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.

41. EP 20: Malevolence

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 20: Malevolence

The week that followed the events at Glandus and the other schools scattered around the Isles was frantic to say the least as everyone prepared for the Day of Unity, which would be the day everything would finally come to an end for Belos' reign. Either the CATTs would stop him once and for all, or he'd succeed and wipe out the Demon Realm completely. The stakes were high, but thanks to all their victories and preparations, the morale of the CATTs was also at an all-time high and their forces were at their absolute peek!

All schools across the isles had closed until the Day of Unity was over, and the Emperor was forced to issue a statement disavowing the actions of his Coven and the Illusion Coven, blaming the whole thing on Adrian Graye Vernworth (who had apparently been left jittery and paranoid by Gus's victory over him). The public was told that Adrian would be properly reprimanded, but he was not replaced due to the Day of Unity being so close. The events at Glandus and the other schools had also caused another up-tick in support for the CATTs, primarily from Pancrea City which had declared itself a neutral territory like Bonesborough. No actions had been taken against them by Belos; he claimed it was out of good faith, but the CATTs knew he didn't see the need to waste more resources recapturing the area. In addition, Belos was no longer having many meetings with Coven Heads, believing one of them to be another traitor and responsible for the reveal of his plot. And finally, stories of genuine Renegade Extremists forcibly branding people with Sigils began to crop up. Whether these extremists were in it for the money or secretly still working for Belos was unknown, but around 70 children across the Boiling Isles had been forced to receive Coven Sigils. The Emperor claimed this was a false flag by the CATTs, the CATTs correctly claimed they had nothing to do with it (and Luz herself came out to give that statement), but neither side was totally believed by the common people of the Isles. The Emperor addressed the problem by allowing everyone to be re-branded into their preferred Coven if given the wrong one, and those given the sigil of his own Coven were allowed to keep them. The CATTs had no treatment available that didn't damage the victim's magic, but they were hard at work trying to find a solution.

Beyond the Sigil-Branding incidents, the CATTs had been officially joined by Hunter. His joining was met with some resistance and grumbling by some of the CATTs, particularly those who weren't close to any of the leaders, but the unanimous agreement of all the CATTs leaders was enough to stifle any vocal disagreements. Hunter was given a room in Darius and Eber's home on Digale Island (which blew his mind) and he had immediately begun making himself useful by giving the most up-to-date information he could about just about everything he could. He dearly missed his sister, who he would scroll-call whenever he was on the Boiling Isles and not Digale, but Luz and the Hexsquad had quickly accepted him into their ranks. He and Luz had a long talk about what they'd learned with Belos, and both made it clear they didn't blame the other for the things they'd done (willingly or not) to help the evil man. Amity (who rarely left Luz's side now that she had the week free from school) also made sure Hunter felt welcome and helped act as a buffer with Darius, with whom Hunter still felt a bit awkward. Gus had quickly become extremely close to Hunter, introducing him to some of his favourite Human Realm memorabilia, which included the Cosmic Frontier franchise. Hunter was soon as enamoured with it as Gus (especially the clone storyline) and Matt ended up joining it too and forming an unofficial fan club, like Amity and Luz's Azura book club. Shockingly, Boscha ended up looking at the books in hopes of teasing the new boy a little, but ended up genuinely loving them and joining the group too, frequently hanging out with the boys and talking about it. Skara was the one to have the least to do with Hunter, though that was largely due to them having little in common, though she did commiserate with him over having a terrible "parent" who rejected them for not following the path in life they'd set for them.

Then of course there was Willow, who had fussed over Hunter a lot and made sure he was okay. She'd taken her self-appointed role of "Mom Friend" to the maximum and was always the first to ask Hunter how he felt about things, and encouraged him to seek therapy with the CATTs therapist (which he reluctantly agreed to). She was quick to shut down any teasing when Hunter began to get uncomfortable, and had also taken it upon herself to do for Hunter what Gus had done for Lucy; show him how to be a proper teenager and have some fun! This mostly manifested as pick-up games of Flyer Derby, which the eight members of the Hexsquad split into two teams for frequently. Hunter was beyond grateful to all of them, especially Willow, whom he became increasingly flustered by.

Outside of the Hexsquad, things had been going okay for Hunter; Eda playfully teased Hunter, while she and her family almost got into a fight with Darius when they tried to claim he was a Clawthorne due to them all being related to him via Caleb. Dell had especially made a point of inviting Hunter to carve Palismen with him, but the boy had politely declined until the situation with Belos was dealt with. King showed him some of his glyph combos and the two worked together to find more and adapt some of Belos' combos, Lilith had ended her old rivalry with Hunter from their EC days, Hooty naturally declared Hunter to be his new friend, Raine and Mason had accepted him as a military advisor despite his age, Osran and Darius treated him like a grandson/pseudo-son respectively (the latter helped by Alador and the Blights), and Eber had taken to training him in proper Beast-Keeping magic since he showed an aptitude for it. All in all, Hunter had found himself going from one real family member and one false one to an entire small army of people eager to help him and care for him… it was a change that he had trouble trusting, but between their earnestness and daily therapy sessions, Hunter was beginning to accept it and the idea that he deserved all this.

Beyond Hunter, only three things had changed for the rest of the Owl Family and Hexsquad. The first was Gus and Matt receiving bounties for their actions at Glandus, even though the Emperor had disavowed the operation there. The bounties were even larger than Willow's, to her mild chagrin. The second was that Luz had largely recovered from absorbing the Palismen souls; it had taken two weeks of nearly constant work with little time for anything else, but Luz had finally been able to untangle the Amalgamation and allow each soul to reside within her safely. This meant Luz could use her magic again and fully heal the damage done by absorbing the Amalgamation, but the souls still refused to move on or allow Dell to try and carve new bodies for them. They seemed to want to remain with Luz until their tormentor Belos was finally brought to justice.

The final development was the physical completion of the Portal Door! It was fully functioning and could now take people between the Demon Realm and the In-Between Realm safely, though it sadly couldn't connect to anywhere else without some kind of Linking Spell, which no one knew how to perform, meaning they still needed to find the Collector if Luz wanted to go home. Still, it was a huge event and the entire Hexsquad had celebrated!

The portal had been completed late on Saturday evening, and it was now Sunday morning and the final day before the Day of Unity. With only one day left to prepare for the decisive battle, Raine and Darius called a full meeting of all the CATTs leaders and elites, gathering them all together in the central courtyard of the Digale Island HQ. Normally they'd use the meeting room, but there were so many people present that it was impossible to fit them all into any single room within the fortress. Luz and her Hexsquad members (now including Hunter), King, Eda, Raine, Rasiel, Lilith (and Hooty), Dell and Gwen Clawthorne, Darius, Eber, Mason, Luna, Osran, Severin, Alador, the Twins, the trio of Magic Mixers, Colas and Nelle Blight, Katya, Amber, Derwin, Steve, and even the Bat Queen, Treble, and Hanu were all present for one big final war council.

Since Raine still struggled with their nerves in front of large crowds, it was up to Darius to do the talking.

"Alright everyone, this is it. Tomorrow will be the Day of Unity and our last chance to save the world." Darius declared, getting serious nods from the others.

"Should we really have left it this late? We should have attacked as soon as possible." Luna frowned, impatient to end the threat of Belos and fearing the Day of Unity.

Edric took the opposite opinion as he pet Batric on his shoulder; "Do we really even need to worry about the Day of Unity any more? With Luz and Lucy out of Belos' grasp, can he even complete the plan? He has no Angel Vessel."

"We can't be certain he won't try to use himself out of desperation; he does still have Rasiel's wings." Lilith pointed out. "And it's possible he'll try to use the Grimwalker of Rasiel that he created; assuming it still exists. We don't know if it needs to be conscious to serve as a vessel."

Rasiel shook his head; "I doubt he'd risk it, even if the Grimwalker still exists. An Angel without consciousness will have no willpower and no way to manage their own magic. In a Grimwalker, that could cause it to decay rapidly, making it an unreliable vessel for power."

"But then doesn't that make Luna right? If the Day of Unity can still go ahead, then we should have attacked already!" Emira frowned, suddenly looking nervous. The other kids looked almost as worried, having trusted the adults to handle things.

Thankfully Eda just grinned; "Oh, we're planning to use the Day of Unity for ourselves!"

That earned her some strange looks; "Come again!?" Hunter cried, "We're going to use the Day of Unity!? For what!?"

"To weaken Belos and his army." Raine said; "We're sorry for not mentioning this earlier, but we came up with a plan that uses the Day of Unity against him; that's why we planned to attack on the day itself."

Darius nodded and used abomination slime to create a scale model of Unity Plaza with little abomination figures of Belos, his Coven Heads, the known security, and the crowd, as well as an orb floating above it. He then began manipulating it to make his scene play out; "The Day of Unity as we understand it has Belos use the Nine Coven Heads as nexus points for a Draining Spell, draining the nine types of magic from all those who are branded. That drained magic is then forced into the Angel Vessel, who'll then release it in a huge blast, destroying our world. However, the Draining Spell will also incapacitate ALL branded Witches and Demons."

Understanding began to dawn on everyone's faces; "Other than Belos' Abomatons, his forces are all branded Coven Members, including his elites; the Coven Heads!" Willow gasped.

"But the CATTs have tons of people without sigils, or who removed their sigils! We'll still have a fully prepared army!" Amity grinned, beginning to see where this plan was going.

"That's right." Mason nodded; "Roughly a third of our people have no sigil, either because they destroyed them and damaged their magic, or because they're Wild Witches. That should be enough people to storm Unity Plaza, overpower the Abomatons, and defeat Belos and his Coven Heads in one swoop."

Eber barked; "If Emperor makes himself Vessel, Emperor be out of fight too. Easy pickings."

"It sounds like a good plan, but it's risky. Belos will have other defences too, and even if he's a broken vessel, he could still destroy the Isles if he blows up before you can take him out." Luz pointed out.

"We've accounted for that too. Some of our people will be tasked with putting up barriers to try and contain the explosion if Belos goes off prematurely." Osran explained. "We've come up with something called the Hydra Formation. It'll be how we deploy our forces."

The teenagers all leaned forward eagerly, thinking the name sounded cool. Eda took over explaining with an eager grin of her own; "Basically, we're splitting us all up into smaller armies and acting all at once. The Hydra's Fangs will be led by me, Lily, and Raine Storm, and consists of all our strongest fighters without sigils; our job will be gunning for Belos and the Coven Heads once the Day of Unity starts. The Hydra's Horns will be our secondary army of weaker fighters without sigils, who'll be in charge of fighting the Abomatons and anything else Belos throws at us while the Draining Spell is active. Steve, Katya, Amber, and Derwin will be in charge of them, with BQ and her forest pals helping out too."

Punctuating Eda's words, the four of them revealed their arms, which lacked sigils after burning them off with acid. Since Luz had been unable to heal them, the wounds had scarred due to regular healing magic, and a tattoo of the CATTs emblem had been placed over the scars instead. Meanwhile, the Bat Queen nodded confidently.

"The Hydra's Scales will be the Barrier Team; our best defensive Witches. They'll seal off the plaza and try to put up as many thick barriers as possible to limit the damage if Belos really does explode. That team will be lead by Luna and Osran. Then there is Eber and Darius, who are keeping their sigils; they'll be leading the Hydra's Venom. That team is comprised of the rest of our forces that also have sigils, and so will be incapacitated during the Draining Spell, but who'll be waiting in the wings with restorative potions to fight back as soon as the spell is over, assuming the battle isn't already over. Rasiel and King will be in charge of the Hydra's Heart; a resupply unit of non-combatants who'll be in charge of healing, evacuating civilians and injured CATTs, and keeping the paths from Unity Plaza to the Owl House free and unguarded. You're basically our supporters." Eda continued, before adding; "Most of the kids will be a part of this unit, so they can help without needing to be in the thick of the danger. No kids are allowed near Unity Plaza until the eclipse is over."

The Twins and Magic Mixers assumed they'd be a part of this too, and both Treble and Hanu shyly raised their hands to volunteer to help too. However Willow noticed Eda's wording and raised a hand.

"You said "most" of the kids. What about the rest of us?" she asked.

"The rest of the kids, also known as the members of the Hexsquad, will have a special mission." Eda grinned; "You guys are the Hydra's Tail and your job will be capturing the Emperor's Castle!"

The Hexsquad all grinned at that; "We're taking over Belos' castle!?" Luz beamed excitedly.

"Yes. We can't afford to let you anywhere near the Unity Plaza and the Draining Spell, but we also can't afford to leave one of our best and most versatile allies on the sidelines." Lilith explained; "Since you and the Hexsquad are our most diverse unit, we decided to have you take over Belos' castle while he and the brunt of his forces are away! Any scouts still there will be incapacitated by the Draining Spell, so you'll only need to deal with the Abomatons."

"Easy as pie!" Amity grinned.

"What exactly are our objectives in the castle? Just capturing it? Because that'll be tough with only eight people, no matter how good they are." Hunter pointed out.

"Capturing the castle is more of a tertiary objective. Your primary objective is to capture or destroy the Heart of the Titan that sits in Belos' throne room like a trophy. You could also try to find Belos' stolen portal, the Collector's mirror, and perhaps the prisoners there." Darius said.

"We should be careful with the prisoners. I heard a lot of the real bad guys and criminals ended up there." Gus commented, now wearing Adrian's Amplifying Mirror around his neck like a pendant.

"Yeah, that Zamort guy and his creepy buddy that messed with Katya are there from what I heard." Skara said, before looking to the older girl; "I'll kick him in the nuts for you if I see him."

Katya grinned and gave her a thumbs up, while Boscha beamed and said; "That's my girl!" while putting an arm around Skara's shoulders.

"Oh, your girl is she? Finally gonna make it official?" Matt asked teasingly.

Boscha responded by flicking a tiny fireball at him, though he ducked with a smirk as Skara and Boscha both blushed faintly. Both had gone on dates but were still skirting around the actual "girlfriend" label.

Ignoring them, King looked to his big sister; "Will you be okay taking out my Dad's heart if you need to?"

Luz nodded; "This isn't like your Mama's situation; I don't need to destroy it to save him from torment. I'd only do it if we had no choice, otherwise I'll try and find a way to carry it out. Plus, if we can get Belos' portal then we'll have a back-up! And if we find the Collector's mirror, we can finally free him and finish my portal too! Plus the castle is far enough from Unity Plaza that Belos won't be able to nab me, while being close enough that I can fly in and help when the eclipse passes and Belos' plan has been ruined!"

"So, are we all in agreement with this Hydra Formation plan?" Eda asked.

Rasiel raised a hand; "I have a single addendum I'd like to make. I would like whoever faces Belos to make destroying my wings a priority. Once they're destroyed, I can immediately regrow them and once again have my full power. With the full power of a Ten-Winged Seraphim, our victory is assured."

"Well Lily, Raine Storm and I are gunning for him, so we'll be sure to rip those things right out of his back!" Eda declared.

With that agreed upon, everyone began spending the rest of the day preparing for the following day's battle. Raine, Eda, and Lilith were tasked with dividing all the CATTs into the various Hydra Units, while King and Rasiel nearly worked their fingers to the bone preparing stacks upon stacks of emergency paper glyphs for everyone to fight with. Darius worked with Amity, Alador, and Nelle to make sure their Support Abominations and Anti-Abomaton Weapons were up to snuff. Gus worked with Matt and Colas to prepare Concealment Stones (with Treble helpfully donating his scales to make them more powerful) so the various CATTs members could get as close as possible to Unity Plaza before springing their attack. Boscha and Luna continued working on brewing potions for the battle with help from Barcus and Edric, while the duo of Willow and Hanu grew the plants they needed and the trio of Eber, Hunter, and Gwendolyn went out to hunt beasts for the other ingredients. Osran used his scrying to help them find their quarries, while the Bat Queen and Dell also helped by tending to the Palismen of the CATTs and making sure they were in top condition. Skara, and the trio of Katya, Derwin, and Amber worked together on Bardic Magic, aiding the others wherever they could, while Steve and Mason worked together to help further fortify the island and prepare the Hydra's Scale Unit by practicing their barrier spells. That left Luz and Viney to work together on a special healing project; the last of the volunteers who were willing to weaken their magic to remove their sigils had come forward, and with help from Meesha Leonis, each one had been sedated, had the sigil burnt off by Luz's Light Magic, and then healed by her, Viney, and Meesha (with the latter also offering to tattoo something else there to replace the sigil if they wanted).

It was a busy day, but the leaders of the CATTs had ordered everyone to stop non-essential work as the sun began to set, instead telling them to eat and rest, ready for the battle that would come the next day. All the CATTs were remaining on Digale Island with the exception of Mason, who left so he could be ready to attend the Day of Unity with the other Coven Heads. The atmosphere on the island was strange, as everyone knew that a true battle was coming the next day, and so there was a mix of apprehension, excitement, and deep dread in the air, even as some of the CATTs tried to turn the evening into a bit of a pre-battle festival, hoping to build morale. It worked for the most part; everyone worked together to cook up some good food and have fun on the beach, with some musical performances and dancing (while Darius and Lilith made sure no one got too drunk), but the underlying fear and uncertainty of the next day hung in the air.

During this party, many people found themselves spending time with their lovers or thinking of their loves and families, be they present or far away. Luz was no different, and found herself up on the chilly tips of Cassiopeia's fingers, drinking juice beside a roaring fire as she looked down at the beach in the distance, enjoying the sights of all the pretty lights and dancing people. She had her Palisman Egg in her lap, stroking it fondly as she watched.

"The world is going to change tomorrow, little one. I hope you'll be able to hatch and see that it's a good world to live in." Luz mused.

"It will be if you have anything to say about it."

Luz turned to see Amity walking over to her, dressed in warm clothes just like Luz was. She'd flown up with Ghost, who was now warming herself by Luz's fire. "Hi Hermosa. Come to spend some time with little ol' me?" Luz grinned.

"Naturally, Batata." Amity smiled back, carefully sitting on the edge of the finger with Luz and leaning over to kiss her cheek, as well as gently stroke the Palisman Egg. Ghost soon came over too and meowed at Luz until the Arch-Angel giggled and pet her. The little cat then curled up into a ball on Luz and Amity's laps, with the Palisman Egg wrapped up warm against her body.

"The view from up here is wonderful." Amity commented.

"It is. I hope I can show Mami and Vee soon. I might finally be able to see them again tomorrow, if everything goes as planned." Luz replied.

"No ifs. It will go as planned. We're going to win, Luz. We've all worked way too hard to fail now." Amity said confidently, holding Luz's hand.

Luz bit her lip then mumbled; "You can work as hard as you can, do what you think is right at all times, and still lose… I've always tried hard to do what's right, but in the end, even when I thought I was doing good, I ended up hurting people. Like it or not, Belos would not have been able to do what he has if not for me. People are dead or suffering because of my mistakes… and even if I win tomorrow, that won't be enough to undo it."

Amity sighed; "Luz, you aren't to blame for what Belos did. Belos did horrible things because he chose to. He killed those people, he is making everyone suffer. You? You saved the life of a man you had no reason to distrust." the cotton candy-haired girl could see her Arch-Angel lover didn't seem convinced, so she added; "If Odalia went out tomorrow and killed someone, would you blame me for their deaths?"

Luz blinked in surprise by the apparent non-sequitur, then shook her head vigorously; "Of course not! What does Odalia being a monster have to do with you!?"

"I saved her life from the Chained Revenant back in Palm Stings." Amity replied. "I could have left her to die, just as you could have left Philip to die. The difference is, I knew Odalia was a monster and would likely commit worse acts if left alive… but I still saved her. You didn't know Philip was Belos and as soon as he tried to do something evil, you stopped him and lost a finger in the process! So tell me Luz; in those instances, why am I innocent of Odalia's crimes but you're responsible for Belos'?"

Luz had no answer to give. Logically speaking, she knew Amity was right and she was applying a double standard to herself, but Luz couldn't help it. Having so many terrible things happen because she helped the wrong person in the wrong way reminded Luz of how she'd been back in the Human Realm and left her terrified… if she was now repeating those old mistakes in this world too, then what if she found herself no longer belonging here just like she no longer belonged there… And even if she was still wanted in the Demon Realm by more than just her Mami, could Luz bear to stay if she felt like she was hurting the people she loved with her attempts to help?

"I know you're right… the logical part of my brain is screaming at me that you're right. But I still can't help but feel like this whole mess is my fault." Luz sighed. "I'm afraid… I'm afraid that things would be better if I'd never come to the Demon Realm."

Amity scoffed; "Oh sure, let's see what the world would be like without you? Philip wouldn't have gone after the Black Tomb, but I bet he'd still have gone ahead with his plot and used some other power to take over as Belos. Then Eda and King would have been captured or killed at the Conformatorium, with all the prisoners there being stuck, including Katya. Willow might never have gained the confidence to transfer into a track she actually liked, while I remained her bully and became a carbon copy of Odalia. I never would have made up with the Twins either. The Mandragora would have eventually escaped and wiped out the Bat Queen and her Palisman, if Belos didn't get to them first. Rasiel would never have been freed, the Dragon Priests would be stuck as sealed statues guarding him, while Cassiopeia was doomed to suffer forever. Matt and Boscha would have stayed jerks, and Skara would have kept going along with Boscha and my bullying. Grom would still be suffering, and the Greater Basilisk would have taken out all of Hexside, while the Magic Mixers were still vilified. Lilith would never have seen the light, and the petrified victims would still be stuck in stone. Vee probably wouldn't have a home either and neither would Treble. The Selkidomus would have been slaughtered, Hunter and Lucy would have remained pawns of Belos until he murdered them… and a ton more stuff!"

Amity gripped Luz's hands as she stared into her eyes; "Luz, the impact you've had on us and this world has been huge. I can't imagine life without you… I don't want to imagine life without you! You've changed so many things for the better! In fact, aside from bad guys, there isn't a single life you've touched that you haven't made better!"

Luz blushed crimson as Amity gave her the most loving look she'd ever received. Hearing just how much she'd effected the Demon Realm and it's people was a shock, and honestly pretty flattering. It didn't erase the guilt in her heart, but it did make Luz realise that maybe she hadn't been a total screw up. She leaned forward and gave Amity a sweet kiss on the lips.

"Amity… I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or in the future. I hope that it all works out and we have a long and happy life together… but if it all goes wrong, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you." Luz said softly, pressing her forehead against Amity's; "And hey, if we manage to save the day tomorrow, then I'm going to take you on a date. No, two dates! Three! So many dates! All the dates!"

Amity giggled before giving her a challenging smirk; "Oh? Gonna sweep me off my feet, Noceda? I look forward to seeing you try!"

Luz grinned back and gently placed her Palisman Egg back into her hair storage (she was really glad she'd mastered that spell) and then stood up, pulling Amity to her feet too. Luz then drew a pair of spell circles; one creating an illusion of slow dance music, while the other conjured little balls of differently coloured flames to float around them. Luz then bowed to Amity and said; "May I have this dance, my Wonderful Witch?"

"Of course, my Adorable Angel." Amity smiled with a seductive look. She and Luz began to slow dance around the tip of Cassiopeia's claw, gently swaying back and forth in one another's arms. They began to dance close to the edge and Amity began to look nervous, though Luz banished her nerves with a gentle kiss and some whispered words.

"Trust me, Hermosa."

"Always." Amity answered.

Luz then held Amity tightly to her body and continued the dance straight off the edge, slow-dancing through the air. Amity gasped, then giggled as she allowed Luz to take the lead, and the two continued to dance through the sky, Luz's wings glowing like a beacon in the night. Many of the CATTs, including all of the girls' families and friends, looked up and saw the two young lovers and their romantic sky dance, and soon Severin Cadence led the other bards in playing the same song as Luz's illusion, causing many others to begin pairing up to dance too. Eda and Raine shared a romantic dance as each tried to make the other blush. Skara convinced Boscha to dance too, and both girls blushed and decided to enjoy the moment without worrying about labels. Willow taught a nervous Hunter how to dance while both pretended not to be blushing. Edric and Jerbo danced quietly alongside the more boisterous Emira and Viney, while Eber danced playfully with King, both just having fun. Gwen and Dell danced together, Nelle and Colas danced together, and even Darius and Alador danced together, reliving old memories of their childhood. Rasiel and Lilith shared a platonic dance, like Eber and King, and the step-siblings Amber and Derwin, while Gus and Matt opted to instead watch the dancing and cheer on Steve, who'd asked Katya to dance (the young woman gleefully accepting).

It became a night of romance, friendship, camaraderie, and family, in which the members of the CATTs reminded each other and themselves what they were fighting for.

Eventually, the evening wound down and people headed off to get some sleep. Many of the couples wound up sharing beds that night (though in a strictly innocent manner for the teenagers), and all slept soundly.

Well, almost all… three souls remained awake as silence stretched across Digale Island. One of these souls was Luz, who'd spent a while trying to sleep alongside Amity, but whose mind simply wouldn't quiet down enough to let her rest. Her earlier talk with Amity had helped soothe her guilt again, but in the quiet hours where she was alone with her thoughts, the insidious questions of "Is this really okay?" and "Do I deserve this?" began to creep back in. Casting a weak sleeping spell to ensure Amity didn't stir, Luz carefully extracted herself from Amity's arms and got out of the other girl's bed, throwing a simple purple robe over the top of her pajamas as she crept out of Amity's bedroom. She snuck out of the Blights' Digale home without so much as a noise and emerged onto the streets of Digale Village (which was on its way to becoming Digale Town). It was a brisk night out so Luz used some Fire Magic to warm herself, and exchanged nods with some of the night watch as she made her way back down to the beach, where the ambient warmth of the Boiling Sea would keep her nice and toasty even in the cold winter night.

Luz used some Earth Magic to turn a patch of sand into a proper seat to rest on as she looked out at the ocean, but soon found herself with company from another restless soul.

"Hey Luz." King said softly as he approached her, a sleeping cap balanced precariously over one of his horns and Francois the bunny rabbit held tightly in his arms.

"Hey Little Brother. I guess you couldn't sleep either?" Luz asked, gesturing for King to sit on her lap.

"Yeah. Eber leant me a place to sleep at her den, but I just can't drift off. Never thought I'd struggle to sleep, but I guess it makes sense with what's happening tomorrow." King commented. "We've all been working really hard, but I'm still kinda nervous. I don't know what else we can do, but it still feels like we haven't done enough."

"I know exactly what you mean. It feels like everything is going to change tomorrow, and I'm a little scared of what those changes are gonna be." Luz confessed. She wished she could sound brave and confident to ease her little brother's worries, but the Young Titan was smart enough and knew her well enough to see through any false confidence, so she'd opted to just be honest.

"Me too." King agreed, "But so long as I'm with you and Mom and the rest of our family, I don't care what happens. Though I do really want to free the Collector too; I still feel bad about breaking his mirror again on Titan Trapper Island."

"Don't worry; he'll forgive you once you free him. I'm more worried about how things will go between him and Rasiel… it was the Collector who told Belos where to find Rasiel's body after all. Rasiel doesn't seem to be mad at me over it, but he did seem annoyed with the Collector whenever his name has come up since then." Luz replied.

King nodded, remembering Rasiel muttering darkly whenever the youngest Archivist was brought up. Considering how big of a deal an Angel's Wings were to them, it was understandable, but King still hoped things would work out okay between them.

The two siblings sat in silence for a bit after that, just enjoying each other's company. However it didn't take long for the man they were discussing to appear as well, also failing to find sleep. Rasiel quietly approached the duo, and both smiled and waved.

"Hey Rasiel. We were just taking about you." King said as Luz made him a stone chair to sit in.

"Ah, I thought my ears were burning." Rasiel joked, gratefully taking the offered seat. "I take it the two of you can't sleep with all the excitement on the horizon?"

The children nodded, then Luz asked; "You too, huh?"

"Oh, I slept for 100,000 years. I rarely sleep any more." Rasiel said truthfully. He mostly slept just to pass the time when everyone else was asleep these days. "But no, I haven't gone to bed yet. I'm doing some final preparations and checks for tomorrow. King and I are supposed to be leading the Support Unit; Hydra's Heart, after all."

In the past, the idea of leading a unit in a real military operation (even a supporting one) would have excited King, but now he just felt a sense of dread. "Yeah… that's gonna be crazy." he commented.

"It is. I'm leading Hydra's Tail too! I know people kinda joke that I'm the leader of the Hexsquad, but actually leading them in a battle is gonna be weird." Luz agreed.

Rasiel chuckled at the two, then got a strange look on his face as he became lost in thought. "Actually, there was an idea I wanted to run past you two."

Both Owl Kids looked at him curiously; "What is it?" Luz asked.

"Well, tomorrow will end with us either finding the original Portal to the Human Realm again, or finding the Collector and completing the linking process for the new Portal, correct?" Rasiel asked, a slight frown on his face as he said the Collector's name.

"Yeah, that's right. At least if everything goes as planned." Luz answered. "Why?"

"I was thinking of making use of the incomplete Portal before that, to access the In-Between Realm." Rasiel said, a gleam in his eye.

"Oh right, you mentioned that before." Luz remembered; "The Black Tomb containing your memories should be there. But why not wait until you've gotten your wings back and the issue with Belos is taken care of?"

Rasiel gave a small frown and said; "Because I want to find the Black Tomb before we free the Collector. Once he's free, I don't trust him to help us after he already helped Belos, and he's the only one who might know where in the In-Between Realm that last Tomb is."

The Collector had knowledge of the Black Tombs in the Demon Realm, and since he was currently trapped in the In-Between Realm himself, there was a good chance he knew where to find the last one hidden there too. It wasn't a certainty, and the spirits of the Titans could know too, but it was the best chance Rasiel had that didn't involve aimlessly searching the infinite expanse of the In-Between Realm.

Luz and King exchanged curious looks; they could see the logic, but the timing was less than ideal. "What exactly are you thinking of doing, Rasiel?" King asked.

The Ancient Seraphim stared out at the sea for a few moments, then said; "My plan is to instead have some of the other CATTs lead the Hydra's Heart unit, while I take King through the incomplete portal into the In-Between Realm. If King is with me, I suspect we'll be able to easily find the lingering souls of his parents, Orion and Cassiopeia. Orion knows where the Collector is sealed, so can lead us to him, then hopefully the Collector can lead us to the Black Tomb. Assuming we can't cut out the middle man and have their spirits lead us to the tomb directly."

King perked up; if Rasiel's plan worked, this would let him see his Mama again, and his Dad too! "I like that idea! Plus we can free the Collector from inside the In-Between Realm! Then we can convince him to help us! An Archivist will definitely be able to stop Belos super easily!"

Luz could agree with that; just four Archivists had been able to nearly conquer the Demon Realm and wipe out most of the Titans with help from the Trappers. The Collector may be the youngest of them, but if his power was even close to comparable, then he'd be the CATTs Ace in the Hole! Plus there was no guarantee that Belos would leave the Collector's mirror behind in the castle on the Day of Unity, so going into the In-Between Realm was a good alternative to finding and freeing him.

"It does sound like a good idea. You get your memories back, King meets his Mama and Dad again, the Collector is freed, and we have a huge new ally to help turn the tables on Belos. The only downside is losing your help from the Hydra's Heart, but others could lead them in your place. I think we'd need to run it past Mom first, but I think it's a good plan." Luz decided.

Rasiel beamed and King suddenly looked even more excited. Luz reached into her hair and pulled out the new Portal Key; it looked very similar to the old one, but it was stained white instead of brown and had little Angel wings carvings on the handle. Dell had done a good job carving it, and ever since installing the Titan Oculus into their new Portal Door and linking it to the key, a smaller Titan Oculus filled with Titan Blood now rested on the top of the key, just like the old one. She pressed the eye and her new portal appeared and unfolded in front of her; it was white like the key, and had angelic carvings and designs on it to further differentiate it from the original door. This door would be just for Luz, while Belos' door would be returned to Eda if possible once all this was over.

"So close… just one more day and I can see Mami and Vee again." Luz murmured, looking at the door.

Rasiel stood and opened the door, revealing the portal to the In-Between Realm (which resembled a vertical pool of black and gold liquid swirling around like a bizarre reflection of a starry night sky. After briefly poking his head into the portal, Rasiel turned to Luz and said; "I have a small theory I want to test. Take out your scroll."

Luz obeyed curiously, summoning the magical device. Rasiel borrowed it for a moment and scrolled through her contacts page, before smiling as his theory was proven. Due to the range limit on scrolls (at least before Alador created range extending signal towers), a scroll would list whether or not each contact was within signal range, but as Rasiel looked at Luz's scroll, he saw that ALL contacts were within range… including Camila.

He showed this to Luz, who gasped in shock as Rasiel explained; "The In-Between Realm connects everywhere with everywhere else. You could link this door to your own closet door if you wanted. There's no such thing as a range limit with this place, so…"

"So I can call Mami…!?" Luz finished. "I-I can speak to her right now! I can-!"

The girl suddenly cut herself off and began to bite her lip nervously. King and Rasiel were surprised by her reaction, but it didn't take the latter long to figure out why.

"You're afraid of talking to her, aren't you?" Rasiel asked. "So much has happened since you last spoke, and you have questions about who she really is. Who Cassiel truly is."

The young Arch-Angel nodded reluctantly; "Mami and Papi both came to this realm, but Mami never told me. She either lied about it, or her mind was messed with. W-What if telling her about this hurts her? What if she doesn't remember Michael? And what was their relationship anyway? He was holding hands with both my parents in Belos' memory… There's so much I don't know and…!"

"And you're scared of finding out the answer. Of learning something about your family and who you are that changes things for you." Rasiel finished. "I understand that… I'm afraid of what I'll find in my missing memories too. But fear and denial will only hold you back. The truth is the same even if you don't know it, so isn't it better to face it head on? Your mother is still your mother no matter what, just as Eda is."

"And just like I'm your brother!" King added. He too understood how Luz must be feeling; he'd gone through the same experience when learning he was a Titan and the fate of his parents and Godfather Zachael.

Luz closed her eyes and thought about it; she wanted to know the truth, even if it was scary or it hurt. She needed to know about Cassiel, Em, and their relationship with Michael, and what had really happened with Belos. "I can't keep running away or being a coward. I need to face this." she said determinedly, standing up and placing King down as she walked towards the portal and held her scroll. Her thumb hovered over her Mami's contact, and she hesitated for a moment before turning to King and Rasiel.

"Guys, can I have some time alone? I want to talk to Mami by myself." she asked softly.

The two nodded and King flapped his little wings to fly up to Rasiel's shoulders. The two then gave a short wave and headed off the beach, leaving Luz alone with the portal.

Taking a deep breath to centre herself, Luz finally tapped her thumb down and called her Mami, sending a video call request. The first ring had Luz's heart beating wildly at the tension, and the second ring was cut off immediately by the call being answered; her Mami obviously rushing to answer the scroll upon seeing who was calling.

The face of Camila Noceda appeared on the screen, dressed in her night clothes and with her glasses crooked on her face, having been put on hastily. The woman's eyes widened as they took in the sight of her beloved daughter, and Luz felt her own eyes tear up a little as she gave a shaky smile.

"H-Hi Mami." she said awkwardly.

"Luz!" Camila cried, tears of joy and relief beginning to stream down her face. "Are you okay!? What's happened!? Why haven't you been able to come home!?"

Luz nearly wept at the familiar voice, and sniffled as she answered, trying to keep her voice steady. "I-I'm fine. Or as fine as can be expected… a lot has happened in the, I think 7 weeks since I last saw you? It's been rough… But I'm alive and healthy and free! I'm so sorry I haven't been able to keep my promise and come home! Please believe me when I say I wanted to! I didn't run away or abandon you, I swear!"

Camila listened intently, and while she frowned when Luz made it clear that she was okay, but not totally okay, she was also relieved to know that her faith in Luz had been well-placed; her darling little girl hadn't chosen to stay away! She'd known in her heart that it was true, but she was still happy to have confirmation. However that relief was followed closely by anger; her baby was clearly more distressed than she was letting on (Camila could tell when Luz was hiding something), and something had obviously kept her trapped in the Demon Realm!

"There there Baby, it's okay. Mami's here. I believe you, and I'll listen to everything you have to say. I'm not mad at you; I've just been so scared for you. Did something happen to keep you from coming home?" Camila asked gently, so badly wanting to hold her daughter.

Luz nodded as her lip quivered; "The portal was stolen from me thanks to Belos, and without it I had no way home." she explained, intentionally keeping Hunter and Lucy's names out of it. "I've spent most of the last seven weeks trying to find a way back to you! I-I managed to make a new portal with my friends, but it isn't done yet, so I can't go through it to get back to you. I-I should be able to finish it soon and finally come home to you and Vee, but… but-"

The poor girl began to sob, collapsing onto her knees as she tried to deal with the deluge of conflicted emotions. Camila's own tears came faster as she realised how torturous it was to see her little girl cry without being there to comfort her with a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"Mija, it's okay. I understand; I know you're doing your best. You've become a fine young angel who works so hard for others; I just know you'll succeed. We'll be together again soon, and I'll give you so many hugs that you'll be sick of them!" Camila said with a watery smile.

Luz giggled through her tears, before sobbing again; "Mami, it's all become so messed up! I-I got stabbed by a bad guy and robbed of the Portal Key, and then I went to the past with a Time Pool and accidentally helped past Belos! Almost everything he's done is all my fault for saving him! Then there's a bunch of crazy stuff like Belos stealing Rasiel's wings, and making Grimwalkers, and I couldn't be with you for Papi's memorial and I had to destroy the heart of King's Mama, and ended up inside Belos' mind… so much is happened! I-I feel like everyone is relying on me; they all believe in me so much, but I'm falling apart! I don't even know who I am any more!"

Everything had come out in a mad ramble, and Camila felt her heart rate, blood pressure, and temper all rising bit by bit as she registered what her beloved child had said. Luz had been stabbed!? Belos wasn't a real Angel!? Going into the past and Belos' mind!? It was all utterly terrifying and infuriating, and her little girl had been forced to deal with it all! She wasn't even 15 yet! But the part that really stood out, and which shocked Camila to her core, was one particular word… a word she couldn't stop herself from repeating.

"G-Grimwalkers!?" Camila gasped.

Luz sniffled and nodded; "Belos' Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel are Grimwalkers. Hunter, made from Belos' brother Caleb, and Lucy… Mami, Lucy was made from me!"

Camila turned ashen; "Belos made a Grimwalker of you!? And Hunter is…"

"The Grimwalker Golden Guard that took over after Belos killed Michael." Luz finished.

Any doubts Luz had about her Mami's past and memories evaporated as Camila flinched violently and stared at Luz with wide eyes, full of both horror and realisation.

"Oh my poor baby…" Camila whispered, on the verge of sobbing herself now.

"S-So it's true, right? You… you were Cassiel? You and Papi, going by Em, came to the Demon Realm. You were friends with Darius and Eber! Vitimir was in love with you! And Michael… he…" Luz couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence, and Camila closed her eyes, letting the tears flow freely for a few moments.

"Yes." she finally answered; "My birth name is Cassiel of Crest Kindness. Camila was a human name I took when I first came to the Human Realm. It was here that I met your Papi; Emmanuel, or Manny as he preferred to be called. It's a very long story, but we found our way to the Demon Realm just like you did, and made friends with Witches and Demons like you did. And also like you, we ran into Belos and his Grimwalker Golden Guard. Michael was… someone very special to your Papi and I, but we lost him to Belos."

A lot of conflicting feelings filled Luz; she had basically expected all of that, but it still shocked her to hear it from her mother's own mouth. Normally, knowing she had even more in common with her Mami than she thought would have made Luz happy, but something stuck out in her mind.

"You lied… you knew my whole life what the Demon Realm was really like. But you told me those horror stories all the same. Why? Why did you lie to me all these years?" Luz asked, clearly hurt.

Camila winced; "That is… a very long story. But the short version is that I was trying to protect you. You probably know I didn't leave the Demon Realm under the best circumstances; your Papi and I left our friends behind and fled. We had good reason to do that, part of which was me becoming pregnant with you. Believe me when I say that I braved the pain of lying because I wanted to protect you…"

Luz definitely believed that; losing someone precious to her in the form of Michael must have been awful, and considering Belos' dogged pursuit of her, the young Arch-Angel had no doubt he'd have pursued her Mami just as much.

"Will you tell me the truth? The whole truth?" Luz asked in a small voice.

Camila nodded; "I will, Mija. I swear… but it's better to wait until we see each other in person. It's a bit of a long story and it's getting late. I want to have you in my arms before I tell the whole tale and from what you've told me, you're dealing with enough right now as it is."

"T-That's probably a good idea." Luz said, already having a feeling this story would be one that left her needing some time to recover. "Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me and the CATTs."

"What's happening?" Camila asked.

Luz fidgeted a bit before replying; "Tomorrow is the Day of Unity, and the CATTs are launching the final assault on Belos. If everything goes well, then he'll finally be defeated and this whole long nightmare will come to an end."

"That is wonderful news! Do you have a good plan?" Camila asked, wiping her eyes and smiling brightly. Luz nodded and eagerly told her Mami all about the Hydra Formation plan that Eda had cooked up, as well as the potential addendum of King and Rasiel's excursion to the In-Between Realm (pending Eda's agreement). Camila listened with a smile, and any apprehension she felt faded away when she heard that Luz wouldn't be called upon to fight Belos directly.

"Your friends have been working so hard! I can't wait to see them all again, and meet some of the new ones! And I'm so proud of you for keeping your promise and not fighting Belos yourself. I just know you'll win tomorrow!" Camila praised.

Luz gave a little smile in response, before a guilty frown crossed her face; "A-Actually… I don't think I've done a good job at keeping my promises at all. Because I let the Portal Key get stolen, I haven't been able to come home like I promised. And because of all the stuff that's happened, I've missed days of school so my grades are probably slipping, which means I've broken another promise! A-And I…" she bit her lip, hesitating to continue, before whispering; "And if things go bad tomorrow and they need my help against Belos, I'm going to go and face him. That means I'll have broken all three of my promises to you…"

"Luz…" Camila sighed.

Luz looked down ashamedly; "I know I'm being dumb and immature… I know I made those promises to you, and I know I broke them. Maybe I haven't grown up at all and I'm still just an immature little Cherub on the inside. I'm sorry… but if I need to fight Belos tomorrow then I-!"

"You will do what you think is right." Camila interrupted, a gentle and proud smile on her face.

"M-Mami?"

"Luz, I told you once before; my greatest mistake in raising you was trying to change the wonderful Angel you are into something you're not. I made you promise not to go after Belos because I was scared you'd be hurt again… but you've grown up a lot and as your mother, I need to support you in that. You will never be the kind of girl who can stand by and do nothing when you know you could help. So if you need to fight Belos, then you have my permission. But know that no matter what, you never need to hold back from doing what you truly feel is right. I will always support you, even if I don't agree." Camila said earnestly, a look of complete love and pride on her face as she looked Luz in the eye through the screen.

Luz felt her heart swelling with love; "Thank you, Mami! I promise, I won't let you down!"

"I know you won't, Mija. You are my beautiful, chaotic, wild, funny, unpredictable, and utterly pure-hearted daughter, and I couldn't love you more if I tried. I am so proud of you; and remember that even when you are fully grown and independent, you will still be my baby! Don't ever think you broke your promises to me; I know you've been doing your best! Now make sure you kick Belos' butt tomorrow, then come home to me safe and sound. Your little sister and I are waiting, and I'm inviting all of your friends and family here for Christmas!" Camila grinned.

Luz giggled happily and nodded; "You might want to start cooking now then, because I have a ton of friends and family to bring home! King's grown up a bit since you saw him, and I have too! I've gotten taller! I might be almost your height now! And I got to meet my Witch Grandpa finally, and my future grandparents-in-law!"

"That's wonderful! I can't wait to meet them all!" Camila chuckled.

"They really are the best! O-On the anniversary of Papi's passing, they all came together to have a memorial with me. They all got Papi flowers! It was… it was really nice." Luz told her, beginning to tear up again. "Did you…?"

Camila nodded at the unasked question; "Vee and I got flowers and went to his grave. We missed you, but we knew you would have been there if you'd been able. I'm happy to hear you weren't alone."

Luz smiled and lay back on the sand, as she began to tell her Mami more and more about what she'd experienced in the last few weeks (keeping to the lighter topics and silly little stories), and bit by bit, the girl's heart grew lighter and her eyes grew heavier. Camila smiled lovingly as she watched Luz slowly fall asleep, and even after the girl was finally out completely, her Mami remained on the line and watched her daughter's sleeping face. She ended up watching Luz for a good few minutes, unwilling to hang up, until someone else came into the picture.

Camila was happy to hear Rasiel's wistful voice; "Poor girl tuckered herself out at long last. A child like this shouldn't carry so many burdens…"

Rasiel knelt down and scooped Luz up into his arms, then blinked in surprise upon seeing Camila was still on the line; "Oh! Cassiel, I apologise. I didn't realise you were still there; I've just returned from putting King to bed as well."

"It's fine, Rasiel. Thank you for looking after my girl." Camila replied, not commenting on Rasiel's use of her Angel name. "And you're right about her burdens… it makes me feel better to know she has people there to help ease them."

"Have no fear; Luz has done so much for so many people that she has more support than she realises. We will all care for her with all we've got. But before I put Luz to bed, I had a question I hoped to ask." Rasiel said, before fixing Camila with a knowing look; "I suspect that Luz is this child's human name, just as Camila is yours. Does she have an Angel name like your own as well, Cassiel?"

Camila nodded; "She does, but we've never used it. In fact, I don't think even Luz knows it… only her father and I knew it."

"I understand. Might I know what that name is?" Rasiel asked.

The younger Angel thought about it for a moment, before nodding and giving Rasiel Luz's Angelic name. The Ancient Seraphim smiled upon hearing it; "Fitting… and potentially auspicious. Thank you, Cassiel; I should really get her to bed now. I will see you soon, I'm sure of it."

"Thank you again, Rasiel. I will see you soon."

And with that, Rasiel shut the Portal Door and the signal was cut off, ending the call. Luz's scroll disappeared to wherever she normally summoned it from, and Rasiel pulled the Portal Key from Luz's pocket and used it to fold the door up again, before taking it and Luz back to the Blights' home.

As he walked, Rasiel spoke softly to the slumbering girl; "I'll finally get my answers tomorrow. I will know who I truly am, and how I came to be here… it's all thanks to you, Luz. I swear on my honour that I, Rasiel of the Demon Realm, will be your steadfast ally for the rest of your days. One day, I will save you as you have saved me."

Luz did not wake or stir, but the evening chill did make her shiver and snuggle closer to Rasiel with a content smile on her face. Rasiel chuckled happily and eventually lay her down beside Amity in the girl's bedroom, wishing the girl a quiet good night.

Meanwhile in the Human Realm, Camila stared at her scroll as her mind raced with everything she'd just learned. So the time was almost upon her… the time for her to face her inner demons and confess the lies she'd told and finally tell Luz the whole truth of her past. Camila knew it would be painful for them both, and Luz would definitely be upset at her for keeping the secret for so long… Camila just hoped Luz would understand her reasoning. In truth, Camila had planned to tell Luz as soon as she fully matured as an Angel, but since she was now living in the Demon Realm and so close to Belos, the woman had hesitated.

Camila sighed heavily, before her attention was drawn by a hesitant knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in, Cariño." Camila said kindly.

Her door opened and Vee poked her head in, currently in her true form since she'd been preparing for bed.

"Mama? Is everything okay? I heard you talking and you sounded…" Vee began, only to notice the scroll in her adoptive mother's hands. Only someone from the Demon Realm would call her on that, which meant it had to be Luz! The Basilisk gasped; "Did Luz call!?"

"Yes. She explained what's been going on; apparently her portal was stolen and she's been trying hard to make a new one." Camila explained; "With any luck, we might be able to see her tomorrow, after the final battle with Belos is over…"

Vee gasped once again and slithered closer; "S-So Luz is okay? And she's going to fight Belos!?"

