Hunter, Darius, and Flapjack were sitting on the boy's staff, staring out into the emptiness of the ocean. Even though all three of them were happy to be far away from Belos, the wait was driving them crazy. "It's nerve-wracking" Hunter admitted at one point.

"Yes, waiting for the monster is always scarier than the monster itself" Darius told him. "Writers and actors often play with this. The awareness of not being able to avoid the clash, but having to wait for it to happen..."

"Thanks for the description, I really needed it, really!" Hunter snapped. "Now I'm absolutely calmer!"

"It's my way of fighting anxiety. Try to understand me, boy" the djinn replied with a shrug.

Hunter sighed deeply, but he tried to avoid answering him. "How do you think our friends are doing?" he asked at a certain point, unable to hold back that question.

Darius shook his head. "I can still sense a strong source of magical energy in the distance... or maybe two. I don't know, we're really far from Bonesborough" he replied. "But... I don't know, I have a good feeling. Maybe they've found a way to send Grometheus back through the portal..."

"I just need them to find it before my uncle finds us" Hunter grumbled. "I would like my sacrifice to serve some purpose... if I really have to die at least I will avoid dying for nothing"

"Oh, come on, don't be so harsh with this situation! It's true, we will probably die, but we must never give in to adversity! Maybe we will get through" Darius told him giving him a vigorous pat on the shoulder. "And even if we die, at least we will die together"

"Yeah. That's exactly how I dreamed of my death: in the middle of the ocean, at the age of just sixteen, in the company of a stoned djinn and an idiot Palisman. Truly the death anyone would want" Hunter replied sarcastically, but then he added: "Well... at least it's better than what I always imagined"

"Yes, I assume that one was lonelier" Darius said jokingly, but a hint of sadness was still present in his words. He was silent for a moment, then asked him: "Are you scared?"

Hunter let out a snort. "Of course I am, everyone is scared of death. But I'm glad that at least I can die for something I believe in instead of because I have become useless to him" he replied, and then he added: "Darius... thanks for coming with me. And as pissed off as I am right now... so are you, Flapjack"

The djinn smiled and wrapped an arm around his neck in an almost paternal manner; Flapjack, on the other hand, emerged a little from his cloak and let out a couple of happy chirps. Hunter was about to say something else, but then he noticed something moving in the sky. "WATCH OUT!"

He moved his staff suddenly; Darius at the same time turned into purple liquid and flew away. Just in time, because an instant later what seemed like a very fast bat passed among them, where they had been until then; if it had hit them with that speed, it would surely have split the staff in two. The creature flew around them so fast that it could hardly be seen. "Damn what is that? A harpy?" Darius exclaimed.

"No, harpies don't move that fast!" Hunter responded, but he didn't have time to say anything else as the creature lunged at him; not being able to use his staff to defend himself since he needed it to fly, Hunter grabbed Flapjack and used him to move out of the way of his opponent, who, however, despite its great speed, had almost perfect control of the air, moving as if it had practically no inertia or friction and was always on top of him. "Urgh... Darius! A little help?"

The djinn raised his hands and ropes of purple liquid emerged from them and continuously wrapped around Hunter and the creature; although it managed to fly extraordinarily well, it soon found itself locked in a cage, but with a rapid movement of its paw she cut all the ropes. However, this event forced it to stop, allowing Hunter to finally get a good look at it.

It was not like any monster he had ever seen: it was shaped like a human, but wore strange armor that seemed to be made of green, slimy living flesh. The armor had numerous pouches on its back that appeared to be filled with gas, which allowed it to fly; the wings probably served only for direction, since they were too small to support the weight. The armor only covered the upper part of the torso and almost seemed to wrap around it as if it were holding on, and a tail ending in a fin emerged from the base of the back; the head was instead wrapped in a sort of helmet always made of flesh armor, which however seemed to be composed of two hands that hid the person's face except for the eyes, plus a head of another creature placed above the forehead. Strange fins sprouted here and there, and the being had a large club in its hand which it used as a weapon. To Hunter, this all seemed strangely familiar. "Hey, listen, I don't know who you are but you have to leave now! Belos is coming..."

But the creature showed not the slightest fear; on the contrary a hiss continuously emerged from its mouth, and it seemed strangely composed of two voices: "Kill... consume... conquer..."

Hunter's eyes widened. "My uncle must have sent it!"

"Seriously? Does your uncle have such servants?" Darius exclaimed. "What is it, some kind of parasite living inside him, or a flea?"

"I have no idea. Sometimes my uncle enjoyed horribly deforming those he captured" Hunter replied. "With kids... with them it was enough for him to just do... well, what you already know. But with adults... he's often more creative since breaking their minds is harder"

The creature lunged at Hunter again, who dodged it again. "I can't fight like this!" the boy exclaimed. "Darius, can you create a base for me?"

"Sure!" the djinn responded, and purple liquid emerged from his hands and solidified to form a solid surface above sea level, as if it were an iceberg. Hunter landed on it and the creature followed him; as soon as his feet were on the ground, the boy moved his staff. "Good, now let's get serious!"

He swung his staff and struck the creature in the side, but it didn't falter and struck him in turn with his club; his strength was nothing short of extraordinary, although not at Hunter's level, and since the boy was tired he had a very hard time keeping up with him. Luckily he had Darius to help him, who shielded him whenever he needed to retreat. "I pull it towards me" Hunter whispered to the djinn as they got close. "I'll let it get closer than before, so it'll focus on me. Then you attack it from behind and tie it up, pinning it at the base of its arms and legs so it can't break free!"

