When Luz had come to the Boiling Isles, she'd had all sorts of fantasies about becoming a great hero, a defender of the weak, a slayer of monsters. Someone who'd always do the right thing and make the right choices. Instead, she'd turned into a damsel in distress all because she made the monumentally stupid mistake of trusting Mrs. Blight. Sure, part of it had been because of her mind control, but that just made things worse, because that made her not just an idiot, but a weak idiot. A hero like Azura surely would have seen through Mrs. Blight's schemes. It was galling. Luz was feeling absolutely humiliated. She couldn't even save the day. Her parents had to come to her rescue.

Her parents tried their best to spend time with her and make it clear they didn't blame her for anything, but that just made Luz feel worse. It felt like they were pitying her. They should have blamed her. Luz had lost faith in the most basic, elementary thing: her parents' love, all because she was consumed by jealousy at her siblings. Her siblings, who'd suffered more than Luz ever could have and deserved to have the same love as she got! How could she not see that? What sort of hero would be so selfish to make everything about her all the time? Certainly not Azura.

Everyone was so happy with the way it had turned out. The Blight siblings had become the Park siblings. Mrs. Blight was dead and no longer able to harm anyone. Even Mr. Blight had gotten a ton of love potions out of his system, had set up visitations with his children with the Messrs. Park, and was running Blight Industries his way. Everyone but Luz, who just wished someone would blame her already for a fiasco she'd utterly caused. Papi had gotten stabbed! Two people were dead now! Because of her! Yes, Papi had killed them and they'd been awful, awful people, but they wouldn't have died if Luz hadn't been so dumb.

"I just wish I'd been smarter," Luz lamented to Eda a few days after the thwarted wedding. Luz was pleased Eda was dating her parents now and she'd been finding herself confiding in the Owl Lady more than ever before. She'd seen Eda as a new parent basically since the very moment they met, even before Luz realized she had an opportunity to help make it official. Eda was cool. She didn't care about manners and rules like Mami and Papi did. "I should have seen Mrs. Blight for who she is."

"Hey, no, Odalia was really good at manipulation," Eda said. "I went to school with her. She was really good at tricking people. Don't blame yourself, kiddo. It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is," Luz said firmly. "I knew she was a bad person. She made Amity bully Willow. I should have remembered that!"

Eda shrugged. "You're a child, Luz. Don't be so hard on yourself. I care about you a lot. It makes me upset when people put you down, including yourself. I mean, what do you want? You want me to ground you? I can do that, but what good would it do? You've learned your lesson."

"But people are dead because of me," Luz whispered. "Mrs. Blight and that guard."

"Your dad had to kill them," Eda said solemnly. "You're young so you don't understand, and that's a good thing. But sometimes, there is no other choice. Odalia never would have stopped. And that guard…well, maybe your dad didn't have to kill him, but he hurt you, Luz. And he almost killed your dad."

"I don't want people to die just cause they hurt me," Luz said. "Not when there's other ways." Luz may have young and naïve, but this was something she was prepared to stand by. She didn't want people to die when they didn't have to.

Eda nodded. "I get that. But that's something you'll have to talk to your dad about, not me."

"You're right, Eda," Luz said. "I'm going to go talk to him right now!" Last she heard, her parents had gone picking berries in the woods.

"Uh, well, I didn't mean that, but okay…"

Luz opened the front door to the house and stopped in her tracks. There was a life-sized statue of Principal Bump, of all people, in front of the door. And it would have been simply a beautiful, amazing work of art were it not for the fact it was showing him screaming in agony.

"Oh, shit," Eda whispered. Luz put her hands on her hips sternly. "Sorry. Um, Luz, why don't we go find your folks and you can get some eye scream with your dad in town?"

"It's bad, isn't it?" Luz realized.

"Oh, yeah."

Luz and Eda tracked down Luz's parents. Eda and Papi spoke in hushed whispers, both of them looking very concerned. Luz could understand why. Principal Bump was in danger. Anyone who was that obsessed with seeing him suffer could easily decide to move from an artistic depiction to the real thing. Luz couldn't bear the thought of Principal Bump getting hurt. He was the best administrator she'd ever known (admittedly, the bar was absurdly low) and it was thanks to him she was having a great school experience for the first time in her life.

"Can I do anything to help?" Luz asked. "I want to help save my principal!" She frowned. "Wow, there's a sentence I never thought would come out of her mouth."

"Luz, Principal Bump is gone," Eda said softly.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. It's a good thing he got out of town before someone could get to him."

