And the people continued to cheer on them like nothing happened, like Iván said, puppets bound to a routine. Their response around the wedding is entirely scripted, no AI at play. Barbarossa isn't even part of their act. Puppets bound to a routine.... Wait a minute... They would still react to the wedding, right? She turned her head towards Iván's mask, and back at the crowd. Why does Iván wear his mask? He went mask-free for some time ago to her, at least in the bed, ahem, the tavern room. And everybody took it like wearing a red, intimidating mask is normal in a wedding. Really? Corvella snapped her fingers, not because the titan wanted to wipe half of the universe, but because she realized something else very important. Because of the disappearance of Alpha-priest, they skipped a crucial part in the wedding ceremony, but there was a clue left by Iván's projection, a kiss, the kiss. This should work, for it is an actual part of a wedding ceremony. They'll need the crowd to participate, though. Even if they're mere puppets, they still have to follow a routine. No one knew Iván's face behind the mask. Corvella does, but they were in charge of this illusion at that time, where everything was very realistically done. But this time, if she's right, it should not be there. "Iván, I have a suspicion that I would like to confirm. Bear with me, okay? No, I'm not going to punch him. That part comes later." She walked up to the crowd, still cheering on them. "Everyone. I thank you for your wishes and prayers. But we still have something, a sacred ritual that will seal our love together, forever and after." Corvella winked and shot a grin at Barbarossa who still looked overly proud of his masterful illusion. And she was right on spot, the crowd momentarily looked at each other before chanting a word repeatedly. Kiss. kiss. kiss. As Barbarossa frowned, confused by what they were going for, where the wedding is heading into, the bride walked back to Iván, putting both of her hands on Iván's mask and smiling. "You heard what they want. You're still wearing this mask. Let's take this off, shall we?"
KISS OF DEATH Hidden: theme Iván simply nodded when @Corvella told him her request. It was simple enough. Bearing with someone like her came easy for him, especially since they've fought together as members of Witch Ops, its very first generation. With his life, he trusted Titan, and he hoped that with hers, she trusted him, too. Otherwise, that would have gotten really awkward during Witch Ops missions, quests. Witch Ops was a team, and as with any functioning team, its members needed to trust each other with their lives. At least at an extent. The only problem that he considered was waiting to punch Barbarossa in his perfectly white teeth. Iván was not a fan of being drawn into an illusion, intricate as it may be, pulled into someone else's fanfiction of a fairytale romance, turned into nothing more than a puppet. Of course, it would only be inevitable that he'd realize he was in one, as the same could be said for Corvella. Both of them were well-versed in the art and science of illusion magic. He wondered if Barbarossa himself even believed he could pull this off for much longer. Maybe that wasn't in the cards for him. Maybe that was never anything he considered. "What?" Iván narrowed his eyes as he looked out into the crowd, caught off-guard by their chanting of the same word over and over again. He turned to Barbarossa who seemed equally confused, before his eyes were met by Corvella's. He almost leapt back when his mask found itself cornered by both her hands. Thankfully, Iván was still in control of his body, somewhat, and was able to stay himself still. It wasn't like leaping backwards would help anyway. He had to trust his partner with this one. "Are you... You're not going to indulge them, are you?" Iván kissing Corvella, Corvella kissing Iván, the very thought sent shivers up his spine. Or was it excitement? Oh, no. Was this all Barbarossa's doing? Did he somehow gain control of Corvella once again, overpower her will, turned her back into his leading lady puppet? Iván turned to him instantly and his anguish softened into enlightenment. The confusion on Barbarossa's face told him everything. He wasn't in control of what Corvella was doing, was trying to do. He looked her in the eye, an eyebrow raised from behind his mask, and considered everything else that she had told, that she was saying. The mask? Take it off? What would that accomplish? No one in this church, save for a few exceptions, Corvella included, knew what he really looked like behind the mask. Even Barbarossa didn't know what he looked like. This was a mistake. They were going to give him his face, his identity, and Barbarossa would know more about him than he needed to. Wait, that's it! Barbarossa didn't know what he really looked like, so did that mean what Iván thought that meant? There was only one way to find out. Iván put both his hands on Corvella's, nodding before the two of them took his mask. He wondered if Barbarossa gave him a pretty face, maybe something like Neil Patrick Harris' face? Iván could almost laugh.
