The Angel of the Owl House

Season 3: The Divine Realm

Chapter 15: Hewn Stone, Carving Wind

After everything that happened at the Bazamet Estate and the aborted wedding between Vitimir and Camila, the CATTs who'd been out in the field that day had all been exhausted and eager for some relaxing time with their families. Boscha, only recently having completed her Palisman Fusion and fire glyph bond, was feeling good, and now that she had her parents back again, she was feeling even better! The three-eyed girl was almost bouncy and energetic even whilst feeling tired, and naturally Callisto and Morel were eager to catch up. They were extremely grateful to Camila for looking after their baby girl, and very proud of Boscha herself for all she'd achieved. Then of course was the reaction to her being girlfriends with Skara; both her parents had been over the moon, and had shared a celebratory drink with Severin, whilst Callisto jokingly brought up marriage contracts, much to Boscha and Skara's mortification.

Mason was also extremely glad to have his mother back once again, especially as Luna seemed to be getting alone well with Hettie. After explaining how Hettie had changed and was getting therapy for her Grimwalker trauma (which was going well), Mason has privately told his mother that he intended to ask Hettie out once the chaos of the war was over, and Luna had correctly guessed that Hettie was plotting the same thing. The two were rather sweet together, and the size difference between the imposing Hettie and the diminutive Mason reminded Luna of her own relationship with Mason's father, who'd been even smaller than Mason, while Luna's full size was obviously bigger than Hettie. So Luna fully supported the two… even if she decided to have some fun teasing them. She didn't tease too much though, as she didn't want to scare Hettie off and actually had a genuine respect for her as a healer.

Then of course, there was the return of Eber. The little Witch/Dire Wolf Hybrid made a big splash the moment she returned, as she was quick to rush around and refamiliarise herself with all the CATTs that had been rescued, as well as meeting the animals they'd been keeping from Carnar and the Titan's Wrath Hunting Party. Eber was pleased to hear of their demise, but shocked to learn Hanu was Carnar's daughter… Eber had been sure to offer her condolences to the girl over having such a terrible father, which Hanu appreciated. The rest of the Vanily family (who were the only associates of Carnar that had been brought along after the Divider attacked Digale) were not welcomed quite as happily by Eber, but the daughters were at least treated with respect, while Lady Vanily was watched with suspicion, as Eber knew she'd known more about her husband's activities than she was willing to confess too. Still, in the interests of peace, Eber chose to ignore this… for now. But then there was the details surrounding Darius and his newly extended family; Eber was supremely delighted to learn of Hunter and Lyra's adoption, and proudly called them "Nephew and Niece", and was just as proud to call Alador "Brother-in-Law" upon learning that he and Darius had finally begun dating. She'd also happily accepted the Twins as her Nephew and Niece, and had gone so far as to take Edric under her wing due to his Beast-Keeping passion, and then invited Viney to join them, making Hunter, Edric, and Viney her official apprentices, who were tasked with taking care of the Wild Demons left behind by Carnar.

Eber had also tried to speak to Hooty over his part in killing Carnar, but the bird tube still freaked her out, so she barked a quick thanks to him and then ran off again.

But naturally, the biggest family get together that night was the Noceda-Clawthornes. After they'd finished hugging Eda upon learning she'd provided the potion that allowed Luz to be born with the blood of all her parents, Luz had rushed off to get Vee and Masha to invite them all to a big celebratory dinner. She'd caught Vee first, and the girl was overjoyed for her sister, and had promised to ask Masha to come to dinner with them after they'd met up.

Vee then found Masha staying at the Noceda Home, along with Becca, Gray, and the three Basilisks; Una, Dex, and Kyra, and reunited with them all, showing off her new form. Becca and Gray had been excited for her, especially learning of her new biological relation to the Nocedas, and her fellow Basilisks were just glad that their cousin had achieved a new evolution that was totally unique to her; a rare feat for a Basilisk. However it was Masha's reaction that mattered most to Vee, and the girl was certainly not disappointed! Masha had taken one look at Vee's new form and promptly squealed and hugged her, making sure to pet her hair, her ears, her wings, and her tail, all before capturing their girlfriend in a passionate kiss. Masha was completely unbothered that their "Adorable and Hot Monster GF" was now an "Adorable, Hot, Angelic Monster GF", and while they'd' very much enjoyed Vee's old form, this new form still ticked all the boxes for Masha! Vee was just as cute, just as hot (in Masha's mind), and her inhuman features were still present and captured Masha's passions like nothing else could manage! However Masha had also made a point of saying that it was Vee's heart that had won them over, not her face or body (as appealing as those were) and that Vee never had to fear them disliking her body so long as that heart was still the same as always.

Following those reactions, Vee passed on Luz's invitation to Masha, and they readily agreed to come check out the Demon Realm (though Becca and Gray reluctantly stayed behind with the Basilisks to look after them, as they didn't feel comfortable returning just yet). Naturally, going to an island in the Demon Realm, surrounded by a Boiling Sea, with a volcano, an Angelic City, a ton of cool looking Witches and Demons, and Dragon Skeletons everywhere was enough to have Masha practically skipping with joy and excitement, and when it came to the actual dinner, they got to try all kinds of Demon and Divine foods and practically fell in love with it all. Masha lamented that Vee didn't feel at home in the Demon Realm, since Masha themselves would love to live there, but they weren't about to make the love of their life stay somewhere they weren't happy… and besides, so long as Luz lived in the Demon Realm, Vee would definitely visit a lot and bring along her lover! Masha was sure they'd get to spend a lot of time in this awesome new world!

The rest of the family meal was a happy and boisterous once; celebrating Camila's ascension to High Angel, Vee becoming a full-blooded Noceda, and Luz overcoming her Titan Trauma, on top of the discovery of Eda's part in her becoming the girl she was, both biologically and emotionally. The news of Eda's involvement spread like wildfire, and considering she was also the "Mother of the Last Titan", Eda the Owl Lady became something of a legendary being among the CATTs. She relished the praise and indulged their worshipful ways a little, pulling off some light-hearted scams (which mostly amounted to getting people to buy her drinks) but never let it get too far, reminding everyone that she was still just one woman and Witch, even if she was also a total weirdo!

When she'd said that for the fifth time to a well-wisher offering her money, the entire Noceda-Clawthorne family had loudly proclaimed; "And us Weirdos have to stick together!"; a saying that had become the mantra of their family.

The family dinner soon grew to include everyone on the island, including the Supreme Dragons, who'd found themselves a nice cave to live in away from the CATTs, and like most CATTs parties, it evolved into a festival-like event that included more food, drink, and music than should be possible for such a quickly cobbled together event. If nothing else, the CATTs fought hard and partied just as hard!

[The Next Day]

Following the celebration, everyone had a long lie in the next day to refuel themselves after a long day and a very fun night. Vee had taken Masha home after midnight and not returned, likely staying the night with them at the Noceda Home like originally planned, so Camila and Luz (who'd fallen asleep together on the beach) weren't too worried when they woke up and found she wasn't present. When they awoke and found half of the CATTs passed out in the streets or on the beach, the two Angels exchanged grins and then went about cooking up a big breakfast and preparing a lot of coffee for everyone, getting them all back and on their feet within an hour. It wasn't long after that Vee returned, and Camila briefly dragged her off for a little talk and confirmation that she and Masha had behaved themselves.