Eda sighed. "Luz, he's been petrified."

"Oh, I can imagine!" Luz said. "I'd be scared too in his shoes!"

"He's dead, Luz," Eda said bluntly. Luz gasped. Dead? But…but who would want to kill Principal Bump? All he wanted to do was help his students succeed! What sort of an animal would kill him? "He was petrified – turned to stone. That statue? That is Bump."

Mami's head moved in Eda's direction so quickly Luz could almost hear the bones in her neck crack. "Hang on a second! The Collector told me he taught Lilith how to reverse petrification! We may be able to bring him back!"

"Oh, well, then we'd better get a move on, quick!" Eda shouted. "No time to waste. The longer we wait, the less chance we'll have. Manny, can you take the kid into town? Hooty can look after the other kids just fine for a while."

"But I want to help!" Luz protested.

"I'll let you get eye scream with extra crunchy eyeballs and sprinkles," Papi offered.

"Let's go into town!"

Luz and Papi eagerly walked into town. She may have been eager to make up for her mistakes and help in any way she could, but she was far more eager for sprinkles. Though Luz was still worried. While she was pleased there was a chance at saving Principal Bump, she still hated the idea someone had tried to kill him at all. And why had they left the statue in front of the house anyway? Was it a warning to Eda she would be next? But the two of them didn't like each other. Why not hurt someone Eda cared about?

"Luz, I want to apologize," Papi said as soon as they'd sat down with their delicious meal. "I should have taken you more seriously. I should have made it more clear that I still loved you, even if I had to spend more time helping Vee and Hunter adjust."

Luz bowed her head in shame. "There's no need to be sorry, papi. It was my fault. I was selfish."

"Well, let's just accept we're both to blame and move on," Papi suggested. Luz shrugged. If that was the best she was going to get, then so be it. Finding Principal Bump's attacker was more important than her emotional problems. "Is that all that's bothering you, lucecita?"

Luz hesitated. She didn't want Papi to think she thought he was a bad person. But she still needed to talk about it. "You killed Mrs. Blight and that guard."

"I did," Papi said with no shame in his voice. It was calm and steady. "Perhaps I should have tried to hide that from you, but secrets haven't helped us as of late. I don't like killing people, Luz. I only did it because I didn't see another choice."

"The guard, couldn't you have just knocked him out?" Luz asked. She had no idea why the guard's death upset her so much. He'd hurt her. She didn't even know his name. The Good Witch Azura didn't even spare a second thought for the Dark Lich's minions she vanquished. But despite all this, it bothered her. What if he had a family? A child who loved him?

Papi frowned. "I could have. Maybe it would have worked out. Maybe it wouldn't have. Maybe he'd have escaped and hurt you more. I don't know. I can't know. I made a judgment call and…"

"You killed him because he hurt me," Luz shot back. "It wasn't about keeping me safe. It was about revenge."

Papi closed his eyes for a long time. "Yes. You're right. I…I didn't think of it that way, but you're right. But nothing can bring back the dead and in the next life I may well pay the price. In this life, though, the only thing left to do is go forward."

Luz sighed. She knew Papi was right, but it didn't feel right to her. "I don't think I could kill anyone."

"Good," Papi said in a tone firmer than Luz had ever heard him use. "I would be very, very upset if you had to do it. Part of being a soldier is making the tough choices so others don't have to. Sacrificing our soul for the sake of others. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I'd rather I be a bad person than you."

"I don't think you're a bad person, papi," Luz offered. "But I still don't like any of this."

"And that pleases me," Papi said, not sounding offended at all. "This is not something that should be liked." He reached out and squeezed Luz's hands. "I promise I'll try to find other options in the future. I'm not going to apologize for killing Odalia – I didn't have another choice – but I will try to make sure I avoid killing people like that guard if I can avoid it. Now how about we talk about something nicer? Any thoughts about Grom?"

Grom was happening in a matter of mere days and Steve had officially been announced as the Grom King. Mami and Papi found the idea of forcing a teenager to face his worst fear in front of everyone to be barbarous and depraved and under ordinary circumstances, they would not want to see it. But Steve had asked the family to be there to support him and he was really scared even though he was trying his best to hide it. Luz had been on the fence about going. After the scare she'd gotten, seeing her friend fight a monster wasn't something she was comfortable with.

"Well…I suppose if Steve needs me," Luz muttered. "I don't know."

"You don't have to decide now," Papi assured her. "Heck, you can even do it on the day of if you want. The Parks decided Willow and the Blights are too young to see it, and they and Gus will be hanging out in the Owl House."

