Simultaneously across the Boiling Isles, witches and demons bearing sigils of the Illusion and Emperor's Covens walked into crowded town centers, tall towers, and sites of wild power. Where they met resistance, they removed that resistance.
Permanently.
One by one, once they were in place, they cast their spell, ceding control of their bodies to the new Head Witch of the Illusion Coven. That Coven Head stood in front of the current Emperor of the Boiling Isles, noting each connection that was formed.
When every planned connection was established, they and the green-haired Oracle Coven Head cast their spell.
All at once, massive projections of Emperor Belos were generated above the anchored connections. He was dressed in his finest imperial robes, but did not wear his mask, so that the people could see his face and feel at ease.
Across the Isles, witches and demons looked up from their mid-morning chores and duties. Some in awe, some with concern, most with confusion.
Belos gestured his arms upwards and smiled his classic grandfatherly smile as he began to speak.
"Rejoice, witches and demons of the Boiling Isles! The Day of Reunion is upon us! The day when we shall reunite with the Titan has come…"
In Latissa, a team of four rebels on a mission looked at each other with worry.
"Unlike the Day of Unity, which was cruelly sabotaged by a foolish human who wished to claim the Titan's power for her own, today is a grand day, without distraction. Soon, none of the chosen shall suffer, none of the chosen shall want for anything! You who bear the sigils of the Covens are the chosen of the Titan and it is your time to embrace your destiny!"
Just outside of Bonesborough, Darius's eyes narrowed at the projection hanging over the town. Behind him, Hunter and Hunter the Younger looked up at the projection and blanched, their eyes wide with fear.
"Together, we will enact the Titan's will once and for all! But there will be those who resist the Titan's will. You must bring them to the light, before it is too late! And if they try to stop you, remove them as an obstacle. My loyal subjects, the chosen of the Titan, the appointed time draws near. By the time the sun sets, it will be too late for those unenlightened souls to be joined in our glorious reunion with the Titan!"
Belos' raving soon came to an end with a simple "Bless your efforts, chosen. It is time for our reunion!"
With his speech finished, the Illusion Coven Head dismissed the projection spell and released the connected witches. The Coven Head bowed deeply before their emperor, who looked out from the balcony onto the courtyard of the castle, where legions of loyal Coven members were assembled alongside their new Coven Heads.
Many of the Coven members readied Coven branding gloves, both in the courtyard and at the connection points for the projection. Some out in the town centers were already hard at work bringing the unbranded into the fold.
On the balcony, Belos turned on his heel and walked back into the castle, making for a space near the top that had been reinforced by the Construction Coven on his request. It was like an arena– no, it was an arena.
It would become the place where Belos would defeat and seal the Collector, and the place where he would finally cast off this false identity and become Philip once and forever more. And then he would simply head to his workshop in the head in order to activate the door and return home.
"Can we actually fight them?"
"What if our sigils activate and incapacitate us again?"
"We must renounce our heresy and rejoin the Covens! It's the only way to be saved!"
The Covens Against the Throne's camp was in chaos after Belos' announcement. Witches and demons, afraid for their families and themselves, were fleeing the camp as fast as they could, while others begged their leaders to do something. Still more had shut down, realizing that the day they had been fighting to prevent had come at last and they did not believe that they had the strength to overcome it.
It was to this chaos that Darius and the Hunters returned.
"Well, this is just great!" Darius said, an exasperated hand on his face. "We spend all morning looking for some kind of disc and it's utter madness when we return!"
"Sorry we spent so much time trying to find the disc, Darius." Hunter said.
"Oh- no! Hunter, it's all right." Darius said, turning to the boy. "I'm just annoyed. This really is a terrible situation, though."
"We should find Raine and the others, maybe they'll know what to do?" Hunter the Younger offered.
Darius nodded. "It's worth a try. Split up and find Raine. We'll meet in the center of camp once you do."
The Hunters gave Darius a salute before he ran off into the crowd. His ability to turn into a puddle of abomination goop came in handy for avoiding the people who tried to grab him for answers.
"Alright, hop on, Hunter." Hunter had summoned his staff and already mounted it. He held his hand out to his younger counterpart.
Together, the pair soared over the crowds, but couldn't find any sight of Raine. But Hunter did spot a familiar griffin on the ground. Hunter landed nearby, in an open space near the gathering point where he had seen it.
"Viney!" Hunter shouted as he walked up, Hunter the Younger keeping close behind him.
"Hunter!" Viney and Mattholomule both said in surprise. "It's good to see you." "About time you got back."
"What's the situation?"
"Well, everyone's losing their minds. Katya ran into the crowd to find Amber and Derwin, but we haven't seen her since." Mattholomule said with his arms crossed. "For what it's worth, I heard screaming in there. I'm not going in there without a lot of armor or fire or something."
Hunter looked at Viney. She nodded after a moment and said "He's right, Hunter. Since that announcement about the 'Day of Reunion', everything has been very loud and stressful." She wrapped her arm around her griffin and scratched her under the beak, but it did little to stop the beast from shivering and looking about frantically. "And Puddles has been on edge this whole time. I haven't left her alone, or else I would have gone and found Katya myself."
"Wonderful." Hunter said with his chin in his hand. "What about Raine, have you seen them? Or any of the other former Coven Heads?"
