The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

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

25. EP 4: Evening with the Blights

NOTICE: This website seems to have fixed its email problems, so I should be able to start replying to reviews again. To those who reviewed the last couple of chapters, I apologise for not responding. It should be fine now though.

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The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 4: Evening with the Blights

Amity found herself pacing back and forth in front of her locker at Hexside. It was the first day of school after the two week break that followed the upheaval caused by the Petrification Ceremony, and Amity was determined to spend as much time as possible with her girlfriend! She'd heard all about the Basilisk incident on the newly dubbed Digale Island on Thursday, but due to being stuck helping her family with a Blight Industries Private Sale on Friday and Luz going to spend the weekend in the Human Realm with her Mami and Vee, Amity hadn't gotten a chance to see Luz since their beach date!

Thinking about the sale on Friday made the girl grumble; she'd always hated helping out with the sales, as she'd always been used as a guinea pig to demonstrate her Dad's new creations. She had intended to refuse this time, since her Mom couldn't threaten her into it any more, but her Dad had seemed really excited to show her his new Abomaton Soldier Mk I, and Amity hadn't had the heart to refuse. Though in hindsight, it would have been better for them all if she had refused; one of the Abomaton's features was hairstyling, and Amity's Mom had tried to use the opportunity to dye Amity's hair green again. Of course, Amity had spotted what she was doing immediately and refused to allow it, beginning an early demonstration of the Abomaton's combat features as it tried to restrain her and dye her hair. Sadly for her parents, Amity was able to easily dismantle the Abomaton, effectively ruining the show. As soon as the investors had left, Odalia and Amity had gotten into a huge fight, the former calling the latter selfish for not "thinking of the family" while the Amity yelled back that Odalia was the selfish one for refusing to accept her decisions regarding her own body.

Alador had broken up the fight before it could escalate, and had excused Amity's actions, saying that if a student (no matter how talented at Abomination Magic) had been able to destroy his Abomaton so easily, then it obviously wasn't ready for sale. Amity had felt both vindicated and guilty over it, and Odalia had refused to speak to her ever since… not like that was a big loss. If this had been before, Amity would have likely been slapped and grounded for months for her actions, but so long as she and her friends had the blackmail material on Odalia, the woman's hands were tied. While Odalia's nose and wrists had been healed by the family healer (sworn to secrecy) after Alador had called out her foolishness in leaving them untreated, the woman's hair was still not fit to be shown; she'd instead shaved it so it was even, then hidden it under a concealment stone as she waited for it to regrow, refusing to visit a hair salon or be seen buying a hair growth potion out of pride.

The thought of that cheered Amity up a bit more, and her mood escalated even higher when she saw Luz walking towards her in her school uniform.

"LUZ!" Amity cheered, running to her.

"HERMOSA!" Luz cheered right back, running to meet her halfway. Amity leapt into her arms and Luz giggled and spun her through the air before setting her down, whereupon Amity instead picked her up and spun her too. Both girls ended up giggling and blushing, then exchanged a kiss.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again!" Amity gushed.

"Aw, it's only been a few days! And we talked on our scrolls on Friday! Is your Mom still giving you the silent treatment?" Luz asked.

"Yeah, but who cares about that? I'm more interested in you and your Mom! How did your first weekend in the Human Realm go?" Amity asked.

"It went great! Mami, Vee, and I spent the whole weekend just hanging out and having fun. We stayed home, since everyone in Gravesfield thinks Vee is me, but we watched movies and played video games and told stories… it was a lot of fun! Vee started going to my old school in my place, and she's apparently having a good time with her friends. She was also really happy to hear that Treble is doing well!" Luz answered, still holding Amity around the waist.

Amity beamed; "I'm glad to hear it! How did your Mom react to the Selkidomus adventure?"

Luz blushed; "I, uh, might have omitted that. I only really told her and Vee that we met Treble while he was pretending to be one of the rebels, and that I'd found a place for him to live freely and safely. I kind of kept the rest to myself."

Amity tilted her head; "Is that such a good idea? Isn't it better to be honest with Camila?"

"I know, and I want to! It's just… telling Mami about the danger I get into could make her change her mind about me staying in this world. Maybe once she's a little more used to the idea…" Luz mumbled.

Amity gently grabbed Luz's chin and made her look her in the eye; "Luz, promise me you'll tell her next weekend, alright? Camila's a good Mom; she deserves to know."

"Y-Yes Hermosa…" Luz blushed, unable to say no to those beautiful golden eyes.

"Good girl." Amity smirked, kissing her again, "And if you'd like, I'll go with you. Will that make you feel better?"

Luz nodded enthusiastically; her Mami had said she could bring her friends home with her after all! She'd gone alone for the first visit (it felt more appropriate), but having her girlfriend spend the weekend with her family would be the best!

"Well, you two are as adorable as always!" said an unfamiliar voice.

Luz and Amity turned to see Willow, Gus, Skara, and Matt walking over to them, and both looked puzzled, unsure of who had spoken… at least until they got a good look at Gus.

The boy had grown to be only a fraction of an inch shorter than Willow, and was now taller than Matt. His face had also lost some of its baby fat, making him look older and more mature. He no longer looked like a child, but rather a teenager like the rest of them.

"Whoa, Gus!" Luz exclaimed; "D-Did I miss a Birthday or something!? Oh no, I didn't did I!?"

Gus laughed in his new, deeper voice; "No Luz, you didn't. It's just Witch Puberty."

Amity nodded; "So that's why you've been sick for a few days! Your puberty must have been pretty fast!"

"Yeah, it was about five days in total. It was kind of rough, but not as bad as it could have been." Gus said casually.

Luz blinked; "You started and finished Puberty in only five days!? Is all Witch Puberty that fast!?"

"It varies." Willow said, "For some witches, it takes a few months and the changes are slow so the whole process is pretty mild. For some it's a few weeks, which is a little tougher but otherwise okay. Mine was like that."

"Mine too." Matt added.

"Gus and I took a few days; it's a lot less fun when all those changes happen so fast…" Skara grimaced.

"Wow… what about you, Amity?" Luz asked.

Amity shuddered; "I was one of the unlucky ones… it happened in a few hours."

The others all shuddered along with her; "That must have been painful…" Gus said sympathetically.

"It sucked alright. It was one of the few times Mom let me stay home sick from school afterwards. The changes happened so fast that I needed an extra day just to recover." the purple-haired girl replied. "I'm guessing it works differently for angels?"

Luz nodded; "Angels have the same physical puberty as Humans, it usually takes between a few weeks and a few months. I can't imagine doing it all in a few hours!"

Amity shrugged; "It's rare, but it happens. It's also pretty random; Edric took weeks while Emira took days. I don't know about my Mom, but I know Dad took months. There's no real rhyme or reason to it."

Luz hummed, then looked back to Gus; "Well you look great, Gus! You look really mature now, and that voice of yours sounds so cool!"

Gus chuckled, "Thanks Luz. I'm no longer the runt of the Hexsquad!"

"Hexsquad?" Luz repeated.

"That's what people around school have been calling us." Skara said, "Most of the time, cliques get named after whoever's in charge or whatever club they're a part of, like the Banshees, the HAS, and Boscha's Gang, but we're not a club and don't have a leader."

Willow nodded; "Some people called us "Luz's gang" since you're the one to bring the six of us together, but you're not really "in charge" like Boscha is of her gang. So we got called the Hexsquad!"

"It's like Hexside, but also because there are six of us!" Gus added.

Luz blinked in surprise, but clearly she was the only one in the "Hexsquad" to have not known about it. Was this a Demon Realm thing, or just a general teenager thing? Luz hadn't been a part of any groups before coming to the Demon Realm, so she didn't really know if humans or angels did the same. Still, it made her feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside to know that she and her five closest friends her age were all one big group!

"Man, I was already pumped up to start classes again, but now I feel even more pumped! I'm ready for some education!" Luz cheered.

Her friends grinned, and as one group, they went to each of their lockers in turn to get their things while talking about their weekends and what they'd been doing when not working on Digale Island (or dealing with puberty in Gus's case). When the school bell finally screamed to announce the beginning of class, they all split up with a promise to meet up during lunch.

Luz went with Skara to attend her bard track classes first, and she'd been kind of apprehensive as to how the teachers or other students might react to her now, as her friends had kept her mind focused on them that morning. However, to her immense relief, most students weren't making a big deal of it. A few were avoiding her (Skara mentioned that most of them were kids with family in the Emperor's Coven, or had aspirations of joining it themselves) and a few wanted to talk about her fight with Belos and how cool it was that she'd broken his mask (a lot of them had asked to see the broken fragment she'd taken as a trophy), but the majority hadn't acted any differently, having grown used to the unusual circumstances around Luz. The teachers were all professional too; Professor Beat's only response to the Petrification Ceremony had been to teach her a bardic spell known as the Bolero of Fire, which allowed the performer to temporarily render themselves immune to fire for as long as the song was being performed. Luz had been excited by the name, since it shared it with a song from a favourite video game of hers, but the actual melody was different.

After spending the break with the Magic-Mixers in the Room of Shortcuts and hearing all about Viney's date with Emira (the two were now officially girlfriends!), Luz then went to her construction track classes with Matt, where she immediately put her new fire magic to work! Since fire was one of the two elements that made up Construction Magic, Luz was finally able to perform some quality magic in class, greatly improving her position in the class ranking. She quickly improved her Demolition and Refining Spells, and was now able to take basic materials and turn them into more complex materials, like turning clay and earth into bricks and stone, as well as carving wood and stone into usable forms, though she still had a long way to go. That became clear to Luz when comparing herself to Matt, whose own hard work had paid off to the point that he was now the second in the class, behind only Leia, whom he was gaining on quickly.

Finally, after spending lunch with the Hexsquad and Boscha's gang, with Boscha commenting on how sickeningly cute Luz and Amity were with each other, Luz had spent her final hours of the day in the beast-keeping track. She happily told Professor Gnarl about her experience with the Selkidomus, and showed him a picture of her sitting on the beast's back with the baby. The rest of the afternoon's classes were spent trying to learn the Wild Heart spell that Viney had used, to see if it would have any effect on an angel. Sadly it was a failure, with Professor Gnarl doubting Angels had the same deep, primal energy inside them that Demons did.

After school was over, it was decided that the entire Hexsquad would go to Digale Island to hang out and help out the CATTs, especially since Willow and Gus hadn't visited it yet. They all walked back to the Owl House together, where they were met by Lilith, who was watching the house along with Hooty while the rest of the house's inhabitants were on Digale Island.

"Good afternoon everyone." Lilith greeted them with a pleasant smile; "Are you all heading to Digale Island?"

"Yep! Are there any other people waiting to come or go from the island?" Luz asked.

Since only Luz could activate the Teleportation Circle and she couldn't be expected to hang around all day, the CATTs had developed something like a bus or train schedule to keep track of the times they could arrive at or leave Digale Island. If anyone wanted to use the Teleportation Circle outside of those times, it had to be a major emergency, which meant that no one had been able to come or go over the entire weekend. There had been a LOT of people waiting on both sides of the teleporter when Luz opened it up before school…

Lilith nodded; "There are a few people waiting, but you're actually home a bit faster than expected so there's no rush. How was your first day back at school?"

"It was great! Right guys?" Luz said. Her friends agreed with varying levels of enthusiasm, though Amity noticeably didn't look at Lilith as she nodded.

"Wonderful! Well I won't keep you much longer! But I would like to talk to Amity briefly before you all go. Perhaps privately?" Lilith asked.

Amity narrowed her eyes, while Luz and the rest of the Hexsquad felt a tension grow in the air. "I don't mind waiting. Amity, do you want to talk?" Luz asked.

"Fine. You guys go on to the teleporter; I'll be there in a moment." Amity said with a fake smile.

The others nodded and headed into the house, exchanging greetings with Hooty as they went. Luz looked over her shoulder as she went, hoping the talk between Lilith and Amity would clear the air a little.

As soon as her friends were gone, Amity's smile faded and she glared at Lilith; "What do you want?" she asked sharply.

"I wanted to reiterate my previous offer to keep mentoring you. I understand my previous actions for the Emperor have strained your trust in me, but I truly want to make amends with you as well as the others. I know you probably don't want to be my apprentice any more, but there is still a lot I can teach you!" Lilith said, keeping her voice soft and polite.

Lilith had always liked Amity; she'd been an eager and promising young student who had reminded Lilith a lot of herself… though she wouldn't dare say that to the girl's face after what had happened at Volcarpalis.

Amity glared at her for a moment, then said; "I think I'll pass."

"I-I expected as much. But still, the offer is open. I will make it up to you, no matter how long it takes." Lilith replied.

"I wouldn't hold your breath. Even forgetting the part where you cursed your own sister, you still betrayed Luz and handed her over to the Emperor. Do I even need to remind you what happened to her in his hands?" Amity asked coldly.

"No." Lilith said in a small voice, looking down in shame.

The youngest Blight sneered; "Good. I'm leaving."

With that, she marched past Lilith and into the Owl House, ignoring Hooty in favour of heading straight to the tower. Lilith watched her go with a sorrowful expression as Hooty nuzzled against her to comfort her.

"Don't worry Lulu! She'll come around! She's only mad because she loves Luz so much!" Hooty said, showing some surprising wisdom.

"I know. I suppose if I loved someone the same way Amity and Luz love each other, I would be just as angry at whoever hurt them." Lilith replied. She had never felt romantic attraction to anyone, so it was hard for her to truly understand how Amity must feel towards Luz, but she could try to imagine it. However rather than be discouraged, Lilith steeled herself for another attempt! Luz was her niece (even if she'd lost the title of Auntie) and Amity was her former apprentice; Lilith would not give up trying to make amends, no matter how much Amity scorned her!

"I still have a way to go before Amity will begin trusting me again, but I'm not going to give up! I'm a Wild Witch now, and if there is one thing Eda taught me, it's that Wild Witches are tenacious!" she declared.

"Yeah! You go Lulu!" Hooty cheered.

As the House Demon was wrapping himself around Lilith in a hug, Amity was arriving at the Teleportation Circle, where she found her girlfriend, friends, and several members of the CATTs who were waiting to go to the Island.

"Everything okay, Hermosa?" Luz asked as she saw the irritated look on Amity's face.

"It is now that I'm with you again, Batata." Amity said, hugging the girl.

"Did you just call me a Sweet Potato?" Luz asked, bemused.

"Yes. Is that not a term of endearment? I got it from a Spanish book that Gus leant me." Amity blushed; "I was hoping to surprise you with my new language skills."

Luz beamed; "Aw! I think that book was probably a cook book, but you know what? I like it!" she said, kissing Amity's cheek.

The girl blushed, and that blush only grew stronger as Luz sang the melody to activate the circle and take them all to Digale Island. Upon arriving, Willow and Gus gasped in amazement at everything around them, and the entire group was greeted by a member of Darius' coven, flanked by abomination servants carrying platters filled with glasses of Glamour Rot juice.

"Welcome to Digale Island. Please give your names and take a drink before disembarking from the Teleportation Circle." the witch said.

Everyone complied, and when no one was revealed to be a Basilisk in disguise and each of them had been registered, they were finally allowed to fully step into Digale Village. There was a small crowd waiting for them too, all of whom were scheduled to return to the Boiling Isles, so Luz asked Skara, Matt, and Amity to show Willow and Gus around while she transported the others.

A few minutes later, after once again coming back, Luz found Amity still waiting for her while the others had disappeared.

"Didn't feel like going with them, Hermosa?" Luz asked.

"More like I couldn't go in two directions at once." Amity giggled. "Willow immediately shot off up the hill to the Palm Rainforest with Skara following her, while Matt wanted to show Gus some of the cool buildings he'd helped make. I decided to wait for you instead."

Luz smiled; "Well, I guess that means we've got some time to ourselves!"

"You've got that right." Amity smiled coyly, kissing Luz's cheek; "You don't need to hang around the Teleportation Circle all day, do you?"

"Nope! I'm done until later this afternoon, when the next trip is scheduled." Luz smiled, blushing faintly from Amity's kiss.

"Wonderful! Though I've been meaning to ask; can't Rasiel operate the circle too? It just needs an angel to sing the song, right?" Amity asked.

Luz shook her head; "The song is a Choir Spell. He'd need magic, and he doesn't have any without his wings."

"But what about an Angelic Blessing? You gave your Mom magic after she lost hers to the curse, and now she can cast spells again. She's not as powerful as before, but it's still something. Wouldn't the same work for Rasiel?" Amity pointed out.

Luz sighed; "That's what I thought too! I tried giving him magic the day after the Petrification Ceremony… it worked and made him feel a little more comfortable, but he still can't use magic. Without our wings, angels are basically just pointy-eared humans. It's why I needed to summon my wings, even when hidden by my concealment stone, before I could cast spells. It's weird though; giving a human a blessing would let them use magic like a witch, but it doesn't work that way for angels."

Amity frowned; "So we really do need to find his wings before he can use magic again… any luck on that front?"

"Nada." Luz said sadly; "Our only clues were Philip's Diary, which Belos destroyed, and what Godric told us. The last two Black Tombs are supposedly held on the Lost Titan, King's Mom, but we've got no clue where she ended up after she lost her life chasing off the Archivists… Our only clue is that one of them is held at a temple we'd need to use a Primordial Wellspring to get to."

"So it doesn't look like we'll be finding more of Rasiel any time soon…" Amity muttered.

"Afraid not." Luz shook her head. "But enough depressing stuff! Let's go find King and Mom, before Darius ambushes us and puts us to work!"

Amity giggled and agreed, and the two held hands as they walked through the town. If Eda was on Digale Island, she was usually either helping Raine somewhere in the village, brewing potions in the Lab, or teaching King somewhere on the beach. Since King would likely be eagerly practicing with his new glyph and applying it to his combos, Luz guessed they'd be on the beach. She turned out to be right, and as soon as Luz and Amity stepped onto the sand, they saw Eda, King, and Rasiel stood together working on King's glyph combos.

"Hey guys! How's it going? Found any cool new combos?" Luz asked with a smile.

King got a cheeky look on his face, then slapped an invisibility glyph onto himself, making him disappear. Luz and Amity could still see his footprints appearing in the sand however, so Luz was prepared for when King suddenly leapt onto her back. "I found something cool alright!"

Despite having talked and most certainly not holding his breath, King had not turned visible again, making Luz clap; "You worked out the kinks in the invisibility combo!"

King suddenly reappeared with a proud grin; "You got it, sister! Turns out the wind glyph was the missing piece after all! Now I can stay invisible for as long as I'm concentrating!" he said, showing Luz and Amity the completed version of the combo.

"Aside from replacing his old wind combo, that's all he's managed to master so far." Eda said, "He's been trying to figure out how to use it to fly, but it hasn't really worked out so far. How was school, Owlet?"

"Good! It was great being back with everyone, right Amity?" Luz said.

Amity nodded; "It was definitely nice going back to our old routine, plus I can now leave the house all day without having to make excuses to my mother."

Eda nodded in understanding; "I know the feeling, Boots! But forget about her for now. Luz, Rasiel's got some stuff to talk to you about, regarding the glyphs!"

"You do?" she asked, looking to the Ancient Seraphim.

Rasiel nodded; "Indeed. I've been exploring the island and thinking about some things regarding the glyphs. You finding the wind glyph here is no coincidence; I believe the Titan of this island is showing you their glyphs too."

Luz and Amity's eyes widened; "Really!? I assumed it was King's Dad who showed me the wind glyph!"

"So did me and Mom." King said, "But Rasiel says a Titan only ever has four glyphs."

Luz looked confused, so Rasiel had her and Amity sit down on the sand so he could explain. Once they were comfortable, he drew the light, plant, ice, and fire glyphs in the sand, tapping them one by one to activate them.

