The Silver Raven

by ssjSega

After a drunken one-night stand, Lilith's world is thrown for a loop when she finds herself pregnant. Despite her initial reservations, she decides to raise the child with love and care, hoping to give him an unproblematic life. Of course, when you're the grandson of Sparda, trouble just has a tendency to find you no matter what. (Nero is Lilith's son AU)

13. Chapter 13: A Cold Rekindling

We're finally...FINALLY, back with this story, everyone! And it only took...(checks since last update) wow, a few months. Again, sorry for the long wait, but I got really busy with writing for BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant. On the plus side, I finished up to the third volume of that story and am now set to work on this story for the next few chapters before returning to the world of Remnant.

But since I'm always looking for feedback for that story so I can continue improving, if you guys ever get the time, please give it a read and let me know what you think about it.

And as you can tell from the length, this is a long one (seriously, this is without a doubt the longest chapter I've ever written for either of my stories). And guess what? It's boss fight time!

I know that it's been a while since my last update, but hopefully the length of this chapter and it having the next boss battle will make up for it? Who knows.

Special thanks to Quantum01 and FoxOnPie for Beta Reading this chapter.

Don't forget to check out the TV tropes page created by Link USA. Also, the tropes page now has a YMMV page. Feel free to add to it if you're able.

The Owl House is owned by Disney and Dana Terrace and the Devil May Cry series is owned by Capcom. Please support the official release.

---

Chapter 13: A Cold Rekindling

Nero walked down the halls of Hexside with his hands in his pockets. Under normal circumstances, there'd be a number of students walking down the halls either waving or asking him for favors for obvious, irritating reasons. But at the moment, he was on a free period while most others weren't, so he had some time to himself and figured he'd catch up with an old friend. One of the things he wasn't expecting to see as he turned a corner was his aunt hopelessly attempting to erase said old friend with a mop.

"Uh, Aunt Eda, what are you doing here?" Nero asked. Eda turned to look at him and the graffiti shifted its form to a face wiping sweat from its brow.

"Ugh, hey Nero," Eda said, sounding rather drained, "Look, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to clean this up."

"Didn't answer my question." Nero pointed to the wall and said, "Plus, Graff is actually a pretty good friend that I've been able to talk to, so you're not cleaning them off."

"Graff? Really?" Eda asked with a snort, "That's the best name you could come up with for graffiti?"

"You try naming sentient hall art."

"Touché. Look, I'm sorry for your friend, but they've got to go. Luz wants to go to Hexside and me cleaning up my old messes is the only way to lift her ban from this place."

"Wait, Luz wants to attend Hexside? Why?"

"Hell if I know, but Luz wants to learn more magic, so here I am," Eda groaned as she hung her head. Nero's mind returned to what his aunt said earlier as he scratched the top of his head.

"So, you said you had to clean your messes to get Luz to come here?"

"Yup," she answered bluntly.

"And Graff here's one of your 'messes', right?"

"Bingo," came her second answer, with Graff shifting to a thumbs up, "They were actually one of my first pranks here, being honest."

"So..." Nero thought for a second, "Does that mean I'm cousins with graffiti?"

"No," Eda said as Graff shifted to a "Yes", causing Eda to glare at them before continuing, "Graff here's just paint on a wall that I magically gave sentience for shits and giggles. They're not your cousin."

"Either way, they're a friend, so is there any way you can 'clean up your mess' without getting rid of them?" Nero wanted to make it clear that wasn't going to let her erase Graff, no matter what.

"Hey, if you can come up with a solution, be my guest, but until then..."

Eda move to attempt to erase Graff again, but before she could, Graff shifted into a series of words that spelled out, "Wait! I have an idea!"

Nero and his aunt looked to each other then back to Graff as Eda slowly lowered her mop and said, "Alright, I'll bite, what's you're idea."

Graff shifted form and took the shape of a right hand print. An arrow was pointed to it with a sign that read "Place your right hand here". To top it off, another arrow was pointed directly at Nero, who looked to his right, reptilian hand in confusion before shrugging and doing as Graff explained. Suddenly, Graff's form started to glow alongside Nero's right arm as the wall art contorted and congregated towards where his hand was placed. Within seconds, the glowing faded and Nero lifted his hand from the lockers, only to see that Graff was gone.

"What the hell?" Nero looked all over the locker wall and saw no trace of them, "Graff, where are-"

Suddenly, he felt an odd sensation in his write arm and looked down to it just as a glowing blue illusion of the word "Sup!" popped out of it. "Huh," Nero said as he lifted his hand to his face just as more greetings flew out, "I didn't know you could do that," he then looked over to Eda and asked, "Did you?"

"Kid, I've been expelled from this place for decades and never paid my old pranks any mind," Eda retorted, "Of course I wouldn't know they could do that. I think we should be asking how they know how to do that."

Nero looked down to his right hand again, with Graff flashing out the words, "It was more of a guess."

Nero and Eda both looked to each other before looking back to his hand as Eda said, "Well, that's one hell of a lucky guess," she then put the mop back in its bucket, "Still, that's one less chore for me to worry about. Thanks for that."

"No problem, Aunt Eda," Nero replied, "Just glad you didn't kill Graff."

"Actually, I was thanking Graff, but you're welcome," Eda answered with a jokey demeanor as Nero rolled his eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta clean out the rest of my messes from the snorefest of a school."

"Curse you and your ability to not have to go here," Nero joked back with a smirk as his aunt smiled and raised a middle finger to him while walking away. Still smiling as he walked off, he checked the time and noticed that he still had a few minutes left before his free period ended. He looked down to his right arm and noted the rather odd sensation now that Graff was basically living in it as it's...passenger? Host? Whatever they were, Nero was about to ask them how this whole thing worked, but before he could, a pair of familiar, annoying voices popped up behind him.

"Hey Nero!"

Nero didn't bother to think or turn and face the Blights as he continued walking down the hall. Frustratingly, but as expected, this didn't deter Edric or Emira at all as they simply walked ahead of and stopped in front of him.

"Nero, hold up," Edric started, "We just want to-"

Nero didn't bother listening or stopping as he shoved past both of them. There was an admitted small part of him that wanted to hear them out, but he shoved it aside every time. He wasn't interested in hearing either Edric or Emira's excuses anymore and just wanted them to stay away from him.

"Wait! Please just list-" Emira didn't get very far into her sentence as Nero spun a spell circle with his left hand and manifested a giant ice wall that blocked the Blights' path. Checking the time again, he was actually grateful that his free period was coming to a close, since that meant he didn't have to deal with the Blight twins and their persistence for a while.

---

Edric could hear his sister sigh in her bed, and being honest, he couldn't help but do the same from his desk. He was supposed to be doing homework, but he spent most of it either drawing pictures or trying to figure out how to make newer, better, completely legal fireworks. Unfortunately, he didn't even have the drive to do that these days.

"We messed up," he couldn't help but drone out.

"Yeah, I know that already," Emira grumbled out as it sounded like she was shifting on her bed, "You don't have to say it at the exact same time every single day."

"Wait, what time is it?"

"4:30," Emira replied just as Edric looked to the wall clock to see that it was actually 4:27, which was close enough.

"Sorry." Now Edric was the one grumbling. "Guess I'm still...bummed out, y'know?"

Emira stopped looking annoyed and looked down as she said, "Yeah. I get it." The two sat in silence, from there. He couldn't really find anything to say, and he knew his twin enough to know she was the same way right now. Things didn't stay quiet for long, as there was a sudden knocking on their bedroom door, followed by their little sister's voice coming through.

"Hey," Mittens began before she entered their room, "Have you guys seen the-" she stopped herself as she looked at them, "You're moping again, aren't you?"

"PFFT! What, no!" Edric got up and put on his best smile. He had no idea if it looked convincing or not, but he assumed it looked convincing.

"We were just...uh...taking a break from smiling!" He turned to Emira and said, "Breaks over!"

"Right!" Emira put on her best smile, and Edric struggled not to grimace at how forced it was. He really hoped his smile looked nothing like that.

"You both look like constipated ratworms," if Mittens' words were any indication, he did look that way.

"Ugh, you win," Emira groaned as she dragged her hand down her face, "We were moping. There, happy!"

Edric looked back to his little sister and noticed that, if anything, she looked rather unhappy. "Honestly, no, I'm not," she said, sounding sincere.

"I...why?" Edric asked before his brain caught up to his mouth. Knowing it was too late, he continued, "I mean, why wouldn't you? We kinda...sorta..."

"Okay, let's not beat around the bush and get to the point," Emira snapped, causing Edric to flinch as his twin looked to Amity with a sigh, "We tried to humiliate you and almost got you killed. You sure you're not even a bit happy that we're miserable? Wouldn't blame you if you were."

"Look, you guys are annoying," Amity started as she rubbed the back of her head, "Like, really annoying. Even when you try to be nice to me, you're still super annoying about it. I mean, sometimes, I just want my space and you both just barge in and-"

"Uh, sis, how's this helping?" Edric raised his hand and asked. He heard a loud snapping sound coming from Emira and looked to see that she just slapped her own face. Worrying about that later, Edric looked back to Amity, who sighed.

"Right, sorry. My point is that no matter how annoying you guys can be, even if you end up trying to humiliate me, you're still my brother and sister. I'm definitely still gonna get mad at you for it, and I still kinda am, but I just don't have it in me to outright hate you guys forever, y'know?"

Edric looked between his two sisters before he felt his face turn to a smile, and it felt a lot more natural this time. Even Emira had a more genuinely happy grin, though it quickly faded after a few seconds. Edric knew why, and now that it was in his head, he felt his smile leave and get replaced with a frown too.

"At least you're not gonna hate us forever," Edric mumbled under his breath, though from the look on his little sister's face, she clearly heard what he said.

"Let me guess, Nero's still avoiding you two?" Mittens asked.

Both of them nodded as Emira said, "I don't get it. We just want things to go back to normal. It's mostly normal around here, so why is everything all messed up over there!"

"Have you tried...I don't know, apologizing for what you did?"

Edric felt confused at his younger sister's suggestion, "But we already apologized to you."

"Ugh, no Edric, not me," Amity facepalmed just like Emira did, "I mean Nero. Haven't you guys tried doing that?"

"Apologizing? He won't even let us go anywhere near him!" Emira scoffed, sounding really frustrated as she crossed her arms and looked away, "How are we supposed to do that if we can't even get a sentence in?" Edric shrugged and tried thinking of a way around that issue.

