My Bones Can Scream

by geci1000

Luz lies. She lies a lot. Be it to classmates or loved ones, something deeply engraved inside her is eager to lie and deceive. However, despite what others might say, lying has benefits. When someone refers to her as human, she can lie sheepishly, knowing full well that they will all witness the monster lurking underneath her skin if it wasn't for her capability to lie.

10. Chapter 10: Reading under a Pale Moon

The car's engine groaned with two final, labored coughs before sliding into the harsh grip of silence, the vehicle rolling to an abrupt stop on the gravel shoulder of a secluded, winding road. A dense forest flanks their entire right side, its towering mass an almost impenetrable wall of greenery that squirms with life at every corner.

A soft click echoes as the driver's door is unlatched, quickly followed by the other three as the kids excitedly exit the car, quickly leaving Camila alone. Swinging her door open with a creak she had promised to remediate years ago, she steps out of the car, revealing a pair of well-worn hiking boots that flattened the pieces of asphalt that had eroded and broken loose from the road.

Straightening up, she stretches her limbs after the relatively long drive, the soft pop of his joints and the fizzling tension in her muscles almost inaudible against the background murmur of the forest.

Shutting the partly rusted door with a firm push, she lets her left eye wander across her surroundings for a moment, the silver flickers behind the eye patch unnoticed by the group in their excitement, lost in their own jubilant distractions.

The late afternoon sun filters through the canopy, casting dappled patterns of light and darkness on the patchy ground, the shadow reflecting from the monolithic monstrosity masquerading as a tree half the size of the empire state irritating her special vision to the point that she couldn't stare at it for more than a minute.

It was the essence of her 'new' eyesight she guessed, to see the true nature and identity of neigh-everything, so while Vee's friends appeared as albeit tiny, flickering flames, symbolic of their essence and potential, Vee herself shone with a more prominent and radiant blaze that covered her entire body, the distinction due to the potent magic that coursed through her veins, amplifying her presence to a moderate degree.

So it didn't surprise her that the Tree's light blinded her with the same intensity as if she was staring at the sun, that is, if the sun stood in her backyard not hundreds of millions of kilometers away, the endless lines of tributes fashioned toward the eight Nightmare and the impossible power of the thing that occupied a quarter of the most dangerous and putrid place in all the Abyss making it an arduous task to use her unique eyesight in her town borders.

Closing her left eye once more, switching her attention toward the group of children once more, whatever plan they envision for their upcoming mission being finalized as they turn to her, hopefully for them decent enough to justify driving all the way into the wild when Camila could have spent her time doing so many better things.

Like venting her frustration onto the poor punching bag she had already been forced to replace two times since Luz disappeared.

So that's exactly what they did, explaining their whole plan in full detail for a lengthy period of...twenty seconds.

Her knuckles yearned for the punching bag surface.

"So a case of pets going missing around the forest, many of them never found again while some of their desecrated corpses were found by rangers, I got everything so far? "

They seem to take her displeasure with the whole ordeal in stride, nodding with great vigor.

"Sure did Mama Luz, and it is our duty as the Demon-Buster to bring justice to the unfortunate family who had befallen such ill fates, and when we catch the perpetrator, if they would desire to compensate us, then we will mourn with them even harder. " Marsha responded to her inquiry, adding the last part under their breath and playing obvious to the incredulous stares.

Well, they tried for a few moments.

"What? A girl gotta eat. "

Camila couldn't completely find it in herself to disagree considering how many… definitely not fraudulent schemes she performed in her younger years.

"But Masha you came up with the whole club idea, aren't there many other and better ways of making money than this?"

Molly questioned, raising a brow at the girl.

"Like stealing." Camila's ears perked upward at the reticent sound of Adam's voice, unsurprisingly being the only one to hear it, the boy being almost as quiet as her Luz when he wanted.

"Because it would make this boring life just a tad bit more fun with the existence of bloodthirsty cryptids lurking right around the corner and is my duty to find them, the monetary surplus I would consider an added bonus."

Camila easily controls the involuntary flinch, the simple line hitting a tad bit too close for comfort and the truths she had been forced to learn to protect Luz.

How wrong you are Masha.

With no one wanting to add something more, they trekked forward undisturbed.

Their conversations dwindled after that, neither of them feeling that they needed to contribute to it further and a comforting but palpable silence settled over the group. Trudging deeper into the woods, the thick canopy above gradually began to filter the afternoon light, refining it into a dim twilight that barely illuminated their path forward.

The further they ventured, the more the forest seemed to close in around them, the persistent noises of the city from honking cars, distant voices, and the hum of machinery gradually fading into oblivion, replaced by the soft crunch of thin branches underfoot, the whisper of the wind through their hair, and the occasional rustle of leaves.

And with those, the noxious miasma of the tree vessel also becomes less oppressive, allowing her to play around with her special vision.

With crackling a kaleidoscope of colors and energies that surged to life, the world around her shifted, growing more muted as anything physical was washed away and replaced by endless bundles of blue, red and so many more colors that the human eyes could never envision. If she focused just a tad bit more, she could even track energy currents coursing through the ground from one tree to another, eventually converging to the center of the forest, stuck in a cycle of flow and exchange that formed a deep network that pushed the lively forest existence forward.

It felt good to finally loosen up the strain onto her left eye—the beauty of it always overshadowed by the boundless obelisk of vile power that was the Tree, that pleasant feeling heightened to an even higher degree now that she could more easily test the second capability of her special sight.

The very ability to see the true identity of all things that can and can not exist.

And this is where the table turns.

Whereas the potential part usually grew more irritating when faced with more powerful entities and as such usually when in contact with any Abyss rabid beast, the identity part of it is completely flipped.

For the Forest's identity was clear and simple, "The Forest before Nothingness" and sometimes rarely "The Avatar of the Abyss" being its only titles that will remain forever unchanged.

But if she were to focus on Vee's form just a tiny bit more.

Never-ending barrages of names and identities burrowed themself into her non-existent iris, endlessly converging into infinite pathways that crumbled not a second later and were replaced by new ones.

She had been extremely lucky that the little demon had accidentally revealed her true form, the only thing her weird power would have proved was that she wasn't Luz. Every identity, every pronoun, characterization, or nickname they might have used, or had been called by others—that 'others' category realistically fitting everything alive, drowned and resurfaced in a sea of words, making it completely impossible for her to figure out anything regarding who Vee was.

Did this sight somehow relate to that stupid Abyss?

Well, to past Camila's shock, it actually wasn't. Something inadequate proven when she used it on Ava, the white cold flame radiating with almost the same intensity as that of the Forest radiating from her still.

Perhaps it had once matched it, but the missing part of Ava's very existence that looked like it had been torn out made that impossible. Even the identity part completely contradicted the whole link to the Abyss assessment, "The Light that pushed away the Forest." and "Creation Avatar" being the only things that appear when focusing on Ava, the identity restriction Camila had observed powerful beings exhibit being something crucial to surviving in the Abyss, in Ava words: 'For without a pure resolve in your identity, and conviction into oneself, you ain't getting past the Middle Ring no matter how macho you think you are'

She has yet to understand what the hell did that mean.

"-mila? " The call of one of the kids made her instantly close her eyes, not allowing herself to flinch at the sudden noise.

"Hmm, you were saying? " She smoothly ignores her lack of attention, gaze freezing the girl in place.

Molly momentarily lost her nerves, a brief hesitation betraying her resolve, and even the always bashful Masha didn't seem to spill out what they wanted to address.

That's when the ever-helpful but silent Adam chose to take the metaphorical blow in his friend's place.

"They were curious about your sudden desire to accomplish us on our 'mission'."

"Not that we have a problem with you accompanying us!" Molly quickly assures, almost tripping on a loose branch in the process as she contrasts her best friend.

"Why I am coming with you?" Camila asked, her voice laced with incredulity at the prospect she was asked, just a bit thankful that her moment of oblivion from before had gone under their radar.

"Are you surprised I am not allowing four children who can barely be considered teenagers to go alone in the middle of a forest?" Intensifying her gaze into a glare, she reiterated a bit more heavily.

"Furthermore, to allow children to go in a forest where the butchered remains of animals have been found?" To her pleasure, the kids had the decently to cringe in embarrassment, but she nonetheless crushed that sentiment not a second later, prohibiting herself from feeling vindicated because she won against children.

Camila isn't her mother.

"Children should be allowed to have weird hobbies but if the presence forty years old women tagging along can prevent a life-threatening scenario, then that's a sacrifice you children have to endure, cuz if you wanted to investigate some horror story on the internet from the sanctuary of your homes, or at least not in a goddamn forest, you wouldn't have seen me even close to your vicinity."

Not one to easily relinquish her fight for her dream of finding something more than the boring livelihood she had endured for her entire life, Masha retorted.

"I have tried Miss Camila, spend entire nights just searching for something that wasn't either a very fucked up, but still human crime, and the only thing I got so far are creepypastas like the Candle Cove and Beneath the Static, that although pretty disturbing, there aren't real to mater." To her rebuttal, Camila didn't quite have anything to resort to considering she was close to illiterate regarding technology, courtesy of her mother's very very good parenting.

