Chereads / Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe) / Chapter 43 - Chapter 41: The Sound of Devastation

Chapter 43 - Chapter 41: The Sound of Devastation

Summary: Sounds ruin and fix relationships

Cat regretted everything in her life right now. Being a Banshee, telling her friends they could spend the night at her house, and what it all led up to? Boscha drinking Apple Blood. "Fuuucking hell." The girl groaned. "I kissed him!"

The girl had been in a bad mood for a while now, which was nothing new, except now it was going in a weird direction. Boscha actually called off practice today, allowing Amelia's arms and ribs to heal from the other day's game. This was such a sporadic act of random decision making that Cat realized she IMMEDIATELY needed to capitalize on with a full girl's day, ending with a sleepover.

It was fantastic, aside from Boshca's grunting throughout it all, but none of the girl's paid it any mind….until the three eyed captain went to the kitchen and raided her parent's weekend cabinet. From then on Cat heard way too much for comfort. "I'm a moron, fucking stupid, I made myself weak …Why am I so pathetic!?"

"Ah….so, we're just going to head out.." Ameila tried to sneak out the door.

"Oh like Titan you are!" Skara grabbed the girl by the collar. "We're not just going to leave the poor girl drunk on Cat's couch!"

"Thank you." She sighed in relief. "You grab an arm, I'll grab a leg, and we can toss her out into the street for someone else to deal with."

"Wha-no!" Skara exclaimed. "We're her teammates, and we're her friends..!"

"Are we?" Ameila asked. "I mean, I respect the girl, and being in this social circle is a blast and all, but…it's not like she would do the same for us."

"Yeah, Boscha would be even more likely to throw us into the street, if not into a ravine, or the boiling sea if we were in the same position." Cat agreed. "Come on, we hang around her for popularity and social protection, not because we care about her." 

"Aww fuck ya too." Boscha spoke with a hiccup. "You all got your perfect little relationships and I got me a messed up one … why?"

"Because we're not a complete bitch?" Both Cat and Skara turned to Ameila. "What? This is literally the only time we'll be able to say what's on our minds without consequence, she'll just pass out sooner or later from all the swigs she taking."

"That is true …" Cat nodded. "Honestly, the fact you kissed someone is as probably as far as you'll get in life." Titan, this was therapeutic as hell. "I mean, sure, you're tear apart everyone on the grudgby field, but outside of that, you'll have nothing."

"...How are all of you this horrible to each other?" Skara looked at them slacked jawed. "The moment you see someone down, you kick them when they can't fight back?"

"Yeah, that's how we survived Boscha's wrath all these years, and now she's getting a taste of her own medicine." Ameila answered. "That's like, karma, or the circle of life, or however that works."

"You guys are terrible." Skara deadpanned, moving over. "Come on Boscha, it probably wasn't that bad?"

"No-hic-not bad…not bad…..I kissed Lucci after falling to the ground like a sad pathetic sack, and that was after I-I tried to get him dissected by-by Coven head…" Boscha groaned, taking another big drink out of the apple blood. "Not-Not only did all the lo-loser squad see me….se me look so weak..Luc-Licuu prob-prob-probs hats me now!"

"If you think the boy could ever hate you after you already tried to kill Luz, you're sorely mistaken." Skara assured her. "So what if you betrayed his trust and the main reason he had a crush on you, and will now doubt every sentence you ever say?"

Boscha just turned to the bard user….and cried. "BWWWWWAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" She slammed her head into the couch, her muffled cries echoing throughout the room.

"Huh, Boscha's a weepy drunk, who knew?" Cat asked out loud.

"Why did I fu-fu-fuck up!? Why do-do-does every-everyone hat-hate me and leave!?" The three eyed girl sobbed, soaking up the couch.

"Hey, I won't leave you, you can trust that." Skara assured, rubbing their captain's hair.

"Didn't you leave her for Belfry?" Cat questioned.

"Shut up or I'll cut off your head." Skara said plainly with a straight face beforing going back to Boscha. "There there…it'll be alright."

"How-Ho-hic-How can you know that?" Boscha blew her nose right on Skara's sleeves. "Am-Amity left, these two ar-are barely acquaintances at best, a-and the-the only decent pers-person in my life I treat-treated shi-shitty just life every shity witch I've ever met."