Maybe we can try...no that'd probably make things worse, Edric thought. Oh! What if I make a firework that can spell out an apology and he...no, there's a chance he wouldn't see it, after a few more attempts, he slumped his shoulders and sat back down in his chair.

"Okay, maybe we should think about how to apologize later," Emira suggested, "If we can figure out how to approach him first."

"Right, you guys do that. I'm gonna go see if I can find Luz's Azura book," Amity said as she prepared to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" Emira jumped off her bed and rushed over to Mittens' side, "Do you need help finding it?"

Edric jumped at Amity's other side and gave her his most eager grin. He also wanted to help if he could, still feeling he hadn't fully made it up to his little sister for the library incident, plus he needed a good distraction from all the moping from before.

"Guys, it's fine. I can find it on my-" before Amity could continue, Edric turned to Emira for a second and they nodded. They both gave their sister the most pleading faces they could muster, making it clear that they really wanted to help. After a few seconds, Mittens' grunted, "Even if I say no, you're still gonna follow me and help me out, aren't you?"

Both of them nodded as their sister reluctantly sighed and continued out of the room, "Okay, fine, let's make this quick."

---

"Mom! I'm heading out!"

Lilith could hear her son call out to her as she finished sipping Apple Blood from her favorite mug. In a few short minutes, her son was out of his room and walking through the kitchen as she asked, "Where are you going?"

"Oh! Uh, y'know...out?"

Lilith raised an eyebrow to her son's non-answer and asked again, "Out where, exactly?"

"Just...hanging around Bonesburough, seeing sights and all that," Nero replied with an slightly nervous inflection that made the gears in Lilith's head turn. Ever since he came home late the one time, he hadn't had that issue again so far, but she still couldn't escape the knowledge that he was hiding something from her, and that where he was planning to go now involved where he was previously.

Furthering her suspicions was how he tended to hide his arm from her whenever it glowed, something he never did before. The first time it happened, his right hand emitted a message that read "Hello, Lily!" and she was quick to ask what that was about, as nobody called her by that name except her sister. Her son quickly said he had a few illusionary messages prepped up for class, but he told it so frantically that it was an obvious lie. To top it off, when she walked past his room that same day, she saw the door open by a crack and peered inside to see him talking to the arm as it showcased more messages in the form of a full-blown conversation.

"Very well then," Lilith answered as she stopped pondering over past events for a moment, "Just make sure that you're careful. Okay?"

"I will," he said as he started headed out, "And I'll try not to be out for too long, but I'll call in case I'm gonna be late."

"Yes, please do that," Lilith stood up and gave him a brief hug and a peck to the side of his head, "Stay safe my little raven."

Her son nodded before he walked out, closing the door behind him. After just about a minute, Lilith held out her hand and summoned her staff from the living room. "Coronis," she addressed her Palisman, who lifted himself off the tip of the stave, "Look, I know what I'm going to ask of you may seem...wrong, but I would like for you to follow after Nero and report to me what he's doing."

Coronis just gave her a questioning look that she knew the meaning of. In response, she scoffed and fired back, "Yes, I know that I shouldn't spy on my own son, but you remember how he came home late and how he dodged answering! This is for his own safety. I just..." she looked down, "I just want to make sure he isn't in trouble. Could you please just see where he's going at the very least? You don't have to do much more than that."

Her Palisman stared at her for a few seconds before he gave a small sigh and nodded. He then lifted off and flew out of her sight, opening and closing the front door as he left. How Palisman's were able to physically open doors was something she was never able to understand, but she decided to just accept it as reality.

Speaking of reality, the weight of what she'd asked for sank in as she retook her seat at the table, running a hand through her indigo hair. She reminded herself that this was absolutely necessary for her son's safety. She just wanted to make sure he was safe and not doing anything unsavory.

Please just let it be nothing, she thought with worry, hoping that she was just being paranoid.

---

Eda whistled as she gathered ingredients to get a stew going. King was playing with that teddy bear she brought over from the human realm and Luz was out with that Blight girl she brought up every now and then, so with some time to herself, she decided she needed a half-decent meal, although she was also waiting for the inevitable moment when the domestic peace would be ruined by someone barging in on her.

"Hey, Aunt Eda." Sure enough, before she could get started, Nero barged into the kitchen.

"Hey, Nero. How's it been?" Eda asked, grumbling a bit.

"Been mostly good, aside from some annoying crap here and there," he answered as he walked in, "Graff said he wanted to visit and try something out. Plus, I figured I'd be able to pick up Red Queen while I was here, so..."

"Sure thing, but first, I want to see what Graff wants," Eda stepped away from the counter as Nero looked to his right arm, which glowed and flashed out a message that read 'Put your hand on the wall'. Somehow Eda knew where this was going, but she still wanted to see what happened. Sure enough, Nero put his hand on the closest wall and his arm glowed for a second as her old wall art exited the hand, morphing into a thumbs up on their new home.

"Yeah, saw that one coming," Eda said as she got back to the counter, "Look Graff, if you're gonna live here, just try not to piss off Hooty. He can be pretty territorial, if you catch my meaning."

Graff shifted and morphed to say, "Okay mom!"

"For the last time, I'm not your-Oh, forget it." Eda cut herself off and went back to her stew as Graff started traversing across the walls to explore the house.

"So, where'd you put Red Queen?" Nero asked.

"Hmm? Oh! I put that thing in the armory in the back. Just head down that hall and you should find it," Eda pointed to the hall where the armory was located.

"Hey, Eda!" Nero's voice yelled from down the halls, "I thought I told you not to mess with Red Queen!" at the sound of heavy footsteps, he walked out, looking a bit annoyed as he held his sword out for her to see. Eda leaned in and smiled as she saw him point out her handiwork.

"Oh yeah! See, you only told me that I couldn't sell the thing. Never told me anything about being able to mess around with it or modify it."

Nero stared for a second before he sighed, "Okay, I should have expected that," he then looked back at the blade and asked, "So what exactly did you do anyway? I don't really recognize the seals or spells."

"That's because I like to think outside the box and make up my own special spells. See, I made some alterations to the fire runes at the hilt to make them last longer and dunked the entire thing in a revitalizing potion for about a few hours, kinda forgot it was there and left it for a few days before I remembered and pulled it out."

"You did what!?"

"Yeesh, cool your jets, kid," Eda casually replied to Nero's outburst, "It didn't damage the sword, plus I was working to make the whole 'Exceed' spell less of a pain in the ass to reapply," she finished, making sure to add extra snark to the dorky name of the spell.

Nero looked down at the blade and flicked his wrist, setting it on fire for a second. Sure enough, the spell charge started restoring itself right after the use, taking a total of five seconds. "Huh, this is honestly pretty badass," Nero turned to face Eda and said, "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't get all sentimental kid, I only added it because I got sick of having to reapply you're little spell every time I used it all up," Eda snarked as she remembered when she was trying Red Queen out. It didn't take her too long to replicate the spell Nero put on the sword, but it was both boring and time consuming to reapply it every single time the thing ran out of spell charges.

No part of her wanted to do it to give her surprisingly cool nephew a small present to fill out her roll as 'the cool aunt'. Nope, not even a little.

"Next time I leave something with you, I'm gonna have to be a lot more specific," Nero bemoaned as he sheathed the sword on his back.

"Hah! Bold of you to assume I'd follow any instructions you give me," Eda laughed off as Nero shrugged.

"Point taken."

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." she then went back to the counter again and removed her hand to hold the cook book open. Though she stopped when she saw her nephew give her a bewildered expression as he stared at her removed hand. Realizing she had to explain some things, she gestured to the stump on her arm and said, "Side effect of the curse."

Nero recovered from his surprise and walked over to get a closer look. "That's...I don't know if that's cool or concerning," he mused out loud as Eda snorted.

"Believe it or not, this is actually one of the fun side effects."

"The curse has fun side effects?" Nero asked unbelievingly.

"Yeah, it's not all bad. There's the whole limb removal thing and..." Eda stopped as she tried to think of any other side effects she'd gone through over the years that weren't so bad. Instead, she could only say, "Huh, actually that's pretty much it."

"EDA!"

"And there goes my chance to relax," Eda groaned at the sound of Luz's voice calling throughout the house. I few seconds later, she watched the kid stumble into the kitchen and plop face-first on the floor.

"Eda! You have to teach me a new-Nero!" Luz dropped whatever she was babbling about earlier as she jumped up to greet Eda's nephew, "What are you doing here?"

"Picking up Red Queen and dropping Graff off. So what's got you faceplanting?"

"And more importantly, can it wait until after I manage to cook myself a meal?" Eda was really annoyed now. All these interruptions and she hadn't even gotten started on lunch yet.

"Wait, who's Gra-you know what, never mind," Luz waved off what Nero said and rushed to the counter so quickly that Eda was briefly convinced humans had latent super speed, "Eda, listen, I need to learn a new spell!"

"Why do you need to learn one?" Nero asked as he leaned his back against the counter and crossed his arms.

"Because it's the only way for me to get into decent classes at Hexside!" Luz exclaimed as she pulled out a sheet of paper with her light glyph on it, "Right now, I can do light magic," she then pressed on the glyph, causing a flash of light to envelop the room that forced Eda to cover her eyes, "But that's it! That's all I've got!"

Being as much of a drama queen as King, Luz collapsed to the floor. "And just whose fault is it that you don't know other spells?"

"Uh, aren't you her teacher? Pretty sure this is on you," Nero casually pointed out as Eda grumbled to herself, Betrayed by my own family.

"Exactly!" Luz shouted as she jumped up, "Don't you have anything! It can be any spell, even evil ones!"

"Why don't you just ask Nero to teach you something?" Eda pointed to her nephew with her still attached hand before she spun a spell circle to summon a pan towards her, "He's here and available, meanwhile I haven't eaten yet."

"Thanks for the offer, but no," Nero said as he looked to Luz, "Sorry to say kid, but the magic you can do is way to different from anything I know. Can't really teach you anything. Hell, I don't even know how to teach in the first place."

"Well neither do I and I think I've done pretty good so far!"

"What part of "I only know one spell" did you not hear?"