"They're here and there." Mattholomule said. "But I think everyone's a little too freaked out to let them do their jobs. Haven't seen Raine, though. They're the bard with green hair, right?"
"Hmm…" Hunter turned to his younger counterpart and looked him in the eyes. "Hunter, I need you to go to our tent and hunker down. Things might get a bit crazy and I don't want you to be in danger. Ok?"
"Right! Can-can Flapjack come with?" Hunter the Younger said tentatively.
"Alright." Hunter looked at his palismen, who had already transformed back into bird form and was perching himself on Hunter the Younger's shoulder. "Make sure he makes it there safely, Flapjack. And make sure he stays there. I'll come get you two when things calm down."
Hunter turned back to his teammates while Hunter the Younger and Flapjack ran through the tents back to the one they shared. "We need to do something to calm this crowd down. At least enough so we can find Raine and get the other former Coven Heads into the meeting tent."
"We could spread plague beetles through the crowd." Mattholomule offered. "They'd clear that crowd real quick! I think I saw some in Darius' tent."
Hunter shook his head. "We don't want to cause even more of a panic."
"You could get up on some crates and get everyone's attention with a speech?" Viney suggested. "Based on the election, most of us trust you. Maybe that could calm everyone down?"
"It could work, but how am I supposed to get everyone's attention in this chaos?"
Viney and Hunter turned their heads to Mattholomule clapping his hands together, then rubbing them in anticipation. He had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Don't worry, I'll handle that…"
Uncertain of what exactly Mattholomule had planned, Hunter clambered up onto a pile of crates nearby. Viney gave him a nervous thumbs up. Mattholomule stood beside her, doing some calculations in the dirt and preparing his spell.
Hunter looked out on the crowd. He took a deep breath in, then exhaled.
"Here goes nothing."
He shot a thumbs up back to his team. Mattholomule spun his spells into reality. One hand held an orange-brown circle, while the other spun bright blue.
The ground underneath Hunter began to rumble and rise into a platform from which he could speak. By the time it was finished rising, it stood just over the head height of most of the witches in the crowd. Some members of the crowd were already turning and looking up to Hunter, mostly in confusion.
As he looked out of the crowd, he noticed small lights beginning to dance above their heads. The lights shimmered and shook until the ones below them took notice, then they sped off towards the makeshift stage that Mattholomule had created. Once there, they spun around, letting out more light and drawing more and more eyes to Hunter.
Once most of the crowd had quieted down and was looking towards the stage, the lights spun around and around, then shot off into the sky, where they exploded into a rainbow shower of illusionary particles.
Then the camp was quiet. Hunter had everyone's attention.
Mattholomule smiled smugly beside the stage. Hunter and Viney were impressed. Puddles was too busy looking out at all the faces pointed towards the stage and having another griffin panic session to have a complex opinion on it.
"Hello!" Hunter shouted out into the crowd. "I'm Hunter. I'm, uh, the emperor-elect. From that election last week."
The silence from the crowd was deafening. Only a couple loose coughs broke it.
"Um…" He looked down at his team for advice. Mattholomule gave him a thumbs up, while Viney gestured upwards with her arms. He looked back out onto the sea of faces, some he recognized, most he didn't. "Uh…"
" This is the kid we elected?"
"I didn't vote for him."
"Get on with it!"
Voices began to cry out from the crowd. Hunter took a step back. He could feel something in his chest seizing. Every one of his senses screamed out to run and he was only a few more jeers away from listening to them.
But his retreat took him directly into a pair of hands that stopped him from falling off the stage. He looked back behind him, seeing Darius and Raine, who each looked at him with kind smiles.
"Come on, little prince." Darius pushed Hunter forward, into the center of the makeshift platform. "The people are eager to hear what their emperor-to-be has to say."
Hunter stumbled forward from Darius' push. He took one last deep breath, then began to speak.
"People of the Boiling Isles. I know you're afraid. I'm afraid too! We all saw the proclamation this morning. And we all know what it means!"
Hunter could see small illusionary circles popping up above the people on the outskirts, broadcasting his speech to those who couldn't hear it. Meanwhile, he could hear a tune beginning to play from behind him; Raine backing him up with calming music on their violin.
"Belos' words are lies! When he says 'destiny', we know he means 'destruction' and 'annihilation'! This 'Day of Reunion' is nothing but a pale imitation of his first attempt to slaughter us all, during his 'Day of Unity'! And make no mistake, it was a slaughter! He does not care about anything except wiping us all out, one by one if he has to!"
"But we've seen his evil once, and this pale imitation can't incite fear if we've already experienced worse! Because fear is just a feeling and unless we allow ourselves to cow to fear itself, nothing will be able to stop us! Because we are witches and demons of the Boiling Isles!"
Some of the crowd was beginning to nod along with Hunter's speech.
"All of us have stood up against the Emperor and told him 'No!', not because it would bring us glory, or fame, or riches. We are here today because we have looked death in the eyes and said 'No! I will not go quietly into the darkness!' Because we will not be intimidated by his propaganda anymore! So today, we will march on the Emperor's castle! We will stop the Day of Reunion and Belos' new draining spell! And when the dust clears, he will answer for his crimes!"
The crowd roared with cheers, clapping, and affirmations of Hunter's statements. Hunter kept his fist held high, not even realizing he had raised it at the climax of his speech.
