Summary: Oh these violent, lost little souls
Tila Nosa laughed as she played hop scotch. "I am the champion of chidwens games! All know my powew." She was an ace of spades! Many underestimated her power due to her tiny stature, but that only gave her time to build up her repertoire of skills and abilities. She already graduated medical school, so the sky was already the limit for her. Once she conquers the realm of hop-scotch, she'll move on to thumb wars!
"Your so cool!" A fellow friend shouted. "How about next we-"
"AAAHHH!!" A man shouted as he ran past them. "CRYSTAL DEVILS!"
"I feaw no cwystal devil!" Tila shouted. "They will know my wrath!" Taking out the power glyph she got from the Covention, she slapped it on herself and felt the rage and strength of a million little Tila Nosa's flowing through her, the anger of year of being called to short for the roller-ghoster finally reaching it's boiling and needed some destructive outlets! "Devils, today you shall know the twue face of death!"
"Please no!" A woman shouted as a large beetle Crystal Devil approached. "I can give you a palisman or something, just spare my child-"
CHOMP
The town could only stare as the woman's entire top half was eaten, ripped right off and gulped down as if it was a smoothie. "....Mommy?" The kid the mother tried to defend starred off in horror.
"I…I thought they only ate palisman! Since when do they eat witches!?" A man on the side screamed, before he was attacked from behind by a molish looking one, dragged underground, before muching noise could be here, and the top half of a skull being pushed back out on the surface.
"Still wanna fight?" The kid they were playing with asked with a bit of terror.
"I didn't get to whewe I am today by back down wike a cowawd!" She screamed.
"Aren't you the tiny nose witch that's kicked out of every coven she tries to join?" A witch hiding behind a barrel asked as bird crystal devils flew overhead.
"Iwwelevant!" Tila raged on as she ran forward, hitting a Crystal Devil in the shins … which did nothing but get them to stare at her. "Face fire!" She blasted heat into it's face.
"SCAWWWAAAAAAA!" The devil screeched at her, feeling absolutely nothing and now looking at her like she was a gumdrop.
"I knew the wisk the moment I was bown. Having tiny legs sucks, but I made the most of my life!" She began punching harder and harder, every punch being more and more futile than the last. "I won't back down even for a second! I will live tiny, or die twying!"
"CWAA-" The devil was launched by a pink shield.
"Don't be a moron, live!" The Manticore Menace shouted, running through the devils with a group in toe. "Alright, It's getting hard to fight, carry Boscha, and restrain Luz. Someone take over on one of these!?"
"We can take him! We can stop that bastard from corrupting Centi!" The human girl shouted.
"We can always just dump the dead weight and leave her behind to get eaten, just saying." The three eyed girl suggested.
"Oh, so you're volunteering to sacrifice yourself? Great idea Boscha, best thing you've ever suggested, I'll be sure to remember your selflessness in the last five seconds of your life." The plant girl smiled as she wrapped a pig looking devil in a vine noose around its neck.
"As if, Half a witch! If anything, you should volunteer to get left behind!" The three eyed girl threw a potion that exploded tentacles, sending about ten devils in the sky. "You're big enough to feed a dozen of them for a week!"
"Did you…just call ME FAT!?" With a single punch, the plant girl threw a single fist into the chest of a bear looking devil, impaling it, and making it's whole body shivered until it went poof.
"No, I'm calling you bulky!" The three eyed girl shouted back.
"Guys, this really isn't the time to get into a back and forth shouting match!" The purple haired one shouted as she got some abomination gauntlets to strike a fishy looking devil right in the snout. "We've been running for the past hour and getting nowhere! Just how many of these things are on the Isles!?"
"Well they're from another dimension, have no concept of reproduction, and are immortal….so I'd probably have to say a shit ton!" A bard girl shouted as she rode on top of a wormy looking one, driving it into a wall.
"I don't get it, every Crystal devil I know never attacks like this. They never go out of their way to fight unless their territory is being invaded!" A bat looking kid said as he crawled under a cart.
"Didn't you hear that sociopath?" The Manticore kid questioned. "He's been feeding them witches, they're as addicted to us as they are palisman. He basically put a drop of blood in a swamp and set off a feeding frenzy of mud sharks."
"It's more than that, that basilisk is somehow commanding them." The plant girl grumbled. "We need to take him out and stop whatever he's using to get these guys so under control."
"We need to regroup before we figure out stuff like that." The illusion kid said. "Seriously, where are we running to? Everywhere from the school to Bonesburrow library is running wild with these guys!"
