Paxton had revealed his true identity to the rest of the residents of the Owl House, and needless to say, none of them were more furious than Eda.
"So, this is the one who's been taking care of you all this time", Paxton said, "the cursed Owl Lady, Edalyn Clawthorne."
"Eda's not cursed anymore", Luz said, "her curse was cured a long time ago."
"So I've heard", Paxton said, "but you should really watch your back, because you never know when remnants of the curse might be lingering around in her body, waiting to come out and attack when you least expect it."
"So should you", Eda said, "because it's jerks like you who might set off those remnants and then subsequently end up on the receiving end of them."
"Ooh, feisty", Paxton said, "I always did like that about you."
Eda rolled her eyes as Paxton chuckled, and the latter looked over at Amity.
"And you must be Eda's daughter, Amity", Paxton said, "so nice to finally meet you."
"I can't say the same, you bastard", Amity said.
"Bastard", Paxton asked, "is that any way to speak to your father?"
"You abandoned my mother just because she was cursed and threw away all the years of love you two had spent together", Amity said, "if that's not something a bastard would do, I don't know what is."
"I will admit, one thing I regret is that didn't stay long enough to see your birth", Paxton said, "had I known Edalyn gave birth to you, I would have gladly taken you off her hands instead of letting her give you away to an orphanage."
"She did that for my protection", Amity said, "and what if I'd been affected by the curse and transformed into an Owl Beast like Mom used to?"
"Then I guess that would be another story", Paxton said, "though, considering that you had to fall for a human of all creatures, not to mention a female one, perhaps the curse did have some kind of effect on you."
Amity and Luz were both offended by Paxton's homophobic comment.
"Listen to me Dad, this has to stop", Hunter said, "don't you see that what you're trying to do is going to cause chaos all across the Isles?"
"Chaos", Paxton asked, "Hunter, I am trying to bring about a new era of peace and equality."
"By taking as many lives as you can to achieve those goals", Luz asked.
"Deaths of innocent people are a part of fighting for what you believe in", Paxton said, "I'd expect a bunch of war veterans such as yourselves to understand that better than anyone."
"We were fighting to liberate the Boiling Isles from an evil dictator and save my home realm", Luz said, "you're trying to destroy our way of life using force and tyranny."
"It is simply how I must do it", Paxton said, "but once I've done away with Emperor Lilith and taken down that wretched Coven System, the Boiling Isles will welcome a new age, and I will be the one leading it."
"Not if we have anything to say about it", Amity said.
"That's right", Eda said, "we'll take you down here and now and make you pay for everything you've done."
"Don't make me laugh", Paxton said, "how can you possibly hope to defeat me and my finest coven members?"
"You've got your coven members", Eda said, "and we've got Hooty."
It was then that Hooty stretched out from his spot in the door.
"Hoot, hoot, did someone mention me", Hooty asked, "where are the bad guys you want me to attack?"
But before Hooty could do any attacking, one of Paxton's coven members who was hiding out in a bush shot a dart at him through a blowpipe, and the weird bird-tube thing began to feel drowsy, eventually falling asleep on the ground.
"Oh no", Luz said, "not Hooty!"
"There goes our last line of defense", Eda said.
"May as well give up now", Paxton said, "there's no way you can beat us."
"That's what you think", Hunter said, "you might have strength in numbers, but we can still defeat you no matter how many goons you decide to send our way."
"Those are fighting words, son", Paxton said, "are you sure you can back them up?"
"Sure he can", Luz said, "because he's got us to help him out."
Luz, Amity, and Eda readied themselves with their magic, and Hunter got in a battle-ready stance.
"Very well, then", Paxton said, "men, attack!"
Paxton's subordinates ran towards the Owl House residents to attack them, but the group was ready to take them on.
"Alright, guys", Eda said, "let's show them what we're made of!"
The four of them ran towards Paxton's goons, and soon, the two groups were engaged in a fierce battle.
"These fools will be dealt with in no time", Paxton said.
On the battlefield, Amity had summoned an abomination to fight against the goons, and managed to make quick work of them.
