"What do you mean Belos is coming!?" Willow almost screamed.
Hunter bit his lip. "Exactly what I said, unfortunately. Belos is headed here. And I fear he won't stop until he destroys Grometheus"
"How do you know?" Gus rightly asked him.
Hunter scrambled to find an excuse, but none came to mind; so he took the route of giving a simplistic explanation and immediately changing the subject. "It's one of the functions of my staff, but we don't have time for that right now! We have to find a way to send Grometheus back to the other side of the portal, or Belos will probably destroy everything!"
Luckily for Hunter, that veiled (though not too much) threat was enough to divert his friends' attention from the 'how do you know' problem. Both Willow and Gus had become very pale, so much so that Skara and Katya hurried to support them because it looked like they were about to faint at any moment, and it probably wasn't such an impossible hypothesis. They both remembered well what Belos could do, and the last thing they wanted was to repeat that terrifying experience. "Hey... hey, guys, let's all calm down" Boscha tried to say; she was shaking a little too, though obviously not to the level of Willow and Gus. "We're talking about Belos, right? He can't get out of the sea, so he can't get all the way to Bonesborough..."
"Don't underestimate his fury" Hunter told her. "He will split the ocean floor and sink the entire coastline just to reach the portal and devour Grometheus. He will not stop until he has destroyed every competitor"
Hunter knew how his uncle reasoned; once unleashed, it was impossible to stop. There were no real natural barriers that could block it; if the environment didn't meet his needs, the environment was changed. The only thing that held him back was his rationality, which led him to avoid destroying towns and coasts at random; but if there was a potential enemy like Grometheus in front of him, any rationality would have instantly been extinguished in favor of pure animalistic fury aimed only at destroying his enemy. There was only one way to avoid the disaster: to make the aforementioned enemy disappear so that rationality would once again dominate his mind. "We need to close that portal and send Grometheus back to the other side. If that happens Belos will calm down"
His uncle had refrained from attacking Bonesborough all this time because Luz was there, and he wouldn't risk destroying her needlessly; but in the presence of a dangerous enemy like Grometheus, even Luz took a back seat. But if Grometheus were gone, Luz's safety would once again be the dominant issue in her uncle's mind, and he would stop and not completely destroy Bonesborough.
Fortunately this time his friends didn't waste time asking him how he knew that just closing the portal would make Belos' murderous fury disappear; they just listened to him. "Okay... so, what's the plan? I mean, the only one who can close the portal is Amity!" Gus reminded them. "And Luz has already tried to convince her, and I'll bet she's still trying. If anyone can bring her to her senses, it's her"
"That's true, but we can still help her" Willow said. "We're all her friends, we know her well; maybe we can push hard enough to awaken something inside her. Hunter, can you locate...?"
He didn't have time to finish the sentence: countless Abominations entered the half-destroyed library and began to take the shape of any possible nightmare. Hunter moved quickly and sliced a couple of them, but one of the most annoying characteristics of those monsters was that cutting them in half simply spawned two more smaller Abominations. They had to be completely disintegrated to eliminate them. "Damn it! Do they never end!?" Gus exclaimed when he saw them.
"As long as the portal is open, they will keep coming" Hunter said with a growl. "And they are attracted to negativity, and I have to say that we are emitting a lot of it right now! We better..."
But he didn't have time to finish because suddenly a mass of purple liquid appeared between them and Darius materialized. "You? Finally! Where were you!?" Hunter blurted out when he saw him.
"Helping Alador with a little project" Darius replied, and then pointed out Boscha, Skara, Matt, Amelia, Cat, Raine, Katya, Derwin, and Amber one by one, and counted as he did so. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine! Ok, you come with me! And take these!" he said, materializing large mirrors that landed straight in their hands.
"Wait! What are we supposed to do with these...?" Skara tried to ask, but the djinn didn't listen to her and disappeared together with them, disappearing who knows where.
Only Hunter, Willow and Gus remained in the library. "For heaven's sake Darius, you could have taken us away too!" the blond boy exclaimed in fury as he watched the Abominations approach. "Jump onto my staff, quick!"
Willow and Gus promptly complied, and Hunter flew with them towards the library roof, exiting where it had been breached and shooting into the sky. The town below them was still being gripped by countless Abominations that swarmed along the streets like insects... but suddenly, something else besides them appeared in the sky.
No one initially understood what it was; it was far too dark to see in the night sky. But then strange lights came on, lights that certainly could not be emitted by simple fire, and the strange figure became visible to everyone: it was a huge cone-shaped balloon inflated with some kind of light gas, probably helium, to the base of which a sort of cockpit was attached, equipped with propellers on the back, which were activated at alternate times, changing the course of the balloon at will. "What is that?" Willow asked confused, but what happened next surprised her even more.
