The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

20. EP 20: Luz Ascendant

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 20: Luz Ascendant

Lilith walked through the halls of the Emperor's Castle, a look of determination on her face as she prepared to speak to Emperor Belos. It was early in the morning the day after Eda's capture and Luz's escape, and Lilith had barely slept a wink. She and the other Coven Heads had been healed from the damage Raine Whispers had done to them during their escape, as had most of the Coven Scouts and Guards who'd been attacked by Eda to cover that escape, and the castle moat/ravine was now in the process of being drained and repaired. Eda herself, now trapped as the wild Owl Beast, had been restrained by Belos shortly after Luz and Raine had fled, and now she was chained up in the throne room, awaiting her fate… a fate Lilith hoped to avert.

After Luz's escape, Belos had experienced another of his strange fits that required him to devour Palisman essence, so he'd retreated to his private chambers with his Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel so he could heal, so Eda's fate had been delayed.

Lilith arrived in the throne room and found the Owl Beast bound between two pillars with red chains of magic, pulling her limbs and wings taut so she couldn't move even a little bit. The beast was conscious however, and the instant she laid eyes on Lilith, she began to screech and snarl, wriggling her head in an attempt to attack the woman.

"Sister… I'm so sorry this had to happen." Lilith said softly, getting as close as she dared, "B-But don't worry! The Emperor won't kill you! I'm sure I can convince him to cure you! Then you can cut your ties with Luz. I know it will be painful for you both, but its the only way to save you both! I hope you'll understand."

The Owl Beast answered with a snarl, and a moment later, the doors to the throne room opened and in marched six Coven Scouts, who promptly flanked the short walk between the door and the restrained Owl Beast. Kikimora entered a moment later and announced; "All kneel before Emperor Belos!" before she bowed herself and backed away.

The Emperor swept into the throne room, this time missing his two loyal shadows, and Lilith promptly knelt on the ground in front of him.

"My Lord, forgive me for coming to see you so early, but I had to speak with you regarding my sister." she said formally, head bowed.

Belos sighed; "Very well. I will listen to whatever request you have… after I've had a word with your sister."

He then gestured for her to stand and take a step away from the Owl Beast, before summoning his odd mechanical staff and shooting a red beam of magic at the Owl Beast's head. The creature yelped and screeched, but when Belos stopped the spell and she opened her eyes again, they were the usual white sclera and amber irises of Eda.

"Ah! Where am I!? What is this!?" Eda gasped, now in control of her mind again. She looked around and saw Lilith and Belos, and then realised she was tightly bound in the Emperor's Throne Room. "Aw farts… So, you finally caught me, eh Bonehead?"

"Quite." Belos said shortly, his eyes narrowed.

"Too bad it cost you Luz! Now that she's free from your clutches, you'll never get your hands on her again! Especially now that she knows not to trust this traitor!" Eda smirked, before sneering at Lilith.

The elder Clawthorne looked down in shame, but Belos didn't rise to Eda's taunts; "I wouldn't be so sure of that. I will recapture Luz in time and she will fulfil her destiny as an angel. But for now, the one I'm interested in is you. You possess a portal to the Human Realm, and you will hand it over to me or I will take it from your corpse." he said, pointing his staff threateningly at Eda's face.

The Owl Lady stared back defiantly, but Lilith quickly threw herself between them; "Wait! My Lord, now that we have Eda captured, we can make this end in a way that will please everyone!"

Belos rolled his eyes; "This again…?"

"Please, I know I failed to capture Eda myself, but my previous plan could still work! If you cure Eda of her curse, then she can join the coven and we can use her to bring Luz back into the fold! Luz said herself that she'd do anything you ask if you spare Eda's life! This way, Eda lives and is cured, Luz fulfils her destiny as an angel, and the Emperor's Coven gains two powerful members! Everybody wins!" Lilith said imploringly.

"No. So long as there is a bond between Luz and this wild witch, she will be corrupted and impossible to purify. If she is not purified, she will be of no use for the Day of Unity. I require a PURE angel, which means the bond between them must be severed." Belos said sternly.

Lilith recoiled, then desperately said; "T-Then I'll convince Eda to sever that bond!"

"Like heck you will!" Eda snarled.

"I'm trying to save your life!" Lilith spun around to snap at her sister; "What do you think will hurt Luz more anyway; having you sever your bonds with her, or being the reason you were executed!?"

Eda sneered; "Don't flatter yourself, Lilith! This isn't for my sake, you're just trying to ease the guilt of cursing me and ruining my life! Well tough luck! Luz is one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I'll die a thousand times before I tell her she's not welcome in my life any more!"

Lilith gasped, then Eda looked to Belos with a cocky smirk; "Besides, you're not going to kill me anyway, are you Bonehead?" she taunted.

"Oh?" Belos said, making his staff spark with red energy, "And what makes you so sure?"

Eda grinned wider; "Because Luz is the one with the key to your precious portal. If you kill me, she'll hop right on through it and you'll lose both her and the portal forever! Besides, you need leverage to try and catch her again."

Belos narrowed his eyes; "You overestimate your usefulness. The child has others she loves in this realm; her school friends, that little demon pet of yours, or that treacherous Raine Whispers. I even hear she has a girlfriend." he said, adding that last part with some disgust in his voice.

"Nice try bonehead, but you're forgetting the important part." Eda said, unfazed by the threat, "Luz. Has. The. Portal! With access to the Human Realm, she and her friends can just flee whenever they want! Witch and Demon magic works in the Human Realm too, so they wouldn't even have to give up their life styles! If anything, magic would make surviving in that world way easier! Who knows, maybe their families will spread and grow and the entire Human World will end up with magic in a few generations!"

Belos' eyes gleamed dangerously; "Fine. You've bought yourself a few more hours of life. But as soon as I have that key, you will pay the ultimate price for your sins!" he hissed. He then snapped his fingers and his Scouts marched forward with special staves, each tipped with a red crystal. They pointed the crystals at the red magic chains binding Eda, and the ends of those chains leapt from the pillars to the crystals, allowing the scouts to drag Eda away while she struggled and snarled at them.

As soon as Eda was gone, Lilith opened her mouth to protest and beg for her sister's life, but Belos literally silenced her by covering her mouth with a red tendril.

"I'll hear no more begging or excuses, Lilith. Your sister has been given enough chances. She, and all wild witches, must be dealt with if the Day of Unity is to go ahead. This is the Titan's will. Do you understand?" he asked, leaning down so his masked face was inches from Lilith's.

Reluctantly, Lilith nodded and Belos promptly released her mouth. "Good. You remain my Head Witch solely because you succeeded in bringing me Luz. Do not make me regret that decision. Get to work."

With that, he stalked out of the throne room, leaving Lilith to stand their numbly. Alone with her thoughts, Lilith began to feel a tightness in her chest; for all these long years, she'd worked so hard for the Emperor and his coven, all so she could fulfil her childhood dream and one day cure her sister after the terrible mistake she'd made. She'd told herself that everything she was doing was righteous; it was the Titan's will! It was for the greater good! But she had been deluding herself.

She told herself that once Eda was free of the curse, she would be happy to end her wild ways. Eda had only rejected the Emperor's Coven AFTER she'd been cursed after all, so Lilith convinced herself the curse had been what changed her. But again, she had been deluding herself.

Now Lilith stood there, clutching at the ashes of her life; her hunt for her sister had estranged her from her parents (not to mention how Eda's curse had hurt them), her niece (blood related or not) no doubt feared and hated her now, and her sister? The one she'd been doing all this for? She despised her and would likely prefer to see her dead. Lilith's actions had cost her everything, and all she had to show for it was a sigil on her wrist and the title of the Emperor's chief lapdog.

"What do I do now?" she whispered to herself, tears in her eyes.

She didn't want Eda to be killed, and she didn't want Luz to be captured again! What Belos had done to both of them would haunt her to her dying day, and she had stood by and done nothing. But how could she? She couldn't defy the Emperor!

Unbidden, the words of her apprentice filled her head, and Lilith remembered that day in the Bat Queen's forest.

"I want to decide what I become for myself. Not you, not the Emperor. It'll be my choice. My path to walk. And right now, my path is right here, between you and these Palismen!"

Amity had been brave; she'd stood against the woman she saw as a mentor in order to do what she felt was right. In order to protect the innocent. She shamed Lilith into realising that she had long ago stopped deciding her own path. She walked the path the Emperor paved for her… a path that ended in her sister's death.

"No." Lilith shook her head; "No more. I won't let Eda die! I'll save her!"

But she couldn't do it alone; no one witch could stand up to the Emperor! "But maybe several witches could. Several witches… and an angel!"

With that thought in mind, Lilith left the throne room and began heading out of the Emperor's Castle; she had a very uncomfortable reunion to go to, and a very angry niece to apologise to.

[Meanwhile]

Luz stood in the basement of the Owl House, her hands glowing softly with gold magic as she focused on the Panacea Mirror in front of her. She'd been awake since the crack of dawn, and decided to come down and complete the mirror before she did anything else. It was the only way to turn Eda back to normal and cure her, so she'd need to get it done. Thankfully Rasiel had added their blood to it the night before while waiting for Eda to rescue Luz, so the mirror only needed a little more angelic magic to fully blend the blood together and be completed.

"I was under the impression you were going to rest."

Luz turned her head to see Rasiel walk into the basement potions lab. He really was looking a lot better than when she'd seen him before being captured.

"I got some sleep, but it was tough. I kept thinking about Eda. Decided to come down here rather than toss and turn all night and disturb King." Luz replied.

She and King had gone to sleep together in Eda's nest, while their friends had decided to sleep over (with permission from their parents). Amity and Willow had taken Luz's room, while Raine had slept on a sleeping bag in Eda's room, and Gus and Rasiel had slept on the two couches in the living room. They'd all been asleep when Luz crept down to the lab.

"Did I wake you when I came down?" Luz asked.

Rasiel shook his head; "No. I enjoyed sleeping again, but my body feels like it has been resting for, well, 100,000 years. I doubt I need much." he walked over to examine the mirror; "You're making good progress. When the silver frame of the mirror turns gold, it will be complete. I suspect it'll be only a few more minutes."

"Good. With this, we'll be able to turn Eda back to normal. Without her curse and with the two of us working together with Raine, we're sure to beat the Emperor!" Luz smiled determinedly.

"You'll have other allies too. The others are all awake and last I saw, they were making calls while I was making breakfast. That's why I came down here by the way; there is food on the table." Rasiel grinned; "It's been so long since I've cooked and eaten, but from how King was enjoying it, I'd say I've still got it."

Luz blushed as her stomach began to rumble. "I could go for some food. By the way, have you recovered any more memories of your past."

"Sadly not." Rasiel sighed, "I have a few blurry flashes and fragments, but little else. I suspect I'll recover my personal memories from one of the other Black Tombs. But that can wait until after we rescue Eda."

Luz nodded and turned back to focus on blending her magic into the mirror. Her magic felt a little odd ever since her forced transformation into a Pseudo-Titaness, but it didn't seem any more or less powerful, so she powered on without worrying. Just as Rasiel predicted, a few more minutes passed before the mirror began to shine brightly and the silver frame turned golden, signalling the completion of the Panacea Mirror. The completed product was a roughly plate sized oval with a golden frame decorated with two angelic figures with Angelic Runes carved along the edge of the mirror itself. The angelic figures resembled Luz and Rasiel, as it was their blood that forged the mirror, and the mirror felt warm to the touch.

"Perfect! It's complete!" Luz cheered.

"Excellent! It was a lot of work, but you pulled it off. Now we just need to capture Eda's reflection in it while pouring your magic through it. That should activate the mirror and cure Eda's curse once and for all!" Rasiel grinned. His grin grew wider as Luz's stomach rumbled again, much to the girl's embarrassment. "But that can wait. Go eat breakfast, you'll need your strength for today."

Luz nodded and summoned her satchel, putting the Panacea Mirror inside it so she could summon it whenever she needed to. Then she walked with Rasiel up to the house, where she found a plate of Scrambled Eyeggs and Orc Sausages being kept warm by a little pink flame courtesy of Amity. There was also a note that read; "Luz, we're all waiting out front to discuss the rescue plan! Eat up and meet us there! We've called some friends to help! Love, Amity."

With a warm smile, Luz quickly wolfed down her breakfast while Rasiel watched in amusement. "I'm guessing its good?" he said.

"It's awesome, Rasiel! You'll give Eda and Hooty a run for their money. Maybe we should have a cooking contest some time? Angels VS Owls!" Luz giggled. She found that if she thought of Eda's impending rescue as a guaranteed success, it was easier to stay calm and collected. Rasiel certainly wasn't going to question her!

"Sure thing, Luz. Now if you're done, go change out of your pyjamas so we can see these friends that Amity and the others called." he said.

"Got it!" Luz said, rushing up stairs to change and wash up. The hoodie she'd worn to the desert was still in need of repairs and she didn't like breaking up the pieces of her favourite outfit, so Luz decided to wear her Hexside uniform instead, with her new Witch's Wool cloak over the top. The uniform had some minor resistances to magic (for the protection of the students) so it was probably a safer option for going into battle anyway.

Once she was dressed, Luz returned to Rasiel and then headed out the front door, only to freeze in shock at what she saw. She'd expected a handful of additional friends from Hexside, like maybe the Multi-Trackers, the Twins, Skara, and Mattholomule… and while all of those people were present, there were a LOT more! It looked like a miniature army had been called up!

Of the people Luz recognised, there was Mattholomule, Skara, Boscha, Cat, Bo, Amelia, Edric, Emira, Jerbo, Viney, Barcus, Capra, and Eileen from Hexside, Katya, Igor, and Tinella Nosa from the Conformatorium escapees, Steve from the Emperor's Coven, and even the Bat Queen herself! And that didn't even include the almost fifty people Luz either didn't recognise at all, or only vaguely recognised from the Conformatorium break out.

She could only stand their in shock as Amity and Raine came over with big smiles. "Good morning Luz. Quite the turn out, huh?" Amity said, kissing Luz on the cheek.

"This is… this is beyond anything I could ever imagine!" Luz gasped.

Raine grinned; "Most of them are escapees from the Conformatorium, who worked with me to make the Covens Against the Throne, AKA The CATTs!" they said, leading Luz over to the others. "They all want to help save Eda just like she helped save them from the Conformatorium. The rest are all your friends; the people whose lives you've touched and made better, and who now want to return the favour."

The chatting crowd quietened down as they saw Raine and Amity bring Luz over, all of them smiling determinedly at her. Her friends from Hexside approached her, led by Willow and Gus, with King on the former's shoulders.

"Isn't this great Luz! We've got an army to save Eda!" King beamed.

"I-It's amazing! It's almost hard to believe!" Luz stuttered, feeling totally overwhelmed.

"Well believe it!" Willow grinned; "I called Skara and Amelia, and they called Boscha, Bo, and Cat."

Skara nodded; "We were all pretty shocked when we heard what happened. I never knew you playing hooky yesterday would lead to this! Dad's still reeling from Raine's "betrayal" but I knew something was up! So I'm gonna help you and Raine!"

"I'm just here because of Skara." Boscha said dismissively, before Willow elbowed her sharply, making her grumble and add; "Okay, and because I owe you one. I busted you out of the local precinct, so I can probably help bust out the Owl Lady too."

Luz gaped at the three-eyed girl, while Amelia and Cat grinned and nudged their captain; "And we're here to help too! You're still one of us Banshees after all!" Cat said.

"And you did save my life from the Mandragora." Amelia added.

Bo giggled at Luz's dumbfounded expression; "I was actually called by Skara AND Gus, as part of the HAS. Your visits to the club, and Eda's human treasures always made my days so much happier, so I'll be glad to repay you!"

Gus then stepped forward, flanked by Eileen and Capra of the HAS, with Matt trailing behind. "These guys felt the same when I called them too!" he said, gesturing to the trio.

"Bo's right. You and Eda made the HAS so much more fun! Plus it was nice to have another friend in the Bard Track!" Capra said.

Eileen mumbled something through her eyelid, but Luz had spent enough time with her to recognise her words. She'd said; "You took the time to understand me too. Almost nobody else outside of the HAS bothered to do that."

"And of course, you know what you did for me. Forgiving me even when I was such a jerk, and helping me stand up to my old bullies. I owe you big time." Matt said, looking somewhat shy to be speaking with so many people listening; "I hope you don't mind, but I also told my bro. I know he's in the Emperor's Coven, but he's a good guy and wants to help."

Steve stepped forward, as did four other Coven Scouts who were being watched warily; "I wouldn't blame all of you for distrusting us, especially after what Lilith did, and what the Coven did to all of you who were locked up unjustly. But we really want to help and we'll do it in anyway you want us to." Steve said earnestly; "We joined the Emperor's Coven to help people, not be enforcers for a monster. Besides, I owe you for helping out my little brother, and for telling me about Pebbles."

The Bat Queen eyed Steve sharply but did not comment, choosing to remain silent in that moment and trust Luz's judgement on the man. The other Coven Scouts nodded in agreement with Steve's words, with one of them adding;

"We actually already helped a little. We fed a false report to the castle that said the Owl House had been cleared out and abandoned. No one will come looking for you here, so it's a safe place to meet and plan for the time being."

Gus then added; "I tried sending an illusion to the Looking Glass Graveyard to try and get the Keeper's help too, but he sent another one back saying he couldn't risk leaving the place unprotected. Apparently there was another intruder there recently and they made off with one of the Galdorstones, so he has the place on a tight lockdown."

That made Luz frown; had someone else followed them that day, or had Bria and her friends gone back once Luz and her friends had left? That could be a problem, but it was a problem for later.

Raine was the next once to speak; "And I naturally called up the CATTs! I'm sure you remember most of our members from the Conformatorium!" they said, gesturing to Katya, Igor, and Tinella. Luz had seen all of them around on occasion and had shared a few words. Those three, plus the huge crowd of witches and demons stood with them, all waved and gave little cheers, shouting their thanks.

"We'll save the Owl Lady and repay our debt!"

"Don't worry kid, we're with you!"

"Kinda shocked you're a real angel and not just a kid playing around, but we'll help anyway!"

"Yeah! Let's kick the Emperor's butt and save Eda!"

There was a cacophony of similar proclamations, making Luz's heart swell with joy. Tinella jumped up and down as she waved at the angel; "We will save Eda! Fight the oppwessors! Fweedom for everyone! We'll wepay our debts!"

Igor nodded; "You saved us when no one else did. Even though we're weird and everyone else rejected us, you were kind to us and helped us. You never treated me like I was creepy because I like to eat my own eyes. I want to do for you what you did for me!"

"That's right!" Katya grinned, "You're the one who inspired me to join up with Raine and the BATTs, before we became the CATTs!"

Luz's eyes widened in surprise, and she noticed that Katya was wearing the same outfit as Raine, which also matched with two other people who stepped forward to stand with Katya. One appeared to be a tall man with dark skin, shaggy black hair, and brown eyes behind a pair of gold framed spectacles that clung to the bridge of his nose. The other was a female Biped Demon of the same bat-like species as Rogier; though she had pinkish skin, big silver eyes, cute freckled cheeks, large bat eats, long pale grey hair, and even little bat wings on her back.

"Hi! I'm Amber! Katya and Raine are always talking about you! Nice to meet ya, Miss Angel!" the bat girl chirped happily, waving enthusiastically. "Thanks for saving her from that jerk Wrath! Let's save Eda together, okay?"

The dark skinned man then smiled too; "And I'm Derwin. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Luz. We'll be working together from now on, so I hope we can be friends."

"O-Of course! I-I'm honestly a little overwhelmed that so many people came to help!" Luz smiled back at them. She'd honestly expected to do this with only Raine and King as support, since her friends would have to stay out of it to avoid becoming criminals!

And it wasn't over yet either, as Amity eagerly held her hand; "And of course, while Willow, Gus, and Raine were calling all of them, I called the twins!"

Edric and Emira both raised their fists, and Orthie and Russ barked happily beside them; "Eda taught us some wicked wind magic and helped save our butts up on the Knee!" Edric grinned.

"So we're going to return the favour! Plus we owe you like a hundred favours for stopping us from being jerks to our little sister. You were an awesome girlfriend even before you were her girlfriend!" Emira added with a giggle. "Also, I was the one to call Viney, and she called Jerbo and Barcus!"

Edric pouted and said; "For the record, I was totally gonna call Jerbo right after but I got stuck using an illusion to trick Mom and Dad."

The three Magic Mixers chuckled at the Twins', then smiled at Luz. "We Magic Mixers have got to stick together, right?" Jerbo said.

"So naturally we'll help save Lord Calamity! Plus we owe you big time; it's thanks to you that we can learn all the magic we want!" Viney said, pumping her fist happily. "I also brought Puddles! He's roosting on top of your house."

Luz turned to see the young Griffin was indeed lounging on top of the Owl House, occasionally spitting up spiders that Hooty eagerly ate.

Barcus then woofed, and like Eileen, Luz had begun learning to understand him; "I cannot foresee how this day will go, but I know in my heart that we will succeed!"

"You guys…" Luz gasped softly, reaching the end of her composure… and there was still one more person who'd yet to say their piece.

The Bat Queen flew forward and landed beside Luz next, smiling and bowing in greeting as Amity grinned at Luz's awestruck expression.

"Bat Queen, you came too!?" Luz exclaimed.

"Yes. Young Amity calls for me this morning. She explain everything. Eda is owed one, so I will defend her as she defended my forest." the Bat Queen declared.

Amity grinned; "I used that whistle she gave me after we saved the Palismen from the Mandragora. But once I told her the situation, she let me keep it to use again in the future."

Luz finally lost her battle to keep her composure and began to cry, completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. "Everyone… you all came to help us save Eda! I can never thank you all enough!"

They all smiled at her and stood a little straighter, as Rasiel put a hand on Luz's back and said; "Luz, they are doing this precisely because they have so much to thank you and Eda for. You have touched their lives, helping them when they needed it most, saving them when no one else could or would. By being yourself and helping others with a selfless heart, expecting nothing in return, you have received their love and gratitude. They now stand ready to fight for what is good and righteous, and save the innocent, because of you and your example." the ancient Seraphim smiled wider and nodded to the gathered crowd; "Look around you Luz; this is the result of your efforts. This is the result of a kind young angel who put others before herself."

Luz looked at them all and began to sob harder. Her mind flashed back to her days in the Human Realm; her days of being a useless Cherub who couldn't do even the simplest thing to help without causing everyone trouble. How many times had she tried and failed to help others? How many times had she decried herself as a failure? How many times had she wondered if her Mami was right to send her away?

But here she was, stood in front of a whole crowd of people that she had helped. She'd come to the Demon Realm, a place supposedly filled with chaos and evil, and yet it had been exactly what she'd needed to grow. She'd awakened as an angel, found love in all its forms, and done the only thing she'd ever wanted; help people. And now, after all of that work and all the stumbles and failures she'd had along the way, Luz was finally being rewarded.

Stood in front of her was proof that Luz Noceda was a true angel, and as far as Rasiel, her friends, and all her allies were concerned… she was a pretty darn good one too!

