Chapt. 43: The Clawthorne Sisters
The rest of the group makes their way to the top of the tower, which has six floors, with the bottom floor guarded by Watts and his Elites and the first guarded by the mercenary duo Pyro and rest of the tower remains a mystery as our heroes continue to make their way up the tower. The question is, what awaits them on the next floor?
King: It feels like we've been running up these steps for hours. Are we at the next floor yet?
Gus: You're not even running! How are you even tired?
[Luz pants until she sees a bright light]
Luz: I think I see the entrance! Let's keep moving!
Eda: Hold on, Luz, just a reminder that this is Meta we're talking about. And knowing what they are capable of, it's better to be cautious.
[With a fiery determination, the Owl House Crew passes into the 2nd floor. Upon entering, they notice that the room is filled with multiple pools of water.]
Willow: water?
Lilith: and tons of it. Keep your guards up!
Everyone summons their weapons and becomes wary of the field.
Eda: If there are pools of water, then that must mean
[Eda hears the surging of the pool aimed at King]
Eda: King, be careful!
King: Weh?
[Luz notices the shark fin and immediately grabs King.]
[Sharkface jumps out and fails to gobble him up]
Eda: With all this water, we had to be in Sharkface's Territory.
[Sharkface laughs]
Sharkface: The stench of your dog made my mouth water, and the heinous act of keeping such a delicacy away from my mouth is a crucial sin in my eyes! For that, you all must be punished!
[Sharkface activates his claws, attempting to sever Luz and the King]
Eda: I don't think so!
[Eda parries the tip of the claw with her own sword].
If you want the little guy, Eda!Then you'll have to go through me!
[Sharkface laughs again].
So the once infamous Owl Lady wants to get in my way! So, then!It's your funeral!
[Sharkface summons his Megalodon to power him up]
Lilith, take Luz and the others up the steps! I'll hold him off!
Lilith: What?! Edalyn, that's ridiculous. I can't leave you here!
Eda, you said you wanted to redeem yourself! Then this is how you'll do it! So make it count!
[Eda grabs her staff and some glyphs to create flaming bullets].
Luz: Eda?!
Eda: Luz! Go with Lilith and save the boots! I'll catch up to you both!
Luz: But we can do it!
Eda: Kid! I believe in you!
[Luz nods and does as she says.]
Luz: Let's go guys!
[Everyone follows Luz except Lilith. Looking back at Eda, she just follows Luz and her sister's orders.]
Sharkface: You wish to face me alone? How bold of you to do so!
Eda: It's not every day I get to do this! Besides, if I beat you, I'll prove to the world I'm still as powerful as ever! Even without magic!
Sharkface roars and performs a cross chop! Eda uses her sword to block and Owlbert to whack his head!The beast notices the paper on his head. Eda grins and uses her staff to activate the glyphs, causing them to explode on his head.
Sharkface: GAH! You bitch!
[Owlbert goes free and starts pecking Sharkface all over]
Sharkface yells, "Get off my bird!"
[Eda attacks with her sword and lands 12 clean cuts on his body.]
[Sharkface counters with more, only landing on her cloak]
Sharkface: What?!
Eda: Had Raymond made me this? Thanks to the magic modifications I made, I'm completely sword proof! Patience and pending! You, on the other hand,
[Eda punches him in the face]
Eda: Not at all!
[Eda continues to attack and attack until Sharkface yells and throws his pool].
Sharkface: Let's see you get out of this!
[Eda constantly avoids the numerous pools thrown at her]
Eda: Good try!
[She summons Owlbert again and whacks him in the face].
Sharkface: GAH!
[Sharkface looks at the water, and immediately dives]
Eda: What's diving going to do for him?
Eda looks at her reflection.
Eda: I guess he decided to flee, and I can't say I blame him.
Eda snickers, until Sharkface jumps past from behind her and cuts her arm off.
Eda: What the? How did he-?
[Sharkface performs the same act, this time cutting her leg off]
Eda: Oh my gosh!
[Sharkface finally chops her head off, making it roll on the ground with a dead expression]
Sharkface: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, that was too easy! I bet she's wondering how I was able to pull that off! While this room looks like it has dozens of water pools, in truth it's all one big body of water. Hiding within made it such an easy task that it forced fear into her heart, and now that I made quick work of her, I can finally see what the flesh of a witch tastes like.
[Sharkface grabs her hair and lifts her head].
Sharkface: This looks like a good start!
[After Eda's head closes in on his mouth, he hears the sound of Eda's disgust from his breath.]
Eda: Oh my gosh!
[Sharkface is taken aback, and he throws the head away]
Eda: Seriously, when was the last time you brushed your teeth? Your breath smells rancid.
Sharkface: What?! You are decapitated! How are you not dead?
[Sharkface slowly watches as Eda puts her body back together.]
Eda: Well, that's the after effects of the Owl Beasts curse. It's not pretty, I'll give you that. But it helps.
[Sharkface breathes fast]
Sharkface: That's literally impossible! I've heard of curses that can perform such magic, but this is simply unbelievable, at least in my opinion.
[Sharkface laughs]
I guess the most theoretical way I can take you down is through your heart, I presume!
[Sharkface slowly backs up to the pool of water]
Eda: That is as for you, I've noticed that the only way to bring you down is to attack your weak points, which are your nose, eyes, and gills.
Sharkface: How do you know that?
Eda: A.X.E.L. taught me and some beast-keeping kids a thing or two about Human Realm animals and their weaknesses. Since you're based on a shark, I put two and two together and viola, the easiest way to keep you off guard and take you down!
