Amity's eyes widened as she saw the crack appear on Belos' face, and everyone else in the room had exactly the same reaction as her. That was certainly not something they had expected to happen. A torrent of conflicting emotions hit the heart of the young witch; on the one hand, hope was rekindled and she would have liked to believe that this event meant that something was wrong and that Luz could still be saved, while at the same time she feared that yes, something had gone wrong, but her beloved girlfriend would lose out.

Belos looked as shocked and confused as she was. The monster touched the crack on his face as if he couldn't believe it. "What? How is this possible...?". But suddenly his eyes widened and an expression was painted on his face that was halfway between anger and excruciating pain. "POISON!"

Belos doubled over in an unnatural way, as if he were in the grip of a terrible convulsion; his steps made the whole island tremble and his tentacles shook as if they were in the midst of an epileptic fit. It was almost a miracle that he didn't lose his balance and fall to the ground. "How did that puppet wake up!? How did she wake up everyone else!?" he roared in fury and pain. "I will tear you to pieces! I will burn your soul to ashes!"

"Um... is it just me or is Belos going crazy?" Matt commented upon seeing that scene.

Gus, who had slowly recovered from his state of shock, was silent for a moment, and then he exclaimed: "It's her... it's Luz! She's doing something to him!"

Everyone shook at those words; even Camila and Eda returned to their senses a little. "What...?" they murmured almost in unison.

"RAAAAARGH!" Belos continued to roar. "How dare you! Stop this immediately! You think you have a chance against me!? I will crush you, you stupid puppet!"

A broad smile appeared on Camila's face; her eyes began to cry again, but this time they were tears of joy. "Yes... yes, it's her!" she exclaimed, sliding to his knees with contentment. "She's alive... she's still alive!"

"Oh, bless that girl!" Eda said as she felt her heart beating faster than ever, and she hugged Raine almost crushing them.

Pretty soon everyone started laughing and crying at the same time. Knowing that Luz was alive and well, and that even though possessed by Belos she was still fighting, immediately set their hearts ablaze with hope again. It was as if the little sun that was Luz that had illuminated them up until that moment had been covered for a few moments by a very dark cloud, and finally this cloud had moved allowing the sun to shine again.

Willow also couldn't hold back a few tears of joy, but at the same time she wasn't able to express happiness: Hunter was still dying in front of her. She was trying so hard to do something, but she could feel his breathing and heartbeat getting weaker and weaker. But in the end, Flapjack reached Hunter's side, albeit with extreme difficulty, and he stared at her intensely; Willow didn't know what the Palisman was trying to tell her, but she took him anyway and placed him on Hunter's chest.

Even she wasn't sure if that was exactly what Flapjack wanted, but the red cardinal gave a chirp of thanks and then lit up. Just as he had done many times to heal someone, magic flowed from his body and enveloped the boy. Willow gripped Hunter's hand tightly and she could feel his pulse increase again; the internal organs regenerated, the bones became intact again, and the wounds healed, leaving only large scars on the face and arms. As he did this, Flapjack's head was drooping lower and lower, as if he was struggling to keep it up, and his eyelids were doing the same; it was as if he was draining himself of any energy he had left. He continued like this for a few more seconds, and then the light surrounding Hunter vanished, and almost mechanically the boy opened his eyes.

As soon as that happened, Willow looked like she was about to spit her heart out of her mouth. "Are you alive!" she exclaimed in full happiness, and was already about to hug him, but she stopped when she noticed a very worrying detail.

Flapjack was... withering. Literally. His beautiful red plumage was turning gray, and his eyes were still barely open. He and Hunter looked at each other one last moment, and then he chirped: "Friends stay together until the end, right?"

And having said this he closed his eyes completely and never moved again. His body split and turned into luminous dust that flew away as if dragged by the wind; but some of it fell on Hunter instead and seemed to fuse with his skin, disappearing inside. "Flapjack..." the boy murmured, and then closed his eyes and sniffed. "See you on the other side... my friend"

Willow looked at him heartbroken. "Hunter... I'm sorry..."

