A/N: Good new everyone, I might be able to squeeze in two more chapters for "Heroes From Another World" before the premier of Amphibia and Owl House next Saturday! More than likely they will be released on Thursday and Friday.
I'm gonna be itching to write more chapters for these two stories, especially the Amphibia story since I just saw what the episode titles are. This last half is going to be EPIC!
"KING?! KIIIIING! PLEASE, COME BACK!" Luz yelled.
She felt horrible when she saw the look on King's face. The look of utter betrayal, of having his world view shattered in an instant, finding out that his life was nothing but a lie. It hurt her, but she knew that King was in even more pain. Luz knew she should have said something, but it was not as if she could disprove anything he said, she was not from the Boiling Isles, so there was a chance that what King was telling her was the truth, and if Eda had not said anything, she might have still believed it. Now, here they were, looking around for their friend who was hurting.
"King…where could you have gone…" Luz spoke.
Lilith sighed dejectedly as she came down from her staff, having tried multiple times to get above the canopy, but failing each time. "I can't fly. The tree cover is too dense. I regret ever playing a part in this.
"Is this what regret feels like? I HATE IT!" Hooty sobbed as he draped himself of Lilith's left shoulder.
Luz sighed as she sniffled, a few tears dropping as she, too, blamed herself. "I lied to him, even thorough I knew he trusted me. I wanted to let him keep believing he was a king because he reminded me of myself. Now, he's all alone."
Eda walked over to her apprentice and padded her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. If anyone is to blame, it's me. I shouldn't have let him keep believing that stuff for all these years. I knew one day that this was going to happen, and it would hit him all the harder when it did. But we didn't have much, so, I let him believe it." Eda sighed. "For now, let's split up. This island is small, and he's even smaller. He can't have gone far."
Luz wiped her eyes free of her tears and stood up, turning her gaze towards the tower as she narrowed it. "I'm going back into the tower."
"What?!" Hooty exclaimed.
"Luz, are you crazy?!" Eda asked.
"My buckle is still in there. Without it, I can't use my rings, or transform. And if we want to find King faster, I have to get it back. With my Sight ring, I could see through all of this dense forest, with the Beast Keeping ring, I could make animals constructs and spread them over the island," Luz explained.
Lilith glanced at the tower and then looked back at her little sister. "As much as I don't like it, Luz does have a point, Edalyn. Searching for King will go a lot faster if she uses her magic."
Eda ran her hand through her hair and said, "Fine, we'll go back into the tower, find your buckle, and get the heck outta there and start looking for King."
Luz shook her head. "No, I said I'll go. You guys should keep looking for him. Every moment King is out there could be a moment he's in trouble, you two need to find him."
Without waiting for a response from her mentor or Lilith, Luz ran towards the tower. She could hear Eda saying something to her, but she ignored it. Luz wanted to make this right, and she was determined to do so.
"You know going in without their backup is possibly suicide, right?" La Lechuza asked.
It might be, but I need to find King, I need to help him! ¡No importa qué (No matter what)!
"Stubborn as always, very well then. ¡Vamos chica (Let's go, girl)!"
Luz arrived at the entrance to the tower, carefully, she moved closer and closer. She peeked over the rocks to see if the sentry was still there. Luz did not see it, but that did not mean that it was not lurking about somewhere. Before she went in, Luz took inventory of her remaining glyph papers. She had one Light Glyph, two Fire Glyphs, three Ice, three Plant Glyphs, and three of her newly made Invisibility Combo Glyph. She regretted not packing more. Usually, she had twenty-four glyph papers on her at all times in her back pockets, three of each glyph. But since Luz did not think this trip was going to be all that dangerous, she decided to just bring her fifteen, and decided if things got really bad, she could use her rings.
Okay, it's dark in there, and I'm sure it can see in the dark. I won't get enough chances to look. That think doesn't seem like it can be killed, Lilith spiked it and it still kept coming, and Eda bombed it with her potions, and it only seemed to slow it down.
"And that might be our only chance, we won't be able to kill it, not with what we have. But it can be immobilized, if for only a short time. We focus on delaying and stunning the creature as much as possible."
Agreed.
Luz decided to go big with her last Light Glyph. Funneled her mana into the paper and held it between her hands. The light inside of her hands began to shine brighter, and brighter. The light started to shine through the gaps in her hands, as if wanting to be let out. Luz picked a spot in the air and willed the orb in her hands to fire straight up at that spot. The orb of light did as she commanded and flew until it was at the center of the room, about fifty feet off the ground.
The Latina thrust out her right hand and then clenched it into a fist as she cried out, "Burst!"
The orb of light expanded in an instant, filling the room with light, and chased away all the shadows inside. Luz inhaled deeply and held her breath as she pressed the Invisibility Combo Glyph against her chest and disappeared. The sentry appeared, dropping down from the roof, it seemed confused by the orb of light that was shining in the room, not sure if it as an enemy. Luz ran out towards it, holding her breath as she did so. She imbued a Plant Glyph with her mana and slapped it onto the sentry's back, falling backwards to avoid it cutting her. She quickly did the same thing again, but this time with her Ice Glyph, slapping a second one on its chest.
With that taken care of, and her lungs burning, Luz ran over to where she remembered the buckle falling towards. When she arrived, she was on the verge of passing out. It was now or never. Luz gasped loudly as she took in the life-giving air, panting from making all those moves and not taking a single breath. The moment she did, the sentry spotted her and was about to attack, but Luz quickly snapped her fingers as she focused on the Plant Glyph. The paper on its back erupted forth with multiple vines, surprising the sentry. The vines wrapped around it, binding it as tight as it could, and then impaling those same vines into the ground to take root and anchor it.
Luz quickly went to work and began searching through the debris, with La Lechuza acting as her second pair of eyes to keep watch on the monster through her extrasensory abilities. It's gotta be around here! C'mon! C'mon! Unfortunately, her tactic only bought her a minute of search time as the sentry managed to hack through its restraints, allowing it to fall out of the winding vine trap. After shaking that off, the sentry made ran towards Luz again.