"There's only one safe place we can get to that would be impenetrable to these guys!" The manticore menace shouted as he shoved a drill right through one's head, making it go poof in a puff of smoke. "We need to head back to the Owl House! No way Hooty would let even one of these things get five feet within without throwing his tea parties!"
"Then come on, let's get in there!" The bard girl shouted as she played some notes.
Tila watched them all run wild in a single direction. "I wanna be as cool as them." She said whisperly. Why couldn't she have been that amazing when she was that age?
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Eda took a sip of apple blood, looking at the ceiling. "Hmm … why does today feel crazier than usual … King, are you doing anything insane?" Eda had this weird…incomplete feeling in herself lately, like she hasn't been around much of the action as she should be. Usually she'd be in the middle of causing or solving some chaotic mess. But now it felt like that mess was happening, yet she wasn't at the center of it.
"Nope. Not today. Been too busy thinking about my dad being out there to really do anything crazy lately." King answered, leaning against the couch while eating some hex mex. "It's the only thing I can think of other than Lucci's girlfriend, which I'm desperately trying to repress the memories of."
"Yeah that's fair." She admitted. Eda would've done more about it, except she was certain Lucci would just date the girl in secret, and that brought up so many conflicted feelings of both pride and disappointment in her. "What about you Hooty?"
"Nope, I've been writing a letter to LuLu all day." The guy explained.
"You don't have hands though." She pointed out.
"... It's been a process." That was disturbing.
"Then that leaves the kids, or Owlbert … we never really get crazy antics from you." She pointed to her palisman.
"Hoot." The little guy sighed.
"Don't worry, we'll reunite you with your girlfriend one of these days." She reassured her partner. "Just wish I could help Luz more with it, but I know even less than she does now. I just found it buried in my backyard… the backyard I didn't know my house had."
"You found a portal that leads to another dimension buried in your own backyard and you didn't try to figure out what was up with that?" King asked.
"I was a teenager back then, and I needed to use it to get away from mom at the time." Eda explained herself. "Since then it just led to this weird house that might have had answers, but then-"
The door burst open, as Lucci busted through with a worried look. "Code Apocalypse, open up the bunker!"
"Ah, there's the crazy I was missing. Thought something was wrong for a second." Nice to finally use the apocalypse bunker for something. "So what's the doomsday scenario? Flaming hail? Invasion of Locusts? The flying spaghetti monster avenging his pasta brothers?"
"Crystal Devil's going on a rampage eating every witch they can sink their teeth into!" Park yelled.
"... Hu." That was a new one. "Yeah, the bunker won't cut it. Get the tub ready Lucci, we're going to King's island to live the rest of our lives." Hopefully they had enough food to last a month before they needed to eat the others.
"We can't leave Centi she's a good girl she wouldn't hurt people she wouldn't snap but she's in pain and in pain all the time and I never noticed she was in pain and now she's hurting and eating people with everyone else." Eda watched as Luz rambled on in a ball.
"What happened with Centi?" King asked, poking the girl's head.
"We had just gotten done fighting Coven Head Ebberwolf…" Blight began to explain.
"You kids did what now?" Eda asked. Not surprised, but still unexpected.
"And then a Basilisk came in and started going wild-"
"Wait, what!?" Eda ran over to her books, pulling out a guide. "Quick description, now!"
"Well he was kind of tall, but not greater basilisk big…red trimmings around his ears…" Goops began explaining. "Had black slashes around their eyes and fangs that hung out of it's mouth.
She found the page after a bit of searching. "A Nature Basilisk." Eda read aloud. "Unlike most Basilisk, who hid under the guise of witches to steal their magic, they hid as demons, with an ability to speak any language helping them blend in and communicate."
"That explains how he's able to command so many of them." Lucci grumbled. "Does it say anything about controlling them?"
"Let's see… they're incredibly persuasive… but it's not mind control." Eda explained. "If they're doing this, it's just because he made it sound very enticing. They have their free will."
"No …" Some bat kid hit the ground. "They wouldn't … they couldn't …"
"Don't be an idiot, Bat for brains, their naturally unstable creatures driven insane by a curse or whatever, remember?" That three eyed girl groaned. "Anyone that comes up to them sounding half-way decent they'd probably follow without a second thought. Your 'family' was probably held together on strings anyways."
"Too soon, Boscha, too soon." The bard girl glared.
