We're back! Sorry for the long wait. Got way too busy with a lot of other fanfiction projects I'm working on, had to put one of my fics on hiatus to split focus, not to mention I'm outlining/planning on another crossover fic (a RWBY/Transformers EarthSpark fusion fic to be precise) that I at least want to put to paper and get started.

Basically, I've probably been overstuffing my plate. Most likely not a good idea, but my mind's been running a million miles a minute with so many different ideas and things I want to write. Can't be helped, I guess.

Special thanks to Quantum01 and FoxOnPie for Beta Reading this chapter, as well as Forgo Light for looking over a few of the sections. Please remember to visit the TV Tropes page created by Rival Link and feel free to add to it.

Do be warned, this chapter gets a tad more graphic in terms of blood than the norm.

Chapter 18: Skirmish on the Boiling Seas

A small part of Lilith regretted agreeing to handle household chores for her sister. While she had every intention of following through on it, the sheer volume of things to clean and maintain, coupled with no longer having any magic to mitigate the workload, put her off. Yet strangely enough, it wasn't the dishes, the carpets, or even cleaning Hooty—the less spoken of that, the better—that irritated Lilith.

"Edalyn! I thought you said you were going to leave your clothes out?" Lilith asked as she knocked on her sister's bedroom door.

The real nightmare was laundry day.

"Huh?" Edalyn opened the door, rubbing an eye as she saw Lilith carrying a basket full of everyone else's clothes. "What? What is it? Trying to sleep."

"Sister, it's almost noon," Lilith said.

"Too early." Edalyn closed her door and, after a good moment, opened it again carrying a gargantuan pile of clothes in her arms.

"Is that everything?" Lilith asked as she took them and put them atop the basket.

"Yup, now if you'll excuse me, I got some sleeping to do."

"Fine, sleep well, Edalyn."

"Just make sure not to curse me this time, m'kay?" Edalyn joked, leaving Lilith to quietly thank her for the large amount of clothes, given that it hid her face from view. The last thing she wanted was for her sister to see her current expression.

"Ha ha," Lilith recovered and let out a monotonous laugh before making her way down the halls to the laundry room. Along the way, a swishing sound could be heard, prompting her attention to the wall, where she saw Edalyn's old graffiti, Graff. "Hello to you, Graff," she greeted the sentient artwork.

The art shifted and formed the words, "Hello Aunt Lilith!"

"I told you, I'm not your aunt," Lilith scoffed, hand briefly slipping as a few things from atop the pile fell. With a sigh, she put the basket down and picked the fallen clothes up. As soon as she loaded them up, Graff came into view and shifted their form.

"Do you need any help?"

"No, I can handle this. Besides, you wouldn't be able to help me anyway," Lilith remarked as she picked the basket up, watching as Graff shifted into a shrugging stick figure and zoomed away along the walls. For a moment, she stared at where they left and continued her way down the hall, eventually arriving at the laundry room. Putting the basket down on the floor, she picked up the first thing she could get her hands on: one of Edalyn's old shirts. "Ugh," Lilith gagged at the stench, shaking it to find feathers falling out, "I swear, sister, you're worse than the bird worm."

Then again, can't blame you either, given that it's my fault your like this anyway.

Shaking her head, she turned on the washer and started putting clothes in one at a time, making sure they wouldn't get tangled up with each other. She started off with Edalyn's, given how that would be the most difficult and would take probably a lot longer than the others. After just barely managing to fit everything into the washer, she turned it on and leaned against the dryer, waiting for it to finish.

As she waited, she looked down and saw a stray sock she'd forgotten, at first getting the urge to stop the washer and throw it in. However, an idea formed in her head as she looked down at her hand. Might as well give it a shot, Lilith thought as she kneeled down and spun her hand above the sock, pouring all her focus into creating a cleaning spell circle. Her heart soared when one appeared and caused the garment to glow, but that was snuffed not a second later, the circle shattering as the glow faded.

"Dammit," she sighed, relenting that it was too good to be true.

"Mom, you in here?"

Nero! Lilith regained her composure and stood up as the footsteps neared. "Yes, my little raven," she said, her son coming into view, "Just handling laundry at th-" freezing, she pointed to his purple shirt and asked, "What are you wearing?"

Nero looked down at the shirt in question. More specifically, he looked at the design on the shirt; it was a crudely stitched image of Edalyn wearing a backwards hat and sunglasses. Said image was also riding atop her stave like a skateboard as the words "BAD GIRL COVEN" shined next to her with thunderbolts on each corner.

"Something I found lying around and thought it looked cool," Nero shrugged, "Why?"

"I...nothing, never mind," Lilith shook her head again and returned her focus to the washing machine as her son walked in.

"You okay Mom? You've been kinda sulky since we started living here, and this is coming from me," Nero said as he stood next to her.

Lilith gave her son a reassuring look, "It's nothing, my little raven," she stared down at her hand, "I suppose I'm still struggling to...adapt, as it were."

"Maybe I can help?" Nero asked, "You did show me how to do a cleaning spell when I was twelve, so I can lighten the load when it comes to laundry."

Lilith thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, some help with her current workload would be nice, especially since she lacked in magic at the moment. It wasn't until she lost it that she started to see how much she'd relied upon it in her everyday life. But on the other, she couldn't bring herself to ask for it. After what she'd done, she didn't deserve it anyway.

"No, it's fine, my son," Lilith answered.

"You sure?"

Lilith nodded, "Yes. I can manage on my own," she looked back at the washing machine with utmost seriousness, I have to manage on my own.

"Well if you ever change your mind, let us know. I'm pretty sure Luz'd also be happy to help if you asked," Nero said.

"I doubt that."

"Still," Nero began heading out, "If you get hungry, Luz's downstairs making something called a pizza. From what she described, it sounds really good."

"Go enjoy yourself, my son. I'll catch up later," Lilith answered as the load finally finished washing. As she took everything out to be dried, she noticed the final, somber expression Nero gave her as he walked away.

Luz pulled the pizza out of the oven and took in the scent, so glad they had a dairy-free one for her lactose intolerance. Bringing it over to the table, she put a couple slices on each plate and called out, "Everyone! Pizza's ready!"

"Oh boy!" Hooty stretched his head into the dining room while King ran in from the halls.

"Yes! Finally, a meal fit for the king of demons!" his royal adorableness hopped into his chair. As soon as Luz plopped into her seat, Nero walked in wearing Eda's "Bad Girl Coven" shirt.

"Huh, that smells pretty good," Nero said as he sat down and poked at the pie. "So this is pizza? What's it taste like?"

"I only eat dairy-free pizza, but it tastes really good!" Luz took her seat, "Now, let's wait for Eda and Lilith before-"

"OMNOMNOM!" Hooty was already gobbling the pie down, eating his slices in under a second.

"Or we could do that," Luz finished.

"That was dee-licious! Could've used some bugs though, hoot!" Hooty stretched back to the door while King started taking bites out of his meal. Seeing as everyone else was already eating, Nero shrugged and took a bite out of his pizza. Luz watched as Nero's eyes went wide, slowly chewing on the piece as he savored the taste. A tiny tear rolled down his eye as he swallowed.

"Holy crap, this is amazing!" Nero smiled and started taking bigger bites, pausing to savor the taste.

"Glad you guys like it," Luz picked up hers and began nibbling, "Still think we should've waited for the others though."

"Last I saw, Aunt Eda's out like a light, and Mom's..." Nero went quiet.

"What's up?" Luz asked, biting down on her pie again.

"This have anything to do with that Sparda stuff you and your mom have been talking about?" King asked.

Yeah, I'm wondering on that too, Luz put her pizza on the plate, remembering how Lilith brought up what she knew about this Sparda character Echidna and Belos mentioned. The whole thing with Nero being related to an ancient demon warrior that saved mankind from the forces of Hell when they attempted invasion, coupled with Sparda killing the Titans and inadvertently creating the Boiling Isles, sounded awesome.

"No, it's nothing related to that, it's-" Nero shook his head and took another bite, "Never mind."

Luz frowned, part of her wanting to ask again, but before she could even think about it, Eda walked in with a loud yawn. "Hey kids, I miss lunch yet?" she asked, plopping down on her seat while scratching her back. She looked down and poked the pizza, "This that dairy-free stuff I had in the back of the fridge?"

"Honestly kinda surprised it was still fresh. You don't want any?" Luz asked.

"Nah, I'll take it," Eda started chowing down, though in weirdly smaller bites than normal. For a bit, the four of them ate in relative silence. Well, as quiet as possible when it came to the Owl House. King was as loud as usual when it came to lunch time while Nero was savoring every bite of his first pizza. The look on his face was a lot like hers when she got to eat one of Mama's home cooked meals; so goofy and bright (and at odds with his usual demeanor) that it would have made her laugh if not for the look on Eda's face. She seemed almost nervous about something, her smaller bites becoming giving way to just staring at her food. "Luz," she said before passing it over, "How about you have it?"

Luz stopped eating and raised an eyebrow, "Eda, is something wrong?" her eyes went wide, "Is it your curse? Quick! Nero! King! Get the potions!"

"What!? No! It's not the curse!"

"Oh," Luz blushed in embarrassment, "False alarm guys, go back to..." she slowed down and noticed that they were still deep in enjoying their pizza to notice she was even saying anything.

"Eh?" Nero paused mid-chew, "You say something, Luz?"

"Weh?" King's voice was muffled as he finished what was left of his food.

"Just asking Eda what's up," Luz looked back to her mentor, who seemed a bit incensed at being put on the spot.

"Alright, I'll talk," Eda sighed, giving Luz her full attention, "You know that was the only pizza I had, right?"

"Yeah," Luz wasn't sure where Eda was going with this, but her tone was definitely worrying.

"It's also the only thing I had left that you could eat."

Luz's eyes went wide before she looked down at her plate, "Oh, I get it."

There was another silence between them, this one much more uncomfortable, before Nero cleared his throat, "What are you guys talking about?"

"That we're out of human food and Luz is probably gonna starve," King answered, "She can't eat anything from the isles."

Nero looked at the adorable "demon king" curiously, "What? Why?"

"Let's just say that human digestive systems and isles food don't mix and leave it at that," Eda answered, giving Luz a concerned look.

"I tried it once," Luz shivered, sticking out her tongue as she wiped it with her hand, "I do not want to relive that."

