Bring us hope, Kamen Rider Witch!

by Michael Ravencroft

On a blood moonlit night, Luz is subjected to an ancient ritual that was supposed to pull her into the depths of despair, but somehow she survived. Not long after, monsters known as Phantoms start attacking, threatening those she loves. A mysterious Wizard appears and offers Luz the tools she'll need to defend her friends, and become the hero she was meant to be. It's SHOWTIME!

55. Episode 55: Rondo of Nightmares FINALE

A/N: Soundtrack for this Episode:

Nobody's Perfect - Kamen Rider W

I May Fall - RWBY

Divide - RWBY

---

Grom was a being to be feared, he was fear itself. At least, that's what he thought of himself for the longest time. Until he was sealed under the ruins of a school for the creatures of this world. At first, he thought his humiliation could not get any worse than it already had, but it seemed fate wanted to prove him wrong. For years, Grometheus was kept sealed in the ruins under Hexside, every year he would gather his strength, and every year he would rise, only to fall to some snotnosed brat of a witch.

The humiliation came when he was defeated, again, and again. Defeated every year by a random child, it would have been more bearable if they treated it like a dreaded task, but now they saw it as a celebration, a rite of passage, something to enjoy. They reveled his humiliation every year, and yet, stubbornly, or as if to spite fate, Grom kept rising, kept fighting all those children who faced him. Hoping that there would be one child who was weak enough to allow him to escape and seek his revenge.

And his day came, when a human girl by the name of Luz Noceda appeared in his den. The surface level fears were unique to say the least, compared to the hundreds of other witches he had faced. She wasn't a witch or a demon like the others, he could tell, she was a human. It had been a long time since he'd seen a human, centuries really. Their fears were always unique and varied, delicious and entertaining, just like this one.

Grom relished the moment he probed her mind and found her deepest fear. She crumbled instantly and ran in fear. It was always fun to chase them, to see and relish that fear, it was tasty, it made eating them better when they were marinated in fear. The chase was so much fun, truly Grom had missed being able to run down his prey in the open fields and woods, but all good things must come to an end as they reached the cliff, corning his prey.

He kept taunting and tormenting her with the thing she feared the most, Grom was aware of a witch behind him, but it would not take much to subdue her. However, he was surprised when a younger witch jumped out from the forest and put herself between him and his initial prey. It was cute, but ultimately foolish and pointless. Probing her mind for her fear allowed him to see that her fear was the girl behind her. It was so ironic, the very one she wanted to protect was the one she feared the most. So, Grom took joy in transforming into a vague representation of her, he was going to save the reveal for when they were both gripped by fear as he tore her letter apart.

But then something happened that he never saw coming. The human and the witch worked together, they danced, right in front of him they danced as if he was irrelevant, as if they had no more fear. No, it was because they were together that they no longer feared him. It was ridiculous, it was infuriating, how dare they dance in front of him! He was Grometheus the Fear Bringer, and this would not stand!

And indeed, it did not, as the human and witch combined their powers together and defeated him in a much more humiliating fashion than the others before them, they made him eat an Abomination and exploded his body by having a tree burst out from inside of him. They grew something beautiful from him, that was the low point. He was broken apart and it took him a while to gather his individual parts back together, but once he had, Grom realized that there was nothing he could do.

He was no longer the mighty Fear Bringer that once terrorized this island. He was just a joke, a creature meant to test the mettle of the students at that school. And somehow, he was beaten by a magicless human and a witch girl who was so full of inner conflict it was a miracle she managed to muster up the courage to do what she did. If he, Grometheus, could not, at the very least, defeat a human, then what good was he? He would never break free from his prison; he would never break free from his fate. He was doomed to be a steppingstone for these lowly creatures.

Cracks started to form all around Grom, as the feeling of deep despair started to consume him. The cracks spread out faster, and grew wider, until, right before the final crack opened, a pause in time happened. Grom appeared in a dark space, darkness was not unfamiliar to him, but what he saw in that darkness was. The creature before him was grotesque, like a rider and a horse had been fused together and became a rotting corpse.

"What are you…"

I am Nuckelavee, I am a Phantom…

"Never heard of you…have you come to end my wretched existence?"

I was…but then I realized, you're more interesting than I first thought. So, I think it would benefit us more if we merged rather than I take you over…

Grom looked upon the monster before him curiously. "You want to become a singular being? How would that benefit either of us…?"

Nuckelavee's mouth perked up in a creepy smile. I sense a stirring; something is about to happen in this realm that has not happened before. And if we play our cards right, we can become the most powerful creature to ever exist. You would become a being to be feared once again, and I will get to see my powers flourish in a way that I could not imagine…So, what say you, Grometheus the Fear Bringer?

Did he really have anything left to lose? His life was over one way or the other, to live in humiliation or merge with this creature before him to become an even greater monster, and potentially reclaim his title as the "Fear Bringer". If there was even a slim chance he could get revenge on those brats, and all the islanders for their slights against him, then it was a risk worth taking.

"Then let us do it, I stand to gain more than I have to lose. In the end, at least you're getting something out of this," said Grom.

A nice way to look at it, but I'm sure this will be to our mutual benefit. Fair warning, I haven't merged with another being before. Our initial merger may take time to get adjusted to.

Within seconds, Grom burst apart as ethereal violet light shined forth from his body. But within seconds his metamorphic body began to reform, and shortly after, it took on the shape of the dreaded Nuckelavee. The merger, as expected, was less than pleasant, it was a bit painful. It made Grom, as Nuckelavee, lash out at the trees and ground, destroying whatever was around him. He needed time to adjust to this form, he was used to being a creature who could morph its body, never having a singular form to draw back on, but now that he did, his body was sort of trying to tear him apart.

It took time, but Nuckelavee found a place where he could ease into it. He wandered into cave far from Bonesborough, and it was there that he carved his mantra into the walls, he needed to remember, no matter what happened, he needed to remember his revenge against Luz Noceda and Amity Blight. Although in his current state of mind he couldn't be bothered to carve their names onto the walls but would make sure to keep their faces and names burned into his mind while he adjusted.

Time passed, and Nuckelavee watched his prey closely. He witnessed Luz's first transformation into Witch, he could sense the power coming off her, and he knew he could not defeat her the way he was. But the Phantom instincts told of how to get stronger, and it was from there that he began tracking down Gates, devouring their Inner Phantoms and getting stronger with each one he ate. Then he saw Amity's transformation, and doubled his efforts to get stronger, now going after the freed Phantoms since his power had grown some.

Slowly but surely, he had been gaining strength for the day he could hunt down the stronger freed Phantoms, and his first prize was Scylla. Shortly after, more fell before him, and it was just more power for the beast.

---

Luz stared at the monster before her, she was in complete disbelief after hearing what Grom had just told her. "It can't be…you…you were the first Phantom of the Boiling Isles?"

"Correct, Luz, and it was all thanks to you. If it weren't for your meddling, I would have never been able to obtain the kind of power I have now! You and that little witch drove me into the depths of despair, and through it, I was reborn as a more terrifying beast than I once was," said Grom.

"Then, is it you?! Are you the one responsible for summoning the Phantoms?!" Luz questioned.

"Heh, heh, wouldn't you like to know. But now you see, Luz Noceda, all of this, all the pain, all the torment. It's all been because of you!"

Luz furrowed her brow as she glared at Nuckelavee, the Latina gently worked her arms under Amity's body and lifted her up. She carried her girlfriend over to where Emira and Edric were and laid her next to them. Once she had done that, Luz turned around as a yellow aura began to flare up around her, but the aura had a dark tinge to it.

"I will not let you hurt anyone else, Grom! I swear it!" Luz stated.

Grom's mouth turned up into a grin as the Fear Bringer transformed into his Nuckelavee Phantom form. "Then come and try your luck, human!"

"Wait, Niña!"

Luz didn't listen as she put on the Driver and Light Owl Rings.

[Driver On, Now.]

[Shabadoobi touch to henshin!
Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]

"HENSHIN!"

[LIGHT OWL.]

[KAGA~YA~KUUUUU~!]

A construct of La Lechuza rose up behind her, but the coloring was tinged with dark patterns as the construct released a wrathful screech at Nuckelavee before wrapping its wings around Luz and transforming her into Kamen Rider Witch: Light Owl Style. Once transformed, Witch slipped on the newest ring she had yet to use.

[Oracle, Now.]

The area got very dark as the ring flared with violet energy. Nuckelavee raised its brow, curious as to what this ring could do. Amity and her twin older siblings managed to regain consciousness, and when they did, they saw Witch, but to Amity, something was wrong. The air around Witch looked and felt wrong.

Bast, what's happening to Luz?!

"I don't know, but…it's as if her anger is manifesting itself through Laly's magic! I can't even contact her!"

"No more! Grom! No more hurting people! No more nightmares! You're evil will end here!"