The sight presented at her made Corvella surprised. Behind the mask, there was nothing, empty, void. She cannot explain it in detail, but it's uncomfortable just to stare at the infinity on Iván's supposed face. "Looks like you have never managed to remove his mask out there to see what he looked like. Trust me, I've tried." She chuckled, tossing the red mask at Barbarossa, whose face in disbelief. The bride looked back at Iván. "Uh, you might not want to look at your face right now. There's nothing there, literally nothing." "So what? You think you have won, just after finding out a teeny weeny crack in my GREATEST illusion? Not even close, baby." Barbarossa looked irritated, shattering the mask on his hand with his illusory power. As much as she hated to admit it, he's right. Even after finding a point of disbelief, the illusion did not crumble but stayed still. "Just in a few minutes, I will be putting a beautifully crafted dagger in your hearts. You should thank me, for letting you kiddos die in love." Desperate, she grabbed the Bound Prince's shoulder and shook it. "We need to get out of here! You're the key for us to break through the illusion, but how?" They need to think of something quick, something that Barbarossa never calculated and scripted inside of this illusion. With her fingernails, Corvella tried to slit her own throat to try and kill herself, but the wound closed as quick as it formed, with the flamboyant killer laughing sinisterly among the chanting crowds. In a state of panic, there's only brute force on her mind. Turning towards the groom, she tried to throw a slap against his face, hoping that's hard enough to resonate through into the real him. Instead, her hand phases through his blank face. And a strange sensation followed for a moment, causing Corvella to look at her own hand. "What?" Her arm was still broken even moments ago, but phasing through Iván's face caused it to work like it used to. Was it being pulled closer to the reality? Barbarossa, obviously realized a flaw in his illusion, shouted angrily from the background. "Don't you dare put your hands near each other anymore! Your love story, it is already overrrrrr!" Wasn't that remark quite contradictive with what he's been doing up until now? She turned towards the no-faced Iván, knowing now that he could really bring her back to reality.
"What do you mean there's nothing there?" Of course there was something there. Iván had a face. His face was supposed to be there. His hands moved to prove that fact by touching his face but regretted it immediately. There was nothing there. At least he couldn't feel anything there. Panic quickly set in the illusionist's mind, body, and even soul. His heart started racing. "What the hell, @Corvella?! Where the hell is my face?!" From fear, mostly alarm, Iván moved to anger. As soon as he heard Barbarossa's dumb voice, Bound Prince turned to his direction and narrowed his eyes. Well, he did, but because he didn't actually have a face in Barbarossa's illusion, no one would've known he was doing it, narrowing his eyes. That fact just made Iván angrier. No one would like him when he was angry. Wait, no, that was Corvella. Still, he was angry and an angry Iván was somewhat scary, too, probably. Probably not. "You! You did this! What did you do to my face? Give me back my face or so help me purple god I will rip yours off and use it for myself!" He would've leapt, lunged, towards Barbarossa, and probably got swatted because this was still his illusion and stuff, but thankfully, Titan shook him back to his senses. Literally. She literally grabbed him and shook him. Key? Break through? How? A thousand scenarios, answers, guesses mostly, invaded Iván's mind. He wasn't entirely sure if he was truly the key to them escaping the foul illusion, though under normal circumstances getting married to a beautiful and strong and independent woman like Corvella wouldn't be bad, but it was something to go on. But, try as he might, think as hard as he might, none of the scenarios in his head seemed to be truly the answer, the key to their escape. With sadness in his face, Iván turned to his bride, "I've thought about it, so many alternate futures, to consider all the possible solutions to this powerful illusion. I had about fourteen million six hundred and five ideas, but of them, I found only... Holy crap, what are you doing?!" Iván was no stranger to gore, to seeing blood, but the way Corvella tried to do herself in, it was too much, too unexpected, too out of the blue. He didn't get more time to express his disgust, however, because aside from not having a face, Corvella also slapped him. Hard. Or at least it would've been hard. Iván didn't actually feel it. He felt nothing, though that did not stop him from taking a step back, instinctively, almost falling off where he stood. "What," Iván dryly responded to Corvella's question. For some reason, that slap, rather that intentional slap made Barbarossa angry. He started screaming at them, protesting. But why? It didn't do anything. The slap wasn't a slap. It didn't make contact with Iván's face. Iván didn't feel Corvella's hand, the entirety of it, smack the side of his face, his cheek. All that happened was Titan's hand phasing through his face, at least where it should've been. Was it her hand phasing through his face? "Corvella?" Iván's full attention was on her now. "What happened? What is it? What do you feel?" "Nothing! Nothing happened, you fool! Ignore all that and continue on with the wedding! Don't disappoint these puppets, I mean people! They came all the way here to witness you two die, I mean tie the knot!"
