A/N: I had really, really hoped that the names for the other 6 coven leaders would have been revealed before this chapter, as well as anything about their personalities. They haven't. So I made them up. I might go back and change this a little, add canon names when they're revealed and such, but until then, I hope the names I chose aren't a distraction.
I had actually planned for Luz to meet all the coven leaders throughout the fic, establishing some kind of bond, friendly, or antagonistic, just to make the fighting more personal for her, but alas, I scrapped that since we didn't get any canon names or character traits for them, leaving her to only meet Darius and Eberwolf.
Have a happy Halloween!
With Raine's intel of where the portal was being kept, and Lilith's knowledge of the Castle's layout, weaving through the castle corridors went smoothly. The group, marching under the banner of the Bad Girl Coven, only having to deal with whoever got in their way, easily blasting them and outdoing the smaller patrols with sheer numbers.
As they approached the hidden door, Lilith and Raine made to open it, while Eda took a moment to pull Luz aside. "Kid, this is probably going to sound stupid, and responsible of me to say, but if you see an opportunity to jump through the portal before we blow it… you should take it."
"What? Eda, no, I can't do that." Luz shook her head, "I can't just leave you all here to fight while I run away!"
"Which is why I specified to do it before we blow the portal to kingdom come. There won't be a reason to fight anymore once it's down. Stick some fire glyphs on that baby, and get through if you have a shot, and it will end the fight quickly, and save both of our worlds."
Luz was conflicted, and it clearly showed on her face. Eda placed a hand on Luz's shoulders, "Look, we have most of the stuff to make our own door. I promise, I won't just abandon you over there. It might take a while, but I could get it up and running myself if I need to."
Luz trembled, but held out her pinky, "You swear?"
Eda gave a lopsided smile, and wrapped her own pinky around Luz's, "You aren't getting rid of me that easily, kiddo. Like it or not, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life."
"Good." Luz wrapped her mentor in a hug, and the two returned to the group together just as the door was pried open. Eda passed by Raine, Owlbert in hand and gave them a nudge, "Hey, Whispers, I've picked up a new trick. Watch this."
With a mighty(and kinda dorky) roar, Eda struck a pose that made her look more constipated than anything, and burst into a flurry of feathers. Wing's burst from her back, talon's replaced her feet and hands, and where she was taller than anyone else in their group already, she now towered over them as a Harpy.
She struck a pose and winked at her ex-paramour, "What do you think, huh? Pretty hot?"
Raine tugged at their collar, silently agreeing that it was, in fact, hotter in the castle than it had been a moment ago. Gulping, they asked, "And you can fight like that?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." Eda grinned. "Hey, Lily, try and keep up. It only took me thirty years to do this, at that rate you're going to be in your seventies before you look this good."
Lilith frowned, feeling a little underpowered without her magic, or a transformation spell, but gripped her staff tightly in hand. "I'll keep that in mind sister, and do it in half the time you took."
"I think you're perfect just the way you are, Hoot!" Hooty said encouragingly from behind her, strapped to her back in Porta-Hooty form.
"Thank you, Hootcifer."
Amity rolled her eyes at all of this banter, and pushed ahead of the group, "Come on, with all this noise they probably already know we're here."
Sure enough, after descending the small staircase and entering the main chamber, they were met face to face with a line of forces turned to face them. Luz recognized a few of them, Darius, Eberwolf, Hunter, Kikimora, and of course at their helm, Belos. The other's she only knew from the planning stages they had spent all day going over.
The shortest besides Eberwolf was a burly bearded man of a witch with a stern face, known as Slate. He ran the Construction Coven, and he certainly looked fit for the job, his crossed arms had muscles as thick as steel cables.
Beside him was a witch in a ridiculously tall top hat, Leader of the Potion coven, Curie. A cloth mask covered his mouth, and strands of his pale hair wisped across what little was still visible of his face. Up next was Sir Blackstone, the Illusion Master, a cocky looking man with a wave of hair swept to his right side. True to his showy fashion as an illusionist, he gave them all a mock bow in greeting.