"Aww, I know you were just trying to look out for me." Skara rubbed the girl's back. "Don't worry about anything … we'll be friends to the end."

"Sk…Sk..skara….YOU'RE TOO GOOD FOR MEEEEE!" The girl shot her arms around the bard user and squeezed her tight. "I'm never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever….EVER….letting you go!"

"Cool, cool … I'll live with broken bones then." Skara was a saint among witches. Cat didn't know how the girl hadn't gone insane with everything going on in her life yet.

"Just….how do you do it…" Boshca held on tighter. "How d-do y-you get a l-loser to like you?"

"Well for one…I don't call or consider Belfry a loser…so you might want to change that." Skara answered. "And try not to be … controlling?"

"But controlling your partner is how my parents express love." Boscha complained.

Cat had no idea how to properly react to that. "Well…have you considered the fact…your parents might be wrong….or in an incredibly unhealthy relationship?" Amelia brought up.

"My parents are successful, why would that be wrong?" They weren't going to get anywhere with this, especially with Boscha still drunk. Maybe if she pressed a little harder, Cat could at least convince Skara to drag Boshca's butt back home-

skkkaaaaaaaawwwwwHWWWWWAWWWHWHWWHWWWHAAAAAWWWWWAAAAAAAAA!

A high pitched noise screeched in the middle of the air, sending everyone to the ground and covering their ears in an attempt to block the pain. "AAAAAAAH! What the fuck is that!?" Huh, guess the pain snapped Boscha back to sobriety.

"Like a million pins and needles getting shoved into my brain through my ears! I can't block it out!" Skara rolled over on the floor in agony.

"Make it stop, make it stop, someone for the love of Titan make it stoop!" Cat cried out.

"Almost as loud as my morning screamer." Amilia muttered.

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Luz looked over her hand. "So … if I have a tornado in my hand, I can use it to clear the field, then add on a fireball for extra damage." She reasoned, looking over the cards.

"Ooh, nice damage. Practically an unrecoverable blow." Lucci grinned as he flipped a card. "Which is why…I floop the pig."

"Not the pig!" She shouted. "My sweet tangerine baby." There was nothing to do but watch as her minion was eaten alive. "Vengeance!"

"If they develop a gambling habit after this, I WILL blame you and seek my own vengeance." King said as he was on Eda monitoring duty to prevent her from joining the game. "And believe me, it will not be pretty."

"Oh, this isn't for gambling." Luz assured the guy. "Eda just said I needed a way to pass the time that wasn't 'homework' since I can't download anymore videos on my phone." She explained. "So I figured a trading card game would be a close second … and here comes the counter!" She slammed down a card. "Spirit of Famine! It weakens a unit."

"Nice, it's double effective against the hungry pig." Lucci congratulated her move. "Smart in any circumstance … unless one happens to carry the spirit bottle."

"No…you wouldn't dare." Luz begged as he reached for the card. "Please, hold off on it for two moves. One move! Just give me a chance to prepare before you resurrect…"

"Pig, you shall return to your flooping!" Luz could only watch in horror as her cards were eaten.

"Three damage … that's all I could accomplish." She sulked. "Why…why are you so cruel?"

"In hexus holdem, there are no prisoners and no survivors." Lucci grinned. "Besides, if I lost games, it would only feed Mom's gambling addiction."

"Nonsense, I'd never cheat my own child. Parents and sister; yes, but not one of my kids." Eda reaffirmed.

"Yeah, but I still own half the house because of your impulse." He deadpanned. "We're just lucky I didn't pick up the family trait."

"No, just the constant need to suppress your problems and hold a grudge." Lilith commented as she read a book off to the side of the living room.

"That one is not on me." Eda complained. "I for one, am very content with letting my anger wash away after mildly enacting vengeance for a week at most."

"More and more I learn to accept the morality ambiguity of this household." Luz chuckled. "So we got nothing majorly planned this week, what about you Eda? Big heists or anything?"

"Have to stick with small scale ones with my lack of magic, so nothing 'big' on my end." She explained. "What about you Lily, you planning on doing something other than have your nose in your books?"