He half-turned back to Darius, who gave him a proud nod as he clapped calmly. Raine was practically beaming as their tune came to a crescendo. Hunter took one last breath, then turned back to the crowd.
"Let's go show Belos who he's messing with!"
The crowd roared once more. It started to shift, as people on the outskirts began to flow outwards. Those with palismen to ride took two, three, or more of their compatriots aboard to lessen the congestion on the ground. Some even had airships they could load up with dozens at a time. Gradually, the crowd moved like a river in the direction of the castle.
Hunter sighed, letting himself relax for the first time today. His shoulders drooped and he blinked a few times.
"Well," Darius said behind Hunter, "I suppose we should be heading out too. Wouldn't want to miss all the fun."
"I'm sure there will be plenty of excitement today, Darius." Raine said as they dismissed their violin. "But we can't forget the goal at the center of all this: stopping Belos before he can activate the new draining spell."
"Well then…" Hunter said, backed by Mattholomule and Viney. Even Puddles stood tall beside them, Hunter's speech having shook off most of her nerves.
"What are we waiting for?"
The first to arrive were those in airships or on palismen. They took up positions on the far side of the moat surrounding the castle. Some, like the one-eyed demon preparing a variety of concoctions in flasks, took up the task of extending the bridge that connected the castle with the rest of the Isles. Others, like a certain dark-skinned witch with pink and mauve hair, attempted to probe the defenses from the air.
The airborne assaults didn't result in much, except for a few unlucky souls who were shot down by Scout counterattacks.
Steve, leader of the vanguard, directed the witches under his command to fire off volleys of spells from the far side of the moat. He stood back, observing the spells splashing harmlessly on the protection barriers set up by the Scouts.
It was looking more and more like the rebellion would need a full frontal assault to break through, but the bulk of their force was still marching from their camp. It would take time to ready a team to breach the defenses.
Above the nascent siege, a human with white hair and yellow and blue skin sat on a sturdy tree limb kicking their legs back and forth. They hummed a little tune while they watched the little ant-sized witches scurry this way and that around the chasm in front of them.
The Collector had seen Philip's announcement and was eagerly awaiting him revealing himself. He hadn't left the castle since the last time he attempted the draining spell. The spell the Collector had shown him how to work.
He wondered how Philip was going to make it work without the eclipse to focus the magical exhaust from all the witches. Then again, maybe he would just set it all loose, since gathering it all up made it so easy for the Collector to tap into it last time.
If he could get just a little bit of that power, then he could finally manifest in his true form. And then he could throw away this flimsy shell.
Sure, she had been a great playmate, but she was so quiet since yesterday. He was pretty sure that the purple-haired girl had broken her, somehow. A good reason to not let people borrow your toys.
After all, what good was a broken toy?
If he stopped the draining spell again–after taking his share, of course–he'd have a whole titan full of toys to play with!
Then again, a human was pretty rare to be able to play with… maybe she'd just become a display piece only. Philip definitely wouldn't be getting out of this one in one piece. And he wasn't even really human anymore, so he couldn't count.
The Collector widened their eyes with their fingers, zooming in on the castle.
No sign of Philip.
Would they have to go down to find him? It looked like it.
What a pain.
The entire moat was surrounded by the time Hunter and the former Coven Heads arrived. The rebels were continuing to probe the castle's defenses with spells and rocks and kitchen sinks.
"Steve!" Hunter said to the leather jacket wearing former Scout.
"Ah, Hunter, what's up?" Steve said, turning away from the castle to talk with Hunter. "As you can see, we're not making a lot of progress right now. We've got people working on the bridge, but that might take some time."
"We don't have time, Steve." Hunter said, grimly. "What can we do to help?"
Steve thought for a moment, then asked "Do we have anyone who's a fast flier?"
On cue, they could hear Viney calling out "Puddles! Puddles no! Heel! Heeeel!" as the griffin bounded through the crowd of rebels. Viney was atop her back, trying in vain to keep her assistant from knocking people over and generally causing a nuisance.
The beast came to a sliding stop just in front of Hunter and Steve. She looked at the pair expectantly while wagging her tail back and forth. Viney hauled herself off the griffin's back and flopped onto the ground with a solid thud.
"Make a note, Hunter. Do not feed griffins demon-nip while they are wound up. It only makes them more excitable." she said with one hand raised.
Hunter and Steve shared a look, then looked back at Viney and Puddles. Viney looked up at the two with her eyebrow raised.
"I think we've found our high-speed flier." Steve reached a hand down to help Viney up.
Hunter gave Puddles the scratches on the forehead that she desired. "It should work. Puddles is incredibly fast."
Viney used Steve's offered hand to help herself up, then looked from Steve, to Hunter, and finally to Puddles.
"Why do I get the feeling we've just been volunteered for something incredibly dangerous?"
"Keep your legs straight!" Viney shouted to Hunter, seated behind her on Puddles' back. Mattholomule was curled up underneath the griffin, holding on to one of her legs. "It's a short flight, but we're going straight into the danger zone! Try not to fall off!"
"Why am I going with you two?!" Mattholomule called up from beneath the griffin.
"Because we need you to get the bridge open!" Hunter responded. "While you're doing that, we'll be holding off the Scouts!"
"Ok, ready?" Viney called out. "One…"
"Wait, I think my belt is loose!" Mattholomule tried to say, but his speech was drowned out by the sound of the battle around them.