"My hand, it got phased through your face. Then I could feel it came back to that moment before it was broken, along this weird sensation." She elaborated, Barbarossa's words stuck in her head. Is she doing something Barbarossa didn't want her to? "I think.. I think my hand was being pulled out from the illusion somehow. I'm getting pretty sure of it." By passing through his nonexistent face? Who the hell invented this kind of plot device? Waitwaitwait. If she can force herself into Iván's face, does it mean she can pull out from this illusion? Corvella put her hands on Iván's shoulders and gave him a notice once again. "Listen, I might have said this a bit too much, but I think I know how to get out from this illusion. I just need to get out first, then I will wake you up. Do you believe in me?" As she spoke, overly irritated Barbarossa tried to make his way through the overwhelming crowds to get to them. "We might not have much time left. This life, this one month we've spent together, even if all of it was fake and orchestrated out of our consent, and will mean nothing once we get back, it was beautiful. I will not forget it, even if you choose to do so." She pointed at the mastermind with her left hand. "A lesson for you should you write a book in your jail cell, Barbarossa; The best love stories begin and end with a kiss." Dramatically, Corvella closed her eyes, slowly bringing her face to Iván's, well, where it should be while the flamboyant psycho screams in slow-mo at the background "NOOOOO!" As soon as she made contact, everything explodes in light. The surroundings looked like it was bombed by heaven's light as time stopped around them, before the woman in white finally faded, accompanied with the wedding bell ringing through the room.
KISS OF LIFE Hidden: theme "Huh," was all Iván could muster at @Corvella 's revelation. Apparently, he was indeed the key to getting the hell out of Barbarossa's really intricate and masterful illusion. Well, his face was, his nonexistent face. For all of Barbarossa's lies and deceit, he was not able to, could not, craft a believable illusion with something he didn't even have enough information on. It was technically one of the most basic tenets of illusion magic: doing your research to fuel your illusions. Every lie needs a bit of a truth to them, after all. Without even just a smidgeon of reality, an illusion would easily unravel. In every other aspect of his illusion, Barbarossa did well with his research, with implanting bits of truth to the grand lie. Yet, his masquerade was unable to become perfect, as absolute illusion wasn't even a thing. There was always going to be a way out, as there is always a way out of every illusion. Iván was thankful Corvella found their way out before they could fully succumb to the deranged weirdo's fantasy. "Always," Iván nodded at his partner, Titan, and if he had a face in this world, in Barbarossa's impressive fanfiction, it would have shown his serious resolve, his unwavering faith at the woman who was before him, a fighter whose own resolve, strength, faith he himself had witnessed beforehand, time and time again. "I believe in you who believes in me." The whole thing with their supposed way out, though, had to involve faith both ways. Iván could do nothing else but trust his partner, which he didn't mind, which he was already doing from the get-go anyway, but Corvella could do something else, pursue another idea, if there was one, rather than risk the uncertainty of what was on the other side of Iván's face. Truth be told, at that moment in time, they really didn't have any idea what would happen should Corvella stick her hand through his face yet again. Maybe Barbarossa was tricking them. He was a pretty darn good trickster. But if they had no other options, no alternatives, then that uncertainty was perhaps their only way out. Faith in Corvella's plan. Faith in Iván's face. It was a pretty risky situation, solution, but it was still better than becoming Barbarossa's puppet. "I'm not sure I'll be able to forget all of this, too," the words spilled out of Iván's mouth before he could think them through. The attraction, he might forget, the sexual tension, everything that involved him gawking and blushing at Corvella's physical form, which would only be