Madame Ivy cackled as she eyed her opposition. She was a witch whose knowledge of plants exceeded even Willows. Beside her was perhaps the oldest member of the group, The Oracle Nastrodominik, who could perceive many paths into the future, and command powerful familiars with his crystal ball.
The last of the group was Healer Maxwell, a large, towering witch who almost made Eda's harpy form look small. He wore a visor that obscured his eyes, and atop his head appeared to be two large horns that had the points cut off and capped. Despite being a healer, they had the body any soldier would be envious of, muscle barely masked by the cape that cloaked them.
Having officially joined them in the chamber, Belos cocked his head at his new guests and his voice echoed throughout the room, "You're incessant chatter was beginning to annoy us. I'm glad you finally decided to join us so we could put an end to it for good."
Beside Luz, Eda and Lilith stood posed and ready, staffs in hand. Amity was right behind Luz, guarding her back, and flanking her on either side was Gus and Willow, further flanked by Edric and Emira. Bringing up the rear were Raine and the BATS, with King perched on Eda's shoulder, and Hooty strapped to Lilith's back.
Despite outnumbering Belos's group, Luz knew this was going to be an uphill battle. Even getting past them and to the portal in the back of the room was going to be a challenge, seeing as these were the best of the best in their fields.
Speaking of the portal, Luz had to hold in her gasp, as she caught a look at it. It glowed in a golden light, the door housed in the center of a ring. The magic expanded outside of the doors frame and into the ring, and was clearly expanding even farther past that, slowly consuming the room, and if Belos had his way, the entire Isles would soon follow. Luz knew what she had to do. Destroy that ring, and the entire portal should collapse.
She tightened her hands around her staff, Hecate flicking her tongue out in support. "You guys remember the plan, right?"
"Go buck wild and wreck everything we can?" Eda supplied.
"No, Eda, weren't you paying attention to anything? We have specific targets in mind. Don't let them team up on any of us individually." Lilith reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah. I got dibs on Belos, right? That was the plan? If not, I'm altering it, because I really want to deck him right now." Eda grinned, and before anyone could stop her she spread her wings and took flight, aiming for the tyrant at the center of the room.
And just like that, the battle for the fate of the Boiling Isles and Earth had begun.
Luz cursed in Spanish, saying a word that would make her mother very cross with her if she'd heard, as everything went to chaos around her. It seemed like no one was sticking to the plan at all, with Eda going straight for Belos instead of fighting him beside Luz and Lilith. Amity was racing off towards Darius, looking like she was harboring a very personal grudge in this matter, and Gus was fighting against Blackstone, if you could call showing off your illusions to one another fighting.
It completely threw Luz off her game, and she stumbled onto the battlefield, trying to find someone to fight herself, glyphs at the ready in her hands. It didn't seem to matter which opponent she eyed, they all made her sweat as she knew she was outclassed in every way.
She bumped into someone, and turned to apologize. At first she thought it was King, but she could see him still perched on Eda's shoulders, screaming both in terror and encouragement, and instead she found herself face to face with another small, furry person.
"Oh, it's the cutie!" She exclaimed as her eyes fell on Eberwolf, who smiled up at her and gave a little wave. "Oh, right, you're technically a bad guy, huh? Do I really have to fight you?"
Eberwolf nodded sadly, earning a pout from Luz, "But I don't want to fight you!"
Eberwolf shook their head, and struck a fighting pose, showing that it was too late for Luz to back out now. She'd made her bed, and now she must lay in it. Luz sighed, and also struck a battle stance, really not looking forward to having to lay the smack down on the adorable witch before her.
Then a change overcame Eberwolf. They seemed to grow in size, their fur standing on its end. Their mouth opened, revealing rows of sharp, mangled teeth, and claws appeared on their fingers, sharp and intimidating. They hunched over like an animal, snarling and howling, and took a leap and a swipe at Luz, who barely managed to dodge in time.
She took off in a sprint, away from the ferocious monster that had replaced the adorable little witch, "Now I really don't want to fight you!" She cried, ducking out of the way of another blow.
Lilith growled, furious at her sister for defying all her hard planned work, and leaving her to fight against Kikimora of all people. She leveled her staff at the small demon and fired off a spell, but Kikimora was quick and graceful, spinning out of the way and already firing off a spell of her own.