"Received!" Darius answered him, and immediately he got behind the creature. It didn't seem to be able to reason, and in fact it didn't ask itself many questions about why the djinn had suddenly moved and jumped on the blond boy again. Hunter backed away, but with each step he lowered his guard a little more to allow the creature to slowly approach him. As soon as he was sure it was so close that continuing would be too dangerous, he exclaimed: "NOW!"

Darius made his move and wrapped the creature in strong purple ropes that blocked it completely, although it continued to struggle to free itself while continuing to repeat the eternal mantra 'kill, consume, conquer'. Hunter approached it; he wanted to see it up close. That being gave him such a strange familiarity... it was as if he had seen it before, even if he couldn't remember where...

He looked closely at the head. The helmet that covered it was really strange: it almost seemed as if there was another head above its forehead. A snake's head, no... of a creature that looked like a mix between a reptile and a frog. And it too had eyes, eyes that were surrounded by the blue aura that distinguished those under Belos' control, but within which it was possible to recognize a slight golden hue...

Hunter's heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, the boy looked at the creature not as a single being, but as something composite. And he realized that the armor was not part of the creature, but was another creature of its own attached to its back. A creature capable of changing shape to adapt to its user's movements.

With a tail.

And the fins.

And hands.

And green and flaccid skin...

"Vee?" was the whisper that emerged from Hunter's lips.

Just at that moment the basilisk sprang: she let go of the person she was covering with her body, who turned out to be a woman with tanned skin and black hair, and launched herself at Hunter violently. The woman would have done the same, but Darius grabbed her and held her back. Hunter stepped back, watching Vee advance towards him as if she were a hideous snake. With a quick leap he jumped on her, and remembering which nerves were needed to paralyze a basilisk he hit her in the right places, at least blocking her movements; as soon as he was on top of her, he turned her head and looked into her eyes: "Vee! Vee, it's me! Do you recognize me?"

"Kill... consume... conquer..." was all that escaped the basilisk's lips as she continued to try to bite him.

Hunter bit his lip. He couldn't believe it: Vee was alive! All this time he had taken it for granted that it had now been digested by Belos' stomach... although, given the situation, he wasn't sure if that fate was worse. "Vee, listen to me, please! If you're alive, then I can take you back to Luz! Do you remember her? Do you want to go back to Luz?"

Vee's haunted eyes wavered for a moment, and a small light rekindled in them. "L-Luz...?" the basilisk whispered.

"Yes, Luz! You can be together again!" Hunter exclaimed; Flapjack flew to the basilisk's shoulder and started chirping to calm her down more. "You'll see, everything will be fine! You... you can trust me, remember? I'm Hunter! I don't know if we could call ourselves friends, but at least we helped each other!"

"Hunter..." Vee whispered, and suddenly tears began to fall from her eyes. "Kill me... please, kill me!" she begged. "Kill me before he comes back and gets me again!"

Hunter knew well what horrors Belos was capable of, and therefore was not surprised or disturbed by the basilisk's words; but before he could answer her a voice that made his blood run cold came from below them: "Oh, no... I'll decide when it's over!"

The sea around them split and enormous teeth the size of rocks began to emerge; the water rushed into the giant gorge of Belos. Hunter was faster than everyone else and had better reflexes, and he managed to jump onto his staff and fly up fast enough to get out of his mouth before it closed, but none of the others could do the same; Vee, Darius, the woman he held in his arms, and even Flapjack fell into that horrible mouth that closed over them.

"NO!" Hunter screamed as soon as he saw this, and his spirit flared; for the first time in his life he didn't just feel fear in Belos' presence... he also felt immense anger. "YOU... MONSTER!"

But Belos wasn't looking at him anymore; his enormous head had turned and was staring in the direction of Bonesborough. His eyes shone with tremendous excitement."This is… interesting" he murmured. "You've made a lot of promising friends, Hunter. Well... I wonder how many other secrets you have?"

Hunter gritted his teeth. "I'll never tell you anything! I won't let you hurt him!"

"Oh, good. Courage. That magnificent, pathetic feeling that pushes the weak to undertake otherwise impossible feats. I've seen it so many times, and every time it was in vain. All the brave heroes have long been bones in my stomach" Belos responded with a big laugh. "But don't worry, I don't intend to waste time questioning you. I'll just open your head and extract the information I need directly from your brain"

Hunter gritted his teeth, but he paled when he saw one of Belos's enormous paws rise out of the water, reaching the height of a hill. "I thought I would have consumed you, but... you can still be of use to me, more than you imagine" the monster said, and then he lowered his paw against him; Hunter acted quickly and used all the magic left in his staff to create a shield.

The impact was something devastating; Hunter felt like a mountain had just hit him. His magical protection shattered in an instant and he was hit head-on; for a moment he thought he was being blown to pieces, but then he realized that Belos had stopped his hand immediately after breaking his protection, and that therefore what was hitting him was only the blast. Even so, all his bones cracked and he fell into the sea, crashing into the water with a thunderous bang. Unable to move or even think, I quickly begin to sink into the dark abyss; the last thing he saw before he blacked out was two giant blue eyes approaching.

Vee and Camila's "combined" fighting style is a combination of that of the Bat Queen and that of Camila in canon. Furthermore, if anyone was wondering how Vee can fly now since she couldn't before, I remind you that, as Hunter himself says, Belos usually experiments with his victims