Witch released a loud war cry as a violet construct of a half human, half owl bestial spirit appeared behind Witch. The construct had four taloned hands, four eyes, and four wings, and glared menacingly at Nuckelavee. With a wave of her hand, Witch commanded the construct to attack Nuckelavee. The construct moved swiftly, faster than the Cannibal Phantom was expecting as it appeared right in front of him and slashed Nuckelavee across the chest with its talons, causing violet gashes to appear as sparks flew from Nuckelavee's chest.

Nuckelavee countered with his crimson eye beams, but the construct moved out of the way before the beams even left his eyes. The construct appeared behind Nuckelavee, ready to attack, but the Cannibal Phantom sensed the construct's presence and readied his tail to spear the construct. However, Witch jumped in at the last second, and threw a midair roundhouse kick to Nuckelavee's head, making him divert the beam towards the forest, while the tail missed the construct all together.

Witch coated her hands in the violet energy and slashed at his horse body, creating glowing gashes. The construct came up behind him and delivered the same slashes to the other side of the horse body. Nuckelavee managed to fall back, putting some distance between himself, Witch, and her construct. Now further away, Nuckelavee summoned the serpent heads and canine heads as he unleashed rapid fire energy blasts from the serpents' mouths, and hellfire from the canine heads. Witch weaved effortlessly around the attacks, with her construct following suit. The hero of hope had tapped into three different abilities of the Oracle ring, one was spirit conjuring, the second was precognition. She remembered Barkus' words, while seeing far into the future was not something she cared about, seeing the immediate future, as in, seeing you opponents next moves as you were fighting them, that was more helpful.

Thanks to this power, she was able to see Nuckelavee's attacks coming at least a minute into the future, and a minute was enough for her. And as for the third power, well, it was about to take affect right about…now.

Suddenly, the gashes on Nuckelavee's body began to explode, releasing powerful bursts of violet-colored magical energy that made the monstrosity cease his attacks for a moment. Yes, you see, the attacks dealt to Nuckelavee, while painful, were actually a two-pronged attack. The first created the gashes, but the second attack came in the future as the gashes built up more and more magical energy from the one who received the gashes until they exploded. Essentially, Witch was using his own power against Nuckelavee.

Nuckelavee growled furiously and summoned four additional arms, each one barring a weapon. His main arms summoned two fang-like swords, both of which were dripping some kind of acidic liquid that hissed the moment it touched the ground below. Witch wasn't afraid, as she quickly swapped out her ring for another.

[Illusion, Now.]

Suddenly, Witch and her construct broke apart into dozens of copies of themselves, each one jumping and flying around Nuckelavee.

[Connect, Now.]

Witch reached into her magic circle and pulled out the WizarSwordGun.

[Copy, Now.]

Using the Copy ring, Witch created a second WizarSwordGun, and reactivated the Oracle ring.

[Oracle, Now.]

Witch switched the WizarSwordGun in her left hand into gun mode, while keeping the second in her right in sword mode. The blade of the weapon was quickly coated in the violet energy of the Oracle ring, along with the muzzle of the one in her left-hand glowing with built up energy. Witch and her construct dashed for Nuckelavee, along with the rest of the copies. Nuckelavee swung wildly all over the place, unsure as to which one was the real Witch, but thanks to the Illusion copies, Witch was able to slash him across his horse body, creating one long gash on his right side before breaking off, turning around, and firing six shots at his back. Each one impacted him hard, making Nuckelavee lurch forward.

Right at that moment, her owl demon construct flew straight at him and uppercut Nuckelavee in the chin, interlocked its talons, and then came down with a double hammer fist to the horse head of the Cannibal Phantom.

"And just in case you thought I was that stupid!"

[C'mon shooting, shake hands!
C'mon shooting, shake hands!]

Witch tossed her right WizarSwordGun into the air as she scanned her Owl Light Style ring.

} LIGHT OWL, SHOOTING STRIKE! {

Witch caught her WizarSwordGun as soon as it fell from the air and grabbed it just as she landed on the ground and pointed the muzzle of her weapon towards a vacant area of the battlefield. With a pull of the trigger, Witch unleashed a powerful dark yellow energy blast that screeched like an owl straight towards that spot. The beam pierced through the dirt and rock, and within seconds set off an explosion.

Amity, Emira, and Edric were unsure as to why Witch had just shot at a random spot like that, but it became clear within moments. From the crater, another Nuckelavee came crawling out, smoking from having barely survived that attack.

"WHAT IN TITAN'S NAME?!" Edric and Emira exclaimed.

"He did it again, he created a clone and hid himself underground!" Amity looked back at Witch. "Did she sense him? Or did that new ring allow her to know where he was at?!"

The Nuckelavee clone was about to get up, but the owl demon construct came down with its talons and sliced off Clone Nuckelavee's head. The construct kept on slashing up the clone's body until it was riddled with glowing gashes. A few seconds afterwards, all the gashes exploded violently, completely incinerating the body of the clone.

Witch's visor glowed menacingly as she glared at the original Nuckelavee and stated, "That was a preview of what's about to happen to you!"

Despite seeing his clone get destroyed, Nuckelavee was still not worried. "Heh, a clone is one thing, but the real deal is much, much worse!" Witch and her construct moved swiftly, ready to deliver a decisive blow to the monster, but that's when the tables turned. "Time Out." Suddenly, a wave of violet and black energy rippled through the air, and in an instant everything froze. The falling leaves of the huge tree, Witch and her construct, even Amity and her siblings. "You seemed to have forgotten the power that the Phantoms said I gained from Kali. Destruction AND the ability to manipulate time, to a degree anyway."

Nuckelavee walked over to Witch and smirked. "I can't go back in time, but I can freeze moments in time, just like now, and just like back then when I used this same power to cancel out the slow time dilation within that spell. You seem to be able to predict what I can do, but it seems your new ring is useless when you can't see a way around time."

The Cannibal Phantom raised his tail, and launched it at the construct, piercing through it and causing cracks to form on it. Nuckelavee retracted his tail back to its original position and turned his attention on Witch. He plucked the WizarSwordGuns out of her hands, and used his upper arms to grab Witch's arms, and his lower arms to grab ahold of her legs.

"Time In."

Time resumed its normal flow, and once it had, the construct shattered, and Witch found herself being held by Nuckelavee.

"WHAT?! NO! LET ME GO! I SWEAR I'LL DESTROY YOU!" Witch shouted.

"Heh-heh-heh, so full of anger that it actually changes the nature of your magic. Perhaps you're not the pure, good girl as you thought," said Nuckelavee mockingly.

"LUZ!" Amity cried as she readied to transform.

Nuckelavee released another of his ungodly roars, this time creating the Absolute Terror Field, but at maximum power. Witch, Amity, Edric, and Emira felt an incredibly bewildering amount of fear fall upon them, it was so oppressive that it made everyone, aside from Witch, fall to their knees.

"Sorry, did you think that I was using my fear power at its maximum output? Ha! Not a chance!"

Witch could feel the power of this monster's fear overwhelming her, it was much stronger than last time, despite La Lechuza's mana, it wasn't making a difference whatsoever. Nuckelavee, smirked as he raised his right and left claws and pressed them against her chest. A shimmering crack began to form, and when it did, Nuckelavee sunk his claws into it. With a little effort, Nuckelavee began to pull upon the crack, widening it more and more until it was fully opened up. Witch gasped as she felt something wrong, finally snapping her out of her rage and bringing her back to her senses.

Inside the gap, Nuckelavee could see her, La Lechuza, her Inner Phantom. The very source of Luz Noceda's power. The great owl Phantom glared up at Nuckelavee, trying to put on a brave face in spite of the situation she and Luz were in.

Nuckelavee sneered in disgust at the sight of La Lechuza as he uttered, "Your scent is sickening. Devouring you might actually kill me. So, let's do THIS instead!"

The Cannibal Phantom shot his right arm into the gap, and pierced the side of La Lechuza, causing the great owl Phantom to screech in pain. Witch instinctively screamed at the same time, feeling the pain of her Inner Phantom resonating through her. Nuckelavee retracted his claw, leaving a glowing yellow gash in La Lechuza's side that bled particles of yellow mana. Witch's transformation suddenly deactivated, allowing Luz to fall to the ground. Her left hand clutched at her chest, panting hard as her brow began to bead with sweat.

LALA? LALA, ANSWER ME!

La Lechuza did not answer with words, but she could feel that her Inner Phantom was wounded and in pain, and that pain was felt by Luz as well.

Nuckelavee looked down triumphantly at her. "And now, you're only hope has been taken away. She will not recover from that wound, I used poison in my claws, the poison of Naga. Your Inner Phantom will die, and with it, all your hope and dreams will go with it."

Luz's eyes scrunched shut as she clutched harder at her shirt. "Lala…no…"

Nuckelavee made a jerking motion with his head as he looked over his shoulder at Amity Blight. "I'll be coming for you, too, Amity. But not before this little human experiences the true depths of fear and despair." The Cannibal Phantom's upper half went limp as the horse head lowered itself to make eye contact with Luz. It was then that the horse head spoke with Nuckelavee's voice. "How about a deal, Luz Noceda?"

"A…A deal…?" she asked.