"Niña! Second spell! Now!" La Lechuza warned.
Luz quickly snapped her fingers again, focusing on the Ice Glyph. The paper on the sentry's chest glowed a bright blue, it seemed to have figured out that what was about to happen and made to rip it off, but it was too late. The Ice Glyph exploded and encased the sentry in a giant block of ice, frozen in place mid grab.
Hopefully that lasts longer, thought Luz.
The Latina's eyes roved over everything, searching for her Hand Author buckle. It had to be there somewhere, but where? A minute had passed, and so far, the sentry remained in its ice prison. Luz was getting a little desperate, she had to find it now. Thirty seconds later she could hear the ice starting to crack.
"¡Apurarse (Hurry)! ¡Nos estamos quedando sin tiempo (We're running out of time)!"
¡Sé (I know)! ¡Sé (I know)! Wait…AH-HA!
Something shined a few feet in front of her, Luz ran to the shiny object and dropped to her knees in front of it, and there it was, the Hand Author buckle. "FOUND YOU!" Luz put the buckle close to her waist and activated her ring.
[Driver On, Please.]
The WizarDriver appeared around her waist, locking itself in place. Just in time for the sentry to break out of its ice prison as it dashed towards Luz at full speed. Luz smirked as she activated another of her spell rings.
[Defend, Please.]
A barrier of light quickly sprang up around Luz, protecting her from the attacks of the sentry. "Sorry, I can't play with you right now. I have a friend to find."
[Connect, Please.]
A magic portal opened beneath Luz, allowing her to fall right through it and leave the inside of temple.
King ran through the woods, his tears flying through the air as he did. He did not know where he was going, and he did not care. It was all a lie, everything that he believed about himself, about his life, was nothing but a fantasy that Eda allowed him to indulge in. How many times did he make himself look like a fool in front of others, proclaiming to be a king, announcing himself as the ruler of all demons? Thinking of that now made him feel even worse, he must have looked like a complete idiot. Sure, he took their scornful looks, and their dismissiveness of his claims, but only because he believed deep in his heart that he was the "King of Demons". But now…he knew he was not, and never was.
In his frantic state of running, King missed an upturned root and tripped on it, he rolled along the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop in a clearing. He did not bother to get up, because King believed that was where he belonged, in the dirt, nothing but an ordinary demon.
"I'm so stupid…" King cried. "I wish Eda never found me…"
"What's all this commotion about?"
King's head rose, and when it did, he saw someone emerge from the bushes in front of him. The being that stood before him was another demon, his hair was long and black, covering half of his face. His eyes were sharp, with one green eye staring down at King. He wore maroon-colored robes, with cold accents on them, and crimson colored skin. The demon had three clawed hands, which were interlaced in front of him as he looked down at the little demon.
"W-Who are you?!" King asked.
"Eitchilon, now, I believe I asked you a question. What are you bawling about?" he asked again.
King got up and wiped his face from the tears. "Nothing…"
"It does not look like nothing. I thought this island was deserted, but it seems I was wrong," said Eitchilon.
"I was born here…but…I don't know anything anymore…" King admitted.
The cracks on King's body were steadily growing in number, releasing more of the ethereal violet light from within.
Eitchilon raised an eyebrow at the little demon and said, "I see, you are lost little one. As am I." The demon walked closer to him and knelt before King. "I left the mainland to find a place where I could belong, but before I could, I had to accept something."
"What…" King asked.
"The pain of being not believed, the despair that it brought shook me to the core, and I dwelled in it, but in so doing, I found the light. Through pain and despair, that is the way to find the good and the light. You are in pain young one, do not deny it, wallow in it, let that pain and despair wash over you, give into it, and I promise you will find the answers you seek," said Eitchilon.
King was desperate, he did not know what to believe anymore, but he wanted to believe someone. But most of all, he just wanted to stop feeling so confused, and so, he did as the demon asked. King allowed himself to wallow more and more in that despair, letting it fill his heart, and body to the point that he fell to his knees and began crying again.
"That's it, my child, you're almost there."
The cracks started appearing rapidly now, spreading all over King's body until…
*Crack!*
King cried out in pain as the cracks enlarged and ethereal violet light began to pour out of his body. "W-W-What's happening?! AAAAAH!"
Eitchilon stood up and raised his arms to the air and spoke, "Rejoice, my young friend, you are about to be reborn! This is the pain I spoke of, and soon, you will be reborn into the new light!"
Suddenly, a magic circle appeared a few feet from where King was, and out of it dropped Luz. The Latina rubbed her rear from the hard landing, but that was immediately forgotten when she saw King undergoing Phantomization. "KING!" Luz rushed to her little friend and cradled him in her arms. "KING, IT'S ME, LUZ! FIGHT IT! ¡POR FAVOR ESPERE (Please hold on)! ¡NO TE RINDAS A LA DESESPERACIÓN (Don't give into the despair)! DON'T LET YOURSELF TURN INTO A PHANTOM!"
"A-A Phantom?! I-I'm a GATE?!" King exclaimed.
Eitchilon raised an eyebrow at the young girl, and something about her disgusted him. "You know of the divine transformation, and yet you don't celebrate it? And you're a human, how interesting."
"Who are you?! What did you say to him?!" Luz demanded.
"I simply helped him. It is only through despair that we can evolve into something greater!" Eitchilon preached. "Just like I did. I, who was called a heretic, and why? Because I did not believe in Emperor Belos' claims of being the sole person who could 'speak to the Titan'? How presumptuous! Does he think he is the only apostle to the Titan?! What beyond being a powerful witch grants him that right?! No, I believe that he is a false prophet, a spreader of lies!"
"Well, he's not wrong so far."
"And then I happened upon a revelation. It's all a bunch of crap. He invokes the Titan's name, only to get what he wants, through false divine appointment and his power. So, why not cash in on that myself? It's amazing what people will believe when you have a tyrant running things, and even more amazing when you offer people a belief that they will be freer if they follow you."
