Hello once again my friends! I bring stories! By the way thanks for the support guys I really appreciate it! Without further interruption, the chapter!

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Chapter 21: Battle of Big Ben

There was a long silence. They all kept a shocked face as they sat back down in their seats. Gabriel looked back up at Iridian who sat there with her head down looking at the cobalt colored table, resting her clenched fists on it in silence. "Are you sure?" He asked finally breaking the endless silence. She looked back up with the gravest look on her face. She looked him dead in the eye and answered yes. The others, shocked, had no idea how to react. Seth was their friend, one of their first friends since getting to Wizard City as well. Especially to Gabriel, he was there with him since birth, always friends, always laughing, always playing. Now it seems that his world has been blown up. He sat there trying to accept it but he couldn't, he just couldn't accept that his friend since birth was a terrifying person who only one person in the entire Spiral could even defeat.

"I'm sorry about all of this but you needed to know exactly who Seth was. However it seems that Seth might not be the reincarnation of Deth, that's what we're hoping anyways. The only other option is that Deth has been sealed in Seth's family somehow. Either way there is some kind of seal that still contains him and limits Deth's power. I don't know what will happen if this seal would be broken but it frightens me. We could be dealing with the Demon Wizard once again, except this time; we won't have anyone that could win. This is the ugly truth and I know it's difficult to accept but unfortunately we must all deal with it. That's why when you're alone with your entire team; I want you to tell him." They all nodded. A secret like this cannot be held from Seth, especially since this is basically who he is on the inside or rather what he is. "I think you should all rest for today. I know this is a huge bombshell and it isn't easy. So when you get home, I want you to relieve some of that pressure by telling the rest of them the truth." She dismissed them afterwards and watched them as they exited the library. They decided to go about their day and get some things for Marleybone. Hours had passed by and the entire team had decided to go back to their dorms. Gabriel had walked in to find the entire team in there; he knew that now was the time.

"What's the news, guys? You seemed to really be a bit shocked from something."

He started to have second thoughts but he continued. "I've got some news for you Seth. It's about the virus." He had started to hesitate now and looked down at the wooden flooring but he still continued. "Seth. That virus inside of you is actually dark magic enhancer." He was barely able to finish that sentence but finally managed to say the hardest part. "You might be the reincarnation of the Demon Wizard: Deth." He said as he clenched his fists. Jocelyn and Destiny only looked down with sad eyes. The others were taken completely by surprise and all of them had shocked faces.

"Are you sure? You have to be absolutely certain about this Gabriel. This is a huge deal that is very serious! I'll ask again. Are you sure?" Jack asked with disbelief in his eyes.

Quietly but angrily Gabriel had answered yes. Sabrina, Jack, and Seth had leaned against the wall taking it in. Seth looked like the most effected out of the three of them. After the pause of noise, Seth decided to break the ice himself by saying what had surprised the others. "So what?" He said with his eyes still wide. "I'm still the same Seth. It isn't like I'm going on a rampage or anything. It's just … an ugly truth. I'm not going to lie I really wish I hadn't known that but I'm glad you guys told me. I … I'm sorry if I ever do anything to harm you or anyone and I'll understand if you remove me from the team. No one would blame you." Seth said as he started to shut his eyes. He now knew what that 'thing' was inside of him: the Demon Wizard. He now knew what he was going to discuss about the next time he talks with him. He knew why the demon kept this secret from him. If he ever knew that he was not only using dark magic power but a demons power than he would never accept it. 'How could I be so blind?' He thought to himself. 'Why else would it look like me? Even a virus can't shape shift into their hosts form! How could I believe that bastard?' He kept screaming at himself in thought, he wanted to scream so desperately but he wouldn't. He just couldn't.

"You aren't leaving the team." Jack quickly says. "Just because we see your demons, doesn't mean that you're the only one. We all have our bad sides. We try to conceal it as best we can to appeal to others but sometimes we just can't hide it anymore. You aren't alone Seth. None of us are. We all have our good and evil sides. All we have to do is accept who we are." She smirked and looked at everyone else as everyone else started to smile. "Not even the Demon Wizard is going to stop us anytime soon." Now everyone else had smiled and hope began filling their eyes once again. Destiny had yawned and stretched one of her arms in the air while trying to cover her mouth with her other.

