A/N:
Bia1230: You are correct!
Demon dark mezzo sangue: Don't worry, the initiator of the Sabbath ritual will make themselves known soon.
WaterDragonMaverick: Ah, I missed that, thank you for telling me and I will take care of that. And rest assured that Amity's absence during this arcs will be...important later.
OMAC001: You got that right!
The air carriage was in flight over the forest, the students were in high spirits, cheering and yelling with excitement at going to see the home of the ruler of the Boiling Isles. Meanwhile, amid all this cheer, Luz was scheming and plotting. Against La Lechuza's advice, she was going to steal the Healing Hat and rid Eda of the wicked curse that has plagued the Owl Lady for years. This was not going to be easy, but Luz wasn't an ordinary human, she was a Kamen Rider, and she had magic now. If anyone could pull this off, it was her. Luz made sure to jot down her plan of action before they got to the castle, which consisted of three points. One: Sneak into the castle, two: steal the hat, and three: lift the curse, all labeled simply as "Healing Hat Heist".
"Hey, Luz."
Luz jumped at the sudden utterance of her name. "Uh, what was that Willow?"
"I was just going to say that we're getting close to the castle." The clouds parted as they approached, and once again Luz found herself looking upon the grandeur that was the Emperor's Castle. She had seen it from the air once before, but that time she was in a hurry and didn't have the time to appreciate its architecture. "Emperor Belos built it as a sign of unity, before he came along, witches were doing magic all wrong. He taught us the only way to respect what the Titan gave us, was to join the Covens," Willow explained.
"Tch, again, who is he to say how magic is supposed to be used? And a 'symbol of unity' my tail feathers, the only reason one builds a castle is to show their authority and power to whomever dares to challenge that individual, to impose their will upon those below them."
Luz was on the same page with La Lechuza when it came to this system and Belos' motives, she didn't want to say that what Willow believed was wrong, as she really had no proof of that the Emperor was up to anything sinister. Eda was a Wild Witch, but she didn't think she was evil or anything, if it was just a matter of the law, then that was one thing. However, there were too many questions regarding his motives, the dying message of the Phantom, the sudden change to capture Eda again, and all after the Phantom attacked the castle. Whatever happened before Luz arrived, it rattled Belos enough that whatever he was planning needed to happen quickly.
"I'd like to know more about this Titan, though."
You're really curious today, aren't you?
"The more I learn about this place the more fascinating it becomes. We're literally walking and living on the rotting corpse of a giant creature! And yet, it doesn't rot, it flourishes, teems with life. This creature, this Titan, must've been a being of great magical power. For even in death its corpse creates life."
Luz had to admit, she didn't think about it much, but yeah, the Titan must've been some kind of god-like being to be able to create life from its own body after death.
"It's a shame Amity couldn't come, she would've loved it," said Willow.
"I'll bet~"
What's that supposed to mean?
"Trust me, Niña, you're better off finding out for yourself."
Luz rolled her eyes and got back to the topic at hand. "So, Willow, would you say this Belos guy is like…powerful?"
Willow giggled. "No offense to Eda, but the Emperor is the most skilled Witch that ever lived. It's said that he can even talk to the Titan."
"He can TALK to the Titan?! This thing is still alive?!"
The air carriage eventually landed, the students were directed to exit the carriage as Principal Bump announced, "Now class, the Emperor's assistant will be your tour guide. Please don't make me regret this…"
The students assembled at the edge of the drawbridge. The mechanical bridge extended forward with Kikimora standing on the other side of the bridge. The students got on the bridge with Luz pulling up her hood to keep everyone in the castle from seeing her rounded ears and identifying her as human. Once the draw bridge retracted, Kikimora took a step forward and greeted the students.
"Children of Hexside, Emperor Belos welcomes you into his castle. We're honored by visits from students. You'll soon be a part of a Coven, some lucky few of you may even find your home here, in the mighty Emperor's Coven," said Kikimora. "You are the future of the Isles, and my job is to teach you of its past."
With that announcement out of the way, Kikimora started leading the students inside the castle. While Willow had come here once before, she didn't get to enjoy the sights of the castle since she was a bit nervous about being around high-class witches, but now she could finally take in the majesty of the place.
"Today, the isles are a place of peace and prosperity, but that wasn't always the case." Kikimora stopped before a painting that depicted some ancient witches dancing around a bonfire. "Up until fifty years ago, witches and demons practiced wild magic in what we called the 'Savage Ages'. Witches had access to corrupt knowledge, and that dishonored the Titan…"
Luz stopped for a moment and noticed a grate on the wall. She wasn't paying attention to Kikimora's lecture anymore as she was now busy trying to pry the grate out of the wall, however, her efforts were stopped when she noticed Gus and Willow looking at her.
"Uh, heh-heh, I love me a properly ventilated castle," Luz lied as she hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.
Kikimora opened up a pair of double doors and said, "The Relic Room, these items are reminders of our Emperor's overwhelming power. From the curious and mighty, to the very handy, and even, the most valuable."
Gus and Willow were staring at the relics they were most interested in, while Luz stared long and hard at the one relic in the room she believed was worth more than the others in the room.
"Come along, children."
Luz moved closer to the Healing Hat, ready to swipe it then and there, that is until Gus came running and pulled his friend along.
"Let's go Luz!"
Luz grumbled inwardly, she was so close, but that was fine, she was going to get that hat before the end of the day.
"Here at the Emperor's Coven, we require members with sophistication, elegance, and grace."
No sooner did Kikimora say those words did Lilith barge in, completely disheveled from her recent failed mission to capture Eda. Upon seeing Lilith, Luz hurriedly hid behind a pillar to avoid getting spotted by Eda's sister.
"Ah, make way for Lilith Clawthorne, students," said Kikimora with a slight amount of sarcasm. "Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, she's on her way to see the Emperor himself. Let's all wish her luck."
"Good luck Miss Lilith!" the students cheered.
Lilith's face was red with embarrassment, and anger, mostly directed a Kikimora. "Thank you, students, good luck with puberty."
