An: A very long chapter for you to make up for me not being able to update until next week or later sorry but it's a family reunion sort of… not really but my cousins are coming so that counts for something right… right… any way here's 17 pages more… and 6379 words… and the longest chapter I've ever written… anyway here it is…
Damn. Then how the hell do we get her OUT OF THE HOST?" Riven lamented.
Remy thought for a few seconds, and then his face grew hard.
"Break his back."
Riven and Flora looked at the brown haired teen.
"What?"
"You heard me. Break his spine! If the host is a paraplegic, Darcy can't use it! Which means she leaves, and we have a chance."
"And it means Yusuke is crippled for life! Damn it Remy, you can't be serious!" Riven retorted.
"Do you think I want to hurt him?" Remy snapped back. "We're out of options!"
"But…!"
"Dammit Riven, magic can regenerate nerve tissue! Healers can heal injuries! Together, they can undo the damage, but they can only do that is if we get Darcy out and destroy her!"
"But…"
Remy looked at the Riven, his face grave.
"I didn't want to do this Riven, but I'm asserting my command. I order you to break his spine! Now either accept or be recalcitrant, but do it quick. You have two choices and five seconds to make it. PICK. ONE." Remy ordered.
Jones who had woken pushed rubble of her and looked at Darcy, sighing Jones let her demon half loose as she left of supersonic scream which disoriented Darcy, touching Remy's mind with her own she flew up and headed towards Darcy.
Sweat stung Jones eyes as she drew in close, behind Darcy, who was still recovering from the supersonic scream, holding her breath so she didn't breath in superheated air and suffer Jade's fate, as she laced her hands together and swung them back, as Darcy realized that someone was behind her…
Jones hands slammed against Yusuke's back, and Darcy was smashed downward into a freefall, as Jones stopped and gasped, trying to get some air into her lungs and wondering if she had succeeded…
And then Darcy stopped with a scream. Jones heart sank. She hadn't gotten the proper impact behind the blow: the sweat had made her hands slip just a bit and bleed off the contact needed to cause the crippling injury. And while in the end Jones was grateful all she had given Yusuke was a deep bruise, she realized that her failure was going to have serious repercussions.
"DAMN YOU!" Darcy screamed. "DIEEEEEEEEEE!"
And Darcy coiled her body inward and then snapped out all her limbs, and fire exploded around her and erupted in all directions, deadly super fast fireballs that flew everywhere. Jones gasped and tried to dodge, but one clipped her and made her spin out, which allowed two more fireballs to slam into her and explode, sending her smoking body crashing into the ground.
"DAMN!" Riven cursed, as he threw one of his arm shields to guard against the outpouring of fury. A myriad of flame orbs slammed into the shield and other parts of Riven's body, and his eyes widened as his heat shield turned red. Having no choice, Riven retreated to cool off.
Down on the ground, Remy cursed as he ran between the downward-aimed fire spheres, as Darcy finally reappeared, her ball of fire fading from around her. Remy aimed and fired at Darcy, both guns blazing freezing energy, but Darcy saw it coming and threw up a fire shield. The ice beams didn't go through, even though Remy poured on the power for several seconds before he cut off, not wanting to overload the guns…
Darcy swooped down at him, her hands blazing flame, and Remy cursed again and ran for it. Fireballs came raining down towards him, destroying an entire street as Remy ran, leapt, swung…and was caught, blown forward by the last wave of blasts. Not in a way he couldn't control through, as he did a few turning flips and landed facing the opposite way he had been running.
As Darcy fired off her final blast of flame at Remy. His eyes widened, and he tried to get his guns up to freeze it, but it was too fast…
And then a bolt of dark energy slammed into the blast from the side, knocking it away from Remy and into the lower floors of a building. They exploded, and then the building buckled and collapsed towards Remy: he ran backwards to avoid it, everything in front of him being swallowed by the dust and smoke.
Flora floated down next to her lover.
"She's coming." She said, as her fingers did what looked like a few random motions to Remy, but was really Flora drawing ruins in the ice, as icy winds again swirled around her fingers. Remy nodded, and brought up his guns.
