We find ourselves in front of an old house where the Leviathan Axe was lodged in the ground when suddenly a powerful gust of wind blew the battle axe out of the ground through a glowing door.
Through the door we find ourselves in the Boiling Isles as the Leviathan Axe flew into Ardyn's hand and the Owl House Title logo appeared.
Iki wo sutte haitara kurushii koto
Kizu ga hitotsu fueru tabi ikiteiru koto
Looking around Ardyn sees the Owl House with Hooty and King watching Eda teaching Luz magic.
TsuArdynfurusareta sonna kanshou mo itsuka kitto
Yoru ni tokete kieru
We then find ourselves at Hexide as Willow and Gus wave at them while Amity merely looks away with a small blush on her face.
"No enough" yugandatte
"No escape" machigattatte
"No fear" koroge mawatte
Susumeba iin deshou
As Eda struggles to fight off the curse she briefly fights off the feathers before we see Romani chained up against the wall before a large shadow grows.
Looking up they saw Emperor Belos glaring down at them with staff at the ready and all his coven ready to attack. Standing behind him is a shadowed figure with a demented grin on his face.
Sore wa marude shinwa no you na
Iro, katachi no jubunairu
Spinning her staff, Eda creates a powerful blast blowing the guards away before Lilith leaps in and the two sisters clash making magic explode all around them. From the smoke Ardyn, Luz, Amity, Willow and Gus ran towards the top.
Summoning an ice glyph Luz makes a bridge of ice allowing Amity's abomination to charge forward ramming them away as Willow made a road of vines for Ardyn to run ahead.
Ibitsu na mama hibiwareteiru
Kono seArdyn de hitotsu kagayaku
Kirei na tsuki
Running to the top, Ardyn and Emperor Belos clash with their respective weapons before the shadowed figure fires a powerful blast knocking Ardyn back.
Holding out his hand a gilded sword forms in Ardyn's hand before he thrusts his weapon clashing with Belos and the shadowed figured creating a bright light.
FATE/BOILING ISLES
Book 1
Chapter 16: Young Blood, Old Souls, and Fates Release.
After her emotional breakdown in the den and explaining everything to Musashi, King and Hooty, Luz changed out of her school uniform and stayed in her room to wallow in her despair. Her mentors, one of her classmates, and her close friend were captured, and Luz didn't know what to do now.
"Luz?" King asked, poking his head in from the door with Musashi doing the same. "Can we come in? we want to show you something."
"Like what?" she asked in a defeated voice, looking out the open window. The cloak was still in her hands, she just didn't have the heart to let it go right now.
"This. It's the Unauthorized History of the Boiling Isles, the one most people don't know about or believe in." King said, walking into the room with the Saber-Class Servant and showing Luz the book. "I know I'm your demon teacher, but I never really thought to teach you about the Isles history. Or maybe Hexiside taugh-"
"Just read it already." Luz said, glancing at the book, noticing the book was rather old and the author's name was scratched out.
"O-Okay." King said as he set the book down, opening it to read. "The Boiling Isles, born from the flesh and bones of a fallen Titan. This original magic was so potent, all life on the Isles evolved to wield magic too. For years, we explored those powers freely. Until a mysterious witch appeared who declared that he, and he alone, could speak to the island. He said that we were using magic all wrong. His teachings took hold, his strength grew, and he became... Emperor Belos. Belos said that mixing magic was wrong, that only he had that right. So, he created the coven system. And there, our knowledge was restricted, and our potential sealed away. Those who resist are called wild witches, and they face harsh punishment. Emperor Belos has since retreated into his castle. There are whispers that say he's planning something big."
"I wonder if catching Eda, Romani, Ryker, and Ardyn was part of his big plan. What do you think, Luz? Luz?" Musashi asked as she turns to where Luz is as she stares at the tag on her cape, reading: "To a young witch from her proud mentor EDA". With a look of determination, she stood up from where she was sitting and puts on her cape.
"I don't care what Belos is up to... because, I'm going to save them!" Luz said as her cape flaps due to a breeze from the open window. Without saying anything else, Luz headed to a specific room in the house, opening it to show a room decorated with weapons.
"Luz, what are you doing?" Musashi asked as Luz grabbed a nearby axe, only for her to drop it due to the weight of the weapon.
"This is serious, King. Eda used her power to save me and got caught by Lilith. Now she's the Owl Beast and is being taken before the Emperor along with Ardyn, Romani, and Ryker! I don't know what he's planning to do with Eda and the others, but I'm going to rescue them." Luz said as she grabbed a nearby dagger.
"Haven't you been listening to me? He's the Emperor! He's the most powerful witch alive!" King said as he pointed to the book in his paws.
"King, Musashi, please try to understand. Eda, Romani, Ryker, and Ardyn are in this situation because of what happened at the castle. Because of that stupid choice. I need to make things right." Luz said as if she was trying to explain her case to them. The Female Servant of the Sword decided to ask her the main question.
"But she's in her Owl Beast form! How will she even recognize you?" Musashi said as Luz looked down, trying to think of an answer before lifting her head.
"I don't know. But I have to try anyway."
"Well then, we're going too." King said as Luz looked at him and Musashi in surprise.
"King... Musashi." Luz said as Musashi stepped forward while presenting her katana.
"There's this saying from a long time ago: 'This sword is my weapon. My weapon is me. Using it lovingly or using it up until it breaks, that depends on the owner.' What I want to do now is help the people who helped me when I was in trouble. Isn't that right, Luz?" Musashi asked, placing her sword back in its sheath as Luz nodded with a small smile.
"Me and Eda don't always see eye-to-eye, but I do consider her family. I want her back as much as you do. Same with Romani and Ardyn." King said as Luz nodded.
"Alright. Then we've got no time to lose!" Luz said as she ran out of the room.
"Nyeh!" King said as he and Musashi left the room, throwing the book on the ground, which opens to the page with Belos on it.
"…"
"…Ardyn."
"…"
"Ardyn!"
"…?"
"Ardyn, Wake up!"
Ardyn groaned as he began to wake up from being knocked out as his vision begins to straighten and notices that he is in Emperor Belos's throne room, the Titan's beating heart above the very throne itself. He turns to see Romani and Ryker in a separate energy bubble, both having a very tired look on their faces.
"Glad to see you're awake." Romani said with a wave. Ardyn looked around with a look of concern on his face.
"What happened?" Ardyn asked as Ryker pointed downwards with a sour look on his face.
"Thank him for that." Ryker said as the young hybrid looked towards the direction he was pointing at and saw the Golden Guard was wiping off his staff. Said person looked up from what he was doing and saw the trio of men looking at his with a blank look on their faces.
"Don't look at me, I'm just following orders. Besides, I'm just enjoying the show while fixing my staff." The Golden Guard said as everyone heard a high pitch screech and saw the Owl Beast Eda running around the throne room, staying away from Lilith.
"Eda, stop that this instant!" Lilith shouted as Beast Eda tears down a tapestry of Belos, begins chewing on it. This caused Lilith to bubble Beast Eda, who caused the Owl beast to look at her in scorn. "Don't look at me like that. This is for your own good. Emperor Belos will heal you, and we'll be in his coven together. Isn't that wonderful?"
Beast Eda, however, blows a raspberry at Lilith.
"I will not fall prey to your childish games." Lilith said before she promptly sticks her tongue out at Eda. This caused the others including the Golden Guard to chuckle at the silly interaction. However, that soon stopped as the door to the throne room opens allowing six coven guards and Kikimora enter the throne room.
"All kneel before Emperor Belos!" Kikimora said as she bows and moves away from the door causing Lilith and the Golden Guard to kneel. A pair of glowing blue eyes approach from the darkness, eventually revealing Emperor Belos. Beast Eda shrieks and bursts out of the bubble, running towards Belos.
"Eda, no!" Lilith said as Belos vanishes before Beast Eda can attack him, appearing behind her and throwing her against a wall by lifting his finger. Beast Eda falls to the ground, glowing red ropes appearing to keep her down.
"EDA!" Ardyn, Ryker, and Romani said at the same time as Lilith runs between Beast Eda and Belos himself.
"My Lord, I apologize for my sister's rash behavior. She is still in her cursed form. Once you've healed her, as promised, I am sure she will become a useful asset to the coven!" Lilith said, trying to appease Emperor Belos. He didn't say anything as he summoned his mechanical staff and raises it, healing Eda only to the point of allowing her speech in her Beast form.
"Ah. Where am I? What is this? Aw damn it, I got caught." Beast Eda said as she looked towards the emperor of the Boiling Isles with a deadpan look.
"Edalyn Clawthorne, the infamous Owl Lady, the wild witch of Bonesborough. Mentor of Luz the Human and Ardyn the Hybrid." Emperor Belos said as he knelt towards Beast Eda, who growled at the masked man.
"You so much as hurt them, so help me, Titan..." Beast Eda growled as Belos chuckles.
"You've got it all wrong. The human and hybrid are safe, for now. I just want the portal they both came through." The masked emperor said as Owl Eda glared at him in hate.
"Tough, because I am not telling you nothing!"
"Ugh, pity. Although I suppose I could ask the human herself." Belos said, causing Ardyn to growl at the man for what he just said. Belos snaps his fingers, causing the Golden Guard to leave the throne room while the guards nearby to run in and drag Eda away.
"Wait! Don't touch Luz! Lilith, don't let him hurt her and Ardyn! Lilith!" Beast Eda pleaded towards Lilith who has a look of shock on her face as she witnesses her sister being dragged out of the throne room like an animal.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO HER?!" Ardyn shouted towards the emperor, who looked towards him with his eyes glowing. The way that he was staring at him with utter disgust and hatred unnerved him. It as if he… hated him for some reason.
"I would worry for yourself, Hybrid." Emperor Belos said before looking at the others. "However, someone else has business with you three. He will see you there."
The group of men were confused, but soon felt a breeze as they turned to see a tear in space that is not part of the regular temporal axis. While Ardyn and Ryker had looks of confusion and shock, Romani's face only showed pure shock. Before the three could do anything, they got pulled into the Singularity that soon closed right behind them, leaving only Emperor Belos and Lilith left in the throne room.
"Ah, I suppose you're taking Edalyn to the healing ceremony?" Lilith asks Emperor Belos who was silent before he gave her his answer.
"I will not be healing her."
…
…
…
"But, you, promised me-"
"Don't be so naïve, Lilith. This is the Titan's will." Emperor Belos said as he held his hand towards a mural of him standing over all witches. "All wild witches must be dealt with before the Day of Unity. You understand, don't you?"
"Of course..." Lilith
"Good." Belos said as he begins walking away. "Oh, one more thing."
Belos snaps his fingers, and Owlbert and the bottom half of Eda's staff appear in Lilith's hands.
"Destroy the Owl Lady's staff. She won't be needing it anymore." Belos said as he leaves the throne room, leaving Lilith staring after him with a look of horror on her face as the doors close.
