Chapter 17: Unity

The Day of Unity, Connecticut

A couple of weeks after Luz had her last conversation with her mother, they managed to finally make a working portal back to Earth.

However, with it brought a lot of trouble, mainly, the fact that Emperor Belos had begun the Day of Unity.

This resulted in the Human and Demon Realms beginning to merge, as the Titan was now laying down in the ocean.

As such, Luz and Eda were both locked in an all important battle against Emperor Belos, hoping to stop the merging of the two realms.

That being said though, they weren't having much luck.

Amity and the rest of their friends had to stay behind, to fight off the various Coven Heads, as well as the Abomitons that were commissioned by the Emperor.

As for Hunter, after the Emperor's intentions for the boy had been revealed, he had joined Luz's side… though he refused to fight against his uncle. As such, he stayed behind with the rest of the group.

Back to Luz and Eda though, the Emperor had quickly proven to be too much for the two of them to handle on their own.

If Eda had her magic back, then she might of been able to do something, however, even in her harpy form, she simply wasn't powerful enough at this time.

As for Luz, Bluebert was still very inexperienced, and she was as well. As such, her magical power with a staff proved to be very insufficient, especially against someone as powerful as Emperor Belos.

"Ugh… hate to say it kid, but we might be in a bit of trouble here…" Eda groaned out as she climbed out of a hole in the wall.

"I know I know… give me a chance to think!" Luz said, scrambling to come up with some kind of plan to turn the tables.

"Oh? Do you really think I am going to give you a chance to come up with a plan?" Belos asked.

Then, Eda noticed one of the statues in the room beginning to move, turning to face Luz as it's eyes began to glow.

"Luz!" She shouted, before flying over and shoving Luz to the ground.

Then, the statue fired a laser, hitting Eda in the back, and engulfing her in magic.

Then, her body began to turn to stone.

"Eda!" Luz shouted.

She quickly threw a plant glyph at the statue, hoping to destroy it, but Belos intercepted with a spell of his own.

"Sorry human… but I won't be letting you interrupt the spell this time." Belos said with a wicked grin.

Then, one of his creepy hand things suddenly appeared, and smacked Luz away, sending her to the ground, the contents of her backpack spilling around her.

"Ugh…"

"Luz… please… get out of here…" Eda pleaded.

"Eda!"

Looking around frantically, Luz spotted something.

A vial of Pseudo Blood.

She brought it along just in case, but she honestly didn't have any plan for it.

'Do you think if I ate the portal key… I'd end up in the human realm?' Luz remembered herself asking when she was sick.

'Wait… there was titan's blood in the key? Wow… that's something…' She also remembered asking when Amity told her about losing the key at Eclipse Lake.

Then… she got an idea.

She quickly picked up the vial of Pseudo Blood and took out the cork.

"And what do you plan on using that for? To power up your silly little glyphs?" Belos asked.

"No…" Luz said as she turned to face him. "This."

She then drank the contents of the vial… the Pseudo Blood.

"… Ewwwwww…" King said from the entryway, having just entered the room.

At that moment, the entire room got engulfed in a blinding light.

When the light cleared, Luz was floating… and looking very different.

Her brown hair had turned into a bright silver, a look that wouldn't normally be concerning…

If it weren't for the two horns now sticking out of her head…

And the fangs.

And the claws.

"Oh my…" Eda breathed out.

Luz… looked like a real demon.

But… not just any demon… those new features…

They looked just like the titan.

"What… what is this?!" Belos asked.

Suddenly, all of the statues that were casting the petrification spell blew up, and the spell was instantly undone on Eda.

"What did you do?!" Belos demanded.

"Simple." Luz said… though her voice was a lot deeper now, and had an echo to it. "I decided that I no longer have a use for you."

"What?!" Belos asked.

Then, in an instant, Luz was in front of him.

"Did you really think that I would let anyone else rule besides me?" Luz asked.

Then, Belos and Eda both realized what was happening.

This wasn't Luz talking anymore…

It was the titan itself.

Suddenly, Luz put her hand up in front of Belos, as a spell circle appeared.