The dust cloud split apart as Darcy flew through it, heading for the two.
Three beams of intense freezing power flew at the flame spirit.
And a white hot blast of flame came from Darcy's hands, the two sides meeting in an catastrophic interface: when intense hot and cold suddenly and violently mixed together, the results were…explosive.
The explosion battered all the buildings around Flora, the Renegade leader, and spirit, shaking the whole city like an earthquake
Remy and Flora weren't in the best of shape though: the explosion had sent them both flying backwards at high speed, and while their respective talents saved them from being smashed to bits, getting blasted through a building (albeit a strangely softer one then usual) and then bouncing along the ground a few times was never pleasant. The two came to a stop.
"Ugghhh… Remy, you ok?" Flora asked as she floated up, her cloak shredded. Remy got up, shaking his head.
"Um, Remy…your arm." Flora said, noting that Remy's left arm was hanging at an odd angle, dislocated again. Remy snorted, and snapped the limb back in, Remy screaming through his teeth. Flora didn't need to be an empath to feel that.
"I don't suppose the explosion affected her as badly as it did us." He asked.
"No, the fact that she's heading right for us like a freight train would suggest otherwise." Flora replied.
A giant ball of flame flew at the couple: Flora threw up an energy shield. The fireball struck it and exploded, and while the shield absorbed some of the impact, it wasn't enough as it shattered and sent the couple flying again, as Darcy flew in, laughing. As Remy and Flora came crashing back down onto the ground again, Darcy threw back her hand, a radiant ball of white fire swirling into existence on it, aiming for the downed pair…
And then a rumble passed under her feet. And it wasn't the sound of feet, or another shockwave like the one from her previous explosion, no. This was something…bigger. Darcy's fireball faded at the strange sensation.
And then red energy suddenly exploded off in the distance, a brilliant fiery luminescence that shot far into the sky… in the shape of the phoenix…and then as quickly faded, as if it had never existed.
Remy stood up, wiping blood from his face, not sure what had just happened, or what had just saved Flora and himself. Darcy seemed equally confused.
"What the hell…" She said.
Remy leapt in for the attack.
A lashing whip of flame flew out and coiled around Remy, and then twisted and hurled him through the air. Remy crashed through a wall of something and came to a stop, groaning. He shook his head and looked around…and realized where he was: the wreckage of the campground. No wonder his previous trip through a building had seemed soft: it had been through the fire-gutted hulk that Darcy had blown up.
And it looked like she wanted to finish the job, as she aimed her hand at the site.
"DARCY!"
The voice stopped her. Actually, it froze her completely. She should have never heard that voice against except when she wanted to relieve memories…and only then. Not in any other situation, and certainly not coming from the battlefield, as she turned to face it…
Flora watched as Jade appeared from the smoke. She blinked, surprised but not too much. A lot less then Remy, anyway, who had pulled himself onto one of the creaky sides of the fire-ravaged site to get away and stopped dead when he had seen Jade.
"…What the hell…" Remy said. While Jade's clothes were a mess, every injury on her body was gone. Every broken bone, cut, and bruise Darcy had inflicted…vanished. And for good reason. Had Jade just woken up from her body's "saving throw", the injuries would have stayed…but Jade had woken up to a lot more then just a suspended animation state.
And she was ready to show Darcy that.
No…" Darcy said, as Jade started walking forward again. "No. NO! NO! YOU'RE DEAD! I BURNED YOU FROM THE INSIDE! WHY AREN'T YOU STARTING TO ROT!"
"I am not so easy to kill." Jade replied her voice hard. She knew that now, more then ever, as she continued to head for Darcy.
Darcy, to her credit, didn't stay shocked for long, as her stunned expression quickly morphed into one of angry amusement: angry that Jade was somehow still alive, amusement that this would let her kill her all over again.
"I don't know how you do it kid. You're not a bad penny, you're a whole fucking mint." Darcy said.
"Let Yusuke go." Jade replied.
