The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

23. EP 2: Nautical Nightmare

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 2: Nautical Nightmare

If there was one thing Luz hadn't expected to return to after the emotional reunion with her mother, it was a stand off between Raine, Lilith, and Hooty, and a pair of Coven Heads. Luz had last seen Darius Deamonne and Eberwolf the Huntsman when she'd been a captive of Belos' at the castle, forced to watch Eda and Lilith fight while she was all tied up. She hadn't gotten a good look at them then, and while she knew they'd been at the Conformatorium for the Petrification Ceremony as well, she hadn't seen them herself. Now Luz was getting her first real look at the two without anything to distract her.

Darius was a dark-skinned male witch with green eyes, and dark purple hair and goatee that seemed to be made of abomination slime. The abomination "hair" was shaped into a vague bun shape with a green abomination eye, and it all wobbled and pulsated in a way that meant it was never quite the same shape moment to moment. Darius' outfit was a black sleeveless shirt with pointed shoulders, gold trim around the neck, waist, and shoulders, and purple jewels encrusted in a u-shaped arch beneath his collar. He also had tight purple (almost pink) coloured pants, white elbow-length gloves and matching knee-length boots with purple soles. Lastly he wore a pink half cape that covered his left arm and shoulder, and was trimmed in dark purple with a diamond embroidered in the same colour near the end. It was an outfit that screamed "I actually have a fashion sense", and Darius wore it well. He was also wielding a razor sharp scimitar of abomination goo.

Then there was Eberwolf the Huntsman, and this was someone Luz had a very hard time resisting the urge to run over and hug. Eberwolf was a very small Biped Demon, only coming up to Darius' waist, and that included their large hair. Eber's body was largely like a witch's, only covered in orange fur, with a more puppy-like mouth, purple eyes with yellow sclera, and large, canine ears on the sides of their head. Their hair was a large, thick mane of auburn, with some of it tied into a fluffy ponytail. Their clothing was very simple compared to Darius' more extravagant outfit; consisting of brown boots, yellow wristbands with spikes on the back, a dark gray sleeveless shirt, and some kind of dark brown skirt or kilt made from the paw of some kind of beast, most closely resembling a bear. Eber's pupils had thinned into slits and they were brandishing their claws, which did nothing to hide the fact that, to Luz at least, Eber was absolutely adorable.

The stand off between them and the residents of the Owl House had been interrupted by Eda calling out to them, and while Darius and Eber both looked at Eda, Rasiel, and the kids, Raine and Lilith kept their gaze fixedly on the Coven Heads.

"Welcome back, Eda. Sorry about this; Hooty alerted us to these two showing up on our doorstep just a few minutes ago." Raine said, eyes glaring at Darius.

"We'll drive these two off in no time! You just rest from your trip." Lilith added, focused more on Eber.

Eber grinned and snuffled in what sounded like an animalistic giggle, while Darius rolled his eyes; "You really think the two of you can defeat the two of us? It is obvious from your hair and eyes that you've been diminished in some way. Considering the Owl Lady's hair has a bit more white to it, one of her eyes has changed colour, and most importantly, she's not stuck in the form of a wild beast any more, I'm guessing you found a way to share her curse between the three of you?" the Abomination Head said condescendingly.

"You're well-informed." Eda frowned, moving King from her shoulder to the top of Luz's head and stepping forward whilst summoning Owlbert in staff form. She gestured for Hooty to pull back and watch the kids, while she took his place between Raine and Lilith. "But don't think we're weak enough to lose to you scrubs!"

Eda, Raine, and Lilith then all pulsed their magic, giving them glowing auras of yellow, red, and blue respectively. While the power they'd been given by Luz's Angelic Blessing was only a fraction of their old power, it was more than enough to be intimidating!

Eber's fur stood on end and Darius narrowed his eyes; "I was aware of Lilith's little pain-sharing spell; Hettie loved to complain about it whenever she got a little too into her cups… But sharing that curse at that point should have stripped you all of your magic, or at the very least weakened you…" he frowned, before looking past the trio to the kids behind them, or more specifically, to Luz.

"Ah, I understand now. An Angelic Blessing… you're using the girl as a magic battery."

Luz blinked in surprise, wondering how Darius knew of Angelic Blessings, while the adults glared at him; "We aren't using her at all! She volunteered!" Eda growled, "Now enough talk; if you came here to take us out and capture Luz, you're in for a butt-kicking!"

Eber growled, but Darius just said; "Easy, Eber. They're defending themselves, not challenging you." He then dismissed his weapon and stepped forward, slowly raising his hands. "As hard as this may be to believe, we didn't come her for a fight."

"Then why are you here, Darius?" Raine demanded, not letting their guard down.

"Simple; we wish to combine out forces to destroy the Emperor."

That answer surprised all of them; "You want to defeat Belos!? Why?" Luz asked, stepping forward.

Darius looked her up and down, some unknown emotion glittering in his eyes, before smirking; "Ah, the little angel herself. My reasons for wanting Belos dead are my own, but know that Eber and I have been plotting against him for years. We actually rose to the Heads of our respective Covens for the sole purpose of getting close to him so we can finally put an end to the degenerate."

"You two were traitors the whole time?" Lilith asked, surprised.

Eber barked, and Luz blinked; she'd understood that! It seemed Eber's language was similar to Barcus'! The little Coven Head had basically just said "Yes."

"After Raine rebelled, I didn't know you had it in you by the way, and revealed they had a sizeable following, we knew it was time to begin acting overtly. Not to mention that the angel child was able to score a small victory in battle against Belos AND reverse petrification." Darius said.

Raine slowly lowered their violin, trusting their lover and her sister to defend them if need be; "So, you want to join forces with the Covens Against The Throne?"

"AKA The CATTS! Meow!" Luz grinned, throwing up her cat hood (which covered the sleepy King) and putting her hands up like cat paws.

Her friends couldn't help but snicker, as did Eberwolf, while Darius just looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Please don't tell me that is your actual name."

His request was met with silence and he rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh; "I'm already regretting this…"

"Be nice, Purple Brother. Friends needed. Little Light needed. Needed to kill Emperor." Eber barked. Their language was close enough to Barcus' that Luz could understand most of it, but there were enough differences that it ended up sounding broken in Luz's head.

The name Eber had called her made Luz blink; "Did you just call me "Little Light?" How did you know my name means Light?"

Everyone but Rasiel looked at her with shock; "You understand them?" Darius asked.

"Yeah, my friend Barcus speaks a similar language." Luz replied.

Eber smiled and barked at Luz; "Interesting Angel Pup! Call you Little Light because Pup's name has no word in Eber's tongue. Use meaning instead. Eber understands other tongue."

"You understand Spanish!?" Luz asked, surprised.

She got a nod from Eber, while Darius answered casually; "We studied other languages from the Human Realm so we could communicate in public without being understood. Spanish is one of them."

Eda frowned; "That's all fine and dandy but you didn't answer Raine's question! Are you here to join up with the CATTs!?"

Darius shuddered, making Eber give him a sharp look, before he sighed and said; "Awful name aside… yes. We would like to join forces. We want to abolish the Coven System, remove Belos' tyrannical ways, and kill the man himself."

"Why?" Lilith asked. "You need to give us a real reason if you want us to believe you."

"Would you believe me if I said it was for some good old-fashioned revenge?" Darius asked with a slight sneer.

Eda, Lilith, and Raine exchanged looks, clearly weighing their options. Amity saw this and said; "If they're telling the truth, having these two working with the CATTs would be huge! They're insanely powerful Coven Heads! Eberwolf is said to be unstoppable in one-on-one duels, and Darius is the only Abomination user in the world who might be stronger than my Dad!"

Eber puffed themselves up with pride, while Darius smirked; "I'm glad to see at least one of you Blights understands the pecking order, though I object to the "might be"! Your father is a hack, darling, but an admittedly skilled one. There's a reason he's the second best member of my Coven."

Amity tilted her head, not sure if she should be insulted or honoured by the man's words, while Eda just crossed her arms petulantly; "I don't know… I don't trust these guys! You stood back and did nothing while Belos tortured Luz and turned her into a monster to kill me! Not to mention you did nothing when Raine was captured at the Petrification Ceremony!"

Eber actually looked ashamed at that, and Darius coldly shot back; "And what would you have had us do? We were surrounded by all the other Coven Heads, the angel child was restrained by the Emperor himself, and security at the Conformatorium was too tight! If we'd been ready to launch our own rebellion, we would have acted, but as it stands we would have just been exposed, or worse, destroyed!"

Luz stepped forward and touched Eda's arm; "They're not wrong, Eda. Raine was lucky to escape with me that day at the castle, and only managed it because Belos was separated from the Coven Heads. Plus Raine was exposed as a traitor and the CATTs were made public to save you. We were lucky; they might not have been."

Eda was still frowning, but she was at least willing to give the two a chance. "What do you think Raine Storm? The CATTs follow you." she said. While Raine had nominally made Eda their co-leader, she was the one in charge of fighting and actually sticking it to the Emperor; Raine was the thinker and tactician of the pair.

"Amity and Luz have a point; these two are powerful and did have good reason for not interfering… Would the two of you make Everlasting Oaths with us to prove your claims?" Raine asked.

"Begrudgingly, yes. We expected that much as a minimum." Darius replied, while Eber barked their agreement. They both stepped forward and offered their hands, with Raine taking Darius' and Luz volunteering to take Eber's. The oath was simple; Darius and Eber both swore that they were genuinely against the Emperor, that they would not betray the CATTs, and that they wouldn't do anything to knowingly harm any member or associate.

As soon as the oath was made, Luz's self-control (which was already diminished by how tired she was after her long day) finally snapped and she couldn't stop herself from pulling Eber into a hug, holding the diminutive Coven Head in her arms and squealing with delight and she rubbed her face against Eber's, like they were a teddy bear.

"Luz!?" her friends and family cried while Darius gaped and Eber blinked in shock.

"O-Oh! I'm so sorry!" Luz said, gently putting Eber back down; "I shouldn't have done that, especially without asking. But she's just so cute and fluffy! She's almost as adorable as King!"

King, who was now sleeping on Luz's head, snorted in his sleep.

Eber and Darius just stared at Luz in shock (though neither seemed upset, thankfully), and Raine gently said; "You still shouldn't hug people without their permission, Sparks. Besides, Eber is male."

Luz gave Raine an odd look; "Really? But I could have sworn…"

"Actually Raine, the girl is correct." Darius said, after exchanging a look with Eber and getting a nod in response; "Eberwolf is actually female. Both in body and gender identity."

That was a surprise to everyone except Luz and Rasiel (who'd also assumed Eber was female). "If Eber is female, why pretend that she's male?" Raine asked. Gender inequality was a thing in Human Realm Society, but not in either Divine or Demon Realm Societies, so it was exceedingly rare for someone to hide their gender identity.

Eber began to bark an explanation; "Eber is Biped. Daughter of Witch mother and Direwolf Father. Direwolves are Beast Demons, but smart. Smart but cruel; very strict hierarchy. Males on top, large on top. Females low ranking. Small wolves low ranking. Half-Breed? Lowest ranking. Eber is all three. Father was Pack Alpha, would have killed Eber at birth for weakness. Mother lied, said Eber was male. Eber is unique half-breed; Father and pack couldn't tell gender, so believed lie. Eber work hard to become new Pack Alpha, but Pack rebel if gender revealed. So secret."

Luz frowned sadly as Rasiel translated for the others; "I'm sorry to hear that… Don't worry, you can trust us not to tell anyone, right guys?"

The others all nodded in agreement, making Eber smile. She actually clambered up onto Luz's shoulders, allowing her fur to rub against Luz's face, much to the angel's pleasure. Eber also gently pet King, who purred in his sleep. Darius' expression became a soft smile; "You really are quite interesting, Luz Noceda. Before today, only four people besides myself knew Eber's true identity; her mother who has sadly passed away, two dear friends of ours who disappeared beyond the Isles, and my former best friend and mentor, who has also passed away. How did you figure it out?"

"I don't know… I guess I just immediately assumed she was female. Maybe it's an angel thing?" Luz shrugged.

Rasiel said; "It is likely because you understand her language. It is difficult to explain to those who don't understand her, but her voice sounds distinctly feminine compared to Barcus, whose voice was masculine. That's how I knew she was female."

"Huh." Luz murmured, not sure if Rasiel's theory was right or not. Still it was the only theory she had, so she went with it. "Forgetting all that, should we go inside? It's kind of gotten dark…"

She looked to Eda for permission, and the Owl Lady reluctantly lowered her staff and nodded, causing Lilith to do the same. "I guess they can come in… no funny business though!" Eda demanded.

Eber, hopping off of Luz's shoulders, nodded and Darius followed suit. Raine and Lilith then escorted them inside the Owl House, while Amity, Willow, and Gus walked out.

"We'd like to stay, but it's getting late and our parents are expecting us home." Amity said, wishing she could stay to observe the meeting, being curious about Darius since he was her dad's rival.

"School doesn't start again until next week, so be sure to call us tomorrow with the details!" Willow urged.

Luz nodded, then gave her friends a hug and Amity a kiss, before waving to them as they flew home on Amity's staff. Once they were gone, Luz headed inside with the others. Eda had taken their guests to the kitchen so Raine and Lilith could finish their dinner, and Hooty had stretched around the house to poke in through the kitchen window too, so Luz took the moment to rush upstairs and tuck her sleeping little brother into bed, before coming back down to join the others.

The young angel took a seat at the kitchen table, with the residents of the Owl House all on one side and the visiting Coven Heads on the other. Rasiel decided to be helpful and made some tea for their guests, and both Eber and Darius stared at it with strange expressions after taking just one sip.

"What is this tea?" Darius asked, taking another sip.

"Gleam Tea. It's originally from the Divine Realm. Luz's mother was kind enough to give me some that she'd grown." Rasiel explained, taking a sip and sighing contently.

Luz also enjoyed the familiar beverage, while Raine and Lilith got to try it for the first time. It was a pleasant flavour, akin to an expensive black tea, only with a fruity aftertaste that the Demon Realm natives couldn't identify. Eda wasn't a fan, but both Raine and Lilith enjoyed it immensely.

Eber and Darius clearly did too, as they drained their cups and accepted another before they even began their discussion.

"Now that we know we can all trust each other, We're willing to share our resources with you, to make our combined rebellion stronger." Darius said; "We have access to the latest intel from the castle, as well as around 200 total Coven Witches who are willing to side with us against the Emperor. I can also provide ingredients and supplies for Abominations, while Eber has a whole menagerie of trained beasts that can fight alongside us, as well as her Direwolf pack of 25 wolves. For hideouts and safehouses, you'll have access to our Coven Headquarters and various assorted locations throughout the isles, with our most prominent safehouses being in Latissa, Manubrium, Pancrea City, Cartilia, Palm Stings, Phalagia, and Shin-On-Shingles."

Luz and the others blinked and exchanged looks; "Whoa!" Luz exclaimed, "I'm surprised you even want our help! You seem pretty organised already. We only have around 50 members, don't we?" she asked Raine.

The Bard shook their head; "Thanks to the Wild Witches coming to Bonesborough, and the new batch of Conformatorium escapees we busted out at the Petrification, we now have around 130 members. Still, combining that with the 200+ people and beasts you two can offer would be extremely helpful." Raine said. "We're primarily based in Bonesborough but have safehouses in Latissa, Cartilia, and Pancrea City too."

"Bat Queen helps too! Powerful Pack!" Eber barked.

"Actually, the Bat Queen only helped at the Conformatorium because she owed Eda a favour. She's not really involved in our fighting. But Amity and I both have favours from her we can call in, so we could probably convince her to help with a couple of really important things." Luz corrected.

Eber and Darius exchanged frowns; clearly they'd hoped to have the Bat Queen on board completely. Still, even having her for just a couple of missions could be crucial!

"So how are we doing this? Are we in an alliance now, or are you and your people joining the Covens Against the Throne?" Eda asked impatiently.

"For the moment, we'll stay separate and work as an alliance. However we might be convinced to fully join your group." Darius said, "If you can prove that your three leaders are up to snuff."

"Three? But the CATTs only have two leaders; Edalyn and Raine." Lilith said.

Darius raised an eyebrow as he looked at Luz; "I'm talking about you, Luz Noceda. You have become the face of Raine's rebellion."

That wasn't a surprise; Luz had heard as much from Raine themselves, as well as their three lieutenants. Most of the isles truly did think that Luz was the real leader of the CATTs, since she rescued Eda and Raine from the Petrification and managed to fight Belos to a standstill and break his mask. Luz didn't mind that label since she was already as wanted as she could be by the Emperor's Coven, and it took some of the attention off of Raine and Eda, but in reality she was just a junior member who did what Raine and Eda asked her to do, which were primarily defensive and support roles.

"I'm not actually the leader though. I just help and do what I'm told." Luz said.

"Really? Then I assume the Owl Lady has been repeatedly telling you to do the impossible. Curing Petrification, breaking Belos' mask, and even getting your own arm cut off to escape the Emperor's Coven Sigil… those aren't the actions of a mere subordinate." Darius pointed out.

"That's because she's not a subordinate!" Eda declared, putting an arm around Luz's shoulders; "She's my daughter and apprentice! Her Bio Mom even gave me her blessing!"

That was met with smiles from Raine and Lilith, and curious looks from Darius and Eber.

"Is that so… Well regardless; the Isles believe you are the leader, Luz. My people will follow you and the…" Darius sighed wearily, "… CATTs… if I tell them to. But Eber's people are impressed more by strength. They won't join you unless you can prove yourself, so if you want to win their respect and support, you'll need to impress them."

Eber nodded, and Luz tilted her head; "But even if they don't join the CATTs, they'll still cooperate with us, right? Then isn't that enough?"

"And isn't fighting the Emperor enough too? Luz may not have put him down for good, but Belos was the one who fled the fight first." Rasiel pointed out.