"Candle Cove and Beneath the Static?" Camila asked not all that interested but still pleased when she saw the girl perk up somewhat.

"Well, for starters, Candle Cove is a whole story about a TV show from the '70s that a bunch of children including the protagonist remember watching as kids. Something about creepy marionettes and a bizarre plot that got darker the more you watched." As she explained, the girl almost unconsciously pulled her phone out, showcasing her pictures of fanart related to the story, some of Luz's lingo long ago ingrained in her vocabulary.

"While Beneath the Static is a bit more infamous, it isn't really a story and more like people coming out with statements regarding the same narrative but the event provided diverging significantly, with each person recounting a distinct and often conflicting experience of what they had endured in some sick reality show, the only similarity being the disturbing presenter called by the alleged victims as JJ Watson."

As she talked, Camila felt a sudden deja vu, a disturbing flash of recognition assuming a blurry shape in her mind, which was in clear opposition to Vee who grew more lost the longer they talked.

"Wasn't that story part of the whole secret campaign every television station used to demonize the internet and anything related to it? 'Somehow' always forgetting to mention regarding this one the whole TV part of their stories?" Genuinely surprising Camila, both Adam, and Molly knew a good chunk of that entire pandamonium of an event she didn't remember, which either told her that she had gathered less insight into their likes and personalities so far, or this story was much bigger than she first anticipated, and judging by the tug at her memory, it was probably the latter.

"It sure was, from news stations televising grim and pompous stories to scare their audiences similar to the 2016 'Blue Whale Challenge" social network phenomenon that caused delirious mayhem across the country to the dozens of talk shows bringing the suppose victims of the infamous JJ Watson in exchange for a quick buck."

And with Masha's statement, finally, the forgotten memory resurfaced from the churning depths of her mind, clicking naturally in its rightful place.

Camila could suddenly see herself twenty years younger, a woman whose problems now seemed pretty insignificant compared to the existence of the Abyss and the Nightmares resting beneath her daughter's skin.

Both younger Camila and her love for life cuddled together, barely paying attention to whatever was displayed on the television before them.

Then by accident, one of them moved and pressed their body against the remote, changing the channel and breaking the sweet moment. She remembers their laughter as they realize their mistake, eventually having to rise so they could search for the lost remote who appeared to have completely disappeared from the mortal coil. And by them, she meant Manny as Camila pretended to suddenly pay attention to what the new channel displayed.

She didn't have to pretend for long.

On the relatively small screen of their TV, was presented the big scene of a talk show, where the host and the special guest rested on very stiff couches.

What captured her gaze and soon her attention, was the special guest. A man in his thirties who looked like he was completely wasted, a mere shadow who could barely stand in place as his eyes shifted erratically and his posture changed periodically, hand reaching for something that wasn't there, looking for someone who was gone.

The talk show had been going for a while, she mussed, the entire night dedicated to what Camila realized was one of the incidents Masha was talking about, the guest being a family member of the supposed victims.

The entire show was deplorable in her eyes even back then, the producers most likely paying the man in pennies so they could televise his misery.

But before she could get the chance to declare her disgust to her preoccupied husband, the guest sprang to his feet, startling the host and Camila into silence and bolting her attention to the screen.

"No. it cannot be...who are-"

With almost careful movement, the man moved toward a nearby closed TV in the corner of the room, the camera following his every step, the words of those in the room falling deaf on his and Camila's ears.

His expression was unreadable for a moment, so many emotions flashing across his face. Bewilderment, grief, confusion, and then hope.

"What are you-Evalyn?"

A glimmer of hope overtook his feature, brightening every pore on his face, before it instantly shattered like the dying light of a distant star, mutating into something that was just indescribably human, yet so inexplicably complex to understand.

Pure terror

"Mathew, Andrew wha-"

There was a single moment of stillness before a guttural scream escaped them gulet, exploding from the TV, the cry no different than that of a wounded beast.

She flinched, tearing her gaze from the screen as a momentary surge of bile threatened to exit her, burning and sizzling as it made its way up her throat.

When her guts eventually stabilize, she is not sure how much time has passed, mostly less than a minute, but as she returns her gaze to the TV, how much time has passed stops to matter anymore.

The entire stage is in complete chaos, whatever semblance of order now gone as several security guards tried to wrestle away the writhing guest whose fingers had painfully dug into the TV, his vocal cords breaking as he screamed, begged, and pleaded for help, yellowish vomit dripped sluggishly from his black shirt and chin, the stench mingling with the fabric's dampness but no affecting the man at all.

"Someone, god, please help them, it has taken them can't you see? The demon has stolen them, please take me, just let them go. God anyone stop him, give them back. "

With a more ruthless tug from one of the guards, the screens gave away, leaving the body imprint of his finger as the man was left to desperately drag his broken fingers at the empty air, coughing and hacking madly as he shattered in body and mind

"Please give them back, GIVE THEM BACK!"

There was no reply

The sudden miasma of death buried itself in her nostrils and instantly stripped her from the dark memories with enough intensity to make her stumble, her instincts coming to life in a burst of light beneath her eye patch. The kids had yet to notice, the interchanging scents of the forest making a far than better job of masking the fetid smell. Well, to the normal human sensitivity, judging by the way Vee also froze, she wasn't the only one to realize something was wrong.

With a single stretch of her hands, she brought them all at once behind her, their surprise cries unapologetic ignored as she moved further until the putrid corpse came into view.

It was a pathetic thing, a dog incapable of hurting even a rat, judging by the branches that stuck at odd angles from its rotten body it had been dragged through the forest by their neck.

Crouching down, she took a better look at its split rib cage, the bones clipped and the organs perforated as the assailant feasted to its content.

The little pup had been desecrated while still alive, surviving for so much longer than necessary, its assailant not even endeavoring to end its misery, making her heart ache for the poor animal.

She was being watched.

Raising to an upright position, she closely strained her ears to listen, the lack of sound ranging from the insects that no longer buzzed above the rotting carcass, to the absence of the breeze through the tree line making themself more apparent.

"Cami-" A hissed growl with all the pretense of a rabid beast was all they heard before something lunged from the canopy, its airborne form surging toward an unprepared Masha who stood just a bit further from the group.

However, it failed to reach its target as Camila already stood in front of her, arm lashing forward and fingers grabbing onto the back of the animal before with a grunt smashing it to the ground with enough force that bones splinter.

The sudden noise startled the kids, distracting them from noticing the bluish glimmer of light that formed at the tip of Vee's hand that lashed out in surprise.

"Well, I think I got your elusive monster, Masha, why don't you say hi to them." The body was relatively large for a canine, teeth like crumbling screws gnashing relentlessly for a single glimmer of her flesh as it squirmed beneath her iron grip.

A wolf of all things wasn't something she quite expected to find, not that she quite expected to find anything considering how large the forest was, much less one as ferals as this one.

Drool in a sickly mixture of foam trailed down the animal's maw, beady cloudy eyes filled with frenzied bloodlust blindly staring at her, and its convulsing, dehydrated form deteriorating with each moment of its remaining life, nothing more than a corpse having forgotten to be buried.

Rabies was a wicked sickness, one she had watched too many times gradually sip the life of the animals that were brought to her clinic in the hopeless attempt to save them.

And this one, just like those was beyond saving.

"Now that you had your fun Masha, would you all be a darling and go ahead, I will be with you in a moment." She didn't even try to hide her discrepancy as the animal claws drugged into the tough piece of her boot.

Adam being ever so helpful and taking the hint, ushered them along, nodding his head toward her in understanding, whatever objection Masha might have considered voicing stifled as Adam casually picked her up, easily carrying her struggling body away.

Once out of sight, Camila finally allowed her shoulders to slump at the knowledge of what was coming next, the animal lover in her now nothing more than an inconsolable person.

The wolf's death was as instantaneous as the crack that echoed through the air, the delirious animal finally allowed to rest away from the madness of their own mind brought forth by the veil disease.

Hissing through gritted teeth, she pulled her hand from the fur of the wolf, all manner of filth that had stained her finger unimportant when compared to the strength that seeped into her very muscles. As everything that had been the unfortunate animal before became all hers By Right of Conquest, the sacrileges law of the Abyss rewarding all tainted by its influence.

At last, the wicked yet empowering feeling dissipates leaving her body refreshed, she allows herself to rise back up, somehow the power received being more disgusting than the act of ending the missilery of the poor animal.

She was still being watched.

Turning carefully around, she allowed both of her gaze to perceive all that could be seen, not yet fully used to the different impulsed from her eyes that contradicted themself.

And then, she saw it.

To her right, just far enough in the distance that it was beyond what an ordinary person couldn't quite decipher, stood a fairly tall something, perched on a nearby cliff. They was too far for her to fully see any detail besides the weird black material that curled around their form, but as she lay her silver gaze toward them, Camila was consumed in flames.