"Two…"
Hunter held tight to Viney's waist. He was regretting leaving Flapjack with Hunter the Younger right now.
"Hi-yah!"
Viney kicked sharply into Puddles' sides: the sign that Puddles knew meant "Fly as fast as possible in a straight line, then get treats. And if you don't get treats, eat the nearest witch." And fly she did, straight across the gap, bowling through three Scouts on the other side who tried to scramble out of the way of the express griffin. As expected, not a single Scout had been able to react in time to counter.
Mattholomule went flying out of Puddles' claws as they landed, over the heads of the Scouts, landing on his feet a hair away from smacking his face into the main gate. He breathed a sigh of relief, then let out a yelp of fear as Scouts began to fire off spells in his direction.
"We'll cover you! Get that bridge extended!" Hunter shouted. He kicked a Scout in the mask while he was hopping off Puddles. Meanwhile, Viney was following suit, as well as directing Puddles into the crowd to sow carnage.
Mattholomule got to work himself, using a construction spell to summon a pillar and knock the Scout guarding the lever over into the chasm full of stagnant water and spiky rocks. They would probably be fine, Mattholomule lied to himself.
All it took was a flip of the lever for the bridge to begin extending to the other side.
But now came the hard part: keeping the Covens away from the lever and staying alive until the rest of the rebellion could cross the bridge.
Luckily, they had reinforcements. Darius had used his goop teleportation to bring himself, Vitimir, and a few other rebels, including a pair of green-haired twins, to their side. The Covens had more targets, which meant it was easier for each fighter to deal with a few at a time. Extending the bridge was a sure thing now.
Unless Mattholomule got distracted by the certainty of victory and missed the whip wrapping around the level and pulled it back, depriving the rebels of their soon-to-arrive reinforcements. The assembled rebels looked up to see a tan-skinned woman wearing a burgundy dress standing atop the low walls around the moat.
"Flora D'splora…" Darius said the name like he was spitting out venom.
"Ugh, I hate her!" Vitimir added.
"Don't think this siege will be so easy!" Flora said as she descended into the fray. The rebels were at the ready. "Not when I, newly appointed Head Witch of the Plant Coven, am here to stop you!"
"Plant Coven? A step down from the Emperor's, don't you think, Darius?" Vitimir asked.
"Indeed." Darius said, his form already shifting into battle mode. Abomination muck flowed around him until the line between Darius and abomination was blurred. He prepared both arms with scything blades; there would be no mercy today.
But first, he had to make an opening.
Darius leapt towards Flora, who dodged effortlessly with a backflip aided by her whip curling around a stray beam from the Construction Coven's scaffolds. But Darius' target was not Flora, it was the gate that she had been standing in front of.
The gate that now had a sizable hole in it.
"Hunter! Go on ahead! We'll hold Flora off." Darius moved to block the hole he had made.
"Let's cut loose!" Vitimir said as pulled his scarf down. Toxic gas was already beginning to leak from the corners of his mouth. "I've wanted to give her a piece of my breath since St. Epiderm!"
Hunter, Mattholomule, Viney, and Puddles squeezed through the hole in the gate as the battle outside began. Through the hole, they could see Darius swinging wide with his abominable blade arms, while Vitimir covered the area in the poisonous gasses that he cultivated in his iron stomach. The other rebels could be seen taking cover behind a barrier created by one of the green-haired twins.
While a scuffle involving a griffin and the bridge lever broke out below, a shadow flitted across the tops of the ramparts, unseen by the Scouts. They were too busy defending against flying rebels and watching the battles going on below to do much but ignore the flashes of yellow and blue that showed up in their peripheral vision.
That, and the Collector had prepared a inconspicuousness spell that erased their presence from the view of anyone who looked directly at them. It was working excellently.
Not that it was of much use once inside the castle. Most of the Scouts were out and about, spreading terror and sigils across the Isles. What remained here was the most elite, but simultaneously spread thin. Which meant little resistance inside the halls.
Not to mention that many had left their Covens since the first attempt at the draining spell. All that remained in the Covens were the absolute fanatics, those with nothing to lose, and those who could not return home for one reason or another.
But the lack of guards did mean that the Collector could stop and smell the blood-lilies; in this case meaning admiring the art that Philip had commissioned over the past century or so.
Most of the pieces depicted the fictional end of the 'Savage Ages', as he called it. In reality, propaganda that whitewashed his bloody conquest of the Isles, one city, one town, one witch at a time.
Other pieces showed the establishment of the Coven system. The system which the Collector had helped design, in exchange for his freedom. It was based on an older design of theirs, which had bound their Titan Slayers to their oaths to the 'Grand Huntsman'. A bit of tweaking of the activation delay and reversing the input matrix and Philip had his draining sigils.
The Collector's ears perked up at the sound of five-no, three witches and one four-legged demon walking through the halls.
They peeked around the corner of one junction, ducking back after catching a glimpse of the Grimwalker's blonde hair. There were two others with him, plus a griffin.
Maybe they would be an interesting distraction on the way to Philip.
"Are we there yet?"
"I swear to the Titan, Mattholomule, I will let Puddles eat you if you ask that again!"
"We're almost there." Hunter said, ahead of the other two. They were all on edge as they walked through the castle. "Up ahead should be the Relic Room. After that, we're only a few hallways away from the throne room."
