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.

38. EP 17: Parents and Pasts

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 17: Parents and Pasts

Two days passed following the events of the Lightning Temple and Cassiopeia's Heart. For the first of those two days, King had been clingy with both Luz and Eda, and so the three of them had stayed together for the whole day as Eda went about her business for the CATTs. Thankfully, it was the first day of the End of Semester Break, so Hexside was currently closed for a week as the teachers prepared for the beginning of the Winter Semester. That meant Luz could stay home and be with her family without feeling like she was slacking off, especially since she really needed a break after the previous day. However it wasn't in the nature of King or Luz to mope around for long, so after a day spent with family to mourn Cassiopeia's passing, the two had jumped straight back into work.

Luz was practicing relentlessly with her new Earth Magic, getting help from Amity and Matt, who were the two best users of Earth Magic among her friends. In addition, having Earth Magic meant she now had all the elemental components of Construction Magic, allowing her to cast just about any Construction spell she wished, from conjuring materials to manipulating them to refining them. She still wasn't the best, but Matt estimated she'd be in the Top 5 of their class once school started up again, where she'd been somewhere in the middle of the pack before. Luz was also enjoying her new height, especially in comparison to her girlfriend Amity, who insisted that Luz would remain the cute and adorable one in their relationship no matter what. Luz didn't mind that at all. Speaking of Amity; she had yet to find the courage to talk to Lilith about considering her a mother figure. She'd tried to pluck up the courage to call her "Mom" intentionally, but she was nervous and despite Eda and Luz assuring her otherwise, she didn't know if Lilith wanted such a relationship. Instead, Amity had opted to just let things continue as they had been, until she finally gathered the courage.

King had also gotten right into training and experimenting with the new lightning glyph Luz had learned at the temple. He had woken up after his day of mourning with a new lease on life, accepting that his Mama had truly passed thousands of years ago, and the events of the Wailing Star were more like rescuing her from a very long prison sentence. He began to train pretty relentlessly, determined to become as great as his parents had been some day. If he wasn't experimenting with glyphs, he was in potions lessons with his Mom, or working on improving his flight speed with Luz. He and Luz had agreed to a visit with the CATTs therapist too, and while the therapist had felt Luz still had some issues and feelings she could do with working through, she'd judged that King was actually doing rather well now. He'd mourned fairly healthily and was working to move on and make his parents proud, rather than just forcing himself not to feel, so it was decided that so long as he took regular breaks and still occasionally came in for a talk, then he would be able to keep going as he was.

As for the CATTs and the portal construction, everything was going swimmingly. The portal was quickly approaching a completed state, with only the Titan Oculus and the Collector's Linking Spell still needed to perfect it, while the CATTs were slowly building up their forces more and more in anticipation of the Day of Unity, which was now just under three weeks away. With it being the semester break, a few of Luz's friends were off on vacation too. Willow and her parents had taken a week-long trip to Harvey's brother and his children living in the left hip, while Skara had gone on vacation with her Dad to Palm Stings. The poor man was desperately trying to stay connected with Skara despite being on opposite sides of the war, and also took her on the vacation so both could escape said war for a little while. Though he'd also done it because some unsettling news has passed through the isles…

Amaranth Secuna, Severin's ex-wife and Skara's mother, had been named the new Head Witch of the Abomination Coven. According to what Mason had reported during the Monday morning meeting, Belos had decided that since Darius had been sabotaging the reverse-engineering attempts on the Abomaton MK II, anyone in the Abomination Coven that could successfully complete it and create a new Abomaton MK II would be named the new Head Witch. The fact that Amaranth had managed it was annoying, but unsurprising since she had been the 3rd best in the coven, behind only Darius and Alador. But her elevation was a problem for the CATTs, as it meant Abomaton MK II's were now in full production at Blight Industries, which Odalia still controlled. Worse still, Amaranth had been told of Amity's ability to destroy them with her Oracle Spirit, so the cunning woman had made a small adjustment to the cores, applying a layer of salt to the containment crystal of the cores, keeping Oracle Spirits from passing through. Because of this, Alador and Darius had been scrambling to find a new weakness the CATTs could exploit, before they became overwhelmed by the steadily growing army of Abomatons.

They were still hard at work on this on Wednesday morning, and were still pouring over a copy of Alador's blueprints as they walked into the daily meeting at the Digale Island HQ, alongside Amity and the twins, who'd been trying to help.

Not many people were at the meeting; only Eda, Raine, Darius, and Eber as the four primary leaders of the CATTs were really required to be present, but others often showed up as well. In this case, Osran, Mason, Luz, King, and Rasiel were present too.

"So, what's the progress report on the Abomatons, Darry-Boy?" Eda asked with a grin.

Darius growled in annoyance; "There is no progress report, because we've made no progress. The only known weaknesses these things have are the Titan Bones inside their cores, but we can't get at them any more! Even disrupting the Abomatons with Abomination Magic is useless now since it would only paralyse the Abomatons temporarily, and each one would also force one of our people to stay focused on that task. That's impossible in a real battle with other Abomatons AND Coven Witches running about."

Raine frowned and scratched their chin; "Is it possible to just fight fire with fire? Build our own Abomatons?"

"Unfortunately, no." Alador replied; "We simply don't have the resources. Belos has put strict trade controls on a lot of the necessary materials for both the Abomatons and the machines needed to make them. I've been able to reconstruct a few of my old machines, but some parts require custom work that takes time for me or a Construction Witch. And even if we get the machines up and running and find the resources to mass-produce Abomatons of our own, we simply can't match the output of the Emperor's Coven, the Abomination Coven, AND Blight Industries."

"So if we don't find a solution, these Abomatons could prove insurmountable." Rasiel frowned.

"Correct." Darius said with an irritated sigh; "Even with the help of the three Baby Blights, we've made no progress. Despite their immense creativity and knack for finding a way around defences, Edric and Emira have had no luck with this new puzzle, and even with her immense aptitude for Abomination Magic, Amity has hit a wall in her advancement."

Luz frowned and looked over to her girlfriend; "Amity?"

The purple-haired girl nodded; "It's true. I've been training hard with Dad and Darius whenever I've not been with you or Lilith, but I've reached a point where I just can't get any stronger… no matter how hard I work, my skills aren't growing.

Luz looked confused, but the adult witches in the room all nodded sympathetically, with Eda even commenting; "Oof, you hit the Phlegm Barrier!"

"Okay, I'm 90% sure you just made that up!" Luz said, giving her Mom the side-eye.

Eda chuckled; "Nope! Believe it or not, it's a real problem with young geniuses like Amity. Especially young geniuses who use multiple types of magic. Do you remember the first lesson I ever gave you? On how Witches and Biped Demons do magic?"

Luz nodded; "Yeah, your Bile Sacs produce magic bile, and have nine glands that mix in special Spell Phlegm, letting you cast the nine types of witch magic. And Coven Sigils work by sealing off all but one of those glands, so you can only use one type of magic."

"Good job, you remember!" Eda grinned; "However there are two more factors. The first is that raw magic bile without added spell phlegm can be used to cast basic elemental magic, with different witches having different affinities for different elements. The second is that mixing Spell Phlegm does allow the user to cast stronger elemental magic if that element is related to the right type of magic, so adding Construction Spell Phlegm lets a witch cast stronger Earth and Fire Magic."

"Okay, I got all that. But then what's the Phlegm Barrier and why did it stop Amity getting stronger?" Luz asked.

Eda conjured an illusion of a witch's heart and bile sac, then showed a cross section that revealed the black bile in the middle, and the nine different coloured glands around it. "A Bile Sac works a lot like a muscle; it grows naturally as a witch does, but it also grows as it's worked out by casting magic. However the same can be said of the Phlegm Glands. If a witch uses a lot of Abomination Magic, their Abomination Phlegm Gland will grow faster. More phlegm means more powerful spells of that type. But due to the increased size, the rest of the glands have less space to grow within the Bile Sac, and due to limited space within a witch's chest, the Bile Sac can only grow and expand so far. The Phlegm Barrier is what we call it when a young witch has reached the point that they can't make their Phlegm Glands or Bile Sac grow any more, which means they can't produce more magic and thus cast stronger spells."

Luz listened carefully, then frowned; "So Amity basically became so good at Abomination Magic that she hit the level cap!?"

Amity giggled, knowing enough of Luz's hobbies to understand her references; "Sort of. It's actually closer to your Dungeons and Dragons game? You know how you can't go beyond Level 20, but each of those twenty levels can be in different things? Like having 13 levels of fighter and 7 of monk or something like it?" Luz nodded while the others looked lost, so Amity continued; "Well because I levelled up my Oracle Magic too, that gland grew too and took up some extra space, so now I can't level up Abominations as much as I could have, so I'm like a Level 17 Abominations Witch and a Level 3 Oracle."

Luz nodded solemnly; "I understand completely."

That was good, because no one else in the room did (though Edric and Emira were now very curious as to what this Dungeons and Dragons game was…)

"So the only way for Amity to overcome this wall is for her to grow up some more and get more space for her magic to grow? Doesn't that mean a witch can't get stronger once they stop growing?" the young Angel frowned.

"Not quite." Osran chimed in; "While expanding the size of the bile sac and glands are the quickest way of growing stronger, a witch can also become more efficient in their magic usage; requiring less bile and spell phlegm for the same spells, or make their bile and spell phlegm more potent, which only begins happening once the body realises the glands won't grow any further. However both are slow and arduous and the efficiency route requires strict, repeated study."

Amity nodded; "I am studying hard to try and use less magic for the same powered spells, but it basically means I can't use any higher powered Abomination Spells for now… Even trying to cast magic like you do, by mixing raw elements, isn't working."

"Why not? You can use Earth, Ice, and Darkness magic, so isn't that enough?" Luz asked.

Amity looked down in shame and Alador patted her on the head; "There's no need to look so glum, Amity… It's not a fault of yours; people have different affinities naturally."

Now everyone outside of Darius and the Blights looked confused, so Emira cheerfully explained; "Mittens can use Darkness Magic, but she's not got much skill with it. It's probably the element she's weakest with. Instead, she has an affinity for Light Magic, which makes using raw elements for Abominations difficult. For some reason, she's got it into her head that this is a failing on her part."

Amity shot a glare at her sister, but the others were quick to agree with the older Blight.

"You can't choose your affinities, Boots." Eda crossed her arms; "And hey, the fact that you're so good at the only two types of magic that use Darkness, despite it being your worst element, is still pretty impressive!"

"Mom's right! You're amazing, Hermosa!" Luz said, moving to stand beside Amity so she could hug her. "Besides, I have a Light Affinity too! So we're like two peas in a pod!"

Amity went red in the face; "I-I guess…"

"You know, there's an old wives tale about elemental affinities. They say that a person's affinities are based on their personality and how well it meshes with the aspects of the elements." Raine smiled; "A Light Affinity is supposed to be a sign of someone who is pure, positive, and caring; I think that suits you and Luz very well."

The others in the room agreed too, making Luz smile bashfully and Amity feel a little better. Inwardly, Rasiel knew that wasn't true; there was no correlation between affinities and personality. In fact, there seemed to be very little rhyme or reason to why people favoured some elements over others. Families tended to have similar affinities, but even that wasn't a hard and fast rule. Still, he wasn't going to rain Amity's parade, and Raine was right; Luz and Amity did suit the light element.

"Getting back to business…" Darius said, changing the subject; "We're still no closer to finding a weakness to the Abomaton MK II's. The only thing that can defeat them right now is sufficient power, and most of the our forces simply don't have the necessary magical abilities."

"So we're screwed?" Eda scowled.

"Not unless we've got an Abominations Witch even better than Dad and Darius hidden somewhere." Edric replied.

In a flash, both Darius and Alador exchanged looks, their eyes wide with realisation as if they'd both just had the same epiphany.

"Actually… it's a long shot, but we might have the perfect person…" Darius replied, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

"Really? Who?" Mason asked.

Alador gulped, his face pale; "My mother."

The others all looked at him with confusion, while Darius winced and his children gaped at him.

"We have a Grandma!?" Amity and the Twins exclaimed.

Alador snorted; "Of course you do! Did you think I just popped out of a hole in the ground?"

"Of course not!" Amity rolled her eyes; "We just assumed our grandparents were… you know. Whenever we asked Odalia, she told us they were all gone."

Alador grumbled; "Of course she did…"

"So Grandma is still alive?" Edric asked.

Alador nodded; "Yes, and your Grandpa too as far as I know. They currently live in Palm Stings, having retired there a few years ago. But going to see them and getting my mother involved could be problematic."

"Why?" Emira asked, before crossing her arms and saying; "Wait, don't tell me. Odalia did something, right?"

Again, Alador winced and everyone in the room knew Emira had hit the nail on the head… or close enough at least.

"My parents didn't approve of me marrying Odalia. When we were dating, they tried to convince me to cut things off with her. They said she was bad for me, but I was young, stubborn, and I thought I was in love, so I didn't listen." Alador looked away, his eyes growing misty; "Odalia convinced me to elope with her, saying it would make my parents understand how serious we were about our love… but it didn't work. They never spoke to me again, and I was basically disowned. But I still had the Blight name, and with Odalia's help, we established the Blights as a new noble house. It didn't make things better though."

Amity and the Twins all frowned sadly; so their grandparents had known the kind of person Odalia was and tried to warn their father off… It was horribly sad that their relationship with their son had been destroyed, but all three couldn't help but feel a little relieved by their father's naivete… after all, if he hadn't eloped with Odalia, they might not have been born!

"Your big mistake was ever listening to Odalia in the first place. That woman had one good idea in her life, and it was marrying someone well above her level." Eda scoffed. She remembered Odalia well from school, and she'd always been a Witch with a capital B!

"Tell me about it. I tried to warn him." Darius said with a shake of his head; "That woman was always a Snail Sniffler; when she first saw Alador and I at work, she tried to flirt with both of us! I naturally kicked her to the curb like the trash she was, but Alador was always weak to positive attention."

"Oh sue me!" Alador growled, blushing in embarrassment; "A pretty girl was taking an interest in me! I was a teenage boy at the time and not exactly in the best place, as you well know!"

A flash of pain went through both men's eyes, before they both fell silent for a moment. There was clearly something more to this, besides Odalia being a gold digger, but none of them felt like it was a good idea to ask at the moment, especially since Darius looked to be regretting saying anything, and Alador looked even more upset than when he'd talked about his parents. His children pitied him a little; Alador really had loved Odalia once upon a time, so this conversation probably opened old wounds.

Getting them back on track again, Raine gently asked; "Do you think you can try to ask your mother to help us? I know this is probably a lot to ask, but with you and Odalia now being separated, perhaps you could take this chance to reconcile?"

Alador nodded stiffly; "Yes, I suppose this is the best time for that. We're running out of time before the Day of Unity too, so I'll go today. Darius, will you come too? They always liked you, so you might be able to help convince them."

Darius nodded immediately, then asked a question he knew was on the younger Blights' minds; "Do they know about your kids?"

"I think so." Alador replied, eyes lowering. "I sent them letters when the Twins and Amity were born, but I never heard back. It's possible they burned the letters without ever reading them though…"

"Well, only one way to find out!" Emira chirped.

"Yeah! Let's go meet Grandma and Grandpa!" Edric added happily.

"It'll be great to finally meet more of our family! Luz, did you want to come too? You took me to meet your grandparents after all, so I'd like to return the favour." Amity smiled.

Her beloved girlfriend winced, making Amity frown curiously. "Well I'd like to, but I kind of already have plans for today." Luz said guiltily; "That was the next item on the agenda for the meeting…"

Eda nodded and said; "Luz, King, and I have chartered Valtora's ship, the Loving Leopard, to take us to Cassiopeia's Skull to get the Titan Oculus we need for the Portal Door. We can't really cancel, since Valtora did kind of arrange her whole day around this. But Luz could stay behind if she wanted and go with you instead."

King's face fell a little at that, and both Luz and Amity knew that he really wanted Luz to be there with him when visiting his Mama's skull. Emotions would likely be high, and the little Titan was still only 8 years old and needed the extra support of his big sister. Luz tried to think of a solution, but the skull was so far north that the trip there and back would take the rest of the day and most of tomorrow morning too, so it wouldn't be practical for her to try and go with Amity and then follow King and Eda afterwards. Plus with time not on their side, they couldn't justify delaying the trip to Palm Stings either.

Thankfully Amity was understanding; "It's okay, I think you should go with your Mom and King. That job sounds important, and besides, we've got no way of knowing how my grandparents are going to react to us or you as an Angel."

Luz smiled sadly; "Are you sure, Amity? You were there to support me through a lot of stuff recently, especially family stuff… I should be there to support you too. I feel like I'm being a bad girlfriend."

Amity scoffed and kissed Luz deeply, making her blush and squeak while the others chuckled; "You are an awesome girlfriend. The fact you want to support me is more than enough, but right now, there is someone who needs your support far more than me." she said, whispering that last part so only Luz would hear.

The flustered Arch-Angel could do nothing but nod adorably, her cheeks flushed red. Amity was a master at getting Luz to feel better, no matter what.

With Luz agreeing to stick to the original plan and let the Blights go to Palm Stings with Darius and no one else, the rest of the meeting went by swimmingly. Mason reported on the ongoing construction of Unity Plaza and had noted down several potential key weaknesses, while attempting (so far unsuccessfully) to construct secret entrances the CATTs could exploit. Raine talked about some negotiations with other rebel groups, who had largely come under the CATTs banner, and Eber spoke of how she was being largely kept away from anything important for fear she was still close to Darius, and as such she did little more than tame wild animals that were getting too close to settlements. It was basically grunt work and fairly insulting, which actually worked in the CATTs favour, as it meant Eber had more time to work on the CATTs (she was in charge of training their forces), and also angered the rest of the Beast-Keeping Coven, causing then to become more sympathetic to the CATTs (especially with the rumours that Luz had tamed three Supreme Dragons)!

Once the meeting was adjourned, everyone went to fulfil their duties; training recruits for Eber, overseeing Digale Village's expansion for Mason, coordinating with the CATTs spies for Osran, and getting ready for more negotiations for Raine. Eda, King, and Luz joined Darius and the Blights in transporting an unmarked airship back to the Owl House via the Teleportation Circle, then rode it with them to the Bonesborough docks, where they met up with Valtora for the long trip to Cassiopeia's Skull. Emira was a little disappointed that Viney wasn't present, but she'd half-expected it since her girlfriend was supposed to be spending time at the Bonesborough hospital with her Mama today.

Luz wished Amity luck and gave her a big kiss, before grinning and telling her that if her Grandparents were jerks, she'd come and sort them out for her. Amity had giggled at that, before returning the favour and wishing Luz luck with the Oculus. She and her family (plus Darius) then waved to the Owl Family as they sailed away, then got back on their airship and began flying to Palm Stings.

The trip was a lot slower than when Amity had flown there with Luz and Gus months ago using their staves, but that was the trade-off for the comfort of an airship. The trip had also been mostly quiet, as Amity had listened to her siblings chattering away about some prank they wanted to pull on Odalia, while Darius and her Dad exchanged tense whispers over by the steering wheel. It wasn't until they actually entered the skies over the Left Palm Desert that the three young Blights were drawn into conversation by the adults.

It began with Darius walking over to them and dropping three Concealment Stones in Amity's lap.

"Wear these. You three may not have bounties on your heads, but that doesn't mean the Emperor's Coven won't try to capture you." Darius said, affixing one of his own to the clasp of his cape, causing him to be disguised as an unfamiliar witch with a much plainer face.

Amity didn't argue as she slipped hers around her neck, though she did cringe a little when she noticed her hair was now green (though thankfully mossy green like her siblings and not the neon colour of Odalia). Edric and Emira also obeyed, though not without comment.

"Why exactly would the EC be after us if we don't have a bounty?" Edric commented.

"Come to think of it, why don't we? Skara said most of the Entrails avoided it because Belos didn't want to make Severin start questioning him, but is that really it? Plus Mittens did lay the smack down on that Lucy kid." Emira pointed out.

Darius rolled his eyes; "You're smart children. Think about it and see if you can figure it out. Why would your sister not have a bounty, considering her actions and importance."

The Twins exchanged looks for a few moments, communicating through raised eyebrows and tilts of the head. It was their silent way of speaking to each other, and even after knowing them all her life, Amity still couldn't decipher it. Maybe it was some kind of twin telepathy? She'd heard rumours about that sort of thing.

Edric was the first to speak again; "Mittens doesn't have a bounty because she's important. Specifically to Luz…"

"Luz is strong now, so surrounding her with scouts won't work out for Belos like it did after the Grudgby game or at Volcarpalis. She'd just fight her way out… but if Mittens was captured and used as a hostage…" Emira continued, frowning alongside her brother.

Darius grinned, seeing they'd figured it out. He remained silent though, eyeing them expectantly as if egging them on.

"But if capturing Mittens was the goal, a bounty would still be put on her. The reason it wasn't was so that she wouldn't be afraid to leave Bonesborough, and would let her guard down." Edric frowned, eyes narrowed at the very idea of it.

"It's way easier to catch her if she thinks no one's trying to." Emira agreed, equally annoyed.

Darius looked pleased; "Well done. I was told this back before I was exposed as a rebel; Belos was reluctant to put bounties on Luz's younger friends, believing it would make them easier targets. I suspect Willow's previous bounty was only rescinded as an excuse to lure her out and potentially capture her, and the only reason it was restored after HECK was that it would have looked too suspicious to spare her after two incidents."

Amity raised an eyebrow; "So Belos knew Willow's alibi for the attack on Spriggan Manor was a lie, but used it as an excuse?" she thought for a moment more, then said; "Wait, doesn't that mean the Emerald Entrails were already in danger when they went to HECK?"

"Possibly. The Emperor's Coven would have likely tried to apprehend them whether they'd won or lost the event. At least that's my theory." Darius said. "I tried to tell your little friend this to ease her guilt, but it didn't seem to make her feel any better."

Amity nodded with a frown; "Sounds about right… Willow's gotten a lot better, but her confidence can still be shaken pretty easily."

Emira, who'd gotten to know Willow a little better thanks to being on the Emerald Entrails (at least until she found someone to replace her) agreed whole-heartedly. Still, with her and her brother's questions about their bounties now answered, they slipped on their concealment stones and took on altered shapes. They both looked unrelated to each other, and also had noticeably drabber, more homely appearances.

"Ugh, I'm glad Viney won't see me like this." Emira complained.

"I'm not happy about it either, but we must not be recognised." Darius sighed, tossing another stone to Alador, who was piloting the ship with a distracted expression.

Amity and Edric didn't exactly like it either, but neither complained. In fact, Edric teased his sister; "Come on Em, are you really that worried that your "kitten" would refuse to be with you if you looked like that for real?" he smirked. "If she was only into your looks, she'd have gone for me. I am the more attractive twin."

Emira huffed; she and her brother had similar enough faces that they could still impersonate each other without illusions if they tried (and maybe added a little make-up and baggy clothes), and they'd often been in a situation where someone asked one of them out, then tried to ask the other one out after being rejected. Viney was one of the few to show interest in Emira but none in Edric… though the reverse was true of a certain other Magic Mixer.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, brother dearest." Emira smirked; "We both know the only person you want admiring your looks is a certain Plant and Abominations nerd."

Edric flushed and looked away; "I have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know anything about any crush of mine!"

The others all rolled their eyes.

"It's Jerbo." Emira shot back.

"Definitely Jerbo." Amity agreed.

"The Nelumbo boy." Darius nodded.

"Jerbo's a good boy. I think he'd be good for you." Alador piped up.

Edric's eyes went wide; "I-I don't know what you're talking about!" he lied badly. "And you too, Dad!?"

Alador stared at his son for a moment; "What? I made the mistake of not knowing when my daughters found girlfriends; I'm not making it again! I've been paying attention to your lives and what you talk about! It's obvious you have a crush on Jerbo; you talk about him as much as Emira talks about Viney, or Amity talks about Luz."

His children beamed at him, with even Edric momentarily forgetting his embarrassment. Alador really had been doing his best to make up for his past negligence by spending a lot of time with his children and getting to know them and their interests. He'd even spent a fair bit of time with Luz, Viney, and Jerbo, wanting to know more about the people who'd captured his children's hearts (even if one said child was still refusing to admit it). His kids found that when Alador was taken away from his work, he became a lot more focused on the world around him, causing him to occasionally become fixated on little things in his environment, which the man had used to his advantage to fixate on his kids and offer fatherly advice. He was also very physically affectionate now, giving hugs, pats, and comforting touches whenever possible, which his three touch-starved children adored; especially Edric, who didn't yet have another person he could get that affection from, like his sisters did.

Edric shook those thoughts out of his mind as he tried to once again deny it, but Emira just rolled her eyes; "Honestly Ed, I don't get why you're so in denial about. We all know you like him, and he likes you too!"

"He does?" Ed asked in a small voice.

"Yes! You should just ask him out already!" his twin sister replied.

Ed began to look nervous; "I-I don't know… maybe I want him to ask me out!"

Their Dad, Amity, and Darius all gave him a strange look, while Emira eyed her brother sympathetically. Edric wasn't as confident as she was, and he'd had bad luck with some of the people he'd dated in the past. Getting stood up at Grom would have devastated him if not for Jerbo taking his attention. Emira had always been the confident one, and her confidence bled into Edric and perked him up. Now that they were spending more time apart (with Emira multi-tracking and hanging out with Viney), Edric found himself alone more and falling back into old anxieties about being inadequate… That feeling of inadequacy was another of his mother's little gifts in life. It was thanks to those feelings that Edric hadn't started multi-tracking yet, despite being interested in potions and beasts; he was afraid he'd be awful at it and since he'd be in those classes with Barcus and Viney, they'd tell Jerbo and then Edric would lose another friend.

Of course, Emira knew that would never happen and Ed truly did have talent, but when one's own mother spends 16 years claiming they're not good enough, it can be hard not to believe them. All the Blight Children were still working through that.

Unfortunately, Ed began to look like he was being cornered, so his family all immediately backed off and watched him summon his pet Muddle Bat; Batric and begin playing with him to relax, while Alador subtly pulled Darius away to give the boy some space. For the rest of the flight to Palm Stings, Amity and Emira made inconsequential small talk with their brother to help him come out of his shell again, and by the time they landed, Edric was back to normal.

Alador parked the airship in one of the shipyards on the edge of the city, then the five witches disembarked and headed into the city in search of Alador's parents.

Unbeknownst to them however, their arrival had been noticed by a red skinned Claw Oni from the same clan as Kikimora, who eyed them carefully. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a Comm-Pact, flipping it open and calling a Scout Captain.

"Report." the Captain ordered.