"You probably don't remember because of what happened right after, but Godric actually told you this already; all Titans possess exactly four glyphs, representing four of the eight elements. No more, no less. The exact reason why is a mystery, though it's likely just a quirk of their evolution." Rasiel began. "Each Titan's glyphs are unique to them too, even if they represent the same element. For example, if two Titans possess the light glyph, then their designs would be totally unique even if they did the exact same things. Now this is important because when a Titan is born, they receive three of their parent or parents' glyphs at random, though with new designs that differ from their parents'. Their fourth glyph is different; it will be the glyph of an element that neither of their parents possess. I think this is to ensure that all the elements are represented within Titan civilisation, and none of them end up being forgotten or bred out of their species."

Luz listened carefully, then said; "So because I already learned four glyphs from King's Dad, it isn't possible for me to learn more from him?"

"That's right. A Titan can't bestow another Titan's glyphs; only their own. Also, I'm not 100% certain on this, but I think you need to be on or very close to a Titan to receive a glyph from them. Which means…" Rasiel trailed off, letting Luz come to the conclusion herself.

"Which means I learned the wind glyph from the Digale Island Titan." she finished with a contemplative look.

Rasiel nodded, as Amity raised a good point; "If that's true, then why is this Titan sharing their glyphs too? Luz told me that King's Dad shared his glyphs because Luz was helping protect King. Why would the Digale Island Titan do the same?"

"We've come up with a couple of theories." Eda chimed in; "We figure that it's either because the Titan of Digale Island could sense King's Dad's glyphs on Luz and decided to share their own as well, or perhaps the spirits of the Titans talked to each other and King's Dad convinced them to share… It's either that, or this island was once part of King's Mom."

An uncomfortable silence passed over the group as Luz felt a knot form in her stomach. She looked at King, who'd gone very quiet all of a sudden; he didn't looked shocked, so they'd likely already discussed this possibility with him while Luz was at school. Still, he looked conflicted; King had come to terms with the knowledge that his Dad was gone, and according to the records left by Zachael, his Mom was certainly gone too, having lost her life to the Archivists whilst driving them off. Luz remembered back to the day they'd found Digale Island; Rasiel had claimed the Titan had likely died around the time the Archivists had been attacking. She then remembered the strange whisper she'd heard inside her head whilst carving the Teleportation Circle into the stone of the Titan…

"Angel… Sister… King…"

Luz had dismissed it as a figment of her imagination or King's sleepy mutterings, but now she wasn't so sure. Was Digale Island a part of King's Mom? Was she giving Luz her glyphs to protect her child, just as her mate had done? Luz didn't know for sure, and she didn't want to add to her little brother's burdens, so she changed the subject.

"It doesn't matter why they're helping us. Let's just be thankful to them for entrusting us with their power." Luz said, putting her hand on the beach; "King and I will use your power for good! Thank you, Digale Island Titan! Also, I hope you don't mind the name! I was kind of put on the spot when making it!"

Eda, Amity, and Rasiel all chuckled at Luz's sheepish smile, while King felt a warmth in his chest as a gentle breeze brushed through his fur.

After that, King decided he'd had enough of the sombre atmosphere and demanded that Luz and Eda help him with his attempts to fly, and they both happily agreed. Amity and Rasiel sat side by side as they watched and laughed at the Clawthornes' aerial dance; Eda zipping about on Owlbert, Luz fluttering around with her wings, and King attempting a rudimentary form of flight by using wind glyphs to blast him back and forth across the sky, keeping one of his Safety Hover combos on him at all times for when he inevitably fell. They made quite the entertaining trio to watch; Eda was swift and daring, Luz was elegant and graceful, and King was like a balloon that was whizzing back and forth uncontrollably (and having a blast whilst doing it).

Amity's ribs were sore from laughing after only a few minutes, and Rasiel wasn't much better off. However, despite all the enjoyment, one question niggled at the back of Amity's mind. As the Clawthornes took a momentary break for King to draw some more glyphs, Amity took the opportunity to get her breath back and actually ask Rasiel her question.

"Rasiel, you mentioned before that when a new Titan is born, they inherit three elements from their parents, then get a fourth one that neither parent had, right?" she asked.

"That's right." Rasiel nodded.

"Then what happens if the parents have all eight glyphs between them? If each Titan can have four, then what happens if they mate with another Titan who has the other four. If there are only eight types of glyph, how would the baby get a glyph that neither parent has?"

Rasiel's eyes widened; "I… I actually haven't the faintest idea. Because of their size and power, the Titan population never went beyond the thousands due to lack of space and resources to sustain a larger population, but even with that small number, it must have happened at least once before…"

The ancient angel scratched his chin, then shrugged; "Honestly, my best guess would simply be that the baby would inherit a fourth glyph from their parent. Probably so they inherited two from each parent."

Amity nodded, accepting that answer before asking another question; "I know Luz wanted to avoid the topic of Digale Island potentially being part of King's Mom, the Lost Titan… but do you think it's likely?"

Rasiel nodded; "I'm not 100% certain, but I think it's the most likely possibility."

"Then couldn't there be a Black Tomb here? Or a Primordial Wellspring?"

The Ancient Seraphim smiled; "You had the same thought I did. I've been spending my nights exploring the island and its tunnels for signs of a temple or tomb. There is no Wellspring here, so I know it isn't where Zara and Godric's mate are, but the fourth tomb could still be here. I can say with certainty that there's nothing on the surface, and my explorations of the tunnels are looking dire." he sighed heavily; "I don't believe I'll find a tomb here. Still, with any luck I may find a clue to the location of the next tomb. I'm happy to have a physical body again, but I long to reclaim my magic and memories."

Amity certainly hoped he got them back too; Rasiel had done a lot to help them all, even without magic. His knowledge had been indispensable and had helped Luz save Eda. Without him, Eda would be petrified and Luz would have probably left the Demon Realm. Amity didn't even want to think about it!

"I'll do everything I can to help you find your missing parts, Rasiel." Amity said earnestly, "I owe you that much."

Rasiel gave her a heartfelt smile, and patted her on the head; his little saviour had a very interesting lady by her side! He certainly approved! After that, the two went back to watching the impromptu flying lesson. Amity spent the rest of the afternoon there, chatting with Rasiel and watching her girlfriend try to help her little brother fly. Eventually the rest of the Hexsquad came back from their explorations, and Amity listened as Willow excitedly gushed about all the amazing plants in the Rainforest (some of which weren't native to the Boiling Isles), while Gus and Matt had ended up taking a tour of both the village and the caves, guided by Steve. Skara had ended up finding Treble and bringing him along too, and the Basilisk happily talked to them about the job he'd been given. To make it up to Katya for impersonating her and painting her as a spy, Treble had become Katya's assistant and followed her around the island doing odd jobs. He was making himself useful, and had even begun learning how to play a cittern like Eda's, though he didn't have the active magic necessary to perform Bardic Magic.

The afternoon ended without King learning to fly, much to his chagrin, but their little group had still had fun. They'd all been invited to stay for dinner, but only Matt accepted (since his brother and father were both currently on the island) and the others opted to go home. Amity would have preferred to stay, but she'd actually gotten a message from her Dad asking her to come home for dinner, and while she could easily ignore her Mom, she'd feel guilty ignoring her Dad. So as soon as they were back on the Boiling Isles, Amity said her goodbyes and gave Luz a kiss, then summoned Ghost and flew home.

When she arrived back at Blight Manor, she was met by an Abomination Butler, who escorted her to the dining room, where the rest of the family was already seated and waiting for her. Her parents sat on opposite ends of the long table, with Edric and Emira sat together along the middle with a seat prepared for Amity opposite them.

"Ah, you're finally here Mittens." Odalia said with her usual faux smile; "Take a seat. Your father and I have an important announcement."

Amity narrowed her eyes, knowing that any important announcement from her mother was bound to be a headache, but she sat down regardless. As soon as she was seated, Odalia smiled a bit wider, then addressed her children; "After the debacle at last week's private sale, your father has been hard at work improving the design. The result is the new Abomaton Soldier Mk II! A far more powerful combat unit that is more than a match for any regular witch or demon. Perhaps even a match for an angel!"

Amity snorted while the twins grinned; Odalia was definitely thinking of a specific angel, and all three of them knew that was a long shot. Unless the Abomaton was also as powerful as the Emperor or had access to some kind of angelic weakness that even Amity didn't know about, they were confident it wouldn't be an issue for Luz.

"Now, to show our confidence in this new creation, and to reaffirm to the Emperor's Coven that the Blight Family is firmly on their side and not feigning neutrality like the rest of Bonesborough, or worse, working with those filthy rebels, your father and I have decided to host a grand ball! One that will double as a sales event and demonstration for the new Abomaton." Odalia declared. "Invitations have already been sent out to key players in the Emperor's Coven and the various Coven Heads, as well as noble families from across the isles. The event will be this Friday evening."

Amity exchanged looks with Edric and Emira; those two had both joined the CATTs along with her, and had been to Digale Island, so they were likely already thinking of ways to sabotage the sales or cause a scene at the ball. Personally, Amity disliked the Blight Family Balls that her Mom insisted on throwing at least once a year; they were dull affairs and her Mom always went full control freak.

"We have already received confirmation from the castle that both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel have agreed to attend as representatives from the Emperor, so the event is guaranteed to be prestigious! As such, your father and I need all three of you on your best behaviour! No pranks, no disruptions, no scandals, no illusions, and no rebel sentiments. There will be no uninvited guests or plus ones either." Odalia said sharply, eyes focused on the twins through most of her warning, before they darted to Amity for those last few parts.

"Yes Mom." the three Blight Children droned, barely keeping themselves from rolling their eyes.

Odalia smiled, satisfied with that, then clapped her hands to have the abomination butlers bring in their food. The family ate in silence as they usually did, and Amity couldn't help but contrast it with the exuberant and energetic meals she'd had at the Noceda home, or the Owl House; where it was never quiet and never dull. She and her siblings ate as fast as good manners would allow, while occasionally meeting each other's eyes and smiling, or looking over to their Dad, who'd been silent through the whole "talk". The poor man looked half-dead, and kept dozing off, forcing an abomination stood beside him to keep poking him back awake.

Once they'd eaten, the kids asked to be excused. "Edric and Emira, you may go. Amity stay, your father and I would like to talk to you."

Amity narrowed her eyes and the twins shot her sympathetic looks as they got up and left. As soon as they were gone, Odalia said; "Amity, I trust we won't have another repeat of last Friday's sale?"

"So long as you don't use the presentation as an attempt to dye my hair green again." Amity retorted.

Odalia frowned severely; "Amity, this little rebel act was cute at first, but its getting out of hand. You are hurting this family."

"No, I'm hurting your sense of style." Amity rolled her eyes; "You want me to match you, but we both know I've always taken after Dad. I've got his eyes, my natural hair colour is brown like his, and I'm better with Abomination Magic than Oracle Magic."

"Which is another conversation we need to have!" Odalia said irritably; "Professor Trium reports that you are only the second best student in your year in the Oracle Track!"

"Yes, I'm behind Celine. You know, the girl whose been in the Oracle Track since leaving Kindergarten? The one with years of experience? The fact I'm already second place after not even being there for a full two months yet should be enough for you!" Amity growled, losing her temper.

"That is not good enough, Amity! You are a Blight, and-"

"I'm still only a witch!" Amity interrupted, getting to her feet; "Despite what you might think, Mom, we Blights aren't some family of super witches! Expecting us to be perfect in every way and be the best at everything we do is just setting us up for failure!"

Odalia got to her feet too and snarled; "You never had any trouble before you started hanging around with those bad influences!"

"Of course I was! I was miserable! I'm not doing any worse in school now than I was back then, but now I'm actually happy and not working myself to the bone to satisfy you! My friends are the only reason I'm still sane!"

"Amity, your "friends" are actively rebelling against the Emperor!"

"So what!? Don't pretend you're super loyal to the Emperor's Coven! If you didn't hate Luz for what she did at Skara's birthday, I bet you'd be trying to sell Dad's new Abomatons to the rebels too!"

That put Odalia on the back foot. Not only did it remind her that Amity still had leverage over her, but it also wasn't really a lie. The Arch-Angel child was as powerful as the Emperor and was now heading a surprisingly large rebel force. If it weren't for her personal pride and distaste for the girl, Odalia really would have been trying to sell Abomatons to her and the CATTs. After all, what was better than selling weapons to one side of a war? Selling them to both sides of course!

Still, Odalia wouldn't admit that. Instead she pinched the bridge of her nose and gave a theatrical sigh; "Honestly Mittens, you have no idea what you're talking about. Alador dear, can't you say something to her?"

"Huh?" Alador said sleepily, clearly not having paid attention to a word any of them had said, "What are we talking about?"

"My hair, my grades, and my friends." Amity replied.

Alador blinked, then focused on Amity's hair. He then smiled; "Oh, of course. You dyed your hair. I like it; it's abomination coloured." he said honestly.

Amity smiled smugly; "Thank you, Dad. At least somebody gets it."

Odalia fumed, while Alador then asked; "What's this about your grades?"

"I'm the top student in my year when it comes to Abominations and general studies. I'm only second best in the oracle track though." Amity replied.

Alador beamed; "Well done, Mittens! That's excellent!"

Again, Amity smirked while Odalia protested; "Second place is second best! We are Blights! We should be the Top of all we do!"

Alador just looked confused; "But Dear, weren't you only the Number 4 student on the oracle track at school? And I wasn't always the Number 1 in the abomination track; I swapped back and forth between first and second best with Darius."

Odalia blushed, and Amity smiled wider; "I think I've made my point."

"No you haven't! Alador, can you truly approve of our daughter hanging out with rebels and hooligans!? She still insists on playing around with that angel girl, who has the largest bounty in the history of the Empire!" Odalia shouted.

"Oh right, Edalyn's kid." Alador nodded absent-mindedly, before turning to Amity; "Are you sure you can't get me a hair sample or something from her? I want to know why she can't use abomination magic."

"No, Dad." Amity frowned, "Besides, what Mom doesn't realise, is that all the friends she picked for me are also hanging out with Luz now."

"What!?" Odalia gasped.

"That's right; Skara is part of our friend group now, and even Boscha is sort of neutral with her now. Heck, I actually get along better with both Skara and Boscha now that Luz is in the picture." Amity revealed.

Odalia sat back in her seat, completely shocked and inwardly fuming. Once again she had been outplayed, and thanks to the blackmail material (and the very real threat that the Arch-Angel would come after her), she couldn't even try to force Amity back into obedience.

Instead, she spluttered for a few moments then angrily yelled; "Get out of my sight! Go to your room! And make sure you lose the attitude before the Ball on Friday!"

"Whatever you say, Mom." Amity replied with a roll of her eyes, before marching out of the dining room and heading to her bedroom.

Once the girl was gone, Odalia glared at her husband; "Would it have killed you to support me!?"

Alador frowned; "Support you in what? Amity is doing better than both of us were at her age, she's the top of her class, has a Palisman, and is making friends with several of the top students in her year! She's met every expectation you've set for her; it's your own fault that you keep moving the goalposts!"

"She is hanging out with rebels and bad influences!" Odalia snapped. "She's completely out of control!"

"And whose fault is that, Odalia?" Alador snapped back, pushing his dinner away and standing up, storming over to his wife; "You tried to threaten her friends and ended up being beaten and outplayed. Now Edalyn's girl and the Park girl both have you by the throat! You can't threaten her any more."

Odalia sneered up at him; "Then perhaps that will have to change! Once this ball is complete, our reputation will be assured! They can release their silly blackmail and it would do nothing to us once we have the contract with the Emperor's Coven! Besides, there won't be any shame in being defeated by an angel that even the Emperor had trouble with!"

Alador eyed his wife for a moment, then said; "And what do you think would happen to that contract if it's revealed that you held a knife to the Angel's throat? The girl is wanted alive and unharmed; you nearly killed her. Not to mention the fact that if you do decide to ignore the blackmail and try to force Amity to obey you again, it won't work."

"I have other ways of maintaining control." Odalia said ominously.

Alador's eyes flashed for a moment and he leaned in close to his wife's ear; "I've followed you through a lot, Odalia… but if you threaten to hurt our children again, I will resign…"

The abomination butler following him suddenly turned its arm into an axe blade and embedded it into the table in front of Odalia; "… do I make myself clear?"

A tremble of fear went through Odalia, while her heart also quickened slightly; "Crystal." she breathed.

"Good. Now I'll speak to Amity and try to keep this family together. Do try not to ruin my hard work." Alador said, purposely mimicking Odalia's manner of speaking as he walked away.

The dining room door slammed shut behind him and Odalia sighed; "Honestly Alador, so dramatic… but that fierceness when he gets going…" she smiled to herself; "…that's half the reason I married him."

As Odalia was dealing with her mixed feelings of annoyance and desire, her husband marched through the house to his youngest daughter's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Amity answered. Alador opened the door and stepped in, looking around at Amity's room. The old Emperor's Coven posters of Belos and Lilith were gone, and a lot more pictures were plastered on the walls, showing Amity with her various friends. Alador recognised Luz (the most common subject of the pictures), as well as Willow, Skara, and Boscha, but there were also others too; two boys he didn't recognise (though one reminded him of Perry Porter from back at school), a little skull-headed demon dog of some kind, a tall man with golden hair and beard, and some girls in Grudgby uniforms. That last one made Alador frown; he'd never made time to watch any of Amity's games when she was one of the Hexside Banshees… he didn't even know why she'd quit the team, other than Odalia whining about the loss of prestige.

"I've really been slacking as a father…" he whispered to himself.

"Dad?" Amity piped up, watching him curiously from where she was sitting on the windowsill, petting Ghost in her lap. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Mittens. I'm fine. I'm sorry about what happened at dinner; ignore your Mom, I'm proud of what you've achieved." Alador smiled.

Amity smiled back; "Thanks Dad. That means a lot. I used to wish Mom would be proud of me too… now I don't even care what she thinks."

Alador nodded sadly; "Neither of us have been great parents to you, have we?"

Amity bit her lip and averted her eyes, wanting to deny it but not feeling it was right to. "Y-You're not that bad."

Alador snorted; "That's not true. I've barely been in your life. Heck, you're Palisman has been with us for months and I don't think I've even said hello since the day you brought her home. Her name is Ghost, right?"

"That's right." Amity said, holding Ghost out towards her Dad. The white cat Palisman graciously allowed Alador to pet her for a bit.

"You know it's funny; your siblings have dogs, you have a cat, and I…" Alador reached into his pocket and pulled out his snoozing Palisman; "… have a mouse!"

Alador's Palisman was really more of a palm-sized grey rat with purple abomination-coloured spots and the same eyes as his partner. The Palisman also had Alador's brown hair on top of his head, and had been given little replica goggles like Alador's too.

"Aw! Moustrosity!" Amity cooed, taking the little Rat Palisman, who happily squeaked as Amity nuzzled him. His name (given by a teenager Alador) was a pun on Mouse and Monstrosity, since he thought it was like an abomination. "I haven't seen this little guy in ages! He almost never leaves your lab!"

"Your Mom doesn't like him. She thinks he makes the house look dirty. She almost drowned him trying to wash off the purple spots, before I caught her and explained that they're part of his body." Alador said, shaking his head ruefully as Ghost jumped onto his shoulders.

Amity frowned as she cuddled Moustrosity; "I guess Mom's just like that to everyone."

Alador winced; "I kind of want to tell you that she's not so bad, but I guess that rings hollow after what she did at Skara's party."

"Yeah." Amity agreed; "Thanks for not helping her with that, by the way."

"As if I would help her assault a pair of children. Though if Edalyn's girl and the Park girl were even a little bit as strong back then as the Angel is now, I doubt I'd have been any help to your mother anyway." he chuckled. He was confident in his skills, but he wasn't close to Belos in power.

Amity looked at her father for a moment, still petting his Palisman as she hesitated to ask the question that had been bothering her for so long. Eventually she found the courage and asked; "How did you two even end up together? You're nothing alike."

