Summary: How hard is it to break someone's head?
" Finally, every single headache is in one place." Belos chucked. How fortunate that he was given a tremendous opportunity such as this to get rid of all the thorns in his side. "Now should I simply kill you all or take my time with it?"
Rose's child began glowing. "How about you stay away from-"
Belos simply poke the air, causing multiple holes to form in the boy's body, obliterating every organ excluding the brain. "Do you still wish to interrupt?"
"Braaaaaaggggggh!" The collection of palisman souls lunged at him, to which he simply stepped to the side.
" Fitting that I should deal with you first. You've been in my head for far too long." He pressed on the circle on the ground, causing potions to assault the creature. "Thank you for buying me time and distracting the beast. I've needed to clear my mind of them for quite some time. So annoying … but there are benefits." He squeezed, crushing the souls of all the pests until they were nothing but dust. "Now … shall I shatter you this time, Rainbow Devil?"
"Belos…" Oh right, Hunter was here. He'd almost forgotten about him. "The sigils…the grimwalkers…our family wasn't destroyed by wild magic, was it?"
" It didn't happen…exactly how I told it, but I assure you, my family was destroyed when a wild witch took away and corrupted my brother." He looked at Hunter. " Such a shame too. You looked the most like Caleb out of all of them, which probably should've been a red flag from the start."
"What's your deal!?" He turned to Luz, who was holding the regenerating child. "Why do you hate witches, you are one!"
Belos gave a small chuckle. "Come now, it would be so hypocritical for a witch to be a witch hunter."
"Witch… hunter!?" The Clawthorne boy excalimed.
"Yes, a man who dedicated it all to remove the vile taints of the world." He sped forward, using the ground to move Luz out of the way before stepping on that accursed gem. "The witches who plague earth with their false religions, their unnatural thoughts, and powers that offront nature itself." He put more and more pressure in an attempt to break that stone.
"Step off!" The rainbow devil knocked him away with a hammer forming from her hand.
"Ah, the other annoyance in my mind." He pulled her over, squeezing the skull of that thing as he slammed her through a wall. "I truly thought you'd be more of a threat as Rose Quartz was, but to my relief, you were nothing more than a loud distraction at most. In fact, thanks to you, the citizens that didn't die from your rampage are more terrified of wild magic than ever. You've been a tremendous help to me." Belos threw the Rainbow devil into another wall, chaining her up. " And thus.." He sent chains around Hunter as well. "I will make your death as quick as possible." And began sinking the two into the depths of his subconscious.
"Stop it!" He ignored the attack from Luz, seeing as it did nothing, moving back to the Clawthorne.
"Now, I could listen to so many of your rants and arguments … but since you now know that Quartz was a genuine threat, and you managed to cause so much trouble …" He grasped the stone in the boy's stomach. "I will make sure you don't live, personally."
" Not going to happen, bub." The moment he touched it, his hand disintegrated as his body glowed even brighter, his eyes becoming diamond shaped as Belos was forced away.
"You truly are your mother's child, but as powerful as you are, there's no escape from my mind."
"Not if I can help it!" The boy went over to where Hunter was being dragged down.
"What..what are you doing-!" Hunter shouted as he suck further, as the devil child began pulling him out.
" He hates you just as much as he hates me, so I think that evens out the hate between us!"
Belos quickly tugged against the boy with golem-like hands. "If you think I'm stupid enough to let you out of my sights a second time, you're clearly underestimating-."
"Lord Belos!" He was snapped out of the mindscape, gazing at the voice. "I came to inform you that the Golden Guard failed, there are intruders in your-"
"And I was dealing with them … before you interrupted me." Why didn't he have time to kill this idiot? "Gather up the troops, go to the owl house, and eliminate everyone inside."
"Um … Lord Belos." He turned to the scout. "The Owl House was obliterated, their current location is unknown."
"... Then find it." He let that little statement be punctuated with half the room set ablaze. "And don't interrupt me again if you value your life."
He went back to the mindscape..where it was just Luz who remained. "What…what did you do to them!? "
" Sent them to the darkest and deepest reaches of my subconscious. Believe me when I say it took centuries to develop this level of mental control over my being." Ironically, battling voices in his head actually helped gain control over his mind. Now it was at the point where power was irrelevant. You were either part of his mind, or a weak intruder. "But enough about me … let's chat, Noceda."