It was during the day in Bonesborough when a news broadcast was being sent all throughout the Boiling Isles. A man name Perry Porter, who is a male humanoid witch with pointy ears, dark brown skin, and curly black hair that is neatly trimmed on the side. His eyes are grayish brown. He wears brown square-shaped glasses, a yellow vest with brown stripes on the side, a collar with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath the vest, and dark gray pants. On the right side of his vest, Perry wears a red name tag.
"Perry Porter coming to you live from outside the Emperor's Castle. Edalyn Clawthorne, Romani Archaman, Ryker Goldmark, and Ardyn 'Bronwyn' Pierce has been captured and has been brought before the Emperor." Perry said as the crystal ball shifted to Kikimora who was making an announcement.
"For the crime of attacking a coven leader and refusing to join a coven, Edalyn Clawthorne and Romani Archaman's bodies shall be petrified in stone while both Ryker Goldmark and Ardyn 'Bronwyn' Pierce shall be sent to the Conformatorium and will be placed in their proper coven!" Kikimora said to the whole of the Boiling Isles to whoever is watching this broadcast.
In her room, Amity watches the broadcast on a crystal ball, her look of annoyance turning into one of surprise. Gus, who was also watching from his room, gasps and turns to his scroll, showing that he was on a call with Willow.
"Willow! Are you watching?"
"Yes. We have to do something."
"Today is a grave day for Bonesborough." Perry finished his report as various demons and witches watching the crystal balls in the street murmur in discussion and walk off, revealing Luz, Musashi and King.
"Please tell me that's not as bad as it sounds." Musashi asked as King looked down in concern.
"Petrification is only done to the worst criminals, and once the spell is complete, it can't be reversed." King said as the newscast shows several petrified witches in what looks like a graveyard before fading to a picture of Lilith.
"Lilith. She cursed Eda. She captured her own sister and got the others captured as well! She is the worst! If I ever see her again!" Luz said in anger as she tosses the crystal ball displaying the news onto the ground, shattering it.
"Luz, calm down. We need to think about saving Eda, Romani, Ryker, and Ardyn first!" Musashi said as said girl took a deep breath and calmed down.
"You're right, but how will we get to the Conformatorium in time? Luz asked as they saw a guard walks by, whistling. King narrows his eyes while looking at the guard.
"We'll have to do something so diabolical, so criminally insane, that they'll have to send us to the Conformatorium." King said as Musashi looked at him in confusion.
"And that would be?" The Servant of the Sword asked as Luz pulled her over to a specific location.
"Like this. Hey!"
"Hm?" The Guard looked over to see Luz, Musashi, and King standing on grass, directly in front of a DO NOT STEP ON GRASS sign. Though the Servant of the Sword had a sweat drop, she wondered if this would even work.
"Whaaa?" Both Luz and King said as the coven guard gasps as he calls the paddy wagon and captures the trio so that they won't get away from the law.
"Yep. Perfect plan." Luz said as the wagon doors closed, securing Luz, Musashi, and King in a paddy wagon as they were sent to the Conformatorium.
Ardyn began to stir, as he began to wake again in an area unfamiliar to him. This place looked like ruins from that of ancient Jerusalem of Israel, but notices that something was off about it. The place looked like it was a mix of being in perfect condition but also looked like it was long since abandoned while some of the structures seemed to not follow the laws of gravity as some of them were still in the middle of the air, But the one thing that stood out was the giant black wormhole in the middle of the blue sky!
When Ardyn got up, he noticed that Romani and Ryker were up and about while looking over the edge of the land structure. Ardyn walked over to where they were and saw the gaping abyss below them and gave off a low whistle.
"Damn, that's a long drop. So does anyone have an idea on where we are?" Ardyn asked as the group began to walk around the ruins to see if there's a way out.
"I think this is a Reality Marble." Ryker said as Ardyn looked at him in confusion, so he decided to elaborate. "It's a concept that centers around the materialization and projection of one's inner world onto reality following the Thaumaturgical Theory: World Egg. In short: it represents the pinnacle of all Bounded Fields where the boundary line becomes the space itself."
Ardyn began to look around and didn't have much luck on his end. "Okay while that sounds interesting, but that doesn't really explain where we are EXACTLY."
"I know where we are." Romani said as the two hybrids looked at him with raised eyebrows. "This is Ars Paulina. Otherwise known as The Grand Temple of Time."
"And how do you know about that?" Ryker asked as Romani went silent with a forlorn look on his face.
Ardyn, while the two were talking, scanned the area. "It's strange. Here we are, as bold as brass, walking through what I assume is the heart of the enemy's territory, and yet nobody has attacked us yet."
"Rest assured, this place is definitely under the control of the enemy." Romani said to Ardyn as the blonde hybrid glanced at the Older Witch.
"And what do you mean by that?"
Suddenly, the group stopped walking. Standing in front of them was a large group of humanoid beings with their bodies completely made of dark energy, each armed with, and armored in, high-quality-looking weapons and light armor. Alongside these shadow warriors were large golems made of steel and stone, each of which looked like they could crush their skulls with little to no effort.
As Romani and Ryker summoned their Palisman Staffs, Ardyn released a brief chuckle as he pulls out his Leviathan Axe. "I get it now. I believed it was just me, but you used yourself as a decoy as well. You're a crazy man, Romani." His lips curved into a brief smirk. "Though I've got no problem with that."
Atop the rooftop of the ruins, shadow snipers took up positions with bows and arrows.
Even though they were surrounded, Romani remained oddly unperturbed about their situation, at least on the surface, while, internally, he was understandably a bit wary about their situation. "You two take care of the golems. I'll focus on getting rid of the shadow-men."
"Understood," Ardyn said as he popped his neck.
"Right. Show me the extent of your powers!" As he exclaimed this, Romani rushed forward towards their attackers, magic at the ready. As Romani ran off, Ryker began to gather energy around him.
"Ardyn, can you buy me some time?" Ryker asked as Ardyn turned and looked at the approaching golems with boredom, not even moving as one swung down its massive club upon his head. At least this should be fun. Suddenly, it stopped before it could hit. Ardyn had managed to block the attack with his Leviathan Axe. As the golem and hybrid struggled against each other, Ardyn smirked.
"You got it!" In the next instant, he sent the golem crashing into the building on his right with a large explosion of stone and debris. As another rushed towards him, the Bronwyn Hybrid dodged its club by dashing backward in a burst of wind. He outstretched his arms, allowing his Leviathan Axe to appear in the right hand. The first golem tried to crush the Bronwyn Hybrid under its club, but Ardyn slashed with the battle-axe, removing the golem's arm then proceeded to cut it in four different pieces with the battle-axe.
Sensing danger, the hybrid leaped into the air; twirling and flipping as if he were an Olympic gymnast as a second golem that tried to sneak up on him slammed its club into the ground on the spot that Ardyn previously stood. Landing on the wall of a building, he kicked off the brick wall and dashed towards his next target, slamming the edge of Leviathan Axe into the stone golem with enough force to shatter it into pieces. As more of the stony brutes came rumbling towards him, the young hybrid glanced at each of his opponents with his eyes shining with the ferocity of a hungry wolf.
This was almost getting interesting.
However, he stopped as he felt a massive influx of energy behind him and saw Ryker drawing a spell circle in the air, ready to fire. Ardyn, not wanting to be vaporized, jumped to the side as Ryker unleashed a beam of pure energy to reduce the golems to rubble. Ardyn landed and saw that Ryker had a grin on his face from what did to those golems. That smirk died when Ryker saw Ardyn raised his axe and throws it towards his direction! Ryker ducked and heard a loud 'shank' and turned to see that a golem had the Levithan Axe in its head as the whole body was covered in ice. Ardyn called his weapon back as the golem turned to dust and frost while Ryker looked towards him with a faux crossed look on his face.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! You could have killed me!" Ryker said while patting his head.
"You're welcome!" Ardyn said as Ryker just raised his arm with a smirk on his face as Ardyn return the same smirk as he and the Goldmark Hybrid went back into the fight with the remaining golems.
While that was happening, it was through a combination of instinct, speed, and pure dumb luck that Romani had not been sliced to ribbons yet by the homunculi, and thus had to be continuously moving backward, without firing off a shot yet. To be fair, it was not like he had any experience fighting against people who used freaking halberds before!
With adrenaline pumping speed through his legs, Romani turned and ran, scrambling and sliding across and behind a pillar to avoid the three halberd-wielding homunculi who were hot on his heels.
As they attempted to flank him, Romani spun on his heel, aimed, and let loose his attack, piercing energy of pure magic. Before they knew what had hit them, two of the shadow-men were already dead, with their black blood staining the wall behind them as they collapsed to the ground. The third one, though his neck was already leaking blood, somehow managed to remain upright before collapsing and dying.
It was, again, more through luck than anything that Romani managed to notice, out of the corner of his eye, the arrows arcing towards him, and was barely able to scurry behind nearby ruins for cover. As the sniping shadow-men continued to rain down arrows upon him, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a curious object. It was what looked like a vial containing purple liquid with a grenade pin mechanism attached to it.
Flicking off the pin, Romani threw it up towards the archers. Although they managed to quickly perforate the strange grenade with their arrows, they had unknowingly fallen right into Romani's trap. As the grenade exploded, a dark purple mist shot out instead of an explosion and settled upon the archers. A second later, the ones caught in the blast radius began to choke and spit up black blood as the poison swiftly entered their bodies, killing them through immediate multiple organ failure.
Meanwhile, Ardyn and Ryker were swiftly finishing up the remainder of the golems. As another fell to Ardyn's battle axe, one with a large crossbow attached to its right arm took aim from the roof. Thanks to his instincts, and without even looking, Ryker created a spear of stone and sent it to the Golem Sniper, smashing it into pieces without even trying.
With a swift flourish, Ardyn turned the last remaining golems into a pile of rubble with great effort.
With that, the battle had ended. As Ardyn nonchalantly caught his axe without looking and Ryker dismissing his Palisman Staff, Romani approached the teens, bolstering his staff. "Looks like we're done here,"
"I'm surprised by your skill, Romani." Saber said, as he sheathed his Leviathan Axe into their respective holsters on his back. "Never pegged you as a fighter."
"Heh. I've been in more than a fair share of scraps." He then looked around at the now quiet battlefield. "Odd. Why did they go all out like that?"
"All out? That felt like they weren't even trying." Ryker said as he looked around the battlefield "Not a single one of them sent something powerful like a Servant to fight us."
"Well, let's keep moving." As he spoke, Romani bent down to retrieve one of the large purple gems that had acted as the golem's magical core. "At least it wasn't a complete waste though."
As he pocketed the gem, Ardyn lightly slapped him on the back, like they were old chums celebrating the victory of their favorite sports team. "Well, with that out of the way… Tell me, what did you think of our abilities?"
Romani smiled as he looked at both Ardyn and Ryker. "I have to admit, you both are quite good."