Alador took a seat on the windowsill beside his daughter and smiled sadly; "Believe it or not, we genuinely fell in love. Odalia has always been… forward thinking. I guess it comes with being an Oracle. She wanted to join the Emperor's Coven, but the last spot that year were taken by Lilith Clawthorne, and when that dream fell apart, she instead helped me found Blight Industries. She was the last of her family's noble lineage, and transferred it to the Blights so we would have a good start." his words became wistful as he looked at his daughter; "I'd have been lost without her… but somewhere along the line, we went from husband and wife to business partners, and our own children became mere employees…"

"Dad…" Amity whispered, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Alador appreciated the gesture.

"I'll try to keep your mother off your back, and off the twins' back too. Things have been busy lately, but I promise that as soon as this stupid Ball is over, I'll take some time off and spend some time with you and the twins. I'm missing too much of your life, and it's clear Odalia would rather be a boss than a parent. So I'll make up for my mistakes." Alador promised.

Amity smiled widely and hugged the man; "Thanks Dad! It'll be nice to have you around more. There's a lot in my life I want to tell you about, and I know Edric and Emira feel the same."

"I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. Now…" he got to his feet and handed Ghost back to Amity, while taking Moustrosity back and setting him down on top of his head; "… would you like to come and see my work on the Mk II?"

Amity eagerly hopped to her feet; "That would be great!"

Her father smiled happily and put a hand on her back, guiding her out of the room and out of the house, heading down the hill behind their manor to the factory of Blight Industries. There Alador showed Amity right to his research and development laboratory, which was full of vials of abomination goo, gold and brass mechanical parts, chemicals and potions of all sorts, and the kinds of tools that Amity would kill to get her hands on when working with her own abominations. There were also full abominations and prototype Abomatons Mk I's in various states of completion, as well as one tall, imposing abomination kept under a sheet.

"This is my pride and joy! The finest thing I've ever created!" Alador said, grabbing the bottom of the sheet, before sheepishly adding; "Excluding you and your siblings of course, Mittens."

Amity rolled her eyes with a smile, then watched as her father pulled off the sheet with a loud "Behold! The Abomaton Mk II!"

The lavender-haired girl gasped as she looked up at the hulking brute of an abomination. The Mk I had been a mere abomination outfitted with a brass breastplate and pauldrons, with rings of brass metal around its wrists, knees, and feet; it had been strong, but nothing too worrisome… the Mk II was in a whole different league! Not only was it almost a full head taller, but it had a lot more armour and a large purple glowing core, as well as vibrantly glowing eyes. Just at a glance, Amity could tell it was like a whole different creation.

"This thing is incredible!" Amity gasped.

"It is! Shape-memory alloy allows its armour a degree of transformation, so they can morph into rudimentary vehicles for short range transportation as well as regenerate damage. They also have a wide range of weapons they can produce by shapeshifting their slime, and thanks to the secret of my power cores, they can even produce magical weaponry such as cannons! Plus, they can produce a magical forcefield to both protect it and trap enemies! They are my ultimate combat abominations and incorporate all the individual abomination-based weapons and security measures I've developed for Blight Industries! Not only that, but I've made their slime extremely resistant to outside magic." Alador explained with overwhelming pride. He then playfully nudged his daughter with his elbow; "I bet even you'd struggle to tear this one apart!"

Amity nodded; without even trying to use her magic on it, she knew it would take everything she had to beat this thing. With Ghost helping her, it would be a bit more doable, but even that was because Amity had some insider knowledge of her father's creations…

If the Emperor's Coven bought these things and mobilised them against the CATTs, it would be catastrophic. Luz and the others needed to be warned! These things needed to be destroyed!

Even knowing that, Amity couldn't help but hesitate; her Dad looked so proud of his creations! But this was a matter of life and death.

"They're really amazing, Dad. How many have you got built already?" Amity asked casually.

"Only three at the moment; I built this one on my own and my team have managed to build two more while practicing my designs." he answered, pointing over to the blueprints on his work bench; "We'll be refining the manufacturing process over the next few days leading up to the Blight Ball, so I bet we'll have about… 7 more by then? That'll make a nice even ten. If we get the contract from the Emperor's Coven, we'll move into full production and the factory will churn out dozens a day!" Alador grinned.

Amity gulped, and pretended to smile at her father's achievement. Under no circumstances could these Abomatons be released onto the island! She would need to talk to the CATTs.

[The Next Day]

Before going to bed after the visit to the factory, Amity had texted Luz and asked to meet with the leaders of the CATTs on Digale Island the next day, and had given a short explanation as to why she needed to talk to them, though she'd kept the fine details to herself so as not to worry Luz too much so late in the evening. When they'd met up at school the following morning, Amity had still refused to explain everything until they were safely on Digale Island, away from any prying ears. That had ended up worrying Luz and the rest of the Hexsquad a lot more, since it was unlike Amity to be so nervous without also being a blushing mess, which made it seem far more serious.

It was the tensest day at school that Amity could ever remember having, and when school finally ended, she grabbed Edric and Emira and dragged them along too, the three Blights flying the Hexsquad back to the Owl House at record speed. This time they were met by the trio of Katya, Amber, and Derwin, who were watching the Owl House while Hooty was in his portable mode with Lilith.

"Afternoon, kids. Raine, Eda, and the bosses are all waiting for you in the Meeting Hall." Katya greeted.

"I hope whatever you've gathered them for is good, because Darry-Boy seems to be in a real bad mood today." Amber added.

"Calling him Darry-Boy probably doesn't help that situation either, Amber." Derwin said with a deadpan expression. Amber just stuck her tongue out in response.

"Trust me, he'll want to hear this." Amity said, barely stopping to acknowledge the trio as she basically dragged the others through the house to the Teleportation Circle.

Luz warped them all to Digale Island, then sent them on ahead while she warped back the people waiting to return. Like yesterday, Amity opted to wait for her instead, and her siblings and the Hexsquad waited with her. Once that little detour was taken care of, the group finally reached the meeting hall, where they found Eda, Raine, Eber, Darius, Lilith, Hooty, King, and Rasiel all waiting for them around a large table on the stage.

"Ah, you've finally arrived." Darius said, eyeing Amity as Luz exchanged her usual hugs and kisses with her Mom and Brother. "You say you have important information for us, Baby Blight? I hope it's good, I'm already going to have to give up a portion of my week to attend your family's little Ball."

"The Ball is related to what I have to tell you all. And believe me, it's important." Amity said seriously.

"A Ball?" Luz asked.

"Yep. Mom and Dad are throwing one to schmooze the Emperor's Coven." Emira said casually; "They're unveiling some new Blight Industries invention; the Abomaton Mk II. Amity ruined the Mk I presentation last week."

Eda grinned; "Well done, Boots!"

Amity shook her head vehemently; "No, messing up that presentation was a mistake! It exposed the flaws in the Mk I, and Dad improved it… massively. He showed me the new Mk II last night, and it's seriously dangerous."

The twins blinked; "He showed you the new design? But he never lets people outside his production staff look at them before the big unveiling." Edric said.

"Mom and I got into a fight at dinner, and Dad showed it to me to try and cheer me up." Amity explained; "But forget about that; Dad already has 3 of them and will have 10 by the time of the Ball on Friday. If the Emperor's Coven agrees to a contract, and they'd be nuts not to, he'll be pumping out hundreds per week."

Everyone frowned; Amity was fairly down-to-earth, so if she was worried about these Abomatons, they had to be a serious threat. Raine looked to Darius and asked; "Are these things likely to be as serious as they sound?"

Darius nodded reluctantly; "Alador is a hack… but he's not without talent. And aside from myself, the only other person I'd trust to be qualified enough to rate his work accurately would be Baby Blight here."

"Then it's a good thing Amity warned us. Amity, can you tell us what these things are capable of?" Lilith asked.

Amity frowned at her, but nodded and obediently recounted the exact specifications of the Abomaton Mk II, both from the things her father had told her and from what she'd been able to extrapolate from seeing and examining it. Darius frowned, begrudgingly respecting Alador's skill, while the others all looked very worried.

"How are we supposed to fight back against something like that!?" Gus panicked.

"We're not. I think that's the point. I doubt the average witch would be able to stop one of those things." Matt replied.

"Dad really outdid himself with this one." Edric commented.

"Bah! I bet we could beat them easily! Right Luz, Mom?" King said dismissively.

Luz and Eda looked at one another; "We could probably beat them… in small numbers." Eda said, sounding less confident than she wished.

"But even if we could mow them down easily, they'll be more than a match for most of the CATTs!" Luz frowned.

There were some more mutterings from around the table, before Rasiel said; "It seems that our only option then is to prevent more of these things from being created and destroy any existing models."

Eber barked; "Smart. We raid factory. Destroy machines, destroy plans, destroy weapons."

"Easier said than done!" Emira crossed her arms; "Mom has seriously beefed up security, and the Emperor's Coven is going to be there. I heard from her this morning that the coven is even adding their own people too! Going in spells blazing will get people seriously hurt!"

Amity nodded; "Emira is right; plus destroying the factory is risky! The machinery is volatile and if it isn't disabled correctly, it could explode and take half of Bonesborough with it!"

"Yeah, let's avoid blowing up the town. We all kind of live there!" Willow said nervously.

"Then what about a stealth mission?" Luz suggested; "We sneak in at night and quietly destroy the plans and Abomatons, then sabotage the factory. In and out without anyone noticing us."

The Blight siblings all shook their heads; "Good idea in theory, but not in practice." Emira said.

"Security is too tight. Believe us, we know. Em and I have been trying to sneak in and out of there for years; we know every nook and cranny, and the ins and outs of every security measure, but we've still never gotten in." Edric finished.

"Okay, so we can't fight our way in or sneak in, so what do we do?" Eda asked impatiently, "Go to this fancy party and buy out the contract before Emperor Bonehead?"

Both Amity and Darius looked towards her, contemplative looks on their faces. "You might be onto something there, Edalyn." Darius said.

"You're kidding!? You want to outbid the Emperor!? Isn't he super rich!?" King exclaimed.

"Not the bidding part; the going to the Ball part." Darius said, rolling his eyes.

Amity was on the same page as him; "Security will be tight, but the Ball is being held in the factory and there will almost definitely be a tour! It's a perfect way for us to get inside! Edric, Emira, and I are being forced to go, and Darius will be there too!"

"So will I." Skara chimed in; "Daddy received an invitation last night and is agreeing to attend. His invitation included me specifically. I think Boscha's parents got one as well, so she'll probably be there too."

"Great! The five of you can sneak into the lab and sabotage the place while at the party then! I can whip up some concealment stones if you want!" Gus volunteered.

"Ooh! And my invisibility glyphs! You don't need to hold your breath any more, so they'll be great for sneaking around!" King said eagerly.

"Just one problem though." Darius frowned; "The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel are going to be there too, and they'll be keeping a very close eyes on proceedings. They'll be watching for anything suspicious, especially after their last major mission failed thanks to Luz and King. I'll also be limited in what I can do without risking breaking my cover."

Luz thought back to the battle at the Simmering Shoals over a week ago; the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel had both been powerful and annoying opponents to fight, and had been nearly impossible to deal with until she and King had separated them. Getting them to fall for the same trick twice was going to be tough, and if it came to a fight, Luz was sure the factory would go up in flames just like the Emperor's Coven Frigate had.

"So we'll stop them from attending." Eda grinned at Darius; "While you go with Boots, the Twins, and Ponytail to the big party, Raine and I can stage an "attack" outside Bonesborough. We'll ambush those two teenage lackeys before they get into town; that way we'll keep them busy and won't break the town truce."

Raine agreed immediately, but Lilith raised another point; "The main purpose of this Ball is to win the Emperor's Coven Contract, correct? But if neither of the representatives show up, Odalia will get suspicious and might not even allow people into the factory proper."

Amity frowned; "She's got a point. Mom isn't even above cancelling the Ball when people have already arrived; she really wants this contract."

Edric and Emira nodded in agreement as everyone was stumped. They needed to get the Emperor's Elites out of the way so that Darius and the others could sneak in and complete their mission, but if they got them out of the way, Odalia might cancel the Blight Ball and they'd lose their opportunity to do things quietly! If the Ball was cancelled, Odalia would likely hold a private showing for just the Emperor's Coven, and not even Amity and the Twins would be able to get their allies inside to help with that!

After a few minutes of thinking, Luz had an idea.

"What if we get the Golden Goof and his sister out of the way, then send in an impersonator!" Luz suggested.

Raine's expression brightened; "That could work! Odalia would have no reason to cancel the show if one of her guests of honour still managed to show up."

"That's right! And I should be the one to go." Luz declared, casting an illusion over herself to make herself look like the Silver Sentinel. "I'm a little taller than her, but that can be explained as a growth spurt. Other than that, we've got similar builds, so the only one who'd likely notice is the Golden Goof. And since I've seen the Sentinel before, I've got an idea of how she moves and acts."

"Great idea, Owlet! Amity and the others will also have back up in the worst should happen! And you get an evening at a high society ball with your girlfriend." Eda winked.

Luz and Amity both blushed, then exchanged smiles. Amity usually hated the stuffy high society parties she was forced to attend, but with Luz there with her, she might actually enjoy herself!

The others quickly agreed to the plan too; "It's not a bad idea. The Silver Sentinel doesn't speak either, so we don't need to worry about changing your voice." Darius said, "Can you speak sign language?"

Luz grinned and began to sign; "Yes I can! I'm quite good!", though only Raine, Darius, and Eber actually understood her, so she verbally added; "My Mami taught me when I was little. I saw it on TV and wanted to learn, and she thought it was a good skill, so she taught me. I'm still kind of surprised that the Boiling Isles uses ASL though."

"It probably came from a book or something that washed up here from the Human Realm." Eda shrugged.

"So it's decided? Darius, Skara, and the Blights will attend the Ball to sabotage the factory, Eda and Raine will attack the Emperor's Elites to stop them from attending, and Luz will take the Silver Sentinel's place and attend in her place to keep Odalia from getting suspicious and back up the others." Rasiel summarised.

Everyone nodded in approval and the plan was officially decided. Darius then said; "We have the rest of today and then two more evenings before the Ball. We should use that time to plan and prepare. We have a lot to go over."

It turned out that when Darius said they had a lot to do, he really meant it! For the rest of the night, and the two that followed it, he had them all working hard to prepare for the Ball. Amity was sent on recon missions into the Blight Industries factory, looking at anything and everything she could as her Dad happily showed her around. She felt rotten lying to him and abusing his trust to destroy all his hard work, but it was for the good of everyone on the Isles… Belos could not be allowed to have those weapons! After a personal tour of each different area after dinner, Amity would go to Digale Island after school the next day and have her memories of the tours plucked out of her head by Raine and Eber, who would then use them to map out the factory and find the ideal spots to sabotage.

Edric, Emira, and Skara all received some extra lessons from Eda and Lilith, who taught them more elemental magic that suited their abilities (being Light Magic for all three) as well as the best ways to disrupt a fight without blowing their cover should things come to blows between Luz and the Blight Parents. The rest of the Hexsquad helped them out, with Willow especially working hard to prepare them as another way of getting some revenge on Odalia! This included giving the Twins and Skara copies of the blackmail photos, which were bound to keep Odalia distracted if the worst should happen! Rasiel, who didn't have the magic to help with training, instead spent the time managing the cave surveys and continuing his personal explorations for signs of a Black Tomb. Being able to leave his body behind and phase through walls made exploring the tunnels a lot easier, so even the unsafe or collapsed tunnels weren't out of his reach.

Lastly, Darius kept Luz busy for the next few evenings by returning to his efforts to teach her high society etiquette, reasoning that the Silver Sentinel may not speak, but she still behaved regally and appropriately. He'd also taught her how to dance like a Boiling Isles Noble, and how to politely ask for a dance, cut-in on someone else's dance, or even reject another person's advances. He also taught her a few tricks for dealing with abominations, just in case the situation went badly. King also helped out, though his main contribution was being roped into helping Darius tailor a replica of the Silver Sentinel's uniform, since the little Titan was shockingly good at it despite not wearing clothes himself. Darius himself was also a talented tailor, and had whipped up a perfect replica of the Sentinel's gear that fitted Luz better than any clothes she'd ever worn! He'd even made her a replica of the Sentinel's staff, though it wasn't functional.

The three days of preparation before the Ball were hectic, especially since they had to juggle the CATTs with school or work, but by the time they went to bed on Thursday night, they were all as ready as they'd ever be!

[The Day of the Blight Ball]

After school on Friday, Luz and her friends met up at the Owl House to prepare, while Darius, Skara, and the Blights had all gone to get ready at their own homes. They were joined by Steve and two of his fellow defectors, who'd brought along an extra scout uniform, as well as Katya, Derwin, and Amber, who would be helping Raine and Eda.

"Alright everyone, is everybody ready?" Raine asked. King and the remaining kids would be staying at the Owl House with Hooty and Rasiel, while Lilith, Steve, and the defectors would act as Luz's scout escort.

"Ready as I'll ever be. This uniform is surprisingly comfy, though I could do without the mask." Luz said, now dressed fully as the Silver Sentinel. The "mask" Darius had made for her was a full helmet, so there was no chance of it slipping off or her hair being revealed if her hood was pulled down. It made her voice sound a little strange, but it had also been enchanted to allow food and drink to pass through it, so she didn't have to abstain from the meal. Her clothes were also enchanted to allow her wings to pass through, and they were kept shrunken and hidden beneath a concealment stone.

"It's eerie how similar you look to that silent creep when dressed like that." King shuddered. He swiftly shook it off and said; "I hid a whole bunch of drawn wind glyphs inside your clothes, just in case."

"Thanks King! Hopefully I won't need them." Luz said, being handed the fake staff by Matt, who'd been playing with it (under the excuse of trying to make the red crystal look as realistic as possible).

Lilith came down from her room, now dressed in the scout uniform Steve had brought for her; "Wearing this again is nostalgic."

"Don't get too comfy in it, Lilith." Eda said; "And don't get too chummy with any of your old pals tonight either. You're there to back up Luz."

"Of course, Edalyn. You don't need to remind me." Lilith frowned, before smiling at Luz; "You don't need to worry about a thing! Between Darius' lessons and my insider knowledge of how these functions usually go, you will fit in seamlessly."

"Thanks Lilith." Luz nodded. She then noted that Steve and her other escorts were ready, so she turned to her Mom and Raine.

"Mom, Titi; are you both ready? You'll be fighting the real elites and keeping them out of Bonesborough! It's going to be tough." Luz said worriedly.

"Don't worry Sparks; we're as prepared as we could hope to be." Raine smiled, always loving when Luz called them Titi. The angelic girl had already given both of them a fresh Angelic Blessing so they were at full power, while King had given them many of his drawn glyphs and combos. They also had their staves, so they had nothing to fear.

"We remember what you said too; keep them separated. Use light to counter the Sentinel's shadow hopping, and watch out for the Guard's warp flash. We'll be fine, Owlet." Eda said, patting her daughter's head; "You just focus on having a fun night with Boots and keeping Odalia and Alador's focus away from Darius and the others."

Luz saluted; "Yes Ma'am, Empress Mom!"

That got the group giggling, and Eda playfully pulled off Luz's helmet so she could pinch her cheeks. After that, Steve checked his demon wrist watch; "According to what Darius' insiders at the castle told us, the Golden Guard and the Silver Sentinel will be leaving there on an airship around now. They'll be flying directly to the factory, so we'll have to ambush them about…"

He drew a spell circle and created an illusion of Bonesborough and the surrounding area, then pointed to a section directly above the northern part of the upper arm. "… here. It'll be a small airship, so no more than six scouts will be with them."

"So six chumps and two brats? Sounds easy to me!" Eda smiled confidently. "If we force them to crash land, I bet we can take out the scouts in one go, then deal with the kids. What do you think, Raine?"

Raine nodded; "That could work. But let's not take chances; I'll put them to sleep first. If we're lucky, we won't even need to fight."

Eda crossed her arms with a pout; "If I'm not gonna get to knock these fools around a little, you better have something else to entertain me, Raine Storm."

Raine gave her a coy smile; "I'm sure I'll think of something."