"An airship just arrived with two adult male witches, a teenage male witch, and two teenage female witches. Their descriptions don't match the ones you gave, but they arrived within the time frame you said they would and in the same model airship. The teen male also has a Muddle Bat with him, which does match the descriptions." the Claw Oni reported.

The Scout Captain nodded; "Head Witch Vespan did predict that they'd likely disguise themselves. The older teens are illusionists. I will report this to Emperor Belos; if this report aids us in capturing the fugitives, then you will be substantially rewarded."

The Claw Oni grinned greedily, then the Captain hung up the call from her side. This call became the first in a string of them, with the Captain reporting to her superior, and then so on and so forth until the report was being given to Hunter, the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven. Knowing that the report was about Darius, Amity, and Amity's family, Hunter was honestly reluctant to report it to Belos, and might have opted to pretend he'd never gotten the call… had he not been in the throne beside his Uncle when the call came in. Belos heard everything and didn't even need Hunter to pass the report on.

"So, it seems my treacherous Coven Head has finally poked his head out of whatever hole he'd buried it in. Our new Head Witch of the Oracle Coven did quite well. I will have to ensure Head Witch Vespan gets a chance to capture the traitors personally." Belos mused, summoning one of his own Comm-pacts. He paused as he prepared to call his newest Head Witch, then muttered; "Still, Darius and Alador are no slouches, and if they summon Luz, Oracle Magic will be useless. I think three Coven Heads will do better than one in this case. And I happen to know one that is already in Palm Stings…"

The Emperor's smile grew and Hunter found himself unable to hold in his shudder; he had a bad feeling about this…

[Meanwhile]

Skara sighed happily as she lay on a sunbed beside the pool of the family vacation villa she and her Dad were staying in for the week. She had a tasty drink in one hand, a bowl of Mini-Blood Apples in the other (magically muted so they didn't scream), and was listening to the sound of her Dad playing his cello nearby, filling the air with beautiful music. Their vacation had been wonderful so far, and a sorely needed bonding experience between the two, who were refusing to let their allegiances get in the way of their family. The only thing that would have made these past few days better would have been if Boscha could come along too, but considering she was a wanted criminal in the Empire, that wasn't gonna happen any time soon! Still, it was a fun and relaxing time.

Which was why the sudden ringing of a Comm-pact made both Skara and Severin frown.

Severin had promised to leave work at home, and hadn't brought any of his other Comm-pacts or his work scroll, only bringing his personal one that only friends and family could call. The one exception was the Comm-pact that linked directly to the Emperor himself, and which Severn couldn't afford to ignore.

Pausing in his music, Severin stood and said; "I'm sorry, my little symphony; I need to take this."

Skara was still frowning, but shrugged in a "What can you do?" gesture, making her father smile gratefully as he left the poolside and returned to his room in the villa to answer the call. As soon as he was gone, Skara gave a low whistle to summon her Palisman Melody from the basket of fruit she was hiding in nearby. Ignoring the sticky fruit residue all over her beloved cricket Palisman, Skara whispered; "Go and eavesdrop on Dad, okay? If he's talking to Belos, I want to know what it's about."

Melody nodded and happily flew around the villa to Severin's bedroom window. It was open for ventilation sake (it was very hot after all), so Melody was able to easily peek in and listen to Severin's call. The man had already answered and was talking to Belos, but thankfully Skara and Melody had acted quickly enough that they only missed the usual opening pleasantries.

"I appreciate the apologies for interrupting my vacation, Emperor Belos. However I understand it is important. How may I serve you?" Severin said, his tone a tad more clipped than usual.

"Head Witch Vespan has predicted that two wanted criminals; Alador Blight and Darius Deamonne, have arrived in Palm Stings in the company of the three Blight Children. They are expected to make contact with the Elder Blights and receive help in some act of sabotage within the Abomination or Illusion Covens. I have dispatched two other Coven Heads to Palm Stings, two related to this issue, and wish for you to join them since you are already present." Emperor Belos explained.

Severin frowned severely, but nodded regardless; "Very well. I assume I am to work with my comrades to arrest the traitors?"

"Correct. You are also to take custody of the Blight Children. As their father is a criminal, they are to be returned to the custody of their mother. You are to help in this matter… except for Amity Blight. She is to be brought to me." Belos ordered, his previous kind and almost grandfatherly tone melting away. "The Day of Unity is approaching fast and Luz must take her place at my side if it is to succeed. I have contingencies in place, but I'd rather not resort to those if I can help it; it is imperative that the youngest Blight is brought to me. I'll brook no failure in this, Severin."

Severin narrowed his eyes; "My loyalty-"

"-is not in question." Belos cut him off, "But the general competency of my Coven Heads is. Osran, Deamonne, and Whispers became rebels, Cutburn lost her life betraying me, and Terra has proven herself unreliable in recent weeks. Combine that with the failures of Vitimir and Adrian, and the suspicion around Eberwolf, and I'm sure you're smart enough to see why I am starting to lose my patience… especially given the fact your own daughter is a suspected rebel."

Severin's jaw clenched and both Skara and Melody heard the implied threat in Belos' words; bring him Amity Blight, or drastic measures would be taken… measures Severin wouldn't be able to protect Skara from.

"My daughter will be left alone." Severin declared, "You've had my respect and support through all of this, even with some of your questionable actions, Emperor Belos. My family owes you that much. However that is the one line I will not allow to be crossed. I will obey your orders, but the moment Skara is threatened, that will change."

Severin and Belos continued to stare each other down via the Comm-pact, neither giving an inch. Eventually, Belos (barely containing his temper) nodded stiffly and replied; "Bring me the Blight Girl. Nothing else matters."

With that, he hung up and Severin was left alone in his room. He slammed the Comm-pact shut and raised his hand as if to throw it to the ground, but he restrained himself at the last moment and began to recite musical notes to calm himself down. As Severin took a moment to cool off, Melody snuck away and returned to Skara, quickly relaying everything that had happened. Skara narrowed her eyes as both satisfaction and anger warred in her chest; anger because of what Belos was demanding and his thinly veiled threats, and satisfaction because the foolish man was unwittingly driving away another of his few loyal supporters. Perhaps it was because of his desperation or how close the Day of Unity was, but Belos was becoming more cold-hearted and demanding with each passing week.

A moment later, Skara looked up to see her father returning, wearing a strained smile with tired eyes. "Skara my dear, I'm sorry but I've been asked to handle a problem in town. The Emperor insists only a Coven Head can deal with it, but it shouldn't take me more than a few hours. Do you think you can entertain yourself for a while?" he asked kindly.

Skara nodded, not letting on that she knew the truth; "Sure. There's plenty to do around Palm Stings."

Severin winced, then said; "Actually, could you please stay in the villa? I don't think the problem in town is a big deal, but I'd rather you not get caught up in it."

His daughter frowned; more like he didn't want her to potentially run into him trying to capture her friend.

"Alright." Skara lied, "I'll hang out here."

Her father looked at her for a moment, something unreadable in his expression. He then looked to Melody, sitting innocently on Skara's shoulder. He suddenly approached Skara and stooped to kiss her on the forehead. "Thank you, Skara… and I'm sorry."

Before Skara could react, she felt her eyes begin to droop as her father started to softly hum, his voice radiating bardic magic. She tried to reach for him, but she fell asleep before she could. Severin looked at his sleeping daughter sadly, then picked her up with one hand, while Melody was grabbed by Severin's own Palisman; a sea turtle named Carabace. Unbeknownst to Skara or Melody, Carabace had been watching them from the nearby shade and knew Melody had spied on his partner.

Severin placed Skara and Melody into their room then sealed the door and windows with magic to ensure she wouldn't leave. "Forgive me, my symphony. But I can't give Belos a reason to come after you… I'm sorry."

With that, he switched Carabace to staff form and left the villa, ready to meet with the Coven Heads who'd been assigned to help him.

[Meanwhile]

Unaware of the things in motion behind the scenes, the disguised Alador led his children and Darius through the streets of Palm Stings until they reached the wealthier residential district, which was not far from the resort villas. It was the place Alador's parents had retired to, and each of the residences in the district were similar to the villas rented out to wealthy tourists. The Elder Blights lived in one in the far isolated corner, closer to the desert than the sea, so no other villas had been build close to it, giving them their privacy. As they approached the estate, Edric and Emira frowned.

"Something is weird here…" Edric muttered.

"Yeah… wanna take a look?" Emira asked.

Her brother nodded, then the two drew a large illusion spell circle together, using it like a lens to see what was going on around them. Their eyes widened as their suspicions were confirmed; the villa was covered in an illusion that made it look boring and mundane, like all the others. However looking through the lens let the twins see through the illusion, revealing that the villa was actually heavily altered with strange sculptures and abomination tech that looked a lot like their Dad's. The entire place was like a mix between Alador's laboratory and an artist's gallery! There were also a very large number of Abominations roaming about the empty land around the villa, watching for intruders and would-be enemies.

Amity, Alador, and Darius looked through the lens too, making Amity gasp while the men chuckled. "Yep, this is Mom and Dad's place…" Alador said, smiling nervously. He led them up to the gate of the villa's estate and took a deep breath as he and the others removed their concealment stones; "Here we go…"

His fist knocked against the door to the heavy wooden gate only once, as when he tried to start the second knock, a fist of abomination goo had shot out of the door and grabbed his face, while another had slammed out at his torso and knocked Alador onto his back several feet away.

The gates suddenly swung open and a spell circle appeared, causing the illusory barrier that hid the place's true appearance to expand outward a little, bringing the newcomers inside and allowing them to properly see the building's true design without the need for the twin's spell. Amity hurried to pick her father up off the ground, while the person who'd knocked him on his backside marched out to confront them.

"You've got some nerve slinking back here, Alador Blight!" yelled the elderly woman that now stood in the gateway with her arms crossed.

This woman was Alador's mother; a famous (or perhaps infamous) Abominations Genius named Nelle Blight. The instant her grandchildren laid eyed on her, they realised that Amity had inherited less from their mother than they'd thought. Nelle was the spitting image of Amity, only fifty to sixty years older (being around the same age as Dell and Gwen Clawthorne). Her face resembled Amity's, but with the wrinkles of age and icy blue eyes. Her hair was a similar style and was also lavender in colour, though with streaks of white and silver throughout (especially at the crown, indicating the lavender was likely a dye job). Despite her age however, she was still straight-backed and proud, with a thin waist and wide hips that led into strong legs. Her upper body was more slender, but her arms were thick and muscular. She wore a black tank top that left her arms bare, and dark purple pants that ended in a pair of big black leather boots. Tied around her waist was a lab coat that appeared to be made of abomination slime, and around her neck was a pair of goggles that looked identical to Alador's.

Nelle was staring down at Alador, her eyes scanning him with disapproval and no small amount of hurt. Alador blushed and averted his eyes; "Hi Mom." he said softly.

Nelle's lip trembled, before she shook it off; "I heard you became a rebel and finally ran off from that evil wench. Is that why you're here now? You realised your mistake and came crawling back!?"

Alador lowered his head ashamedly; "Not exactly…"

His mother huffed and looked away from him, instead noticing Darius. Immediately, her expression softened and she smiled at him. "Oh, hello Darius! I haven't seen you since I retired from the Coven! How have you been?"

Amity and the Twins were shocked; it seemed she actually liked Darius! The man himself gave a slightly nervous smile, which almost more shocking!

"I am well, Mrs Blight. Forgive me for dropping in unannounced." Darius said politely.

"Oh, enough of that Mrs Blight nonsense! Call me Auntie Nelle! I practically raised you, boy! You can do at least that much!" Nelle laughed. "I was shocked to hear about your rebellion."

"I always did like to live dangerously." Darius replied jokingly.

Nelle laughed; "Bah, I know that! I wasn't shocked you became a rebel, I was shocked you got caught! Now who are these three others you've brought… along…"

The woman's voice trailed off as she finally took notice of Amity and the twins. She stared at them for a few moments, before her face absolutely lit up. "You can't be… the little ones? My grandchildren?"

Amity, Edric, and Emira all nodded, suddenly feeling a bit shy. Their grandmother was looking at them with such undisguised love and affection that it was a little shocking. Their own mother hadn't looked at them like that, so it was a bit surreal for someone who was basically a stranger to do so. Amity was the one to bite the bullet and speak first.

"Y-Yes. Um, we're your grandchildren. I'm Amity." she said.

Nelle covered her mouth for a moment and the others could have sworn she was about to cry, but she recovered quickly and marched forward. She put her hands on Amity's shoulders, then gently grasped her cheeks and stroked them with her thumbs. "Oh my dear, you are beautiful. I've waited so long to meet you!"

She pulled Amity into a hug, and Amity happily enjoyed the warm, grandmotherly embrace and the smell of cinnamon that hung around her Grandma. When Nelle finally released her, still looking teary-eyed, the elderly woman looked to the twins with just as much of a loving look.

"And who are these two darling devils? A handsome lad and a beautiful lass; it's almost hard to believe you're my blood!" Nelle complimented.

The twins blushed, then grinned and performed a showman's bow; "We are the immaculate Emira…" Emira began.

"… and Edifying Edric!" Edric continued.

"And we're pleased to meet you, Grandma!" they finished together.

Nelle laughed heartily; "A couple of rapscallions is what you are! Oh, your Grandpa Colas is going to love you! Come here!"

With her sturdy arms, she grabbed the twins and pulled them into a hug, before making a show of caressing Emira's cheeks as she had with Amity, then lifted Edric's arm and feeling his bicep as if playfully testing how strong he was.

Once she was done, she turned back to the house and yelled; "Colas! Get your hide out here! We've got important guests!"

"Oh but my Nelle…" a voice appeared from all around them, projected by an illusion. Suddenly, dozens of fireflies appeared from thin air and began to fly towards a spot in front of the villa, fusing together into one mass of light that then disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke, revealing Colas Blight. "… I've been here the whole time!"

Edric and Emira grinned and applauded as Colas took a bow and winked at Amity, who giggled a little.

Colas was a man of about the same height as Alador (if he didn't slouch) and in fact looked very much like him. He was thinner (to the point of looking a bit gaunt), and had a lot more wrinkles, but otherwise they had very similar faces and builds. His hair was the same brown as Alador's, though more well groomed and in the same style as Edric's. He also had a goatee and moustache, and the same golden eyes as Alador and his children. His outfit consisted of loose white pants, sandals, and a pastel blue tank-top, which he wore a painter's apron over. He was the perfect picture of an older, eccentric gentleman artist, and his smile was just like his son's.

When Colas straightened from his bow, he looked briefly at his son and his smile faltered, becoming a sad and pitying one. "Son." he said quietly.

"Hey Dad." Alador replied, barely lifting his eyes from the ground. He looked like a little boy who'd been caught doing wrong and knew it.

"I heard about you splitting from Odalia when you went rebel. I'm sorry it didn't work out." Colas said gently. Nelle frowned but didn't say anything, while Alador just winced.

"Yeah…"

"That was over two months ago. I'd have thought you'd come see us sooner." Colas continued.

Alador seemed to shrink on himself even more as his shame ate at him. All he could say was another weak; "Yeah."

Colas sighed; he didn't want to needle his son any more. It wouldn't do anything but hurt him. Instead, he smiled at Darius. "Good to see you, Lad. Are you doing well since your own flight from the law?"

Darius nodded; "I am Mr. Bl-" Colas gave him a look, and Darius hastily corrected himself; "Uncle Colas."

"Glad to hear it! Now of course, the real stars of the show." Colas looked to his Grandchildren with as much love as his wife had; "The terrific twins, Edric and Emira, and of course Little Amity." Colas sounded a little choked up when he said Amity's name. Grandma Nelle had seemed to react to it too, but Amity didn't know why, though she was curious to find out.

"Hey Grandpa! Nice to finally meet you!" Edric greeted, offering his hand for a shake. Colas took it and gave it a very serious shake, acting like he was testing Edric's grip strength, before chortling and yanking the boy forward into a hug. When he was done, he gave Emira a big hug too and kissed her cheeks, then picked Amity up and swung her around before hugging her too, making the youngest Blight giggle.

"It's great to finally meet more Blights that don't totally suck!" Emira said teasingly as Amity was released from her Grandpa's arms.

"Yeah! We thought Dad was the only family we had! It's nice to know we have more." Amity said happily.

Nelle and Colas puffed their chests out proudly; "That's because we're all REAL Blights! We're ecstatic to finally meet you children!" Nelle said, before shooting Alador a dirty look; "It only took 16 years!"

Alador winced once again, and his kids began to feel a little defensive. They understood that their grandparents were mad he married Odalia, but this was starting to feel mean! Especially since they'd supposedly disowned him. Thankfully, Nelle seemed to realise she was upsetting her Grandbabies, and Colas gave her a calming touch to the shoulder to further lessen her anger.

"Well, let's not spend all day out here in the boiling sun. Let's get inside and talk in the shade, over some cold drinks. Then you can tell us why you really came all the way here." Nelle said, putting on a slightly forced smile as she put a hand on Amity's back to herd her into the villa. Colas did the same with the twins, and waved for Darius to follow. After a moment, Amity noticed her Dad wasn't following (nor had he been invited to), and tried to stop.

"Hold on. Dad, you should come too." she said firmly.

Alador looked up in surprise, but then smiled sadly and shook his head. "No, Mittens. You go on ahead… Mom is right to be furious with me. I made my choice years ago, knowing full well what the consequences would be. I don't have the right to come crawling back now that I'm suffering those consequences." he pulled out the blueprints for the Abomaton MK II and handed them to Amity; "I leave this to you. You and your siblings aren't a part of my mistake though. You deserve a relationship with your grandparents, and they deserve to see the only things in my life that I can truly be proud of making. I'll go spend some time in the city; call me when you're ready to go."

With that, Alador turned and walked away. His children looked on sorrowfully, and both Colas and Nelle clearly wanted to object too. However Nelle was still too upset about what had happened between them, and Colas didn't want to undermine his wife's feelings, especially when he still struggled with his own.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Darius turned to follow him; "I should go and make sure he's alright. This seems more like a family bonding moment anyway."

Nelle and Colas both wanted to object and insist that Darius WAS family, but he was gone before they got the chance. They sighed at this and muttered something to one another that Amity and the twins couldn't here, before putting their smiles back on and leading the teens to their living room. The interior of the estate's grounds was similar to the holiday villas the Blights had stayed in before, with a series of smaller buildings and houses in a nice estate. The space between these buildings was filled with intricate sculptures made from all manner of materials and taking shapes and designs that were unlike anything the teens had seen before.

"These are all my work." Colas explained as they made their way to the central villa and the living room within. "While Grandma is all about technology and practicality, I prefer to use my creativity on more artistic endeavours. It's no wonder I was quite an illusionist in my youth!"

"They're amazing!" Edric commented; "I've never seen anything like these. Maybe I should try it some time."

Colas grinned; "I'd be happy to lend you some materials and a space to give it a shot. After we've sat down for some iced tea of course."

Edric looked intrigued by that offer, as did Emira. However both were still distracted by the situation with their dad, which had also made Amity clam up. Once they arrived in their grandparents living room and sat down in comfy seats, Nelle ordered some Abominations to bring them iced tea, which they did promptly. The five Blights sat and drank the tea for a few moments, all of them sighing in relief as the cooling beverage helped take the edge off the heat.

Finally, Nelle put her tea cup down and smiled knowingly at her grandchildren; "Alright, I think it's time we stop beating around the bush. Your Grandpa and I are ecstatic to have you here and finally meet you after 16 years… But I think we all know that son of ours didn't bring you here solely to reconnect with us. You all want something, and seeing as Darius came along too and Alador gave you that blueprint…" she pointed at Amity, "… I'm assuming my expertise is needed with something."

Amity nodded seriously and unrolled the blueprint on the coffee table, showing Nelle the Abomaton MK II design. "Before Dad finally wised up and left Odalia, he created this to be sold as a mass-produced weapon by Blight Industries. Well he told me all about it, so I contacted the rebels…"

She gave a detailed recounting on the Blight Ball, the involvement of the CATTs, the final fight with Odalia, Alador's subsequent defection to the rebels, and Darius' attempts to slow the reverse-engineering of the Abomaton, until his replacement: Amaranth Secuna was able to finish it a few days ago. Now they needed help finding a weakness in the design that they could exploit, since the original weakness had already been resolved.

Nelle and Colas listened carefully, with Nelle especially sighing exasperatedly. "Honestly, I've told that boy a thousand times; never create an abomination that you can't personally destroy!" she muttered. She then leaned forward and looked at the blueprints more closely, her frown growing as she did so. "Titan, Alador has come far since the old days… this might actually prove a challenge. I can see why he brought you all to me… Still, I've yet to find an Abomination I can't deal with!"

Nelle hopped to her feet, then said; "Which of you kids are skilled in Abominations?"

Amity stood up, while her siblings both grinned and pointed at her. Nelle smiled happily; "Wonderful! You are going to come to my lab and help me! I want to see how good you are!" she turned to her husband; "Colas, we'll be busy for a bit. Why don't you use this time to show Edric and Emira your sculptures, and let them try their hand at making one?"

"Ooh, capital idea! Come along, my young friends! While your sister and my Honey-Buns are flexing their genius, we shall have some fun flexing our own!" Colas declared as he and the twins stood up.

Nelle huffed; "Don't call me Honey-Buns in front of the children! Honestly, don't think I won't put the leash on you again!"

Colas raised an eyebrow; "What makes you think I'd have a problem with that?" he asked, before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Amity and the Twins giggled at their Grandpa's antics while Nelle scoffed and smiled, shooing him away. The twins then followed him as he declared; "Onward, mine compatriots! To the field of artistic battle!"

They left to go to one side of the villa estate, while a smiling Nelle led Amity in the other direction. Colas and the twins marched all the way to a building in the far north-eastern corner of their little estate, and the twins found it to be one of the villa's small guest houses which had been renovated into an Artist's Atelier, and had been left open to the elements. Huge blocks of different types of stone and other materials were stacked along the outside wall, and paints and dyes of all colours, as well as countless tools lined the walls inside the atelier. A pair of plinths were in the middle of the room, ready to hold materials for sculpting, and a huge sack of clay could be seen beside a kiln in the back of the room.

"Welcome to my secret lair! This is where I carve my sculptures if they're a commission piece or one I haven't settled on a home for. The sculptures I've already decided a place for get carved right on that spot!" Colas explained as he led the twins into the atelier. "Now, what would you like to work with? While your sister is off playing with Grandma, you might as well have some fun playing with Grandpa!"

The twins grinned, and Emira immediately decided she wanted to try and make something out of clay to gift to Viney, while Edric wanted to try his hand at making something big with marble. Given the size of the marble blocks and what they must cost though, Edric was reluctant to admit it when asked, but Colas didn't even blink and snapped his fingers, causing one of his wife's abominations to run over and grab a block of marble from the stack outside, then load it onto one of the plinths in the atelier. He also went into a storage cupboard and brought out a pottery wheel for Emira to use, if she decided to go that route.

Emira eagerly grabbed some clay and began thinking of what she'd make, while Edric hesitated a bit.

"I'm kinda afraid to start carving without a good idea of what to make… I don't want to waste this block." he said.

Colas scoffed; "Bah, don't hesitate! Run head long at it and screw it up! That's what I always do! Art is never perfect, and no artist should strive for perfection! Once you reach perfection, there's nothing to be improved and creativity dies. Make as many mistakes as you need to. And if it helps, use an illusion as your guide; bring what you imagine to life with magic, then let your eyes and hands mimic it as best you can. I can't recommend beginners doing it straight from their mental images; it makes it too easy to be discouraged."

Edric listened, fascinated, while Emira eyed her Grandpa; "How do you know we can cast illusions?"

"I saw that trick you used to see through my illusion over the house." Colas answered as he had an Abomination lift a huge back of scrap metal and drop it beside the second statue plinth. The man then grabbed a Demon Blow Torch (which was literally a small demon that spewed super condensed flame like a welding torch) and conjured some goggles for his eyes. "Now, let's work and talk; don't think too much about what you're making; just let it flow as we talk and get to know each other."

He conjured an illusion of what appeared to be some kind of abstract version of the Titan, but made from metal scraps. Then he began to dig through his bag of scraps for pieces he could shape into a real version of the illusion.

"Wow! Between that, the illusion on the house, and all your crazy sculptures, you must be an amazing illusionist!" Edric declared as he created an illusion of something random and abstract for him to try carving. It ended up looking like a series of geometric shapes with strange textures to them; a pyramid with feathers stacked on a furry sphere, on top of a scaly cube. It reminded Edric a little of Beast-Keeping, so he decided to make the shapes into different beakers used in potions, to represent all three of his magical interests.

Colas nodded approvingly; "Good work. And as for my skills as an Illusionist, I probably could have been Coven Head if I'd wanted. But I prefer using illusions to breathe life into things that would never exist otherwise, while everyone else seems more concerned with making fake versions of things that already exist. Replicating reality is too dull for me."

Edric and Emira smiled, and the latter settled on what she wanted to sculpt and conjured an illusion of it; it was a Griffin made from medical supplies; with strips of bandages for feathers, scalpels for claws, and surgical lights for eyes. Colas applauded her as he had Edric, and as all three began working, he asked; "So what is the inspiration behind your chosen sculptures? What feelings went into this decision?"

"I want to make a gift for my girlfriend Viney." Emira said unashamedly; "She multi-tracks in Beast-Keeping and Healing, and has a pet griffin named Puddles! I think she'd appreciate this kind of thing."

"Marvellous! A design made with love can only turn out well!" Colas grinned. "What about you, Edric? Is yours made with your love in mind? Perhaps a multi-tracker of Potions and Beast-Keeping?"

The boy shook his head with a faint blush; "N-No. Potions and Beast-Keeping are just the tracks I'm interested in multi-tracking into."

Colas nodded, listening intently; "I see. What's keeping you from just going ahead and asking to multi-track? I heard that all the big schools allow it now, and call it the "Emperor's Coven Track" officially."

Edric frowned; "I guess I'm just worried I'll be awful at it."

"So? Join and be awful. The point of these tracks is to teach you how to not be awful. That's kinda what education is for, you know?" his Grandpa smiled gently; "I was terrible at illusions when I first started school, but it was the subject I wanted to learn. The idea that you're not even good enough to learn is ridiculous; anyone with the will is capable of learning anything they focus their mind on."

That made Edric perk up; "Really?"

"Of course! If you're interested in those subjects, then go for it even if you're terrible at first. The first sculpture rarely turns out well, but its through repeated attempts and determination that you improve and get better, along with a little guiding hand from someone who knows what they're doing." Colas explained, giving Edric an encouraging smile.

The boy felt a pleasant warmth inside him; his sisters and father had been trying to encourage him to give it a try too, but the voice of Odalia in his head kept saying he wasn't good enough… But while his other family had tried to convince him he'd be great at it so he had nothing to fear, his Grandpa flipped the argument on its head by saying that even if he was bad, he wouldn't get better if he never tried. Even if Odalia was right and he wasn't good enough, he could still do his best and become good enough!