Ryker smirked, "And I seem to be fortunate that we have a great friend that can actually fight."
"Yeah, though, if I were to critique you both…" The male witch started as the young hybrids looked at him in confusion.
"Critique? What for? We didn't even break a sweat." Ardyn said, wondering what they did wrong.
"Perhaps, but that last part, with Ardyn throwing your axe? That may have been a bit much."
"That was tame compared to the fights I had on the Boiling Isles."
"Hmm. I think I can agree with that."
At that, the trio began to walk away, leaving behind the demolished golems, and the dead decaying shadow-men.
The paddy wagon enters the Conformatorium as it passes by petrified wild witches, which Luz, Musashi, and King stare at with sorrow for the unfortunate souls forever sealed in stone. Luz and King gasped with Musashi narrowing her eyes as they saw guards bring out pedestals with Eda and Romani's name on them.
"There's not going to be a new statue going up today. Right, Luz? Luz?" King said as the wagon passes a poster of Lilith. Luz growls at the sight of the woman who cursed Eda, only for her to stop as Musashi places a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, which the young woman did. The paddy wagon continues, entering the Conformatorium proper. A gate closes behind it, revealing a banner reading "PETRIFICATION TODAY AT SUNDOWN". The paddy wagon backs into a docking station where a few individuals were waiting.
"Sir, the Owl Lady's human student and accomplices has been apprehended." The driver said as Warden Wrath and two guards walked up to the paddy wagon.
"Very good." Warden Wrath said as he approaches the paddy wagon. "Ah, Luz the Human. How I've waited to see you again. Now I'll have my revenge and you'll have front row seats to Eda's demise."
Warden Wrath opens the paddy wagon doors and is bombarded by branches as he screams. Luz yells out a battle cry as she jumps out and slams an ice glyph on the ground. A spear of ice pins one of the Emperor's Guard to the ceiling. The other guard was about to apprehend her, but Musashi slams the handle of her sword into the guards' gut, causing him to collapse and pass out from the attack. Warden Wrath shoves away the branches, then is captured by several ice pillars. Luz walks up to him with King on her shoulder.
"Where's Eda?" Luz asked in a tone that showed that she won't show mercy if answered wrong.
"She's in the holding cell in the dungeon."
"Draw me a map!" Luz said as she held up a pencil and paper.
We turn our attention to outside the Conformatorium, where an audience is gathered. A lot of witches were talking about this whole ordeal with concern.
"Do you really think Eda deserves a petrification?"
"I don't know. This is all happening so fast."
"If we know anything about Luz, she's going to be here trying to save Eda." Willow said as Gus nodded.
And we'll be here to save her when she needs us!" Gus said with determination.
"Let's split up and find her!" Willow said as she and Gus split up to go find their friends. Zoom out to see Lilith watching the crowd from a window. She turns to see Kikimora grilling Warden Wrath for his incompetence.
"Fools!" Kikimora said as Warden Wrath looks down in shame "You let the human and Servant escape! And you drew her a map?
"Worry not, Kikimora." Lilith said, making Kikimora look at her in confusion. "I shall capture the human."
*SHINK*
Ardyn was beathing heavily as he buries his Leviathan Axe into another Shadow-Man as Romani and Ryker took care of their own respective opponents. The trio looked very tired as they had been going through a small army due to the amount of fallen enemies that they left behind.
"How…much longer… till we get out of this place?" Ardyn asked with deep breaths as he pulled out the axe from the corpse and placed it back in its holster.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Ryker said as he shakes off the blood off his staff and looked towards the eldest of the trio. "That depends if Romani knows where it the exit is."
"I have an idea but it's only a guess and a one-way chance to escape." Romani said as he and the two young men made their way to their destination: a temple of grand size and design with twin doors as its entrance. "We're here."
The trio pushed the twin doors with great effort and entered the area. The place was massive with lots of space for a crowd to gather in, but the one thing that stood out was the ivory throne with a unique design stood at the end of this place with two individuals near the throne. The first one that was sitting on the throne is a being covered in shadows, making it hard for the group to identify, but for some reason Romani was staring at the entity with narrowed eyes. Standing next to the being covered in shadows is a man of tall and muscular bearing, a handsome, aged appearance, with a cross-shaped beard, long, curled hair, crimson eyes, and a tall crown upon his head. He is adorned with golden armor and a white and black body suit, with gold line details. A golden cross is also placed at the center of his chest, and black cloth drapes from his pauldrons.
"WELCOME!" The old man said in a grand standing voice, which made Ardyn, Ryker and Romani flinch from the loud voice. "Your arrival here was a bit off, but we welcome you to the Temple of Solomon!"
"So I can take a guess that you and the guy on the throne call us here and had those creatures after?" Ardyn asked as the elder nodded at his question. "First of all, you will pay for that and second who the hell are you two?"
"Very well I shall introduce myself. I am Ruler-Class Servant: Karl der Große, commonly referred to as Charles the Great!" The Servant, now known as Karl der Große, said with pride while the trio looked at him in surprise and shock.
The Servant that stood before them was the first king to unite Germanic, Roman, and religious concepts under the one banner of Western Europe. The model of the legend of Charlemagne who achieved the unity of his empire. Karl is described as a "majestic man", "holy king", and "supreme ruler." He is said to never distress or lose his way, regardless of being faced with victory or defeat, and he will push forward with calm judgement. Regardless of the era, he boasts of a strong love only second to that of God. He is extremely relentless in battle, only showing kindness to those who show their allegiance to "God" as well.
However, one big question remained.
"Wait a moment. Let me ask you something." Ryker said as he stepped forward. "How do you share the same name as the Servant that Ardyn has summoned."
"Ah yes. Perhaps I should elaborate." Karl said as begins to explain. "My legend is the same as Charlemagne who achieved the unity of Western Europe. We both have the same Heroic Spirit with the same Saint Graph, but Charlemagne will never normally be summoned because he embodies the fantasy aspect of the legend. My real-life exploits outweigh the other aspects of his legend. Therefore, I would be the one to be normally summoned but instead the young Bronwyn summoned my fantasy self."
"I see… so I can take a guess that this place can let us go home?" Romani asked as the Ruler-Class Servant nodded at his question.
"Indeed this place is the exit to return to the Boiling Isles." Karl said as the trio looked happy as they don't want to wander around this reality any longer. "However, before we let you leave, my Master and I both have a request respectively and I would like to be the first to say my request before my Master can ask his."
"And that is?" Ardyn asks as the Ruler-Class Servant pointed to him, which confused the young hybrid.
"I wish to challenge my fantasy self: Charlamange. Summon him and we may begin our fight."
…
…
…
"You want me to summon Charlamagne just so you can fight him?" Ardyn asked Karl nodded at the question. "Why?"
"It's simple. I wish to obtain the other half Saint Graph that we both share." Karl said as he places a hand over his chest. "With the other half of our shared Saint Graph, I can be whole. Summon my fantasy self and you will be closer to leaving."
Ardyn was silent before he turned to the others. "What do you guys think?"
"Not much of choice. He said that by doing his request along with his Master we can go back home." Ryker said as he looked towards the two enemies who were staring down at them. "We don't know if they will keep their promise, but we got nothing else to lose."
"We'll make sure that the Master of this place doesn't pull a fast one during the fight." Romani said as he still had a hard stare against the man covered in shadows. Ardyn nodded as he stepped forward with a determined look on his face.
"Install: Saber!" Ardyn said as a pillar of light surrounded his whole body. When the pillar dissipates, Charlamagne stood proud with his sword drawn with a determine look on his face, staring towards Karl der Große, who had a big grin on his face.
"Yo! Good to see you, my real self."
We cut to a hallway, where two guards are hanging in vines from the ceiling, another can only be seen by his legs, a fourth is holding his hands in front of a fire, and a fifth is encased in ice and a few others on the ground with cut marks on their bodies as Luz, Musashi and King walks away from the scene, running through a hallway.
"If I'm right, Eda should be at the end of this hallway. We're almost there." Luz said as they were getting close to where Eda was held. As soon as they entered a room with a long hallway, Musashi suddenly stopped as she held out her hand to stop Luz and King from continuing forward as she drew one of her swords. "Musashi?"
"You can come out now boy. I know you're here." The Servant of the Sword said as a slow clapping was heard as the masked right-hand man of Emperor Belos: The Golden Guard, stepped out from behind a pillar.
"I got to admit, I was hoping to catch you by surprise, but that seemed pointless to a Servant." The Golden Guard said as Luz was ready to fight one of the people who captured her friends but was stopped as Musashi held her hand to prevent her from doing something rash.
"Go find Eda and the others. I'll catch up." Musashi said as Luz looked like she wanted to object but instead nodded and headed towards the exit of the room with King. The Golden Guard was about to stop her from leaving but blocked an attack from Musashi to stop him from catching Luz. "Don't think about it boy. Your fight's with me."
"Fine with me." The Golden Guard said while twirling his staff, ready to fight. "I always wanted to challenge a Servant."
Finally, Musashi and the Golden Guard began their fight as they were racing around the room at high speeds clashing with weapons. Reading her katana, Musashi slams her weapon down making Golden Guard skid back from the attack.
"Is that all you got?" Golden Guard mocks. "I thought Servants were stronger than that."
"Hardly. If I go full strength, I could kill you." Musashi said taking a deep breath as she fires a powerful wind blade attack, causing the Golden Guard making him crash to the ground. Looking up we see Musashi crack his mask revealing a hint of gold hair under it.
"Cool trick but I got one too." As his staff glowed red, Golden Guard dashed in glowing yellow. Raising her blades, Musashi tried to block it but at the last second Golden Guard disappears and appears behind her. Gasping Musashi was nailed with a powerful staff strike, making her bang against a nearby statue.
"You're good." Musashi said with a slight pant. "But that won't bring me down."
"You don't get this rank by being a pushover." The Golden Guard said as his staff glowed red as the end of his staff was wrapped in a spiral formation of energy, making a makeshift spear.
Deciding to meet his attack, Musashi concentrated on the katana causing it to glow in response to her will. Swinging their weapons with all their might, the katana and staff clash creating a powerful shockwave that sent both flying back, banging against the respective walls.
After getting back up, Musashi charges towards the Golden Guard, preparing to strike him with her katana. Golden Guard responds by twirling his weapon from his right hand and takes a step forward to stab Musashi. However, Musashi parried it with her sword by striking it down on her left side. The impact between the weapons left a small crater behind Musashi's position as if the ground was struck by an invisible force strong enough for the rubble and dust to fly out.
Musashi holds down the long lance with her blade as she charges forward, making her weapon slide through her foe's weapon, leaving the sound of steel sliding on steel. The moment she got close, she was forced to dodge to her right when the Golden Guard attacked.
That did not stop the Servant of the Sword from pressing her charge, forcing the Golden Guard to backpedal for a moment as he blocked Musashi's attacks.
