It was a simple plan; nothing should've gone wrong. So…why did Luz find herself at the bottom of a hole? The Latina's body ached all over. And her head hurt a bit. She checked herself to see if she was bleeding from her head or wounded someplace. But, so far, nothing.
"What…happened…?" Luz whispered. "Think, Noceda…"
(A few minutes earlier…)
Night had finally settled on the Boiling Isles, and with the rising of the moon, their heist began. Eda, King, and Luz flew under the cover of night, and there, in the distance, Luz saw the place they were heading. It was an imposing structure, to say the least. There was a wall that was at least five or so stories tall, outside of the wall were large spikes that rose up from the ground, which seemed to be a natural feature of the area. There were walkways and roads leading from the town to a bridge that took you straight to the gates of that wall, and beyond it lied the tower. It stood tall over the area, with two watchtowers on the left and right of the wall and was bathed in an ominous red glow.
Eda landed just outside the wall, hiding behind one of the structures. Luz, with King resting on her head, glanced up from where they were hiding, finding the entire thing even more imposing from ground level.
"What is this place?" Luz asked.
"This lovely place is called the Conformatorium. A place for those considered 'unsuitable' for society," Eda answered.
Luz glanced to her left and saw yet another of Eda's wanted posters.
"Whoa, these guys really do have the hots for you."
"Yep, but we were never caught! Because we're too slippery," Eda remarked.
"Try to catch me when I'm covered in grease! I'm a slippery little fella!" King exclaimed as he wiggled about on Luz's head.
The little demon fell off and landed on his feet, but not before making Luz's beanie go askew. She fixed it, and her hair, before folding the poster and putting it in her pocket. A memento for when she returned home.
"So, what's the plan? I mean, there is a plan, right?"
"Uh-huh!" King answered. "You and I will sneak up to the top of that tower where they're holding my crown!"
"And this 'portal door', right?" Luz confirmed.
"Yeah, sure," King nodded.
"And I'm going to make sure the warden's distracted," said Eda.
"Should I use a disguise or…?" Luz asked.
"Okay, let's do this!" Eda twirled her staff around and struck the ground with it. In a matter of seconds, a platform made of magical light appeared underneath King and Luz. "Hold on tight."
Luz and King were immediately lifted into the air, making Luz have to brace herself as she was suddenly brought high into the air. The platform arrived at an open window of the central tower, and without wasting any time, Luz grabbed King and jumped through the window just as the platform disappeared. Luz and King looked out the window and watched as Eda flew into the air.
"Meet you guys at the top of the tower!" Eda called out as she flew off to begin her distraction.
Now that they were inside, Luz had King hopped onto her shoulder. Once he did, they headed down the hallway. When they reached the other side, Luz's eyes widened at what she saw. The were several floors, with many cells on each one of them. There was a winding walkway that started way down at the bottom, and kept going, spiraling higher and higher than even she could see.
"Whoa…"
"Hey, you."
Luz jumped and turned around. That's when she saw another witch woman. She didn't look that old, possibly in her late teens to early twenties. She had a purple, shoulder-less dress, with her black hair tied into a ponytail, a yellow-colored choker, hazel green eyes, and a couple of pronounced fangs.
"How'd you get out of your cell?" she asked.
"Oh, no, no, no. I'm not a criminal," Luz retorted.
"Not yet you're not," King remarked.
"Tch, neither are we. The stupid warden likes to lock people up who don't fit in. Like, I like writing fanfics of food falling in love. I like food. I like love. Just let me write about it!"
Wait…She just likes writing fanfiction? How is that worth getting locked up?
There was another person in the cell next to the witch. He was big, had pale turquoise skin, and his head was oblong shaped, with multiple eyes, some of which were missing if the eye sockets were any indication.
"I'm here because I like eating my own eyes," the demon said as he plucked one of his eyeballs out, ate it, and not a moment later it regenerated.
Admittedly a weird and a little disturbing, but they grow back so…not terrible.
"We are agents of free expression! They will never silence us!"
Luz looked at the cell to her right and saw what essentially was a talking head with arms and legs. The head was pale white, with ginger hair, and had a big nose.
"Yeah, she's really into conspiracy theories," said the witch.
"THE WORLD IS A SIMULATION! WE ARE BUT PLAYTHINGS FOR A HIGHER BEING!" she rambled on.
Luz looked at each of the prisoners in turn, and came to a conclusion, "Wait, none of these are actual crimes! None of you did anything wrong!"
"…But if I'm guilty of one thing more than others, it's that I don't fit in. I don't fit the mold of how witches should do magic."
"Noceda, you're such a weirdo."
"Seriously, getting into fights to 'protect someone'. Who asked you to butt in?"
