A/N: (By Blood, Freedom)
Don't ask me why I chose Latin. It sounded cool for a final chapter, okay?
Here we are. The last chapter(baring the epilogue I have planned). Where everything comes together into one final climax, and hopefully doesn't suck!
Speaking of sucking, there was a minor update to the last chapter the day after I uploaded it, to give Amity a bit more dialogue during the fight against Odalia. It's a minor improvement. I recognize that while not terrible, the last chapter may have been a little disappointing or rushed in some segments, and while there won't be any major changes, I'll do what I can to update it in the future. Dealing with burnout, I relied a bit on canon's Clouds on the Horizon as a crutch, and gave Amity the same amount of time against her mother, but that kind of backfired due to the fact that Amity, in canon, is not the main character. She deserved a bit more focus in that scene, and here is hoping that little update made it a bit more tolerable. I appreciate all the feedback, and I hope this chapter is higher quality!
On an unrelated note, I just made a realization that the Boiling Isles may not run on the same time as the Human Realm does. Not in a time dilation way. The Draining spell was activated during the eclipse, while the sun is still out. Meanwhile, it's nighttime back on Earth when they go through the door, and seems to have been for a while based on how dark it is. However, we see at other times that it's nighttime in both places at the same time, like during Grom. This means that the Demon Realm either has longer or shorter days than in the Human Realm, and doesn't run on a 24 hour cycle, or is de-synced, with the Demon Realm being earlier in the day than the Human Realm.
Longer or shorter days could be why Philip can't seem to keep track of how long he's been on the Isles in his diary, if he's still trying to record by human dates. If each day was say, 20 hours instead of 24, that means every 5 days on Earth adds up to being 6in the demon realm, which adds up a lot when you're trying to keep track of human dates.
Either that, or the Isles are specially in a different time zone… This has nothing to do with the chapter, I just wanted to yammer on for a bit while I still had the chance. Not many of these authors' notes are left!
Trigger Warnings: Detailed descriptions of blood, violence that goes beyond what you'd find in canon
"So… this is where you've been staying? It's.. uh, nice?"
Alador did his best to sound sincere, but the stiff, disingenuous smile forced onto his face told the truth. Not that Amity could blame him.
"It doesn't usually look like this!" She insisted, gesturing to the wrecked shell of the Owl House. The place had clearly been assaulted, the living room ransacked with the front facing wall completely gone and the one behind the couch barely standing.
"Belos must have attacked while we were gone," Luz spoke, inspecting the door that lay on the floor amongst the rubble. The socket on the front was empty, Hooty no longer inside of it.
Hunter gazed upon the destruction, using the butt of his staff to dig through the rubble and all the junk that had fallen into a pile onto Eda's floor, hoping he didn't discover a body under it all. "Were we too late?"
The four exchanged looks of worry. Amity shook her head, "No, he couldn't have finished his preparations already. We were barely gone more than a day!"
The sound of footsteps on gravel alerted them, each turning to the front of the house where the sound had come from. Amity drew a glyph, and hunched down, ready to strike should it be an enemy. Luz and Hunter followed her lead, flanking either side of her, Luz with a spell circle at the ready, and Hunter with Flapjack aimed at the giant hole.
A head shaped object popped into view. It was head shaped, because it was a head. A head that the teens knew very well. "Gus?"
"And Willow," the plant witch huffed, coming to step beside her friend. Hunter immediately lowered his staff upon seeing her, planting its base firmly against the floor. Luz bounded forward to her friends, leaping over the rubble that remained of the walls in her way.
"Oh my Titan, you guys are alive! Do you know what's happened since we've been away? What happened to my house? Where are my moms?" The witch squeezed her friends, then looked them over for any damage, breathing a sigh of relief to see not a scratch on either of them.
"You were gone?" Gus asked, glancing over to Amity questioningly. He then saw the round eared man behind her, and let out an excited gasp, hands clamped on either side of his face, "is that a human? You guys went to the human world?! … Without me?!"
Willow elbowed her friend, and answered Luz's question in his stead, "We don't know anything that happened here. But Belos showed up in Bonesborough, with a lot of those Abomatons, and is rounding people up. Our parents sent us to hide here like they did on the Day of Unity, since it's so remote, but… it seems someone got here first."
"You said he's rounding people up?" Hunter asked, "What for?"
"How far is this Bonesborough from here?" Alador inquired as well, adjusting his goggles and fiddling with his remote, "I need to be pretty close for my shut down switch to function."
"Less than an hour on foot, less than ten minutes flying," Gus responded, looking at the new human in awe, hands clasped together, "Are you one of those human sci-ent-tests? Do you have a ray gun? Is it a shrink ray, or a death ray?"
"Those are science fiction, actually," Alador corrected matter-of-factly, "but give me a few weeks working with magic, and I'm sure I can come up with something to augment our tech enough to adjust size. Maybe not a death ray, but a cancer ray would do the same thing in the end, I suppose?"
"Okay, I think that's enough." Amity dragged Gus away, hissing under her breath at the boy, "Don't give him any ideas, please. I still haven't forgiven him for the crimes he's committed already, let's not get into what he might do in the future."
"We don't know why he's doing it," Willow responded to Hunter's questions as she settled in beside the young man. "It all happened so fast. We got out as quickly as we could. But he can't be planning anything good with that many hostages."
"Then we need to go," Luz slammed a fist into her open palm, "If we can get Mr. Blight here close enough to disable the Abomatons, we should be able to weaken Belos enough that the townsfolk can get away and to safety, while we take him down."
It spoke to their bonds of friendship that upon hearing that this human man in front of them was Amity's father, both Gus and Willow put themselves between the two, as if to shield Amity from his sight. Willow was shooting the man glares and put a steady hand on Amity's shoulder, and Gus folded his arms, doing his best to look disinterested in the absolutely fascinating human in front of him.
"Guys, it's fine. It's… complicated. I'm only letting him come along because I don't know how to work the Abomaton's remote, and we have other things to worry about right now." Amity assured the two.
"I'm here to help," Alador stated, looking unconcerned with what two high school aged children thought of him, "If Amity still wants to talk to me after that, that's up to her. For now, let's all focus on making it through the day alive."
He ruffled his hair, looking thoughtful for a moment, "Did you mention something about flying a moment ago?"
"This is both fascinating, and terrifying!" Alador hollered from his place behind Amity as they flew several hundred feet in the air on top of Ghost. "I can't decide if I should take notes, or throw up!"
"If you have to do one or the other, I'd prefer if you took the notes!" Amity grimaced, "Now hold on or you're going to fall."
Alador's lips curled upward into a small smile as he did what she asked, placing his hands on her shoulders to steady himself. "I'm glad to hear that you care, Amity."
"I'd just rather not lose that remote," She bit back, rolling her eyes behind the goggles she'd stolen from him to help against the wind resistance.
"Oh… right…"
Together they soared over the Boiling Isles, Luz and Hunter flying on Flapjack behind them, followed by Willow and Gus on their own respective Palismans. Even from the distance the Owl House was from the town, they could see plumes of smoke billowing from buildings and into the clouds above, staining them black. That darkness in the early morning served as a reminder of the grim fate that Belos was inflicting onto Bonesborough even as they flew.
"I hope Eda and the others are okay," Amity muttered under her breath. "I can't imagine they're just sitting back and letting this happen, but I don't know where they'd be planning their counter atta-"
"HOOT!"
Amity jumped in her seat, skidding Ghost to a halt in mid air as the long brown feathered neck of Hooty burst through the sky right in front of her. The sudden stop made her lose her balance, alongside her father, and they fell, both humans gripping onto the handle of the staff for dear life. "Hooty!"
"There you guys are. I've been looking all over for you. You didn't come home, and I was sooooo worried!" Hooty hooted, craning his head down at them, completely unaware of the danger he'd put them in, and oblivious to them hanging on for dear life.
The others flew to their sides, Luz helping Amity back onto Ghost properly, while Willow and Gus both lent a hand to Alador. The man looked green in the face as he settled back down into his seat, clutching at his stomach, "I'm not taking notes, definitely not taking notes…"
"Hooty, what are you doing out here?" Luz asked, waving the bird tube over to them. "Is everyone else okay? What happened?"
"Well, I was eating a bug, then Eda brought a guest over, and we hung out, and then it got really dark for a bit, then I woke up and ate another bug, then some purple stuff, and now we're on our way into town!" Hooty rambled on happily, beaming at his friend.