Seeing an opening, Musashi swung down her sword with all her might, forcing the Golden Guard to use his staff-spear to block it. The strike was powerful enough to make Golden Guard's feet sink to the concrete floor like a small crater.
The rubble scattered from the impact as the two Servants held their ground from each other. Golden Guard smiles, enjoying his duel, while Musashi frowns, not holding anything back as she sent the Golden Guard back.
Racing in, Golden Guard swings his staff at Musashi. With great perception, Musashi swings up deflecting it. Smashing their weapons against each other, both locked stances trying to overpower the other.
"I will end this!" Musashi snaps as the strike blasts the Golden Guard back. As the Golden Guard was about to get up when a power attack from the backend of Musashi's katana sent him crashing into the wall again and knocking him unconscious.
"Sorry about that boy." Musashi said as she sheathed her sword. "But I got to find Eda-dono and the others."
Before the Servant of the Sword could make her way towards where Luz was going, several Emperor's Coven members began swarming the room and surrounded her while two guards picked up the Golden Guard. With a sighing breath, she drew her katanas and readied herself for another fight.
"Okay. Who's first?"
While Musashi was dealing with the Golden Guard and the Emperor's Coven, Luz and King approached a padlocked set of double doors.
"King, watch the door." Luz said as King nodded. The young woman steps forward and places an ice glyph on the lock, freezing and breaking it. She enters the room and pulls out a light glyph. From what Luz could see, she saw Beast Eda, who was growling.
"Eda? Eda!" Luz said as she runs to her but bounces off when her wing twitches. Beast Eda turns at the noise and growls, going in for the attack. Luz pulls out an activated light glyph. "Eda, wait! It's me! It's me."
When Beast Eda saw the light sphere, she closed her eyes, reopened them to reveal them being gold again. "Luz? Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, wh-what are you doing here?"
"It's okay Eda, I'm here to save you. Where is Ardyn, Romani, and Ryker?" She activates a fire glyph on the chain keeping Eda in place, but the flame does nothing.
"I don't know what happened to them after I was dragged out of the throne room, but you must get out of here Luz. Your magic isn't strong enough for this." Beast Eda said, hoping that she would listen to her.
"But, but I can't! It's my fault you needed to save me. It's my fault you, Romani, Ryker, and Ardyn got captured." Luz said as she keeps trying to break the chain with magic, but every time she tried, she failed as the magic symbols dissipates into nothing.
"No. Listen to me. I'm here because of my own actions. We went against Belos's law, and for a while we were able to get away with it. But, well without magic, I can't do much. I don't regret anything. I lived freely and... I got to meet you and Ardyn." Eda said with a sad smile on her face.
"Eda..."
"But if you stay here, I won't be able to protect you. You need to leave. Now!"
"But we're a family! Us weirdos have to stick together, remember?" Luz said as tears began to build up in her eyes Eda had a sad look on her face as she stuck her claw into her hair, pulling out the key for the portal door. She activates it, making the door rise from the floor. It opens as she speaks, revealing the same path that Luz and Ardyn chased Owlbert down at the beginning of the summer.
"You have a family already. Go back to them. And when you're home, get some help to rescue the others, and use your fire magic to destroy the portal door once you get Ardyn and Ryker away from here." Beast Eda said as she places the key around Luz's neck. "I don't know why Belos wants it, but we can't take any chances."
Luz looks at Eda with tears in her eyes before tucking the key under her cloak and hugging her. "I love you, Eda."
"I love you too, kiddo." Beast Eda said as a siren blares as a door in the ceiling opens. "Luz, get away!"
Eda pushes Luz away as the chain around her neck glows blue and transforms into a cage. The ground beneath Eda begins to rise.
"No!" Luz said as she runs forward, and grabs hold of the bottom of Eda's claw. "Not yet!"
"I'm sorry." Beast Eda said sadly as she pushes Luz off the rising platform. "Goodbye, Luz."
"Eda!" Luz shouted as the platform completely rises into the ceiling with an air of finality. Luz cries into her hand, kneeling between the door to the human realm and where Eda had been just moments before.
"Let me go!" King said as Lilith approaches Luz who went still, knowing who exactly is behind her right now.
"Damnit! I'm too late, at least I found you, human." Lilith said as she looked towards Luz who was now standing and felt a chill in her spine at the hate she was feeling.
"You. You hurt Eda. You put her in chains. And now, I will take you down!" Luz yells as she jumps at Lilith, activating spell cards. However, Lilith drops King to block Luz's spell with her staff.
"Wait! I just want to talk!"
"Talk to the glyph, witch!" Luz said as slams five plant glyphs to the ground at once, summoning several tendrils to trap Lilith. She breaks through them easily with a spin from her staff, but Luz uses the distraction to jump onto Lilith.
"Ah, stop! What is wrong with you?" Lilith said as the two walk through the still-open portal door.
"Luz!" King said as he follows them through the door.
Luz and Lilith fall off the porch of the house in the human realm. King follows through a second later. Luz is the first to recover, looking at the forest they landed in as the wind blows her cloak and hair. Lilith stands behind her with her hands glowing blue.
"Luz, watch out!" King said before he is pulled to the ground by vines. Luz dives out of the way of Lilith's spell and pulls a fire glyph out.
"Fire!" Luz shouted but was surprised as the glyph disintegrated in her hands. "What?"
Lilith then tackles Luz to the ground as they have a bit of a tussle.
"Please, just listen to me!"
"No way! You deserve to be petrified! Not Eda!" Luz said in anger towards the woman who cursed Eda, which caused Lilith to stop as she lets go of Luz.
"You're right." Lilith said as she backed away from Luz with a look of shame on her face. "I deserve to be in Edalyn's place."
"Why did you do all this?"
"…When Edalyn and I were younger, we were the best of friends." Lilith started as she begins to tell her story.
[Flashback}
Cut to flashback of a young Lilith and Eda, wearing Potions-track Hexside uniforms, running through the woods while laughing. Young Eda trips, then sits up to reveal her knee bleeding. She starts crying. Young Lilith turns around and kneels in front of her, cupping Eda's face to wipe her tears before putting their foreheads together.
"With this spell declared, let the pain be shared." Young Lilith said as half of Eda's wound transfers to Lilith's knee. She winces, but both grin as their wounds healed up.
"Hey!" A voice spoke up as they both looked up and saw a young Anna Bronwyn, the sister in all but blood, standing over them with a look of concern on her face. Seeing their scrapped knees, she instantly went to work and healed their knees with magic. When it was done, Anna grinned at the two before rubbing their heads which they also smiled as they went home.
Cut to a teenage Eda and Lilith practicing duels with a mop and a broom respectively.
Being in the Emperor's Coven was my dream. I wanted to work alongside the most powerful witch on the Isles and make the world a better place.
Eda spins the mop easily, while Lilith whacks herself in the head with her broom.
Eda wanted to be with me, but there was a problem.
Cut to the Hexside grudgby pitch, where a field day is being held. Teen Eda and Lilith are standing in front of the Emperor's Coven stand.
"One spot is available. You duel tomorrow. The winner will join our ranks." The Emperor's Coven delegate said as Teen Lilith walks away from the stand while Eda reaches out to her.
I knew Edalyn would beat me. She was younger but worked twice as hard. She met me at my level.
Cut to Teen Lilith wearing a cloak and walking through the Night Market
Emperor Belos always said, "To be great, you have to make sacrifices." What would he do in my situation? I found a spell that would take away her powers.
Teen Lilith looks at a scroll with an owl seal on it. Her face goes from nervous to determined and breaks the seal. A bright red light comes from the scroll, taking over the screen. Cut to a door opening to Eda's room as she sleeps. An indistinct, shadowy figure becomes Lilith as she steps forward and pulls down the hood of her cloak. She approaches Eda's bed, holding out the cursed scroll. It glows red again, reflecting in Lilith's glasses ominously, even though the look in her eyes showed that she really didn't want to do this.
I thought it would just be for a day.
Cut to the Hexside grudgby pitch again. This time the stands are packed, and Teen Eda and Lilith stand opposite each other. They each raise an arm in a dueling pose, before Lilith runs forward with a yell, a blue flame appearing in her hand. Eda watches her approach.
"No!" This caused Teen Lilith to skid to a halt, the flame on her hand dying out. She looked surprised at what she just said.
"I refuse to battle my sister." Teen Eda said as walks up to a shell-shocked Lilith and gave her a friendly punch on the shoulder. "I've decided that covens aren't really my style. Hey, don't forget me when you're a big shot, sis."
'And as Edalyn walked away...'
Teen Eda barely makes it to the edge of the grudgby pitch before she starts yelling in pain and falls to her hands and knees. Feathers burst from her hand and raced up her arm, tearing the seam of her uniform. Brown wings sprout from her back, her ears grow as she covers her face with claws, until she screams in a voice part-witch and part-beast, her eyes pitch black. The newly transformed Owl Beast looks at the crowd, looks at Lilith, terrified. The crowd yells and jeers.
"What is that?!
"That girl is a monster!"
A rock was thrown as it hits Beast Eda's forehead, drawing a bit of blood. Emperor's Coven members continue to throw rocks at her as the crowd boos, until a field of energy surrounded Beast Eda from getting hurt from, catching everyone by surprise as Anna stood up towards them with a look of disappointment on her face. While Anna kept the energy field up, a rock hit Anna in the forehead, drawing blood, causing the field to drop as Beast Eda flares her wings and snarls at them for what they did.
"Get out! Go! Traitor!" A crowd member said as Beast Eda and Anna does just that, turning tail and running away.
"Edalyn! Anna!" Teen Lilith shouted as she was about to follow them but was stopped as the Emperor's Coven delegate grabs Lilith's arm.
"Lilith Clawthrone, we welcome you to the Emperor's coven!" The Emperor's Coven delegate said as he holds Teen Lilith's arm up in triumph as the crowd cheers.
'I made my sacrifice for the emperor, and it was time to receive my reward.'
[End of Flashback]
"I've been pursuing Edalyn because if she joined the Emperor's Coven, Emperor Belos told me he would heal her curse. But he lied to me. I know how to rescue Edalyn, but I can't do it alone. When we save her, we'll find the others after that." Lilith said as Luz had a look of suspicion.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Luz asked as Lilith appears to think for a second before tracing a large spell circle. Owlbert and the rest of Eda's staff appear in her hands. She holds them both out to Luz, who takes them with a look of relief. "Owlbert! You're okay."
Owlbert opens his eyes and coos, nuzzling into Luz. She puts him on her shoulder and uses the staff to stand.
"All right, Lilith. I don't like your whole deal, but... We need your help to save Eda, Ardyn, and the others." Luz said as she holds out the door key as Lilith stands.
"Thank you." Lilith said as the vines around King loosen and let him go.
"Weh?"
"Now, let's head back." Lilith said as she headed for the door. Luz starts to follow her, but a breeze makes her look back at the human realm behind them. A nostalgic, mournful feeling enters her heart as she stares at the world, she and Ardyn lived in. Lilith walks through the door, but King notices Luz lingering.
