The Angel of the Owl House
Intermission
Chapter 2: Rasiel the Divider
The Divider couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt to be back; to be whole once more. His body restored to its immaculate condition with his wings glowing gracefully behind him. The only thing he was missing still was a pinky finger, but he didn't care about that; it was a trifle to lose and if he couldn't find and destroy the original, it wouldn't be too bothersome to go without or find a prosthetic. Within his body, his mind was as sharp as ever with all his memories back in place where they should be, the last several months he'd spent with the Owl Family being little more than a tiny drop in the bucket of the 50,000 years he'd lived before his 100,000 years of imprisonment. Still, those months were among the happiest he'd experienced since he was a small child living with his family.
Luz Noceda-Clawthorne, King Clawthorne-Noceda, Edalyn Clawthorne, Lilith Clawthorne, Raine Whispers, and even Hooty… they could never replace the people he'd lost, but their presence soothed the pain in his heart and softened the blow that came with their loss. He loved them with all his heart, especially Luz and King, who had each freed each part of him one by one, swearing to help him as much as possible. Oh, the Divider knew they had gotten something from it; they'd freed his soul through pure curiosity and ignorance, and had hunted his body to save Eda from her curse, not to mention retrieving his Glyph Markings while trying to save Cassiopeia. Even retrieving his memories had been only half the reason he'd come to the In-Between Realm… still, even if Luz and King had ulterior motives, he knew they cared about him just as he cared about them.
However the ulterior motive for coming to the In-Between Realm had also soured things a little already. The Divider's refusal to free the Collector after his crimes nearly destroyed the Demon Realm had been met with disbelief and disappointment from King. The little Titan was a good child with a kind heart, but he was eight years old; he was too small and young to understand the hell that the Collector had helped unleash by aiding Belos. The Child's cries that he was going to "fix everything" fell on deaf ears; the Divider knew better than to expect a reasonable response from the Archivists. Those brats were all the same; they hadn't had to earn their powers like he did, and were not only weaker as a result, but also lacked a proper understanding of life. What was death to a creature born immortal after all?
And so the Divider had ignored his cries and sentenced him to remain in his prison where he would be out of the way. King had pleaded with him too, and the Divider's heart had been moved by the little Titan… he truly did love the Titans; they brought back wonderful memories of a more innocent time… In the end, the Divider had conceded to considering the Collector's freedom after discussing the issue with Luz and the others too.
Though that conversation didn't look like it was going to happen until after everything was over.
After tossing King through the portal he'd made to Luz's side and saying his piece to the Souls of Orion and Cassiopeia, the Divider had replaced his borrowed clothes with his Divine Regalia; the vestments that replaced the Holy Raiment upon his ascension to Seraphim in his youth, and which had changed a bit upon his ascension to the Sephiroth. He had then flown through his portal and finally appeared in front of Luz and her friends (plus the surprising addition of Cassiel and Vee). The Divider beamed when he saw Luz however and had been quick to embrace her as he had King. He wasn't sure how the girl had been freed from the Draining Spell, but since the spell was still active, the Divider had guessed that a replacement vessel, likely the Dark Angel, had taken Luz's place since he'd last observed her.
After Luz had confirmed his guess regarding how she escaped the Draining Spell, the Divider had taken a look and been delighted by the sight of the Dark Angel having grown into a Black-Winged Angel. Those were rare, and he was overjoyed to see one again! He casually moved the moon out of the sun's path to end the eclipse and the Draining Spell, then took the Dark Angel into the In-Between Realm so she could release the magic she'd been forced to absorb. The Divider had cast a few bolstering spells to make sure the girl didn't die from the expulsion, then found himself being hit by the full power of the blast. It was pretty painful, but his Sephiroth Immortality allowed him to regenerate instantly, allowing him to return to Luz and the others with the Dark Angel over his shoulder, a healing spell on her wings to help fix up the strain she'd suffered.
For a little bit, it looked like everything would finally be right with the world… but then the Divider found Luz and her friends beginning to grow wary of him. It started with his destruction of Belos; Luz had wanted him to stand trial, but the Divider didn't see the point. His guilt was well-known and his experimentation and foul acts had reduced him to something that wasn't even human any more… he was an aberration and so the Divider destroyed him. He wasn't normally the type to kill; he preferred to fix those who'd committed heinous acts… but just as he couldn't "fix" the Collector, there was no use undoing what Belos had done to himself. Really, the execution was more of a mercy than Belos deserved.
But his killing of Belos had startled Luz and made her question him, and so he had told her the truth about the paradise he wished to create. He had no desire to rule over others, but the evil and chaos that filled the realms had to be purged, before more war and suffering could come. He would not kill those who were evil… no, he would remove the flaws that made them that way, and the flaws from all others too! He would Divide the Good from the Evil and destroy the latter once and for all, creating his perfect paradise. A world where neither he nor the people he loved would ever suffer again! He would repay Luz and King's kindness by giving them utopia!
But they rejected it… Luz refused to become his Ophanim and decried his plans as cruel. She'd pleaded with him, even after the Divider had corrected the misconception he'd given her; that he was not a victim of the Divider, but rather the Divider himself. The Divider had tried to appeal to Luz and point out her own acts of Division; of separating her friends from their flaws, but she had rebuffed him. She'd begged and tried to convince him, but the Divider had seen more battles than Luz had sunrises, and he'd been forced to fight more people than Luz had ever even met. She was kind and innocent, but she was naive… She was spoiled by the people she loved and cared for choosing the correct path or being willing to change, but that wasn't the reality for most people. Most would rather revel in their self-made Hells, so long as the people they hated suffered too.
The Divider would not allow that.
Seeing the heartbroken expression on Luz's face tore at the Divider's Heart as she pulled away from him.
"I can't let you do that. Not like this." she whispered as tears formed in her terrified eyes.
The Divider sighed and shook his head; "Oh, my dear, dear friend… You can't stop me."
And try as she might, she really couldn't. With barely a thought, his magic enveloped her and her friends and banished them through Belos' portal. Enveloping Luz was a little harder to do thanks to the Titan Magic that was blended into her Angelic Magic, but he'd still managed it and then conjured a silver wind to blow King out of the Demon Realm too. The Divider didn't want to fight his saviours and their friends, so he would simply keep them out of the way until his paradise was complete; then they would see what he created and appreciate it all the more.
"Just wait quietly in the Human Realm, Luz, King. I will make you the Paradise you deserve… then you'll finally understand. Until then, farewell." he said solemnly.
Luz and King made a valiant attempt to get back into the Demon Realm before he closed the portal, but they couldn't defy his wind magic.
"Rasiel!" Luz cried out, and the Divider felt his heart lurch painfully. Waves of shame and regret flooded through his body as the voice in the back of his mind told him to stop; to listen… but he tuned the voice out and remained resolute. A snap of his fingers closed the Portal Door in Luz's face, and a second summoned a blade of white gold into his hand, with which he sliced the Portal Door in half, causing the Titan's Oculus to begin sparking before exploding completely. Finally, the creation of Belos and the Collector was gone from this world. He idly wondered if Luz would be able to use the key of her own portal to summon it and find a way home, before dismissing the idea; the key and portal were in different realms now, so there was no way Luz could summon it.
"Six months… that's all I'll need to create my Paradise. I perfected the method before my sealing, so I just need to build it, and find the rest of the pieces I need. Thankfully my adventures with Luz revealed the locations of at least three parts… will need a replacement for the heart though." the Divider muttered, stroking his chin.
He'd need to deal with the residents of the Demon Realm in the meantime; his plans required some construction work and some magic sources after all, and now that Belos was gone, the Isles were leaderless. They needed a strong, firm hand to guide them back to an orderly society, and he needed people to assist him with Project Paradise; it was a win-win!
With a plan in mind, the Divider decided that his first act should be to go to whatever leaders the Isles had left, and as luck would have it, the Coven Heads and CATTs Leaders were all at Unity Plaza. Deciding to give his wings a stretch now that there was no hurry, the Divider flew out of the Titan's Skull and began taking a leisurely flight towards Unity Plaza, allowing him to finally take in the sight of the place. He'd barely seen any of it when he's rescued the Dark Angel from the Draining Spell, so he was fairly surprised to see how damaged it was! The civilians and Coven personnel had largely been evacuated, leaving only the CATTs and the splattered remains of some Abomatons. One of the Plaza's sections had collapsed into the valley of the Titan's neck entirely, and the Divider noticed a gravely weakened Goliath Basilisk asleep amongst the rubble.
"It seems I missed quite the party." he commented to himself. He was glad to see that the creature hadn't been killed, but he was more focused on the state of the rest of those in the Plaza. The Divider saw Severin helping the worn out Darius and Eber towards the Central Tower of the plaza, where Eda, Raine, Lilith, and the Coven Heads were currently sat around recovering. Two of the Coven Heads were actually Basilisks, and a third Basilisk was with them too; likely the remaining three subjects along with Vee and Treble. Excluding Mason, the rest of the Coven Heads had been tied up by Lilith, using Hooty as the rope. They all looked groggy and worn out, with only Odalia and Terra putting up a token resistance by loudly complaining.
The Divider touched down on the edge of the tower and offered a wide smile to the CATTs. "Good afternoon, everyone. I see you've already taken care of business here." he greeted.
The CATTs stared at him for a moment, their eyes lingering on his halo and wings, before finally registering his face.
"Rasiel!?" Eda gasped; "So that was you who popped out of nowhere and took the Blackbird. We figured it might be, but you disappeared too fast for us to get a proper look!"
She looked him up and down; "Good to see you're looking good! Now what's going on with the others? Are Luz and King alright? What about the rest of their friends? What did you do with the Blackbird? Where is Belos?"
The Divider chuckled as Raine put a calming hand on their lover's shoulder; "Relax, Eda. Rasiel wouldn't be so calm if anything had happened to them. Give him a minute to breathe!"
"Indeed; the Eclipse is over and so is the Draining Spell… it appears that the Day of Unity has officially been thwarted!" Lilith grinned. "I take it you're the one to stop the Eclipse?"
The Divider nodded with a smile; "Indeed. Allow me to explain."
He gave them a short explanation about what happened from his perspective; from the recovery of his memories to the moment he stopped the Eclipse and rescued the Dark Angel. By the time he was finished, the rest of their allies had managed to reconvene and get to the top of the Central Tower, so Darius, Eber, Osran, Luna, and Severin had all joined them, while the rest of the CATTs were now spreading out to check on the populace that had been evacuated from the Plaza. Once the Divider was finished telling his story, he'd asked to hear theirs too so he could finally piece together everything that happened.
Darius made a point of saying; "Thanks to Edalyn, Lilith, and Raine, it seems like there were no casualties besides the Abomatons and Flora D'splora. We'll need to do a proper survey of the population to make sure no one died due to the Draining Spell, but it looks like Flora is the only person who died."
"Assuming she really is dead. The pit she fell in was deep, but I wouldn't put it past her to have survived." Lilith scowled.
"I can fly down and take a look shortly. Besides, we do have one confirmed death; Belos has been destroyed." the Divider reported with a cold smile.
The reactions from everyone was a mix of joy, grim satisfaction, and cold acceptance. No one was sad to hear of his demise, and the only negative feelings anyone had about it was that now he couldn't stand trial and be judged by the people of the Isles. Eda, who was definitely pleased with the Emperor's fate, did have a moment of pause though.
"Who did the deed? Was it Luz? Because if it was, I really need to go talk to her… even as evil as Belos is, Luz would still feel bad about killing him." she said worriedly.
There were mutters of agreement from the others, before the Divider silenced them with a simple admission.
"No, I was the one to kill him. He had one foot in the grave already and his body was rapidly decaying into sludge; I simply finished him off." he said.
Everyone, be they CATTs, Basilisks, or Coven Heads, looked at the Divider with a contemplative look. Considering the other people at the skull had been kids, the CATTs were glad that at least it was an adult who took on the burden, though something about the Divider's complete lack of tone made them shudder a little too, especially as he turned his eyes to the Coven Heads and Basilisks, who shuddered in fear and edged away from him. He merely stared blankly at the bound witches, though gave a kind smile to the Basilisks, who had huddled together and looked to be edging towards the stairway down to the lower levels of the tower.
Raine broke the tense silence that followed; "Well, at least Belos is gone. Now we can focus on reconstruction. But first, we should see the kids and make sure they are okay. I'm guessing they're all healthy enough if you're not concerned, Rasiel."
The Divider nodded; "All but Luz and King had some minor injuries and appeared to be exhausted. I used some healing magic on the Dark Angel to help her recover from her ordeal, but didn't treat the others. However Cassiel was present along with Vee, so I expect she would have healed anything major before I arrived, assuming the children didn't handle it themselves with potions or glyph combos."
"Cassiel is here!?" Darius, Eber, and Vitimir all gasped, before the former two glared at the latter.
"Indeed." the Divider said, eyeing Vitimir with distaste; "The Portal Door was present and open when I arrived, and since Luz spoke with her Mami last night, I suspect Cassiel camped out in front of the door with Vee. I don't know whether Luz opened the portal to try and see her, or if Belos did it to escape, but either way Cassiel had come through to see her daughter."
Vitimir, previously exhausted and glaring bitterly at the CATTs, now beamed with unrestrained joy; "Cassiel is really here… and Luz truly is her daughter!? I knew the resemblance was too good to be true! Damn it, I was so close to having her for my own! If only that little brat hadn't ruined my potion!" he complained. If his potion had worked as he wanted, Luz really would have become his child with Cassiel! His dream would have come true!
"Shut it!" Darius snapped, using some Abomination Slime to seal Vitimir's mouth shut. "We're not letting this degenerate so much as lay eyes on her!" the man's eyes then softened; "Though it'll be wonderful to see her again."
Eber barked happily, though she got a sneer from Lord Carnar Vanily, her replacement as Beast-Keeping Head Witch. He was wise enough to keep his mouth shut though.
"Can we just go and see for ourselves already?" Eda asked impatiently, beginning to fidget a lot as she wanted to see her kids. "There's no point hanging around!"
She looked ready to jump on her staff and race off to the Skull any second now, only holding back because the others were still talking and she was still tired from all the fighting. The Divider had almost wished she'd give in to her impatience and fly off, so he could speak to her alone before she discovered anything on her own; it'd be easier to do what he needed to if the CATTs and Coven Heads weren't together, but he supposed he'd have to make do.
"Luz and King, as well as the others, are no longer at the Titan's Skull. They went through the portal to the Human Realm." he explained.
That got some surprised looks from everyone, but Osran quickly rationalised; "Perhaps Cassiel, or Camila or whatever name she uses, took them there to heal them in a safe environment?"