Camila and a red-faced Vee returned shortly thereafter, the former pleased that her daughter had been responsible and had done nothing more than share a passionate kiss with her lover.

From there, Luz decided that they should begin planning their next move, so sent out a request for the CATTs Council (as the Hexsquad and Elites had come to be known) to attend a meeting that afternoon. Luz would have liked to handle it earlier, but most of the adults were still a bit hungover, with Eber and Luna being particularly bad since they'd been given many drinks in celebration of their return.

So with a free morning, Luz, her Mami, Vee, the Hexsquad, and King's little gang of friends (being affectionately nicknamed the Nexsquad) decided to head down the beach and test out exactly what the three Nocedas could do with their new powers and forms.

They started with Camila, since going from Angel to High Angel was the simplest change and really only gave her a general buff in all areas; she had more magic, more endurance, and could fly faster with four wings than she could with two. Otherwise things were mostly the same!

Luz's new form was the next one they tested, and the results were rather interesting. It took Luz a second to transform into her Titan Form from her normal Seraph form, and she had to remain somewhat calm and in control of her emotions, or else the primal emotions present within her Titan Power would go out of control and she'd begin behaving erratically. That seemed to largely be the only downside to the form though, while most of her raw physical abilities were the same. Luz was still an Angel in this form, so she still needed her wings to cast magic and she still couldn't lie, but she was also even more durable and physically stronger thanks to the superior physique of a Titan. This did also make her a bit heavier though, and she wasn't as aerodynamic, so she was slower to compensate. When it came to her magic though, Luz found that she was actually not any stronger; her power was equal to her Seraph form, it was just a different kind of power rather than the one she was used to, which was a tiny bit disappointing… though she figured it was inevitable considering she hadn't actually gained a new power source; just reconfigured her existing magic. She found that Angelic Magic like Angelic Alchemy were now harder to cast, while she could conjure glyph combos in mid-air like she did with normal glyphs, granting her some incredibly powerful spells. Lastly, she also had King's Titan Roar ability, which made for a fun time as she and King continuously screamed "WEH!" into the sea. The other kids all screamed it along with them, though none actually caused an effect.

Lastly, they decided to test out Vee's new powers and form, which was a one-of-a-kind, never before seen transformation, making Vee the first "Seraphic Basilisk" as she'd dubbed herself, and the only one to possess her basic power set. The first thing they'd tested were her old Basilisk abilities, which had been confirmed to still be present and working exactly the same as always; Vee could still shapeshift like before, her nose for magic was still just as strong, and she could still devour magic, though the speed at which she absorbed it had slowed down enough to make it harder to use in combat. She could also still use the magic she ate to provide Blessings to herself or others though, so she still had her Quetzalcoatl Basilisk abilities! But the real change came in her Angel abilities, which were essentially the full suite of perks and disadvantages. She could hide her wings and tail without shapeshifting (including her little ear wings, which turned into normal Angel ears when hidden), but she at least needed her wings out to cast magic, which was now the same as any other Angel. Vee could cast any spell the average Angel could, with a special affinity for Light Magic, thanks to the glyph she'd bonded with. In power level terms, she was stronger than the average Arch-Angel but not quite the minimum level needed to be a true Seraphim, meaning her magic was roughly on the same level as the Palisman fusions, if a little weaker. Not only that, but she suffered the same pain if she told a lie, just as Camila had suspected, which could be a bit of a problem for Vee's future stealth missions, but Vee was also a clever girl and could use exact words to cleverly deceive her enemies if needed.

Since Vee now had true, unrestricted magic now too, everyone was quick to offer to teach her their signature magics, and Samael had grown excited at the idea of his new adoptive sister being his fellow student during these lessons (which had since expanded to include most of the Nexsquad anyway).

And so that was how they spent their morning; testing their powers and teaching Vee some new skills, while King and Luz playfully wrestled as only Titans could. When noon came, they all took a break for lunch, by which point everyone in the CATTs Council was recovered enough to be able to attend the meeting right after. After a tasty lunch cooked up by some CATTs as a thank you, the CATTs Council headed to the Town Hall and its council chambers, where they took their seats and began the long awaited meeting to decide what to do next.

"Okay everyone, it's great to see you all here and looking less like zombies!" Luz beamed cheekily, making the formerly hungover adults chuckle wryly. "Now, for the benefit of Eber and Luna, I'm going to go over what little plan we have for dealing with the Divider so far…"

Luz then went on to give the best explanation she could; how they would recruit as many Boiling Isles Residents as possible using the Coven Heads and liberated Overseers, get the help of the Seraphim Council, and continue helping the Hexsquad get their Palisman Fusions. Now that Luz had attained her full Titan form and was in complete sync with Two different Titans, she was confident that she and King could fulfil the three Titan requirement for the sealing spell that Rasiel described, and recruiting Eber and Luna back into the fold had also slowed the Divider's plans whilst giving them two more crucial allies for rallying the isles to rise up and fight.

"So to be clear, we have the old Overseers of the Right Palm, the Right Elbow, the Right Knee, the Right Hip, the Right Foot, the Heart, and you've defeated and deposed the Overseers of the Left Shoulder, the Left Hip, the Throat, and the Skull?" Luna asked, seeking clarification. "That just leads the two wings, the tail bone, and the Left Knee, Foot, Elbow, and Palm, as well as the Right Shoulder, am I right?"

"That's right." Darius nodded; "We also have the original heads of the Abominations, Bard, Beast-Keeping, Construction, Healing, and Potions Covens. The Plant Coven was almost entirely recruited to our side when Willow took down Terra. That means 7 of the 9 main covens are on our side for the most part. We still need to take back the full force of the Beast-Keeping, Construction, and Abomination Covens though, since their forces weren't with their overseers or received new leaders."

"Like how my mother is the new Abomination Coven Head and Overseer of the Left Foot." Alador piped up.

Eber barked; "So we go to other towers, take back other Coven Alphas, and win fight?"

"Theoretically." Raine said; "We know Adrian and the Illusion Coven occupy the Right Shoulder, Osran and the Oracle Coven occupy the Left Knee, and Nelle and the Abomination Coven occupy the Left Foot. Those are our priority targets, as it gets us an ally or shuts down an enemy! Adrian is also the last of Belos' loyal Coven Heads, so he could be a priority."

"The other overseers are pretty much minor nobles or nobodies, so we can safely ignore them." Eda added.

"But we also have Cassiopeia to consider. The Divider is searching for her missing parts, right? That also means more Wellsprings and thus more Union Pillars and Overseers." Lilith pointed out.

"And the Titan Trappers! Plus any other poor bozos living on Mama's other parts." King frowned; "But how is he gonna replace Mama's Heart? Me and Luz blew that to kingdom come!"

Samael shyly raised his hand as Mason and most of the Hexsquad frowned. Luz looked at her little big brother worriedly; "Sammy? What's up?"