"Return here, at the stroke of midnight. If you do, I will save your friends and loved ones for last. If you don't, I will make you watch as I end the wretched lives of those you hold most dear." Nuckelavee's horse head glanced in Amity's direction, and Luz followed his gaze. "Starting with her, and I will make sure it is as slow and agonizing as can be. And then I'll find Willow and bury her so deep in the ground she'll choke on dirt. I'll put Gus into a never-ending nightmare that'll make him beg for death. I'll rip the wings off Eda's back when she enters that Harpy Form, and then her arms, and then her legs. I'll skin King alive; I'll mutilate those twins so bad that you definitely won't be able to tell them apart. And that's just for starters!"

Luz started to hyperventilate as she glanced between Nuckelavee, Amity, and the twins. There was nothing she could do, La Lechuza was wounded, she couldn't draw on her mana. Nuckelavee had played her from the start, played them all.

"Do…Do you promise…? Do you swear that you'll leave them alone…at least…spare them for last?"

Nuckelavee turned his horse head back to her and said, "I will, but it'd be more fun if you ran, honestly. Heh-heh, but we both know how much you care about your friends, and your girlfriend. So, I know you won't run." Nuckelavee's upper half began to jerk about as it sat upright. The Cannibal Phantom stomped his way over to Amity and looked down at her. "I'll see you later, then, Amity." Nuckelavee glanced at the tree, the very tree that destroyed him, a symbol of these two girls' love.

"I hate that damn tree."

The Fear Bringer's eyes glowed crimson red as he fired his crimson eye beams, slicing the tree across the trunk. There was a delayed reaction before the tree lurched forward and collapsed onto the ground with a thundering "BOOM!", sending pink petals fluttering about the area.

With that, Nuckelavee stomped the ground, kicking up a dust cloud around him. When the dust cloud vanished, there a hole in the ground, showing that Nuckelavee had left.

When he did, Amity and her siblings were finally able to move and take in a breath. Amity wasted little time in rushing towards her girlfriend, skidding to a halt before her as she worriedly looked upon Luz.

"Luz! Talk to me, please! What did he do?!" Amity asked frantically.

The Latina looked up at her girlfriend with tears in her eyes. "Amity…he…hurt Lala…it's all my fault…"

---

It was a grim day for the Boiling Isles. Hunter had arrived at the Owl House later that day to speak with Luz about their next strategy, but instead, he was given bad news. Luz had encountered Nuckelavee and determined his identity to be Grometheus the Fear Bringer, and what was worse, her Inner Phantom, La Lechuza was gravely injured, poisoned by the monster and rendering her unable to transform or utilize La Lechuza's mana. Hunter was shocked to say the least, he could also see that Luz was not looking so good either, perhaps due to symbiotic relationship between Luz and La Lechuza, or perhaps due to her overwhelming guilt about the matter.

Regardless, Hunter now had to return to the Emperor's Coven, and inform Belos and the Phantoms of this latest development. Luz made no mention of the ultimatum between herself and Grom. There was no need to. At the very least, perhaps she could buy them all time to figure out how to beat him.

Eda and the rest of their group were sitting in the living room of the Owl House, aside from Amity, who was sitting outside the door of Luz's bedroom door.

"I can't believe something like this happened…" Willow spoke in a hollow tone.

"Her Inner Phantom was hurt, and is dying, and the Phantom is GROM!" Gus exclaimed, still in shock about its identity.

Eda couldn't believe it either. The nightmare monster that Luz and Amity defeated months ago, was the same monster that they were currently trying to defeat. "Who knew that thing could hold a grudge this long, and more than that, become the monster it is now just to get revenge on them."

"Well, what do we do now?!" King asked. "We can't just let it kill Luz!"

"Or Amity!" Edric interjected. "That thing is after both of them! There's no way it's going to keep its word, it'll come after Amity the moment it's done with Luz! We have to hide them somewhere!"

"Where, Ed?! That thing has all kinds of different powers, it could probably track them down anywhere on this island! And did you forget, if Luz runs, it'll just bring her back and make her watch as it hurts and kills all of us!" Emira reminded.

Eda pinched the bridge of her nose. They could not run, they could not hide, Grom was going to find Luz no matter what any of them do. She hated this feeling of powerlessness. Even after managing to, in a sense, merge with the Owl Beast and become Harpy Eda, she knew that transformation was nowhere near strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Grom. The Golden Guard's new Kamen Rider powers weren't helpful either and Amity's newest power wasn't enough. Not even when the Phantoms helped was it enough, and now after eating two of their generals, Grom was stronger than before. Everything was just bad all around, there was nothing that she could do stop this.

"I wish I had forced Luz to leave the Boiling Isles when I had the chance…" Eda muttered aloud. "She'd be back in the Human Realm, with her mother, safe from that monster!"

Willow got up from the couch and sat next to Eda as she said, "Maybe that would've worked. But who's to say for how long? Nuckelavee's getting stronger, if he keeps eating Inner Phantoms, eventually he's going to find one Phantom who has the power to cross over into other realms. Or, who knows, maybe ingesting the powers of the remaining General Phantoms will give him the power to break through into the Human Realm. Eda, it wouldn't have mattered. If you had, it would just be a delay."

"A delay, sure. But at least she could've spent that time with her mother whom she misses every day and is doing all she can to get back to her. I hate to say it kids…but…this really does seem hopeless…" Eda confessed.

Meanwhile, Amity waited outside of the door to Luz's room. She had her back against the wall as she sat down next to the door. Every fiber of her being wanted to go into that room and hold Luz tight, to tell her everything was going to be okay. But she knew it would just be a lie. Amity couldn't see a way out of this, and she had been wracking her brain ever since they left that spot. Nuckelavee was just too powerful, too crafty.

"I gained this power to protect Luz…and yet…I feel as if I'm still being protected by her!" Amity slammed her fist against the floor. "When she needed me the most, I couldn't do a damn thing to fight against Grom! It's just like that night all over again!" Amity's tears began to flow as she lamented her own weakness. "Luz has to stand up and defend me, defend others, and here I am, a Kamen Rider, her girlfriend, and I'm still too weak to be of any real help to her!"

"Enough, Amity. No one was prepared to face a creature like that. Not us, and certainly not the Phantoms. We were fighting a losing battle, and Nuckelavee, Grom, knew it. It just took us some time to finally realize it."

Amity gritted her teeth, Bast was right, they've been dancing in the palm of Nuckelavee's hands since day one. "Bast, if I could somehow give control of my body, of everything of me, to you, would that make you strong enough to destroy Grom?"

"…Never ask me that again, Amity. After everything we've been through, I will not do that. We fight as one, and we die as one. That is our fate, and it is one I have come to accept. Besides, if doing so somehow managed to give us the power we needed to defeat Nuckelavee, what victory would there be in that if you are gone? You'll only end up making Luz even more depressed than she is now, because she'll blame herself for making you have to resort to such drastic measures. And, to tell you the truth, no, it wouldn't."

Amity cried, she knew Bast was right, she did. But she also hated knowing that Luz was in pain behind that door and that there was nothing she could do to help her.

---

Night had fallen upon the entire island, the quiet before the final storm that would plunge the entirety of the Boiling Isles into a nightmare from which there would be no waking up from. Grom, in the form of Nuckelavee, hovered in the sky, with black wings from his back, arms crossed, waiting for the arrival of his prey. Nuckelavee glanced towards his right and noticed Barbatos watching him from the tree line off to his right.

Ah, so I have an audience.

Indeed, he did. Utilizing some of Set's chaos magic, Belos, Tiamat, and Set, were able to see the goings on through Barbatos' eyes while standing in Belos' underground facility where they could watch the goings on. The Phantoms' tension was high, they weren't sure if an opening would present itself that would allow them to take down Nuckelavee, but either way, it was better than nothing. Belos, on the other hand, was nervous for another reason. Yes, one this islands chances to take down the Phantoms was about to be slaughtered before his eyes, but at the same time, Luz Noceda had a bigger role to play, and if that monster managed to actually kill her, then how would that affect everything else going forward?

Just then, there was rustling from the bushes, and from them appeared Hunter.

Nuckelavee raised his brow and called out, "I am waiting for my prey. Do not interfere and you will live to see another day."

"Not a chance!" Hunter retorted. "I won't let you do as you please!"

"That makes two of us."

Hunter glanced to his left and watched as Amity Blight walked out of the forest. Her eyes red and puffy, but her glare was strong as she pointed it at Grom.

"Amity Blight? Youngest of the Blight family, and heir to Blight Industries. What you doing here?" Hunter asked.

"Doing what I have to in order to save my girlfriend," said Amity.

[Driver On.]

Hunter watched as Amity's MagiDriver appeared around her waist. "Wait, you're–?!"

"Are you going to gawk or are you going to transform?"

The head of the Emperor's Coven decided to question that for another time and activated his Driver.

[Driver Appear, Now.]

Nuckelavee descended from the sky and shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, why not? A little pre meal exercise to whet my appetite."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll get plenty to eat when I jam my foot down your throat!" Amity threatened.

"Better make that two helpings," Hunter added.

