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.

53. EP 11: Emerald Eyes and Sapphire Skies

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 3: The Divine Realm

Chapter 11: Emerald Eyes and Sapphire Skies

"Sorry, "Mother Dearest" but there is only room for one Mandragora on the throne, and you've officially outlived your usefulness!" Terra declared, looking down at her Mandragora "Mother". Arboriel looked to have shrivelled from a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties at most, to a wrinkled old lady who looked closer to her nineties!

Arboriel, tears in her eyes, groaned weakly at the horrendous pain in her abdomen from where Terra's roots had torn through her. Her green blood was being sucked out along with her power, which was in turn being absorbed by Terra. The CATTs looked on in shock and horror, unsure what they should do. They had no real inclination to save Arboriel after what she'd done, but they still felt pity for her after being betrayed by her "daughter", whom she seemed to genuinely care for. However they also didn't relish the idea of fighting Terra again with even more power, even if they were certain she couldn't match either Luz or Raine in their current states.

As such, Luz flew at Terra and tried to blast her with light beams, but the shameless woman used her roots to drag Arboriel up and use her as a living shield that took the damage for her. Arboriel suffered a blast through her shoulder before Luz reacted and stopped her attack, instead trying to fly behind Terra and attack her back. Snapdragon tried to turn and used Arboriel as a shield again, but then the other CATTs jumped in to help Luz as well, with Dhampyr Raine going for an attack from above while Willow, Hunter, and Boscha attacked her from the back and sides. Terra managed to avoid Luz and Raine by stepping back, but this put her closer to Hunter, who avenged the savaging he'd suffered at the Bat Beast's hands by using a Bestial Blessing of Griffin Claws to slash Terra across the back, making her scream in pain and anger. Before any of them could attack again though, Terra conjured a giant flower around her and Arboriel, which swallowed them and then burrowed underground before emerging in front of the Great Treant.

Once Terra reappeared, the Galdorstone on the end of her stolen staff began to glow and some of the vines hanging from the Great Treant's branches moved and began fusing into Terra, allowing her to heal her injuries. Raine scowled upon seeing this; that must have been how she'd healed from their attack earlier! They'd thought she was unconscious, but it seemed she'd just been pretending so she could absorb some plant life and regenerate.

"You really are a disgusting weed aren't you, Terra?" Raine mocked, their Palisman turning back into a fox and resting across their shoulders; "You'll betray anyone, even someone who treats you as a daughter and gives you power."

"I bet this creep was even planning on betraying Belos at some point, weren't you?" Willow accused.

Terra smirked; "Of course! I had to make sure I got what I wanted from him first though. There is only room for one person at the top, and that person is going to be me! It's survival of the fittest; only the best of the best should rule and that will be me!"

Luz glared at her like she was filth; "And to take that spot, you'd betray and almost murder someone you called a mother!? Though I suppose that was just a lie on your part!"

"A lie?" Terra smiled mockingly; "Oh no, I truly do see Arboriel here as my Mother. She took the weak, aged flesh that my birth mother gave me and rebirthed it into this new, immaculate form! But I refuse to play second fiddle to anyone, and when I saw the opportunity to take over the Mandragora Court and become the new Queen, I took it! Besides…" Terra's smile somehow turned even more sinister; "… I killed my original mother too. Arboriel is not special."

The CATTs all stared at Terra with horror and disgust, especially Luz and Raine, who'd both felt the pain of losing a parent. The idea of Terra killing her own mother, and then trying to do the same with her surrogate mother, all in the pursuit of power… it made their blood boil!

"Titi, let's put this evil witch down hard!" Luz growled, her feathers flaring out in anger as Stringbean hissed from atop her staff.

Raine turned Rena back into a violin and nodded; "I agree. Support me, Luz; I'll end this and keep your hands clean."

"We'll help too." Boscha declared, Maya's staff in one hand and a series of test tubes held between her fingers on the other hand.

"I've never had a mother, but Auntie Camila is the next best thing and the idea of hurting her for my own power is so revolting that I want to barf! I'm not letting this weed go!" Hunter glared furiously, Flapjack's staff already thrumming with electricity as he dispelled his Bestial Blessings and took on his Wild Heart form.

"Neither am I. I shouldn't be surprised considering you tried to feed Hanu to the Bat Beast for failing you once, despite raising her like a daughter, yet somehow I'm still shocked how low you can stoop!" Willow declared, pointing Clover at Terra. Her staff was vibrating a lot, surprising Willow; it seemed either Clover really hated Terra or was terrified of her! Considering she'd briefly stolen her and used her against her friends, Willow believed it was both.

For all her bravado, Terra wasn't completely stupid; seeing a furious Seraphim and Dhampyr ready to kill her was terrifying, and the Hexsquad were almost as bad! Not only that, but while she'd stolen most of Arboriel's power and had her as a meat shield, Terra was still not as powerful as Arboriel had been when Luz was going toe to toe with her. A straight fight would get her killed… but Terra had never been one for a straight fight anyway, and now that she had Arboriel's stolen staff, she had everything she needed to complete the next step in her path to power!

"Very well, since you're all gunning for my life, how about I give you some more lives to take first! Or rather, one life you've already taken!" Terra declared, stamping her staff on the ground. The Galdorstone atop it released a sinister black and green aura, which spread through the roots beneath Terra and over towards the discarded corpse of the Rotwood Dragon. The creature began to pulse with this black and green magic, as Terra animated the wooden parts of the Dragon's body in order to bring it back to life… or rather, undeath. Necromancy was a very different beast when it came to Botanical Demons or Demons with plant aspects, as while their souls couldn't be brought back from the afterlife, their bodies could still be manipulated like normal living plants, and as soulless life forms, they could be revived and controlled with ease.

The result here was the now soulless Rotwood Dragon corpse rising up and moving on it's own, responding to Terra's magic to attack the CATTs. The undead beast charged at them, and Hunter stepped up to meet it, using the strength of his Wild Heart form to grapple its head and stop it's charge. Terra was surprised but unconcerned and shot some vines at the Undead Dragon, piercing it through the back and then ripping out its heart. The heart of a Rotwood Dragon resembled a vaguely heart-shaped insect nest, so it was pretty disgusting looking as Terra tied it to her waist with some vines. No one was quite sure why she wanted the rotten thing, but Willow suspected it was to use as a hive of bugs, since Terra enjoyed fighting with minions.

The Undead Rotwood Dragon pushed against Hunter with all it's might, but this didn't last long as Raine unleashed a flurry of sonic blades against it, shredding it to pieces. Luz then conjured a wave of sand that formed a bowl around the pieces (which still moved, flailed, and thrashed independently) so that Boscha could safely unleash a flamethrower stream from her staff without worrying the flames would spread. The sand bowl was soon turned into glass on the inside, and the remains of the dragon were completely reduced to ash. At the same time, Willow had flown at Terra and coated her arms in bark from her bangles before trying to deck the woman. Terra avoided the right swing by stepping back, but Willow leapt forward with far more speed than Terra expected on the left swing, allowing the girl to catch the evil woman in the side.

Terra groaned in pain, but swung her staff at Willow, and while Willow easily blocked the swing with her own staff, the point of impact released a mighty explosion of magic that sent the girl flying backward. Terra was knocked back too, but she hit the Great Treant, while Luz had shot off to catch Willow, barely succeeding before she hit a wall, and ending up in a tangled mess of limbs with the girl as a result. Boscha then tossed a Fog Brew at Terra to obscure the woman's sight, knowing Raine and Hunter could still find her with their hearing and smell respectively. Hunter then dove into the fog and began trying to slash Terra apart with his claws, while Raine used their violin to play the Ballad of Motivation, while carefully using Wind Magic to carry the sound to Hunter's ears without Terra or Arboriel being effected too. Their combination attack almost worked too, but Terra kept using Arboriel as a living shield against Hunter, while doing something with her staff in the fog.

Boscha, whose Tincture of True Sight was still active, could see the silhouette of her actions; it appeared that Terra was repeatedly stabbing the head of her staff into the ground around the base of the Great Treant. "Watch out, Hunter! She's trying to pull something!" Boscha yelled.

Hunter growled; "I'll try to be careful, but hitting this freak is hard without hitting Arboriel too!"

He was tempted to just go full force and let Arboriel die, but his morals wouldn't let him go that far. Enemy or not, Arboriel was unable to defend herself and as far as Hunter knew, hadn't actually managed to kill anyone, so simply letting her die as collateral damage didn't feel right to him. Instead he tried to be clever and kept flashing behind Terra and landing blows that way, but it didn't take long for the woman to get wise to his strategy and begin turning the instant she heard the telltale noise that accompanied all of his flashes, forcing him to change tactics yet again.

By that point, Luz and Willow had managed to untangle themselves and rush back to help, but as they arrived, the reason for Terra stabbing the soil became clear. There was a faint rumbling side from within the fog, before Hunter yelped in pain and suddenly went flying out of it, crashing into Boscha as the three-eyed girl tried to catch him. The impact was a bad one since Hunter's Wild Heart form was heavy, leading to Boscha's ribs being cracked as she was trapped under the dazed Grimwalker.

"Hunter! Boscha!" Luz cried as she ran to help them, with a frantic Willow running beside her. The buff Plant Witch was able to drag Hunter's dazed body off of Boscha, while Luz went to begin healing her ribs, leaving Raine to deal with Terra.

Terra, using Arboriel's stolen power, conjured more Airixandrites to absorb the fog and clean the air so she could easily see again, revealing that she was now surrounded by small tree monsters that Raine recognised as regular Treants. Terra had planted them to act as minions and they had been the ones to smack Hunter away, as they possessed deceptive strength. Raine was unconcerned though and began shooting darts made of their blood at the Treants, before igniting the blood darts with Anti-Magic to destroy them.

"Create as many minions as you want, Snapdragon! I'll erase them all!" Raine declared.

"I'm sure you will, you Rotten Sprout! But no matter how many you erase, I can make more!" Terra yelled, conjuring more Treants and Mandrakes, as well as Greater Mandrakes to attack Raine with. Greater Mandrakes were full grown, adult sized Mandrakes with gorilla-like proportions and strength to match. They'd lost their poison fangs and their ability to scream, but made up for it with strength that rivalled a Slitherbeast and claws that could slice through rock. Terra sent ten of these botanical behemoths, along with ten Treants and about three dozen regular Mandrakes towards Raine, who frowned a little but was undeterred; they could easily handle this situation!

Using their blood to elongate their violin bow and create a bladed spear of blood, Raine swung through the crowd of monsters and easily sliced most of them in half, adding Anti-Magic to their blade. It was easy, but Raine was beginning to feel the drain on their magic after all this fighting. They wouldn't be able to maintain their first Dhampyr transformation for much longer, so they needed to take down Terra fast!

"Bloody Symphony!" Raine cried, taking a page from Luz's book by naming their attack. This move had them secrete blood from their wings and shape them as hardened note-shaped blades, which they aimed at both Terra and her surviving plant beasts. They rained down and devastated the plant creatures, but Terra defended herself by using one of the Greater Mandrakes as a shield, which made Raine curious; why not use Arboriel? Was Terra worried she'd die whilst she still had a use for her? Whatever the reason was, Raine wasn't about to find out as Terra suddenly snapped her fingers, causing a loud scream to fill the inner court. The scream came from Hunter, causing Raine to turn to the teens.

"Hunter!?" Willow cried, as Hunter began to thrash on the ground, digging his claws into the soil that coated the Inner Court floor.

"What's happening to him!?" Boscha yelled frantically, her ribs now healed as she got back to her feet.

"I don't know!" Luz cried, trying to hold the thrashing boy down so she could properly examine him for signs of a wound. "Hunter, please! Try and hold still! I'll find what's hurting you!"

But Hunter was either deaf to her words or unable to hold still even if he wanted to, and continued to thrash and roar as his Wild Heart body continued to rage. After a few seconds, they all noticed his Selkidomus scales growing sharper and his Stonesleeper parts growing more muscular, as if he was becoming more bestial by the moment.

Willow turned to Terra with a thunderous expression; "TERRA! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" she demanded.

"Oh, I just planted a little seed in him. Palistrom Wood makes for a wonderful seedbed, don't you know? It's an absurdly potent fertiliser, and would be used a lot more if not for how rare it is!" Terra cackled.

"You planted a seed in Hunter's body!? How!? And what kind of seed!?" Boscha roared, conjuring some flames threateningly. It was an empty threat though, as Terra knew she wouldn't dare use the fire and set the room alight.

Of course, that didn't stop Terra from twisting the knife a little. After meeting Willow back at Spriggan Manor, Terra had made it her business to know everything about her, and had learned through Amelia and the Eden family that she had some long standing animosity with the three-eyed girl. She'd also observed easily in her fight with the teens that Willow had some feelings for the Grimwalker boy, as revolting as Terra found that to be, so perhaps she could sow some discord amongst her foes.

"How? Why it was all thanks to you! That little fog you produced was extremely helpful! I was able to have one of my Treant Minions jab the seed into him before he even knew what was happening! And truly, that was a pointless waste of a potion! I may not have been able to see, but I could sense the Palistrom Wood inside him and his Palisman as clearly as I can sense my own creations! How do you think I was able to use my shield to block his attacks?" Terra mocked, holding the battered and dead-looking Arboriel. She wasn't being withered any more, but she still looked like an old lady, and appeared to have lost consciousness.

Boscha went pale at Terra's words, and Willow's temper flared, but her anger wasn't directed at Boscha.

"You evil weed! I'm going to-!" Willow roared, only to be drowned out by a much louder roar from Hunter, as well as a scream from Luz. While the girls and Raine were distracted, Hunter had been growing more and more feral until he'd finally lashed out and clawed Luz across the chest, giving her three nasty cuts and knocking her away. The golden blood dripped from Hunter's claws and seemed to snap the boy back to himself for a moment, before he screamed in rage and sorrow and began rampaging around the room, tearing into Terra's remaining minions and smashing his head against the ground over and over, as if trying to knock himself out.

"Sparks!" Raine cried, beginning to run to her. However Luz got back to her feet and healed herself quickly.

"I'm fine! Focus on restraining Hunter and searching his body! The seed must be growing inside him in some way! Considering what Terra did to you today, and you and Mom the last time she caught you, I'd wager she's using either Wrathful Roses or Brain Wormwood!" Luz said, already back in action.

Willow, Boscha, and Raine all nodded and rushed to try and restrain the feral boy. Willow used the pre-existing soil to create the thickest, strongest roots she could to bind Hunter's neck, wrists, ankles, and tail in an attempt to hold him down, while Boscha pulled out a bottle of her Sleeping Nettle Wine that she kept stored in her hair, and began trying to jam it into Hunter's mouth. Raine ended up landing on the boy's back and coating their fists in hardened blood to protect them as they reached down to pry Hunter's mouth open in order to help Boscha get the bottle in. At the same time, Luz had gone into the shadows so she could play the Lullaby of Lethargy on her Lapis Ocarina, having it echo out from tiny shadow portals inside Hunter's ears, ensuring only he was effected.

As all this was happening, a grinning Terra saw her opportunity and sent another wave of Greater Mandrakes to further distract the group, then conjured a Restraining Rafflesia beneath her, which she used to swallow herself up. Raine and Willow spotted this, but they were too busy restraining Hunter and could do nothing but curse at the fleeing Mandragora, who couldn't resist one last pot shot.

"I do thank you all for helping me so much. This little audience didn't end how I'd hoped, but I still got the most important things out of it! Don't worry though; I'll be seeing you all very soon!"

With that, Terra and the withered Arboriel disappeared inside the Restraining Rafflesia and disappeared into the ground, while Raine growled and shot a spear of blood at her. It just barely clipped the top of the flower, but that wasn't enough to stop it and the two Mandragoras as they disappeared through the Poison Plant Portal before Raine could even ignite the Anti-Magic of their blood.

"Damn her!" they cursed, before turning their attention back to Hunter. Even with Willow's vines, it was hard to keep Hunter still, and while Luz's song had begun to work on him, he was resisting thanks to whatever Terra had infected him with. However once the entire bottle of Sleeping Nettle Wine was poured down his throat and his mouth was tied shut by one of Boscha's abominations, the combination of the wine and the song began to soothe the rampaging Grimwalker and cause him to slowly relax. His growls and roars became pained whimpers, as what Terra had done prevented him from falling asleep completely even with the potion and song.

"Oh Hunter…! He must be suffering so much!" Willow said, almost in tears.

"Then let's hurry and pinpoint the problem." Raine said; "You can find the plant causing this, then I can use Anti-Magic to destroy it and Boscha can use healing potions to heal him up while Luz keeps him docile."

The girls nodded and immediately got to work. Willow's eyes glowed green as she cast a spell with Clover to let her see all plant life in a certain radius, which happened to work like an X-Ray for Hunter thanks to his Palistrom Bones. She soon found the problem and gasped.

"That evil, conniving hag!" Willow cursed; "She grew a Wrathful Rose inside Hunter's body! The seed is embedded in his spine and it's growing around his lungs and heart! The thorns are jabbing both, and the pollen is being released directly into his lungs!"

Boscha went green; "Oh Titan, I can't imagine how much that hurts! Raine, can you help him!?"

"I can. I'll use my Rondo of Blood to carefully soak my blood through his pores and into his chest, then I can selectively decay the flower with Anti-Magic without hurting the rest of him." Raine said, getting off the boy's back and releasing some blood that they began to soak into Hunter's chest.

"Please be careful! If you damage his Galdorstone heart…!" Willow gulped, remembering what had happened to Luz's Dad.

In secret, Willow had been researching Grimwalkers ever since getting back to the Demon Realm, using books she'd gotten from Malphas' library in Bonesborough, and she'd secretly gotten some more from the raid on Belos' castle yesterday, having used vines to snag some from the lab they'd found in the basement while the others weren't looking. She'd done this with the intention of finding a way to perhaps heal a damaged Galdorstone in case Hunter (or Lyra) ever suffered that kind of injury, or in the worse case scenario, replace it. If the Hexsquad lost either of them to that fate, they'd be devastated, and Luz and Camila would suffer even more trauma thanks to Michael's fate. Unfortunately, Willow only had a slight theory on how she could do it, but it was nowhere near enough to feel confident in!

Putting the thought out of her mind for a moment, Willow focused on Hunter's body and the Wrathful Rose growing inside it. She and Boscha watched as Raine closed their eyes, then clicked their tongue to create a soft sonar effect, which their sharp ears used to pinpoint the rose inside Hunter without needing to see it. Once they'd pinpointed it, they spread their blood thinly across the entire thing and then ignited the blood with Anti-Magic. Hunter immediately whimpered and squirmed a little more as Raine adjusted their power and made the Anti-Magic as thin as they could so as to burn away the rose and its thorns, but not any other part of Hunter. They all knew Raine had succeeded when Hunter's pupils, previously turned into slits, returned to normal and he began to relax. Raine kept up the Anti-Magic until every speck of the rose and its seed had been erased, and by the time they were done, Hunter had fallen asleep as the Nettle Wine and Luz's Lullaby finally hit him with their full effects.

"Phew! That was close. Boscha, the potions." Raine said, slowly extracting what remained of their blood from the boy.

Boscha nodded and pulled out a series of healing potions, which she began to administer with help from Willow, who held up his head and massaged his throat to help him swallow. As they were doing this, Luz emerged from the shadows and decided that since Boscha and Willow were taking care of Hunter, it was time for her to do what she'd come for and rescue Amity!

Looking around at the Inner Court, Luz felt a stab of regret at the sorry state that their battle had left it in. The trees and their pretty wooden palaces were fallen and destroyed, most of the grass and flower gardens had been torn up by the fight or decayed after Terra or Arboriel consumed its life essence to heal themselves, and the corpses of plant monsters grown by Terra could be found all over the place in varying states of decay. This sacred place had been defiled by the Mandragora Monarchs first, but Luz still felt guilty for her part in its current state. As she walked towards the (mostly untouched) Great Treant, she stopped in front of the altar and dropped down on one knee to offer a prayer to the souls of the people who were buried in the temple and who had once worshipped inside it, apologising and promising to restore it once everything with the Divider was over.

She didn't get an answer exactly, but the plant glyph did briefly flash on her stomach and make her feel warm, letting Luz know that the previous bearers of the glyph had at least heard her words.

Once that was done, Luz stood and approached the Great Treant and gently patted its trunk, causing the carved, Titan skull face to be absorbed into the bark and a new, giant human-like face to emerge from in its place, resembling a bearded old man carved from wood. It looked down at Luz and then spoke slowly, in a voice that reminded Luz a lot of Treebeard from the Lord of the Rings movies. She found it very appropriate.

"Little Angel… Thank you… for freeing me… from that woman's yoke. What would you… have me do… to repay you?" it asked.

Luz hadn't expected the Treant to be able to speak and had only intended to comfort the creature before she flew into its branches in search of Amity and the Mandragora Flower she was trapped in, but since it could, she decided she might as well ask him for help.

"Could you bring down the girl in that flower cocoon that Arboriel had you hide earlier? She's my girlfriend and I'd really like her back." Luz asked politely.

"A simple matter…" the Treant replied as it rustled its branches and caused the closed Mandragora Flower to slowly descent from its canopy via some vines, with Amity still safely snoozing away inside.

Luz eagerly wrapped her arms around the floral cocoon and gently laid it down on the ground, then prepared a light blade to cut it open, only to pause at the last second and look back at the Treant; "Would cutting this pod hurt you?"

"No, Little Angel… The flower is a parasite… destroy it if you wish." the Treant told her.

Luz didn't need telling twice and swiftly cut open the flower, whereupon she was almost knocked into dreamland by a cloud of soft pale lilac gas that emerged from within. It was some kind of sleeping gas meant to keep Amity asleep, and had made Luz extremely dozy as it had blasted out and hit her in the face. However the gas also seemed to wear off quickly when the target wasn't under constant exposure, as Amity groaned softly and her eyes slowly began to open. The first thing the girl saw was the beaming face of her Batata, looking down her with tears of relief in the corners of her eyes.

"Now this is a nice way to wake up." Amity smiled sleepily. "But you know what would be nicer…?"

Luz did indeed know, and stooped to kiss her like Sleeping Beauty, making Amity blush and giggle. "That kiss made all this almost worth it." Amity joked when they finally separated.

"Are you alright, Hermosa? The Mandragoras didn't say or do anything weird to you, did they?" Luz asked worried, helping Amity to her feet. Ghost, who'd been napping in Amity's satchel at the time of the kidnapping, also emerged and hopped down to the ground to stretch her legs.

"Mandragoras!?" Amity gasped; "I was kidnapped by Mandragoras!? The last thing I remember was being swallowed by a giant flower, then a few seconds of darkness before I was knocked out. The next thing I knew, I was here with you."

"So you were asleep the whole time? I guess that spared you the worst of it. You've been captured for less than 24 hours, but a lot has happened. I'll explain it in a little while, once we're all safe and out of here." Luz promised.

Amity, burning with curiosity, nodded in agreement as Ghost climbed up Luz's staff and began grooming Stringbean. She stepped fully out of the flower she'd been trapped in and Luz turned to say thank you to the Great Treant as Amity looked around the room.

"Wait, are we in another Elemental Temple!?" Amity gasped.

"Yep, welcome to the Plant Temple of Barcarib." Luz answered.

"And I missed it? Stupid Mandragoras! I got to go on all the other Temple Ruins dates with you and for the last one I only got to be the prize at the end? No fair…" Amity pouted.

Luz giggled and kissed her again; "Considering the prizes in the last three temples, I think I'm going to count this as a win. Now come on; we need to see how the others are doing."

With that, she led Amity over to the rest of the Rescue Team, who were watching over the still unconscious Hunter. His Wild Heart form was gone and his skin had regained a healthy shade after his harrowing experience, so Luz assumed the healing potions Boscha made had gone down well. Amity was surprised by the unusual team of Willow and Boscha, though her surprise was mostly pointed at Raine, who was still in Dhampyr Mode.

"I missed something big, didn't I?" she asked.

"You could say that. But it's not over yet; more like in an intermission." Raine explained. "Good to see you safe, Amity."

"Yeah, glad you're okay." Boscha agreed, while Willow managed to tear herself away from Hunter and give the cotton candy-haired girl a hug.

"We were all worried about you. We're happy you weren't hurt." Willow said earnestly.

"Thanks. Is Hunter alright? What happened to him?" Amity asked, worried by her sort-of step-brother's condition.

"He's being healed by potions and still sleeping off a lot of Sleeping Nettle Wine." Raine explained; "We're very lucky he's not worse off."

Luz nodded and went to check on him herself; "I trust Boscha's potions, but I want to make certain he's okay. I'm going to cast some diagnostics." she said, kneeling beside the boy and beginning her spells. The others watched her as as she sent what was essentially a blue sonar pulse of magic into Hunter's body, causing damage, infection, or anything else that wasn't meant to be there to glow in her eyes. No one but the caster could see this glow, so the others had no idea how bad Hunter's injuries were, but they assumed having a rose grow out of the inside of your spine and around your lungs and heart couldn't be a pleasant or mild experience.

"It looks like the potions are working, but there are still quite a lot of tiny cuts and scratches on his insides. Good thing he's fast asleep, or he'd be in pain while they work." Luz said with a sigh.

"Can't you finish healing him yourself?" Willow asked.

Luz shook her head; "Casting healing spells on someone with active healing potions still in their system is dangerous. It can overdo the healing and cause tumours to form on the afflicted areas. Considering that's his heart and lungs…"

The others shuddered as Willow said; "Okay, fair point. We'll just wait for the potions to run their course, then wake him up. What do we do while we wait?"

"We should rejoin the others and figure out what we're going to do about Terra. I can carry Hunter; this new form is fairly strong!" Raine smiled, flexing one of their biceps. They'd always had a rather noodle-like stature in their opinion, so having some real buff muscles was appealing!

"Good idea… but how exactly do we leave?" Boscha asked. "The entrance is kind of sealed."

Everyone turned towards the patch of floor that hid the staircase that led to the tunnel they'd walked down to enter the Inner Court. The path back to the rest of the temple had been completely sealed off, and it was only really possible to tell where the exit was due to the fact there was no soil on that patch of ground. Luz fired a powerful light blast at it but to no avail, and tried to create some homunculi and roots to pry it open, aided by Amity's homunculi, Boscha's abominations, Willow's roots, and Raine's bloody tendrils. However none of it was any good and it refused to so much as budge. There wasn't even a gap or seam between the opening and the rest of the floor that they could get their magical appendages into in order to get some better leverage.

"Can't we use Shadow Movement?" Amity asked.

Luz shook her head; "These temples are warded against it. The stone seals off passage through the shadow world beyond it, so I can move anywhere I want inside this room, but nowhere else."

Boscha then suggested; "How about growing a Restraining Rafflesia of our own?"

Now it was Willow's turn to shake her head; "They only connect if their seeds come from the same mother plant, and we'd need to have one already grown somewhere outside this room. Even if I grew a new one here, I'd have needed to grow another one somewhere else to use it as transportation."

"What about the glyphs? If Luz and say, King, used them to make the plants, would that work? Since they'd have the same source?" Amity suggested.

Luz hummed; "That could work. I'd have to call the others and ask. Good idea Amity!"

Amity smiled and they all watched as Luz summoned her scroll and called Eda. If things had gone as they planned it, then the moment they'd seen Mandragoras and the Unconverted fleeing the temple, the CATTs hiding in the shadows would have taken the opportunity to attack, capturing anyone who was serving Arboriel of their own free will while helping the others to escape from her clutches, and trying to secure the temple. It only took a few seconds for Eda to answer, and her face appeared on the screen of Luz's scroll. Luz could see the inside of the Temple behind her Mom and didn't hear any sounds of battle, which was a good sign.

"Hey Owlet! If you're calling me, I guess you must have already kicked Arboriel's butt and saved Amity, right?" Eda smiled.

"Yes to both, but the situation is complicated. Terra betrayed Arboriel and fled with her using a Restraining Rafflesia." Luz explained quickly.

Eda's eyes widened; "Wait, for real? I guess I shouldn't be surprised with how conniving that woman is. Are you all okay?"

"Hunter got banged up, but he's healing right now. But listen; Terra ran off with Arboriel's staff, which she was using to control the temple, and we're now sealed in the Ritual Chamber. We can't get out." Luz replied.

"You're trapped!? Okay, hold on Owlet! Mama's coming!" Eda declared, before shouting over her shoulder to the others in her party, so they all knew the situation.

King's face appeared on the screen as he hopped up on his Mom's shoulder; "Don't worry Sis, we'll get you guys out of there! Pretty much all the Mandragoras were freed by those Gas Bombs, so they're all helping us out! They'll know a way in!"

Luz smiled, glad to hear things were going outside, before saying; "We actually already have a potential plan, courtesy of Amity!" Luz then proceeded to quickly explain the idea, and King readily agreed.

"Got it! I'll make one of those Portal Plants out here, and you make one in there! If they're both made of magic from the same Titan, it should count as having the same "Mama" right?" the little Titan said.

Eda moved her scroll so it remained focused on King as he hopped down to the ground and began to draw a large plant glyph on the soil near some of the fruit bushes. He then activated and created a large Restraining Rafflesia. Seeing this, Luz then repeated the process in the Ritual Chamber, mentally picturing King's flower as she grew her own. Once the flower was grown, it looked totally identical with even the same white spots on its large petals. With that done, Eda insisted they test it and so grabbed a blood apple from the nearby fruit tree and shot a silencing spell at it to stop it screaming, then placed it onto the flower. Since King had grown it, it was under his control and swallowed the apple on his command. On the other side, Luz and the others waited for 30 seconds, but nothing happened.

"It's not working." Luz frowned. "Let me try on my end…"

She conjured a simple flower made of crystal and placed it into her Rafflesia and willed it to close and transport it to King, but again nothing happened. When Luz and King ordered the flowers to return what they'd taken, Luz found her flower to be partially melted and King found the Blood Apple to have been reduced to an ominous looking red smear.

"Dang it, it didn't work!" King scowled; "Is it because they're made by different people?"

He began to rapidly experiment, growing another of the flowers only to find that even the two he'd made with his own magic were not connected to each other. It seemed that since the flowers didn't come from seeds spawned from the same parent, it truly wouldn't work! The only way King could think of to make it work would be to take two seeds from a flower he grew with the glyph, but that wouldn't solve the current problem as he couldn't get it to Luz!

"Sorry Luz, but it doesn't look like Amity's plan is gonna work. We'll need another way." Eda sighed.

Amity frowned dejectedly and apologised, though the others shushed her and reassured her that it had been a good plan.

"The only other solution I can think of is having you guys solve the trials out there like we did. If you do and use the Trial Orbs to open the path from your side, we should be able to get out." Luz suggested.

Eda grinned; "And with all the Mandragoras helping us out, we'll get the trials solved in a flash! Hold tight!"

Luz nodded and Willow quickly relayed the objective of each trial so Eda and the others could solve them fast, then hung up the call to let them focus on the task at hand.

"By the sounds of it, most of the Mandragoras we freed from Arboriel's control have either fled or joined up with our allies outside." Raine said happily.

"That'll make things a lot easier! I wonder if we'll be able to do anything to turn them back to normal…" Boscha said, thinking of Amelia and her mother Legume.

"I'm sure we'll find some solution. Besides, some of them really were volunteers, so even if we do turn the others back, we won't be wiping out the Mandragora Race!" Luz smiled; "That genocide is the reason for all our troubles with Arboriel; if Witches and Demons hadn't tried to wipe out her race, this would never have happened."

The others all nodded (though Amity was still reeling from hearing what Arboriel had been up to), and Raine couldn't help but comment; "The fact we wiped them out, along with the Basilisks, reminds me a little too much of Belos and his attempted genocide of us. Arboriel may be a serious enemy that needed to be stopped, but I can't totally blame her for what she chose to do."

"Yeah… but she's still going about it the wrong way. We'll stop Terra, deal with Arboriel, and then find a better solution for the Mandragora race." Willow said determinedly.

Luz nodded; "And there was no "we" in those genocides, Raine. We played no part in it, but like Willow said, we'll play a part in making amends."

Raine smiled at that, and since they now had to wait for the others to complete the trials, they opted to sit down together and fully explain the situation to Amity, so the poor confused girl would finally know what had happened since she was kidnapped. She was shocked to hear about Arboriel and Terra's team up, their deal with the Divider (and the inevitable betrayal of that deal once he was absent), them turning many people into Mandragoras, including Amelia and her mother, and the fight that had led to Raine unlocking their Dhampyr Mode and Terra betraying Arboriel only to then flee with her and the staff she'd stolen. The lavender-haired girl could scarcely believe she'd missed so much in less than a day, or that it hadn't even been 24 hours since she was in Manubrium with her Mom, Samael, and Matt, helping turn the place into a massive game show set while getting people evacuated from the city.

"Are you guys all doing okay!?" Amity exclaimed; "I mean, this time yesterday all of you were either fighting or Divided and fighting! How are you not all exhausted!?"

"Mami made sure we got some rest, and Willow and Boscha were given potions to help them recover. Same with Titi, but Mom made sure they were taken care of." Luz explained.

"Plus I barely used up any energy yesterday, since Severin kicked my butt so easily…" Boscha complained, still feeling bitter over it.

"You did well, Boscha. Severin is a powerful person; even Skara only won because she unlocked her Palisman Fusion. Don't be so hard on yourself." Raine told her. The girl responded with only a stiff nod, making it clear she didn't fully agree.

A moment later, the group were drawn to Hunter as the boy began to slowly stir awake. Luz used a diagnosis spell on him and sure enough, he'd pretty much been fully healed and the potions in his system had done their work. However she also noticed he still seemed to have some very minor damage to his heart (mild scratches at worse) so as the healing potions had finished their work, she used a proper healing spell.

"Ugh, what happened?" Hunter groaned as he sat up with some help from Willow.

"Terra messed you up by growing a Wrathful Rose inside you. We fixed it, but she got away and now we're trapped and waiting for the others outside to let us out." Boscha explained, handing him one of her potion bottles that she'd filled with water so he could quench his thirst.

Hunter took and drank it gratefully, then noticed Amity; "I'm glad you're safe, Amity. You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine. Wish I could say the same for you, but at least you seem better now. Dad and Darius would have had heart attacks if the both of us were in serious danger." Amity smiled.

Hunter snorted; "That's true; Lilith, Alador, and the Twins were about ready to storm this place themselves!"

The others chuckled and nodded in agreement, remembering how hard they'd been working to prepare the Anti-Pheromone Gas Bombs since they couldn't do much else to help with the immediate rescue. Amity was already semi-dreading the reunion with her family, considering how protective they'd be of her after this incident, but as she and the rescue team felt a sudden rumbling beneath them, they realised that the reunion might be upon them.

The group stood up and looked over to the sealed entrance to the Ritual Chamber, and watched as it slowly opened up again, revealing the entrance to the tunnel that led back to the rest of the temple. They considered going down it to meet the others halfway, but decided it was better to wait in the larger room to avoid the inevitable lack of space that would come from a reunion in such a place. Mere minutes later, they heard a lot of footsteps running towards them, before they suddenly saw Samael fly into the room with King gliding along beside him.

"There they are! They're safe, everyone!" Samael cheered back down the tunnel as King flew to Luz's side and hugged her.

A moment later and the rest of the Hexsquad and CATTs elites came rushing in, with the only ones absent being Mason (still watching over the Union Pillar at the Palm Desert), and Gus and Skara (who were recovering back on Digale Island after their overuse of their fusions). Immediately, everyone's focus was drawn to either Amity standing there safe and sound, or Raine in their new Dhampyr form. The latter got a proud look from Lilith, before her focus was fully dominated by Amity, whom she swooped over to in Harpy Form and scooped up into her arms, kissing her cheeks over and over.

"Oh Amity, thank goodness you're alright! I feared for you, Little Dove." Lilith said lovingly, patting the girl all over to make sure she was unharmed.

Amity giggled and blushed, secretly adoring the new nickname; "I'm fine, Mom. I literally just took a very long nap! I think all of you had it worse than me."

Alador and the twins finally caught up with the speedy Lilith, so the woman gently handled Amity over to her father, who repeated the woman's kisses and frantic checking; "Amity! I was so worried! I barely slept at all last night!"

"No kidding! He almost fell back into old habits! If not for Mom, he'd be a caffeine riddled wreck!" Emira giggled, winking over at Darius (whom was checking on Hunter).

Amity smiled and hugged her father; "I'm really okay, Dad. Nothing bad happened to me, I swear. Luz saved me before anything could."

"For which I owe her yet another debt, along with Raine, Willow, Hunter, and Boscha." Alador said, before putting his youngest daughter down. This of course left her open for some cuddles from Edric and Emira, the former of whom ruffled her hair.

"Good to have you back, Mittens!" he said.

"No kidding. Em and Ed have been down in the dumps ever since you were taken." Viney grinned, with Jerbo nodding beside her. "Though I knew you'd be okay; you Hexsquad kids are tough!"

"Almost too tough! We're older yet still outmatched! I can't even begin to get my head around your new Homunculus Magic!" Jerbo complimented.

Amity beamed at the high praise and enjoyed the reunion with her family. Meanwhile, the others (particularly Eda, King, and the BATTs trio) were focused entirely on Raine and their new hybrid form.

"Finally! Good going Raine Storm! I knew you'd bond with the Bat Beast before long! You just needed to get out of your own head!" Eda praised, looking them up and down. "And may I just say; you are looking tasty! Rawr!" she finished with a wide toothy grin of desire. Raine's new form really showed off the lean and muscular frame that Eda had always known they'd had under their clothes; Raine had just always been too shy to show it off though!

As expected, the Bard blushed crimson at the compliment while King and Samael pretended to gag at the woman's flirtatious comments. The BATTs trio found it hilarious though, and lightly teased the couple even whilst massively praising Raine. Amber, being an actual Dhampyr, was especially ecstatic and hugged her "Mops" for all they were worth.

"Now you're a Dhampyr like me! And that blood coat is hardcore! I always thought the Bat Beast was kinda cool, but this is so much better!" Amber gushed.

"It really is cool, Ma! I'm glad you were able to work out the stuff that was twisted up inside you." Derwin smiled.

"Yeah! I'm totally gonna have to write "Dhampyr" on that "World's Best Dad" mug I bought you!" Katya grinned impishly; "Also, I can't wait to see you and Eda fighting side by side in your new forms!"

Raine chuckled and hugged their three apprentices/pseudo-adopted children, while winking at Eda over the tops of their heads; "I'm sure Eda and I will have some fun "dancing" in this new form. I can finally keep up with your stamina now, Edamame!"

Eda blushed, and Raine realised what they'd just mistakenly implied and went beet red too. "By dancing, I meant fighting!" they quickly corrected, making the BATTs trio laugh alongside Steve, who'd been watching the exchange beside Matt, who'd gone very red in the face too. Eda ended up chuckling and giving Raine a teasing grin and waggle of her eyebrows, while King and Samael just looked confused.

"I don't get it, but Titi is even cooler now! I'm glad you didn't unlock this form before we fought you yesterday! That's be tough to deal with!" King said.

"Yeah! Though the blood stuff is kinda scary. Mortals having red blood is so weird too! Mine is gold and I like it better when it stays inside." Samael added childishly.

"That's generally wise." Camila agreed from where she was stood with Vee and checking on Luz.

Severin, who'd been checking on Boscha since Skara was absent, nodded; "We should be glad there weren't any major injuries. Though I'm proud of you Raine; Scooter will be too! Like Eda said, it was time you got out of your own head a little."

Raine chuckled; "Technically, Luz helped me get inside my own head so I could work some stuff out. Which reminds me; I owe you a thank you as well King! Your glyph really helped me out!"

King preened, "You're welcome! My powers are awesome, aren't they? And they're not even fully formed yet!"

"You're a regular old genius, King." Eda said, patting his skull. "Now, care to tell us the full story of what happened, Owlet? And where exactly did Terra disappear to?"

Luz shrugged helplessly; "I've got no clue. She took Arboriel and ran when she did something bad to Hunter. Speaking of; Mami, can you and Hettie check him out? Boscha's potions healed him up and I finished the job with a spell, but I want to be sure he's okay."

Hunter opened his mouth to protest, but he was silenced by a look from Darius, as well as Willow and Lyra (the latter checking on the former while Darius had been fussing over his adopted son). Camila and Hettie agreed immediately, especially Hettie; she would take any chance she could to examine the Grimwalkers and try to understand them more, as she continued to try and shake off her past prejudices and understand what made Hunter and Lyra different from the others she'd met.

As they were performing scans on Hunter, Luz gathered the others together and explained everything that had happened on their end from the moment they entered the temple (and left the sight of those hiding in the shadows outside) to the moment she'd called Eda and King for help. The others were just as shocked as Amity had been, especially regarding what Terra had done to Hunter and Arboriel.

"Wow, that was a lot…" Matt frowned; "You okay, bro?" he asked Hunter.

"Aside from feeling a little grossed out, I'm okay." the boy assured him. "What happened on the outside?"

"Well, once we saw some of the Mandragoras running out of the temple and fleeing the forest in all directions, we figured you'd done something and a fight had started." Eda said, "So Lyra, Amber, and Samael got us out of the Shadow World outside the temple and we caught all of Arboriel's Minions in the village and gave them back control with Alador's gas bombs. We actually got some help from some of the fleeing Mandragoras, who realised we were on their side."

"They weren't all on our side though. All the Angel Mandragoras ran away, probably to warn the Wings of Rani." Darius said; "Others were loyal to Arboriel and Terra even without the controlling pheromones, so we had to fight them too. It took some time but it wasn't much of a challenge. Now they are our prisoners and the other Mandragoras are waiting outside and guarding the temple along with some of our troops, ready to deal with the Wings of Rani if they show up."

"That was when you called Eda." Lilith chimed in; "The Mandragoras helped us with the temple trials and now we're here. None of them would come down here with us though; they were all too scared of what they might find down here with Terra and Arboriel."

Luz, Amity, and the Rescue Team listened with interest; it seemed things had gone about as well as could be expected, though the fact the Angel Mandragoras had escaped did mean they had limited time before the Wings of Rani arrived and complicated things.

"So what is our next move? Do we just retreat back to Digale Island and wait for another chance at Terra and Arboriel? They're bound to pull something again." Lyra asked, remembering the others' stories of the Mandragora, and having enough experience with Terra from her time as the Silver Sentinel.

The rest of the CATTs frowned at that, not liking the idea at all but not sure what else they could do. However Luz shook her head defiantly.

"No. We can't afford to do that. Each time Arboriel slipped away, she came back and caused more trouble, and I don't know what Terra plans to do with her, but it's bound to be worse. We need to go after her before she hurts any one else!" Luz declared.

The others agreed, but it was easier said than done; "Do we have any way of tracking her? I mean, she escaped through a Restraining Rafflesia, which is now gone!" Viney pointed out.

"If the flower was still around, we could have maybe tracked her down by passing through it ourselves." Jerbo began, "But with it gone, we have no way of summoning the same flower back."

"Then we should ask Amelia and the other Mandragoras." Boscha chimed in; "There were Mandragoras spread throughout the Navel Woods, so not all of them were here at the temple. Maybe Terra has a hideout somewhere?"

Hanu, the only one present who'd been in Terra's Coven, nodded; "Boscha is right; if Terra betrayed Arboriel, she must have somewhere to flee to and hide. And if she has access to obedient minions, she'd almost definitely keep some there. Maybe that can be our clue."

Luz smiled, then regarded her comrades with a serious expression; "I'm going after Terra and Arboriel immediately. Anyone who feels up to it can come along, but if any of you are feeling too tired…" she looked pointedly at the rest of the Rescue Team.

"I'm coming along." Willow declared; "I've got unfinished business with that Witch! She's gotten one over on me twice now, using me as a hostage both today and back when we broke into Spriggan Manor! I'm not letting that slide!"

"I'm not a quitter, so count me in too." Boscha agreed quickly. She refused to be the weak link or fall behind Willow!

Raine, who'd since transformed back to normal, actually thought about it for a moment before nodding as well; "I might need a rest and probably another Blessing, but I can keep going. Though I might be better as support for the moment."

"Naturally, I'm going too; wherever you go, I shall follow Batata." Amity smiled lovingly, making Luz blush and kiss her on her cheek.