Eber shook her head; "Little Light fled too. Emperor comes back to fight, but Little Light gone. Little Light not lose, but not win. Beast Keepers are Pack! Strong Pack! They follow Alpha, they respect Alpha! Little Light not finish her foe, so not true Alpha. Pack won't follow. Won't work with other Pack with weak Alpha."

Luz frowned; "So your allies won't work with the CATTs because they think they have a weak leader, namely me?"

"Yes. Eber doesn't agree, could force obedience… but dangerous. Begin rebellion within rebellion." Eber said, looking sadly at Luz.

"And explaining that Luz isn't the leader isn't enough?" Lilith asked.

Eber shook her head again; "Who stronger? Whisper Bard, Owl Lady, or Little Light?"

Eda and Raine both had to begrudgingly admit it was Luz; "Sucks to admit, but with our powers diminished and Luz becoming an Arch-Angel, she technically has more power than us." Eda said.

"But I'm nowhere near as skilled or experienced as you two!" Luz retorted.

Raine ruffled her hair; "That may be true Sparks, but we have to rely on your blessings to have any power at all. We can't beat you as we are now, which makes you the strongest."

Eber nodded; "Pack care about strength; won't respect leader weaker than subordinate. Little Light strongest Cat Rebel, then has to be Alpha."

"So to get your pack to help, along with the rebels from the Beast-Keeping Coven, I need to do something to prove I'm strong? How do I do that?" Luz asked.

Eber's face lit up; "With Trial! Trial to show skill and power!"

Luz and her family exchanged curious looks. So Luz would have to take some kind of trial? Darius quickly chimed in; "You just have to do something that the pack and the Beast-Keeping Coven will respect. Luckily for you, we have an idea for that already."

He reached into his cloak and pulled out a wanted poster, which he placed on the kitchen table. Luz leaned over it and read it carefully; it depicted some kind of giant aquatic beast demon that resembled a seal, known as a Selkidomus. The bounty was for 1,000,000 snails, and it was wanted for supposedly ravaging ships along the coast. The bounty also stipulated that the creature had to be brought in dead, and if the body wasn't recoverable, then its entire pelt of scales had to be brought in instead, with a diminished reward if only some scales were brought back. Oddly enough, the wanted poster was old, but the details about the ravaged ships had been added on recently.

"You want me to hunt a Selkidomus for you?" Luz asked, not liking the idea of hunting a wild animal.

Thankfully Eber shook her head; "Not hunt or kill. Protect. Emperor wants Selkidomus dead. Wants its scales. Don't know why."

"Selkidomus are apparently largely gentle creatures. Eber insists they only turn aggressive if threatened or if protecting their young. They're also endangered, so protecting one will go a long way with the Beast-Keeping Coven while also setting back the Emperor." Darius added.

Luz hummed; "Seems easy enough. I'd be happy to help."

"Hold on a moment Owlet." Eda said, frowning severely; "What's the catch?"

Darius grinned; "The "catch" is who you're protecting the Selkidomus from. The Emperor has grown tired of the bounty not being collected, so he has assigned his new Coven Head and Assistant to collect it themselves."

He pulled out another poster and showed it to the Owl Family. This time it was a recruitment poster depicting two figures in matching unique scout uniforms; a male figure in a golden uniform and a female figure in a silver one. The top of the poster declared "The Golden Guard and the Silver Sentinel" and beneath their picture were the words "Join the Emperor's Coven TODAY!"

"The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel… I think I remember seeing these guys while I was chained up on the battlements. They're also the ones that helped Belos when he had that weird fit after I broke his mask…" Luz murmured.

Lilith glared at the poster; "Please don't tell me I was replaced as Coven Head by that kid!"

"Afraid so, Lilith." Darius smirked, before shaking his head with a sigh; "The little prince has had a big head over it ever since. Strutting about the palace, trying to imitate Belos. It would be cute if it weren't so pathetic."

"What can you tell us about this guy, Lilith?" Luz asked.

"Not a lot. I only vaguely remember his face beneath the mask, and I honestly didn't want to know much about him. He always got special treatment because he was "The Genius Teen Prodigy!" Lilith sneered in a mocking voice, "But in reality, he's just a brat. Power-wise, you blow him out of the water… though he is admittedly skilled and very well trained." Lilith conceded.

Luz hummed then asked; "What about the Silver Sentinel?"

Darius answered; "She replaced Kikimora as the Emperor's Personal Assistant; Belos wasn't too happy with Kikimora for allowing you to escape and being so useless at the Conformatorium, so she was demoted to the Sentinel's subordinate. As for the girl herself…" the man shrugged; "Honestly, we can't say much. She's mute and only ever communicates with Belos or the little prince through sign language or telepathy spells. We all call her the Silent Sentinel. Beyond that, we don't know anything about her. Even her scent is concealed and blocked by her armour."

Luz considered it for a moment; taking down the Emperor's two best agents and saving a Selkidomus would definitely win her the respect of Eber's people. It would be tough, but it would also be a huge boon for the CATTs! Plus she had managed to go toe to toe with Belos! How tough could his two teenage minions be?

"Alright, I'll do it!" Luz declared.

"Are you sure, Sparks? We won't think less of you if you want to turn this down." Raine said seriously.

"I can handle it, I promise!" she replied, getting to her feet; "I just need to know when and where!"

"Tomorrow at dawn. Eber handle the where. Will meet you here." Eberwolf said, clearly pleased with Luz's decision.

Luz nodded seriously and turned to Eda; "Mom, I want to do this. Can I?"

Eda smirked; "I'm tempted to say no just to see if you'd rebel against me and do it anyway. But I don't wanna play mind games. If you want to do this, then I'm with you all the way, kiddo!"

Luz beamed and hugged her tightly; "Thank you, Mom!"

"You're welcome Owlet. Now its late and you've had a long day, not to mention what you'll be doing tomorrow. Go get cleaned up and then go to your nest and get some sleep. Raine, Lilith, Rasiel, and I will handle the rest with Darius and Eber." Eda said, giving Luz a kiss on the forehead.

"Alright. Good night everyone! Darius, Eber; it was nice meeting you both! You're actually pretty nice people! See you tomorrow, Eber!" Luz said, before hurrying out of the kitchen with one last wave. Her family (and the slightly bewildered Coven Heads) waved to her, and Eda subtly signalled for Hooty (who'd just been sniffing the food Rasiel had brought back from Camila) to follow Luz upstairs and make sure she actually went to bed without being distracted.

Once the girl was gone, Darius couldn't help but comment; "That child is certainly… odd."

"Got a problem with that, Darry-Boy?" Eda asked with narrowed eyes.

"Down, Edalyn." Darius replied dismissively; "She just reminds me and Eber of an old friend. But enough about the angel child for now. We should discuss Belos and our intel on him. We know he has a weakness; those strange fits of his that require him to eat Palismen. We just need to find a way to reliably trigger one. I don't suppose you have any intel on the cause of those fits?" he asked, acknowledging that Eda and Lilith were more knowledgable about curses, afflictions, and the Emperor himself than Darius was.

Eda shook her head; "Sorry, but nope. We know he's some kind of angel corrupted by his experiments, but that's it."

There was a long, silent pause as Darius and Eber stared at Eda, their eyes slowly widening.

Finally the silence was broken by them both screaming (or barking in Eber's case): "BELOS IS A WHAT!?"

[The Next Day]

Luz awoke shortly before the sunrise to the sound of her scroll alarm, and immediately hopped out of her nest and began to prepare for the day. She would be going to protect the Selkidomus with Eber, so needed to be prepared before dawn broke! As she hurried about getting washed, dressed, and sending texts of explanation to Amity and her friends so they wouldn't wonder where she was, Luz accidentally woke up a sleeping King.

"Huh… why are you up so early, Luz? You don't even have school today…" King said groggily.

"Sorry to wake you King, but I'm going somewhere this morning." Luz answered.

King yawned and shook himself awake; "Great. I'm coming too."

"You don't even know where I'm going." his sister pointed out.

"Don't care, I'm coming too." King retorted.

Having no intention of arguing with her little brother, Luz just giggled and nodded, telling King to get ready and come down for breakfast. A few minutes later and they both headed down to the kitchen, where they found the rest of the house's occupants awake too and already making breakfast.

"Morning guys! You're all up early." Luz smiled as she took her usual seat at the breakfast table.

Lilith, Raine, and Rasiel all smiled and wished her and King a good morning, while Eda, who looked half-dead, slurred something into her cup of Apple Blood. She wasn't a morning person…

"We've got business with Darius today. He and I are going to be going over a few plans to further the CATTs positions." Raine said, "And Lilith will be assisting us."

"Indeed. Meanwhile my sister just wanted to see you off." Lilith said, grinning as she poked her little sister. "By the way, Eda filled us in on what happened with your mother. I'm glad you were able to resolve things with her."

"Thanks, Lilith. It was touch and go at first, but it turned out good!" Luz said, tucking into her breakfast.

King began tearing into his own too, as Rasiel filled him in on what he'd slept through the previous evening. He was a little annoyed to have missed the confrontation with Darius and Eber, but since it had just been a talk, he didn't complain too much. Raine also told him and Luz that they'd spilled the beans on Belos being an angel to the two Coven Heads, who'd reacted about as well as could be expected. They'd agreed that it was best not to reveal Belos' true nature, as otherwise the other groups against him could view the rebellion as two angels fighting for control of the isles, especially since Luz was seen as the leader of the CATTs by just about everyone except the CATTs themselves. It could even rally some people to fight against both the CATTs AND the Emperor's Coven, so it was best not to risk it; no one needed to know he was an angel to bring him down.

"So all we've got to do today is go with the tiny wolf lady to beat the snot out of some teenagers hunting a sea monster? Oh, I'm all for that!" King declared, "Maybe I can finally show off my new secret moves!"

"Ooh, are you finally going to show me your secret project?" Luz asked with a grin.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm a King of Mystery, sister!"

"More like a King of the Cutesy!" Luz cooed, tickling King's belly as he pretended to try and escape her grasp.

A few minutes later, Hooty poked his head into the kitchen and declared; "Darry-Boy and the Puppy are here!"

Luz giggled at the nicknames while Eda snorted, having been the one to teach Hooty those names. The Owl Lady downed her Apple Blood in one gulp and said "Let 'em in Hooty."

"Okay! Hoot!" the House Demon replied, before shrinking back into his door. A moment later and Darius and Eber walked into the kitchen, looking done with their day despite it just starting.

"Edalyn, I want you to know that I hate you, and your infernal bird worm." Darius said with a glare.

"Love you too, Darry-Boy." Eda smirked.

Darius sighed and rubbed his eyes; "It is too early for this…" he looked to Luz; "You're ready, I assume?"

"Yes sir!" Luz smiled, hopping to her feet with a little salute.

Darius eyed her for a moment; "If you weren't an angel, I'd accuse you of being a sarcastic little brat. Whatever, just go with Eber while I deal with the grown-ups… and Edalyn."

"Oi!" Eda groaned as Luz and King both snickered and followed Eber back into the living room. Rasiel also followed them.

"Little Light prepared for trip? Only take a day, so pack light." Eber said.

King looked confused, not understanding the Cover Head's words, so Rasiel translated for him. Meanwhile Luz nodded and snapped her fingers to summon her satchel and pull out her Witch's Wool Cloak.

"I'm ready! I can summon any supplies I need by keeping them in here." Luz said, placing the satchel on the sofa. She'd already worked out a system with Eda; if she needed something from home, she'd text Eda to put it in the satchel so Luz could summon it to her side whenever she wanted! It gave her access to the whole Owl House inventory… so long as someone was home of course. Hooty didn't count, as he sadly couldn't be trusted with a scroll due to… "The Incident".

"I'm coming too!" King declared.

Eber looked at him for a minute, then shrugged; "That fine. Pack thinks King is weird dog, so won't care if he helps. No other friends though; Little Light must complete trial without help."

"Does that mean you won't be coming along too?" Rasiel asked.

"Eber come to watch. If Eber sees, Eber can report to Pack! Eber won't help though." she replied.

"Very well. I will be coming along too; I don't have magic so I won't be able to help Luz, but I can still be a useful source of information." Rasiel said.

Eber frowned; "Only small ship. More crew just get in the way. No magic means no defence. Can't protect burden."

Luz and King looked disappointed, but Rasiel just smirked; "Oh, I can take care of that."

He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin disk of gold metal, which was about coin-sized with little prongs on it as well as a tiny purple stone. He then reached up to King's neckerchief and clipped the disk onto the back of his medallion. "I made this with some help from Lilith." he explained, before handing King back to Luz and sitting down on the sofa. Everyone watched him curiously as he closed his eyes… then promptly stood back up, leaving his body behind.

"Ta-da!" the once again ghostly Rasiel grinned. "Now I can come along without getting in the way or needing to be protected. I can also use the oracle stone I just put on King's medallion to communicate with him telepathically so long as I'm inside it or Luz's ring."

Luz and King were amazed; "How did you know you could do that!?" Luz exclaimed.

"I found out the first time I woke up after sleeping, and accidentally left my body behind. I don't know if this is permanent or just until I'm fully put back together, but it's useful regardless." Rasiel said, going into King's medallion. "Think of me as your personal scout, library, and communication device!"

The kids grinned, while Eber eyed Rasiel's body (still alive despite now being devoid of a soul) with morbid curiosity. Satisfied that Rasiel wouldn't get in the way and couldn't help Luz with her trial beyond information, Eber accepted his company with a nod and a pleased bark.

Luz and King said their goodbyes to the others (Hooty put lunch bags in Luz's satchel for her to summon when she wanted them), and Eda gave them both a hug and wished them luck before they headed out. Eber, not wanting to risk being seen with Luz, had the angel girl hide her under an illusion that made her look like a Baby Titan like King (not that Eber knew what he was) then gave her instructions to fly to the Bonesborough docks.

The Bonesborough docks, on the northern coast of the Titan's Right Arm, had previously been restricted solely to the Emperor's Coven and its ships, with civilian vessels needing to dock at Latissa in the armpit instead, but now that Bonesborough was an independent town, anyone could dock there! Luz landed on the docks and shrank her wings with the spell her Mami taught her (deciding to do that instead of hiding them from now on), before following Eber's quietly barked instructions. There were a few small civilian vessels moored at the dock, and a large frigate that was being captained by a red skinned Biped Demon with the features of various sea creatures, such as a fish's fin on his back and a red crab claw in place of a left hand.

Eber barked quietly as Luz passed him; "That Demon serves Golden Guard. His ship owned by Emperor."

"Should we sabotage his ship? So he can't help that jerk come after us?" King whispered.

"We can't, King." Luz whispered back; "Bonesborough is neutral now, remember? We can't act against the Emperor's Coven here unless they're acting against the CATTs. If we break the truce, we and the CATTs will be kicked out of town!"

Eber barked; "Little Light speaks truth. No cause trouble in town."

That made King pout, but he supposed it made sense; if they broke the truce, it would just make their cause look bad and they'd lose support.

Eber led Luz all the way to the end of the docks, were a small ship was moored. It looked like a mix between a small sailing boat from the Human Realm and a Victorian Era steam boat. It was fairly small, with only a couple of lower decks, and a figurehead shaped like a snarling snow leopard. In Luz's mind, she thought it was about the same size as the Going Merry from One Piece, which thrilled her as she began to get excited for her high seas adventure.

Waiting at the bottom of the gangway was a very familiar face that made Luz smile when she saw it.

"Viney!" Luz cried in greeting, rushing over to the girl. The Magic-Mixer was wearing a white short sleeve shirt and baggy orange pants, as well as dark brown leather boots and an orange bandana around her head with the Beast-Keeping Coven's sigil on it. She looked a bit like a sailor!

Viney smiled brightly at Luz; "Hey Luz! Glad to see you're still looking good after the Petrification Ceremony. Hi King." she greeted, adding the last part when she saw King on Luz's shoulder.

"It's great to see you Viney! Are you joining us too?" Luz asked, noting the girl's clothes.

"Yep! This ship belongs to my Mom, and I'm helping her sail it!" Viney then dropped her voice to a whisper; "Head Witch Eberwolf asked us to take you to the Selkidomus' hunting ground to help with your trial for the Beast-Keeping rebels!"

Eber barked; "Vine Child is daughter of old friend. We meet on board."

Viney blinked, surprised to see Eberwolf's disguise, but didn't comment; "Anyway, come on aboard and meet my Mom! She's been eager to meet the girl who helped start the Multi-Track program at Hexside!"

Luz nodded eagerly and followed Viney onto the ship, and was brought into the cabin near the back of the ship. As soon as she, King, and Eber walked into the cabin, Eber shook off Luz's illusion to reveal her true self since no one outside could see her now. A moment later, a door on the other side of the cabin opened and in walked Viney's mother.

The woman was a witch like Viney, and shared many features, including her skin tone, her green eyes, and her day brown hair tied back with a thorny hair band. She was a dead-ringer for an older Viney, but she was also huge! She was easily 6 and a half feet tall and very muscular, with scars on her exposed arms and a large claw mark across her face. Her hair was also far wilder and messier than Viney's despite being tied back in a ponytail, and her clothing was similar to Viney's sailing outfit, only with an orange captain's coat worn over the top, the sleeves of which had been torn off. The woman grinned widely as Luz looked up at her with awe.

"So, this is the little angel that's going to help us save the Selkidomus! Good to be working with you, brat!" the woman greeted, her voice gruff but friendly. "The name is Valtora, member of the Beast-Keeping Coven and captain of this ship; The Loving Leopard!"

"Nice to meet you, Captain!" Luz replied, shaking Valtora's offered hand.

"This ship is called the Loving Leopard?" King questioned incredulously.

"Aye!" Valtora boomed, "Named for my darling wife Meesha! A Cait Sith with the appearance of a Snow Leopard!"

Cait Sith were Biped Demons that were basically just cats that walked on their hind legs like witches, though they were sized like the cats they were based on. House Cat Cait Sith were similar to King and Eberwolf in size, but Luz imagined a Leopard Cait Sith would be closer to a regular witch.