Mattholomule looked over his shoulder at the empty hallway as the trio approached the Relic Room. "Does anyone else think it's weird that there haven't been any Scouts or Guards on our path?"
"They're probably all outside, fighting the rebels." Viney said. She petted Puddles to keep her calm, but something seemed to be bothering the griffin. Viney chalked it up to coming down from a demon-nip high, but something didn't feel right.
"I would have thought there would be at least one. Or maybe some Construction Coven goons–"
"We're here." Hunter said, cutting the conversation short. "We can take a short break here, but we need to keep going."
The trio and Puddles entered the Relic Room. Torches along the walls lit the room, while the marble floors gleamed, illuminating the pedestals that lined the green rug that stretched from door to door.
"You sure this is the Relic Room?" Mattholomule said while he inspected one of the pedestals. "'Cause I don't see any relics anywhere."
"They're either using them," Hunter grunted as he took a seat in front of another pedestal, "or they were locked away for being dangerous wild magic. Or Belos decided to eat them."
"You mentioned that he eats palismen…" Viney said as she laid herself across Puddles' back. "Can he eat magical relics? And, follow-up, does he eat witches?"
"He'd have to be a real monster to eat witches. I bet that one's just a bedtime story." Mattholomule said as leaned against one of the empty pedestals.
"That might be a step too far, even for him." Hunter mused.
The trio took a moment to catch their breaths. They had hurried through the halls on high alert, certain that death would jump out at them at any moment. They all thought it would have been less stressful if they had been attacked, at least once.
It was quiet in the room, except for the sound of the group's breathing. If one didn't know any better, they wouldn't even realize there was a pitched battle occurring outside the castle.
It was almost too quiet…
"Well well well! Look who we have here!"
Mattholomule tensed up at hearing that familiar voice. The one that had tormented him for as long as he had known it. He turned his head towards it, hoping that it wasn't–
"Bria." Mattholomule's face had twisted into a scowl as he said the name. Hunter and Viney were already up and in fighting stances.
The young witch, about Mattholomule's height, tossed her purple hair back. She was wearing a well-tailored grey tunic and her typical tattered brown shorts, covered overall by a white Coven cloak pinned with the emblem of the Construction Coven.
"Is she one of the construction witches who were fortifying the castle?" Hunter asked.
"Ha! Don't be ridiculous." Bria raised her hand up to display the Construction sigil on her wrist. With her other hand, she tugged at the pin on her cloak. "I've been recognized by the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. Emperor Belos himself saw my potential and made me Head Witch of the Construction Coven!"
"He must be getting desperate if he picked you , Bria." Mattholomule said. He cracked his neck, then his fingers.
"You're just jealous, Matty. You couldn't hack it at Glandus, then you couldn't hack it in the Construction track at Hexside either. So now you're wasting your time with those useless illusions!"
"Mattholomule, we need to go." Hunter whispered to Mattholomule.
Mattholomule looked from Hunter to Bria. "With all due respect, Hunter," he said, readying a set of illusion spells, "I'll handle her. I still need to teach her not to mess with my friends. Gus got her last time, now it's my turn."
"I'll stay here with him. Make sure he stays out of trouble." Viney said as she produced her manticore-topped staff. Noticing her partner in a combat stance, Puddles shifted into aggression mode.
"Ha! None of you are going to get out of this room. Not while I, Bria, Head Witch of the Construction Coven stand in your way!" Bria gestured to the door leading out of the room, casting a simple spell to raise a marble wall to block the way. "Now then…"
"Hunter. When I give the signal, run straight at the exit and don't stop." Mattholomule whispered out of the side of his mouth. He gestured down with his hand, a subtle orange glow fading as he did.
Hunter glanced at Mattholomule, then nodded. He waited for something subtle, like a feint in Mattholomule's stance or a hand signal.
He wasn't expecting the signal to be Mattholomule shouting at the top of his lungs "OK NOW GO GO NOW GO GO GO AAAAAHHHHH!" and slapping Hunter on the back.
True to his word, Hunter ran as fast as he could, dodging around rocky spikes summoned by Bria's magic as they shot up from the ground. He made it to the exit and didn't stop.
To his surprise, he slipped effortlessly through the stone. As he passed through, he realized Mattholomule must have lowered the wall quietly, without Bria noticing, and replaced it with an illusion.
Now Hunter was free to find Belos and put a stop to this once and for all.
As he ran off down the hallway, Mattholomule and Viney faced down Bria, their positions swapped from how they began. Now the rebels guarded the path onward, while Bria tried to dislodge them and pursue Hunter.
None of them noticed the yellow and blue blur that zipped through their peripheral vision to the exit.
"Guh!" the Illusion Coven Head grunted. One swift strike to the neck from behind was all that it had taken to knock them out.
Hunter checked their pockets for any weapons, keys, or evidence of where Belos had gone. He had spotted them departing the throne room, which was empty. Which meant that Belos was somewhere else in the castle.
Like behind that giant door covered in swords, shields, and staffs he could see down the side hall.
He left the Illusion Coven Head behind him and made for the door. It silently swung open when he pushed on it.
Inside, he could see torches set equidistant from one another, while the roof appeared to be open to the sky. Other than that, the room was rather bare, with few extra flourishes common to the rest of the castle, and it all looked newly built.