"She's healthy, but she's clearly struggling with some things. As for whether or not she fights Belos… I hope she doesn't have to." Camila answered. She thought for a moment then said; "Vee, would you mind taking the day off from school tomorrow. I have something I need to do, and I'd like it if you joined me."

"Oh! Sure! I'd love to! I think tomorrow is the physics quiz in Science anyway! I've been studying, but I'm not looking forward to it!" Vee giggled.

Camila smiled and pet the girl's head, then gently pulled her into a hug. "Thank you Vee. Were you about to go to bed?"

"Yes Mama. I stayed up a little late 'cause I was chatting with Masha." Vee explained. She was normally an early to bed, early to rise kind of girl.

"In that case, would you like to sleep in here tonight? It's getting colder again and I can help keep you warm." Camila suggested.

Vee suspected Camila was inviting her more out of a desire to have someone to cuddle with after her emotional talk with Luz, but the little Basilisk was never going to turn down free hugs from her Mama and a warm body to sleep next to on a cold winter night! She nodded enthusiastically and slithered into bed beside her Mama and curled up, the two Noceda ladies folding their wings together as additional blankets. Camila then turned out the light and snuggled closer to her youngest daughter.

"Tomorrow, our family will be complete again. I can feel it… then there will be no more secrets. I hope you'll forgive me, Luz."

[The Next Day]

The morning of the Day of Unity was extremely hectic on Digale Island. Everyone had been awoken as soon as the sun rose and only had until noon to fully prepare for the battle to come. Most of the preparation had been taken care off, so it was largely just rendezvousing with their assigned teams and grabbing their equipment and a hearty breakfast. Luz had ended up as one of the last to wake (Rasiel had told the others to let her sleep as long as possible after her late night) and she'd awoken to find that Rasiel and King had already gotten approval from the CATTs leadership to change the plan to include their trip into the In-Between Realm. The Hydra's Heart Unit had been reassigned to have Osran leading it while Severin took Osran's original position in leading the Hydra's Scale Team, and had agreed to remove his sigil to accommodate the change of plans.

Once everyone was equipped and ready, Luz began sending everyone through the Teleportation Circle back to the Owl House and the Boiling Isles. A small force would remain on Digale Island in case the worst should happen, while another small force (primarily the Hydra's Heart unit) would guard the Owl House itself, as well as Bonesborough. Hooty was leaving the house in his portable form, ready to assist in the fight. All rebels heading for Unity Plaza would be hiding themselves with Concealment Stones to slip as close to the Emperor as possible before launching their attack too, so they would soon be heading out in staggered groups so as not to let on that they were actually a united force.

Once the CATTs were all prepared to head out, the leaders of the different units all stood together at the head of the group. Raine, taking a deep breath to deal with their shyness, stepped up onto a stone platform conjured by Luz and began to deliver a speech.

"Friends! I thank you all for joining me here today. We stand on the precipice of annihilation; an evil human wearing both the face of a witch and an angel is preparing to wipe us all from existence for the crime of being born! Belos despises us all and seeks to kill us under the guise of his Day of Unity plan… We will stop him! For the sake of our friends, our loved ones, and all the people of the Isles, we will fight and stop his evil once and for all!" Raine declared, raising their fist into the air.

They were met with a cheer, but Raine wasn't done; "Belos made the Day of Unity to bring us together so he could destroy us… but in the end, he has brought us together so we can destroy him! Look around you and see that we truly have become united! I see Witches and Demons of all ages and walks of life standing side by side! I see Wild Witches and members from countless different covens, including the main ten! I see former Coven Heads rubbing shoulders with notorious outlaws! I see an Angel, a Titan, a Basilisk, and so many others all united together against a common enemy! Because while we are all different, we all call this world home! Today truly is the Day of Unity… so let us show the world that we are united, and we will fight together for the sake of everyone!"

There were more roaring cheers as everyone got pumped up.

"For the CATTs!" Katya cried.

"For True Unity!" Lilith yelled.

"For the Boiling Isles!" Amity shouted.

"For all those who we've lost!" Darius yelled.

"For Freedom!" Eda roared.

"For the Future!" Luz declared.

One final, momentous battle cry echoed throughout the woods, and everyone began moving out. The Hydra's Fangs, Horns, Scales, and Venom began heading to Unity Plaza via different methods; carts, airships, staves, and all other forms of transportation. The Hydra's Heart meandered off more slowly, intentionally remaining spread out so as to keep the roads and skies clear and open for resupply, reinforcements, and retreats. Lastly, the Hexsquad AKA the Hydra's Tail Unit came together and prepared to head to Belos' castle, though not without being met by their parents and guardians first.

Amity found herself being nearly smothered by her Dad, Edric and Emira, and her Grandparents (with all but the Twins promising to give Odalia a good whack for Amity's sake). Willow was sandwiched between Harvey and Gilbert, who alternated between showing their support for her strength and their concern for her safety. Gus shared a heartfelt hug with his Dad Perry, who promised to stay safe and made Gus make the same promise. Matt's Mom wasn't present since she wasn't in the CATTs, but his Dad passed along how proud she was of him, and the man himself shared that pride… and of course, Steve was nearly in tears over how proud he was of his little bro. Skara was also in tears as she hugged her father with all she had, as Severin tried to hold in his own tears while stroking her hair and wishing her luck. Boscha was fussed over by her mother Callisto, while her Daddy Morel tried to keep their own nerves in check as they loaded Boscha's satchel up with even more potions and preparations. Then there was Hunter, who had no parents but still found himself being hugged and wished luck by the trio of Darius, Eber, and Osran. Darius was trying to act aloof but his "concerned Mom" side was coming out strong, while Eber gave Hunter a last minute pop quiz on how to use some of the new magic she'd taught him, and Osran handed him some snacks to share with his friends.

Luz smiled as she watched all of this, but that was before she too was grabbed and pulled into a familial embrace. Eda, Raine, Lilith, Dell, and Gwen had come over, King sitting on Eda's shoulders, and promptly grabbed Luz for a proper family hug.

"I can't believe my eldest grandbaby is already going off to battle! They grow up so fast!" Luz's Abuela cried between kisses to her cheeks.

"You and your brother make us proud, Owlet. You may not be a Witch, but you are most certainly a Clawthorne. Your name will be repeated in our family legends for the rest of time." her Abuelo declared grandly as he firmly patted her back, his hands shaking mildly out of hidden concern for his grandchildren's safety.

"Thanks Abuela, Abuelo. I'll keep making you proud, and I know King will too." Luz smiled, getting a nod of agreement from King (who'd already been smothered and kissed and cuddled by his family ahead of his expedition).

"You're going to do great today, I just know it. I'm proud to call you my niece, and my comrade-in-arms." Titi Raine said, ruffling Luz's hair.

"Thanks, Titi. I'll do my best! Once we're done at the Castle and the eclipse is over, I'll come running to Unity Plaza, so if Belos is still kicking by then, I'll help put him down." Luz replied determinedly.

"We're proud of you, Luz. You're strong, but make sure you still keep yourself safe! Don't take any unnecessary risks, and while I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, be sure to protect the others too. You're their leader whether you like it or not; they'll be following your lead." Tia Lily said, giving Luz a gentle hug before Hooty (worn on her back like a backpack) extended and gave Luz a much tighter hug.

"Hoot! Our little Angel is all grown up! Unleash Hell upon all our enemies! Hoot!" he said, as mildly unsettling as always.

Luz giggled and pet Hooty; "I don't know about Hell, but I'll definitely kick butt! You protect Tia Lily for me, okay Hooty?" she then looked to Lilith and said; "You keep yourself safe too, Tia Lily. And don't worry, I'll be sure to keep my friends safe too! Especially Amity." she said with a knowing wink, making Lilith chuckle. The woman got the unspoken message too and went to go wish luck to her daughter in all but name.

The Clawthornes watched Lilith hurry over to Amity for a moment, before Eda pulled Luz into the tightest hug she could manage, coming just shy of scooping Luz up and cradling her like a baby.

"Dang it, you and King have really taken the Owl Lady, the most powerful Witch on the Boiling Isles, and turned me into a total softy!" her Mom laughed.

"Don't blame us! You were always a secret softy!" Luz teased, hugging her Mom just as tightly.

"Yeah! We just made you more honest about it!" King giggled.

Eda scoffed playfully; "Turning a crook honest? That's even worse!" she joked, before putting her forehead against Luz's while pulling King down into their hug. There was a slight shake in her shoulders as her eyes began to glisten with emotion. "Both of you stay safe, got it? I have faith in you both, but if the worst should happen and we fail today, then focus on protecting yourselves and staying safe. Promise me, okay?"

Luz and King both nodded sombrely, before kissing their Mom on the cheeks. "We'll come back safe and sound. I promise. Us weirdos have to stick together after all, right?" Luz said with a shaky smile. "We've got to come together for Christmas too! Mami is already preparing for it I bet!"

"Yeah! We'll get to have Tia Cammie's cooking again! And I'll help too! All that Potions work has made me a better cook too! Maybe Mama and Dad will even have some Titan recipes to share with me! I'll have to ask when Rasiel and I find 'em! It'll be one big awesome family meal with all of us together!" King added, forcing himself to sound more cheerful to hide his apprehension.

Eda chuckled; "I really have been blessed in more ways than one to have you two in my life. Now I better go… if I hold you two any longer, I won't be able to let go!"

With a great deal of reluctance, the three of them pulled apart. Eda then summoned Owlbert and hopped on, before waving and flying off with Raine and Lilith, equipping their Concealment Stones as they disappeared towards the north-east. King and Luz waved until she was out of sight, and soon all the others had left too, leaving behind only the Hexsquad, Rasiel, King, and a small group of CATTs to defend the Owl House.

Luz and King watched until their Mom had disappeared from sight, and both shared the same feeling as their Mom did; they would definitely all see each other again. They felt it in their bones; they'd be together as a family again, no matter what… now they just had to fight until they could get to that point.

Rasiel approached Luz and King after giving them a moment to compose themselves, and brought Treble (in his true Basilisk form) and Hanu along with him.

"We're ready to begin our expedition into the In-Between Realm. Treble and Hanu will be assisting us." he said, as Treble revealed a scroll he'd been gifted and Hanu produced a pair of seeds.

"We'll be guarding the portal while you and Rasiel are inside it." Treble explained to King; "You'll be able to call us if anything goes wrong and we'll be able to yank you right back out to safety."

Hanu nodded shyly, having become quite quiet, humble, and soft-spoken since Terra betrayed her. "I'll grow vines from these seeds and wrap them around your waists, trying you together and to me. They'll let me pull you to safety if the worst should happen, and also help you backtrack if you get lost and need to find your way home."

King flew over to her and held still while Hanu grew a vine from the seed and tied it to him as she'd described, before repeating the process with Rasiel. Once they were secured, Hanu tested the vines by having them lift King and Rasiel onto the roof of the Owl House, then back down to the ground. "I think that'll work fine. Thank you for trusting me; I promise to do my best." Hanu bowed her head.

King and Rasiel thanked her, while the Hexsquad and Treble gave her kind smiles, and Willow made a point of giving her a happy thumbs up. Now that King and Rasiel were fully prepared, Luz pulled out her Portal Key and summoned the new Portal Door once again, opening it up to let the duo head in.

"Right, next time we see each other, I'll have my memories and hopefully my wings too! I'll finally be complete." Rasiel grinned excitedly.

"Yeah! But what are you going to do about the last key to the tomb? You and King can open the Angel and Titan locks, but not the Demon Realm one." Luz pointed out.

To that, Rasiel winked and pulled out a vial of red blood and a charged training wand. "I spoke with Meesha Leonis with the Healers earlier, and she provided me a blood sample and one of her daughter's old training wands. With these, I'll have the blood and magic I need to open the tomb."

The Hexsquad looked at the wand with curiosity; the CATTs had offered to give Rasiel a training wand to cast magic with before, but his pride wouldn't let him use what was essentially a device for children, instead preferring to use glyphs. Though since glyphs were Titan Magic, it made sense that he'd opt to use the wand in this instance.

"We'll find the Collector and the tomb. You guys worry about making sure Belos can't use my Dad's heart!" King said.

Luz nodded; "We will. See you soon, little brother! Give my love to Tio Orion and Tia Cassiopeia!"

King agreed and with one last smile to the Hexsquad (who responded with cries of good luck), King and Rasiel walked through the open portal and into the In-Between Realm. Treble and Hanu sat on some wooden seats the latter had grown, ready and waiting for the moment they were needed.

Luz and the Hexsquad then began to slowly make their way into Bonesborough, awaiting a call from one of two CATTs scouts stationed at either Unity Plaza or the area near Belos' Castle. Since the plan relied on attacking the castle while Belos wasn't there, they needed to wait until they got confirmation that Belos had left the castle before infiltrating it. As they walked, a call did finally come through, but to Hunter's scroll and not Luz's. Looking at the caller ID, Hunter smiled.

"It's Lucy!" he said, before answering the video call request. Lucy's face appeared on the screen, wearing a bright smile. Hunter was momentarily stunned to see her looking healthier than he'd ever seen her! She was still very thin and with paler skin than was healthy for her, but she no longer looked borderline starved and the bags under her eyes were completely gone. Her hair had also been better groomed and while Hunter couldn't see her whole outfit, the parts he could see around her shoulders looked new and free of patchwork repairs.

"Hunter! I'm glad I was able to catch you before you left for the big battle." Lucy greeted happily.

"I'm so glad to hear from you too, Lucy! You look like you're doing well!" Hunter replied, beaming at his sister's improved health.

The girl blushed and giggled nervously; "Steve's Mom has been taking good care of me. She insisted on feeding me until I was ready to pop at almost every meal, and she's been really strict about making me sleep a lot. She even took me to get some new clothes! I tried to tell her she didn't need to, but she wouldn't take no for an answer!"

"I like this woman already!" Hunter grinned.

Lucy rolled her eyes; "You're looking better too. You've still got those bags under your eyes, but everything else looks better."

Hunter opened his mouth to answer, when Willow and Gus flanked him and leaned in so Lucy could see them; "You can thank us for that! We've been taking good care of him for you!" Willow chirped.

"Yep! We make sure he doesn't skip meals and has some better clothes to wear. Shame we couldn't do anything about making him sleep, or his sense of style." Gus said teasingly, looking at the outfit Hunter had picked out for himself.

Hunter was dressed in a rather plain outfit of dark pants, brown leather boots and gloves, and lighter brown shirt worn over a tight dark grey thermal shirt to keep him warm. Aside from the gloves, his only accessory was a hip pouch that contained some paper glyphs and bird seed for Flapjack to snack on. Willow, Gus, Amity, AND Darius had tried to help him find something a bit more stylish, but Hunter had insisted on simple and practical.

Lucy giggled at Hunter's pouting expression; "That outfit really screams Hunter! I'll show you mine when I see you again."

"Will that be soon, sis?" Hunter asked, gently pushing Willow and Gus back a bit.

"I think so. I… I feel like I'm close to an epiphany." Lucy confessed; "The girl called "Lucy"… I don't think I'm that person any more. But I haven't fully decided who this new person I am is. I'm close, but I'm not there yet."

Hunter and Gus both beamed, while the rest of the Hexsquad listened with pleased smiles, interested to see who this new person would be and when they'd finally get to meet her.

"I'm glad to hear that." Hunter said; "I look forward to meeting the new you."

Lucy hummed happily, then continued; "Anyway, Steve told his Mom a little about the battle plan today and she told me, so I know a bit about what's going to be happening. Not much, since Steve had to work around his oath to tell his Mom anything, but enough to know you and Gus are going to be working together with Luz and your other new friends. I wanted to call before then to see how you're doing."

"That was nice of you. I'm doing well, and getting along surprisingly well with the others. I've met them all before in different circumstances, but hanging out and being "friends" is a new experience. They even invited me to join their "Hexsquad". It's been… fun." Hunter said with a mild blush.

"Aww!" Luz said as the others gave Hunter teasing looks. He responded by huffing and ignoring them.

"When you finally come join us too, I'm sure you'll get along with them too. Just don't listen to anything they say; they like to tease!" Hunter said, shooting looks to his new friends who either pretended they had no idea what he was talking about, or smirked back at him shamelessly.

Lucy giggled at the look on her brother's face, so pleased to see him with more friends. She looked forward to getting to make friends with the Hexsquad too, but before that, a thought had entered her mind. She'd heard Luz's voice, and had something she wanted to ask.

"Hunter, can you ask Luz if she's okay with talking to me?" Lucy asked.

"Of course. I don't see why she wouldn't be." Hunter said, looking over to the Arch-Angel, who just smiled kindly.

"I'm a Grimwalker that Belos made in her image, Hunter. It's gotta be strange to see her evil, or at least dark, clone." Lucy replied, getting some frowns from everyone as Hunter moved aside so Luz could face the girl.

"You're definitely not evil." Luz said, coming face to face with Lucy for the first time since Belos' mind. "I wouldn't even call you dark, outside of the elemental stuff. Still, I'll admit… this is a little strange." Luz confessed, looking at the girl who was a picture perfect replica of her when she was 12… only with some scars and different coloured eyes, hair, and wings. "It's like a blast from the past. An image of me if I'd been raised by Belos…"

Lucy smiled sardonically; "I doubt that monster would have treated a real Angel as badly as he did a fake. But I do agree… looking at you is like looking at a potential future. And that's without getting into the potential existential crisis of me being born from a part of you."

"I've been trying not to think about that part. I prefer to just think of you as another Crest Kindness Angel. I'll pretend you're just a cousin; I sort of thought you might be anyway with how closely we resembled each other." Luz confessed. Before the big reveal, one of her working theories had been that Cassiel and her mother were unknowing sisters, and Cassiel's child had been Lucy. Considering Luz was the child of Cassiel and Lucy was a replica of Luz, it wasn't a totally wrong theory…

Lucy seemed to like the cousin angle, but shook the thought away so she could ask her question; "Getting back to the matter at hand… you told Belos that I was stunted from birth because you were too. I wanted to know if you went through a "dark" phase like I currently am? I never saw you before becoming a High Angel, so I'm not sure."

Luz looked at the other girl curiously; so Lucy wanted to know if her current condition was something inherited from Luz, or something unique to her. Luz wish she could tell her more. "Sorry, but no." she answered; "When I evolved from a Cherub to an immature Angel, my wings were white and the only elemental power I had was light. But my evolution was caused by the Titan's glyphs, specifically the light glyph. Perhaps if I'd evolved naturally, I'd have become a Dark Angel too. Or maybe you making a pact with an Oracle Spirit before ascending is what caused it. I can't be sure."

"I see…" Lucy sighed, disappointed by the answer.

"But…" Luz continued, "… I personally think that you became a Dark Angel just because you have an affinity for the element of Darkness. Not for any particular reason; most people seem to have random affinities, so I think it's just chance. Darkness is a rare, but not impossible affinity for Angels."

Lucy frowned; "But you don't have that affinity."

"You are not me." Luz countered.

Those simple words stuck Lucy silent, and slowly, a smile began to spread across her face. "I am not you. And I shouldn't try to be either, right?"

Luz grinned; "You've been listening to Gus! Good; he's a really smart guy!" Gus blushed and rubbed beneath his nose with a finger, "I don't know who you are, Dark Angel. But I'm looking forward to finding out!"

"So am I." Lucy replied. "I think I've got a little more thing to do, but I do want to ask one more thing, Luz. Do you think I'm a real Angel?"

"Yes." Luz answered without hesitation. She wasn't the only one either; the rest of the Hexsquad agreed as well.

"Yup!"

"Definitely."

"As if you could be anything else."

"You're as sickeningly sweet as Luz, so I'd say yeah."

"I want to hear you and Luz sing a duet some day! Ooh, with your lyre too!"

All those comments had come out at once, so it was a little hard for Lucy to make them all out, but she still smiled brilliantly as tears filled her eyes.

"Thank you, all of you." she said, as Hunter turned the scroll to face him again.

"We'll need to be leaving soon. When today is over, I'll come visit you in Palm Stings. Until then, remember what we all said, and stay safe." Hunter told her.

"I'll do my best. Please take care of yourself Hunter, and your new friends too." Lucy replied, "Now I think I have some thinking to do. The Eclipse is happening soon… I have a feeling that the world will change before it's over."

Hunter nodded in agreement, and after a short goodbye and exchange of "I love you!" between the siblings, the call ended. The young man stood in silence for a moment as he stared at the now blank scroll screen, before Willow put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"She's doing well. That's good." Willow said.

"She is. I've never seen her looking so… at peace. I think she's accepting herself more." Hunter replied.

"That can be a tough thing to do." Amity chimed in, "When she decides who she is, we'll all support her. Pretty much everyone here has had to come to terms with the people we were, the people we are, and the people we want to be. She'll be in good company."

Hunter smiled gratefully and turned to say something to Luz and Gus in particular (the latter of whom had a dopey smile on his face), but he was interrupted by Luz's own scroll going off. A text message appeared on the screen and Luz's expression turned serious.

"It's the spy watching the castle. The Emperor has departed on an airship and taken pretty much everyone with him. The castle is nearly empty now." Luz read.

"Then it's time to get a move on. We'll follow your lead, Luz." Amity said as looks of determination crossed the others' faces.

Luz nodded seriously and took to the sky with her wings while her friends followed behind on their staves as they made their way to Belos' castle. Luz looked towards the sun as she flew, seeing the moon encroaching ever closer on the sun… The Eclipse would be starting soon, and when it did, everything would change.

[Meanwhile]

Eda, concealed as a random witch, landed beside her disguised lover and sister just outside the Unity Plaza and began to make their slow approach towards it. The Plaza was massive and took the form of a huge circular structure build on the Titan's Throat. It was built quite high off the ground, atop a series of large stone pillars and supports, and was reachable only via the air or across a bridge that led all the way from the Titan's sternum. The structure was similar to an arena, only without any stands and with the entire thing split into ten sections, arranged around a tall central tower like the spokes of a wheel. Nine of those sections were devoted to the nine different Covens, while the tenth was an entrance point where people were ordered to divide up and head to the section that matched their sigil. Almost the entire Emperor's Coven was present and guarding the place or organising people, and the majority of Belos' Abomaton Army were also located around the plaza (though notably very few were actually inside it).

The disguised Owl Lady looked around cautiously, noticing the arrival of several airships that carried the heads of the nine Covens, as well as Belos himself. She also noticed that just about every loyal Coven Witch on the isles was present, with only those who were members of the "lesser" covens being absent due to space concerns. It was insanely crowded, and Coven Scouts and Abomatons were scanning everyone who entered the plaza for signs of a Coven Sigil.

This was the first major hurdle, but thankfully the CATTs were prepared for it. Each unbranded Rebel had been given a piece of animal hide with a Coven Sigil branded on it, so as to trick scans for sigils. Alador had come up with the idea after speculating the kinds of security they'd be dealing with, and had quickly whipped up a working solution. Eda slipped hers into place beneath her disguise and held her wrist out to be scanned whilst holding her breath. The scout she offered it to gave her a brief scan, and upon finding nothing odd, directed Eda to the Potions section of the plaza.

"First hurdle crossed." Eda thought to herself, slowly letting out her sigh of relief. She gave a subtle nod to Raine and Lilith (whose fake sigils were for the Bard and Oracle Covens respectively), then headed to the Potions section as ordered. The CATTs had a mix of faked sigils, so they were fully integrated into the crowd, ready to jump into action when necessary.

Eda took a moment to calm her beating heart; the thrill and apprehension beginning to get to her. She then looked to the Airships that had docked along the outer walls of the Plaza and watched as the Coven Heads began making their way to the central tower via the walkways atop the dividing walls, with giant illusions of them hanging in the air allowing everyone to see them. The woman noticed Mason immediately, who was doing a good job of hiding his nerves. She also noticed Amaranth Secuna of the Abomination Coven and Odalia Vespan of the Oracle Coven, looking exactly the same as always (meaning insufferably smug). Vitimir also looked the same as always, and was looking around eagerly for a glimpse of Luz, who he no doubt expected to appear at some point. That disgusted Eda, and she turned her attention to the other Coven Heads; recognising both Terra and Adrian. The latter was jittery and dishevelled compared to his usual pompous, well-groomed self (likely still not himself after Gus trapped him in his own worst nightmare), while Terra was… odd. The woman was wearing a flowing green dress and veil that left her almost entirely hidden from view, with only the area around her eyes visible to the public. Said area looked strangely pasty and artificial, and her eyes were bloodshot… though the blood vessels in her eyes looked bizarrely green.

What had the woman done to herself?

Putting that thought aside, Eda looked to the new Beast-Keeping Head Witch; Carnar Vanily. He was another pompous noble like Amaranth and Odalia; he was a witch with olive coloured skin and orange hair that was styled into a strange coif. His eyes were a muddy brown, and his most distinctive features were a very large nose (it took up about half of his face) and an obscenely large handlebar moustache with curled ends. He also had a pointed chin and poor complexion, though his teeth were straight and pearly white; the only nice looking feature on his face. His outfit consisted of a jaunty red suit with puffed up pantaloons, a coat with tails, and a top hat that was just a little shorter than Vitimir's. Lastly, he sported a monocle that made one of his eyes look bizarrely large, and carried a rapier on his hip. He was the worst kind of noble in both looks and behaviour, and Eda could see he was loving lording his new position over everyone, occasionally throwing a sneer at the Demons around him. Eda looked forward to when he'd get what was coming to him!

Then there were the final two Coven Heads, which shocked Eda greatly. The first was Scooter Crane, and while Eda knew he'd been forced out of retirement to replace Severin, she hadn't expected his current state. He'd been reported to be a very old, withered, and largely senile man that could barely stand or walk unassisted, and yet the Scooter Eda was looking at was standing proud and walking without any difficulty! Oh, he was pretending to be frail still; he walked with a cane and shuffled along, but Eda knew a grifter when she saw one! His gait was too intentional and his stumbled steps too calculated; he was definitely faking! The question was why? As Eda stared at his face, she couldn't make out his intentions, though she did notice his eyes were oddly glassy… had he been put under some kind of mind-control that forced him to ignore the pains of his body? Perhaps he'd objected to coming out of retirement? Eda didn't know what was going on, but she felt her heart going out to Raine, who'd definitely be upset to see their mentor being used in such a way.

But it was the second and last Coven Head that shocked Eda the most, to the point that she (and almost everyone else in the crowd) were openly gaping at them. The Healing Coven Head was supposed to be Healer Dorothea, but that wasn't the woman marching towards the central tower.

It was Hettie Cutburn.

"No freaking way!? How can that be Hettie!? She was petrified and shattered back on Coven Day!?" Eda thought. What was Belos playing at here!? And what had happened to Healer Dorothea? The woman wasn't a member of the CATTs… had Belos mistaken her for their mole among his Coven Heads? Or had something else happened!?

Just about everyone in the plaza, especially the Healing Coven section, were thinking the same thing. They wouldn't be waiting long for answers either, as Belos appeared on the central tower and cast a massive illusion of his unmasked form over the entire plaza, causing his loyal subjects to cheer and applaud. Eda and the hidden CATTs held in their disgust as they forced themselves to cheer and clap too, lest they draw suspicion before they were ready.

"Children of the Isles!" he began grandly; "For too long, our world has been home to an insidious pox! A corruption that defiles the Titan's blessings! But today, that changes!" he raised his hand towards the sun, which the moon was getting closer and closer to eclipsing. "United with the Titan, his Angelic Servant, and the power of the Eclipse, we shall wipe out wild magic forever and give birth to a new paradise!"

At that moment, the Coven Heads all arrived at the top of the Central Tower and took their spots in a circle around Belos. Mason and the other Coven Heads (excluding Scooter) all looked at Hettie with surprise as well, clearly not expecting her to be present any more than the crowd. Belos smirked at their reactions, then continued his announcement to the people of the Isles.

"I'm sure many of you are surprised to see my dear Hettie stood at my side, considering her apparent betrayal and punishment on Coven Day. I apologise sincerely for that bit of theatre, but after the loathsome rebellion of Wild Witches went so far as to attack the Caduceus Grand Hospital, I had no choice but to take drastic measures. Hettie aided the poor, misled Angel Luz Noceda against a foul pretender, causing the rebels to believe her to be on their side. Hettie and I capitalised on this by faking Hettie's petrification and destruction so that she might go undercover in disguise and weed out the rebels' secrets!" Belos declared, clearly lying through his teeth; "It is thanks to her efforts that countless attacks and foul plots have been foiled! Attempts to destroy entire towns, attempts to kidnap innocent civilians, and even multiple assassination attempts on nobles and common folk alike have all been thwarted by Hettie's hard work!"

That caused the audience to cheer even louder, especially the Healing Coven members. They'd been lost when Hettie was thought dead; no one could fill her shoes, and even their best remaining member, Healer Dorothea, hadn't even been a shadow of Hettie's talents.

Eda and the CATTs were left even more confused though; what could Belos be plotting here!? It was too late to garner more support and frame the CATTs, and they were sure Hettie really had been punished by Belos… Perhaps the whole pantomime had been to get Hettie out of the public eye while she was brainwashed back into loyalty? The Coven Heads likely had to be powerful to serve as nexus points for their Covens in the Draining spell, and Healers weren't known for being sturdy or particularly strong… come to think of it, if that was the case then why was Scooter present? There was no way he was strong enough to handle it either!

Once Belos was done with his explanation, he began to use his staff to draw a complex ritual circle on to the top of the central tower. Mason watched him nervously, noting that the circle had a crescent moon as part of its innermost layer, and that the outer layer was connected with lines to each of the Coven Heads. Once the circle was complete, Belos raised his staff and it glowed red just as the first part of the moon passed in front of the sun, beginning the eclipse. The ritual circle began to glow a golden colour, and each Coven Head was covered by a golden beam of light that shot a short distance into the sky. The nine beams of light seemed to fuse together into a golden flame, making the central tower into a giant light house. Throughout the plaza and across the entire Boiling Isles, everyone with a legitimate Coven Sigil found them beginning to glow as well.

"The first part has begun. Belos used the power of the eclipse to link all the Coven Sigils together to their respective Coven Heads." Eda thought. There was no present Coven Head for the Emperor's Coven, but Eda suspected the sigils were focused less on the Coven itself and more on the nine types of magic, so the Sigils of the Emperor's Coven likely linked to all nine Coven Heads.

Belos grinned as he saw the array of lights, then gave one last declaration; "It is nearly time, brothers and sisters! Nearly time to destroy this sinful world and allow true virtue to return! But we need our final piece! Our Leading Lady! I think it's time we summon her!"

The CATTs all tensed, and Mason went as white as snow as Belos snapped his finger and the centre of his ritual circle released some cyan smoke to reveal an additional layer… one that Mason recognised.

It was a modified Teleportation Circle.

[Meanwhile]

The eclipse had not yet started when Luz and the Hexsquad arrived on one of the small watchtowers overlooking the ravine that contained the Emperor's Castle. Thanks to Hunter's intimate knowledge of the area's security and Belos reassigning most of his guards for the Day of Unity, it was child's play to fly down under an invisibility spell and knock out the single guard that sat atop the tower. Willow had done the honours with a swift punch from a bark-clad fist, after which Amity used her spirit to make sure the rest of the tower was deserted. Upon seeing that it was, she turned back to her friends.

"We're in the clear." she said.

"Great job guys. Hunter, you're the expert here; what do we do next?" Luz asked.

"It depends on which target you want to go for first. Belos' private lab and the dungeons are on the lowest level, while the lab he's been using for the portal is on the first floor. The throne room and the Titan's Heart is on the fourth floor, towards the middle of the castle. I know the best way in and out of the castle for each target, so we should decide on the order we're doing this." Hunter replied.

"I vote we go for the heart first. King and Rasiel are already going for the Collector on their side, and the original portal isn't as important. Plus the prisoners in Belos' Dungeons are supposed to be real scumbags no one would miss. That just leaves the heart as main priority." Boscha said.

"Actually, I think we should go the opposite way." Willow countered, "King's Dad isn't suffering like his Mama was, so getting his heart isn't as important. It's mostly just a trophy thing. But if we find the Collector's mirror, we could get information from him and let him know King is coming to his rescue. Plus getting Eda's portal will give us an escape route if things go bad."

Skara hummed; "Willow has a point, but we've got no way of knowing for certain that the Collector's mirror is still here. Belos could have taken it and the portal with him. I say we go for the heart. Something that powerful can't be left behind for Belos!"

"But destroying the heart will almost definitely alert the enemy. We'd have to fight our way through every guard left in the castle to complete the other objectives." Amity pointed out, "And if we choose to take it with us, then carrying it is gonna make sneaking around impossible. If we go for the heart first, we won't be able to handle the rest."

Gus raised his hand; "Also, I wanna point out that we don't actually know for sure that all the prisoners here are evil. Belos could have innocent people here too!"

"I'm with Gus on this one. I say we go for the prisoners first. Plus if we save them, we'll have some grateful new allies to help us deal with the rest of the security! And hey, if they are really all bad guys, then they'll make decent cannon fodder." Matt said.

Luz and Hunter listened to everyone's arguments, before the latter turned to Luz; "You're the leader here, Luz. It's your call."

Luz thought about it for a moment, then said; "We'll go for the prisoners first, then Belos' private lab and the Collector's mirror. We'll hit the portal lab and the throne room on our way out. We can't risk leaving innocent people to suffer."

There were no arguments from her friends, who all nodded and immediately turned to Hunter to lead them. He silently gestured for them to follow him as they descended to the ground floor of the tower. Many of the watch towers doubled as barracks and armouries for the Coven Scouts, so the kids took the opportunity to steal some uniform cloaks and masks to disguise themselves as scouts, so as not to waste magic on constant illusions. Once they were suitably disguised, Hunter let them into a nearby maintenance tunnel that led down into the moat of spikes around the castle, which had been drained and repaired following Luz and Eda's battle there months ago.

"It took the Construction Coven weeks to rebuild all the spikes." Hunter mused as he showed them a safe path through the large spikes.

"Why'd they bother? Why not just leave it flooded? Or was a moat of water not edgy enough for the Drama Queen?" Boscha snarked.

The others smirked and Hunter cleared his throat to stop his own chuckle of amusement; "Because there are multiple sewage and ventilation tunnels that connect from the moat to the underground floors of the castle. A lot of damage was done when the moat was flooded and the water got into the castle. It's a miracle no one was hurt."

Luz felt some relief that flooding the place hadn't hurt the prisoners, then returned her focus to the mission. Hunter led them to a seemingly random section of the castle foundations, then summoned Flapjack in staff mode and cast a spell on it, dispelling an illusion and revealing a square hole covered by a barred metal window. It was just barely big enough for them to crawl through on their hands and knees.

"This vent leads to the lowest level of the dungeons; home to Belos' private lab. Only Belos has clearance to go down there without permission, with the prisoners on this floor being given food and water by abominations. He didn't even let me and Lucy down there, even when we were helping drain the flooding… I wonder if its where he made us." Hunter mused with an angry frown.

"Well, we're about to find out. Boscha, can you take care of the bars?" Luz asked.

The three-eyed girl nodded and pulled out a vial of acid, which she used to eat away at the metal bars and open the vent up. Once the path was clear and Boscha neutralised any residual acid so her friends wouldn't burn themselves, she stepped aside and allowed Hunter to crawl in, followed by Luz (who shrank her wings to fit more easily) and then Amity (who greatly enjoyed the view of Luz's behind) and then the rest of the team, ending with Skara and then Boscha (the latter of whom enjoyed the view as much as Amity did, and for similar reasons). When they reached the end of the tunnel, they found the exit blocked by more bars, so Boscha handed another vial of acid and an acid neutralising agent to Skara, who passed them up the line to Hunter so he could melt the bars. A moment later and the eight infiltrators were stepping out into an extremely dark chamber.

Hunter used Flapjack to cast a Beast-Keeping spell to give himself thermal vision to see if anything was lurking in the dark, but found nothing but his companions, so he whispered to Luz that the coast was clear. Luz then conjured a series of little light balls to illuminate the chamber, after which they found that they were at the end of a long cell block, with the walls on either side of the hall consisting entirely of bars. At first, the Hexsquad looked inside the cells to see what was in there; each one decorated with nothing but a bucket and some straw on wooden planks, which was apparently a bed. However it was as they examined the cells that they learned not all were unoccupied.

"Oh Titan…" Skara gasped, "There are people here after all…!"

Roughly half the cells, specifically those closest to the cell block exit, were occupied by stone statues. Each one was a petrified prisoner, frozen in place as they'd cowered from Belos, their expressions twisted with terror and pain. It was enough to make the Hexsquad feel sick.

"He turned them all to stone! How long have they been trapped like this!?" Matt gasped.

"It's horrible, but we need to keep moving." Amity said, looking pale.

"I'll free these people before we move on." Luz decided, approaching the nearest cell. She was stopped by Hunter.

"Luz, don't. Conserve your magic; we've got no idea what else is waiting for us down here and not only will freeing all these prisoners drain your magic, but it'll make sneaking around any security down here a lot harder. Let's wait until we've searched the place and cleared out any abomination guards." he said.

The young Arch-Angel frowned, but reluctantly agreed. She then signalled for the others to silently follow her as she left the cell block. They emerged into a large circular chamber, which appeared to be a drained cistern of dank and dreary stone, illuminated by torches. Scattered around the chamber were tables stacked high with books, papers, parchment scrolls, pots of ink and quills, as well as all manner of strange magical diagrams and tools. Some of the tables had incomplete artificial magic staves on them, in the process of being assembled or disassembled, and Luz recognised both Belos' current model, the models used by Lucy and Hunter in the past, and older models like those she'd seen in Belos' memories. There were also piles of dead Palisman husks scattered about, left to decay and crumble to ash and dust after Belos drained them.

Luz winced and clutched her chest as the Palismen Souls within her cried out in anger and sorrow at the sight of their discarded bodies. "This looks like Belos' lab…" she muttered grimly, noting four other doors leading out of the chamber and a large object covered in a tarp in the centre of lab.

"Alright, everyone fan out and look for signs of the Collector's mirror. According to King's description of the one on Titan Trapper Island, it should be a thick silver disk with a crescent moon on it. Touching it will make the Collector appear as a shadow." Amity ordered, taking the lead since Luz was clearly distracted by the Palisman.

The Hexsquad obeyed and began to look around the lab. Luz knelt by the Palismen husks and began carefully destroying them with her red light magic, helping give some extra peace to the Palismen souls within her and offering a quiet prayer to each one as she did. Gus and Matt carefully dug through the papers and scrolls, Amity flipped through the mountains of books, Hunter looked at the artificial magic staves (while also fully disassembling them and destroying the Carbuncle Crystals that powered them), Boscha began looking through some shelves of potions and other assorted items, and Skara carefully peeked through each of the other doors leading out of the cistern. Of the five doors leading out, four of them were in the cardinal directions and all led to more cell blocks, all of which had a differing number of prisoners, every one of which was petrified. One cell block was almost empty, while another was so full that there were multiple people per cell, huddled together to shield each other from Belos' petrification (some willingly and some obviously unwillingly). It was highly disturbing, and it was with immense relief for Skara when she peeked through the fifth door (heading north-east) and find a simple hallway that led to a different part of the dungeon.

"There must be almost a hundred people petrified down here." Skara reported. "But why?"

"I think I know…" Willow said, having been peeking at the object beneath the tarp. She pulled it off with her impressive strength to reveal the Petrification Statue from the Conformatorium. It was still clearly damaged from when Luz had broken it, but Belos had performed some patchwork repairs, filling in damaged stone sections with obviously newer stone that appeared to be discoloured, whilst also reinforcing some parts with brass bands and bolts, holding it together.

"Belos must have been working to repair this." Willow frowned grimly at the statue. "Luz, Matt; didn't Mason tell you guys that Belos was trying to fix this back when you went to save Luna and the other petrified victims?"

The duo nodded; "Yeah, he did. I asked Mom and Darius if we could do something about it, but they decided there wasn't any point. Belos can already petrify people with a glyph combo and his staff…" Luz said, demonstrating by drawing the glyph combo that King had discovered (but never used himself) and placing a single leaf on it, which promptly turned to stone.

"The only real difference between the statue and spell is that the statue seems to be slower and more painful. I figure Belos only built it either out of sadism, or so people wouldn't figure out he could use petrification magic on his own. But either way, it was decided that it was too risky to try and break the statue again when Belos can just petrify anyone he wants anyway, and I can always cure them later." Luz finished.

The Hexsquad shifted uncomfortably; they didn't seem any happier about that decision than Luz herself, though they understood Eda and Darius' reasoning. Putting that aside, Matt wondered aloud; "But what's with Belos' obsession with Petrification? He wants to kill us all, so why not just execute people normally?"

"Fear." Hunter said, swallowing thickly. "Death ends a person's life and suffering, but before Luz there was no end to the suffering of petrification. A dead rebel is a martyr and might inspire others… a stone one suffers forever and few people are willing to risk that."

A shudder passed through the teens, though Amity had a sinking feeling that Hunter's explanation, while not wrong, was not the full picture. She noticed that books, notes, and tools were scattered around the Petrification Statue too, previously hidden behind the tarp, and decided to glance through them in search of answers. She quickly found one in the form of two books; one a thick ledger that looked to be older than any of the Hexsquad, and the other a thin book of notes that looked eerily similar to Philip's diary. Levitating them both with a spell, Amity began flicking through them.

"Guys, this is an experiment log and a ledger of the prisoners brought down here." Amity said; "The first details his experiments with repairing the statue, and the latter lists the people brought down here and their crimes, as well as what happened to them and when. Belos was weirdly meticulous with his victims."

"Anything useful in them?" Boscha asked, watching as Amity used an Oracle spell to have her two spirits (her original one and the one she'd won over from Odalia) rapidly read through the two books and alert her to any information that might be useful. After a minute and a few telepathic messages from her spirits, Amity replied.

"Okay, so I have good news, bad news, and some pretty terrible news." Amity replied, feeling like she was taking a page from Mason's book after last week's Coven Head Meeting.

"Oh boy… why can it never be good news, great news, and awesome news?" Gus sighed.

"Because Belos is a sentient haemorrhoid whose finest moment in life will be when he's finally put down like the filth he is." Boscha deadpanned, the harsh statement earning some shocked laughter from the others, especially Willow and Skara.

Luz, smiling sardonically, braced herself and said; "Let's change things up and start with the worst news. That way it can only get better."

Amity nodded, her expression one of reluctance as she looked at the prisoner ledger. "According to this, every single prisoner brought down here since the foundation of the Empire met a horrible fate. Petrification seems to be one of the better ends… most were killed in Belos' experiments. The ledger lists "Draining Spell Tests", "Glyph Combo Tests", "Grimwalker Experiments", and "Wing Training" as the most common causes of death."

The Hexsquad exchanged mournful looks; based on the thickness of the ledger, the number of people who'd been murdered by Belos was staggering… so much senseless loss of life. Hunter was particularly bothered by whatever these "Grimwalker Experiments" could be, while Luz wondered if "Wing Training" had been Belos practicing with the powers gained from Rasiel's wings.

"Just once, it'd be nice to learn something new about Belos that doesn't immediately make him more hateful." Skara muttered bitterly.

Luz agreed whole-heartedly, trying to stuff down the growing feelings of guilt. The logical part of her mind knew she was being stupid, but the emotional, guilt-ridden part couldn't help but blame herself for all this suffering. More lives that would never have been lost had she not been foolish enough to help Belos.

That feeling didn't get any easier when she asked for the bad news next, causing Amity to look at her sadly. Luz's heart sank; "The bad news is my fault, isn't it?" she asked knowingly.

"No! It's not your fault… but it does involve you." Amity replied, adding the last part with a reluctant wince. "It's the reason for Belos' new petrification experiments."

Amity flipped the pages of Belos' experiment log until she found the one her spirit had reported to her, then paraphrased what was written. "Ever since you cured Eda of petrification, Belos has been trying to figure out how you did it and has been experimenting to try and figure out how to do it himself."

"But Belos was there when Luz saved Eda. Shouldn't he already know?" Willow asked, looking questioningly at Hunter.

The boy shrugged in response; "He refused to discuss it with me or Lucy. I didn't even know he could still petrify people until the Hettie situation happened. I'm as in the dark as you guys are."

Amity continued; "Belos doesn't know exactly what the Panacea Mirror was… it looks like Rasiel's wings give him the power to use Angelic magic but not the knowledge, so he just assumed the mirror was something you made with a mix of a Titan's Glyph Magic and Angel Magic. The fact you got a new glyph marking just as you cured Eda seems to have added to his theory." she said to Luz.

"So he fixed up the statue and petrified people so he could experiment and find a way to reverse it? But why would he do that?" Luz frowned. He didn't care about Witches and Demons… unless perhaps there were Angels petrified somewhere before he rose to power, and he was trying to free them? That would make sense with his zealotry.

"According to this, Belos wanted to petrify you Luz." Amity said with an angry scowl; "He mentions you a lot here… after you escaped him at the castle and the Conformatorium, and went so far as to cut off your hand to escape his sigil brand, Belos has become worried that even if he captures you, you'd escape him before long. He wasn't confident he had the power to hold you for long."

"Is that why he hasn't been trying that hard to capture Luz? Realistically, as soon as she lost the portal and her only way home, Belos should have gone for Luz full-force. I'd always wondered why he didn't…" Matt commented.

"And all the new research into petrification was so he can turn Luz to stone then let her out again when he needs her." Gus said, correctly putting everything together even without Amity having to explicitly explain it.

Everyone except Luz shuddered at the idea of their friend being turned to stone. Hunter in particular felt a creeping dread in his chest, remembering the memory paintings in Belos' mind; one of which depicted one of his predecessors being turned to stone too.

Luz was more upset about the other victims though, and asked; "Did Belos make any progress."

Amity wiggled her hand in a kind of "so-so" motion. "He didn't figure out how to reverse a complete petrification, but he does write that so long as the process isn't complete, it can be reversed by the caster or any decent healer. However he did make progress in one area; it seems Belos wanted to be merciful to you Luz, as he altered the glyph formula used by the statue so that the process renders the victim totally unconscious. Being turned to stone would be like being put into a long, magical sleep. It's still painful though, unfortunately."

That cheered the others up; at least this was one experiment where the victims wouldn't suffer too much! Based on what Amity had read in both the experiment log and the prisoner ledger, all the current prisoners had been petrified with the altered method, so none of them were suffering whilst waiting for Luz to free them.

"That's a relief… I guess that was the good news?" Luz asked with a small smile.

Surprisingly, Amity grinned and shook her head; "Nope! That's just a happy accident… or maybe just an accident, considering who the victims were."

She turned the prisoner ledger around to show the others, pointing at the first entry for the currently petrified prisoners. Previous entries listed the times the bodies were disposed of, while all entries listed the reason for their imprisonment. Some were labelled as being guilty of numerous heinous crimes (a few of which made the kids shudder to imagine), while others were labelled with things like "Political Dissident", "Wild Witch", "Rebel" and even "None". However every single person who'd yet to be disposed of (and most people brought down to the dungeons in the last 10 years) were all noted to have committed serious crimes.

"So none of these guys are innocent?" Skara asked, noting the name of Deamus Zamort, the former Bard Coven member who'd helped victimise Katya. He was noted to have been imprisoned for Sedition, Undermining Coven Authority, and Child Trafficking (which Skara dearly hoped was only referring to what his buddy running the orphanage had tried to do with Katya, and didn't include any other poor kids).

"Unless Belos lied about the reasons for their imprisonment, it looks that way." Hunter said, recognising a few names and cases. He felt a complex mix of guilt and vindication when he saw some of the people in the ledger were ones he'd personally arrested and charged. They were all evil scumbags, but they'd still suffered a pretty nasty fate.

"I doubt Belos would bother lying in his own paper work. It doesn't look like anyone else reads this thing. It's all in his own handwriting too." Gus noted, recognising it from some of the notes he'd looked through earlier.

Willow hummed; "Well I guess it's good that no innocent people are suffering here now, but it also means we can't really free them and have them help us. Freeing dangerous criminals is a pretty bad idea…"

"Yeah. With some of these listed crimes, they'd probably attack us even if we helped them." Luz said, a shudder going down her spine as she read some of the things they were sentenced for. "We'll leave them for now, then once Belos and his empire are toppled, we'll come back, free them, and give them proper trials and punishments."