"I don't want to go," Luz decided. She hoped Steve could forgive her, but right now, she didn't think she could handle it.

Papi smiled at her. "There's nothing wrong with that, Luz. I'm proud of you for making the decision that's best for you."

When they returned to the Owl House, the statue of Principal Bump was in the middle of a ritual circle, with Lilith on her knees, chanting words in a language Luz didn't recognize. The Collector had been propped against a box on the coffee table. Luz rather liked her cousin, but only in small doses. He gave her the creeps if she was around him for too long.

Whatever Lilith was doing was working. There were cracks starting to form on the statue. Before Luz's eyes, the cracks widened and the statue disintegrated, leaving Principal Bump coughing, on his knees, and looking rather shocked. "You saved me," he rasped. "How?"

"I'm afraid that information is proprietary, Hieronymus," Lilith said primly. "You understand, I'm sure. What happened?"

Principal Bump stood up unsteadily. He wasn't able to walk and Mami and Papi had to carry him over to the couch. "Water…" he managed to ground out. Eda got him a glass from the kitchen and he seemed much more stable than he had a few seconds ago. "Belos is going to make Hunter fight Grom."

Everyone gasped, including Luz. Hunter may have been tough, but Grom was a scary fear monster! Would her brother be up to the task? "Absolutely not!" Mami shouted. "Under no circumstances, never, no way!"

"I can handle it," Hunter protested. "I can face any challenge!"

Principal Bump put up a still shaking hand. "I'm afraid there's no other choice. Belos has sealed Grom's lair with blood magic. Hunter is now the only one who can face Grom. Except for Belos, of course, but if half of the rumors I've been hearing are true, there's no way he'd lift a finger."

Luz's parents looked distraught. Mami looked over at the Collector. "Isn't there anything you can do, Collector?"

"No, sorry," the Collector said, sounding truly sorry. "I don't know anything about blood magic. I think I can kill Grom, though, but it'd level the whole city. And probably a good chunk of the continent for good measure."

"Yeah, let's…save that as a measure of last resort," Papi muttered. "All right, Lilith, this is the absolute last straw. We're going to have to accelerate our plans. Bump, you're going to have to stay in the Owl House. We can't let anyone know you're alive."

Principal Bump let out a soft groan. "Wonderful. But in all seriousness, thank you. Thank you for saving my life." Well, Luz definitely did not have her principal becoming her roommate on her list of things that might happen to her, but she figured it'd be fine. He couldn't get her in trouble if they weren't in school, right?

The adults went off to do boring adult planning stuff. Luz had once eavesdropped on one of their meetings because she thought it would be interesting – they were literally running a rebellion – but it was a total snoozefest. All logistical nonsense and ethical concerns. Boring! If Luz was in charge, there'd be action! Exciting battles of good versus evil! Eye scream for all!

"Hunter, I'll be there for you," Luz promised. While she had reservations about being there for Steve, he wasn't her brother. Steve wasn't family. Also, Steve was seventeen, which was ancient. He could totally handle himself. But Hunter cried, like, every night. He would need all the help he could possibly get.

"I could use a hug," Hunter admitted, and Luz practically pounced on her brother. She wouldn't let anyone convince her he wasn't important anymore. They were all Nocedas, and Nocedas stood together always.

Perry Porter had long considered himself a pragmatist. In his younger years, the idea of being in a rebellion would have appealed to him, but that part of him had died the moment he had to watch his beloved wife die a horrid death in front of him, just because she'd turned her head in the wrong direction. No, these days, Perry had a son to support as a single father. If he went to prison for treason, there'd be no one to look after Gus. Well, perhaps Raine, but he couldn't lay that responsibility on them.

But these days he could sense the tide turning. Everyone knew Lilith was in charge of the rebellion now and she had used the same ruthless efficiency she'd used to stay at the top of all her classes in school to systematically erode every last bit of support Belos had. Support for the coven system was at an all time low. People were openly proclaiming themselves to be wild witches. (Well, honorary wild witches; they still couldn't mix magic because of their sigils.) Teenagers were mixing magic in public. The Emperor's Coven was more likely to be met with tohateoes thrown in their faces than praise. Belos's time was running out and turning against him was the smart thing to do.

Even if it hadn't been, Perry still would have done it when he heard about Hunter being forced to fight Grom. Perry may have been a pragmatist, but he was not without a conscience, and forcing a ten year old to fight a monster that made grown adults quiver in their boots was a bridge too far for his taste. While under ordinary circumstances such a thing would have simply prompted Perry's resignation, with the rebellion coming to a boil, Perry had vowed to show the world the whole story about Grom. To publicly call out Belos. To be the spark that will light the fire that will burn the Empire down.