Viney smirked; "Mama was NOT pleased with the name! But nothing can change Mom's mind!"

Valtora laughed loudly; "Isn't that the truth! I swear one of these scars on my left arm came from her displeasure! But we can talk more when we're out to sea and away from the eyes of the Emperor's Coven." she said, briefly looking through the cabin window to where the large frigate owned by Belos was moored. She made eye contact with the captain Luz had seen earlier and frowned. "Your presence has already been noted, girl. Viney, take your friend below deck and get her dressed like a proper sailor! We're about to leave port and everyone pulls their weight on this ship, even guests!"

Viney saluted her Mom; "Aye Aye Captain!" she grinned, gesturing for Luz to do the same. The young angel repeated the gesture and words, then followed Viney out of the Cabin, leaving Eber alone with Valtora.

The large woman's smile faded; "I saw the Golden Guard and his silent doppelganger here earlier this morning. They'll definitely follow us out to sea. Having the angel onboard may have already blown my cover." she said.

Eber barked; "Eber will vouch for you. Lie and say Little Light asked for favour from Vine Child, and you agreed. Claim you spied and tried to sabotage. When we reach Selkidomus, signal Emperor's Coven Ship. They believe you bring Little Light into trap; your cover protected."

Valtora nodded in agreement; "Very well. I hope the girl can handle this… I saw the fight with Belos and heard from Viney how she helped take down a Greater Basilisk, but fighting out on the open sea is a different story altogether…"

As Eber and Valtora were talking, Viney took Luz and King below deck, which was divided into a small living area, a bedroom, and a cargo hold.

"Mom, Mama, and have a house in Bonesborough, but we use this ship as a mobile vacation home, so we keep some stuff here. Mom is really into the whole sailor thing, so you'll want to wear these." Viney said, opening a footlocker at the end of her cot in the bedroom. Inside was several sets of clothing similar to Viney's current outfit in different, with Luz selecting a white shirt, blue pants, a blue bandana with a simple fish emblem embroidered onto it, and a neckerchief shaped like a blue crab.

"This is kind of fun! It's like we're playing pirates!" Luz smiled, stepping into the bathroom to change clothes. She had to layer an enchantment over the shirt to allow her wings to pass through it, and she kept her Witch's Cloak on, but hidden beneath an illusion.

"Not bad." Viney commented when Luz stepped out. "You too, King." she added, putting a bandana on King's head (causing his horns to poke holes through it). His bandana was black with a skull and crossbones design.

"There! Now you're both ready to work like proper sailors!" Viney grinned.

"Aye Aye, First Mate Viney!" Luz giggled, saluting.

Viney giggled right back, before turning serious; "So, you're going to be protecting the Selkidomus from the Emperor's goons. You've got my thanks for that; Mom has been worried about it for a while, especially since the Emperor updated the bounty."

"I will. Don't worry, I won't let it get hurt!" Luz promised as Viney took her and King back up on deck. "By the way, I had no idea your Mom was a ship captain or in the Beast-Keeping Coven!" she leaned in to whisper; "Or one of Eber's rebels!"

"I didn't know about that last part until after Mom found out I helped you at the Conformatorium. She and Mama were pretty peeved, even if I didn't do any fighting or get in trouble." Viney said, wincing as she remembered the scolding she'd gotten, "And Mom is part of a team that monitors oceanic wild life around the Boiling Isles. She makes sure all the sea-life is healthy and not becoming endangered or overpopulated, plus she drives off a lot of illegal fishermen and poachers."

Luz smiled; the Beast-Keeping Coven had a reputation on the Boiling Isles as wild thugs who tamed beasts for combat and were called in to deal with troublesome monsters, but in reality, they were like Park Rangers and Wild Life Conservationists. They kept careful tabs on the population, territory, and health of all the Isles' animal and non-sapient demon species, and worked as much against those who hurt beasts as they did against wild beasts threatening the population. Contrary to popular belief, they also preferred not to use beasts in combat; they would if necessary, but mostly they used Beast-Keeping Magic to take on the aspects of beasts to fight instead.

"That's great! My Mami's a vet, so she's basically like a healer for animals. I bet she and your Mom would get along great!" Luz commented.

Viney smiled with interest, but before she could answer, her Mom came over to them (Eber stayed in the cabin out of sight); "Looks like you've got your sea legs on now, Squirt! Or should I saw sea wings?" Valtora smirked, noting Luz's little wings.

"Aye Aye Captain! I'm ready to work!" Luz saluted.

"That's the spirit! Right crew, here are your work assignments! Mr Clawthorne; you're on look out up in the Crow's Nest! There are talking tubes up there, so use them to report on anything you see so you're not hollering!"

King looked up at the Crow's nest, which was a small balcony built onto the side of the ship's smoke stack. It looked like a pretty cool spot, and keeping watch wasn't like actual labour, so he was happy with it.

"Aye Aye Captain!" he said, getting into his role as a sailor. Valtora then grabbed him and launched him into the Crow's Nest, making him scream "WEH!" before he landed on a pillow inside the nest.

Valtora then looked to Luz; "Miss Noceda-Clawthorne, I'm putting that fire power of yours to work! You're job is to fuel the furnace at the stern! Keep that fire burning and this ship chugging!"

"Aye Aye Captain!" Luz repeated.

"Outstanding!" Valtora then picked Luz up by wrapping her large hands around the girl's thin waist, then tossed her over to the furnace, where Luz landed in a hammock beside it.

Luz blinked, bewildered that she'd been thrown too, then heard Valtora's booming voice declare; "Miss Leonis, you're still on deck swabbing duty after your misadventure last week! You can start at the stern! That furnace belches soot like I do after a bucket of flaming green-dogs!"

"Aye Aye Captain Mom!" Viney yelled, before she too was launched into the hammock. Luz wasn't expecting that and so hadn't gotten out of it, and soon found herself trapped under Viney.

"Oof! Sorry Luz!" Viney laughed, getting to her feet; "Mom is… a bit intense. Good thing Amity and Emira weren't here to see us in such a compromising position!" she teased.

Luz squeaked in embarrassment, realising how it must have looked for her to be trapped under Viney on a hammock, even if it had been brief and purely innocent. Her blush made Viney laugh harder as she grabbed a bucket and mop that were already set up beside the furnace. Luz then struggled to get out of the hammock without landing on her face, before eventually giving up and just growing her wings and flying out of the hammock before shrinking them again.

"Neat trick. Have you always been able to do that?" Viney asked.

"No, this is a new spell my Mami taught me yesterday." Luz replied, opening up the furnace and using the plant glyph to fill it with wood and plants that she immediately ignited with the fire glyph. The fire burned fast and began heating the water in the ship's boiler, with the excess steam and smoke being funnelled via enchanted pipes to the central smokestack.

After a couple of minutes, Valtora's voice echoed across the ship through several talking tubes; "Alright sailors, our course is set for the Simmering Shoals! We're raising the anchor and setting sail!"

Luz heard the rattling of heavy chains as Valtora manually hoisted up the anchor (the woman had strength that would put a Construction Witch to shame) and a moment later, the ship's propeller came to life and the Loving Leopard began sailing out of port and into the open sea, heading to the north west. Luz and Viney chatted about school stuff for a little bit as the former kept the furnace lit and fuelled and the latter mopped away the soot that was building up around it, but then Luz looked up and frowned. The Boiling Isles was rapidly becoming a speck in the distance as the ship cut through the waves, but the Emperor's Coven Frigate was still visible in the distance, keeping within line of sight of their ship.

"We're being followed alright. Just as expected." Luz frowned. She stood and narrowed her eyes on the frigate, then began preparing a light beam spell, only for Viney to gently lower her arm.

"Don't start a fight. Our job is to defend the Selkidomus, not take out those sailors." Viney warned.

"I wasn't going to sink them; just disable their ship." Luz replied, nonetheless cancelling her spell.

Viney shook her head; "Still safer to wait and defend ourselves if they attack. One misplaced shot and you could blow up the frigate, or worse; sink it. Drowning in the Boiling Sea is a horrible fate."

Luz gulped and nodded; "You're right. Better to be safe than sorry; I don't want to kill any one!"

Viney smiled; "Glad to hear it! As the daughter of a Healer and a Beast-Keeper, few people value life more than me!"

The young angel giggled in response; "True! So I'm guessing your other mother is the healer then?"

"You bet! My Mama is pretty high-ranking in the Healing Coven! She's not in line to become Coven Head, but she's high enough to run her own branch of the coven! She's the one in charge of the Bonesborough Hospital!" Viney said proudly; "I help her there sometimes, when I'm not helping Mom with the boat or hanging out with my friends. Mama was really happy for me that I was able to Multi-Track without getting in trouble!"

"That reminds me, you don't think Principal Bump will cancel the Multi-Track Program now that Lilith is a traitor to the Emperor, do you?" Luz asked, it only just occurring to her that such a possibility existed. Bump had only allowed the program because it had Lilith's approval and thus the approval of the Emperor's Coven… she somehow doubted Belos or his Golden Guard would give the same approval.

However Viney was not worried; "I doubt it. Hexside is independent now, along with the rest of Bonesborough. I heard from Jerbo, whose dad is on the Town Council, that Hexside will be funded by the town itself now, so the Emperor's Coven doesn't have a say in how its run for now. Bump would have to be crazy to cancel the program! In fact, I heard rumours that Glandus and St. Epiderm were planning on their own Multi-Track programs."

"That's a relief! I'd hate to go back to just one track after getting used to three! Now that I've got the fire glyph mastered, I can finally use some decent Construction magic, and my Beast-Keeping magic has gotten better too! I've got an awesome calming spell that'll help if the Selkidomus attacks us!" Luz said.

Viney nodded enthusiastically and snapped her fingers, summoning a mandolin; "Me too! I'm actually starting to get the hang of this thing!"

Viney and Jerbo had been interesting additions to the bard track; Viney had ended up being most comfortable with stringed instruments and so had been given a mandolin, while Jerbo proved to be pretty good with a flute, which he'd taken to using to control vines, as if they were snakes. Sadly neither were any good at singing though; Jerbo's voice was decent but he was too shy to sing, while Viney had enthusiasm but, putting it as nicely as possible, her singing sounded like a cat having its tail trodden on. Thankfully they enjoyed the classes though and were eagerly mixing bardic magic with their other chosen tracks!

Luz began listening to Viney happily recount a story where she'd cast a bardic spell to relax her griffin, Puddles, so she would calm down enough to serve as a good therapy animal and nurse's assistant while healing a kid who'd broken their leg at the Slayground. The girls got so into talking that they neglected their duties and Valtora's voice soon boomed out from the nearest talking tube;

"Less yacking, more working, ladies! The ship is losing steam!"

Luz and Viney froze and looked to the furnace, which had not only nearly gone out, but was also surrounded by soot. They gulped and quickly got to work before Valtora could come out and chew them out for slacking off. They soon got the flames burning hotter and the soot wiped away so they could safely talk, though they were careful to keep an eye on their tasks this time!

The voyage dragged on through midday, during which everyone on board began to feel the heat. Summer had technically ended on the isles, but it hadn't yet cooled down, and it was always hot on the Boiling Sea. The heat of the sun, combined with the heat of the sea made the midday spike in temperature feel even worse; Luz had provided ice for everyone to keep cool, leading to Eber effectively making an igloo for herself while Valtora had taken to strapping blocks of the ice to herself for weight training as she walked around the ship. Luz was keeping herself cool with ice magic, and had also pulled up her sleeves, pant legs, and the bottom of her shirt to minimise how much skin was being covered in clothes (while maintaining her decency), while also being sure to check on King.

King had effectively frozen the Crow's Nest with ice glyphs, and told Luz not to come up whenever she tried to check on him, with Rasiel reporting that the young Titan was working on his secret project so didn't want Luz to see it yet.

However the one who was suffering the most was Viney; the poor girl was seriously overheating! Luz had produced ice blocks for Viney to sit on and hug to keep cool, and while it had helped, the roasting hot weather was still making the Magic-Mixer dangerously hot. She was sweating profusely and Luz was having to make water to rehydrate her frequently.

"Viney, are you okay? You're really not taking the heat well!" Luz asked worriedly.

"I… ugh… hate heat. I'm a winter girl, through and through!" Viney panted. "But don't worry; I'll be fine. I'm a Healer, so I know exactly how much I can take."

Luz didn't look convinced, and she was a healer too! "Maybe you should at least pull your pant legs up a little? You look like you're melting in those clothes." Luz said, noting how Viney had removed her bandana and tied up the bottom of her shirt, exposing her midriff, but kept her legs fully covered.

Viney shook her head; "I'm not really comfortable with showing off my legs. I know it's not indecent or anything, it's just a hang up of mine." she said, now getting red enough in the face that Luz was fearing she'd get heatstroke.

"Okay, you don't need to uncover yourself, but maybe you should get out of the sun instead. I'm serious Viney, you look like you're about to-"

Luz didn't even get to finish her sentence before Viney swooned and fell backwards. The young angel yelped and shot some vines out to catch the girl before she fell overboard or hit her head on the ship's railing. "Viney!" she cried. She got no answer; Viney had passed out from the heat.

"Oh no! Captain! Valtora! Viney passed out!" Luz cried, lugging the bigger girl onto her back and staggering towards the cabin.

Upon hearing her shout, Valtora came running and cursed upon seeing Viney's condition; "Damn it, she's been trying to tough out the heat again! Luz, take her to her bunk below deck and keep her cool and hydrated. We're nearing the Simmering Shoals and the waters are treacherous so I can't afford to leave the wheel for long; I'm relying on you to help my daughter. I'll give instructions through the talking tubes when you get there!"

Luz nodded seriously; "You got it, Captain!"

She then hurried below deck with Viney on her back. It wasn't easy either; Luz wasn't the strongest kid, and could only really carry the tiny King, and the very light and slender Amity. Viney, on the other hand, was a solidly built wall of muscle, not dissimilar to Valtora, so Luz really had to work to carry her down to her bunk. Thankfully she got there and immediately laid Viney down and used some ice magic to cover her bed and sheets in light frost to cool her down a bit.

"Alright, I'm here Captain!" Luz yelled into the nearby talking tube. "I've already cooled her bed!"

Valtora's voice yelled back; "Good job Luz. Now grab a cloth from her footlocker and damp it with cold water, then put it on her forehead to help bring her temperature down."

Luz immediately obeyed, conjuring a bubble of ice cold water and sticking a cloth in it before wringing it out into the bubble and placing it on Viney's forehead. The passed out girl's expression relaxed as she felt some relief from the heat. Luz smiled at that, then blinked in surprise at Valtora's next instruction.

"This is going to sound weird Luz, and I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, but you need to take Viney's shoes and pants off."

"E-Excuse me!?" Luz squeaked.

"Trust me, kid. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important!" Valtora yelled.

Eber then barked down the tube too; "Little Light will understand once she sees. Seeing easier, explaining harder."

Luz blushed but resolved to do what she had to to help Viney; "I hope you don't get mad at me for this!" she muttered, before grabbing Viney's boots and pulling them off.

The instant she did, Luz immediately realised why she had to do this, as instead of the normal witch-like feet she'd expected, she found the back paws of a snow leopard. Luz gasped softly, and with a new hunch in her brain, she undid and removed Viney's baggy orange pants, revealing the black boy shorts she wore underneath, and more importantly, the fur covered legs and tail of a snow leopard. From the waist down, Viney's body was that of a Snow Leopard Cait Sith, with pale silvery white fur and black ring shaped spots. The fur was thick, fluffy, and very warm, explaining why Viney had overheated so badly.

"I'd wondered why Viney appeared to be a full witch while having a Biped Demon parent! I guess now I know! What next, Captain?" Luz asked.

"Just keep wafting that icy air onto her. She'll cool off quick and bounce back soon. Just be ready for some freaking out; my Viney is a bit sensitive when it comes to her demon parts." Valtora said, before finishing with; "I'm signing off for now! Shout if you need any assistance!"

"Thanks Captain!" Luz replied, beginning to flap her wings gently to waft cold air from the ice onto Viney.

Just as Valtora had said, the cooling temperatures massively improved Viney's condition. The older girl's face soon relaxed completely and her reddened skin lightened to its usual shade, and within a couple of minutes, she began to stir.

"Ugh, what happened?" she mumbled as Luz conjured a cup made of ice and filled it with water.

"You overheated and passed out. Here, drink this." Luz ordered.

Viney accepted the drink and gulped it down happily, with Luz refilling it twice more with the same result. Once the girl's thirst was finally quenched, she slowly sat up, taking the cloth off her forehead, then froze as she looked down at her bare legs.

"O-Oh… I'm guessing Mom told you to do this." Viney said in a small voice.

Luz nodded; "She did. You overheated quicker than you thought, didn't you?"

"I did. I thought I could tough it out in front of you until the hottest part of the day passed, but I guess I was wrong… sorry."

"It's okay, we all make mistakes. But why were you trying to tough it out at all? You don't need to prove you're tough to me! I mean, look at you girl!" Luz gently squeezed Viney's bicep; "You are a rock! I gotta get your work out routine!" she grinned.

Viney giggled, before her smile turned sad; "I just didn't want you to see this…" she said, gesturing to her Snow Leopard lower body.

"I don't understand. There are tons of witches with demon parts inherited from their parents. What's so strange about yours that you'd want to hide them? If anything, I think they're kind of cool! Aside from the whole overheating thing." Luz replied.

Viney was mildly surprised by Luz's response, but she supposed that was just like Luz. She was the kind and accepting type, plus she wasn't a native to the Boiling Isles; she wouldn't understand.

"Cait Sith have some bad stereotypes surrounding them. They're stereotyped as being, well, like cats. People act like they're standoffish, selfish, and rude, as well as being mischievous. There are even stereotypes about them being thieves! Mama went to St. Epiderm as a child and suffered a lot of bullying because of it." Viney explained; "Mom went too, as well as her sister, my Witch Aunt. Remember how I told you that I had a cousin at St. Epiderm?"