Then, a massive blast of magical energy suddenly burst out of the circle.

Eda could only watch on in horror as the blast completely obliterated Belos, reducing him to nothing but ash.

When the dust cleared, he was gone.

And Luz began laughing.

She continued laughing, and began flying upwards. Then, magical energy began to fly all over the place, destroying everything around her.

One of these blasts just so happened to fly into and damage Luz's school nearby.

"What's happening to her?!" King asked as he ran over to Eda.

"I dunno, but I don't like it." Eda said as she got up off the ground.

"Well, what do we do?!" King asked.

"Well, we gotta knock her out I think." Eda said. "That should put a stop to all of this."

"Ok, and how exactly do you plan to do that?" King asked.

Eda thought for a minute and came up with an idea.

She would use Luz's one weakness.

"Hey King, just thought I'd let you know, I ate that cupcake you kept in the back of the fridge."

"WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU?!" King asked.

"Aw don't be such a baby about it."

"I am NOT A BABY!" King shouted. "And why are you bringing this up NOW?!"

"Yes you aaaarrrrreeee!" Eda said, ignoring his question.

"Quit it!" King shouted.

"Cute little baby man." Eda said with a smirk.

And at that point, King snapped.

And so, he started flailing about, unleashing the squeak of rage.

The high pitched squeak along with his voice powers reverberated throughout the room, and destroyed all the walls.

More importantly, it caught Luz off guard, sending her hurdling into a nearby wall.

Then, she looked over to see King throwing his tantrum.

"Awww, the cute little baby is upset!" Luz gushed…

The fact that she still had that demonic voice, made it a lot more unnerving.

At that moment of distraction, Eda suddenly appeared behind Luz and, catching her off guard, struck her with her staff with all of her strength.

At that moment, Amity burst into the room, covered in sludge.

"Luz! I'm here!" Amity shouted.

She arrived just in time to see Luz falling to the ground, completely unconscious.

"LUZ!" Amity screamed before rushing over.

Eda landed besides the two of them, and kneeled down next to Luz.

"Don't worry, she's just out cold."

"Oh thank goodness…" Amity said in relief.

She then got a good look at Luz's injuries. A lot of her skin was singed, and a lot of blood was dried to her face.

"What… happened to her?" Amity asked.

"Not gonna lie, not sure myself." Eda lied.

She figured that Luz didn't want to worry Amity more than she already was.

"Ok… and what about Belos?" Amity asked.

"… Gone." Eda explained. "Luz beat him."

"So… it's over?" Amity asked.

Eda then had a sad smile on her face.

"Yeah, it's over."

Present Day

When Eda saw the large pillar of light erupting from the top of the castle, she immediately had a bad feeling about everything.

"Eda… is that…?" King asked.

"Yeah, I think that's Luz." Eda said. "Golden boy! I am going to help Luz! You alright out here?"

"Yeah! We'll be fine!" Hunter said.

"Great, come on King!" Eda said.

And with that, King climbed up onto Eda's shoulder, before the Harpy flew up to the top of the castle.

When she got there, she got a perfect view of everyone.

All of them staring at Luz, who was currently enveloped in light.

When the light cleared, she once again had that demonic appearance.

"…Luz…?" Amity asked.

Luz simply began to laugh.

"Sorry kid, but Luz isn't here any more." Luz said in her demonic voice.

"What happened to her?" Sasha asked.

"She drank Pseudo Blood is what happened." Eda said as she landed. "From what I can tell, it gives her ultimate magical power, but she's not exactly in control."

"THAT'S WHAT SHE DID?!" Amity asked.

"Not the time! We need to snap her out of it!" Eda shouted.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this." Andrias said with a smirk. "To think the great titan itself would make an appearance!"

"Oh, is that Night?" Luz asked. "You look… different."

"A lot has happened." Andrias said.

"Are they seriously having a casual conversation right now?" Sasha groaned out.

"Do you wish to destroy these twerps, or shall I?" Luz asked.

Andrias smirked again.