"Ugh! Look, I may have been doing some research on wild magic that could theoretically help you learn a new spell," Eda was starting to get tired of being ganged up on here as she started levitating ingredients, "But I'm a bit too busy trying to make a decent lunch here, so if you want to learn some new magic, it'll have to wait."

"Come on, Eda!" Luz begged as her tone grew more determined and a tad more angry as she continued, "You're the most powerful witch on the isles! What would people say if they found out that your apprentice got stuck in Hexside's baby classes."

That made Eda stop what she was doing. Sure, she just had to make sure Luz got into Hexside, which she did manage despite her dislike of the place, but the idea of her protégé being at the bottom level of Hexside's learning curve struck a cord with her. Well played, Luz, she thought with a swell of pride, Well played.

"Alright then," Eda grabbed her other hand and screwed it back onto the stump, "Guess we're doing some magic boot camp!"

"Did someone say Boot Camp!" King suddenly walked in with his teddy bear as all eyes turned to him, "If we're doing one, then I'm running it."

"How long have you been listening in?" Nero asked, something Eda would have wondered if she didn't know King liked to eavesdrop every now and then. Though she wondered where he picked up the habit.

He couldn't have gotten it from her. No siree, no way he got it from her.

"A king doesn't have to answer such questions, now let's get this Boot Camp started!" he shouted.

"Nope. Sorry King, but Luz needs to focus, and she can't do that if you're being all adorable and distracting," Eda said.

"Don't you DARE call me adorable!" King shouted as he stomped his foot all adorable like. As if on cue, Luz went all gaga over him, even when he slammed the door to leave, which he did again, and again, and again. Eda waited for him to do it again, but it looked like he was done.

"Anyway, how'd you like to join us, oh nephew of mine?" Eda asked, looking to Nero, "Even if you can't teach for crap, I could use the extra hand. Preferably one that won't fall off."

"Eh, I don't know," Nero rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, I got nothing better to do, but at the same time I cut it close last time with Mom, so..."

"Oh don't let Prissy Lily get you down, this'll be fun!" Eda interrupted as she rubbed her hands together and called forth some winter coats for the Knee's cold climate, "If we're going to train Luz, we need to head somewhere were magic just flows all over the place. Plus, there could be some big monsters for you to fight..."

"Well..."

"Please! It'll be like one big camping trip!" Luz added with that extremely cheery glint in her eye, "We can tell ghost stories and-"

"I'm in!"

"Eh?" Eda and Luz were on the same page as Nero immediately changed his tune, almost looking just as excited as Luz. The whole giddy look on his face looked...very out of place, if she was being honest.

"I said I'm in. When do we head out?" he asked. But before she could answer...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY WALLS YOU WALL JACKER!" Hooty's voice rang throughout the entire house as a lot of crashing could be heard in the background, "THIS IS MY TERRITORY! STAY OUT!"

From the sound of it, it looked like he and Graff just met.

"I'd say we're leaving right about now," Eda threw the winter coats to her nephew and apprentice before she opened the back door, "Now let's get moving before they get to where we are!"

Not a second later, they were out of the house and walking through her neck of the woods to get to the Knee, the sounds of Hooty's rampage fading in the distance. As Eda looked around in her walk, she saw what looked like a white bird fly out of a tree and out of sight. For a second, the bird looked an awful lot like Coronis, but she shook her head at the thought.

Just a trick of the mind, Eda. Why would Coronis be out here? she thought with bemusement, No way it's to spy on Nero. Not even Mom's that overprotective.

---

Nero breathed in the cold air of knee as he found himself unable to stop smiling. He was kind of expecting to feel more apprehensive about coming here, given how he got his arm, but instead, he was actually really excited even as he adjusted the hood of his navy blue winter coat. The prospect of getting to go on his first camping trip seemed to erode whatever fears he would have had.

"Huh, that's a bit weird," Aunt Eda's loud musings drew Nero out of his own thoughts as she continued, "Normally you'd see a Slitherbeast here or there. I don't know, somewhere at least. But it doesn't look like there are any around."

The mention of a Slitherbeast did make Nero freeze up for a brief second as he rubbed at his reptilian arm, but he brushed it aside, remembering that was years ago and he was already past being afraid of those.

"What's a Slitherbeast?" Luz asked as she adjusted her winter hat.

"Giant ass monster with white fur, eyes in its mouth, and a pissy attitude," Nero answered with a small growl, trying not to think back on when he was here as a child.

"Eh, I wouldn't say they're pissy. It's more of a "Leave me alone and I won't bite" sort of deal," Aunt Eda waved her hand.

"Whatever, we gonna set up camp or what?" Nero asked as he sped up to the front of the group, even turning to face them while walking backwards, "The sooner we do that, the sooner we can do all the fun camp crap."

"Just remember we're here to teach Luz a new spell, kid," his aunt reminded him as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah."

"Huh, you know, I don't think I've ever seen you this excited about...well, anything," Luz wondered out loud before asking, "Have you ever gone camping before?"

Nero sighed and shook his head, "Nope, never have. I used to ask Mom about going camping back when I was a kid, but she always shot the idea down."

"Doesn't surprise me. If there's one thing I know about Lily, it's that she sure as shit ain't the outdoorsy kind of gal," his aunt snarked, resting her staff on her shoulders as they walked through the ruins.

"So, if you guys didn't go camping, what did you do for fun?" Luz asked innocently, though the very question made Nero's eye twitch as he stopped and recollected...those times. Those annoying, boring times.

---

"Mom," a seven-year-old Nero said to his mother on the couch next to her, "Why can't we ever go camping? It looks like fun."

His mother sighed and gently hugged him. "Nero, I know you'd like to do that, but going out into the wilderness can be rather... dangerous, to put it lightly," she retracted from the hug and held him in her lap, "and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Is this about my arm?" Nero rubbed his lizard-like limb.

"No no no, it really doesn't, I promise. It's just that personal experience has taught me that camping isn't fun." Lilith shuddered as if she were remembering something painful or embarrassing. "Besides, there are plenty of fun things we can do from the safety of our home that are a lot more fun."

"Really?" Nero looked up at her with wide eyes, "What can we do?" Lilith smiled and spun her spell circle to bring the Crystal Ball remote to her hand.

"Why, we can watch a show that I think you might like. You know how you like to draw and paint sometimes?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, here's one of my favorites series. I'm sure you'll love it," she then clicked on the remote and the Crystal Ball flipped to a channel just as the episode started.

"And welcome back to part 3 of our 20 part documentary series: Understanding the Drying Walls. Today, we will discuss the process of how ink dries, and the many intricacies of-

Aaaaaand now I'm bored, Nero wanted to get up and go do something, anything, else, but he looked at his mom's smile as she watched and saw how happy the documentary made her. How and why she liked this was something he couldn't figure out for the life of him, but she liked it, and he wanted her to be happy. So he decided to put his personal feelings aside and watch the whole thing from his mother's lap.

And so he sat through it all. All one hour and fifteen minutes of it. One hour and fifteen minutes of pure, unrelenting, unspeakable BOREDOM. By the time the episode finally, FINALLY ended, he didn't know what was worse; the pain of his arm getting slashed by a Slitherbeast, or the monotony of...this. Either way, he was glad it was done so he could go find something-

"Oh! The next part is starting!"

At his mom's excitement and at the next part's opening credits, Nero could only think one thing, Aw crap!

---

The sudden snap of fingers rang in his ears as he realized where he was; not watching the most tedious thing on the isles, but actually back on the Knee, this time with his aunt and her apprentice.

"Let me guess, her idea of fun involved the history of balusters or some crap like that?" his aunt snarked as he groaned and shook his head.

"More like watching how ink dries."

"Figures," Eda rolled her eyes and walked forward ahead of the group, "Lily really needs to get a new definition of fun."

"On the plus side, actual camping doesn't have things like that," Luz chimed in as she followed just behind her mentor, with Nero following behind her, "We get to tell scary stories, eat snacks, catch fish in lakes, and make contact with a bunch of poisonous plants!"

Before Nero could say anything, his aunt spoke up, "And here we are!" before she stopped in front of them around the center of the ruins, prompting them to stop too, "We'll set up our little Boot Camp here."

"Yes! Second spell, here I come!" Luz spun around before she started looking at the views.

"You know, this kinda takes me back to when I was a kid," Nero mused as he looked up to the cloud formations in the sky.

"How so, kid?" Eda asked.

"It was when my mom was teaching me how to do ice magic," he explained as he reminisced, rubbing at his right arm again, "Ended up pissing off a Slitherbeast and got slashed in the arm."

"Oh...oh shit, is that how-"

"Yeah, pretty much," Nero interrupted his aunt's aghast question, "Look, that was years ago, and I'd like to think that's done and over with, y'know?"

"I hear ya there," Eda said sympathetically as she looked around, eyes falling on where Luz was, likely thinking about her curse and how she almost killed her apprentice because of it, "It's just that I don't want to make yo-LUZ! LOOK OUT!"

Within a split-second and almost faster than Nero could react, his aunt lunged towards Luz and brought her to the floor just before a light purple fire ball could strike her dead in the face.

"Eda! Luz! You guys okay?" Nero said as he ran up to them as Eda got up and held her staff in the direction of the fire ball.

"Yeah, we're fine," Luz answered, "But what was-"

"Sorry about that!"

Hang, on, was that... Nero turned in the direction of the familiar voice and sure enough, he saw Amity standing far away with a practice wand that still emitted some smoke, meaning she was in the middle of her own training. Now, normally, he wouldn't be bothered by seeing Amity, except for one major thing. Or rather, two major things.

"Hi Nero!"

Edric and Emira were with her.

"Titan fucking dammit," Nero cursed, now officially regretting coming here.

---

"Y-You can't be serious. Please tell me you're not serious." Lilith probably should have cared about how desperate she sounded, but she was too flummoxed to do so. Unfortunately, the serious look in Coronis' adorable, dopey eyes confirmed his findings as she stood up from her seat in the living room, her Palisman flapping his wings just near enough from her as she walked to the kitchen, clutching at her forehead. "Alright Lilith, there's no need to panic. I mean, just because your son is sneaking out behind your back to visit your uncouth rebel of a sister who just so happened to give him a large, dangerous weapon as a gift, doesn't mean anything bad for him. It's not like Edalyn's going to be a terrible influence on him that will lead to him being branded a wild witch and petrified for the rest of time or anything!"

Needless to say, it wasn't working.