"There's nothing to talk about, you're a witch hunter!" Luz yelled. "All this time, all these years, everyone was duped into obeying a witch hunter!?"
"It was pretty easy, almost easier than lying to you the first time we met." He laughed.
"So you do plan on hurting the human realm." She growled.
"Oh no, you still misunderstand me, Luzura." He began shifting himself, showing off what used to be his true form. " And here I thought you were such an intelligent girl for your age."
"You … you're…" She trembled. "No, no this can't be…you can't be, you not..your Belos, you're just Belos!" She pounded on the ground, crying harshly.
"Oh come now. After everything we've been through?" He asked. "After helping me find the Collector, after helping me gain the Light glyph, giving me the portal door?"He moved in closer, leaning down. "You need not worry, I have no intention of harming the only true soul on the Boiling Isles." He smiled. "The only other human."
"You can't be…you can't be Philip!"
" Ah..you have no idea how good it is to hear another human say that name." He smirked. " For somone to finally recognize Philip Wittabane."
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Darkness. Sheer utter darkness. That's what Lucci saw for miles as he felt himself falling, seeing no up, no down; no east or west. Just endless darkness. The only source of light around them was the light from his gem.
"Where the heck are we!?" He shouted.
"The subconscious." The golden…Hunter spoke. "On the one hand, due to its very nature, Belos has no power here."
"That's good." He nodded.
"On the other hand, his most inner and deepest impulses and desires now run rampant without any logic, ego, or good in his heart to hold them back."
"Not so good." Lucci noted. "Gotta say though, this is more of what I thought of when I think about entering Boolus's sick, demented head. Big, dark, and empty."
"That's because it's inactive." Hunter nodded. "As long as we stay quiet, and don't make too much of a racket-"
"LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU DEMENTED, CRAZY TYRANT!" A voice in the distance shouted.
"You mean like that?" He groaned.
"Yep." They turned around, seeing the rainbow devil, mindless swinging around her ax hands wildly and mindless. "Hey, rainbow head, keep it down, your going to get us killed…faster than we already are."
She turned to him. "Killed by what, there's nothing-"
SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK
… A number of blades that looked like they were in the triple digits were stabbed clean through the Rainbow Devil's body, held by cackling imps.
" Devil die devil die devil die devil die devil devil die!"
"Aggggggh!" Bismuth winded as she got stabbed over and over.
"Wait, your not poofing?" Lucci asked.
"Don't have a gem anymore, I exist only in Belos's mind now." The gem winced as the holes in her body refilled. "Good side is that I'm semi immortal … a lot more than I can say for you two."
"Great, so it's either die or get endlessly tortured. Love the variety!" Hunter groaned. "Of course Belos's mind is hell, why wouldn't it be!? Might as well add the burning brimstone and hellfire while you're add it!"
The nonexistent floor became magma, which began to rise higher and higher in their direction. "You just had to open your big mouth!" He grabbed the guy and jumped in the air. "Can't float forever, but that'll buy us like four minutes!"
"Why are you doing this!?" Hunter shouted. "You hate me, and you could've just left me to die!"
"Believe me, golden tool, that's can still be arranged!" He exclaimed. "I'd just rather not give Boolus another opportunity to stri-" A spear was lodged into his chest by what appeared to be an angel.
"God's work, remove threats, now!" And stabbed again, and again, and again.
"You know, if this is what religion is like, I prefer Luz's Big Bang theory!" Lucci yelled as he used his shields to divert the spears away. "Alright, you're the mindscape expert, how do we get out of here!?"
"Climb to the surface!" The boy shouted. "But directions are messed up, so the problem is we're not sure if it's down in the fire or up in the-" Hunter paused, looking at what appeared to be a rapidly approaching ceiling. "... Giant falling spike pit, of course."
"Seriously, nothing about Belos before tipped you off he was evil!?"
"It's not that simple, kid." Bismuth stated, changing her hands into two long strips of metal. "It's easier to believe than it is to doubt." She extended her arms against the ceiling, trying to push back.
"Like how it was easier for you to believe I was my womb donor instead of her unwanted kid?" Lucci rolled his eyes as he summoned the hexagons, pressing against the ceiling as he was forced to place a shield below his feet to avoid directly touching the magma.
"Hey, gems don't exactly make babies, or even ever babies to begin with." The rainbow devil answered. "Golden boy, any tips on navigation?"