"It would bring me great joy to see these kids destroying each other… have fun." Andrias said as he went and leaned against a wall.

"Very well…" Luz said.

Suddenly, she appeared in front of Anne.

And as suddenly, Anne was sent flying out of the room.

"Anne!" Marcy shouted, before charging at Luz and restraining her, only to get thrown off with ease.

Sasha then tried the same thing, but to the same result.

Luz was about to blast them all away, but Eda got in the way.

"Luz stop!" Eda said. "You need to snap out of it!"

"… Eda…?" Luz said as he eyes regained their normal color for a moment, but it quickly changed back.

Suddenly, a large amount of rubble was sent at Eda, but King was able to destroy it all.

"What was that?" King asked.

"… Of course! Luz is still in there!" Eda realized. "That's how distracting her worked last time!"

"Ok, so what do we do?!" King asked after destroying a ball of energy.

"Hmmm…"

"I have an idea." Anne said as she returned, landing next to Eda.

She then whispered the idea to Eda.

"You think that'll work?" Eda asked.

"It worked for me!" Anne said as she charged at Luz, Sasha and Marcy following close behind.

Meanwhile, Eda flew over to Amity to tell her the plan.

"Luz! Come on, snap out of it!" Anne said as she dodged a blast of energy.

"Be quiet human!" Luz shouted. "Your friend is no longer here!"

"I beg to differ!" Marcy shouted as she fired a few crossbow rounds, which Luz dodged. "She's in there somewhere, and we aren't going to stop until we get her back!"

Sasha then flew in and pinned Luz to the ground, but she was quickly thrown off.

When Luz got up though, Anne quickly made her way over and restrained her arms.

Sasha then grabbed her legs and held them to the ground.

And Marcy shot a group of crossbow bolts around the girls, creating ropes of energy that tied around Luz.

"Let! Me! GO!" Luz shouted.

"Luz…"

Looking up, Luz saw Amity approaching.

"I am so sorry… I am so sorry that you were dealing with all of this, and I couldn't help you…" Amity said. "Seeing this now, I understand why you didn't want me to know… you were so scared of what you could do like this, you didn't want anyone to know…."

"SHUT UP!" Luz shouted. "SHE'S NO-"

Then, the color in Luz's eyes turned back to normal for a bit.

"A-Amity?"

At that moment, Amity was in front of Luz, and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Luz… I love you so much…"

And with that, she planted her lips onto Luz's.

Around Luz, there was nothing but darkness.

However, this didn't seem to bother her.

Turning around, she saw herself, in that monstrous form of hers.

The copy smirked.

"Get out." Luz said sternly.

"Please, like you could get anything accomplished without me." The Copy said. "You tried to, and look where it led you, right back to me."

Luz stayed silent.

"You're weak human. The only reason you will ever make a real difference is with my help, and you know it." The Copy taunted.

"… You're right, I am weak." Luz admitted. "Without your power, I couldn't beat Belos, and I felt so useless against Andrias, that I had to use it again…

And that's why I am taking that power for my own."

The Copy just laughed at this.

"And how do you plan on doing that?!" The Copy asked.

"By kicking you out… just like I did on the mountain." Luz said with a smirk.

The Copy's eyes went wide.

"That won't work again, and you know it!" The Copy said as Luz began to approach. "It only worked last because you drank so little of my blood! It won't work again!"

"Yes it will." Luz said as chains of light wrapped around the copy. "I may be weak, but I know one thing."

Luz got closer and closer.

"As long as my spirit stays strong, I know that I can do anything." Luz said as she was standing in front of The Copy.

"And as long as I am with my friends… my girlfriend… my family…

My spirit will never die."

And, when she put her hand up, a giant blast of light came out of it.

When the light cleared, The Copy was gone…

And Luz began to smile.

When Amity began kissing Luz, the room immediately got enveloped in light.

When it cleared, Luz fell to the ground, kneeling in front of the other girls.

"Luz…?"

Luz looked up and smiled.

"Hey Am… did I make you worried?" Luz asked.

"Of course you did!" Amity said as she began to hug Luz.