"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried over and over, smiling brilliantly despite the tears streaming down her face. Her heart was full of warmth and determination as she proclaimed; "I won't forget what you're all doing for me and King. You're helping us save our family! Thank you all!"

She bowed a full 90 degrees, and King promptly bowed too, showing his own gratitude. The gathered crowd accepted their thanks graciously, and after Luz's tears were dried, they were all sat together to discuss their plan of action.

Since there were so many of them, it was decided that most of the CATTs members, as well as the four scouts that had come with Steve, would instead guard the area while Steve, Katya, Derwin, and Amber would attend the planning meeting for them and give them the plan afterwards.

"Okay, I guess that before we get to planning, we should make sure everyone is on the same page." Luz said. "How much does everyone know about what happened yesterday?"

"Amity and the others only told them the important parts; Lilith captured you and took you to Belos, then Eda came to save you and succumbed to her curse while Raine finished the job and got you home." King said.

"We weren't sure how many details you wanted to give." Amity explained.

"I understand. But the time for secrets has passed; now that the Emperor's Coven knows who and what I am, the entire Boiling Isles will know too. Let me tell you everything that happened." Luz said, before recounting the previous days events.

Everyone listened with grim faces as they heard how Belos had tried to force her to his side, first with words and then with pain. If they were upset before, hearing of how Luz had been tortured by him made them furious, and then learning that he'd used Titan Bile to force her into a Pseudo-Titan form and tried to force her to kill Eda herself left them all absolutely seething. Any lingering doubts they'd had about the Emperor's Coven were gone; they were all devoted to seeing them defeated today! Even those in the group who weren't interested in actually rebelling, like Boscha, the Banshees, and HAS were all disgusted and would be happy to see the Emperor taken down.

However the most shocking reveal was that Belos himself was an angel, and trying to bring his own brand of order to the Boiling Isles.

"So Belos is an angel!? He's not even from the Demon Realm!?" Skara cried in shock.

"It may not be that simple. It's possible he really is from this realm; we've found evidence of other angels who were born and raised in the Demon Realm, descended from Crestless angels who supposedly came here 50,000 years ago, before the Boiling Isles even existed." Rasiel said, remembering Zachael and his origins.

"How do you know that?" Viney asked with a raised eyebrow, before pointing out; "And how come you have a physical body now? Weren't you a spirit before?"

Aside from Luz's closest friends, Raine, and the Blight twins, everyone else just thought Rasiel was some kind of angelic oracle spirit. With a sigh, Rasiel quickly gave them the truth of the situation, and also told them about Zachael (though leaving out his connection to King, so he wasn't revealed as a young Titan). Like Luz had said, the time for secrets had passed, but King's identity was his own to give.

Hearing that Rasiel was an ancient Seraphim was also fairly shocking, but after the reveal of Belos, it wasn't that crazy to think about. In fact, it made a lot of sense for some of them.

"I always thought it was weird for Luz to have some kind of angelic oracle spirit when she can't use normal oracle magic. I guess this explains that, though I'm still wrapping my head around you being the prize inside the Black Tombs." Jerbo commented.

"I apologise for the deceit. I asked Luz and the others to hide my nature, as I wasn't ready to reveal it. However you should know that while we angels can't perform your oracle magic, we actually have our own version that we call Divination. Instead of using the spirits of the dead to tap into and read the Threads of Fate, we use our connection to various celestial bodies. Angels are connected to the sun, the moon, and the stars; anything that gives off or reflects celestial light. Since these sources of celestial light are also connected to the Threads of Fate, we can use the connection to do most of the things that oracle magic can do, excluding using the spirits of the dead as helpers. That's a bit more like necromancy for us angels, which is a major crime in our society." Rasiel explained.

Barcus woofed with interest; "Luz, can you not use this Divination magic too?"

Luz shook her head; "No. I don't know how to tap into the connection with the sun and stars, and it's not the sort of thing you can be taught with words. Another angel needs to use their magic to help you learn how to do it yourself. Mami never taught me because I basically had no magic in the Human Realm, and Rasiel doesn't have access to his magic."

"Darn… that would have been useful. If Belos is really an angel, we can't use oracle magic to predict what he'll do, but Divination might have worked! Oh well…" Willow sighed.

"Speaking of Belos, I've developed a theory. I believe his ability to lie and his corrupted body are a result of experimenting with the very same Titan Bile he used to corrupt Luz." Rasiel said.

Amity raised an eyebrow; "You said something like that last night. What makes you so sure?"

"Think about it; Belos needs Luz for his plans on the Day of Unity… whatever that is. So why would he risk injecting her with Titan Bile? He wouldn't… unless he knew what it would do. Belos also has access to witch magic and is famed as the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, who can specifically talk to the Titan, so I believe that he has been using Titan Bile to make himself strong enough to take over the isles and imitate witch magic, as well as to fake a connection to the Titan. But doing it for so many years has slowly corrupted him. At least, that's my theory."

The others fell into deep thought; it did make some sense, and also explained his dependence on Palismen; Titan magic was basically wild magic in its purest form, and Palismen essence could alleviate any harm caused by wild magic. That was why the practice of carving Palismen was originally adopted by witches and demons in the era that wild magic was basically all magic; it allowed them to use it more safely and without risk of suffering negative effects from the potent power.

While most of the group agreed, something about the theory didn't sit right with Luz. She had felt his magic and it had felt like a lot of different people's twisted together around a rotten core, but she hadn't sensed anything that made her think of angels or Titans. She suspected it was because Belos had consumed so many Palismen, and their magic was now twisted around his corrupted soul. But there was something familiar there… something she couldn't quite put her finger on through the haze of rot and corruption.

She shook this thought off; ultimately it didn't matter too much at the moment. Belos being an angel was only useful information if they could expose him, but that wasn't their ultimate objective at the moment.

As the topic was about to turn back to the actual rescue plan, one of the scouts that had defected along with Steve suddenly rushed back over to the group, holding a crystal ball.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we just got a message from the Coven Headquarters! A special news report is about to go live on all news networks across the Isles! They want everyone on the isles to see it!" they said urgently.

Luz and her friends exchanged looks, then pulled out their scrolls or summoned their own crystal balls to watch the news story. Tuning into Bonesborough News on the Hex Network, they were greeted with the image of Gus's father, Perry Porter, stood in front of the Emperor's Castle.

"This is Perry Porter, coming to you life from outside the Emperor's Castle, where it has been announced that Edalyn Clawthorne, known commonly as "Eda the Owl Lady", has been successfully apprehended after an attack on the Emperor late yesterday evening. It has come out that the attack was an attempt to kidnap a young angel that had recently been discovered in the Boiling Isles and brought to the Emperor by Head Witch Lilith Clawthorne."

The image shifted to two side by side pictures; one of which was Eda's wanted poster, and the other was a candid shot of Luz walking in the streets of Bonesborough. Perry's voice spoke over these pictures, though he stuttered in shock upon seeing the picture of Luz for the first time. "L-Luz!? Ahem, apologies. The angel, revealed to be a young student at Hexside named Luz Noceda, previously believed to be Half-Human and Half-Witch, was discovered by the Emperor's Coven in the custody of Eda the Owl Lady. Lilith Clawthorne took custody of her and took Luz to the Emperor's Coven, whereupon they were attacked by the Owl Lady."

"Lies! They were the ones to kidnap me while Eda tried to save me!" Luz hissed angrily.

Gus sighed sadly; "Dad doesn't know that. He'd never knowingly report a lie… He'll probably call me after the report is over. I never told him about you, so he's probably pretty shocked that you're an angel. Plus I told him I was staying here last night."

Willow and the Blight siblings grimaced, expecting some calls from their own parents before too long. They'd talked over some of the details Perry was giving, but as it was just a pack of lies regarding Eda's attack on the castle and the damage she'd done to the bridge and spike pit, none of them cared too much. But then the report mentioned Raine, whose picture replaced Eda's on the screen.

"In yet another shocking turn of events, Raine Whispers, the successor of Scooter Crane as Head of the Bard Coven, has been exposed as a traitor to the Emperor. They wounded numerous other Coven Heads and Scouts, attacked the Emperor himself, and maimed the young angel by cutting off her hand, which had been marked with the Sigil of the Emperor's Coven. They then fled with Miss Noceda, leaving the Owl Lady behind as she succumbed to her infamous curse. Head Witch Scooter Crane, whom Mx. Whispers was filling in for at a meeting held in the Emperor's Castle, is currently bedridden and unable to give a statement, but the Bard Coven's third in command; Severin Cadence, had this to say."

The scene switched to outside the Cadence Manor, where Skara's father was stood behind a lectern and flanked by scouts and members of both the Emperor's Coven and the Bard Coven.

"I am deeply shocked by this turn of events. Never once did I think Raine capable of treason, or of hurting young Miss Noceda like they did. I was aware that they still had feelings for the Owl Lady, but never dreamed they would go so far. I am acquainted with Miss Noceda, who is a friend of my daughter and a fellow student of the bard track at Hexside, and I wish her well, and hope she can be returned to the custody of the people who truly want what's best for her." Severin said, notably not saying that he wanted her back with the Emperor's Coven.

Skara could see that her father smelled a rat regarding this whole story, but had to play the political game carefully, especially now that Raine's ousting meant that he was now the next in line to be head of the Bard Coven.

"Well, it looks like I'm officially a wild witch and outlaw now. Eda will get a kick out of that." Raine joked.

The report then switched back to Perry's face, and he looked noticeably less comfortable and sure of what he was reporting; "Raine Whispers is currently wanted, and a bounty of 500 Million Snails has been placed on their head. Similarly, the 5 Trillion Snail reward on Angels of any Rank has been rescinded and a new 5 Trillion Snail bounty has been placed on the head of Luz Noceda, who is notably wanted alive and uninjured. The Emperor's Coven has explicitly stated that this bounty is for her rescue, but warns that she may be indoctrinated by the Owl Lady and/or Mx. Whispers and will likely resist attempts to help. Finally, the Owl Lady has been brought before the Emperor and a judgement has been rendered. We now go to Emperor's Assistant Kikimora for a statement."

The report switched again, now showing Kikimora stood behind a podium and surrounded by news people and microphones, as well as little flying eyeballs that were broadcasting her across the isles.

Kikimora spoke imperiously as she announced; "For the crimes of attacking a Coven Head, high treason against the Emperor, kidnapping and corruption of an angel, practicing wild magic, and refusing to join a coven, Edalyn Clawthorne has been tried and found guilty. She has been sentenced to be petrified in stone, and the sentence will be carried out at sundown at the Conformatorium."

Luz and her friends all gasped in shock, as one last time the report switched back to Perry's face, who looked even more concerned than before. "And there you have it folks. Edalyn Clawthorne has been sentenced to petrification. This is a grave day for Bonesborough. Luz Noceda, if you're watching this, I pray that you're okay and that you know who really has your best interests at heart, and do what you know is right. This is Perry Porter with the Bonesborough News Hex Network, signing off."

The news report ended and everyone watching was left to stare at their scrolls and crystal balls in horror.

"I-I think Dad knows something is up." Gus said, as he got a text from him. "He just messaged me to stay safe and not do anything crazy… and to tell you Luz that he's thinking of you."

Luz smiled weakly; she'd only met Perry a couple of times when visiting Gus' house after school, but she'd always found him to be a nice (if slightly spacey) man. She'd have to thank him for his concern later, but right now she had bigger worries.

"Would Belos really go through with petrifying Eda? It can't be reversed right, so its basically like executing her." Luz asked uncertainly. "Raine, didn't you say he wouldn't do that so long as he still needed to capture me?"

Raine nodded; "I think this is just a bluff, or a trap. Belos expects you to come running to save Eda. But there is always the chance that he'd go through with it… being petrified isn't exactly the same as being dead, so it's possible that he thinks you'd still come for her even as a statue."

"Maybe its an angel thing." Viney suggested, "Do angels have a cure for petrification?"

Everyone looked to Rasiel, who stroked his beard; "Not really, no. Being petrified was a horrible fate, even in my time. It was something that only very powerful Earth Dragons and Cockatrice Demons could do, as well as a certain sub-species of ancient Basilisk. I don't know about the former two, but that sub-species of Basilisk was already extinct even 100,000 years ago."

"So if Eda is petrified…" Amity gulped.

"It would be over." Rasiel nodded sadly.

A dark mood fell over the group, with both Luz and King looked haunted by the idea of failing. They both shook it off quickly however; "That won't happen. We'll save Eda! We just need a plan! I have an idea for one too."

Raine and the others listened to her plan, then began suggesting their own. They mixed and matched ideas, poking holes in one another's strategies so they could refine them into something as close to foolproof as they could get. With a wide range of magic and personalities at their disposal, the group were able to come up with a plethora of different ideas, eventually settling on four plans that they would use. Raine, in their brief time as a rebel leader, had already learned that few plans survived first contact with the enemy, so it paid to have back ups and alternatives in place. Their plans were basically Plans A through D, with each one ready to start if the last one failed.

Plan A was intercepting and rescuing Eda on her way to the Conformatorium, as Steve had confirmed that he and many of the Bonesborough division of the Emperor's Coven had received orders to guard all routes from the Castle to the Conformatorium, along with divisions from other cities and towns across the isles, which confirmed that the transport hadn't happened yet. Plan B would be infiltrating the Conformatorium stealthily and breaking Eda out from within, curing her of her curse then sneaking out with her in disguise. Plan C was starting another riot in the prison to cover their escape if stealth failed. Lastly, Plan D was a full scale assault on the Conformatorium, using sabotage and subterfuge to disrupt the Emperor's Coven as much as possible and escape with Eda. There was also a fifth plan; Plan E, that would begin if Luz or Raine every announced "ROOST!". If the CATTs and their allies heard that word, they were to immediately close their eyes so Luz could unleash a bright light to blind their enemies, after which they would all retreat and high-tail it back to Bonesborough and the Owl House. It was basically a last-ditch "We're about to get killed" plan.

Most of their forces would have a role in at least one of these plans, even the kids, though all but Luz and King were restricted from doing anything outright criminal, so they couldn't have bounties put on their heads. No one wanted a bunch of kids to become wanted fugitives! Heck, Luz was only allowed to actively participate because she was more powerful than the average witch, she was wanted anyway, only only an angel could use the Panacea Mirror to cure Eda. Meanwhile King was allowed to help her because he simply refused to back down and short of being physically restrained (which Luz would never do to him), he would be joining them no matter what. The rest of the Hexside gang either accepted this decision immediately or weakly protested, but they couldn't really deny Luz and the adults had a valid concern. The Bat Queen especially wanted the children kept out of danger and limited to support roles.

Once the plan to save Eda was solidified, Raine sent Steve and Derwin to gather the other defecting scouts and CATTs members so they could let them know what they'd be doing and assign them roles. As they were doing this, Raine smiled to Luz.

"We're almost ready. We'll have Eda back before you know it!" they said confidently.

"I hope so. But I actually wanted to ask you something…" Luz said, looking shy all of a sudden.

Raine blinked in surprise and knelt beside her. "You can ask me anything. I won't judge or get upset." they smiled gently.

Luz blushed faintly then blurted out; "I-I would like to officially join the CATTs!"

"You want to join our rebellion?" the Bard asked in surprise. Their first instinct was to reject her request outright on the grounds of her still being a child, but something about her demeanour gave them pause. When Eda had told Luz about the CATTs, she'd been interested and eager to help, but hadn't wanted to join like King had, and she'd been the least reluctant to agree not to get involved if she didn't have to. Her change of attitude made Raine curious.

"Is this because you want to oppose Belos now that you've seen what he's capable of?" Raine asked.

Luz shrugged; "Sort of, but it's more than that. Belos is an angel… he's one of my kind, and he's the worst example of all the bad stereotypes witches and demons have of us! As an angel myself, it feels like I should do something to stop him. I couldn't do it on my own; trying to change things without people's support would just make me another angel trying to force my order on everyone. But if I'm helping witches and demons get rid of him on their terms and not mine, then I'm doing good without becoming like Belos."

Raine was surprised by her reasoning; "Luz, I don't think you ever need to worry about being like Belos! You're also not responsible for him just because you're another angel. You've already done enough to help-"

"But I haven't!" Luz interrupted, "There's so much more I could do! So much more I could have done, and should have done! The Boiling Isles is my home! I love it here and I love its people! If Mami was here, it would be literally perfect for me! I…" she bit her lip, "I want to help everyone. I want to repay this world that accepted me when my own didn't."

The look in her eyes, determined yet vulnerable, touched something deep inside Raine's soul. It reminded them a bit of Eda, when she'd been a child about to drop out of Hexside and confessing to Raine why, and that she was going to carve her own path. Raine was older and wiser than they'd been back then, but found themselves unable to give a different answer.

"I don't know if this is the right choice for you. But I care about you, so you have my support." Raine said, putting a hand on Luz's back; "If you want to join the CATTs, I won't object… assuming we get Eda's permission of course."

Luz gasped with delight and threw herself at Raine. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, I'll be the best rebel ever! I can heal people up after missions and brew potions with Eda and make barriers to protect people and-"

"Breathe, Sparks." Raine laughed, trying out a new nickname for Luz. They'd once compared Eda to a Fire Cracker, so it felt right to call her daughter (because that's what Luz was, as far as they were concerned) Sparks; a smaller, gentler version that was just as bright.

Luz seemed to like the nickname, and giggled with a blush. "Thanks Raine." she said, still hugging them, "And for the record, I'll totally tell Eda about how heroic and cool you've been. She'll definitely be head over heels for you after we rescue her!"

Raine chuckled at the cheeky angel; "Oh no you don't! You leave adult relationships to the adults! But speaking of Eda, I think the others have assembled so lets go tell them the plan."

Luz nodded and followed Raine over to the gathered CATTs, and listened as they explained the plan and gave everyone roles. Most of them would only have roles to play if things escalated to Plan D, but they would all be going to the Conformatorium anyway, most of them disguised with illusions provided by Gus and Concealment stones stolen from the Emperor's and Illusion Covens. Once the details of their roles were given, everyone headed out to their assigned positions.

Luz, King, Raine, Katya, and the Bat Queen were the only ones with active parts in Plan A, while Steve and the Defectors would be assisting them if needed, so they were the last to leave. Luz shared a kiss with Amity and hugged all her friends from Hexside (even hugging Boscha, who accepted without too much fuss) before saying goodbye to them.

They were about to take to the skies when Hooty suddenly called out to them; "Wait! I want to come too! Hoot!"

"But if you're with us, who'll protect the Owl House?" King frowned.

"I'll handle that." Luz said, "But we've got no time to argue, so switch to Porta-Hooty Mode."

Hooty happily hooted away as he once again yanked himself out of the Owl House and into his Portable Bird House body, with Luz spreading her wings to block the others view of the process to spare them the mental damage. Once he was ready, Hooty was handed over for King to wear and provide the young Titan with some extra help, while Luz then erected numerous icy barriers around the Owl House to protect it from intruders, before finishing off with a layered illusion. The first layer made it look like Hooty was still there and very alert, while the second just made the house and barrier invisible.

"There, that should keep out any intruders." Luz said, dusting off her hands, "Now let's fly!"

Luz took to the sky with King and Owlbert on her shoulders, followed by the Bat Queen, Raine, and Katya; the latter two using their Palismen as staves. Katya's Palismen was green Hercules beetle named Rumba, who also transformed into Katya's tambourine, much to Luz's interest. Katya was happy to tell Luz about it on their way to intercept Eda's transportation; as apparently it had once been a tradition among Bards to have their Palismen turn into an instrument for them to use, though it had been a lost practice before Raine had rediscovered it.

Their discussion ended as they got close to the spot they were supposed to hide and wait for the transport, and Luz hid them all under an illusion so they wouldn't be spotted. Steve had told them that Eda would have a heavy escort as she was taken from the castle to the Conformatorium, which was a fairly short distance since the castle was in the eastern part of the chest and the Conformatorium was in the western part. As such, he'd pointed out a good stretch of forest between those points that would be ideal for ambushing them if the transport came by cart, and would keep them hidden from above if the transport came by airship. Steve and his team were part of the guards assigned to guard the route too, and had specifically told Luz and the others to hide in their section so they could cover for them.

Once they were in position, Steve leant against a tree that Luz was hiding behind so he could whisper to her; "HQ confirmed a minute ago that they're on their way and they're taking Eda by airship, so keep an eye on the sky."

"Got it." Luz whispered back, before flying up into the air with the rest of her team. She passed on what Steve had said, then waited for the transport to come by. She spotted them in the distance a few minutes later, and Luz immediately realised that Plan A was never going to work.

Eda's transport was not a single airship or even a small group of them; it was an entire huge fleet! There were almost 30 airships of varying sizes, with no obvious flag ship or prisoner ship, so it was next to impossible to tell which one housed Eda. To make matters worse, they were all crawling with Coven Scouts, and nine of the airships bore the crest of the Nine Covens, indicating them as the personal transportation of the Coven Heads. Luz grimaced; Belos must have wanted them to attend the petrification just as they'd attended Eda's capture the previous day, and had them travel together as extra protection.

She whistled sharply, giving the signal for her team to fly back down into the woods and drop their illusions so they could speak more easily.

"There's no way we're going to get Eda out with all that protection." Luz told them, "We need to move straight on to Plan B."

Raine, Katya, and the Bat Queen agreed immediately, but King asked; "Couldn't you just bond with the Bat Queen like you told me you did against the Mandragora? With your High Angel powers and her staff form, you'd be able to shred those airships!"

"And probably kill hundreds of people in the process! And since we don't know what ship she's in, Eda could be among them! Besides, even with BQ's help, we're still just six VS hundreds! It's too risky." Luz countered, making King pout since he couldn't argue.

"I agree. I'll not lend my power for reckless murder. Emperor's Coven is corrupt, but not all members deserve death." the Bat Queen said. "But I have no role in Plan B or C. I will retreat. Use whistle if Plan D is needed."

Luz nodded and thanked her, casting an illusion again to hide the Bat Queen as she flew off to find a hiding place near the Conformatorium. The others then returned to Steve and told him of the change of plans.

"Got it. I'll contact the others that Plan B is a go. Until then…" Steve led them to a prison transport cart that his team had parked on the edge of the path through the forest. "We'll use this to sneak into the prison. I left uniforms inside, but you'll need to use illusions to blend in better."

They climbed into the back of the cart and sure enough, there was a trio of scout uniforms waiting for them. Katya immediately changed into hers, while Raine was amused to find that theirs was a captain's uniform. Since Luz would need to use an illusion to make herself look older anyway, she only bothered putting on the mask and cloak (the latter of which hid King and Hooty), then put up the illusion of a normal scout to hide behind. She even turned Owlbert into staff form and hid him as a scout's spear. Once they were changed, Luz got out to sit up in the driver's seat beside Steve, who began to drive the cart down the path to the Conformatorium.

"Okay, so Plan B." she said quietly, "We go in through the rear entrance and then find our way to Eda in disguise. Shouldn't be too tough."

Steve nodded; "Security is going to be tight, and there'll be checkpoints up everywhere, but if we're smart, we'll be able to get around them. I know the checkpoint protocols, so you can rely on Steve!"