"Does that mean you're with my Moms?" Luz craned her neck downward, following the length of neck until it was just a dot far, far below. "Are they okay?"
"We're all right as rain, hoot!" Hooty assured, "They wanted me to come say hi!"
Amity sighed, a relieved smile working its way onto her lips, "We'll be right down. Come on, everyone."
The teens slowly lowered themselves from the sky, taking a few minutes from the height they'd been floating at previously. All the way down, Hooty followed, chatting their ears off, and for once, Amity didn't mind. His presence meant that the others were safe, and okay, despite the horrific scene she'd stumbled upon arriving at her home.
"And then I saw a leaf! And then, another leaf! And wouldn't you know what was behind that? Another leaf, hoot!" Hooty went on, Luz patting his head lovingly as the bird tube continued to tell them about his day so far.
"I'm glad someone is having a good time today, Hooty," Luz pressed a kiss to his forehead, "Someone's got to stay optimistic about our chances."
"Why wouldn't I? You guys are great!" Hooty insisted brightly.
Alador scratched at his scalp as he inspected Hooty's figure, watching him retract downwards, "What a fascinating creature. Excuse me, Hooty, was it? When you die, may I dissect you? For science and my own curiosity, of course."
"Sure thing, new friend! But that could be a loooong time from now!"
The man was happy to have his feet back on the ground, looking much more comfortable there than in the air, and a lot less green in the face. Luz and Amity were otherwise occupied with getting to Eda, who stood a ways off with her arms crossed, beside Camila, who wore Hooty's portable house on her back. "You're safe!"
"And you're both grounded," Eda growled, her kids screeching to a halt in front of her. "Didn't I specifically tell you not to go into the human realm? That Darius would take care of things?"
"Well, yes, but-" Amity started.
"Nope, save it. Grounded." Eda cut off with a slicing motion of her hand. "We'll dish out the punishments if we're all alive by the end of the day. We're heading for Bonesborough now."
"That's where we were heading," Luz rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "If you're on your way, why are you walking? You have wings. And Owlbert."
"We didn't want anyone to see us coming from a mile away, mija," Camila spoke, pointing to the sky, "Like we did with you. It's better to stay low from the ground and keep our element of surprise."
That made sense to the teens. It would take a little longer, but having to go on the defensive before they'd even made it into town would take longer than strolling in on foot unseen. Luz clasped her hands together, looking around the underbrush and trees, looking for the last of their companions, "So, uh, where's King?"
Eda and Camila glanced at each other, and Hooty drooped. Luz frowned, shaking her head, "You- you found him at the castle, right? I couldn't go after him, there was an Abomaton in the way- I…"
"We found him there, don't worry," Eda assured her daughter, pressing a hand to her shoulder. "But… when Belos attacked the Owl House…"
"He took King with him. We believe he's going to use his blood to let the Collector out." Camila finished, eyes downcast.
"No…" Luz's voice broke, and she clenched her eyes shut. The idea of her little brother getting hurt, possibly worse, filled her with despair.
A hand on her shoulder brought her back into focus, Amity giving her a little shake. "We'll save him, Luz. We'll get him back. We have to hurry, though, okay?"
The witch bit her lip, and nodded, Amity pulling her into a quick embrace. Gus and Willow joined, each giving their best friend a squeeze, then letting go, turning back to the adults in charge.
Eda's face was hard to read, everyone knowing she was putting on a tough act for everyone else's sake. She sniffed, then assured the pack of children, "Don't you worry. We got a secret weapon primed to save him, Belos won't see it coming!" She gestured over to some rustling bushes, where something was obscured by the leaves.
As she turned to lead the expedition into town, Eda finally seemed to notice Alador, who offered a small, awkward wave, feeling very lost in this strange new world and wondering what was going on with someone who might be named King, or be the King. "Uh, hi?"
Camila inspected the man, with his mangy hair, tired face, bags the size of dinner plates under his eyes, and his general unkempt appearance. She politely waved back, forcing a pained smile, then leaned in, whispering to Amity, "uh, Carino, who's the hobo?"
Raine glided through the buildings and alleyways on the edge of Bonesborough, keeping their eyes peeled. The townsfolk were being rounded up by Abomatons, ushered towards the center under silent threats of violence if they didn't comply, and Raine had no intention of being captured and forced to follow.
"Uh, Ma'am. Ah, sorry, commander!" Steve stumbled, slapping a hand over his face, "I'm so sorry, the illusion is throwing me off."
"It's fine," Raine inhaled, then turned to face the young man, "You do know you don't have to keep up the Lilith disguise, right? You can make me look like anyone else. She just needed to be seen leaving the castle and going to her parents' place, in case Belos was watching."
The man seemed to realize that as soon as the words were spoken, looking embarrassed, "Of course. She's probably a high profile target anyway. Do you have any preferences on how you should appear?"
The bard shook their head, "As long as it isn't distracting for you." A hint of teasing entered their voice, making the ex-coven scout blush.
"It's not like that, commander. She's just… very pretty."
"You can just call me Raine, Steve. The CATTs are more of a community service than an actual ranked system these days anyway." Raine insisted, allowing a small smile to slip through despite the dire situation they face. Steve recast the illusion spell to make Raine look like a common guard, with a hood up over their face, keeping it in the shadows. The illusion kept the shadows thick enough that no matter the angle, nor how much light there was, no one could see enough of Raine's face to guess their identity.
"Very good. Now, you were trying to get my attention about something?" Raine praised the work, inspecting their new outfit.
"Yes, uh, why are we here? Shouldn't we, especially you, be staying hidden?" Steve asked carefully. "It just seems like this is the last place we should be, since our entire plan hinges on Lilith pretending to be you."
The young man made a decent point, and Raine could see his confusion over the matter. "We're going to try and save King. He's needed to set the Collector free. If Belos had another way to let them out, he wouldn't have bothered taking the little guy. So, instead of having to rely on Lilith, we can nip this in the bud by keeping Belos from being able to start the draining spell at all."
And spell certain doom for the isles, if not the entire Demon Realm, if the Collector was freed. What did it matter if they all survived the draining spell if they had a wrathful god-child who liked to play rough? Raine kept that to himself, though, the two of them had enough doom and gloom to work with as it was.
The pair followed one of the Abomatons as it rounded up another group of helpless citizens. Any that tried to fight back were swallowed into the monsters muck, helpless and bound, hardly able to breathe with only their screaming mouths exposed to the outside world. They were dragged behind the behemoths on the ground, in their prisons and unable to escape, being taken to their doom.
Sneaking by, Raine and Steve were led towards the center of town, where the hostages were corralled. Once the Abomaton they were following dropped off its load of people it joined its siblings in creating a ring around the town square, blocking anyone from leaving without a fight. In the center of the ring, standing in the center of town where his statue had been before it had been desecrated and pulled down by his former underlings, was Belos.
He was dressed in odd, archaic clothing, Raine wondering if that was just human realm fashion, but didn't linger on the thought. He gazed outward onto the sea of people that had been gathered, lips turned upward in what could almost be described as a grandfatherly smile, if not for the hatred in his eyes. The man held in his hands the mirror that Raine had been looking for, making the bard curse. He'd hoped it would be set off to the side, held by an abomaton, anything, but it seemed Belos intended to keep it close to him, where it couldn't be stolen.
The gathering of people wasn't a hundredth as large as it would have been on the skull during the original Day of Unity, but it was still a large crowd of scared people. Raine supposed that was the point, that Belos wanted an audience. The draining spell would surround the entirety of the Isles, after all, it didn't matter to have everyone gathered at the Skull, or in town, outside of ego. Because he could make them, either through devotion or force. Having hostages on hand also kept the riffraff away, so no one tried anything.
King was nowhere to be seen, likely spirited away for the moment. Raine could only grimace as they were forced to watch the next events unfold from the safety of their hiding spot as they waited.
Philip surveyed the townsfolk as they watched on, terror in their eyes as they wondered what exactly he was going to do to them. The mirror's cool surface was in his grip, he had the Titan to bleed, and he had his sacrifices to make the draining spell work. Even the sun was approaching it's zenith, all he had to do was to get the moon into place, and everything would be ready.
He snapped his fingers, and around him, gagged, bound, and on their knees, the heads of his former Coven system appeared, teleported in a mass of bone and flesh that twisted them into shape. Some nodded back into consciousness, the ones that already were awake were glaring daggers at him, but that didn't matter. They simply needed to stay where he needed them. His eyes wandered over to the figure of Raine Whispers, one of the ones staring the most defiantly at him, and Philip smirked.