Lilith cast a quick shield, and grit her teeth. Casting with her staff was so much slower than with her hands, but she lacked that ability any longer. If this was a battle of attrition, she was going to lose unless she started hitting harder to make up for Kikimora's speed.
"You made a very big mistake coming back here, Lilith," Kikimora taunted, sending another fiery blast her way, "I may not have been a match for you before, but you're clearly powerless before me now."
That did it. Lilith screamed, and with a wave of her staff she sent her shield flying like a battering ram at the little gremlin, who's eyes widened as she barely dodged. In the time it took for her to pick herself back up, Lilith was already raining lightning down on her location.
"You were saying?" Lilith smirked, readying another spell.
"It seems I still need to teach you your place," Kikimora muttered, then parted her finger hair to reveal both eyes, activating the spell that would paralyze anyone with a coven seal.
Only for her to awkwardly flail as she barely managed to dodge another blow, Lilith sneering at her, "What's that, Kiki? You seem to be having trouble?"
"This shouldn't be possible," the diminutive demon wailed, not understanding what she'd done wrong, until she caught sight of the bandage on Lilith's arm, "oh, you crazy bit-"
Lilith didn't let her finish, swinging her staff at the demon's head and striking true, sending Kikimora flying. ""You get her, girl! Hoot!" Hooty shouted words of encouragement behind her, and put a smile on Lilith's face.
Amity was on a warpath, ignoring everyone else to get to her new mentor, who just like the last one had betrayed her trust and tried to hurt the ones she loved. Darius stood still as a statue as she approached, only calling out, "I thought I advised you to stay home today, dear Amity?"
Amity clenched her fists, "Well, I was just so curious as to what you could possibly be doing that would have you miss out on our lesson, I just had to see for myself," She snarled, voice drenched in sarcasm.
Darius looked down on her, his nose upturned, "I'm making the world a better place, Amity. I wish you could see that."
"A better place?" Amity asked, not masking her disbelief, "What you're going to do is get a lot of people killed. You knew this, and you're doing it anyway."
"A lot of people will die, yes," Darius agreed, "But the ones who survive will see the error of their ways, and everyone will be on equal footing in our new world."
"So, the ones who disagree with you will die, and the ones who are less vocal about it get to live as long as they don't stick a toe out of line? Because that's what I'm hearing."
"I'm doing this for you!" Darius finally snapped, his cool demeanor tossed aside. "I'm doing this for both of us. I'm making a world, where you and your girlfriend can be together, and no one could ever object to it. Where you're free to be out of your mother's grip, and can be who you want to be. Why can't you just be happy about that?"
Amity lowered her gaze, trembling with anger. "I am happy about that. Because I already have that world. I'm doing what I want, with the person I love beside me, and the only person stopping that right now is you, because you just can't accept that the reason my Dad didn't choose you over my Mom had nothing to do with your place in the world!"
She pounded her chest with a fist, "Do you know what today is? It's my girlfriend's birthday. I should be out on a dinner date, spoiling her rotten, and instead I have to be here, stopping you from destroying everything, and likely getting me and Luz killed in the process."
The two witches glared at each other, until Darius relented first. Bowing his head, he spoke solemnly, a twing of anger in his tone. "If you will not see reason, then I suppose we'll just have to continue your lessons until you've learned. Abomiton, rise!"
Behind him, one of her father's behemoth's rose from the ground. "You think that thing scares me?" Amity challenged. "You yourself call it a hunk of junk, and I've beaten it every time!"
"You've beaten an uncontrolled Abominaton, yes. Big whoop." Darius deadpanned, "This will not be the same practice duels you've fought before. This time, you fight an Abomiton with me at the helm."
Amity's face fell as she understood what was about to happen, and she barely had time to summon her own Abomination before her father's creation was barreling down on her, much faster and much more coordinated than it was on autopilot.
Slate was a simple man. His pappy taught him right from wrong. Taught him manners. Taught him to build. He also taught him not to hit little women.
And this one was little. Couldn't be out of Hexside either, but boy, did she have a flare about her. Lots of spunk for someone her age and size. "The door is that way," He said, voice as deep and booming as begetting of a man his girth.
