Luz was left almost paralyzed with terror. Belos was scary even normally, and the mere sight of him would be enough to make even the bravest man tremble with fear; but every time she had met him, Luz had always seen Belos amused or intent on playing with people. The only time she had seen any semblance of anger in him was when she had rejected her offer, but in that case it had not been the real Belos but only a projection in his mind.

This time, Belos was in front of her, and he was more furious than ever. He clearly didn't like being forced to vomit them out of his stomach, and he didn't like Luz getting away from him; his gaze seemed composed of pure malice, and she wouldn't be surprised if all that cruelty suddenly took shape and tried to grasp her. It was truly terrifying; she felt like an insect faced with a monstrous giant ready to tear her to pieces... and in fact that was exactly the situation.

"Do you think you can escape, Luz!?" Belos roared, and his voice seemed to shake the whole ocean. "You're bound here, and it won't be some pathetic child with godlike powers who saves you!"

One of his arms moved and his gigantic claws closed on his tail; Luz and Amity hugged each other and screamed, fearing that he would crush them, and Eda, Lilith and Eda stood in a circle around them to protect them, but Belos didn't turn them into pieces, but rather dropped them into the palm of his hand and dragged them towards the head.

"You cannot refuse the fate I have chosen for you!" the monster said again. "You belong to me, Luz! You were born for this! Even if I have to spend the next thousand years disciplining you, I will destroy that pathetic rebellious nature of yours!"

"Hey! Luz isn't something you can just claim!" Camila screamed, keeping her grip on her bat tight. She knew she didn't stand a chance against the giant monster, but she would still fight tooth and nail to protect her daughter.

"Yeah! Luz doesn't belong to you!" Eda said back, fluffing out her feathers as if she was hoping to appear bigger.

But such threats obviously had no effect on Belos. "Luz must fulfill her destiny, and so she will, whether she likes it or not!"

"Hey! I'm fed up with you assholes who think you can decide the fate of others!" Amity screamed in fury, and a lot of dark energy began to emerge from her hands. "I won't let you…!"

But Belos tilted his hand slightly to the side, and from the perspective of the people on it it was as if the world had suddenly become askew; no one was able to keep their balance except for Eda and Lilith who clung to the ground with their claws. Eda grabbed Luz by the collar preventing her from falling, and Luz in turn grabbed Camila by the hand, but Amity slipped off and fell. Lilith saw this and jumped too to help her pupil. "AMITY!" Luz screamed.

"Don't worry, she won't die. I have plans for her" Belos said returning his hand to its previous position, and for Luz, Eda and Camila it was as if the world had become flat again. "Once I will be no longer bound to my watery prison, she will be the key for me to access other worlds! A witch capable of opening portals to the realms of the Four Magical Rulers is not found every day. Through her I will be able to devour them too!"

"Amity will never help you!" Luz yelled at Belos. "And neither do I!"

Belos finally stopped his hand. Now they had arrived in front of his face, and below them there was nothing but the ocean, which had become violent and stormy as if it were mirroring the mood of the giant monster. Belos' cold blue eyes fell on Luz, who almost fainted at the sight of so much evil concentrated in one place, but who nevertheless remained still on her legs and held that gaze, refusing to give him the satisfaction of understanding that he made her very afraid. "Do you really think you have a choice!?" Belos roared, and the wind that emerged from his mouth was more powerful than a hurricane. "You're nothing but a puppet! Puppets don't choose! They only follow the puppeteer's orders!"

"Luz isn't just a puppet!" Camila screamed back. "She's my daughter, and she's a sweet and special girl! And even though I don't know how yet, she'll be a real girl one day! I know that for sure!"

"Yup! This is our Luz!" Eda supported her. "She may be made of wood, but she is a girl with a heart of gold, kind, selfless, loving, hardworking, generous and a lot of other good epithets, and even if she makes some mistakes from time to time, she always learns from them! From my point of view, there is already no difference between her and a real girl!"

Despite the situation, Luz couldn't help but smile at her two mothers who were defending her like that, but that smile quickly faded as she saw Belos' eyes narrow. "So much idiocy. One way or another I'll make you say yes, Luz, even if I'll have to break your mind and reassemble it piece by piece!"

Belos' giant fingers curled towards them, and from their base emerged numerous tentacles the size of a house, moving like serpents towards them. Both Camila and Eda got into attack positions, standing in front of Luz to protect her.

"Ugh! For a moment I was actually afraid of crashing to the ground!" Willow murmured as Hunter helped her down with his staff.

The boy had an extremely serious look in his eyes, so much so that he didn't even seem to have remembered that he was holding Willow in his arms. "Belos took Luz and Amity away... and the two fairies too... and Luz's mother"

Willow looked up and saw Belos's enormous hand moving away, while the tail instead unrolled to its full length and slammed into the ocean with enough violence to generate a tsunami. "What can we do?"

Hunter narrowed his eyes. "Belos is definitely focusing his attention on Luz... and probably also on the Collector. And given that child's fighting power, I doubt that Belos will waste time looking for us, since in fact we are already prisoners and we can't do anything to him, and we can't escape. We could use this to our advantage"

Willow also became determined. "Okay. Do you have a plan?"

