from what I gave earlier so this little AN will try to clear that.
Harry became an Auror, raised through the ranks, and when rumors of a dark Lord were heard, he and his team were told to follow them up. Harry got info about the rising Dark Lord's whereabouts and he attacked with his team. Harry barely managed to escape while the rest were killed. Two years later, the Dark Lord made his first public appearance and the Potters fought together with some other wizards and killed him and his followers. Ginny was caught in the crossfire and Harry withdrew from the public eye before going on his trip with Luna.
Well, I guess that clears that up. Now let's get to see how his carelessness comes to bite him in his little British posterior.
-ADW-
Harry released a wave of magic and the flames fizzled out to reveal an ugly sight. Five humanoid figures standing in the midst of the a sea of dead bodies. One of them was in the process of tearing out a woman's throat while two others were gorging on another man. The other three were just standing there staring at him, their long swords dripping with blood.
The better part of the club was burned to ash, something which shouldn't have been possible without some kind of magic and Harry knew these demons were responsible. And that was clearly what they were from Illyana's description. Reptilian skin stretched over a tall muscular figure standing at over 7ft with a long pointed tail. An ugly face with horns protruding on it's forehead.
Each of the demons had a weapon of some kind that had fire on the edges. Most had long swords while the one in the front was holding a large battle-ax. Just as he dropped the shield, he caught the scent of familiar magic. Magic that he had recently come across when they rescued Illyana and it was not coming from from the residents of Limbo standing in front of him.
He heard the unmistakable sound of a neck snapping and he spun around, a blasting spell on tip of his tongue only to freeze in place. Jack was staring at him with a cruel grin with the limp body of Karen in his hands. Only it wasn't Jack, his eyes were two black orbs as if made of entirely shadows which were shifting even as Harry watched.
His friend was being possessed.
Just as that fact sunk into his mind, Jack dropped Karen and grabbed a frozen Harry by the neck. With unnatural strength, Harry was lifted and slammed into the counter or what hadn't been destroyed by the explosion.
Jack snarled and hurled him towards the other demons. The one at the front caught him by the leg and flung him onto the floor. Harry had recovered enough though and managed to enhance his body with magic and barely felt the impact. The demon snarled and lifted him by the neck and slammed him into the wall.
Harry's vision went white momentarily from the impact. By the time his vision cleared, Jack was holding him by the neck with his feet off the ground practically chocking him. Looking at his friend's face, Harry let the rage consume him and a burst of magic had Jack and the demon with the battle-ax flying across the destroyed room.
The other four demons made to move towards him but with one wave of his hand, debris rose up and transformed into all sorts of sharp items that were flung at the demons. Many of the objects didn't penetrate their skins but those that did were enough to give them pause and that was all Harry needed and he magically lifted their individual swords and sliced off their heads.
His instincts flared and he jumped out of the way and the other demon's battle-ax embedded itself where he had just been. He ducked a swipe from the demon and was about to retaliate when the demon was lifted and flung away. He glanced up to see a bald woman in orange robes standing there, amber mystic energy around her hands.
"I'll take it from here, Mr. Potter." The woman said, her voice soft as if it was a bother to speak. The demon leaped at the woman and she raised her hands freezing him in place. She made an intricate gesture and the demon was pulled from all directions untill it was torn apart.
Harry whistled in appreciation before he remembered his friend.
He spun around, just in time to see Jack disappear through a dark portal.
Come find me, if you want to see your friend again. And bring my apprentice with you.
The voice resonated through Harry's mind while he watched the place Jack had disappeared. He felt the world shift and when he blinked, he was standing in a very different room. The bald woman was standing across him, peering at him with an unreadable expression.
"You've got alot of explaining to do, Mr. Potter." The woman stated and Harry raised an eyebrow.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
Only the curiosity of meeting another magic user was keeping from obliviating the woman and teleporting from there.
"I am the Sorcerer Supreme." The woman said. "And my job is to protect this world from any mystical threats."
"And why am I here?"
"For me to determine if you are one of those threats." The woman replied. "How did you find yourself entangled with Belasco?"
"Is this an interrogation?"
"Depends on what you will make of it."
Harry stared at the woman for a moment.
"My friend is being possessed by that son of a bitch and I don't know how long I have to get to him before he loses his mind." Harry told her. "I do not have time to deal with this shit."
"I can help you." The woman replied. "I can help you get to Limbo but if it is Belasco possessing your friend's body then it is already to late for him."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"For Belasco to be able to possess a mortal body, he can only do it if there is no living soul occupying that body."
"Jack is alive." Harry told her with finality. "And I am going to bring him back."
"Even if you're right, there is no way you will come out alive, let alone your friend." She told him. "I can feel you are powerful Mr. Potter, more powerful than any being I have met but you are no match for Belasco, especially not in Limbo."