A sudden, blinding violet light erupted across the earth, slithering forth like a hideous sea of unfathomable fumes, a boundless power that yearned to mutate every molecule, every atom, every quark that composed the universe it sought to alter, to ever-change the tapestry of immeasurable galaxies into infinite possibilities, all under the will of its master.

The world fizzled out of focus, vision an insolent idea gnawed by unseen teeth, an acrid stench of ash and char making her lose her balance, back sliding harshly against a tree as endlessly converging, bloating, and cloying flames consumed the sky, choking out the heavens above.

And even here, in this cursed First Dream where gods and kings were made equal, it held enough energy to crumble their planet until half of it was nothing but embers, and to alter what was left into an alien land.

In the center of the inferno, the figure waved at her, their overwhelming power swaying in tune with their movement. Said movement was a mocking thing, their arms barely turning from left to right as a single title materialized amidst the rioting blaze.

Abbadon, the First Monarch of Equilibrium

The next second, they were gone.

---

"So could you explain again why I shouldn't inform of three individuals that had breached into the library in the middle of the night? " Pinning the three with a glare, she was disappointed but not surprised to not be taken seriously, only the human having the decently to look a bit embarrassed.

"Because you are our beautiful little sister who will excuse her deplorable siblings out of the kindness of her heart." Amity continues to look unimpressed at the poor attempt at flattery

"That would be a clear case of nepotism. "

She replied driely which only seemed to make Emira's smile grow even wider.

"Beautiful, kind, and smart, truly fit to become the head of the Emperor coven."

Huffing at her sister's mannerisms, Amity at last relented, knowing there was no stopping Emira once she decided to do something.

Plus, as they walked through the large library, she couldn't help but be thankful to see Luz right and well, her nightmare claws still clinging to her long after walking up.

"Sorry. " Turning to her left, she found Luz walking beside her, apologetically smiling at her and making whatever frustration she had with her sister's antics dissipate.

"It's alright hum-Luz, you are not the first to fall to my siblings' schemes, acting more childish than even the kids I get to read to, they do this so regularly I am sure is already aware of their transgression."

"Hope you are speaking only wonderful things about me dear sister."

Emira's voice rang from somewhere around the corner, both siblings leaving them to search for books to use for the ritual.

"Yeah they seem a bit rowdy but overall pretty nice to be around, although you can tell me if you need them to calm down, I will ruffle them real good. " To punctuate her statement, the human flexed her biceps in a showcase of prowess.

And Titan didn't it take everything to not showcase her surprise at how dangerously malnourished the limb looked, bone peeking through the flesh with only a thin patch of muscle and fat to cover it from view.

Noticing her fixated gaze, Luz shrank onto herself ever so slightly, arms moving from view.

"Don't you worry, Eda had been feeding me Griffin eggs like a mad woman, to the point that my belly feels like bursting with every moveent."

Luz rubbed her clearly still skinny belly as she talked, her words not being able to sway even a gram of Amity worry.

"But what about that emperor coven spiel you were trying to get in, is that your dream or just a stepping stone for a higher position."

Despite the very very poor attempt at changing the topic, Amity allows it to happen, not wanting to further sour the mood. And wasn't that something new, her mother would be baffled by her decent way of thinking.

"Well, for your knowledge, it is the most prestigious coven of the entire Isle, and to be its leader is a sacred position."

Luz nodded her head in understanding, clearly absorbing the new information like a desiring sponge. "So the head of this is like the most important person on the island beside the creepy emperor guy? Good on you girl. "

Surprising the human, however, Amity shook her head in disapproval.

"To be the head of the Emperor coven is a job that merits endless praise, I had to train for half of my life and there is still so much I will have to do to achieve it, but it still ranks below the authority of the four Royal Guards that represent the unbreakable will of the Emperor. "

Also below Darius, Amity guessed, but she chose to retain that information for now so as not to overcomplicate things.

The young witch didn't need to pay close attention to see the gears in Luz's mind spinning and turning until they finally fell in place.

"So…why not strive for that, you are pretty damn strong and smart so why not strive for the top? "

"Because mother won't permit us. "

Turning around fast enough not to notice the slight blush coating Amity's cheeks at the compliment, she found both Edric and Emira a few steps behind them, their arms full of books that range from fiction to economy.

"And to be fair for once that hag isn't half wrong. Ever since the emperor came to power somewhere close to two centuries ago, the leaders of the covens changed numerous times throughout the years, while the royal guards remain completely intact and their ranking unchanged." Emira continued from where her brother left off, finishing his cryptic answer.

It took a moment for Luz to register that the period of time kinda indicated the emperor and his guard were immortal, and while even billions of years in the grand schemes of things couldn't be considered a long time, that didn't mean living two centuries wasn't any less impressive.

Regaining her composure, Amity thankfully went further in explaining and not leaving Luz to gnaw on the ambiguous statement, her knowledge much more vast than that of her siblings.

She was the only one paying attention to their history lessons anyway.

"Mother and father had forbidden us from even envisioning attempting to partake in the ascension to the Royal Guard ranks for the simple fact that to receive said rank, you would have to battle one of four for their position. "

To further clarify her statement Amity snatched her scroll from her back pocket and began scrolling through it for something.

"There had been only one time where anyone tried to challenge the status quo thirty years ago by the coven heads at the time, folks I have to agree were some of the strongest witches and demons the Isle had ever seen, their control over their specific magic only surpassed by few across the empire's history. " Eldric supplied, placing the many books he held onto a nearby desk before continuing.

"It is unknown which one or why one of the heads had decided to challenge the fourth Royal Guard, but regardless, the Guard found the concept so hilarious that it somehow resulted in a competition where all the coven heads would battle the Royal Guard, and if a single one landed a blow on him, that person would take their ranking "

Luz's eyes shifted in surprise, the bargain proposed by the Royal Guard sounding very

"Cocky to the point of foolishness? Pretty much so, but in my opinion the very idea of one vs six—the Beast Keeping, Ilusion, Oracle, and Potion leaders chosing not to participate, couldn't sound any louder that it was a trap, cuz no one is that bold. "

Returning to Amity, the witch let out a satisfied hum as she turned the phone around so Luz could see.

"This isn't all that public but as we grew up each of us eventually hinted at wanting to join the Royal Guards like any child with big dream, so when that happen both mother and father took the time out of their busy schedule to crush said dream and show us this video to dissuade any semblance of desire to become part of their ranks." Always busy went unsaid, but it was the last thing Amity wanted to do to burden Luz wither their family problems.

Clicking the screen, the recording began.

Given that the video was produced thirty years ago, it was impressive how well it had aged over the years, the quality of the footage just as vivid and clear as the technology back home.

The subject of the video was full-on display, showcasing what could only have been a nearby smaller island judging by the exotic fauna sprawling across its surface, or not exotic per se when compared to what she had seen on the boiling isles, but still different from it.

The island was barely larger than her neighborhood, the unknown cameraperson standing above a floating platform dozens of meters in the air, allowing for a full view over the entire battlefield.

Focusing the device onto the coven heads side, the varying forms of the witches and demons could be seen planning among themself, a women with white hair, only its roots still retaining the crimson color of her younger years, and a scar in the form of lighting streak across the right side of her face standing in the center.

"Liora who commanded the storm. The head of the emperor coven before whose power has been matched by few." Amity provided, a glimmer of admiration shining in her brilliant golden iris.

"You and your hero crushes."

Whatever angry reply Emira received, it went over Luz's ears as she returned her attention to the video.

In the brief moments when her attention was preoccupied, the group had already advanced further toward the center of the isle, carefully surveying their surroundings as they were more than ready for someone to jump from the bushes. They didn't stale around, simply held their respective weapons and magic circle at the ready for anything that may come.

But no one did, even after they had long since reached the center, with each passing moment that further amplified their anticipation, the expected confrontation never materialized. The absence of their enemy, moment by moment, began to ease their tension, causing them to subtly lower their guard, but more importantly, stoking their frustration.

Until finally, the man of the hour appeared.

The figure was massive, standing somewhere around eleven feet tall, entirely shrouded in pale from head to toe to the point that it shone against the backdrop of the cloudy sky. A flowing white cloak cascaded down from their broad shoulders, reaching just below the knees, its fabric pristine and unblemished as if they hadn't traveled through the thick vegetation all this time. The cloak's hood was drawn up, casting a shadow over the face, obscuring all but the faintest hint of his featureless mask.

The sleeves were long, draping over his hands, with only the tips of their fingers visible when they shifted, completely covered into an onyx armor with deep verdant edges.

Luz's inner instinct came to life as she laid eyes on the figure, the intoxicating influence of the Abyss transcending the thirty-year gap between the present and when the video had been recorded as it made the hair on her arms stand on end.

It was so clear to her, that even after being observed through a recording it couldn't be confused with anything else, the very reality bending under their presence in ways that eclipsed even the deathstalkers of the abhorrent gods that infested lower ring, the Elder Devils.

'They are so fucked' Luz thought but didn't vocalize.