Willow glared at him behind her glasses, "I won't be leaving in anything less than a body bag."
Slate chuckled at the spunk. He couldn't defy his emperor, so if he had to fight he would, but a killer he was not. It was a good thing his magic of choice was construction. He'd make a simple prison to contain the girl, and be on his way to help the others.
He slammed a palm against the ground without any warning, hoping to catch her off guard, and Willow found herself trapped inside of a stone prison with bars on all sides. Surprisingly, she didn't seem that concerned, instead reaching into her pocket and pulling out a simple dandelion.
Slate's eyes widened as he realized just what kind of witch he was dealing with, but it was too late to stop the girl from blowing on the weed, spreading its seeds everywhere. She dropped the stem to the ground, and with glowing green eyes she summoned forth her own magic, sprouting the plants instantly, their roots digging into the makeshift cell with ease and crumbling it, allowing her to step out.
Plant magic was something Construction always had to deal with. Nature had a way of persevering, of cracking concrete with nothing but fragile roots, and crumbling towers. A Tree could live a thousand years while the castle beside it crumbled, consumed by moss and plant life.
If there was anyone here who was Slate's match, it was oddly enough this little girl before him. He chuckled to himself, realizing this was going to be more of a challenge not to hurt the girl before him than he thought.
He always liked a good challenge anyway, so he was up for it.
Gus readied himself, then cast an illusion of a large slitherbeast. Across from him, impressed by such a realistic depiction of the monster, Sir Blackstone flinched back as if physically struck, then took a moment to steady himself before launching is own "attack."
An incredibly realistic, scale covered dragon appeared in the air, roaring and snarling, but despite that it looked beautiful in it's presentation. Gus was blown away by it, and his reaction showed.
To anyone else watching, this would have appeared like a contest of who could be more over dramatic, and in a way, it was. They were illusionists, who took pride in their level of detail, not brutes who fought with fists and spells. Whoever won in this contest of skill would be deemed the winner, and neither of the young sorcerers were willing to throw in the towel just yet.
Gus rolled back his sleeves, and prepared to summon forth an illusion that would truly blow Blackthorne's socks off, in a match like no other.
Eda swung her staff at Belos, only for the man to weave away at the last moment. He put some distance between them, and used his own staff to try and strike her from the air. Eda dropped her staff from her hands, catching it in her feet-turned-talons, and spun it that way to conjure up an imitation of Hooty out of the stone below to take the blow for her.
Eda didn't understand how he was able to get around her moves so fast. Every time she thought she was about to hit him, he effortlessly managed to dodge at the last second, like he'd known what she was going to the whole time.
It didn't make sense. You'd have to be some kind of master clairvoyant to be able to do… that…
"King, you still here with me?" Eda called, flying up towards the ceiling as her adoptive son popped out of her hair where he'd been hiding since things started getting really dangerous.
"I'm right here, Eda. What do you need? I can get you a drink, are you dehydrated?" King pulled a bottle of water out of her mane and offered it to her.
She took it gratefully, and chugged a good amount, "Not what I needed, but thanks. Do you see the old bearded guy? The one with the hands for hair?"
King scoured his eyes across the battlefield, and gave a little shriek when he found his target, "Yeah, that guy with the crystal ball?"
"Good. I need you to go beat him up for Momma."
"Weh?!" King nearly fell out of her hair in shock, stealing himself as he gripped handfuls of her locks.
"He's the Head of the Oracle Coven, and I think he's looking into the future and putting it all in Belos' head. I need you to distract him, maybe get that crystal ball away." Eda explained.
"But won't he see me coming?" King argued, not wanting to have to put himself in harms way.
"He's busy looking into Belos' future, you should be able to sneak up on him easily. Just try and remember all those lessons I gave you about stealing things from people who are distracted, and you'll do fine!" Eda insisted, then without warning dropped from the air, landing on the ground to let King hop off her shoulders.
"Go make me proud, son." Eda gave him a thumbs up, and King didn't have it in him to argue. Eda was counting on him.