"The moment I take my nose out and entertain your nonsense, I'll lose my mind to the madness, so no." Lilith answered without taking her eyes off the pages.

"Better madness than sin." Lucci snickered.

"You've been in an awfully upbeat mood lately." Luz commented. "I mean, I know your not exactly mr emo anymore, but it's weird to see you smile so much."

"After that kiss from Boscha, everything is nothing but sparkles and sunshine lately." The boy spoke with a dopey smile.

"I still don't fully believe it, but good for you I guess, my dude." Boscha was still a major jerk in Luz's eyes, but if Lucci could find something good about her, then she wouldn't judge…too much at least.

"And you still haven't told me the full context of how that kiss happened, and my mom senses are tingling." Eda narrowed her eyes.

"It was just a little misunderstanding." The boy waved off. Luz heard the whole story from Amity, and it was far from that. "The point is life is great and I, for one, will happily embrace anything that comes my way today."

skkkaaaaaaaawwwwwHWWWWWAWWWHWHWWHWWWHAAAAAWWWWWAAAAAAAAA!

"GAAAA AAAAHHH!" Lucci screamed, falling to the ground as his body turned pink. "SON OF A *BEEP*! *BEEP*ING *BEEP*! *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*!!!"

"Lucci-aaaaah!" Eda covered her ears and fell on her knees. "What the titan is that sound!?"

"An Alarm Clock on steroids?" Luz questioned, rubbing her ear as she was filled with annoyance. "King, you doing alright?"

"Yeah, loud sounds never bothered me." The guy answered. "Lucci's taking it the worst right now."

" Asaaaaaggghhgghhhrrereeeeeerrrrrrrrrrffffrrrrrrerr!" Lucci's body began to shift and mild uncontrollably, rolling all over the ground.

"Lu-Luci-Lucifer, are-you transforming into your manticore form?" Lilith asked as she began hitting the ground as well.

"I DO NOT NEED YOUR *BEEPP* SnRIGHT NOW YOU *BEEP*!" Luz couldn't tell how much of that was rage and how much was just him reacting to the pain.

"Just-just hold on big guy, we'll figure something out!" Luz yelled over the noise. It was annoying to her, but not too eargrating at least.

"KRAAA!!" They watched as the enlarged Centi broke through the wall, screaming in a rampage.

"Okay, that can't be good." Luz winced. "Just stay here, I'll go out and solve … this." She gestured to the air, grabbing her sword.

"Ho ld o n, hold o n.." Lucci rolled himself over, still morphing in and out as he reached towards the door. "Your going to need so mone to hel p yo u find the source."

"First off, Centi is already doing that if her rampage is saying anything." They looked out the window, seeing the cute giant creature ramming her head against the wall and floors.. "Second, if media has taught me anything, it's that your condition is only going to get worse the closer you get. If anything, King will be better help."

"A King and Luz mission!" The little guy cheered.

"Yeah, and one , you can't trus t Centi to stay calm. Two, by that logic , Centi's condition will get worse too , and you don't have enough chaps. And three…King doesn't p ack muscle for big threats."

"Are you saying I can't handle myself?" The little guy argued. "I will have you know I can take on armies with these tiny paws!" Lucci simply tripped the little guy with the scorpion tail that constantly grew out of his back. "…I shall take your points into deep consideration."

Luz looked over her options. "... Fine, but I call taking point this mission."

" What ever, anything else that gets rid of this freaking noise is fine by me." He spoke. "Now let's  move al ready ." This was gonna be a disaster.

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The noise had to die, it had to be extinguished and perish. It caused nothing but pain and suffering for them. Pain, Pain, pain, pina, SO MUCH PAIN. There wasn't just static in Centi's head anymore, there was a sharp biting sensation the crawled all over her mind and continued to attack no matter what. She shifted up and down, and slammed her head into every tree she could find just to limit the pain.

"See, I tried to warn you." The pink boy spoke. "Centi is just too unc ontrollable, Unli ke me ."

"Lucci, this is the third time your tail's strangling King!" The girl pointed out as the bug like tail began sucking the life out of the furry child.

