Multiverse Madness

by Mr. Hardcor3

When the multiverse is in danger, two beings older than space and time summon two heroes to save it from this powerful threat. Will they be able to save the multiverse, or will it be destroyed? Co-Written by Jss2141

17. Power

Lucenda Clawthorne

Dimension: ST4r-J22

Summary: Some people think a birthmark didn't mean anything but for Luz, it meant her whole world turned upside down for the better yet also for the worst as she was now a witch, a princess, and a potential goddess.

Species: 3/4th Witch

Skills/Magic: Glyph magic, bile sack magic.

Family: Camila Noceda (mother), Lilith Clawthorne (mother), Edalyn Clawthorne (aunt), King (cousin), Hunter Wittebane (First cousin), Belos (grandfather)

Theme: You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring

(Warning: Very LONG chapter)

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In the dimensional tunnel, they felt this tunnel was tougher than the others. Like the universe they were heading for was so much more different than the last few they visited!

Dimension: ST4r-J22

They landed and looked around, seeing the Boiling Isles. Fighter looked at her hand and pressed the plant glyph, letting a flower grow from it.

"Good, the glyphs work here." Fighter said.

"And this Boiling Isles doesn't look that different. So far so good." Phoenix said, looking around.

They kept their suits on and went to Bonesborough, which was very deserted. In the center was a statue... of Lilith. Fighter walked up and looked at it.

"For the Beloved Emperor." Fighter said, surprised. "Lilith is the emperor here?"

"Nope! I'm done." Phoenix said, with her hands up. "I've put up with a lot of things, but I draw the line at an Emperor Lilith!"

"So you're just going to let Athena do what she wants here?" Fighter Luz asked.

"Maybe not but I will NOT deal with her while we are here!" Phoenix said as she pointed to the Emperor Lilith statue. "We are going to avoid any and ALL contact with her while we are here. PERIOD!"

"You really have to get over your thing with Lilith, it's becoming an obsession." Fighter said, groaning and rubbing her temple.

"She killed me... TWICE!" Phoenix yelled, holding up two fingers.

"I know but still, you are like a BROKEN RECORD about this!" Fighter shouted, feeling annoyed.

"Do you know what it's like to be stabbed in the chest?! It is MURDER, both painfully and literally!" Phoenix shouted, jabbing Fighter's helmet with her finger.

"Get your finger out of my face." Fighter said to her, glaring through her helmet.

"Or else what?!" Phoenix shouted, jabbing the helmet again.

Before either could say anything, the head of the statue was cut off by an axe. Both of them jumped back as it crashed in front of them, looking up to see Athena standing on top of the statue.

"Better now?" She asked, looking at Phoenix.

'Yes.' Phoenix thought but wouldn't admit it.

"You're finished, Athena." Phoenix said, putting her fists up. "This is the end of the line for you."

"I agree." Athena said, gesturing to Bonesborough. "This dimension holds that last item I need."

"And after that?" Fighter Luz asked.

"Hehehehe, you'll have to wait and see." Athena said before jumping high into the air!

As she came down, Athena slammed her axe down between them. The ground divides as they move to both sides, preparing fire balls in hands.

"You're out of luck this time, I got magic here!" Fighter shouted, holding a golden fireball.

"And I have something as well." Athena comments.

Phoenix was blasted by a large beam of magic, resulting in Fighter looking over and seeing this dimension's Luz... with black eyes.

"It occured to me, it would make so much sense if I got one of the most powerful Luz's on my side." Athena said, finding this amusing.

"One of the most powerful?" Fighter Luz asked.

"Yes." Athena said before snapping her fingers.

This Luz charged at Fighter, making her gasp and dissipate the fireball before creating an ice wall!

'She's fast!' Fighter thought before a hand broke through the ice and grabbed her throat! 'And strong, shit!'

Without making a spell circle, this Luz had performed a powerful fire spell... just by thinking it and melted the ice wall between them.

"Hehehehe, good. Now kill her." Athena ordered as she watched.

This Luz condensed the fire spell into a ball, aiming it at Fighter Luz.

'Gotta get out of this!' She thought, quickly using her power glyph for increased strength!

Before she could do anything, a powerful magic shield blocked the attack and stopped Fighter Luz from getting hit.

"LUCENDA, STOP!" A voice shouted.

Fighter looked up and saw the esteemed Emperor Lilith herself. She held a hand out with a spell circle being made without having to trace one in the air, summoning large spirits that came out of nowhere and separated them before holding Lucenda down. Lilith walked up and put her hands on Lucenda's cheeks.

"Come on, little light, look at mommy." Lilith said, looking into her black eyes. "Fight this!"

Lucedna struggled against the spirits and released a powerful magic blast that sent Lilith back. They both stood up before flying into the air!

Fighter has seen Lilith and Eda fight, with Eda at her worst, and that would pale in comparison to the magic these two had, and she had a feeling that they were both holding back.

"Damn, this me IS powerful." Fighter muttered to herself before realizing something. "Wait, did Lilith just call herself "mommy?""

In the air battle, Lilith growled as she blocked a fire spell with a wall of water

"Lucenda Clawthorne, you will stop this instant or I will ground you!" She threatened before blitzing at Lucenda.

"Yep, she is my mom here." Fighter Luz said before glancing at Phoenix.

'I..I feel like I just died inside.' Phoenix thought, hearing that her murderer was her mother in this universe.

It left her opened to have her head cut off by Athena.

"I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to. Hehehehehe." Athena said with a chuckle.

Which died as Phoenix's body grabbed her head and swung at Athena like a mace, hitting her in the face!

"LET ME DEAL WITH THIS FIRST, YOU SKANK!" She shouted, blazing blue as she reattached her head.

She reached her limit several dimensions ago, she was just ready to kill something. In a burst of speed, Phoenix tackled Athena and forced her towards the boiling sea!

Fighter Luz didn't know what to do, Athena and Phoenix were battling, while Lilith and Birthmark Luz were having a magic battle that might destroy the town. She heard screams coming from the buildings and realized there were people trapped.

'The citizens!' She thought, rushing towards the buildings to help.

She didn't think there were demons and witches that would be caught in the crossfire, but if they died because of her and Phoenix…that was something she'd never be able to live with herself!

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" She shouted.

Still having the strength of the power glyph, Luz began moving rubble out of the way to get into the building to save everyone. And to be honest... she was just glad she wasn't on the streets... because these two were about to unleash HELL.

Lilith stood up straight and held her staff in the air. She spun it, creating a spell circle that nearly encompassed the entirety of Bonesborough. Above her, Lucenda's hands began to glow with the power of the sun.

'If I don't stop Lucenda, she could destroy everything!' Lilith thought in worry of her home and her daughter being racked with guilt after this.

Lucenda put her hands together and blasted a giant beam of magic at Lilith, who simply put a giant shield up to block it.

"Ugh!" Lilith grunts, putting some effort into keeping the magic energy back.

'Titan, I could use some advice.' Lilith thought, beginning to sweat.

'She is under the control of an entity I have never come across before. Its grip is strong and I don't think it will be easy to break.' The Titan said to Lilith. 'I am trying my best to get through to her but I'm unable to reach her mind.'

'Then I guess I'm going to see what a physical mother-daughter argument is like.' Lilith thought, before her hands started glowing light blue.

She burst off towards Lucenda, with speed that could rival the Flash.

Lilith tackled her daughter, taking their battle away from the town and right into the skull of the Titan!

'Ow.' The Titan said, able to feel that.

'Sorry!' Lilith thought quickly.

Lilith didn't want to hurt her daughter, but she really didn't have a choice. She threw Lucenda across the cave; making her crash into a wall! Lucenda, even if in pain and bones slightly aching, pulled herself out of the wall and popped her joints back in place.

Lucenda's hands started glowing and she blasted magic at Lilith again!

Still with her speed, Lilith blitzed around the cave to dodge as Lucenda kept firing at her.

'Her power is great but her focus is lacking in this mind controlled state. I can use that.' Lilith thought.

With the snap of her fingers, Lilith made an army of illusions, this will distract Lucenda from the real Lilith.

"Grrrr." Lucenda growled as she kept shooting to find her real mother.

Multiple tries and failures, one Lilith rushed at her head on, and Lucenda blasted her, only for it to be a clone that exploded into dust. The real Lilith appeared and grabbed her from behind.

"Sorry about this, Lucenda!" Lilith said, pulling her daughter up and SUPLEXED her into the cave floor!

Lilith jumped over Lucenda and suplexing her again! She then threw Lucenda away and blasted her with a beam of magic.

'I know you're trying to subdue her but isn't that a bit much?' Titan asked.

'She can handle it, she's handled far worse.' Lilith thought.

The smoke cleared and Lucenda was against a wall, covered in injuries and her clothes torn from the battle. Her eyes were still black from the mind control but it appeared she was too injured to continue.

"Come on, Lucenda, fight it." Lilith pleads with her daughter.

The daughter tried once again to get up but her body was too injured, now letting her do more than just sit up on her knees. Breathing heavily from exhaustion, Lucenda was too tired to fight with her injuries and too tired to fight the mind control.

"Lucenda, this fight is over." Lilith said, walking to her. "And whoever is controlling you, release her now."

She suddenly had an axe blade to her neck.

"I recommend you give up, she won't come back to you." Athena said.

Lilith didn't show an ounce of fear. She grabbed the axe, pushed it away, turned, and delivered a headbutt to Athena, knocking her back to the other side of the skull.

'UGH! This version of Lilith is more powerful than the others!' Athena thought, her head ringing from the incredibly strong headbutt.

"There you are. The woman who put my daughter in this trance." Lilith said, glaring at Athena and cracked her knuckles as she stomped towards her.

'This woman is definitely the source of the mind-control, I don't know how much it will take to break its hold on Lucenda but if you defeat it, it will break her hold!' Titan said to Lilith.

'Gladly.' Lilith thought.

Lilith grabbed Athena and roughly picked her up by the neck.

"You. I'll give you one chance to release my daughter." Lilith said, holding Athena up against the wall.

"And if I don't? Ehehehehe." Athena asked with a chuckle.

Lilith held a hand up and a large stone floated over.

"Then I crush you into paste." She said to Athena.

Athena continued to chuckle at the sight of this, finding a version of Lilith this protectively bloodthirsty very amusing!

"Cute." Athena said.

Athena snapped her fingers, making a tendril rise behind Lucenda and grab her by the neck.

"How about a counter offer, you let us leave, and I don't kill her in front of you?" Athena groans out.

"You're bluffing. You need my daughter alive for some reason, you wouldn't kill without a care." Lilith denied, calling her bluff.

"I need her for muscle, but I can easily kill her and take control of you instead." Athena said.

Lilith gripped Athena's neck harder, but inside she was panicking.

'Titan, what do we do?' Lilith thought.

'I...I… I don't know, Lilith. For the first time in a long while, I don't know what I should do.' The Titan said to her.

The look in her eyes, despite being strangled, Athena showed now fear and no hesitation.

Lilith wanted to cave her skull in, but she knew that wouldn't work, because she would just kill Luz if Lilith tried.

With a sigh, Lilith put Athena on her feet and let go of her neck before moving back.

"Smart." Athena said, snapping her fingers and dropping Lucenda to the ground. "Like a mother would be. Don't worry, when I have what I need, you'll have her back."

Athena slipped into the shadows while taking Lucenda with her, leaving Lilith alone in the skull as she balls her hands.

"Damn it!" Lilith said before she slammed the ground, cracking the stone floor!

"TITAN DAMNIT!"

Her screams echoed through the cave, rebounding several times.

'Lilith! I know you're upset but now it's not the time for this and you know it!' The Titan thought.

Lilith was breathing heavily, even crying a bit as she tried to calm herself down.