That just left Hunter, and when Luz looked at him, he snorted; "Do I even need to say it? Of course I'm coming along."

That got a grin from Luz, but a worried frown from Camila and an outright scowl from Hettie, who shook her head immediately.

"I'm sorry, but I have to advise against that." Hettie said sternly, surprising the boy.

"What? Why!? I'm perfectly healthy! I don't even feel tired!" Hunter argued.

"Did you find something in your scans?" Darius asked, focusing on his old friend.

Camila nodded slowly; "Let me preface this by saying I don't think there is anything major to worry about… but the thorns of the Wrathful Rose that Snapdragon grew inside him seem to have left either scratches or very tiny cracks in Hunter's Galdorstone Heart."

Everyone gasped, and Luz went especially pale; Healing Magic couldn't be properly used on a Galdorstone, which also meant they weren't capable of healing on their own. That meant that whether they were mere scratches or more serious cracks, those marks would remain on Hunter's heart forever.

Hunter alone wasn't bothered by this; "A few scratches aren't something to be freaking out over! It's not like I can cast magic without Flap anyway, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal, young man, is that the heart is the connection point and vessel of the soul, and damage to it in any way can have a profound effect on magical beings, which you are despite not being able to cast magic." Hettie lectured. "As a Grimwalker, that effect could be disastrous! The primary difference between your sister, yourself, and the Grimwalkers that destroyed my home was that they'd been animated by a Galdorstone in a ritual but did not contain one… how can we be sure that damage to your core won't cause you to go feral?"

The Grimwalker boy paled, as did his sister. However he still spoke out against this idea; "I suffered a few scratches, that's it! They're not cracks, I'm sure of it! I'm not just going to turn feral! After all, we know of another Grimwalker who didn't when their Galdorstone was damaged."

He almost immediately regretted bringing that up, as it made Luz, Camila, and Darius all look down with sorrowful eyes. But he DID have a good point; Michael had retained his mind with a shattered Galdorstone for as long as Camila could keep him alive.

"Listen, I know how this must sound but I really am okay. They are just scratches; I've got worse on my skin and probably my bones too after 16 years with Belos! Please trust me and let me go too! You'll only have to waste resources protecting me or transporting me back to Digale otherwise, and I can promise to hang back and take it easy if it'll make you feel better! Just let me come along!" Hunter implored, looking between Darius, Lyra, and Luz, knowing they were the main ones he'd have to convince.

Lyra had her worries, but she ultimately trusted Hunter enough to take him at his word and agree that he should come. Luz was in a similar boat, debating what would be best for the CATTs as a whole AND Hunter, ultimately deciding to trust Hunter too, though mentally noting that she needed to keep an eye on him. Darius was the last to agree, but ultimately did so as an act of support for his adopted son; if Hunter said he felt fine, Darius would trust him!

Besides, Camila had also strongly suspected them to be mere scratches anyway; probably nothing to be concerned about so long as Hunter wasn't hit there again!

"I won't stand in your way here, Hunter. But I expect you to be cautious and retreat if you feel even the slightest bit out of sorts, do you understand?" Darius asked sternly.

Hunter smiled and saluted; "Yes sir! I'll be careful!"

That was enough for Darius, and since both Hunter and his adopted father were on board, the rest of the CATTs decided to leave the decision purely up to Luz as their leader, and she had of course already agreed.

"Alright, if everyone is ready to move then let's get going! We'll get out of the temple, in case Terra comes back and traps us again, then rendezvous with the Mandragoras and see if we can't find a way to track down Terra before she causes any more trouble. We should also be prepared to get out of here before the Wings of Rani show up." Luz said.

The rest of the CATTs nodded and they began to head back out of the Ritual Chamber and up to the rest of the temple, where they found a few dozen Mandragoras, Witches, and Demons all waiting for them, including Amelia, her mother Legume, and her other parent Tsuru Eden, a Witch with four arms and the same green hair as their daughter. Amelia ran to greet Boscha and Willow again, and smiled broadly at Luz and Amity.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay! Not long after you left, these strange little pink abomination-like things started running around with these strange smoke bombs, which let us all shake off that monster Arboriel's control! Now we can help the CATTs!" Amelia said cheerfully.

Boscha hugged her, then stepped back so Willow could do the same. Luz smiled and said; "Happy to have helped, Amelia. We're glad you and your parents are free now."

"Free, and feeling like fools." Tsuru said with a shake of their head; "We should have taken your offer way back before all this started and joined the CATTs. If we had, my wife and daughter might not have been turned into Mandragoras!"

"It is a regret we both share." Legume sighed; "Being a Mandragora is not awful, but I much prefer being myself. I was rather looking forward to the CATTs or Wings of Rani finding a way to remove our Coven Sigils so I could begin using other magic again, like when I was a girl, but a Mandragora cannot cast other types of magic either… It looks like Amelia and I will be Plant Magic Users for the rest of our lives."

The CATTs looked at them with pity, but Amelia didn't seem too upset; "I quite like being a Mandragora, but I do wish it had been my choice…"

"Don't worry, we'll try to find a way to return you guys to your old forms. We've got Hettie, my Mami, Viney, Meesha, and myself working on it, and we're all awesome healers! Plus Mom, Tia Lily, and Boscha are super Potioneers, so they can probably whip up some kind of cure too! We'll work together and find a solution, I promise!" Luz said, puffing her chest out proudly.

The Edens (and a few of the other Mandragoras listening in) all smiled and felt reassured; it was hard not to believe in Luz when she got like this, especially now that she was in the form of a Seraphim! Most people in the Demon Realm didn't understand the Angel Hierarchy that well, but they did know that the more wings the better, and Luz had faced down Belos with only six, so now that she had 8, she had to be second only to the Divider's 10!

The CATTs, now joined by the former members and prisoners of Arboriel's court, then headed out of the temple entirely and stepped out into the little village built into the surface ruins of Barcarib. There Luz and the rescue team saw several Mandragoras penned up and bound in chains to keep them from fighting, while most of the other Mandragoras outside were guarding them. They must have been the loyalists that served Terra, and had been defeated and bound. Luz wanted to question their sanity, but then again most of the people she was friends with had once considered Belos to be a good man, so she decided to hold her tongue; it wasn't fair to judge those who fell victim to cult-like charisma.

They didn't get a chance to stop and talk though, as one of the Mandragoras and one of the CATTs helping them came rushing over to Luz and Darius.

"Luz, we've got trouble!" the young Rebel yelled; "The Wings of Rani are here! Our scouts in the forest said there were hundreds of them!"

"My sisters in the forest are also gone. They've either disappeared completely or been captured by the Wings of Rani." the Mandragora added.

Luz frowned as her friends exchanged worried looks behind her; "That's not good. How many High Angels and Arch-Angels are there? And from what direction are they coming?"

"And what about auxiliary forces, like the Divided, Abomatons, or Knight Golems?" Darius asked.

The young Rebel took a deep breath to calm themselves a little and said; "There are maybe a dozen High Angels but only one Arch-Angel; a woman with a scar on her cheek. From what our scouts could see, they were coming from all directions, encircling the ruins. No auxiliary forces though."

That was peculiar; since when did the Wings of Rani not use at least Abomatons and Knight Golems as back-up? Either there was something keeping them from getting more of these autonomous soldiers, or they were up to something…

"Come to think of it, while hundreds of Angels would be a threat, isn't it weird to only send a few of the higher ranked ones? And only one Arch-Angel? Do they not know what's waiting for them?" Luz mused, trying to figure out what they could be planning. She was getting better at this whole strategy thing thanks to Darius tutoring her a bit in their spare time, but she still had no clue what the Wings of Rani were thinking.

"Darius, what do you think we should do here?" she whispered.

"The Mandragora prisoners can be left behind, since the Wings of Rani won't hurt them, but the rest of our people should evacuate. Having Lyra, Amber, and yourself take them into the shadows at the first sign of hostilities; we can't afford to fight while surrounded and protecting civilians." Darius whispered back. He wanted to make sure the non-Elite CATTs kept their faith in Luz as a leader, so didn't want to appear to be making decisions for her.

Luz hummed, then announced to the others; "Gather all the people we've liberated together into one space, and surround them to keep them save. Lyra, Amber, Samael, King; prepare to use shadow travel and Darkness Glyphs to take them into the shadow world the instant I give the order or the fighting starts; leave the prisoners behind though. They'll be safe and if they end up divided, we can liberate them later. Protecting the civilians is our number one priority."

The others nodded and immediately got to work following Luz's orders. The Mandragoras and other liberated Witches and Demons were all huddled together, with Lyra, Amber, King, and Samael positioning themselves at the four cardinal directions around them. The CATTs then formed a ring around them for protection, with their leaders, elites, and Hexsquad members at the very front. Only Luz, Darius, and Eda were not a part of the protective formation, as Luz was certain something about this situation was off and was stood ready to confront the Wings of Rani.

This turned out to be a wise move, as while they could all feel the eyes of the Wings of Rani surrounding the ruins and peering down from the canopy above them, there was no hostility or signs of aggression. In fact, the leader of the small army cautiously walked into the clearing with her hands clearly visible, making it obvious that she wasn't looking for a fight. She was also accompanied by a pair of Angel Mandragoras.

She stopped five paces away from Luz, then slowly and politely bowed, while the Angel Mandragoras (who had been regular two-winged Angels before their conversion) knelt down reverently.

"Hail Lady Seraphim. Please do not attack; I come in peace." the female Arch-Angel said. "My people and I shall not attempt to attack you today and within this forest, so long as you do not attack us first."

Luz relaxed a little, but the others remained on guard. "Hail, Lady Arch-Angel. I am Luciel "Luz" Noceda-Clawthorne, Seraphim of the Demon Realm. My people will not attack if we are not attacked first, so we can talk in peace. Might I know your name and business?" Luz asked, channelling all the lessons in etiquette and formality that her Mami and Darius had taught her. It felt horribly stiff, but Luz wanted to be polite.

"My name is Zirael, Devotee of the Lord Divider and formerly of Crest Chastity." the woman, Zirael, introduced. She was a pale skinned Angel with bright silver hair that should have gone down between her shoulders, but had instead been pulled up into a messy ponytail. Her eyes were a vibrant blue, and her face was beautiful with full lips, a small, straight nose, and moderately defined cheekbones. She also had a large scar on her left cheek that looked very similar to the one Hunter had on his right cheek, only narrower and reaching the lower eyelid of her left eye. She had a curvy figure and a lot of lean muscle, giving her a somewhat Amazonian appearance despite being only around the same height as Katya. Her six wings shone brightly behind her, and her Holy Raiment was less revealing than most, taking the form of a white studded doublet with gold studs and belt, worn atop a white skirt that was open in the front to reveal white pants and white and gold boots. It was an outfit that reminded Luz of something from a medieval fantasy story, though the design was distinctly angelic.

"As for my business," Zirael continued, "Several of our members who became Mandragoras as part of the deal between the Lord Divider and Queen Arboriel suddenly returned, revealing that they'd been compelled to accept conversion and lie about their desire to join by Queen Arboriel's pheromones. They escaped to inform us, so we brought this force to arrest Queen Arboriel and her co-conspirator; Overseer Terra Snapdragon. We were also informed of your own involvement, Lady Luz. We thank you for helping us by freeing our brothers and sisters."

Luz waved her off; "I just did what was right. Sorry to say but Terra escaped. She betrayed Arboriel and fled with her and now we don't know where she is. We were preparing to try and go after her when you arrived."

Zirael smiled; "I should have known that the Heroine of Paradise would have the matter well in hand. And forgive me for being forward, but I'm glad to see you fighting our enemies instead of us for a change."

"What can I say? I have a passion for fighting people who brainwash others into weird cults." Luz replied in a deadpan voice.

Zirael chuckled nervously, clearly not knowing how else to respond. "A-Anyway. We didn't approach you like this to fight, but to ask you for your help defeating Queen Arboriel and Overseer Snapdragon, as well as as you to return any Angels that didn't make it back to us after you saved them. However, now that I know our mutual enemies have escaped, I wanted to offer an alternative deal. Perhaps we could sit down and discuss it cordially?

Luz thought about it and decided she liked the idea; anything that let her solve something peacefully was right up her alley. However she still turned to Darius and Eda first with expectant looks, wanting to know their thoughts. Eda looked distrustful of this talk, but since the Wings of Rani were of course Angels, she didn't think they were lying. Darius was more eager though, sharing Luz's thoughts on solving some potential problems peacefully.

Finally, Luz turned back to Zirael and nodded; "Alright. We were going to release all but the Loyal Mandragoras to do as they pleased anyway, so letting your members go back with you shouldn't be a problem."

At Luz's words, Darius called back to the others and asked for any remaining Angel Mandragoras to step out of the protective formation. They did so quickly, revealing about six of them, and with the CATTs' blessings, they ran towards Zirael and bowed politely, thanking her for coming for them, before then going to rejoin the Wings of Rani surrounding the place (though they also smiled gratefully at the CATTs as they did so). Once that was done, Luz asked the Mandragoras if they could use one of their huts outside the temple as a meeting place, and was readily granted access to one of the larger ones, which already contained a simple table made from a large tree stump and surrounded by mounds of leaves for sitting on. Zirael and Luz took seats at the table, alongside Eda, Darius, and the two Angel Mandragoras, while the rest of the CATTs relaxed from their battle formation alongside the Wings of Rani, as both Zirael and Luz swore an oath not to let their forces start a fight until the meeting was finished and both sides had been given a chance to retreat.

Once they were both sat down together, Luz and Zirael were both rather awkward; it was clear that Zirael had some hero worship for Luz as the Heroine of Paradise, one of the Lord Divider's favourites, and a Seraphim at the tender age of 15, so she was wary of angering her whilst also opposing her as a member of the Wings of Rani. On the flip side, Luz had been raised to be respectful of her elders and still hadn't really internalised that she was now a Seraphim and thus a higher rank then Zirael, so she felt somewhat like a child sitting down for an important talk with her teacher, while her parents sat beside her (or Mom and Pseudo-Uncle to be precise), whilst also being acutely aware of Zirael's worship of her and their opposing sides in the current civil war. Thankfully Luz had Darius by her side to help her out.

"Alright, you asked for this meeting so what exactly is this alternative deal of yours?" the man asked, crossing his arms.

"It's rather simple; the Wings of Rani cannot abide what Queen Arboriel or Overseer Snapdragon have done. They were given a deal by the Lord Divider and agreed to it, only to repeatedly break it under his nose and then overtly act against him in his absence." Zirael said seriously; "And I believe I am right in assuming your rebel group feels the same about their actions?"

"Got that right!" Eda grumbled.

"In which case, I would like to propose a temporary truce between the Wings of Rani and the CATTs, as we work together to deal with this mutual threat. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" as I believe the saying goes." Zirael said.

Eda's eyes widened in surprise, while Darius' narrowed suspiciously and Luz smiled. "You're saying we should team up against Terra? I like the sound of that! It'll be great to not have to fight each other for a change and we could use the help tracking her down. The Mandragoras are our only lead, but with the Wings of Rani helping, we can scour the isles without worrying about getting into a fight with you."

"Hold on a moment, Owlet." Eda chimed in before Luz could entirely accept the offer; "I get that Zirael can't lie easily, but she CAN still lie if she can tank the pain. And who knows what kind of scheme she could be cooking up with exact words and other tricks?"

"Not to mention we have no idea if the rest of the Wings of Rani will go along with her truce. She isn't in charge of the whole group, unless she's secretly the Divider's Ophanim. And how "temporary" is this truce anyway? When would it end? Because if we're battle-worn by Terra and the truce is over as soon as she is beaten, we could end up with a knife in our back." Darius agreed.

Zirael and the two Angel Mandragoras looked affronted; "We would never do something so underhanded!"

"Then what can you do to ease our worries?" Luz asked.

"I will swear an oath that the Wings of Rani's truce with you will remain active until 24 hours after the defeat and capture of Terra and Arboriel. I will also swear an oath to fight by your side against any of my people who try to break the truce! Is that enough?" Zirael offered.

The three CATTs exchanged looks; that was helpful, but not a complete comfort as it really just amounted to having Zirael's temporary help if her fellows didn't honour the deal. As such, Darius counter-offered; "If you can contact the other Arch-Angels and leaders of your faction and get them to agree to the truce as well, with your life as the collateral, I think we can be convinced to agree. Is that alright, Leader?" he asked, shooting Luz a wink.

"It is. Are you willing to do this, Zirael? We won't kill you, but you will be our prisoner if they break this deal." Luz said.

The silver-haired Arch-Angel nodded without hesitation; "I will call them and ask. May I have a moment of privacy?"

Luz nodded and left the hut with Eda and Darius, whereupon the hut was placed under a silencing spell to they couldn't listen in. The trio then stood outside for about ten minutes as they waited for Zirael to finish making her calls, spending the time making small-talk with the others still on guard. Eda questioned Raine on their new powers, Darius fussed over Hunter a little, and Luz did the same with Amity, who was helping Boscha tell Amelia about the rest of their friends back in Bonesborough, and Skara back at the CATTs' hideout. Eventually though, Zirael emerged from the hut and offered Luz immediately to make an everlasting oath. Luz accepted her hand, and Zirael spoke;

"I hereby swear that what I am about to say is the truth; my fellow Arch-Angels have all agreed to your proposed terms for the truce. The Wings of Rani and the CATTs will be at peace and will not attempt to harm or disrupt each other's activities until 24 hours after the defeat of Overseer Terra and Queen Arboriel of the Mandragoras. If this oath is broken by myself or any of my fellow Arch-Angels or those of lower authority acting on our orders, I will remain with the CATTs as the dutiful prisoner of the Heroine of Paradise until such a time as she willingly releases me or I should lose my life. The sole exception is the will of the Lord Divider, for whom we cannot speak."

Luz listened carefully and went over the wording in her head, then nodded with a smile; "I accept your oath and will ensure my friends and allies abide by their end of the deal too." she said simply.

With that, the two Angels both drew spell circles around their hands and reaffirmed the oath they'd just made, officially creating their truce. Once the oath was made, Luz turned to her allies and let them know what was going on, while Zirael did the same with the Wings of Rani. A few minutes later and the ruins of Barcarib were full of Angels, CATTs, Mandragoras, and liberated Witches and Demons all stood in three columns of people as their leaders began planning how to hunt down and defeat Terra once and for all.

"Okay people, this is all the intel that the CATTs have on Terra and Arboriel." Luz began, before gesturing to Darius, who gave a much more professional sounding debrief of what they knew, which was essentially Terra betraying Arboriel, stealing her staff and vitality (whilst keeping her alive), and then retreating to an unknown location via the Restraining Rafflesia.

After Darius was done with his report, Zirael gave her own with what information the Wings of Rani had gathered whilst racing onto the scene following the return of some of their people.

"We captured and interrogated several Mandragoras patrolling the forest on our way here; Mandragoras who were still under Arboriel's Pheromone Control." Zirael began, gesturing to a small group of about 10 Mandragoras, including some Angel ones. "Thanks to the CATTs and their cure, they have been returned to normal and the Angels among them have revealed that mere minutes after Overseer Snapdragon escaped, several other Mandragora in the forest began to act strangely and then disappear, fleeing through the same flowers as the Overseer did. Our current theory is that these Mandragoras were under the influence of Terra's pheromones and not Arboriel's, so they have likely been called to their Mistress's side."

One of the CATTs raised their hand; "If Snapdragon has that power too, does that mean we need another cure? Would the one for Arboriel work on her pheromones?"

Alador, stood near the front of the CATTs' column with the other leaders and elites, shook his head; "If Snapdragon had minions of her own, she would surely have some mixed in within the Inner Court, Outer Court, and this village. All Mandragoras here have been cured, so the cure must still work regardless of whose pheromones were used, though I'm not sure why."

Willow chimed in; "From what Arboriel said to us when trying to turn me and Luz into Mandragoras, she uses her own DNA as part of the conversion, making all Mandragoras made from her into her biological daughters in a sense. That means Snapdragon's pheromones are probably similar enough to her "mother's" to be effected by the cure."

"Though that also means it'll likely be impossible to tell who was infected by what pheromones now that they've been cured." Hettie added.

Luz nodded; "Which means our best bet is to either check out places she might make into a hideout, find a way to track the other Mandragoras, or interrogate those loyalists and hope they know something. Boscha, Mom, Tia Lily; we'll be needing you to bust out the Blabber Serum."

The Mandragora prisoners that were still tied up off to the side all scowled at the Seraphim, but weren't in a position to argue with her. The three ladies Luz named went to go set up a cauldron and begin working together on the doses of Blabber Serum (they had some downtime so figured they might as well make it fresh and leave their prepared reserves for emergencies), and while they were doing that, Zirael and the CATTs began gently questioning the cooperative Mandragoras for info on any places they knew Terra or Arboriel might go. Since Luz and Darius were taking care of that, Lilith worked with a couple of the High Angels to organise their forces into four-man teams, with two Angels and two CATTs, and had them go out to the locations that the missing Mandragoras had disappeared from in hopes of picking up a trail.

The search, the questioning, the brewing, and the interrogations all collectively took a mere half-hour, but that was largely because there were next to no results! The Loyalist Mandragoras either served Arboriel and despised Terra, or were loyal to Terra from her days in her Coven but had no idea where she was hiding, only knowing that they had to go to her when summoned. Luz had been confused on how they knew where to go when summoned, but Hunter had revealed that the missing Mandragoras had disappeared through more of those Restraining Rafflesia flowers, which could have been grown from seeds provided by Terra, so there was no guarantee they'd know where they were going. Unfortunately that also meant there was no trail to follow either, as the seeds of the captured Mandragoras had been remotely withered.

The cooperative Mandragoras had a little more they could tell; Terra had liked to visit the various Gardening Clubs around the isles and had often used the Poison Plant Portals to arrive there, and had of course had Spriggan Manor, which now stood abandoned since Hanu and the Basilisks were gone. She'd also liked the Botanical Gardens in Manubrium, and had the Union Pillar in the Left Hip, though the former was open to the public and the latter had been inspected only a short time ago by the Inspection Teams travelling the isles, and no signs of alterations had been found, so it was unlikely she was hiding there amidst the Wings of Rani guarding it, who'd now been made aware of her treachery.

"We've got a lot of places to check, but I don't feel confident about any of these places." Luz said as she and her friends huddled together.

"I can send out a call to have our people investigate all those locations; guards will be placed near each one. The only ones I can't have searched are the Gardening Clubs in Bonesborough and Cartilia, since the CATTs "liberated" those towns." Zirael said, making air quotes as she said the word "liberated". "Spriggan Manor also has no guards posted nearby, since there is no one there to protect any more."

"We'll call some friends in those cities and ask them to check those places out. Spriggan Manor is further south from here, so some of us can go check it out." Eda said, before looking to Hanu; "You cool going back there?"

Hanu nodded; "I lived there for years, and for most of the 4 months after the Day of Unity. I can handle it."

"Then let's do that. The Navel Forest is also the largest woodland on the Boiling Isles, so there's a good chance Terra made her home somewhere here. We should divide up our forces and scour the forest." Darius said.

Luz and the others agreed and began sending out the rest of the CATTs to check different parts of the forest with the Wings of Rani, leaving the Mandragoras and a small force behind at Barcarib for protection, alongside the prisoners. Eda also called Principal Bump in Bonesborough to let him know to search the Gardening Club there, while Hettie did the same with Dorothea in Cartilia. After the calls were made, the CATTs elites, Zirael, and the High Angels all decided to go and search Spriggan Manor together. The only ones who didn't join them were Samael and Amber, whom Luz secretly tasked with taking the Mandragoras and rescued Witches and Demons who wished to join the CATTs back to Digale Island via the shadows and Teleportation Circle, so they'd be safe.

The group then walked together in awkward silence, as neither the CATTs nor the Wings of Rani quite knew how to talk to each other. The latter viewed the former as foolish children who didn't understand their master's grand ambition, while the former in turn saw the latter as zealots that were fine with brainwashing people to create a fake paradise… but despite this, both sides were also reluctant to start any arguments just in case tempers rose and someone did something stupid to break the truce. Luz and Zirael were especially tense as they walked side by side at the head of the group, each keeping an eye on their communication devices so they could keep track of their allies' reports.

Eventually, Zirael broke the silence by asking Luz a question; "Forgive my impertinence, Lady Luciel… but why exactly have you declared the Lord Divider to be your enemy? He thinks the world of you and seemed deeply hurt that you didn't join him on the Day of Unity."

"I don't like him forcing everyone to be his perfect little puppets. He's stealing people's free will and warping their personalities to suit him, and stripping away their emotions, all because he finds them inconvenient or ugly." Luz answered firmly. "But what about you? Why do you serve him? You know that you'll end up divided some day too, right? No one will escape, not even his most loyal."

"I am aware. But I'm alright with that; I chose this option for myself after leaving Crest Chastity." Zirael replied.

That made Camila start paying attention; "Crest Chastity? My friend Lazuliel is a member of that one."

Zirael nodded; "I am aware; she was part of Lord Raguel's Reformation Plot. One that I refused to be a part of, might I add." she added quickly, making sure Luz and her friends had no reason to show animosity to her when the truce ended; "And I knew her by reputation too. Popular with the Cherubs for her more free-thinking approach to raising them. She is part of the reason I defected, though only a minor part."

"How was she involved?" Amity asked.

"It was only indirectly, but her existence helped prove something to me. You see, I served Crest Chastity loyally; I did everything I was told by the book and was quite well-liked by the Cherubs I was assigned to care for. I even rose to be an Arch-Angel and was considered a strong candidate for Lady Uriel's Ophanim and eventual successor… but things changed when I refused to have children of my own." Zirael explained, her voice soft and poorly concealing a great deal of anger.

Everyone winced, especially Camila and Luz, who understood just what this meant. "Almost overnight, all that I'd done for the order suddenly meant nothing. The people I thought were my friends began to shun me, seeing me as not doing my duty as a member of the order. Despite all the work I'd done for Crest Chastity, the moment I refused to use my body as a baby factory, I was considered a borderline outcast. On the flip side, an outspoken critic of the system and a rule breaker like Lazuliel was loved and respected despite her vocal criticisms… all because she agreed to have a child." Zirael glowered bitterly; "4000 years I gave to Crest Chastity! I practically raised the last dozen generations! But because of one decision regarding my own body, all of that meant nothing. Ironically, Lazuliel and Lady Uriel were the only ones to support me, stepping in to stop the shunning. But it was too late; I'd been shown how flimsy my place is… and then Lord Raguel spoke to me and I was able to meet the Lord Divider, who swore to divide all the cruelty of the union away from the rest!"

She finished her impassioned speech by looking Luz in the eye and saying; "The world needs fixing. The Lord Divider will provide that."

Luz looked back with pity; this was another person that the current system had failed. She wondered if all the Angels in the Wings of Rani had such stories… Even after the Divider was taken care of, she would need to find a way to change the Union, or else the problem would repeat itself again someday.

"I'm sorry for what you went through. It doesn't justify what the Divider is doing… but I am sorry." Luz replied.

Zirael shot her a small smile; "My reasons must seem petty to you. I was shunned and now I'm taking it out on the world as a whole… but I just couldn't bear to see the children I helped raise be crushed by the roles they were born to play. Angels are discouraged from having individuality so we can better serve our roles in society, and I'm tired of seeing my Cherubs slowly lose their spark of life as they become part of the Union's "machine". At least the Divided can still choose to do what makes them happiest."

"I think your motives are more agreeable than your actual actions." Camila noted; "But I do understand. It would have killed me to see Luz or Vee lose part of what made them special so they could serve as a cog in the Union."

Her daughters smiled at her, as the others agreed. Matt even said; "Machine really does feel like the right word for the Union. It feels like one giant mechanism that keeps itself going for its own benefit. While it's got some awesome parts to it, no one is really in control! Back during Luz's whole trial thing, none of the Seraphim actually wanted it to happen except for Raguel. But they couldn't stop it because of the way their system works. It feels like they're trapped following the letter of the law instead of the spirit of it. If things just loosened up a little and they let people have more choice, it'd be a pretty amazing place to live."

The others readily agreed once more, and Steve looked rather proud of his little brother's words. Luz then said; "Well, I think you'll get what you want one way or another, Zirael. Once I settle things with the Divider, the other Seraphim will be way more inclined to listen to me so I can find a peaceful way to reform the union! I can rally the people peacefully and let their voices be heard…"

"Just like Rasiel once taught me." she thought, before grinning cheekily and verbally adding; "...and if the impossible somehow happens and the Divider beats me, then he'll do his thing and you'll still get what you want. It's a win-win for you."

Zirael stared at Luz for a moment, before suddenly perking up and giggling; "I think you got the probabilities of those outcomes mixed up! But you're right; one way or another, my dream will come true. That makes me feel…" she placed a hand over her heart; "…lighter."

Luz smiled; "Happy to help."

Zirael blinked and suddenly looked at Luz like she was seeing something else, before bursting out into giggles, confusing Luz and the others.

"What? Did I say something dumb?" Luz asked.

"No, it's just…" Zirael wiped a tear from her eyes; "… you and the Lord Divider really are so very similar."

Luz wasn't quite sure how to react to that, but Zirael had clearly meant it as a compliment, so she decided not to complain.

With some of the awkwardness fading, the group began to chat a little about inconsequential things as they explored the Navel Woods on the way to Spriggan Manor, being careful to check potential hiding spots they passed. They were also delayed slightly by various forest creatures attacking them, all of them having Brain Wormwoods growing from their skulls, making it clear they were being controlled by Terra just as Raine had been. The fights weren't difficult considering most of the CATTs elite members were present in the party, but they were time consuming as they needed to stop and make sure each creature was healthy after destroying the parasitic plants in their brains.

After taking down their 17th encounter and only being about halfway to the Manor, Willow couldn't help but growl. She'd been oddly quiet and a bit sullen ever since the incident with Hunter in the Temple Ritual Chamber, but now she seemed even more agitated.

"I really hope Terra is at Spriggan Manor. I have a good feeling that she is! But if she isn't, this is going to be a pain in the butt. I'm sure she's somewhere in this forest, and if not Barcarib or Spriggan Manor, I can't think where else she'd hide!" the bespectacled girl said, getting some worried looks from her friends.

"We'll find her, Willow." Luz said; "She's got to be in one of these places."

Willow sighed and nodded, and Clover began to buzz a little on her shoulder, looking uncertain and nervous. After a few seconds the little Palisman flew off Willow's shoulder and hovered in front of her face, buzzing softly. Willow came to a stop and the rest of the party followed suit, wondering what was going on.

"Clover? What's wrong?" Willow asked.

"My Queen, I… I might know of another place that Terra could be hiding." Clover said, her voice soft and fearful inside Willow's mind.

"You know where Terra could be hiding? How?" Willow asked, both excited and surprised.

Clover hesitated as she replied "I am quite old and my previous partners knew this forest well. I know many little nooks and crannies within the Navel Woods, and there is one place I think she might go; an estate hidden away not far from Spriggan Manor. It's about a 20 minute casual stroll to the west of the manor."

Willow smiled; "That does sound like a good place for her to hide, and less obvious than the manor! We should check it out!"

The others, not hearing Clover's words, looked confused until Willow quickly explained what she'd just been told. Hunter grinned; "That does sound like a good place to hide! If it's an old forgotten place, it'll be even more appealing! I say we go there first."

"Time is of the essence here; the longer we give her, the more time Overseer Snapdragon will have to prepare. We can't afford to delay the search at Spriggan Manor." Zirael chimed in.

"Then we can split up; we're a huge group, so some of us can go check out this estate while the rest go to Spriggan Manor." Matt suggested.

Luz agreed; "Let's do that. The Hexsquad and I will take Mami, Vee, and King to check out the estate while the rest of you go to Spriggan Manor." She'd chosen those teams so both sides would have a sizeable force if they should end up needing to fight Terra before the other team could come back them up! Either of them should be able to easily deal with her, so she was confident this would work out.

Zirael had no objections, so she and the rest of the High Angels agreed to continue on to Spriggan Manor with Darius' group, while Luz's group headed to this mysterious estate. After wishing each other well (and Amity receiving hugs and well-wishes from her parents and siblings), they split up and began heading their separate ways, taking a shortcut through the forest that Clover knew about. The Hexsquad and Nocedas were all a little curious just how Clover knew of this estate; they believed her when she told Willow it was because of her previous partners, but they weren't sure exactly how they were related. However as Luz thought back to Clover's past as she'd described it to her once, she began to have a sinking feeling.

Travelling off the main road wasn't easy, even if the Navel Woods was very peaceful compared to other forests like the Forearm Forest, as the forest still grew thick and wild in places, especially as one went deeper in and further off the beaten path. The paths that Clover took them on were ancient and looked like they'd been barely maintained, though the fact they were still visible at least meant they couldn't have been abandoned for more than a few decades, and the density of the forest meant fewer large creatures lived in this section, which also reduced the number of brainwashed Beasts that stood to get in their way.

It was as they were walking along after one of these brief encounters that Hunter suddenly caught his foot on a tree root on the path. He'd been wrapped up in a conversation with Camila and Matt about the forest and how it reminded them of the Jungle Comet of Begina from Cosmic Frontier, and the high speed chase that had taken place there in the books, so the boy hadn't been paying enough attention and tripped, falling flat on his face. He landed with an "oof!" but he wasn't hurt and laughed as he picked himself up, getting a helping hand from a chuckling Matt and a good natured roll of the eyes from Camila, along with a gentle warning to mind his step. However while the others passed this off as nothing (Luz and Boscha had both also tripped or stumbled on the path so far), Willow gasped and freaked out, rushing to check on the boy.

"Hunter! Are you okay!? Did you hurt yourself!? How's your heart!?" she asked frantically, checking Hunter all over and even hugging him so she could press her ear to his chest to listen for his heartbeat.

Hunter blushed crimson as he spluttered; "I'm fine, Captain! I just tripped on a root! I didn't even graze myself; I'm pretty tough."

He tried to regain his cool and flex his biceps to show off a little, but Willow was so worried looking that he stopped and earnestly said; "Really Willow, I promise I'm fine."

"You're sure? No pain in your chest? No issue breathing or moving your arms?" Willow asked.

"I'm sure. Aunt Camila can check me over if you're that worried." Hunter said, shooting his aunt a look. The woman nodded and once again cast diagnostic spells, but as Hunter had suspected, he was fine.

Willow's resulting sigh of relief was deep and shaky, but the smile that followed it was warm and loving, taking Hunter by surprise a little. She'd looked at him like that quite often, but this was the first time he'd seen just how deep the feeling behind it went; he could practically see the fears leave her! Though sadly, a certain amount of tension remained visible in her face and the stiffness of her shoulders.

"I'm so glad… I was scared for a second there." she whispered, before catching herself and remembering where she was; "I-I mean, it'd be really bad if one of our best friends was hurt, right guys?"

The others agreed, though all of them looked at Willow with some unsure eyes. Vee even edged closer and softly asked; "Are you sure you're okay, Willow? You seem stressed out."

"Stressed? Me? Nah, I'm peachy." Willow giggled unconvincingly; "You know me; I'm the good old reliable "Mom Friend"! It's my job to worry about everyone and take care of you all! If I didn't, Luz would and she's got enough troubles!"

"I have a lot less now that I'm sharing my burdens with all of you." Luz said gratefully; "But I also want you guys to share yours with me too. You don't need to be the responsible one all on your own, Willow. Lean on us a little! Like a Mami asking her kids to help around the house, you know?"

Luz worried her metaphor was a little muddled, but Willow seemed to understand. "I guess you're right. Thanks Luz. Now let's keep going! We need to put an end to Terra once and for all." Willow said, before marching onward. The others followed, but they all had the distinct feeling that Willow had just been saying what Luz wanted to hear so the conversation would end. Luz and Amity both wanted to push the matter, being Willow's best friends, but didn't feel that it was the best time; they'd talk to her back on Digale Island when this was all over.

The group kept moving after that, and Clover led them onward to the estate she'd mentioned before. They knew they'd arrived when they found themselves at an extremely rusted iron gate that blocked the path, with high stone walls on either side. It was similar to the garden wall that had once surrounded Evelyn's house, though Willow had to use Plant Magic to make the vines that had grown over the gate move away. Once that was done, Matt used Construction Magic to restore the gate to working order to they could easily open it and finally step into the estate.

The place Clover had led them to was a large basin that appeared to have once been a small lake that had dried out and then been filled with vegetation. It was about the size of the hill that Blight Manor was built on, only sinking into the earth rather than rising from it, so the Hexsquad had to carefully walk down a slope to reach the centre of the estate. A few buildings could be found in it, built in a similar style to Spriggan Manor; appearing largely made of wood and plants, but unlike the manor, this place was much smaller (the main house being more akin to Blight Manor in size) and without proper maintenance they had all grown out of control. Aside from the main house in the centre of the basin, there was also a smaller house (sized similarly to the Owl House) off to the west and a large shed to the north, as well as the remains of a small stone temple-like building, located to the east that was about the same size as the smaller house. Everything was totally overgrown, but they were sure they could see the remains of fences that looked like they belonged around animal pens, as well as a few orchards that had since outgrown their containment.

"Wow, this place is… kinda creepy actually." Luz said with a shudder as they began the descent down the slope.

The others agreed, and Lyra especially felt something off about the place. As they approached the bottom of the slope, all of them were startled by the gate suddenly slamming shut behind them with a loud clang. It was so startling in fact that Matt actually shrieked and slipped, rolling down the hill and accidentally catching Vee and Boscha, making the two of them go rolling down too. The three landed in a heap at the bottom of the slope, and the others rushed to help them up.

"Are you three alright?" Camila asked, petting Vee's head after helping the little Basilisk to her feet (she was in human form to make traversal easier).

"Yes Mama. I wasn't expecting that loud clang! I thought Matt was a monster attacking us from behind!" Vee said, holding her chest as her heart pounded.

Boscha, helped up by Amity, glared at Matt as he was picked up by Hunter; "What the heck, Tholomule!? Why'd you slam the gate like that!?"

"I didn't! I was freaked out by it too, that's why I slipped! I thought Camila did it by accident; she's the one bringing up the rear!" Matt yelled back.

Camila shook her head; "It wasn't me. It must have been the wind."

"There wasn't any wind, Mami. This place is completely still… that's part of why it's so creepy. It's completely still and silent, almost like it's frozen in time." Luz said, putting her guard up. "But this IS the Demon Realm… Lyra, can you sense any paranormal stuff?"

Lyra didn't even need to think about it; "Yes. This place is very haunted; I can sense at least a dozen spirits… Angry spirits bound to this place by a grudge. They feel mindless too; their only purpose to torment us. Don't expect Angel immunity to keep them from us."

Everyone save for King, Camila, and Vee readied their staves for battle, while King grabbed a handful of glyph notes and the Noceda ladies spread their wings. They began to edge further into the estate, watching each other's backs and preparing for the slightest bit of trouble. As they got further into the estate, King spoke to Lyra.

"So if the ghosts haunting this place are spirits, why aren't they afraid of you, Luz, and Tia Cammie? Shouldn't they still be freaked out?" King asked.

Lyra nodded; "If they were still intelligent, they would be. But I can feel the hatred and grudges these things have. They're deeply disturbed and driven only by rage; I don't think they can feel fear any more."

"Wouldn't that make them amazing for Oracles then? They could bypass the Angel immunity!" Matt asked excitedly. If Lyra or Amity could catch one for themselves, they'd have a huge weapon against the Wings of Rani when the truce ended.

Lyra and Amity both shook their heads as the latter said; "Spirits like this are feral; they can't form compacts or be tamed. We can imprison them and seal them up, but they won't obey us no matter what."

Willow frowned, feeling her staff shaking as Clover sat atop it, a look of deep grief in her eyes. Willow could tell she was trying not to cry, and was starting to get worried about her. She had a strong feeling that Clover knew more about this place than she was letting on, and likely why it was haunted. Could it have something to do with a previous partner of hers?

"Lyra, what exactly could cause a bunch of spirits to become like this?" Willow asked, already fearing the answer.

"A massacre." Lyra answered softly, as if saying it any louder would draw the ire of the spirits; "The unjust, violent, and likely painful deaths of a lot of people in a single place. These kinds of spirits are called Bloody Revenants and while they're not massively dangerous to a prepared Witch or Demon, they CAN be lethal if they are able to ambush you."

Everyone gulped, and Luz reluctantly said; "Would now be a bad time to mention that I was gonna suggest we split up to search the place?"

The others looked at her with a mix of shock and fear, making her grimace and quickly explain herself; "The estate isn't the biggest, but it is still pretty big. If we're all huddled together, it'll take forever to search the place, and if Terra's not here then that'll be a lot of wasted time."

Matt shuddered; "C-Can't we just assume she's not stupid enough to hide in the haunted estate and leave now?"

"We can't leave now! We need to exorcise these poor souls!" Lyra protested.

"I agree! We can't abandon these souls to their suffering." Amity declared.

Luz nodded too, having planned to do just that. Truthfully, the others all agreed too, though Matt and Vee were terrified while King and Boscha were pretending to be annoyed to hide their own fear.

"There are ten of us, so I was thinking of splitting into two teams of three and a team of four. Me, Amity, and King will be one team. Mami, Vee, Hunter, and Matt will be another, and then Willow, Lyra, and Boscha will be the last one. That way we've each got an Angel, someone with healing abilities, and someone who can make decent barriers." Luz suggested.

She received no arguments (besides Matt's scared whimper, though the boy still showed his bravery by trying to stand protectively beside a grateful Vee), and they split up. Luz's team was going to explore the main manor house, Camila's team was going to explore the grounds, and Lyra's team was going to explore the three auxiliary buildings, starting with the western house.

Heading to this house, Willow, Lyra, and Boscha moved in silence, letting Clover lead the way. The tried to enter through the front door, but parts of the wood that made up the door had expanded outward to keep the door sealed in place, and since Lyra advised them not to damage anything lest they draw the Revenants to them, they instead opted to fly up to an open window on the second floor and slip in that way. They arrived in what appeared to be a bedroom, where they were disgusted to find a skeletal corpse, who appeared to have died from claw wounds judging by the grooves in some of their bones. There was also a black stain around the skeleton, indicating where blood had soaked into and stained the wood. The scraps of clothing they wore were intriguing to Lyra though, noting that they were remnants of a Coven Scout uniform.

"This is a Scout from the Emperor's Coven. It looks like he died to the Revenants." Lyra mused, casting a simple Exorcism Spell on the bones to make any potential spirit tied to them disappear. "I think he must have either come here on a mission or to loot the estate."

"Ouch…" Boscha grimaced.

Clover buzzed angrily, and Willow frowned; "Whatever his reason for being here, we should do something about his bones. Exorcised or not, we shouldn't leave him like this."

"We can bury or burn them all later, once the Revenants are gone and Terra is dealt with." Boscha said, before marching out of the room and forcing the others to follow her. Her pride was overpowering her fear, as she refused to make herself look like a coward (at least in her own mind) in front of Willow of all people.

The trio continued to explore the house, investigating every nook and cranny, finding two more dead Coven Scouts and another skeleton whose clothes were those of a traveller, meaning they'd likely met their end while exploring the abandoned estate or while seeking shelter. The house appeared to be the servants' quarters for the estate, as everything was good quality but rustic. Almost everything was where it had been before the estate was suddenly abandoned, with the only displaced objects being some silverware and books found in a satchel near one of the Coven Scout skeletons. Eerily, the kitchen in the servants' quarters had a lot of congealed rot, animal bones, and other horrific detritus in the pots that sat on the counters, making it seem like the servants had been preparing their next meal before they died… though there was a notable absence of their bones, so either they'd been moved after their death, or they'd been killed elsewhere on the estate.

"No signs of Terra, or any of these Bloody Revenants." Boscha scowled, getting less scared by the second.

"I think I've heard sounds of fighting from outside, so the others might have run into some of them." Willow said, "We should finish up here and move to the next building."

Lyra nodded and summoned out Shade, intending to ask him to scout beneath the servants' quarters to see if there was a cellar or something that had been concealed by the overgrowth consuming the building. However almost as soon as he was out, he screeched angrily at a nearby wall.

"Do not think to hide from me, maddened ghouls! Your stalking is at an end!"