"Your little rat is scurrying away," Belos taunted, appearing before her in a pile of disgusting flesh that reassembled itself into the figure of a man. "How sad that even your pets are abandoning you."
Eda swung at him again, "That is my little boy, for your information, and I won't let you talk like that about him!"
King scurried across the floor, using his small size to not be seen among all the chaos and the fighting, keeping his target in sight. The Oracle in question was deep in concentration, a summoned familiar keeping guard over him as he focused on his visions, and delivering them to the Emperor.
King froze as he got within range. Despite what Eda had said about all her thievery lessons, King had never been good at that sort of thing. He was the adorable distraction, basically Eda's mascot, who had butterfingers and all the stealth skills of a drunken slitherbeast.
But his Mom needed him to get this right. So he would do his best. Getting onto the tips of his toes, he inched his way forward, trying to stay out of sight of the Familiar, a large, genie looking creature that guarded the Oracle's front, but left his behind undefended. If King played his cards right, he could snag the ball right out of Nastrodominik's hands, which would not only cancel out his ability to see the future, but also banish his familiar back to… wherever they go when not being used. King wasn't sure.
He kept towards the old man, slowly, slowly inching, only to be spotted by the familiar almost instantly. The genie rushed him, with King falling back down on all fours to get away, leaping out of the way of a rain of blows that came his way.
He was afraid. He'd messed everything up. But he wasn't going to run away like a coward. He had powers now! So he skidded to a halt, turned to face down the familiar, and gave a mighty roar, which shocked the monster momentarily, enough for King to leap up on his head, and use it as a spring board, leaping into the air and falling right into Nastrodominik's arms, knocking the ball out of his grip.
It fell to the floor, and the old seer took one horrified look at the broken glass and smoke that wafted from it, then turned his attention to King, fury in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what you've done!?"
"Uh, I stopped you?"
The Oracle shook his head, "I have kept my familiar imprisoned in that Crystal Ball for over half a century, and now you've just freed it!"
"Weh?" King peeked back to the familiar, who looked at the broken glass in awe, finally tasting freedom for the first time in decades. He grinned evilly as it approached the two, and King had to hold in a bit of panic when he realized that without Nastrodominik to hold it back, this thing was a lot stronger looking. "I think we should run!"
King leapt from the old man's hands, and together they sprinted as fast as their legs would carry them, chased by a raging genie.
As all this was going on, Raine and the BATS found themselves caught between Healer Maxwell and Curie the Potion Master. Raine gripped Eda's lute in their hands, and side eyed the BATS, "I'll take Maxwell, if you can hold off Curie."
Katya gave a nod, "Sure thing boss."
Amber flashed a thumbs up, "You can count on us!"
The two groups separated, and Raine turned their full attention back to Maxwell. "I suppose it's just us then. Two support types fighting in combat. Hah, there's something a little funny about that."
Maxwell gave a grin, "I may technically be a support type, but I assure you, it's far from all I know." With a twirl of his fingers, two very large, dagger sized scalpels appeared from thin air, and were snatched in the Healer's hands.
Raine grimaced, "Great… more things to cut at me."
"I will make you regret betraying us," Maxwell promised, then charged with an amazing amount of speed for someone of his size, slashing wildly with practiced ease at Raine.
However, Raine was no stranger to close quarters combat themself, and danced through the blows with expert timing. For that was what it was, a dance, and as a bard, Raine was a master of the subject, no matter how embarrassed doing it in front of others made them.
They plucked at the Lute's strings as they flowed between the blades, catching their breath and a short reprise every so often by sending a burst of magic from the instrument to knock Maxwell back a few feet, but the titan of a witch just kept coming, no more tired than when the fight had started.
Raine on the other hand, was running out of steam. They hadn't danced a waltz or tango like this in a decade, and their stamina was quickly running out. As if to make matters worse, they tripped over their own feet, silently cursing their clumsiness and lost their grip on the lute, it clattering to the floor beside them.
A heavy foot fell down upon Raine's torso, and a scalpel pressed against their throat. "You seem to be without your instrument, bard. Any last words?" Maxwell sneered, looking far too eager to cause bloodshed than any Healer had a right to.