"Oh, did my fire somehow escape roasting your guts only to fry your mind? You're in no position to make threats, Jade girl. You might be alive, but that is an oversight I will quickly rectify." Darcy said, though a tiny part of her was beginning to be surprised and annoyed that if Jade was alive, she wasn't transforming. Maybe she had had to use up all of her power to prevent her fatal attack and undo the rest of her previous play? But, if she couldn't transform, why was she striding towards her like she was…unless she really HAD broke her brain. If so, it was a pity: insane people were no fun to torture. They had lost perspective on such things.
"You know, I thought you were a monster. I was wrong. You're more then a monster. You're a hypocrite and a coward. You act like your life has given you the knowledge that everything you do is justified and everything you do is right, but then you turn around and break your own rules." Jade yelled. "Well Darcy, maybe the world has done you wrong, but you've done the world worse in return, and you know what they say about actions and reactions." Jade said.
By now, Flora had teleported over to Remy, ostensibly to see if he was ok, but the reality was she sensed something Remy could not feel. That inability to feel was clear on his face.
"What is she doing? Even if she's back, against Darcy…crazy kid!" Remy yelled, as he leapt down to the ground. By now, Jade was almost right in front of Darcy, who was now looking more amused then angry.
"Well well…so the tomboy thinks she can play knight in shining armor, be the big hero. Well, it ain't happening Jade. You fate was sealed from the moment we met, and you can't evade it forever! So come on Jade! Look upon the face of fate!" Darcy said, as fire exploded on her hand. "Now taste my righteous fire, AND CHOKE…!"
Jade swung out her fist.
Darcy's head recoiled back from the blow.
Remy stopped. He hadn't been expecting that. A second later Flora caught up to him.
"Bloody hell. She hit Yusuke." Remy said. "I never thought anything could make her do that."
"She had too." Flora replied. Remy looked at her.
"What?"
"Look."
Darcy was turning her head back…or more accurately, Darcy was turning Yusuke's head back. By now, Remy had noticed that Darcy seemed to be drifting in and out of her control of Yusuke's face: half the time Yusuke's features expressed what Darcy was feeling, and half the time Darcy emerged from Yusuke's body in the red haze form she possessed to express her feelings on her own, separate from Yusuke, whose face became dull and lifeless due to Darcy's repression of her personality. The haze, due to all the features kind of blurring together, could be hard to read, but Remy had watched it long enough to accurately observe what the red haze was expressing when it was separate from Yusuke.
Yusuke's face was unaffected, as it had been when Darcy had done this before, the expression slack and prone in the way of a puppet…but Darcy's face was once again in shock. A far deeper shock then she had been in before.
"…Wha…what…what…?" Darcy gasped, as she brought her hand up to her "cheek". Remy was puzzled: he saw a deep bruise on Yusuke's flesh…so why was Darcy…
"I think you might have been looking at the wrong fate." Jade replied.
Darcy's features contorted in rage.
"YOU…!"
Jade slashed out her leg in a powerful roundhouse, and Darcy was knocked right off her feet, Yusuke's body flying and coming crashing down on its back.
Remy didn't need to see Darcy's face now: he could read body language well enough that he knew, from the way Darcy started getting up from the blow, the slight pause in her process of doing so, the tiny scrabbling back when she had been doing it…Darcy had been knocked from her anger and back into utter disbelief at what had happened. A disbelief that was mirrored in Remy.
"She's hitting Yusuke!" The brown haired leader blurted.
"Yes she is. She's found a way to fight Darcy." Flora said.
"No…what's going on! How can you…!" Darcy screamed as she started getting up.
Jade ran up and slashed out her leg, her toe of her foot slamming under Darcy's chin. Her head snapped up, and then it came down…right into Jade's punch, which smashed Darcy right back into the ground.
Remy stared, utterly baffled.
"Look at her body." Flora said. Remy looked at Jade, seeing only a very determined teenager…but this boy loved, or at least deeply cared for, the host that Darcy was in, so why would she…
And then he saw it.