"The lack of oxygen … is making me see … so many painbows … without the inside out nature …"

" Better than ramming my head over and over again. " The pink boy grumbled. "You're lucky to have round ears , witch ears must be extra sensitive, otherwise Mom would've gone with us."

"But Centi is affected and she has no ears." The girl pointed out. "And King isn't affected at all. Do you think it's just … a specific frequency or something?"

"Given how both Lucci and Centi are crystal devils, and their both shrinking and morphing, that's a pretty good guess." The furry child duck under the tail. "But for something to go off this loudly for something so specific, that's just fishy.

"Well maybe It's some sort of magical spell that nobody paid attention to-grrrr."The girl and the fuzzy one stopped, turning to the pink boy. "Grrr ? Graaa. Grooo!Craaa!"

"And that would be the proximity taking out Lucci's ability to hold a conversation." The girl stated bluntly. "Told you it was going to get worse for you, dude."

" Grrrrrrrr. " The pink beast rolled their eyes and continued to walk forward, sending tiny cracks in the ground every five steps it took forward.

"Hmm…so since I got you like this and you can't talk back, and it'll be a minute before we reach wherever we're going…have you thought, you know, since you knew her as a kid, Amity looked particularly pretty, like, the sun just seems to bounce of her skin everytime she walks outside…you know, just wondering." The girl pondered with a slight blush forming across her face.

"Grrrrrk." They began snickering.

"Oh come on, don't make fun of me." The girl pouted.

"Krkrkrkrkr." It was amusing for Centi to see the girl flustered about mating.

The boy stopped walking, looking at Centi for a moment with bafflement. "Grrr?"

"Krkrkrkr." Of course she could understand them. It hurt to think, she wasn't a moron.

" Krkrkrkrkrkrkrkr." The pink boy apologized.

"Craaa ." Eh, no big deal. She was used to everyone being too scared to listen anyways. It wasn't like she was subject to cruelty.

"Carrrooooooooog?" The boy asked.

" Brrrrrggggh." Eventually the pain becomes slightly numb after six thousand years. She had nothing but time to get use to it.

"Are they … having a conversation?" The fuzzy one questioned.

"When I wanted someone to understand Centi, this was not how I pictured it." The girl noted before laughing. "Guess all it took for Lucci was to walk a mile in Centi's…. Feet… .stub… leg…. Things… whatever centipedes have."

"Krrrooo." Hopefully it would continue after they stopped the painful noise destroying sanity.

"Keeeegggh." The manticore stopped, their eyes narrowing as their tail pointed east. "Arrrrrooo." He turned them all in that direction.

"Are we getting close?" The furry child asked as he hopped on top of the pink beast. "Show us the way, my noble steed! Bring us forth to victory!" Wings sprouted from the pink one … which began to squeeze the fuzzy one into submission. "S-Seriously?"

"I think that's just one of those involuntary reflexes…hun I wonder…" The girl began scratching a spot on the beast's side, making his hind right leg thump the ground. "Awww, he's like a big overgrown puppy like this…that's actually a giant cat…..a giant puppy cat."

"Grrr." The pink one threatened.

"Oh like you would actually hurt me, you're just a big ole' softy, that softness is now just a little on the outside now." The girl laughed. "But on a more serious note, are we getting close? We've been walking for about an hour."

" Raaaaggg." The manticore stopped, raising a single claw into the air, and pointed straight ahead. "Berwaaaaaaaahhhhhhh."

"Krkrkrk." Centi began to form acid in her jaws, her children preparing to swarm the threat ahead.

"Grrr." It was right there, why should they wait!?

"Hold up, Centi. We should see what the threat is before we start melting faces." Why couldn't they just melt faces? It saved them time and they got to go home faster. "Now lets see… huh… not much, just a bunch of people in fancy clothes and violins, and some kind of weird stone thing with a hole in it.."

"Let me see, let me see." The furry child took a peak. "Just as I thought. Their members of the bard coven. The Coven head of that is usually too old and senile to do anything himself, so the got a bunch of lower rank lackeys to do all the heavy lifting."

"Really? Why don't they just replace the guy if he's that useless?" The girl asked.

"Meh, his last wish and testimony was to die a Coven Head." The little guy shrugged. "Okay, Luz, find something sticky and put it in your ears."