Both Amity and Hunter briefly glanced at each other before activating their Drivers.

"HENSHIN!"

"HENSHIN!"

[Ready, Open!]

[Roar of the Heavens!]

[The Goddess Descends!]

[Initiate.]

[I am!]

[The sword of justice!]

[I am!]

[The warrior who paves the way!]

[I am!]

[Crusa-Crusa-CRUSADER~]

Both young witches had magic circles appear beneath them, and within seconds they rose over them, transforming Amity and Hunter into Kamen Riders Heka and Crusader. Once she had changed, Heka summoned her MaguScepter an activated it.

[Rise Champion!]

[ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!]

[THE HERO OF LOVE & ORDER!]

[HEKA~]

[HEKA~]

[CHAMPION~!]

[THE GODDESS ASCENDS!]

In a flash of golden flames, Heka had transformed into her Champion Final Form.

[Crow Scythe, Now.]

Crusader raised his right hand and to it flew a black and purple crow, that crow immediately materialized into a large scythe that Crusader took into both of his hands. Crusader and Heka released a combined battle cry as they charged straight for Nuckelavee, and Nuckelavee charged directly for them.

---

Currently, Luz was lying on her sleeping bag, curled up in a fetal position as she cried. She withdrew within herself, mentally, so that she could speak to La Lechuza. It was here, in her Underworld, that she saw her companion. Her Underworld was quite beautiful. A vast open field with a starry sky above, with dozens of lights drifting upwards from the grass like fireflies. The great owl Phantom was lying on the ground, her breathing was heavy and labored, and the glowing gash on her body had purple veins that were slowly creeping outward from the wound.

Luz walked up to La Lechuza and placed her hand atop La Lechuza's head. "I'm so sorry…Lala. It's all my fault. You warned me not to let my anger control me…and in the end…I did just that…and because of me you're…you're going to…"

La Lechuza raised her head and looked upon her young companion. "Do not blame yourself for this, Niña. De una forma u otra, esa repugnante criatura habría descubierto una manera de hacernos esto (One way or the other, that foul creature would have figured out a way to do this to us.)."

"¡Pero no tenía que ponérselo tan fácil! ¡Él sabía que lo perdería si atacaba a Amity! Le hice el juego y ahora…ahora…¡vas a morir, y no puedo ayudarte…! (But I didn't have to make it so easy for him! He knew I'd lose it if he attacked Amity! I played right into his hands, and now…now…you're going to die, and I can't help you…!)" Luz lamented.

La Lechuza brought her large wing over to Luz and gently caressed her back with it. "Do not lose your hope, Luz."

Luz looked up at the great owl Phantom, it was hard to tell, but Luz could almost feel La Lechuza smiling at her. "You…You used my name."

"As annoying as it is, your optimism is your strength. And that great hope is what allowed you to overcome me. I will not have the girl who managed to perform such a feat belittle herself. You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for, Luz. And I've seen it."

Luz wiped her tears as she said, "You mean my anger? How I changed our magic?"

"No, it's much more than that."

"What…?"

"Your sense of wonder…it's just as bottomless and endless as your hope. You see the wonder in all things, even in a place like this. You look for the positive and the good, which honestly annoys the ever-loving heck out of me…"

Luz chuckled for some reason when she heard that, perhaps it was because she could sense that, despite the wording, La Lechuza had no real anger or malice in those words.

"…But it's that same wonder that allowed you to see the positive in me. Even though I constantly looked down on you, even though I said how I hated being a caged bird, ordered around by a human, you never treated me as a nuisance. You never hated me even once or cursed the day we met. You've always treated me with kindness and seen me as a…a…"

"A friend." La Lechuza looked at Luz and saw how the human girl was crying yet smiling broadly. "You're my friend, Lala. You always will be."

La Lechuza slowly rose to her feet and looked down at Luz confidently. "We cannot give up now, Luz. Wound or no wound, poisoned or not, I am not willing to let that abomination of a Phantom take us down without a fight. If he's going to end our lives, then we'll defy him to the very end."

Luz wiped her face as she stood up as well and looked into the eyes of her Inner Phantom with determination. "We…We might die…"

"A Kamen Rider always finds a way to win. Isn't that what you've taught me?"

"Yeah. Yeah!"

"Then, let's go…one last time…Luz…to our destined battle!"

Luz awakened and stood up, her brow furrowed, and yet, her lips were curled into a smile of determination as she walked out of the door to her room and headed downstairs. It was there that she saw Eda, King, Willow, and Gus still there, along with Edric and Emira.

"Luz! What's wrong?!" Willow asked.

"I'm going to face Grom, once and for all," said Luz.

"WHAT?!" Eda exclaimed as she rushed past the other kids and got in front of Luz. "NO! I won't let you go out there and let that monster kill you!" The Owl Lady placed her hands on the fourteen-year-old's shoulders as she looked into her eyes with a pleading expression. "Please, Luz, please give us a little more time to figure out a solution to this! I can't…I can't lose you, kid…"

Luz gently removed Eda's hands from her shoulders and gave her mentor a hug. "I'm not going out there to die, Eda. I going to fight Grom, and I'm going to beat him."

Willow rushed up next to them and asked frantically, "HOW?! How do you know that?! Please, Luz, don't go! You're the best friend Gus and I could have ever asked for! I don't want to lose you!"

"Me neither! You're a hero, Luz! You're my hero! And you're our best friend! I don't…I don't want to see my best friend and hero just disappear…" Gus cried.

Luz reached out with her hands, grabbing Willow and Gus, and bringing them into a group hug. All three witches cried hard, knowing that this might be the last time they ever get to hold Luz, or hear her voice.

"Don't lose hope, guys. I did for a moment, but Lala managed to remind me that we're stronger together, that hope isn't dead. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow, I know everything will be okay," Luz explained.

That's when Luz looked around and noticed someone missing.

"Hey, where's Amity?" Luz asked.

Emira rubbed her right arm as she said, "She…She went to go and fight against Grom, she wanted to take him down before it was time."

"NO!" Luz broke the hug and looked at Eda. "Eda, I can't call on my Witch Speeder right now, can you fly me on Owlbert?! Please!"

Eda sighed and reluctantly nodded her head.

---

Nuckelavee was standing tall, with nary a scratch on his body as he had his arms crossed. On the other hand, Crusader and Heka were both ragged, their armor scuffed and singed, while the Riders themselves were panting hard with ragged breathes from exhaustion and pain from enduring Nuckelavee's attacks.

Despite all this, Heka raised her MaguScepter, refusing to give up. "I will not stop, not until you are gone from this world, GROM!"

Nuckelavee chuckled at her threat. "I don't understand why you're so eager to die right now. I'll eventually come for you next, Amity Blight. If I were you, I'd go and enjoy my last moments. I'll even give you his chance to run away before your beloved human gets here. What do you say?"

"I say…"

} ROARING BLAST! {

Heka pointed the MaguScepter at Nuckelavee and fired a huge beam of magical energy at him that roared like a lion. Nuckelavee made no attempt to dodge the attack as summoned his Tortal Defense and let the beam explode against it. Heka panted, but ultimately growled with indignation as she saw Grom still standing. Heka took a step forward, about to attack, but as soon as she did, her legs lost some of their strength, making her fall to one knee as she used the MaguScepter to keep herself from falling all the way down. Crusader stood next to her, still wielding the Crow Scythe as he prepared to defend her.

"Very well, it makes no difference to me. Whether it's right now or later, your death is inevitable!" Nuckelavee conjured two additional arms and raised them over his head. He concentrated his dark power into that spot between them, creating an orb of dark energy.

"GROM! STOP!"

Everyone looked up as Eda came flying in on Owlbert, with Luz saddled right behind her. The Latina jumped off as Eda flew over where the tree once stood and landed on the ground. Luz stood up and stared down Nuckelavee, with a look that spoke of courage and determination. It was a look that greatly annoyed him for some reason.

"Right on time, Luz Noceda. I'll give you credit for coming to face your death with grace."

"I'm not dying today, Grom! And if that's what's going to happen, then I'll fight you to the very end! As a Kamen Rider! As this world's last hope! I will not let you make me cower in fear again!" Luz declared as she slipped her ring.

[Driver On, Please.]

The WizarDriver did a appear, but the glow of magical energy from rings was very dim.

Nuckelavee could not help but laugh hysterically at this show of bravado from the fourteen-year-old girl. "AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAHHHHHAAAAAA! You must be joking? You have to be. That little bird inside of you is on her last legs thanks to my poison! Oh, wait, I get it. You've finally lost your mind, right? This is you going crazy with fear."

Luz held her glare as she retorted, "Heh, you know what, yeah, I am scared. I so scared it's not even funny! But I won't let that stop me! And Lala and I won't go down without a fight! I may fall, Grom, but it won't be today! Not by you!"

Nuckelavee was really annoyed now. All of this was meant to break the human, to have her on her knees in complete despair, making her beg for him to spare her life like the coward he knew she was. But this turnabout was not what he expected, it almost took the fun out of her imminent murder. Well, almost.

