511. July the 4th Part II ~The Debate~

*click*

Luz instinctively warps out a furnace around her, takes out the Floo Powder, yelling "Pines-Northwest Mansion!" and throws it to the ground.

*POOF!!!*

Suddenly, she drops down from Belos' office for some reason.

"What the...?" asked Luz. "Why'd I teleport here...?"

The Owl Anting-Anting subtly glows green.

"What the -...?" asked Luz. "You teleported me here, didn't you...?" asked Luz. "I'll have to get back there..." Luz tries to take out Floo Powder. "Drat! I used it all on the potato chips!What is this place...?"

*step... step...*

*GASP!!!*

Luz holds her breath...

*SLAM!!!*

Belos, frowning, looks around his office.

She turned invisible at that very second.

Belos smiles. "Luz...? Luz! I know you're here. Where are you dear old friend of mine?"

Luz frowns with absolute hatred and disgust in her eyes.

"Luz! No one will come for you!Strangely enough, there are four other people here that I can barely detect... Must be that spell... I can sense it. Do you know how I'm able to sense you? Funny enough... I actually use Artificial Magic from the Collector's power... This Magic that Bill created allows him to rule all worlds. Chaos Magic as he calls it... Interestingly enough... It was made to counter the divine magic of the Messiah... How are you able to keep that breath of yours?"

"EXPELLIARMUS!!!" Luz creates a circle and blasts energy at Belos, who slaps it away. She takes a deep breath again and turns invisible.

"I don't need that old wooden staff to channel my power, Noceda! It was 'for-show'! Have you forgotten, already? And when have you learned magic!?"

Luz prepares another attack.

"Aaah... Yes! I forgot! You cursed yourself to save your dear old mentor..." sneered Belos. "How is she, by the way? After I nearly killed her... And the Titan died, as I remember..."

Luz frowns. "Shodero Madi sha, dakadedota Makenta," she thought. She jumps up and yells, "HELL..." Luz appears, jumping in the air and preparing a flame spell, and blasts fire at Belos. "FIRE!!!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

Luz's flames from Hell clash with Belos' death spell.

They stay at a standstill while Luz tries her hardest to keep standing before Belos.

Luz begins growing wings and slowly becomes an owl-like creature

Belos' face slowly begins to gain cracks and his body begins to decay. "AAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!" he roared after Luz overpowers Belos and he is forced to burn and feel the pain of 10,000 souls. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep shaky breath. He then breathes out, trembling. "I've been in Hell before... This? This is but a flesh wound."

"Why are you helping Aurora!?" asked Luz. "Why do you even care!?"

"We're helping the Aurora capture Rafaella so that Aurora will let us destroy the Boiling Isles," said Belos. "They suggested that we send the Karens to take care of that... I don't know why they used such annoying people, but it was actually quite effective."

"And why are you serving the Black Claw in the first place!?" asked Luz. "All you want is the Spell!"

"They're not serving me. They're working with me. They are helping me destroy your world and absorb all the life forces in the Isles. After which, I'll offer them my services to create a wish. One wish that will enslave all Humans."

"Including you...!?" asked Luz.

"Oh, Luz..." Belos slowly woges into... A Zerstorer. "Do I look like a Human to you?"

Luz gives a horrified look and backs away.

*CRACKLE!!!*

The flash of lightning flickers to show his rotten face. His skin hangs in shreds on his skull. His eye holes glimmer with disgusting green light.

"Ah!" Luz backs away. "Y-You're a-!"

"Wesen! Yes! Very good, Luz! Turns out the corruption of the artificial magic... changed me forever... morphed my body... turned me into something known as a Lich... Otherwise known as a Zerstorer. But, I get magic, too... Plus, I get to enjoy killing you after all this... So, it's a win-win... *HISS!!!*"

"What did you turn yourself into!?" asked Luz.

"I turned myself into Belos... The All-Powerful... Belos... The Deserving... BELOS... THE CHOSEN!!!"

"HEY!!!" yelled Gabby and Amity. Gabby prepares her Gauntlets and Amity prepares her Tao Mandalas.

Belos sneers. "Interesting..."

"YES!!! They have the baby!" Aurora takes out a pencil. "HERE, STEWART AND 37 JR'S!!!" Aurora then messily gives it to Stewart N' 37 Jr's, who gets stabbed in the face by her pencil. "WRITE THAT DOWN IN MY JOURNAL!!! Stewart n' 37 Jr's? Dude...?"

He's dead on the ground, bleeding.

Aurora facepalms. "Devil Damn it. SEND MY NEXT... STEWART!!!"