Eda blushed, and Raine's three apprentices wolf-whistled while the teens laughed and pretended to be grossed out. King and Luz just giggled and began singing "Mom and Titi, sitting in a tree…" until Eda began chasing them around the living room. Once she caught them and pinched both their cheeks with a bemused grin, she said; "You've got no right to tease me, Owlet! You and Amity are the most sickeningly cutesy couple on the Isles!"

"I can't help it! Have you seen my awesome girlfriend!? It's a crime that I have to take her to a fancy ball wearing this…" Luz sighed dramatically, flourishing her cape. "I mean, it looks kind of cool I guess, but Amity deserves way better."

Her friends chuckled at her; "Oh please, Amity would love you dressed as an Otter! And yes, I have seen that costume in your closet!" Willow grinned.

"Snag yourself a crush and I'll let you borrow it, Willow." Luz shot back.

Willow giggled; "No thanks, I don't think I can pull that look off. Besides, the kind of person I like is the dark and troubled type. A real rose with thorns, y'know?"

"Same!" Skara grinned.

"Aren't you dating Rogier?" Matt pointed out. Rogier was a nice guy and a real animal lover (predictably, being in the beast-keeping track), but he wasn't exactly dark and troubled. He was a popular jokester type, the kind who didn't take himself too seriously but was pretty in-touch with his emotions. Skara shook her head in reply.

"We broke up."

"They broke up."

Everyone in the room blinked as Derwin and Amber spoke at the same time as Skara, forming a strange echo. Katya looked between her friends with surprise and said; "How do you two know?"

"Rogier is our little brother, remember Katya?" Derwin replied.

"Wait, Skara was dating THAT Rogier? I never realised! Why'd you break up?" Katya asked. She was being a little nosy, but her romance loving heart couldn't help it.

"We got along just fine, but we both realised neither of us were that into each other. We were both attracted to each other, but not in love or anything. After a few dates, we decided we were better off as friends." Skara said with a shrug; "We're still good buds."

This wasn't news to Luz or Willow, who'd heard this before during their usual girl talk, which Gus and Matt stayed out of by their own choice. However neither had known Rogier was related to Amber and Derwin, or that they were related to each other!

"I didn't know you two were siblings!" Luz said.

"It's not a big secret or nothing." Amber said casually; "My Mama married Derwin's Daddy when we were both little. Rogier was born not long after, making him our half brother."

"And my life hasn't been quiet since." Derwin said with a wry smirk.

"OI!" Amber protested; "I am the best little sister and you love me!"

"I will concede to one of those statements." Derwin shot back, making Amber pout.

The group laughed as the two siblings playfully bickered, Derwin acting as the responsible older sibling while Amber was the bratty younger sibling. Eventually they were interrupted by Steve.

"Sorry to interrupt, but as much as Steve loves love and sibling bonding, you've got to get going if you're going to ambush the airship before it enters Bonesborough airspace."

Eda and Raine nodded; "Right. We'll get a move on. We'll send a message if everything works out. Good luck, Sparks!"

"Thanks Titi! You too!" Luz smiled.

Eda gave each of her kids a quick hug, then gave the finger guns to the rest of the group, who returned the gesture with wide grins. She then gave Lilith a stern look; "Look after my daughter, Lilith."

"I'll protect her with my life." Lilith swore, Corvanc nodding happily from her shoulder. Eda accepted that answer (and pet the white raven Palisman), then left the house with Raine and their three apprentices. They sat on their staves and took flight, waving over their shoulders as they disappeared to the east. Luz and the others watched them go for a moment, before Lilith said; "We should get going too."

Luz nodded; "Right. I'll see you guys later!"

"Bye Luz!" the rest of the Hexsquad chimed, along with Hooty.

"Blow stuff up in my name!" King demanded.

Rasiel smiled; "I'll watch over this lot. Go have fun with your lady."

Luz nodded once again, then began the walk to Blight Manor with Lilith, Steve, and the other two Scout Defectors, hiding themselves under illusions until they knew it was safe to be seen in their disguises.

Meanwhile, Eda's team flew quickly through the skies to the edge of Bonesborough, then into the forest to the east that they knew the Golden Guard's airship would be flying over. They got there just in time too, as they'd barely gotten comfortable hiding amongst the canopies when they saw the airship coming towards them. Raine and Katya switched their Palismen; Rena and Rumba into their violin and tambourine forms respectively, and Derwin and Amber followed suit. Derwin's Palisman was a large dark brown ferret named Dulcett, which became his Bassoon, while Amber's was a fluffy caterpillar named Riko, which became a flute. Eda also summoned her cittern, since she'd yet to master the spell for transforming her Palisman into an instrument.

Once all five of them had their instruments, they began to slowly play the Lullaby of Lethargy, creating a powerful sleeping spell. Thankfully, Luz's Angelic Magic countered the corrosive effects of Eda's curse (an effect Raine had been spared when taking a portion of her curse), so their combined efforts were able to spread up to the airship above. After a moment, Eda heard a boy's voice yelling something as the airship suddenly began to drift off course as the pilot was put to sleep.

"Great, we got some of them! Masks on, everyone!" Raine whispered, slipping on a bat-themed mask that had originally been made for them when they were still just "The BATTs". Eda didn't bother with a mask of her own, and instead led the charge up to the airship.

They all turned their instruments back into staves and flew up, surrounding the front of the airship. On the deck, they found six unconscious scouts, snoozing away without a care in the world, while the Golden Guard was shoving one of them off of the controls they'd fallen on so he could wrest back control of the ship. The Silver Sentinel was looking around cautiously with her staff in her hands, and the instant she spotted the CATTs, she pointed the staff at them.

"Rebels? Now of all times?" the Golden Guard huffed; "We're not even on an important mission! We're going to a stupid party!"

"Yeah, a party where you plan to buy weapons to use against the citizens of the Isles." Raine scowled.

The Golden Guard was about to retort, when his sister conjured her illusory hands and made them sign; "It's Whispers. They're wearing a mask."

Raine narrowed their eyes on the girl; "Sharp ears you've got there."

"Distinctive voice you've got there." she replied, her illusory hands moving with a flourish that implied she was trying to be sassy.

The Golden Guard finally got the airship under control and made it float gently in the air, allowing him to finally draw his own staff and join his partner in facing down the CATTs. He glanced at Eda, then chuckled; "So, the Owl Lady came to play too, did she? You may have tricked the angel into giving you some magic, but we both know you're not as strong as you used to be."

"Still stronger than you, Golden Goof." Eda smirked, practically hearing the boy grinding his teeth.

"I swear I'm going to get Luz back for spreading that name! Once she's done with her penance and taken her place in the coven, she'll have paperwork coming out of her ears!" he growled.

Eda snorted; "Not gonna happen. Let me tell you how this is gonna go, boyo; we're gonna capture the two of you and deprive Belos of his last two decent coven members! With only those dopey scouts and Kikimora under his command, he'll be toast."

That was mostly a bluff; capturing them wasn't part of the plan, though if they could manage it then it would be a worthwhile achievement. But if that wasn't possible, just keeping them busy for a few hours would be more than enough!

"So, why don't the two of you make this nice and easy by surrendering? I'd hate to scratch your pretty play armour." the Owl Lady said with a threatening grin. Behind her, Amber and Katya both gave their own big grins, showing off their fangs.

The Golden Guard scoffed at Eda's threat; "That might be a serious threat, if it wasn't coming from someone who looks like they escaped their nursing home."

"You little brat! I'm in my mid-thirties! My hair is grey because of the curse!" Eda yelled.

"And mine is going grey from dealing with you!" The Golden Guard shot back, "So how about I make a counteroffer? You surrender and we take you prisoner, and Whispers and their three flying monkeys can fly on home."

The Silver Sentinel signed to him; "Wouldn't it be wiser to take Whispers too?"

"Yes, but it'd be more of a hassle. Whispers is a small problem, but if we nab the Owl Lady, we get the portal and the leverage to bring in Luz. Best not to get greedy by going for both." the Guard muttered back, with only Amber's bat-like ears picking up what he'd said.

Eda didn't need to hear what he'd said though; it wouldn't change her answer. "Yeah, I think I'll go with… Spicy Toss!"

With that, she conjured a fireball and through it at the airship's balloon, causing it to explode and send the entire thing crashing to the ground. The Golden Guard hopped on his staff and flew off, with the Silver Sentinel merging into a shadow and emerging from her brother's, riding his staff with him so she could use her magic to catch the falling airship and slowly set it down on a dirt road leading through the forest, so the scouts within wouldn't be harmed and the forest wouldn't be ignited.

Raine, who'd been beginning to whistle a song to save the scouts too, quickly shifted gears and conjured a series of glowing balls of light to float around Eda and each member of the CATTs, ensuring there were no shadows on their bodies for the Silver Sentinel to exploit. Katya, taking a page from the Sentinel's book, hopped onto the back of Derwin's staff and switched Rumba back to tambourine mode before beginning to slap the instrument to the beat of a song. Each slap released faint pink dust into the air, which the Silver Sentinel kept away from them with a barrier. The instant a speck of this dust touched something solid, it suddenly grew explosively into a large cluster of pink crystals.

"Careful, partner." the Golden Guard warned; "This is Myla's Requiem. A bardic song that grows magic sapping crystals! If they grow on you then the only way to get them off is to have the caster remove them, lose that part of your body, or have all your magic sucked out."

The Sentinel signed something to her partner, but Raine didn't recognise the sign. The Guard responded by surrounding himself, his staff, and his sister in a red aura, after which the Sentinel dropped her rapidly crystallizing barrier. The instant the barrier went down, the Guard flashed them backward and away from the cloud of pink crystal dust, which the Sentinel blew away by conjuring wind with her staff. The dust blew back towards the CATTs, but Katya just scowled and slapped her tambourine again, creating a discordant note that made the powder disappear.

Eda then darted at the duo, while Amber mimicked Katya's move by leaping onto the back of Eda's staff. Eda conjured a water spell in one hand and turned it into a huge cloud of mist around the Emperor's Elites, after which she threw a lightning spell with the other hand that created a web of electricity that leapt from each droplet of mist to all the droplets around it. It would have shocked the duo if they hadn't once again warped out of the way. However Amber had expected this and blew sharply into her flute, which shot a sticky web at them and tied them up. The Golden Guard prepared to flash his way out of the web, but Raine whistled a sharp note that disrupted the Guard's magic, stopping his spell and causing them to fall from the sky.

As this was happening, Derwin had whispered to Katya; "Switch!" and the two jumped off his staff, which turned into his bassoon at the same moment Katya's tambourine became a staff again, catching them. Then just as the web caught the teens and Raine stopped them escaping, he blew into his bassoon and produce a huge fluffy white cloud. The cloud was solid and caught the falling teens before they could hit the forest ground.

For a moment, it looked like their combination had caught the duo, but the instant they touched the clouds, the Sentinel dragged them both into their own shadows on the cloud's surface, using the light cast by the orbs floating around Derwin. They then emerged from the shadows of the flames being cast by their airship's burning balloon. They were free from the web now, and both were a lot more on guard.

Eda smirked and muttered to Amber behind her; "Looks like they're going to give us a bit of a chase."

Just as she expected, the two shot off, each now riding their own staves. They flew in opposite directions, the Golden Guard heading for Bonesborough and the Silver Sentinel heading for the castle; they were clearly going for help!

"Dang it, they're speedy little runts! Raine, Derwin; go for the Sentinel! Ladies, we're going after the Goof!" Eda yelled.

Without waiting for confirmation, she shot off after the Golden Guard and threw a lightning bolt at him, throwing him off course. So long as she could keep him out of Bonesborough, she'd take it as a victory!

[Meanwhile]

Darius found himself annoyingly early to the Blights' little soiree. He usually preferred to be fashionably late (if only to annoy Odalia Blight), but he needed to be present before Luz showed up in disguise, just in case she needed someone to help cover for her. Thankfully he also had the excuse that as the only one of the Coven Heads to be attending (not counting the Little Prince or the soon to be promoted Severin), he was expected to be a good example and show up on time.

He marched up to the entrance where a few other early guests were mingling, and handed his invitation to the abomination doorman, who promptly allowed him inside the factory showroom, which had been transformed into a temporary ballroom for the Blight Ball. It was all very tastefully decorated in shades of purple and neon green (Odalia's toxic influence creeping in on perfectly good abomination aesthetics) and several abomination butlers shuffled about with platters of hors d'oeurves and wine, meant to keep the guests occupied before the formal dinner.

Darius withheld a scoff as he swept through the small crowd already inside the Ball, making polite small talk with a few of the more important ones as he looked for any signs of the Blights he actually tolerated. He'd avoided Odalia thus far by staying behind her as she mingled, and Alador was currently of to the side sucking down coffee that was more like black sludge consisting of 99% caffeine. He couldn't spot Amity anywhere, so he decided to go to the next best thing; the twins.

Edric and Emira were greeting guests by the door, each dressed in dark purple clothing; Edric having a suit and tie, while Emira had a tasteful dress (Darius himself had opted to just wear his usual attire; it was more than good enough for this party), and he conceded that the two looked decent.

"Ah, the infamous Blight Twins." he greeted, mindful of listening ears. "I'm surprised the children of Alador can clean up so nicely. Where is the Baby Blight? I've yet to make her acquaintance."

Emira looked away from the guest she was greeting to smile and say; "Good evening, Head Witch Darius. It's nice to meet you! Welcome to Blight Industries. If you're interested in meeting my sister Amity, I'm afraid she's momentarily preoccupied with a wardrobe problem. Perhaps you'd be willing to help her? Your sense of style is famous."

Darius raised an eyebrow; Amity was supposed to be in the party, but she was avoiding it over a wardrobe malfunction? He would have face-palmed, if not for the fact he knew she was only being so vain due to Luz coming along soon. "I suppose I should help. Alador is a subordinate in my coven after all, and it would reflect poorly on me for his daughter to appear in front of all these fine people in slovenly attire. Point me to her."

Edric, without looking away from the guests he was schmoozing, pulled a key from his suit pocket and handed it to Emira, who handed it to Darius; "She's in the staff wash room. Take this key to get in. Thank you for your help."

Emira then pointed Darius to a door that would lead him to the wash room. He took the key and nodded; "Very well; I'll be back once your sister is presentable." He then spun on his heel and marched off with a flourish of his cape.

He walked through the door Emira had indicated, finding it led to a hallway with a few labelled rooms. He swiftly found the one marked "Wash Room – Employees Only" and knocked sharply, before unlocking it and walking in.

Amity had her back to him and said; "I already told you I'm not going out like this! I- oh!" she turned around and saw Darius. "Sorry Darius, I thought you were Emira or my Mom. Did Emira send you?"

Darius nodded, his face pulled into a sneer of displeasure; "Indeed, and thank the Titan she did. What in the name of all that is fashionable are you wearing!?"

Amity blushed as she looked down at her outfit in disgust. She was wearing tight pants, a puffy shouldered shirt, and a waistcoat and bolo-tie, all in varying shades of neon aquamarine. It was a strikingly similar outfit to Odalia's, and was coloured similarly to the woman's hair. It was a terrible looking outfit that only a mind as demented as Odalia Blight's could ever think looked appealing.

"My Mom laid it out for me while I was in the shower… and she took ALL my other clothes too! It was either wear this or come down in nothing but a wet towel!" Amity cried; "Look at me! I can't show my face looking like this!"

"Dear, looking at you is rather hard at the moment. I should congratulate your mother on creating the finest abomination I've ever seen! It's almost painful to look at it! I feel like dousing my eyes in wine!" Darius sneered, utterly revolted. "Why so many shades of neon green!?"

"Except for Dad, the rest of the family have purple clothes and green hair, and Mom insisted that if I was going to have purple hair, I had to have green clothes so I'd still "match"." Amity explained miserably; "Please help me Darius! I can't let Luz see me in this monstrosity! She'd break up with me on the spot!"

Darius scoffed; "Enough dramatics. That lovestruck fool would call you beautiful even if you were covered in mud and a potato sack! Besides, of course I'm going to help you! Letting you out of this room looking like that would be like committing a war crime on the eyes of all the party guests!"

Amity beamed; "Thank you, Darius!"

He waved her off; "Think nothing of it." he said, conjuring a changing screen with abomination slime, then summoning a pair of abominations that he pulled tailoring tools and a plain white dress from. The dress was very simple, sleeveless and would come down to Amity's knees while keeping her chest fully covered, as was appropriate for a teenage girl. As a witch restricted to abomination magic, Darius had found a way to perform summoning spells by storing items he wanted inside abominations, similar to how Luz did the same with her satchel.

"Change into this. I assume your mother at least left you acceptable undergarments?"

Amity nodded with a blush, then went behind the screen to begin changing into the white dress. Once she was done, she set fire to the clothes Odalia had chosen, much to Darius' approval, then stepped barefoot onto a stool of abomination slime. Darius then walked around her, having his abominations use his tailoring tools to measure Amity and begin placing parts of their own bodies over the white dress, forming a layer of abomination slime. It didn't take long for Darius to come up with a design for a dress that suited Amity, and would match not only her siblings, but also pair well with the Silver Sentinel disguise Luz would be wearing. The finished result was a purple ballgown with pale lavender detailing and some silver embroidery (Amity had no idea how he'd managed that), as well as pale lavender sleeves that covered her arms but left her shoulders bare. It also included simple strappy heels, which were kept short for ease of walking, dancing, and potentially fighting.

When Amity looked at herself in the mirror, she gasped; the sleeves and pale lavender detailing had been designed to look similar to Luz's Holy Raiment! It was a detail only someone who was intimately familiar with the outfit would notice, and it went well with the Silver Sentinel's white and silver aesthetic, but also meant a lot to Amity.

"This is wonderful! Thank you, Darius!" Amity gushed.

Darius smirked smugly; "You're welcome. You may keep the base dress; I only included it so that if the slime was disrupted, you wouldn't end up disrobed. I was lucky enough to convince your little girlfriend to let me take a closer look at her raiment, so I made this to match. It'll look good beside her disguise too, so have no fear."

Amity hopped off the stool and did a little twirl, absolutely delighted with the result. She just knew Luz would love this! It was almost a shame that she wouldn't be able to see her face behind that mask. Darius actually felt quite proud of himself after seeing the girl's reaction; the design was simple and easy, but she reacted like it was a fine treasure! It pleased him to see his rival's daughter so impressed by even his simplest works! It felt like a small victory over Alador and his rotten wife.

But there were bigger victories to win tonight, so Darius dismissed his abominations and tools, then turned to take his leave; "The others are due to arrive soon. Don't keep them waiting, Baby Blight." he said, before walking out of the room.

Amity, giving herself one last once over in the mirror, smiled and nodded at her reflection, then followed Darius back out to the Ball. More people had arrived since Darius had shown up, with most of the guests now being present, and Amity found herself receiving quite a few looks and turning just as many heads as she walked out. Edric and Emira smiled brightly when they saw her, and her Dad actually seemed to wake up a little when he noticed her. His face lit up with pride, and he immediately came over.

"You look beautiful, Mittens. You're really going all out for this showcase. Thank you." Alador smiled softly, brushing his hand through some of Amity's hair.

A knot of guilt twisted through Amity's stomach as she forced herself to smile; "It's okay Dad. I want what's best for us, so I had to make an effort." she said. She was being honest, but naturally what she thought was best for the family was not what her parents would think.

Unfortunately, Odalia finally took notice and excused herself from greeting Severin and Skara to hurry over to Amity.

"What are you wearing!? Where are the clothes I laid out for you!?" she whispered angrily.

"Last I saw them, they were on fire." Amity replied bluntly.

Odalia's eye twitched; "Amity, now is not the time for more of your rebellion! Look at yourself! You don't match the family!"

Alador scowled; "Neither do I, Odalia." he replied, gesturing down to his own attire. He was wearing his usual dark grey overcoat, though washed clean of abomination stains. With that and his brown hair, he didn't look like the rest of the family either. "Besides, Amity is on theme; we're selling abominations and her outfit is abomination coloured. In fact, is it made from abomination slime?"