Her friends agreed (though a few privately felt that some of these people deserved their current fates), and Luz turned to the Petrification Statue itself. Luz shot it with the bronze light of her own petrification spell, turning the whole thing into regular inert stone, before switching to red light and disintegrating it into dust.

"There, now no one can use this thing a-"

Suddenly, an alarm began blaring throughout the dungeons, startling the Hexsquad. Luz destroying the statue had set off an alarm, alerting everyone in the castle.

"Dang it! So much for the element of surprise!" Hunter cursed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think that through!" Luz apologised, hastily conjuring a light sword while her friends drew their staves.

"Don't worry about it; let's hurry and move!" Amity yelled, rushing to the door that lead to the hallway Skara had found earlier.

As soon as she opened it, Amity came face to face with an Abomaton, which had a small red alarm appear from the top of its head to alert its cohorts that it had found the intruder. Before the alarm could go off however, Hunter flashed towards it and smacked the alarm off the top of the Abomaton's head, while Boscha tossed a prepared Lightning Bomb at it just as it was trying to transform its arm into a magic cannon. The shock disrupted its transformation, leaving the thing confused for a moment and giving Amity the time to slam her palm into its chest and flood it with a Parasitic Abomination. Amity then used it to tear the Abomaton up from the inside, eventually making it melt into inert sludge while Amity grabbed the core and made it float.

More Abomatons came running too, and the rest of the Hexsquad leapt into action to deal with them while Amity hung back with the core. "Keep them busy for a bit! I can extract the last orders this thing was given as well as its memories, and potentially find out where the Collector's Mirror is hidden!" she said, internally reasoning that for the Abomaton to arrive so fast, it must have already been in the dungeon and thus probably witnessed at least some hint of the mirror's location.

The rest of the Hexsquad yelled their agreements as they began to battle the Abomaton reinforcements, getting to see exactly how powerful they actually were. Hunter's lightning spells and Boscha's Lightning Bombs were effective at stopping the Abomatons from transforming their bodies, but against Abomatons that had already changed their arms into various weapons the shocks did nothing.

Matt threw himself into the frontlines, toughening his body, strengthening his muscles, and applying a layer of thin stone armour for extra defence as he began to punch and kick at the Abomatons, trying to keep them busy reforming from his blows while Gus used illusions to mess with their perception and used icy water to either freeze them or try to dilute their slime. Neither approach worked, as the Abomatons freely heated up their slime using the exhaust heat from their own magic cannons, which also proved effective and blasting through Matt's armour and toughness, forcing Luz to heal the burns he suffered. His punches hadn't been too effective either, as the sludgy bodies of the Abomatons could easily reshape themselves around his punches.

Similarly, Skara and Willow found themselves struggling as the Abomatons deactivated their own hearing to prevent Skara's spells from manipulating them, while their bodies effortlessly reformed from the sonic blades she sent their way. Willow's plants also proved to be ineffective as the Abomatons would just melt out of any restraints and use their magic cannons to burn away any plants Willow tried to make. The battle with the three Abomatons that arrived after the first was destroyed went on for only a couple of minutes, and while the Hexsquad was keeping them at bay and suffering no more injuries after Matt's burns, they still hadn't defeated any more and thus they became outnumbered when six more Abomatons appeared.

"This is bad! These things are tough!" Hunter growled, sending some lightning towards the newcomers to temporarily stop them shapeshifting, before using a Beast-Keeping spell on himself to gain wild instincts, allowing him to better leap around the battle and evade attacks.

"Let's use the Parasitic Abomination Bombs Mrs Blight prepared!" Willow yelled, reaching into her pocket to grab a pair of purple and pink vials.

"Don't waste all of them! Just thin them out a little! I've got an idea!" Luz ordered, before shooting a petrifying light beam at one of the Abomatons. She didn't like using it in close quarters in case she hit her friends, but she needed to see if it would work. As she hoped, the Abomaton she hit turned to stone and became totally inert, allowing her to pick it up with her Earth Magic and crush it, before launching the rubble at some of the Abomatons Hunter had zapped. Since they couldn't properly transform, the damage done to their slime bodies remained and temporarily made it harder for them to move.

Boscha gasped in understanding; "I get it! Skara, I'm gonna shut one of them down with lighting, then you slice it in half with a sonic blade!

Skara, who watched as one of the Abomatons was hit by a Parasitic Abomination Bomb and promptly torn apart from the inside, nodded as she stomped on the core and shattered it. "Got it, Boscha!"

The three-eyed girl turned to an Abomaton that Willow was trying to slow down with tree roots and threw a lightning bomb at the roots themselves, ensuring the bottle broke and released the electrical explosion close enough to the Abomaton to prevent it from escaping. The shock prevented it from shapeshifting, leaving it unable to continue moving its slime around the tree roots, trapping it completely. Boscha then set fire to the roots, essentially burning the Abomaton from the inside and forcing it to focus on trying to repair itself and not using its cannon on Willow. Seeing her opening, Skara used Melody in her harp form to create a series of razor sharp and thread-thin sonic blades, which promptly shredded the Abomaton, core and all.

"Ha! Another one down! I get what Luz was talking about!" Boscha said with a bloodthirsty smirk.

Hunter also realised it; "Repairing themselves involves shapeshifting their slime, and if they can't do that while electrocuted, then one good zap turns them into normal, if still sturdy, golems! That leaves them wide open!"

"You got it! Save the Parasitic Abominations for when we're overwhelmed, and instead combine our powers to beat these things!" Luz ordered.

Matt, Gus, and Hunter immediately put this into practice as another Abomaton lumbered forward, one hand in cannon mode and the other shaped like a pendulum blade. Hunter flashed away from a blade swipe with his currently bestial instincts, then sliced off the Abomaton's blade arm by channelling a blade of lightning from Flapjack, turning his staff into a lightning spear. This also shocked the creature, allowing Matt to coat his own Palisman in stone to make an Axolotl-shaped war hammer. With one hand, he drew a spell circle to harden the Abomaton's cannon arm, while using the other and his magically enhanced strength to swing his Pebbles Hammer into the arm and shatter it. Gus then mimicked his two guy friends by turning his Palisman into a weapon; coating Emmiline's staff with ice to make a spiral lance, which he stabbed at the Abomaton's core. The Abomaton was able to erect a barrier around it's core just in time, repelling Gus's lunge and knocking him back a step, but then Matt drew another spell circle and slapped his palm onto the barrier. The barrier's magic repelled him with a yelp, but he smirked and yelled;

"If I can make something harder with Construction Magic, then I can make if softer too! Get it Gus!"

Gus didn't need to be told twice, and after using an illusion to create clones that kept the other Abomatons busy and unable to help, he threw his icy spear at the Abomaton's core, further propelling it with a jet of water aimed at the base of the staff. The spear crashed into the barrier around the core, and thanks to Matt's prior softening spell, the barrier acted like rubber and stretched inward. The barrier didn't break, instead being reshaped around the spear as it stabbed into it and struck the core, damaging it enough to make it and the Abomaton unstable. This caused the barrier to fall and allowed Gus to shoot the core with another water jet, ejecting it from the Abomaton and letting Hunter slice it in half with his lightning blade, bringing the total number of defeated Abomatons to five and leaving only four more.

That number immediately dropped to two as Luz used Wind Magic to gently move her friends aside so she could petrify another pair of Abomatons and smash them together to destroy them. The last two seemed to realise they were losing and began backing off and firing their magic cannons and protecting their cores with barriers, but one had its barrier promptly shattered by Skara, who decided to try one of her father's tricks; using sound waves and vibrations enhanced by Bardic Magic. She strummed her harp, infusing her palm with the technique (causing it glow a sunset red and vibrate) and then delivered a palm strike to the barrier, causing it to shatter like glass and allowing Willow to promptly yank the core out of the Abomaton with some vines, before crushing it between her hands. The last Abomaton was then finished off by Amity and a Parasitic Abomination of her own creation as she finished extracting the records she needed from the first one's core.

Once all nine Abomatons were destroyed, the Hexsquad took a moment to breathe and prepare for the next round of combat, since the alarm was still blaring. However instead of more Abomatons, the only one to come running was a single lethargic Coven Scout, who took one look at the kids surrounded by destroyed Abomatons and sighed heavily.

"I don't suppose you'll let me go if I surrender?" he asked.

"Sorry, but we kinda need to put you to sleep." Luz replied with an apologetic smile. "But if you don't put up a fuss, we'll do it with some sleeping nettles rather than knocking you out."

The scout nodded, immediately cast a spell to turn off the alarms, and then laid down on the ground; "You mean I can have a nap? Titan, I really did pick the wrong side. Belos gives us one day off a year and has the nerve to call himself the good guy? Screw 'em. Good luck with… whatever you're doing, Angel Girl."

The Hexsquad exchanged bemused looks as Willow used some sleeping nettles to put the scout to sleep.

"Well that was… odd. Still, we beat those Abomatons without too much trouble." Luz said, getting back on task. "Batata, what did you find out?"

Amity held up the core of the first Abomaton and cast a spell on it, causing it to project its memories onto the wall of the hallway. The memory showed Belos in another laboratory, which Hunter commented was different from the one he knew on the upper levels. It must be a different part of the Dungeon Lab.

"Begin transportation of the Portal Door and Project Renewal to my secondary base at the Titan's Skull." Belos ordered. The memory then shifted as the Abomaton turned and walked away, but its hearing had still been active and so the Hexsquad heard Belos giving orders to another Abomaton. "You there. Set up the mirror here in the lab exactly as I instruct; we cannot allow-"

Belos' voice abruptly cut off as the Abomaton left the room. Still, he'd spoken enough for Luz and her friends to get a good idea of what had happened.

"It looks like the portal isn't here any more. We'll need to go to the Titan's Skull to get it back." Amity commented.

"I bet Belos wanted it close to Unity Plaza, so he could observe his master plan and then escape into the Human Realm before he got caught up in the explosion." Skara scowled. "Not sure what Project Renewal is though." she added, looking to Hunter.

"Once the Eclipse is over and we don't need to worry about that any more, we can go and secure the portal while Luz helps the Owl Lady deal with Belos. Never heard of Project Renewal, but I wager it's something to reconnect the portal so it links to the Divine Realm instead of the Demon Realm." Hunter said, not overly concerned. If the portal wasn't present then that was one less thing to worry about. "More importantly, it sounds like he left the Collector's mirror here after all."

"Then that's our next target. Let's go." Luz declared. Her friends nodded and fell into step behind her as she led them down the hall. They arrived at the base of a large spiral staircase, which Hunter explained was the only normal entrance to the dungeons from the rest of the castle, and noted two other doors. One was just like the one they'd come through and a quick scout ahead from Amity's spirits showed that it led to another cistern and more cell blocks. However unlike the last cistern, this one contained what appeared to be an open grave surrounded by pipes, with Selkidomus Scales, scraps of Palistrom Wood, and even the partially decayed carcass of a Stonesleeper on tables surrounding it.

Hunter went pale, and his new friends looked at him worriedly. "It sounds like Belos was making a Grimwalker there…" Amity said reluctantly. "Based on how… fresh… the grave looked to my spirit, I'd say it was recent."

"Belos must have been making my replacement… not sure why he'd bother with the end so close but still… I wonder if I was born there too?" Hunter whispered, mostly to himself.

Willow gently took his hand to comfort him; "We can go and take a look, if you want."

Hunter shook his head; "No. I-It wouldn't do me any good. Besides, we're on an important mission." he turned to Luz and bowed his head; "You're our Commander, Luz. Give me your orders and I'll obey."

Luz shook her head; "Hunter, you're my friend, not my soldier. You don't need to act like this with me; I'm not Belos." she told him gently.

The boy didn't seem to know how to take that; friends was still a very new concept to him, and he'd had the concept of obedience and following orders beaten into him since the moment he'd been born ("Created." his mind corrected). Ultimately, he decided not to waste precious time arguing and instead nodded.

"I-I understand. But I really don't want to go in there if we don't need to. Can we move on?" Hunter asked, trying to keep his emotions in check.

Willow squeezed his hand a little tighter and Luz nodded, before turning to the other door. This was a large set of heavy oaken doors, and were locked up tight with numerous physical and magical locks. These locks couldn't stand up to the Hexsquad though, and Skara used her father's trick to shatter the magical barriers while Matt softened the physical ones enough that Willow was able to kick the doors open with one good swing of her powerful leg. The room beyond the door was noticeably different from the two cistern labs, and was clearly the same one from the Abomaton's memory banks.

"This must be the main part of Belos' private lab." Boscha said as she and the others looked around. The lab was much cleaner and more expensive looking, having the same style and décor as the castle's upper levels. Most of the room was filled with bookshelves, each one of which was practically overflowing with tomes thought forbidden or lost; the sorts of books Amity knew Lilith and Malphas would kill to get their hands on. There was also a copious number of desks that had various smaller, more delicate experiments on them, including what looked to be an area for performing small scale surgeries. Another section of the lab was taken up by a small old-fashioned forge, with ingots and molds stacked beside an unlit furnace. The molds were for pieces of Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel armour, and a few mannequins beside the forge had complete sets of the armour. Surprisingly, there was a third set that Luz recognised; it was the real version of the Platinum Paladin armour set Belos had tried to offer to Luz back in their first meeting (first for Luz at least).

"Did Belos make these himself?" Amity wondered aloud as she looked at the Paladin Armour and imagined Luz in it. She'd look pretty good… too bad Belos' actions ensured none of them could look at the armour without being reminded of them.

"I doubt it. He probably had abominations or other subordinates to it." Hunter replied, steadfastly ignoring the armour. He remembered being shown an illusion of the Platinum Paladin armour by Belos; he and Lucy had once been so excited to imagine themselves and a real Angel wearing their matching uniforms and serving the greater good. That memory just left a bad taste in his mouth now.

Shoving those thoughts aside once again, Hunter turned his attention back to searching for the Collector's mirror, but found no sign of it anywhere. The others were having no luck either, finding nothing even close to the Collector's mirror. The absolute closest object they could find was actually a large mirror mounted on the wall at the back of the room, in what appeared to be some kind of relaxation area for Belos.

A fireplace had been constructed with a plush stuffed armchair in front of it. Beside the chair was a small table that held a decanter of some kind of alcohol and a pair of fancy looking whiskey glasses, while directly in front of the chair was a large circular red carpet, which stood out against the otherwise cold tiled floor of the lab. Luz could easily imagine Belos sitting there after a hard day of being evil, drinking whiskey and dreaming about his genocide… it was almost stereotypically evil, but that was the kind of man Belos was. However she did find the mirror to be strange.

The mirror had an ornate golden frame, and was large and rectangular, reminding Luz of a flat screen TV. In fact, when she'd first seen it, she'd done a double take thinking it was a TV, and only a closer inspection revealed it was a mirror.

"Weird place for a mirror. Why have it so high on the wall? Surely Belos couldn't see himself in it from up there, and it's not angled or anything." Luz frowned as she stepped onto the rug to get a better look. The rest of the Hexsquad also took note, though only Gus realised what the mirror actually was.

"Wait a second, is that a Vision Mirror?" Gus frowned, peeking closer at it.

"A Vision Mirror? Like for Oracle Magic?" Luz asked, the only person not to recognise the name.

"No, these things are like super expensive versions of the Broadcast Crystal Balls." Gus replied.

"So it IS like a TV! Wow, is this place just Belos' evil man cave or something?" Luz frowned with a raised eyebrow.

"I heard these things were discontinued. The special glass needed to make it can only be made from Digital Sand, and that stuff is only really found in the Ash Moth Desert, around the fingers." Matt said, knowing a lot about different minerals. "It used to be found in the Palm Stings Desert too, but it became too rare to be worth harvesting from there."

Gus nodded; "You're right. Dad always said it was a shame these mirrors were phased out for the Broadcast Crystal Balls; but the glass was needed for Comm-pacts too and that was a higher priority. Belos was the one to make the decision… though it figures he'd have one of the only Vision Mirrors not recalled and recycled."

The Hexsquad looked up at the mirror with mixed feelings. Gus, Matt, Luz, and Skara kind of wanted to steal it and take it with them, while Amity, Willow, Boscha, and Hunter wanted to smash it out of spite… or perhaps see if they could turn it on and find out what Belos has been watching. The mental image of him tuning into the Boiling Isles Grudgby League, or working crummy soap operas was amusing (and a little disturbing).

Before any of them could make any decisions however, the mirror suddenly activated by itself and began showing a live broadcast of Unity Plaza and the Day of Unity celebrations going on there. Specifically, it was showing a close-up of the top of the Central Tower, where the Coven Heads were stood in a circle while Belos drew a ritual circle with the end of his staff.

"The Day of Unity is about to begin." Amity commented, noting the sun about to be eclipsed. She was steadfastly ignoring the presence of Odalia, just as Skara was doing the same with Amaranth, though her focus was drawn by someone else.

"Wait, is that Uncle Scooter? He looks… weirdly good." Skara commented.

"Adrian looks rough. I bet he still hasn't recovered from last week." Gus added.

"Terra looks like she hasn't recovered from months ago either. What the heck did Raine do to her after they sent us away?" Willow wondered, mildly awed by Terra's veiled appearance.

"Forget all of them! Look!" Hunter cried, pointing at the image of Hettie Cutburn.

"What the heck!? How is she there!?" Luz exclaimed; "Belos shattered her live in front of the whole Isles!"

"You don't think he actually managed to find a way to cure petrification, do you?" Matt asked worriedly.

"Impossible, there would have been some mention in those notes, right? And he still shattered her!" Boscha pointed out, before tapping her chin; "Or maybe he faked the whole thing somehow."

Luz could only wonder why go through all that trouble, and what had happened with Healer Dorothea. However her thoughts were soon drawn to the completion and activation of the ritual circle, which caused the plaza to shine with golden light as the Coven Heads became encased in beacons of light, and all the people present had their sigils begin to glow gold too.

"The Draining Spell is about to begin… once it starts, we can afford to be a little less stealthy, since it'll incapacitate the remaining guards." Hunter said, idly looking at his now-unmarked wrist. He'd had Luz burn off his sigil almost as soon as he'd joined the CATTs; he had no magic of his own so he hadn't worried about damaging it by removing the sigil, and he'd really wanted his "Uncle"'s mark off of his skin.

As the Hexsquad watched and waited for the Draining Spell to start, Luz suddenly had a thought. "Wait a second… why did this thing turn on by itself? And why is there no sign of the Collector's mirror?"

The young Arch-Angel glanced around and saw no hint of the mirror being set up anywhere like the memories of that Abomaton had implied. Was this not the right lab?"

"No… it's the right lab…!" Luz's eyes widened as she looked back at the Vision Mirror; "But not the right mirror! This was what Belos ordered to be set up! But why would he-!?"

Luz's thoughts were cut off by Belos delivering a speech on the screen.

"It is nearly time, brothers and sisters! Nearly time to destroy this sinful world and allow true virtue to return! But we need our final piece! Our Leading Lady! I think it's time we summon her!"

The Hexsquad immediately tensed. He must be referring to either Luz or Lucy, but how did he intend to "summon" one of them? Had he captured Lucy since their earlier call!?

They watched him snap his fingers, causing the innermost layer of his ritual circle to release a puff of cyan smoke, revealing a modified Teleportation Circle hidden by an illusion. However at the exact same instant, the rug beneath the Hexsquad's feet disappeared in a similar puff of smoke, revealing the other side of the Teleportation Circle.

"It's a trap!" Luz cried. The Hexsquad leapt off the circle and Luz tried to fly off as fast as she could, only to suddenly slam into some kind of invisible barrier. Belos had set up a smaller ritual circle around this side of the Teleportation Circle too, and it was producing a barrier that Luz couldn't pass through no matter how hard she tried. Matt and Skara began trying to break it or soften it from their side, while Luz and the rest of the gang blasted it with all their might, but to no avail. Luz turned back to the mirror and watched as Belos pulled a vial of golden liquid from his robes.

"Is that my blood!?" Luz cried. Between losing a finger to Belos in the past and the time she'd been unconscious as his prisoner, it was possible he had plenty of her blood in reserve.

She watched him drip it onto his side of the Teleportation Circle, causing it to glow a brilliant gold and shoot a beam of light into the sky, where it disappeared into a swirling vortex of clouds that had appeared. At the same moment, the circle Luz was standing on began to glow too, and a beam of light shot down from the sky above the castle and blasted all the way through the building to the dungeon lab, where it hit Luz. Everything between Luz and the sky was vaporised, and Luz found herself beginning to rise up. She tried to resist by blowing herself down with Wind Magic and coating her feet in rocks to add weight, but the light of the circle just intensified and Luz could no longer stop herself being sucked up.

"LUZ!" her friends cried as the Angelic girl gave a cry of alarm, before suddenly shooting up into the sky. The light then disappeared as Luz vanished into a vortex of clouds above the castle, which then promptly vanished as well. Turning back to the Vision Mirror, the Hexsquad saw Luz emerge above the other side of the Teleportation Circle, right into the middle of Unity Plaza, and the clutches of Belos and the Coven Heads.

Upon seeing this, Amity hopped onto her staff and took to the air; "We need to get to Luz right now!"

The others didn't argue and immediately followed her into the air, flying as fast as they could up through the holes made by the teleporting light, eventually emerging from the very top of the Castle and then shooting off to the north where Unity Plaza was. Their hearts were all beating rapidly as they flew with desperate speed to try and save their friend.

"Luz… please hang in there!" Amity whispered to herself.

[Meanwhile]

The instant Belos had announced he'd be summoning the Day of Unity's "Leading Lady", the CATTs had all been bracing themselves for the worst. Only Mason, the Coven Heads, and those watching via the broadcast (delivered via Tele-Bats fluttering around the Central Tower) had seen the Teleportation Circle, but every CATT in the audience recognised the tell-tale beam of light that shot into the sky upon its activation, as it was nearly identical to the circles that took people to Digale Island or Titan Cradle Island. However the shock of seeing Luz appear from the light and be sucked down onto top of the Central Tower had the rebels looking to one another to try and figure out what to do. It was only thanks to the huge round of cheering and applause that accompanied Luz's summoning that the CATTs hadn't already been discovered, especially as Eda had screamed her name in horror.

Atop the Central Tower, Luz slowly got to her feet, dazed by the sudden transportation. It felt so different from her own Teleportation Circles and left her dizzy and disoriented. She was snapped out of this by Belos' smug voice.

"Ah, Luz Noceda. So good of you to finally join us." Belos smiled.

"B-Belos!" Luz growled. She prepared to shoot a light blast at him then fly away as fast as she could, but found that the barrier that had trapped her on the other side of the circle existed on this side too, leaving her completely stuck. Belos watched her struggles with amusement, even as Luz tried to reactivate the circle by biting her own thumb and spilling some of her golden blood onto it. It failed to work, as Belos knew it would, leaving the Arch-Angel unable to do anything but glare impotently at him.

"Let me go, Belos!" she demanded, slashing the inside of the barrier with a light sword.

"I do apologise Luz, but you've given me no choice. I had so hoped to avoid doing this the hard way. Which reminds me…" Belos snapped his fingers and Mason suddenly gasped as brown veins of magic began to extend from his glowing Coven Sigil and spread over his body, paralysing him and making him drop to his knees.

"Mason!" Luz cried, before snarling at Belos; "What are you doing to him!?"

"Merely ensuring the last traitor among my Coven Heads doesn't get any ideas of interfering." Belos replied with a smile, walking over to the kneeling man. The other Coven Heads (excluding Scooter and Hettie, who seemed bizarrely nonplussed) looked at Mason with either disappointment or disdain as Belos addressed him. "Did you think you could hide yourself from me forever, Mason? Or should I say; Talis Miphari?"

Luz and Mason both gasped; "Y-You knew!?" the latter growled out. "How long have you-!?"

"Only recently, to my annoyance." Belos replied. "You see, the Sigils of my Coven Heads work a bit differently from the others. Not only do they allow me to restrain you like this and turn you into a nexus point for your coven in the Day of Unity Ritual, but they also allow me to listen in on your conversations whenever I please. It is a relatively new addition I made to the sigils after the incident with Adrian at Glandus. I knew then that I must still have a traitor among my Coven Heads, so I secretly applied the alteration during our last meeting."

Mason's eyes widened; after Eber had been exposed as a traitor, Belos had increased security and now personally checked the Coven Heads' sigils for authenticity whenever they assembled for a meeting. He must have applied the eavesdropping function of the sigil during this "check"!

"Truth be told, I'd have liked to apply such a thing far sooner, it certainly would have let me avoid the betrayals of Darius, Osran, Eber, and Severin, but it was impossible to maintain the focus needed to listen in on nine different Coven Heads at once… at least until you so kindly removed those pesky Palismen souls, Luz." Belos grinned, making Luz go pale.

"Y-You've been listening in on us for this whole last week!?" Mason growled; "That's how you know who I really am!"

"Yes, and how I knew where Luz would be on the Day of Unity. Once I learned she wanted the Collector's mirror, it was child's play to set up the other side of the Teleportation Circle in the place I used to keep the mirror. Even so, I needed the magic of the Eclipse to make the damned thing work." Belos commented, glaring down at the circle. "The Collector was very helpful in instructing me how to make it."

Luz and Mason exchanged horrified looks; if Belos had been listening in since after the Glandus Incident, then he knew all about their plans! He knew about the Hydra Formation and knew the CATTs were waiting in the audience!

Strangely, as the pair were dealing with this revelation, Terra began looking nervous; her eyes shifting back and forth. Belos saw this and smirked, snapping his fingers and making her sigil spread green lines across her body and forcing her to her knees just like Mason. "Yes, Terra; that also means I know all about your house guest. To be frank, I don't really care about that. She'll be no threat to me after this."

Everyone in the plaza was shocked by this development, not having expected two Coven Heads to end up bound by Belos. No one in the plaza below could hear what was being said up on the tower either, so the CATTs in the audience were totally confused. Eda snarled and began pushing her way forward to try and reach a less crowded spot to fly up from, wanting to get as close as possible before revealing herself so there would be less chance of her getting shot down. The other members of the Hydra's Fangs Unit were also moving into position, using the cheering (and confused) crowd as cover, totally unaware that Belos was already prepared for them.

In a desperate last ditch effort to try and stop Belos, Luz used Bardic and Illusion Magic to massively amplify her voice, before screaming out to the entire Plaza and all the people watching from home.

"Everyone, you've been lied to! Belos isn't a witch; he's a Human Witch-Hunter! The Day of Unity is a genocidal plot to kill everyone in the Demon Realm!" she cried. "The sigils will drain your magic into the Coven Heads, and then from them into me! The magic of the Eclipse will then amplify it and make me the epicentre of a magic bomb large enough to destroy the entire realm!"

Across the isles, everyone went completely still and eerily silent. Everyone who didn't already know immediately denied it; calling it a lie cooked up by the young Angel to discredit Belos and try to turn the people against him at the last minute. But then a murmur began to spread(intentionally started by the CATTs in Unity Plaza); they reminded each other that Angels couldn't lie, so at the very least Luz had to believe her story. That lead to three reactions, split fairly evenly across the Boiling Isles; the first was outrage and anger towards Belos, the second was denial and the belief that the CATTs had misled Luz again, and the third was sorrow and terror, as the idea of their imminent deaths sank in. In an instant, total pandemonium descended and people in Unity Plaza clamoured for Belos to address Luz's claims; to refute them and offer them comfort.

In response, Belos snapped his fingers and the remaining seven Coven Heads all found themselves being bound by their sigils and forced to their knees, while Darius and Eber suffered the same effect down in the audience, since they still had Coven Head Sigils unlike Osran, Severin, and Luna (who'd all removed theirs). Seeing this caused the panic to rise even higher, and Belos created another large illusion of himself so everyone could see him.

"People of the Boiling Isles… these terrifying words and frightful claims given by this poor, misled young Angel… are true."

A wave of horror spread across the isles as Belos' grandfatherly smile devolved into a sinister grin and he began to laugh triumphantly and shed his Emperor's vestments, revealing his original colonial era outfit underneath it; the same one he'd worn when he'd lived openly as Philip Wittebane.

"I truly cannot begin to express how relieved I am to finally be done with this wretched place! This literal hell born of degeneracy and deviation from the perfection of God! Words cannot properly do justice to the hatred I feel for each and every one of you despicable monsters! You Demons are foul, disgusting monsters unfit to exist, and you Witches are a perverse corruption of Mankind, made in the image of the Almighty!" Belos declared, his triumphant smirk becoming a sneer of disgust as his once loyal empire looked up at him with open mouthed shock.

"Can you even comprehend the difficulty of living among you sinful beasts!? You're less than animals, quick to slaughter and defile each other over the pettiest of slights. You brutally slaughtered the Angels that tried to show you a better path, worship a giant corpse as the ultimate false idol, and all I needed to do to make you turn on each other was give you a little bit of fear and a taste of a utopia you could never hope to deserve! I watched you cheer as your fellows were petrified; selfish monsters like yourselves will always eat each other in the end and bring about your own doom! I just decided to speed up the process!" Belos boasted shamelessly.

The crowd began to boo and riot, with even his own Coven Scouts ripping off their masks and cloaks and throwing them to the ground as they cursed at Belos. Many tried to fire spells at the man, but he just rolled his eyes as the spells slammed harmlessly into a barrier that appeared around the Central Tower.

"Barbarians." Belos scoffed, before turning to the captive Luz with a smile. "With this, I'll finally be able to return home, my Divine Duty complete! I can become Witch-Hunter General… or perhaps I will be allowed to ascend to God's side!"

"You won't get away with this! I will stop you!" Luz growled.

Belos lowered his face so it was only inches from Luz's, separated from her by the barrier containing her. He gave her that sympathetic look that she hated to much; the look of an adult looking down on a child they believe is too stupid or naive to understand the truth. It was patronising and infuriating.

"And this is another reason I must destroy this place. Even now, you defend Demons and Witches… literal Hell-Spawn! Your fellow Angels that came here tried to make peace with these creatures, or tried to show them the way… in your case, you've tried to appease them; and it always ended with suffering. But I do not have the Divine Grace of forgiveness that your kind does, Luz. I am but a mortal man… and I will do what man has always done when faced with evil."

His eyes hardened and flashed like blue hellfire; "Kill them all, and let God sort them out."

He straightened up and gave Luz one last mournful look, ignoring the riots down below and the threats and pleadings of his "loyal" Coven Heads. "I used the Collector and some research to calculate the odds of your survival. The "explosion" is actually a momentous release of magic energy… more like an omni-directional light blast of calamitous proportions, so the explosion itself won't kill you, but the stress of containing and releasing that much power will damage you. I am sorry to say that your chances of survival are a little less than 50/50."

He turned and began to walk away from her; "I pray you survive. I will return when it is done, and if you should live then I will return you to Heaven. If not… then farewell. I pray God accepts your sacrifice as due penance and allows you back into his grace."

Luz snarled and doubled her attempts to break out of the barrier, though she only ended up slowly tiring herself out. The barrier even extended over the ground beneath her feet, so Luz couldn't even try to dig down into the tower and burrow her way out. The Coven Heads were all weakly trying to escape the barriers that now surrounded them too, but thanks to the restraining Coven Sigils, they couldn't use their magic or muster more than a token resistance (which Scooter and Hettie were noticeably not even bothering to do). Down below, the rioting had become intense; some people were attacking the former members of the Emperor's Coven in an attempt at revenge, while others were trying to flee only for Abomatons guarding the plaza to seal them all in with large collective barriers. The Hydra's Horns were trying to deal with the Abomatons within the plaza as the creatures attacked the crowd, while the Hydra's Venom used the time they had before their sigils began draining their magic to try and quell the riots and defend the EC members who were throwing down their weapons. Meanwhile, the Hydra's Scales were doing the opposite of their original job and trying to break the Abomatons' barrier rather than create their own, so people could evacuate, though to no avail. Then of course there was Eda, Lilith, and Raine; they had thrown off their illusory disguises and taken to the air with their staves to try and rush the Central Tower, while the rest of the Hydra's Fangs Unit backed them up.

"People of the Boiling Isles! Lend us your power! If we coordinate, we should be able to bring down this barrier!" Raine yelled.

"And then we can kick Belos' pasty backside to the moon and back!" Lilith cried, as Hooty let loose his best Battle-Hoot!

Eda didn't address the crowd and instead flew right at the top of the tower and blasted the barrier with all her might, whilst screaming; "BELOS! LET MY DAUGHTER GO!"

Belos sneered as Luz cried out to her Mom; "She is not your daughter, you foul witch! You disgusting Clawthornes always did steal the innocent and pure, then drive them down into depravity! Your foul ancestor did the same to my brother and begot you and your rotten bloodline, while you stole an Angel and dragged her into a mire of sin! I should have exterminated every last one of you! But now, you and this entire realm will burn in a Hell quite different from the one your foul race birthed!"

Eda snarled; "The only Hell I care about is the one I'm going to send you too! Mark my words, Belos; I will kill you! Your barrier can't keep me out!"

With that declaration, Eda let out a battle cry as she called on the Owl Beast's power and promptly transformed into her Harpy Mode. Channelling the black and gold aura of the Owl Beast's magic, Eda slammed her clawed hand into the barrier and grinned maliciously as it began to decay due to her Anti-Magic.

Belos gaped; he hadn't expected that! It looked like the time for victory speeches was over; he needed to end this!

Thankfully for him, enough time had passed since the eclipse first started that now the moon was fully eclipsing the sun, causing the sky to turn an ominous blood red and a ring of bright white light began to shine around the eclipsing moon. Across the isles, the Boiling Sea receded away from the Titan's body, fully exposing it to the open air, and all wild Demons either howled and roared at the sky or ran and hid. Up on the Knee, the Carbuncles emerged from their dens and ran out so they were beneath the blood red sky, their crystal horns glowing ominously in the light of the eclipse. The three Supreme Dragons that had made their den in Eclipse Lake took to the sky to see what was happening, then decided to shed their Dragon forms and head to Cartilia in hopes of getting news from the CATTs.

But it was at Unity Plaza that the biggest change was occurring. As the light of the eclipse touched the Coven Heads, the light that each one was giving off turned from gold to the colour of their covens, turning the top of the Central Tower into a rainbow of nine hues. The Coven Heads all cried out or groaned in pain as their sigils began to drain their magic, and then all nine of them found their branded arms being pointed towards Luz against their wills. A beam of magic in the signature colour of their Covens shot from each of them and struck Luz in the heart, causing the girl to scream in pain, making Eda's own heart lurch.

"LUZ!" she cried, redoubling her efforts to decay the barrier and get to her daughter.

Luz writhed in agony as the magic of the nine Coven Heads was forced into her, causing her six white wings to begin glowing in the nine hues of light, making them look like a permanent aurora was coating them. The pain Luz was feeling was just like when she'd been injected with Titan Bile; it was a rush of power that her body simply couldn't healthily contain, causing it to begin breaking down bit by bit, with only her natural Angel hardiness keeping her from actually disintegrating. Against her will, Luz found herself beginning to float up into the air, until she seemed to hang in the sky directly in front of the eclipse, the light of which formed a sinister halo around the poor girl.

"Mom! Titi! Tia! I-I'm sorry! I-I can't-! AAGGHHHHH!"

Luz screamed and her eyes and mouth began to release beams of white light, while her glyph markings all began to flash in their own signature colours. An orb of swirling aurora-like magic began to form around her and very slowly expand as more magic flowed into her.

Down below, all the branded Witches and Demons in Unity Plaza began to cry out in pain as their sigils started to spread ominous glowing veins through their bodies, causing tiny balls of magic in the colour of their coven (or all nine colours for the members of the Emperor's Coven) to emerge from their sigils and begin flying towards the Coven Head represented by that colour, fuelling their magic which was then passed onto Luz. One by one they collapsed, and soon tiny balls of magic were flying into the plaza and the Coven Heads from all across the isles.

Belos threw his arms up in the air in reverence at the sight before him; it almost brought a tear to his eye to see Luz, the first true Angel he'd met, finally fulfilling her destiny (however unwillingly).

"And now the Draining Spell finally begins in earnest! Soon this world will be consumed in that aurora of Divine Light, and this pox upon God's design will be-!"

The Witch-Hunter's celebration was cut short by the sound of the barrier behind him breaking as a furious Eda finally decayed the magic and burst through. The Owl Lady switched out of Harpy Mode to conserve the Owl Beast's strength and lunged at Belos with startling speed, managing to smash him in the face with Owlbert before he could so much as blink. He squawked in pain and outrage as he was nearly knocked off the tower, though he thankfully hit the barrier around Amaranth and so bounced back… right into a vicious punch to the nose from Eda.

"Agh! Contemptible Hag! Why is it always the damned nose!?" Belos cursed as green ooze began to leak from both his nostrils and his lip after the two vicious blows.

"Stop the Draining Spell and free Luz, or I'm going to do a hell of a lot worse!" Eda threatened, her staff crackling with magic as her eyes flashed dangerously.

"I'm supposed to back down and end my centuries long crusade because of a single witch!? Does your sorcery addle your brain, Clawthorne!?" Belos spat, wiping away the ooze leaking from his face.

He received an answer in the form of a blast of silver magic slamming into his back, making him cry out in pain and spin around to see Lilith flying around on Corvanc. His eyes widened, especially as he noticed Raine with their fingers to their lips. Raine whistled sharply to send a sonic blade at the Witch-Hunter, forcing him to use his staff to block with a barrier.

"I see…" Belos scowled, keeping his barrier up as both Raine and the Clawthorne sisters pounded away at his staff. He rapidly expanded the barrier to knock the trio off balance, then moved to the edge of the tower and looked down at the rest of the plaza. While most of the people were currently collapsed on the ground as the Draining Spell did its work, a surprisingly large number were still up and on their feet, either attacking the Abomatons, trying to break their barriers, or trying to move their branded allies to a safe spot.

"I remember your little Hydra Formation relied on people who'd burnt or cut off their brands, but I hadn't anticipated this many…" Belos frowned. He'd expected his Abomatons to be more than enough, but he'd underestimated both their numbers and the Anti-Abomaton measures dreamt up by Amity and Nelle Blight.

"Give it up, Belos! End the Draining Spell and we'll take you in peacefully! You don't stand a chance against us without back up!" Raine demanded.

Belos narrowed his eyes on the Bard; "As if I'd ever kowtow to a freak like you! Besides…" he began to smirk, "...do you really think I have nothing up my sleeve to deal with you unbranded sinners?"

He pointed towards Scooter Crane and Hettie Cutburn… or rather, the creatures that had been disguised as them. At some point after the Draining Spell had started, the Bard and Healing Coven Heads had began to morph and change, revealing that they were actually a pair of Basilisks. The one that had been disguised as Scooter looked similar to Treble, only with more yellow skin, blue eyes, and longer brown hair, as well as ears that were more like a fish's fins, similar to the Greater Basilisk; Subject Zero. The other, disguised as Hettie, was larger and longer, being more serpentine with orange scales, small (but strangely cute) yellow eyes with cat-like pupils, a snake-like face, no hair, more fin-like ears, and very short, almost emaciated looking arms.

"Basilisks!?" Lilith cried; "These must be Vee and Treble's fellow Subjects!"

The two Basilisks, each wearing a collar that forced them to obey Belos, looked at the woman with shock, before wincing as the sigils branded onto their arms continued to drain them.

"Loathsome beasts; far more trouble than they had any right to be, but useful all the same." Belos smirked, keeping his barrier up as the enraged Eda continued to attack him. "You see, I needed Coven Heads with both sturdy bodies AND a lot of their Coven's magic in order to ensure they didn't expire during the ritual. Most of my replacements were barely fit for the task, but Healer Dorothea was worthless and Scooter's body had become too frail… thankfully my Basilisks have sturdy bodies and after feasting on the real Scooter and Hettie's magic, they are good enough replacements."

Eda, Lilith, and Raine were horrified by the casually cruel way Belos spoke of the Basilisks, but of course that had been the point. Belos was trying to anger them and keep them focused purely on him and not the true threat to the unbranded that he'd been speaking off before. However while the Witches were all focused on Belos, Hooty was quite literally watching Lilith's back and observed as a third Basilisk appeared… one that was obscenely massive. While Vee was the size of a teenage Human or Witch, and her fellow Basilisks were around the size of adults, this Basilisk was gargantuan! It was silently slithering out from a tunnel at the bottom of the Central Tower (no doubt part of the modifications Mason had heard Belos had made to the plaza after it was built) and slowly wrapping itself around the entire tower, proving to be large enough that its tail alone could wrap around the whole tower and still leave the creature's impressively large torso looming over the distracted Witches.

"Hoot hoot! Stay away from my family, hoot!" Hooty cried, extending from Lilith's birdhouse backpack with a battle-hoot and slamming into the massive Basilisk's chin, making it hiss in pain and recoil back a bit just as it had been preparing to open its mouth and began devouring magic.

Eda, Lilith and Raine spun around and paled as they finally saw the massive creature, whom Lilith recognised immediately as Subject Zero the Greater Basilisk… or as she was now, a Goliath Basilisk. Appearance wise, she looked almost identical as she had back during her attack on Hexside, only with longer black hair, obviously massive size increase, and the lack of any kind of clothing (not that she needed it in Basilisk form). She did however sport a massive version of the same control collars that the normal Basilisks had, as well as the Sigil of the Emperor's Coven branded onto her back, which was constantly leaking balls of magic like the other Draining Spell Victims. Despite this however, the Goliath Basilisk didn't appear bothered in the slightest.

"How the heck did Belos make it that big!?" Raine cried as Subject Zero tried to grab Hooty and devour the magic from him.

The bizarre tube-like demon was doing a good job of evading her grasp, wriggling around like a worm to keep Subject Zero busy. The CATTs looked prepared to hurry and help him, so Belos decided to answer Raine's question to get the focus back on him and hopefully buy time for Subject Zero to deal with Lilith's disturbing friend.

"I owe you quite a debt for bringing Subject Zero back to me after she escaped, Lilith. While unintentional, her attacks on Glandus and Hexside proved to be the perfect test for my plan! I've had her gorging on so much magic from so many different sources that she has grown and evolved into this impressive size!" Belos boasted, before grinning maliciously as Hooty failed to dodge a smash from Subject Zero's claws, causing him to hit the side of the tower with a pained hoot, then retreat back into his bird box to recover.

"You scum! Is there any evil thing you won't sink to!?" Lilith hissed as she checked to make sure Hooty was okay. "Is there any creature you won't use and abuse!?"

"Ironic words from a literal Hell-Spawn." Belos shot back. "Besides, Subject Zero and her fellow Basilisks owe their lives to me. They wouldn't even exist without me!"

Raine looked sympathetically at the creature as it began to slither around the top of the tower menacingly. She appeared to be practically mindless, obeying only the orders given via the collar around her neck, whilst also being constantly drained of her magic by the sigil on her back. The rebel wasn't sure if it was the creature's massive size, the copious amount of magic inside her, or just some kind of natural durability that allowed her to function normally and not be crippled by the drain like everyone else… either way, this was going to go badly.

As if to prove Raine's point, Belos snapped his fingers and yelled; "If you're quite done playing around, I believe I made that Basilisk for a purpose! Get to work!"

The Rebels frowned, wondering who he was talking to. They weren't wondering for long, as a figure emerged from behind one of Subject Zero's ears and moved to stand atop her head proper, revealing themselves fully. They were a female witch with a caramel skin tone similar to Luz's, dark brown hair cut into a bob-style, brown eyes, and a small amount of lipstick. Her outfit consisted of a burgundy tunic with puffy shoulders, black sleeves, and burgundy cuffs, as well as orange pantaloons that only reached her mid-thighs while the rest of her legs were covered by high grey and black boots. Balanced on her nose were a pair of tiny pink-tinted glasses, and on her hip was a whip that had a purple monkey head on one end of the handle, while the actual whip was made from a very long monkey tail.

"So sorry to keep you waiting, Dear Philip. You know how difficult it is to keep this beast under control even with the collar." the woman smirked confidently, before drawing her whip and cracking it down on the top of Subject Zero's head, making her hiss angrily but otherwise stop moving.

"A witch!?" Eda scowled.

"Not just any witch!" Lilith cried; "That's Flora D'splora! She was my old mentor!"

The woman, Flora, smirked at her former apprentice; "Good of you to remember me, Lilith. It's a shame you became such a disappointment with your little rebellion. Of course, your jaunt to the past meant Dear Philip already knew it would happen, so it wasn't very surprising."

Lilith's jaw hung open, while Eda and Raine exchanged looks; Flora didn't appear to be suffering from the Draining Spell, so she clearly wasn't branded… but then why was a witch helping Belos!?

There answers would have to wait, as Belos began to lose his patience as he looked down and saw some of the Abomatons on the lower floors of the tower being taken out by rebels. The unbranded needed to be dealt with!

"Flora, save the games until you've done your job!" Belos ordered.

Flora pouted, but obeyed regardless. She cracked the whip on the top of Subject Zero's head once more, then shouted; "Devour the magic of every unbranded witch in the plaza!"

Subject Zero snarled and uncoiled herself from the tower so she could begin slithering around the walls of the Plaza and inhaling the magic of the CATTs still fighting. It didn't look like she could steal the magic of those already under the effects of the Draining Spell, so all the Goliath Basilisk had to do was move to each section of the plaza and begin chowing down on magic, sucking it all up with wild abandon. Each drained rebel found their skin turning dull and pale as they collapsed helplessly to the ground, with most having no way of defending themselves while the few with Palismen were barely able to cling to them as the Abomatons, now without opposition, began to march on them.

"No! We won't let you kill any of our people!" Raine snarled, leaping onto their own staff and darting towards the Goliath Basilisk. Lilith followed after them, while a reluctant Eda took her focus off of Belos to go down into the rest of the plaza.

Raine immediately began whistling to fire sonic blades and shock waves at the back of Subject Zero's head, avoiding her magic draining maw, while Lilith gunned for Flora herself, firing silver magic bolts down on the woman. Flora countered by flicking her whip back and forth to expertly deflect the bolts, all while smirking in amusement at her former student's furious expression. While Lilith was keeping Flora busy, Hooty extended from her back and began wrapping himself around Subject Zero in order to bind her up; struggling to keep her still thanks to her serpentine body. He was able to bind her arms to her sides though, and even wrap around her jaw to force it shut. While this was happening, Eda flew down and attacked the Abomatons gunning for the now helpless rebels.

"This is bad! We need to save Luz and stop the Draining Spell, but if we ignore these guys then we'll be sitting ducks!" Eda growled.

One of the rebels who'd already been drained managed to prop themselves up in a seated position against another witch and speak; "S-Severin Cadence and Luna Miphari are still leading the Hydra's Scales over by the main entrance… the Basilisk hasn't gotten to them yet. If you can stop the Abomatons from overwhelming them…"

Eda's eyes widened; "Then I can combine the Owl Beast's power with Severin's barrier busting, and open a way out of the plaza! And that means our reinforcements outside can get in! I'll handle it!"

With that, the Owl Lady pulled a plant glyph note from her hair and used it to create a massive number of thin vines, which snaked around the drained Rebels and liberated their remaining Lightning and Parasitic Abomination Bombs, which Eda immediately put to use wiping out the Abomatons in that section of the plaza. With the rebels there drained but safe, Eda immediately flew to the other sections that the Goliath Basilisk had already sucked dry, repeating the process of arming herself with bombs and then using Owlbert to fly around carpet-bombing the Abomatons, using every bit of her speed and evasiveness to take them out fast and avoid any return attacks.

After ensuring the drained rebels were safe for the time being (and after having used far more potion bombs than she probably should have), Eda reached the entrance of the plaza, where she immediately saw Severin, Luna, Steve, Katya, Amber, and Derwin fighting for their lives, splitting their attention between fighting the army of Abomatons within the plaza and trying to find time to work on busting down the barrier being made by the ones outside the plaza. Most of the Hydra's Scales and Hydra's Horns units had already been wounded, knocked out, or tied up by the Abomatons, who seemed to be emerging from beneath the plaza just as Subject Zero had.

