Gantlos charges at Duman who swiftly ducks, transforming into a hipogriff. He kicks Gantlos away with his hind legs, hoping that would damage him enough, but Gantlos just laughs as he turns into a swarm of bats. A dozen vampire bats charge at Duman and circle him at high speed. Duman shielding his face with his arms as he feels one of them dig its fangs in his elbow. He screams and jerks his hand, sending the bat flying away. Another bat bites him and he kicks it away. And another. And he shoves it away. At this point, Duman shapeshifts into a snake and slithers away quickly before becoming human again. He thought that could get him away from the bats but it's like a big target was painted in red on his back as they charge at him again.
"Gah! Stupid bats! Ow! Stop biting me!"
Bloom and Stella arrive at the scene, hiding behind a building and watching as the swarm of bats taunt Duman. "Should we help him?" Stella asks. Bloom could see their auras: Duman's cocky but distressed demeanor was predictable, except for a faint fragility cracking through. Meanwhile, the bats were like a hivemind, combined into a singular dominating aura. Seething vengeance, rage at the wizards. She swears there's a hint of guilt or melancholy in there, somewhere.
"Not right now..." Bloom finally says. Duman notices the girls and yells at them to help him out as he keeps getting bitten, feeling his magic getting slowly chipped away. He whips up a shield which pushes the swarm of bats away from him as they converge, forming back into Gantlos' silhouette. "Face it, Duman, you're weak without your powers!", he hisses.
"Shut up! I'll tear those fangs out of your mouth before you can scream about it!" Duman snaps back, which makes Gantlos laugh. "Oh yeah? Just try to do that!"
Duman summon a trail of lilac magic around him as he thinks of transforming into a minotaur. Something big, strong, and intimidating, something that'll make Helsing, or Gantlos, regret what they're doing right now. But as he tries to shift he can only muster up enough magic to turn into a cow. Duman looks at himself flabbergasted, trying to turn into a griffin, but only managing an eagle, into a manticore but can only manage a main coon cat. "What the heck?!"
"Of course, you're so dependent on your powers that when you feel vulnerable, you want to present yourself as bigger." Gantlos taunts. Duman shapeshifts back into his human form, yelling at Gantlos to shut up as he throws a punch to him. Gantlos grabs his arm and digs his fangs and claws into it. "Ow!!" Duman yanks his arm away, wincing as he looks at the red fang and claw marks, fresh with the scent of blood. He backs away from Gantlos who's radiating dark magic. He starts cackling maniacally, starring at Duman with mad eyes. Duman gulps as he notices red rings fading into the sides of his sclera, veins visible. It's like his shapeshifting magic was a drug. He shakes the anxiety off and prepares to shapeshift.
"(Think Duman, something strong! Something fast! Something to beat the shit out of this guy with!)" He tries again, Gantlos covering his eyes at the flickering lilac lights. He looks back at Duman, not a ferocious monster but a frail little rabbit. Bloom and Stella quietly gasp.
"HAHAHAHA, just look at you!" Gantlos laughs, "You thought you could be a big bad wolf but here you are, prey to your own magic!"
He goes over to the fragile black and pink rabbit, seizing its floppy ears and lifting Duman up; he was visibly shaking, curling into himself, almost crying from being so vulnerable.
"Not so tough now huh...? You know how it feels now, don't you? Come on, you're much stronger than me!...Heh, you look cute like this, wonder if you taste good too~"
Duman rapidly shakes his head as he paws at Gantlos' talons as the ghoul pulls him closer, his fangs shining as he opens his mouth.
"DUDE THIS TEASING IS GOING WAY TOO FAR! PLEASE!!" Duman cries.
"Ok Gantlos, stop this instant!" Bloom says, coming out of her and Stella's hideout. Gantlos pauses and hinges his mouth back closed as he and Duman look at the two fairies. Stella's coughing fits started again, she feels a bit dizzy as she looks at the moonlight; it was high noon for the darkness. She feels more green patches crawling onto her skin, her throat tightening more, either from the stress of it or the moon's effects. Her amber gaze shifts to Bloom, who despite losing her powers, had a flame of determination burning inside her.
"Helsing, and Gantlos, I can read your aura, you know that! And I know the wizards have hurt you but that gives you no right to torment Duman or Ogron or Anagan like this! I mean, what do you get from it?! Sadistic glee? By the end of this you'll regret everything so put that rabbit down! NOW!"
Gantlos squints his wild eyes and lets go of Duman, the rabbit hitting and ground and whining. He looks at his forearm, visibly broken. Duman hated it, he hated being so vulnerable a drop could break him. He limps away to find Anagan and hide inside of his coat. "He does a lot of damage, little guy..." Anagan sighs. "Don't call me that!" Duman whines.
Ugh, just who do those fairies think they are telling you what to do?!
His eye twitches. "And what makes you think I should listen? I am still famished..." Gantlos growls.
"You're hurting people around you!" Stella snaps. "And for that you'll pay!"