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Grrr." The girl stared at the pink one for a while. "Mmmm."

"Right…forgot, live with a bard user, I know how bard magic works…sorry, brain fart." The girl chuckled nervously.

"Also if you directly hear an advanced bard user, they can pretty much control your body like a puppet." The fuzzy one went on, putting leaves into his head. "Once again, I cannot stress enough how dangerous music truly is."

" Krkrkrkrk." Centi's heard the pink one play, so she knew first hand how dangerous it was.

========================================================================

Raine tried to not live a complicated life, that's how they used to think anyways. Back when they and Eda were a couple, there were just too many 'complications' to make it work. Never mind the whole 'being on the run from the law for being a wild witch' thing, that Raine could handle no problem. Eda's inability to let anyone help her was much less so. So Raine decided to just cut to the chase and join the bard coven. It wasn't like they used any other magic.

But if Raine knew just how little the Coven system actually made sense, they would've taken it back in a heartbeat. Combining and mixing magics didn't lead to chaos and death, Edalyn was perfectly fine other than the curse, not to mention the Emperor's Coven mixed magic on the regular. Artificial magic being 'pure', that made even less sense.

And lately, there's been a bigger push to put more and more wild witches into Coven's before what Emperor Belos had declared 'the day of unity'. The age requirement had lowered, some were branded right on the street, other's had their homes broken into and branded in their sleep. Something wasn't adding up, and Raine was determined to get to the bottom of it.

So they and a couple of the other higher up bards banded together to look into anything that would give them a leg up. They were entering a war, and Raine wanted to be ready. This little stone structure seemed like a good start. "What is it?" Kataya asked.

"I'm not sure, but I was looking into the archives, and saw that the Emperor was looking into particular items and artifacts." Raine answered. "Whatever it is; it's old, older than the emperor, maybe even the isles itself.

"And you think that makes this thing awesome enough to blow a hole through the castle?" Amber asked with sparkly eyes. "Because that sounds awesome."

"It would be … if we could get it to function." So far all it's done is give them an annoying screech that was sure to give their position away at this rate. "Derwin, how close are we to controlling its frequency?"

"I wanna say halfway there. Watch." He turned it around and plucked a string from his lute, which traveled through the hole in the stone and amplified it enough to knock a tree off its roots. "I can change it, but it resets to the original frequency right away."

Raine hummed. "It's not morbid code …. Some kind of message hidden through notes?" They questioned. "No, it's just one note loudly playing …" It didn't make sense in the slightest.

At this point it didn't even seem like it was playing a note at all. But what would be the point of playing one continuous noise if it wasn't a note? "We should pack it up for now. It's a miracle we haven't gotten any unwarranted attention yet." Kyataya pointed out.

"Damn it woman!" Amber shouted. "You know you have a cursed habit of jinxing the situation!"

"Oh come on, do you really think my words have powers over the universe?" Kataya questioned.

"SCRAAAWW!" They turned to the army of green rock like insects that rushed at them, spitting waves of acid.

"….I must not be tempted… this power shall be used for the greater good!" Kataya shouted to herself as she began to get run over. "Aaaah, tell my daughter I died, not screaming like a little girl!"

"Crystal Devils!" Derwin shouted. "Why are they swarming us so suddenly!?"

"GRAA!" Out of the forest burst … the Manticore Menace. Raine was busy at the time, so they weren't there to see it personally, but the event was known far and wide as the 'defiance of the Emperor'.

"I think he's pissed!" Amber shouted, playing music as she made the leaves into a sword, trying to use it as a weapon.

" Aaaaaaagggggghh!" Something the creature chopped in half with its mouth in two seconds.

"Keep em busy Lucci!" Shouted a girl that began running to the strange relic with a pink sword in hand. "I'm gonna cut that thing to pieces!"

"Don't mess with it!" Raine cried out as they sent out an attack at the girl's feet, just trying to knock her away.

"Kraaa!" A massive version of the bug creature got in the way of it, hissing as it spat out acid.

"I've got her!" Derwin shouted, pulling out his Lute.

"King attack!" The girl shouted as she threw something.

"King wha-" And suddenly, the man was overtaken by a tiny fuzzy thing trying to snatch his Lute.