"Damn, that sucks," Nero said sympathetically.

"Amen. It'd be like a world with almost no Apple Blood," Eda added with a shiver of her own.

"Still," Nero hummed, resting the reptilian fingers of his right hand to his chin, "There's gotta be something Luz can eat around here."

"I mean, I did try find a few things I could eat, Griffin eggs are pretty good for one thing, buuuuut..." Luz droned, drumming her hands against the table.

"But what?"

"The problem is they're pretty pricy," Eda answered her nephew, sighing as she slumped back in her seat, "And that's without factoring in that we gotta manage money for a lot of other things too. Especially now that we got two new mouths to feed."

"Think there's any way I can help?" Nero asked.

"You and your mom are helping enough as is kid," Eda smiled for a moment, which made Luz smile in kind, before the elder witch put on her thinking face, "We just need to find better paying odd jobs. Current ones aren't exactly netting many Snails."

King squirmed in fear, "Ugh, don't remind me. Last job I took was being a party mascot," his eyes looked off into the distance, "Those children were so evil. I can still hear their laughter." Everyone looked at King with worry as Nero, who was closest to him, reached out to pat his head as a comforting gesture. However, King shook and jumped onto the table, eyes closed as he screamed, "No! Put that baseball bat down!"

"Oh King, come here," Luz picked up and hugged her friend, gently rubbing his back. She hummed a melody her father once hummed for her when she was little, and that seemed to calm King down, eventually settling into a small hug.

"Thanks for that, Luz," Eda gave her a grateful, almost proud smile. Nero was smiling as well, giving Luz a nod.

"DAWW! That's so adorable! Hoot!" and then Hooty's voice chimed in from above all of them. Eda, Nero, and King all suppressed a collective groan as everyone looked up to see Hooty smiling down at them. Luz, for her part, simply looked up at the house demon with a moderately annoyed expression while King jumped out of her arms and returned to his seat.

"Way to kill the moment," Nero muttered.

"Just here because the mail came in," Hooty's face scrunched up as he began hacking, followed by him barfing several letters on the table, "Enjoy!"

Luz stared at the vomited, smelly, slightly soaked paper, "Aaaaaand my appetite's gone."

"OH! If you're not having that pizza, can I?" Hooty was about to dive down and take a bite, but Eda shoved her hand in Hooty's face.

"Actually," she began before picking up the plate and giving it to Nero, "Mind if you take this to Lily? Probably still busy with laundry and she's gotta eat too."

Nero nodded and took the plate, "Also, Aunt Eda?" he asked, "While on that, think you could maybe, I dunno, lighten up on Mom's chores? She's been working really hard on them, and I think she could use a break."

"Sure thing, kid", Eda nodded as Nero went upstairs while Hooty retracted out of the room. Those left behind sifted through the assorted papers. Luz, having helped Eda with this kind of thing before, immediately recognized a death hex and tossed it aside, disintegrating a pot on the counter. "Junk, junk, junk," Eda skimmed through several letters, "Angry letter saying I owe a potion dealer from the Night Market some money, bill for the scroll network, bill for the crystal ball cable network, and another angry letter about paying my Apple Blood tab. Ha! It'll be a cold day in the Fire Hell before that happens," but suddenly, her smirk faded as she slumped back in her seat and stared at the ceiling, "Ugh, our money problem's just getting worse, isn't it?"

Luz could only nod and plop her head down on the table. Despite their best efforts, making enough money to keep everyone fed was proving harder than they thought now that they could no longer sell stuff from Earth. Oh, they certainly tried waiting at the beaches for a trash slug to pop up so Eda could open 'er up, but that amounted to hours of nothing. In all the time they'd tried, only one trash slug ever beached itself, and it had nowhere near the amount of Earth garbage Eda normally needed to make a profit.

This led to their current odd jobs, with this week being all about bounty hunting for Nero and Luz. But while the former was nothing but excited about the prospect, Luz just couldn't bring herself to feel that kind of enthusiasm, despite her efforts to hide that fact. How could she feel excited, considering their current situation was all her-

"Okay, finally got mom to take the pizza, she liked it by the way and-" Nero's voice came back into the room, interrupting her deprecation. Luz looked up to see him staring at the melancholic display as he asked, "What's up?"

"Ran into more money issues," King bitterly remarked, pointing to the bills.

Nero took his seat and read over them with a grimace, "Well shit."

"Tell me about it!" Eda shouted, waving her hands in the air so hard one of them flew off.

"Ugh! If only I still had my powers, then we wouldn't have to worry about money," King kicked the letters off the table as Eda's hand crawled back to her, "A King shouldn't have to deal with this! They should be paying us not to kill them for demanding we pay them!"

One of the bills floated on front of Luz just as Eda put her hand back on. The human took the letter and skimmed over the details, "Actually, I think we should be able to better manage this kind of thing. The problem is we need to budget stuff."

"Hmm, that could work, but do you know anyone who's good at that?" Eda asked, arms rested behind her head, "Never been good at that kind of thing. Way too boring."

"Rulers don't file taxes. They do the taxing," King haughtily replied. Probably the evilest thing King said so far.

"I-" Nero immediately slammed his mouth shut in an all too suspicious way, "Never mind, I got nothing to add."

Luz decided not to pry and shrugged, "Well, I guess we could ask Lilith if she knows anything about-"

"No no, hold that thought," Eda stopped Luz before looking her nephew right in the eye, "Nero, anything you're not telling us? Anything related to our current money troubles?"

Everyone was now staring intently at Nero, who sighed, "Fuuuuuuuck. Okay fine," he drummed his fingers on the table, "I might...sorta know how to budget shit. Mom taught me a couple years ago."

"Wait, what!?" Eda stood up so fast she knocked her chair back, "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because there was no way this kind of crap would've ever come up earlier."

"...Fair enough," Eda grabbed her chair and sat back down, "Man, Lily must have really wanted you to grow up into an egghead like her."

Nero shrugged, "It was more of her way of helping me out," he looked down at the table, "Wasn't exactly in a good place mentally, so she tried to help me out of it by setting up "fun" activities we could do together."

""Fun" clearly being the operative word," Eda snarked under her breath with a roll of her eyes.

"Eda, your sister has issues," King bluntly said.

"Hey! That's..." Nero grew defensive before he slumped, "Completely true."

"To be fair, I also have issues too," Luz chimed in to lighten things up, "You have issues, Eda has issues, King has issues, I think Graff has issues, point is we all have them and now we can bond over them! Isn't that fun?"

"..."

"...Or we can just never talk about them and go about our day?"

"Yeah, let's do that," Eda said, Luz thankful for it. In hindsight, there were a lot of cans of worms she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about. "Anyway," Eda stood up, this time more carefully, "You two should probably head out and see what bounties are up."

"Yes! Finally!" Nero practically jumped out of his seat and fist pumped the air. He ran down the halls to his room, clearly to get Red Queen, while Eda left as well, leaving Luz behind with King.

"Luz, are you okay?" King asked, "You've been getting kinda mopey lately."

Luz gave a thankful, if slightly strained, smile, "Don't worry King. Just been getting tired a lot easier," she grabbed a fork on the table and started twirling it between her fingers, "I think a quick little adventure is all I need right now."

King tapped his chin before jumping off the table and rummaging around the kitchen. Luz, meanwhile, absentmindedly kept twirling the fork like a pen, her mind swimming around in her earlier guilt. She tried to push it to the side, but it kept bumbling up. Eda's lost magic, their current woes, the Emperor's grip on the isles growing stronger; none of this would have happened if she wasn't so stupid as to get caught in the first place.

"Hey Luz!" King jumped back onto the table in front of the girl, a piece of bread in his hands, "I need your help! The Bakery Battalion's on the move! They'll be arriving any minute!" he pointed to the wall, "Oh no! They're here!" and slammed the bread into his face, falling on his back as he closed his eyes, "Luz...help. It looks like...I'm...toast..."

"PFFFFFFFT! HAHAHA!" Luz couldn't help but laugh at the display, King laughing along with her, "HAHA! Heh-heh, t-thanks King," she wiped a stray tear from her eye as her laughter slowed down, "I needed that."

King jumped up and ate the remaining bread before clearing his throat, "Anytime. Now, by royal decree of the King of Demons, you are hereby ordered to cease moping at once."

"Yes sir!" Luz playfully saluted, though on the inside, she wasn't sure if that was a promise she could keep.

Just like her promise to her mama.

"Okay, I heard laughing, is the comedy hour still going?" Eda walked in, staff in hand and an annoyed expression on her face.

"Nah, we're done with that," King said while Eda handed her staff over to Luz.

"Make sure you take care of Owlbert while you're out, got it?" Eda sternly, but warmly, ordered. Luz answered with a cheerful nod as footsteps echoes, followed by Nero running in with Red Queen holstered on his back and now wearing his blue overcoat over the Bad Girl Coven t-shirt. Honestly, not a bad combo in Luz's opinion.

"All set! We going or what?" He asked, eagerly grinning.

"Ready!" Luz rested Eda's staff on her shoulder. Both of them headed for the door, but Eda stopped them right as they opened it.

"Make sure you both come back in one piece! And Nero?" she gained her nephew's attention, "You're on budgeting duty."

"Ugh, should've seen that coming," Nero whined, much to everyone's amusement, "Do I really have to? Can't Mom do it instead?"

"I thought you wanted to give her a break?" Eda smirked.

Luz couldn't help but giggle a bit as Nero was left muttering, "Walked right into that one," he looked at Eda, "Okay, fine, but just know that if I die of boredom, you're not allowed to sell Red Queen. And I mean that!"

"Of course," Eda held a hand up and hid one behind her back, "I solemnly swear that I won't-"

"She's crossing her fingers behind her back, isn't she?" Nero rhetorically asked Luz.

"Yup," Luz answered, making a pop at the "p".

"Oh, how I miss the days when that worked," Eda wistfully smiled as she revealed her hand, crossed fingers included, "Now you crazy kids go out there and kick some ass!"

"And bring back a new commander for my army of darkness!" King added, Luz making a mental note to buy a new doll while they were out.

"Yeah, we will," Nero walked out first, waving back, "See ya later!"

"Bye!" Luz added as she walked in step with Nero, heading out to Bonesborough. "Ready?" Luz held out her fist to Nero who looked at it and smirked.