"What, when's the 'right time' to talk about the carnivorous monsters that's going to eat everyone alive that he just so happened to live with?" The three eyed girl countered. "Because THAT'S reality right now, that's what's going to happen to everyone!"
"No …" Luz walked over to the sword, picking it up. "He messed with my family … he's not taking another slither on this island without me hunting him down." She spoke with a violent undertone.
"Kid, I love the bloodlust you're showing right now, but this isn't the time to act hysterical." Eda tried to calm her down.
"This isn't me being hysterical. This is me being completely in rational control over my actions and emotions." Luz responded calmly but fiercely. "And what I'm going to do is rationally RAM this sword through that bastard's chest before he turns Centi into a killing machine."
"... I can't quite tell if this is hot or scary." The Blight kid responded.
"Scary." Boscha muttered. "This is the first time I agree with the human though."
"Of course you do, because why wouldn't you agree with aggressive violence and vengeance?" Willow rolled her eyes.
"Uh, you like getting violent and Vengeful, Willow." Goops pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'm usually not on the same page as Boscha, and that makes my skin crawl." Park grunted. "Well you're going to need the muscle, and I'm packing it in spades."
"I'm in!" The bard girl shouted. "I'm getting Belfry his family back!"
"Is there even a point in trying to not join up? I feel like we'd get dragged into it one way or another." Goops asked Blight.
"That's how it works with LAW, and that's how it works here." Blight shook her head with a small smile.
"Don't you dare think of doing this alone Luz." Lucci stated. "Learning everything we have about Crystal Devil's gives me a stake in this too, and I'm not going to let some sadist get away with taking advantage of a race cursed to be like this. We're all joining you to chop off that bastard's head."
"Thanks. But save the final blow for me, I need it." Luz gripped her sword.
"You kids are all insane and foolhardy, you know that right?" Eda asked them.
"Yeah, but that's how you raised me." Lucci smirked
"... Completely fair and I wouldn't have it any other way." She patted him. "Sorry King, but you're staying behind on this one."
"Why can't I have powers!?" The little guy shouted.
"Maybe we'll have your own test fest one of these days to unlock some." Lucci patted King on the head. "So are we going in guns blazing or are we going to plan for this?"
"In my experience, for stuff like this, everything goes as follows." Eda brought them to the kitchen table to lay down a piece of paper. "Make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, and throw away the plan. So let's come up with something halfway decent and improvise the rest." She looked at the group. "Some of you I know, most of you I don't. Names and skills please?"
"In quick order, Skara-Bard, Belfry-weak beast keeping…" Lucci explained, before going dopey with the three eyed girl. "And this lovely angel right here is Boscha, top of the class in potions and my completely outstanding, fearless, and amazing girlfriend." He looked at the three eyed girl. "I know this is not an ideal first official meeting, but Boscha, this is my mom, Eda Clawthorne, the infamous Owl Lady."
"Isn't she also the mean girl Grudgby player that almost killed Luz?" She questioned.
"Still working on that actually." The three eyed bitch shamelessly admitted. "Your son is crazy and amazing and he's all mine."
"She's not doing great at getting my approval." She deadpanned.
"Would you approve of anyone I date?" Lucci questioned.
"Probably not." Eda shrugged. "Although the Bard girl would have gotten the closest."
"Sorry, taken." Bard held hands with the Bat kid.
"Don't you DARE ever think otherwise!" The new bitch yelled.
"Ugh, we're getting off topic here. Gus, can you manage to work with invisibility?" Luz questioned. "I have some glyphs for it, but they only work if you hold your breath."
"I can only do it one person at a time, two if I really push it." Goops explained. "But I can camouflage multiple people pretty easily though."
"Good. The last Basilisk we faced got into the school because it was able to sneak in." Blight spoke up. "We have to assume this one's just as tricky to face."
"He's going to be extra careful though." Skara stated. "The only reason the Greater one was so confident was because of their immense strength that could knock Lucci out. This guy knows he wouldn't win in a fist fight."
"Which is why we have to draw him away from his forces and drive him into a corner." Willow pounded her firsts. "This Basilisk works off of brains more than brawn. We take him out, and the Crystal devils will be nothing more than wild animals without an alpha."
"And with Luz's sword poofing them and our combined firepower backing her up, we got this covered." Lucci confidently stood up. "So Gus sneaks us in, and after that Willow and Amity will clear us a path. Me and Boscha will target any Devils that break through the line, and Luz goes in for the finishing blow on the Basilisk."
