— –Alexander Montclair– —
With deep, slow breaths, Alexander calmed his beating heart down. The Witcher medallion on his chest vibrated faintly, giving him just enough to anchor himself to. Something real. Something that wasn't rage.
He was angry. Unreasonably so. A sharp, boiling pulse beneath his ribs that didn't feel like his own. Part of him wanted to throw away every last shred of caution and sprint straight at Belasco, teeth bared, ready to tear the bastard apart with his bare hands if he had to.
But he knew better.
He knew the anger wasn't his. No, this wasn't righteous, or focused, or even natural. It was irrational. Destructive. A whisper from Limbo itself, that corrosive, hungry twist he'd felt crawling into his veins the very moment they took step in Belasco's realm.
Vesimir had trained him for this… in his own way.
"Emotions blind you." The old Witcher had told him more than once, tone stern but patient. Vesimir had even taken the time to teach him how to breathe, how to find stillness when everything inside him pulled for the opposite.
Alex wasn't a master of anything, not even close, but he could at least keep his thoughts straight long enough to survive. That counted for something. He raised his gun slowly, exhaling again as he centered his sights on the distant balcony.
He only had one shot. One single chance. And though he was far from a marksman, he couldn't afford to miss.
So he waited.
When they'd first arrived in Limbo, they'd appeared just outside the garden. A place that should've been warm, filled with life and Ororo's lingering magic. Instead, they found it dead and empty. No signs of struggle, but tracks leading away, deep enough to tell him exactly how fresh they were. Exactly how badly he'd misjudged their time.
He'd expected to have a few days to prepare with Illyana for their escape. Maybe more.
He'd missed it by hours.
Thankfully, Illyana had been moving on foot. Her pace was the only reason they'd managed to catch up at all. By the time they reached the castle, they'd arrived just in time to see Illyana and Kate slip through the gates as they shut behind them.
He really was tiptoeing a dangerous line, wasn't he?
For one, Avallac'h could hide them, and it was only thanks to that concealment that he and the elf could stand where they were now, watching the fight unfold from a distance. Not for long, and not perfectly, but enough to make Belasco believe they were simply another pair of wandering sorcerers crossing through his domain. It had happened before. It would happen again. As long as they didn't linger or draw too much attention, Belasco wouldn't bother coming personally.
But to stay hidden, Alex had been forced to stuff away every piece of Dimeritium he'd painstakingly prepared. Every drop of protection he'd counted on. Avallac'h's concealment spells refused to anchor properly when he carried too much of the metal.
Technically, even the little he still had on him was a risk.
In addition, while Avallac'h could cast a spell to clear his mind from the anger Belasco was placing on him, doing so would alert the demon of their presence. So he had to simply control his breathing for now.
So now he stood here, exposed, one bad moment away from being found. If Belasco's gaze so much as brushed past him, it would be over.
The moment he fired, he'd have to protect himself as fast as he could. Faster than he'd ever moved in his life.
And so, he waited. He waited when Illyana was flung out of the window. He waited when Belasco tried to chain her down. He waited even when Belasco turned her own weapon against her and finally pinned her down to the ground.
It was only once Belasco retrieved a bloodstone and turned it into a collar that Alexander finally felt he had his chance. Taking one final breath, he held it for a moment, releasing it slowly.
And then he fired. The bullet snapped out of the barrel with a sharp pop, spinning through the air of Limbo.
Belasco felt it coming before he saw it.
He raised a hand lazily, almost annoyed, and a curved barrier of molten-red energy flared to life. Sigils crawled across its surface, bright and sharp like fresh carvings in stone. Belasco hadn't even turned to look at him as he cast the spell.
Yet, as the bullet met the spell, it pierced straight through without meeting any resistance. The runes flickered. Cracked. Then shattered in a burst of crimson shards. Belasco must've had some other hidden protection, because he saw another two barriers appear in an instant, yet, just like the first, the bullet broke through without much resistance, and before Belasco had a chance to try to move out of the way or cast another spell, the bullet hit him.
It wasn't in the head, like Alexander had hoped, but the bullet found its way into Belasco's shoulder. And for the first time since they'd been brought to Limbo, Belasco bled.
Crimson red blood spilled through his fingers as he grabbed his shoulder, his expression freezing in something between shock and insult, like he couldn't fathom the idea that someone had actually dared to hurt him.
— –Illyana Rasputin "Montclair"– —
"What?"
For a heartbeat, the world froze.