"Ready," he answered, returning the fist bump.

"Golden Guard," Emperor Belos' voice reverberated throughout the throne room as he addressed its only other occupant, who kneeled before him.

"You summoned me, uncle?"

"Indeed," Belos began, "You are to journey to the Simmering Shoals and locate a Selkidomus that was recently sighted in the area. Then, you are to slay it by any means necessary."

"Of course, Emperor Belos," Hunter bowed his head, "But why do you need me to kill it?"

"I have my reasons. That's all you need to know for the moment, nephew," Belos answered, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Understood, but I was just hoping I could know-"

"Enough," Belos sharply silenced the boy, "Hunter, what have we said regarding you questioning my orders?" he could hear the clone's breath hitch as he stood from his throne to glare at it, "Is your lack of faith in me truly the due I am owed for taking you in? Such ingratitude, wouldn't you agree?"

"N-No, I..." Hunter bowed again, "I apologize, I wasn't thinking clearly and-"

"Correct, you weren't," Belos sat down, not letting his pain show. Those repulsive Palismen souls within him grew more agonizing with each passing day. But each time they fought, he forced them back, the abominations clearly no match for his will. The very thing that made him human. That made him superior to the filth of Hell.

"It won't happen again," the Golden Guard promised.

Belos ceased his glare, "Make sure that it doesn't. Now, go slay the Selkidomus, and be sure to bring the body to me. Understood?"

"Yes, Emperor Belos," Hunter stood and bowed one final time before heading out.

"And Hunter?" Belos stopped him before he could head out the door, "Good luck. Remember that both I and the Titan are counting on you."

"Of course. Thank you, uncle," Hunter nodded, a slight happiness in his tone at the Emperor's words. He made his way out, leaving Belos to lean into his throne, easing his pain.

He's been growing more questioning in these past few weeks, Belos mused with frustration. Hunter's betrayal was all but inevitable. The signs were making themself known now. First came the questions, then defying his orders, and finally opposing him. He'd been through this process enough to recognize them. The worst part was always having to make a new one, since the materials weren't easy to find. Of course, that's why he'd sent Hunter out to kill the Selkidomus in the first place, as its scales would be necessary for the next Golden Guard. Hopefully, the successor would be more obedient.

"Such a shame. And he resembled him so much, as well." Belos sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Up until recently, this one had been promising, not displaying the sickening aspects of his predecessors. He didn't ask unneeded questions, and he didn't show signs of any...sinful proclivities regarding the witches of this perdition. Still, given how the current Grimwalker was the closest he'd managed to recreating his brother, it showed he was almost there.

Next time, I'll make you what you're supposed to be, Caleb, Belos thought with a smile as he put his mask back on. He just had to wait until he had what he needed, then he could get rid of the current one.

Much as he wouldn't admit it out loud, it was a thought that gave him a certain sense of jubilation.

"WHOOOOOHOOOO!" Nero pumped his fists into the air with how fast the boat travelled at. Granted, he was supposed to be on lookout duty from the ship's bow to alert the crew of when they'd arrive at the Simmering Shoals, but after the sudden acceleration, he couldn't help but shirk that job to enjoy the rush.

"YEAH! This is aweso-OAH!" King fell flat on his back, leaving Nero to chuckle as he knelt down and helped the little demon to his feet. "Thanks," King said as he jumped to the railing and looked out across the horizon, "Now this is a view fit for the King of Demons!"

Nero rolled his eyes but couldn't help but grin at King's enthusiasm. Sure, the guy could be obnoxious, not to mention he didn't buy his whole "dethroned King of Demons" story in the slightest, but he'd been growing on him. "So King," Nero began, deciding to entertain the tale for just a bit, seeing as he had nothing better to do, "You've been living with Eda since you were "dethroned", right?" at King's nod, Nero asked, "How long ago was that?"

"About eight years ago, and I've been dreaming of getting my throne back ever since," King said before jumping down from the railing and pulling out a box of crackers from his pack.

"Then what?"

"Then I'll use my newfound power to take over Limbo! Then I'll take over the rest of the Underworld!" King threw a cracker into the air, the snack landing in his mouth.

"Riiiight," Nero rolled his eyes, "Think this place has had enough dictators for a lifetime."

"Don't worry, I'll make you and Luz my left and right hand in my conquest," King munched on another cracker, "Besides, don't you guys think I'd make a good king?"

"Well, you can't be any worse than the Great Horned Prick," Nero snarked.

"Kind of a low bar," King said, both of them laughing at the joke. Honestly, the whole thing was pretty relaxing from the stresses of earlier today, what with their first bounty being worth barely anything and the asshole skimping the pay. Part of him wanted to just throw the bastard over the horizon, but he kept himself in check, knowing his mother wouldn't approve of it.

Maybe I should've stayed home with her? Nero wondered, remembering how out of it his mom had been since the aftermath of the Petrification Ceremony. She'd been struggling a lot since she lost her magic and probably could've used a helping hand, but something told him she wouldn't accept it, even from him. Every time he asked if she needed anything, she always side stepped it, saying she'd be fine, but always having this look in her eyes like she had something to prove. It kinda reminded him of Luz and how insistent she was on taking this bounty, to prove to Eda that she was "more than a burden", as she put it.

Huh, Aunt Eda's kinda acting like Mom does, the more I think about it, Nero recalled how insistent his aunt was that they take low-level bounties, something his mother was quick to agree with since their magic was gone. Granted, Eda wasn't overprotective like Lilith was, but that didn't stop the frustration of not being able to take on the big fish from coming in. Much as he wanted to help make money for everyone, he wanted to have fun doing it, and that wasn't gonna happen if they kept going after baby monsters like Garlog and the Abominable Cutie Pie.

"You still with me, Nero?" King asked, Nero looking down at him.

"Yeah. Just thinking about my mom," Nero partially lied, "Don't know if she's doing too well, being honest."

"Hah! Momma's boy," King mocked as he ate another cracker, though Nero could hear in his tone that it was all jokes.

"Takes one to know one," Nero joked back.

"Weh?" King looked up at him, "What are you talking about?"

Nero raised an eyebrow, "I mean, hasn't Aunt Eda been raising you for as long as you could remember? Kinda sounds like a mom to me."

"PFFT! What?" King stifled a laugh, "She's not my mom!"

"Well, what is she to you then?"

King was starting to look annoyed, "What's with all the questions, anyway?"

"Hey, if I'm staying with you guys, I'd like to try and get to know everyone a bit more."

"Does that include Hoot-"

"No. It does not," Nero immediately cut King off. The less of that obnoxious bird demon he had to put up with, the better. Changing subjects, he sat down next to King and asked again, "So, what's Eda to you, if you don't mind the question?"

King opened his mouth to answer, but went silent and closed it, instead staring off in thought. "I..." he scratched the skull on his head, his face torn between consideration and confusion, "Huh. I...I don't know, being honest."

Nero didn't know how to respond, leaving a silence only broken by the waves crashing against the boat. After what felt like a few minutes, Nero patted him on the head and said, "If you're not sure on anything now, we can always talk about it later."

"Yeah. Think I just need some time to think is all," King nodded and stood up, stretching, "I'm gonna go check on Luz. Last time I saw her, she had a giant bug on her back and I'm wondering if she noti-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"Sounds like she noticed," Nero commented, getting a sense of Deja Vu back to the day of Grom.

"Yup," King made his way to the main deck, but not before turning back and asking, "You coming or what?"

"Can't, gotta keep an eye out for the Selkidomus," Nero answered, before pondering, "But just to be safe, how big was the bug again?"

"About the size of her head."

"Oh, then she should be fine. She can handle something like that," Nero chuckled a bit before waving at King, who lazily waved back as he left. Now on his own, he looked out at the sea for when they arrived. And so, he kept watch and waited. And waited. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Man, being the lookout is boring," Nero sighed, leaning against the railing and resting a hand to his chin. He'd been standing here for several minutes, and yet the Shimmering Shoals where nowhere in sight. How long was it gonna take for them to get there anyway?

"Hey, Nero!" the Clawthorne turned and saw Luz make her way over to him, seeming rather excited. As soon as she stood next to him, she said, "Captain wanted me to ask if you see any hazards ahead."

"So far, we got nothing but boiling ocean as far as the eye can...sea."

"HA! Sea puns!" Luz laughed and slapped her knees, Nero bursting out into his own laugh that broke the monotony. Once that died down, Luz used the railing to hold steady as she leaned back against the balls of her feet, "So here we are, searching the high seas, part of a crew on the hunt for a mighty beast," she added a bit of a pirate accent on that last one, "Plus, we get to keep the pirate clothes! Pretty fun adventure if you ask me," she gave Nero a chirpy smile, "What about you? You having fun?"

"Eh, to be honest, it's been pretty boring so far," Nero's eyes went back to scanning the horizon, the wind almost knocking his pirate hat off had he not caught it.

"How so?"

"I was kinda hoping there'd be a lot more sea monster attacks," Nero explained, "I figured it'd be me warning the crew, then I could jump in and fight it off before getting back to the ship. Being lookout's just a whole lot of nothing and it's starting to piss me off."

"Well, I've been having a lot of fun with the crew. I got to help around the ship, make some pirate puns, get rid of barnacles with King, and do a little dance," Luz threw her two Snails in, though she seemed to shiver a bit at that last one. "Besides," she added, whatever grossed her out now in the back of her head, "For me, the joy is in the journey and getting to explore something new."

"Glad you're having fun at least," Nero smiled, "But I'm still hoping we get to the Simmering Shoals fast. Sooner we beat the crap out of that Selkidomus and bring it in, the better."

"And the sooner we do, the sooner we get the money to help the house," Luz added, her bright demeanor lessening with a small, but notable slump.

"You okay, Luz?" Nero asked.

"Yeah!" Luz gave a rather forced smile, "This...this isn't working, is it?"

"Nope."

Luz sighed and looked outward, "Sorry, guess I'm still bothered by everything. If I hadn't been stupid enough to get caught, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place and Eda wouldn't have lost faith in me."

Recalling her words back at Bonesborough, Nero nodded in understanding, "I think I get what you're saying," Luz looked at him, prompting Nero to continue, "Growing up, Mom's always been just a bit obnoxious when it came to making sure I was safe and sound," he rolled his eyes, "I know she meant well by it, but..."