"Hey Luz, you... need a minute?" King asked as Luz shook her head.
"No. I'm coming." Luz said as she walks up the steps as King follows Lilith. Luz pauses just before entering, taking one last look at the human realm, before disappearing in the glowing white. The glow disappears with her, leaving just a broken-down house with a closed door.
"Now we finally begin our fated battle." Karl said as he turned to the being covered in shadow. "My Master, if you would be kind to change the area to allow us to fight."
The being in shadow didn't say anything as he raised his hand and silently cast a spell. The area around them began to shift as the temple walls dissipated and shifted with Ryker and Romani being placed on a small floating land mass. The area now looked like a massive open arena with multiple pillars on the battleground and the ivory throne being in the same spot as the shadowy being just watch what will happen.
"Let's go!" Both Servants said with conviction as Karl der Große starts first as he charges at Charlamagne and tries to swing his Joyeuse, but Charlamagne blocks with his Joyeuse. Karl der Große is sent backward, while Charlamagne is sent into the air. While in the air, Charlamagne fires two Sword Beams at Karl der Große, who deflects them. Karl der Große then jumps into the air, performs a flip, and smashes his Joyeuse into the ground, causing a crescent beam of energy to go straight at Charlamagne, who blocks the attack with his Sword-lances but gets launched back. Karl der Große charges at Charlamagne and they both swing at each other. Karl der Große uses multiple attacks on Charlamagne, who blocks with his Sword-lances, and on the last swing, Charlamagne rolls under Karl der Große.
Charlamagne strikes Karl der Große with a spin attack, who is sent flying back. Karl der Große calls forth lightning and fires multiple shots at Charlamagne, who runs and blocks them with the Joyeuse. Then Charlamagne jumps and performs another spin attack, deflecting the attacks. Karl der Große jumps into the air and fires a huge thunderbolt at Charlamagne from above. Charlamagne uses his Joyeuse to absorb the lightning. As Karl der Große lands, Charlamagne swings his sword with a lighting-fueled strike at Karl der Große, who gets hit and is sent flying.
As Karl der Große remains in the air, Charlamagne summons his Sword-Lances and fires arrows of energy at Karl der Große, who deflects them with his Joyeuse. Karl der Große lands and charges at Charlamagne, who charges an Ice Sword-Lance. Once Karl der Große is close enough, he fires it, freezing Karl der Große, but it didn't last long as he immediately thaws out. Karl der Große charges Charlamagne at swings, but Charlamagne dodges and throws a Wind Sword-Lance, leaving him defenseless for a moment and allowing Karl der Große to deliver a series of sword strikes on him. Karl der Große then proceeds to attack and Charlamagne attempts to counter with his Joyeuse. Karl der Große eventually performs a mighty upswing, knocking the Joyeuse out of Charlamagne's hands and forcing him to hide behind his Sword-lances. Karl der Große delivers blow after blow on Charlamagne's Sword-lances.
Then the Wind Sword-Lance from earlier comes back and hits Karl der Große, stunning him for a few seconds as Charlamagne retrieves his Joyeuse. Charlamagne then swings at Karl der Große, sending him flying. In the air, Karl der Große uses fire magic and fires a few shots at Charlamagne. Charlamagne uses his wind Sword-Lances and begins to increase his speed and runs like the very winds he is using. Dodging the fireballs, Charlamagne stops and runs up a pillar. Charlamagne launches himself at Karl der Große, striking him with another spin attack. Charlamagne lands on a platform above the ground, while Karl der Große lands on a small ring on a pillar. Karl der Große then uses Meteorain, sending meteors at Charlamagne.
Charlamagne uses his Sword-lances and blocks every meteor. While Charlamagne is distracted blocking the meteors, Karl der Große charges and strikes Charlamagne with his Joyeuse, sending Charlamagne into the air.
Karl der Große then performs multiple attacks on Charlamagne, who manages to block most of the attack with his Sword-lances. Once Karl der Große goes for the final strike, Charlamagne executes a well-placed sword swing, striking Karl der Große in the middle of the final blow and causing him to slam into the ground.
As Karl der Große falls to the ground on his knee, Charlamagne throws a flurry of fire and wind Sword-Lances. The combination attack explodes, sending Karl der Große flying in the air, and with help from a few wind Sword-Lances, Charlamagne performs the fatal blow, ready to pierce through Karl der Große, but Karl quickly blocked the fatal blow with his sword. Charlamagne then jumps up and dunks Karl der Große down the ground, then Charlamagne starts to slash Karl der Große, but the Ruler-Class Servant blocks all the slashes.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU!" Karl der Große then summons lightning and knocks Charlamagne away. Charlamagne then sees a pillar going towards him, but he dodges it before he gets hit. He then notices a few more debris of ruins floating around the area, causing the Saber-Class Servant to realize what's about to happen.
"Crap!" Charlamange said as more debris come towards Karl der Große like a magnet and start to cover him. While this was happening, The Ruler-Class Servant began his chant: ready to unleash his Noble Phantasm.
"Accept my Love!"
"Trust in me!"
"My glory shines throughout the land!"
"My deeds are naught but the will of God!"
"Carolus Patricius Auctoritas!"
Charlamagne was closing his eyes for a moment, when he looked up, he was surprised to see that the Ruler Class Servant has transformed into his Noble Phantasm: Carolus Patricius Auctoritas: Sanctus, Now the Authority is Replenishing the Earth. It manifests the form of a giant robot, with a vaguely humanoid design incorporating elements of a cathedral and the cross, which can fire missiles from launchers on its shoulders and a powerful beam from its mouth.
"Take this!" Karl der Große roared as it then shot a bunch of missiles towards Charlamagne, who managed to avoid all of them.
"Let's go!" Charlamange said as he runs over one of the pillars, jumps up and begins to chant, unleashing his Noble Phantasm as well.
"The holy light that shall never fade, the glowing colors of infinite changing form."
Karl der Große still shoots crystals towards Charlamagne, The Maverick Hunter managed to dodge them all and dashes towards Karl der Große and slashes him in the throat with his sword and sword-lances.
"Carve your legends into this blade to prove my Kingly heroics!"
Karl der Große roars and shoots a missile towards Absolute Charlamagne and hurting him, Absolute Charlamagne shakes his head and flies upwards, he held his sword high, create a huge beam of it while the sword-like spears appear behind him and swung his sword down. Karl der Große then starts to charge a Laser to finish off Charlamagne, Karl der Große roars while charging the laser, but...
"Joyeuse Ordre!"
Charlamagne then slashes down Karl der Große in two pieces and then Charlamagne walks away with his head down, the twelve sword-like spears pierced through the giant metal Noble Phantasm as Karl der Große gets blown up into pieces.
"It's over, my real self." Charlemagne said as the Joyeuse that Karl had landed on the ground behind him, causing him to look back towards the blade. He looked at his blade and noticed that it glowed as it was trying to tell him to do something. "I see. So, this is what you wanted Karl."
Charlamagne then raised his sword towards the other as the blades began to glow and merged into one blade as The Servant of the Sword began to glow over his whole body. After a few moments, the glow dissipates as he now shows up in clothes and armor more befitting an emperor. He looked at his new duds with a small smirk on his face.
"Well, this could take some time to get use to." Charlamagne said as his body began to glow. "And now it seems my time is up. Well, the rest is up to my Master now."
Charlamagne body was encased in a sphere of light when he finished his sentence. After a few moments, the sphere dissipates showing Ardyn looking drained as he fell to his knees with Ryker and Romani came up to him and checked on him.
"Is it over?" Ardyn asked as the other two nodded. "Good. Now we need to deal with the guy on the throne."
"I agree with you." Romani said as he turned to the Ivory Throne. "Why don't you drop the veil, GOETIA?"
The shadow man didn't say anything as the smoking aura began to disappear. Sitting on the ivory throne is a man with white hair and tan skin, wearing clothing and robe that are like that of royalty. However, the one thing that stood out was his razor-sharp teeth, red eyes with black sclera, and black markings on his face.
"Welcome, chosen Masters of the Boiling Isles…and you as well, Romani." The man, now known as GOETIA, said with a sinister smile on his face.
We cut to an Emperor's Coven guard drumming a beat. Zoom out to reveal several drumming guards in two lines in front of a large crowd. Willow and Gus were talking with each other about their progress on finding the others.
"I don't see Luz and Ardyn anywhere."
"Do you think she got caught?"
His question goes unanswered as an alarm sounds off, and the cage with Beast Eda in it rises onto a towering platform in front of the crowd.
"Well folks, Eda the Owl Lady has appeared on stage, which means the petrification process is about to begin." Perry said as Kikimora finishes rising with the cage. She walks forward and pushes a lever, making the three headed statue rise from the ground. Beast Eda visibly looks nervous as the machine crackles to power.
We return inside of the Conformatorium, where Lilith, Luz, and King are passing by towering statues covered in what appear to be meaty tendrils. They stop in front of a small platform.
"You can take this up to the stage where they're holding Edalyn." Lilith said.
"Thank you, Lilith. What will you do now?" Luz asked as Lilith lowered her head.
"I will stay in the Emperor's coven, but I will make sure nothing like this ever happen again." Lilith said as Luz nodded.
"That's good to hear." Luz said as she looked around and noticed something off. "Wait, why are there no guards around?"
Suddenly, a red tendril wraps itself around Lilith's legs, pulling her down. She screams as she was being dragged into the darkness of the room.
"Lilith!" Luz shouted as she heard King screams as he also gets taken by a tendril. "King!"
Lilith and King are dragged up near the ceiling before being suspended on either side of the far wall. Fires ignite below them, flanking a skull-like throne that Belos is sitting in, his staff in hand.
"Ah, Lilith. You chose the wrong side." Emperor Belossaid as Lilith and King are pulled upwards the top, where Eda was being kept.
"No!" Luz said as she stared in horror and tried to walk forward, but two arms grabbed her legs to stop her from proceeding to help.
"Ah puh-puh. I'd like to have a word with you, human." Emperor Belos said, pointing towards her as Luz glares at masked emperor.
"Install: Saber!" Luz said as a ring of energy surrounded her as a sphere of flames encompassed her body. When the fire disappeared, Nero stood in her Masters place as she held her sword towards the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.
"Well now. I never expected that an Emperor from long ago to grace me with his presence or in this case 'her presence'. I feel honored." Emperor Belos said as Nero gave him a smirk, but her eyes showed a great amount of hatred towards one of the few people who caused her Master to feel despair.
"Yes. And now I like to also repay you for what you did to my Praetor's loved ones." Nero said with a vicious smirk. That smirked vanished as the Emperor of the Boiling Isles began to chuckle.
"As much as I wouldn't mind to face a powerful entity, another who is under my service wants to face you." Emperor Belos said as Nero notices a person appear right behind him. The person seems to be a young woman with purple hair, cladded in samurai armor with a blindfold, and carrying two katanas on her side.