Raine swallowed, and answered back defiantly, "I may not have a violin and bow, or a lute, but those are not the only cords I can play. A Bard is never without an instrument, Maxy."
They sucked in a breath, and before their throat could be slit, Raine hummed out a few notes, and sent a magic shockwave through the sound of the rhythm, knocking Maxwell off of them, and allowing them to get their hands back on Eda's gifted lute just in time to send another blast the Healer's way.
Raine winced, their throat feeling incredibly sore from the backlash of using bard magic in such a way. But the hum of their vocal cords had done the trick, even if it would make talking a pain for the next few days.
Their reprieve was short lived, as a potion bottle smashed into the ground beside them, the acid inside melting the stone. Turning, they could see their other opponent, as well as Katya, Amber and Derwin, still fighting their own battle. Derwin winced, and shouted an apology, as the potion was clearly meant for him and not Raine, but it gave the Bard an idea.
"Get in close," They uttered gruffly to their compatriots, and they listened, flanking their leader. "Try and get Curie's potions to interfere with Maxwell. Catch them if you think you can risk it, or grab them out of the air with your magic and hurl them at him, I don't care."
The BATS all nodded as one, and together they gathered their instruments as a quartet, Raine focused on keeping Maxwell back from striking them, while the others snagged potions out of the air to hurl back at their oppressors.
Raine grinned, knowing that if they could keep this up, this was in the bag.
Vines crept through the stone tiles under their feet, lashing out to the surface and impaling the teenage boy in front of Madame Ivy, who grinned at the carnage, only to frown when the young man turned into a puff of smoke.
"Wow, she really doesn't like you!" Emira laughed at her brother's expense, as they cast more illusions of themselves to fill in the void.
"To be fair, most women don't!" Edric self deprecated at his own expense, laughing up a riot himself.
Ivy sneered and grit her teeth, hating that she got paired with a group of illusionist brats who refused to actually fight her. "Stop hiding behind your trash magic and fight me fair!" She cried, waving her walking stick at a pair she was sure weren't real.
"How do you know we're not fighting you fair, and you're just going senile in your old age?" Ed teased, watching yet another of his clones get eviscerated.
"How do you know we're even here at all?" Emira added, a smirk appearing on the lips of all of her clones that surrounded the Plant Coven Leader.
"We could be a mile away, and you'd never know!"
Ivy thrashed her plants about, popping many of the illusions. She couldn't believe she still hadn't hit any of them, the odds just didn't seem fair.
Edric and Emira stayed far away from the actual battle, using illusion magic to cast their voices close to the doddering old lady. They knew their role, they couldn't win against the head of a coven. It was beyond their skill, but they could distract them while the true mission of destroying the portal was completed, and they'd gladly settle for that.
Hunter stood alone, watching the carnage around him. He engaged with no one, standing solemn and alone in front of the portal as it's last defense and only guard.
While outwardly he stood at the ready, prepared to fight in the name of his uncle, on the inside he was fighting a raging conflict of his own. He didn't know if he had it in him to fight Luz or her friends. While he hardly knew most of the people here, Luz, Amity, Eda, King, and even Hooty… he considered them friends.
He never had friends before.
So he stood, wincing behind his mask as his friends came to blows with his family, his techno staff gripped tightly in hand, waiting for his turn to fight anyone who got too close to the portal, and hoping that he wouldn't be accused of cowardice or disloyalty for not actively partaking in the fight in front of him.
Amity wasn't doing so well. Her Abomination just wasn't powerful enough to handle an Abomiton under a master's command. It may have even been overkill on Darius' part, as she was sure she'd still be struggling against even a normal abomination as long as he was the one commanding it.
She remembers how much she had struggled the night at the showcase, fighting for her and Luz's life against this very same creation. She'd grown so much since then, but it clearly hadn't been enough.
"You can give up at any time," Darius called out across the battlefield. "Honestly, the only thing you're doing right now is making a mess."
Amity grit her teeth, and sent her Abomination charging for the Abomiton, intent on stopping it here and now. To her horror, it was crushed effortlessly, leaving only her to fight it off.
Darius stared at her with cold eyes, "It's your call, Amity. Give in, and go home, or I bring the hammer down."