"You're such a freak, Noceda."
"…You're all just a buncha weirdos…" Luz reached into her jacket pocket and took out the wanted poster of Eda. "Just like me."
Suddenly, there were strong thudding sounds coming from behind a door a few feet ahead of them. At first, the thudding was light, like it was far away, but it was steadily getting louder, and getting closer.
"It's the warden! Hide!" the witch warned.
Luz frantically looked around for a place to hide, but in the end chose an empty cell as she and King ducked into it. The Latina dropped the poster and quickly pulled down on the bars, shut the cell, and hurried to the far corner of the cell where it was the darkest. Just then, the door slammed open, revealing Warden Wrath himself. He was large man; he wore a white buttoned up robe over a pair of black pants and a black hooded shirt underneath. His face was obscured by a gray mask with yellow eyes, it reminded Luz of those plague masks from her history class. Warden Wrath was muscular, that much she could tell from his exposed arms.
"I can hear you," he said in a threatening tone. "Just what are you fools whispering about?"
Luz watched as Wrath walked closer to the cells, and that's when he looked down. The Latina followed his gaze and internally yelped. The wanted poster for Eda was on the floor. Luz hugged King close, and the little demon did the same as they both tensed up, afraid that they were about to be found out.
Wrath picked up the wanted poster and growled under his breath as he said, "Ah, the Owl Lady. Were you thinking she was going to free you?"
The warden balled up his right fist, crushing the poster before that same right hand morphed into a mallet. Angrily, Wrath smashed that hammer hand against the bars of Luz and King's cell, startling the both of them.
"I'll get my hands on her soon enough," he swore.
Luz's heart nearly stopped when she saw Wrath look in their direction, but his attention was quickly drawn by another.
"Fight against the oppressor! We must resist! We must conquer! We will never be afraid of you! You old creep!" the big nose demon exclaimed, defiantly.
Warden Wrath changed his hand back to normal as he released the wadded-up paper. He took a few steps forward and pushed the lever up to the big nosed demon's cell door. Once the lever was thrown, the bars rose immediately.
"Hooray! I'm free! ACK!"
Wrath grabbed the little big nosed demon in his grasp and said, "Let this be a lesson to all of you! There's no place in society for you if you don't fit in!"
Luz's brow furrowed, she wanted to go and help that poor demon, but she had to think of King. Getting into a fight now would mean putting his life in danger. Not only that, but their plan to retrieve his crown and the portal door would be ruined. With his threat made, Wrath walked back to the door he came in through, carrying the demon in his hand, and slammed the door shut leaving them alone. Luz quickly pushed up the bars, making them rise enough to let her through before they slammed back down.
"This isn't right," said Luz.
"I know, it's a bum deal, but we can't do anything," said King.
"I can set these guys free," she retorted.
"Weh?!"
Luz ran to the lever that controlled the witch's cell, she pushed up on it as hard as she could, but the lever would not budge.
"UGH! C'mon! Seriously! Move! Dang it!" Luz grunted.
"Kid, just leave before the warden finds you and throws you in here for real. We're lost causes. Go and enjoy your freedom," the witch said in a depressed tone.
Luz panted as she tried to keep lifting it, but in the end, she was unable to do a thing.
"I'm sorry," Luz apologized.
"Don't be, it's not your fault we're in here," the multi-eyed demon replied.
Luz hated feeling powerless like this. She couldn't do a thing to help them, but at the same time, Luz knew that she had a mission to complete. The crown, the portal door, these were her priorities, but, maybe, she could ask Eda for help?
Reluctantly, Luz ran until she found another hallway and headed down it. After taking another turn she found a sign that read "Contraband Chamber". Luz followed the signs until she arrived at a hallway that led directly to the chamber in question. Eda finally made into the tower as she floated up next to Luz.
"Hey, I just checked. The warden's apparently busy torturing some tiny creature. So, he'll be busy for a while." Eda noticed that Luz wasn't reacting much to the news. "Hey, you alright, kid?"
"Not really. I just talked to some of the people in the cells. Eda, they don't belong in there," Luz informed.
Eda sighed and nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, I know, it sucks," said Eda.
"Eda, can you…can you help me free them?!" Luz asked.
The Owl Lady raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Free them? Why? You don't even know them."
"No, but I can't just stand by and let–!" Luz paused when she remembered a talk she had had with her mother and the counselor. The Latina looked down at the ground as she balled her hands into fists. "Is…Is there something weird or wrong with wanting to protect others? To help them when they need it?"
Eda looked upon the human girl with some pity. The Owl Lady rubbed the back of her head, sighing as she thought about the right way to answer that question.