"Um … the more repressed stuff should be deeper in the subconscious, so if we head in the opposite direction, we should be alright." He answered.
"Right, because of course there'd be something even MORE dangerous than lava right below it." Lucci groaned. "I really, REALLY hate mind magic."
"You and me both." Bismuth continued to press against the lowering spikes with strain. "So we either breathe through the lava, break through the spikes, or we test our luck against the armies of demons and angels wanting to stab us."
"Yeah, damned if we do something, damned if we don't!" Hunter shouted, pounding on his head. "Why was I such an idiot all this time!?"
"Hate….yourself….later….!" Lucci had no choice but to press against the ceiling as it was forcing down on him, getting spikes forced through his hands and spears thrown into his back. "We're cutting it pretty close here! Do you have anything on you that could break through this ceiling!?"
"I-I, well, in trying to find ways to counter the Human given her more brutal style of fighting lately, I've been trying to learn that glyph magic she uses. I can probably make a fire one on the ceiling and burn our way out, but I don't have anything to draw it or carve..."
"Yes…you…do.." Lucci pointed to his own blood.
"De-... Clawthorne that stuff is highly unstable. We don't know what the glyph will do when drawn with your blood.
"If it's highly dangerous, there's a chance it'll leave a mark on Belos." Lucci countered. "And at this point, we don't have a choice.." His feet were already sinking into the molten rock.
The tool grimaced, drawing on the small gaps in the spike after dipping his fingers. "Please work." He tapped it, as a familiar red glow began to form … followed by pink sparks. "Dang it, I don't think-" The sparks began to expand in the air, almost … forming an entirely new glyph.
"What the …" Lucci stared at the image. "Is that a-"
Multiple hexagons formed around the spiky ceiling, linking and stacking on top of one another, generating their own spikes … before pushing with a force that nearly sent them all through the lava with wind pressure alone.
"Hold on, kids, Bismuth's gonna work her magic!" The rainbow devil yelled as her hands lit up, as the magma around them turned black and put them into their own little rocky ball. "What the heck was that!?"
"Don't know…it looked like a new glyph…a fifth naturally occurring one." Lucci pondered.
"Belos … said Rose gave him his life." Hunter took a breath. "You don't think …"
"My womb donor…gave him a new glyph." Great, as if she wasn't ruining his life already.
"No …" He pointed to the rock in his stomach. "She gave him your glyph." That gave them a moment to ponder…before they were sent violently shaking. "Is it STILL Expanding!?"
"Can't see beyond this rock, so I guess we just have to endure the ride!" Bismuth shouted as they were sent tumbling and rolling everywhere.
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Eda mixed the potion violently. "King, what's next on the list!?"
"Grizzleroot, three pounds!" The little guy called out.
"I'm on it!" Boscha ran into the ingredient clost. It's been like this for the past hour, trying desperately to make something to pull them out of Belos's head, that they SOMEHOW landed themselves into. "Damn it, damn it, damn it, why is this potion so hard to make!?"
"This is how they did it back in the old days! Spells like this took weeks in advance to prepare. It's why we have circle magic now." Eda answered as she kept staring at the brew. "And it's not like they're gonna modernize illegal spells!"
"Hoot hoot! You sure this is me being helpful!?" Hooty shouted as his head was inside a hole in the wall that led to the outside.
"Yes, you're not distracting us and you're keeping watch of intruders!" There was no way that Belos didn't now the kids were in his head now, and was most likely trying to find out where Eda and the rest of her family were.
"Great, great, the criminal activity has escalated." It was a miracle Shalisha hasn't exploded right now if the twitching was any concern. "And now the bounties will probably be in the trillions. This is the mess I allowed….Why…why do I keep putting up with this?"
"Because you were indirectly able to sue Oldalia out of a hundred million snails." Eden reminded her as she helped pass along ingredients, along with plenty of refreshments.
"Here!" Boscha ran up, tossing the ingredients in.
"Next up is … chimerasnaps!" King shouted.
"We … don't have any." Shalisha stated. "The ingredients quality and quantity didn't match the difficulty of acquiring it, so we never bothered."
"What!? What kind of potion making business are you!?" Eda accused.
"The one that seeks profit when choosing which illegal ingredients to store." She pointed out. "Half of this list is classified as wild magic, and we already supplied what we could."