With that snide remark Kikimora led the students down the hall, while Lilith took a different path towards the throne room. Luz decided to use this opportunity to see if she could get any information on what Belos was planning regarding Eda, so she followed Lilith. She moved as stealthily as she could through the halls, being extremely careful not to be spotted by Lilith or any of the Coven Scouts that roamed the halls.
Eventually, Lilith arrived at the throne room doors. The huge pair of doors opened and allowed the eldest Clawthorne sister entry before slamming shut behind her. Luz quickly ran down that same hallway and peeked through the keyhole that was at the enter of the doors. Inside she could see two large lamps with bellowing flames that lit the room, cogs and other machinery could be seen behind the throne, cogs and sprockets grinding and spinning. Above the throne was a giant beating heart that had tubes running around and into it and was wrapped in metal straps.
"Is that a giant heart?"
I…I don't know.
There were Coven Scouts standing sentry around the throne as Lilith approached the foot of the throne. Belos was in his throne, not looking well, and at his right was someone that Luz hadn't seen before. He wore a white cloak that covered his entire body, and unlike the rest of the Scouts, he wore a flat, gold colored mask.
Lilith got down on one knee before the Emperor and said, "I am at your service, Emperor Belos."
Belos seemed to be panting hard, whether this from exhaustion or pain was unknown to Luz, but something was wrong with him. Perhaps the attack from Pan had hurt him in some way? Another Coven Scout approached the throne and offered Belos a plate with a Palisman on it.
"Just a moment, Lilith," said Belos.
What Luz saw next shocked and horrified her. Belos took the Palisman into his left hand, and with his right index finger he cut into the Palisman, severing its wooden head. A greenish substance swished around inside the beheaded Palisman as Belos raised the Palisman over his head and allowed the green glowing essence to pour directly into his eyes.
"Ah, that's better."
Luz had seen enough as she hurriedly ran away from the throne room, she kept running until she found a room that was empty and closed the door behind her. Now alone, Luz could allow herself a moment to process what she just saw.
"He…He killed that Palisman!" Luz exclaimed.
"I was under the impression from your memories that these 'Palismans' were tools and companions for the magic users of this world. And yet, this Emperor casually beheads one and absorbs its magical essence. Judging from the way he performed the act; this hasn't been the first time he's has done this."
"You mean, he's probably killed more Palismans?! That's…That's just awful! Why would he need do that?!" Luz asked.
"Calm yourself, Niña. You're no good to me or yourself if you're worked up. As I said, it seems he was absorbing the magical essence of that Palisman, for whatever reason, absorbing that essence seems to have a rejuvenating effect on him. Perhaps there is something wrong with him, a secret illness that he does not want known outside these walls?"
"He has the Healing Hat, why would he need to do that?!" Luz argued.
"This whole world seems to be built upon secrets. Never forget this, Niña, these denizens of the Boiling Isles know only what they have been told, history is only the written record of the winner, after all."
Luz was starting to wonder what was going on, well it was just one more mystery to add to her plate. Defeating the Phantoms, figuring out who initiated the Sabbath ritual and what their purpose was, and finally, the mystery of Pan's warning and Belos' plans for the Boiling Isles.
"We'll figure that out later, but first things first, we have a hat to steal."
"If you're still adamant about that, which I know you are, then rest up here and regain some mana. Once the others have left, we will make our move."
An hour had passed since Luz hid from the rest of the group, it did make her wonder why Kikimora or her classmates hadn't noticed her disappearance yet. Luz finished up munching on a candy bar and looked outside the window to see if the carriage was still there. When she did look, Luz was surprised to see her classmates were leaving the castle.
"Please don't notice I'm gone. Please don't notice I'm…boarding the bus?"
Luz was shocked to see none other than herself on the bridge alongside Gus and Willow, it didn't make any sense. While Luz was occupied with looking at her doppelgänger down below, she didn't notice that a hand came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Luz yelped and swiftly turned around prepared to fight but stopped when she noticed that it was Willow and Gus in the room. Gus seemed to be concentrating hard as he maintained three spell circles, no doubt the one responsible for making the doubles of each of them.
"Guys…I…uh…" Luz stuttered as she tried to come up with an explanation.
Willow pulled her left hand from behind her back and showed off the notepad that Luz had scribbled her heist on. "You were planning on stealing the Healing Hat, weren't you?"
Luz knew she had been found out, so there was no point in lying her way out of this. "You got me. But you don't understand! Eda has this curse and it's sapping away her magic and–!"
"Luz, no matter what you can't steal this hat–"
"But you can borrow it!" Gus interjected.
Willow looked down at Gus and smirked. "Hey, I wanted to say that! We learned about Eda's curse from your notes, we're totally going to help you!"
Luz was touched by her friend's commitment to aiding her in this endeavor. "Thanks you guys. I know exactly what to do, we're going pull off a heist!"
The trio exited the room and hurried towards the Relic Room, along the way they had to dodge multiple Coven Scout guards and had to take a shortcut through the grate that Luz saw earlier. Thankfully it allowed them to cut across the halls and brought them very close to the entrance of the Relic Room, but when they got there, they found that there was a Scout standing sentry. Gus used his magic and created an illusion copy of Kikimora, which he used to order the guard to leave the area, and once the guard was gone, for giggles, Gus made his Kikimora illusion do the worm.
With that out of the way, the kids were free to enter the Relic Room. Luz saw the Healing Hat and rushed towards it, carefully she reached out and took hold of the relic, but upon doing so, she felt a rush of magical energy coursing through her body.
"Whoa…I can feel it! I can feel the magic flowing!" Luz exclaimed.
"You're not the only one, keep holding onto this thing. It's regenerating my mana!"
"Me too!" Gus exclaimed as he grabbed the Oracle Sphere. "Finally, I'll know how to become my best self!"
The Oracle Sphere glowed and in a matter of seconds produced a copy of Gus in front of him. The copy leaned in close and whispered into his ear, "You're always your best self!" The real Gus then proceeded to weep with happiness upon hearing this confirmation.