Nonetheless, he thought to himself as he walked into the Hexside auditorium, he was still glad he'd left Augustus at the Owl House. There was every possibility the evening would end in violence not just directed against Grom and there was no place for a six year old. Raine had offered to look after him, but Perry knew his enbyfriend had to be ready to take the fight to Belos at a moment's notice. The revolution would happen not in days, but in hours. History was in the making, and Perry hoped that in times to come, Augustus would be able to regard this moment with pride, the moment he stood up for what was right.

"Ah, Mr. Porter," a sepulcher voice called out. The former Principal Faust had been brought back to replace Bump after his disappearance. Presumably, he was the only one monstrous enough to be able to condone such a fight. "It's good to see you. BBN-HXN is going to want to milk every bit of footage from this fight as they can. It will serve as an abject lesson to those who dare defy the emperor's will."

It took all of Perry's strength to not punch Faust, let alone keep the anger and hatred he felt for the sick bastard off his face, yet he somehow managed it. "I'm sure this will be a memorable evening for us all," he managed to ground out. "If you'll excuse me, Vortigern, I have to speak to Augustus's teacher."

He hightailed it away before he could start screaming at people, making a beeline for the apple blood punch bowl. Deftly dodging the punches the bowl gave him, Perry managed to fill up a glass with apple blood. As he had suspected, someone (no doubt Eda) had spiked it with hard apple blood. There was no way Perry was going to survive this evening sober.

"I see you had the same idea," Mrs. Noceda said with a wry grin and raised her glass in a mockery of a salute. "Tonight is going to be horrible."

"Just be safe, Mrs. Noceda," Perry warned her. "This could get very, very ugly, and I'm not just talking about the Grom battle. I'd have an escape plan if I were you."

Mrs. Noceda gave a grimace. "Oh, believe me, I know. I know all too well how ugly tonight is going to get. But if we're lucky, when it's over, these Isles will be a safer place." Perry knew what that meant. It meant they were going to try their best to destroy Belos that very night. Perry wished them the best of luck.

"Where is Hunter, by the way?"

Mrs. Noceda sighed. "Hunter has elected to not train in our presence. He's not going to appear until it's time to fight Grom. He doesn't want us to learn what his fears are. I can't deny him that, but I think he's making the wrong choice."

Perry made small talk with a variety of people and interviewed a few more officially. He was shocked at how little everyone seemed to care about calling out Belos. Statements that would have gotten anyone thrown in the Conformatorium once upon a time were being tossed out with little to no attempt at deniability. No one seemed to be in a party mood, quite unlike every other Grom beforehand. People were terrified and distraught and furious. No one wanted anything to do with Faust either, even prominent members of the PCA.

Finally, the time came and the bells rang and Hunter came marching through the doors, dressed in the…was that the regalia of the Golden Guard? It was a legitimate question. While it looked like the Golden Guard's uniform in terms of its construction, its design was wildly different, a patchwork of radically different styles.

Perry realized that the people in Hunter's life had all chosen a piece of the outfit to decorate. Luz's section was glittery with lots of stickers and bright colors. Lilith's section was subdued and elegant, a beautiful artistic design that would have blended in with some of the paintings at the Bonesborough Art Museum. Eda's section had drawings of owls and a haphazard A surrounded by a circle. Mrs. Noceda had put a drawing of an arrowhead, with a ring around it, and a five pointed star inside the arrowhead with one of the points much farther away from all the others. Mr. Noceda's section was just camouflage. By process of elimination, Vee's section had to be the one filled with flowers and smileys.

It sent a clear message to Belos. The Golden Guard would never exist again. He had been subsumed by Hunter Noceda.

"Ladies and gentlemen, ARE YOU READY FOR GROM?!" Faust thundered. Beside Perry, Raine grumbled. Faust was always forgetting to mention people like them. It wasn't because he hated nonbinary people – that wasn't a thing in the Demon Realm – but just because he hated Raine specifically and was always trying to exclude them. It had been that way back in school.

A chorus of boos erupted from the crowd, which was highly unusual. Most people cheered for Grom. It wasn't because they liked Grom; it was just a superstition whose origins had vanished into the utter mists of time. But now? Now no one even wanted to bother. Everyone was on Hunter's side.