"No, kid, there's not. Can't say I haven't done much of that myself, aside from protecting this little guy." Eda crouched down and patted King on his head. "But if that's what makes you weird, then let them think that. 'Cause all us weirdos have at the end of the day is each other. And us weirdos have to stick together."
Luz looked at Eda and smiled a little as she said, "Guess you're right."
"Heh, dang right I'm right. Now, let's keep going."
Luz, Eda, and King continued walking down the corridor until they arrived at a giant wooden door that had the word "CONTRABAND" carved into it in bold letters.
"My crown! It's close! I can sense its power!" King exclaimed as he ran up to the door and began trying to open it as he latched onto the doorknob.
"He's so cute when he's thirsting for power," Eda commented.
Luz giggled a little as she watched King work. After a moment, the little demon managed to break the doorknob and made the huge door crack open enough for them to get in. Without waiting, King dashed into the room, making Eda shake her head.
"C'mon, let's get in there before he hurts himself."
*BZZZT!*
"Ow!"
Eda and Luz entered through the door and stepped into the huge room. It had banners with a strange insignia that Luz had never seen before. The entire room itself was vacant, with an incredibly tall ceiling. At the center of this room was a big column of light, where King was trying to get through it. The little demon ran towards the light and struck it with his head, but he was thrown back and landed on his rear. King groaned in annoyance that he could not get through, but Eda and Luz walked up behind him and looked down at him.
"We have a human for this, remember?" Eda pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," King remarked.
"Okay, Luz, you're up."
Luz looked at the pillar of light, took a calming breath, and walked towards it. Carefully, she pressed her left hand against the light, and when she did her hand passed through. She felt no pain, and when she retracted her hand, she saw that it was still intact. Believing that it was safe, Luz walked forward, passing through the pillar of light, and winding up on the other side. Once inside, Luz beheld a huge pile of confiscated items, it looked like a small mountain. There were a myriad of confiscated items here, so Luz stuck out her head from the barrier.
"Um, Eda, I forgot to ask. What does King's crown look like?" Luz asked.
"Trust me, you'll know it when you see it," Eda replied.
Luz shrugged and went back in. She remembered what the portal door looked like, but she had no idea what that crown looked like.
She said I'd know it when I see it, but…
The Latina looked through the pile but couldn't find the portal door. It was huge, so, for all she knew it was buried deep inside. In which case it would take a lot longer for her to get it. Luz kept up her search but stopped when she saw something catch the light near the top of the pile.
"Wait a second…is that?"
When Luz exited the barrier, she walked out with a paper crown in her hand that had the words "Burger Queen" printed on it.
There's no way this is the crown, Luz thought.
"My crown!"
I stand corrected.
King hopped up and down excitedly as he walked up to Luz and snatched the paper crown out of her hands and placed it on his head.
"Yes! Yes! I can feel my powers returning! You there, nightmare critter!" King scampered over to a box that had not been placed behind the barrier and took a stuffed bunny out of it. "I shall call you Francois and you shall be a minion in my army of darkness! Ha-Ha!"
"B-But that crown, it's just made out of paper." Luz glanced to her left and looked at Eda as she asked, "It doesn't give him any powers at all, does it?"
"Eeeeh…nope."
Luz deadpanned, as she crossed her arms and glared at Eda.
"Ah, look at us, Luz. King and I don't have much in this world, we only have each other. So, if that dumb crown is important to him, it's important to me," said Eda.
Luz looked back at King, he looked so happy over such a simple thing as a stuffed rabbit and a paper crown. Who was she to tell him that that crown wasn't important.
"Us weirdos have to stick together," said Luz.
"Now you're getting it," Eda said.
"Well, I need to go back in there." Luz began walking towards the barrier. "I couldn't find the portal door the first time, so–"
"Hold on a minute, kid. I wasn't exactly…truthful about the door," Eda interjected.
Luz stopped and turned around as she asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean–"
Suddenly, Luz saw an imposing figure behind Eda. She immediately recognized the figure as Warden Wrath. The warden raised his right hand, transforming it into a crescent blade before swiftly slashing off Eda's head. Eda's head came flying towards Luz, out of pure instinct she caught the head in her hands, screaming her head off at just witnessing Eda getting murdered right in front of her, and holding Eda's severed head. But then…
"OW! I hate it when that happens," said Eda…Eda's talking head.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! TALKING HEAD! TALKING HEAD!" Luz screamed. "E-E-Eda, a-are you okay?! H-How are you even alive?!"
"Don't worry about it, kid. This just happens when you get older," she replied.
"Finally, I have you right where I want you, Eda the Owl Lady." Wrath walked towards them, but as he got closer to King, he grabbed the crown off his head.