"It is not always about power, ma'am." Harry told her as he massaged the ring containing his suit. "You wish to follow me, be my guest. But I will get my friend back even if it means wiping the entire dimension out of existence."
And with that, he disappeared. For some reason, the woman known as the Ancient One had no trouble believing every single word he said. Half a second later, a portal opened and for the second time since she became Sorcerer Supreme, she stepped into Limbo.
Hopping things would go different this time.
-ADW-
Harry appeared at the gate of the X-Mansion. Thankfully the sun was just beginning to set which disoriented him a bit given that it had been dark when he left London. The kids were no where to be seen, perhaps in their evening lessons.
Harry stalked his way towards the door and just as he raised a hand to knock, it opened to reveal the bald professor in a wheelchair.
"Mr. Potter, what's going on."
"I would like to talk to Illyana."
"She keeps saying she wants to see you too." The man replied. "I would really like to know what is happening."
Before Harry could reply, Illyana barrelled past the professor and hugged Harry's midsection. The girl was trembling.
"He is here! I felt him just moments ago!" The girl gasped and Harry hugged her back.
"He was here but not anymore." Harry assured her. "And after what he just did, you will not have to worry about him again."
"Mr. Potter?"
"Belasco made a very big mistake when he brought Jack into this... whatever this is." Harry told the professor.
"What are you going to do?"
"Kill him of course." Harry told her. "And I need you to take me there."
"I can't allow that to happen, Mr. Potter." Xavier said pulling their attention. "Ms. Rasputin has just escaped that place and you want to take her back?"
"Not if she doesn't want to go." Harry said looking at the girl. "I could find an alternative way there but it would be much easier if I had her with me."
"I am going." Illyana declared.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that." The professor said staring in the girl's eyes who simply glared back in defiance.
"Feel free to stop us." Illyana flared her magic and Harry felt that piece of her that connected her to Belasco pulse. He wasted no time and his own magic latched onto it, his intention clear. When he blinked, he was no longer standing before the bald professor.
Looking around, Harry could immediately feel the difference in the air. The wrongness of everything around him screamed Belasco and he had no doubt that the demon king of Limbo was aware of their presence. He felt for his friend and felt the magic in the ring present as it wouldn't do to come here looking for Jack when he wasn't here. Breathing a sigh of relief, Harry took in his surroundings.
They were standing at the edge of an ancient looking Forest and a couple of yards directly in front of them was a hill on which stood a majestic castle that looked to have been in place for centuries. The distance between them and the castle's walls was covered by an empty land with what could have passed as grass. Up the hill there were some trees scattered here and there but not much altogether which meant the castle was in clear view.
Everything around had a red tinge to it, probably because of the blood-red sun that was above the castle in question.
"He knows we're here." A soft airy voice said from his side and Harry spun around and gaped.
"Like what you see?" The girl_young woman said. Where Illyana was standing seconds ago was someone entirely different in her place. She had told him of her alter-ego, the result of her connection with Belasco.
"When you said you become a different person, I hadn't realized that you literally became a different person."
The young woman shrugged, her bigger than he remembered breasts shifting with the movement. There was very little covering her, her breasts and center covered by some weird version of a bra and panties. Her suddenly very developed figure aside, the most defining features were the two horns protruding from her mane of brown hair and the sharp pointed tail swinging leisurely from behind her.
"If you're done leering at me can we get a move on?" Darkchylde cocked a bushy eyebrow. This was no Illyana no matter how much she looked like her in the face.
"You are barely older than Jenny, kid." Harry informed her. "Do you take me for a pedophile?"
"I don't know." She purred, running her clawed fingers over Harry's chest while he just raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"
Harry gave her an unimpressed look.
"You are no fun." She pouted, somehow making it look sexy despite her demon features. "My over zealous master will be sending everything at his disposal at us."
"I just need to get into that castle."
"Yeah that's impossible." She replied. "Not to mention your best chance at beating him would be luring him out as he is near invicible so long as he is within the walls of that castle."
"Or I could just get rid of the castle itself." Harry suggested. "But that won't be necessary, I'm going to get in that castle, beat the crap out of him and get my mate out of this place."
"No one can breach that castle, not by force."
Harry looked back at the hill, he could see what could only be demons, almost a hundred of them coming down the hill towards them. His magic was practically singing beneath his skin eager for a magical fight. Come to think of it, he hadn't had a fight where he needed to use much magic since he came to this world.
"Do you know why Belasco is afraid of me?" Harry asked the girl who was standing next to him just in front of the tree line.
"Not really." The girl mused heaving a large battle-ax to her shoulder. "Come to think of it, I think it's just because you're powerful and he knows you would never be on his side."
By this point, the demons and what looked like hell hounds were close enough for him to see them clearly. The demons looked no different from the ones he had fought earlier that day, each welding either a club, sword or battle-ax.