Perry took a deep breath. Taking the stand he was about to take could kill him. He couldn't imagine a more noble death. It sure as hell beat death by painbow any day of the week. He nodded at his camera demon who started transmitting live throughout Bonesborough. The die was cast. There was no going back.

"People of the Boiling Empire, I'm here at Hexside, where ten year old Hunter Noceda about to face Grom," Perry said. He was a professional. No one would see how terrified he was inside. "Yes, you heard that right, viewers. This ten year old child is about to face the dread nightmare that killed 800,000 people during its last escape back in 1162. And did he choose to face this monstrosity? No, he did not."

If they kill me, Perry prayed silently, I hope you understood why I did this one day, Augustus.

"It was Emperor Belos who forced this child to fight Grom today!" Perry shouted to a chorus of gasps from the crowd.

Faust stepped forward and gave a smarmy smile. "Now, now, young Hunter here was randomly selected at random to face Grom. It could have been any of your children, but instead it was him!" By the looks of it, the crowd did not believe him.

"Belos sealed Grom's lair with blood magic, making it so only his NEPHEW could face him!" Perry shouted and then walked straight towards the arena, only to be flung backwards by the invisible blood magic shield, much to his disappointment. He had hoped it had been a bluff. "Your so-called glorious leader is punishing a child for having the temerity to seek refuge with parents who love him!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Faust screamed and tossed a fireball in Perry's direction, which he barely dodged. "I will not tolerate this treason any longer! You will be silent and this ungrateful brat will fight Grom right this very moment!"

Hunter grabbed a sword from the array of weapons available to him and took a fighting stance. A very professional fighting stance. The stance of a child soldier. Perry stomach churned. All this time, the Empire had been rotten and he'd been helping that rot take hold of the populace with his propaganda broadcasts. When he reached heaven below after his death, he'd have a lot to answer for. But for now, he would do his best to make up for things.

"Come on, Grom," Hunter said smugly. "Show me what you got."

Grom obliged. It took mere seconds for it to shift into Hunter's worst fear. It should not have surprised Perry in the slightest that Emperor Belos himself stood before them now. But even after everything, it still did. He was glad his father was not alive to see it. Xenon Porter had been one of the foremost evangelists for the coven system out there. Would this have been enough to have turned him against the system? Maybe. Maybe not. Perry was glad he didn't have to learn the answer.

"You have betrayed me, Hunter," Belos's sibilant voice purred. "Do you remember what I told you? Actions have consequences. And as do we sin, so do we suffer."

Hunter let out a battle cry and charged in Belos's direction. Before his very eyes, Belos transformed into a monster whose outer appearance finally reflected his inner nature. A monster barely able to take the form of a corporeal being, a mess of sludge, with glowing eyes covering his chest, horns coming out of his head, and his mouth and eyes glowing an ominous, disconcerting blue. Now, granted, this was not atypical for the Demon Realm. Perry could probably go to the market and meet a dozen people scarier than this.

No, what was truly terrifying was the way Hunter had just froze up. Just stopped moving. It hadn't been magic responsible. It had been trauma. Hunter was terrified. His worst fear was the emperor. A child's worst fear was the emperor. And in that moment, Belos lost. He lost the love and loyalty of his people. The rest would be just academic, part of the history books. The battle against Belos was won in that moment.

"Ah, you see the truth, I can tell," Belos said. A thrust of a spike split Hunter's helmet in two and it fell off of his head, revealing a face frozen in a rictus of terror. Hunter's magenta eyes were widened in horror. He looked like he was about to throw up. "You're nothing, Hunter. Merely an inadequate replacement for someone far greater than you could ever be."

"NO!" Hunter screamed as he cowered and dropped the sword. "No, no, no. You're not real, you're Grom…please…"

"I gave you everything, Hunter," Belos went on inexorably. "You exist because of me. You exist to serve my will. You spurned my love!" He lashed out with a fist made of stone and slammed Hunter hard against a column. The column didn't break. Several bones in Hunter's back did. "You ungrateful little brat. These heathens do not love you. You're just tools to them."

Manifestations of the Noceda parents appeared behind Belos. They jeered at him and laughed at his anguish and misery. Thank Titan the crowd realized that this was just a manifestation of Hunter's subconscious fears, because otherwise things could have gotten ugly for the Noceda parents. As it was, the only person it was ugly for was going to be Belos. If the crowd could storm the stage, they would have done just that by now. In fact, if there was an angry mob forming right this very minute and marching on the castle, it would not have surprised Perry in the slightest.