As he struggled to find the words, Luz seemed to understand as well, concluding, "Felt like she didn't have any confidence in you to handle yourself, did it?"

"Yeah," Nero admitted, "And I know she's trying to be better about that, but she sorta lapses back into it every now and then. And look at me, once again going out somewhere dangerous without telling her," He huffed, "Guess old habits really don't die easily, do they?"

"Guess they don't," Luz agreed, slumping onto the railing, "Making matters worse, it looks like Eda's going that route too, since she only lets us take on small bounties. She doesn't think I can handle anything too dangerous," the human girl shrugged in melancholy, "Honestly, I don't think I can blame her for feeling that way."

The two entered a silence for several moments, Nero relating to Luz's current predicament. "So..." he said as he gave a reassuring smile and held out his fist to her, "To showing we can hold our own just fine?"

Luz looked at the fist and smiled, giving him a fist bump, "Yeah, to that."

Nero nodded before noticing that the sky was slowly beginning to darken. Looking up, he saw clouds blot out the sun, though thankfully, they didn't look heavy enough to carry an acid storm. However, as he shifted his gaze directly in front of the boat, he noticed a submerged ridge whose structures seemed to be made of giant rock and bone, the darkened skies hanging ominously above it.

"Looks like we're here," Nero commented, "Better go alert the captain."

"Right," Luz replied as they both headed to do just that. As the ship neared, the captain ordered everyone to keep their eyes peeled for any signs of the Selkidomus. They passed by the burning wreckage of a ship (signifying they were close), with a few of the crew paying their respects to the fallen. Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently from an unseen impact, which could only mean one thing.

"Luz, you see it?" Nero asked.

"There!" Luz pointed to far off in the boiling waters where a pair of dorsal fins rushed for the boat before slowing at its side. Members of the crew started throwing spears at it, which missed and sent the Selkidomus descending into the waters before jumping out to launch spikes at them. Everyone, barring one who lost his head, ducked for cover. Luz and Nero nodded to each other and jumped out from cover, the former with her glyphs ready while the latter aimed his right arm at the beast to restrain it.

"I'll trap it, you grab it!" Luz said, launching a couple ice glyphs in front of the Selkidomus, turning it around. She threw down another that slanted upward, effectively beaching it on the ice while it roared in anger. Luz gave a thumbs up, which Nero took as his cue and threw an ethereal arm right at the beast. He carefully picked the Selkidomus up, lifting it high above the boiling waters, but before he could move it to the boat, a crimson glow appeared beneath it.

"What the fu-" Nero was cut off when a series of crimson tendrils erupted from the water and grabbed the Selkidomus. As it shrieked in anger, the tendrils tried to pull it back into the sea, pulling Nero forward. "SHIT!" he braced himself into the ground, keeping his spectral arm's grip on the capture as best he could. Luz and the other members of the crew grabbed him and helped pull the beast back, but the impromptu tug of war was cut short when an explosion erupted from behind, knocking them all to the floor. With his grip on the Selkidomus lost, Nero jumped off the ground and rushed to the side of the ship just in time to watch the creature get pulled under by the crimson glow, which promptly darted to the ridge and disappeared beneath the waves.

"Nero, we have a problem!" Luz yelled.

"Yeah, looks like someone else's is hunting the Selkidomus down."

"No, I mean someone's robbing the ship!" at Luz's statement, Nero looked over and saw her and the captain on the opposite end of the deck, both of them looking over the edge. Rushing to them, the Clawthorne looked over as well just in time to see a shadowy figure make their way over to the shoal.

"Think it's whoever took the Selkidomus?" Nero mused.

"Probably," Luz said before tossing down another ice glyph into the water, creating a makeshift boat that she leapt down to. Not to be outdone, Nero weaved a spell circle and sent a blast of ice down to make his own boat just as Luz used a fire glyph to propel herself forward.

Taking a deep breath, Nero readied his right hand. "Okay Nero, like you practiced," he psyched himself up, opening his eyes to see that Luz was pretty far ahead. Forming a spell circle with his right hand, he unleashed a gargantuan torrent of fire that sent him flying as he held onto his makeshift boat. As he zoomed right past Luz, he couldn't help but let the adrenaline take hold as he jubilantly shouted, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWW!"

As he got close to the isle though, he felt his footing shrink and looked down to see that the boat was melting. At first, he was worried he'd sink into the boiling sea, but then saw that what was left of it began to float as he and it were propelled into the air. The heat from his flames and from the sea was enough to melt the rest as he looked up and saw the thief park their boat (a bathtub of all things) just ahead. Unfortunately, rather than smash into them like he'd hoped, he flew overhead right past them.

"Woah!" Nero ceased his propellent and dropped to the floor, just barely managing to land on his feet as he skidded across the sands, driving Red Queen into the ground to halt himself completely. "Alright, asshole," Nero picked himself up and pointed his blade at the thief, "Thinking of stealing our paycheck? You got another thing-"

"Nero!?" the thief shouted in an all too familiar voice, at which point Nero blinked and rubbed his eyes.

"Wait, Aunt Eda, is that you?" he asked, despite knowing the answer. She may have been dressed like a pirate with a sash of potions, both her legs replaced by peg legs, she was carrying a sack of Snails and had her face covered with a mask, but it was undoubtedly her.

"Yeah, it's me," Eda removed her mask, "What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing."

"How about you answer me fir-"

"WHAAAAAAA-" Luz cried out from just behind Eda, who turned right as the human crashed into her. Both of them fell to the ground as Nero ran over to help them up, but in the process, he saw the Snails that Eda had stolen get enveloped by the beach's waves, lost to all of them.

"The money!" all of them shouted before Luz looked at her mentor in shock, "Wait, Eda!?"

"Heh, hey kid," Eda nervously replied.

"Why are you robbing our ship? And where are your legs?" Luz asked, at which point they all noticed that the impact knocked Eda's peg legs off. Instead of responding, Eda casually snapped, causing her actual legs to jump out of the tub and reattach themselves to her.

"Covering my tracks," Eda answered as she stood up, "Now as I was going to ask, what are you two doing here?"

Before either of them could answer, the ground beneath them shook, causing everyone to wobble and look out to the sea. Out from it rose a fist of pure boiling water, which promptly slammed into the sand in front of them, revealing the kneeling, smoking figure of the Golden Guard, staff in one hand and cage in another.

"At the moment, I'd say interfering with Coven business," the Guard said, his casual tone baring a dangerous edge.

Great, this asshat again, Nero recalled his previous encounter with Hunter. He never did get to pay him back for knocking him down a hall. Glaring, he pointed Red Queen at him and growled, "What the fuck do you want, Hunter?"

"Hunter?" Eda and Luz asked in surprise.

"I'm on official business, so it's just "Golden Guard", got it?" Hunter grunted, clearly not liking that the mystique of his entrance was gone, "So I suggest you do as I say if you want this to be as painless as possible."

"Why would we do that?" Luz glared.

"How about the fact that the Owl Lady attacked one of the Emperor's ships," he stated, "And since all three of you lost the money, you have a debt to pay."

"Argh! Are you shitting me!?" Nero slapped his head at that tidbit, "We really should've read the fine print before we took this job."

"To be fair, we were in a hurry," Luz admitted.

"How about a counteroffer?" Eda stepped forward, "How about you and his royal High-Ass leave the Selkidomus alone? It's a peaceful creature and you're provoking it."

Hunter shrugged, "The Emperor ordered me to slay one. I'm just following orders."

"Why does he even need you to slay it?" Nero asked, "Your goons already caught it and took it back here. Pretty sure they could do your job for you."

Hunter tilted his head, "Wait, what are you talking about?"

Nero, Luz, and Eda all looked to each other before turning back to the Guard. "You mean those red bands that dragged it back here didn't belong to you?" Nero asked.

Hunter gasped, his head turning to the cave far behind them, "Okay, change in plans. You three go investigate who took the Selkidomus and report back here You don't even have to fight whoever took it, just give me some intel on the culprit so I can handle them. If you do, I won't arrest you, and more importantly," he pulled up the cage and removed the blanket, "I won't drown the bird."

"WEH!" King yelled from inside the cage, "Where am I? What's-" before Hunter covered it again, "Heh, dark now."

"He's kinda cute actually," Hunter admitted as King started snoring.

Shit, this is bad, Nero looked over to his aunt and her ward, both of whom looked as worried as he felt, and tried to think of something. If they investigated, that'd be handing the Selkidomus over to the Emperor's Coven, and now that he knew the truth, he had no intention of handing it over to them. If they didn't, that meant King would surely be killed. Holstering his sword to think, he looked around to see what he could use, briefly seeing Luz actually consider the offer, before looking down at his right hand and get an idea. "See Hunter, that offer sounds nice and all," Nero held his left hand behind his back and spun a small spell circle with his pinkie, "But I think I'll settle for knocking that chrome dome off your face."

"Eh?" was all Hunter could say as Nero manifested a massive illusion; a huge version of his right arm erupting from the ground. Focusing, he brought it down on Hunter, who created a crimson barrier and braced himself for impact. Of course, the illusion didn't affect it in the slightest since it wasn't really there, but it did distract the Golden Guard, who looked confused as the barrier started to come down. Smirking, Nero held his right arm behind him and let out a small fire spell, using the burst of propulsion to send himself flying forward to deliver a spin kick to Hunter's head. "WHOA!" Hunter barely managed to block it with his staff, but the force of the impact knocked King's cage out of his hands and sent it up in the air, allowing Nero to send an ethereal arm to grab it, all while Hunter yelled, "Hey! That was a cheap shot and you know it!"

"Says the guy who kidnapped my friend," Nero pulled the cage to him and removed the blanket.

"King!" Luz ran up as the cage was opened, letting the little demon out. The two hugged as she asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just confused and a little bit hungry."

"Eh, he was starting to smell bad anyway," Hunter shrugged before looking over to the cave, "Imma just go handle the Selkidomus right quick. And since I'm feeling merciful, you can use this time to get out of here. Just be gone by the time I'm do-" as he ran his mouth, Nero grabbed him with an ethereal arm and held him in place, "What the-LET ME GO!"

"Not so fun now, is it?" Nero said before looking over to Eda and Luz, who looked to each other and nodded.

"Think you can hold him off while we go free the Selkidomus?" Luz asked.