In the center of the room, Belos stood in his full robes overseeing the battle outside with the help of the Head Witch of the Oracle Coven. Several Scouts stood around him, on the watch for intruders. Like Hunter.
He felt someone grab him from behind–a Scout posted next to the door. The ease of the infiltration had dulled his reactions. Another Scout had already aimed a spell directly at Hunter's head.
"Stop." Belos' voice boomed across the room. He hadn't bothered to turn and acknowledge Hunter's presence, even though he had clearly noticed it already. The Scouts looked at each other, then at their Emperor.
"Bring him to me."
The two Scouts hauled Hunter into the makeshift arena, pushing him onto his knees before Belos. He loomed over Hunter. His arms were held behind his back as he looked Hunter over. Hunter tried to give the nastiest, most defiant glare he could to his so-called Uncle, but Belos just smiled and chuckled.
"Leave us." Belos said curtly to his followers.
The Scouts in the room bowed and filed out to the exit. The green-haired Oracle Coven Head tried to protest, but was silenced by Belos before she could even speak. Hunter watched her as she stalked out of the room.
He didn't catch the yellow and blue blur zipping through the door as it closed.
"Hunter. So good to see you again." Belos said, in the most faux-familial tone Hunter had ever heard him affect. "You know, I was so worried when you went missing. I thought something might have happened to you. It would not please the Titan to lose his chosen–"
"Drop the act 'Uncle'. We both know what I saw in your mind." Hunter spat onto the floor, then stood up to his full height. Which was still dwarfed by Belos' frame. "I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore."
Belos' familial demeanor dropped instantly. "Is that right?" Belos began to pace back and forth in front of Hunter. "Tell me, what do you intend to do with me, 'Emperor Hunter'? Will you carry on my legacy and finish my work, or will you betray me, like so many others have before you?"
Hunter opened his mouth to answer, but Belos raised a hand to stop him. "Don't bother. I already know the answer. You'll say something about believing in your friends, then challenge me to a one-on-one duel. Once you have me at your mercy, you'll say something about being the better witch and take me into custody, then imprison me in the darkest room in the lowest dungeon on the Isles. Where I'll slowly rot away until nothing is left."
Belos turned to face Hunter, his eyes full of fury. "And you'll call it mercy ."
Hunter took a step back, taken aback by Belos' words. "If you showed regret for your actions, then maybe you would be released before that happens." he tried to protest.
Belos chuckled. "But that's where I must disagree. Because I have no need to feel regret. Certainly not for stamping out a colony of parasites that threaten my world."
"Why haven't you activated the draining spell yet?" Hunter asked. He glanced from side to side, wary of any sneak attacks. "I hear you don't need the eclipse this time."
"Ah, yes. I assume Kikimora told you that? She certainly has a way of getting under my skin more than any of these other beasts." Hunter thought he spotted something moving in the corner of his eye, but dismissed it and continued to listen to Belos. "She is wrong, of course. The eclipse is essential. I am merely waiting for one last guest to arrive…"
Hunter dashed forward while Belos was pontificating. If he could take him off guard, separate him from his staff, he might stand a chance.
Belos dodged to the side, letting Hunter harmlessly run past him. By the time Hunter realized and course-corrected, Belos was snapping his fingers and summoning fleshy arms from the ground to grab at Hunter.
Hunter danced around the clawed limbs and continued on a direct course for Belos. Belos, for his part, did not react much, other than to tap his staff on the ground once.
The torch flames spun out of their sconces and around Belos, dispersing in a wave of fire around him when he tapped his staff again. Hunter ducked under the wave of fire, sliding along the rough floor. He was just low enough, but his forelock was a bit scorched in the process.
He leapt up from the slide and dove for Belos' staff. He let out a little happy breath when he felt both hands wrap around it. He twisted and turned, trying to wrench the staff out of Belos' hand. He made no progress until he suddenly did. The staff swung over his head and its head clattered on the ground after it finished its arc.
Hunter spun around and pointed the staff at Belos, who had his hand open where he had let go of the staff.
He had a pleased smile on his face.
That probably wasn't good.
"Oh, Hunter. Did you really think I'd be powerless without my staff?" Belos said. He raised his right arm to the side and Hunter watched as it rewrote itself into the muddy mass he was intimately familiar with. A muddy hand, larger than the one he often struck Hunter with by accident.
It was at this point that Hunter realized that this had been a poorly thought-out, desperate plan, fueled by adrenaline and bravado. He figured it would have been a much better idea to stay with Mattholomule and Viney instead of running ahead to his certain doom.
The next thing Hunter knew, he was being held up above Belos in his fleshy mud hand. He had dropped the staff to the ground, and Belos was casually retrieving it. Belos' hand gripped Hunter tight, tight enough for him to begin having trouble breathing and for a few ribs to begin cracking very audibly.
"Don't worry, Hunter." Belos said as he brought Hunter down to eye-level, but didn't let him go. "I'm not going to kill you. This time you actually are an integral part of my plans. Like I've always said, the Titan has big plans–"
"Hey Philip!"
Belos turned to the side, acknowledging the presence of the Collector in his arena. He put his best faux-hospitality affect on and said "Collector. How nice of you to grace us with your presence. And right on time, no less."