"I will break you, child," Belos promised as he oozed his way towards Hunter, moving purposefully slowly to draw out the pain and suffering. "And when I am done with you, I will do the same to your sister."

That had been the absolute wrong thing to say. Perry watched as strength returned to Hunter's limbs, as his resolve hardened before his very eyes. Hurting Hunter was one thing. Hurting Hunter's family? Well, if you did that, you needed to start writing your will.

"I know you, Philip Wittebane," Hunter said very calmly. "I know who you are. I know where you've come from. I know you killed your brother." Belos let out a screech of anger. "I know you intend to use the sigils to kill everyone." By now, everyone had heard the rumors, but the crowd looked angrier now that it was confirmed by the emperor's flesh and blood. "And I know I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Without hesitating for a single second longer, Hunter picked up the sword and rammed it through Belos's heart. Through Grom's heart. Grom let out an agonizing screech of pain and then it disintegrated. Just like that. It was one of the fastest defeats on record. Even quicker than Eda's record quick defeat of it back in school. (Perry still couldn't believe Eda's worst fear was getting carded for hard apple blood.)

The Noceda parents ran in Hunter's direction as the shield disintegrated. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Hunter screamed and they stopped just inches away from hugging him.

"Well, let's give it up for our Grom King, Hunter Noceda!" Faust said, trying to keep a perky grin on his face. He turned to face the crowd and the grin quickly disappeared as he realized they were all looking at him with murderous fury. "Look, he deserved it, the ungrateful brat! The wretch had the audacity to reject the love of our great and glorious emperor!"

This was, Perry reflected later, the absolute worst thing he could have said. Faust could have very well escaped with his head if not necessarily his reputation intact if he had claimed what they'd just seen was a mere reflection of Hunter's subconscious fears, not based in reality. But admitting it was the dumbest mistake he'd ever made. And, as he would find out, his last.

Phoebe surged forward, her fangs bared and her eyes glowing. She grabbed him by the throat and held him into the air with her vampiric superstrength, despite being almost tiny compared to the bulk of mass that was Faust. "You monster," she snarled. "You dare call yourself an educator? You should be ashamed of yourself."

"You…you can't hurt me," Faust stammered.

"I swore to never drink the blood of an innocent," Phoebe corrected him. She bared her fangs. "But you are not an innocent." She sank her jagged fangs into Faust's neck and drank his blood to the cheers of the crowd until Faust fell dead to the ground. "TO THE PALACE! DOWN WITH BELOS!"

The crowd happily cheered that mantra as they fled the room, bent on getting revenge for the barbarous display they'd just seen. None of them stopped to offer comfort to Hunter. Perry took a few steps in Hunter's direction, but he shook his head. Well, Perry had never been one to stay when he was not wanted, so he stepped out of the room and into history.

Manny couldn't take it any longer. He knew his son had requested they not touch him, but for the love of God, he'd broken several bones. He needed medical attention at the very least. So he took a few tentative steps forward and reached gingerly towards Hunter's arm and then his hand passed straight through him. Hang on, it did what?

Hunter proceeded to disappear in a flash of blue light. He'd only been an illusion. "What the hell is going on?!" Manny shouted.

Lilith looked around her as if trying to find someone she could shift blame onto. But she must have found no one, because she took a deep breath and steeled herself. "What's going on is I made an executive decision for the good of these isles. I decided to show the people the man their emperor really is."

Manny closed his eyes as piece by piece, the puzzle before him started assembling. "And so you faked this entire display. You let everyone know he was abused! How dare you?! What gives you the right?"

"I made the right decision," Lilith said coldly. "You cannot possibly tell me you wouldn't have done ten times worse if it had been your species facing genocide!" She took a few deep breaths. "Hunter is fine. He's in a safe house. Belos may have made it so our hand was forced with regards to who faced Grom, but he did not do so with regards to when. Hunter faced Grom three hours ago and won."

Camila let out a gasp. Manny felt horrified to realize that while he was enjoying a leisurely afternoon of fun and games with Eda, Hunter wasn't "privately training" as he'd told him, but rather facing down Grom for real. "Why didn't you tell us?" Camila shouted. "We could have helped him!"

"He insisted you not be there," Lilith admitted. "We had a crack team of warriors and therapists advising him. He was in good hands."

"What did he face?" Manny said quietly.

Lilith hesitated for a very long time. "Not this. I won't tell you what. I don't know if he'll ever tell you, but he certainly would not want me to do it. Listen, you have every right to be mad at me, but do not take it out on him. He showed remarkable courage today."