Meanwhile, Willow had let her own curiosity get ahold of her as she was now donning the Green Thumb Gauntlet. She infused a little of her magic into it and was rewarded with a large tree branch that took on the form of a buff arm before retracting back into the gauntlet. "Heh-heh, I just wanted to try it out," said Willow as she put the gauntlet back on its pedestal.
"Now we can cure Eda and get the hat back before anyone knows it's missing," said Luz confidently.
I will know…
Luz, Gus, and Willow's eyes widened with shock upon hearing the echoing voice within the room. Something wasn't right, it felt as if they were being watched.
"Did you feel that?"
Yes…I did…
"We need to go, now!" Luz stated.
No sooner had she said that did both entrances to the room were blocked by giant metal shutters.
Uh, La Lechuza, options?!
"We should have enough magic to use the Connect ring, but I'm not sure if it'll allow for all three of you to get through, one at the most."
"Uh, Luz, maybe you could portal us out here?" Gus asked.
"I just asked La Lechuza, she said that we don't enough magic power to get all of us out, one person maybe," said Luz.
"Then go, we'll be fine! You need to get that hat to Eda and cure her curse," said Willow.
Luz furrowed her brow and retorted, "Not without you guys! I'm not leaving you here!"
Willow sighed and grabbed the Green Thumb Gauntlet. "Then I guess we have only one choice, stand back!"
The Plant witch slammed gauntlet against the floor, when she did this gauntlet grew roots that pierced into the floor. A moment later, a tree with the physique and appearance of a bodybuilder burst forth. That same tree thrust out both of its arms forward, balling up its fists to become a battering ram. The tree's fists slammed into shutter, breaking through the metal shutter and the doors in one blow. All three teens were impressed by just how powerful the relic was, Willow especially. The tree shrunk and eventually was no more now that its intended task was complete.
"Whoa, c'mon, let's go!" Luz ordered as she ran for the door.
However, when she did, she found herself staring down the Palisman of a staff. That same staff hooked into her hood and pushed it back, revealing her round ears, when Luz looked at the owner, she saw that it was none other than Eda's sister, Lilith.
"Why if it isn't Eda's human pet, how perfect," said Lilith.
Luz took a step back and Lilith slowly advanced on her, the skilled witch before her seemed almost happy see her.
"Aren't I lucky to have found you."
"Stay away! If you touch us, Eda will come after you so fas–!"
Luz didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as Lilith used her magic to close the distance between them, bringing her face to face with the eldest Clawthorne sister. "That's the plan."
"RUN, LUZ!" Willow shouted.
Luz ducked out of the way as Willow created another tree branch arm. The large limb extended forward and grabbed Lilith's staff. The two played tug of war with the staff for a moment before Lilith sent a pulse of her magical energy through the branch, shattering it to pieces, she then wrapped Willow in an aura of magic and tossed her over her shoulder, making Willow roll on the ground before hitting the stairs. Lilith turned around and readied herself to capture Luz but stopped when she saw Gus stand up to her, alongside the Oracle Sphere projection.
"Wrong move, Lilith! It's two against one, and you don't stand a chance against–!"
Lilith poked the projection with her staff and made it go "poof". Gus' valiant effort earned him a toss in the same direction as Willow, which ended up having the young witch boy plow into his friend.
"Now, that doesn't belong to you," said Lilith as she shot out a stream of magical energy from her right hand.
That stream wrapped around the Healing Hat and tried to wrist the object from Luz's hands, but Luz wasn't about to let it go so easily. She held on for dear life, but their tug of war ended when the Healing Hat was torn by their struggle. The remains of the hat fell to the floor where it broke down and disappeared into particles of blue light.
Luz crawled to the spot where the hat had fallen, still in disbelief at what just happened. "No! I needed that to heal your sister!"
"These decrepit relics can't help my sister," said Lilith. The leader of the Emperor's Coven turned her attention to Luz's friends, who were starting to get back up. "If you want to see your friend again, deliver this to Edalyn."
Lilith tossed her staff towards the two teens, it scooped them both up and flew them out of the castle, leaving only Lilith and Luz in the room.
"Now then, human, let's get you ready," said Lilith as she reached towards Luz.
Luz slapped Lilith's hand away and glared at the witch with anger. "I'm trying to help your sister, and you just tore apart her best chance at her getting better!"
Lilith scoffed at the idea, "Please, human, there's only one person here who can help her, and I intend on bringing her to him, one way or another. She can hate me all she wants later, but at least she'll be curse free!"
"I don't trust him, I don't get why you do, but I won't let Belos do whatever he wants!" Luz declared as she reached into her pocket and took out the Driver On ring.
[Driver On, Please.]
In a flash of light, the WizarDriver appeared around Luz's waist.
"I don't think it's wise to battle her, we don't have that much magic."
We don't have a choice; she's not letting us go without a fight.
Lilith looked upon the Driver and ring and smirked. "Oh, lookie there, you have one of Edalyn's toys. I figured you'd have something like that, but Witch isn't going to save you."
Luz slipped on her Light Style ring and switched the Hand Author to the left side.
[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]
"This isn't a toy, and I don't have to wait for Witch to come and save me…she's already here! Henshin!"
[Light, Please.]
[HI~KA~RI!]
A yellow magic circle appeared before Luz, that same circle passed over her and, in the process, transformed the teen into her heroic alter ego, Kamen Rider Witch. Lilith stood there, mouth agape upon witnessing Luz's transformation, the slayer of the Phantoms, the mysterious hero who has defended the citizens of the Boiling Isles, was in fact the human girl.
"I…I don't believe this! Y-You?! A child! You're Kamen Rider Witch?!"
"I am, Lilith. You don't stand a chance of keeping me here, so get out of my way or I'll make you!" Witch warned.
This threw a wrench into her plans, Lilith was prepared to handle a magicless human girl, but Witch has proven that she's not only an equal to the Phantoms in terms of magical power, but more often than not she's their better. And now that same hero, vigilante, was standing right before her. Lilith's brow beaded with sweat, the plan was in motion, and Eda would come soon. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, if she didn't battle Witch she would lose her only leverage on Eda, but if she didn't, she'd be punished by Emperor Belos. For Lilith, the choice was clear.