"M-My daughter. I-I was supposed to save h-her." Lilith said, falling to her knees.

'And you will! I promise, you will save her but first, we must understand the situation and I know of two people that can help.' The Titan said to her.

"Those two... who are they?" Lilith asked.

'Special, that's who. They were selected by beings older than I.' Titan said to her.

This made the empress surprised, not expecting these two to actually be selected from other gods.

"Where are they now?" Lilith asked, getting up quickly.

'Bonesborough, helping rescue people and deal with damages from your battle with Lucenda.' Titan said.

Lilith nodded and decided to get back to address her people as well as meet these two "specialists."

Back in the town, Fighter Luz had moved more rubble aside and helped a demon man to his feet.

"Are you okay? Anything broken?" She asked the demon.

"No, I'm fine... thank you." He said to her.

The demon man went to the ambulance to be checked for any unseen injuries as Phoenix was absorbing any fires from the area.

'Can't believe she got away again.' She thought.

Before Phoenix could think about it much, Lilith arrived on her staff.

All the coven members on the scene and the injured people turned to her, bowing quickly as she walked up to Fighter and Phoenix.

"Excuse me, you two. I need you to come with me." Lilith said to them.

"Why?" Phoenix asked rudely.

"My daughter's life is in the balance and the Titan says you two are the only ones who can help. Please, help me save my daughter." Lilith said.

"We will." Fighter said, quickly before Phoenix could say anything. "Is there anywhere we can go to speak privately?"

She mostly didn't want to remove her suit around so many people since this Luz was very clearly well known.

"We can head to the castle. We can also explain the situation to Camila so she doesn't worry to death like me." Lilith said to them.

'And mom is her wife, OF COURSE!' Phoenix thought, still hating that her murderer was her mother in this universe.

Phoenix was REALLY hating this dimension right now.

"Lead the way, your highness." Fighter said with a nod.

Lilith nodded back as she spun her staff, teleporting the three of them away. Instantly, they were now inside of the castle.

"MI AMOR!" A familiar voice shouted, rushing towards them.

It was Camila, the one of this dimension. She was dressed like a queen in white robes with golden armor on her feet, chest, and shoulders. All while holding a staff that looked EXACTLY like Belos's but with a blue orb instead of a red one. Also, she had FREAKING POINTED EARS!

'Mom is a witch here?' Both Luzs thought in surprise.

"What happened with Luz?" Camila asked, full of worry.

"That's what I'll explain once these two explain themselves too." Lilith said, gesturing to the masked Phoenix and Fighter.

"Who are these two?" Camila asked, looking them over.

"You might not believe it at first." Fighter said before she and Phoenix retracted their helmets and suits.

The moment they saw their faces, Lilith and Camila gasped in shock while nearly dropping their staffs.

"Mija?!/Lulu?!" Camila and Lilith shouted in surprise.

"Kind of." Fighter Luz said, scratching her head.

"We're from different universes in the multiverse and we need to stop the crazy woman who is mind controlling your daughter." Phoenix said blankly and bluntly.

She reached her limit about four dimensions ago.

"So you…are our daughters from alternate worlds?" Lilith asked in shock.

"Mainly her." Fighter Luz said, pointing to Camila before looking at Lilith. "Sometimes you're an aunt and sometimes you're not related."

"Really?" Lilith asked her.

"Yeah. The multiverse is an interesting thing really, I'm pretty sure we've been related to everyone in this castle by now in other universes." Fighter said.

"Okay…and the woman who you're chasing? She's behind this?" Camila asked.

"Yep. She's been gathering things from almost every universe we've been to. She said this is the last one she needed something from and it must involve your Luz." Phoenix said.

"That doesn't surprise me." Lilith said, looking down as she thought of her daughter, "Lucenda is... very powerful."

"Exactly how powerful?" Phoenix asked, raising a brow.

"She is stronger than the Titan." Lilith said, looking her in the eyes.

"Stronger than a Titan?" They repeated, surprised by this.

"Pardon my French, but how the FUCK is she stronger than a Titan?!" Fighter asked, trying not to scream.

"Even a Phoenix is considered a Titan's equal! Even with resurrection!" Phoenix shouted.

"It's hard to explain, all you should know is that if she's under someone else's control, we're in trouble." Lilith said.

"And if that person unleashes her full power, it could spell the end of everything." Camila said in worry.

"Actually, the titan said that being under this woman's-

"Athena." Fighter and Phoenix corrected.

"Thank you. The Titan said that since Lucenda is under her control, she can't unleash her full potential." Lilith said.

"That's a relief, at least for now." Camila said while releasing a breath.

"And with that, we can think rationally and plan to find Athena before she gets what she needs from her." Phoenix said.

"Is there anything that important or powerful in this world?" Fighter Luz asked.

"Yes." A new voice said.

The Luzs looked behind them and saw this world's Belos, causing them both to become rigid at the sight of him.

"Deep in the Knee, I hid an item, locked away so NO ONE could ever get to it." He said.

"What item was it, father?" Lilith asked, having not heard of it before.

'FATHER?! Belos is Lilith's and Eda's dad here?!' Fighter Luz and Phoenix thought in incredible shock.

So shocking that Phoenix suddenly vomits to the floor, right in front of Belos. Lilith and Camila were surprised and disgusted by this as Belos chose to ignore it for now.

"Inside of a cave is the Gem of Life, made of fossilized Titan's Blood, but it didn't become fools blood, it was.. different." He said.

"How different?" Fighter Luz asked, refocusing on the item.

"The blood in that form, crystallized, becomes more potent and refined but that's what makes it more dangerous. The concentrated magic energy of it can increase one's power 10,000 fold." Belos explained.

Phoenix and Fighter felt their hearts stop at that. Athena was dangerous enough without that. It had to be what Athena was after and if she got her hands on it, it would be Armageddon on a multiversal scale!

Which is probably what she wanted.

"We need to get to that before Athena does!" Fighter said, nearly screaming.

"It's not that easy." Belos said, his eyes glowing blue. "The path is dangerous, holding the worst horrors that the Isles has ever seen."

"We can handle it. We've seen some pretty messed up shit before coming here." Phoenix said, crossing her arms.

"Language." Camila said firmly.

"Sorry, STUFF." Phoenix said, taking the scolding from her "mother."

"Not this "stuff."" Belos said, shaking his head. "This "stuff" is what inspired the legends of the Human Realm. Have you ever heard of Cthulhu?"

"The demon with a squid for a head that most cults and goth groups worship?" Fighter Luz asked.

"Yes. That one." Belos said with a nod.

"YOU MEAN THAT CAME FROM THE BOILING ISLES!?" Phoenix yelled in shock.

"Indeed. That was a very dark time during the Wild Magic ages." Lilith said, shaking her head.

"And there's even MORE near this cave where the Gem of Life is?" Fighter Luz asked.

"To put it bluntly, yes." Belos said with a nod.

"I'll call an emergency Coven Head meeting." Lilith said.

'Oh, Eda's not going to be happy. It's her day off.' Lilith thought, just dreading how her sister will react to this news.

"I'm going to alert all of the guards to be on watch for Athena." Camila said.

"Please, follow me to the meeting room." Lilith told the Luzs.

"Hmph. Lead the way, queenie." Phoenix said, not respectful in the slightest.

This made the trio of adults curious as to why exactly this version of Lucenda didn't seem to like Lilith much.

Suddenly, Fighter Luz elbowed Phoenix in the ribs while pulling her away.

"Sorry, just a quick chat." She said quickly before whispering to Phoenix. "Be nice!"

"You KNOW I can't!" Phoenix whispered back with grit teeth! "Not with HER!"

"Then just act nice!" Fighter whispered.

"You know we aren't good at that, need I remind you of the fork incident?" Phoenix whispered.

"No! Do NOT bring that up! Just play nice and get along with this Lilith until we can find Athena!" Fighter whispered loudly at Phoenix.

"Is there a problem, Luz?" Camila asked both of them.

"We're fine, mom. Just talking a bit." Fighter said before turning them around and nudging Phoenix. "Right, Phoenix?"

"Yeah, right." Phoenix said with a fake smile.

'She's not but we can worry about that later.' The Titan said to Lilith, Belos, and Camila.

'Yep, I had a feeling but I can deal with that later.' Liltih thought.

Lilith turned and led them through the castle, passing various paintings of her family as they headed to the meeting room.

They arrived, and so did Eda.

"Why is it whenever I have a day off that things go to shit?" She asked Lilith, "Aren't you supposed to be the one keeping the peace?"

"There is a problem that has disturbed that peace and these two can help." Lilith said, gesturing towards Fighter and Phoenix.

"…What the fuck is going on because I KNOW I am not drunk enough to be hallucinating this." Eda said with wide eyes.

"That's doubtful." Lilith mumbled.

She knows that Eda spent a portion of her first check on a wine cellar, filled with expensive alcohol from around the Isles.

"I'm not drunk, I swear! I was about to drink before you called me!" Eda argued.

"Now that, I believe." Lilith said, pointing at her sister.

"Are you two going to bicker all day?" Phoenix asked.

This got another elbow to the ribs from Fighter.

"Snarky as she is, Phoenix is right. We have to focus." Fighter Luz said.

"Right, Edalyn, take your seat and we'll wait for the rest of the coven heads to arrive." Lilith said.

"Whatever, you're the boss." Eda said, sitting at the Emperor's Coven head seat, while Lilith sat at the end of the table.

"And us?" Fighter asked.

"Stand behind Edalyn." Lilith said.

"Do I get an opinion? Cuz I'm fine with it." Eda said, grinning at her sister.

"Thank you, Edalyn." Lilith said with clenched teeth. "I would fire you if it wasn't for the fact that everyone else is too incompetent and nervous to be the leader of the Emperor's Coven."

"Plus, I'm the least likely to stab you." Eda said.

"You tried that three times for a good 6 months after you found I was the one that cursed you!" Lilith said.

"You had it coming!" Eda said, flipping her hair, "I've gotten over it."

"I sometimes wish I could put that curse back in you." Lilith groaned.

"Hey, Fluffy ain't going back in me!" Eda yelled.

"Fluffy? Who is Fluffy?" Phoenix asked.

"He WAS the owlbeast inside of Edalyn." Lilith said, "But father has since removed him from her, and he is incredibly tiny now... Eda's kept him as a pet."

"A pet?" Fighter Luz asked.

"He's the cutest pet I have ever had! Just look." Eda said before pulled out her scroll and showed a picture.

It was of her and a tiny owl beast that was getting a much needed bath.

'Huh, so that's what it looks like.' Fighter and Phoenix thought.

Soon, the Coven heads began to enter the meeting room. All of which Phoenix recognized from her own universe while Fighter Luz was seeing them for the first time. They sat down in the designated chairs but upon seeing two versions of their princess, they immediately had questions to ask.

"Please save any questions for when the meeting begins." Lilith said to them.

"We have much to discuss." Someone else said.

Everyone turned to see Camila and Belos enter the meeting room, standing on both sides of Lilith as her queen and advisor.

"Now, I have called this meeting because there is a dangerous threat currently in the Isles." Lilith said.

"How dangerous?" Darius asked.

"She has managed to mind control the princess." Lilith said.

"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted, some of them standing up from their seats and looking horrified.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Mason shouted, slamming his hands on the table. "The princess's strength surpasses all of us except you! How has she been kidnapped and mind controlled?!"

A fireball hit the table, making everyone turn to Phoenix.

"Shut up." She said, holding up another fireball, "We're going to get to it, but bombarding her with questions before she can get to the answers won't help anything."

"So either you people calm down or we make you calm down." Fighter said, crossing her arms.

"What could you do? I doubt you're as powerful as the princess, little clone." Adrian said to her.