The Fourth Royal Guard in ranking walked without a care in the world, one hand casually tucked into their pants pocket as they strolled through the island as if on a leisurely vacation, a deep contrast to the coven heads who quickly went into formation, with Liora at its center, and the other moving position to make sure the Forth was surrounded by all sides.

Waving his hand in a friendly manner, the guard moved to say something, but it was cut short as at that very moment the coven heads went on the offensive.

The ground under him was cracked wide open, hundreds of veins shooting forward from beneath the coarse soil and coiling around him like a cocoon, leaving only his head visible above the mess of vegetation. An orange glow enveloped the vines like a layer of thick powder, the once supple, verdant tendrils changing their texture to something resembling rough stone, their stinger transmuting into rugged, metallic nails that contorted around the Guard in a hideous cage. The vines twisted violently, spiraling around him at breakneck speed and trapping him in a cyclone of sharpened spikes.

Pushing a hand forward, the air vibrated around Liora as she brought her power forward, one by one, electric charges building up before the witch, willing a miniature electrical field into being that rapidly overcame the insulating properties of the air.

As her magic coursed like a tumultuous river channeling itself through space, the electric field under her command ionized the air, mutating it into a conductive plasma that stripped electrons from the atoms like the edge of a bistoury, forming a path of ionized gas through which the electrical discharge could shot forward.

The bolt of lightning that carves a path through the atmosphere is far different than the one found in nature, its energy multiplied a dozen times over by her reserves of magic and forged into a weapon through her will, the very will that had striped the weapon of the heaven into her mortal hands.

It makes contact with its target instantaneously, and the moisture still trapped between the vines' newly hardened exterior rapidly turned to steam by the bolt scorching temperature superheating it and causing it to expand exponentially, bursting them from the insides.

The surroundings of the strike point coalesce into a maelstrom of energy that consumed the Guard, the shockwave generated pushing against their bodies like a ripple of compressed heat.

They remained unaffected by it, for something like that to prove even a bit challenging should automatically strip them of their title.

In the aftermath, the air seemed to continuously pulse with residual vibrations, the sharp smell of burned earth that floated aimlessly like a scorched haze concealing the point of impact.

And the Guard takes a step forward.

Even the ever-stoic Coven Heads could not completely mask their surprise as not a single blemish was visible on his pale clothes, the fumes wafting from his form being the only proof that the attack hit its target. And that surprise is further heightened as he opens his palm toward them, the bolt of lightning resting peacefully in his grasp. More than a third of its energy had been already depleted as it had collided with his still form, yet the rest surged to and fro harmlessly beneath his fingers

And then, with almost a mocking movement, he curled his fingers over the electrical energy like it was a physical object, its very nature that was beyond solid objecting to the forceful and immoral mutation, but under the reality imposed by the Guard, it had no say.

None gave any indication of moving as they watched him play with the now solid ball of lighting around, throwing it between his hands in a jovial manner, the moment it lost contact returning into its natural state before it was caught by the other hand and transmuted back to solid.

"Alright. I'll play."

Angling his hand toward Liora, the lightning bolt shot forward, the only reason she was capable of casting a protection spell that hardened her body was that she noticed at the last second the trajectory of his hand.

Only, that was a mistake as the bolt hadn't been meant for her, the sudden scream of the healing coven head coincided with the minor explosion behind her, making sure she knew that without throwing a single attack, their adversary managed to take out their healer.

A sudden change in the air was all she sensed before a burly fist dug into her guts with enough force that she felt her ribcage rattle and only by virtue of the hardened skin not crumble.

The blow lifted her body off the ground, the massive trauma that made bile rise into her throat overshadowed by the kick that implanted itself into her right arm, the magic she used to protect herself shattering alongside the bone as she was thrown like a sack of flesh to the sideline, crashing through a tree, yet not halting its momentum, her body continuing its path, tearing straight through it and then barreling through another, and another.

Two down, four to go

Duging his foot into the ground until it reached his ankle, the Forth lifted it upward in an instant, the sudden movement creating a wave of rocks and dirt that propelled itself forward. The sudden displacement of force made the wave rise to ten meters in height, its surface taking the brunt of the dozens of rows of arrows one of his prey had tried to surprise him with, their capability of piercing through metal like butter made obsolete by the force and quantity of his makeshift defense.

Stretching his arms wide in opposite directions, he blocked the walls of the spiked abomination before they could reach their maximum momentum, jumping from the ground as veins shot toward where his feet had been. But that was his mistake, luring him in the air so he would be unable to dodge the three boulders the size of a house that were already soaring toward him.

Allowing the first to crash into him, he used its crumbling surface to vault himself above the rest of the incoming projectiles, one of them flowing harmlessly beneath him as he shot his hand forward and seized hold of the third one.

Pivoting in the air, he forced its trajectory to shift in the opposite direction, a chunk of it shattering beneath the sudden change of momentum as he hurled it back, a sonic boom accompanied it as it shot like a bullet from the barrel, the barrage of arcs that collided with his back relegated to be dealt with shortly after.

Undisturbed by the incoming boulder, the Construction Coven head crashed his palm against each other, a shifting wall of stone and lime surging up from the ground, its vast, curling expanse rising above the tree as it ascended. Each massive slab, intricately interlocked, formed an unbreakable bulwark that shuddered as the incoming boulder struck it, lumps of it crumbling into dust but persevering nonetheless.

Bowing his head down at the last second, the witch barely dodged by a margin the kick that sore above him with enough force to dispel the air around it, his hand simultaneously finding its way around the handle of his halbert, raising it in time as a reinforced boot crashed into its handle, the Guard somehow finding the time to rotate mid-air in the shallow moment it took to bring forth his weapon, delivering an axe kick that in the absence of his halbert would have cracked his skull in.

The witch's bones rattled against each other as the blow landed, the

jolt of tension surging through the durable handle making his ears ring but he forbade the pain to distract him as he gave a quick slash in retaliation while retreating, giving himself the space necessary for the lengthy weapon to be more practical.

Only, the Guard didn't allow that, palm effortlessly stopping the blade of the halbert that he knew could split an adult Selkidomus in twain, fingers curling around it and pulling it toward their chest.

The momentum forced the coven head to follow the path of his weapon, a shield of reinforced stone being the only defense he could muster before the unutilized fist of the Guard could strike him. But the blow stopped millimeters away from hitting its target, the Forth pivoting with enough force to shatter the ground they stood on, his left leg curling forward in a clean arc, crashing into the earth-based magic user's unprotected knee.

A nauseating noise of flesh and bone cracking slipped through the speaker of the scroll, somehow sharp enough that it rang above all other sounds of the battle, making Luz flinch in surprise, the camera already panning directly onto the place of impact.

And what a sight it was.

More than half of the leg was gone, completely eviscerated in an instant, the remaining stump spurting raw ribbons of crimson that coalesced into a small pool of blood under the witch. The other leg wasn't in any better shape, the bone completely splintered with jagged parts of it sticking through the flesh, some of its ligaments being the only thing still intact, the foot and upper leg barely connected through a tenuous flap of skin that dangles uselessly in the low wind.

Luz had learned from Eda that anything that wasn't a very crucial organ like the heart and brain, could be patched up with healing magic in a few days, maybe weeks if it was something like the spine, leaving only a pale mark to signify the loss of something. But that didn't make the sight any less nauseating, the brutality so in tune with what she had seen in the Abyss over the years.

The ear-splitting howl ringing from the freshly christened amputee gullet froze the entire battlefield, the other coven head halting their attack at the blaring cry of pain of their college.

Above the squirming witch, the Forth Royal Guard stood like death incarnate for the babbling children that surrounded him, power restrained so much that he felt himself go mad, the attacks of abhorrent gods and monsters of the lowest ring almost tame in comparison.

Nevertheless, he allowed the fallen men to gather his wits even if this type of childish whimpering would have met a gruesome ultimatum anywhere in the Abyss. But to his annoyance, the witch never ceased the embarrassing sniveling, as while the coven head did not beg, he also didn't show any indication they would rise to fight again, to battle until they were nothing but dust, an action that irritated the Forth to no end.

With no clear signs that the witch was just feigning the facade of a whimpering insect that only awaited for the Guard to lower his guard to strike, he turned around in anger toward his remaining prey, with a lightning-fast motion backhanded the fallen man with the hilt of their weapon, sending the coven head sprawling through the air, his face morphing around the durable handle into an unrecognizable mess, nose crumpled into a single splatter through which blood gushed freely.

The body spiraled out of the reach of the camera, the only indication of the outcome being the nasty thud of flesh against wood that closely followed.

The Guard's displeased emotions that had only simmered beneath the surface heightened in intensity further as, despite the clear period of unmindfulness he had showcased, none of the remaining coven heads took the initiative.

"What are you doing? Shameless rats hiding and crawling around waiting for a miracle?" With a flick, he sent the halberd flying, its sharp point crashing through several trees before finally embedding itself into the charred surface of the ground where he had withstood the lighting attack.