Mickey passes by with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Hey, Aurora! See you at the meeting later so I could find a way to B̸̻̀Ṳ̵̄Y̶̠͝ ̸̠̓Ë̵̲́V̷̝͘Ē̴̞R̸̻̂Y̷̰͘T̶́͜H̸̢̃I̶̜̾N̴͚̾Ǵ̴̫... as Satan intended! Haha!"

Bugs Bunny passes by as well. "Eeeh! What's up, Doc! When're the Runes of Kof-Kol gonna be used for the world to forget about the little... Flash incident..."

"3:00, Bugs Bunny. 3:00," said Aurora Morningstar.

Meanwhile...

Gabrielle, Sprig, and King wander around the hallways, which are made of mostly stone and brick with torches lighting the path.

The voices echo in the tunnels... "We'll meet again. Don't know where don't know when!"

"(Where are we...?)" asked Sprig.

"(It's Belos' castle,)" said Gabrielle. "(It's located somewhere in Earth-Wesen in a pocket dimension that you could only enter through Floo Powder and a quasi-sentient mystical object that wants you to go here.)"

"(Okay... I didn't understand anything you just said...)" said Sprig, as Gabrielle frowns. "(So, I'll just go on and complain about this being a bad idea.)"

"(Sprig,)" said Gabrielle. "(You're gonna get them killed if you don't do anything.)"

"(And let Bill out!?)"

"(We don't know that,)" said Gabrielle. "(So we'll figure it out along the way.)"

"(You don't know what it's like to get people killed...)" said King.

"(Yeah...)" said Sprig.

Gabrielle sighs. "(Yes, I do... And that weight we carry with us will be with us forever... But we have to do the right thing and the best right thing.)" Gabrielle squints her eyes. "(I thought Anne was the one who failed to predict Andrias' demise...)"

"(Uh... Yeah! But I could've stopped her...)" said Sprig.

"(Uh-huh...)" said Gabrielle. Suddenly, she Erstewoges into an Aswang, and Stone Free leaves her body.

Sprig and King sense this. "What's wrong!?)"

"Shush!"

"(What's wrong...?)" they whispered.

"(Bill is nearby...)"

They turn the last corner and see a door with a padlock.

Gabrielle uses her strings to pick its locks. The padlock unlocks and the door slowly creaks open.

"We'll meet again. Don't know where don't know-!"

The voices go silent.

Gabrielle, Sprig, and King enter the dark and dusty room filled with cobwebs and several spiders crawling about to guard the Rift Mirror.

The Rift Mirror shows three figures: A triangle with an eye. A face with a crescent painted on it. And finally, a sphere with several eyes.

"Hehehey!" The triangle with an eye glows with each word. "If it isn't my favorite people in the whole wide world."

"Bill..." Gabrielle crosses her arms. "We're here to give you to Weird Rick as intended."

"Great! Do it!" sneered Bill.

"But! Here's the deal!"

"Gotta love those deals!"

"You gotta not do Bizarrmaggeddon."

"Okay! Aurora will do it!"

"No! You have to call it off! Non-negotiable!"

"Oh, Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Gabrielle. You don't get it, do you? This is fate we're talking about. It's something a little girl like you could NEVER CONTROL!!! It killed your father, it'll kill all of you, too. It is the inevitable! It is truth and all things true!"

Gabrielle smiles. "Guess I won't do it, then!"

Bill is slightly anxious about this statement. "Don't forget, Gabrielle... I have your friends..."

Gabrielle squints her eyes. "Do you...?"

"Yes!"

"I think you're bluffing."

Bill gets slightly annoyed. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know... just a hunch..." said Gabrielle.

"Well, that hunch of yours will get all of them killed," said Bill.

"Really? I don't think so!" sneered Gabrielle.

"Well, I think so."

"So... you think... But you don't know. What makes you so sure that Weird Rick has them...?" asked Gabrielle.

"Because I can see EVERYTHING!!!"

"But I can't. So, how can I trust you?"

"The Frog and the Titan saw it! TELL THEM!!!"

Sprig and King are stun-locked.

"How do we know that this isn't sort of trick? Do we just trust you? If you see everything, then why do you sound so annoyed right now? No... You're stressed!"

"BECAUSE THIS IS A VERY FRUSTRATING CONVERSATION!!!"

"Ooh! Why are you frustrated...? Are you, perhaps, hanging on a ledge, here?"

"These are all speculative!"

"Perhaps! But then again! You got worried just now! Why...? Why were you so worried...? I can't see your face, but I can tell from your voice..."

"You know... you and I aren't so very different... Both of us are parents... We wouldn't want either of... our children... to get hurt because of this little skirmish... Especially the one growing inside of you..."

Gabrielle rolls her eyes. "I'll keep my child safe."