"Y-Yeah! Yeah, you're right! You know what? I'm gonna go up to Bump first thing in the new semester and ask to join up with the Potions and Beast-Keeping Tracks! Even if I suck, I'll become awesome!" Edric declared, his hands and the sculpting tools he'd borrowed now moving with more enthusiasm and energy as he carved the marble. After all, even if his sculpture turned out bad, the next one would be better!

Colas and Emira beamed with pride, glad the boy was finally going to pursue his dreams. They continued to work for a bit longer, making mostly idle small-talk and getting to know one another. Emira spoke of how she multi-tracked in Illusion and Healing, having always had an interest in healing but finally acted on it after becoming enamoured with Viney. The twins also confessed their less than stellar previous relationship with both Alador and Amity; with the former's neglect (and subsequent attempts at redemption) and the latter being the victim of their bullying while also being groomed into a bully herself by Odalia. That also led to the stories of how that all changed; stories that heavily involved a certain Arch-Angel. Colas' eyes had nearly popped out of his head when Emira and Edric had happily revealed that Amity was head over heels in love with the Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles!

"Wow, little Amity sure set her sights high! Do you two think this Luz girl returns her feelings?" he asked.

The twins laughed; "Are you kidding? Luz is just as in love as Mittens!" Edric declared.

"They're dating, and have been since Grom. Those two are sickeningly sweet with each other! It's adorable, especially with their little pet names!" Emira added.

Edric got a teasing look in his eye; "Oh, like you're any better "Emi". I've seen you and your "Kitten" when you hang out or go on dates; you two are as bad as Luz and Amity!"

Emira huffed and pretended to pout, though she clearly didn't disagree. Colas laughed at that, being reminded of his beloved Nelle. That comparison grew in his mind as Emira turned a teasing smirk back on her brother.

"I'm sure you'll be just as bad when you finally get the guts to ask out Jerbo. What'll you cute nicknames be I wonder? Eddie and Bo-Bo?" she asked, grinning like a Cheshire Cat as Edric blushed.

"Hush, my Evil Twin!" Edric retorted.

"Oh come now, we're supposed to be letting Grandpa get to know us! He gave you all that sage, grandfatherly advice; you should spill the beans and tell him everything about your Jer-Beau!"

Colas and Emira cackled as Edric turned tomato red, doing a good job of inadvertently imitating his little sister. Emira even said so, making Colas reply; "Ha! So you and your sister both blush like Alador! Ah, it's been so long since I saw "Tomato Alador"! What fine memories…" he said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Things with Jerbo aren't that simple! I don't want to risk messing up our friendship." Edric replied.

"That's understandable, especially when you're friends with someone before you fall in love with them. Believe me, I know that fear; Nelle was my childhood friend and best friend for 15 years before I gathered the courage to confess. It worked out well for us." Colas said reassuringly, before his smile fell; "Sometimes you've got to take the leap of faith; otherwise you'll end up regretting it, just like your father and Darius."

Edric and Emira both snapped their heads away from their sculptures to stare at their grandfather, their mouths agape. "Are you saying Dad and Darius used to have a thing!? They used to like each other!?" Emira asked, a smile beginning to form.

"I always just thought they were rivals who started getting to know each other later!" Edric added.

Colas shook his head; "Oh no, those boys definitely liked one another. There was a time they reminded me a little of Nelle and I. But time marches on, people change, and insecurities lead to people missing out on opportunities… or misunderstanding another's feelings."

The twins leaned forward even more, their hands slowing down considerably; "Can you tell us more?" Edric asked.

"About Dad and Darius?" Emira said.

For a moment, Colas continued working in silence as he thought about it, before smiling sadly and nodding. "Alright. It began decades ago, when the Blights still lived in Latissa. Darius was the youngest son of the Deamonne family, minor nobles based in Latissa, and joined Hexside at the same time as Alador. They both ended up in the Abomination Track straight out of the Baby Class, and Darius' parents wouldn't allow him to be anything but the best, so they hired Nelle as his tutor. The Deamonnes were not good people; they were cold and aloof, and cared only about their image and nobility. They neglected Darius in favour of his older sister, the heiress to the Deamonne name, and shunted Darius off into the care of nannies and tutors. With no friends of his own, Nelle encouraged Darius and Alador to become friends, and her plan worked swimmingly. Alador was a quiet and shy boy, while Darius had no idea how to interact with others, so they grew very close to the point that Nelle spent more time making sure they didn't become too dependant on each other than she did teaching them Abomination magic! Not that she had to try hard there; the two were naturals."

Colas conjured an illusion from his memories, depicting Alador and Darius as young boys of about 9 or 10, playing happily with some abomination goo together.

"Even back then, Alador had an innocent crush on Darius; his cool friend that liked all the stuff he did, and which others found boring or gross. Darius returned those feelings in their own way, but they were very young and innocent, so words like "I love you" didn't carry the same weight. Around the time they were this age, an accident took Darius' parents and his sister. They'd been going to a fancy gala up in Cartilia, and chose to ignore a severe weather warning to fly there with an airship. The ship went down with no survivors. Darius was spared as his parents hadn't thought to bring him. He became the new head of the family at only 10 years old. Nelle and I took him in and acted quickly to make sure his inheritance was on lock-down, so no one could steal it or use it for anything, including us. Alador cried for Darius, but Darius himself barely cared; he didn't seem to realise he'd even lost family, since they'd been so distant with him." Colas sighed sadly. He still remembered how confused the boy had been when everyone was giving him condolences.

Edric and Emira looked sad, both that Darius had lost his birth family and that they'd been so distant that he didn't even realise he was supposed to feel something for them. Still, hearing of how close their Dad had been with Darius made them even more curious what had torn them apart so much. Had it truly just been Odalia? Come to think of it, their Dad had said he hadn't been in the best place when Odalia had come sniffing around… what had happened?

Emira voiced these questions to her Grandpa, and the man winced at a painful memory.

"Well their feelings had been growing stronger as they grew older until the incident happened. Odalia definitely drove a wedge between them after that, but she mostly just showed up when they were already in a rough patch and made it worse." Colas replied.

"The Incident? What incident?" Edric asked.

Colas looked at him with mild confusion; "You know, the one with Amity."

Now the twins were very confused; "But Amity wasn't born until WAY later! How could she have been involved in an incident back then?" Emira frowned.

Colas stared at the girl for a moment, then turned to Edric and saw his confused expression too. Slowly, the man's face became one of shock, and then pain and regret. "You two don't know? Oh… I suppose he might not have wanted to tell you, especially with Odalia around."

He stopped his sculpting and conjured a stool to sit on closer to the twins, who also stopped their own sculpting. They could sense that the conversation had taken a serious turn and wanted to pay close attention. Colas summoned a couple more stools for them and had them sit beside him.

"The Amity I'm talking about is not your sister, but Alador's. Your aunt, that your sister was named after. Your Aunt Amity is no longer with us." Colas told them, making them both gasp.

"We had an Aunt?" Edric repeated in shock.

"Why did Dad never tell us?" Emira asked, mostly to herself.

Their Grandpa looked down at the ground as he clenched his hands together; "Your Aunt Amity passed away in an accident when she was only six years old. Alador blamed himself… he still does, I expect."

The twins wanted to ask what happened, but their voices caught in their throats. Colas seemed to realise this and put a warm hand on each of their backs, before answering their unasked question.

"In our home in Latissa, we had a large workshop for my wife and I, and a smaller shed for the boys. It started as a playroom in our backyard, but as the boys got more into Abominations, they turned it into their secret lab. Of course it wasn't really a secret; my wife and I helped them install defences and safety measures to keep the place secure. Amity practically worshipped her big brother and always wanted to follow him in there and be just like him, but he insisted she was too little and so wouldn't let her. Then one day, Alador and Darius forgot to activate the security measures on the shed when they left, and Amity got in. We think she must have wanted to play at being like her big brother, but she wasn't old enough or big enough to use their equipment safely… There was an accident and Amity lost her life."

"Oh Titan!" Edric breathed as Emira covered her mouth in horror. Colas wiped his eyes; this had been over twenty years ago, but it still hurt deeply.

"Alador blamed himself; saying it was his fault she died because he didn't remember to lock the place up, and because he didn't play with Amity more. I don't know if Darius was feeling guilty that he didn't remember either, or if he was trying to make Alador feel better, but he claimed it wasn't their fault. Amity knew she wasn't allowed in there and disobeyed us all… Darius was right of course, but it sounded insensitive and essentially put all the blame onto the now passed Amity. He meant well, but it was the wrong thing to say and he and Alador got into a big fight." Cola raked a hand through his hair, revealing quite a few streaks of silver that had been carefully hidden with strategic combing.

"To this day, Nelle and I are sure that his own messed up family situation meant he didn't realise how bad the things he said sounded. Either way, the two were never the same after that. Odalia appeared and seemed to know all the right things to say to make Alador fall for her, and she filled the wounds in his heart left by the loss of Amity and Darius. As for Darius, he began to distance himself more and more, eventually moving into his family's estate again. He made new friends; Eber, Michael, Cassiel, and Em. We never met them, but Darius was happy so we never questioned it… though when we spoke to Darius a few years ago, he mentioned that he didn't see anyone but Eber now. I never did find out what happened to the other three…"

Edric and Emira exchanged glances; they'd heard enough from Amity to know Cassiel was the angel that had been around roughly 20 years ago, and Michael was the previous Golden Guard before Hunter, and Darius' mentor. They didn't know anything about this "Em" person though. Still, that wasn't the shocking part… they'd had an aunt whose death had torn their Dad and Darius apart. It was a terrible shock, though now they understood how Odalia had managed to sneak in and snag their Dad. He had been grieving and just lost his only real friend, leaving him awkward and alone… perfect for Odalia to charm. She gave him positive attention in a time when he dearly needed it, and that had made him fall for her head over heels. But the real question was; had Odalia known? Had she known Alador was grieving and blaming himself, and preyed on him with that knowledge in mind? Darius had said she'd gone after him too, only to be rebuffed…

Could she be that evil and manipulative? It wouldn't surprise the twins if she was, and that was a worrying thought.

"But that's basically the long and short of it when it comes to your father and Darius. I don't know about Alador, but I know Darius still carries a torch for him. He vented more than once how much he hates Odalia for coming between them and making their already fractured friendship fully come undone. While the circumstances are less than ideal, it's nice to at least see them together again as friends." Colas finished his story, leaning back on his stool as he sighed and smiled wistfully; "Maybe this is a good sign. And hey, as awful as Odalia was, she did have her uses; she helped create the two of you and your sister after all!"

The Twins smiled at that; they'd been hearing that a lot since they disowned Odalia. Still, after hearing all this about their Dad and their Grandpa's obvious love for him and regret over what happened between them, they couldn't help but wonder if they were still missing something. Their Grandma had seemed upset with Dad, but clearly still loved him, and Grandpa was much the same! Could they really have disowned their son? The Twins didn't get the impression they'd be that cold, but maybe they were being nicer because their grandchildren were present, or because Alador had left Odalia?

"Hey Grandpa? Why exactly did everything between you and Dad go so wrong? Was it really just because Dad married Odalia, or…" Emira trailed off, hoping Colas might fill in the gaps.

The man averted his eyes for a moment, then said; "That's not something I should tell you. You should ask your Dad about it." he then muttered under his breath; "I don't want to tarnish how you see Alador…"

He obviously hadn't meant for the two to hear him, but Ed and Em had sharp hearing, having honed it while sneaking around for their pranks. The two looked at each other and frowned; something more had definitely happened! But Grandpa Colas wasn't going to spill the beans, so it looked like they'd have to hope Amity was having more luck with Grandma Nelle! She was the one who seemed angrier about the whole affair.

With that thought in mind, they returned to their sculpting and let their minds wander… They thought about their passed Aunt Amity, and the idea of their Dad and Darius rekindling their own feelings, and just what had really happened to cause their Dad to be disowned… if the accidental death of his little sister hadn't done it, then it must have been something awful! Unless…

Suddenly, both twins had a bad feeling that they'd soon end up feeling a lot less worse about a certain parent…

[Meanwhile]

While Grandpa Colas had taken her older siblings off to his atelier, Amity had found herself being escorted in the opposite direction by her Grandma Nelle. She was taken to a large building on the western side of the estate, which appeared to have been a secondary guest villa that was renovated into a large workshop and laboratory for Nelle. It reminded Amity strongly of her father's old set-up at Blight Industries, as well his newer one on Digale Island. It was full of abomination goo and various parts made from different materials, with Nelle favouring many of the same brass fixtures as her son. However unlike the large parts left around by her Dad, Amity noticed that Nelle seemed to keep her creations even more disassembled, keeping very few, if any, parts connected. The place was also very well ventilated too; to the point that it felt rather chilly inside, especially after walking in from the desert heat.

As soon as they actually crossed the threshold into the lab itself, Nelle firmly ordered Amity to stand in the doorway and not move a muscle. The woman then marched to a locker and pulled out a pair of work gloves, some goggles like her own, and a lab coat of abomination goo, which she cast a spell on to make it the right size for Amity. Nelle then handed them to her granddaughter and sternly ordered her to put them on, which Amity did (though she kept the goggles on her forehead, since her grandma wasn't wearing hers yet).

Once she was wearing the new gear, Nelle looked Amity up and down and then asked; "Do you know proper Lab safety? Do you recognise the different precautions and what they do, and what you should do in an emergency?"

Amity stood a little straighter and nodded seriously; this was the first lesson she'd been taught in the Abomination Track, and something her Dad made her recite before allowing her anywhere near his tools and creations. She'd only ever been allowed in his lab once without doing this, back when she was first shown the Abomaton MK II, and that had been when the entire lab was in a powered down state and even then, her Dad hadn't let her get too close to anything. Clearly her Dad got his caution from her Grandma!

"Yes Ma'am. Do not handle any tools without protective gear in place. Be aware of all emergency stopping devices before powering a tool. Deactivate any tool not actively being used. Fire extinguishers, magic nullifying spray, and air purifying talismans are to never be more than five paces from your working area. No tool is to be powered when not in use, even if left in an inactive state. All exits are to remain open and unobstructed at all times. All tools must be fully and properly secured when not in use. Faulty tools are not to be activated or powered under any circumstances." Amity rattled off, exactly as she'd memorised it.

Nelle nodded seriously, then relaxed completely as her strict persona melted away and she became her normal self again. "I'm glad to see you take your abomination studies seriously! The last thing anyone wants is an accident."

Amity nodded; "School and Dad were both strict about teaching safety. I can recite that stuff in my sleep! Though I don't do a lot of work with Abomination Tech; I prefer pure magic when possible."

"Understandable. There are a lot of purists out there, like Darius for instance. He always said that Abomination Tech was a crutch for those who couldn't be bothered to improve themselves, or who wanted to keep using Abominations despite not committing to them by joining other Covens." Nelle said, smiling as she finally allowed Amity into the lab proper. "Darius always was very dramatic."

"On that, we can agree!" Amity smiled. Truth be told, she didn't share Darius' belief; her personal preference for not using Abomination Tech was more due to her wanting to push herself as far as she could go without the extra help… though now that she'd hit a wall in her training, perhaps it was a good time to rethink her stance. She may not like to use the tech herself after all, but she'd worked enough with her Dad that she could make it quite effectively!

She followed her Grandma Nelle over to one of her empty work tables and watched as she unfurled the blueprint for her Dad's Abomaton MK II. Her blue eyes darted back and forth across the page, taking in every detail and muttering comments, both positive and negative from time to time.

"Brass with an ionized abomination coating to prevent corrosion? That would interfere with the shape memory aspect… why would he…? Oh I see, the tempering technique on the metal locks it in so the coating isn't broken up as it changes shape. Hmm, but why use this ratio of mugwort to fairy bonemeal in the main mix? 2:1 is too stiff and slows the whole thing down. 3:2 would make it looser without sacrificing defence. Need to sit that boy down and remind him of his Laws of Abominable Fluidity! At least he got the wiring right; 94% copper with 4% orichalcum and 2% kraken skin. That's my boy!"

Amity smiled as she listened to her grandma mutter; clearly she was proud of her son even if she was still angry with him.

Once Nelle had finished going over the design, she looked to Amity and said; "I can spot maybe four or five potential weaknesses. The first is the one you exploited; sufficient abomination magic can be applied to the core to disrupt it and lower its internal barrier, allowing Oracle Spirits to slip through and destroy the Titan Bone inside it. Since this is the one you used, I suspect this is the flaw the new Abominations Head solved? I'm guessing they turned the core's crystal shell into a triple layer, with the middle layer being salt. Keeps out spirits while not allowing the salt to directly contact the slime and cause unwanted reactions."

"Uh, yes! You're exactly right! You're good!" Amity exclaimed.

Nelle smirked; "Of course I am. You don't think your father and Darius learned it all from Old Man Hermanculus, do you?"

Amity giggled, then leaned forward to look at the plans; "So what are the other weaknesses?"

"Next up are the magic cannons. They're calibrated to draw far too much magic from the core, limiting all other functions and requiring the Abomaton to periodically stop to recharge. This pause is also used to allow the cooling enchantments to properly kick in. If Alador lowered the output on the cannons by about 7%, then the core's magic generation would be able to keep up and allow perpetual firing. The difference in power would be negligible, but the cooling enchantments would still be more heavily taxed without the break… sadly increasing the power of these enchantments would also draw more from the core, and risk cooling the mixture enough to cause rigidity." Nelle explained.

Amity shook her head; "Useful for exploiting individual Abomatons, but they won't necessarily be alone and we can't rely on them using their cannons. Besides, they could also switch to other attacks while their cannons cool off."

"Agreed, so let's scrap that one. There's also the shape-memory alloy. To keep it light enough and include the anti-corrosion coating, Alador skimped out on proper interior insulation. Strong lightning magic or other sources of electricity would temporarily disable their ability to change shape. There are some fairly simple potions that can produce that effect." Nelle said.

That one was potentially useful, at least for disabling some of the Abomaton's functions without much hassle. If Boscha could make Lightning Magic Bombs in the middle of combat, it shouldn't be too hard to make a stockpile to send the CATTs into battle with. Amity pulled out her scroll and made a note of it.

"Great! What else?" Amity asked.

Nelle tapped her chin; she could spot more flaws, but considering she had to think of ways to exploit them that didn't require advanced magic or rare materials, she needed to focus on the flaws that were more easily exploited. She smiled as she thought of one.

"Parasitic Abominations." Nelle said, turning to Amity with a smile.

The girl blinked in response; Parasitic Abominations were something used in duels between Abomination Witches and were simple abominations that were intended to be launched at their opponent's creations and get blended up inside them. Since these Parasitic Abominations were under the control of a different witch, the host would struggle to move or operate properly. With enough of them, it was possible for someone to even take over an opponent's abomination and use it like their own! It was a mid-level tactic for Abomination Witches, the sort of thing that was taught to students at around 13 years old.

"Surely Dad wouldn't have left that weakness in place. I know that the Abomination Self-Destruct Spells don't work on the Abomatons; something as equally obvious can't possibly work!" Amity exclaimed.

Nelle gave Amity a knowing smirk, then directed her to look over the blueprints; "There is a way. See if you can figure it out now that you know the possibility exists."

Accepting the challenge, Amity leaned over the blueprints and began searching for the relevant information. As she expected, the part that detailed the Core's enchantments outlined a defence against Parasitic Abominations; all the slime making up an Abomaton's body acted like a sensor, and when that sensor detected foreign abomination matter, it would purge it automatically. It would be like trying to mix oil and water. It was an enchantment that was tied up in the same enchantment that prevented external Abomination Magic from affecting the Abomaton; the enchantment that could only be overpowered by a sufficiently skilled witch.

However, as Amity reread those lines and tried to consider possibilities, an epiphany hit her. Her eyes widened in understanding, and Nelle grinned proudly.

"Foreign abomination matter! That's the crux of this defence! It rejects foreign matter! And the enchantments detect this by comparing the composition of the slime! So if the Parasitic Abomination had the exact same chemical make-up as the Abomatons…!" Amity gasped.

"… then the Abomaton won't be able to detect that it's not a part of its body." Nelle nodded.

"And since the other enchantments only defend against external magic, if we managed to introduce a Parasitic Abomination made with the same formula… a formula we have right here… then assuming we've given it orders before hand, it can sabotage the Abomaton from the inside!" the girl began to beam and wiggle excitedly.

Nelle clapped, her smile growing wider; "Well done! You're definitely my Granddaughter! You're completely correct. And what's more, if the Parasitic Abominations are made beforehand, they can be stored in potions vials and used like grenades, so even non-Abomination Witches can use them! You just need to make sure they have preprogrammed orders."

Amity grinned; this was perfect! Of course, a Parasitic Abomination that could fit inside a hand-sized vial wouldn't be able to completely shut down an Abomaton, but it would be able to wreak enough havoc that a witch with at least a bit of combat experience could deal with them! Combine that with the Lightning Potion Bombs, and the Abomaton MK II's went from a near insurmountable threat to mild challenge at best! Of course, in large numbers they could still be a problem, but the CATTs would be in large numbers too, and supported by their own Abominations.

"This might just save the CATTs when it comes to the final battle!" Amity beamed, hugging her Grandma; "Thank you so much! Dad and Darius spent hours looking through those blueprints and found nothing, but you found a solution in minutes!"

Nelle chuckled; "Oh, I don't doubt those two found most of the weaknesses I did. However both are geniuses and focus too much on looking for high-level and complex solutions. It wouldn't occur to them that such a powerful creation could be vulnerable to a mid-level technique, especially one that Alador believes he accounted for. That's the problem with geniuses; they try to overcomplicate things because their greater understanding allows them to think of more complex solutions, which make the simple ones slip through the cracks."

"B-But you're a genius and you saw it." Amity pointed out.

"As did you, once you knew where to start." Nelle countered, before giving Amity a knowing look; "Your father and Darius are naturals when it comes to Abomination Magic… but you and I aren't."

Amity's eyes widened slightly as her Grandma smiled knowingly; "It was easy to tell. You were slower and more methodical when looking over the blueprints; a sign that you were worried about overlooking something. A natural genius would have been confident that they'd notice and put things together, but a genius who became one through sheer hard work would be more cautious due to understanding that they are more likely to make mistakes. I am the same way… you are undoubtedly a genius Amity, but you weren't born with a natural talent for Abominations, were you?"

Slowly, Amity looked down at the floor and nodded; "You're right… When I was little, I was above average in magic but I wasn't especially good at any of the nine types; kind of a Jack of all Trades, Master of None situation. But I always admired Dad and his Abominations, and wanted to be like him… I wanted to make him proud, so I worked really hard to become good at his type of magic. I spent more time studying than anything else and became the top student at school!"

Nelle applauded her; "Well done, Amity. While a natural genius is admirable, it is far more impressive for someone average to claw their way up to the status of genius through sheer hard work. Of course, I may be biased since I wasn't a natural either. I was actually awful at first; Abomination Magic was my worst skill! But I was a stubborn child!" the old woman laughed.

Amity giggled along with her, then a contemplative look crossed her face; "Grandma, how did you get over the Phlegm Barrier?"

"Ah, so you've reached that point in your development. Normally I'd suggest just waiting until you grow up a little more, or begin the slower methods of strengthening your bile or improving your efficiency, but considering you seem to be on the frontlines of this little rebellion, I'm guessing that's too slow." Nelle hummed, tapping her chin in thought.

"Yes. I've even tried mixing elemental magic to overcome that limit, but I have an affinity for Light Magic and my skills in Dark Magic are really poor…"

Nelle hummed a bit more, then smiled; "Well then, if you're forgoing the Spell Phlegm route and switching to elemental magic, why don't you try to create your own type of Abomination Magic? One that uses Light Magic in place of Dark Magic?"

Amity stared at her grandmother in shock; was such a thing even possible!? The look in the old woman's eye stopped Amity from vocally objecting however, and instead made her stop and think. Was this another challenge? To see if she could do it? Grandma Nelle didn't seem keen on giving her answers, instead preferring to give her clues and a place to start so she could find her own… it reminded Amity a little bit of how Lilith taught her, and how Eda taught Luz.

Schooling her features, Amity closed her eyes and began to really think. Now that she had a new potential idea, she focused all her acquired knowledge on working it out! When combining elemental magic into one of the nine types, only a single aspect from each element is strictly necessary, though applying more aspects of that element could alter or improve the end result, or even weaken it if done improperly. Using Oracle Magic as an example, it relied on the "Death" aspect of Darkness, the "Desire" aspect of Wind, and the "Intelligence" aspect of Lightning, due to it primarily revolving around manipulating spirits of the dead to gather knowledge based on what the user wants to know or achieve. Applying aspects like Emotion or Freedom could make the magic stronger, but weren't strictly necessary.

However Abomination magic used the "Negativity" aspect of Darkness, the "Endurance" aspect of Earth, and the "Fluidity" aspect of Water and Ice… Endurance and Fluidity were responsible for the base form of the Abomination, while Negativity served as the core that powered and animated it, as using something like the "Life" aspect of Plants could create something that was truly alive. Raw energy of some kind was needed to animate the Abomination and make it more than a puppet after all…

But if Negative energy from Dark Magic could animate an Abomination, could the same not be said of the Positive energy of Light Magic?

"I'd have to completely change my approach… not just to my magic, but the ingredients I used when creating the slime. Even without the raw elements, a lot of abomination ingredients are specifically chosen due to having a better capacity for negative energy over positive energy… a lot of rotten and dead materials are normally needed… obviously that's a reflection of the Corruption and Death aspects of Dark Magic, but if I replaced them with purified ingredients… Positive energy, purified ingredients and Light Magic…" Amity began to mutter away, as Nelle listened with an amused smile.

"It sounds like you have a solution." she said.

Amity shook her head; "Not just a solution… a potential massive breakthrough!"

"Oh? While I'm sure a lot of aspects of Abomination Magic can work by changing negative to positive, a lot of others besides just the ingredients will need to be altered. You'd need to approach their construction from the complete opposite end of the spectrum. You'd be flipping Abomination Magic on its head!" Nelle said, honestly stumped as to how such a thing would be possible. It'd take years of intense study and research! It'd be faster to just train to overcome the Phlegm Barrier (which Amity would still need to do).

But Amity had access to a piece of knowledge her Grandma did not.

Smiling smugly, she looked to her Grandma and said; "Oh no, I'd only be flipping half of it on its head. The other half would remain the same. Because I happen to know a kind of magic that uses Light, Positive Energy, and purified ingredients… Angelic Alchemy."

Nelle's eyes widened; "That's a school of magic I've got no knowledge of! Isn't it strictly used by Angels!?"