Fighter gave him a blank face before pushing her power glyph and grabbing the meeting table before lifting it in the air with one hand.

"You wanna repeat that?" Fighter Luz asked him.

Phoenix then threw her fireball at the table and lit it up.

"In my world, I saved the world and killed the Titan, I then became the Emperor... so think about what you say carefully, because you are NOWHERE near as powerful as that." Phoenix said, glaring as her hair turned blue for a moment.

'Killed the Titan?!' They all thought, looking at Phoenix in a new level of fear.

Lilith cleared her throat, drawing all attention back to her.

"Can you both please put the table down and put it out? It's not helping things." Lilith said politely to Phoenix and Fighter Luz.

The two Luzs obeyed, but kept glaring at the coven heads. Setting the meeting table back down and extinguishing the fire.

"I apologize for them. This meeting concerns them as well because they have faced the one responsible." Camila said.

"Exactly, now, let's get to business." Lilith said.

All the coven heads kept quiet and listened to everything that they were told. Especially everything Phoenix and Fighter Luz told them about Athena, the multiverse, and the reason she brainwashed their princess, Lucenda.

It was clear that anyone capable of mind controlling Lucenda was very powerful, and having the power Lucenda has at her will, that was something no one needs.

"I think I speak of everyone when I say the only good part of that is knowing that this Athena woman can't unless the princess's full power." Terra said, gulping nervously.

"Yes, that is the only good thing, but she can still use her in order to get the item she needs." Fighter Luz said.

"And what item is that?" Vitmer asked with a hoarse voice.

"Something dangerous. Similar to a Gaulderstone but even more powerful." Belos said before waving his staff, showing everyone a perfectly symmetrical dark blue emerald. "The Gem of Life."

Everyone went pale. They all heard the legends about this jewel and knew that it was placed somewhere extremely dangerous because no one is strong enough, or dumb enough, to try and go after it.

No one except…

"The princess. She's using the princess to get the Gem of Life!" Osran said, dropping his crystal ball!

"That... is quite smart." Darius said, "She's easily the only one capable of getting it."

"But what will happen if she does? The moment she gets that gem, it could mean the end of all of us!" Raine said in worry.

"Aroooooooo!" Eberwolf howls.

"And what of the princess? What will Athena do with her once she's done?" Hettie asked.

"That's what I'm afraid to find out." Lilith said.

"And that's why we need to come up with a plan and beat Athena there before she reaches it." Fighter Luz said to everyone.

"That's going to be a challenge." Darius said, "Is there any possible place she could be hiding?"

"Or maybe even track the princess's massive magic power?" Adrian asked, actually being helpful.

"Until we can get something like that done, I want ALL guards covering the towns." Lilith said, putting her hands together. "I want the people safe, and all eyes on look out."

"Especially if you see anything moving in the shadows. That's Athena's main magic, shadow magic, and she can use it for all sorts of things." Phoenix said.

"Like those Husk creatures you said she can create?" Mason asked.

"The very same." Phoenix said with a nod.

"They're a pain in the ass to deal with." Fighter Luz said.

"Hmm, I'm sure we can handle them. Being coven heads and all." Adrian said, confident.

"Most of us since you just make party tricks." Vitimir said with a chuckle.

"How DARE you?!" Adrian shouted at him.

"ENOUGH!" Camila shouted, slamming her staff down and stopping their argument.

They quickly remembered the golden rule whenever Camila was in the room, don't piss off the queen.

"It doesn't matter what your magic does or not, just use it to keep the people safe and FIND Athena. Am I clear?" Camil asked as her staff glowed eerie blue.

"YES, QUEEN CAMILA!" Vitimir and Adrian said in fear.

There is NOTHING more dangerous than the rage of a worried mother.

"Good." Camila said with a nod, calming down. "Now let's get to work, shall we?"

The Coven heads got up and went to find a way to find the Princess.

"Thank you, love." Lilith said with a smile.

"Any time, mi amor." Camila said back, smiling too.

'Oh god, I'm gonna throw up flaming vomit.' Phoenix thought, gulping down bile.

"Now, can you two please tell me anything else you two know about this woman?" Lilith said.

"Gladly. The more you know, the better chance we have to beat her." Fighter Luz said.

"What we didn't say before is that she's capable of opening a place called the Void." Phoenix said.

"A nightmare realm that makes your worst fears come to life." Fighter Luz said, frowning deeply.

"That's useless against us since we are already experiencing our worst fear." Lilith said, referring to herself, Camila, and Belos.

"Don't be so sure." Phoenix said, "That place... it has ways... to break you."

Fighter Luz clenched her fists and took a deep breath, calming herself as Phoenix's flames dulled a bit, both of them still shaken up from what they experienced. They had kept trying to push down what they experienced to not let it get to them, it was one of the reasons why they didn't sleep much on this adventure. That dimension was a place they NEVER wanted to visit ever again.

"Are you two alright?" Belos asked.

"We're fine. Let's focus." Fighter Luz said to him.

Phoenix rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, and she says I need to get over my issues with Lilith.' Phoenix thought.

"So aside from the shadow magic, the husks, and this void dimension; what else can she do?" Lilith asked.

"She's capable of nullifying an immortal's healing and she's extremely skilled with a battle axe." Phoenix said.

"She is also capable of breaking bones with ease." Fighter said, unconsciously rubbing her right leg.

"Hmm, she is a dangerous one. Maybe even our combined strength would not be enough to beat her." Belos said, gesturing to himself, his daughter, and daughter-in-law.

"Did you forget me, dad?" Eda asked, still in the room.

"No, but I don't want you near this." Belos said, "We need you working on keeping the civilians safe."

"What? But she's my niece and I want a cut of this action too!" Eda said.

"Edalyn, we need you to keep the civilians safe." Belos said, "Besides, we need at least one heir alive in case things go wrong."

"Ugh, I hate that you're right. Even more than the thought of being the new ruler, so you all better come back alive." Eda said.

"No promises." Lilith said.

"Hey, I'm the joker!" Eda said with a grin to her family.

"Not all the time." Lilith said with a grin herself.

"Focusing back on our mission, our best bet at finding this woman is by splitting up." Belos said.

"Not a good idea, you don't realize how dangerous she is." Phoenix said.

"Which is why we're going in duos. Phoenix will be going with Lilith, and I'll go with... Belos." Fighter said, struggling to get that out.

"What?" Phoenix asked, turning to Fighter Luz. "I didn't agree to this."

"You don't have to, it's random." Fighter Luz said back before pushing Phoenix towards Lilith. "Now go have fun!"

... It went as well as expected. Phoenix reached behind her and threw Fighter into the wall a good 15 feet away.

"WHOA!" The royal family said as they looked in shock.

"Ouch. I'm okay." Fighter Luz said with a hiss.

'If Athena doesn't kill us, I'm going to kill her for this!' Phoenix thought, glaring at Fighter.

"Mija!" Camila shouted, scolding Phoenix.

She ignored Camila as Fighter picked herself up and got into a fighting stance.

"If you want to let off some steam, then you should've said so." She said, popping her neck.

"Is that a Phoenix joke?" Phoenix asked with a glare.

Fighter Luz just shrugged, before doing the "Bring it" motion with her hand.

Phoenix flared up her hair, growling at Fighter Luz. The kickboxer didn't back down as pressed her ice glyphs and created ice gauntlets over her hands.

"Ding ding, bitch!" She screamed like a bell!

The two charged at each other... only for Lilith to get between them and used her magic to hold them where they stood.

"That's enough, you two! I don't know WHY you are suddenly so hostile to each other but it is not the time for this!" Lilith said sternly to them.

"You're not my mom!" Both of them shouted at her.

"I don't care! In this world, I am! Now settle down or else I will LITERALLY ground both of you into the ground!" Lilith said sternly. "We have much bigger issues at this moment!"

"I don't know why you're both upset, but can you please focus on the task at hand?" Camila asked them.

Both of them grumbled as they looked away, hating how Camila of any dimension could get them to talk down just by her motherly tone.

"Fine." They said, glancing at Lilith.

"Good." Lilith said before unfreezing them, gazing at Phoenix. "Now, let's go."

"Fine." Phoenix said with a slight growl, following Lilith.

'Please don't try to murder her.' Fighter Luz thought as Belos came over to her.

"Come, we have little time to waste." Belos said.

"Lead the way." Fighter Luz said, trying to be nice.

'This isn't my dimension. This isn't my dimension.' She thought to herself.

She followed her "grandfather."

'God, that feels wrong.' She thought.

'Bring our princess home.' Camila thought, watching both teams leave.

-Team 1, Phoenix and Lilith-

Phoenix and Lilith flew to the Knee in complete silence. Neither of them speaking unless it was absolutely necessary.

Soon, they landed on the Knee and looked around for anything that could indicate Athena being here.

"Do you think we should spread out to cover my ground or should we stick together?" Lilith asked.

"Stick together, it's safer." Phoenix muttered.

'Though I hate it.' She thought.

"Very well. But if I may ask, what exactly has this woman done to you?" Lilith asked.

Phoenix groaned as she remembers everything that Athena has done to her from this adventure. The slashing, the killing, the mental torture! It was all still fresh in her mind.

"A lot." Phoenix said, short and simple.

Just by the tone of her voice, Lilith could tell it was MORE than just "a lot." Though before she could ask, Phoenix started walking ahead.

"Let's start our search." She said, not wanting to talk any further with Lilith.

"Okay?" Lilith said, confused, before following Phoenix.

'Whatever is bothering her is worse than I thought. It could distract her if not dealt with.' She thought.

Several minutes later, the two came upon a cave that Athena had used in the previous dimensions.

"This is the cave she used in the last universe we fought her. Athena likes to be a creature of the night and enjoy dark places." Phoenix said, crossing her arms.

'Something you two probably have in common.' Phoenix thought about Lilith.

"If she's here, then allow me." Lilith said before tapping her staff on the ground.

A wave of magic was sent in front of them, heading into the cave and washing over it from top to bottom.

"Bard magic, echolocation?" Phoenix asked.

"I'm not the Emperor without reason, I am one of 4 people that can speak with the Titan." Lilith said, turning to Phoenix. "Our magic is stronger than most witches."

"You don't need to brag. I believe you." Phoenix said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not trying to brag. I hate arrogance." Lilith said before the magic wave came back to her. "There's something in the cave."

"Then we're either on the right track or it could be a trap." Phoenix said, igniting her hands. "Let's go."

Lilith nodded as they walked inside, holding up her staff to give additional light and shining it forward.

'I'm ready this time.' Phoenix thought as she wasn't going to be caught in any tricks.

A swift shuffling was heard, making Lilith turn towards it and see nothing but a cloud of dust.

"We are not alone." Lilith said slowly.

"My guess, it's husks." Phoenix said, gazing around. "Whatever kind is, we need to deal with it. Quickly."

Lilith nodded as she spun her staff above, creating multiple light orbs that floated around the cave so they could see everything.

And it was a good thing she did as the cave walls were covered in nothing but shadows.

Shadows that slowly took the form of husks, hissing and roaring at the duo as they slowly stood back to back.

"Any ideas?" Lilith asked.

"Yes. Fight and KILL as many as you can." Phoenix said, becoming her Phoenix form.

"Straightforward, I like it." Lilith said, preparing her staff.

Pulling her wings In, Phoenix charged a fireball before blasting at a bunch of Husks!

"ROOOOOOOR!" A giant one roared as they all began charging!

Lilith spun her staff again and fired multiple magic beams, destroying tens of husks as they kept coming. Even the light orbs above fired magic blasts to help them fight!

"Whatever is in here, they don't want us finding it!" She shouted.

"I have an idea what it could be!" Phoenix shouted, charging through several husks with her talons before taking to the air and launching flaming feathers at more!