Just as Belasco lowered the collar toward her throat, a sharp crack split the air. Belasco jerked backward with a hiss, his grip faltering. And at the same instant, something washed over Illyana, a spell she hadn't cast, one she couldn't fight off in her current position, but one that hit her like a bucket of freezing water.
The haze vanished. The crushing, choking pressure of Belasco's control snapped apart, and her mind, her self, slammed back into place like a door being kicked open.
Her breath caught. Her eyes cleared. And then she felt it. The second heartbeat that wasn't hers blooming like fire inside her ribs, brighter than it had ever been.
"Alex?" Darkchylde muttered, her voice a low growl as her head snapped toward the distant ledge. Her golden eyes narrowed, scanning, searching, locking onto the silhouette of a man with his arm still raised from the shot. Then her pupils widened, shining with feral excitement the moment she recognized him.
The man who had saved her. Again.
All the rage that had consumed her moments ago evaporated. In its place came something blinding and fierce, euphoria. A wild, giddy relief that crashed over her so strongly it almost hurt.
The pain in her stomach where the Soulsword pinned her down, the stinging throb of the shards buried in her skin, gone. She barely felt the ground beneath her as Darkchylde's laugh tore out of her, sudden and sharp, even while she was still pinned.
Belasco's attention was off her. That was all she needed.
She focused on the fragments inside her body, hundreds of tiny blades buried deep, and gave a single, vicious command.
Rip.
The shards exploded out of her in a golden spray, shooting toward Belasco like a point-blank shotgun blast.
Belasco snapped out of his shock just in time to react, though not fast enough to save himself. He yanked a bloodstone forward, trying to seize her sword again, to twist its magic out of her grasp.
But he was too slow.
All he managed to do was nudge the trajectory.
The fragments sliced into him in jagged streaks, tearing through skin, cloth, and armor. Thin lines of crimson opened across his face, his chest, the length of his arms. His robes shredded like paper as he snarled, stumbling under the barrage.
The shards hit the far wall, then spun back, circling Illyana like a cyclone of broken mirrors. Her soulsword tore itself out of the floor and flew into her outstretched hand.
The wound in her stomach closed in seconds, skin knitting together as if rewound by invisible hands. Darkchylde's grin stretched wider, hunger and triumph gleaming in her now-golden eyes. As Belasco bled, she could feel the realm around her stirring, like a beast trying to break out of their chains.
"Mater, auxilium tuum imploro." Darkchylde spoke into the air, and as she did, she felt a wave of renewed energy as she looked at Belasco.
And then she charged.
She felt Belasco try to pull the veil over her eyes again, felt the shadows under his feet twist like living things answering their master's call. But the manic grin stretching across her face only grew sharper. Her blade pulsed in her hand, a low thrum of recognition, of hunger, as she whispered another spell under her breath, one meant to tear apart whatever illusions Belasco dared to throw at her.
And unlike before, when Belasco yanked Limbo's chain tight around her throat and choked her magic into silence, Darkchylde succeeded.
Her golden eyes snapped open fully, blazing like twin suns as they locked onto Belasco's.
For a heartbeat, the world buckled.
The floor rippled beneath her feet, dissolving into chunks of nothing. The air heated until her skin prickled, then burned, then threatened to peel. Her vision stretched and blurred like oil on water.
But Darkchylde didn't care. Not even a little. Pain meant nothing compared to the sheer, unbridled joy roaring through her chest.
Belasco raised both physical and magical barriers in a panic. Walls of stone and metal burst from the floor with a thunderous crack, layered behind shimmering domes of spellwork that glowed an angry, molten red. Limbo writhed at his command, trying to crush her, cage her, swallow her whole.
She didn't slow.
She slammed into the physical barriers, smashing through them with her shoulder like they were made of rotted wood. And when the magical ones surged forward, she carved through them with a single swing of her Soulsword, the blade singing as it split each ward apart.
The world twisted, buckled, tried to close around her like a trap. It didn't matter. She couldn't be stopped.
By the time she reached Belasco, her blade was already a breath away from his face, so close she could see the reflection of her own grin in his widening eyes.
He dissolved into flames at the last possible instant.
But even then, even as he flickered into nothing, she felt her sword carving through the fire, cutting through the space where he'd been, through the scorch marks he left behind.
Her eyes shot to where he reappeared and her heart lurched. Belasco stood now only a few paces away from Alex. Her pupils narrowed sharply, the golden glow in her eyes tightening like the pull of a trigger.
"No."
The word didn't leave her lips, but it echoed inside her skull.
A burst of speed exploded through her legs as she launched forward, the shards orbiting her flaring outward with her motion.