"You have a keener eye than I thought, Alador." Darius smirked, having begun walking back over as soon as he saw Odalia make her move. "I apologise for stepping on your toes, but I took the liberty of fixing her atrocious outfit."

That took the wind out of Odalia's sails, as she could hardly start a fight with one of their most important guests! Darius' opinion would likely be asked for when it came to settle any deals with the Emperor's Coven, and it wouldn't do to antagonise him!

"I-I see! W-well it isn't what I had in mind, but it is very nice." Odalia said, smiling through gritted teeth.

Alador nodded; "It is good. Very form over function though, which is just like you, Darius."

Darius' smile became predatory; "Well, some of us know how to combine form and function. Perhaps you'll get there one day too."

Alador narrowed his eyes, and the two prepared to devolve into one of their usual exchanges of barely civil, back-handed comments, but before they could, Alador and Odalia both felt a ping from their pockets. Alador pulled out a small remote, which was vibrating and flashing with a yellow light.

"One of the security abominations is requesting assistance." he muttered. "Someone is attempting to enter without an invitation."

Odalia frowned; "Have them sent away then."

"I would, but…" Alador pressed a button on the remote and a small magic screen appeared in front of him, showing him the view from the abomination's eyes. It showed the Silver Sentinel, flanked by four Coven Scouts, waiting impatiently.

"Oh dear. You might want to go and see to that, Odalia. You wouldn't want your guests of honour being sent away." Darius smirked.

Odalia bit back a retort and hurried to the entrance, with Amity following closely behind. When they arrived, they found the disguised Luz waiting patiently while her disguised escorts tapped their feet and made a show of being angry with their treatment. Odalia immediately plastered on a fake smile as she approached.

"Honoured guests, I apologise for the hold up. I hear there is a problem with your invitation?" she said pleasantly.

The disguised Lilith nodded imperiously, then spoke in a slightly altered voice (courtesy of an audio illusion); "As we have tried to explain to your incompetent creation, the Silver Sentinel's invitation was destroyed when our airship was attacked by the rebels outside of town. Head Witch Golden Guard is currently pursuing them, but the Emperor's new assistant personally came here to attend for the both of them!"

Odalia gasped; "Oh my, how ghastly! Thank the Titan that you are all unharmed! I trust the Golden Guard will bring the rebels to justice."

Luz smirked behind her mask, and waved her fake staff while keeping one hand behind her back, within her cloak, to draw a spell circle and conjure the image of illusory hands, which began to perform sign language. "Naturally, though I dislike having my time wasted! Am I here for a Ball, or to exchange small talk with your slimy doorman!" she signed.

Odalia didn't understand sign language though, and it didn't look like the others around them did either, so Luz cheekily signed; "You are a moron with big ego and a small brain!"

Amusingly, Odalia just chuckled nervously and said; "A-ah! Yes, quite."

Luz almost giggled; since she was communicating non-verbally, she could lie as much as she wanted without consequence, which was a lot of fun in this instance! Still, she decided to replace her hand illusion with glowing words. "Don't pretend to understand me. I dislike being lied to or humoured like a child. Your first impression leaves much to be desired."

She was really laying it on thick, using some of the language Darius had taught her during their etiquette lessons, and seeing Odalia splutter and apologise made those lessons more than worth it. Some of the watching guests were quietly laughing, or hiding smirks behind their hands; Odalia was not a popular woman, and it amused them to see the usually arrogant Blight Matriarch being brought down a peg or two.

"F-Forgive me, Ma'am. I had no intention of insulting you. Please, allow me to personally welcome you to the Blight Ball." Odalia said, recovering from her embarrassment and inviting Luz and her escorts in. As they were sweeping past the abomination door man, Luz finally noticed Amity. The youngest Blight didn't even need to see Luz's face; the fact she froze mid-step was more than enough to make it clear her new dress had made an impact on her hidden girlfriend. In truth, seeing Luz in that uniform was making Amity's stomach fill with butterflies as well!

Ignoring Odalia (who seemed confused), Luz went over to Amity and gave her a formal bow, before gently taking her hand and pressing it to the front of her mask as if kissing it.

More illusory words appeared floating over Luz's shoulder; "Good evening, Miss Blight. You look lovely tonight. Enough even to make up for your mother's foolishness."

Amity giggled and curtseyed in response; "You honour me, Lady Sentinel."

The words on Luz's shoulder changed to; "Please, you may call me Silver. Not my real name of course, but the only one I may give you this evening."

"That's more than alright, Silver. Please, call me Amity." she replied with a wide smile. She was aware of her mother watching the pair, but there was a glint of happiness and excitement in the woman's eye, no doubt already planning how to leverage this friendliness between them.

In fact, she started right away; "Amity, why don't you be the Silver Sentinel's personal guide and attendant this evening? As an apology from our family for the problems at the door?"

Amity nodded; "Of course, Mom."

"You have a fine daughter, Madam Blight. If everything your family creates is of this quality, we might just have deals to discuss." Luz said via message. It made her skin crawl a little to talk about Amity like she was just another product, but it made Odalia smile brightly and that helped their cover. Amity seemed to understand, though Luz made a mental note to make it up to her later.

Odalia brought Luz over to where Darius and Alador were still stood. "Allow me to introduce my husband; Alador Blight! The finest abomination creator of the era!"

Darius snorted, making Alador and Odalia both glare at him, while Luz offered her hand for Alador to shake. He did so with a tired smile; "Nice to meet you, Silver Sentinel. I hope my creations are impressive to you."

"I'm sure they will be." Luz said with her message. She then gestured to her four escorts and then pointed around the room, sending them off to their "posts". In reality, Lilith, Steve, and the others would be casing the place and looking for ways to sabotage the rest of the security. Since Eda and the others had distracted the real Silver Sentinel and her brother, there was no other Emperor's Coven security present, leaving only Alador's abomination security. That would make things easy.

Odalia then said; "Since your invitation was destroyed, allow me to remind you of the itinerary for the evening. Once the last of the guests arrive, we will have a formal dinner, followed by a band and dancing, with the grand showcase taking place afterwards, and finishing with tours of our facilities. We wanted to save the best for last!" she said with a wide grin.

Luz held back a snort; so the showcase was after the Ball proper. She glanced around, seeing how many people were already drinking, and wondered if Odalia's strategy was to get her customers drunk and their purse strings loosened. It was a double edged sword for their plan; on the one hand it gave her more time to enjoy with Amity, but on the other it meant they would have to wait quite a while before they could infiltrate the factory itself, which appeared to be sealed until the tours were ready to begin.

"In that case, I will mingle with the guests until the meal begins. Do not let me keep you from your host duties, Madam Blight; your daughter will be more than sufficient company." Luz said with another message.

With a gracious nod, Odalia walked off to do just that, while Alador narrowed his eyes on the disguised angel. Thankfully Darius swiftly drew him into a debate about their achievements in the Abomination Coven, and the heated exchange kept the man busy while Luz and Amity wandered over to Skara, who was talking to Boscha.

What followed was actually quite a pleasant evening. No one dared question Luz for choosing to spend time with Amity and Skara, considering the Silver Sentinel was behind only the Emperor and Golden Guard within the Emperor's Coven, and everyone wanted a piece of her approval. Luz had a great time messing with a few of the more stuck-up ones who came over to court her favour, making them sweat by intentionally misconstruing their attempts at flattery as insults, or pretending to not have heard of their prestigious families and deeds. She only did it to the jerks though, and Amity remained by her side the whole time to make sure she knew who were good people and who were brown nosers and boot lickers akin to Odalia. The adults were bad, but some of the teens were worse; Luz had never been flirted with so much in her entire life! It made Amity fume, but then it also made Luz fume when a few of them flirted with Amity instead. Skara just found the whole thing hilarious, while Boscha was eyeing the disguised Luz with quiet suspicion. Luz suspected she knew something was up, but the three-eyed girl had no intention of ratting on them, so she didn't push the issue and was perfectly pleasant to Callisto Alembic when she came over.

It was also the first time Luz got to meet Boscha's other parent; a gender neutral witch with red hair like Boscha's, a relatively plain face, and large rimmed glasses similar to Raine's. They introduced themselves as Morel Alembic, a member of the Potions Coven, and they were a soft spoken but friendly person. They didn't try to kiss up to Luz and instead dragged Callisto away when she started to, much to Luz's appreciation.

Shortly thereafter, the last of the guests arrived and they were all seated at a series of round tables that were set up around the room. Luz ended up sat between Darius and Amity, while the rest of the Blights shared the table too. Luz was extremely glad her mask had been enchanted to allowed food through, as the meal was exquisite. To a human it would have looked like something from a house of horror, and it had definitely turned Luz off a little at first, but as soon as she actually tried it, she found it amazing. The Catboneara was a particular favourite, though Luz hoped it wasn't made with actual cat bones… she'd never be able to look Ghost in the face again!

Once the food was done, Alador excused himself to begin preparing for the showcase of his Abomaton Mk II while the rest of the Ball enjoyed the music and dancing portion of the evening.

As he was leaving however, Luz saw an opportunity and began creating illusory messages to talk to him. "Mr. Blight, I would ask that you take Darius here with you. As the head of the Abomination Coven, I'd like him to inspect your facilities and the creations you want to showcase. I trust his word on the subject, and want his opinion before I even entertain this showcase."

Alador frowned; "With all do respect, Lady Sentinel; I feel that is unnecessary."

"And with all do respect, Mr. Blight; I feel it is necessary. If you have qualms about a rival being allowed to see your secrets or potentially commit sabotage…" Luz snapped her fingers, and all four of her disguised escorts came over. She gestured for Steve and one of the other defectors to follow Darius, "… then I will assign two of my own men to ensure his discretion and good behaviour."

The Blight Patriarch still looked displeased with the idea, but Odalia elbowed him subtly and gave him a meaningful look, making him sigh and concede. "Very well; if it will ease your mind, I will allow it. But no funny business, Darius."

Darius nodded; "Yes yes, I'll behave myself. The Little Sentinel's guards will ensure it, no doubt." he said, feigning annoyance at the security.

Alador didn't acknowledge him and instead marched away, followed by Darius and his guards. Before Darius disappeared onto the factory floor, he shot Luz a small nod while no one was looking, signalling that he and the others would subtly begin their sabotage. Alador would be so focused on Darius that he'd pay no attention to the guards the "Sentinel" had assigned to watch him!

Once they were gone and the abomination butlers cleared away the silverware and tables, Odalia went onto the prepared stage and introduced the band for the evening; the best band that the Bard Coven had available. They began to play the kinds of music one would expect at a fancy ball, and as couples took to the dance floor, Luz offered Amity her hand.

"Care to dance, Amity?" she asked via message.

"I would love to, Silver." Amity replied. She and Luz had been exchanging flirtatious gestures under the table through the whole meal, and now they were both ready to let off some steam.

They stepped onto the dance floor together, and since Amity was the taller one (only by half an inch, as Luz always reminded her when the topic came up), she led Luz through a Demon Realm Waltz. It was a lot like a Human Realm Waltz, but a tad faster paced and with less grace and more energy. The two girls had a blast, but when the song ended and the next one began, the two took a brief break from each other to dance with other people. Luz danced with Skara, and since Luz was the taller one, she got to experience leading them through the steps (she thanked her lucky stars that dancing was a part of the bard track's curriculum and Darius had reinforced those lessons). Amity meanwhile danced with Boscha, and the two were smirking at each other as they each tried to lead the dance, making a very combative but entertaining show to watch!

Naturally, the quartet switched partners on the next song and Luz found herself somewhat awkwardly dancing with Boscha. The three-eyed girl took the lead and whispered in her ear; "I know it's you, Luz. Amity's too loyal to be so obviously in love with another person while dating you."

"You won't say anything, right? This is important Boscha." Luz whispered back, feeling a bit strange to be using her voice again after a couple of hours of text speech only.

Boscha rolled her eyes; "Of course, you dork. Skara would kill me if I ratted you out. Besides, I'm trying to be "nice" remember? I've been doing good at it too!"

Luz giggled; "Well you haven't made anyone cry for at least a month, so I'd call that progress."

"Oh, just for that; I'm gonna lead you through the Fango!" Boscha grinned viciously.

After the highly energetic and head-spinning dance that followed, Luz was almost happy to be handed off to a stranger on the next song. It was an older teenage boy, who was very polite and respectful and made polite conversation, while Luz replied just as politely with illusory words. This pattern repeated itself for a few more partners, with some flirting with her, others being strictly polite, a couple trying to promote their families, and even one oddly large gentleman who appeared to be some kind of bear demon and only wanted to talk about the crabbages he was growing in his garden. Luz was rather fond of that last one!

As the song once again changed, Luz excused herself from dancing to get a drink and find her friends. Skara and Boscha were now dancing with each other's parents; Severin chatting casually as he waltzed with Boscha, while Skara and Morel Alembic were laughing merrily as they danced around in circles. Edric and Emira were dancing with each other, and even the disguised Lilith had been dragged into a dance with the large crabbage gentleman, but it was Amity Luz was really looking for.

She eventually found her dancing with a female witch; one whom Luz had danced with earlier. Luz narrowed her eyes as she watched Amity try to extract herself from the dance without causing a scene; the female witch was a senior at St. Epiderm and a massive snob who'd flirted with Luz shamelessly and been very insistent until she'd used her fake title of Emperor's Assistant to shut down the girl's advances. Apparently Amity wasn't able to do the same, so Luz made her way over immediately, her temper flaring a bit as she got close enough to hear some of the conversation.

"I'm flattered, Miss Dermi. But I really must decline." Amity said.

Miss Dermi, being tall and imposing (as well as annoyingly beautiful in Luz's opinion) just tutted; "Come now, Kitten; call me Epa. You should consider it more carefully; my family and yours could help each other greatly, and I'm sure I could show you how to have a good time."

The girl, whose hands were already around Amity's waist, pulled her a little closer with a wide smile and Amity's eyes flashed with rage. Luz could see she was moments away from setting the pushy girl on fire, and while Luz was tempted to do nothing and watch, she knew Amity would be upset with herself later for causing a scene and endangering the plan, so Luz smoothly cut in. She brushed the older girl's hands away from Amity and replaced them with her own as illusory words appeared behind her.

"Pardon me, Miss Dermi, but I'll be cutting in. The showcase will begin soon, and I want another dance with this lovely lady before the end."

Amity smiled gratefully and a brief look of annoyance crossed Epa's face, before it was replaced by a smile; "Of course, Lady Sentinel. Perhaps the three of us could have some fun together; the more the merrier, after all."

"I prefer the adage; "Three's a crowd." Good evening, Miss Dermi."

Without another illusory word, Luz twirled Amity away to the middle of the dance floor, leaving a pouting Epa behind. Amity subtly cast an illusion spell around them, allowing them to talk to each other without being heard by those around them.

"Thanks for the save there Luz. Any more of her clumsy advances and I would have done something drastic." Amity said.

Luz giggled; "I know you can take care of yourself, but I couldn't pass up the chance to be the saviour of my girlfriend, even if it was just from that pushy flirt. You know she was flirting with me too earlier."

"Not surprising. Epa Dermi is infamous in our circles for being a serial womanizer. She loves high status girls… I'm the seventh girl she's tried to make her "Kitten". They never last long, since she gets bored easily. A shame too; I had a tiny crush on her when I was younger. Before I learned what a quality woman is like." Amity flirted, giving Luz a wink.

Luz felt her face heat up; "Go easy on me, Amity! I'm trying to keep my cover and that's hard when you make me want to rip this mask off and kiss you senseless! That dress alone is testing me!"

Amity giggled; "It's a Darius original! You should have seen the monstrosity my Mom tried to make me wear. Imagine my Mom's outfit but in the colour of her hair."

The lavender haired girl actually felt Luz shudder as she thought about it; "Remind me to thank Darius!"

The two girls continued to giggle and flirt as they danced together, moving to their own rhythm and becoming deaf to the music being played around them. They were almost entirely oblivious to the rest of the party, but the party and its guests were certainly not oblivious to them. Edric and Emira were watching with big smiles, the latter pining to be dancing with Viney (who naturally hadn't been invited). Skara and Boscha were slow-dancing together, whispering and gossiping to each other about the "Lumity" couple as they'd come to be known, and Lilith was just smiling behind her mask as she absent-mindedly listened to her last dance partner talk about his garden; she wagered Steve would be crying with joy if he was watching!

Unfortunately, not everyone who was watching had such positive intentions. Odalia Blight was watching too, a glass of wine in her hand and a smile on her lips as she watched her daughter dance and smile with who she believed to be the most eligible and desirable bachelorette on the Boiling Isles. The Silver Sentinel had annoyed her at first, talking down to her and leveraging her superior rank and position in society to make Odalia grovel a little, but the Oracle couldn't deny the kernel of respect she felt too; it was what she'd do in the girl's position as well after all. However, after seeing the obvious interest the masked girl had in Amity, and the surprising interest Amity showed straight back, Odalia had smelled opportunity… a way to potentially bind her family to the Emperor and his coven far more permanently than with a simple contract.

The Emperor had no heirs, and the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel were popularly believed to be his chosen successors if something were to happen to him, and based on the man's obvious sickness that Odalia and the rest of the isles had seen when he'd been forced to abandon his fight with the angel girl, it didn't look like he had much time left. When he departed, one of his elites would take the throne, and if something should happen to the Golden Guard… well, there would be only one option. An option that had the potential to see the Silver Sentinel as the new Empress, and Odalia's daughter as her Queen.

Odalia was almost giddy at the idea of it, and quietly excused herself to behind the stage; a place that would allow her to look out across the ballroom without being seen herself. Once there, she released her Oracle Spirit from the stone around her neck, then cast a spell to encase it inside a Crystal Ball, which glowed with a sinister purple light.

"Let's see how compatible they really are, and perhaps how to steer them together!" she said to herself. Normally, she'd consider it beneath her to perform a Love Reading, but this was too important!

She focused her mind and magic and began to channel them into thoughts of Amity and love. Almost immediately, Odalia's vision was full of red and pink, showing that her daughter was indeed completely besotted! That made Odalia smile even wider; especially when the spell failed to provide her with a face for Amity's beloved. That must mean it was the masked Sentinel! At least now she knew why Amity had been so oddly obedient this evening, excluding the incident with her dress. But that wasn't enough; she needed the feelings to be mutual, so she instead shifted her thoughts to the Silver Sentinel and love.

This time, her crystal ball actually shattered and the Oracle Spirit flew out of the shards, utterly petrified.

"What are you doing!?" Odalia snapped, "Do not disobey me again! Get back in the ball!"

The Oracle Spirit whined as Odalia cast the spell to once again seal the spirit into a crystal ball and begin the Love Reading for the Sentinel. However, the ball once again shattered and the spirit flew out, now looking both scared and agitated.

"What has gotten into you!?" the woman growled, losing her patience. She tried to conjure another crystal ball, but the spirit retreated into her Oracle Stone before she could complete the circle, and then refused to come out no matter what she did. Odalia didn't understand! She'd never had issues with her spirit before! At least not since…

Her eyes grew impossibly large as realisation hit her like a raging slither beast; the Angel! It was that Angel, Luz Noceda! She was the only one that her Oracle Magic had never worked on! Thinking back to their confrontation at Skara's party, she remembered Luz claiming it was because of her "feathery situation", and Odalia had assumed she'd meant the Owl Lady's curse, but now it seemed obvious that she was talking about her angelic nature. She'd been informed by Osran, the head of her coven, that Angels were immune to their magic.

"So, the angel is masquerading as the Silver Sentinel! She must be here to sabotage the showcase!" Odalia growled to herself. That explained the "attack" on their airship and how the invitation was destroyed!

After some cajoling, she managed to get her spirit back out and into a crystal ball again, which she used to cast a scrying spell on the invitation she'd sent to the Castle. Sure enough, it showed her a vision of the Owl Lady and a pair of female witches in Bat masks having a running battle with the Golden Guard, who was attempting to avoid them rather than defeat them, though Odalia didn't know why. The real Silver Sentinel was nowhere to be seen, but Odalia was still certain that the one who'd come to the party was an imposter! She had said the invitation was destroyed after all!

