Path To Power (XI): A Maddening Field of Effect

--- Jon Whitaker ---

"Are you sure we should be testing this today?" He had to ask as he twirled the little pendent Artemis had shaped into an almost miniature skull. "I mean, you said something about needing to let the enchantments settle into the Demon Flesh last time didn't you?"

"I did." Artemis nodded as they stepped out of the Arcane teen's (kind of cramped) workshop. "But thanks to Basil we were able to mix in some madness elements, which… probably best to get those flowing during the 'settling' phase if you want to fully take advantage of their various variables. Especially since we've no idea what this is actually going to do." She added a little more quietly.

"So that means that Jon needs to fight someone?" Ying asked from behind them, her contribution having been one of the last they added to the project.

"Jon's fighting who?" Felicia frowned, her head shooting up to glare at them.

"It's probably best for him to test our project out in a fight given, uh, certain factors." Artemis tried to explain. "At least if we want to make sure everything is working the way it's supposed to before letting the enchantments finalize."

"Alright, then… who is he going to fight?" Felicia frowned, her eyes darting over the others. "Because while I know that Jon can handle himself I'd rather he not-"

Before his cousin could finish whatever she was going to say, Pix -who had been oddly dejected since he'd left her alone with the other girls- flew in front of them and began pointing at Val while letting out several tweets and chirps as she told him to pick a fight with her and the Scarecrow.

"Why?" He found the need to drawl out as he stared at his little fairy.

Pix let out a number of outraged tweets and chirps while continuously jabbing her finger at the pair, Val clearly looking confused even if he was getting the feeling of amusement off of what little he could read from the skeletal bird on her shoulder.

"I see…" He couldn't help but glare at the Demon that had bullied his little light.

"Don't look at me like that, she was literally asking for it, cazador." Said demon chuckled unrepentantly.

"Val, you mind?" He asked, eyes not living the Demon's empty eye sockets.

"Eh, sure, just let me grab my bat." Val shrugged, seemingly uncaring as she started towards her backpack. "Though I do feel it's a little unfair you get to fight with your special horror weapon when I don't."

"Well, we were kind of waiting to show that off to Audrey with everything else so that she'd see we made the right call with the arm here." Artemis grimaced.

"Besides you'll have your Demon while Pix will be sitting this one out." He compromised, to the little fairy's offense. Something that had him rolling his eyes. "Between the enchanting ritual and your apparent fight with the bird you burned out most of your magic. Asking you to fight isn't right."

Pix tried to refute that with several chirps, before stopping as he placed a finger between her antenna and pat her head.

"I'll be fine Pix." He promised as he made his way towards his own bag.

"Uh, wait a second. You guys do know when I suggested you have a fight, I did not mean in my backyard!" Artemis shouted, just a touch of panic to her voice when they started drawing weapons.

"Hmm, oh, I can fix that." Felicia assured her as her eyes flashed red, fire flickering across her fingertips.

One sweep through the air later revealed a portal to her own little pocket dimension as Felicia turned around and walked backwards through the portal. "You guys can duke it out as much as you want in here."

"Uh, this portal looks like it has traces of Malice in it…" Artemis warily chuckled as she eyed the portal. "Which I mean that makes sense for a Malcontent, but uh, that stuff is kind of anti-magic, you know?"

"Por supuesto, su prima puede abrir las puertas del infierno pinche." The Scarecrow grumbled before hopping off of Val's shoulder and flying through with a note of. "Demons can work with Anima and Malice."

"Good to know." Val nodded, stepping up to the portal without an ounce of hesitation. "If you don't hurry you're going to miss the fight, duende."

"So, we're just doing this…" Artemis sighed, when Ying entered behind the Latina leaving just her, Jon, and Pix since he'd dismissed both Wolf and Basil.

"Just think of all the data you'll get from a Malice pocket dimension." He suggested, having begun to learn that the other teen always thought with her head. (And not always in the smart way.)

Artemis closed her eyes and nodded before stepping through with a murmured: "Think of your research."

Not exactly fearing his cousin's portals after a morning of using them as convenient shortcuts, he and Pix hopped in without another thought. The faint burn to his lungs as he inhaled doing nothing to slow him down even if it was something he was glad to skip with her normal portals.

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"So we're not in El Inferno?" He caught Val asking as he noticed everyone else taking in the cinder scorched dimension, her voice sounding just a touch disappointed if possible.

"No. I mean, this might be a hell dimension, but… I don't think this is the Christian Hell. Because no one has really mentioned anything and I've been coming here since I was like eight." Felicia confessed a confused if bashful look on her face.

"Damn." The Scarecrow's Keeper cursed before turning towards him. "Still even if this isn't Hell I'm not going to take it easy on you, cazadorcito."

"Fine by me." He huffed, before handing Pix off to Ying as the Scarecrow grew to the size of a large human, a noose around its neck, severed line hanging from its duster jacket as a burlap sack seemed to wrap around half of the Demon's crow-like skull. "After all, between the two of us I'm not the one who's Prey."