It was faint, much fainter then Darcy's red haze over Yusuke's upper body…but there was a slight aura around Jade, a pale layer of energy that seemed to be superimposed on his form. It was like a shield, or a…
"AIIIIIIIIYYYYGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Darcy screamed, as she flew up off the ground and let loose with a fireball. Jade raised an arm as it flew at her.
"Ack! She'll be killed!" Remy said, starting forward.
Flora stopped him.
"No."
Jade lashed her arm out.
And Remy saw the aura EXTEND, ever so quickly, colliding with the flame and knocking it aside. It exploded off in the distance, but Jade didn't stop there, as she flowed one move into the next, using the outward momentum of her arm to roll forward onto her shoulders, and then twist off her shoulder and arms on the ground and spring forward toward Darcy…
And this time Remy saw it, as the aura extended outward, amazingly fast, and slammed into Yusuke's body. Or at least that was what it looked like: what actually happened was it went THROUGH Yusuke's body and slammed into Darcy, knocking her down again, as Jade landed on his feet, the aura there and gone so fast it was like it had never been there.
"Whoa." Remy said. And yes, he did sound like a certain actor.
"Jade's not just back, it looks like she learned a new way to merge with her Winx." Flora said. "Jade's pulling her attacks at the last moment and letting her Winx deliver the actual blow, or making the blows soft."
"But why is Yusuke being knocked down?"
"Remember how we couldn't hurt Darcy before because while she was hooked up to Yusuke, it was in a way that anything we did to her, only Yusuke felt? Well, Jade's discovered the opposite of that. She's striking Darcy that hard, not Yusuke, but Yusuke is getting pulled along because of his attachment to Darcy. But Yusuke's not feeling a thing. This is all Darcy this time." Flora said, looking wickedly satisfied. "Jade found a way to attack her. And after all she's done, there's hell to pay."
"YOU FUCKER!" Darcy screamed, as she fired another blast of flame at Jade as she got up: Jade dodged around that one and ran in before Darcy knew what was happening. Her fist slammed out, slamming across Yusuke's face, the force of the blow was not received by Yusuke, it was Darcy: Yusuke was just the helpless puppet whose strings were being jerked. But that was nothing compared to what Darcy was feeling: after hiding behind hosts for so long, and being able to fry anything that threatened her for longer, the fact that she was actually being hit made her both furious with rage…and something else, something she hadn't felt for a very very long time, a sick feeling she thought she had long banished…fear.
For the first time, Darcy was afraid.
But Jade wasn't showing the slightest bit of mercy, as she slammed out her other fist, smashing it into Darcy's face. The heat haze actually seemed to extend out of the back of Yusuke's head and then snap back, and then Darcy screamed in fury, fiery claws appearing on her hand and slashing out at Jade, but Jade leapt over then and lashed out with a leaping reverse heel roundhouse, knocking Darcy away again.
"Guys!" Bloom said, as she landed next to Remy and Flora. "What's going…whoa." Bloom said, as she saw the fight. "What…huh?"
"Jade's back. And she's brought a few new tricks with her." Remy said.
"What do you mean?" Jones said, as she dropped down and startled the Titans as per her usual. "I was under the impression Jade was dead."
"That was what I thought too. I was wrong." Remy replied. "And boy, I usually hate being wrong, but this isn't one of those times."
Jade ducked under Darcy's mad slash and slammed her fist into Yusuke's gut, and while Darcy didn't have wind to drive out of her the effect was still pretty similar as Darcy doubled over. Jade leaned up, grabbed Yusuke's shoulders as Darcy came up from her recoil, and slammed her head forward into hers, staggering Darcy. She then fired off several more punches, barraging her face with blows. Darcy finally dodged away from one and fired off another blast of flame, but it was clear her motions were confused and starting to grow desperate. She was hurting her, she was finally getting around all her defenses, and she wasn't letting up.
"HOW DOES IT FEEL DARCY!" She yelled as she slammed her fist across her face again. "You like being helpless? You like being tortured? You like being treated like this?"
"FUCKING BASTARD!"