"This was not okay, Lilith," Eda said and Lilith cringed like she was a little girl being told off for being naughty. "But now is not the time to deal with it. We have to get to the palace and kill Belos."

Eda was right. Lilith was going to suffer the consequences later on, but right now, the mission was more important. Hunter was safe and in presumably stable condition and he could handled later on. While Belos lived, he was a threat to all life on the Isles in general and the Noceda family in particular.

For a flat out revolution, Manny reflected from his perch on Owlbert as they flew to the palace, the streets of Bonesborough looked surprisingly orderly. There were few of the riots that usually accompanied such things. True, parts of the city were on fire and there was a spattering of sporadic violence, but really nothing more than an unusually rowdy Saturday night. That was not to say the streets were empty. People were marching on the palace in orderly rows, angry but resolute. The Emperor's Coven were barely anywhere to be seen. Sometimes, they were making only a perfunctory effort to hold back the crowd, but for the most part they seemed to have just flat out disbanded. Lilith could not have done a better job fomenting the revolution. If Manny's bosses could have seen this, they would have been salivating to induct her into the CIA.

Manny walked over to the front of the crowd, his wife and girlfriend beside him. Lilith gave a short speech wherein she declared herself the new president of the Boiling Republic to the cheers of the crowd and then she blasted the doors off their hinges with construction magic.

"I have to admit," Camila said as the angry mob made their way to the throne room, "this is kind of exciting. I never thought I'd be a part of something like this."

"I just hope Lilith doesn't go mad with power when all this is done," Manny muttered. Human history was filled with revolutions that ended with the new leaders becoming just as crazy and despotic as the old ones. And said rulers hadn't adopted a cosmic deity with unfathomable levels of power either.

Eda was the one who blew the doors of the throne room off their hinges to a maniacal laugh that was as hot as it was disturbing in Manny's opinion. "Knock, knock, bonehead!"

Belos looked befuddled at the appearance of the angry mob. "This isn't really a good time," he began. "Perhaps you could come back next Thursday?"

Before the mob could storm the room, a shimmering shield appeared in the doors and Lilith stepped right in front of Belos, blocking everyone out of the room except for her. And hadn't she been behind Manny last time he checked?

"So you have chosen to betray me, Dirtrude," Belos snarled. "It matters not. I cannot lose today. It is written. I still have to meet you and Luzura in the past and find the Collector."

"Run that one by me again?" Lilith asked, looking as bewildered as Manny felt. "Never mind. I'm sure it'd just be more insane babbling. I don't really care about time paradoxes. Time tends to sort itself out."

Belos chuckled. "No, you don't really care about much of anything, do you, Lilith? Certainly not your sister. That's why you cursed her, after all."

Eda let out a betrayed gasp, but Manny was going to head this off at the pass before it could affect their unit's cohesion. "It's a mind game, Eda," he whispered to her. He didn't actually believe that. He believed Belos was telling the truth, especially given the haunted expression on Lilith's face. But Eda believed him and gave a stoic nod back at him.

"Are there any last words you'd like to say before I kill you, Belos?" Lilith said in a mock courtly tone.

"I will ascend into heaven!" Philip raved. "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH!"

Lilith snarled at him. "You're just a human with delusions of grandeur who should have died a long time ago. Today, I'm correcting that mistake. If you'd care to look behind your throne, you'll see a most interesting human device." Belos magically turned the throne to see it was covered with a putty like substance Manny had to spend thousands of dollars and burn a dozen favors to acquire. "It's called C4. And it's your end. Goodbye, Philip."

The illusion of Lilith disappeared and next to Manny, Lilith withdrew the invisibility spell she'd been using to hide her real self. Belos ran for the doors, but the C4 exploded before he could reach them. Fire curled into every corner of the room, but did not manage to penetrate Lilith's incredible shield. Sludge splattered everywhere. Belos was gone. They'd finally done it! They'd finally won!

"Lilith?" Camila said and Lilith turned only to receive a blow with a chancla so hard it knocked her to the ground. "Now we're even."

Manny was suddenly exhausted. The cheering crowds stormed into the throne room but Manny didn't want to have any of it. There'd be looting and partying aplenty, but Manny was done. He'd done his part. Belos was dead and he wanted to go back to the Owl House – after getting Hunter, of course – and sleep for the rest of the week.

"Wanna get out of here?" Eda said softly, no doubt realizing what was going through his head. Manny nodded. "Thanks for this, Manny. We'd never have been able to take him down if it weren't for you. You saved us all."