Nero smirked and drew Red Queen once more, "Yeah, I'll manage. Besides, kinda got a score to settle with him anyway."

"Alright, let's go!" Eda and Luz ran off, the latter turning back, "King, you coming?"

Nero looked behind him to see that King wasn't going anywhere. "No way!" he jumped up and perched on Nero's shoulder, "I'm staying and helping. No one traps the King of demons in a cage and gets away with it!"

"Stay safe, both of you!" Eda said as she and Luz headed into the caverns just as Hunter's staff radiated excessive levels of magic, forcing Nero off him with a powerful field.

As Hunter floated down, he rolled his shoulder and snarled, "You know, I'm really starting to see why Uncle hates you so much."

"Well, that's a shame," Nero smirked as he stabbed Red Queen into the ground, flicking his wrist as the blade erupted with flames, "And here I was looking forward to the second date."

Whatever magic within the guard's mechanical staff ceased as he tilted his head and scratched his helm, "Wait a sec, are...are you flirting with me?"

"Depends," Nero shrugged, "What's that thing on your face?"

"What thing on my-"

Gotcha, Nero slashed upwards, sending a wave of flame and sand right towards the Guard, who barely managed to dodge as the slash grazed his helm.

"Dang this guy's fast," King bemoaned, with Nero in agreement. From their brief tussle back at Belos' palace, Hunter's speed was gonna be the biggest hurdle in fighting him.

"Trying to distract me?" Hunter rhetorically asked to which Nero smirked and spun Red Queen around.

"Huh, so you can actually figure shit out for yourself? And here I thought the only thing you knew how to do was knowtow to Emperor Asswipe."

"HA! Burn!" King pointed as he and Nero snickered, clearly getting the Guard's wrath as his staff glowed bright enough to almost blind them.

"Alright, THAT'S IT!"

"Luz, slow down!" Eda whispered as she ran slightly behind the girl. They went deeper into the cave as a lot of whispering, arguing, and outright roaring could be heard up ahead. They soon came upon a fissure within the cavern, the mast of a wrecked ship rising out of it. Hearing all the noise coming from down below, she and Luz pocked their heads over the cliff and looked to see a bunch of ominous figures in robes surrounding a giant blue pentagram. The Selkidomus roared at the center, but it couldn't move, being bound by several chains and mythical tendrils.

"We need to hurry this up," a goat-like demon, most likely the leader, said, "The Sparda and the prodigy of the Coven are here. They'll ruin everything if they find us!"

There's that name again, Eda mused, remembering what her sister and Nero said about this guy.

"Boss, you sure about this?" a tall, lanky looking witch asked.

The Goat glared at him, "We may not be summoning one of the Hell Lords, but it should be just as capable of getting the job done. All we have to do is summon it. No need to convince it of anything. Just a simple, rampaging beast that will do our job for us when it reaches the isles."

"Sounds like a lot of people are going to die," one of the other robed members, a dark-haired woman, said.

"Please, the isles can burn for all I care so long as Belos burns with it," the goat said and started preparing the ritual, all while Luz and Eda looked to each other in horror.

Okay, I'm all for taking down Belos, but these bastards are going too far, Eda glared down at them as the Selkidomus screamed, drowning out their chanting as the circle glowed an ominous blue. She was about to try and come up with a plan, but Luz beat her to the punch.

"Eda, you stay up here. I'll go stop these guys."

"What?" Eda looked at her ward like she was crazy, "No, it's too dangerous!"

"I have to, Eda," Luz gave a reassuring, but terrified and sorrowful smile, "It's the only way to make things right."

What is she talking about? Eda saw the guilt in Luz's eyes. The girl was about to jump down, but Eda grabbed her hand, giving a pleading look, "Luz, you can't go it alone. Remember what I said? Us weirdos have to stick toge-"

"I know! But look where that got you!" Luz shouted, causing Eda to let go and back away. The amount of hate Luz was directing at herself was downright palpable. She wanted to say something, anything, to help her kid, but before she could...

"Guys, we've been spotted!"

Shit! Eda and Luz looked down and saw one of the robed guys pointing up at them, followed by a few forming spell circles and launching fire blasts their way. Both of them ducked behind the cliffside as Eda remarked, "Well, looks like I'm involved whether you like it or not."

"Keep them busy!" the leader said, "It won't take long for me to finish this!"

"Oh, not on my watch you ain't!" Eda pulled out one of her potion bombs and shouted, "SPICY-TOSS!" before throwing it down on their attackers. The resulting explosion scattered them as she and Luz jumped down, the latter using a plant glyph to swing using the ship's mast and kick one of the goons in the face. "Alright, now listen here Mister short, old, and smells like crap," Eda pointed to the leader, "Let the Selkidomus go before I smack you around!"

"Oh please, why should we fear you?" the old goat asked as the Selkidomus screamed in agony, "You don't have any magic, Owl Lady."

Eda grunted at the reminder and threw another potion bomb, prompting a yelp from the goat demon as he quickly whipped up an energy barrier. Before she could just run up and punch him in the face, she found herself surrounded by the robed goons, all of whom had spells primed on her. In response, Eda pulled off her left arm and pointed it at them like a baseball bat, which earned her nothing but mocking laughter. Said laughter was cut off when Luz let out a war cry as she swung in on a vine, glyphs turning into fire balls that rained down on a few of their opponents. With some breathing room, Luz landed right behind Eda, both of them standing back-to-back as they were surrounded once more.

"I call dibs on the human! I need a new head to play bowling with," one of the more...deranged robed guys said.

"Dude, you have a problem."

"It's not a problem!"

"UGH! Why do we hang out with you again!?"

Luz and Eda just gave each other a deadpan glance before facing their opponents. Luz combined a pair of plant glyphs and slammed them to the floor, enveloping the first half of the goons in green vines that lifted them into the air. Eda rushed forward and smacked the nearest cult guy out with her bat-arm before ducking under a spell and throwing said arm at the attacker. The witch started shrieking as Eda's arm punched him in the face repeatedly, letting the Owl Lady toss another bomb at a charging foe. Unfortunately, she let her guard down and found herself caught in a hold from behind. She tried to break free, but lacking an arm made that harder than expected. Making matters worse, two of the goons approached, both wielding serrated knives.

"End of the line, Owl Lady," the one at the left mocked.

"Any last words?" asked the girl on the right.

"Yeah, why do you have boot on your face?"

"Wha-" was all they had time to say as Eda kicked her feet off, launching them at the goons' faces and sending them back. She slammed the back of her head into her captor's face and fell to the floor, whistling to gather all her limbs back. In no time, she reattached her arm and legs, standing tall and looking over to where Luz was, watching her kid kick some serious butt. But as Luz threw an ice blast that froze an opponent solid, Eda noticed something about the way she was fighting. It was far more reckless than usual, and that made her recall what Luz had said before all this happened.

I really need to talk to her when this is over, Eda worriedly thought as Luz blinded the last goon with a light glyph that left him reeling.

"You okay, Eda?" Luz asked as she walked over to her. Eda was about to answer, but one final scream from the Selkidomus snapped their attention back to the leader, who faced them as the pentagram glowed brighter than ever. The Selkidomus itself looked to be in immense pain as its body writhed, trying in vain to break free.

"You want some too?" Eda held her fists up, ready to throw down, but to her surprise, the goat demon smirked.

"No, just leaving you to your fate is all. Have fun with the Leviathan!" he said as he wove a spell circle that caused the ground beneath to swallow him and his goons, leaving them alone with the Selkidomus, whose screams now shook the entire cavern.

Gasping, Luz ran towards the pentagram, "Eda, we gotta get rid of that circle!"

Eda ran alongside Luz, but suddenly, the pentagram's glow became blinding. As both of them shielded their eyes, the screaming stopped, and it was then that Eda knew it was too late. Thinking quick, she grabbed Luz and bolted in the opposite direction, despite her kid's protests, and hid behind a broken off piece of the ship. She shielded Luz, eyes welded shut until the flash of light ceased. Opening her eyes, she made sure Luz was alright before noticing that an enormous shadow now loomed over them, and it only grew larger with each passing second. Fearfully, she looked out from behind cover, eyes going wide at the sight of the beast. As she panicked to find a way around it, the beast roared.

Eda could now only think one thing, We're dead.

Nero grit his teeth as Red Queen clashed against Hunter's staff, putting them into a blade lock. The Golden Guard managed to push him several feet back, zooming forward to follow up with an energy slash. Nero managed to flip to the side, launching a trio of sword slashes that Hunter avoided one after the other. Delivering one final, downward strike, Nero was caught off guard when his opponent instead teleported in a crimson flash. Feeling the air behind him shift, Nero turned back just in time to see Hunter's staff aimed point blank at his face.

Crapbaskets! Nero just barely managed to bend backwards and avoid the powerful laser blast, though the bangs of his hair were singed and his pirate hat was vaporized. He backflipped to put some distance between them before lunging forward, becoming a streak of dark blue that struck at the Golden Guard. Hunter side-stepped his attack, clearly intent on countering before King jumped from Nero's shoulder and right onto the Guard's helm.

"Hey! Get off me you little-" Hunter reached for King, who kept crawling all over him to avoid capture. Seeing his opening, Nero smirked and darted back before darting forward at even greater speeds, delivering a burning sword slash that sent sand and flames flying everywhere. The distracted Guard was sent upward alongside King, who flailed about with a high-pitched shriek. Sending a spectral hand towards the little demon, Nero caught him and pulled King back to the ground.

"You okay?" Nero said as King jumped back up to his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but how about a little warning next time you do that!?" King yelled.

"Sorry," Nero sheepishly replied as he saw Hunter flailing in the air, trying to regain his bearings. Thinking quick, he launched an ethereal arm that grabbed him mid-air, pulling Nero right towards him. As he neared, he struck, only to be met with empty air. He looked back and saw the Golden Guard now casually floating about, his staff holding him aloft. Before Nero's descent could slow down, he used his right arm and let off a fire spell, the blowback sending him flying right toward Hunter at a speed he wasn't expecting. The Clawthorne delivered a dive kick to the Guard's helmet, sending both of them crashing to the ground and rolling to regain their footing. Both of them stood tall, panting and covered from head to toe in dirt, sand, and grime. There were several tears in their attire that exposed the lacerations and burns they'd received throughout the fight.