"Violence is always the answer!" He shouted with a laugh.

Raine was stuck with the giant bug, Kataya was dealing with the swarm of tiny ones, Amber was dealing with the Manticore Menace, and Derwin had someone directly attacking their instrument. No one was left to get in her way. "Magical sword, time to make up for your lack of effect on a lot of our adventures!" The girl began slicing through the attacks. "Aha! I love you, magic slicing sword!"

"You should really name it at some point!" The fuzzy one called out.

"Listen, this isn't what-it-it-it looks like!" Raine kept trying to explain. "We're need this stone to fight again the emp-"

"I don't care what it is or what it's for, all I need to know is that it's hurting my friends!" The girl shouted as she finally made her way to the relic. "Consequences be damme-"

Slam

The entire area became deathly quiet at the sudden movement, watching as one moment the girl was about to carelessly destroy the relic, the next a stone fist launched from the ground, and then the girl ragdolling across the ground until she hit a tree … in a method that looked like it would leave a few things broken.

" Luz/Krkrkrr/Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggh!" The three other intruders cried out. 

There was a crash, all witnesses turning to see a familiar figure with rainbow dreadlocks. "Thanks for finding this for me Rainy, gonna go real nice with my arsenal." The Rainbow Devil … wanted this?!

"KRAAAAAWW!" The giant creature rushed forward, throwing acid spit right at the figure in a blind rage.

"Huh, a Nephrite, been a while since I've seen one…though I can hardly tell with the buggy look you got going for yourself." The Rainbow devil snickered, clamping her hands together and creating a wall to block the attack.

" Yggghhhhhh....yogffffhhhhb…..yooooooouuuuuuu….!" The manticore menace growled, sounding more audible. " You…..your utter piece of SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

The manticore screeched, sending out a shockwave that broke down the wall and sent the devil flying into the trees. "If it isn't Quartz." The Rainbow Devil growled, standing back up. "As monstrous on the outside as you are on the inside now, are ya!?"

" Save the self-righteousness for someone who cares, you bastard!" The manticore shot forward, grasping the rainbow devil by the throat and slamming their head into the dirt.

"Okay, I see your not as vulnerable as last time." They growled, touching the dirt as multiple blades came out, stabbing the manticore and dragging them into a tree. "Unfortunately for you, I know how to pick my fights." They began running right back to the relic.

"KRAA!" The Crystal Devil once more began to try and strike them down.

"Persistent bug, aren't you!?"

"Leader?" Kataya questioned, recovering from the assault as she rubbed some of her scratches. "Who should we be … fighting?"

Raine assessed the situation. Both of them were enemies of Belos, but that didn't make them instantly allies. The only thing that was certain now was that there was one that attacked a kid, and the other was trying to defend said kid. "I didn't start this battle to fight children. Help the human girl and attack the rainbow devil."

They nodded, already running to either blast the enemy, or help move the girl along with that tiny fuzzy demon. "So the bards want to play, eh?" The Rainbow Devil questioned. "Sure, I'm down for multitasking!"

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Lucci could barely understand what was going on now. He barely remembered what it was they were supposed to be doing. All he knew was that Luz was hurt, and the bitch that hurt her was right in front of him. Screw the bards, he was going to kill the Rainbow Devil right here, and right now.

 He dodged one of the spikes forming along the ground, enveloping the area in stone and dirt. "WEAK!" He shouted.

"Probably, but not dull." The spikes began to shift, bending as they hit him like clubs. "I don't know what the deal is with your weird new body, Rose, but I know now that you bleed, and if you bleed, that means you can die!"

"Yeah, a five year old could've figured that out." One of the bards, the white haired one, rolled their eyes as they began firing lightning bolts at the rainbow Devil.

"Kraa!" Centi joined in, trying to blast the Rainbow Devil with acid from their walled off position.

"And here I thought you were aiming for a revolution." The Rainbow Devil frowned as she made more barriers against the acid, letting the lightning hit them without flinching. "I must have been mistaken."

"Any fight that requires you to attack a child is not worth fighting." The short gray haired one played their violin, making all the surrounding rocks and branches float over and sending them into the devil's back.

"The fact you think that bitch is a child just proves how delusional you really are." Rainbow growled.