Amity nodded; "It is, but it's also the closest that Angels have to Abomination Magic. It's sort of a mix of Abominations and Potions. Since Angels can't use normal Abomination Magic since it's naturally incompatible with Angel Magic, a lot of the techniques we use for Abominations are instead used by them for Alchemy, only they approach it from the opposite side of the spectrum! Luz and I taught each other some techniques so we could try and use each other's versions of magic, and while I still can't use Angelic Alchemy and she still can't use Abomination Magic, I do know how to use the techniques that are similar!"

"So you just combine your Abomination Genius with these Angelic Techniques, and replace the Dark Magic with Light Magic, and you'll be able to produce an entirely new sub-type of Abomination Magic!" Nelle grinned widely; "Extraordinary! I wondered what solution you'd come up with, but I never imagined it would be that! Absolutely marvellous! I am very proud of you!"

Nelle pulled Amity into a warm embrace, and Amity giggled and hugged back, feeling as light as air. She'd finally be able to overcome the slump her magic had started to fall into, and it was all thanks to some clues from her Grandma, some lessons from her Girlfriend, and her own hard work! Amity almost couldn't wait to get started! And what's more, if she could perfect it and find a way to use only the techniques that Luz was able to use too, then this might be a form of Abomination Magic that even an Angel can use!

"Thanks Grandma! I couldn't have come up with it without your help! I can't wait to try it out! If Luz can use it too, she'll be so happy! She'll finally be able to use some of my magic, just like I can use some of her light spells!" Amity gushed, already imagining Luz's reaction.

Nelle tilted her head curiously; "Luz is the Arch-Angel girl you mentioned when you told us what's been happening earlier, yes? Are you two good friends?"

Amity blushed, then confessed; "A-Actually, she's my girlfriend!"

Nelle's eyes widened for a moment, before she burst into good-natured laughter; "Oh my! You're dating the Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles!? The same girl that gave Belos what-for? Ha! You really do keep managing to impress me! So what's she like, outside of the rebellion and angel stuff?"

"She's an adorable dork who doesn't realise how amazing she is! She helped me become a better person after Odalia tried to groom me into being just like her! If not for her, I might never have stood up to Odalia and Dad might never have realised how bad things were getting! I can't tell you in words just how much she means to me, and I know I mean just as much to her." Amity gushed once again, blushing and smiling as she described her sweet potato.

Her Grandma listened intently with a nostalgic smile; "Aw, you remind me so much of your Grandpa when he was young. You talk about Luz the way he talked about me! Of course, I talked about him in the same way, but you must never tell him I said that. His head would no longer fit through any of our doors! That said, we Blights know how to pick our soulmates!" she joked. Her smile then fell as she grumbled; "Shame that trait had to skip a generation…"

Amity frowned at the obvious dig at her Dad marrying Odalia. She really wanted to understand more about that; it seemed odd to her that her Grandparents would disown her Dad over something like that, especially given how they were behaving today. They seemed more hurt than angry…

Now that she'd achieved what she'd come for and no longer needed to fear being kicked out, Amity plucked up the courage to ask.

"Grandma, what really happened with Dad and Odalia? I know Odalia sucks and is an awful person, but did marrying her really make you that angry at my Dad?"

Grandma Nelle's expression became sour, though thankfully she didn't seem angry with Amity. "How much did Alador tell you?" she asked.

"Not a lot. Just that you hated Odalia, didn't approve of their marriage… and something about disowning…" Amity said, feeling extra reluctant to admit that last part.

Her Grandma's eyes grew hard and cold, making Amity gulp and step back. That sight was enough to make Nelle take a deep breath and calm down again, before directing Amity to join her on some chairs over by her desk. She snapped her fingers to summon an abomination servant and sent it to get some iced tea as she gathered her thoughts. By the time it returned and both Nelle and Amity had taken a sip, the older woman was ready.

"Alright, since Alador was willing to tell you about his disowning, I will tell you what happened from our side. It was about twenty years ago, when Alador and Darius were about your age. They'd ended up in a bitter argument that left them both more distant with each other; they were still friends, but they were no longer inseparable. Darius was a confident boy though, and made new friends to help fill the void opened by his fight with Alador. But Alador was a shy and awkward lad, and the fight and the events preceded it had caused him to fall into a depression. It was then that he met a young lady from a noble house, who apparently saw something in him… an Oracle student named Odalia Vespan." Nelle said, a sneer on her face as she said that hated name.

Amity tilted her head; she vaguely remembered seeing the name Vespan somewhere… had it been at the library or school? She'd never known Odalia's maiden name, so she doubted it was from her. She certainly don't remember it being related to nobility…

"I don't think I've heard of a Vespan noble family." Amity admitted.

"You likely wouldn't have; Odalia worked quite hard to scrub the name from public memory. You see, the Vespans were originally a family of minor lords that lived in Bonesborough, and had been one of the families to first settle the place. However due to being minor lords, they felt themselves closer to the common people than the rest of the nobility and became less concerned with their family name and position. They even gave up the usual politicking and vying for power that the other nobles engaged in." Nelle explained.

"Wow… I can't imagine Odalia being from a family like that!" Amity said.

Nelle nodded; "Indeed. She was the black sheep. Her disdain for her family's weak position was well known; she made no secret of it. Of course, her disdain was further amplified by her grandfather's decision to oppose Belos and his unification of the Isles under his empire. He did so through peaceful means so the Vespan family wasn't destroyed, but they basically lost all their wealth and became poverty-stricken. They could barely afford to keep living in their ancestral home, which quickly fell into disrepair. Odalia hated that; she saw herself as a noblewoman and thus deserving of a better life. Of course, poverty for a noble is basically still a decent living for the common people, but Odalia didn't care. She wanted a way to the life she felt she deserved, and since her name was mud in the political world, she decided to instead take a new name and find a partner that could help her accrue the wealth and business acumen she'd need to get a foot back into nobility."

"Dad…" Amity muttered bitterly.

"Exactly right, my girl. Alador was the one she chose." Nelle scowled fiercely; "She began to pay attention to him, and with him being the awkward boy he was, a pretty girl's attention soon had him wrapped around her little finger… We hated the way Odalia treated him like a tool, but Alador was so entranced that he wouldn't hear a word against her. We'd been giving him space to come to terms with everything that had happened, but Odalia used that as a window to sneak into his heart. However, as much as we disliked her, we didn't want to hurt our son and so we did nothing. At least until he was 18 years old and had graduated Hexside. That was when Odalia came to us with a deal…"

Amity's heart lurched; a deal with Odalia was the textbook definition of a deal with the Devil!

"Her "deal" was actually a marriage contract between her and Alador. Noble families like those things, since it lets them keep the commoners out of their bloodlines and makes sure other families are tied to them enough to not want to let their interests sink. Odalia essentially offered all the remaining wealth and property of the Vespan family in return for Alador's hand in marriage. Considering Alador wanted to marry her, we might have considered it… except it gave Odalia the full rights to use our family name as she saw fit, essentially making her the legal matriarch of the Blight Family. It also gave her full ownership to anything and everything Alador had or created during the marriage. It was like an employment contract, indentured servitude contract, and marriage contract all merged into the foulest piece of parchment you've ever seen. Naturally, we declined and actually complained to her parents about the blatant disrespect it showed to us and our son. But of course, Odalia hadn't told her parents… she'd fleeced them of every snail they owned without their knowledge so she could pay us!" Nelle growled, slamming her hand on the table in outrage.

Her granddaughter was equally furious; she knew Odalia was foul, but to steal from her own family to try and buy a husband like he was some stud race worm!? It was disgusting beyond measure! Worst still, Amity had no doubt that marriage contracts would have been written up for her and the twins when they came of age too! She had no idea what rotten noble scion she'd have been sold off too, but at least she knew she'd have been well off, being the heir to Blight Industries; poor Edric and Emira would likely have been given away like prizes to whoever benefited Odalia the most!

"What happened after that?" Amity asked, fearing the answer but feeling too angry to back down now.

Nelle took a calming breath to try and compose herself as she continued; "Well naturally, Odalia's parents apologised and were furious with their daughter. They threatened to disown her and she seemed to back down… for about three months at least. After that, the Vespan family were conveniently outed as rebels and accused of aiding in an assassination plot against the Emperor! Evidence of their alleged crimes were brought to Belos by Odalia herself. Her parents fled the Boiling Isles entirely, and Odalia took ownership of everything they left behind, including the dregs of their noble title. Belos allowed her to keep them in exchange for exposing the plot. She abandoned her ancestral home and bought what became Blight Manor with reward money from the Emperor. I believe the old Vespan Castle is still on the edge of Bonesborough, left abandoned."

That made Amity's eyes widen; now she remembered where she'd heard the Vespan name! It was on some old books in the old castle on the edge of Bonesborough! The same place that Adegast had been squatting in before Eda dealt with him! Amity and Luz had explored the place once on a date, when Amity was in one of her "ruin exploring" moods.

More shocking was the fact Odalia would frame her own parents as rebels to seize control of the Vespan family… well, it would have been more shocking if Amity hadn't known the woman. This was the same woman whose last words to her had been hoping to smile as she was petrified in agony.

"Without her parents in the way, she convinced Alador to elope with her. They ran off and got married almost straight after. We never saw Alador in person again until today, nor did we ever hear from him, but we did see and hear from Odalia a couple of times… the first time was right after the wedding. She came and smugly told us that Alador wanted nothing to do with us due to us getting in the way of their "love" and so he'd effectively disowned us as his parents." Nelle clenched her jaw in anger even as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "After that, we kept our eyes and ears out for news of Alador. We heard of the founding of Blight Industries and the success of Alador's inventions and Odalia's political wrangling. The profits of those ventures and the rest of the Vespan wealth was enough to convince Belos to name the Blight Family as a new noble house in return for a huge monetary donation and right of first refusal for all of Alador's creations. After that, we got a letter from Odalia declaring that only Alador, herself, and any descendants of theirs would be considered "Noble Blights", and we were forbid from making use of our own name!"

Nelle ran a hand through her hair in frustration as she finished her story; "And that was the last we heard from her or your father. We only learned you and the twins were born due to announcements in the newspaper! That's the whole story of what happened between us and your father. We never expected him to eventually wake up from Odalia's influence, nor did we expect him to come crawling back after disowning us. I'm sorry if this disillusions you towards your father, but you wanted the truth."

Amity sat there, completely frozen. She was staring at her grandmother intensely, her mind working overtime to fully accept everything she'd just been told and add it to what she already knew. Then, with a voice as cold as ice and more hatred in her eyes than ever before, Amity declared; "I am going to kill that Titan-forsaken woman!"

Nelle's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting such a fierce response! She watched as Amity surged to her feet and began pacing around in circles, fuming and muttering darkly. She appeared to be trying to calm herself down by listing the various tools around her and imagining how they could be used to inflict some awful fate upon Odalia. It was half amusing and half frightening, especially since Nelle's reaction had been much the same after Odalia's smug visit to tell them they'd been disowned by their son.

"Amity darling, I know you're very upset right now, but-" Nelle began, only for Amity to scream in frustration.

It was a long, angry scream, and if not for the fact she was currently in a potentially dangerous workshop, Amity likely would have blasted something. When she finally stopped and panted to catch her breath, she sank to the floor and buried her head in her hands. Nelle stood and slowly approached her.

"Amity? Sweetheart? I know you're not okay, but can you look at me?" Nelle asked gently, kneeling beside her.

Amity did so, and Nelle almost recoiled to see tears streaming down Amity's cheeks. Before the old woman could say another word though, Amity said; "It's a lie, Grandma! The whole thing! It was all a lie!"

Nelle blinked; "A lie? I'm sorry Sweetheart, but I'm not lying. I understand you're loyal to your father, and that's admirable, but-"

"No! Not you! Odalia! Everything she said! Everything she did! It was all a lie!" Amity cried, beginning to sob.

"W-What? What do you mean? I thought you knew about the disowning?"

Amity shook her head; "Dad didn't disown you! He thought you disowned him! He told me you and Grandpa hated him marrying Odalia so much that you disowned him! He never wanted to abandon you guys! He even sent letters when Edric, Emira, and I were each born!"

Nelle stared at with horror; "You're sure of this!?"

"I am! I know Dad wouldn't lie to me about this stuff! Especially when he was planning to bring us here and knew I'd probably ask about it! Odalia lied to him to keep him from you, and she lied to you to keep you from him! She probably stopped and destroyed the letters Dad sent too… I only know about the ones after the Twins and I were born, but there could have been others too!" Amity cried.

Nelle stood up again and began to pace, a hand over her mouth as the other wrapped around her stomach. She felt nauseous; all this time her child, her baby boy, had been trying to contact her and believed she and his father were ignoring him! He was afraid they hated him for his choice and abandoned him over it!? And when he finally showed up in person, she treated him so coldly!

"I'm going to be sick!" Nelle cried, rushing out of the workshop.

Amity moved to follow her right away, but her legs felt weak as she staggered to her feet. It took her a few moments to finally get them moving steadily enough to chase after her Grandma. She found Nelle leaning against the wall near the north-west corner of the estate, an abomination cleaning up the mess she made beside her. Amity gingerly approached her, and Nelle smiled weakly.

"I've been a fool for so long… I knew Odalia was a liar! How could I believe her!? I should have known she'd do something like this!" Nelle asked. "Oh my son… he thinks I hate him!"

Amity shook her head; "He doesn't, I know it! Just like you didn't hate him even though you thought he did those cruel things! There's no one to blame but Odalia! Even I still underestimate how evil that woman is! The fact I ever called her Mom makes me want to barf too!"

She marched forward and grabbed one of Nelle's hands; "But we can make it right now! Dad is still here in town, waiting for us! Let's meet up with Grandpa and the Twins, then call him back here along with Darius, so we can all talk this out!"

Amity's mind briefly remembered her first meeting with Camila, and how Camila, Luz, and Vee and worked things out, and then again with Lilith, Eda, and their Mom, and then yet again with Eda and her Dad. She'd seen so many instances of families who fixed their issues by just coming together and talking out their problems! Now it was the Blights' turn to do the same thing!

"We all love each other. We owe it to one another to be honest and try to make things right. If we stay like this, then Odalia is still hurting us! She wins! And I am not going to let that happen!" the purple-haired girl declared.

Her Grandma smiled and nodded, wiping her eyes and mouth; "You're right. It's high time I saw my son and set him straight! He needs to hear how we love him, and how sorry we are for not seeking him out! But first, we should talk to your Grandpa and the Twins and make sure we're all on the same page."

With that, the two headed off to find the others. Neither of the Blight Grandparents, nor any of the Blight Grandchildren were prepared for the revelations about to be shared between them, but they would face them together, and with Alador too.

[Meanwhile]

Palm Stings was a resort town. It was hot, built right on the coast, and had a plethora of attractions and sources of entertainment for tourists to be enthralled by whenever they came. One of the biggest and most famous was the Great Pisiform Bazaar, the largest market in the Boiling Isles. It was a huge collection of tents and stalls that filled an entire district on the south east side of the city, and sat right beside the most popular section of beach and the most luxurious hotels and vacation homes in the city. It was a veritable rainbow with all the different coloured tarps and sheets that helped keep out the sun, and a mind-bending array of smells filled the air with everything from the smell of delicious food to various magical incenses. If it existed and was legal to sell on the Boiling Isles, one could find it in the Bazaar… and if it wasn't legal, well one could still find it if they knew who to ask.

It was this Bazaar that Alador found himself wandering through (in disguise of course) as he waited for a call from his children, telling him they were ready to go home. He was picking through bits and pieces at different stalls, wondering if he should buy gifts for his parents as an apology, or perhaps just pick up some souvenirs for his children, their friends and some of his own new friends back home.

The thought of his new friends made Alador smile. Mason was a quiet man but just as passionate as he was about building things. Luna was a woman who was quick to anger and quicker to joke, and loved to mother everyone on Digale Island. Rasiel was a wise fellow who enjoyed having a good drink with intelligent company, and seemed intrigued by everything Alador had to say. Eda was as fun as she'd always been; she'd gotten older and wiser since school, but the firecracker she'd been back then was still alive and well inside her older body. Then there was Lilith; a responsible woman who seemed as happy to talk about Amity as Alador himself was… the man was no fool either; he knew Lilith had developed parental feelings for his daughter. Alador had nothing against that; Amity needed a mother figure after all! The Twins didn't seem to want or need a Mom, happy with each other, their sister, and him… but Amity craved motherly attention.

The thought made Alador almost spit as it brought Odalia back to mind.

Forgetting her again, Alador thought of one other friend he still had… the only one he'd had for the longest time, and who was currently following him subtly through the bazaar. Darius, also disguised, had remained within sight of Alador since they'd left the senior Blights' Villa, never trying to talk to Alador but also never going far from him. He was being a silent companion, and Alador respected that.

Still, after an hour of aimless roaming around, Alador was beginning to feel guilty for ignoring him so far. His souvenir hunting hadn't exactly gone well either, and he'd only picked picking up three trinkets; an enchanted dancing palm tree toy that he thought Willow would like (he still felt bad over allowing Odalia to break her friendship with Amity), a desert theme pointy witch hat that he knew Luz would love (she was going to be his daughter-in-law, so he wanted to make a good impression), and a plush toy of a Croconaw Crab for Viney (who like Luz, he wanted to make a good impression on).

Sighing, he moved to a quiet area of the bazaar and waited until Darius followed him. The other man seemed to realise he wanted company now, so he actually spoke.

"Come on, there's a somewhat decent place to get a drink just over there." Darius said, before walking off again. Alador obediently followed, and the two were soon seated in an outdoor cafe, drinking strange fruity drinks that Alador couldn't quite identify.

"I see your tastes in drinks haven't changed." Alador commented idly.

"Fruit is good for you. Significantly more so than copious amounts of coffee. I swear your blood must be more caffeine than blood at this point." Darius retorted, sipping his drink. "I've had to scold your daughter countless times for drinking too much coffee! Your bad habit is spreading."

Alador smirked, still remembering the last time Amity had come to his lab sulking because Darius had confiscated a coffee she'd brought with her to her lessons with him. She'd been like a grumpy kitten!

"What can I say? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Alador said, sipping his own drink. It was a little bitter, which was just to his tastes. Darius remembered what he liked…

"Yes, Amity is definitely your child, and Auntie Nelle's grandchild. The twins take after Uncle Colas though. It's remarkable that the only thing any of them inherited from their birth-giver was the twins' green hair… and it's not even the right shade!" Darius laughed.

Alador smirked too, before groaning; "Ugh, don't even get me started! Odalia was such a pain when it came to the kids! Despite all her cruelties, I did love her… and I'd probably still be with her and fighting against the CATTs if she had just been a good mother. But no; the twins were never worthy of her consideration, and Amity's value was dependent entirely on how well she lived up to her mother's ever-changing expectations. Do you have any idea how hard I had to fight to even have children!?"

Darius frowned; "So Odalia didn't want kids?"

"Oh, she wanted kids! But it was always; "An Heir or Heiress is important for the family, Alador" or "Children look good to potential business partners. The family angle widens our target demographic!", like it was a freaking business transaction to her!" Alador complained, chugging his drink.

Darius subtly signalled for a waitress to bring the man another one. "So even her children were tools for her ambitions. I'm honestly not even surprised. But then why did you need to fight to have them?"

Alador blushed and lowered his voice; "I wanted kids as soon as we married, but Odalia didn't. She said her body would change after having a kid and she wanted to use her youthful appeal to draw more business partners, as older businesspeople were more likely to make deals with young and "dumb" new start-ups they could exploit. So she wanted to wait a couple of years, but I didn't. I wanted to start a family right away so… so I said I would carry them."

Darius' eyes widened; he'd never expected for Alador to be willing to handle the pregnancy himself! Through the use of magic, it was possible for anyone to carry a child regardless of their gender identity or the gender identity of their partner… heck, a partner wasn't even always necessary! However it was quite rare for men to be the carriers, due to needing to take potions and undergo rituals to give themselves the necessary body parts to handle a pregnancy. It was far more common for men to use a surrogate.

"I admit, that's quite a surprise Alador. I never imagined you'd want to carry a child like that!" Darius said, trying to school his features again.

"Neither did I at first, but when Odalia said she didn't want to, I looked into it and well… I kind of came to like the idea. Having a child of my own like that was kind of a dream; the idea that I created true, perfect life… I asked Odalia if she'd be willing to have a child immediately if she didn't have to carry it, and she said yes, so I suggested I carry it instead." Alador explained. He sighed sadly; "But she didn't like that idea. She said it would interfere in my work too much and we should just use a surrogate, but I didn't want to involve anyone else. I wanted it to be just me and the woman I love… I was a fool of course, but I didn't realise what Odalia was really like yet."

The brown haired man sighed again and began sipping his new drink as Darius registered everything he'd just heard. He knew Odalia had eventually birthed all three of the Blight Children, and considering the twins were born 16 years ago and thus had to have been conceived shortly after their parents' elopement, Odalia must have decided to cave and bear the kids herself to keep Alador working. He said as much to his old friend, and Alador just nodded and slouched over, his head almost on the table.

"Odalia agreed to have a child right away… but it was definitely just to keep me working. And she kept saying that she could still do her job while pregnant, and it would both get her extra consideration from some clients, while making her seem more vulnerable to our business partners, making them more likely to make mistakes while trying to exploit us. Everything was business as usual… I should have realised then what kind of person she was, but I was too happy. I cried like a baby when the twins were born; I remember holding them for hours and doing everything for them since I figured Odalia had earned a break. To be honest, at the time I would have been content with just the twins; having another child eighteen months later had actually been Odalia's idea. Naturally, I jumped at the chance and nine months later, Amity is born." Alador said wistfully.

Darius found himself smiling a little; he hadn't bothered to learn the names of Alador's children until after he'd joined up with the CATTs and found them to be members. Or rather, he hadn't bothered to learn the twins names… he hadn't needed to learn Amity's. The moment he'd heard Odalia had given birth to a little girl with naturally brown hair, he'd known what her name would be… and that same night, he'd had a nightmare of an exploding lab and a little body pulled from the rubble.

That memory brought a frown to Darius' face, though he refused to let Alador see it, instead opting to hide his mouth by sipping his drink.

Alador continued; "For a while after that, I thought everything was right with the world! But then we became nobles, and my workshop was expanded to a full factory. I found myself busier than ever, and spent less and less time with my children, who I'd fought so hard for. Eventually, my days were nothing but shuffling between my bed, the bathroom, and the lab, all while occasionally shovelling food in my mouth or drinking enough coffee to wake the Titan. My bond with my children withered and suddenly, I found myself watching as my wife and daughter argued, and I realised I barely knew a damn thing about my own kids any more."

He once again chugged his drink, then muttered; "Wish this was something stronger…"

Darius rolled his eyes; "I'm not letting you get drunk. That'd just upset the kids. And before you go spiralling any further, remember that you actually tried to make things better with them. You've spent a lot of time with all three of them in recent months, and have gotten to know them very well. Give yourself some credit! Especially for finally waking up and realising Odalia was a cruel, hateful woman."

Alador, who'd flagged down a waitress to refill his drink again, lifted his newly filled glass; "I'll drink to that! If I'd been smart, I'd have left her as soon as Amity was born and taken the kids with me…"

Darius clinked his glass against Alador's in a toast; "Well, here's to the truth! Better to learn it late than never!"

The two men gulped down their drinks, then sat back and sighed, feeling a little more content. They were reminded of old times together, and the nostalgia made both feel like confessing some old regrets.

"You know… I wanted to name you Godfather to my kids." Alador confessed. "I'd always wanted kids of my own and always thought you'd be a part of that… so when the Twins were born, I swore I'd ask you to be their Godfather. Only we'd grown so apart that I didn't know how to raise the subject, especially since you always seemed busy with your new friends. Then when your new friends all… disappeared, and Amity was born a while after, I meant to ask you again. But…"

"I had turned cold." Darius finished. In the aftermath of his mentor's passing, and Cassiel and Em disappearing from the Demon Realm, he and Eber had been in a state of cold fury. They'd become hyper-focused on destroying the Emperor and beginning to amass forces for their rebellion… it wasn't for quite a while that their pain mellowed and some of their old selves returned to them. The drive they'd felt in those days had been part of what allowed them to become Coven Heads so quickly, but it had damaged all their relationships, except with each other.

"You know, if you had asked me, I would have said yes. I'll be honest, I like the Twins. They're good kids who are remarkably well-adjusted considering the neglect they dealt with. And of course there's Amity… you know I'm fond of her. She reminds me of you and… well…" Darius trailed off, but Alador knew what he was trying to say.

"And she reminds you of her namesake too. I know… she reminds me of her too. The first time I saw her scampering towards me as a little six year old, my heart nearly stopped." Alador said softly, eyes growing misty.

An awkward silence passed between them, and Darius found himself remembering those old days. When Little Amity had passed away in that lab accident, he had just about drowned in guilt… the fact it tore a void into his relationship with Alador made it worse, and for a long time he was alone and couldn't bear to face the Blights. He'd thrown himself into the duties of his noble title, and that head led him to meeting his mentor Michael during some fancy event. It had been Michael who helped him feel better about himself and encouraged him to make new friends and heal his old friendships. Darius had managed the former with Eber, and then Cassiel and Em, but he had never managed the latter… until now.

"I have to apologise…" Darius began, making Alador sit up a little straighter; "… what happened that day, and how I reacted to it was wrong. I knew you were hurting after Amity's passing, and blaming yourself, but I couldn't bear to see my best friend in such pain. I-I thought I could assuage your guilt by passing the blame, but I was too scared that you'd hate me if I took it on myself. After all, I was just as responsible for failing to secure the lab properly after we left. So I ended up blaming Amity herself for doing something she knew she wasn't supposed to… and that was awful of me. I acted foolishly and hurt you further when you were already hurting, and I can never apologise enough for that. Still… I am sorry, Al."

Darius bowed his head a little, and Alador looked at him with shock, before his features softened. "Dee…" he said quietly, their old childhood nicknames on each other's lips. "Thank you for saying that. And I'm sorry too. I was too caught up in my own hurt to realise you were hurting too. Not only that, but you were right to call me a Hack; aside from my children, I can't say I'm proud of anything I created whilst married to… no, whilst working for Odalia. Can we be friends again? Like we used to be?"

For a moment, Darius could only see Alador as the awkward little boy he'd been when they'd been small, holding out a shaky hand and asking to be friends. Darius smiled and responded just as he had back then… by taking his hand and saying; "We're already friends, Silly Al."

A lot of emotions passed between them as they both smiled, then began to drink in companionable silence. Their hands remained joined.

About twenty minutes later, as they began to recall old memories and reminisce with each other about better times, Alador's scroll appeared with a message for him from Amity.