"Thank You, Master. Please enjoy the show." The Servant said as Nero turns around to face the unknown enemy.
"Who are you, Servant?" Nero said as the Enemy Servant smiles as sinister smile, readying one of her swords: the Azamaru to use against Nero.
"Servant: Avenger. I go by the name of Taira-no-Kagekiyo and the one who will kill you." The Servant, now known as Taria-no-Kagekiyo, said as Nero narrowed her eyes. From the knowledge of her Master, this Servant is the character wrapped in mystery who appears in "The Tale of the Heike".
Taria-no-Kagekiyo is a character that was known as "Kazusa's Akushichibyōe Kagekiyo" by the armies of the Genji and Heika clan at the Battle of Yashima, but their personal history is unclear.
She claims to be from Kazusa in "The Tale of the Heike", but her concrete origin varies in the books.
"Kazusa's Akushichibyōe Kagekiyo" eventually came to be called "Taira no Kagekiyo", the avenger of the Taira clan...
He became known to the world as a vengeful ghost bent on taking revenge on the Minamoto clan.
The military exploits established by the samurai on the Heike's side and the deep-seated grudges the deserters felt towards the Genji are condensed into the image of "Taira no Kagekiyo" for some reason.
Yoritomo was attacked by Kagekiyo thirty-seven times, but they failed each time.
Anybody who desires vengeance against the Minamoto-clan will eventually turn into Kagekiyo and bare their fangs against the Genji.
Indeed, it doesn't matter whether they are Kagekiyo. Indeed, it doesn't matter whether they are of the Heike. It has nothing to with whether it is the actual person. Those who bear a grudge against the Genji are taken over by "Taira no Kagekiyo".
The real Kagekiyo might have escaped to the Chūgoku region and spent the rest of his life in happiness there, but regardless of that, "Taira no Kagekiyo" bears a grudge against the Genji.
However, that didn't matter at this point as the battle begins with Taira-no-Kagekiyo and Nero repeatedly clashing blades, with Taira-no-Kagekiyo successfully repelling his opponent. When Nero charges again after being forced back, Taira-no-Kagekiyo teleports and draws her second blade and attempts to strike Nero with a diving strike. In return, Nero uses a wall of flame to block the attack, before following up by using her swords flame on an airborne and vulnerable Taira-no-Kagekiyo.
Taira-no-Kagekiyo is knocked back by the attack, but is no worse for wear, and the two begin speeding around the battlefield while repeatedly clashing with their attacks. Eventually, Nero gets the upper hand with sword's superior reach and stabs Taira-no-Kagekiyo through the chest, prompting him to teleport away.
"Okay, you're strong." Taira-no-Kagekiyo said as she then prepared to draw Azamaru again. "But are you fast enough?"
Taira-no-Kagekiyo dashes towards Nero at blinding speeds, getting behind Nero right as he begins to charge, slashing the Emperor of Roses. He then follows up with multiple cuts.
"Don't move." Taira-no-Kagekiyo said with a sneer as her attack harms Nero, tearing off some of the skin around her body and causing her to start bleeding.
"Ngh... I suppose it can't be helped." The Emperor of Roses said as Taira-no-Kagekiyo smirked and then creates multiple copies of herself to appear, and they all charge at Nero. As she's clashing with one, Yamato goes through the copy's sword, confirming that they are illusions, which disappear when Nero lands a good hit on one. She looks around as the copies fly around him.
"They're fake?" The Emperor of Roses said as three Taira-no-Kagekiyos jump towards Nero. Nero sends out a wave of fire to destroy the illusions at the same time. She then proceeds to clash blades with yet more illusions, once more utilizing both sword and flames. She then looks around and sees yet more illusions flying around him.
"You're going down!" Nero said as she then uses her flames in conjunction with her sword to fight the horde of illusions once again, even repelling multiple of them at once. Once her flames run out, she looks to see continuous illusions charging at her. Growing tired of this charade, she proceeds to reveal her Noble Phantasm.
"Behold my glory... Hear the thunderous applause..." said Nero as she begins to do a chant as she tosses her red rose into the air. Noticing the sudden shift around him, Taira-no-Kagekiyo turns around to see a red rose brighten and makes her cover their eyes. And the area became black. Nero holds her sword with both hands and does some sword slashes in the air.
"Sit down and praise... My Golden Theater!" Said Nero as she stabs her sword into the ground. And then something beautiful happens. The entire area begins to be remade, reconstructed into something new. A huge golden theater with tons of platforms for the crowd to be in. And with Nero being in the middle of the theater in a circle with four red carpets near it in a large red plus formation and red pedals scattered in the wind that blows all around the theater.
"Kingdom of Heaven and Hell... My heaven, reconstructed! This is where the limelight shines!"
"Aestus Domus Aurea!"
"What is that!?" Taira-no-Kagekiyo said in surprise as Nero flares at the Avenger as she raises her sword above her.
"Let the Pavilion fall!" Said Nero as her sword becomes ignited with powerful flames.
"Rosa Ictus!" Said Nero as she charges at Taira-no-Kagekiyo at super-fast speed. She reaches close to the monster and slashes downward against the Avenger-Class Servant. At Nero's behest, a pillar of fire begins incinerating Taira-no-Kagekiyo. As she's burning and screaming in agony, she reaches for Azamaru and slices her way out of the Reality Marble.
"I'm... free." The critically injured Taira-no-Kagekiyo, with clothes and body are covered with burns, sighs in relief on escaping the Noble Phantasm, but is then impaled by Nero, who begins to lift Taira-no-Kagekiyo up into the air via her sword. As this happens, Taira-no-Kagekiyo drops her swords, too weak to do anything else due to the damage taken from the Noble Phantasm of Nero.
"So you are, Avenger." Nero then slices Taira-no-Kagekiyo in half, ending the Avenger's life. As the body of the enemy Servant and the theater began to disappear, a sound clapping was heard, causing the Emperor of Roses to turn towards Emperor Belos, who was applauding at the performance that he saw.
"A marvelous performance, Emperor of Roses." Belos said as Nero was about to approach but stops as her body began to glow. "However it seems your time is up."
Nero could only look at him in distain as a sphere of light encompasses her body. After a few moments, Luz returned to normal with a look of confusion on her face before red tendrils captured her again.
"Now with the distractions out of the way, we can talk now human." Emperor Belos said as Luz looked at him with hate.
Lilith and King were being forced into Beast Eda's cage by two Emperor's Coven members. They both land, kneeling, as the bars close behind them, now adding two more people to be petrified.
"Hello, Edalyn." Lilith said as Beast Eda glared at her for several seconds.
"Lilith. You hurt the people I care for. You cursed me. Before anything turns me to stone, I'll tear you apart." Beast Eda said as she raises her claw, ready to harm Lilith. King, however, decided to jump between Eda and Lilith so that she doesn't regret what she would do.
"No, don't!" King said as Eda gasps, wondering why King was stopping her. "She was trying to help. She even betrayed the Emperor for you!"
"What?" Beast Eda said in surprise as she looked at her sister in shock.
"If I knew something like this would happen, Edalyn, I-" Lilith said as she tries to cup Eda's face, but the activation of the petrification machine earns both of their attentions. The machine's eyes begin to glow, first yellow, then green. Willow and Gus gasp.
"We got to do something." Willow said as Gus ran to where his father was.
"And in a shocking turn of events, head Coven leader Lilith is now in the holding cage. Escorted by what appears to be a deranged cat-" Perry stopped as he saw Gus pulling on his sleeve. "Augustus? I'm live!"
"Dad, you have to stop!" Gus said as Willow grabs Perry's microphone.
"Yeah. What's happening to Eda isn't right. She might not always follow the rules, but she hasn't done anything worthy of a petrification!"
"She helped me escape jail."
"She helps me stay in business!"
"She helped me love teaching again... after she left."
"The Emperor should let Eda go." Willow said as she raised her fist in the air.
"Let Eda go!" Gus started as the crowed follow up on what he just said.
"Let Eda go! Let Eda go! Let Eda go! Let Eda go!"
"I must say I'm very impressed with the performance that we saw." GOETIA said as the trio got into a defensive position. "But now that my former Servant has gotten what he wanted, now it's my turn for my request."
Romani was the first to make a move as he began to cast a spell but couldn't finish as the being on the throne raised his hand, which made Romani slam into the ground, causing him to cough up blood.
"Careful now Romani. If I apply more magic into this spell, you could die painfully."
"Bastard!" Ryker said as he charged at GOETIA, who looked bored at the foolish attempt and did the same to him like he did to Romani, which caught the Goldmark Hybrid by surprise as he too coughed up blood. "D-damnit."
"Perhaps you should have thought of challenging me before just jumping in with no plan." GOETIA said as he turned to Ardyn who had a look of anger on his face. "Are you willing to listen to my request now?"
"…If you let my friends go from your spell, I will listen to your request." Ardyn said as GOETIA smirked and ended his spells over Ryker and Romani, but the two couldn't get up from the damage they received. "Okay, so what do you want GOETIA?"
"It's quite simple really." GOETIA said as he stood up from his throne and began to approach the Bronwyn Hybrid. "It has come to my attention that you have obtain a certain item that your mother has left behind."
"A certain item… Wait you don't mean." Ardyn said as GOETIA stood in front of him with his hand raised towards the young hybrid as if he was waiting to get something from him.
"That's correct. In exchange for returning to the Boiling Isles, give me the Soul-Box of Heroes."
"Let my friends go, or else!" Luz shouted as Owlbert hoots. Luz slams the butt of Eda's staff into the floor, rocketing out of the grip of the tendrils holding her down. She lands with a flip and slams the staff down, summoning a row of ice spikes that stop inches away from Belos's mask.
"Okay." Emperor Belos said as he melts from the throne, reappearing behind Luz, appearing to be more liquid than solid mass.
"I'll play."
Belos lifts a finger, which created an energy field around Luz and flicks it, sending Luz into the base of a towering statue. A crack travels up the statue, until it frees the giant two-headed axe, which Luz just barely dodges. Luz sends a fire blast at spikes of earth. She freezes a giant red hand in a block of ice. She mounts the staff to avoid more earth spikes. She pulls the staff around and aims for Belos, fire glyphs in hand. Belos stands immobile as the intro monster appears around him. Luz screams as the intro monster swallows her. It explodes a second later, and Luz lands on the ground on her feet.
'What's wrong, human? I thought you wanted to fight.'
The shadow of Belos passes, and Luz turns to face it. More arms grabbed her legs and arms, pulling her back down to the ground, causing her to gasp in surprise. Emperor Belos then appears from the shadows, looking down on the young woman.
"Had enough?"
"Not even close." Luz said with a smirk as she moved her hand to reveal an ice glyph. The ice pillar hits Belos's mask, chipping a piece off, causing him to shout in surprise before giving off a growl that sounded inhuman. Luz looks at the shard before looking back up at Belos.