Waffles tweeted and Lyra casually nodded; "I thought as much. Bloody Revenants are Ambush Predators! Willow, Boscha; brace yourselves!"

The two girls obeyed, and Lyra used her staff to shoot a ghostly hand of Oracle Magic into the wall that Shade had screeched at, dragging out one of the Bloody Revenants, whom was swiftly followed by four of its fellows. True to their names, they resembled blood soaked and near skeletal corpses with dried flesh clinging to their bones, twisting withered faces into expressions of pain and hatred. Their clothes were little more than tattered rags that smouldered on the ends, as if nearly on fire, while the blood that trickled down their leathery skin visibly boiled. They each also had elongated fangs and claws that appeared to be made of crystallised blood.

Boscha screamed in surprise and shot a fireball at one of them, but the flames splashed uselessly against it, doing nothing more than directing the Revenant's gaze to the three-eyed girl. Willow, believing the creatures to be immune to fire considering their appearance, grew some iron vines and tried to spear them through the undead monstrosity, only for them to casually step away from the vine, completely incorporeal.

"We can't hit these things!" Willow cried.

"Leave this to me! Spirits and Undead are my speciality!" Lyra declared, drawing a pair of cards from her Divine Tarot as she drew a spell circle with her staff. The spell circle caused the shadows beneath the Revenants to release a purple aura that engulfed them, removing the slight translucent appearance that the Revenants had, making them fully corporeal. Almost as soon as they realised this, all five of them shrieked and lunged for Lyra with their claws. Lyra easily weaved through their attacks, using shadows to escape those that couldn't be simply dodged, then snapped her fingers and had Shade attack, grabbing two of them by the head and smashing them into the floor, pulverising their skulls. The Revenants, now headless, just got up again and continued attacking, while Lyra flew up into the air and shot some purple lightning from her staff to zap them all, stunning them. Once they were stunned, she threw down the first of her cards, sending it into the shadows beneath her.

"Minor Arcana: Knight of Pentacles!" she declared.

An instant later, five large Titan-like arms made with the Monster Glyph combo emerged from the shadows and grabbed the five revenants, dragging them down into the shadows until only their upper bodies were exposed. Lyra then clenched her fist and caused the shadow portals to close, cutting the Revenants in half with a series of loud shrieks. As their arms had been trapped in the portals too, their hands were also severed at the forearm, leaving the revenants as harmless, crawling torsos.

"Forgive me, Spirits. I will end your suffering." Lyra whispered in prayer, before using her second tarot card; "Minor Arcana: 5 of Rods!"

This tarot conjured five small throwing knives in front of the Dark Angel, who used her staff to imbue each one with darkness, before firing them accurately at the hearts of the five revenants. They sunk in deep, then the Darkness Magic spread from them and slowly decayed the creatures to ash, which promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"There. All done for the moment." Lyra said, landing beside her friends.

Willow and Boscha gaped at her, making her blush shyly; "S-Sorry, did you both want a crack at them too?" she asked shyly.

"Not particularly. I'm just surprised how hardcore that was! You took those things apart!" Boscha exclaimed, more than a little impressed.

Lyra blushed; "Oh! Um, thank you! Like I said, Spirits are my speciality."

"No kidding. You did awesome; I'm proud of you." Willow smiled reassuringly, giving the younger girl a side hug and nodding up at Shade, who nodded back with as slightly gormless look on his face. Lyra smiled a little brighter, and Willow continued; "How come you didn't exorcise them though?"

"Oh, there souls weren't present. Their spectral forms are manifestations of their magic and emotions, while their souls likely inhabit a cursed object or their remains. Considering the massacre they suffered, I'd wager their souls are in their bones." Lyra answered.

Boscha's face fell; "Does that mean they'll be back?"

"Not for a few days. It takes time to manifest a physical form. Unless an Oracle helps them, they'll be trapped in their bones for a while. We'll have more than enough time to find their bones and exorcise them properly." Lyra explained.

That was a relief, plus the Revenants seemed to be fairly weak and limited solely to their claws and ambush attacks, so the others would likely deal with any they find easily. Seeing five of them being so easily torn apart by the youngest of the Hexsquad was enough to have Willow's and Boscha's fears evaporating, leaving only the general horror of the atmosphere itself.

Lyra then ordered Shade to check underground as she'd originally intended, but he reported back that aside from a cellar full of decayed produce and wine casks, there was nothing beneath them; no signs of bones or Mandragoras. As such, they left the house (Willow used Plant Magic to make the roots of the wall open up) and began heading for the shed behind the main house. In the distance, they spotted Hunter's group fighting a couple of other Revenants without any difficulty, though Willow still looked like she wanted to go help, and was only held back by Lyra asking her to stay close.

"We need you for your Plant Magic. Only you can get us through the roots and branches that overtook this place." Lyra told her.

"Right. You know, it's kind of strange how similar this place is to a mini Spriggan Manor. The buildings all look like they're made of trees that were grown and bound together in building shapes." Willow mused.

Lyra nodded; "We're close to Spriggan Manor too. Do you think the Spriggan who made the manor made this place too? Like a secondary estate for guests and stuff? I heard rich nobles in the Savage Ages often had secondary estates for just their guests or children."

Willow opened her mouth to answer when Clover buzzed and her voice echoed in her head. The spectacled girl then repeated what she'd said to the others; "Clover says this place was built by a clan of witches that were a part of the cabal that conquered Spriggan Manor after the Spriggan died."

Boscha crossed her arms; "I'm guessing she knew at least one member of this cabal."

Clover buzzed again and Willow translated; "She knew all of them; some better than others."

"Well that's ominous." the three-eyed girl muttered, as they reached the shed. In reality, it looked more like a cross between a large barn and a greenhouse, though all the glass had been shattered by the growing plants both inside and out. As they examined it from the outside, Boscha noticed a few smaller buildings that looked a little like either outhouses or tiny tool storage sheds.

"I'm going to go check those out. You guys can check out the main shed." she said, heading off without giving them a chance to argue.

"Be careful!" Willow called after her.

"I'm not a baby, Park! I'll keep an eye out for the Revenants." Boscha yelled over her shoulder. In spite of this though, Lyra softly asked Shade to go with her and watch her back while she remained with Willow to explore the main shed. If Boscha had a problem with that, she didn't vocalise it.

Once the three-eyed girl was hard at work checking the smaller sheds, Willow and Lyra headed into the main shed through the wide open door, which appeared to have been smashed open by something large… from the inside. They quickly realised why too; the inside of the shed truly was half barn and half green house, with their left side being dominated by planters and flower pots that were now completely overgrown and wild, with all manner of different flora (though a few had died as whatever special care or environment they'd needed had been lost), and the right side being made up of various pens like those found in a stable. Some of these pens had been broken open from the inside too, while the others contained the husks of various Botanical Demons, including some hollowed out and decayed Treants and even what looked like the wooden horns and tail maw of a Rotwood Dragon. In fact, when looking in the empty pens more closely, Willow noticed quite a few different kinds of scales, and deep claw marks that appeared to have come from prepubescent dragons.

"A combined greenhouse and stable…? And with evidence of dragons? Did they come here to roost and feast on the livestock before leaving when the food ran out or the place became haunted? Or where they originally kept here by the old owners." Willow wondered. She looked to Clover for answers, but the little Bee Palisman had perched herself on the rim of an empty flower pot and was staring into it forlornly.

Willow was about to go to her Palisman and comfort her when she saw Lyra reaching for the sharp splintered wood of one of the broken stable doors, intending to get a closer look at the damage. "Lyra! Don't touch that, you could get a splinter!" Willow said urgently, gently pulling the girl away from the sharp wood.

Lyra looked bewildered, before frowning and dragging Willow over to some roots that had grown horizontally out of the wall, which she promptly pushed Willow to sit on.

"Okay Willow, I think that's enough. What's going on with you? Between Clover being all nervous and secretive about this place, and you being hyper-protective of everyone, something is up!" Lyra said, more concerned than angry; "I'm your friend Willow; talk to me!"

The girl opened and closed her mouth a few times, then sighed and nodded; "You're right. I've been babying you… I'm sorry."

"Willow, I don't need you to apologise. I'm not trying to scold you either; I just want to know what's going on with you." Lyra said, sitting down beside her. "What's gotten you so worked up?"

Willow looked at her hands; "I'm just… I've been trying to protect you guys, but I feel like I'm not doing a great job. My team all got pretty banged up on the mission to the castle yesterday, and we would have failed if Skara hadn't come to the rescue. Then today, I failed to protect Hunter not once but twice! Terra was able to control Raine into hurting him, and then later plant that seed inside him, doing a lot of damage to him both times! I just feel like… like I'm not doing enough."

Lyra's eyes widened in shock as Willow began to almost hug herself; "Luz is my best friend too, and I feel like I wasn't doing enough to help her deal with her depression. I've barely done anything that useful since getting back to the Demon Realm, and now Clover is going through something hard and I don't know if I'm good enough to help her through it! I don't know if I'll be good enough to help fight Terra! I just feel…" Willow looked down at the floor; "I feel like I'm slipping back into how I was. I feel like I'm becoming "Half-a-Witch Willow" again."

"Half-a-Witch Willow? What the heck does that even mean?" Lyra frowned, not having heard this particular insult before. Among the Hexsquad, it was considered a silent taboo, with the only time it was brought up was by Willow when talking to Hunter once. The two had been having a late night chat in the gardens of the Noceda home and commiserating over their pasts.

"It's just an insult that Boscha and her friends used to call me. I told you how I was in the abomination track at first, and was awful at it? Well I'm pretty much worthless at any magic that doesn't involve plants, so even before that I was considered weak and eventually Boscha coined that nickname and it stuck. It stuck for a long time… it wasn't until Luz helped me show how strong I really am and helped drag Boscha around into being a decent person that the nickname stopped being used." Willow explained.

"Whoa… I remember you telling me the part about the abomination track, and I knew Boscha, Skara, and even Amity had bullied you once upon a time, but for it to be that bad and go on for that long…" Lyra shook her head; "Honestly, it makes me feel that you're even more amazing than I originally thought!"

Willow did a double take; "What!? You hear a story about how pathetic I was, and you think I'm amazing?"

"Well yeah! I mean, I doubt you were as bad as you say you were, but even so it makes you pretty amazing for having become so strong and dependable!" Lyra smiled brightly; "I mean think about it; Luz is the leader and heart of the team, but you're like the back bone that holds us all up! You take care of us and always make sure we're okay. You really are the "Mom Friend". I think that's pretty incredible."

Willow was touched by the compliments, but not fully convinced; "I'm glad you think so highly of me! But it's hard to think like that about myself, considering how it feels like I've been dead weight recently. But I'm glad you're not angry with me for not doing a better job protecting Hunter."

"Hunter's a big boy who can protect himself; I've been telling myself that for years to deal with the fact I can't protect him like he tries to protect me. But even so, I'm really glad he has a friend as special and dependable as you to help try and take care of him." Lyra said earnestly, giving Willow a side hug. "You're like a big sister to me, so believe in yourself a little more, okay?"

That actually did manage to pierce Willow's self-doubt and make her feel a lot better; if even Hunter's little sister trusted her to do her best to look out for him, then she had to be doing something right! Lyra wasn't that quick to trust otherwise, and she was a good judge of character now that she was free of Belos' influence.

"Thank you, Lyra. That means a lot. I'll keep protecting Hunter and watching his back… and I'll do the same for you, okay? If I'm gonna be "Big Sis Willow", then I've got to be a good role model for my adorable little sis!" the bespectacled girl smiled.

Lyra blushed, but nodded happily, the mood increasing. The two girls then got to their feet and continued exploring the large shed, unaware that Boscha was crouched just beneath a broken window mere steps away from where they'd had their discussion. The three-eyed potioneer was deep in thought after eavesdropping on their conversation (she hadn't truly meant to, but had been investigating the glass shards beneath the window, which showed it had been broken from the inside), and remained like that until she eventually wandered back to rejoin Lyra and Willow.

"Any luck out there?" Willow asked.

"None, Park." Boscha replied distractedly; "The smaller buildings were a gross smelling outhouse and some tool closets with shovels and sacks of fertiliser. No signs of bones, blood, horror, or Terra. No signs of any more Revenants so far either."

"We didn't find anything either, though it's possible some of the species that live in the Navel Woods now didn't used to, and were instead descended from beasts kept here in this estate." Willow answered.

"Fascinating." Boscha muttered, barely paying attention.

"I guess that sort of thing is boring to you." Lyra said, "We can move on to the final building now; that small temple."

Boscha nodded absent-mindedly and Willow frowned; "What's up? You're being kind of weird."

"It's nothing; I just don't like this place. I want to get rid of Snapdragon already and get back to Skara." Boscha said dismissively, before stalking off towards the small temple.

"Well she's sure moody." Willow said with a puzzled frown as Shade returned to Lyra's side; "But whatever, we're wasting time."

With that, the two hurried to catch up with Boscha and head to the temple together. They briefly saw Camila's group in the same area, fighting off a couple of Bloody Revenants, and then witnessed a beam of light blasting out of the roof of the main house, followed by King's startled "WEH!?" and Luz yelling; "Sorry about that! We're okay in here!"

Lyra couldn't help but be a little amused with how even something so horrifying became child's play when the Hexsquad was together, but her amusement swiftly ended when they reached the small temple and found themselves staring at a peculiar sight.

The temple was small compared to the likes of Barcarib, and it was made of regular Titan Bone; sturdy but not immune to the ravages of time and neglect. It resembled a miniature cathedral, with broken stained glass windows and a large stone door that had been knocked off its hinges then roughly placed back in the frame without being attached. Temples like these used to be common in most towns as a way of worshipping the Titan, though only the larger cities still had them, with many of the other temples being converted into Precincts for the Emperor's Coven by Belos, meaning only wealthier cities had the money and inclination to rebuild it. It was odd to find a private temple like this in what appeared to be an old noble estate, and even more so if the theory of it being a guest house for Spriggan Manor turned out to be true. But the real peculiar sight was something quite a bit more unsettling…

There was no sign of life anywhere around the temple!

In an estate that was totally overgrown, there was at least a five foot thick ring of death in all directions around the temple. There was no grass or vines or ivy, no flowers and weeds, and not even any bugs or signs of bugs! There was dust, dirt and withered leaves or petals that had been blown over with the wind, but not a single speck of life. There weren't even any cobwebs, and as they got close to the temple, Willow and Boscha both had to cover their noses at the awful, coppery and sweet stench of decay. Boscha reluctantly took one step towards the temple and shuddered as her foot touched the spongy soil and sank a little, as red liquid oozed up from the ground.

"P-Please tell me that's just water mixed with red earth or something?" Boscha said shakily.

Lyra crouched and poked a finger in the soil, then frowned as she pulled it out and saw it almost completely stained red.

"Bloody Ectoplasm." the young teen said grimly; "It's the blood-like ooze given off by Bloody Revenants. It's completely soaked this area, which means this is the lair of the Revenants… and their final resting place."

Willow and Boscha both gulped. Then there was a loud growl from somewhere else on the grounds, followed by a thunderclap as Hunter destroyed another of the Revenants. The growl and loud thunder made the terrified Willow and Boscha scream and grab each other for comfort, hugging one another for dear life. That only lasted until Hunter's voice ran out across the estate.

"Sorry! That one got a little too close!"

The yell was enough to ease Willow, and that actually managed to soothe Boscha too, who suddenly smelled something much more pleasant. She looked down and saw Willow's bangles were growing some sweet smelling flowers, which not only took the edge off the fetid odour around the temple, but also calmed Boscha's racing heart.

"Huh, pretty…" Boscha mused.

That lasted for all of five seconds, before Willow and Boscha realised that they were hugging and that Lyra was looking at them with a huge, infectious grin.

"Aw, you two ARE friends really!" she said, semi-teasingly.

Boscha responded by quickly shoving Willow away from her (the girl conjured roots to catch herself before she fell to the ground), then pointing at Lyra and threateningly saying; "That never happened, I'll deny it if you say it did, and then I'll spike your food with a potion that'll turn you into a worm!"

Lyra giggled, and Willow snorted as she righted herself; "Love you too, Boscha." she said sarcastically, before smiling at Lyra; "Don't worry, I'd still love you if you were a worm."

"I'd live in a little worm house in one of your flower pots." Lyra joked. "But in all seriousness; Boscha, you should collect some of the ectoplasm. Bloody Ectoplasm is super useful for Blood-Replenishing Potions, and it can even be used for emergency blood transfusions! And if you exorcise the revenants first, you won't even risk being possessed!"

Boscha shuddered; "I'll pass."

Lyra shrugged, then became serious again as she looked back at the temple's stone doors. "All jokes aside, expect a horror show in there… We WILL be attacked by all the surviving Bloody Revenants. I'll use my magic to force them all to remain corporeal alongside Shade, then you two shred them."

"Got it. We'll follow your lead." Willow said apprehensively. Boscha didn't say anything, but she did nod nervously as Maya snipped her pincers comfortingly from the end of her staff. Waffles, having faith in her partner, was completely nonplussed by this whole affair, but Clover had gone eerily still and Willow could sense a very different kind of terror from her. It wasn't the terror of seeing something scary like a revenant, but of being faced with something she truly didn't want to see.

Lyra drew one of her tarot cards and then used her staff to conjure a pair of shadowy hands to pry open the heavy stone doors, gently placing them down on the ground and using them as a kind of bridge to cross the dead, ectoplasm-soaked soil. The three girls gagged as the smell intensified, and Willow gave a bunch of flowers to each of them to press to their noses (Shade held Lyra's for her), before the three of them stepped across the bridge and into the temple.

The inside was fairly bland; it wasn't massively different from the Human Realm Church they'd seen in Gravesfield, and had some wooden pews and a lectern that had turned into scraps of rotten wood with age. There was also a single intact stained glass window at the back of the chamber, which depicted the Titan's Skull wide open, with a Lindwurm forming an ouroboros-like symbol in its mouth. Within the ouroboros was, surprisingly, the very same plant glyph that had branded itself onto Luz's stomach once, and still appeared there when she used Plant Magic. But sadly, that was where the mundane and interesting ended, and the horror began.

Boscha and Lyra both turned as white as milk, while Willow felt an overwhelming wave of sorrow from Clover, whose eyes began to drip even in staff form.

"This is where it happened… the massacre." Willow whispered, feeling sick.

The entire temple was full of skeletons of Witches and various species of Biped Demon, and each one appeared to have died violently. The stone floor was permanently stained black with dried blood, and scraps of clothing revealed a mix of nobles, guards, and servants all piled together. The cause of death wasn't clear in most cases, but no skeleton was completely intact, and several were propped up on old tree roots that had burst from the ground and since been petrified with time. Based on that and the remains of roots and vines amidst the bones, it seemed that many of these poor people had been slaughtered by Plant Magic.

"By the Titan!" Boscha exclaimed; "I knew Plant Magic could be pretty damn powerful, but this? To kill people with it…!? It's insane! There must be close to 40 skeletons in here."

Clover turned herself back to her Bee form and began to buzz around, examining each skeleton as if looking for something. Finally, she looked back towards the door and noticed something above it, immediately flying up there. The girls turned to watch her, and gasped as they saw another corpse stuck to the wall above the doorway, impaled by a root that had grown out of the titan bone. This corpse was different from the others; it wasn't a skeleton, but rather the dried out and near-mummified corpse of a woman wearing a fancy, floral themed dress.

"That must be the Lady of the Estate." Lyra whispered. She noticed the state of the body and the lack of blood staining the floor beneath her and realised that the root that impaled her had likely drained her blood and dried her out, making her death slower and more painful than the others, whose own deaths didn't look pleasant. To make matters worse, Clover was flying in front of the woman's face and weeping, making Willow cry as well as her heart went out to her friend. However Boscha was more distracted by the remnants of the woman's hair, which seemed oddly familiar; a faded green that almost formed large, leaf-like locks.

Willow reached out to Clover, but before she could say a word, a miasma of black and red began to leak from all the skeletons and the Lady's corpse.

"The Bloody Revenants are returning here! Be prepared!" Lyra declared, getting back on guard.

Boscha raised her staff, ready to fight, and Willow prepared to defend herself without a staff only for Clover to suddenly fly back to her, nuzzle against her cheek for comfort, then turn into a staff again. Willow stroked her Palisman and mentally promised to be there for her no matter what she was currently going through.

The eye sockets of the corpses all began to glow red, and each one opened up its maw in a silent scream as a Bloody Revenant rose from them. Or at least, most of them released a revenant; roughly a third of them tried to but failed to produce more than a weak flash of red magic and black magic, as their revenants had already been destroyed by the girls or the other teams, and they'd yet to have time to build their malice up and remake them. Still, that left 26 Bloody Revenants to face them.

Lyra acted before any of them could move; "Major Arcana: The Fool!" she cried, throwing her tarot card at Shade. Immediately he absorbed it and transformed into a shadowy, spectral copy of Lyra herself, complete with black shadow wings. Lyra then joined hands with Shade, creating a spell circle with their linked arms and then a second with their linked wings, creating a double-layered spell that sent a pulse of magic through the entire temple, forcibly turning all the Revenants fully corporeal and unable to become ethereal again whilst still in the room.

"Shade and I need to hold this! Take them down hard!" Lyra cried, closing her eyes as she focused.

And so Willow and Boscha did, wading into the throng of battle. Willow, unwilling to use plants to kill them like they'd been killed in life, instead simply shot beams of green magic at them to blast their heads off, while Boscha used copious amounts of simple transmuted acid to melt those that got too closer to her. The girls were powerful, and the Revenants limited to their burning claws, so they weren't a huge threat so long as the girls took to the air and kept moving. The Revenants couldn't follow them up there, so Boscha rained acid down on them while Willow blasted those who tried to attack Lyra and Shade. This continued until only the last 8 Revenants remained, at which point the sounds of battle had drawn the rest of the Hexsquad. Luz and Camila burst into the temple and vaporised half the remaining Revenants with a single combined light blast, then Amity took out two more with a light beam snipe that pierced two of their heads with one shot. King destroyed the penultimate one with a light glyph-enhanced roar, and the very last one was actually destroyed by Vee, who managed a raw light spell of her own that tore a rather messy hole right in the creature's chest.

As the last of the Revenants fell to the ground, it's spectral body burning away into ash, Lyra sighed with relief and released her spell, turning Shade back to normal in the process.

"Good timing, guys!" she said, stretching her arms a little.

"We all heard you fighting and came to help." Amity said; "I also sensed that all the spirits here were rushing to one location, so figured it was a good idea to follow them."

The rest of the Hexsquad and Nocedas fully walked into the temple, all of them holding their noses now that the battle was over and they no longer needed both hands. The smell truly was awful, but the sight of skeletons and the desiccated corpse of the Lady of the Estate was much worse!

"Urp, oh Titan! I think I'm gonna hurl!" Matt complained, covering his mouth as he went a little green.

"Deep breathes, Baby." Camila said soothingly, rubbing his back and casting a stomach soothing spell. "We'll deal with this in a moment."

"Mami's right. I know we're after Terra, but once Lyra and Amity exorcise the bodies, we should take a moment to bury them properly. It's the right thing to do." Luz said.

The others readily agreed, even the more impatient ones like Boscha and King, and the gang began working together to prepare a short funeral. Matt went outside and dug a pit, while Boscha worked with Vee to gather some firewood for a cremation. Hunter went to retrieve the bodies of those who'd been killed by Revenants over the years (which had already been purified by the Angels that found them) and brought them all back to the grave site, while Willow and Clover used their magic to remove the remains of the plants that bound the original massacre victims. Amity and the three Angels of their group cast exorcising spells on all of them too, clearing away the red and black miasma that lingered around them and causing pearly white souls to fly out of each one, freeing them from their revenant forms and letting them move on to the afterlife. Once this was done, the whole gang worked together to transport the last of their remains out to the pit, where they were placed alongside the firewood for the funeral service.

As it appeared that the original victims of the massacre had been Titan Worshippers, Luz and Lyra asked King to give them their last rites, believing (correctly) that it'd be a huge honour for them. Clover seemed especially eager for this, buzzing around King as he nervously thought it over, and even rushing off into the forest for a moment and returning with a piece of fruit as an offering.

King had taken it and imperiously said; "Well I can't say no after being given an offering!", then proceeded to give a somewhat shy speech over the bodies, giving them all their last rites and blessing them in the name of his father. He had then personally lit their funeral pyre with his roar and a fire glyph, creating a flame that burned blue and purple for a few seconds as voices were heard from the crackling flames. The voices faded fast though, and the flames returned to normal as they burned.

Turning to the children, Camila said; "We can't leave until the flames burn themselves out, just in case the fire spreads. So we should take this moment to debrief and prepare to continue chasing Terra."

The others all readily agreed and took a moment to rest together sitting on some thick roots grown by Luz as they gave their reports. Lyra handled giving the report for her group, since Boscha still seemed a bit absent-minded and Willow was petting Clover as the little Palisman watched the flames, crying silently. Camila did the same for her group, but aside from the remains of a couple of people killed by Revenants, they'd found nothing of note and no signs of Terra whatsoever, though Vee did insist that she could smell something in the air around the estate that was similar to a scent she'd picked up during her brief time in the Ritual Chamber. However the scent was old, indicating Terra HAD been to the estate but not for many years, and the smell only lingered because the plants she grew were still inside the estate.

Then it was Luz's turn to report what had happened at the Manor house itself (since the Angels seemed to have taken that role); "The manor house was bizarre. It felt like a mix of Blight Manor, Adegast's Castle, the inside of Barcarib, and how Willow, Mom, Titi, and Hanu described Spriggan Manor. It was definitely fancy, but it was all ruined!"

King nodded; "And if the temple wasn't already a big clue, these guys were really into my Dad! There were mini-altars in all the big bedrooms and in some kind of big training room underground."

"We didn't find a lot else to be honest. A few dead looters and one hapless Coven Scout. He had a note on him from his captain telling him to investigate what was causing the disappearances here." Amity said with a grimace; "Guess he succeeded in that at least."

"No signs of Terra though, I'm guessing?" Boscha asked.

The trio winced and exchanged looks, making the others look at them with surprise. Luz then said; "Well… yes and no. Terra isn't hiding here; I'm sure of that. Like Vee figured out with her sniffer, that crazy witch has been here, but not in years. But… well…" Luz trailed off, trying to find the words to explain what she'd found, all the while throwing worried looks at Clover.

Eventually Amity explained it for them; "We found two things that point to Terra living here once upon a time. The first was an empty bedroom with a plaque on the door that had the name Terra on it. The room didn't look looted, but purposefully emptied of all personal belongings. The second thing we found was a coat of arms for the family of this house; it had the same Titan skull, Lindwurm, and plant glyph design as the window in the temple, but it also had the name and motto of the family. It read: "Clan Snapdragon: Of Titan's Bone and Tree's Bark."

The rest of the gang all gasped; "This place belonged to Terra's family!?"

"From what we can tell, yes. Some kind of massacre happened though, killing the family, the guards, and even the servants. It looks like Terra was the only survivor." Luz said grimly; "And that doesn't paint a pretty picture."

Clover, still in tears, began to buzz angrily, flying out of Willow's arms and flying around erratically, acting like a hornet that was begging for a fight. Willow winced, her mind full of Clover's furious ranting, which was so loud and fast that Willow couldn't actually make out what she was saying, instead just getting a cacophony of noise from the usually soft and gentle Palisman. The others watched her rage for a few seconds, then finally land back on Willow's knee; her little body heaving with the rage and emotion she'd just let out.

Willow stroked her to help calm her down while the others looked on worriedly, until Willow finally said; "Clover… you told me once that you were passed down through a family of powerful Plant Witches, until the last matriarch of the family saw cruelty in her daughter and released you, sending you to the Bat Queen for your own safety. You knew about this place when none of us did, and come to think of it, Terra did react oddly to me having you as a Palisman, and tried to steal you from me in our fight earlier…"

She lifted Clover up a little so they were on the same eye level; "Clover… were the Snapdragons your original family?"

There was a moment of silence as tears dripped down Clover's face, until she finally nodded; "My Queen, I am sorry for not being more forthcoming. This place… the Snapdragon Clan… they are a source of great trauma for me. Still, you are my Queen now; I should have been fully honest with you. I am deeply sorry."

"Don't be! Oh Clover, I'm your partner, not your master! We're friends! If you didn't feel comfortable telling me this before hand, then it's fine!" Willow cried, hugging her Palisman; "Oh my poor Clover…! I'm so sorry you went through something so awful! W-Were you present for this massacre?"

Clover shook her head and said; "I was not. If you wish it, I will tell you the whole story; we have some more time before the pyre burns out anyway, and we've not yet heard from the others. You may pass the story onto the others here too, if you wish. They are people who fought for you, my Queen, and who saved my former family. I'd like them to know."

Willow smiled sadly and nodded; "I understand. And if you're really okay telling us this story, we'll all listen. I can repeat what you say for the others to hear."

The rest of the Hexsquad and Nocedas nodded in agreement, eager to hear the story, while King even used plant glyphs to connect everyone together; "Everyone hold on to this. I can use my new linking power to connect us all together and let Clover speak to all of us, not just Willow. It's like how I talked to the Palismen back in Samael's playpen."

The others placed their hands on the vine, and Luz felt the glyph on her chest reacting as King channelled his power through it, letting the Hexsquad and Nocedas link their minds. Stringbean immediately used the opportunity to speak to everyone really quickly.

"Hello! This is Beanie!" she said in an adorable little kid's voice.

It was only 4 short words, but it cheered everyone up immensely, and Clover even buzzed over to Luz's shoulder, where Stringbean was sitting, and kidnapped the little Snake-Shifter, taking her back to Willow's lap to snuggle with her as she told her heartbreaking story. Ghost huffed a little, but showed maturity and respect for Clover's feelings by letting her hold her Beanie for a little while in this emotional time.

With Stringbean now acting like an extra security blanket, Willow's hands gently caressing her, and everyone in the group able to hear her words like she was their partner, Clover began to tell her story.

"The story begins with my carving. I was first carved 1000 years ago by a Plant Witch who worshipped the Titan and was a part of the priesthood. However my first partner was more enthusiastic than talented, so she was never invited to take the trials at Barcarib and remained an acolyte at a smaller local temple. She eventually had a daughter and passed me down to them, along with a love of Plant Magic and a reverence for the Titan. For 500 years, I was passed from eldest daughter to eldest daughter within the family, which eventually became the Snapdragon Clan after joining the Cabal of Plant Witches that captured Spriggan Manor after the Spriggan's death. The tradition of me being the Matriarch's Palisman continued for several more generations, until 50 years ago when Belos' war of "Unification" to bring about the end of the so-called Savage Ages was over." she began.

"Wow, you really are old! You might be the oldest Palisman I've ever heard of! Aside from the Bat Queen!" Hunter exclaimed.

Clover buzzed at him; "Be careful with how you refer to a lady's age! That is a lesson you'll need to learn fast, lest you suffer my stinger for insulting my Queen!"

Hunter held his hands up guiltily; "Sorry! Still not the best at social cues and what's appropriate to say…" he said apologetically, though he wondered why Clover had brought up him insulting Willow; she was younger than him!

"I'm not surprised the Snapdragons were part of the Cabal that conquered the place. But weren't they all betrayed by one of their lesser members, who helped Belos destroy them all in return for becoming the first Plant Coven Head?" Willow asked.

Clover shook her head; "The members of the Cabal themselves were destroyed, but not all of their families were. The Snapdragon member at the time was the then current matriarch, and she was killed by Belos and the Traitor. Rumours of him destroying Palismen were already known to the Cabal at the time though, so I was passed down to the Matriarch's daughter, the new Matriarch before that could happen. By that point, the Snapdragons had also become the custodians of Spriggan Manor; they didn't live inside like the families of the other members, so they were spared the massacre along with any other family's relatives living outside the manor. The traitor, a young witch by the name of Rosalia Gallica, then became mistress of Spriggan Manor and the first head of the Plant Coven. She chose to spare the rest of the Snapdragon Clan in return for them continuing to serve Spriggan Manor as custodians so they could keep maintaining the grounds."

Vee frowned; "The family was forced to serve the woman who helped kill their matriarch? That's so cruel!"

"It must have been so hard for you! But from what I remember, there have only been two Coven Heads in the Plant Coven; Head Witch Gallica died under mysterious circumstances shortly after Belos won his war and took over the Isles. I think the public reason was that she lost control of a powerful plant she was growing." Lyra said.

"So did Terra take revenge on her for turning her family into servants or something? Or maybe Gallica wiped out the Snapdragons once she had a whole Coven to serve her, and Terra got revenge for that?" Boscha theorised.

Clover gave an angry buzz, which made it clear that theory was definitely not what happened.

"That stain on the Snapdragon Clan never once acted for anything but selfish reasons!" Clover buzzed furiously; "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I served the Clan's matriarchs for another two generations under Gallica's rule… until the birth of Terra. She was always a strange child; honestly the finest Plant Witch the Clan had ever produced by a large margin, but totally uninterested in anything that wasn't a plant. She was born with a condition known as Masquerade Sickness, meaning she could not distinguish people from each other. She could see all of a person's features and characteristics, but she couldn't put it all together inside her head."

"Prosopagnosia." Camila said, using the Human Realm term. "It's face blindness. It's quite rare and there is no cure or treatment. In the Divine Realm, they call it the Veiled Visage Disease. I'm not familiar with treating mental conditions, but from what I remember, they usually try to treat it by having the patient assign different mental images to a person based on their interests."

Willow's eyes widened; "Like flowers…! That's why she gave all her Scouts and servants new names! She named them after flowers, trees, and other plants so she'd remember who is who! Along with all those nicknames she gave out, like Sprout!"

Clover nodded; "Exactly, my Queen. Her parents and tutors used her love of plants to connect people with plants, so she began recognising people as those plants… though she refused to learn their names still, and considered them fake flowers and inferior to the real thing. She was twisted even from a young age; the type to pull apart insects to see how they worked on the inside. My partner, Terra's mother, had me watching her at all times to stop her torturing small animals in the same way… she'd always get angry when I stopped her, and said I would one day be hers and wouldn't be able to stop her "fun" any more. I was always afraid of that, but her father often saw the good in her and said she would grow out of this phase."

"She obviously didn't though." Vee murmured; "I could barely handle eating the magic of rats and things! But here she was willing to tear creatures apart for fun? She was really messed up!"

The others agreed, nodding or muttering about the woman's cruelty. Clover continued; "Things continued like that until Terra reached the age of 10, shortly before Belos finally completed his conquest. The Snapdragons still served Spriggan Manor, and while the Matriarch tried to keep Terra away from Gallica, that woman was keen to meet the mysterious heiress of the Snapdragons. Gallica had grown into an old woman by that time, and she was cunning, cruel, and with a sadistic streak that ran deep. She was fascinated by Terra, who in turn managed to both charm and be charmed by Gallica. By the end of their first meeting Terra was Gallica's apprentice, and remained such for 10 years. During that time, she also joined the Plant Coven and became Gallica's second in command. This put her in close proximity with Belos, and so I was ordered to stay away from her when she left the estate, so I wasn't caught and devoured by him. Thanks to that, I am somewhat unclear of what happened next, but…"

Clover looked down and snuggled closer to Stringbean; "She killed Gallica. I don't know why or how, but she suddenly marched into the estate during the morning prayers in the temple and announced that she'd just defeated Gallica, who'd once helped defeat the Spriggan Manor Cabal, and thus it was time for her to become the new Head of the Clan. My Queen refused her, saying she had an evil heart with no respect for the Titan or life in general. Terra attacked her, and a battle began… a battle in which Terra began killing the servants, the guards, her younger sisters and brother, and her own father. After the death of her husband, my Queen sent me away, severing our bond and telling me to go to the Forearm Forest, where the Bat Queen gathered and protected stray Palisman. I left as ordered and the next time I saw my old Partner, she… she was impaled on the wall above the door to the temple, her soul turned into a Bloody Revenant."

Poor Clover began to cry as the others went pale; "My sole solace was that I had my new Queen by my side."

Willow gave a sad smile as she watched Stringbean wrap herself around Clover, then brought both Palismen to her chest and hugged them, softly kissing the little Bee on top of her head and nuzzling her as the others watched sadly. "Oh Clover… I'm so sorry this happened to the people you cared about. We're all here for you if you need us, especially me." the bespectacled Witch promised.

"Willow's right, we'll support you Clover. Honestly, I'm having trouble getting my head around some of this. So Terra has been a sociopath since she was a kid, killed her own mentor, then killed her family when they refused to let her take over the family?" Amity frowned; "Even Odalia wasn't quite that twisted. I mean, she wasn't far off, but still…"

"I'm really glad we were able to put all those poor souls to rest." Luz said, looking over at the pyre as its flames began to weaken. "And Terra did say she murdered her mother back at the temple, but for that mother to be Clover's former partner… and for her to have massacred all these people! She's a Titan-forsaken monster."

"Double forsaken! I forsake her too! I vote we whack this weed!" King declared, stomping his little foot angrily. This clan had worshipped his Dad and then been murdered by the same evil monster who'd tried to hurt his Mom, his Titi, and his future sister-in-law! He wasn't going to accept that!

"I agree. I'm not exactly saying we should murder Terra, but… we should probably murder Terra." Boscha said, a furious fire burning in her eyes.

Hunter nodded reluctantly; "I have a feeling that murdering her mentor and family for power was enough to convince Belos to accept her as a Coven Head. Plus he likely blackmailed her with this in order to keep her under control."

"He did like having stuff like this over his Coven Heads." Lyra agreed.

Camila, as the adult and voice of reason, cleared her throat to get everyone's attention and said; "As angry and upset as you all are right now, I understand that you're probably thinking of really killing this Terra woman. Believe me, after hearing Clover's story, I'm tempted too! But taking a life is not something that should be done casually and not by children. That isn't a weight any of you should have on your souls. We should try to capture her and hold her so she can face justice through legal means."

Her words were born of her Divine Realm upbringing and her Healer's aversion to death, but the others couldn't exactly disagree. Willow and Boscha both wanted Terra dead, and the others weren't planning on shedding a tear for the vile woman when she did finally die, but actively deciding to kill her and then acting on that decision still felt like a step too far for a bunch of kids aged 9-16! Luz in particular squirmed at the thought, and Amity was reminded uncomfortably of her near-killing of Odalia, before Darius took the final blow, and the guilt of it, for himself.

"I know I'm not in charge or anything, but can I ask that we not kill her if we can help it?" Vee asked, also feeling squeamish at the idea.

"Yeah, let's just petrify her. Then she can stand trial." Matt chimed in.

Boscha huffed, but she had enough self-awareness to know that actually killing the woman when it came down to it might not be within the realm of possibilities for her. Willow was much the same, and while she fully admitted that she wanted Terra dead for how she'd hurt Hunter twice over AND traumatised poor Clover, she wasn't confident that she could deal the final blow if the time should come. Camila was right; that was a weight on the soul that none of them were confident they could carry.

"I agree. Okay, executive order from me; don't go trying to kill Terra unless you REALLY NEED to! Lets face it guys, we all need therapy enough as it is! Poor Golsi will have a heart attack if we show up and one of us has life-taking trauma!" Luz said, shuddering at the idea.

She was met by small smiles, a wry chuckle from Boscha, and nods of agreement (as well as a proud look from her Mami). With that decided, and it proven that Terra hadn't returned to her childhood home like they'd suspected, the Hexsquad and Nocedas watched as the final flames of the pyre burned out, leaving nothing but ashen remains of Terra's victims. The magical flames had ensured everything burned and left no fragments behind, after which Luz and Matt used Earth Magic to shift the soil the latter had dug out back into the pit, burying the ashes while King, Lyra, and Camila all gave their blessings to the new grave. Finally, Willow used her Plant Magic to grow a magnificent tree atop the newly made burial mound; it was a Grafted Tree that she'd been making as a show of unity between the Demon, Human, and Divine Realms; a Trinity Oak.

The Trinity Oak was a grafted tree made from Demon Realm Ornery Oaks (a tree that was known to smash its branches against anyone who tried to hurt it), Human Realm White Oak (a tree from the Connecticut area that Willow had studied), and Divine Realm Opaline Oak (a crystalline tree with leaves that looked to be carved from opals). The result was a rather large and beautiful tree with shining white bark that was slightly translucent and had visible golden sap inside, which glittered as it caught the sun, as well as opal leaves that were shaped like the White Oak leaves, and the ability to move its branches to attack if threatened.

Upon seeing this, Clover began to cry once more, touched by the gesture, while Matt then conjured a slab of rock and carved a small memorial stone at the foot of the tree, which Luz used light beams to engrave a message on, which read; "In memory of the Snapdragon Clan and all who lost their lives in service to them, or at the hands of the Revenants that once haunted this land. May they find peace and their killer find justice."

Finally, the whole group gave one final silent prayer and bow of their heads to the tree and memorial, before silently taking their leave of the estate. It wasn't until they were all outside in the woods again that anyone spoke, and it was Willow; translating a message from Clover since they weren't all connected by King's linking magic now.

"Clover wants you all to know that she is grateful for what you did for her former family. She says that no matter what, she is with us until the very end." Willow said.

The rest of the group all smiled and nodded, with Luz letting Clover keep Stringbean cuddled up to her for a bit longer as an extra comfort. That made Clover feel better, and even Ghost and Flapjack decided not to object to the eldest Palisman getting to snuggle with the youngest. With that, and a new, even more potent determination to stop Terra burning inside them all, the Hexsquad and Nocedas went marching eastward towards Spriggan Manor. They'd yet to hear anything from the other teams searching the forest, or the people checking out the various Gardening Clubs, which was beginning to worry them.

"If Terra isn't in Spriggan Manor, then the only place left I think she could be would be the Forearm Forest. With Arboriel in her hands, she can probably find her way back to the Bat Queen's old lair." Luz said whilst checking her scroll and Divine Communication Mirror (or DCM for short). She really needed to talk to Alador about combining the two with her human cellphone so they could be a convenient three in one device.

"We should take this time to prepare too. Boscha, can you make Herbicide Potions with your Potioneer belt?" Amity asked.

Boscha nodded; "Sure. I'll show Luz how to do it too. And some Insecticide Potions too."

The girl immediately got to work, showing Luz the process to make simple herbicide and insecticide potions that they could throw at Terra, especially as fire could be a dangerous thing to use in a heavily wooded area. At the same time, King happily unveiled that he'd made a Plant Withering Glyph Combo by using a combination of plant, fire, and darkness glyphs, and began showing Vee how to draw them since she was pretty good at drawing complex glyph combos quickly. As they were doing this, Matt raised a point;

"I get the Herbicide Potions, but why the Insecticide?" he asked.

"Terra took the heart of this lesser Dragon; a Rotwood Dragon. It can be used like a hive of bugs, and I wouldn't put it past her to control insects with her Plants and have them attack us." Willow chimed in.

Clover suddenly froze, then began buzzing frantically and getting into a panic. Stringbean and Willow both tried to soothe her, as neither could understand her frantic buzzing or thoughts. She eventually calmed down enough to be coherent, and rushed over to King and landed on his skull, gently tapping the top of it with her proboscis. King got the message and used his white glyph to connect with her, then at her request, used the plant glyph to create linking vines again so they could all hear her.

"I'm a fool! I'm sorry that I didn't mention this earlier! It slipped my mind with all that happened!" Clover cried, clearly very upset.

"Whoa there, little one. Take a breath and collect yourself." Camila said soothingly. Clover did so, and Camila smiled; "Good girl. Now what is it you want to tell us?"

"I think I know what Terra is planning! Our clan, the Snapdragons… it didn't get that name by chance!" Clover exclaimed.

Most of the group looked confused for a moment, but Luz suddenly went pale as she pieced it all together; The Snapdragon Clan, the Lindwurm in their crest and the notable presence of the plant glyph, their worship of the Titan, and Terra taking the heart of a Lesser Dragon… that could only mean one thing in Luz's mind!

"Oh Titan…! When it comes to the elemental temples, I'm starting to think they're all going to turn out the same!" Luz gasped. They needed to find Terra NOW!