"Meanwhile me and Skara will try to find my family and separate them from the rest of the carnage." The bat kid stood firmly. "I don't care what that Basilisk says, they're not killers that're angry at the world, and I'm going to get them back."
"The same goes for Centi." Luz stated clearly. "Eda, please find her while we're doing this."
"I'll try my best, kid." There was only so much she could do without her magic….why was she so useless now? "So, where are we going to find this Basilisk?"
"The …" Lucci paused. "I wanna say somewhere in the forest?"
"That's just vague enough to work with." Eda pounded her fists. "Given our luck, we just need to wander around the woods and they'll end up coming to us."
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Hunter was not having a fine day. "I don't get it!" He shouted. "There shouldn't have been enough land mass for these guys to hide all the time, how are they invading the entire isles!?" The Golden Guard questioned as he blasted another Devil. The golden guard had fought his fair share of crystal devils before he was granted his position, in fact, it was a part of the training, but he never personally saw the damage the monsters could cause en mass until now.
"Well, their forms made out of light from what Coven Head Vitimir explained." Steve explained as he used some construction magic to cage a few of the miscreants. "When they dissipate, they become just the crystal, and rocks are as common as the air we breathe. So there could be about a thousand or so just buried underneath the ground that are just non-active." The devils broke through the makeshift cage. "And now the ticking time bomb has been unleashed. Steve regrets so many things!"
"You're going to regret many more things if you stop fighting now! Belos has fates worse than death for deserters!" Hunter warned, launching a few scorpion looking one's in the air. "Doesn't matter how many there are, we keep fighting until every last devil is shattered!"
"Doesn't that just turn them into sentient limbs that are even harder to fight directly?" Severine questioned.
"Better mindless limbs that can't eat anybody then the monster's they are right now!" Hunter justified. "Scouts A through M, pile them together. N through Z, prepare a bombing spell to poof them all at once!" Hunter shouted, sending out vines to pull the devils into one location.
"Uh sir, we have a problem!" A lookout scout called out.
"Our entire lives are problems right now, be more specific!" The Golden Guard shouted out.
"I see the Manticore Menace making his way to the forest!"
"Oh for the love of-we do not have time to deal with this!" He had a whole army of Devils to fight, he couldn't put his focus on one criminal when the entire island was about to get eaten alive. "Ignore him and focus on the task at hand, we have more important issues to worry about!"
"Didn't Belos instruct you to-" Another scout reminded him of what his main mission was.
"I can deal with whatever Belos punishes me with later, this is the objective now!" He shouted. "Unless you want the strongest guy here to walk away and leave you to fight Crystal Devils on your own!"
"Steve strongly suggests the Golden Guard remain!" See, Steve had common sense. That was just so hard to come by nowadays. Good recruits were really hard to find.
"Alright, they're all wrapped up!" Hunter shouted as he chained them together, double reinforcing the strength of the vines. "Fire now!"
"Go back to hell where you belong, Devils!" A scout shouted as an entire barrage of magic of all kinds were fired off at the creatures. This was what the Emperor's Coven was all about. The strongest of the strong working together to defeat great evils such as-
"KRAAAWW!!" Alright, thirty down … a hundred on their way. GREAT!
"Defensive formations, make it to higher ground!" Hunter shouted.
"They have fliers! They're attacking from above!" Fiery bird-like devils came in and swooped in from the air, piercing sharp razor talons into the backs of two scouts before throwing them in the air and opening its giant maw. "I SEE NOTHING BUT DARKNESS…..AN ENDLESS VOID OF BLACK THAT'S IN THE SHAPE OF A BAGEL...WHY IS IT A BAGEL!?"
SQUAASSSH
The scouts were turned into paste that the damned devil slurped down like it was a fruity drink. "....Steve finds that a horrifying way to go."
"There's everywhere! There everywhere, I'm out of here!" Another tried to run, only for a veggie looking one to grab it by the leg and bang them against a few trees before ripping the scout in half.
"I can't believe I'd ever be forced to admit this, but I agree with Steve." Severine looked like they were going to barf. "Sir, we can't keep this going. They outnumber us by hundreds."
"No, I refuse to back away now!" Hunter shouted as another scout had their head plucked like a grape. "Their just wild animals-"
"Wild animals that outnumber us and we don't have a proper way of containing them!" Steve shout as he batted away one that bit away a small chuck of his arm. "Aaahhh!"
"Not to mention they have actual coordination!" Another scout shouted. "I got a report from Ebberwolf, they're being led by a Basilisk in the forest!"
The same forest the witch devil was running to he assumed … "We still need to hold the line, or else these guys will just run to whatever family you have elsewhere." Hunter grunted. He hated being useless like this. Bad enough he couldn't take down one of these guys, but here he was, being driven to a corner by a bunch of stupid ones.
"Yeah … sometimes I wonder why we're here." Steve grunted as he sent a wall of stone. "Then I remember I have a little brother back at home. Come and get it, Crystal Clods!"
"I could've joined the tiny cat coven, but no, my family insisted on the Emperor's Coven. It'll be better, they said. Live up to your full potential they said." Severene grumbled as they made sure to watch Steve's back.
"Who wouldn't want to join the emperor's coven? It's the best for only the best." People really confused Hunter at times with how they think.
"And now children show me up." She complained. "Can my life get any worse?"
Stab
A firebee looking Crystal Devil hit her in the stomach. "Damn you universe… Damn you.." Severene gasped out weakly as she coughed off blood.
"SEVERENE!" Steve shouted in the air, a massive pulse of magic exploding out of him as he rushed over and slashed through the crystal devil bee, poofing it. "Stay with me woman! Dont you die on me!"
"…Really… hard to die with…you yelling in my ears…" The scout coughed more blood. "Can't even let me die in peace."
"Craaaa!" Hunter looked at the giant bear-like creature approaching.
"I am done with these giant to small Crystal Devils, on this crazy and tiring day!" Hunter shouted, preparing himself for a long hall.
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Luz never realized how … varied these guys were. Big to small, flying to elemental. Hell, one of them was just straight up invisible if the floating rock was any indication.
In terms of magical creatures, crystal devils might've been the most versatile in terms of power and abilities. That was possibly part of the reason why Lucci is as strong as he is. That unfortunately made them all the more dangerous and difficult to confront.
So many questions popped up in the last few hours that Luz couldn't help but dwell on. She always thought of Centi as a person, an actual person with thoughts and feelings… but apparently that's what she was… or more actually, used to be like. We're they all like Lucci once? Like that Rainbow devil gal that everyone seemed to be afraid of? What was it that caused them to be like this? And… and would it be curable…. or something more towards Eda's where there was no cure.
"Luz, are you still with us?" Amity waved her hand in front of her as they all duck down, avoiding being seen by an approaching swarm of the little guys.
"Yeah, I am… just worried about Centi I guess." Luz admitted hoesntly. "Before I had the Azura books, she was the only thing I had that didn't make me feel so alone back on earth. The thought of her being used like this…it builds up the anxiety to an eleven." She answered. "Could you imagine losing your only friend because someone was a manipulating jerk?" Amity, Willow, and Lucci all stopped to give her the look. "… Right."
"Luz, I know how much Centi means to you, she's grown on me a little, and I get why you have that connection." Lucci patted her shoulder. "But if she starts attacking us, you can't just expect us to let it happen."
"I know, I know that things can get really serious right now." She admitted. "If she attacks you can fight … just please, don't hit her gem. She can survive anything other than shattering, right Eda?"
"They'll still be alive if you break it, but only as mangled limbs and body parts." Eda nodded, keeping her head down. "Okay kids, we're doing something crazy, and unlike the hundreds of times I've done this before. I don't have my magic to act as our safety net. I can lead away most of the aerial support they have, but that's about it. So try not to die too much out there. My concious can only handle one dead kid that's not one of my own."
"I like those odds." Boscha grinned, pulling out some potions. "Yo, illusion kid, how much longer is this cloak going to last?"
"No offense, but all your talking has dropped it to a minute." Gus whined. "Please stop emotional conversations while I keep us hidden." He asked the group.
"Won't have to do it for long." Willow pointed to him. The lone basilisk simply stands there, letting out noises every few seconds. "He's just standing around making dad noises."
"Timber wolf noises actually." Belfry pointed out, making everyone look at him. "What, I pay attention sometimes in class."
Luz gripped her sword tightly, gazing at the bastard. "You guys ready?"
"Ready to put that slimy eel on a kabob, absolutely." Lucci grinned viciously. "Now this is the part of being an outlaw that I love. Beating up all the jerks you want without restraint."
"Just like with LAW." Amity smirked, raising her arms with Willow … before creating a massive wall of abomination muck and plants to make a clear path straight to the Basilisk. "GO!" Luz began rushing forward with Lucci and Boscha, making a beeline straight to the bastard.
"Yo, short, smelly, and creepy! Have a taste of arsenic covered all over you!" The three eyed mean girl shouted as a flurry of potions were thrown as Lucci backhanded any Crystal devil's he could with some bubbled fists.
"So they finally arrived." The bastard spoke, before shrinking down to bug size, flying up in the air and avoiding the potions with ease, before shifting back on top of the plant wall. "Take them down, but spare the round-eared one." He commanded aloud. "She won't make you feel better when you bite into her like the others will."
"Whataya know, a bad guy that talks sense. I'll remember that when we're burying his butt into the ground." Amity rolled her eyes as she kept the wall up, shoving away and crystal devil's that tried to break free.
"Yeah, when I'm done ramming this into his chest, I'll remember to be nice about it!" Luz sprinted forward, narrowing her gaze solely on the bastard.
"If you do choose to end me, I merely ask that it wait until after the revolution." The basilisk continued to talk, before a rhino thing burst its way through the plant wall, huffing as it charged at her.
"Oh yeah, wait until AFTER everyone I know and love in this world is dead, that's TOTALLY going to get me to stop!" She sarcastically remarked as she jumped on top of the rhino creature. "This revolution of yours is nothing more than mindless mass murder!"
"It's mass murder alright, but it's far from mindless." The creature smirked, just idly watching everyone fight as the devil's did the dirty work for him. "I've been meticulously planning every step of the way for the last fourteen years, since the day I've gained back my freedom."
Lucci looked surprised by that one. "Wait, fourteen years, as in-"
"KAPOW!" A devil shot a sonic blast into the boy, sending him skittering across the ground.
"Mraaa!" Another one tried to attack Gus, Willow, and Amity, only for Eda to toss potions and try to keep it away.
"Don't worry kiddos, Mama is still able to help-!"
" SCRWAAAAAA!"
"...And she'll help more once she outruns these flying devils!" Eda cried out. "Dang it, they both eat flesh and palisman, I'm both dinner and dessert!"
"If it's any consolation, you'll probably taste really bitter." The Basilisk said bemusingly. "I can smell very little magic coming off of you." He shrugged. "But you will die either way, as fuel for a righteous cause."
"You … you don't know ANYTHING!" Luz shouted, pointing her blade in his direction.
"... Come again?" The man questioned.
"I come from a world where war used to happen all the time, a world where people fought for stupid reasons and killed a lot of people! You don't know anything about the suffering you're causing!" Luz accused.
The basilisk dropped his smile, simply staring at her. "So I don't know anything about suffering …" He stood up, visible for all to see, and untied his robe. "Would you care to rephrase that?" And dropped it to reveal … oh … oh fuck.
Suffering. Flogging marks, cuts, bruises, cauterized wounds. All over the front and back of that body, laced from top to bottom, with visible signs of malnutrition. "..oooh titian I'm going to be sick." Gus gagged.
"This is what I know. My whole life is all about knowing." The creature growled. "I am Ivan, I am one out of five Basilisk that were brought back from the brink of death, only to awaken to a world of suffering. To a world that scorned us for who we were, to a world full of vile, power hungry, and cruel Witches."
"I …" Lucci looked downright sick. "I …"
"GRAA!" A massive Devil raised a paw onto the boy, slamming him into the ground.
"Creeee." Another pointed a blade at his face.
"Stand down now, or he'll die as a witch." The Basilisk told the group.
"Die as a witch….nothing would make me happier….. " Lucci growled, his body morphing into something more beastial. " Then to just be a WIITTTCH!" The boy went full Manticore, taking the blade to the face as he slammed the two devils into each other.
"A shame … he's choosing the wrong side." Ivan lamented. "Keep up the assault."
"CROOO!" Luz looked to the woods, seeing even more Devils had shown up, completely surrounding them all.
"Luz, I think we bit off more than we can chew with this attack!" Willow shouted in a panic. "I think this is the best time to retreat!"
"No, no! Not when he's right there!" Luz jumped over one of them, running across several heads. "I just need to cut of his stupid hea-!"
"Krkrkrkrkrk. " That familiar chattering came up from behind her.
"Cenit!" She turned around… and saw the little gal, her first ever friend rising up from behind an unsuspecting Amity, her jaw drooling with acid and the absolute hunger in her eye being evident. "No! No! Centi! You're better than this! You don't have to hurt anyone, we'll find another way!"
"Krraaa." They swooped down, trying to take a bit of the girl.
"CENTI NO!" Luz tried to run back, only to get tangled by an octopus like Devil. "AMITY, LOOK OUT!" The purple haired girl turned, but was incapable of moving. She wasn't going to make it, she wasn't going to make it and it was all going to be Luz's faul-
" RRRAAAAAGGGGH!" Lucci, still in his monster form, shot out from the massive bodies of Crystal Devils, batting Amity away as Centi took a giant bite out of his back. "Raaaagggggghhh!" He sent out a shout as the exposed flesh of his wounds instantly began to bleed, one that echoed through the trees.
Every Devil seemed to pause for a second… looking terrified and intimate. "What are you waiting for, you mustn't stop now!" The man shouted.
"Chhhhchchch." A plant creature called out.
"Weeda, you're better than this!" Belfry shouted.
"Hmm … An Alpha." Ivan commented. "... Capture him."
"Don't you dare!" Luz squeezed on the sword, trying to cut herself free.
"Raaaaggggghhhh!" Lucci continued to rage on, charging forward, even when it looked like he was getting bit and chewed on from every side of his body.
"We're not going to survive this assault unless we get out of here now!" Gus cried out as he avoided one of the flying ones trying to swoop him from above.
"And do what, they have us surrounded!" Boscha shouted. "It's not like we could run even if we tried!"
"RaaaaAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH !" Lucci let out another one of his sonic screams, one that was able to send most of the devil's back and pause again.
"I think that's his way of giving us time to escape!" Willow exclaimed, throwing one over their heads. "Now run!"
"I'm not leaving my son behind, everyone else go!" Eda shouted, throwing more potions around. "Come and get me, you Crystal Clods!"
"Eda! Lucci! No!" Luz cried out as Amity grabbed her with an abomination. "Let me go, let me go! I can still save them!"
"You heard what that Ivan guy said! Just because he's not going to attack you doesn't mean he's going to let you get near him, and those devil's are too wild and unpredictable to face like this!" Amity began running. "We need to come up with something more solid!"
Her entire family in danger, all because of one crazy maniac with a tragic backstory…and she couldn't do anything about it once again … today was the worst
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Ivan stared at the Manticore they had pinned and captured. "Hmm … I was hoping for the human as well." They muttered. "At least they should live through all this when it ends." Just because Ivan was self aware enough to realize he was creating an endless cycle of hate and destruction doesn't mean he was so far off the deep end as to attack those not responsible. "Do we have the Owl Lady?"
" RKRKRKRKRKR. " One of the crab minions responded.
"I thought she smelled bitter. That curse ruins the bile." At least they had a hostage to hold over to get answers out of the manticore. "So unless you want her to end up without organs instantly, you will sit there, and listen to our plea. Understood?"
" With such pleasant accommodations, how can I refuse?" The demi-devil growled, the form shrinking but the fur and horns remained.
"Such a shame, to be blessed with such power, such greatness, and you chose to side with the enemy." Apparently half a witch wasn't enough to cancel out the horrible aspects. "What should be a miracle is nothing more than a curse."
"Be honest, how much of this snorseshit do you genuinely believe in when it comes to 'brotherhood' and 'great power'?" The child complained.
"I hear every voice of every creature as if it was one of my own speaking to me. I view all things that can communicate as an equal." Ivan admitted honestly. "Crystal Devils are simply hurt enough by Witch kind that they are more willing to listen to any method to stop the pain."
"Aka, you're using their ignorance and lack of understanding to sway them to your cause." The manticore groaned. "Just like Emperor Belos does."
"Don't you DARE compare me to that monster!" He shouted. "That King of scum, the horrid and deplorable people of the Emperors Coven."
"Wow, I don't think I've heard anyone else hate the Emperor more than me, aside from mom." The kid laughed. "Get rid of the horrible disposition and we could be best buds."
"We still could." He sat down. "Or if you wished to be enemies, you could kill me when it's all over alongside the human … just." Ivan sighed. "This needs to be done. Witches need to be eradicated." The sin must be erased from the world.
" Look, I'm not exactly one to deny vengeance, or to say it's wrong." The kid went on. "I try not to do more out of personal reasons rather than moral ones, but when there's an opportunity to get back at someone, I understand the need to jump. Just that, your revenge is going to get my family and friends killed, and I have more than just a little problem with that."
"I'm not so blind as to say I'm not killing innocents in the crossfire. I know fully well that my revenge will spill the blood of thousands, maybe millions that are ignorant of my plight, but my kind was ignorant too, and that didn't save them from being wiped out."
The child stared at him. "That greater one talked about genocide to … what happend?" He questioned.
The basilisk let silence reigned for a moment, gathering his words. "We ate palistrum tree wood … but just the wood. Not the creatures carved from it, we respected life too much for that." Ivan spoke. "Whenever we finished one tree, we took the seeds, and spread them out to grow up. We were one with nature …" They growled "And then Witches decided that they wanted more Palisman."
"The over-harvesting…. not even replanting the trees… Belos using palisman for whatever reason." The boy sighed.
"Even when we left you hadn't changed." He clicked his tongue. "We tried to argue with it, we tried to give them one tree every now and then … but it wasn't enough. They wanted more and more, they cut down our food and made us starve. We tried to look for alternatives, but it wasn't enough. We fought …" Ivan winced. "Then the more desperate Basilisk started to drink from a witch."
" So that's where you got the devouring idea from, that's how you knew." The boy raised an eyebrow.
"Some of the best ideas come from desperation, when you're driven to the brink and have no other choice." Ivan spoke distantly, feeling like he was back there, back when his people were plentiful. "We tried to apologize for their actions, and then they respond with … with genocide ." Tears fell from the Basilisk's eyes. "None survived … that is our sin. Our sin is wanting to live."
The boy had nothing to say, so Ivan kept going. "Had they left it at that, it would've been fine. Can't suffer anymore if you're dead… but no… no, Emperor Belos, and that damned Vitimir brought me and four other's back."
"They did what?" The child questioned, their form drooping completely in sheer bafflement.
"You don't have to believe me … I still don't believe it myself." He admitted. "For a while it was just the five of us, being studied for our capabilities …" He showed off his scars. "Whenever I wouldn't feed on the animals I could hear screaming for mercy, or whenever I acted up and tried to comfort Vee, or whenever they fucking felt like it … they caused these …" Ivan did his best to sit down. "The only reason we're all as we are is because Alpha was able to retain our history and share it with us … his stories kept us calm …"
The boy looked up at him, letting silence take over the area. "..He's dead, isn't he?"
"His first and last command, the ability to force us to do whatever he wished … it was used to force us to flee while he held the line." The tears hit the ground. "All of us, we had no idea where to go or what to do. We scattered all across the land, going in different directions…I haven't seen any of them since." Ivan looked at the devil child. "You have no idea how hard it is to not take vengeance on you for taking down Two … the closest thing we had to a mother."
That seemed to truly hit the boy close, as now tears were leaking from his eyes. "..The greatest pain anyone can go through…. it won't fix anything… but I'm sorry."
Ivan closed his eyes and breathed gently. "I'm far beyond the need for sorry." He turned around. "I wandered the woods for years, alone and isolated… until I witnessed the Crystal Devils… creatures shunned for eating palisman, for wanting to exist without pain … creatures hated for the crime of being born ." Ivan stood back up, letting out a broken chuckle. It felt alright, to laugh when in pain. Because that made things better, right? "So then I had this idea to help them, to give them the food source we never could have … then my mind fell back onto Alpha's stories." He gave the child a grin. "Witches have magic in them … maybe the Devils would like it."
"So you help them, they break the cycle and turn it on its head, and you get to live satisfied that vengeance was served." The child stated.
"In simple terms, yes." Ivan nodded. "Most of my army has tasted witch's flesh by this point, so even if I'm gone, they'll know now that they don't have to live their lives in pain, that they don't have to suffer by the hand of their oppressors. The feeding will continue, until every last witch is gone." He began to make his way out. "And when it's all over, I'll finally be able to rest peacefully at night, knowing I'll never have to fear the world again."
"Because the world would be gone."
"A world where Witches continue to fuck things up?" Ivan questioned. "I read the news, they didn't stop at Basilisk and Palistrum wood. Selkie Domus, Slither beasts, Titans Blood, do you even comprehend the resources wasted creating artificial magic? Witches have been destroying the world from day one. When they're gone, it'll be safe." He gave one last look. "You are an alpha to them. You have a choice. Either join and keep your mother safe from the carnage to come, or deny and watch her get torn limb from limb. I'll be back in an hour to hear your answer."
"You're making a mistake!" The boy shouted as he left.
"Probably so … but I know that my mistake will end thousands of mistakes to come."