Luz smiled, then looked up as the fleet of airships passed over head, speeding towards the Conformatorium. With how long it had taken to plan things out, then prepare themselves and get to their positions, noon had already come and gone and it was now early afternoon. Taking it slowly, they should be able to just barely get to Eda and free her before sundown. It would be even faster, but the cart was painfully slow.

"We probably should have parked this thing closer and flown to it instead… it'll take another hour at this pace!" King groaned.

"This is as close as we could park the cart. Security is tight, so we could only leave it in the section my team guarded." Steve replied. "Speaking of, are the others following us yet?"

Luz peered behind them and sure enough, there were a trio of other carts following them down the road to the Conformatorium. The rest of Steve's team of defectors, plus Derwin and Amber in Scout disguises, were driving carts that already contained some of the more battle-hardened members of the CATTs, including Igor and Tinella (both of whom was surprisingly strong). Their job was to set up Plan C if they failed to get Eda out stealthily, by having the scouts pretend to have arrested the CATTs and take them into the prison in fake restraints. Once inside, they'd await the signal and then "escape" and begin causing a riot with the other prisoners, while the scouts and disguised CATTs sabotaged the guards' attempts to stop them. If Plan B worked out perfectly, they'd instead wait for Eda to escape… then start a riot anyway so they could free any other prisoners.

"They're following." Luz confirmed, "Let's hope this works, because if Plan B fails, there will be violence…"

"I hope there is! We'll kick the crud out of these Emperor's Coven losers! Uh, no offence Steve." King said.

"None taken, but go easy on some of the other scouts. Not all of them are bad guys; don't forget that a lot of them genuinely believe they're in the right here." Steve replied.

That gave King pause, and he retreated back to hiding behind Luz's cloak and illusion to think about his tactics. He'd planned on just going ham with glyphs, his roar, and Hooty, but maybe he should try and be more restrained… at least against anyone who might not deserve his full wrath.

It took a while, but they finally arrived at the Conformatorium and began driving in through the rear entrance meant for prisoner transfers. The airship convoy from earlier was now largely patrolling the skies around the Conformatorium, having dropped Eda and the Coven Heads off on the upper levels, but Luz and King barely noticed that as their path took them past row after row of petrified statues. Numerous witches and demons, eternally bound in stone, decorated the path into the Conformatorium, like grim garden ornaments. Eda's petrification was the first in 30 years, so all of them had been there for decades, yet none looked even the slightest bit weathered. Luz felt her heart ache for them, while King gulped as he noticed a new plinth being placed in the middle of a row, with a plaque reading "Edalyn Clawthorne" on the front of it.

"There's not gonna be a new statue going up today, right Luz?" King whispered.

Luz nodded, before narrowing her eyes as they passed a poster of Lilith. Luz had some very strong feelings going through her right now when it came to Lilith; Luz had genuinely considered Lilith to be like an aunt to her, having bonded with her more than she'd ever thought she would, despite her being at odds with Eda a lot of the time. She'd seen Lilith as a good, but flawed person and cared for her as family… but that was before her betrayal. Luz could have forgiven Lilith for capturing her; she thought she was doing the right thing after all, but she could never forgive her for standing by and doing nothing as the Emperor turned her into a monster and tried to make her murder Eda. For all her talk, Lilith had rolled over like an obedient dog and let her master torment her sister and niece. That wasn't even including the curse that had cast a shadow over Eda's entire life!

Luz growled softly, her magic raging inside her enough to make her eyes begin glowing softly. If she ever saw Lilith again, she'd make her pay!

The cart came to a stop outside the rear entrance and Steve, Luz, Raine, and Katya all disembarked and were immediately met by a pair of guards. "Halt! State your business!" one of them ordered.

Steve stepped forward; "Our unit has been posted at the Conformatorium for additional security during tonight's event. Our cart was sabotaged and needed repairs, delaying our arrival." he explained.

The guards exchanged looks, then nodded; "Understood. Report to Kikimora for your assignments. The Captain should head directly to the viewing platform on the west side."

Raine, disguised as the captain, gave a nod and then marched in, acting like they knew where they were going, while Steve, Luz, and Katya followed behind. Once they were out of earshot of the guards, Steve whispered; "Now we'll need to find Eda's cell. Asking around would be suspicious, so unless we get lucky and overhear something, we need to head to the Warden's office and find the record book."

"Got it." Luz said, briefly looking over her shoulder as she saw their disguised allies bringing in the CATTs members they had "arrested". She hoped the other guards wouldn't be too rough with them…

They walked through the lower levels of the Conformatorium, heading for the Warden's office, and noted the large amount of security. There were a few checkpoints, but all they had to do to pass through them was flash their coven sigils (all illusions of the Emperor's Coven sigil, except for Steve's) and explain they were reporting to Kikimora for assignment. They managed to get all the way to the upper floors without too much trouble, but as they neared the Warden's office, they found themselves actually running into Kikimora.

The diminutive demon was marching somewhere and saw them, immediately narrowing her eyes on the disguised Raine.

"And what are you four doing!? All Scout Captains are supposed to be guarding the Coven Heads on the west viewing platform, and everyone else has their assignments!" she scolded.

"Forgive us, Ma'am." Raine replied nervously; "Our transport was delayed by sabotage. I was just on my way to the viewing platform while my squad went looking for you while reporting to Warden Wrath about some captured rebels."

Kikimora glared; "It looks to me more like you're palling around with your friends! Today is an important day and its already hard enough with the Bard Coven Head once again not attending and only sending some low level replacement, and Head Witch Lilith being nowhere to be seen! I won't have you lot slacking off!"

She pointed down the corridor; "Captain, get to your post immediately! I'll assign your friends separately to make sure they're working and not socialising!"

Raine hesitated, before reluctantly heading in the direction Kikimora had pointed. The Emperor's assistant then turned on Steve, Luz, and Katya. She pointed at Steve; "You will report to the courtyard. We've been getting reports all day about suspicious individuals who keep disappearing!"

Luz grinned behind her disguise; that was Amity and the other Hexoleos at work. Since security was so high but the public were allowed into the courtyard to watch the Petrification, they were helping by reporting various people as suspicious to force the guards to investigate. The "suspicious" people were all CATTs members who would then disappear by using their Concealment stones to change disguises (courtesy of Gus) or lure the scouts and guards to a secluded area where they could be knocked out and replaced, lowering security and also giving the CATTs more people on the inside in the event of Plan C or D.

Kikimora then pointed at the disguised Katya; "You will go patrol the cells on level 4! The prisoners there are being rowdy!"

Then she turned to Luz, but before she could give any orders, Luz saluted and braced herself; "Ma'am, if I may, I'm the one who has been sent to report to Warden Wrath about the new prisoners. May I take care of that before I'm reassigned?"

Her throat burned painfully at the lie, but she didn't try to stop it, instead letting it make her sound extra croaky so Kikimora wouldn't recognise her voice. Beneath her illusion, King was gently placing ice glyphs against her throat to help cool the burning too. He knew Luz was lying for Eda's sake, but he still hated to see her in pain.

Kikimora seemed surprised by the request, but nodded regardless; "You may. Make your report then join your captain on the viewing platform. You seem to enjoy being an errand girl rather than a proper scout, and the Coven Heads could use a few more lackeys to keep their glasses filled. Now get moving!"

Steve immediately headed in the direction of the courtyard, giving his comrades only a brief nod to avoid suspicion. Katya hesitated, but Kikimora's glare had her high-tailing it to her own assignment before she got in trouble. Meanwhile, Luz continued on her way, now without her back up. It wasn't ideal, but at least Katya and Steve would be in good positions to help deal with Plan C and D if they became necessary!

The remaining path to the Warden's office was short, and Luz quickly found it and knocked on the door. When no answer came, she looked around cautiously and saw there were no guards nearby, so she used a thin light blade to slice the lock and push the door open, entering the Warden's office then closing it up behind her. Once inside, King and Hooty jumped off Luz's back.

"Okay, now we just need to find the record book that Steve mentioned!" King said, immediately beginning to rifle through the bottom draw of a filing cabinet. Luz began helping by searching the room's bookshelf, and Hooty looked in the upper draws of the filing cabinet. After ten minutes of looking, they still hadn't found any sign of the book.

"This place isn't that big! Where could he have hidden it?" Luz muttered. Wrath's office was fairly small; it had a fireplace with a portrait of Wrath and his son Braxas above it, a large desk and chair for the Warden to sit and work at, a smaller chair for visitors to his office, and a book shelf and filing cabinet against one wall. There was also a window that overlooked the courtyard, allowing Luz to see the crowd that had gathered there, as well as the tall scaffold upon which the Petrification would take place. The sight of it made Luz gulp; as did the slowly darkening sky. Sundown was approaching and they were running out of time!

Luz began tearing through Wrath's drawers, which contained only half-eaten lunches, a bottle of some kind of alcohol, a crumpled up copy of Eda's wanted poster (with an unsettling number of love hearts doodled on it) and a few childish drawings that must have been made by Braxas (and which Luz was careful not to damage). However there was still no sign of the record book!

Hooty suddenly perked up; "I hear someone coming, hoot!" he said quietly. Luz quickly grabbed King and Hooty and cast another illusion over them to make them invisible, just in time to see Warden Wrath open his office door.

His mask was still in place, but his body language screamed frustration as well as confusion as he wondered why his door was unlocked. He then looked around his office and clenched his fist; "What the-!? Has someone been in here!?" he growled, noting the mess Luz, King, and Hooty had made. He was about to turn and leave to alert his guards, but before he could, the invisible Luz slammed his door shut then cast vines at him, binding him tightly and knocking him to the ground.

Wrath groaned as Luz removed her illusions, revealing herself to the Warden.

"Y-You! You made a big mistake coming here, angel! The whole Coven is searching for you! You'll be caught in no time!" Wrath growled.

Luz rolled her eyes and pulled off Wrath's mask to reveal his face; "No, I won't. But I will be walking out of here with Eda. I came here to find your record book, but you can tell me where Eda is yourself!" she said, creating a light sword and pointing it at Wrath's throat.

The Warden shook his head; "I won't! Surrender now, and I might just let your little friends there escape while I hand you over to the Emperor!"

Luz looked very unimpressed. "Wrath, I took you down when I only had one glyph and couldn't even fly. Do you really think you can beat me now that I'm a High Angel? Especially since I've already got you wrapped up and at my mercy?" she asked, looking at Wrath like he was stupid.

Wrath gulped; "O-Okay, so maybe I can't beat you! But I don't have to help you either! So there!"

Luz and King exchanged looks, before turning to Hooty; "Think you can make him talk, Hooty?"

"Oh boy can I!" Hooty said cheerfully, extending his way towards Wrath; "Hiya Warden Wrath! I'm Hooty! Luz, Eda, and King told me all about when you played together before, so I want to play too! Hoot! If you tell us where to find Eda, then you win and you get to take a nap! Hoot!"

"A-And if I don't?" Wrath asked, already shaking at the sight of the infamous Bird Worm that still struck fear into the hearts of the Emperor's Coven.

Hooty's beak stretched into an even bigger smile; "Then you lose, and I rearrange your organs until they're in alphabetical order! Don't worry though, I won't take them out! I'm good at this game!" he hooted, speaking just as cheerfully as always.

Wrath looked terrified, and even Luz and King were a little disturbed. Luz leaned in and asked; "Hooty, are you being serious? It's hard to tell with you…"

"Of course I'm serious!" Hooty smiled, "Hoot hoot, I'm no angel, but I never lie!"

The House Demon wormed his way a little closer to Wrath, who shrieked quietly; "Okay! I'll tell you! Head Witch Lilith cornered me a little while ago and took my record book, but I know were the Owl Lady is! She's in the dungeon cell beneath the courtyard, where the condemned always stay!"

King grabbed his notepad and pen and thrust them into Wrath's hands while Luz adjusting his restraints; "Draw us a map." King demanded.

Wrath quickly complied, and as soon as the map was finished, Luz coated her fist in ice and smacked Wrath on top of the head to knock him out. She then tied him up completely and hid him below his desk, before casting an illusion over the office to make it look clean and tidy, so no one would suspect what happened.

"Right, we know were Eda is now! Let's go!" Luz said, putting King and Hooty on her back and covering them in her scout illusion again. She made the illusion look different this time, so Kikimora wouldn't realise she was the same person if they ran in to each other again.

As they snuck out of the office (Luz subtly freezing the hinges to make it seem like the door was still locked), King whispered to Hooty; "You know Hooty, you're kinda terrifying, but I'm glad you're on our side!"

The only answer was a quiet hoot that made Luz smile behind her scout mask as she headed down to the dungeons.

[Meanwhile]

It was an extremely nervous Raine who stepped out onto the viewing platform. The disguised bard knew that Steve and Katya could take care of themselves, and honestly knew Luz and King could too, but being separated from the kids still left them feeling incredibly uneasy. This wasn't helped by the fact that they were now without back up of their own and surrounded by the elites of the Emperor's Coven AND the Coven Heads.

The viewing platform was high above the courtyard, and had an excellent view of the scaffold that had been set up for the Petrification, as well as the massive crowd of people who'd come out to watch it too. The Emperor had obviously wanted the Coven Heads to attend as extra security if Luz and Raine showed up to save Eda, but sickeningly, his coven had set up a little buffet table filled with finger foods and expensive wines. It was a fancy party for the Coven Heads to enjoy as they watched the love of Raine's life be turned to stone. It was staffed with Coven Scouts serving as waiters, while Scout Captains served as the actual guards, protecting the Coven Heads and keeping watch for signs of betrayal or rebellion. All the Coven Heads, excluding Lilith and Scooter, were in attendance and it heartened Raine to see that many of them looked as disgusted by the festive atmosphere as Raine felt.

Darius was leaning against the safety railing, nursing a glass of wine with a sneer as he muttered lowly to Eberwolf, who sat on the railing beside him and picked apart some fancy hors d'oeuvre. Mason was stood beside Osran, neither speaking, eating, or drinking as they watched the sun slowly getting ready to set in front of them. Adrien was chatting to Hettie and Vitimir over wine, seemingly boasting about something and acting like he was at a high society party while his conversation mates looked annoyed with the whole affair. Then of course there was Terra Snapdragon, a woman for whom Raine had an intense dislike. That woman had always made their skin cruel, ever since that day of the IFWOT program where they'd also met Eda, and she'd always gone out of her way to talk to Raine and call them Sprout whenever they were forced to interact during Coven business. Terra was currently smiling eagerly as she looked down at the scaffold, wine in one hand and finger food in the other, looking like she was having a wonderful time.

Raine decided to just stand against one of the walls and observe everyone, then if something should happen, they could repeat their tactic from the castle the previous day and take out all the Coven Heads in one sonic boom, so they couldn't join the fight if Plan C or D was required. They stood against the wall as close to the safety rail as they could and looked down at the crowd below, trying to spot any one they knew.

At that moment, the doors to the platform opened and the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel stepped out, causing several of the Coven Heads to look to them.

"Not escorting the Emperor today, Little Prince?" Darius asked sardonically, raising an eyebrow at the Golden Guard.

"The Emperor has other business to deal with. He is certain that the Angel and Whispers will attempt to free the Owl Lady and has decided to set a little trap for them. He's waiting for them personally down in the dungeons. It the Angel shows up, he'll capture her and the petrification will become an execution with the Angel as executioner." the Golden Guard said, a hint of discomfort in his voice.

Raine stiffened reflexively, and Terra gave them the side eye. Meanwhile Darius snorted; "Ah yes, the Emperor is going to force the angel to take on the form of the Titan again. What exactly is that concoction he uses anyway? It looked rather unpleasant."

"I am curious too." Vitimir added, his voice nasally and snake-like.

The Golden Guard replied; "It is Titan Bile. It's highly dangerous to most people, but the Angel is blessed by the Titan and can survive its trials. The Emperor believes the pain it causes her is a result of her defiance; the Titan inflicting His own penance on her."

Raine couldn't stop themselves from clenching their fist in anger, and causing their knuckles to make a quiet cracking sound that went unnoticed by everyone… except Terra.

The Plant Coven Head turned to the disguised Bard and smiled sinisterly; "My my, does hearing of the Angel's defiance anger you so much, Captain?" she asked.

Raine gulped and stood at attention, putting their hands behind their back in the process. They used this position to subtly cast a bardic spell to change their voice; "Yes, Head Witch Snapdragon. Forgive me for disturbing you; I simply hate to hear of a noble creature like an angel defying the Titan's will."

The others on the viewing platform turned to Raine and Terra, watching their conversation as Terra took a step closer to Raine; "Ah, it's wonderful to hear of such loyalty from our captains. But then, why was someone so loyal late to arrive today?" she asked.

"My team's transport was sabotaged, Ma'am. We had to repair it, so we were delayed. I apologise." Raine said, bowing their head.

The Silver Sentinel began signing something to their partner, but Raine couldn't see what it was. The Silver Sentinel never spoke, being nicknamed the Silent Sentinel as a result, and communicated with sign language.

In response to this, the Golden Guard turned his full attention to Raine. "Did you catch the perpetrators?"

"Yes." Raine said, lying on the fly, "They were apprehended while sabotaging another team's cart. They are being processed into cells as we speak, I believe."

"Interesting! And where exactly were you stationed before, Captain?" Terra asked, getting even closer.

Raine froze; each precinct only had one captain, and there were dozens around them. If they gave the wrong answer, they'd be busted immediately. They considered just going straight for the sonic boom, but that would mean sabotaging their own plan and potentially endangering Luz and Eda.

Taking a gamble, they replied; "Latissa. Precinct 206."

There was a beat as Raine waited for one of the captains to protest that they were the captain of the Latissa precinct, but no one said a word. Instead Terra just smiled; "Ah, I'm sure you don't get much in the way of culture there. Latissa is literally in the Titan's armpit after all!"

"A-Ah, yes. It isn't the most… classy place." Raine replied, not even having to lie. Latissa was a rough port town after all.

Terra laughed and patted them on the back, almost making them shudder; "That's putting it mildly! You must be very busy, with all the scoundrels there. Why, I hear there has even been rebel activity in the area!"

The disguised Bard felt a flood of tension fill their body as they looked into Terra's eyes. In that instant, they knew for certain; Terra knew they weren't a real scout captain. Thinking fast, Raine began to channel bardic magic into their ears and palms, ready to repeat their sonic boom trick from the previous day, but the instant they tried to move their arms from behind their back to clap, vines suddenly bound their wrists.

Raine gasped softly as thin green vines wrapped around their body and began sapping their energy, making them feel faint. A light shove from Terra had them falling face first onto the ground, where they found numerous real captains pointing their spears at them.

Terra then stooped and pulled off their mask, revealing Raine to everyone on the viewing platform.

"Well isn't this a surprise! I wasn't expecting it to be you, Sprout." Terra smiled cruelly, "Come to save your old flame?"

"You old monster…!" Raine gasped out, feeling the drain on their energy. Terra had planted a Sapper Seed on their back when she'd patted them moments ago, and now they were bound and helpless.

"It was a nice attempt, Whispers." the Golden Guard said, wielding a staff similar to Belos', "But no guards or captains from Bonesborough or the surrounding settlements were assigned to the Conformatorium. The Emperor wanted to make sure that the Owl Lady had no allies in our ranks. Naturally we didn't tell anyone from those places though."

Raine cursed, remembering Steve mention that the Bonesborough scouts had been assigned to the roads despite Eda coming by ship. The same must have happened with other scouts from the area, and Latissa wasn't far from Bonesborough…

Darius eyed them curiously; "What are we going to do with them? Throw them in a cell? We're in the right place for it."

"Oh no, we have something more permanent at our disposal." Terra smirked, "It was a mistake to let you and the Owl Lady live all those years ago, but I think I'll rectify it. Sprout came to save their lady, so let them have her. They can be together forever as stone statues!"

Raine growled and the Golden Guard nodded; "The Emperor has already handed down a sentence of petrification for the crime of corrupting or kidnapping the angel. I'll need to confirm with him, but I suspect it will be fine." he then looked to the captains pointing their spears at Raine; "Take them directly to the scaffold under an illusion. We don't want to spark a riot if they have allies in the crowd."

"Wise. These rats never work alone." Adrien commented.

The guards grabbed Raine and pulled them to their feet, then began to drag them away while casting an illusion to disguise them. Before the illusion could be completed though, Raine glared over their shoulder at the Coven Heads and everyone else on the platform, before saying; "You best pray that your plans today fail. Because I've seen what Luz and King are willing to go through for the sake of their family. If today ends with Eda as a statue, then not even the Titan will be able to save you!"

They were then gagged and dragged off, leaving the Coven Heads behind with the Emperor's loyal shadows. Terra and Adrien both scoffed at Raine's defiant last words, while the other Coven Heads looked either contemplative or outright worried. Doubts filled their heads; angels were agents of the Titan, so was it wise to get on the bad side of one?

They had a feeling they'd be finding out sooner rather than later.

[Meanwhile]

Sneaking all the way from the Warden's office to the dungeons below the Conformatorium proved to be a slower, more challenging experience than Luz had expected. The young angel had already had to swap her illusory disguise a whopping seven times, as every time a guard would get suspicious of her, she'd turn the nearest corner and change disguise to fool them, while also occasionally luring the smarter ones towards open cells, where she could swiftly knock them out with an icy punch to the back of the head, before dumping them in the cell and hiding them under the illusion of a sleeping prisoner.

By the time Luz actually made it underground, she was pretty sure she'd taken out at least 15 scouts, which would be helpful if they needed to start a riot. But eventually, she managed to make it all the way to the dungeons and found a large double door leading to the condemned cell. It was guarded by five Coven Scouts, all of whom took combat stances and drew spell circles as they saw Luz appear, even with her disguise.

"Halt! No personnel are allowed near the Condemned. State your business and authorisation!" the central scout demanded.

"Alright." Luz said, slowly raising her hands; "This is my authorisation!"

She suddenly dropped her disguise and illusion, and spread her four angelic wings. A light glyph appeared on the end of each one, and her wings suddenly shone with an impossibly bright light. The scouts screamed as they were blinded by the light, and while they were reeling from that, Luz combined ice and light glyphs to fire a pair of aurora beams that froze the two scouts on the edges, while Hooty extended from King's back and grabbed the remaining three, before turning them upside down and smashing their heads against the floor to knock them out. Luz left the frozen scouts in place, while King used a plant glyph to tie up the others with vines. Once they were out of the way, Luz approached the door, which was locked with a simple padlock and chain.

"This is it." she said, freezing the lock so she could shatter it. She then pushed open the door and walked inside, finding what looked like an old torture chamber, which thankfully didn't look to have been used in decades. At the end of the room, trapped inside a large cage with bars made of magic, was the Owl Beast. Its limbs were chained to the corners of the cage to limit its movements, and the cage itself was only barely big enough for it to stand up and turn around.

"Eda!" Luz and King cried together, rushing towards the cage.

At the sound of their voices, the Owl Beast turned around and snarled, struggling to get at them with the chains and cage blocking its way. Luz immediately cast a light spell, which always worked well to sooth and mesmerise the Owl Beast enough for Eda to take back some control. The beast's solid black eyes became the usual gold eyes of the Owl Lady, which immediately filled with horror as they looked at Luz and King.