Odalia felt a rush of hatred as she realised this meant it was Luz who'd humiliated her earlier, but she stuffed it down as she once again saw an opportunity. The scouts Luz had brought with her were probably rebels in disguise too, and now that Odalia knew about them, she could get the drop on them! She could get her revenge for Skara's party and win the Emperor's favour by capturing the angel! She then looked to her daughter, still smiling at the imposter; Amity would be heartbroken to discover the girl she'd become besotted by was just her friend stringing her along for the sake of her schemes… it might even be enough to finally bring Amity back to her side and end her rebellion!

With a plan in mind, Odalia began preparing for the greatest showcase that Blight Industries ever had!

[Meanwhile]

Ever since Alador married Odalia, founded Blight Industries, and began manufacturing abomination weapons and home defence solutions, Darius had thought of him as a hack. The two had been friends once; friendly rivals that were nigh inseparable even, but that had changed thanks to Odalia. Even in school, she'd been the kind of woman who needed all attention on her and her ambitions, and had no patience for things or people she couldn't use. Both Darius and Alador's skills had drawn her attention, but while the confident Darius had turned his nose up at her and her attempts to use him, the shy and awkward Alador had been quickly taken in by the positive attention and praise, and soon fell head over heals for the manipulative oracle. She had then moulded Alador into the perfect scientist and weapons manufacturer that she needed for her little business, and Darius could do nothing but watch with disgust as his old rival lost some of his innovative creativity in favour of crafting only what could sell.

Darius was reminded of this as Alador begrudgingly gave him a tour of the factory floor and its expansive machinery. The place was cold, clinical, and with a hint of organised chaos, and lacked any and all of the originality and flair that Alador's work in school had once been full of. It disgusted Darius to see such a creative talent be reduced to something so derivative and dull… to him, Abominations were a creative endeavour; a living art form! Alador had thought the same too, before Odalia got her hooks into him.

These memories had Darius in a foul mood, and made him hyper-focused on sabotaging the place as effectively as possible. He knew how all the machines worked, having helped design some of them for the Abomination Coven, and knew just how to disable them without it being too obvious and easy to repair. There was no way to permanently destroy them without blowing the place to kingdom come, but it would still take weeks for the factory to be up and running again once the sabotage was discovered, which wouldn't be until after the Ball was over. He silently had Steve and his fellow defector perform the sabotages while Darius himself kept Alador distracted, making sure he himself couldn't be blamed for the sabotage, since Alador never took his eyes off him long enough.

Finally, Alador showed Darius to the ten Abomaton Mk II's that he and his team had built.

"And these are the items we'll be showcasing tonight. The Abomaton Mk II, a fully self-powered and autonomous abomination soldier capable of handling any normal witch with ease. Even powerful witches would struggle to match one of these, and in teams of two or three, they are virtually unstoppable!" Alador bragged. "Feel free to inspect them; once the Sentinel sees them, she'll snap them up in an instant!"

If the Sentinel had been the real one, Darius expected Alador would have been correct! Amity's warning about these new creations hadn't been exaggerated! They were a major threat and needed to be dealt with!

Darius began to look them over for signs of weaknesses or flaws, but found them to be solidly built. Alador hadn't cut any corners; the slime was a non-Newtonian fluid that was soft at rest, but hardened under force to make the abomination sturdier, and the enchantments woven into the brass armour allowed the Abomaton to create that force within itself, which allowed it to freely soften and harden itself to take on new forms as needed. To Darius' immense annoyance, the basis of this enchantment was his own Abomination Transformation Spell, which allowed him to turn himself into an abomination at will. He and Alador had developed it together at school, but while Alador had never mastered how to do it to himself, Darius had never managed to cast it on things other than himself or objects in direct contact with him, like his clothing.

"I see you're using some of our old work together…" Darius muttered, feeling both anger and sadness in his chest.

Alador nodded; "I figured I had the right to. I developed half of it after all, and only used the half I made in the Abomatons." he said, his own voice tinged with nostalgic fondness and sombreness. He then added; "Imagine what these things would be if we combined our efforts. A Mk III would be even more unstoppable."

Darius shook his head; "I've no interest in mass-producing weapons, nor helping Odalia with her schemes." he replied shortly.

The Blight Patriarch felt his hackles rise, but forced them back down; "I admit… I've been having my doubts about this. I enjoy creating things, but unless I'm designing something new, I feel like it's all just… work. Odalia hasn't been helping either, with the way she's been handling the kids. Not that I'm much better… I can barely connect to Amity, let alone Edric and Emira…"

"Why are you telling me this?" Darius asked, "I'm not a councillor and we're not friends."

The "Any more" went unsaid.

Alador shrugged; "I don't know. I'm only conscious thanks to an obscene amount of coffee, so maybe I'm just too tired to care about boundaries. Besides, other than Odalia, you're the closest thing to a friend I have… even if you're a snob."

Darius smirked despite himself; "And you're a hack… though a talented one who is wasted on that harridan."

Alador's eyes widened, and Darius blushed faintly, turning his back on the man; "But enough of that; I believe I'm satisfied with what I've seen. I don't suppose you'll tell me what these power cores are made of?" he asked.

"Trade secret. No one but me knows; I handle their creation personally." Alador replied, suddenly feeling a little awkward.

Darius nodded as he hid a scowl. The only obvious weakness he could spot was these power cores, and without knowing what they were made of or how, it was too dangerous to sabotage them. He looked to Steve and the other scout defector out of the corner of his eye and both subtly nodded to him, showing that they'd completed their tasks. Just about every machine on the factory floor was now sabotaged and would shut down shortly after they were activated.

"I don't suppose I'd be allowed to look at the blueprints? Out of professional curiosity and to ensure my inspection missed nothing?" Darius asked.

Naturally, Alador refused; "No one but myself and Amity is allowed in my lab, and the blueprints never leave it. I believe this inspection is over."

Darius didn't argue and instead gestured for Alador to lead the way back off the factory floor. As they were leaving, Odalia suddenly came marching into with a wide smile on her face.

"Alador dear, I've discovered something wonderful! A way to really get ourselves in good with the Emperor!" she said excitedly; "We'll need your Abomatons; all ten of them! I've got quite the show planned."

"You're changing the show? This is a bit last minute, Odalia!" Alador frowned.

"Trust me, it'll be worth it." she said, before noticing Darius and the scouts listening. She gave them a devious smile and said; "Apologies Gentlemen, but this is a private conversation. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise! I'm sure you can find your own way back to the Ball."

Darius sniffed haughtily and agreed, beginning to leave with his escorts. The instant Alador and Odalia were distracted however, he transformed one of his pinky fingers into abomination slime and formed it into a tiny abomination, which he sent slithering through the shadows to Alador's lab. Once it was inside, Darius would be able to see anything he wished inside it, including the blueprints and the potential weakness of the Abomatons!

He left the factory floor and returned to the Ball, where he smirked upon seeing Luz and Amity dancing together, completely lost in the moment. After checking in with Lilith and the other defected scout, the Head Witch found his way to the closest wine glass and took a much needed drink while Steve went to inform Lilith of their success.

A few minutes later, an abomination wandered onto the stage and whispered to the head of the band, who promptly finished up their final song before vacating the stage. Amity and Luz ended their last dance, a tad disappointed it was over but glad to have enjoyed the experience all the same. Luz then looked around, noticing Darius who nodded to let her know the sabotage was mostly complete. That brought a smile to her face, though a chill went up her spine when Odalia appeared on stage with a sinister gleam to her eyes and a cold smile on her face.

"Good evening, everyone! I trust you have all been enjoying the Blight Ball this evening?"

Many of the guests raised their glasses in acknowledgement, making Odalia smile a bit wider. "Wonderful! Then allow me to begin the main event for the evening; the showcase of Blight Industries newest and greatest creations! Introducing… the Abomaton Mk II!"

Odalia stepped to the side and Alador appeared on stage with five Abomaton Mk II's being him. The guests clapped and cheered, impressed by the imposing looking golems. However Alador looked notably serious and alert, and both Luz and Amity began to feel nervous when his eyes landed on the two of them and narrowed slightly. Luz had the feeling he wasn't very happy with her… maybe he'd noticed all their flirting and was being a protective father?

"For those who witnessed our last showcase, you saw the flaws with our Abomaton Mk I. Well my husband has pulled out all the stops to remove those flaws and make an unstoppable soldier! It's bigger, it's better, and it won't rest until its enemy is rendered… neutralised." Odalia said, gesturing grandly as each of the five Abomatons flexed and transformed their hands into different weapons.

The crowd applauded, clearly entertained, and Luz clapped along too to maintain her cover. But then Odalia looked at her and said; "Now, please allow me to invite on stage the Emperor's Coven's very own Silver Sentinel!"

Luz gulped, and created illusory words that said; "What are you playing at, Madam Blight?"

"No games, Lady Sentinel. I simply wish for you to examine them closely for yourself. Perhaps even attempt to destroy one, just to show off its defensive capabilities before we get to the offensive ones." Odalia explained.

Luz was on guard, but decided to accept. So long as she didn't use her signature light magic or let her glyphs become visible, she shouldn't be exposed! With a brief squeeze of Amity's hand, Luz stepped up onto the stage and faced down one of the five Abomatons, which stepped forward to serve as her target. The other four stood in a line with Odalia and Alador, the former smiling and gesturing to her; "Please go right ahead. Use any magic you wish to attack it. I swear it won't attack back."

Still on guard, Luz drew a spell circle that created a blast of fire directly at the Abomaton's head. Its head was blasted off, then almost immediately regenerated to the applause of the crowd. Luz then drew another spell circle, this one covering her hand in icy magic. She brought her hand down to the ground then swiped it forward, causing a wave of razor sharp icicles to fly at the Abomaton and impale it. Some passed right through and the holes they left were swiftly regenerated, while others shattered against the Abomaton's armour, which hardened in response to her spell. The crowd applauded once again, and Odalia began to explain the Abomaton's defensive features as Luz wailed on it with various spells. As she worked, Luz began to feel like she could probably destroy it if she went all out, but it would definitely be a lot more effort then it should be!

Then the Abomaton's core began to glow and it created a pink barrier around itself, which none of Luz's spells could get through, to her annoyance. Thankfully the Abomaton also couldn't attack through the barrier, so at least that meant it wouldn't be able to fight back.

Odalia led the audience in clapping once again, then said; "The Mk II's barrier is not just effective as a defensive mechanism either! When used in teams of at least two, they become very effective prisons too! Allow us to demonstrate."

She snapped her fingers and before Luz could act, a sixth Abomaton descended from the rafters behind her. It's arms shot out and wrapped around her, binding her arms to her sides with purple slime while the four Abomatons on standby pointed their weapons at her and the one Luz had been fighting deactivated its barrier and created a second one that covered the entire stage, cutting Luz and the adult Blights off completely from the rest of the party. Luz, unable to speak without breaking her cover but also unable to cast her illusory messages with her hands sealed in gunk, was forced to just wriggle and glare at Odalia, who smiled like the cat that got the cream. Lilith, Steve, and the other two scout defectors drew spell circles, ready to attack.

"What is the meaning of this, Blight!? Release the Silver Sentinel immediately!" Lilith demanded.

"Oh, I would Miss Scout but you see…" Odalia walked over to Luz and pulled down her hood, then roughly yanked off her mask, revealing her true face to all the guests. Everyone gasped, immediately recognising Luz for who she was. Odalia's smile grew wider; "… but the Silver Sentinel isn't actually here."

Alador snapped his fingers and the remaining four Abomatons he'd created suddenly descended from the rafters too, each one landing behind one of the four fake scouts. Steve and his two defector comrades were promptly bound in Abomination slime as well, trapping them before the Abomatons then sealed them inside barriers too. Lilith was able to avoid it by conjuring a barrier around herself the instant the Abomaton landed behind her, not even bothering to turn around.

Seeing as the jig was now up, Lilith threw off her disguise, shocking everyone other than her fellow conspirators and then summoned Corvanc and slammed the end of her staff into the ground, creating a shock wave that blasted the Abomaton away from her. It hit the wall hard enough to splatter, forcing it to take a moment to put itself back together, during which Lilith yelled to the rest of the guests.

"Unless you want to be dragged into a fight, get out of here!" she demanded. She then blasted away a good chunk of the front doors and the wall surrounding it, which caused most of the guests to run screaming from the party. The only ones who remained were the Blights, the CATTs, Severin Cadence, and the Alembics.

Darius, who's true allegiance wasn't known to the Blights, walked over to Severin and the Alembics and said; "I think this is Coven Business now. You should leave and take your children with you."

Severin immediately agreed, using the excuse to take Skara and go; he didn't want to fight his daughter's friend after all. Callisto Alembic pouted and looked ready to argue, but her partner Morel and daughter Boscha both dragged her off, the latter using the excuse that she wants to hang out with Skara still. Skara also looked ready to protest, but the best way she could help now was to get her father away from the fight so the others didn't have another powerful opponent to deal with, so she reluctantly left with Severin. Once they were gone, Darius turned to face the Blights.

"I trust you can tidy up this issue without my help?" he said, feigning boredom.

Odalia smirked; "Naturally. Since the scouts and Sentinel were nothing but fakes, you can confirm to the real ones that our inventions captured the angel and these traitors!"

"And what of Lilith?" Darius pointed out, as the woman was still free.

Lilith answered by shooting a blast of magic energy at him. It wasn't powerful; just enough to singe his clothes and the skin beneath while sending him into a nearby wall. Darius grunted in pain as he slumped to the ground; he knew it was for the sake of his cover, but it still hurt!

"Stay down, Deamonne. You're no match for me." Lilith said coldly.

Darius groaned and pretended to pass out from his injuries, causing his body to melt into a puddle of abomination slime. Luz and the Blight Kids had never seen him do that before, so their expressions of shock were genuine. However Amity, Edric, and Emira soon turned from shock to anger as they turned to face their parents.

"Let Luz go!" Amity demanded, preparing spell circles.

Alador's eyes widened in shock, while Odalia tutted; "Don't you see, Mittens? This isn't the real Silver Sentinel! She's nothing but your treacherous friend Luz. She's been stringing you along and playing with your heart all evening, just to sabotage our show and the deal with the Emperor's Coven!"

The Blight parents watched Amity's face carefully; Odalia wanted to see rage and betrayal, while Alador feared the heartbreak of his youngest child… however neither got what they expected. Instead, Amity glared at them both.

"I knew it was Luz the entire time! It was me who told her and the CATTs about the Ball! I helped them sneak in!" Amity admitted; "And as for stringing me along and playing with my heart… Luz can do whatever she wants with my heart, seeing as I've already given it to her!"

"W-What!?" her parents cried, Odalia with fury and Alador with shock.

"Luz is my girlfriend! She has been since Grom Night!" Amity revealed, "Now let her go!"

Alador went completely slack-jawed; his little girl had a girlfriend… and he hadn't known? She'd gone behind his back and not only joined the rebels, but was helping them sabotage his show!? Why!? Did she really hate him that much? Had his lax parenting made her resent him so intensely, or was it his lack of parenting at all? Meanwhile, Odalia was just seething.

"This brat has been nothing but a bad influence on you! Whatever corruption the Emperor says has infected her has clearly spread to you as well!" Odalia spat, more furious than Amity and the twins had ever seen her. "I am going to give you one chance, Amity Blight; stop this foolishness and obey, or I will force you! Your relationship with this angel is over; she will be handed over to the Emperor and you will once again do your duty to this family! Do I make myself clear!?"

Amity answered the only way Odalia deserved; by flinging a pink fireball at her head. It flashed harmlessly against the barrier Odalia was hiding behind, but the message was clear; Amity was Odalia's enemy.

Odalia narrowed her eyes; "Then we'll do this the hard way. Edric, Emira; apprehend your sister while the Abomaton deals with Lilith!"

The Abomaton Lilith had splattered earlier had reconstituted itself and was now marching towards Lilith, who stood ready to fight it with Corvanc. At the same time, Edric and Emira summoned their Palismen in staff mode and began approaching Amity, only to stand beside her and point their staves at their mother.

"We'll pass, thanks. Amity is our baby sister; we've learned from our past mistakes and we'll never hurt her again!" Edric declared.

"That's right. Ed and I are part of the CATTs to! Oh, and so you know, I have a girlfriend too! Viney Leonis!" Emira said proudly.

Odalia was apoplectic; all three of her children were in open rebellion! Not only that, but now Emira had also gotten herself a girlfriend too, and one that Odalia had never heard of, which obviously meant she was unworthy of courting a Blight in Odalia's mind.

"Alador! Say something! Bring your children to heel!" she demanded. However Alador could do nothing but stare in heartbroken silence at his children, unified against him. He was mentally shutting down, overcome with despair. Odalia growled at the sight; fine, she'd deal with this herself.

She pulled a small remote control out of her pocket and pressed some buttons, causing the barrier around the stage to momentarily go down so that the four extra Abomatons that were pointing their weapons at Luz could march towards the Blight children and Lilith, who was already facing down an Abomaton of her own. The barrier then went up again, keeping Odalia and Alador safe with Luz as their hostage.

"Abomatons, seize them! Be as rough as necessary, but don't kill them." Odalia ordered coldly.

The Abomatons' eyes flashed, and they suddenly rushed at Lilith and the Blight children. It was 5 VS 4, with one Abomaton to each of the teens and two facing down Lilith. Immediately, they were at a terrible disadvantage; the two Abomatons facing Lilith each transformed one hand into a magic laser cannon that blasted out a green stream of energy, which Lilith was forced to block with a barrier. She had to continuously feed magic into it to keep the barrier from breaking, and she couldn't drop it, move, or return fire as the Abomatons weren't stopping their spell! In fact, they began to take turns blasting her; one maintaining a stream of magic while the other recharged, then switching places in such a way that Lilith didn't have a window to act.

The teens weren't having it any easier either. Edric had to rely entirely on illusions, wind, and ice magic, none of which did much to stop the powerful Abomaton, especially since they were so heavy that they required a lot of wind power to move them, which drained a lot of magic. He was also still inexperienced with ice magic, and attempting to freeze the Abomaton failed miserably as it would simply melt again, as transitioning between solid and liquid states was already a built-in function of the Abomaton. He'd even tried to summon Batric, his pet Muddle Bat that he caught up on the Knee, but the little guy's poison didn't work on abominations and it was too small and weak to be more than a brief distraction.

Emira was in a similar boat, though she had the additional benefit of some healing magic, which she was using repeatedly to keep herself and Edric from being too banged up. The Abomatons weren't being gentle; they were using primarily blunt weapons and low powered magical blasts, and they were beginning to leave bruises and minor burns on the twins, and Emira was slowly draining her magic reserves to keep them fighting (or more accurately, running around and dodging).

Amity had it a tiny bit easier as she could summon her own abominations to fight back, as well as use abomination slime to make weapons and barriers to counter the Abomaton's own weaponry. She also had her fire magic, ice magic, and even a bit of earth and darkness magic that she'd been learning to further her skill with abominations. It made her fight the only one that was even close to a fair one.

The Abomaton began by turning both its arms into long tendrils and trying to bind her. Amity countered by using her abomination magic to briefly take control of the arms and deflect them away from her, before the Abomaton's power core reasserted its own control over the slime to overpower her. However by that point, Amity was able to draw a pair of spell circles and use earth magic to force two pillars of earth to shoot up out of the ground, so when the tendril arms came swinging back at her, she was able to summon a pair of her own abominations and have them catch the tendrils and run around the pillars, tying the Abomaton's arms up. Amity then finished the combo by using a combination of ice and abomination magic to transform her abominations into large blocks of ice (which looked more like opaque purple crystal) that further bound the Abomaton's arms.