"I suppose you're wondering why exactly I'm so set in my ways of ending you all," He spoke just loud enough to be heard over the despairing voices of the town as he marched towards the gagged bard. "I suppose I owe you some answers, even if they won't matter to you for long."
The man stood straight, feeling a righteousness swelling in his chest, "They say that there is no one who isn't salvageable. Repent, for we are all children of God and belong in his grace. You, however, are not. You are not children of God, descended from Adam, crafted from clay of the Mother Earth. You crawled your way out of the rotting flesh of the Titan, an undignified, heretical creature. No amount of repentance or prayer, or conversion to the faith will ever save your souls, if you ever had them to begin with."
He leaned into the bard's face, "You were born evil, and you will die evil. You only exist to corrupt the hearts of good men. Your magic is a threat I will not tolerate. No, you witches can join the devils of hell where you belong, and burn for eternity for the sin of being born."
Raine bit down on their gag, chewing on it. Philip imagined they'd very much like to spit in his face right now, and it was only the physical restraint that held them back. Defiant to the very last.
Turning to the mirror in his hands, Belos raised it to eye level, "Now, Collector, are you ready to uphold your end of the deal? I'm going to let you out, and you'll pull the moon where it needs to be. Eclipse the sun, and we can go our separate ways."
The shadow of the Collector nodded his head, "Yeah, yeah! Let's get this over with. Let me out letmeoutletmeout!"
With another snap of Philip's fingers, the Titan appeared, as bound and gagged as the others. Philip couldn't risk him opening his mouth, and had his claws covered and cuffed in front of him as well, just in case. Philip handed the mirror off to one of the Abomatons, who held it out for him at chest height, while the human bent over and grabbed King by his good horn, lifting him for the Collector to see.
King tried to say something, but couldn't form any words while muzzled. Despite that, the Collector seemed to understand his distress, and whispered soothingly and conspiratorially, "Hey, buddy, I know, things look bad right now. Buuuut, he and I aren't friends. We just worked out a new deal! I just need a drop of your blood, a pinprick, really, and then I'll be free again forever! So don't worry about it, I'm sure it won't be too scary."
In his free hand, Philip brandished a knife, the sight of it causing King to freeze up, and immediately start to squirm, fighting to get away from the human who held him aloft. Philip tsked at the Collector, shaking his head, "Now, now, I'm not leaving anything to chance. You'll get as much as I can wring from his little corpse."
The Collector's grin fell. He uttered a short, "What?" Just as Philip reeled his arm back, then thrust the dagger deep in between King's ribs. The last Titan could hardly do more than whimper as he began to bleed, the purple fluids dripping down the blade, it's handle, down onto Philip's wrist, then dripping to the Collector's mirror underneath.
The blood pooled on the reflective surface, staining it, and filling it past the rim of the mirror's frame, but it didn't overflow. Instead, the blood soaked into the very prison the Collector was trapped inside, seeping through the glass. To the beings horror and dismay, it got onto his skin, dripping, raining in from above, covering his face and hair as he looked up through the porthole that was his window to the outside world, now tinted in purple.
Philip dropped King to the ground, where the Titan laid lifeless at his feet. Without hesitation or disgust, he plunged his hand through the bloody mirror, offering it impatiently to the Collector to take. When the eternal child didn't grab at it, too distressed to notice, the ex-Emperor instead roughly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked, ripping him from the mirror, then letting him fall to the ground beside the body of the last Titan.
The Collector pawed at his face with his hands, trying to wipe the blood off of himself. Only it smeared, spreading to his fingers, then his sleeves. It wouldn't come off. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get clean. Usually, that wasn't a problem, he liked getting dirty and messy, but this was different. This time, he didn't think he'd ever feel clean again.
The sound of boots tapping impatiently on stone snapped him out of his mind, Philip looking down on him, looking cross. "I've upheld my end of our bargain. You wouldn't want to break your pinky promise, would you?"
But that wasn't who the Collector was focused on. Instead, he only had eyes for King, who lay limp against the stone. With the rays of sunshine beaming down on him, it reminded the Collector of when King would tell him his favorite part of school was nap time, where he picked the spot by the window so he could lay in the sun and sleep. The Collector decided a long time ago that once he was out, and they had their first play date together, they'd have to end it with one of those naps.
King was just sleeping, right?
The Collector crawled on his hands and knees over to King's side. His body was unused to touching anything that wasn't the smooth, concave surface of his jail, the rough stone tiles feeling unnatural to his touch as he moved. A fuzzy part of his mind told him he could just float, but that didn't matter as much as King did.
The Collector reached out, placing a hand on King's shoulder and gave him a gentle shake, "King? King, wake up…"
The shaking became more frantic and rough the longer King went without responding, "I said wake up! I- I'm out… we're supposed to play together…"
Philip loomed over the two, face set in a grim line. Sternly, he addressed the creature before him, "Collector, I have done as was asked, now you will do as you are told and help me with the draining spell!"
The Collector's eyes turned to face the human who dared order him around, and in those eyes was the fury of an angry god. Philip unconsciously took a step back, gulping down the taste of fear that had built up at the back of his throat. But the wrathful glare weakened as the child clutched the limp body of his friend to his chest, the anger turning into bitter tears as the Collector began to wail and cry.
Philip felt a vein in his temple twitch. He'd been promised an unstoppable god. Someone capable of churning the moon and stars across the cosmos like they were butter in a dash. And yet here Philip was, faced with a sobbing child, clinging to a small demon as if his favorite toy had been broken.
There was no pity in the man's heart for such a sight. He'd burned cities to the ground and seen far worse from the children that had managed to survive. That he'd allowed to survive, to spread the word of Wild Witches, who had mangled their parents and siblings bodies. He wanted what he'd been promised, and he wanted it now.
As if to add to his frustrations, the sound of a scuffle could be heard off in the distance. Rolling his eyes, Philip turned, seeing one of his Abomatons in the outer ring was fighting against something. The trouble was it appeared to be losing. Looking beyond the crowd, Philip could see the giant abomination being hefted into the air by some unseen force, hidden by the crowd, and the next thing he knew it was being hurled his way as if it didn't weigh more than a crumpled up ball of paper, instead of over half a ton.
Philip sidestepped the throw, the remains of the Abomaton crashing and tumbling across the stone before skidding to a halt just before it could crush the tied up coven leaders under its girth. While the crowd of townsfolk took the chance and opening in the Abomatons to funnel through in a hurry, something else barreled through the crowd, pushing against it, then leaping high into the air, slamming down onto the Abomaton before it could get back up, ripping and tearing into it with it's bare hands.
It was a stone creature, half the size of the Abomaton. It's body seemed to be made up of tendons and rock, and around its neck was a red collar with a golden tag that shimmered in the afternoon sun. The creature slammed it's stone hands down onto the abomaton, denting the metal. The Abomaton fought back, hurling a metal fist at the beasts head, knocking it aside, only for the thing to pick itself back up, crack its twisted head back into place, then carry on as if completely unharmed.
Whatever the thing was tore into the Abomaton with no regard to itself, piercing through it's gooey body and tearing parts of its metal skeleton out with a casualness that looped around to be visceral, until the Abomaton couldn't fight back anymore. The moment the light left its target's eyes, the beast lifted its gaze and looked towards the next Abomaton off in the distance. With haste, it picked itself back into its feet, and barreled towards its next target, savagely entering battle once more.
Philip could only gape at the unknown creature as it left as quickly as it had come. The people in the square were taking every chance they could to escape as the other Abomatons left their posts to assist their brethren, and as the crowds started to clear, a group of people Philip was unfortunately acquainted with took their place. Philip looked the human girl in the eyes as she approached, nodding his head in polite greeting. "Amity Blight."
"Belos." She shot right back through grit teeth.
"It's Philip," He corrected sternly, eyes narrowing.
"I don't care." Amity replied back, leaving no further room for argument.
"Where's my kid, you bastard?" Eda shouted as she stomped to the front of the group, eyes narrowed. "I swear, if you hurt one hair on his head, I'll-"
She stilled, threat on the tip of her tongue, but her lips wouldn't cooperate with her. Looking past the tyrant, she could see King's still form being cradling by the still hysterical Collector who hugged him tightly to his chest, and Eda's breath caught in her throat.