"And don't give me that look, Coronis!" Coronis flapped backward just a tad. "It's not like I'm jealous or anything." Lilith ignored his questioning head tilt. "I mean, sure, based on your descriptions, he seemed to be engaging in casual conversation with her much easier than he usually does with me, and he was smiling more than he has here in recent years. And now they and Eda's human pet are all going out somewhere to have fun. More fun than he has with his own mother..."

Lilith realized she was rambling and said, "But that means nothing! I'm just...concerned for his safety is all! Edalyn's idea of fun is just so damned chaotic and I don't want him caught up in it."

Lilith closed her eyes, but that didn't stop her Palisman from pecking at her shoulder. It was rather funny, how despite Coronis' normal appearance, he could manage a great deal of intensity when pressed. Still, she stood her ground before immediately rushing to the bird perched on the counter and dialing her son's number.

"Nero Claudius Clawthorne," she muttered, "You are in so much trouble."

But as she brought the bird to her ear and heard the tone, one thought ran through her mind.

Please be safe.

---

Welp, this camping trip's officially fucked, Nero grumbled as Luz and Eda were in the middle of talking with Edric and Emira. Well, Luz was, at any rate, since Eda was too busy trying to fit several snowballs into her mouth. The sight actually made Nero chuckle a bit, but it was still marred by the fact that the dumbass twins were still in view.

"Ugh, just forget it." Nero got up from the pillar, hands in his pockets, as he started looking around the frozen forest. "Better find something to do while Luz's training."

"Hi Nero!" Nero swore under his breath and turned to face the twins.

"Does the phrase 'Piss off' just go through one ear and out the other with you two?" Nero asked.

"It does with Edric," Emira said, much to her twin's chagrin. "What? It's true. So, Nero, we wanted to-" Nero didn't even bother putting up a wall and just started walking away.

Sure enough, however, they quickly walked side-by-side with him, Edric asking, "So, what's with that sword on your back? Looks pretty awesome!"

"Weren't you two annoying your sister earlier?" Nero asked in annoyance.

"First off, we weren't annoying her...this time," Emira fired back, "We were training her, and right now, she's going over some drills we gave her. Secondly, would you just quit the grumpy attitude and listen to us for a change!"

"Hmm, let me think about that," Nero pretended to scratch his head, but before he could say no, a loud cawing came from overhead, followed by the last voice he expected to hear.

"Nero!"

Nero blanched and looked up to see a call bird flap its way down to him and hover close by. "Nero Claudius Clawthorne, I know you can hear this. Answer the bird right now!"

"PFFT! I still can't believe your middle name's Claudius!" Edric giggled alongside Emira, who was trying to clamp her laughing mouth shut.

"Shut it!" Nero yelled before he grabbed the bird and cleared his throat, "Uh, h-hi mom."

"Hello, son," his mom's voice was way too serious for his comfort, "So, care to tell me where you are?"

"I'm-"

"And Nero," she interrupted, "Don't tell me that you're "hanging around Bonesburough". If you do, I'll know that you're lying," her voice calmed down a tad, "Just...be honest with me. Where are you?"

"Uh, I-I..." Despite his mother's insistence that he tell her the truth, there was no way he could say what he was actually doing, knowing she wouldn't take it well at all. For a brief second, his eyes landed on the Blight twins, and he said, "I'm with Edric and Emira."

There was silence on the other end of the call for a second before Lilith asked, "Are you now?"

"Yeah," Nero said. It wasn't a complete lie, seeing as he was currently standing alongside Edric and Emira, much as he didn't want to be. It was just that he left out the part that he was on the Knee of the isles, and carrying a sword with intent to go monster hunting, and that he originally came here with Eda and Luz.

"I see." Just like that, the line went dead as the bird flew away.

"My my, going behind mommy's back?" Emira's questioning dragged him out of his reverie. "Who knew Claw Boy was so-"

"Not. One. Word," Nero snarled.

"Eh, not like we're judging. I mean, we go behind our parent's backs all the time," Edric added, shrugging his shoulders, "Pretty sure Mom and Dad still don't know about my back alley fireworks deals."

"Too be fair," Emira cut in, "Dad doesn't come out of the lab often enough to noti-"

"Would you two just piss off already!?" Nero shouted, but was quickly followed by another loud cawing. Looking up, he saw another call bird flying down, this time towards Emira.

"Hello? Miss Blight," Nero's eyes widened as his mom's voice came from the bird, "Could you please pick up? I need to speak with you."

Nero's blood ran colder than the air around them as Emira gave what was probably the most evil smirk he'd ever seen in his life and grabbed the bird. "You know," she droned out as Edric's own face mirrored his sister's, "I could tell your mom what you're really doing here."

Nero's eyes widened for a second before returning to normal, almost feeling a bit of acceptance. It looked like this was it; his mom would find out, he'd have to tell her the truth about everything, and also probably end up grounded until he was-

"But I won't."

...fucking what now!?

"Miss Blight, if you're there, please answer the bird," his mom said from the other end as Emira talked over it.

"We won't tell her anything," Emira said before her expression turned serious, "In exchange for at least ten minutes of you actually listening to us for once!"

Nero couldn't believe what he'd just heard and, in the span of a few seconds, weighed down his options. On the one hand, he still wasn't in the mood to be talking with the twins for any reason. But on the other hand...

"Fine," Nero groaned, "You want to talk? We'll talk. Just don't tell her anything. Please."

He winced at how pleading his tone sounded, but he couldn't help it given the circumstances. The twins' faces softened up for a second before Emira clicked the bird and answered, "Hey Miss Clawthorne! What's up?"

He couldn't quite make out what his mom was saying, but he was pretty sure she was asking where he was. Thankfully, Emira answered, "Yeah, he's hanging out with us at our place," more talking from the bird came before Emira said, "Sure thing," she then gave him the bird, "It's for you."

Nodding, he took the bird and said, "Hey mom."

"So...you're really spending time with the twins?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I am," Nero answered, feeling a tad less nervous. Suddenly, Edric took the bird from his hands with a "Yoink!" and started talking to Nero's mother.

"Sorry Miss Clawthorne, but we're all gonna be watching a movie marathon for a while. He might get home a bit late," Edric casually said, Nero realizing that the Blight just gave him an alibi in case he was late again this time, "That cool with you?"

There was silence on the other end before some terse, indecipherable words came from it. They didn't seem to be anything bad, considering Edric nodded and answered, "No worries Miss Clawthorne. He'll be just fine with us. Anyhoo, gotta go, BYEEEEEE!" and with that exuberant goodbye, he hung up and tossed the bird into the air, letting it fly away, "That was fun."

"For you guys maybe," Nero took a deep breath and let all his stress out in one exhale, "I damn near had a heart attack!"

"Well, that's what you get for having crappy lying skills," Emira joked, Nero returning it with a glare, "But thankfully, you're frie-uh, I mean, acquainted, with the masters of lying to adults."

"Right," Nero said, realizing that Emira was about to say "friends" originally. For some reason, it hurt to think about, but he had a deal to make good on, so that could wait. "Either way, a deals a deal," he crossed his arms and stood upright as he looked the twins dead in the eye, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

---

Looking at the two witches and the Sparda talking to each other from afar, the demoness smiled and licked her lips with her forked tongue before burrowing into the ground. She thought she smelled something familiar enter her domain and was quick to take a peak, always needing new food for herself and her babies. For a brief second, she considered turning tail and running when she picked up the recognizable, putrid, freakish scent of that infernal dark knight, but then she smelled the glorious meals she could savor...and the prey she could torment.

There was the twin witch siblings who smelled of mischief and misery. It was a delightful combination, especially when seasoned with the tears of local cave bats. Well, the ones she didn't force to sit down and have dinner time talks with her at least. Too bad they couldn't actually talk and she had to feed them to her babies.

Then she smelled the younger one related to the twins. If she was being honest, she didn't want to eat her, if only because she smelled like she had a stick shoved so far up her ass she could pull it out of her mouth. The stuck up ones always tasted the worst to her.

But the elder was something else, as she wasn't food, but a plaything. She could smell it in the old crone's blood; that same, disgusting blood that humiliated her in battle and whored itself out to a Sparda. And that whore's...well, whoring led to the one that was all grown up and now walking around in her territory, not even noticing her presence before she left to get a feel for the rest of her prey in the snowy reaches of the Knee.

Snow, oh how she despised the snow. It was cold and constantly damp, leaving her shivering every moment of every day for over a decade. How she wished she had legs so she could kick and stomp on all this damned snow, but smashing it around with her serpentine tail did the trick well enough. As did killing and eating Slitherbeasts, but they never tasted as good as witches. Their screams were never as satisfying. It wasn't even actual screams. Snarling roars weren't screams!

I was thinking about something important earlier, right? Right! New food now, hating everything and everyone later.

It was so easy to lose track of her thoughts these days since she had no one to talk to. Maybe eating the witches stupid enough to wander out here was part of that issue, but really, that was their fault. If they didn't want to be eaten, they should have considered not being born with such delicious flesh.

My thoughts are wandering again, aren't they? she realized. They always wandered, much like her victims. Speaking of victims, aside from the Sparda and the witches, she smelled something else in the air. It was something that hadn't entered her senses in centuries; the stench of humanity. This little group had a human with them.

Oh, this is going to be fun, she smiled. It had been so long since she'd last killed a human. Back when she was beautiful and terrifying to all who witnessed her. Not some pathetic worm hiding from the Emperor's forces, but a true ruler of her little slice of Hell.

Now she had her chance to do so much; get a decent meal in, kill a couple member of the bloodline responsible for her predicament, terrorize a human, and relish in the satisfaction of killing a Sparda.

Then, and only then, will I stop talking to myself! she began plotting her next move as her thoughts turned towards the green-haired ones and the human. Best take care of the weak links first and save the strongest for last.

---

"So, we're sorry, Nero," Emira said. "We went too far, and you're right to be mad at us."

"Look, you can hate us all you want. We just wanted to apologize," Edric said, "and...if it's what you want, we'll stop bothering you for good." Edric and Emira both turned to get out of Nero's hair, but Nero said, "Hold up," and made them stop.

"What is it?" Emira asked. As she turned back to Nero, a sudden realization dawned on her. "Oh, my Titan." Emira groaned and slapped herself in the face. "Please tell me this isn't going to turn into one of those scenes from Mittens' Azura movies where we make up after one talk."

