As the sun began to set on the Boiling Isles, Luz and Amity were in Eda's room at the Owl House watching her sleeping quietly in her nest.

"She's still asleep", Luz said, "but I think she's starting to recover."

"I hope so", Amity said, "I can't stand the thought of Mom dying."

The two girlfriends left Eda's room and went downstairs to the living room.

"Say, where's Hunter", Amity asked.

"He told me he was going out for a while", Luz said, "and he sounded like he was mad about something when he said it."

"I wouldn't be surprised if had anything to do with the Master of Undivision", Amity said, "he's been really angry over all the stuff he and the True Magic Coven have done lately."

"I know", Luz said, "even my Dad never sunk so low as to use innocent children as guinea pigs in experiments."

"Or Odalia and Alador", Amity said, "it makes sense why Hunter hates him so much."

"Yeah", Luz said, "I just hope he doesn't try and do anything crazy."

"Me too", Amity said.

Then, she noticed some kind of book on the table.

"What's this", Amity asked.

It was the photo book Eda had been looking at it earlier on, and when she opened it up, she and Luz looked at its contents with extreme interest.

"Well would you look at that", Luz said.

Meanwhile, Hunter was somewhere in the woods standing in front of a stack of rocks he had made, with the one on the top being covered in moss similar to the Master of Undivision's mask, and Flapjack was perched on his shoulder.

"You ready, Flapjack", Hunter asked.

Flapjack chirped in response.

"Then let's do this", Hunter said.

Flapjack hopped down into Hunter's hand and was screwed into place on his staff, and Hunter got in a battle-ready position.

"Okay", Hunter said, "here we go."

Hunter used his staff to fire some blasts of magic at rock stack, and then swung it hard, which sent a blast of magic towards the stack, but while it shook, it didn't fall over, so he pulled out a fire glyph and shot a fireball at it, which caused some rocks to fall, but not very many, so he placed an ice glyph on the floor that made a pillar of ice rise up to the ground, and the stack fell down some, but the moss-covered rock was still in its position, so Hunter ran up to it and knocked it off of the stack with his staff, then pulled out a fire glyph.

"Time's up, Master", Hunter said.

He slapped the glyph on the rock and tapped it to set it off, and the moss on the rock burned off.

"Of course, when I actually do that to the Master, he won't have his mask on", Hunter said.

At that moment, Hunter heard something rustling in the bushes, and picked up his staff and got ready for a fight.

"Who's there", Hunter asked, "show yourself."

Then, Paxton came out from the bushes, prompting Hunter to lower his staff.

"Easy, son", Paxton said, "it's just me."

"Oh, hey Dad", Hunter said.

"I heard some noises coming from this direction and came to check it out", Paxton said, "what were you doing just now?"

"Just practicing some battle techniques", Hunter said.

"Battle techniques", Paxton asked, "for what?"

"For my next encounter with the Master of Undivision", Hunter said.

"Oh yes, him", Paxton said.

"He's committed so many atrocious acts against the Boiling Isles", Hunter said, "and he really crossed the line at the Coven Day Parade earlier today."

"I heard that he and his friends made a surprise appearance at that event", Paxton said, "I was unable to attend it because of something came up suddenly."

"The Master of Undivision and his True Magic Coven are a bunch of deplorable, murderous psychopaths who are willing to kill anyone to achieve their goals", Hunter said, "their plans for the Boiling Isles are a threat to its citizens, and they must be stopped before they cause irreparable damage."

Paxton looked down with a sorrowful expression on his face, then spoke to Hunter.

"Hunter", Paxton said, "I want you to come with me."

"Where are we going", Hunter asked.

"There's something I need to tell you", Paxton said, "it's my greatest secret I've been keeping from you."

As Paxton turned and walked away, Hunter followed him, curious about what he had just said.

"His greatest secret", Hunter thought, "what is he talking about?"

Paxton and Hunter walked together through the woods, and soon, they arrived at the cabin Paxton had been inside earlier.

"Is this your home", Hunter asked.

"It is", Paxton said, "I would have given you the address during one of our previous meetings, but I never got around to doing it."

"I see", Hunter said.

Paxton took out his keys and unlocked the front door.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about where this is going", Hunter thought.

