"You're not going, I think Agatha is coming here."
Rashid pulled Mal again, stopping her from leaving.
"What can I do?"
"Just stay here, hide, I don't know, but stay here."
Four to five minutes was all it took for the witch to appear where they were.
"Rashid? How long, do you want a hug? No? Because I want to know how you escaped from my cell."
Agatha said, looking into his feline eyes.
"Dream on."
He disappeared and appeared behind her ready for a surprise attack.
"I guess you forget that you're only half as strong." She threw him away. Taken by surprise, Rashid fainted at the same moment. "Merlin? Merlin, I've really missed you, I'm beginning to think you were born with that old face. Good to see you. So, can we do this the easy way or the hard way, which do you prefer?"
"Don't you ever give up, Agatha?"
The wizard took out his wand and struck her, who fell with the force of the magic.
"For an old man, you're still doing well."
She laughed at him, even though she was on the ground.
"I know your magic is weak."
"Then you also know that only you can help me."
"I won't do that."
And now I command, wand to my Merlin's wooden object flew into Agatha's hand "Ah Merlin, you really are too old."
Despite needing it, she was about to cast a spell and erase it, but was stopped when she felt something hit her neck.
"Mal? Hi darling, I don't think we introduced ourselves correctly."
The woman told Mal that she was visibly angry.
"Certain people need no introduction, don't you think?"
She joked with Agatha, if only the redhead could feel the anger the little purple girl was feeling.
"Look, I honestly don't want to hurt you, since you're the daughter of one of my good friends and you helped me get back home. So, if you'll excuse me." She headed towards the hut, but Mal threw another pebble at her. "What? What do you think you're doing?"
"Mal, don't do that."
Rashid said so quietly that it was doubtful anyone but him had heard.
"Are you sure you want to fight me Mal?"
Agatha laughed at her.
"What have you got to lose?"
"If you insist."
"You're like a rock, petrified. You'll stand still like a statue"
Anticipating the witch's attack, Mal cast a spell that stopped her in her tracks.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The witch asked with all her fury at not being able to move her body.
"Giving you some time to think." Mal said, putting her arm around Rashid's shoulders to help him up. "Shall we? She'll come out of the spell quickly, can you get Merlin out?"
"One at a time."
He spoke in relation to getting them out of there through his magic.
"Then get Merlin out of here."
She noticed that Agatha was already undoing the spell.
"But, Mal!"
He was still weak.
"Go on!"
She screamed at them and they quickly disappeared into the smoke, just as Agatha came out of her state of petrification.
"Ah, girl, you don't know how angry you've made me."
Agatha positioned herself for the attack and was already making huge torches of fire in her hands.
"Come on." She then threw the fireball towards Mal who remembered Merlin's teaching.. "May what I need to quench my thirst come from my hands." Then water came from Mal's hands and put out the fire in Agatha's hands.
"What? How did you..."
"That? Page 46 of my spell book, or my mother's, or yours, whoever."
"You provoked the wrong person."
The redhead finally managed to hit Mal on the shoulder.
"Believe me, so have you."
The eyes of Maleficent's daughter took on a bright green color and when Agatha saw that, she remembered her friend, but the newcomer's eyes seemed much greener, as if they had more magic in them.
While she was thinking, Mal made something come out of her that even she didn't know was possible. A sort of purple ball of fire appeared in her hands and, although she was startled, it hit Agatha, who was already weak enough not to withstand another attack and fell. She seized the moment and petrified her again.
"Mal!" Rashid reappeared. "Let's go!"
Without warning, he hugged her and the two of them got out of there as quickly as possible. As soon as they reached the castle, Mal's eyes went straight to the boys.
"Jay?"
Mal ran his hand over his face relentlessly.
"What's up? Have you learned any new subjects?"
Jay joked with her, who couldn't even smile at their state.
"Let's get out of here soon, Agatha won't stay like this forever."
"Arthur and the others, where are they?"
Ben asked almost voicelessly.
"Safe, before picking up Mal, I took care of them, rest assured."
Rashid said.
"I will stay, the king and queen will need me, this war will still leave many wounded."
Merlin told them.
"What? No Merlin, Agatha is looking for you."
Rashid reminded them.
"They're my people, but congratulations, the Magic is yours." When Mal touched Merlin's shoulder, he could feel something new entering his system. "We're counting on you Mal, we're in one of the worst wars I've ever seen. Remember, a balanced heart and mind."
"We need to go now."
Rashid warned.
"All right."
Rashid threw the potion given to him by Clarion again, making them all disappear. While they were already on their way to the temporary home, Chad had just arrived in the forest and spotted Agatha.
"Where have you been!"
She shouted at the boy who was now a monster.
"You didn't put me in a very good light by turning me into this and I didn't know where you were."
"All right, help me out here."
She was too weak to come out of her petrification this time and couldn't get up.
"I can't, not with these huge claws."
He looked down at those huge paws that had once been his hand.
"Okay."
She undid his spell and went back to her usual Chad.
"Is that me? Hi, pretty face, small hands, manicured nails and no hair everywhere."
"Now get up, asshole."
"Asshole? I almost killed Ben and Jay. Oh my God, I almost killed the king and Jay."
He said in anguish at the damage he had done to his friends.
"But you didn't kill them, useless all the same. That girl, Maleficent's daughter."
"Mal?"
"Yeah, she's different, that girl wasn't so strong when I met her. They're doing something, I'm sure."
"Like what?"
"Something to defeat me. If it's war they want, it's war they'll get."