"The fact that there even are movies of that series concerns me," Nero said, lightheartedly. Emira even took note of the brief smile he had as she and Edric smiled back, giggling for a bit. After that, there was a brief moment of awkward silence before Nero coughed into his hand and said, "Anyway, the truth is, I don't really want to be mad at you two for what you did. But it's just... well... Look, I know you guys tend to do a lot of dumb shit that I just can't get behind, but even knowing that, what you tried to do was a lot to process. Hell, it's still a lot to process."

"We get it," Edric admitted, "We honestly really do. It's still kinda crazy that Amity's even talking to us after that whole fiasco."

"She did say she's still a bit mad about it, but she just doesn't want to hate us forever," Emira reminded her brother.

"And I don't want to either, to be honest," Nero interjected, "Like I said, I don't want to be pissed, but I think I still need a lot of time to myself to think about it. So, how about we just give each other some space to sort this out?"

Emira looked to her brother, and the two exchanged a look. This was probably the best any of them could hope for, so it was better to take it as it was. With a nod, Emira answered, "Yeah, I think we can do that."

Nero nodded back and turned to leave off to whatever he was going to do, but before he could get very far, Edric asked, "Hey, Nero. Do you think thing'll ever go back to normal for all of us?"

He didn't turn back to face them, but instead shrugged his shoulders and answered, "To be honest, I'm not sure. Guess it's just a wait and see thing, y'know?"

"Yeah, we know," Emira said back as she and Edric turned to head back to their camp, "Well, we better get back to help Mittens with her training. See you later?"

After a brief moment of silence, Nero replied, "Yeah, see you later."

And so she and her brother started making their way back, shooting one last glance at Nero before continuing on their little trek. As she walked, she felt a little lighter, even seeing that her brother had a bit more pep in his step than before, now that they were finally able to apologize and everything. Sure, things were still complicated, but at the very least, it was as good a start as any.

---

Nero shook his head as he continued up to the highest peak he could find that was still close enough to where Aunt Eda and Luz set up camp. As he reached the top, he breathed in and took in the sights of the Knee's environment, planting to his side the snowboard he carved out of a nearby tree. The board was sloppily done at first since precision with Red Queen wasn't exactly something he had down pat just yet, but a little plant magic here and there evened things out and made it useable. The scope of the snowy land around him was breathtaking even as the sun faded beyond the horizon, giving way to night. For a split second, his heart raced in panic at being late to get home, but then he remembered what Edric told his mother, and realized he didn't need to worry about that for today, although thinking about that moment caused Nero to frown.

"Dammit," he muttered as he knelt down and looked to the far away figure of the Blights' personal tent, only slightly obscured by surrounding rock and foliage. For some reason, despite their apology, Nero still couldn't help but feel angry. He didn't want to be, but it was still there and refused to leave.

I know I said to just take some time, but... Nero knew that patience wasn't exactly his strong suit, even with himself. He wanted to get over it faster, especially since it now felt more petty to be pissed off, but he couldn't help it. With a sigh, he whispered to himself, "Just forget it and have some fun. See if that'll help."

Just as he stood up and placed his right hand on his makeshift snowboard, it started glowing brightly. "What the-?" he looked at his hand before a loud rumbling overtook the ground he was on, stopping just as quickly as it came. Wondering what that was about, he clenched his right hand into a fist before getting lost in his thoughts, "Okay, the last time it glowed like that was..." his eyes widened, "It was back when Aunt Eda and I were attacked by those Mega Scarecrows."

Realizing what that meant, Nero looked frantically around the environment for any signs of attackers. Instead of a number of demons attempting to rush him, however, he saw in the far distance of the trees below what looked like a large burst of snow spring upward, almost as if something just burrowed into the ground over there. Suddenly, another burst of snow sprung forth, then another, then another, all in the direction of the camp. The camp where the Blights, Eda, and Luz all were.

"Shit!" Nero grabbed his board and started skating down the peak as fast as he could. He had to warn them before the demon got there.

Or if that failed, kick its ass, whichever came first.

---

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can actually have dinner this time," Amity said as she and her siblings walked back to their camp, having finally got Edric to let the bat go.

"But my pet bat..." Edric whined while she and Emira groaned.

"Ed, there's no way you could hide something like that from Mom and Dad," Amity pointed out, and considering the last two pets he had that ended up dying because of negligence (or in Rooney the bird's case, accidentally flying into their father's lab while he was testing weaponry), it wouldn't have lasted very long anyway.

"Plus, do you have any idea how many diseases those things carry?" Emira added, which Amity nodded along with, "Knowing you, you'd get bedridden a day into owning it."

"I'm not that careless," Edric grumbled and crossed his arms.

"No. You're worse," Amity snarked, much to her elder sister's amusement as they arrived at their tent. Amity pushed the curtain aside and started looking for her practice wand, wanting to get a little more fire spell practice in before they had dinner. But it wasn't where she remembered leaving it. "What?" Amity wondered out loud as her siblings walked in.

"What's up Mittens?" Emira asked, Amity being too caught up in looking for the wand to be annoyed by the usual nickname.

"It's my practice wand. It isn't where I left it," Amity knelt down to where it was, noting that even her Magic 101 book was missing too.

"Maybe you misplaced it?" Edric suggested as he started looking around the tent.

"I never misplace anything!" Amity shouted in frustration, causing Edric to flinch and back up slightly.

"Calm down sis," Emira coaxed and hugged at her side, "It has to be around here somewhere, so we'll just help you look for it. Okay?"

Amity was about to calm down and nod, but the ground suddenly shook, making them all wobble before they regained their balance. "What was that!?" she yelled as the ground continued to shake, but everything went white as she, Edric, and Emira were all suddenly knocked back, the ground beneath them erupting in a burst of snow and rock that obliterated their tent. As she landed on her back, she groaned in pain and started to get up until a loud, shrill voice called out.

"Well hello there, little witchlings."

Amity's eyes snapped open and she saw the largest monster she'd seen in her life. The she-beast had a rather curvaceous adult body with light blue skin that was garbed in what looked like a dress made from large blackened leaves. Everything below her waist, however, was that of a gargantuan, floating serpent, with the area that connected her body to it resembling the maw of a trapping plant that consumed fairies. Rather than hair, her head had twin tendrils covered in brown scales. Her eyes were red with manic white irises, and the cruel smile radiated malicious intent.

"Now hold still so I can feast on your bones, alright?" the snake-demon licked her lips and looked about ready to snatch Amity up. Before Amity could summon an abomination to defend herself, to magic lashes grabbed onto the demon's hair tendrils and pulled her back.

"You stay away from our sister!" Edric and Emira both shouted at once as they held the monster away from her, but they were clearly struggling against the demon's strength. Seeing an opening, Amity summoned the largest abomination she could and sent it charging right towards the beast, hoping to punch her in the face a few times.

That plan flew out the window before her abomination could make contact, as the demon lashed its tail at her siblings and sent them flying right towards her. Amity only had time to gasp in shock before Edric and Emira slammed into her, sending them all tumbling to the floor. As she got up, she could hear the sound of goop being torn apart, and looked to see the demoness ripping her abomination to shreds.

"Now that that's done and over with, let's get back to dinner, shall we?" the demon floated towards them in a near predatory fashion, with her sister and brother quickly recovering and putting themselves between her and the snake-monster. They were both about to form a combined spell circle to force the demoness back, but a sudden, crimson fireball blasted out of nowhere and burned away at the beast's flesh in a large explosion that shook the trees, making her scream in pain.

"Leave them alone!" Luz's voice came from where the fireball was shot, causing Amity to turn and see the human standing side by side with her mentor, who had her staff out and aimed at the demoness. But what really drew Amity's attention was the smoking end of the wand in Luz's hand and the book in the other. Her wand and book, to be exact. "Amity! Are you guys okay?" Luz asked as she ran up to them.

"Yeah, we're fine," Amity took Luz's hand to get up before snatching her wand and book back, "Give me that!"

"I'm sorry, I just really wanted to learn-"

"Luz, save the apologies for after there isn't a giant snake lady hounding us," Luz's mentor interrupted as the demoness recovered and snarled at them.

"You disgusting little worm!" she shouted, "You dare to strike Echidna! The She-Viper and ruler of the Green Hell!"

That thing's a demon lord! Amity's thoughts went into a panic as Echidna circled around them. It would have been one thing if they were fighting your average threatening isles fauna, like a Slitherbeast, but this was an outright demon lord from the lower circles of Hell. There was no way they'd stand a chance against something like her.

"You know, little human," Echinda seethed, clearly talking to Luz as the human girl froze in panic right next to her, "I was planning on saving you and that Sparda for last, maybe even tie you both down and sit you alongside the severed heads of your friends as me and my children eat them in front of you. You know, breaking you down before finishing you off and all that."

By the Titan, she's completely insane, Amity dreaded as she and the Owl Lady got between Luz and Echidna, Edric and Emira jumping in front of them while Amity kept her wand aimed at the demoness' face. But something in Echidna's words got her attention for a brief second. Sparda, Amity thought, remembering how Nero asked about that same name back at the library.

"But I think not," Echidna continued, dragging Amity out of her thoughts, "After that little fire ball, I think I'll take you first! Now be a good little bi-"

"Hey ugly!" came a sudden shout that was followed by Nero coming out from above and slamming onto Echinda's face with what looked like a makeshift snowboard. As the demon staggered back, he reached out with a spectral arm and pulled himself towards her, slashing across her chest with a blazing sword strike before backflipping and landing right in front of them. "Didn't think weed hacking would be part of this camping trip," he snarked as Echidna crashed backwards into the wall behind her before he turned back to them, "You guys alright?"

Amity could only wordlessly nod alongside her siblings and Luz as the Owl Lady smirked and replied, "Nice entrance, kid."

Nero smirked back and looked like he was about to say something, but Echidna rising up again took all their attention back to her. "You!" she shouted, her tail thrashing in the air erratically, "Why must you Spardas always make things difficult!?"

"Oh, good, you know a thing or two on that," Nero said as he aimed his sword at Echidna, the Owl Lady standing beside her and casting a large fireball at the end of her staff. "So here's how it's going to work," Nero continued as he stared the demon down, "We're gonna kick your ass into the dirt, and if you're still conscious when we're done, you'll spill whatever you know on Sparda. How's that sound?"