"You…You tried to start an uprising against Belos?!" Luz asked.
Eitchilon chuckled at the notion. "An 'uprising'? Nothing so mundane! I tried to start a REVOLUTION! But…I underestimated his network and capabilities, and those who followed me were captured. I was still on the run, ready to cultivate more gullible minds to the cause. But then I was captured by someone and brought to a great gathering, and it was under the light of a red moon that I was baptized and reborn!"
Another person from the Sabbath ritual…I guess that's a good thing, he's not someone who was recently changed.
"And now, I am a new being! I now see that I was wrong! The Titan is no longer the deity we a believe it to be when there are more powerful beings beyond it! And I have become one of them! Here, upon this island, I shall build my church, and we will usher in a new era in the Demon Realm!"
"And there it is. The false prophet eventually falling prey to his own lies."
He's a Rogue Phantom, but one that wants to make more, just so he can command his own army.
"Huh, this guy could end up creating a civil war among Phantoms. That would be interesting, normally we can be at odds with each other, but more often than not, we share a similar need to conquer and destroy. Normally, we are led by strong Phantoms, and those who emerge into the physical realm become much stronger than in the realm we hail from, but that's also relative to how strong they were in that world."
Luz looked down at King, he seemed to be hanging on, but she did not know for how much longer. "Don't worry, King. I'll save you, but first, I need to take care of him. Can you hold on a little longer for me?"
King nodded his head the best he could.
Luz gently kissed his forehead and laid him down about ten feet from where Eitchilon was. Once she had, Luz turned around and glared at the demon before switching the Hand Author's position.
[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]
"You hurt my friend. I can't forgive you for that. Henshin!"
[Plant, Please.]
[Kooooooooo~jo~!]
A green magic circle appeared beneath her and rose. As it passed over her, the circle changed her, donning her in the armor of Kamen Rider Witch: Plant Style.
"Ah, I thought that there was something about you that disgusted me. You are one who twists the divine power and corrupts it. I will cast divine punishment upon you!"
Eitchilon was suddenly wrapped in dark energy, shedding his demon form and revealing the Phantom behind the façade. The creature stood about six feet tall, with flaming eyes that glared right at Witch. The Phantom had a dragon-like face and long neck, with wriggling facial tendrils around the sides of its face. It had large leathery wings on its back, with three talons at the joints. The Phantom had an opal shaped orange gemstone at the center of its chest, and four long claws on each of its hands. The monster had dark green scales all over its body, with some forming a kind of exoskeletal armor around its shins, thighs, forearms, and shoulders. Its mouth consisted of two large incisors, like beaver teeth, on both the bottom and the top rows of teeth, and the rest were sharp fangs.
"Behold my divine form! My ascended state! I am Jabberwock!" he proclaimed.
That is, one messed up looking dragon, thought Witch.
Witch got into a ready stance, she wasn't sure what this new Phantom could do, and it was even more dangerous since it was a Rogue Phantom. Jabberwock flared its wings and charged straight for the hero, Witch dug her heels into the ground and clashed with Jabberwock, locking her hands with his claws. Witch gritted her teeth as her feet cut grooves into the earth, the hero of hope dug her heels in further and stopped her advance. She broke their lock and struck Jabberwock in the chest with a palm heel strike, causing a few sparks to fly off it, she then spun in place and hit him with an elbow strike, forcing the tall dragon Phantom back.
"What strength you have, well, at least this won't be a boring!" Jabberwock stated as he backed away from Witch.
The Phantom inhaled deeply and released a bellowing blast of flames, but they looked strange. The flames looked like a sparkling stardust, and black space. Witch raised her arms and took the attack head on, the flames washed over her and caused several sparks to ignite off her armor, causing some to her. But it wasn't over, Jabberwock breathed out more of his strange flames and ignited the trees around them, the fire continued to spread, slowly, but surely engulfing the surrounding area.
"What's wrong with you!? You'll burn down the whole island!" Witch exclaimed.
"Only that which I don't need, and with these flames…" Jabberwock held out his claws, and the flames gathered to them, forming fire gauntlets with larger claws than he already possessed. "I can do anything!"
Jabberwock pressed his attack again, this time swiping at Witch. His blow managed to uproot Witch from her position and threw her to the ground a couple of feet away. Witch rolled on the ground for a second before quickly recovering. Deciding that backup was needed, she quickly put on the Beast Keeping ring and activated it.
[Beast Keeping, Plea–]
Suddenly, the spell stopped, and the glow of her Hand Author buckle faded. "What?! What's going on?!"
"HA, HA! You should not have let me cast my flames. For in this hallowed ground, I control what happens!" Jabberwock stated.
"A magic cancelling field of some kind. This is bad."
Jabberwock flared his wings and rose into the air, just barely touching the canopy above. The dragon Phantom flew down and barreled into Witch, pinning her to the ground as he readied to unleash more of his strange flame. Witch tucked her legs in and kicked him in his stomach, forcing the monster off her. But before she could get away, Jabberwock commanded his flames to turn into a whip. The whip wrapped itself around Witch's left leg, and with a powerful tug, he whipped Witch into the air and right back down into the dirt with a powerful "thud!" sound.
The Jabberwock chuckled at the misfortune of his opponent, unable to use her magic at all. The Phantom retched up more of its flames, and from them he created four fire goblins that snickered and chortled in a mocking fashion. The fire goblins attacked Witch, one of them kicking her in the gut, forcing her up into the air. The second jumped into the air and came down with a double hammer fist to the middle of her back, forcing her back to the earth. Two more grabbed her legs and tossed her straight for Jabberwock, who unleashed more of his flames, causing an explosion that threw Witch to the other side of the battlefield.
Witch coughed from the onslaught, the defensive increase of Plant Style was barely doing anything to protect her, actually, now that she took a moment to think, it was not working at all. I think he nullified my strength and my defensive boosts from Plant Style…
"I noticed as well. That damn dragon has cut us off from our rings and cancelled out our abilities!"