"So be it. A hopeful optimist to the very end!" Nuckelavee turned around and pointed his sphere of energy right at Luz. The dark energy grew more and more agitated, flaring up as faint screams could be heard emanating from it. "Take this, a special attack just for you! NIGHTMARE INFINITY!" A huge, column sized beam of black and violet energy screamed towards Luz as it tore up the ground in its wake. "BE CONSUMED IN A NIGHTMARE FROM WHICH NO LIVING THING CAN ENDURE! BE CONSUMED BY THE DARKNESS AS YOUR MIND AND BODY ARE UTTERLY DEVESTATED BY PAIN UP UNTIL THE VERY LAST MOMENT OF YOUR EXISTENCE!"

"LUZ!"

"LUZ!"

"NOCEDA!"

The beam was huge and intimidating. Several shrieks and screams echoed from it as it got closer to Luz, buy still, the Latina did not run, she held her ground and got into her fighting stance.

Are you with me, Lala?!

Within the Underworld of Luz Noceda, La Lechuza stood to her full height, despite the pain of the wound, and the poison that permeated her body, she flared her wings and gave a mighty screech.

"'Til the end, Luz!"

[Abomination.]

Suddenly, one of the rings on Luz's chain snapped off and flew out in front of her and formed a barrier. The Nightmare Infinity attack slammed against the barrier, creating a huge, thunderous "BOOM!" that nearly knocked Crusader and Heka to their rears, Eda almost fell off of Owlbert, and Barbatos had to anchor himself with his claws into the ground.

Luz was stunned when she saw the Abomination ring floating out in front of her, trying to keep the attack from hitting her, but it was becoming apparent that it was not enough.

[PLANT OWL!]

[Plant!]

[Illusion!]

[Bard!]

[Oracle!]

[Construction!]

[Beast Keeping!]

[Healing!]

[Potion!]

[ICE OWL!]

[Ice!]

[FIRE OWL!]

[Fire!]

[LIGHT OWL!]

[Light!]

All of the Coven rings, and all of her transformation rings flew off her chain link and took up positions in front of Luz. The Coven rings formed a circle, while the four Owl Style rings were in a diamond formation at the center, and within the center of the diamond formation were her Elemental Style rings that were in a square formation. All together the rings released a powerful magical burst that created an aurora affect, this aurora barrier pushed back against Nuckelavee's attack, and within a matter of seconds, forcibly canceled the Fear Bringer's attack. Causing the beam to disperse into dark particles.

"WHAT IS – HOW DID – WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Nuckelavee demanded to know.

Luz was just as confused as he was, but then something else started to occur. The leaves of the fallen tree began to glow with a pink aura surrounding them. That aura extended to the tree trunk as the entire severed half of the tree rose into the air, making everyone gawk in awe at what was occurring. The tree eventually returned to its stump, slamming down with a mighty "THUD!", a beam of pink energy appeared around the cut, and sealed it up to the point that there was no way you could tell that the tree was even cut before. The aura still persisted, if anything, it seemed to be getting brighter.

The leaves of the tree started to multiply and detach from the tree, eventually turning into a leaf tornado that swirled around Luz, obscuring her and the rings from view. Inside of the tornado, Luz could feel a warmth growing inside her, a feeling that she had almost forgotten about during these recent days. The power to overcome despair. La Lechuza could feel this warmth as well, there was a time that she may've opposed or even been disgusted with such a feeling. But not today, this feeling was good, it was…wonderful!

The eyes of La Lechuza and Luz Noceda glowed bright as her rings joined their magical energies together and fired a beam, at the same time, a beam fired from Luz's chest. The two beams met in the middle and formed a sphere, within a matter of seconds, something began to materialize within that sphere of light. After a full minute, the two beams ceased, but the sphere remined. Luz's eyes stopped glowing as she was finally able to see what it was that was created.

"Is that…a new ring?!" Luz exclaimed.

The Latina gently reached out with both hands and cupped the sphere. Upon touching it, the sphere broke down into sparkles of light, allowing the new ring to fall into her hands. Luz held that new ring close to her chest as she let tears fall from her eyes.

"Lala…did…did we make this ring?"

"Hmm, it would seem that way. I no longer feel the pain of the poison, my wound is healed, and I feel stronger than before. Please, use the ring! Let's end this nightmare once and for all!"

"Mmm-hmm!"

The tornado of leaves began to spin faster and faster, to the point that they shifted from a solid state to pure energy. The tornado quickly reformed into that of La Lechuza as she stood behind Luz, flaring her magnificent wings and stared down at Nuckelavee with white glowing eyes. The Fear Bringer was noticeably caught off guard by this development as he uncrossed his arms and took a few steps back.

"What…What is this?!"

"This is the power born from me and Lala! The power of WONDER!" Luz proclaimed.

[Shabadoobi touch to henshin!
Shabadoobi touch to henshin!]

"HENSHIN!"

Luz scanned her new ring, and when she did, the four glyph symbols appeared on the ground as La Lechuza wrapped Luz in her wings. The four glyph symbols released pillars of green, yellow, red, and blue light as the pink energy swirled around it and brought all five lights together.

[LIGHT!]

[ICE!]

[PLANT!]

[FIRE!]

[ELEMENTS OF THIS WORLD NOW UNITE~!]

[BRING US HOPE!]

[LIGHT OF WONDER SHINE ON~!]

[PLEASE.]

The pillar of light finally dispersed and revealed Kamen Rider Witch in her newest transformation. The mesh part of her suit was now blue in color, armor plates were connected to either side of the WizarDriver, four on either side, that ran halfway down her thighs. The plates were silver in color and had a pink sparkling crystal that was in the middle of each plate. In the middle of Witch's chest was a similar crystal that covered most of her chest, went downwards to her navel, and spilt off to the sides. Her upper body had a jacket on that was magenta-colored, with a purple line that covered the edges of the hem, and middle, forming a four-pointed star, and continuing upwards towards the collar. Both shoulders had silver pauldrons that had a slight curve to them.

Going towards her arms, she had two bracers. The top of the bracers had a sparkling pink crystal, with some of it forming points on the sides, but underneath was all silver coated metal. Down below, half her feet were covered in silver metal, while her shins were protected with greaves that were similar to her bracers. Witch's helmet had changed considerably, now sporting rounded eyes, a sparkling pink visor, a round emerald crystal in the middle of the forehead, and four wing-like frills that matched the design of her new ring.

In Witch's right hand was the staff Tizona, the shaft was white as snow, with the butt of the staff having a hexagonal shaped silver stud. The top of the staff had an angular, box-like design, with the image of an owl head in the middle, surrounding that head were four crystal orbs, each one colored, yellow, green, blue, and red. On either side of the top half were six wing fins that were currently in a rested position. The back of that box had a handle, showing that the staff could be held by this and used as a makeshift sword, but on that same handle was a red trigger button.

Witch had finally achieved her Final Form, the form which combined the power of her hope, and her ability to see the wonder in all things. This was Kamen Rider Witch: Wonder Style.

"Luz…" Heka whispered in awe.

Barbatos' eyes were wide with shock, and, possibly, a little bit of fear?

The Fear Bringer gnashed his teeth as he growled with untold fury upon seeing this latest evolution from Luz. "NO MATTER WHAT FORM YOU TAKE, YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING!" Nuckelavee formed all six of his arms and created another huge sphere of dark energy. "NIGHTMARE INFINITY!" Nuckelavee fired his attack yet again.

Witch didn't move from her spot as she raised her left hand and focused her mind. "We are stronger than this!"

The crystal parts of Witch's armor began to glow brightly just as the attack approached her, but with a flick of her wrist, Witch deflected the attack straight into the sky. Nuckelavee stood there with his mouth agape at what he just saw, so did Eda, Crusader, and Heka. Once the beam had been completely neutralized, Witch got into a running stance.

"We are faster than him!"

The crystal filaments glowed again as Witch disappeared in a flash of pink light that made Nuckelavee frantically look around for her. But he was looking in the wrong places as Witch appeared on his left. Nuckelavee conjured his canine head to release a blast of hellfire, but Witch disappeared at the last second, and reappeared right in front of him, hovering a few inches above his horse head. Witch spun in the air and struck with a roundhouse kick to the monster's face, sending him flying off the cliff and over the waters of the Boiling Sea.

Nuckelavee was stunned by the initial strike, but he managed to regain his senses as he sprouted Typhon's wings and commanded the winds to grant him flight. Now floating in the middle of the sea, Nuckelavee was about to return to the site of their battle but paused.

A streak of pink light came zooming from where he once was. That light appeared about ten feet from him, revealing itself to be Witch, who was now hovering in the air with a pink aura outlining her form. Witch spun her staff around and brought it close to her right hand as she scanned each of the different colored orbs with her Wonder Style ring.

[Light! Light! Fire! Ice! Ice!]

[Combo: ICY BLAST!]