"King!" Luz called out, blinking back tears of her own. She tried to race forward, but it was too dangerous for her to go through Belos, Amity holding her back. The witch was forced to stay put, burying her face into Amity's shoulder, not able to make herself look at her brother's body.
"You'll have to pardon the mess," Belos spoke easily, gesturing to one of the surrounding Abomatons to come to his side. "I'm afraid I wasn't able to clean up properly before your arrival."
"You're a monster," Amity sneered at how indifferent Belos was to the pain he caused.
Before the Abomaton could arrive at its master's side, it slumped mid-step, powered off. Around the town square, the others did the same, the light leaving their eyes. Belos twisted his head to the back of the crowd of newcomers, "Oh, and Alador is here. Fantastic. I'm surprised your wife didn't put a stop to you like she promised, but the Oracle Sphere only shows you the best possible future, the best possible version of yourself, and she was always an incompetent woman anyway. Why have you come here? I promised your wife this land. I thought all you two cared about was profits?"
"I came here to put a stop to this," Alador replied, his tone grim. In his hands he clutched tightly the remote that could shut down the Abomatons. "You already made me your Doctor Frankenstein, but I refuse to also be your monster. This ends today."
Belos cocked his head to the side, the reference flying over it, as it did to the witches around Alador. The human scientist seemed to realize his mistake, "oh, right. You're four hundred, and this is a different world…"
"It's okay, Dad, they didn't get my literary references when I got here, either." Amity assured, stroking Luz's hair comfortingly.
Belos shook his head, and turned his back to his foes. Instead he strutted around his captives, placing a hand on "Raine's" head, "You can go ahead and try to stop my forces, Alador. I don't need them. I already have all the pieces I need, and I know those you've allied with are too sentimental to do anything that may cause me to harm their friend here."
He stroked Raine's cheek with a finger, "So, why don't you just stay back, and let me finish what I've started? You wouldn't want me to hurt a hair on their head now, would you?"
Brandishing the dagger he's slain King with, still stained with the Titan's blood, he held it to Raine's neck. The group stilled, not moving an inch as to ensure Raine wasn't bled out by the throat. With a smirk, Belos retracted the dagger, "Very good. You know your places well."
Rearing back, the ex-Emperor backhanded Raine, sending their body falling against the dirt. For just a moment, Lilith blacked out, blinking the stars away after her head hit the ground, but that was enough for the magic illusion she'd cast to break, revealing her true nature to the man.
Belos glared down at her in disbelief, and she did her best to sneer back. A dozen feet away, Eda gave a haughty laugh, "Got all the pieces, huh? You've got a moon that you can't move, a crying child who won't listen to you, and are missing one of your sacrifices. You don't have all the pieces, but you're clearly missing some marbles."
Belos' eye twitched and something inside the man snapped. Without any warning, he thrust a hand forward, not at Lilith, who stared spitefully up at him, or Eda, who openly mocked him, but at Alador. His hand formed into muck, traveling across the distance between the two, and slammed into the other man's center, knocking him to the ground. When it returned to Belos, he held in his grip the very remote needed to control the Abomatons, reactivating them with a press of the switch.
Amity helped her father back to his feet, gasping back up at the former Emperor, "What are you doing?!"
"You're not the only ones with a backup plan! I tried to be merciful. I tried to give you all a relatively quick and painless death, which is more than any of you deserve. But now, now I'm going to have to do things the hard way." The madman raved, pressing another switch on the remote and gave the order. "Abominations, kill everyone you see! Spread across the Isles and slaughter them all!"
Around the plaza, the dozens of Abomatons came roaring back to life, and began to rampage. What was left of the citizens did their best to defend themselves, but if Belos wasn't stopped and the remote retrieved, most of them were going to die, and everyone there knew it.
Willow acted the quickest, and threw up a wall of vines behind them, cutting them off from the Abomatons sights for the moment. "Eda, what do we do?"
Eda looked around, cursing the fact that everyone was looking to her for answers. "Uh, I-"
She turned to look at King's body. Her uncertain expression steeled into one of determination, "Cam, I need you to get to King. If there is any chance he's still alive, he's going to need healing, pronto."
Turning to the kids, she gave another order, "We need all the help we can get. See if you can free the old fogies back there. I'm not sure how far we can trust some of them, but right now I think we can all agree on a common enemy."
Turning to face Belos, she narrowed her eyes, "Alador and I will take this chump, and get the remote back. Now let's go kick some ass!"
Eda rushed forward first, getting up into Belos' face. This distracted the man long enough for Camila to slip by, looping around the two to make her way to King and the Collector. She stilled as she saw the two, heart in her throat as she saw the young Titan she viewed as family unresponsive in the Collector's hands. Swallowing, she pressed onward, despite her fear of the other being. "Niño, I need to see him. I have to see if he's still breathing, okay?"
The Collector glared at her for a moment with tear stained eyes, before sniffling and nodding, letting Camila come in closer. Camila removed Hooty from her back, softly telling him to keep guard over her and King while she worked. The bird tube nodded, his expression solemn as he wrapped his neck around them in a circle that he'd allow no one else to pass. Carefully, Camila pressed a hand to King's chest, feeling for movement. She couldn't feel him breathing. Instead she felt for a heartbeat, and her own heart broke when she felt nothing under the fur.
That didn't mean it was too late, though. He was still warm. It had only been a few minutes. If she could get his heart started again, she might still be able to save King's life. "I need you to lay him on the ground, on his back, okay?"
The Collector wiped at his tear and snot covered face with his sleeve, then did as he was told, surprisingly gentle with King's body. Camila's first step was to isolate the area where King had been stabbed. Finding it, she winced, knowing that with the length of the dagger compared to his small form, it likely pierced a lung, and possibly some other organs. Her strength in school had been in healing, not geography, the anatomy of a Titan was forign to her, so she couldn't be sure.
She did the best she could do with the magic available to her. The wound on King's side slowly started stitching closed with some effort. With her damaged coven brand, her magical ability was a crapshoot, and it clearly showed on her face, sweat beading from her brow as she strained to keep the magic flowing. If she stopped, she wasn't sure she would be able to start again.
She let out a gasp, breathing for air, clutching at her arm. The brand was burning, and the flow of magic was as slow as molasses, "I can't- I can't do it. I'm sorry-"
The Collector wordlessly reached out, placing a bloody, open hand over the brand on Camila's arm. With a single swipe, the thing left, leaving no trace of the brand on Camila's flesh, and leaving her gaping. "How did you-?"
"They were made from my magic. I taught Belos everything he knows about the draining spell," the Collector answered simply, looking up at her with wet, hopeful eyes. "You can fix him now, right?"
The task before Camila was a difficult one, but she could feel a new wave of magic flowing through her. She felt hope, despite the odds. She gave a nod, casting a spell circle, "I will do everything I can. Do you happen to also know any healing magic, pequeño?"
The Collector shook his head, wiping away some of the drying blood that still lingered on his cheek onto his sleeve. Camila breathed out a disappointed sigh, then ushered him close, "Well, now is as good a time as ever for you to learn. I'll need all the help I can get, okay?"
Eda wasn't able to hold back Belos for long. She'd managed to rake her claws across his face, leaving a set of leaking, green gashes that quickly healed. "That's just not fair. Why do I always get saddled with the ones who can regenerate?"
"If it's any consolation, you won't be alive for it to bother you much longer," Belos snapped back, pressing another button on his remote. Alador cried out in warning, but it was too late as an Abomaton tackled Eda from her right side, leaving just the two human men to stare each other down.
"Give me the remote," Alador ordered, holding out his hand. "This doesn't have to continue any farther."
"What remote?" Belos asked, and it would have sounded childish, except that he opened his mouth, far wider than was humanly possibly, the skin breaking around his jaw and revealing his true inner self through the cracks. With his mouth opened wide, he leaned his head back, stuffing the remote into his mouth and down his throat, swallowing it whole.
"That was equal parts fascinating and disgusting," Alador shivered, "If there is anything of you left by the end of the day, I must take a look at it through a microscope."
"So you can do what, exactly?" Belos asked mockingly, "Study me? Find a way to make a profit off my corpse, 'for the betterment of mankind?'"
The tyrant shook his head, "Mankind ill needs a savior such as you. I have no plans to die today. I still have business to attend to. Mankind needs me, to set it back on the correct path. With these horrid witches gone, I'll have free reign over the palismans they leave behind. There aren't much, but there should be enough for another century, maybe two."