Wasting no time, Eda threw some of her remaining bombs at the Abomatons surrounding Severin, who'd been swinging his Palisman in its Cello form like a colossal hammer.

"Eda! Thanks for the save! This isn't going to plan at all!" Severin panted, catching his breath and gulping down a Bile Booster to restore his lost strength.

"I should have known any plan I came up with would fail! But forget that for now; if we can bust down the barrier, then our reinforcements outside can help!" Eda told him, already switching into Harpy Mode again.

"Easier said than done!" Luna cried, before chugging a potion that allowed her to return to her normal, full Merrow size so she could better deal with the Abomatons. "I'm going to try and block off the tunnels these things are coming from! Steve, you and Katya cover me!"

"Right!" the two young people yelled, following after the Merrow Woman. They headed towards the base of the Central Tower, beneath which were the tunnels that the Goliath Basilisk and Abomatons had emerged from.

"Amber, Derwin; you're with Severin and me! Use your emergency Power Glyphs and sync your music with Severin!" Eda ordered, worriedly watching her sister and lover fighting Subject Zero and Flora. Both were trying to support Hooty, but the Goliath Basilisk was incredibly strong, making even the bizarre strength of Hooty struggle to hold her still. This forced Lilith to stop attacking Flora so she could try and keep the thrashing monster from crushing any of the civilians, which also meant Flora was now free to block the sonic attacks being sent out by Raine. Without those sonic attacks hurting Subject Zero and keeping her distracted, she began to thrash even more and was coming dangerously close to breaking out of Hooty's hold.

Thankfully, the trio of Severin, Amber, and Derwin all ran and approached the barrier, their Palismen in instrument form as they applied their Power Glyphs to send their magic skyrocketing. They then began to play together, synchronising their Bardic Magic and imbuing their Palismen with a red and gold glow, as well as making them vibrate enough to make their wielder's hands begin to go numb.

"Eda, use your Harpy Mode on a spot we can reach!" Severin ordered, continuing his playing to further boost the magic being poured into Carabace. He'd need every scrap he could muster if he was going to smash this barrier!

Eda obeyed, channelling her Harpy Mode's magic decaying aura into her clawed hand and then slamming it palm first into the barrier over the plaza entrance, hitting it right at her chest height. The entire barrier began to spark and flicker while the section she'd touched began to darken and slowly decay as the Abomatons on the outside struggled to repair the damage without lowering the barrier. Their efforts were in vain though, as Eda immediately dropped her Harpy Form to conserve power again, then shouted to the Bards.

"Do it now!"

With a synchronised battle cry, Severin, Amber, and Derwin slammed their vibrating Palismen Instruments straight into the decaying part of the barrier. All that force, combined with Severin's Barrier breaking skills and Eda's Anti-Magic caused the damaged part of the barrier to immediately shatter like glass, causing huge cracks to begin rapidly spreading throughout the entire thing. Belos growled at the sight, but his frustration only grew worse when he watched as Eda used the hole in the barrier to toss out her remaining Parasitic Abomination Bombs, destroying enough Abomatons outside the plaza to further weaken the already damaged barrier, resulting in it shattering in a burst of magic.

This burst of magic proved to be both a boon and a curse, as it knocked over the Abomatons on both sides of the barrier, but it also hit the rebels too and knocked them to the ground. This included Raine and Lilith, who were knocked off their staves and out the sky, forcing Hooty to release Subject Zero so he could rescue them. While this saved the two of them from a potentially serious injury, it proved to be a bad move for the CATTs, as Flora immediately ordered Subject Zero to attack the CATTs closest to the now open entrance to the plaza.

Before the Bards could hope to react, Subject Zero slithered onto the outer wall and opened her mouth wide, inhaling their magic. Severin, Amber, and Derwin all gasped as their magic was drained away, including that of their Power Glyphs, leaving them on the verge of passing out as their Palismen, back in their animal forms, began trying to drag them away to safety. The three Bards might well have been crushed by Subject Zero at Flora's command, but thankfully Eda was with them and as Subject Zero tried to eat her magic, something unexpected happened.

Subject Zero began to retch.

The Goliath Basilisk hissed and snarled at the taste of Eda's drained magic, causing her to claw at her throat and immediately vomit Eda's stolen magic right back, allowing the Owl Lady to move again.

"What!?" both Eda and Flora cried in surprise, before the latter stomped her heel on Subject Zero's head; "Idiot! Don't spit it back out!"

"Bad! Tastes bad!" Subject Zero bellowed, her snake-like tongue poking out in disgust. Her defiance was met with another stomp on her head, and a whip crack to her snout.

"I order you to devour the magic of every unbranded rebel! Do not defy me again!" Flora snarled.

With a hiss of pain and displeasure, Subject Zero focused her gaze on Eda and lunged for her. Lilith and Raine saw this and cried out.

"Sister!"

"Eda!"

"HOOT!"

That last part was, unsurprisingly, the cry of Hooty as he purposely smashed his own face into the ground and then extended his body rapidly, causing Lilith to go flying at high speed towards the Basilisk's face, where she promptly flooded her staff with Earth and Water Magic to temporarily transmute Corvanc into metal (a trick learned from Luz, but substituting traditional Potions Transmutation in place of Luz's Angelic and Titan magic). This allowed Lilith to deliver a painful upwards swing to the Basilisk's jaw. Subject Zero screamed as her jaw was forced shut on her own tongue, actually causing her to bite it off and making the giant forked tongue hit the ground beside Eda with a splash of blood. The Owl Lady was briefly stunned by the brutality and felt a little sorry for Subject Zero upon hearing the creature's screams of agony, but that didn't last long. Raine swooped in and pulled Eda onto their staff to get her away from the thrashing Basilisk, and just as they got out of range of the creature's tail and reconvened with Lilith and Hooty, they watched as Flora used the Basilisk's collar to force her to stop thrashing.

Subject Zero, forced into calmness, opened her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, before her tongue began to regenerate right before the rebels' eyes. It seemed the regenerative powers of a Goliath Basilisk were as over-sized as the rest of the beast. Subject Zero then grabbed her original tongue and devoured it, before turning hateful eyes on Lilith. She looked ready to pounce, but was stopped by Belos shouting down from atop the Central Tower.

"Flora, the Abomatons in the tunnel have sent a distress signal. Their path has been blocked! Clear it before the rest of the forces in the plaza are defeated." Belos ordered, holding a small Abomination coloured remote that he'd pulled from his pocket.

The whip-wielding witch scowled, and glared down at her large mount; "You heard him! Open the tunnels!"

Subject Zero hissed and obeyed, though clearly there was a difference between clearing the blocked path and opening the tunnels. Eda, Lilith, and Raine hurried to prepare a defence of Luna, Steve, and Katya, but instead of trying to reach the rebels and defeat them, Subject Zero instead smashed her colossal fists into the floor of the plaza, tearing up huge chunks of stone and earth, and tossing them away to expose the underground tunnels built into the foundations of the plaza, and which connected to hidden staircases within the pillars holding the Plaza aloft.

Hundreds of Abomatons began swarming out of the hole, while Eda, Raine, and Lilith were forced to chase after and destroy the thrown rubble before it could crush people in the plaza. This allowed the Abomatons to quickly begin overwhelming the CATTs that hadn't been drained yet, and kept them too busy to escape Subject Zero, who began sucking up their magic too. After a few moments, Eda, Raine, Lilith, Luna, Steve, and Katya were the only Rebels left with any magic, the latter three being forced to abandon the tunnels (since blocking them was pointless now) so they could try to turn the tides on the Abomatons.

The rebels were hideously outnumbered, and while the giant Luna tried to wrestle with Subject Zero, she was still too small for the colossal beast and ended up tossed aside before her magic was drained, with Steve losing his too when he hurried to defend her. In a panic, Katya took cover and sent a desperate scroll call to their reinforcements outside of the plaza, who were being delayed by the Abomatons outside.

"Guys, we need help in here now! We're about to be overrun!" Katya cried, trying to keep it together despite the whole plan falling apart.

"We're trying!" cried Severine, the female Tiny Cat Coven member. "Abomatons are everywhere, and even in the sky on Airships! Belos completely changed up the positions of his soldiers too, so we're fighting blind!"

Katya cursed; Mason had been the one to report the places that Abomatons were stationed around the exterior of the Plaza and the roads leading to it, so Belos knew his plans had been compromised and secretly rearranged them!

"Back up from the Hydra's Heart members are trying to make it to you, but the roads have been blockaded and slowing us down. But the Bat Queen and her beast contingent are nearly there! Hold out for a few seconds longer!" Severine continued.

Katya sighed with relief; the Basilisk couldn't devour magic from Palismen like the Bat Queen, nor beasts without active magic flowing through them, so they would be just the reinforcements the CATTs needed to swing the tide of battle back the other way! With a bit of hope restored to her, Katya turned her eyes up to the Central Tower and Belos. Switching her Palisman from tambourine to staff mode, she flew up it so she'd appear behind Belos, whereupon she silenced her footsteps and charged at him, aiming to slice him in half with a sonic blade.

She almost succeeded, but sadly the two Basilisks serving as pseudo-Coven Heads were still under his control, and the one serving as the Healing Coven Head unwillingly shouted for the Emperor to look out behind him, while the one that served as the Bard Coven Head opened their mouth to suck out Katya's magic, immediately sending it to Luz via the Draining Spell. Poor Katya flopped to the floor at Belos' feet, and Katya just barely had time to order Rumba to flee without her before Belos reached down and grabbed the woman by the throat, before hoisting her into the air and hanging her over the edge of the tower.

"Nice try, you little strumpet! Now let's get your freakish mentor's attention, shall we?" Belos grinned maliciously.

Katya spat at him with all her remaining strength, but Belos merely wiped his face with a growl, before using his staff to zap her with red lightning, just as he'd done to Luz multiple times when he'd first captured her. Katya tried to keep her screams in so Raine wouldn't be distracted, but the pain soon became too intense and her screams began to echo across not just the plaza but the entire Titan's neck!

Raine immediately turned to see the source of the screaming, and upon seeing their beloved apprentice in agony, they began to literally see red as their eyes glowed with a Bile Overload.

"KATYA!" Raine roared, fur beginning to sprout from their neck and forearms as they struggled to contain their curse. Using their staff, Raine raced towards Katya, with Eda following swiftly behind to watch their back while Lilith kept Subject Zero's attention. Belos smirked at the raging Bard and dropped Katya, sending her plummeting to her death from the tower whilst turning the red lightning from his staff onto Raine.

Raine responded by diving down, trusting Eda to block the lightning (which she did with a hasty barrier spell) as they chased after Katya, who was barely even conscious after her torturous experience. Raine just barely managed to catch the young woman before she hit the ground, then pulled up just enough to reduce their momentum. They were going too fast to stop completely though, so Raine used a sharp whistle to make a shockwave that reduced their momentum even more, then twisted their body at the last moment so they crashed into the ground back first, with Katya cradled safely in their arms. The impact made Raine's back ache like a night spent sleeping at their desk back in the Bard Coven and left them seeing stars, but at least Katya was okay and Raine didn't suffer anything that a quick healing glyph combo wouldn't fix. They pulled two out of their pocket, muttering their thanks to King, and placed one on Katya to heal the nerve damage caused by Belos' spell, then placed the other on themselves to soothe their aching bones and muscles.

Struggling to keep their magic from overwhelming them, Raine (their eyes still glowing) gently sat up; "Are you okay, Katya?"

"Yeah Pops. I'm fine, but one of the Basilisks ate my magic…" Katya mumbled tiredly. Raine smiled; their apprentices tended to call them parental nicknames whenever they were physically or mentally exhausted. Katya favoured Pops, Derwin favoured Ma, and Amber jokingly called them "Mops" as a combination of the two. Raine didn't mind any of them.

Rena and Rumba (who came flying back to Katya's side) checked on their partners, while Raine looked up to see Eda flying around Belos as the two exchanged spells and tried to blast past each other's barriers. At the same time, Lilith was trying to attack Flora on Subject Zero's head while staying behind the Basilisk so her magic couldn't be devoured, but Subject Zero moved so erratically that she barely had a window to cast a spell, whilst Flora was free to shoot simple bolts of pink magic at her.

Raine looked around for a safe space to hide Katya from danger, but before they could, Belos decided to force Eda to back off him by conjuring one of his green worm monsters and sending it down to attack Raine and Katya. The Bard just snarled and switched Rena to violin mode before slicing the worm in half with a sonic blade, but as it was cut, the worm suddenly exploded violently. Raine threw themselves over Katya to protect them and received a minor burn for their troubles, causing Raine's curse to flair up even more and risk them transforming into the Bat Beast. An involuntary snarl from them caught Eda's attention, and she immediately turned away from Belos to fly down and give Raine an Elixir.

She'd just gotten the neck of the bottle into Raine's mouth when Belos shouted to Flora; "Do it now!"

Flora smirked; "Ignore the pale gnat, and snack on their magic!" she told Subject Zero, pointing away from Lilith and towards Raine and Eda. The two Cursed Witches gasped in horror, but couldn't escape in time and had their magic sucked out… only for the Goliath Basilisk to begin retching once again.

"Don't you dare vomit it back up! I don't care how bad it tastes! That is an order!" Flora growled, hoping to pre-empt what was about to happen. However, to her annoyance Subject Zero vomited anyway, spitting Raine and Eda's magic back up and allowing the two to once again stand up.

"What!? But my orders-!" Flora began, only to realise what had happened. "I see. The collar can force it to obey, but it wouldn't impede automatic bodily functions… so it spat up the magic instinctively."

Belos narrowed his eyes with irritation; "That damned curse again. It corrupts their magic enough to make it rancid to the Basilisks." he frowned. That meant he couldn't order the beasts to deal with Eda, Raine, or Lilith, which also meant Belos either had to kill them by some other means, or keep them occupied until the Draining Spell finally drained all available magic and Luz released the explosion.

He looked towards the entrance of the plaza and saw the Bat Queen flying towards them from a distance, accompanied by an army of beasts even larger than the one she'd unleashed at the Petrification Ceremony. They would be troublesome to deal with (though they looked moderately battle-damaged by the forces they'd had to fight through)…

"No. While I'd like those three to be consumed by the explosion of Luz's Divine Light, I can't risk them ruining things." Belos decided; "Flora! Forget absorbing their magic and kill them! I will return to the skull. Meet me there before the Draining Spell is finished, unless you want to die with this realm." Belos ordered.

Flora smiled; "Naturally, Dear Philip. Be sure to hold the door for me like a proper gentleman!"

Belos sneered and rolled his eyes, before turning and looking up into the sky, where Luz still hung helplessly in the air, being forced to absorb the magic of the Isles' people. She had clenched her eyes shut and was gritting her teeth as she tried with all her might to escape the beams of magic flowing into her and keep the aura around her from growing. Her resistance was slowing the Draining Spell, but now that it was active, all the pieces were locked in place; the moon would not move, the Eclipse would not end, and Luz herself had no hope of escaping the ritual alone.

He muttered a quiet prayer, hoping the girl would finally see the light and accept her duty, and be spared God's judgement, before activating one of the Glyph Combos carved into his flesh, causing his body to melt into sludge and disappear, much to the fury of Eda, who'd gone charging at him as soon as Belos had announced he was leaving.

The man reappeared in the Titan's skull, inside the very temple where he had found the Collector's mirror hundreds of years ago. He allowed himself a moment of recollection as he looked around at the place, which had become a second secret lair of sorts; a table of useful tools and tomes sat off to the side, including a Sigil Branding Glove and some books on Grimwalkers and Angels. Opposite this table was a large coffin that contained something quite special, Project Renewal, which he planned to use once the Draining Spell neared its end, or Flora showed up to report the deaths of Raine and the Clawthorne sisters. And of course, at the back of the room was his portal door; pristine and perfect, and just waiting for him to finally step through it back to his home of Gravesfield. Belos looked forward to seeing it again after all these centuries… perhaps he'd look and see if he could find Cassiel? Luz was her daughter and told him in their first meeting (for him anyway) that she'd lived in Gravesfield, so it seemed likely her mother would still be in the area. If Luz died, he could return the girl's remains to her mother, and if she lived then perhaps Belos could use her to lead Cassiel back to the righteous path too.

The old Witch-Hunter's reminiscing was cut short by the voice of the Collector, cheering and cackling as his shadow form emerged from the mirror that Belos had on his person. Belos thought it ironic; Luz had gone to his castle to get this mirror, and that had led her straight to him, where the mirror resided anyway.

The Collector's incessant cheering soon got on Belos' nerves though, and he finally turned to acknowledge the Star Child. "Collector." he said with a fake smile.

"We did it! It's done, it's done! I told you that circle trick would catch the Itty Bitty Birdy! Now all the little toys will go boom, and you can set me free so we can start the whole game over again! It'll take a long time to put them all back together again, but then we can play new games too! It's gonna be a blast!" The Collector giggled; "Get it? A blast!"

Belos smirked as he approached the table and placed the mirror on it; "I'm afraid that's impossible. This game is over, and I am quite bored of playing with you."

The Collector froze and stared at him with disbelief; "Excuse-a-what now?"

"You heard me." Belos smiled maliciously; "No more games. I think I'll leave you here to "have a blast" with the rest of these sinful creatures."

"B-But you said you'd use the Titan Blood to help free me!" the Star Child protested.

"And I don't have any more. All the blood left in my possession is in this key." Belos held up the Portal Key, "I'm certainly not going to waste it on a little imp like you."

The Collector looked utterly heartbroken; "But you said we were friends! W-We pinky swore!" he began to get angry; "You lied! Liar liar liar!"

"Yes yes, I lied. Honestly, I did that quite a lot around you and yet you truly never thought I'd lie to you too? Perhaps you're more of a child than I thought." Belos mocked, picking up his old knife… the same one that had taken Caleb's life after Evelyn turned him against his brother, and which had cut a finger from Luz's hand a few years later.

The Collector eyed it warily as he got in Belos' face; "You can't do this! I gave you the Draining Spell! Showed you where the Sephiroth's wings were! Taught you to use them! You'd have rotted away ages ago if not for me!"

Belos raised an eyebrow; Sephiroth? Was that the true rank of the Ten-Winged Seraphim? He'd been calling them Grand Seraphim. He vaguely recalled the word being used in both religious texts from his home world, and very obscure tombs of primordial magic that he'd found in the Demon Realm. Still, he didn't care about that any more.

"Yes, you did show me to that Angel's wings… which makes you just as guilty of that sin as I." Belos smirked; "But unlike myself, who did penance by suffering the pain of that rot, and remained devoted to my holy mission, you treated the whole thing as a game. Your penance will be to remain sealed away." Belos raised the knife; "I had thought of just dropping you in the pit outside, like I did with my failed Grimwalkers, but now that I know there is a living Titan searching for you… well, I can't risk him freeing you."

"W-Wait!" The Collector pleaded; "This is my last mirror! If you break it, I won't be able to talk to anyone any more! I'll be all alone!"

Belos shrugged; "I don't see how that's my problem. Goodbye, Collector."

He slammed the knife's blade down into the middle of the mirror just as the Collector cried out in horror and desperation. The mirror shattered into dozens of pieces, a couple of which went flying due to the force of Belos' stab. The man gathered up most of the pieces (though he couldn't find all of them), then went to the very same hole he'd once dug the mirror out of centuries ago and dumped half the pieces into it, before sweeping some dirt back over it. He then turned and opened the large ornate puzzle doors he'd once solved to enter this chamber, and stepped out onto a bridge. The chamber containing the Collector's mirror was a large spherical mass of bone that hung in the air within the Titan's skull, connected to the skull itself by strange bone tendrils, and with a bridge leading to the entrance. Belos walked to the edge of this bridge, where he'd tossed the corpses of many failed and treacherous Golden Guards, and dumped the rest of the mirror shards down into the abyss below.

"There. No chance that the little Titan will be able to find all the pieces and assemble it in time now." Belos smiled, wandering to the end of the bridge and the entrance to the Skull. He had an excellent view of Unity Plaza from here, and thanks to the size of the Goliath Basilisk, he could see that a battle was still raging there, pointless though it may be. Even if Subject Zero and Flora lost, there was no way to stop the Draining Spell and the ritual as a whole; Belos had made certain of it. Belos decided to watch for a bit, knowing he would have more than enough time to escape the Demon Realm when the time was right. But for now, he would stand and bask in his glorious victory, whilst watching the Demon Realm creep ever close to its final moment.

[Meanwhile]

King felt like he and Rasiel had been wandering the In-Between Realm for days now, eternally faced with the exact same scenery over and over again. The Realm was kind of cool to look at at first, but it didn't take long to get bored and hopelessly lost in the maze of identical tunnels, with nothing in them but floating black cubes that Rasiel had warned King not to touch. To make matters worse, King had already seen the In-Between Realm when he passed through the Wellsprings on the way to his Mama's Heart, so it wasn't even like this was his first time seeing it!

"Ugh, we've been here forever and there's still no sign of my Mama, Dad, or the Collector!" King cried, kicking one of the floating black cubes as it got close to his foot.

"King! Be careful! I told you not to touch those!" Rasiel scolded worriedly, nudging the young Titan away from the cube.

"Why? I saw you holding one a little while ago!" King retorted. He remembered Rasiel touching one and whispering something, only to suddenly go very pale and toss the cube away. "What are they anyway?"

"Portal Seeds." Rasiel answered grimly. "They're windows into the other realms. They can be unpredictable. For all you know, touching one could get you trapped in another realm entirely with no way back!"

"WEH!?" King exclaimed, leaping onto Rasiel's back and clambering up so he was sitting on the man's shoulders; "Okay yeah, best not to touch 'em! Is that why you got freaked out earlier? Did you almost get sucked into another realm?"

Rasiel frowned and shook his head; "No… it merely showed me the Demon Realm."

"But you looked so…" King's eyes widened; "Rasiel, is everything going okay out there?"

Rasiel got a haunted look in his eyes. He'd used the Portal Seed to show him Belos, and had watched as the man managed to summon Luz and begin the Draining Spell, trapping her above Unity Plaza. His precious friend was suffering as their allies struggled to save her and the world, all while he and King were helplessly lost between realms. Even if they turned on their heels and ran back the way they came, following the trail of their safety vines, it would still take at least an hour to get back to the portal… which was at the Owl House, a place several hours on foot from Unity Plaza, and with no airships or feasible means of flight left for miles. They could do nothing to help the others now… nothing but press on and complete their mission!

There was no need to worry poor King.

"It is going fine." Rasiel replied, ignoring the terrible burn in his throat as he lied; "I was merely surprised because Belos is making use of the Greater Basilisk, Subject Zero, as a counter to the unbranded CATTs. Don't fret though; your mother's curse, shared with Lilith and Raine, has stopped them being drained. They are fighting back hard and will almost certainly win."

King sighed with relief; "Phew! You had me worried there for a second! Now enough freaking me out; we've gotta find my Mama and Dad's spirits! They're the only ones who can possibly lead us to the Collector."

Rasiel nodded and kept walking, allowing King to stay on his shoulders. In truth, the Titans' Spirits should have already sensed them and come to them; perhaps the events in the Demon Realm were keeping them occupied? They were bound to Luz through her glyph markings, and she wasn't exactly in the best position right now, so they could be focused on that and maybe using their connection to try and improve her chances of survival or delay the explosion? Something had to be keeping them busy enough to look away from their son, as Rasiel was certain they used the Portal Seeds to watch over King.

The Ancient Seraphim suddenly slapped his own forehead. "I am an idiot!"

"Whoa! If you're gonna slap yourself, let me hop off first! I don't do bumpy rides and you don't have a backpack for me to throw up in!" King complained, flying off Rasiel's shoulders and hovering beside him. "Now why are you an idiot?"

"The Portal Seeds! We can use them to find your parents and potentially communicate with them!" Rasiel cried.

King's eyes widened; "Wait, we can do that!? And you're only remembering now!? We've been here for at least a couple of hours!"

Rasiel flushed with embarrassment at his blunder, before something occurred to me. "Hold on a moment… before, my memory had a very specific hole in it when it came to portals. I barely remembered anything about them, and I'm sure I didn't recognise the Portal Seeds when we first came in here…"

"What are you blabbering on about?" King frowned, more than a little peeved.

"It's my memories. I feel like they're returning, bit by bit the longer I'm here… but they feel fragmented." Rasiel frowned, rubbing his temples. Now that he was noticing it, the experience was actually quite disorienting.

"So your sealed memories are leaking out of the Black Tomb?" King frowned, looking confused. "I'm not sure how that works… but then again, I'm not sure how you seal up memories or glyph markings in a big black box, so what do I know? Point is, you've remembered something we can use! Let me catch one of those Portal Seeds!"

Rasiel shook his head; "I've got a better idea." he said, before clearing his throat and loudly declaring; "Show me the Titan Orion!"

Reacting to the man's words, a new Portal Seed rose out of the waters that covered the ground of the In-Between Realm and floated in front of Rasiel, who grasped it tightly between his hands and began to look into the surface that was facing him. King leaned in close so he could see too, then both suddenly felt a strange sense of vertigo as the surface of the cube glowed a golden orange and the world around them shifted. The two closed their eyes at the sudden light, and when they opened them again, they found they were somewhere else… at least partially.

The duo had appeared in the reflection of something, as if their spirits were using the Portal Seed and another reflective surface as a kind of window. The object they were reflected in was pitch black but very shiny, similar to obsidian, and after only a brief glance, Rasiel realised what it was.

"The Black Tomb! We've appeared on the Black Tomb! That must mean Orion is near it!"

"Great! Now if only we knew where that was!" King groaned.

"That voice!"

Rasiel and King both blinked in surprised as a third voice appeared, turning their attention to its source who was stepping out from beside the Black Tomb. The person was Orion the Titan, or rather, his spirit, and he looked exactly as Luz had described him from her vision back on Titan Trapper Island; a portly Titan scaled down to a little larger than Human size, with a shaggy mane that looked like a beard, a skull with flat teeth and four horns, large bone-coloured wings covered in strange holes, and an odd outfit consisting of one of Eda's Bad Girl Coven shirts, an old brown bathrobe, and a pair of pyjama pants that were decorated with images of his four glyphs. He also had one black and gold eye, while the other was missing.

Orion and King gasped at the sight of each other; "I was right! I knew I recognised that voice!" Orion beamed; "King! My son!"

"D-Dad! DAD!" King cried, wishing he could reach out and touch his father, but sadly being stuck in the reflection of the Black Tomb. Orion responded by putting his clawed paw over the spot that reflected King's own paw.

"My son! Oh, it's so wonderful to see you! You must be in the In-Between Realm if you're appearing like this!" Orion said, looking ready to cry with happiness.

"I-I am! We're looking for you and Mama! But we couldn't find you anywhere!" King sniffled.

Orion made a sympathetic noise; "Oh, my child… I'm sorry, your mother and I would have come to see you immediately if we'd realised you were here. But we've been distracted by the goings on outside. Your mother has been watching over Luz, while I've kept an eye on your Mom. Things are-"

Behind King, Rasiel began to frantically shake his head and signal for Orion not to say any more, which the Titan thankfully seemed to understand. Orion didn't look too pleased to be keeping the truth of the situation from his son, but opted to go along with Rasiel's mimed request so as not to upset King; there was nothing they could do before Rasiel's wings were restored or the Collector was freed, so perhaps it was best not to stress out the little Titan.

"Things are hectic." Orion finished hastily, before changing the subject just as hastily; "But thankfully the In-Between Realm is fairly fast to navigate if you know where something is, and your Mama and I have had a lot of time to explore! We'll be right with you." Orion promised.

King smiled excitedly; "See you soon, Dad!"

The Portal Seed seemed to take that as a dismissal, as King and Rasiel suddenly found themselves back in their original spot as the Seed they'd just used floated off. King was a little disoriented, but he shook that off fast due to his incredible excitement.

"Finally! I'll be able to meet Dad in person! And see Mama again! Oh man, I'm getting nervous!" King fidgeted, beginning to fly around erratically; "I-I wonder if Dad will like me! Is Mama gonna be okay? Dad's missing an eye because it was used for Belos' portal, so maybe Mama's missing one now too? Do you think she'll be mad about that!? Oh, what if she's mad that she's lost her depth perception!?" King fretted.

Rasiel opened his mouth to calm the boy, but he was beaten to the punch by Orion, who came hurrying towards them from a path that Rasiel could have sworn they'd fully explored. He was accompanied by his mate, Cassiopeia, who looked exactly as she had when saying farewell to King following the destruction of her heart. She even still had both eyes, despite Luz using one to make her own portal (making Rasiel wonder why Orion's spirit reflected the loss while hers didn't). Cassiopeia also seemed to have put on some clothes, and was wearing a buttoned up pyjama shirt that looked to be part of a set with Orion's pants, meaning they were black and decorated with glyph markings, though they were the glyphs of wind, earth, lightning, and what King could only assume was his Mom's fourth and final glyph; Darkness. This shirt was worn over the top of a white and gold onesie (which looked oddly Angel-themed), and Cassiopeia wore an Azura themed bathrobe over the top too, as well as what looked like a… ducky sock(?) on the end of one of her horns.

"King!" Orion cried, his mate repeating the yell an instant later. Both had tears in their eyes as they ran to their son, who's own eyes widened in surprise, before filling with tears too as he went flying straight at his parents. King flew into Orion and Cassiopeia's embrace so fast that he managed to topple them over, and the three Titans ended up in a heap on the floor. None of them cared though; Orion lay at the bottom of the heap; his mate and his son laying atop his body as they cuddled each other and him.

"My son! My son! I'm so, so happy I could see and hold you again like this! I thought I wouldn't get a chance to do it again until you'd grown old and passed on yourself!" Cassiopeia sobbed with a big smile on her face, cradling King against her chest even as her mate cuddled them both to his own.

"Mama! I'm so happy to see you again! And with Dad too!" King sniffled happily, looking up at his Dad as the Titan slowly sat up, shifting his mate and child into his lap. "H-Hi Dad! I-I'm King, your son! I am the King of Sons!" he declared, trying to force down his nervousness.

"Hello, King of Sons! I am Dad of Kings! Or, one King at least!" Orion grinned, making his family giggle like loons and causing Rasiel to give a quiet sigh at the pun (though the Ancient Angel smiled all the same).

"I'm so happy to finally meet you, Dad of King!" King beamed, "Luz told me about meeting you here when she was sick and nearly dying! You look like a grown-up me! Other than the whole missing eye thing."

Orion chuckled as he patted his son's skull; "Yes, there's a bit of a story behind that. Perhaps I'll tell you all about it someday; it's a good tale, but we don't have much time."

Cassiopeia nodded, her smile faltering a bit; Orion had told her on their way to meet King that she should keep the truth of what was happening outside to herself for the moment, but they still needed to hurry and help save Luz and the Boiling Isles from the Draining Spell! "We can help you find the Black Tomb and the Collector's prison; that's why you're here, right?"

King nodded; "We need to get Rasiel's memories back, and finally bust out the Collector!"

His Titan parents nodded in agreement; "Then let's go to the Black Tomb first." Orion said, still wanting to put off meeting the Collector again. He still felt horrendous guilt for imprisoning him unjustly (even if he hadn't known that at the time), and tormenting him by making his tears into mirrors through which he could see the outside world.

The Papa Titan got to his feet and gently placed his mate back on her own feet, though he kept King cradled in his arms, something Cassiopeia allowed since she'd gotten to have her own hugs and cuddles back during the Wailing Star incident. The trio of Titans, accompanied by the silent Rasiel, then turned and walked back the way they'd come, heading to the Black Tomb.

Both King and Rasiel could have sworn the path they took was the same one they'd come from, yet it seemed to be different now, with new side paths and turns… it looked like the In-Between Realm was constantly shifting and changing, which would explain why it was so hard to navigate! Rasiel mused on this, while Orion and Cassiopeia took the chance to bond with their son a little more, especially Orion.

"You know, I really can't express how proud I am of you, King. You're only 8 years old, but you've grown quite large for your age!" Orion beamed, noting his son's little growth spurt from the Titan Trapper Island incident; "And your wings… I'm sure you were changed by Luz's blood just as she was changed by our bonded glyphs; I've never seen a Titan with silvery wings before! And without the holes too…"

"And so young! Most Titans don't develop their wings until they're in their second century! The fact you got yours before you were ten is extraordinary!" Cassiopeia declared proudly.

"Ha! I knew it! I am the King of Sons AND Little Brothers! I wonder if this means I'll grow up bigger and faster than normal too?" King said, hiding how bashful he felt at his parents' praise. His Mom and Titi Raine were always quick to give him (deserved) praise too, and it always made his insides squirm pleasantly even while he acted like their praise was obvious.

"Who knows? Whatever happens though, know that we're proud of you." Orion assured his son.

King smiled shyly; "Gee, thanks Dad. I was a little worried you wouldn't like me…"

It was a silly thought in hindsight, but he'd never had a real Dad before! The closest male role model he had was Rasiel, who was more like a cool, soft-spoken Uncle.

Orion scoffed; "I don't like you, King… I loaf you!"

King's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he registered the pun, then promptly burst into giggles; "Yes, bread puns! I loaf you too! You and Mama!"

"Honestly, you and your bread puns… or as I call them, buns!" Cassiopeia smirked, getting howls of laughter from both her mate and child. Rasiel suppressed a groan.

"Maybe we should lay off the puns." Orion then said, noticing Rasiel's exasperation. The smirk on his face revealed his true intentions though; "I think there's only so much he can bake!"

More laughter from the Titans, with King gasping for breath as Rasiel contemplated if incessant puns was a good enough reason to just turn around and leave. Sure he'd never get his memories back and it would involve abandoning King between the realms, but Luz and the others would understand, right? He didn't need to be complete that badly!

"Come now, I think we've exhausted the poor man. Let's let him rest, it's the yeast we can do!" Cassiopeia grinned.

Once again, the howls of laughter echoed through the In-Between Realm and Rasiel could no longer keep his groans to himself.

"Please stop… what have I done to deserve this punishment…?"

"You mean pun-ishm-!"

"No, no I do not." Rasiel cut off King's punny retort, though the trio of Titans still giggled childishly.

"Aw, but I didn't even get to the one about my eye!" Orion mock-pouted. "I was gonna say that I may have lost my depth perception, but since coming here, I've gained all new death perception!"

While not as uproarious, that silly pun still got a hearty laugh from King and Cassiopeia, while Rasiel just sighed.

"That pun was more tortured than I am!" he retorted, which of course only got more laughter from the Titans. Who knew that such supremely powerful creatures were all such dorks? Rasiel felt a little bad that Luz wasn't here to enjoy it too; she'd have loved it.

Thankfully for Rasiel's sanity, the Titans seemed to recognise that it was possible to have too much of a good thing and stopped their exchange of puns. Instead, Orion spoke softly with King, really making sure his son knew how proud he was and how much he loved him, just as Cassiopeia had done before passing on weeks ago. Cassiopeia herself was sticking close to the pair, though mostly just watching and commenting when appropriate; she was letting her Mate have his own moment with King since she'd gotten to have hers. However it wasn't long before King noticed the pattern on his Mama's new shirt; he was familiar with three of those glyphs, but the fourth was new.

Due to its colour being different from all the others King had seen, he naturally assumed it was the darkness glyph, making it the last elemental glyph he needed to learn. He was quick to memorise the design and scribble it onto some paper he got from inside his neckerchief.

"That makes all eight elements… so cool!" King gushed; "I can't believe my parents really have all eight between them! I wonder… does this mean I'll have a unique glyph that isn't an element?"

He still remembered Rasiel telling him that all Titans had a glyph that neither of their parents did, so if all eight elements were represented in his parents, he'd either not get a unique one, or get one that wasn't elemental.

Orion and Cassiopeia shrugged; "Actually, we don't know. When the two of us first became mates, all of our friends and acquaintances made a big deal out of it." Orion answered.

Cassiopeia nodded; "Yeah, they tried to discourage us. There was an old legend that said it was impossible for a Baby Titan to be born without a unique glyph neither of their parents had, so if two Titans with the eight elements represented between them became mates, then it would be impossible to conceive a child."

"It seemed real too; we struggled for a long time to make your egg… our magic just wouldn't blend together. I wanted to be the carrier, but when I couldn't do it, we tried your mother instead." Orion continued, "But it never worked for her either. We were pretty upset over it and ended up considering adoption; even Titans can be orphaned after all. We became quite close with the baby Titans that had lost their own parents… perhaps that's why I reacted so harshly when I thought the Collector had purposely helped his siblings kill them."

King and Rasiel both felt spikes of sadness, especially as Orion sounded so remorseful. King made sure to cuddle a little closer to him, while Cassiopeia rubbed Orion's back. She knew his anger had been as much due to her death as the Baby Titans'.

"There there, my love. The Collector will be freed; our son will make sure of it." she soothed.

"Yeah, I will! But how did you guys end up having me if it was supposedly impossible? Was I adopted as an egg or made with a surrogate?" King asked.

Orion and Cassiopeia both shook their heads; "Nope, you are definitely our child. A Titan can always tell." his Dad replied; "We're not totally sure how it happened. It was some time after we found Zachael and brought him into our family, and after we became the caretakers for the Titan Orphans…"

"We couldn't choose a single one to adopt, so we basically just took over caring for all of them." Cassiopeia briefly interjected.

"… and some time later, I found myself growing an egg inside my chest." Orion continued with a radiant smile; "Zachael and all the little Titans were so excited! It was a miracle! It would have blown the minds of our friends and acquaintances… had the Archivists not already showed up with those damned Trappers." his face fell into an angry scowl; "If not for them, your egg would have matured within me, then hatched within five years. Sadly, when they came for the Babies, I had no choice but to remove you early and have you and Zachael hidden away on that nursery island I made for you. Without access to my magic, it took 5000 years for your egg to mature and hatch."

King listened intently; he'd learned bits and pieces of this from his godfather Zachael's final message, as well as what Orion had told Luz, the Collector had told him, and Cassiopeia told everyone. With all of that, he finally knew the fully story of his birth and how he ended up as he did. It didn't answer his original question; whether he'd just inherit an extra glyph from one of his parents or develop an entirely new one, but it did at least explain why the occurrence had never been documented before.

It also made him wonder about something…

Flapping his silvery white wings a little, King asked; "Did Zachael ever give you guys blessings?"

His parents nodded as Cassiopeia spoke; "He did. Fairly often too, when the Titan Trappers or Archivists started attacking near where we lived. The extra magic was fairly negligible considering how strong we are and the fact he was just a regular Angel at the time, but it did help take the edge off after battles."

King went deep into thought at that, while Rasiel figured out where King had been going with that question; "Do you think the Angelic Blessing helped you be conceived?"

"Maybe. It's the only reason I can think of for why it worked for Mama and Dad, but no other Titans before them." King replied.

Neither he nor his surprised parents were certain, but they definitely liked the idea. It made their decision to have Zachael be King's godfather even more poignant.

"It seems we may owe Zachael even more than we thought…" Orion said in a soft and sombre voice, tinged with nostalgia.

"Yes. But while it's too late to do anything for him, we can still help his fellow Angel and our God-Daughter!" Cassiopeia declared.

King nodded enthusiastically; "Yeah! And once I show Luz this darkness glyph, and she bonds with it and the lightning glyph, she'll have all eight! That's even more than Rasiel's six!"

"Considering the requirements for bonding with a glyph is understanding the aspects of its element, I think the darkness glyph will be a hard one to bond with. Negativity, Death, and Corruption are not easily embraced." Rasiel frowned worriedly.

That took some of the enthusiasm out of King too; "Yeah… come to think of it, I'd thought she'd have bonded with the lightning glyph by now. That's all about Intelligence, Emotion, and Instincts right? Well Luz is plenty smart and pretty emotional too. Does she just have weak instincts? Because that doesn't sound right either."

"She was also strong, enduring, and determined before bonding with the earth glyph." Cassiopeia pointed out; "Bonding with the glyphs isn't just about showing the aspects; it requires a deeper understanding of them, and that can include how her perspectives on them differ from others. Like how her own determination clashed with Lars'."

King looked confused, whilst Rasiel rubbed his chin; "I see… so seeing differing perspectives of the same aspect can help broaden Luz's understanding of that aspect, allowing her to fully bond with it. People are easily ruled by their own perspective, becoming convinced that what they see is the objective truth, without realising that another perspective can see things differently and be just as "true". Understanding of a thing can only come when people start to examine these other perspectives."

Again, King looked confused, though Orion patted his head; "Think nothing of it, King. You are still young and have millennia to understand complex philosophies. Still, I am impressed Rasiel." he gently slapped Rasiel on the back, over the lightning glyph that sat between the scars that marked the spot his wings should be. "If more people could understand that concept so easily, there wouldn't be so much fighting all the time."

Rasiel smiled; "You forget, I am over 100,000 years old. In fact, since that's how long I was sealed for, I could be far, far older! I have no memory of my age. That means I've had a very long time to gain wisdom."

The three Titans couldn't deny that! Besides, the presence of the lightning glyph on Rasiel's back (the design of which was noticeably different from Cassiopeia's) made it clear that he'd understood things well enough to bond with the element of intelligence.

Following that conversation, Rasiel and the little Titan Family continued making their way back towards the Black Tomb. As Orion spoke with King some more, Cassiopeia explained that she and Orion had hunted down the tomb after her meeting with him during the Wailing Star Incident, eventually discovering it so they could lead Rasiel and his companions to it when the time was right. One of the quirks of the In-Between Realm was its ever-changing geography, but also the fact that once you'd found something within it, one would always be able to find their way back to it. That was why it had taken seconds for Orion and Cassiopeia to find King and Rasiel after learning they were present, and how they knew how to get back to the Black Tomb (though it took a few minutes since the paths had changed).

Finally, after five minutes of walking and talking, they arrived at the site of the final Black Tomb. Considering the trouble they'd gone through to find it, and the heavy defences that the first three were protected by, this final tomb felt almost anti-climactic. There was no temple, no statue guardian, no altar, and even no unique surroundings; it was simply a massive black cube lodged into the stone walls of the realm, as if it had been tossed by something large and strong. Considering Titans were involved in the Divider sealing him, that was likely what happened.

"Finally… once I open this tomb, I'll truly know who I was and my past! And once the others outside manage to destroy my original wings, I'll be complete again!" Rasiel declared, immediately approaching the tomb and putting a hand on it, causing the yellow, Angel lock to come undone. He may not have magic of his own, but he still had the Angelic Blessing Luz had once tried to give him. Without wings to focus that magic, he couldn't use it for any spells, but he didn't need to do more than have Angelic Magic in his system to undo the first lock.

"One down…" he muttered, before pulling out the blood vial he'd gotten from Meesha and splashing it onto his other hand, which he also placed on the tomb, though not before tossing the training wand to King.

"You're up, King. Just do what you did for the other two tombs, then use the training wand to channel the Witch Magic inside it into the blood here." Rasiel instructed.

King nodded and caught the training wand with ease, then gently flew out of his father's arms (making them both feel a little melancholic). "Okay, here goes nothing!"

He obediently placed his paw (with a light glyph note in the palm) against the tomb's surface, causing the blue Titan lock to be opened. Once that was done, he and Rasiel shared a look of nervous anticipation as King drew a spell circle with the training wand, then tapped the tip against Rasiel's blood splattered hand. Just as expected, the red Demon lock opened and the entire tomb began the process of opening up. It glowed white and began decaying, while King darted back to his parents' sides and Rasiel stepped back a bit, not taking his eyes off the tomb.

It took only moments for the tomb to disappear… and then for a cacophony of voices to explode out from inside it. Rasiel and the Titans all yelled out in pain and surprise as they covered their ears; it was like billions of different voice recordings by different people were all being played simultaneously at a deafening volume.

"Argh! What's happening!?" Orion cried, using his paws to help block King's ears while Cassiopeia covered her own and jumped onto her mate's shoulders to use her thighs to block his.

Rasiel, barely able to hear the cry over the noise, looked up and saw the contents of the Black Tomb; it was some manner of reddish gold diadem, consisting of a central diamond shape with two halves of a headband floating on each side of it. There was a massive crack in the diamond section, making Rasiel realise what had happened.

"That diadem… no, that Halo! It must contain my memories, but it was cracked and damaged when the tomb was tossed in here!" he thought. "The memories have been leaking out, which is why I've been regaining them the longer I've been here! But now that the tomb is open, they're all exploding out at once and making this unholy racket!"

Well, the best way to stop the noise was to take the memories back, so that's just what Rasiel would do! Forcing himself forward through the deafening sound waves, Rasiel reached the halo and took a hand away from his ears (wincing in pain as he did so) and grabbed it. As quickly as he could, Rasiel forced it into place above his head, whereupon all sound suddenly stopped, leaving only a faint ringing in the ears of the three Titans.

"Ow… what the heck was that?" King whined.

"Billions of voices… memories of more people than probably exist in the Demon Realm right now." Orion replied, tapping the side of his skull, where his ear canals were. Titans didn't have exterior ears, but they still had all the inner workings within their skulls.

"There was a lot of screams in those memories… more screams than words. What kind of life did Rasiel lead…?" Cassiopeia wondered, looking over to the Ancient Seraphim.

The man had collapsed to his knees and was whimpering as he clutched his head. His eyes were open wide with horror, and tears were streaming down his face.

"N-No…! No! It's too much! I-I don't like this! I don't want… By the Seraphim, please no! RANI!" Rasiel cried out, both his mind and heart in absolute agony. He let out a heart-wrenching scream, before suddenly going silent and flopping forward onto his hands and knees.

King and his parents watched with sympathy as the man was forced to relive all his memories, and it clearly wasn't a pleasant experience. King leapt from his Dad's arms and flew over to Rasiel, where he began patting the man's shoulders awkwardly and trying to comfort him.

"Shh, it's okay Rasiel. It's all okay. Those memories must be bad, but they all happened a long time ago! You're safe and with us now! Me, and Luz, and Mom, and Hooty, and everyone else! You've got us." he said soothingly.

Rasiel weakly raised his head to look at King, his golden eyes foggy and unfocused as thick tears continued to flow down them. "K-King?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you-"

Rasiel interrupted him with a broken sob; "I don't want to go… I don't want to go… Forgive me Rani! Forgive me!"

Then, like a switch being flipped, Rasiel's eyes suddenly returned to full focus and he blinked a few times, his sobs abruptly stopping. He looked around in confusion, looking at King, then Orion, then Cassiopeia, before looking down at his own hands for a moment, then closing his eyes. The Titans watched him carefully, noticing an immediate change in his demeanour that made the elder two nervous. When Rasiel opened his eyes again, he hummed.

"That was… strange. I didn't expect the experience to be so chaotic. How bothersome." he said, wiping his eyes.

"Rasiel?" King said gently.

The Angel turned to him and smiled radiantly, looking overjoyed to see him. "King! Oh my dear friend, I have so much to thank you for!"

He scooped the little Titan up into a hug and squeezed him gently, laughing joyfully the whole time. King was a little bewildered by the wild ride the last few minutes had taken him on, but he was happy Rasiel seemed to have bounced back.

"So you're okay now? You got all your memories back?" he asked.

"Every single one! I remember every moment of my life! Delightful!" Rasiel replied.

Orion and Cassiopeia exchanged slightly worried looks, then asked; "And you're… okay with that?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Naturally! It's what I've waited for all this time!" Rasiel said, still smiling even as he seemed confused by the question. "Why?"

"Well you were screaming and crying a lot…" Orion pointed out.

Rasiel blinked then gasped in realisation; "Oh! I see! That's what had you worried! Yes, relieving all those memories was quite unsettling, and of course having my head filled with all that knowledge was quite painful. It's like my mind was a puzzle with a hundred mismatched pieces, which then had to be ripped apart and put back together to accommodate the million other pieces that had been misplaced! But now everything is back in place and I'm perfectly fine and functioning. No need to fear or fret." he assured them.

