Summary:
Race, race as fast as you can!
Chapter Text
Gus sat in silence as they rode along to the castle, a silence overtaking the area. "You know." Hunter started. "It was weird."
"What, that Odalia has more durability than a cockroach?" Amity questioned.
"No. She said that we were all going to be killed in the Day of Unity, right?"
"Yeah, that's why we're trying to stop it." Lucci nodded.
"Out loud, in front of Kikimora." He went on. "Yet no response or acknowledgement was given." That was weird. "So either Kikimora wasn't paying attention, which I don't buy for a second, she's a nosey eavesdropper, she didn't believe Odalia, or worst of all…"
"..She knows and she still chose to suck up to the Emperor." Willow squeezed the sandwiched she was eating in her hands. "What kind of deluded moron would actually do something like that!?"
"The kind with so many parental issues they'd do anything for even the barest approval of a higher power?" Lucci questioned.
"That can't be it. Have you seen my family?" Amity asked. "Even when they controlled my life, my main goal was to focus on serving myself, not my parent's approval."
"..I am so, so, so, so terribly sorry I put you through all of that." Amity's dad said from the steering wheel. "I promise you won't ever have to see that woman ever again."
"You weren't planning on keeping the house, right?" Gus asked sheepishly. "We sort of…burned it down earlier, breaking Amity and the twins out."
"I'm fine with it." He spoke, turning to Boscha. "Wasn't there the bard girl with you?"
"Skara's at Hexide with the other students. Principal Bump agreed to let them use the school as a base and shelter while they take care of the abominations." Boscha nodded. "Though given that we're directly confronting Belos, I would've considered bringing her along."
"Do you have enough potions to deal with him?" Gus asked. "Even ignoring our team, he's strong enough that Glyphon couldn't do anything. Do we have a strong enough arsenal?"
"We could bring out Amuck if worse comes to worse." Amity suggested. "Or Lucci could fuse with Willow."
The two kids in question looked at each other and laughed. "Maybe it's best to not break out an unknown and new fusion against Belos." Willow brokenly chuckled.
"But isn't.." Before he could get that headslap from Willow she always gave to him whenever he brought up Orchid, the blimp began to shake and stir. "Please tell me that's just turbulence."
"I don't build these things to get turbulence." Mr Blight spoke, looking over the edge. "Hmm...it appears we've been spotted."
"Pull over, or we will fire in the name of the Emperor!"
"What, but we took an Emperor's Blimp!" Hunter shouted. "How would they know we're on here!?"
" We got an anonymous call from Blight Industries of a stolen Blimp harboring Criminals!"
"Anonymous... wait a minute…Mr. blight." Lucci spoke up. "The next time I see your ex wife, I'm cutting off her head, no questions about it."
"Completely justifiable." He nodded. "Well, I'll trust you kids to blast and defend. I'm going to do my best to steer a soon to be crashing ship."
"You seem oddly prepared for this level of insanity." Gus noted.
"You get desensitized once you go to school with Eda Clawthorne." The man answered. "Heck, the craziest event in my life was running into the ghost of screamas past trying to find some time pools."
"Time ghosts, sounds fun." Lucci laughed. "Okay, let's play a game of target practice. Whoever knocks out the most coven scouts out of the sky wins."
"Prism?" Gus asked.
"()*^$":{<." The little guy proceeded to shoot multiple balloons.
"... Alright, compete for second place!"
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"Finally, finally, the time has come! Soon it'll just be me and you when we shine the isles in nine bright hues!" Belos let the collector ramble on and on in his own little world. If there was a highlight of today he could name, it would be ridding himself of this immortal pest.
"Yes, a world without no witches A world where only humans remain. And the abominable distorting powers of magic shall no longer plague earth."
"Pretty bold claim to make, seeing how you need magic to survive. Unless your plan on dying, which is just lame. All that hard work and you just let it all go? Pffft."
"I have no interest in dying anytime soon. The world still needs its witch hunter general to tell his story." And to eliminate any other annoyances. "As long as I have enough flesh regularly, my body will remain intact."
"Sure it will." The child giggled. "Now come on, let me out, let me out so we can play!" their head expanded.
Philip stared at the key with mock interest. "You know, looking at it closely, I only have enough titan's blood to open the door one last time. Silly me. I guess I can't free you. Oh well." For the first time in years, he took off his cloak, and wore the clothes he had when he came to this wretched world.
"What, but you promised!" The brat yelled indignantly. "I taught you the draining spell, I taught you spells beyong the normal witch! I even helped you bypass the titan and made that boring metal stick!"