"Well, you know, I was having such a great time playing with everyone else, and I wanted to save you for last! I just know we'll have a good time on our playdate!"
"Of course, Collector."
"Why don't we play tag. Since you didn't release me after you pinkie promised, I'll be it first ." Even Hunter could tell those last words were full of malicious intentions.
Belos didn't seem bothered, though. "Before that, Collector. Would you like to play a game of my own creation?"
The Collector raised an eyebrow. "How do you play…?"
"You simply have to kill this Grimwalker."
Hunter's eyes widened when he heard those words. His efforts to break out of Belos' grasp doubled, but doubled or not, Belos was not letting go of him. In fact, he tightened his grip; Hunter's side burned, at the spot where Luz had hit him yesterday, making him hiss in pain.
"You know, you always had a smile on your face when you killed the other Grimwalkers." the Collector said with a hand on their chin. "I was wondering what was so fun about it. Finally I'll get to find out!"
He walked forward. He reached out their hand toward Hunter's face. Hunter flinched back, eyes shut, prepared for whatever was to come.
"NO! I won't let you hurt him!"
Hunter peeked open his eyes. The Collector was frozen, their hand reaching out towards Hunter and body in mid-step motion. But their eyes were wrenched shut and Hunter could see him shaking all over. Like someone was fighting back–
"Luz!" Hunter exclaimed.
"Oh my, what a surprising development." Belos said off-handedly.
"Don't-don't worry, Hunter. I'm holding him back right now. You need to break out of Belos's grip and beat him!" Luz said as she fought against the Collector from inside their shared body.
"Hey, you aren't broken!" the Collector said as they wrenched back one of their eyes. "Why did you stop talking to me? I thought we were best friends!"
"That was after you brainwashed me and convinced me to kill my friends, you creep!"
"Hey! I'm not a creep! I'm– nononono!" Luz's body was starting to move again. Away from Hunter. "This is my body now! We had a deal! You promised!"
"Well I…" Luz said as she struggled against the Collector trying to reassert theirself as the main personality. "Revoke… Our deal!" Suddenly, Luz moved her body without resistance. She was in full control now, but the Collector's aesthetic alterations did not change back to normal.
"Heh! I did it, Hunter!" Luz said excitedly. She looked up at Hunter, still in Belos' grasp, and her expression fell. "Oh no."
Belos tapped his staff against his mud arm in a mocking clap. "Well done, Luz. I really must commend you. After all–"
He waved his staff and magical chains erupted from the ground to restrain Luz, wrapping around her limbs and dragging her to her knees. "–it would have taken me much longer to defeat the Collector."
"Now then, I need to make sure you don't try and run." Belos said in Hunter's direction. He clenched his mud fist and Hunter could feel something in his legs snap.
It was incredibly painful.
Then came the arms.
With Hunter immobilized, Belos casually dropped him on the ground. He couldn't do much more than attempt to wiggle his limbs, but he couldn't feel anything in them. From Luz's horrified expression, he figured that it looked worse than he thought. They felt twisted, so they were probably badly broken.
The adrenaline from the fight earlier most likely contributed to his current awake status. Hunter expected having all his limbs broken at once to make him collapse from the shock.
It would have been much better if he had been unconscious, he thought.
"You know, I didn't expect this all to go according to plan." Belos said at Luz. "This has been a pleasant surprise. The only thing I need now is what's inside this Grimwalker."
"What-ugh-what are you planning, Belos?" Luz said as she struggled against the magical chains, which only grew tighter and dragged her, slowly, to the floor.
"Planning?" Belos said with surprise. "I'm not planning anything. I am merely saving humanity. No longer will the things that lurk in the night threaten our people."
"Your people?! You're not even human anymore!"
Belos shook his head. "I feel like I should be saying that, Luz. Allowing the Collector to inhabit your body? Simply barbaric." He let out a sigh and pulled a dark blue disc from his cloak. "I did want to save you, Luz, but unfortunately this ritual does not discriminate in the souls it seals. I am sorry for what I have to do to one of my own people."
He set the disc on the ground above Luz's head while she continued to struggle. She was nearly horizontal from the retracting chains. He walked to each of the four torches and lit them so that they burned blue. Finally, he dragged Hunter beside Luz and dropped him on the floor.
"Now, one final ingredient: power."
Belos took his staff and began to etch a complex glyph matrix into the ground around the prone pair. By this point, Luz had stopped struggling, her back was already on the floor. Now she was just looking at Hunter, who looked back at her. Neither of them had a plan. It was looking like the end for everything.
After everything they had done, their journey would end here, under the knife of Philip Wittebane.
"And… done." Philip said. He leaned down and tapped the glyphs, which lit up in nine distinct colors that began to float up and out of the castle, through the hole in the ceiling.
From their places on the ground, Hunter and Luz could see just enough of what was happening. The lights were rising into the air, twisting this way and that. Ultimately, they coalesced into a round shape and began to spin as they overtook the sun. A network of darkness began to link the lights. Link after link, the darkness spread, until the artificial eclipse was in place. The lights shone within the corona of the eclipse, seemingly anchoring it.
Despite losing all feeling in his arm, Hunter could feel the burning of his sigil. The way it creeped up his arm, like it was slowly filling his whole body with liquid fire. He would have cried out, but his body didn't want to move anything, including his lungs.
"Hunter!" Luz cried at the edge of his perception. Everything seemed to be filtered through a heavy sheet now.