"Luz!? King!? Oh no, no no no no! What are you doing here!? You can't be here!" Eda cried in a panic.

"It's okay Eda, we're here to save you!" Luz smiled.

"Yeah! Raine and the CATTs helped us make a whole bunch of plans to bust you out! We snuck in here without raising the alarms too!" King said proudly, "We can cure your curse and then sneak out with you!"

As King spoke, Luz took aim at the chains around Eda's legs and fired a light beam to cut them. However when the beam was about to pass through the bars of the cage, it suddenly hit some kind of invisible barrier and completely disappeared, much to Luz's confusion.

"What? Do I need to break the cage first?" Luz muttered, this time creating a light sword from her hand. She tried to slice the magic bars, but her light sword suddenly flickered and the parts that touched the bars disappeared.

"Luz, this is a Null-Magic cage. It won't allow anything magical to pass through it unless that magic is specifically tuned to the same magical resonance as the cage." Eda said.

"Then we'll try something non-magical!" Luz declared, looking around the chamber. She picked up a rusty cleaver that was hanging on the wall with several other old torture devices, and swung it at one of the magic bars. However the bars weren't physical and so the cleaver passed through it without disrupting it at all. "No! So only magic can touch the bars!?"

"It's like the barrier up in the contraband room, only instead of blocking witch and demon magic, it blocks ALL magic. Dang expensive… and basically inescapable. Even if you could pass through the bars yourself, I can't. I've lost my magic to the curse, but the curse itself is still magic. I'm stuck." Eda frowned.

"B-But then what do we do!?" King cried.

"You leave." Eda replied; "Look kids, I'm grateful you care so much, but there's nothing you can do. Find Raine and the CATTs and get out of here before you're caught! Belos has got to be expecting you!"

Luz shook her head frantically; "N-No! I can't do that!" she cried, trying to break the cage by growing vines to try and squeeze the bars. The vines withered when trying to pass through the bars, much to Luz's distress; "This is all my fault! You got captured because you needed to save me!"

"That's not true, Luz!" Eda shook her head as Luz tried using ice to freeze the magic bars. "Listen to me, both of you. I'm here because of my own actions. I went against Belos and his law, knowing the consequences. I could get away with it when I had magic, but thanks to the curse, that time has passed."

"No it hasn't!" King stomped his foot, "We've got the mirror! We can cure you! Show her, Luz!"

The young angel immediately pulled out the completed Panacea Mirror. Eda looked at it longingly, but her bestial reflection in its surface made her frown. "Kids, I-"

"No, Eda! Please let us help you!" Luz cut her off, pointing the mirror at Eda as she began pouring magic into it to activate its power. The mirror glowed with a silver light, then shot a beam of silver magic from its surface to Eda. However the Null-Magic cage was still in effect, and the magic was blocked from reaching her, causing the spell to fail and the mirror to deactivate again. It was still whole and in one piece, so it hadn't been wasted, but it also hadn't worked.

"No! We need to find a way to get rid of the cage! M-Maybe we can experiment with our spells and glyphs until we find the right magical resonance?" Luz said frantically.

"It's worth a try!" King nodded.

However Eda shook her head; magical resonance was rarely talked about since it wasn't something that could be manipulated and only terribly complex forms of security magic used it. It was basically like a magic-user's fingerprint. Eda didn't know about angels, but witches and demons certainly couldn't change theirs.

She said as much to Luz and King, who looked at each other desperately; "We've still got to-"

"No." Eda cut off King's desperate words, "Luz, King, that's enough. I'm sorry things had to end this way, but I'm ready to accept this. I don't regret the life I've led; I lived freely and I got to meet the two of you. We even got to be something like a family, for a while at least." the Owl Lady smiled at her kids, before sighing sadly; "But I can't protect you. If you stay, you'll be caught and I'd rather turn to stone then see either of you in Belos' clutches."

Luz and King stared at her with tear-filled eyes and grief-stricken faces. It broke Eda's heart to see them like this, but she was doing this for their sake. It also killed her to see the healing coven patch on Luz's forehead, covering the wound Eda herself had given her in that moment of weakness.

Stuffing that feeling down, Eda did what she had to do; "Luz, do you have the portal key?"

The girl nodded, pulling the key out from her shirt. She pressed on the eye and summoned the portal door, which opened on its own. Eda smiled upon seeing it; "Luz, take King and go through it. Hide in the Human Realm until the heat dies down; Belos needs you AND the portal, so keeping it from him while keeping yourself safe is the best thing you can do."

"But Eda… t-there has to still be something we can do!" Luz cried.

"Yeah! We have a lot of stuff we still need to say! We haven't even gotten to thank you for these awesome gifts!" King nodded, voice thick with desperation as he pointed at his neckerchief and Luz's cloak.

Before Eda could answer, a loud siren went off, startling them all and making Luz fear they'd triggered an alarm. However as a red light filled the room, it was revealed to be the siren announcing the petrification was due to begin. A door on the ceiling, shaped like a toothy maw, opened up and Eda's cage began rising up towards it.

"EDA!" Luz and King cried.

"I'm sorry. Goodbye Luz, King. I love you both." Eda said tearfully, before she and her cage disappeared through the ceiling door.

Luz feel to her knees as King weakly asked; "W-What do we do now?"

"Plan B failed, and Plan C won't be any good once Eda's at the petrification. We'll need to go straight to Plan D!" Luz said, wiping her eyes of the tears that had built there. "I refuse to run away when Eda can still be saved!"

"I'm glad to hear that."

Luz and King gasped and spun around, seeing none other than Lilith walking into the room. "I had a feeling you would show up here at some point, Luz. I just didn't think you'd beat me here. I'm too late to get to Eda, but at least now I've found you." she said with some relief on her face.

Seeing Lilith standing there, happy to see them and seemingly so unconcerned with her sister's impending fate, made something dark grow in the chests of Luz and King. Something deep and burning… something hateful.

"You…!" King snarled, his fur beginning to puff up as he fell on all fours. "You hurt our Mom!"

King's eyes began to glow purple, and his body seemed to grow as his muscles swelled and he took on a more wolf-like posture. Even the fangs and horns on his skull appeared to grow longer and sharper. "You let Belos torture my sister!" he bellowed, his voice now carrying an unnatural echo. He looked almost feral in his rage, making Lilith step back in fear. The witch looked to Luz for help, but found Luz in a similar state.

Luz's physical change was much less prominent than King's; her wings were merely spread and her feathers were flaring out, making them look wilder. Her eyes were also glowing, taking on a white hue that was oddly ominous despite the bright colour. Neither Angels nor Titans could normally suffer Bile Overloads as they didn't have Bile Sacs, but their magic was still tied to their emotions and as they raged, so too did their magic. Their eyes glowed due to their tempers making it hard to keep their magic in check, and while both Luz and King were in full control of themselves unlike during an overload, that didn't help Lilith when both wanted to take her out.

"You betrayed us! You put Eda in chains!" Luz growled, "And now, we're going to take you down!"

Lilith tried to put her arms up in surrender, but King roared at her, sending a sonic blast at her that resulted in the Head Witch being blasted straight through the portal door. Lilith landed with a groan, and found herself in the woods of Gravesfield, in the Human Realm. She briefly gasped in amazement as she saw the green grass and trees, and the pure blue skies, but her attention was soon drawn by a blast of light coming her way. She was barely able to block it with a blue barrier conjured with her staff, and paled as she saw Luz and King step out of the portal too.

"You won't escape us!" Luz snarled, reaching out with her hand and causing vines to grow from beneath Lilith to try and bind her.

Lilith managed to leap out of the way before the vines could fully emerge from the ground, but she was promptly knocked out the sky by a chunk of ice launched at her stomach by King and one of his drawn ice glyphs. She hit the ground hard, then gasped out; "Wait! I just want to talk!"

King growled; "Talk to the glyphs, Witch!"

He then thrust his front claws out with fire glyphs in each one, but unlike the ice glyph a moment ago, the paper just disintegrated without producing an effect. This surprised King, who stared dumbfounded at his hands, giving Lilith a chance to get back on her feet and leap at Luz. The unexpected move caught Luz by surprise, especially as she was also distracted by the fire glyph not working. Lilith knocked the girl to the ground and straddled her while using her superior strength to hold Luz's hands together above her head.

"Get off her!" King demanded, using a plant glyph this time. Just as he wanted, tree roots shot from the ground where he'd slammed it and raced towards Lilith, who slammed Corvanc's staff against the ground to create a wave of blue flame that destroyed the roots and made King dive out of the way. Seeing this, Luz whistled sharply and Owlbert, whose staff was dropped when Lilith rushed her, suddenly transformed back into owl form and began pecking and clawing at Lilith's head, forcing the woman to let go of Luz's hands so she could try and get the Palisman off her. With her hands free, Luz slapped Lilith hard across the face, knocking her off of her.

Luz then got back to her feet and combined her light and ice magic; "Aurora Beam!" she cried, sending the freezing light at Lilith. Lilith barely avoided it and tried to spin her staff to make a spell circle, but King leapt at her and wrapped his jaws around the base of her staff while using his claws and plant glyphs to root him to the ground, ensuring Lilith couldn't shake him off.

Seeing another Aurora Beam heading her way, Lilith was forced to let go of Corvanc and conjure a barrier on her own. Corvanc transformed back into Palisman form to free himself from King, but he was immediately dive-bombed by Owlbert to keep him away from Lilith. It was now two vs one and Lilith had lost her staff.

"Please, I know you're both angry with me, but I need you to listen to me!" Lilith begged.

"The last time I listened to you, I ended up tortured and forced to almost kill Eda! I won't make that mistake again, Lilith!" Luz spat as she and King flanked the witch.

Lilith recoiled, not knowing if the truthful accusation hurt worse, or the fact Luz was no longer calling her Tia Lily. She didn't get to think about it for long, as King used a light glyph to produce a bright flash and blind her, while Luz flew forward at high speed to knock her to the ground. Lilith hit the ground but immediately rolled and cast a quick spell to remove the blurriness from her eyes after King's bright flash.

"Ugh, I deserved that, and everything else you've done to me. But I'm trying to do the right thing!" Lilith argued, drawing a pair of spell circles. Once produced an abomination that charged at King, while the other shot spectral silver chains at Luz to restrain her. King destroyed the abomination with a sonic roar, while Luz blocked the chains with an ice barrier. Lilith began preparing another spell, so Luz acted fast.

"King! Hit this with your roar!" she yelled, casting a simple ice spell in order to shoot a large chunk of ice at him.

King obediently hit it with a sonic roar, shattering it into thousands of tiny little ice pellets. Luz, trying out a new trick with the ice glyph, then took control of all of them and sent them pelting towards Lilith.

"Hail Storm!" she cried.

Lilith's attempts to make a spell circle were interrupted by the painful hail, but Luz wasn't done yet. She snapped her fingers and melted the hail into water, and had it coat Lilith completely. Lilith tried to break free, but King then hit her with another sonic roar, which reverberated through the water coating her and stunned her.

The witch fell to her knees and Luz immediately froze the water shell again, while King used some vines to grab Corvanc and restrain him during his short aerial dogfight with Owlbert. Frozen up to her neck and with her Palisman immobilised and unable to help, Lilith could do nothing but watch helplessly as her sister's enraged children approached, King snarling like a beast while Luz created a light sword from her hand and raised it high.

"All of this is your fault! Belos branded me like a slave, tortured me, tried to turn me against Eda, turned me into a monster to kill her, then ordered her petrified when I refused, and you stood by and let all of it happen!" Luz screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face. They were tears of both fury and sorrow, as all her emotions towards Lilith boiled over.

The Head Witch looked up at Luz, then averted her eyes out of shame. "Luz, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough!" Luz cried, "Eda loved you like a sister even after all the times you tried to capture her! Amity looked up to you even after you screwed up at the Covention and the Bat Queen's Forest! I loved you like an aunt, even after you took me in front of the Emperor! But you threw all of that away to be the dog of a tyrant!"

Lilith lowered her head; "I know… the things I've done. The people I've hurt… I deluded myself over and over into thinking I could fix my mistakes. Even after the Emperor showed me his true colours, I thought I could still convince him. But I failed. All I succeeded in was destroying my already fragile family…"

King growled; "Eda could die because of you! You're the one who should suffer!"

"I know." Lilith said, beginning to cry; "Everything I did was for nothing. I made the wrong choice and picked the wrong side. I turned on my own sister, niece, and nephew… I deserve my fate. Go ahead, Luz; after the suffering I caused, if anyone deserves to take my head, it's you."

Luz let out a loud cry and brought down the sword of light. Lilith closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, while the shock of what he was seeing snapped King out of his rage. He reached for Luz and tried to call out to her, but he couldn't get the words out fast enough. The light sword slashed down, and carved a burning line through the ground an inch in front of Lilith's bowed head.

Lilith's eyes flew open as she saw Luz's light magic dissipate, then turned to the girl with shock. Luz's face was twisted into the most despair-filled expression she'd ever seen, and like King, her eyes had stopped glowing and her ruffled wings returned to their natural appearance. The girl fell to her knees in front of Lilith.

"Why, Lilith? Why couldn't you have talked to us? Trusted us? Why did you have to pick Belos over your own family!?" Luz sobbed, "And why, after everything you've done to us… why can't I hate you? Why do I still want to see you as family?"

Lilith looked utterly devastated, while King, now completely back to his normal self, hugged his sister. He hadn't ever gotten as close to Lilith as Luz had, since he hadn't been pretending to be her nephew at the time, so he didn't feel the same desire to remain a family. However he couldn't just ignore his big sister's tears, just as she hadn't ignored his tears back on his island. Swallowing down his anger and hatred as much as possible, King glared at Lilith.

"All of this started because you cursed Eda. Tell us why." he demanded.

"O-Of course… you both deserve to know." Lilith said softly, taking a deep breath to mentally prepare herself for the painful memories. "When Edalyn and I were younger, we were the best of friends. Believe it or not, but Eda actually looked up to me, and I tried to look after her and be a good older sister. I even managed to develop a spell to share her pain and injuries whenever she fell and hurt herself; I wasn't so good at healing magic, but I could help her by taking half her pain for myself. We were inseparable, to the point Eda even joined the Potions Track at Hexside after I ended up there."

The woman gave a wistful smile at the memories, even as her eyes were filled with regrets; "When we got older, we began aiming for the Emperor's Coven. It was my dream; to work alongside the strongest witch on the isles, and make the world a better place. Eda wanted to be with me, no matter what. But there was a problem… The Covens came to Hexside for a field day, which doubled as a recruitment event for the main ten covens. Eda and I tried to sign up for the Emperor's Coven, but they insisted they only had one spot left. They were exclusive and only took the best, so they limited how many recruits they took in each year. Since Eda and I both wanted to join, the Delegate from the Emperor's Coven decreed that we would duel the next day, and the winner would take the spot."

Luz and King's eyes widened; "Eda fought you to join the coven!?" the former exclaimed.

Lilith shook her head; "We never actually fought. I was convinced I would lose; Eda had natural talent that outstripped me, but she also worked twice as hard. She had a way with magic that I just couldn't match. I was ashamed of myself, and jealous of my younger sister. But Emperor Belos always said; "To be great, you have to make sacrifices." I asked myself what he would do, and made the biggest mistake of my life… But then again, following his example has always been a mistake for me."

"You cursed her so you'd win the duel…!" King growled.

"I did." Lilith confessed, "I snuck out that night and went to the Night Market. I wanted a way to seal or drain her powers, so I searched for and found a curse, sealed in a scroll, that would do just that. The seller had no idea how it worked or how long it would last. He only knew vaguely that it drained a witch's magic because his ancestor had gotten it appraised by an expert, but many of the details were lost. In my arrogance, I was sure I could appraise it myself. I found that it really would drain her magic, but the curse also had very little magic of its own. I-I thought that meant it wouldn't last very long… a day at most. So I bought it and returned home, then cursed my own, beloved baby sister in her sleep."

Luz grimaced; "So the curse stopped Eda from fighting? That must be the duel Eda mentioned back at the Covention! The one she surrendered before it began! She couldn't fight without magic."

The elder Clawthorne shook her head, and her voice cracked a bit as she said; "Eda didn't even know about the curse until the duel came. It began, but before I could fire even a single spell, Eda declared her surrender. She said "I refuse to battle my sister"… then gave me the win. But as she walked away, the curse finally reared its head. She transformed into the Owl Beast for the first time, and the Emperor's Coven and the watching crowd drove her off with stones and insults, while I stood there like a fool and did nothing. I'd made my sacrifice for the Emperor, and I received my reward and joined his coven. Meanwhile Eda suffered for my sins; she dropped out of Hexside and ran away from home, and for years, I rose through the ranks of the coven to become its head. And that's how we ended up where we are; me as the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven, and Eda as the Boiling Isles' most wanted Wild Witch."

Luz and King stared at her, struggling to process everything. The event that defined their mother figure's life was a misguided act of sabotage by her own sister. On the one hand, she'd truly only meant for it to last a day and it had all been a tragic mistake, but on the other hand, she'd still done something awful to hurt her own sister for petty reasons. Bitter understanding filled them both, and while King felt angry, Luz felt miserable.

"You hurt Eda so much, for so small a reason." she said quietly, not trusting her voice not to break if she spoke louder.

Lilith bowed her head once more; "I know. I've been pursuing Edalyn all these years because if she joined the Emperor's Coven, the Emperor promised me he would heal her curse. But he lied to me, just like he lied when he told me she was corrupting you. But you aren't corrupt at all, are you? No one truly corrupted would spare the life of someone who hurt them so badly."

Luz frowned; "Belos has lied about everything. I don't know what he really wants, but he isn't who he says he is, I know that much." she stood up and wiped her eyes, then looked sternly down at Lilith; "What do you want to do now, Lilith?"

"I want to save my sister. And I know how. I can tell you, or even show you if you'd like." Lilith replied. "The cage Eda was in would have risen up into a part of the courtyard, ready for something called "The Penitent's Walk" in which the condemned would need to walk through the crowd to the scaffold for their petrification. Obviously that won't work with her in a cage, so it would instead be dragged into the scaffold where another lift would take her to the top. I happen to know of a second lift platform beneath the scaffold, which connects to a chamber here in the dungeons, where the Petrification Statue is located. It's supposed to be for emergency maintenance, but you can use it to get straight to the scaffold."

Luz's eyes widened; "We could use that to get to Eda before the Petrification begins! If we get there fast enough, we could even destroy the Petrification Stature before it rises up!"

"It could also be a trap." King frowned, "Luz, do you think we can honestly trust Lilith here?"

"No." Luz shook her head; "As much as I want to trust her, I can't gamble Eda's life on it. But it's the best option we've got right now."

King shifted in discomfort, but Luz was right; they didn't have the time to run back out to the courtyard, especially without giving themselves away and being swarmed by scouts and guards. "Alright… but then what do we do with Lilith?"

Luz answered that by thawing Lilith out of the ice and pulling her to her feet, then binding her hands behind her back with some vines. "You're coming with us. Any funny business and I'll knock you out and leave you for the Emperor to find. Help us though, and your fate will be the same as Eda's."

Lilith nodded; "I will do all I can. I owe you more than I can ever repay, but I will try to all the same."

King accepted that and clambered back onto Luz's back so she could put her scout mask and cloak back on and restore her illusion disguise, while also using an illusion to hide the vines binding Lilith's hands. Owlbert returned to his staff form so Luz could disguise him as a spear, while Corvanc just nestled onto Lilith's shoulder; silently gazing at Luz as his eyes seemed to promise he wouldn't try to save his partner from the fate she'd agreed to. With that, they headed back through the portal, Luz giving one last wistful look behind her to the world she'd grown up in.

Luz fully intended to return to the Human Realm when this was all over; camp was due to end in one more week, and she would come back and tell her Mami the truth. She'd bring Eda and her friends with her too, and with any luck, her Mami would understand and accept the new place Luz had carved for herself in the Demon Realm. But that could wait; Eda needed to be saved first.

She stepped back through the portal and closed it, then sent it away while putting the key back inside her shirt.

"Lead the way, Lilith." Luz ordered. The Head Witch nodded and began showing them the way, as Luz offered a silent prayer.

"Eda, guys, please be okay!"

[Meanwhile]

Amity, Willow, Gus, and Rasiel stood in the crowd in the courtyard, waiting anxiously. They'd each done their part to thin the Emperor's numbers; using false reports of suspicious individuals to lure them away so the CATTs could take care of them, and they'd been so effective that most of the scouts and guards still in the courtyard were actually CATTs members in disguise. However there were still hundreds of real scouts and guards within the Conformatorium itself, as well as surrounding it and guarding the roads to and from it, so things would still devolve into chaos if Plan D needed to happen. A little while ago, they'd also watched as five coven scouts rushed past them and up onto the scaffold, where they still stood waiting for something. Amity had seen Skara try to distract them with another fake report before they could reach the scaffold, but they'd completely ignored her, worrying the Hexside kids.

"Is everyone in position, Amity?" Rasiel asked. He had no scroll of his own, so he was sticking close to Amity so he could stay in the loop.

Amity nodded; "Yeah. Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus are on the east side of the crowd, the twins and Skara are on the south side, Matt, Bo, and the HAS are on the north side, and Boscha and the Banshees are in the middle. With us here on the west side, we're perfectly positioned to get in the way and disrupt the Emperor's Coven when the fighting starts."

While the kids had all been forbidden to fight alongside the CATTs to avoid being labelled criminals, they could still get in the way of the coven without getting in trouble! After all, they'd all look like scared school kids stuck in the chaos. However all of them were worried; they hadn't heard anything from Luz or any of the team that went inside the Conformatorium. There were no signs of a riot within the prison, so Plan C hadn't been started, but the lack of word was making them nervous.

Then, to their horror, a small squad of scouts from inside the Conformatorium emerged and began ordering the crowd to split down the middle, forming a wide path between the central building and the scaffold. The scouts then flanked this path as a group of drummers marched out, ominously playing their drums as a pair of giant purple demon worms came slithering out from the central building, dragging along a large cage. Amity and the others gasped as they saw Eda, stuck as the Owl Beast, inside of it.

"I-Is that an illusion that Luz made, or the real Eda!?" Willow whispered urgently.

Gus drew a spell circle that made his eyes glow blue, then gulped; "That's no illusion. Luz and the others must not have gotten to her in time."

The small group watched with pits in their stomachs as Eda was dragged towards the scaffold. It wasn't much of a penitent's walk, since she wasn't walking and the crowd wasn't jeering or throwing things at her. Instead it was eerily quiet, with only the grim drumming and the sound of Eda's cage scrapping across the ground to fill the air. It was proof that people weren't exactly happy about this petrification, but couldn't stand up to the Emperor's will.

Throughout the courtyard, the disguised CATTs began to get antsy; with Eda now out in the open, Plan D was the only option left to them, but they still needed to wait for either the signal from Luz or Raine, or the appearance of the Petrification Statue. They all waited, preparing for battle, and tension filled the courtyard.