"Yes, and sadly there are two problems." He lifted the mirror. "The first being that you could instantly undo all the work should anyone find you. And the second?" Philip smirked. "You're no better than the witches and demons that plague this land." A despicable creature of magic.
" You despicable lying liar liar pants on fire!" The brat yelled as he began to make his way to a nearby chasm.
"Yes, I am. A rather easy price to pay for being the hero of the world." He smirked as he let go.
Belos smiled as he watched the mirror fall. " LIAAARRRRR !!!" Ah, that was so soothing. Finally, it was all coming together. In just a few moments, he would no longer have to exist in a world full of abominable witches. Free to enjoy his days in serene peace.
Philip began walking once more to the portal. "Lord Belos!" He heard a shrill voice he had wished he never had to hear again.
"What is it, Kikimora?" He was in the mood, he could humor her just a tad.
"I did it, I captured and delivered that turn-cloak Golden Guard!" She presented him with a bubble, one that supposedly held his so-called nephew.
"Did you now?" He asked, already knowing better. His increased magical senses could tell the lack of magic in the bubble, meaning it couldn't be Hunter.
"Yes." She smiled. "Unfortunately the Manticore Menace and his cohorts managed to destroy Blight Industries, but by the time they arrive it'll be too late to interfere with the draining spell."
"Indeed." He smirked, knowing that she knew the truth. It was laughable how she tried to be subtle with her eavesdropping. "Every witch will be dead once the spell starts."
"Yes…and I know you have many, many, many plans that lay outside our world..so if you still need a second in command.." The little gremlin looks like a small creature, a small, pathetic,'soon to be dead ugly creature.
"Actually, I do have one last task for you." He smirked.
"Anything, Lord Belos, anything!"
"I want you to crawl into a hole, and die." He laughed.
"..What..but I..I just want to serve you.."
"And I hate you. I hate every lowly, begging, desperate, annoying pathetic piece of you. The moment you start talking I want to saw off my own arm and eat it rather than listening to even a mirco second of your voice." He reiterated. "Seriously, if witches didn't care whether you lived or died, what made you think I would?"
"But..but…"
"Now you're just making this sad." He lifted the woman up, and sent her flying out of the room. "Now die already. It would be the first useful thing you've ever done for anyone."
He felt a slight warmth in his heart seeing the woman break. But now he had more important matters to attend to.
"You know Luz, a part of me is happy it's you instead of Hunter." He smiled, popping the bubble to show the human girl. "I did want you to survive the ordeal after all, as the first human I've met in four hundred years."
"Spicy toss!" The human wasted no time, shooting a firey ball at him, one that he was able to avoid instantly.
"Is this going to be a situation where you constantly attack someone you can't damage instead of listening to someone who genuinely wants to help you?" He asked, covering the floor in a sticky molasse. "Because it's getting a bit old."
"Your help? Help?!" She threw another glyph in the flow, spreading a green substance that ate away at the molasses. "Your 'help' has almost gotten me killed a dozen times over! What part of genocide is helpful to anybody!?"
"It's helpful to humans." He rolled his eyes. "And for the record I did keep off any attempts from the Emperor Coven to kill you. So many times have I gotten reports that Terra could have cut off your head, or Vitimir could have dissected you."
"Me and my scars, both mental and physical, are not grateful!" She shot blades of ice at him.
"Honestly, those injuries are your fault Noceda." He blocked the attacks with ease. "You've teamed up with witches. A race of no good violent maniacs with horrid ideals. They have to be eliminated. From man to woman, elder to child. So many could be corrupted like Caleb was, and a part of me truly hopes you aren't too far gone to save." As if believing they had a reason to live.
"Oh yeah, I'm the corrupted one, when you're the guy that looks like a rotting tree!" She grew vines to get herself on higher ground.
"I've had to sacrifice my humanity, don't make me sacrifice yours." He replied. "I regret it every day. Not saving my brother earlier, forcing myself to become this abomination. It sickens me to the core." He sent out his arm and grabbed the girl.
"Oh, so because you supposedly feel bad; you think that it's okay for you to be a hypocrite." They growled out, pulling out a glyph and freezing his limb.
"Oh, and because killing is bad to mean it's not alright to execute criminals instead of locking them up to escape and cause havoc again." He let it break off, and grabbed the girl by the other arm, stopping her from grabbing any more glyphs.
"Yes! That is bad! There's tons of factors, like those wrongfully accused and false witnesses! The ability to change and get better!"