The father and son duo entered the house, and Paxton led Hunter to his study room, where he turned on the lights and picked a history book up off his desk.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we", Paxton asked.

Paxton sat down and opened the book, then turned to a page that depicted Emperor Belos (the real one, not Luz's father) with nine witches who had the symbols of the nine covens drawn above them.

"You know the story of the Coven System, don't you", Paxton asked.

"I do", Hunter said, "the covens were created by the real Emperor Belos to bring order to the Boiling Isles and put an end to wild magic."

"That is correct", Paxton said, "and it did eventually solve all those problems, but in the process, created a whole new series of problems."

"What kind of problems", Hunter asked.

Paxton responded by turning the pages of the book to one that depicted several witches engaged in battle with one another, each of them using a different kind of magic.

"Conflict", Paxton said, "conflict between the nine main covens over which one is the more powerful, which eventually led to civil wars erupting across the Isles between the covens."

"I have heard a few stories about civil wars between the covens", Hunter said, "but I wasn't sure if they were true or not."

"Oh, they're true alright", Paxton said, "I had family members who fought and died in those wars."

Hunter was surprised to hear that.

"Eventually, the Emperor's Coven was established to keep the covens in order so there wouldn't be any more conflict between them", Paxton said, "but even after that, there were still a few minor conflicts between certain covens."

"Wow", Hunter said, "I didn't know that was the reason the Emperor's Coven was created."

"I'm not surprised", Paxton said, "most history stories about the Coven System leave out details like that to make it sound more perfect."

"I guess that makes sense", Hunter said, "it's hard to make something like the Coven System look flawless when it's had a hand in causing things like civil wars."

"Indeed", Paxton said.

Paxton shut the book and set it back down on his desk.

"The Coven System was created to bring order to the Boiling Isles, but all it did was cause chaos", Paxton said, "it turned brother against brother and the strong against the weak."

"But there haven't been any major conflicts between the covens in recent years", Hunter said, "and now that Lilith Clawthorne is the emperor, she's making changes to the Coven System to make it better for everyone."

"A wasted opportunity", Paxton said, "when Emperor Lilith was appointed Emperor of the Isles, she had a chance to eradicate the Coven System, but instead chose to keep it around."

"That's because by this point, the Coven System's become too much of a staple in our society to just get rid of it altogether", Hunter said, "it's better to just make some improvements to it."

"Getting rid of the coven system would be an improvement", Paxton said, "without it, the witches of the Isles would no longer be divided, and everyone would be able to use their magic in the same way as each other."

Paxton's words made Hunter feel concerned due to how familiar they sounded to him.

"Son", Paxton said, "remember when I told you about this?"

Paxton rolled up his right sleeve to reveal his horribly scarred right arm.

"Yes", Hunter said, "you told me you had experiments conducted on you years ago."

"That's right", Paxton said, "but now it's time for you to hear the whole story."

Hunter was now more curious than ever about his father's secrets.

"I used to be a member of the Construction Coven", Paxton said, "they put one of those coven seals on my wrist after I joined them."

"Of course", Hunter said, "they do that to every witch who joins a coven to seal away their ability to do magic outside of that coven."

"That's right", Paxton said, "and years later, I began to wonder if there was a way to remove my seal."

"As far as I knew, that wasn't even possible", Hunter said.

"So everyone thought", Paxton said, "but I wasn't going to let that stop me."

"What did you do", Hunter asked.

"I began seeking out a way to remove that cursed seal from my arm", Paxton said, "I tried every spell I could think of that might help remove it, but nothing worked, so I began resorting to non-magical means, like trying to burn it off with fire, cutting it off of my arm with a knife, and even washing it off with hot water from the Boiling Sea, but no matter what I did, the seal remained on my wrist."

Hunter was shocked to hear that it was Paxton who had conducted the experiments and caused himself so much pain.

"All of this caused so much damage to my arm, I thought I might have to get it amputated", Paxton said, "but eventually, a close ally of mine managed to infiltrate the Emperor's Castle and found a secret spell that can remove a witch's coven seal, and after I read it, the seal disappeared, and my ability to do other kinds of magic was restored."

"Wow", Hunter said, "that sounds really painful for you to have to go through."