"Um, we should have said this yesterday but everyone was so happy that we didn't want to ruin the mood… but when we were in the desert yesterday, we saw a bunch more parts of Auntie Cassie. Not her full body, but a lot of it! Like almost half?" the young Collector frowned.

Mason nodded grimly; "It'd say at least a third… maybe a bit more?"

"And there were pillars of light shooting into the distorted sky too. They've got some Union Pillars up and running." Lyra added.

The rest of the Council groaned and exchanged a few quiet mutters with the people around them. The Divider was working fast, and they couldn't rely on him holding off on his plan just to get Luz on his side… they needed to delay him or speed up their own plan!

"I'm not confident in our ability to outpace him. In the time it took us to get a new base and rescue Mami, he already assembled a third of Tia Cassiopeia! It was pure luck that saving Mami also resulted in saving Eber and Luna, and taking out Vitimir." Luz frowned; "We can't destroy the Union Pillars without destabilising the Wellsprings and causing a disaster, and damaging or stopping them is too easy to reverse. We need a way to sabotage him that the Divider can't immediately undo!"

"But what?" Skara asked; "We know almost all the aspects of his plan thanks to him telling you."

"Almost all of them, yeah." Willow said, briefly looking to Hunter beside her. Her eyes lingered on his chest for a moment before she looked back to Luz; "What about the replacement heart of Cassiopeia? If he needs a full set of Wellsprings, the Divider needs to do something about that heart! That might be our best bet!"

That got the CATTs murmuring, and while most agreed, Hunter reluctantly pointed out a problem with his girlfriend's idea; "You're probably right, but we have NO idea what that plan is. How do we mess up a plan when we have no details at all?"

"We could go out and capture one of the Wings of Rani, then interrogate them?" Lyra suggested.

"Too risky. Plus there's no guarantee they'll know. Mom was their boss for a long time, but she didn't know anything about it." Luz pointed out.

"That's true, but I wasn't their only boss." Eda suddenly grinned.

The others quickly got what she was hinting at, with Luz's eyes widening; "Raguel? You think he might know something?"

"But how!? He was surely interrogated already! Anything he knows would have been spilled!" Boscha crossed her arms; "The Angels have truth potions too, right?"

Amity gasped; "They do, but Raguel was a skilled alchemist! I bet if anyone had figured out how to give himself immunity to truth potions, it's him!"

"It's worth a shot! I also need to talk to the Seraphim Council about getting their help for the final battle too, so we can kill two birds with one stone! Worst comes to worst, I'm sure the Seraphim will at least lend us seven retired Thrones who could fight alongside us, so it shouldn't be a wasted trip!" Luz declared, hopping to her feet; "I think we should go for it! All in favour?"

The CATTs Council all raised their hands, none of them having any better ideas. Besides, with it being a simple trip to the Divine Realm for a diplomatic meeting, it wasn't something dangerous or taxing, so they could get it done fast without too much prep work. Luna and Boscha immediately insisted on coming along so they could dose Raguel themselves to make sure they could overcome any immunities he'd given himself to normal potions, and Luz naturally needed to go to talk to the Seraphim. Camila decided to go along too, and Eda did too, neither mother happy to leave Luz alone with the Angels after last time. Vee wanted to come too, but was convinced to stay back since her family wasn't sure how the Union would react to her as a Seraphic Basilisk, and wanted to avoid any potential hostilities.

In the end, it was a group of Luz, Camila, Eda, Luna, and Boscha who walked together to the Portal Gate and headed through to the Divine Realm. Upon arriving at the Divine Crossroads, Luz was pleasantly surprised to see that while the CATTs had been refurbishing Zachael's Landing, the same was being done to this wing of the Crossroads by the Union, who had turned it into a kind of mini-embassy.

"Whoa…" Luz whispered in amazement as she looked around. The other, unused Portal Gates had been stripped out of the room and each alcove turned into either a sitting area or a medical bed, depending on if it was the left or right side of the room. A security kiosk had been converted into what appeared to be a small office for Luz to have private meetings with people, and a larger meeting table had been set up near the exit of the hall, with some comfortable chairs in place. There was also a single other Portal Gate still in place, tucked out of the way near this table, and beside its alcove was a young male Angel from Crest Charity, who was chatting with the Crest Diligence Guard that was watching over this wing of the Crossroads.

"What happened here?" Luz asked a little louder, drawing the Angels' attention.

"Oh! Ambassador Luciel! Welcome back to Gran Seraphia." the male Angel said, scurrying over with a big smile. He wasn't much older than Luz; likely only having just turned 18 or 19. "In keeping with your role, and the Seraphim Council's diplomatic relationship with you, this area of the Divine Crossroads has been declared to be a Demon Realm Embassy, where your people are free to take refuge and receive medical assistance as required."

"Wow! The Council really are trying to make it up to you, eh Luz?" Boscha grinned.

"Seems so! Who are you two, if you don't mind me asking?" Luz asked, looking to the two Angels. The female Knight of Crest Diligence had walked over too, and she looked only a little older than the man, being maybe 21 or 22 years old.

"I am Ismael, and I have been assigned as your secretary and overseer of your emergency supplies, which are currently being stored in the In-Between Realm through that Portal Gate beside my desk." Ismael introduced with a smile, before handing Luz a small keystone; "Here, this is so you have access to it too. The area on the other side has no other gates, so we were able to make multiple keystones. I also possess one. All surplus supplies pledged to you by the Seraphim Council are stored within, and can be taken at your leisure. We restock it as and when we discover we have spare materials to give."

The guard nodded stiffly and gave a salute; "Hail, Lady Seraphim. I am Sasaniel, the Knight of Diligence tasked with protecting the Embassy in your absence. Ismael and I are young, but as the Council felt your people would feel more at home with your own residents guarding the place and serving you, we alone were assigned here as a gesture of good faith. We will serve you loyally, my lady."

Luz blinked; "That's gonna take getting used to… still, at least the Council is really taking this alliance seriously! That bodes well! Nice to meet you both! I hope we can work together well!" the chipper Seraphim smiled, offering her hands to the two Angels. They seemed shocked by her casual gesture, but smiled and accepted the handshakes she offered.

After a brief exchange of greetings with the rest of Luz's companions, Ismael said; "How can I serve you today, Ambassador?"

"We've come to have a meeting with the Seraphim Council, and also to interrogate Raguel. We have reason to believe he may have found a way to circumvent the usual methods of ensuring the truth in interrogations." Luz said formally, channelling all her lessons from Darius.

Ismael looked concerned as he immediately bowed and scurried off to complete Luz's request, while Sasaniel looked perturbed; "Forgive me, my Lady… but are you saying Former Lord Raguel might have been able to lie despite the usual tonics?"

"The dude was an Alchemist, right? A pretty good one too from what I heard. Don't you think he could have find a way to hide it?" Boscha pointed out.

"B-But the Curse of Truth that affects all us Angels-" Sasaniel began to protest, only for Camila to cut her off.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to ignore pain when you believe you are suffering for a righteous cause. He could likely smile with pure joy in his heart as he lied for the sake of his master." the woman said, knowing the feeling all too well.

Sasaniel looked even more perturbed, but didn't argue. Ismael returned a moment later and said; "The Seraphim Council are unfortunately not able to convene and meet with you at this time, Ambassador. They are dealing with the latest Distorted Shadow attack, as well as the Wings of Rani's encroachment on the Free Cities. The war is raging here, just as it is in your own realm I fear." he said meekly; "But Lord Camael did say he'd come immediately, and Lords Barachiel and Gabriel did send a message that Former Lord Raguel would be brought here for interrogation by some Knights, though they insist he remain within the Divine Realm."

Luz frowned; "I guess it can't be helped… Camael can't speak for the whole council, but its better than nothing! And at least we can talk to Raguel! Luna, Boscha; can I ask you two to handle that with Mom, since you three are the potions experts?"

The three ladies nodded, while Camila looked oddly contemplative about seeing Camael again. She still had some major issues with the man (and rightfully so), but he had also given her the mirror that saved Vee's life. The Panacea Magic inside Camila was unlikely to ever be used again, as the secret of Vitimir's poison likely died with him, but it was still an important gift that saved her daughter. Perhaps it would be fair to give her Grandfather a second chance…? Or at least maybe keep Eda from doing something stupid.

It only took a few minutes before Camael arrived, looking visibly tired and out of breath, but incredibly pleased to see his two descendants. When he saw Camila's second pair of wings, he broke out into a huge smile; "Sorry I'm late, I needed to coordinate the healing efforts after the most recent attack. But forget me; look at you! Cassiel, you've ascended! Congratulations!" he said, absolutely gushing with joy.

Camila gave a tight smile; "Thank you… Grandfather." she replied, throwing the man a bone just as Luz had been doing.

The simple word made Camael look ready to burst into tears of both joy and regret, so Luz stepped in before the man could get all weepy.

"Sorry to call you away from your work, Great-Grandfather. However we need to talk to you about the aid you and the council promised us? We have more of a plan for dealing with the Divider now, but we need your assistance." Luz said formally.

Camael snapped back to attention and nodded seriously; "Of course. Shall we speak here?"

"Actually, I thought we could use somewhere more private. Raguel will be here soon for an interrogation, and I don't want him overhearing us, just in case he passes it along to more spies in your ranks." Luz said.

"Got it. Lead the way." Camael said, gesturing for Luz to pick their meeting place. Luz began directing him to the Portal Gate they'd all come through, then shouted to Eda, Boscha, and Luna;

"Mom, we're taking Great-Grandfather Camael to Neo Haven. We'll leave Raguel to you!"

"Got it, Owlet! We'll squeeze every drop of info out of this guy!" Eda grinned, waving her daughter off whilst shooting a brief, predatory glare at Camael. He just meekly nodded and followed Luz and Camila through the portal… not noticing that his DCM had been slipped from his pocket and into Eda's. She'd pickpocketed him as he'd passed her moments ago.

"Hehe, still got it!" Eda chuckled to herself.

Luna rolled her eyes and snatched it from her; "I'll return this when he comes back. Honestly Eda, do you WANT to make things worse between us?"

Eda scowled; "That guy let my Owlet's Papi die over a stupid law, and was gonna let the rest of those Council Bozos emotionally and mentally execute her for a crime she should never have been charged for! As far as I'm concerned, he deserves whatever I give him! Or take from him in this case."

Ismael and Sasaniel both shifted uncomfortably, and Boscha couldn't help but agree. Luna, on the other hand, just sighed and said; "Look, I get it Eda. If my Talis had been treated like that, I'd be out for blood too. But Luz and Camila are the victims of Camael's decisions and they are the ones choosing to make peace for the sake of all of US. They are swallowing their pain because they know we need the Seraphim Council to help us stop the Divider, and not only that, but Luz is still grappling with the idea that she might have to sacrifice Rasiel to save the world. We should at least show them both some respect by not making their job harder."

Eda's eyes widened a little, before she growled softly and crossed her arms; "Fine… you have a point. I just…" she remembered the look of sorrow in her baby girl's eyes as she told her what had happened to her Papi; "… I can't forgive him, or any of these jerks."

"That's your choice. I can't say I think too highly of them either… but as Luz's family, friends, and fellow CATTs, we do what we must." Luna slapped Eda on the back.

"Yeah yeah, you're right. Fine then, I'll give the stupid mirror doohicky back when I see the guy next." Eda promised, pouting a little. She kinda wanted a DCM for herself anyway; it was shiny! But she supposed she could always just take one from the supplies given to the CATTs by the Union.

A few minutes passed, and there was a knock on the door of the Embassy. Sasaniel went to answer it, and returned with Raguel and a whole squad of 12 Diligence Knights, each holding a long rod that had a chain connecting the rod to one of Raguel's eight wings or four limbs. Raguel himself was dressed in a very simple loose white shirt and pants, and wore slippers; a far cry from his old regal Divine Regalia. His halo was also missing, and he looked tired and lethargic as a result.

Raguel smiled politely upon seeing the CATTs, and nodded his head; "Ah, the Valkyrie, Overseer Miphari, and young Boscha. It is nice to see you all again. But no Lady Luciel? I thought she was the one to summon me."

"She was, but she's off dealing with her Mami's dead-beat grandpa. So you're stuck with us. And don't call me Valkyrie again, unless you want to see what kind of potions I can brew with your teeth!" Eda threatened.

Raguel shuddered; "Well you're mildly terrifying as always… But I am perfectly willing to cooperate with you. Though what you want from me, I don't know… I have already divulged everything I can."

"No, you've divulged everything you're willing to. See, we're willing to bet that an Alchemist like you is capable of making yourself immune to Truth Tonics and Blabber Serum. You could build up a tolerance or simply have immunized yourself against them. It is possible; there have been cases of it in the Demon Realm, though we've never figured out quite how to do it safely and consistently." Luna said.

For a moment, there was a flash of annoyance across Raguel's face, then a look of amusement as he gave the trio a smug smile; "Oh? Well if that's what you think then by all means… see if you can overcome it."

The three ladies narrowed their eyes; that hadn't quite been a tacit admission that they were right, but it had been as close as one could get. Not only that, but it was clearly a challenge wrapped up in the belief that they couldn't do it…

Eda turned into her Harpy Mode, Luna cracked her knuckles, and Boscha activated her Palisman Fusion, before saying; "Let's see if Atomic Alchemy and the three best Potioneers in the CATTs can't crack this nut!"

Raguel gasped in shock, seeing Boscha's new form; "You too!? I thought Amity was the only one who could do that!"

"I'm actually the fifth. Three others unlocked theirs between Amity and me. Three more are gonna do it after me too." Boscha said confidently.

Raguel could only blink dumbly; "How is this possible?"

"My kids are amazing, that's how." Eda smirked.

"So it is Luciel and the young Titan's work? Perhaps those two really do present a new possibility… But regardless, things haven't changed. If you're going to try and get around my "hypothetical" resistance to truth potions, then go right ahead." Raguel shrugged, regaining his composure. His knight guards shuffled him over to the kiosk-turned office and bound his chains to different parts of the room, since they couldn't all fit inside; it was a tight enough fit with just Raguel, the ladies, and their cauldron.

What followed was a few little tests; Boscha administered an Angelic Truth Tonic that seemed to work, but naturally Raguel had an iron will and poker face, so if he WAS lying, they'd never know. They tried Blabber Serum and got the same result, so at the very least they knew that if he WAS faking then he was amazing at it. Eda then tried to have him tell a lie while under the effects, but it either worked because he was reciting something she told him to say, making it not a real lie, or he didn't know if it was a lie or not, or he refused because he wasn't willing to burn his own throat so they could see what it looked like (Eda had cast an X-Ray healing spell to let her see the inside of his throat as he talked).

However while they didn't get confirmation that lying had a visible effect at first, Eda merely pretended to dispel the X-Ray spell on her eyes before asking the question; "Yes or no: do you have some way of nullifying the usual truth serums our cultures use?"

"No. You're wasting your time." he smiled smugly.

Luna and Boscha scowled, but Eda suddenly grinned. While the change was miniscule, the inside of Raguel's throat had suddenly become red, inflamed, and raw-looking. Lying technically did no physical damage and only effected the mind of an Angel, but this still caused the body to react due to something akin to the Placebo effect. The body received no damage, but since the mind felt pain, the body started reacting to it as if there WAS damage!

"My oh my, would you looky here!" Eda leaned down and sniffed Raguel's neck like a beast sniffing its next meal; "This smell is the smell of a liar, Raguel!"

Raguel shuddered; "You think I'm going to be fooled by you claiming to "smell" liars?"

"You don't need to be fooled. I didn't remove the X-Ray spell; I saw your throat react to the lie… which reminds me, I need to get Luz and Camila to have medical exams from Hettie to make sure they're okay…" Eda mused.

"You expect me to believe you?" Raguel raised an eyebrow.

Boscha snorted; "Who cares if you believe her? Luna and I do. We were confirming to ourselves that you can still lie! Now we know you can and we just need to figure out a way around it. I don't suppose you'd make this easy and give us an Everlasting Oath to tell the truth during this interrogation?"

Raguel grit his teeth and shut his mouth tight. The three ladies just grinned unsettlingly; "The hard way, huh? Well, I've been brainwashed by your master for the last several months, so I relish the chance to have a little fun loosening those lips! By the time we're done, you'll be singing everything you know!" Luna smiled dangerously.

The Seraphim simply sat back in his chair with a sigh of defeat; he suspected it was only a matter of time before they were proven right and he sang like a canary… but he still wasn't about to make it easy for them.

"Be my guest. I have all the time in the world… more so than you, anyway." he said challengingly.

Strangely, the ladies were not deterred.

[Meanwhile]

Arriving in Neo Haven, Camael looked around curiously, recognising the style of the old Demon Realm Outposts that the Union and its separatists had made on occasion. The vegetation on the small island had grown a bit out of control over the last nearly 16 years without any maintenance, but it was still a pretty place and the remnants of the love and care that Cassiel, Em, and Michael had put into it was still clear.

"So this is where you lived for so long… right under our noses. You always were clever, Cassiel." Camael smiled as Cassiel walked through the portal gate behind him, followed lastly by Luz, who closed the gate behind them.

"It's because of you I found this place. If you hadn't come looking for me and tracked me to the care home I lived in with Manny, I never would of fled to Gravesfield and Manny and I would never have gotten here." Camila replied neutrally.

Camael winced and said; "You were only a child still… and when we detected the spike of magic that came with your ascension, I naturally had to come get you! I'm sorry for my part in driving you away from us; truly I am. But at the time, I thought it was what was best for you."

"And the emotional blackmail of telling her you were her Grandpa?" Luz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That was, admittedly, poorly thought out. But in my defence, it wasn't really intended as emotional blackmail. I thought Cassiel wanted the love and family that Humans experienced; that's why most of our defectors who fled to the Human Realm wanted. I thought showing your mother that she did have a family who loved her would be enough…" Camael confessed.

That was a small surprise, but it didn't change things for the Nocedas. If anything, it just exposed how growing up in the Crest Union had left Camael with a twisted sense of love and family; he'd honestly meant well, but his lack of understanding came at a cost to the very people he loved most.

"We're getting off-topic. Let's take this inside and sit down." Camila said softly, before leading the way into the old outpost. It was definitely dusty inside, but wasn't quite as dirty and abandoned looking as expected; it was like someone had gone over the place and given it a very half-hearted cleaning in recent days… perhaps it was the work of the Divider, who'd confessed to coming here to find DNA from Luz's fathers.

A few quick house-keeping spells from an experienced Mami like Camila had the kitchen table and chairs clean as a whistle, along with the tea-making supplies, which Camila immediately set about using to make them all tea while Camael and Luz sat down and got down to business.

"Alright Lord Camael…" Luz began, making it clear this was a fully formal meeting. Camael straightened up and wore a respectfully neutral expression in response; "… you're aware of the recent return of the Divider, and some of the details surrounding that return. Well I've got more to inform you of, specifically including a plan to deal with the Divider and seal him up again. Allow me to go over the details…"

With that, Luz began to go over the full details of Rasiel's own plan to stop himself. Camael clearly didn't like that the plan came from the Divider (even his severed conscience), but he also couldn't deny that it sounded like a good plan.

"The history around the Divider's first defeat has largely faded into myth, with the Treaty of Division being our only hard historical evidence of it even happening. However what myths and legends remain do seem to fit with this story. A coalition of Angels, Demons, Witches, and Titans working together with one of the Sephiroth to divide the Divider himself! Though I never imagined that the Divider's own conscience and self-doubt allowed the plan to go ahead… It's remarkable and a little unsettling to be honest." Camael mused.

"Yeah… the idea of him sacrificing himself because he sees part of himself as bad is… uncomfortably familiar." Luz confessed, rubbing her arms a little.

Camila (having returned with tea) patted her daughter's shoulder while a pale Camael shuddered and tried not to think of the awful Reformation Incident or his part in it…

"Getting back to the matter at hand… would I be right in assuming you want me to pledge the Seraphim Council's aid when the final battle comes?" Camael asked.

Luz nodded; "We need you. The Seven Lord Seraphim of that era were needed; we can provide the Titans, the Sephiroth, the Elemental Forces, and even the Demon Army, all of which we're making good progress on, but we need your help too. Can we count on you?"

Camael went silent for a moment; "This isn't something I have the authority to promise on my own… but I AM Lord Seraphim of Crest Kindness, and there are more than 6 living Thrones who once held that rank AND are still within my order and thus honour-bound to obey me. I will try to convince the rest of the council, and if I fail then I and my predecessors will come to your aid."

"If the council refuses and you go behind their back to do this, that could be seen as treason! You could get in huge trouble, Grandfather!" Camila exclaimed, not trying to discourage him but also wanting to make it clear that the consequences could be dire.

In response, the man smiled sadly; "I was once given a choice, my beloved granddaughter. The choice of following the law, obeying my oath, and doing what I was supposed to do… and thus letting a good man die… or breaking that law and saving that man's life. No lives were saved by my obedience, but a life was lost because of it… a life I can never hope to come close to repaying."

Luz and Camila went pale as Camael's eyes filled with tears, even as his expression became one of righteous defiance; "I cannot restore the life lost by my dog-like obedience, but I can ensure that never again is an innocent life sacrificed for nothing! I have seen the good that Union has done, but I have ignored its cruelty too. Well no more: if they wish to imprison me as a traitor, then I say let them. I will do what is right, laws be damned!"

"Great-Grandpa…" Luz whispered softly, a little touched by the man's words. It was clear that Camael deeply, deeply regretted his obedience. He'd been born and raised in the Union and done exactly what he was taught was the correct thing to do, and yet when met with the consequences of the "correct" thing, he had begun to question it and break away from the bad side of the Union's way of thinking. It didn't excuse what he did or make up for it in any way, but it at least made it clear that Camael was not a bad man. In a way, he was a victim of the Union as well, just like all Angels were.

"I am going to fix this broken place. Once the Divider is done, I'll help Tia Lazuli and change the Union! How can we hope to stop people like the Divider and Raguel if we keep in place the systems that made them, and made so many others too!?" Luz thought.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but Camila got their first; "Grandfather, I need to thank you for something. You helped me make that Panacea Mirror a few weeks back."

Camael looked a bit confused by the change of topic, but smiled all the same; "Oh! Of course! It was rightfully yours from the start! I can only regret that I didn't do the right thing and give it to you years ago."

"Yes, well… it came in quite handy yesterday, when my daughters came to rescue me from the same man who poisoned and killed my husband." Camila explained.

Camael went stiff as his eyes widened in horror; "I-I had no idea! I knew the Divider took you, but Luz didn't tell me that part!" he looked to his Great-Granddaughter, who shrugged.

"We didn't know until the day before yesterday. It was a whole sham wedding and a plot by the Divider to recruit me by helping us get justice for Papi. It's a long story." Luz said, already feeling tired again just saying that much. She REALLY needed more than a day's break this time…

"Sham wedding!? Wait, that bastard tried to force himself on my granddaughter!?" Camael roared, leaping to his feet and marching to the door; "Where is he!? I'll decorate my halo with his god-damn entrails!"

The man's eyes were actually starting to glow as his aura intensified, so Luz and Camila were quick to jump up, with Camila grabbing his hand while Luz blocked the door so he couldn't leave the tower.

"Whoa there! Grandfather, it's fine! He didn't get a chance to do anything really bad to me! He did rough me, Luz, and Vee up a little when we fought him, but that's normal in a fight! Besides, I killed him with his own poison! It's all okay now!" Camila hastily explained.

Camael's eyes stopped glowing and his aura died down; "He's dead?" he asked.

"Yes! It's a long story, but he sort of turned himself into a Pseudo-Sephiroth with a bloodline potion, but it malfunctioned and made him mutate like crazy." Luz said; "Mami finished him off with his own poison, which made him crumble to dust. He got what he deserved for what he did to our family!"

"Oh…" Camael sighed; "That's good. Wait a moment…!" he suddenly looked angry again; "Cassiel, you said the mirror came in handy! Don't tell me he used that foul poison on you!?"

Camila shook her head; "Not on me, no. But he did use it on Vee… he stabbed her right in the gut and left her to die to the poison. He saw her as a monstrosity that was unworthy of our family… You can bet that was the moment I stopped considering letting him live."

Camael looked utterly horrified; "Y-You didn't bring Vee with you…! Don't tell me…!"

"She is alive and well." Camila was quick to assure him; "It was a close thing, but thanks to the Panacea Mirror, I was able to cure the poison and save her life. Thanks to you and your gift, my daughter's life was saved… thank you, Grandfather."

Tears began to spill down Camael's face as he fell to his knees. A small broken smile crossed his face as he sobbed out; "She was saved…? Oh thank goodness! I'm so happy! I… I don't know what I'd have done if my mistake cost you another loved one…!"

He broke down in sobs, all the emotions of the last conversation and all that preceded it finally getting to him. Camila and Luz were full of sympathy, and Luz couldn't help but try to comfort the man.

"Hey now, it's okay! You helped Mami save my little sister! Sure, it may not exactly make up for what happened with Papi, but still! You should be proud of what you did!" she said, patting his back.

Camael gave a broken laugh and shook his head; "Bless your pure heart, Luz. But you are wrong… I don't deserve to be proud of doing the right thing, when I was 15 years too late! You know how Panacea Mirrors work, having used one yourself… had I given one to your mother when I should have, she'd have saved your Papi's life and then had the magic within her for all these years, able to use it to save Vee as well."

Luz reared back; that was a fair point… she'd briefly thought that maybe, if he hadn't refused her Papi, then he'd have lived and the mirror wouldn't have existed to save Vee. But Panacea Magic stuck around, so if he'd done the right thing at the right time, her Mami could have saved her Papi AND Vee…

"I… I guess you're right." Luz frowned miserably; "But… better late than never, I guess? You made a mistake you can never take back, but you still tried. And that attempt did save my sister… so even if I can't forgive you for Papi, I can still say thank you for my little sister. So thank you, Great-Grandpa."

Camael smiled sadly and replied; "You're welcome… and I'm sorry."

"I need to say thank you as well, Grandfather." Camila said, kneeling down in front of the crying Seraphim.

"C-Cassiel? No, you don't need to-"

"I do." she cut him off. "Luz is correct about everything… I can't forgive you for Manny. The decision you made condemned Manny to a slow and painful death, forcing Luz and I to watch powerlessly as he suffered and slipped away and we could do nothing to save him. Do you have any idea how painful that was? To have lost a lover and then be forced to lose another? To have your five year old daughter pleading with you that she'd be "the best Angel ever" if she could just get the power to save him? To hear her cry late and night, thinking she's the reason her Papi is dead? Because she wasn't good enough!?" Camila said, eyes glowing softly as they bore into Camael's.

The man shook his head, wanting to look away in shame but unable to pry his eyes from hers.

"You caused all of that... all because the law prevented you from giving away a valuable item like a Panacea Mirror without receiving something of equal or greater value, because otherwise the Union is diminished, no matter by how little. Now tell me "Grandfather", was there any point in the last 15 years where a Panacea Mirror was needed but not available?" Camila asked.

Camael's throat felt as dry as a desert; "No."

"So… the law you obeyed condemned my husband, Luz's Papi, to die without benefiting literally anyone?"

"Yes!" Camael sobbed, lowering his forehead to the ground, kowtowing to his granddaughter, completely abandoning all pride. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry! I have no words! I have no excuses! I am just… so, so sorry!"

Luz looked to her mother with pain in her eyes; pain for her, pain for herself, pain for her Papi, and even pain for Camael. This brought her no satisfaction… only pity.

Camila felt the same, which is why she said; "But while I can't forgive you… I can't blame you either. You made the "right" decision based on the law, something you've been all but programmed to obey from birth. That same set of laws nearly condemned my daughter to Reformation, and many other injustices! Is it any wonder the Wings of Rani became what they are today? But I think you're starting to see that. After all, you broke that law to give me the mirror after Luz's ascension."

She gently took her grandfather's chin and lifted it so he was looking her in the eye again; "You were over 15 years too late for Manny… but you were on time to save my daughter. Vee is alive, because of you… and just as I will never forgive you for Manny, I will never stop thanking you for Vee. Because that is what it means to love someone. I pray that one day you love someone enough to understand what I'm feeling right now."

Camael sniffled and laughed wetly; "I think I already do…" he said, before shifting until he was sat on his knees. "The Union… is deeply broken, isn't it?"

"Yes." Camila and Luz said at the same time.

"There is a lot of amazing parts to it!" Luz was quick to add; "But it NEEDS to change. It treats people like cogs in a machine, and prioritises the well-being of the system over the people in that system. It basically forces everyone to conform or leave!"

"Lazuliel has been saying the same for a while…" Camael mused; "And it's true that some of the ways that she has deviated from tradition has worked out, while rigidly sticking to the laws have caused us no end of calamities recently… Perhaps the system really does need to change. No, it definitely does!"

"We're glad you're starting to see that." Camila smiled, helping the man to his feet; "Defeating the Divider will be pointless if we don't solve the problems that made him and his followers. We need to work together… I've been running all my life; from the Divine Realm and its stifling ways, and then from the Demon Realm and its dangers. But now I am done running; I have called all three realms home, and I want to do my bit for all of them. I know Luz won't rest until she's helped the Union become better, and so she needs her Mami there to help support her… will I have my Grandfather there to help support us too?"

Camael wiped his eyes and gripped Camila's hand; "You will. I am proud of you and Luciel, and I would love to get to know young Vee some more! I know you'll never forgive what I failed to do… but I hope that in some way, I can still be in your lives in a positive way."

Camila actually smiled; "Perhaps, Grandfather. I have 3000 years to live now after all; that's a long time to rebuild a relationship."

That earned a beaming smile from Camael, and Luz couldn't help but giggle and bounce on her feet, her ears fwipping up and down with delight. Their relationship with Camael may never be the normal Granddaughter/Grandfather relationship, but they were at least open to having some kind of positive relationship, which was all Luz could have wished for.

However as Camila and Camael shared a brief hug, Luz couldn't help but think more about what Camael had done. Not from the point of view of a girl whose father's life was sacrificed for the sake of a nebulous greater good… but the view of someone who might well have to make a similar decision.

"So, to reiterate and make it clear for your allies; yes, one way or another you will have a minimum of Seven Seraphim, be they the Council or just me and my Kindness Thrones. I can't pledge to long term support due to the ongoing troubles in the Divine Realm, but when the final battle comes, call on me and I will be there with my fellows." Camael said, bowing to Luz and giving an Angelic Salute. "This I swear upon my very soul."

Luz gave a subdued smile; "Thank you Great-Grandpa. This means a lot to me."

Camila smiled; "With that, our business here is done. Shall we head back now? Honestly, this place is bringing back some painful memories…"

"You go on ahead, Mami. I had one last thing I wanted to talk about with Great-Grandpa." Luz said.

"Oh? I can stick around if you'd like? The memories here aren't all bad after all." Camila tried to reassure her.

"No, it's… I want to talk to him about something private. Please? I'll give you the keystone to get back and I can just use my portal to-"

Camila cut her off gently; "It's fine. I'll wait outside by the gate. And you know there's nothing you can't tell me, right?"

Luz smiled; "I do Mami. What I want to talk about is… complicated. It's something I can only ask Great-Grandpa."

Camael looked curious while Camila looked a little worried, but she trusted her daughter and so simply agreed to give the two some privacy, leaving the tower and heading back to the gate. Luz trusted her mother also, and knew she wouldn't eavesdrop, but wanted to be better safe than sorry, so asked Camael to follow her up to the top of the tower, where they could look out across the island and fly down to Camila when they were done.

As they reached the top, Camael asked; "Okay, so what did you want to talk about, Luciel?"

"It's complicated, and given all we've just got done talking about, it's gonna sound weird and maybe a little hypocritical of me…" Luz began, trying to find the words.

"Take your time, Luciel. You can ask me anything at all; I won't judge or get upset." he promised.

Luz paced around for a moment then said; "Okay, okay… you know what happened with my Papi? C-Could you explain to me the whole decision? Like your thoughts at the time? Exactly why you made it, and so on?"

Camael's eyes widened; normally he'd think such questions would be painful or maybe Luz trying to rationalise and come to grips with his choice, as if her kind heart was trying to justify it… but the look on her face made it seem like she was trying to find a solution to a problem, and wanted a clue.

"I can tell you all that, but is that REALLY what you want to know? Why exactly are you asking me this?" Camael asked.

Luz looked conflicted for a long moment before finally sighing and sitting on the edge of the tower roof, with Stringbean coming out of her sleeve to cuddle and comfort her, taking the form of a Golden (or rather, purple) Labrador to remind her of Golsi and her coping techniques.

"You know the plan we're going to use, Great-Grandpa… We will be sealing up the Divider again… forever. But that also means sealing up Rasiel, who is an innocent man and someone I love!" Luz declared; "He's my Tio in all but blood! He gave me the advice that I built my whole way of life around! Working with others to find their problems and fix them without becoming a dictator! I am who I am today because of him! And yet… yet he just expects me to abandon him to an eternity sealed up with the Divider!"

She ran a hand through her hair desperately; "I keep thinking, "I'll find a way to save him!" but I don't know how, and I can't delay the plan with the Divider getting so much closer to finishing his! Then I think, "Well okay, we seal Rasiel up too and then we've got all the time in the world to figure out how to save him!" but I don't know if that's really possible! How would we even do that, and what if we try and just free the Divider and cause this whole mess over again!?"

"Luciel…" Camael whispered, surprised to see the trouble his great-granddaughter was going through.

"I guess… I guess my point, Great-Grandpa, is how do I do it? I have to condemn someone to a horrible fate, one they don't deserve, for the greater good of billions of other lives! It should be an easy choice, right? But it's not… I know in my heart that when the moment comes, I'll be able to do it. I'll be able to make that sacrifice… but it breaks my heart." Luz said softly, tears in her eyes.

Camael knew he had no answers for her… and he said as much. He knelt down in front of the girl and cupped her cheek, using his thumb to gently brush away her tears; "I guess I know now why you wanted my advice. But our situations are incredibly different… in the end, the law compelled me to sacrifice a good man to preserve a resource that could be used to save an unknown number of Angel lives… but it was pointless. No lives were saved by my actions, and one was ruined by them. But you…? You are making a choice that will save the lives of every single person in the Demon Realm and Divine Realm. You are saving them from a false paradise and allowing each of those people to make their own choices. You actions are necessary, unlike mine. You are doing the right thing, and you know it… you are a brave, kind, pure-hearted girl the likes of which I have rarely seen. I wish I could have been like you, and made the RIGHT choice and not the lawful choice…"

Luz sniffled and smiled a little; "Thanks, Great-Grandpa… I guess you're right. It's not exactly the advice I was hoping for, but it helps. I love Rasiel… but saving him might mean everyone else I love is turned into something I don't recognise… So I… I have to let him go."