"Witches have only ever changed things for the worse." He sighed. "Luz, I'm really trying to help. But if this keeps up I'm going to have to stop holding back." He began petrifying her legs. "I have enough titans blood for one more trip to the human realm. You can join me and we can both be celebrated as heroes together, or I can end your life right now, as an act of mercy to spare you from the end result of the draining spell. It's your choice now."
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Darius had been holding his breath in for the past five minutes. So far the glamor stone had been working, and Eda was able to hide herself as Raine among the Coven heads. The bad news was that the disgusted Raine was in between Snapdragon and Gray. You know, the two most perceptive members of the Coven Heads.
"And here's thinking you'd have something to say." Adrian spoke, but otherwise didn't press. Apparently whatever happened at Hexide messed him up badly. Eda was right. They should've brought that Goops kid. "Guess you're better off than Hettie at least."
"Just because I'm still missing my torso and legs doesn't mean I can't cut you in half in seconds!" The bisected healer growled. "Damn that bubble. That devil brat screwed up my healing by keeping my head in there for weeks."
"You deserve it." Vitimir growled. "Erasing knowledge, I can't believe the cretin I work with."...Darius wasn't quite sure how to respond to a complaint as psychotic as that.
"Why are any of you complaining at all, paradise is literally minutes away." Mason pointed up to the moon, where the eclipse was just about to start, their sigils as well as the sigils of every witch began to glow. "Every annoying thing we've ever encountered is about to turn to dust. Just enjoy the moment while it's here."
"I suppose this is it then." Darius put up the act. "See you all on the other side."
"I shall greet you all if I can." Osran spoke up.
The spell began to activate faster as felt magic being flowed through and drained from him. It was unnerving, but not as excruciating as it could've been, seeing as how Eda's curse was now in effect, making the light of the spell fade and flicker on and off. "Is something wrong?" Mason asked with confusion. "I know the architecture is sound."
"It might be the fact we have eight and a half coven heads." Adrian turned to Hettie. "Half a witch making it half as effective."
"Don't you even go there, drama queen. I will end you faster than the audience leaves your plays." Ha, you could always count on infighting to distract the situation.
"Grrr." And now Ebberwolf was accusing Vitimir of having 'chemicals' in his body interfere.
"That's to keep my vessel from getting infected from disease. I'm more than happy to provide you with a rabies shot…or euthanization."
"You and your egos. It's a miracle you can see anything past your own heads." Snapdragon smirked, looking at Raine. "Nothing to add, sprout? You look a little green, or black, given that your arm is starting to grow feathers." Wait what…
It was true. The curse had made itself visible through the illusion…which meant that it was obvious she was the cause of the lack of draining."... Before we move on to the point where you kick my but, can I use my last words to point out the hypocrisy of you calling everyone out about ego?" Eda questioned the woman.
"Edalyn, Edalyn, Edalyn, even after all these years you never learned how to shut your mouth." Snapdragon laughed, before it swung out a vine. "I'll shall take immense pleasure in killing you where you stand-"
Slice
Darius moved forward, turning his arm into a scythe and chopping the vine, before moving to the woman's neck. "One step more and I slice your head."
"So, you were a traitor this whole-" Adrian started to cast.
Shink
"Yeah, I may not have magic, but I can still stab you if I please." The Owl Lady held a talon to the head's throat.
"You…bitch…" Adrian fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. "Medic... I... need... medical attention."
"As long as you're conscious, the draining spell will continue. You can afford to lose a few pints of blood." Hettie rolled her head, before throwing knives at Eda. "I still have my vendetta against all Cawthornes, you are just as good for the moment!"
"RAA!" Ebberwolf screamed, jumping at the woman.
"Ebberwolf too? Man, I'm really getting blind sided here." Mason commented as he stomped on the ground, slamming a slab of rock at the beast coven head, only for flesh eating bugs to begin crawling in his directions. "Oh come on already!"
"Once again, I must provide my brain to assist you brutish fiends." Vitimir lifted his mask and breathed out a poisonous fog that liquified the bettles to a gooey puddle . "Honestly Darius, what were you hoping to achieve here?
"Just buying time until the moon passed." He growled. On one hand, killing Terra would definitely buy them all more time and feel very cathartic. And he was certain that they didn't have their replacements ready.
"Nah uh uh." Terra laughed, holding up both Eda and Ebberwolf by the necks with vines. "I kill Eda and you lose your chance at stopping the spell, or I kill ebber and you lose a friend, and I know how you feel about watching friends die in front of you." Every fiber of his being wanted this woman dead.
Multiple abomatrons walked up, carrying...Raine. "Grr." Not even five minutes.