As soon as he pushed his magic into the little black and white skull he and Artemis had crafted, a wave of something twisted through the air. Visibly darkening it and turning the world monochrome, the only color where his cousin's malice filled cinders cut through the Madness. For while the others might not be able to pick it up, he could.

Whatever he and Artemis had made was converting Anima into Madness.

A quick glance towards Ying assured him that she was outside of his range, color perfectly normal outside of the edge of the field being projected. (Meaning the Madness is limited, and given how she's not looking very reptilian that also means there's minimal leakage in the field.)

"So your special project makes the world monochrome?" Val asked, sounding distinctly unimpressed. "I am seriously hoping that my cut is a little more impressive than this."

"This is just the… field of effect." He hedged, not quite feeling like explaining that he could feel the madness clinging to his mind, fingers dancing across his brain in an attempt to drive him insane.

He frowned as he considered something. "What it actually does is…"

The madness across him rippled before in a haze of shadows and static a second him appeared.

Albeit one that looked like little more than a shadow of himself as it silently tilted its head at him.

"Interesting…" His voice echoed.

"So it makes clones… Doesn't really do much when I can tell that this one is you." Val huffed, throwing a spell script at his copy and thus giving him plenty of time to get out of the way of the following burst of flame. "¿Qué?"

Hmm… He created another copy of himself, and tried to will it to move away only to find it simply standing there, the madness in his head assuring him that there was a switch to its behavior even if he didn't flip it just yet.

"Espanta." Val ordered, causing her Scarecrow to send out a crow towards both him and the clone.

He ducked to the side, and rather than going after him all of the birds seemed to twitch as the madness rippled before they all dive bombed the clone and promptly exploded. (Okay, so the clone… compels people to attack it… I can use that but… what happens if I make it very clear which one I am?)

Deciding to test that out, he formed another clone just as he rushed forward towards Val and the Scarecrow.

With a growl of frustration Val moved to meet him, her bat raised in the air, only for her bat to collide with the echo as it suddenly appeared in front of him. "What the fuck?!"

Val wiped at her eyes, that now so close he could see had gone bloodshot, Madness rippling over her, "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!"

Without a care for anything the other teen rushed him with her bat swinging it at him in a frenzy, seemingly so enraged that she couldn't even think about triggering the various spellscripts that he knew she'd carved into that bat.

(The Madness… it's driving her insane…) He was pretty sure that was going to be temporary based on the way Madness seemed to wash over her without actually becoming a part of her.

"Get away from her!" The Scarecrow screamed as it leapt around its mistress and rushed him, forcing him to dodge out of several swipes from its bearlike claws.

Ducking under one such swing, he stabbed his knife into the Demon's flank, feeling a ripple of madness wash over him as another echo formed behind him.

"I'm not falling for that puta!" The Scarecrow roared, avoiding the echo as it continued to pursue him, leaving him to keep fleeing its strikes. The Demon seemingly able to see the difference between him and the echoes.

Not that that helped it hit him while it and its master were lost to their frenzy.

As this dragged out, he couldn't help but grimace as he checked his talisman and realized just how much magic maintaining this field was costing him. (At this rate I'd barely be able to keep this up for five… maybe ten minutes.)

Which is why rather than letting this spar -not that he felt like calling this rather poor showing from the Scarecrow and its keeper that- he reached out for mental switch he knew that the echoes' own Madness had bound itself to, before giving into his own beast.

Each and every one of the echoes twitched and spasmed, their movements becoming erratic as they all hunched over, their fingers curling into claws as they seemingly grew fangs, all of their eyes glowing as more than one dropped to all four.

He quit running as ducked under the Scarecrow's arm and grasped Val's bat in his hand, his knife falling to the ground as he grasped the other teen by her throat and held her by her throat.

"¡Aléjate de ella, pinche bastardo!" The Demon roared lunging for him, before half a dozen beastly echoes lunged at it dogpiling it and causing it to crash to the side even as the scarecrow ripped them all to shreds in seconds. Not that that prevented the dozens of faint bleeding wounds they'd clawed into it.

"Right… I think this is enough." He sighed, forcing the skull to retract whatever Madness field had created.

For a moment Val continued to kick and claw at him, trying to break free of his grasp, before the veins in her eyes slowly retracted. Whatever fight she had shortly being replaced by confusion as the last of the Madness left her. "What… what just happened?"

Before he could answer he found himself being forced away from Val as the Scarecrow wrapped itself around her, using its own twisting flesh to create a wall of meat to protect her as it quickly grabbed him and threw him away from its master. All the while the Demon's eyes never left his as it growled at him, warning him against coming a step closer to its master.

Not that he could blame it as he considered the little skull in his hand. (It creates echoes that compel people to attack it instead of me, while infecting them with Madness when they do, or ripping them to shreds when I give into my own Insanity…)

It wasn't quite what he was going for but… (this thing might be more dangerous than a weapon against people.)

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