"Amity's calling us back to my parents' place. She says they completed their mission, and there are important things to talk about." Alador said, looking mildly surprised. He hadn't expected them to get it done so fast! It was only just reaching the early hours of the afternoon!

Darius was surprised too; "I knew bringing Amity and Auntie Nelle together would probably lead to some interesting ideas, but I never expected them to find a solution to our problem so quickly. If this is anything like when we were kids, I'm going to feel like an idiot for not spotting whatever flaw they've exploited."

Alador chuckled; "Tell me about it! Imagine getting that feeling from your Mom and Daughter at the same time! But whatever; it's time to face the music. I need to stop being a coward and properly apologise to Mom and Dad. They deserve it, even if they won't forgive me."

The man stood, and Darius stood with him. The two began to walk back to the villa, and as they went, Darius said; "Don't worry; no matter what happens, I'll be by your side the whole time Al."

"Heh, I know you will Dee."

[Meanwhile]

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, Amity found herself pacing. She was working through a lot of emotions right now, and the best way to do that without screaming or blowing something up was by pacing around her grandparents' sitting room; the same place they'd had ice tea earlier and the place she, her siblings, and her grandparents now sat in as they waited for her Dad to return. They'd reconvened a little while ago to share what they'd learned, and all three Blight Kids had been thrown for a loop by the stories they learned.

Amity was deeply shocked to learn she had once had an aunt whose name she inherited, and greatly saddened by how the poor child had passed away and how her Dad and Darius had a rift put in their friendship by the whole affair… (the reveal that they'd once had crushes on each other was much less shocking). On the reverse side, the Twins and Grandpa Colas were absolutely fuming over realising Odalia had lied and tricked Alador and his parents into believing they'd each been disowned by the other. They weren't exactly surprised, but that just made the revelation all the more infuriating. Amity had sent her message to her Dad to summon him and Darius back, so now they were just waiting to inform them of everything and finally put their little family back together… sans one toxic piece they'd all wanted to cut out.

Amity was still pacing, while the twins were having fun working out their anger on a pair of abominations that Nelle had made for them, punching and kicking away at them like there was no tomorrow. Nelle sat with Colas and patted the distraught man's back as they sipped iced tea together, at least until Colas suddenly blinked and looked in the direction of the estate entrance.

"Someone just passed through the illusion I placed over our home. Multiple people." Colas frowned, getting to his feet.

"Could it be Dad and Darius?" Edric asked.

Colas closed his eyes, then paled as they flew open again; "No. There are a LOT of people passing through it!" he said urgently.

The kids looked worried, so Nelle stood and drew a spell circle over herself, causing her eyes to turn into the black and green of an abomination's. The green irises glowed ominously, as she used her magic to see through the eyes of one of her abomination sentries. She then cursed darkly.

"Abomatons and Coven Scouts! A lot of them! They're surrounding the entire estate. I can't see who's leading them though." Nelle scowled. "There are three large airships in the sky though, marked with the sigils of the Abominations, Bard, and Oracle Covens!"

"Oh no, this is bad!" Emira cried, leaping to her feet; "Do you have a secret escape route or something!?"

Her Grandparents shook their heads; "No, building an underground escape route is nearly impossible in this city! At least if you want to keep it secret! You either have to dig out of the city and into the sand, or come to an agreement with another property owner to put the exit on their land! This is Palm Stings! It's too expensive for there to be unclaimed and unmaintained properties!" Colas fretted.

"Keep calm, dear. We need to protect the kids. Edric, Emira; take your sister to my lab and lock yourselves in. it's the most defensible place in the estate, and also where you'll find a crystal ball connected to our security abominations. Use it to see when you have an opening to escape, then fly away!" Nelle declared, summoning her staff to her hands. Her Palisman was pink kangaroo, with a joey in her pouch that appeared to be made of abomination slime.

Colas summoned his also, revealing his Palisman to be a large yellow furred wolf with a single sabre-tooth on the right side of its snout. "We can hold these guys off for a bit."

"No you can't!" Amity cried.

"There are tons of them out there, and you're not rebels! We are!" Edric argued.

"We can fight, and we've got experience with it too! Let us go out there and defend the place!" Emira agreed. All three Blight Siblings summoned their Palismen, though Edric and Emira immediately combined theirs to summon Orthrus.

"This isn't the time to be arguing-" Nelle began, only for Amity to cut her off.

"You're right, it's not! So listen to us and we can help fight!" Amity declared. "Dad and Darius have to be on their way back, so they'll see the siege and call for reinforcements from the CATTs, then attack them from behind! There are definitely other rebels in the city, since we have a safe house here. The only trick is holding out long enough for them to muster their forces and get here."

Edric and Emira nodded; "The Coven Scouts are gonna be a pain, but what about the Abomatons? Do we have a counter for them yet?" Edric asked.

Amity nodded; "We do. Grandma, you're better at Abominations than I am, so you should go to your lab and begin making the Parasitic Abominations! Edric, we need you to make as many Lightning Magic Bombs as you can."

"I can do that." Edric agreed immediately; "I've got a cauldron and some tools and vials I can summon, as well as a few supplies Barcus gifted me, but it won't be enough!"

"What do you need for them?" Colas asked.

"Fulgur Bloom Pollen, Speckled Yellow Mushroom Oil, and Magnetite ore." Edric replied.

Colas nodded; "I've got some of that mushroom oil. It's good for making paint and glue for my sculptures."

"And I have Magnetite ore. But we're out of luck when it comes to Fulgur Blooms!" Nelle scowled.

Amity shook her head; "I can make some. Luz taught me a little about glyph magic." she said, using abomination magic to make slime appear in the shape of the plant glyph. She then pictured what she wanted and pressed the glyph, making Fulgur Blooms grow. "Will this be enough?"

"It should be. I'll get to work!" Edric declared, immediately summoning his cauldron and vials and getting started.

"I'll get started too, and send an abomination to deliver the Magnetite!" Nelle declared, rushing off to her lab. She didn't like the idea of her grandchildren fighting, but Amity's plan was the best one they had for all of them getting out of this alive.

"Send some to get the oil from my atelier too! I'll stay with Amity and Emira." Colas declared, as he and his granddaughters began heading for the villa entrance. As they stepped out into the open air, they looked up and spotted the airships, noticing that the crews on board looked ready to begin dropping down into the estate.

"Oh no you don't!" Amity growled, summoning her Oracle Spirit. She slapped an emergency Power Glyph to the back of her neck, then used it and her Oracle Spirit to conjure a massive barrier over the entire estate, ensuring the scouts couldn't just drop in from the sky. A few still tried, but ended up falling onto the dome barrier and sliding awkwardly down to the ground outside the estate. Amity then used the rest of the magic boost the Power Glyph gave her to imbue her Oracle Spirit with Light Magic, transforming it into the Hecate-like form she'd first used back at Eclipse Lake against Lucy.

"Hold the barrier! Don't let anyone through!" Amity ordered. The spirit nodded and floated up to begin keeping the barrier active, while Amity continued with Emira and Grandpa Colas to the estate's front entrance. The barrier actually went a little bit outside of the estate, so while it had cut off the lion's share of enemies, several scouts and Abomatons were still within the barrier… as were the three people leading the siege.

Amity recognised all three of them; the first was Severin Cadence, looking extremely uncomfortable and angry over the entire situation. The second was a woman she hadn't seen in quite a long time, and was not too pleased to see again; Amaranth Secuna, Skara's mother.

Amaranth was a tall and slender woman of about the same height as her ex-husband, with caramel skin a shade lighter than Luz's, and silvery white hair like Skara's, only shaved down so it was less than a centimetre long from her scalp. She was beautiful, with pale blue eyes and large pouting lips, and her outfit consisted of very formfitting pants and shirt which left no skin visible beneath the neck, yet still managed to leave little to the imagination. She had a belt with several vials of purple abomination slime on it, as well as a white Coven Head cloak just like Severin's, only with the pink Abomination Coven medallion acting as the clasp instead of the red Bard Coven version. She was smiling serenely, completely unfazed by everything going on around her, as if this was all just routine for her.

But then there was the last person… another woman, and one that Amity, Emira, and Colas were all very annoyed to see. Odalia Blight… or was it Odalia Vespan now?

The foul woman was stood between Severin and Amaranth with an extremely smug expression, looking exactly as she always did. Her hair was back to normal after finally seeing a proper barber, and her outfit was the same one she always favoured when taking care of business… in fact it was the same outfit as she'd worn to the Blight Ball, when Amity had last seen her, though it did have one addition. She now sported a white cloak, with a purple Oracle Coven Medallion on the clasp.

"Odalia! Belos made you Osran's replacement!?" Amity spat, glaring hatefully at the smug snake of a woman.

Odalia's smile grew a little wider; "Hello to you too, Amity. You're quite right; I am the new Head Witch of the Oracle Coven. The Emperor himself promoted me for bringing him these fine Abomatons."

Amity sneered; "Yeah right. Dad designed them and Secuna reverse-engineered them to make more. Did you actually do anything useful?"

Amaranth covered her mouth and coughed to hide a chuckle, briefly making Odalia glare at her, before her smug smirk returned.

"The newly re-dubbed Vespan Industries legally owns the design AND we are responsible for mass-producing them alongside the Abomination Coven. I was instrumental." Odalia declared.

Emira snorted; "More like Belos used you like a tool… then again, you always were a tool."

This time, Amaranth didn't even bother to hide her amusement, and Severin smirked as well, while Amity and Colas grinned mockingly. Odalia went red in the face as her facade began to falter.

"I see your lack of discipline is as serious as ever, Emira. Not to worry; I will give you all the discipline you need once you have been properly returned to my custody." Odalia said threateningly as she reached into her cloak and pulled out a scroll, which she unfurled and read aloud; "Due to the Criminal Actions of one Alador Blight, the Emperor declares him to be an Enemy of the Empire. As such, all his legal property is to be seized by the Emperor's Coven. His children are henceforth removed from his custody and are to be returned to the custody of their closest lawful relative, Odalia Vespan." she closed the scroll and grinned coldly at Colas; "I am here to collect my children. Do be a dear and get Edric for me."

Amity and Emira scoffed; "You really expect us to go back to you, you abusive hag!?" Amity spat, "The last time we spoke, you were happily crowing about me being petrified!"

Severin looked at Odalia like she was scum, and even Amaranth (who had herself disowned her child for disobeying her wishes) looked at the woman with her lips curling with disgust. Many of the Coven Scouts also shuffled away and begun to mutter darkly… Odalia really wasn't a popular woman; she'd trodden on too many people in her grasping for power.

Odalia once again flushed, then angrily snapped; "You will be going to the Emperor so he might finally draw out that wretched Angel and put an end to this farce! I'm sure Head Witch Adrian will be happy to make you nice and compliant while we wait for your little girlfriend. If the results are to my liking, I might have him cure your older siblings of their discipline issues as well!"

Amity brandished her staff alongside Colas, while Emira jumped onto Orthrus' back, who growled angrily. Strangely enough, Severin growled as well.

"The Emperor has sworn that he would not order such a thing! There will be no brainwashing!" he demanded.

"The Emperor also placed me in charge of this operation, Severin. I will deal with it, and my children, as I see fit!" Odalia snapped back.

Severin took a threatening step towards Odalia and raised a hand as if to signal the scouts to act; "Emperor Belos assured me that there would be no brainwashing. If you intend to pursue such actions, I will assume you are disobeying the Emperor's order! Such disobedience is treason, and I will treat you like a traitor! Do I make myself clear!?"

The Coven Scouts lowered their spears, pointing them in Odalia's direction. Severin was the longest ruling Head Witch present, and by far the most well-liked, so it was no surprise the scouts would side with him first, especially since he was technically correct.

"How dare you!?" Odalia spat; "The Abomatons-!"

"Are under my command." Amaranth cut in, having the Abomatons point their cannons at both Severin and Odalia to prove her point; "Honestly Severin, must you be so dramatic?" she sighed with a shake of her head, before smiling; "Still, you are correct in this instance. I will be the one to take custody of the Blight Children until the Emperor decides what to do with them. I am the only neutral party here after all."

That was another good point; Amity was friends with Severin's daughter, so he couldn't be considered neutral in this affair.

Severin frowned at his former wife, but then nodded and gestured for the scouts to point their spears towards the Blights instead, while Odalia begrudgingly spat; "Fine."

Smiling serenely, Amaranth then turned her Abomatons onto the Blights too; "Now that this unsightly bickering is over, I think it's time we handle this. Amity, Emira; come along with me and you will not be harmed. Nor will your grandparents; there is currently no evidence they've committed a crime after all. Your father and my predecessor Darius will be found and arrested, though I have been assured they will not be harmed either, should they cooperate."

Amity and Emira exchanged looks, then turned back to Amaranth and said together; "No."

Amaranth sighed and prepared to give the order to attack, but Severin decided to try the peaceful approach as well. "Girls, please don't fight this. You can't possibly win and I don't want to see you hurt. I know this must be frightening, but I've known you both since you were in diapers; do you really think I'll allow anything bad to happen to you?"

"Yes." Amity said with a deadpan expression, making Severin recoil in surprise; "You're stood beside the woman who abused me and my siblings for years, and the woman who slandered you and your own daughter to save her reputation after she abandoned you both. You're siding with the man that tortured my girlfriend and committed more atrocities than I can count! Do you really think you can call yourself the good guy here?"

Severin paled and bit his lip, unable to answer.

At that moment, there was some rumbling behind the Blights, and Amity turned to see a veritable army of abominations come marching out from her grandparents' estate. Just about every abomination created by Nelle was coming to their defence, wielding various tools and other items as improvised weapons. One of them marched towards Amity and handed her a wrist band with brass plating and a pink stone embedded in it, which Amity recognised as a control device for the abominations.

"Looks like Grandma sent some reinforcements!" Amity grinned.

"Ed must be hard at work too." Emira agreed, spotting a couple of abominations holding lightning potion bombs.

Colas saw this as well, then cast a subtle illusion spell so both Amity and Emira (and only them) would hear what he wanted them to. "Girls, I'm going to use illusions and one of my wife's final defences to break up the scouts inside the barrier and keep them busy. Amity, send the abominations to fight the Abomatons, that way you two will only need to hold off the Coven Heads until Alador and Darius arrive with reinforcements."

The girls nodded, and Amity whispered to Emira; "I'm taking Odalia. Are you okay with Secuna?"

"With Orthrus on my side, I can probably hold her off for a while." Emira agreed. "But what about Severin?"

Amity looked over at the man, who seemed to be seriously warring with himself. She didn't think he'd actually try to fight them, but better safe than sorry…

"Grandpa, can you make sure Severin stays out of this?" she whispered.

Colas used another illusion to whisper back; "I can. I'll disorient him with illusions! Give me the signal when you're ready to start, then buckle up! My wife's final defence is a little… out there."

The girls nodded, then after exchanging one more glance to one another, Amity cried "NOW!"

She immediately ordered the abominations to swarm the Abomatons, distracting the lumbering behemoths and disrupting them with lightning bombs, allowing the abominations to get an early lead. The scouts, Odalia, and Amaranth all prepared for battle, while Severin hung back to ensure things didn't get out of hand. Colas stopped them all in their tracks by slapping a palm against the stone floor at his feet, causing pink light to appear between all the tiles. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble as Nelle's ultimate defence for her home was unveiled.

As it turned out, every stone tile and building on the Blights' property had abominations stored underneath them, allowing different parts of the estate to rise up, sink down, or move around, allowing full reconfiguration of the entire estate to whatever specifications Nelle and Colas wanted. Not only that, but the buildings themselves were sealed with barriers to keep things safe. It hadn't even started out as a defence; it had simply been intended to allow easy remodelling whenever the artistic Colas wanted to change things up a bit.

Colas combined this defence with a massive illusion in order to trap Severin and the Coven Scouts in a maze made from the walls of the estate (which Colas caused to continue shifting, so they never found their way out), while the abominations and Abomatons were shuffled out of the way, too busy fighting to pay attention to their surroundings. Lastly, he hid himself somewhere safe to manage the illusions, while ensuring Emira, Orthrus, and Amaranth ended up on one raised section of the estate, while Amity and Odalia ended up on another.

Emira, still riding on Orthrus, didn't stagger around through the moving of the estate, though thanks to the widespread illusion, she also couldn't see what had actually happened. As far as she could see, she and her Palisman and opponent were now just stood on an island flying miles above the Titan's palm.

"Whoa, Grandma and Grandpa don't play around! We didn't really get launched this high, did we?" Emira frowned. She briefly used her own illusion magic to see through her Grandpa's and discovered that they were actually only about fifteen feet above the ground; enough that a fall would be painful but not otherwise a big deal.

Turning to a confused and disoriented Amaranth, Emira shouted; "I'd be careful not to fall off, if I were you."

Amaranth scoffed; "Honestly Darling, I'm no fool. I felt us ascend. How high are we really, behind the illusion?"

"Eh, enough that you'd break a leg if you fell. I wouldn't risk it." Emira cheerfully answered, scratching both of Orthrus' heads.

"Very well. I suppose I'll find out for myself later. I might as well use the opportunity to apprehend you." Amaranth declared, popping the corks off of a couple of her abomination vials and shaping some of it into a staff for her to wield, while the other was moulded into a long rope. "Do be a dear and surrender. I'd really rather not hear my ex-husband yelling over me beating up a child."

"Hmm… nah." Emira replied, beginning to smirk; "But don't worry; I won't be the one getting beat up!"

Immediately, Emira and Orthrus disappeared from sight and Amaranth frowned. She felt a sudden increase in temperature to her left and jumped out of the way while shooting a globule of abomination slime from her staff in the direction she'd felt the heat, managing to hit a fireball that Orthrus had shot at her. She then tried to use the abomination rope like a lasso to grab the hidden Orthrus, but found nothing but empty air.

"Illusionists really are such annoying pests. It's rude to hide from your elders, young lady!" Amaranth announced, only to feel the same heat appear behind her. She ducked it this time and swung her abomination staff in the direction the fireball was launched from, managing to smack one of Orthrus' heads this time. A small bit of slime remained on the fur of his jaw too, allowing Amaranth to track where he'd fled too next and immediately launch her lasso at him, this time managing to grab one of his necks.

Amaranth smiled and was about to comment that Emira couldn't flee now, only for her to suddenly be smacked rather hard on the back of the head, making her see stars and stagger forward with a gasp of pain. The blow was painful, but the woman quickly recovered and saw a trace of blue magic slicing through her lasso before the end attached to Orthrus (and the slime on his jaw) was removed by Emira's limited abomination magic.

"Ugh, the brat must have jumped off her mount when it was caught. Very well, no more playing around!" Amaranth declared, suddenly drawing a large spell circle with her abomination staff and generating a large amount of pink and purple slime, which covered the entire floor they were standing on and began to drip off the edge.

The invisible Emira and Orthrus looked down in annoyance, seeing that the slime revealed their location via their footprints in it. Emira briefly considered destroying it all with the abomination self-destruct spell, but that would just get them blown up too since they were so close. Her next idea was to fly, but her moment of distraction cost her that chance as tendrils of abomination slime reached up and ensnared her and Orthrus. Seeing as invisibility was now just draining her magic, Emira allowed the spell to drop as Orthrus tried to shoot fireballs from his mouths, only for more slime tendrils to bind their muzzles shut, causing the fireballs to explode within their mouths and cause the poor Palisman to shriek and whimper, before passing out from the pain.

"No! Orthrus!" Emira cried. Now unconscious, the Palisman divided back into Orthie and Russ, which caused the restraints binding them and their partner to slacken slightly due to the greatly reduced size, allowing Emira to slip free. She immediately cast a freezing spell at the abomination slime to stop it binding her again, then started casting healing spells on the injured Palisman. Conventional healing didn't work on Palismen (Luz was the only one Emira knew who could heal them properly), but since Russ was bonded with her, Emira was able to heal him. She was also able to conjure bandages for Orthie, as well as a pain-numbing spell to ease his wounds while picking him up and tying him to her back with bandages.

"Slippery child, aren't you?" Amaranth commented; "And a skilled healer… your mother only warned me that you could make illusions."

Emira growled; "That woman is no mother of mine!"

Immediately, she switched Russ into staff mode and took to the sky, aiming to attack from the air so Amaranth would have a harder time reaching her. She hastily conjured some syringe-shaped projectiles and fired them at the Coven Head, who crafted some abomination slime into a shield to block the projectiles. She then saw Emira darting at her from the left, one of her hands coated in blue healing magic. Not wanting to risk it and see what that spell would do to her, Amaranth tried to raise slime tendrils from the ground to grab the girl, only for the Emira they grabbed to disappear in a cloud of cyan smoke.

"Another illusion…" Amaranth scowled, not even turning around as she had fists made of hardened abomination slime launch out of the ground around her to cut off any other attacks. This proved useful, as one hit Emira as she was coming in for a sneak attack on her right side, causing the girl to lose her balance and be knocked away. Emira used wind magic to correct herself before she hit the ground and the slime that still covered it, then cast another invisibility spell to disappear again. Seeing this made Amaranth sigh with irritation, before using the abomination slime to create a round, hardened shell around her entire body, obscuring Emira's view of her.

Seeing this, Emira began to focus Healing Magic into her palm, coating it in a severing spell; which was basically a magical equivalent of a scalpel. Most Healing Witches learned to create these mini magic blades from their finger tips, but Viney had shown Emira how to amplify the effect and apply it to the whole arm, turning one's own limb into a magic blade fit for slicing and piercing…

… and now Emira had a nice big abomination boil to lance!

Using an illusion to make it look like a dozen different Emira clones were about to attack the abomination shell with different spells, the real Emira found the best position she could and then cast a spell to create a magic brace on her extended arm, reinforcing it for the heavy blow she was about to deal. With an extra wind spell to help propel her, Emira shot forth at incredible speeds straight for Amaranth's abomination barrier, and thanks to the combination of the brace and the giant scalpel spell on her arm, she pierced right through it like it was paper.

But there was nothing inside.

Emira came to a stop, the spells on her arm dispersing as she stared in shock as the hardened chunks of abomination slime that had once been Amaranth's protection crumbled and melted, revealing that Amaranth was completely gone. There was no sign of the woman at all, and Emira had no idea where she could have gone!

"Did she burrow her way out? But how? The floor here should just be stone tiles held up by… abomination slime!?" Emira cried as she realised what she'd missed.

Sadly, she didn't get a chance to act on this realisation, as Amaranth suddenly shot up out of the ground behind Emira, her arms coated in abomination slime that she'd formed into rotating drills. Amaranth softened one of the drills whilst maintaining it's shape, then stabbed it at Emira's staff so the end of the staff would get stuck in the slime… the still rapidly spinning slime. Emira was immediately flung off with a scream as her staff began spinning with the drill, and since she couldn't land on her back without crushing Orthie, Emira was forced to essentially belly flop into the slime covered floor. Amaranth graciously inflated some of the slime to make the impact less damaging, but Emira was still winded and gasped at the impact.

Her front was also soaked in the pinkish purple slime, which Amaranth promptly hardened, making Emira's clothes turn stiff and difficult to move in. To further restrain her before she could get her breath back, the Coven Head turned her other drill into a series of slimy rings to wrap around Emira's body, binding her together at the ankles and knees, as well as pinning her arms to her sides at the wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Finally, Amaranth finished her restraints by making some of the slime on the floor lift Emira up into the air by a couple of feet, so she was held in a crude standing position.

"Honestly, that was more bothersome than I expected." Amaranth frowned as she used the other drill's slime to fully bind Russ as he turned back into his canine form to try and save his partner. "You actually managed to land a single blow on me back there. Quite impressive considering you're a child and I'm a Coven Head."

Emira sneered and resisted the urge to spit at the woman. In truth, she knew winning against a Coven Head (even a replacement one like Amaranth) was a long shot, especially after Orthrus was taken out. Emira prided herself in her skills, but she was not really a fighter. Her preferences were for illusions and healing, and she enjoyed stealth, misdirection, and support… she needed someone else to fight alongside her in order to really get the most out of her abilities; someone like her brother or Viney. With Orthrus, she had a powerful ally to support… without him, she had to rely on her own raw combat skills, which simply didn't measure up to a Coven Head.

"Oh, don't give me that look. I've been nothing but cordial to you! Really, you have my respect Darling. I almost regret having to return you to your mother's custody once this is done; such a waste." Amaranth sighed and shook her head.

"I told you, that woman is not my mother!" Emira snarled. Her defiance was rewarded by a tut from Amaranth and her restraints getting tighter; not enough to hurt, but definitely enough to be very uncomfortable, especially with poor Orthie whimpering on her back. Thankfully Amaranth took pity on the poor Palisman and removed him from Emira's back, before binding him to Russ and leaving the two canines trapped together off to the side.

"That tone is unbecoming, my dear. Though I suppose Odalia will straighten you out." Amaranth replied.

Emira's eyes widened, before a feeling of resignation filled her heart. If she couldn't win… she would not let Odalia take her! Wiggling her fingers just enough to draw a spell circle, Emira tapped the resulting spell against her abomination restraints, which began to bubble.

Amaranth's eyes widened as all the slime binding Emira began to bubble, swell, and glow. "No! You foolish girl, blowing up the slime with you trapped in it could kill you!"

"I won't go back to that woman! I won't be her puppet to be abused and forgotten! And if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Emira cried, desperation and rage roaring out of her.

Amaranth panicked and began using Abomination Magic to pull the swelling and bubbling slime away from the desperate girl before it could explode. She did not want this girl's death on her conscience, especially since there was a very real chance Severin and Odalia would team up to kill her if Emira died! Severin was fond of the Blight kids thanks to Skara, and Odalia wouldn't be forgiving to someone who broke what was hers. She could have also just released all the slime and let Emira go, but she didn't want her prisoner to get free, and in that panicked moment, Amaranth's judgement wasn't the best.

In the end, Amaranth's actions only caused there to be a build of exploding abomination slime directly around her, while the restraints on Emira had been weakened enough for her to pull free. The girl wasn't able to fully escape in time to avoid the explosion of the slime, but at least she'd managed to move enough to keep the blast from being fatal. Both Emira and Amaranth were caught in the explosion and sent flying. Emira, badly burnt but otherwise alive, managed to conjure some medical pins that she used like climbing spikes, digging them into the ground as she was sent skidding off their aerial battleground, allowing her to stop just before the edge. Meanwhile Amaranth, also burnt (though not as badly), was able to use some of the slime still coating their floating arena to create a gooey hand that shot out and caught her before she could fall from the platform.

Lowering herself back onto the platform, Amaranth gasped and winced in pain; "Y-You are utterly insane, darling. You'd truly risk dying rather than go back to your own mother?"

Emira, slowly healing herself and getting back to her feet, nodded; "How many times do I have to tell you!? That woman is not my mother! I'm my own person; I won't be her doll any more!"