"Belos never trusted Raine after her first act of rebellion. Aside from last week, we've had them and the owl house on constant watch." Terra laughed again. "We just didn't know about you or Ebber." Never should have let them join.
They came forth once more, lighting up the sky in nine hues of light...as agony kicked in.
" Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh !" Snapdragon cried out in pain, as did the rest of the coven heads as the draining spell commenced. "What..what is happening!? It's not..it's not suppose to hurt!"
"What…do you... morons think... we've been trying to prevent!?" Darius yelled as he coughed blood under the pain. "Belos... was never... going to give you... what you want! You were always going to die!"
"Orsan, tell us…tell us this isn't so!" Mason yelled out.
"I've…I've finally reached the end... it's so beautiful."
"You...KNEW!?" Vitimir cried out. "And you said nothing!?"
"It was fated to be. Nothing could prevent it...at the very least, those in the resistance were allowed a final few moments for any grievances or regrets they had."
"You... all suck." Heattie groaned as she fell to the floor.
"Raine..." Eda grabbed the bard as they laid on the ground, the two of them now suffering the fate of the draining spell. "I'm sorry…"
"No... I am…" They grabbed Eda by the arm... and ripped it off, turning the hand, as well as the sigil attached to it, into dust. "I'm sorry... I can't do more for you."
"Raine, no!"...What was the point when the fiery death awaited them next?...Was it really that inevitable?
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Lucci created multiple hexagons, stacking them on top of each other as he defended. "Remind me why no one is attacking them?!"
Boscha was the one to speak up. "I have limited potions, Amity has limited abomination goo, Half a witch can't do much in the air, and Gus already used up his Prism's run time."
"Right, and former to-… When did you call Gus by his real name?"
"When he managed to make a Coven Head suicidal."
"... Do I want to know the context for that?" Lucci asked.
"I'd rather you didn't." Gus admittedly sheepishly.
"Fine, former tool, you and I hop on our staff and take them out one on one!" He took out sugar and began zipping in the air.
"Would it kill you to use my actual name every once in a while!? I at least call you by your last name!" Hunter shouted as he teleported, popping a near blimp and making it crash.
"I'll use your name when I actually start liking you!" He shouted it, punching a scout across the forest. "Just ask Amity and Willow, I can carry a grudge for years!"
"Is that really something to be proud of!?" King shouted, wailing a couple of Blimps away.
"It is when you're a Clawthorne!" Lucci shouted as he flew in close, using the drill to go straight through the balloon of some Coven Scouts.
"Criminal family traditions, of course you'd be proud of that!" The boy shouted as he warped over to a blimp, setting it ablaze.
"Better than the finally tradition of genocide, which not a week ago you were SUPER proud to be apart of!" Lucci yelled back, shooting shields at the Emperor Coven goons. "Don't start looking down on me for actually calling the snorseshit for how it is!"
"Oh would you let that go!?"
"No!" He yelled back.
"Would you two morons stop shouting at each other and start beating up the scouts already!?" Willow yelled at the both of them. "Or so help me I will come up there personally and drop you both into the boiling sea!"
"Yes mam!" The one thing they seemed to have in common was being terrified of an angry Willow.
"Actually I don't think they need to do anything anymore." Gus pointed out, looking at the scouts…who began fainting where they stood on their blimps, making them crash.
"What's-GAAH!!" Hunter screamed, wobbling in the air as he clutched his arm, falling off to the side.
"What's happening?" He asked, stretching his arm out to grab the guy before he could reach the ground. Just because he hated the guy didn't mean he wanted him dead. Willow would probably kill Lucci if he let that happen.
"My sigil...it's agonizing …" The boy screamed as a light began coming from his body and moving to the air. "The draining spell…it's started."
"No, no…Mom…" This meant the plan failed, this meant his mom now had a sigil and was about to die like everyone else..!
"DAD!" Amity cried out as the blimp they were riding began making a fast descent into the ground.
"Hold on!" Lucci shouted, flying underneath the blimp and wrapping Sugar around his arm. "Okay girl, we're going to need a big bubble, so put everything you have into it!"
"Hsssssh!" Alright, he needed to make this as strong as possible, his strongest shield's were made out of hexagons, so what if he did that with bubbles? Constantly stack and connect them together to increase pressure.He built bubbles on top of bubbles, acting as cushions to help ease the fall that would inevitably take place. "Hsssh!"
"I know I should get out of here, but I still need to cushion the blow!" He yelled back, staying underneath, before looking at his passenger, still agonizing in pain. "Right, you're still here. Flapjack." He turned to the red bird. "You gotta carry your friend out of here if you don't want him squashed."