"WEH!" King exclaimed.
"My guards couldn't get you. But I knew if we took your little friend's toy, you'd come running."
Wrath crushed King's crown in his grasp, and let it float down the floor where he stepped on it further.
"NOOOO!" King cried. "M-My…power."
Luz glared at Wrath but managed to keep herself from doing something reckless in this situation.
"What do you want with me?! I never broke any of your laws…in front of you!" Eda exclaimed.
"I want you…" Suddenly, Wrath took out a bouquet of flowers and got down on one knee before Luz, well before Eda's head, "to go out with me!"
"…Wha?"
"…What?!"
"Go boss!" One of his subordinates cheered.
Another gave him the thumbs up.
Wrath shot a thumbs up back to them and continued, "You've always eluded our capture. You've always been the one that got away. I found that alluring."
"I hate everything you're saying right now," Luz commented.
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Wrath yelled as he threw the bouquet over his right shoulder and transformed his right arm.
It became a mass of tentacles for a moment before lashing out towards Luz. The tentacles, upon making contact with her, merged into a singular tentacle that raised Luz into the air. The Latina, unfortunately, dropped Eda's head, which now rolled next to the warden.
"LET ME GO YOU CREEP!" Luz yelled.
"So, how about it, Owl Lady?" Wrath reached down with his left hand and picked Eda's head up by her hair. "The most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles, and the feared Warden Wrath! We'd be the strongest power couple ever! I mean, it's not like you can say no right now."
Eda looked at Luz, and then at King. Her options were limited, but she had to think of a way out of this. Fortunately for her, Luz was a step ahead.
"OOOOOOOOOOUCH!" Wrath screamed.
Eda and King looked up at Luz, who had just bitten the tentacle that was holding her. Warden Wrath immediately let her go, letting Luz fall from the air and land on her feet. Thinking quickly, Luz ran up to the warden, and swiftly, and with great precision, kicked him right between the legs. King, Eda, and the two subordinates winced when they saw Luz drive the tip of her shoe straight into his groin. At first there was no reaction, but after a couple of seconds, the warden released a high-pitched squeal as he let go of Eda's head. Luz quickly caught Eda's head, and the grabbed King by his collar and ran to Eda's body.
"Boss! You, okay?! Boss?!" The subordinate asked.
"D-Don't l-let them e-escape!" Wrath ordered with a squeaky voice.
Luz managed to reunite Eda's head and body, and with a couple of neck cracks, Eda was back up and running.
"Kid, that was reckless, and stupid! Great work!" Eda praised.
Luz smiled as she proclaimed, "Like I said, Eda. If I can help someone in trouble, I can't just ignore them!"
"Danger…"
Suddenly, Luz felt something, but not only that, she heard a voice. One that wasn't from anyone in this room.
What was…?
That wasn't the end of the surprises as the entire building began to rumble and shake violently. There was the sound of rocks splitting and cracking, and shaking, and then came a tremendous roar that rattled everyone to their bones.
"W-What the heck was that?!" King asked.
"What did you do, Owl Lady?!" Wrath accused.
"Hey, don't look at me! I have no idea what's going on!" Eda retorted.
Another of Wrath's subordinates entered the room, his eyes wide with fear as he stopped before his boss.
"Warden! We-We have a situation! A BIG, BAD SITUATION!" he said.
"Out with it! What is it?!"
"A HUGE MONSTER IS HEADING OUR WAY!"
"WHAT?!"
Wrath drew a circle of light in the air and pointed his right finger to the far wall. That section of the wall began to glow, with each individual brick parting to form a window to the outside. Once it was open, everyone beheld the monster that the guard was speaking of.
It stood about fifty meters tall and was reptilian in form. It was bipedal, with several sharp, silver blade-like spines running down its back and to its long tail. The creature had several razor-sharp teeth, yellow eyes with turquoise irises, and a glowing yellow horn at the center of its forehead. It stood on two legs and had two arms with five fingers and sharp claws at the ends. Its hide was rough, and scaly, with the majority of it colored a dark gray, and its armored chest cavity colored a lighter shade of gray.
DEMAAGA: THE ANCIENT MOLTEN MONSTER
Luz looked upon the giant monster heading their way, and yelled, "YOU GUYS HAVE KAIJU IN YOUR WORLD?!"
"What the hell is a Kaiju?!" Eda asked.
"You know, a giant monster! Like that!" Luz pointed straight at Demaaga in the distance. "Wait…these are normal here, right?"
"NO!" Everyone in the room yelled.
Demaaga released another roar into the air and continued to stomp its way towards the Conformatorium.