Eda looked around at the crowd and spotted several familiar faces, growing paler as she saw Amity and the rest of the kids alongside Rasiel. She didn't dare call out to them though, so stayed silent as she was dragged all the way to the scaffold and then around the back of it. She was detached from the worms dragging her cage, then scouts shoved her onto the lift inside the scaffold. Kikimora was waiting there for her, but didn't say a word before sending the lift up to the top. A minute later and Eda emerged into the open air atop the scaffold just as the sky began to turn red with the setting sun.

Sundown had come, and Eda looked around at what she believed would be her final view as a living person.

Down below, the crowd began to murmur as the various news crews made their reports to their audiences.

Perry Porter was one of these; "Well folks, Eda the Owl Lady has appeared on stage, which means the petrification process is about to begin." he reported grimly.

Kikimora stepped forward so the entire crowd could see her, then gave an announcement; "People of the Boiling Isles, we are gathered here today to witness the petrification of Edalyn Clawthorne, for crimes against the Empire and its people. However she will not face her fate alone!"

She snapped her fingers and the five scouts from earlier stepped forward, and the illusion covering them dropped, revealing that the scout in the centre was actual Raine Whispers, gagged and tied up while being forced to move by the other four. A gasp came over the crowd and Eda and the CATTs all looked at them with shock and horror.

"Raine!" Eda cried as the scouts dragged the bard over to the cage.

"Hey Eda. Looks like I got caught…" Raine said with a weary smile as the gag was removed from their mouth, "Still, at least this way our fates will be the same, no matter what happens."

Kikimora walked over to a series of levers off to the side and pulled on one to cause some of the magic bars of Eda's cage to lower, allowing the scouts to throw Raine in. Eda tried to claw at the scouts, but the chains held her down, forcing her to just snarl and snap at them, making them retreat quickly once Raine was imprisoned.

Kikimora then pulled the lever again to restore the bars and announced; "Emperor Belos has already handed down a sentence of petrification for Raine Whispers' role in the crime of kidnapping and corrupting the angel known as Luz Noceda. Their punishment will be carried out alongside their co-conspirator; the Owl Lady!"

There was an uproar from the audience, as Luz's friends panicked and the CATTs prepared to start the riot early. Raine's capture could explain why Plan B had failed, but the fact Luz and the others still hadn't been seen could imply that they'd evaded capture too. Amity pulled out her scroll again and began rapidly typing a message to Luz, hoping with all she had that her girlfriend was still free.

The uproar in the crowd grew louder as Kikimora pulled another lever, this time causing the Petrification Statue to rise up from underground to the stop of the scaffold. It was a sinister looking device; it consisted of four large stone witches with anguished faces and hands clasped in prayer, with a green orb between their heads. The statues were resting on a large brass platform, and were flanked by two glowing green tubes that sparked with green energy as the statue began to activate. Eda and Raine gulped at the sight of it, but the statue's appearance was also the signal for the CATTs to begin Plan D.

"COVENS AGAINST THE THRONE, ATTACK! FREE RAINE AND EDA!" screamed one of the undisguised members.

In an instant, pandemonium descended upon the Conformatorium. The CATTs disguised as scouts threw down their disguises and attacked the real scouts, while those hidden in the crowd came charging out to do battle too. The audience screamed and those unrelated to either the CATTs or the Emperor's Coven began to flee to the edges of the courtyard to avoid being dragged into the battle. Amity, Willow, Gus, and the rest of the Hexside kids began their own parts, playing the roles of frightened children by running around and getting in the Emperor's Coven's way, grabbing them whilst "begging for help" so they were restrained and easy to knock out. Spells began to fly everywhere, and thanks to the news crews, the battle was being broadcast to the entire Boiling Isles!

"Call for reinforcements from inside!" one scout cried.

"We can't!" a guard cried right back, "The prisoners just started rioting! The cells are open and the Warden is nowhere to be found!"

Rasiel, who was subtly tripping scouts whilst pretending to flee, smirked. Steve, Katya, Derwin, and Amber must have started their parts when they heard the commotion from outside! Now a battle was waging both in the Conformatorium and the courtyard!

Up on the viewing platform, the Coven Heads glowered down at the battle happening below them. They'd already sent the Scout Captains guarding them to quell the riots inside the prison itself, but seeing as neither side of the battle was getting any less intense, it didn't look like that had helped much.

"This is precisely what I meant when I said these rats never work alone." Adrien sneered.

"They completely infected our forces with their own! We should have declared a lockdown as soon as we captured Whispers!" Vitimir complained, brandishing a bottle of corrosive poison.

"That would have just triggered the riot early, before we could get Whispers in the cage." the Golden Guard countered, "Now at least we don't need to worry about them getting out and helping the fight. Emperor Belos has said that Whispers is annoyingly powerful…"

Darius scoffed; "A wonderful idea in theory, but they'll be free regardless once the rioters storm the scaffold." he said, looking at the battle happening at the base of the scaffold. The scouts were doing a good job keeping people away from it and shooting spells at any attempting to fly up with a Palisman, but at their current rate, they'd be overrun eventually.

"Why is that fool Kikimora not beginning the petrification already!?" Terra snapped, glaring at the Emperor's assistant.

"It begins when the Emperor orders it so." the Golden Guard replied. "I expect he's still waiting for the angel."

"Well while he's waiting, the prisoners may very well escape! It looks like we'll have to join this battle ourselves." Terra said, preparing go grow a plant to transport her down to the courtyard. However before she or any of the other Coven Heads could make their move, there was a loud screech from the sky. They looked up and paled as they saw the Bat Queen swooping down on them, alongside various flying beasts like Griffins, Hippogriffs, and Gargoyles. They carried other beasts on their backs or in their talons, and began dropping them on the battlefield and onto the Coven Heads.

"Go friends! Fight against the Defiler and his minions!" the Bat Queen screeched. The beasts she'd brought along were all residents of her forest and owed her their allegiance. They'd been no help against the Mandragora, as they truly were just beasts of limited intelligence and no spell-casting abilities, but in large numbers and with witches and demons as back up, they were an effective fighting force. The Bat Queen and the strongest flying beasts focused on the Coven Heads, keeping them busy and out of the main battle.

As Terra saw some of her plants turn to ash under the fire breath of the Bat Queen, she snarled; "Where is Emperor Belos when we need him!?"

[Meanwhile]

The battle in the courtyard and inside the Conformatorium itself could be heard down in the dungeons, making Luz, Lilith, and King very nervous as they raced for the lift that would take them to the scaffold. The battle had meant the scouts and guards stationed in the dungeons had raced upstairs to help fight, and the few that hadn't were swiftly knocked out by Luz after letting their guard down at the sight of Lilith.

"Sounds like things are getting exciting up there, hoot!" Hooty said, cheerful as always.

"We're running out of time! Plan D was only supposed to start when Raine or I gave the signal, or the Petrification Statue appeared! Since I haven't gotten a message from Raine, it's got to be the latter." Luz said urgently, picking up the pace.

"We're almost to the chamber!" Lilith replied, finding it awkward to run with her hands bound behind her back.

When they finally arrived, they found that the Petrification Statue's chamber was largely empty, since the statue had already been sent up, with the only contents being a collection of giant, eery statues. They were partially covered in fleshy tendrils, but their features could still be made out. These were statues of angels; each having wings and a hood over their heads, and wielding golden weapons and shields.

"Belos had these statues constructed when he built the Conformatorium." Lilith said as she noticed King staring at them. "This was his castle before he conquered the isles."

"Creepy…" King frowned.

"I suppose with Belos being an angel, it's not surprising for him to have statues of them. The fleshy stuff wrapped around them is kinda gross though." Luz commented.

Lilith's eyes almost popped out of her head; "I'm sorry, but Belos is a what!?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know. It's a long story; once we're all safe and if Eda decides to trust you, I'll fill you in." Luz replied.

Lilith dearly wanted to protest and push the issue, but decided to just keep her silence for now. It would do no good to push Luz and King, especially since they hadn't forgiven her and didn't trust her. Instead she led them through the statue filled hallway until they reached the end, where a large round stone platform waited.

"We can use this to take us up to the scaffold, where Edalyn is being held. With all the commotion we've heard, I doubt they'll have started the petrification yet." Lilith said.

Luz nodded, then undid the vines binding the woman's hands. Lilith's eyes widened in surprise, and King looked cagey; "Is that smart, Luz?"

"Maybe not, but we'll need her help if we're going up into a battle. The Coven Heads are here, so we need someone on their level to help us fight." Luz answered, before looking Lilith in the eyes; "I don't trust you, but I believe that you love your sister enough to want to save her from petrification."

Lilith nodded immediately; "Of course I do! Thank you, Luz. I promise I won't let you down."

"Oh Lilith, don't make promises you can't keep."

Luz, Lilith, and King all felt a spike of terror in their chests at the sinister voice coming out from the shadows. Suddenly, a pair of torches ignited and revealed Emperor Belos, lounging on a large, fleshy throne seemingly made from the jawbones of some large creature.

"You!" King snarled, before immediately screaming "WEH!" and firing a sonic roar at the Emperor. Belos casually blocked it with a red magic barrier, while Lilith brandished her staff.

"Consider this my resignation!" she cried, firing a bolt of blue magic, which shook Belos' barrier but could not penetrate it.

Luz assisted by firing a blast of light too, and after a blow from all three of them, Belos' barrier was cracking. Hooty then finished it off by extending from his birdhouse on King's back and smashing into it face first, shattering the barrier completely.

Belos chuckled; "Impressive; you broke my barrier. And it only took my treacherous Head Witch, a bizarre Demon Dog, a misguided angel, and some kind of… bird… worm?" he said sarcastically, becoming confused by the sight of Hooty.

"Eat fire!" King snapped, slapping together a pair of fire glyphs to shoot an x-shaped blast of fire directly at Belos. The Tyrant casually produced another barrier to defend himself, and before Lilith, Hooty, and Luz could do anything against him, he waved his finger. A little ball of red magic appeared on the end, causing flesh tendrils to rise up from the ground and wrap around Lilith and King, binding their arms to their torsos and then pulling them up into the air. Hooty was knocked off King's back and held by another tendril, before magic chains wrapped around his birdhouse in such a way as to stop him from extending out of it. The trio were then hoisted over to Belos, and left to hang helplessly around him.

"It's never wise to fight someone in their own home; you never know what surprises they have waiting for you." Belos said.

"Let them go!" Luz demanded, dismissing her illusory disguise and tossing aside her scout mask and cloak. She took a step forward, but then clawed hands made from the same fleshy magic as the tendrils emerged from the ground and grabbed her limbs, forcing her to her knees.

"Must we again have a discussion about making demands of our hosts, Luz?" Belos said ominously, his staff crackling with red lightning.

Luz instinctively flinched and whimpered, her heart beating wildly out of fear. The things Belos had done to her had left emotional scars that still lingered (unsurprisingly, seeing as it hadn't even been 24 hours yet), leaving Luz terrified of him. It was enough to make her feel weak at the knees, but she grit her teeth and forced herself to struggle against the hands binding her.

"I-I won't let you hurt my family any more!" Luz cried.

"We shall see about that, my defiant young friend." Belos countered. He pointed his staff at her and Luz braced herself, but before he could hit her with a spell, King once again shot a sonic roar at him, forcing him to instead produce a barrier to protect himself.

"Annoying mutt." Belos muttered, snapping his fingers and causing another tendril to wrap around King's snout and tie it shut, effectively muzzling him.

"Release him, Belos!" Lilith demanded, struggling as hard as she could. Corvanc, whose staff was bound to Lilith's side, turned back into Palisman mode and tried to claw at Belos' masked face, but the Emperor merely swatted him to the ground. He tried to follow this up by shooting a blast of green flame to incinerate the Palisman, but Luz was able to move enough to draw a pair of spell circles. One blocked Belos' attack with an ice barrier, and as it wouldn't last long against the flame, Luz's second circle used plant magic to make a carnivorous fly trap that swallowed Corvanc whole, before burrowing back underground and emerging beside Luz, who took the stunned Corvanc and stowed him safely inside her cloak.

Belos shook his head "Honestly, such effort to save the pet of a woman who betrayed you. Lilith has become quite adept at betraying people; almost as adept as she is at disappointing and failing them."

He snapped his fingers and the tendrils holding King, Hooty, and Lilith began rising into the ceiling, making them disappear into the darkness.

"No!" Luz cried, releasing a blast of light from her entire body to destroy the tendrils binding her. She tried to shoot at the tendrils taking the others away, but she was a second too late and they disappeared completely.

"What did you do with them!?" she roared, brandishing a light sword in one hand and channelling light through Owlbert with the other, turning his staff into a light-infused spear.

Belos chuckled; "They are quite safe… for now." he answered, snapping his fingers. A ring of red magic appeared beside Belos, and on it appeared an image of the outside world, allowing Luz to see that Belos had spat King, Hooty, and Lilith out right beside Eda's cage up on the scaffold, where they were immediately dog-piled by the scouts and tossed into Eda's cage. Luz also saw Raine in there, and gasped.

"Yes, it seems Whispers was caught too, masquerading as a Scout Captain. I'm quite disappointed by his betrayal; I'd hoped he'd make a good replacement for that senile old Scooter Crane, but I suppose anyone who has anything to do with the Clawthornes was doomed to disappoint me." Belos shook his head ruefully.

Luz grit her teeth, angered by his way of referring to Raine, his insult of Eda's family, and his imprisoning of her friends. She briefly watched as Eda, enraged at the sight of Lilith, tried to maul her, only to be stopped by a reluctant King and Hooty. The transformed Owl Lady then looked ready to cry as she held her son and House Demon, though whatever words she said to them went unheard by the young angel.

"Let them go!" Luz growled, taking a threatening step forward. Any fear she'd felt was overpowered by her desire to protect the people she loved.

Belos clenched his fists to show his own anger, but decided to speak softly; "They are safe, for the moment. Kikimora will not begin the petrification until I give the order, no matter how much the little rebellion outside stirs up trouble. I would have us deal with this whole affair peacefully; as I've said before Luz, it truly torments me to have to hurt you."

"I don't believe you!" Luz snapped; "You've lied to me before! I don't know what happened to you to make you like this, but I'm not the corrupted angel here! You are!"

Belos stood; "Oh, but you do know what happened to me. I didn't lie when I told you that I lost my only family to wild magic and its corrupt practitioners. It was also wild magic that scarred me, and led to the rot in my wings."

He took a step towards Luz, who brandished her light weapons again, making him instead choose to begin pacing around the room, circling Luz as he wove in and out of the angel statues. Luz made sure to keep him in her line of sight.

"If that really is true, then you have my sympathy. But it doesn't justify what you've done! Wild magic isn't evil just because some wild witches did evil things! You're forcing your order on people and punishing innocents! Eda may not be a flawless paragon of a person, but she hasn't done anything deserving petrification!" the young angel yelled.

"Did you know that about 200 years ago, there was a place called Radia Town. It was on the Titan's thigh, right before the incline to the Knee." Belos said, seemingly randomly. Luz blinked in surprise, completely derailed by the unusual statement. "That town was where I began my crusade to unite the Boiling Isles into my empire. Would you like to know why?"

"I'm sure you're about to tell me anyway." Luz replied warily.

"When I first visited the place, in disguise after the loss of my family, I found a statue in the town square. A statue depicting a local "hero" from the past, whose "heroic" deed was slaughtering a group of angels who had once settled nearby. I read the town's history, and discovered that wild witches and angels had lived in the area together for a while." Belos spoke wistfully for a moment, before his voice turned ice cold; "But then news of a different conflict between angels and the Demon Realm natives reached the town, and the residents decided to drive out their angel neighbours. The angels had lived peacefully, not wanting to spread order or do anything but live their lives… but the townsfolk, lead by that "hero" had slaughtered them all the same. Because they were angels and so had to be "villains" to those twisted monsters. When I heard that story… I destroyed that statue. I destroyed that town, and I made sure that the "hero" was wiped from history. You and I are now the only people alive who knew he ever existed, and his name is long forgotten."

Luz paled, feeling sick as Belos began walking towards her; "Awful, isn't it? And not an isolated incident. Half the towns in the Boiling Isles had at least one event where they massacred angels. A few were purged in turn by other angels, seeking justice for their brethren. Many stories I found told of angels as the aggressors, but seeing as there are no other angels left here… well, History is written by the victor."

Belos pointed his staff at the statues; "The Conformatorium was my first castle; a fortress I built while conquering the isles. This chamber was once a place of mourning; a memorial for all the angels whose lives were stolen by the evil of this realm. I swore that I would avenge them and my family. I would do my duty, and bring true order and goodness to this godless place. This chamber now houses the Petrification Statue; a device that takes the evil of this realm and seals it in stone, just like these memorials. If all that is good and holy is consigned to cold stone… then that which is evil and corrupt must be too."

He offered his hand to Luz; "I will give you one final chance, Luz Noceda. Accept your place at my side and bring about an end to the evils of this world. Allow Edalyn Clawthorne to face her rightful punishment. Do that, and I will grant amnesty to the rebels and the rest of your friends. Whispers and Lilith will remain in custody, but will be comfortable. The rest may go home, forgiven of any crimes they committed today or in the past. But if you refuse…"

The Emperor's eyes seemed to shine like blue hellfire; "Then I will create a new memorial for you out of their stone bodies, and you will do penance amongst the petrified all while knowing you chose their fate. Make your choice, young angel; you may rise to be the princess of these isles, or become a fallen angel."

His words struck Luz like blades of ice; he really wasn't playing around or exaggerating. If Luz refused him, he would see every single one of Luz's friends encased in stone, while she was bound to his coven forever. Three months ago, if he had made her the same offer, Luz may very well have taken it… and that thought made her angry.

"The things that were done to our people were horrible. Many innocent angels were probably killed by ignorant witches and demons…" Luz admitted, remembering the likes of Zachael, who'd lost his family too. But then she looked at Belos with fierce eyes; "But I know that many innocent witches and demons lost their lives to angels too; many of them to you. You justify the evil things you do by pointing out the evil things other people have done. You're not solving the problem, you're just flipping the script!"

She pointed her light sword at the Emperor; "Well I'm not gonna play by that script! I'll make my own! I'm saving Eda, and everyone else too! No one is being petrified today or ever again!"

Belos and Luz stared each other down for a moment as the air between them simultaneously grew thick with tension and cold as ice. Luz was already preparing to summon her ice barrier to defend against an attack, and almost flinched when Belos silently reached into his robe and pulled out his Comm-pact. He opened it, and Luz saw Kikimora, who was still visible in the image he'd summoned previously, pull out her own Comm-pact and open it.

"How may I serve you, my Emperor?" Kikimora asked, Luz hearing her voice through the Emperor's Comm-pact.

"Negotiations with the angel broke down. Begin the petrification." Belos ordered.

"NO!" Luz screamed, using Owlbert to fire a large light beam at Belos. It struck and destroyed his Comm-pact, but Luz was too late. She watched through the conjured image as Kikimora pulled one of the levers beside her, causing the eyes of the Petrification Statue to light up and a green beam of magic to shoot at the occupants of the cage, passing straight through the null-magic protections thanks to their matching magical resonance. Eda threw her large body in front of the beam to protect King, Hooty, Lilith, and Raine, but it was clear that the process was painful.

"I won't let this happen!" Luz roared, leaping onto the lift platform. Belos summoned clawed hands to hold the platform down, but Luz didn't need to ride it; she just needed to use it to line herself up properly.

With a mighty battle cry, Luz fired a massive blast of light directly upwards, vaporising everything between her and the open sky and leaving a wide hole leading directly to the scaffold. Belos tried to have his conjured clawed hands grab her, but Luz sliced them apart with a sword of light, then took flight and rocketed upwards, reaching the top of the scaffold in seconds and immediately conjuring an ice barrier to block the petrification beam.

"Luz!" King and Eda cried.

Luz turned to speak to them and tell them it was going to be alright, but she was suddenly hit by a blast of red lightning, making her scream and fall to her knees. Belos appeared from the hole she'd made, flying up with his own wings (concealed by an illusion). He shattered her ice barrier with a casual wave of his staff, allowing the petrification beam to once again strike Eda and continue the process of slowly turning her to stone.

Luz forced herself to her feet and rolled out of the way of another burst of red lightning, then decided that if her barriers could be broken so easily, it would be better to destroy the source of the beam; the Petrification Statue itself. She spun Owlbert in her hand to create a large spell circle, then used her other hand to draw the symbol of the light glyph inside it and fire a massive beam of light straight at the statue. It would have been enough to completely erase it, but Belos erected a red barrier around the statue. The barrier prevented magic from entering it, but not leaving it, so his protection didn't impede the petrification at all, making Luz grit her teeth angrily.

Belos then swung his staff at her, causing flesh tendrils to emerge from the scaffold and attack her, forcing her to take to the sky where Belos swiftly followed, beginning an aerial duel above the battle already raging. In fact, the sight of the Emperor and the young angel battling in the sky above them actually slowed the fighting, if only because many of the rebels and coven scouts wanted to look up and watch.

Luz fired off an Aurora Beam to try and freeze Belos, and when he blocked it with his barrier, the ice formed around it to trap him in a frozen sphere. Luz then tried to use Owlbert to fire another large blast of light at him while his vision was obscured by the ice, but before the blast could hit, her ice sphere cracked from the inside, then promptly shattered and sent shards of ice flying in all directions, freeing Belos. He casually flew to the side to avoid her light beam, then waved his finger, causing a red aura to coat the ice shards that had been sent flying. He then flicked his finger at Luz, and the ice shards flew at her like a rain of knives. Luz tried to outfly the ice, using both her wings and Owlbert's staff for an extra burst of speed, but the knives were relentless, so Luz instead grabbed one of the pre-drawn fire glyphs King had given her that morning and activated it, sending a fireball at the ice and melting it. Belos didn't stop his manipulation of it however, so Luz found herself getting suddenly smacked hard in the face with a torrent of water, which knocked her out of the sky.

The girl heard the screams of her friends as they watched her fall, but she recovered long before she hit the ground and swooped back up, avoiding a stream of red lightning as she did so. Back in the air, Luz used her own water magic to remove the water and dry herself, but the sudden soak resulted in the healing patch over her eyebrow growing soggy and losing its adhesive, so she pulled it off. It had done it's job anyway, closing the wound she'd gotten from Eda's claw. However the healing magic was also weak, so it had left a scar, something Belos couldn't resist commenting on as he pressed his attack.

"Why fight so hard for a woman who scarred you?" he said, spinning his staff and causing a ring of red flesh tendrils to appear around him and stretch their way towards Luz.

"This only happened because Eda lost control to the Owl Beast! It never would have happened if you hadn't captured me!" Luz countered, coating her wings in light magic and using them like blades to shred the tendrils as she flew at Belos. She put up her ice barrier right before slamming into Belos, but his body just seemed to melt at the impact and then reform behind her, where he blasted her in the back with green fire that destroyed her ice barrier. Luz dodged the flames themselves by putting away her wings and letting gravity drag her down and out of danger, before she brought her wings out again.

"It also never would have happened if the Owl Lady had surrendered and chosen to abandon her wild ways; the same ways that led to the extinction of your people in the Demon Realm! Can you even heal that cursed scar, or is it full of the same corruption that infects the Owl Lady. The same evil wild magic that infects my body?" Belos asked, conjuring some kind of giant green worm monster out of thin air.