The intense blast of flame enveloped everything in front of Darcy for twenty feet…and it didn't matter as Jade was in the air, flipping above Darcy, and as her head turned to follow her she landed and thrust her leg out, kicking Darcy in the gut. She doubled over again, and Jade grabbed Yusuke's hair and slammed her knee up into Darcy's face, sending her recoiling back again. Darcy recovered and began to scream again before Jade's fist cut it off.
"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!" Jade was yelling now. "YOU HURT MY FRIENDS! YOU HURT MY FAMILY! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!"
The uppercut finished the onslaught and the fight: it didn't knock Darcy down but it sent her staggering back, and then she collapsed to her knees. Yusuke body was gasping for air, though Yusuke wasn't doing it, and since Darcy was a spirit she didn't need to breath. Jade felt that was probably more due to Darcy's still apparent bewilderment at this sudden turn of events. She also finally noticed that the Renegades and Winx Club were nearby, watching her back. But she didn't need them, and that wasn't ego: in the new way her Winx self had combined with her, she was the only one who could touch Darcy, and she had reached out and touched her, big time.
"It's over Darcy." She said. "You've lost. I would offer you mercy, even though you don't deserve it…except I know that it won't do any good. I never thought anyone was beyond redemption…but I know that when a dog is rabid, you have no choice but to shoot it. But know that I take no satisfaction in this fact, or will do nothing to prolong it. Now get out of Yusuke, or I WILL hurt you more." Jade said, cracking her knuckles.
Yusuke shoulders were shaking, and for a moment Jade wondered if she was witnessing the impossible: Darcy crying.
Then she looked up, and the sound came. Laughing. Mad, insane laughing. She should have expected nothing more. Darcy wasn't going to break down and weep: she was too far gone to ever again shed tears.
"Oh…you stupid girl…you stupid, accursed, fucking refusing to die… girl…you think that you pull a miracle turnaround and it's all over…you think you can act like the Neanderthal you pieces of shit all are at heart and win…you think it's all over…"
"It is! You're through!"
"Oh maybe…if not for one little thing…Jade…did you ever consider that once I took control of Yusuke, the first and only thing I did was make a beeline for your meeting room?"
Jade's brow furrowed.
"You think that was what I did. Heh…heh heh." Darcy chuckled, as she finally got Yusuke body back up, though it was swaying, a boxer needing one more blow to be knocked out. "No Jade…I didn't do that. I did…a few other things first…looked around…looked…and listened…you know you should really keep higher level spells away from stupid pixies…"
And suddenly, Jones realized what was going to happen, and her heart filled with ice.
"NO."
"Believe me, if you make an effort…" Darcy said, as she reached into Yusuke's shirt. "You can hear the most INTERESTING things!"
And she pulled out the demon artifact.
"JADE! STOP HER! STOP HER!" Jones screamed, but her sudden panicked yell just served to distract Jade and the others preparing for Darcy to leave Yusuke's body.
And that was all Darcy needed.
As she thrust the amulet out, and fire exploded on her palm…and suddenly the words on the artifact lit up, glowing brightly, and as Jade snapped her head back to look at this Jones drew in another breath.
"DON'T LET HER START THE SPELL!"
Too late.
"Labiru dinger damiq ma nekelmu!" Darcy chanted. By now, Bloom had realized what was going on, as she ran over to Jone's side…and stopped as she realized something else.
"What the hell…how can Darcy read demon?"
"She can't." Jones replied. "But Darcy remembers everything she absorbed from her hosts. She can't read Demon. But Yusuke and Jade could. Jade! STOP…!"
But Jones was too far away and giving info to the wrong person, as despite the fact that she had seemingly tapped into a new power, Jade was still a kid, and kids don't react well to things that were seemingly going swimmingly suddenly doing a 180 on them. Hence, instead of attacking, or trying to knock the Demon relic out of Darcy's hands, she stood there, uncomprehending…
"Ni sisitu za-e, mina zu emuq itta kad kal!" Darcy bellowed, and suddenly immense force began sweeping up around her, driving Jade back. She looked at the Winx Club and Renegades for help, but Flora, Bloom, Riven and Remy were just as confused, and Jones just looked terrified.