Amaranth's eyes softened; "You remind me of Skara… always so wilful. She didn't understand I was trying to do what was best for her and our family either. It's a parent's job to guide their child through life."

"There's a difference between guiding someone and living through them! Skara is happy without you, and I'm happy without Odalia!" Emira spat, now standing straight and summoning Orthie and Russ back to her in staff forms, utilising the bonds between Twin Palisman to wield Orthie like he was her partner too and freeing them both from their slime bindings. However he was still injured, so Emira strapped him to her back and just wielded Russ.

Narrowing her eyes, Amaranth snapped her fingers and summoned her own Palisman; a pink and gold scarab beetle that held a ball of abomination slime. She switched it into staff mode and pointed it at Emira, who was fully healed now but clearly exhausted from using so much healing magic.

"Your defiance is cute, my dear. In fact I'd go so far as to call it admirable. But despite dealing me a good bit of damage, you can barely stand now; don't think you can beat me alone!" Amaranth declared, getting serious.

"Who says she's alone!?"

Amaranth's eyes widened as the illusion of the open sky around their battleground rippled, and Edric suddenly came bursting through it, riding atop what appeared to be a giant Muddle Bat. The bat screeched and sent a sonic blast at the Coven Head, forcing her to gather some slime into a shield to protect herself. However the sonic attack rippled through the slime and Amaranth found herself being hit regardless, albeit weaker than she would have been. She was knocked onto her back with a groan, while Edric and his pet Batric landed beside Emira.

"Ed! You're here!" Emira cried with joy. "What happened to Batric!?"

"A simple Growth Potion. He wanted to help. Good thing too, since Orthie isn't in a position to be summoned and fly…" Edric frowned, taking his damaged Palisman from his sister and switching him back to Dog mode. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a healing potion, and thanks to it containing his magic, it was able to heal his bonded partner. He then handed a second healing potion to Emira, as well as a Bile Booster potion made with one of Luz's feathers; a gift from Eda after he'd sat in on one of King's potion lessons with her.

"Take these, sis. We'll beat her together! You and me against the world as always!" Edric declared.

"Ed… you really are a great brother, you know that?" Emira beamed, stashing the healing potion in her pocket for later then chugging the Bile Booster. She felt the rush of power through her heart and bile sac, but thankfully she'd been just barely tired enough that the extra bile production didn't cause an Overload. "Right! How do you wanna do this?"

"You fly around on the back of Batric and use support spells, while I'll ride around down here with Orthie! We can't match a Coven Head in raw power and experience, but if we use speed and tricks, we might be able to stop her!" Edric said softly, so Amaranth wouldn't hear.

"If you're riding around down here, shouldn't I leave Russ with you so you can form Orthrus?" Emira asked.

"No need…" Edric grinned, casting an orange spell circle over his Palisman. He cast a beast-keeping spell on Orthie, resulting in him growing to be the size of a horse, and becoming far more feral and wolf-like in appearance. "I learned this spell from your girlfriend!" he declared, before hopping on Orthie's back.

Emira giggled and hopped onto Batric's back, giving the giant Muddle Bat a scratch behind the ears as he flew up at her command. Holding on to the back of his collar with one hand, Emira brandished her staff with the other. She also noticed a small cloth sack attached to his collar, which contained several pre-made potions of different kinds. Emira saw the label on one yellow potion and smirked as an idea came to her, before peeling the label off and preparing her plan.

Meanwhile, Amaranth had finally shaken off the after-effects of Batric's sonic screech, which had left her confused and disoriented for a few moments. Muddle Bats were known for their confusion-inducing saliva, but their screeches could inflict a similar, milder effect to those who heard them. To deal with this, Amaranth made some earplugs with abomination slime and clogged her ears.

"Wait, is she really blocking out her hearing? This might be easier than I thought! Emira, swoop in and attack her from behind! I'll distract her with a direct assault!" Edric yelled, no longer fearing he'd be heard.

Emira yelled back her agreement, then waited for Edric to charge forward on the back of Orthie. The enlarged Palisman growled and leapt at Amaranth, who reformed the abomination shield from a moment ago into a slime muzzle to try and bind Orthie's mouth, but the slime was immediately frozen when Edric through a Freezing Potion at it, preventing the enemy from manipulating it any more and allowing Orthie to crush it in his mouth as his claws slashed at Amaranth. She raised up two pillars of slime to absorb the attacks and try to bind Orthie's paws, but as her attention was elsewhere, Emira had Batric fly around to the woman's back and dive bomb it while she prepared to cast an anaesthetic spell on her, aiming to render Amaranth unable to move or fight back.

However, just as she got close enough to land the admittedly short-ranged spell (the spell work was too finicky for a projectile, so it had to be applied via touch), Emira suddenly found another pillar of abomination slime shooting out of the ground beneath Batric, hitting him hard enough to send him flying back into the sky with a startled screech, while she was forced to hang on for dear life.

Edric saw this and scowled; "What!? How did she-!"

"I was married to a Bard for the better part of ten years, Darling." Amaranth grinned; "I learned to read lips, so I could still converse with people despite all that noise making conversation difficult."

Edric flushed; so she'd known his plan from the start. Well, it was her mistake for telling him how! Grabbing a simple explosive potion, Edric tossed it at her whilst using ice magic to freeze the pillars that had bound Orthie's paws, allowing the Palisman to break free and leap out of the way as the explosion went off. Amaranth was quick though, and had reused the slime from her third pillar to create a protective bubble of hardened slime around her, just like the one she'd used to hide earlier while digging beneath the arena.

Emira cast an audio illusion on Edric so he'd hear what she wanted him to; "Watch out for below! She might burrow out from the ground!"

Edric nodded and whistled for Batric, who swooped down and used his enhanced size and strength to lift Orthie and Edric into the air. Emira used this opportunity to cast the medical brace spell on Orthie's limbs, so he could fall from a greater height without injuring himself. Edric then threw a Lightning Magic Bomb down at the abomination bubble, causing it to be electrocuted, though this naturally had no effect on Amaranth, who had burrowed underground as Emira predicted.

The Coven Head tried to sneak up on the two by emerging from underneath the platform and using her staff to fly up and behind them, but Orthie smelled her while Batric heard her, allowing them to turn at the last minute. Emira created a blue barrier to block a blow from an abomination spear that Amaranth had swung at Batric's wings. The slimy spear splattered and got stuck to the barrier, holding Amaranth in place long enough for Batric to use another sonic screech. The confusion effect didn't get through the earplugs, but the actual force of the attack did knock Amaranth off her staff, forcing her to desperately inflate some of the slime still on the platform below into an abomination airbag to break her fall.

"Ugh, cunning little-" Amaranth's complaint was cut off by Batric releasing Orthie, causing the enlarged hound and his rider to come smashing down on top of her. She just barely managed to summon her Palisman back to her hand and have it pull her out of the way before Orthie landed, but the huge weight crashing into her abomination airbag caused it to burst, splattering slime everywhere and making it hit Amaranth in the back as she flew off, staggering her and allowing Edric to throw another potion grenade at her; this one zapping her with a huge blast of electricity.

Amaranth screamed and hit the ground, seemingly unconscious. "Phew! I-I think we did it!" Edric grinned, slowly getting off of Orthie and undoing the spell on him, allowing the boy to use his partner as a staff again. With a sleeping potion in one hand and Orthie's staff in the other, Edric carefully edged towards the woman. Slowly, he poked her with the end of his staff, then used it to roll her onto her back. As far as he could tell, she really had been knocked out… the woman was a little worse for wear, having taken Emira's abomination explosion, two sonic blasts from Batric, and now a direct hit from a lightning bomb… Still, Edric decided to be cautious and try to administer a sleeping potion.

As he knelt down and lowered the bottle to Amaranth's lips, her eyes suddenly flew open. The abomination slime that had gotten on her back pulsed and launched her onto her feet, causing her to deliver a sturdy headbutt to Edric in the process, making him stagger back. She then brought up her staff and smacked the end of it into Edric's gut to wind him, before using a fist coated in abomination slime to punch him back, doing even more damage. Poor Edric gasped in pain as he tried to get his breath back, and ended up staggering back and landing on his backside. He shakily reached for a potion from the pouch of them he kept on his hip, but Amaranth used the abomination slime fist she'd created to grab the pouch and crush it, causing the fist and the pouch to melt into a slurry of odd, mismatched potions.

"You two really are a couple of clever brats! But I am the Head Witch of a Coven! Don't think I'm so easily beaten!" Amaranth declared imperiously.

Seeing her brother injured, Emira gasped and yelled; "No! Edric, take this!" as she threw the healing potion he'd given her earlier towards him.

Edric tried to catch it, but it was grabbed out of the air by a hand made of abomination slime that Amaranth had shot from her staff. She yanked the potion towards her, then smiled mockingly; "Thank you for the kind donation, dear. I was feeling a little rundown." Amaranth said before uncorking the bottle and gulping down its contents to heal the injuries she'd received.

She noticed too late that Emira had begun to smile.

Before Amaranth could react, her entire body began to freeze up as her nerves went dead, and she found herself flopping to the ground like a rag doll. The potion bottle shattered beside her head, and Amaranth watched, unable to move or speak, as the liquid inside shimmered and turned from the dark blue of a healing potion, to the yellow of a paralysis poison! Inwardly, the woman realised what had happened; Emira had used an illusion to change the colour and trick Amaranth into drinking it! That's why she'd thrown it rather than rushing towards Edric to administer it herself!

Amaranth had been played.

The Paralysis Potion was weak, having been cobbled together with the minimum ingredients and time available, so it began to wear off almost immediately, but Edric was quick to act first, pouring his sleeping potion down her throat first. As the feeling to her mouth returned and sleep began to overcome her, Amaranth could do nothing but tip her proverbial hat to the twins.

"Well… done… Darlings…"

And with that, she was asleep.

Edric watched her for a moment, then collapsed back on his backside and sighed with relief, then cringed at the pain in his abdomen from her last attack. In a flash, Emira jumped off Batric and flew down with her staff, immediately rushing to her brother's side to begin healing him (though not without using conjured bandages to tie up Amaranth first).

"Are you okay, Ed?" Emira asked, frowning as Edric winced in pain.

"Eh, I've had worse. Remember when we got frozen by that Ice Wyrm? Now that was a bad time! A few bruises is nothing compared to that, especially with my awesome sis here to fix me up." Ed grinned.

"Ugh, you dummy! I was really worried about you!" Emira huffed; "But I'm glad you're okay. Your potions really saved the day, and so did Batric! I owe him so many treats!"

Batric squeaked excitedly as Edric released the spell on him, shrinking him back to normal size so he could sit happily on his master's shoulder. Emira giggled and pet him, while Edric said; "I owe you too. You held her off alone long enough for me to get the Lightning Magic Bombs to Grandpa. He and Grandma's abominations are using them to hold back the Scouts and Abomatons as we speak!"

Emira smiled; "Thank the Titan… Dad and Darius should be back with those reinforcements soon. I almost can't believe that we actually beat a Coven Head! I know she was a replacement and not as tough as Darius, but that's still amazing!"

That was a good point; it may have been a two vs one fight, but they were the first CATTs besides Luz, Eda, and Raine to outright defeat a Coven Head in battle!

"I couldn't have done it without you, Sis." Edric smiled, getting to his feet to hug Emira.

She returned the hug happily; "And I couldn't have done it without you either, Bro. I'm glad that even though things have gotten better in our family, we still always have each other's backs."

Edric definitely agreed. The Twins had spent a lot of their lives relying on no one but each other, as their father became entombed in his work and their mother all but abandoned them to focus on making Amity into the Blight Family's prized heiress. As such, they'd come to see each other as their entire world, and the only real family they had, which had helped spark some of their earlier cruelty to Amity. However, thanks to Luz opening their eyes (and Amity's too), they had become proper siblings and their world had expanded to include her. This opening had led them to making more friends, eventually meeting Viney and Jerbo, as well as the Owl Lady and her family. And thanks to Amity waking their father from his years-long work obsession and reminding him what he was supposed to be to them, their world had grown even more… Now they didn't need to rely solely on each other for love and care… but it was nice to know they still could. They weren't each other's sole support any longer, but they were still support.

Realising all this, Edric smiled happily and looked to his sister; "You know… part of me was scared to ask out Jerbo like I wanted, and start multi-tracking in potions and beast-keeping… because you wouldn't be there with me. I became totally dependant on you as my sister, and I was scared I'd be alone without you. But now… now I know that even if we're not together all the time, I'll still be okay."

Emira beamed; "I'm so glad! We were together for so long, it was scary to be apart. I know how that feels, since I was just as afraid to multi-track into healing, knowing you wouldn't be there too. But I was able to do it because Viney was there. I think we became a little too dependant on each other and now… it feels like we're growing up."

"Yeah." Edric nodded; "Growing up… but not apart. We're still siblings after all… and I still need your help to get Dad and Mittens to take a break from work every now and again!"

"You've got that right!" Emira laughed; "Can't trust Darius and Luz to do that! Darius is as much a workaholic as Dad, and one kiss from Mittens and Luz will be powerless to stop her!"

The twins laughed together, and sat enjoying the illusory sky around them. They would soon finish resting and leave to help out the others, but for now they would relax together and think back on how far they'd come and the direction their family had taken. As they both thought about this, the same thing crossed their minds.

"Mittens… I hope you're doing okay!"

[Meanwhile]

Amity braced herself against the shifting tiles beneath her using Ghost, and kept her eyes firmly on Odalia even as her Grandma's ultimate defence moved them both around, and her Grandpa's illusions blurred their surroundings. When everything had stopped shifting, Amity found herself alone with Odalia in what appeared to be an underground cave, with a crystal in the roof that acted as the only source of light. She'd definitely felt herself descending at some point, so Grandpa Colas must have lowered their battle arena to somewhere below ground; something Amity became sure off when she moved to the side of the cavern and put a hand on the wall. The illusion rippled, but she felt genuine earth, stone, and sand beneath her hand; so the walls were real, but had been made to look different.

The sound of a groan drew Amity's attention back to Odalia, who had nearly fallen over during all the shifting. "Ugh, that infernal old man! He and his wife always were annoyances! I should have had them removed more permanently!" Odalia muttered bitterly.

Amity narrowed her eyes and whispered some orders to Ghost, before giving the Palisman a little gift and then hiding her with an illusion and sending her off. Then without giving Odalia an ounce of mercy, Amity coated her fist in abomination slime and shot it at her, causing the woman to take a hard blow to the cheek and be knocked on her ample posterior.

"OW! You will pay for that, Amity Vespan!" Odalia sneered, rubbing her face.

Amity's face became murderous, and this time she conjured a blade of abomination slime and fired it directly at Odalia's neck. It would have taken the woman's head off, had she not summoned one of her Oracle Spirits to catch the blade first.

"My name is Amity Blight! I am the daughter of Alador Blight! I will never be your daughter again!" Amity screamed in fury.

Odalia climbed back onto her feet and growled, having her spirit wield the thrown blade as a weapon. "I am your mother! That makes you my property! If I decide you are named Amity Vespan then you are! If I decide you serve the Emperor, then you do! And if I have to make you suffer before you realise that, then you SUFFER!"

Her spirit darted towards Amity with a shriek, swinging the flat of the blade at her. Amity conjured another gauntlet of slime around her hand and used it to catch the blade, then to Odalia's surprise, the gauntlet was sucked into the blade and grew larger. She wondered why Amity would make her enemy's stolen weapon stronger, but then the slime began to bubble and swell. Odalia was familiar enough with her ex-husband's spells to recognise what was about to happen, so she had her spirit turn incorporeal, causing it to drop the blade. Amity deftly caught it and cancelled the self-destruct, before slapping her hand on the blade and imbuing it with some Light Magic.

With her weapon now glowing pink with her magic, Amity swung it through the air, causing an arc of pink light to slice off from the blade and towards Odalia, who hastily threw up a simple barrier spell. However Amity wasn't done yet; she continued to swing her abomination blade back and forth, sending more arcs of light at her birth-giver until her barrier began to crack under the repeated assault. Sneering, Odalia gripped the Oracle Stone around her neck and caused her spirit to become corporeal again and attack Amity with its claws. Amity stopped her attack to block using her blade, however Odalia was nothing if not cunning, so she made the spirit's claws incorporeal again so they'd pass through her block, before becoming corporeal and slashing at Amity.

The girl winced as one of the claws cut into the flesh of her shoulder, but the pain only made her angrier. Using her own Oracle Magic, Amity coated her hand in purple magic and used it to grab the spirit's other wrist as it brought it's claws down, and despite its best efforts to escape, the spirit couldn't slip from her grasp. Normally, an Oracle would be considered a dangerous opponent; it was rare for one to be able to use their spirit in combat, but those that could and could do it well were next to invincible thanks to the ability to switch between corporeal and incorporeal. However, there was two major exceptions; when fighting an Angel, or when fighting another Oracle, who could use their magic to touch the normally incorporeal spirits.

"I bet you're really regretting forcing me to multi-track now, aren't you Odalia!?" Amity grinned viciously, before slamming the spirit into the ground repeatedly to daze it. Eventually the spirit made the rest of its body incorporeal too, so it just passed through the ground when Amity slammed it down, so Amity huffed and tossed the spirit aside before turning back to Odalia.

The woman rolled her eyes and shot back; "Oh please, you weren't even top of the class! You became so disappointing once that Angel got her claws in you!" she cried, before surprising Amity by conjuring several crystal balls and sending them flying at her.

Amity parried and slashed them with her abomination sword, but there was simply too many and Odalia's spirit came roaring back into the fight to distract her further. Amity tried to imbue Oracle Magic into her sword so she could parry its claw attacks again, but this distracted her for just long enough for a crystal ball to get through her defence and slam into her already injured shoulder, making the girl cry out in pain and drop her weapon. Without a weapon to defend herself with, Amity was bombarded by more crystal balls as the Oracle Spirit held her down. Odalia smirked cruelly as she watched the pummelling; her projectiles weren't flying hard enough to do more than lightly bruise, but that was still enough to teach her wayward daughter a lesson!

After a few seconds of this, she stopped the attack to give Amity a chance to catch her breath. "I do hate to do this Amity, but spare the rod and spoil the child! Belos told me that himself!"

"Considering the scars on Hunter and Lucy's faces, I bet he's about as good a parent as you!" Amity snarked.

Odalia narrowed her eyes and shot another crystal ball at Amity. Luckily, Amity had used the chance to catch her breath well, and used the partial abomination transformation spell that Darius taught her to make her hair into abomination goo, which she used to form a hand that caught the crystal ball. Amity next had the hand smash the crystal ball into the Oracle Spirit holding her, then channelled some Oracle Magic through her slime hair to seal the spirit inside the crystal ball, freeing her.

Now free, Amity turned her hair back to normal and gripped the crystal ball in one hand, while using the other to conjured some abomination slime that she gently placed over her cut shoulder to stem the bleeding. She still had a few bruises from the last bombardment, but they wouldn't stop her from giving Odalia what she deserved!

"Let's see how tough you are when fighting someone who'll actually fight back!" Amity growled, conjuring a small army of 15 abominations, which she sent charging at Odalia.

The woman briefly gulped, but even with one spirit captured, she wasn't out of tricks! She immediately pulled up her sleeves to reveal two more Oracle Stones, which she activated to release a pair of spirits that began to attack the abominations in force. They flew through them, selectively becoming corporeal or incorporeal at will to evade the abominations attacks and get past their defences before slashing them with their claws, tearing them up quickly and effectively. Amity frowned, unable to imbue her own Oracle Magic into anything she wasn't constantly in contact with, so her abomination soldiers were useless as long as Odalia had spirits available! Switching gears, Amity had her abominations ignore the spirits entirely and bum-rush Odalia, who hid behind her barrier still. As soon as they got close and began pounding away at the barrier (with Odalia's spirits clawing at them the whole time), Amity used the self-destruct spell on them, causing all 15 abominations to erupt in a massive combined explosion.

Odalia cried out in shock, but her barrier managed to hold up (despite being riddled with cracks from the explosion). However the explosion had also left quite the smokescreen, obscuring Odalia's view and that of her spirits.

"A cheap trick… let's see if a little scrying won't reveal you through this haze!" Odalia muttered, conjuring a crystal ball and summoning one of her spirits back into it. She tried to focus on scrying for Amity, but for some reason the results were hazy and full of static!

"What!?" she cried. That wasn't supposed to happen! Was the Angel nearby? No, if that was the case then the spirits wouldn't be working at all! But some part of her must be lingering around Amity, or else her scrying spell would have worked!

Meanwhile, in the depths of the smoke, Amity used a simple illusion to hide herself and ensure no one could hear her as she decided to speak with the spirit she'd captured.

"I'm sorry for capturing you like this, but I needed to stop you hurting me." Amity began; "I know what it's like being stuck doing that evil woman's bidding! Surely you want to be free of her, right? Do you even have a pact with her, or did she just bind you and stick you in a stone?"

The Oracle Spirit's face appeared from the swirling purple mist inside the ball, and grumbled something incoherently. Amity took that as a good sign and continued; "If you don't have a pact with her, then I might be able to free you! As much as I hate it, that woman's blood runs through my veins… I can give you my blood to break the binding she placed on you! All I ask for in return is a temporary pact; it'll stop her binding you again, and when it's done I'll set you free! After we've both got some revenge of course!"

The Spirit seemed to consider her words, then rasped out; "Prove it…" in the same voice that all Oracle Spirits spoke in. Amity responded by creating a small knife from abomination slime and nicking her pinky finger, allowing her to drip a couple of blood droplets onto the crystal ball. In response, the crystal ball began to shake and Amity felt the shattering of the bindings Odalia had used to control the spirit. The instant the bindings were gone, Amity risked releasing the spirit from the ball. They seemed relieved, and offered their hand to Amity.

"Make a pact… I will serve until sundown, then be free." it declared.

Amity nodded and shook the offered hand; "It's a deal. We'll work together to defeat Odalia, then we'll both be free of her!

Streams of purple Oracle Magic emerged from each of their chests and entwined around their arms before fusing together at the point their hands were grasped, creating a flash of light to signify the completion of the temporary pact. Meanwhile inside her barrier, Odalia was trying to figure out why her first Oracle Stone had crumbled into dust. After a few moments longer, the smoke from the explosion began to settle and Amity and Odalia could once again see each other, and the latter fumed as she saw her spirit now in Amity's employee.

"Traitor! Does everyone around you have to betray me, Amity!?" Odalia spat.

Amity smirked; "If everyone around you is waiting for the slightest excuse to ditch you, then maybe that's a you problem and not a me problem!"

Odalia snarled and sent her two spirits flying towards Amity, who responded by sending her new spirit ally at one of them whilst turning her abomination knife into a full scimitar and imbuing it with Oracle Magic, allowing her to slash at the other and block its claws. The two spirits clashing with each other were evenly matched and quickly became locked in a stalemate of trying to claw each other whilst fading in and out of the corporeal world, but just keeping each other busy was enough for Amity, who then used her own Light and Ice Magic to create a crystal sword similar to Luz's crystal magic. She then conjured a simple abomination and handed it the crystal sword, before sending it to deal with Odalia while she kept the second spirit busy.

Amity's abomination groaned and ran at Odalia, whose eyes widened in surprise. She tried to reinforce her crystal ball barrier, but she was too slow and the already damaged barrier was smashed to pieces by the abomination's charge. It then began trying to slash the woman, causing Odalia to respond by conjuring crystal balls and launching them at her assailant. The abomination didn't try to block or dodge, allowing the crystal balls to smash through its slime, but while this allowed it to attack a couple more times, Odalia was slippery enough to avoid them and the loss of slime quickly caused the abomination to become unstable, allowing Odalia to conjure an extra large crystal ball above the creation's head and drop it down on top of it, splattering the abomination and allowing Odalia to pick her the crystal sword.

Odalia grinned as she pointed it at Amity; "Not as clever as you think, are you Amity?" she mocked.

Amity replied with a smirk; "Still cleverer than you!" she declared, snapping her fingers.

Suddenly, the illusion over Ghost disappeared and Odalia was shocked to find the Palisman directly at her feet. With an angry yowl, she jumped onto Odalia's face and began slashing and clawing, making Odalia scream and drop the crystal sword. She used both hands to pry Ghost off of her face and held her aloft, before moving her hands to Ghost's neck.

"I'll throttle you, you mangy Hand-me-down!" Odalia spat.

However she failed to notice the little collar and bell of abomination slime around Ghost's neck; the gift Amity had sent her off with, and which Amity promptly manipulated to cause two abomination hands to burst out from. One punched Odalia in the nose, breaking it and making her drop the Palisman, while the other grabbed the crystal sword and tossed it back towards Amity, who used her free hand to create another abomination gauntlet to easily catch the sword. Imbuing some Oracle Magic into the crystal sword, Amity managed to parry the claws of the spirit she was facing and stab the crystal sword through it's chest, and thanks to the Oracle Magic within it, the Spirit was unable to escape by becoming incorporeal. Amity then pushed the spirit and the sword into the ground, pinning it in place.

"Gotta thank Darius for the fencing lessons!" she muttered to herself, before turning back to Odalia. She cast a spell at Ghost's temporary collar, causing tendrils of slime to extend from it to all the puddles of abomination goo that had been created from Amity conjured around the edge of the arena. The tendrils sucked the slime in and began using it to form a shell around Ghost, coating the Palisman until she was transformed into a gigantic sabre-tooth tiger made from abomination slime, similar to the construct Amity had made with her back during the show Hexside had put on for the "Inspector".

Ghost promptly hissed and snarled, which came out as a mighty roar thanks to her new body, before pouncing at Odalia. The woman was just barely able to throw a barrier up, but Ghost swatted it like it was a fancy cat toy and sent it, and Odalia, flying into the nearby wall. The barrier cracked but didn't break, and Odalia was bruised from being bounced around inside of it, so Amity signalled for Ghost to keep playing. Let her birth-giver see what it felt like to be helpless as someone beat her up!

Eventually the barrier did break and a bloodied and bruised Odalia flopped to the floor, breathing hard as her body sang with pain. Not only was her nose broken, but now she was covered in bruises and both her hair and outfit were a total mess! She was once again feeling humiliated by her own daughter! Well, this would not stand! She would not allow this latest act of rebellion to go unpunished!

Ghost raised her giant paw to slam it down on the woman, but Odalia surprised both the Palisman and her wielder when two more Oracle Spirits shot out from stones hidden on her belt. The first spirit grabbed and held Ghost's paw, while the second screeched as it flew up and uppercut Ghost in the jaw, sending the giant slime tiger reeling back. Using this opening, Odalia called her other spirits back to her, but thanks to one of them being pinned down, only the one that was fighting the spirit Amity had made a pact with was able to return to her side. That still gave her three spirits though, which was all she really needed for her plan.