Belos continued to rant, "With that extra time, I'll guide humanity back onto the right path. I've seen them, from the elderly to children. Sin and debauchery in every crevice of society. Drunks and addicts, whores and homosexuals. God has been abandoned, and in his place are 'computers,' and other such abominations. There isn't a soul left in Gravesfield that isn't hell bound."
"Times change," Alador admitted, "The world is very different from when I was a boy. It must be infinitely so for someone like you. Have you even bothered to even use one of those computers to learn about everything that's changed? I suppose you just see it as magic at this point, too far beyond what you'd ever have imagined humanity being capable of. You've seen so little of the world in your short time back and already plan on shaping it into your outdated image?"
"I've seen enough, and it needs to change," Belos insisted, snarling. "Everything I've done was to save humanity, and yet they've already doomed themselves. But I'll set things right. Another few centuries, and I can fix them."
Alador turned to look behind Belos, at his daughter, working her hardest to do the right thing and fix her fathers mistakes, "I think they're perfect just the way they are."
"Speaking of," Belos turned his attention away from the other man, focusing on the children trying to rescue the hostages from their bindings, "I have something to take care of."
Alador lowered his goggles over his eyes, then swung his abomination container around his waist, hefting it into his arms like a canon. The device began to surge with power, vibrating hard enough Alador could feel it in his bones, "Not so fast, you-"
Any insult he could fling was cut off as the end of his canon exploded, sending a large wave of goo after Belos. Regrettably, the shot was intercepted by another Abomaton, who hurled itself in front of the blast, taking the full brunt. Alador gripped his device tighter, willing the goo he fired to overtake the Abomaton, to override it from within and bring it back under his command, but the thing resisted, wrestling with him the whole way.
Even as he wrestled with that one, the sound of heavy metal boots sounded behind him. Another Abomaton had been sent to handle him, and the inventor grimaced as he mentally kicked himself for making the things so sturdy.
"Hold on guys, we're coming," Amity called out to the captive coven heads, Luz, Gus, Willow and Hunter by her side. Each of the teens intended on taking one of the Coven Heads each, starting with the ones they knew weren't any trouble. Hunter went for Darius, getting behind the man to get to the ropes that bound him.
"I know, you're probably really mad at me for going through the portal, but I'm fine, I'm back, and we brought help." Hunter made his case, tugging at the ropes, trying to get them off. The magic binding anklet on Darius' ankle made it clear why the man hadn't just turned himself into an abomination and squeezed through the ropes himself.
Beside him, Amity was doing the same for Lilith, while Luz handled Eberwolf, Willow untied Osran, and Gus went after Mason, much to the disgruntlement of the other heads that had once sided with their Emperor, who thrashed against their bindings. They didn't get far, however, before Lilith began frantically grunting, trying to shout a warning to the others before it was too late.
Amity pushed Lilith aside, knocking her to the ground again, and ducked, just in time to dodge a blow from Belos, who had formed his hand into a scythe to cut her down. "You can't leave us alone for five minutes, can you?"
"Where is the fun in that?" The man shrugged, an unhinged smirk working onto his face. "I'm done playing games with you, Blight. You want to be a witch so badly, you can die along with the rest of them."
"Did you say that to Caleb, too?" Amity challenged, placing an ice glyph onto the ground and setting it off.
Belos didn't even bother dodging, tanking the chilled spike that plowed through the center of his chest, completely unphased. His body morphed around it, losing even more of it's humanity as it did so, large, glowing blue eyes forming over his chest as he reformed, growing taller and lankier, horns sprouting from his head.
"… Hunter, why didn't you tell me he could change like that in real life?" Amity called out, as Belos's shape became identical to that of the monster he'd turned into while in his mindscape.
The others abandoned their duties, racing over to Amity's side to defend her from the beast the ex-Emperor had become. He looked down at them with furious, inhuman eyes, claws raking across the stone at his feet, leaving large indents on the surface as he howled like an animal.
Willow cast her spell, wrapping the tyrant up in a flurry of vines, while Amity prepared another glyph. Hunter summoned forth his staff, Flapjack ready to fight beside him and avenge Caleb after all these centuries. Luz hung back, looking between the fight, and the people she was supposed to be helping free, looking torn.
A cloaked pair of figures made their way to Lilith's side, and Luz prepared to defend her aunt, but after they peeled back their hoods, the witch breathed a sigh of relief. "Raine, Steve! I'm so glad to see you!"
"You're doing fine out there, Luz, but we need to get these guys free," Raine spoke quickly, tugging a knife out of their belt and sawing at Lilith's ropes.
"Do you have a key to unlock the anklets?" Luz asked, already fishing through her hair for a Bobby pin since she knew the most likely answer.
Steve shook his head, while Raine gave a shaky smirk, "No, but I was best friends with Eda in high school. I'm a bit rusty, but these locks can't be any worse than the ones Faust used to have on his office, we'll crack through them shortly."
"Good," Luz answered, no longer conflicted. She tossed Steve her pin, then turned her back on the two, heading over to help her friends out, "I'm needed elsewhere, take care of them!"
"Wait, Luz!" Raine cried, then groaned, "This would go a lot faster if we had two people helping."
Lilith's hands were freed, and she tugged at the gag in her mouth, "And you may have been Eda's best friend, but I was her sister and had to get her out of twice as much trouble. Give me one, I'll help you get the others out."
The enby bard gave a laugh, tossing Steve the knife to cut the others loose, while they focused on getting the anklet off of Darius, "I've never been so happy to know someone was a terrible influence before."
One by one, the coven heads were freed, rubbing their raw wrists from where the rough ropes had dug into their flesh over the past few days. All that remained was getting the anklets off the ones who had remained loyal to Belos all those months ago. Looking down at Terra, Adrian, Hettie and Vitimir, Raine gripped the Bobby pin in their hand tightly, lips downturned at their former coworkers. "If I free you, will you help us?"
Graye, always an opportunist, nodded eagerly, "Of course, anything, just get this damn thing off of me!"
The others weren't so forthcoming. "How do we know you won't just throw us back in prison once you're done with us?" Hettie asked, voicing their thoughts.
"You don't," Raine stated plainly. "You were all judged and found guilty. I have no power to let you run free."
Seeing their downturned lips and hearing their grumbles, Raine gestured around them, "But is prison any worse than this? If you don't help, we will all die, yourselves included. I'm not in charge of your fates, but you might be able to convince the people who are by doing something halfway decent for once in your lives, and defending the civilians, like you were supposed to do when you were chosen as Coven Heads!"
The three fell silent under Raine's tongue lashing, until finally Terra heaved a heavy sigh, "Very well. We'll do what we must. Let us go, and we'll keep his creatures at bay."
Vitimir shrugged, shoulders sagging, "It's better than dying here, I suppose." The poisonous potion maker agreed.
Raine gave Lilith a nod, and together they unlocked the bindings, freeing the coven heads of their magical restraints, each of them surging to their feet, feeling the second wind hit them as their magical abilities returned to their bodies.
"Your priorities are the people, get them out, keep them safe, fight off any of the Abomatons targeting them." Raine ordered, pointing to the areas that seemed in the most need for help.
The 4 disgraced leaders nodded, each taking one of the directions Raine had pointed off to. Mason and Osran joined them, Mason backing up Vernworth's illusions along with his son Steve, while Osran teamed with Vitimir, leaving just the original coven heads to rebel against Belos remaining in the center of the square.
Even from here, Raine could see Eda struggling against her Abomaton, putting up a decent fight, but outmatched in every way. "We need to backup our people. Darius, Eberwolf, there was a human back there fighting off two of these at once, go help him. Lilith and I will help Eda."
They didn't leave any time to argue, even though it was clear Darius wanted to. Rather than listen to his complaints, the bard turned and bolted for Eda's location, Lilith right behind them, leaving Darius alone with Eber. The man growled, crossing his arms, "Let's make this quick, then help out the kids."
The goop man literally flowed through the battlefield, getting over to Alador's location with relative ease. Eberwolf hopped along the stone streets after his friend, easily and athletically leaping over the wreckage of the buildings and markets that had been destroyed in the Abomatons rampages since Belos pulled the trigger on them.
Alador seemed to be doing well for himself, not having seized total control of the Abomaton that had taken his blast, but having enough influence on its movements to pit it clumsily against the second Abomaton that had attacked him. The Abomatons hadn't been programmed to fight against anything as large as themselves, which rendered both machines locked into what might as well be the world's biggest game of rock 'em sock 'em robots as the two behemoths hurled punches at each other, while Alador stayed at a relatively safe distance.