At the base of the strange cockpit there was a sort of large ball, which sizzled for an instant, and then seemed to explode: an intense light appeared above Bonesborough, not as intense as the sun but enough to illuminate the whole town as if it were twilight. All the Abominations made frightened noises and seemed to begin to melt: the faint light that touched them made their bodies smoke, and even if it didn't inflict great damage, it still caused them pain. But such pain was nothing compared to what they felt when much more intense beams of light began to move from the nine tallest buildings in the city, hitting the Abominations head on and disintegrating them. Soon the whole of Bonesborough was transformed into a kaleidoscope of lights, with a single large source of light in the sky which was then reflected and amplified somehow creating intense beams that were harmless to humans and homes but lethal to dark creatures such as the Abominations.
"What the…?" Hunter was amazed, and so were Gus and Willow; they landed on the first roof they found and looked around trying to make sense of it. It was then that they realized that many mirrors had been placed on those tall buildings which collected the light emitted by the balloon in the sky, and which, given their shape and position, continually reflected it, amplifying it; and finally they transmitted it to a final mirror, the one that Darius had given to their friends, who were now each positioned in the center of one of those strange mirror complexes and were attacking the Abominations with light as if they were archers.
"Wow… this is brilliant!" Gus exclaimed when he saw all this. "Amity's father is a genius! Of course, he's still a terrible father, but he's a genius! How did he manage to prepare all this in such a short time?"
Hunter didn't even have to try to figure it out. "Darius" he murmured. "Alador and that djinn said they had a plan. Darius must have materialized for him everything that was needed to create all this"
"Well, at least it seems to be working! Now the Abominations can't attack the town easy anymore!" Willow said with satisfaction as she watched them run away in every direction, and then she looked at the strange light of the balloon in the sky. "I wonder what that thing is... it's certainly not fire, but then what...?"
But just at that moment, the earth shook slightly, as if something immense was pounding on it; normally those would have been the first signs of a tsunami, given that such vibrations were caused by the movement of several tons of water above the sea floor. But Hunter already knew that wasn't the case. "He's here" he murmured through gritted teeth.
About ten kilometers from the coast of Bonesborough, the sea opened and what looked like an island emerged from it; two giant blue eyes focused on the town, and moved hungrily towards the portal in the distance. Belos let out a growl, which shook the water, and then he reached down again and placed his forepaws on the seabed, and pushed down. For an instant nothing happened, and then the sedimentary ground split and a gigantic fissure appeared for kilometers, into which the water began to flow, and the part of the seabed that Belos was pressing on began to sink.
"It's not going well here!" Gus turned pale when he saw that scene. "We must do something!"
"Something... like what?" Willow couldn't think straight anymore; she knew she had to stay rational, but it was really hard with that monster coming.
Hunter had remained silent; he had simply stared at the creature in the distance for a good two minutes. His gaze remained indecipherable; and then he turned to his friends. "I'll go"
Willow and Gus looked at him as if he had just told them he wanted to go to the moon. "What?" they asked in unison.
"I'll go to stop that monster" Hunter replied to them. "You go find Luz and Amity. Give them a hand. I'll take care of it here"
"Have you gone completely crazy!? Hunter, that's not a greater basilisk, a zealot, or anything you've ever faced! That's Belos!" Willow screamed. "You can't defeat him! This is madness!"
"I know I can't defeat him" Hunter replied; his grip on his staff had tightened so much that his entire hand was white, but he still had a determined look. "But I can buy you time. I'm still a monster hunter; I'm strong, fast, smart. I can escape from that monster long enough for you to be able to bring Amity to her senses and send Grometheus back through the portal"
"But you will die!" Willow protested; a few tears were forming in her eyes.
Hunter nodded. "Yes, probably" he admitted. He couldn't deny such an obvious truth.
Willow turned red with anger; she looked like she was about to punch him. "So you want to be a martyr!? There's no talking about it!" she screamed. "I won't let you throw your life away!"
"It's the only way, Willow! It's either this or the town goes under the water!" Hunter told her. "Please understand that there is no other choice now"
Willow trembled, both from anger and desperation and the sense of helplessness she felt in that moment. She stared at Hunter for a moment, then she grabbed the tip of his staff. "Okay, you're right. Come on, let's give that monster something to eat"
Hunter froze. "Willow... no. You can't come with me"
"And who decides it!? You!?" Willow told him, no longer holding back her sobs. "Do you really think I'll let you go alone to die? There's no question of that. If you do this thing, I'll come with you"
"Willow, you don't understand..." Hunter tried to tell her.