"What pathetic little things that had squawk not long ago about playing with the adults, yet now they hesitate like pitiful brats, get your shit together and prove you are worthy of being part of the second echelon in importance to carry the Slave King will, before I do you the favor of squashing you out. " The Guard's voice was not louder than a guttural whisper, his tone filled by animosity, and bloodlust that caused the trees to quiver and their leaves to rot.

However, instead of following his advice and driving headfirst into battle like some maniacs, the remaining coven heads took the optimal route by regrouping, the Abomination and Bard coven heads sticking together while the Plant one was stationed further back.

It was just that at that moment, the right and sensible thing to do wasn't the correct one.

"Fine, have it your way. "

In one frame, the Guard stood a dozen meters away, anger palpable even through the screen, the next, the bodies of the users of bard and combination magic were hefted off the ground, the Forth hands clamped tightly around their shocked visage.

A violent boom accompanied by a wave of dirt and stone sprang in the air as they were buried head first in the ground, consciousness stripped from their body as their skull collided with the floor.

Alive, but barely

One left

An enormous plant rose behind him, swallowing him whole in a single gulp, the overgrown flower swiftly closing and contorting around their body until it was nothing more than a concentrated ball whose inside was overflowing with acid. It was Terra Snapdragon, the last coven head's standing final attempt, lasting approximately four seconds on the clock before the plant ruptured from the inside, the clocked form of the Number Four rushing toward Terra with clear intent.

"I surrender!"

Uncaring of something fickle as pride, Terra raised her hands in surrender, halting the Guard in its track, the air displaced by his speed sending the witch to the floor but stopping mid-swing.

"A cowardly bitch even when not a rigidly hag, not surprised one bit, just happy this video exists so I can see that wretched ogress receive at least a quarter of what she deserves." Emira added loudly her very useful comment, breaking Luz's concentration as she turned to stare at her, the glare she received from her little sister comparable to a scalding star.

Returning her attention toward the scroll, Luz was more than bewildered to see Terra in the iron grasp of the Guard, legs dangling above the ground as his hand dug into the center of her dress.

No, further than that, possible for her to almost hear the flesh of Terra's belly breaking under the tension of his gloved finger.

Deaf to her struggle, he raised his enormous fist upward, fury seeming to roll off it in waves of verdant energy alongside the murderous intent that simmered in the air, before with enough speed to almost make Luz drop the scroll, brought it down onto the struggling woman, splitting her cranium wide, like a gory gateway opening its jaws and spilling its content.

Or, that is what would have happened if the blow landed.

"Number Four." The voice was like the whisper in the cold wind, the droplets of water raining from the heavens above right as the storm hits, the hushed stillness of a fetus that had yet to take its first breath.

A warning that should forever remain just that.

The Royal Guard froze completely, muscle suspended in motions as if he had been petrified by a dark force, the only movement originating from the struggling women who failed miserably to escape his grip.

"Please lower down Miss. Terra, I believe she made her point clear that she has surrendered, no point in further aggravation." Without another prompt, the Guard pulled his gloved fingers from her raw and lacerated skin, allowing her to collapse into the dirt, her legs no longer capable of sustaining her, nails digging into soft earth to scramble away.

Turning painfully slow, the Guard lifted his head to gaze at the platform where the cameraman stood, his featureless mask unable to conceal his cold glare.

"You show mercy to these pathetic insects once again old man, sometimes I wonder if you are the same Slave King I eternity swore my loyalty to." The anger in the guard's voice was gone, replaced by a frustrated befuddlement, one that seemed to grow further when his words elicited no reply.

"Rats scurrying around with no will of their own, their relative power made meaningless without the decency of a smudged drive to fight for their own life, sniveling children who wanted to play adult are the people who are supposed to carry forth your will?"

As he stared at the scrambling witch, his crooked mouth—filled with teeth similar to those of an angler fish yet worse, smoothing into a disgusted sneer.

"Embarrassing failures, each and every on-"

"Don't cast your judgment so quick old friend, I believe the true fight has yet to begin"

Spinning around in bewilderment, he was surprised to not be the only one standing, a surprise Luz couldn't help but share.

Gradually shifting into a fighting position, trying to adjust to her new center of balance as her right arm lay dangling in the air, Liora stood up once more, seemingly unburdened by her shattered arm and the two splintered ribs pulsating relentlessly against her pain receptors.

The newly acquired halbert was adjusted so it fit comfortably between her shoulder blades, one foot slightly forward and the other stretched far back in complete opposition to her right arm, body assuming a stance so low she almost appeared to be crouching.

A bloody smirk was stretched across her lips, with droplets of crimson falling from her mouth at irregular intervals, her purple eyes blazing with a predatory shine that seemed to contrast with her white mess of curled hair.

"Ready for round two big guy?"

The wheels in the Guard's head rotated for a moment as his featureless mask overserved her before inclining his head forward, the small gap between the mask and his face allowing her and only her to catch a glimpse of his gaze.

A spike of fear choked her, tight as a ball of lead pressed deeply against her chest, but one she crushed nonetheless.

For this was who she was at the end of time, ever since the first fight of her life, her first defeat at that, to when she had fought in the Bonesbourouch Brawl, and was the first to be knocked out.

Fighting against stronger opponents so above her she couldn't see the end of their shadow was nothing new, forever crawling endlessly upward like a lone bolt of lighting battling the heavens, chapped fingers digging into the soil until she had viciously torn through all oppositions, reaching the top of the dirt mound that was the Boiling Isle society.

And what an ugly sight it was, her little place on top of the mound she had once held proudly to her chest now allowing her to gaze at the base of the mountain symbolizing the weakest of the Royal Guard strength, a hideous discovery in the form of malignant gluttony whose peek was concealed from her lowly view.

The cold indifference that might have floated into his socket had been completely overtaken, a boundless shadow darker than the night coiling like a blind serpent around an inferno of churning radioactive fire staring back at her with a bizarre spark of joy.

A rush of danger sprang from his moving form, for the first time since the battle had begun adopting an actual stance, every fiber of his being coiling in a measured readiness that held the promise of violence and bloodshed.

One she won't allow to be utilized.

"Well, then, I must extend my since apology, didn't expect someone competent between the vermins, then come, let descend in the beautiful dance of viole—."

Just like she didn't allow him to finish talking .

Springing from the earth, and even the air, spiked abomination spears shot toward his still form, missing by an inch as he bounced upward, colliding with the jagged ice wall that was already waiting for him, forcing him back down with enough velocity to bury him down to his ankles.

It was obvious to Liora that getting out of that predicament was child's play for the Guard, but as she had observed the b̶e̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶battle unfold between her colleagues and their tormentor, it became quite apparent how much the Guard fought utilizing his legs to deliver blows, so the longer he was unable to do that, the higher the chances grew in her favor.

Not to win obviously, she was prideful, not stupid. But to land a single blow? Now you are talking.

While still partially buried she rushed toward him, halbert raised above her head as she brought it down with all her might. Unperturbed, he shifted his hand to allow the weapon to collide with his hand once more, only to be baited at the last second as in one explosive movement, she drove into the soil instead, feeling it bend under the force of her momentum.

The witch hung suspended in the air for a moment, her body stretched in an arc a single foot away from the rushing hand of the Guard.

Next, like a tightly wounded spring, the handle of the halbert recoiled, transferring its energy into her and launching Liora upward, her hand barely maintaining its grip on it.

She felt the rush of wind against her face as she twisted herself to align her body to be perpendicular to the ground and the trapped Guard, the sense of freedom overshadowed by the much more precarious task. Forming below her souring form, three bolts of light came to life, suspended just above them a large, metallic oval-shaped structures—hollow, appearing as though it had been sliced cleanly in half, materialized out of thin air, staring at it from the ground exposing its smooth, curved interior similar to a mirror.

With that finished, she turned toward the growing storm burrowing in the center of the structure, her magic rushing through the air and fuelling the bolt of lighting, the wild energy forced to follow her commands just as iron particles would obey the lines of a magnetic field.

Deciding that taking the attack head-on wasn't something he looked up to, the Royal Guard broke from the earth prison, blurring away from the location that would soon be struck down. Liora didn't allow that, the abomination liquid that had once been spears fusing in a solid mass, binding him just enough for her attack to hit its target.

Three branching, streaks of light smashed into his massive form, ionizing the air and causing it to expand rapidly, just as the metal casing clamped down upon them, blocking all exits and entrapping the Guard into a metal tomb.

A shallow boom resonated as the oval structure smashed into the earth, burying itself deep enough that half of it disappeared beneath the upturned soil.

Ensnared within the confines of the metallic prison, there was no outlet for the light and pressure to break free. The inner surfaces, polished to a mirror-like finish, reflected the rays in a relentless dance of reflection, with each time it rebounded, the frenzied storm of energy only further soared in complete parallel with the temperature, raging against its captivity that gradually resulted in the forming of fissures that spider-webbed across the oval structure.

Until at long last, the metal gave in.