Lilith drew a spell circle and had it hover over her wrist, she drew a second and used it to fire a blast of magical energy. Witch easily dodged the attack and charged straight for Lilith, when Witch closed in on Lilith, but Lilith used her first spell to increase her speed as she teleported a short distance away from the hero.
"We need to leave, now! That hat restored some of our power, but not enough for a prolonged fight!"
Then we'll end it quickly!
Luz unhooked the Illusion ring from her chain link activated it.
[Illusion, Please.]
In a matter of seconds, the entire room was flooded with multiple copies of Witch. Lilith hovered in the air for a moment as she saw the all the copies, unsure now who the real one was. A few of the copies jumped up to attack Lilith, but she used her short distance teleport to get away from them, but Lilith's escape only brought her close to another batch of the Witch copies, all of whom brandished a WizarSwordGun and fired a volley at her. Lilith teleported again but was now face to face with a group wielding the same weapon but in sword mode. All of them raised their swords and brought them down in an attempt to cut Lilith down.
Lilith drew another spell circle and hit the floor, creating an explosion that kicked up a dust cloud in the small room. The skilled witch moved stealthily across the floor, using this time to gather her thoughts and plan an attack against her opponent.
[Sight, Please.]
"You can't escape my eyes, Lilith!"
[Abomination, Please.]
Suddenly the floor began to feel sticky and goopy. Lilith looked down and saw that somehow the entire floor had been coated in Abomination goo. The leader of the Emperor's Coven used her teleportation to get above the goo, but Witch directed the goo to spread out, covering the walls as it reached up towards the ceiling. With another wave of her hands, Witch directed the goo to start shrinking. The Abomination goo continued to shrink as Lilith tried to find a way out of it, she looked like a firefly that was caught in a jar, bouncing against the walls as it tried to escape. And before Lilith knew it, Witch managed to trap her in a sphere of Abomination goo.
"Alright, threat neutralized! Now we can–!"
The sphere of Abomination goo suddenly exploded, flinging bits of the goo all over the Relic Room. Lilith landed on the floor, huffing a bit from the effort of blowing up the sphere from the inside. "I'll give you this, human, you're a crafty one!"
"She's oddly determined, isn't she?"
Yeah, unfortunately for us…
Lilith drew a spell circle and unleashed a torrent of flames at the hero, at the same time Lilith drew another spell circle that allowed her to phase through the floor. Witch on the other hand blocked the attack.
[Defend, Please.]
A wall of light appeared in front Witch and blocked the flames that would've hit her. At that moment, Lilith appeared behind Witch and struck her with a lightning spell, sending the hero flying to the other side of the room. Lilith didn't stop there, she needed to overwhelm Witch, so she cast multiple attack spells, lightning, fire, wind, and ice, all of these elements came careening towards Witch.
[Plant, Please.]
[Kooooooooo~jo~!]
All the elemental attacks struck at once, exploding mightily and shaking the room from their impact. Lilith smiled a little, but then her smile faded when she thought about what she did. "Oh no…crap! I should've held back!"
Luckily for her, when the smoke cleared, Witch was still standing, only now having switched her defense heavy Plant Style. "That was close."
"Any time now!"
"I know!"
[Fissure, Please.]
Witch struck the floor with her right foot, sending a wave of green magical energy that cracked the floor open. From that crack emerged several vines that lashed out a Lilith, the turquoise eyed witch began lobbing fireballs at the plants, setting them ablaze. However, the plants were relentless, for one vine she burned two more took its place, they would not be impeded from their mission. The vines eventually got their target, wrapping around her arms, legs, and torso. Smaller vines sprouted from the bigger trunks and began wrapping themselves around her fingers, locking them in place so that she was unable to draw anymore spell circles.
"Yes! And with that, Lilith, I'll take my leave!"
"I don't think so."
A cold chill ran up Witch's spine as she turned around and suddenly found herself face to face with Emperor Belos.
How did he–?!
"I didn't even sense him! RUN!"
Belos opened his right hand and released a powerful scarlet blast of a magical energy that washed over Witch's body. Sparks flew from her armor before that same stream of energy collected itself and released in a burst explosion that threw Witch into the air. The hero of hope landed on the floor, no longer moving. Her body shined with green light and when it faded, Luz was there, having been knocked out of her Rider form.
"E-Emperor Belos!" Lilith exclaimed.
Belos walked towards Luz, he regarded her for a moment but then turned his attention to Lilith. With a flick of his wrist, Belos coated the vines in his aura and shredded them to pieces, granting Lilith her freedom from the snare. "I felt a unique magical presence in my castle and came to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I found that the leader of my Coven was doing battle with Kamen Rider Witch. Explain, Lilith."
"Your Grace, I have found a way to get my sister to come to us, and that human was my plan, but now…I don't know, she's Witch, and I've never fought someone so powerful," said Lilith.
"Indeed, well then, if she's part of your plan, I'll leave it to you."
Belos walked out of the room, leaving Lilith and Luz alone. The eldest Clawthorne sister walked over to Luz and used her magic to remove the WizarDriver and the rings from Luz. "I can't have you changing again."
The sun was starting to set on the Boiling Isles, bathing the sky in hues of orange, red, and yellow. At the castle drawbridge, Lilith paced back and forth, awaiting the arrival of her sister. While, over her shoulder, standing and watching from the castle wall, was Emperor Belos, an ever-present reminder for her to deliver on what she promised, or she would face the immediate consequences.
"C'mon, Edalyn! You would be late when I need you most," said Lilith.
No sooner did Lilith speak those words did Eda appear in a crack of magical lightning. The Owl Lady's eyes glowed a fierce golden color as her aura raged around her like wildfire. The look on Eda's face was one of pure anger, this time, Lilith had gone too far. To further emphasize this, Eda hurled Lilith's staff at her, coated in her magical energy and giving it a boost of speed that allowed the staff travel as fast an arrow right past Lilith and embed itself in the stone wall of the castle.
Lilith turned her head to see where her staff landed, and honestly, she was surprised by the amount of force and power that was behind that attack, if that had hit Lilith was more than sure she'd have been killed. With that pleasant thought, Lilith turned back to address her sister, "Edalyn, I see you've gotten my invitation for a Witch's Duel."