Amity knew when she was beaten. She brushed herself off, and stood tall and proud, ready to face the end. "Then bring it down."
"…" Darius lowered his gaze, and shook his head, "You could have been great, dear Amity."
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you." Amity replied cooly, as the Abomiton raised its arm, forming a mallet, and brought it down with crushing speed upon Amity's head.
Darius flinched as the blow came, and turned his head away, unwilling and unable to look at the carnage, the mess, he'd made of his student.
Amity let out a shuddered breath, and her legs gave out beneath her. She really thought she was dead there, for a moment.
Instead, she was in a tube. Much like the first time she'd fought against the Abomiton, when she faked injury beside Luz, the hammer it's arm had made became a hollow tube, granting no injury to the youngest Blight.
She didn't understand. The Abomiton had held back, despite Darius clearly not. She remembered telling him about the failsafe all the creations of Blight Industries had, to not allow mortal harm to a Blight, but that couldn't be it. Darius had removed that feature, and proved it by how much harder the Abomiton had been to fight after their first lesson.
Yet, despite the order to kill, it had ignored him, and fashioned a safe place for her to remain. Amity placed her shaking hands against the walls of the hammer, her fingers sinking easily into the goop, and she felt the magic inside it with her own.
Deep in the Abomiton's core, she could feel it. The magic that gave it the spark of life. She closed her eyes tightly, digging her hands deeper into the muck, ignoring everything Darius had taught her and becoming absolutely filthy in the process. Only then did she understand.
Her father wasn't a very emotive person. He had a hard time expressing himself, to the point where 'distant' was underselling it. Amity couldn't remember a time when he'd ever held her, or told her he loved her to her face. Yet here, deep in the core of it's magic, she felt it. Her father's love for her. For his family. An order implanted into his creation not out of obligation, but real, genuine affection. One that was ingrained into this Abomiton's very essence, that could never be erased. While her mother grieved, her father acted, and implanted this one thing into all of his creations after the loss of their first daughter.
'Protect my family.'
Amity opened her eyes, damp from the revelation, and she found her second wind. Channeling her own magic, weaving it through the Abominaton to bring that command to it's forefront, she wrestled control of it away from Darius, control the Abomiton was more than happy to retract and hand over.
The hollow hammer raised, and Amity stood before her ex-mentor, teeth bared, hands raised with rings of light at her fingertips, and abomination goop over every inch of her body. The Abomiton turned to face it's true opponent, and Amity gave it her orders.
"Abomiton, Smash!"
The Goliath of goop rushed at Darius, slamming a true hammer against his body and sending the man flying and slamming into a wall. He barely had time to dodge the next blow, shifting himself over into his own abominable form and summoning forth a spear, eyes wide in surprise at this development.
"How did you-"
"Magic!" Amity smirked, and directed the Abomiton to strike again. Darius clashed with the beast, struggling against it's raw physical strength, wondering how this waste of talent and magic was getting the better of him.
He let out a roar, ready to seize control back from Amity, only to find himself entirely unable to interface with the Abomiton, locked out of it's magical security system. Breathing harshly through his nose, he tried again to strike it down, but no matter where his blade sliced, Amity reformed it with expert craftsmanship.
She was everything her old man was when he was at the top of his game, running circles around Darius with her technique.
The Abomiton formed a blade and sliced at him, not holding any mercy towards it's previous master, and struck true, cutting off the man's hand at the wrist and making him drop his spear in the process. A trifle in the long run, for a master like himself, but it still hurt.
Disorientated over the pain, he barely had time to realize another hammer blow was coming, the same as he'd tried to end Amity with. It was in that moment that he realized the beauty of Alador's creations. Not the Abomiton, no, but the young woman who commanded it.
"He always was better than me," Darius mused with a small smile as the hammer met his form, and splattered him into a million goopy pieces along the ground.
Amity panted from where she was, still reeling over her near death experience and feeling ready to collapse. As brutal as it was, she knew Darius wasn't dead. Losing a hand, losing his head, being splattered, he'd come back once he found the will to pull himself back together. That's what it meant to be both master and Abomination, after all.
Until then, Amity still needed to help her girlfriend finish her fight, and hopefully get back home.