Again, Orion and Cassiopeia looked concerned and glanced towards King for his opinion, since he knew the man a lot better than they did. King himself looked Rasiel up and down, noting his changes. Physically, Rasiel was the same as always, with the sole exception of the reddish gold diadem floating over his head. However the way he carried himself was different; before he was cautious, gentle, and gave off the aura of a man who liked to keep people at arms length because he wasn't sure if they'd hurt him or he'd hurt them. But now he stood tall and proud, his back straight and his shoulders back, as if announcing to the world that he was a force to be reckoned with. Confidence and charisma oozed off him, yet he also had unrestrained passion and energy to him, like a Golden Retriever whose beloved owner was by his side. To King, it felt like Rasiel had the imperiousness of a cat and the playful joy of a dog; an odd combination that contrasted with his prior quiet and humble demeanour.

King wasn't sure if he liked the new Rasiel or the old Rasiel more, but he supposed it didn't matter; this was Rasiel as he was supposed to be, even if he was different from what King expected.

Cheerfully, Rasiel marched over to Orion and handed King back to him, before slapping the Titan on the back like Orion had done to him earlier. "As much as I'd like to keep hugging King, it's probably better if you do it. Being dead and all, you won't have many more chances to do that before King dies too."

Orion flinched; that felt a little insensitive, but there was absolutely no malice in Rasiel's words. "R-Right. Well then, should we go to the Collector next? Then King can free him and you can return to the Demon Realm to help."

For a moment, annoyance flickered across Rasiel's face as he muttered; "Yes, the Collector. I really need to have a little talk with him about telling Belos how to get my wings…" his prior cheerful expression returned; "Right then, let's go. I'll lead the way!"

With that, Rasiel turned on his heel and marched off through the In-Between Realm, leaving the bewildered Titans to chase after him before he got out of sight. Orion and Cassiopeia were confused; did Rasiel already know where the Collector was? If so, how? The only one who should know was Orion!

The little family didn't know for certain, but they had a feeling that Rasiel was intentionally keeping something from them. Why had his memories sounded so traumatic? What had he meant by "I don't want to go"? And who was Rani?

And most importantly; now that Rasiel's memories had been restored, would they finally learn why he'd been targeted and sealed away by the Divider?

[Meanwhile]

Since Belos fled Unity Plaza just a few minutes before, the situation there had become a chaotic back and forth. The Bat Queen and her Bestial Army had finally gotten through the rearranged defences keeping them from the Plaza, and while they were a little banged up, they were now ready to fight back against Flora, Subject Zero, and the army of Abomatons that seemed to be swarming up from underground in shocking numbers. Subject Zero was unable to drain the magic from them (seeing as they were neither Witches nor Biped Demons), but she was still massive and could crush many with just her size alone. The trio of Eda, Lilith, and Raine were doing all they could to limit her movements while Hooty swallowed the drained Rebels and Civilians so he could spit them back out beyond the Plaza, slowly clearing a wider safe area to fight. However Flora was not making it easy, sending waves of magic with the cracks of her whip to keep the cursed trio on their toes and unable to coordinate properly.

"Damn it, even with BQ keeping the Abomatons off us, we're getting worn down!" Eda panted. She'd almost run out of her personal magic and was now relying purely on glyph notes and Owlbert, while keeping the Owl Beast's remaining power in her back pocket for emergencies.

"D'splora has no problem with letting people get caught in the cross fire! We're stuck on the defensive until Hooty can evacuate the entire plaza, and there are thousands of people here!" Raine said, their lips hopelessly dry and chapped from whistling so much.

"We need to stop the Draining Spell too!" Lilith said, able to move a little lighter since she'd removed Hooty from her back a while ago, letting him run around and get people to safety with the little chicken legs Gwen had given him. "Maybe if we can get Flora and the Basilisk off the plaza somehow?"

Flora smirked down at the three exhausted witches; "Tired already? I've barely broken a sweat! To think that I'm the oldest one out of the four of us, yet I'm also the youngest looking! That curse truly is such a horrible thing. How do you feel, fighting beside the woman who ruined your life, Edalyn Clawthorne?"

Eda spat on the ground, then sneered up at Flora; "You've got another thing coming if you think the Owl Beast is just a curse! Sure, we were pretty terrible room-mates to each other, but we're doing pretty good now! So don't even try to talk smack about them or Lily!"

"Room-mates? Really? That would be cute if it weren't so pathetic. What, do you split the rent? Do you have to put a sock on your door when you bring Raine back to the nest? Do you have have a chore list?" Flora mocked with a malicious grin.

Surprisingly, Eda grinned back as she looked over the woman's shoulder for a moment at something approaching from the south. "Yeah, we do in fact. And the first thing on it is kicking your butt! Spicy Toss!"

With that bellowed shout, Eda slapped two fire glyph notes together, creating an X-shaped blast of fire that went straight at Flora. The woman rolled her eyes and forced Subject Zero to turn her head, causing the blast to hit the size of the Basilisk's face and make her hiss in pain. This also caused Flora to break line of sight with the cursed trio for a moment, allowing Eda to point out what she'd seen to Lilith and Raine, then fly at Flora with a fistful of light glyph notes, which she used to create a blinding flash point blank in the woman's face. Both Flora and Subject Zero shrieked as they were momentarily blinded, and Eda used that opportunity to create an illusory copy of herself with her limited remaining magic, before flying to the Central Tower, where she went unseen by the enemy. Eda then looked to the south, noticing that the incoming force had disappeared… only to reappear from invisibility as they landed on the Central Tower with her.

It was the Hexsquad, all looking mildly worn out by their frantic flight.

"E-Eda!" Amity panted, her eyes darting between the Owl Lady and her girlfriend, trapped in the air above.

"Boots! Thank the Titan you guys are here! Listen, we don't have much time before that freak and her giant Basilisk realises that the me fighting her is an illusion! I need your help to save Luz!" Eda declared.

"We'll do what we can! What have you tried already!?" Willow asked urgently.

"I haven't had a chance to try anything until this moment; things haven't been going well here." Eda replied, making the Hexsquad nod in understanding.

"Well then, let's start with the obvious!" Amity said, suddenly darting up into the sky and flying to where Luz was hanging in the air. "Batata!"

Luz slowly cracked an eye open, causing the brilliant white light shooting from it to escape a little. "H-Her...mos...a…" Luz choked out, struggling to speak as she tried to keep herself from screaming in pain at the influx of magic.

Amity flew right for her lover, stopping just before getting to the aurora-like orb of magic forming around Luz. Very carefully, Amity tried touching it, only for the magic to painfully repel her hand, making her yelp. It felt a little like when Gus had shown her some magnets he'd bought from Eda's human junk stand; it was like her magic and the magic swarming into Luz was the same kind, so it was repelling her.

"Dang it… Hold on Batata! We'll find a way to break you out! Can you move at all!?" Amity cried.

Luz was barely able to shake her head; "N-No!"

"Alright, we will save you! Just give us a bit of time!"

Despite the pain and struggle of containing all the incoming magic, Luz managed to force herself to smile a little at her girlfriend, then forced out the words; "I…. b-believe… in y-you!"

Feeling her heart beat at little faster at the show of confidence, Amity darted back down to the others, who were brainstorming ideas.

"Luz can't move and the aura she's giving off repelled me. It felt like that magnetic repulsion thing though, so perhaps someone with a different kind of magic or no magic at all will be able to do it instead." Amity told them.

"Like the barrier at the Conformatorium… The Owl Beast might be able to do it. Hunter might be able to as well, not having magic of his own. Come on Goldilocks, we're up!" Eda said, switching into Harpy Mode.

"I'm right behind-" Hunter began, only to be cut off by a cry from down below.

"W-Wait! You can't move her!"

Eda and the Hexsquad spun around to the source of the voice and found a Basilisk crawling slowly up from lower floor of the Central Tower. The poor creature looked awful; their scales were a pale lilac and their underbellies were a sickly greenish cream colour, while their hair was short and black, and their ears (more like Vee and Trebles) were almost flat against their head as they trembled. The Basilisk's eyes were blue, and they sported a command collar like the others, but no sigil brand… and considering how weak and emaciated they looked, they contained no magic to be drained even if they had a sigil!

"The last of the Basilisks! I'd wondered where the sixth one had gotten to." Skara gasped.

"Why can't we move Luz!?" Matt demanded.

The Basilisk quaked in fear; "T-The Emperor said that once the vessel was in place and the ritual started, then it's impossible to move her without a replacement. The ritual locks her in place, at the nexus point between the nine Coven Heads and the Eclipse. Moving her without another vessel taking her place is impossible." she said, as if directly reciting something she'd been told.

Boscha narrowed her eyes suspiciously; "The Emperor told you that, huh? And why should we believe you?"

"Y-You can go try, if you want? But she won't move, and it'll hurt her!" the Basilisk replied fearfully.

The idea of hurting Luz gave Eda pause, but Hunter hopped on Flapjack; "I'm going to try. I don't want to hurt Luz, but we can't gamble the fate of the world on the idea that Belos told the truth for once!"

The others didn't argue or try to stop him, instead watching him dart into the sky to where Luz was. Hunter faced the girl, then gingerly touched the aurora of magic. As Amity had theorised, his lack of magic meant he was able to overcome the polarity of the aurora's magic, letting him pass through (albeit with his skin stinging the whole time). As he forced his arm and head through the aurora, Hunter reached for Luz.

"Luz, I'm going to try and move you. I'm sorry, but this might hurt!" he warned.

"D-Do it!" Luz answered.

Hunter placed his hands around her thin waist (he'd have preferred taking her by the shoulders or underarms, but he feared touching the beams of magic shooting from the Coven Heads), then began to pull.

Luz screamed bloody murder as her veins and blood vessels briefly glowed with the same aurora colours as the aura around her. Hunter recoiled immediately, letting go as soon as he realised that even with his full strength, Luz hadn't budged.

"Damn it! I'm sorry Luz!" Hunter cried.

Luz didn't reply, too busy biting her lip to try and keep herself from breaking down completely from the brief pain that had shot through her. It had felt like she and the Boiling Isles were connected, and Hunter had been trying to rip her off, similar to the feeling of ripping off a limb. Unable to talk through the aftershocks of pain, Luz forced herself to give a weak smile and nod to reassure her friend, who immediately flew back to the others.

"Okay, so Belos is capable of telling the truth. Moving her without a replacement vessel isn't going to work." he reported.

The others, who'd heard the screaming, winced with pale faces. "We need another plan." Gus said.

Willow turned to the emaciated Basilisk; "Did Belos tell you anything else?"

The Basilisk nodded; "Y-Yes. He told me everything about how the Draining Spell and Extinction Ritual works…"

Eda and the Hexsquad frowned; "And why would he do that? Who are you exactly?" Amity asked suspiciously.

"S-Subject One. And the Emperor brought me here to talk to anyone trying to mess with the ritual. He wanted to make sure no one would interfere with it." the newly identified Basilisk confessed.

"So we really can't trust what you say." Eda scowled.

"I-I'm telling the truth! The ritual is dangerous; once it's started, it's almost impossible to safely stop it! The Emperor and the weird shadow in the mirror said there are tons of ways it can go wrong and all of them are bad!" Subject One cried, looking terrified of the Owl Lady (who was still in Harpy Mode).

The Hexsquad exchanged looks; "Shadow in the mirror? That has to be the Collector." Amity frowned. "I wonder if he's the one that taught Belos the Draining Spell?"

"It doesn't matter how he learned it, we just need to know how to stop it." Hunter said.

Boscha nodded in agreement and knelt down by the Basilisk; "Okay Scaly, if Belos told you how this thing works, then he must have told you how to stop it, right?" she asked, giving the scared Basilisk a threatening look. The poor creature shuddered and whimpered in response, while Skara knelt beside them too.

"Gently, Boscha. I don't think this poor thing is our enemy. Belos is just using them to warn us off." Skara said, carefully reaching over to pet the Basilisk. "Tell us what you can, please. If you do, we can free you and your fellow Basilisks too. We've already met and befriended Vee and Treble, or Subjects Five and Three as you knew them."

Subject One let out a quiet gasp as she began to calm down; "You did?"

The others nodded, and Skara and Amity decided to show Subject One their scrolls, showing pictures of Vee and Treble handing out with them. Subject One looked at them (especially Vee's Quetzalcoatl Basilisk form) with wide eyes, then smiled. "They're okay… I'm glad. B-But I don't have any good news for you."

"Just tell us what you can. Aside from the ritual being completed, how can we stop it?" Willow asked.

"W-Well the only way for that to happen was if the Eclipse stopped. The spell is stopping the moon from moving, keeping it locked onto the sun and the vessel, but if you moved it out of the way and stopped the Eclipse, then the Draining Spell would stop a lot sooner." Subject One answered.

Eda and the Hexsquad frowned; "Yeah, I don't have moon moving magic… any of you guys?" Gus gulped.

Matt shrugged; "Give me a few million Power Glyphs and some serious Bile Booster Potions and maybe I could shift it with Construction or Earth Magic? But otherwise, that ain't happening."

"It wouldn't go well anyway. It'd stop the spell, but all the magic sent into the vessel would still be there." Subject One explained; "That thing, the Collector you called it? It said that the vessel would still have to release all that energy in a big blast. It'd be smaller, since the Eclipse wouldn't magnify it, but it'd still be big enough to destroy the Isles."

"So what, our best bet is just making it so we all die while the realm lives?" Hunter scowled.

Subject One shrugged helplessly; "I-I don't know! It's just what I was told! Maybe the Emperor has another way! All I know is that if the Eclipse is ended somehow, then the vessel will explode. She might have a little time to get away if she's strong enough to hold the magic in for a bit, so it's possible she could be moved out of range in time so she just explodes high in the sky or out to sea, but I don't know. The Emperor seemed angry when that Collector thing told me that, so I think it's true."

Eda hummed "If that happened, the only potential casualty would be Luz… Belos said she had a 50/50 shot of surviving the blast if the ritual was completed, but if the blast is weaker than had odds will probably be better, right?"

The emaciated Basilisk had no idea; she could only repeat what she was told. It wasn't a lot to go on, but it was still helpful and gave the group a potential solution to aim for, so Eda kindly knelt down and conjured a knife, which she used to cut off the collar controlling Subject One. The Basilisk sighed with relief and thanked the woman profusely.

"Okay, so saving Luz and the world now relies on us moving the moon." Hunter frowned; "If we just need to stop the spell, couldn't we… well…" he pointed to the Coven Heads (specifically Adrian) and then dragged a thumb across his throat.

The implication was obvious, and all but Mason paled and yelped at the idea. The Hexsquad weren't much better, but they had to admit the idea had merit.

"Killing a Coven Head must do something. Maybe it'll at least slow down the spell a little?" Willow agreed, looking over at Terra, whose eyes went wide with fear.

"Okay, turn the murder urges down a notch." Gus said quickly; "I get that most of these guys are enemies, but killing them is a bit much!"

Boscha crossed her arms and huffed; "Most of them have murdered others and were willing to do that, or worse, to us! Why not just give them a little payback? I'm sure Luz wouldn't mind if we gave Vitimir a more permanent chest wound, especially if it saved lives!"

"Or we could just, you know, remove their sigils? Still painful, but less murderous." Skara pointed out.

"I hate to admit it, but I'm with Skara on this one. I don't want you kids killing people, no matter how much they deserve it." Eda declared. "Even you and Goldilocks would end up feeling bad about it later, Toil and Trouble."

Boscha pouted (at the nickname, not the denied request to murder some jerks), and agreed; "Okay yeah, burning off their sigils works too. Wait, if we do that to all of them, will that stop the spell completely?"

Subject One shook their head; "No, and you shouldn't try to mess with the sigils. The Emperor said that if one of them is removed from the ritual, then that type of magic will stop being drained and the others will become unbalanced inside the vessel. The ritual would destabilise and the vessel would explode immediately. Plus without the Head Sigil to focus all the others in the same Coven, the Draining Spell would pull the magic out of the others in the Coven but not send it anywhere, which could cause it to backlash on people. The Emperor said that when he tested it, some subjects suffered heart attacks from burst Bile Sacs, while others just exploded… it was apparently messy."

The Hexsquad all went pale, while Gus and Skara looked ready to puke.

"Okay, so let's not do that!" Matt said hastily, not wanting to be responsible for the murder of an entire Coven. "It looks like our only plan now is to go after Belos himself."

"That doesn't seem like a great plan." Amity frowned. "What if Belos doesn't have another way to stop the ritual?"

"It won't matter. We don't need him to stop it; we need to destroy his wings! Remember, if we destroy them then Rasiel gets them back! With his wings, Rasiel has his full magic back and Luz said those ten-winged Seraphim are like living Gods! If anyone has the power to move the moon and stop the Eclipse, it'll be him! Plus if he frees the Collector, we'll have a super strong Archivist to help too!" Matt argued.

The others exchanged looks; they couldn't be sure Rasiel or the Collector had that kind of power, but they knew for a fact that none of them did, so those two were their only chance… which meant it was time to pay Belos a proper visit.

"Let's do it. Where did Belos run to?" Hunter asked Eda.

"He said he was going to the Skull. You kids go on ahead; I'll stay here to deal with Subject Zero." Eda told them, turning to look back at the fight below. Hooty had done a good job and cleared almost everyone out of the entrance section of the Plaza, while the Bat Queen and her beasts had driven the Abomatons out too and were now focused on dealing with the ones in the other sections. As for Lilith and Raine; they were keeping Flora and Subject Zero nice and busy, enough that the enemy hadn't noticed the Eda down there with them was an illusion yet, but it was clear they were getting tired.

The Hexsquad were shocked; "You're gonna let us handle Belos!?" Gus exclaimed.

"S-Shouldn't you be handling that!?" Skara cried; "You're the Owl Lady, the most powerful Witch on the Boiling Isles!"

Eda gave a tired smirk; "I'm also tired and almost out of magic. You kids are strong, relatively fresh, have a wide variety of magical abilities, and there are seven of you. Besides, someone needs to help deal with that big ugly magic eater down there, no offence kid." she briefly turned to Subject One, who merely shrugged, not offended. "And if you kids face that thing, your magic will get eaten and sucked up into Luz! The Owl Beast keeps me safe from it, so it's gotta be me… which means Belos has got to be you guys!"

"Y-You really think we can do it?" Amity asked.

"Of course! You've all fought hard against tough opponents! With the seven of you together, Belos won't stand a chance! He's tricky though! Don't give him a chance to mess with you! Take him out hard and fast!" Eda said, giving the kids a confident grin.

With that, Eda's eyes suddenly widened as she felt her illusion from before disperse, causing her to quickly look down at the battle and see that Flora had lashed the fake Eda with her whip, revealing it as an illusion. "Time for talking is done! GO!" Eda told them, before leaping down and flying right at Subject Zero.

"We won't let you down!" Willow shouted after her, before she and the other Hexsquad members got on their staves and flew up to Luz. They each got as close as they could to the poor girl and placed their hands as close to the aurora magic as they could, as if trying to touch her.

"Hold on tight, Luz! Help is on the way!" Amity told her.

"We'll destroy Belos and end this! Hold that magic in as tightly as you can, and the instant you can move again, fly as high as you can before letting it out! Do your best!" Hunter said.

The others each said words of encouragement too, while Luz, despite her pain, smiled and said; "G-Got it… I believe in you guys…! This is n-nothing, so don't worry about me! G-Go give Belos some payback!"

"GOT IT!" All seven of her friends said, before Hunter had Amity and Willow tie them all together with vines and abomination slime, allowing him to use his flash spell to warp them all towards the Titan's Skull at the speed of lightning.

Meanwhile, Eda had flown at Subject Zero with her full speed, slapping a few glyph notes onto herself as she went. She applied earth and fire glyphs to her taloned feet to both harden them and imbue them with fire, while applying wind glyphs to her wings and a lightning glyph to her chest, allowing her to shoot forward like a lightning bolt while the wind glyphs made her spin like a giant feathery drill as she kicked out with her enhanced talons. She was aiming for Flora, and the treacherous witch looked up in horror at the approaching attack. If it hit straight on, it'd tear Flora to pieces and likely drill a hole through the Basilisk's head, so Flora waved her whip to conjure a cloud of small poison stakes, which she fired up at Eda. The wind surrounding the Owl Lady deflected them away, so Flora panicked and instead waved her whip around in the air like she was a ribbon twirler, creating the strongest barrier spell she could. The barrier stopped Eda for only a moment, before she started to slowly drill through it, her spinning not stopping for an instant. Thankfully it did delay her impact with Flora, giving the witch enough time to scream some frantic orders at her Basilisk Mount.

"MOVE!" she ordered.

Subject Zero immediately leapt away, resulting in her crashing into the archway over the entrance from the bridge to the plaza, causing it to collapse and the Goliath Basilisk to suffer several bad bruises and scratches, though they all healed quickly thanks to her regeneration. At the same moment, Eda fully broke through Flora's barrier and smashed into the plaza floor, yet she still kept spinning. The fire on her feet began to super heat the stone, and combining that with her spinning, velocity, and the rocky hardness granted by the earth glyph, Eda ended up drilling all the way down through the plaza into the Valley of the Titan's Neck. She finally stopped spinning and took a moment to shake off the dizziness before looking around at her new surroundings. They were about a kilometre above the ground of the valley, with the plaza held up by thick stone pillars and connected to the Titan's Clavicle by the bridge, leaving quite a drop for the Plaza to fall should the pillar supports be broken. Eda suspected that Belos had planned this as an emergency defence in case the CATTs had proven too difficult to defeat, or had rallied the populace into rebellion before he could start the Draining Spell, as all Belos would have to do is order the Abomatons to destroy the pillars and the entire plaza would collapse and kill everyone in it! Only the Central Tower would survive, as it appeared to be sat atop a much larger, stronger support pillar.

Eda smirked as she saw this; each section of Unity Plaza was built separately with it's own support pillars! Meaning if she could destroy the ones beneath the largely empty entrance section, she could drop it, Flora, and the Goliath Basilisk into the valley below and away from the others! And thanks to Hooty, the entrance section was free of civilians and those who couldn't move.

With a plan in mind, Eda flew back up through the hole she'd made and grinned wider as she saw that Subject Zero was peering through it, being mindful not to touch the molten stone around the rim. Spinning Owlbert in one hand to create a spell circle that imbued her other hand with magic, Eda gathered the molten stone into a large glowing globule that she promptly tossed straight up at the Basilisk's chin. It landed a solid hit and the Basilisk began to shriek and recoil, thrashing around in pain as it tore off the scales that the glowing lava was clinging too. Thanks to how big the beast was and how small the globule was by comparison, the damage was limited but very painful, and Subject Zero was screaming so loud that she couldn't hear the orders of Flora.

Flying back into the plaza, Eda switched back to her normal self to give the Owl Beast a rest, then rushed over to Raine and Lilith to tell them the plan she'd come up with. Naturally, both thought she was crazy, but they also grinned and nodded.

"We're in." they said together.

"Great! Raine, your Bardic Magic is probably the best for bringing down the support pillars, so you take care of them. Lilith, talk to BQ and make sure she knows what we're planning so she can keep her beasts out of the entrance section of the plaza. I'll keep Flora and her pet busy!" Eda said, before immediately using Owlbert to rush at the Goliath Basilisk, using a fire glyph note to purposefully shoot a fireball at the creature's burnt chin before it could fully regenerate. Subject Zero howled in pain, then released a snarl of fury before attacking Eda in a blind rage. Eda used her smaller, quicker form to easily fly around her flailing claws, gnashing teeth, and swinging tail, trusting Owlbert to control where they flew while she focused on pulling glyph notes from her hair and tossing them back at the Basilisk.

Flora, who'd been trying to get Subject Zero's attention, stopped bothering and decided to just let the giant beast go wild and attack Eda; she wanted to kill the annoying rebel anyway, so why not just take the chance while the other two were busy helping those dirty beasts and the Bat Queen?

"Let's see how well you keep flying through clouds of poison gas!" Flora declared, drawing a spell circle and conjuring a thick green miasma in Eda's direction.

"Touch a nerve, did I D'splora? Well then, let me really tick you off!" Eda mocked, using a wind glyph to produce a gust of wind that not only propelled her away from Subject Zero faster, but also pushed the gas back in the Basilisk's face. The beast was so large that the gas had no real effect beyond the horrid smell, but it also obscured the Basilisk's vision enough that Eda could use a plant glyph to shoot some vines at it, binding the beast's arms to its side and forcing it to move around and attack just like a snake. Flora cursed and had to use her whip to grapple down to the vines and cut them, by which time Eda was able to take her place on Subject Zero's head and begin using ice glyphs to freeze it.

"Time for a brain freeze!" she grinned, holding onto a fistful of hair to stop herself from being bucked off. Flora cut the vines hastily (cutting the skin of the Basilisk as well in her haste) and immediately leapt up to Eda again, cracking her whip towards the woman's head. Eda yelped and Owlbert hopped off her staff and yanked her head off her shoulders, causing the whip to sail through the air harmlessly, much to Flora's shock. Eda then pulled her head back down onto her shoulders, pet Owlbert with a mocking wink to the other woman, then put him back on her staff and flew off… but not before using a light glyph to create a bright flash to blind Flora and cover her escape.

"Ugh! This woman is the worst! No wonder Dear Philip wanted to kill you so badly!" Flora cursed, cracking her whip on Subject Zero's head to continue the chase again.

As this was happening, Lilith was passing the plan along to the Bat Queen, who immediately ordered all her beasts out of the entrance section of the plaza. This had the side effect of the Abomatons still in that section being unopposed, though since the rest of the people had been evacuated already, they had nothing to attack and instead tried to breach the other sections, only to be pushed back. At the same time, Raine had snuck down through the hole Eda had made and was now heading to the first of the support pillars, ready to send it crashing down.

They took a brief look at the pillars, noticing each section had three pillars holding it up in a triangular formation, and with each pillar being about 20 feet in diameter and made of good solid stone. They had to be large to hold up the massive plaza and the thousands of people it had been built to contain, but they also doubled as towers that let Belos' Abomaton Army march up from the their hiding place beneath the plaza.

"These will be tough to bring down and my magic is nearing its limit. I need to play this smart." Raine thought, reaching into their pocket for a glyph note. They found the notes to be clumsy and cumbersome to use; they didn't know how Eda had managed to learn to use them so effectively, or how King was such a natural with them, but Raine couldn't deny they were useful in a pinch!

"Let's see… a good explosion placed on the lower parts of the inside should do it. Then the weight of the pillar will do most of the work in bringing them down!" Raine muttered to themselves, flying to the first pillar and running inside. Thankfully most of the Abomatons in the area had already made their way up to the plaza, so they found no resistance at the first pillar and easily climbed a few dozen steps. The inside of each pillar contained a much smaller, thinner pillar in the very centre, with stone steps connecting this pillar with the outer wall. If this inner pillar was broken along with portions of the outer wall, then it was basically the same as sawing through the whole thing! Switching their Palisman Rena back to her fox mode and setting her on their shoulder, Raine had her lick the back of some fire and earth glyph notes, then stuck them onto the inner pillar, then stuck a few more on the outer walls too. Raine was sure to use more than they thought they'd need, as once they blew a pillar sky high, the enemy would take notice, so they'd need to take out all three at once! That left no room for mistakes!

Satisfied with their work, Raine switched Rena back to staff mode and repeated the process with the other two support pillars, using an invisibility combo at one point to slip behind an Abomaton that had yet to head up to reinforce the others. A swift blade of ice from an ice glyph note put an end to the unaware Abomaton's core, and left the way open to finish setting the explosives!

"Okay, this is gonna be our only shot at this! If this fails, it's going to be a lot more troublesome!" Raine declared, making sure to take cover beneath another section of the plaza before switching Rena to violin mode and playing a single note. This note created a wave of bardic magic that expanded outward in a thin ring, passing harmlessly through everything… except the glyphs they'd placed.

Immediately, an earth-shaking explosion filled the valley as the earth glyphs caused tremors that weakened the stone they were placed on, cracking them apart, while the fire glyphs released blasts of flame. The combined effect resulted in a pretty nice BOOM, and Raine watched with relief and satisfaction as the three momentous pillars began to crumble down, falling under their own weight. The entire valley and the plaza above began to shake like it had been hit by an earthquake, and the entrance section began to crumble and fall apart, breaking under its own weight like a cookie soaked in hot milk. The Abomatons still in the area began moving to the source of the noise, only to be splattered and crushed by the falling debris, while the Abomatons still in that part of the plaza was splattered as they fell and hit the ground and rubble below.

A monstrous scream of shock and terror came from the Goliath Basilisk as it fell to the ground with the rest of that section, trying in vain to grab a part that hadn't fallen yet, only to hasten its fall. A gold barrier was visible on the Basilisk's head as Flora protected herself, and twin magic blasts of gold and silver struck the barrier as the Basilisk fell, causing it and Flora to be sent flying from her mount. She still landed safely thanks to her magical shield, but both she and Subject Zero were stunned, and the source of the twin blasts; Eda and Lilith, came flying down on their Palismen.

They quickly spotted Raine and flew over, with Eda giving them a big kiss that left them breathless.

"Wow Raine Storm, look at all this wanton destruction… you sure know how to show a girl a good time!" Eda said with a slightly husky edge to her voice.

Raine blushed; "What can I say? I have a lover with a passion for chaos. But let's save the making out for the victory party. Those two aren't beaten yet." they commented, pointing to Flora and Subject Zero.

The latter was slowly picking herself up, bruised and wincing from her fall and being pelted with rubble, but otherwise not too damaged thanks to her size and strength. Flora was similarly okay, though she looked dizzy after being knocked away, having been bounced around in her barrier.

"I've got some unfinished business with Flora. That woman used to be my mentor and I want to know why she betrayed her own people for a genocidal monster!" Lilith declared furiously.

"We'll leave her to you then, Lily. In the meantime, Raine Storm and I can deal with big, bad, and beastly over there." Eda said, switching to Harpy Mode again. She'd exhausted most of her glyph notes and her Angelic Blessing, so she really only had a few tricks left up her sleeve and the remainder of the Owl Beast's strength. At least Owlbert was still going strong, though it was hard to use him in Harpy Mode in case her anti-magic began to hurt him.

Raine, switching Rena back to staff mode and taking to the air, nodded their agreement; "Got it. Divide and conquer! Let's go!"

The Cursed Trio split up, Lilith gunning towards Flora while Eda and Raine headed to the Goliath Basilisk. Flora looked up to see her former apprentice flying at her like a silver meteorite and immediately used her whip to make a barrier to protect herself again, but Lilith just slapped an earth glyph note to herself to cover her body in stony armour and smash into the barrier like a wrecking ball. Luckily for Flora, the barrier was the spherical kind so rather than breaking, it was just knocked away like a pinball. She hit the sheer cliff that divided the Valley of the Neck from the Titan's Clavicle and bounced back, but Lilith immediately got behind her and smashed her further into the valley with another collusion. She did this twice more from the east and west too, before finally flying above Flora while she was dazed and smashing her down into the ground.

Flora and Lilith both smashed through the ground of the valley, which had already been weakened by the plaza section collapsing on it, and found themselves appearing in a massive underground cavern. Lilith caught herself and pushed away from Flora, who smashed into the bottom of the cavern, giving the younger woman a moment to look around at the place.

"This cave… I've never seen anything like it!" Lilith whispered, only to find that her voice managed to echo across the entire cavern as if she'd spoken normally. The cavern was massive and clearly part of a bigger cave system that went throughout the Titan's Neck, and was full of winding tubes made from some kind of obsidian-like material, with pools of glowing pink liquid scattered throughout the cavern floor. Lilith could feel the heat of the boiling liquid as it illuminated the caverns, and had to wipe her brow of sweat lest it get in her eyes.

Flora, whose barrier had protected her after she landed in one of these pools, climbed out of it and used her whip to grapple up to one of the obsidian tubes close to Lilith, putting them on the same eye level.

"Impressive, Lilith. I'm glad to see you've remained skilled, even if you're as dull as ever. Those glyph notes really are interesting, though I don't recall Dear Philip showing me an earth-based one." Flora smiled condescendingly.

"My niece and nephew showed it to me!" Lilith spat.

Flora rolled her eyes; "Of course they did. It's not like you could ever discover anything interesting by yourself. Though speaking of discoveries, let me introduce you to our new battleground; this is the Growling Grotto, the remains of the Titan's Larynx, and the centre of the vocal cord tunnels. It's quite a fascinating place; sound carries well here, don't you think?" Flora smirked, her words echoing through the grotto.

Lilith's eyes widened; "I've read about this place! You discovered it, but the Emperor forbade people from exploring it after you finished the survey of the tunnels."

She looked down at the bubbling pink liquid; that was a concoction made from Titan stomach acid, phlegm, and saliva. According to Flora's book on her discovery, the Titan had suffered a violent form of acid reflux upon death that filled the space between their stomach and throat with this acid, and it eventually mixed with the phlegm and saliva already in the throat, creating that pink liquid, which when cooled and solidified became a kind of precious crystalline metal ore known as Orichalcum. It was ludicrously rare and expensive, usually being imported from beyond the Boiling Isles…

"This is why Belos closed off these tunnels! This place is his personal treasury! The Orichalcum here must be worth trillions of snails!" Lilith exclaimed.

Flora smirked; "Oh it is indeed. Not that I or Dear Philip have much use for the wealth of a dying world."

With that, she cracked her whip at Lilith, creating a blade of pink magic that Lilith quickly dodged, before returning fire by using ice glyph notes to conjure feathers made of razor sharp ice on her forearms, which she fired at Flora. The older woman avoided them, but Lilith used a wind glyph note to redirect some of the feathers into Flora's back, forcing her to twirl a finger and summon an abomination from her magic to take the blow for her. Flora then manipulated the abomination into the form of a giant ape skeleton, which she had swing towards Lilith in an attempt to grab her. Lilith responded by drawing a pink spell circle, then doing a backflip off of the skeleton's fingers as it tried to wrap it's hands around her. This flip placed her hand with the spell circle on the creature, causing it to begin bubbling and swelling under the abomination self-destruct spell she'd picked up from Amity. Using another wind glyph to speed up her flying speed with Corvanc, Lilith quickly got to the edge of the cavern and watched as the skeleton abomination exploded violently, though it strangely did no damage to the obsidian-like tubes.

"I see you haven't lost your magical abilities along with your mind!" Lilith yelled.

"Lost my mind? Whatever could you be talking about?" Flora asked with a mocking smile as she conjured some poison darts and launched them at Lilith.

Lilith blocked them by moving behind an obsidian pillar, then returned fire with a glyph-made fireball. "You've clearly gone mad! Why else would you work with Belos to destroy this world! Don't tell me you fell in love with "Dear Philip"! That man will never love a witch!"

Flora stepped back and allowed herself to fall from her perch to avoid the fireball, then used her whip to swing around on the obsidian tube, using her foot to make a large spell circle. This spell circle then transformed into a giant buzz saw of pink magic, which went slicing towards Lilith, passing through the grotto's tubes without damaging them. "Me? In love with Philip Wittebane? What a ghastly thought! As if I could love a witch hunter! No my stupid little apprentice, we are merely using each other to meet our goals. It is a purely business arrangement."

"Business!?" Lilith cried, avoiding the buzz saw by stepping to the side of it. This proved to be a mistake however, as the instant she avoided it, the surface of the magic saw suddenly rippled and countless long, thin spikes came shooting out from it. Lilith was caught off guard and only barely managed to throw up a barrier to protect herself, though the barrier broke and a single spike managed to piece through it and stab Lilith in the shoulder, making her cover her mouth to hold in a scream. The spike thankfully hadn't gone in too deep, and it and the rest of the magic construct swiftly disappeared a moment later, leaving Lilith to drop to one knee and pant at the pain.

Flora smirked as she watched Lilith fumble for a healing glyph combo to fix up her wound, then casually dodged the blast of silver magic the woman sent at her a moment later.

"You're assisting in the genocide of your own species and countless others… for a business deal!?" Lilith spat, fuming from both pain and betrayal.

Flora rolled her eyes; "Oh please, as if I'm attached to my fellow witches or this realm. I've explored almost all there is to explore in the Demon Realm; there's next to nothing else to find and discover… and certainly nothing interesting that'd be worth the effort of finding it. To be frank, I've grown bored. But Dear Philip represents a path to two whole new realms to explore to my heart's content! Just think of what fresh sights await me in the Human Realm? I can finally discover what is and isn't true about all those Human Realm relics and books that wash up here! Then the Divine Realm, a place we know almost nothing about, lies in wait for me! Those treasure troves of experiences will keep me satisfied for a thousand years!"

Lilith's eyes widened; "Your assisting in a genocide so you can explore new worlds!?"

"Of course! I wouldn't expect a dull little girl like you to understand, but I am a true explorer!" Flora smiled with an enraptured expression; "Discovering the ancient past, learning all about the mysteries of the world… ah, the thought of it is so delightful! It's as intoxicating as any drug, and as enthralling as true love! But after 500 years of life in this realm, I've exhausted the sense of wonder I can get from the meagre new things I've found. Can you even fathom the disappointment of finding a new ruin or cave system and discovering nothing new? The same architecture, the same relics, the same natural phenomenon… It's so dull…"

Lilith had no idea how to react. She'd once looked up to Flora D'splora as a mentor and a "Bad Girl Historian"! She was the woman Lilith respected more than any other, especially given her prior difficulties with her mother. But all this time, Flora cared for nothing but her adventures and would help murder billions just for the chance of finding something new in another world!? All positive thoughts about her old mentor fled Lilith's mind, and she growled furiously; Flora wasn't a "Bad Girl Historian"! She was a psychopath!

Her curse rumbled within her, making Lilith wince and grab an Elixir from her hair and chug it down, forcing back the feathers that had begun to poke through her skin. Standing straight again, Lilith glared at Flora with a cold fury.

"I won't let you do it… I won't let your selfishness doom this world!" Lilith declared.

Flora smirked; "I'm over 500 years old… I predate even Dear Philip! Do you really think you, a girl barely out of diapers by comparison, has any hope of beating me?"

"I don't just have hope. I know it for a fact… I'm gonna beat you into the ground!" Lilith snarled, before suddenly leaping onto Corvanc and surfing him towards Flora while pulling out a large tome from her hair and yanking out a single Raven Beast feather that had yet to disappear, using it like a quill. Using the blood that had been spilled from her now-healed shoulder wound as ink, Lilith began replicating some of King's glyph combos, then activating them and sending their results at Flora.

Her first spell was a simple conjuration that produced a flurry of sharp hail stones, which Flora tried to dodge by swinging away with her whip. She succeeded in dodging them, but fell straight into Lilith's second spell; the Monster combo that produced a large Raven Beast Arm to grab Flora by the waist and squeeze tightly, making the woman gasp and whimper as one of her ribs cracked. She flailed with her whip to try and make the arm let go, but it felt no pain and so she instead whipped it at Lilith. Lilith had expected to be out of range of the whip, but Flora was able to lengthen it, causing the end of the whip to crack against Lilith's cheek.

Lilith cried out in pain as her cheek suffered a cut, causing her monster arm to throw Flora away before she could hit her again, but also causing Lilith lose her balance and fall from Corvanc's staff. Luckily Lilith was fast enough to draw a safety hover combo to save her before she fell into the molten Orichalcum, then before the safety hover could end, she had her monster arm slam down into the pool and hold her above it. This gave Lilith enough time to summon Corvanc back to her and fly away from the pool, leaving her conjured monster arm to be destroyed. She then turned to Flora, who was gripping her cracked ribs with a pained expression as she drew a massive spell circle with her whip, conjuring a huge boulder that she flung at Lilith. It hit the ground in front of her and began to roll forward at startling speeds, but Lilith leapt out of the way to avoid it. Strangely, the instant the boulder missed her, it stopped in its tracks and began rolling towards her again, changing directions.

"If dodging won't work…" Lilith muttered, rapidly drawing a pair of glyph combos into her tome; "… then how about I make use of you!"

Two monstrously large Raven Beast hands burst from the two monster combos she'd made and grabbed either side of the spinning boulder, then hoisted it into the air. The boulder continued trying to spin, but Lilith merely had the beast arms toss it towards Flora. The foul explorer scoffed and cracked her whip against the boulder, causing her magic to cover it and allow her to move it through the air with ease. However before she could try to throw it back at Lilith, cracks begin to form throughout it. Flora had just enough time to notice a small earth glyph carved into it's surface by Lilith's conjured arms before the glyph caused the boulder to explode, peppering her with shrapnel.

Flora screamed as the rocks struck her flesh, causing her to fall from her perch and almost hit the ground and the Orichalcum pools below, though thankfully she kept enough composure to cast a powerful ice spell as she fell, freezing the pool and making it harden into solid Orichalcum. Her landing was still painful, but at least it didn't end with her fiery death.

Lilith didn't want to give Flora a chance to recover, so she pressed her attack by using one of the glyph combos that she and King had come up with together, during one of their rare "auntie-nephew" times. The combo used the lightning, fire, and plant glyphs to cause the paper it was written on to fold up into an origami shape of the user's choice and obey their will. Lilith opted to turn two pages of her tome into origami ravens, which she sent along with Corvanc to peck at and scratch Flora whilst trying to steal her whip. They actually succeeded and Flora's whip was snatched up by Corvanc and delivered back to Lilith.

"With those injuries and the loss of your weapon, you're done D'splora! Give it up!" Lilith demanded.

Wincing from her wounds, Flora managed to force herself to her feet. The explosion of her boulder had left her riddled with cuts and bruises, while the impact with the ground had cracked the bone in her left thigh and worsened the damage to her ribs. Still, she'd suffered worse and kept going! She wouldn't lose to her former apprentice!

"Cheeky little brat, aren't you!?" Flora snarled, reaching into the sides of her boots. From the left one she pulled a strange weapon that looked like a sword handle attached to a whip, only with segments of a blade strewn throughout it. A twist of the handle caused the whip to contract into the form of a short sword, revealing itself to be a Whip Blade; a rare weapon popularised by a tribe of witches from a now sunken Titan far to the south of the Boiling Isles. From her right boot, Flora pulled out a string of small vials, each filled with a healing potion. With a swing of the Whip Blade, the corks of the bottles were removed and Flora dumped all the potions down her throat, causing her body to glow green and blue for a moment as her wounds were healed. The broken bones were knitted back together and the cuts closed, but they'd noticeably not vanished entirely… clearly such small doses weren't enough.

"In all my 500 years, I don't think I've ever been wounded by someone who is supposed to be so far beneath me! How bothersome…" Flora scowled, flicking her blade to turn it back into its whip form. The light of the nearby molten Orichalcum caught it, revealing the metal of the whip was a strange teal colour… noticeable the same colour Orichalcum turned when it cooled and hardened.

"So her weapon is Orichalcum… that means she can channel magic through it like a staff!" Lilith scowled. But another thought came to mind; "You keep talking about being 500 years old, but how are you possibly that old? A witch couldn't live that long without something assisting her, and you don't look older than 40!"

Flora smirked; "Did the little Angel not tell you all about it?"

Lilith blinked; "Luz? She barely knew you existed before today, how could she tell me anything about your ageing?"

Flora suddenly lashed her whip blade at Lilith, using her confusion to make an opening. Thankfully Lilith wasn't that easily tricked and ducked the swing, then ran forward and slid between Flora's legs, before closing her tome and slamming it into the back of Flora's head. The woman grunted but immediately kicked backward, hitting Lilith in the gut with her heel and causing her to double over, winded. Flora then delivered a round house kick with her other heel to send Lilith flying, though Lilith was able to block it with her tome at the last second.

"I guess that wasn't one of the memories she saw when invading Dear Philip's mind! But she did tell you how he has been surviving all these centuries, yes?" Flora smirked.

Lilith's eyes widened; "Palismen sacrifices!"

Flora's smirk grew wider; "Who do you think told him all about them? Dear Philip was my first apprentice! I learned of sacrificing Palismen to extend one's life span during one of my first expeditions, and later sacrificed my own Palisman to save my life after I ran afoul of a trap. I was younger than you back then."

She drew a spell circle with her right hand whilst lashing at Lilith with the whip blade in her left. Lilith dodged the whip slash, but soon found herself bound in vines summoned by the spell. Flora reared her whip blade back to lash her now that she was trapped, but Corvanc suddenly swooped in and began clawing at the back of Flora's head, giving Lilith the moment she needed to draw a fire glyph on the ground with her heel to burn the vines and escape.

"You killed your own Palisman!? Then you taught Belos how do to it too!? How far have you fallen, D'splora!? And why aren't you a deformed monster like your "friend"!?" Lilith growled, putting the whip she stole from Flora into her pocket so she could have both hands free for her tome and quill. She used the origami glyph combo again to create a swarm of tiny paper beetles that flew around Flora's face, trying to inflict tiny paper cuts.

Flora countered by conjuring a fireball and burning them all to ash; "I kept my shape for two reasons! One, I am not stupid enough to carve faulty glyph combos into my flesh! And two, I only ever sacrificed my own Palisman!"

A quick spell caused the ash of the burnt paper to be blown into Lilith's face. It got in her eyes and blinded her for a second, but thankfully she used the ice glyph to make a massive ball of water that not only protected her, but which also washed the ash out of her eyes. She then filled a page of her tome with more ice glyphs, then pointed it towards Flora. The glyphs reacted to Lilith's will and froze portions of the water bubble into the shape of icy ravens, which were shot towards Flora.

"How did you survive all these years with only one sacrifice!?" Lilith demanded.

Flora, showing adept whip skills, began lashing back and forward, effortlessly destroying the ice ravens. However she didn't try to counterattack straight away, instead smirking; "Who said I only made one sacrifice? I simply sacrificed my own Palisman over and over!"

Lilith gasped, and Flora happily explained; "Surely a daughter of a renowned Palisman Carver understands that the soul of a Palisman is born from the soul of its first bonded partner? I made my Palisman, Glover, back in my youth and when I sacrificed him, his soul was sealed in my body. It took a bit of research, but I was able to carve him a new body and revive him… then I could sacrifice him again whenever I needed to! Which means…!"

Flora suddenly attacked, lashing at Lilith with the whip blade. Lilith dodged to the side and used an earth glyph in her tome to make a stone wall to protect her if Flora lashed the whip blade back at her again. However that just made Flora smirk as she cried; "… my Palisman is still ready to serve me!"

With a snap of her fingers, Flora made her whip disappear from Lilith's pocket and reappear in her right hand, where upon she lashed it against Lilith before she could defend herself. The lash struck Lilith across the chest, making her scream in pain and lose her focus, dropping her tome. A flick of Flora's wrist shrank her whip blade back into its sword form, allowing her to easily pull it back and flick it again, turning it back to a whip to slash Lilith from the other side, avoiding her stone wall. Despite her pain from the first lash however, Lilith had enough wits left to dodge at the last second, though she had to dive to the ground to do so, causing the whip blade to slice through her hair. Lilith's dyed black locks were shorn off, leaving her hair in a rough bob cut. Since she'd stopped straightening it, it had begun to get curly at the very ends while the weight of the hair kept the rest straight; though not that most of the weight was gone, her remaining hair almost immediately curled, becoming similar to Luz's hair, albeit with tighter curls.

Lilith didn't care about this though, instead grabbing an emergency healing glyph combo and applying it to her chest to heal the horribly painful welt she'd suffered. Flora raised both her hands to deal a double whip lash down on Lilith, grinning mockingly as she did so… until she suddenly screamed as Lilith grabbed a fistful of her sliced off hair and cast a spell to turn each strand into a long, sharp needle, which she tossed into Flora's face. They stuck into her flesh, making it look like Flora had headbutted a porcupine, and causing her to scream in pain. Flora turned her original whip back into its true form; her pink monkey Palisman Glover, and had him sit on her shoulder and pull out the needles as she frantically and furiously lashed at Lilith with the whip blade. Lilith dove behind her stone wall to defend herself, but upon seeing Corvanc almost being sliced as he came to help her, she summoned him back to her hand with magic and said; "I can't beat her like this. Go! You know what to do!"

Corvanc cawed in agreement, and Lilith leapt out of her hiding spot to toss his staff form at Flora like a spear. The woman dodged out of the way and Corvanc went flying right passed her, before turning back into his raven form and flying up and out of the grotto via the hole they'd fallen through earlier.