Eda would normally give a witty retort of some kind, but she was not in any mood. Her only response was to shoot multiple magic bolts at Lilith before charging straight for her sister. Lilith deflected one of the bolts, but gasped when she saw Eda coming at her at full speed. Eda zipped around Lilith, as fast a lightning, Lilith saw another attack out of the corner of her left eye and quickly created a shield to block it. The shield shattered on impact, forcing Lilith to summon her staff. Her staff wiggled in the stone before dislodging itself and flinging itself towards her. With her staff in hand, Lilith went on the offensive and fired off her own magic bolts at Eda.
"Where is she?!" Eda demanded as she turned in midair and came for Lilith head on.
"Hold on," said Lilith as she held out her left hand in a stopping motion. Eda stopped, keeping about five feet of distance between them. "The human is safe."
Lilith twirled her staff around and slammed the butt of the staff against the ground. Upon doing so, a blue bubble flew out of the castle and appeared before them, a bubble that contained Luz.
"Eda!"
"You can have her back, provided you do as I say," said Lilith. "Renounce your wild ways and join the Emperor's Coven. He can help heal your curse!"
Eda scoffed at the drivel that her sister was spouting. "Don't believe everything that bonehead tells you! He doesn't want to heal me; he wants to control me!"
"Then I will take you in by force!" Lilith declared as she assumed an attack stance.
Eda descended from the air and landed on the bridge as she glared at her sister. "You've always looked down on me because I'm wild, but fortunately, that just made me work harder than you!"
The Owl Lady twirled her staff and slammed it against the bridge, in so doing, she activated the Battle Aura spell, but this time she was all kinds of ticked off. This showed as her aura briefly enlarged and took on the form of a giant owl that gave a low, but loud "Hoot!". The amount of magical power that this spell released made even Lilith flinch, even Luz was in awe of how much power Eda truly possessed. With the spell now active, Eda dashed across the bridge and struck her sister, the eldest Clawthorne spun in the air several times before stopping by activating her own Battle Aura spell.
Eda appeared behind Lilith and slashed at her with the staff, however, Lilith dashed away, appearing behind Eda to do the same. But Eda was quicker as she bolted from the spot, zigzagged, and came around to kick Lilith, but unfortunately Lilith managed to dodge that attack.
Down below, Luz watched as two streaks of blue and golden light fought in the air, slamming against it each other multiple times. "This is insane! We have to help her!"
"Our rings and Driver were taken from us! And you don't have any paper to draw a Glyph! For now, we must entrust our fate to Eda."
Lilith stopped and fired a beam of magical energy straight down, Eda stopped and looked towards where she was attacking, but it didn't take her long to figure out who she was aiming at. Eda dashed from the air and back down to the bridge, however, when she landed, the blast had already hit, causing the bubble to spin forward.
"LUZ!" Eda exclaimed.
Eda dashed across the bridge to get ahead of the bubble, using her magic, she wrapped several of the bridge's wooden planks to create a ramp that kept Luz's prison from rolling off the edge of the bridge, returning her safely to the middle. That distraction granted Lilith a chance to attack as she came down with an overhead strike with her staff, fortunately Eda saw the attack and dodged rolled out of the way just in time. Eda countered her big sister my making owl head constructs out of the stone of the bridge, all three of them wrapped themselves around Lilith, immobilizing her. Eda spun her staff around rapidly and brought it before her, the magical energy flowed through the staff and released a huge magical energy blast.
Lilith wasn't about to lose that easily, she flicked two of her fingers and commanded the bubble prison to move in front of her. When Eda saw this, she immediately curved the blast away and cancelled it before it could do any damage. The Owl Lady panted from the use of her magic and called out, "STOP HIDING BEHIND LUZ, YOU COWARD!"
Lilith smirked as she said, "It's sad to see you slowing down, sister! Tell me, is it the curse?!"
Eda growled at her sister, at the same time, the gemstone on Eda's chest was starting to get blacker by the second. Luz saw this and tried to tell Eda to stop, but her words were muffled by the bubble and made Eda unable to hear her young protégé.
"Maybe it is the curse, but then how pathetic are you that you can't best me at my worst!" Eda spun her staff around and created a large spell circle, that same circle then broke apart into medium and smaller sized circles that began rapid firing magic bolts at Lilith.
The owl head constructs released Lilith, grabbed Luz's, and flung her away from the Coven leader. Lilith hurriedly created a shield around herself as the blasts came raining down on her. "Maybe you are stronger than me, but that made me work smarter! I became sharp, crafty!"
"A LAP DOG FOR A TYRANT!"
"YOU ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ME! THAT I COULD NEVER BEAT YOU IN ANYTHING!"
"I AM BETTER THAN YOU!"
Lilith couldn't take this anymore, why was it that no matter how high her status was, in terms of power, she was always second best to her little sister? She became the leader of the Emperor's Coven, she outmaneuvered and outsmarted everyone who was gunning for the position, even Kikimora. In terms of magic, she was precise and flawless, and yet, here she was, getting overpowered by her cursed little sister. That curse was supposed to sap her power, that curse was supposed to make her weaker, and yet it only seemed to drive her little sister to get stronger. How was she better than her when…when…
"THEN WHY WERE YOU SO EASY TO CURSE?!" Lilith yelled.
The attacks stopped; the entire area grew silent aside from the sound of the wind. Eda dropped her staff and stared wide eyed at Lilith, for a moment she thought she had heard wrong, but her mind finally put the pieces together. The nightmare, or rather, the memory of the night she was cursed. For years the face of the perpetrator had always eluded her, but even so, it also felt familiar, like the curser was always close by but yet still far from her. For years she had no idea why this feeling persisted, or what it meant, but now, now it all made sense. Within Eda's mind, the shadowy veil of the curser was finally lifted, revealing a young Lilith Clawthorne, her own sister.
Luz's jaw dropped when she heard this revelation, she couldn't believe it, her own sister cursed her. Lilith was the one responsible for Eda's suffering this whole time.