"You brought five Oracle Spirits with you?" Amity scowled as the three Odalia could still control gathered around her.

"Why so surprised? Osran has dozens of them." Odalia pointed out, somehow still managing to look a little bit smug even with blood leaking from her broken nose.

"His whole job was finding, taming, and containing rogue spirits! You're just a greedy scumbag who likes having slaves she can boss around!" Amity shot back.

Odalia grit her teeth, but couldn't retort as Ghost got back to her feet and tried to slash her with her claws again. One of Odalia's spirits pulled her out of the way while another used Odalia's own magic to conjure a crystal ball, which it shattered into shards and launched at Amity.

Amity didn't bother to defend herself, as Ghost casually blocked the attack with a giant abomination paw, but that was enough to distract the enhanced Palisman for a moment, allowing Odalia to do what she had planned. Taking the three stones that bound the three active spirits to her, Odalia conjured a crystal ball around all three stones, binding them together. This resulted in the spirits shrieking and screaming in pain as all three were suddenly sucked into the crystal ball, to the horror of Amity and the other spirits. Odalia then grinned maliciously as the crystal ball turned a solid purple, then darkened until it was almost black and giving off wisps of deep purple magic. Amity paled and felt like vomiting as she could feel the torment of the three spirits Odalia had forced together into a single vessel.

"Let me show you the difference between a rebellious brat and a Coven Head!" Odalia declared, an almost manic look in her eye as she held the crystal ball above her head. Huge waves of ghostly magic began to erupt from it as a black and deep purple mist gathered around Odalia's feet and flowed up into the crystal ball, which promptly released its contents around Odalia. Amity looked on abject horror at what was unleashed, her mind briefly flashing back to the first thing she'd been taught about Oracle Magic…

When Amity had first been made to multi-track into the oracle track, she had been taught the same lesson that all would-be Oracles were taught, and arguably one of the most important rules of Oracle Magic… NEVER seal more than one spirit into the same vessel. Oracle Spirits all tended to look the same because they were the ghosts of witches and demons who failed to pass on after they died, either due to strong emotion or attachments in the living world, and had since forgotten who they were in life, causing them to lose their sense of identity and devolve into identical wild spirits that remembered nothing but their emotions and some vague connection to whatever bound them to the Living Realms. However due to this lack of self-identity, most wild spirits (or Oracle Spirits as they were known as upon being tamed) were essentially just beings of raw magic and scraps of emotion, so trapping more than one in the same vessel was like mixing two liquids of the same density into the same glass… they became blended together and completely inseparable, essentially becoming a single being. Combining multiple souls like this was insanely cruel, and their conflicting emotions and memories blended imperfectly to create a spiritual atrocity of immense power. An Atrocity known as a Chained Revenant.

Odalia cackled as her Chained Revenant took on a physical shape behind her, and Amity almost vomited at the sight of the tortured creature. It looked like the upper body of a giant skeleton with pitch black bones was rising out of the ground behind Odalia, with three skulls all fused together and six arms flailing from the same shoulder joints. It's spine was far longer than it should be and had become like a long tail, ending in a long black bone spike, while it's rib cage opened and closed like a pair of sideways jaws, it's ribs all being segmented and wriggling like the legs of a centipede. Lastly, the tormented creature wore a ragged grey and faint purple cloak that appeared to be made from flesh and skin, and literally bound to the creature's bones with chains of Oracle Magic. It let out an agonised scream, before Odalia pointed at Ghost and said; "Destroy that creature."

The Chained Revenant screeched once more and used two of its arms to leap at Ghost. The Palisman tried to avoid it, but there wasn't enough space in their enclosed arena to accommodate two giant and agile creatures, and the Revenant's tail whipped towards Amity as it lunged, moving too quickly for the shocked girl to react in time. Ghost was forced to defend her partner by biting down on the Revenant's tail, but as such she wasn't able to dodge enough to completely evade the Revenant, whose used its arms to clamber onto Ghost's back, using four of its six arms to grab and hold Ghost's limbs while the other two pried open her mouth. This forced her to release the Revenant's tail, and the creature immediately wrapped it around Ghost's torso, stabbing the end into the Palisman's chest in an attempt to stab her real body within the giant slime shell, while its creepy spindly ribs stabbed into her back and sides to completely solidify it's hold on her.

"Ghost!" Amity cried as she watched the Abomination Cat struggle to try and break free from the Revenant's hold. Thankfully Ghost couldn't feel pain since the slime wasn't part of her body, but it was only a matter of time before the Revenant found the real body inside the shell of slime. Amity conjured a powerful light blast and shot it at the Revenant's head as it continued to scream in pain, but any damage she did was immediately healed, as the only way Amity knew to stop a Revenant was to seal it!

Turning her glare on Odalia, Amity snarled; "Is there any low you won't sink to!? You exploited my aunt's passing to worm your way into Dad's heart, you accused your own parents of treason to steal their wealth and title, you lied to get Dad and his parents to think they'd disowned each other, you used and abused all of us, and now you're torturing your own spirits just to hurt us!?"

Odalia just smirked; "Sacrifices must be made to reach the top. You have no idea what it's like to live in the ruins of a noble house, knowing you were meant for better than the meagre scraps you were left! Your grandparents were fools who got in my way, Alador was a useful tool to get what I wanted, and you and your siblings are nothing but rebellious brats who need to be taught a firm lesson! You'll understand once I fix you."

Amity looked at the foul woman with utter hatred, before a yowl from Ghost caught her attention. Now wasn't the time to let Odalia get to her! She needed to end the Revenant's suffering! If she could just get the crystal ball from Odalia and seal the Revenant away, she could take it to Luz and have her use her Angelic Magic to exorcise the souls within, sending them to the afterlife and freeing them from their torment. With this in mind, she ordered the spirit she'd formed a pact with to attack Odalia and try to claim the crystal ball, while Amity herself ran to the spirit that she'd pinned with a crystal sword. The instant she reached it, Amity cast a sealing spell to suck the spirit into the sword as if it was a crystal ball. Once sealed, Amity hastily spoke to it.

"Look, you saw that I freed one of your fellow spirits from that evil woman's bindings! Make a temporary pact with me, and I'll free you too! You can't possibly want to end up like that thing!" she yelled, raising the sword so the spirit within could see the Revenant.

They didn't need to be asked twice, immediately shrieking their agreement. Amity used a drop of her blood to free the spirit from Odalia's bindings, then Amity released the spirit from the crystal sword. However at that exact moment, the Revenant let out another particularly loud and harrowing scream. A wave of fear-inducing magic spread across the area and Amity, Odalia, and both the free spirits froze as terror came over them. Amity shook the fear off quickly, being less intimidated by such foes after seeing battles with Supreme Dragons and other monsters, but the spirit she'd just released promptly screeched and fled, disappearing beneath the ground and running away as fast as it could before Amity could make the pact with it.

"Dang it! No choice now…" Amity growled, turning to run at Odalia and the other spirit, both of whom were still paralysed by the fear. Amity used the distraction to easily pluck the crystal ball from Odalia's stunned hands, then began using it to suck the Chained Revenant back inside. The Revenant screeched and screamed as it released its arms from Ghost (but not its tail and ribs) and used them to grab the ground instead to try and stop itself being pulled into the crystal ball.

Amity was so focused on this that she didn't notice Odalia snapping out of the fear effect until a stinging slap struck her across the face, making Amity stagger for a moment and drop the crystal ball, which Odalia dove to grab. The loss of the crystal ball stopped the sealing spell, so the Revenant used the opportunity to try and grab and destroy the ball itself, though since Ghost's limbs were now free, she was able to slam her body and her unwanted passenger into the far wall, keeping the Revenant from the crystal ball. At that same moment, Amity; furious and with a stinging cheek, grabbed Odalia's collar just as the woman was about to grab the crystal ball and yanked her back, before delivering a furious slap of her own straight to the foul woman's left cheek.

Odalia was stunned for a moment as she registered what had just hit her, then snarled at her daughter; "How dare y-!?"

She was interrupted as Amity brought her hand back, striking her across the face with a backhand to the right cheek this time. Amity then dropped Odalia on the ground and ordered her spirit to hold the woman down so Amity could grab the crystal ball and try to seal the Revenant again. However Odalia had a bit more talent than Amity gave her credit for, and the evil woman was able to conjure chains of spectral energy using Oracle Magic, binding the spirit in place. She then ran and tackled Amity just as the girl was picking up the crystal ball to begin the sealing again.

The two ended up wrestling on the ground, each trying to push the other away while grabbing the crystal ball. Despite being older and larger, Odalia wasn't very physically strong, so the smaller and lither Amity was able to match her strength, though neither were able to draw spell circles to cast magic due to the scuffle. Eventually, Odalia was able to get a hand free just long enough to slap the crystal ball out of Amity's hand, but the idiot only succeeded in slapping it towards the Revenant, who despite Ghost's best efforts, was able to pick up the crystal ball between two giant bone fingers and promptly crush it to powder.

"NO! Odalia you idiot! Now we can't seal it up!" Amity cried, pulling her legs up against her chest then kangaroo kicking Odalia straight off of her. "Do you have any idea what you've done!?"

Odalia, mildly winded, gripped her sore ribs as she got back to her feet; "Enough of the drama, you ungrateful brat! The Revenant is bound to me and my magic!"

As if to prove her wrong, the Revenant immediately uncoiled its tail from Ghost's torso and slashed it towards Odalia, almost slicing the woman in half at the waist. However despite her hatred for the woman, Amity wasn't about to let her die… she needed to face real justice for her abuse! As such, Amity used some abomination slime to grab the back of the woman's hair and yank her to the ground, saving her life.

"Moron! Breaking the crystal ball and the Oracle Stones you sealed inside it also broke your bindings on the spirits you fused together! Now no one is controlling that thing!" Amity spat, before using some Abomination Magic to reinforce Ghost's giant slime body, allowing the Palisman to hold the Revenant down a little more effectively. However Amity's magic was rapidly declining and she didn't have much more strength to fight with, especially since she'd already used her emergency Power Glyph!

Odalia gulped, not exactly having a huge amount of magic left herself… certainly not enough to once again bind such a powerful spirit to her control! Another reason binding spirits to the same vessel was considered a forbidden technique was because combining spirits didn't simply combine the magic needed to bind and control them… it magnified it! Controlling a fused spirit with two components was not twice as hard, it was FOUR times as hard! And a spirit with three components wasn't three times more difficult, but NINE times! Even at full strength, Odalia lacked the Oracle Magic to bind nine spirits, so a Revenant of this strength was far too much for her! Even Amity working with her wouldn't have been able to do it!

The Revenant, knowing it was free, screamed like a banshee yet again, then looked at Odalia, its fused skull rotating slowly on its neck so that all nine of its eye sockets could glare at her in turn. It knew it was free, and knew just who was to blame for its suffering. It lunged for Odalia, releasing Ghost in the process.

Odalia screamed, and like the shameless woman she was, tried to hide behind Amity, who responded by coating her fist in abomination slime and slamming it into the woman's gut, sending her gasping to her knees. She then immediately spun and shot the abomination gauntlet at the Revenant, making it flinch just long enough for Ghost to grab its neck in her jaws and pull it away to the other side of the arena. As soon as it was as far as it could get, Amity freed her own spirit from Odalia's chains and had it drag the woman by the hair so they were all as far from the revenant as possible. Amity then reshaped Ghost's slime body so that it became a giant coating of abomination slime to cover the Revenant. With the Revenant temporarily bound, Amity summoned Ghost's true form back to her, then cast the Self-Destruct spell on the slime she'd coated the Revenant in.

The resulting explosion was gargantuan thanks to the sheer amount of slime Amity was blowing up, resulting in a shockwave that slammed Amity and Odalia against the far wall. That hurt, but thankfully they'd been far enough from the core of the explosion that they didn't suffer any burns from the blast… though they did end up coughing and spluttering from the smoke and dirt kicked up by the explosion.

Odalia tried in vain to waft some of the smoke away, before Amity was ultimately forced to use a wind spell to blow it all away and let them see properly… whereupon they saw the Chained Revenant. Or rather, the Revenant's pieces… the explosion had incinerated its flesh-like cloak and blasted apart its bones, leaving black bones scattered all over the underground battle area. The spectral chains that had held its cloak on were also still present, loosely attached to some of the bones. Amity prepared to use some Oracle Magic to make spectral chains of her own to hold the spirit down, but found herself groaning and falling to one knee before the spell could be completed. Even with Ghost, she simply didn't have the magic left to restrain something this big. To make matters worse, Odalia saw Amity's weakness and lunged forward to grab her by the back of the neck, thinking she was vulnerable.

With a growl of irritation, Amity thrust the base of her staff behind her and hit Odalia in the gut, making her release her grip. Amity then spun around and decked her right in the face, before ordering her spirit to grab hold of the idiotic Coven Head again.

"Idiot! You don't have a Palisman and all your spirits have either turned on you or fled! You're practically defenceless! And what's more, the Revenant isn't beaten yet!" Amity spat as the bones of the Revenant slowly began to crawl towards each other and reform. Amity had known that immediately, which was why she'd wanted to restrain them until they could summon Luz! But thanks to her magic being low and Odalia's poor attempt at getting control of her again, Amity no longer had the means to do that!

As the Revenant pulled itself back together and its flesh cloak regenerated, Amity shakily held her staff in front of her.

"What do I do now!? If this thing is left unchecked, it'll rampage through Palm Stings and kill everyone! Starting with you!" she turned enough to glare at Odalia. Beaten, humiliated, and restrained, the woman seemed to finally realise her position, and began to quake with fear. The Revenant definitely wanted to tear her apart!

"Y-You won't let it get me though, right Amity? I-I am still your mother! I birthed you!" Odalia's whimpers became a bit more panicked as Amity's eyes narrowed coldly. She weakly added; "Y-You were always my favourite child?"

Amity sneered; "Stupid AND pathetic! You really are the whole package, Odalia. Now shut up while I try to dig us out of this Titan-forsaken hole you dug!"

The Revenant screeched and slashed it's tail spine at Amity, who countered by deflecting it with her staff, applying just enough Light Magic to knock the tail away without hurting Ghost. Amity then raised a quick barrier to block a follow up swipe from the Revenant's claws, but it broke after one slash (thankfully knocking the Revenant's claws back at the same time). Odalia screamed in fear as she saw this, then cried out;

"C-Can't you just summon that Angel of yours to kill this thing!?" Odalia spat.

Another tail swipe and another deflection from Amity followed, then the girl snapped; "Luz isn't even on the Boiling Isles right now! Do you really think this fight would have lasted this long if my Oracle-proof girlfriend was around!?"

"B-But she has to be somewhere nearby! My scrying magic didn't work earlier!" Odalia shot back, before squealing like a stuck pig as her former Oracle Spirit pushed her to the ground in time to stop her being decapitated by another claw slash. The Revenant was slowing its attacks now; it had realised Amity and Odalia were helpless, and was taking out some of its suffering on Odalia by tormenting her with fear, making her really anticipate her inevitable and agonising death.

Amity scowled; "Scrying magic didn't work? Luz is nowhere near here though, and the Spirits themselves are still working. So what could be…?"

Her eyes suddenly widened as she had an epiphany. Reaching into her shirt, Amity pulled out Luz's feather; the same one she'd found on that rainy day all those months ago. It had been specially coated in enamel to protect it, and the end of it had been modified to fit into numerous accessories Amity had, such as a necklace or hair clip. Could this feather be enough to interfere with scrying attempts on Amity? But if that was the case, why hadn't it stopped Odalia scrying on her before at the Blight Ball? She'd been wearing it then, and Luz herself had been present!

Looking at the feather more closely, Amity felt a bit more magic coming from it… However it wasn't just Luz's magic; it was a blend of hers and Amity's! Thinking fast, Amity came up with a hypothesis; a combination of Luz growing stronger and gaining more glyph markings, and Amity's bond with her growing stronger with time (the memorial service for Manny had been a particularly poignant bonding moment between them) had resulted in the feather that served as a symbol of their union being imbued with more of their combined magic over time. It naturally contained Luz's magic after all, and since it never left Amity's side, it could have been imbued with hers too! In fact, Amity had used a lot of magic on it; she used it often as a quill when she wrote something important (exclusively writing her diary entries with it), and frequently applied protective enchantments to it so it would remain in peak condition!

"If I can draw Luz's magic out from this with my own… I think I have an idea!" Amity declared.

"Is it saving our lives!?" Odalia screamed. Amity ignored her and called her temporary spirit away from her birth-giver, before pointing at the Revenant.

"Buy me some time! Do whatever you have to; just keep that thing off me! Odalia, if you've got even a single scrap of magic and intelligence left in you, then throw it at that thing too!" Amity ordered, closing her eyes and holding the feather between her hands.

Odalia cried out in fear and outrage, but given that it was this or die horribly, she didn't have much choice. She and the Oracle Spirit both attacked the Revenant; the former by conjuring crystal balls to bombard it, and the latter by getting in its face and shrieking to distract it. It wasn't actually very effective, but since the Revenant fed on Odalia's fear, it was in no rush to finish her off.

While this was happening, Amity poured some of her remaining magic into the feather, imbuing it with Light Magic and trying to coax out Luz's magic within it. Luz had occasionally given Amity blessings with her power, to give the girl a little extra pick-me-up when she was working with her Dad and wanted a bit more of a boost, so Amity was very familiar with the feeling of Luz's magic. When she felt it surging out of the feather, Amity opened her eyes and beamed, seeing her normal pink light magic turn into the same gold as Luz's magic as the feather became the core of a feather-shaped sword made of Angelic Magic!

"Perfect!" Amity cried with delight, only to stagger as she took a step. Maintaining this was difficult to do alone, so Amity gripped her staff a little tighter and drew on power from Ghost. However it became clear that after helping Amity power the giant abomination shell she'd been using earlier, Ghost wasn't running on a full tank either, so both were sure they'd only have a brief shot at this!

Hopping onto Ghost's staff, Amity flew towards the Revenant as fast as she could, and at the last moment, the Revenant seemed to sense the threat coming its way. It turned to Amity and shrieked, trying to fill her with fear like it had before, but the comforting feeling of her magic blended with Luz's helped Amity power through and take a swing at the twisted spirit. The Revenant tried to evade, but it was too big to move fully out of Amity's way in time, and she let out a battle cry as she sliced down with the Angel Feather Sword. It sliced through one of the Revenant's arms like a hot knife through butter, giving Amity barely any resistance whatsoever. As the sword slashed through the other end, the arm Amity had cut fell to the ground and exploded into particles of purple energy, before disappearing entirely, while the wound left on the Revenant steamed.

The Revenant let out a cry of pure terror as it saw one of its six arms destroyed, and in that instance as Amity looked it in the eye sockets, it knew it could be destroyed. A manic fear filled the creature, and it shot up into the sky, revealing it could still fly just like a normal spirit. It flew straight out of the illusion that Grandpa Colas had created, and Amity chased after it, knowing how dangerous it was to let such a creature escape.

As she passed through the border of the illusion, Amity suddenly saw the world as it really was, allowing her to see what had become of her Grandparents' estate. The majority of the buildings had been raised up high, while the rest of the estate had been turned into a labyrinth trapping the scouts and Severin Cadence. The Abomatons were all destroyed, a clear sign the Parasitic Abominations had worked, and Amity spotted her Grandma Nelle with some of her own abominations dismantling them so no one would figure out how she'd destroyed them. The only other noticeable things were her personal Oracle Spirit still maintaining a barrier to keep the Airships out, and the battlegrounds she and her siblings had been fighting in; one of which was lowered a few dozen feet below the rest of the estate while the other was raised up into the air by about the same height.

No one but Amity and her Grandparents (who weren't inside illusions) had seen the emergence of the Chained Revenant, which tried and failed to get through the barrier Amity's spirit had been maintaining. It wasn't able to pierce the Oracle Magic that made it up, but unfortunately the area within this barrier was still large enough for the Revenant to escape Amity whenever she took a swing! She needed to stop it moving for a bit!

"Grandpa! Drop the illusions and put the estate back to how it was! I need Odalia's Oracles to help me hold this thing down!" Amity cried, already feeling her magic waning a little more. She didn't have much time!

"Are you sure!?" Colas cried back.

"I am! Please trust me!"

Colas grimaced but obeyed and dismissed his illusion, while Nelle used her own control of the estate's defences to shift things back to how they'd been when their grandchildren arrived. Since Nelle had acted first, everyone trapped in the illusions felt the world shaking around them, before the illusions suddenly faded and they found themselves back where they'd started when the siege began, albeit much more confused. Even the sleeping Amaranth and the bloodied Odalia found themselves back in front of the disoriented Coven Scouts, while Severin looked at them both with surprise and concern for their conditions. Emira and Edric also found themselves next to Nelle and Colas, with the only differences being the pile of disassembled Abomatons between them and the enemy forces.

"W-What happened? Amity!?" Emira asked, before seeing the Revenant and yelping; "What in the Titan's name is that!?"

"Questions for later!" Amity answered, before looking to her birth-giver; "Odalia, order your Oracles to tie this thing down so I can destroy it!"

Odalia, still mildly stunned by suddenly being moved to a new place, looked around at the equally disoriented Coven Scouts and picked out the few Oracles from her Coven amongst them. She signalled them to gather around her and prepare to follow her lead, but then a sinister smile crossed her face as she instead summoned a fresh crystal ball.

"Oracles, assist me in binding the Revenant! With this creature back on our side, we'll defeat these rebels easily!" she declared.

The Blight Grandparents and Twins all groaned while the Oracles looked unsure and Amity let out a loud curse, before screaming; "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"

One of the Oracles seemed to agree; "Um, Head Witch Vespan? Only about six members of our Coven ended up on this side of the barrier… that's not enough to bind a Revenant that powerful! We can maybe hold it down, but-"

"Who is the Head Witch here? You or me!?" Odalia snapped, making the hapless Oracle whimper. "I said we're binding it to my will, so that's what we're doing! Ignore my disobedient offspring!"

The Oracles exchanged looks of fear and worry; on the one hand, if they disobeyed they could be accused of treason! But on the other hand, they knew they couldn't bind the rampaging Revenant (which Amity was now desperately chasing around with her rapidly diminishing magic), and it would likely kill them for trying before rampaging through Palm Stings, killing who knows how many people!

Severin noticed their distress, and while he was no Oracle expert, he knew that the only thing that could permanently harm an Oracle Spirit was the power of an Angel. Considering Luz was nowhere to be seen and Amity was waving around a sword made from what appeared to be Luz's feather, it didn't take a genius to recognise that Amity was the only one present that could deal with the spirit… and her magic was clearly waning.

"Odalia, this has gotten out of hand! There are children in danger here! Your children! We can't risk their lives and all of ours just to get you a new weapon! Order your Oracles to tie it down so Amity can exorcise it!" Severin demanded.

Odalia sneered at him; "Don't tell me how to be a parent or a Coven Head! I will give my Coven whatever orders I see fit, and that is final!"

Severin's eye twitched, then he took a deep breath and said; "Fine, have it your way."

Odalia preened smugly then turned back to her Oracles; "Now do as I command and- URK!"

There was a thunk, followed by Odalia crumpling unconscious to the floor as the stunned Coven Members all looked up to see Severin with his staff in his hand, having just smacked it into the back of Odalia's head. Once Odalia was on the floor, Severin gave her one more good whack to the head to make sure she was completely out, then looked at the Oracle that had protested earlier; "As the only conscious Coven Head still present, I am taking command of this mission. Now do as Amity said and do what you have to do restrain that creature!"

The Oracles didn't need to be told twice. With a (unusually enthusiastic) battle cry, they released their own spirits from their Oracle Stones and gave each of them a spectral chain of Oracle magic before sending them after the Revenant. Thanks to the Holy Magic in Amity's hand, they wouldn't go anywhere near her, but Amity turned that to her favour by using it to chase the Revenant directly towards the lesser spirits. Her plan worked perfectly and as soon as the first spirit caught the Revenant and wrapped a spectral chain around it, the Revenant lost the ability to turn incorporeal.

"GRANDMA! EVERYONE! HELP TIE IT DOWN!" Amity screamed.

Grandma Nelle immediately formed all of her abominations into slimy tendrils that shot up from the ground and tried to grab a hold of the Revenant, while the Oracles' still had their spirits chasing it. Since Amaranth was also still asleep, Severin took command of her forces too and had them join Nelle in using abominations to bind the Revenant, while he and his bards played their instruments to try and conjure various instrument strings to act as restraints of their own. Emira helped by conjuring bandages for binding, while Edric and Colas both flew up with their staves and began helping Amity chase the Revenant down, using illusions to make it look like they had Holy Feather Swords too so they could trick it into flying into the others' restraints.

Under such a barrage of restraints and with no way of escaping, the Revenant soon found itself tightly bound; each arm, wriggling rib, and even it's long tail becoming completely immobile amidst a veritable sea of spectral chains, abomination slime, and instrument strings.

"PULL IT DOWN!" Severin ordered, and as one everyone pulled down with their magic and made the Chained Revenant slam down into the front of the Blights' estate (destroying the front gate and a portion of the outer wall in the process).

As soon as the Revenant hit the ground, Amity dive-bombed it with Ghost, and while the tortured spirit gave one last horrific scream to try and ward her off, Amity ignored it and pushed forward with every scrap of magic she had left, slashing down with the Holy Feather Sword and striking the Revenant right on top of it's fused skull. With one final cry of determination, Amity sliced straight down through the colossal creature, eventually hitting the ground below. Panting desperately, Amity watched as the last of her magic spluttered out and Ghost turned back into her Cat form, while her Holy Feather Sword disappeared and became just a regular feather again. It didn't matter though, as she looked up and watched as the Revenant split in half straight down the middle, it's two halves flopping to the ground on either side of her before erupting into particles of purple magic that floated away and began to disappear. Amidst these particles of magic, Amity saw three pure white orbs and for an instant, she could have sworn she'd seen three unfamiliar witches smiling at her. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, wondering if it was just the exhaustion making her see things, as when she looked again the witches were gone, as were the white orbs and the remains of the purple magic.

"Where those… the souls trapped in the Revenant?" Amity muttered to herself, collapsing to her knees from exhaustion. If they were, they'd seemed happy to be free and sent on to the afterlife. Amity definitely hoped that was the case anyway.

A loud cheer erupted from everyone still within the barrier (excluding the unconscious Amaranth and Odalia). Edric and Emira ran to their sister's side and immediately administered some healing magic and mild energy boosting potions (sadly Edric didn't have any more of the Bile Boosters), while Nelle and Colas ran to guard them, ready to fight back against Severin and the still active scouts.

"Great job Sis!" Emira smiled, healing the bruises Amity had gotten from her brief duel with Odalia.

