Spitting Lies 'Till Your Demise - Hermitcraft + MCYT AU - Collab

Chapter 31 - As the Curtains Open Up

Grian smiled as he looked over the end, squashing down the hint of terror in his chest. Instead, he let pride wash him as the dragon roared, soaring in the sky.
This was his accomplishment, his plan, and it was finally coming to fruition.

The dragon was as mighty as when he'd fought it, just a few weeks before. In fact, she was even more destructive than originally.

He had to admit though, he was a tad surprised Hels and EX had actually completed their parts on schedule. They had been at one another's throats from the moment they met, and while it was entertaining, it was unproductive. However, they'd pulled through, resulting in the concurrent ambush.

Purple hues sparked through his body, as if it were charged with static electricity. Magic that finally allowed a lease of life, to serve his purpose. It was exhilarating, its own kind of high that left him both giddy and focused.

And so, Grian opened his eyes, and watched.

The Hermits had been successfully separated across the central continent of the end, none alone, but enough to disorient them at the beginning. Their greatest strength was their loyalty as a group, and naturally, their greatest fallacy. If the years undercover had taught Grian anything, it was that.

Yet it seemed as though they all had the same instinct: to slay the dragon. It was almost funny, how predictable they were. How they didn't even think twice, despite knowing it was a trap. It would be funny to Grian, in the same way Scar's death was. It should be.

There was a small, buried part of Grian that wanted to scream at them to just think it through. Of course it's a trap, don't be fucking dumb, you'll get yourselves killed.

But that was a small part, of course. The plan hinged on their predictability.

Grian had spent his time meticulously planning out not exactly this scenario, but one similar enough that he'd adapted. Though came the complications, the unexpected hiccups, every last detail of the main plan was coming true, and the Hermits filled their role perfectly.

Every move they made was playing out exactly as predicted, and right into his hands like a cruel puppet show of life and death. And really, that was all that mattered.

A loud boom echoed around the end, as the first crystal exploded. The bedrock-infused tower lay untainted, as did the next one to be shot. Arrows flew, some embedding themselves into the endstone floor, some into the towers, and some glitching out of existence before they ever hit their target.
At one side of the terrain, Mumbo went towering up the side of one of the pillars. His hands were coated in yellow dust, and he looked almost sickly in the tainted light of the end. One moment, he punched the crystal, and the next moment he was sent hurtling to the floor, his fall barely cushioned by XB's hastily placed water bucket.

If he'd been expecting the normal explosion from the crystal, he was sorely mistaken. His hand was now red and raw, blistering slightly in the stale air of the end. He tried to push himself up off the ground, but his arm buckled at the sudden sting of dust in the wound.

XB shakily ripped off a piece of his sleeve with his teeth, drenching it in the water, before quickly wrapping Mumbo's hand with it.

The terrain wasn't the only thing the Watchers modified, of course not. The Ender Dragon, a threat? Normally not, just one person could take it on just fine. 8 hermits? It's practically dead meat, and it wouldn't be fun if it were to be killed in the first minute, it needed to last a bit longer.

Now that they know of the abnormally enchanted crystals, the other hermits who were towering up also seemed to stop. Instead, they continued on shooting the crystals.

Hels and Wels were nowhere to be seen, and EX had slunked away into the unknown. That was of little concern to Grian; their loyalties had never exactly been relied upon, and are no longer a big enough factor to spare a thought towards.

Cleo and Bdubs both hastily took down a tower each, and on the other side of the terrain, Tango shot down the last remaining tower. Instantaneously, the Dragon let out a pained roar, and started glitching in the air.

They were all ready to attack it, to end this. How sad, how short lived was this thrill.

He blinked, and Grian's focus shifted back to himself.

"How useless, the dragon couldn't even take one down," A harsh voice huffs beside him, and despite himself, Grian could feel his body tense a little.

Another watcher, standing on his opposite side, chuckled.
"Now, now, don't be too harsh, Zheragos. It's only natural it lost," They said, voice smooth. "If an ordinary, only slightly-enchanted dragon could take them down, there'd be no use of planning this all out. Right, Xelqua?"

Grian forced himself out of his tense state, and spoke, "Yes. Right," He said, momentarily taken aback by how the voice that didn't sound like his own. That may just be the galactic. "The Ender dragon is only a simple distraction; she needed to be easy to kill in order for the trap to work, but also able to persist for an amount of time so it stalls time for the next steps."

"Speaking of which, there it goes!"

As the hermits kept shooting the dragon, it roared. Shrieking out loudly, in a pained stride, it lowered back down with chipped wings. It had successfully knocked one of the larger gatherings of Hermits to the floor, but that wasn't where Grian's focus was drawn.

Instead, his gaze settled on Iskall, pale, exhausted, but with a triumphant look across their face. As the dragon came down they struck the final hit, striking their sword down the dragon's throat, slitting it open with silver blood leaking out. The cry of pain was louder than the last, no doubt bleeding to the ears, as the dragon took off. Light cracked through the dragon's body, and it eventually dissipated into nothingness.

Well, it was clear the hermits would breathe a sigh of relief that it was seemingly over. They weren't exactly celebrating, still tense in case of another attack, but there were still cheers in the air, some exchanging fist bumps. Mumbo moved forward to squeeze Iskall's shoulder, but suddenly jolted away at the last moment in pain, shaking his hand from the static shock. 

Seeing the display, the smooth voiced watcher, Nixye, chuckled. A smile devoid of any innocence started spreading on their face. "How delightful. It's begun already."

"Such a shame it was unwilling," the harsher one, Zheragos, sighed. "So much potential, wasted on an uncooperative player."

"It won't matter, in the end," Grian replied coldly. "He'll succumb. Besides, we were all players, once. We simply chose to become something greater."

One of the watchers behind them huffed in discontent, and his ears were sharp enough to catch what they said.
"He speaks so boldly, for a young one. He should know to be wary of what he preaches."

In a fit, he turns around to glare at them.
"You forget, I orchestrated this mission," Grian interrupted in an unfamiliar, stern tone. "I know what I'm doing."

Nixye giggled to themselves over the display, though Grian choose to ignore that. He focused back over again to the hermits. Iskall looked even paler, almost sickly. One hand was tightly gripped onto Mumbo, and the other they were clutching to their head. They were noticeably shaking, but Grian could see more. Grian could see the purple hue, slithering around their neck and tightening.

Iskall stumbled towards the portal, letting go of Mumbo. The air was sparking around them, and Grian could sense the anticipation coming from the surrounding watchers.

Iskall stepped into the portal, and then they screamed. And then, they disappeared. That was it.

Iskall was theirs.

And the performance has only just begun.