[Meanwhile]

Terra emerged from her Restraining Rafflesia into her secret hiding place; an additional chamber she'd built deep below Spriggan Manor. It was built directly below the underground arena, and was inaccessible except for the use of Restraining Rafflesia flowers, as the original tunnels that accessed it had been intentionally collapsed and buried, ensuring no one would be getting back in without her flowers, and she was the only one who knew how to grow the ones connected to the flowers in her lair.

Her lair took the form of a large chamber, similar to the underground arena, made entirely of tree roots. The roots of the trees that made up Spriggan Manor had been extended down deeply and then twisted together by Terra to form this hidden lair. It was perfectly cylindrical, with a few small passage ways that led to hidden alcoves; one of which contained a secret bedroom and study, and another of which contained some secret relics and items she'd gathered over the years. The central room itself was mostly bare, with a series of Restraining Rafflesia flowers growing around the walls of the chamber, and a few patches of brambles at regular intervals between these flowers.

The last of the Snapdragons had only just escaped Barcarib and Arboriel's Inner Court, and she was utterly furious as she dragged the badly wounded Arboriel towards some of these brambles. Terra tossed Arboriel into these brambles, and then cast a spell to have them tie the Mandragora Queen up and suspend her in the air, green blood leaking from both her horrible wound and the thorns stabbing into her skin. Arboriel whimpered as she grit her teeth, trying to use her magic to take over the brambles, but failing due to Terra having drained most of her power and stealing her Dragon Heart Staff. Her whimpering was soon silenced when Terra gagged her with vines and healed the worst of her near-mortal wound by conjuring a series of flowers on the brambles, using their pollens to mimic the Healing Aromatherapy Magic that Hanu had also used. It wasn't enough to heal Arboriel completely and it didn't restore her strength, but it ensured she didn't die so long as Terra had a use for her.

"Damn that rotten sprout!" Terra seethed, her prior smugness melting away to reveal the true rage she felt. "First that foul Owl Lady, and now the Sprout too!? Every time I get one of them in my grasp and start to have my fun, they some become even more rotten and monstrous!"

Raine's Dhampyr Mode had made short work of her, making her suffer yet another humiliating defeat at their hands. It was rage-inducing, especially as they'd barely considered her worthy of their time once they finally awoke the power!

"But I'll show them! I'll show that Park Brat and Belos' little cast-off! And the three-eyed brat and Angel too! I'll make them all pay! No one looks down on Terra Snapdragon!" the woman declared, casting a spell to summon all the Mandragoras that she'd infected with her own Pheromones. She'd been planning a coup against her new mother since the very beginning; she never liked playing second fiddle to anyone, and would have betrayed Belos too once the plan she'd thought he was aiming for had been completed.

As part of her coup, Terra had carefully cultivated her own herbal cure for Arboriel's Pheromones, while also developing her own Pheromone abilities, since being the first "daughter" of the Queen had allowed her similar abilities. Once she'd replaced Arboriel's control with her own among some of the Mandragoras in the Inner Court, Outer Court, Barcarib Village, and the entire Navel Woods, she'd handed them all a seed that could grow into a Restraining Rafflesia connected to the ones in Terra's hidden lair, then ordered them to serve Arboriel until summoned by her.

Her little army of sleeper agents began appearing in the chamber, and Terra ordered them to stay where they were as she conjured a small Treant and had Arboriel bound to it with the brambles, so that she was forced to follow Terra as she headed into one of her alcoves, still muttering darkly; this time about Willow.

"And that Park Brat… some little nobody thief! She dares to wield the Palisman that is rightfully mine! I'll rip it from her hands and shatter their so-called "bond" by gutting her as I did the last woman who tried to keep me from my clan's ancestral Palisman!" Terra threatened, remembering the day she'd killed her own mother. She didn't actually remember the name of the Snapdragon Clan's Bee Palisman; naming a tool was a pointless exercise anyway, but she still wanted what she saw as rightfully hers!

Arboriel, still weak and in pain but feeling a little better thanks to the healing she'd received, glared at Terra with all the hatred she could muster and spoke now that her gag had been removed; "Why did you do this…? I made you! Gave you the powers of a Mandragora! Gave you a kingdom to inherit! How could you betray me!? Your own mother!?" she spat.

Terra swiftly backhanded her across the face to shut her up, then sneered; "I told you before; I killed my biological mother too. She stood in the way of me taking my rightful place at the top of my clan, just as you stood in the way of me taking my rightful place at the top of the Mandragora race! You were unworthy of becoming a Queen the instant you allowed your deal with the Divider to make you go soft!"

Arboriel opened her mouth to argue, but Terra raised her hand and the older Mandragora wisely shut her mouth again, letting Terra continue her rant; "We were supposed to subjugate the Isles together, and then the world! Then with all the Demon Realm's people turned into Mandragoras or food, we would besiege the Divine Realm and take it too! But you were too scared, too weak to defy the Divider. I had to convince you to kidnap and brainwash the people who passed into our domain! I had to convince you to turn Angels and the Divided into Mandragoras! I had to convince you to even try to capture your precious "Sunflower" and "Seedling"! It's pathetic! A Queen shouldn't need her "daughter" to tell her how to properly conquer! Your plan would see us divided with a meagre kingdom, as you'd never build your empire fast enough or defy the Divider! My plan would see the Divider himself indoctrinated at our feet! All we'd need to do was use your "Sunflower" as leverage against him! But no, you had to be a coward!"

"I am no coward!" Arboriel growled, no longer caring if Terra hit her again; "I was always going to use the Sunflower against the Divider! But the Angels in our forces warned us that defeating a Seraphim was going to be nearly impossible, so we needed a plan! For all your so-called "convincing", you'd have gotten us all destroyed if we'd tried things your way! At least my plan with a hostage almost got us what we wanted! Things only fell apart because you failed to control that freakish bat monster!"

Terra snarled and got in Arboriel's face; "I will skin that rotten creature and feed their blood to my plants! I will take back MY Palisman, and I will beat that Angel into submission and bend her to my will, then use her to bend the Divider to my will too! You'll see what a real Queen, no, a real Empress of the Mandragora can do, when I take this world and all it has for myself!"

Terra's furious sneer became a cruel grin; "And you are going to help me do it!"

Arboriel scoffed as they finally reached the end of the alcove that Terra was leading them into. It was a little treasure room full of books, rare flowers, a work bench where Terra had crafted the masks she'd used to control her Plant Scouts, and a strange tube made of tree roots that sat in the dead centre of the room, concealing something. "And how to do you see that happening, you treacherous, ungrateful brat!? If you think I'll be a good enough hostage to stay the Sunflower's hand, you've got another thing coming! She hates me and would likely kill me herself, and she and the Seedling will likely kill you for what you did to the Bard and that Grimwalker boy!"

"I told you, I am going to beat her into submission! I will have those other Mandragoras as hostages, but more importantly, I will have power! Just as I took your essence for myself, I will use them for their power too! I will rip power from the hands of the Titan itself!" Terra boasted, grabbing an ornate looking scroll from a small pedestal beside her workbench. "I was taught from the age of 10 to use anything at my disposal to get what I wanted, by the woman I consider to be more of a mother to me than either you or my other biological mother."

"Let me guess; you killed her too." Arboriel said snidely. She wasn't expecting Terra to grin maniacally and say yes.

"I did. Though unlike when my birth mother died, or when you inevitably die, I did shed a tear. I did not want to kill her… she was the woman I respected above all else!" Terra declared, snapping her fingers and causing the roots in the centre of the room to unwind and twist back up into the ceiling, revealing what they'd been concealing.

It was a large chunk of amber with the body of an elderly witch preserved inside. The woman looked to be in her 80s when she'd been killed and preserved, and had a wrinkled face that had died with a smile, and long, thin grey hair that had almost turned white. Her clothing resembled the dress that Terra had worn before she became a Mandragora, and she was also adorned with plants, including a rose that seemed to be growing out of her chest. In fact, now that Arboriel looked closer, she had numerous wounds that had flowers growing out of them, though it was unclear if they were part of what Terra had done to kill her, or something that had been grown on her body as part of a tribute before she was encased in the amber.

"This is Rosalia Gallica, my predecessor as Head Witch of the Plant Coven and the woman I respect above all others! She was a proud woman who saw my potential and nurtured it! There was a time I would have been happy to serve her and help her rise to power in the Boiling Isles… but she saw my potential as beyond her own." Terra said, actually wearing a soft and tender smile as she put a hand on the amber. "She was once small and weak, but driven. A borderline servant of the Spriggan Manor Cabal that only became a member due to being the last of the Gallicas, who were a founding family. But she was belittled and abused by the others for her weakness, so found her own strength… she used cunning, treachery, and trickery to bring them all down low enough for Belos to destroy them! She showed how even the smallest of plants can conquer the mightiest oaks if they infect them where they are weak!"

Terra closed her eyes and smiled sadly as she reminisced back to her childhood. Her family had always been loving, but had never understood her and had tried to hold her back from greatness… but Mistress Gallica had seen her thirst for power and seen a kindred spirit. She'd taught Terra to be cunning as well as powerful, and how to use everything she had at her disposal to take what she wanted! To always come out on top! The day Terra had killed her, Mistress Gallica had lured her into a trap and acted like she was going to steal her vitality and make herself young again, as if she'd only been raising Terra as a tool… but it had all been a lie. It had been a test in which Terra had proven she'd understood her Mistress's lessons and was ready to replace her; something Terra didn't learn until stripping a letter from the woman's corpse. The feeling in her chest when she saw her mistress beaming at her as she died was something Terra would never forget. Killing her had filled her with a sense of accomplishment AND sorrow, whilst killing her biological mother later that same day hadn't made her feel a thing besides annoyance.

Thinking of her mother made Terra angry; honestly, what more did that woman want? She framed the death of Mistress Gallica as revenge from the Snapdragons against the woman who'd made servants out of them, but still her mother had rejected her! She'd killed the guards her mother ordered to take her back to her room as proof of her strength, but when she'd still been refused and had then killed the servants too, her mother has STILL refused! Terra had no idea what the problem was at the time; she thought it was a clear show of strength and worthiness, but her mother had objected and called her a monster, as had her younger sisters and her brother.

To this day, Terra didn't fully understand; the weak live to be fertiliser for the strong! If they were not going to serve in life, then their deaths would be their service… her family never seemed to understand that despite their affinity for plants. As such, Terra had decided to force her mother's hand by killing her sisters, so she alone could inherit the family Palisman and become head of the clan; she'd felt a bit sad, especially as she rather enjoyed her littlest sister's devotion to her, but sacrifices were necessary! The family tree needed to be pruned, and Terra liked to think that the 13 year old had been happy to die for her beloved big sister. And her brother really had no right to complain; the Snapdragons were matriarchal so he'd never stood a chance of becoming head of the family!

But despite meaning it was the end of their clan, her parents had still disowned her; she'd been the brightest bloom of their family tree, yet they'd cut her off for the sake of some inferior buds that she'd snipped… and worst of all, they'd sent away her prize! Terra would never forgive them for that, and made sure her mother lived long enough to regret it… but hearing the woman say she was sorry for not raising her better as she died had made Terra pause. What had that meant? Was she somehow still not strong enough? That final barb had bothered Terra for a long time, but being given command of Spriggan Manor and the Plant Coven had ended her concerns. Her family was gone… so she'd build a new one.

Shaking those old thoughts and memories away, Terra restored the roots that hid her mentor's amber grave and turned back to look at Arboriel, who was glaring at her still. Terra flashed the scroll she'd taken moments ago at the elder Mandragora; "In keeping with my mentor's lessons, I'm going to use this. This little scroll is how I am going to grow strong enough to conquer that Seraphim Brat!"

"An old scroll?" Arboriel frowned as Terra began heading back to the main chamber of her hideaway, forcing the Treant carrying Arboriel to follow her. "What can a scroll possibly do? What magic does it contain?"

"Ancient Magic of the Titans; a powerful Rite that can grant any Witch a level of power that reaches or even exceeds the Seraphim! The Draconic Rite of Ascension!" Terra grinned maliciously.

"The Draconic Rite of Ascension? What in the world is that?" Arboriel demanded, totally confused.

Terra scoffed at her, as if she was a child asking something painfully obvious. They arrived back in the main chamber and Terra dismissively pointed her stolen staff off to the side, where her mind-controlled Mandragoras were congregating, and had the Treant trundle along over to join them, keeping Arboriel out of the way as Terra began reading the scroll. As she read, Terra answered Arboriel's question; "The Draconic Rite of Ascension is the ritual that transforms a Witch or Demon into a Supreme Dragon through the magic of the Titan! The Snapdragons were descended from Priests that worshipped the Titan and his Plant Element, and while very few of our ancient ancestors undertook the ritual themselves, they were entrusted as "Keepers of the Rite". Our family retained the secrets of the rite and the Titan's Plant Glyph, and took the name Snapdragon in honour of this. We also regularly bred and raised Lesser Dragons, so their hearts might be used by the Titan Priesthood. Those three Supreme Dragons that serve the Divider now were likely transformed with hearts harvested from the beasts we bred!"

Arboriel gasped, suddenly realising why Terra had a Rotwood Dragon at her disposal, and why she'd chosen to harvest its heart.

"You can't be serious!? You plan to turn yourself into a Supreme Dragon!?" Arboriel cried.

Terra grinned; "Of course! I am Terra Snapdragon and what Witch alive is more worthy? I am the last Keeper of the Rite and I have gathered all that I need! I have the Heart of a Lesser Dragon, AND I have samples of all five Titan Humours! And while this ritual is usually performed in a Temple or at a Wellspring, I have the staff of the previous Dragon Priest of Barcarib and a Galdorstone that was once his heart to make up for some of the lost power. I also gathered something else to help give me a further advantage!"

Terra snapped her fingers and the roots that twisted together to make up the floor in the middle of the chamber began to unwind themselves and shrink away, revealing that the ground beneath the central chamber was actually a massive sheet of glossy orange amber. Inside the Amber was the unexpected form of a giant green dragon skeleton; it was long and serpentine with many pairs of legs, identifying it as some kind of Lindwurm. Arboriel recognised it with a gasp.

"That skeleton…! It was laid to rest in my Inner Court before we took it over! When I tasked you with getting rid of it, I didn't imagine you'd bring it here!" the Elder Mandragora exclaimed.

The Skeleton belonged to the Dragon Form of the High Priest whose Galdorstone and staff she had exhumed from the Ritual Chamber-turned-Inner Court, but unlike those relics, the skeleton had been nothing but an eyesore and waste of space in her new court, so Arboriel had wanted it gone… Terra had it swallowed up by a Restraining Rafflesia, but Arboriel had never imagined she'd keep it instead of dumping it!

As Arboriel and the brainwashed Mandragoras stared in shock and amazement at the amber-sealed carcass, Terra began carving an intricate ritual circle into the surface of the amber, preparing for the rite. She was carefully replicating the image in the scroll she'd stolen from her family before leaving the empty estate behind following her massacre, but it was very complex and somewhat hard to drew easily on the glossy surface of the amber. The Draconic Rite of Ascension required a lot of magic to perform, so normally it was done in Elemental Temples (which were made from old Dragon Bones) or Primordial Wellsprings in order to channel the magic of old Dragons or the Titan himself to power the rite… Only an exceptionally powerful Witch could perform the Rite without outside help, as Terra (for all her skill) was not actually very powerful when it came to magical output; she was just very efficient in how she used her magic. As such, she needed the staff, the Galdorstone, and the Dragon Skeleton beneath her to perform it.

"So what exactly are we here for?" Arboriel demanded once Terra had finished carving the circle. "Are we to be sacrifices to the Titan for your ascension?"

"You are potential sacrifices, but not in the way you might think. Whether you live or die is not my decision at all." Terra replied as she summoned some Mandrakes and sent them off to grab something from one of the alcoves while she read the ritual and went over it properly.

The ritual had five components; a large amount of magical power, the five humours of the Titan to make contact with his spirit, the Heart of a Dragon (lesser or higher quality) to give the body some raw draconic material to begin its conversion, the ritual circle to focus all the magic into the proper complex spells that would allow the caster to commune with the Titan, and the Elemental Glyph that the caster wished to bond with, which would serve as the focus point for the Titan's Magic and Blessing. If done correctly, Terra would achieve her goal and become a Dragon Witch, and if done incorrectly… well, that would be the end of her.

Carefully, Terra began removing her some leaves and petals from her dress, exposing a large patch of skin on her chest. Taking a deep breath, she then used a beam of magic from her stolen staff to slowly burn the plant glyph of Orion into her flesh, carving the glyph that had been on her family's coat of arms for centuries into her skin in a highly painful way. The glyph was burnt black against her pale green skin, and the smell was enough to make Terra's stomach churn, but she would endure it for the power she'd gain!

With the glyph, circle, dragon heart, and magic sources all prepared, all Terra needed now were the Titan Humours, and her Mandrakes came scurrying back a moment later with these in hand, having retrieved them from a hiding place beneath Terra's bed in the other alcove. They each knelt in front of Terra and reverently held up the humours; a small potion bottle full of Titan Earth, a dish with a shard of Titan Bone, an airtight crystal vial containing Titan Breath, and a pair of smaller vials containing the azure Titan's Blood and the pitch black Titan's Bile. Terra snatched them all up and used her vine hair to hold them, then snapped her fingers to destroy her Mandrake creations.

"Now I have everything I need to begin! Then I'll bend the Angel to my will and turn her into a Mandragora, then use her to conquer the rest of the Isles before the Divider comes back!" Terra declared, before looking to the other Mandragoras she had summoned into her lair. "You lot, stand in the brambles and don't move no matter what; that is an order."

Reluctant but unable to resist, the Mandragoras obediently began standing in the bramble bushes along the edge of the room, whereupon the bushes reached out and grabbed them, holding them in place. Some of the younger and/or more sensitive ones began to whimper as the thorns pierced their skin and held them tightly, but Terra ignored them and Arboriel struggled harder and began spewing curses at the evil woman, furious at how poorly her other children were being treated. She was the mother of ALL Mandragoras that sill lived, so seeing them hurt angered her greatly.

Still, Terra ignored her and only bothered gagging her with the brambles to avoid her screaming disrupting the ritual. With the Mandragoras all right where she wanted them, Terra finally began to perform the ritual, starting by holding her stolen staff high above her as she stood in the exact dead centre of the ritual circle.

"Upon this day, in time of Spring, I do hereby make mine communion! O Titan on high, Lord Master of Light, Plant, Ice, and Fire, I do call upon thy soul! May this circle rouse the magic from this world and give intent to mine call!" Terra chanted. The circle began to glow in a blend of golden, green, blue, and red light, representing the elemental magics of Orion.

She then incanted the second verse; "O Magic, here my words! Be born from mine body and mine offerings! This crystalline heart, this priestly staff, and these ancient bones beneath mine feet; let their power flow forth and give strength to mine call!"

Her stolen staff began to glow in the same colours as the circle as streams of magic flowed from it to the circle. The same happened with the Dragon's bones as the magic within was draw into the ritual circle. Once the circle had absorbed enough magic from them to do what it was made to do, the whole thing flashed and began to create an aura in the same coloured light around Terra herself.

"Almighty Titan, roused from thy slumber, I offer mine flesh as a vessel for thy blessing and power. As I partake of thy flesh, thy bone, thy breath, thy bile, and thy blood, I divest myself of all bonds and offer up my soul to your judgement and your judgement alone!" Terra chanted, before slowly and semi-reluctantly consuming each of the Titan Humours one by one. She choked down the flesh-turned-earth and fought the urge to puke, then swallowed the bone and vial of breath whole (since she couldn't risk opening the breath vial and letting it escape. Finally, she uncorked the bile and blood vials and chugged them down quickly, feeling their effects hit her almost immediately. The pain in her chest was massive as it felt like she was on the verge of a heart attack, and her eyes began to glow green from the Titan Bile Overload that began to build up inside her. Thankfully for Terra though, the ritual circle itself restrained the power of the blood and bile (as it was designed to) and she was able to gather enough strength of will to power through and continue the ritual.

"With thy earthly blessings consumed, and mine soul laid bare, I implore thee; Almighty Titan, give unto me the blessings of thy sacred body. May my skin become as scales, my nails become as claws, my teeth become as fangs, and my breath become as power. Let the blood within mine heart carry the strength of the Dragon, as it once flowed through this offered vessel." Terra declared, removing the Rotwood Dragon Heart from where she'd tied it to her waist.

For the smallest moment, Terra hesitated and gagged, before forcing herself to devour the heart. It tasted as foul as it looked; like rotten raw meat, and the texture was crunchy and wafer like on the outside, meaty closer to the centre, then putrid and gooey in the very centre. It was, without a doubt, the worst thing Terra had ever eaten, and she'd once eaten fertiliser just so she could shame one of her old minions for whining about it during one of her little games back in the Plant Coven. It took every scrap of mental fortitude Terra possessed, as well as an iron stomach, to keep herself form vomiting, and she briefly regretted not instead choosing to eat the heart of some less revolting Dragon Species… she'd only kept the Rotwood Dragon because it was so easy to keep under control and care for! It would have been better to knock a chunk off the Galdorstone on her stolen staff and eat that instead, since Galdorstones were an acceptable substitute for a Dragon Heart.

Shuddering and shaking off those regrets, Terra completed the penultimate verse of the Chant; "Almighty Titan; mine flesh and mine soul stand ready to receive thy blessing. Upon me has been carved thy mark; the Glyph of Plants, representing your dominion over Rejuvenation, Growth, and Life. May this mark be the channel that binds my soul to yours!"

The glyph began to glow green and black, it's form corrupted by the fact it had been forcibly carved onto her by her own hand rather than truly earned through a blessing of the Titan or her understanding of the element. The aura around her and the colour of the ritual circle also turned green and black too, and Terra cringed as she felt the pain building in her chest grow worse.

Now feeling disgusting and rotten in three different ways, Terra powered through to finish the ritual with the final chant; "Circle carved, give form to my will. Magic channelled, give power to my will. Humours consumed, connect mine flesh to thy master. Heart consumed, connect mine blood to thy master. Glyph blessed, may your power be mine! I summon thy soul, Almighty Titan! I beg your audience and your blessing! So mote it be!"

With those final words, the spell circle erupted, creating a massive beam of green and black magic that shot upward in a spiral of colour, blasting through the ceiling of Terra's lair, the underground chamber beneath Spriggan Manor, and the grounds of the manor itself, going all the way up into the sky and piercing the very clouds. Arboriel and the other Mandragoras gasped in shock, feeling the raw power being unleashed by the ritual circle, while the beam of light was seen all across the isles, drawing the attention of Samael's group back at the Teleportation Circle, Eda and Zirael's group that were currently exploring Spriggan Manor, and Luz's group that had just learned the connection between the Snapdragon Clan and the actual Dragons of the past.

However, Terra was uncaring as she felt her soul connect to the Titan through the forced link of the glyph and the power of the ritual. The world around her went completely black, and she found herself thrust into a vision quite unlike what was described in the scroll. The scroll claimed that the ritual would bring the caster to a white void and an infinite ocean from which the Titan would arise and grant their blessing, but here Terra could see nothing but infinite blackness, and a sea of ghostly silver and purple flames burning far beneath her and stretching out as far as she could see. Terra herself floated above this sea of flames, but could feel their burning heat rising up to her, as if she was being slowly roasted, like a pig on a spit. The pain in her chest from the burned-on glyph was growing worse too, and a strange black liquid was oozing from the wound, while her stomach churned and clenched painfully, rebelling against what she'd eaten. For Terra, the entire experience was borderline unbearable, but she held on out of sheer pride and determination; she would not give up her only chance to obtain the power she needed for her ultimate conquest.

Taking deep breaths to focus herself, Terra looked around for signs of the Titan, until finally she got some. Out of the sea of flames rose the massive form of Orion, albeit not in the same ones that Luz had seen. This was not the pudgy, "Dad-Bod" Orion that King and Luz had seen in the In-Between, nor was it the colossal, mighty Orion that Luz had seen in her bonding visions; this was the "Boiling Isles" Orion… a gigantic skeleton with the dregs of their former flesh clinging to their bones. Without the trees, buildings, and other signs of life built onto him, this version of Orion simply looked like a massive and terrifying undead monster, with the only signs of life being a burning golden light inside his left eye socket and a massive, serpentine beast that resembled some kind of giant wooden bird snake inside his right eye socket. This was not like what had been described in the scroll either, but Terra wasn't going to let that stop her!

"Hail, Mighty Titan. I am Terra Snapdragon, and I-"

"Be silent, Wretch." came Orion's rumbling voice. It send a wave of dread through Terra's very soul, and she suddenly found it very hard to open her mouth as an oppressive atmosphere descended on the void. Orion's voice had always been deep, but this wasn't the friendly voice that he'd used with his child and god-child; this voice was slow, dark, and haunting, like the voice of an angry God of Death.

"As my dear mate watched over our son, I chose to watch over our God-Daughter; the Seraphim of the Demon Realm and my Chosen Champion. Through her, I saw what you have done… How you enslaved her "Titi" as a weapon against her, harming her dear Cousin and Brother Figure with them, while threatening harm to her dearest friend. I watched you betray your only ally and gravely wound my God-Daughter's Brother Figure yet again. I have watched a lot of your sins… which is why I am greatly surprised to see you daring to perform the Rite of Ascension and summoning my soul to you! Do you crave death so badly, Little Weed?" Orion asked, his every word dripping with poison that made Terra shudder. The fact if was coming from a giant corpse only made it scarier.

Terra had to work hard to keep her composure as she forced herself to smirk up at the Titan. "Ah, so you really do watch over that brat. I shouldn't be surprised, especially after what I saw at the Petrification Ceremony when she rescued the Owl Lady. But I suppose that makes this easier; I can forget all the pointless, false courtesies and just get down to business with what I want from you."

In an instant, the strange bird-tube in the Titan's right eye (which Terra suddenly realised looked like that freakish creature that guarded the Owl House) suddenly lunged out, revealing as it got close to Terra that it was ludicrously large, to the point that it could wrap around the Titan's throat if it wanted to! This beast coiled behind Terra and opened it's mouth to devour her, making the woman panic before the Titan spoke again.

"Cawla, my dear friend; be calm. There is no need to lose our tempers with this insect. We can tolerate her incessant and disrespectful buzzing… for a few seconds at least. Long enough to puzzle out just what madness drove her to perform the Rite of Ascension."

The bird monster, Cawla, went still at the Titan's request, though her mouth was still wide open with Terra basically inside, ready to be devoured whole the instant either of these colossal creatures decided to end her. Trying to ignore the feeling of vulnerability, Terra once again forced herself to smirk at the Titan.

"Madness? Oh, I'm perfectly within my right mind. I performed the ritual so you would give me your blessing and turn me into a Supreme Dragon." Terra said confidently.

"Your motive is not in question, Little Weed. I know exactly why you performed the rite. What puzzles me is how you could possible believe this will end well for you. I could destroy your soul, ignore you until the power of the rite burned out, or simply reject you. I am under no obligation to give you the kind of power that could potentially harm my children and their friends, and I cannot fathom what makes you think I'd actually give you my blessing. Did you assume I'd be compelled to do it?" Orion asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I am very aware that you could reject me… but you won't." Terra replied.

Orion laughed darkly; "And why is that, Little Weed?"

"Because I DID read the full details of the Draconic Rite of Ascension. Assuming the ritual is performed correctly, one's transformation into a Dragon is assured! The only change in the results is if you bless the caster and make them a Supreme Dragon, or reject them and doom them to become the Undead Grand Dragon known as the Draco Lich." Terra revealed, having read the scroll thoroughly to ensure she knew the ins and outs of the ritual; "If you kill me here, reject me, or simply let the magic that forged this connection expire, then the ritual will finish its work and turn me into a Draco Lich."

Orion nodded, knowing that. Very few people had been foolish enough to attempt the Rite without earning one of his glyphs and bonding with it before hand, like the Dragon Priests, but a few had done so and become Draco Lichs, including the friend of Lillian Clawthorne, who became revered as the Pale Dove for defeating the Dragon. Draco Lichs were dangerous dragons; they took the form of large skeletal dragons with a fleshy heart surrounded by bone armour, and the ability to breath pure necrotic energy as its breath weapon, whilst also being able to infuse its power into corpses to animate them into its soldiers. They were not creatures to be trifled with… but they were still only Grand Dragons; a step below the Supreme Dragons, and Orion knew his precious Godchild had defeated Supreme Dragons before, so a Grand Dragon would be easier to deal with.

"Am I supposed to be intimidated by the idea that you'll become a feral, undead monster? My God-Daughter defeated a Thunder Wyvern blessed by the Divider only 10 days ago! What threat would a mere Grand Dragon be to a girl who has conquered Supreme Dragons?" Orion taunted.

Terra's heart lurched; she hadn't heard of Luz defeating such a powerful creature! Was that the truth, or was the Titan perhaps bluffing to torment her a little? Terra didn't know, but she wasn't going to let that get to her! Instead, she smirked and said; "Oh, probably none at all. A Grand Dragon would likely lose easily to a Seraphim… but that doesn't matter, since you are going to give me that blessing and allow me to become a Supreme Dragon."

Orion leaned in very close and spoke with a dangerous tone; "And how, pray tell, do you think you are going to make that happen, Little Weed? I could snuff you out here and now, and leave your body to rampage and be destroyed by the God-Daughter and her friends."

Terra shuddered but soldiered on; "Of course you could, but you won't. Because while your precious God-Daughter could kill me as a Grand Dragon, she is not close enough to do it immediately. In fact, no one is! Even if the ritual acted like a beacon to draw people to my lair, they'd need to figure out a way in and the beam of light will burn away anyone trying to go through the hole it made."

"And that is relevant because…?" Orion asked, acting bored.

"It is relevant, because a Draco Lich would rampage and consume any and all life around it… including the hostages I have trapped in my lair with me, all bound up and ordered not to flee after I took control of them with my pheromones."

Orion went still and glared at Terra with intense hatred, as she swore the flames beneath her began to rise, almost licking at her feet. "What exactly are you saying, Little Weed…?" he said slowly, making Terra certain that he was moments away from losing his temper and killing her, consequences be damned.

"It's very simple, Titan. If you give me your blessing and let me become a Supreme Dragon, then my hostages live. If you refuse, I'll become a Draco Lich and mindlessly murder everything around me, including them. I'll tear them apart brutally and painfully, and their deaths will be on your hands." Terra said, smiling smugly as she was certain she'd gotten the Titan where she wanted him. He was the Patron of that goody two shoes Seraphim, so she was sure he wouldn't willingly sacrifice innocent lives just to stop her plans… but even with her certainty, Terra began to get nervous as the Titan continued to stare at her silently.

Orion thought about it for a long moment, weighing his options. He didn't know for certain that she had hostages, but in his observations of Luz, he HAD seen her take Arboriel away (though she was not someone whose death would sway him) and knew she's summoned some brainwashed Mandragoras to her side thanks to Luz hearing about it, but he had no proof they were actually in Terra's lair with her. He thought about it and ultimately decided he truly had no choice here; considering Terra knew she might die performing this rite, there was no reason for her to merely bluff about the hostages instead of actually doing it and Orion did not want their blood on his hands… at least if he played along with Terra's demands, it would be possible for Luz and the others to defeat her even as a Supreme Dragon and ensure nobody died.

"Very well… for the sake of saving the lives of your hostages, I will play along with your schemes, Little Weed. But a word of warning; you will not likely survive the day. Your fate was sealed the moment you performed this rite; you should have run away and found an isolated corner of the world to hide in, never to appear again. That was the only way you'd live to see the next sunrise. Farewell, Terra Snapdragon; I will watch your demise with great enjoyment."

With those final, horrifying words, Orion had Cawla retreat back into his eye socket, then slowly raised one of his fingers and made the very tip of the claw glow green as he prepared to give his blessing. He then plunged the claw into Terra's chest, making her scream in agony as she was given his blessing. Just because he was forced to give her what she wanted didn't mean Orion couldn't make it hurt!

Terra continued to scream even as the vision began to end and she felt her soul return to her body. Her sudden screams terrified the Mandragora hostages, while Arboriel took some enjoyment from it; glad that the traitor was suffering! But then the intense beam of green light began to narrow so that it only coated Terra and not the entire ritual circle, before it suddenly stopped entirely and left only Terra glowing black and green. She stopped screaming and her silhouette within the light began to curl up, before the light swelled and formed an egg-shape around Terra. Finally, the light began to fade and Arboriel and the Mandragoras saw a large, person-sized egg made entirely of bark, leaves, and green amber floating where Terra had once been, giving off a sickly aura of black smoke and putrid green light, which contrasted heavily with the usual healthy green glow of Plant Magic. The Dragon Skeleton in the Amber below was also glowing faintly in black and green, while the stolen Dragon Staff had fallen to the floor beside the egg, with the Galdorstone on top releasing a faint black smoke as a slither of it had also turned black, right in the centre.

"Did it work?" one of the Mandragora asked.

"Did Empress Terra become a Dragon?" another asked curiously. They wanted to move and get a closer look, but they'd been ordered to stay put, so had no choice but to do so. Arboriel personally hoped the inside of that egg would end up scrambled; she was no expert, but she was fairly certain that the strange black light and smoke was not supposed to be a part of the ritual! Tilting her body as much as she could in the Treant's grasp, Arboriel looked up through the hole the ritual had blasted in the ceiling and was just barely able to see the distorted sky and the Angelic City within it.

Arboriel wanted to scream and call for help in hopes of getting the people outside to come down and rescue her, willing to risk the rebels and the Wings of Rani over Terra, but she was still gagged by brambles and not entirely sure where they were or if her voice could carry that far. She didn't have long to contemplate this either, as the egg began to shudder and crack as Terra started to hatch.

Once the egg began to move, it stopped floating and hit the ground, causing cracks to begin forming in web-like patterns starting at its base and spreading to cover the entire egg. The egg then went still for a moment, before a clawed hand suddenly punched through it, revealing one of Terra's arms, which was covered in somewhat muted, sickly green scales, with reddish brown wooden claws and leaves with a bluish-green tint growing on the back of her forearm. A second arm then ripped its way out of the shell too, followed by a long, vine-like tail smashing it's way out on the other side of the egg. Finally, with a loud roar from Terra, her voice now sounding slightly deeper and more menacing, the egg was utterly shattered and the newly reborn Dragon Priestess emerged from it.

Terra stumbled and fell to the floor on her hands and knees, her new body still taking some moments to adjust as the pain of her transformation began to fade. Her eyes were foggy and she had to blink hard a few times before they cleared up and her vision returned, but once it did, Terra was able to pick up her stolen staff and use it to help get to her feet, whereupon she began to stretch and flex her altered body, giving the Mandragoras a very good look at her new form.

Terra was still a Mandragora, with pale green skin, darker green lips, green eyes, and green vines for hair, but like Zara, Godric, and Lars, she had gained some draconic features even in her non-Dragon form. The most obvious of these features were her scales; her arms were now coated in thick, sickly green scales that stretched from her hands to her elbows, while her legs were similarly coated from the knee down. Her hands now had razor sharp reddish-brown claws of wood on the end of each finger, while her feet had become draconic and had similar claws on the end of each toe, as well as a heel claw that she used to hold her up and give her some more height, like high heels. She also had bluish-green leaves growing on the back of her forearms and on her bare shoulders, and had oddly vivid green thorns sticking out of her elbows. Next was her horns and tail, the former of which resembled misshapen and uneven branches growing from the sides of her head, and the latter of which was more like a giant, vibrant green vine that had been grown in the shape of a draconic tail, though it had no visible scales. This tail also had the bluish-green leaves growing on it, and ended in a giant, spiky leaf of the same colour. Then there was her clothing; her original outfit of leaves and petals had been replaced by a draconic robe of sorts, which took the form of a sickly green dress that was sleeveless and went down to her knees, though with large slits up the sides to allow her legs to freely move in the dress. The bottom of the dress and the sides of the slit were decorated with reddish brown bark, which matched the thorny root-like decorations that encircled her hips and her bust. Finally, the plant glyph now glowed in a putrid shade of green from Terra's chest, with some blackness at the very core of the glow.

"This new form feels incredible!" Terra whispered to herself, admiring her new form and its great power. Her arms and legs felt so much stronger than a normal Witch; as if she could punch or kick through a tree with ease. She actually decided to test that out by conjuring a pair of Treants (a process that was incredibly easy, showing just how much her magic had grown too) and then beating them up. It was nearly effortless to destroy them with a few quick blows, and to her immense satisfaction, Terra found she could regain some of the magic she'd spent conjuring them by absorbing the splinters she'd reduced them too.

"Fascinating… I wonder…?" the woman thought, before heading over to one of the Restraining Rafflesia flowers on the edge of her lair's central chamber. She placed her hand against at and dug in her claws, at which point the flower began to wither as veins of green magic began to appear, sending the magic and essence of the flower into Terra. Once the flower was drained entirely, the very biomass itself turned into magic and was consumed by Terra, making her plant glyph glow a little as all her blood vessels glowed green too for a moment. Once the light faded, Terra looked down at her hands and cackled.

"My magic is a little stronger now! It seems I can consume plant life to gain new power instead of just replenishing what I already have! Marvellous!" Terra grinned like a child on a sugar high. The amount of magic she'd gained from devouring that plant had been miniscule, but it appeared to be a permanent boost! If she consumed enough plant life, she'd gain enough magic that no one could stand in her way! Turning to the Mandragoras, Terra decided to further test this and grabbed one of the older ones by the throat and began to use her new power to drain her of her magic. The result was similar to what had happened to the Restraining Rafflesia; the poor, helpless Mandragora began to wither as her magic was drained out of her, similar to the Draining Spell on the Day of Unity. However, mindful of losing her hostages for no good reason, Terra stopped draining the poor woman before she could die, leaving her a groaning, withered wreck but still very much alive.

"Now that is much more satisfying!" Terra grinned, feeling the magic thrumming beneath her skin. "It's almost addicting…! If I absorb enough magic like this, it won't matter if the Angel Brat really did defeat a powered up Supreme Dragon! I'll just power up even further! Now, let's see just how much magic I can drain from you lot…"

The evil new Dragon Priestess grinned at the other Mandragoras, who looked between her and their barely conscious compatriot, who now looked like an old lady. They shuddered in fear, but were unable to defy their Mistress's orders thanks to the Pheromones, so Arboriel was forced to watch as the monster she'd help make began devouring the magic of her fellow Mandragoras, all the while praying that her Sunflower and Seedling would be able to destroy the traitor, before it was too late!

[Meanwhile]

Luz, the Hexsquad, and the Noceda family flew as fast as they could towards Spriggan Manor, having leapt aboard their staves or begun flapping their wings as hard as they could the instant they'd seen that massive beam of black and green light. Clover had only just finished telling them about the Snapdragon Clan's historical connection to the Rite of Ascension when they'd seen the beam, causing them to go from running through the forest to Spriggan Manor, to full on flying there at top speed. The beam disappeared right before they arrived, but as they touched down in the Manor's grounds, they found a massive hole in the courtyard out front, which was still smouldering around the edges from the power of the beam. Surrounding the hole was the rest of the CATTs Elites, with Darius, Eda, Lilith, Raine, and Alador examining the hole while the Twins, Magic Mixers, and the rest of their allies kept a safe distance. Zirael was also peeking down the hole, while her Angel allies were nowhere to be seen.

"Everyone!" Luz cried as they rushed over; "Is everyone alright!?"

"We're all okay." Eda assured her; "Most of us were inside the manor when that big blast happened. Jerbo was the only one out here, and he wasn't hurt."

Jerbo nodded; "I was far enough from the beam to avoid being hit, but it did scare the heck out of me!"

The Hexsquad and Nocedas looked relieved, then Amity urgently said; "Thank the Titan! Listen, we learned some things about Terra! There's a lot to go over, but for now the important part is that her family, the Snapdragons, were protectors of the Rite of Ascension!"

Most of the others looked a little surprised for a moment, not recognising the name of the ritual, but then Eda gasped as it clicked where she'd heard it before; "Wait, that thing that Zara and Lars mentioned!? The thing that turned them into Supreme Dragons!?"

The rest of her group, especially Zirael, paled dramatically. They only grew paler still when Raine asked; "Are you saying that Terra could be trying to turn herself into a Supreme Dragon!?"

Clover buzzed frantically, and Willow replied; "Based on that beam of light, it's possible she's already tried!" Clover buzzed some more, and Willow translated; "According to Clover though, she'd need the approval of the Titan, or else she'd become a Draco Lich; an undead Grand Dragon."

Luz frowned; "Wait a second, I think Abuelo mentioned that before! Lillian the Pale Dove had a friend who tried and failed to become a Supreme Dragon, and ended up as a Draco Lich!"

"So one way or another, we'll be facing off against a Dragon!?" Zirael exclaimed; "Should we call for help? Two of the Supreme Dragons that the Lord Divider tamed should still be at Cartilia, and the last one still bearing his blessing should be in the Left Palm. They could even the odds?"

King scoffed; "Why bother? Why are we all getting so worried about this anyway? Luz can kick a Supreme Dragon's butt on her own, and with all of us together, it'd hardly be a challenge! Besides, why would my Dad agree to help Terra out? He'd reject her in an instant and so she'll just be a dumb, rampaging monster for us to smash! It'll be easy!"

Everyone exchanged looks; King DID have a point. A dragon was a dangerous threat, especially a Supreme one, but their forces were massive and they should have the power needed to overtake any dragon Terra could become. However Luz still couldn't totally relax and stop worrying; she had a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as King hoped, and considering her luck, she had good reason to believe that.

As if to prove her point, the ground beneath them began to tremor slightly, startling the others. The tremor was weak and only lasted a moment, but it became clear that something major was going on far below them!

Clover began to buzz again, and Willow translated; "Assuming the ritual failed to work properly, Terra will be in her new Draco Lich form. But if it somehow DID work, she'll have taken the form of a Dragon Priestess and will need to gather power in order to take on her full Supreme Dragon Form. Clover says that she'd need a Primordial Wellspring for that, or the skeleton of an existing Plant Supreme Dragon and a LOT of Magic!"

"Well she did manage to drain some from Arboriel when she betrayed her." Luz frowned, "Could she do the same with other Mandragoras?"

"Ugh, a Plant Woman that steals the magic and vitality of other plants; she really IS a weed!" Boscha sneered disgustedly.

Zirael turned to Luz and said; "I've got my people searching the manor for a secret passage that could lead to where this hole does, but they've had no luck yet. Do you think we should risk just flying down the hole? We've held back so far in case another blast comes at us, as we'd be unable to escape it while descending."

Luz opened her mouth to ask her to bring her forces out of the house so they could have a quick strategy meeting, but before the words left her tongue, Luz felt her vision go foggy as a sudden wave of tiredness filled her and the glyphs of light, plant, fire, and ice began to glow on her body. The others saw this and Camila and Vee quickly caught Luz as she began to stagger, helping her sit down on the ground.

"Mija! Are you alright?" Camila asked.

"Your glyphs from Dad are glowing!" King pointed out.

"I-I think Tio Orion is trying to speak to me… give me a moment to try and connect to him." Luz said, closing her eyes and focusing on the four glyphs of Orion, as well as King's white glyph.

With King's glyph helping to further strengthen her connection to Orion, Luz soon found her soul answering her Godfather's summons. She felt a brief rush of vertigo, then opened her eyes to find that instead of sitting cross-legged on the ground, she was now sitting on the palm of Orion, as his full-sized Titan form emerged from the infinite sea in the same white void that she'd visited in her bonding visions.

Despite the serious situation outside, Luz couldn't help but beam up at her Titanic Godfather as she hopped to her feet.

"Tio Orion! It's good to see you!" she smiled, using her wings to fly up and hug the bridge of his nose.

"Haha, it is wonderful to see you as well, Luz! Congratulations on your ascension! Oh, and your Tia Cassiopeia asked that I pass along her congratulations too! Plus, there is another person who wanted to meet you!" Orion smiled, willing his giant form to shrink down until he was no longer Boiling Isles size, instead being regular giant sized (the size difference between him and Luz in this form was about the same as the difference between Luz and Stringbean). Luz fluttered back down to his palm (which she now fit on far more comfortably) and looked up just in time to see a Hooty-like creature emerge from Orion's eye socket and come down to hug her.