'Athena must've hid that little orb she's creating here while she goes after the gem!' She thought, doding a jumping husk and slashing at its back! 'If we can get it, we'll be able to stop her.'

What Phoenix didn't know is that she was right YET also wrong. Athena did put her project inside of the cave and had hundreds of Husks to protect it, but what they didn't know was that it was just a distraction and if they got too close, she would summon it back to her side. All the while using a lone husk on the ceiling to watch everything.

'Amusing.' Athena thought, 'Though I think it's time to take a look at the other two, these two hot heads might be a little busy for a while.'

Blinking her eyes, Atehan's view changed to that of flying in the sky like a bird or a bat.

-Team 2, Fighter Luz and Belos-

Fighter Luz and Belos were walking along a forest path. Just as silent and awkward as Lilith and Phoenix were.

Belos was searching around the area while Fighter Luz had her hands in her pocket, looking straight ahead of Belos instead of at his back.

'This isn't your universe.' Fighter Luz thought. 'This isn't your universe.'

She had to keep reminding herself that this man in front of her was a GOOD guy, not an evil guy. No matter how many similarities they had, this man was not that man.

"I can tell you feel uncomfortable around me." Belos said, glancing back for a moment." "Please, can you tell me what the Emperor of your world is like?"

"…You want the honest answer?" Fighter Luz asked after a pause.

"Yes. Even if it's brutal and hurtful, honestly is always best." Belos said with a nod.

'Dear god, he really is a GOOD Belos.' She thought.

So with a quick breath, Fighter Luz gave him the answer short and sweet.

"You tried to kill Eda." She said.

Belos stopped at this, looking at Fighter Luz in shock through his mask.

"What?" He asked.

"Shocking? Well in my universe, you aren't their dad. You're basically an evil emperor that turns people that don't join covens or misjudged criminals into stone." Fighter Luz said, shaking her head. "Though SOME might deserve it, not all of them did. Trust me."

'Evil? I... oh I see.' Belos thought, coming up with a theory. 'Uncle Philip is Belos there.'

'That's very likely.' Titan said.

"Well, I can tell you that as long as you're here, you don't need to worry, I'm not like him." Belos said.

"I get that but still, one good act doesn't change everything." Fighter Luz said.

"I know, but I will ensure that nothing happens to you while we're here." Belos said before walking forward again.

'I want to believe that but my body can't truly trust you yet' Fighter Luz thought as she looked around.

She then noticed something, a shadow that had been floating nearby for some time now. Something that had been FOLLOWING them, either in the shadow itself or above.

"Something's wrong." Fighter Luz said.

"What is it?" Belos asked, coming to a halt.

"We're being watched." Fighter Luz said, looking around. "You think I don't know some of your tricks by now?!"

"Hehehehehehehe. I guess not." Athena's voice was heard, making Belos point his staff around to find her. "I never thought I would see the day where a Luz would stand side by side with a Belos. The multiverse really is crazy, don't you think?"

"Not nearly as crazy as you, you crazy bitch." Fighter Luz said.

"Ahahahahahahahaha!" Athena laughed, still finding this funny. "But you still have no idea where I am."

"Allow me to rectify that!" Belos said, holding his staff up in the air and firing a beam!

The shadow creature above screened in surprise before it was hit with the beam, burned to a crisp as it fell to the ground.

"Not bad, you old fuck." Athena said through the creature.

"Old? I'm 400 years young." Belos said, smirking under his mask.

'400 years?! He's that old?! Then how old is the Belos in MY universe?!' Fighter Luz thought in shock, quickly shaking her head.

She could worry about that later.

"That all you go, Athena?! I know you have more than that!" Fighter shouted, looking around.

"You know me so well." Athena said before the flying creature dissolved into a black liquid and slowly spread.

"Get ready." Belos said, pointing his staff at the black puddle.

The shadow began to slowly rise as it molds and forms into a giant husk covered in shadow armor! In its hands was a twin sided sword and a shield as a bladed tail swung from its lower backside!

"ROOOOOOOOOAH!" It roared down to them.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Fighter Luz shouted in shock.

"A new type of Husk I just created, do you like it?" Athena asked, her voice coming from the giant husk. "I think I'll call it "Calamidad de la Belleza." (Calamity of Beauty.)"

"I think you and I have very different definitions of Beauty!" Fighter Luz shouted, still in shock.

"Agree to disagree. Toodles!" Athena said to them before "leaving."

"Typical coward." Belos said, remaining calm before the beast. "I've seen lots of people like that, afraid to fight fairly, always using cheap tactics."

"Cheap or not, she's got the power to back them up!" Fighter Luz said as the "Calamity" Husk walked to them.

"ROOOOAH!" It roars before swinging its sword down!

The two avoided it... barely.

Fighter Luz and Belos slide to the left or right, both of them aiming at the giant monster!

"Attack!" Belos shouted, firing magic beams!

"YEAH!" Fighter Luz said, firing ice spikes!

Their attacks hit the monster as it roared in pain, as it's uncovered parts were hit, before stabbing at Belos!

"Ugh!" He grunted as he ducked back.

Fighter Luz jumped and created an ice hammer, smacking it in the face! It stumbled before bashing her away with its shield!

"Aaaaah!" Fighter Luz screamed before a red bubble caught her.

"I've got you!" Belos said before he dodged another slash, lowering Luz to the ground.

"Thanks." Luz said, slightly surprised.

"I promised to protect you and I will!" Belos said before drawing a spell circle and creating magic armor around Fighter Luz. "This will protect you but I won't last forever!"

"I'll make it count then!" Fighter Luz said as the Calamity Husk shield bashed her!

The magic armor protected her but the impact still hurt as she went flying. Still focused, Fighter Luz pointed her hands out and unleashed the fire glyphs so streams of fire could help her recover and land safely. She didn't stop the flames as she directed them at the giant husk. Belos did the same as he fired magic blasts, making it block/deflect them from both sides.

"It's starting to stumble!" Fighter Luz said before she dodged to the side as the tail lashed at her and missed!

"It's too new! It has no experience with its own body!" Belos shouted.

"Good, then it won't miss its legs too much!" Fighter Luz said, running at it with the plant and ice glyphs at the ready.

"ROOOOOH!" It screeches, preparing to slash down at Fighter Luz.

'Now!' She thought, sliding her arms across the ground and throwing them up!

A wave of vines and ice sprang up towards the blades, stopping and trapping the weapon in plants and ice!

Belos took this chance and fired multiple element blasts at the husk, making it growl in pain while releasing the sword and using the shield to block.

'I hope Lilith and Phoenix are okay.' Fighter thought, knowing they were more dangerous to each other than any husk.

In truth, neither of them were in good situations. One of them was fighting off a horde of shadow monsters and the other was fighting a giant armored one! Both of them were busy fighting for their lives while Athena was free to do as she wished with Lucenda.

In fact she was having a field day, literally nothing was going to stop her as she had the closest thing she can call a goddess next to her.

"Such a beautiful day for evil, is it not?" Athena asked, walking with Lucenda down a dark forest path.

"…" Lucenda said nothing as she was still under mind control.

"Thank you, I'm glad you agree with me. Now, please, be a dear and clear the way." Athena said as they stopped, pointing ahead.

Lucenda slowly nodded before holding up her hand and creating a tiny spell circle. A small humming was heard before a GIANT beam of magic firing off in front of them!

Anything in its way was immediately destroyed.

"Hahahahahahaha! Beautiful!" She shouted with a smile under her mask, clapping. "I truly love having a powerful pawn to use! Now let's make our way to the mountain."

Lucenda continued forward as Athena followed, not thinking that anything could stop her today. Not with an army of husks and a giant husk keeping her enemies busy.

-Team 1, Phoenix and Lilith-

Elsewhere, Phoenix and Lilith walked out of the cave, very annoyed. Consuming the good part of an entire hour, the two of them keep fighting and killing the army of husks until not even a baby one was left.

"That. Was. Tiresome." Lilith said, her hair messy and her clothes dirty.

"They ripped my damn coat." Phoenix said, holding the back of her trench coat up as it had several large cuts and holes in it, "Man, this is going to take forever to fix."

Lilith stopped and looked at the coat, rubbing her chin.

"Hmm, I could actually fix that for you if you want. I'm not the best but I've gotten better since my wife returned." Lilith said.

Phoenix looked a bit apprehensive... but there were only so many clothes that didn't break down after lighting on fire so many times, and this coat was one of them.

"Are you sure? It's mostly leather." Phoenix said.

"It's fine. Even leather can be stitched together with a little magic." Lilith said, holding her hand out.

"You better be right." She said, slowly taking off her coat and placing it in Lilith's hand.

Lilith looked at it and smiled a bit. It would be easy to fix.

"Give me a few minutes." Lilith said with confidence.

Phoenix crossed her arms and waited, she felt off without her jacket. Like she was colder, despite being made of living flames or almost naked without it. She'd become very accustomed to that coat.

Phoenix looked away as she rubbed her arms, trying not to shuffle in place too much.

'This coat really is important to her. Like a form of comfort or security blanket.' Lilith thought, glancing at Phoenix as she was using a needle created by magic to fix the jacket.

Lilith was easily able to stitch the coat up, with the stitches, while hard to notice, were shaped like lightning bolts. Phoenix felt a bit taunted by it, but stayed quiet.

"Just a few more and…done." Lilith said, making the magic needle vanish before holding the jacket out to Phoenix. "All fixed up."

She slowly took it and nodded to Lilith.

"Thanks." She mumbled as she put the jacket back on.

"You're welcome." Lilith said with a soft smile.

"Let's get going. We still need to find Athena." Phoenix muttered quickly, looking away from Lilith.

Lilith felt a bit sad, she doesn't know what's going on with Phoenix, but she was determined to find out.

"Right. Do you know any other place she could use as a hideout?" Lilith asked.

"A few from previous universes, follow me." Phoenix said before transforming.

Lilith nodded as she summoned her staff and flew behind Phoenix once again, flying away from the cave.

-Team 2, Fighter Luz and Belos-

With Belos and Fighter Luz, the two were exhausted from battling the Calamity Husk, but it was done. Lying dead on the ground as it slowly turned to ash.

"And stay…down…" Fighter Luz said between pants, holding her knees. "Motherfucker."

"That was harder than I anticipated." Belos said as he created a bench for him to sit on.

400 years "young" or not, he was not a youthful man anymore.

"Retirement catching up with you?" Fighter asked.

"No. I'm fine. Just a little winded. Peace has made me a bit sluggish is all." Belos said. "Besides, I always thought that my greatest battle was over."

"And what was that?" Fighter Luz asked.

"My brother. He was truly a lost soul, no matter how hard I tried to save him." Belos said.

"You have a brother?" Fighter asked in surprise.

"Had. You see, when we were younger, our father was murdered by our uncle and I have a feeling that from the sound of it before, my uncle is the Emperor Belos of your universe." Belos said, getting a stunned nod from Fighter Luz. "There's a lot of things that happened, but he tried to kill me, and decided that he wanted our mother's portal-"

"Wait, the same one that Eda had?" Fighter interrupted.

"Yeah... she stole it." Belos said, "Anyway, he wanted it... and used Lucenda to power it. He wanted to wage war against humans but Lucenda stopped him at a cost."

"What kind of cost?" Fighter inquired.

"You've only seen a fraction of her true power. Lucenda is powerful, even more than the Titan himself." Belos said, looking at the skull from there. "Unfortunately, while her power can create, it can also destroy. With her in Athena's control, it is unable to be harnessed to the fullest potential... at least for now."

"Wow. Just wow." Fighter Luz said, sitting in the dirt and taking this in. "Your family has…...been through a lot."

"Yes... but perhaps that's why I adopted the two sisters after their parents were killed." Belos said, looking back to Fighter. "To make sure they didn't grow up and become like my siblings and I."