"So, you're the hack who's made all this mess for us to clean up," Darius' pompous tone snidely called out as he reformed beside Alador. The human raised a brow at the man, wondering if he was friend or foe.
"I see, another person who completely fails to understand my work," Alador responded, looking away from Darius and back to the fighting Abomatons, to better control his influence. "As much as I regret their usage, no one can make me change my mind about their ingenuity. Each of these are a masterpiece of machinery."
"And an insult to magic!" Darius shot, cracking his knuckles. At his knee, Eberwolf rolled his eyes at their antics, just wanting to get the fighting over with.
"How about you and your pet make yourselves useful, and do something about these things, if you're so offended by them?" Alador responded testily, having his Abomaton send a knuckle sandwich right in the face of the second one.
"Fine!" Darius rose to the challenge, forming his body into a full on abomination and surging forward, overtaking the second Abomaton, sinking himself into the goop that made up its flesh much the same as Alador was doing. Bending the Abomaton to his will, he made it rear back, and slam a fist into Alador's, which sent it to the ground, sputtering as broken gears were exposed from it's armored sections.
Eberwolf took the chance to leap inside the monster, tearing out anything his little paws could reach, eventually emerging from the smoking wreck holding onto the Abomaton's main power source with a proud smile on his face, his fur covered in engine grease.
From there, Darius bent the innards of his Abomaton to his will, slowly crushing the machine from the outside like a soda can. The process was slow and taxing, though his load was lifted from his shoulders when Alador recalled his goo from the fallen giant and sent it to aid Darius in his endeavor, the two not stopping until the Abomaton was a twitching wreck laying in the middle of the now mostly vacant market square.
"You know, as fun as it was to build them, it was pretty satisfying to destroy them as well," Alador pondered, rubbing the five'o'clock shadow that covered the majority of his chin.
"I'll give you that, at least," Darius said in agreement. Holding out his hand, "Darius Deamonne."
"Alador Blight," The scientist responded, grasping the hand to give it a shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Let's not go that far," Darius smirked, while Eberwolf gagged at their banter.
Eda growled as she tried to pick herself up off the ground for the fifth time this fight. The Abomaton wasn't going down, no matter what she tried. Her claws were dulled from her attempts to pry the plates off the thing, wings tired from attempting to fly circles around it, even Owlbert was tired from all the magic she'd tried to eradicate it with.
She was on her last leg, and this was just one of the dozens of the damned things still tearing the plaza apart.
She was saved as a blast smashed into the Abomatons face, drawing attention away from her. Raine suddenly entered her field of vision, wrapping an arm around her waist and scooping her up as best they could, while Lilith used what little magic she still had to pelt the giant abomination with a rain of pinpricks.
"Edalyn, are you okay?" Lilith called out, before diving away from a stretched fist from the Abomaton.
"I'll be fine, Lil', thanks for the save," Eda replied back, huffing and puffing. She tried to stand on her own two feet, her inner Owl Beast protesting, wanting them to flee while they still could. "Quiet you."
Instead she gripped onto Raine's shirt, giving them the stink eye, "Why is it that your plans never seem to work out, huh?"
"That's why you have a backup plan," Raine insisted.
"This was the backup plan!" Eda hollered back.
"Did I say plan? I meant that this is why it's good to have backup," Raine chuckled sheepishly, straining to smile against their odds.
"Good thing I brought my own, then," Eda drawled, rolling her eyes. She put her claws to her lips, and blew, letting out a sharp whistle. No sooner had it sounded did the same flurry that started this assault fling itself across the battlefield, slamming into the nearby abomaton hard enough to knock it on its side, then raining down hardened fists that dented the creature's torso with each blow.
"What is that thing?" Raine breathed, pushing up their glasses and paling as the thing kept hammering away at the Abomaton with repeated blows.
"That, my friend, is Jean Luc. He's a buddy of King's! He needs magic to work properly, and the symbol on King's collar, which was carved into the doorway of the castle we dragged Luc out of, woke him right up." Eda explained, grinning like a maniac as she watched the golem wreck the Abomaton that had given her so much trouble.
"I'm glad it's on our side," Raine rasped weakly as Jean Luc tore the mechanical heart out of the Abomaton with its bare hands and threw it aside like trash.
"Let's hope he stays on our side. He only listens to King, and only bothered to help because I said he was in trouble," Eda warned, and the two wisely backed off, joined by Lilith who scampered over to stay out of Jean Luc's way as it pounced at yet another nearby foe.
Raine took the chance to usher a few remaining civilians to safety. A sense of relief welled up inside the bard when, in the distance, he could see masked individuals among the remaining crowd. None of them had been there when this had started, but they'd come into danger on their own to help. Harvey's large form stood out, as did Viney's, the small witch guarded by the larger as she patched up a few of the wounded on the outskirts of battle.
Turning their attention back to Eda, Raine's hopeful expression dipped, seeing Eda's own face set in a serious line. Bowing their head, Raine spoke softly, "I'm sorry, Eda. I was here to see what happened with King, but I couldn't find an opening or make it through the crowd in time."
"He's not gone yet," Eda insisted, flexing her claws irritably. "Cam's going to patch him up. And don't blame yourself for this."
"My plan put him in harm's way-" Raine started, but was cut off.
"Belos was going to come for him anyway. You want to blame anyone, blame him. Until then, let's focus on ruining that bastard's day," Eda snapped, turning away from her friend to focus on what was around them.
Raine nodded, and helped Lilith move on of the wounded witches out of harm's way, clearing the battlefield before the next fight could break out.
Amity almost wasn't fast enough to block the next blow, only just managing to bring up a wall of ice to stop it. Belos wasn't letting up, fully intending on killing all five of them with his bare hands if he needed to. Every so often, a part of his body would glow, indicating that one of the glyphs carved into that portion of flesh was about to be used. Even as Amity brought up ice to defend herself, he had readied his own glyph to send a beam of molten red energy to melt it.
It didn't seem to matter what restraints they tried to bind him with. If he couldn't tear through them, he'd simply teleport out. Walls of ice, ropes of vines, rings of fire, nothing so much as slowed the monster down. He was like a human Abomaton, using the loosest definition of human possible.
"This isn't working" Gus grunted, slowly and painfully picking himself off the ground after being knocked aside by one of Belos' arms. "If we can't get him to stop physically, maybe we can shut him down mentally."
Gus reached for the small pin that he kept on a necklace around his neck that he'd taken from Graye back during the man's assault on Hexside, and held it aloft, the area around them coated in the blue glow of illusion magic. Despite sounding like a good plan, both Amity and Hunter cried out for the boy to stop, knowing just how mentally strong the ex-Emperor was after four hundred years of practice.
"Gus, wait, stop!" Amity called out, but the boy couldn't hear her, already in Belos' head. He shuddered at what passed through his vision, eyes glowing the same blue as his magic, while Belos clutched at his head and howled in pain, forced to relive some of his worst memories.
Hunter wasn't taking any chances, and raced towards his friend, tackling Gus and using Flapjack to quickly teleport them a short distance away, just as Belos broke free of the mental manipulations to slam a fist down on the spot Gus had just been standing.
Taking a piece of the rubble from the stone he'd just smashed, Belos flung the shards in Amity's direction, intending for the hurled shrapnel to take her out. Amity froze up as they came her way, only able to think to cover her face before they could hit her. Thankfully, instead of the sharp stones reducing her to ribbons, she felt herself yanked up into the air, pulled away from the attack. "Luz?!"
"Haha! We did it! We're flying! Way to go Owlbuqueque!" Luz's feathered form above her cheered, arms up in the air. Amity's shoulders were clamped in between Luz's taloned feet, the young witch having turned herself into a harpy, and was fluttering in the air on wings that still appeared too small to hold that much weight up. Amity let out a laugh, as floating just above Luz was Ghost, fluttering the harpy girl up with a levitation spell of her own. Luz's face fell as she realized that fact, letting out a small groan, "Shoot, guess I'm still not ready to fly."
Ghost moved the two of them to safety, reforming back into a cat to rest at Amity's feet. The human girl panted, taking a moment to try and find her second wind. No matter how she looked at it, no matter how hard they hit Belos, he just kept reforming. They were never going to win at this rate, not anymore than they had with any of their encounters with the Abomatons.