Joy collapsed into terror so quickly it stole the breath from her lungs. The cold panic hit harder than any wound she'd ever taken. It was only as she ran towards Belasco that she really began to question what was happening.
Why was Alex here? How did he reach her? How had he escaped Belasco?
She didn't understand. She didn't care.
All she cared about was reaching him. Protecting him. Keeping him safe the way he had kept her safe, over and over, even when he shouldn't have. Yet as she drew closer, Darkchylde felt Limbo call out to her once more. Calling out to her daughter.
She didn't want to listen. Didn't want to be distracted. Not now. Not with Alex standing unprotected, and Belasco so close to him she could barely breathe. But deep in her soul, deep where their heartbeats overlapped, she understood.
She knew what she needed to do.
"Illyana." Darkchylde said softly from the back of their shared mind, her voice steady for once, stripped of its usual hunger. "Your turn."
And with that, she let go.
— –Alexander Montclair– —
"The girl is truly a masterpiece." Avallac'h praised, voice low with something like awe as Alex draped the Dimeritium-lined cloak over himself. "With the pressure she is putting on him, I could create a portal for us now. But it wouldn't last long enough for all of us to escape. If she can hurt him a bit more, we should be able to escape."
Alex didn't have the luxury to appreciate the compliment, or question the tone behind it. He was too busy shoving as much Dimeritium onto his body as possible, layering pieces over his arms, shoulders, chest, anywhere he could reach in the seconds he had.
Before he could snap back a retort, he felt Avallac'h suddenly step away from him, no, vanish. The air behind Alex shuddered as the Aen Elle teleported several paces back.
That could only mean one thing.
Alex didn't hesitate. He yanked one of the Dimeritium bombs free and slammed it at his feet.
The bomb cracked open with a deafening pop, exploding into a thick metallic cloud that swallowed him whole. The taste of cold metal burned the back of his tongue as the fog spread out in a wide dome around him just in time.
Dozens of crimson chains erupted out of the fractured space around him, lashing toward him like a nest of serpents. The moment they hit the cloud, their glow dimmed, their shapes distorted, their strength almost completely evaporating as they dissolved into harmless threads that snapped apart inches from his skin.
But Alex knew that wouldn't last.
He raised his pistol toward the spot where he felt the air warping and fired. This time, the bullet tore through the air, cutting across Belasco's cheek by a hair. Barely missing the "kill" shot.
Close. Too close.
And for the first time, Alex saw Belasco clearly.
The demon's face twisted with fury, pure, unrestrained fury. Not cold or amused or condescending like before. No. This was something personal. His body was covered in lacerations that were healing at a visible rate, and he could see that the shoulder he had managed to hit with his Dimeritium bullet had already healed completely.
But the sight of him only gave him more confidence. Because Belasco was bleeding. And rather than continue trying to contain Illyana, he ran from her.
Then the curse hit him.
Fire exploded in his throat and tongue, like someone had shoved a burning coal down his windpipe. His vision blurred as he stumbled, clutching at his neck. Even with the layers of prevention, Avallac'h's spells, Yennefer's seals, the pieces of Dimeritium he was wearing like armor, Belasco's magic still slipped through.
It still hurt. But it was far more manageable than before.
He forced his arm up again, teeth gritted so hard his jaw shook. He raised the gun for another shot, but Belasco moved first, casting a spell. Rather than fire, he felt the pistol in his hand explode. An explosion volatile enough to leave his right hand useless for the remainder of the fight.
A shame, really, it was his favorite hand. But Alex didn't have a chance to dwell on it as Belasco drew the bloodstone to his hand once more, the gem flaring bright as molten light poured out of it, and Alex felt the world around him tighten.
Alex heard it, too. The quiet, awful sound of metal cracking.
The Dimeritium plates he'd strapped over himself began to splinter, fracturing at the seams. The metal plates on the cloak around his shoulders shivered with thin, hairline cracks. The cloud around him flickered, thinning as Belasco's spell pressed against it.
And with a wave of his hand, Belasco created a gust that blew the Dimeritium cloud away from him, moving to grab Alex by the neck with his own hand. His fingers were close to wrapping around him when Avallac'h acted.
A spell snapped between them, flaring into existence with a sound like shattering ice. A barrier. Thin. Unstable. Already cracking under Belasco's touch, but there long enough to stop the grab. Long enough to let Alex breathe, even if only for half a second.
He didn't waste it.