logical considering his orientation. But his admiration of her, the respect that came with it, would be much harder to just turn into dust. Even before all this, Iván had already held a special kind of regard towards her, Titan, the woman who would put her own body on the line to protect her allies, friends. Corvella was definitely one of the best warriors Iván has ever met, and nothing would ever change his mind about that. "You're amazing, Corvy. You'll always be amazing, before and after all this." Iván grinned as Corvella addressed Barbarossa, the look on the flamboyant fanfiction fool's face was pretty sweet. A lesson, his jail cell, Iván could imagine all of it now: Barbarossa behind bars, crying because of the monotonous prison uniform and--- "Wait, did you say kiss?" Iván turned to Corvella to clarify what she meant by that but it was already too late. Her face was fast approaching his, though in his head, mind, everything was happening in slow motion, with him unable to pull away or do anything against it. Maybe he was curious about it, too, how Corvella was as a kisser, how her lips would taste. Or maybe at the back of his head, he knew that it might be the only way to get the hell out of there. Even though he had no face in that world, he felt something on his lips a few seconds before everything turned white, before he could only hear wedding bells until they faded out of existence, before he felt nothing else but the cold on his back. Where was he? Was he dead? Did Barbarossa kill them before they could leave his illusion? Or did his illusion have some sort of failsafe, killing anyone who managed to try and get out of it? That would've been quite the proficiency in illusion magic but there wasn't any way to find out about that, especially in his current condition. "Corvella?" Iván called out for the last real person he remembered before everything became nothing. He received nothing as well in response. The faceless illusionist started worrying. What if Corvella suffered a worse fate for having risked her own consciousness first just to get out of that masquerade? Was she also trapped in this same bright voice, elsewhere, away from him? "I'm a little bit disappointed in you, son," a familiar voice caught his attention from behind him. "Alpha?" Iván turned around to find Alphabet Chocolate behind him. Well, what looked like her, anyway. He quickly remembered that Barbarossa used her image to trick him into feeling comfortable in his illusion earlier. Or maybe Barbarossa didn't even know who she was, what she was to him, merely tricking his own subconscious to pull out the most comfortable image he had in his head, and his subconscious, on its own terms, took to his mentor's form, not just as a way to conform to Barbarossa's powerful magic but also to imply his very salvation and resistance. "You're not Alpha, are you?" "Nope," fake Alpha grinned, taking his hand. "We've already been through this. You should know who I am by now." Iván simply stared in confusion as fake Alpha held his hand in hers, "I don't... I don't understand." "Did you do it?" fake Alpha stared into his eyes with that same grin. At first, Iván continued to stay confused at what she was saying, what she meant by her words, but over time, slowly but surely, he understood what fake Alpha was getting at. She was simply asking if he was certain, in his heart and in his mind and in his soul, that what he and Corvella tried to do, which was escape Barbarossa's illusion, was the only thing they could've done. Iván looked at fake Alpha with the same resolve and seriousness he had shown Corvella prior to their kiss, "Yes." "What did it cost?" The question came quickly, seemingly to reaffirm his resolve. Iván contemplated the things he had experienced in Barbarossa's illusion, the peace he had felt. Everything felt so easy, so calm, with someone else on the driver's seat, steering his fate. It was less confusing, less scary, that way. But life, reality, was all about the confusion and the fear, the doubts and the struggles, the courage and the fight. The truth was that even if ignorance might truly be more blissful, it wouldn't be real bliss. Everything was worth fighting for, changing, on your own terms. "...everything." As if on cue, everything began to change once more.