Light soared through the air like a newborn star, shattering its prison into boiling shrapnel that buried themself in all that stood before their indomitable path. The superheated air ruptured forward like an unending wave lifting her a good dozens of meters in the air, far enough that she almost collided with the floating platform.

Eventually, as the explosion dispersed into the surrounding space, she began her descent downward, eyes already trained onto the ground zero, despite what should logically be the case, awaiting the Guard to rise from the ashes.

When only ten meters stood between her and the charred surface of the crater, the simmering remnants of her makeshift cage were moved aside.

Their entire white outfit had been completely vaporized, leaving only the armor they wore under it and the mask intact, carbonized rust particles flaring under the oppressive temperature, falling off his silhouette.

Grunting in exertion she reeled her arm back, the halbert shaking with nerves as she did her best to aim it, the thunderous voice of the Guard tainted by pure bliss not able to fully dissuade her concentration.

"FINALLY A COMPETENT PERSON. SHOW ME ALL YOU GOT YOU AMAZING MORTAL, AND I PROMISE I WILL RECIPROCATE IN KIND!"

Snapping her arm forward, the weapon slammed into the cracks between the plates that enveloped his left arm, the sudden impact dragging their reaching hands downward and allowing her left leg to strike their unprotected face and win this unfair fight.

A hand clamped on her struggling limb, the halbert still stuck into his arm as he stopped her momentum mid-strike, making her wince in pain as the bones scraped uncomfortably against her skin.

In a single explosive movement, he slammed his arm downward, the halbert dislodging from its place as she splattered against the ground with a heavy thud, hissing through clenched teeth as static striping her consciousness for an instance, drowning it into bath electricity, something in her brain dislodging from its rightful place.

The moment she was brought back, she was suspended in the air once more, the iron grip of the Guard unshackled no matter how much she tried to struggle, her chance of escaping it even less with the storm brewing right behind her eyelids. In that state, her mind was stuck in limbo, paradoxically both clear and drunk with the adrenaline coursing through her body.

And in that state, her innermost desire at that exact moment was the only thing that mattered, an unshakable truth that she wanted to see ever since lying eyes onto the towering form of her adversaries.

To gaze at that mountain peak.

A dagger of ice materialized itself in the palm of her hand, her grip tightening around it as she brought it down, not onto the delighted form of their Guard who moved to block it, but on her entrapped limb.

The grueling crunch of flesh and bone parting under the sharpened icicle was static to her ears, every nerve in her left leg exploding like a thousand suns, her blood rushing like a river of magma through the open gap.

Even as her howl of anguish rang unchained, her entire world turning into a noxious storm of agony, she continued to pull at her leg until with a final meaty squelch, the final ligament that was still keeping her upper and lower leg connected was dislodged.

A great storm rolled in, hovering around the incomprehensible mountain, strips of light brewing inside its belly.

Her glare burned with a boiling determination as she pulled her shattered arm forward, every muscle still functional contracting to her will and turning her useless limb into a makeshift whip.

The clouds grew swollen, and fat with infant bolts of lighting that emerged from within, illuminating a path toward the very peak of the mountain.

From within the flesh, spikes of abomination, jagged edges of icicles and vines ending in iron nails rush into the scorching air, turning her broken hand into something similar to a giant sea urchin of ever-changing shapes and colors.

She was gone, torn away by the storm, blowing apart in a million pieces that flash in and out of existence, fading and living all at the same time. Her mind was unraveling, coming apart through different emotions and sounds, unable to control who she was, what she wanted to achieve, and what she couldn't.

And then she could see all she could not.

Lighting brew beneath the surface of what had once been her limb, liquifying her muscles, tendons melting of charred bone, and motor nerves frying beyond functionality. Energy spirale in and out of her, a massive surge of potential, of power that asked only that she give herself to the storm. Liora held it just as the storm held her, focused all her emotions, her drive, and her very existence to collapse into a single point of absolute certainty, one that made death look like a joke when compared to failure.

She will see what stood upon those peeks, even if what was left of her could never be Liora again.

In an instant, her remaining magic reserves were instantly drained.

The storm had fulfilled its role, carried her to the top of the mountain where her eyes shouldn't have gazed, far away from the comforting mound she had lived on for all her life.

Her howl is one of animalistic passion, raw and unfiltered, blinding light shooting in all directions as she rammed her shattered arm into the Guard mask, feeling it crack and shatter on impact, her unholy abominable fist digging into his mug.

The ground around them explodes into a catastrophic eruption that tears chunks of the earth like the unseen hands of a daemon, rising so high in the air that it even reaches the platform, making it wobble like a boat stuck between waves under the mercy of a storm filled sky.

She finally sees it, an impossible place where logic had been forgotten at the door, mutating flesh like stone boiling and living and dying all at once. Green fires burn relentlessly using nothing but entropy and nothingness as their fuel, an unhallowed power from somewhere beyond the Boiling Isle, stripped from the darkest ring in existence that Shards of Ruin, Leviathans of the End, and Elder Devils call home.

She feels herself burn, being devoured as she devoured herself, anatomy dwarfed as the peak of the mountain mutated Liora into something else.

As she had done at the beginning of the fight, she gazed at the mountain.

Concealed away by the blinding explosion, none can see the Guard's crocked smile grow into a delighted grin, something akin to an extinct predator lurking at the bottom of the sea, droplets of space continuum dripping from infinitely elongating fangs. She knew deep down that it wasn't a malicious grin, quite the opposite, just as he instinctively knew what her current sole desire was, even if it would lead to her untimely demise, sensing its unrelenting pull.

And this time, the mountain gazed back at the Lighting Carnival.

"Stand proud, you have fought well, grabbing victory from my very claws, I believe it is only fair to fulfill my promise."

The Guard raised a hand almost in slow motion, the exterior of their armor crumbling apart as the air around it shimmered, intensifying to an impossible degree that the gasses floating aimlessly shattered like a solid object.

A torrent of hostile energy poured through his palm, appearing like sickly sparks that moved from molecule to molecule with rapid acceleration, for each one consumed a thousand more sparks blooming to life. Quicker than the blink of an eye, it surges into a verdant inferno of nuclear light, a howling nightmare forgotten beneath a sea of entropy that flashed in fractal patterns. Its momentum is halted right before her face, her ultimatum momentarily confined in an invisible iron maiden, its blasphemous light burying itself between the iris of her right eye, burning her cataract away in the process.

Liora could feel fear pouring through her veins, preserving instinct activating without command as she shielded herself from certain death propagating forward.

But, in that moment she was not Liora was she now?

Barely a storm, a Lighting Carnival delighted to be consumed by the Mountain.

The iron maiden shatters, fire and entropy rushing forward without restrain, its temperature surging past that of the sun's core, the heat instantly turning the sand at the edge of the island into liquid glass, and vaporizing the boiling water, the channeled energy paving a trench through the boiling sea.

The camera that had been a second ago blinded by Liora's attack is dropped to the floor of the platform, the structure itself protected by a crystalline cocoon that had enveloped it long before the inferno of the Guard attack could hit. Nonetheless, the recording still fuzzed and glitches, the screen momentarily turning black.

Luz doesn't utter a word as she waits for the recording to turn back up, eyes glued to its surface even as the presence of the Abyss fills her ears with howls of beast and of the Nightmare beneath her skin that stood above all.

At last, she sees the screen come back to life, the shaking of the recording very understandable considering what had just transpired. What wasn't so understandable was watching the cameraman approach the edge of the floating platform, for a second displaying the bodies of the other coven heads placed in an unorganized and hurried pile onto the elevated platform, the crystal shield already gone which allowed them to peer down below.

Either a madman or a crazy fight enthusiast, she mussed, the most likely answer being a mix of both.

As the billowing smoke cleared, the camera refocused on three figures that stood amidst the devastation. The Guard's body was extended forward, palm smoking with a deep fume as a thick obsidian chain was clamped onto the appendage, dragging him to the right so it barely misses the fallen leader of the coven heads, her still somehow alive body sheltered by a massive figure coated in gold and white, a draconic mask obscuring their feature.

The figure remained unmoved and unopposed, standing unblemished even as the implosion had struck them directly, the obsidian chain only partially reducing the attack power from one hundred percent to somewhere around seventy-eight, the intervention saving the witch's life.

Liora had not escaped unscratched though, her shattered arm becoming a no arm, either a consequence of her power ravaging from within or the Guard's power from the outside had torn it asunder, but in the end, it didn't quite matter, her gaze riveted to what her power unchained had brought into fruition.

Behind the Royal Guard, a chunk of the island had been completely taken out, the crater large enough to fit an apartment complex in its center and still accommodated another few households.

For this was the power of Liora, the strongest witch of her era, and the Lighting Carnival incarnate

" , I heavily advise seeking professional help if you're struggling with such an intense desire to bring an end to your life, I don't believe my Royal Guards are competent in that regard to help." There was no bite to the figure's tone despite what one would first think, seeming almost amused by her actions.

Not honoring them with a response, Liora tilted her head, inching it ever so slowly to peer over her shoulder.