He reached behind him, yanked the Dimeritium dagger free from its sheath, and tightened his grip around the hilt. If Belasco grabbed him now, fine. He'd stab the bastard three, maybe four times before he went down. He wasn't expecting to win anyway. Not really. All he wanted was to give them a chance to escape.
He knew Belasco wouldn't kill him outright. Not with Illyana still free. Not when Alex was the perfect bargaining chip. That small, ugly truth bought him just enough confidence to prepare himself to take a few more reckless swings than he normally would've dared.
That was when he felt it.
A stir inside him. In his soul. Alex turned his head just in time to see them. Countless shards of golden glass arcing toward him, glinting like stars ripped from the sky.
Alex inhaled once, steadying himself as he followed his instincts. He hurled the Dimeritium dagger at Belasco. It was a useless throw. Belasco twisted his body with effortless grace, letting the blade spin harmlessly past his shoulder, and he reached out again to capture Alex.
But the shards reached Alex first.
At his call, at her call, the broken glass surged together, collapsing into a single shape. A small, golden dagger slapped into Alex's palm, warm and impossibly light. Just as Belasco grabbed a hold of his throat and lifted him into the air, so did Alex plunge the dagger into the demon's arm.
The glass dagger cut through his skin like it was nothing but wet paper. The moment it embedded itself into Belasco's arm, it broke inside of him, the glass shards moving up the demon's arm from inside his skin.
It was enough for him to fling Alexander to the ground, causing him to crash hard enough to lose the air in his lungs, but as he looked up at the demon, he saw him clawing at his own flesh. He saw him trying to dig the glass out from within him as it moved around in his body.
Strangely, the more Belasco clawed at his flesh, the more he could see the demon's crimson skin lose some of its blood red color, returning instead to a more human-like shade. However, as Alex felt the pressure around him all but vanish, he saw Belasco gripping his bloodstone as he began to cast another spell, causing the glass shards to slowly begin to leave his body.
Alex wanted to stand up again, to try to keep fighting. But he was only human, even with his training with Vesimir and even while drinking the herbs and mushrooms that helped him grow his strength faster, he was just a man. He had already pushed himself as much as he could on a direct confrontation with the demon. Even if it wasn't much.
Really, Alexander had no chance against Belasco. Not in a real fight. Even now he was barely standing upright, barely staying conscious with the curse burning through his throat and every nerve screaming.
But that didn't matter. He didn't need to win. He just needed to stall. Stall long enough for the real warrior to arrive.
And judging by the sudden shift in the air, the crackle of silver fire behind him, she was already here.
Illyana flew over him, a streak of silver fire ripping through the air. Her body moved too fast for his eyes to fully track, a blur of heat and golden light. She crashed into Belasco with the full weight of her fury, her blade driving straight into his stomach. The Soulsword pierced him cleanly, then shattered inside him, the shards detonating outward in a burst of blinding light.
Belasco's scream split the air.
And Limbo answered.
The world around them convulsed. The sky tore open like cloth ripping at the seams. Thunder rolled across the clouds in jagged waves, each crack louder than the last. The ground buckled beneath their feet, splitting and reforming, as if the entire dimension were shaking.
At last, the curse in his tongue stopped burning, giving Alex enough strength to stand up. He could barely breathe, barely see, but even through the haze of pain he felt it, that pull, that shift, that violent, terrifying change.
Limbo was moving. No, Limbo was choosing.
A massive pentagram of silver flames erupted beneath Illyana and Belasco, burning through the grass, the stone, the dirt, everything. Silver chains shot upward, emerging from the ground like living serpents. They wrapped around Belasco's limbs one by one, dragging him toward the earth with impossible force.
He fought back, his magic lashing out in violent bursts, but the Soulsword fragments still inside him kept tearing, twisting, carving him apart from the inside.
The sound that followed wasn't thunder, it was the realm itself screaming. Cracks formed in the air, sharp enough to make his teeth ache. The wind howled in a rising spiral, pulling the broken landscape toward Illyana like a vortex.
Alex had to cover his ears.
It felt like the end of the world was happening around them.
And yet…
Illyana stood tall, hovering just inches above the burning pentagram, silver flames pouring from her like a living storm. Her hair whipped around her face, glowing strands carried by a wind that didn't exist anywhere else. She was breathing hard, her eyes molten gold as Limbo's power surged into her.
The chains binding Belasco tightened cruelly, yanking him flat against the shattered earth. New lines of silver magic crawled across the ground, rewriting symbols, undoing sigils, tearing apart the last remnants of Belasco's control.
Limbo bent.