"Considering how roughed up Odalia looked before Severin knocked her out, I'm guessing you gave it to her good!" Edric added.

Amity giggled and nodded; "I might have paid her back a bit for our childhoods. But I see Amaranth went down too! I can't believe you two defeated a Coven Head! It's amazing!"

The Twins preened, while Orthie picked up Ghost and gently placed her on Russ's back, before licking her face. The Cat Palisman was too exhausted to protest and just mewled in reluctant acceptance of the Dog's affection.

"It's not over yet. We've still got to deal with the last one." Nelle frowned, glaring at Severin.

Colas nodded, appearing determined while inwardly he was terrified. He and Nelle were old and had used up a lot of their strength with the illusions and abominations that kept the scouts at bay and destroyed the Abomatons, while it was clear the Twins were tired too and Amity was completely tapped. There was little chance of them winning the fight now.

Severin seemed to realise this too, and as he calmed the celebrating scouts and had then pick up and carry his fellow Coven Heads, he took a step forward.

"I thank you for helping deal with that Revenant. No doubt an attempt by Odalia to win her battle… since becoming a Coven Head, she's been the weak-link in our ranks. I think the Emperor promoted her purely based on the fact she could potentially bring him Amity, and thus the perfect bait to trap Luz." Severin said, bowing politely. He then straightened up and sighed sombrely; "I must now ask that you surrender. You have my word that none of you will be harmed. I will take personal custody of the children, and the elders will be allowed to go free. They were just defending their homes after all."

The Blights all grimaced; "You know we can't agree to that, Severin." Emira replied.

The man looked down as a pained look crossed his face; "I-I'm sorry. If I don't bring you back, then the Emperor will use Skara as bait instead. I have no choice…" he transformed his Palisman staff into a cello and bow, the latter of which he pointed at the Blights. "Please don't make me do this. You're surrounded; there's no escape now. Just let this end peacefully!"

Amity scowled, before noticing something in the distance, behind the army of scouts that still watched from outside her spirit's barrier. She began to smile; "Surrounded? You might want to guess again."

Severin blinked, then suddenly gasped as three beams of magic blasted through the air above the barrier, hitting the airships that circled above. They were all badly damaged and were forced to make crash-landings outside of Palm Stings, while Severin and his forces turned to see where the blasts had come from. The source was a small fleet of airships, each bearing the insignia of the CATTs. They had all clearly been modified too, being made of brass with abomination slime for the balloons, as well as large cannons made from the stuff on the bottom of each one.

"The Rebels are here!" one of the Scouts screamed as CATTs on staves and broomsticks came flying off from the airships and began swooping down on the forces outside the barrier, taking them completely by surprise. A battle ensued, but the Emperor's forces had been caught totally off-guard, had lost their air support, and the most powerful members of their forces had been at the frontlines, meaning they were stuck inside the barrier! Only a few Abomaton MK II's that had been left outside posed a threat, and while they could defeat almost any witch in a one-on-one or in small groups, they couldn't match such overwhelming numbers, especially with the aerial bombardments from the airships.

Severin scowled, seeing his forces be decimated while he was left unable to help. He briefly considered attacking Amity's Spirit, which still floated in the air directly below the top of the barrier, but even if he brought the barrier down, he and his remaining forces would just be destroyed too. He then considered surrendering or ordering a retreat, but that would mean failing his mission… Belos had made it clear he wouldn't accept that, and Skara would pay the price! That left him with only one option… grab Amity while she was weak and hope to get out of this with her!

Turning back to the Blights, his eyes zeroed in on Amity as he prepared to play a song on his cello. He was planning to play a wide-range Lullaby of Lethargy to knock out everyone, allowing him to grab the girl and flee on his staff before things got dicey, but as he prepared to bring his bow across the strings of his cello, a hand made of abomination slime suddenly shot out of the ground beneath him, wielding a scimitar of the same slime. It sliced up at Severin, who was pulled away by a scout just in time to avoid being hit, though his bow was cut in half. He grimaced, then watched as the hand sank back into the ground, before two blobs of abomination slime emerged near the Blights, and from this slime emerged Alador Blight, wielding his own Palisman, and Darius Deamonne, currently in his abomination form. They'd both used Darius' slime warp to get into the barrier, and now stood ready to fight.

"DAD!" Amity and the Twins cried with delight.

Alador briefly looked over his shoulder to smile at them; "Hi kids. I'm sorry I'm late; after Darius and I saw the siege forming around Mom and Dad's place, we rushed to gather as many rebels as we could. Luckily we had some of our airships in the area; apparently Raine caught wind of multiple Coven Heads moving into Palm Stings and so sent some over from Bonesborough." he explained. While the majority of their forces were on Digale Island, the CATTs did maintain a hidden airfield near Bonesborough so they could send out air support when needed; especially when Luz wasn't around to teleport everyone from their base.

"It's good to see you back again, Alador." Nelle said softly; "We have a lot to discuss when this is over."

Alador nodded grimly, but his father Colas brought a surprised smile to his face by chiming in; "Don't worry son. We'll have a nice chat after we drive off these interlopers!"

Darius smiled, glad that the Blights seemed to be getting along again, though his smile grew even wider upon seeing the battered and unconscious form of Odalia being held by one of her Oracles. "I see you've had some fun in our absence! Now Severin, I don't suppose I can convince you to just turn around and walk away? Or better yet, convince you to finally join us? You know Belos is evil by this point, right?"

Severin sighed; "The Emperor is…" he tried to defend the man, but ultimately couldn't be bothered to any more. He'd become too jaded to all of his actions, and grown tired of hearing Belos' excuses or making them for him… even his family's historic loyalty to the Emperor had lost a lot of its meaning as Severin grew more and more disillusioned with him. But none of that mattered; it wasn't Belos, his empire, or the Cadence Ancestors that Severin was doing this for; it was his daughter and her safety.

"I'm sorry… but nothing means more to me than Skara does. If the choice is fighting you or letting Belos take her… then I won't hesitate." Severin said darkly, conjuring a new bow to play his cello with.

Alador and Darius narrowed their eyes and braced themselves, while Amity called out to Severin; "You don't need to make that choice, Severin! You don't have to fight us OR let Belos take Skara as a hostage! You can fight against him!"

"I'm no match for Belos or his armies! If I betray him, Skara and I will lose everything!" Severin said bitterly.

"Maybe alone you're no match for them, but we can help you! We can protect Skara and you! You don't have to be afraid of Belos or his army!" Amity implored. She could see that Severin was genuinely a good man, just like her own father; she didn't want to fight him or capture him!

Her desperation was also fuelled by the flickering of the barrier. Amity's spirit had been holding it for quite a while now, and it had almost used up the magic she'd given it. They had mere minutes at best before the barrier came down and they got swept up in the battle happening outside. Even though the CATTs would be the likely victors, it would still force Severin's hand and they'd lose a great potential ally!

Severin looked pained; he knew the CATTs would defend him and his family, but he didn't know the true extent of their forces. He only knew them as a ragtag resistance force with a few heavy hitters. As far as he was aware, their entire army was outside the barrier fighting right now! They were formidable, but against the full might of Belos, his Empire, and the Abomaton army he'd been building? He didn't see how they could win!

Seeing his distress and obvious internal conflict, Darius decided it was time to bring in their secret weapon.

"If you are so worried about your daughter, why don't we ask for her opinion?" Darius asked, before drawing a spell circle and causing some abomination slime to appear between him and Alador. The slime opened up to reveal Skara, who looked marginally disoriented for a moment.

"Skara!" Severin and Amity both yelled.

"Ugh, that slime warp feels so weird! Took you long enough by the way, Darius! I was stuck listening from the airship for way too long!" Skara pouted, regaining her bearings. She briefly looked over to her unconscious mother, before scoffing and ignoring the woman; Amaranth had abandoned her, so Skara wouldn't give her the time of day!

"Skara, thank goodness you're okay! I wondered where you were!" Amity said, obviously relieved.

"Dad put me to sleep before going on this mission for Belos." Skara said bitterly, still not looking at her shocked father.

"And when I saw that the Bard Coven was among the besieging forces, I decided to pay a visit to the Cadence Vacation Villa in hopes of catching you, Severin. Imagine my surprise when I found Skara in an enchanted sleep." Darius grinned. When he'd woken Skara (by splashing water on her face), she'd told him everything and eagerly came along with him and Alador.

Severin looked guilty as he reached for his daughter; "Skara, I'm sorry but I-"

He was cut off by Skara pointing his staff at him, shocking him to his core. "S-Skara?"

The girl finally looked at him, and Severin felt ice fill his veins as he saw the tears in her eyes, and the look of heartbreak on her face. "I'm sorry, Dad. I can't let you do this… I can't let you fight my friends! If you want to hurt them, you'll have to hurt me first!"

Severin reared back as if he'd been slapped, dropping his bow. "Never! I would never hurt you! I'm doing all this so the Emperor won't go after you too! He already suspects you are a rebel, and I just know that if he doesn't get his hands on Amity, he'll use you to lure out Luz! I can't let that happen, but I can't hope to defeat him!"

"I thought you were doing this because our family owed its power to Belos." Skara frowned.

"At first, yes. But I'm not totally blind or stupid… I made excuses for what Belos did to Luz and Eda, but I knew in my heart it was wrong. Still I knew our family supported him in the past, and even shed blood for him… I couldn't disgrace that or put a target on your back. But over these last few months, I've seen more and more actions I can't justify… What he was planning to do to the Bat Queen's Palismen, what he allows Terra to do to her Coven Members, what he allowed Vitimir to try and do to Luz, what happened to Hettie Cutburn, and of course the situation at HECK… it's all too much." Severin shook his head ruefully; "Belos' excuses grew worse and more people I trusted and respected were revealed as traitors… I began to realise I may have picked the wrong side. That the man my family bled for had changed, or had never really existed to begin with… but by then it was too late. I was in too deep, and rumours had spread about you being a rebel. Now I've got no choice but to obey, or he'll use you as leverage."

Skara went quiet for a moment, and Darius and the Blights looked at Severin with sympathy. He'd done what he thought was right for his family, only for Belos to force him into a lose-lose situation. It broke Skara's heart, especially since the only thing stopping her Dad from being the good man she knew he was… was her.

For a moment, she clenched her eyes shut and the tears in them spilled down her cheeks. The barrier was beginning to weaken, and the Coven Scouts outside had taken notice and were clamouring to get it, no doubt hoping to use the weakened Blights as hostages to drive off the CATTs. When Skara opened her eyes and saw this, she came up with a plan… one she would hate herself for, but one that might just save their family.

"Daddy, you've always let me make my own choices, even though it wasn't what you wanted for me. You always respected what I chose too… and I'm so sorry, that I can't do the same for you." Skara said, voice on the verge of cracking.

Her father stared at her with confusion, before Skara wiped her eyes, took a deep breath to compose herself, then shouted at the top of her lungs; "I AM SKARA CADENCE, AND I AM A PROUD MEMBER OF THE COVENS AGAINST THE THRONE! I RENOUNCE BELOS AND HIS EMPIRE, AND DECLARE MYSELF THEIR ENEMY FOR ALL TIME!"

With a little Bardic Magic applied to her voice, Skara's words echoed across the entire district. Even amidst the battle going on, there was no way anyone failed to hear it. Severin's face was a picture of terrified shock, knowing what this would mean, while Skara looked at him mournfully.

So far, there had always been a potential excuse that could explain rebel activity. Severin could claim Skara hung out with Luz and the Hexsquad to get information on them. She helped Luz escape Cartilia because of Hettie's betrayal. She had gone with the Rebels at HECK because Adrian had frightened her… but by announcing herself openly as a rebel, there was only one way this could end. It took the choice out of her father's hands, as now there could be only two options; stand aside and let the Emperor's Coven treat her like a rebel, abandoning her to maintain his loyalty to them… or stand against the Emperor alongside the CATTs and his daughter. Skara hated herself for forcing this choice on her father, but it had been that or let her father do something horrible for her sake.

Severin was still in shock when the barrier around the estate flickered for the last time, before shattering as Amity's spirit used the last of its strength, and retreated to her Oracle Stone. Severin barely noticed, still staring at his daughter's face, but the Coven Scouts that had been inside the barrier did. They'd been intimidated into staying out of the way due to Darius and Alador, but as the barrier came down and their remaining allies from the battle outside it rushed to get their help, they surged back into action.

"Arrest the rebels! All of them!" one of the Emperor's Coven Scouts ordered.

Others jumped to obey the order, and while the ones carrying Amaranth and Odalia retreated from the battlefield, using their allies as cover, the others surged towards Darius and the Blights, as well as Skara. One reached for Skara, who brandished her staff at them.

"You're under arrest, Rebel Brat!" the scout declared.

Skara prepared to blast him away, but she didn't get the chance. Before the scout could grab her, a thunderous bellow echoed across the entire city.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Severin roared, his eyes immediately glowing blood red as all his conflicted emotions focused into one single feeling; rage towards the people gunning for his child.

With a mighty roar, Severin used his cello to send all the scouts around him flying… but not with magic. No, he picked the massive, turtle themed Cello up with one hand (a shocking feat in itself) and swung it like a massive battleaxe, smashing it into the Coven Scout gunning for Skara. The arc of his swing continued until he'd spun around in a complete circle, devastating the Scouts around him. He then rested the cello on his shoulder like it was a large baseball bat, and with his eyes glowing red, he reminded Amity and Skara of an Oni from one of the anime Luz had shown them.

"Whoa… Dad!" Skara gasped.

"H-Head Witch Severin!?" one of the few remaining conscious scouts cried.

Severin grabbed the Bard Coven Medallion and his cloak, then tore them off and dumped them on the floor; "Titan damn it all… If my daughter is going to be hunted as a rebel anyway, then she should at least have her father to help defend her! Consider this my resignation!" he announced, before taking another swing with his cello. This time he actually imbued it with magic as he slammed it hard into the ground. Carabace was sturdy enough to not be damaged, and the resulting explosion of Bardic Magic sent ripples through the entire area and sent all the Coven Scouts blasting backward, stunned by the sound. Only the CATTs were left unharmed.

"How did he do that!?" Emira exclaimed.

"Dad is a master at matching his Bardic Magic to the "tempo" of other people's magic. If the tempo matches, then his magic harmonises with them and passes through… but if they don't, it clashes and hurts them! Dad and Carabace were able to match the sound wave with each of us as it passed us!" Skara explained.

The CATTs were amazed, as were the Elder Blights; "He can control his magic that finely, at that speed!?" Nelle gasped.

"It's my finest talent; I can read and match the "tempo" of a person's magic instinctively. It shames me I couldn't read my own daughter's feelings as easily…" Severin sighed, his eyes no longer glowing. He turned to Skara; "My Symphony, I am so sorry for all of this."

"I am too, for forcing this on you." Skara said.

At that moment, one of the CATTs came running over to Darius. "Darius sir, our lookouts have detected a fleet of airships coming towards us from the west. The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel are with them too. They'll be in Palm Stings within ten minutes. Should we stay and fight, or retreat?"

Darius scowled; "The Emperor must have sent reinforcements in anticipation of things going poorly… I'd rather not face the Little Prince and Princess. Order a retreat."

The CATTs member nodded and ran back to the others to pass along the order, while Darius turned to the Blights and Cadences. "Time is limited so we need to be quick. Auntie Nelle, Uncle Colas; please come with us. I know abandoning your home is hard, but the Emperor will inevitably try to capture and harm you."

Surprisingly, Nelle and Colas just smiled and waved him off; "No need to convince us; we're coming. We've got unfinished business with our son." Colas said.

"And I've already sealed all my research and our important items into my abominations." Nelle added, pointing to the small army of them still standing behind her. She'd done that as soon as the siege had begun, knowing it could end in them losing their home. "That includes the information on the weapons I made with Amity. And the Twins' sculptures too!" she added with a wink to Edric and Emira, who beamed in response.

"Then let's go. Skara, Severin; do you need to get anything important from your vacation villa?" Alador asked.

Skara shook her head; "I didn't bring anything but some clothes for warm weather, and I doubt I'll need them outside the desert anyway."

Severin shook his head also, but then said; "No, but I should stay behind and buy you time. I can keep the Emperor's reinforcements busy while you escape."

"Nope, you're coming too." Amity said, not even entertaining the idea for a moment; "My Dad already tried to pull the pointless sacrifice card back during the Blight Ball. We don't do things that way in the CATTs; no one gets left behind."

"Yeah, so get your butt on the airship!" Skara grinned.

"B-But isn't the fleet of reinforcements directly in our path!?" Severin argued.

Edric chuckled; "Yeah, but we can just fly around them."

"Dad tricked out the airships we CATTs use. They'll outfly anything the Emperor has!" Emira added.

Severin was surprised, but he didn't argue any further as his hand was grabbed by Skara as she ran with the others towards the nearest CATTs Airship, which had lowered a rope ladder for them. Darius, the Blights, the Cadences, and the abominations Nelle created all began to clamber on board, with some of the abominations going to other airships so none became overloaded.

Within five minutes of the warning, the CATTs were flying away from Palm Stings, heading south-west at high speeds thanks to some thrusters that Alador had installed. They left behind hundreds of unconscious Coven Scouts and an empty villa, while suffering only a few minor injuries among their own. As Emira and Edric had said, they outflew the pursuing Coven Reinforcements, who didn't even bother to give chase after seeing their speed, leaving them in the clear.

As they flew, Skara and Severin stood side by side, looking out at the horizon from the deck of the airship.

"It's hard to believe what the CATTs achieved today… these airships are incredible." Severin said, gently polishing his Palisman's shell.

"I know, right? Alador and Darius have made a ton of cool stuff, and they've had help from Amity, Eda, Raine, and so many others. You'll learn all about them later, after taking the secrecy oaths." Skara chirped, before her smile fell; "Dad, I… I'm really sorry for the way I forced your hand. I put you in an awful position, just like Belos did. It was unfair of me and-"

"Skara, stop." Severin interrupted, reaching over to pet her head. "I told you that I'd always respect your choices. Do you think, in your heart of hearts, that you made the wrong one?" he asked seriously.

"No, but-"

"No buts." the man smiled kindly; "You did what you felt was right, and so did I. When our ideals reached the point where they opposed each other, we had to decide to fight or surrender those ideals. In the end, Belos had already worn my loyalty thin, while your friends and the CATTs have done nothing but reinforce yours; this result was inevitable. My number one loyalty will always be to my little girl."

He held his daughter close, and Skara sniffled as she hugged him. "You don't think our ancestors would be mad?"

"Possibly. But if they think picking the Emperor over their flesh and blood is okay, then screw 'em. I honour their sacrifice by continuing our family and protecting it. If they don't like it, I'll happily duel the lot of them when I get to the other side one day!" Severin said, cockily pumping his fist.

Skara giggled and hugged him a little tighter. "Thanks Dad."

"You're welcome, my Symphony."

Meanwhile, as the Cadences were having their moment on the deck, the Blights were gathered together along with Darius in the Airship's cabin. It was a smaller ship so the cabin was a bit tightly packed with seven people inside it, not to mention all the Palismen and the Oracle Spirit floating around. The Spirit was the one Amity had formed a temporary pact with after freeing it from Odalia, and despite seeing Amity wield Angelic magic temporarily, it had developed an interest in forming a more permanent pact with her, and was hanging around until Amity had enough magic to make it.

As they all sat together, the Blights took it in turns to explain everything that had happened. Colas' talk with the Twins about Alador and Darius' friendship and what happened to Alador's sister Amity (minus the parts about any crushes between the boys), Nelle's talk with Amity about the Abomatons and how Odalia came between their family, and even Alador's talk with Darius about what happened after Amity's passing, and how Alador had offered to carry his children and then birth them. By the time they were done, all of them sat back in a state of total emotional exhaustion.

"You know… I really, really hate Odalia…" Amity mumbled. "I wish she hadn't stupidly created that Revenant; I could have beaten the snot out of her even more without that thing causing trouble."

"Considering all she's done to you and your family, I don't blame you Baby Blight." Darius replied. He wished he could say he was surprised by how far Odalia had gone… but he wasn't.

"She hurt you in that fight, didn't she?" Edric scowled.

"A little. Willow's done worse to me in sparring duels. And I gave her a lot worse; I slapped her silly and punched her for good measure! By the way, do you think I should give Severin a gift basket for knocking her out?" Amity asked, smiling tiredly.

The others chuckled, and Emira said; "Well we knocked out his ex-wife, so we can probably call it even. But enough about us; Dad, how are you feeling?"

Alador was still in a state of shock as he replied; "I spent the lion's share of the last twenty years believing my parents hated and disowned me, and wanted nothing to do with my kids. Now I learn it was all manipulation by my ex-wife to control me and make sure I relied only on her. I-I don't really know how to process this."

"We feel the same." Nelle said; "Your father and I never hated you, Alador. We were disappointed in you, but even that was unfair. We knew what Odalia pulled with her own parents, yet we believed her when she said you'd disowned us…"

"We are so, so sorry, son." Colas finished, his voice cracking a little.

"So am I." Alador replied, struggling to hold in his tears of sadness, frustration, and relief; "I could have tried harder. I could have come and spoken to you in person before now… but I was a coward."

"You didn't know any better, Alador. All three of us are to blame for what happened." Nelle said, reaching out to ruffle her son's hair.

"No." Amity shook her head vehemently; "Only one person is to blame; Odalia Vespan. She is the cause of all of this! But as much as I hate her… I'm sick of letting her cast a shadow over all of our lives. I think that right here, as a family, we should talk about what we want for ourselves and this family. That's what Luz did with Camila, Vee, Eda, and King, and it worked for them!"

The others agreed, and looked to Amity to start them off.

"I want us all to be together as a real family, included Darius. I want to join the Blights with the Noceda-Clawthornes someday too." Amity blushed at that point, but received only reassuring smiles. "And I want to find a way to create light-based Abomination Magic and… and finally tell Lilith how I feel, about her being a real Mom to me. That's what I want."

She then looked to Emira to continue, and so she did. Soon, all of them were voicing their deepest desires.

"I want us to be a proper family too. And if Amity's adding the Noceda-Clawthornes to that list, then I want to add the Leonis family too! Viney became special to me in a time where I really needed someone. And I also want to become a therapist, and help others deal with their traumas so they can live happy lives!" Emira declared.

Edric was next; "I also want us to be a complete family! And I want to ask out Jerbo! He was the first connection I made outside our family, so it's important to me! And I'm going to start multi-tracking in Illusions, Potions, and Beast-Keeping! I don't know what I want my future career to be yet, but I don't want to hold back just 'cause I'm scared I won't be any good!"

Next was Alador; "I want to continue learning to be a good father to my children, to make up for all the times I failed them. I want to help the CATTs, and support my family! I want to be proud of the creations I make, and I want to maybe find love again some day; real love and not whatever messed up dependency I had on Odalia. And I want to walk my daughters down the aisle on their wedding days, and hold my grandchildren! I will be the fun Grandpa they deserve!"

Then it was Nelle's turn; "I want to honour the memory of my departed daughter and make our family whole again. I want to live out the rest of my days without regrets, and hopefully see my beloved son find true love. And I want to finally convince Darius to start calling me Mom!" she laughed.

Colas spoke after his wife; "I too want to make our family whole and honour Amity's memory. I want to be able to face her in the afterlife and say her big brother Al is happy, and her big brother Dee is happy too! And I want to meet the wonderful people who made my grandchildren so happy, as well as get Darius to call me Dad, one way or another! Face it kiddo, we're basically your parents."

Darius found himself blushing at Nelle and Colas' wishes, especially when he heard Emira unsubtly whispering to her brother; "If he's adopted and not blood-related, it wouldn't be weird for them to date each other." However everyone was also looking at him expectantly, eager to hear his wishes for the future. He sighed and relented.

"I want to see the rebellion end in our victory, and Belos face justice for his crimes. I want to meet my old friends Cassiel and Em again, should they still be alive. And… and I want to be a family again with the closest thing to real loved ones I've ever had. You Blights are an odd lot… but you've wormed your way into my heart. But if you tell anyone, I'll deny all knowledge!" Darius hastily added, as everyone smiled at him.

"So… we all want to be a big happy family. I say, let's do it! We're the Blight Family, featuring Darius Deamonne-Blight!" Amity declared.

The Twins cheered, their Grandparents smiled lovingly, and both Alador and Darius blushed as Amity basically forced all of them together into one big group hug. No one protested, and they enjoyed their moment together. Things were going to change for them all, especially with the Day of Unity fast approaching, but they'd face it all together.

A little while later, the Blights left the cabin to get some air and Amity found herself at the bow of the ship, thinking about everything that she'd learned and all they'd accomplished. Their family was healing, they'd found a weapon to fight back against the Abomatons with, Severin was now on their side which meant Belos was down another Coven Head, and the CATTs' forces were stronger than ever. It had been a painful road, but Amity was happy to have walked it. She couldn't wait to tell all this to Luz!

Alador soon came and joined her at the bow, as Amity rubbed her hands together. "Hey Dad. It's sure gotten cold, huh? Being in the desert for so long made me forget we're in winter now!"

"Let me help." Alador replied, shooting some abomination slime at Amity's hands, creating some gloves for them. Amity smiled as nostalgia filled her.

"Aw, it's just like when I was a little kid!" a realisation suddenly hit her; "Wait, is this why you call me Mittens!?"

Alador chuckled and stroked her hair; "You always were a cute kid. Actually… I invented that trick for my little sister. I started calling you Mittens in part because you reminded me so much of her back then. It… it hurt to hear your name and think of her. I named you Amity so her legacy could live on, but I did a poor job… I'm thankful you gave me another chance."

Amity smiled; "It was worth it, Dad. Do you think Aunt Amity would be proud of me? Would she approve?"

Alador nodded; "She'd have loved you. I bet nothing would have made her happier than hearing all about you and the Twins. It's thanks to the three of you that I can finally move on, and the Blights are free from the shadow of Odalia."

Amity nodded, though deep down she wasn't so sure; "I still feel her claws in me… not like before, where I was her puppet. But still… I talked about moving past her, but I don't know if I can just yet."

"I know. I think we're all the same… I feel it in my gut; Odalia will cause us more grief yet. But she won't break us. And hey, if she's casting a shadow over your life, then maybe all you need is a nice bright light to cast her off. I can think of a good one." Alador smiled knowingly.

Amity blushed as she thought of Luz. It had been her who helped Amity first step out of Odalia's shadow after all. But while Luz had lit the way, it had still been up to Amity herself to walk out of the darkness with her own two feet. She was still trying to find her place in the light, but she was getting there. And maybe, just maybe… she could be the light for Luz, when she is stuck in the darkness too.

Such a time was coming very soon, but for now Amity would be with her family and await the coming end to the war.