"Sort of" Hunter replied. "Let's take advantage of his distraction to gather everyone together, perhaps using the airship as a means of getting around this hell. Then let's go help the Collector and Luz, bring them back here and execute the original plan"

Willow nodded. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with that plan, but it was definitely the best they had available. "Okay. Let's do it!"

But Hunter nevertheless remained serious and calm. "If we want to find everyone, we have to make sure that Belos's attention remains focused on something else. Otherwise it would only take him an instant to kill any of the other boys, they have no power to defend themselves" he said. "The Collector is a supreme being, he will defend himself on his own. He can't defeat Belos, but he can fight him long enough. But Luz... with Eda and Lilith in that state, she needs someone to protect her, and Amity won't be enough"

Willow clenched her fists slightly. "Do you want to go to her?"

Hunter nodded. "I'm a soldier, a warrior, and I know Belos well. I can fight him on and keep him busy long enough, and defend Luz and keep him from getting her" he answered her. "Willow... I know that..."

"Do you promise me you'll come back?" Willow interrupted.

Hunter looked at her in surprise. "Uh... what?"

"Promise me you'll come back. Do it, or I won't let you go" Willow repeated to him.

Hunter was already about to reply that he couldn't make such promises, since nothing guaranteed him that he would be alive within the next half hour, but then he saw Willow's extremely serious eyes and had second thoughts. He was silent for a moment, and then he answered her: "I can't promise you that I will return... but I promise you that I will use all my skills, all my strength and all my intelligence to give me the best chance of succeeding"

Willow nodded. "That's enough for me. Go be a hero" she told him with a smile. At which Hunter couldn't help but smile at her too.

It was at that point that Gus climbed onto Willow's shoulder and said: "Maybe you could have done all this talk while he wasn't holding you like a princess!"

"Yeah. It's quite disturbing to look at you now" Matt added following his friend.

Both Hunter and Willow blushed visibly, only then remembering in what position they were, and he immediately set her down. Matt and Gus chuckled at the sight. "Seriously, you two are idiots" the spider said, jumping onto Hunter's shoulder. "Don't worry, Willow. I'll keep an eye on your man"

Hunter was absolutely not convinced. "Gus, you don't have to..."

"I can create illusions, and given the situation I say they will be much more useful to you who will have to fight Belos face to face rather than to Willow who will just have to look for someone" Gus pointed out. "I'm not leaving you alone again, man. If you don't want me with you, crush me"

Hunter looked at Willow, but she, despite being very afraid for him and Gus, still showed him an encouraging smile. Finally he sighed and gave in: "Okay"

"Let's not waste time, then! Matt, I entrust my friend to you! Take care of her!" Gus shouted at the crab, who nodded at him with his claw as if to say 'I understand'.

"I don't need all this protection. I can defend myself too" Willow commented a little annoyed. "Well, let's stop wasting time talking. Let's get moving and..."

Without warning Hunter grabbed her shoulders and placed his lips on hers; it was a sudden gesture and Willow was taken by surprise, but it didn't take her long to return the kiss, which had absolutely nothing chaste about it. Hunter broke away from her and jumped into her staff; he didn't seem to know what to say, and then he just shouted: "Willow, I love you! If I don't come back, remember me!" and having said this he flew away faster than the wind.

Willow blushed heavily at those words. Matt patted her cheek. "Well, it seems like you've finally became a couple. It was about time after all" he commented, making her turn even redder.

Gus was no exception either: even though he was holding onto the boy's collar very tightly to avoid being thrown away by the great speed with which they were flying, he still chuckled: "So you finally told her?"

"Shut up, idiot!" Hunter answered him as he flew towards Belos' enormous head.

Amity felt a very soft surface beneath her; it took her a moment to realize that this surface was none other than Lilith's body, which was holding her very firmly between her paws. Evidently she had thrown herself on top of her and shielded her from her fall. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh... yes" Lilith confirmed. She felt a little stiff, but her large body and plumage had protected her.

After finding out about her fairy godmother's condition, Amity started thinking about her girlfriend again: "We have to get back to Luz... that monster could hurt her...!"

But the tentacles above them closed, forming a dome through which not even a light could pass anymore; in the meantime, numerous eyes opened inside. "Stay here" Belos' voice told them. "You are more useful to me alive, little witch, so be a good girl and don't interfere any more than you already have"

"Go to hell, asshole!" Amity screamed as she hurled her magic at the tentacles, but she barely managed to burn them. Those weren't the little tentacles that made up the amusement park: they were as big as tree trunks and as hard as if they were made of marble.

"Forget it, you can't get out" Belos warned her, and then all his eyes closed. "I'll deal with you later, once that puppet will surrender"

And with that his voice disappeared without saying another word. Amity trembled with anger, but Lilith put a hand (or rather, paw) on her shoulder: "Calm down, Amity, keep a cool head" she told her. "Remember, there is always a solution to every problem"

The way Hunter greets Willow is a reference to Hazbin Hotel, as it is similar to how Sir Pentious greets Cherri Bomb before playing hero. Some of the phrases that Belos says are instead references to the film Guardians of the Galaxy 2, where they are pronounced (not identically) by the antagonist Ego while talking to Peter Quill and his role in his plan