The two Light Glyphs, one Fire Glyph, and two Ice Glyphs immediately formed in front of Witch, combined together, and with a thrust of her staff, Witch released a huge beam of cryo energy that struck the Nuckelavee and carried him all the way down towards the Boiling Sea. Upon hitting the scalding hot waters, against all logic, the waters around there began to instantly freeze, forming a huge glacier that completely engulfed Nuckelavee.

The Fear Bringer growled from deep inside of the glacier as he gathered his energy and released a powerful energy explosion that caused the glacier to crack down the middle and send chunks of it falling into the sea.

However, Witch was already high in the air and preparing her next attack.

[Light! Fire! Fire! Fire! Light!]

[Combo: BURST ARROWS!]

Two Light Glyphs and three Fire Glyphs combined together, and in an instant formed an arrow construct made of fire and light. But Witch wasn't done, with a swipe of her staff, Witch multiplied the arrows until the sky around the glacier was completely blanketed with the arrows. When Nuckelavee released another energy explosion, he managed to finally free himself, but once free, he noticed the arsenal of arrows that were now pointed right at him.

"FIRE!" Witch ordered as she swiped Tizona through the air.

The arrows quickly launched themselves, zooming through the air, it almost looked as if the stars themselves were falling from the heavens to deliver divine justice upon Nuckelavee.

The Fear Bringer roared as he summoned Kali's destruction power and unleashed a barraging scatter beam of destructive energy. The airspace between Witch and Nuckelavee erupted with a cacophony of thunderous explosions that caused the waters below to ripple and undulate just from the sheer force and power of the multiple explosions that were happening in the air above. Eventually, the explosions finally stopped, with the end result being a huge smoke cloud between them.

Witch was not afraid, instead, she gripped the shaft of her staff with her left hand and turned Tizona around so that she could hold it with handle in her right hand, now wielding the staff like a sword. The middle section of the staff detached a little and turned to the left, showing that there was pure magical energy within it. That energy bled out and coated the shaft of the staff, now making it hum. Nuckelavee finally appeared, but this time, he was right behind her, wielding multiple weapons in all six of his claws.

Nuckelavee released his ungodly roar again, summoning the power of his Absolute Terror Field. However, the moment the field hit Witch, it was instantly canceled out as her magical power released a burst that stopped it from even touching her. Nuckelavee was not deterred as he began swinging his axes, cudgels, and swords at Witch.

The warrior of wonder quickly turned around and swiftly began parrying the weapons with Tizona, causing sparks to fly from each contact that was made with their weapons.

HOW IS SHE SO FAST?! AND SO STRONG?! SHE'S BLOCKING MY ATTACKS AS IF SHE CAN SEE THEM! IT'S AS IF–!

"NO…DID YOU –?!"

"You're not just facing me right now, Grom!" Witch slashed the air before her, making Nuckelavee have to block, but the blow was so strong that it made him fly backwards for a moment before he managed to stop himself. "You're fighting everyone's magic, the power of those who believe in me, and hope for my victory!"

Suddenly, Nuckelavee saw something, and he wasn't sure if it was due to Witch's magic, or if he was hallucinating, but he saw people around her. A ghostly image of Amity stood to Witch's right, with Willow and Gus to her left. Viney appeared behind Witch, along with Boscha, Skara, Barkus, and Mattholomule.

"I am the nine magics, and the four elements combined, this power, along with my hope, and La Lechuza's mana, gave birth to the power of Wonder! Now their powers flow through me, in this form!" Witch stated. "IT'S SHOWTIME, GROM!"

The hero of hope pulled the trigger on Tizona, making the first set of wings flare out as mana was quickly being gathered to it. Witch zoomed towards Nuckelavee in the form of a sparkling pink streak of light. Witch slashed Nuckelavee with her light blade, cutting off his two upper arms. Nuckelavee roared in pain but attacked with his tail to try and skewer her, but Witch disappeared again, and reappeared to slice off both of his lower arms.

Nuckelavee roared again as he tapped into Orthros' power and formed huge energy construct claws around his arms as he readied to slash at her. Witch pulled the trigger again, making the second set of wings flare.

"Copy, please!"

Another Witch instantly formed next to the original, and together, both Witches parried the claws with a single swipe of their weapons.

"T-That's…THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! YOU DIDN'T USE YOUR RINGS!"

"I still don't think you understand, this form is combination of all my magic! I don't need to scan my rings when their power resides inside of me!"

"Just like this! Copy, please!" Witch 2 exclaimed.

A third Witch split off from Witch 2, and now there were three. All three witches pulled the triggers for the third time, making the third and final set of wings flare out. Using that gathered energy, all three Witches vanished and began blitzing Nuckelavee from every angle, slashing at the monster's body and causing him roar in pain. His legs, arms, horns, and horse head were sliced off, and the rest of his body was riddled with glowing pink gashes. Witch 1, 2, and 3 were now a few feet in front of him, but Witch 1 dismissed the other two. She entered a ready stance as she pulled the trigger on Tizona for the fourth time.

} WONDERFUL! SLASHING STRIKE! {

Witch raised Tizona into the air as a huge blade of sparkling pink energy grew from it. Nuckelavee looked up, his jaw slacked as he tried to utter something, but it was futile. Witch slashed with her weapon, sending a huge crescent blade flying towards Nuckelavee. When the crescent hit, it sliced him down the middle right before exploding in midair and rendering his body to ashes. Witch flipped Tizona around, making it switch out of sword mode and back to staff mode as she held it with her right hand.

"No way it's that easy."

"LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZ NOOOOCCCCCCCEEDDAAAAAAAAA!"

"Ah, there it is."

Witch turned around and watched as something huge flew out of the smoke cloud from earlier. Nuckelavee had decided to forgo his original form and decided to become a huge, grotesque monster, more than he was earlier. The horse half had six legs now, and each hoof had two claws that jutted out of them, along with two bat wings that grew from its sides. The horse head now had six glowing red eyes, and its lower jaw was snarling and braying, showing off its drooling jagged, sharp teeth. The upper half had eight arms, each one had bony protrusions coming from them that looked like spikes, the exoskeletal armor in his chest now looked like a ribcage, with a glowing red light radiating from the center. Nuckelavee's head lost its armored parts as his head was now made of darks shadows, with six red eyes, a glowing, jagged toothed mouth, and a crown formed from his horns. The creature was twice the size that he was before, making Witch look like dog about to fight a grizzly bear. Nuckelavee's horse head opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of hellfire and Ifrits flames, tinged with dark energy, towards Witch.

"Defend, Please!"

A bubble of pink sparkling energy appeared around Witch as the attack hit her and sent Witch flying backwards towards the original site of the battle. But right before she and the beam hit the ground, Witch used her released a burst of magical power, canceling out Nuckelavee's attack as she skidded to a halt on the ground. Everyone gasped when they saw Nuckelavee appear in his new monstrous form, but Witch readied to attack. However, Nuckelavee wasn't about to let Witch get in another attack.

"TIME OUT!"

All time within the area froze instantly, leaving Nuckelavee as the only thing able to move in this stillness.

"Heh-heh! No matter how powerful you are, human, you can't fight the power of time!" Nuckelavee raised his claws, gathering power to destroy Witch.

"We are…stronger than time…!"

A pink aura formed around Witch, and Nuckelavee paused as he watched Witch slowly begin to move. "No…No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nononononononononononnononononoNONONONONONONONONONONONNO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

Witch's aura released a wave of magical energy that shattered the time freeze and brought everyone out of Nuckelavee's spell. "Nothing's impossible, so long as you believe! Just like I believe we are powerful enough, to HEAL EVERYONE, PLEASE!"

The warrior of wonder raised her staff as her magic flared. A pillar of sparkling pink energy shot straight into the air, and once it reached a certain height, the energy began to release waves of her magic that spread across the entirety of the Boiling Isles as a shower of pink sparkles cascaded down upon everyone and everything.

---

The fear that Grom had instilled across different parts of the island, the same fear that made some cower or lose their minds, suddenly faded away. Their fear was erased within seconds as the cascading sparkles fell over everything.

But that was not the only thing, the victims of Grom's Inner Phantom devouring began to stir, and not long after that, they all awakened.

In Latissa, amongst the many victims of Grom, two victims in particular woke up from their death sleep. The bestial, demon wolf woman Alida rose out of her bed, holding her head as she blinked and looked around the ward. Her eyes eventually fell upon the cot next to her.

"Bretta!"

Bretta's eyes fluttered open as she too sat up, holding her head. "What…Where…?"

"BRETTA!" Alida shouted happily as she made to get out of her cot, but unfortunately, being bed ridden for so long had made her legs weak, so she fell on the floor next to Bretta's cot.

Bretta immediately saw her wife faceplant and called out to her. "Alida! You're awake!"

Forgetting her faceplant, Alida resorted to crawling to her beloved and wrapped her strong arms around her wife, and affectionately began licking the side of her face. "Why are you here?! I thought you made it! Oh, who cares! Thank Titan, you're alright!" she said between licks.

Bretta happily cried as she returned the hug and giggled the whole time. "Alida, down girl! Down! Oh, screw it! I love you! It's a miracle from the Titan!"