"I like your spirit." Emperor Belos chuckles as he turns around to reveal a glowing blue eye shining out of the broken half of his mask. "But try that again and things won't end well for you."
"Now, I'm just a humble messenger for the Titan. In the grand scheme of things, the Owl Lady's life is inconsequential. Emperor Belos said as the arms retreat off Luz, as the masked tyrant steps directly in front of her. "But then you showed up. If you want to save your mentor and the safe return of your friends, give me the portal door to the human realm."
"But... my home." Luz said with a look of concern on her face.
The petrification machine, which is completely powered on, fires a bolt of green energy directs itself to the cage. Beast Eda, King, and Lilith all screamed. Beast Eda dives in front of Lilith and King, taking the full brunt of the blast of magic.
"Edalyn!" Lilith shouted as Beast Eda screams, more beast than Eda.
"You want my mother's box? For what reason do you need it?" Ardyn asked GOETIA who began to chuckled at his question. "Why are you laughing?!"
"You remind me way too much of your mother. Always asking questions where it really doesn't matter in the long run. You probably think we want to invade the human realm, but the plan Belos and I have is not so boorish."GOETIA said as he took a few steps away from the young man as he cast a spell to show what was happening to Eda right."Tick tock, hybrid. The Owl Lady doesn't have much time. What is your choice?"
"No!" Ardyn said, reaching for the projection, for Eda the grabs the clasp of his hoodie as a tear runs down his cheek. "Damnit, Fine!"
Ardyn reaches for his backpack and pulls out the Soul-Box of Heroes as he hugs the box to his chest.
"I'm sorry Mom." Ardyn said to himself as he reluctantly walked towards GOETIA and held out the box to him. "Here, take it."
"You made a wise choice, boy." Belos said as he takes the box. Luz's hand lingers on it, not dropping until a few seconds after it's completely out of his grasp. GOETIA snaps his fingers, creating a dimensional gap open with a sucking vortex, making the trio rise to the portal. "Go on then. Go be a hero and help the Owl Lady."
"We may have lost, but so have you." Ardyn said as he pulls out the Leviathan Axe and throws it at the Soul-Box of Heroes with great speed, making the item freeze over before it shatters and explodes. GOETIA backs away from the box as many beams emerged from the destroyed item, with one of the beams entering Ryker, who reeled in pain from the amount of energy entering him. He glares at Ardyn, who glares right back as GOETIA tried to close the portal back to the Boiling Isles. Romani was quick to act as he cast a spell to accelerate both Ardyn and Ryker back through the portal before it closed, leaving him behind with GOETIA.
"That boy made a foolish mistake, Romani."
"Maybe… but at least you didn't get what you want."
"You probably think we want to invade the human realm, but the Titan's will is not so boorish." Emperor Belos said as he took a few steps away from the girl "You'll understand soon. Tick tock, human. The Owl Lady doesn't have much time left."
Beast Eda distantly screeches.
"No!" Luz said, reaching for the ceiling, for Eda the grabs the clasp of her cloak as a tear runs down her cheek. "Fine!"
Luz reaches under her cloak and activates the portal door, keeping the key out of sight of Belos. She hugs the door to her chest.
"Lo siento, Mamá." Luz said to herself as she grabs Eda's staff and standing up, Luz reluctantly walked towards Belos and holding out the door. "Here, it's yours."
"The Titan will be pleased." Belos said as he takes the door. Luz's hand lingers on it, not dropping until a few seconds after it's completely out of her grasp. She finally steps on the platform that Lilith had brought her to, pulling the hood of the cloak up. The Emperor of the Boiling Isles taps his staff against the ground, making the platform rise. "Go on then. Go be a hero."
"We may have lost, but so have you." Luz said as she turns around and taps Eda's staff against the platform. Owlbert's eyes glow, as do the fire glyphs on the door before the latter ignites, making the portal to the human realm explode. Belos backs away from the flaming eye, the only substantial part of the door that remains. He glares at Luz through the smoke, who glares right back as the platform carries her out of the chamber.
We return to Beast Eda, whose legs begin turning to stone. Luz and the platform rise in between the cage and the petrification machine. Luz grabs a plant glyph and throws it to the base of the machine. Vines burst out of the glyph and rocked the machine to the side, stopping it. Beast Eda screeches and falls to the ground, nearly completely stone.
"Wh—what do we do?!" King asked as Lilith approached her sister.
"The spell wasn't completed! Maybe I can help her fight it!" Lilith said as she puts her hands on Eda's wing, using her magic to fight the petrification back.
"No! What is happening?" Kikimora said as Luz activating a fire glyph as she walks behind Kikimora with a scowl on her face.
"Free them, now!" Luz ordered as Kikimora shrinks in on herself and traces a spell circle. The cage disappears, and Luz runs to Eda. "Eda! Are you okay?"
The stone recedes from Eda's body. Her eyes opened as she looked towards her apprentice with a look of determination. "As good as I'll ever be."
The Emperor's Coven guards, holding spears, close in on them ready to capture them again. Luz prepares herself for a fight, but Eda flings her and King onto her back.
"Let's fly-"
Before she could fly, a tear with the dimensional fold opened, causing everyone to look up in terror at the singularity anomaly that just appeared. An unknown number of beams of light emerged from the tear as it spits into multiple streams as a few of the beams hit Eda, King, Lilith, Willow, & Gus, who had looks of shock on their faces. Another stream of energy heads towards the Conformatorium, heading towards another individual that was knocked out. Coming from behind said beams are Ardyn and Ryker, who looked like they went through hell and back, as the singularity closes behind them.
"Guys what happ-" Luz started but was stopped when the two boys ran up to them.
"No time to explain! Let's get out of here!" Ardyn said as Lilith gets on in front of Luz and King with Ardyn and Ryker getting on the back, and Eda takes off. The coven guards take aim with their spears, but none hit them as Ardyn swings his Leviathan Axe, sending the projectiles back. The crowd cheers as Eda flies away with the others. Kikimora was glaring after them, until Emperor Belos walks out, his mask still broken.
"My liege!" Kikimora said in shock but was ignored as he stepped forward to address the audience.
"Children of the Isles. The Titan has told me to spare the Owl Lady's life, but in return, her curse will strip away all her powers. Let her monstrous form be a lesson about the dangers of wild magic." Emperor Belos said, his eyes narrowed at the humiliation that Luz delivered to him.
He will make her, and her friends pay dearly for this.
The group finally returned to the Owl House, which Beast Eda lands in front of, panting heavily. Luz, Ardyn, Ryker, Lilith, and King dismount to check on her.
"Don't worry, Eda. I'll run and get you some elixir and-" Luz said as Ryker shook his head.
"No, Luz. No amount of elixir can heal her in this state." The Goldmark Hybrid said as Lilith walked towards her sister.
"I'm afraid he's right." Lilith said as she cups Eda's face and puts their foreheads together. "Oh, sister I should have done this a long time ago. With this spell declared, let the pain be shared."
Lilith and Beast Eda glow blue and float. Their gems glow, and Eda returns to her usual witch form. Luz Ardyn and Ryker shields King from the light, and they all turn when it fades to see Eda, back to normal, and Lilith land softly.
"Eda!" both Luz and Ardyn said as Lilith and Eda turn their heads to reveal that one of each of their eyes has turned gray, and Lilith now has a streak of gray hair while Eda has a streak of white and her gem is still black. Eda laughs as Luz, Ardyn, and King run and hug her with Ryker coming up to them to check on her.
"Can you still do magic?" Ardyn asked as Eda traces a spell circle, which disintegrates.
"That's a no. It'll take some time to get used to this."
"I feel that I've been weakened as well." Lilith said as she rubbed her wrist as Ryker places a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay. I can teach you what I know, and what we don't know, we can learn together." Luz said as she puts a light glyph in Eda's hand. Eda activates it, looking shocked that it worked. The ball of light floats into the night sky. Lilith and Ryker walk closer to the others.
"Thanks, kid." Eda said as she ruffles Luz's hair and pulls Luz and Ardyn into a hug. "I look forward to that."
"Hey, I got to ask? Where's Musashi and Romani." King asked as Luz and Ardyn looked troubled.
"I'm here!" a female voice spoke out at the whole group turned to see Musashi walking towards them with a small smile on her face, even though she has a small trace of blood on her outfit. "Sorry I'm late. Had to deal with a small Coven unit before I got out of the Conformatorium. So, where's Romani and what did I miss?"
Most of the group turned to Ardyn and Ryker, who looked down before the Bronwyn Hybrid looked towards them with a sad look on his face.
"A lot has happened Musashi. Let's go inside and talk."
"And that's not only how we escaped from the emperor but also how Ardyn and Ryker survived a powerful monster called GOETIA."
We return to Luz and Ardyn's room, where she's lying on her stomach in her sleeping bag with Ardyn sleeping next to her as she is recording a video for her mom. King is asleep at her feet.
"Everyone told me he was the most powerful witch alive. But look at this, Mom." Luz said as she held up the chip of Belos's mask. "I chipped off a piece of his mask! I know he's not invincible now and that this GOETIA guy is no real threat… at least not yet. It's a strange feeling, having gone through so much and not having you or Mr. David here to share it with. And I don't know when or how we're going to see you guy again."
Luz puts her phone down and looks at a picture of her and Camila, then at the ball of light hovering in front of her.
"But we will find my way home to you two. I promise. Deja una luz puesta para mí. Te quiero."
Luz turned off her phone and looked at Ardyn who was sound asleep. With a small smile on her face, she gave him a kiss on the cheek, poked the ball of light to put it out, and went to sleep next to him. Several balls of light hovering outside of her window float away when it goes dark.
Belos is standing in front a staircase looking at something with great interest and Kikimora is walking down.
"Sire, those miscreants are still at large. Please, allow me to capture them." Kikimora said as Belos raised his hand towards her to stop her.
"Worry not, Kiki. We'll be keeping an eye on the inhabitants of the Owl House." Emperor Belos said as he nods to Golden Guard. He nods back before walking away. "In the meantime, the Day of Unity is almost upon us...and we have much work to do."
Emperor Belos looked towards a round white frame with wings attached to it, partially built. Inside the frame is the portal door, still broken, but being pieced back together.
"So… it seems that you've gotten what you desire." A voice spoke out as the emperor of the Boiling Isles turned towards GOETIA who looked at him with a bored expression as created a Bounded Field to halt the flow of time so that they would not be interrupted. "Satisfied?"
"Indeed. I have obtained the Portal Door… despite its current condition." Belos said as he cocked his head in confusion of his 'partners' grunt. "However, it seems that you meeting with the Hybrids didn't go exactly as you wanted?"
"Not quite." GOETIA said as he held the remains of the Soul-Box of Heroes before crushing it into fine powder. "The Bronwyn brat was cleaver enough to destroy the box with his mother's cursed axe, this will slightly hinder our plans when the Heroes that were still in the box have selected their new hosts."