"You…You did this to me," said Eda.
"I…I did, but I have the power to remove it, you just need to–!"
"Do you have, any idea what I have been through because of this curse?!" Eda asked indignantly.
"Edalyn please just–!"
"I've been through hell because of this curse!" Cracks started to appear on Eda's body, multiplying by the second. "I've been shunned, looked down on!" The cracks started to bleed out violet ethereal light. "I've hurt people, and even…even lost out on loving someone! ALL! BECAUSE! OF YOU!"
*Crack*
The cracks finally became visible as the ethereal light poured out of Eda, the Owl Lady fell to the ground as her body was wracked with pain, despair gripping her heart. Lilith dropped her own staff and rushed to Eda.
"EDA!" Lilith yelled. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU?!"
Eda couldn't reply as she was too busy screaming and yelling from the pain of the Phantomization process.
Lilith flicked her fingers towards Luz's bubble and made it come to her, with a swipe of those same fingers, she made the bubble disappear and release Luz. "Human, what's happening to her?!"
Luz looked upon Eda and shook her head as she said, "No, no, Eda's a Gate!"
"A what?!"
"A Gate! When a Gate is caught in the grips of despair, it allows the Phantom inside the Gate to come out! If I don't stop this, Eda's Underworld will be destroyed, and she'll become a Phantom!" Luz glared at Lilith and said, "Give me my Driver and rings, I have to save her!"
Lilith glanced between her little sister and Luz, trying to decide what the best course of action was, especially with the Emperor looking down from his perch.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! IF YOU DON'T LET ME HELP HER, EDA WILL DIE, AND THE PHANTOM WILL BE ALL THAT'S LEFT OF HER!" Luz yelled.
Lilith didn't think about it anymore, she drew a spell circle and from the circle all the items she confiscated from Luz were dumped onto the ground. "Just save my sister!"
Luz didn't need to be told twice, she immediately put on the WizarDriver and gathered her rings. "Henshin!"
[Light, Please.]
[HI~KA~RI!]
Bright light surrounded Luz and transformed her into Kamen Rider Witch. Witch knelt next to Eda's right and slipped on the Engage ring. "Don't worry, Eda, you've helped me in so many ways since I've come here. Now, it's my turn to help you! I'll become the hope you need!"
[Engage, Please.]
Witch stepped back as a magic circle appeared over Eda, the pain seemed to have stopped for the moment, but Witch knew she had to go in and deal with the Inner Phantom before it was too late. The hero of hope glanced towards Lilith and said, "When I'm done saving Eda, you and I are going to have some serious words, Lilith."With the warning given, Witch jumped and dove into the circle, diving straight down into Eda's Underworld.
~(EDA'S UNDERWORLD)~
Witch was deposited on a replica of the Boiling Isles, compared to the last couple of Underworlds, this one seemed a bit normal. In the distance she saw the Owl House, with replicas of herself, Eda, King, and Hooty. "I get it…we make Eda happy."
Suddenly, Witch heard a large creature screeching in the distance. Shortly after that sound she heard another one, but the second one sounded vaguely familiar for some reason. Wasting little time, Witch summoned her Speeder, hopped on, and took off into the air. Once in the air, Witch was able to see what it was that made those sounds, and what she saw made her jaw drop again.
"¡¿Qué demonios es esto (What in the world is this)?!"
Down below, Witch gazed upon two giant creatures battling each other. The first one she recognized looked just like Eda's Owl Beast form, in fact, she'd go so far as to say that this was the cursed Owl Beast itself. The gray feathered, black winged, four-legged monster was currently fighting another monster, the Phantom that was trying to escape. The creature was black feathered, with a long neck like a dragon's, it had three claws on its wings, and razor-sharp talons. The Phantom had three long tail feathers that would undulate up and down, the Inner Phantom possessed the face of an owl, colored white, with a black beak that was made of eight pincers, and four glowing red eyes.
The Inner Phantom screeched at the Owl Beast, and the Owl Beast roared at the Inner Phantom. The two creatures charged and slammed their bodies against each other. The Owl Beast slashed with its claws, digging into the Phantom and drawing some violet-colored blood, but the damage was quickly mended as the Phantom headbutted the Owl Beast before taking a swipe at it with its own clawed wings.
"Okay…I was not expecting a Kaiju battle…"
[OwlRise, Please.]
A magic portal opened in the sky and from it flew out La Lechuza, the mechanical white owl Phantom. The avian Phantom hovered next to Witch and then turned her keen vision onto the sight before them. "Well…this is new."
"I don't…does Eda have two Phantoms or…or is the Owl Beast actually trying to save Eda?" Witch asked.
"Unlikely, as far as saving goes. That creature must see Strix as an invader in its territory, it knows that the Phantom is a threat to its host and is seeking to eliminate it before it erases Eda. Otherwise, I believe the curse will be erased as well. You know, this might be a great opportunity for us."
"What do you mean?" Witch asked.
"Let them fight. Strix is a Phantom, and that cursed creature has no chance of winning against it. Let Strix kill the Owl Beast, and then Eda's curse will be lifted, and afterwards, we can finish off Strix. It'll be weakened, if even just a little bit, and will make it easier for us to defeat it. Or if you prefer, we can wait for the precise moment they're together and take them both out at once. As much as I hate this analogy, we kill – literally – two birds with one stone."
Witch contemplated La Lechuza's strategy, it did sound good. If they allowed the Inner Phantom to keep fighting the Owl Beast, there was a high chance that the Owl Beast will be destroyed and Eda would be freed of her curse, and once Witch destroyed the Phantom, Eda would no longer be a Gate anymore. Or the other option was to attack at a good moment and take them both out at the same time. Both plans had their merits, and both were smart moves either way. But the more that Witch looked upon the Owl Beast, the more she wondered about it.
The Owl Beast was obviously struggling against Strix and surely was going to be destroyed, but as Witch watched it fight, her eyes met with the creature. For the briefest of moments, she felt something for this creature, despite knowing that it has only caused Eda pain throughout her life, there was something in its eyes. A sadness, a sense of hopelessness, but there was also a will to fight, to live.
