Mumbo and Iskall ran as a rain of purple fire fell over them, desperate to get as far away from the massive dragon and the battle that would soon bloom. Xiusma went to stand in front of them so that if Rook focused them he could give them a better chance to run. But they were in luck as he instead focused the group closer to himself, obsidian like claws swiping at anyone getting to close. Mumbo refused to turn around at the sound of a totem going off, knowing if he stayed to look he wouldn't be able to look away again. Iskall noticed this and fell in step slightly behind him, keeping it up so that the taller continued walking forward. But the Swede couldn't help but look back himself, the sounds just tempting him to look back too much.

Parts of the ground were bathed in the deep purple fire Rook had breathed, lighting up said dragon from the underside and making the dark scales shimmer and shine in the purple light, it also made the armor everyone was wearing light up as well. But he was not drawn to the ground, and instead his eyes were in the sky - on Impulse. The dragon hybrid was flying around Rook in circles, doing his best to avoid jets of fire and the massive jaws snapping at him. But since the brunet was so focused on the head he didn't notice the tail until it came down on him like a whip, and with a crack he fell. Zedaph ran towards the falling man, but wasn't fast enough to reach him before he smacked into the ground in a flurry of green and gold. Tango created a distraction, aka throwing fire in Rook's face, to let the shorter blonde retrieve the fallen Hermit relatively safely. Sadly no one had time to help Impulse, more than the small chekup Zedaph and Tango did, due to standing still being a death sentence.

"Don't look back." Iskall grounded out, voice cracking slightly as he blinked back tears. Mumbo protested, now very interested to look at what was happening, but Iskall forced how to continue walking away, "I mean it Mumbo, don't look. Please, please don't." And Mumbo dropped it, because as oblivious as he could be it took no keen eye to tell he wouldn't like turning around.

Back out in the battle everyone was doing their best to restrain or knock Rook out, but the rope was snapped and their attacks just licked the thick scales harmlessly. Though a weird pattern they'd noticed is that he tended to avoid attacking some of them. But only some of them, only the- "Evolutionists." Breathed Tango, small puffs of fire and ember escaping his mouth. Cub, who was fighting by his side at the moment, looked at him weirdly, "What do you mean? What do they have to do with anything?"

"Look at them! He's not hurting them, any of them!" The bearded Hermit turned to look for himself, and true to his words the EVO crew were all unharmed and not being attacked. "By the Vex, your right! But why isn't he attacking them?"

The fire elemental shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine." Noticing purple coming at them from the corner of his eyes he raised his hand, a wall of fire following up with it. It didn't fully stop the attack, but it did protect them from the brunt of it. "But I think this is something we could use. I'm the faster of the two of us, think you can keep him away from me?" Cub gave the blonde a nod, Vex magic already crackling at his fingertips in bright sparks. Once the fire had fully stopped Tango threw the shield down and bolted, this naturally caught Rook's attention but with one well aimed shot Cub took it on himself. This gave Tango all the time he needed and soon he spread it to a point where the message could be sent on without him having to run like a madman all over the place.

Whilst this was going on Iskall and Mumbo ran into Cub. They were a bit surprised to see him so far away, but after noticing him weaving a complicated magical rune in the air they brushed it off as him preparing a spell of some sort in a safer place. And seeing as he's here it must be a safe place. Iskall once more turned back to the battle and was relieved to find it was going better then when he last saw it. He looked over the field, counting to see if everyone was there when he saw Cub, fighting side by side with Scar. For a second he thought Cub had teleported when he wasn't looking, but straining his ears he heard the breathing of two people near him. He whirls around and manages to shout out: "Mumbo look out! That's not Cub!" before a sword is swung into right below his shoulder.

At first there's nothing but numbness as he looks down at the blade embedded deep into his arm, no sound but his own ragged breathing. Then the pain came and with it it ripped a feral scream out of him. The pain was worse than anything ever he'd felt before, it was like someone had poured salt into lemon juice and then rubbed it on with a burning piece of sandpaper. Iskall couldn't feel anything but the pain and the burning, his vision swam as his ears rang, no sound other than his own heartbeat registering to him.