As soon as Edric and Emira joined alongside them, forming spell circles to fire upon Echidna, Amity looked to Luz and saw that despite the brave face she was putting on, she was trembling. Amity was honestly just as scared, but aside from her wand, she still had her abominations to fall back on. Luz only had her light glyphs (it was obvious that she didn't know a second spell and she was terrible at hiding it) and Amity doubted that they'd do anything against this monster. Seeing that Echidna had yet to make her move, Amity looked down at her wand for a second and sighed before handing it to Luz, "Here, you might need this."

"Really?" Luz almost gasped in excitement in a way that made Amity smile. Even if she was still mad at the human for taking her wand and book without permission, she could understand why to some degree; that drive and passion to learn about magic and get better that Amity shared in. Plus, Luz needed all the help she could get.

"Yes, really. Now take it before I change my mind," she tried to hide her mirth, but she wasn't sure how well she did. Either way, Luz took the wand with exuberance as she jumped in front of the group and pointed it at Echidna.

"NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!" Luz shouted and prepared to fire another burst of flames at the demon. Unfortunately, the wand only sputtered a few sparks that harmlessly fell to the ground. "Uh, why isn't it working?" Luz looked down at the wand as Amity rushed up to her and took the wand back to see that it was low on power.

"You used it all up on the first fireball, didn't you?" Amity groaned at Luz's carelessness. It was basic common sense that you never use the entire magic supply of practice wands so as to keep enough power for emergencies.

"I-I didn't know that was how it worked," she stammered defensively as Amity facepalmed.

That was literally the first thing on page one of the book, Luz!

"Awwww, your struggle is so adorable," Echidna mocked before she backed up, as if ready to charge, "But that's enough talk. Let's have some fun!"

Just as everyone readied for her to charge, the maws at her waist covered her body and roared before diving headfirst into the ground, kicking up snow and dirt that blinded them. Amity waved her hands over her eyes to clear her vision, and soon saw that there was a large hole where Echidna used to be.

"Shit!" Nero cursed and looked around, "She's underground."

"We have eyeballs kid, we can clearly see that," the Owl Lady snarked as she also looked around, keeping her staff ready at all times, "Any other obvious statements aside from "She could pop out from anywhere", or are you all good?"

"How about "shut up and keep your eyes peeled"," he snarked back, getting back-to-back with Luz's mentor, "That work for ya?"

"Amity, stay close," Emira said as she and Edric stood protectively in front of her while Luz joined up with her teacher and Nero. Amity did her part to look around, slowly backing away as she did. She could feel her heart pumping blood so fast she felt she would pass out. Ears rang as she frantically looked left, right, at the ground, and through the trees. There was no sign of the She-Viper anywhere, and that lack of knowledge, that uncertainty, left her more frightened than she was before.

Don't panic, Amity! J-just calm down, she thought to herself, Breath slowly and keep focused. Look for any signs of where that monster could pop out. Stick close to the group and-

The ground beneath her feet suddenly shook, briefly knocking her off-balance before she regained it. As soon as she did, however, she realized she was now a bit too far from everyone for comfort. But before she could think too hard on that, a loud, "AMITY! LOOK OUT!" came from Luz as she found herself shoved to her back. She got up just in time to see Echidna's serpentine maw ensnare Luz in its fangs, trapping her inside.

"LUZ!" Amity shouted, as did Nero, the Owl Lady, and her siblings. They watched as Echidna flew upward and into the air before slamming back down into the ground where they all stood, knocking them to their feet. Amity managed to pick herself up again, this time to the sight of the serpent zooming away through the forest, the sound of trees collapsing down following Echidna's escape.

"No," the Owl Lady muttered in an almost panicked tone as she frantically scratched at her hair, "No no no, oh crap! She took Luz!"

"We'll get her back, Aunt Eda," Nero said in a gravely serious tone before trying to console her. He then, alongside Amity's siblings, started talking with Eda to try and figure out how to save Luz, but all the while they did that, Amity was lost in her own thoughts.

I-I was...Echidna was going to get me, but Luz saved me, Amity thought as she looked down and clenched her fist so hard she was sure she almost broke the practice wand, It should have been me. Luz got captured because of me.

"Alright, sounds like we have a bit of a plan," Eda's declaration brought her mind back to reality as she looked up at the Owl Lady, who looked back to her and said, "Boots, you stay here where it's safe. The rest of us'll rescue Luz."

"No," Amity said firmly, "I'm going with you."

"Amity, it's too dangerous," Emira knelt down, letting Amity meet her sister at eye level, "We just don't want you to get hurt like...y'know."

Amity knew what she was talking about, given the guilt that was easy to see in hers and Edric's eyes, but she stood her ground, "I know, but Luz's in this mess because she tried to protect me. I'm not just going to sit back while she's in that she-demon's hands. You can tell me to stay behind all you want and say that it's "for my safety", but I don't give a damn! I'm helping you save Luz whether you like it or not!"

Her passioned declaration caused her siblings to back up a bit, looks of worry etched in their faces. Nero and Eda just stared down at her for a few seconds before they looked to each other and, after a brief moment, nodded. Nero turned back to her and said, "Alright, welcome aboard "Operation: Gardener"."

"Really?" Emira asked in exasperation.

"Plant demon and it was the first name I could think of, so shut up," Nero muttered before he holstered his sword to his back and started running in the direction Echidna went, "Now come on! Let's go!"

Edric and Emira were the first to follow, with Eda and Amity not to far behind. As they ran, Amity looked to the Owl Lady and asked, "So, what's the plan for saving Luz?"

"Simple," Eda replied, "We rush in before she has any time to think, kick her ass, and get Luz out of there while she's still dazed."

Amity had to resist the urge to slap herself at how awful that plan was. It was less a plan, more so a few basic objectives with way too much in-between details that weren't even thought about. But it was the closest thing they had to a facsimile of a plan, so she had to go along with it.

Hang on Luz, we're going to save you, Amity thought with worry as she picked up the pace, running ahead of the rest of the group as they passed by all the broken, shattered trees marking Echidna's path.

---

Luz wasn't sure whether to be horrified or grossed out. On the one hand, she was trapped inside the jaws of a giant snake demon that, thankfully, hadn't eaten her yet, but on the other hand, it left her covered in the demon's saliva as she was jostled all over the place, and the stench made her want to vomit. Getting trapped in a monster's mouth was something she wanted to experience before she died, but actually doing it only filled her with regret. Making matters worse, it was getting harder to breathe, but that didn't register for very long as she was suddenly spat out onto the snowy ground. As she got up, she let out a loud, "BLEGH!" while trying to wipe the green, slimy spit off her outfit.

"Welcome to my humble abode, little worm." Echidna's mocking voice came from above. Luz looked up to see that she was stuck in what looked like some kind of crevice, the walls angled in such a way that climbing out would be impossible by hand. At the height was Echidna looking down on her with smug satisfaction that reminded Luz of Gildersnake from Good Witch Azura, only a lot more bonkers in the eyes.

"W-where am I!?" Luz asked, not meaning to sound as frightened as she did.

"Wow, you humans must have some kind of brain damage. I literally just told you. Though to be fair, it's more accurate to say you're in a little nest I made just in front of my personal cave."

Wait, nest? Luz thought. She looked around the crevice and saw what looked like large seeds.

"My babies will be hatching soon, and you'll be their first meal," Echidna sounded like she was almost cooing as she looked down at the seeds, "Normally, my little Chimeras can't handle that much without infesting something first, but they won't have any problems ripping you open and gobbling you up!"

"Y-you don't know that!" Luz tried to think of something, anything, she could do or say, "I'll...I'll give them indigestion!"

"98," Echidna counted off, "Ooh! Looks like we've almost reached 100!"

"What?"

"Oh, just counting how many times someone made that threat before I fed them to my children," Echidna casually waved off, not caring at all how many lives she took, "In isolation, you have to find hobbies, after all. And it's a toss up between that and listening to people's screams as my babies ate them alive regarding what's more entertaining."

Y-you monster!" Luz shouted.

"55."

"Ugh!" Luz bit back the urge to curse, even though she honestly deserved it, "Oh yeah! Well, I'll... I'll..."

"You'll what?" Echidna dropped down into the crevice, blocking out the light of the stars as Luz fell to her rear and scooted back in terror. "Unlike the witches of the isles, you can't perform any of their precious magic on your own. You're just a pathetic little human, so why don't you do what all humans are good at: lie down and wait to be crushed!" Echidna then retreated upward and said, "Anyway, I'll be in my cave getting yesterday's leftovers ready. If my babies hatch early, try not to scream too much until I get back so I can savor it all!"

With that, Luz was soon left all alone with only the falling snow, the stars in the sky, and the unhatched seeds to keep her company. She tried thinking of a way out, but she couldn't see anything in the hole to help her, only a large stone too heavy to lift alongside a few twigs and branches.

Stupid island, stupid demon lady, stupid- Luz's thoughts became more and more angered the longer they went, but one more came into her head as she sat on the rock and let the inevitable wash over her, Stupid Luz. All you're good at is getting into trouble. If only you knew any other magic. Luz pulled out her sketchpad and flipped to a blank sheet before drawing a light glyph on it, "But the island didn't want to teach you anything. Guess this is all you'll ever know."

Luz forlornly tapped the glyph and watched as the paper crumbled into an orb of light. It floated upward against the falling snowflakes, escaping to the one place she couldn't as she watched it go. The orb flew further and further, almost reaching the sky before fading from view entirely. However, as it faded, something else came into view as she squinted her eyes and asked, "Wait. What is that?" Luz's question was almost immediately answered as the stars above looked to form a constellation, one that perfectly resembled her light glyph.

A light glyph? But how? Luz wondered as she reached out to the glyph in the sky, feeling the snow falling to her hand and face. She realized something and quickly looked to her hand where the snowflakes fell. With widened eyes, she saw within the snowflake what looked like a little glyph, this one completely different from the light glyph. She took in its details before the snow melted and washed down her gloved hand, and as she smiled, she remembered Eda's words.

"Magic is a gift from the isles," Luz repeated a couple times before she took one of the twigs and held out her hand again to catch another snowflake. After making sure she had the glyph memorized, she knelt down did her best to carve it into the ground before tapping it. The result was a small pillar of ice popping up from the floor. Magic is everywhere! Luz fully realized with a smile as she looked up to the sky, gaining newfound confidence. Grabbing the largest branch she could find, she looked to the snowy ground and back up to the sky, trying to find a good angle. Once she found that, she began drawing the largest ice glyph she could to pillar out of the hole.