"No, you are the one who doesn't understand!" Willow replied furiously and desperately. "You can't act like that, okay!? I don't know what role models you had for growing up such an asshole, but that's not how it's done! You can't come into someone's life and then leave like this! You can't make me Gus, Luz, Amity and all the rest of us get attached to you, and then decide to run headlong into a sea monster to get killed! Whether you like it or not, you're part of our life now, and so you can't get out of it so easily!"
Hunter was caught off guard. He just didn't know what to say. In fact, he didn't even know what emotions he was feeling at that moment. "Willow..."
"I'm coming with you" the girl told him in a tone that allowed no replies. "You're right, someone has to distract that monster. But if you have to die, I'll follow you to the grave. I won't leave you alone"
Hunter's eyes widened in shock, but he was even more shocked when Gus said: "I'm coming too, and don't try to tell me no. I'm not leaving two of my best friends alone. If Luz or Amity were here, they would do the same"
Hunter remained silent; his heart was beating so hard it almost hurt, but he was sure it wasn't because he was on the verge of death. He had never thought that there would ever be anyone in the world ready to follow him even on such a suicide mission. He felt like he was... completely part of something more than just a group of friends. Was that perhaps the feeling of being in a family?
Hunter didn't know. But he knew for sure what he had to do. "Willow… I'm sorry"
And before the girl could react he moved quickly and hit her under the neck with two fingers; Willow staggered and her body went rigid, and then she fell into Gus's arms, who kept her from hitting her head. "Dude! What did you do!?" he exclaimed.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine in less than three minutes" Hunter told him as he started to jump into his staff. "Take care of her, Gus. Do it for me. Make sure she's never in danger"
Gus glared at him, "Hey, I'm still here! If you think I'm going to let you go..."
"Gus" Hunter stopped him. "I'm asking you this as a friend... and as a man"
Gus fell silent, and he looked Hunter straight in the eyes; and that was enough for him to understand. "You're an idiot" he whispered. "Why did you reject her then?"
"Because like you said, I'm an idiot" Hunter replied. "Don't tell her, please. I don't want her to suffer any more than I already do"
Gus let out a deep breath. "Give me something to contact you"
Hunter didn't understand. "What?"
"A magic stone, a spell... whatever you want. Give me something with which you can tell us where you are when all of this ends. So even if you end up far from here we'll know where we have to go to get you" Gus told him.
Hunter looked at him with compassionate eyes. "Gus... that's stupid. You know I'm going to die"
"But hope dies last" Gus replied. "Give it to me, or I won't let you go"
Hunter stood still for a moment, then he sighed and touched the red orb of his staff, and with a little effort broke off a small fragment and threw it at Gus. "Here. But don't expect a call from me"
"I'll wait for you anyway" Gus replied. He remained silent for a moment, then he added in a broken voice: "You were a great friend"
Hunter let out a sigh. "You too, buddy. Goodbye" he said, and he then took off, leaving Gus alone with the unconscious Willow in his arms.
As he flew towards the sea, Hunter looked at Flapjack: "If you want to leave, now is the time. I won't blame you"
The Palisman made an annoyed noise. Hunter had understood exactly what he had said, but it was someone else who spoke anyway. "I think he's telling you to stop talking nonsense" Darius said appearing next to him in his liquid form.
"And what do you want?" Hunter asked him, but he already knew the answer.
"It seems obvious to me, boy. I am no longer of use here; I have already provided Alador with everything he needed" the djinn replied, and he patted him on the shoulder. "We're not leaving you alone. Neither me nor Flapjack"
Hunter shook his head with disappointment, but also with great satisfaction. "You guys… you really are idiots" he whispered.
"Says the one who's about to throw himself at a kilometer-long monster" Darius replied, and Flapjack also let out an amused chirp.
In the meantime they had arrived near the coast. From there they could see that the port was starting to sink: albeit slowly, the water was flooding the streets and rising by the second. "Oh my…" Darius muttered a little fearfully. "You… have a plan to defeat him, right?"
Hunter tightened his grip on his staff. "We can't defeat him. He has abilities you can't even imagine"
The djinn let out a grumble. "Okay. Alternative question: what are our chances of making it to tomorrow morning alive?"
"Pretty much… zero" was Hunter's response.
"Perfect! I won't have to pay for Raine's breakfast tomorrow" Darius commented sarcastically, but his determination didn't waver. "Come on, let's go play heroes... or madmen, in this case"
Everyone: "Belos is coming! This is the end!"
Hunter (thinking): "Good. It's time to atone for my sins with one final act of redemption. I will sacrifice myself for..."
Flapjack: "I'm here too"
Hunter: "Okay, you don't count, you're more of an object than anything else. I'll be the one to throw my life away for..."
Darius: "Can I join you?"
Hunter: "Fuck"