The worm monster crawled through the air at high speed, and Luz yelped as it swallowed her whole. But the light, ice, and plant glyphs appeared all over its body, before bursts of burning light, razor sharp icicles, and sturdy tree roots shot out through its flesh, causing the creature to disintegrate and allowing Luz to fly out, shuddering with disgust.

"I could have healed the wound in an instant if I wanted! The reason I didn't was…"

Luz hesitated to continue her answer, even as she clapped her hands together and then pulled them apart, creating a wave of frost between them. She condensed this frost into a series of ice spears, which she then fired at Belos. He casually melted them with another stream of fire, then cast a spell that turned the water into acidic mist and sent it back in Luz's direction.

Luz managed to fly out of the way of the acid mist, but suffered a few acid burns as it clipped her side, forcing her to conjure her healing lotus to restore herself. She could have used this same power to heal the scar the Owl Beast had given her through her eyebrow, but she hadn't because to her, the scar was a mark of strength. Like the glyphs that marked her skin, it was proof to Luz that she had faced a harrowing experience and come out the other side alive and stronger than ever. It was a reminder to her that no matter what Belos did to her, she would survive, thrive, and come back better! She wouldn't be stopped or cowed by his corruption or delusions.

"… let's just say this scar means something to me. But if you're so interested, how about I give you one of your own!" Luz declared, conjuring a trio of plant glyphs around her. The glyphs began producing leaves, and Luz grinned as she made light glyphs appear on each one. The light glyphs coated the leaves in light, allowing Luz to then send them flying at Belos like little razor sharp spinning blades.

Belos tried to incinerate them, but the light that coated them made them resistant (though not immune) to his flames, allowing the sheer number of them to overpower his attack and reach him. He put up a barrier to defend himself, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and a single one managed to reach him. He turned his head enough that it slashed across the side of his masked cheek, leaving a shallow crack beneath his right eye. Luz cheered at finally landing a scratch on him, but this left her open for a quick blast of red lightning that had her screaming and nearly falling out of the sky again. Thankfully her Witch's Wool cloak absorbed a lot of the damage, allowing Luz to power through enough to avoid hitting the ground.

The Emperor chuckled darkly; "Despite the choice you've made, I really do like your spirit. I'd warn you not to try that again, but you've proven deaf to my words already."

"It's easy to tune you out when you're always saying the same things!" Luz panted, "You're like a broken record!"

Belos sighed and waved his staff, casting an illusion that multiplied him over and over, until Luz found herself in a ring of Belos clones. They began to spin around her, moving quickly enough that Luz couldn't keep track of which one was real, then all of them began firing different spells; some shooting green flame, some shooting red lightning, and others producing flesh tendrils or more of those bizarre green worm monsters. With no idea which attacks were real and which were fake, Luz was forced to throw up an ice barrier to defend herself and pray that the real attack wasn't fire. Luckily it wasn't; the real spell was one of the green worm monsters, which wrapped around her ice barrier and held her in place.

The Emperor then dismissed his illusions and cast a new spell with his staff, and to Luz's horror, both her barrier and the conjured monster began to turn to stone. Luz was shocked that Belos could cast petrification magic too, and soon found herself sealed inside her own barrier, now turned to stone. Belos raised a pillar of earth from the courtyard below so that the girl's stone prison wouldn't fall, then used telepathy magic to speak to her inside her head.

"Enjoy your cosy little cell. It's remarkably less tight and more temporary than your mentor's will be, but it should give you a good idea of the fate your decision has earned for the rest of your friends. Would you like to hear their screams?" Belos asked, transmitting the sound of Eda's pained groans to the trapped angel.

Luz gasped as she heard Eda in pain; the Petrification Statue's spell wasn't a fast process, especially compared to Belos' much quicker version. The Statue was designed to be slow, painful, and punishing; to really make an example of the victim. Eda's large Owl Beast body was also slowing the process, and she was enduring it well for the sake of her family, but she was running out of time!

"Eda!" Luz cried; "I won't let you get away with this, Belos!"

Focusing her light magic, Luz roared and released a huge blast of it in all directions, vaporising the statue she'd been trapped in, then flying at Belos. She coated her entire body in light, becoming like a little shooting star, and nearly blasted right through the Emperor, but he once again used his melting and reforming trick to dodge out of the way. Luz came to a stop, panting from the exertion; she'd used a lot of magic and Belos barely seemed winded.

"His magic doesn't feel as strong as I'd expect from a ten-winged Seraphim, or even a normal Seraphim, but its still way more than I've got! Think Luz! You need a plan!" she thought desperately.

Belos wasn't going to give her a chance to think however, and conjured a block of stone directly above Luz. It fell down on her, nearly slamming her into the ground of the courtyard, but Luz was able to shatter it by growing roots through it. Luz then manipulated the roots to make them throw chunks of the rock at Belos, but he just waved his hand and turned the stone into sand, which he then whipped up into a miniature sandstorm and sent back to Luz. The young angel blocked with another ice barrier, then used a small light blade from one of her fingers to carve the symbol of the fire glyph into the ice. Drawn glyph magic was slow and clumsy compared to her bonded glyphs, but it was still too useful to just ignore, so Luz activated the fire glyph while also using the plant glyph to coat her barrier in vines. The fire ignited the vines and turned her barrier into a rapidly melting fireball, which Luz sent flying at Belos while slipping out through a gap she'd left in the vines.

The mini-sandstorm obscured Belos' vision of what Luz was doing, so he was taken by surprise when the giant fireball came flying at him. This left him with no time to do anything fancy or prepare a counter attack, instead opting to just vaporise the attack with a beam of red magic from his staff. He then dismissed the sandstorm himself so he could see Luz once more, and found her stood on the pillar he'd risen before. Her wings were glowing green as she channelled as much plant magic as she could into the stone, growing a massive amount of vines and tree roots. Luz twisted these roots together until they took on the vague shape of an Ice Wyrm, downsized to be roughly the same size as Belos' conjured worm monsters.

Luz then sent the plant construct directly at Belos, who predictably responded with green flame. Since Luz had expected this, she'd prepared for it by combining plant and water magic to create a water spewing flower inside her construct's mouth, similar to the ones she used against Godric in Volcarpalis. The water jet was intense enough to almost nullify Belos' flame, creating a massive plume of steam. Belos intensified his flame to counter the water, but by that point the vine dragon was directly in his face and he ended up being soaked to the bone, shortly before being swallowed by the vine dragon. Luz then tried to constrict her creation to totally bind Belos.

"Please let this be enough!" she begged, already beginning to fly to the scaffold to save her family.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. Belos turned his body into some kind of liquid again and seeped his way out through the smallest gaps in the vines, and the instant he reformed behind the construct's head, he blasted it with flame to incinerate it. The green flames spread quickly and Luz's creation was quickly reduced to ashes.

"Nice try. You've become quite creative with the Titan's blessings. But someone using them to defy His will can never match someone who serves Him loyally." Belos declared.

He spun his staff just as Luz had before, and blasted a huge beam of red magic directly at Luz. The young angel responded by spinning Owlbert and doing the same with a huge beam of light magic. The two beams collided and released a shock wave that destroyed the stone pillar Luz had been standing on moments before. The blast was enough to force the people on the ground to brace themselves to avoid falling over, while the Bat Queen and her flying allies were nearly knocked out of the sky.

Luz struggled with all her might, her beam of light magic blasting against the red magic of the Emperor, but no matter how hard she pushed, she couldn't gain any ground. She had to use Owlbert's magic in combination with her own just to keep up as Belos just floated there, casually blasting magic from his staff! It was like he was barely using any magic at all! Luz's fatigue was beginning to worsen as well, and before long she'd run out of strength to fight back!

"You are weakening. A High Angel should surely be stronger than this. It is further proof that the corruption of the Owl Lady has diminished you!" Belos said, before tilting his head to look past Luz and down at the scaffold. "Not that it'll be a problem any more."

He said those words so smugly that it made Luz's heart lurch. It then almost stopped entirely when she heard King's anguished scream of "LUZ!"

Luz panicked and her control wavered, while the magic she was receiving from Owlbert suddenly stopped, allowing Belos' magic to finally overpower hers and blast her, making her scream as the red magic sent jolts of pain through her body. The force of the magic blast sent her careening backward even as she fell from the sky, causing her to crash land painfully on the scaffold. With a pained groan, she slowly sat up and saw that Eda was completely hidden behind the beam of green magic coming from the Petrification Statue, but she could still hear King's voice from behind the light.

"LUZ! STOP THAT THING!" he begged.

Knowing full well that her light magic wouldn't get through the barrier Belos had placed around the Petrification Statue, Luz used the fact that she'd been smacked onto the scaffold to her advantage to channel plant magic through the ground, causing thick tree roots to burst out of the ground inside the barrier and wrap around the statue. Luz clenched her fist and the roots tightened, crushing the statue to pieces and finally ending the Petrification Spell. Luz then used the same roots to smack Kikimora and her scout reinforcements aside, causing them to fall off the scaffold with loud yelps. She then used a root to pull the levers within the barrier until she found the one she wanted, causing the cage containing the others to disappear in a flash of magic.

Luz then spun around to see her freed family, only to freeze as her heart almost stopped. King, Lilith, and Raine were all on their knees, expressions of horror and heartbreak on their faces as tears streamed down their cheeks. Owlbert wasn't responding, his staff form like cold dead wood, and even Hooty was crying silently, as they all looked at Eda.

Eda, who had completely turned to stone.

A dreadful silence fell over the entire Conformatorium as everyone registered what had happened. The petrification had been completed while Luz was fighting Belos, leaving Eda as a statue. Her expression wasn't frozen in fear or pain however, but determination as her body was reared back, wings spread wide to defend the rest of her family from the petrifying rays. Even in stone, Eda was a picture of defiance.

Luz took a slow, clumsy step towards Eda. "E-Eda? N-No, this isn't right. This can't be happening! EDA!"

Tears streamed down Luz's face as she ran to her mentor, putting her hands on the stone woman. She tried to shake her, and slammed her little fists on the stone, as if trying to break Eda out from inside it. "No no no no! Eda, please! This can't be over! It can't be! We didn't come all this way just to fail!"

But she had failed. Eda was petrified in stone, and in Luz's mind, it was all her fault.

A murmur fell over the watching crowds as Luz fell to her hands and knees and pounded on the ground, releasing a cry of such sorrow and anguish that even the watching Coven Heads, Scouts, and the Emperor himself were given pause. King, Lilith, and Raine began to sob in earnest, each embracing the stone Eda.

"Please! Let this be a nightmare!" Lilith cried.

"Eda…! Why did this happen!? Why couldn't I save you!?" Raine sobbed, clenching their fists so tightly that their nails pierced the skin and sent crimson blood trickling from their palms.

"Mom! Please wake up! I-I won't complain about collecting trash any more, a-and I won't keep asking for expensive candy! I-I'll be good! So please wake up!" King wept, desperately clawing at the stone that bound the only mother figure he'd ever known.

Down in the crowd, Amity and the rest of Luz's friends from Hexside watched with heartbreak of their own. They'd come so far only to fail! Amity began rushing forward to try and scale the scaffold and give comfort to her girlfriend, but Rasiel held her back and hugged her from behind.

"Let me go!" Amity cried, tears already leaking from her eyes. "Luz needs me!"

"If you go up there, you'll be labelled a criminal. Luz wouldn't want that… and there's nothing you can do." Rasiel said, voice thick with grief, "I'm sorry…"

Amity struggled weakly for a moment more, listening to Luz's agonised cries, before breaking down herself and being embraced by her siblings, while Rasiel watched on in misery.

High above the crowd, Belos' voice echoed; "The sentence of Edalyn Clawthorne has been carried out, as is the Will of the Titan. May this be a lesson to all who defy His order and bring corruption to His people!"

Luz was deaf to his words however, as she continued to sob and punch the ground at Eda's feet.

"This is all my fault! If I hadn't given into revenge and fought Lilith, I would have had more time! If I'd been stronger, I could have beaten Belos and stopped this! If I'd never come to this world, Eda wouldn't have been captured!" she sobbed.

"NO!" King suddenly screaming, running at her. He leapt into her surprised arms and knocked her onto her back, before sitting on her chest and looking down at her with tears in his eyes; "Didn't you listen to what Eda said!? You became family to us! To all of us! If you hadn't come here, I wouldn't have a big sister and Eda wouldn't have a daughter! Eda and I became even closer because of you! Amity became a better person, Willow found her strength, Gus found his confidence, Rasiel was revived, Raine came back into Eda's life, and so much more!"

He grabbed the front of Luz's shirt and pulled her up with all his strength, then hugged her tightly; "Did you forget all the people whose lives you've made better!? You were a miracle to us, Luz! A-And you're the only hope we have left! So please don't give up! Eda didn't give up right until the very end! She believed in you, and I believe in you too! So please…" he pressed his tear-stained skull against Luz's chest, right over her heart, "Please… don't you give up either!"

Luz stared down at her little brother, and for an instant, she felt something stir within her. Something deep and immense; a well of emotion within her that she didn't know she had. A fierce, burning determination began to spread through Luz's veins as her tears slowed and golden fire filled her eyes.

What the heck was she doing, sitting there and throwing a tantrum when she hadn't even done all she could yet!? Hope would continue to exist so long as she refused to give up! Eda had been strong in the face of what she believed to be her demise, so Luz could be strong now! She was an angel, and angels were supposed to be able to pull off miracles! So that is what Luz would do!

"You're right." Luz said, wiping her eyes and standing up, putting King on her shoulders; "I'm still alive, so I can still act! And Eda may be stone… but petrification isn't death! I won't give up until the very end!" she declared, spreading her angelic wings wide behind her.

Luz had only one idea that could potentially turn the tides and save Eda, so she snapped her fingers to summon her satchel, then pulled out the Panacea Mirror within. Holding it firmly in her hands, she pointed it towards Eda and began channelling her magic into it with everything she had.

"If I can't use this to cure your curse, then I can at least use it to save your life!" Luz yelled, as the mirror began to shine a bright gold. The reflection of Eda's stony face appeared in the mirror and a bright beam of magic shot from the mirror's surface and struck Eda. The silvery magic coated the Owl Lady in a powerful aura, making her stone body shine brighter and brighter until finally, the magic suddenly dissipated as Luz felt herself be pushed back a step back magical backlash. The aura faded from Eda… revealing she was still encased in stone.

It hadn't worked.

Luz's friends and allies gasped; they knew what the mirror was and how it worked thanks to Luz and Rasiel telling them, so they knew that if it had worked, the mirror would have fused into Luz's body after it was done with its task and Eda would be back to normal. But the mirror was still held in a panting Luz's hands, and Eda was still petrified.

"No! Why didn't it work!?" Amity cried down in the audience.

Rasiel grimaced; "A Panacea Mirror is designed to cure any kind of magical malady or curse, but Petrification isn't like a normal malady! It's a full body transfiguration, turning flesh into magically inert stone, with the soul trapped inside. The mirror isn't working because it doesn't even recognise Eda's statue form as being a person! It's just cold dead stone!"

High above, Belos shook his head; he hadn't acted to stop Luz, as he wanted the hopelessness of the situation to fully sink in; for her to realise the weight and consequences of her sins. The mirror had briefly concerned him, wondering if it was some tool he didn't know about, but it had failed. The Will of the Almighty was absolute; Eda's soul was consigned to an eternity in stone, or hellfire. No other fate would be allowed.

The brief hope that had filled King, Lilith, and Raine shattered, but Luz was still not ready to give up. King's words had lit a fire in her, and she wasn't going to let it go out!

"I'm not done yet! More magic!" she cried, once again activating the mirror, this time pouring in even more of her magic.

The result was the same, leaving Luz panting and frustrated. "N-Not yet! A little more!"

Again and again she tried, and each time the mirror's power would fail to take hold and Luz would lose a little more strength. With every failure, Luz would be disheartened, then force herself to try again, refusing to give up and surrender. She wouldn't stop! She would save Eda no matter what!

Finally, after another failed attempt, Luz was so drained that she fell onto her hands and knees again, panting hard.

"Luz!" King cried, "Are you okay!?"

"I-I'm not finished! I can keep going!" Luz said, forcing herself back to her feet. Still, as determined as she was, Luz knew she was almost totally out of magic, which was probably why Belos still hadn't bothered to capture her or send his lackeys at her; he was waiting for her power to run out entirely for an easy capture.

"If this doesn't work…" she whispered to herself, not even wanting to think about the consequences if she failed. "I won't fail! I can't fail! Come on you stupid mirror, I went through so much trouble to make you! You have to work!"

One final time, Luz thrust the mirror in Eda's direction and activated it, channelling every last scrap of magic she could muster into it and firing the beam of silvery light from its reflection. The aura once again appeared around Eda's statue form, then once again began to flicker and wane as it failed to take effect.

"No! Work dang it! Work!" Luz growled, pushing herself even more just to keep the spell from stopping again.

Belos shook his head; "You are fighting against the inevitable, Luz. Accept reality and acknowledge that this is the Titan's will! Your place is at my side, not beside that glorified gravestone. Just give up, and I will allow the others to live."

Luz grit her teeth and kept pushing; "Never! I won't ever give up! After all Eda did for me… with how much she matters to so many people… I won't ever stop! So long as there is life in my body, I will never stop, just like Eda didn't!"

But determination alone was not enough. She couldn't just stubbornly refuse to accept reality, and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew she was running out of time and magic!

In need of more strength and out of sheer desperation, Luz cried out to the one being who had allowed her to become as strong as she was. The one who had awakened her angelic powers, shown her the glyphs, and allowed her to ascend to higher ranks; the Titan himself.

"Titan, if you're really there then please hear my prayer! Give me the strength to save Eda! She's done so much for me and King and everyone else! We all love her so much! Please, just let me save her!" Luz whispered.

There was no answer, and the struggle to keep the mirror activated grew worse.

"Please! I'll do anything! I'll become your most devoted Priestess, like Zara and Godric! I'll serve you loyally for all time!" she said louder as tears began to build in her eyes once again. "I'll protect your legacy! I'll protect the Boiling Isles and its people!"

There was no answer, and the magic wavered further.

"I'll give you everything I am! My tears, my feathers, my blood… I'll give you every single scrap of it! I'll give up my heart, my body, even my soul! I'll give you my life! Just please…" Luz's voice grew louder, until she was screaming to the heavens.

There was still no answer, but a familiar burning sensation began to form in Luz's heart.

"Please give Eda back! Give her back to me! Please…" Luz clenched her eyes tight, then opened them wide as they shone with golden light and the burning sensation overflowed from her heart and surged through her body.

With one final, mighty cry, Luz felt power surge through her wings and her right arm as she let loose one last, desperate cry; "GIVE ME BACK MY MOM!"

Luz's wings began to glow a brilliant white, and to the surprise of everyone watching (either with their own eyes or through their crystal balls and scrolls tuned in to the live stream of the scaffold), red markings appeared on Luz's right arm. King and her friends gasped at the familiar sight of the fire glyph appearing on the back of her right hand, etched into her skin in a vivid red hue. As with the ice glyph, the fire glyph had long lines in its signature colour that stretched up Luz's arm and around her shoulders to her back, where it joined the other coloured lines in connecting to her wing joints.

Through her desire to destroy the corruption and evil of Belos, the warmth she felt for the Boiling Isles and all her friends, and the deep passion she felt for both her girlfriend Amity and her found family of King and Eda, Luz had bonded with the fire glyph, and the infusion of Titan magic it came with allowed Luz to absolutely flood the Panacea Mirror with magic, screaming out a battle cry as she gave everything she could to save her Mom.

The silver light shooting from the Panacea Mirror intensified and began to turn a brilliant gold as Eda's entire stone body was coated. The aura surrounding her grew larger, and waves of warmth and positive emotions were blasted in all directions, filling the audience with renewed hope. Eda's stone body began to glow as slowly, the stone itself turned white, then crystalline… before a large crack appeared across her torso. Everyone at the Conformatorium watched as the cracks spread across the Owl Lady's now-crystallised form. Then there was one final eruption of light as the sound of shattering crystal filled the air.

Luz staggered back a step as the Panacea Mirror in her hands began to disintegrate, and a blinding light filled the scaffold. Luz was barely conscious of the particles of the disintegrated mirror fusing into her chest, as she was too busy staring into the golden light in front of her, tears filling her eyes once more.

But as these tears spilled down her cheeks, joining the ones being shed by King, Lilith, and Raine, Luz felt no sorrow or grief. She felt only pure, unadulterated joy. A huge smile spread across her cheeks, as stood before her was Edalyn Clawthorne…

… in the flesh.

Eda, still transformed as the Owl Beast, panted and gasped as the light faded, revealing her to the entire Conformatorium.

The Coven Heads and the members of the Emperor's Coven all gaped in shock, while Belos nearly dropped his staff as he uttered; "I-Impossible…!"

"L-Luz?" Eda said, eyes wide with surprise; "I-Is this real? Am I alive, or did I die and this is just a happy dream?"

"MOM!" Luz and King cried together, leaping at their currently oversized mother figure. Eda squawked in surprise as she was knocked down by her delighted kids, and ended up flat on her back with the kids on top of her, hugging her with all they had. Owlbert, reawakening along with his partner, hooted with joy and dived into Eda's mane, while Hooty began crying noisily and wrapped himself around her too. Eda was terribly confused, but she was also beaming with joy! Luz and King had called her Mom!

"Kids! What happened? I-I was petrified, right? The last thing I remember was being cold and unable to move. It felt like some hazy nightmare, but then I heard your voice, Luz!" Eda said, shifting back to her feet while cradling her children to her chest. "Then I felt this wonderful light, and suddenly I was looking at you both again!"

Lilith and Raine both joined in the hug; "Luz saved you! She used the Panacea Mirror to turn you back!" Raine said, laughing with joy even as they cried.

Eda gaped; "N-No way!"

"She did!" Lilith cheered loudly, her ecstatic voice echoing across the Conformatorium, which had been stunned to silence, "It looked like it wouldn't work, but then she prayed to the Titan and that glyph appeared on her hand! The Titan gave her the power to save you!"

That declaration spread across the entire Conformatorium, and thanks to the news people recording the event, it also spread across the Boiling Isles as a whole. Almost every witch and demon on the isles had watched Luz cure the petrification, a thought-to-be impossible task, and receive that power after praying to the Titan.

There was a beat of silence, followed by the entire audience erupting into ecstatic cheers. No one but the Emperor's Coven members and the Heads of the other Covens could do anything but scream with happiness and relief, with the loudest among them being Amity, Willow, Gus, Skara, and Matt.

"She did it! She did it! Luz cured petrification!" Willow and Gus yelled together, doing a little dance of joy together.

Amity squealed with absolute delight; "That's my awesome girlfriend! Look at her! She's the best!"

The twins laughed and lifted Amity onto their shoulders so she could wave excitedly at Luz, proudly proclaiming to the entire crowd that Luz was the woman of her dreams. Luz herself blushed crimson, and shouted back; "I love you Amity!"