Corvella flies through an endless stream of white light, her wedding dress dissolved into diamond dusts, signifying the end of the illusion as a familiar dark armor slowly materializing on her body. She braced as she saw the end of the stream, and went through it, instantly waking the real world Corvella with a loud gasp. Goddamn that kiss felt like something even when there's no face. Without wasting any time, she quickly analyzed the surroundings. Iván and her were bound in a fancy sofa with decorated ropes. The man sat still, his mind deep within the illusion, mask still on. Of course, she had tried to remove it before, it was not easy. She noticed Barbarossa sitting in the middle of the room, on his own chair, eyes closed trying to maintain the now-failed illusion spell. Two of his mooks were ready in front of them with dagger raised. Wait, someone like Barbarossa employed mooks? How classic. Her free legs delivered a swift kick into the two's groins, pushing them back while she frees herself with... sheer power? The bindings just exploded from awesomeness, before Corvella channeled her illusion power and touched Iván's shoulder to wake him up from the illusion. Crap, it's going to take some time. The two lowly thugs recovered from the kick and rushed to attack her, only to be blocked by the shield still attached on her back. She streamed more magic power into Iván, before finally shaking him to bring him back from the nightmare. "Good morning, Iván. We got butts to kick." Breaking the veil of illusion also woke the flamboyant illusionist with an angry look on his face. The two found themselves back in Barbarossa's castle, this time not burning. She realized that only few minutes has actually passed for that one month of illusion. It also means that... Pow. She punched one of the mooks flying into Barbarossa's seat, with the owner being lucky enough to dodge just in time. Of course, her arm is back to punch things. Panicked Barbarossa decided to ditch his method and called the rest of his bodyguards. "Kill them! Kill them who have defiled my perfect fantasy!" Back to punching things, I guess. "Let's go, Iván."
Iván didn't even get a moment or two to regain his bearings, his composure. As soon as he was barely awake, still groggy as hell, people were already yelling at him, at each other, at their haters? All Iván didn't need much to know what was going on, however. The first thing he saw when he woke up was @Corvella, her beautiful face, which was a great way to wake up, truth be told, at least greater than seeing Barbarossa's weird as frogs face. The mere sight of him made Iván narrow his eyes in annoyance, disgust, anger, and soon enough, the flamboyant criminal's bodyguards flooded the room. Iván sighed. At least the room wasn't on fire. "You don't have to tell me twice, Corv," he mustered a smile at his partner, even winking at her to show that he was up for what had to come next. Iván reached with both hands inside his coat and nodded at Corvella, signalling for her to keep smashing fools as soon as he was done with his part, and his part didn't really take long. The tinkerer took two smoke bombs out of his coat and threw all of them at the oncoming bodyguards, forcing them to halt where they stood and cover their faces. Corvella had about a few seconds before they'd decide to move, which was all she pretty much needed. "I'm taking that guy's hammer and going after Barbie." He didn't mean it to come out like an order or a surefire statement, but it probably pretty much did. On a regular day, a normal mission, quest, Iván wouldn't get this worked up, not enough for his Zalrisis to briefly manifest on an arm, but this wasn't a regular day and Barbarossa was anything but normal. Iván was furious at the invasion of privacy, the breach of his own mind. He wouldn't stop Corvella if she wanted to join him in smashing the weirdo's face in, but he wouldn't take the extra measure to invite her either. He wouldn't need to. But none of that concerned him at the moment. He just wanted to take that one guy's hammer and smash Barbarossa in the face. One thing that anyone who's held a hammer would know about a hammer is its speed. Rather, its lack thereof. The weapon was slow but mostly because it was heavy. In the hand of someone who has the means to offset that speed issue, the hammer that the guard swung at Iván's face, head, would've probably killed him in one go. But the guard had nothing but his hammer, and Iván was keen on taking it from him. It helped that the illusionist was quick to create illusory copies of himself, momentarily distracting the same guard, at least long enough for Iván to elbow him straight in the face and grab that hammer out of his hands. A few seconds later, the guard was taken out by his own weapon, and Iván was staring Barbarossa straight in his creepy, beady little eyes. From where Iván stood, he could see clearly the look of disdain in Barbarossa's eyes, but it was immediately replaced by mocking laughter, "You think you've won? You two actually think you've beaten me?" The strange criminal started laughing maniacally as more men flooded into the room. Barbarossa, as he spoke, walked backwards, towards a door that had a flaming brazier on either side. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, babies, but you have not beaten me. Not with those outfits. Oh, burn. Literally." Barbarossa then tipped both braziers as he fled the room, the curtains all over the place catching fire. "What the f---" Iván cut himself off as the doorway burst in flames, the men trapped in that room with them now more concerned about their own lives than taking the two Witch Ops member out. "Who the hell designed this room?" It was probably Barbarossa, that annoying buttface.