Luz, who seemed ready to rejoin the fray now that she had entered Harpy Mode, picked up on Amity's worry. Careful of her claws, the witch gripped both of Amity's shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze, "You're overthinking it, Sweet Potato. Or maybe not thinking it through enough."
Amity took one of Luz's hands and lifted it to her cheek instead,leaning into her girlfriend's touch, "What do you mean?"
Luz sent a caring smile, "Think about it. You've beaten him before, but how did you do that? You never did it through brute force, but by out thinking him. Stop thinking about how we best him with our strength, and start thinking of a plan to get around him. You're clever, with a big 'ol brain, you'll figure it out."
Luz pressed a kiss to Amity's forehead, letting it linger for just a moment, then pulled away, turning back to the fight ahead. Hunter and Willow were doing their best to do the bulk of the combat, while Gus supported them with his illusion, but there was only so much the three could do without Luz, or Amity, backing them up.
Amity watched as Luz went, then closed her eyes in an attempt to focus her thoughts. Luz was right, she wasn't thinking this through. She needed a way to circumvent his recovery. Burn through his magic. Could they drain him, like he tried to do to the witches? Vee wasn't here, and Amity suddenly regretted having her stay behind, because she was perfect for the job. Instead, the basilisk was stuck back on Earth. If she was even capable of draining his magic. He used glyphs, like Amity did, just in a far more gruesome way.
Without consciously meaning to, Amity grasped the key around her neck at the thought of the Human Realm, running her fingers across the battle worn string that had acted as the necklace. It was frayed, battered, and barely holding on, much like Amity and her friends. Amity gripped the key tightly, squeezing it so hard she was sure she'd break the hardened glass that contained the Titan's blood as she tried her best to come up with a plan.
Vee on Earth. Draining spells. Burn through the magic. Get to the man beneath.
Amity's eyes opened wide, and she found her answer. Tearing the key from her neck, snapping the last few threads of string holding it together, she raced towards her friends.
Willow tried making a man-eating plant, but the time it took to sprout had been too much, and Hunter had to save her, scooping her into his arms and teleporting away. Both teens fought identical blushes on their cheeks as the boy quickly set his captain down, Willow very concerned with brushing her clothes off in the moment as Amity almost slammed into them, "I've figured it out! I know how to beat him!"
"How?" Hunter practically begged, casting glances at Belos's hulking form that was barely being held back by Luz's claws at the moment.
Amity shook her head, "No time, I just need you to follow my lead. Get him to go through, even if you have to push him to make him fit, got me?"
"No?!" Willow balked, looking at Amity as if she'd cracked.
Amity didn't pay her any mind, instead racing over to Gus for a moment to get his help. With a nod of his head, he agreed to what she had to say.
Luz was faltering under Belos' strength, the two of them hand in hand and trying to force the other back. Luz's harpy strength gave her a lot of physical power, but the sheer force of Belos's deformed muscles and his will combined made the man unable to give an inch, where she was giving several. She grit her teeth, looking the man-turned-monster in his ugly mug and glared. As she stared him down, Luz's eyes caught a hint of lavender racing behind Belos, Amity summoning the portal door in a flash of light, then opening it. As quickly as it appeared, an illusion was thrown over it, making it disappear.
Luz cocked a brow, but with her attention stolen in the moment, Belos took his chance and knocked her off balance, lifting her stumbling form off her feet, above his head and then throwing her to the dirt. Luz winced, gripping her ribs as they screamed in pain, her harpy form dissipating as the Owl Beast inside her retreated, too afraid to fight any longer.
Belos bore down on her, snarling and growling, his mouth unable to properly form words as it was. He hunched, looking like he intended on taking a chunk out of Luz's flesh with his teeth, when a small rock bounced off his skull. He turned around, looking at who had dared to throw such a thing.
Amity stood defiantly a dozen feet away, gesturing for Belos to come and get her. She stood alone, easy prey to take down without her friends beside her, and Belos roared, stomping his feet as he raced in her direction.
Amity, eyes wide in fright, wisely turned around and ran, sprinting through the invisible door. Belos followed after, reaching out to snag her off the ground, and squeeze the life out of the girl who had made a fool of him. Only to find himself stuck, jammed and wedged inside of a doorframe too small for him to squeeze through. His eyes frantically darted around, partially blinded by the light of the sun above him.
Blue skies, green trees, and snow on the ground. Buildings he walked by as recently as the week before, and a statue that bore his and his brother's likeness. This was Gravesfield. Why was he in Gravesfield?
He tried to pull himself back through the door, but he was resisted by the hands of four witches on the other side, pushing and shoving, trying to force him into the Human Realm, where all of humanity could see what he had become. Even now, he could see people who had been out just enjoying the Winter's day taking out their phones to record him, and shamefully he hid his face with his hands as flashes went off.
Amity laughed at Belos, who's fragile ego put his appearances among humanity above his own self preservation. Without the use of his hands to push back against the doorframe, the monstrous man was forced through, the witches stepping through themselves to keep him from retreating, shutting the door behind them.
They five circled around Belos, who now had his back to his own statue. He grit his teeth and flailed, trying to smack them aside. Amity sent a mocking grin at him as they all dodged. Each of them prepared a spell, Ghost glowing in Amity's hands, "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or are you just too ashamed to go all out now that everyone can see what you really are? You never had a problem blasting us with spells before, why start now?"
Belos slammed his fist on the ground angrily, then lunged forward, seizing the girl in his hands and lifting her into the air. His eyes glowed a sickly blue as she continued her taunting, calling upon his glyphs to work a petrification spell that would freeze her as solid as the statue that decorated that very park.
Instead of turning into stone in his grip, Amity merely smirked. It was only when the searing pain began to etch into his flesh that he realized he recognized that glimmer in her eye. The one that had appeared when they had first met, and she had walked away holding all the cards. "It's like I told you, Belos. You've lost at your own game. You lost the moment you decided to go up against a Blight."
"What magic is this?" His twisted mouth screeched as he dropped the girl so he could claw at his skin, where he'd carved his glyphs with a knife so long ago. The green flesh sizzled and burned, turning to ash and fading into the chilling winter wing.
"It isn't," Amity responded, disturbed at the sight of the man's fading body and howls of pain. "It's a lack of it."
Amity backed away from Belos, rejoining her friend's sides as she looked up at him with a cold look. Willow gulped, keeping her spell circle trained on their foe. "Amity, what's going on?"
Amity didn't tear her eyes away from Belos, even as she started explaining to the others what was going on, "I realized he'd never used magic here. He hates it so much, he probably couldn't bring himself to after 400 years of having to. And he just couldn't have. There's no magic here in the Human Realm. The paper shriveled and turned to ash when I tried using my glyphs, and his body's covered in them."
She pointed to the statue directly behind Belos, giving directions to her friends. With a nod, Willow and Luz cast identical spells, sending plant magic into the earth below their feet to summon up roots from the nearby trees that lashed out, wrapping around the arms of the statue of the man before them. "You're the paper in this situation, Belos. You're already beginning to shrivel, won't be long now until you're nothing but dust in the wind!" Amity called out, not knowing if he had heard a word she had spoken to him if the pain was as unbearable as he made it seem.
Hunter joined Willow, and Gus helped Luz as they tugged with all their strength to pull against the roots, the statue creaking under the strain of the magical plants and teenagers trying to topple it. Belos was hunched on his knees, screeching in agony and clawing at the flesh on his back, trying to tear it off before it could spread, even as his skin began to flake off and float in the wind. Cracks were forming all along his body, which was already starting to fall apart.
"I hope you enjoyed looking upon your legacy, Witch-Hunter, because it's about to come crashing down," Amity joined the others, thrusting Ghost forward to cast her own plant spell, digging her heels into the snow covered dirt and pulling with all her might. Finally, the statue gave. Belos craned his head upward just in time to see his likeness falling on top of him, crushing the man under the weight, reducing him to nothing more than a cloud of ash that billowed in the breeze, and staining the once white snow grey.
Amity breathed in the cold air, feeling it for the first time since she crossed over. She leaned heavily against Luz, both girls too tired from the days events to do much else. Beside them, Gus took a look around, mouth open wide as he took in the sights around him. The buildings, the snow, the blue skies. "This is the human realm? It's… amazing! Beautiful!"