Alida stopped her licking and instead passionately kissed her lover before pulling away and stating, "We're having kids! We're quitting the Emperor's Coven and having kids! As many as you want!"

Bretta blushed furiously. "A-A-Alida! I…I…I'd like that, very much."

---

Witch stopped her spell and returned her attention back to Grom, who looked a bit smaller after Witch had cast her spell. "The fear you feed off of is no longer there, Grom! I've given hope back to the people of the Boiling Isles! And now, as I said before, I'll end this nightmare once and for all!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!" Nuckelavee roared as he opened his upper mouth and fired a beam of pure dark energy at Witch.

The warrior of wonder jumped straight up into the air, with the white moon shining behind her as she hovered. "I have to apologize, Grom! I wasn't completely truthful to you when I said all my rings' magic is within me!" Witch switched Tizona to her left hand as she displayed a pink version of the Kick Strike ring. "There's still this one!"

[Lupachi Magic Touch Go!
Lupachi Magic Touch Go!]

"THE FINALE!"

}} WONDEROUS! KICK STRIKE! AMAZING! {{

Two huge pink, sparkling wings sprouted from Witch's back as her right foot started to flare with the same sparkling energy. With a flap of those wings, Witch propelled herself forward, transforming into a shooting star that descended down upon Nuckelavee. The Cannibal Phantom, in one last desperate act of defiance, poured all the power he had gathered from the devoured Phantoms and unleashed in a huge pillar of dark energy that eclipsed Witch's light. Everyone feared the worst, but they still had faith in her, they knew that Witch, that Luz Noceda, was not about to be defeated.

A pink star shined within that pillar, and with a flash of brilliant pink light, the pillar of darkness shattered apart as Witch made her final descent and drove her Rider Kick right into Nuckelavee's chest. The Fear Bringer roared his ungodly roar as he tried to hold onto life, his body morphing and trying to split off, trying to create another of himself to try and fight again another day. But Witch's magic was fast acting as the light burned away his body quicker than he could regenerate it. With one last battle cry, Witch drove her kick forward, and pierced through Nuckelavee, creating an explosion of pink light that made everyone have to cover their eyes.

When the light faded, there was nothing left. Pink feathers cascaded around the battlefield as Witch stood up and released a long sigh.

Heka limped her way over to Witch and cautiously asked, "Is…Is it over?"

Witch looked in Heka's direction. "Yes, Amity. It's over…he's gone, forever!"

Upon saying those words, Witch tipped over and collapsed onto her back. The transformation cancelled itself and reverted her back to civilian form, showing Luz completely knocked out, but with a smile on her face.

Heka limp rushed over to her girlfriend and disengaged her transformation as she dropped to her knees next to her. Amity hugged Luz tightly to her, smiling and crying at the same time. Eda flew down from the sky and landed next to them, she knelt on Luz's left and held her ward's left hand, squeezing gently as she offered a silent prayer to the Titan that the nightmare had been ended, and that the girl whom she saw as her daughter was still alive.

Crusader managed to walk closer to them but kept a respectful distance from them as he held his injured left arm. He too smiled, for the now the biggest and most deadly threat to the existence of everyone on the island was gone. Yes, Luz Noceda had now just become much, much more powerful than before, but perhaps she was not as bad he thought? Time would tell. However, he was aware that their battle was being watched, and this put him on edge. Now Nuckelavee was truly, once and for all, dead. Which meant the alliance between them was ended. What would the Phantom's next move be now?

---

Belos was equal parts thrilled for this victory and disturbed by it. Luz Noceda had once again achieved an even greater magical power than before. There was no doubt in his mind that if she so wished it, the human girl could easily, and with zero effort, thwart any and all of his plans for the Day of Unity.

I guess that leaves me no other option, he thought

"Well, Belos, it seems Witch has gotten much stronger, but as a result, has put down that rabid beast for good," said Tiamat.

"Indeed, she has." Belos walked away from Tiamat and Set, until he was standing next to a table. "And tell me, what will be your next move?"

Tiamat smiled sinisterly. "Need you really ask? You should know by now what it is."

Belos sighed. "Predictable. So very predictable." The Emperor of the Boiling Isles turned around and faced the two Phantoms. "I'm sorry, dear Tiamat, but I cannot allow you to kill that young girl just yet. For the sake of my future, and the plans I have in store. She must live for a bit longer."

"You say that as if I care. Our Master brought us into this world, and our mission is to convert all of you mortals into Phantoms."

"Ah, yes, the Titan is quite the task master. But so be it, onto plan B."

Belos snapped his fingers, and upon doing so, the floor beneath the two Phantoms began to glow as a complex magic circle appeared under their feet. The circle glowed blood red as tendrils of dark red magic rose from it and speedily lashed towards the two Phantoms.

"LADY TIAMAT! MOVE!" Set yelled as he pushed her out of the circle.

Tiamat fell to the floor outside of the circle and quickly turned around as she watched Set transform into his Phantom form. But it was too late, the tendrils wrapped around his body, and within seconds began to break down his entire being. Set tried to cast his spells, to use his chaos magic to disrupt the spell, but it wasn't working. The circle was somehow sapping all his magical energy, breaking it down as soon as he mustered it. Set growled and yelled as his body was painfully broken down, his red eyes locked with Tiamat as the Phantom Leader stared with wide eyes.

"RUN, MY LADY! RUN!"

"SET!"

Those were the last words of the Phantom General before his entire body was bookend down completely. The particles were captured within the circle, and with a flash of light, all that energy was reformed and materialized into a crimson stone. Belos reached out with his right hand and used his magic to make the stone fly to his hand where he snatched it out of the air. The ruler of the isles pushed open his cape and revealed an Arcane Driver that lacked a crystal.

"I was hoping to get both of you. But it seems he was enough to fashion this artificial Philosopher's Stone."

"A what?!"

"Not quite a Philosopher's Stone. It's a – how to put it? – facsimile of the Philosopher's Stone. But no less immensely powerful. The one that my ward uses is an artificial magic stone, or magi-stone, made by other means. Powerful, but how strong it can get is dependent on him. Unlike this perfected version." Belos inserted the stone into his Driver, bringing it to life as the stone's energy flowed into it. The Emperor took off his gloves slipped on a ring over his left middle finger. "If I want to stand on equal or higher ground against that girl, then I'll need to fight her at her own game. Let's see, what was the word again? Oh, yes. Henshin."

[Purging evil.]

[NONE SHALL ESCAPE!]

[Eradicating the wicked.]

[ALL SHALL BE JUDGED BY…!]

A red magic circle with gold-colored runes appeared under Belos. Dozens of red construct hands rose from the circle and wrapped around his body, and in flash of crimson light, Tiamat witnessed the birth of the Boiling Isles' Dark Rider.

[The Inquisitor.]

Inquisitor's mesh was gray in color. The chest plate was pure white, with three gold-colored ribs hugging each the side. The upper portion of the chest armor had golden markings along the pectoral region, and around the collar of the armor was a gold clasp that held the blood red cape that flowed down his back and hovered just a few inches off the floor. The shoulder's pauldrons were large, curved, and colored gold as well. Inquisitor's forearms were covered with white bracer armor, that sported two gold spikes each. The shins were protected by white armored greaves that had three rib-like spikes that hugged the sides of the greaves. The helmet had gold bands that covered the right and left sides of the helmet, leaving the middle white. His helmet eyes were bright red and curved, and from the helmet protruded two curved horns.

This was a Rider who saw his actions as righteous, noble, and good. A Rider that was willing to go to any lengths to see his ambitions fulfilled, even if it meant resorting to unsavory methods. This was the Rider who would purge the world of evil.

"Ah, I see now why the child enjoys doing this. For all the flare, it's quite the powerful and intimidating form. Be grateful, Phantom, you will probably be the only one who will see me in this form. And feel free to address me by my moniker while in this form. Kamen Rider Inquisitor."

Tiamat growled as her pupils turned into slits. "I will make you PAY for what you did to Set! YOU DIE TONIGHT, BELOS!"

Tiamat's body glowed, and within seconds a rainbow pillar, tinged with black erupted around her. That pillar grew larger and larger until something emerged from it. From the far right a dragon head and neck appeared. This head and neck were made of darkness and shadows, but had two horns that curved forward, and a middle one that curved like a shark's fin. From the far left another came out. This one was made of water, with that same water body creating a fin like protrusion that ran down from the middle of the head to the back of the neck. Next to the dark dragon head was one that was made of pure white diamonds, with strands of crystals that made it appear as if it had a mane. The fourth on the left was made of tightly woven vines, with two long branches that were tusks. And lastly, from the middle, a fifth dragon head formed. The last one was made of fire, with frills on the side of its head, and two horns that curved towards the back. And all five heads sported the same pink colored eyes that now glowed right wrathful hatred for Belos.