The smoke bombs' timing were perfect for Corvella to deliver a simultaneous strike to both of their attackers by leaping above and swinging her legs for a mid-air kick. She never practiced martial arts (at least in this world) to have fighting techniques, but brute force is enough to drive both of the enemy's heads into the ground. Those two aren't definitely going up anytime soon. "Yeah, you better smash that guy with his own hammer. It will be hundred times better than getting hit by my fist." She joked, sliding her jet black visor to cover her face before diving into wave of Barbarossa's underpaid mooks while Iván does his job and sent the guard flipping backwards. "Go after him, I'll handle those weak summer interns." Let alone killing, those people act like they hadn't held a weapon before as they swing their clubs and swords recklessly, while advancing to attack one by one like in bad action movies. Actually, as soon as she's finished with the horde, another batch stormed into the room. Okay, just how many guards he employed? All this time Barbarossa looked like a lone serial killer, but this castle and his subordinates shouted that he's more of a criminal mastermind. Not finished with that, he actually set the whole room on fire as the curtains all over the place start burning quickly like that one scene in that star wars movie. But the fight scene is not as good as that one, unfortunately. "Yep, I'm definitely getting deja vu from this fire. We better catch him before we get married all over again." Chaos ensues, and fortunately those mooks were too busy panicking and running into each other that clearing the way was easy for both Bound Prince and Titan. The fire spread too quickly, producing smoke and heat everywhere. The only exit to this very room is covered by extreme heat of flames. "When there's a wall, there's a way." Corvella walked into the furthest wall and banged her shield onto it with great rage, sending the stone bricks flying and revealed a path as oxygen flowed through the hole. As they exited the room from the wall, the others followed suit and ran to escape the building fire, leaving Corvella dumbfounded as she stared at Iván with 'what the hell' look. Barbarossa did say that they haven't won yet, but it's painfully obvious that he's already lost with his mooks leaving him and after relentless pursuit, they caught up and intercepted him before the main castle gate. Having no choice but to fight, Barbarossa revealed two stylishly ornamented knives in his hands, his posture suggesting that he's also quite a fighter. "You're not going to lick those, are you?" Shortly after though, he began to gloat once again and laughing maniacally and of course, licked the knives. "I take it back, you kiddos are looking great, dying in the fire with those outfits. Romantic, isn't it?" "Gross. I'm not going to be stabbed by those. Ivy, you go first."
It took Iván a few seconds for his scowl, directed towards Barbarossa, to turn into a look of disapproval, more precisely a look of disbelief, at @Corvella. Granted that their whole marriage was but the flamboyant pyromaniac's self-indulgent fanfiction, Iván didn't find the idea of marrying Titan as repulsive as she seemed to. At the very least, he'd gain a bodyguard, and considering he was physically weak, his elbow already hurting after that rage-fueled strike at the guard whose hammer he "borrowed," that was already a win in itself. With narrowed eyes at his partner, he spread his arms to either side, emphasizing his question, "Hey, Corv, what the heck?" But then another guard tried to get his hands on Iván, so the masked illusionist had to let the teeny tiny issue go for the moment. Instead, he unleashed all the pent-up aggression he had in him on the aforementioned guard, bludgeoning the man's kneecaps after he tried to take a swipe at Iván with his dagger. In exchange for his antagonist screaming in pain, Iván got a tiny scratch on his stinky red mask, previously the actual face of a creature he had encountered from down in the Inverted Spire during a failed expedition that saw and the group's healer die. That very memory only served to infuriate Iván, crystal spikes bursting from his right leg, and along with the pain of his Zalrisis, fueled him to strike down the same guard with one knock-out blow to the face. When he turned to Corvella again, she was staring back at him while most of the guards who were sent after them ran past her and out into a hole in the wall he immediately assumed was made by her. Who else had that much raw power? Finding two guards trying to run past him, Iván grabbed them and pointed at their fallen own, "At least bring your friends! We won't chase you. For now." After all, the pair had bigger, more flamboyant fish to fry. Catching up with Barbarossa was apparently easy enough. Trying not to grimace at him licking his knives? Not so much. If Iván could've puked, he would've, but now wasn't the time to make grand gestures to emphasize his disgust at the crazy weirdo who was wearing too much pink and making too weird comments. Iván narrowed his eyes at Corvella once again when she suggested he die first at Barbarossa's well-manicured, dainty hands. To be fair, Iván did think about getting a well-deserved manicure after all of this was said and done. After all, he did endure so much from this whole thing regardless of the good things. He was going to make Barbarossa pay. "I'm going to break your face," Iván pointed his stolen hammer at Barbarossa who immediately shot him a scowl, a flamboyant one. He was about to speak more flamboyant words when he was cut off by an intense psychic pain. It took him a few seconds but Barbarossa was quick to realize what had happened: Iván was trying to hurt him the same way Barbarossa had hurt him. Was the whole breaking his face thing just a diversion? Yes and no. Iván turned to Corvella with a nod. "Or maybe my wife will break your face instead. Who knows?"