"Shit! SHIT!" Jones said. "She's doing the spell wrong!"
"What? The spell wrong? That's bad?" Remy asked.
"Yes! Darcy is forcing her essence through it, and it appears that's enough to get the spell to activate! But that remnant just has the spell itself! It doesn't have the other incantations you need to recite with a spell like this!"
"What incantations?" Remy yelled back.
"Spells like this, they're like pure alcohol. You don't drink pure alcohol in beer, you drink a mixture of liquids with alcohol in it! This spell calls for power, but anyone who recited it would do other spells with it, asking for a specific place to draw the power and a specific amount of power! If he or she didn't do that, they'd just start drawing on power until their whole body was destroyed! But that won't happen to Darcy, because SHE'S a Spirit! And since she's not asking for a certain place or kind of power, the spell will just draw on what SHE thinks will bring her power…and there'll be absolutely NO LIMIT ON IT WHATSOEVER!"
"What's she drawing on?" Bloom yelled back, as the wave of force coming off of Darcy increased. Jones appeared to be thinking…and then it came to her like a thunderbolt.
"Oh no. OH NO!" Jones yelled, and vanished into the shadows with Bloom in tow.
"NADU REBU INA EBEBU!" Darcy screamed, as she held the amulet above her head.
Flora gasped as Jones and Jones suddenly appeared right next to her.
"Flora! Come here!" Jones said, grabbing Flora and Bloom with a dark energy claw and pulling them up against her. "I hope this works!" Jones said, as she began chanting rapidly, waving a hand around like she was having a seizure that just involved one arm.
"NADU REBU INA ETU!" Darcy screamed. "NURU MA ASBU, ANKIDA!"
And then streams of red energy began shooting from the artifact, tendrils of red power much like Darcy's haze form, and Jade found herself recoiling from the power, knowing just what had begun to happen.
One of the lines fired straight for Jones, Bloom and Flora, as Jones finished the last of her chant and motions and slammed out her palm, the fingers spread wide. A symbol appeared in mid air before her, and the energy tendril struck it, a shockwave flowing back through Jones and Flora and Bloom, as Jones gritted her teeth and fought against the spell with all her power…and then it faded out, the line disappearing, and Jones collapsed to her knees, gasping.
"Ah…can't believe I…managed to block it… Remind me to force Jade to pay attention when I teach her ancient Demon" Jones gasped.
"Jones! What WAS that? What's going on?" Flora asked.
"The artifact…it has a spell…that brings power…if you ask for it…but…Darcy…asked for power…with no specifics…so the amulet is bringing her what she believes…will bring her power. Women. The spell will seek out what she saw as strength in women…from the women she possessed…and from any and all women in the area of the spell effect…and without any kind of specifics…oh god…" Jones gasped. "It'll steal all their energy…all of it. From every women around, possibly in a hundred miles…!"
And then more lines began appearing, dozens, scores, hundreds, thousands, lines of power shooting off into the distance at insane speed. The spell had been invoked, and now it would do as it was commanded: bring the caster the power of the female sex. All the power a human body had.
Skye turned to Musa and Tecna as they slumped to the ground… "Guys…"
They all were drawn out by Darcy, drawn to her, the power of the female species, what she knew lurked within all women and what she craved now, as the red tendrils suddenly began glowing with golden power, power that was heading straight for her.
Jade, by then, finally realized she had to take action.
"No! Ok then, I'm goin'…!"
Too little, too late.
The power slammed into the relic, and Jade was thrown backwards by the immense wave of force, the group recoiled, as more and more power was drawn into the artifact and down into Darcy, as her aura grew, expanded…and then snapped out of Yusuke. The prince of thieves collapsed to the ground, dead, as Darcy rose up above him, her body streaming brilliant fiery light.
"Suke." Jade said, as he got up and scrambled over to the boy, taking him up in her arms. "Yusuke, Yusuke!"
Yusuke did not reply, but his face was peaceful. Jade looked down at him, feeling relieved…and yet saddened. The poor boy had been through so much…all because of her.
No.
All because of Darcy.
Jade looked up as the power continued to pour in, as all the women and girls in the miles and cities around the Shiran capital suddenly stopped what they were doing and collapsed. And while this caused a fair share of accidents and tragedies…Jade and everyone else couldn't think of that, as the power continued to be drawn to Darcy, her form growing, as the light shone ever brighter…and brighter…
And then it ended with a gigantic flash that blinded the Renegades and Jade, and they recoiled away from the light…and then it was gone.
The remaining Winx club members didn't want to look, but they had to.
Darcy floated there, a changed being. She was nearly ten feet tall now…and her body…it looked…
"Human flesh?" Remy said to no one in particular, not sure what had happened. "She gave herself flesh again?"
"That's not organic." Flora and Jones said together as thier eyes scanned Darcy. "That's fire."
"THAT'S FIRE?" Remy said incredulously, unable to believe that Darcy's new form wasn't skin, muscle, and bone, because it looked exactly like that.
"Yes, fire. Insanely precise controlled fire. Do you have any idea how much power it takes to command molecules like that in such a way that you can do it without focusing on it at all?" Bloom said in awe.
"…Oh shit. Oh shittttt…" Remy said, as he looked at Darcy, the newly made over Darcy. Previously, her whole body had been fire, a shifting red mass that had a human shape. Now…the fire was only obvious on the "clothing", as Darcy was clad in a long, flowing dress of crimson flame (rather like Spawn's cape). Her hair, formally in a vague ponytail shape, was now loose, and flowed around her head, a more deeper, blood-red flame. Everything else looked like a human: the legs, the arms…the face…the eyes.
The Demon artifact was now pinned to the centre of Darcy's chest, as she raised her arms and looked at her hands, formerly crude shapes of flame, now perfectly formed fingers.
"…I am complete." Darcy said.
And that wasn't hyperbole.
"I…the power. I feel it." Darcy put it lightly
Jade slowly stood up, putting herself between Darcy and Yusuke's dead body, and the flame being's eyes caught the movement and she looked down at Jade.
"Oh no…oh no…" Jones said. It was worse then she thought. The demon now had a vague idea how the spell had worked in the old days: the caster would use it to call upon the strength of his fellows, and the artifact would take the power of the group and add it together in the caster, making him or her a mighty warrior. But the difference between that and this was that in those days, the caster would have taken power from others who had willingly given it, and only taken so much, both so the others could fight and so the caster didn't draw too much power into him or herself. If they took too much, their body wouldn't be able to handle it.
But a spirit had no such built in limits. So while the casters in the ancient days of yore might have only been able to drain perhaps twenty or thirty others before running the risk of harming or killing themselves…Darcy had been able to claim the power of hundreds of thousands of women. And since Darcy hadn't properly limited the spell, she'd essentially sucked every woman in god knows how far of everything they had, their very soul.
Such fear was in Jade's heart too…but she did not let it overwhelm her. She couldn't, not even now.
Darcy was looking down on her with an expression she'd never seen before…apathy. As if…she didn't matter anymore. Much like an ant wouldn't matter to a dinosaur.
But that didn't last, as Darcy smirked.
"Don't think this changes anything Darcy!" Jade yelled. "I'll take you down!"
"Darcy?" Darcy replied. "A Darcy is the sound of meat frying. It does not fit me any more. I am so much more then that now…" Darcy said, as she raised her arms. "I am the Lord and Queen of the Inferno, now utterly and truly! I am a goddess of the blaze! A deity of fire, a flame queen…flame queens…what was that Latin word for queen…immortal… Imortalisdea. A far more fitting name. Has a nice…ring." The newly rechristened Imortalisdea said, as she looked back down on Jade. "I have always dreamed to destroy faeries…now that dream is truly within my grasp! I can remake the world as I see fit! All that I wish will be mine! And you know what I wish first, Jade Halva?" Imortalisdea yelled, as she threw back her arm. "REVENGE!"