"H-How did you mess something that big?!" Wrath asked his subordinate.
"I-I-It just came out of the ground, Sir! It just burst straight out of the dirt and rock like it had been there this whole time or something!" he replied.
Wrath looked back at the approaching monster and muttered, "No way…something that huge…was hiding under our noses this entire time?!"
"Uh…guys…we need to run," said Luz.
"And why should we listen to you, human?!" Wrath growled.
"Because that thing is about to launch an attack! Its whole back is glowing! Look!"
Wrath and everyone turned their attention back to Demaaga. Just as Luz said, Demaaga's entire back was glowing bright orange. A moment later, the huge beast released dozens upon dozens of fireballs from its back and had them rain down on the entire area. Several explosions went off one after the other as fires started to spread out from the resulting explosions. Some of which hit the town nearby.
"CALL FOR BACKUP! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS! AND BEGIN EVACUATIONS!" Wrath ordered.
"YES, SIR!" the three subordinates saluted and ran off.
Wrath ran after them, but not before turning his head to look over his shoulder and stated, "This isn't over, Eda the Owl Lady."
Once Wrath and his men were gone, Luz turned around and was about to run into the barrier again but was stopped by Eda.
"Eda what are you doing?! I need to go back in there and get the portal door!" Luz exclaimed.
"No, you don't, Luz…It was never there in the first place," said Eda.
Luz stopped her struggling and turned to face the Owl Lady.
"What do you mean?"
Eda sighed as she reached into her thick, long hair and pulled out a key that had the same eye symbol as the door. Luz watched as she pressed on the eye, and within seconds the portal door materialized before them.
"Wait…how…?"
"I'm sorry, Luz. I needed your help to get King's crown back. I had every intention of sending you back once we were done, but now that thing showed up…well…it's better that you go now before anything else happens," said Eda. "Sorry for lying to you, Luz. But things are getting too heated – no pun intended – and I'm not about to see a kid die!"
"Eda…"
Demaaga let out another roar as the blade spines on its back began to glow bright red now. Luz, Eda, and King thought it was about to release another barrage of fireballs, but this time was different. Instead of a fireball barrage, Demaaga unleased a powerful, molten heat ray from its mouth. Demaaga strafed the heat ray towards the Conformatorium, but as soon as it hit, a defensive barrier appeared and blocked the attack. However, the barrier was not prepared to take on this level of power as the barrier shattered to pieces. Thankfully, it managed to dilute the damage as it struck the courtyard and blew it up.
"Okay, that's it, we're out of here!" Eda announced as she tapped on the key and dismissed the door. She got on her staff and had King go into her hair as she turned to face Luz. "Look, I know you may not trust me after that, but–!"
Luz hurriedly got on the staff.
"Let's go! This is getting way too dangerous!" Luz stated.
Eda took off out of the window, but unfortunately, Demaaga was a lot closer than before. The giant monster spotted them flying out of the tower, and for whatever reason, unleashed another Molten Iron Heat Ray. Eda began taking evasive action as she flew around the beam, trying to keep them from getting turned into crispy critters. The heat was intense, it practically stung their skin just being in the general vicinity of the beam, much less what it would be like getting hit by it. Demaaga switched up and began shooting more Flame Bullets from its back, making Eda have to keep up with her evasive maneuvers.
However, one of the Flame Bullets exploded close to them, and the force of the explosion sent Luz flying off the staff. Everything happened in slow motion as Luz felt herself become weightless.
"EDA!" King yelled, drawing her attention.
Eda looked over her shoulder and watched as Luz fell from the staff and began to plummet towards the ground below.
"LUZ!"
"EDA! HELP ME!" Luz cried out.
Eda turned her staff around and flew straight after Luz. The Owl Lady pushed Owlbert to his limits, trying to get to Luz before she hit the ground. But Demaaga was not about to let that happen as he unleashed more Flame Bullets that rained down on the entire area. Several explosions went off in the air and around the ground, resulting in shockwaves that tossed Eda back and away from Luz. Eda watched helplessly as Luz fell into a crack in the earth that formed from the explosions, where she disappeared from sight.
"Luz…"
"No…"
(Present…)
Luz got up as she rubbed her head.
"Right, that's what happened…Kaiju attack. But where am I?"
The Latina looked around, noticing that she had somehow fallen into some natural underground cave, but the real shocker was that she wasn't dead.
"How in the world did I survive that?" Luz hissed a bit. "Okay, my body aches, but considering I fell out of the sky and deep underground, I guess it'd be too much to ask to walk away completely unscathed. But still…I really should be dead. AH! Maybe I did die! Did…Did I go to the bad place? WAH!"
Suddenly, Luz saw a sparkling blue ball of light that made her jump back.