Shouts of "Aww" were added to the cheering, while Rasiel stood there, stunned and wearing a big dopey grin.

"She actually did it… the Panacea Mirror alone couldn't have done it, but with the Titan's power added on… it's a miracle. Luz truly pulled off a miracle…!" he whispered to himself. He felt a huge amount of pride for the child.

The Bat Queen and the CATTs that had kept fighting instead of watching Luz and Belos, all finally stopped; their opponents too stunned or demoralised to keep going, especially as the rebels' morale had just skyrocketed.

Up on the scaffold, Raine and Lilith moved from hugging Eda to hugging Luz, both thanking her profusely while Eda, still processing everything, looked on with a stunned smile.

Eventually she managed to choke out; "Luz… you saved me. You really did the impossible and saved me!"

Luz sniffled; "I didn't do it alone. If not for King, I would have given in to despair and given up. It's thanks to him that I was able to save you."

King looked surprised; "I-I just said what you needed to hear! You'd have snapped out of it on your own eventually."

"Oh no, don't go downplaying your part little brother! I never would have been able to do this without you!" Luz countered.

The two siblings began to playfully bicker, and Eda felt her heart swell at the sight. She hugged the two against her once again; "Thank you! Thank you both so much! Whatever did I do to deserve to be loved by such amazing kids?"

"You took us in when we needed you…" King answered.

"You cared for us even when we screwed up…" Luz added.

"You loved us. So we loved you." they said together.

Eda could no longer keep it in; she erupted into noisy sobs as she hugged her kids with everything she had. The little family sat there, crying and embracing as all the love they felt for each other overflowed.

But in the sky above them, another heart was filled with hatred. Belos glared down at the Clawthornes and his fallen angel. The child who'd performed a miracle with some manner of evil magic. Not only had she done the impossible, but her act of praying to the Titan had sent a very dangerous message to the crowd below and the entire Boiling Isles; to the empire… his empire. Even now, high above them all, Belos could hear them talk.

"That angel reversed the Petrification!"

"She prayed to the Titan and the Titan answered her!"

"Angels really are servants of the Titan!"

"But didn't the Emperor say it was the Titan's will for Eda to be petrified?"

"Maybe the Emperor was wrong?"

"Was he lying!?"

Belos clenched his fists; he was losing control. He could not afford to lose control! Not with the Day of Unity so close!

Thinking fast, he spoke; "People of the Boiling Isles! Do not be deceived! What you have witnessed today is no miracle or blessing of the Titan! The Owl Lady's rightful punishment was not undone by the Titan's will, but by the machinations of the corrupt and vile Wild Witches!"

His words were met with silence, and a mix of confusion and scorn from the crowd. "The Owl Lady's curse corrodes all magic that it comes into contact with; that is the cause of her escape. The curse corroded and corrupted the petrification spell, weakening it enough that the young angel's Titan-given powers were enough to break the shell she was encased in. I have seen it first hand, as have the Coven Heads who loyally fight to ensure justice is done! Only yesterday, I witnessed as her corrupted bardic magic burned the very angel she has twisted against the Titan."

Belos felt some vindication as he looked down at the expressions in the crowd and saw many of them become worried and doubtful. Many still clearly distrusted him and believed him a liar, but so long as their was enough doubt to maintain his control and complete his holy mission, he didn't care.

He pointed his staff at the little family on the scaffold; "Edalyn Clawthorne; as the tendrils of your corruption run deep in not only this young angel, but also this community and magic itself, I have no choice but to carry out your sentence myself!"

Eda snarled; "Bring it on bonehead! I never wanted anything but to live my life freely, but after all you've done to Luz, now I just want to tear your head off!"

"I will assist you, sister." Lilith said, now able to summon Corvanc from where Luz had stowed him inside her clothes, then switch him into his staff form.

"As will I. It's been a while since we performed a proper duet, Eda." Raine grinned, summoning Rena in violin form.

"We won't give up either!" shouted Katya from the crowd, having emerged from inside the Conformatorium at some point in the battle, along with most of the prisoners she and the others had busted out, "For freedom!"

The other CATTs in the crowd cheered loudly, while the Coven Scouts began readying for battle again. Rasiel, seeing which way the wind was blowing, began herding the Hexside kids to the edges of the courtyard so they would be safe, and the rest of the audience were doing the same. The Bat Queen shrieked angrily as she and the forest beasts she'd brought with her prepared to attack the Coven Heads again.

Luz separated from her little family so she could stand between them and Belos, her wings spread wide. Her glyphs on her body were glowing softly, and her wings were shining brilliantly as Luz felt her heart beat faster and faster. She felt so much strength building in her chest that she could stare up at Belos without the usual tremor of fear; she had her family behind her, she had her friends ready to fight to help protect them, and she had the blessings of the Titan on her skin!

Belos may have taken Eda from her for a brief moment, but Luz was determined to never let that happen again!

"I won't listen to any more of your lies, Belos! I know now that no matter what you say, you're not serving the Titan at all! I don't know if you're insane or just a tyrant using lies to control the people of this land, but I do know that so long as there are people who stand up to you and your tyranny, I will be standing with them! You tried to take my family from me Belos! I will never forgive you for that!" Luz declared, her words followed by a cheer from the CATTs. The young angel was channelling The Good Witch Azura, but the words still came from her heart.

Feeling the power inside her swell once more, and her glyphs and wings shine more brightly, Luz placed her left hand over the plant glyph on her stomach, and her right hand over the light glyph on her chest as she closed her eyes to give a prayer of thanks to the Titan.

"Titan of the Boiling Isles… Orion… thank you for what you've done for me. I will use the power you've gifted me to protect your son, our family, and the people who call you home. So please, keep watching over us!" she prayed.

Belos, having enough of this defiance, snarled and blasted red lightning from his staff at Luz. It moved so fast that there was no way for Eda, King, Hooty, Lilith, or Raine to intercept it, and Luz's eyes were still closed. But right before the lightning was about to strike her, her eyes flew open and revealed that they were glowing with white magic. A crystal barrier sprung up around her, resembling her normal ice barrier, but with the properties of light mixed in to turn the ice into diamond-like crystal.

Luz's family gasped in surprise, and within Luz's head she heard a quiet voice.

"The sister of my child is also my child. All magic comes from the heart, and yours, young angel, beats to the rhythm of a Titan!"

Luz gasped softly as she briefly felt a presence within her, and felt her heart beat a little faster. Her wings were tingling like crazy, and her glyphs were now shining so brightly that the light and plant glyphs could be seen through her clothes. Her body moved on its own, flying up until she was high above the Conformatorium, still protected from Belos' spells by her new Crystal Barrier. When the barrier finally disappeared, Luz clasped her hands together in prayer as an immense light overcame her. Everyone in the Conformatorium was mesmerised by this light, while Belos had to shield his eyes. Then, within that light, Luz began to change.

Her Witch's Wool cloak began to glow white and seemingly unravel into white and gold threads that floated around Luz in thick rings. The threads then knitted themselves back together, merging with the rest of Luz's clothes to transform them into an entirely new outfit, while her wings grew slightly larger… and more numerous. When the bright light died down and Luz's form once again became visible to the entire Boiling Isles, everyone gasped at what they saw.

Luz now sported a new outfit; her upper body wore a white tank top that cut off just above her stomach, allowing the plant glyph to be seen, while the light glyph was visible as it shone through the material of her new shirt. Her arms were partially covered by long, loose fitting sleeves that started below her shoulders and connected to Luz's top beneath her armpits, and had rings of gold at the top and bottom of the sleeves. Her lower body was covered in loose white shorts that stopped just above the knee, and had two extra pieces of pure white cloth attached at the waist. One was a kind of half-skirt/lower body cape that fluttered in the breeze and reached below her knees to the back of her shins, while the other was a kind of thin sash that went down in between her legs. Oddly, the bottom of this sash was torn and ragged, but the "tear" seemed to move and change shape, almost like it was some kind of white flame. Luz was also now bare foot and sported golden bangles around her wrists and ankles, resembling looser versions of what Rasiel had worn. But while the new outfit was one surprising change, the biggest ones were also the only parts of Luz herself that had changed… Firstly, while her four glyph markings were still present and glowing, the coloured lines that had connected them to her wings had now disappeared, leaving just the glyphs themselves. And then there were her wings themselves…

Her four shining wings had now become six.

Luz's family, friends, and fellow members of the CATTs all gasped, knowing just what this meant.

The glow in Luz's eyes slowly faded, once again revealing her golden irises, though the pupils had now become white. She looked down at herself with a stunned expression, noting her new wings, and her clothes.

"I… I ascended. I've become an Arch-Angel!" she gasped. She ran a hand over her new outfit; "This is my Holy Raiment!"

A Holy Raiment was a unique set of protective clothing that formed from an angel's magic when they ascended to the rank of Arch-Angel. It used an item of immense personal importance to the angel in question (Luz's Witch's Wool cloak in her case) as the base material then transformed it into something equally personalised. Every Arch-Angel had a unique Holy Raiment designed based on what their hearts desired, and it offered protection from all manner of harmful spells. There was a limit to its power, so Belos' magic could likely still hurt Luz through it, but weaker/common spells would just be absorbed by the Raiment and the magic within fed into Luz to rejuvenate her own supply.

"Incredible…! Bonding with the fire glyph must have been the final push she needed to ascend again!" Eda laughed with joy; "Looking good up there, Luz!"

"I-I'm not sure what just happened, but I can feel Luz's magic from here! It's on the same level as the Emperor!" Lilith cried, completely blown away. She didn't know what Eda, King, and the CATTs knew regarding Luz, so she was terribly confused. It still looked like a good thing though!

"Looks like Eda's little girl is all grown up. She's become as fierce as her Mom." Raine grinned, nudging a beaming Eda with their elbow.

King was jumping up and down with joy, so happy for his sister that he was even hugging a delighted Hooty; "Heck yeah Luz! Show these jerks whose boss! Nothing can keep our family down.

Down in the audience below, the CATTs and Hexside kids were all cheering again, while the audience was stunned by the evolution that had taken place. Many of the coven scouts and guards threw down their spears, refusing to battle against an Arch-Angel; especially one that had ascended so soon after publicly calling to the Titan for help and then calling out Belos.

"Luz ascended again!" Rasiel yelled, completely blown away. He knew that the Titan's power and glyphs were giving Luz a healthy boost in magic, but for it to be enough to turn her from a Cherub to an Arch-Angel in just three short months was insane!

Amity's jaw was hanging open as a fluorescent pink blush coated her face; her girlfriend looked so dang amazing that she was torn between trying to cover her face to make her blood pressure go down or continuing to stare. Emira smirked and used a finger to shut her little sister's mouth.

Her mouth didn't stay closed for long though; "LUZ! I LOVE YOU! SHOW EVERYONE ON THE ISLES WHAT A REAL ANGEL IS LIKE!"

Luz looked down at Amity and beamed. Trying out her new crystal magic (which was ice magic blended with the properties of light magic to create a kind of crystalline hard light, making it the inverse of her aurora magic), Luz created a crystal heart with little wings and a halo, then used a simple spell to make it fly down to Amity's hands. The youngest Blight squealed and held the gift to her heart with joy, while Luz made a heart shape with her hands, before turning back to the matter at hand; namely Belos.

For the second time in one day, the Tyrant was stunned to silence as he looked up at Luz, whose ascension had once again spread doubt among the people of the isles, and this time he couldn't think of a believable lie to cover for himself. "I-Impossible! How could you ascend further!? Why would He allow you to grow stronger when you are defying Him!" he demanded, losing his usual composure. Luckily for him, only Luz could hear his words.

"You mixed up your will with the Titan's Will. Now stop this Belos; our power is about equal now, but I'm fresh and desperate to try out my new fire magic, and all the combinations I can think of! You may not be exhausted from our earlier fight, but you're still not at your best! Give it up and let Eda and my friends go! Tell your coven to stand down!" Luz demanded.

Belos grit his teeth behind his mask; "I will not! This rebellion ends here and now!"

Luz shook her head; "Then I'll have to take you down! Hear me! I am Luz Noceda, Angel of Crest Kindness-"

She paused. No; that introduction was all wrong. That was the name and title of the little powerless Cherub who'd first came to the Demon Realm. She had a new introduction to give now!

"No… I am Luz Noceda-Clawthorne, Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles! And I challenge you, Belos, to a witch's duel!"

Her declaration rendered the entire place silent once more. Challenging the Emperor himself to a duel was unthinkable… but then again, so was curing petrification!

Belos, perhaps out of pride or anger, accepted in a heartbeat. "Very well, Luz Noceda. If you desire more pain added to your penance, then I shall oblige you!"

Luz flew down so she was at the same altitude as Belos. Owlbert, still nestled in Eda's mane, prepared to fly over to act as her staff again, but to his surprise, Corvanc flew over instead, allowing Luz to use Lilith's staff instead of Eda's. Luz blinked at the unexpected ally, but since Owlbert was probably tired, she didn't question it.

"Good to be working with you, Corvanc. Let's kick the butt of this jerk who mistreated your partner!" Luz said, causing Corvanc to caw determinedly.

"Enough stalling!" Belos snarled, conjuring a trio of giant green worm monsters to attack Luz.

The young Arch-Angel just casually pointed her right hand at one of them and unleashed a torrent of flame, which reduced it to ash in an instant. Grinning at her new power, Luz then decided to try out a new combo on the other two, and combined fire and ice magic to produce icy blue flames. Luz blasted both remaining worm monsters with this blue flame, and watched as it spread like normal fire, but froze the worms instead of burning them. Once both were fully frozen, they fell from the sky and Luz shot them with light beams, shattering them into tiny pieces so they didn't crush anyone in the courtyard below.

"Woo! Now that is a fun combo! Let's try fire and light!" Luz said, like a child playing with a new toy. She created a fireball and infused it with the power of light, causing it to turn white and gold, then prepared to throw it at Belos, who was already making a barrier to defend himself. However before actually throwing it, she paused and frowned; this fire didn't feel like the others… in fact, it felt just like how Rasiel described an angelic blessing. Luz certainly didn't want to bless Belos and give him any of her magic, so instead she dismissed the flame and flipped the elements, producing a light sword infused with the power of fire. The result was a blade of burning red light, which Luz sliced at Belos' barrier.

Before, it had taken successive attacks from Luz, Lilith, King, AND Hooty to break Belos' barrier, but Luz's Red Light Sword left a crack in it on the first swing, then shattered it with the second. Not only that, but every swing sent a wave of fire at Belos, forcing him to fly out of the way to avoid the second after his barrier was destroyed.

The Emperor then made himself melt and reappear behind Luz, ready to hit her with some red lightning, but Luz once again combined ice and light magic to make her Crystal Barrier. She then shot a blast of red light through the barrier, using it like a magnifying glass to focus the beam into an intense laser that succeeded in hitting Belos' staff as he dodged, and sliced off the wing ornament. Luz then dropped her barrier and pointed Corvanc at Belos, channelling light and ice magic through him.

"Aurora Beam!" she yelled, sending the freezing light at Belos. He blocked it by conjuring some flesh tendrils, then countered with powerful green flames. Luz avoided it by swooping down to the ground below, which had been left clear as the audience fled to the edges of the courtyard. As soon as she was on the ground, she grinned widely.

"I've been wanting to try this!" she declared, slamming her hands into the ground and causing a large ice glyph to appear on the ground beneath Belos, while an equally big light glyph appeared right above it. Luz activated her conjured glyphs, and a gigantic crystal Hooty Golem emerged from the ground and raced up towards Belos. It was a mimicry of Eda's Hooty Golem spell, though it sadly wasn't as easy to manipulate since hard crystal couldn't be moved as easily as earth, but Luz had still filled it with enough magic to make it shoot up at incredible speeds and swallow Belos. Thanks to the transparency of the crystal, everyone could still see Belos trapped inside the golem. Luz quickly melted the head of the golem with her fire-empowered light beams, leaving Belos no way out.

The Emperor growled and began to crackle with red electricity; "Don't think this will hold me!" he snapped, casting a spell at the golem to begin petrifying it. He couldn't easily break the crystal, but he could at least manipulate stone, so as soon as Luz's crystal Hooty was fully petrified, he turned it to dust to free himself, and stepped out onto the ground of the courtyard. However Luz hadn't been idle while he was trapped, and he emerged to find that there were now hundreds of Luz's, flying around in the air and standing in a circle around him, all preparing different combinations of her elemental magics.

Belos began firing small bolts of red magic from both his hand and staff to disperse as many illusions as possible in hopes of finding the real one, but when that proved too slow, he simply erected a barrier around himself in preparation for Luz's attack. This was a mistake however, as while on the ground, his barrier had one glaring weakness; the ground itself. The real Luz, who'd made herself invisible with an illusion, used the plant glyph to summon tree roots beneath Belos that bound his ankles and wrists before he could retaliate, forcing him to use his bizarre melting ability to escape it again.

"I'm getting tired of this game of cat and mouse!" Belos growled, flying high into the air and then shooting red lightning down on all the illusory Luz clones, destroying them all. When he saw no real Luz appear, he cast a spell to create a snow cloud above him, and then watched as the snowflakes fell to the ground. The snow fell on the invisible Luz and revealed her position, causing Belos to immediately shoot at her with a red blast. Luz blocked it with a barrier, but the crystal cracked under the force of the impact; Belos was turning up the heat in his anger.

A second blast shattered her barrier, and Luz dodged a third by sending a light blast at the ground to create a tunnel back to the dungeons, which she promptly fled down. Belos cast a new spell which created flesh tendrils and twisted them together into a blind, writhing mass of red flesh with dozens of clawed hands and just as many toothy maws. It shrieked and groaned as its claws dragged it into Luz's tunnel to pursue her, while Belos cast another spell to cause a single giant eye to appear on the creature's body, through which Belos would be able to see and direct the monster.

Down in the dungeons, Luz thought over her plan. Defeating Belos at the moment would likely be nigh impossible; their strength was about equal but he had a lot more experience and access to every kind of magic, while Luz was still largely limited to what she'd learned in the last three months. Her new glyph had given her great power, but she hadn't had time to practice it yet, and no matter how strong her ascension had made her, that power was useless if she couldn't use it effectively. Still, she didn't need to defeat Belos to win their duel… she just needed to show the Isles that he wasn't the invincible Emperor he styled himself as.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Belos' flesh abomination. It shrieked at her and lunged forward, aiming to grab her in one of its maws. Luz darted out of the way, using her wings to fly and shooting flames from her feet to boost her along at high speeds. These booster flames also hit the creature and burned it, making the beast scream, but it promptly regenerated.

"Great, it's like the golems at King's tower!" Luz thought. That meant she had to destroy the whole thing in one spell!

She said a mental prayer as she put a hand on one of the angel statues in the dungeon, then focused on the fire glyph as she prepared to use Construction Magic. Construction Magic used both fire and earth elements; one to build and one to destroy, and fire was the part that allowed destruction! That destructive power was the secret to her Red Light Magic, which worked like a disintegration spell, and Luz cast that on the base of the angel statue just as the creature got close enough, causing it to topple onto the beast.

The monster was briefly pinned by the fallen statue, but it began to wriggle free, so Luz turned up the heat and bathed the statue in fire, melting it into magma and coating the screaming flesh construct. Even that wasn't enough to kill it though, but Luz had another idea for that! She ignored it and flew back to the tunnel she'd made earlier, when first blasting out of the dungeons to save the others. She emerged from the top of the scaffold and shouted a warning to her family.

"That monster's gonna come up from there in a second! Get clear!" she ordered.

Eda, King, Raine, and Lilith all nodded, the latter three getting on Eda's back as she flew into the air to avoid the flesh beast that emerged from underground a second later. Belos fired a blast of magic at Eda to make sure she didn't escape the Conformatorium, but Raine blocked it with a blade of magic from their violin.

"Your opponent is me, Belos!" Luz growled. She used Corvanc to draw a huge green spell circle and then drew the plant glyph inside it, causing the circle to transform into a giant green ball of magical energy, which promptly exploded into a massive torrent of green leaves. Luz then repeated her earlier move by infusing them all with light magic to make them into little blades, then sent half of them at Belos and half of them at his abomination.

"Have a taste of Razor Leaf!" Luz declared.

King, Gus, and the HAS all grinned, recognising the reference. Pokemon had become popular with them ever since King had found old video tapes in Eda's trash piles, and Luz had shared her own love of it with the HAS. Her Aurora Beam wasn't named that for no reason! In fact, King had spent many an afternoon with Luz, using their glyph magic to mimic various Pokemon moves.

The reference was lost on Belos though, who burned the leaves aimed at him, while his flesh abomination was continuously shredded and regenerated. Once all her surviving leaves had been embedded into the monster's body, Luz revealed her final trick; the fire glyph had been placed onto each leaf along with the light glyph, so with a snap of her fingers, the leaves all ignited into a fist sized ball of flame. There were so many leaves embedded into the creature that it quickly went up in an inferno and burned too quickly and intensely to regenerate, reducing it to ash in a matter of seconds.

Belos snarled at the sight of this and shot a petrification spell at Luz herself, telling himself that so long as she wasn't totally turned to stone, he'd be able to restore her later and hopefully salvage his plan to redeem her. Seeing as even her barrier would turn to stone if it touched that spell, Luz instead used plant magic to produce more leaves to absorb the spell, then flew up high.

"Time for a big finish!" she declared, drawing four massive spell circles around herself using Corvanc. The circle to her left became the ice glyph, the circle to her right became the fire glyph, the circle beneath her became the plant glyph, and the one above her became the light glyph. Luz then connected the four in one gigantic spell circle, which began to shine with all the elemental magic Luz could muster. When she activated this combo circle, each glyph began to rapid fire its element down on Belos; arrows of light, icicles, fireballs, and sparrow seeds all bombarded him non-stop, forcing him to defend himself with a barrier.

While this was keeping Belos busy, Luz channelled some of the elemental power into herself. She used ice magic to coat herself in icy armour, then added light magic to her wings to make them giant blades of light, before rocketing herself at Belos by using fire magic as a booster. Lastly, she focused plant magic into a green ball of magic in her hand, which she brandished as she flew at Belos.

What happened next happened so fast that almost no one watching was able to make sense of it at first. Luz's elemental barrage eventually broke Belos' barrier as she knew it would, and he immediately blasted at Luz with his red lightning. Her icy armour absorbed the spell and was shattered, while Luz's fire boosters ensured she hit Belos before he could put up another barrier. However her aim wasn't to kill Belos, so she instead merely clipped him with her light wings, and slammed the ball of green magic into the ground to the side of the Emperor.

A monumental green flash of light covered the entire Conformatorium, and when it faded, everyone gaped as they saw what Luz's plant magic had done. The Conformatorium was absolutely covered in plant life. Every square inch of the ground was coated in grass and flowers, while the walls were coated in vines and ivy, and trees had forced their way out of the stonework. Even the inside of the prison was effected, with every cell now a miniature garden. Luz's ultimate plant spell had effectively destroyed the Conformatorium; not by reducing it to rubble, but by making sure it could never again be used as a prison. It was simply too overtaken by vegetation, to the point it would be easier to level the place and reconstruct it rather than try to reverse what Luz had done.

