Beauty & The Beasts (Twisted Wonderland x Reader)

Boss Fight -120-

The minute the last words left his lips, the tower itself began to shake. You gripped onto the sides of the Chariot in an attempt to steady yourself. Suddenly, a sickening yellowish green light flooded through the tower, growing and becoming brighter by the second.

"The gate's opening wider!" Vil exclaimed, looking over the side to see the origin of the light. "That spell... Does Idia's signature spell open the Underworld gate?!" He cried in shock. You paled, keeping a tight hold on the edges of your ride as a nervous chuckle broke through your throat. "That's a... uhh... really unique magic, huh..." You murmured.

Before anyone could respond, a new voice broke into the mix. "Hey, guys! I'm back!" It announced with a giggle at the end. It was... odd. A rather cheerful, light but heavily dampened and disoriented voice. Almost... familiar in a way?

Wait.

Ignoring the pit in your stomach and nauseous feeling upon seeing the literal gates to the underworld open, you whipped around to look at the giant, inky mass raising from the hole. The blue flames, the shape, the voice. Did... did Ortho have a growth spurt or something?!?!

"Wh... What in the blue blazes is THAT?!" Epel croaked out with wide eyes, face paler than usual. Vil sucked in a harsh breath of air, body clearly tense from nervousness. "I'm guessing it's Idia's Phantom, since it joined with the blot oozing from him. But it said "I'm back." And its voice is oddly familiar..." He muttered off slowly. Too stunned, you didn't bother to share your theory about who it was.

Fortunately, you didn't have to. "Aw, you can't tell? It's me! Ortho!" It confirmed. Unfortunately, your thoughts were correct.

Vil curled a lip in shock. "Wait, what?!" He practically hissed out. Phantom Ortho giggled even more, seemingly taking great pleasure in seeing the impact he had had on the group - especially someone as put together as Vil.

"What do you think? I've gotten bigger, huh?" The Phantom boasted, puffing out his chest a bit to emphasize his point. "All the friends I made in the Underworld helped make me extra big!" And big he was. From his neck to the bottom of his robes, Ortho looked mostly the same to your dreamscape Hades - just with bigger hands. The clothes were basically the same expect the bottom of Hades' robes were more smokey while Ortho's dripped ink.

It was the head that was different. Just like the other Phantoms, Ortho's head had been replaced with a vial of ink with a golden flame top. There was a crack in the middle of his head with gaseous blot and ink running from it. As for the Shroud's infamous blue fire hair, it seemed to have migrated to the Phantom's collar with black tuffs surrounding it to complete the overall look. In all honesty, you preferred the pervious Ortho by a long shot.

"Turns out the curse I have is actually a blessing that empowers me," the oversized Phantom began, "The Underworld's filled with blot. So I kept absorbing it and burning brighter... Until finally, I became the Underworld itself!" He cheered, clearly pleased with himself. As if to emphasize his point, various, horrifying disfigured voices broke out from Ortho's inky body. "AAH... FINALLY OUT... WARM... SO WARM... HOW LONG...I'VE WAITED...FOR THIS MOMENT..."

You paled even more. "Yeah... That's... That's not exactly something to brag about..." You said slowly, perhaps even being traumatized in the process.

Rook, now uncharacteristically rattled (not that you could blame him) stared wide he'd at the mess before him. "So a bunch of Phantoms fused together into one giant form?!" He exclaimed. Vil threw his hands up, clearly over the whole situation. "Unbelievable. You're telling me that sinister monster is Ortho?"

Suddenly, you felt a sudden hand being placed over your shoulder causing you to glance over at it and realize it was Epel. He wasn't staring at you though, but rather at Ortho in confusion and surprise. "Wait, hold up... Look! On Ortho's shoulder!" He exclaimed, pointing with the hand not over your shoulder.