"That's a shame." Harry grinned as he ran a finger over the ring containing his suit. "It's time I gave him a valid reason to fear me. Too bad he won't live to regret it."
Harry sent a pulse of magic into the ring and he was immediately covered with his suit. Similar in everyway with Jack's except for the cloak which was emerald green, the same shade as his eyes. Well if you don't count the passive enchantments Harry had included in both suits for dramatic effect but only activated in Harry's because of his magic.
The suit itself rippled like water, and the material seemed to shift with every movement like a very big snake. And it was dark as night.
Harry lowered the hood of his cloak_there was no need to hide who he was here_ and stepped a few more steps forward, the Elder Wand materializing in his hand.
"Those bastards' hides are resistant to magic." The girl warned him.
Looking at the approaching horde of demons, Harry let his magic free and a wind picked up. By this point the demos had covered more than half of the distance between them.
"Well it's a good thing I will not just use magic then." The wand was singing to him, as if already aware of the spell he was planning to use. "You might want to step back."
Flagreohex Ardemonium.
-ADW-
From where she was standing, the Sorcerer Supreme watched a flame erupt from the wand. It continued coming forming a wall a couple of yards in front of him but it wasn't just a wall. The flame seemed to be fighting itself and even as she watched shapes started appearing with in the flame.
Shapes that formed into creatures straight out of nightmares. The animals snapped at each other, the flame burning with such heat that she could almost feel her robes heating up and wondered how Harry Potter and Belasco's apprentice could stand to be that near.
Harry Potter slashed his wand and the stream suddenly cut off. The monsters within the flame snarled at him as if in defiance but a gesture from his hand sent the forward towards the approaching horde of demons. The demons didn't pause at the approaching death, they just continued surging forward as if expecting it to go out.
She almost missed the moment the first group of demons met the magical flame, the only indication that something had happened was when nothing passed through the fiery creatures. They had burned instantly without even a trace of smoke. The creatures in the fire snarled when the surge of demons stopped and there was a slight face off that was cut off when a bolt of lightning slammed into the midst of the demons.
The Sorcerer Supreme was startled, having been too focused on the progress of the flames that she missed the dark clouds that were now covering the grounds between the forest and the castle. Another bolt of lightning slammed into the demons, then another and another. The horde was sent into a frenzy and the magical flame monsters attacked again.
There were shrieks of pain as the demons died off. Between the flames that seemed to swell with every demon they consumed, and the lightning storm, almost half a minute later all the demos we're gone. The lightning storm abruptly cut off and the clouds disappeared, the fiery animals cleared the grounds of any bodies.
"That...was insane." Belasco's apprentice commented with a large grin.
"I agree." She revealed herself and to her disappointment, none of the two seemed surprised. "Their hides are supposed to be resistant to magic."
"Direct magic." Harry corrected. "But not elemental magic."
"Now what?" The girl asked. "That display will not be pulling him out, more like make sure he hides himself even more."
"Well, all the better for me." Harry snapped his wand with a flourish and the fiery animals were sent streaking towards the castle only to run transparent red shield that suddenly appeared around the castle.
"Now what?" The girl-demon asked Potter who didn't seem worried
"Now we wait." He answered easily. "Fiendfyre feeds off magic to sustain itself and the bigger it becomes the more magic it needs. Now that I am no longer feeding it, it will have to get from the wards and it's only a matter of time before they become drained."
"And then what?"
"And then I'll grab my friend and get the hell out of here before they consume this entire dimension." Harry shrugged and from how large they were becoming, the Sorcerer Supreme had no doubt they could. "Because by that point it will be too powerful for me to control let alone dispel."
"That shield is tied directly to my master." The girl said. "If the fire absorbs all magic in it, then it is likely he will be drained of all magic_"
"And this entire dimension will collapse on itself." The Sorcerer Supreme finished for her. "And everything within will cease to exist, us included."
"Well then I am sure he will drop the shield when he comes to that conclusion." Potter shrugged.
"How?"
"He will feel it of course." Potter stated like it was obvious. "And quite painfully at that."
"Yes but he won't know that it is the shield causing it."
"What do you mean?"
"I have lived a very long time Mr. Potter and I have a lot of knowledge concerning magic." The Sorcerer Supreme stated. "I hate to admit it but I have never heard of or witnessed magic like I am right now."
"Well, you learn something new everyday."
"What she is trying to say is that there is a very high possibility that my master hasn't witnessed it either and will have no idea what is happening." The girl said. "He will keep trying to stop it rather than dropping the shield and end up getting all of us killed."
"That's... stupid."
"I don't think you're stupid, Harry." The girl grinned at him waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Stop doing that, and am talking about Belasco." Potter said. "How can you feel your magic draining and not know what is causing it?"