"Okay, you can't have my skin!" Luz exclaimed.
The ball of light didn't say anything, it just floated in the air.
"…Um, okay, I guess you're not alive-alive? What are you then?"
The ball of sparkling light floated towards the opening to a tunnel and waited there.
Does it want me to follow it? A low rumble came from up top. What's the worst that could happen? It's either that or wait here and get crushed to death by that Kaiju stomping around…I hope Eda and King are okay…and those people in the Conformatorium…
Luz pushed aside those thoughts for now and focused on her immediate problem. She began following the orb of sparkling light, heading deeper into the tunnel. As she walked, Luz began to notice something. The walls of the tunnel started to become less natural looking and started to become more manmade. The ball of light continued to lead Luz further in until they entered a different chamber. Once inside, the ball of light flew higher into the chamber and released even more light. Luz's eyes widened as she looked upon what was in front of her.
"A…A giant?!"
Indeed, what stood before Luz was a giant stone statue of a woman. Although, its face and features looked different from the demons and witches she saw in the town, then again, she hadn't been here that long to determine if this was a natural thing or not. However, Luz looked around the room and saw something else. The giant statue stood upon an altar, and the chamber walls had several pictures, and from what she could tell, they were depicting a giant woman battling equally giant monsters. If the scaling was to be believed.
"Wait, does that monster know you're here? Is it after this statue? Or…Or is the statue you?" Luz asked.
There was a blue gemstone on the center of the statue's chest that glowed blue and pulsed in response to her answer.
"If you are there! Then, please, you need to help them! There's a monster up there that's about to kill a lot of people! You have to save them!" Luz pleaded.
The statue didn't pulse that time.
"Damn it…If I could, I would! I would fight that monster myself! I can't just stand by!" Memories flashed through Luz's head, of a man in a hospital bed, of his smiling face as he passed on. Luz fell to her knees as she began to cry. "I…I couldn't help him…I couldn't do anything to help Papá…Please, I'm begging you, help them…Because…I'm not strong enough to do it…"
The orb of light descended from the ceiling and hovered before Luz. When Luz looked up, the orb of light shot towards her left arm, splitting apart into two items. The first item appeared around her left bicep, it was purple and gold, and the top of it looked as if it could be flipped open. The second item was some kind of bracer, it had the same color pattern as the item on her bicep, but this one had a blue glowing gemstone on top of it, similar in shape to the one on the statue's chest. There were four orbs surrounding it, but each one was grayed out for some reason. Just below that was an opening, if Luz had to wager a guess, it looked big enough for a card to slip in. As Luz looked upon the brace's gemstone, her eyes flashed blue, and immediately, her mind was hit with information on what they were.
"Titannia Spark? This is the Titannia Spark," said Luz. "And this thing on my arm, it's called the Mystic Guard?"
The giant's gemstone flashed blue in response to her question. Then the Mystic Guard opened, and out from it floated a card. Luz grabbed the card, which was bathed in purple light. But once she touched it, the card became a solid object. On the card was a glossy picture of a warrior woman in a battle pose. The card had a gold frame and had sparkling purple lights behind her. Simply holding the card filled Luz's mind with information, and that's when she stood up and looked up at the statue with a determined expression.
"You're name is Titannia, Ultrawoman Titannia. I get it, you're telling me if I use this, I can fight as you, right?" Luz asked.
Titannia's gemstone pulsed again.
"Alright, then let's do this!" Luz exclaimed as she inserted the card.
{/|\}AWAKEN THE POWER WITHIN! {/|\}
"Arise, Guardian of Light! ULTRAWOMAN TITANNIA!"
Luz tapped on the center crystal and thrust her as her body transformed into pure light and flew straight into the gemstone of the statue. The statue itself began to glow until it was shining bright white. Within seconds, the statue became a ball of light that moved towards the center of the room and blasted its way through the ceiling of the chamber.
{/|\} ARISE, TITANNIA! {/|\}
Demaaga was continuously firing at everything, but it seemed to focus the majority of its attacks at the ground near the Conformatorium. Eda was still floating in the air, lamenting that she was not able to save Luz, and after she went and tricked the kid. It was her fault that she died.
"Eda…is she…?" King asked.
"I'm sorry, kid…I should've just sent you home…" Eda turned to glare at Demaaga, her blood boiling as she wanted nothing more than to make this creature pay for what it did. But she wasn't a fool. She may be the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles, but even she wasn't powerful enough to take on a monster of this size and power. "Next time monster."