In terms of Luz's appearance, she was now back to normal mostly.

The only real difference was that her hair retained it's silver color.

"Are you going to be alright?" Marcy asked.

"Yeah… I will be." Luz said.

Then, she looked up.

Acting quickly, Luz suddenly drew a magic circle with her hand, before throwing her fist upwards.

Behind Amity, a large fist of golden light suddenly shot upwards, nailing Andrias in the gut.

"Tsk, should of known that a sneak attack wouldn't work." Andrias groaned out.

Luz then took to the air, with Bluebert now on her shoulder.

The palismen rubbed it's head against Luz's cheek affectionately, causing Luz to smile sadly.

"Sorry for worrying you Azulito." Luz said with a smile. "Want to help me end this?"

Bluebert nodded before turning into a staff.

Then, Luz got to work.

She spun Bluebert around, and sent a volley of large magical spheres at Andrias, all of which exploded on impact.

When the smoke cleared, she was gone.

"Where did she…?"

Suddenly, Luz was behind him, before swinging her staff to the right.

This caused a bit of the floor to turn into abomination goo, which slammed into Andrias' side, sending him flying back.

Not letting up her assault, Luz then created four magic circles.

Each one had one of her base glyphs inside, as balls of fire, ice, light and thorny vines all shot towards Andrias rapidly.

When the smoke cleared, Andrias was on a knee, the helmet missing a chunk over his left eye.

Then, they saw it.

Andrias' eye turned to normal for a brief moment, and instead of anger like they were expecting, they saw a different emotion…

Fear.

"What in the…?" Luz asked.

Suddenly, the eye turned orange, before Andrias charged at Luz at a high speed, before punching her to the ground.

He was about to follow up on his attack by slamming both of his fists onto her, but he was interrupted by the other three humans, who sent him flying away.

Anne then held her hand out to Luz and helped her up.

"You didn't really think that we were going to let you fight on your own, right?" Anne asked.

Luz smiled. "Right, thanks Anne."

Then, Marcy took a step towards Andrias.

"He's still in there… and he's afraid…" Marcy deduced.

"She's right." Luz said. "Andrias… he's just another person we have to save now."

"I don't know if we can save him, but we have to at least show that helmet the door." Sasha added.

The three girls then looked to Anne, who simply stepped in front of them.

So, Anne held up her fists, as they were covered in blue energy.

To her left, Sasha pulled out her swords, both covered in red energy.

To her right, Marcy prepped her crossbow, glowing in green energy.

And behind them all, Luz held her staff horizontally, it glowing in silver energy.

Anne smiled and simply said one thing:

"Let's end this."

End of Chapter 17

This is it folks! The final battle is next! The next chapter is the OFFICIAL end of the story! There will be an epilogue, once again posted at night, but the main part of the story shall be coming to an end next chapter.

The final battle itself is not going to be that long, saying that now… but I did do something special for it.

I want to say this: Every story has that ONE scene, that one scene that pretty much made me want to write out the entire story to get to it, and to write the aftermath of it. The final battle is that scene for this story.

Yup, the final battle is the reason that I not only wrote this story, but this entire series as a whole! Love Duel and Tomorrow's Truth were originally going to be their own thing, but when I got the idea for this story, I knew I had to incorporate those stories. Then, halfway through writing this story, I got the idea for One Small Change and… yeah! Here we are! Everything that has happened has led to this and I am so happy that we finally made it this far!

For context for how long I have had this final battle planned, it was the very first thing I had drafted. The special thing I did for it, that was the reason why I drafted it first. I got the idea in my head for it, and I NEEDED to get it down on paper before I could have a chance to forget. I will go into more detail on the writing process for it next time. I don't want to spoil what it is, and the name of the chapter might give it away. As such, while I considered telling you all the title, I decided against it.

For those of you wondering: Luz in this form is for sure stronger than the three girls individually, but about on par with the three of them together. This is because titan's blood on it's own is able to pierce the dimensional barrier, but all three gems are required to do the same thing… so it makes sense.

Anyways, with that said…

I'll see you next time for the end.