"Well, not everyone is as great as you, Harry." She purred in reply.
Potter ignored her and muttered something under his breath. The Ancient One suddenly felt a feeling of warmth evelope her that she could only describe as pure happiness. She stared at Potter wondering if he had done something to her but he didn't even see to notice. Infact he was simply staring at an empty space in front of him.
"I'm sure you have noticed you magic disappearing. The longer you keep up that shield the faster it will be drained." Potter was speaking, his voice clipped and hard, a stark contrast to what he had been using before. "Drop the shield and face me and perhaps I'll make your death quicker and less painful. Keep it up and you will wish that you were never born."
Potter waved his hand and the feeling disappeared even if there was some lingering warmth left behind.
"What was that?"
"That my dear is called a Patronus." Potter explained. "It's a spell that practically embodies happiness. It's used to fight dark creatures but can also be used to send massages like I just did to our resident demon Lord."
As if in acknowledgement, the dome flickered and disappeared. The flames immediately surged forward towards the castle at a very high speed only to halt suddenly when Potter stepped forward, hand suddenly sporting the white wand. The Ancient One felt a pressure rise over her and looked at the source, his robe billowing behind him with his left hand raised as if holding back an invisible wall.
He raised the wand, pointing upwards and slashed in a sudden gesture. The monsters in the flames were all pulled tight together in a large burning ball which started spinning. The pressure pressing down on her suddenly doubled as Potter raised his wand and the huge ball of flames rose into the air following the wand movement still spinning.
"Are you two ready for some action?" Potter asked pulling her attention from the rising ball for a moment. She gave him a nod and stepped a few steps to his left just as Belasco's apprentice did the same at his right.
When she looked back at the burning ball of magic, it was nolonger the red hot color of burning lava and the animals had disappeared. Instead it looked just like normal fire even though it was obviously still very hot. She felt the ground under her feet shift and looked down to see that they were now standing on some triangular metal platform which was rising in the air.
Potter for his part hadn't even shifted his attention from the ball that was now directly above the castle. Their little platform was flying towards said castle and she could see the demons on the castle grounds running around in a frenzy as they got closer.
Potter was still in the same position, holding the ball in place as they flew closer. He nodded to her and she summoned mystic energy in preparation, glancing at the girl, she was holding her battle ax with both hands and it had an eerie green glow to it. Getting a nod from her as well, Potter slashed with his wand and the ball of fire fell onto the castle.
And they were descending. Potter pulled up the hood of his cloak and just as they landed, demons started streaming from the burning castle, some were even flying as they shrieked at them in challenge.
She made mystic shields just as a bolt of light erupted from Potter and landed into the midst of the approaching demons causing a miniature earthquake. Taking advantage, she made the ground open up and about twenty sunk in before she snapped it shut. She slammed her palms on to the ground and those that had come near her we're launched into the sky as gravity turned against them.
Just as she made to stand up a glowing battle-ax flew over her head and slashed off a demon's head that head leaped at her. It continued moving as it slashed off head after head and the Acient One turned back where it had come from to see Belasco's apprentice duck under a swing of a sword.
The horned girl ducked between the demon's legs as a lasso of fire erupted from her hand. She lashed backwards, cutting the demon in half before she spun around, the lasso in full length as it sliced all those around her through the torso and soon the two of them had yards of empty space around them just as the battle-ax finished it's slaughter and came back to her. The lasso disappeared and she expertly caught the battle-ax by the handle and rested it over her shoulder grinning at her.
"You're alright grandma?" The girl catwalked her way towards her and stood next to her.
"Where is Potter?" She ignored the half-demon eyeing the demons that seemed reluctant to attack them.
"Gone to pay the old man a visit." The girl replied airy before she gestured at the other demons. "I think we should probably_"
"Is this your doing?"
"Well a girl needs to take a breather." She replied. "What use is being princess of Limbo when I'm not allowed to take a break in between killing my ugly subjects?"
The girl took a stance and cackled in what she assumed was excitement. As if they had been waiting just for that, the demons surged forward and the Sorcerer Supreme readied herself to fight alongside her enemie's fourteen-year-old protege.
This was going to take a while.
-ADW-
AN: So this chapter didn't agree with me at all, not even one bit. I got so tired of it that I just decided to get over with it and let things just happen so it is likely substandard.
I'll probably come back to edit it but for now we shall have to go forward with Harry's point of view and what he was doing.
So about Illyana, for those who haven't read the comics and are too lazy to Google her up, she has a split personality due to her bond with Belasco and when it takes over, she turns into Darkchylde.
These two personalities don't really get along in Canon but me I changed a few things. As Belasco's apprentice, she has some control over the demons and Darkchylde is most powerful in Limbo while Illyana is in the normal realm.
That's it for now, till next chapter, Keep Safe. Stay alive.