She reaches out into Bloom's bag for garlic and holy water. "Repent!", Stella screams as she throws the garlic bulb to him. Gantlos catches it, taking a bite into the onion. Stella and Bloom are taken aback from the crunching and the vampire weakness being a mere myth, and to rub it into them more, Gantlos swallows.
"Heh, the old farmer's tale. You know they just said that to sell more garlic?", he chuckles, throwing the bulb away.
"Ok, well, uhm—" Stella stutters. "Well we have holy water!", she quickly grabs the bottle, looking at it, then looking at Bloom, "why is it in a spray bottle?"
"Weren't you paying attention? Nabu says they ran out of spray so may as well use that bottle!" Bloom replies.
"You know holy water only works on the undead and I'm very much alive?" Gantlos chips in.
Oh god. They were screwed. Stella slowly turns over to Gantlos who grins before summoning one of his iconic seismic waves at her. She pulls up a shield made of sunlight to shield her and Bloom. "Bloom, go and call Brandon, ask him to come with the gun and bullets when they're finished!" Bloom nods and takes Stella's Solarian staff she was keeping in her bag: they don't need it as much anymore but it's good for emergencies when they're too weak, which doesn't happen as much lately. As Bloom teleports away, Stella pulls down her shield and transforms into her Believix form. "Alright you half-vampire, let's put an end to this!"
"Save your breath or you'll start squeaking," Gantlos grins. Stella holds her throat which was burning and aching. Whatever, she was determined to get everyone's powers back, somehow, and a sore throat isn't going to stop her. She shoots some basic light balls at him but he dodges with ease and grace. "(Since when can he do that?! Usually he gets hit and lies there for like 10 seconds!)", Stella wonders.
Gantlos notices a bat flying above them and brings his claws to his head, focusing on creating a signal to the bat. The flying creature seems to get the signal and swoops down to Stella, slapping her with one of its wings as it glides down. "Ack! Hey don't touch the hair!" The bat won't leave her alone, Gantlos laughing as he watches. Stella notices both him and the bat seem to faintly glow purple. "Jeez dude, you look awfully pale, you could use a tan!" Stella puts her palms together and shoots a blinding light at Gantlos. He shields his eyes, yelling in agony as the bat snaps out of his control and flies away. It seems to have done some damage. "What do you have to say about that, huh??"
"why am I doing this...?"
Stella guard drops. She wasn't expecting a shaky unsure voice to come out of his fang-riddled mouth. Did he snap out of it? He had the silhouette of a weeping figure.
"I was just doing what Ogron wanted...I wasn't sure but, it's for him, for them...it's too much power, I can't control it..."
Right, no wonder he turned against the wizards. Getting pushed to his limits, and he broke. Before she could reach a hand out he uncovers one hazel eye with a sun scar underneath. It quickly turns back that shade of blood red. He goes back to grinning maniacally. "But I NEED MORE!"
He snaps his fingers and Ogron suddenly appears behind Stella. She turns around as he grabs her wrists and holds her in place, his head tilting down, eyes still glowing pink.
"Hey! Let me go!" Stella shouts at him. She can hear some mumbling under his breath.
"Help..." Ogron whispers, slurring his words like a zombie. Stella's eye widen as she shifts her terrified gaze back to Gantlos. Shadows loomed over his face as his eyes glow red like the blood moon.
"I left a bit of power in him so he could do that..." Gantlos mumbles. "And as a moon medium trapped in sunlight, I'll have to exorcise you."
"N-No! You can't be serious about this! What happened to "it's too much power"??"
"Until the blood moon's over it's never too much power..."
"You've lost your mind??!"
"And you'll lose your moon powers."
Gantlos takes out the back circle and starts an enchantation. It levitates in the air, casting a dark blue glow over him and the sun and moon fairy. He summons some magic in his hands, drawing a glyph as he casts a spell on Stella. It feels like 100 volts flowing into her veins. Stella screams. The green patches on her skin fade away and she feels her throat get looser, but bags start to fade in under her eyes and feeling herself get weaker. A trail of blue magic tears itself from her, surrounding a moon shape. Gantlos holds the magic between his talons, grinning as he clenches his fist and takes it all in. The Black Circle stops glowing and falls back into his hand. Ogron drops Stella who hits the floor, looking up to the menacing and powerful ghoul, once a wizard she blinded with ease.
"What are you gonna do now, sunshine? You dare challenge me?", he taunts. Stella isn't sure, her heart wants to jump out of her chest. Maybe she could beat him, but right now her nerves were too tight. A princess, bested. She gets up and scrams away from the scene, away from the wizards, away from that menace who ripped her soul in two.
Moon magic. Her mom used to perform otherworldly spells with it. It's known as one of the most potent forms of dark magic. Stella could never master it as it clashed with her more dominant sun powers, thus it stayed dormant. But now, the power of moonlight in his grasp, it's like Valtor's spark, or it felt like it. She could feel his blood red eyes watching her every move as she sunk down to the grass, against a nearby tree. He was too powerful, the dragon flame and her moon powers in hand. She knows her sun magic is only one spark, not seven.
What was she going to do...?
To be Continued...