"I wouldn't put it past Luz to get wrapped up in the reunion and for the others to go with her to make sure she's okay. Plus Camila could probably help the little Blackbird recover faster too, being an Angel Healer." Lilith suggested.
Eda really did get on her staff this time and began to hover; "Then let's just go! I want to see my kids, and get my Portal Door back!"
She began to fly off, and the Divider considered just letting her go, before ultimately deciding against it. He reached out with his magic and coated Eda and Owlbert in a golden aura, before forcibly dragging them back and gently making them land again. The others looked at him with surprise, amazed by how easily he grabbed Eda, whilst Eda herself looked furiously back at him.
"What's the big idea, Rasiel!?" she snapped.
"There is no point going to the Skull. The Portal Door has been destroyed." the Divider explained.
Eda and the others gaped at him; "What!? Destroyed!? How!?" Eda demanded.
The Divider kept his expression blank as he replied; "The Door was destroyed in an explosion. It is regrettable, but not an insurmountable problem."
His dismissive attitude was clearly starting to get on Eda's nerves, as she marched over to him and yelled; "What is with you!? Luz and King are stuck in another realm and our portal just went up in flames! Why don't you care!?"
"Because I can easily open portals between the realms whenever I please." The Divider said with an unimpressed frown. He snapped his fingers and created a portal behind him to prove his point, then snapped his fingers again to close it. "As a Sephiroth, I can cast spells that most couldn't dream of. Trust me; I can bring Luz and the others back whenever I wish."
Once again, everyone looked at him with shock. They remembered Luz claiming these Ten-Winged Seraphim (or Sephiroth as he called himself) were like Gods to the Angels, being their race's equivalent of the Titans, but they still found it hard to believe just how powerful he was! If he'd gotten his wings back before today, the Day of Unity would never have happened in the first place!
Thankfully, knowing her children were safe and that Rasiel could reach them whenever he wanted made Eda feel a lot more relaxed. She took a deep breath and playfully swatted the man's shoulder; "Sorry Raspberry; I got a little bent out of shape there. Today has been stressful as heck! I'm gonna need the hardest, stinkiest, oldest Apple Blood on the Isles after this! Or maybe I can convince Camila to hook me up with some Human Drinks! We could make a party out of it!"
The Divider smiled and the others all agreed quite happily. They'd worked hard today, and even those who'd been disabled by the Draining Spell had still struggled hard under its effects. A proper celebration was well deserved!
However the Divider had other plans; "That sounds like a good idea, Eda. But let's restore order on the Isles first. The Covens are going to be in complete disarray, and there will likely be chaos and open rebellion across the Isles. I want to clean this place up before I bring Luz and King back here."
Eda pouted, but Lilith and the other leaders agreed; "Rasiel has a point. Let the kids rest with Camila while we handle the clean up. Then we can all have a proper celebration!" Lilith said. She knew how her sister was feeling, since she wanted to see her niece and nephew again, as well as Amity, but the kids had earned their break. They had effectively saved the Isles after all!
"Fine, you're right Lily. Our first order of business should be dealing with this lot." Eda said, looking over to the Coven Heads. With Mason on their side and two of the Coven Heads revealed to be Basilisks, they still had six more to deal with.
Darius and the Divider walked up to each one and formally arrested them for crimes against the people of the Boiling Isles, with the Divider applying chains of angelic magic to restrain them, allowing Hooty to go free. Terra was strangely meek in the face of arrest, staying silent and tugging on her veil to keep her face covered. Adrian was still a nervous wreck and the Draining Spell had not helped matters, so he just flinched and whimpered as he was chained. Amaranth and Carnar allowed themselves to be chained with only a token protest and demand for immediate legal representation, with Darius assuring them that they would be allowed to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible. Then there was Odalia and Vitimir; the latter screaming and cursing into his abomination slime gag as he was hauled away in chains, while Odalia swiftly joined him after basically demanding that she be let go on the grounds that she hadn't known what Belos was really doing. Something about Odalia's insistence made the Divider smell a rat though; he'd have to look into that later.
Following the Coven Heads' arrests, attention turned to the three Basilisks as well as the still unconscious Subject Zero. Since the group had positive experiences with Vee and Treble, and knew the three Basilisks had been enslaved with control collars, they were all perfectly willing to treat them gently. They weren't arrested, but they were taken into protective custody until the CATTs could decide what to do with them. They were scared, but seemed resigned to their fates and surprised by the kindness they were being shown. They also told the Rebels about a secret lab in the ruins of the Conformatorium, which is where they had been kept and where the real Hettie Cutburn and Scooter Crane were currently trapped in stone, along with Healer Dorothea.
Seeing as the rest of the CATTs leadership was tired either from fighting or the Draining Spell, the Divider took the reins of the rebels and spent the rest of the day rapidly cleaning up the isles. A snap of his fingers had Unity Plaza returned to pristine condition, while a second snap resulted in the destruction of every Abomaton that still remained active within a mile of the plaza. He then personally organised the various CATTs units into a single force, creating illusory spectral clones of himself to command them to complete various tasks. The roads were cleared, and the members of the Emperor's Coven were quickly rounded up and returned to Unity Plaza, which was turned into a temporary POW camp until each member could be vetted and judged to see who had committed evil acts and who had just followed orders. Some tried to fight, but the Divider was a being whose strength was at least on the same level as a Titan, so all it took was a few swift and easy defeats before the prisoners quietly accepted their lot. The Divider ensured that they were treated well by the CATTs (some of whom were not happy to be letting the EC off "so easy"), whilst also declaring martial law across the Isles. He created an illusion of himself in the sky and informed the people of who he was and what he was doing; declaring the victory of the CATTs over the genocidal Emperor Belos, whose death he also announced, and politely asking everyone to stay home as much as possible while the CATTs worked to restore order.
While the Divider was handling all this, the CATTs leadership used airships to get back to Bonesborough and the Owl House, taking the Basilisks and imprisoned Coven Heads with them with the intention of keeping them at their HQ on Digale Island. They arrived to find Treble and Hanu nervously standing beside Luz's Portal Door; they had been terrified when the safety vines attached to King and Rasiel had suddenly gone slack, fearing the two were lost in the In-Between Realm until the Divider appeared in the sky. His appearance had helped them stop panicking, and the appearance of his fellow Basilisks made Treble beam with joy and hurry over to them. The four Basilisks wiggled and squirmed around each other in some kind of odd but adorable serpentine hug. It was as the CATTs were smiling at the reunion that Osran suddenly had a thought.
"Hold on a moment, how are we going to get back to Digale Island? Luz isn't here to operate the Teleportation Circle!"
"Maybe Rasiel can activate it now that he has magic? Any Angel that knows the right song should be able to do it, if I remember Luz's explanation." Lilith said.
As if summoned, the Divider appeared in front of the group with a smile. "You are correct, Lilith. I can activate the circle."
His sudden appearance startled everyone, making Severin clutch his chest; "Please don't do that! We're all still wired from the fight!"
The Divider cast a quick calming spell to help soothe them all, and apologised with a completely unapologetic smile; "Forgive me Severin. I left a monitoring spell on the prisoners' chains, so I heard what you said and rushed over. Allow me to get you all to Digale Island." he offered benevolently.
The Leaders exchanged curious looks; Rasiel seemed strangely eager to get them home… was he just so happy to have his powers back that he was determined to do all the work himself? Lilith especially knew how frustrated he'd been at his limited ability to help without his magic. Regardless, they watched as he closed the Portal Door and bundled it out of sight in Eda's storage shed, then took the whole group up to the Teleportation Circle. Once they were all stood on it (the Basilisks and prisoners looking confused and curious), the Divider began to sing the song that Luz had harmonised the circle with. His singing voice was just as beautiful as Luz's, though it had a much more masculine and sombre lilt to it compared to Luz's very sweet and girlish voice.
Once they arrived on Digale Island, the CATTs wasted no time in reassuring the people that had been left on the island that they had been victorious. It had resulted in cheers and island-wide celebrations as Belos' Coven Heads were escorted to the prison cells in the fortress, where they joined Kikimora. Their cells were comfortable by prison standards, but were still very much prison cells. Each one was slapped with Magic-Suppressing Cuffs and tossed into a cell, while Odalia and Vitimir were freed from their gags… at least until they started hurling abuse again. Darius responded to that by creating an abomination that was tasked with gagging them again if they ever got too loud; that had shut them up fast!
The leadership of the CATTs then left to see to their people again, only to be surprised that the Divider had seemingly vanished, leaving them all stranded on Digale Island with no way back. Since the Divider didn't have a scroll either, no one knew how to get in contact with him to find out what was happening, so they had instead taken to calling their allies still on the Isles… not that many remained there for long. Alador, Edric, Emira, Colas, and Nelle Blight all showed up on Digale Island before anyone could call them; they had been working with the Hydra's Heart and Venom Units and had all gotten a little banged up in the fighting, but were otherwise fine and reported that the Divider was running about the isles restoring order with ruthless efficiency.
Eber had then managed to call Valtora Leonis, who was working with the Bat Queen and her beasts, to find out more and were given some odd news;
"Rasiel is ordering all the CATTs back to Digale Island and ordering all Coven Members back to their own Headquarters. Civilians are also being sent back to their homes and ordered not to leave town. It's strange… he's putting up barriers everywhere to keep people in." Valtora reported.
The listening CATTs all frowned, and Eber said; "Ancient Angel acting strange. Becoming like strict Alpha."
"He insists that all restrictions will be lifted as soon as the damages are repaired and order has been restored. Most people are still too tired from the Draining Spell to argue much anyway." Valtora replied; "I'm not sure what happened, but Luz was able to give back the magic taken during the first half of the spell, but the magic taken during the second hasn't come back at all, so people are weak and lethargic. Meesha says that it's just regular exhaustion and everyone will be okay with some rest, but it looks like Rasiel is taking advantage of the situation."
The call had ended abruptly after that, and the reason for it soon became clear when Valtora, Meesha, and their daughter Viney suddenly appeared back on Digale Island, followed swiftly by the Alembics, then the rest of the Magic Mixers, as well as their parents and the rest of the Hexsquad's parents. All were tired and had received some minor healing to fix any injuries they'd gotten whilst fighting the Abomatons, and all had been rather hastily rounded up by the Divider and sent back to Digale Island. The Elder Clawthornes were the last ones to be sent back (at least from among the "inner circle" and they'd come to be known) and as the group gathered together at their HQ, they began to discuss the situation.
"Rasiel is acting strange. It's like his whole personality changed when he got his memories back." Eda frowned, crossing her arms. She had a bad feeling about all this.
"He does seem a lot more… commanding than before." Luna commented. "He did used to be a Seraphim of a Crest Order, right? Maybe that explains it? He now has his memories of being in charge back and is filling that role here too."
Lilith nodded; "That could be it. He was the Seraphim of Crest Humility, and from what Luz and Amity told me, that is the Crest Order in charge of administration."
"So organising everything is probably just in his nature." Severin hummed; "It's admittedly a little unsettling how he's confining everyone to their home towns or Coven Headquarters, but he did say it was temporary and Angels can't easily lie. I say we let him do his thing until we're all rested and recovered, then take over from there. In the meantime, we should think about what to do next; the amount of things we'll need to do to fix this mess is staggering, and I want to try and get the worst of the chaos under control before Skara comes home."
The rest of the Hexsquad parents quickly agreed; their kids had fought and beaten Belos! They deserved to come home to a peaceful Boiling Isles. While Eda was still a little unsatisfied with the situation, the rest of the Inner Circle began refining their plans for the new Government. Belos and his Coven System had ruled the Isles with an iron fist, and it would all need to be undone and reorganised into a new system of rule. The current plan was to install pro-democratic leaders to each of the Covens (the Coven Heads that were members of the CATTs would be re-taking their old positions) and form a kind of Council to replace the seat of the Emperor. They'd use the framework of the Coven system to help restore order in the short term, then begin phasing it out in favour of a more fair, equal, and representative government.
But while the CATTs were putting together their plans for the Boiling Isles and refining the plans they'd already made, the Divider was acting on plans of his own.
"Digale Island really is very convenient. Without Luz or another Angel, I am the only one who can access it and no one can leave. Perfect for keeping the CATTs out of the way while I get to work." the Divider thought after sending the last of the CATTs back through the Teleportation Circle. Now that he was the only one of the rebels left on the Isles (working with Lilith in the administration and logistics of the CATTs had allowed him to memorise a complete list of members, which he'd mentally checked off as each was sent to the island), the Divider could begin the next stage of his plan…
Stamping out those that defied the new order.
The vast majority of people had obeyed him and returned to their homes or Coven Headquarters, while the Emperor's Coven Members had instead been sent to Unity Plaza. His barriers would keep people from leaving, and alert enchantments he'd placed on each barrier would allow him to find and immediately stop any rioting or fighting within them, as well as let him know if there were people in need of assistance. However as with all nations and realms, there were those who disobeyed either out of fear or some more nefarious reason; the Divider would easily deal with the former with some gentle and reassuring words. The latter, people who'd use the chaos to their own ends, he would deal with more harshly… they'd be the perfect warm-up for his powers.
Using Earth Magic imbued with the Aspect of Change from Water Magic, the Divider created large amounts of steel that he swiftly shaped into the form of suits of Angelic Armour. The armour was a shining silver, and coated with golden detailing, and with angelic themed weapons and large wings of gold and silver. The Divider then enchanted the armours, bringing them to life as his obedient golems and sending them to fly out and patrol the Isles; mostly sticking to the roads and frequently travelled paths. The Divider then created much smaller, bird sculptures with the same metal and general design as the armour, then sent them out to patrol the rest of the Isles in search of stragglers. They would gather reports on those who'd ignored his orders while he handled some other loose ends; namely the lab at the Conformatorium that the Basilisks had told him about.
The Divider flew to the Conformatorium at a leisurely pace, enjoying the feel of the wind beneath his wings and the magic thrumming through his veins. It felt good to be in the swing of things again! In fact, if Luz and King hadn't rejected him out of naivete, he would have considered himself happier than ever before!
Putting thoughts of his two young saviours aside for now, the Divider soon found himself flying above the familiar Conformatorium. Following the Petrification Ceremony and Luz flooding the place with plants, the facility had been largely abandoned, with all prisoners being kept at local precincts or taken to some other facility by Belos' goons; usually for experimentation of some kind. The entire place looked like it had been abandoned centuries ago thanks to the vegetation covering it, and unsurprisingly, the vegetation had grown thicker in the 3 months since Luz had first created it. Sections of the building were crumbling apart due to roots and vines digging into the stonework, and there were a few spots that were marked with fire damage or that the Divider could sense the residue of Plant Magic from… clearly attempts had been made to reclaim the place.