On the other side of the coin, behind the two, half of the island and so much beyond it stretched out in a still panorama of ruin, an uninhabitable five-kilometer-long ravine simmering with churning achromatic flames that will never burn out, never to allow anything to grow back ever again, gravity nullified along its bottom by the power that had cleansed the sea and split the cloud above.

And this was the power of the Mountain Unshackled, the weakest of the Royal Guard

The screen cut to black, the reflection of her eyes frozen onto the final frame, piercing through the now lifeless device and staring back at her.

Lowering the device, a dull but familiar ache began to throb at the edge of her consciousness, foretelling about an impending headache.

Raising from the chair she had at some point dragged herself onto, and moving toward the familiar voices of her new...friends?.

The two mischievous siblings had most likely left at some point to perform some not so hallowed shenanigan while Amity followed them in the hopes of preventing anything from escalating from bad to worse, the sound of a quarrel resonating nearby.

'Poor girl got too much on her hands, does having siblings make life this hectic? Would having siblings change what her life had become?'

For a second she turned toward her shadow, the partly anthropoid silhouette of the Hunter silently gazing at something in the sky, a peering almost like they were unable to reach it.

Luz allowed her previous line of thought to live for approximately zero seconds before realizing how moderately very bad it would be.

Plus she had other more pertinent things to think about.

Like for one, how Amity had been absolutely right, Liora was cool, maybe itsy bitsy deranged but who isn't in this day and age?

The other coven heads were also very impressive, the control over their specific magic something to be admired, it just that there is so much one can do against pure incompressible strength.

And wasn't that the crux of her incoming headache?

Something from the Abyss walking the Boiling Isle, and not the cute multiple galaxies wide Oculorim type, but a full-on monster from the bottom of the worst place in existence. Judging by what Amity had said, there were four of these guards, each more different from the last with this one she had watched being the weakest. That was worrying, because if this was the weakest, what were the actual chances that the rest weren't also from the Abyss? Practically zero.

So by that logic, right now there were four beings above the power of an Elder Devil roaming the Isle, with the supposed Emperor nature up to debate. Nice, real nice.

Rounding the corner, she caught sight of Emira brandishing a book above another Amity head, whatever attempt of recuperating the item failing as her sister casually tossed the book at Edric.

"Cmon sis, you keep reading this boring story with an even more boring main character, don't you want to play around with it, make it do something more interesting than weaving books into exitance, perhaps weaving song- Oh hey, Luz, back with us in the land of the living?"

The older boy gave a lazy half-wave before casually tossing the book in her direction. She barely managed to catch it, fingers fumbling awkwardly as the object nearly slipped from her grasp.

Not having the patience to play into the siblings' shenanigan, she simply handed Amity her book, despite both of their groans, the genuine look of appreciation that flashed across Amity's visage made it all worthwhile.

"Fine, keep your stupid book, but human, now that you are here, what do you think, was Terra beating the most satisfying thing wasn't it or is it just me?" Emira changed the topic, finally relenting and moving so Amity could place the children's book in its rightful place.

'It is just you' Luz wanted to say but kept her mouth shut, the girl not having paid even a glimmer of attention to "Terra beating", not harboring the strange dislike for the women that Emira held. Something that was becoming quite apparent was a hateful obsession considering all she ever said about the video was inervartly linked to the women.

Plus what was she supposed to say considering she didn't even know of the coven head's existence until five minutes ago?

"Yeah...it was alright, moving on, I do have a question, the video ended too early to see the outcome, but judging by your previous words about the hierarchy of the Royal Guard never changing, Liora wasn't elevated to the rank of Royal Guard, was she?"

It was pretty obvious that Liora didn't join the Royal Guards, but it also was for the best Luz mussed. Judging only what she had observed, the Forth Guard was mostly okayish? for an Abyss monster at least, but that didn't mean the rest of them were the same.

"That is true, although even we don't have a clear reason why she didn't join, especially considering both the Guard and even the Emperor accepted the end of their bargain. If Odalia's words are to be believed, and that should tell you to take anything I am about to say with a grain of salt, that it was Liora who refused to take the Guard ranking. "

One would think Luz would be surprised by that revelation, however, that couldn't be further from the case, the girl recognized the old Coven Head's intelligence, so she knew that joining would be a dumb move for the witch. Excluding the fact that nowhere did it say that the Guard couldn't take his rank, even in the scenario that he chose not to, there was no telling what responsibility would befall her that required powers at least equal to that of the Forth, something she valiantly lacks.

"From what I was able to gather the Forth Royal Guard had been so unimaginably pissed off by the refusal that he tore the Emperor Castle into two, resulting in the entire Construction Coven receiving the biggest paycheck in the history of said coven, receiving the monumental task of rebuilding the castle but also its foundation. " Amity provided, moving a little closer toward Luz to ask her something when Emira intervened.

"One more minute people, move along or be left behind, I ain't wasting my chance because you guys want to be history nerds, you can do that after." The glares she received were completely ignored, the girl already halfway through the door feet dragging her to where the siblings had left their books or the incoming Wailing Star.

With no other choice or reason to remain in the room, they quickly scrambled after them, even the reluctant Amity curious of what would happen next, Luz being the last to exit, closing the door behind her with enough force that she didn't quite hear Otabin the Bookmaker book destabilizez and fall to the floor.

Or that her shadow was still strapped to the wall.

An appendage, a fusion of writhing shadows and gnarled bone, striped itself free from the confines of Luz shade, slithering with a grotesque, ever-twisting motion. The grotesque limb stretched and contorted through corners of broken space, its jagged, misshapen bones, from which rotten marrow bled like an unending river, jutted out at unnatural angles that left gaps through the air that were instantly repaired by the Lie that bound them, thousands of invisible chains digging deeply into the appendage.

All but one, whose ethereal surface showed deep cracks from which a deep mist spewed.

The malformed mockery of fingers hovered above the fallen book, a sudden hissing sound splintered the air as they derived into the surface of the page, the entire object erupting in a flicker of ash.

Like always, all that they performed was effortlessly undone, the song they weaved into denied its eternal existence.

Yet they continued tearing the book apart as the Lie brought it back, scraping it one time, then two, two to four, and forever replicating until infinite was compressed into a single moment that shattered, alongside the crumbing chain.

It produces no sound, offering nothing but the blissful comfort of being just a smidge more in tune with all there is, and can be.

This time, when the sickening limb made contact with the paper, it followed the exact process as before, but Otabin's pictograph form was altered, mutated. The lines were irregular, the features slightly misaligned, jagged, and uneven, turning it into a vile and distorted familiarity.

"It will do"

Time moved once more, and Luz's shadow was in its rightful place.

With a thud, the door closed behind them, Luz quickening her pace to stand beside Amity, the young witch waiting to ask something ever since she had been interrupted by her sister.

"Sooo, what did you think?" A small tint of red coated her cheeks as her clear eagerness to know her thoughts about the recording slipped into her tone.

"Well, the coven heads were good fighters, but Miss. Liora was far above the rest, excellent in utilizing all her power could offer that eventually led her to win against someone so-" Luz stopped right at the end of the sentence as she tried to find the right words that could describe the Royal Guard.

"So Titan damn OP?" Edwin provided.

"The coolest person for humiliating that old hag," Emira added with more enthusiasm, her clear dislike for the head witch of plant coven clear as day.

A veil monstrosity that could thrive in the dark below, power easily reaching the zenith of existance surpassed by very few atrocities in the Abyss.

But she did not say that.

"Unearthly."

"Yes, the Royal Guard are the greatest protectors of the witch and demon kind, their mere existence an assuring proof that the Emperire will never fall to its enemies." Amity, the ever dutiful servant of the Empire, was quick to show her knowledge.

"Although it would be nice to see that mater manipulation magic the Forth Guard had used."

'Mater manipulation magic my ass.' Luz almost blurts out, having to temper her tongue for spilling her thoughts.

Amity's guess was quite astute all things considered, but she also had no way in hell of knowing that the Guard had simply used one of the three primordial laws of the Abyss to transmute the bolt of lighting.

Well, technically only two of those three were actual primordial laws that had endured since the unknown genesis of the Abyss, those being the ones that allowed all tainted by the dark below or born of it to bring into reality their most perverted pleasures.

From the Prerogative of Divine Imposition, the King's absolute dominion over its servants, the very power that can alter all vacates of reality in favor of the more elevated being.

To the second one, By Right of Conquest, that allowed one that had felled a being, ending the very concept of its existence, to devour all they represented, the power they had harnessed in their lifetime stolen from their depleted husk.

And the last one, the Perpetuality of Singularity, brought into reality by the Beast that Dreams not long after their birth ended the War in Heaven, shattering the continuity of time and space into one, bathing the gap to the future in unending Song.

These are the three immutable laws, unshakeable perhaps even by the wills of the Nightmares themself, and Luz could only guess that with her and the Hunter Lie that made them four.