Luz nodded, not liking where this was going. "Well, I actually went there too at first. Only for Kindergarten though. I had to deal with a lot of those prejudices against Cait Sith, but unfortunately there's also a lot of Hybrid or "Half-Breed" prejudice among the elites that send their kids there. I got bullied a lot…"

"Oh Viney…" Luz whispered sadly.

"If a prank happened or something went missing, it was blamed on me. The teachers were nice, but most of the other kids were stuck up snobs and bullies, and the few who weren't would just stand back and do nothing. One particularly bad bully even tried to cut my tail off! That was the last straw for Mom and Mama, and they moved from Cartilia to Bonesborough, and transferred me to Hexside. It's a lot nicer there, and Principal Bump assured us that there was a zero tolerance policy against prejudice, but there are still some jerks. So I guess I'm still a little sensitive about my Cait Sith side." Viney said, stroking her own tail out of nervousness.

Luz smiled softly and hugged the older girl; "I'm sorry that happened to you Viney, but you don't have to worry! I would never judge you, and neither would your other friends! And if anyone else did, we'd sort them out!" she said determinedly.

In truth, Luz understood Viney's feelings very well, considering she'd hidden her angel side for fear of prejudice too. But Hexside had proven to be attended by mostly good kids (and admittedly, the occasional jerk), and Luz had largely found acceptance for who she was; and she just knew that Viney would too.

"Thank you, Luz. And I'm sorry for worrying you… the only other people at Hexside who know are Jerbo and Barcus, and they found out by accident in the same way you did; it was a hot day in the Room of Shortcuts and Barcus was brewing a potion, and the cauldron was heating things up even more, until I passed out." Viney explained.

"Well, considering how my secret got outed to the school, I can hardly criticise!" Luz smirked; "But does that mean you haven't told Emira either?"

Viney shook her head; "No… I know Emira likes me too. I want to ask her out, which I know she's waiting for, but I didn't want to date her without revealing the truth, and I was nervous. Emira and her siblings are great, but their parents are a different story… who knows how they'd react?"

Luz grinned; "Oh, I wouldn't worry about them. Amity says her Dad is cool for the most part, it's just her Mom who sucks, and we've got that taken care of." she said, remembering the blackmail material she still had on the Blight Matriarch; "You should totally ask Emira out! I know she wouldn't have a problem with your body! Besides, you look totally awesome!"

Viney smiled and her tail swished happily, making Luz want to pet it. "You really think so?"

"I know so!" Luz declared; "In fact, why don't we make a bet? If I'm wrong, I'll do your homework for the rest of the school year! But if Emira says she likes it, then you have to let me cuddle with Puddles whenever I want! So long as she's okay with it too of course."

"Oh, now that is a deal I can't pass up! Either I get a hot date, or I don't have to do homework for the rest of the year! You've got yourself a bet!" Viney grinned, shaking Luz's hand.

With the older girl now cooled down and feeling more confident, she put on a pair of shorts and fished some specially made sandals out from her footlocker so she wouldn't have to put on her warmer clothes again, then went back up on deck with Luz. They stopped by the ship wheel to see Valtora, who smiled happily to see Viney comfortable in her own skin again, and thanked Luz before telling them both to eat some lunch with King before getting back to their posts.

They called King down and shared some food between them, and when King and Rasiel saw Viney's leopard-like legs, they barely raised an eyebrow. Rasiel didn't comment at all, and King just said; "Cool fur. Sucks to be furry in this heat, huh?", fanning himself with some ice glyphs. Their lack of reaction, treating Viney as completely normal, made the girl feel even more comfortable, and by the time lunch ended and they were all back at their posts, she was happily humming away as she mopped up soot, her tail swishing along behind her.

Not long later, they finally arrived at the midst of the Simmering Shoals. It was formed from an ancient Titan Archipelago that had been largely taken by the sea over the millennia, leaving it almost entirely submerged with only a few parts, which had once been mountain tops, now becoming islands peeking above the waves. The water around it was shallow and full of spikes from other submerged bones, as well as shipwrecks from those who hadn't been able to navigate the Shoals safely.

King had come down from the Crow's Nest to look forlornly at what little could be seen of the ancient Titan, while Rasiel spoke to him from within his medallion.

"Based on the size of this place and how much its been submerged, I bet this Titan was about 500 years old when it died." Rasiel commented. His spirit form had gone beneath the waves to examine the Shoals and help Valtora navigate the treacherous shallows, so he'd gotten a good look at it. "That would make it about the equivalent of a Witch Teenager, on the cusp of reaching its final growth spurt."

"Is this one of the Titans wiped out by the Archivists?" King asked softly.

Rasiel shook his head; "No. It takes tens of thousands of years for a Titan Archipelago to sink this much. This Titan likely passed away long before the Huntsman and his ilk appeared. Its original inhabitants would probably have migrated to another Titan long before the Boiling Isles Titan was born."

That was a small relief for King, who didn't know how he'd feel if this was the grave of one of his murdered kin. Luz and Viney came over, the former gently patting her little brother's head, as they looked at some of the shipwrecks. Most were of old sail ships, so had likely run aground and been sunk centuries ago, but a few were more modern ships like the Loving Leopard (though all were larger), and appeared to have been attacked. Holes had been punctured in their hulls by what appeared to be large spikes, and a few were on fire.

"Those are hunting vessels." Valtora said, walking to the side of the ship and hitting a lever beside a large spool of chain, causing the anchor to drop into the water and keep the ship in place; "The Emperor's been hunting for a Selkidomus for a long time, and as soon as this one was spotted, many of his navy came after it. The Shoals are difficult to navigate though, and this beast is clever; it tricked them into unfavourable surroundings and sank them. The crews that couldn't safely abandon ship were likely eaten."

Luz gulped and offered a silent prayer to the devoured sailors; "Is the Leopard going to be okay? Won't the Selkidomus attack it too?"

"It shouldn't do. They primarily navigate through smell, and Eberwolf paid to have the hull of the Leopard varnished with an oil made from Selkigris. The Selkidomus will just assume we're another of its species, and will ignore us." Valtora explained.

Viney nodded and added; "Selkidomus are usually solitary creatures, but they're not very territorial. They'd only investigate another one of their kind if it was their mating season, or they had a baby to protect. Nesting Selkidomus are known to attack even other Selkidomus!"

The instant Viney said those words, Luz grimaced as a bad feeling filled her stomach. Considering her luck, what were the odds that the Selkidomus had a baby and would see them as a threat?

Eber, who was using Beast-Keeping magic to give herself camouflage abilities so she could be out on deck without being identified by their Emperor's Coven stalkers, looked around at the nearby water as her ears twitched. She narrowed her eyes and barked, pointing towards the central island in the middle of the Shoals. Luz and the others looked where she pointed and saw the waves on the shore rippling as if something had just entered the water. A moment later, a pair of large dorsal fins emerged from the depths and began cutting their way through the water towards the ship.

"Is that the Selkidomus!?" King exclaimed.

"Something wrong. Selkidomus coming at ramming speed!" Eber barked.

"I knew this wouldn't be that easy! Everyone brace yourselves!" Luz cried, growing her wings back to full size and flying high above the ship. She conjured a massive crystal barrier around the Loving Leopard just in time to stop it from taking a full on collision from the Selkidomus, as it looped through the water and slammed its tail against the ship.

Since the barrier made it hard for people on one side to talk to people on the other, Luz used the telepathic link between her ring and Rasiel to communicate with those inside the barrier.

"Everyone okay in there!?"

"The blow shook the barrier, but aside from a bit of rocking, we felt no effects." Rasiel replied. "Eberwolf is asking what you plan to do."

Luz looked down at the Selkidomus' dorsal fin as it circled the ship, occasionally smacking the barrier with its tail. She'd been sent here to protect it from the Emperor's Coven, and based on what Viney had just said, if it was attacking them then it must be protecting its baby, so Luz was definitely not going to hurt it! "Tell Eber I'm going to try and calm it down and make it see we're not a threat."

There was a moment of silence as Rasiel passed along the message, then replied; "Eber wishes you luck. Be careful though Luz; this thing is quite different than the fox in the Human Realm yesterday!"

"Don't I know it…" Luz muttered. Her calming spell wouldn't work very well on its own, so Luz summoned her satchel and pulled out her Lapis Ocarina; if she mixed Bardic Magic with Beast-Keeping Magic, perhaps she could calm the raging Selkidomus!

Since Luz didn't know how to cast the Beast Calming Spell as a Bardic Song, she instead focused on channelling Beast-Keeping Magic to her Ocarina as she played a Song of Soothing. Her playing echoed across the Simmering Shoals, and a faint orange and red glow came over the Selkidomus for a moment, causing it to slow its attacks against her barrier for a moment. However the large beast quickly shook off the effects and began attacking full force once again.

"Dang, was the spell not powerful enough?" Luz frowned. "Or was it muffled by the water…"

Professor Beat had taught the class that Bardic Magic focused on effecting the mind would be weakened if the target couldn't fully hear it, and things like water would definitely make it harder for the Selkidomus to hear!

"I guess I need to get it's head above the water long enough to play the song! Easier said than done though…" Luz muttered to herself. She conjured some vines to grab the Selkidomus' tail when it next went to attack the barrier, but the creature barely reacted; it slowed its swing for an instant, then effortlessly pulled against all of Luz's strength and nearly pulled her down into the Boiling Sea, but Luz dropped the vines before that could happen. Since she lacked the strength to pull the Selkidomus' head above the waves, she decided to try and lure it back onto dry land!

"Sorry Girl, but this is for your own good!" Luz yelled, firing an aurora beam down into the water. The Boiling Sea was hot enough that it didn't freeze completely, but it did rapidly cool down and begin producing slush and water vapour, which had the Selkidomus rear its head out of the water and roar in displeasure. It looked around for the source of the attack and quickly spotted Luz, allowing the girl to get her first good look at it.

The Selkidomus looked like a giant mix of a seal, a shark, and the Loch Ness Monster; it's base body shape was that of a seal, but its size and elongated neck were more akin to the depictions of the Loch Ness Monster. It also had three shark-like dorsal fins along its spine; a small one on its tail, a medium one on the back of its neck, and a large one between them on its back. It also had whiskers that looked like a moustache made of seaweed, and a matching web of green algae that clung to much of its back and appeared to be a part of its body.

"Hey Big Girl! Over here!" Luz taunted, trying to get the beast to follow her. It instead roared in anger, and to Luz's surprise, it began to swell up until its upper body was like a balloon. Spikes then emerged from its flesh and were promptly launched at Luz, who yelped in surprise and threw up a hasty crystal barrier to protect herself. Even with the barrier's toughness, the spikes had managed to leave small cracks at the points of impact.

"Whoa, I guess that explains why these ship wrecks look like Swiss Cheese!" the young angel commented as she shot more aurora beams into the ocean around the Selkidomus. The already cooled ocean began to freeze enough that Luz could manipulate the ice into a series of curved ice walls around the Loving Leopard, preventing the Selkidomus from reaching it at all while also herding the beast towards Luz. She was forced to dodge another barrage of spikes as the Selkidomus roared, but her plan worked and it began to swim towards her.

Luz flew low, just high enough to be out of range of any sudden boiling splashes, but low enough that the Selkidomus could keep track of her and follow her. As she got close to the shore of the island the Selkidomus had come from, Luz flew low and waited for the Selkidomus to surface and use its spike attack. The instant it did, Luz froze the ocean beneath its belly, so when it fired its spikes (which she blocked with another crystal barrier) it flopped down onto the ice and couldn't immediately dive back underwater.

"Gotcha now!" Luz grinned, before focusing her magic. Her wings glowed blue with water magic as Luz drew a massive spell circle, sending her magic into the Boiling Sea to cause the water beneath the ice and the Selkidomus to erupt upwards like a geyser, sending the beast rolling onto the beach, where if briefly flopped around in surprise. Luz's wings were then coated in a green aura as she used a massive plant spell to grow roots from the beach and restrain the Selkidomus, preventing it from escaping or swelling up to use another spike attack.

The beast roared in anger, and Luz landed just out of reach of its jaws and began to play the Song of Soothing once more, filling it with Beast-Keeping Magic. This time, the Selkidomus was hit with the full effect of the song, and the aura of orange and red that surrounded it lingered until Luz stopped playing. It seemed to work too, as the Selkidomus stopped roaring and thrashing in its restraints, and began to whimper instead. Once the song was complete, Luz very carefully approached the whimpering beast and knelt beside its face, gently putting a hand on its nose.

"Shhhh, easy now girl. You're safe; I won't hurt you or your baby. We want to protect you both." she said softly, stroking the Selkidomus' snout.

The creature was intelligent enough to understand (at least the gesture, if not the words), and stopped its whimpering, instead leaning into Luz's touch.

"Good girl. I'll release you, okay? Just please don't attack my friends." Luz said, carefully casting a spell to make her roots unwrap from the Selkidomus and sink back beneath the sand. The beast used the opportunity to edge closer to Luz and nuzzle her body with its nose, making her giggle.

"Rasiel, I think I've got her calmed down. Tell the others they can come ashore." Luz spoke into her ring.

"Got it. Drop your barrier and we'll fly over." Rasiel replied.

Luz snapped her fingers and the barrier around the Loving Leopard vanished, and rather than try to melt the ice and sail closer, Valtora decided to just carry Viney, King, and the still camouflaged Eber over on her staff. Valtora's Palisman was a blue squid, and their staff form looked more like a fishing spear than a traditional staff thanks to the squid's pointy head.

"Cool Palisman, Captain!" Luz complimented as Viney and Valtora hopped off the staff, King on Viney's shoulder and Eber hidden on Valtora's. "They really suit your high seas flair!"

Valtora chuckled at the earnest compliment; "Careful little angel, you'll give him a big head." she said as her Palisman turned back into animal form and sat atop her head; "His name is Toa, and he's a massive wuss, aren't ya buddy?"

Toa clicked his hidden beak and crossed two of his tentacles like a pouting child, making Luz and Viney both giggle.

The Selkidomus growled softly as the newcomers approached, but a few scratches on the side of its snout from Luz had it practically purring like a kitten. Valtora, Eber, and Viney all let the Selkidomus take a good sniff of them, then they pet her too to let her know they were safe, before encouraging King to do the same.

"I didn't think a big scary monster could also be kinda cute." King thought aloud as the Selkidomus leaned into him as he scratched the top of its head.

"Selkidomus are normally docile and even friendly creatures if not harassed. The fact this one attacked us without provocation means she must have a baby nearby." Valtora said. "We should check on it while we're here. I also need to fill you and King in on part of the plan for the Emperor's goons."

Luz and King exchanged looks, while the still camouflaged Eber, cast a spell circle that caused her barks to take on a strange echoing effect as she spoke to the Selkidomus; "We friends. Show us den, we protect you. We protect baby. You can trust."

The Selkidomus slowly raised its head and stared at the spot Eber should be, before making a snuffling noise and slowly pulling itself along the beach with its flippers, leading the group into a cave entrance on the nearby cliff side. This entrance led them to a large cavern that contained numerous parts of old ships, which had been used by the Selkidomus to make a fortified den. The Selkidomus used these old ships like a slope to slide down into the depths of the cavern, where it had constructed a large nest out of kelp and seaweed. It smelled awful and both King and Luz had to struggle not to cover their noses, while the three experienced Beast-Keepers just smiled sympathetically.

"You get used to smells like this when you spend a lot of time with animals, or out on the open sea. You should smell Puddles' stable some time!" Viney joked.

Luz gave a sardonic smile, which soon become a look of pure glee as the Selkidomus made a song-like sound that caused her baby to emerge from the nest of kelp. It was about shoulder height to Luz, and very round, with only a single dorsal fin and a little sprout sticking out from the top of its head and little leaf-like whiskers framing its mouth. It's eyes were also huge and shone in the dim light streaming in from the cavern entrance.

"Oh, look at this little baby! They're adorable!" Luz cooed, happily hugging the Baby Selkidomus, which chirped as it hugged her in return, wrapping its flippers around her leg.

"Aw, looks like he likes you!" Viney said.

"The grown up looks cool, but this guy looks like one of Hooty's chowder dumplings." King said, significantly less impressed than Luz.

"You just like big monsters. But this little guy is the cutest dumpling I've ever seen! He looks healthy too." Luz said, giving the baby a once over before the mother gently pulled him back into the nest so she could begin grooming him.

"He does." Valtora agreed; "You can tell a Selkidomus' health by the condition of its plant. Those plants are technically a separate organism, but they're symbiotic and thrive alongside their hosts. The leaves are strong and a healthy green, which indicates this little fella is growing up nicely! Now we just need to deal with the Emperor's Coven and we can relocate these guys to a safer place."

"Right. You also mentioned a plan for the Emperor's Coven; what was that about?" Luz asked.

Eber, temporarily dropping her camouflage since they were out of sight, said; "Coven saw Little Light and King board Sea Friend's ship. Sea Friend will be suspect. Cover maybe broken."

Luz's eyes widened; "I didn't even think of that! Valdora, are you and your family going to be okay!?"

"We'll be fine. Eber came up with a cover story. While we've been sailing, I've been secretly using Crow Calls to talk to that frigate that's been tailing us. The Coven Scouts on board believe you asked Viney for a favour since you attend school together, and I agreed to bring you out here. The scouts think I'm spying on you to get information on the rebels, while sabotaging your mission. That way neither Viney or I will be suspected as rebels."

Luz grinned; "I get it! The Emperor's Coven think you're leading me and King into a trap, when really we're leading them into one!"

"That's right. But remember, neither I nor Viney and Eber can help you if it comes to a fight, both for our cover and for your trial. I also know for a fact that the Golden Guard and the Silver Sentinel are both a part of the group following us. This won't be easy for you." Valtora said seriously.