"Well guys, lets continue on! But for today let's just go to sleep. Hearing that bombshell was tiring enough but dropping it on you guys was even worse." Destiny said with a smile. "Well we have a big day tomorrow, we're going to try and finish Marleybone! Let's go that extra mile guys!" She started to yell and the others cheered with her. They all yawned shortly afterwards and after a little while they went to bed.

The next morning everyone seemed to be active and ready for the day. They got their stuff ready and met up with each other in front of Bartleby. Before they left Connor had arrived with a bit of news. "Sorry if I respond a bit late guys, I can't come with you today so Ambrose will be watching you guys through his crystal ball."

"What are you going to do today that's so important?" Sabrina asked.

"I have to do a bit more research on that 'raw magic' subject. Encountering the Incinerator a few times made me realize that if we ever fight, I'll have no way of protecting the city, you guys, or even defend myself. And if she could command someone who was more powerful than I am around like he was a pet, well that's a very bad sign for us. We may have a bigger group of elites but he has more skilled fighters." Connor said making sure he's covered everything. He waved them goodbye and walked off to the Libraries second floor to meet up with Iridian.

When the six wizards had reached Marleybone, Sherlock was already waiting for them in the church. "Ah there you are! While you wizards had taken a few days off my men and I were tracking down Malistare and his goons. Our most recent success was arresting Dr. Katzenstein, that mad bastard." He muttered that last part to himself. "Anyways all that we need to do now is get to Meowiarty at the very top of Big Ben! Word on the streets is that Malistare is also up on the clock tower with him and he's using it as his current base of operations! My men and I are worn out from busting so many cases, chasing around these evil cats, and making so many arrests. Ever since you brought Jaque down everyone has been resisting but not to the point of fighting; thanks to our bluff of bringing you guys out and laying a beat down on them. Now all that's left are Meowiarty's personal minions that protect him on the way up the tower. We must at all costs bring them down at once!" Sherlock seemed to be in a particularly excited mood today.

"You got it Bones! Even though we haven't fought in these past two days, I know that we'll have the power to stop crime in Marleybone once and for all!" Jocelyn said with enthusiasm and giving him a thumbs up. They ran to the tower as fast as they could, hoping they could finally defeat Malistare and end this stupid war once and for all. They all rushed to the tower of Big Ben. The mighty clock tower had its hands indicated that it was 11 p.m. Marleybone never really even had a morning or afternoon, it was just always night. They reached the elevator door of Big Ben and pushed the button. As they waited Seth noticed there were two guard dogs at the bottom. 'Probably if Meowiarty tries to escape' he thought as the elevator doors opened. They pushed a button that had the number 15 on it and as the doors closed light catchy elevator music started playing. As they were about to approach the second floor the elevator suddenly stops, the lights had gone out only to turn back on as a dim source of light. The catchy elevator music was replaced by a deep voice.

"You fools think you can just push a few buttons to get to the top of Big Ben? Sorry but that's not the case. If you hadn't noticed already, both the east and west side of this tower contain counter weights. You're going to have to get out and fix them before proceeding and by then we'll be long gone." Another voice added in sounding like a cocky spoiled millionaire man.

"That's right wizards! You thought you could get up here but you were dead wrong! Bet you won't be able to catch us even if you were up here!" These remarks pissed Jack off but it got Seth thinking. He knew each floor has a thick enough portion between the ceiling of the past room and the floor of the current room. He asked Jack to try and bend the metal door covering their pathway. Jack bent it just enough for him and the others to fit into one at a time. They crouched past all of the pipes, wires, metal bars, and the steam that was hissing from the pipes. Once far enough they thought it was clear to bust a hole through the floor above them and jump out. They broke a hole in the center of three puppets were waiting for them.

"Looks like we'll have to blast our way up from here on out!" Jack yelled as he was nearly thrown across the room by one of the puppets. They blasted their way through them and found a flight of stairs nearby. They constantly ran, trying to avoid all damage if possible, unfortunately the puppets were not aiming for them but instead at their potions! Floor after floor they had to try and not only avoid battle but to also avoid any of their potions from being hit! By the time they were on floor 14 they were each down to only one potion. They were out of breath when they got there but waiting at the next exit were three tough looking cat thugs. One cat leaning against the wall flipping a coin constantly, another picking at their teeth with their sharp claws, and another cracking their knuckles just aching to fight someone.

"Well well well, look what we have here boys! A couple of wizardz who think they can just mess wit the Feline Mafia! You think you can just seez our boss without getting throu us first? Fat chance! Know why? Cause we're gonna killz ya here!" He had quite an accent but he certainly did try to make himself be the dominant one out of the three. Seth thought about this for a second. If he tries to make himself the big boss of these three, then what happens if we take him out? These guys are pretty independent though. They agree that he is their leader so that there is no commotion about who is in power here, a smart move on them. He takes one final look around the room, analyzing it for anything they can use to help them in this battle. Nothing else looked like it would help so he decided to go with Plan A after all.

"If you guys can follow my lead then we'll be able to take them out pretty easily." Not even a word later he then rushes the one that has asserted dominance and pulls out his wand. He swung at his feet but the cat jumped and dodged it. He only responded with a big smirk on his face. Seth looked up and also smirked as he started to fade away and another Seth came out of nowhere striking the cat's solar plexus system as hard as he could with a cold smile on his face. The dark magic enhancer had started to increase his power again and punched the cat in the face! The others came from behind him and caught the cats off guard! They however weren't so easily taken down. One of them roared as the other had tried vigorously to shake them off. Seth however was laying a savage beat down on the cat that he had chosen. His technique had gotten ruthless and he started fighting without hesitation, without thinking, without a conscious. That's when he snapped out of it. He had stopped and he looked at his palms, just a few scratches here and there but when he flipped to look at his knuckles, they were bloody. In his head he saw for a single moment a picture of what the demon had looked like. He was speechless when he actually saw this. He had fallen to his knees while still looking at his hands and his consciousness was starting to come back. He looked back up and saw the others were still having a rough time with the other cats. He changed the expression on his face from awe back to serious. He teleported to the cat that was running around the room struggling to shake off Jack, Sabrina and Jocelyn. It had started to slam into the walls at this point and looked like it wouldn't stop soon. Just sticking a foot out wouldn't do any good now so he tackled his legs head on, causing the enormous cat to fall. He then teleported to the other one that was putting up a pretty good fight and decided that the best thing to do was to just jump him and catch him off guard. After Seth had jumped on him, now distracted, the others started to attack with their best attacks. He had fallen after Jack's fireball had hit him straight on the spine. They were out of breath but they managed to win against these three cat thugs. They all chugged down their last potion for the final fight up ahead against Meowiarty and possibly Malistare.

"Ok, we need a plan if we really are going to fight both of them in there." Gabriel said and they all started to look at Seth.

"What?" He looks around confused why everyone was staring at him.

"Well you do come up with most of our plans now. If anything you should be a battle tactician or something. You always seem to know what to do in these types of fights ever since that 'thing' has been in you." Destiny says as she crossed her arms. Everyone else nodded. Seth felt it was the very opposite but he thanked them for the compliment anyways. He decided to try and use the clock tower itself to their advantage by using the hands of the clocks and the glass that it was built on. Jack pointed out a few flaws as well as Sabrina at a few points, like what if they have an ambush waiting for us as soon as we enter? They went over a process like this a few times but after a little bit they all agreed on a plan.

"Alright guys, are you ready?" They nodded "Good, because when we get in there, we're finally going to end this war between Ravenwood and Malistare. Now let's finish this!" Seth yelled spoke as they walked up the stairs to floor 15 of Big Ben. Sabrina however looked a bit uneasy. Seth slowed down to her pace and began asking what was wrong.

"I guess I'm just a bit nervous that we're already going to see Malistare again. I mean he's a terrifying man who could put up a match against Ambrose! All I'm saying is … I just don't want to lose anyone." Seth had put a hand on Sabrina's shoulder and they both stopped. "Listen, I promise that if anything happens, I will protect you and the others. I swear that I won't let anything bad happen to them." Seth sounded confident in his abilities to do so, reassuring Sabrina. They stopped in battle stance when they got there but no one was in sight. They looked around looking for any indication of an ambush. When out of nowhere a cat somersaulting comes flying right in front of them. Behind them Malistare had teleported into the room with a smirk on his face.

"My my, it seems that we meet again young foolish wizards." He says as his eye gleams at Seth.

"Nice to see you again as well old man; now what do you say, would you like to surrender without a fight, or do we have to beat you to a bloody pulp and drag you back?" Gabriel said with some attitude. Malistare's smirk had turned into a smile and once again turned his attention back to Seth.

"That's too bad. My new minion and I were just about to leave." The crystal ball on his staff had started to glow bright red. He aimed it at Seth who was questioning what was happening. Suddenly he couldn't speak and it had become difficult for him to stand. He started to groan and he started to change colors. He was now in pain and his voice had started to rise as he tried to fight what was happening inside of him.

"Seth!" Jocelyn screamed as she turned around to go help her friend, unfortunately she bounced away from him before she could get within arms distance of Seth. A red ball of energy had started to surround him and his hair and eye color had changed for a split second. He even began levitating in mid-air. Malistare began to giggle but soon it turned into a maniacal laugh. But suddenly everything just stopped. He fell from mid-air and Malistares laugh had stopped. Seth was on the floor, not moving a muscle. Everyone had watched closely wondering if he was still alive, then suddenly a twitch from his body! He started coughing but he slowly got back up. He had struggled to stand back up.

"I promised this team that I would protect them…" He struggled with talking but he managed to speak clearly. "And I will NOT break that promise." He says with a fierce look in his eyes.

"So then the Incinerator was right after all. How degrading. To be proven wrong by a child. Oh well. It's too bad Seth, you could have become the most powerful warrior in the Spiral just then. Such a waste. A spirit like yours is much too good to be wasted and thrown away just like that." Seth then got his breath back and he could start to move a bit more freely again. "You're a demon Seth, you should know this by now. Embrace your true nature Seth! This is your last chance to really become the greatest fighter the Spiral has ever seen! Don't waste it just because you don't want to harm your friends! Unleash the beast that you've kept tamed for long enough!" Malistare had started screaming at Seth through frustration. He couldn't believe that the Incinerator was right and he was wrong. Seth stood clenched his fists as he stared at Malistare and whispered back to him 'never'. He had gained some of his enough of his strength back, just enough to stand up steadily anyways. "Very well then, you leave me no choice. Good bye. Seth Legendshard." He spun his staff in the air and slammed the bottom of it on the floor and within a second, the six wizards disappeared without a trace. Malistare had a furious look on his face while sweating. "Such a waste." He repeated.

"Well now Malistare, there will be other students you know. It isn't the end of the world just because you didn't get that one wizard." Meowiarty interrupting Malistare's train of thought. He looked over at Meowiarty and gave him a death stare.

"You're a fool you hairless cat." He had a harsh tone added in. "That wizard possessed the demon wizard within him! We needed him alive but now that I've resorted to plan B, his consciousness will be gone! Without the boy, the demon wizard has returned and this time he won't show any mercy. You Meowiarty are no longer useful. To be completely honest you sicken me to my stomach. Now that I've received what I came for, you will perish!" Malistare had used a type of magic unfamiliar to Meowiarty. The room turned pitch black. A clock in the middle had appeared and started to tick slowly but began ticking faster and faster. "Signature card. Death by aging!" The cat had progressively turned older and older. By the time a few minutes had passed he was an old cat that was lying down on the floor, barley breathing. "You wouldn't have survived a year in the new world of chaos anyways. Consider this a favor." As he left the cat was now just a skeleton with a suit. He thought of the argument he had with the Incinerator a few days ago. He had a feeling that something was coming his way and it was her fault.

"Where the hell are we? Is everyone alright?" Seth asks worriedly.

"Yea everyone is alright, but you were right to ask where we are. I don't have a clue of where we are." Jack said as he looked around. It was a nice view. A beach with soft yellow sand and the calm waves of the deep blue sea. Gabriel hadn't even noticed where he was until Jack looked around. His eyes opened wide and his mouth opened a bit.

"This is it." Gabriel muttered to himself. "This is where my dream was and if I'm right then there should be a rock right … there." He turned around and pointed exactly at where a boulder was sitting still. Except this time there was someone that he hoped he hadn't seen. She had a toothy grin. Her hood was down and her eyes were a beautiful shade of red and her hair was brown and long. Her clothes were white and she had a trident on her back but she also had a emerald colored sword on her side. It truly was her; there was no mistaking this person as someone else. It really was… the Incinerator.

"Hello again." She said as everyone turned around. They all froze like a deer in the middle of the road, looking at the headlights of a car. She unsheathed the sword from her side and jumped off of the boulder. "I take it that all of you remember me?"

Well it ended off where I wanted it to but it seems a bit short to me. Anyways the next chapter should be up rather quickly actually. It's going to be a bit of a short chapter but it will have a lot to do with the story. Anyways that's all for this chapter! Thanks for reading!

Cya later!

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