Casting a discreet glance behind her, she was reminded with great displeasure that her 'shadow' stopped being that ever since the Conferance Incident, the veil partially anthropology form of the Hunter taking its place for only her eyes to see, something Luz was exceedingly thankful. Another thing to be thankful for was that the Nightmare didn't spare a single silver of their attention toward her, hollow eye sockets gazing at the sky without even acknowledging her gaze.

"Thirty seconds people, get ready for things are about, shit my books!" Emira asserted, statement interrupted as the tower of books before her collapsed, the scrambling that followed accompanied by Edric's laughter.

"But Luz, you don't want to choose any book before the ritual, my idiot siblings will unavoidably cause chaos in their 'fun', I don't think one more will do any harm."

Fixing Amity with an incredulous stare, she couldn't stop the sly smirk that spread across her emaciated face.

"Do my eyes deceive me? The ever dutiful epitome of virtue Amity Blight, leading me astray, surely, your soul hasn't dabbled into the corruption sweet flagrant of your siblings' mischief?"

A huff escaped the young witch, barely covering the chuckle that threatened to bubble to the surface.

"In your dreams human, just was curious what your kind would fancy reading or if they are developed enough to fancy such advanced hobbies, it wouldn't surprise me truthfully if that wasn't the case." Amity's defense was perfect, truly just a mean bully if only her lips didn't betray her and curved upward.

Luz followed suit, the mingle of pain posed by the question overshadowed by the comforting vibe of their conversation that filled her chest with a warm feeling.

For she did have a favorite book once, but like all things in her life, she was forced to hate it and discarded away.

The Hunter made sure of that

"C'mon Emiramira, we got all night so forget about one book for a moment, there are like ten seconds left."

Above them, the sky began to bleed green, the distant yet somehow amusing cry resonating as a falling star began to descend across the stratosphere, the air around it foamed with energy, bathing the library in a bright green light.

"Edric, it is a titandamn book about collecting snails. Can you imagine how rich will we be once this night is over?"

Digging even deeper into the pile of books, her hand faintly grasp the desired object, pulling it out and presenting it in all its glorified splendor.

" Heck yea, I

Found it"

The moment is shattered as a sharp spike of fear and surprise blooms in her chest, the sudden corrosive worlds making a screech bubble in her throat. Turning around, she could barely register what was happening as a single vile appendage stretched into the distant sky, the shadow of its future intent that slipped from the limb as it shifted through reality forcing distant stars to collapse onto themself, their churning husks tumbling violently to the mortal world below. A chain reaction followed, one by one striped from the sky without prejudge, and soon the entire sky fell after them like a mutilated beast, crashing down with the grudges of all that had been taken away.

Reaching its target, the malformed digits of the limb curl around the Waling Star, digging into its inside like the rusted tip of a syringe, dumping its noxious insides into its core.

The Lie breaks the mirage, and everything is back to normal.

Without warning, the stillness of the library is disrupted as the books begin to throb with an inner light, a rich, jade-colored glow emanating from their pages, spilling over their cover. The light twisted and curled like tendrils of smoke, creeping up the walls and wrapping around the roof, transforming the bookshelves into animated entities of emerald hues.

As abruptly as it had appeared, the light vanished, plunging the building back into its familiar, normally lit self. They waited an entire minute for something to happen, their patience proving to be a fruitless endeavor, as the many books acted like their regular selves, not even once spewing their content into the real.

"Did the Wailing Star fail to work

It is working right as intended, truthfully We are surprised to see that the Lie had lessened enough for this to work"

Subtly inching her head toward the Nightmare, she whispered under her breath as her glare bore into her not-so-shadow.

"What. Is working?"

A question she wasn't exactly sure would be answered, but as the hollow socket of the Hunter met her glare, she was in for a surprise.

"Nothing more than a fleeting concept, one we entertained with little faith in its potential, yet it defied all our doubts, bearing fruit in ways we never anticipated, not useful fruit, but fruits nonetheless" Their voice filter like static through her ears, thousands of vocalizations mending against one another to bring forth a semblance of the Hunter's tune.

Tempted by the dawning trepidation and an iota of curiosity, she fully turned toward the Nightmare, her supposed shadow moving with her yet the Hunter visage remained in place.

"What. Did. ." Each word felt like her tongue was splitting at its center, glare intensified to a greater degree to the point the temperature in the room plunged as invisible strands of hatred bled from her silhouette, one she could only hope wouldn't be noticed by the others.

Amused by her attempt of intimidation that might have worked on a mortal at best, they lowered their head until they stood eye to socket, maw widening to respond. Between the blurry outline of infinitely replicated fangs, a poor mimic of a breath spewing out like a deep mist colored in an unhallowed mixture of green and black with the accumulated heat equal to the cold wind that knitted bone and sinew together.

"Nothing significant in the grand scheme of things, so far less than we shall soon attain, but the limitations of the Lie we understand best, simply altering the flickering light into modifying its target"

From inside a hollow socket, a green light slithered out, swiftly detonating into a storm of blinding sparks, the fragments giving birth to singular microscopic concepts. Then the light reversed to its original position and structure, writing its way from the socket once more, only this time, instead fracturing again, it retained its form, from its wriggle head something malformed being borne.

"Too many variables would ruin the fun"

The entire library shook like stuck at the core of a storm, the large wooden doors she had closed not long ago shooting from their hinges, bits of wood and sawdust splitting in the air and masking the entrance of the room.

Not waiting for a more grandeur arrival, something steps through the door, rekindling a mocking familiarity into Amity.

Its eyes were far too big, chin jutting into a narrow point, unnaturally long atrophied legs dangling uselessly onto the ground, unable to carry its weight. Covered in glistening pink flesh, pulsating orifices revealed blood-flushed muscle scarcely stitched together by verdant threads stretched thin and uneven, holding on by the barest of grips, with each breath their degenerating constitution threatening to unravel. The beast's weight was situated entirely on its front limbs, one of them barely passing as a crude imitation traditional arm, jutting awkwardly from its chest cavity and ending in three meaty hooks instead of fingers. The other limb in contrast forgo entirely any semblance of an arm, a sweeping needle broad as a lamp post intertwined with the flesh of its shoulder through multiple threads, its rusted tip digging into the floor with enough intensity to pierce it.

There was a light, fizzling glow in its chest, foaming from the paper embedded into the flesh, illuminating its lipless mouth lined with two sets of yellow teeth. A dark liquid like ink left to rot dribbles out of maw and lifeless eyes, their pupil a foggy void that made them conventionally blind to the world.

A sudden impact pushed its lengthy malformed body forward, revealing from behind them two more creatures, the difference between the three of them inconsequential. More of them were clawing their way into the scape between the confines of the small room, jostling and grinding against each other in a frantic bid to squeeze through the doorway to escape the overflowing mess of their tangled bodies.

A blur was all Amity saw, the bipedal monster lunging head first toward her, spit lurching between teeth and rotten gums of its maw, one unhinged to an impossible degree that made it span large enough for Amity to step into it and her head to still not scratch the upper fangs.

However, it narrowly missed her by a hair width as she was pushed to the side, someone forcefully ramming into her, sending her flying down the floor, the rough surface grating against her pristine skin and the friction igniting a ragged wave of pain that rippled through her arm.

Amity's momentum was halted with a dull thud, her back crashing into a nearby shelf but her mind quickly recovered, looking up toward where she had stood.

Where Luz now stood.

But to her momentarily surprise that seemed to eclipse all other emotions, the expression she saw plaster on Luz's face wasn't one of heroic acceptance, but of unadulterated fear and confusion that mirrored hers.

In that fleeting moment before the young witch could become minced lunch for one of the mutated Otabin, the Hunter appendage shoved the human into Amity, 'saving' her to be able to place Luz in her place.

And as the monster's jaw closed around the human, half of her face obscured by the crooked teeth, Luz turned toward Amity, a deeper, more refined terror pooling into her rich and verdant eyes and seeping into her tone. For what she said next wasn't something that should ease the grief that would follow after losing the very person Amity was giving her whole to earn their forgiveness, empty words that would never erase the image of them perishing before their eyes.

It was a warning.

"Run"

The teeth clamped down.

---

𝙴𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖, 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚢 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚢 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚠 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘

-The First Nightmare weaving Perpetuality of Singularity into being an eternity ago

---

Wow, this took longer than I anticipated, supposed to come out a month ago but it is what it is.

Now this was a very lore-heavy chapter so I expect that some of your questions were answered and many more appeared. Don't worry if things are a bit hard to understand, it is only natural considering how long this story will span.

Regarding the content of the chapter, first I would like to say that if you have any name to contribute to the Fourth Guard it would be appreciated, as he is the only unnamed one of the four.

Another thing is I would recommend that from this entire chapter, pay attention to the three primordial laws, and the identity part of Camila's Silver Sight, they are one, if not the most important things in how the Abyss works.

Last but not least, I wanna thank both Kris Straub and T.J. Lea for writing both of those creepypastas mentioned. Although not important for this story's plot, their work inspired me to write in the first place.

With that said, thank you for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter