Without the Manticore Menace to bubble his attacks, taking down the Blight became much easier … no matter how much of Darius's focus was divided on Hunter surviving. While it had been a surprise at the start, yes, the Coven Heads were quickly regaining their charge with experience and age on their side.
"AGGGGGGGGGHHH!" Of course, some were doing better than others. Mason and Adrian were notably fairing horribly. The three eyed potions track girl proved to be exceptionally brutal on the construction coven head. "Seriously, you've already broken my ribs, spread the pain a little more widely if you could!"
"NEVER! I'm still mad about the shooting star incident!"
Meanwhile, Adrian was being chased by that white pyramid from the behind, constantly firing lasers at the back of his head. "GAAHH, come on!" The man was never much of a fighter. He was best when it came to fighting from a distance or misdirection.
"Why don't you just cast an illusion you moron!?" Terra shouted as she dealt with the plant girl, now countering every flora with another that would outgrow it. "If it can see you, it can be tricked!"
"Right, got it!" He casted a cloud of darkness over it….only for it to shine a light bright enough to undo the illusion, and continued firing at Adrian's chest. "OH COME ON!"
"GRRR!" Meanwhile, Ebberwolf was having a brawl against multiple devils that the bat child seemed to own … without dying somehow.
"Don't be so rough with them, my family only wants to play with you." The bat boy said calmly. "I promise they stopped craving live flesh….well most of them, Crysta still takes big and hard bites every once in a while."
"Darius, this has started to drag a little too long." Raine said as they ducked under the bard kid's attack, pretending to 'miss' whenever they countered. "Our time limit is almost up."
"I am well aware of that." Honestly Darius wouldn't bother … but given that the Rainbow Devil took a combined shield of all the Coven Heads and treated it as a sand castle, he was inclined to actually listen to her like he did Belos. "There's no real point if the child in question isn't here, correct?"
"You know, the phrase speak of the devil really is far too accurate given how often it happens." A voice was heard in the air as something big and pink crashed into the center of the fight, creating a crater as the dust settled, showing off said child in question. "And I see everyone has been having just as much fun as me in the past half hour."
"It seems the Golden Boy has failed." Terra scoffed. "Can't trust anyone to do their jobs these days. At least Belos will make it up by murdering the snotty brat." Ah yes, the Ultimatum … another concern of Darius's.
"Or I can tell him how none of you can take care of a couple of children and have you all immediately replaced." From the side, Hunter himself walked into the center of the field, right next to the boy. "Coven heads, hexide students, for just a minute we need to stop fighting!"
The three eyed girl glared. "Oh if you think for a second we'll-" A vine wrapped around her mouth.
"We're listening." The plant girl let them continue.
"Look, I'm sure that you Coven heads don't like listening to us, that you want nothing more that to squash everyone here, especially me, into a bloody pulp on the ground." The kid went on.
"That would be the sum of events, yes." Adrian nodded.
"And I'm sure that you Hexide students want to keep fighting, especially those involved with the Flyer derby incident." Hunter turned to the kids.
"I'm going to knock your head off and use it as a Grudgby ball!" The bard girl exclaimed.
"Not after I've drowned him for all the times he nearly killed Luz!" The Blight girl shouted out.
"Point is, we're all angry and we all want someone to take it out on. So that's why we need to direct all that destructive power and energy into fighting the Rainbow Devil." The Clawthorne pointed to the mobile fortress in the distance.
"We give her you, and she'll stop her assault." Mason contered.
"Yeah, before she goes onto destroying the Emperor." Hunter went on.
"... And that's a bad thing because …" Adrian looked confused as Terra slapped him in the back of the head. "What!?"
"Because no Emperor means no day of unity, and no day of unity means no paradise or any of the promises or gifts he made to us, aka, the biggest perk to BEING a coven head, you air headed idiot!" The plant coven head continued.
"That, and the Rainbow Devil hates the coven system just as much as the Emperor himself. When she's done with him, you all will be the next to go." The Clawthorne continued. "Be honest, do you trust someone, with THAT level of power…" He pointed to the fortress again. "To not take advantage of it and destroy all her enemies?" He raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you all do the same?"
"... Point taken." Terra nodded. "Then what do you suggest, brat?"
"A team up." The boy stated. "Wild Witches, Crystal Devils, Coven Heads, Children, Adults, Elderly, all joined together-"
"Nephew." All parties turned to the pinned Clawthorne. "I believe you may want to wrap it up!" She pointed to the fortress … as the glowing spikes now aimed at them all.
"Short version, Luz and my mom are in there and by now they've put a chink in Bismuth's armor." The kid went on. "So me and two others will sneak in and fight her head on while the rest of you distract the fortress."
"Will more people please back me up this time!" Hunter shouted, pulling out a palisman in front of the other heads. As he formed a barrier of multiple elements.
"I'll join you." Darius volunteered. "I have unfinished business with that woman."
"Thank you, but I was referring to-"
FWOOP
The lasers blasted them all once more, as the barrier began to crumble fast.
Shing
Before it was reinforced by A pink shield, a couple of vines, and abomination goo. "THANK YOU!" Hunter turned to the plant girl and blight child.
"You still have a lot to make up for, Hunter." The plant girl narrowed her eyes. "It's going to take a lot more than cute text pics for us to be completely cool."
"Ah…guys….I think you should see this." Blight pointed to the barrier being fired at…where the laser kept going…and going….and going…
… And it didn't stop … "Oh." The Manticore Menace's eyes widened. "I think either they or we just pissed the Rainbow Devil off enough, or made her desperate enough to just … never stop firing." He noted as the shield began to crack and heat up, pushing back against the kids. "We need to get moving now, anyone got any bright ideas!?"
"It's going to take everything we have just to survive!" Mason shouted as he tried his best to reinforce the barrier with stone. "I don't think we can even move underground, that's being eradicated too!"
"Maybe we can force it back!" The bard kid shouted, turning to Raine. "Hey Whispers, you know how to harmonize, right?"
"It's the first thing I learned as a bard." They nodded.
"Well I've harmonized with the craziest user of bard magic dozens of times. We play together, and create a rhythm so powerful it bounces the beam back at the thing!" The kid explained. "That knocks the fortress back, giving Lucci's team just enough time to sneak in!"
"Does that look like a good plan Celine!" The Manticore kid shouted as he tried pushing against the shield, digging his heels into the ground as it cracked and burned his flesh.
"..Uh, I can guarantee we survive the next five minutes after the spell…the rest is a little blurry." The moon child answered.
"Good enough, do it!" The hunchback construction student shouted.
"This is going to sting!" Raine shouted as she and the child played their instruments simultaneously, playing as s yellow and red energy took over the laser, slowly forcing it's back, further, and further, and further…
KAPOOOOOOOWWWW
=======================================================================
The beast-Eda, it was starting to get fuzzy who was taking the drivers seat more at the moment, along with everyone else, was sent flying all over the place as a massive shockwave from the outside was felt, right as they were all in the middle of killing each other.
King-fuzzy kin was trying his best to fight, but without those sonic screams at the ready was more of the angrily flailing cute variety from their early days, i.e. adorable but ineffective.
The beast-Eda was doing a bit better than last time. Unlike Lucci, the sanity to power ratio worked wonders when the Owl Beast was promised to never harm the family. Which meant that the only one it was focusing on tearing into shreds was Bismuth-The alpha threat.
Unfortunately, Luz-fragle kin was now completely taken over by the need for revenge and blood. Even when the whole place was sent flying, she used her safety hover to keep herself stable as she ran forward and struck the woman-The alpha threat over and over. Luckily, since Centi-Visious pet blasted the woman in acid over and over, that was actually forming small cracks. Unluckily, Luz-fragile kin was ignoring safety in favor of raw offensive destruction.
"BREAK!" Luz-fragile kin shouted in the midst of her rage. "BREAK DAMN YOU, BREAK!" With every swing, a little bit of the metal came off, but it still wasn't enough to keep Bisumth-The alpha threat from moving.
For example, Bismuth-The alpha threat sending forth a fist that hit Luz-fragile kin'sarm with enough force to create a cracking sound, something They found even more infuriating as they rushed forward to take a bite out of the Rainbow bitch.
"Have to say, Eda, you put a lot of spunk into that kid. Given a few years, she might actually be as impressive as you!" Bismuth-The alpha threat yelled as she sent a kickin into her chest that sent her flying into the ceiling.
"Seriously, Bismuth!? You see NOTHING WRONG with beating up a child like this!?"
"I'm over thousands of years old, age doesn't mean a damn thing to me!" She yelled as she punted King-fuzzy kin across the room. "If they feel like risking their lives after the multiple times I told them to stay out of it, that's on them!"
"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT BROUGHT THIS FIGHT TO US!" Luz screamed as she carried the sword with one arm, continuing to slash and hack at the armor. "YOU CAME TO OUR HOME, DESTROYED IT, DESTROYED SO MANY HOMES AND PEOPLE'S LIVES! ALL FOR WHAT!? FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED LITTERAL DECADES AGO!? GET OVER IT!"
"THIS…IS…EVERYTHING I'VE LIVED FOR!" Bismuth-the alpha threat sent another punch into Luz's good arm, the cracking sound coming back. " I was made to build what other people wanted, but now I get to build and destroy whatever I WANT! No one, and I mean, NO ONE, is ever going to take that away from me!" The sent out a kick, sending Luz-fragile kit skidding across the floor as the sword fell to the ground. "Hopefully those broken arms will keep you out of the way-"
"Bitch!" Luz-fragile kit lifted up the sword with her teeth and continued to wildly assault the metal covered psycho.
"You're just too stupid to quit, aren't you?"
"So am I!" Eda-the beast pounded on top of her, and repeatedly slammed Bismuth's face into the ground. "You asked me once if I steal hearts, well now I'm going to steal yours by ripping that damn ROCK OUT OF YOUR CHEST!"
She kicked them back. "If you think I'm going down … Ah screw it." They tipped off the mutilated armor, going back to their natural look, other than a single enhanced arm and claw. "It's time to put down your threats personally."
"I was thinking the exact same thing ." Purple sludge covered the woman and turned pink as it formed Darius's face. " Time die, devil."
"Well … look who decided to get their hands dirty." As if the situation wasn't messy enough.
=======================================================================
Willow sent forth vine after vine as she attempted to grapple the leg … which was a bit of a challenge when juggling it's immense natural strength, sound waves, lasers, and prisms that floated around with a mind of their own. "Okay, this may be a stupid question, but what exactly are we up against here!?" Willow asked as she grew cotton on the ground for everyone to stuff in their ears to prevent further ear damage.
"A massive contraption consisted of several anti-magic defenses." The bard coven head explained as they ducked underneat another laser blasts. "Mainly Titan bone and Vein."
"Actually it's vein, witches wool, and very dense metal." Mason reiterated. "Again, she probably only put bone in the armor, or to protect vital internal parts."
"Can't you tame these things Goops!?" Boscha shouted as she avoided another laser from the prisms.
"I barely know how I got the one I have on it's good side!" Gus shouted as his prism continued to shield him, flying around and blocking each attack. "I almost got a seizure taking it head on!"
"RKRKRKR!" Belfry's 'family' jumped on the prisms and began to chew mercilessly on them.
"I suppose that's one way to hold off a situation …" Amity grumbled. "That still leaves one large and annoying target still trying to kill us."
"So magic attacks don't work, it's too strong to restrain, and it can blast through any threat, along with using sonic screams on anyone it cares to notice …" Matt stared up at the thing blankly. "So…why aren't we running for the hills right now?"
"Because it being in one spot is better than roaming around the isles blasting randomly." Willow reminded them. "Hey, you, Mason, can't you use your construction magic to at least trap the legs into the ground?!"
"I could get one leg to a depth this thing would actually care about." The man spoke. "The others would be too much."
"Alright, then, you focus on that one leg!" Amity shouted. "The rest of us will work to sink in the others! Matt, how well can you work your construction magic around these things?!"
"Not that well. It moves slowly so that helps, but I'm nowhere near as strong as Mason, and even he's not that confident about it!" Matt yelled
"I'll help soften the ground from within." Willow nodded.
"Excellent! Skara, you and Raine do that harmonizing trick again, but this time aim it at the wailing stones. Cancel out their noise, or blow them up, I don't care which, we just need them out of the way!" Amity ordered.
"On it!" Raine immediately began playing against the melody.
"Boscha, you and I will destroy the ground around the third one! The rest of you keep the biggest laser out of our way!"
"When did it get to the point in my life where I'm ordered around by children?" Snapdragon rolled her eyes.
"When every threat escalated far beyond control." Adrian agreed.
"Less yapping, more zapping!" Willow shouted them as she helped Matt hollow out the ground for him to manipulate it better.
They focused more and more, working on lowering four of the legs … eventually forcing them inside of the ground. "... We did it …" Raine smiled. "We actually did it!"
"Grr." Ebberwolf pointed up … to the multiple spikes that, while they looked overheated, began once more with the familiar glow.
"And we pissed it off." Boscha deadpanned. "I don't suppose we can put up another barrier while Skara and Whispers deflect the shot?"
"We're already busy stopping the Wailing stone from destroying our skulls." Skara huffed. "So do we keep fighting back or do we start running for our lives?"
"We've seen the range, running will just get us decimated." Celine stated. "We need a way to bounce the beam back through a reflective method."
"What do you know, an Oracle more useful than Osran." Mason chuckled.
"Your ribs will never fully recover."' The old man responded bluntly. "They'll always be as brittle as glass from here on out till the day you die."
"You see what we mean?"
"The only thing I'm seeing is that the witches at the top are a dysfunctional unorganized mess." Boscha scoffed. "Like seriously, how do you people function on a daily basis?"
"Grr." Unnatural effort and Belos's commands. "Grr?" He pointed to the nearly finished lasers.
"So either Lucci's group wins or we're all fried." Willow summed up. "I don't know if the odds of winning are higher or lower than usual." Not to mention their luck was chaotic enough as it is. Given that Hunter was probably more than likely to stab Lucci in the back…please let her be wrong.
=======================================================================
Bismuth gazed at the three new entries. "If it isn't Darius, Rose, and …" She blinked at the familiar cloak. "You really are younger every time we fight." Bismuth noted, cracking her neck. "What's your secret, Golden Tool?"
"Pffft, hah, that alone almost makes all the crap I've been through worth it." Rose snorted.
"Don't press your luck, Clawthorne, you're not off the chopping block yet." The tiny guard glared
"Playing both sides … why should I be surprised?" Bismuth asked, pressing the ground as multiple walls shoved themselves around the six enemies. Taking in the time it would take for them to bust out, she'd have a few moments of taking on Rose and wearing her down without interference. She rushed forward with the last bit of the weapon of the Titan crusher.
"Not this time!" Rose glowed pink, speeding out of the way and grabbing her by the leg, slamming her against the floor. "I see Centi and the others broke your fancy little suit. You don't have the advantage anymore."
"The advantage was for the army you always had next to you!" She shouted. "When it's one on one, I still have the upper hand!" She slammed on the ground, manipulating the metal to push Rose into the perfect spot to swing with all her might.
"You said that last time, and you lost, twice very brutally!" Darius covered himself in muck and slashed her from behind.
"I don't know, the golden boy's blood in my hands says otherwise!" She slashed at the man, her ax hand going straight through his body without even leaving a scratch.
"I perfected this form to specially counter you, devil!"
"Of course you did." Bismuth grumbled, before a ball of flame went into her side. "You really don't know when to quit." She made the ceiling rain down spikes on both Rose and the Golden Tool.
"I didn't get my position from quitting!" The boy shouted, jumping around with that fancy teleport spell and his staff.
One of the walls burst open as the human rushed in with that blade in her teeth. "RRR!" She kicked them over to another wall.
"Stay out of it human!" She shouted, sending up chains as she refocused on Rose and Darius. "I've waited four centuries for this moment, l be damned if I'm going to let anyone of you take it from me!"
"You know when I heard legends of the rainbow devil over the years, I thought she might be interesting, someone cool." Rose glared as she grabbed that snake that hung around her, and turned it into a hammer, slamming bismuth into a wall. "But all I see is some sad, pathetic wannabe freedom fighter that can only live for mindless carnage. Your no legend, your just a pebble that everyone will forget."
Snap
She ran forward, slamming them into the ground! "THAT FIGHTING WAS FOR YOU!"She slammed attack after attack into the body. "We were going to protect earth, the life it had, the humans! We were going to free an enslaved species from tyrants just like Belos on a universal scale!" Bismuth shouted as she continued wailing on the cracking shield. "But the moment I suggested we stop hitting their camps, the moment I had the idea to take the head off the snake and actually shatter one of them … you separated me from everyone!" She raised the Titan Crusher arm, once more slamming the claws into that damned Diamond. "ALL FOR SOME SICK GAME!!"
Kapooooowwww!
The room was filled with an explosion again, sending everyone back again. One more hit as the bitch would be down for-
"Yeah… " Her arm was being squeezed right as Rose held it, the lady glowing pink as her eyes were diamond shaped…and her gem was completely intact. "That's not going to work on me again."
Crash
One more shield popped up in front of her face … one with a hexagon shape. Sending her flying through the walls, crashing through room after room and hall after hall. "Gah … now I know why they say don't piss off a Diamond …" She groaned. This wasn't going to work, Bismuth needed a way to shatter Rose, and her last weapon was down …
"Finally, that devil did something useful for once!" The tiny Guard warped in and sent her into the ceiling above. "Now you're mine!"
"Don't get comfy, tiny tool, I killed you once, and I'll do it again, no matter how hard need to make it stick!"
"Don't count me out!" She was tackled by the feral Eda, sending her through yet another wall as Bismuth tried to put up chains to pin her and attack.
"You thought this fortress was your protection, your biggest weapon!" Darius came in, wrapping her up in pink goop. "But all you did was make it more convenient for us to end you!"
Kabbbooooooon
Another explosion sent her flying through more walls. How was she being sent flying so much today!? "GRRR!" Once more she had to dodge an attack from the feral human.
"Why is she using her teeth anyway!?" Rose shouted. "She knows how to hold a sword."
"Broken arms." Eda said. "Heal her up. The grown ups can handle her for a moment."
Bismuth turned her arms into clubs, swinging them against a charging Eda. "You always were the confident one, weren't you!?" She shouted, pushing back.
"Never confident, I improvise half the time, had to learn when my life gets turned upside down." Eda laughed as she jumped over her head, pushing her into the golden boy's direction. "Hey, broody boy, here's a free one! Give the nice lady a slice of pain down her throat!"
"Gladly!" The boy created multiple thorny vines, shoving them into Bismuth's mouth. "... She doesn't have a throat!"
Bismuth kicked Eda off. "Never needed to eat, did you think I-"
"YOU SHATTERED HER!?" And another pink hexagon slammed its way into her head. " Why!? To your own kind, one that was suffering in pain, why!?"
"That wasn't my kind anymore!" Slammed some metal into Rose. "Race, age, gender, none of that matters! There's only allies and enemies! That's what war is!"
"..So that's it, huh…that explains so much." The human growled, lifting up her sword. "That's why Lucci's mom poofed you…that's why your all alone…because you're a heartless , empty, cold blooded bitch that's willing to kill anyone … even your friends."
"I would never betray my friends!" She shouted, once more sending spikes and blades! "That's all Rose, but I'm the only one who sees that!"
"SHUT UP!" She was hit in all directions, battering her body even further.
"Enough!" She slammed her hands on the ground, forcing everyone to give herself breathing room. "I'm still in control here! This is my house! You can't win in my house!"
K aboooooommmm
The room suddenly shook and sparked.
"... For an indestructible death fortress, it's surprisingly destructible." The Golden Tool noted. "Do you think that was one of the legs?"
"No, that came down inside…but what.."
"Shooting Star Core damaged." The Ai spoke.
"Wait … as in what's powering the thing?" Darius asked.
"Yep …" Bismuth sighed. "And when destroyed, can annihilate anything in a mile radius through the sheer heat it releases."
There was a moment of silence. "Uh guys.." Rose said. "Where's King?"
=======================================================================
"Dang you tiny body, you keep forcing me into tiny spaces!" With all the flying around and crashing this stupid thing was forced into, it was a miracle King hadn't been sent flying back outside. But now he was stuck in what looked like a vent.
"It's alright, focus King. You're in an unknown location, with little options, and need to get back to your family …" He hummed as he thought about it. "What would Eda do?"
'Crawl until I find something, my lucks amazing that way' . His mental construct of the woman spoke.
Yeah, he didn't want to risk that. "… What would Lucci do?"
'Punch my way through the walls until I'm out' . His mental construct of the boy spoke.
That wasn't feasible in any sense of the word. "Okay, what would Hooty-I'm not even going there … what would Luz do?"
'Test a Glyph and see if I can bust out of here!' The mental construct of the girl spoke.
"… My family never makes good life choices." Maybe that's why sanity was so quick to die in the Owl house. Lilith already snapped by actually treating Hooty like he was a living being. King needed to hold out as long as possible.
"Okay, so what can I do?" King asked himself. "I can't head back outside, it's too crapped to fire off my sonic shriek….guess I'm just crawling forward." He'd have to find an exit sooner or later, it's not like it went on forever. King continued to move through the vents, eventually slipping.
"Ow!" He looked down, seeing some liquid drip down onto the floor. "What the …" King looked up, seeing nothing. He scratched his head, feeling wet. "Why am … oh, I'm not wet, I'm just sweating." He processed that for a moment. "Titan it's hot!" Why the heck was it so hot!? Machines heat up, he understood that, but this was getting ridiculous!
Looks like he didn't have much of a choice though but crawl towards the source. Maybe this meant something important to this freaking fortress was close by. Wasn't like he could do that much against the Rainbow Devil personally.
King moved forward and more and more, wincing as the metal itself seemed to burn into his fur. "Seriously, what can make this much heeaaaaa!!" He screamed as he began falling through the drop. "Please don't let me fall to my doom!"
Kang
Klunk
Crack
Nope, just a lot of zig zagging motion of metal pipes that broke his fall … ow. "Dang it, why does such a big machine need so many pipes? Where do they even lead? It's not like there's a bathroom in this place.
He stood up, stretching as he gazed around. All the pipes in the room seemed to lead to a glowing crystal that felt like standing inside of Eda's hair during the hot season. "Huh, so that's really hot…and by the looks of all the pipes, it's important too." He looked at it. Something about it felt familiar, like he heard about something a big source of heat a while ago…
"Hey, that kinda looks like that Shooting Star Lucci talked about." King noted. "… The super hot and volatile thing I can totally ruin!" If this thing powered the laser and everything else, taking it down would take the fortress down.
Now that everything was cleared up, it was time to do his part and save the day! "Now…here….we…..go!" He inhaled a big breath of air. "WHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The glass broke, the crystal cracked …
KABBOOOM
And began exploding, slowly pushing against King's scream as the room began to melt. "Yes! I did it! I'm amazing!" The floor started to get hot…as well as everything else around him. "And…I have no way out of here….dang it, those terrible life choices are rubbing off on me."
Please let there be a miraculous rescue! "Hoot!"
"Owlbert!" Yes, success!
"King, you there buddy?!" Lucci's voice called out for him.
"Yes! I blew up that shooting star thing and now everything's melting!" He shouted to the ceiling, where Luz's sword carved a hole into it, and allowed him to exit, meeting back up with everything else.
"It's going to do more than that, kiddo! It's going blow everything within a mile radius!" Eda shouted.
"... Weird, I didn't pull a Luz or a Lucci …"
"So whenever we put the world in danger we say we pull a King?" Lucci questioned.
"Why are you morons discussing this, we need to get out of here!" Darius shouted.
"No, we need to contain the explosion, otherwise everyone is going to get obliterated!" Luz shouted.
"We could barely block the lasers this thing generated, and you think we can contain all of it at once!?" The Golden Boy questioned.
"We can't…but Glyphon could." Luz turned to Lucci. "They work good under pressure, they can handle this."
"You sure? There's a good chance that it fries us both instead if anything goes wrong." Lucci countered.
"Then we're dead either way, right?" The girl said. "The only upside will be that Bismuth goes down with it, and that'll be good enough for me."
King and the rest of his family winced, sighing as they knew there wasn't a single thing they could say to sway Luz from this decision. "Alright, Mom, get King as far away as possible." Lucci turned to Eda. "Fly high and fly fast."
"Alright, but I order you not to die, or else your both grounded." Eda hugged both kids, before picking him up. "Come on little guy, you did your part."
"I would say it was a pleasure working with you…but that would make me a liar." The golden guard grunted. "Honestly you're making my job easier by staying back."
"Dying would also mean I don't have to listen to your annoying voice again, so screw you too, Golden tool." Lucci waved off, before grabbing Luz by the hand. "Ready roomie?"
"Always buddy." The two began glowing as King was flown out of the room.
"Sucks we can't do more, for once I was useful for a major event." King groaned as they reached outside
"Where's Luz?!" Amity yelled?!
"Where's Lucci!?" Boscha shouted.
"Everyone get back, the foretress is about to explode!" Darius announced as the massive thing began to crumble and spark in a multitude of colors.
KABLOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHH
King was prepared to feel the fiery fury….only to open his eyes to see that the explosion was being without witness sparks of pink light….sucking all the fire and brimstone back in as it twirled around like a gorenaodo of color, before shooting up into the sky in a massive pillar of brightness.
=======================================================================
Lucci panted as he came back to. "… How did we do that?"
"I think we messed with that Titan skull glyph Philip had … Glyphon has a better memory." Luz panted as well.
Lucci looked around the destroyed fortress. "So … you think that-"
Smack
An annoyingly familiar hammer smacked the side of his head. "Did…you think….the heat….of a…collapsing star….was enough….to beat me…!?" The rainbow devil shouted in a half, clearly looking tired and roughed up. "I've spent centuries working…in that kind of heat."
"Clearly … neither of us know when … to quit." He growled, getting up and shaking off what felt like the fifteenth concussion of the day. "You can't…seriously think you can win now." Lucci created his shield. "Your fortress is down, your armor is destroyed, and newsflash, you can't shatter me."
"I…cracked you once…which means…I can do it again!" Bismuth charged at him, swinging an ax hand down on him, which he caught. "You can't keep a good Bismuth…down!"
He slammed his fist into her chest, sending her skittering, before slamming Sugar down while in hammer mode. "Just … stay … down!" He shouted, pushing against her.
Which made the gem pinned enough for Luz. She drove her sword forward … aiming right at the gem with a look of vengeance in her eye. "SHATTER!!"
Chink
And the sword slid right off. "I..told you there were two….things….that it could never m…break.."
"Would you just shut the fuck up?!" Luz swung right at the head, this time the sword…being stuck halfway through it.
Bismuth cackled like a mad woman as she got on her knees. "..This is it for me…isn't it?" The woman laughed brokenly. "Once I'm poofed, I'm done for, huh? Everything I did…..it was all for nothing, wasn't it?"
Lucci glared. "Looks like it." He nodded. "You hurt too many people, you attacked my family. I'm fine with you hating me, trying to kill me, tons of people do that already, but everyone else… that's where I draw the line."
"You haven't changed a bit … have you Rose?" They questioned …
Poof
Before the square stone fell to the ground. Lucci panted. "Great … gonna process that …" He turned to see Luz look around. "Did you drop something?"
"The sword doesn't work on her, I'm trying to find something heavy enough to break the gem."
"Luz, no." He bubbled it.
She grabbed his shirt, glaring into his eyes. "She. Shattered. Her." Luz spoke with a hatred Lucci used to have for a lot of his enemies.
"I know, I'm not saying she doesn't deserve it, because she does. By titan, she deserves, so, so, so much worse right now." He agreed. "But this vengeful side of you, the one fueled by pure hatred and spite…that's not you. Don't do this, not when you need to grieve." Lucci said. "Think about Centi first, then decide the rainbow devil's fate."
"Oh, her fate's already been decided." Before he could process the Golden Tool's voice, the bastard warped past him and grabbed the bubble. "Rest assured, human, she's going to pay heavily for all her crimes from Belos himself."
"What are you doing?" Lucci glared, prepping for another fight.
"You see, I wasn't just here to protect the Isles from a disaster. I actually got two orders from Belos." He explained. "Retrieve either your gem … or hers."
Lucci processed that for a moment. "... You always planned on getting us to fight … you just wanted to make it seem like you were desperate."
"Not completely, I was definitely on the clock though, and realized that if you two fought with me involved, I could deal with whichever one I deemed a bigger threat." The boy looked at the bubble. "Conned just like the first time we met."
"I hate you….so… so much right now." Lucci growled.
"Feeling's mutual Devil, but now you have a choice." The golden guard smirked. "The coven heads were just ordered to deal with the Rainbow devil, not anyone else. So just for today, we go our separate ways, and I take care of the bigger criminal for now."
"And what's to stop you from double crossing us along with the Coven Heads?" Luz questioned, her eyes still carrying that hate as she held up the sword.
The tool opened his mouth … but starred off to the sky. "... I'm too drained today." With that, he warped away.
"Luz! Lucci!" Lucci turned, seeing Willow and the rest of the gang make their way over. Lucci was smart enough to realize what REALLY caused him to retreat, but chose not to think about that subject for long, lest he get some disturbing mental images. "You alright!?"
"We're fine…we're fine…we're…we're…." Luz's hateful facade began to crack as she fell on her knees. "We're fine…we're…we're totally fine…we won…we….we…" Luz cried hard. "We survived … and people … people are safe so …" She hit the ground, lowering her head. "It's all … it's allright …"
"Luz …" Lucci dropped all emotion, hitting the ground. "It's over. We don't need to worry. Just … let it out …"
And then, the lone human of the Boiling Isles began to sob her heart out. "She's…gone…..she's gone!" Luz cried. "I just got Centi back…and she's…she's gone….!"
"Ssssh." Lucci and the rest of their closest friends hugged her. "Just let it out." They'd deal with Belos's crap another time. Right now his family needed him.
=======================================================================
"The battle was too chaotic sir." The grimwalker spoke, presenting forth the crystal to him. "We managed to deal with the threat of the Rainbow Devil and capture her ourselves, but by then we were too weak to continue the assault."
"On that note … may I request bed rest until the week of Unity?" Mason questioned, audible cracks in every step not emanating from the floor. "Why…why are my ribs so fragile?"
"It was meant to be." If Orsan wasn't a witch, he might've gotten along with the man in another life. Belos swore the oracle head enjoyed the misery of his species just as much as he did.
Belos latched onto the object, staring at the reflective gem that had given him a bit of trouble in the past, if minor compared to her . "And the … 'artifacts' she held?"
"Either melted down with acid, destroyed beyond recognition, or incinerated when that star exploded." Deamonne spoke. "The only thing that may have survived was a fragment of armor, but it would be too small to be of value."
"A shame." Mixing that level of technology along with magic was a painful process. It could've proven useful for rounding up the last of the wild witches not in a coven by this point. On the upside, the casualties were high enough for him to be satisfied for the moment. "Leave me be for now, and make an announcement to the isles. The Rainbow devil is dead. Make it a warning to the Isles, about the chaos and tragedy wild magic brings, and lower the age requirement for sigils."
"Grr." … How was he alive four hundred years and arguably mastered magic and biology beyond anyone else, but never able to understand that growling.
"He's asking how young sir?" Whispers translated.
"High School. Saint Epiderm, Glandus, and Hexide, all students are to choose their coven's effective immediately." Where most witch's magic became potent, which would serve to power the draining spell even further.
"Adding sprouts, finally." Snapdragon smirked. "As you wish, Lord Belos." She bowed as they all began exiting, leaving him in silence once more.
"Soooo." The annoying voice spoke. "Whatcha gonna do with her? Watch her in a bubble for all eternity, fight to the death, gladiator puppet games!?" Thank goodness the day of unity was soon, he couldn't stand listening to this childish voice much longer.
"I'm going to do something I wanted to do for four hundred years." He took out his staff, and blasted the bubble at its highest power…before it popped.
In a couple of seconds, the gemstone rose in the air, and out of it, came the rainbow nuisance herself, reformed for what would be the final time. "What the … BELOS!" The woman formed those usual hammers.
"Hello there Bismuth." The child waved, shifting around as they shook hands with the Devil's shadows. "I'm the Collector. Nice to meet ya."
They seemed shocked. "How … how do you know that name?"
The Collector blinked. "Because I wanted to know, doi. If only everyone else knew how to do stuff like that, maybe then it'd be less boring for them to think of new games." They cackled, expanding like a serpent. " And boy, do you play some really rough games. For a second I thought you might actually kill Pinky's little rose bud. I was at the edge of my seat, it was so intense!"
"Don't mind him, he's insane." Belos rolled his eyes. "Worry about me instead."
"You made a big mistake letting me out, horn head, I'm may have lost my shot at killing Rose today, but I can still get a close second with you!" She charged at him, to which he simply moved out of the way.
"Amusing, even when you've lost everything, you still genuinely believe you pose an actual threat to me." Belos laughed. "I probably wouldn't have even felt that crusher if you tried."
"Jokes on you if you think I'm a one trick snorse!" She formed a spear and stabbed forward … as it went into him. "What-?"
"You see, I wondered … I've been able to devour palismen …" She began to become enveloped. "What would it take to devour a gem ?"
"SHFOUFHAAAA…" She gargled, his form flooding her mouth.
"For centuries, I've had to consume wild magic to maintain my body. It changed me completely, from my skin to the bone. It wasn't enough though, not enough to take on Rose Quartz. In our final confrontation, she managed to wound me fatally, back when I could still be considered human."
"You … you fought … MMMM!" She screamed as her head was enveloped.
"However, it was there that I realized there was a single gift she could bestow upon me." His body began to shift as a glyph formed on his chest. "The essence of her power. Fundamentally, every source of power equates to magic in this realm. Even if they exist outside of it." He laughed. "So imagine my surprise when, as my body was cut in half, I was able to impress upon myself a glyph that originated from her shield."
She continued to scream as more of the body was absorbed. "As I was in the middle of dying, I admit I was a bit hasty in experimentation. Personally, I blame the titan for making it harder for me to understand it. But frankly, the end result was worth it. As it turns out, her glyph manages to Amplify plant glyphs, as if it were some sort of master circuit. And … what is a plant than a more potent form of life." He smirked. "No matter how much I hate her, I owe her my immortality, and I intend to make good use of it."
The devil continued to drown. "And don't worry, I will succeed where you failed. I don't know what quarrel you had with the woman, and I don't care. But know that her child's days will be numbered soon enough, and you will join him and that vile thorn in hell soon enough." And those would be the last words the thing would ever hear.
"Nice little move there." The Collector giggle, showing off a statue. "Gems are a lot more sturdy, that'll keep you sadated for a while."
"I see what you mean …" Belos grinned, feeling himself become less likely to fall apart already. "Definitely an improvement …"
"Headaches are definetly gonna be more persistent though." The child laughed."If you thought Palisman souls were difficult to manage, hah, good luck with a whole other sentient consciousness. On the plus side, you'll have someone else to talk to all the time now, which mean's I will to! Playtime is going to be the best! I get two friends in one!"
Belos stared at the demonic child, before taking a deep breath. "You have less than a month left to suffer, it'll be worth it in the end." Soon he'll be home, and leave this nightmare of a world behind.