Unable to melt Amity's abomination slime like it could its own, the Abomaton was instead forced to rip off its arms, though it used its power core to regenerate new ones. Amity growled and immediately tried throwing a trio of pink fireballs at the Abomaton while summoning Ghost into her other hand and spinning her staff to create a large spell circle that spewed a stream of pink flames. The fireballs struck the Abomaton's head and core, the latter doing nothing and the former melting its head, though it was quickly regenerated, while the stream of flames began rapidly heating the brass armour that the Abomaton wore, with Amity hoping it would melt so she could cool it again and leave it misshapen, impairing the Abomaton's movements. Her plan failed however, as the Abomaton's brass armour simply grew hotter and hotter but showed no signs of melting. The metal had incorporated abomination slime into the forging process, which was the secret to its shape-memory abilities. This also meant that the armour was able to maintain its shape even when melted to liquid form, just like the rest of the abomination… in fact, Amity heating it up so much only made the fight harder for her, as now she couldn't get close to the red hot metal without cooling it down first.

The slimy golem retaliated by transforming one of its hands into a large wrecking ball on a chain and swinging it at Amity, forcing her to fly up into the air on Ghost. As soon as Amity was airborne, the Abomaton turned its other arm into a laser cannon and began firing shots of green magic at her, aiming primarily for her Palisman and extremities, since it had been ordered not to kill the girl. Amity practically danced through the air to avoid the blasts, then flew directly above the Abomaton and drew a spell circle on the ceiling of the factory. This spell used earth magic to control the brick and stone of the ceiling above the Abomaton and make it slam down onto its head in the form of a massive stalagmite. It pierced through it's body and struck the power core, making Amity think she'd finally destroyed the creature as its body was split in half and splattered. However, when the dust cleared she saw that the Power Core was still intact, having been protected by a thin barrier of magic that coated it.

Amity cursed and tried to freeze the Power Core before the Abomaton could regenerate, but the Core produced green flames around itself to melt the ice, then created a vortex that sucked in the splattered slime and reformed its Abomaton body, returning it to prime condition. It immediately slammed its hands together and transformed them both into a single massive cannon, and Amity immediately flew to the ground and put up a barrier spell to protect herself from what she assumed would be a powerful blast. However instead of a beam of magic, a web of abomination slime was shot at her and wrapped around her barrier, binding it in its sticky slime. The youngest blight was sure that if she just dropped the barrier, the web of slime would fall on her and bind her, so she instead used ice magic to coat the inside of the barrier and create a dome of frost, allowing her to release the barrier without getting stuck in the web. Once she didn't need her hands to keep the barrier up, Amity placed both hands on Ghost's staff and twirled around, using the Palisman to draw the largest spell circle she could within the dome of frost, then slamming the end of her staff down in the dead centre of the circle.

The result was a monstrous pillar of pure pink light, which tore through both the ice dome and vaporised the sticky web (while also blasting a massive hole in the ceiling). This wasn't like Amity's previous Pseudo-Light spell that used hyper-focused fire however; this was a genuine light spell just like Luz's. Ever since unveiling the pseudo version in the fight with Grom, Amity had been trying to perfect true light magic in secret, as a surprise for Luz, and to her own shock, she found she actually had quite an affinity for it! Once Amity had worked out the trick (which was aligning her magic with positive energy rather than the negative energy that she used for abomination magic), she was able to create light beams and bolts just like Luz herself could! She'd even begin figuring out how to make light swords, showing a higher aptitude for light magic than she did darkness magic, despite the latter being a component of her preferred abomination magic.

Seeing the pillar of light shocked everyone, but Luz grinned widely and yelled; "You go, Amity! Kick that slime ball's butt!"

Amity smiled and replied; "I will! Hold tight Luz, I'll save you, I swear!"

The youngest Blight then conjured a trio of abominations and sent them at the Abomaton while she created a pink light sword and followed behind them, using the abominations like shields. The Abomaton fired another giant web at her, but her creations got in the way and ended up stuck together. Amity hardened her creations so she could climb up and over them, then split the Abomaton down the middle with a swing of her light sword. This exposed the Power Core once again, and Amity was able to slash at it a few times, though her light magic still couldn't pierce its barrier. She even abandoned the sword and blasted it point blank with a powerful blast of light, but it failed to so much as scratch the orb.

"Dang it! Let's see how you like this then!" Amity growled, channelling light magic through Ghost and coating the Palisman itself in a layer of light magic that turned her from a staff into a spear. Amity then used earth magic to launch herself into the air with a pillar of rock, then threw Ghost at the Abomaton's core, using abomination magic to coat her arm and increase her throwing strength, and a combination of light and fire magic to propel the spear even faster. It struck the Power Core with enough force to actually crack the barrier, but the Power Core released a pulse of magic that sent Ghost flying and sent Amity tumbling to the ground.

Poor Ghost managed to land on her feet in cat mode, but as soon as she'd landed, the Abomaton reformed and fired another net at her. The net then morphed into a cat carrier, trapping Ghost inside.

"Haven't you had enough yet, Amity?" Odalia scolded; "You can barely keep up even with your Palisman; you're hopeless without it!"

"I'm not done yet!" Amity spat, reaching into her dress and pulling out her Oracle Stone. She summoned her own Oracle Spirit and sent it towards Ghost, while Amity herself ran for cover behind her bound abominations. Amity then cast a spell that morphed her three trapped creations into a single giant, misshapen mass of limbs, which threaded some of its legs through the holes in the Abomaton's slime net so it could stand and charge at the Abomaton. The Abomaton fired green magic blasts at it, and Amity's creation took a lot of damage before it finally reached the Abomaton and engulfed it. Amity then snapped her fingers and detonated her slime, creating a sizeable explosion that blew the Abomaton to smithereens.

Luz cheered loudly for her girlfriend, before gasping as she saw that the Power Core was still intact! It's barrier was damaged, but it quickly restored it and began to regenerate its slime body and reconstruct its shredded armour. Amity grimaced, but turned her attention to Ghost and her Oracle Spirit. The Spirit had phased its hands through the cage to touch Ghost, and as a Palisman, Ghost was able to sync with her partner's Oracle Magic to become intangible when the Spirit touching her did so too, allowing the Spirit to pull Ghost from the cage, transform her into staff mode, and return her to Amity just in time to conjure a barrier as the reformed Abomaton turned its arms into a pair of blunt mallets and swung them at her.

"Futile. No matter how hard you fight, you can't defeat Blight Industries new Abomaton! Just give up Amity; it'll be much less painful for you." Odalia smiled smugly.

Luz glared at the woman as if she was trying to burn holes through the woman's head with her eyes. She then looked to Alador, who had gone dangerously pale and looked ready to throw up. Seeing this, Luz shouted at him.

"Alador! Your wife is one thing, but I thought you of all people were better than this! Are you really going to side with the Emperor against your own kids!? Are you going to let your wife and creations hurt them!?" she cried.

Alador flinched, forcing himself to look at the fight going on. Edric and Emira were riding on Orthrus now, forced to rely on his strength and barriers to defend against two Abomatons, while both looked beaten and bruised from the fight. Amity was struggling too, but refusing to back down even as she got more and more exhausted.

"I-I…!" Alador tried to speak, but couldn't get the words out.

Odalia rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, making the Abomaton binding Luz cover her mouth to stop her yelling; "You don't need to worry about a thing, Alador. I'm doing this for the family."

"T-The family… this is for the good of the family… right?" Alador whispered to himself.

Meanwhile, Amity really was beginning to tire; she was relying on her Oracle Spirit to pull her out of danger as her movements grew more sluggish; her muscles burning from running around and avoiding the Abomaton's attacks. She desperately wanted a break, but couldn't give up or retreat with Luz's life and freedom on the line.

"Think Amity! There has to be a way to break the core!" she muttered to herself.

"There is a way." said a voice on her shoulder.

Amity almost shrieked in surprise, recognising the voice as Darius'. He immediately spoke again; "Don't let on that I'm talking to you. I'm speaking through the slime I used to make your dress. I've discovered a weakness in the Abomaton's Power Core."

While Darius had melted into slime after pretending to be knocked out by Lilith, he had allowed his mind to transfer to the small piece of himself that he'd had slip into Alador's lab. There he had successfully found the blueprints for the Abomaton and knew just how its core worked!

"The Abomaton's Power Core is a crystallised mass of specially prepared abomination slime, that has got a shard of Titan Bone embedded at the very centre. That's what provides the magic. The rest of the slime core is basically a smaller abomination inside the main Abomaton, functioning as its brain. Sufficiently powerful abomination magic can disrupt the core long enough that you might be able to destroy the Titan Bone, but you'll need to find a way through the barrier." Darius explained.

Amity's eyes widened, before a grin split her face; abomination magic and a form of magic that could slip through a barrier… Amity had access to both!

"I'm taking this thing down!" Amity declared, focusing hard. Her eyes began to glow pink as she pushed her magic as hard as it would go, then drew a pink spell circle with Ghost. She reached out through the circle and gripped the Abomaton's core with abomination magic, surrounding it in a pink aura and causing the barrier around it to fluctuate. Amity then used her free hand to grab her Oracle Stone to order her Spirit to attack, passing through the fluctuating barrier. She'd tried this tactic before, but Alador had accounted for Oracles when tuning the Core's barrier, so even an intangible spirit couldn't pass through… but now that the barrier was fluctuating, Amity's spirit could slip through the cracks.

With a loud shriek, the Oracle Spirit slipped straight into the core, and channelled Amity's only darkness spell into its hands. It became tangible again and tapped the Titan Bone at the centre of the core with its darkness covered hands, causing the bone to turn black and decay.

In an instant, the Power Core melted into inert sludge, and the rest of the Abomaton followed suit, becoming a harmless puddle on the ground. Amity was left panting, while Odalia was outraged and Alador shocked so badly that it snapped him out of his speechless state.

"She did it… Amity destroyed my Abomaton!" he gasped. The surprise hit him like a sledgehammer, as did the unmistakeable feeling of pride that suddenly filled his heart. 'My little girl… how strong have you become?'

Odalia turned to glare at her husband; "I thought you told me that the Abomaton was foolproof!"

"It was as foolproof as I could make it. The core was shielded against 95% of all Abomination magic." Alador said, not taking his eyes off of Amity.

"And why wasn't it 100%!?"

"Because then the core's own Abomination magic wouldn't be able to get out of the shielding to actually power the Abomaton! Weaving the enchantments and magic in such away that the core could efficiently control the body while offering the maximum protection was extraordinarily difficult! Only a witch of incredible strength could force enough magic through to disrupt the core!" Alador retorted.

"I told you to ensure Amity wasn't able to repeat the stunt she pulled at our last showcase!" Odalia seethed

"And even with the core disrupted, she wouldn't have been able to if she didn't have that Oracle Spirit, something she only had because you forced her to multi-track against her will!"

Odalia's blood began to boil, and as she and her husband yelled at one another, Amity took the opportunity to attack the Abomatons fighting her siblings. She quickly repeated her winning tactic on the closest one while the other was kept busy by Orthrus, then once she'd destroyed her second Abomaton, she swiftly followed it up with a third.

"Emira, heal yourself and Edric! Orthrus, please help me save Lilith!" Amity said. The twins nodded and hopped off Orthrus, who then pounced on one of the Abomatons keeping Lilith trapped, while Amity attacked and destroyed the other. The destruction of her fourth Abomaton in the space of about five minutes left Amity feeling even more exhausted, and she stumbled as she moved towards the fifth. Disrupting the Abomaton cores required a lot of magic, and Amity had already used a lot during her fight with the first one, and now that drain was catching up to her.

The fifth Abomaton grabbed Orthrus by the tail and swung him around before slamming him into the ground, making him yelp and dazing him. With Orthrus out of the way, the Abomaton then pointed its arm at Amity, turning its hand into a magic cannon with the intent of blasting her into unconsciousness. Amity tried to force herself back to her feet to avoid it, but she once again stumbled, so she closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself for impact. However, the blast never came and Amity opened her eyes again to see that Lilith, now able to leave her barrier without being barbecued by green flames, had used her own abomination magic to disrupt the Abomaton's core.

"I won't let you lay a single rotten finger on her!" Lilith snarled; "I failed to protect a girl who was important to me once… I won't make the same mistake twice!"

She intensified her magic, disrupting not just the core but the entire Abomaton, making its body begin to melt even as it tried to maintain its shape. Amity gasped at Lilith's strength and felt touched by her words. Despite the animosity she still felt for Lilith turning in Luz, Amity couldn't deny that a part of her felt warm and fuzzy that Lilith still cared about her, even with the hard time the girl had been giving her.

Shaking that thought off for the moment, Amity ordered her Oracle Spirit to destroy the Abomaton's core, taking out the Abomaton entirely and marking the destruction of half the completed Mk II's. Lilith then helped Amity to her feet while the twins carefully examined Orthrus, who was thankfully only stunned.

"Are you alright, Amity?" Lilith asked gently.

"I am. Thank you, Lilith. I owe you one." Amity replied.

Lilith shook her head; "No, I still haven't come close to repaying my debt to you and the others. Allow me to help a little more." she said, reaching into her hair and pulling out a bottle of pearlescent Bile Booster, the powerful Elixir made with Luz's feather on the day Lilith made one of her biggest mistakes. "Drink this. It'll boost your bile production and restore your magic rapidly. You're low enough now that it shouldn't cause an overload."

Amity gratefully took a sip of the potion and immediately felt her heart pumping faster as her bile sac replenished itself and her magic. Feeling refreshed, she handed the rest of the potion to Edric and Emira, who each gulped down half of what remained, restoring all three Blight siblings to their full strength. Emira had already healed herself and Edric, and cast a cursory healing spell over both Lilith and Amity to make sure both were in peak condition, then all four of them gripped their staves and pointed them at Odalia and Alador, who were still bickering behind a barrier.

"Give up and free Luz, Blights! And the others too!" Lilith demanded. "We know the secret to your weapons now; they are no match for us!"

Odalia growled; she was tempted to order the other five Abomatons to try and overwhelm Amity and Lilith, but doing so would require them to release Luz and the three fake scouts and there was no way she was doing that!

Instead she glared at her husband; "We'll have to deal with them ourselves. You deal with the twins, since your creations are obviously useless against Amity. I will deal with Lilith and our Dear Mittens!" Odalia ordered.

Alador just blinked owlishly as Odalia used her remote to momentarily lower the Abomaton's barrier, then dragged him off the stage before raising it again. She then shoved him towards the twins, who glared at him.

"Odalia, you can't be serious!" Alador protested; "This is going too far!"

"Just do as your told, Alador! This is for the sake of the family!" Odalia snapped, turning to face Amity and Lilith.

Amity and Lilith were completely unfazed; there was no way Odalia stood a chance against them, while the twins were a lot more on guard with their father, actually pointing their staves at him. The sight of his own children ready to fight him felt like a knife in Alador's heart.

"Edric, Emira! You can't truly believe I'd fight you!" he exclaimed.

"And why not?" Edric scowled.

"You stood back and did nothing while Mom sicked your monsters on us!" Emira added with a glare.

"And it's not like we're close… or as important to you as your work!" Edric continued.

"So why wouldn't we think you'd again choose it and Mom over us!?" Emira finished.

Alador recoiled, their every word like a fresh blade in his chest. He desperately wanted to deny it, but he couldn't; every word they'd said had been true. He'd been an awful father, and barely knew his kids at all! He didn't know what foods and colours Edric and Emira liked, or their hobbies and interests, or even their friends! He hadn't even known Emira liked girls, or that Edric had a pet Muddle Bat! He knew even less about his twins than he did Amity, and even that was barely anything beyond her skills as an Abominations Witch.

"Y-You really believe I'd hurt you…" Alador whispered in disbelief.

His twins refused to look him in the eye, yet their staves never wavered. Odalia scowled at her husband yet again.

"Alador, they are just in a rebellious phase. We're doing this for their own good, so just-"

"MY CHILDREN BELIEVE I WILL HURT THEM!" Alador suddenly roared, the rage and misery coming off him in waves. The booming voice of the usually lethargic, soft-spoken man was enough to make everyone in the room flinch and stare at him, wide-eyed. He marched towards Odalia, his face like thunder; "My children… our children. How can hurting them, fighting them, setting my inventions on them… how can any of this be for their own good!?"

"We're trying to build a better life for them! This contract with the Emperor's Coven will bring our family wealth and prosperity! We'll live like royalty in the world the Emperor builds with our inventions!" Odalia defended.

"We already have wealth! We have prosperity! What we don't have is a relationship with our own children! Neither of us knew our daughters were in relationships! I barely know a thing about the twins and they are my own flesh and blood!" Alador yelled, almost in tears; "This has gone too far, Odalia. I refuse to let it go further."

He snatched the remote control for the Abomatons from Odalia, then began deactivating his Abomatons one after the other. He managed to free Steve and his fellow scouts, but before he could free Luz, Odalia snarled and sent her Oracle Spirit at her husband, snatching the remote back. She then immediately reactivated the three Abomatons that had held the scouts and sent them at Alador while she once again retreated into the same barrier that Luz was being held behind.

Alador glared coldly at his wife as he effortlessly disrupted the cores of two Abomatons at once, and Lilith supported him by disrupting the third, allowing Amity to use her own Oracle Spirit to destroy them, reducing the number of Abomatons to just two; the ones binding Luz and producing the barrier around Odalia.

"No! You're destroying our life's work!" Odalia screamed, "Don't you see this is for the family!? For the Blight name!? Need I remind you what became of my family and its name!? What I had to sacrifice to elevate the Blight name, YOUR name, to this level!?"

"This has never been about the family at all, has it Odalia?" Alador shot back; "This is about you and your pride. Your own family lost its noble title, and you've spent your whole life, and the lives of me and our children to get it back!"

"We've never been anything but tools to you, right Odalia!?" Amity yelled, no longer calling the woman in front of her Mom. She'd seen what a real Mom is; they were people like Camila and Eda, people who loved their child and wanted what was best for them even if it wasn't what they wanted themselves. "I was never anything but your little doll; you dressed me up and pulled my strings like a puppet, and the moment I resisted you'd ground me, slap me, and take away any joy I had!"

"And you never even cared about us!" Emira yelled; "Edric and I tried everything to get your attention; we became the best we could be, but just like with Amity, it was never enough!"

"The only time you even acknowledged us were if you needed us for something, or we failed to meet your oh-so-important expectations!" Edric yelled too, "Do you even love us!? Or are we just props to you?"

Odalia listened as each member of her family screamed out their misery for the way she'd treated them, yet she felt not one iota of grief or guilt. She felt only wrath; how dare they defy her!? She was Odalia Blight! She WAS the Blight Family Name! They owed everything to her! Alador would have never amounted to anything but working with Darius, and Edric, Emira, and Amity owed their very existence to her! She made them! She owned them! They were hers!

"ENOUGH! I will not be spoken to like that by any of you! You would all be nothing without me! You will all cease this pointless rebellion and do as I say, or you will find yourself without a job or a home!" Odalia threatened; "I own Blight Industries; it is in my name and my name alone, as are all its patents! The house and all its contents are mine as well! I own the very clothes on your backs! I order you to obey!"

Alador and his children glared at the woman with such hatred that Luz and the others were sure they were trying to kill her with their eyes alone. In truth, they were in the same boat, but while they hated Odalia, their feelings were mere shadows of what the Blights felt.

The four of them briefly stopped their glaring to exchange looks, and in that moment a lot of silent emotions went between them. Alador's eyes were full of remorse for his neglectful parenting, and his children looked back with cautious acceptance, acknowledging their father's attempt to do what was right and giving him a chance to keep making it right. Then all four nodded as they came to a mutual decision regarding Odalia.

"We quit." they said together.

Odalia spluttered, having genuinely believed they would fall into line with her threat. For the briefest moment, she actually felt rather sad; Alador had been a good business partner and even a good husband, and she did still have some maternal feelings for her children… but she stuffed all that down behind her rage.

"Fine!" she spat, drawing her hidden knife from her sleeve; "You can go! Go and live in poverty, without so much as a roof over your head! You'll come crawling back! In the meantime, I have the blueprints, the last Abomatons, the factory, your team, and everything else I need to produce the Abomatons for the Emperor! And he'll definitely grant me the contract when I deliver him the angel!" she boasted, pointing the knife at Luz's throat just as she had during their first meeting.