"And with that, we can begin the ritual." Hunter barely registered Belos' presence, much less the knife he was brandishing. "Time to extract the Galdorstone."
"We're too late." Amity said. She was atop her staff, flying towards the castle. Beside her, Gus and Willow rode their staffs and behind her she could hear Eda and King gasping.
Before them was the castle moat. The bridge had been extended completely, but that didn't matter, because the entire area was blanketed in light; energy being extracted from sigils. Not a single witch or demon was standing, even among the rebels.
"Let's get down there. Maybe we can get some answers as to what happened." Eda said as she flew ahead.
"I didn't think it would happen this soon…" Gus mumbled.
"All these people…" Willow said. She looked back and forth from the air, trying to spot anyone she knew. A certain blonde teen, in particular.
They touched down on the far side of the bridge from the castle. All around them, both rebels and Coven members were splayed out. Some groaned as they felt themselves fading, but most were silent, too weak to even vocalize their discomfort.
The bridge was covered in more witches and demons, slowly dying. At least these were spread out more, Amity thought as she crossed the bridge with Willow and Gus. It made it easier to cross; a morbid thought, to be sure.
Eda had stayed behind to check on Raine, who was barely conscious in the middle of a crowd of rebels. Their loyal bard compatriots–Katya, Derwin, and Amber–had each collapsed around them, one hand gripping their instruments while the other was covered in a spiderweb of light emanating from their sigils.
Despite Eda and King's best efforts, Raine could do little more than mumble out a few words under their breath once they realized that Eda was there. What they said was a secret known only to them and Eda, but considering the solemnity with which Eda left them, propped up against a rock, an observer like King had to assume it had something to do with their relationship.
Across the bridge, Amity spotted two young witches with green hair, who looked like they had suddenly collapsed and were covered in rapidly spider webbing lines of light. She rushed to their sides, exclaiming "Ed! Em! Are you ok?!"
"Oh… hey… Mittens…" Edric said weakly as Amity helped him into a sitting position. "Glad… you could… make it…"
"Ed, save your strength. Em, can you heal him? Make the draining spell slow down?" Amity turned to help her sister, leaning her against some loose stones nearby.
"Sorry… Amity…" Emira said between ragged breaths. She tried to move her arm, but resorted to tilting her head towards it to get the message across. "During the… battle… got branded… potions… not healing… Sorry…"
"I don't know if healing magic would help right now, Amity." Willow said as she crouched down and put her hand on Amity's back. "This all looks pretty bad."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Gus said. He looked around the battlefield. "How can we stop this?"
"You… can't…" another voice said, from the cracked castle gate. A voice belonging to a woman with green hair, wearing the white robes and stylized brooch of the Oracle Coven.
The gate rumbled as the trio wrenched it further open. Amity stood over the figure, who could easily be assumed to be the Oracle Coven Head by her dress and the way nearby witches' energy was converging into the stream leaving her body.
"Odalia."
"Is that… any way to… talk to your mother?" Odalia was trying to resist the draining spell, which seemed to help her speak, at great effort. That wasn't stopping her from coughing blood between her words, though. "This is… the path to paradise… Belos said–"
"Belos lied, mom!" Amity shouted down at her mother. "He was just using you! All along. Everything. Whatever he promised you, it's not coming."
"You don't… know–"
"I do, though! I told you, Ed and Em told you, dad told you! And you didn't listen! You inflicted your own desires on everyone else, again! And now the rest of us have to deal with your mistakes!" Amity huffed as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes.
Odalia didn't respond. Her eyes had glazed over and her jaw was slack.
Gus leaned down and pressed two fingers to her neck. "She's still alive. For now." He stood up and crossed his arms. "But it's only a matter of time, with the draining spell sapping her energy."
"Same with everyone else." Willow said with a glance out of the gate. Edric was already slumped over, while Emira's eyelids were fluttering. "We've got to stop this."
"And we will, kids." Eda said as she marched through the gate, past the trio, with King hurrying to keep up behind her. "We're gonna find Belos and stove in his creepy face. Then we'll make him stop this, at any cost."
"Eda…" Amity intoned. "Are you sure we can do this? Last time, we had Luz and we knew where Belos was. But even then, they drove us back, and Luz…" Amity's voice drifted off.
Eda stopped, causing King to crash into her leg. She sighed.
"Last time, I was hit by a lucky shot. Luz made the call and you all fell back to safety. It was the right choice, at the time. It saved your lives."
Eda changed into her harpy form as she turned to face the kids. Her eyes were full of a bloodlust like they had never seen before.
"This time, there will be no retreat. No going back. No matter what, Belos will be stopped and he will pay for what he's done," she clenched her clawed hand shut to emphasize her words, " with his life. "
She turned back and started to stalk back down the hallway. "If you want to survive, I suggest you head back to the Owl House. Hooty'll keep you safe. If you follow me, you're headed to the end, whether you like it or not."
Gus, Willow, and King shared a look of concern, both for themselves and for Eda's current well-being. But Amity was undeterred; she walked up beside Eda and matched her pace, to Eda's surprise. The other three hurried after them.
The final battle was at hand. The fate of the Boiling Isles, the whole Demon Realm, was at stake here. They wouldn't turn their backs on their friends.
And they couldn't turn back anymore.