"Will you...? Last time I checked, you're not even on maternity leave and you didn't tell anyone... You asked Gabby to hide that fact using a spell to hide from Miguel's Probability Sense."

"This is a very frustrating conversation."

"Gabrielle, Gabrielle, Gabrielle! Don't you know!? We're the same, you and I!"

"If... I was an anarchist and a crazy person, probably."

"Yes, yes we are... We've lost people, JoJo... Lost good people... You got them killed because of your ego and hubris... and I got them killed because of my ego and hubris..."

Gabrielle's eye twitches.

"Everyone standing in this room did that... Let your ego kill people..."

King bows his head. So does Sprig.

"King... Do you know why you have the mentality of a ruler? A warlord...? A destroyer...? Because you're me, King... You're my Avatar..."

King grabs his head, shaking it. "Th-That's not true!"

"Sadly, it is."

"SHUT IT!!!"

"King... We share a voice... a voice that brings fear to these filthy undeserving mutts..."

"STOP!!! I WANNA GO HOME!!!"

"AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Lastly, Sprig..."

Sprig closes his eyes and looks away.

"Oh, Sprig... You don't understand what you've done... You barely have a sliver of knowledge of what you've done and you're already breaking! Your mind is shattering like glass because you have nothing left!"

"Sprig... What did you do...?" asked Gabrielle.

"He can't say it. He can't because he's too ashamed! He's ashamed of what he had done because fate decided it. Fate isn't just something you should take lightly. It puppeteers everyone in this Book and in all Books and in all universes. It is what decides which is the end goal of each living and non-living thing across all worlds regardless of the path it chooses. We are meant to die. That's it. We don't decide otherwise. That's why the Zerstorers were created. Golb existed because of this. That's why they came to eradicate all life. I killed those people. All those people. But the people in this room caused that. Because we are chaos and our children are the end. And you decided that. It was your choice. No one else's. You made that deal. You let my child go. And you caused all this. All because you're all selfish bastards like I am and always will be. So you deserve to hate and hurt yourselves for all this. Buy crypto. Buy gold. Buy EVERYTHING!!! It's a good deal! BECAUSE IT'S ALL YOU COULD DO TO EASE THE PAIN!!! BUYING THINGS AND DEALING WITH DEVILS ARE THE BEST PAINKILLERS IN THE WORLD!!! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Bill's eye glows and his pupil slowly gets smaller.

Meanwhile...

*CRASH!!!*

Gabby and Luz pant while they slowly stand from the wall. They're both bruised all over.

Belos sneers.

Amity is on the ground, trying to stand up.

Gabby and Luz then charge at Belos.

Gabby throws several punches at Belos and Luz creates a plant spell that pulls Belos' legs down into the soil.

"I'd like to say that this is pitiful, but there are probably enough people who said such to you fools," Belos breaks free and strangles the pair with red light.

Anne wakes up to see bruises all over Gabby. "Whoa... What's with the bruises-...?" Anne turns to Belos, seeing that whoever he is, he's likely the bad guy. Her eyes turn a glowing blue...

Suddenly...

*PEW!!!*

Anne, with Charged State and glowing blue all over, rams into Belos and makes him crash to the ground.

He lets go of the two women who struggle to stand right back up.

Anne pins Belos to the ground using her Charged State. Belos uses a red Tao Mandala to push her away.

He's woged right now in his Zerstorer form. "Anne Boonchuy! The Blue Dragonfly! Savior of Amphibia! I have been expecting you! I am Belos, the man out of-!"

Anne then punches him in the face. "I don't... care!"

Amity tosses several Abomination blades at Belos, who blocks each of the attacks.

"Your mother is disappointed, Blight..." frowned Belos.

"I don't care, either," said Amity.

Gabby then leaps up and punches Belos straight in the face.

Luz prepares another spell while grabbing her neck in pain.

Suddenly...

*POOF!!!*

Luz lands in the hallways hearing nothing but the burning flames of the torches and the echoes of her landing. "Ugh! Why is this place so empty...?"

"Because Belos doesn't need anyone's help..." Luz turns to see Miguel. She frowns. "Oh... Hey... Wait a minute! I gotta get back there! They'll die if we don't-!"

"They're safe. Everyone's safe. My plan worked..." said Miguel.

"What plan...?" asked Luz.

"The plan that I'm about to tell you right now... Because you're gonna do it right... now..." said Miguel.

"Wait... How does that work...? *GAAAAAAASP!!!* Is it-? Nooo!!! It can't be!"

"Time travel," said the both of them.

Luz eeps with excitement. "Wait! No! You can't trust me with such power... Sir... I'll get people killed..."

Miguel looks at Luz with concern. "Luz," said Miguel. "This isn't your Goddamned fault."