However, once she was halfway done with the large ice glyph, a sudden cracking noise drew her attention. She looked and saw the seeds cracking open, making her feel like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. Crud crud crud crud! Luz panicked as she worked fast to complete the spell circle, managing to finish it just as the first Chimera hatched and flopped to the ground. The only visible parts of it were its clawed arms, with the rest obscured by tentacle-like vines. The moment it looked at her, she jumped, unwittingly activating the ice glyph as she flew out of the crevice and into the air.

"WHOOAAHOO!" Luz couldn't help but shout as she flew up before she fell down, thankfully landing in a large cushion of snow. "YES! I DID IT!" she pumped her fists into the air as she stood up, "I LEARNED MY SECOND SPELL!"

"What's going on out there!?" Echidna's voice came from behind her as Luz clamped her mouth shut.

Luz! You fool! she chided herself as she turned to see the demoness crawl out of her cave with a snarl.

"How in Mundus' name did you get out of there!?" Echidna screamed as she floated to her, Luz discreetly flipping to a page on her sketch pad with an unused light glyph. "Whatever the case, you're getting back down there so we can have our dinner," the demoness said, her face getting dangerously close to Luz's.

"Wait!" Luz shouted, "Before you consider that. Can I offer this as a rebuttal?" she then held out her sketch pad with the light glyph and slammed on it as hard as she could, causing a flash of bright light to erupt in Echidna's eyes.

"AAAHHHHHH! YOU BITCH!" Echidna screamed as she backed away, rubbing at her eyes, "Just for that! I'll gouge out your eyes!"

Not wasting a second, Luz bolted in the opposite direction of the demoness, running as fast as she could. She didn't know exactly where she was running to, only that she needed to find everyone and get out of here. As she ran, she slowed down a tad to draw out a couple ice glyphs she could use just in case Echidna caught up to her.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Which was evidently now, as Luz turned back to see that she was right on her non-existent tail. Picking up the pace, she ran faster and faster, almost running out of breath until she stumbled onto a random twig and promptly ate snow. "Blegh!" Luz spat it all out, only to gasp as a dark shadow loomed over her.

"Got you now," Echidna sneered with a sadistic smile. Luz gave a defiant glare in response and tore out one of the ice glyphs she drew, slamming it on the ground in front of her. The glyph activated and shot out an ice pillar that practically punched Echidna in the face, giving Luz enough time to get up and run away. As she ran, she heard the demon scream something about a broken nose alongside a bunch of cursing that even Eda wouldn't say. Looking back and seeing that she put a considerable amount of distance between her and Echidna, she turned a corner and picked up the pace, only to slam right into something and fall to the floor.

"OWW!" came Amity's voice as Luz opened her eyes and saw whom she bumped into.

"Amity!" she shouted, relieved to see her. Though that relief quickly turned into embarrassment as she realized she was laying atop the witch girl, hands at the sides of her head. Amity seemed to realize it too, if the extremely prominent blush on her face was anything to go by. "I-I...uh, sorry!" Luz stammered, her cheeks heating up as she jumped off and helped her friend to her feet.

"Luz!" Eda's shout came next as Luz saw her teacher rush in alongside Nero, Edric, and Emira. "Phew! Thank the Titan you're alright, kid," she knelt down and rubbed the top of Luz's scalp affectionately. Luz, on the other hand, didn't hold back and grabbed Eda in the tightest hug she could manage. Her mentor felt a bit surprised at first, but after a second, she returned the embrace.

"It's okay Eda, I'm fine," Luz reassured as she pulled out of the hug, her smile growing, "Better than fine, even. I finally learned my second spell!"

Everyone seemed surprised, but quickly gave their congratulations. Well, except for Edric, who instead pondered, "Wait, I thought you already knew your second spell."

"Uh..." Luz wasn't sure how to respond, but the loud, far away shrieks from Echidna stopped any attempt.

"Never mind that. We gotta get out of here before that bitch finds us," Nero pointed out, "So let's get moving."

"Right," Luz nodded as they all ran as fast as they could out of the forest. Soon enough, they were in a snow covered clearing with sparsely any trees. For a moment, it seemed like they were in the clear. That thought soured the moment the entire area was shaken with an ear-piercing roar that was followed by the sound of shattering trees. Luz looked back to see that Echidna's serpentine form had sprung into the air and taken flight, now heading right for them. "Uh, guys," Luz said, eyes following the serpentine, "We should probably keep ru-"

Her sentence was cut off the moment Echidna slammed down at the center of the clearing, kicking up snow and dirt everywhere. Before it settled down, another roar tore through the air and dispersed it, giving them a clear view of the demon, who looked like she was 110% done with them. "That is it! All I wanted to do was eat you all for dinner, but now you've spoiled my appetite!" Echidna screamed with a feral snarl.

"So does that mean you're gonna let us go or-" Edric asked, but was quickly silenced by Echidna.

"So I think I'll just settle for killing you all here and now!"

"...Yeah, I really should've seen that coming," Edric lamented.

"Luz, you stay back. We'll deal with her," Eda held her staff at the ready and stepped forward alongside Nero, who drew his sword and held it to his shoulder.

"But Eda-"

"Sorry kid, but you better leave this to the us," Nero added before he took off in a full sprint towards Echidna, Eda flying on her staff at his side. Next thing Luz knew, Nero jumped into the air and used ice magic of his own to form a large frozen structure to slide on, zooming around the demon and launching lightning blasts at her while Eda threw fire balls, shouting "Spicy toss!" as she did. While their attacks did some damage, Echidna snarled and spun in the air, using her tail to smash Nero's ice slide and force Eda back. Thankfully, Nero used his spectral arm to grab at the demoness' tail and pull himself towards it. The whole thing turned into Nero running along the length of Echidna's tail while she tried to shake him off, Eda launching slashes of magic energy at her all the while. Despite this, it was clear that they were struggling, as Echidna managed to knock Nero off her back and send Eda crashing to the ground with a well timed lash of her head whips.

"Amity, you and Luz wait here," Emira said, getting protectively in front of them alongside her twin, "We're going to go help them out."

"Wait, don't-" Amity tried to stop them, but they were already rushing in before she could get far, using ice magic to form makeshift snow cannons to fire upon Echidna. They didn't do anymore than annoy her, but that did allow Nero and Eda enough time to get up and start fighting back; Nero with a few illusion clones and Eda with a giant stone version of Hooty that bit down into the demon's side, causing her to scream in fury.

Not wanting to wait on the sidelines while everyone else fought, Luz turned to Amity and said, "We need to help."

"No, I need to help, you'll just get in the wa-" Amity began before she stopped and shook her head, "You'll just get hurt."

She attempted to rush into the fight, but Luz grabbed her hand and stopped her. Amity looked like she was about to yell, but Luz gave her a look that made it clear she wasn't backing down from this, and that nothing would make her. Amity relented and said, "Alright, fine. Do you have a plan?"

Luz looked back to the ensuing fight and tried to think of something to get rid of the demoness. Then she remembered how she used the ice glyph previously and saw all the open space she had to work with. Looking back to Amity, she smiled and answered, "Actually, I think I might have one."

---

Nero grit his teeth as Echidna's tail slam dispersed the last of his illusion clones, getting as close as he could before throwing a spectral arm to her face and pulling himself forward. As soon as he was close, he drew Red Queen and drove it into her chest, unleashing every Exceed Charge he had stored up, and enveloped the humanoid portion of her body in scorching red flames. Her screams grew louder and louder until they turned into a roar of fury as she grabbed him by the face and tossed him off, sending him rolling across the ground to regain his balance.

"Okay, anyone have any ideas?" Nero asked, his blade still impaled in her chest while the rest of her body was etched with scorch marks and inflamed skin.

"Aside from hitting her even harder, I got nothing," Aunt Eda said as she flew down beside him. She launched a barrage of ice spears at Echidna, some of which penetrated her skin while the rest were shrugged off.

"And we're kinda running out of options!" Edric shouted. He and Emira were close to exhaustion, their makeshift snow artillery having melted.

"DIE! DAMN YOU!" Echidna shrieked as she pulled Red Queen out of her chest and attempted to charge them in a state of berserker fury. Nero readied himself to deliver a spectral right uppercut to her chin, but a large magenta fireball exploded in Echidna's face, causing her to back up and drop Red Queen to the ground right in front of him.

"Yes! I did it!" Nero turned and saw Amity jumping in the air, a fireball in hand. Noticing that she was now in everyone's attention, she stopped her jubilation and blushed.

"Huh, didn't think you could do it," Emira said, causing her little sister to bristled slightly. As the youngest Blight ran up to join them, Nero grabbed Red Queen and holstered it before he turned to face the group.

"Look, guys, Luz came up with an idea," Amity explained before pointing to the girl, who looked to be carving something large into the snow, "We just need to buy her enough time to make a really big ice glyph."

Nero looked towards everyone, who had varying looks of skepticism before Eda smirked and nodded, "I think we can manage that." Her response, seemed to also get Edric and Emira on board, though they looked like they were about to argue against their sister taking part in the fight until Echidna's screech tore through the entire forest. They all turned back to see that she had went full flying snake and blitzed right for them. Thinking quick, Nero ran in front of everyone and threw a spectral claw to send himself towards the beast, latching onto her back before pulling up with all he could muster. The result sent Echidna flying upward into the air and away from everyone else.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME, YOU INSUFFERABLE SPARDA!" Echidna screamed within her serpentine form, her flying becoming more erratic as she tried to shake Nero off. As he clutched down harder, he drew Red Queen and impaled her skin, causing her to veer down for a second and crash through several trees before he pulled and forced her upward again.

"NEED A HAND!?" Eda's yell came from his side, causing him to turn and see her flying next to him on her staff, "I THINK LUZ IS ALMOST DONE! BETTER BRING THIS PUPPY DOWN!"

"GOT IT! JUST GIVE ME A-WOAH!" Nero was caught off-guard as Echidna suddenly veered down, plummeting straight for the ground with no time for him to pull up. Instead, he removed Red Queen and let go, falling at a far slower pace. He watched as Echidna crashed and burrowed into the ground below.