"You don't need to worry about it." Emperor Belos said as he and his partner looked at the Portal Door. "We'll find them and handle it. Let's just proceed with our plans."
End of Book 1...
…
…
…
Conditions Met: Secret Ending Unlocked
As the group were about to turn in for the night after what happened with today's bounty being less than what they want, Ardyn felt something in the air as he stood from his bed with sweat dripping from his brow. He felt like something within reality was shifting and changing outside.
"Ardyn? Are you ok?" Luz asked as Ardyn turned to her with a concern look on his face.
"Do you feel that?" Ardyn asked as Luz looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened as she felt the same thing that Ardyn felt as well as they heard a sound like that of a thunderous clap of lightning. Without delay, Ardyn and Luz jumped out of bed, the young man grabbing his Levithan Axe and left the room they were in, running into Eda, Lilith, Musashi, and King who also had a concern look on their faces.
They arrived outside with Hooty taking defensive position to look towards the skies to see a large portal that was emitting pink, green, blue, and silver energy as a massive group landed in front of them with a harsh landing causing dirt and dust to erupt from the landing area with great force. When the dust settled, Ardyn, Luz and the others were surprised to see a group of humans and amphibian-like beings laying down unconscious while one of the humans was still trying to stand up.
The first amphibian is old-looking Frog is a 3'3-feet-tall, 68-year-old, anthropomorphic Frog Male with slightly reddish-orange eyes that has black pupils, white tufts of hair coming out of the sides of his head, a long dark green tongue, wrinkled reddish-orange skin with a light orange chin/chest, four short limbs with four-fingered hands, a stout built, two-toed short large feet, and his outfit consists of a grayish-green waistcoat with a buttoned-up yellow shirt underneath, a light blue ascot wrapped around his neck, grayish-brown trousers, and light brown socks that slightly cover his feet.
The next one young-looking Frog is a 3-feet-tall, 10-year-old, anthropomorphic Poisonous Dart Frog Male with short orange hair, slightly orange eyes with black pupils as they have blue irises, large elongated light green tongue, hot pink smooth skin with a paler shaded pink-colored underbelly, four short limbs with four-fingered hands, a slim built, two-toed short large feet, and his outfit consists of a dark forest green hat with light green goggles, a sleeveless light green jacket, and a pair of black shorts.
The third one is baby tadpole is a 1.1-feet-tall, 5-year-old, anthropomorphic Frog female, still in her Tadpole Stage, as she has a globular appearance with white eyes that has black pupils, a long blue tongue, small fingerless arms, light purple-skin, legs, has a small Tadpole tail, and her only piece of clothing consists of a yellow bow with lighter white/yellow polka dots. Right next to her is a robotic frog head that's been damaged.
The next one is a green toad with a large and muscular build. His left eye glows yellow-green and is in a constant squint, while his right eye is marked with a pink scar, pale blue, and dull due to the injury. His eyes do not have visible pupils. He possesses sharp, yellow teeth. He wears red metal armor with a dark mauve cape with an eye symbol on it. In his hand is what looks like an ancient technologically advanced Warhammer that can crush your skull without much effort.
One of the Humans is of a young girl in her early-mid teens with a slender physique, soft skin, and green eyes. She has a slender physique and soft healthy skin. She has "finely textured" blonde hair that seems "as if sprinkled with gold dust." with one single strand sticking out at the front while the rest was tied into a bun. Her face shows some signs of naivety and displays elegance. She's cladded in clothes of gold, white, and blue of a royal shade. Strapped over these garments was silver armor befitting that of the knights extolled in tales of chivalry and heroism. Both hands rested on her sword, a double-edged sword with a curved golden guard and blue handle. When one would look at this sword, it would best be described as the 'physical actualization of her ideals and the symbol of her heroism'.
The second human is a white-haired girl with yellow-green eyes, with a stitched-up scar on the right side of her face and a natural one over the left eye. Her upper body is that of an adolescent, while her lower body is more mature like that of an adult, creating an odd juxtaposition to her appearance. She dons a black vest, black hot shorts, and black stockings with pink shoes. Both her arms are bandaged but only her left hand wears a glove. She has a purple oval-shaped 'O' on each of her shoulders. At the small of her back, she carries several sheathes that hold what looks like to be her knives. She also wears a tattered coat as a cloak over her outfit.
The third human is a beautiful woman in her early 20's. Her exotic pink, peach-colored hair that was tied into two twin tails by a pair of blue ribbons that reached down, as bangs covered her forehead. Her face was heart shaped, and her large eyes were a beautiful shade of amber. Her attire was strange, as she wore a navy-blue kimono top with detached sleeves, with gold and white trimmings licking the top with a black and old obi. She also wore what appeared to be a black and white color across her neck. As she finished off the look with a pair of blue knee-high socks, the same color as her kimono, with a tall pair of black heels licking the bottom of her feet. Her kimono was cut low, so much show that she showed off much of her generous amount of cleavage. As well as her showing off her creamy white thighs. But the most striking thing was the inhuman traits she possessed. Spotting a pair of brown foxlike ears atop her head, as well as a large brown bushy tail across her back.
The fourth human is blue-haired, red-eyed boy whose primary outfit is like that of a fantasy-like adventurer of Irish Folktale, Lore, or Legend; depending on who you're asking. He wears his long blue hair in a rattail that reaches his mid-back. He also wears a pair of silver earrings. The items that are lying next to him are a wooden quarterstaff and a bronze sword that emits a faint light, showing that this weapon is more than it appears.
The fifth human is a bearded old man in his 60's wearing an eyepatch over his left eye and an outfit that man him look like a military-style hunter that shows that he lives together with nature: consisting of a light brown long sleeve shirt with the right sleeve rolled up, dark brown pants, combat boots, and black gloves exposing his thumbs and index finger on each hand. Lying next to him is a crossbow that resembles a machine gun, and it essentially functions as such.
The sixth human is a young woman with flowing blond hair with little wing of the same color on the top of her head with swan-white clothes that gave off the appearance of a war maiden dressed in armor and carry armament fit for such a warrior woman. In her right hand is a spear of light that gave off a gentle light but still looked like it could kill anyone who was unfortunate to meet the end of this weapon. In her left hand is a shield that looked like it was made by divine entities, solely to protect the wielder and those behind them from harm.
The seventh human is a 5'7-feet-tall, German-American, 16-year-old teenage girl with long blonde hair that was wrapped up into a high ponytail with a brown scrunchie, almond-shaped brown eyes that had a pink glow with black-discolored marks around them, a pointy small nose, a beauty mark placed near her right eye, D-Cup breasts, pale Caucasian skin, a slender build, a big ass, and her outfit consists of red armor with slightly lighter coloring and wearing a cloak and only one glove. Her cloak and pauldron on her right shoulder have an eye-like symbol painted on them; she also has a smaller shoulder pad on her left shoulder. Her weapons are a pair of dual swords that have basic designs like the humans' Oakeshott typology European swords from Earth during the Middle Ages. Their most notable stylized features are the heron-shaped quillons, both swords having the head and tail as their cross-guards and the body as the rain-guard. One sword is colored pink and the other is a silver color.
The eighth human is a 5'5-feet-tall, 16-year-old, Chinese American girl who is tall and slim. She has C-Cup breasts, a thick ass, olive skin, short, shiny black hair, and dark brown oval eyes that have a green glow. She wears a faded gray hooded cape, complete with a white-furred collar which is held together with a brown shell. She also wears a brown metal chest plate, a stitched skirt, and grey winter snow boots which are wrapped with studded straps. She has gray fingerless gloves on each of her hands; moreover, her signature primary weapon seems to be a hand-mounted crossbow (Can fold its two limbs plus hide an arrow when not in use) that is fitted onto her right forearm.
The ninth human is a 5'6-feet-tall, Thai-American, 16-year-old teenage girl with dark brown eyes that has an azure glow, messy auburn hair that was covered with leaves/twigs, a small nose, C-Cup Breasts, light brown skin, a slender build, a fairly thick ass, and her outfit consists of a worn out and ripped light gray shirt with a purple collar as the shirt has a 'Saint James High School' crest embroidered on it, a golden breastplate, a short purple skirt, has a pair of white socks, wears a single left yellow sneaker with white lining, and carries around a magnet pink backpack with a TUFSTUF logo on it. In her hands is a sword that has a silver blade, although it glows with a blue tone. It possesses a pointed central ridge and a gold hilt and acquires an intricately designed guard with a lighter golden shade. The pommel is of similar color but also has a flower-like style at the base.
The tenth and final human is 6-feet-tall man and wears semi-heavy silver-grey armor and a muscular body suit with a large collar, claw-like gauntlets, and traditional hakama with talon-like greaves bounding the bottom. His long silver hair is tied to the mane. He wears a completely silver, two-horned helmet with blazing silver eyes and a mouth full of sharp fangs, a feature that paralyzes anybody in fear. The pauldrons also have eyes, teeth, and horns like those on his head, and he has silver glowing crystals on his hips and a dragon-like tail completes his features. In his right hand is a uniquely curved, single-edged Dao-Style Katana with a silver blade, o-katana handguard, and long black curved grip to accommodate two hands that makes it seem as if it was created by inhuman hands. (Think of a hybrid armor of Hakumen and Susano'o from Blazblue but with dragon-like properties)
While the rest of the otherworldly travelers passed out, the last human looked up as Ardyn, Luz, Eda, and the others flinched from his silver glowing eyes that looked like he went through hell and back as he raised his weapon towards them not as an act of aggression but rather of defense for himself and the others that came with him through that portal. However, it didn't last as he fell to his knees with him dropping his sword that caused it to shatter like glass. His armor also began to disappear as well, to reveal a 5'8-feet-tall, Japanese-American, 16-year-old teenage boy with short dark-brown hair with streaks of silver and golden-brown colored eyes that glowed a silver hue, a small nose, Caucasian skin, a slim yet streamlined build, and his outfit consists of an open long-sleeved hooded black jacket with a worn-out light gray shirt underneath as it has a blue collar and the shirt has a 'Saint James High School' crest embroidered on it, a silver breastplate with a set of fingerless gauntlets and grieves of the same color, blue ripped pants with a brown leather belt, white socks with black/white sneakers, and carries around a large blue/black backpack. The one thing that stood out was the fact that his right arm is a silver prosthetic unlike anything they have ever seen before. Jumping out of his backpack is a small fluffy squirrel-like creature with folx-like ears, and a small cowl over its body, who looked at him with concern.
"Who the hell are you guys?" The young man asked tiredly before he falls to the ground and passed out too, causing the small creature to run to his face and give a few pats, trying to wake him up. Ardyn, Luz, Eda, and the others could only stare in silence at what they saw before Hooty said one thing that everyone was thinking of.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"
To be continued in Fate/Boiling Calamity