"Damn it Belos! Once again your stupid system screws me over!" Eda pounded her fists. She was NOT going to lose her kids to that maniac. "Okay, we're doing this the hard way. Little tri-eyes, you and King go out and find the rest of the items on this list, I'm gonna have to do a little experimenting in the meantime!"
"It's a little late for that, and we're already pushing out luck with the time table as it is!" Lucci's girlfriend yelled.
"We don't have any other choice, It's not like the ingredients are just gonna swoop in through the window!" King shouted.
"Hoot hoot! Package delivery from a special admirer!" Hooty brought his head around by smashing through the window, dumping a pile of ingredients and a note, before moving back out.
"... It's not like Belos's decapitated head is just gonna swoop in through the window." King said.
"I know you're just having wishful thinking, but if Belos WAS decapitated at this moment, then Lucifer and Luz would be dead with him." Eden pointed out.
"Right, my bad."
Eda walked over and read the note. "It's the rest of the ingredients … but it says it needs a lot of power."
"We have three witches." Shalisha stated. "All of which are experts in potion making."
"Would you be willing to take out your Bile sacks and dump them into the brew?" Eda responded. "Because it'll take about a dozen or so to even come close to matching the level of power we need, probably even more considering it's Belos's mind we're trying to extract them from."
"Wait, there's still one other option we have." King ran upstairs, and quickly ran down…with the titan's blood glove on him. "Nothing's stronger than titan's blood, right? It should do the trick!"
"Just put the whole thing in!" Eda shouted. "We can't afford to take chances!"
"Wait, the whole thing … but Luz's portal." King stated.
"Who cares about the human realm, they're going to die!" Boscha called out.
"Good point!" King answered as he tossed the whole thing, in, the brew glowing blue before becoming bright neon orange, which was EXACTLY what they needed.
"YES! WE GOT IT!" Eda shouted, grabbing the walkie. "LUZ! LUCCI! The potions ready! Are you still there!?"
"... Not really…..!" OH COME ON!
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"Right now Lucci is shoved inside of the subconscious and … and Belos has me tied down from the waist down for a conversation!" Why did she have to lose her sword NOW!?
The man sighed. "Come on, it's Philip, we just went over this." The bastard casually walked around her. " Do you know how rare it is for me to feel like Philip on most days now? Belos completely consumed my entire identity."
"Let me guess, because people stopped trusting Philip when he led everyone to their deaths." She glared at him.
"Treacherous as they are, Witches can be intelligent, I'll give them that much." The bastard laughed. "Philip was run out of town one too many times, if not for my deceit, then from that vile thorn Rose Quartz."
"She was never a criminal, was she?" Luz asked.
"Oh, she very much was, just not on the Boiling Isles." The man growled. "She ignored the church, the law, all for the sake of 'protecting' those fowl creatures. Not to mention corrupting my brother along with that vile Witch Evelyn." The man paused. " When we were younger, we swore to fight the evil of witchcraft together. We set to sea towards new lands to build a home, a haven to those pure of heart….but as we traveled the treacherous sea…we were nearly sent down below….until she came in." The man groaned. "Everything was ruined, thanks to her."
Luz glared, tears in her eyes. "So the day of unity, that's a lie to right?"
"Of course not. It'll eliminate wild magic and bring about paradise." He stated. "A little spell from the collector to drain all witches of their magic."
A spell to … "Drain them into what?"
The crooked human smiled. "A bomb that will make life in the Demon Realm impossible … a world without witches and demons!" He shouted. "Can't you imagine the beauty of such a place?"
"You…you really are nothing more than a genocidal maniac!" She accused
"That would imply I'm in the wrong." He leaned down. "Luz, I really do want to help Humanity, people, you."
"You killed your brother!"
"Because he went insane. Tainted with the idea that witches could be beneficial …"He raised his hand. "Please, don't make me remove the last human I've seen in four hundred years. It's too heartbreaking to go through again."
He was a psychopath, a genuine, insane, psychopath! He was delusional, he was deranged…and there wasn't a single thing Luz could do to get out of this situation…
Kapppppooooooooooooooom
Except roll out of the way as pink spikes tore through the ground, ripping apart walls and a few memories as the burst into flames.
"AAAAGFFFFFFFF!" Belos tumbled over, groaning in pain as he shifted back to his old form, before getting a hammer sent to the head.
"That feels SO cathartic right now!" Bismuth shouted.
"LUZ!" Lucci shouted. "I have a glyph! Rose had a glyph!"
