Someone Else Is Pulling at the Strings

Chapter 3 Enough!

TW: Death, character injury, possession

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Lilith's inner self was still stuck to a wall of her own mindscape, held down by the newest form of the man she used to look up to. She could barely move, she couldn't speak... All she could do was watch as a witch hunter attempted to free her body from her best friend's embrace while wanting revenge on her sister just because she reminded him of his past. And the worst part was that Lilith was utilized to achieve that...

She felt warm streaks run down her face, taking in every word spoken by the house demon. He did everything in his power to reach her, yet she could do nothing. She was able to wiggle her head around and twist her wrists, but there wasn't much she could do with that.

Unless...

Her magic was weak due to the curse, but it was still there. Her fingers were able to move, so it was worth a try. What does she have to lose?

She drew a small circle with her index finger, creating the smallest blue flame. The look in her eyes softened; there was still a bit of magic left.

The flame started to burn the goop around her slowly, fully focusing on setting herself free. The only thing to distract her was a yelp of pain; she shut her eyes, recognizing that voice. She had to hurry and stop Belos before he hurt anyone else.

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Hooty retracted back into his portable house, bleeding from his fresh wound inflicted by Belos. Once the parasite was free, his slime arm shot toward the adults, only being blocked by an ice wall. The three witches, a human, and a house demon hid behind the wall in hopes of getting some time to think of what to do next while Belos continuously punched the wall.

"I hope you have a plan," Darius said as he turned to Eda. He was caught off guard when he saw feathers pop up in her hair. With a worried expression on her face, she examined Hooty's injury. It was just a scratch, a deep one, but nothing too serious.

"He didn't get inside, did he?" Eda blurted out, her hand trembling, "do you feel intense pain or something?" Hooty just shook his head.

"I don't see any signs Belos, but we should stop the bleeding," Raine told her, touching her shoulder while she frantically looked around for something to use as a bandage. She smirked to herself when she found it. She grabbed Darius' pink cape, pulling it off.

"Eda, what are you-?!" The tall witch went silent when he realized that she handed the cape over to Raine and Camila to wrap it around Hooty.

"I have no plan," Eda admitted to Darius, "I didn't think you guys would stay behind with me, okay? I'd figure something out."

"Alright, fine," Darius groaned, rubbing his nose bridge. He then transformed his arm into an abomination scythe. "If we wanna defeat Belos for good..."

"No!" the others snapped at him.

"We are not killing her," Raine told him.

"We don't have to kill her," Darius replied, "just injure her severely enough that he won't be a problem."

"Please don't," Camila asked him.

"It doesn't matter what we have to do, we're getting Lulu back dead or alive!" Hooty exclaimed.

"Can we stop talking about Lily dying, please?" Eda added in, "we've gotta find a way to snap her out. Raine managed to break through so it is possible."

"Only for a few seconds," Raine corrected her, "and I feel like he let me just to mess with you." They grabbed onto their sleeve, their hand trembling. "I couldn't stop him when he...when I..."