"Oh! You must be Cawla, Hooty's Mama! Nice to meet you!" Luz beamed as the Elder Bird Tube wrapped around her. Thanks to Orion's shrunken size, Cawla was now about the same size as Hooty himself.

Cawla replied with a soft hoot and nuzzled against Luz's cheek, then lovingly began preening the fur on top of Stringbean's head, as the little Palisman appeared on Luz's shoulder.

"Cawla doesn't like to speak the common tongue. Her voice is the same as her son, Hooty's and she finds that embarrassing. She's quite the dignified lady." Orion smiled. His expression then became serious; "But I didn't bring you here for congratulations and reunions; I have something important to discuss with you."

"This is about Terra, right? She performed the Rite of Ascension and made contact with you; my friend Willow's Palisman told us about it, and we saw that beam of light." Luz frowned.

Orion nodded reluctantly; "You're right. And I'm sorry to say that I made things harder for you… I gave her the blessing she required, allowing her to become a Supreme Dragon."

Luz gasped in horror, wanting to ask why he would do such a thing. But she tempered her reaction quickly; her Godfather wouldn't do such a thing for no reason; she had faith in him! "I understand, Tio. What happened?"

Orion, heartened by Luz's lack of anger and accusation, quickly explained his meeting with Terra and the hostages she'd taken. Luz listened carefully, frowning at how far Terra was willing to stoop.

"Ugh, I knew she was awful but threatening her own people like that? You did the right thing, Tio! It may be harder to fight her like this, but at least it means we can try to save everyone she'd otherwise hurt!" Luz said.

"Thank you for your understanding Luz. I wish I could tell you more or give you some clues that could make the battle easier, but I'm afraid there really isn't much I can say. I will at least share what I do know though." Orion said; "The Plant Supreme Dragon is known as the Arbor Lindwurm, meaning your friend Hunter was correct. Their bodies are composed of various plants and they're fairly flammable, but be careful as Arbor Lindwurms also have the power to consume other sources of plant life to replenish their magic, strengthen themselves, AND heal their injuries."

"And with Terra being a parasite, she'd consume ever plant on the Boiling Isles to keep herself alive, including the Mandragoras! Guess we'll need to find a way to beat her quickly and before she can get a full Dragon Body!" Luz said, tapping her chin (which Stringbean adorably mimicked with her tail).

"That would be best, but she'll still be strong either way, especially if the ritual didn't completely consume the staff she stole from the last priest, and the Galdorstone that had been his heart too." Orion warned; "And if she DOES manage to transform, she'll be a massive threat; she'll be able to spread her Mandragora Pheromones for miles, and will be able to create Seed Drakes; a former of Lesser Dragon that, while not powerful, are extremely dangerous in large numbers. If she does take that form, your best bet is to fly; Arbor Lindwurms cannot fly like the other Supreme Dragons you've met."

"Got it. What about other weaknesses, besides fire? Zara was weak to heat and the sun, Godric is weak to the cold and darkness, and Lars was weak to metal; but what about Terra?" Luz asked.

Orion shrugged; "I'm sorry, but I don't know much else. I know that they are weak to the same things a plant is, so extreme temperatures and being water-logged is a possible solution. More than that I couldn't tell you."

"That's more than enough, Tio. Thank you for telling me all this; I'll warn the others and we'll deal with Terra! If I can get a clear shot at her, I'll petrify her and end this quick." Luz said determinedly.

"Do your best, Luz. But before I send you back, I need to tell you something about the power of the Glyphs, and the Titan Magic you've received from us." Orion began, lifting Luz closer to his one remaining eye.

Luz looked up at him with interest and leaned forward a little, hanging on his every word; "I remember what you tried to do yesterday; transferring your angelic power into your glyphs to create more Titan Magic for use against the Divider. Your plan was a good one; it would have worked if not for the circumstances."

"Circumstances?" Luz repeated, tilting her head.

"Yes. The kind you're very familiar with, to an upsetting degree; trauma." Orion said with a frown.

"Oh…" Luz sighed; "I thought that was the case. When I started to transform yesterday, my body felt so much like it did after Belos injected me with your bile, minus the pain, that I started having a panic attack! I've barely thought about that incident since it happened, but I guess that means I haven't dealt with it properly yet."

Orion nodded sympathetically; "That is what I believe too. But you are in a much healthier place now, and I believe you can conquer this feeling. You have a complete set of every type of glyph there is; even my son's new one, underdeveloped though it may be. That means that you are a Titan in all but body, and with enough magic you'll overcome even that difference. I am no expert in therapy but if I might offer some advice, think of it this way; that Titan power is yours by right. You earned it, and that form is a part of you that you earned too, just one you've not yet fully claimed. Accept what happened in the past as a horrible outlier, and embrace the other half of your being."

Luz smiled, feeling heartened by her Godfather's words. Simply being told to accept this other part of herself wasn't exactly helpful advice, but Luz took it in the spirit in which it was given.

"Thank you, Tio. And speaking of glyphs; what exactly do you make of me blessing my friends with yours and Tia Cassiopeia's glyphs?" Luz asked.

"I am not totally sure. That is more of a result of King's new power, which we don't fully understand. It seems to use King's connection to you and us, your connection to us and your friends, and the connections King made with their Palismen. Your feelings for your friends at the moment of your ascension, along with those connections and King's glyph, caused you to bless them with the glyphs we gave you, further proving that you've become part Titan magically if not biologically. At least that's the theory Cassiopeia and I came up with together." Orion said.

"I see… Did you feel anything when Amity or Gus bonded with your glyphs? Or did Skara bonding with one of Tia Cassiopeia's effect her at all?" Luz asked.

Orion shook his head; "We can tell when they're using their fused forms, but nothing else. The power they take is negligible for us, but you should be careful. You're the connection between them and our power and while they don't drain your power directly, it's hard serving as the connection for more than one person at a time."

Luz blinked, looking puzzled for a moment before suddenly gasping; "Wait, those moments of weakness I've been having since I got back! They only started after Gus unlocked his fusion! Did they only happen when more than one of my friends was using their fusion!?"

"I think so. When I observe you, I've only seen you have these short periods of weakness when I felt both your mate and that younger friend of yours using their new powers at the same time." Orion answered.

Luz rubbed her chin; "So even though they're not taking my magic directly, my body still struggles with connecting more than one person at a time to your power? I wonder if I can overcome that somehow."

Orion didn't have a concrete answer for that, but since he had faith in Luz, he smiled and nodded; "I'm sure you'll manage it. Now I think I've held you long enough! Time moves at a snail's pace in the outside world while you're in here, but it DOES still move."

The mind and soul could perceive things a lot faster than a person's flesh and blood, so visions like this could happen in the blink of an eye, but even the best of minds couldn't operate so quickly that no time at all could pass!

"Thank you for all the help, Tio Orion! I'll be sure to pass your love along to King!" Luz promised.

"Good girl. Please give my regards to your mothers as well. Also, please tell Samael that his Uncle Orion and Auntie Cassiopeia are proud of his progress! Now, don't forget what I told you; you're a Titan with the flesh of an Angel! Don't let Belos' shadow keep you from what you earned!" Orion said.

"I will! I'll pass your love on to Hooty too, Cawla!" Luz said, waving to the Primordial Demon as she retreated into Orion's eye socket with a pleased hoot.

Orion and Cawla both smiled and gave their own equivalent of a wave goodbye as Luz got herself back into the seated position on Orion's palm that she'd arrived in. Once she managed that, Luz gave a return wave alongside Stringbean and closed her eyes, allowing her consciousness to fully return to her body.

Her eyes snapped open to see the others crowding around her, and as soon as they saw she was awake, they all began talking at once, asking if she was okay, what had just happened, if Orion or Cassiopeia had summoned her to talk, and if so, what they had said. It was a little overwhelming, but thankfully Willow was still in Team Mom mode and shushed everyone, giving Camila and Eda (who'd been quiet too) a chance to help Luz back to her feet.

"Sorry for that everyone. Tio Orion wanted to talk; he told me a few useful things!" Luz said, before hastily explaining what he'd said about Terra and Arbor Lindwurms, as well as passing on his regards to her mothers and his love to King.

Camila and Eda had both smiled at that, and King gave a giddy little wiggle that almost had Luz squealing with how precious it was, but the information on Terra had everyone frowning, especially as another tiny tremor briefly shook the Spriggan Manor estate.

"Okay, this is going to be a problem. We need to act fast!" Willow exclaimed.

Eda, Lilith, and Raine all entered their hybrid forms; "Let's fly down there now!" Eda yelled; "With the three of us and our Anti-Magic at the ready, we'll be able to counter any big blasts coming our way!"

"Good idea. And I can use barrier magic as a back up. Zirael, we'll head down there; you and your comrades should stay out here and cut off Terra's escape if she tries to fly back out through the hole." Luz said.

Zirael nodded in agreement and summoned her DCM to contact the Angels she'd sent into the manor so they could come out to join her. She then sent another message ordering all the other Angels she'd left searching the forest to come to Spriggan Manor, and bring the CATTs with them if possible so Terra's lair was surrounded by a huge force. Once those calls were made, the Cursed Trio coated themselves in the black and gold flame-like aura of their Anti-Magic, then dove down into the colossal hole and began descending down to Terra's lair. Luz flew in next and created a massive crystalline barrier beneath her feet, which doubled as something akin to an elevator platform, allowing the Elite CATTs to stand on it as they descended downward.

They weren't descending for long before they reached the underground arena where Eda had first awakened her Harpy Form. The sight of it made Hanu and Raine both shudder, though they (along with Eda and Willow) noticed that it looked a bit more like the Inner Court at Barcarib, as it had likely been turned into the living quarters of Arboriel before she took over the old Plant Temple. Putting this out of their minds, they descended further and found the hole from the old arena to Terra's newer lair was a lot longer than they thought. It was barely within range of Darius' slime teleportation spell, but thankfully "barely within range" was enough. If the worst happened, Darius would be able to get everyone back to the surface in a mere two short trips, and of course Lyra's shadow travel would be helpful too.

When they finally arrived in Terra's lair, the CATTs were shocked by what they found… virtually nothing at all. The lair was little more than a massive empty cavern, with grooves on the ground and along the walls and ceilings that indicated tree roots had once grown over them. There were also many holes dug out of the walls that looked like flowers of some kind had been uprooted, and two tunnels that led to little alcoves. Eda and the Hexsquad quickly examined one of these alcoves while Camila and the others examined the other one, finding the remnants of Terra's bedroom and study. The former had a mattress and bedding, as well as piles of clothes that had just been left in awkward piles on the floor, while the latter had the leather bindings of various books, as well as various tools without handles. In both locations, they also found odd piles of screws, which puzzled most of the group but put Luz on guard.

"Tio Orion said she could absorb plant life to strength herself! If she ate the wood from her furniture, the paper from those books, and the wooden handles from her tools, then she probably got a boost from it all!" she said with a severe frown.

"The hostages aren't here… do you think Terra devoured them too!?" Matt exclaimed, looking a little green at the idea.

"L-Let's not get too morbid yet." Amity said, trying not to let that fear get to her too; "Terra might still be keeping them alive to use as hostages and meat shields, like she did with Arboriel."

"That's right, don't give up hope." Raine said, trying to keep a cheerful smile.

Darius nodded, though he also looked at the grooves on the surface of the cave and frowned; "The way the walls and floor look… It looks like this room was originally dug out and covered with roots, like the arena we passed through a minute ago. If that's the case…"

"…she probably ate all the roots in this place." Alador finished.

The others looked at the sheer size of the room and all the roots that would have coated it and shuddered, dreading how much power Terra would have absorbed from it all. They weren't able to dread for long though, as Lilith's sharp ears heard something falling towards them from the hole they'd just flown down. She warned the others and they all backed up in preparation, only to find the object to be a Fire Melon Cactus… an extremely large Fire Melon Cactus that barely fit down the hole. It landed in the dead centre of the abandoned lair, where the CATTs immediately went pale and backed off; a Fire Melon Cactus of that size would destroy the entire room and could very well kill the people inside it, as well as cave the place in it if was allowed to explode unhindered.

Time seemed to slow as the Cactus began to swell and glow a little as the heat inside it started to build up. Willow could sense the fiery coal-like seeds of Garnet Peppers within it, providing the heat that was about to make it detonate. Everyone began to act at once, with Luz rapidly creating her most powerful barrier around the cactus, while the abomination/homunculi experts in the room covered the barrier with a layer of slime, and Matt and Steve conjured walls of solid earth around it to keep the explosion in. Their defences worked, as the Cactus promptly exploded (with enough force to violently shake the entire room), but the barriers held firm.

Unfortunately, surviving the explosion was only the first step, as the violent tremors taking place in a room that had lost the roots that supported it resulted in it beginning to cave in!

"Not good! Snapdragon's trying to bury us alive!" Raine cried.

"Everyone get close to me!" Darius yelled, preparing his slime warp.

The CATTs did just that, then Darius had them all swallowed up by his slime and warped up to the underground arena far above Terra's lair. The experience was a bit disorienting, but at least it meant they were all safe, and as they emerged from the slime, everyone noticed two things. The first was a faint rumbling far below them as Terra's lair totally caved in, filling in the cavern she'd once dug out. The second was the sound of battle happening above them, putting them all immediately on their guard.

"That freaky weed must have waited until we were underground before revealing herself and attacking the others!" Eda growled, flapping her wings and taking flight. The others either used their own wings or their staves to follow Eda and rush back up through the hole and back to the surface, where they emerged to find a war zone raging.

Zirael, the Wings of Rani she'd brought with her, and all the CATTs and Angels that had managed to arrive in time were now waging war against the very grounds of Spriggan Manor itself, which seemed to have come alive! Every tree and bush on the grounds had been animated as a Treant or Great Treant and were now attacking the CATTs and the Wings of Rani with their roots and claw-like branches, as well as throwing Fire Melon Cacti at them as the explosive plants grew spontaneously all around the battlefield. Not only that, but various other carnivorous plants or wild Botanical Demons (often mistaken for Beast Demons) had appeared and were attacking too!

There were Strangle Weeds, which resembled a tumbleweed made of vines and tried to strangle their prey then force themselves down their deceased prey's throats to use their bodies as seedbeds for more of its species, as well as Fungal Wretches; the corpses of long dead creatures that were being animated by a species of mind-controlling mushroom of the same name, which tried to violently kill any fauna around it to infest their corpse with spores to grow more of itself. Among the Botanical Demons were the Sunflower Mandrakes: a variant of Mandrake with a sunflower for a head and the ability to gather sunlight and fire it back as a beam of magic, and Giant Orchid Mantises, which were larger, demonic variants of the Human Realm's Orchid Mantises.

There were almost too many of these different species of creature to count, and to make a bad situation even worse, Spriggan Manor itself, being largely made from trees, had been transformed into a Titanic Treant, retaining much of its original shape but gaining a literal Titan Skull of white bark on its facade as well as growing eight massive arms, while it's roots sprouted out just beyond the walls of the estate in order to keep its prey from escaping.

"What the heck!? There are so many of them!" Lyra cried in shock.

"W-What do we do!?" Vee cried fearfully, not prepared for something like this.

"We've got no choice but to fight! Mami, Hettie, Hanu, Treble, Vee, Emira, and Viney; you guys go back down to that underground arena and set up a medical camp! Treble can use his powers to take people through the trees to escape the battle when they're injured! The rest of us will fight!" Luz declared.

"Wise, but what about Terra? If she is summoning or creating these things, and absorbing parts of the forest to recharge herself, this'll never end!" Darius said, already conjuring an abomination scimitar and slicing the head off a Bark Mandrake that had run at them.

Luz thought about it for a second while shooting bolts of black lightning at a pair of Greater Treants, then said; "Hunter and Willow; you two will go find Terra! Hunter can use Beast-Keeping Magic to track her down and Willow's Plant Magic can help her figure out where all these monsters are coming from too! Once they've found them, they can call for help and we can come aid them in finishing off that monster!"

The two teens nodded and immediately began preparing to hunt down Terra while the Healer Team retreated back into the underground arena alongside some abominations and homunculi made by Alador and Amity, so they'd have something to protect them as they healed and also an emergency evacuation method via Darius' slime warp if Terra tried to collapse the arena like she had with her lair. At the same time, the rest of the Elite CATTs immediately threw themselves into the thick of battle against the plant monsters.

Luz and Amity, the latter taking on her Fused Form, decided to focus primarily on the Titanic Treant itself, using their powers to hold back and destroy its giant arms with light blades and various explosive spells and combinations that they'd wanted to imitate from the Good Witch Azura. Luz could have simply destroyed the Treant, but as it was made from Spriggan Manor and was thus a historical site, she was reluctant to do so unless absolutely necessary. Thankfully, pruning its arms back wasn't too difficult or magic consuming, so the two girls were able to fight their hardest for quite a while.

Then there was the rest of the Hexsquad still present; Matt, Boscha, and Lyra, who served as the first line of defence for the Healer Team and were being supported by King from the air. They surrounded the hole that led down to it, with Matt creating walls to keep back the largely land-locked plant monsters while also conjuring axes and machetes, which he used to carve the monsters up with enhanced strength. Boscha was in her element, laughing almost maniacally as she unleashed streams of fire while also tossing out Herbicide Potions that were harmless to her allies and the Wings of Rani, but which melted the botanical beasts like acid. Lyra was more reserved, since she couldn't use Shade to help her with the Angels around, instead opting to act as the emergency evacuation system; if she saw someone being injured, she'd send them into the shadows and release them down with the Healer Team, where they could be patched up then send back to the surface through Treble's powers. King flew around in the sky with Zirael and her Angels, using his roar to keep swarms of Mandrakes from overwhelming people and dropping glyph notes where they were needed, as well as pointing out to Lyra when someone out of her line of sight was injured.

The rest of the Elites were working hard too; Eda, Lilith, and Raine dedicated themselves to taking out the larger, Great Treants by using Anti-Magic to decay them quickly, though Raine ended up switching back to their normal form soon after (they'd pushed their blessing and Dhampyr mode to its limits) and was give an extra blessing by the Wings of Rani helping them out, then joined Katya and Derwin in performing various Bardic Songs to strengthen their allies and debilitate the plant monsters. Darius and Alador were creating Abominations to even the odds, and the unusual trio of Edric, Jerbo, and Steve were capturing large numbers of Mandrakes and weaker Treants in Steve's rock barriers, then turning them to their side with Edric's Beast-Keeping skills and Jerbo's plant expertise.

As the others were busy fighting, Willow and Hunter stealthily retreated to an isolated corner of the gardens to begin tracking down Terra. Hunter used a Bestial Blessing to give himself the enhanced sense of smell of a Direwolf, while Willow focused her magic on sensing all the different types of Plant in the surrounding area, hoping to find some Mandragoras. Almost immediately, Willow noticed about 20 different Mandragoras all assembled in the upper levels of the animated Spriggan Manor.

"I think Terra brought her hostages into the manor before turning it into a Treant! Hunter, can you smell anything from it, towards the upper floors?" Willow asked, already turning Clover back into a staff as she prepared to fight.

Hunter closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to pinpoint the smell of Terra, which he'd memorised after the fight in Barcarib. After only a few seconds, he opened them again and nodded; "There are way too many scents to be sure of Terra specifically, but I DO smell Mandragoras from high up inside that thing."

"Then that's where we're going. Luz and Amity are keeping it busy from the front, so let's sneak in from the back!" Willow suggested.

The young man agreed without question and turned Flapjack into a staff too before following Willow around the edge of the estate. They moved as quickly as they could, not daring to use Hunter's flash speed in case he alerted the enemy with the light, and managed to reach the rear gardens of the estate without trouble, whereupon they found spawning grounds for the various monsters that Terra was summoning and sending to the front to fight the others. The sheer number of them was staggering, but the duo were forced to ignore them lest they be drawn into a massive fight that would draw Snapdragon's attention. Using some Invisibility Glyph Notes, Hunter and Willow hid themselves fully as they took to the air and examined the rear of Spriggan Manor, searching for a safe way inside without drawing attention. They were lucky enough to find one of the rear windows on the top floor wide open, though the sight of such a convenient entry point did have both teens on guard.

"How much do you want to wager the conveniently open window is a trap?" Hunter asked.

"I'd say it's certain enough that I don't want to make a bet on it!" Willow replied with a strained smile; "Listen Hunter, let me lead the way. We can't afford for Terra to wound you that badly again."

Hunter frowned; "Captain, I'll be fine. I've survived worse…" his trailed off, his voice failing him as he saw the look of desperation in Willow's eyes, "… but if it makes you feel better, I'll follow your lead. You ARE the Captain after all!"

Willow smiled with relief; "Thank you, Hunter. Now let's go; we need to separate Terra from her hostages and summon Luz and the others to her hiding place!"

The two then flew in through the open window, each of them having a barrier glyph note at the ready just in case they needed to ward off a surprise attack. Thankfully there was no instant attack or even a sure sign that anyone knew they were present, so they continued onward. The inside of Spriggan Manor had changed a lot thanks to the transformation into a Titanic Treant; any décor that had been wooden or otherwise plant-based had been consumed into its interior, while anything it couldn't absorb was left to lay wherever it fell, and the area itself now looked like the inside of a living creature; albeit one made entirely of wood.

Travelling through guts, even those made from vegetation, was still a rather uncomfortable experience, so Willow and Hunter remained on their staves as they flew down the strange pipes that had replaced the old hallways. Strange, fleshy pustules could be seen all over the place, and the old doors to rooms and other parts of the manor had been replaced by opening and closing valves, like those found inside a heart. The teens could barely make heads or tails of what was going on around them and so quickly became lost and confused, only able to keep advancing forward because they had their respective magics locked on to the Mandragoras, who were both deeper in and a little above them. As they travelled deeper and it became clear the Mandragoras were a floor above them, Willow swiftly realised where they were.

"They're in Terra's parlour. It's a personal greenhouse on top of the manor." Willow told Hunter.

"Got it. Can you use that plant detection power you used before to map out this things innards so we can get there?" Hunter asked.

Willow nodded; "I'll try. Let's see here…"

The girl drew a pair of spell circles which caused her eyes to glow green as if she was having a Bile Overload. She then sent out a pulse of Plant Magic, which reacted with the Titanic Treant and her altered vision to allow her to see everything around her as transparent green, letting her see through it all to spot the path to the spiral staircase that led up to the parlour. It, and the room it was in, were noticeably unchanged, as if Terra had excluded it from the spell when turning the manor into a Treant.

"I've got the path. Follow me." Willow said, already feeling her apprehension rise even higher. The unaltered room, the open entrance, and the lack of any kind of defence was making her convinced that this was definitely some kind of trap. Shoving those feelings down though, Willow simply kept her guard up as she flew with Hunter towards the room and arrived at the bottom of the staircase.

"Hunter, Clover, Flapjack; are you three ready for this?" Willow whispered as she looked up at the stairs.

"As I'll ever be." Hunter nodded. Flapjack chirped softly and Hunter translated; "Flap says he's with you too."

Clover then buzzed; "It is long since time that I got justice for my previous partners. While I will never regret coming into your hands my Queen, I still cannot let that traitor go after what she did!"

"I understand, Clover. We'll stop her here and now! Hunter, on my mark." she whispered, irises glowing faintly as her emotions and magic heated up. She then held up her hand and slowly lowered her fingers one by one, silently counting down until she hit zero. Once she did, both she and Hunter flew up into the parlour, ignoring the stairs entirely, bursting into the room and coming face to face with Terra and her hostages.

As with the room below, the parlour was exactly as Willow remembered it from her previous visit to the manor. The only difference was that the dangerous plants that had previously lived here, kept docile with magic, were entirely gone (likely consumed by Terra) and a throne made from a flower was now growing on the west side, facing towards the front lawn and the battle raging outside. The Mandragora hostages were all tied up with vines and brambles in a huge crowd of 20, but horrifyingly, they all looked to have aged about 60 years!

The poor Mandragoras were wizened and dried up, literally appearing to have withered enough to look like little old ladies, albeit with their leaf, petal, and vine hair retaining their colour. Even Arboriel was among these Mandragoras, her gut wound largely healed up but covered in heavy scar tissue. She looked so weak and in pain that despite all she'd done, Willow couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her.

Putting the sight of these poor wretches out of their minds, Willow and Hunter lunged at Terra, only for them to both freeze in their tracks as a sharp spike of wood was suddenly placed against the throat of one of the Mandragora hostages.

"Ah ah ah! None of that!" Terra said, willing her flower throne to turn around so she could see the two teens. Willow and Hunter gasped at the sight of her; they knew she was meant to be a Dragon Priestess now, but they were still shocked by the change. Meanwhile Terra, wielding her stolen staff in one hand and the spike of wood in the other, looked moderately surprised to see these two specifically.

"My my, what interesting luck I have today! I'd left that little entrance open in hopes of taking a hostage to use against the Angels, but it seems I hit the proverbial jackpot!" Terra grinned.

She then tapped the base of her staff on the ground, causing the entire parlour (which had still been made of wood like the rest of the manor) to be absorbed into the body of the Treant, fully transforming and becoming a part of it while also causing the staircase to disappear. Willow and Hunter scowled as their escape route was blocked off, and only scowled more as Terra cast a spell that grew an array of Barrier Birches just outside the parlour and on the roof of the Manor Treant, essentially keeping the teens trapped.

"Snapdragon! I know all about what you've done to your own family and even your mentor! I'm not even surprised you'd turn on Arboriel or torture your own brainwashed minions!" Willow growled, feeling her temper rising. Terra had done too much for Willow to forgive; nearly feeding Hanu to the Bat Beast, brainwashing Raine briefly, badly injuring Hunter twice, and that wasn't even getting into what she'd done to Clover's old family! Willow was nearly overcome with the desire to make her pay!

"Oh, you little fool. You've got no idea what I've done or what I'm capable of. In nature, it is purely survival of the fittest! Adapt or die, with only the most powerful sitting atop the peak of the food chain! That is true for plants as well as beasts." Terra said, shaking her head condescendingly. "But tell you what; I have a little proposition for you; one that will let this whole mess end painlessly. It'll even give you something good for your troubles!"

Willow snarled; "What makes you think I'd want anything from you!?" she demanded.

"Don't decline an offer before you've heard it, brat. Especially as accepting it may be the only way you live to see tomorrow." Terra said threateningly, showing off her very sharp, draconic teeth. "My deal is thus; hand over the Palisman that is rightfully mine and surrender to being a Mandragora in MY court. Do this and I will spare you and your little toy over there, and will even give you the chance to be an actual Mandragora Princess again. I'll forgive your transgressions and all you need to do is sever your bond with that Palisman and hand it over to me."

Willow glared hatefully; "Not a chance! Do you even know my Palisman's name!?"

"I have no need to name my tools!" Terra snapped, "And are you truly going to reject such an offer AGAIN!? The only reason I'm even making the offer is because, like it or not, you're the most powerful Plant Witch I've encountered besides myself and I don't want to waste that power!"

She stood from her throne and took a step towards Willow and Hunter, noticeably moving the wooden spike away from the Mandragora hostages. "You could have power the likes of which you've never known! The Isles would be your personal stomping ground! Once I bend the Divider to my will, I'll even let you keep the Angel Brat as a minion! What possible reason could you have to reject my offer!?"

"Besides basic freaking morals!?" Willow snapped back; "I don't want power! I want to hang out with my friends, I want to spend time with my parents, I want to garden with Clover, I want to show Hunter more of the things I like to do in the Demon Realm, and I want to graduate Hexside as the best Plant Witch they've ever seen! I don't need to be the puppet ruler of some messed up Plant Kingdom, with my strings being pulled by a psychopathic, withered old dragon!"

Willow stepped forward, pointing her staff directly at Terra's face as the furious woman glared back at her. "Because let me tell you, I've seen what happens to people who mindlessly pursue their own power! It's not worth it!"

Terra growled and opened her mouth to scream some furious retort, but Hunter used her distraction as an opportunity to flash behind her, getting between her and the Mandragora Hostages, then kicking her in the back, sending her staggering towards Willow. The young Witch, ready for this, lunged forward at the same time and threw her fist back, coating it in bark before slamming it into Terra's face with great force. Terra cried out in pain as she was knocked to the ground, while Willow hopped over her and stood beside Hunter as they both fired blasts of magic from the staves at her. However, Terra had kept a grip on her own staff and used it to conjure another Barrier Birch between her and them, protecting her from their blasts.

"You gave us an offer Snapdragon, so we'll make a counteroffer! Surrender now and be arrested, or be arrested later after we all kick the stuffing out of you!" Willow demanded.

"You don't stand a chance against the combined forces of the CATTs, the Wings of Rani, and the Mandragoras that slipped free of your control! Just give up!" Hunter added, his staff crackling with electricity as he prepared to zip around the Barrier Birch to attack Terra from behind.

Terra shook her head and fully got back to her feet, placing her hand against the floor of the parlour and draining some magic from the Titanic Treant in order to regenerate the damage done by Willow's fist.

"It looks like no one on this forsaken corpse knows what's good for them! Fine then; I was holding off until I had enough of a feast to ensure I'd never be defeated, but I think my plate is full enough already. You wanted to anger a Dragon, you misbegotten parasites? Well then; you've got what you wanted!"

At Terra's words, the entirety of Spriggan Manor began to shake as the Treant it had become roared in what sounded like both pain and rage. Willow and Hunter both hopped onto their staves to avoid being knocked around by the tremors, while the poor Mandragora hostages were not so lucky, instead finding themselves weakly whimpering as they shook in their bindings. The shaking culminated in something absolutely massive ripping its way out from the bowels of the manor and through the roof, where it then rested on the bark roof tiles just outside Snapdragon's parlour. It was the green skull of a colossal dragon, which thanks to Orion and Luz, they now knew was an Arbor Lindwurm. The skull, still attached to the rest of the skeleton, must have been moved into Spriggan Manor by Terra, then yanked up with roots until it breached the rooftop. The skeleton was left hanging up via vines as if it were a museum peace, but Willow also noticed that a Restraining Rafflesia was growing inside some soil left within it's mouth.

Before she could do anything about it, Terra shot a powerful blast of green magic at the two teens, forcing them to dodge at the last minute and giving Terra the opening she needed to grow another of the Rafflesia flowers and jump into it, using it as a portal to reach the mouth of the Dragon Skull.

"Thank you, my foolish little dears. You've brought me the perfect feast I need to fully unleash my new power! Now you'll get to be the first ones to witness the power of the new Empress of the Demon Realm!" Terra boasted, throwing her arms out wide as she conjured a massive number of vines to connect her to the Mandragoras in her parlour as well as to Spriggan Manor itself. Then, to the horror of Hunter and Willow, the manor began to wither as the Titanic Treant shrieked in pain, it's essence being sucked not only into Terra, but also into the Dragon Skeleton she'd connected herself too.

Desperately, Hunter and Willow tried to break out of the parlour, but the stairs back down were still sealed off, and the Barrier Birches that Terra had grown around the Parlour made escaping through it next to impossible. With enough time, Willow could use her Plant Magic to overcome the birches and wither them, but at the rate Terra was devouring the manor, they'd both be consumed along with it long before she could pull it off!

"We've got no choice! We're getting out of here the hard way!" Hunter declared, before using Flapjack to cast the Wild Heart Spell to transform into his more bestial state. He then used Flapjack to charge his free hand/claw with lightning magic, then punched downward into the ground beneath him. With the Manor being slowly drained of its vitality, the floor beneath them was weakening just enough that his lightning-imbued blow was able to smash open a hole, which after a few more blows was big enough for Hunter (returning to his normal form) and Willow to jump down.

They each then urgently grabbed some of the Mandragoras, picking up the youngest, frailest, and lightest ones they could and tossing them over their shoulders and their staves. Thankfully, both Willow and Hunter were quite strong, enabling them to carry three Mandragoras each, though they also had to use Hunter's lightning halberd spell to cut the vines connecting them to Terra. The other Mandragoras, including Arboriel herself, actually helped them by handing the youngest Mandragoras over, essentially sacrificing themselves as they knew the teens wouldn't be able to make a return journey.

As each of the teens were laden with three withered Mandragoras, they nodded to the remaining ones and promised to rescue them too if they were able, before Willow created an armoured shell around them made from a new Grafted Plant: The Iron Barrier Birch. This combined the metallic yet flexible Iron Vines with the barrier producing power of the Barrier Birch to create a kind of metallic birch tree which could wrap its flexible, tentacle-like branches around something to protect it from damage with its durable bark, as well as produce an internal barrier to further protect them. This would hopefully protect the Mandragoras from being totally consumed, especially as Willow then dumped some herbicide potions on the barriers; the potion couldn't leak through the barrier to effect the Iron Barrier Birches, but it would hopefully stop Terra's plants from trying to do the same.

With the Mandragoras as protected as they could be, the teens promptly fled, racing down the hole Hunter had made earlier to get out of the parlour. They flew as fast as they could through the shrinking and withering innards of the Treant, trying to ignore the sound of the creature's growls and screeches while evading the bursting of the strange pustules, which contained who knows what. They quickly got back to the entrance they'd come in through, only to find that the shrinking of the manor had caused it to be sealed shut, and while Hunter did try to rip it open with a lightning bolt and then a blast of golden fire (delivered via glyph notes since Flapjack was busy flying with four passengers), the damage done was not nearly enough to get them through it and with the area shrinking too fast to risk staying, the teens were forced to do a tight u-turn and fly back the other way.

"What do we do!?" Hunter yelled.

"The only other way out is through this thing's mouth! If it can still roar like this then we must be able to get through!" Willow yelled back.

The two flew through the ever tightening innards of the Spriggan Manor Treant, dodging roots and other protrusions that began to rip out of the walls, and rushed for the Treant's mouth as fast as they could, really flexing the flying skills they'd honed with Flyer Derby. It took all their skills and focus, and more than a little luck and quick thinking, but the pair managed to reach the foyer of Spriggan Manor, which had become the Titanic Treant's mouth. From there, Hunter zapped the ground with a quick bolt of lightning to make the Treant scream, allowing them to fly out immediately, just barely clearing its jaws before they slammed shut behind them. They flew out over the battle happening on the front lawn, which was rapidly becoming littered with the corpses of plant monsters, and breathed a brief sigh of relief.

"That was way too close! Like Captain Avery getting the ship out of the Oligarch's Sun Sapper super weapon after planting the charge in the main reactor!" Hunter panted as he checked to make sure his three Mandragora passengers were okay (which aside from feeling a little air sick, they thankfully were).

"Let's just be glad the manor didn't explode like the Sun Sapper… though I think it might be about to implode!" Willow gasped, turning back at looking at the Manor as it continued to shrivel up and be sucked into the Dragon Skeleton inside it, which was now glowing a bright enough green that it was only a silhouette.

The two's attention was suddenly drawn away from the manor by Luz, who began singing the Human Song: Counting Stars, and casting it as a bardic spell, having summoned a little band of Homunculi to play slime instruments while she sang. The result was even more potent that when Skara first used it, producing a massive swirling maelstrom of golden stars in the sky above the manor, which then came swarming down to hit the plant monsters, ripping through them like bullets and wiping them all out. It meant that for a few minutes at least, the battle on the front lawn was over whilst the next wave of monsters grew in the backyard, and that in turn gave the CATTs and Wings of Rani a chance to regroup, especially since the Spriggan Manor Treant had retracted its roots, allowing the rest of their forces in the Navel Woods to enter the grounds and help them out.

Luz, stopping her song, panted a little; "Phew! Skara was not kidding! Human songs turned into Bardic ones are really magic intensive!" Still, Luz was a Seraphim and had a lot of magic to burn, so she caught her breath quickly and flew up to Willow and Hunter, alongside the Cursed Trio.

"Guys, what's happening with Terra and the manor?" she asked.

"Terra is absorbing it into the Dragon Skeleton she took from Barcarib! I think she's gonna use it to take on her full Dragon form!" Willow explained.

Luz, Eda, Raine, and Lilith all scowled, and were joined a moment later by Amity, who'd been briefly called away and returned with a report. "We have a problem; Treble just reported that he and the Healer Team have had to flee the underground arena and travel back to the Snapdragon Estate via his tree transportation." the current Cat-Amity said urgently. "Apparently the roots that made up the arena began shrinking as well as trying to consume them."

"It is made from Spriggan Manor's roots, so that's not a surprise." Hunter frowned.

"Are they all safe?" Luz asked.

"Yes. They've put up a massive barrier around the estate to protect it from whatever Terra is doing, so they should be fine." Amity replied.

They all sighed with relief as Lilith said; "That's good. But it looks like trying to preserve the manor is a lost cause. We should combine our powers to destroy it before it's too later!"

They all turned back to Spriggan Manor and saw that it had largely lost it's original shape AND it's Treant aspects. Instead it now looked like a single giant tree that had grown into the rough shape of a very lumpy serpentine dragon. Unfortunately, this also meant the parlour was completely consumed and Willow could barely sense her Iron Barrier Birches. She knew they were still there and that the Mandragoras were likely safe, however she couldn't sense their exact location amidst the raw power of Terra's forming dragon body.

"We can't just destroy it!" she said reluctantly; "The other hostages are still inside! At least 12 of them, not including Arboriel."

"Will they even still be alive after being eaten by that thing?" Eda asked.

"Willow made something to protect them, so they'll be fine." Hunter answered. He didn't actually know for certain, but he had complete faith in Willow (something that made the girl blush and smile).

"Against the inside of the Dragon at least. Against a force strong enough to destroy the dragon? Not likely." Willow added.

"Then what should we-" Raine began, only to be cut off Derwin flying up to them.

"Ma, something weird is happening! The grounds themselves are eating the dead plants and trying to absorb people!"

Sure enough, they looked down and saw every scrap of vegetation within the Spriggan Manor estate beginning to wither and be sucked into the ground, with roots creeping out of the soil to grab the creatures that had died on the stone pathways. These roots also tried to capture the Angels, Witches, and Demons, but they all either took to the air with their staves or wings, or were picked up by others. To make matters even worse, even the trees just outside the estate began to get sucked up as the Dragon Tree grew larger and larger, easily eclipsing the size of the other three Supreme Dragons.

"Terra will eat the whole forest at this rate! We need to cut her off!" Luz cried; "Amity, you and I will use light beams to burn a perimeter around the place and try to cut off her connection to the rest of the forest! Mom, Tia Lily; you two use your Anti-Magic to destroy as much plant-life inside the estate as possible! Everyone else, begin evacuating the area and preparing for a dragon battle!"

"GOT IT!" the others yelled as one, immediately jumping to follow her orders. Even the Wings of Rani began working to obey her, seeing as she was technically the highest ranked Angel in the Demon Realm at the moment and the only Seraphim they (sort of) still respected, seeing as she was the Heroine of Paradise.

The first step went quickly, with Raine rallying Zirael and Darius, who in turn rallied the Wings of Rani and the CATTs as they retreated beyond the limits of the estate, occasionally destroying plants as they went to reduce how much Terra could absorb with her enhanced powers. Once the estate was clear of everyone except Luz, Amity, Eda, and Lilith, the former two kissed one another then began to fly in opposite directions, until they reached the part of the Navel Woods that was just beyond where Terra's power had reached. They then unleashed a massive light blast into the ground, burning deeply enough pierce the Titan Earth entirely and hit the bone beneath it, where Terra's roots wouldn't be able to penetrate. Once they'd done this, they flew in a massive circle around the estate, carving a burning trench with their light and cutting off Terra's ability to spread her roots further beyond the estate. When they finally each reached the place that the other had started their beams, Luz and Amity flew back to each other and signalled to their Moms to being the process our scouring the Spriggan Manor grounds with Anti-Magic flames.

Eda immediately began cackling with delight as she released huge waves of Anti-Magic, starting with the very edge of the area and working her way inward. At the same time, Lilith rolled her eyes at her chaotic, pyromaniac sister and began shooting feathers ignited with Anti-Magic at the larger Treant corpses being consumed, along with the spawning gardens in the rear of the estate. As she watched her big sister use her own harpy power, Eda couldn't help but notice that she, Raine, and Lilith all had different approaches to how they used Anti-Magic. Lilith was clever and reserved, making up for her limited amount of power by creating intense, precision strikes instead of massive, unfocused ones. Raine combined theirs with Bardic Magic, letting its effects travel via sound imbued with magic, rather than simply letting it burn through whatever was in their path. By contrast, Eda's use was unrestrained and wild, but made up for it by having the most power! Eda could output almost twice the amount of Anti-Magic that Lilith and Raine could, likely due to having the true Owl Beast within her.

Eda and Lilith soon found their powers waning though, as Anti-Magic consumed almost all of their blessing from Luz, leaving them unable to maintain their harpy modes and forcing them to rest on their staves.

"Good job Mom, Tia Lily!" Luz smiled as she flew over to the panting sisters; "Give me a minute and I'll restore your magic with a blessing."

"Alright, but only this once! We can't afford for you to be exhausted too." Lilith said as Amity fussed over her.

"Lily is right; you've used up a lot of magic already today and even if you recharge with potions, your body is still becoming fatigued!" Eda agreed, gently pinching Luz's cheek as her daughter gave her a Divine Blessing.

Luz's first instinct was to argue and say she was fine, but when she actually stopped and thought about it, she knew her Mom and Tia were right; her body was becoming fatigued and even potions and spells to alleviate it would rapidly lose their effectiveness if she overused them.

"Alright. This'll be the last blessing I give you both today, barring any emergencies." Luz agreed.

Eda ruffled her hair proudly, and Amity beamed too. She was about to praise her Batata (reinforcing her new healthy habits was something she loved to do) but before she could, an impossibly loud and ear-splitting roar filled the air, drawing all attention back to the Spriggan Manor Estate… or rather, what remained of it. The entire area within the burning trench that Luz and Amity had created had now been reduced to a blackened wasteland of dead earth and stone, with only a few piles of detritus laying about; the remnants of things that couldn't be absorbed by Terra. As for the giant mass of wood it had all been flooding into; in a flash of sickly green light, it transformed from a Dragon Tree to a Tree Dragon, or as it was more accurately known, an Arbour Lindwurm.

"Oh Titan…! She's massive!" Luz exclaimed, taking in the sheer enormity of Terra's dragon form. She was more than three times the length and thickness of Zara the Ice Wyrm, and easily large enough to grab most buildings and chew them up like little treats! She was so large that the original form of Spriggan Manor would about the size of a backpack for the colossal Lindwurm.

As a Lindwurm, Terra's dragon form was incredibly long and serpentine, but with numerous pairs of legs running down the central third of the length of her body, while the first third was her neck and the rear third was her tail. She had no wings or means of flying, but she was so long that she really didn't need it in most cases, as flying high enough to escape her reach without freezing or passing out from the cold, thin air would be almost impossible. Her body also appeared to be made up of various forms of plant-life; her scales were all a sickly green and shaped like leaves, covering her back and sides, while her underbelly was a series of pale bark plates that just barely overlapped one another. The dividing line between her scales and underbelly made up of dark reddish brown thorns, and each of the forearms/calves of her many limbs had long green blades on them that resembled blades of grass. Similar grass-like blades ran down her spine, each of them having variable and non-uniform lengths and ending in a tail that looked like a giant razor sharp dandelion leaf. Then there was her head, which somewhat resembled a crocodile's but with much longer fangs and a slightly thicker snout, which also included even larger fangs at the very front, giving her an uneven overbite and under-bite. Her eyes were mostly the same, only with slitted pupils and slightly yellowed sclera with green bloodshot veins along the edges, and her snout had long, moustache like vines whipping around on the end, similar to the whiskers Zara had. Finally, her horns had become more even and now resembled symmetrical deer antlers made of reddish brown wood that actually looked almost black unless the sun hit them right.

With another monstrous roar, Terra began to look around and try to spot her enemies, before realising she was just too big to reliably use her vision on such small creatures, instead detecting them with her enhanced sense of smell.

"Ah, there you are. You petty creatures are naught but insects to me now! Face my mighty form and kneel!" Terra bellowed, speaking so loudly that the air expelled from her mouth nearly blew the quartet back.

"Ugh, great! Now she's got a big head both figuratively AND literally!" Luz complained.