"Belos is a human, not only that, he's Philip Wittabane! The day of unity is a draining spell that will power a bomb to destroy the demon realm!"
"....Okay, she had the bigger mindblowing reveal, not going to lie." Hunter noted, before shaking his head. "Please tell me we can leave now!"
She pressed the walkie. "Eda, we're all here, start the-" Bismuth was sent flying.
"No one … is going … anywhere." The very air seemed to become toxic as Belos walked forward, things decaying in his presence.
"Move to Bismuth." Lucci coughed. "We all need to-"
"She didn't come with her body. If we pull her out she'll die." Hunter coughed as well.
"You're all going to die today..and I'll start with you!" Belos stomped on Lucci's gem. "Four hundred years. " The psycho growled. " Four hundred years of expecting her to ruin everything once more." And even harder, as the ground began to shake. "For once, I have you dead to rights. I will not let you leave, child, until you are nothing but dust in the wind ." He reached down, his hand radiating magic as it morphed into the goo, latching onto the gem as it began glowing. " You are in my realm, where my actions remain law."
"Your law…" Hunter grabbed one of the leftover glyphs she had let fall down, and shoved it right into the bastard's face, throwing him off Lucci. "Is completesnorseshit!" And set him on fire.
Kapoooooof!
The man twitched, before shaking off the soot. "I am not a weak minded individual. I am the master of my own realm…"
" It's not your own realm anymore, bel-hop!" Bismuth came running from behind, stabbing him right in the chest. "Get ready for a hundred years worth of Bismuth!"
"Bismuth, we can find a way, we can save-!" Lucci called out.
"Just go! If I'm stuck in here, I may as well do it giving this bastard the mother of all headaches!" The bitch…the bitch that killed Centi…that tried to kill her best friend…was now saving her….
"This doesn't change anything, Rainbow Devil." Luz grumbled. Bismuth could save her a million times, and she would never forgive her for what she's done. "Eda, warp us out now! NOW! DO IT NOW!"
"Hang together! Three, two, one!"
Poof
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King watched as everyone fell to the floor. "You're alive!" He shouted.
"I fucked up, I fucked up." Luz muttered. "I gave him everything he needed, I gave him enough and now it's over."
"So much blood…so much blood…so…so…" Lucci ached over. "We couldn't save her…we…we left her in there.
"I betrayed him…he knows I know…I can't go back…I can't go back!" The most out of it was the Golden Guard, who was having a full blown panic attack. "I can't go back…I…!"
"Easy, easy, kids, what happened?" Eda tried to calmly talk them down
"Belos knows everything! I have nowhere to go!" The Golden Guard shouted, before running out.
"Hunter, wait!" Luz shouted, moving to the door. "Dang it … dang it, dang it, dang it!" She shouted, pounding her own head.
"Lucci!" Boscha ran over to her boyfriend, and fiercely hugged him from the side. "What happened? What did you see in there?! Did Belos hurt you!?"
"Yes…a lot actually…but it's nothing compared to what he did to Hunter….or Bismuth…or the Palisman souls…"
"The what now?!" King exclaimed. "Guys, you're giving us a lot of information with very little explanation."
"Belos is really Philip Wittabane, a human from the year sixteen hundred in the deadwardian era." Luz spoke. "He's a witch hunter that killed his own brother and cloned him into every existing Golden Guard. He used a Glyph from Lucci's mom to expand his own lifespan by eating palismen and turned himself into an abomination. He's going to use a draining spell to destroy the Demon Realm during the day of unity …" She began to cry. "And I helped him cause all of this …"
"Luz, what do you mean..?"
"I…when I traveled to the past…I taught him the light glyph…I led him to the collector…who gave him the draining spell…..his entire plan was made possible….because of me…." Luz fell on her knees, breaking down into a fit of sobs. "Everyone's going to die…..because of me….."
"We're WHAT!?" Boscha shouted.
"Can it on the judgment, tri eyes, let the girl grieve." Eda growled, hugging the girl. "You've had a long night. Just rest. We're think about this in the morning."
"But.."
"That's an order." Eda left no room for argument. "We don't have a nest, so grab as many pillows and blankets as possible and improvise."
"Yeah … on it." Lucci got up. "King … mind helping me?"
"No problem." He moved out with Lucci. "... You doing alright?"
"I'm trying … I'll focus on it tomorrow." He spoke.