'Huh, that's surprisingly sweet but it could be because he's literally a different Belos.' Fighter Luz thought with a small grin. 'But it's nice to find a good one.'

"So, what next? Do we just go for the gem?" She asked him.

"No, that's too dangerous." Belos said.

"And you think Athena cares?" She replied to him. "Like the Oracle head said, she might be using Lucenda as we speak."

"And that concerns me." Belos said as got up and made the bench crumble into dirt. If we are to even attempt to go after the gem, we would need your friend and Lilith to help to get past the defenses. We might have a, relatively small, chance."

"Even a small chance is better than no chance. Trust me." Fighter Luz said as she got up.

"Then we better go meet up with them." Belos said as he waved his staff, quickly using healing magic on both of them. "But where could they be right now?"

"I'm fairly certain they're at the Knee." Fighter said, pointing towards the Knee.

"How can you tell?" Belos asked.

"That's where Athena hid in one of the other universes. Maybe she'll repeat herself." Fighter Luz said.

Belos nodded, if anyone could know about Athena, it would be one of the ones hunting her.

"Brace yourself." Belos said before he used his staff to teleport them to the Knee.

Once there, and after Figther Luz stabilized a bit, they found footprints in the snow. Relatively fresh.

"Are these her footprints?" Belos asked.

Fighter Luz kneeled down and examined the prints, seeing them were slender enough to be from a woman.

She then noticed something... some of them had snow melted all the way to the ground.

"Phoenix." Fighter Luz said.

"So they have already arrived before us? That works for our numbers." Belos said to Fighter Luz.

"Yeah, let's find them." Fighter Luz said as she got up.

It wouldn't be hard, finding a walking match in the snow, just following the melted path. Even if one of them was freezing, it was still a usable path to follow.

-Team 1, Phoenix and Lilith-

With Phoenix, she was using fire to light the way of another cave. A different cave on the Knee but still a place where Athena might hide away in.

"Stay behind me, there's a good chance she has something here that will stop us from going anywhere... permanently." Phoenix said to Lilith.

"As valiant as that is, I am against it. As the older witch and as a version of your mother, I should be the one to protect you. Just in case it's something you can't recover from." Lilith said.

"… Are you unkillable?" Phoenix asked, turning to Lilith. "I am, I can take a hydrogen bomb to the head and still walk away unharmed."

"That changes nothing. Unkillable or not, please don't just throw yourself into deadly situations like this." Lilith said to her, looking worried.

"I've done worse." Phoenix said, looking ahead.

"That doesn't make it better." Lilith said, walking to Phoenix and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I just-"

"You're not MY mom! SO JUST…just please stop trying." Phoenix said, nudging Lilith's hand off and walking away.

Lilith felt a pain in her heart from this. Even if Lilith wasn't her version of her mother, that didn't stop her from wanting to help Phoenix and not just because she was an alternate version of Lucenda.

She was in pain, a pain that cut down to her very soul, and she wanted to help heal that pain.

'I don't know what I did to you in your universe, but I will help move past it.' Lilith thought, following Phoenix into the cave and looking around for Athena or any clues she had left.

So far they saw nothing but they did hear something from behind, like someone entering the cave.

"Hide. Now." Phoenix said as she snuffed out her flames and hid behind a rock.

Lilith hopped on her staff and floated up, using some magic to help her see in the dark as well.

'Now let's see who you are.' Lilith thought.

Immediately, she saw it was Fighter Luz and Belos lighting their way in the cave, looking around for them.

"So you think something happened to them before they entered the cave?" Belos asked.

"Seeing as I don't see scorch marks or blood, I don't think so." Fighter said.

'Father.' Lilith thought, sighing relief before she floated down.

"We are here, father. We just didn't know it was you two." Lilith said as she revealed herself.

"Then that woman is going for the gem." Belos said.

"And possibly using Lucenda to clear the way." Phoenix said, igniting her body flames again. "You need to lead us there now before it's too late."

"I can do one better." Belos said, before teleporting them to the base of the mountain.

Fighter Luz stumbled before she hunched over and threw up! The sudden teleportation was too much for her stomach but Phoenix was able to endure it with her advanced healing.

"I hate that." Fighter Luz said.

"I apologize for that but we don't have time to waste." Belos said, using another spell to heal Fighter's nausea.

"Thanks. Now, where is the gem of life?" She asked, standing up again.

"Follow me." Belos said, leading them up the mountain.

'Did we manage to beat Athena here or is she still ahead of us?' Everyone thought, looking around for traces of her and Lucenda.

They found out when they saw the giant metal doors with a giant hole in it.

"Oh no!" Belos said with wide eyes under his mask. "We have to hurry!"

Belos rushed through the doorway as Lilith, Phoenix, and Fighter Luz did the same.

'Shit! She beat us here!' Both Luzs thought.

Inside of the secret vault, the most dangerous creatures were inside to guard the Gem of Life but they were all dead.

Decapitated, gutted, ripped in half; the list of how all of them were killed went on. Making Belos sick to his stomach as Lilith nearly threw up from the sight and the mixed smell of death.

And sadly... this wasn't Lucenda's doing. If it was her, there wouldn't be remnants of them left.

"This woman…she's a monster." Lilith said, taking deep breaths to calm down.

"One with strength I have never seen before." Belos said.

"Don't remind me. I couldn't even beat her and I'm supposed to rival a titan." Phoenix said.

"We can't waste too much time looking at these corpses, maybe they haven't reached the gem yet." Fighter Luz said.

"Agreed." Belos said before he rushed ahead as everyone followed behind again.

The entire time, fear began to creep up their spines. More monsters were seen, guardians of the Gem of Life, but each and every one of them was killed.

Eventually, they arrived at the main area where the gem was store... and found Lucenda blocking the entrance.

"From being her key to now being her guard dog." Fighter Luz comments, gulping nervously but not showing it.

"Is there any way to break her out of this trance?" Belos asked.

Fighter thought back to Hardcor3 Luz, who managed to break the trance by slamming Toxin and Cardinal's heads on a table.

"A hard enough impact to the head could work." She answered.

"So just literally knock some sense into my daughter?" Lilith asked with a blank tone.

"You got a better idea before she starts attacking us?" Phoenix asked back, just as blank.

"It's easier said than done." Lilith said, preparing her staff. "She's incredibly strong."

"Maybe but she's a mindless slave right now. She'll mostly rely on instinct to fight." Fighter said, putting her fists up.

"So we just have to outsmart her instead of overpowering her, clever." Belos said, ready to fight as well. "I expect nothing less from another version of my granddaughter."

'That still doesn't feel right.' Phoenix and Fighter thought with a shiver.

"On three." Phoenix said, heating up her flames. "One. Two. Three!"

They all charged at Lucenda, who remained standing before she exhaled slowly.

Lucenda then opened her mouth and charged up a giant blast of magic, sending it at the group! Lilith moved in front and created a shield, blocking the blast before redirecting it into the air!

Phoenix and Fighter moved to her sides, shooting fire blasts at Lucenda but she just put her hand up and simply deflected their blasts.

Lilith charged up the front, swinging her staff at Lucenda!

'Sorry, Lucenda!' She thought before her daughter blocked it and pushed her back.

Lucenda made a small orb in her hand and launched it at her mother.

"AAAH!" Lilith shouted as she was hit and sent flying.

From above, Belos teleported and rained down energy blasts to hit/blind Lucenda.

Looking up, Lucenda dodged them all like she was dancing as they hit the ground around her but still blinded her with smoke clouds.

'Now!' Fighter and Phoenix thought, both rushing in to attack!

Both of them threw flaming punches, but they were stopped as the smoke was blasted away by a shockwave.

"…" Lucenda was revealed, still silent, as she held both of their fists back.

She threw them away before Lucenda looked over at Phoenix, holding a hand out. Suddenly, Phoenix's body began to reshape and contort as her bones were breaking and reforming.

"AAAHHHH!" Phoenix screamed before her voice was silenced.

When whatever Lucenda did was done, Phoenix was now in the shape of a sword. Her skin, bones, and organs turned into fine, high class metal.

'What the fuck did she do to me?!' Phoenix thought in shock as Lucenda retrieved her up and used Phoenix's power to make the blade catch fire. 'And she can use my powers too?!'

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Fighter shouted in shock and horror.

'Did she just turn Phoenix into a s-' Her thoughts were cut short as Lucenda charged at her! 'SHIELD!'

She quickly used her gloves to create a thick ice shield.

Lucenda used her flaming sword to cut through the ice with ease. Lucenda put her hand out and Fighter went through a similar experience as Phoenix. Her bones were broken and reformed, her body was flattening into a circular shape, and her body was turned to metal.

On the front of Fighter, was her face in the center, surrounded by the glyphs on her gloves. Lucenda put her new shield on her arm and held her sword in the other. She looked at her mother and grandfather before she raised her blade.

"Oh shit." Lilith muttered before a giant steam of fire rushed at her!

She quickly flew into the air to dodge but the flames followed, making her gasp before Belos appeared in front of her and created a portal to suck in the flames.

"Sorry!" He said, making a new portal above Lucenda.

Lucenda put her shield above her and pressed the ice glyph, coating the shield in ice, blocking the fire.

"Incredible. She turned two young women into two powerful weapons. I didn't think she was able to do that." Belos said in surprise.

"I didn't think it was possible but it is and it's made our fight much harder." Lilith said as they landed on the ground. "Even when we outnumber her, Lucenda is still holding her own with instincts alone."

Lucenda threw her shield, still covered in ice. Lilith and Belos were forced to dodge it, and the shield got stuck in the wall. While Belos was standing back up, Lucenda charged at him, trying to impale him, but he blocked the sword strike with his staff.

"Engarde, Lucenda!" Belos shouted before pushing her back!

He rapidly attacked, slashing relentlessly as her as Lucenda blocked each and every attack.

Lucenda held her hand out and called the shield back to her, using it to block Belos's attack while sending attacks with the sword.

'While a bit tame, it might be the only shot we have.' He thought.

A burst of magic sent Lucenda back a bit, allowing Belos to quickly stomp on the ground to summon several stone copies of himself.

"Now for some makeup." He said before snapping his fingers, flashing all of them to look perfectly like him.

Lucenda growled and swung her sword, unleashing a wave of fire.

'I hope this works!' Belos thought, raising his arms to block while his stone clones did the same.

It worked as all of them were relatively unharmed, and he telepathically spoke with Lilith.

'We need to get her sword and shield away from her.' Belos thought to her.

'I know, I'm on it!' Lilith thought, charging up her magic.

She was putting all of her power into her speed, she'd only get one chance at this and she had to make it count.

And if she missed... she'd be lucky if she dies, because she'll most likely be reduced to atoms.

'Three…two…one…' Lilith thought, her magic reaching the limit as she focused on Lucenda. 'NOW!'

Lilith rushed with a burst of speed that would make the Flash impressed. She grabbed the sword and shield from Lucenda... which made her turn her attention to Lilith. Lilith pressed the plant glyph on the shield and put it up. Lucenda punched the shield and the glyph wrapped her arm up. Lilith put her arm through the strap and swung Lucenda to the side.

"Forgive me, daughter!" Lilith shouted as Lucenda was sent flying towards a wall!

Lucenda got up, and Lilith made the sword catch fire. She swung the sword, making Lucenda have to put up a magic barrier to block it.

"Father, now!" Lilith shouted.

Belos rose from the ground behind Lucenda and grabbed her by the back of the head. He slammed her head down on the ground, hard enough to create a crater.

"That should be enough." He said, feeling great guilt from hurting his granddaughter like this.

Belos looked down to see Lucenda had shut her eyes from the impact, almost as if she had passed out from the pain. Just like they planned.