Alador, the twins, and the scouts all paled, while Amity and Lilith seethed; "Last warning, Odalia; let Luz go! Or I'll destroy the factory!" Lilith threatened, Corvanc glowing with blue and silver magic. Little feathers were beginning to sprout from Lilith's neck; the first symptom of the curse that she'd experienced since sharing it with Eda and Raine.

Odalia scoffed; "You do that, and I'll make little Luz here pay for it. The Emperor wants her alive, but I'm sure he'll forgive me if I have to rough her up a little." she said, waving the knife in front of Luz's face threateningly.

Luz's friends and family flinched as the knife came very close to the girl's skin, but Luz herself just casually said; "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen."

Odalia sneered; "And what makes you think that, you little brat?"

Luz raised an eyebrow at her in response, and Odalia suddenly realised something; "Wait a moment… didn't I have your mouth bound? How did you free it?"

"Like this!" Luz grinned, before sticking her tongue out and shooting a beam of red light from the tip of it towards Odalia's knife. The knife's blade disintegrated and Odalia recoiled in shock, while Luz grinned wider.

"I forget I can do that sometimes. Shooting light beams from my tongue feels so weird! Fun fact, the first time I did it was the same day I met my awesome girlfriend! You know, the one that broke all your little toys?" Luz grinned. "And that's not all I can do! You might want to look down."

Odalia frowned and looked down just like Luz said, then paled at what she saw; a large symbol had been burned into the floor of the stage by Luz's light beams. The Arch-Angel had carefully carved it while Odalia and Alador were confronting their children.

"This symbol is the Wind Glyph!" Luz explained, "And since we're on a showcase stage, let me explain it in a way you'll understand; it makes cleaning up a breeze!"

With that, Luz stamped her foot onto the glyph, activating it. The wind glyph glowed with silvery grey light and produced gale force winds in a tornado above it, with Luz herself in the eye of the storm. This kept her safe while the Abomatons and Odalia were caught in the wind and ended up being swirled up in the tornado. Odalia screamed as she was whipped around by the wind, and screamed even more when the Abomatons ended up splattering against her too, creating a huge mass of purple goo with Odalia trapped in the middle. Splattering the Abomatons freed Luz from their binding and deactivated the barrier, and that in turn resulted in the tornado being able to expand outward a bit, resulting in Odalia and her gooey prison being blown straight out through the hole in the factory that Lilith had made earlier. She landed in the middle of the courtyard outside, and was thoroughly stuck, unable to escape the two twisted up Abomatons who were struggling to pull themselves apart after their bodies had been blended together. Odalia herself looked like she was ready to throw up from all the spinning, and her make up was smeared and smudged while her Concealment Stone had been blown straight off, revealing her shaved head and ever-so-slightly crooked nose from when Luz had broken it before.

Luz, now free, dusted off her hands as the wind dissipated and she stepped off the stage. "I warned you what would happen if you tried to hurt Amity again, you evil witch! An Angel always tells the truth!" she declared.

Amity giggled and ran to Luz, leaping into the girl's arms. The two girls laughed as Luz spun Amity around in her arms, before Amity did the same to Luz. Edric and Emira smiled at the scene, while Steve cheered with joy, and Lilith and the other two scouts went and kept an eye on the trapped Odalia, making sure she didn't try and pull anything. Alador just looked at his youngest daughter and felt a warmth in his chest; he had the urge to go and be a protective father, but he decided not to. Luz made Amity happy, and clearly treasured her… that was enough for Alador.

The fact she'd just given Odalia a taste of her own medicine also made him a lot warier about crossing the girl!

Once the girls had finished their display of affection and checked each other over, ensuring each was completely okay, they rejoined the others and the entire group stepped outside and surrounded Odalia. The woman was almost in tears of humiliation, especially as Luz pulled out her scroll and began to take pictures of her sorry state. Luz was soon joined by Amity, Edric, and Emira, who all smirked as they took the most embarrassing shots they could. This wasn't like Skara's party though; there would be no blackmail or threats this time! They would ensure everyone on the island saw these pictures AND the previous ones! Odalia had chosen to break her family, so her family would break the one thing she actually valued; her reputation!

Alador, who had once loved this woman, couldn't even muster the smallest amount of pity for her; Odalia had done this to herself, and he had only one thing to say.

"I'm leaving you, Odalia. And I'm taking my children." he said coldly.

Odalia glared at him with all the hate she had inside her; "Fine! You were nothing but a bad investment anyway! Now I can find myself a more competent business partner! One that doesn't come with ungrateful brats!" she then glared at the twins; "You were both disappointments from the start! Useless in any magic that's worth learning, and too lazy to push yourselves!"

Alador and the twins glared back, but felt nothing; they'd come to terms with the vile woman's feelings towards them and no longer cared. But then Odalia turned her vitriol on Amity; "And you! The greatest disappointment of them all! You had the potential to be something great, and you threw it all away for that pathetic half-a-witch and this…" she looked at Luz and tried to find the most offensive name she could call her, only to come with; "… disgusting feathery freak! Mark my words Amity, you'll end your life screaming as you're turned to stone, and I will watch with a smile!"

Amity was unmoved, but the same could not be said of Luz. The girl marched forward furiously, not even sure what she'd do when she got her hands on the vile woman, but she was beaten to the punch, or rather, the slap.

A loud crack of palm against cheek echoed through the evening air, and everyone blinked in surprise at Lilith, who had surged forward with a look of such fury and slapped Odalia across the face as hard as she could, leaving an angry red hand print on the woman's skin.

"How dare you!? Amity is worth more than you could ever dream of being! And both she and the twins deserve more than a hideously evil piece of scum like you as a mother!" Lilith snarled; "And if I ever hear you say such cruel things to them again… there isn't a force in any of the realms that could fix what I do to you!"

Whether it be the pain of the slap, the shock of it, or the threatening words that came with it, Odalia was silenced and did nothing but stare fearfully at the former Head of the Emperor's Coven. Lilith was so furious that more and more feathers were beginning to sprout from her neck and wrists, causing Luz to summon her satchel with a snap of her fingers and fish out a regular Elixir, which she handed to the woman.

"I think we're done here." Luz said coldly; "There's nothing left here that's worth anything."

She then took a final picture of Odalia's slapped face, before frowning as her scroll bleeped with a new message. It was from Eda.

"Okay, we really do need to leave now." she said; "Eda says that the real Silver Sentinel managed to give Raine and the others the slip, and has doubled back to help the Golden Guard. They're already in Bonesborough and will be here any minute."

"We need to get out of here then. Odalia will definitely rat us and Dad out as rebels." Edric said.

"Lilith, take the kids and scouts and get out of here; I'll stay and destroy the factory and the plans! Odalia can't be allowed to make more Abomatons!" Alador decided, willing to sacrifice himself for his children.

Naturally, since Amity and the others knew about the sabotage and the piece of Darius who'd broken into Alador's lab, they were quick to dissuade him; "Forget all that Dad; the Emperor's Coven will be here soon and we don't want you to be captured!" Amity said.

"B-But after all I've done…" Alador began, only for the twins to cut him off.

"You feel bad about it, right? Then make it up to us by coming with us!" Emira said.

"Yeah! You can't get to know us if you end up a prisoner or petrified!" Edric added.

Luz agreed; "Come with us and join the CATTs or at least take refuge with us. You don't want to make Amity, and the twins orphans now, do you?"

Alador certainly agreed with that, so with a small smile, he nodded; "Alright. Let's go then."

He summoned his Palisman Moustrosity (whom Luz immediately gushed over) and switched him to staff mode and took to the air. The others followed his lead, with Steve and the scouts hitching rides with Lilith and the Twins. They then flew away as fast as they can, Luz casting an illusion over them to make them invisible in case they flew past the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel.

Odalia watched them fly away, still trying to mentally register everything that had just happened. Without Alador, making new designs would be impossible for her! Still, she had his factory, plans, and team, so she'd be able to at least produce more Abomaton Mk II's! And with two still intact (if a little tangled up at the moment), she would still have something to showcase to the Emperor's Coven! Today had gone terribly, but Odalia would recover and adapt! It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to fix her children's screw-ups!

She began to once again struggle in the Abomaton goo, and ordered the two to get up and unravel themselves. It took five minutes for them to begin making any real progress on that front, and by that point, the Golden Guard and real Silver Sentinel arrived, descending from the sky on their staves.

"Well, it seems we've missed quite the party." the Golden Guard said, looking a little rough after being chased around by the Owl Lady and her two bardic companions.

"Ah, Golden Guard! Wonderful to see you! I apologise for the sorry state you've found us in." Odalia said, putting on her best kiss-up act; "We've had quite the issue this evening."

"So I can see. Considering my partner and I were attacked by the Owl Lady, who seemed rather keen to keep us out of Bonesborough, I'm assuming you also ran afoul of the rebels?" the Guard replied.

Odalia, managing to pull herself upright (though her legs were still encased in gunk), nodded; "Indeed. It shames me to say this but my own children betrayed me. They smuggled the Angel into the party disguised as you, Silver Sentinel. She'd also brought some fake Coven Scouts, including Lilith Clawthorne, with the intent of sabotaging the show. They largely succeeded and destroyed most of my Abomatons, as well as convincing my soon-to-be Ex-Husband to rebel. However I chased them off, and managed to save the factory itself and two of my Abomatons!"

The two elites exchanged looks, and even with their masks, it was clear neither truly believed Odalia. They also looked very unimpressed with the two mangled Abomatons, who were still slowly pulling themselves apart.

"So the Angel has turned 4/5ths of the Blight Family against the Emperor… this is a problem. However, if they attacked the factory to stop the showcase, they must have been worried about these inventions. We will have to examine them once they are…" the Golden Guard looked at the two mangled monsters; "…presentable. If they are decent, I'm sure a contract can be agreed upon. We'll place bounties on the rest of the Blight family too."

"Good." Odalia smirked viciously; "Make sure Alador and Amity have particularly high ones; Alador could make weapons for the rebels after all."

"And what of the girl?" the Golden Guard asked.

"She's the Angel's girlfriend." Odalia answered.

The Golden Guard hummed and stroked the chin of his mask; "Interesting. We can use that information… but for now, I have questions. Where is Darius? He was meant to be here too."

"I'm here."

The Emperor's Elites (plus Odalia), turned to the entrance of the factory and saw Darius walking towards them, a hole in his shirt and a burn on his chest from Lilith's magic. He was pretending to be more injured than he was as he limped towards them all.

"I was blind-sided by Lilith and knocked out." he muttered darkly.

"You were beaten that easily?" the Silver Sentinel signed.

Darius scowled at her; "I'd had a few drinks to get me through this frankly painful party. I wasn't at my best."

"What about Severin Cadence? He'll be a Head Witch himself soon; did he not stay and fight?" The Guard asked.

Odalia shook her head; "He'd brought his daughter along, so he left to evacuate her before the fight could begin."

The two elites exchanged looks once more, before nodding in understanding; "We have some work to do this evening then. Head Witch Darius, you should go and get healed up. You can report what happened tomorrow. We'll handle the clean up here." the Guard said.

Darius nodded stiffly and began to walk away; "As you please, Little Prince. Do have fun playing with Alador's cast-offs."

With that, he marched away, leaving Odalia unsure if he'd meant the Abomatons or her.

[Meanwhile]

It was almost midnight by the time Luz and the group from the Ball made it back to the Owl House, where they were immediately met by Eda, Raine, and the BATTs trio, as well as Rasiel and the Hexsquad members they'd left behind. Only King wasn't present, having fallen asleep and been put to bed hours ago.

"You're back!" Eda was the first to greet them, hugging Luz tightly; "How did it go?"

"Things didn't exactly go according to plan…" Luz chuckled nervously, pointing behind her to where Alador was stood awkwardly with his children. "We've got a heck of a story to tell you all!"

Eda frowned at Alador, but nodded and invited everyone inside the house. Once everyone was seated comfortably, Luz began to tell the others what happened. Alador chimed in too, explaining how Odalia had discovered Luz was an imposter and initially convinced him to help trap her by making him think Luz was just playing with Amity's heart. Steve had in turn told Alador about the sabotage they'd been doing on the tour, while Darius was distracting him. Then Amity had explained that Darius had spoken to her through her dress, informing her of the Abomaton's weakness after sneaking into Alador's lab and finding the blueprints.

That reveal shocked Alador even more; "So Darius is one of the rebels!? You convinced him to join you!?" he exclaimed, looking to Eda and Raine.

"Actually, he and Eberwolf had a rebellion of their own already in the works. We just combined them together. Now we are all the Covens Against the Throne aka The CATTs!" Raine said proudly.

Luz and Amity meowed playfully, making their friends chuckle, while Alador blinked owlishly. "I had no idea… so the factory will shut down as soon as Odalia tries to use the machines?"

"And Darius almost certainly stole or destroyed the plans. That means Odalia will have to replace everything and try to reverse engineer the two Abomatons she's got left!" Amity grinned.

"Something she'll never be able to do!" Alador grinned; "Thank goodness, I was worried there for a while…"

"As you should have been."

Everyone looked up to see Darius walking through Hooty's door, having walked all the way to the Owl House whilst the others were telling their story.

Lilith noted the burn on his chest and winced; "Are you alright, Darius? I apologise for being so rough, but it had to look real."

"I'm fine, Lilith. It looks worse than it is. Regardless of that, Odalia will be in trouble once the sabotage goes off. I also destroyed the blueprints, so the Emperor will not be getting any Abomatons any time soon. Though I suspect he'll assign me to try and reverse engineer them." Darius replied.

"Which you naturally won't do." Alador grinned; "Not that you could."

Darius snorted; "Don't get too uppity, you hack! I could make them better, if I cared to!"

"Okay, enough flirting." Eda rolled her eyes.

"WE ARE NOT FLIRTING!" Alador and Darius both yelled, faint blushes on their cheeks that had everyone else in the room grinning.

Before they could get any louder and risk waking King, Luz said; "Well it didn't go as planned, but we did what we set out to do, and now we have Alador on our side. Are you willing to work with us, Alador?"

The man frowned; "Honestly, I'm fairly neutral on the whole rebellion VS Emperor thing. I don't feel strongly one way or the other… but if my children are fighting with you, then I want to support them. I haven't done a good job of that so far, so let me start now."

Amity and the Twins beamed and hugged the man; "Thanks Dad!" Amity said, "I know how hard it is to stand up to Odalia."

"Amity's right." Emira said; "We really appreciate it. And we're sorry…"

"… for what we said at the factory." Edric finished.

Alador shook his head with a smile; "Don't apologise; you were both right. I've been a poor father to you all, but I'd like to start making amends for that. I'd like to get to know my children and be a real parent to you. Thank you all for giving me that chance!"

All four Blights had tears in their eyes as they once again smiled and hugged one another. Their little family was still damaged, but they had taken the first steps towards repairing it by cutting out the toxic influence and giving Alador a chance to make things right. The others let them have their moment, then Alador looked up from his children to their friends.

"All of you have been picking up my slack by being there for my kids; thank you all for that. To repay you, I'll do everything I can for the CATTs! I may not have my factory or plans, but I'm still good with abominations! I can help outfit your people with weapons, and support you with abomination soldiers!" he declared.

The others all smiled happily, while Raine said; "Thank you, Alador. With your help, the CATTs will be stronger than ever!"

Alador gave a nod of acknowledgement, then looked to Luz; "I owe a lot to you too, Miss Angel. I can see you've made my Mittens a very happy girl. Thank you, and please continue to take care of her."

Luz grinned; "Of course! I love her with all my heart!"

"Then you have my blessing. Is Miss Leonis here too?" Alador asked, looking around. It shamed him, but he didn't know the face of his eldest daughter's girlfriend.

Emira shook her head; "She's not, but you can meet her this weekend on Digale Island."

"I look forward to it." Alador said, wondering what Digale Island was. He then turned to a face he did recognise; Willow Park. "Miss Park, I owe you an apology also. I may not have agreed with my Ex-Wife's decision to cut you out of my daughter's life, but I didn't stop her either, nor did I try to stop her when she threatened you and Luz at Skara's party. I was too much of a coward, and for that I am very sorry."

Willow was surprised by the apology, but she was happy to accept it. "Thank you, Mr Blight. I don't know if I can forgive you… Amity and I are still rebuilding our friendship. But I appreciate and accept the apology."

Alador nodded humbly; it was the best he could hope for. With the apologies and thanks out of the way, and the excitement of the evening coming to an end, everyone began to feel how exhausted they really were. Luz would be going back to the Human Realm early the next morning, and the Blights would need a new home and new things after essentially being kicked out by Odalia, but with it being so late, all anyone could think of for the moment was sleeping.

The Hexsquad were already going to have a sleepover at the Owl House, so Amity and the Twins joined them, and Alador was allowed to crash on the couch while Darius went home, and Luz sent Steve, the BATTs trio, and the scout defectors through the Teleportation Circle to Digale Island.

As everyone was taking turns in the bathroom and changing into their pyjamas (or borrowing some from Luz, Eda, and Raine, in the Blights' case), Amity decided she had one last thing she needed to take care of for the night. Now dressed in Luz's Otter onesie (the only clean sleepwear Luz had that fit the girl), Amity headed to one of the bedrooms in the Owl House's stone tower, and knocked on the door.

The one to answer it was Lilith, who looked quite different in the old grey shirt and black skirt that she'd borrowed from Eda. The woman looked surprised to see Amity, but smiled all the same.

"Good evening, Amity. Did you need something before you go to sleep?"

Amity nodded with a faint blush; "Yes, I… I just wanted to say thank you for protecting me and speaking up for me. After the way I've treated you for the last few weeks, you didn't need to do any of that."

Lilith shook her head; "It's fine, Amity. You had a right to be angry with me for what I did."

"Maybe, but you were trying to make up for it and I was being a brat and giving you a hard time. I'm sorry." Amity blushed, once again feeling like an apprentice who had failed her mentor.

The older witch just smiled and put a hand on Amity's shoulder; "I forgive you. I still don't think you did anything wrong though; I would have likely been far crueller in your place. And while I'm sure I don't need to say this, I want to remind you that everything Odalia said today was complete garbage. You were always too good for a creature like her, and your siblings are too. You're a wonderful girl Amity, and Alador is a smart man to realise how lucky he is. Luz is a lucky girl as well."

"Not as lucky as me." Amity said with a bashful smile. She felt overwhelmed by affection, and truly felt the caring Lilith had for her; it was a feeling she'd gotten from her father, but never from Odalia. That realisation made her heart ache with conflicted emotions. "But thank you, Lilith. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Amity. Now you should get to bed; this weekend will be busy for you."

"I will. But first…" Amity blushed, then asked in a small voice; "I-Is that offer of mentoring still open?"

Lilith gasped softly; this wasn't an offer of forgiveness or acceptance, but it was an olive branch. Amity was willing to start trying to mend things from her side, and so Lilith was quick to nod.

"Of course, Amity. Would you like to learn from me again?"

"Yes. Odalia got the jump on us today… I needed Darius to tell me how to beat the Abomatons, and if not for Luz's quick thinking with the wind glyph, we could have lost her… I've got to be stronger to protect her and everyone else. I don't want to be at anyone's mercy ever again!"

Lilith nodded in understanding; "Then your lessons will start after school on Monday. We'll work out a proper schedule for it then. Until then, good night and sweet dreams Amity."

Amity smiled; "Good night, Lilith."

With that, Lilith retreated back into her room, feeling giddy at this new step forward, while Amity returned to Luz and King's room, which she and Willow were sharing with them. Willow was already asleep on the floor in Luz's old sleeping bag, and a second one was laid out beside her for Amity. However, before she could lie in it, Amity saw a sleepy Luz, curled up in her nest, patting the spot beside her. The nest was big enough for two, so Amity happily lay down beside her and was covered in a blanket and three of Luz's large wings. The two girls exchanged tired smiles and a sweet kiss, then fell asleep in each other's arms, bringing an end to one of the most emotional days of Amity's life.