And, to add insult to injury, when Luz had clipped Belos with her wings, she had sliced off a chunk of his mask. The entire upper right side of the mask, including the eye hole and the long antler, now lay on the ground beside Belos.

Luz panted with exertion as everyone tried to register the enormity of what she'd just pulled off.

"I told you to let my family go, Belos! You should have listened!" Luz said, looking at the part of the man's face that she'd exposed. She could see a regular, dull blue eye and some greying ash blond hair, as well as what looked like the top of a rotten, mottled green scar, which matched the look of his wings.

Belos' one visible eye narrowed on Luz hatefully, before he suddenly groaned with pain. To Luz's horror, his body began to rapidly melt and swell in places, and green ooze slowly began to leak out from his robes and the gaps in his gauntlets. It looked like he was struggling to hold himself together, making Luz back off in anticipation of whatever would happen next. However instead of attacking her or something, Belos used his bizarre melting teleportation spell to disappear from the courtyard and reappear up on the viewing platform with the Coven Heads. His Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel were by his side in an instant, supporting his body as he limped into the Conformatorium. Once the Emperor had disappeared into the building, Kikimora (nursing a bruise from where she'd been knocked off the scaffold) screamed out to the Emperor's Coven.

"The Emperor has been left sickened by wild magic and the corruption he's been trying to remove from the angel! Do not allow his sacrifice for us be in vain! Seize the angel and destroy the rebels!"

The majority of scouts and guards roared out in agreement and began brandishing their spells and spears again, while the Coven Heads also began summoning up their magic. Luz's family, friends, and the CATTs all scowled and prepared for a fight, but Luz herself had a better idea. Her duel with Belos hadn't ended conclusively, but she'd still achieved her goal and shown the Boiling Isles that the so-called Emperor was not invincible. She grabbed the chunk of his mask that she'd broken off, then flew back into the sky and began making her wings glow.

"You all want to keep fighting, then I'll give you the fight you want!" she screamed, creating a light ball in her hands that quickly grew into a massive orb of light above her head. She began to condense it down into a tight, almost white dwarf star-like sphere within her hands, and the Coven members panicked as they threw up shields and barriers to defend themselves from what they were sure would be a devastating attack. Many even fled into the Conformatorium building itself, or scrambled down the hole Luz had left in the courtyard. However instead of firing this "blast" down on the Emperor's Coven, Luz suddenly screamed out;

"ROOST!"

In an instant, every one of the Rebels but Eda and Lilith knew what was about to happen (even the escaping inmates, thanks to Katya and Steve's team telling them while busting them out), and they quickly closed their eyes. Raine, riding on Owl Beast Eda's back, quickly leaned down to cover her eyes, while Hooty wrapped himself around the top of Lilith's head to blind her too. Luz then released the light, but not as a blast; instead she released her control over it and allowed the hyper-condensed ball to rapidly expand in an impossibly bright flash, temporarily blinding everyone who hadn't closed their eyes. There were shrieks and screams as everyone from scouts to Coven Heads clutched their eyes, giving the CATTs a chance to escape. They fled through the open gates, left impossible to close thanks to Luz's plants, or took to the air and flew away, all heading in the direction of Bonesborough. Luz flew over to Eda and the others and urged them on, before making sure everyone else on their side had escaped.

Once Luz was sure she was sure the last of the rebels still at the Conformatorium, she grinned and yelled to the Covens; "We are the Covens Against the Throne! Champions of freedom! We'll never bow down to tyranny! The Titan is on our side, remember that!"

With those final defiant words, Luz looped through the air and flew away, heading back home. Her mission was a complete success; Eda was saved, Belos had been shown to be vulnerable, and she had bonded with her fourth glyph and ascended to the rank of Arch-Angel. Luz couldn't ask for more than that!

It took almost five minutes after Luz and the CATTs were gone for the Coven members to regain their vision and restore some semblance of order. Terra Snapdragon was practically spitting fire, as were several of the other Coven Heads, while the others were focused on making sure the CATTs really had all gone and not left anyone behind they could interrogate. Unfortunately for them, every single member had escaped successfully, and even taken all the prisoners with them. The only people remaining in the Conformatorium were the Coven Heads, members of the Emperor's Coven, the news crews, and about half the audience, most of whom were from towns and cities far from Bonesborough.

"Well isn't this a fine mess." Darius commented dryly. "Never knew Raine had it in them…"

"Should we pursue in the airships?" Adrien asked, looking eager for some revenge after his clothes had been ruffled by one of the Bat Queen's beasts.

"That would be pointless. I have foreseen that endeavour; the angel's vines have spread even to the airships and carts. Pursuing them would be folly." Osran said cryptically.

True enough, the Coven Heads looked up to see that the airships guarding the skies had been caught in tree branches and vines from Luz's plant spell, binding them in place.

"If I ever see that little weed every again, I'll drown them in pesticides!" Terra snapped furiously. "And I'm going to pluck that little angel brat! Who does she think the Emperor is going to task with cleaning this place up!? Me, that's who!"

Before Terra could continue on her tirade, the Emperor suddenly returned. He was wearing a new mask and looked completely unfazed, even though the clenching of his fists showed his true anger. With his loyal shadows at his side and his bizarre fit now over, Belos raised his staff and fired off a small bolt of red magic, ensuring everyone still in the Conformatorium (particularly the news crews) were focused on him.

"Children of the Isles; the Titan has ordered that the Owl Lady and her cohorts be spared for the time being. He weeps for the corruption of his young angelic servant, even after he granted her a newly ascended form in hopes of swaying her back to his side. The Titan hopes his mercy will lift the darkness that has clouded young Luz's eyes. However the Owl Lady will not go without punishment for her sins; her magic has been stripped away by the curse that the Titan himself inflicted, and she will remain trapped in her monstrous form! Let it be a warning to all who defy the will of the Titan and practice wild magic!"

His words were broadcast to the isles, and he knew it would be enough to convince many of the sheep. He had instilled too much fear in both himself and in wild magic for the Isles to rise up in open rebellion against him after one slip up. Still, his rage at what the Owl Lady and her allies had done would not be abated until he had their heads.

Belos turned on his heel and marched back into the Conformatorium, his shadows at his side.

"Luz Noceda… like it or not, you WILL do your duty. The Almighty has ways of dealing with fallen angels, and I will bring you to redemption even if I have to drag you, kicking and screaming!"

[Meanwhile]

Luz arrived back at the Owl House alongside her family and friends. Eda, King, Raine, and Lilith touched down beside her and watched as she undid her protections on the house itself; removing the barriers and illusions. They then watched in horror as an eager Hooty returned himself to the door, making them all shudder.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that…" Luz murmured, her family nodding beside her.

"I've had him for decades, and I'm not used to him!" Eda joked.

Luz and King giggled, while Lilith just looked mildly disturbed and Raine took the whole thing in stride. It was a much needed moment of peace, especially after the harrowing experience they'd all just gone through. They were soon joined by Amity, Willow, and Gus, flying in on Amity's staff, as well as the founding members of the CATTs; Katya, Amber, and Derwin, who'd brought along Rasiel, Steve, Skara, and Matt.

"Guys!" Luz cheered, immediately getting swept up into a hug by her Hexside friends. "Thank you so much for all your help!"

"I think you did all the real work! You broke the Emperor's mask!" Amity grinned, pointing at Luz's trophy before pulling her into a kiss that left them both breathless.

"That was amazing, Luz! You're an Arch-Angel now!" Willow beamed, hugging the girl.

"And you cured petrification! Hey, since that Panacea Mirror is supposed to absorb a condition and then give you the power to permanently cure it, do you think you'll be able to free all the other witches that Belos had petrified over the years?" Gus asked.

That idea made everyone's mouths hang open; "C-Could I do that? I needed the Titan's help to make the mirror strong enough to free Eda…" Luz said, unsure.

Rasiel nodded; "You should be able to. If the mirror cures something, then the user permanently gains the power to cure that same thing. It's a powerful item, hence why it was so hard to make and why it needs two angels, a lot of magic, and can only be used by a person once. If we can get you to the other petrified victims, then we can free them."

The CATTs exchanged eager looks, already planning how they would do that. Steve saw this and chimed in; "You might want to put that idea on hold for a few weeks; security at the Conformatorium is going to be insane and no doubt the Emperor's Coven is already closing the holes in their defences that we exploited."

"Yeah. Besides, the CATTs are already pretty busy with Bonesborough." Matt said, agreeing with his big brother.

Luz and her family blinked; "What's happening in Bonesborough?" Raine asked.

"The whole town is rebelling!" Skara cheered.

"WHAT!?"

"It's true." Derwin said, "As we were flying in, escorting the freed prisoners and the rest of the CATTs, we were attacked by the remaining members of the Bonesborough branch of the Emperor's Coven. We had enough people that it wouldn't have been a tough fight, but the citizens of Bonesborough banded together and threw the Emperor's Coven out of town!"

Katya nodded with a big grin; "They all saw what happened at the Conformatorium on the news, or heard about it from their family members there. They think that the Emperor has been lying all this time about the Titan's will! I mean, everyone saw the Titan grant Luz's prayer to save Eda, and then saw her become an Arch-Angel. Plus your family has got a pretty good reputation in Bonesborough, and seeing as Luz is a "Noceda-Clawthorne" now, her own good reputation has helped."

"Which means Bonesborough is now the Boiling Isles' first Free Town!" Amber chirped; "The CATTs drove off the Emperor's Coven and are now taking over as the town's defenders. The Bat Queen also left some of her beasties with our members from the Beast-Keeping Coven and then flew off home. She said she was sorry she couldn't stay and help more, but she had to check on her babies."

Luz stood there, stunned; "I can't believe it… We really won! Maybe not the whole war, but we definitely won the first battle!"

She and her friends and family embraced and celebrated their victory, already making plans for a big party in Bonesborough itself to commemorate the location. However Lilith raised a point.

"Today may have gone well, but the Emperor won't let this defiance slide. He'll stop at nothing to destroy Eda, get the portal, and control Luz. Next time won't be so easy." Lilith said grimly.

Eda nodded; "Lilith has a point, and thanks to this stupid curse…" she looked down at her Owl Beast body; "… I'm virtually powerless. No amount of Elixir is gonna be enough to undo this."

"Can we make a new Panacea Mirror?" Lilith asked.

Rasiel and Luz shook their heads as the former answered; "A Panacea Mirror can only be made and used by an angel ONCE. Luz can never again make, nor use another one. The essence of the first mirror has blended with her magic, forever preventing her from making a second. I could still donate my blood to the creation of a new one, but we'd need another angel to give their blood too. Plus, since only an angel's magic can create one, we'd need that angel to also make the mirror, as I'm magicless without my wings."

"My Mami might be willing to help, but even if I went home now and convinced her immediately, which is almost definitely not gonna happen, it would take weeks to complete it. Realistically, you could be stuck like that for months, Eda." Luz frowned sadly.

That put a downer on things; sure Eda was alive and a combination of the light glyph and elixirs could help her keep control of herself, but she was still stuck as the Owl Beast. Magic was out of the question, and even living a normal life would be next to impossible.

Lilith looked at her sister sadly; "This is all my fault… I should never have let my petty jealousy blind me. I caused you so much grief… you and your children."

Eda huffed; "You've got that right! Honestly, if King hadn't told me why you cursed me, I'd have torn you to shreds! And I still haven't forgiven you for that or kidnapping Luz!"

"We haven't either." King said angrily. He was grateful for Lilith's help in saving Eda, but he was still far from forgiving her.

Luz nodded; "I-I still sort of think of you as family. You're Mom's sister and I don't have any other aunts that I know off… but I also can't forgive you. It's going to take a lot of time before that'll change." she said, being held by Amity, who naturally had a bone to pick with her former mentor.

Lilith bowed her head contritely; "I understand. I don't blame any of you; I haven't forgiven myself either. Which is why I've made a decision…"

She knelt beside her sister and put her hands on Eda's face; "Luz told me before that my fate would be the same as yours, Edalyn. When you were petrified, I resigned myself to the same fate. But your daughter and son refused to give up, and managed to save you. So while I cannot cure your curse… I too refuse to give up and let you live with it. I will share your fate."

Eda's eyes widened; "Y-You're talking about that pain splitting spell from when we were kids!?"

"Yes, sister. I will take half of your curse. That should make it easier to bear." Lilith nodded.

The others gasped, while Raine then stepped forward.

"No, you'll take a third." Raine said, kneeling beside the sisters; "I will take a piece of this curse too."

"Raine, no!" Eda cried, "I've already put enough of a burden on you!"

"Eda, I love you. Your burdens ARE my burdens. I'd rather share them with you then be forced to watch as you suffer alone. We broke up last time because you couldn't share them and I couldn't stand to watch you suffer from the sidelines." Raine said, putting a hand on Eda's cheek; "Please let me do this. Besides, a curse split three ways has got to be easier to deal with than if it was only split two!"

Eda's eyes filled with tears; "I never deserved you, Raine. You were always too good for me."

The bard smiled and kissed her cheek; "I only became as good as I am so I could live up to you. I want us to be together again, Eda. I have to be at least that good to keep up!"

"Y-You're gonna make me cry in front of my kids again!" Eda sniffled, "Fine! You and Lilith were always too dang stubborn for me to dissuade, so do whatever you want!"

Raine and Lilith both smiled and joined hands, while each placed one hand on Eda's face and brought their three foreheads together. Luz looked ready to step forward and offer to take a piece of the curse too, but Amity held her back with a hug and Willow, Gus, King, Skara, and Matt all surrounded her. It was a silent gesture that she had done enough, and didn't need to do more for the sake of her Mom.

Lilith whispered the incantation of the spell to Raine, then the two began to recite it together; "With this spell declared, let the pain be shared!"

Eda, Lilith, and Raine were suddenly engulfed in a brilliant light, which caused all three to float into the air. Their bodies were visible within the light as silhouettes, and Luz and the others watched as orbs of magic appeared from each of their hearts. These orbs of magic combined in a blinding flash, after which Eda's body began to shrink back to her normal self; her claws and wings disappearing and her witch form being restored. She, her sister, and her lover slowly descended back to the ground, their eyes closed and their hands joined. Eda's Bile Monitor was still black, and a streak of her greying hair had turned pure white on the left side of her head, while a streak of Lilith's hair on the right side of her head had turned grey. Raine's hair remained mint-coloured on the top, but the back and sides turned silver. The three then opened their eyes to reveal that they'd changed; Eda's left eye had turned grey, as had Lilith's right eye, and both Raine's green eyes had paled slightly, turning from forest green to mint green like the top of their hair.

"Mom!" King and Luz cried, rushing over to hug the Owl Lady.

"Kids!" she cried right back, happily embracing them. Now that she was herself again, Eda squeezed them both with all her strength and repeatedly kissed them on their cheeks and foreheads, making both children giggle and squirm.

"We're so glad you're back to normal!" King beamed.

"Me too, kiddo. And you're both calling me Mom!" Eda exclaimed happily.

Luz blushed; "W-Well you kind of are our Mom. You're not a replacement for my Mami… but if Willow can have two Dads then I can have two Moms!" she declared. She hoped her Mami would be accepting of that when the time came for the two to meet.

"Same for me! I-I still wanna find out more about my blood Mom, but either way, she's gone and you're not. You're the one who raised me." King said, feeling a little bit bashful to be acting so cuddly in front of so many people. Naturally none commented however; they all just smiled happily at the display.

When Luz and King finally separated from Eda, they immediately hugged Raine instead. The Bard was surprised by the sudden embrace, but laughed happily all the same.

"Thanks Titi! You sacrificed a lot to save Mom!" Luz declared.

Raine blinked in surprise and looked over their heads, mouthing the word "Titi?" to Eda.

The Owl Lady smirked; "Luz speaks Spanish. Tio is her word for Uncle, Tia for Aunt, and Titi is the gender-neutral version."

Raine gasped softly as King said; "You're not our parent, but we still think you're the best partner Mom could ask for!". His sister nodded proudly along beside him.

The Bard began to tear up and tightly returned the hug; "Aw… and you're the best kids she could ask for! You two really pulled off a miracle today."

Luz looked up at them with a beaming smile, then shyly turned to look at Lilith, who was stood there awkwardly. The woman wasn't expecting a hug after what she'd done, and she wouldn't get one either, but Luz still felt the need to say; "Thank you too, Lilith. This doesn't fix everything you've done… but it's a start."

Lilith smiled, touched that Luz was at least giving her a chance. King didn't say a word, but he was a lot more hot-blooded than Luz, so that was to be expected. Eda looked to her sister and said; "Luz is right. It'll take a lot more than this to clean the slate… but if you're serious about paying us back for what you did, then we'll give you a chance."

"T-Thank you, Edalyn. I promise, I won't make you regret this." Lilith said, overjoyed to have a chance at redeeming herself.

Amity eyed the woman silently; she still felt pretty angry over her kidnapping her girlfriend, leading to her being scarred and tortured, but she admitted that it wasn't like Lilith had wanted or expected those things to happen. Besides, before Amity met Luz, she may very well have done anything and everything to rise to the top; that was what her Mother had taught her after all. She may very well have cursed someone to stay ahead too, and that was a realisation about her past self that Amity hated. Ultimately, Luz was willing to give Lilith another chance, so Amity would follow her lead… she did have a lot of good memories training with her mentor after all.

"I'm gonna guess that you're both homeless now, right?" Eda asked her now cursed lover and sister.

"I have a small apartment in the Capital City Manubrium, but I usually sleep at the Bard Coven HQ. I doubt it'll be safe to go back to either now." Raine answered.

Lilith grimaced; "I lived in the castle…"

Eda sighed; "Raine, you're naturally welcome to move in with me. I've still got a lot of your old stuff from before that you never took back when we first broke up." she offered, before looking to Luz and King; "What do the two of you say to letting Lilith stay with us too?"

King crossed his arms grumpily, but Luz said; "I don't mind too much… at least until she finds another place in Bonesborough."

That was enough to make King sigh and agree too, before adding; "I won't complain, but she's got to be the one to do all the Hooty chores while she's living with us!"

Eda and Luz both grinned; "Oh, I think that's very fair." Eda said ominously, making Lilith gulp nervously, especially when she looked over and saw Hooty smiling at her with a gleam in his beady little eyes.

"I-I thank you for your hospitality. I'll endeavour to not disappoint you." she said, resigning herself to her fate.

The other residents of the Owl House chuckled. Luz then looked to Eda and asked; "How's your magic? Your stone is all black…"

Eda silently drew a spell circle, which promptly disintegrated. "Well, I guess sharing the curse didn't undo the damage… I'm a witch again, but I'm powerless. This is going to take some getting used to."

Lilith tried casting a spell too, but found it weak and feeble; "I have been diminished as well."

Raine then tried to play a bardic spell with their violin, and while it didn't result in the corrosive effect that Eda's attempt had the day before, their magic still felt stiff and sluggish. The music once flowed through them like water, but now it flowed like glue. "I can do a little…" they said with a frown.

King and the others looked downcast for a moment, but Luz just smiled brightly; "I might have a solution for that!"

"What kind of solution?" Eda asked suspiciously, knowing how self-sacrificing her daughter could be.

Luz grinned and produced the white and gold flame she'd made during the battle with Belos; the one that mixed fire magic with the properties of light magic. "I discovered this after bonding with the fire glyph! It feels exactly like how Rasiel described Angelic Blessings!"

Rasiel's eyes widened; "You believe unlocking fire magic has allowed you to finally perform blessings!?"

Luz nodded happily, making Lilith ask; "Pardon me, but I'm not as informed on angelic matters as the rest of you. What exactly is an Angelic Blessing?"

"It's an ability than angels use to share their power with others. They donate small amounts of magic to someone, either boosting their natural magic or even granting magic to those who don't have any." Rasiel explained; "All angels can do it, so long as they have magic to spare, but for some reason Luz wasn't able to before… her powers have been stunted in bizarre ways that I still can't get my head around."

"So Luz's holy fire can give us some magic?" Raine asked incredulously.

"I think so! Who wants to try it out?" Luz asked, poking her holy fire to prove it didn't burn.

"I volunteer to be the test subject." Lilith said, stepping forward.

Luz smiled and tossed the fireball at her, and immediately, Lilith was totally engulfed in white and gold flames. The others gasped and briefly panicked, but after initially flinching, Lilith was completely fine.

"I-It doesn't burn! It feels almost like a full body massage!" Lilith said, her shoulders loosening; "I could get use to this…"

The flames burned for a few more seconds, before dying down and fading into Lilith's skin. She was completely unburnt and could feel the well of magic inside her return to a more reasonable level. It still wasn't as much as she'd had before sharing Eda's curse, but it was enough to let her use magic without too much difficulty.

She demonstrated by casting a simple fireball spell of her own, smiling as it came out just as strong as she'd wanted; "Amazing! It works!"

Eda and Raine beamed and turned to Luz, but before either could even ask, Luz hit them with her Angelic Blessings. The magic filled them both, and Eda's Bile Monitor turned pearly white. Both immediately cast spells and were overjoyed to find they worked.

"This is perfect! With this, we can still use magic and be helpful!" Raine grinned.

"And if Luz is around while we're out of elixirs, this should stop the curse from flaring up from lack of magic!" Eda nodded.

Luz smiled happily; "I'm glad it worked out! Though I'm a little tired now…"

"That's no surprise. You just gave some of your magic to three people." Rasiel said with a shake of his head.

"She'll be okay though, right?" Amity asked worriedly, "This isn't permanent for her?"

"No. Luz will regenerate her lost magic like anyone else. Though you three…" the elder angel pointed to Eda, Lilith, and Raine, "… won't be able to do the same. If you use the magic Luz just gave you, it won't come back on its own. You'll need to rely on Luz for a recharge."

The three sharing the curse exchanged looks. That wasn't an ideal situation (though Luz would obviously recharge them without complaint) but it would at least be able to tide them over until they found another solution. With luck, Camila would consent to helping them make a new Panacea Mirror to finally cure the curse, but until then, they'd have to be careful not to overdo it with their magic; they didn't want to turn Luz into their magic battery after all.

Either way, with the curse dealt with for the moment and their magic issues largely sorted out too, the Owl Family, the Hexsquad, and the CATTs could consider the whole day to be a resounding success!

Steve, Derwin, Katya, and Amber volunteered to take Amity, Willow, Gus, Skara, and Matt home as they headed out themselves. The three young CATTs members had also lived at the Bard Coven HQ, since they couldn't afford apartments of their own (and had largely been taken care of by Raine), so they decided to bunk with many of the other CATTs at the barracks of the Bonesborough Precinct now that it was under their control.

Luz gave a hug and her heartfelt thanks to Willow, Gus, Skara, and Matt, then kissed Amity and told her how much she loved her, before watching and waving as they all headed home with Steve and the CATTs. Once they were gone, Luz finally joined her family in heading into the Owl House, where all but Rasiel would end up falling asleep together in Eda's nest. For that night, even Lilith was welcome, and Rasiel happily draped a blanket over all of them before going to sleep on the couch.

It had been a very long day, and once that would shape the history of the Boiling Isles. Everything would change for the little family from that day forward… but so long as they were together, they would face it without fear.