Making sure she was down, Belos walked over and opened the vault doors that held the gem of life and saw the room was completely empty.

"No…we've lost." Belos said, looking down in despair.

They stopped Lucenda and possibly got her back but at what cost if the most powerful item in the realm was in the hands of the most dangerous woman in the multiverse?

But Athena wasn't done in this world yet... as long as this world exists it's a threat to her existence... she wanted to rip it to shreds.

An hour later, Lucenda groaned as she slowly blinked her eyes open to see the ceiling of her home.

"W... what happened?" She muttered.

A door was opened and she turned to it, seeing her mothers coming into the room. With Lilith holding a sword and shield while Camila held a tray of food.

"Lucenda... is it you?" Lilith asked cautiously.

"Y-Yeah, it's me?" Lucenda asked, rubbing her head. "Mom, mami, what happened?"

"A lot, mija." Camila said, setting the tray of food on a nightstand.

"And we have a lot to discuss before our next plan of action." Lilith said before holding out the sword and shield. "But first, I need you to do something about these two."

"Uh... what about them?" Lucenda asked, looking at the weapons. "Where did you get these weapons?"

'So she doesn't remember. I was afraid of this.' Lilith thought as Camila sat beside her.

"There's something you need to know, Luz." Camila said, putting a hand on her shoulder. . "You...You have done some bad things as of late."

"Bad things?" Lucenda said, feeling a pit of dread in her stomach. "Wh-What sort o-"

Her eyes widened as a rush of memories came to her, from the moment she met Athena to when she was destroying everything in sight at the cave!

The death, the destruction, the mindless obedience to a mad woman! It was too much for her as Lucenda started hyperventilating….. and started to glow white. Alarm, Lilith dropped the weapons before she grabbed Lucenda's shoulders.

"No. No. Lucenda... look at me, everything will be okay." Lilith said calmly, looking into her eyes. "You just need to breathe."

"N-No! I-I-" Lucenda said, tears welling in her eyes.

"You are not to blame. That woman in red is the one to blame." Lilith said as Camila hugged Lucenda from behind.

"You would never do anything horrible without a good enough reason. Your hands are clean." Camila said.

Accepting their soothing words, Lucenda began to calm down as she slowly stopped glowing.

"B-But why? Why did this have to happen?" Lucenda asked before looking at the sword and shield. "Oh my god! I turned them into weapons! I have to change them back!"

Remembering how she did it when she was mind controlled, Lucenda snapped her fingers to reverse it.

Both weapons glowed brightly before they floated in the air, slowly groaning from metal becoming flesh and bones again before their screams filled the room!

"MOTHER FUCKING SHIT!" Fighter screamed in pain and horror.

Phoenix, used to her body being crushed, broken, and otherwise reduced to red mist...just screams in agony for a few seconds before just hyperventilating.

'That was NOTHING like dying! Nothing like dying at all!' Phoenix thought, holding her chest as she moved back to slide against the wall.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't-" Lucenda was cut off.

"GIVE US A SECOND!" Fighter screamed at Lucenda, still freaking out from becoming a weapon.

'I'm going to have nightmares about that for weeks!' Fighter Luz thought.

Seeing their distress, Camila quickly summoned her staff and pointed it at Fighter and Phoenix. Using a mix of healing and oracle magic, Camila attempted to try to heal any remaining physical pain as well as attempt to repair some of their mental pain.

After a few seconds, it appeared to work a bit as both of them were slowly calming down and breathing much easier. The looks in their eyes also changed from being dilated to at least a normal level.

"Again, I'm sorry for what I did. For what….that woman made me do." Lucenda said with her head down, holding her wrist as she hated that she was forced to use her powers for evil.

It reminded her of when she first unlocked them, how she was unable to do anything to stop herself and how she almost killed her family because of it. Lucenda never wanted to feel that way again and yet, here she is feeling that way all over again.

'The whole point of me learning to control my powers was so I wouldn't hurt others!' She thought.

Lilith did her best to comfort her daughter as Camila stopped healing Fighter and Phoenix, they seemed to have calmed down enough.

"Better, mijas?" Camila asked.

They could only nod.

"Good. Do you both need anything? Food? Water?" Lilith asked them.

They just shook their heads at this.

"We just need to know what we're gonna do now that Athena got the Gem of Life, how are we gonna find her if she hasn't run to the next universe already?" Fighter Luz asked, rolling her shoulders.

"She didn't." Belos said, appearing suddenly in the room.

"GAH!" Fighter and Phoenix screamed!

"Can you not just use a door?! You gave me a fucking heart attack!" Fighter shouted, holding her chest.

"LITERALLY!" Phoenix shouted, feeling her heart actually stop before warming up to start again.

"Sorry... but there's a situation forming." Belos said.

"What is it, father?" Lilith asked.

"Look outside." Belos said, pointing to the window in the room.

Confused by all of this, the five women headed towards the window and looked outside of the castle. All of them gasp in shock as the sky grows dark, clouds forming and rumbling with thunder.

"She's coming." Phoenix and Fighter Luz said.

"But why? She's got what she wanted." Camila said, moving close to Lucenda.

"If I had to guess, I'd say she sees her as a threat. Someone that can beat her." Phoenix said, pointing at Lucenda.

"Makes sense." Fighter said, rolling her shoulder. "This girl has done things no one in the dimensions we visited has done before."

"And what do you think she plans to do now?" Lilith asked.

"Aside from destroying her, maybe destroying this whole Titan if she can." Phoenix said grimly. "We can't let her do this."

"I couldn't agree more." Fighter said.

"I also agree. Luckily, she's not exactly hiding where she is." Belos said, pointing to the eye of the forming storm.

"Put this place on lockdown." Fighter said as she looked at Belos. "Phoenix and I will handle this."

"Not without me." Lilith said, "I want to make that bitch pay for what she's done to my family."

"And I want to show her what happens when I don't hold back." Lucenda said, glaring.

"Out of the question. She might mind-control you again." Camila said sternly.

"She caught me off guard! I'll be ready this time!" Lucenda said, holding her fist up. "Besides... I'm the best shot there is at killing her."

Belos, Lilith, and. Camila glanced at each other; all of them thinking that Lucenda was right sadly.

They had years of magic experience over her but Lucenda's raw power and potential surpassed that in miles. So if anyone had the best chance of killing Athena, it WAS Lucenda.

"Very well. Then let's be on our way." Lilith said.

"Allow me." Belos said, holding his staff up.

The four left in a flash of light, leaving Belos and Camila to put the castle on lockdown.

'Lilith, Mijas, be careful.' Camila thought for her wife and three versions of her daughter.

-The Storm of Darkness-

In the eye of the forming storm, Athena floated with the gem of life in one hand and her secret orb in the other.

"Ah, the entire power of the multiverse in my hand." She said happily as the gem's power was flowing through her, making her shiver in delight in a way she had never felt before. "Soon, everything will come to flurision."

A bolt of lightning came at her, making Athena create a shadow shield to block it without turning to it.

"So predictable." Athena said before another bolt hit her shield.

Athena turned around and saw Lilith floating in the air a few meters, with her staff at the ready.

"Can you assume why I am here, woman?" Lilith asked, glaring at Athena.

"You want to try and stop me but more importantly, you want revenge for me using your little bastardette as a tool?" Athena asked with a grin under her mask.

Lilith glare sharpened as her magic lightning crackled around her.

"YES." Lilith said to both questions before firing more lightning.

Athena blocked and dodged the lightning bolts as she spun her orb on her finger.

"I'll be back for you later." Athena said to the orb before putting it in her pocket dimension. "Now, let's have some fun."

Clutching the gem of life, Athena draws more of its power as her eyes glow bright red and charges at Lilith.

'She took the bait!' Lilith thought before flying back, dodging Atehan's axe!

"Keeping distance? Somewhat smart!" Athena shouted, chasing after her.

"Smarter than you ever will be!" Lilith shouted back before snapping her fingers, creating multiple balls of fire and launching them!

Athena slashed through each one before slashing at Lilith, who blocked with her staff!

"Do you want to know what I did to the Lilith in my universe?!" Athena asked.

"I can take a guess." The head witch of all covens said.

Lilith teleported behind Athena and blasted her to the ground!

"Is that the best you-" A giant abomination formed around Athena, capturing and suffocating her.

Then Lilith spun her staff, sending a wave of lightning at the abomination…...what many people don't know is that with enough abomination goo, it is similar to when a plugged in toaster is dumped into a bathtub.

Meaning, it is VERY dangerous.

BOOM!

Despite that, Athena burst it to pieces and rushed back at Lilith with her axe ready!

"DIE!" Athena shouted.

Lilith didn't move, only smirking before Athena was suddenly held in place by magic.

"Remember me?" Lucenda asked, appearing behind Athena with her fist held back.

A single punch sent Athena to the ground with the speed of a meteor.

"UGH!" Athena grunts in pain, crashing as a crater formed around her.

'She's already recovered?!' She thought before vines wrapped around her and pushed her into the air as they formed a giant hand around her!

"PEEK-A-BOO!" Fighter shouted, using the power glyph and plant glyph. "NATURE'S WRATH!"

Guiding the giant hand with her own, Fighter slammed Athena back and forth all around them.

Watching her being smashed, Phoenix walked up to the plant hand and conjured some blue fire before throwing it.

The flames set the giant plant arm ablaze as Fighter spun her arm around, making the plant arm turn into a blazing blue tornado!

"I am going to make sure you burn." Phoenix said darkly as she walked up next to Fighter Luz.

"Let me add to it!" Fighter Luz said, using her other hand to use her fire glyph to add to the blaze.

From above, Lilith held up her staff and charged up a large amount of lightning magic.

'Let's try to finish this.' Lilith thought.

That is until Athena roared and exploded out of the tornado in a burst of shadow magic!

'Now I'm mad!' Athena thought before she threw her axe, narrowly hitting Fighter as it stabbed the ground next to her!

"Whoa!" Fighter Luz said as she stopped spinning her arm.

"Is that all you've got!?" Athena shouted before summoning multiple winged husks.

"NO!" Lilith shouted before sending down her lightning spell!

CRACK!

The strength of the lightning was so powerful that people's hair was standing up on the other side of the Isles.

Athena was left shaking from the shock as her husk were destroyed, leaving her vulnerable for Lucenda to rush at her!

"GIVE ME THAT GEM!" She shouted.

Clenching her hand, Athena called her axe back and slammed it into Lucenda's shoulder. It cut right into her shoulder but Lucenda suddenly turned into air, moving around the axe and up to Athena's arms!

'Elemental transformation? That's new.' Athena thought.

She returned to normal and delivered a punch to Athena that sent her flying several yards into the air. Lilith followed and kicked Athena to the ground, where Phoenix gladly punched her in the stomach and held her above the ground.

"Not so fun when there's two people that are stronger going against you, is it?" Phoenix asked with a grin.

"Funny." Athena said with a groan before dropping the gem of life.

Phoenix gasped before tossing her aside and reached for it! Only for a shadow spike to pop out of the ground and impaled Phoenix in the chest!

'Goddamnit!' She thought as the gem hit the ground before she broke the spike in half.

"Gotcha!" Athena comments as the gem whisks back to her hand.

"And I got you!" Fighter shouted, Superman kicking Athena in the back!

Athena was launched forward and slammed into a cliff face.

'I honestly forget about that new leg sometimes.' Athena thought as she pulled herself out.

Athena turned around as Lilith and Lucenda rushed at her, both flaring with magic.

"We must get that gem and finish her!" Lilith said.

Athena raised her axe and slammed it on the ground, making a massive crack in the ground, making a massive Husk rise.

"ROOOOOOOAH!" The "Calamity of Beauty" husk roared.