Witch propped herself up on her forearms and looked in the direction of King, somehow, he was still holding on. The heroine clenched her fists, she was part of the reason why he was in that much pain, and if she did not stop it, he would become a Phantom and be used by this monster. The hero of hope grunted as she stood up and glared at Jabberwock. She took off her Plant Style ring and replaced it with the new Fire Owl ring, once she had, she switched the Hand Author into its transformation setting.
[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]
Witch placed her ring at the Hand Author, but it fizzled out and did nothing. But she did not give up, Witch switched it back, and tried again, however, the result was the same.
"Give up child, and receive your holy punishment with grace," said Jabberwock.
"I'm not giving up! I WON'T give up! This is my magic! The power that comes from me and La Lechuza! Nothing is impossible for us! And…I won't let you get away with hurting KING!"
[Shabadoobi touch to henshin! Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]
The Fire Owl ring shined brightly as Witch placed it over the Hand Author.
[FIRE OWL.]
[Moyasu! MO~YA~SU!]
A giant, flaming construct owl burst into existence behind Witch and covered her with its wings. In a flash of red light Witch had entered her newest Super Form. The sigil markings on her robe had changed to red, with the Fire Glyph stamped on her back. The wings on her helmet were red as well, along with the gemstone breast plate, helmet, greaves, the circular hovering pauldrons' gemstone, and bracelets. The eyes of the helmet were the same as Fire Style and she had the Fire Glyph carved onto a plate on the chest. Witch could feel her magical energy surging like a raging inferno inside of her.
"It's showtime, fellas!"
"That's not possible! You shouldn't be able to do any magic! Tch, no matter, I'll just take away your power again!"
Jabberwock bellowed forth his strange flames. Witch quickly took out her next new ring and activated it.
[ VERY NICE, QUETZALCOATL! FABULOUS! ]
The flames bathed over Witch, but for only a moment as a burst of crimson flames that burned away the flames of Jabberwock. A burning owl construct appeared behind her, and merged with her, creating metallic wings on her back, the Owl Wings. Jabberwock kept up his flames, and even breathed them harder to try and stop her, but his efforts were useless.
Two of the fire goblins ran at her, trying to attack her with construct swords they made of their own flames. Witch saw them coming, and with a flap of her wings released a wave of flames that slammed against the little imps. Jabberwock did not think anything of it, it was fire verses fire, so his goblins would be fine. Or so he thought. The fire goblins were crying out in pain as the crimson flames overtook them, literally burning up the flames of that they were made of until they were gone. The flames that the Phantom breathed met the same fate as the lesser flame was burned away by Witch. Jabberwock inhaled again, preparing to attack with his flames again, but Witch quickly activated one of her Coven rings.
[Beast Keeping, Please.]
Two construct animals appeared next to her, one was a huge liger, and the other was a mythical cryptid, sasquatch. Jabberwock unleashed its strange flame again, but the liger put itself between Witch and Jabberwock, and roared with all its might. The force and power of the roar struck against the flames of Jabberwock and caused them to blowback in his face, temporarily blinding him. Sasquatch beat its chest and roared into the air as it charged past the two goblins and struck the weird looking dragon in its gut, knocking the wind out of it and causing the Phantom to release a harsh cough of pain.
Sasquatch jumped up and punched the dragon in the face, sending it straight to the ground in a daze. The cryptid construct jumped over the monster and landed at his feet, it grabbed his tail and began spinning him around like a rag doll before slamming him onto the ground, and again, and again, and again, right and left, right and left. When it was done, it released Jabberwock who managed to fly into the air and away from the incredibly strong construct. The liger took advantage of the confusion and brought its fangs to bare around one of the fire goblins, chomping down hard and dispersing its body into embers. The last fire goblin tried to run away, but the liger construct was too fast and easily caught up with it, ending its existence with a single swipe of its claws.
"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME! I AM A THE DIVINE ONE WHO WILL BRING ABOUT A NEW ERA TO THIS WORLD!" Jabberwock proclaimed.
"Oh, I've had enough of this, time for the finale!"
Jabberwock was getting worried, but it was fine, all he had to do was expand the flames and increase his influence. Surely her magic could not work if the entire island was engulfed in his flames. Jabberwock was about to do just that but paused when he saw Witch's body erupt with bright crimson fire.
Witch rose into the air, and with a single flap of her wings, released her crimson flames, spreading them over the entire island, lighting it up like a roman candle. Jabberwock watched in shock as his own flames were completely smothered and put out by the crimson flames, however, unlike his own, the flames did not do any damage to the surrounding area. In fact, although the entire island was on fire, nothing was getting burned. It was as if Witch was willing the flames to not burn anything, and not only that, but the crimson fire seemed to have a rejuvenating effect, bringing back the luster to the area that was burned by Jabberwock.
"W-W-WHAT MANNER OF BLASPHEMOUS SORCERY IS THIS?!" Jabberwock yelled.
"Hope!"
Witch channeled all the flames around her and funneled them into both of her wings, causing them to glow a bright red. The hero of hope flared both of her wings, and from them, unleashed a twin fire tornado from them that roared and bellowed towards Jabberwock. The Phantom attacked them with his own flames in one last act of defiance, but it was little more than an exercise in futility as Witch's flame tornado broke down the strange flames, erasing them, before deluging Jabberwock. The twin blasts raged forth, shooting all the way out into the sea, and at the epicenter, Jabberwock's body was being reduced to ashes, but not even those were serving as they too burned up immediately after appearing.
Within a matter of seconds, Jabberwock was no more. Witch ended her attack, and with a wave of her hands, snuffed out the flames that engulfed the island. She floated back to the ground, and breathed a small sigh of relief, but it was not over yet.
[Light, Please.]
[HI~KA~RI!]
Witch shifted to her Light Style form and dropped to her knees next to King. "Don't worry, King. I know you lost your hope, but I'll bring it back for you!"
[Engage, Please.]
King's pain subsided as Witch's magic circle appeared over him. Wasting no more time, Witch jumped into the circle and began her descent into the Underworld.