As soon as Corvanc was gone, Flora nearly took Lilith's head off with a swing from her whip blade. Lilith once again dropped to the ground to avoid it, and seeing as Flora was going to whip it back again, the Raven Witch quickly used a plant glyph note to grow a large tree directly in front of her. As Lilith hoped, when Flora swung her whip blade back, it wrapped around the trunk of the tree and its blades became lodged in the bark. Lilith then climbed up into the tree with some help from a wind glyph note, hoping to use the branches as cover from the lashes of Flora's Palisman whip, which she'd turned Glover back into now that he'd pulled the needles from her face.

"I'll make you suffer for that, you little fool!" Flora snarled, casting a quick spell to create an oil slick from the bottom of her feet. She then used this oil slick to slide across the floor, using the whip blade's grip on the tree to slide around in a big circle, leaving behind both a spell circle and a ring of oil. With a vicious grin, Flora then activated the spell circle, creating a pitfall spell that destroyed all solid ground within the circle. The resulting pit was a whopping 200 feet deep, and with no earth for its roots, the tree Lilith was sitting in promptly fell. Lilith screamed and used the last glyph note in her pocket; a fire glyph, to create a short burst of fire to launch herself towards the edge of the pit. Unfortunately it wasn't quite enough and Lilith found herself barely clinging to the edge, which was slick with oil.

Flora abandoned her whip sword, letting it fall into the pit with the tree it was lodged into, then smiled cruelly as she walked over to where Lilith was struggling to climb up. "Having trouble? Let me help!"

She stomped on Lilith's hand, breaking several fingers and making the poor woman bite her lip to keep in her screams of pain. Lilith glared defiantly up at Flora, as the older woman smirked down at her.

"You know Lilith… I really hated being stuck teaching you. You were so dull and boring! You viewed the entire world through the lens of books! Not a bit of the adventurous spirit your sister had! I only took you as a student because Dear Philip asked me too… if you hadn't cursed Edalyn and she'd joined up with the coven instead, it would have been so much more interesting! I might have actually kept her as my pupil! Such a waste…" Flora mocked.

Lilith tried to ignore the hurt those words caused her; she couldn't care less about Flora's opinion, but the accusations of being boring, less skilled than her sister, and being too enamoured with books were ones she'd weathered before, and they always stung. Lilith wished she could be the adventurous free spirit that the rest of the Clawthornes were… she lacked most of their wanderlust… Still, Lilith was a Clawthorne and proud of it; she wouldn't let this traitor to her own kind talk down to her!

"You think you're so much better than me, but you're just a stupid as I was! Belos won't let you live! He'll kill you just like the rest of us!" Lilith spat.

Flora scoffed; "Oh please! I'm no ordinary witch! Dear Philip and I have been friends and confidants for centuries! I know how his mind works, and he won't betray me! I helped him find the Galdorstones for his little Grimwalker projects! I went to other nations and ensured they wouldn't interfere with the Boiling Isles! I found the fossilised Basilisk Eggs that he revived to create his little pets! And I took Subject Zero abroad to feast on enough magic to make her the Goliath Basilisk she is now without tipping off you rebels! He owes all his knowledge to me!"

"You, and the Collector." Lilith countered.

Flora froze; "What… is the Collector?"

Lilith's eyes widened, then she began to grin; "You don't know…? Oh Flora, it looks like your "Dear Philip" kept secrets from you! Maybe you aren't as close as you think!"

The other woman's eye twitched with rage as she reared back to lash at Lilith with her Palisman whip; "Shut up, you lying worm!"

"Actually, I don't think I will!" Lilith smirked, undaunted by the threat; "I kept you talking just long enough… now it's over. Flora D'splora, let me introduce you to my best friend…"

Flora suddenly felt an icy chill go down her spine as a menacing presence appeared behind her. She slowly turned, paling as she came face to face with… it.

An impossibly long tube-like demon, with the face of an Owl, it's eyes focused firmly on her as it's beak opened wide, revealing the inside of its body to be a mass of teeth.

"… Hooty the House Demon."

Hooty leaned forward until his beak was practically brushing up against Flora's nose, then he spoke with the same cheerful tone as always; "Hoot hoot! Hello, are you a new friend playing with my Lulu, hoot?"

Flora was at a loss for words, but Lilith answered for her; "Oh yes, Hootsifer. We've been playing for a while now. Why don't you play with Flora too? I think she'd enjoy one of your tea parties."

"Oh boy! I'll give her some of my special tea! Speciality! Get it? HOOT!" Hooty laughed.

"What in the Titan's name are y-" Flora began, only to turn a ghostly white as Hooty's laughing maw stretched open wide and began to close around Flora's upper body. She shrieked in surprise and tried to dodge, but as she took her foot off Lilith's hand, the woman grabbed her ankle and held her in place, leaving Flora trapped. Hooty closed his mouth around Flora's torso, pinning her arms to her sides as she screamed and thrashed. Lilith, still holding onto Flora's ankle, was pulled out of the pit as Hooty lifted his prey into the air, allowing Lilith to get back on solid ground before flicking his head back and tossing Flora into the air.

"My speciality is pain!" Hooty said, his voice going from cheerful to demonic on that final word, before biting his beak down on the airborne woman's ankle and beginning to slam her against the walls, floor, and obsidian tubes of the Growling Grotto, making the woman scream and groan in pain with each impact. The noises echoed through the grotto, making quite the cacophony. Lilith felt almost sorry for her as Corvanc, who'd been sent to retrieve Hooty, landed on her shoulder after handing her the tome she'd dropped earlier, so she could draw a new healing glyph combo to fix her broken hand.

While Lilith was doing that, Hooty continued to fling Flora around like a rag doll, until the woman finally managed to lash at him with her whip, making him yelp and drop her to the ground. She scurried to her feet, panting and wincing in pain, but Hooty gave her no openings. Hooty wasn't the smartest of Demons, nor the strongest, but he knew his abilities very well; so long as he caught people off guard and kept them unsettled, he could win! His friend Raspberry had said he was a master of psychological warfare… Hooty didn't know what that meant, but if it involved scaring the pants off the lady who beat up his Lulu, then he was happy!

"S-Stay back you freakish worm!" Flora cried, whipping Hooty across the face.

"Ooh… are we playing grown up games now? I wanna try! Hoot!" Hooty said, smiling as always despite the new welt on his face. He then flicked his long body just like Flora had cracked her whip, lashing himself against Flora with enough force to send her flying into a wall. He then stabbed his face into the dirt so he could lift his bird house into the air and smash it into the back of Flora's head, dazing her even more.

"W-What are you…!?" the explorer shuddered, seeing double thanks to the head wound.

"I'm Hooty! I'm here to kick butt and hoot! And I'm all out of hoots!" he replied, before whipping himself at Flora again. She tried to counter with a barrier, but he moved too fast and hit her before she could complete her spell circle. Her whip went sailing out of her hand and into the pit she'd made, and Flora herself very nearly followed it into the depths, only barely managing to dig her fingers into the dirt around the pit, though like Lilith before her, she struggled with the oil.

Seeing this, Hooty shrank all the way back until his face alone was poking out of his bird house, then trotted over to Flora with his little chicken legs. Flora screamed; "Stay back!" but he didn't listen.

"Sorry for before Flora. I lied…. I'm never out of Hoots! I just don't have any to give you!" Hooty said cheerfully, poking one of Flora's hands with a talon.

Flora let out a nearly feral scream as she tried to swat Hooty away. "I won't lose to this demented owl! I'll barbecue you!"

With a spell, Flora cleared the oil from her hands and the patch of ground beneath them, then used a fire spell to ignite the rest, turning the oil slick she'd made earlier into a blazing inferno. It created a ring of fire around the pit, and Hooty soon found himself on fire… and not reacting in the slightest.

"Mmm, does something smell good, or is it just me?" Hooty asked, complete unfazed by the fire engulfing him.

Flora looked up in abject terror as the flaming Owl Demon turned his eyes back to her, looking like twin voids in a face of fire; like a vision of the Hell Philip so often spoke of.

"Dear Titan, what are you!?" she screamed.

"Titans? Silly Flora, there are no Titans here!" he extended his face until he was right in front of her; "Only Hooty."

Then, as casually as smiling, Hooty raised a burning chicken foot and tapped it down on Flora's hand. The flames burned her and she screamed, letting go of the edge of the pit. She realised her mistake and screamed as she fell into the pit, soon disappearing into the darkness, though her screams continued to echo out from the shadows for a few seconds.

"Oh well! I guess we didn't get to the tea party!" Hooty said casually, before suddenly finding a massive mound of snow dropped on his head to smother the flames. He poked his head out of it, now doused but covered in burns, and smiled as she saw his best friend. "Lulu! Did I help?"

Lilith smiled; "You did more than help! You saved me! Now come here and give me a hug while I heal all those nasty boo-boos."

Hooty cheered and hopped out of the snow before running into Lilith's arms. "Hooray! Hugs and healing for Hooty!"

Lilith happily embraced him, though she cringed a little a she saw exposed muscle and even bone through a few of Hooty's burns. The odd little Demon didn't even seem to notice though, and nuzzled against Lilith as she applied healing glyph combos.

"Oh Hooty, you're the Demon of my Dreams who haunts all our nightmares…" she said softly, before looking up to the hole above; "I wonder how Eda and Raine are doing…?"

[Meanwhile]

As it turned out, Lilith had been stuck with the real challenge… or at least that's how Eda felt as she effortlessly dodged yet another wild flail of Subject Zero's gargantuan claws. In legends, a Goliath Basilisk was said to be as dangerous as a Goliath Ash Moth, being a nigh invincible foe that no Witch or Demon could hope to best, with the power to casually suck up the magic of an entire nation in only a few moments. Combining such a power with its colossal size, the strength and speed of its claws and tail, and its ability to regenerate from most wounds would normally make a monster no Witch could hope to conquer…

But take away its ability to drain magic and it basically became a really big, really hardy punching bag.

"Have a taste of this!" Eda declared, combining a fire and earth glyph note to create another giant globule of lava, which she promptly threw at Subject Zero. The Basilisk saw the attack coming and leapt as far from it as she could, having already been scalded by lava once today! The ground rumbled as she landed, then tried to swing her tail at Raine, who just flew up a little higher to avoid it. They then countered by beginning to whistle a Bardic Song known as the Fanfare of Fatigue, which caused those listening to begin having their stamina drained away from the, leaving them weak and open to attacks.

Subject Zero began to droop and pant like she'd just done a lap around the Isles, while Eda (who blocked her ears by removing her pinky fingers and using them as improvised ear plugs) attacked the exhausted Basilisk by slapping a pair of fire and wind glyphs onto Owlbert, creating a giant blue fireball on the end of his staff that she quickly flicked off towards Subject Zero. The flames exploded against the back of her head, causing the Basilisk to scream and for her hair to ignite, which she tried to deal with quickly by rolling around on the ground. While the Basilisk flailed and tried to deal with the flames, Eda flew back to Raine's side and withdrew the fingers from her ears while Raine stopped their song.

"This isn't working." Eda said; "We've got this thing on the ropes, but it's too massive and sturdy to finish it off!"

"I could put it to sleep with a Lullaby of Lethargy, but it wouldn't work very well against a beast this large! I'd need more power than I've got left, meaning I'd need my violin as well, so no flying." Raine replied, before adding; "Besides, we need to find a way to make this thing vomit up all the magic it stole! Once that happens, the unbranded CATTs will be back in action and we can finally take over the plaza and back up the Bat Queen!"

Eda nodded in agreement, though she wasn't sure how to handle it; "I can whip up a quick emetic agent to make this thing barf, but it'll take a lot of time to make one for something this big! I could also just try and smack 'em really hard in the gut, but she's squirmy enough that I don't know if I can manage it! I'm out of my own magic and almost out of paper glyphs too." she said, pulling out a lightning glyph, a wind glyph, two plant glyphs, and a healing glyph combo.

Raine winced as they looked over their own remaining supplies; they'd used up most of their magic on large scale Bardic Songs to drain the Basilisk's strength and protect people in the plaza above so they only had enough for one more song, plus about three paper glyphs (one fire, one light, and one ice). They handed the left over glyphs to Eda and asked; "Think you can use these?"

Eda examined them, then smirked; "I think so, but I'm gonna have to do something a little crazy!"

She transformed into her Harpy Mode, and Raine immediately noticed she looked a bit larger and more feral, with her feathers puffed out like an angry cat. Shockingly, she handed Owlbert to Raine too.

"I'm gonna make that thing throw up! Once she does, I'll become your mount and fly for you, so you can use both our Palismen to play that song. That should be enough to put her to sleep, right?" Eda asked with a wide grin.

Raine had no idea if they were being honest, but it sounded like their best bet, so they agreed immediately. "Go get 'em Babe!"

"You got it, Raine Storm! Now sit back and watch Mama work!" Eda smirked even wider, before slapping the wind, fire, ice, and lightning glyphs onto her body, then putting the light glyph in her hand and the two plant glyphs on her wings.

With that done, she immediately flew at Subject Zero as fast as she could, dodging a swing from her tail as she approached. Eda flew close the ground and activated one of the plant glyphs on her wings, creating a massive amount of vines that shot up and ensnared Subject Zero's left arm. The Basilisk snarled and began to struggle, so Eda then flew at her face and shoved the light glyph into it, producing a bright flash that blinded the Basilisk and made her focus more on shielding her eyes than pulling free. With Subject Zero now blind, Eda flew to her other side and used the other plant glyph to create more vines, binding the Basilisk's other arm. The two masses of vines pulled taut, ensuring the Basilisk couldn't move either arm and struggled to even move her torso, leaving just her tail to flail around awkwardly. Eda then flew back a full kilometre away from Subject Zero as she prepared to activate the glyphs she still had on her.

"Okay Owl Beast, this is gonna suck for both of us, but I'll fix us up when this is done. I just need you to take the reigns a little more." Eda said, taking deep breathes to brace herself. Within her, the Owl Beast roared and Eda found herself transforming from her Harpy Mode to full Owl Beast mode. She hadn't fully transformed since making her truce with the Owl Beast, but she noticed that willingly transforming was a lot less painful than the forced version. Since the Owl Beast was also allowing Eda to stay in control too, Eda's eyes remained the same as her Harpy Mode ones; keeping her irises and the transformed state's black sclera.

"This feels a little different from when Belos put my mind in control of this body… oh well, let's do this! We've got one shot!" Eda declared, before flying at Subject Zero as fast as she could with her now much larger body. Once she'd reached her maximum flying speed, Eda activated the wind and fire glyphs to create a blue flame booster, rocketing her forward even faster at the cost of burning her a little. Then when she was just about to hit the Goliath Basilisk's stomach, Eda activated the final two glyphs; using the ice glyph to freeze herself into a giant ball of ice (for both a harder impact and to protect herself) and using the lightning glyph to flash forward with even greater speed and momentum.

With that level of speed, Eda was basically a giant frozen bullet that smashed directly into Subject Zero's stomach with incredible force. Subject Zero didn't scream, as all the air was forced out of her, leaving only the pain of impact and a horrible churning in her stomach. That churning didn't last long, and Eda (thawed out of the ice by the remains of the blue flame) barely had time to fly away weakly, damaged by the impact, before Subject Zero promptly threw her head forward and vomited.

An absolutely obscene amount of magic came flying out of her, causing her to begin deflating like a balloon, shrinking down to almost half her size as all the orbs of magic that shot out went flying back to their original owners. Eda watched proudly as she applied her last glyph note, the healing combo, to undo the damage of her big attack. A single combo wasn't enough to heal her completely, but it at least healed the bones she'd broken and helped dull the pain of the injuries that lingered.

"Now everyone whose magic was stolen has had it return. I'd call that a success…" Eda panted, a little worn out. She then turned her attention back to the Goliath Basilisk, whose reduced size had allowed her to slip free of the vines binding her. She had gotten a lot smaller, but she was still huge (even half the size of her prior form was ridiculously big) and worse, she was still able to move around in a rage, seemingly even angrier now that she'd had her feast stolen from her. The reduced size had also allowed her to slip free of the control collar, meaning not even Flora or Belos could command her now.

Eda flew back over to Raine, inviting the Bard to stand on her back so they didn't need to use Rena to fly any more. "The plan has worked so far! Glad at least one of them has today! Are you ready, Raine?"

"I am. We might want to act quickly too! She's heading for one of the support pillars beneath another section!" Raine said urgently, watching as Subject Zero darted for the closest pillar, aiming to climb back up to the plaza to steal the magic back. She was even more desperate since the Draining Spell was still working on her thanks to the sigil brand she'd been given; she didn't have active magic to drain like Witches and Biped Demons, but the sigil was still draining the passive magic that all Demons had, slowly withering her away.

With Raine on her back, Owl Beast Eda flew towards Subject Zero as quickly as she could. Raine then transformed Rena from a staff to a violin, then held up Owlbert and channelled the same spell through him as well, turning him into an Owl themed bow with which to play their violin. They reached the Basilisk, and Raine yelled to Eda.

"Plug your ears and hum to yourself to block out the song! This is going to be a lot more powerful than usual!" Raine declared, already feeling the power radiating from their dual Palismen.

Eda obeyed, sticking a talon in each ear and loudly humming to herself as Raine began to play the Lullaby of Lethargy. Dragging the Owlbert Bow back and forth across the strings of the Rena Violin, Raine played the best lullaby they ever had, even adding their voice to the song to make it even more powerful. Waves of red and gold magic spread from Raine, hitting Subject Zero and causing her to be engulfed in the bardic aura. Slowly, her eyes began to droop and her movements became slower and more sluggish until finally, after about a minute of listening to the song, Subject Zero stopped moving altogether and slumped to the ground. The Goliath Basilisk now lay there, curling up like a snake as she peacefully snored, looking far less monstrous and threatening now that it was asleep.

Eda and Raine watched with bated breath as the latter stopped their song, then both released a sigh of relief as Subject Zero didn't even stir.

"Oh thank the Titan!" Eda sighed, descending to the ground so Raine could hop off. She then returned to her normal witch form, totally tapped and with even the Owl Beast deciding to take a nap within her. "Good job Raine. Good job Owl Beast… you know, I really need to find a name for you."

The sleeping beast gave no reply, while Raine just chuckled; "I hope I can find peace with the Bat Beast like that some day…"

"And I, the Raven Beast."

Eda and Raine turned around to see Lilith, looking as exhausted as them, came flying over on the back of Corvanc, with Hooty's bird house on her back and his body wrapped around her neck like a loose scarf.

"Hey Lily! Beat that freaky traitor, did you?" Eda asked with a knowing grin.

Lilith huffed and shook her head; "No. I got a few good licks in, but she bested me. Hootsifer saved my life and finished Flora off. But I learned a lot about what happened between her and Belos…"

Raine, the least tired of the trio, went over and pat her on the shoulder; "You can tell us about it once we've headed back up to the plaza. With Subject Zero down, the rest of the Hydra's Fangs, Scales, and Horns units should be back on their feet." Raine said, switching Rena back to staff mode and handing Owlbert back to Eda.

The Clawthorne sisters nodded and the Cursed Trio flew tiredly back up to the plaza, where they found that the battle had turned back in the rebels favour. The combination of the Bat Queen's forces and the resurgent CATTs had pushed back the remaining Abomaton forces, and had almost completely routed them. Former Construction Coven members and wild witches skilled in that form of magic had begun creating walkways and bridges to connect the rest of the plaza with the entrance, since the entrance section had been collapsed entirely and there was no other way in or out of the plaza by foot. Once those paths were complete, some of the rebels would leave the plaza to go back up their allies outside, and begin the full liberation of the Boiling Isles.

"Things are going well. We hit one heck of a road block, but we've overcome it now. We just have to stop the Draining Spell!" Raine declared as they flew up to the Central Tower. They and Lilith took the opportunity to tie up the helpless Coven Heads, leaving only Mason and the two controlled Basilisks free (or as free as they could be while trapped by the ritual). Eda freed the two remaining Basilisks from their control collars (not that it helped much at this point), then turned to look up at Luz, still doing her best to endure and hold all the magic in.

"We've got to rely on the kids now…" Eda sighed. She wished she could go after them and help with Belos, but she and the others were completely tapped out. "I know you kids won't let us down!"

Unbeknownst to Eda, help was on the way from an unexpected source… one lurking within the shadows.

[Meanwhile]

Belos, still watching the battle in the plaza from the comfort of the Titan's skull, found himself frowning as he saw the Goliath Basilisk struggling to deal with the Cursed Trio. However his attention was then drawn by something happening with Luz; he witnessed the aurora of magic surrounding her fluctuate for a moment, making him scowl.

"Is someone trying to move her? Foolish, they'll only succeed in hurting the girl. Even so, Flora shouldn't have let anyone get close!" Belos growled to himself. He was looking forward to finally giving that loathsome witch what she deserved… Flora had been useful, but she dared to think that she, a lowly witch, was the equal of a human! If she managed to reach him before the culmination of the ritual, Belos would be sure to petrify her just enough to keep her still, so she could watch and experience the fate she'd helped him inflict on the rest of this rotten world. And if she didn't reach him in time? Well, she'd suffer the same fate anyway.

Belos was just thinking that he'd almost prefer it if she did reach him, so she could enjoy the look on her face when she realised she'd been duped, before something suddenly caught his attention. Something was coming towards him… a rather large flash of golden lightning!

Realising who it must be, Belos dissolved himself into slime and sank into the floor, then reformed further back on the bridge, giving him enough space to begin conjuring a barrier with his artificial magic staff. He needed the barrier to block the Titan's nostrils entirely to keep the approaching enemies out, seeing as the entrance to his hideaway was in a small hole directly above the left nostril and thus part of the same massive nasal cavern. However he found to his dismay that he'd been a touch too slow, and the barrier formed just a split second after the lightning had passed into the skull and hit the end of the bridge, kicking up a large dust cloud. Belos scowled and readied his staff as the dust settled, revealing seven new attackers.

"I must say, I expected you Hunter…" Belos began, seeing his Grimwalker servant glaring at him from the centre of the group, "… but I wasn't expecting a horde of Witch Whelps. I expected better of you."

Hunter growled at him, gripping his staff tightly to try and stop himself from shaking as he faced down the man he'd once called Uncle. The rest of the Hexsquad surrounded him, each one holding their own staves and preparing spell circles.

Belos examined each one carefully, recognising them all as pests who'd gotten in the way of his plans. The Alembic girl that had left his once useful pawn Vitimir in a mentally unstable state. The Cadence girl that led one of his Coven Heads to defect, forcing him to rely on an unideal back-up. The Tholomule and Porter boys that had royally screwed up his plans for Glandus and left Adrian a near useless wreck for the last week! The Park girl who'd earned his ire by helping the Owl Lady ruin his forces at the Plant Coven, causing Terra (a highly useful pawn) to defect to the side of that pointless weed hiding beneath her manor. And then of course, the Blight girl… and truly, was there not a word more fitting for her than Blight. Helping to mess up his plans at Eclipse Lake and Palm Stings had been bad enough, but she was also responsible for luring an Angel into an unnatural and unholy union! Just how far had the little succubus forced Luz to go with her evil seductions?

"You know, I was planning to just let you all burn away in the Divine Light of the Day of Unity, but I like this more. I'll personally deliver you all to your Mak-!" Belos began, only to be cut off by Boscha tossing a potion bottle at him. He parried it with his staff, making it hit the floor and shatter, producing a thick fog. Boscha then ran at him, tossing another potion with one hand and launching a fireball from her staff with the other. Belos summoned a green worm monster to devour them both, though it promptly exploded.

"Don't let him talk our ears off! Put him down hard and fast! He won't show us mercy, so don't show him anyway!" Boscha shouted, getting close enough to Belos to coat her fist in fire and try to punch him. Belos turned his body partially to sludge to avoid the punch, then grabbed Boscha's throat and yanked her into the air.

"I'll rip that freakish third eye right out!" Belos growled, aiming the tip of his staff at the eye in Boscha's forehead.

Skara gasped and used a wind spell and a blast of sonic magic from a stomp of her foot to launch herself at Belos and Boscha, landing on his shoulder and releasing Melody (who turned into cricket mode) so she could grab and hold back Belos' staff with both hands. She then found her feet beginning to sink into Belos as he started turning himself into mush.

"EVERYONE, COVER YOUR EARS!" Skara commanded. Everyone obeyed as Skara cast a spell to deafen herself, then whistled sharply. Enhancing the whistle with Bardic magic, she created a sound so loud that Belos screamed in pain, unable to cover his ears since both were occupied. Eventually he let go of his staff (allowing Skara to take it) as well as Boscha, the latter of whom Belos tossed off the side of the bridge. He then grabbed Skara and smashed her into the ground, stopping her whistle and making her cry out in pain.

"SKARA!" Boscha cried as she used Maya to fly back towards her friend.

Belos snarled and snatched his staff from the dazed Skara's hand, then shot a red blast at Boscha. Hunter used his flash step to zip towards Boscha and pull her out of the way, while Belos found his legs being wrapped in tree roots, which Willow had grown and snaked under the bridge to grab him. The roots stretched up his body and then stabbed into his torso, impaling him as he screamed and let go of Skara. Hunter zipped to her and grabbed her, before throwing the girl to Boscha and then spinning around and smashing his staff into Belos' face, using a little lightning magic to zap the corrupted man. Belos screamed in pain and anger, and turned his body to sludge to escape the roots, then reformed behind Willow and tried to hit her with red lightning.

Willow screamed in agony and hit the ground, while all her friends appeared to watch on in horror… at least until more tree roots suddenly speared him through the chest, seemingly growing out of Willow herself. Belos cried out in pain, then growled irritably as the girl he'd been torturing disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke; Gus had made them all invisible and replaced them with illusions while Belos had been escaping the first set of roots.

"Infernal tricksters!" Belos roared, pulling himself free from the roots and allowing his slimy body to regenerate. "I'll purge you all!"

He raised his staff to release an omni-directional blast of magic, but some abomination slime produced by Amity shot out and wrapped around the head of his staff, absorbing the blast (albeit while still being blown apart). Belos snarled and began shooting lightning in random directions, coming very close to hitting a few of the Hexsquad, until Matt managed to get behind him and smash him in the back of the legs with his rock-covered staff. Belos collapsed to his knees with a groan, then Matt reared back his fist, hardened with Construction Magic, and socked Belos right in the face. His blow hit with so much force that Belos' slimy head actually flew off his shoulders and bounced to the end of the bridge, where it disgustingly reformed into a small, sludgy skull with two skinny arms.

"Okay, that's gross as heck!" Matt shuddered, watching the rest of Belos' body melt into slime and try to reach the head.

"Don't let him get away!" Hunter cried, using Flapjack to shoot a bolt of lightning at Belos' head while both Amity and Boscha shot fire at the rest of him. Hunter managed to shoot off one of Belos' little skull arms, but the rest of his head managed to jump into the large gate leading into his secret workshop, where he melted between the doors. The rest of him followed soon after, albeit suffering some burn damage in the process.

"Dang it!" Willow growled, rushing to the gate and trying to force it open, only to find it completely solid and unmoving. She and her friends each launched an elemental attack too, but the door was impervious.

"He got away! The portal door is probably in there too, we need to get in before he escapes to the Human Realm!" Hunter growled, pounding away at the door.

The Hexsquad tried harder to pry open the doors, until Gus noticed something. The doors were decorated with some kind of interlocking maze of white lines, which largely differed between the two doors. The asymmetrical design was bizarre, and Gus couldn't imagine a control freak like Belos building something so chaotic… it made him wonder.

"Hey guys, step back a moment. Let me try something." he said, nudging the others aside. They obediently stepped back, and Gus gingerly placed his hand against one of the white lines, causing it to begin glowing blue. Gus grinned as he watched the blue line begin to spread, following his will.

"I think I've got it! This is an old puzzle door! I think we need to solve it to open it up!" Gus explained.

"Ooh, I'm great at puzzles! Let me help!" Skara said eagerly, moving to help.

"I'll assist as well; I'm not top student in our year for nothing!" Amity declared.

As the trio began trying to solve the door, the remaining four were left to watch anxiously, and discuss their next move.

"Something about this doesn't feel right… Belos was way too weak. He was equal in strength to Luz when she first became an Arch-Angel, yet we managed to almost take him out? We're stronger than we used to be and there are seven of us, but that still felt too easy." Hunter frowned.

"You think he's holding back?" Matt asked.

"Why bother? The dude's a murderous psycho; I doubt he'd hold back against us just because we're kids." Boscha frowned.

"It is strange." Willow agreed; "Hunter's right; he should have been tougher than that. Something weird is going on."

Before they could say another word, Gus yelled out to them; "Guys, I think we've got it!"

The other four hurried to join Amity, Skara, and Gus as they completed the puzzle door, causing the massive gates to swing inward and allow them to enter Belos' hideout. They quickly ran in and began looking around, moving in pairs so they could stay back to back (with Hunter pairing up with both Amity and Willow) and avoid Belos sneaking up on them. At first glance, there was no signs of Belos; just a table of tools and books, a strange coffin stood opposite it, and the Portal Door at the end of the room, which was shut up tight and had a red barrier dome erected over it.

"Did Belos run through the portal after putting that barrier up?" Amity frowned.

"Who knows? Give me a minute to smash the barrier down and we can at least grab the Portal!" Skara said, rushing over to the barrier while Boscha watched her back.

As the girls were doing that, Willow watched Amity and Hunter's backs as they looked at Belos' table of tools, the former picking through the old books (many she knew to have been banned by Belos himself), while the latter idly picked up the Sigil Branding Glove. Hunter felt his mouth go dry, remembering this familiar glove… Belos had used it to brand Hunter years ago, back when Hunter thought it was such an honour. Well, his wrist was free of the Emperor's blemish now, and he had no intention of ever letting someone be branded by it again! Picking the glove up, Hunter noticed something fall out of it and land at his feet; it was a shard of thick silvery glass of some kind, though he couldn't think of what it could be from. Ignoring it as unimportant, he turned his attention back to the glove and planned to ask Amity to burn it, when Matt suddenly called out to everyone.

"Uh, I think something is weird with this thing…!" he cried, sounding afraid as the others turned to him. He'd been staring at the odd coffin as Gus watched his back, and as the others looked to see what he was talking about, Matt pointed to the base of the coffin, where a familiar green sludge could be seen seeping out of the bottom.

"Belos is hiding in there!" Hunter cried, brandishing his staff and shoving the Sigil Branding Glove into his back pocket to destroy later.

"Then let's flush him out!" Boscha smirked viciously, unleashing a jet of flame on the coffin. Amity did the same, while Hunter shot lighting bolts, Matt shot stalagmites, Gus shot icicles, Skara fired wind blades, and Willow used plant magic to grow some of her specially grafted Artillery Seed Pods, which fired explosive seeds. Under this onslaught of elements, the coffin was quickly consumed and destroyed, but as the smoke and dust of the attacks died down, the Hexsquad were horrified to see a cocoon shaped barrier made from a swirling mass of gold, black, and red magic. The swirling began to intensify, and both Skara and Hunter could feel a charge in the air.

"GET BACK!" Hunter cried, grabbing Willow and pulling her away from the cocoon, while she used vines to grab the others and pull them back too. Once Hunter saw they were all connected by vines, he used his flash spell to flee back out of Belos' hideaway, while Amity ordered her spirits to rush forward and shut the doors. They got the doors most of the way shut, before both spirits suddenly shrieked and returned to their Oracle Stones despite Amity's orders. The Hexsquad didn't have time to think on why this was, as an explosion of magic soon blasted through the Titan's skull. All seven of them had to stamp their staves into the ground and cast a combined barrier spell to stop themselves being blown away by the blast, and even with all of them together, the explosion cracked their barrier.

When the explosion was over and the dust had settled, they cautiously looked out through their barrier (not lowering it) and gasped in horror as they saw that the large orb of Titan Bone that Belos' hideaway had been within was now blown wide open. The ground remained, as did the Portal Door behind its barrier, but everything else was gone, including the puzzle doors. The cocoon of magic was gone too… but the contents were still very much alive, and currently walking towards them.

"Oh Titan…!" Amity breathed, eyes wide as she stared at the approaching form of who she could only assume was Belos, but unlike any version she or the Hexsquad had seen in person.

The Belos that walked slowly towards them was a young man with long brown hair tied into a ponytail, and with a clean shaven face that lacked any signs of the broken nose Lilith had once given him. He eyes glowed an ominous blue, though there was a ring of gold around each iris as he smiled darkly at the Hexsquad. His outfit was almost identical to the witch-hunters' garb he'd been wearing when they first arrived, only instead of blues, greys, and browns, the entire outfit was pure white with golden details. It was clearly a twisted, handmade impersonation of a Holy Raiment, though as all of the Hexsquad had seen Luz's raiment up close, they could tell Belos' was a fake; the material looked too synthetic, and the gold appeared to be actual metal detailing rather than golden fabric like Luz's. However most shocking was not the outfit, nor the fact his staff now glowed with red, black, and gold magic… no, most shocking was the angelic wings on his back.

There were ten of them, each large and healthy, with no hint of rot. They were just like Luz's, only without the radiant gleam.

"What in the Titan's name has he done to himself!?" Matt gasped out.

"D-Did he possess the body of another Angel!?" Willow cried.

"No… I recognise that face! Luz showed me an illusion of this person after her trip in the time pools!" Amity said, shaking her head in disbelief. "He's missing the beard, but I'm sure that's him! That's Philip Wittebane!"

All seven members of the Hexsquad stared at the rejuvenated Belos with abject horror, feeling the magic coming off him in waves. It was far stronger than it had been at the Conformatorium all those months ago! In fact, the only time they'd felt so much magic was when Amity and Willow had seen Luz facing off with Lars after bonding with the earth glyph! It was still far weaker than a Ten-Winged Seraphim should be, and even weaker than a regular Seraphim, but it was clearly on par with a pretty high-level Arch-Angel!

Belos smirked at the looks on their faces; "Ah, to see the spawn of evil quake in fear in the face of this holy power… truly it is a blessed day. You thought to make a fool of me? Let us see how that works out for you."

He then thrust his staff forward and shot a beam of red, black, and gold magic, which smashed into their barrier and shattered it easily. Despite them using their Palismen and working as a team, he'd still demolished it with barely a thought.

Hunter, scared out of his mind, flashed to the front of the group to be the first line of defence, though he was shivering and quaking as Belos causally walked towards him, his ten wings swaying behind him.

"H-How!? How did you do this!?" he cried fearfully.

Belos smirked at the trembling boy; "Why, with help from you and your sister of course. Not to mention Luz Noceda."

Hunter blinked; "W-What are you-!?"

He hadn't even gotten the question out before his mind supplied a potential answer. Hunter was a quick-witted boy; it was part of why he favoured lightning magic so much, and why he found he responded well with Beast-Keeping Magic, so it didn't take long for his racing mind to put together the answer.

"A Grimwalker…!"

The rest of the Hexsquad looked stricken by the revelation; Belos was a Grimwalker? No, that couldn't be right… he was possessing a Grimwalker!

"You made a Grimwalker of yourself, so you could possess it and have a younger body!?" Amity yelled.

Belos clapped sarcastically; "Very good. Your mind has not been totally addled by sinful lust I see. Yes; I used the ingredients my wayward creations collected for me to construct a Grimwalker of myself. I sacrificed a pinky finger to do it too, though just as Luz did, I was able to regenerate it thanks to my body's unique circumstances. I must say, the Galdorstone core really packs a punch; I can draw even more power out of the Sephiroth's wings now."

The word Sephiroth made all the kids exchanged odd looks; did he mean Rasiel? Hadn't he called them "Grand Seraphim" before?

"Did you really think I'd waste time making another Golden Guard when you betrayed me only weeks before the Day of Unity?" he asked Hunter with a sneer; "Of course not. In fact, I cremated the rest of Caleb's remains to ensure no Witch ever defiles him again."

Willow scoffed; "You defiled Caleb's body more than any Witch!" she yelled, her anger overpowering her fear as she saw how scared Belos was making Hunter. "You've defiled more than his body too! Did you steal a fresh set of wings from more dead Angels, or did you find a way to heal those ones!?" she asked accusingly. If those weren't actually Rasiel's wings, then they needed a new plan.

Belos responded to her accusations by pointing his staff at her and firing a beam of magic. Considering the last one had smashed through a seven person barrier, Willow immediately dived to the floor to avoid it, then looked up to see Belos smirking at her.

"Know your place; whelp. Sinners like you should not dare to rise to your feet in the presence of the Lord's servant!" Belos declared grandly, "And as for my borrowed wings; they are the original ones I took. I had tried to purge the rot from them in the past, but the Palismen Souls within me prevented my body or any added part of it from being properly restored. Once Luz solved that problem for me, I found my old body too far gone to retain its human shape without great effort, so I removed the wings and had them expertly healed by Healer Dorothea. I then grafted them to my new Grimwalker body so the residual corruption of my original body would not taint them." Belos explained.

Hunter, Boscha, Matt, and Willow all narrowed their eyes; that answered their questions about Belos' prior weakness; he'd removed the wings and lost most of his power!

"And what happened to Healer Dorothea? We saw you replace her with that fake Hettie at the Day of Unity!" Boscha growled, anger hiding her fear.

Belos gave a sinister smile; "She is with the real Hettie; partially bound in stone within the Central Tower of Unity Plaza. I made sure both would get to experience the purifying light before it sent them to Hell!"

The Hexsquad scowled even as the fear they felt intensified. If Belos was willing to talk this much then it could only mean he was completely unthreatened by them… and also wanted to show off his own cleverness. Despite all his talk of sin, Belos definitely had more than his fair share of pride. But if the Hexsquad had learned one thing in their fights with powerful foes, it was that pride cometh before the fall.

Willow, still on her hands and knees on the floor, very subtly traced a finger in a circle on the ground, willing her plants to grow into the bridge beneath her. Amity and Boscha carefully stepped to the side, pretending to be shielding Willow from harm whilst actually shielding her view. Skara didn't know what the others were doing, but caught on that something was up thanks to her oldest friends' behaviour, so decided to help distract Belos too.

"How exactly did you possess a Grimwalker anyway? Did you just stuff your old slimy self into it?" Skara asked. She had to keep the man talking until the others sprung their trap.

Belos seemed annoyed by her phrasing and turned his attention fully to her; "Of course I didn't do something so vulgar! Such an act would corrupt my new body! My decayed form was merely the remnants of my original body, which I used as a medium to transfer my soul to this new one. The soul that developed within this Grimwalker was then placed back into that decayed form; a kind of body swap if you will. That original body and soul have since been purged by that explosion earlier."

Hunter felt like he was going to be sick… Belos had just essentially murdered another person! Another Grimwalker! Did he truly feel nothing for the lives of the very beings he helped create!? "Y-You really do create Grimwalkers just to murder them, don't you!?" he cried.

"All tools are built to serve a purpose. If they should break whilst fulfilling that purpose, then so be it." Belos remarked coldly, before staring down at Hunter with a murderous smile; "Speaking of… I see you've found a friend." his eyes flicked towards Flapjack; "That infernal bird… it helped lead Caleb to his demise! I should have known it'd reappear in your hands… you really were the Grimwalker to resemble him the most. I'm going to take great pleasure in destroying it!"

His staff flashed as he pointed it at Hunter and Flapjack, the latter still in staff mode. On his own, Flapjack used a flash spell to warp Hunter behind Belos, forcing the evil man to turn around and point is staff away from the rest of the Hexsquad. He prepared to fire a blast of magic but hesitated when he saw the Portal Door directly behind where he'd blast; Belos wasn't sure if his magic would blast through his own barrier or not, so he decided to instead make a sword of magic on the end of his staff, turning it into a sword spear. However before he could swing it, Willow's vines suddenly burst out from beneath his feet and wrapped around him, catching Belos by surprise. The thick green tendrils bound him tightly, leaving him totally unable to move beneath the neck. Willow then created some roots from her wooden bangles to try and crush Belos' wrists and make him drop his staff, but the man just growled and clenched his fist around his staff, causing his body to glow red and then release a wave of red magic to burn the vines off. Hunter used the opportunity to flash behind Belos again and blast him with some lightning, but the man swiftly spun around and absorbed the lightning into the magic blade atop his staff. He then swung his blade, producing a red arc of energy that flew towards the Hexsquad, forcing them all to fly above it with their staves.

"We can't hope to match that kind of power! Luz as she is now would be an even match, but we don't add up to a powered-up Arch-Angel!" Matt cried, losing his nerve a little.

"Hold it together, Matt!" Gus yelled, creating an army of illusory clones to attack Belos and keep him busy while the real Hexsquad moved around and fired pot shots, primarily focused on his wings. If they could just destroy those, the fight would be over!

Belos was no fool though and not afraid to butcher the kids; he swung his sword spear in a wide arc, destroying all the illusions surrounding him, only to find that ALL the kids had disappeared. Frowning, he realised they must have become invisible, so pointed his sword spear to the sky and conjured a red crystal that he fired into the air. It floated just beneath the ceiling of the cavern, then began producing smaller red crystals, each as thin and sharp as a dagger, which it sent shooting down in all directions. There were very few blind spots, so the Hexsquad were largely forced to raise barriers to stop the assault, ruining their invisibility and exposing their positions. Belos then flew at each one in turn, destroying their barriers with a casual swing of his sword spear. Most of the kids dodged in time to avoid being hit by the magic blade as well, but Amity was unlucky enough to dodge a moment too late and be clipped across the thigh. The cut was shallow but painful, especially with the magic blade cauterising the wound, making her scream.

"Got you, Succubus!" Belos grinned, using his sword spear to create a ghostly red hand that grabbed her around the throat and hoisted her into the air in front of him. He moved to run her through, while Amity tried desperately to draw out Oracle Spirits, only to find they wouldn't leave their stones due to Belos' stolen Angelic Power. She then tried to conjured some abomination slime, but Belos effortlessly conjured a series of smaller green worm monsters to devour the slime before she could use it. At that moment, Belos heard Boscha whistling to try and get his attention, but he ignored her.

"I'll slice you open and leave your guts on display! We'll see how well you seduce Angels when you're a pile of rotten meat!" Belos said viciously.

"Oh no you don't!" Boscha cried, tossing a potion bomb at the back of Belos' head; "Drink acid!"

Belos turned and caught the bottle with his free hand, then uncorked it and grinned as he smelled the acidic aroma. "Drink acid? What a marvellous idea!"

He turned and forced Amity's mouth open so he could pour the liquid down her throat. Another sharp whistle followed, and the acid suddenly turned blue as it was poured into Amity's mouth. Belos scowled as Amity drank it down eagerly, causing her leg wound to heal. His eyes narrowed as Boscha smirked; she'd taken a healing potion and made it acidic with Sonic Alchemy, knowing Belos would chose to torture Amity with it, only to then use the same trick to turn it back at the last moment.

"Tricky little devils…" Belos growled, turning to point his staff at Boscha. However at that moment, the bridge beneath Belos' feet suddenly exploded as Matt, who'd flown under there to escape the crystal rain, smashed through it with construction magic. Belos was briefly startled but was able to avoid falling thanks to his stolen wings, but the distraction allowed Skara, hiding behind an ice wall made by Gus, to play a short melody on her harp. The melody was a Ditty of Dispelling and caused all spells within range to either malfunction or fail depending on the strength. Belos' sword spear flickered but otherwise remained, but the spectral hand holding Amity weakened enough that she was able to blast it with some pink light and destroy it. She promptly fell through the gap in the bridge, but easily summoned Ghost to catch her and fly back up.

Irritated, Belos used his sword spear to levitate the chunks of stone that had once been the bridge segment beneath him, then melted them into balls of lava, which he aimed at Matt and Amity. They dodged them expertly while Gus shot beams of ice magic to cool them back into solid rock, whereupon Matt crushed them into rubble with his strengthened fists, before using Earth Magic to reform the rubble into a sandstorm to keep Belos occupied. At the same moment, Boscha watched as Willow began producing vine tendrils from her wooden bangles to whip at Belos, hoping to bind him long enough for someone else to slice his wings. The three-eyed girl signalled for Willow to whip the vines in her direction, were upon Boscha caught them and doused them in two different potions from her pocket. One potion was a special coating that allowed Boscha to ignite it with fire without damaging what it was coating, giving Willow a flaming vine whip. The other was similar, but was designed for another element entirely.

"Hey, Lover Boy! Hook your girlfriend up with some lightning!" Boscha smirked up at Hunter, who'd been flying above the battle on Flapjack as he looked for an opening.

"I'm not his/she's not my girlfriend!" Willow and Hunter cried with red faces, though the boy still used Flapjack to send a bolt of electricity at the remaining vine whip. Willow now had one fire whip and one electrical one, and quickly began flailing them at Belos as he tried to deal with the sandstorm. This forced Belos to produce a barrier around himself so he didn't need to dodge, but unfortunately for him, there was still sand inside the barrier so his vision remained obscured.

Gus flew over to Matt and Amity, then signalled for Skara to fly over too so he could whisper to them. "I'm going to try and trick him with a massive illusion! I'll need you guys to help! I need stone dolls, abominations for squishier bits, and some good wind and sound effects."

His three friends smiled and nodded, and began to assist Gus with the set up for his plan. As he was setting up, Willow continued her elemental whip assault, while Hunter and Boscha occasionally tossed out elements of their own to keep Belos in his barrier. Hunter was also using Beast-Keeping spells to sharpen his hearing, his sense of smell, and to give him dark vision to ensure he could keep up with his witch allies no matter what Belos tried to throw out, whilst Boscha was taking the opening to brew up a few useful potions with her Combat Potioneer Belt.

As for Belos, he was mostly just humouring the Witch Whelps and his treacherous tool. He could easily unleash an explosion like the one he'd used to drive them away from him as he bonded with his new body, and it would likely wipe out at least a few of them, but he wanted to punish them more before sending them to their final judgement. Still, he grew fed up with the sand and used a smaller explosion of magic within his own barrier to destroy it all, before raising his sword spear and causing a numerous fleshy red arms with clawed hands to emerge from his barrier and begin swiping at his attackers.

Willow managed to slice off a couple of the arms with her elemental vine whips, but it didn't take long for an arm to grab her whips and yank on them, pulling Willow towards the others. She hastily shed the whips and instead remade her Artillery Seed Pods to try and destroy the arms with explosive seeds. At the same time, Hunter used Flapjack and some lightning magic to mimic Belos' sword spear, creating a lightning blade from the base of Flapjack's staff (since he wasn't about to risk waving the Palisman himself in Belos' face). He slashed and stabbed at the monster arms, using some of the Beast-Keeping spells he'd been taught by Eber to extend his finger nails into sharp and hard claws, allowing him to tear at the monstrous arms that got close to grabbing him. One hand managed to grab his foot, but Hunter used the same spell to give him claws on his toes too, allowing him to shred his own boot and slash himself free from the hand. Meanwhile, Boscha was tossing out acidic potions and Pale Curse potions to make sure Belos couldn't heal or regenerate the damaged arms, forcing him to expend magic on creating more instead. Strangely, she also flew behind both Hunter and Willow, snipping a hair from each of them as she went and added it to a potion she was brewing on her hip. The duo had no time to question this though as Belos switched tactics.

The man created a huge flash of blinding light, causing Willow, Hunter, and Boscha to recoil and giving him an easy opening to drop his barrier and dart towards them. He tried to slice off Willow's arms to stop her using her bangles, but she had already made an Iron Blood Iris with her Grafted Plant Magic the instant the flash happened, allowing her to inhale its pollen and harden her body massively, as well as temporarily causing a minor Bile Overload. Even with her iron body, Belos' blade had still managed to cut a little into her wrists, but not far enough to stop her pulling away and coating her fists in hardy bark, then throwing a punch at him. Belos' eyes widened, but he easily dodged the first punch and blocked the second with his staff. He then kicked the girl away and tried to attack Hunter next, only for the boy to already smell him coming thanks to his earlier spells. Hunter blocked Belos' sword spear with his own lightning blade spear, keeping his eyes closed and relying on his other senses.