Even if Barbarossa was the master of illusion arts, the state he's currently in made him highly susceptible to mental attacks, especially as powerful as Iván's. The pain caused the flamboyant psycho to flinch for a moment, just long enough for Corvella to take advantage and slap one knife off his left hand, grabbing his other arm and sweep his legs with one motion. She almost drove her monstrous punch into his face, but hits the rock floor beside him instead in cliche. Heroes don't kill, and this story is strictly PG-13 for someone to break a face. "You're defeated, Barbarossa. Give up, I don't want to rearrange your face with a punch." Of course, she still had some score to settle. With her foot, she stomped the villain's right wrist hard enough for him to whimper. "Let's get out of here. This place is burning down, as it should be." The duo dragged Barbarossa like a sack of meat out of the castle, which surprisingly did not explode like the one in the illusion. Guess he was a fan of Michael Bay. They tied Barbarossa into a tree, watching as the villain's castle consumed by the flame. Corvella remembered this place, where they rested after escaping from the burning castle, perfectly mirroring this scene. Guess Barbarossa was a master illusionist after all. Such dangerous person cannot be left in a normal jail, he'll easily escape. Wasn't the Witch Ops building a special jail for dangerous villains some time before? Azkaban? Alkatraz? He would be a perfect prisoner there, if the jail's completed already. The blonde knight turned to Iván with a smug face. "Hey Iván, I'm still angry right now, and I don't think I have moved on from that yet. So why don't we give him a taste of his own medicine?" What she suggested was nothing else than the good ol' mind torture, but this time they'll put a twist on it. "What are you two planning to-" She put her palm on Barbarossa's head, waiting for Iván to join her before a faint purple glow shine through the eyes of the victim. "Never play with a girl's feelings."
LOVE BURNS Hidden: theme All that energy Barbarossa spent with his fanfiction of an illusion on two other proficient illusionists made him a tad weaker, at least more susceptible to Iván's rage-fueled phantasmal attack, which in turn made him susceptible to @Corvella 's rage-fueled physical attack. If Titan didn't know a thing or two about illusion magic herself, or any kind of magic to be more precise, then the pair would make the perfect couple: a caster and a berserker. Magic complementing physical attacks, that was the perfect pairing, wasn't it? Watching his supposed bride dominate Barbarossa made Iván smile. He himself wouldn't be as effective when it comes to physicality, but Corvella? Corvella was made for physicality. The pain in Barbarossa's face, that whimper, would have been well-spent being relished, but with the castle burning behind them, they didn't have any choice but to drag their torturer with them to safety. That didn't stop Iván from grabbing Barbarossa as tightly as he could, though. It wasn't as painful as anything Corvella could throw at Barbarossa but it was enough for Iván to feel somewhat better. At the very least, he felt himself relieve some of that pent-up stress. "I'd be happy to, my dear," Iván offered his hand to Corvella to build a connection between that more or less would strengthen the illusionary smackdown they both wanted to gift Barbarossa. That twinkle in Titan's eye revealed to Iván that she shared his end game, and Iván believed that there would be no sweeter twist than making Barbarossa suffer the very same things he had made them suffer. "W-whatever you two are planning to do, you won't get away with it! My men are loyal! They'll come and save m-" Before Barbarossa could finish his tirade, Corván's combination illusion finally took hold of him, dragging his consciousness out of the world of the awake and into the depths of whatever nightmare Witch Ops' illusionist pair had thought up for him. "Sweet dreams, sweetheart..." "W-where I am? What happened? Am I inside a church?" Barbarossa opened his eyes to a brightness he had to take a few seconds to get accustomed to. To his right, a lot of people were watching him with wide eyes, excitement in them, perhaps even joy, all wearing either black or white, tuxedoes or gowns, all very dashing and beautiful and wonderful in what they wore, in what they looked like. To his left, Barbarossa saw an old man in white, a priest, looking out into those people, the crowd, his guests, just starting his speech, his oration, his script. "Am I? Is this?" "We gather here to unite these two people in marriage. Their decision