"Okay, I'll...admit," Hunter caught his breath, rubbing at the new dent in his helm, "You're a lot tougher than I thought you'd be."

"Same to you," Nero coughed as he felt his wounds begin to heal. Even still, it was taking a lot out of him just to keep pace with the Guard's speed, having to make sure the hits he could connect counted. With his opponent still drained, Nero quickly drew up a spell circle that sent arcs of lighting Hunter's way. Unfortunately, Hunter recovered quick enough to block them all with his staff and blitz towards him. Right as Hunter came near, Nero struck the stave with Red Queen to block, sparks clashing as they flew past each other.

"Would you just give up already!?" Hunter's frustration was now reaching a peak as he skidded to a halt a ways away.

"You first, bucket head," Nero grunted, ignoring his exhaustion as Hunter was enveloped by the energy from his staff. The Golden Guard rushed for him, once more being blocked by Red Queen and landing behind before striking again as a scarlet blur. From behind, the side, from everywhere Nero wasn't immediately looking, he was attacked by an onslaught of powerful staff strikes that took everything he had to keep pace with. Gritting his teeth, he blocked over and over again as he struggled to find an opening. However, he noticed that the Guard was slowing down, pausing for breath while skidding to a stop once more.

Now's my chance, Nero readied himself as Hunter became a crimson comet one final time. Right as he neared, Nero sent an uppercut straight for the Guard's chin that managed to connect. As it struck, however, he saw that Hunter's staff connected to his chest, emitting a blast he had no time to dodge.

"ARGH!" Nero was sent flying back as the Guard was knocked into the air. He rolled against the ground, clutching at his chest and picking himself up.

"Nero! You okay there bud?" he heard King yell as he looked up, seeing the demon rush to his side. Clearly, the blast knocked him off his shoulder.

"Yeah," Nero groaned, "Fuck, that hurt." He looked over to Hunter, whose helmet was knocked off as he started getting up, and sighed, "Guess this shit isn't over yet."

"Ugh, I know," King added, "This was fun at first, but now it's just exhausting."

"What are you talking about? I'm the one doing most of the fighting here," Nero pointed out as Hunter stood at full height, shaking the sand out of his ash-blonde hair before glaring and gritting his teeth at them. This would have been somewhat intimidating if not for the goofy looking gap in his front teeth. He aimed his staff while Nero pointed Red Queen for what would likely be the final round. Before either of them could make a move, however, the ground shook and knocked them both off balance.

"What in the name of the Titan is that?" Hunter asked, struggling to maintain his footing as Nero did the same. A loud "BOOM!" sounded behind him, forcing him to turn just in time to witness the height of the ridge exploding into enormous chunks of rubble and dust.

"What the Hell!?" Nero shouted as some of the rubble flew right towards them. King hid behind him while he slashed away at any large rocks that got near, cutting them to pieces. Hunter handles them his own way, firing lasers from his staff that blew up the rest. Looking back at the Guard, he said, "Thanks."

"Just making sure I don't get crushed too," Hunter replied with a glare, "Don't assume this means our fight's ov-WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?"

Nero followed where Hunter was pointing, his eyes growing wide as dinner plates as a roar filled the sky. Flying far above them was a colossal aquatic demon with three tail fins and four orange eyes that circled back for them. It opened its mouth, a pulsing glow roaring out that launched a massive energy blast down on the beach. All three of them were forced to duck out of the way, avoiding the blast radius that left a massive crater behind.

"Is everyone still breathing?" Nero asked.

"I think I am," King squeaked out.

"Ugh," Hunter stood up, looking to the monster that circled them overhead, "Giant, super powerful, and doesn't seem native to Limbo. I'm betting this thing's from one of the lower circles and the Rogues summoned it."

"Rogues?" Nero asked, "You mean those robed guys?"

"You fought them?"

Nero nodded, but a buzzing in the pocket of his pirate jacket caught his attention. Reaching, he pulled out the device Luz gave him and Eda, a tama-whatsit. He couldn't really recall the name, but they were kinda like scrolls and birds in that they allowed them to keep in touch, with this one sending a message from Luz. A series of shapes and symbols appeared on the tiny screen, but Nero couldn't read any of them.

"What's Luz saying?" King jumped to his shoulder.

"No clue. Can't read any of this," Nero scratched his head, "I think maybe she's trying to warn us the giant asshole flying overhead, but it's a bit late for-"

"Wait, turn it to the side."

"What for?" Nero's question was met with King jumping to his hands and doing just that, letting him see the words the symbols made out, "Oh...that makes way more sense." Nero cleared his throat and spoke out the message, "Trapped in Leviathan belly. Please help."

"You mean to tell me they're inside that thing!?" Hunter asked, pointing to the beast as it continued circling the small isle. Whether it was mocking them or waiting for their next move, Nero didn't know.

"Seems so," Nero put the device away, staring at the creature with worry for his aunt and friend trapped inside it.

"But how are we gonna reach it?" King asked, "Last I checked, neither of us can fly and I'm not so sure waiting for that thing to come down to us is a good idea."

Good point, Nero pondered over that fact, trying to figure something out, but then Hunter coughed and drew their attention. Annoyed, Nero asked, "You're still here?"

"Yes," Hunter's staff glowed, grabbing his helmet, "Now, I'm gonna be completely honest with you," he put the helm back on, "I don't like you, and you don't like me."

"Gee, what gave you that idea?" Nero deadpanned and crossed his arms.

"But we're both exhausted from fighting each other. I can't kill it by myself, and neither can you," Hunter pointed to the Leviathan, "And if neither of us can kill that thing, it's gonna rampage across Limbo until it reaches the isles. If it does, countless innocent people are gonna die."

Shit! Can't let that happen! Nero glared at the beast for a second. Between his family trapped in its stomach and his previous fatigue, he didn't even think about that.

"So rather than make a big speech about a common foe or anything like that," Hunter sat on his staff as it floated in the air, "Let's just skip to the part where you hop aboard so we kill this monster."

"All while keeping in mind that this changes nothing, and we go right back to trying to kill each other when we're done?"

"Exactly."

"Fine by me, now move over," Nero got onto the staff, riding it like a board and holding his hand out for King, who jumped on and climbed to his shoulder. Seeing that everyone was on, Hunter flew them upward at high speeds, flying them just behind the Leviathan and following its trail.

"Man, this whole sequence reminds me of when Ruler and his subordinate, Francoise, were forced to team up with their sworn enemy to defeat the Great Usurper!" King excitedly said.

"Wait, that sounds like-" Hunter looked back at King as they flew high above the Leviathan, "You read Ruler's Reach too?"

King started looking rather smug, "Read it? Who do you think wrote it?"

Despite wearing a helmet, Hunter somehow managed to look both flabbergasted and awe-struck, "You mean you're the author!? W-Wow, this is so awesome! Can I get your auto-"

"Dude! Fight now, fanboy later!" Nero chastised as he looked down and yelled at King, "Hold on!" before leaping off the staff and free falling for the Leviathan's back. As soon as they neared, he threw a spectral arm and latched on, pulling himself towards it. Holding onto the beast's back, he stabbed Red Queen into it and clung for dear life.

"Please tell me you have a plan!" King screamed.

"Nope!" Nero started stabbing the Leviathan's hide over and over again, Dammit, this thing's though! Just hang in there you guys!

Luz ducked under the scythe swing with a loud yelp; it was one thing to get eaten, but there being demons inside was even worse. Luz threw out an ice glyph that froze the demon on impact, hoping to give herself some breathing room. There was hardly any time for that, however, as a yell from Eda forced her to turn just in time to avoid getting hacked to pieces by another scythe-wielding demon who then shattered its frozen ally without hesitation. Besides being hostile enough to make those flesh-eating fairies seem nice, they were also tall, lanky humanoids with weird masks and large bulbs of flesh on their backs. Probably the most disturbing thing about them was that none had any skin and were just shambling masses of exposed muscle.

If I hadn't already been eaten by a demon once, I'd probably be puking right now, Luz thought. She whipped out a plant glyph and ensnared the demon in vines before throwing it off the current pathway, sending it far below and probably into stomach acid. Just behind her, she heard an explosion from one of Eda's potion bombs, diverting her attention to see Eda kick another demon off the fleshy walkway while her severed head was biting into the arm of another. As it shrieked in pain, Eda's body walked up to it and delivered a powerful kick right in its crotch. Oof, demon or not, that had to hurt. Luz watched the demon slump to the ground before Eda stomped on its head, crushing it into green goop. The rest of its body melted away in what looked almost like bile.

"That was...gross," Luz said as Eda reattached her head.

"Sadly, I've seen grosser things at the Night Market," Eda said as the entire Leviathan shook. "Sounds like a fight's going on out there."

"Then we better keep moving. There's gotta be an exit around here somewhere," Luz added as she began walking down the walkway, where they entered a mucus and slime filled hall. Ignoring that for now, she pulled out her notebook and started writing down everything she could about her current environment for later magic training notes, as well as using the pages to draw up more glyphs. Throughout their travels in the Leviathan's stomach, they came across what looked like a giant Spanish Gallion, the ruins of an old Victorian castle, and leftover buildings among other stuff, all of which could only mean one thing.

"How did this thing get to Earth to eat all that?" Luz wondered out loud. For a second, she thought an answer to her current "stuck with no way home" problem might involve whatever brought this thing to Earth, but then she recalled how the Leviathan was summoned in the first place and chucked that idea into a fire. Anything that required sacrificing someone else to get her way was an avenue she wanted nothing to do with.

"I don't know," Eda replied as the two of them avoided the puddles of acid that littered the halls. Soon as they brushed past a membrane-like entrance and into what looked like an intestine, which thankfully didn't have any acid puddles from what could be seen.

And how badly do you have to screw up that no acid puddles in a giant demon's stomach is the silver lining? Luz admonished herself, but kept to writing in her notebook as a distraction, First Eda loses her magic because of me, then she has to sacrifice so much just to make sure I can eat, then that innocent Selkidomus dies because of me, and now we're stuck in a demon's belly because I was too slow to stop those guys from finishing their-

"Luz," Eda snapped her out of it, both of them stopping, "I think we need to talk."

"Can it wait until we're out of here?"

Eda shook her head, "No, it's about what you said earlier." Her expression became terrified, something Luz wasn't used to seeing on her mentor, "When you said that what you were doing was 'the only way to make things right'. What did you mean by that?"