The two parried each other's blows and tried to get the upper hand, though neither had a clear advantage. Hunter definitely had the edge in skill since he'd actually trained in the use of spears, whilst Belos had a longer reach and 400 years of experience in underhanded combat tactics. Eventually, Belos was able to goad Hunter into overextending himself with an attack, allowing him to parry and knock Hunter's guard wide open. He went for the riposte, aiming his sword spear at Hunter's heart, but Willow pulled him out of the way with a vine, saving his life. Belos growled and turned towards her, launching a stream of red and black flames from his staff to punish her interference, but Boscha suddenly leapt in the way and used her own fire magic to take control of Belos' flames and split them in half, sending the halves around herself and her rival. She then reformed the flames into giant crab pincers and sent them flying for Belos' wings. His eyes widened, then flashed with anger as he summoned two green worm monsters to block the attack. They lost their heads, but it bought Belos enough time to trap the two flaming pincers in separate barriers, where they quickly burned away the remaining air and were extinguished.

Belos was just about to throw the now-empty barriers at the teenagers, when Skara suddenly reappeared near the barrier that contained his portal. She had her Palisman in harp mode and began to strum a song that Belos recognised as the Lullaby of Lethargy.

"Time to prep you for surgery! Starting with putting you under!" Skara declared, her fingers dancing across the strings of her harp.

Belos narrowed his eyes; he wasn't beginning to feel tired at all, but a strange misty sensation did coat his eyes, making him blink hard to try and get the feeling out. He put a barrier around himself to stop the brats from getting to him even if they managed to put him to sleep, but then he began to wonder why the girl would even use such a spell; it was easily stopped by him plugging his ears and it also forced her friends to plug their ears too, lest they be effected. It was one of the downsides of Bardic Songs; it took a lot of training and magic to only effect specific listeners, meaning offensive songs could hurt allies and defensive ones could boost enemies.

But as Belos continued to blink, he suddenly opened his eyes to find that the world had changed around him. The ground at his feet was on old dirt path, and his clothes had become the same colour as his original outfit. The man frowned, noting that his staff now looked like an old farming hoe, with a smooth metal handle.

"What the…?" Belos frowned, looking behind him. He could still feel his borrowed wings, but could no longer see them. "What is this? Did I fall asleep after all?" he wondered aloud.

Cautiously, he lowered his barrier and gasped at the scenery around him; this was the forest outside Gravesfield! The path that led to his old home! Nostalgia bubbling away inside him and smelling the familiar forest air, Belos followed the path and soon found himself stood in front of the old cabin that he and Caleb had called home. It was a little more run-down than he remembered it, but it was still the place he had spent his childhood.

He reached for the door, then heard a voice call out to him from behind. He turned to see Caleb running towards him, a big smile on his face. He was wearing a similar outfit to Belos, but was otherwise exactly as Belos remembered him.

"Philip! There you are! What are you doing roaming about by yourself? Weren't you supposed to be on the look out for that Witch?" Caleb asked. His voice was very similar to Hunter's, though a little deeper and more manly.

"Caleb…?" Belos whispered, disbelief in his voice.

The man grinned; "You okay Philip? You look like you've seen a ghost! Come on, that Witch already seduced the farmers in the village and did something weird to their goats! We can't let her get away!"

Caleb reached out and took Belos' free hand, startling the witch-hunter as he felt the warmth of the gloved hand around his wrist. His heart lurched, but still Belos did not move from his spot. Caleb looked at him oddly; "You okay there, Little Brother? What's gotten into you? You're usually far more excited about this sort of thing." Caleb's eyes darted to the hoe in Belos' hand; "And what are you doing with that? Plan on giving up witch hunting for farming?" he joked.

Belos shook his head; "I… no. No of course not. I just…"

The Emperor's mind raced; this was a dream… just a dream. But it felt so real and vivid! He was almost suckered in, but there were things he couldn't explain. He still felt his wings on his back, and Caleb looked a little different… his outfit was like Belos' own, which wasn't what he'd worn when Belos knew him. He also had a less chiselled face; the Caleb Belos knew had always been a little gaunt, not having enough to eat to ensure his younger brother never went hungry, while this man had fuller cheeks. The feel of his gloved hand was also off; it was just as warm as Belos remembered, but the leather of his glove felt too flesh-like whilst it should be rough and coarse.

His thoughts were interrupted by Caleb reaching for the hoe in his hand; "Come on, I'll take that rusty old thing and get you a proper weapon. Maybe like a pitchfork!" Caleb laughed.

The man's bright smile revealed his teeth, which had a slight gap tooth in the middle of the top row. Belos frowned; Caleb had never had that… he only knew one person who did.

"So that's how it is…" Belos whispered to himself.

"You say something, Philip?" Caleb asked, tilting his head as he tried to take the hoe from Belos; "Also, you are really attached to this thing, huh? It isn't really the right tool for this job."

Belos shook his head; "Oh, I'd argue that it is the perfect tool for this job… the job of killing witches!"

With a hateful growl, Belos pried the hoe from Caleb's hand and swung the end at his neck, slicing his brother's head clean from his shoulders. There was a fountain of blood spraying from both ends and Belos truly felt the blood on his face and smelled the metallic odour… heck, the bit that got in his mouth even tasted of blood. But this was either a dream or an illusion, so he didn't care.

"I won't be fooled by you deceitful worms!" Belos declared, raising his "hoe" and channelling a wide area lightning spell through it. At first, it looked like nothing had occurred, but Belos could still feel the drain on the magic in his core, so he knew it was working. After a few seconds of this, he heard a boyish yelp of pain and the entire world around him faded into cyan smoke and blew away, revealing he was standing just beside the barrier behind which was his portal door.

Belos saw his clothes return to the white and gold colour he'd made them in, and saw his "hoe" return to being his staff. His wings had also reappeared, healthy and intact, while the same could not be said of the Hexsquad; all seven members were either on the ground with smoke rising from their bodies or trying their hardest to stay on their feet. They had all taken several bolts of lightning as they'd tried in-vain to shield Gus from them and keep the illusion going long enough to disarm Belos and cut off his stolen wings. Unfortunately it seemed Belos had realised he wasn't in a dream after all; there were too many little errors that Gus and Matt couldn't account for.

Gus cursed as he winced in pain; the plan had been going so well too! Skara's purpose was to pretend to play the Lullaby of Lethargy (which she did by playing the song without magic), while Gus used water vapour and Matt used miniscule particles of sand to make Belos think his eyes were growing heavy. Him putting up a barrier had almost ruined things, but the effect on his eyes had already started making him blink, so Gus and Matt had synchronised their magic and cast the illusion during one of these blinks. Thanks to knowing Belos' past in the Human Realm and his own visit to Gravesfield, Gus had been able to recreate the surroundings and even the smell of the forest, using the water vapour he'd gotten inside Belos' barrier to create an olfactory illusion. Then Skara had used her Dad's barrier busting magic to destroy Belos' barrier before he walked into it.

From there things had gone swimmingly; Boscha had revealed that she'd been brewing a Telepathy Tincture, which would allow all linked drinkers to speak to one another in their minds (it required a hair from each of them to link them together, and all seven had needed to sip from the same brew), which allowed them to communicate without disturbing the illusion. After that, Boscha and Hunter stood ready to destroy his wings whilst Gus, Matt, and Amity had made a doll that could be disguised as Caleb. The doll had a stone skeleton and was then covered in Amity's abomination slime and carefully manipulated to keep it warm and fleshy feeling. Willow had even provided some tree resin for firmness and to avoid the goop getting sticky, and Skara had used Bardic Magic to create her own kind of auditory illusions to mimic the sounds of a forest (with some direction from Gus).

But for all their intricate spell work and team work, Belos knew his brother well enough to spot the differences in his face and voice, which had been best guesses from Gus based on Hunter. When Belos had "killed" the fake Caleb, Gus had panicked and tried to salvage everything by making it look like blood was flying everywhere, while also using his Water Magic to flick water droplets imbued with Illusion Magic into Belos' mouth, tricking him into thinking he was tasting blood, while another Olfactory Illusion made him smell it too. Alas it hadn't worked, and the Hexsquad were blasted with lightning for their troubles.

"I'm almost impressed, deceivers. Tell me, did the Owl Lady teach you these tactics? Did she use these same spells to trick Luz into believing in her lies and turn her away from the righteous path?" Belos asked, smirking.

Amity grimaced; she was one of the few on the floor, having taken a brutal zap whilst trying to shield Gus. Their plan had backfired and now most were too hurt to move easily, and Boscha (their only source of healing potions) was barely conscious. They still had healing glyph combos, but once they were used, they'd be all out of options if Boscha went down again.

"Guys, can you all move enough to use your healing glyphs?" Amity asked in her mind.

The Telepathy Tincture ensured the others heard her, and they all answered affirmatively. That gave Amity some relief as a new plan formulated in her mind; the doll they'd made to impersonate Caleb was still present; it now lay on the floor in front of Belos, her abomination goo coating melting into a puddle around it while its head was off to the side somewhere out of sight.

"I'm going to draw Belos' attention to me. Use the distraction to heal up! Then I'm gonna do something crazy…" Amity told them, before revealing her full plan.

She was met by a brief silence as the rest of the gang realised how much of a Hail Mary this really was. If it succeeded, they'd win while Belos' guard was down… but if it failed, Amity would very likely incur Belos' single-minded wrath. Considering they hadn't laid a hand on Belos since he'd taken over his new body, the Hexsquad really wasn't in a good spot either… they'd only have one more option to fall back on if this failed.

"We're with you, Amity. Just be ready to heal yourself too. If everything goes wrong, we'll buy you time to get back on your feet." Willow thought to her as she carefully reached for her healing glyph, nestled inside her long yellow vest whilst pretending like she was holding her ribs. The others reached for theirs too, also pretending to be rubbing injuries, while Belos grinned and drank in the sight of their pain.

Amity raised her head defiantly; "You talk a lot about this righteous path, but let's not kid ourselves; you're not on it either. You're using the power of this realm for your own gain, and just like us, you use the power of an Angel."

Belos scowled; "What did you said, brat?" he asked, pointing his staff at her threateningly as it glowed red, black, and gold. Amity forced herself into a kneeling position, grimacing at the pain and shifting her knee in such a way that she drew a stealthy spell circle then immediately hid its light with her body.

"Y-You heard me. You decry magic and the Demon Realm as evil, but here you are using it yourself! You're nothing but a hypocrite. You've even got a staff like we do." Amity retorted, before smirking despite the pain in her muscles; "Face it Belos… you're a Witch with round ears and some stolen wings."

Belos' nostrils flared and he prepared to zap her, only to pause and stare at his staff. This little Succubus… this defiler of an Angel's purity… dared accuse him of bring like a Witch!? Of being helpless without the very magic he destained? Well then… he'd show her how a Human would deal with a witch! He had no noose nor a tree to hang her from, but his own bare hands would do!

Amity hid her grin as Belos stepped over the doll and marched towards her, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her into the air. "You will die for daring to drive an Angel into sin!"

The poor girl choked and struggled against his grip, but as she tried to pry Belos' fingers away with one hand, her other glowed pink with her prior spell.

"Y-You… first…!" she choked out, before clenching her fist. In an instant, the abomination slime that had coated the doll jumped up in the form of a sharp blade and aimed straight at Belos' back. The man had noticed the glow of Amity's hand at the last second and moved to dodge, but found that he wasn't quite fast enough. The Titan's Skull was filled with the sound of a blade tearing through flesh, followed by Belos' cry of pain as two of his ten Angelic wings were sliced off, causing a bizarre mix of red and gold blood to spurt out from his injuries.

In his pain, Belos dropped Amity and used his staff to stem the bleeding, turning as he did so to see his disembodied wings. Amity cursed as she rubbed her throat; she'd aimed to slice the wings off at the joint, but Belos moving at the last second meant he'd only lost the top two wings on his left side. That was enough to unbalance him (both physically and mentally) but it wasn't enough to defeat him and end the fight.

The rest of the Hexsquad had immediately used their healing glyphs when Belos started screaming, and now that they saw the plan hadn't gone as well as they'd hoped, they flew at Amity and Belos. Willow grabbed Amity and carried her to the other side of the long bridge, while the others blasted Belos with elemental spells to keep him distracted. Gus managed to hit him in the thigh with an icicle, while Hunter zapped him with some lightning of his own, but Belos was able to put up a barrier to block the attacks that followed from the others.

"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" the man bellowed, expanding his barrier rapidly to try and crush the Hexsquad members against the walls of the cavern. All but Skara immediately fled as far as they could from him, joining Amity and Willow on the other side of the Titan's Skull. Once the others were out of the way, Skara used the Bardic Barrier Breaking Magic to shatter Belos' expanding barrier. It worked as she'd hoped, but she was immediately blasted by a full power magic beam from Belos' staff; a spell that would have killed her had Matt not stomped on the bridge with a spell circle beneath his feet, causing the section beneath Skara to open up and make her fall through and out of harm's way. She fell into the seemingly bottomless pit beneath the bridge, but hastily switched Melody to staff mode and flew away before dropping more than a few feet, then hurried to rejoin the others.

"Well we weakened him a little!" Gus said, trying to look on the bright side.

"And royally ticked him off too!" Matt cried, quaking with fear as Belos began slowly walking towards them, his eyes gleaming like blue flame as red lightning crackled around him.

"Looks like it's Plan C time… Hunter, you're going to need to stay back for this one." Willow said reluctantly, pulling out a Power Glyph provided by Mason and a Bile Booster potion brewed by Eda from Luz's feathers. Hunter gulped; the combination of those items would make the Hexsquad a lot stronger, but also entirely ruled by their emotions! And considering how much magic they'd already used today and how strong Belos was, it was possible it still wouldn't be enough.

Realising this, Boscha looked to Skara and said; "This is not how I planned on asking this… but would you be my Girlfriend?"

Skara blinked, then gaped at the three-eyed girl; "You're asking me that here!? Now!?"

"You know I suck at the romantic stuff! I'm not like all the lovey-dovey romantic girls you see and read about!" Boscha blushed, looking pointedly at Amity; "But I do l-love you, and since there's a pretty good chance we're about to die… well I'd rather die as your girlfriend!"

Skara blushed and despite the circumstances, she had to admit to feeling a little touched. Still, she shook herself and then stared determinedly ahead; "We are NOT gonna die, Boscha! I refuse to die before I've gotten a proper kiss from my beautiful and adorably awkward new girlfriend!"

Boscha beamed, though she quickly forced her expression into a smirk; "I am not adorable or awkward! But fine; if we win this today, I'll take you on a date that'll satisfy all your romantic fantasies! I'll even bring you a nice present… the head of the Emperor!"

The two girls glared fiercely at the approaching Belos, their hearts beating a little faster as they now had even more incentive to fight and survive. Their friends let the unusual situation inject some much needed levity into their predicament, and each smiled as they reluctantly held up their Power Glyphs and Bile Boosters, bracing themselves for an unpleasant experience that they really didn't want to deal with.

Unfortunately, they had no other way to stand a chance, so Hunter (who had no personal magic to be boosted by the Power Glyph and no Bile Sac to be boosted by the potion) had no choice but to stand back and watch as his friends gulped down their potions and slapped the glyphs onto the backs of their necks. Immediately, each one unleashed a powerful aura of magic, and their eyes began to glow in the colours of their signature magic types too. As they gave in to their emotions and deeper instincts, all six boosted kids let loose a fearsome battle cry and either ran or flew at Belos, all of them brandishing their staves and preparing spell circles.

The shockwave of the first collision, which came from Matt trying to punch Belos and being blocked by the shaft of the man's staff, knocked Hunter on his backside and made him gasp at the power on display. However the fall also caught his attention and he reached back; it felt like he'd landed on something. He gasped softly as he felt the Sigil Branding Glove that he'd picked up earlier; he'd put it in his back pocket when he'd been distracted by the coffin and had forgotten about it. But now… now it could be just what he needed to turn the tides! Especially as he looked at the battle raging in front of him. His friends were unleashing a lot of power now, but their intelligence had taken a clear dip into primal levels, as evidenced by Hunter getting nothing but incoherent screams and roars from the Telepathy Tincture. If they had retained their normal intelligence, they likely could have defeated Belos easily at this level, but as it stood, he could outmanoeuvre them by using his power smartly.

As Hunter felt the Sigil Branding Glove squashed into his back pocket, a plan came to him. He just needed to find a good window for it… and hope Belos was as cruel and conniving as Hunter thought he was. As he mentally went over the plan, knowing he'd have to handle it alone since his friends were currently mentally impaired, he glanced around for a good spot to hide and prepare. In the process, he found himself glancing at the red barrier that blocked the exit from the Titan's Skull and spotting the Eclipse beyond. The colours was dyed red by the barrier, but Hunter could see the aurora of magic still surrounding Luz. It had swollen massively… yet it also seemed to be fluctuating. Clearly something was happening back at the plaza.

A thought suddenly came to Hunter, as a familiar instinct began twinging in the back of his brain.

"Could she be…?"

Hunter shook the thought off; he had his own job to do! He'd leave the rest to the others at the plaza!

[Meanwhile]

Luz was not having a good time. Trapped by the ritual that drained the Isles' magic into her and suffering through the pain of it all coursing through her, Luz had no choice but to bear it as best she could and believe in her friends to save her. She could barely move at all, though she had thankfully gotten a handle on the pain of the experience, and was now putting all her personal magic into trying to restrain and hold in the power building inside her. The Palismen Souls within her were helping out a lot too; they were trying to consume the magic pouring into her and hold it back, which was definitely doing a lot to keep Luz from being totally overwhelmed.

Her Mom, Titi, and Tia had also flown up to join her, with her Mom filling her in on how their plans were going, while Titi used Bardic Songs to help soothe her pain, seeing as no other spells could pierce the aurora of magic that surrounded her and slowly grew. The battle had taken a turn in the CATTs favour now that Flora and Subject Zero were beaten, and the remaining Abomaton hordes had been mostly destroyed, while the remaining civilians had been removed from the Plaza, leaving it largely empty. Even Darius, Eber, and the members of the Hydra's Venom Unit had been evacuated, not being able to fulfil their task since the plan had gone pear-shaped. The Hydra's Scales Unit had set up a barrier around the plaza to both keep out Abomaton reinforcements and try to keep in the explosion should Luz be unable to hold it in… something that was becoming dangerously close to happening! Luz couldn't be sure, but she felt like she'd absorbed over half the isles' magic by this point! Once it was all gone and the Draining Spell ended, the next part of the ritual would do it's job! They were running out of time!

"Eda, maybe we should go to the Skull and back up the kids?" Raine fretted as they played their violin from the back of Owlbert.

Eda winced; "I would, but I'm basically out of magic and so are you and Lily. We've expended our supplies already… besides, it's only been a little while since the kids headed there, and like five minutes since we beat Subject Zero! They'll pull through; just give them a little more time."

Raine and Lilith frowned; they couldn't deny Eda was right that they wouldn't be able to fight Belos in their current states, but they could at least potentially distract him and overwhelm him with numbers! However neither argued this; Raine needed to stay behind to use their music to help soothe Luz, while at least one of the Clawthornes needed to stay behind to fly them close enough to her.

Luz, forcing back a whimper, peeked open an eye and choked out; "T-They'll be f-ugh-fine! I can f-ah-feel it!"

Eda grinned; "You see! Luz knows how tough her buddies are! We just need to trust in-"

Her sentence trailed off as she noticed movement down below on the top of the Central Tower. Subject One (who was cowering behind Mason) was being approached by a pair of Abomaton MK I's, which had emerged from lower down in the Central Tower. The Cursed Trio scowled; now that the MK II army had been decimated and driven away, the MK I's in reserve must have woken up. They were no threat normally, but without magic they'd be a bit more trouble. Still, Eda carefully tossed Raine (who squeaked adorably) to her sister and Corvanc, then swooped down on the Abomatons as she pulled out her last Parasitic Abomination Vial, provided by Luna after the Subject Zero battle (Luna had since left the plaza to help keep out the Abomatons outside).

However just as Eda was about to throw the vial, the Abomatons morphed their arms into cannons and pointed them at Subject One, preparing to fire. Eda only had one vial and no magic, so she had no hope of taking out both before they could fire. Flying as fast as she could, she tossed the vial at the furthest Abomaton then flew down to try and knock the other's arm down by crashing into it. Luckily for her and Subject One however, the shadows at the Abomaton's feet suddenly rose up and became black blades, which promptly shredded the unthinking soldier, shattering its core and reducing it to inert sludge.

Eda's eyes widened as she saw a figure rise out of the shadows; it was the former Silver Sentinel. The girl was looking healthier than Eda had ever seen her, and she looked a lot better without the uniform of the sentinel on her! Steve's Mom had provided her with some new clothes, so the girl was currently wearing a long lavender blue robe that covered her torso but was fully open beneath the waist, flowing around the back and sides of her legs and reaching down to the backs of her calves. The robe was sleeveless, leaving the girl's shoulders bare, and had purple along the seems and edges, as well as the belt that tied the robe shut. The girl also wore pale grey, almost silver, shorts that came down to her mid-thigh, and knee-high white boots with golden laces and pale gold soles. It was an outfit that clearly suited the warm climate of Palm Stings, but it suited the Dark Angel quite well, and was clearly enchanted since her under-sized silvery wings were fully exposed behind her.

"Hey, you're Goldilocks' little sister! The Baby Blackbird!" Eda gasped, quickly landing beside her.

The girl smiled and nodded; "I am. Thank you for not calling me Lucy." she replied.

"Yeah, I may not know what's going on with you, but I got the gist that you're not really willing to go by the name the Bonehead gave you. You aren't his toy any more, so why keep that name?" Eda smirked. The girl smiled gratefully at her, then briefly went to check that Subject One was okay. Once the frightened Basilisk assured both ladies that she was fine, Eda addressed the Dark Angel again.

"What are you doing here, kid? I thought you were staying out of the fighting?" Eda asked.

"I was, but we were watching the broadcast of the Day of Unity at the safehouse. I saw Luz get summoned, then the Draining Spell activated and Steve's Mom Dana was effected, along with almost everyone else in town! The broadcast was still on-going though, so I saw everything happening, including Hunter and the others racing off to the Skull after talking to you here! I decided I couldn't stand back and do nothing! Besides…" the girl blushed and poked her fingers together shyly; "I-I sort of reached an epiphany. I know who I am… no, I know who I've chosen to be."

Eda grinned; "Good job, Blackbird!"

The Dark Angel blushed at the praise; "T-Thank you, Lady Clawthorne."

"Just call me Eda. But now that you're here, you can go and back up your brother and the other kids in their fight with Belos… that is if you think you can face him." Eda said.

From the look on the girl's face, it was clear that facing Belos was still the last option for her; she looked terrified of the idea! "Is there anything else I can do? Something that doesn't involve fighting Belos?" she asked nervously. She felt bad that she had come all this way and still couldn't bring herself to face the man, but she couldn't help it! The thought of him made her body break out in a cold sweat! If she tried to fight him, she was sure she'd freeze up and just get in the way.

Eda frowned; "Do you have the power to give Angelic Blessings? If you do, you can recharge me and I could go help out instead? Otherwise the best you can do is help guard the plaza… unless you have some moon moving magic in your back pocket?"

Sadly, the Dark Angel could only shake her head; "I'm sorry, but I can't give blessings. I tried with Miss Dana back in Palm Stings, to try and stave off the Draining Spell, but it didn't work. Is moving the moon really the only way to stop it?"

"The only way that doesn't involve destabilising the spell and blowing us all to kingdom come." Eda sighed.

"Um, actually there is something she could do…" Subject One piped up.

"Really? But I thought you said the only way to stop the spell was to stop the Eclipse?" Eda said as she and the Dark Angel looked to the frightened Basilisk.

"That's true, but stopping the spell isn't the only way to save the Vessel… she can escape if she is replaced by another one." Subject One reminded Eda.

The Owl Lady's eyes widened; "That's right… you did mention that Luz could only escape if the spell ended or she was swapped out for another vessel! But that would mean…" she looked briefly at the young Angel at her side; she was even smaller than Luz, and a lot weaker and frailer too! Her chances of survival would be a lot lower than Luz's! She couldn't ask a child to-!

"I'll do it." the girl said determinedly, not even waiting to be asked. "I'll take Luz's place! I'm not an ideal vessel, so if things go poorly then the damage won't be as bad for the world, and it'll free Luz to go and help the others! An Arch-Angel, plus Hunter and their friends will be more than enough to stop Belos! Then he can be forced to stop the spell!" she declared. She didn't know about the plans involving the Collector or Rasiel's wings, but she rightfully assumed that if the others were going after Belos, then they had to have a plan!

"Kid, are you sure about this? This is going to be rough on you, and there's a good chance you'll die!" Eda argued.

"And if I don't, there's a good chance we'll all die! I may be Dark and a Grimwalker, but I'm still an Angel! I want to help others! And if giving my life can save the world, then I'll do it!" she said fiercely, even though she was trembling in fear as well. "I'm going to do this!"

Without waiting for confirmation or permission, the girl summoned Waffles in staff mode and began flying up to Luz, while Eda groaned. "Did she inherit that martyr streak from Luz, or is that just a natural part of these stupidly kind Angels…" she muttered, before preparing to fly after her.

"Wait a second! Don't forget that even if the Vessel is replaced, the old Vessel will still contain all the drained magic she was forced to absorb! She'll need to expel it or she'll explode!" Subject One reminded her.

Eda nodded her thanks for the reminder, then raced up to Lilith, Raine, and Luz; arriving only an instant behind the Dark Angel. Lilith and Raine had largely witnessed everything happening, while Raine's sharp (and magically enhanced) hearing had overheard the conversation, so there was no need for a recap.

"H-Hi, C-Cousin." Luz smiled weakly; "D-Didn't expect to see you here like this!"

The Dark Angel smiled softly; "Yeah… me neither. But I couldn't stay away. It's okay now; I'll take your place… I'm not strong enough to stop Belos and the Eclipse, and save the world. But I am strong enough to save you!" she said, pushing through the aurora magic sphere so she was floating within it. The magic resisted her a little, since she actually had magic of her own unlike Hunter, but since her magic was so similar to Luz's, it wasn't repelled entirely.

Luz looked at the girl, struggling not to blind her with the light shining from her eyes; "M-My Mami told me about a saying t-that we Angels like… "To save one life is to save the world." B-But saving me could end up killing you. Are you p-prepared for that?"

Deep down, Luz wanted to be saved. She didn't want to feel the pain of the ritual any more, or have to sit there trapped while her friends and loved ones fought for their lives. But she was also keenly aware that the Silver Sentinel Lucy had been created by Belos specifically for this purpose… to be Luz's replacement and die in her stead. Luz didn't want that to happen! Not when it seemed like the girl had finally found who she really was. And that wasn't even taking into account that the girl would suffer just as Luz currently was!

Still, the younger Angel was determined; "Yes. I'm scared, but this is the only way I can help people! I want to save Hunter and Gus, and this world! I'm not doing this because it's what I was made for! I'm doing it because I choose to! No one else decides my purpose but me! And I'm not gonna die!" she declared; "I'm gonna free you, and you're gonna go crush Belos with Hunter and Gus! Then you're gonna save me in return! Just like at the Knee and Titan Trapper Island!"

Despite the pain she was in, Luz couldn't help but laugh; "I think I really like this new you. Alright, I'm ready when you are!"

Eda quickly said; "Luz, the moment she takes your place, the magic inside you is going to try and burst out! You'll need to either fly away so the explosion is far enough to not hurt anyone, or find some other way of expending it all!"

Luz nodded; "Got it. I'll send it into the sky in a huge blast! That should be enough! And if I use it for a colossal blessing too, I might be able to give all that magic back! At least for a little while."

The Dark Angel took a deep breath to steady herself, then carefully flew in front of some of the beams of magic being sent at Luz by the Coven Heads. By spreading her arms and wings as much as she could, the girl was able to position herself so that five of the nine beams were hitting her instead of Luz, causing the aurora of magic surrounding them to fluctuate for a split second. The ritual circle on top of the Central Tower flickered strangely, then Luz found herself being pushed away by magic; the same force that once held her in place now forcing her away, while the younger Angel was pulled in. The new Vessel screamed as the nine beams of magic converged on her chest, causing her wings to begin flashing like Luz's had, while her eyes and mouth emitted the same light.

Unable to stop herself, Luz gasped and reached out to the girl, even as she suddenly felt the magic inside her struggling to burst out. She put her hands on the girl's shoulder, a gesture of their shared pain, then gently put their foreheads together as she cast a healing spell to try and numb the Dark Angel's agony. In that moment, their magic and the magic of the isles became synchronised for a moment, and both girls found themselves engulfed in a blinding light.

As the light began to fade, Luz and her fellow angel found themselves floating in a white void, just like the one in which Luz had met the Spirits of the Titans while bonding with Cassiopeia's glyphs. Both girls were free of the pain of the ritual, as well as the feeling of overwhelming magic flowing through them, instead feeling only a warmth in their chests.

"W-Where are we? What happened? Oh no, did we die!?" the Dark Angel yelped, looking around fearfully.

"No, I don't think so. I came here when I bonded with the wind and earth glyphs… I met the Titan Orion, and his mate Cassiopeia here. But it looks like we won't be seeing them this time." Luz said, noticing the lack of an ocean beneath them. She suspected they would have appeared, but they were probably with King in the In-Between Realm! She couldn't blame them for not leaving his side to come and see her.

"D-Does that mean you've bonded with a new glyph?" the younger Angel asked.

Luz wasn't sure; she'd discovered the lightning glyph, but she didn't yet feel like she understood its aspects in the right way. She felt emotions, had instincts, and considered herself to be decently intelligent (or at least not dumb), but that didn't seem like enough. However she was more concerned about her companion.

"I don't think I'm bonding with one yet. I think its more that I've bonded with you...or maybe you've bonded with me? Our magic did kinda mix together for a second there, and my blessing is part of what helped you grow out of the Cherub stage. By the way; I'm sure you were saving this for Gus or your brother, but can I know your new name? You have decided on one, right?" Luz asked with an encouraging smile.

"I have… the name I chose is one I learned about from Gus." the other girl said; "He told me the story about a lyre that played music so well that the Gods were charmed. You have a constellation named after it and I thought to myself that I'd like to be like that."

"A lyre? Or a constellation?" Luz asked.

The Dark Angel blushed sweetly; "The latter. This collection of tiny stars in the infinite night sky! More darkness than light, but still something important. I decided I wanted to be an Angel like that; someone who still helped others and still did the right thing, even if I was more dark than light. An Angel of Darkness and the Night Sky… it you're like the sun, then I'll be like those little stars in the dark. We're similar, but different… distinct. The exact constellation doesn't matter, but since Gus told me that story and liked my lyre playing, I thought "Well I'm no Bard nor do I want to be one, but this feels special to me now." So I picked the constellation that he compared me to."

Luz urged her to continue with an encouraging smile; "Then introduce yourself, Angel of Darkness and the Night Sky."

The Dark Angel looked Luz in the eye and smiled brilliantly; "My name is Lyra. It's the name I chose for myself, and the person I want to become! No, it's the person I've decided I am! Not your shadow, not your copy, and not just a Grimwalker! I am Lyra, Dark Angel of the Boiling Isles!"

The newly introduced girl looked so happy and carefree in that instant that Luz could only beam in response. "Nice to meet you, Lyra! I hope we can be friends! I've never met a Dark Angel before, but I'm excited to see what you'll do! I'm rooting for you!"

Lyra responded to that by throwing her arms around the older Angel and hugging her. After learning that she was a Grimwalker of Luz, Lyra had thought she'd never be able to be friends with the girl; that Luz would eternally hate or fear her as an aberration like Hettie had said. But other than Belos, not a single person had treated her cruelly or negatively because of it, and that fuelled Lyra's love for them all and her desire to protect them. By the same token, Luz considered Lyra to be a precious cousin; they may share a face and probably DNA too (she wasn't totally sure how Grimwalker genetics worked), but they had different hearts and different souls, with different feelings and formative experiences. They were as different as night and day, and just as natural and important.

These revelations and their warm embrace caused the warm feelings in their chests to begin burning like fire and spread throughout their bodies, with both girls feeling it most intensely in their wings.

Lyra felt truly content; she was sure of herself and her place in the world, and whether it be due to Luz and her glyphs or the ritual pumping the Isles' magic into her, she felt a connection to the Boiling Isles, its people, and the entire Demon Realm! She felt an acceptance of herself and a maturation, like that of a child who'd realised that while she was not a full adult yet, she had taken a crucial step towards growing up. The feelings in her wings grew tingly and so incredibly hot, yet the sensation was neither painful nor unpleasant as a deep purple light exploded from her.

Luz felt a new understanding building within her, helped along by experiencing the thoughts and feelings of Lyra, and the Palismen that still lingered within her. She empathised with Lyra's struggles with identity, sympathised with her desire to find herself, and shared in the joy of her self discovery. She felt her instincts synchronising with those of the Palismen, who at times felt like a primal force and at other times felt like the wisest of sages. Finally, she felt her mind become clear with understanding as she experienced the enormity of the mysteries that filled the world as she knew it. She had uncovered some answers, seen new perspectives, and even found herself mired in questions that she still couldn't answer… but she accepted it all, with Lyra's own search for answers inspiring her. The feelings in her wings grew hotter, and felt almost like electricity pooling beneath her skin, gathering in the spot between her wing joints. Luz smiled at the familiar sensation as a glorious yellow light exploded from her.

The twin lights; one yellow and one purple, filled the white void with blinding colour, before finally dying down. When Luz opened her eyes, she looked down at her hands and felt the power there, finding yellow electricity arcing between her fingers at her will. She couldn't see any differences in herself, though she felt that her wings had grown a tiny bit bigger and brighter, while a new sensation sat between her wing joints. Luz conjured some mirrors of ice to let her see behind herself, and saw the familiar lightning glyph now glowing through her Holy Raiment, shining in a cheerful yellow and undoubtedly connected to her wing joints by yellow lines, similar to the other glyphs.

However Lyra had changed in a far more drastic way; her hair had gone from brown with a purple sheen to a dark shade of purple that bordered on black, while her under-sized silvery wings had grown to become full sized, showing that Lyra had fully matured into an Angel. She no longer occupied that awkward spot between Cherub and Angel, and the power radiating from her reminded Luz of the power her Mami could wield, and the power she'd had after bonding with her second glyph. But the most striking change was not her hair colour nor her wings' growth; it was their colour. Rather than staying silvery or becoming pure white like Luz's own, Lyra's wings had turned as black as the night sky, with a faint purple sheen when the light caught it, as well as little specks that seemed to glitter like stars. They were very different from Luz's, yet they were beautiful in their own way and suited Lyra greatly.

Lyra looked at her wings with undisguised delight, flapping them over and over as she giggled girlishly.

"I-I grew up again! I'm a full Angel now! My wings are so dark… but they feel amazing! I wonder if I can fly now!" she gushed, dancing and twirling about in joy. They were both technically floating in the void and not flying with their wings, so Lyra wasn't sure. Thankfully Luz was.

"Your wings are as big as mine were when I learned to fly! You'll definitely be able to do it!" she said. "And now I'll be able to use Lightning Magic too! Which means I have all the elements of Beast-Keeping Magic! Now I can fully use all magic except for Oracle and Abomination Magic! I'm just one element away from reaching my full potential and completing my bond with Cassiopeia!" Luz said, overjoyed.

Lyra, overflowing with happiness, hugged Luz once again. "I'm not sure how this happened, but I'm sure it wouldn't have happened without you! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome! And I need to thank you too! I'm pretty sure listening to your feelings helped me finally understand what I needed to to bond with the lightning glyph!" Luz replied, before a serious expression returned to her face; "Lyra, if this is like my earlier visions, we'll return to the real world any second now. When that happens, you'll suffer the pain of being the Vessel for the Draining Spell. It'll be hard, but try to focus on how you feel right now, and on what you want to do when this is all over! It'll help make it bearable."

"I will. I'm stronger now than ever; I'm not going to let myself and everyone else down by failing now! You can rely on me!" Lyra replied, nodded with a confident smile. Luz thought the girl (who was still only about 12) seemed a tad more mature in her demeanour now too; Lyra was still very much the same person at her core, but she had some extra confidence and bravery to go along with her new identity.

The white void began to brighten more and more, and the two girls knew they were about to awaken in the real world. Both braced themselves for the return of the painful sensations from the ritual, but they also exchanged one more hug, looking into one another's eyes and giving each other a reaffirming nod to show their confidence in the other girl.

The brightness of the void soon overpowered them, and both girls found themselves snapping back to reality. Lyra, now a full Dark Angel, was trapped between the beams of magic coming from the Coven Heads, her grown wings flashing in the colours of the covens as a new aurora of magic formed around her, with Waffles flapping around outside the aurora, unable to get through. Meanwhile Luz found herself held in the arms of her Mom right beside Lyra, panting hard and wincing as she tried to contain the magic within her.

"Owlet! What happened!? You and the little Blackbird both suddenly exploded with magic! Now her wings are bigger and yours have grown a little too!" Eda cried, not yet having noticed the new glyph glowing on Luz's back. Raine and Lilith were beside her, each glancing back and forth between Luz's face and her flashing wings.

"L-Long story Mom. Tell it later! For now, get behind me! I need to unload this magic!" Luz cried, already focusing her magic into her glyph markings. Eda obeyed and backed off, letting Luz fly under her own power. Moving behind her daughter let Eda see the new glyph, earning a gasp from her, as well as Raine and Lilith when they noticed too. However before they could say a word, Luz's wings began to shine brightly and pour streams of magic into Luz's hands, where they formed together into a single ball of white and gold flame.

"Magic of the Isles, return to your rightful place!" Luz cried, unleashing all the magic that had been forced into her into a single gigantic Angelic Blessing. The flames poured into the sky and formed a maelstrom of golden fire, before balls of coloured flame began shooting out and returning to their original owners. All across the Isles, those still under the effects of the Draining Spell felt some relief as the magic stolen from them returned, just like when a Basilisk was forced to vomit up the magic they'd stolen. It wasn't a perfect solution, as that magic would only be stolen again and sent to Lyra this time, but at least it bought everyone more time and delayed the end of the Draining Spell!

As the rain of magical flame descended from the sky, Luz turned to her Mom, Titi, and Tia; "I'm going after Amity and my friends. If Rasiel hasn't shown up with his wings yet, then Belos must be giving them trouble."

"You'll get no arguments from me, Owlet. I believe in you; go give the Emperor a taste of his own medicine!" Eda grinned, pulling her little girl into a hug then kissing her forehead.

Lilith did the same, without the kiss, and said; "We'll watch over…" She glanced towards the Dark Angel with unsure eyes.

"Lyra." Luz happily filled in for her.

"Right. We'll watch over Lyra… now go break Belos' nose again, and tell him that Lilith says Hi!"

Luz giggled and nodded, while Raine ruffled her hair and gave her a side hug; "As founder of the CATTs, I'm giving you your final mission Sparks! Go save the world!"

Luz beamed and gave a little salute; "You can all count on me!" she promised, then looked to Lyra; "Hold on a little longer. I'll blitz Belos and then this'll all be over!"

Lyra, her eyes glowing white just as Luz's had, nodded weakly; "G-Got it! I'll endure, but be sure to save me fast! Take Waffles with you! Your Palisman hasn't hatched yet, right? Well then use mine!"

The little Blue Jay tweeted sadly, reluctant to leave her partner, but then nodded in agreement and transformed back into a staff for Luz to borrow.

"Got it! I'll take good care of her!" Luz said, twirling the staff and then looking in the direction of the skull; "Time to end this! I'm coming, Belos!"

With that, she used her new Lightning Magic to imitate Hunter's flash spell and zapped herself towards the Titan's Skull, ready to rejoin the fight.

[Meanwhile]

Things were not going well back at the Skull. As Hunter had expected, the rest of the Hexsquad were completely lost in their Bile Overloads, attacking relentlessly but failing to actually damage Belos further thanks to their lowered wits and his cunning. Gus was hit the worst, lacking the control needed for his illusions so instead relying entirely on water and ice magic and whipping up freezing cold deluges and streams of jagged ice, which Belos casually blocked or side-stepped. Boscha and Skara were the next worst off; Boscha couldn't properly mix potions in her state and was just producing gallons upon gallons of acid, as well as the streams of fire she attempted to roast Belos with, while Skara couldn't sing or play her harp, limiting her to wind magic and sonic screams that reminded Hunter of a real Banshee. At least Amity, Willow, and Matt were still able to use the full range of their powers; creating abominations, grafted plants, and powerful golems of all kinds to try and overwhelm Belos.

But they lacked any and all tactics; they were just furiously sending their attacks at Belos, and he did little but hide behind a barrier, waiting for them to wear themselves out! Their last ditch efforts to defeat him had become a simple stall tactic to try and keep Belos from escaping the Boiling Isles or killing them before King could release the Collector, since the chances of them destroying Rasiel's wings now seemed basically nil. Worst still, Belos was clearly getting angrier with each passing moment! The stumps of the two wings Amity had cut off throbbed painfully even after Belos had closed the wounds, and even though the Hexsquad's attacks weren't getting through his barrier, they were still sending it pin-balling around the Titan's Skull, making him feel a little sick.

Hunter saw the look on his face as one of Matt's golems and Amity's abominations punched his barrier from either side, causing the whole thing to reverberate. While his face was more youthful than Hunter was used to, there was no mistaking the murderous intent in those eyes!

"I grow tired of this. All of you misbegotten demon spawn will burn!" Belos roared, rapidly expanding his barrier like he'd done before. Without Skara being in her right mind and able to break the barrier, there was nothing to stop him from smashing the Hexsquad against the walls with it. Hunter threw up a barrier to protect himself, while the Palismen of the others seemed to have enough sense to independently put up barriers of their own, but their barriers did not stop the expansion of Belos', which pushed them into the inner walls of the Titan's Skull, leaving each one of them embedded in a crater. One by one their barriers shattered and the young witches, exhausted and injured by the backlash of their barriers breaking, slumped inside the craters, their eyes flashing as they struggled to maintain their magic. The Power Glyphs had worn off by this point, and they'd used up so much magic that even their Bile Overloads were almost neutralised!

Hunter, who'd been trapped between the barrier blocking the exit from the skull and Belos' expanding barrier, didn't have a bone wall to be embedded into and so he had almost been crushed when his own barrier shattered. He let out a scream of pain, and realising he had only one option left, he cried.

"Mercy! Uncle, please! Have mercy!"

The words felt rotten on his tongue, but Hunter forced them out anyway, and as he hoped, Belos actually stopped the expansion of his barrier. The evil man looked around at the injured Hexsquad, looking for signs of a trick of trap, then lowered his staff and immediately used his magic to pull all seven members of the Hexsquad towards him, forcing them all to their knees at his feet. He took their Palismen, including Flapjack, and stuffed them inside a small barrier cage. Hunter had no doubt he intended to destroy them all one by one to really make them suffer, but he stayed true to his plan.

"Uncle, please… I'm sorry. I was wrong! I let myself be misled by the Rebels… I saw the power they had and the way even Luz followed them, and I was fooled. Please, spare me! I-I may be a Grimwalker, but I don't have magic like these witches! I-I can still serve!" he lied.

Belos eyes him curiously, then smirked at his apparent cowardice; "Ah, so the sinner shows repentance when they see their life is over. I've seen it many times, and I am unmoved Hunter. You will say anything to save your own life from judgement and hellfire."

Hunter paled, fearing what Belos might say next. Still, he soldiered on; "I am afraid… but that's my own fault for doubting you! I should never have done that! Please, give me a chance to prove my devotion! Let me prove myself to you! A-And even if I must still die… let me do penance before my death! I don't want to go to the same place as the people who deceived me!" he pleaded.

The rest of the Hexsquad began to come out of their overload-induced haze and looked at him with confusion. Hunter kept his eyes on Belos, while letting the Telepathy Tincture inform them of his plan. They immediately began playing along.

"Shut up, you idiot! You serve us now!" Amity hissed.

"I told you we should have just destroyed this thing! We should never have taken in Belos' cast-offs!" Boscha spat, channelling her old cruel self while mentally apologising to Hunter.

"Tch, if only we'd gutted him and his sister for their Galdorstone cores, this would never have happened!" Matt growled nastily, imitating the tone of Glandus' worst bullies.

The rest of the Hexsquad just faked looks of disgust, except for Willow who simply refused to look at Hunter at all.

Hunter did a good job of looking hurt and betrayed by their words, which made Belos smirk even wider. "I see you've learnt a lesson about trusting the wrong person… Very well. Stand and empty your pockets; I want no tricks." Belos ordered, releasing his magic's grip on Hunter.

The boy slowly got to his feet and emptied his pockets one at a time, pulling out a few glyph notes and combos, as well as a Fog Brew potion and a pocket knife. Belos watched him like a hawk, noticing that the boy had already removed his gloves before he'd started pleading. When he was satisfied Hunter had showed him everything he had in his pockets, Belos swept it all off the bridge. Without the glyph notes or that wretched bird of his, Hunter was helpless.

"There may be hope for you yet, Hunter. I will put you to use; choke the life from these witches with your own hands, then destroy their Palismen, including your own, and I will forgive you and show you mercy." Belos said benevolently.

It was a lie, and the Hexsquad knew it. If Hunter was being genuine and went through with the act, Belos would certainly destroy him anyway whilst mocking him for his murder of his "friends". But Hunter was leveraging Belos' hatred of witches, his overconfidence, and his cruelty to his advantage…

"Pride cometh before the fall." Hunter repeated in his head, turning it into a mantra as he sacrificed his own pride. He offered his right hand to Belos and said; "To prove my loyalty and devotion, I'll make an Everlasting Oath with you. I'll swear to serve you and obey your every order until the day I die."

Belos eyed the hand for a moment, before instead offering his left hand to shake, forcing Hunter to switch hands. Hunter allowed himself to look mildly confused for a moment, before switching hands with only the barest hint of reluctance. As their left hands clasped each other and Belos raised his staff to draw a spell circle around them, Hunter's thoughts were racing; "Yes, that's right… fall for my lies! Taste your own medicine! I'll whisper poison in your ears and lead you to your end, just like you did to my sister and I!"

The instant Belos completed the circle, Hunter smiled… then slapped his right palm hard across Belos' face. The man blinked in shock, then snarled with rage before he registered a strange tingling on his cheek that was quite different from the pain of the slap. Suddenly, golden lines of magic began to extend from his cheek to the rest of his right side, causing Belos to gasp and groan as he felt the magic in his body's core and wings begin to drain away. Weakly, he looked into the shiny metal wing on the end of his staff and saw the sigil of his coven branded into his face.

"W-What…!?" he gasped in disbelief as he looked at Hunter, who smiled triumphantly as he pulled something off the back of his hand; it was an invisibility glyph combo that had been placed over the Sigil Branding Glove!

"Enjoy a taste of your own medicine!" Hunter grinned triumphantly, watching as Belos' hold on the others began to fade and falter as his magic was drained. Belos groaned in pain as his stolen power began being sucked away, and to both his surprise and the surprise of the Hexsquad, streams of strange, rotten slime began to pour from his eyes.

"No! Why is this happening!? This body is fresh, it shouldn't be breaking down like this!" Belos cried as he began to wither and age.

"A Grimwalker's body is still powered by magic. That and your rotten soul are probably what's causing you to decay again!" Amity declared, her eyes no longer flashing from the Bile Overload. She got to her feet along with the rest of the calming Hexsquad, the glow in their eyes replaced by a victorious and vengeful spark.

"Without your stolen powers, you're helpless!" Boscha grinned viciously, immediately leaping forward to grab Belos' staff. He tried to shake her off, but Skara got in his face and whistled sharply, using Bardic Magic to make his ears ring and causing him to scream and let go of the staff so he could cover his ears. Boscha then turned up the heat, engulfing the staff in flames and causing it to burn and melt, becoming nothing but molten metal and ash, which she dropped over the edge of the bridge.