"Indeed it was", Paxton said, "but my work had only just begun."

"Your work", Hunter asked.

"That's right", Paxton said, "work to help make the Boiling Isles a better place for everyone."

Paxton opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a box.

"I was curious about the coven seals and what properties they had that could seal away a witch's power to do other kinds of magic", Paxton said, "and after going through some more trouble, I eventually managed to get my hand on these."

Paxton opened the box, and Hunter looked inside it to find a bunch of coven seals from all nine of the main covens.

"Coven seals", Hunter asked, "what did you need these for?"

"Like I said, I wanted to learn more about the seals and their powers", Paxton said, "so I studied these to learn more about them, and eventually, my efforts bore fruit, and I was eventually able to create..."

He rolled up his left sleeve, and Hunter reacted in shock as he saw what was on it.

"This", Paxton said.

There, on Paxton's left wrist, was a coven seal for the True Magic Coven.

"A seal that seals away a witch's ability to do any kind of magic from the nine main covens", Paxton said.

"That symbol", Hunter said, "it's..."

"The symbol of the True Magic Coven", Paxton asked, "I know."

"But why", Hunter asked.

"To finally end the division of witches on the Boiling Isles based on what type of magic they excel in", Paxton said.

At that moment, the two of them heard a knock at the front door.

"Excuse me", Paxton said.

Paxton walked away to answer the door with Hunter following him, and when he did, there, in front of the house, were several members of the True Magic Coven.

"Welcome, everyone", Paxton said, "I'm so glad you make it here."

"So are we", a member said.

"We're ready to receive our orders, Master", another member said.

Hunter was surprised to hear what that member had just called Paxton.

"Dad", Hunter asked, "why did he just call you Master?"

"Because that's my title", Paxton said, "I am the Master of Undivision."

Hunter could hardly believe what his dad had just revealed to him.

"You mean", Hunter asked, "you're the leader of the True Magic Coven?"

"That is correct", Paxton said.

"Then you're behind everything they've done", Hunter said, "including the experiments at Hexside."

"I know this must come as a shock to you", Paxton said.

"You're damn right it does", Hunter said, "how could you do that, any of the other things you've done for that matter?"

"I know I've done things that the people of the Isles think of as horrific", Paxton said, "but they are necessary to achieve my goals."

"But why so much violence", Hunter asked, "had you no other options?"

"I knew no one would willingly accept my vision of a perfect Boiling Isles", Paxton said, "bringing it about by force seemed like the only way."

Hunter couldn't believe that his own father was the one behind all the violence and destruction the True Magic Coven had caused.

"Believe me, you are the one person I did not wish to make an enemy of", Paxton said, "that being said, I have a proposition for you."

"What is it", Hunter asked.

"Join me", Paxton asked.

"Excuse me", Hunter asked.

"Join me in changing the Boiling Isles for the better, and together, we will bring about a new age of magic", Paxton said, "once we are done, I will be the leader of the newly reformed Boiling Isles, and once I am gone, you, Hunter, will succeed me and become ruler of this land."

Hunter was surprised to hear what his father was suggesting.

"You may not be able to perform magic like other witches, but I'm still sure that you can make an impact on the Isles", Paxton said, "what do you say?"

Hunter thought about Paxton's offer, and at last, he faced his father to tell him his response.

"I'm in", Hunter said.

"You are", Paxton asked.

"That's right", Hunter said, "I am in."

"That's surprising, considering that just a minute ago, you were upset with me over all the stuff I did", Paxton said.

"I almost helped a human posing as a witch bring an entire land to another realm", Hunter said, "that would've been much worse than me helping out with something like this."

"Right", Paxton said.

"So, yeah, I'm in", Hunter said, "I'll help you out, but first, there's just one thing I need to go do."

"What is it", Paxton asked.

"Sever my ties with the family I've been staying with because, well, you know, I'm going to be opposing them now", Hunter said, "gotta go."

Hunter summoned his staff and got ready to fly away on it, but before he did, he said one more quick thing to Paxton.

"Did I mention that I'm in", Hunter asked.

Hunter flew away on his staff while Paxton, who wasn't convinced that his son was really joining his cause, watched him, and then he spoke to his subordinates.

"After him", Paxton said.