"Not bad, Clawthorne", Luz said, "but watch this."
Luz had managed to summon an abomination of her own, and commanded it to swipe away some goons that were running towards it.
"Wow", Amity said, "you've gotten better at summoning abominations with your magic."
"Well, I did have a pretty smart teacher", Luz said, "and a pretty cute one, too."
Luz's comment made Amity blush.
"Now come on", Luz said, "let's take care of these jerks together."
"You took the words right out of my mouth", Amity said.
Amity and Luz continued fighting against the goons, and meanwhile, Eda was managing to fight back against them too by firing spells at them as they ran towards her, and all the while not even flinching.
"How's this for a cursed witch, Pax", Eda asked.
Paxton growled in frustration as he looked over in her direction.
"Red-haired bitch", Paxton thought.
Meanwhile, Hunter had managed to fend off some goons that had tried to attack him, when he saw two more running towards him from different directions.
"Uh-oh", Hunter said, "looks like it's time for me to fly."
Then, Hunter somehow began floating up into the air, causing the two goons running towards him to crash into each other, and Luz noticed him floating.
"Whoa, that's incredible", Luz said.
Hunter then floated back down to the ground and landed next to her.
"How'd you do that", Luz asked.
"With this", Hunter said.
He opened the binder of glyphs Luz had given to him earlier and turned the pages to one that contained a combination of glyphs.
"It's a hover glyph", Hunter said, "I was playing around with these glyphs one day and ended up discovering it."
"Wow", Luz said, "that's impressive."
"Thanks", Hunter said.
Hunter noticed that a True Magic Coven member was running up towards Luz from behind holding a spear.
"Heads up", Hunter said.
He slapped a hover glyph on Luz, which resulted in her floating up into the air, then hit the coven member on the head with his staff.
"Thanks for the save, Hunter", Luz said.
"No problem", Hunter said.
Hunter used his staff to bring Luz back down to the ground.
"Now if you'll excuse me", Hunter said, "I'm needed elsewhere."
Hunter left to fight some more goons, and Luz left to do the same, still thinking about how amazing the hover glyph was.
"Wish I had one of those when Lilith threw me off that bridge", Luz thought.
Back with Eda, she was still fighting off Paxton's subordinates, but she was starting to feel a little bored with it.
"Hey, Paxton", Eda said, "is this really the best you've got?"
"Sure it is", Paxton said, "like I said, these are some of the finest witches in the True Magic Coven."
"Finer than you", Eda asked.
"What's that supposed to mean", Paxton asked.
"If you're the oh so powerful Master of Undivision, then why aren't you the one trying to stop us", Eda asked.
"Because I'd rather spend my energy fighting someone like the Emperor than all of you", Paxton said.
"Is that really true", Eda asked, "or are you still scared of me?"
"What", Paxton asked.
"You're still traumatized from your near-death experience with the Owl Beast, and now you're worried it'll happen again", Eda said, "is that it?"
Paxton didn't like what Eda was insinuating.
"It is, isn't it", Eda said, "I knew it, you're afraid of little old me."
Paxton was now red in the face with anger and determined to put an end to Eda once and for all.
"You're gonna be sorry you said that, Owl Lady", Paxton said.
Paxton drew a spell circle and sent a blast of magic towards Eda that hit her in the back and made her fall to the ground, much to the shock of Luz, Amity, and especially Hunter.
"Time for you to feel some pain", Paxton said.
He made a spell circle and magically lifted Eda up into the air, then she found herself being pulled by her arms and legs from different directions via Paxton's spell, which he was using to try and literally pull her apart.
"Die", Paxton said, "die!"
Eda let out a scream of pain as she was magically pulled by each of her limbs, and just when it seemed like she'd had it, Hunter ran up and tackled Paxton, causing Eda to fall to the ground.
"I gotta hand it do you, son", Paxton said, "for a powerless witch, you're sure putting up one hell of a fight."
Hunter said nothing and began punching Paxton in the face, and back over with Eda, Luz and Amity rushed over to her side.
"Eda", Luz said.
"Are you okay", Amity asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine", Eda said, "I mean, as fine as I can be when I almost got pulled apart."