"Kill them my sweet calamity." Athena said before Phoenix came barreling down at it.

The giant husk sprayed a beam of shadows at Phoenix, making her spin like a drill to push her way through and go right down its through.

GULP!

After it swallowed, the husk turned its attention to Fighter Luz as its master did the same.

"I should've killed you a long time ago." Athena said before holding her hand out, grabbing Fighter with shadows and pulling her close.

"Likewise!" Fighter shouted as she clenched her fist, pressing all her glyphs.

An orb of Esperanza Brillante/Shining Hope charged in her hand, allowing Fighter to throw it right at Athena, who quickly put up a shadow shield to block it!

'Annoying pest!' She thought as Fighter Luz slid under the shield and under her legs.

"Boom." She said, firing a gold fireball and sending Athena into the air!

The calamity husk was about to attack before it exploded in flames, allowing Phoenix to fly into the air and grab Athena by the neck!

Reaching a high point, Phoenix dive bombed at high speed and slammed Atehan to the ground!

'Now's my chance!' Phoenix thought as she grabbed the gem of life with her talons and flew upward!

"No!" Athena yelled as she burst from the ground and reached for Phoenix, but Lilith appeared and kicked her away!

"Go now!" Lilith shouted, blitzing after Athena.

Athena swung her axe at Lilith, but she just leaned back and dodged it.

"You're not going to be rid of me that easily." Lilith said.

"I already did!" Athena shouted, slashing wildly!

'Her anger is blinding her. That should give Phoenix enough time to get the gem away.' Lilith thought as she kept dodging her attacks.

"Is dodging all you can do, you spineless coward?!" Athena shouted.

"Not when I am at my limit." Lilith said, delivering an uppercut that sent Athena a good 15 feet in the air before landing on her back, "Very rarely do I get to use my full power."

'Full power?' Athena thought before feeling a heaviness in the air, getting up and gazing at Lilith. 'How different can she be from the one I killed?'

Teleporting behind her, Lilith grabbed Athena by the back of the head and slammed her head on the ground, making a crater that's nearly a mile wide.

"You come into my realm." Lilith said softly, her eyes glowing.

Boom.

"You threaten my home." Lilith said, her facial veins becoming visible.

BOOM.

"Kidnap my daughter!" Lilith said, raising by her voice.

BOOM!

"AND HAVE THE GAUL TO FLY AROUND LIKE YOU WON THE DAMN LOTTERY?!" Lilith screamed as her hair stood up!

BOOM!

Every slam made the crater grow wider and wider as blood was pouring out of Athena's eye hole.

'My helmet won't last much longer!' Athena thought, feeling the cracks spreading from Lilith's grip and the slams.

Lilith threw Athena into the air before she jumped up after her and slammed her palm into Athena's chest.

Lightning crashed into her as Athena screamed in pain.

"This is MY empire. Any treasonous acts against it shall be dealt with accordingly!" Lilith shouted.

Lucenda appeared behind Athena and kicked her away as she spun in the air!

"That goes double for me!" She shouted.

Mother and daughter gazed at each other, nodding as they came to a silent agreement before charging at Athena! Lilith charged with lightning magic as Lucenda charged with fire magic, putting their hands together and creating a combined blast.

"RAAAAH!" they screamed as she fired right into Athena.

The combined force of the two made a powerful blast, forcing them to teleport away with Athena being stuck at the center.

"AAAAAAH!" Athena screamed as she tried making a shadow shield to block, with little succession.

It was stable but it was breaking down too quickly from their combined attack!

'Need to escape!' Athena thought before slipping herself into her own pocket dimension.

'Oh not you don't!' Lucenda thought before she bolted back as the blast died down.

She landed and cracked her knuckles before grabbing the air and ripping open the pocket dimension!

"YOU ARE NOT…..here?" Lucenda said, confused as she looked around the small dimension.

"What do you- PHOENIX!" Lilith shouted in shock, turning to Phoenix's direction. "She used her pocket dimension for cover and slipped after her for the gem!"

With Phoenix, she was moving as fast as possible, when she was hit by something on the back. She hit the ground, and before she could change from her phoenix form, someone pressed down on her head.

"You thought you could steal this away from me?!" Athena shouted before stomping on her head! "You thought you could stop what I have planned for so long?!"

Phoenix started to turn blue and grow in size, before knocking off Athena. Athena was no face to face with the legendary Blue Phoenix, the bird with talons so big they could hold the Titan's head.

'I am going to fucking burn you to ash!' Phoenix thought, almost crushing the gem of life in her talon.

"You think I'm scared?! Bring it on, burnt chicken!" Athena shouted.

'BURNT CHICKEN?! YOU DIE NOW!' Phoenix thought as she charged.

Phoenix flew into the air and flapped her wings, making a massive blast of blue fire go towards Athena.

Athena sent a wave of shadows to counter but they barely worked, burning her and her armor.

'They're even hotter than before!' Athena thought in pain.

Charging towards her, the massive bird slammed her talons down on Athena.

Taking off to the forest, Phoenix slammed Athena through every tree on her path before reaching the boiling sea! Gliding against the surface, she forced Athena to bathe in the sea as she continued to fly! Acting quickly, Athena used her magic to break free with a portal back to the surface!

'I need to get the gem back!' Athena thought.

Calling her axe, she made it glow black as she flew at Phoenix. She slashed wildly but Phoenix dodged each one with ease, not allowing a single feather to be hit by the axe.

'You'll have to do better than that.' Phoenix thought as she kept leading Athena around, not only keeping the gem of life away from her but hoping to tire her out enough to leave her open for a deadly blow.

But after a while, that idea proved pointless as Athena seemed to have boundless energy!

'How is she not tired yet?!' Phoenix thought as Athena was getting faster!

Soon, Athena lunged at Phoenix.

"GIVE ME MY GEM!" Athena shouted, stabbing Phoenix through the chest!

'Never!' Phoenix thought before feeling blood in her mouth and she got an idea.

Quickly gathering the blood, she made it boil in her mouth before spitting it in Athena's eyes!

"AAAH!" Athena screamed from the burning, pulling back and covering her face.

Phoenix left her phoenix form and held her hands up, igniting them.

"Alright, let's have some fun." Phoenix said, ripping the axe out of her chest.

Her chest healed as the flames danced around the axe, making it steam from the heat as Phoenix charged at Athena. Who finally managed to get the burning blood out of her eyes right as Phoenix delivered a punch, knocking Athena back at least a mile.

"Pitcher sends a fiery fastball!" Phoenix said before flying forth, rushing past Athena and preparing the axe like a bat. "She winds up for the swing…"

She aimed for the fences of a graveyard close by before Phoenix swung, hitting Athena in the stomach as her chest armor was cracked and sent flying!

"And it's going! Going!" Phoenix shouted as Athena was impaled on the fence spikes! "It's a home run!"

As Phoenix shortly celebrated, Athena was NOT happy. Her armor was damaged AGAIN, the gem was just out of reach, and her axe was being wielded by a flaming amateur! With a growl under her voice, Athena snapped her fingers and the axe returned to her hand.

"I am done playing games." Athena said, pulling herself off the spikes and removing her chest armor.

She dropped it to the ground as her wounds slowly healed, revealing a deep red symbol on her chest. The source of all her powerful dark magic.

Phoenix saw this and was confused but extremely cautious as a shiver ran up her spine at the sight of it.

"Omega?" She asked aloud.

"Hehehehe, no. That's not it." Athena said as she chuckled, gazing up at Phoenix. "This symbol isn't for omega. This is for WAR."

"War?" Phoenix said in surprise.

"Surely you've seen it in the book." Athena said, happily caressing her war symbol. "The Goddess of War, my namesake Atehna, was bestowed this symbol and I too use it to rule."

In a burst of speed, Athena appeared in front of Phoenix with her fist back.

"Fu-" Her face was smashed in and she was sent crashing to the ground!

Athena didn't stop as she landed on her stomach and started swinging her axe widely at Phoenix, wanting to reduce her into a puddle of blood.

It wasn't enough to kill Phoenix but it would be much longer for her to heal and pull herself back together.

With each chop, Athena was getting more the anger, stress, and SMALL bit of sorrow from her plans being ruined were melting away!

Every swing made Athena feel like a little girl experiencing her first tickle fight! A sort of twisted childlike innocence formed from killing a dreaded enemy!

Once she was done, Athena looked at the red puddle at her feet and let out a long and happy sigh.

"Oh thank merciless god. I haven't been able to kill someone like that in so long, I almost forgot how great it feels." Athena said before gazing down at the gem of life by the blood. "And now, time to come back to dark mama."

Athena reached out for it before a pale white hand with black nails grabbed her arm, roughly.

"Don't even think about it." Lilith said, glaring at Athena.

"God fuck-"

A punch to the mask sent her flying, leaving Lilith alone to grab the gem and open a small portal to her father at the castle.

"Here you are, father." Lilith said, throwing the gem inside.

Another portal opened behind Lilith, surprising and tackling Lilith away!

"MY GEM!" Athena shouted, reaching for it until the portal closed.

On the other side, Belos caught the gem and held it up before sighing in relief.

"Checkmate." Belos said before noticing the storm clouds outside getting worse. "Oh dear."

Things were going to get worse from here, he could tell.

Back with Athena, she was breathing heavily as she stared at where the portal was. The gem of life was out of her reach and her plans were ruined without it!

"No…..no! NO! No no no noNONONONONONONONONO! NO!" She screamed, grabbing her head as she was having a mental breakdown.

She then gazed at Lilith as she got up, her mind flashing to the original version from her own universe as she was bloody and limping.

"I-It's over." "Her" Lilith said, glaring at Athena.

"You….You ruined everything AGAIN!" Athena said, her rage reaching her boiling point.

Athena grabbed her axe and charged at Lilith with a roar…... only to be shoulder-tackled away by the Unkillable Fire God.

"Hey, bitch, we have a score to settle!" Phoenix said, holding out her hands and catching them on fire.

"Fuck your score!" Athena shouted, throwing her axe!

Phoenix dodged but it was still heading for Lilith!

"Look out!" Phoenix shouted as Lilith looked up.

She gasped before the weapon stopped an inch before her face.

"Nobody tries to kill my mamí!" Lucenda shouted, catching the axe and glaring at Athena. "Not even you."

Lucenda threw the axe at Athena, who just caught it in her hands and charged at Lucenda.

"You should be afraid, little girl. This axe is made of the toughest metal in the entire multiverse, with one swing it will-" Athena went and tried to slam her axe down on Lucenda's head

Only for the axe head shattered like glass as Lucenda just looked at her, with her hair having a metallic shine.

"My turn." Lucenda said before she did everything she could to focus as her arm turned white and glowed before delivering an uppercut that sent Athena higher than a plane can fly.

Not to mention cracking her mask in a way it's never been cracked before! It was nearly shattered with cracks all over.

A few seconds later, she crash landed on the ground with enough impact to create a crater the size of a baseball diamond.

'I have never felt such pain until now.' Athena thought as she started to pick herself up, only for Lucenda to stomp her foot down on her neck.

"Give. UP!" Lucenda screamed, as the rest of her body started turning white, "Don't make me scatter your atoms across the multiverse."

Athena growled and slammed her hands on the ground, creating an army of thousands of Husks.

"Never!" Athena said, pushing Lucenda off, "I am not leaving here without the gem!"

Athena charged at Lucenda, trying to punch her, but she just dodged and smacked the arm away, before delivering three strong punches to Athena's stomach, and then giving her an uppercut. Athena was knocked back, before standing and ordering her Husks to attack. The Husks charged at her, but they were cut off when a large barrier of magic was placed between Lucenda and them.

"Stay away from my daughter." Lilith growled, with Fighter and Phoenix by her sides, "Phoenix, you go after Athena, we'll keep the Husks off you!"