Terra sneered down at the Seraphim and breathed hard through her nostrils, releasing a gust of wind that blew the group back in further, at least until Luz used her Wind Magic to counter it. "Be careful, little Seraphim. Once I turn you into a Mandragora, I will be deciding your place in my court! Anger me, and you'll live your life as a chambermaid, or perhaps as a caged bird who can do nothing but sing at my command! But I am feeling magnanimous; I will not offer any more thrones or crowns, but if you surrender I will at least turn your Angel Mother and this odd little cat-brat into Mandragoras too. This is your only- ARGH!"

The Dragon's words were cut off by both Amity and Luz, who mentally communicated thanks to King's incomplete glyph, and coordinated a powerful light blast aimed at Terra's snout. The blast badly burnt her nose and made her recoil in pain, before suddenly spinning in place, whipping her massively long tail at the four flying ladies. She moved shockingly fast for something so big, and Luz wasn't expecting it, so she only barely managed to put up a barrier in time to stop it. Of course, it was also so fast that Luz hadn't been able to brace herself, so she and her barrier, as well as the others in there with it were sent smashing into the forest a good distance from Spriggan Manor. Amity filled the barrier with homunculus slime to act as an airbag before they hit the ground, so at least they weren't hurt, but this didn't last long as Terra bounded after them. She was so massive that she could run from one end of the Navel Woods to the other in just a few minutes at top speed, so she was on top of them in mere seconds and already bearing down on them with one of her colossal feet. Luz reinforced the barrier and hardened Amity's slime, so Terra slamming her foot down on them was the equivalent of stepping on a marble for her.

Terra growled in annoyance at the discomfort, and the barrier was pushed into the dirt, at least before Amity and Luz synchronised their magic to warp the slime out of the barrier and shape it into a giant light glyph with the barrier in the dead centre. The girls then shot a synchronized beam of gold and pink light out of the barrier, using its crystalline surface like a magnifying glass to further enhance the beam as well as to activate the glyph, which further enhanced the beam yet further, until it blasted up with enough force to vaporise the leg Terra had just stomped on them with. The mighty Arbor Lindwurm screeched in pain and fury, then jumped back and began using her vine whiskers to snatch up huge swathes of the woods and absorb them, stealing their life force to regenerate.

Luz kept the barrier up as she flew out of the hole they'd been stomped into, while Eda, Lilith, and Amity looked on in horror as Terra's damaged nose and missing leg were completely regenerated.

"This is a problem! We need to get her away from the forest, before she devours the whole place to heal!" Lilith cried.

"We need to find where in her body the hostages are too! If we blast away at it all willy-nilly then we might kill the Mandragoras still trapped inside her!" Luz added. Arboriel was one thing, but the others were just brainwashed victims!

Terra wasn't about to give them long to plan though, as she suddenly opened her mouth and revealed a green glow in her gullet, which promptly released a whole barrage of seeds directly at them, firing them like a literal machine gun barrage. The barrage would have overwhelmed and destroyed a lesser barrier, but thankfully Luz's Seraphic Barrier was strong enough to ward it off, and even revealed the shape of the seeds as they bounced off… or rather, the shoots.

"These look kind of like… bamboo?" Luz muttered, confused by the odd looking shoots.

Upon hearing that, Eda and Lilith both gasped and the former even yelled; "Brace from below!"

She shouted that at the right moment, as it gave Luz just enough time to brace the barrier from attacks from below, before the shoots that had hit the ground beneath them suddenly sprouted and shot up, producing a miniature forest of vibrant green and silver bamboo stalks, which completely boxed them in and promptly tied themselves together with their leaves.

"What are these!?" Luz cried.

"Bulwark Bamboo!" Eda answered; "They're a kind of Bamboo that binds itself together with others of its species to produce nearly impenetrable walls and shields that can even resist magic! These plants are usually only found in the far east though!"

Terra cackled, her voice carrying far and wide thanks to how large and loud she was now; "I am not limited by region! While I have yet to master the growth of Divine Realm Plants, I am able to grow anything and everything in the Demon Realm! At least so long as it is possible to grow with magic!" she then inhaled deeply, making green light emerge from her throat and from between her scales; "Allow me to demonstrate what else I can do! If a Mandragora can make more Mandragoras, then a Dragon can grow more Dragons!"

She then roared, spewing out a massive number of large seeds, each of which was about the size of Luz or Amity. They hit the ground and began to rapidly mature, sucking the life out of the trees and foliage around them and then hatching into Seed Drakes and Rotwood Dragons. The Seed Drakes looked like horse-sized green dragons that lacked wings, with scales that looked a little like green pistachio shells and spines that looked like grass, similar to Terra. Roughly 50 of each type of Lesser Dragon had been spawned and began rampaging through the woods, heading towards the Snapdragon Estate and everyone who'd evacuated there. The effort of creating so many of these plant-based dragons out of raw magic had shrunken Terra by about 20%, but that wasn't enough to stop her entirely, since she'd consumed so much power from Spriggan Manor (which was rich in Plant Magic) and the surrounding woods.

"No! The others!" Amity cried.

"Dang it, the Bulwark Bamboo is growing around the barrier too tightly! I can't budge it! I'll need to drop it!" Luz scowled.

"If you drop it, the bamboo will grow up from beneath us and skewer us." Lilith frowned; "We need another way!"

Eda grinned; "Leave that to me! We'll make this bamboo work for us!"

With that, she signalled for Luz to drop the barrier, and the young Seraphim obeyed. Instantly, Eda created a new, disc-shaped barrier directly beneath them, so when Luz's barrier was gone and the bamboo beneath them began to rapidly grow upward, it smashed into Eda's barrier and turned it into a launch pad, both protecting them from the points of the bamboo and also shooting them upward. It was almost like being launched out of a bamboo cannon, and the four ladies soon emerged from within it and immediately began flying towards Snapdragon Estate to back up the others.

However, as they got close to the estate, Luz began to get a bad feeling. Terra was just watching them and the fight happening at the Estate, as the Wings of Rani and CATTs had the barrier around it lowered so they could rush out and fight back against the plant dragons. The dragons outnumbered them, but only by a small margin, and the Angels and CATTs were fighting hard and seemed to be doing well, so it didn't look like something Terra would watch so keenly, just for some kind of sadistic pleasure.

Unbeknownst to Luz, Willow (who was in the thick of the fighting along with the rest of the Hexsquad), noticed this too. She also noticed how Terra was very slowly inhaling over a long amount of time without exhaling at all, making her believe some kind of breath attack was imminent. But then, Willow decided to use her Plant Sight Magic to detect all plant matter in the area, like she'd done in the Trial of Life and inside the Manor earlier, and swiftly gasped as she noticed a familiar reddish pollen-like material leaking from the corners of Terra's mouth.

Willow figured out what it was just in the nick of time, and promptly turned and screamed; "PHEROMONES! PUT UP THE BARRIER!"

Immediately, Hettie gasped and began raising the barrier just as Terra, whose eyes narrowed in annoyance, decided to unleash her attack early, breathing out a massive cloud of red Mandragora Pheromones. Luz, having heard the warning, had just enough time to put a barrier around herself, Eda, Lilith, and Amity to ensure they didn't breathe it, while Willow was able to grab Matt (who'd been fighting right beside her) and toss him further into the estate so he'd be protected by the barrier. Similarly, Hunter grabbed Lyra in one arm and Boscha in the other and flashed towards Hettie too, ensuring they'd all be safe from the pheromones. At the very last moment, Vee was also able to use her limited Water Magic to create a tendril of water to grab King and drag him in close too, just before the barrier went up, which was half a second before the pheromone cloud swept over them.

The healing team of Camila, Vee, Hettie, Emira, and Viney had been saved, as had King and everyone in the Hexsquad except for Willow, as well as a dozen Angels and CATTs. However the others had not been so lucky; the BATTs, Raine, Alador, Darius, Edric, Jerbo, Treble, and Hanu had all been caught in the pheromones along with the rest of their forces, including Zirael. This resulted in them all entering a strange haze as their minds were overcome by Terra's will. They naturally stopped fighting the Lesser Dragons (which were noticeably effected too, despite already being under Terra's control) and looked up in reverence at the Arbor Lindwurm, who smirked down on them.

"Ah, while I missed a few, I did bring the lion's share under my control! Well, my little buds; bring me the rest of your cohorts so they might join my garden! Then we shall go forth and spread across the Isles!" Terra bellowed.

"Yes Empress Snapdragon!" they all said as one, before turning to the barrier around Snapdragon Estate or the one around Luz, Eda, Lilith, and Amity. The Angels began flying up to attack Luz's group, while the others joined with the dragons to try and get through the estate barrier, all while Terra cackled with insane glee, believing her plan had just ensured her victory… at least until a cage of Iron Vines suddenly grew over the top of the estate barrier and a loud sonic burst knocked many of the Angels out of the sky.

The free members of the CATTs gasped in shock as Willow and Raine both burst out of the brainwashed crowds, completely in control of themselves.

"Willow! Titi!" Luz exclaimed in joy.

"They're free!" Amity beamed.

Down in the barrier, Hettie grinned; "My inoculation must have protected them! Of course it did; Terra's pheromones were cured by Alador's gas bombs, so it only makes sense my inoculation would work against her too!"

"Thank the Titan for that! It means Boscha and I can go out there and help too!" Hunter declared. He then turned to his sister and said; "Send the two of us out there via the shadows. This barrier won't hold up to an army AND Terra!"

Lyra nodded, but before she could send him out, Hettie yelled; "Wait a moment! Let me take a blood sample from each of you! That way our healing team can use it to work on making more inoculations! With a sample of inoculated blood, we should be able to replicate the effects a lot faster!"

"And try to bring us Treble and Edric too! If we cure those two first, we'll be able to mass produce more of the Anti-Pheromone Gas!" Emira added. She was going to say to get her Dad too, but wasn't confident that would go well with how strong he was; the healing team might not be able to contain him, especially with Camila stuck maintaining the barrier (though Matt and King were now helping with their reinforcement magic and barrier glyphs).

"Got it. Here!" Boscha yelled, snapping her fingers and summoning a large cauldron and a set of potioneer's tools; "These will help, and it's not like I can use them in a fight anyway!"

The Healing Team yelled their thanks, then Lyra sent Boscha and Hunter into the shadows and shot them out again as close as possible to Treble and Edric, with Hunter grabbing the former (due to having no magic) and conjuring chains to bind his arms and gag him, while Boscha used a Paralysis Abomi-Potion to leave Edric unable to move. These restraints let Lyra suck the two of them into the shadows and pull them out inside the barrier, so Hunter and Boscha could rush to reunite with Willow, Raine, and Luz's group.

Luz's group were flying around in Luz's barrier, trying to evade Terra's tail swipes and bites as she tried to smash the barrier and expose them to the pheromones, but that soon stopped when Hunter shot a massive lightning bolt at one of Terra's eyes, destroying it and making her shriek in pain and agony, then retreat to regenerate it by eating more trees. This bought the CATTs a moment to rendezvous and figure out what they were going to do next.

Lilith panicked a little; "This is becoming a huge problem! If Terra leaves the forest with those pheromones, EVERYONE on the isles is at risk! All she has to do is breathe on them and they'll become our enemy! Can you imagine the chaos if she reaches Cartilia and infects Zara and Lars? Or Godric over in Palm Stings!? Not to mention the disaster of infecting Samael if he's still on the isles and not hiding on Digale!"

"And the two of us can't leave this bubble!" Eda scowled.

"Actually, you might be able to! If you coat yourselves with Anti-Magic and don't use any other magic, you might be able to fight physically without being infected." Amity theorised; "And if I switch to slime mode, I should be okay too since my body will be made of pure homunculus goo."

"If that's the case, then Luz should fight Terra while the rest of us try to contain her brainwashed minions." Willow suggested.

The others were about to agree, and Luz even gave Raine a new blessing so they could retake their Dhampyr Form, but before any of them could go further, Terra came roaring back, lunging at them with her mouth wide open to try and swallow them all whole. Amity took her slime form, and the Clawthorne Sisters coated themselves in Anti-Magic to protect themselves as Luz dropped the barrier and they all scattered, though not before Boscha unleashed a massive blast of fire down Terra's gullet, making her roar turn into a scream. However even with such a huge blast, Terra was so large that it was like a snake eating a lit match; enough to hurt but nothing too serious.

"Wretched Parasite!" Terra roared, whipping her vine whiskers at Boscha and nearly knocking her out of the air.

"Ironic coming from you! At least Boscha decided to stop being a terrible person, instead of doubling down on it!" Willow growled, making Boscha feel a little bit warm inside as her former victim conjured a massive tree in the shape of a fist in order to punch Terra. She succeeded in hitting her hard enough to knock out a few teeth and even dislocate her jaw, giving the Anti-Magic Trio a chance to fly down to begin trying to hold back the brainwashed hordes. Luz and Amity then combined their magic to create a massive light sword from the end of Stringbean's staff, which they used to neatly slice off several legs on her left side, leaving her lopsided and flailing. Hunter used her unbalance to fire a massive lightning bolt at her too, but her wooden body didn't conduct the electricity very well, so all he managed was some superficial damage to her scales.

Terra roared in pain and fury, purposefully being loud enough that everyone on the Isles was able to hear her, which also meant the teens fighting her were forced back by the sheer volume. This gave her a chance to begin biting and devouring Willow's giant wooden fist, using it to regenerate her broken jaw and restore the fangs and legs she'd lost without shrinking too much. Once she was healed, she roared once again and this time unleashed a massive deluge of green acid that could reduce flesh to liquid in a matter of seconds. It was similar to the acid that Arboriel had threatened Amity with, so it had no effect on plant life; only animals and people. Willow and Luz were able to protect them all with barriers of conjured plants, but the deluge was so big that some of it began splattering towards the brainwashed hordes. A few people were burned by the acid, making them scream and causing Luz to gasp and turn to them in horror. Seeing this, Terra grinned cruelly and intentionally released an acid breath attack directly at her own minions, knowing the Seed Drakes and Rotwood Dragons would be fine, but that the brainwashed innocents would be killed.

Naturally, Luz couldn't allow this and used her own lightning flash to zip between the innocents and the acid, then cast a spell to let her manipulate liquid, directing the acid away from Terra's would-be victims and over into the trench she and Amity had made earlier. Terra didn't let up though, and Willow didn't want to make more plants for Terra to consume, so Amity instead tried to clog Terra's nostrils with homunculus goo so she had to stop her acid breath in order to inhale, while Boscha whipped together a short-lived Super-Sizing Syrup to shove down Hunter's throat, allowing him to enter his Wild Heart form and grow to half the size of Terra, whereupon he delivered a fierce uppercut that shut her mouth quickly. Hunter ended up burning his hand a little on some of the acid, but between his punch and Amity's goo clogging up her nose, Terra was forced to stop her Acid attack and recoil, before scurrying to the centre of the forest to get some space in which to regenerate and clear her nose, something she did by making herself sneeze, which also launched homunculus slime at Luz's group. Amity dispersed it before it could hit them though, and Luz was now able to safely return to their side, where she could heal Hunter after his short-lived growth spurt ended.

This didn't last for long though, as the reason Terra fled to the middle of the Navel Woods soon became clear as her entire body began to glow as she released huge waves of Plant Magic, shrinking herself down until she was roughly the same size as Zara the Ice Wyrm had been, but using all that expended power to conjure a monstrous army of Treants and Mandrakes, all of whom had conspicuous red buds on them, which appeared to be full of liquid. The young CATTs were willing to wager anything that the red liquid was more of Terra's pheromones, and the size of the army (which was easily a few thousand strong) painted a very unsettling picture.

"My Treants and Mandrakes! Go forth and spread across the Boiling Isles! Bring all that live under my command! May the reign of Empress Terra Snapdragon begin!" Terra ordered, sending her minions out.

The horde of plant monsters fled for the borders of the Navel Woods, heading in every direction in numbers that were far too great for the few uncontrolled CATTs to counter, and far too spread out for even big attacks to wipe them all out! Having no choice, Luz turned to the others and said; "We can't let them out of the Navel Woods or the entire Boiling Isles will become a war zone! I can put up a barrier to keep them in, but it'll take me out of the fight!"

"If I use a Power Glyph or two, I can probably make enough Homunculi to fight back and thin Terra's numbers too! But that still leaves Terra!" Amity added.

Willow, Hunter, and Boscha exchanged looks; the Anti-Magic Trio were busy trying to hold back the brainwashed and the plant dragons, and they were a much better fit for defeating people without doing a lot of harm to them, so the teens really were the only ones left to deal with Terra. They nodded at each other with determination and turned back to Luz and Amity.

"Let us handle her." Willow declared; "She's smaller now, and if we don't give her a chance to absorb plant life, she won't be able to get bigger! We can do this!"

"Yeah; you were able to fight Lars on your own back when you were an Arch-Angel, so the three of us together should be able to handle a lowlife like Terra if we're smart." Boscha grinned, cracking her knuckles in eager anticipation of some payback against the woman that had handed over Amelia to Arboriel!

"Leave it to us, Luz! You and Amity stop the army, we'll stop the "Empress". Toppling self-proclaimed rulers is becoming a hobby at this point!" Hunter grinned, using a Bestial Blessing of Griffin wings to fly so that he could keep Flapjack free for spell casting.

Luz and Amity smiled at them, both clearly worried but also having faith in their friends. They didn't have time to linger for much longer, so they simply nodded and began to fly off, shouting "We believe in you!" as they went.

Terra saw them flying away, but since she was now a lot smaller, they were able to fly out of her reach quickly, with Amity using a barrier of pink light to stop Terra's attempt at another spray of bullet-like seeds. Once she reached the perfect altitude, Luz prepared to cast her barrier, briefly debating if she should us her Seraphic Art or not, before ultimately deciding against it; she had no idea when she'd next need to fight and didn't want to keep returning to the Divine Realm for recharges from the Thrones. Instead she pulled out a bottle of Ambrosia and chugged it down, then used her Power Glyph to massive boost her magic. Once her magic was as high as she could make it, Luz unleashed the largest barrier spell she could, creating a golden and crystalline barrier that covered 90% of the Navel Woods and completely trapped Terra's army of minions just in the nick of time, ensuring that they couldn't escape to infect more people with pheromones and that CATTs or Angel reinforcements couldn't enter the forest and get taken over either. Luz was forced to remain in place and focus all her strength to keep the barrier going as Terra's minions pounded away at it, but at least she was on the outside and safe from direct attacks herself.

Once the barrier was up, Terra snarled in anger only to immediately be hit in the back of the head by a giant fireball courtesy of Boscha, who'd been warped behind her by Hunter. She turned her attention on the three teens, leaving Amity able to sneak back over to the desolated remains of the Spriggan Manor grounds and use her own Ambrosia and Power Glyph to create a massive amount of homunculus slime, creating almost 1000 autonomous soldiers before she ran out of energy and was forced to stop, lest she lose the magic needed to maintain her slime form and prevent the pheromones from working on her. Thankfully, since her homunculi were autonomous and obedient only to Amity, she was able to order them to go out and attack the Treants and Mandrakes, focusing on destroying their buds full of pheromones before anything else.

Almost immediately, the entire forest became a total war zone, with an army of plant monsters battling an army of homunculi (all of whom looked a little like slime versions of Luz, minus the wings), a significantly smaller army of brainwashed Angels, Demons, and Witches trying to get through the Snapdragon Estate barrier in order to attack the people inside, backed up by a small horde of Seed Drakes and Rotwood Dragons, and opposed only by a trio of Anti-Magic wielding Witches, who were being supported by Lyra and her shadow tendrils, which were the only way she could attack from the other side of the barrier. It was complete and utter pandemonium, to the point that it wasn't immediately obvious which side was winning!

Terra the Arbor Lindwurm glared at the fighting as she tried to absorb some trees to heal the wound on the back of her head, but Willow, Hunter, and Boscha were not about to let her get away with that and kept up a relentless assault. They focused primarily on her head and her extremities and avoided the majority of her core body, as they weren't sure where the Mandragoras were inside her; Terra's own life force and magic interfered with any methods they used to try and detect them within her body, so they had no choice but to be careful. Even the attacks on her head were meant to knock her out rather than do lasting damage, as if they could render her unconscious, they would win!

"Pesky little gnats! Stay still and die!" Terra growled, twisting her body and coiling herself like a spring in order to launch herself into the air and towards Amity, hoping to kill the girl and erase her army of homunculi. Thankfully Hunter was faster, and he zipped over to grab Boscha and Willow, then flashed in front of Terra, where upon Willow tossed a Fire Melon Cactus she'd grown into the Dragon's maw and Boscha detonated it with a fire blast, causing it to detonate and make Terra writhe, throwing off the trajectory of her leap and making her smash into the dirt just a few feet from the trench around the Spriggan Manor Grounds.

Willow, unable to use most of her Plant Magic thanks to Terra being able absorb plants to empower herself, instead decided to mimic Hanu's style of magic and used the pollen of her Iron Blood Iris to give herself and Hunter metal bodies, as well as empowering her magic with a mini-Bile Overload. At the same time, Boscha rapidly brewed up a pair of Super-Sizing Syrup doses and tossed them to the duo, letting them grow massive. Thanks to Terra shrinking, the two were now the same size as her, allowing Willow to punch her hard in the face, stunning the evil dragon and giving Hunter a chance to grab her by the tail and swing her around, letting go once he'd reached top speed and launching her clear into the other side of the forest, where she smashed into Luz's barrier.

The barrier shook and Luz's cry of "Whoa nelly!" was clearly heard by the super-sized Willow and Hunter, who used their great size to sprint to the other side of the forest, uncaring of if they trod on any of Terra's minions (as Amity's would just reform themselves). Boscha was along for the ride too, holding Flapjack and Clover along with Maya (since the Palismen didn't grow with their partners) and clinging on to one of Willow's pigtails for dear life. They reached the downed Terra, who appeared to be stunned, and Willow raised her foot to stamp on her head and hopefully knock her out.

Terra was merely feinting though, and as soon as Willow's foot left the ground, Terra shot up like a snake and coiled around Willow, trying and failing to dig her claws into Willow's currently iron skin. The Dragon DID succeed in coiling around her arms, legs, and throat though, managing to squeeze tightly enough to make Willow stumble and fall to the ground, her giant body making the ground shake. Her metal body was still too hard to actually strangle though, and the Super-Sizing Syrup that Boscha could make with her Potioneer Belt was weak and only lasted for about 30 seconds, so Willow soon shrank down and easily slipped out of Terra's coils, while Boscha caught her and handed her back Clover, sending off Flapjack to Hunter as he shrank to. Terra was vexed by her prey escaping and unleashed her acid breath on them, forcing the trio to put their skills to the test by flying around and avoiding it.

After a few seconds of evasion, the end of Boscha's staff was just barely clipped by the acid, causing her to scream in surprise as Maya suddenly went into a tail spin. Willow immediately repaid Boscha's rescue a moment ago by launching some vines from her wooden bangles to catch the girl and her Palisman, then pull her back over to ride on Clover with her, while Hunter shot a bolt of lightning at the acid. The liquid conducted electricity, resulting in the inside of Terra's mouth and throat being zapped too. The voltage was too low to do much damage, but it did make Terra's jaw go numb and she retreated a little to try and rub some feeling back into it.

"Is Maya okay?" Willow asked as she flew a short ways out of Terra's immediate biting range.

Boscha examined the little crab and was relieved to see she was fine; "Yeah, it looks like only the staff was damaged. It shouldn't take long for it to regenerate."

"Thank the Titan for that. Well until it does, you're flying Air Clover! Maybe you should join us for Flyer Derby more often, Boscha; get those flying skills high enough to dodge dragons!" Willow lightly teased.

"Oh shut it, Park! You and Hunter are just stupidly good flyers!" Boscha huffed.

As if to prove Boscha's point, Willow began dodging and diving around in the air to evade Terra's vine whiskers as they whipped towards her. She evaded them for a short time before Hunter came flying to the rescue, using the Stonesleeper Aspect of his Wild Heart form to turn his torso and arms to stone as he grabbed one of the whiskers and held it in place. This backfired on him though, as he was too light and Terra was able to flick her whisker hard enough to smash Hunter into the forest below. His stone form protected him and he in turn protected Flapjack, but they were immediately swarmed by Treants, leaving Willow and Boscha to keep dodging.

"Ugh, I'm gonna get air sick at this rate! Park, can't you make a barrier or something while I brew up something to deal with this!?" Boscha demanded.

"I can only make barriers with Plant Magic, using things like Iron Vines, Barrier Birches, and Bulwark Bamboo! But Terra can just absorb any plant I make! The only reason the Fire Melon Cactus worked was because you detonated it before she could absorb it!" Willow answered, beginning to sweat a little as she was forced to put Clover through some intense aerial manoeuvres.

As a Mandragora, Terra had already been able to absorb plant life and incorporate it into her body, but now that she'd become an Arbor Lindwurm, her power had increased to let her turn the absorbed plant life into raw magic or life energy, replenishing her magical or physical strength. It made for a powerful combination, and when in the depths of a forest, she was almost unstoppable! Willow, whose magic was pretty much JUST Plant Magic, found herself at a severe disadvantage.

In response to Willow being unable to defend them, Boscha turned Maya back into her staff form (which still had a little bit of acid damage on the very end) and used her to produce a huge blast of flame. Terra recoiled from the flames to avoid being hit, but burning her wasn't what Boscha was after this time! Instead she grabbed some black powder from one of the pouches on her belt and tossed it into the fire, which caused the flames to produce a massive amount of black smoke, creating a literal smokescreen to blind the Arbor Lindwurm AND mess with her sense of smell. Terra roared and fired her seed barrage breath into the smoke, but Willow had already taken the hint and flown down beneath the canopy of the trees, rushing to help Hunter.

They found him surrounded by Treants and Homunculi; the latter of which were aiding him as he sliced and diced through the former. Since they were now able to fly more steadily, Boscha threw together some useful potions, including some basic acid that she could enhance with Sonic Alchemy, and the most advanced Herbicide Potion she could create without a cauldron and a lot of time.

"Captain! I've got an idea." Hunter said, smashing aside a Treant and rushing over to the girls, mindful of Terra looming above them, trying to clear away the smoke by blowing it away and choking as she accidentally inhales some. "Two ideas in fact! One is a way that might let you use your plants on Terra; coating them in fire or some kind of Herbicide Magic, like the kind you used on those Iron Barrier Birches! That should stop Terra absorbing them!"

Willow hummed; both options were possible, but she'd only been able to use the Herbicide Magic on the Iron Barrier Birches because of their natural barrier properties; other plants would burn up or be withered away! It was useful for the short term and for certain kinds of plants, and with Boscha to provide the fire, it'd make for a good combo move; but they'd need to be conservative to avoid setting the rest of the forest alight!

"It's worth a try at least. Boscha can help me there! But what about your second idea?" Willow asked quickly, wary of Terra getting her coughing under control and nearly clearing the smokescreen.

"You can still sense the Iron Barrier Birches you made to protect the Mandragoras, right?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, but only enough to know they're still alive. I can't pinpoint them inside that mess of plants and magic!" Willow gestured to Terra; "I'm not strong enough. Not good enough for this…"

"Cut the self-pity, Park." Boscha scowled; "A sure-fire way to become a weakling is to start thinking you're a weakling, and you don't get to act like one after punching a freaking dragon in the face!" the three-eyed girl turned to Hunter; "Come on, O'Bailey; what's the plan?"

Hunter, smiling at the name as Willow felt a little odd inside at Boscha's roundabout compliment, replied; "Well if power is the problem, why not use a Power Glyph? You and Boscha both have one; use it to boost your magic and see if it lets you find the Mandragoras inside of Terra's dragon form! If it works, we'll know where to avoid and can go for a much more powerful attack without worrying about hitting them!"

Willow's eyes widened, then she began to smile; "That could work! But we'd need to act fast! The Power Glyph won't last forever, so we'll need to-"

"FOUND YOU!"

Terra's bellowing voice drowned Willow out, and the trio looked up to see Terra had cleared the smoke away and could once again smell them. She unleashed a torrent of acid on them, but Willow quickly wove together a dome of roots and branches from the nearby trees to stop it. Boscha, who'd gotten a chance to examine the acid and figure out what kind it was, used Sonic Alchemy to weaken it and turn it into a form of acid she was more used to, allowing her to then cast one of her few transmutation spells to turn the weak acid into oil, before blasting it with flame. The massive fire blast shot up, strengthened by the oil and the wood of Willow's barrier, and almost hit Terra, though she was smart enough to counter the flames with her acid breath attack.

Her acid stopped the flames but not before Willow's barrier had burnt to ash, leaving nothing for Terra to absorb and more importantly, producing enough smoke to let the trio of teens slip away together, leaving the homunculi to deal with the Treants. They flew through the trees at high speed, then Hunter grabbed both girls and zipped high into the air well above Terra. She didn't take long to find them though, having pulled her head away from the smoke and immediately caught their scents. She inhaled, then expelled an entirely different kind of breath attack; one that consisted of thick greenish-yellow sap, which hit the barrier above her and clung to it like glue. The teens flew away as fast as they could to avoid the sap attacks, until Terra finally grew bored and instead curled her body into a massive spell circle, causing her entire form to glow as she cast a monstrously large spell.

The spell caused the ground to shake before a series of massive vines, each as long and thick as Terra's draconic body, began to burrow out of the ground. They were covered in razor sharp thorns and began darting towards the teens, while Terra herself did the same, trying to bite them, claw at them, or douse them in acid. Dodging proved difficult, due to the sheer number of them (there were at least 20), so the trio of Teens decided to fight back instead!

Switching roles, Boscha began to ride on Maya while Willow rode behind her and channelled a pruning spell into Clover's staff, creating a green blade of magic from the end. Willow then pulled out her Power Glyph and slapped it onto the back of her neck, massively increasing her level of magic and allowing her to extend the length of her magic blade to it could cut through one of the giant vines in one swing. She began to chop them down while Boscha transmuted her weak acid into oil and used it to burn the giant vines away before Terra could consume them (though the Dragon hadn't shrunk after casting the spell, meaning she'd likely reached her minimum size). Hunter followed suit, using his Lightning Magic with Flapjack to turn his staff into a Lighting Halberd again, though he couldn't quite make it long enough to pierce all the way through the vines, forcing him to instead fly around each vine with the blade impaled into it in order to cut it. The plan worked, until Terra got in Hunter's way and the boy hesitated, not wanting to risk hurting the hostages inside her.

"Foolish brat!" Terra sneered mockingly, flicking her tail at him in his moment of hesitation and sending him smashing into the ground. The initial impact of her tail managed to hurt him, but he was able to harden his Stonesleeper aspects to help him endure the impact with the ground, which still left him stunned.

"Hunter!" Willow cried, briefly distracted from her task. Boscha swerved and flew the both of them towards the fallen boy whilst firing a barrage of small fireballs at Terra and her vines, igniting the latter near the top and causing the Arbor Lindwurm to panic and begin trying to douse the flames with her acid breath, giving the girls the opening they needed to reach Hunter. They found him lying in a crater in the dirt, groaning as he tried and failed to snap out of his stunned state. He didn't appear too badly hurt, though he did wince when Willow rushed to his side and put a hand on his chest; the initial strike had likely hurt his ribs.

"Hold on Hunter, I'll help you!" Willow said urgently, growing the flowers needed to perform aromatherapy magic. Once she was done, she manipulated all the different pollens to blend together and was about to have Hunter inhale it when Clover began buzzing at her, giving her a new idea.

Instead, Clover ate the pollen and began mixing it together inside her with nectar she drank from the flowers to create a special kind of honey inside herself, which she then injected directly into Hunter by carefully stabbing him with her proboscis. The sharp, needle-like poke helped shock Hunter out of his stunned state, before his pain began to lessen as the strange Honey Medicine began to target and heal his injured internals a lot faster than simply inhaling the pollen.

"Ugh, this feels strange! My bones feel lighter but the rest of me feels kinda… sticky? Weird." Hunter said, nonetheless sighing with relief as the bruises forming under his shirt began to fade away.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay! I was freaking out for a second there!" Willow cried.

"Yeah, I honestly thought you might be dead! Glad you're not; that'd be a downer." Boscha smirked, feeling a lot more relief than she was showing.

"YOU WILL ALL BE DEAD IN A SECOND!" screamed Terra, making the two girls whirl around just in time to see Terra's tail coming there way at incredible speeds; speeds far too great for them to have any hope of dodging the colossal tail as it tore through the trees towards them.

As Terra swung her tail towards Willow and Boscha, Willow reacted without thinking; she had no time to do anything else. She conjured her Iron Barrier Birch in front of her, managing to stop Terra's swung tail in its tracks, even making the woman flinch as she struck it. Terra growled, but then began trying to consume the tree… only for it to fail.

The Arbor Lindwurm was dumbstruck as she tried and tried repeatedly to absorb the tree, failing each time. Willow and Boscha were just as shocked, especially the former, who'd seen her eat regular Barrier Birches with little trouble. However as she watched Terra struggle, Willow was suddenly struck with inspiration.

"It can't be…? Only one way to find out!" Willow said to herself, before conjuring an Artillery Seed Pod from her wooden bangles and firing a stream of explosive seeds at Terra. The seeds burst against her scales, slowly whittling away at them, much to Terra's shock; she couldn't absorb these either, despite actively trying!

"What are these plants!? They are completely different!" Terra snarled.

Willow, figuring out the truth, couldn't help but grin; "You can't absorb these plants because they are unique ones of my own creation! Grafted Plants! They're completely different from anything you've encountered, and since your body and mind don't recognise the plants, you can't absorb them! You need to know what they are to consume them!"

Terra sneered, a very strange and creepy expression on her draconic face; "Nonsense! Your half-baked little mutations aren't enough to stop me!" she roared, before lunging down and biting the Iron Barrier Birch, then trying to crunch it up in her jaws. Once she'd uprooted it, the tree lost much of its powers but remained a metallic tree that she struggled to chew and failed completely to absorb. However Hunter wasn't about to let a good opportunity go to waste, and shot a lightning bolt at the metallic wood scraps, dripping with saliva, giving the evil Dragon yet another nasty zap to the mouth.

This feeling only grew a lot worse when Willow cast a spell and suddenly conjured a Grafted Tree; one that resembled a Demon Realm Red Pine and a Divine Realm Starburst Sequoia; a colossal tree that grows extremely tall with golden coloured back and "leaves" that were more like bursts of spiky crystal needles, resembling the eponymous starbursts. The resulting combination, which Willow called a Red Star Pine, resembled a giant pine tree with red crystalline needles and gold bark, and when viewed from above, the branches formed a rough five-pointed star shape. It grew quickly and strong enough to pierce right through Terra's gut, where thanks to her empowered senses from the Power Glyph, Willow knew the Mandragora Hostages weren't present.

The pine was taller than it was wide, so to a creature as large as Terra, it was more like being stabbed by thin knife or spike. It was more painful than truly damaging, making Terra scream bloody murder, especially as she pulled herself free and found herself wounded further as the spiky branches did not lend themselves to a clean removal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her blood was green like chlorophyll and spilled out across the forest ground as she reared up. Once free of the Red Star Pine, Terra roared in pain and outrage, gripping the tree in one of her whiskers (being mindful to avoid the branches and needles) and tore it from the ground, ready to throw at Willow.

"I'll make you into a Shish-kebab!" she threatened, launching the tree like a javelin at the teens.

Hunter still hadn't pulled himself out of his crater yet, so Willow decided to block instead of dodging, grafting together a Barrier Birch and some Bulwark Bamboo to create what she decided to call the Botanical Bamboo Barrier. This plant closely resembled the sturdy Bulwark Bamboo, but each shoot was about half as thick as a birch tree and the interweaving leaves also carried the natural barrier properties of the Barrier Birch, making for the strongest defence possible with only two plants grafted together. It easily stopped the Red Star Pine, even when thrust into it with all Terra's strength. Terra was angry, but she was no fool, so once her full strength failed to work, she instead dashed around the massive barricade to attack the teens from the side.

She was met by Boscha, who swallowed a Beast-Keeping potion known as Toad Oil Tonic, granting her a pseudo Bestial Blessing of the Boiling Toad; a giant amphibious Beast Demon that could produce boiling oil in staggering amounts from its throat pouch. The tonic let Boscha exhale a staggering amount of boiling hot oil (without burning herself), which she then ignited with Maya, creating an absolutely colossal flame blast that struck Terra's face, making her scream and recoil in agony, dragging her burning face through the dirt to try and put out the flames. This bought Hunter enough time to fully shake off his dizziness and let the Healing Honey do it's work, letting him get back to his feet (with some help from Willow). As soon as he was back on his feet, he grabbed Willow and flashed out of the way, as Terra's tail sneakily slammed down where the girl just was, as Willow had assumed the burning face would keep the evil woman occupied.

"This woman is tenacious if nothing else!" Willow said as Terra pulled her severely burned draconic face out of the ground. Parts of it were now exposed green bone, which was more than a little horrifying, but it was already slowly regenerating as Terra used some of her energy to heal herself. She didn't shrink any further, but it became clear that she was now using her own reserves instead of draining magic from the foliage around her, as every tree and plant minion she was close enough too had already been consumed (doing an upsetting amount of damage to the forest).

"I am going to kill you slowly!" Terra growled out with pure hatred, before roaring and releasing a poisonous pollen breath. The pollen was dangerous, but it was also fairly simple, so Boscha slapped on her own Power Glyph and immediately used a massive transmutation spell to turn the pollen into simple sand, dropping a ton of it onto the forest. Hunter then used a wind glyph note and the wings of his Griffin Bestial Blessing to unleash a massive gust of wind that kicked the sand back into Terra's face. The Dragon Woman rose up into the air, using her impressive length to get her head above the sand storm, then blasted acid down into it to try and once again melt the teens. Willow blocked by making a dome out of her Botanical Bamboo Barrier, then grew as a whole garden's worth of Artillery Seed Pods on it to begin firing a massive barrage of exploding seeds at Terra. They weren't massively effective against her scales, but they did sting enough to make it harder for the woman to focus.

Hunter went to attack Terra too, but noticed the slowly spreading forest fire which Boscha was currently trying to get under control with Fire Extinguishing Abomi-Potions. While the three-eyed girl had been careful when aiming her oil-enhanced fire, Terra hadn't been careful about how she put it out, leading to it spreading to the rest of the woods (or at least a small part of it).

"Dang it, the fire is spreading too fast for us to put out!" Hunter scowled.

"Then let's use Terra to do it!" Willow declared, before conjuring a new Grafted Plant: a combination of Iron Vines and Punching Pansies, which created the Iron Fist Pansies; a kind of metal flower that grew on a vine and had its petals close up into a metal fist when threatened. Willow grew a massively long vine of these flowers and whipped it at Terra as the Dragon smashed her tail against the bamboo barrier over and over to crush the seed pods shooting at her. The flowers all closed up into fists and punched Terra over and over as the vine wrapped around her, driving Terra further into a frenzy as she finally stopped all pretences and devolved into a fully rampaging beast. She used her many clawed limbs to rip the Iron Fist Pansies to shreds and then swept her tail across the bamboo barrier to destroy the last of the seed pods before launching herself at Willow, growling and snarling like a wild animal. Willow fled and led her over the forest fire and taunted her, mockingly growing more of her Iron Fist Pansy vines and twisting them into messages that read things like "Mouldy Eel" and "Snake Weed"; insults that were intentionally childish to further incense the foul woman. Finally, Terra screamed in rage yet again and spewed forth acid, which Willow dodged in such a way that Terra sprayed the liquid all over the forest fire, slowly putting it out.

Since the Acid didn't work on any kind of flora, it was the perfect way to put out the fire AND consume some of Terra's magic without further damaging the already ravaged woods. The teens had to keep dodging of course, but they soon put a stop to the acid by having Hunter zap the liquid with lightning again to stun Terra, then Boscha threw several bottles of Gooey Gab-No-More onto her, sealing her draconic maw with the sticky potion and leaving her momentarily unable to use her breath attacks (though Boscha doubted it'd hold up for long against the acid leaking from her lips).

Terra wasn't defenceless though and swung her tail at the three teens, only for Willow to block it with an Iron Barrier Birch. Boscha saw this and got an idea; "Park; we've got enough gas left in these Power Glyphs for a few more big attacks, right?"

"I've got a couple in me, but I've used a lot of its power up already. Oh, the Mandragoras are near Terra's heart, where her original body is; she's ensuring that killing her in one blast will kill them too." Willow said, finally reporting what she'd meant to earlier.

"Not a problem! If my plan works, we'll knock her out and end that problem entirely!" Boscha said, before grabbing Willow and Hunter and pulling them close to whisper in their ears. Hunter grinned, while Willow felt the plan was a bit too risky, but with the situation being what it was, she decided to trust Boscha's judgement and nod in agreement. Boscha grinned wider, then the three teens began their team attack!

It started with Willow producing more Iron Fist Pansies; partly to soften Terra up a little more and keep her frustrated, and partly to produce the vines that could bind her, as normal Iron Vines weren't grafted plants and could thus be absorbed. As this restrained, and lightly pummelled a fuming Terra, Willow used regular Plant Magic to grow a simple tree stump that she hollowed out into a make-shift cauldron, which Boscha then transmuted the inside of into black iron so the wood wouldn't react with the potion she was crafting. Hunter and Willow then began providing ingredients, with Willow growing the necessary herbs and Hunter using Bestial Blessings to grow different beastly body parts, from which he could pluck scales, bits of fur, and clip off the ends of their claws. The pieces he removed from himself would disappear if he banished the blessing though, so he was only able to gather three different beastly ingredients (the same as the number of different Blessings he could give himself), but that was all Boscha needed.

"Scales of a Agi Trout for the unique compound that lets it ignite flames underwater, the feather of a Winter Pheasant for the fire resistance, and the claw of a Lacquered Sickle Weasel for its chlorophyll killing enzyme! Combine that with these herbs and voila! A potion of my own design! Boscha's Special Winter of Death Herbicide!" Boscha grinned, stirring together the potion exactly as she wanted it, using Potion Magic and a few other tonics and compounds to make up for the lack of proper timing, preparation, and other procedures that she'd have been able to achieve in a lab setting. The result was a pale blue gel-like liquid that released a faint vapour and bubbled like it was boiling despite also producing tiny ice crystals like freezing water.

"Wait, a potion of your own design?" Willow questioned. "You've made this before?"

"Nope! I was inspired by this crazy Dragon Hag and that trial you dragged me on earlier!" Boscha grinned; "If it works like it should, with my genius, it'll work as a kind of poison for Botanical Demons! It won't hurt them on the outside, but it'll freeze them if it gets inside them and prevent them from growing and regenerating, even slowly killing them over time like the real Winter of Death you talked about!"

"Boscha!" Willow hissed; "I agreed to the plan because I thought this potion was one that already existed!? Not one you pulled out of your backside five seconds before we need to use it!"

Boscha rolled her eyes; "Cool it Park, it'll work! Just trust me! Now hurry it up; using magic to replace proper preparation time is a drain and my Power Glyph is almost gone! Plus she looks like she's almost getting out!"

She pointed up at Terra, who was (disgustingly) dribbling her acid breath out of her nose to get it onto the goo sealing her mouth shut, using acid on both sides to try and melt it away faster. She was also writhing and trying to get even a single one of her limbs free so she could begin tearing away the vines that were STILL punching her. She was making good progress too, and would be on the teens again very quickly! The teens had moved out of her direct line of sight, but that wouldn't save them from her nose once she broke free!

With no other choice but to trust Boscha now that the potion was made, Willow did her part and grew a series of her Red Star Pines, though she only grew them to about waist height at first, allowing Boscha and Hunter to slather them up with the Herbicide, especially since it was supposed to be harmless when applied only to the exterior or a plant. Once all the trees she'd grown were glistening blue with this new coating, Boscha nodded to Willow and said; "You're up next Park!"

"Alright, but I think this'll be all I can do with the Power Glyph before it runs out!" Willow warned, growing the Red Star Pines into full-sized variants, with only the very tips now coated in the potion. Once they were large enough, Willow gripped Clover's staff tightly and gave a cry of exertion as she used the staff and a spell circle to uproot all the trees, then point their tips towards Terra. "Ready to go!" she groaned, straining to hold what was essentially half a dozen giant trees all at once with the dregs of her Power Glyph.

"You're up, O'Bailey! Get those missiles primed and then I'll launch them!" Boscha smirked over at Hunter.