"Looks like Hunter saved you just in time", Luz said.
"It sure does", Eda said, "where is he, anyway?"
"There he is", Amity said, "over there!"
The three of them watched as Hunter continued to beat down on his father, and by the time he stopped, Paxton had too black eyes, several bruises on his face, and a bloody nose.
"Are you done yet", Paxton asked.
"Not even close", Hunter said, "I've still got one more surprise for you."
Hunter reached into one of his pants pockets and pulled out a knife that was covered with dried up blood.
"You see this", Hunter asked, "this is the weapon I used to kill that imposter of an emperor, Alexander Whittebane."
"I see it's still covered with his blood", Paxton said.
"That's right", Hunter said, "and now this knife's about to have someone else's blood on it: yours."
"Alright, then", Paxton said, "go ahead."
Hunter raised his arm while holding the knife to kill Paxton, but for some reason, he couldn't do it.
"What are you waiting for", Paxton asked, "stab me."
Hunter looked into Paxton's eyes and still wouldn't stab him.
"Not getting any more dead here", Paxton said.
Hunter was finding it hard to kill his father who he had gone through so much trouble to look for and had spent some time bonding with up until that point, and finally, he put the knife down, and Paxton took advantage of the situation by using his feet to push Hunter off of him, then walked over to him.
"What a shame", Paxton said, "you're not only weak because you lack magic, you're weak because you let sentimental feelings get in the way of killing someone."
He then kicked Hunter in his side while Eda, Luz, and Amity watched in horror, then grabbed his son by his neck and began strangling him.
"You're the most pitiful excuse for a witch I've ever seen", Paxton said.
He then squeezed Hunter's neck harder.
"You don't even have the magical or emotional power to kill me", Paxton said, "perhaps I was right to leave you to die in the streets after all."
Everyone reacted in shock upon hearing Paxton say that, especially Eda and Hunter, the latter of which couldn't believe what he had heard.
"You said my Mom abandoned me in the streets", Hunter said.
"That's true, I did", Paxton said, "oh well, I guess I can tell you the truth now, since you'll be dead soon."
Paxton let go of Hunter's neck and picked him up using a levitation spell.
"When you were born, I was most upset to find out you were a powerless witch", Paxton said.
Flashback
A younger Paxton was looking down angrily at his infant son sleeping in his crib one night.
"I didn't want a child who couldn't perform magic because I felt he would be no good in my goals for equality on the Boiling Isles", Paxton narrated, "so, I came up with a plan."
Paxton walked away into the kitchen and poured something into a cup of apple blood.
"Your mother loved you despite your lack of magic, so I knew I had to get her out of the way", Paxton narrated, "I was able to do this by spiking her drink to put her to sleep."
When Paxton finished, he left the kitchen and hid, and Eda came in and took a sip of apple blood from the cup, then after a moment, she began to feel drowsy and fell on the floor asleep.
"Once that was done, I took you and left you as far away from our house as I could", Paxton narrated.
Paxton picked Hunter up out of his crib and left the house with him, and arrived in the streets of a nearby town, where he checked to see if anybody was looking and left the crying baby in an alley and hurried away.
"I hurried back to the house as fast as I could before your mother woke up, then made it seem like a monster had attacked and killed you so she wouldn't suspect anything", Paxton narrated.
Paxton knocked over and broke various items in baby Hunter's room and used a knife to create what appeared to be giant claw marks all over the place, and once he was done, he began to admire his work, when he heard the sound of his wife's voice.
"Ugh, my head", Eda said, "what happened?"
Paxton grabbed Hunter's baby blanket and ran away to hide, and as he watched Eda walk down the hallway from his hiding spot behind a decorative plant, he began to rip the blanket up and poured a red blood-like liquid on it as the final part of his plan.
End Flashback
When Paxton finished telling his story, everyone could hardly believe their ears.
"In the end, my plan worked, and your mother believed you had been killed by a monster", Paxton said, "I was certain you wouldn't last very long living on the streets, yet somehow, here you are now."