The Renegades never had time to help Jade, and even if they had it wouldn't have mattered, as Imortalisdea thrust out her hand.
All the previous streams of fire Imortalisdea had thrown had been about the size of her arm or slightly larger.
This blast of white fire was the size of a skyscraper.
Jade recoiled, throwing himself down on Yusuke, trying to guard him…and then she vanished in the disintegrating white line, the blaze consuming her and Yusuke and burning a huge line across the town. There was no explosion: just a complete and utter vaporizing of everything that was three hundred feet in front of Imortalisdea…including Jade and Yusuke's corpse.
And then the fire was gone. The crew drew back from their recoil, and Bloom wondered why they weren't dead too: such a blast of large, intense flame should have roasted them just as a dead as Jade, considering how close they were to it.
Except…it was thrown by Darcy. Who had utter mastery over fire. Including what it burned and what it didn't. The fact that she could throw out such a huge blast of heat and only destroy what she wanted…that didn't give Bloom any comfort. It only made her realize how powerful she was. And that she had more planned for the Winx then a simple disintegration from collateral damage.
"Heh heh heh heh heh…" Imortalisdea laughed, as she lowered her arm, as the smoke and dust cleared to reveal nothing but scorched ground before her. "COME BACK FROM THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Aw no…Jade…" Remy said: unlike last time, his emotions were more tug of war, as he had just seen Jade and thought her dead, and then she was alive again, and now…it looked like she was dead again…and Remy couldn't waste time worrying about the fate of Jade Halva. Darcy, er, Imortalisdea had super-ultra-omega charged herself up, and if she got a full handle on the power she had now…
"Bloom! FREEZE HER!" Remy yelled, and Bloom remembered that he'd been charging up his ice cannon all this time, and since Darcy was out of Yusuke and calling herself Imortalisdea now, he figured now was the best time to use it, as he aimed and fired.
Imortalisdea turned and saw the giant blast coming. All she did was smirk.
"No." She said, as she held out her hand. A small line of fire flew from her palm and struck the ice beam, stopping it dead. Bloom poured on the power, but the small line of flame didn't budge an inch, and Bloom had to eventually stop before she lost the remaining bit of her magic.
"Shit! That kind of chill would freeze the plasma on the surface of a star!" Remy cursed.
"What say you now, Pixies?" Imortalisdea laughed. "Do you actually wish to fight me?"
Remy didn't answer. He just looked around at his teammates…and then he gestured. They knew what that meant.
GO.
With a combined battle cry, they flew at Imortalisdea.
The flame goddess just flew away, laughing madly.
"So, you do not understand. Very well then! You wish to take up arms against a being such as me? Then I shall provide you with a most glorious Armageddon!" Imortalisdea laughed, as she raised her hands.
Fire exploded on her being, fire that stopped them and drove them back from the insane heat, as Darcy laughed and concentrated her power onto her right fist.
"LET THE HEAVENS BURN!"
And she zapped down to the ground, as she raised her fist and slammed it against the Earth.
A colossal pillar of fire exploded up from around her and tore up into the sky, piercing into the dark clouds that gathered over Shira, power zapping and crackling through them…and then they split open and erupted.
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHITTTTTTTTTTT!" Remy screamed as massive fireballs began to fall from the sky like hailstones. "RAIN OF FIRE!"
Indeed it was, as the fireballs began crashing down on Shira, exploding the ground around them as they dove for cover. Several blocks around where the Winx and Renegades and Imortalisdea were immediately consumed in an inferno that began to spread immediately.
Fire rained down. Shira burned.
And Imortalisdea floated up, laughing, glorying in her newly acquired godhood.
Remy had another phrase from his studies of war: for hell to be brought to the surface of the Earth. It meant to represent the destruction Nazi Germany had wrought in its attempts to conquer the world. But it was just a metaphor.
But as everything burned around them…
And Imortalisdea laughed and laughed…
Remy realized he was seeing the reality of the phrase.
And he also realized he probably wouldn't live long enough to see it for long.