The boy, able to fly with his Winter Pheasant Wings (albeit with more difficulty than Griffin ones) released Flapjack so they could both fly up to the root systems of the trees and carve a fire glyph in the dead centre, with Hunter using his Sickle Weasel Claws and Flapjack scratching and pecking the glyph into the wood with surprising speed. They just barely finished in time before Terra fully broke free from the Iron Fist Pansies and was able to use her freed claws as well as her acid breath to fully rip the goo from her maw, allowing her to once again open it and go on the offensive.

"I will make you die screaming!" she bellowed, following her nose to try and find the teens. She found them quickly, and Boscha cried out.

"Fire away! Have a taste of our special Anti-Plant Neutron Torpedoes!" she grinned, preparing a swarm of tiny fireballs.

With a cry of exertion, Willow launched the herbicide dipped trees directly at Terra, aiming primarily for her head and centre mass, avoiding the area around her heart. Once they were launched, Hunter flashed after them and shot lightning bolts at the potion slathered over them, causing the potion to become electrified and extra damaging, while Boscha used her tiny fireballs to activate the fire glyphs, causing each tree to turn into a pseudo rocket that Willow could just barely aim with her plant magic. Terra saw the attack coming and gasped, before weaving around them like a snake, only for Willow to bend the trees' trajectory to make them swerve and keep chasing her like seeker missiles. She couldn't keep this up forever though, so Boscha and Hunter moved on to the next stage of their plan.

Hunter flashed over to Terra's tail and used most of Flapjack's remaining strength to conjure a giant metal lance, which he electrified and then plunged down into the leaf-like end of the tail. It went straight through her, making Terra scream in pain and fury, and into the soil below, essentially pinning the dragon in place while the current that he kept sending through it made Terra numb and impeded her dodging. Boscha used fire from her hands as boosters as she surfed on Maya (taking a page from Gus's book) over to Terra's snarling head, where she then swallowed some Soot Solution, which allowed her to breathe out a massive cloud of black soot around Terra's face, blinding her eyes and nose with the thick black dust. The foul dragon coughed and sneezed, and between her senses being addled by soot and her body feeling numb from the current running through her, she was utterly helpless to escape the missiles that shot towards her.

The air filled with the sounds of a pained draconic scream as all six of the "Neutron Torpedoes" as Boscha called them hit their mark and embedded themselves in the back of her neck and head or between some of her limbs lower down on her body, leaving a large gap around the heart where the trees didn't touch. The Red Star Pines had thrust into her quite deeply and the herbicide coating them began to immediately take effect, travelling through Terra's body and beginning to slowly freeze her from the inside. She screeched and raged, trying to move and escape, but between the pain of the trees inside her, the current (which had now magnified thanks to the electrified herbicide) and the herbicide that was slowly freezing her insides and inhibiting her ability to regenerate, Terra soon began to lose strength and sway back and forth, seemingly about to lose consciousness.

"Hunter, she's almost down! Take the final blow!" Willow shouted.

Hunter yelled back; "Got it Captain!" then flew above Terra's head and prepared to land brutal blow from above. Terra had heard the order and began spewing her acid breath desperately in all directions as she tried to blindly hit the boy before he hit her, but Boscha used the dregs of her Power Glyph on another Transmutation Spell to turn the acid into water, which got all three teens soaked but at least kept them from being melted by acid. Hunter then flew down at top speed, before using his Wild Heart form and Stonesleeper Cells to turn his body into stone just as he was doing a forward roll, slamming his Selkidomus tail directly into the top of Terra's skull like a stone sledgehammer. The blow was devastating and smashed Terra's head down with such force that it hit the forest floor and caused a mild tremor throughout the woods.

The three teens held their breath for a moment, watching as the frost from the herbicide slowly began to spread from the wounds on Terra's body and coat parts of her in pale blue ice. Finally, after almost a full minute, the three stood side by side and cheered loudly.

"We did it! We took down a dragon!" Boscha cheered loudest.

"We really did! She's not quite dead, but I'm pretty sure we're basically Dragon Slayers now! Just like Gus and Luz!" Hunter grinned, dropping his Wild Heart form and all his Bestial Blessings so he could give a Flapjack a break. The exhausted little Palisman nestled down in his hair with sleepy eyes, tweeting a tired congratulations.

"I-Is it really over? We beat Terra?" Willow asked in disbelief even as she smiled broadly; she could scarcely believe it! She, Willow Park, had beaten Terra Snapdragon in the form of an actual dragon! That was something she'd never have imagined herself capable of! Heck, she still didn't totally believe she'd done it! Sure she cheered at her success, but there was something in the back of her mind that wouldn't let it relax! Likely the fact that the Treants and Mandrakes were still around, fighting Amity's homunculi, and Terra being knocked out didn't seem to have had an effect on those controlled by her pheromones, if the sounds of battle from Snapdragon Estate was anything to go by.

Turning her attention fully back to Terra, Willow said; "We should go to her heart and carve her open; her original Witch Body will be in there and we can capture it, along with rescuing Arboriel and the Mandragora hostages."

Boscha frowned; "The hostages I get, but can't we just stick a stake in both Arboriel and Terra and call it a day? Arboriel escaped twice and came back worse each time, and Terra is a literal mass murderer! We should just end this here and now."

"Boscha, no murder." Hunter chimed in.

"Why do people keep saying that…?" Boscha pouted.

"Because you're a slightly homicidal teenager with a lot of enemies that would be questionably okay to kill." Willow deadpanned, trying to fight her odd feeling with some teasing.

Boscha scoffed and created a blade of fire from the end of her staff with the intent of cutting open the dragon as Willow had suggested. Willow followed suit, using pruning magic to make a green blade on the end of her own staff while Hunter sat back and watched, wanting to give Flapjack a rest (though he did turn Flapjack back into a staff, just in case Arboriel came out swinging).

Unfortunately, Willow's odd feeling turned out to be right, as the moment Boscha went to stab her flame blade into Terra's body, the dragon suddenly whipped her head around to face the girls, revealing she'd been stunned but not truly unconscious, and worst of all, the frost effect of Boscha's herbicide had already begin to fade, seemingly wearing off for some reason. The girls' eyes widened in shock as Terra opened her mouth and shot a barrage of razor sharp Bulwark Bamboo shoots directly at them. Willow pulled Boscha behind her and grew a single Iron Barrier Birch to block the shoots, but Terra simply turned her head a little and attacked around it, catching Willow off-guard. She prepared to shield Boscha with her body, but Hunter got there first.

"WILLOW! BOSCHA!" he yelled, flashing towards them. He stopped right in front of them and quickly grabbed them both, before flashing away again, much to Terra's frustration.

They flashed as far from Terra as Hunter could manage with one jump, zipping all the way back to the destroyed remains of the Spriggan Manor estate, where Amity was. When they appeared, Amity gasped and rushed to them, ready to help, and Willow and Boscha immediately began trying to figure out what they should do next and why the herbicide potion had stopped working, only for all three girls to be silenced by Hunter's weak and pained groan of;

"W-Willow…"

The three girls turned to him and each one looked on in horror as they saw the state of the boy. He had shielded them with his body before grabbing them for that last flash away, and had taken several razor sharp Bulwark Bamboo shoots to his flesh. A few had been glancing blows, leaving him with cuts and slashes to his limbs and left cheek, but others had actually hit and been embedded in his body; he had one in his left shoulder, one in his left thigh, one in his right hip, and most devastatingly of all, one directly in his chest, impaled right into his heart.

"HUNTER!" Willow screamed in horror as the boy staggered forward and then collapsed. She caught him just in time and slowly lowered him to the ground on his back, then began checking all his injuries in a frantic hurry.

"Oh Titan, he's hurt! Boscha, healing potions!" Amity yelled, looking between the injured boy at the dragon in the distance, who was currently occupied with slowly removing the Red Star Pines and the lance spearing her tail to the ground. The teens had time, but not a lot, and Hunter had even less.

Boscha began grabbing every healing potion stored on her belt and handing them to Willow and Amity, the former cradling Hunter and stroking his hair gently, trying to give him what little comfort she could. Slowly and carefully, they began pulling out the bamboo shoots pierced into his body and pouting the healing potions into the wounds, all while Hunter exercised incredible restraint by holding in his anguished screams. He was sadly all too accustomed to pain thanks to his time with Belos, and most of the injuries Terra had given him weren't even in the top 5 most severe ones he'd suffered! Though the one on his chest was of great concern to all of them. One by one, Hunter's wounds were healed up, yet despite that his condition didn't seem to improve, causing Willow to grow agitated and terrified.

"Hold on Hunter, we'll help you! Boscha, we need more potions! Pain killers too!" Willow demanded.

"I'm working on it!" Boscha cried, having used abomination goo that she transmuted into iron to make another cauldron that she could brew a large amount of high-end healing potions in. Without the Power Glyph to fuel her spells, she had to slowly and carefully weave together the spells to skip certain steps in the recipe, but she could at least use her Potioneer Belt and some Sonic Alchemy to throw together a simple pain killer to help take the edge off for Hunter. When it was done, Willow snatched it and poured it down Hunter's throat, helping him breathe a little easier, yet still his condition didn't improve! They even healed the smaller scratches to his extremities in case the blood loss from them all was enough to make him woozy, but it did nothing to help!

"Damn it, it's not working!? Why isn't it working!? Boscha, is something wrong with your ingredients or magic!? Your potions aren't working right!" Willow cried, her frustration getting the better of her.

"I-I don't know! I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" Boscha cried, panicking.

"And what about that herbicide of yours!?" Willow asked, not being accusatory but still wanting an answer. "You said it should freeze Terra from the inside, but it stopped working after less than a minute!"

"I don't know! D-Did I get the dosage wrong? Or maybe it was the electricity Hunter used? Did I miscalculate!?" Boscha turned a ghostly white; "I-I don't understand how I could have miscalculated! I-I thought I'd accounted for the electricity I wanted Hunter to use, but I-I must have made a mistake! It caused the main reaction of the potion to break down too fast! That's why it stopped working!"

"N-No, Boscha." Hunter grimaced and choked out through the pain; "I-It was my own fault… urgh! I shouldn't have stopped my bestial blessings! It made the ingredients in the potion disappear! N-No wonder it stopped working!"

Willow and Boscha both gasped; of course, with three vital ingredients vanishing from the potion, it would have lost it's effect and Terra would be able to once again move and regenerate!

"S-Sorry Captain. I messed up the plan." Hunter apologised weakly.

"Don't talk right now! Save your strength! Boscha, the healing potions!" Willow yelled.

"Almost done! They're- TITAN DAMN IT!" Boscha suddenly shouted as Terra finally restored herself and tracked them down with her nose, sending her plant minions charging at them as she followed behind.

"I'll handle it!" Amity yelled, summoning her army of homunculi to come help them while she began flying around Terra's head and shooting light beams at her to try and keep her attention away from the others. The time she'd spent recovering her magic as she gave specific orders to her homunculi had helped her recharge quickly; absorbing light with the light glyph for a small boost and consuming the magic from a few damaged homunculi too. It was enough to put Amity back in the fight, though not for long.

As that fight was raging, Boscha completed the advanced healing potions and poured as much as she could down Hunter's throat, skirting the safe dosage as much as possible. However despite that, Hunter's condition didn't improve at all! All his visible wounds were gone; Willow even took off his shirt to confirm she hadn't missed any, but still Hunter struggled to breathe, could barely speak, and was slowly turning a disturbing shade of grey, which was really starting to freak Willow out.

"I don't understand! Why isn't it working!? Is there some kind of poison effecting him!?" Boscha growled, grabbing the still bloody bamboo shoots they'd pulled out of his body and examining them with some different compounds to try and get a reaction. None of her tests yielded any results, just confusing and frustrating the girls further.

"If his injuries are healed and it's not poison, what could it-" Willow suddenly froze as a horrible thought came to her; "His heart… one of the shoots hit his heart! It might have damaged it!"

"But the potions should have healed a flesh wound like that!" Boscha argued.

"It's not a normal flesh wound! Hunter is a Grimwalker; his heart is a Galdorstone!" Willow exclaimed.

In an instant, Boscha understood the significance and went even paler, her eyes widening; "B-But didn't Camila say that damage to a Galdorstone couldn't be healed!? Does that mean…!?"

Both girls looked down at Hunter with pure horror; Luz's father Michael had taken a stab wound to the Galdorstone and had not survived, as even a skilled healer like Camila could only keep him alive for an hour or so! A Galdorstone was more mineral than organ even if it had started off as an actual flesh and blood heart, and was used as a heart for a Grimwalker, so healing spells didn't really work on it and neither did non-living mending spells! It occupied a grey area between organ and mineral, which let it have the properties of both while being immune to magic that effected either! Even Luz with her massively enhanced healing powers would be useless here!

But if nothing could be done to heal him, then Hunter was doomed to die!

"No! No, we can't give up yet! Hunter is part Palistrom Wood, so he's part plant! M-Maybe I can find a way to use my magic and the wood to keep him alive! Palisman are living creatures made of wood too after all! I-I have to be able to do something!" Willow said desperately, drawing a spell circle in each hand as a worried Flapjack comforted his dying partner.

Boscha wasn't so sure Willow's plan was sound, and instead had a plan of her own; "The staff Terra stole from Arboriel had a Galdorstone on it! If I help Amity rip her open and take it back, maybe Hettie could perform a transplant and save his life! Heck, Terra herself might have a Galdorstone for a heart now that she's been "blessed" by the Titan! I'll tear it from her chest myself if I have to!"

She hopped on her staff and began to fly off, though before she got too far, Willow yelled; "Be careful, Boscha!"

Boscha paused and turned back to Willow with a small determined smile; "I will, Park. Keep your boy toy alive; I'll bring him a new heart for you to win!"

Willow blushed and watched Boscha fly off to help Amity fight Terra, leaving the bespectacled Plant Witch to do all that she could to try and keep Hunter alive. She cradled him close, using her Plant Magic to gently reach out and enchant his bones, hoping to grow the wood out a little and maybe use them to hold the broken pieces of his crystalline heart together. Unfortunately the wood of a Palistrom Tree could not be grown with magic, and Hunter and Flapjack's magic only worked on him because it was a part of him, so the wood of his bones didn't react to Willow's Magic at all.

"No! Come on! There has to be something I can do! T-There are plants with roots so small that they can go through the pores… maybe I can grow something like that which can get inside and stitch the stone back together? I-If I graft some crystalline aspects from a Divine Realm Plant, it could work!" Willow whispered to herself as she began trying to create a new grafted plant.

As she worked, things in the background were not going well; the sounds of battle from the Snapdragon were not dying down at all, Terra's conjured plant minions were still locked in a stalemate with Amity's homunculi, who were noticeably less effective now that Amity wasn't focusing her magic on strengthening them, and the actual battle between Terra and the duo of Amity and Boscha was starting to become a prolonged, slow defeat for the girls, as Amity was weak from all her homunculi and Boscha was fighting with desperation and nowhere near enough power to match a Supreme Dragon, whilst Terra had devoured more of the Navel Woods whilst pulling out the Red Star Pines earlier, allowing her to regenerate and grow a little bigger, putting her in a better position than before their combo attack had failed.

This all served to increase Willow's anxiety and her eyes began to flash green as she struggled with her emotions. Tiny vines and roots began to rise up out of the ground beside her and Hunter, which Willow quickly pulled out and tossed away; "Not now! Please not now! I just need to stay calm! I can do this!"

Her first attempt at her new grafted creation mixed the tiny roots of the Brain Wormwood with the crystal needles of the Red Pine Tree, which Willow had hoped would be able to get through Hunter's skin and be tough enough to stitch up his broken Galdorstone Core. Unfortunately the size of the Red Pine Tree made grafting it with a small herb difficult, so the resulting roots were too large and the needles only barely smaller than the needles of the tree itself. Willow huffed and tossed the reject plant aside and started again, whilst using Plant Magic to at least pour some life energy into Hunter, helping to keep him alive a little longer.

"I can do this. I can do this." Willow whispered, almost like a mantra.

Her second attempt failed too, and her third attempt soon after.

"I can do this! I can do this! I can do this dang it!" she continued, ignoring the roots and ivy that began creeping up her legs, reacting to her magic and emotions.

More attempts failed, with some not even being fully formed before Willow realised the flaw in her desperate attempt and abandoned it to start again. Clover nestled onto her shoulder and tried to give her comfort, but Willow was so focused that she barely noticed the little Palisman was there. Again and again she tried, interspersed with a few panicked looks at the battle with Terra, which was getting progressively worse just as Hunter's condition was, and before long she was fighting back tears.

"I-I can do this. I can do this! I have to do this… I have to-"

Willow's vision became blurry with tears as her magic began to fail her, her focus too impeded and her emotions too untethered to keep it under control, causing the vines and roots that began to sprout to cover her and hunter more and more. Hunter opened his eyes, trying to ignore the discomfort in his chest and the incredible weakness he felt, and looked up at the poor girl, feeling a very different kind of pain in his chest at the sight of her tears. He looked at Flapjack, who immediately realised what he was thinking and flew up to rest on Willow's other shoulder, then he weakly raised his hand to cup Willow's cheek, gently wiping away some of her tears with his thumb.

"Hey Captain… don't cry. It'll be okay." Hunter said softly.

"N-No it won't! I'm trying, but… it's just not working! I don't know what to do! I keep failing and at this rate you'll-" Willow sobbed, only for Hunter to put his thumb on her lips to shush her.

"I will be fine. I believe in you. You can do this" he said, smiling at her.

"How can you say that!?" Willow cried; "I'm not a healer like Camila and even she couldn't fix this kind of injury! Even Luz can't and she can't even drop the barrier long enough to try! Titan, Hunter! Everything is going wrong! Terra is winning and I don't know what to do and you're dying whilst I'm totally use-!"

Once again, Hunter cut her off, though this time he used ever scrap of strength in his body to lift himself a little and gently press his lips against Willow's. In that instant, Hunter wasn't entirely sure why he'd done it; perhaps he'd felt his life truly was in danger and didn't want it to end without kissing the one girl he'd ever wanted to. Perhaps he'd hoped the gesture would calm her down or cheer her up. Perhaps he'd even believed it'd be romantic; he had been basically lying in her lap after all. Perhaps he'd simply wanted to stop her tears somehow… whatever the reason, Hunter forgot it as his mind went completely blank upon first contact with Willow's lips. The kiss had been a soft and short one, and had successfully stunned Willow into silence, though as he pulled away, Hunter feared he may have overstepped.

"I-I'm sorry." he said in a whisper, his strength failing him as he collapsed back into Willow's lap (though she used her arm to cradle him a little tighter). "I-I know stealing a kiss like that isn't cool… I just… I did it without thinking." he blushed; the only colour in his face. "I wanted to do that for a while and you were crying and I wanted that to stop and I just… sorry."

Willow, still crying, nonetheless gave a little giggle as she smiled, her magic calming a little as her eyes stopped glowing; "It's okay, Hunter. T-Truth be told… I've wanted you to do that for a while too. I… I just…" the shock wore off and the situation began to sink in again, making Willow whimper; "How can you believe in me? How can you have so much faith in me?"

"Truthfully? I'm not sure…" Hunter admitted as he felt the last of his strength fading. "I just… do. I don't feel scared or like I'm gonna die… I just feel like "Captain Willow's here, so it's okay" you know?"

"No, I don't know! I-I can't do anything!" Willow cried.

"You can. I feel it deep inside me. You're the best Witch I've ever met, Willow; I know that if anyone can do this… it… is… you…" Hunter smiled, his eyes growing heavy and beginning to roll into the back of his head. Those ended up being the last words he said before he lost consciousness, his body barely clinging to the last dregs of life. If not for the magic Flapjack and Willow were both giving him (via their bond and Plant Magic respectively), he would have already died.

"Hunter? Hunter!? HUNTER!?" Willow cried, desperately casting spells again. The shock of seeing him pass out left her with even less control though, and now her eyes were glowing a solid green as the vines and roots began to form a cocoon around them.

Willow began to sob harder; "I-I can't do this. I can't fix this… A Healer like Camila couldn't do it, so how could someone like me? A little girl who can't do anything but play in the mud with her plants… Oh Titan, it's all my fault! Hunter believed in me and I'm letting him down! He's going to die because of me! Because he protected me and I can't heal him! Lyra's going to lose her brother! Darius is going to lose his son! Luz and Camila… it'll be like Michael all over again! Why!? Why am I like this!?"

Clover and Flapjack both stood on her shoulders and tried to comfort her, urging her not to give up. Boscha, nearly exhausted, turned away from Terra for a moment and saw the state Willow was in and gasped, rushing down to help her as the three-eyed girl feared it was Terra's magic that was encasing the two. The moment she came running over, calling out "Park!", Willow flinched and suddenly a whole mess of brambles came ripping out of the ground around them, keeping Boscha from getting any closer without braving the thorns.

"P-Park!? What's happening!? Are you and Hunter alright!? I-I'll get you out of there, just give me a second!" Boscha cried.

Willow shook her head; "You were right, Boscha! This whole time, you've been right!" she sobbed, her eyes still glowing green.

Boscha blinked in confusion; "What? I was right? About what?"

"About me." Willow cried, looking down at Hunter as he clung to the last dregs of life; "I can't control my own magic! I can't help my friends! I can't save Hunter, even though he believed in me! This whole time, ever since I met Luz, I've tried to be someone different… Someone my friends could look up to and rely on, someone who can stand alongside all these amazing and talented people! Someone who can take care of the people she loves… But it was all a waste…"

She hung her head in shame and misery, tears dripping onto Hunter's face as she caressed his cheek; "I'm so sorry, Hunter… I'm not the girl you thought I was… I am, and always have been nothing more than Half-a-Witch Willow…"

In that moment, something deep within Boscha snapped as those words from her one-time victim felt like acid dripping through her flesh. Once upon a time, hearing the girl say those words would have made Boscha smirk and feel validated, but now? Now they just filled her with a burning anger and no small amount of self-loathing for her part in coining that thrice-cursed moniker. This was not the Willow she knew, who'd grown a spine and stood up to her! Who'd bloodied her in defence of her friend! Who'd made her feel threatened in her position of power! This was NOT the girl who had been her rival and, even if she didn't admit it, her friend these past few months.

This was not the Willow Park Boscha knew… and she was going to make damn sure Willow knew that.

With more emotions flowing through her than she could truly parse, Boscha let out a cry of fury and frustration as she leapt at the brambles, tearing through them with reckless abandon, uncaring of what the thorns did to her. By the time she got through them, she was scratched up and bleeding, and shot a hand forward to grab Willow by the front of the shirt and force her to look up. Willow's eyes widened as she looked up into the face of her one-time bully, and they only grew wider as she saw the blood dripping from her cuts… and the tears dripping from her eyes.

Boscha was crying… for her!?

"Damn it all… you clear the vines out of those ears, and you do it now, because I'm gonna make this really Titan-damn clear! WILLOW PARK, YOU ARE NOT HALF A WITCH!" Boscha bellowed, her voice almost cracking with the emotion as she roared out the words she'd wanted to say for a long time now.

Willow gasped softly, briefly shocked out of her downward spiral.

"B-Boscha-?"

"No! You shut up and listen, because I'm not gonna have the nerve to say this more than once!" Boscha yelled, forcing herself to look Willow in the eye even as her own eyes poured tears down her face and her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.

The three-eyed girl took a deep breath and said; "I'm sorry, Willow. For everything I did, for everything I said, for all the damage I caused… You are not Half a Witch. You were NEVER Half a Witch… you were someone that I found… unsettling."

"W-What?" Willow muttered numbly.

"Didn't you ever think it was weird? That I, Boscha Alembic, Grudgby Captain and Top of the Food Chain, kept going out of my way to keep you down, despite the fact you were supposed to be so far beneath me? It's because ever since we were little kids, something about you scared me. At first I thought it was petty jealousy over your old friendship with Amity, since I thought a girl like her should be my friend and not yours, but as I got older, I realised it was because I felt something in you. I've always had an eye for talent; I pride myself on it, and you… you had it, even though I couldn't tell how or why." Boscha revealed.

"You thought I was talented?" Willow asked, totally shocked.

"I guess it was like your presence? Even when you acted all meek and closed in on yourself, I could still feel it… this scary thing inside you. Whenever I saw you fumble a spell, I felt the magic you used and knew that it was more potent than mine… I could never tell a soul, and I definitely couldn't let you find out! If I told people I was worried about "Little Willow Park", I'd have been a laughing stock, and if you found out and really came into your power… You'd crush me…" Boscha blushed in both humiliation and shame; "It was like I was one of those little aggressive dogs barking at the big gentle giant, trying to make myself seem big. I kept you down so you couldn't threaten my place in the hierarchy… and for a long time, you did stay down."

"But then Luz came and changed things…!" Willow whispered in realisation.

Once Luz was around, Willow had a friend to protect and stand up for! Boscha's gang hadn't really picked on Gus since he was two years younger and still seen as a little kid, but Luz had been a threat. She'd also stood up for Willow, and when Boscha had attacked her, it had awakened the sleeping power within Willow and inadvertently unleashed Boscha's fears.

"All that time… all that time, you treated me badly because a part of you thought I was strong enough to knock you down a peg?" Willow asked with disbelief.

"I didn't just think it; I knew it, and I was right! As soon as you showed your true power, my standing became shaky… but it was only then that I realised what I was doing for the sake of power and standing. Skara helped show me a better way… Luz helped show me a better way… YOU helped show me a better way! I could never bring myself to say it before, but a part of me has wanted to thank you for that. And above all else, I NEED to apologise for what I did to you."

Boscha let go of Willow's shirt, then to the shock of the bespectacled girl, she bowed her head as tears and blood dripped from her face; "I am so deeply sorry. I spent years stunting your growth, and you repaid me by helping me grow as a person! Since we both became part of the Hexsquad, I've considered you my rival, but I considered you a friend and teammate too. So please, no matter what; don't let the garbage I spouted as a selfish, spoiled, scared little brat define the person you've grown to be, or the life you're going to live. You are Willow Park, and you are NOT Half a Witch… You may be more of a Witch than I'll ever be."

Willow was struck by those words, and the fact they'd been spoken by her tearful former bully, who was bleeding from tearing through thorns specifically to say those words to her made them feel all the more meaningful to her. She'd never in a million years thought Boscha would apologise to her or say such heartfelt things! A part of her (rightfully) feared that some of Boscha's apology had come from a place of self-deprecation, which it seemed half their friend group suffered from, but even with that worry, Willow felt deeply touched. Hunter and Boscha both believed in her… Amity believed in her too, having defied Odalia to reclaim their friendship. Gus believed in her, seeing her as his own first ever true friend. Matt and Skara believed in her, often following her lead and trusting her to know what to do. Lyra believed in her and saw her as a big sister figure. And of course, Luz believed in her, having entrusted her to lead a team of her own just the day before!

Willow's eyes stopped glowing as she found her mind beginning to calm and a fire beginning to burn within her heart. The plants around her either disappeared or wrapped around Hunter, channelling pure life energy into him. Life energy in its rawest form was just a chunk of unrefined Plant Magic that helped keep cells alive, and it was enough to act as a very temporary life support to keep Hunter going as Willow refocused.

This also freed Boscha, who fell to her knees as the stinging of her cuts and her general fatigue got to her. "So, Willow… you've cleared one Trial of Life today; time for another! Or would this be a Trial of Rejuvenation, since you're fixing this big oaf's heart?"

Flapjack gently pecked Willow's cheek, and Clover translated inside Willow's mind; "Flap says that Hunter wasn't just trying to make you feel better; he truly does believe in you, and so does Flap! He says that if anyone can find a solution to this, it's you."

"Flapjack… I won't let you down! And I won't let Hunter die!" Willow declared, the heat in her chest rising; "I will be there for all my friends, just as they've been there for me! I'm going to keep growing and living, just as I'm going to help others grow and live, just like Boscha!" she began focusing her mind on a new grafted plant.

"I was thinking too small! Forget creating a plant to keep Hunter's heart together! I'm going to take Boscha's idea of getting a new heart and take it to the next level: I'll create a plant that will replace his heart entirely! I'll graft together the perfect creation that'll bring this boy back to me! Because by the Titan, if you think I'm letting that stolen kiss be the only one I get from you, Hunter; you've got another thing coming!" Willow declared, smiling determinedly as the glow in her eyes focused solely on her irises and the burning feeling in her chest grew even more intense. Clover, buzzing excitedly, turned into her staff mode and dropped straight into Willow's hand just as her feelings were reaching a crescendo, and the next moment, there was a burst of green light from her chest as the plant glyph suddenly appeared there, engraving itself into Willow's flesh as she bonded with it, fully embracing herself, her power, and the aspects of the Plant Element.

Boscha gasped in amazement, and Luz, who was unaware of most of what was happening thanks to being focused on maintaining the barrier around the forest, suddenly felt her own plant glyph appearing on her stomach, before a line of green light connected to King's white glyph, after which a beam of green light shot from the young Seraphim, bypassed the barrier entirely, and blasted all the way to Willow, where it struck the plant glyph on her chest, creating a bright flash that blinded Boscha, Maya, and Flapjack, but engulfed Willow and Clover.

Willow closed her eyes calmly, having expected this right after the glyph had appeared thanks to what Amity had told her about her glyph bonding, so when she opened her eyes again and found herself in the endless white void that formed whenever two minds and souls came together, she was prepared. Her only company was Clover, floating in front of her with a look of love in her little eyes.

"So this is what Amity, Gus, and Skara experienced… I bonded with the plant glyph, and now the two of us can fuse together. Ha ha, we're almost like a grafted plant ourselves now!" Willow smiled, holding out her hands so Clover could fly into them. The little Palisman did so, nuzzling Willow closely and with all the love she had.

"You did it, my Queen… no, my Willow." Clover said, feeling that their new closeness warranted the informal address that Willow had often insisted on.

"You're finally going to start calling me by my name all the time, instead of just on occasion?" Willow asked with a smile.

"I am. I was carved as the companion of a Titan's Acolyte, whose family line eventually became the Snapdragon line, as you now know. I felt it was my honour and duty to serve the matriarchs of the family; my queens… I was like their royal scepter, but none of them ever made me feel like a tool. I was always a trusted advisor and companion, but with all of them I felt… different. Compared to being with you, I felt like I was the Palisman of the Family, my bond with my Queen destined to be broken so I can be handed down to the next Matriarch. I loved them all, but you…"

Clover looked into Willow's eyes; "With you, I felt different. I knew my next partner would be different after what happened with that traitor Terra; I wouldn't allow myself to bond with someone like her, but I wanted someone who was like my old Queens; strong, and wise, and caring of her family… but also one who wasn't arrogant or self-obsessed. I chose you, Willow, because while you wanted to be strong and wise, it was in defence of the people you loved and not to avenge yourself against those who mistreated you. To me, you were an ideal queen; one who could wield power responsibly and justly, and I was proud to be your scepter and advisor. But for the first time since my carver and first partner, I felt like my partner was truly my friend and not just my Queen."

Willow gasped softly, then smiled warmly and kissed Clover on top of her head; "Oh Clover… you are my friend. I've always valued your advice, and of course the power you give me is beyond helpful, but I've always thought of you as my dear friend, and someone I want to take care of. And it's not like you haven't done a great job of taking care of me too! I love you, Clover!"

Clover buzzed adorably and nestled closer to Willow's chest; "And I love you, my Willow! You taught me that being a Queen is also like being a Mother, or "Mom Friend" as you call it. Your responsibility isn't to rule over others or boss them around, but to love them, care for them, guide them, and nurture them. You did all of that, especially helping Hunter realise he deserved to be loved and cared for, and helping Boscha realise she can be a better person without giving up her strength! YOU helped them grow and gave them a new lease on life, and you yourself have grown, rejuvenated the withered life you'd had before you met the rest of your friends, and truly begun to live a life that's of your own making."

"I couldn't have done it without you, Clover!" Willow gushed; "You, Gus, Luz, Amity… you've all helped me grow, and I'm glad if I had any part in helping you or them grow too. My life was in a pretty withered state when I met Luz and everything changed, but thanks to all of you, I feel strong! Like I can take on the world and do the impossible! Even now, thanks to your encouragement and Boscha's words, I feel like I really can save Hunter and finally put an end to Terra! My brain is practically buzzing with ideas for how to do it too! So many plant combinations I could graft together that might truly be able to replace Hunter's broken heart… and you better believe if he's getting a new one, it'll be one I made! What better way to answer that kiss of his than to give him a whole new heart?"

The girl giggled, and Clover buzzed in her own approximation of a giggle; "I knew you'd make him your king before too long. You've been attracted to him since HECK; I could feel it! For the record; he's awkward but a good man and I think he'd make a wonderful King for my most wonderful of Queens. And also for the record, most of my fellow Palismen agree! Poor Beanie was even confused, thinking you two were already an item!"

"Honestly, don't go corrupting Stringbean into a shipper! With Luz as her partner, she's already gonna end up with a ton of quirks! Though I wouldn't have her, or Luz, any other way. Now, my beloved little Partner; I think it's time we go and save Hunter, and avenge your old family. I'll honour the Snapdragon Clan by taking down their black sheep once and for all! It's time for all this Mandragora Madness to come to an end!" Willow declared, beaming proudly.

Clover buzzed happily in response, then closed her eyes as she practically melted into Willow's embrace. The two felt each other's love through their bond, then as their breathing and hearts became synchronised, the power of King's glyph and their new connection caused their bodies to become one as they were consumed by white light and returned to the waking world, where not even a second of time had passed.

Boscha, who'd raised her arm to shield her from the light, slowly lowered it and gasped in amazement at what she saw; Willow and Clover had completed their Palisman Fusion and taken on a new form!

Similar to Skara, Willow's actual body hadn't changed too much, only gaining a couple of features, but her clothing had been completely replaced by a new set caused by the fusion, and which was arguably a part of her body now, since it was unlikely the outfit could just come off. The outfit consisted of a golden yellow dress in the same colour as as Clover's body, which came down to just above Willow's knees and had a somewhat fuzzy and torn-style hem. The dress also had a black stripe to mark Willow's waist, which had a V-shaped dip on both the front and back, and the upper body had long sleeves that reached to Willow's wrists. Around both her wrists and her neck were cuffs of paler yellow fluff, which looked the same as Clover's fuzzy torso, right down to the colour. The fluff on Willow's collar covered most of the upper half of her chest and back, similar to Clover herself, and the green plant glyph was seen shining through it from Willow's sternum. Her outfit was completed by darker yellow chitin boots that stopped at her knee, and which had a simple design that resembled Clover's legs, and her glasses remained in place on her face, though they were mostly there because Willow liked them as part of her look, rather than needing them for her eyesight any more. Speaking of her eyesight, Willow's eyes were one of her few physical changes, as just like Skara, her pupils had disappeared and her irises and turned into insect-like compound eyes (still with the white sclera around them), but unlike Skara, Willow's eyes were a vibrant green. Her hair was largely the same braided big tail style as before, and even still hung over her shoulders, but now her hair had turned pale blonde to match Clover's fur, and her dyed green highlight had become black, like a bee's stripe. That wasn't the only bee-like change to her hair though, as the ends of her braids had been transformed into what appeared to be the abdomens of a bee, complete with a black stripe and a large white stinger poking out of each one, which looked to be fully functional and definitely not something someone would want to mess with. Finally, Willow's transformation was completed by a pair of giant transparent bee wings on her back, which looked exactly like Clover's and would undoubtedly allow her to fly when she chose too.

Willow looked down at herself and admired her changed form, feeling the incredible raw power flowing beneath her skin. This was better than a Power Glyph by a wide margin, and the sense of completeness it brought her was incredible!

"So this is Palisman Fusion! The power of the Titan, Luz, and King all blessing Clover and I! The power of Clover becoming one with me! The others weren't kidding when they talked about how amazing it is!" Willow commented, casually waving her hand and causing the entire desolated wasteland that had once been the Spriggan Manor estate to bloom into a field of flowers.

Boscha looked at it all in amazement; "Whoa… I guess that confirms it; you really have surpassed me now, Willow. I… I'm jealous, but I'm happy for you."

Willow smiled at her; "Thank you, Boscha. And as for your apology before… it's a shock to me as much as it will be to you I'm sure, but I forgive you. You've changed and grown as a person, and so have I; I think it's time we leave the past buried in the past. Let it nourish us and help us grow, but not smother us or define our future."

Boscha smiled and wiped away the last of her tears, then smiled even wider as Willow casually grew the flowers for the Aromatherapy Healing Magic to fix up her cuts. But Willow wasn't done yet, as she smirked at the three-eyed girl; "But don't you dare go soft on me! Just because we're going to be friends doesn't mean we aren't still rivals! I'm expecting you to be the next one to reach this level! Don't disappoint me, Alembic!"

The challenging look on the newly fused girl's face made Boscha smirk and nod, even if a voice in the back of her head told her she didn't deserve this mercy. She ignored it though and said; "You got it, Park! Now hurry up and save your lover boy so we can all go and kick Terra's butt!"

Willow nodded and turned back to Hunter, gently touching his bare chest (she hadn't put his shirt back on yet) and flooded him with Plant Magic, focusing especially on his Palistrom Bones, which she made sure was given enough life energy to keep Hunter going. The heart pumped the blood and the marrow within the bones produced that blood, so using Plant Magic, Willow could make his Palistrom Bones artificially break down and remake his blood, keeping it pumping through him in an awkward fashion that would at least buy him more time as Willow produced her Magnum Opus of Grafted Plants.

"No two plants is enough, so we're going further! With the power of this new fusion, I'll weave together a full five plants, and take the power of the Galdorstone shards still inside him!" Willow declared, focusing her mind and going through the mental lexicon of plants she had inside her head to find the perfect plants she needed.

First, to incorporate the remains of the Galdorstone and use its magic to keep Hunter going, she needed a plant that could incorporate minerals, and the Divine Realm was the place for plants like that, since life forms there often incorporated minerals into their bodies in the form of crystals. One such plant was the Malakmimicitus; a kind of flower that started off as a seed that had been intentionally cultivated to "grow" more gemstones by planting it inside a gem and then planting it in the ground. It was often used in the Divine Realm as a way of cultivated magic gemstones that are normally gathered from fauna (such as Carbuncle Crystal Horns), or which are resource-intensive to make through Alchemy. The flower used the shards of its original plant like petals too, so that would be perfect for Willow's purposes!

Next, she needed a way to make it work like a traditional heart, pumping blood through the body. That was an easy fix for Willow; the Demon Realm already had plants like that; the Pond Pump Lotus! It was a lotus-like flower that looked like a regular flower on the surface, but had a bulbous "organ" below the surface that it used to pump water from the boiling ponds and lakes it grew in, then shoot it out of its bloom in order to shoot down birds and eat them with its roots. It was the perfect plant to serve as a blood pumping organ!

After that, Willow needed a way to ensure the plant could survive inside Hunter's body without draining a significant amount of vitality, so Willow focused on plants that needed very little (if any light), didn't need oxygen, and could be fed on the nutrients Hunter would naturally ingest. She ended up going with another Divine Realm plant; the Onyxion. It was a root vegetable that required very little to grow and was often hybridised with other crops that grow on the surface, since its leaves were largely vestigial and easily replaced.

The fourth step was something sturdy and easily shaped, so Willow could grow the chambers of the heart AND the exterior shape to properly fit inside his chest cavity without messing with his other internal organs. For this purpose, Willow chose the Demon Realm Plant known as the Amorphous Ash Tree; a relatively small type of tree that was infamous for never having a consistent shape or colour to its exterior, only being recognisable by examining the "Heart Wood" ironically enough.

Lastly, Willow needed something to balance all these effects and help keep all the traits she needed working as intended, as well as to help ensure Hunter's body integrated the new heart without rejecting it. To that end, Willow could think of no better plant than the Goldwort; a plant famous for its ability to blend the magical aspects of different plants without losing any of the aspects themselves.

With these five plants chosen, Willow grew a test version of the plant to make sure it worked correctly, asking for some crystals from Boscha's ingredient pouches to test it out. The girl obediently handed over some simple sugar crystals that were useful for enhancing some of her explosive potions, then Willow focused her enhanced magic and grew a small seed, which she then inserted into the sugar crystals to grow the heart. The result was what appeared to be half wooden and half crystalline heart with an almost rubbery, fleshy texture, with golden amber and red wood making it up, and gold leaves around a rose-like flower made from the shards of the sugar crystal growing from the front of it. Willow then produced some chlorophyll and began circulating it through the heart, which began to beat slowly, with the liquid being pumped out of the correct openings! Boscha even took a tiny sample of the amber-like crystalline portion of the heart and tested it with her potions, confirming it still functioned like sugar despite not being sugar.

"I think this is going to work!" Boscha grinned, amazed by the creation.

"Only one way to find out! I can't use my magic to grow Palistrom Wood, but I can use it to grow other things FROM Palistrom Wood, just like I do with my wooden bangles." Willow said, making Boscha note that the bangles were missing now, "So I should be able to grow the new plant heart directly into his chest via his Palistrom Bones! Flapjack, I'm going to need your help to sync this up perfectly!" Willow said, her eyes already glowing with her Plant Detection Spell.

Flapjack chirped and Willow found that she could understand him thanks to Clover being fused with her. Boscha also decided to help by offering her dropper with the Tincture of True Sight, which Willow then dripped into her left eye, giving her the ability to see ALL the magic inside Hunter, which would allow her to ensure the Galdorstone part of the new flower was still channelling magic through him. With everything as prepared as she could make it, Willow began the process of growing the plant. Using the inside of his Palistrom Ribcage, Willow produced the seed of her new Grafted Heart and had it implanted in the largest surviving chunk of Hunter's Galdorstone core, then as it grew, she manipulated the roots into the other fragments too, successfully spearing all of them except for one, which was a bit too small anyway, so she instead had the root move it around slowly and up through Hunter's oesophagus, then out through his mouth, so it wasn't left rattling around inside him. The small chunk of Galdorstone, barely bigger than a thumbprint, popped out of his mouth before the root retreated back into his chest and continued the process of growing.

Willow focused intently, listening to Flapjack's advice on how Hunter's life force was reacting as the new heart grew from the fragments of his old one, using her own eyes to observe it carefully, and also having Boscha (using the tincture with her third eye again) to serve as an extra view point in case she missed something. After almost ten minutes (in which Amity fought like an absolute champion to keep Terra's attention on her), the heart had grown to the perfect size and shape, with the fragments of the Galdorstone infused throughout it, leaving barely a seam where crystal and plant met, and with the smaller fragments forming scale-like plating around the heart to further protect it (though Willow personally thought they looked more like artichoke peels than scales). Then, it was the moment of truth; Willow removed her spell on Hunter's Palistrom bones and allowed his blood to flow normally.

The blood flowed into his new heart, which began to slowly pump on it's own. Then it began to get faster and faster, until it was beating at a normal level for a human, the magic of the Galdorstone and Hunter's Grimwalker physiology causing it to react perfectly like a normal heart. Then slowly, little by little, Hunter's ghostly white skin regained its colour and Flapjack flew down to his chest and began to hop around, tweeting excitedly.

"His heart feels strong! The magic feels strong! I think it worked! Willow, I think you saved him!"

Willow's heart sped up a little as she and Boscha exchanged smiles; it really did look like it was working! Now they just had to see how Hunter felt when he woke up! To speed that along, Boscha produced some simple smelling salts (which made Willow cringe thanks to her sensitive nose in her fused form) and wafted it under Hunter's nose.

Almost immediately, Hunter jerked away with a gasp, and Willow watched as his heart beat sped up further in his surprise.

"Wha-? What's that awful smell?" Hunter asked, blinking hard as his eyes were a little blurry. "I don't feel tired or in pain… Willow fixed me up, right?"

Willow blushed, the boy's complete faith in her once again touching her deeply. "I'm here, Hunter. It took a bit, but I grew a new Grafted Plant to absorb the remains of your Galdorstone Core and serve as a new heart for you. How do you feel?" she asked with a blush.

"I feel wonderful! I don't feel anything weird or off; my heart feels strong!" Hunter smiled, sitting up slowly so he was no longer on Willow's lap (which made them both a little sad). He then rubbed his eyes as Flapjack jumped to his shoulder and nuzzled him, and when he finally laid his now clear eyes on Willow and her new form, his face went tomato red in an impressive imitation of Amity.