"It's my fault!" yelled Luz. "It's always my fault! I'm always at fault for these kinds of things! I've done wrong, so let me do my right!"

"No, it isn't! Not always. You haven't done wrong."

"WHY NOT!?!?"

"Because you're a kid! You're a kid and you should at least give yourself a Goddamned benefit of the doubt, Luz! You're a kid and you should learn that you're just starting out! Because you're a kid! It's not always about you! You have to understand that! You lack self-worth and you hate yourself, Luz! And if you keep doing this, you'll end up in situations like where you're alone stuck in a Goddamned room for 3,000 fucking years because of how closed-off you've become!" Miguel's voice broke. "And I have to accept that I have to give myself a benefit of the doubt, too. They have my daughter and I'm blaming myself for it... And I don't know if hurting myself for it even is the right thing to do..."

"Miguel... You've been through enough..."

"Exactly! We have to begin thinking for ourselves! And... It wasn't right for me to be so harsh on you that day... I'm sorry..."

"No... It's good that you scolded me. But I should never be so hard on myself either. I'm... scared that Amity thinks less of me..."

"*sigh...* Yeah..."

"Are you sure they're safe?"

"Yeah. The timeline says so.Listen... Your Anting-Anting has a Time-Turner... I placed it into this Anting-Anting of yours so you could travel through time... Trust in the timeline, Luz." Miguel presses the beak and its eyes dart left and right over and over. It breaks into pieces, revealing the Time-Turner with a glowing green stone at the center. He then twists the device twice. "Here... I gave you two charges. The rivers of time will guide you. Can I trust you with this...?"

Luz nods, smiling. "You can count on me."

"Like 1, 2, 3..!" sang Miguel.

"I'll be there!And I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two.And you'll be there.'Cause, that's what friends are supposed to do, oh, yeah," sang the pair.

"I'll go find Rafaella and fight Belos. You find your way in the past... Your heart. Follow it. It's all you have."

Miguel and Luz teleport back to Belos' office.

Belos is floating in the air for some reason. He was looking up but he turns to the poofing noise below...

"Ibarra!" sneered Belos. "You're here!? How did I not sense you!?"

"A spell. Pallium Sensus."

Belos frowns. He proceeds to sneer. "It's been a long while ever since you tried to liberate the Isles and tried to send me to Hell!"

"Indeed, Philip..." said Miguel. "You've gotten older..."

"And you haven't, you cheat. All the more annoying that the sacred ruler of all things is a filthy WITCH!!!"

"What have you become?"

"Something more than Human!"

"How is a corpse like you above my people?"

"Your people? You abandoned your people!"

"Unlike you, I managed to come back."

Suddenly, Miguel and Belos glance up.

"That's all I ever wanted. To return. And you won't allow it."

"Because you belonged in Hell! Not on Earth! Not in the Boiling Isles! You deserve to burn, Philip. And I've wanted to tell you something for a long time now...BLEAAAH!!!" Miguel incongruently rolls his eyes and flips his tongue up and down.

Belos gives a visibly annoyed look. "AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

Miguel slaps the attack away, but his veins slowly turn black and his skin turns pale.

Luz, meanwhile, grabs Amity, Anne, and Gabby in her arms to try and wake them up. "Guys! We gotta go!"

"Avada... KEDAVRA!!!"

Miguel slaps it away again.

Miguel warps out a pair of sticks.

"You know... only one with so much love and truly throw the power of death away like that... But can you keep doing it, Miguel IBARRA!?!?"

"Shodero Madi sha, dakadedota Makenta."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

"HELL FIRE!!!"

The pair blasts at each other with beams. One is an orange beam of flames and the other is a green beam of plasma.

Miguel's fingers slowly turn black.

"You are a hypocrite, Miguel Ibarra! Look at you, dealing with dark magic! Clearly, something that a sacred being like you cannot touch!"

*BANG!!!*

Miguel begins to gasp as green energy begins enveloping his body.

"You used it on yourself, Ibarra... An unforgivable curse... The reason why you can't throw it away is that you lack self... love..."

Miguel looks up and smiles.

"You lack the ability to understand or even comprehend that idea... And that will get you and everyone loved killed-... WHAT... ARE YOU GAWKING AT!?!?"

Miguel looks up, saying "Gaaay..." while smiling.

Belos angrily asks, "WHAT ARE YOU GAWKING AT!!!?"

Miguel keeps smiling while looking up.

Belos then yells, "Avada Kedavra!" shooting a green energy blast at Miguel.

Miguel disappears in front of Belos after his shoulder was struck by the blast.

"MIGUEL!!!" sobbed Luz.

Aoha'z uva doha ohwwluz dolu fvb hyl zaybjr dpao aoha...