"They weren't talking about Lucci, they were talking about Luz!" King jumped on top of the bitch, and blinded them, pulling on her hair as he covered her face. "You hurt my friend for what!? Some stupid wailing rock!?"

"It's none of your business, just stay out of my way!" She shouted, tossing the guy away.

Lucci looked over at her, then at the screaming object … and began to charge at the latter. If she cared so much about it, he'd make her suffer and destroy it.

"Oh no you don't!" The rainbow devil shouted as she began charging at him. "You have no one left to call on Rose!"

" I don't know what you want this thing for, and I don't care!" Lucci shouted as he threw a chuck of the ground at the bitch. " As long as you don't have it, it's fine by me!"

"I never thought regressing in size would mean you regress in brain power, but what can I expect from some upper crust who never cares about anyone!" The rainbow devil growled, creating cannons from the and firing at him.

He shrugged off the blasts, getting closer and closer to the annoying noise thing as it rang along his skull. Lucci raised up a claw, intent on crushing the thing into a paste.

"Wait!" The short haired bard grabbed it before he could. "If it's that important, then we can use it to-"

" I don't care about your agenda; I'm making sure this Rainbow bitch can't use it, ever!" He swiped the air, trying to crush the rock with the bard if they didn't get out of his way.

"Not another step!" The devil shouted. "I have control over this entire field. And I'm sure you care about one or two people not getting impaled."

Lucci looked around the area. If it was just the bards and him around, he would've just taken the pain, damned the consequences. But luz was still unconscious, and King was stumbling to get up. "What do you want?"

"Any other time, it would be your gem in the palm of my hands so I can crush it to dust, but even that's too lenient for what I have in mind." The rainbow devil extended their hand to him. "So give me the wailing stone, and I'll wait to kill you another day." The bitch grinned sadistically. "Or if your as heartless as I know you are, you'll throw away as many lives as it takes to get what you want. Your choice, Diamond."

Lucci growled viciously. "Take it, leave … and hope that I NEVER see you alone again." He tossed over the stupid thing.

"That should be me telling that to you. Next time we see each other, I won't be so nice." The rainbow devil laughed, catching it in her hands. "See y'all on the flipside." She opened up a hole in the ground and fell through, sealing it up immediately.

" Bitch." He scoffed, realizing that he may have found someone he hated just as much as the golden guard, if not more so. " Luz, luz, speak to me!" He ran towards the girl, being supported up by the bards, barely conscious.

"Heya Lucci …" She greeted. "Hey … horns are falling off … I dids it …"

"Get away from her!"  He made the bards back away. " Give me space!" Lucci got in close, and kissed the girl on the forehead. " Please let this work, healing spit, don't fail me now." 

Her body rested a moment, before her eyes shot open. "Man I feel good!" She shouted, jumping up. "We did it Lucci, we saved the day!"

"If by save the day, you mean losing that wailing rock to and getting out butts kicked by the Rainbow devil, then yes. Day saved." King jumped on the girl's head.

"Oh …" She looked dejected. "And I take it we can't follow the sound again?"

"Krkrkr." Centi nodded, having stopped morphing.

"Centi's right. Whatever that was, the rainbow devil knew what it was and shut it off." Lucci repeated. "I'm back to normal, so I guess she's too far away now."

"... Wait, you can still understand her?" Luz questioned.

Lucci looked at himself for a second, and then back to Centi. "Yeah,..I guess I do now. She's a lovely conversationalist."

"Krkrkr." The gall shrunk back down, looking flattered.

"I told you she was a great person to talk to." His friend grinned. "... So are we gonna beat up these Bard guys or …"

"BATS, SCATTER!" The bard Guys disappeared before they could even get a chance to think about it.

"I'm too annoyed to even be frustrated about that." Lucci groaned. "The golden guard, the rainbow devil, Vitimir, Cuttburn, and now the bard coven. Literally the whole world is against us now."

"At this point, Hexide is literally your best friend from a social standing standpoint." Luz agreed as she got up. "... So, more Hexas Holdem? I'm pretty sure I can beat you this time."

"Sure you can. Your chances of winning are as real as zebras." Nonexistent. For some weird reason, it just made Luz laugh.