"So why did search for me", Hunter asked, "if you wanted me dead, why did you come looking for me now after all this time?"
"Because I wanted to give you a chance to prove my earlier beliefs wrong and see if you could truly affect my cause in any way", Paxton said, "you can imagine how disappointed I am that you have failed to do anything of the sort."
"Like I said, I managed to kill that human posing as Belos using only a knife and no magic whatsoever", Hunter said.
"And yet you weren't able to kill me with that very knife", Paxton said.
As Paxton taunted Hunter, Eda looked over at him with a look of pure rage on her face, and Luz and Amity noticed sparks of magic come out from her hands.
"Uh, Eda", Luz asked.
"Mom", Amity asked, "are you alright."
Eda didn't respond and continued staring furiously at her ex-husband.
"You're weak, and that's all you'll be", Paxton said, "and now, I'm going to do what I should have just done myself when you were a baby."
Paxton picked Hunter's knife up off the ground and got ready to stab Hunter, when he heard the sound of angry screaming.
"What", Paxton asked.
Eda was running straight towards Paxton, furious over everything she had heard him reveal, and tackled him to the ground, which resulted in the levitation spell that had Hunter suspended in the air dropping him to the ground.
"Well, Edalyn", Paxton said, "still haven't lost your touch, I see."
"Shut up", Eda said, "do you know how I felt about what happened all those years ago?"
The two witches got up off the ground, and Eda cast a fire spell and shot a fireball at Paxton.
"How I thought I lost control of the curse that night", Eda asked.
She shot another fireball at Paxton.
"How I thought it was the Owl Beast that killed my baby", Eda asked.
She shot yet another fireball at Paxton.
"How I believed for 16 damn years that I was the reason my son was dead", Eda asked.
She finished off by casting an electricity spell that shocked Paxton and made him get down on the ground, and while that was going on, Hunter watched, now in disbelief over something he had managed to figure out.
"Eda's my mom", Hunter said.
"That's right", Luz said.
"All this time, my birth mom was right under my nose", Hunter said.
"And my older brother was closer than I realized", Amity said.
Back with the former married couple, Paxton stood himself back up and tried to attack Eda, but she cast an ice spell that made an ice spike come up from the ground and pierce through her ex-husband's right leg.
"It's over, Delacroix", Eda said, "you've lost."
"That's what you think", Paxton said, "but I've got one more trick up my sleeve."
He rolled up his left sleeve, revealing his True Magic Coven seal, then put his right hand over the seal.
"What are you trying to do", Eda asked.
"Oh, you'll find out", Paxton said.
Then, Eda and the others began to hear screams coming from nearby, and saw various True Magic Coven members reacting in horror to something.
"What's happening", a member asked.
"Make it stop", another member asked.
Some kind of black substance was emerging from the members' coven seals and began to engulf them whole.
"What's going on", Luz asked.
"I don't know", Hunter said, "it looks like something's taking over them."
"But what", Amity asked.
They soon got their answer when the coven members all transformed into giant, horned beasts similar to the one the kids had fought at Hexside.
"Oh my God", Hunter said.
"Behold, the results of my transformative experiments", Paxton said.
Everyone turned to face the madman.
"What did you do to them", Hunter asked.
"I activated a transformation spell in their coven seals that's connected to mine", Paxton said, "it's all part of my last resort plan."
"What do mean 'last resort plan'", Luz asked.
It was at that moment that the same black substance that had overtaken Paxton's subordinates began emerging from his coven seal.
"If the True Magic Coven cannot rule over the Boiling Isles", Paxton said, "we shall destroy them!"
The group looked over at the now-completely transformed beasts in horror.
"Paxton Delacroix", Eda said, "what have you done?"
Meanwhile, Paxton was still undergoing his transformation, with the substance completely taking over his body, and before it finished, he said one last thing.
"The ravaging of the Boiling Isles begins now", Paxton said.
At last, the transformation was complete, and Paxton was now a giant, four legged lizard-like monster with horns on his head similar to those of a triceratops, and as he led out a big, loud roar, the Owl House residents looked up at him, knowing well that their fight was far from over.