[Sharkface and Eda grin]
I wish you the best of luck in your trial, but we'll see!
[Sharkface jumps into the water]
Sharkface: If you can catch me first!
[Instead of landing in liquid water, he lands on solid ice].
Sharkface: What?! The water is ice!
Eda laughs louder.
Eda: Oh yeah, while you were talking, I used Luz's Ice Glyphs to turn this room into one big ice block! I hope you don't mind, but I'm in need of kicking your ass.
[Sharkface growls]
Sharkface: You want to make this battle easier on yourself!But not! You've just unleashed a raging beast upon this world!
[Sharkface activates his Eta fragment]
Sharkface: Let's hope you survive the next couple of minutes! Because I'm going all out!
[Sharkface charges at Eda and overpowers her with each attack, and as Eda struggles to keep up with him, the more cuts and slashes that form on her body make matters worse.
Eda: This isn't good! If I keep this up It's only a matter of time before it's released!Just hold it and keep it together!
[The sound of her heartbeat grows louder; her heart begins to be covered in black]
Sharkface: You're going to die by my hand! You heard me!
[Her heartbeat continues to grow louder, the black ooze in her eyes begins to take over.]
Eda: No! Not like this! Not like him!
[Sharkface stabs her in the gut and throws her out of the way]
Sharkface: I'm going to savor every moment you squeal!
[The Owl Beast roars]
[The Owl House group are half-way below the next floor, until Lilith and Luz stop at the sound of Eda's owl cry]
Luz: Lilith?
[Lilith looks at Luci]
[The Owl Beast flies and plays with Sharkface like he's its prey]
Sharkface: AGH! Get off my back, beast!
[Sharkface is thrown and clawed onto; he fights back and swings his own claws, only for his arm to be grabbed by Eda's mouth and thrown onto the ice]
[Entering the mind, Eda continues to run away from her inner demons].
Eda: It's the same old thing all over again! I just have to do it!keep moving!
[She continues to run till she stumbles upon a recent memory of her duel with Lilith].
Eda: Wait, is this it?
[Luz yells at Eda to stop].
Luz: EDA! No, your magic!
Eda: "No, Luz, get away from there!"
[Lilith grbas Luz and drops her into the abyss surrounding the Emperor's castle]
[the memory Eda is attempting to save for Luz]
Luz: EDA STOP! You'll RUN OUT OF MAGIC!
Eda: It's My Power Kid! And before you showed up, I spent my whole life wasting it!
[Lilith pushes Luz down towards the spikes].
Eda: Listen kid, I'M going away and I don't know if I can bounce back this time!
Eda no! says Luz.
Eda: Watch over King; don't forget to feed Hooty.
Luz: "No, no!
Eda: And thank you, Luz, for being in my life!
Eda uses her last spell circle to save her student.
[memory Eda falls to the ground, while the real Eda tries to snap her out of it]
Eda: Come on, pull yourself together!We can still save her! Please don't let her go through this alone!
[Memory Eda's transforms and the rest of it plays out]
[The Owl Beast forces her to run away, until she hears a familiar voice]
Lilith: EDALYN!
Eda: Lily?
[Lilith's voice continues to reach her]
Lilith: EDALYN I KNOW You're In There! You Have to Stop!
[On the outside, the Owl Beast was beaten down and looked like it was about to be killed, but Lilith manages to save Eda just before it could happen.]
Sharkface: What are you doing here?
Lilith: I'm guarding my sister!
[Lilith summons the Singing Bone while pulling her sword out of her arm].
Lilith: By people like you!
Sharkface: You think you can reach her like this?
[Eda listens to Lilith's words]
After cursing her all those years ago, I thought that by forcing her to join the emperor's coven, I could finally heal her curse, and we could be sisters again. The emperor told me that he had a way to heal her. All that time spent in the coven, listening to his lies, finally made me feel hope, but I was wrong. All that hard work for nothing! I haven't once regretted my actions as time has passed!And I'm still swearing to this day!I would protect her with my life! Even if it means giving up my own! So if you want her, then you'll have to go through me!
[Sharkface laughs]
Sharkface Nice speech, too bad it won't be enough to save you!
[Sharkface throws multiple black pools that swallow Lilith]
Sharkface: I can't believe that worked.
[To Sharkface's notice, the pools begin to shake around as if something was trying to break free]
Sharkface: Now what?!
[Breaking out of the pool, the skeleton of a boar emerges with Lilith riding on top of it.]
Sharkface avoids her and points the tip of his claw at her eye.
Lilith: Oh no!
[Sharkface laughs until he is rammed by Eda in her Owl Beast form].
Lilith: Edalyn?
Eda: Are you okay, Lily?
Lilith gratefully smiles.
Lilith: I'm fine, thanks to you.
[Lilith forces Eda to drink her potion, causing her to return to normalcy]
Lilith: Edalyn, about what I said...
Eda touches her shoulder.
Eda: I know you meant every word, but now's not the time for reconciliation. We have a fight to win, remember?
[Lilith looks ahead and notices Sharkface reactivating his Eta Fragment.]
Sharkface: How delightful! Two pieces of meat for the price of one! Can this day get any better?
[A red aura surges through his body]
Lilith: I think it's about time we showed him how we Clawthornes do business.
For once, we can finally agree on something!
[Eda and Lilith gain access to their Spirit Powers!]
Eda: Soren!
Lilith: Bone Singing!
Eda: Are you ready to end this?
Lilith: With pleasure!
[Eda and Lilith grab their weapons and fly towards Sharkface while he does the same].
[The final shot depicts all Spirit Powers charging from both sides.]
[End]