~(KING'S UNDERWORLD)~
Witch dropped into King's Underworld, which, unsurprisingly enough, was a castle. It was medieval, with gargoyles perched on the turrets and parapets. There were statues of King, albeit a much older, ideal version of what he would look like as the king of demons. However, the grand castle fortress was decimated, the walls crumbled, the bridge connecting the castle to the other side of a deep chasm was destroyed. Not to mention the several cracks that were forming all over the place. Witch clenched her fists, she was part of the reason his Underworld was like this, and she was determined to save him.
"PHANTOM! COME OUT AND FACE ME!" Witch yelled in open challenge.
The Inner Phantom roared, answering her challenge. A giant dragon erupted forth from the center of the burning castle, its body was colored silver and black, with red nodes that ran along its abdomen and chest for a total of eight. The monster had six wings on its back, each of them segmented to look like feathers, but were really made of leathery hide. The dragon's arms and legs were covered in an exoskeletal scale mail, with five huge claws, and three talons on its feet. The neck was long and curved slightly so it could look down, and its head was angular, with a jagged crack around where its mouth would be. It had six red eyes that glared down at Witch, along with its eight horns that came out from its head and sides of its face. The crack parted more, and revealed its many rows of jagged, sharp teeth before it bellowed out a tremendous roar into the sky, shaking the Underworld.
"Ah, the great dragon, Kur."
"How bad is that for us?"
"On a scale of one to ten…he's an eight. If he gets out into the real world? Eleven, easy."
"He's that powerful?!" Witch exclaimed.
"General worthy, as a matter of fact. This is one battle you cannot afford to lose."
"Leave it to King to not only dream big, but also be the Gate to a Phantom like that," said Witch as she switched out her rings.
[Owl Rise, Please.]
A huge magic circle appeared behind her, and from it flew out La Lechuza. The great owl hovered in the air and let out a piercing screech of defiance at the great dragon. Kur released his own roar, as if saying he was accepting her challenge.
[Ride, Please.]
The Witch Speeder appeared next to Witch, she mounted it, revved the engine, and took off into the air with La Lechuza right behind her. Kur wasted no time in taking to the skies himself, flapping all six of his wings as he lifted off and ascended into the sky. La Lechuza came at the great dragon with her talons, slashing at his back, while Witch engaged from the front, firing off rapid-fire mana bolt blasts from her Speeder. The attacks barely did any damage to the great dragon as Kur merely released a burst of his dark energy, pushing La Lechuza away as Witch was forced into a tailspin.
Witch managed to regain control and reentered the battle. This time she aimed for the six eyes of the monster and pelted his face. However, this was less than an annoyance to Kur. The great dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a scathing black hellfire that roared towards her. Witch hurriedly dove, just barely missing the flames, but Kur was not done. He angled his head downwards, following Witch. The hero took evasive maneuvers as she tried to avoid getting hit with those black flames. That's when La Lechuza came in for another attack, this time body slamming the huge dragon, and causing it to cease its flame attack.
La Lechuza's intervention came just in time as the flames nearly came close to touching the tail end of the Witch Speeder. Witch was getting worried, this Inner Phantom was stronger than the previous ones she had defeated, now she was wondering if she should have taken Amity up on her offer to come on this little adventure. However, Witch did not have the time to think on "what ifs" as Kur roared again, this time grabbing La Lechuza, and throwing her like a rag doll down towards the ruined castle. The great owl smashed through what was left of the castle's walls before coming to a stop just a few inches from the edge of the chasm.
"LALA!" Witch exclaimed in worry.
Kur moved swiftly through the air and appeared right in Witch's path. The great dragon roared again, releasing another burst wave of its dark energy. That energy buffeted Witch as she tried to keep the Speeder stable in midair, all eight of the nodes on Kur's body glowed as beams of red light shot forth, angling themselves and converging on Witch's location before exploding on impact. Witch fell from the sky, separated from her Speeder, going into freefall without a way to stop it.
Just before Witch could hit the ground, La Lechuza extended her wing and used it as slope to allow Witch to fall more softly into the waiting wing of her Inner Phantom. The Witch Speeder managed to come back online and corrected itself before it could crash into the ground and flew towards La Lechuza, maintaining a holding pattern above her.
Witch managed to get back up, groaning from the aches and pains she just endured from Kur. "This…is not going well…"
"Obviously…" La Lechuza stated.
Kur roared triumphantly and began shooting out more of his black flames, setting fire to different parts of the Underworld and creating more cracks as those fires spread.
"We can't let this thing win! We just can't!"
"What other options do we have, though?"
Witch looked down at her ring loop and took off the Light Owl Style ring. "We haven't tried this yet." Witch stood tall as she glared up at Kur and announced, "No matter what, I will not let my friend become a monster!"
[LIGHT OWL.]
[KAGA~YA~KUUUUU~!]
A bright light shined inside of the Underworld, gaining Kur's attention. When it faded, Witch had entered her Super Form, Light Owl Style. But it seemed as if the transformation also affected La Lechuza. The great owl had golden accents, and her metallic feathers were now made of pure light energy. The Witch Speeder overhead had changed as well, going from mostly all white to yellow, with the Witch magic circle emblem changing to a white one.
"While I'm enjoying this huge boost in my power, using two of those forms back-to-back is going to drain us faster," La Lechuza warned.
"Then we'll make this quick, but flashy!"
Witch jumped straight up, and the Witch Speeder appeared under her. Once she mounted it, Witch flew off to meet Kur, at the same time, La Lechuza launched herself into the air with a single flap of her wings. Kur released another of his burst waves, but unlike before, Witch's light-based energy created a barrier cone that pierced through it, allowing her to get close to the great dragon. Witch pulled the trigger on the Speeder and fired two huge blasts of light mana bolts that exploded against Kur's chest. The dragon Inner Phantom felt that as it roared in pain and backed away a bit.