"Chirp." They instantly went under Hunter, carrying him away.
"... Well, at least they're prepared-"
CRASH
Ringing could only be heard after, along with vague mumbles as Lucci tried to get his vision cleared by blinking several times. "-UCCI..CCI…" He vaguely heard King cry out as he saw Amity's dad struggle to stand up as approaching abominatron's began to circle them
"Did anyone get the number...of the ass who crashed us?" He asked, head spinning.
"...cCI!" His head was still ringing as he finally got a good look at King... who skull was cracked. Belos... was hurting his family... his whole family was going to die because of him... fuck that shit.
He felt fur grow all over, a tail form, and his entire body becoming quadruped. "Fr…name of...Belos-" People he could hurt.
"GRRRAAAAA!!!!" The Manticore moved to bite the head of these targets. "BAAAARRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGH!" And spit it out like a wad of paper.
"LUCCI!" The manticore heard the angel cry out to him. "What's wrong!? What's happening!?"
"He's pissed off beyond comprehension!" Their brother shouted as the Manticore began to sniff the air.. "He's out of control and running on instinct and emotion!"
" LU... LU…" He smelled human. He smelled human. " LUUUUUZZZ!" He flapped his wings, and began dashing towards his goal, to stop Belos from hurting anymore of his family.
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What the heck was Luz supposed to do here? Belos was beginning to petrify her, and she didn't have access to her glyphs. What would Lucci and Eda do here? Well, they'd probably con him, but it's not like Luz had anything he wanted! He won, and now he was going to go home...to the...society of...the modern...please work! "If you're serious about going home and taking me with you, I will, but…you have to do one thing for me!" She shouted.
The petrification stopped, and Belos stared down at her. "Let me guess, let your friends live. I'm afraid that's not negotiable." He responded. "Especially when the end of the isles is taken into account."
"But you're going to have to, because without them, you won't have me, and without me, you won't have any proof of what you've done!" Pray on his ego, hook him in with that pride. "That's what you want, right? To be known as the greatest witch hunter?"
"Witch Hunter General." He corrected her.
"Oh come on, that title doesn't exist because you don't know what's been going on. It's been four hundred years Belos. Do you really think you haven't missed so much? The Expansion of the New World, all the multitude of Battles...the change in fashion." She gave a dull gaze on his suit for that last one. "If you think you won't be judged for your clothes, yikes my dude."
That actually seemed to peeve the man off. He stopped petrifying her, returning her legs to normal, only to slam her into a nearby table full of supplies and nicknacks. Luz took into account what she could use once she had his trust. She had a couple of potions, some spilled glyphs, and...oh, that could come in handy. "So you're offering to be my modern day guide?"
"Exactly! Besides, if you also bring my friends along, you'll have proof of what you've done, otherwise you'll sound like a crazy lunatic.
"I suppose we could execute them on the other side." He pondered. "But how do I know they won't threaten humanity?"
She gave him a flat look. "Philip." She used his real name. "Humans have used science to fly, make medicine for most diseases, improve guns far beyond what you had back then, and had their numbers skyrocket to about seven billion."
"Really?"
"Yes. Your dream is a reality. Humanity is more than capable of defending themselves." Because they were too busy trying to wipe themselves out. "From one human to another, I swear everything will be fine." She held her breath, and stuck her hand.
He gave her a suspicious look, until she showed off her other hand. "I suppose it will." He took it...as she branded the man. "AAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!"
"Hah! Invisibility glyph!" She let out a breath, revealing the gauntlet."You weren't a master of the light glyph, now were you!? For someone as old as you, you stink at magic in a magical world!"
" You... little... bitch!" He growled as his flesh began to melt, turning green and sludgy, and had multiple blue eyes, just like the palisman soul did in his mind.
"Probably, but I'm smart enough to play you!" She used his pain to force away the staff. "You'll die too!" She shouted. "Stop the draining spell, now!" He continued growling as he rose. "... Stop the draining spell!" Luz repeated. Belos began stomping toward her. "STOP IT NOW!"
They raised a hand forward...as a pink spark formed inside of his chest. "What...is …" Reality seemed to unfold on itself, a gale storm pushing Luz back a bit...as the sword impaled itself in his chest. " Oh you impudent little brat!"
"I swear I didn't plan that…!" She shouted as the sword planted itself on the ground, once again free for Luz to use. "Though I kind of wish I did. That was pretty cool."
"YOU DIE... RIGHT NOW!" Right…that wasn't going to convince him anytime soon, was it?