Chapter 339: The Twisted Mind of Vestra Le Fey

Demons formed of twisted memories, Nightmarish creatures pulled from the deepest reaches of the mind and the over active imagination of a child, and the countless sneering faces of horrible high school bullies whose every cackle and comment left a scar deep in her heart for years to come.

Belladonna fought all of them. Slamming her fists into their faces, feeling their blood splatter across her knuckles as their bodies slumped to the floor. The last one she gave especially merciless punches to, just to wipe the irritating smirks off of their faces.

However for every one that fell, two more quickly took their place. It was an endless onslaught of everything that dwelled within Vestra’s mind, whether she was aware of it or not.

The worst part of all, was when they managed to hit her. Not because of the damage they dealt, Belladonna could handle pain like no other.

What killed her about every blow or slash that hit her, was the understanding of how Vestra’s abilities worked.

She constructed illusions based on what she knew and had experienced. That was how she made them realistic, by feeling the experience and memorising it, to push onto other people. So every time a fist smashed into Belladonna’s stomach, every time a bitchy fingernail slashed her cheek open like a claw, and every time the demons spat in her face and burned her - She was simply feeling Vestra’s pain.

A lifetime of pain and torment, compressed into a singular hallway and an endless slog of those who had inflicted that pain.

It was exhausting.

But as much as the weight of the pain was dragging her down, Belladonna didn’t stop fighting. Her fists didn’t stop swinging and she didn’t let it slow her for a singular moment.

She didn’t use any of her glyphs, she needed those for the real fight. The only magic she used, was the mana she poured into her eyes. A sense that Vestra’s illusions hadn’t accounted for.

Her vision swam with a dazzling array of colours, many of which she had never seen before and still had no name for. But the colours were not what was important, but the way they moved.

Every single illusion was like a solid mask of these colours, almost blinding her with how much was blasting into her eyes. Every body that she hit was a glowing silhouette that she could barely make out the appearance of.

However Belladonna didn’t focus on them, she focused on her surroundings. On the simple hallway that Vestra’s mind had twisted into the perfect arena, and which did not change. Except, for a small, almost imperceptible bend in the light.

The bend moved, shifting back and forth, even moving through what was supposed to be open space, yet nothing appeared to be there.

Belladonna watched the bulge out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to let it know that she was aware of its movements, lest it fix the error in its grand illusion. When the bulge moved, slowly shifting behind her to stab her in the back, Belladonna whipped around and thrust out her hand.

Fists, claws and strange burning spittle slammed into her back, peppering her with more pain and mounting injuries as Belladonna simply took it all, as she held the thin air in her tight grasp.

She narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she endured the pain and simply squeezed her grip tighter. The ’air’ let out a pained whimper, before everything around her began to melt and dissolve into mist.

The mist melted from the air that she was holding, revealing the petite frame of Vestra La Fey, with her throat firmly held in Belladonna’s grasp.

The illusion had completely faded, leaving Belladonna alone in the boss room, with just Vestra and the Vi’fer remaining. The Demon remained floating there, a twisted smile on her gorgeous face as she enjoyed the wonderful show that had been put on just for her.

The rest of their party lay slumped on the floor, Their bodies covered in the same bruises, scratches and burns that Belladonna had been enduring in her illusion, whilst half a dozen of the subjugated men within the bosses chamber stood with weapons drawn, glaring at Belladonna.

One of the subjugated men lifted his sword, whilst another drew a dagger from the belt of his kneeling friend and shifted it in his grip, ready to throw it.

Belladonna looked over them, before glaring back at Vestra. She chuckled, smirking to herself as she shook her head.

"Well... looks like this is it for old stumpy." She muttered, before the knife man’s face twisted.

He hefted the blade up and tossed it straight at her head.

Belladonna didn’t try to dodge, she simply lifted her hand, caught the blade and dragged her thumb across its edge as she plunged it straight into Vestra’s mouth.

Vestra’s eyes widened in horror as Belladonna ripped the blade back out, and more importantly, Belladonna released her grip on the girl’s throat and replaced it with a grip over her mouth.

Vestra struggled for a few seconds, before Belladonna let her go. Vestra immediately collapsed to her knees, hacking and choking, as the dagger slipped from Belladonna’s grip and clattered to the floor, with the hollow clonk of an empty bamboo bottle.

"So let me guess," Belladonna muttered as she glanced at the subjugated men standing to her side, "I looked like the succubus?"

Where the men stood, her party now stood. Well, Saige and Lilith did. Figg was still scrambling on the floor, screaming and waving his hands in the air at the illusions that were fading from his vision.

"Sure did. Thanks for the assist on that stumpy. But I’m sure we would have gotten it ourselves." Saige answered with a smile, whilst Figg looked around in utter bafflement before slowly getting to his feet as he tried to hide how embarrassed he was.

Belladonna couldn’t help but laugh at the both of them.

"Yeah, sure you would. But now..." She hooked her arm under Vestra’s, lifting the girl to her feet as the potion flowed through her system and banished the effects of the succubus’ lustful control.

"We can finally get to phase two."