Witch growled as she hit the dashboard of her Speeder with her fist, coming to a decision that she probably knew she was going to regret later. "We're going to help the Owl Beast…"
La Lechuza looked at Witch with shock and disbelief. "I'm sorry, did you just say that you want to help that cursed creature? Niña estas loca (Child are you crazy)?!"
"Look, I don't understand it either! But…I feel as if that Owl Beast doesn't want to be here, but it's stuck here, and doesn't want to die. You and the Owl Beast are kinda the same in that regard," said Witch.
"Do NOT compare me to that lowly creature!" La Lechuza glanced between the Owl Beast and Strix and released a frustrated sigh. "I don't want to hear you regret this decision later."
"I hope I don't. By the way, how do you know its name?"
"Believe it or not, that's my sister."
"…You've got to be kidding me."
"No, I am not."
"And you're fine with destroying her?"
"I say 'sister' but we Phantom's have no blood relation. She's only my 'sister' in terms of both of us originating from a similar creature. She's an owl and I'm an owl, our relation ends there."
"Guess theme for today is sister betrayal, perfect…"
Witch brought the Speeder behind La Lechuza, activating the docking sequence as the Witch Speeder attached itself to the back of La Lechuza and activated its hard-light wing blades. Now armed, La Lechuza dove straight down for Strix.
Strix bashed the Owl Beast across the head sending the creature rolling across the ground and destroying several trees in the process. The black feathered monster opened its eight pincers and channeled its magical energy to fire a beam at the Owl Beast, but before it could do this, La Lechuza swooped in and slashed Strix across the back with her hard-light feathers. The Inner Phantom lost its concentration and screeched in pain from the attack.
"Hello, sister, miss me?!"
Strix's reply was a threatening screech as it flared its wings and took off after them. La Lechuza began to enact her aerial maneuvers as she dove, spiraled, and ascended at different intervals, making it hard for Strix to properly aim at her. Strix didn't seem to care as it opened its mouth fired off multiple shots of dark energy at the duo. Fortunately, La Lechuza was more than nimble enough to dodge every single blast, she did a one-eighty degree turn and came back towards Strix, just before Strix could loose another blast, La Lechuza dove under Strix and slashed at its underbelly with her wings.
Strix released a painful screech as it turned and fired a huge beam of dark energy. That beam began to rake all over the Underworld, cracking the sky and ground below, indiscriminately destroying everything, not even caring if it hit La Lechuza and Witch.
"Every bit the sore loser she always was. She's not going to bother with us, she's just going to destroy the Underworld and take us with it!"
"Let's take it down then!"
La Lechuza rose higher into the air, but Strix raked its beam upwards and cut off La Lechuza. The white owl turned around tried to ascend again, but Strix saw this and swiped the beam at them, keeping the hero and her Phantom from gaining the necessary height needed to deliver their finishing blow. So concentrated was Strix in this effort, that it forgot that it was fighting two opponents. The Owl Beast flew up behind Strix and dug its claws into its back, the beam attack ceased as the cursed creature slashed and tore at the wings of Strix, forcing it out of the sky. The two monsters hit the ground hard, sending up a plume of dirt that obscured them from view.
"Do it now!"
Witch growled, she couldn't see where the Owl Beast was, but she knew she had to defeat the Inner Phantom quickly. Eda's Underworld was deteriorating much faster now after Strix's attack, and to make things worse, her mana was dangerously low.
[ VERY NICE, KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS! ]
Witch jumped off La Lechuza's back as her Inner Phantom transformed into a giant foot. The hero of hope came down with a flying kick and connected with the seat of the Speeder, initiating the final attack. The mechanized foot and Witch descended from the sky as a giant silhouette of Witch was created out of shimmering yellow sparkles of magical energy. The dust plume was blown away as Strix flared its wings and prepared to fire again, however, the Owl Beast came rushing in and slashed at Strix's face, blinding it and preventing it from firing again.
With the Inner Phantom wounded, Witch and La Lechuza delivered a giant Rider Kick to the Inner Phantom, obliterating Strix in an explosion of yellow magical light. That same light washed over Eda's Underworld, mending the cracks, and fixing all the damage her inner space had sustained thanks to Strix. La Lechuza returned to her original form and flew away back to Luz's Underworld, leaving Witch alone with the Owl Beast. The creature regarded Witch for a moment, and Witch did the same to the Owl Beast. After a tense moment, the Owl Beast walked away from Witch and disappeared.
She wasn't sure how to take that, but Witch hoped that maybe this was the first step towards something for Eda and the Owl Beast. With her task complete, the portal opened before her and Witch stepped into it, exiting the Underworld.
~(EDA'S UNDERWORLD)~
Lilith paced back and forth as she awaited the return of the human girl, it had been at least a minute since Witch dove into the portal, but nothing had happened. Just then, Witch jumped out of the portal and returned to the Overworld, and when she did, the cracks on Eda's body completely vanished. Witch's body glowed and when the light faded, she had returned to being Luz.
"I hate to say this, Niña, but my mana is near empty. We can't cast any spells or transform."
It's fine…Eda isn't a Gate anymore. The only thing left is…
Eda awoke, feeling groggy from her experience as she looked around for a second. "What the…What happened to me?"
Luz turned to her mentor and said, "You fell into despair, and as it turns out, you were Gate."
"Me?! I'm a Gate?!" Eda asked in shock.
"Not anymore, I destroyed the Phantom inside you. One less monster to worry about," said Luz.
Eda smiled at the human girl and said, "Thanks kid." The Owl Lady turned her attention back to her sister and glared at her. "I can't believe you did this to me…!"
"I did, but I can fix it – he can fix it! Please, Edalyn, just join the Emperor's Coven and we can put this all behind us!" Lilith begged.
"Tch, there's no 'putting this behind us', Lily! You cursed me, I can't trust you, and I damn sure don't trust HIM! So, take your coven and shove it!" Eda retorted.
Lilith sighed heavily. "Then, I'm sorry it has to come to this."