Belos, recoiling and ageing faster now that he didn't have a staff to siphon magic from, began to look around fearfully. The magic in his Galdorstone Core and Angel Wings was being stolen by his own Draining Spell, he lacked the resources needed to remove the sigil from his cheek (if it had been an arm, he could have just copied Luz and sliced it off), and since he'd wanted this new body to be as "pure" as possible, he hadn't carved glyphs into it! He was utterly helpless! And the worst part? The Hexsquad knew that.

"Time to get some payback!" Matt cracked his knuckles.

"For all the suffering you've caused the Boiling Isles, we're going to make you hurt!" Willow agreed, her irises still glowing green with unrestrained Plant Magic.

"Face your penance, you monster!" Hunter growled.

Belos shrieked in terror, especially as Gus darted forward and coated his fist in ice. Matt did the same with stone, and the two boys launched a simultaneous blow to the man's gut, winding him and causing him to vomit up more of the decayed slime. Willow was next, producing a cloud of Razor Leaves to slice at him, aiming primarily for his wings. She was hoping to get Belos' wing joints, but the man managed to dodge enough to avoid it, instead suffering numerous bleeding wounds to his arms and back, as well as the severing of a third wing. Rotten ooze bled from these wounds instead of blood, and Belos' face began to wrinkle even more. In an attempt to try and get his decaying under control and give himself a few more minutes to escape and find a way to stabilise himself, Belos allowed his arms to fully devolve into that of his old sludge form, then sent them at the Hexsquad. Boscha forced one of them back with a gout of flames, but the other grabbed the barrier containing the Palismen and yanked them towards him. He was hoping for a little mid-fight feast, but he would not get his wish.

"Get away from them!" Skara cried, allowing Willow to toss her at Belos with some tree roots as she prepared her Barrier Breaking Sound Wave. She slammed her palm into the barrier, causing vibrations to reverberate through it and shatter it, allowing each of the Hexsquad kids to summon their Palismen back to their side in staff form.

"You're done now! Well done that is!" Boscha grinned, using Maya to unleash even more intense flames, which Skara added her wind magic to in order to turn them blue. Belos was singed and lost the majority of the wings on his right side to the flames, leaving behind only a few bones and the joints themselves. That wasn't enough though; the Hexsquad needed to reduce them all to ash for Rasiel to regrow them.

Belos screeched in pain, made worse as Amity created some abomination slime and formed it into a scimitar, which she imbued with her pink light magic. She sliced Belos across the chest with it, then as he turned to flee, she cleaved off another wing, reducing his number down to only two. Hunter then used his lightning flash to warp towards the man and unleash arcing lightning from the end of his staff, painfully electrocuting the villain just as Belos had done to Luz while she was his captive. When Hunter stopped his spell, Belos was on the ground, weakly crawling away as he struggled to maintain his human shape. He needed to get away and out of the Demon Realm, where the Draining Spell couldn't touch him! Then he could find a safe place to replicate the healing glyph combo and regenerate himself!

Belos then found himself receiving a lucky break; there was a brilliant flash of light outside the Titan's Skull, causing the Hexsquad to turn and shield their eyes, before gasping as they saw the Draining Spell had seemingly reset and white and gold magical flames were raining down from the sky.

"What the heck is that? Did Luz do something?" Amity wondered aloud.

"Something is different… the Draining Spell has started over from the beginning! The others must have found some trick to manage it or… maybe they swapped Vessels?" Skara theorised.

Gus and Hunter gasped; "Your/My Sister!"

Using their distraction, Belos managed to crawl all the way to the remains of his workshop and begin unravelling the barrier around the Portal Door. He had just gotten the barrier down when a white and gold flame flew into the skull, passing through all obstacles; physical and magical. The flame caught the others attention and drew it back to Belos, since it struck him and restored the magic that had been stolen. Luz's return of magic had been indiscriminate (since there was too many people on the Isles to pick and choose), so Belos had gotten his magic back… not that it mattered with the Draining Spell still active, the sigil still on his face, and the Hexsquad still gunning for him!

"Don't let him get away!" Hunter yelled, preparing to flash towards Belos. The evil man cried out in terror, but had just enough foresight to slam his slimy palm into the eye of the closed Portal Door, forming the slime into a light glyph that promptly went off and blinded the Hexsquad. They yelled out in shock, while Belos smiled manically.

"Finally! Good bye, Demon Realm!" he cried, throwing open the Portal Door and preparing to step through it. However he couldn't pass through, as something stood in his way… someone stood in his way.

Belos stepped back in shock, stunned by the face staring him down… it had aged since he'd last seen it, but it was still the same face and wearing the same expression of hate and cold fury.

It was the face of Cassiel of Crest Kindness… or as the Hexsquad knew her, Camila Noceda.

The woman was dressed in casual human clothing, yet her angel wings were spread wide behind her and her human glamour was absent, revealing her true form. Just behind her, peeking out from behind the wooden porch support beams was Vee, currently in her human disguise but with her own wings visible.

"C-Cassiel…! It has been a long time." Belos said awkwardly, trying to hide his fear. Camila narrowed her eyes on him.

"Hello, Belos. It's been 15 years, give or take. And I go by Camila now… I haven't used my Angel Name since I left the Demon Realm." Camila replied coldly. She looked him up and down, noticing the sigil on his cheek that drained his magic, and the fact most of his wings had been sliced or burned off. She didn't know the full details, but she knew the only parts that mattered.

She took a step forward whilst Belos took a step back, gulping at the Angelic Magic swirling around the woman as she barely contained her rage. Vee carefully edged closer, preparing a spell circle in each hand in case she needed to defend herself. Belos noticed movement behind her too, and saw what appeared to be three humans hiding in the trees, each one with a spell circle in their hands. Who were these humans? Did Cassiel give them blessings so they had magic of their own?

Camila took another step forward, and Belos took another back, whilst the Hexsquad surrounded him completely. The Angel Woman noticed the roughed up state of Luz's friends, and her expression grew more hateful.

"Luz told me what was happening when she managed to call last night… I had a feeling someone would be coming through that portal today, so my daughter Vee and I decided to wait here to greet them. Her friends came too." Camila explained coldly; "Do you recognise Vee? She was born as one of your Basilisk experiments… but now she is a Noceda."

Vee transformed into her true, Quetzalcoatl Basilisk form, and glared at Belos with both fear and anger.

For his part, Belos held back a sneer to try and avoid angering Camila even further. "Cassiel…" the woman growled and Belos hastily corrected himself; "C-Camila… we can work this out peacefully!"

"He tortured us!" Boscha was quick to cry.

"He forced Luz into his ritual and tortured her too!" Amity added, knowing that would anger Camila more.

The fallen Emperor paled considerably as Camila's eyes filled with golden fire. He opened his mouth to speak, but Camila cut him off. "Belos, I only want one thing from you…"

Her eyes flashed and Belos recoiled in terror as Camila's hand became coated in a mix of gold and dark blue magic. She thrust her hand forward and carved straight through his chest, wrapping her fingers around the Galdorstone Core, before tearing it out of him. Belos screamed in agony, but thanks to his corrupted and rotten physiology, he was able to survive without the core, instead having the magic inherent in his rotted form keep him alive. The loss of the core did fully destabilise his body though, causing Belos to fully rot and decay into a slimy, monstrous form akin to the form the Palismen Amalgamation had taken in his mind-scape, right down to the numerous blue eyes all over his body. He shrieked and writhed in pain while everyone else wrinkled their noses in disgust, watching as his stolen wings rapidly decayed as well, with the surviving ones becoming little more than blackened feathers and rot clinging to bones. They looked more demonic than angelic in their current state.

"I was expecting an actual heart… so you're using a Grimwalker body." Camila frowned, clenching her fist and crushing the Galdorstone to powder. The stone had begun turning black from Belos' corruption, so it was better to destroy it rather than preserve it.

"I guess that's concrete proof that Belos doesn't have a heart." Willow snarked, making the others grin as they pointed their staves at Belos.

In his pain, the monstrous Belos looked around desperately for a way out. He was completely surrounded so he wasn't escaping unscathed no matter what he did, and with Camila and Vee blocking the Portal Door and those empowered humans waiting in the woods to cut him down, the Human Realm was a no go. Realising that today would be his end after all, Belos decided that he would at least ensure the Witches couldn't steal his wings and stop the Day of Unity, so he turned on his slimy heel and made a run for it, allowing his amorphous body to take blasts of light and lightning from Amity, Camila, and Hunter as he tried to flee. The pain was excruciating, but Belos endured and fled, heading for the barrier that blocked the entrance to the Skull. Camila moved to follow with the kids, but her eyes fell on Hunter and she momentarily faltered as nostalgia slammed into her. Still, her moment of hesitation didn't help Belos at all; he tried to use his slime body to leave behind light glyphs to blind his pursuers, but Gus washed them away before they could activate, while Skara and Boscha hit him in the back with another wind-empowered flame. This had the unexpected effect of launching him into his own barrier, which he began trying to dismantle as Camila, Vee, and the Hexsquad came running at him. Willow conjured some tree roots from her bangles, which Matt coated in stone to make them sharper and stronger, managing to impale Belos' arms before he yanked them free and reformed them from slime.

He began desperately trying to bring down the barrier, especially as his pursuers stopped attacking him for some reason, but it only took looking up for a moment to see why. Something was coming towards them; something moving very fast.

In a flash, Belos cried out and leapt back just as the approaching object smashed into the barrier from the other side, cracking it and sending yellow electricity arcing in all directions. The lightning bolt didn't stop upon impact through and continued to push against the barrier until it shattered completely, causing the lightning bolt to crash into the ground in front of Belos.

The lightning bolt then reformed, revealing itself to be Luz Noceda-Clawthorne, crackling with power. She stretched her body, mentally remarking how much harder Hunter's flash spell was to use and control than it looked. Then she looked around and saw her friends, and most shockingly, her Mami and Vee!

"Mami! Vee! You're here!" she exclaimed with joy.

"Mija!" Camila beamed.

"Sis!" Vee cheered.

Camila flew to her side and embraced her; "Oh Mija, thank goodness you're okay! What's happening?"

"I second that. Did my sister take your place at the ritual?" Hunter asked.

Luz nodded; "She did. She's changed a bit, but I'll explain everything later. For now, we need to deal with this scumbag!" she said, glaring down at Belos.

The thoroughly defeated creature recoiled in fear and tried to crawl away while everyone was focused on Luz's arrival. He didn't get far though, as Vee faced him down. She was quaking even more than Hunter had been, but still she stood in his way. Without saying a word to the man that had used and abused her species, Vee opened her mouth and began to inhale his magic. Between her drain and the Draining Spell itself, Belos could barely stay conscious or maintain a vaguely humanoid shape, resulting in him melting down even more into a pile of sludge.

Seeing this, the rest of the Hexsquad surrounded him and pointed their staves at him, while Hunter and Amity stepped on his shoulders and forced him down. Hunter grabbed the man's right wing joint while Amity grabbed his left one, then with a nod to one another, they yanked with all their might. Belos screamed but could not hope to resist, and soon the rotten and largely mangled remains of Rasiel's wings were quite literally torn from his back, causing him to melt even further. Hunter and Amity then tossed the remains of the wings into the air.

"Destroy them!" they cried.

Luz and Camila took aim, and with a synchronised blast of light magic, they completely vaporised them. Not even dust and ash remained, and with that Rasiel's wings were gone from the world. Belos was beaten and his stolen wings would be returned to their rightful owner! The Day of Unity was all but over!

[Meanwhile]

It had taken a while, but Rasiel and the Titans finally arrived at the site of the Collector's prison. This part of the In-Between Realm looked a little different than the rest, being noticeable more cylindrical than the other paths and clearings they'd come across. Floating high above the clearing was the prison itself; it took the form of a large orb with concentric rings along its surface, expanding out from some kind of circular brass seal. There were also bands of gold or some similar material along the edges of the orb, making it look like the rings of a planet that had been partially absorbed into it. Orbiting around the Collector's prison were the dark and inactive shards of the mirrors he used to contact the outside world; his versions had likely been broken when the outside world versions were.

"None of the mirrors seem intact. It looka like either Belos destroyed his, or someone else broke it somehow. Considering Belos has a penchant for betrayal, I'll wager it's the former." Rasiel said casually, peaking out at the prison from the connecting passage. The Collector's shadow form was visible inside the prison, hunched in on himself and hugging his legs, likely sulking over his fate. Without a mirror connecting him to the outside world, there was no way to free him without coming to the In-Between realm.

"What are we waiting for? It already took us too long to get here!" King declared, trying to nudge his Dad and Rasiel out of the passageway.

"I-I think it best if I wait here. I am the one imprisoned him for 5000 years despite his innocence… If you hope to get his help once you've freed him, it would be best if I stay away." Orion muttered, still ashamed of his past mistake.

King wanted to argue, but he honestly wasn't sure. Truth be told, he was worried the Collector would be mad at him too for destroying his mirror on Titan Trapper Island. Still, he was needed to free the Collector and so would have to deal with it.

"I'll remain back here with your father. We know you can handle this, my son." Cassiopeia smiled.

"Thanks Mama! Come on Rasiel!" King said, flying into Rasiel's back to nudge him out of the passage.

"Fine fine. I don't see why I'm needed for this anyway…" Rasiel muttered sullenly. Since getting his memories back, he'd been a lot less enthusiastic about freeing the Collector. Still, he allowed King to force him out, where he then watched as King cleared his throat to get the Collector's attention.

The shadowy child suddenly spun around and began looking for the source of the noise; "Who's there!? I know I heard someone! Whoever you are, don't leave! I'll- huh?" he finally caught sight of King, then gasped; "It's you! The Baby Titan that my brother's weirdo minions found! You really are still around!"

"My name is King." the little Titan introduced, before fidgeting nervously, remembering how their last meeting ended; "L-Listen; I'm sorry for breaking your mirror and not hearing you out. I was so mad after hearing what happened to my Mama, and I thought you were imprisoned by my Dad for helping destroy my kind… I didn't find out until later that Dad was wrong and you were innocent." King said bashfully, using his little wings to fly up to the Collector's prison.

"You're sorry?" the Collector blinked, shocked that someone as actually apologising to him; after Philip and all the other people who'd broken his mirrors in the past, he was half-expecting to be told he deserved it again, or that he was too dangerous to be let out! This was new, and the Collector liked it.

"You know your dumb Pops was wrong?" he asked.

King frowned; "My Dad was wrong. I know this is probably kinda cruel to ask, but please don't be too mad at him? He'd just lost my Mama and thought you were partly to blame. He didn't do it to be mean, and he really is sorry."

The Collector tilted his head; "He's sorry? Really? Well… I guess if he's really sorry, I can forgive him. Especially since he's your Daddy. But does this mean you'll be my friend? That you'll play with me?"

"Yeah! I'd like to be your friend! You've been locked up for so long, it isn't fair! I'll let you out!" King promised.

"Really!? You will!?" the Star Child asked excitedly; "You promise? No fibs? Philip promised to let me out too, but he fibbed and broke my last mirror once the Draining Spell started."

King's eyes widened; "Wait, Belos broke your mirror AFTER the spell started?" The young Titan didn't know a lot about the Draining Spell, but he was under the impression it was going to be hard on the Angel Vessel; could Belos really use himself as the vessel and still break the mirror afterwards? Or did he find a replacement?

"Collector, do you know who he used for the Vessel!?" King asked urgently.

"Yeah, it was that Angel he was obsessed with. Luz." he replied.

King gasped; "No! Collector, Luz is my big sister! We need to save her!"

The Collector blinked in surprise; "The itty bitty birdie is your sister? Philip didn't say anything about her being part Titan! Now I really wanna play with her!"

"She's my adoptive sister, and not really part Titan? Or maybe she is now; she's got Titan magic from my Mama and Dad… But that's not important right now!" King cried, desperate to go to his sister's aid.

"Free me! Once I'm free, I can stop the Draining Spell and save your sister! Then the three of us can be best friends and play!" The Collector urged.

"How can we be sure you'll help us? Can we really trust you?" Rasiel asked coldly, glaring up at the shadowy child.

The Collector eyed him for a moment, before his eyes widened and he stiffened; "It's you! The Sephiroth from the Tombs!"

King blinked; "Sephiroth?"

"The true title of those Angels who have gained ten wings. The pinnacle of Angel-kind." Rasiel answered calmly, not looking away from the Collector; "And I've yet to have an answer from you, child. How can we trust you won't just leave instead of helping us crush Belos?"

"I-I'll pinky swear!" the Star Child squeaked in reply. King looked shocked by the Collector's response; he didn't just seem scared of being left imprisoned… he looked scared of Rasiel!

The newly identified Sephiroth sneered at the Collector's childish response, though as he opened his mouth to speak, his expression became one of pain and his words came out only as a strangled gasp. He collapsed to his knees and clutched his chest as a fresh pain roared through his chest. King gasped and flew down to his side.

"Rasiel! Are you okay!? What's wrong!?"

"I-It feels like I'm having a heart attack… ugh, the pain is…!" Rasiel's face twisted with agony, yet for some odd reason, he began to smile at the same time. It was a strange and terrifying expression, as if he was completely overjoyed despite his pain. "T-They did it! The others outside! They defeated Belos! They destroyed my wings!"

"T-They did!? How can you tell!?" King asked, reaching into his neckerchief for healing glyph combos.

"My body is beginning to regenerate! With my original wings gone, my soul can finally construct new ones! The process is… Agh! It is not pleasant!" Rasiel grinned with gritted teeth. He grabbed a fistful of his tunic and ripped it off, exposing the scars on his back where his wing joints should be. They began to glow a brilliant blend of gold and silver, which thankfully saved King from seeing Rasiel's new joints push out and rip away the scar tissue and disintegrate it, leaving specks of golden blood to drip into the water that coated the In-Between Realm. Rasiel screamed in pain and joy as his wings burst forth from these joints, starting off as glowing golden bones that looked more than a little sinister, before nerves, blood vessels, muscle, and skin grew out from Rasiel's back and entwined with the bones, forming ten perfect wings that immediately became inundated with glorious white feathers. Once the wings were fully formed, they flashed a blinding white that forced King to close his eyes, and when he opened them again he saw Rasiel now getting to his feet and stretching his new wings out with a look of pure ecstasy.

For Rasiel, the feeling was totally indescribable and rapturous as the return of his wings brought the return of his magic, which flooded him with power. An aura of gold coated the renewed Sephiroth and he couldn't stop himself from laughing with unrestrained delight as he took to the air and flew around, finally able to fly under his own power again! He snapped his fingers and produced a full length mirror like it was nothing, and used it to take in every detail of his new wings, as well as his Halo, which had now been repaired. When Rasiel caught sight of his still missing pinky, he wiggled the stump a little, then shrugged and continued to laugh.

"Finally! After 100,000 years, I am COMPLETE! By all that is good and righteous, I am truly myself again!" Rasiel gushed, doing a twirl in the air and casually creating a tiny sun in the palm of his hand. King looked amazed by the feat of magic, and his gasp caught Rasiel's attention.

With a snap of the man's fingers, a silvery wind gently enveloped King and carried him up to Rasiel, who hugged him tightly; "Oh King, you cannot believe how wonderful this feels! I've waited so long! You and your sister, heck you're entire family; I owe you all a debt of gratitude! You can be sure I will repay it; I swear it!"

King smiled; "I'm glad you're complete, Rasiel! Just wait until Luz and Eda gets a load of you! Speaking, we should really get a move on! We need to get back there and save Luz!"

Rasiel nodded; "Easily done."

He snapped his fingers to summon a Portal Seed, then said "Luz Noceda-Clawthorne." The Portal Seed began to glow, but instead of looking into its surface, Rasiel made his index finger glow gold, then slashed it through the Portal Seed, causing it to rip open into a literal tear in the fabric of the realms. King gasped; it looked a lot like the surface of the Portal Door!

"This portal will take us to Luz." Rasiel said, about to fly into it.

King was amazed by the casual portal creation, but his attention was then drawn by the Collector.

"H-Hey! What about me!? You said you'd free me!" the Collector cried, now looking even more terrified of Rasiel.

"Oh right! I almost forgot! Sorry Collector, I got overexcited! Rasiel, you can go ahead and save Luz! I'll stay and free the Collector, then say goodbye to Mama and Dad." King told the Sephiroth as he tried to fly towards the Collector's prison again.

The silver wind then reappeared around him and pulled him back towards Rasiel, whose smile had become tight. "I apologise King, but I can't allow that. I'll return you here later so you may say your goodbyes to Cassiopeia and Orion, but I will not be allowing the child out."

King and the Collector both gasped, while the spirits of King's parents emerged from their hiding place.

"Rasiel! What do you mean you can't allow it!? Half the reason we came here was to free him!" King cried.

"Indeed! I imprisoned the child unjustly!" Orion yelled, looking ashamed; "He deserves to be free! He's done nothing wrong!"

"Hasn't he?" Rasiel frowned, staring down at the Titans imperiously; "May I remind you that even if he was an unknowing pawn, he was still an accessory to the near-extinction of the Titan Race? Your people meant more to me than my own ever did, Orion… that is a hard thing to forgive!"

The glyph markings on Rasiel's body flashed ominously, and the Titans gulped; clearly the man had history with their people that predated any of them… considering the Collector was still a child, it was possible it predated him too!

"And even if you consider him to be nothing but a scapegoat for his siblings in that genocide, we cannot overlook the crimes he committed by assisting Belos! To save himself he taught Belos the Draining Spell, assisted in creating the portal through which he planned to escape after his genocide, and led him to my wings, with which Belos committed countless crimes, including torturing Luz!" Rasiel snarled, glaring up at the Collector, who cowered in fear. "Two genocides, one of which he was fully complicit in? I rather think he is where he belongs!"

The Collector whimpered; "P-Please! I was gonna fix everything! I thought Philip would let me go, then I could put everything back together again! Toys break all the time! You've just gotta fix 'em!"

The Titans all winced as Rasiel's glare intensified; "This is why I hate you Archivist Brats so much… Spoiled Children who were born with their power rather than earning it! Well no more; you can remain where you are!"

The Star Child gasped in horror and sorrow, while the Titans all objected. "Rasiel, c-come on man! Sure he helped Belos and has some weird ideas about death, but he's just a kid! He's already been locked up for so long! Isn't that enough? Y-You know? Like time served?"

Rasiel raised an eyebrow; "Yes, because 5000 years is enough to pay back the billions of lives he would have been complicit in taking. I'd wager Belos killed far more than 5000 people thanks to the help he received from this child!"

"Rasiel, please! Y-You said you'd repay me for helping put you back together, right? Well then repay me by freeing the Collector!" King yelled, "He can make up for helping Belos by helping the Boiling Isles rebuild! Right?"

He looked to the Collector, who nodded. "I will! I promise!"

Rasiel scowled; King could tell he wasn't convinced, but he at least seemed to be considering it. After a moment of thought, Rasiel's scowl grew; "We will discuss this more with Luz and the others. If they all agree, then I will concede and allow the Collector to go free. Until then, he remains here."

The Collector looked upset, but he didn't dare argue. King turned to him quickly and said; "Just hold on for a little, okay? Luz and the others will definitely agree! I promise I will free you! I pinky swear!" King said, holding out the end claw on one of his paws. Rasiel wouldn't let him close enough to the Collector's prison for them to actually touch pinkies, so this was the best he could do. The Collector sniffled a little, then gave a small smile and held up a pinky.

"Okay. Pinky swear." he replied in a slightly trembling voice.

The two children nodded at a promise made, while Rasiel began moving towards the portal; "That's enough; time to go. Luz needs us. I'll return you later to say your goodbyes to your parents and deal with the Collector properly."

Without leaving room for argument, Rasiel then tossed King through the portal back to wherever Luz was in the Demon Realm and prepared to enter himself, before Orion and Cassiopeia called out to him.

"Rasiel! Please think carefully about this child's fate! Do not do what I did and punish him unjustly because you feel you suffered because of him!" Orion implored.

"My suffering amounted to living for a few months without magic. There may have been emotional and cultural issues related to the loss of my wings, but the loss of my magic and my inability to help my young friends because of it is my main grievance." Rasiel said with narrowed eyes; "However my grievances are not the issue. His actions led to chaos, war, and genocide. I have seen those things unleashed by many in the past… and now I will ensure they are never unleashed again! Be glad I promised to consider the Collector's freedom at all; were he mortal, I'd be awfully tempted to make an exception to my normal methods and simply kill him."

That cold proclamation sent shivers down the spines of the Titan spirits, as well as the young Star Child. Cassiopeia, almost unable to believe this man was the same Rasiel she'd met before, could only ask; "You knew everything he'd done before coming here, yet you still planned to free him. What in your memories caused that to change?"

Rasiel's golden eyes became as cold as ice; "I remembered what true Hell was, and how it starts… and Belos was basically following a step by step guide to creating one, all with this child handing him the tools he needed without a thought."

He turned and began to float through the portal; "But if the two of you care so much for this child, then why don't you stick around and keep him company; I'm certainly not going to stop you. The Dead have earned their peace… I have the Living to worry about."

And with that, Rasiel snapped his fingers and changed the witch clothing he'd been lent with something new as he disappeared through the portal. Orion, Cassiopeia, and the Collector watched as the portal closed behind him… they had a terrible feeling that they wouldn't be seeing Rasiel or King again any time soon…

[Meanwhile]

Since joining the CATTs, each member of the Hexsquad had wondered how they'd feel on the day they finally defeated Belos once and for all. They'd all pictured how the battle would end… somehow, all of them standing together around a brutally beaten and mostly melted figure that barely looked human any more hadn't been one of the possibilities. Vee had stopped draining his magic, but with Rasiel's wings now removed and destroyed, Belos had nothing to give to the Draining Spell and so had lost much of the residual magic that held his body together. He was still alive, but now he just looked like green sludge and scraps of greying hair clinging to the odd bones of the Grimwalker body he'd occupied. The bones were very obviously made of Palistrom Wood, yet they were as pale as regular bones… it'd be easy to mistake them.

"He's barely conscious." Hunter noted, allowing himself to feel a little pride for weakening him and tearing out of his stolen wing joints. "Do we… you know. Finish him?"

"I'm not entirely sure how we even would. He shouldn't be alive in this state." Willow frowned, nudging the slime with her foot.

Luz, who was currently in the middle of a group hug with her Mami, Vee, and Amity, said; "He's helpless now. The Draining Spell might kill him before it's over. If it doesn't, we'll take him prisoner and I'll petrify him so he doesn't escape. Then he can stand trial for his crimes."

Her friends agreed with that readily, and Camila stroked her daughter's hair; "Oh Mija, I'm so glad you're okay. We've got a lot to talk about when this is finally over."

"Yeah… I need to know the truth about you and Papi… and Michael. So much has happened that I still haven't processed it all." Luz said, before turning back towards the Eclipse and the steadily growing aurora of magic around Lyra. "We can't relax yet though; not until the spell is over and Hunter's sister is safe."

Luz was avoiding the use of Lyra's new name; she wanted the girl to introduce herself. She did give some pets to Waffles though, feeling a little bad that she'd taken the Palisman away from her partner and then not used her at all.

As Luz was thinking this, there was a strange shimmer in the air in front of her, immediately putting everyone on guard again. Luz extracted herself from the hug and herded everyone behind her, seeing as she was the strongest and freshest person in the group.

The shimmering soon became a tear, like a seam in reality being ripped open to reveal what appeared to be a portal. Luz and her friends and family blinked at it in confusion, and as soon as they registered what it was, King came flying out of it and into Luz's arms.

"King!" Luz cried with joy, before kissing his skull over and over; "You're okay!"

"That's my line!" King gasped, looking Luz up and down; "I thought you were stuck as the Vessel in the Draining Spell! How did you get free!? And is that… Tia Cammie and Vee!? How much did I miss!?"

"That is a lot of very long stories." Luz laughed, hugging her brother to her chest then turning to let the little Titan wave to the others, who smiled and waved back. "But that can all wait! We need Rasiel or the Collector to stop the Eclipse! Where are they?"

The mention of the two powerful entities made King frown; "Rasiel should be right behind me… but listen Luz, something weird is going on with him! We found the last Black Tomb and opened it up, and now he's got his memories back! But it's made him… different."

Luz and her friends exchanged mildly worried looks, while Camila nodded grimly; "That's to be expected. The Rasiel we knew only had fragments of knowledge, and none of his personal memories, so he's bound to be a different man now. Who are we without the experiences that shape us after all?"

"I guess you're right Mami. Still, I hope he's still our friend; Rasiel kinda became like an Uncle or Older Brother to me and King." Luz said, worrying her lip with her teeth. "King, what about the Collector?"

King quickly recounted what had just happened between Rasiel and the Collector, surprising the Hexsquad. "He really reacted that harshly?" Willow's eyes widened.

"I mean, I get where he's coming from. The Collector did help this jerk…" Boscha scowled down at Belos; "But he also sounds like he's just a little kid… a weirdly powerful little kid."

Skara nodded; "Maybe keeping him sealed away for a little while longer is the right thing to do? We've got to work on rebuilding the Isles next, and dealing with the super strong Baby Archivist could make it way harder."

Hunter and Matt nodded in agreement, though neither looked happy about it; they were just trying to be pragmatic. Gus, Willow, Amity, and Luz all felt a lot more forgiving, feeling it was fair that the Collector be released and given a chance. Camila wasn't so sure, though that was more due to protectiveness towards Luz, while Vee didn't think it was right to keep the Star Child imprisoned when he was as much a victim of Belos as she and her fellow Basilisks were.

Ultimately, they didn't have long to discuss it as Rasiel finally appeared from his portal, closing it behind him. The Rasiel that floated in the air in front of Luz and her friends was very different than the man they'd all known, just as King said; that much was obvious just by the way he looked and the new Holy Raiment he'd clad himself in.

His expression was calm and serene where there had been some nervousness and anxiety before, and his golden hair and eyes shone subtly in the light given off by his pure white wings, which spread out gracefully behind him. The glyph markings on his hands, feet, and stomach shone in their signature colours, though noticeably not as brightly as Luz's, and like the glyphs that Luz got from Orion, they didn't have lines of magic connecting to his wings. His new Holy Raiment was the same one he'd been wearing in his spirit form; the one that had become tattered beyond repair on his physical body after hundreds of years of exposure. It consisted of baggy white pants that stopped in the middle of his calves, a white waist cape and sash, and a series of golden bands around his wrists, biceps, ankles, and throat. He also had golden sandals on his feet and had a reddish gold halo floating above his head. Luz and Camila felt almost compelled to kneel to the man; when they grew up with stories of the God-like Ten Winged Seraphim, this is what they had envisioned! Graceful beings with nigh-unlimited power that stood at the pinnacle of Human Kind. They were to Angels as Titans were to Demons; something beyond even the best of them.

Rasiel regarded them all with a soft gaze, gaining a mildly surprised smile when he saw Camila and Vee. However when his eyes fell on Luz, he beamed with delight. In a flash, a golden aura coated Luz and she was pulled towards Rasiel by his magic, and immediately brought into a tight embrace.

"Luz! You are well! Thank goodness… when I saw you become victim to Belos' ritual, I feared we wouldn't reach you in time! Oh, I have so much to thank you for! And your power… I can smell it on you! You've bonded with another glyph, haven't you? You're about as powerful as an Arch-Angel can get! You'll be a Seraphim before you know it! Oh, this is truly a wonderful day!" Rasiel laughed joyously, spinning around in the air and swinging Luz with him, before bringing her back into a tight hug.

"I-It's great to see you whole again, Rasiel! I'd love to sit and talk, but we still need to stop the Draining Spell!" Luz said, smiling nervously as she wasn't used to such exuberance from the man.

Rasiel blinked then turned and saw that sure enough, the Draining Spell was still active. "Huh… how did you escape?"

"My sister took her place so she could come help us!" Hunter said, rushing forward and kneeling before the Ancient Angel; "Please stop the Eclipse and save her!"

Without saying a word, Rasiel gently floated Luz down into her mother's arms then turned and looked at the Eclipse. He narrowed his eyes on it, then placed a hand to his eye as if holding a spy glass. His vision zoomed in, allowing him to see Unity Plaza and the state of things there. "I see. That girl has become different too… A Black-Winged Angel… I haven't seen one of those in a VERY long time. How fun!" he smiled.

He then raised a finger to the sky, as if touching the Eclipse, then with a casual flick of his finger, the moon moved out of the sun's path and the Eclipse ended, bringing with it the end of the Draining Spell. The Nocedas and the Hexsquad gaped at the casual nature of what should have been an impossible act, while Rasiel didn't even look winded. To him, it really had been about as easy as flicking a finger.

"There, the spell is stopped." Rasiel smiled, watching as the streams of magic flowing into Lyra faded away. The Coven Heads collapsed, unconscious but healthy, while Lyra also fell to the top of the Central Tower of Unity Plaza. She was caught by Raine, but Rasiel could see she was struggling to contain the magic that had been forced into her. She wouldn't be able to hold it much longer, and the detonation would likely take out at least half of the Isles.

"It seems the Dark Angel is not out of the woods. Hold on a moment, I'll deal with her." Rasiel said, before tearing open another portal in space and passing through it. The portal closed, leaving Luz and the others to wait worriedly for his return… for about a minute, before another portal appeared and Rasiel stepped out, now carrying Lyra over his shoulder. She looked weak and exhausted; not having the strength of an Arch-Angel or the rejuvenating effects of a glyph bonding to help her endure the expulsion of magic, but she was alive and had a faint blue glow to her wings.

"There. I took her to the In-Between Realm and had her blast all the magic out there. She's sturdier than she looks, but I gave her a bit of healing to make sure she survived. Now it's all done!" Rasiel said, happily handing Lyra over to Hunter, who held her gratefully as Gus moved to her other side.

"Sis! Thank goodness! We were so worried!" Hunter said, smiling with tears in his eyes as he nuzzled his cheek against hers. Flapjack and Waffles landed on her chest and began snuggling against her for comfort too, while Gus gripped one of her hands with a proud smile.

"You really came through for us! You resetting the Draining Spell and letting Luz arrive when she did may have saved us all and stopped Belos from escaping!" Gus praised. "You're a real hero."

Lyra smiled weakly; "Hunter… Gus… I'm so glad I was able to do something to help! I feel like I just got done wrestling a Slitherbeast, but at least it's all over now."

Camila looked at the Dark Angel with surprise, shocked by how much she looked like Luz, but considering there had been talk of Grimwalkers, she decided not to comment just yet. Instead she said; "Well Belos is defeated, the Day of Unity is stopped, and Rasiel is complete again. What happens now?"

"Now we meet up with Mom and the others. We'll need to help deal with the last of the Abomatons and clean up the mess caused by the Day of Unity and the civil war. Belos also needs to stand trial for his crimes." Luz said, glaring down at the barely conscious slime pile that had once been human.

Rasiel floated forward with a cold smile; "Oh, I think we can skip that last part…" he said, snapping his fingers and causing Belos to begin glowing and floating in front of him.

The inhuman creature's eyes widened at the sight of him; "Y-You…!?" he rasped, "B-But you're-!"

"Dead?" Rasiel sneered; "Oh no, I am very much alive. A Sephiroth can never die, even if we wish we could. But you, Belos? I can't say the same for you."

"W-Wait! Please, I just wanted to serve God and destroy this evil place! You are an Angel who was ripped apart and sealed away by these creatures! Surely you feel the same!?" Belos pleaded.

Rasiel sneered; "I was ripped apart by Demons yes, but also by other Seraphim and even Titans! People who could not accept the Paradise I sought to create! They would rather revel in their mire of chaos and war… the only thing to stop their petty bickering was giving them a common enemy! Well now they are all gone, and I still stand! You created the exact same chaos and suffering that they did! I will not forgive that! Begone from this world, foul monster!"

With Belos' pleading falling on deaf ears, Rasiel floated Belos high above them all and began to clench his fist, causing a build up of magic around the slimy creature. Expecting an explosion to occur, Luz hurried the others as far from it as they could, rushing all the way back towards the remains of Belos' workshop. Even going back that far didn't fully save them from the splash zone though, as when Rasiel fully clenched his fist shut, Belos exploded from the inside with a scream of agony, sending droplets of his slime flying in all directions. Luz and the Hexsquad all flinched as they were splattered a little, with only Rasiel himself being spared as the Belos chunks disintegrated and disappeared before making contact with him.

In the aftermath of this, Rasiel inhaled slowly, then exhaled; "Ah… justice! My apologies for catching you with some of that gunk; I'll clean it off for you." Rasiel said, snapping his fingers and causing all the Belos slime to disintegrate into nothingness. He then looked behind the shocked group to the open Portal Camila and Vee had come through, idly wondering if any Belos bits could have gone through. Rasiel ultimately shrugged; he doubted the man could retain consciousness in a piece that small anyway, and expected his spell would have cleaned him up regardless, so he gave it no more thought.

Despite everyone expecting this whole affair to ultimately end with Belos' demise, no one had quite been prepared for Rasiel to literally blow him up in front of them. Luz especially gulped, feeling a pit in her stomach; King had been right, something about Rasiel was very different now!

"Rasiel, Belos was a monster but he deserved to face trial and be judged by the people he hurt. That wasn't even a death in battle! It was just… summary execution!" Luz argued.

"Don't be silly, Luz." Rasiel smiled, waving her off like a child, "Belos was judged and dealt with by someone he hurt; namely me. Even if I could forgive what he did to me and my wings, I couldn't let him survive after all he's done to you!"

He flew over to Luz and cupped her face; "You are one of my saviours! You and King are responsible for assembling me, with help from your friends of course. I could never let Belos live after he hurt you. Besides, I would have ended up being the one to judge and deal with him in the end anyway."

A sinking feeling filled the girl and her friends all gulped; they didn't like where this was going.

"Rasiel, what exactly are you going to do now? Why do you think judging Belos would have been your job?" Amity asked, on guard.

Rasiel grinned; "Well I'm going to continue my original work! I'm going to end chaos, evil, and sorrow! I'm going to do what the Angels should have been doing, before they lost their way. I will recreate the world of the ancient past, undo my original mistake, and do things properly this time."

Luz carefully pushed Rasiel's hands away from her and stepped back fearfully; "Rasiel… that sounds like you're planning to replace Belos as dictator."

The man winced, which only made the whole group turn ghostly white; "I don't wish to kill anyone, or even hurt them. I just want to remove all the stupid, petty reasons that people have to kill each other over. I want to make it so no new Belos' can ever exist, because believe me when I say he wasn't the first. The Collector didn't invent the Draining Spell or the ritual to destroy the Demon Realm… Luz, it was our kind that developed it and tried to implement it. Angels earned the Demons' hatred… and the Demons earned theirs too. Since time immemorial, our peoples sought to eradicate each other."

Luz and Camila both turned a little bit green; "W-We Angels made the Draining Spell!?"

Rasiel nodded grimly; "I made a mistake long ago, trying to end the endless wars between our people. My own kind took advantage of the mistake to create the spell and wipe out the Demons. I stopped them and came up with a new solution, but… well, you saw how I ended up. But now I have a second chance! And I want you to stand by my side, Luz!"

"Me!?" Luz cried, feeling like her heart was about to shatter. She didn't like this… she wanted the Rasiel she knew back! The awkward but kind man who offered advice without judgement! Not this… this Immortal with a Saviour Complex!

"Become my Ophanim. I may have ascended past the rank of Seraphim, but I can still take an Ophanim into my service. You hold no hatred for any types of people! You do not hate Witches, Demons, Titans, Angels, or Humans, despite all of them having hurt or used you at least one in the past. You never let your hatred go beyond individuals! I wish to make a world with more like you! Wouldn't that be wonderful? A peaceful world of good people, where you fit in wherever you go?" Rasiel asked excitedly.

"H-How would you make that kind of world? Because people can change, but not everyone will choose to." Amity argued, grabbing her girlfriend's hand.

"An astute observation, as expected of the one who won Luz's heart." Rasiel complimented, smiling gently at the lavender haired girl. "But you needn't worry. Refusal to change when it is necessary is a flaw that invites chaos, and I shall make my Paradise by removing such flaws."

"R-Removing them!?" Skara gasped.

Rasiel nodded; "Indeed; I shall take each person and separate them from their flaws. I will remove the chaos, the evil, the uncertainty, the negative… the things they hate about themselves and the things that make them hate others too. I divide their very souls into good and evil, and do away with the evil; like separating the wheat from the chaff. It will create a world of peace and kindness… a world of gentle order, unlike the rigid order of the Angels or the wild chaos of the Demons."

Luz and her family and friends once again found themselves stepping back instinctively. The idea of separating a person's negative aspects from them was so bizarre and outside their understanding that they couldn't do anything but stare at Rasiel with disbelief. Did he intend to brainwash people to create his "gentle order"? What exactly did Rasiel consider to be a flaw? Did he plan on making a paradise by stripping people of all their imperfections!?

One word in particular stuck out to Luz especially…

"Divide? You want to divide people's souls? Rasiel, can't you see that's wrong?" she asked desperately; "Weren't you also a victim of that!? Wasn't the Divider the one to help those other people seal you away!?"

Rasiel blinked in surprise, then slowly understanding dawned on his face. "Ah… I see. You thought that… Foolish me, of course you did. It was me who told you that, when I didn't know any better."

He shook his head ruefully, while King frowned; "What are you talking about!?"

"I am a Sephiroth; a Ten-Winged Angel. The step beyond the Seraphim." Rasiel said, seemingly changing the subject; "And each of us is granted a unique purpose and power upon our ascension. That power comes with a Title, which becomes our name. Rasiel was the name that I bore before my ascension, and one of only two I remembered when my memories were cut away. The power I wielded before was the power of Division; to separate that which should no longer be together. Be they people, concepts, or even our very beings…"

Understanding dawned on Luz, who shook her head in denial; "No… you weren't… you couldn't be…!"

"Luz? What's he talking about?" Willow asked nervously.

"Rasiel told us that he was cut apart and sealed by the Divider! It was the only name besides his own that he could remember, so he assumed it was the truth! But it wasn't; Rasiel wasn't sealed by the Divider…!" Luz cried.

The Sephiroth smiled as his golden aura flared; "I am the Divider."

For some reason, hearing the man refer to himself by his Sephiroth title seemed to raise the tension within the Titan's skull to a palpable level. To the Hexsquad and Luz's family, it felt like the slightest movement could draw his attention and cause him to turn his magic on them, ripping away all the parts of them he felt were imperfect. Facing down Coven Scouts, Coven Heads, and even Belos had felt nothing like this! Even facing down the likes of the Supreme Dragons and Goliath Ash Moth didn't provide this much dread!

And yet the Divider just smiled at them serenely, letting his power wash over them. It was almost like he was trying to comfort or reassure them, as if he believed their objections were based on disbelief that he could actually achieve what he claimed. So it was no surprise to them when he looked utterly shocked with both Luz and King cried "No!"

Startled, the Divider said; "No? What do you mean no? I want to create this world for all of us! Where the pains you all felt can never happen to others! I want a world where no one has to worry about genocide, or losing their people like King did. Where everyone can feel like they belong! A perfect world! A Paradise!"

Luz and King shook their heads; "You can't just create a perfect world by changing everybody in it! People aren't meant to be perfect!" King argued.

"King's right! If you remove all the parts of a person you don't like, then they aren't that person any more! They'll be someone else! Someone you created! That's no different than killing everyone and replacing them with puppets!" Luz yelled.

The Divider shook his head in denial; "Of course that's not how it'll be! Everyone will still be themselves! They'll just be the best versions of themselves! You've done this yourself Luz!" he pointed to the people around Luz.

"You divided Amity and Skara from the toxic influences leading them down dark paths. You divided Gus and Willow from their self-doubt! You divided Matt and Boscha from the cruel beliefs they'd been living by! You divided Hunter and his sister from the monster pulling their strings! You divided King from his delusions, Eda from her self-imposed isolation, Lilith from her self-hatred, Raine from their loneliness, and so much more! You helped so many people by taking away the parts of them they hated!" the Divider argued.

Luz shook her head vehemently, and her friends did so too. "I did nothing like that! The most I did was show them how amazing they all really were and helped them walk the new paths they chose for themselves! I didn't take away all other options until they were left with the path I wanted for them!"

She stepped forward and took the Divider's hands; "You can do the same! With all your incredible power, you can show people a better way! Help them grow into the people they want to become!"

For a long moment, the Divider stared into Luz's eyes and saw her hopeful smile… but his own eyes were sad and his smile had long faded into a sympathetic expression. He removed his hands from hers and stroked her hair.

"Luz, you are very kind and innocent… and very naive." he said with a sigh; "I tried to do things your way once. I tried to show people they could choose a better path… they chose the path of war and violence themselves. Well no more. I will build my Paradise and end this Living Hell."

It was a terrified and heartbroken Luz that pulled away from him; "I can't let you do that. Not like this." she whispered with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, my dear, dear friend…" he shook his head, before his expression turned solemn and serious; "You can't stop me."

In that instant, the Divider's power flared and the entire Hexsquad pointed their staves at him, trembling as they did. Even Lyra forced herself to her feet and pointed Waffles at him, while Camila and Vee shakily drew spell circles. Luz did the same, and King brandished some paper glyphs whilst holding his breath in anticipation of roaring.

None of it mattered.

Before a single one of them could get off a spell or move another muscle, the Divider snapped his fingers and all but King were coated in a golden aura, then shoved backward through the open Portal Door. They collapsed in a heap outside the abandoned house, where Masha, Gray, and Rebecca rushed out to help them up. King alone remained in the Demon Realm, but even that didn't last for long as the Divider snapped his fingers once more and a silvery wind blew through the Titan's skull and began pushing everything left in Belos' hideout, including King. The little Titan tried to use a plant glyph to make vines that tied him to the ground, but it wasn't enough.

"Just wait quietly in the Human Realm, Luz, King. I will make you the Paradise that you deserve… then you'll finally understand. Until then, farewell." the Divider declared. He then snapped his fingers one more time and the vine holding King snapped and the silver wind finished blowing him straight out of the Demon Realm, causing him to land just on the porch of the abandoned house while the others struggled to pull themselves out of the pile they'd landed in.

Luz was the first to be able to pull free and fly towards the door, using her own wind magic to counter the wind that the Divider was using, but her attempts came to an end when some debris from the other side was blown out, leading to a small piece of strange glass to hit her in the nose. It didn't cut her, but the surprise made her flinch and slowed her pace, allowing the Divider's wind to blow her and King into the arms of the others as they untangled themselves.

Reaching in vain towards the portal, Luz cried out; "Rasiel!"

Something flickered in the man's eyes, and his expression became one of regret, before becoming resolute once again. The portal door suddenly slammed shut, ending the wind, and allowing Luz to once again dart forward and throw open the door.

She was greeted by the inside of the abandoned house. The portal was closed.

Numbly, Luz closed the door and opened it again, repeating the process over and over as thunder clouds gathered overhead and it began to rain. Finally, the truth sank in, and Luz turned back to the others with wide eyes and a numb expression.

Camila and Vee looked back with sympathy as Vee's friends watched awkwardly from the sidelines. Meanwhile the Hexsquad and King sat their, the entire situation sinking into them. King, Amity, Willow, Gus, Matt, Skara, Boscha, Hunter, and Lyra… all of them were now stranded in the Human Realm. They had no portal home and not even the means to make one. They had the clothes on their backs, their Palismen companions, and nothing more.

"Mom… Titi Raine… Tia Lily…" Luz whispered, tears building in her eyes once more.

It had happened again… just as she'd been reunited with one half of her family, she had immediately lost the other half! And worse still, all her friends were now in the same boat.

King walked dejectedly up to Luz and then hugged her leg, burying his face into it as he began to sob. Luz picked him up and held him to her chest, the feel of his sobs shaking her enough to finally break down in tears herself. Camila immediately hurried to pull them into embrace, and pull them over to the rest of the Hexsquad, who each began to cry and comfort one another as best they could.

They had won the battle against Belos… but it seemed the war was not yet over.

---

IMPORTANT NOTICE: As this was the finale of Season 2, I will be going on a 1 week break, so no chapter next week. The week after, on April 5th, I'll be releasing an Intermission chapter. Then after another week break, Season 3 will begin on April 19th!