"You would have found a way," Manny said without a trace of doubt in his voice.

Lilith gave them the location of the safe house before sitting down in the throne room and beginning to give a long and elaborate speech to her new adoring populace. From the rhetoric she kept using, Manny had a hunch the people of the Isles weren't exactly going to be knowing true freedom anytime soon, but anything was a step up from a genocidal child abuser.

As soon as he saw Manny, Hunter jumped into his arms, looking on the verge of tears. Camila joined in the hug while Eda stood awkwardly in the corner of the room. "I'm so, so sorry!" he sobbed. "I just couldn't handle you seeing my worst fear."

"It's okay," Manny said. It was actually not okay, but Manny was prepared to forgive and forget given the circumstances. "Belos is dead. He can't hurt you anymore."

Hunter looked at the floor solemnly. "Is it bad I'm sad?"

"Not at all, cariño," Camila said firmly. "It's perfectly understandable. I wish he had been the man he pretended to be. But he wasn't."

Hunter sighed. "Yeah. Grom, it…it took your form. Both of you." This was not surprising for Manny, but it was still a devastating blow. The idea he would be a child's worst fear was appalling even if he had a hunch he knew why. "It told me you didn't really love me. That you'd give me up to Belos to save your real daughter if you had to in a heartbeat."

"Never," Camila vowed. "We would never do that, Hunter. Tú eres mi hijo. Te quiero." Hunter gave a small but genuine grin. "And we're not angry with you either. I am very angry with Lilith right now, but not you. Now how about we get you home and you can rest? I don't ordinarily make a habit of this, but I think you can skip school tomorrow."

"I highly doubt we'll have it anyway," Hunter said, "but I suppose it's the thought that counts."

Manny laughed and the four of them happily rode on Owlbert back to the Owl House. Everything was going to be great! Belos was dead and there was nothing stopping Manny from moving to the Demon Realm for good now. All he had to do was resign from the Agency – no one would make a fuss once he submitted the legitimate paperwork stating he had incurable cancer; who would make a fuss over a soon to be dead man – and then he could spend the rest of his life with the people he loved in a land pulsating with magic.

And then he opened the door to the Owl House and Belos was standing in front of him. True, his form was flickering and twitching and struggling to hold onto corporeality, but it was still him. "Hello, Inquisitor Noceda," Belos gloated. "Surprised to see me? You cannot kill the chosen of God."

The inhabitants of the house had put up a fight before being knocked unconscious. Gilbert's arm was cut off at the shoulder and a sizable chunk of Harvey's jaw was gone. Hooty was inert, just ordinary wood now. Manny dearly hoped it was temporary. The children were all unconscious, none of them harmed, thank God.

"You've lost, Belos," Camila said. "Your empire has fallen. I doubt you'll last the week with how bad you're looking."

Belos chuckled. "You're quite right that my prospects aren't looking very good here. So I think I'll take my chances back home. I'm sure I'll find allies on my quest to save the world there." A tendril picked up Luz and grabbed her by the throat. "Hand over the portal."

Manny didn't have a choice. He had three guns, a taser, and four knives on his person right now, but Luz would die before he had a chance to draw any of them. "Give him the portal, Eda," he told her, hoping desperately she had a trick up her sleeve.

Eda scowled at Belos but left the room and returned with the portal, which she handed over to him. "They'll never believe you!" she shouted. "Not without proof."

"Well, then I suppose it's a good thing I have some, isn't it?" Belos said, and grabbed Vee. Manny felt his heart practically stop in his chest at seeing his daughter – in full basilisk form – in the hands of the monster that had created her.

"Damn it," Eda muttered. "Me and my big mouth."

"Please, Philip," Manny begged. He got on his knees. His pride was nothing before the life of his daughter. "You don't have to do this. I can help you. I have my own magic now; it's all the proof you need."

Belos spat in Manny's face. Sludge fell down his cheek. "Be silent, papist, before your betters. I bid you all farewell, evildoers. Your time is coming to a close." He opened the portal door and leapt through it, disappearing from sight.

There was dead silence in the room. No one knew what to say. It hardly seemed possible. They'd won! And yet they'd lost anyway. "What are we going to do, Manny?" Camila said.

Unfortunately, Manny knew the answer to that. There was only one move left available to him. The nuclear option, and perhaps not metaphorically if he was spectacularly unlucky. Manny took out his cell phone and dialed the number he had once sworn a solemn oath never to call. "Mr. Alexander? It's Agent Noceda. There's been an incursion."