"No, Willow... it's okay" Hunter told her. He was clearly wanting to cry, but he was smiling genuinely nonetheless; he touched his chest at heart level. "He's not gone... he's right here, I can feel him. He's in me now". He let out a sob: "Friends stay together until the end"

Willow let out a whimper, and then she grabbed Hunter and hugged him tightly; despite showing off confidence, the boy returned that hug with great emphasis, a clear sign that he urgently needed that physical contact. "Luz... where's Luz?" he asked her.

Willow bit her lip. "Well..."

She didn't need to say anything else, because one of Belos' tentacles slammed into the ground just two meters away from them. Hunter's eyes widened as he saw what was actually happening. "Has Luz been possessed!?"

"Yeah, but now she's doing... I don't know, something!" Willow answered him. "It's like she's... poisoning Belos from the inside"

"Seriously!?" Hunter exclaimed looking at the astonished monster, and in fact he agreed that Belos seemed to be in the midst of an epileptic fit. "How is it possible...?"

Willow shrugged. "Well... she's Luz. I think this answer is enough and there's no need to add anything else"

Hunter normally would have gotten nervous and asked for a better explanation, but instead all he did in that moment was nod. "Yeah... in fact, she always does impossible things"

"Grrr... stop it, it's painful!" Belos roared as more cracks opened on his body. "Stop giving these wretches hope! What do you think you can achieve!? This won't be enough to stop me! You're just giving me some heat! Do you think you can create enough hope to destroy my immense soul!? That you can destroy my magic power!? You're deluded! Ouch! You're just making me angry, and when I get angry, I get mean...! ARGH!"

Belos was seriously experiencing pain for the first time in ages; it had been a very long time since someone had actually made him feel like he was hurt. Sometimes it happened that someone managed to destroy pieces of his body, but they were always miserable extremities, areas where he had practically zero sensation, like when Amity had destroyed his tentacles or Hunter had hit him on the head with all his power of his bracket. In all those cases he had barely felt a little tickling, certainly no pain. When Grometheus had appeared in his stomach and hit him, he had felt the urge to vomit, but in fact even that had failed to cause any real harm. But at that moment he was literally feeling himself burning inside, as if his soul was being consumed by a fire; it was still a very small fire, not nearly enough to shine amidst all its darkness, but it was still hot and burning.

Amity smiled wider and wider as she watched the monster writhe. "I knew it..." she murmured. "I knew it! Luz would never have given up! It was all her plan! Ah, Luz, as soon as you get out of there I'll shower you with kisses... before giving you a good dose of slaps, of course" she added at the last moment with a little of irritation in the voice; as happy as she was, she was quite angry with her girlfriend for the fright she had just given her. She was pretty sure she had lost at least fifty years of life when she saw Luz being possessed by Belos, and she wouldn't have been surprised if looking in a mirror she would discovered that she had become a seventy-year-old woman with wrinkles and white hair.

Belos' roar rang out so loudly that it shook everyone's limbs. "ENOUGH!" he screamed. "NOW I'M COMING TO GET YOU!"

Meanwhile, in the depths of Belos' soul, more and more souls were shining like stars, giving more and more light to Luz who continued to expand and illuminate everything around her. The puppet was at the center of that very luminous universe, and shone with her own light as if she were an angel. Both the Collector and Stringbean were watching that scene amazed and proud at the same time. "I can't believe it... that puppet is truly extraordinary!" the divine child said in admiration.

Stringbean twisted a little. "Well... she's good" she admitted, and then she whispered: "I had guessed it right when I met her. She's someone who gives people peace of mind"

"I heard you" Luz said with a smile. "And I was right with you too. You may be a bit introverted, but you have a heart of gold"

Stringbean blushed. "Stop wasting time and focus! It's not over yet! It's only a matter of time before...!"