Luz scrambled across the battlefield, still trying desperately not to get bitten and clawed at by Eberwolf, who was a surprisingly tough little guy. She'd cast what few spells she knew with her staff at them, but they barely flinched, as if their fur and flesh were naturally magic resistant, or they just could ignore the pain.
A giant worm had also joined the battle, slinking under the stone at their feet. It burst out of the ground, and Luz barely reacted in time, firing off a shot with Hecate that sent the worm flying before it could devour her. With that out of the way for the moment, Luz had to turn her attention back to Eberwolf.
Glyphs hadn't had much more of an effect on them either, Luz mostly using them to help her evade, "I really don't want to be bitten by you, dude. You might have rabies or something, and I haven't had my shot yet!" She cried as she placed down an Ice glyph, trying to make a pillar under them to send him flying away, only for Eberwolf to sink their claws into the ice as it formed, and now had a nice platform they could leap from and onto Luz.
The once adorable creature didn't waste any time and did so, becoming a snarling ball of teeth and claws as it jumped towards her. Luz brought up her staff, capturing Eberwolf's teeth between it, the Beast Keeping Beast snapping and trying to reach her, the added weight making Luz topple over and fall onto her back.
Luz grimaced as she held back the unnaturally strong creature with her weak nerd arms, her staff the only thing keeping them from sinking teeth and claw into her. Hecate hissed, detaching from the staff head to slither down and around Eberwolf's arms, biting at them with as much ferocity as their tiny body allowed, but even then Eberwolf refused to flinch as snake fangs pierced them repeatedly.
Luz glanced around the room, frantically looking for anyone who could help her, but they were all too busy, or too far away. Eda was clashing with Belos still, now joined by her sister and Hooty, and still only barely keeping ahead. King was in his own troubles, running away from some kind of demon that was chasing both him and the Oracle Leader. Willow was in a constant cycle of being trapped and breaking free, clearly putting up the struggle of a lifetime, and everyone else was out of earshot.
The only other person nearby was Hunter in front of the portal, who was making an effort to not look in her direction.
It was down to Luz, and Luz alone, she realized. She braced the end of her staff against the ground, freeing a hand to try and reach into her pocket for some glyphs, only for Eberwolf to scratch at her, managing to draw blood. She winced, but still kept trying to get her glyphs out, feeling the strength in her remaining arm giving out-
The sound of a loud, metallic thud greeted Luz's ears as Eberwolf was knocked aside like a bowling pin, Hecate taking to the air to avoid being taken along with them. A dark hand was thrust into Luz's face, and she grabbed at it instinctively, pulled to her feet.
Luz blinked and rubbed at her eyes, sure that her eyes were deceiving her, or that she'd died and gone to heaven. "Hermana?" She breathed.
Lucia grinned down at her, her sleeves of her flannel jacket rolled up, an aluminum baseball bat in her hands, "Miss me, Luz?"
Before Luz could answer, Lucia grabbed her and moved her behind her body, shielding her from the sights of the others who were now aware of her arrival. The older Noceda lifted her bat, pointing it challengingly at her new enemies like a sword, and gave them all a boastful smirk, "All right, which one of you chucklefucks wants to step up to the plate next, huh?"
A/N: I have never written so many fight scenes before. I had to get really creative with them too, just to try and keep them interesting.
Amity's fight was my favorite, of course. I've had that in mind for so long that it just felt… amazing to get it out of my head. Amity has embraced the muck, yet came out clean. I also think it's fair to say Darius won't be invited to any family dinners for a while.
Gus' fight was inspired by Yugioh. I have literally never seen anything past the original 4kids dub, but it always made me laugh when they'd get hit by holograms and act like they'd really been struck. It sometimes made sense, when it was a shadow game and magic was involved, or when they had that weird digital world arc, but most of the time, it's literally just a light show. Duelists are drama queens.
And now Lucia is here! Finally! It only took 23 chapters for her and Luz to reunite, only for me to cut it off at the end! God, I love writing sometimes. Rereading this as I edit, it just fills me with a sense of pride and joy to get these ideas out.
Please, tell me what you thought! Too much fighting? Not enough?