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. Demaaga stopped its attacks as it took a few steps back. That's when it happened, a huge ball of light blasted through the ground and went flying straight into the air. Upon reaching the sky, the ball of light transformed into a humanoid construct. The humanoid construct flipped around in the air before it landed with a thunderous "BOOM!" onto the earth below. A wave of purple light particles washed over the area, subduing the raging flames that Demaaga had set. The humanoid light construct raised its right arm into the air and held out his left as the light dimmed and revealed its true form to all those present.
The giantess was purple in color, with silver lines that ran along its chest and legs, and in the middle of her chest was a blue oval gemstone that was surrounded by a golden metal harness. The giantess' head had a smooth and metallic finish, with yellow glowing eyes, violet markings at the edges of both eyes and one stripe that ran from the middle of her forehead and back behind her head. She had golden sharp ears, and a crystal halo that encircled the top of her head. One other distinguishing feature was that this giantess also had a snake tattoo that coiled around her left and right arm. This was the Guardian of Light, Ultrawoman Titannia.
***{\|/}***
Luz found herself in a nexus world filled with sparkling purple light. The Latina could feel a rush of power coursing throughout her entire body, and when she looked forward, she saw the monster that was wreaking havoc earlier. Upon looking at the monster through the eyes of this giantess, a name popped into her head.
"Demaaga. That's this monster's name, huh?"
Luz looked down, and from the vision of the Ultra, she saw her giant form, Titannia's form. She brought her hands down and looked at them, flexing her fingers and watching as Titannia mimicked her movements.
"Okay, so do you want me to fight using your body and power? But how am I supposed to fight that thing?" Luz asked.
The Titannia Spark began to flash a few times. Luz raised it up and looked at it, and just like before, a blue light shined in her eyes, and information was instantly downloaded into her mind. It was strange, the moment the information hit her brain, her body started to tingle, as if it too was learning what Titannia had just placed in her mind.
"You gave me the tools, Titannia, so, let's use them! Hyah!"
***{\|/}***
Titannia widened her stance as she flattened the palms of her hands and got into her fighting stance.
Demaaga roared challengingly at Titannia as it charged. The reptilian Kaiju raised its right arm and swiped its claw at Titannia, but the purple Ultra raised her left arm and instantly blocked the wild swing, creating a low booming sound in the air. Demaaga took another swing with its left arm, but Titannia, once again, blocked the blow with incredible ease. The Ultra hit Demaaga with a palm-heel strike, creating a small shockwave of purple light upon impact that sent sparks flying into the air.
The purple Ultra came in with a knife hand chop, striking Demaaga in neck, and sending more sparks into the air when she hit it. Demaaga took a few steps back, and swung its tail to trip up Titannia, the Ultra backflipped out of the monster's range, but when she stopped, she noticed that the wind generated by the tail swing created a powerful gust that spread outward and hit a few homes.
"Gotta take this further away or else more people could get hurt" thought Luz.
"HYAH!"
Titannia ran straight for Demaaga and wrapped her arms around its body. Using all her strength, Titannia pushed Demaaga. The Ancient Molten Monster roared defiantly as it found itself being forced backwards, and then began firing its Flame Bullets from its back. The fireballs angled themselves downwards as they hit on and around Titannia's body, creating multiple explosions, and just to add to the damage, the monster began striking at Titannia's back with its claws, making sparks erupt from her body as she grunted from the pain of the assault.
"UGH! I'M NOT GONNA STOP! YOU OVERGROWN LIZARD!"
Despite the damage and attacks, Titannia kept pushing with all her strength and ran at full speed as she cut a groove into the earth, mowing down a few trees in the process. The purple Ultra let out a loud battle cry as she shoved as hard as she could and threw Demaaga far into the distance where it landed on its back in the forest area. Titannia glanced over her shoulder, double checking to make sure that they were far enough away from the town and the Conformatorium.
Demaaga took advantage of Titannia's distracted state and fired its Molten Iron Heat Ray at the Ultra. Titannia looked back, but unfortunately, she was struck in the chest by Demaaga's fiery beam, causing multiple sparks to fly off her body as an explosion went off, making Titannia skid backwards on her heels.
"Ouch, that hurt…Oh shoot!"
Demaaga had got back up and rammed its body into Titannia, making her fall onto her back. The fiery Kaiju opened its mouth as it came down to bite Titannia's head off, but the purple Ultra raised her left arm up and let Demaaga bite down on that instead. Although it hurt, it was better than her head getting bitten off. The monster growled as it kept its jaws clamped on her arm, but Titannia made it regret its decision by forming a knife hand and thrusting into the side of the monster's long neck. Sparks flew off the point of impact, making Demaaga release Titannia's arm as it roared with pain.