"And cold," Willow rubbed at her arms, feeling the chill sink into her as the adrenaline began to fade. Hunter hesitatingly put an arm over her shoulder, lending her his body warmth, an act that had both red in the face. Attempting to look anywhere but at each other, Willow's eyes met those of the remaining statue that had been erected in the park. Her mouth formed an O as she realized who that had to be.
"That's Caleb," Hunter said quietly as Flapjack perched on his shoulder, "Caleb Wittebane."
Hunter gave the statue of his predecessor a respectful nod, "We took care of your brother for you. I hope you can rest easier now."
Willow leaned against the young man, looping her arm around his waist, "He looks like he was a good man. I'd like to learn more about him."
Hunter chuckled, nervously looking down at his shoes, "So would I. Someday. Maybe we can, uh, learn together?"
"You two are ruining the moment," Gus insisted, gesturing around them, "We're in the human world! Appreciate that fact with me for a while, won't you?"
Luz laughed at her friends as Amity pulled away, trudging towards what little remained of Belos. There, scattered among the ashes and snow, trapped under the statue of the man least deserving of one, was the remote for the Abomatons. Amity didn't spare any final words for the remains of the man, he didn't deserve them, instead getting down on her knees, fishing the stolen device out with her hands, then carefully got back up, lifting her prize for the others to see, "Come on, we need to put a stop to this."
"Wait, wait, wait," Gus shook his head frantically, "Can't we stay, like, two more minutes? I need to talk to the other humans first, even just to say hi!"
Amity glanced around at the people Gus was gesturing wildly to. The crowd, with their phones, all watching with wide eyes at the displays of magic these teenagers had performed right in front of them.
Amity tensed up, then swallowed. Holding out her arms, she stiffly addressed them all, "Thank you all for coming out to the, uh, show! We would like to thank Blight Industries for allowing us the chance to show off our… State of the art practical effects! Coming soon to stores near you! They'll reshape the entire industry of… theater!"
She awkwardly began to shove her friends over towards the door, pushing them through even as she spoke, Gus fighting back to wave at some of the onlookers. "Right, uh, again, thanks for checking out our show, and make sure to look us up on our website, at…" she quickly mumbled some nonsense, then grabbed the door handle, slamming it shut behind her, then used the key to make it vanish, hoping she hadn't just shattered the veil of normality among the human population.
Amity had more important things to focus on right now anyway, and fiddled with the remote, only to remember that nothing on it was labeled and she still didn't know what any of the buttons and switches did. Thankfully, her father wasn't that far off, and she and her friends ushered towards him, passing it off for him to shut the remaining Abomatons down.
Alador wasn't the only one lingering around, as Amity was quick to realize everyone was here. There being where King had fallen, his body still lifeless and bloodied, held in Camila's arms. The mood was somber as they milled about, waiting for word about King's condition. Luz stepped beside her mother, grasping Eda's hand tightly. Beside them, Jean Luc kneeled, head bowed in eternal reverence to his fallen Titan.
Camila sat, her hand pressed down against the purple soaked ground, with the Collector standing behind her with a hand on her shoulder. Camila's eyes were wide open, as if in a trance, magic making them glow. Unlike what Amity had seen on the rare occasion of magical overflow, where one's magical track of choice literally colored their magic, Camila's eyes glowed pure white.
Whatever she was doing, whatever spell she was trying, from the looks of it she was drawing power from the spilt Titan blood at their feet, and channeling the Collector's energy, all in a bid to get King to open his eyes.
The light faded, the blood spent and dried, crystallized on the stone where it had fallen. Everyone looked down, waiting for something, a reaction, anything. Still, King didn't move. Each and everyone of them held their breaths, praying to the Titan for King to draw one in their stead, until finally, finally, he did.
Choking, and sputtering, the King of all Demons cracked open his yellow and purple eyes, looking right up into Camila's. His claw weakly reached out to her, and she took it, his voice weakly calling out, "Mama?"
"I'm here, Mijo, I'm right here," Camila assured him gently, tears of relief and joy sprouting from the corners of her eyes.
Eda was right there with them, brushing a hand over King's skull, "You're going to be okay, son. We're both here for you. But take it easy, you've lost a lot of blood."
King nodded tiredly as a wave of emotions swept through the crowd of all his closest friends and family. Luz held onto Amity tightly, both girls clinging to one another as they cried, just happy to hear King's voice again. Gus sniffled, wiping at his damp eyes with his sleeve. Willow dabbed at her own eyes, while Hunter looked away, biting his lip and trying to contain his own emotions.
The adults, Raine, Darius, Eberwolf and Alador, were all in various states as well. Raine had to take their glasses off to keep them from misting over, while Darius clapped a hand on Hunter's shoulder, his own eyes dry, but encouraging his ward to not feel he had to hide his tears. Alador was the only one without enough context to grow emotional, but even he understood the weight of the moment, and kept his mouth shut and head bowed.
Hooty, meanwhile sobbed messily and openly, crying into Lilith's arms, the older woman hardly keeping herself together, overwhelmingly happy for her sister's family to have managed to bring their boy back to the world of the living.
"Come on," Eda helped Camila to her feet, while the other woman kept a hold on King, "Let's get you home, and get you some medicine to replenish all that lost blood. Then you need to rest, I mean it, young man. No leaving your bed for a wee-"
As everyone turned towards the direction of home, they found themselves face to face with the blue and yellow elephant in the room. The Collector raised a single hand, giving them a short wave in greeting, "Hi!"
A/N: My aim with the Collector is not to portray them as good or evil, but as a child who barely has a concept of either of those things. He doesn't disregard them, he just… doesn't understand them. He doesn't have the mental maturity for it. This can make him a very scary foe, but also, he's a child. He doesn't care if one of the mostly identical toys in his toy box breaks, because he has a literal million of them. But a friend, like King, who he loves and sees as a person on his own level? He's gonna react to that with some shock, horror, and overwhelming sadness he isn't emotionally capable of handling.
Sure, he could have broken Belos before being rendered into a weeping pile of mush, but he wasn't in a rational state of mind, to overcome with newfound feelings of grief. And that doesn't make for a thrilling climax. Don't take Belos' berating attitude as him holding any power of the Collector, nothing in the man's arsenal could even scratch the boy and they both know it when they're rational.
So, yeah, King died for a minute there. Kind of metal that it took the arcane power of his own blood and channeling the power of a chaotic neutral god-child to bring him back. That's just what happens when you don't have a defibrillator on the boiling isles. Or the necronomicon.
I actually accidentally foreshadowed the events of this chapter? I didn't initially plan on killing King, or having him there at all(in the Titan's blood sense, he'd have had a different role in the climax, fighting alongside the others). Belos was going to use an Abomaton to free the collector, since it's fused with King's blood, but it occurred to me rather late that Belos wouldn't know about that. So I went with him taking King. After this was written, I realized I had already written the school chapter, where King more or less asks what the Collector would do in this exact situation. If you recall, the answer was he'd crush anyone who hurt King, while blowing it off. He wasn't ready for the truth of the matter.
I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but both here and in "An Unhallowed Mind" Belos/Philip is changed in the narration at certain points. In AUM, he's Belos, then Philip when he goes to reveal he's human, then goes back to Belos when Amity denies him his humanity. Here, he's Philip when the narration is following him, then it abruptly switches back to Belos when Amity arrives and tells him she doesn't care what he calls himself.
Belos… come on, he's got to die like that in canon, right? I'm calling it, they had to have some reason to show glyphs not just not working, but disintegrating in the human realm, and his skin is covered in them. And he doesn't know that they don't work there. It's one of the things Luz knows about glyph magic that Belos doesn't despite their experience gap. Also, he's still alive after being rendered into a puddle of goo, I think disintegration is the only way to kill him left. Maybe he can use the palisman's magic he's absorbed as a bile substitute, but I'm under the impression that's all that's keeping him alive, so either way he'll die.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" may seem like a bizarre take on Belos, who seems to use tech a lot in his magic, namely his staff, but you have to remember, that staff is in itself magical. It's called magitech for a reason, and he likely doesn't see it as any different from, say, glyphs, which, as magic, he also despises, but isn't above using for his own goals. He's from the mid 17th century, computers must look like sin machines powered by arcane sources to him. Man? Harnessing the power of electricity? Flying in metal tubes in the sky? They dare to play God?! For reference, my Great Grandmother was an outcast in her church because she dared to own a TV.
Now we just have the epilogue left to go, and we're done. This has been a long journey with you all, and I'm so happy to have had you here with me to read it. I'll see you again soon.