La Lechuza dove in and slashed Kur across his chest with her light wing, appearing as a silver and gold colored blur. The great owl stopped briefly before turning on a dime and going in again, slashing at Kur from multiple different angles and preventing him from figuring out where to aim his black flames. Meanwhile, Witch focused her attention on the nodes on his chest, firing her mana blasts at them. Each one exploded mightily, coupled with the pent-up energy that was in those nodes, caused more damage to the great dragon that made it roar in pain.
"LALA!"
"LET'S DO IT!"
La Lechuza and Witch flew high into the air and combined. La Lechuza's wings went from becoming metal with energy feathers, to becoming purely made of energy, doubling in size, and flaring out, releasing yellow light construct feathers. La Lechuza flapped her wings forward and fired off several beams of light that rained down on Kur, the great dragon used another burst wave of his power to act as a shield against her attack, but it only managed to stop some of them, but many more managed to pierce through the wave and strike the monster's wings, body, and head, forcing Kur to ground himself as he tried to weather the attack.
[ VERY NICE, KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS! ]
Witch jumped off La Lechuza as she reconfigured herself into a giant leg and foot. The hero of hope dropped down from the air and connected with the transformed La Lechuza, allowing the two to drop and aim themselves directly at Kur. A sparkling yellow aura wrapped around them, both, creating a huge construct of Witch in her Super Form, but this time, wings of light appeared from both sides of the construct's right leg, leaving behind feathers and sparkles. Kur inhaled deeply, calling upon all the dark power he possessed, and unleashed an incredible black hellfire inferno, nearly eclipsing the sky in darkness and fire.
However, like a shooting star in the night sky, they appeared, cutting through the darkness and flame. Witch released a loud battle cry as their combined attack struck the center of Kur's chest, cancelling his flames as they drove that kick forward and slammed him into the ground. The result created a huge explosion of sparkles and feathers that washed over the entirety of King's Underworld. The cracks mended themselves instantly, and the great castle was remade, brought back to its former glory. La Lechuza's new transformation ended as she passed through the portal to return to Witch's Underworld, leaving Witch as the last one inside.
Before she left, she watched as a tall and strong King walked out of his castle to scores of his subjects who bowed in his presence. But there was a particular group of subjects that did not bow, because he decreed that these individuals were not allowed to bow to him. Eda, or rather, a version of Eda who was freed from her curse as her youthful complexion had returned and her gray hair had returned to its orange coloring. An older Luz and an older Amity, both of which were walking with rings on their fingers. The older Luz walked up to King and began giving him belly rubs, making the king of demons fall onto his back.
Witch sniffled when she saw the image, this was what he wanted deep down. A family. After seeing this, Witch left the Underworld.
~(OVERWORLD)~
Witch exited King's Underworld and dropped to her knees, the transformation cancelled, and revealed Luz, exhausted from having to switch between two different Super Forms in one day. But it was worth it when she saw the cracks on King's body begin to seal themselves. The little demon finally woke up from his ordeal, causing Luz to smile at him.
"Hey, King…you alright?" Luz asked.
"No…and…yes," said King. The little demon walked forward, passing Luz, and said, "Thank you…Luz," before walking into the bushes and away from the human.
"King? Kiiiiing?!" Luz called out.
The young teen managed to pick herself up, despite her aching body and exhaustion, and went after King. It did not take her that long as she exited the forest and found herself at the beach. There, she saw King sitting on a log as the full moon shined in the sky above. Luz sighed and walked over to him, sitting on the log next to him. She expected him to tell her to go away, but King did not. Either because he did not want to sound ungrateful for her having to go through so much to save him, or because he saw how tired she was from the whole ordeal. They sat there in relative silence for about a minute or so, Luz was not about to push him to talk, and was content with just sitting there until he was ready.
"Eda was right, wasn't she? I was never the king of anything. I'm …I'm just nobody," said King.
Luz gave her friend a sympathetic look. "You are somebody! And I love that somebody very much! I'm sorry I lied about what I believed." Luz clenched her hands into fists as she said, "I wanted to let you keep believing, because…back home, it's the same for me. Sometimes I found it easier to believe in a fantasy than what was happening around me. I knew I should've said something, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt you. Instead, it only hurt you more in the end."
"Everyone lied! And I was too caught up in the fantasy to realize it!" King's eyes started water as she sobbed. "I…I don't know what to do, Luz! I can't tell what's real and what's fake!"
Luz reached out and gave the little demon a hug. King struggled at first, but his resistance only lasted a couple of seconds as he hugged her back and cried into her chest. She wished she could heal his pain, but that was not possible, this was not a pain that could be healed with magic. As she held King, Luz glanced off to her left, her eyes landing on the tower in the distance. The more she looked at it, the more she started to think.
"King, something's not adding up." Luz broke the hug a little so that she could look him in the eyes. "One of your memories is falling, right?"
King separated from Luz and wiped his eyes as he harshly replied, "Probably another stupid thing I made up!"
Luz started to think about it even more, she could not put her finger on it, but when she compared that memory to the rest of his stories, it sounded more genuine and less grandiose than the rest. "No! What if that's a real memory?"
"Why does it matter?" King asked as he sniffled.
Luz stood up and turned herself in the direction of the tower. "You said you remember a roar from up in that shaft. Maybe that's where you fell from?! Eda found you in those ruins. There's gotta be a clue in there about where you came from."
King looked at the tower, a sense of fear came over him. "I don't know, Luz. What if the story gets worse?"
Luz turned to King and knelt before him as she put her hand on his shoulder. "You might have been alone before, but you have us now. Whatever we find up there won't change that. So, what do you say?"
King watched as Luz extended her free to him. The little demon was still worried, still afraid to learn the truth. Because what if the truth was worse than what he made up? But at the same time, King could not deny that there was a part of him that wanted to know, because if he did not do this, he might come to regret this for the rest of his life.
The little demon reached out and took Luz's hand. "Okay."
Lilith and Eda had searched as much as they could until they started hearing the explosions and the strange looking fires that were threatening to burn down the entire forest. Eda wanted to go deeper, knowing that it had to be Phantom related, and that King might be there. Lilith managed to keep her little sister from rashly doing something like that, reminding her that even with their recent advancements in learning glyph magic, they still would not stand a chance against a Phantom.