to marry has not been entered into lightly and today they publicly declare their private devotion to each other. The essence of this commitment is the acceptance of each other in entirety, as lover, companion, and friend. A good and balanced relationship is one in which neither person is overpowered nor absorbed by the other, one in which neither person is possessive of the other, one in which both give their love freely and without jealousy. Marriage, ideally, is a sharing of responsibilities, hopes, and dreams. It takes a special effort to grow together, survive hard times, and be loving and unselfish. Barbarossa felt his heart beat fast, faster than normal, his throat dry up, drier than any desert he has ever known, ever heard of, and his cheeks flush, warmer than the summer sun. Turning right in front of him, he saw a familiar face, a face that he alone, and perhaps his mother before she passed away, could have ever loved. All his worries, his doubts, his fears, his concerns, immediately dissipated, evaporated into thin air. That face, that face calmed him down. Just like that. "Where are you? Silly, Barbie. You're at our wedding, of course," Barbarossa's bride chuckled at him, to which he could only smile. Finally, his dream had come true. "Well, that was...something," Iván heaved a sigh of relief, panting, as he looked into Barbarossa's unconscious face. Was it cruelty for them to trap them in such a nightmarish illusion, perhaps never to get out ever? Was it irony that he would fall to the same axe he had tried to execute them with, that they lowered themselves to his level? Or was it simply mercy that they had gifted the face-eating serial killer who, in villainous terms, had an impeccable resume? Iván shook his head, turning to Corvella. He was going to ask her what they were supposed to do now but instead lost himself in the warmth of her hands. "Has anyone ever told you that you have really beautiful hands?"
Maybe love was all Barbarossa ever wanted. Maybe he just wanted to take his frustrations on everyone else, refusing so hard to face his own nightmares that it turned him to such a maniac. No matter how much crime a person did, they deserve to face justice and punishment. No one is unredeemable. That's why what they did to Barbarossa was just simply a gift, maybe for the best for him and everybody else. As they stopped, passing the last string of illusion world to Barbarossa himself, Corvella noticed a faint, genuine smile forming on the edge of the psychopath serial killer's mouth. "Looks like it he finally got it." This was all they could do to him, though. As harsh as it is to stay behind the bars for a very long time, he might be able to overcome it with the love inside him and hopefully reform. Somehow, their hands were still joined together. She looked at Iván, her that one-time husband in confusion before he uttered a strange question. If they were still in Barbarossa's poorly executed love story, she would blush and stutter uncomfortably. The fact that she didn't blush eased her mind. Normally, she would deliver a hell of a slap into the Bound Prince's unfortunate face, maybe causing him to lose a handful of teeth in the process. But not today, this time there's an exception. Praise the generous Empress. The light-haired black knight instead chucked lightly. "No, no one has. You're the first to say that." She put her other hand to lift Iván's hand away from hers in a playful manner. "Anyway," Corvella's hands were both suddenly on the surface of the red menacing visage, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a lovely person behind the stinky mask?" And gently, she removed the face of the spire creature with a single move like a miracle, perfectly mirroring the wedding scene. Without asking for permission, the Titanic Empress quickly leaned forward to the taller man, putting her lips on his right cheek for a while, before finally putting back the mask to where it should be. "Consider it a good luck charm, so this kind of illusion mumbo jumbo won't happen again, all right?" One month worth of love life quickly faded as they returned to their former self, the dark heroes of Witch Ops. But even if it undid most of the things, they've learned a lot about each other in just few minutes of reality. Maybe love itself has faded, or maybe it was never there before, or was it? Life is strange, and love is even stranger. Corvella picked up Barbarossa and carried him on her shoulders, as they went to go turn him to Majolica and report the mission. The flame burning behind them slowly subsides as few drops of rain start to fall. "Let's go then. What are you waiting for?"