"That's fine; I was expecting that! After Belos, those two can't be that tough! Besides, I've got King with me and he's the best partner I could ask for!" Luz said confidently, making King puff his chest out proudly.

"You'll also have my help. I may not be able to fight, but I can watch your back." Rasiel said via Luz's ring.

A moment later, the Selkidomus suddenly looked up to the cavern entrance and growled, sensing intruders approaching. Luz was immediately on guard and put King on her shoulders; "I'll go up there to deal with the Emperor's Coven. Viney, you stay with the Selkidomus and keep her and the baby calm, okay?"

"You got it. No one will hurt these guys on my watch!" Viney said determinedly.

Luz then turned to Valtora; "Do Selkidomus shed their skin or scales at all?"

She nodded; "They do. Based on how glossy that baby's coat is, it probably shed only a few days ago. The scales should be in the nest."

The Arch-Angel immediately ran over to the nest and dove in, despite the stench. King complained at being dragged along with her, and when Luz popped out of the nest again, she was holding a large piece of shed Selkidomus skin, covered in silvery grey scales. Luz had a plan for them that would hopefully avoid a fight altogether, or at least lower the numbers if the Golden Guard had brought extra back up.

With her now as prepared as she'd ever be, Luz climbed back up to the cavern entrance with Valtora, who was carrying the once-again camouflaged Eberwolf.

Playing the part of the oblivious child walking into a trap, Luz happily skipped along beside Valtora as they left the cave, hands behind her back as she loudly declared; "Wow Valtora, thank you so much for helping me with my mission! I'm glad the Selkidomus is healthy! Now that I have some of its scales, I could turn them in for a reward from the Emperor's Coven! They'd be helping to fund their own defeat!" she said, technically not lying.

Of course, as expected, the moment they were out of the cave and under the cloud covered sky, Luz, King, and Valtora found themselves surrounded by about two dozen Coven Scouts with spells and spears pointed at them. Luz and King both gulped at the sheer number of them, having expected only a few alongside their bosses and perhaps the sailors who'd been sailing the frigate. The sailors weren't present however, and only one of the leaders was, as the circle parted slightly and the Golden Guard marched forward.

This was Luz's first proper look at the man, or rather, the boy; he was a couple of inches taller than Luz, and covered completely head to toe in his uniform, exposing not even a single bit of skin. That uniform made Luz shudder slightly, as it was very similar to the one that Belos had cast an illusion of when trying to make her agree to be his Platinum Paladin, only with the colours altered. His breastplate and faulds were gold, his boots and gloves were plain brown leather instead of armoured, his cloak and hood were white instead of gold, his trousers were black instead of white, he only had one golden pauldron on his left shoulder as opposed to a platinum one on each shoulder, and lastly, his mask was golden and owl-like, as opposed to being platinum. The Golden Guard also wielded a staff similar to Belos', only with a slightly less mechanical design; it was a red crystal embedded into a white staff top with a single white and gold wing attachment, atop a plain brown wooden rod. It was similar enough that the sight of it made Luz feel uncomfortable, as she remembered how Belos had hurt her with his staff.

The Golden Guard stepped into the circle and his scouts closed it again, while also closing the circle behind Luz and Valtora, trapping them completely.

"You have the Emperor's gratitude, Captain Valtora. Leading us here and helping us trap our errant angel is a truly great feat. I'll pass my compliments onto Head Witch Eberwolf." he said.

Valtora faked a smirk; "It was my pleasure. The girl even worked for me, so I got some free labour out of it."

Luz glared at her; "So you were letting the Golden Guard follow us? I should be surprised, but I'm really not." she said, again not technically lying.

"Don't be too upset with the Captain; she was doing her civic duty." the Golden Guard said, bowing his head politely; "Greetings, Lady Noceda. I don't suppose I could just convince you to come back with me peacefully?"

"You mean back to the place your Emperor tortured me and turned me into a monster to fight my Mom?" Luz asked angrily. "I'll pass!"

The Arch-Angel looked ready for battle already, making the Golden Guard shake his head ruefully; "The Owl Lady really has gotten her talons deep into your mind and heart… I'm sorry, Lady Noceda but if you won't listen to reason, I'll have to take you by force. This is for your own good." he said sadly, pointing his staff at Luz. "Will you assist us, Captain Valtora?" he asked.

Valtora immediately shook her head switched her Palisman to staff mode so she could fly out of the circle; "Apologises, Golden Guard. Helping you trap her was one thing, but fighting her is quite another! I've already had to keep Viney away so she doesn't find out what I did with her friend, so I'd rather not risk upsetting her more."

The Golden Guard accepted that; "Very well. Just keep out of the way; we'll collect Lady Noceda and deal with the Selkidomus, then be on our way."

"Wait!" Luz yelled; "You know I'm strong; enough that I had your Emperor on the ropes, so unless you guys are stronger than him, this is just going to be a painful loss for you! But I'd rather not hurt anyone if I can help it and I don't want the Selkidomus hurt, so I have a counter offer."

She reached behind her and pulled out the Selkidomus scales; "I'll give you this and you can go back to the Emperor and say the Selkidomus is dead. I'll make sure she moves to a safer place and doesn't attack any more of your ships. You can pretend you never saw me, then no one gets hurt and no one has to die."

The Golden Guard paused in thought, then held out his hand for the scales, which Luz tossed to him. He examined them closely, then leaned his head away as he groaned; "These stink! But they appear authentic… the Emperor would be pleased to have them… but orders are orders; the Emperor wants the full pelt, so that's what I'll give him. Now surrender, Lady Noceda; or I'll take you by force!"

Luz sighed; "Well, so much for trying to be nice and reasonable… I guess we're fighting now."

Before the Golden Guard or any of the scouts could act, the tree roots that Luz had grown earlier to restrain the Selkidomus suddenly shot out of the ground again and wrapped around all the scouts and their leader. While she'd been talking, Luz had been channelling plant magic into the ground to subtly manipulate the roots she'd retracted back into the ground so they were beneath the scouts and ready to trap them.

"Clever!" the Golden Guard groaned; "I should have expected you to be tricky after your fight with the Emperor! But I'm not so easily beaten!" he declared. His staff's crystal began to glow and his entire body seemed to vanish in a flash of red light.

"Behind us!" King yelled as the red flash appeared again behind Luz, and the Golden Guard appeared and swung his staff at her. Luz ducked under the swing with a yelp, then spun around and shot a beam of light at the Guard. He reacted incredibly quickly and swatted her spell away with the glowing end of his staff, then countered by shooting a red blast at her. Luz responded by growing another tree root to block it, then a second one beneath her to launch her into the sky.

The instant Luz was in the air, she grew her wings back to full size and transformed her cloak and outfit into her Holy Raiment; "You want to fight an Arch-Angel, then I'll show you what that means!"

The Golden Guard almost gulped as Luz conjured a cloud of leaves and coated them in light magic to turn them into a swarm of Razor Leaves. The Golden Guard stabbed the end of his staff into the sand and caused it to rise up and form a ball around him, blocking the leaves at first, however this didn't last long and the prolonged assault soon shredded the sand ball. However once the sand was gone, Luz frowned as she saw the Guard was gone too.

"Did he teleport again?" King asked, confused.

His question was answered by the sand beneath the spot Luz was flying in suddenly surged up in the shape of a giant fist and nearly punched her. Thankfully Luz was flying high enough that she'd had a few seconds of warning and could quickly dodge out of the way. The Golden Guard then burst out from the sand fist and pointed his staff at Luz, causing both the sand fist and the remains of his sand orb to reshape themselves into hundreds of little sand birds and launch themselves at the girl.

Luz frowned and focused water magic through her body, then drew a blue spell circle that coated her body in water. She then darted through the sky at high speed, actively trying to hit the sand birds, which became waterlogged thanks to her aquatic coating, making them lose their shape and slop to the ground as clumps of wet sand.

"Have a taste of my Aqua Jet!" Luz grinned, next darting at the Golden Guard with the intention of ramming into him.

"You have some weird spells!" the Golden Guard retorted, shooting lightning at Luz. It was far too quick for Luz to dodge out of the way, so she instead froze her water shell, turning her into a little ice bullet that blocked the lightning and continued shooting towards the Guard. He was forced to use his red flash teleport to avoid it, and once she'd missed, Luz thawed the ice and evaporated the water with a mix of water and fire magic, filling the air with water vapour that the Golden Guard couldn't see through.

"Ugh, now my fur is all wet." King complained; "I can't do much riding around on your shoulders! Let me off and I'll make sure none of those scouts get any ideas about escaping!"

Luz, who'd had to be careful with her moves so as not to endanger King, happily agreed. She turned some of the water vapour into an ice platform and lowered him to the ground, where he promptly scurried towards the cavern entrance, leaving Luz to continue the fight with the Golden Guard.

The Golden Guard began firing red magic blasts into the mist and steam, probing for Luz, who was being careful to avoid it. She conjured some snow with the ice glyph, then moulded it into a clone of herself and cast an illusion over it, making it look like the real her. The Golden Guard saw this clone walking on the sand beneath the mist and immediately moved to attack it, while Luz used his opening to get behind him within the mist.

"You're mine now, Angel!" the Guard declared, firing a huge blast of red magic point blank into the Luz Clone's back. His blast obliterated the illusion and the clone, much to his surprise, and before he could register what had happened, Luz attacked his back with an Aurora Beam.

"No, you're mine!"

The Golden Guard didn't react quickly enough to dodge or block, making Luz sure she'd won… until something appeared from the ground at the Golden Guard's feet and slammed into Luz's arm, forcing it up and making her Aurora Beam miss.

"W-What!?" Luz cried as what appeared to be a clone of the Golden Guard had emerged from the original's shadow. The clone pointed its staff at Luz and fired a blast of red magic, and Luz found herself screaming in pain as she was sent flying backward. She hit the sandy beach hard enough to bounce, but managed to correct herself afterwards to land on her hands and knees.

"That hurt… what was that!?" she winced, reaching out with her water magic to condense the mist into water that fell down on the beach like rain.

The "clone" of the Golden Guard turned out to be a different person entirely, though one that looked incredibly similar. They had the same outfit and staff, only with a silver coloured mask and armour, and a pauldron on her right shoulder instead of her left. They also appeared to be female rather than male, being of a similar build to Luz, if a little shorter.

"The Silver Sentinel! I'd wondered if you'd show up too! Did the Emperor really send his best to kill a single animal!? That's messed up even for him!" Luz frowned, casting a bit of healing magic on herself.

The Golden Guard sighed with relief; "Thanks for the save, partner. Fighting someone with so many types of magic is harder than I expected."

The Silver Sentinel's staff glowed, and a pair of illusory hands appeared beside her and began to perform sign language. Luz blinked in surprise, recognising it as American Sign Language, which she could actually understand.

They said; "No problem, partner. She fought the Emperor one on one, neither of us could beat her alone. We'll take her together. You attack from the front, and I'll attack from the rear and at range."

Luz narrowed her eyes but didn't let on that she knew what she was saying. Instead she slowly raised her hand to her face as if wiping away sweat, while she was actually whispering into Rasiel's ring.

"Warn King that the Silver one is gonna go for my back! I'll need him to watch it for me."

"Understood. I'll let King know." Rasiel replied. A moment later, Luz saw King tense over by the cave entrance, and a smile appeared on his little face as he began to draw something on some note paper.

Assuming it was just a glyph, Luz focused on her two opponents as the Golden Guard spoke up; "I don't suppose you'd surrender now that you're outnumbered?"

"Sorry Golden Goof, but I'm not gonna surrender while you and your quiet friend hurt an innocent creature!" Luz shot back.

The Golden Guard huffed at the insult, while the Sentinel's shoulders shook as she suppressed a laugh at her partner's expense. This laugh didn't last long however, as the Sentinel raised her staff and caused a series of small silver knives to appear out of thin air and land in her hand. She then began throwing them, and as the first one went flying at Luz, the angel raised a crystal barrier to block it. The knife bounced off her barrier harmlessly, but it was also the only one to hit it; the other knives had instead been thrown at the bound Coven Scouts! Each tree root was struck by a knife, and once all two dozen of them had a knife sticking out of them, the Silver Sentinel's staff glowed red as her hand glowed purple, and she snapped her fingers. The knives disintegrated, and the tree roots they'd been stuck in began to rapidly decay, freeing the Scouts.

"Hey! No fair!" Luz whined, shooting a light blast at the Sentinel, who responded by casually side stepping the blast.

"All's fair in love and war, Lady Noceda. My partner here doesn't have much of a green thumb, but she is quite the talented weed killer." the Golden Guard said with amusement, before turning to his freed scouts; "Storm the caves and take out the Selkidomus; the Emperor wants those scales!"

He'd said those words with a hint of displeasure, and Luz got the impression he didn't really like the idea of hurting the beast, but wasn't going to disobey his Emperor's orders.

Channelling light magic into her wings and blasting fire from the soles of her feet, Luz rocketed herself towards the cavern entrance to stop the scouts, aiming to plough through the Guard and Sentinel along the way. The former zipped away with his red flash teleportation and the latter sank into the shadows and immediately reappeared from Luz's own shadow, reaching up and grabbing her ankle. She wasn't very strong however, so she couldn't stop Luz and instead ended up being dragged along. As Luz flew at the Scouts, she suddenly performed a loop, dragging the Silver Sentinel with her into the air and causing her to lose her grip and go flying at the scouts. Several of the scouts were knocked down while catching her, and King promptly knocked the rest down with a Sonic Roar.

"Ha! All the Pinheads are down in one go! In Bowling, we call that a strike!" Luz cheered.

King didn't get it, but he cheered regardless, at least until he noticed that the Silver Sentinel wasn't in the pile of groaning scouts.

"Luz, the silver one is gone!" King yelled.

Luz frowned; "Did she run into the caves or teleport or something?" she muttered to herself, only to see red light at the corner of her eye.

She turned just in time to see the Golden Guard swinging his red glowing staff at her head, forcing her to drop to the ground to avoid it.

"I'd be more worried about me than my partner!" the Golden Guard yelled as he spun his staff and stabbed the base of it into the sand; "Maybe this will help you get the point!"

At his words, the sand beneath Luz's body turned red, so Luz quickly covered herself in her crystal barrier. She'd acted just in time too, as red glowing spears made from the same magic as the Sentinel's throwing knives suddenly launched out of the ground beneath her and would have impaled her wings and legs if she hadn't protected herself. As it was, the spears had thrust upward with enough force to crack Luz's barrier and send both it and her skyward. From the shadows cast by her barrier, the Silver Sentinel emerged and waved her staff, causing the sand around her to form into a giant arm and fist, which reached up and grabbed Luz's barrier, engulfing it completely. The Emperor's two elites then crossed their staves and fired a combined, intense blast of gold and purple flames directly at the sand fist, rapidly heating it and turning into molten glass, which they then cooled with a blast of freezing cold air.

Luz's barrier had protected her, but now she was trapped inside both it, and the now-glass fist.

"Looks like we got her." the Golden Guard panted; "That used a lot of magic… how's your staff?" he asked his partner.

The Silver Sentinel examined her staff, then used the illusory hands to sign; "Still mostly full. Yours?"

"Just over half." the Guard replied. "Let's hope this thing holds long enough for the Emperor to transport her back to the castle."

The Sentinel nodded in agreement, before manipulating more sand to create smaller sand hands to push and pull the Scouts back to their feet. King's roar had left them tangled and struggling to get up, so the Sentinel was forced to help.

Meanwhile King had seemingly vanished, and reappeared behind a nearby rock. Sure he was out of sight of the Emperor's Elites, he whispered to Rasiel in his medallion.

"Is Luz okay!?"

Rasiel passed the question along to Luz, who replied; "A little hot after that blast of fire, but I'm not hurt. I'm debating if I should melt or smash my way out; I'd have to drop my barrier for both and that could get me hurt."

King grinned; "Don't worry, keep your barrier up and I'll get you out!"

"Got it! I'm counting on you King!"

The little Titan peeked out from his hiding spot and saw the Scouts heading into the cavern, with Valtora subtly following them. He'd have to hope she and Viney would be able to protect the Selkidomus while he and Luz dealt with the Elites! He also sniffed the air and noticed Eber's scent up on the cliff face; she must have decided to leave the Selkidomus to Valtora and stayed to watch the fight.

Focusing next on the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel, King made sure both were looking away from him and then promptly took a deep breath and vanished. He reappeared a moment later behind the glass hand, then took another deep breath and jumped in the air as he screamed "WEH!", sending a sonic roar directly at the glass hand. Since he was airborne, he was propelled backward by his own roar, but this worked out for him as the glass hand promptly shattered, sending fragments in all directions. King was spared any damage, as was Luz inside her barrier, but both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel were showered with broken glass, cutting them in many places. The cuts weren't deep or severe thanks to their armoured uniforms, but they still stung and bled, making both of them hiss.

"Ugh! That stupid bird! What kind of demon is he!?" the Golden Guard complained.

The Silver Sentinel didn't answer and instead sank back into the shadows just in time to avoid a huge ray of light that Luz shot through her barrier. The Golden Guard had to dive out of the way, losing the bottom of his cape in the process.

"I should have known this wouldn't be so easy!"

"To be fair, that was a pretty cool combo!" Luz complemented as she dropped her barrier; "And did you call my little brother a bird? Seriously, how do you look at him and think bird!? He doesn't even have any feathers!"

"He's got a beak!" the Guard yelled defensively.

"That's his skull, Golden Goof!" Luz laughed.

"Such childish insults are unbecoming of an angel, Lady Noceda!" he snapped back.

Luz rolled her eyes; "Angel or not, I'm still a teenager! And stop with the Lady Noceda thing! It's creepy! Besides, I'm a Noceda-Clawthorne!"

"I-I refuse to address you with that Wild Witch's name! She has corrupted you!"

"Yeah yeah, I heard this enough from Belos. Call me Luz then!"

The Golden Guard tilted his head; "O-Okay?"