"Gotcha!" his aunt grabbed his arm and pulled him to sit behind her as they flew down to meet with the Blight siblings.

"GUYS!" Luz shouted as they turned to see her kneeling far away from them with a large glyph in front of her, "It's ready! Try to get her to-"

Whatever she was about to say was unheard, as numerous tendrils sprung up from the ground around them, rearing to slam down and crush them all. Thankfully, Eda reacted in time to weave a large yellow barrier that shielded them from the consecutive whips. From behind the barrier, Echidna's humanoid body sprang from the ground just in front of them like a blooming flower, only burnt, scarred, somewhere past crazy town and repeatedly shouting, "Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

"Uck!" Eda grunted as she knelt down, hands outstretched and radiating magic as cracks started to form along the shield, "I can't hold on much longer!"

"We need to get her just above Luz's glyph!" Amity shouted.

"And just how are we going to do that?" Emira asked in panic.

"I think it's time we pull this weed out," Nero cracked his knuckles and turned to his aunt, "Drop the shield."

Eda hesitated, but quickly nodded and dropped her hands. The second the barrier fell, Nero sent another spectral arm towards Echidna's face, but this time used his strength to forcibly pull her out. The act even cut her focus, halting her previous tendril whips as they retreated into the dirt. The rest quickly caught on to what he was doing, with Edric and Emira forming their energy ropes and Amity summoning her largest Abomination to grab at where Echidna was planted and pluck her from the ground. It took a good minute, but the demon was out of the dirt and back in the air, floating just a few feet off the ground.

"You guys pull, I'll keep her busy!" Nero shouted as he pulled himself up and got to Echidna's back, throwing a right hook to behind her head. Everyone else, from the twins and their ropes to Amity and her Abomination, all dragged the demon to where Luz and her glyph were. Even Aunt Eda managed to regain herself and manifest an energy cord at her staff's end, using it like a fishing rod to pull, all while Nero wailed used his right hand to repeatedly wail on Echidna every time she tried to struggle out of their collective grip. In almost no time, Echidna was right where they needed her to be: floating over Luz's glyph. Now for the grand finale! Nero leapt into the air and threw one final spectral claw to Echidna's head, grabbing it as he dropped down and slammed her body onto the glyph.

However, rather than Luz hitting the glyph to activate it like he expected, the pattern started to glow all on its own. "Uh, Nero," Luz began, sounding a bit perplexed, "You might want to back up."

"Wha-" Nero looked down and saw that his right hand was just touching the edge of the glyph. Realizing what he just did, he quickly jumped back as everyone else joined together.

"Ugh," Echidna groaned as she raised her head, "You damned little-" she stopped as she became aware of what was happening and looked down, "Oh balls."

Next thing everyone knew, a massive ice pillar rose from the ground as fast as a bolt of lightning, its speed and strength sending Echidna flying far into the air. They heard her terrified scream fade away as she flew higher and higher, becoming little more than a twinkle in the sky that vanished as soon as it came.

"So," Luz began, sounding like she didn't know what to make of what just happened, "You guys think she'll land somewhere on the isles?"

"Luz, I don't think she's ever gonna be landing again," Eda replied, quickly regaining her composure in contrast to her apprentice, "Speaking of, that was some pretty quick thinking. Nice work, kiddo."

Luz radiated an infectious smile that made everyone grin as Eda jostled her winter had, and by extension hair. "Well," Luz said bashfully, "I couldn't have done it without your teaching. I was finally able to make a connection! Isn't that awesome?"

"Heh, it sure is Luz. Guess this old drop out's cut up to teach after all," Eda answered, her smile becoming almost heartfelt.

"Speaking of," Emira looked to Amity, both of them having heartfelt smiles of their own, "Looks like you finally figured out how to use fire without your wand. Congrats, sis!"

"Yeah! Way to go!" Edric scooped his sister up into a tight hug, not noticing that she was starting to turn blue.

"Ed...can't...breathe..." Amity rasped out before Edric's eyes widened and he quickly let her go, Emira giggling a bit as she coughed and caught her breath. As soon as she could breathe properly again, she walked up to Luz and started up a nice conversation, Luz mentioning something about an "Azura Book Club", while Aunt Eda walked up to him.

"So, all-in-all, not bad for your first camping trip?" she cheekily asked.

"Not bad? That was freaking badass!" Nero cheered and pumped his fist up, still feeling some of the adrenaline from the prior fight. Even with all the mortal terror involved, the trip was a complete thrill ride, almost making him sad that it had to end.

"Hey, guys," Emira and her brother walked up to them, Amity leaving her conversation with Luz, as she said, "We're gonna be heading back home now. I think we've all had enough excitement for one day."

"Agreed. Not to mention we need to get back home before Hooty tears up the place and Lily starts freaking out," Eda replied, causing Nero to realize that despite the alibi, he really needed to head back soon.

"Well, we better get going then," Edric said to his sisters before turning to Nero, "And Nero, we'll see you around."

Nero smirked and gave the Blights a two finger salute, surprisingly feeling a lot less mad at them than he was before. Next thing he knew, Luz jumped up into the air and chimed, "OH! Let me get us home! I want to try something out!" she then began drawing another ice glyph big enough for all three of them to stand on, gesturing for them to do so. As soon as they were boarded, she knelt down and raised her hand to slam on the glyph, turning to them and asking, "Ready?"

"Hell yeah, kid," Nero smirked and nodded alongside his aunt as Luz slammed her hand down. The three of them flew through the air across the entire forest in the span of a few seconds, cheering as the wind blew in their faces. Overall, definitely the cherry on top of the ice scream Sunday to finish off his first camping trip.

---

"Mom! I'm home!" Nero's voice echoed through the house's halls as Lilith lay motionless on her bed. She laid still as he walked to her bedroom, letting a sliver of light into the dark, and whispered, "Oh, already asleep. Well, good night, mom." The door closed, leaving Lilith alone in the troubled thoughts that kept her from sleeping.

After her call with the Blights, she was left wondering what was going on. One thing she knew was that Coronis, honest beyond a shadow of a doubt, really saw Nero and Edalyn leave to do something. Since call birds tracked down whoever's number was dialed, that could only mean one of two things: either Eda went to the Blights' family home for whatever reason, which she doubted, or wherever they went, the Blights just so happened to be there and were covering for him.

Regardless, she couldn't confront him on it now. If she did after all that, she risked alienating him, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen. Of course, it didn't even seem to matter, as that was already happening. He was going out, possibly doing dangerous, life-threatening stunts and shenanigans with her rogue of a sister, and having so much fun doing it as far as she could tell. More fun than he had with her.

"No matter what, it seems I'm always in your shadow, Edalyn," Lilith whispered to herself, burying her head into her pillow. That sour envy that she held in her heart for years, the very same that led to the worst decision of her life, came to the forefront as she felt a few tears stain her cushion. She was going to lose her son, both to her own sister and to the Emperor.

That last thought in particular superseded the envy and replaced it with horror and concern. Nero was already rather scornful of taking part in the Coven System, and Edalyn's influence would worsen that tenfold. He was already on the path of becoming a Wild Witch, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it short of outright forcing him to join the Emperor's Coven.

But he'd never forgive me if I forced him into one, Lilith thought as she rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling. She could live with the distaste of her own family, having grown accustomed to the lack of affection from her mother since she joined the Emperor's Coven. She could live with her sister hating her for trying to bring her in alongside their different paths in life. If she could live with Edalyn finding out about-

Lilith shook her head to stop that line of thought. She didn't know if she could live with that and she didn't want to find out, so neither would her sister. Regardless, she was used to such things, but the very thought of her son hating her, wanting nothing to do with her because she forced him down a road he loathed, was just too much for her. She needed to be subtle, to coax him into the idea of joining the Emperor's Coven without alienating him, but she didn't know how to do that.

Nero, why do you have to be so stubborn? Lilith mused in mild frustration as she sighed, If only you'd give the covens a chance, maybe you'd find something to enjoy and- Lilith realized something and quickly sat up, "That's it!"

After she gathered her thoughts and formed a coherent idea, she rested her head down and finally managed to drift away into sleep. She wasn't sure if it would help convince Nero into the idea of at least giving the covens a chance, but it had to. For his sake, it just had to.

---

Okay, really sorry this chapter took so long. Like I said before, working on BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant took up a lot of my time, and since I wanted to complete at least up to Volume 3 of that fic before I returned to this one, it ended up with The Silver Raven on the backburner for so long. But I'm back now and with a new update, so let me know what you guys think of the chapter.

Now, this chapter kinda distils a couple episodes into it. Like I said, I don't want this story to just be "The Owl House featuring Nero from the Devil May Cry series". So he doesn't have any role in things like "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" and we skip entirely over the episode with the Bat Queen as well as the episode where King becomes an author.

Speaking of Lilith, she now knows that Nero is sneaking out to visit the Owl House behind her back. Had some fun with her thinking that Eda was the one who gave him Red Queen, completely unaware that it's her old coven saber that he stole from her closet as a kid. She's not gonna take him to task just yet over it since she doesn't want to alienate her son, but it has made her more concerned about how he's closer to becoming a wild witch and she aims to stop that. Though there's also the ever present issue of jealousy given that her son's hanging out with her sister and being much more open with her.

And hey, Red Queen got an upgrade! The Exceed seal is now self-rejuvenating thanks to Eda's tinkering. That should come in handy. I made sure that it wasn't too effective considering that each use has a five second recharge, so if Nero uses all of them, he's got to wait a bit, but still.

Instead of the Slitherbeast, we have our final Echidna encounter. I figured it would also double as a funny juxtaposition of hers and Bael's canon positions. In DMC 4, Bael was an ice demon fought in a snowy terrain while Echidna was a forest demon fought in a forest terrain. Here, it's the opposite, with Bael being in the forests and Echidna being in the frozen grounds.

And yes, that's a TFS!Frieza reference with her counting how many times she's heard certain lines, in case you're wondering.

Even before I started this chapter, I knew I wanted Echidna's defeat to be a team effort on the heroes part. I just cycled through a lot of ideas on how I wanted it all to go down, with the final end result being what you read above. Let me know how it all turned out when you can.

Anyway, since I'll be focusing on this story for the next few chapters, hopefully you guys won't have to wait a few months for the next update. I'm not making any promises, but I do hope to have Chapter 14 out before the end of June.