"On it." Phoenix said before she turned to ash and flew towards Athena, turning back and delivering a powerful kick to knock her back. "Even footing now, bitch."

"Even?! You could NEVER be on my level!" Athena shouted back.

"You're right." Phoenix said, cracking her knuckles, "I'm above you."

Phoenix flew at her with her flaming fists, delivering a strong punch to her jaw and knocking Athena far back.

"Come on, I wanted a good fight!" Phoenix said.

Athena stumbled before growling, planting her feet and clenching her fists as shadow magic pooled over them.

"Fine then, let's fight!" Athena shouted, surging forth and punching Phoenix in the stomach!

Phoenix retaliated by grabbing her by the neck and slamming her on the ground. Athena pushed herself up and grabbed Phoenix by the neck, turning them over and mercilessly punching her in the face!

Then Phoenix reached out and grabbed a piece of Athena's shattered axe and stabbed Athena in the side. But Athena just ignored the pain as she grabbed Phoenix's neck and pulled her up!

"Rah!" Athena screamed, throwing Phoenix across the ground!

She followed and kicked her again and again, tumbling into the forest and slamming into a tree!

Phoenix got up and threw a punch at Athena as she lunged at her, sending her into the air. Phoenix flew up and grabbed Athena by the back of the head. She flew down at high speed and slammed her face first onto the ground.

"Fuck, how strong is that fucking helmet?" Phoenix asked.

Athena pushed up and elbowed Phoenix in the chest, but the flaming God didn't let go as she slammed her into the ground again!

"Give up." Phoenix said.

"NEVER!" Athena shouted as she punched into the ground!

Multiple shadow tendrils rose around them and stabbed towards Phoenix! But the flaming child just turned into ash and avoided them. Athena jumped into the air to dodge her own attack, looking around for Phoenix.

'She's turning herself into ashes and rebirthing to dodge my attacks! When did she gain such control over her regeneration and rebirth!?' Athena thought.

An ash cloud floated up towards her and returned to normal, before slamming her fist into Athena's head. Her helmet cracked once again, crashing to the ground but Athena opened a shadow portal and blipped back to Phoenix to sock her in the face!

Phoenix was knocked back with a stumble, before her hair caught fire and turned blue.

"Yeah.…..that's it." Phoenix said.

She moved at incredible speed and slammed her palm into Athena's chest.A stream of flames bursted through Athena's chest, nearly killing her if war symbol didn't keep her alive.

"Give. Up. NOW!" Phoenix demanded.

Athena coughed up blood, black blood, before she headbutts Phoenix away and grabs her head!

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Athena shouted as she kept headbutting Phoenix.

Mid healing between each head smash, Phoenix grabbed Athena by the neck and delivered her own headbutt back.

"Let's see how hard your head is!" Phoenix replied.

Reeling both their heads back, both warriors began bashing their heads against each other as the ground underneath them began cracking before it gave way and they fell to a cavern below them.

They still fought as they were free falling and grappling with each other, slowly forming a ball of flames and shadows.

Soon, they hit the ground with a powerful slam and made the ground shake for miles.

-The Surface-

"Whoa!" Lilith, Lucenda, and Fighter shouted as they felt the sudden earthquake.

"What the hell was that?!" Fighter shouted, throwing a fireball at a husk.

"I would have to guess it was Phoenix and that woman!" Lilith shouted, spinning and beholding three husks.

"Sounds like there's a score to settle there." Lucenda said before she turned around and created whips of light, lashing out and slicing several husks into pieces.

'Damn, I wish I could be that strong.' Fighter thought before dodging a claw and roundhouse kicked a Husk into the ground, killing it!

-The Cavern-

With Phoenix and Athena, the two were going for blood. Both of them had grown tired of using magic, so they just used their fists in the underground cavern.

Phoenix slammed her fist into Athena's side, before throwing two more at her head. Athena stopped another and countered with her own punch.

But Phoenix headbutts her fist, breaking the bones inside as Athena pulled back! Jumping and using both hands, Phoenix hammered Athena in the head before hammering her again in the chin, sending her stumbling back!

"HIYAH!" She screamed as she jumped and drop-kicked Athena in the chest, sending her across the floor.

She hit a wall and fell to the ground. Phoenix stood up and waited for Athena to get up... and when she got up... oh Phoenix wasn't prepared for what she saw.

"What... scared of your own reflection?" Athena asked.

Athena's helmet had been broken off, revealing her gray skin, black hair and eyes, and sharp teeth and black veins... but most importantly... Athena looked like Phoenix, Fighter, and most of the Luz's they had come across.

"Y-Y-You're…" Phoenix stuttered, almost frozen in shock.

"You? Hehehehe, I used to be but NOT anymore." Athena said, slowly standing up. "I've been changed... and maybe you would be as well if you dealt with even a fraction of what I've been through."

Phoenix couldn't reply as Athena kicked her in the chest, sending her flying back and crashing into a pillar!

"UGH!" She groaned, coughing up blood.

"You seem to forget something." Athena said, clenching her fingers. "I can take away your powers temporarily."

Athena blasted Phoenix with a blast of dark magic, stopping her fire powers, and slowing her healing by a lot.

"Shit." Phoenix cursed with a hiss as Athena walked up to her.

"You know, I almost envy you. Despite going through some very traumatic experiences, you still have that light of hope in our eyes." Athena said as she stood over Phoenix. "But you should know the downside of that hope, it blinds you to the reality of the universe."

Athena grabbed Phoenix and threw her back through the surface hole made by them.

"WAAAAAAAH!" Phoenix screamed before she crashed and rolled across the ground next to the hole. "Ugh."

Seconds later, Athena jumped up and landed in front of Phoenix and smiled.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Athena said, forming a spell in hand, "Any last words?"

Phoenix was suddenly held down by husks as Athena prepared her spell. As this was happening, Lilith was fighting off husks and turned just in time to see Phoenix in trouble. Lilith ran, just as Athena started to fire the spell. Lilith jumped and made it just in front of Phoenix before she was blasted, resulting in Lilith getting hit by the corruption spell right through the heart. Time felt like it stopped, as Fighter and Lucenda looked at what happened. Lucenda felt rage bubble inside her. She suddenly let off a large burst of magic, destroying all the remaining husks around her.

"Woah." Fighter said, seeing Lucenda glowing pure white and being made of pure magic.

Lucenda then charged at Athena and tackled her.

"RAAAAAAAAH!" Lucenda roared as she flew them towards the boiling sea!

"Hehehehehe, round two then?!" Athena asked in glee.

Athena didn't realize just how strong Lucenda truly was. Lucenda had already grabbed her and had her halfway around the planet before she could blink. As that was happening, Fighter helped Phoenix up, but was pushed off as Phoenix ran to look at Lilith. Phoenix put her hands on Lilith, but her powers weren't working still.

"No... no! No! NO NO NO!" Phoenix yelled, "Why... why would you do that?"

Lilith, fading quite fast, reached up and touched Phoenix's cheek.

"Because…, even if a version of me hurt you, you're still a version of my daughter." Lilith said, smiling softly through tears.

Phoenix had never felt like this before, she was always the one jumping in front of people, she never had people do that for her... and for it to be Lilith... Phoenix was knocked out of her thoughts when Athena was slammed onto the ground. Lucenda stood over her, ready to split the woman's atoms... when she saw her mom.

"Mom!" Lucenda said, running towards Lilith, "Mom, don't die! Please, I only got you back a while ago. I can't lose you again!"

Behind them, Athena started to move away from the group, and summoned the largest army of Husks she could create. There had to be hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Phoenix saw this and knew what she had to do.

"Fighter, between you and Lucenda, you might be able to heal her... I'll buy you time." She said to her friend.

"But... you're powers... you'll-"

"I know." Phoenix said, "Just make sure she lives."

Phoenix started walking towards the horde.

'After all the pain I've been through from that woman, all the suffering caused because of her choices... never did I imagine that I would be saved by her.' Phoenix thought, as the horde charged towards her, 'It's time I return the favor... if I die... Lilith.…'

Phoenix felt tears run down her face and she closed her eyes.

"I forgive you." She said softly.

The horde was about to swarm her... when a massive bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck her. The Husks were destroyed and Athena turned around, barely being able to blink before she was launched into the sky. She looked around as she was in the air and saw something moving towards her... fast. It slammed into her, knocking her away, before turning and slamming into her again, and again... and again... and again. Athena felt black blood rush from her face, while her hair started to stand on its own. Above her, storm clouds started to swirl, and below it, was Phoenix... her hair pure white, her outfit was white, the red on her arms had turned white and were shaped like lightning bolts near the upper arm.

"You hurt her." Phoenix said, clenching her fist, as small electric bolts moved around her body.

"I'm doing you a favor." Athena countered. "Everyone knows how much you-"

Phoenix opened her eyes, they had light yellow irises, with white pupils.

"The only one I hate is you!" Phoenix yelled, her voice becoming a booming and terrifying one, "And now it's time to end this."

She held her hand up, summoning more lighting than anyone has ever seen, and fired it at Athena, knocking her towards the ground... but Phoenix wasn't done yet. Phoenix freefalled before releasing a powerful burst of lightning, becoming a large bird, smaller then her blue Phoenix form, but still as big as a blue whale, with brown feathers, a yellow beak and legs, sharp talons... the Thunderbird. She grabbed Athena and threw her into the air, before curling her wings and making it rain lightning down on Athena.

"RAAAAAAAH!" Athena screamed in agony.

She tried using her shadows to block the lightning but they were being burned away!

'Too much power!' She thought before Phoenix flew up, slapping her higher with her wings!

Phoenix flew up and returned to a "Human" form. She grabbed Athena by the head and flew down at what could only be described as the speed of light, slamming Athena onto the ground hard enough to leave a crater. Phoenix stood up and glared at Athena. She walked over to Lucenda and Fighter.

"How's she doing?"

"We... we healed the corruption but... her heart stopped." Fighter said as Lucenda was silently crying.

"Move." Phoenix said, as she walked over and put a hand on Lilith's chest.

Phoenix let a small electric charge go through her hand and into Lilith's chest, using her power like a defibrillator. Lilith's body jerked, but didn't come back.

"Come on Lilith, I know you're not a quitter." Phoenix said, before doing it again.

Once again, Lilith jerked, but didn't come back.

"Come on!" Phoenix said.

This time, she put more power into her charge. This time, Lilith's eyes opened and she inhaled deeply, before looking around.

"W-w-what happened?" Lilith asked, very panicked.

Lucenda pulled Lilith into a hug.

"¡MAMÁ! Pensé que te había perdido de nuevo y que mami estaría devastada y-y-y- (MOMMY! I thought I lost you again and mami would be devastated and-and-and-)" Luz cried in Spanish before bursting into tears, crying into Lilith's shoulder.

Following her motherly instincts, Lilith held her daughter and rubbed her back to calm her down.

"It's okay... I promise I'm not going anywhere." Lilith said softly.

Lilith looked at Phoenix and mouthed 'Thank you' for saving her life. Phoenix nodded as Fighter came over to her.

'Holy shit, she just got fucking stronger.' She thought in awe and jealousy.

Away from them, Athena crawled to her feet, she could barely stand right now but that didn't matter as she quickly opened a portal.

'It's time to go home.' She thought.

Holding her hand out, Athena summons the handle of her axe to her hand and uses it as a crutch to stay standing before slowly walking into the portal.

"Athena is getting away!" Fighter shouted, pointing to Athena.

Athena turned to them with a glare before she walked backwards, vanishing into the portal as it faded away.

Phoenix and Fighter watched the portal go away, before quickly dawning their multiverse travel suits and opening their own portal and jumping through.

The chase was finally coming to an end.

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