Luz smiled, though that smile soon vanished as the Silver Sentinel suddenly leapt out of Luz's shadow and aimed a blow from her staff at the back of Luz's head. At the same moment, the Golden Guard suddenly flashed forward with his red teleportation spell and aimed a blow at Luz's gut. Luz was quick to throw up another barrier, but the Sentinel was too close, and while her barrier blocked the Guard's attack, the Sentinel was already within Luz's barrier. There was a loud thwack and Luz cried out in pain as the Sentinel's staff bounced off the back of her head, knocking her over.

"OW! That hurt, Stupid Sentinel!" Luz yelled, rubbing the goose-egg the blow had given her. She retaliated by releasing a huge blinding flash to both stun the two Elites and remove any shadows, preventing the Silver Sentinel from fleeing as Luz blasted her point blank with an Aurora Beam, freezing her from the neck down.

Luz then dropped the barrier and flew towards King while the Golden Guard was focused on thawing out his partner. Luz grabbed King and put him on her shoulder before flying high into the air; "Thanks for the save earlier, little brother."

"No problem Luz! Let me heal that bump of yours!" King grinned.

Luz blinked in surprise; "But you don't have healing magic." she pointed out.

"Don't I?" King replied, revealing his notepad. He flipped it to a page with a glyph already drawn on it, but Luz was shocked by its design; it wasn't actually a single glyph, but a series of ice, plant, and light glyphs arranged together on various circles and connected with lines in odd patterns. It looked a little like a circuit board made of glyphs, and when King pressed it, the odd symbol turned into a dark blue glow around King's paw, which he pressed to the bump on Luz's head. In an instant, she felt the pain fade and the swelling go down, completely healing her.

"W-What!? What was that!?" Luz exclaimed.

"Glyph Combos!" King cheered; "My secret project! I came up with it after seeing you mix the glyphs together and decided if you could do it with your glyphs, there had to be a way to do it with mine!" he said, looking so incredibly proud of himself, "It took some figuring out, but I got there in the end! I've got five spells worked out, including the healing one!"

Luz laughed and tossed King into the air, before catching him and twirling around, hugging him tightly; "You are amazing, King! This is incredible! I'm so proud!" she praised, rubbing her cheek against his skull.

King preened happily; "Yes! I am the King of Glyphs!" he declared, before looking down at the ground, where the Golden Guard had almost finished thawing out the Silver Sentinel; "Now prepare a cool spell and hold your breath! I've got another one to show you!"

Not sure why she needed to hold her breath, Luz nonetheless did what she was told and prepared a plant spell as King pulled out another glyph combo, this one using a couple of light glyphs and a couple of ice ones. He placed it against his chest and to Luz's surprise, they both turned invisible. Using this moment of invisibility, Luz swooped down and blasted both of the Emperor's Elites with her prepared plant spell, placing conjured seeds inside their clothing which immediately began producing thin ivy-like vines to coat them both. The vines glowed red and flowers began to bloom on them as they drained some magic from the two.

"Ha! How'd you like my take on Leech Seed!" Luz cheered, suddenly becoming visible again. "Great job on the invisibility combo, King!"

"I know, I am amazing! It only works when holding our breath though; I haven't worked out the kinks in it yet. Maybe its because its illusion magic and needs the wind element to be complete, but we don't have the wind glyph yet." King theorised.

Luz opened her mouth to agree, when she was distracted by both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel suddenly attacking her again. The former had used his red teleport to escape, while the latter had sunk back into the shadows, only to pop out being Luz. Both launched kicks at her back, and Luz was caught so off guard that they both hit her and she staggered forward with a groan. She spun on her heel to blast the pair with twin light beams, but both vanished again. Expecting them to reappear behind her once more, Luz threw up a barrier, only for the Silver Sentinel to pop out of King's shadow, which was being cast on Luz's wings. Luz screamed in shock, her wing feeling ice cold where the Sentinel was emerging, and the Sentinel promptly spun her staff and conjured a long chain that she wrapped around Luz's wings, preventing her from flying.

King roared at her, but the Sentinel disappeared back into the shadows, then since Luz had been forced to land, popped out of her shadow cast on the ground. The Golden Guard then flashed over to Luz's barrier and both swung their staves with red magic flowing through them, hitting Luz's barrier at the same spot on both the inside and the outside. This proved to be an effective trick, as it promptly shattered Luz's crystal barrier like it was naught but glass.

Once again, King roared at them, but they once again vanished with their unique teleportation tricks. Luz channelled light magic into her wings, then empowered them further with the Destruction aspect of fire magic, allowing her to effortlessly destroy the chains binding them. She flew up high once more, and created a light ball to hover between King and her wings to prevent any more shadows being cast on her body, but this didn't stop the Golden Guard from flashing up to her and attacking with a bolt of red lightning. Luz, wary of having her barrier broken again, instead conjured some vines to absorb the spell and try to bind the Golden Guard, but then the Silver Sentinel leapt out of the Guard's chest, using the shadow cast by Luz, and she easily burned the vines away with purple flames similar to Amity's.

Sick of this shadow hopping, Luz released a huge flash of light to prevent any more of it and then shot a flamethrower-like stream of fire from her hands at the duo of elites. Once again showing their incredible teamwork, the Golden Guard grabbed his partner and spun around, using his cloak to shield them both from Luz's flames (which weren't very intense, since she didn't want to kill the pair). This provided the Sentinel with another shadow on the Guard's chest, allowing her to leap into it and get to safety, which in turn allowed the Guard to flash away again without exposing his partner to danger.

"These two are like flies that I just can't swat!" Luz complained.

"Sorry Luz…" The Golden Guard said, appearing above Luz in a flash of red light; "… but this fly will be swatting you instead!"

He pointed his staff at her and prepared to fire a blast of red lightning. Luz immediately moved to dodge, but the Guard had appeared directly between Luz and the sun, so his shadow was being cast over her body. The Sentinel partially emerged from Luz's chest, making her shriek at the cold feeling on her body, and swatted King off of Luz's shoulder with a gust of wind conjured from her staff.

"King!" Luz cried, trying and failing to fly to him with the Sentinel hugging her and grasping her wing joints. Thankfully, King pulled out another of his Glyph combos and slapped it onto himself, causing him to stop falling about a foot off the ground, before landing with a gentle "oof!"

The young angel sighed with relief, but this distracted her long enough for the Guard to shoot his spell, and the Sentinel immediately vanished back into the shadow so she wouldn't be hit.

Luz screamed as the lightning hit her, filling her nerves with the same stinging pain as Belos' spell. Stunned, she fell from the sky, and King screamed out to her. He quickly used ice glyphs to make a ramp, which Luz hit, allowing her slide down to the sand safely.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" King cried, running to her side.

"Ugh, I've been better… I hate that spell!" Luz groaned.

The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel appeared on the beach a few feet away. "Sorry about that, Luz; it seems I was wrong! This bug zapped you instead of swatting you! My bad!" he said jovially, before his voice turned hard; "Please don't make me swat you too."

Luz stuck her tongue out at him, making him sigh and causing the Silver Sentinel to summon her phantom hands to begin signing to her partner; "The Rebels have their talons deep in her soul. Nothing we do can shake them; let's just defeat her and take her to the Emperor."

The Golden Guard began to sign back with his real hands; "You're right… still it feels so wrong to be beating up an angel, even one that's defying the Titan's will! Let's give her a minute; I doubt she has much fight left in her after that blast."

Luz snorted, but didn't let on that she could understand the pair, instead whispering to King; "I'm getting my butt kicked. They're not as strong as Belos, but their teamwork is incredible!"

"Then let's fight together! Our teamwork will beat theirs!" King whispered.

Luz shook her head; "No, those two must have trained for a long time to get that good; if we fight together, we'll lose."

King was surprised; he didn't have the faintest idea how they'd actually win, he just had confidence in his and Luz's strength. In his mind, that meant the two working together would have to be better than the Golden Goof and Stupid Sentinel! But clearly Luz wasn't as confident.

"So what do we do? If you can't beat them alone or with my help, how do we win?" King asked.

"Divide and conquer. Think you can handle one of them on your own?" Luz whispered.

King nodded confidently; "I can do it!"

Luz grinned; "Then here is the plan."

[Meanwhile]

Viney paced around the Selkidomus' nest, being followed around by the Baby Selkidomus, who bounced happily beside her, making adorable chirps and occasionally nuzzling against her, wanting pets. She was glad to indulge him every now and again, especially as she listened to the sounds of battle coming from the beach. The Mother Selkidomus was also listening, looking between her baby and the cavern entrance. Viney could have sworn that the look on the beast's face was one of consideration, wondering if she should trust the witches and angel, or make a break for it into the ocean with her baby. Viney wouldn't blame her for trying, especially with the sounds of combat echoing through the cave.

One particularly loud set of groans right at the cave entrance had the Baby Selkidomus whining in distress, so Viney knelt beside him and petted the plant on top of his head; "There there, little buddy. Don't worry; Mama and Viney will keep you safe. We won't let the bad guys get you." she cooed softly.

The noise from the cavern entrance grew louder, causing Viney to look up. She paled as she saw two dozen Coven Scouts surging into the cavern and begin making their way down towards the nest, each brandishing their spears. Viney quickly shoved the Baby Selkidomus into the nest of seaweed and kelp, and stood between the Mother Selkidomus and the approaching scouts.

One of the scouts immediately called out to Viney; "Watch out kid! That beast is right behind you!"

Viney put her hands up defensively; "Wait! The Selkidomus isn't a threat any more! She's tame! She won't hurt me, see?" she said, patting the Mother Selkidomus on the belly.

The Scouts began approaching with spears and spell circles prepared, making the Selkidomus growl at the blatant aggression.

"It doesn't look tame to me!" one of the scouts snarked.

"She's just scared! She won't hurt anyone if no one hurts her!" Viney said, "Please, just put down your weapons!"

"And leave ourselves defenceless? Not a chance, kid. Now get away from that beast!" another scout ordered, "The Emperor has a bounty on this thing and we intend to collect!"

They got a little closer and the Selkidomus growled louder as Viney began to panic; "Stop! You don't need to kill her! She's not a threat!"

"Kid, threat or not, her skin is worth a fat bounty! Now step aside! I won't tell you again!" The lead Scout ordered.

Valtora, who'd subtly followed the scouts into the cavern, suddenly flew down from the entrance on her staff and stood between her daughter and the scouts; "Hold on! This Selkidomus is being dealt with by the Beast-Keeping Coven! I have permission from Head Witch Eberwolf to deal with it at my discretion! Now back down! This beast is not to be harmed!"

The scouts looked at one another, and a few began muttering. They were debating if the bounty for the Selkidomus was worth the trouble of dealing with an angry Coven Head when all this was over… or at least they were until one of the scouts asked; "Do you have proof of those orders? Or are you just trying to keep the bounty for yourself?"

Valtora grimaced; she had no such written orders, and she could hardly ask Eber! The Head Witch was outside, and her presence wasn't supposed to be known!

"No, but I-"

The woman's words were cut off by a sudden spell from one of the scouts, which bound her up in tight rope and made her fall face first onto the ground with a gasp of surprise. The sudden spell followed by the sight of her mother falling made Viney scream before she registered what had been done. Her scream, the spell, and Valtora falling also set off the Selkidomus, who roared in anger and used its tail to push Viney out of the way, then began to inflate its body to launch spikes at the scouts. Unfortunately for the beast, it was facing a full twenty four scouts, who threw up a combined shield that was more than enough to stop the spikes that came raining down on them. As soon as the spikes were blocked, the scouts lowered their shields and began casting spells to create glowing magical restraints to bind the Selkidomus' head, fins, and tail. They even bound its mouth shut, and forced its head down to the ground, leaving it helpless. Selkidomus may be powerful, but on dry land and faced with two dozen people working together? The poor thing didn't stand a chance!

"Stop, don't kill her!" Viney cried, again running between the scouts and their prey.

However the Lead Scout's earlier threat hadn't been idle, and he didn't even say a word as he cast the same spell on her as had been cast on her mother, bounding Viney's arms to her sides and binding her ankles together, making her flop over.

"I warned you, brat. Be glad I don't arrest you for interfering with our business!" he scolded, before approaching the Selkidomus with his spear, ready to slay the beast. Viney and Valtora both yelled and begged for the scouts to stop as the rest prepared to help kill and skin the captive Selkidomus, but then a sound echoed through the cavern that made their hearts stop; the cry of the Baby Selkidomus.

The Lead Scout raised his hand to make his men stop, then turned to the direction of the sound. Distressed by the sounds of conflict and his mother's muffled growls, the Baby Selkidomus pulled itself out of the nest and tried to reach his parent.

"A baby?" one of the scouts questioned.

"What do we do with it?" another asked.

The Lead Scout thought for a moment, then said; "The original bounty was for A Selkidomus, not a specific one. If we bring the Emperor this one's pelt too, we might get double the reward! Or at the very least a bonus!"

The other scouts cheered, and as they continued to approach the Mother Selkidomus, the Lead Scout turned his spear on the frightened baby.

Viney and Valtora both went pale and their eyes widened. Valtora was seriously tempted to scream for Eber, which might very well blow their cover. There was already a chance that her defiance had blown hers… could she risk doing the same to Eber for the sake of the Selkidomus?

However Viney wasn't considering anything beyond saving the Selkidomus and her baby, and in that, she had two advantages her mother didn't have.

Bracing herself, Viney focused on healing magic and drew a spell circle, inwardly thanking the Titan that her fingers were free even as her arms had been bound. The spell sent pulses of blue healing magic through her arms until they hit her shoulders, which immediately popped out of their sockets. Viney winced, but used the extra flexibility to pull her arms free of the restraints. She popped them back into place by casting another healing spell with one hand, while using the other hand to coat her fingers in blue magic that emulated a scalpel, allowing her to slice apart the rope on her legs and wrists.

In the space of about two seconds, Viney had freed herself and was now on her feet, but she wasn't done yet! While her first advantage over her Mom was healing magic, her second advantage was her Demon DNA, which Viney put to use by casting a Beast-Keeping spell that coated her body in orange light.

This light drew the attention of the Lead Scout, who turned to face the source. An instant later, that scout found themselves unconscious on the ground, his spear snapped in half, his mask dented, and Viney's foot pressed on the back of his head. The other scouts gasped in surprise and stepped back, seeing their leader defeated so quickly and so brutally.

"W-What are you!?" one of the scouts screamed, looking at Viney.

Viney growled at them, as she allowed them to take in the sight of her current form. Her Cait Sith features had spread from her legs to encompass her entire body; snow leopard fur was clearly visible on the sides and back of her exposed midriff, and her arms had become completely covered too, turning her hands into clawed, leopard paws. The change had even spread to her head, turning her hair the same colour as her fur, covering her witch ears and cheeks in fur, and making her eyes turn slitted and her canine teeth grow longer. Her face was still largely witch-like, but her expression was one of feral rage, which was made more obvious by the way all her fur was standing on end and her already impressive muscles were tensing and flexing, making Viney truly look like some kind of Were-Leopard.

Valtora gasped softly in surprise; this was the result of the Beast-Keeping Spell: Wild Heart. It was a spell that only Demons or those with strong Demon DNA could use, as it allowed them to temporarily take on the full, primal power that their species is capable of. It basically transformed the user into the Apex of their species, in exchange for making their primal instincts much stronger, which lowered their intelligence and limited their other spell-casting. A normal witch would be unable to cast it, but with Viney's Cait Sith DNA inherited from her Mama, she had become quite the formidable force!

One scout, brave or stupid, pointed his spear at Viney and screamed; "What did you do to him!?"

"Let me show you!" Viney growled, before lunging at the scout with the speed of a leopard. Her claws slashed against the shaft of his spear, splitting it in half, while her tail whipped forward and grabbed his ankle, pulling it out from under him. Finally, Viney's other paw slammed into the Scout's face and smashed him into the ground with enough force to dent his mask and knock him out. It took her less than a second to demolish the fool, and she placed her foot on his head just like she'd done with their leader.

"Who else wants a demonstration!?" she snarled.

"You brat!" another scout yelled, charging her with his spear. Four other scouts joined in, with one other charging with their spear while the other three cast bolts of magic at Viney, either to damage her or bind her with magic restraints. None of it mattered however; with her feline agility, Viney twisted between the two spear thrusts, then grabbed one in each hand and pulled them forward, dragging the scouts forward as well. Still holding them, she then leapt up and delivered a double kick straight to the first scout's face, while her tail grabbed the neck of the second scout and pulled him between her and the other scouts' spells, resulting in him being both tied up and blasted in the back.

The two spear-wielding scouts fell to the floor unconscious, and Viney used their bodies like a springboard to leap at the three spell-slinging scouts. Her claws smashed into the two on the sides, while she bit down on the shoulder of the one in the middle, resulting in all three hitting the ground screaming. The two she'd slashed found their heads being smacked against the hard floor of the cave, breaking their masks and knocking them out, while the one Viney had bitten screamed in pain as Viney stood up and swiftly stomped on his face, knocking him out too.

That left seven scouts bloody and unconscious on the floor, while the remaining seventeen began to shake with fear and back away, still pointing their weapons and spears at the wild girl, but too scared to risk bringing her brutal wrath down on them. Seeing this, Viney decided to end things with a combination of all three of her magic types; Beast-Keeping, Healing, and Bardic. She took a deep breath and released a leopard-like roar of fury, which sent waves of paralysing fear through the hearts and minds of the Scouts, using Beast-Keeping magic to create the roar, Bardic Magic to imbue the roar itself with magic, and Healing Magic to specifically target their hearts and minds, turning the roar into a kind of healing spell that caused the heart to beat faster and the brain to flood the body with the chemicals produced during fear responses. The result was something that triggered all of the scouts' fight or flight responses, and seeing as they were already afraid of the wild girl's brutality, their only option was flight.

With a cacophony of screams, the more cowardly ones immediately ran from the cave, throwing down their spears and fleeing for their lives, while the braver ones stopped only to gather up their unconscious companions and flee with them on their shoulders. Viney continued to growl lowly until they were completely gone from the cavern, then she took a deep breath to calm herself down and drew an orange spell circle, causing her to return to her normal, witch-like form.