Eda reluctantly relented to her big sister's judgement and decided that they needed to go back to the tower, it had been too long since Luz went in there, and they had not heard a word from Luz since . However, that thought was derailed when a bright crimson fire spread out through the entire island, and even wrapped around them as well. Snuffing out the strange looking fire and restoring the burnt parts of the forest back its pristine state. Lilith, Hooty, and Eda panicked and ran around like a couple of chickens with their heads cut off, yelling "I'm burning! I'm burning!"
However, after a minute of that, they realized that they were still alive. They weren't burning at all, but did feel pleasantly warm, like being in front the fireplace on a cold winter's day. That was then followed by a huge roaring and bellow, but after a few seconds that was over. The flames were snuffed out, leaving the trio wondering if that fire had something to do with Luz and her battle with the Phantom. Another couple of minutes passed and soon they heard rustling from the bushes out in front of them. From those bushes, Eda, Lilith, and Hooty spotted Luz walking towards them with King in tow.
"King! Luz! You're alright!" Eda cried out as she ran towards them. However, she stopped when King did not move and just stared at her. When Eda saw his expression, she sighed heavily and knelt before King. "You're mad at me. I get it. I would be, too. I'm so sorry, King."
King reached out with his right claw and poked Eda in the face. "Boop. No more secrets, okay? You have to promise me."
Eda nodded. "Only truths. I promise." Eda looked up at Luz and asked, "All that mess we were hearing, it was you fighting a Phantom, wasn't it?"
Luz nodded.
"A Phantom?! All the way out here?!" Lilith exclaimed. "Did it follow us?!"
"No, from what he said, he came out here on his own. It was a Rogue Phantom like some of the others, his name was Eitchilon."
Lilith narrowed her gaze when she heard that name. "That crazy demon, he tried to start an uprising against Emperor Belos by saying he too could speak to the Titan. But we all saw it for what it was, a way to grab power for himself and become the ruler."
"Unfortunately, he started to believe his own crazy preaching when he became a Phantom and was looking for somewhere to build up his own army. He wanted to create more Phantoms, but ones that would be loyal to him alone," said Luz as she crossed her arms.
Eda stood up and said, "The important thing is, you beat 'em, and now we have King back. We should get back home now."
Luz shook her head as she walked passed Eda and Lilith and looked in the direction of the tower. "Not yet, we still have one more thing to check out."
Luz explained the plan to Eda, Lilith, and Hooty. They were onboard with it. Unfortunately, Luz had exhausted most of her mana reserves and could not transform, she informed them that she had enough mana to open a portal back to the Owl House, but anything more than that then they would be taking the long way home. The two experienced witches told Luz to save her last bit of mana for when they needed it and said they would rely on their glyphs and potions. Once their plan was made, they set it into motion.
Back at the tower, the sentry was busy fixing up the little statues that baby King had made a long time ago. But it stopped when it sensed something just outside the doorway. It kept staring at that area, seeing nothing. However, after a few seconds, a potion bottle came flying out of nowhere with a sticky note on it that red "XOXO Luv Eda" before hitting the sentry in the face and exploding.
Lilith came flying in on her staff, with Hooty stretched over her right shoulder. She took a position high in the air, the house demon then spoke, "Special delivery…PAIN!" before coughing up another of those potion bottles, shooting it right at the sentry.
The sentry stumbled from the impact and explosion, and during that moment, a rush of air passed right by it. A moment later, Eda, King, and Luz appeared, having used the Invisibility Combo Glyph to keep themselves from being seen.
"Are sure they'll be alright?" Eda asked as they came to a stop right beneath the shaft.
Luz dismounted the staff and grabbed King as she replied, "Hooty knows what to do."
Eda looked back to her sister and Hooty, the latter of which was coughing up more of the exploding potions like a gatling gun and blasting the sentry. "…Are you really sure they'll be alright?"
As the duo continued to keep the sentry occupied, Eda flew up to the blocked off shaft and placed another of the exploding potions into a hole. Once she managed to wedge it in, she descended towards Luz and hopped off her staff. "Ready?"
Luz took out one of her Fire Glyphs and happily said, "I've always wanted to do something like this!"
After jettisoning another potion, Hooty spotted Eda and Luz. "They're in place!"
Lilith understood and took out another of the Invisibility Combo Glyphs. "Hold your breath!"
Both she and Hooty took in deep breathes and held them as Lilith placed the glyph paper against her body, erasing themselves from sight. The sentry was confused but did not have time to figure out what happened as it was struck from different angles by an invisible force. Meanwhile, Luz ignited the Fire Glyph paper, and took careful aim at the potion up above. Unfortunately, the sentry was a fast learner and figured out where Lilith was as it launched its right arm and snagged Lilith in the face, dispelling the invisibility. Luz flicked the fireball she had made straight up, and once it made contact, detonated the potion and blew apart the debris clogging the top of the shaft.
The sentry was alerted to the explosion, taking its eyes off Lilith. This allowed Hooty to stretch it himself out fast and smack the sentry in the face, forcing it to release Lilith. Now free, she grabbed her staff and flew straight towards her little sister, Luz, and King. All of them quickly ascended into the shaft, with the sentry right on their tails. Higher and higher they went, desperately trying to get to the top, hoping that the answers would be there. Luz got her Connect ring ready to portal them out of there if things got too bad, however, once they reached the top of the shaft they paused.
"There's…"
"There's…"
"Nothing here?!" Eda exclaimed in disbelief.
Indeed, there was nothing there, just a rotunda with nothing but cobwebs, and dust. The only other thing in the room was a sealed door, but there was no handle, no keyhole, or anything that indicated a way to open it. King looked down the shaft and saw that the sentry was almost upon them.
"IT'S COMING!" King warned as he ran to the others.