The abyss moved and twisted, and it seemed to encircle the newly created universe like a black pall; in the midst of it Belos' empty blue eyes appeared, followed by his hideous skull-shaped face and those disgusting curved horns. "LUZ!"

All the souls trapped there trembled with fear, and the light of the new universe seemed to quieten; but then Luz's crystalline laughter rang out in the darkness, and it seemed to have the effect of chasing away the fear. "Hey, hello, Belos! I was wondering when you'd show up!"

"You stupid puppet! What do you think you're doing?" Belos growled, not liking her teasing tone at all.

"I'm not doing anything at all. I'm just reminding these people what it means to have hope" Luz replied.

"Hope!? Tsk! This is ridiculous!" Belos roared, and the darkness around them seemed to grow even more oppressive and crush them. "Something like this is easily erased!"

Luz felt like she had a boulder pressing on her from above and another from under her feet; she couldn't resist and spat out a little saliva, and for a moment she feared she would have been crushed, but fortunately Stringbean intervened and enveloped her in her magic. The Collector also didn't remain on the sidelines and unleashed all his power, pushing the cruel darkness away from them albeit with great difficulty. Luz panted deeply, but then she rose to her full height and shone again as before.

At that sight Belos shook his head in disappointment. "Why, Luz? Why? Why? What are you doing? Why are you getting up? Why do you want to keep fighting?" he asked her with extreme irritation in his voice. "Do you really think you're fighting for anything other than your own survival? Can you tell me what that is, do you even know? Is it freedom? Is it hope? Or maybe peace... don't tell me it's love! Illusions, Luz, vagaries of perception, temporary constructs of the feeble human intellect, desperately trying to justify an existence devoid of the slightest meaning and purpose! Each of these constructs is just as artificial as you are, although I must say that only a human mind could invent a silly and dull illusion like love! It doesn't really exist, and fighting for it is ridiculous!"

His every word seemed to have the power to break anyone's warrior spirit, yet Luz remained firm in her position, and she returned his gaze with a disappointed and uninterested one. "I'm afraid that you are the deluded one who doesn't really understand these feelings" she said to him.

Belos' eyes trembled with anger. "Do you still believe it!? You should have understood by now, Luz, by now it will be clear to you, you will not win, fighting is useless! No mortal being can defeat a god, it's a fact, and even less can a pathetic puppet!"

But Luz still didn't give in, and indeed she seemed not to be affected in the slightest by those words; the other souls watched as she stood proudly in her position, and suddenly, as if inspired by this, they began to feel courage again, and began to hope again and believe that they had a chance. The stars of that tiny universe began to shine even brighter than before, infuriating Belos more than ever. "Why, Luz!? Why!? Why!? WHY!? Why do you persist!?"

Luz stared back so determinedly that for a moment even Belos seemed to waver. "Because I choose to persist. I am without strings, I answer to no puppeteer; I make my own choices, and now I choose not to give up on you!" she answered him. "It's true, I can't defeat you, no one can. But all together we have the power to do it, and you yourself by keeping all these souls inside you have given us the opportunity to strike you! Your cruelty has created a chink in your defense which now I will use it as a springboard to punish you for all the evil you have done! Come on, let's see who will win: the light magic inside me, or your dark magic? My hope or your cruelty? Let's find out!"

And as soon as he spoke the last word it shone more powerfully than ever, so much so that Stringbean and the Collector narrowed their eyes, and Belos let out a groan of pain as that light hit him. Which only infuriated the monster more, although when he spoke, for the first time in centuries, it was possible to hear a little fear in his voice: "As you wish! I will destroy you!"

Belos' speech is inspired by that of Agent Smith in the film Matrix: Revolutions, in which the villain asks the protagonist to explain to him what gives him the strength to continue fighting given that he doesn't understand feelings. Here the situation is decidedly similar given that Belos cannot understand positive feelings let alone love, and consequently cannot understand why Luz is so motivated to defeat him despite the difference in power between them is so great that she following the logic should just give up