Rook froze mid breath of fire at the sound, and those who already hadn't also frozen up at the sound did so now. "That's Iskall." Whimpered Ren, ears flat on his head as tears brimmed his eyes, "He's in pain, so much pain. Why is he in pain?" He turned to Doc, whose eyes were wide with horror, "Doc, why is he in pain, I thought he was running away from the battle?" The creeper let out a rattling breath, hand moving to take Ren's. And once he had it he squeezed tightly, "He and Mumbo both. But what hurt him?"

They jump as Rook takes a stumbling step forward, but they're shocked when instead of attacking or something like that he instead let's out a sad little chirp. "As bad as I feel saying this, I think the pained scream might help get Grian back." Multiple glares, most of them from the Hermits, shot to Solidarity, who backed up with raised hands, "Hey! I said I felt bad but it's true! I mean look at him, as soon as Iskall screamed out he froze, I'm quite positive he recognises that someone he loves is in pain, which means there's hope for us to help him." Quite numbers of agreement followed his words, but even if they agreed the Hermits still glared at him.

But whatever small celebratory feeling they were feeling was soon washed away as another scream rang out, though this one was not that loud compared to the one before it. And just as quick as glass shattering Rook went from still to full on attack mode, lashing out on anything or anyone in his way. And this time not even the people from EVO are safe.

The massive dragon immediately tried rushing through them and to where Iskall was, but the reinforced rope they'd manage to tie around his neck helped them keep him away. Feeling himself be kept away he breathed out fire everywhere, bathing the area in deep purple and an unbearable heat. Even with the fire they kept him away, Stress and Cub (for protection plus for his medicine knowledge) broke off from the group and rushed towards the direction of Mumbo and Iskall.

Rodger, still stuck inside the cage and forced to watch all of this transpire, turns to look back at Fallacy with a death glare, "You planned this." It wasn't a question, just a statement pure and simple.

Fallacy answers him regardless, "Of course I did, do you really think I made Hills turn into that bearded Vex just for fun?"

"That bearded Vex? Are you talking about Cub?" The robot glared at them even more intensely, "Did you make Iskall think he was with a friend only to then have him be attacked?" If their shit eating grin was anything to judge by. "You're sick!" Hissed Rodger, eyes glowing with rage.

Fallacy laughed from their seat, fingers drumming the arms of the throne, "No one ever said lies and deception was pretty, and who am I to deny my nature?"

"Nature?" Rodger laughed humorlessly, "This isn't nature, this is a decision! A decision you made! Your nature didn't tell you to hurt and torture them, that was your choice to do that!"

"Oh no! The bad guy is hurting people!" Fallacy mocked, hands covering their mouth in pretend shock, "How could they?!"

"So you admit you're the bad guy?" Asked the robot, sitting up a bit straighter.

They laughed loudly, armor clinking lightly as it moved with their movements, "I revel in it! Being the bad guy, lying and deceiving, it's what I am you see." They snaked up to the cage, hands around the bars, "I am the monster you fear at night, and I am way worse than demons in the closet. But do you know what I am to you?"

"A bitch." Growled Rodger, which earned him a chuckle from the deity in front of him.

"I'm the end of the line. Your final destination." Had he been human he would have shivered, instead he just wrapped himself around the other two, desperate to protect them for as long as he could.

Thankfully they went back to their throne. So Rodger turned back to the field, wanting to see what was going on now. His grip on tightened when he saw how close Rook was getting. But that wasn't all he noticed, no he also saw red spirit like shapes floating around. Some more visible than the rest. It took him a second to realize that they were actually spirits, or they at least looked a whole lot like them. Only they were red, whereas other spirits were either white or a very bright blue (that was damn near white itself). But he was distracted from them by the black wide rip that formed, and before he knew it a dark shape with glowing eyes shot out of -what he now realized was a portal- a sense of "you've done fucked up" flowing with them.

"YOU"

<Looky who's arrived at the scene :3 You know, all it took was some arm hurting and we got there :) Anyways, this was real fun to make! And to be totally honest the red spirits was where I was going to end the chapter, but then I added this on and liked it so I kept it. I think that's all I wanted to say, so there!

Stay safe and have a wonderful time everyone!>