The shadows twisted, reshaping themselves around the two figures in the center of the storm. The ruined castle shook behind them, stones lifting into the air before crashing back down as the dimension reconfigured its own structure.
The silver flames burned brighter, hotter, until Alex had to shield his eyes. Then, with a slow, almost ritualistic shift, the pentagram beneath Belasco began to fade. The flames receded in tightening rings, each line of fire curling inward until they gathered at the base of Illyana's arm.
The moment they touched her skin, they changed.
The fire solidified into metal, unfurling across her left arm like liquid silver. Runes etched themselves into place as the armor climbed up her forearm, her elbow, her shoulder, shining, pulsing, alive. The glow flickered like a heartbeat, perfectly in sync with hers.
Alex felt the dagger in his hand jerk.
Before he could tighten his grip, it tore free, the force so sudden it nearly ripped his shoulder out of place. The golden blade whirled through the air, pulled toward Illyana's Soulsword with undeniable purpose.
Belasco's scream tore out at the same instant.
Of course. The fragments inside him.
They ripped themselves free in a violent burst of golden streaks, slicing out of his flesh and spinning through the air to rejoin their whole. The sound of them tearing out, wet, sharp, unrestrained, made Alex wince.
Then, just as quickly as it had begun. The world went still.
Painfully still.
The wind stopped mid-howl. The falling stones froze inches above the ground. The cracks in the sky held their jagged shapes like shattered glass suspended in time. Even the air felt thick, like the entire dimension was holding its breath.
And in the center of that impossible, suffocating silence Illyana stood over Belasco, silver armor glowing along her arm, her Soulsword whole again in her hand, and the realm itself bowed at her feet.
Alex limped toward her, each step sending spikes of pain through his body, but he didn't slow. Illyana stood frozen, her blade raised above Belasco's chest, ready, almost ready, to plunge down.
But Belasco wasn't the same anymore. His crimson skin was gone. His golden eyes were gone.
His horns, his claws, the demonic aura that had crawled beneath the skin of Limbo itself, gone.
He looked human.
Pathetic, even.
Stripped bare of everything he had ever used to terrify her. No monstrous presence. No towering infernal form. Just a broken man lying in the dirt, shaking as he stared up at her.
And maybe that was why she hesitated.
Illyana had never killed a man before. Hell, as far as Alex knew, she'd never killed anything. Even demons. Not really. Not like this.
He could see it all in Belasco's face. The pure, undeniable fear. The helplessness. The realization that Illyana, little Illyana, the girl he'd tried to mold, break, own, had taken everything from him.
But Alex could also see something else.
The longer she hesitated, the more Belasco's fear faded. Turned into something uglier.
Hope? Calculation? Opportunity.
Finally reaching her side, Alex lifted his good hand and set it gently on her shoulder. Her own shoulder had been trembling, just barely, but the moment he touched her, the shaking stopped. Her grip on the Soulsword loosened for half a second, confusion and relief flicking across her bright blue eyes as she looked at him.
Alex reached for the hilt.
Her breath caught. She didn't pull away. She looked at him like she didn't quite understand what he was doing.
"Close your eyes." He asked her softly, her eyes widening for a moment at the request.
Illyana didn't argue. She didn't question. She just listened. Her eyelashes lowered, the glow in her eyes dimming as she obeyed.
Alex took the blade from her hand.
He felt the heat of it immediately, alive, pulsing, aware. But it didn't fight him. Maybe it recognized him. Maybe it remembered the piece of himself still inside her.
Maybe it just wanted the same thing he did.
Alex looked down at Belasco.
The demon, no, the man, was staring up at him with widening eyes, the horror flooding back too late. He mouthed something, fear or pleading or rage, Alex didn't know and didn't care.
Really, at this moment, he was still struggling to keep up with everything that had just happened around them. He had come here with the intention of running as far away as he could with Illyana the moment they created an opening.
Yet here they were now.
With no hesitation left, Alex exhaled, and plunged the sword down.
~A/N~
Man, what a fight. Really I had full intentions of finishing having the fight be completed in ch 24 and finishing the story this chapter. But the fight ended up going a bit longer than I expected. Hopefully it doesn't feel dragged out, but well, it's been a long time coming, so I had to write it until I was happy with the results.
Illyana was the protagonist all along lmao.
Really, all it took to defeat Belasco was to make the demon bleed once. Funny isn't it?
Anyways, I will post the final chapter of volume 1 next week. I wanted to get it all done this week, but I've already spent like three days writing non-stop so I need a lil break.
If you enjoyed, drop me some comments, they motivate me. Otherwise, I'll see ya next week.