The sentry was now with them, readying its bladed hands to take out the intruders that had dared to enter the tower. All of them backed up against the closed door, with Luz ready to open the portal back home. But just then, when King touched the door, it glowed and mysteriously it opened, letting all of them fall through onto the other side. The sentry saw this and ran towards them, but the others quickly recovered and slammed the door shut, but not before one of its arms managed to get caught and cut off in the process.
"Huh, I think we're safe…for now. But how did we get the door open?" Eda asked aloud.
King looked at his paw, remembering that the door glowed and then opened when he touched it. Did…Did I do that?
"This room is old…Very old," said Lilith, awestruck.
The chamber had murals of some stars, and some were of the sentry down below. Parts of the wall had been taken over by overgrowth that were growing lilies. One long vine of lilies stretched out from the oculus above where moonlight was pouring, right above an alter where there were pieces of something strewn atop it.
"I knew there was something up here! I'm like the mystery whisperer. The butler did it, magnifying glass, secret door," said Luz excitedly.
"It looks like that creature was made to guard whatever was in here," said Lilith.
Luz turned to King and asked, "Does any of this feel familiar to you?"
King stood at the center of the alter, there was a strange nostalgic feeling, but he was still unsure. "I'm not sure, but I think I know how to jog my memory. Eda, I'm ready." King extended his claw forward, asking for the broken piece of his horn.
Worried, Eda asked, "Are you sure?"
King nodded and replied, "I am."
Eda reached into her hair and took out King's broken piece of his horn. King took the piece and pressed it against the broken part on his head. Immediately, memories began flooding into his mind. "I remember a deep roar. And then, something happened… but I was too small to do anything. So, I went back to sleep. And the next time I woke up…I broke out of an egg…right here. I crawled along the floor and touched that door, opening it like I did earlier. And behind it was that creature, it scooped me up and took me down to the lower level of the tower."
"King…" Luz whispered.
The little demon removed the broken piece. "That roar. It meant 'son'. I don't know how I know that, but I do. Someone called me their son. Luz, I think it was my dad!
"Maybe that was him on all those wall carvings!" Luz suggested.
Just then, the door was busted through by the sentry, and raised its left blade, preparing to strike down Luz.
King put himself between the sentry and Luz and thrust out his right claw in a stopping position. "STOP!"
The sentry did as King commanded, knelt, and then bowed before him.
Eda could not believe what she was seeing. "That thing was defending King from us this whole time? Huh. Alright. Talk about irony."
The flash of a polaroid camera went off and caught everyone's attention. Lilith was taking a photo and sheepishly hid the picture as she just realized her little faux pas. "Oh, sorry. Were we discussing important revelations? I'll…ahem… I'll just…do this later." Hooty stretched around to Lilith's left where she let him swallow the camera.
Luz smiled as she looked down at King. "Maybe you weren't exactly the King of Demons, but…"
"I was important to someone." King sniffled as tears started to form in his eyes. "If…If he's out there, I want to find him. I'm not that old! It could be possible! Would you help me?"
"I'd do anything for you, buddy," said Luz.
"Then, can we keep him?!" King asked as he pointed to the sentry.
Eda, Luz, and Lilith unanimously said, "No!"
But then Hooty stretched himself out from the backpack and wrapped himself around them, as he said in a sing-songy voice, "Yeeeeees~!"
After returning home, Luz scarfed down as many sugary foods as she could to replenish her mana supply, and because she was so dang hungry after that battle. She then talked to Amity, informing her that she had returned and of course filled her in on what happened on her trip. After she managed to calm down Amity, Luz went upstairs to her room where she had tucked in King. The little demon was busy carving something into his tag.
"Whatcha doin' there, King?" Luz asked.
"That symbol was all over that tower. What if it's my name?" As King finished carving the symbol into his tag, Luz finished supergluing the broken piece of his horn back into place. "Aah…gooey!" he said with a shiver.
It was weird seeing King with two equally sized horns on his head, Luz had gotten used to seeing him with the broken one, but it was a good change. "King, again, I'm sorry for not fully believing you, or doing anything."
"Hey, that's enough. I get why you didn't, it'd be the same thing as if someone told you magic didn't exist, when, obviously, it does. But you were just trying to keep me from getting hurt, and that's what family does, right? We help and protect each other," said King.
Luz sniffled a bit as nodded her head in agreement.
"It's too bad Jean-Luc stopped moving outside the ruins. I liked having a big, scary minion."
Luz glanced to her right, where "Jean-Luc", the tower's sentry, was propped up in the corner of the room. It was technically the only thing they could bring back from the tower that King could call his own. So, here it was, in her room, propped up in the corner, not looking disturbingly creepy at all.
"Yeah…too bad."
King fiddled with the edge of blanket and asked, "Luz, is it okay to still call me 'King'? It feels kind of weird when I'm not the king of anything."
Luz smiled at him and told him, "Well, you'll always be the king of my heart. That's good enough, right?"
King smiled and said, "Yeah, it is. Goodnight, Luz."
Luz watched as King lied down and kissed him on the forehead.
"And Francois."
Luz kissed the bunny plushy.
"Now, Jean-Luc."
Luz's eye twitched as she looked at the creepy thing. Then she hurriedly got up and began backing out of the room. "Bummer looks like I'm all out of kisses maybe next time. Goodnight!"
The Latina closed the door behind her. She loved King, but she was not about to kiss that thing. Luz headed downstairs where Eda and Lilith were going over some of the photos Lilith had taken of the murals and carvings in the tower.
"I've never seen markings like this," said Lilith.
"Hmmm…Ooh, is it some kind of ancient language?" Eda asked.
"It could very well be. And those old carvings. Who were they depicting?" Lilith questioned.
Eda glanced to Luz, who had sat down on the opposite end of the coffee table. "Any ideas, 'mystery whisperer'?"
Luz ran her hand through hair as she sighed. "Add it to the pile of others. The Phantoms' true goal. Who started the Sabbath ritual and kidnapped all those people? Belos' real plan for the portal. Your curse. And now, King's origins. I don't know what any of this means, but whatever we discover, we'll be there for King…no matter what."