Luz wasn't sure she wanted to answer, but thankfully, she didn't have to. The ground shook, and the walls spasmed, a high-pitched roar echoing from behind Eda. They both looked down the intestinal hall and saw what looked like a giant tapeworm crawling right for them. Running ahead, Luz yelled, "Eda, get behind me!" before throwing a pair of ice glyphs that froze its head, "I'll hold it off."

As the beast smashed its head among the walls to try and shatter the ice, Eda yelled, "Luz, you can't! We have to stick together to get out of here!"

"Why? So I can make your life worse?" Luz snapped, facing Eda as her voice became more strained, "Look around! Because of me, you lost your magic, you almost died, and you can barely afford to make ends meet. You wouldn't even be stuck in this thing if it weren't for me!" Eda went quiet as Luz's breath heaved. A sudden roar and the shattering of ice forced her attention back on the freed worm. "Eda, just go. I'll catch up to you as soon as I can, but if I'm gonna set things right, I have to handle this alone."

Luz heard Eda yell at her, but she didn't listen, instead letting off a fire glyph that the tapeworm withstood before charging. As it neared, she combined a pair of light glyphs that emitted a giant flash, causing the worm to back up and screech. However, it recovered quickly and started charging forward again, the narrow tunnel giving no way past it. Luz was about to set up a barrier of vines that would hopefully slow it down, but a trio of potion bombs flew overhead and into the beast's mouth. A series of booms came from inside its throat before it coughed up smoke.

"Hang on!" Eda grabbed Luz, despite her protests, and bolted down the hall. From Luz's position, she could see the worm recover and speed right for them. Eda ran as fast as she could, just barely staying ahead until she managed to jump into a small opening that led into another passageway. The worm ineffectually banged against it, unable to fit through, letting Eda run down and gently place Luz on the floor when they were safe.

"Eda, what are you-"

"Luz, just stop and listen for a minute!" Eda yelled as she knelt down, "I get that you want to help me, but all this recklessness isn't going to work, and this is coming from me! You keep saying you've made my life worse, but I don't see it that way," her expression softened and sounded like she was starting to tear up for a moment, "You helped me find King's crown when you barely knew me. You saved me from Belos, helped me at least start patching things up with Lily. Hell, if you hadn't dragged me to that Covention, I'd never have met my nephew. Bad things happened, sure, but so did a lot of good stuff too." Eda looked away, as if trying to find the words, "So no matter what you believe..." she then looked her dead in the eye, "My life's pretty great because I'm friends with Luz the Human."

"E-Eda, I..." Luz sniffled, her own tears threatening to spill out, which ceased when Eda poked her forehead.

"Now, please, for your own sake, don't feel so guilty about everything," she stood up, holding out a hand, "So that us weirdos can get out of here together."

Feeling a genuine smile return to her face, Luz nodded and took the hand. Both of them started down the passage, once more pushing past gross slimy walls, all the while Luz felt lighter than before. The guilt she felt was still there, but she could put it aside, at least for now. It also helped that she was too focused on the light at the far end of the tunnel to truly pay that any mind, running alongside Eda to the end and exiting to find themselves in another pulsating, spasming room made up of tissue and membranes.

"Where are we now?" Luz asked, looking around before her eyes landed on the room's centerpiece. Behind a large, transparent, membranous wall was a trio of giant...hearts? She assumed they were hearts at least, though one to the left had several red crystals in it, not to mention what looked like teeth at the bottom end and all of them had weird lines and symbols running throughout. Before she could wonder any further, the Leviathan shook again, reminding her of the fight outside.

"Damn, doesn't sound too good out there," Eda remarked, concern evident in her voice, "Wish we could do something."

Staring at the hearts and pressing a hand to the barrier, Luz got an idea, "Maybe we can." Eda raised an eyebrow at her while Luz pulled out a sheet of paper and smirked, "Want to learn your first glyph?"

Hunter soared higher, following the Leviathan as it flew directly upward into the sky. For a moment, he looked back down and saw the ridge they were on now far below. He looked back, only able to make out the silhouette of the demon as he caught up, soaring through the clouds and reaching its back. Eventually, they burst above the clouds and into the afternoon sky, the sun shimmering of the Leviathan's scales as it roared. Hunter watched as it fired off a blast into the air, turning and facing him to shoot him down. With a spin, he narrowly avoided it, briefly seeing Nero and his demon friend hanging on for dear life from one of the Leviathan's eyes. He ducked under the beast came up with a new idea.

Hide on its back's too thick, let's try the underbelly, Hunter thought and took aim, firing a precise blast that ran the length of its stomach. Unfortunately, it didn't work, as the scales underneath were just as thick. So far, he and Nero have been hammering away at it and nothing could put a dent. Better regroup, see if we can come up with something else, Hunter flew as fast as he could, catching up to the Leviathan and nearing its face.

"Hey!" Hunter shouted as he saw Nero and the demon on the eye with Nero's sword impaled through it. "Hop on!"

Nero removed his blade, now slicked with blood, from the eye, and the Leviathan roared in pain and tried to shake Nero off. Its flight path grew erratic, forcing Hunter to veer away from it while Nero found his footing, running along the snout before leaping off into the air. He threw out a spectral fist that grabbed one end of Hunter's stave and pulled himself aboard.

"Good news! I found a weak point. Bad news is there's only four and they're a pain in the ass to get to," Nero said.

"And that mouth laser almost shook me off!" the small demon screamed.

"Alright, I got an idea." Hunter increased his speed, firing a few energy blasts at the demon's face to aggravate it. The Leviathan was hot on their trail, but Hunter zoomed far ahead to get enough distance for his plan. Once they were far enough, Hunter jumped and hung from his staff, letting it act as a makeshift bazooka like the ones Blight Industries sold. "Steady, easy..." he stilled his breath, waiting until the beast neared enough and its eye was in position. "NOW!" A beam of pure energy struck the Leviathan's upper left eye, blowing it to smithereens.

"HELL YEAH! WAY TO GO!" Nero yelled while his friend punched the air. Despite their alliance being temporary, Hunter couldn't help but smile at the praise. Of course, it was understandable, as praise and respect were only deserved for accomplishing one's tasks efficiently.

"HA! Two down! Two to-LOOK OUT!" the small demon yelled, forcing Hunter's attention back to the Leviathan as it charged for them. He was able to get aboard his staff and veer them out of the way as the beast flew high above them once again. From the looks of it, the Leviathan was gonna fly so high that it'd be impossible to reach. He had to act quick and blind it before-

"KING!" Nero yelled, making Hunter aware of a high-pitched scream as he looked down to see King plummeting. Before he could even process that, Nero jumped down after him, entering a dive.

"Oh you gotta be fudging kidding me!" Hunter slapped his helmet and looked back up at the Leviathan. If he went after it now, he could take out the other two eyes and leave it helpless. But then Nero and King would plummet to their deaths. He shook his head, his thoughts sounding almost like Uncle's voice, You have a job to do, Golden Guard. The Clawthorne and his pet are an obstacle. Leave them to their fate. It's the boy's fault he decided to do something so foolhardy in the first place. But then he recalled how, despite having the opportunity to stay silent, Nero spoke up in his defense against the Emperor, willing to share the blame for something that was entirely his own fault.

"Ugh! Titan darn it!" Hunter became a crimson blur, zipping down at blinding speeds and catching up to Nero right as he caught King. Holding out his hand, he grabbed the two and pulled them back on. As he flew back up, he asked, "You two okay?"

"Yeah, I-I'm good," King whimpered, still shaking off experience.

Nero, meanwhile, gave a smile and thumbs up, "Yeah, thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it. Let's just say I owed you one," Hunter replied before focusing on the Leviathan as he flew through the clouds, "Let's just hope that thing didn't get too high up for-" suddenly, the air around them shook. An ear-piercing roar echoed around them and drew closer. It sounded like the Leviathan, but this wasn't the rage from before. It was almost like it was in agony. It kept going and going until it finally ceased, leaving only the sound of billowing winds. "What the heck was tha-" Hunter was cut off as the beast's familiar giant shadow drew close.

"WOAH!"

"WEH!"

"SHIT!"

Hunter flew out of the way, barely avoiding a fin as all three of them looked down to see the Leviathan sprawled out, not moving an inch. He followed it, bursting out from beneath the clouds and watching as it plummeted to the ridge with a mighty crash on its back. It landed on its back atop the destroyed structures of the miniature island, head hanging above and covering half the cave entrance.

"Did...did it just die?" King asked, equally as befuddled as Hunter was feeling.

"Looks like it," Hunter landed, allowing his passengers to hop off and run up to the giant corpse, "No idea how though."

"I think I might know how," Nero hummed before pulling out that device from earlier and started pushing buttons, King helping him figure out how to send a message.

Hunter looked over Nero's shoulder and asked, "You think the human and the Owl Lady killed it?"

Nero nodded as he finished sending the message, "They probably fucked something up inside the thing. Can't think of any other reason why it'd just drop dead after only getting two eyes blown out." Hunter thought it over and accepted the reasoning, not seeing any other way. All three of them stared at the device, waiting for a response, but after over a minute, nothing came up. Nero typed another message, looking a lot more nervous than before, whispering, "Come on. Pick up you guys."

"I'm sure they're fine," King said before staring at the demon corpse with worry, "A-At least I hope they're fine."

"Think one of us should try to enter it and-"

"WHAAAAA!"

Hunter was cut off as he looked far in front of him, where the human seemed to have landed on her backside. She sat up and shook her head, at which point the Owl Lady came out from somewhere behind the Leviathan's head and landed on her feet.

"Or they got out just fine," Hunter finished, watching as the outlaw helped the human up while Nero and King ran over, yelling their names in relief. They started doing...something with each other. Hunter didn't know what it was, but they all had their arms wrapped around one another. Was it some kind of display of affection? Either way, he headed over, looking up at the corpse until the eyes were visible. From the looks of it, the duo manages to get out through one of the empty eye sockets.

"BLEGH! You two definitely need to clean off when we get back. You reek!" King pinched his nose, Nero seeming to pick up on the scent as well and waving it off. Hunter would admit that the stench of blood and demonic innards was starting to stink something fierce. The human and Owl Lady, however, simply laughed it off.