The Kaiju raised its right foot as it readied to stomp on Titannia, but the purple Ultra rolled out of the way before it could land the stomp. Titannia quickly jumped back to her feet, got back into her attack stance, and decided to show it her determination. Titannia jumped into the air and threw a spinning roundhouse kick, hitting Demaaga right in the face. While it was disoriented, Titannia began unleashing swift punches to the monster's abdomen, along with sharp, spear hand thrusts into the neck, the joints around its arms, and sides of its body. Demaaga was not able to keep up with Titannia's swift and fierce attacks as it was forced to back away from her, knowing that it couldn't defeat her in a close-range fight.
Deciding to finish Titannia in one shot, Demaaga began to build up its internal heat, generating more and more energy as its whole body started to glow red hot as the air became distorted from the heat it was generating.
"So, you want to hit me with everything you got? Then let's do this!"
"HYAH!"
Titannia formed an "X" pattern with both of her arms over her chest, and then held them out down at her sides. Purple and yellow light began to build up and gathered around Titannia's body as she slowly raised her arms into the air. When both her arms were over Titannia's head, she brought them down, with her right arm bent vertically straight, and her left arm resting at the crook of her right arm, forming an "L" pattern.
"LUMINTIUM BEAM!"
Demaaga unleashed all its power into a super Molten Iron Heat Ray that tore up the ground in its wake. At the same time, all the built-up energy focused itself into Titannia's right forearm as her Lumintium Beam, blasted forth with bright magenta light and golden helix streams of energy. The sparkling beam of light struck against the fiery beam of Demaaga, creating a powerful shockwave that rang out through the forest. The Kaiju and Ultra kept up their attacks, not letting their dueling beams let up for a moment. Just then, Titannia's crystal began to blink red and let out a sound that sounded like an alarm.
"Wait, that sounds bad! Okay, then let's give this everything we got Titannia!"
Titannia's eyes and crystal shined brighter as the Lumintium Beam glowed brighter. The doubled energy pushed against Demaaga's Heat Ray as it quickly overpowered it with each passing second. The fire breathing Kaiju was locked into their position, so there was no way to dodge what was coming. Finally, Titannia's Lumintium Beam hit Demaaga, causing a huge explosion that destroyed the Kaiju in a great fiery blast as Titannia shut off her beam and stood resolute before her destroyed foe. The Guardian of Light looked up and then jumped straight into the air. Titannia zipped around for a moment before disappearing in the form of a purple star in the sky.
LUZ'S ULTRA NAVI!
"Welcome everyone! This is Luz Noceda! And this is my Ultra Navi section!"
"And me, her co-host, King! The King of Demons! Bow to me people behind the screen!"
"Wow, King, what a debut! I got fight a giant monster! And kicked its butt!"
"Yeah, but you almost died before finding that chamber," said King.
"Oh, right…I did…Well, never mind that! Let's introduce today's monster!"
DEMAAGA
Luz cleared her throat as she started, "Demaaga: The Ancient Molten Monster! It has the power to generate a tremendous amount of heat from inside its own body."
"Wow, cool! Bet it never gets cold!"
"It also has two primary attacks. The Flame Bullet: which allows it to fire numerous fireballs from the spines on its back. And the Molten Iron Heat Ray – that's a mouthful. Anyway, this is Demaaga's most powerful attack as Demaaga builds up its internal heat and fires it in an intense beam of blazing energy that incinerates anything it touches!"
"You mean I can't roast marshmallows with it?"
"Not unless you want to eat charcoal."
"WEH!" King groaned in annoyance.
"And now there's this gal!"
ULTRAWOMAN TITANNIA
Luz shrugged as she said, "Unfortunately, we don't know much about her. She was hidden in a tomb down below the ground. But what I can tell you is that Titannia is super strong, she fights with something called 'space martial arts', more specifically, Cosmo Beast Style: Striking Serpent Fist. Guess that's why she has those snake tattoos."
"I just thought they made her look cool," said King.
"Well, they do make her look cool, but I guess there's actual meaning behind them. Oh, also, I can't forget to mention her super powerful Lumintium Beam! It's her strongest attack, anything hit with this baby is guaranteed to be a one-hit KO!" Luz exclaimed.
"What kind of word is 'lumintium', anyway?" King asked.
"Not sure?"
"…"
"…"
*BZZZT*
"Oops, times up! Tune in next time everyone! Thanks for watching!"
"And next time, bring me offerings!"
A/N: Hope you guys will enjoy this new tokusatsu production of mine! Be sure to check out the AO3 ver. that has some pics I worked on for the debut!
And for those wondering, the theme song for this is "Now or Never" from the "Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Destined Crossroads" series/movie
Next Time: "Episode 3: I Know What I have to Do!"