The eldest Clawthorne sister's hand glowed with magical energy, and in an instant, Luz's body was wrapped in her magical aura. With a flick of the wrist, Luz was flung off the edge of the bridge and fell towards the spike filled pit below. Luz screamed bloody murder as she watched the spikes getting closer and closer, but at the last second, a golden aura wrapped around her body and stopped Luz from hitting the spikes.
When Luz looked up, she saw that Eda was the one who stopped her untimely death by impalement. "EDA, NO, STOP! YOU'LL RUN OUT OF MAGIC!"
"It's my power, kid! And before you showed up, I spent my whole life wasting it," said Eda as she struggled to keep Luz from falling.
Lilith added onto her little sister's struggle by conjuring a hand construct that appeared over Luz. That same construct began pushing Luz down, forcing Eda to use more power to keep Luz from getting killed. Lily you witch!
"EDA, NO, NO, STOP!" Luz begged.
Eda looked down at her gemstone, she knew her time was up, she knew what needed to be done. She would go away, Luz would be sad, but the Boiling Isles needed her more than it needed Eda the Owl Lady. It needed its hero, it needed Kamen Rider Witch to not only defeat the Phantoms, but to put an end to Emperor Belos' tyranny. For all the things she had done in her past, with her last bit of magic, Eda swore she was going to do something good with it as her last conscious act.
"Alright, kid, listen to me. I'm going away, and I don't if I can bounce back this time. Watch over King…Remember to feed Hooty…"
"Please…no…" Luz begged again.
"Luz remember…you didn't wait around for a prophecy…you made your own destiny…you…you became a hero…my hero, too…so…go on…keep being a hero…protect the people of this island…" The gemstone was almost black, and Eda's eyes had been completely taken over by the inky black substance of the curse. "And Luz…thank you…for being in my life…"
With her final words spoken, Eda released the last of her magic in a powerful burst of light that flooded the entire area. When this blast went off, Owlbert detached from Eda's staff and flew straight down the pit towards Luz. For a moment, the magic that held Luz faltered and she once again fell towards the spikes, but the aura returned and kept her from hitting the pit. Owlbert flew in and grabbed Luz by the hood of her uniform, the diminutive size of the Palisman belayed its strength as it carried Luz all the way out of the chasm and back onto the bridge.
Luz quickly rushed to Eda's side, worry gripping her heart as knelt before her mentor. "Eda…?"
Suddenly, Eda released a loud, primal, bestial screech. Her body began to grow larger as it morphed into the form of the Owl Beast. Luz fell on her rear as she looked up at the monster, for a moment, it did nothing, it sniffed her, and looked at her closely. Its attention was then turned to Lilith, and its fierceness returned as it charged for her. Lilith was ready as she conjured a magical net that snared the Owl Beast.
"Come along, sister. Now we can let the healing begin," said Lilith. "And as for you…"
"Leave her," echoed the voice of Belos from his perch.
"But, your majesty, she's–!"
"I know what she is, Lilith, but she is not our priority." With those words spoken, Emperor Belos walked away.
Lilith felt proud in this moment, despite everything that happened, her mistake all those years ago would finally be undone.
"YOU MONSTER!" Luz screamed as she attacked Lilith.
She tried to get her into a headlock as Owlbert flew in to attack, but Luz's efforts were futile as Lilith, being a witch, was physically stronger than Luz. She grabbed the human girl by her shirt and lifted her up as she walked them to the other side of the bridge and threw her onto it. Owlbert was about to fly to Luz, but Lilith snatched the Palisman out of the air.
"Leave, human! Edalyn is finally with her family – her real family." Lilith struck the bridge with the butt of her staff, activating the mechanism that made it retract towards the castle. "Go back to your world, this one is ours."
The doors to the castle slammed shut, and with that, Eda was gone. Luz had lost…
It was a long, long walk back to the Owl House, but Luz hardly noticed. La Lechuza kept trying to talk to her, but Luz gave no reply to the Inner Phantom. Everything happened so fast, everything went so wrong, she wanted to save Eda, but in the end, it was because of her that her mentor was captured and now, she was possibly lost to the Owl Beast curse forever.
Luz slept in the woods that night, La Lechuza acted as her guardian and kept watch over her sleeping body to make sure that no wild demons would attack her. Her rest was restless as Luz's mind replayed the events again and again in her head in a near endless loop, even though she knew what to do to stop it all from happening, her dream wouldn't allow her, as if punishing by saying "This is why you lost! It's your fault!"
La Lechuza woke Luz up a little early before the sun rose and pushed Luz to keep walking to the Owl House. Luz didn't know if it was La Lechuza or just instinct that allowed her to make it all the way back to the Owl House, but before she knew it, she was back to the place that she had called home for the past month now. The sun had just risen, chasing away the shadows of night and ushering in a new day.
Hooty smacked his beak as he awoke and noticed Luz approaching, the house demon then said, "Oh, Luz, there you are."
"Hi…Hooty." Luz replied.
The human girl opened the door and entered the living room, it was semi dark inside as the lights weren't on and the sun wasn't high enough yet to pour in enough light. It felt empty inside without Eda, Luz never realized how empty it felt until now. For some reason there were streamers hanging from the ceiling, and a cake was on the table alongside a present.
Just then, King burst out of the cake and said, "The cake is meeeee!" King looked around and saw that Luz was all alone. "Hey, um, where's Eda?"
Upon hearing her name, Luz broke down, her eyes watered as the strength left her legs. Luz slumped onto her knees and began to cry, the weight of everything that had happened finally hit her all at once as her heart ached for what transpired. Hooty extended himself from the door as a worried look appeared on his face, King hopped out of the cake and went to Luz's side, patting her on the leg as he looked up sympathetically at his surrogate big sister.
"Luz, what's wrong? Hoot." Hooty asked.
"They…They got her…and it's all my fault…"
"Who? Who's got her?" King asked.
"Emperor Belos…he…they have Eda…"
"Luz, don't worry, Eda will find a way out," King assured her.
Luz shook her head as the tears came down more. "No…she won't…"
"Why?" Hooty asked.
"She's gone…The curse…the curse has taken over Eda. And its all my fault…"