The rest of her followed suit as a feminine dragon body came out, showing black scales that shimmered with a rainbow of different colors, much like that of a raven's feathers. The scales around her chest and stomach were a lighter shade of purple but shimmered just as much as the black scales. She had two tails that whipped back and forth and sported a spike at the ends of both. Her wings were large, with some of her scales growing out to form the feathers, all made of the same black rainbow shimmering scales. She walked on two legs, and had long, four clawed arms, but her posture indicated that she could walk on all fours if necessary. Despite the slender, feminine frame of this Phantom dragon, you could clearly see the impressive musculature of the creature. She was elegant, beautiful, and deadly, all things that imbodied her namesake, all things befitting the leader of the Phantoms.

"That child may be strong enough to face me, Belos! But do YOU think you are?! You who wield an artificial Philosopher's Stone?!" Tiamat asked.

Inquisitor raised his right hand and flexed it a bit. "A good question, Tiamat. I can think of no one better to test my abilities against. Do you?"

All five of Tiamat's roared at the same time as she lunged at Inquisitor. The Dark Rider scanned his right ring and thrust his hand forward.

[Alpha \A/ Creation, Now.]

A portal was punched into the space between them, a portal large enough to swallow Tiamat as she passed right through it and disappeared. Inquisitor chuckled as she jumped straight towards the portal and followed after her.

Tiamat was unceremoniously thrown to the ground as she crash landed on the other side of the portal but managed to right herself as she got onto all fours. Inquisitor appeared out of the same portal and landed with a bit more grace than the dragon Phantom. Tiamat looked around the area and realized that Inquisitor had transported them to the same spot where they forged their alliance.

"Is this meant to be some form of irony? Bringing us to the same place we made our armistice?" Tiamat asked.

"Oh, no. I just wanted to fight you in a place that was not under my own castle, and where I could truly 'let loose', as they say, without worrying about accidentally killing my subordinates," Inquisitor clarified.

Tiamat's crystal head inhaled and released a stream of diamond shards. Inquisitor's ring shined as he thrust his right hand into the air and made a wall of earth rise in front of him. The stream of diamond shards slammed against the slab, but it was quickly becoming apparent that it was not a viable defense as she shards were ridiculously sharp and dense that they were shredding through the slab of earth within seconds. The rock wall was destroyed, but Inquisitor was not there. All five heads were on swivels as they looked around for the Dark Rider.

Thunder roared above Tiamat and made one of her heads look up, and that's when she spotted Inquisitor conjuring thunderclouds over her position, and with a motion of his hand, made crimson lightning rain down on Tiamat's position. Multiple explosions ignited around Tiamat as she was pelted with the magical lightning, and as much as she hated to admit it, these attacks were hurting her, badly. But she was not about to let this mortal get the better of her, she was going to avenge Set, and see her master's ambitions made true.

The eyes of Tiamat's vine dragon head glowed as she roared with it. The earth rumbled beneath her as four pillars of stone rose around her and glowed dark green. The crimson lightning was immediately drawn to them as the pillars of rock acted as lightning rods. With her shadow head, Tiamat changed her body into a swift shadow that flew up into the air and appeared on Inquisitor's left. She returned to a solid state and slashed at him with her claws, sending the Dark Rider flying into the rib bone of the Titan. Her middle fire dragon head inhaled and released a jet stream blast of intense flames that smothered the spot where he landed. A huge explosion took place upon contact, but Tiamat wasn't convinced that he was dead, not just yet.

She flew straight for that spot and smashed her right fist into that same spot, digging out Inquisitor. Tiamat flew back down to the ground and slammed him into the dirt, and then dragged him along it as she flew across the surface, and right before she hit the tree line, she tossed Inquisitor like a rag doll towards it, letting the momentum carry him forward.

Inquisitor smashed through several trees as he left a trail of destruction in his wake. Just then, several huge vines and roots burst from the earth and slammed down atop of Inquisitor, each one pummeling him repeatedly as huge thuds echoed through the forest. The water head of Tiamat conjured a raincloud above the area where he was being pummeled, but the rain was not ordinary, it was acidic, and fell incredibly fast to the point that it might as well be raining burning needles. The vines kept on pummeling that area, some were tearing apart due to the rain attack, but he couldn't escape that onslaught.

"THIS ENDS NOW!"

All five of Tiamat's heads opened their mouths, each one gathering their own elemental energy. The shadow head created a swirling ball of dark energy, the diamond head created one of light, the water head formed a dense sphere of water laced with blue magical energy, the vine head did the same, wrapping the sphere of green light in bright green energy leaves, and the middle fire head created a sphere of flames that looked like a miniature sun. All at once, the five heads of Tiamat unleashed their attacks, all five beams combined together and formed a roaring beam of insurmountable power that struck the spot were Inquisitor was. The result created a huge explosion, a dome of multicolored light formed as it engulfed more and more of the forest by the second and would probably spread for a few more miles before it stopped.

[Omega |Ω| Destruction, Now.]

Suddenly, a blast of crimson energy ignited from within the dome and destroyed the dome within a second. All five of Tiamat's heads looked on in shock at the burning crater, and at the center of which stood Inquisitor, who barely had a scratch on him. Not even his cape was damaged.

"My turn."

Inquisitor pointed his right hand at her, and as he did, an Omega symbol appeared before an intense blast of crimson energy roared into the sky, eclipsing most of it as Tiamat shot her attack again, but as soon as the beam hit, it was immediately destroyed as she was washed in the crimson light before a mighty explosion erupted in the sky. Inquisitor canceled his attack and let his aura flare around his body. The Dark Rider shot from the ground, causing it to cave in as he flew into the air and coated his right hand in that same destructive energy he used before.

Tiamat managed to remain airborne, but that stopped the moment Inquisitor flew past her, and with little effort, sliced off her right wing and made it disintegrate. The Phantom leader fell from the sky like a lead weight, hitting the ground with a dull thud. The five headed dragon tried to rise, but Inquisitor dropped out of the sky and landed in the middle of her back, hard, causing the ground below Tiamat to rumble and fissure. The five heads of Tiamat all gasped in pain from the blow, temporarily stunning her. Inquisitor made a slashing motion, and cut off the left wing, making the dragon heads roar in pain.

"Just like the noble knights of the medieval era, I will slay the dragon that threatens my people," said Inquisitor.

Tiamat's water head turned to Inquisitor and retorted, "HA! 'Noble'! You are the furthest thing from noble you pretender! You don't care one bit for the mortals of this realm!"

Inquisitor pointed his right hand at that head and fired another Omega Blast. The beam completely destroyed that head. He pointed his hand at the shadow head and destroyed that one. Each head lost made Tiamat cry out in more pain as she felt herself growing weaker.

"You're right, I don't care for these demons and witches. I don't care if you slaughtered them all or enslaved them for your own needs. I wasn't speaking of them to begin with." Inquisitor blasted the vine head next. "I was speaking of my people who exist in the other realm, my home." The diamond head was going to fire a light beam, but Inquisitor destroyed that one, too, leaving the fire head. He jumped off Tiamat's back and landed a few feet away from her. "I can't allow your kind to continue existing. Even if I abandoned this realm to your machinations, I know it won't be long before you set your filthy sights on my beloved home. So, to protect my fellow humans, I will make sure that your kind are forever gone from these shores."

Tiamat managed to stagger to her feet as she panted, meanwhile, Inquisitor took off the Omega Destruction ring and put on his third and final ring as he scanned it.

}[ JUDGEMENT! ENDING STRIKE! UNDERSTOOD! ]{

Inquisitor's right foot blazed with crimson energy. Tiamat charged for him in a desperate attempt to at least wound the Dark Rider. But as soon as she was in ranger, Inquisitor jumped up and drove his Rider Kick into Tiamat's chest, sending a surge of dark magical power through her chest, as a burst of energy blasted out of her back and destroyed several acres of trees before finally stopping some distance away. Inquisitor landed on the ground as his cape fluttered in the wind, looking upon the now single headed dragon with a huge hole blasted through her chest. Tiamat's body began to break down into particles, her time in this realm was over.

"And so, ends the leadership of the Phantoms. Now all that remains are the final dregs of your kind. Which shouldn't be a problem for the younger Riders. And then I can finally get on with my plans," said Inquisitor as he swapped out his rings.

"Heh…Heh…Poor diluted fool…"

Inquisitor stopped and turned his head to glance over his shoulder. "Pardon me?"

"You think this is over with my death…? Did you think my Master had not planned for this…?"

Inquisitor turned his body fully to look up at Tiamat and asked, "You lie. The last ramblings of a dying beast."

"No…my Master has one last gambit to play…And are you not curious as to who it was that summoned us here…?" Tiamat asked.

Inquisitor furrowed his brow beneath his helmet. "It was Grom, was it not?! He was the Phantom who was created naturally, without the use of the Sabbath ritual! He summoned you! The Titan must've showed him how!"

Tiamat's body was mostly gone, but her fiery head still remained, but that, too, was almost gone. "No, that beast was not the one who summoned us…the summoner is - …"

Inquisitor's eyes widened upon hearing the name, but before he could ask anymore, Tiamat's head disappeared with a grin. The Dark Rider's body flared with crimson light before he yelled into the air and released that energy in an explosion that cracked the earth around him.

"Damn you, Titan! How dare you!"