"Belos must have given up; renovating the entire facility so close to his big doomsday event was probably a pointless endeavour, especially once Snapdragon stopped being cooperative." he thought, eyeing the areas where Plant Magic had been cast to try and inhibit the plant growth there. His thoughts were swiftly drawn away from the vegetation itself by a twinge in the back of his head; one of his Knight-Jars (as he had taken to calling his bird golems) had detected signs of people near his location.
"Perhaps this place isn't as abandoned as I suspected…" The Divider muttered, before snapping his fingers and coating the Conformatorium in a barrier dome. Immediately, he heard startled voices from within the vegetation, making him smirk. He passed through his own barrier without trouble and descended to the ground so he could see beneath the tree line. He was almost immediately accosted by a group of about seven Witches and Demons in rag tag uniforms. They wore casual clothes with a black cloak over the top, and each one wielded either a spear or a staff, and had a belt around their waists with the masks of various covens hanging from it. The Divider recognised different scout masks from the EC, the mirror-like masks of the Illusion Coven, and even one or two of the botanical themed masks of the Plant Coven. That didn't even include the masks he didn't recognise; clearly this group was an enemy of the Coven System.
"Good evening." the Divider greeted politely; "I take it you are one of the other Rebel Groups that refused to work with the CATTs?"
The rogue rebels sneered as they pointed their weapons at him; "What's it to you, Angel?" one of them spat, saying the word Angel like it was a slur.
"Quite a bit, since the Civil War is now over. The CATTs have claimed victory and are now going to fix the problems on the Isles and beyond. Please stand down and return to your homes." the Divider instructed.
Some of the rogues scoffed while others laughed mockingly; "We heard all about your little victory, and it doesn't mean anything! Until the Emperor's Coven is wiped out completely, along with everyone else that served that Genocidal Monster, then the war isn't over!" one Rebel declared.
"Yeah! We're not going to let you CATTs walk all over us! Especially you Angels! Belos said you were all good guys and servants of the Titan, so obviously you must be monsters!" another growled.
The Divider rolled his eyes; while he could understand their reasoning, that didn't change the fact their logic was flawed. Belos being evil didn't mean the things he said were good were also evil! Though admittedly, that argument wouldn't work very well considering Belos' puritan beliefs were behind his veneration and support of Angels. The Divider wondered if Belos had ever even considered that the Angels of his religion might not be the same as the species itself?
"My kind is not evil, just as yours isn't. There are good and bad examples in all races and creeds." he countered, his tone just a little bit sharper.
"You would say that, you feathered freak!" a third Rogue snapped; "We aren't going to listen to you!"
The Divider crossed his arms; "Then why don't I listen to you? Tell me what it is your tiny, rag-tag band of rebels intend to do? You have no numbers, no power, and no support. You're squatting in the ruins of a prison while the real winners of this war, the CATTs, are already making plans to install a new order; one that will give rise to a true Paradise. What can you possibly hope to achieve?"
The Rogue Rebels became even angrier and poked their weapons a little closer, with one outright pointing their spear at the Divider's throat. His lack of reaction, besides the raising of a single unimpressed eyebrow, only managed to anger them further.
"I'll tell you what we're going to do! We're going to eradicate everyone who served that freak Witch-Hunter! Then we're going to drive all you outsiders from the Boiling Isles and give it back to the real Witches and Demons! Once all you Angels are gone, and those disgusting Basilisks are extinct again, we'll get that Owl Lady's portal to the Human Realm and get some proper justice on the Humans for what one of them did to us!" the apparent leader of this little band of thugs announced, earning cheers from the others.
Hearing all this, the Divider's eyes narrowed dangerously; this group were clearly the extremists Raine had mentioned once. They didn't want an end to the fighting; they wanted their own power and supremacy! They'd kill anyone in their way and then try to victimise the Humans… The Divider wondered how Luz would feel upon hearing their goals; would she finally understand why he would take such drastic measures to create Paradise? Would she finally accept the necessity of removing evil and corruption even if it fundamentally changed a person?
Because honestly, who cared if wannabe extremists had their minds altered? The Divider would certainly lose no sleep over it!
"What is the name of your group?" he asked, wanting the name of his enemies.
The leader puffed out his chest and declared; "We are the Boiling Isles Liberation League!"
The Divider couldn't help himself; he burst into laughter. "BILL!? Your organisation's name is BILL!? HA! No wonder nobody likes you! Who in their right mind would like bills?"
He continued to laugh uproariously at his own little joke, totally unfazed by the death glares he was receiving from the rebels, whom he was internally thinking of as Bills now. The leader went completely red in the face and poked his spear against the Divider's chest with a threatening snarl.
"Shut it, Angel! Or we'll butcher you like the animal you are!"
Shockingly, the Divider did not stop laughing. He paused for a moment to look at the man's angry face, then promptly laughed some more. The Bills all flushed with humiliation; their intimidation tactics had failed and now they were being mocked by this outsider! That would not stand!
"SHUT UP!" The leader screamed, pulling back his spear just enough to give his stab some decent momentum. He pierced the Divider straight in the chest, right where his heart was, causing golden blood to trickle out and then evaporate immediately, resulting in a strange gold vapour rising from his wound.
The Divider stopped laughing and looked down at the spear in his chest, feeling the pain of the sharp blade lodged in his heart. It was rather uncomfortable, making him frown a bit before lifting his eyes to meet those of the Bills Leader. His eyes narrowed as he watched the man's expression go from anger to satisfaction, then to disbelief and finally fear. Slowly, the Divider reached up to grab the shaft of the spear, then clasped it tightly, snapping it like it was a measly twig. The leader of the Bills staggered back in shock as his fellows also retreated a step, completely horrified by the Divider's lack of concern.
"That wasn't very nice. Or very productive, for that matter." the Divider said softly, before yanking the blade out of himself. His wound glowed gold and disappeared, healing up so effectively that none of the Bills had actually seen the open wound before it vanished. It was practically instantaneous, and with the blood disappearing too, it was like the stab had never happened. Still, the Divider held up the broken end of the spear and promptly engulfed it in flames, causing the molten metal to pool in his hand, before he let it dribble to the ground at his feet.
Again, the Bills stepped back in fear as the Divider took a step towards their leader.
"Do not be afraid. I don't intend to kill you, or even hurt you… I am going to save you from your own corruption." the Divider said, a benevolent smile stretching across his face; "I will strip away your ever flaw… congratulations; you are going to be the first citizen of my Utopia."
The leader screamed in terror as the Divider reached for him, then yelled; "KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!"
The other Bills jumped to obey him, with three stabbing their spears into him and the other three shooting spells. The Divider ended up with a spear in his throat, one in his abdomen, and one in his right arm, while a fireball struck his chest, the slimy fist of an abomination smacked him in the jaw, and a mace made of stone collided with his back… yet he did not move or flinch even a little. The only blow he'd blocked had been the mace to the back, which bounced off a barrier of pale magic that coated his wings, while the rest had been allowed to land without trouble. The fireball's damage had healed even before the smoke cleared, and the spears and rock mace were slowly and systematically broken then melted. The Divider then grabbed the abomination by the throat, coating it in a barrier of golden magic, before tossing it at the Bills. The barrier and abomination promptly exploded, knocking the rebels onto their backsides as the Divider slowly approached their leader.
The Sephiroth raised a hand and caused a swirl of magic to form there, creating a stream of tiny glittering stars in shades of gold, silver, white, and midnight blue. This stream of magic and stars formed together into an ornate looking longsword, which glowed with an immense power as the Divider held it aloft. "Foolish man. I am the Divider, one of the Sephiroth! Death cannot touch me… but fear not; it won't be touching you today either. Be reborn as a worthy citizen of Paradise."
The Bills Leader screamed out and begged for the Divider to stop, but the man was unmoved. His blade sliced through the rebel, practically singing as it glided through the air and rent the man asunder. Or at least, that's what the other Bills thought had happened, but when the blade had finished its arc through the air, their leader was still in one piece. Instead of a wound, the slice had left a glowing line through the man's body, which released tendrils of magic in all the colours of the rainbow. These tendrils leapt towards the Divider's hand, where they formed into a small orb that the Divider promptly crystallised. He then snapped his fingers to make the orb disappear and offered his now empty hand to the Bills Leader.
The man took the offered hand gladly and was helped to his feet, while the Divider smiled. "How do you feel?" he asked.
"I feel perfect, Lord Divider." the Leader replied, smiling serenely. His entire demeanour had changed, and he looked at "Lord Divider" with reverence.
"W-What did you do to the Boss!?" one of the other men demanded.
"Simple; I separated him from all his flaws and chaotic aspects. He no longer possesses any hatred for others, any desire to hurt others, or any other negative feelings. I left him only what he needed to be happy and to survive." the Divider explained.
For that was the power of the Divider; his Sephiroth title was not just for show. He possessed the ability to literally divide things from each other, be they physical, magical, or otherwise. He could cut away any part of a person he desired; the perfect tool to create his Paradise. It also had the unintended side-effect of making anyone under his power extremely susceptible to his suggestions, meaning only an incredibly strong will could defy him once they'd been Divided. The Divider was actually not too pleased with that aspect, for he did still value free will… he just valued it free from corrupting influences.
The Bills newly Divided Leader turned to his subordinates and said; "Stand down, everyone. Go tell the others inside that it's fine now. Lord Divider will help us."
Naturally, the other Bills didn't believe him and turned tail, running towards the Conformatorium building itself whilst screaming to one another to run for their lives. Their Divided Leader looked sad and disappointed, but the Divider just patted him on the back and told him to wait for a bit. The Divider then leisurely followed the fleeing rebels, knowing none could escape his barrier. He caught a few who tried to stall him with spells or desperate physical attacks, but a few slashes of his blade had them joining his forces, and the freshly Divided began helping him to catch the others.
Just as their leader had said, there were other rebels inside the building; in fact there were almost 100 members of the Bills scattered throughout, using the various guardrooms and barracks as sleeping quarters. Some who hadn't been outside and thus hadn't seen the Divider's power attacked him, but he was bored of humouring them and blocked their spells or weapons before dividing them, and with each one he struck with his blade, his army grew larger and the rebels' numbers grew smaller. Within ten minutes, each and every person within the Boiling Isles Liberation League had been divided, and now served the Divider loyally. He gathered them all together in the courtyard of the former prison and noted their numbers.
"Exactly 95 Witches and Demons. I'm surprised such a niche organisation attracted so many members." he commented as he conjured a book, some ink, and a quill, which he used to begin noting the names, genders, ages, and species of his Paradise Citizens. He also noted their magic preferences and skills, so he would know exactly where to assign each one once his forces grew larger.
"Good. Now everyone is to return to their homes. If you do not have another home or Coven HQ, then report to Bonesborough City Hall. Tell no one what happened here." the Divider ordered.
Obediently, the group dispersed and began making their way to their homes or Bonesborough, with the Divider dropping the barrier around the Conformatorium so they could leave without any trouble. He waited a moment until his spying Knight-Jar saw them all leave the premises, then began looking around for Belos' hidden lab; the real reason he had come to the abandoned prison. It took an annoying amount of time to find, and sadly his Sephiroth powers didn't include near omniscience so he had no clues to go on besides what the Basilisks had said. If only they'd known more…
Shaking off that thought, the Divider created several more of his Angelic Armours and Knight-Jars to assist him with the searches, while also using his keen magic sense to feel around for illusions and enchantments. He eventually found himself heading down beneath the Conformatorium, where the Petrification Statue had once been, and where evidence of Luz and Belos' battle could still be found. It was there that he found what he was hoping for; a well hidden alcove in a bizarre kind of throne room, which was filled with statues of Angels.
"This was where Luz ran into Belos and their fight began… I must be beneath the scaffold now." the Divider muttered to himself as he followed the feeling of magic to the hidden alcove behind Belos' twisted bone throne. The wall was definitely enchanted, and single vocalised note was all it took for the Divider to detect something behind the wall. He promptly disintegrated the wall and marched into the short hallway it had hidden. A sturdy door of enchanted steel sat at the end of the hallway, but this too was swiftly destroyed, granting the Divider access to another of Belos' hidden labs.
The sight of the place made his stomach squirm; it was a small square room that was about the size of the Owl House's kitchen, and had ten large cylindrical glass tanks along the walls, with five on the left and five on the right. Six of these tanks were empty, while the other four contained Basilisks in varying stages of development and floating in a strange dull blue liquid. The smallest was barely a recognisable fetus, and the largest was just a tiny bit smaller than a newly hatched Basilisk should be. There were small plaques at the base of each tank also, listing the species. Five tanks (one of which was occupied) were listed as "Common Basilisk", while the other five had different subspecies; two Greater Basilisks (one of which was occupied), two Golden-Eyed Basilisks (again, one of which was occupied), and a Quetzalcoatl Basilisk (which happened to be the smallest, barely recognisable one).
"Belos must have been hoping to make more, but only six survived. Vee is lucky." the Divider commented, casting a cursory diagnostic spell on the Basilisks. His spell confirmed what he'd expected; they were long dead, if they'd ever truly lived to begin with. Only the Common Basilisk looked like it had even developed enough to gain consciousness.
Offering a prayer to the souls of these poor unborn creatures, the Divider cast a spell to disintegrate them and allow their bodies to become magic and return to nature; it was all he could do for them now.
With that done, he continued to investigate the lab and found two things of interest; a desk laden with curious items at the back of the room, and an odd hatch on the floor in the dead centre of the room. The Divider examined the hatch first and upon opening it, he had to step back to avoid being hit in the chin by a short stone post that shot out of it. The post came up to his stomach and had various tubes in the base of it, which appeared to go under the floor and connect to the glass tanks. Atop the post was a small cage containing a lump of blackened stone, which the Divider gingerly poked at. It began to fall apart at his touch, as if it were made of black sand, but the Divider was able to make out strange air pockets within it… air pockets reminiscent of blood vessels and the chambers of a witch's heart.
"A Galdorstone." he whispered to himself. "Looks like Belos used it all up powering this experiment."
Making sure the rest of the Galdorstone was fully turned to soot and ash, the Divider then turned to Belos' desk and noted the items on it. One was a research journal, no doubt describing the Basilisk Experiment, whilst the others were a set of interesting fossils. The largest was a clutch of fossilised Basilisk Eggs that had been cut open with tools, likely so Belos could get DNA from the unborn Basilisks within. The Divider suspected they were common Basilisk eggs; he couldn't tell for certain since the fossilisation had robbed them of the tell-tale markings that differentiated the eggs of different Basilisk sub-species, but it seemed a logical guess. The second fossil was a piece of a rather large jawbone, which undoubtedly belonged to a Greater Basilisk; likely the genetic source for Subject Zero. The third and final fossil was a hunk of stone that contained the entire skeleton of an infant Basilisk; it appeared to have been retrieved from a riverbed of some kind, which likely meant it hadn't come from a Titan landmass since rivers didn't tend to form in such places. The Divider couldn't be certain, but he suspected this fossil was a Golden-Eyed Basilisk and the genetic source for Vee.
A quick look at Belos' research journal confirmed his suspicions about the various fossils and detailed his plans and experiments. Apparently Belos had been quite miffed to learn the magic-draining Basilisks had been driven to extinction, as such creatures were invaluable to his Draining Spell, allowing him to replace two Coven Heads. It was the reason Belos had made ten attempts, though only six were successful. Flora had secured the fossils from beyond the Isles, and Belos had initially attempted to make Grimwalker Basilisks, but hadn't wanted to use up more Galdorstones and had instead modified the process to create his artificially spawned Basilisks.
The Divider gleaned a lot more from the journal too; namely that Treble and Subjects One, Two, and Four were genetically siblings, while Subject Zero and Vee had no surviving siblings. He'd also learned that the unborn Quetzalcoatl Basilisk had actually been another Golden-Eyed Basilisk in which Belos had tried to induce a kind of in-vitro evolution, only for his stolen Angelic Magic to poison and kill the embryo; hence why it was so small compared to the others. Belos had wanted to use this Basilisk as a secondary back-up for Luz and the Dark Angel, in case either were unavailable or unsuitable. The last bit of information he'd learned was the ages of the Basilisks; they had all been created at the same time, but differing gestation periods between species resulted in them growing at different rates. Subject Zero was born first and was 19, while Subjects One through Four were 16, and Vee was 13, officially confirming that she was Luz's little sister. That made the Divider smile; Vee was younger than she thought.
Finishing with the journal, the Divider banished it to a pocket dimension for later perusal and then destroyed the fossils so they could not be used again. Upon doing so, he began looking around for more secrets; Subject One had implied Hettie and Scooter were somewhere in this lab, so there had to be yet another hidden section… Belos was paranoid it seemed, and liked his secrets.
Another sung note sent a ripple of Choir Magic through the lab and revealed a series of enchantments on the back wall, behind Belos' desk. The Divider promptly removed the desk and destroyed the wall, revealing a very small annex that was barely large enough for it's contents. The room contained three petrified statues; Hettie Cutburn, Scooter Crane, and Healer Dorothea. All three were almost totally petrified, leaving only their eyes and ears free so that they could see and hear the crystal ball that had been set up on a pedestal between them. The crystal ball was currently displaying nothing but swirling colours, but the Divider suspected Belos had tuned it to the broadcast of the Day of Unity so his three prisoners would be forced to watch the destruction of their world; the sadistic monster was definitely cruel enough to do such a thing.
Casting a basic light spell to properly illuminate the room, the Divider stepped inside and examined the petrified witches. Healer Dorothea appeared healthy but terrified, with her eyes watching him closely with an obvious look of fear. Hettie had narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and the pallor of her skin was pale with a greyish tinge, which emphasised the dark bags under her eyes. Lastly, Scooter's eyes were closed and a cold sweat was dripping from his forehead, while his skin was the same sickly shade as Hettie's, only with a bit of a reddish tone to it. A pair of spectacles had been stuck to his face too, ensuring he could see.
Seeing as Hettie could turn violent and Scooter looked to be unconscious, the Divider chose to free Healer Dorothea first. Reversing a full petrification was impossible without Luz's Panacea Blessing, but so long as the process was incomplete, anyone with sufficient healing magic could fix them up, meaning that Belos' sadism actually worked out in their favour this time. The stone parts of Healer Dorothea turned white under the Divider's magic, then returned to flesh as the poor woman collapsed to her knees and began whimpering and shuddering.
"Whoa there, be calm." the Divider said softly; "It's alright; Belos is dead and you are safe."
"Y-You… you're like him! Those wings…!" Healer Dorothea gasped out, edging away from him.
"Belos was not like me. He was a fake; in fact, he stole my wings and grafted them to himself. He was actually an evil Human." the Divider explained, not getting any closer.
Healer Dorothea nodded shakily and pointed to the crystal ball; "I-I know what he was. He made us watch. He forced those Basilisks to eat Head Witch Cutburn's magic, along with Head Witch Crane's, then petrified me and left us all here! He wanted us to watch as he destroyed our world!"
The Divider nodded; "That must have been awful. But I am a real Angel; an immortal Sephiroth in fact. I destroyed Belos with my own hands, and I'm going to rebuild this world that he almost ruined. You have no reason to fear me."
The woman looked doubtful, but considering she was helpless against him she had no choice but to take him at his word regardless of her feelings. Slowly she nodded and stopped trying to escape; "You said that Belos stole your wings before?"
"Yes. It was while I was incapacitated. Don't worry though; I've taken steps to ensure the same thing won't happen again." the Divider assured her. "But can you explain to me why you were petrified here? Hettie and Scooter make sense since Belos had them replaced by impersonators, but I can't see why he'd do the same to you."
Dorothea averted her eyes, the quietly confessed; "H-He forced me to take part in Project Renewal. I-It was a Grimwalker Clone that he'd made of himself, which was to replace his old body that had become overly corrupted. Belos wanted me to surgically remove the wings he'd grafted to himself, purify and heal them, then graft them onto the Grimwalker. It took a lot of time and effort, but I managed to complete his orders… my reward was being petrified and sealed up here so I couldn't tell anyone about the project."
The Divider frowned; Belos had decayed a lot by the time he'd killed him, and his original wings had obviously been destroyed, so he'd had no idea about any aspect of Project Renewal. He was marginally impressed that Dorothea had been able to undo the damage Belos had done to his precious wings, as well as a bit annoyed that she'd helped him… still, she'd done it under duress so the Divider wouldn't judge.
"I see. Thank you for explaining that. Now, the CATTs have claimed victory and seized control of the Isles, which I am now working to restore. I will need to take you to our HQ so you can be investigated, but should you cooperate, I promise you will not be harmed or unfairly judged. I doubt a healer like you committed any atrocities under Belos' order, so you won't be locked up." the Divider explained, hoping to calm the woman.
It appeared to work; Dorothea relaxed a little more and offered a small smile and nod of acceptance, before turning to her two petrified colleagues. "What about them?"
"I will free them from the stone too and take them as well. Scooter will be fine, but Hettie may need to stay confined for a bit since she attempted to murder an ally of the CATTs in cold blood." the Divider said, frowning at the large petrified woman.
"Y-You mean that story of Belos' was true? She really tried to kill the Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles?" Dorothea frowned.
The Divider shook his head; "No, she tried to kill the Silver Sentinel, who later became an ally of ours. The Sentinel is a Dark Angel and a Grimwalker of Luz. From what Luz told me, Hettie has a prejudice towards Grimwalkers caused by trauma in her past."
Dorothea gasped, though which part she was most shocked by was unknown to the Divider as he stood and went to free the two petrified witches. He freed Scooter first and the old Demon promptly fell forward into the Divider's arms, still unconscious and struggling to breathe. His magic had been partially returned by Luz after the Draining Spell had sucked it out of the Basilisk, but the rest was still tangled up inside his replacement and would need extracting before he recovered… that is if a man this old could recover.
"Healer Dorothea, I'm going to give this man a blessing to help him recover a bit more. Then I'd like you to give him a proper examination while I deal with Hettie." the Divider said, gently lowering Scooter to the ground in front of Dorothea. The woman nodded in agreement then watched as the Divider gave his blessing, causing Scooter's breathing to relax and his complexion to return to a healthier shade of red. He remained unconscious though, which suited the Divider just fine; he didn't want to deal with an elderly man that had been described as "going senile" and he didn't want to just Divide the man without cause just yet. The Divider wasn't yet ready to show his hand to those close to the CATTs, which is why he'd gotten them all bundled safely out of his way on Digale Island.
As the healer got to work making sure Scooter was alright, the Divider finally freed Hettie. The large woman gasped as she was de-petrified and fell to her knees, though she hastily got back to her feet, nearly collapsing again due to the weakness in her limbs from the weeks of disuse and the loss of so much of her magic. She seemed healthy otherwise though, so the Divider decided not to bless her; no sense giving her the tools to fight him with if she decided to be difficult.
"Easy there. Take a moment to collect yourself. You are safe." he said calmly.
"I am aware. I heard your conversation." Hettie said, keeping her tone neutral as she rubbed her leg muscles to help deal with the weakness. "I'm no fool; I can't fight you even if I had my full power. I lost to Luz and the Grimwalker, and you are an immortal with ten wings of power compared to Luz's six; my chances of victory are nil. I'll accept being placed under arrest, but know this; if you think you can trust a Grimwalker, then you are a fool."
The Divider shook his head; "No my dear, you are the fool. You have my condolences for your tragic past, but the horde of wild and improperly made Grimwalkers that were unleashed on your home town is not indicative of Grimwalkers as a whole." he lectured; "A properly constructed Grimwalker is indistinguishable from any other person, unless you cut them open and look at their insides."
Hettie scowled at him; "Do you expect me to believe you?"
"Angel, remember?" the Divider deadpanned, pointing back at his wings and then up at his halo. "But ultimately, I don't care if you believe me. I will remove that hatred of yours one way or another… but for now, you can think what you want. The Dark Angel and her brother are beyond your reach for the time being, so there is no point worrying about your thoughts towards them."
The true Healing Coven Head stared at him with widening eyes, obviously not expecting that response. The Divider really didn't care though; when he divided her in the future, she would lose her ability to hate and her grudge against the Grimwalkers. The only reason he wasn't using his powers on her right now was because he was planning to place her with the other imprisoned Coven Heads on Digale Island, and he didn't want the CATTs to catch on yet.
Conjuring some chains to bind Hettie's hands together, the Divider then turned to Dorothea, who'd been watching their exchange with a worried look. When he gave the woman an expectant look, she'd responded with a brief overview of Scooter's health; namely that his body had been put through the wringer by the stress of the Basilisk sucking up his magic, the partial petrification, and the Draining Spell. He'd need a regime of potions and healing spells to get him back to acceptable health, but due to his advanced age, it was unlikely Scooter would ever recover fully; his body was simply too worn out and that wasn't even getting into whatever his mental state would be when he awoke.
The Divider anticipated that Raine, Severin, and Skara would be quite distraught over the unfortunate situation; still, he could do little more than he already had. His dividing powers could restore the man's mind if he'd suffered mental degradation, but the Divider wouldn't use his powers to reduce a person's age or make them live longer than a natural lifespan; people had to die so others could be born. It was an indisputable part of life, and one thing the Divider had no intention of stopping. The sole exception were the Seraphim (who could still die from things besides ageing) and the Sephiroth (of which only a maximum of 10 could exist), and the Divider wasn't even a big fan of that, though sadly even he couldn't do anything about it. It was part of why he wanted to create a proper Paradise; he didn't want to spend eternity in a broken, imperfect world full of suffering and tears.
Seeing his disappointment, Healer Dorothea meekly lowered her head; "I am sorry. There isn't much more to be done for man of this advanced age, Mr… uh…"
"I am the Divider." the Sephiroth answered without really thinking, his mind already puzzling out what to do next.
"The Divider? A title and not a name?" Hettie frowned.
The man cursed in his mind; "Sephiroth have titles which we prefer to use over our own names. But if you must call me something, call me Rasiel."
Dorothea looked curious while Hettie looked suspicious, but neither said anything in response. Sighing heavily, the Divider snapped his fingers and coated the three rescued witches in a golden aura that caused them to float gently behind him, forcing them to follow wherever he went as he left the Conformatorium entirely. Once he was outside, the Divider flew towards the Owl House and the Teleportation Circle there. However as he flew, he used his magic to send a certain order to one of his Knight-Jars without the witches noticing. Within a few minutes, they came within sight of the Owl House and the Divider grinned upon seeing his order had been completed.
A small plume of smoke was rising from the top of the Owl House's stone tower.
Descending down to the tower after ensuring a displeased frown was on his face, the Divider examined the area and discovered that a small explosion had destroyed the Teleportation Circle, doing superficial damage to the roof of the tower itself. A snap of his fingers cleared the smoke and repaired the structural damage to the tower and the circle, but the harmonic crystals were no longer linked to the other circle on Digale Island.
"What happened?" Dorothea asked.
"This was originally a Teleportation Circle to the CATTs' secret base, but it seems someone attacked and destroyed it." the Divider replied with faux-irritation.
"Didn't you just fix it though?" Hettie pointed out.
The Divider nodded, then pointed to the inert crystals; "I can repair the damaged components, but I cannot restore the enchantments made by Luz. She would need to come here, apply her magic to the crystals, and then harmonize them once more. That won't be happening any time soon." he explained, being careful to keep his words technically truthful.
"So we can't go to your base?" Dorothea asked.
"We can, it just requires a more roundabout method. Hold on a moment." he said, before casually tearing open another portal to the In-Between Realm. He flew through with his temporary companions, then closed the portal and opened another one, this time leading out of the In-Between Realm and on to Digale Island.
They appeared in the courtyard of their fortress HQ, so they were immediately spotted by the CATTs, who called for their leaders. Eda, Raine, and Darius came rushing out, each looking mildly frustrated.
"Rasiel! There you are! What have you been doing all this time?" Raine asked urgently, before laying eyes on Scooter; "Scooter!? You found him! Is he okay!?"
"He's been better. We've done most of what we can for him; the only remaining thing to do is make Subjects Two and Four spit up the magic Belos made them eat so Scooter and Hettie get it back." the Divider said, before giving the trio a brief explanation of what he'd encountered at the Conformatorium. He even mentioned the BILL, but had avoided mentioning what he'd actually done to them, instead merely saying he'd "set them straight then sent them home". Eda had given him a strange look in response, but hadn't tried to argue just yet.
Scooter was hurried off to the Digale Hospital, with Healer Dorothea being given permission to go with him and Raine to help Meesha and the CATTs healers treat him. Hettie had her chains exchanged for Magic-Suppressing Cuffs and was then led into a cell within the fortress, getting some fierce glares from Darius, Eber, and Osran for her attempted murder of the Silver Sentinel. She'd yelled to anyone who would listen about the girl being a Grimwalker, but the only people surprised were some of her fellow imprisoned Coven Heads, as the CATTs had all been informed of the Grimwalkers.
With Hettie in a cell, the Divider had then gone and gotten some Glamour Rot juice to feed to the Basilisks, forcing them all to throw up any magic they'd devoured from people. They'd taken the juice with only a hint of hesitation, and the CATTs had been relieved to see that aside from Hettie and Scooter, they hadn't eaten anyone else's magic. A message soon came from Meesha at the Digale Hospital; Scooter's condition had improved dramatically with the return of his magic! Now they just had to wait for him to recover and wake up from the fatigue.
"That's another item off the list. Next should be Subject Zero and investigating if D'splora survived her fall. Then I can finally finish the repairs and begin processing the Coven Members to weed out the criminals among them." the Divider muttered to himself after hearing the news about Scooter.
"Okay mister, you're starting to really worry me." Eda said, crossing her arms; "We're all in this together, you know? Us weirdos have to stick together! Stop trying to deal with everything by yourself." she shook her head ruefully; "Honestly, not even Luz was this bad!"
The Divider smiled; "Thank you for the concern Eda, but I have spent months being next to useless. I couldn't fight by your side, or do anything to really help our cause. Yet during that time, you and the others bent over backwards to help me become complete and make me feel at home. Please just let me do what I need to do; I'll create a Paradise for you and everyone else."
Eda's eyes widened a little; she kind of sympathised with Rasiel's desire to help, but she didn't like him doing everything by himself! Friends should share burdens, not take it all on their own! Besides, something about the man's smile made her nervous… it never seemed to reach his eyes.
"Rasiel, what's really going on here? What's all this Paradise junk you're talking about? We already beat Belos, what else are you planning to do?"
However she received no answer, as the Divider disappeared through another portal with only a sad smile thrown her way. Eda didn't understand why, but he reminded her of the old Rasiel in that moment…
"I guess I'll have to talk to him when he comes back again. You can't avoid me forever, Raspberry!" she smiled to herself, trying to let her relief at their victory overshadow her worry for the man, as well as her desire to see her kids again. They'd be rested and back in her arms soon!
At least, that's what she'd thought…
[That Night]
The Divider sat on the steps in front of the Emperor's throne and idly listened to the rhythmic beating of the Titan's Heart behind him. He'd been tempted to sit in the throne itself, seeing as it was more comfortable than the throne room steps, but the Divider felt it sent the wrong message, especially as he was currently expecting guests. An open portal sat in front of him; a portal that led directly to the Divine Realm, and through which the Divider had sent one of his Knight-Jars, carrying an orb enchanted with a very specific spell…
After about an hour of waiting, a figure robed in white stepped through the portal and knelt in front of the Divider, removing his cloak as he did so to reveal the eight shining wings on his back.
"Lord Divider, I cannot possible express how happy I am to finally be returned to your side." the Angel said, bowing his head low.
The Divider smiled happily; "It is good to see you as well, my old friend. You were but a High Angel when I was sealed away; it pleases me greatly to see you have ascended and survived all these millennia. With me being gone for 100,000 years, I'd feared you were all long passed."
"Fear not, Lord Divider. While I am the only one of our illustrious cause to have become a Seraphim, there are others who also continue to support you and have long awaited your return." his old friend declared, looking up with a big grin.
"How is that possible? Even an Arch-Angel only lives for 10,000 years on average." The Divider asked.
The Seraphim grinned wider; "Some of us refused to abandon our support of you and were sentenced to reformation, but others lied and accepted their burning throats out of loyalty so that they could pass down your teachings. We have been subtly recruiting Angels from different Crest Orders across the generations, and even have a small following outside of the Crest Orders. Our numbers are in the thousands!"
The Divider could scarcely believe his luck! He'd thought it was a long shot when he'd sent his Knight-Jar to the Divine Realm with a spell orb to counter the memory effects of the Reformation on any of his old followers who still lived, but not only was one of those followers now a Seraphim, but thousands more were waiting for him!
"This is excellent news, old friend! Thanks to the recent civil war on the Boiling Isles, I am now in the perfect position to take over and continue Project Paradise. And thanks to some interesting adventures with some new companions, I have even discovered the locations of various pieces of the Titan's mate! Once I find the rest, we can begin!" the Divider declared.
His old friend beamed delightedly, then got a curious look on his face; "I am overjoyed to hear it, Lord Divider. Naturally I will rally our forces to aid you the moment you give the word. However I confess to being very curious; how did you get free of the seal?"
"I had the good fortune of being discovered by an inquisitive little Angel from Crest Kindness; Luz Noceda. Daughter of Cassiel of Crest Kindness." the Divider replied.
The curious look on the face of the Seraphim morphed into recognition; "The child of Cassiel? I remember hearing that girl's name… she caused a bit of an uproar when she ran away some two decades ago. Camael was despondent for weeks. There was also some contact with her about 10 years ago, but I don't know what happened."
"I'm surprised you even know that much." The Divider said.
"Cassiel had been earmarked for recruitment by our people in Crest Kindness. She was dissatisfied with life in the Crest Orders and could have been a useful asset." The Seraphim replied with a shrug. "But please, tell me more about her child; if she saved you, she will be a Hero of Paradise!"
The Divider smiled; he would be happy to tell his tale.
[The Next Day]
When the Boiling Isles awoke to the first day without Belos, they also awoke to Angelic Sentinels guarding their streets and keeping things nice and orderly, while Knight-Jars flew around overhead like Tele-Bats. The people were naturally wary of them and their Angelic Creator, but the Divider had once again projected himself into the sky of the Isles to deliver a simple message; the Angelic Sentinels would do nothing but enforce the laws of the Isles as they were currently written, excluding several prejudiced laws that served no one but Belos and his noble sycophants. The laws surrounding wild magic and mandatory Coven membership were repealed immediately under the Divider's executive authority. The removal of unfair laws and the assurance that no new laws were replacing them had eased the populations' fears, and the Divider had taken an additional step towards winning some trust by sending copious amounts of fine and exotic food and drink to every settlement and having his Sentinels prepare what he described as a "Preliminary Celebration Feast". These feasts also included entertainment from his Sentinels, who performed feats of magic or played instruments for the crowds, giving them a taste of the Divine Realm's culture. The food had actually come from the Divine Realm too, provided by some of the Divider's new devotees, who'd been eager to please their resurgent master. The people of the Demon Realm were pretty happy with it too, especially when the Divider promised an even bigger and grander celebration when "The Heroes of Paradise" returned from their rest period in the Human Realm.
The Divider knew what made people tick; bread and circuses was not a concept limited to Humans after all, and if he could maintain a degree of normalcy while keeping everyone's bellies full and their minds distracted, he could maintain control through peaceful means until it was time for the final stages of Project Paradise.
With everyone distracted by the feasts, the Divider had gone to Unity Plaza and finally dealt with the Emperor's Coven being kept there. Using the stores of Blabber Serum confiscated from the Potions Coven and some Truth Tonics from the Divine Realm, the Divider and his Angel Subordinates had interviewed each member of the Emperor's Coven and split them into four groups based on their answers; those who were innocent of any heinous acts (as judged by the Divider's criteria), those who had committed these acts under duress, those who had committed minor sins (intimidation, taking bribes, general corruption), and those who had committed major sins (acts of violence and assault to name a few). Those who were innocent were sent home immediately, with a bag of snails for their troubles (liberated from Belos' treasury). Those who had committed crimes under duress were also sent home, though they were given a stern warning to not break any further laws. Only those who had willingly committed crimes were kept, and those guilty of lesser crimes were ordered to perform community service under the eyes of the Divider and his people.
However those guilty of major crimes were not so lucky. Their sins were too great to be ignored, and while the Divider was pleased to see that only about 1% of the Coven fit into this group, that was still a lot of people. Like he had done with the BILLs, the Divider cut the sins, flaws, and chaotic urges from all of them and turned them into his obedient and repentant soldiers. They would be placed in charge of the group doing community service and would replace the Divider's Sentinels… once they'd gotten some new uniforms of course. The Divider couldn't very well use the Emperor's Coven uniforms after all!
Now the Divider sat atop the Central Tower of Unity Plaza, idly watching his Angel subordinates organising the newly Divided as he went over what he needed to do next. He planned to perform inspections on the other major Covens, which would take the next couple of days, then he'd get to work on inspecting each town and the people within. Once all the serious criminals were neutralised, he would finally head to Digale Island and deal with the CATTs themselves. They were heroes loved by the populace for defeating Belos, so the Divider wasn't going to just use his powers on them; doing so recklessly would tip off the populace and cause chaos, and the Divider did not want another war or more chaos!
As he was thinking this, one of his Angels came flying up to him. She was a High Angel from Crest Kindness, who reminded him a little of Luz; she had the same skin, hair, and eye colour, and even similar curly hair (though cut shorter), but otherwise her resemblance was fairly weak compared to others in Crest Kindness.
"You have a report, Hermiel?" the Divider asked.
Hermiel bowed her head; "Yes, Lord Divider. We have received two reports of trouble in different regions. The first is the Goliath Basilisk; she is becoming unruly and our people are having a hard time calming her down without getting close to her."
The Divider scowled; he'd personally imprisoned the Goliath Basilisk inside the Growling Grotto shortly before making contact with the Divine Realm the previous night. She was borderline feral, so he hadn't wanted to use his power to Divide her; he feared that stripped of all her flaws and negative traits, she might not have enough of a mind left to be considered sapient any longer, potentially leaving her brain dead.
"I see. I will go and pacify her shortly. Have the searches of the tunnels uncovered any traces of the missing witch?" the Divider asked. He'd checked the pit that Hooty had tossed Flora into whilst imprisoning Subject Zero, and he'd found no trace of the woman's body. She had to have survived and gone into hiding.
Hermiel reluctantly shook her head; "I'm sorry Lord Divider, but no. We're scouring the tunnels but we've found no traces of her yet."
That was annoying, but unsurprising… being an explorer familiar with the Grotto, Flora had likely been able to find a way out that the Divider and his people didn't no about. No matter; his sentinels and Knight-Jars would found her eventually.
"A pity. Still, inform the search parties that I have faith in them. Now what is this second issue?" he asked.
"A trio of powerful people is causing trouble in the Right Knee Region. They have been trying to breach the barrier and neither your sentinels nor local law enforcement have been able to stop them."
That got the Divider's attention; the only barrier up on the Knee was around Cartilia. He briefly remembered getting some signals from that region, but the signals had ended fairly quickly and he'd been too focused on other things to investigate it… had the signals stopped because the Sentinels were destroyed?
"Describe these powerful people." he instructed.
"Well, we're not sure if they are Witches or Demons. They don't resemble any race of Demon in the encyclopedia you gave us, but they have non-standard features for witches. They possess scales on their extremities, horns, tails, and slitted pupils." Hermiel explained.
The Divider sat up a little straighter; "Was one a female in blue and white, one a male in black and red, and one non-binary and dressed in yellow and grey?"
Hermiel's eyes widened; "Yes, Lord Divider! Do you know these people? Their magic appears to be well above Arch-Angel level, which is supposed to be rare in this realm."
"Zara, Godric, and Lars; Supreme Dragons formerly in service to Orion and Cassiopeia. They guarded three of the four tombs that kept me imprisoned. I knew they were nesting on the Knee, but I hadn't expected them to take a jaunt to Cartilia in their Witch forms." the Divider hummed, speaking more to himself. He then slapped his knee and floated into the air; "I'll go and speak with them, and deal with the Goliath Basilisk on-route. Please have the others finish processing our new recruits and then make your way to the Knee as well; we can start the other Coven inspections with the Healing Coven."
Hermiel nodded and placed her fist against her heart as a kind of salute before heading off to do the Divider's Will. With a pleased smile, the Divider then flew down beneath the plaza to the entrance of the Growling Grotto, and promptly ordered his Angels there to retreat to a safe distance while he dealt with Subject Zero. Dealing with the over-sized Basilisk wasn't particularly difficult; she couldn't devour Glyph Magic so he'd simply used his plant, earth, and ice glyph markings to produce powerful shackles to hold her down before calling his Angels back to his side. He then led them through a Choir performance, their powerful magic harmonizing together to further drain the Basilisk of her stolen power whilst also putting her back to sleep. By the time he was done, the Divider noted that Subject Zero was only marginally larger than she'd been when Luz encountered her at Hexside; the loss of so much magic had seemingly reverted her evolution into a Goliath Basilisk… or perhaps she hadn't truly evolved at all, and had merely swollen to monstrous proportions due to the magic she'd been feasting on.
The Divider didn't care either way, and simply left the unconscious and pacified Basilisk in the hands of his people before opening a portal to take him to Cartilia.
Upon arriving in the icy cold city (and applying some warming enchantments to himself), the Divider swiftly found the cause of the disturbances Hermiel had mentioned. At the base of the grand staircase in the Ice District, a large amount of twisted metal had been dumped into a pile; portions of which were melted or covered in frost. The Divider recognised them immediately as the remains of some of his Sentinels and Knight-Jars, confirming why the signals from this area had been cut off.
"I'll have to adjust the magical alerts to accommodate destruction of my golems. It was foolish of me to overlook this possibility." he muttered to himself as he landed beside the pile of scrap. He knelt down to examine some of it, and almost immediately found the head of a staff poking into the back of his neck. He tilted his head a little to look behind him, then frowned as he saw Zara in her human form with her Ice Wyrm Staff pointed at him. Godric and Lars stood at her sides, their own staves held at the ready.
"Zara, Godric, Lars. I'm surprised to see you down here. What brings you out of your nest?" the Divider asked, getting to his feet again and turning fully to face them, not caring about the threat from Zara.
"We saw the effects of the Eclipse yesterday and came to investigate." Lars answered neutrally; "Imagine our surprise when your face appeared in the sky, before we became trapped by your barrier."
"Apologies for that." The Divider said with a genial smile; "I hadn't expected you to be here. If you wish to return to your homes at Eclipse Lake, I'd be happy to help you."
He moved to snap his fingers and open a portal, but Zara shot some ice magic at him and froze the hand solid, much to the man's annoyance. "That is cold, you know."
"Do not play games with us, Angel! What are you plotting!?" Zara demanded.
"And where is Lord Orion's son and god-daughter? I refuse to believe they'd stay silent with you putting up barriers and sending out these things to control the isles!" Godric growled.
"Luz and King are taking a well-deserved break after all they've done. As for what I'm "plotting", I merely wish to restore order and reform society into a peaceful paradise without war or hatred. You have my word that the barriers and restrictions will be lifted as soon as my people have investigated all the Covens and weeded out the evil and corrupt." The Divider said, before his frozen hand thawed out in a flash of gold.
He snapped his fingers and a portal appeared, which he promptly stepped back into, not taking his eyes off the suspicious Dragon Priests. "This will return us all to Eclipse Lake. Follow if you wish to leave my barrier. Be aware that it won't come down until my inspections are complete, so if you don't take this chance, you'll be stuck for a few more days."
With that he disappeared through the portal and found himself in the cavern of Eclipse Lake, where the Primordial Wellspring was still bursting with energy. The cavern had been massively enlarged by the Dragons so that it could accommodate their full forms (the skeletons of which were currently left around the cavern) and the skylight had been torn open to allow them to fly out if they chose. There was also a rather cosy looking bed in a little alcove off to the side, which had been filled with Dragon Scales and the pelts of some rather large Slitherbeasts. Clearly the three Supreme Dragons had made themselves a nice little nook to spend time together in their Witch forms. Considering the number of Carbuncles scurrying about and playing, it also appeared that the Dragons had adopted some pets.
"How sweet." The Divider smiled as a pair of Carbuncles trotted over, with one of their kits tottering along between them. He knelt down and pet the parents, then applied a tiny blessing to the horn of the kit to ensure it grew up nice and healthy, before sensing three presences approaching from within the portal he'd made. He gently shooed the Carbuncles away, then turned to see the Dragon Priests following him into their den. The portal disappeared once the priests passed through it, and all three then promptly pointed their staves at the Primordial Wellspring. Thick streams of magic leapt from the wellspring and flowed into their staves, before their bodies seemed to transform into pure elemental magic. They then shot towards the skeletons of their Dragon forms and formed into balls of ice, fire, or lightning within the rib cages. These balls of elemental power slowly expanded to coat the skeletons, then in a flash of light, restored the flesh and scales, returning the priests to their full Supreme Dragon forms.
The Divider stared up at them with an unconcerned smile, even as they towered over him and tried to look intimidating. Zara and Godric were growling lowly, while Lars carefully took flight and began to hover directly beneath the skylight of the cavern.
"I will give you one chance to answer honestly, out of respect of the Children of the Titans that helped free us from out duty." Lars declared, their Thunder Wyvern form almost blotting out the midday sun. "What is your true objective? Exactly how do you intend to create your peaceful paradise?"
The Sephiroth was unimpressed by the attempt at intimidation, but decided to answer honestly regardless. He told the three Supreme Dragons exactly what he intended to do and how he intended to do it, leaving out not a single important detail. As he spoke, the three Dragons looked at him with shock and disbelief, which slowly morphed into rage on the faces of Zara and Godric, and grim resignation on the face of Lars. The former two took flight to join Lars in the air, and as the combination of hot air, cold air, moisture, and static in the air created the beginnings of a thunder storm, their eyes gleamed dangerously as they glared down at the Divider.
"You are mad. The things you plan to do… the things you have done… they cannot go unanswered!" Zara roared, whipping up quite the blizzard.
"I see now why you were sealed away! You cannot be allowed to complete your insane ambition! The natural order of this world may be imperfect, but your new order will be infinitely worse! Perfection cannot come from stripping people of all that makes them who they are!" Godric growled, his fiery wings looking extremely ominous against the increasingly darkening sky.
The Divider scoffed; "I have no intention of stripping anyone of their individuality. People will still be unique combinations of different traits; those traits will simply be nothing but positive."
Lars shook his head; "Your power will also strip this world of its free will, and inflict untold damage to both the Divine and Demon Realms! That cannot be allowed to happen!"
The Dragon's declaration was accompanied by the first flash of lightning from the storm, and the light looked like an aurora amidst the raging blizzard and the flames of Godric's wings. It was a sight that would send most people running for the hills or begging for mercy, as not even a Seraphim could stand up to three Supreme Dragons at once.
But the Divider was not a Seraphim any longer… he'd gone beyond that.
"The people will have free will. The Divided may be under my control, but without orders they will default to doing as they wish. Once my utopia is achieved, I will simply step back and let them handle their lives without me. I fail to see the downsides of stripping a person of their flaws." the Divider said, slowly flying up to join the Dragons in the sky. He looked terribly small while surrounded by these colossal creatures, but that didn't bother him.
"Your failure to understand is not our concern! Surrender now and we will spare you, but fight and I'm afraid that there will be no mercy." Lars threatened.
The Divider chuckled as his golden eyes stared into Lars' yellow ones; "Mercy is a gift from the strong to the weak… you don't have the capacity to offer it to me."
And with that, the battle began.
Zara immediately blasted him with her ice breath, almost freezing him solid if not for the creation of a barrier in front of him. The barrier froze solid and was used to effortlessly parry a blow from Godric's mace-like tail hammer, not even cracking under the monumental force. Lars saw this and flashed behind the Divider before trying to rake his back with their claws, but Lars found their claws instead disappearing through a portal that the Divider opened with a snap of his fingers. The other end of the portal came out above Zara's head, causing their blow to slash across the top of her skull. Both Dragons screamed in pain, as Lars' claws slashed Zara's head and Zara's horns impaled Lars' foot. The Divider then closed the portal with Lars' foot still inside it, causing the Wyvern's leg to be severed just above the ankle. Not only did this make Lars scream in more pain as their bleeding wound gushed crimson blood into the snow of the Knee, but the weight of their foot impaled on Zara's horn also caused her head to drop, making it harder for her to maintain flight.
There was a roar from Godric, who sprayed fire down on the Divider, but the Sephiroth simply raised a second barrier to absorb the flames until Godric ran out of breath. As soon as the Fire Drake paused to inhale again, the Divider pointed his first barrier, the frozen one, at him and shattered it, before sending sharp shards of ice and magic at the Dragon. Godric roared in pain as the shards stabbed into his scales and distracted him long enough for the Divider to shoot a jet of highly pressurised water at him, severing one of his horns as well as destroying one of his wings of flame. With only one wing, Godric plummeted to the ground, joining Zara and Lars, who had landed so they could remove the latter's foot from the former's horn and regain their balance.
The Divider watched them with the same serene smile as always, then pointed down to the Wellspring in the cavern below; "Feel free to go and rejuvenate yourselves. I will wait… consider it my mercy."
All three Dragons bared their teeth, but they took the opportunity anyway, absorbing magic from the Wellspring to restore the damage done to their bodies and replenish their magic. They then immediately rushed to attack the Divider again, with Godric spitting out a barrage of fireballs, Zara producing an icy cold mist to freeze and blind him, and Lars using their flash movement to get close enough to attack with their claws, horns, and tail. The Divider snapped his fingers to try and disperse the fire and mist, but found that he couldn't make them disappear, surprising him enough that Lars actually managed to zip behind his barrier and slash him with their clawed feet, severing one of the Divider's arms.
The pain was annoying, but the Divider caught his arm and flew up high to give himself a moment to reattach it. He frowned again when the arm didn't immediately reattach on its own, requiring him to use a healing spell.
"I see… these three are Titan-Blessed and possess a small amount of Titan Magic. Not enough to make them immune to my powers, but enough that I can't dispel their magic or automatically regenerate from their wounds." the Divider thought idly, flexing his fingers once his arm was reattached. He was a bit impressed that they'd actually landed a blow; he had gotten sloppy after 100,000 years of inactivity.
"They were also smart to cover for each other's weaknesses. Ice Wyrms are weak to sunlight so Godric and Lars created a smokescreen and this storm to protect Zara. Fire Drakes are vulnerable to water and need heat and light of some kind, so Zara is limiting the snow around him and Lars is making lightning flashes to help power him. And Lars simply needs a storm, and their mates caused the combination of hot air, cold air, and moisture, creating the perfect atmospheric conditions for a storm to be created. These three are quite extraordinary."
Spreading his wings out behind him, the Divider caused them to glow with silver light before flapping them hard, producing a gust of wind that blasted down on the Knee with such force that it complete cleared the smokescreen and icy mist, as well as smashing all three Dragons into the rock-like bone of the Kneecap. With them distracted, he next shot another powerful gust of wind into the sky above him, hitting the storm clouds and tearing them apart, clearing the sky completely in a single move. It was almost midday by this point, so the sun was at its zenith and Zara promptly snarled as her body began to melt. She tried to retreat into the caverns while her mates attacked the Divider, but he casually blasted Godric with enough icy water to make his body begin disintegrating into soot, while conjuring a large boulder that he smashed into Lars' face, stunning them and knocking them back to the ground again. Zara paused in her retreat so she could help her mates, but that proved to be a mistake, as the Divider used her distraction to snap his fingers and conjure a large crystal lens over the skylight that led into Eclipse Lake, preventing the dragons from retreating there again. He then created a second lens and held it in front of the sun, focusing its light into an intense beam that burned through Zara like a burning lance.
"ZARA!" her mates screamed as they watched her body rapidly melt away, leaving her draconic bones collapsed on the rocks while her Witch form hissed and tried to hide within her Dragon form's skull. Godric rushed to shield her since the heat would only benefit him, but the Divider decided to take a page from their book and conjured up another storm, this time making sure it came with frigid cold torrential rain. Godric soon found himself in the same predicament as Zara; his Dragon body collapsing under his elemental weakness and his Witch body being forced to take cover alongside Zara within their bones. Only Lars remained, and they tried to use the rain to amplify the power of their arcing lightning breath. The Divider countered by conjuring his sword and letting it float in front of him and intercept the electricity, like a lightning rod.
"Is this your first time experiencing cold rain?" the Divider asked with a curious look. "It's quite different than the Boiling Rain typical to this Realm. Though I doubt a Fire Drake would appreciate water of any kind."
Lars grit their teeth, but seeing as their lightning attacks had been deflected so easily, they decided it was better to get back up, and so they flew down to try and open a way back into Eclipse Lake, so their mates could get their Dragon Forms back. However the instant they turned away from the Divider, they suddenly found themselves impaled through the back by an incredibly large stalagmite.
"It is rude to turn your back when someone is speaking to you." the Divider said in a monotone, watching as Lars was pinned to the rocks below by the spike of earth. They thrashed and snarled, trying to turn their body into lightning to escape, only for the Divider to stab conjured iron rods into their body. The weakness of a Thunder Wyrm was metal, as any metal in contact with them would draw all their lightning to it and leave them unable to turn into their element.
Unable to escape their predicament, Lars had no choice but to abandon their Dragon Form too, but as soon as their Wyvern body was reduced to bones and they crawled out from its head, they found the Divider now stood directly in front of them with his sword in his hand.
"Have no fear." he said, raising the sword; "This won't kill you."
Lars' eyes widened as fear filled their heart, but before the Divider could swing down his sword, Zara and Godric came flying at him and swung their staves at his wing joints; Zara's staff ending in a blade of ice while Godric's had a blade of magma. The blades slammed down on his wing joints, but then promptly shattered as they made contact with the pale barrier that the Divider kept over his wings.
"Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared for that kind of thing after what Belos did to me? You'll find taking my wings a lot more difficult now that I'm conscious… not that succeeding in cutting them off would get you far now. I've accounted for such tactics." the Divider said grimly, stabbing his sword into the ground before grabbing the horns of both Witches and using them to slam them into the hard floor head first, dazing them. Lars gasped in horror and tried to swing their own staff at the Divider, only for him to duck and catch the shaft of the staff in his hand.
"Interesting…" the Divider muttered as he twisted his hand and snapped the staff, keeping hold of the upper section as Lars was swiftly kicked away. "This staff looks like a Palisman, but it isn't one. It doesn't even appear to be made of Palistrom wood… no, this is Dragon Bone. I see, these staves are part of you! How curious."
Godric swung his tail hammer at the Sephiroth's leg, but was countered by a short crystal wall cropping up in his way. The wall shattered even as it stopped the blow, and the Divider promptly put his foot on the tail hammer and forced it into the ground. "Since you still seem a bit ornery, why don't you explain this to me? Why not use normal Palismen?"
The Fire Dragon Priest began to clear his throat, then spat a globule of lava at the Divider, who merely leaned back to avoid it. He then shot a disgusted glare at Godric and shot a burst of icy cold water from one of his finger tips, making Godric hiss like a kitten being sprayed. "Disgusting brat."
"Leave him alone!" Zara demanded, getting back to her feet. She moved to attack the Divider, but froze when the man grabbed his sword and placed it at Godric's throat.
"Perhaps you can answer my question instead. Unless you'd rather I deal with your rude mate first?" the Divider said threateningly. His mood had been soured by Godric's disgusting act of defiance; he didn't care if it was lava or saliva, he did not appreciate being spat at!
Zara flinched and backed off a step; "O-Okay! Okay. I'll answer your question, just please don't hurt him or Lars again! A Dragon Priest is not permitted to make a Palisman because to create one is to give a fragment of your soul to another being, and a Dragon Priest must devote their entire soul to their Titan Patron. We instead craft our staves from the bones of our first transformations!"
The Divider hummed with interest, then looked at the broken fragment of Lars' staff. He suddenly felt a little bad for breaking it; he wouldn't have done so if it was a Palisman, and while it wasn't alive, it obviously still had meaning to their makers. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned the rest of the staff to his hand and repaired it, before handing it back to Lars.
"There; my apologies." the Divider said simply.
The three Dragon Priests looked at him like he was completely mad; he was willing to fight them and divide them, making them into his obedient followers, but he was also strangely conscientious about their possessions and potential emotional attachments?
"What the hell are you!?" Godric spat, angry and confused.
The Divider chuckled; "I am the Divider. I wish to create paradise, and destroying an item of value to you will not help me achieve that. I have no desire to inflict unnecessary suffering… in fact I'd rather not inflict any at all. Please surrender now; I will create a world in which you can be happy."
Lars shook their head; "We'd be happy because we would be blissfully ignorant. You'll take away our ability to even feel unhappy… your paradise is nothing but a gilded cage."
They and their mates stood up, Godric pulling his tail out from under the Divider's foot, and then stood together, staring the man down.
"We reject your fake utopia!" they declared together.
There was a moment of silence as the Divider looked at the trio, his expression morphing to one of mourning before becoming unsettlingly blank. His body began to glow and give off a golden aura, and the storm of icy rain began to clear up as everything on the Knee became frighteningly still.
"I see." the Divider said softly, "You may call my Paradise whatever you wish, and offer any judgement you choose… but I know that what I wish for is better than the Hell we all live in. A Hell that brought about the Wars between Angels and Demons, the near-extinction of the Titans, and the attempted genocide of Belos. I have seen where free will, corrupted by chaos, leads… and I will not allow it. So forgive me, Servants of the Titans…"
The Divider's glyph markings began to glow ominously as his eyes became cold; "… but I cannot allow you to stop me."
Without an ounce of mercy or a hint of hesitation, the Divider took up his sword once more and flew at the three Dragon Priests. They put up a valiant final defence; Lars tried to delay him with a lightning bolt, Zara tried to protect them all with an ice barrier, and Godric had stood ready to take his flaming claws and tail hammer to their foe should he break through their defences, but it was all for naught. Lars' lightning was knocked aside like an annoying fly, Zara's barrier was shredded in a single slice of the Divider's sword, and that same swing had also slashed through Godric's body, leaving a glowing cut in his flesh that began to release streams of magic. The Divider gathered these streams into an orb, and upon the orb's completion, the glowing cut on Godric's chest disappeared entirely and the newly Divided Dragon Priest grabbed Zara to prevent her from fighting back or escaping.
"Forgive me, my love. But allow the Divider to free you from your flaws. Paradise awaits!" Godric said in a serene voice.
Zara gave a heart broken gasp, before she was stabbed in the chest by the Divider and brought under his power. Lars could do nothing but watch as both their mates were turned to the Divider's side. They had strength enough to flee, but decided they would not run away and abandon their loves… Instead, Lars lowered their arms and accepted their fate, though not without giving one final defiant look to the Divider.
"You were sealed once, Divider. You will be sealed again and your false paradise brought to ruin!"
The Divider paid them no mind and simply slashed them across the chest and divided them. Now all three of the Supreme Dragons were under his command.
"My Paradise will never fall to ruin. I won't allow it!" he said to himself, before snapping his fingers to open the way back into Eclipse Lake. "Go and restore your Dragon Forms, then await my orders. I will send a Knight-Jar with instructions when I am ready."
His three new followers bowed their heads; "Yes, Lord Divider."
A moment later, the three were once again in the form of Supreme Dragons and settling in together to nap and await his call. The Divider watched them with a satisfied smile; a little while ago they were fighting, risking injury and pain in a mad, chaotic dance of spells and claws, and yet thanks to his power, they were now sleeping peacefully in the embrace of the ones they loved most.
War to peace. Violence to love. This was the Divider's Paradise! What did it matter if their free will had to be taken away briefly to achieve it? They were perfectly content!
'It isn't real.' whispered the treacherous voice in the back of his mind.
The Divider ignored it and headed back to Cartilia; he had inspections to perform.
[Three Days Later]
It had been a grand total of four days since the Day of Unity and the fall of Belos, and yet despite their hard-earned victory, none of the CATTs had even seen the Boiling Isles since that day! Instead they were trapped on Digale Island, unable to sail away thanks to the Maelstrom Strait and with no way of activating the Teleportation Circle! It was utterly maddening and the fact that Rasiel, one of their own, was responsible for it made the whole situation even more bitter.
The CATTs tried to make the best of it; they kept each other entertained and spent a lot of time with family and friends, whilst hosting whatever events they felt like with the sizeable amount of supplies stored on the island, but after four days with little information on their home back on the Isles, they were becoming stir crazy. Rasiel hadn't neglected them completely; he'd sent strange suits of armour to them via a portal, and the armour had delivered food and drink for a mighty feast, which had smoothed some ruffled feathers, and he frequently sent strange metal birds to them with messages too, but the messages only ever carried excuses.
"I apologise but the Teleportation Circle at the Owl House was destroyed. I will repair it when I have a convenient moment. Please hold on until then."
"Forgive my silence; I had to deal with some unexpected trouble from Subject Zero, as well as the Emperor's Coven. There was also some business to take care of up on the Knee. Fear not, I'll ensure the Isles is in perfect condition by the time you return."
"I've inspected four more of the Main Covens today. I'll investigate the remaining five tomorrow! Darius and the others will be able to immediately take charge of a properly organised group, so have no fear."
"The Main Covens have all been properly vetted. I am confident that things will be nice and orderly when you return. I've started going over the various settlements too. Please wait just a little longer; I'll send some more fine food! You've all earned your rest and relaxation!"
The messages were nice, but all of the CATTs leaders were beginning to smell a rat. They'd all noticed the change in Rasiel's demeanour and with each passing day, they grew more and more concerned. They worried for their friends and family back on the Isles, and they worried for the kids still in the Human Realm. Eda was especially about ready to start climbing the walls from frustration; she'd last seen King with Rasiel before his change, and had last seen Luz rushing off to battle Belos! Was it any wonder she was desperate to see them again!?
It was this frustration that was currently causing Eda to pace around the Digale Village square like a hungry lioness, glaring at the inactive Teleportation Circle as if hoping the fire in her eyes would activate. Raine and Lilith were watching from nearby, clearly nervous over what Eda might do.
"Eda, pacing like that isn't going to make Rasiel come back any sooner." Raine sighed, idly tuning their violin.
"Well it's not like I can do anything else!" Eda snapped, "If I stay still, I think I'm actually going to explode! Just what the heck is Rasiel pulling anyway!? Four days with no real contact and no word from the kids… he's hiding something from us!"
Lilith, who was petting an equally distressed Hooty, nodded reluctantly; "I know how you feel. I'm worried about them all too. The Blights are especially worried; Alador has begun trying to make his own kind of portal with Darius' help and the leftover Titan Blood we collected from King, while Edric and Emira are being kept distracted by their lovers to keep them from panicking."
"They're not the only ones." Raine said; "Severin hasn't left Scooter's side because if he's not caring for him, then he's panicking about Skara. The Alembics took over the potions lab to keep themselves busy, which is half the reason Eda doesn't have anything else to do. Osran and Perry Porter are desperately trying to find a way around the weaknesses of Oracle Spirits in hopes of finding out what's going on back on the Isles. The Parks are frantic over Willow, with Harvey trying to help Alador and the Blights, and Gilbert working with Steve and the Tholomules on the continued construction of the town."
Eda frowned and looked over to the east, where Digale Village was being expanded with new buildings. With little else to do, many of the CATTs were working on it, though the tension in the air was getting palpable.
"I've never been good at being patient." Eda groaned as she finally stopped her pacing and sat down on the bench her sister and lover were sat on.
"You could always go and spend time with your parents? Gwen and Dell have been scoping out places for a new Palistrom Grove up on the Palm Top." Raine suggested.
Eda thought about it for a moment, then blew a raspberry as she decided against the idea. "Nah, you know how Mom is. She'll start fretting over me and then that'll make her worry about Luz and King even more."
"Speaking of Palistrom Groves though, what do you think happened to the Bat Queen? She left her children and Palismen wards on Titan Cradle Island when she came to help us fight; if Rasiel hasn't returned her then her children will be all alone!" Lilith frowned, looking even more worried now.
"Don't worry; the Bat Queen isn't here on Digale Island, so Rasiel must have sent her home. She'd have badgered him into it if they were both still on the Isles. Besides, worst case scenario is that the Palismen will take care of her kids in her absence." Raine reasoned. They didn't know if that was true or not, but it helped calm the Clawthorne ladies down.
As Lilith sighed in relief and Eda decided to take a nap on Raine's legs, Healer Dorothea walked over to them from the nearby hospital, escorted by Meesha. Dorothea had been dosed with Blabber Serum to make sure she was trustworthy, but since she had declined to swear an oath to protect the CATTs secrets beyond the usual Healer-Patient confidentiality, Meesha Leonis escorted her around to make sure she didn't learn anything she shouldn't.
"Hey Doc. Got some good news for us about Scooter?" Eda asked.
Dorothea shook her head; "Sadly not. His health hasn't really improved, though he is able to maintain consciousness for longer periods of time now. Head Witch Cadence is trying to keep his mind occupied whenever he wakes and Morel Alembic is providing the usual Mind-Clearing Mixes to help combat the mental degradation brought about by his advanced age. Sadly we can't do much to repair the brain itself; it's simply too worn out. Our current objective is just to keep him happy and comfortable."
Raine sighed sadly and both Eda and Lilith looked sympathetically at them. Scooter was important to Raine, having been their mentor and the one they relied on most when they'd initially broken up with Eda. Seeing the man so close to the end was hard for them.
"It was expected." they said, eyes downcast. "Belos just exacerbated the situation. How much time do you think he has left? Skara will want to see her Uncle Scooter at least once more before he passes."
"I can't be sure, but we're talking months. At his current rate of physical and mental decline, my best estimate would be 6 to 8 months. Not a bad amount of time for getting one's affairs in order. Certainly more than enough time for Miss Cadence to return from her vacation." Dorothea assured them.
That came as a relief to Raine, though Eda did cross her arms irritably; "Now we just need to make sure that jerk will actually show his face long enough to open a portal and let Skara and the others come back!"
Eda's sister and lover both sighed as the woman's temper heated up again, whilst Healer Dorothea shifted uncomfortably; "I realise this isn't an ideal situation, but the Isles really were in chaos after the Day of Unity. Is it any wonder that this Divider fellow is so busy? I mean even with all that power, he is still just one… man…"
Dorothea's words began to trail off as Eda, Raine, and Lilith all snapped their attention to her, their eyes wide with shock. Even Meesha was now eyeing the woman nervously, making Dorothea begin to panic a little.
"Um, did I say something wrong?" she asked.
Eda leapt to her feet and grabbed Dorothea's shoulders; "That man; what did you call him?"
"The Divider fellow? I-I'm sorry, but I can't remember his name. He did say it, but it slipped my mind in all the chaos. He did say his kind prefer to use their titles… did I cause some offence?"
Lilith and Raine both stood now too; "You're certain he called himself the Divider?" Lilith asked intensely.
"I-I'm fairly sure. I remember thinking it was a funny sort of name." Dorothea answered.
"You're certain he was referring to himself?" Raine asked.
Dorothea nodded, though the intense questioning was making her uncertain. "I-I believe so? Perhaps I misunderstood? Head Witch Cutburn was present also, so you could ask he-"
She hadn't even finished her sentence before Eda turned on her heel and ran for the CATTs HQ, with Raine and Lilith rushing after her, leaving Hooty, Dorothea, and Meesha behind. Eda didn't even pause to greet Eber or Mason as she barrelled passed them and made her way to the prison cells within the fortress, where Kikimora and the arrested prisoners were still being kept. Each one was being provided with food, a change of clothes, and access to a shower each day, as well as periods of time in the fortress courtyard so they could get some exercise, so they were in pretty good conditions compared to the Emperor's dungeons, but that didn't stop Odalia from immediately complaining at the top of her lungs as soon as Eda entered the cellblock.
"Clawthorne! I demand to be released from this horrible place immediately! I am a Coven Head and Lady of a noble family! I will not tolerate this kind of treatm-"
"Shut up." Eda spat coldly, sneering at Odalia with so much venom that the woman actually paled and backed away from the cell bars. The other Coven Heads largely did the same, with only two not doing so; Terra, who always seemed to cower in the corner of her cell beneath her blankets anyway, and Adrian, who was currently behind a silencing barrier while the CATTs therapist was in his cell with him, giving him a session whilst the Abomination Guard watched.
Satisfied that the prisoners would keep quiet, Eda stomped over to Hettie's cell (which was slightly nicer, since she'd been cooperating and had turned on Belos before the Day of Unity).
"Cutburn, we need to talk." Eda demanded.
Hettie stood from her bed and put down the medical textbook she'd been reading; "What do you need from me? We're at peace now; what could have happened that Dorothea and Meesha cannot fix?"
"I don't need your healing skills; I need to know what happened when you were freed from stone." the Owl Lady said impatiently.
Hettie raised an eyebrow; "Nothing of note, but as you wish…"
She told Eda everything she remembered from the incident four days ago, but referred to her Angelic Saviour solely as "That Angel" and not by any names or titles, frustrating Eda even further. By this point, Lilith and Raine had caught up (having stopped to explain the situation to Eber and Mason), and now they were stood with Eda whilst the other two were off informing the rest of the CATTs leaders.
"The Angel who saved you looked like this, yes?" Lilith asked, using a sketched picture of Rasiel that Luz had made weeks ago and left in the office Lilith and Rasiel had used while working on the island.
Hettie looked at the picture and nodded; "That's him. Though he had a halo of some kind and ten wings. What is this about?"
"We have reason to believe that something has happened to our friend. Did he tell you his name at any point?" Raine asked.
Again, Hettie nodded; "He said that if we must call him something, then we should call him Rasiel. Although…" she frowned and rubbed her chin; "He did introduce himself by a title right before that. He called himself "The Divider." I remember questioning him on it, which is when he told us his actual name."
The trio of CATTs went deathly pale; "You're certain? No chance you're mistaken?" Eda asked, her voice lowering to a croaky whisper as her expression became one of desperate denial.
Hettie nodded once more; "He specifically said that Sephiroth like him prefer their titles over their names. I assume a Sephiroth is the name of the Ten-Winged Angels above the Eight-Winged Seraphim, correct?"
This time it was Raine's turn to nod as they turned back to Eda and Lilith, who were turning a little bit grey.
"Rasiel told us that he was sealed by the Divider… but if he is the Divider, then does that mean he sealed himself? I don't get the feeling that he lied." Raine frowned.
"But why would he do that? If something happened that made him want to tear himself apart and have the pieces sealed away and guarded by Titans and Dragons, then surely he'd remember now that he's got his memories back! He'd want to seal himself again! Unless he always intended it to be temporary." Lilith reasoned, wracking her brain for an explanation.
Eda shook her head; "We're overlooking the simpler answers; Rasiel didn't have his memories, so he probably told us he was sealed by the Divider because he remembered being sealed and it involving the Divider, but not how or why."
"So he was sealed because of the Divider and not by the Divider. I can see why he'd make that mistake in his amnesiac state." Lilith muttered, biting her lip; "But then why was he sealed away?"
"If parts of him ended up held by the Titans, then they must have been partly responsible… could he have done something bad in the past? Or maybe he's related to the Archivists?" Raine theorised.
Eda didn't feel convinced; the Archivists came 5000 years ago, while Rasiel was sealed for 100,000. That seemed like too big of a time gap for the two events to be related. It was possible Rasiel was the ancestor of the Archivists and they wanted revenge on the Titans, but that didn't totally add up with what Eda knew. Though the mentions of the Archivists did remind Eda of the Collector; King had been determined to save him, yet the Star Child was nowhere to be found. Had King failed? Eda couldn't see him giving up… Perhaps he'd succeeded at the Collector was now in the Human Realm with King and Luz? Eda didn't know, but something about the whole situation stank to high heaven.
"We need to talk to Rasiel! Something is up with him and I want to know what! No more games or avoiding my questions! I don't care what kind of fancy angel he is now; if he's standing between me and my kids, I'm gonna knock his block off!" she declared, turning on her heels and marching out of the cell block. Lilith and Raine hurried after her once again, trying to calm her down as she headed outside.
They passed the other CATTs leaders, who'd been filled in by Eber and Mason and were now looking for answers of their own, but Eda didn't say a word as she shifted into Harpy Mode and took to the skies, leaving Lilith and Raine to once again fill the others in and what they'd learned.
"Okay, so Rasiel is the Divider… can't say I saw that coming." Darius groaned, rubbing the space between his eyes; "But how does Eda expect to confront him? She can't be planning to fly through the hurricane wall, right? She'd get sucked down into the maelstroms and drown, if she doesn't get boiled to death first."
"Maybe she wants to fly over it?" Mason suggested with a shrug.
"Impossible, we tried flying an airship over it but the air is too thin at the minimum safe height; she'll pass out." Alador frowned; "She knows that too."
The group continued to try and figure out what she was planning, when they suddenly saw her go darting towards a tree on the edge of the village. She slammed into its branches like a woman possessed, then came flying back out towards them, wearing a smile like the cat that got the cream.
"Got the little pest!" Eda smiled triumphantly, revealing the squawking and struggling Knight-Jar in her talons.
"One of those metal birds that Rasiel sends us messages with? What are you going to do with that?" Lilith asked.
"This!" Eda said, before channelling her Anti-Magic aura to her hand and causing the Knight-Jar to begin decaying. As soon as it suffered damage, it immediately went rigid and lost the animation spells that made it come alive, before disintegrating entirely.
As the flakes of rusted metal fell to the ground, the others looked at Eda warily; "And what was the purpose of that?" Darius asked, unimpressed.
"Rasiel is watching us through these things, I'm sure of it! If they were just messengers, they wouldn't need to hang around after delivering the message! Plus I've seen them hanging around on rooftops, staring at us! Destroying them has got to get his attention!" Eda reasoned.
The others exchanged looks, but before they could comment several other Knight-Jars took to the sky and began to circle overhead, blatantly watching the group. Eda didn't hesitate to blast another of them out of the sky, and seeing as they had no better plans, the other leaders decided to join in and began firing spells. The Blight Twins and Grandparents, the Magic Mixers, and the Clawthorne Grandparents all took notice of the impromptu target practice session and decided to join in, throwing out their own spells. They were soon joined by all the CATTs who were wandering about, and before long every Knight-Jar had been shot out of the sky, as nothing could evade that many spells being fired by that many people!
A brief cheer went through the CATTs as they celebrated getting them all, but that cheer swiftly gave way to questions as to what had brought on the sudden target practise in the first place. Everyone in the CATTs had been told the truth about Rasiel alongside the truth about King, so they all understood Eda's and the others' shock, not expecting such a secret to have come from the previously soft-spoken man.
They didn't have long to discuss this however, as a portal soon appeared over the Teleportation Circle, and from it stepped one of those Angelic Armour Sentinels, with a pair of Knight-Jars on its shoulders. The Sentinel approached Eda and then spoke with Rasiel's voice but in an emotionless tone.
"Please cease attacking the Knight-Jars. They are non-violent and serve solely as messengers and scouts. They will not harm you nor interfere with your personal lives. Please allow them to continue their work."
The two Knight-Jars flew off from the Sentinel's shoulders, only for Eda to immediately shoot them both down, adding them to the pile of scrap that had formed in the village square.
"How about instead of sending his creepy drones, Rasiel comes and talks to us himself!" Eda demanded.
The Sentinel took on a combat stance, summoning a simple metal staff in response. "Please cease all violent action. Pacification of violent citizens has been authorised. I repeat; cease all violent actions."
"Cease this!" Eda snapped, and before the Sentinel could act, she summoned Owlbert in staff form and used him to knock the Sentinel's helmet off. Since it was just hollow armour, there was nothing inside, and the Sentinel immediately moved to attack her. It thrust its staff towards her hands, aiming to make her drop her weapon, but Eda easily stepped back and blasted the Sentinel with a bolt of golden magic, denting its chest plate and sending it skidding backwards. Before it could retaliate again, Severin Cadence summoned his Palisman Carabace in Cello form and used him like a hammer to smash the armour into the ground, where Luna was quick to transmute acid to pour on it.
Within seconds, the Sentinel was a mound of melted silver and gold on the ground, and the CATTs gave a little cheer. Their joy was short-lived, as another portal opened up and ten more sentinels emerged, this time already carrying staves.
"Citizens Eda Clawthorne, Severin Cadence, and Luna Miphari; please surrender your weapons and submit to magic-restraining cuffs. Accept and you will be allowed to remain free and under watch. Refuse and you will be forcibly detained. Please do not resist." they all said at the same time.
Eda sneered; "Didn't you hear me the first time, Rasiel!? If you want something from me, you better come here and tell me to my face!"
With that, she leapt at the Sentinels, who immediately defended against her staff and talon swipes with shocking precision, as if all ten of them truly were a single being. Thankfully, Eda wasn't alone and as she leapt back to avoid a swing from two of their staves, Lilith and Raine leapt forward to parry those staff blows with their own staves, then knock those two Sentinels off balance. The remaining eight tried to apprehend the pair, but the rest of the CATTs leaders rushed to their aid. Osran's spirits wouldn't obey in the presence of Angelic Magic, but he was still able to conjure crystal balls and shatter them to fire shards of crystal like a shotgun spray, impaling one Sentinel with dozens of crystalline spikes before firing purple lightning from another crystal ball to make the crystals explode and blow the Sentinel apart. Darius shifted into his Abomination form and sent his liquid body inside one of the armours, taking control of it and making it his own, which he used to knock three of the other Sentinels down before leaving the armour and triggering the self-destruct spell he'd cast on the abomination slime he'd left inside the armour, destroying it. Eber turned herself into her Wild Heart form and used her incredible teeth and claws to rip apart one of the Sentinels Darius had knocked down, while Mason used his Construction Magic to summon spikes of earth beneath another of them, impaling and destroying it. The third knocked down Sentinel was crushed by Luna, who imbibed a potion to return to her natural size so she could step on and crush it.
With the number of Sentinels now cut down to five, Raine and Severin immediately destroyed two more, using a pair of discordant notes empowered with Bardic Magic to make the Sentinels vibrate so much that they couldn't move, allowing Raine to slice one in half with a sonic blade and Severin to flatter the other with a blow from his hammer-like cello. Lilith destroyed the eighth Sentinel by using a plant glyph note to grow vines inside it, then tear the armour apart from the inside, then Eda destroyed the ninth by using her Harpy Mode's decaying magic to dissolve it just as she'd done with the Knight-Jar. The last Sentinel, unfazed by the destruction of its fellows, simply pointed its hand at Eda and fired beams of golden light from its finger tips, but the woman easily dodged out of the way thanks to her experience training Luz, and Alador promptly conjured an abomination to pick up the Sentinel and crumple it up as if it were paper.
"Ha! Let's see if that got Rasiel's attention!" Eda grinned.
"Do you crave my attention that badly, Eda?"
In an instant, the air on Digale Island became thick with tension and even the usually fearless Eda found herself paling at the amount of magic she could sense. Slowly, she and her companions looked up into the sky and saw Rasiel the Divider floating there, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Rasiel…!" Eda muttered, clenching her fists and shaking off her fear.
The Divider slowly flew down until he landed in front of Eda and looked up at the woman. He was quite tall, but still a good few inches shorter than Harpy Eda, yet he still somehow managed to make her feel small. His wings and the magic they gave off made him seem larger than life, and the look in his eyes was like that of a disappointed parent.
"Well, you've gotten what you wanted. You have my attention. What can I do for you, Eda?" he asked, in a sour mood since the voice in the back of his head was still muttering at him, trying to make him second guess his every action.
"You can do a lot of things, starting with telling us all the truth! Why are you keeping us trapped on the island!? What are you really doing on the Boiling Isles!? Why won't you let us see the kids!? And most importantly, what the heck is going on in that head of yours, Divider!?" Eda yelled, each question reigniting a little of her temper and stamping out a little more of her nerves.
The Divider's eyes widened ever so slightly, before he sighed bitterly and shook his head; "So you know who I am. I take it Healer Dorothea revealed the secret? Or perhaps Hettie? I haven't been foolish enough to reveal myself to any others since Luz, King, and their friends."
Eda and the others gasped; "Wait, you told Luz and King…!? Is that why they aren't here!? What have you done with them!?" she demanded, pointing her staff at the Divider.
"They are perfectly safe. Not a word I've said to you has been false. They are currently in the Human Realm, at least as far as I know. My people in the Divine Realm haven't informed me of their presence there so unless they found a pathway to another realm entirely, they are safe with Cassiel." The Divider assured her.
However Raine and the others noticed a lack of denial from him when it came to his identity reveal being why the kids weren't present. They were quick to call him on it too.
"You told Luz and King who you were, then sent them away to the Human Realm. I'll wager that the destruction of the old Portal Door wasn't an accident or something Belos caused either, right?" Raine asked with narrowed eyes.
The Divider merely nodded.
"And I'll bet the Teleportation Circle was destroyed by you as well. You wanted an excuse to keep us here; but refusing our requests to activate it would look suspicious, so you destroyed it to give yourself that excuse!" Darius accused.
"I did not destroy the circle." the Divider countered, which threw the others for a loop, until Lilith piped up.
"But it was destroyed on your order, right?"
The Divider sighed; he didn't see the point in lying and hurting himself. "I had hoped to keep you all safe and out of the way while I took care of the difficult part of my plan. But it seems I made a mistake; I should have known a rebel organisation would be distrustful of me."
Now all the CATTs leaders were pointing their staves or spell circles at him, and many of the other adult CATTs were doing so as well, while others were urging the children and teenagers away. The Divider made no move to stop them and instead just sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face.
Ever since dividing the Dragon Priests, the voice in the back of his head had been nagging him incessantly, to the point that he hadn't used his powers on anyone else yet. He'd originally planned to use them on the worst members of the Covens after the inspections, just as he'd done with the Emperor's Coven, but the nagging voice of conscience made him hold back and instead apply other measures. He'd resorted to dire threats to keep those who'd committed numerous sins in line, and had ordered them watched by his people and constructs. Those people had been cowed by his threats and the idea of losing their individuality if they didn't toe his line… but that wouldn't work on the CATTs. Now that they were up in arms against him, he'd have no choice but to act and the voice in his head was going to be agonising to listen to.
But for the sake of his Paradise, he would bear it. All would need to be Divided eventually anyway in order to create his Paradise… some would just have to be Divided sooner than others. He could at least numb the voice by sparing those he could.
"I've really spent too much time asleep. I should never have let things get this far, but I've gotten sloppy." he muttered to himself, before looking at Eda.
"I will give you this once chance." The Divider warned, staring into her black and gold Harpy Eyes; "I want to create a Paradise free of all corruption, evil, and chaos. To do this, I will divide each living soul into their positive and negative traits, and do away with the negative. This is my goal… I owe you for helping Luz and King to free me and restore me to who I really am, and for taking me into your home. Stand aside and let me create the Paradise you and your children deserve. Rest quietly on this island until it is ready… it will take about half a year, but you will be comfortable."
Eda and the CATTs stared at him with wide eyes, before one by one their expressions became serious and resigned. There was clear regret on their faces, just as there was regret on the Divider's. Despite the current circumstances, the CATTs had truly considered Rasiel to be a friend and comrade-in-arms; a man who'd done what he could to help them fight for their freedom. On the reverse side, the Divider still remembered his time with the CATTs and how they had become his friends and even surrogate family. What came next broke his heart and made the voice in his head weep… but the Divider wouldn't turn back. Without his order, all things would revert to chaos and that would bring nothing but pain… he refused to subject these people that he loved to the same Hell that had once broken him.
"I think we both know what my answer is gonna be, right Rasiel?" Eda said sadly. "You can't just expect to make the world a better place by cutting out all the parts of people you don't like. I've got a lot of flaws, but they're part of who I am. I'm stubborn and a con artist; I messed up more times than I can count and hurt just about everyone I've ever loved at least once… but moving past that stuff is what helped me grow as a person! I won't let you cut all that away without a fight!"
The Divider grit his teeth with an expression of pain, before stuffing down his emotions and making his expression go eerily blank. In a flash, his sword was in his hand and his golden eyes were cold.
"Then a fight I will give you." he replied.
But in truth, what followed was not a fight… no normal person could fight a Sephiroth, and adding more people just prolonged the conflict.
The Divider swung his blade at Eda before she could react, but Mason and Raine had been ready and the former raised a rock wall between them to protect Eda, while Raine pulled her to safety. This proved to be a wise move, as the Divider's blade cut through the rock wall like butter. He then turned his attention on Mason, aiming to divide him before any more annoying rock walls could pop up, but his mother (still in her true, giant size) scooped him up at the last second and tossed him to the sea, where his Merrow blood saved him. Luna took the slash in his place and was soon Divided. She grabbed the unsuspecting Eber and Lilith and held them still as the Divider casually deflected the spells being sent his way by the others and then cut the two captives. Luna released them, and then they attacked the other CATTs.
What followed was a swift and brutal battle, and with every ally the Divider cut, his forces grew and the CATTs were diminished. The Divided ignored those who refused to fight, and many of the passive CATTs forced the Blight Twins and the Magic Mixers to stay back, which means they could only watch as the Divider took over the others. Lilith ensnared Darius long enough for the Divider to hit him, and Alador was swiftly engulfed in Darius' slime body and then sliced as well. Osran tried to shoot lightning from his crystal ball, but Rasiel blocked it with a barrier until Eber tackled him from behind held him down so the Divider could cut him. Luna grabbed Severin and Raine next, and the two couldn't bring themselves to hurt her, leading to them both being cut.
In less than a minute, Eda found herself the only remaining fighter on the CATTs side; the rest having been either cowed or divided. Mason was the only other leader who hadn't been divided, but he'd reluctantly put his hands up in surrender so he wouldn't be forced to fight his mother. The Divider spared him as a result, and turned his attention to Eda.
"Look around you, Rasiel. Does this look like Paradise to you!?" Eda spat as she was surrounded and held by her own family and loved ones. Lilith and Raine held her arms while her parents had grabbed her wings, leaving her helpless to escape without hurting them. "Is this really who you are!?"
The Divider did indeed look around, and tried to fight the bitter feeling in his chest as he saw his smiling, Divided friends trying to gently calm the terrified and horrified CATTs. He turned back to Eda and raised his sword high.
"I am the Divider." he said, without emotion.
Eda shook her head sadly, then found herself gasping as she saw the Divider's hand shake a little. His emotionless face melted into one of sorrow, and a single tear ran down his face.
"Eda… I'm sorry." he whispered.
The Owl Lady's eyes widened; "Rasiel…!" she whispered back.
Then his blade came down, and Eda knew no more.