"Ha! Yeah, I guess we do," the Owl Lady wiped a piece of a flesh-like membrane off her coat, "Blowing up a demon's heart with fire glyphs will do that."

Glyphs? Hunter mused. Were they talking about the Wild Magic the human used? Could the Owl Lady use it now too? Did that mean it could be taught? Despite Uncle's warnings about Wild Magic, he listened in on the conversation, wanting to know more.

"Damn! Talk about a serious case of heart burn," Nero chuckled.

"Don't keep us in suspense. Tell us all the squeamish, gory, gruesome details," King demanded in excitement. Hunter wasn't sure if that was worrying or not.

"Technically it was three hearts, and I'd rather not think too hard about that. But I'll say that it was super awesome! And really gross, but mostly awesome!" the human cheered, but to Hunter's confusion, that smile faded away. Why? Weren't they successful?

"Luz, something up?" Nero asked.

The Owl Lady knelt down and met Luz at eye level, "Hey, you're not going all guilty on us again, are you?"

"Sorry," the human shook her head, "Guess I'm a bit bummed since I couldn't save the Selkidomus from those guys."

Ah, that makes sense, Hunter mused. In spite of killing the demon, she still failed in her mission. The girl was clearly worried she'd be facing punishment for said failure. For as much as he didn't know nor care for the human, he could understand her fears and hoped that her mentor wouldn't reprimand her too severely.

"It's okay Luz. You did the best you could," the Owl Lady did that thing with the arms again, wrapping them around Luz as she did the same. Nero gently placed a hand to her shoulder and looked understanding, and expression that King shared. The sight further confused Hunter as he tilted his head. Weren't they supposed to be chastising her for failure? Why were they providing comfort for it?

"EHEM!" Hunter coughed, gathering everyone's attention. Luz pulled out a piece of paper while Eda readied the last of her potion bombs, prompting Hunter to raise his hands in peace. "I'm not here to fight anymore," he said, "I'm simply saying now that the Leviathan's dead, I'll be taking my leave. As thanks for helping kill it and thus preventing it from reaching the isles, you're free to go for now."

"Huh, that's...pretty generous for the Emperor's top goon," Nero raised an eyebrow.

Hunter scoffed, "Call me what you want, but with the Selkidomus dead, my mission's already complete," a lie, given that there was no longer a corpse to return with, "So I have no further reason to stay here," with that, he turned and made way to leave and hopped aboard his staff. He gave the outlaws one last glare and warned, "Try to stay out of trouble, or you will face the Emperor's wrath next time we meet."

With that as the final word, he flew away, not feeling particularly jubilant with his failure to secure the Selkidomus for his uncle. It was likely he needed it for something important, and Hunter blew it. All he could do now was report everything that happened. With the involvement of the Rogues, perhaps the emperor would be a touch more lenient?

Right?

Eda watched as the coven's golden boy vanished, becoming a red comet soaring across the sky. Once he was out of sight, she clapped her hands and said, "Welp! We better start heading home. Gotta make sure Hooty and Graff haven't burned the house down. Or that Lily hasn't tried to kill Hooty."

Nero let out a loud yawn and rubbed his eye, "Yeah, after all that, I'm exhausted."

"Me too! King wants nappies!" King added, though he seemed too energetic to be tired.

"Wait," Luz held a hand up and looked back into the cave, "Do you guys hear something?"

Eda opened her mouth to ask what she meant, but then she heard it; a loud, scared cry that echoed within the cave. Narrowing her eyes, Eda took a step forward and saw something move in the cave's darkness. Luz gasped and ran towards it, the figure backing away slightly.

"Luz, get back. Whatever it is, you're scaring it," Eda said, slowly walking up to her kid, And when a wild animal's scared, it's a roll of the dice on if they'll bite back.

Luz nodded, but still approached it, hands placating, "Hey little fella. It's okay, we're friendly," she knelt down, "You can come out. I won't hurt you. I promise."

Eda could make out the silhouette of the creature as it backed away a bit more, though not as much. She could see the eyes and how they shimmered in the dark. Slowly, but surely, it was coaxed out, revealing the animal to be a grey-purple little thing with black eyes and a sapling on her head. Upon sight, Eda realized what she was and gasped, "A baby Selkidomus."

Eda heard Luz's breath hitch as she moved a touch closer, the Selkidomus trusting her enough to close the gap. Holding her arms out, Luz embraced the sea creature as it let out a low, sad whistling sound.

"I'm sorry," Luz bitterly whispered, nuzzling the Selkidomus' cheek, "I wish I could've saved her."

Eda turned to Nero and King, who looked about the same way she felt. She walked up to Luz and knelt down, arm rested on her kid's shoulder, "Luz, I-"

"That's it!" Luz suddenly perked up.

"Wha-"

"Eda, we're bringing her home with us."

"Whoa, wait a minute Luz," Eda stood up and gave her student an utmost serious look, "We can't just bring a baby Selkidomus home with us. They belong out here in the wild."

"She won't last long out here without her mom," Luz countered, causing a whimper from the baby. "Shsh, it's okay," Luz whispered to her with a light hug, "I miss mi mama too."

Eda sighed, "Okay, point, but we're struggling financially as is."

"Then we'll take up more bounty hunting jobs! Whichever ones pay the highest," Luz then added, "Uh, after we read the fine print so we don't accidentally do Belos' dirty work, of course."

"I...I just-" Eda found herself unable to say no as Luz's eyes grew more pleading. The Selkidomus' own sad eyes made it downright impossible to fight back. She snapped her head back to Nero and King, "Guys, please back me up here!"

"Nah, I'm with Luz on this one," Nero immediately said, seeming to enjoy Eda's inability to resist the sad eyes.

"As long as that thing doesn't try to eat me or usurp my place as Luz's best friend, I'm fine with it," King harrumphed and crossed his arms, opening one eye and looking at the Selkidomus, "I guess."

Feeling her eye twitch at being outvoted 3-to-1, Eda dragged a hand down her face and groaned, "Fiiiine, you win. We'll take her home with us."

"YES!" Luz cheered, giving the baby a squeeze as it cooed happily.

"BUT!" Eda added, "We gotta set some ground rules. First and most important, this is temporary. Like it or not, she's gonna have to head out into the wild eventually. So she'll only stay with us until we can find her a new home with another Selkidomus pack, okay?"

"Got it!" Luz saluted, drawing a light chuckle out of Eda.

Clearing her throat, Eda continued, "Second, we need to keep her away from prying eyes. We know that the Emperor's Coven's hunting these things down. They find out we have one, and we'll have more on our plate than we can handle. Third and finally, until we find her a new home, you'll be responsible for her. I already got my hands full with Hooty, you, and those two back there."

"Hey!" Nero and King yelled.

"It's a hard truth you two, live with it," Eda snarked and asked Luz, "So, think you can handle that?"

Luz nodded and, with a determined stare, said, "Don't worry, Eda. You can count on me."

Smiling, Eda hugged Luz, "Always will, kiddo. Always will."

Luz hugged back, and the five of them stepped into Eda's flying bathtub. After a rough start, Eda managed to get the motor going, the group flying above the boiling sea and back to the mainland. As they flew, Eda couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this. They didn't get the money, were adding a new mouth to feed, and were probably just placing a bigger target on their backs in doing so. She'd just started learning glyphs, so she didn't have confidence in her ability to ward off threats to the Owl House. Sure, Hooty would be able to manage, but there was only so much he could do.

But then she saw Luz gently hold the Selkidomus up, letting Nero pet her. Lily's kid smiled and commented on how he'd always wanted a pet, but could never get one. King pointed at the animal and tried to tell her she was part of his "Dark Army" now, only to be licked in the face for his troubles. As King wiped the saliva away, Luz and Nero laughed their asses off. It took a bit, but even King joined in with them as the Selkidomus clapped her flippers. All of them were safe right now, but more importantly, they were happy. Her family was happy.

Know what? Eda let a small grin make its way to her lips, Worth it.

And that's a wrap! Again, sorry for the long wait.

Given how unnerving the Belos scene is meant to be and with it making clear how utterly repulsive and loathsome he is, you think there should be an AO3 tag for things like that? Maybe "Belos being an asshole"? "Belos is a monster"? Or something similar? I tried finding one but there didn't seem to be any.

In regard to Nero and Hunter, something I should stress is that I'm not pairing Nero with anyone here. As I said at the end of the Grom chapter (and as a reminder since people still ask me about it), Nero's remaining single for the entire story. Far as pairings are concerned, the only guarantees are Lumity, Huntlow, and Raineda.

Though given the somewhat flirty banter Nero gives to Hunter, I think now's as good a time as any to make clear that Nero, like Luz and Hunter, is bisexual in this story. Way back when I was trying to come up with pairings, I'd originally considered pairing Nero up with either of the Blights, but after a while and some discussion with the Beta Readers, I decided against it. Then I thought of pairing Nero and Hunter, but the issue there was that it'd be the "Enemies to Lovers" trope, which would essentially boil down to a repeat of Luz and Amity's relationship. So, I finally settled on Nero just remaining single throughout, and I outlined why this choice was for the best back in the AN of Chapter 15.

As for this chapter...

...yeah, the Selkidomus is dead, but the baby still lives. She'll be staying with the Owl House (or in an adjacent cave to the Owl House) until they can find her a new home. I was originally thinking about her becoming a permanent member of the Owl House, but after discussion with the Beta Readers, it was decided that it'd be too much to juggle and needless at the end of the day. They're gonna take care of her for now, but they'll be working to find a place where she can be safe from the Emperor's Coven.

It also comes with the image of Luz and Amity taking care of a baby Selkidomus.

The Selkidomus being dead also means they won't be getting the Selkigris to cover their finances, so they'll be doing more bounty hunter missions and odd jobs later down the road. It'll be tough, but they can make it work.

As a bit of a "What Could Have Been", I was planning on writing one more scene back at the Owl House, but the above section with Eda honestly felt like the best place to end the chapter on.

I was also planning on Luz going inside the cave and coming across the baby Selkidomus, but I couldn't think of any good reason for why she'd do that, so I had the baby crawl near the cave entrance instead.

Anyway, I'll see you all later. Gonna work on the next chapter of More Than Meets the Spy, then the next Camien Odyssey chapter, and I'll finally be getting started on my RWBY/EarthSpark crossover.