"Oh… wow…!" he breathed, eyes wide and unable to tear themselves away from Willow.

Willow blushed, and Boscha smirked teasingly; "Oh wow is right! Look at that blush! If anything, I think his new heart works TOO well!"

Hunter didn't even hear the girl, his mind entirely focused on Willow; "You look incredible! You fused with Clover, right? I knew you could do it! You see? I told you that you were amazing, Captain!" he praised, utterly enraptured by the girl. To him, she was as beautiful as ever, but now radiated an aura of power and confidence, which he was sure would transfer over to her normal form after the fusion ended.

Willow giggled through her blush and replied; "Why thank you. A lady always likes to be complimented. Now, if you don't mind…"

She suddenly threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, shaking a little as all the tension and stress she'd built up was released with shuddering sobs of relief; "Oh Hunter, I was so worried! I thought I was going to lose you!" she whispered into his ear.

Hunter smiled and hugged her back, enjoying the soft feel of her new fluffy collar; "You'll never lose me Willow; so long as you want me around, I'll fight the Reaper himself to stay by your side. Not that I think I'll have to; I'm pretty sure I lived so long because he's scared to upset you!"

"Flatterer." Willow said with a giggle and a snort. She then pulled back and stroked Hunter's cheek, before gently kissing him on the lips, returning the favour for his stolen kiss earlier. Boscha averted her eyes, pretending to be grossed out but actually feeling rather excited for the pair (not that she'd ever admit it).

When the two separated, Hunter opened his mouth but was immediately silenced by Willow putting a finger to his lips; "If your next word is "Crikey" then you'll never hear the end of it from Boscha, and you know she'll tell Luz and the others."

Hunter blushed harder, making it clear that really would have been his next word. Willow could see it too, and the two shared a secret smile and a silly giggle before Hunter finally composed himself enough to say what he really wanted to.

"Willow Park, would you be my girlfriend?" he asked.

Willow smiled brilliantly, her heart thundering in her chest as hard as Hunter's was; "I already gave you one heart today, Hunter. But since you're so greedy, I suppose I can give you mine too."

Hunter's heart soared, and Willow kissed her new boyfriend once again, before whispering in his ear; "The name of the heart I grew for you is the Galdor Heart Bloom. Somehow, I don't think I'm likely to ever grow another one, so it's one of a kind. Take care of it… and of my heart too."

"Aye aye, Captain." Hunter said softly, the two sharing a loving gaze.

Boscha watched them both with a small smile, and whispered to herself; "Well Willow… looks like after all that, you win."

Sadly, the romantic moment was cut short by an unsettling sight that froze the trio AND the battle between Terra and Amity. The barrier around the Navel Woods began to flicker, before finally shattering as Luz fell from the sky. Willow and Hunter both leapt to their feet and rushed to help catch her, while Terra tried to take advantage of the situation to escape the forest and brainwash more people outside of it. She didn't actually get to the border of the forest before Willow acted though, waving her hand in a circle to raise up a whole glade of Iron Barrier Birches to trap Terra. They wouldn't hold her back forever; she'd eventually figure out how to slither around and climb over the trees, but for now she was stuck. Willow also replaced Luz's barrier with a ton of Botantical Bamboo Barriers; they weren't tall enough to keep Terra contained once she got past the birches, but they'd keep her minions from escaping and causing havoc of their own.

As this was happening, Amity had moved at near-light speed to catch Luz as she fell from the sky, managing to do so and slowly land in the forest below, willing her nearby homunculi to encircle them so as to keep her and Luz safe. This wasn't too necessary, as the moment Willow arrived, flying with her new fusion wings, she used her new and improved Plant Magic to take control of Terra's nearby minions and immediately destroyed their pheromone pods before sending them to harass others further afield. Willow, Boscha, and Hunter then landed beside Amity, who was carefully laying Luz on her back.

Luz, for her part, appeared to be fine; just exhausted. Her light and plant glyphs were both glowing and connecting to King's incomplete glyph; proof that two Palisman Fusions were active at once, and the girl was panting hard and sweating profusely.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" Amity cried frantically.

"I-I'm fine… I just became exhausted all of a sudden!" Luz groaned as Stringbean nuzzled her worriedly. She looked to Willow and then gave a tired small; "Whoa! Willow, you look awesome! I knew you had it in you!"

Amity nodded in agreement, though her reaction was muted by her worry for Luz. Willow understood completely, and while she was flattered by Luz's praise, she also wanted her best friend to pay more attention to her own health!

"Thank you, but don't fall back into old habits, Luz! You're health comes first right now!" Willow said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder; "This is at least the fourth or fifth of these strange weakness moments that I know of."

"Wait, she's had that many of these moments of weakness? What's causing them?" Boscha frowned.

"According to Tio Orion, they happen when more than one fusion is used at a time! He told me earlier, when he summoned me for that little talk. It makes sense too; the last time I had one of these spells of weakness was yesterday when I was on the way to back up Skara and you guys at Belos' old castle! I've been getting them rarely since the mission in Cartilia, when Gus became the second one to unlock a fusion." Luz explained worriedly. "I don't know what to do about it though.!

"Wait, these moments of weakness are because of our fusions?" Willow frowned.

"Yeah… at least Tio Orion seems to think so. He says the only times he saw me having them was when more than one person was fused with the Palisman." Luz said; "He said it was because my body is like a channel between his power and you guys. Widening that channel for more people makes things difficult.

Willow nodded and said; "I see… so it's dangerous to use more than one at a time? And with me and Amity both using them at the same time…"

She trailed off, not needing to finish that sentence. The others looked at her with wide eyes; "Dang it, I knew this power was a massive boon, but to think that unlocking these fusions causes Luz to grow weak…" Hunter frowned; "I guess it would make sense; the fusion power itself seems to come from Luz, and she is sort of the living conduit of the glyphs, transferring their power from the Titans, through her, to you guys."

"Our level of magic rivals a Seraphim like this; that kind of power has to have a cost! Channelling that amount of power through her body to two different people must be hard!" Amity declared.

The girl exchanged looks with Luz, then decided to drop her own fusion since she was mostly out of energy anyway and her homunculi had the magic needed to sustain themselves already inside them. Almost the instant Ghost jumped out of Amity, Luz felt her fatigue vanish and her strength return, seemingly confirming Willow's theory.

"I don't understand one thing though… if multiple fusions at once wear me out, why do I immediately get my stamina back when one of the fusions come undone?" Luz wondered with a frown. Seraphim recharged quickly, but not THAT quickly, and certainly not their physical fatigue.

"That's a question for later. Once we're with Gus and Skara again, we can experiment and see what happens, and with healers like Hettie and your Mami around to help us out. Maybe we can figure out a solution then. But for now…" Willow turned and looked towards Terra, who was snarling and ranting to herself as she got close to clawing her way up the trees she'd been trapped in; "… we have bigger weeds to whack."

Luz got to her feet and nodded determinedly, while Amity, Hunter, and Boscha all stood ready to fight, only for Willow to shake her head and say; "No; you guys help Eda and the others restrain he brainwashed group. I'll handle Terra on my own."

Her four friends exchanged looks, and Willow was preparing to justify her confidence when they inevitably objected to leaving her alone… only for all four to simply nod in agreement.

"Got it. Once you beat Terra, we should be able to wipe out her army of monsters and then focus on restraining the brainwashed long enough for Hettie and the others to finish their cure." Luz said, getting ready to fly off.

The only argument against this came from Boscha and Hunter, and even they only argued that they should get to watch Terra's defeat after all she'd done to them.

"No way am I leaving until I see her bite the dust with my own eyes! You can have the glory, Park! But I want that satisfaction at least!" Boscha argued.

"Come on, you don't want your great victory to go by without your new boyfriend waiting in the wings with a victory kiss, right?" Hunter asked with a grin.

Willow, touched by both her friends' confidence and emboldened by their support, agreed to let Boscha and Hunter stay and watch her fight Terra, while Luz and Amity (holding in excited squeals that Willow and Hunter were dating) entrusted it all to her and rushed to help their Moms and Raine. Once the two girls were gone, Willow told Boscha and Hunter to go back to the field of flowers she'd grown on the Spriggan Manor grounds and wait for her there, before taking to the air and flying over to Terra.

"Having trouble there, Terra? Let me help." Willow said with a blank expression, snapping her fingers to make the Iron Barrier Birches shrink into the ground enough for Terra to move away from them.

Terra turned to glare hatefully at Willow and bellowed; "You!? That form…!? You absorbed my Palisman! It was rightfully mine!"

"SHE chose ME. No matter how hard you try Terra, you'd never have won Clover. A bond can't form between you because there's nothing inside you that others can connect with. You're a selfish, arrogant, murderous weed that cares for nothing and no one but yourself. I doubt you even have enough of a soul left in you to form a Palisman Bond." Willow goaded.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Terra screeched, unleashing her seed barrage on Willow… only for the Fused girl to simply raise her hand and stop all the seeds in their tracks, using Plant Magic to take control of them and drop them to the soil far below.

"I'm tired of your empty threats, Terra. If you're so determined to kill me, then let's go back to where this all started. I'll let you try your hardest there." Willow said coldly, before turning and flying away back to the remains of the Spriggan Manor Estate.

Terra, practically frothing at the mouth, shot a barrage of seeds and bamboo roots at Willow's retreating form, but Willow simply turned and drew two spell circles. The first caught the projectiles in her aura and dropped them to the ground…

… the second ripped the flesh from every leg on Terra's left side, leaving only the green bones behind.

The Arbor Lindwurm screamed in pain as she looked down at her body, seeing the damage done to her before rapidly devouring trees to regenerate the damaged areas and restore the flesh to her limbs. Terra didn't understand; what spell had the girl cast to cause such a devastating effect!? A sudden feeling of dread filled her, but her pride refused to let her back down and be beaten by a little girl! She was going to kill that brat and rip her rightful Palisman from her screaming flesh if it was the last thing she ever did!

With that in mind, Terra began rapidly running towards the flower field as quickly as she could, snapping up and consuming every plant in her wake to ensure her magic was at its peak, even consuming her own Treants and Mandrakes along the way. When she arrived back at the estate, she was back to full power, even if she was still only the normal size for a Supreme Dragon. Despite this and her intimidating (if she said so herself) aura, Terra arrived to find Willow flying casually in the air directly above the centre of the field, practicing the same aerial manoeuvres she'd been used to with a staff, while her little friends watched from the sidelines. Terra suspected a trap but could sense nothing beneath the soil or amongst the flowers, and she could sense the power of the Seraphim and her girlfriend over at her old family home; did this girl really think she could take her on by herself!?

"And to think you just called me arrogant. Do you really think you can win on your own?" Terra asked mockingly.

"Yes." Willow replied casually.

Terra gaped (a rather amusing expression on her draconic face); "And how do you figure that!? What secret do you have up your sleeve!?"

Willow smiled coldly and tapped the plant glyph glowing on her chest; "The moment I got this, I knew it was different from yours. While yours was off-colour and sickly looking with a weak glow, mine is healthy and strong. The Titan accepted me, whilst he only allowed you power because of your threats to innocent people. That means that your magic is weaker than mine, and with Luz's power and Clover's added in, even your stolen strength from the Galdorstone and Rite of Ascension mean nothing."

Terra flushed with humiliation and outrage; "You putrid little weed… you think having the blessing of a tool, a glorified pigeon, and a corpse is enough to stop me!? I am Empress Terra Snapdragon, rightful ruler of every piece of land you've trodden on in your pathetic life, through the right of conquest! I will make you kneel and grovel at my feet before I finally end your miserable existence!"

Those words were spoken with a bone-chilling amount of hatred, enough to make even seasoned warriors flinch back and shudder in terror… but Willow merely laughed. It wasn't a little giggle or a forced chuckle either, but a true, deep belly laugh that shook her entire body and left Terra on the verge of popping a blood vessel from pure fury.

"YOU DARE MOCK ME!?" Terra screamed, lashing her tail down at Willow. A blow like that would hit her against the ground with enough force to pulverise her into a bloody stain on the floor… if it landed. However, without even stopping her laughter, Willow raised her hand and effortlessly stopped Terra's tail, causing the whole thing to glow green with an aura of Willow's magic, which extended from a conjured plant glyph that she'd summoned in the same way Luz did.

"W-What!?" Terra gasped, while Hunter and Boscha looked on in amazement from down below.

"I told you, Terra." Willow smirked; "My power is greater than yours. A TRUE Supreme Dragon has unbeatable control over their element; my friends and I learned about it from Lars the Thunder Wyvern during his brief time with the CATTs. They have to prove they understand their chosen element and be honestly blessed by the Titan, giving them unparalleled power. That's why Gus was never able to control Zara's body despite it being made from ice-made-flesh… but you? You stole that power and have no understanding or respect for life or rejuvenation, and perhaps not even growth! That means your dragon body, made from plants and foliage turned into flesh…" Willow clenched her first and Terra's tail was ripped off, leaving behind only the green bone within it. Terra screamed in agony and Willow smiled coldly as she finished; "…is utterly under my control."

Terra whipped her now bone tail at Willow in outrage, but the girl easily danced around the blow and used her control over Plant Magic to shove Terra back a bit. The furious dragon tried to regenerate by absorbing the flowers Willow had grown over the remains of the estate, only to find that she couldn't; the flowers was grafted from Human Realm daffodils and lilies, creating a kind of kind of golden coloured lily with the stamens contained within a daffodil-like "bell". They were beautiful, but mundane, and Willow called them Arch-Lilies. Unable to absorb grafted plants, Terra then tried to flee back to the forest, but Willow would not allow her to leave the meadow, instead dragging her back whenever she tried to go beyond the trench Luz and Amity had burned there earlier.

With no other options left, Terra grimaced and used her own magic to conjure the plant material she needed to regenerate. Once her tail was restored, she looked back at Willow with fury and no small amount of fear.

"Now, I believe you've twice said you were going to make me kneel… I think you should show me how it's done." Willow smiled.

"W-What!?" Terra snapped.

"You heard me." Willow, her smile as cold as ice; "I said; Kneel."

She raised her hand, then waved it down towards the ground, and Terra felt it grip her head and force it down into the dirt, making her kowtow to the girl she'd previously seen as nothing but a seedling. Boscha and Hunter cheered, and Willow descended to the ground and stood in front of Terra's snout with a smirk; "Not so fun when it's you on the receiving end, right? Your entire dragon body, which you went through so much trouble to get, has just gone from your greatest strength to a massive liability. It's over now Terra; you don't stand a ghost of a chance."

The disgraced Plant Witch writhed and struggled, trying her hardest to lift her head or any other part of her off the ground again, but Willow's magic was like a blanket of gravity weighing down on her; she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. The most she could do was open her mouth, but Willow had already proven she had counters for all her breath attacks.

"U-Ugh! Fine then!" Terra snarled; "If this body is a liability, I'll cast it aside! Let's make this a proper Witches' Duel!"

With that, Terra's draconic body shuddered as the light left it's eyes, before the whole thing turned back into raw plant matter and began crumbling away from the skeleton within, leaving piles of leaves, bark, and rot around the shining green bones. From the dead centre of the dragon, within the numerous ribs, the three teens saw the dragon's "heart"; a wooden cocoon surrounded by the protective plants Willow had grown around Terra's hostages. The cocoon rotted away and Terra stepped out of it in her Dragon Priestess form, then began to walk towards Willow with a thunderous look on her face, still holding the stolen Galdorstone staff which crackled with power as Terra struggled to contain her raging magic. The glyph on her chest was glowing a poisonous green and giving off some wisps of black smoke and magic.

"So, little weed; think you can control me now!?" Terra demanded, stopping only a few feet from Willow and pointing her staff at her.

Willow reached out with her magically enhanced senses and found that no, unlike her dragon form, Terra's true self was more like regular flesh that had been hybridised with plant matter than pure plant matter, so her magic couldn't control it. Which was fine by Willow; knowing that her magic was superior and she had the faith of her friends behind her, the bespectacled girl was not afraid. Ignoring Terra entirely for a moment, Willow snapped her fingers and dismissed the Iron Barrier Birches protecting the hostages, then motioned for Hunter and Boscha to go and help the poor Mandragoras.

They gathered the hostages, with Boscha using some abomination earplugs to make them deaf to Terra's voice, so she couldn't order them around with her pheromones. She then began pouring Bile Boosters and Ambrosia potions down their throats to restore their strength, causing their withered forms to begin fleshing out again. The only one she left alone was Arboriel, whom Hunter instead bound in chains, though this was more of a formality; the woman appeared broken and didn't have the strength to fight back anyway.

With the hostages safe, and Arboriel captured and unwilling to fight any more, Willow finally turned her attention back to Terra and conjured four large Iron Birches in a square formation around the two of them, before growing vines of Iron Fist Pansies between the trees, effectively trapping herself and Terra into what appeared to be a square 24ft by 24ft botanical boxing ring. Willow even grew Artillery Seed Pods from the tops of the birches, ensuring that any attempt to climb over the ring was answered by a barrage of explosive seeds.

"Well Terra, you wanted a Witches' Duel so here we are. Just you and me; my Plant Magic VS your Plant Magic." Willow grinned, cracking her knuckles as she released an aura of green magic. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Not as much as I will, you wretched weed!" Terra snarled, her eyes glowing a sickly green as her temper pushed her into a minor Bile Overload. Willow was unconcerned though, and simply gave a "Bring it on" gesture to really rile Terra up.

Terra charged forward, using Plant Magic to enhance her partially plant body and bulk up her free arm, making it look obscenely muscular as she tried to punch Willow in the face. Willow saw the attack coming in practically slow motion thanks to Clover's senses and easily dodged, then retaliated by growing plants directly from her body (a boon gained from Clover's biology, since she was made of Palistrom Wood) to create wooden gauntlets over her fists, which had golden crystal thorns on the knuckles to add some spikes to her punches, the first of which Willow landed on Terra's cheek with terrific force.

Terra was knocked all the way to the other side of the ring, where the Iron Fist Pansies promptly punched back, causing the woman to stagger back and shrink her arm again so she could clutch her bruised and bleeding cheek. Willow grinned and held her up her wooden knuckles; "Nice, huh? Another grafted creation I just came up with; the bark of a Human Realm Palm Tree hybridised with the Divine Realm's Heliodor Hawthorn, creating a flexible bark with some nice sharp thorns of crystal. I call it Sharp Palm Hawthorne. Perfect for this little boxing match!"

"This is not a boxing match!" Terra screeched, twirling her staff to draw a giant spell circle, which conjured dozens of tentacle-like vines to race towards Willow. The girl danced around them with her bee wings, making playful buzzing noises.

"Not a boxing match? Why of course not…" Willow grinned viciously as she grafted together the long, thin, but sturdy leaves of Human Realm Aloe Vera, the razor sharp white leaves of the Slashing Snowdrop, and the crystalline spikes of the Starburst Sequoia to create long leaf blades that were a milky pink colour, resembled rose quartz, and yet as sturdy and sharp as a machete. With the leaf of this new plant (which Willow called an Aloe Quartz Drop), Willow effortlessly slashed the vines away as she flew at Terra, then stopped right before reaching her and performed a spinning heel kick right to the foul woman's nose, breaking it.

Terra was once again knocked back into the Iron Fist Pansies, and once again punched back towards Willow, who this time merely used a simple vine to grab Terra's ankle and pull her leg out from under her, knocking the stunned woman onto her back, where Willow pointed the Aloe Quartz Drop leaf at her throat.

"…this is Plantamania, Hag!" Willow finished with a triumphant grin; "And I recommend you tap out, before I really get started."

Terra cringed as she snapped her nose back into place and let her magic regenerate her. She then screamed "Never!" and swung her staff at Willow's legs. The girl just flew up to avoid it, but it gave Terra a chance to get back to her feet and begin preparing more spells.

First, she tried conjuring a Great Treant to help her fight, but Willow was quick and not about to let Terra get away with drawing a spell circle that big, so all Terra got was a kick to the stomach for her troubles. Next, she tried conjuring a spray of acid with her hand and a spray of sticky sap with her staff, but the acid splashed harmlessly against Willow's fused form as she coated herself in palm bark to keep it from touching her directly, and the sap caught her but was merely wiped away like it was nothing, as Willow's superior magic allowed her to manipulate the sap and keep it from sticking to her and even flicking it back at Terra. Forced to try and remove the sticky sap from herself whilst dodging Willow as she attacked with a flurry of blows, Terra found herself even more on the back foot. Punches from one of Willow's spiked and armoured fists as well as slashes from her crystalline leaf blade left the woman scrambling for a way to fight back; any plant she summoned was turned against her by Willow if not dismissed entirely, her scaled arms were only barely keeping the leaf blade from slicing her like a ham, and what few attacks she got through were being essentially shrugged off by her young opponent! She'd actually managed to blast a small hole through Willow's thigh with a blast of raw magic from her mouth at one point, but Willow had merely grimaced and used her Plant Magic to regenerate!

Terra's frustration and desperation grew, as did her humiliation as it became increasingly clear that Willow wasn't taking her seriously as an opponent. This wasn't a fight for the younger girl; this was pure catharsis! First for Willow herself after what Terra had done to Hunter and helped do to her other friends, including Amelia, and then for Clover, whom Willow allowed to control their fusion for a bit to really pummel the foul woman, avenging the deaths of the Snapdragon Clan, as Hunter and Boscha cheered them on from the sidelines.

Finally, after almost five straight minutes of this one-sided beat down, Terra (who'd lost one of her horns after a brutal punch) was left on her knees, panting as she used more of her magic to regenerate her wounds. She might as well have not bothered though, as her body was still fatigued and she now only had a small amount of magic left. As she panted, Terra tried to summon a Restraining Rafflesia in secret beneath her, but Willow's plant sense allowed her to detect it and destroy it before it could fully grow.

"There's no escape for you, Terra. Throw down your staff and surrender; you'll pay for your crimes in a proper court, where the people of the Isles will decide what happens to you." Willow demanded.

"I-I refuse!" Terra spat, before beginning to rant; "I will not be judged by those inferiors! I was stronger than all of them! I became a Coven Head! I became a Mandragora! I wrestled control away from Arboriel! I took the power I rightfully deserved from the Titan himself! I alone am the gardener, while all of you are mere weeds to be culled from my domain!"

Willow ignored her though; she had no interest in Terra's insane, entitled rambling. Like so many others, she'd been born with some talent and felt that entitled her to be above everyone else. Like the world was hers to do with as she pleased because she was "better" than the other people in it… Well, speaking as one of those "other people", Willow was not about to let a new tyrant rise up.

"You WILL be judged and punished by those you've harmed; the only difference will be how many of your bones I'll have to break before that happens." Willow said threateningly.

Terra fumed, and with the last of her strength, she let loose a desperate battle cry and thrust her stolen staff towards Willow, unleashing every scrap of power she had left in her as a single massive green beam of raw magic. The beam was easily large enough to consume Willow, but it would never get the chance, as Willow effortlessly blocked it with her Botanical Bamboo Barrier, which rose with a wave of her hand and absorbed the blow, receiving barely a scuff mark. Terra's pride was shattered by this, and a few of her teeth soon joined it as an irritated Willow dismissed the bamboo and flew at her, the girl's wings beating so fast that they were practically invisible as she got behind Terra and launched a devastating kick with a foot coated in the same Sharp Palm Hawthorne tree bark. Terra turned at the last minute, trying to track Willow with her eyes, but that just turned a kick to the back of her head (a near guaranteed knock out) into tooth breaking kick to the cheek, which knocked Terra flying once again to the other side of the ring, where she could do nothing but groan and impotently writhe on the ground, unable to even regrow her broken fangs (which she spat out, along with some green blood).

It was an almost pitiable sight, but Willow and her friends had no pity for the fiendish woman; in Willow's mind, Terra was worse than even Odalia, and maybe only a step behind the likes of Belos in cruelty and evil. She'd get no more mercy or consideration from her!

Snapping her fingers, Willow used a vine to grab Terra's stolen staff and pull it over to her, so Terra couldn't use it's power ever again. She then absorbed the plants she'd grown to create her makeshift "Plantamania Ring" as she mentally called it, and was immediately caught in a hug by Hunter.

"You were amazing!" Hunter beamed, picking the girl up by the waist and twirling her around as she giggled; "I know you had a major advantage in that your powers completely countered hers, but that was still incredible! You basically toyed with Terra! Toyed with a Coven Head, a Mandragora Princess, AND a Supreme Dragon all rolled into one! You are… just… wow!"

Willow giggled, happy to see she'd gotten Hunter flustered again; "Thank you, Hunter. I couldn't have gotten this far without you believing in me. And you too, Boscha." she added, looking over to the three-eyed girl as she prepared abomination goo to bind Terra.

Boscha stopped in her tracks and looked unsure how to take Willow's compliment. It didn't feel like she deserved it… but she'd take it in the spirit in which it was given. "No problem Park… Willow. You did good. You really did surpass me…"

"For now, right?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow; "You're not just going to quit while I'm ahead, right?"

"Heh, not on your life. My rival, my girlfriend, and one of my old friends have all unlocked that power now… mark my words, Maya and I will be the next ones to fuse!" Boscha declared, not entirely convincing herself even though her Palisman snipped her pincers confidently.

As this was happening, the weak and crawling Terra suddenly found herself crawling towards a pair of green bare feet, and looked up to see Arboriel stood over her, glaring down at her with utter hatred. Unlike the other Mandragoras, she hadn't been rejuvenated and so she still looked old and shrivelled, with her wounds only receiving some patchwork healing. Her torso was completely bound in chains, but in the distraction of Hunter and Boscha celebrating Willow's victory, she'd been able to stand up and walk over to Terra.

"A-Arboriel!" Terra hissed.

"Terra, my treacherous daughter… After all we've done, your fate and mine are forever grafted together." Arboriel scowled down at the woman; "Whatever happens to you will happen to me too… so I will do what I must. Take what remains of my life essence; let it guide you to the fate you deserve."

The words were spoken in a monotone, but Terra could see the hatred in her "mother's" eyes… she hated helping her after her betrayal, but it was the only way the Mandragora Empire she'd begun to build would be able to flourish. Terra grinned; this was good for her! The weak were food for the strong; it was the case in the animal kingdom AND the plant kingdom after all!

With what strength she had left, Terra pulled herself to her feet, using Arboriel's chains as grips to help her, then embraced the woman in a mockingly tender manner.

"Thank you, "Mother Dearest"; like Mistress Gallica before you, I'll make your death mean something!" Terra declared with a vicious grin, before opening her mouth wide and biting down on the side of Arboriel's neck, making the woman whimper as Terra began to take what was left of Arboriel's essence.

The rattling of chains and Arboriel's gasp, as well as Terra gagging on the foul taste of Arboriel's essence, drew the attention of Willow and her friends, who all turned and readied to attack.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you Terra!?" Willow snapped; "Let Arboriel go! There's no chance she has enough power left to help you defeat me."

Terra finished drinking Arboriel's essence, and the elder Mandragora fell to her knees with a shaky moan, her green skin slowly turning grey and cracking like splintered wood, especially around the bite wound on the side her neck. Terra then turned to Willow with a cruel smirk, waiting for the essence she'd absorbed to kick in.

"I may not be able to defeat you yet, but I'll escape and gather my power again! I'll find a Wellspring and get myself a proper Dragon Body, and you won't be able to do a thing about it!" she sneered, pointing a spell circle at Arboriel and using her as a hostage once more.

Unfortunately for her, Terra's plan was doomed twice over; as not only was the trio of teens willing to attack despite the threat to Arboriel, but Terra's spell circle shattered on its own before they even had to.

"W-What? What is- URP!" Terra cried, then began to retch. She threw up green blood, which was mixed with some kind of rotten looking black ichor. The evil woman then fell to the ground beside Arboriel, her own skin turning grey and cracking too as her fingers and toes began to crumble away into mulch. "N-No! What is this!?"

Arboriel glared at her weakly; "I told you, traitor! Our fates would be the same… I used the last of my strength to infuse my chlorophyll and nectar with a herbicide before letting you devour it! Your entire body is now breaking down and decaying, just like mine!"

Terra gasped and screamed in shock and agony as her tail and one of her legs fully decayed into dust and mulch.

"No! No, this can't be! If you do this, it'll be the end of the Mandragoras!" she cried.

"The end is already here… I trusted you Terra! I named you my daughter, gave you power, promised you yet more power, and defied the deal the Divider made with us for you, and you repaid all that with betrayal! Well this is the prize we both win for our stupidity! Death!" Arboriel spat, already knowing there was no chance of escape or survival for her or Terra now. All she could do was take her one bit of revenge.

Terra began to really panic as more of her body disintegrated and decayed. Desperately, she crawled towards Willow until one of her hands crumbled away and the cracks on her face grew worse.

"P-Please! Help me! I don't want to die!" she cried, reaching up to the bespectacled girl with her last remaining limb and a wild look of desperation on her face.

Willow looked down at her with disdain; Terra deserved this, but her conscience wouldn't let her just watch as this woman died. Despite her death not being on her hands, Willow would still feel like she should have done something… after all, Willow respected life unlike Terra.

Sighing and preparing a pair of spells (one to neutralise the herbicide and one to regenerate some of Terra's more vital areas), Willow knelt down and reached down to cast the spells on Terra. However, even in her current state, Terra was a conniving opportunist and took the chance to grab at Willow's ankle with her one good arm, trying to dig her claws into the girl and drain her vitality and essence like she'd done with the Mandragoras before, literally trying to take advantage of Willow's kindness and willingness to help. Unfortunately for her, her claws couldn't penetrate the chitinous boots that Willow's fused form had so not only did her attempt fail, but it made Willow back off with a gasp, stopping her spells before she could cast them and making both Hunter and Boscha stand between her and Terra, whose brief grin of triumph was replaced by shock and horror.

"N-No! Wait! I need-" she cried, only to be cut off by Boscha.

"What you need isn't our problem! She tried to save your miserable life after all that you've done and you immediately attacked her! You love your little plant phrases, so here's one more for you; you reap what you sow!" the three-eyed girl spat.

Terra looked around in desperation, but saw nothing but cold, hard eyes staring back at her. As more of her body crumbled away, including her remaining arm, she began to curse and rant and rave, spewing vile and hateful things as she insulted everyone around her and just about everyone she'd ever met, until finally her jaw crumbled away too and Terra's life ended shortly thereafter, the last remains of her body turning into dust and mulch. All that remained of her (besides the mulch) was a fist-sized blue crystal where her heart had been; the stolen power of the Titan turning her heart into a small Galdorstone upon her death.

"And so ends Terra Snapdragon, the last and by far the least of her line. May the true Snapdragons find peace now that their murderer is dead." Willow said softly. She felt no pity or remorse; she'd tried to help and Terra abused it, as she abused everything and everyone; she'd earned her fate every step of the way.

Willow picked up the Galdorstone and handed it to Hunter (it only felt right to let him take care of it after what had just happened), then turned her attention to Arboriel, who was also crumbling away, though at a slower rate than Terra had, thanks to having the Herbicide she'd infected herself with sucked out by the traitor. Cautiously, Willow prepared the same spells she'd planned to use on Terra and told Arboriel exactly what she was going to do.

However, unlike Terra, Arboriel intentionally swatted Willow's hands away, refusing to accept her help.

"Save your misplaced pity. I'm going to die, Little Seedling. My body is too far gone; you'd be delaying the inevitable and prolonging my suffering. Just let it end." Arboriel said bitterly.

"If that's what you want, then fine." Willow frowned; "I suppose you think this is better than facing justice anyway."

"Justice!? You talk to me of justice!?" Arboriel spat, glaring at Willow even as she collapsed onto her back, unable to stay sat up any more; "What about my justice, huh!? Everything I've done was to get justice for what your people did to mine! Do you have any idea what it's like, to have your entire species wiped out!? I don't know if Mandragoras still exist beyond the Boiling Isles, but I do know that as soon as Belos took power, your people systematically and brutally slaughtered my people! I alone survived, and only because I was left alone and forgotten in some buried classroom, where your people grew me to use as some kind of glorified class pet or experiment! Like a potted plant to be prodded and poked!"

Arboriel began to cry even in her rage; "You whine about that Emperor of yours trying to genocide your people, but you were all so happy to do it to mine!"

Willow and Hunter both paled, feeling some shame for their fellow witches' past actions, while Boscha (who also felt shame but hid it behind anger) protested and said; "They went too far, but Mandragoras were killing people too!"

"So what!?" Arboriel snapped; "Our people occasionally killed each other! You killed us for ingredients in potions, we killed you for food and to nurture our young! That is nature! Do you think Witches and Biped Demons should be wiped out by the Dairy Spiders because you eat them!? Or how about Orcs!? Some of them are intelligent, yet you make sausages and bacon out of them!"

Arboriel did have a point there; even among the "intelligent" demon species, some ate other "intelligent" species. The difference between the Orcs bred for food and the Orcs who lived among them as people was largely just one of intelligence and girth… heck, even People Orcs ate the animal ones.

"And to top it off, despite my hatred for your kind, I haven't actually killed a single person besides Terra! Perhaps not for lack of trying in some cases…" Arboriel glared at Boscha, "…but still! You genocide my people and no one bats an eye, but I try to conquer yours and rebuild my own, and I'm suddenly the ultimate evil!? So no, I don't want to hear you talk about your "justice!" Little Seedling. I've experienced enough of it to last a lifetime!"

The three teens all felt a surprising amount of pity for Arboriel; naturally nothing she'd suffered justified her actions, but they did have to at least acknowledge that Arboriel had a point about the things done to her race. The people of the isles hated Belos for his attempted genocide of them, but that didn't stop them from following him when he led them on a genocide of the Isles' Mandragoras… and it was true that Arboriel hadn't actually killed anyone besides Terra; she'd even seemingly stuck to the Divider's deal of only converting the consenting into Mandragoras before Terra whispered poison in her ears! Willow felt like she understood the weeping woman a little better, but she still couldn't agree with her.

"Two wrongs don't make a right, Arboriel. You hurting innocent people didn't help avenge your people; it just made everything worse. People might start to feel that their genocide was justified, pointing at you as an example of why the Mandragoras needed to be destroyed. If you hadn't attacked us in the school or attacked the Bat Queen's forest, and stuck to peacefully converting consenting people, then we would have helped you… but you chose revenge and destruction over restoration, and now the last natural born Mandragora is dying." Willow said, eyes full of sadness; "I'm sorry for what you suffered; I wish I could help you, but your suffering doesn't justify the suffering you inflicted."

Arboriel briefly sneered, before the look in Willow's eyes made her stop and think; "What if, huh? I wish I could believe that, Little Seedling… no, Young Blossom." Arboriel amended, "I don't believe your people would have ever accepted that… but I do believe you would have tried. But it's too late now; my race is doomed… I'm sure you and the Little Sunflower will find a way to turn my children back to their old selves, and the Mandragoras of the Boiling Isles will finally be wiped out."

Boscha and Hunter both frowned, while Willow sat beside Arboriel and comforted her by using a little bit of Plant Magic to ease her pain. "If we can turn them back, we will… but only if the want to be. Some of them did volunteer, and those are the ones who'll continue your legacy. My friends and I will protect them; I promise. Mandragoras will still live on the Boiling Isles for as long as we have a say in it."

Arboriel's eyes widened a little; "Do you mean that? Truly?"

"I'll make an oath if I have to." Willow said, nodding as she offered her hand.

Arboriel stared at the hand for a long moment and then chuckled weakly and held up her arms, where her hands had crumbled away; "A bit late for that… I wish I could have lived to see you fulfil that promise with my own eyes, but perhaps if you're willing, a piece of me still could."

"I'm not letting you make me your Mandragora daughter." Willow quickly said, suspecting that's what Arboriel meant.

The withering Mandragora chuckled and shook her head, losing a few leaves from her "hair" as a result; "No, Young Blossom. I have something else in mind… Spring Reincarnation."

Willow gasped and Hunter's eyes widened, while Boscha just looked confused, asking Hunter in a whisper what that was.

He replied; "Spring Reincarnation is something certain Botanical Demons do when heavily injured, sick, or otherwise unable to survive; they essentially reduce themselves down into a seed-like kernel, like some plants do in the winter, so they can regrow in spring. This kernel will contain their soul and can grow back into the original Demon… but the kernel ONLY contains the raw soul, not any of their memories. Spring Reincarnation is basically the Botanical Demon equivalent of Reformation!"

Boscha gaped, then turned back to Arboriel; "You'd go that far!? You'd be restarting life as a seed! You'd lose all your memories of this life! The person you are would cease to exist! At least if you die, you'd continue to be "Arboriel" in the afterlife!"

"And why would I want that? I have no loved ones waiting for me there and no desire to remember this life of mine." Arboriel said softly; "Young Blossom… if I entrust to you my Soul Seed, will you see that it is cared for?"

"I'll do it." Willow agreed without hesitation; "I'll take good care of the child it grows into… maybe not for a few years, when I'm old enough for the responsibility, but I'll do it."

Arboriel smiled and her chest began to glow softly with green light; "Then perhaps this life of mine will have amounted to something after all. Goodbye, Young Blossom; I hope you and I can grow closer in my new life."

With those final words, the light left Arboriel's eyes and she flopped back like a marionette with its strings cut, before the remains of her body crumbled away and Willow reached down and pulled a small, softly glowing seed from where her heart had been. The seed resembled a green crystalline egg, almost like a miniature closed Mandragora Chrysalis Bloom with what appeared to be a tiny bean floating inside, which on closer inspection, looked like a tiny wooden carving of an infant. This seed was the soul of Arboriel, and would one day grow into a brand new Mandragora to inherit her life and magic, even if her original memories and personality were forever stripped away.

"Goodbye, Arboriel the Mandragora. I promise, your people will thrive again… we'll find a peaceful way to coexist." Willow said, before conjuring a small plant to store the Soul Seed inside and then having it tunnel back underground.

With that, both Terra and Arboriel were gone forever, leaving a Soul Seed, a Galdorstone, a stolen Dragon Staff and Skeleton, and a mess to tidy up. Despite the trouble Arboriel had caused, the trio of teens still offered her memory a prayer, before turning to the Mandragora hostages. They were still effected by the Pheromones even after their Mistress was dead, so they would need to be cured… though thankfully the Treants and Mandrakes in the forest were no longer a problem, as without their creator, they had turned into mindless constructs that wandered aimlessly, allowing them to be easily destroyed by the homunculi.

Willow used her Palisman Fusion to grow a giant Restraining Rafflesia to devour the Arbor Lindwurm skeleton, intent on returning it to the temple, then asked Boscha to escort the Mandragoras back to Barcarib too while she and Hunter headed to the Snapdragon Estate to finish the clean up.

They arrived just in time to see Luz and Amity finishing up the lions' share of the work at the estate already, having themselves finished what the Anti-Magic Trio had started. The conjured Dragons had all been destroyed, while the brainwashed people had all been reduced to the bare minimum of magic needed to survive (for the Angels anyway) by the Anti-Magic Trio, and then bound up in chains and vines conjured by Luz. They were still mindlessly struggling to get through the barrier even while chained up, but they weren't getting anywhere.

"Willow, Hunter! Good to see you! I'm guessing you won already?" Luz asked as the Anti-Magic Trio looked at Willow's new form in amazement.

"Yep!" Willow grinned, before her face fell; "Terra's dead. Arboriel tricked her into ingesting Herbicide. Arboriel willingly took it too, and chose to go through Spring Reincarnation, so both are effectively gone forever."

The others frowned, and as Willow and Hunter gave a brief account of what happened, Amity recalled her homunculi to help contain the prisoners so the Healing Team and the others inside the Snapdragon Estate could finally come out. They were all amazed by Willow's new form, but everyone was also fairly exhausted and wanted to get the mission completed and get home before they gushed and asked for details. With that in mind, Hettie came forward with a cauldron full of the Anti-Pheromone potion, which Edric promptly aerosolised so Luz could spread it across the entire forest, freeing every single person under the control of the pheromones. Once that was done, the previously brainwashed CATTs were quick to apologise to their comrades, and the Angels did the same, especially Zirael, who feared she'd broken their oath. Thankfully the pheromones counted as magical coercion and not Zirael intentionally breaking the oath, so she was safe.

With all the Mandragoras' victims freed and most of them either already having returned to the Wings of Rani or fled with Samael and Amber to Digale Island, the CATTs and Wings of Rani decided to reconvene at Barcarib and summon their airships, after which they'd all return to their home bases and remain there to rest until the truce ended, taking any Mandragoras who wished to go with either side, as both Zirael and Alador said they would begin researching how to reverse the metamorphosis for those who wanted to return to normal. They left Snapdragon Manor completely untouched, though the CATTs did take a couple of books and scrolls on the Rite of Ascension with them, hoping to ensure they never fell into the wrong hands.

At Barcarib, they met back up with a relieved Boscha and the Mandragoras she'd brought there. She'd already told Arboriel's Loyalists about what had happened, and the group were despondent over their Queen/Mother Figure's deaths. One such loyalist was Poppy (though she'd not attacked the CATTs and thus not been chained up), who spoke with the others and came to a decision; they'd all be going back with the CATTs and joining them, hoping to restore the Mandragora race in a more morally acceptable way with the help of Willow and Arboriel's eventual Spring Reincarnation.

Finally, as they waited for the airships to come pick them up, Willow returned to the Ritual Chamber of Barcarib and used a giant Restraining Rafflesia to not only help the Great Treant leave the court and emerge at the remnants of the Spriggan Manor Estate, but also to release the Dragon Skeleton and restore it to it's rightful place; entombed with its last owner, whose sarcophagus was exposed now that the Treant was gone. With Matt's help to open it, Willow returned the stolen dragon staff to the bones within, but chose to keep the Galdorstone with the blessing of Orion. The Hexsquad said a short prayer to the deceased priest and gave their thanks to Orion for letting them keep the invaluable Galdorstone (they now had two, thanks to Terra's demise), before finally leaving the temple for good.

With everything now taken care of, the CATTs gathered in the courtyard outside Barcarib and took a well deserved breath of relief, all of them eager to get home and relax. Willow finally defused from Clover, and the two cuddled together along with Hunter and Flapjack, much to the curiosity of their friends who didn't yet know of their new relationship.

Luz was just about to ask what their new closeness was about, when her attention was suddenly drawn to a familiar voice calling for her and King.

"KING! LUZ! WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!" came the voice of Samael as the little Star Child landed in front of them in a hurry.

"Samael? Whoa where's the fire, buddy?" King asked, trotting over to him and patting his back, where the child's ten little wings were worn out from flapping.

"King! It's bad! Something is coming! Something big! I-I felt it a little while ago from Rani's Eden, and then that barrier thing that makes my powers weaker flickered for a second!" Samael yelled hurriedly, working himself up.

The others frowned and looked both confused and worried as the Nocedas and Clawthornes moved to surround and comfort the boy.

"Cariño, take a moment to breathe." Camila said.

"Yeah, you're freaking out pretty hard! Why don't you try and calm down a little, then explain from the top." Eda agreed; "You said you felt something big? What kind of something?"

Samael took a deep breathe, but that didn't last long as his eyes widened and his face paled.

"S-Something like that!" he cried, pointing up at the sky.

Everyone looked up, with the CATTs paling and the Wings of Rani looking on with awe as a large portal had suddenly appeared in the sky, showing a vision of a starry sky, with five figures immersed in its darkness.

The first of these figures emerged into the sky of the Demon Realm directly above Barcarib, making the CATTs look on in horror while the Wings of Rani cheered.

It was the Divider in all his glory; his six glyph markings glowing softly as his ten wings flapped gracefully behind him. The man looked down at them all with a serene smile, then snapped his fingers, causing the other four figures to emerge too. Samael almost burst into panicked tears, while King's fur stood on end in anger and fright, and the Hexsquad all gasped in horrified recognition.

These four were the Archivists; the Keeper, the Watcher, the Scribe, and of course, the Huntsman. All four floated in a line just behind the Divider, and none of them looked very happy to be here.

The Divider closed the portal and made eye contact with Luz, his smile growing even wider.

"Hello, Luz. You've been quite busy, so I hear. Welcome back to your home; the birthplace of Paradise!"