"T-That was more intense than I imagined it would be…" she panted, shocked by her own fury and violence now that she wasn't being ruled by primal instincts.

"That was terrifying, but amazing!" Valtora praised, "Well done, baby! I had no idea you could use that spell!"

Valtora had seen Eber use it once, and it had been rather scary then too, but seeing her daughter use it and take on more of her wife's features filled Valtora with pride.

"Thanks Mom. Hold on, let me untie you." Viney said with a pleased smile, glad her Mom was proud of her. She used a scalpel spell to cut the ropes binding her Mom, then did the same to the restraints on the Mother Selkidomus. The Mother then carefully examined her baby (who was frightened but unharmed), before lowering her head down to nuzzle Viney in thanks. Viney giggled as she ended up being licked by the Mother Selkidomus while the Baby chirped happily and nuzzled against her sides.

Valtora smiled at the sight of her daughter between the two sea creatures, and reached down to ruffle the girl's hair. The Selkidomus were safe now and the scouts had been sent packing; now they just had to hope things were going as well up on the surface!

[Meanwhile]

Luz had just finished whispering her plan to King as the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel spoke to each other in sign language, debating what strategies they would use against the young angel while being completely oblivious to the fact she could understand them. They'd not yet attacked again, as they were convincing themselves that since she hadn't stood up again yet, she must be contemplating surrender.

At that moment, those on the beach began to hear a terrified screaming and turned to the mouth of the cavern, where they saw the scouts from earlier come running out in terror, carrying several of their own who were unconscious and bloodied. The Golden Guard barked orders at them, demanding they stop and report what happened, but they were too afraid and ignored him completely. They fled to a pair of powered dinghies that they'd used to come ashore in the first place, and hopped in before fleeing in them. Luz thought they'd sail back to their frigate, but apparently they were so full of manic fear that they sailed right past it, speeding off to the south as fast as the dinghies' limited engines could take them.

"D-Did we just get deserted?" the Golden Guard spluttered.

"The Emperor will be furious… to think two dozen scouts would be driven of by one Selkidomus. Those men will be on latrine duty for decades." the Silver Sentinel signed, so exasperated that she was actually using her own hands instead of illusory ones for a change.

Luz and King blinked, not sure what to make of what had just happened, though they suspected Viney and Valtora were responsible. They grinned; this would make their plan so much easier, and gave Luz an opening to split the Guard's and Sentinel's attention!

"King! The Selkidomus must have driven off the scouts! Go inside and make sure she's okay, and make sure she isn't hurt by any traitors!" Luz said loudly, still pretending to think Valtora and Viney betrayed her. "I'll go to these guys' ship! They can't escape if they have no ship!"

"Got it, Luz!" King said, just as loudly, before he began running for the cave entrance. Luz took to the sky and began flying to the Emperor's frigate, and just as she'd hoped, the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel were forced to split up to pursue them.

"Dang it! Partner, don't let the bird get to our informants! I'll protect the ship!" the Golden Guard yelled, flashing after Luz. The Silver Sentinel nodded and sank into the shadows, popping out of the shadows in the cave entrance to intercept King.

"I'm not a stupid bird!" King yelled, firing a sonic roar at the Sentinel. The rings of light that accompanied his roar prevented the Sentinel from jumping into any shadows to escape, so she instead twirled her staff to create a barrier to absorb the roar. King then took a deep breath and slapped on the invisibility glyph so he could sneak around to the girl's back and hit her with another combo. However, even before he could try anything, the Sentinel conjured a throwing knife and threw it directly at King, clipping some of the fur on his cheek but otherwise not harming him. This made King gasp and lose his invisibility.

"Weh!? How'd you know where I was!?" he demanded.

The Sentinel pointed a finger at King's feet, and he looked down to see that he'd been leaving footprints in the sand.

"Oh…" he muttered, before screaming "Weh!?" again as the Sentinel swung her staff at him like he was a golf ball and she was trying to score a hole in one! King managed to dive out of the way, then used the fourth of his five completed glyph combos. This one used light, ice, and fire glyphs to create a powerful burst of wind, which King used to send himself skyward. It felt awkward and unnatural to use other elemental glyphs to mimic the power of a different element, but without knowing a wind glyph, it was all King could do for now.

Now in the air, King held his breath and then used three combos in quick succession. The first turned him invisible, while the second used wind to blow him to a different spot, so the Silver Sentinel wouldn't be able to tell where he was. The third was his Safety Hover combo, which stopped him falling and left him hovering just behind the Silver Sentinel. He then released his breath with his Titan Roar, blasting the girl in the back and making her yelp in pain as she was sent flying towards the sea. King then used a plant glyph to grab the Sentinel before she hit the water (Luz would be disappointed in him if he let the girl be boiled to death) and tied her up, before dumping her on the beach just out of reach of the tides.

"Gotcha! I'm the greatest!" he cheered.

The Silver Sentinel squirmed for a moment, before shaking her masked head at the little demon. She then slipped into the shadows beneath her, leaving her restraints behind.

"Again with the shadows!" King whined, "Stop running away!"

The Sentinel responded by leaping out of King's shadows and grabbing one of his horns, which she used to hoist him into the air, keeping his face pointed away from her so he couldn't just roar at her again. She then conjured a large cage (a bird cage, to King's annoyance) around him and dropped him onto the beach.

"Hey! I said I wasn't a bird! I don't even have feathers or wings! I'm like the only one in my family who doesn't have feathers or wings now!"

To his surprise, the Sentinel giggled girlishly, though the sound was somewhat distorted by her mask. She then conjured an illusory hand in front of him (she was still refusing to stand where he could blast her with a roar) and had it wag a finger at him like one would do to a naughty child.

King saw this and completely lost his temper, stomping his feet inside the bird cage, and letting out the most high-pitched and adorable squeak of rage. It took the Sentinel entirely off guard, and she continued to giggle in delight, completely distracted. King used that distraction to pull out his final glyph combo, one that he was sure would stop the Sentinel's laughter!

It only used the plant and fie glyphs, which combined to form a Beast-Keeping spell that conjured a pair of massive, black-furred and beastly arms. It was similar to Belos' flesh creating spell, but King had modelled his on how he imagined he'd look once he was older, so the monstrous arms were Titan-like as they emerged from the sand and gripped the bars of his cage, before pulling them apart, destroying the cage and freeing him.

The Silver Sentinel stopped her laughter and dived into a shadow to avoid being struck by the beastly arm's claws.

"Ha! How'd you like my Monster Glyph Combo!" King laughed.

The Silver Sentinel reappeared from the shadow of one of these arms and immediately used her staff to conjure two more throwing knives. She stabbed one through the palm of one monster arm, while throwing the other into the palm of the second arm, before snapping her fingers. Just as she'd done with Luz's tree roots earlier, the monster arms began to rapidly decay and disappear as the knives disintegrated. Clearly not playing around any more, the Sentinel manipulated the sand beneath King to try and bind his legs, then shot a burst of purple flames at him. King countered with an ice glyph to make a wall that blocked the flame, then roared at his own feet to both free himself from the sand and launch him into the air a bit. He then landed on top of his ice wall and used another Monster Glyph Combo to conjure a giant monstrous head. The head resembled a wolf with a version of King's skull on it, and it snapped at the Sentinel with mindless strength. She was forced to jump back into the shadows to avoid the massive head, and actually made her staff emerge from a shadow within it's mouth, where she promptly shot out a ball of intense purple flames to incinerate it from the inside.

King stomped his foot in irritation, but saw that only the flesh, fur, and muscle of his monster spell had burned away, leaving behind the skull itself. He jumped off his ice wall and hurried to it as quickly as he could, while the Silver Sentinel jumped out of the shadow cast by his ice wall. She then leapt onto his wall and began shooting small red blasts at King, forcing him to zigzag until he could jump into the monster skull and use it as a shield. The Silver Sentinel jumped from the wall onto the skull and cast a spell that made it sink down into the sand, effectively turning it into a cage to keep King trapped. However this was just fine with King, who roared with all his might at the roof of the skull's mouth, hitting it with such force that it was blasted upward, knocking the Sentinel off balance.

Now that she was in the air and not in contact with any shadows, King had her right where he wanted her! He pulled out a fire glyph and decided to use the other trick he'd learned in the last week; a combination of glyphs and his own natural magic! He placed the glyph note on his tongue, then released another of the biggest sonic roars he could directly at the airborne Sentinel. This also triggered the fire glyph, and the resulting flames were combined with the roar to create a monstrous fireball shaped like a Titan's skull. Since the monster skull left from King's last combo also looked like a Titan skull, the whole attack looked like the fiery soul of a Titan roaring out through its mouth, and blasting into the Silver Sentinel with incredible force.

She screamed in pain (the sound made King's heart lurch with displeasure) as her clothes caught fire, and she slammed into the ice wall as she landed. The wall broke but the flames still burned, forcing her to dive into the shadows to put the fire out. She emerged from King's shadow a moment later, her cloak now a lot shorter, but her counter attack, a simple blast of red magic from her staff, was weak and King easily dodged it by leaping out of the way. The Silver Sentinel's staff had lost its glow, and the girl herself was barely able to keep standing, which King found odd. Sure he'd done a fair bit of damage, but his opponent seemed far more exhausted than she should be… Maybe he'd done more than he thought.

As this battle on the beach was happening, the other side of the battle was raging a short distance out to sea.

After splitting up and leaving King on the beach, Luz had flown towards the Emperor's Frigate as fast as she could. She'd heard the Golden Guard curse behind her, then come zipping after her with his red flash spell. This spell was faster than Luz could fly, so he caught up to her before she could reach the ship, but since she'd expected to be followed, she was prepared.

"Stop right there, Luz Noceda!" the Golden Guard ordered, appearing in front of her while sat on his staff.

"Aw, I thought you were gonna call me Criminal Scum! You totally ruined the line, Golden Goof!" Luz teased.

The Golden Guard tilted his masked head in confusion, "What!?"

Luz snickered and cast an illusion spell on herself to make her invisible, then promptly flew beneath the Golden Guard and grabbed the tail end of his staff, pulling on it to make him lose his balance with a yelp. While he corrected himself, Luz (still invisible) flew towards the Frigate so she'd have solid ground beneath her in the event their battle made one of them fall. The Golden Guard couldn't tell where she'd gone, but she still flashed over to the Frigate in an instant and began barking orders to the Sailors.

"Captain Salty! Get your men to the lifeboat! The angel is nearby and plans to sink the ship to stop us escaping! My partner and I can't carry you all on our staves, so if you don't want to drown in the Boiling Sea, get the lead out!" the Guard ordered.

Captain Salty, the Demon with the crab claw hand that Luz had seen earlier that day on the docks, went wide eyed and ordered his sailors to the lifeboat, which was another of the powered dinghies. There were five members of his crew besides himself and Luz noted that they were all demons that had fish-like or aquatic features; fitting for a crew that lived and worked on the sea. Luz wondered if their aquatic features would let them survive the Demon Realm's Boiling Sea… well, she was in no rush to find out!

Deciding to mess with the Golden Guard's head a little (she was still mad at him for hitting her with that red lightning), Luz began to fly around the ship, ominously singing while invisible.

She sang "What do we do with the Golden Doofus? What do we do with the Golden Doofus? What do we do with the Golden Doofus, early in the evening?" to a slow and ominous version of "Drunken Sailor", akin to a version she'd heard in the Dishonoured Video game.

The Golden Guard looked around, in a panic, as did his crew; since Luz kept moving as she sang, they couldn't pinpoint her location through sound.

"Captain, get out of here now! She could sink the ship at any moment!" the Golden Guard ordered.

Luz finally revealed herself by flying up behind him and tapping him on the back. The Golden Guard gasped and spun around to blast her, but she stayed on his back side and promptly tied him up with vines. The Guard yelped and landed face first on the hard deck, though his mask stopped his face from taking too much damage.

"Ow…" he muttered.

"Gotcha, Golden Goof!" Luz grinned, "That was for the torture spell!" she then turned to the Captain and his crew, who had all boarded the last remaining dinghy and was struggling to make the winch lower it into the water.

"Hey there Captain Salty! Sorry for the trouble! Don't worry, you have my promise as an Arch-Angel that I won't try to sink your ship!" Luz said, giving a polite smile and bow.

"Y-Ye won't?" Salty asked.

"You won't!?" the Golden Guard exclaimed; "But you said you were going to sink the ship! Did you lie!? How!?"

"I didn't lie. I just said that I was going to come to the ship, which I did, and that you couldn't escape without it; which you can't! Or at least I thought you couldn't. I might have been wrong on that front." Luz admitted, not expecting the boy's staff to work the same as a Palisman. Though in hindsight, she probably should have. "I never actually said I'd sink it. Besides, I'm an angel remember? I don't even want to kill you or your partner, let alone some innocent sailors!"

Captain Salty slowly raised his crab claw; "Me crew and I be thanking ye, Lass. I thought we be goners!"

Meanwhile, the Golden Guard seethed; "You played me!?"

"Like the cheap kazoo you are!" Luz smirked cheekily.

The Golden Guard took a deep breath, before suddenly disappearing in a red flash, freeing himself from her vines. He reappeared behind Luz and shot another blast of red lightning at her, but Luz blocked it with a cloud of leaves, which she promptly turned into a Razor Leaf spell. The Golden Guard flashed away from the leaves, then blasted them with orange flames to destroy them. Luz then shot a blast of water at the Golden Guard's face, making him splutter as it got inside his mask, but he countered by conjuring a chain whip in the same way he'd conjured the spears earlier. He whipped it at Luz, managing to catch her ankle in the chain. He then dragged her to the deck of the ship with a cry of "I'll show you who the cheap kazoo is!"

Luz yelped and flapped her wings hard, stopping herself from hitting the deck, then shot a blast of light at the Guard's chain whip, severing some of the links and freeing herself. She then landed and grew a pair of Venus Fly Traps from the deck of the ship, which both began to shoot jets of water at the Guard. The Golden Guard conjured a cutlass and used magic to manipulate it and throw it at the plants, slicing them apart whilst he dodged their water streams. He then threw the sword at Luz herself, who deflected it by creating a crystal sword of her own. The Guard then conjured a spear and threw it at her like a javelin, and Luz again swatted it away with her crystal sword.

"For someone who doesn't want to kill me, you're throwing a lot of sharp objects at me!" Luz yelled.

"Oh I'm sorry…" he replied sarcastically, "… let me be blunt!"

He then flashed into the air and conjured a massive war hammer. It was far too big and heavy for him to swing, hence why he'd shot into the air before creating it, so gravity could swing it for him. Luz's eyes almost popped out of her head and she threw up her thickest crystal barrier to take the blow. The barrier cracked but thankfully remained in one piece, and since he couldn't lift it to swing again, the Golden Guard just vanished the hammer.

"Blunt enough for you, Lady Noceda?" he said, using the title sarcastically this time.

"I don't think turning me into a pancake is any more survivable then getting stabbed, Golden Goof!" Luz yelled at him, dismissing her barrier and pointing her crystal sword at him.

He tilted his head; "What's a pancake?"

Luz sighed with exasperation; "You know what a kazoo is, but not a pancake?"

The Golden Guard shook his head, then looked to the dingy full of sailors; "You men feel like lending me a hand? Help me bring this angel in, and you'll each have of a trillion snails to your name! The bounty on her is quite high!"

Luz scowled; so the Golden Guard was trying to send minions after her now? Perhaps his strategy was to wear her out? It would explain why he was firing such big and dangerous attacks, as her barrier used a fair bit of magic, as did any healing she had to do.

Thankfully the sailors had no wish to tangle with her; "Has the sea air rusted your brain, lad?"
Salty yelled, "We'll not fight an angel! Almost half the Isles say she serves the Titan, almost the entire other half say she's a rebel leader, and the bunch that's left say she's a Sky Siren that'll lead us to our deaths!"

The Golden Guard sighed, "Well it was worth a shot! I guess I'll have to make my point alone!"

He punctuated this by conjuring a cutlass and running at Luz. He swung at her, wielding the cutlass with surprising skill, and Luz clumsily parried the first strike with her crystal sword, then struck back. The Guard parried and riposted, forcing Luz to dodge backward as he pressed his attack, turning their Witch's Duel into a swashbuckling sword fight! Unfortunately it was a fight Luz was going to lose if it came to straight skill with a sword, so she decided to lean into her role as the pirate in this duel by cheating a bit.

Her crystal sword, as well as her barriers, were all hard-light constructs made by combining light with the change and protection aspects of the ice element. To this combination, Luz added the fire glyph and its aspect of destruction, causing the crystal blade to glow red and disintegrate the Golden Guard's sword the next time their blades clashed. The Golden Guard gasped and Luz next swung for his staff, though this time the blow missed as the Golden Guard flashed up into the air.

"You're good with a sword, Golden Goof; but I'm a cut above!" Luz grinned.

Despite himself, the Golden Guard chuckled; "You know, you really should give up this rebelling thing and join me in the Emperor's Coven; I'd love to have a companion to make puns with. My partner's attempts in sign language just aren't the same."

Luz gave him a genuine smile; "While I'm always happy to meet a fellow Punster, I'm not joining the dark side. Don't let the glowing red sword fool you; I'm with the good guys."

"No, you're not." The Golden Guard shook his head sadly, "But you will be soon."

He pointed his staff at her and prepared a powerful red beam of magic, one that would hopefully put Luz out of commission if it hit. Luz frowned and got ready to defend herself, while Captain Salty gasped at where the Angel girl was stood, and what would be struck if she dodged.

She was right in front of the ship's wheel, and just one deck below was the gunpowder and projectiles for the ship's cannons.

"Wait! If ye hit the munitions below deck, you'll-!" Salty's words were cut off by the sound of the Golden Guard releasing his spell. A long stream of burning red magic shot towards Luz, and wanting to preserve her magic, she dodged to the side instead of blocking it.

In that moment, the Golden Guard's beam of red magic struck the deck right in front of the ship's wheel, burning a hole through the iron and wood, and blasting all the way through the ship. This put a small hole in the hull, which began to let in water, but that alone was a minor problem; the hole was only an inch wide after all. The real problem was that it had passed straight through the barrels of gunpowder and explosive potions kept below deck to be used with the ship's cannons.

A dreadful silence filled the air as everyone held their breath… then Luz, who was closest to the hole, smelled burning and heard the sound of flames beginning to crackle. She peeked down into the hole and saw a flame had started on the lid of a barrel, and was slowly eating through the wood to the gunpowder within. She had only a second to think, and not confident she could shoot water accurately enough through the small hole to put the fire out, Luz decided to instead throw up crystal barriers around herself, the Golden Guard, and the dingy filled with the ship's crew. She'd just barely gotten the barriers up when the gunpowder ignited.

In a rapid chain reaction, the gunpowder exploded, igniting and detonating the other barrels, as well as the potions, sending flames and explosive forced blasting out in all directions. There was a thunderous boom and a mighty gout of flame, as the Emperor's Frigate detonated like a single massive bomb. Luz, the Golden Guard, and the crew were kept safe by the barriers, but said barriers were sent flying from the explosion, crash-landing on the beach, where King and an exhausted Silver Sentinel watched in horror. They were all a bit shaken up, and the engine on the last dinghy was busted in the rough landing, but they were otherwise unharmed, and Luz promptly dropped the barriers.

"Titan help us! The ship is gone!" Captain Salty cried.

"Ours is about to go down with it!" King screamed, pointing to the Loving Leopard. The smaller vessel had been anchored close enough to the frigate that debris from the explosion had struck it, lighting fires on the deck and blasting a few holes in the hull.

As quickly as she could, Luz flew at the Leopard and began casting ice and water spells. She froze shut the holes in the ship's hull and swiftly put out the flames on the deck. This left the Loving Leopard afloat, but looking in rough condition. Considering one of the holes Luz had frozen over had been in the furnace, she feared the ship wouldn't be able to sail.

Putting that thought out of her mind for the moment, Luz flew back to King's side. "Things didn't go so well on the ship. How about here?" she asked.

"I had it under control. I've nearly worn her out, see?" King said proudly, nodding to the Sentinel.

Luz could see the other girl's exhaustion, and nodded. She wasn't the only one to notice either.

The Golden Guard looked to his partner, who'd slumped over onto her hands and knees and was panting hard. She was shaking slightly, making him worry; "Sis!" he cried, rushing over to her as both Luz and King's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sis, you've drained yourself too much!" he said, dropping to his knees beside the Sentinel and gently holding her up by the shoulders. He looked at her staff and saw the red crystal had turned dull and grey. "You're staff is out of magic too! Use mine to refuel yourself." he said, handing over his own staff (which was almost out of magic too). The Sentinel touched it and her body glowed with a red aura for a moment, before her shaking stopped. With the Guard's help, she was back on her feet but it was clear she was still exhausted, and the Guard was in the same boat, his staff now almost out completely.

Luz eyed them both with a frown; she would have been in a similar condition if she didn't have healing magic, but even with that, she was beginning to feel the strain. Still, Luz could see from the two's body language that they weren't going to stop fighting. She wasn't worried though; King was still going strong since his magic was mostly glyphs, and even without his help, she was confident she could finish the two off… but she hesitated. They were both kids like her, and while they were severely mislead, she didn't want to just beat them up and leave them in the Simmering Shoals.

She'd basically won the fight, so it was better to show mercy.

"Listen you two; your ship is gone, your scouts ran away with two of your dinghies, your last one lost its engine, and your crew doesn't look like they want to fight. I gave you Selkidomus scales, and I'm going to take both the Mama and its baby somewhere they can't bother ships. You're not going to be able to capture me, so just give it up! Your last staff is almost out of magic, right? How do you plan to get home without your ship if you can't use them to fly?" Luz asked.

"W-We'd find a way!" the Golden Guard growled.

Luz sighed and shot a tiny light blast at him, hitting him in the forehead. It wasn't enough to do more than scuff his mask, but the force did send him staggering back a step.

"You were able to deflect those before, but now you can barely stand! Fly home and tell the Emperor you solved the Selkidomus problem, even though I got in your way. That should get you off the hook, alright? Please don't make me hurt either of you any more." Luz implored.

The Golden Guard looked ready to refuse, but he turned to his sister and saw her condition; she needed treatment and soon, and his staff would barely get him back to the Boiling Isles with its current magic. If he fought more, there'd be no chance.

"F-Fine. But this isn't over, Luz! I will bring you back to the side of righteousness if its the last thing I do!" the Golden Guard declared.

He then shakily lifted the Silver Sentinel onto his staff and then got on himself, before flashed away in a burst of red magic. Luz watched as the two disappeared beyond the horizon, then released a sigh of relief and collapsed onto her butt on the sandy beach.

"Hooray, victory for Luz!" she cheered exhaustedly.

"Are you okay, sis?" King asked, scurrying over.

"Yeah, not too bad. Thanks for your help today King; those two weren't as powerful as Belos, but I don't know if I'd have won if it was a two on one fight! You really are the King of Little Brothers!" Luz said, happily scooping him up and tickling his belly, much to his joy; "And the King of Glyph Combos too! I almost can't believe you discovered those all on your own!"

King preened; "Yes! Praise me more!"

Luz giggled and continued to pet him as the others came over. Valtora emerged from the Selkidomus' den with Viney and the Mother Selkidomus, which was cradling her baby in the seaweed-like web on its back. Luz noted the torn state of Viney's clothes and wondered how that had happened, especially since she didn't appear to be injured at all, but she was soon distracted by Eberwolf leaping down from the cliff face and stopping her camouflage. Salty and his crew gasped in shock at her sudden appearance, but Eber ignored them.

"Little Light and King fight well! You defeat Golden Guard AND Silver Sentinel! Eber thinks Pack and Rebels be happy!" Eber said, going over to sit beside Luz.

Luz smiled hopefully; "Really? I thought you might be disappointed that I did it with help, or that Viney and Valtora had to drive off the scouts while I was distracted."

Eber shook her head; "Trial was to prove strength. Little Light won fight. Strength proven. Eber want Little Light to show she cares and protects. Little Light cared and protected Selkidomus. Small help is fine. Eber says you pass trial; Pack will listen and agree."

"And I'll add my support too. You've got my respect for trying to avoid the fight peacefully with those scales too; a real Beast-Keeper knows that violence should be the last resort, and you did well. You did wonderfully too, King; going toe to toe with the Silver Sentinel like that was no small feat!" Valtora said, patting both kids' heads.

"Aye, me crew and I need to be thanking ye too. We lost me ship, but we have our lives thanks to ye both. This be the last time I captain a ship for Belos! A pox on his name, his house, and his undercarriage!" Salty yelled, before spitting on the ground, his crew doing the same.

Luz and Viney giggled at his colourful language, before the former said; "You're welcome captain. If you promise not to tell anyone about Head Witch Eberwolf, Valtora, and Viney helping the rebels, I'll call it even."

"Aye lass, that we can do. In fact, I'll do you one better! Get me lads and I back to the isles and we'll join your rebel crew! We're handy in a scrap and got no love for those marooning sons of bi-"

Eber growled, stopping Salty's curse before he could finish. The sailor bowed his head in apologies before continuing; "Point is, we'll join them CATTs o' yours, or whatever rebel crew you're sailing with!"

"That would be great! Captain, do you think we could carry these guys back to the Isles?" Luz asked.

Valtora nodded; "Of course; I'd have even helped those scouts if they hadn't run off with the dingies! That said…" she looked to the Loving Leopard and frowned. Luz had put out the fires that had started on her deck after the explosion of the Emperor's frigate, as well as frozen over the holes blown in the hull, but the Leopard was still damaged… sailing it in its current condition would be difficult.

"We might need to bust the oars out. The Leopard floats, but I don't have much hope for the engine…"

"We could jury-rig a sail? I can grow a big tree for the mast, and stitch leaves together for the sail cloth." Luz suggested, actually kind of getting into the idea of being a real old-fashioned style sailor.

"Let's see what the damage is first." Viney giggled, seeing the excitement growing in Luz and King's eyes.

With that decided, Luz and Valtora took turns flying Salty and his crew onto the Loving Leopard, with Viney, King, and Eber being the last to board. Once everyone was on board, Eber barked to the Selkidomus, who shuffled into the sea with them, still carrying its baby on its back.

"Mother Selkidomus will swim to safe waters to the north." Eber said after speaking with the creature for a moment.

"Good for her, but she's the only one who'll be going anywhere." Valtora sighed as she emerged from below deck, where she'd been investigating the damage to the hull and engines. "This boat isn't going anywhere on its own. I'll need to make repairs to the engine before it can sail again."

Viney frowned; "So we're stranded?"

"Not exactly. I've got some good news and bad news on that front." Valtora replied; "The good news is that I'm pretty sure I can repair the ship enough to get us safely to the Boiling Isles. The bad news is that the parts I need to repair are beneath the waves, so we'll need to dry dock her, and with the tide coming in, the entire Simmering Shoals will soon be underwater until morning."

"So we are stranded, but only for tonight?" Luz asked; "I guess I can call Eda and let her know… she could put food in my satchel for us to eat."

The Selkidomus growled something, and Eber looked up at her in surprise. "Mother Selkidomus says she tow us to safe place for docking and repairing."

Luz, Viney, and King smiled at that, but Salty and Valtora both looked confused. They were experienced sailors and knew these waters, and couldn't think of any such places. Still, with their options limited if they didn't want to spend the night out in the Simmering Shoals, they decided to agree.

Very carefully, Luz created some vines around the Loving Leopard, then attached the other ends of those vines to the Selkidomus, creating a plant harness for her to pull the ship with. When the Baby Selkidomus yipped and chirped at her, Luz made a similar, much smaller harness for him too, so he could help pull the ship (though it was obviously just going to be a game for the little fella). Once the ship was secured to the Selkidomus, Valtora nodded to Eber, who spoke to the beast and said they were ready. The Selkidomus and her baby then began to swim away from the Simmering Shoals, taking special care to tow the Loving Leopard behind them without smacking it against any underwater ridges or sunken ships.

They cleared the Shoals in a matter of minutes and were soon sailing eastward, much to the confusion of Valtora and Salty, who had no idea where they were going. The others were more relaxed though; Salty's crew sat in a circle with Luz, Viney, and King, listening to their stories; Viney were impressed by Luz and King's battle with the Emperor's Elites, while Luz and King were amazed by her Beastly Transformation Spell and the fact she'd used it so effectively with Healing Magic! Viney thought the others were more impressive since she only took out a couple dozen low-level scouts, but Luz was sure Viney had been the more incredible one, as she'd beaten her opponents without a scratch!

After about half an hour of exchanging stories (with the sailors adding their own tales of past exploits on the high seas), the sky was beginning to turn red as the sun set. Luz tried contacting Eda with her scroll to ask her to place some dinner in her satchel for her to summon and share with the rest of the crew so they wouldn't go hungry, but had the unfortunately discovery of learning that the scrolls had a range limit and couldn't call people that far away. The range was enough to connect two people anywhere on the Isles, but once they moved beyond the isles, that range quickly ran out. Instead, Viney took Luz below deck and they cooked up a decent meal with some rations left in storage; not as good as a proper home-cooked meal, but good enough. A while later, their meal ended up interrupted when Valtora looked towards the east and nearly choked.

The others looked up too and paled as they saw where the Selkidomus was taking them… into a gigantic storm cloud.

"W-What is that!?" Luz cried, running to the bow of the ship to get a better look. The sight in front of them was a monumental pillar of dark grey clouds connecting the sea and sky, forming an almost hurricane-like shape. It was monstrously big; large enough that it looked like it could swallow a big chunk of the Boiling Isles, and the ocean around it was churning wildly.

"The Selkidomus be taking us into the Maelstrom Strait!" Salty screamed, making his crew panic.

"The what!?" King yelped.

"The Maelstrom Strait! There used to be a pair of regular, non-Titan Landmasses here thousands of years ago, but they were suddenly buried beneath the waves when sea levels around here rose several metres. The result was the Strait between those masses become a turbulent mess of whirlpools and gale force winds! It's impassable by sea or sky, and the Selkidomus is taking us straight into it!" Valtora explained. "Eber, tell her to stop before we're dragged under the waves!"

Eber jumped from the ship onto the Selkidomus head and barked at her urgently, but the Selkidomus just growled back. Eber then yelled to the crew; "Mother Selkidomus says she knows safe path through Maelstrom."

Valtora bit her lip; it was supposed to be impassible… but few beasts had strength in the water like a Selkidomus, not to mention agility. If anything could get through, it would be one of them.

"Luz! Put a barrier around the ship! If we go under, that should at least keep us from drowning!" the Captain ordered.

"Aye Aye!" Luz yelled back, conjuring a giant crystal barrier. It was so big that Luz actually felt a substantial drain, but not so much as to be debilitating. The vine towing cables remained connected via holes in the barrier, which Luz would rapidly close if they ended up under the water. However before the barrier was fully closed, Luz flew out and landed on the Selkidomus back, then tossed Eber back into the barrier where she'd be safe.

"If the worst should happen, I'll try and use water magic to keep us out of the whirlpools! Wish me luck!" Luz yelled.

The others did just that, and Luz turned to face the Maelstrom Strait. Within minutes, they were on the edge of the giant storm cloud, and the roar of the sea was becoming deafening. It wasn't raining, but so much water was being pulled up by the spiralling cloud or spat out by the sea that it might as well have been, and Luz had to put a second barrier around herself to protect her from the intense heat. Even with the barrier, it felt like she was being steamed!

However, despite her worry and that of the crew on the Leopard, the Selkidomus was true to her word and navigated them through the whirlpools with great skill, using her strong tail to nudge and pull the ship as it got close to the whirlpools. Once or twice, the ship would get caught on the edge of one such whirlpool and almost be pulled in, but the Selkidomus strength would pull it back to safety while Luz would assist by manipulating the barrier around the ship and pulling it towards her.

It took only five minutes to get through the whirlpools, and pass through the cloud pillar, but it felt like hours with how much Luz had to juggle helping the Selkidomus, keeping her barriers up, and clinging to the Selkidomus' back so she wouldn't be blown away by the gale force winds. Passing into the cloud pillar itself, Luz felt the temperature go up as all visibility disappeared, and she was extremely glad for her barrier, as all of them would have been roasted without it.

But then, all of a sudden, the roar of the water and wind completely stopped and an almost eerie silence filled the air. Luz and those onboard the ship gasped as the sea became calm, and they were once again bathed in the light of the setting sun. Gingerly, Luz lowered her own barrier and her jaw nearly hit the floor as she looked at the sight ahead of her. The gigantic pillar of spiralling cloud turned out to be totally hollow on the inside (after passing through about twenty feet of cloud at least), and in the centre of the cyclone was a massive stretch of sea that was completely calm and quiet. And in the middle of this stretch of sea was land; the giant right arm of a Titan!

"Incredible!" Luz cried, dropping the barrier on the ship too; "Are you guys seeing this!?"

"A Titan Archipelago!" Viney gasped in surprise.

"Or at least a part of one! The arm looks a little thinner than the arm of the Boiling Isles Titan, but it looks just as long!" Rasiel exclaimed.

"This must be what caused the sea levels to rise! A Titan's arm fell here and water displacement raised the oceans enough to flood the landmasses here before!" Valtora said, excitedly looking at the new island.

The upper arm section of the Titan's Arm was largely underwater, while its wrist was slowly inclined upwards to create a very large sloping hill, with the hand itself tilted back and hanging in mid-air, its fingers pointed to the sky like mountains.

"There be no records o' land in these seas! None have pierced the strait before! We be the first to discover this land!" Salty declared, looking both proud and amazed. His crew cheered with delight beside him, and Eber let out a howl of her own to show her joy.

Luz patted the Selkidomus' head; "Great job, girl! You brought us to a new discovery!"

"I wonder if this Titan Arm is the source of the maelstroms and cyclone? It's being perfectly protected by it, and its right in the centre… Maybe a spell cast by the Titan before it passed? Or the lingering effects of its blood? The rest of the Titan is missing, so there must have been a lot of blood leaking into the water here when it first happened. I wonder if those whirlpools are actually the result of underwater wild portals…" Rasiel theorised.

King, who'd been silent so far, stared at the Titan Arm Island with a strange feeling in his chest. "Rasiel… how old do you think this place is?" he asked in a small voice.

Rasiel frowned and narrowed his eyes on the island; "Based on the rate of decay and what Valtora said earlier… I'd say it's between four and seven thousand years old. It's hard to tell more accurately than that. The fact the arm is alone and not with the rest of its body could also imply this Titan died violently, so there might be damage that worsened the rate of decay."

King gulped; "S-So it's possible this is one of the Titans killed by the Archivists and Titan Trappers?"

"It seems likely…" Rasiel said sadly, wishing he had his body so he could reach down and comfort King; "Though it's odd… Titan Trappers killed their prey by killing the Avatars containing the Titan's souls, and the Archivists supposedly couldn't use their magic on Titans. I wonder how this Titan lost their arm…?"

King didn't know, but he still felt a wave of melancholy over seeing one of his people like this. He knew this was a natural part of life for a Titan; when they passed, they became the land on which others lived, and he honestly felt pretty proud of that fact! But it hurt him inside to see one of his kind who'd died a violent death.

As if sensing her little brother's distress, as soon as Luz flew back onto the ship, she took one look at King and ran over to hold him. While the others were excited about their discovery, shouting their thanks to the Selkidomus, and preparing to make port to begin work on the repairs, Luz and King were silently offering their prayers to the fallen Titan.

Neither knew it yet, but this discovery would vastly change both of their futures.