She stood and began to walk away; "I think I empathise with you a little more. The choice you made was wrong in the end, but I guess it must have felt just as hard as this."

"It was. Your father was someone Cassiel loved… I dearly wanted to save him, but I chose my duty over him, thinking that by being unselfish, I was doing the right thing. But in the end, I was still just being selfish on behalf of the Union and ignoring my own morals, letting someone or something else tell me what was right and what was wrong. That was my mistake…" Camael said seriously, looking Luz in the eye; "And honestly… I think sacrificing Rasiel for the greater good of all people in our Realms is the right decision. I hate it, but it's true…. However; I think if anyone can save Rasiel and still save everyone else too, it's you."

Luz's eyes widened; "Are… are you telling me to risk everyone and try to save Rasiel?"

"No. I'm telling you that I believe you will do the right thing no matter what, and that you won't give up. If a way to save Rasiel exists, you will find it. In life, they say you can't have your cake and eat it too… but you strike me as the type of girl to hear that as a challenge, and then proceed to bake two cakes." Camael said, only half-joking.

Luz giggled at that, beginning to perk up; "You're right. Maybe I will have to make that sacrifice and let Rasiel go… but until the very last second, I can keep trying to find a way to reach out to him and save him! I don't need to give up until it is actually too late!"

"Atta girl! You bake that second cake!" Camael smiled, patting her on the back. Luz giggled even more and the two were soon sharing a hearty laugh together, something neither had ever expected they'd be able to do.

This good mood lasted all the way back to Camila, who didn't question them and simply smiled upon seeing her daughter so happy. She still had some major problems with Camael, but she couldn't deny her daughter anything that brought some cheer into her life, especially in the current times, so Camila just happily accepted it and they all went smilingly back through the Portal Gate to reach Gran Seraphia again.

The scene they arrived to was a curious one; the Knights of Crest Diligence were all watching in shock while Eda and Raguel sat across from each other and exchanged insults and childish barbs, each acting like literal children. Eda was smirking a lot as she gave her own insults, while Raguel's lips were swollen and he had strange things drawn all over his face with ink. This included messages like "CATTs Rule! Divider Drools" and "Property of Eda", as well as cartoonish images of flies and even a strange animated picture of Amity's Fused Form using his nose as a scratching post, which apparently really itched.

Upon seeing Luz arrive with Camael and Camila, Raguel yelled; "Luz, please call off this psychotic Witch! She's been drawing on my face and her last potion was spiked with something spicy!"

"You used me in a plot to murder my daughter and turn what was left of her into your master's thrall; I'd be castrating you right now if I could get away with it!" Eda hissed angrily. "Luz is a soft hearted girl, but Mama Eda is a stone cold Witch, and she's gonna get her pound of flesh!"

Raguel had the good sense to look as guilty as he did indignant, and Luz sighed and said; "Mom, please. That's enough; I appreciate it, really, but doing stuff like this to a guy who can't fight back just feels like bullying. We're better than this guy."

Eda scoffed; "Speak for yourself, Owlet."

"Please Mom. For me?" Luz asked, giving the puppy dog eyes.

Eda was weak to that, so sighed heavily and crossed her arms with a pout; "Fine! You're lucky you're cute!" she declared, before walking over to ruffle Luz's hair and then wordlessly hand Camael his DCM back. The man didn't even know she'd taken it and was about to comment, but one look at the annoyed Raguel made him decide to just leave it alone; he could pick his battles better than his former colleague.

Luz then walked over and used a simple Healing Spell to diagnose the problem with Raguel's lips, finding them swollen due to capsaicin, so she quickly used her own Potioneer Belt to make a quick ointment to fix it, then dabbed it on Raguel. As he was sighing with relief at his now normal-sized lips, Luz was able to wipe off most of her mother's graffiti, before cheekily deciding to move Cat Amity onto Raguel's forehead before removing the animation spell. Raguel would keep the ink until he washed it off, but as far as he knew, they were all gone.

"There. No permanent harm done." Luz smiled, dusting off her hands as she turned to a snickering Luna and Boscha; "Any success in interrogating him?"

"Yep!" Boscha declared proudly; "I took a sample of his blood and used it with a testing potion to confirm it was altered with a potion, then isolated and reverse engineered the potion to find out what compound he'd infused himself with! Then I countered it with a new serum!"

"Boscha's serum nullifies the compound AND works like a mild truth tonic, so he can't lie at all now. We also discovered you can spot Angels lying with an X-Ray of their throats." Luna smiled, looking very impressed.

"Nice! Good work Boscha!" Luz praised as Camael eyed an indignant Raguel and Camila gave the red-headed girl an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

Boscha preened, still in her fused form, and said; "So, do you want to hear the AWESOME info we learned from me, or shall we get Raguel to spill the beans again?"

Luz turned to Raguel; "How about you tell me directly, Lord Raguel? I might remember to ask questions my friends didn't… or be able to spot you trying to use exact words to skirt around answering."

Raguel grumbled, but ultimately sighed defeatedly; "Fine. Keep your Helion of a mother away from me and don't let the Snippy Fire-Starter pour any more strange fluids into me, and I'll answer whatever you want."

Luz smiled at sat at the desk that had been made for her and had Raguel sat properly in front of her while everyone else gathered around to watch the interrogation.

"Alright Lord Raguel; tell me what the Divider intends to do regarding Tia Cassiopeia's destroyed Heart. We know he needs two full sets of wellsprings from a pair of bonded Titans, but we don't know how he's going to replace the destroyed one." Luz said simply, getting to the heart of the matter.

Raguel nodded and leaned forward as much as his chains would let him; "Are you aware of the concept of Heart Transplants?"

"I am. Are you implying the Divider is going to use the heart of some other Titan!?" Luz asked in shock.

"No, not exactly. A Titan's Heart can't be replaced by another Titan's Heart. Their hearts are what their souls are contained within, which is why Lady Cassiopeia's could not move on after the Archivists sealed hers in crystal. I bring that up because that is important too. No, the Divider intends to create a kind of Titanic Prosthetic Heart by recreating a practice from thousands of years ago. He is constructing something known as a Red Galdorstone."

Luz, Camila, and Camael all looked shocked and confused, and looked to their friends who'd already gotten this info out of him.

"A RED Galdorstone?" Luz repeated.

Eda nodded grimly; "We were shocked too. Apparently they were made by Titans in the past to replace damaged or diseased hearts that magic couldn't fix. They'd make a big ol' red crystal out of the blood and magic of a LOT of people, then use a form of Oracle Magic to connect the soul of the Titan to the crystal, before severing the old link to the old heart. The new crystal heart is then surgically installed into the Titan."

Luz frowned; "Giant Crystal Hearts made of blood and magic? That definitely sounds like a Titan-sized Galdorstone… and normal Galdorstones are the hearts of Titan Worshippers whose blood became like pseudo-Titan Blood and then crystallised the heart, so I guess it makes sense that normal red blood and magic from Witches and Demons would make a Red Galdorstone fit for a Titan…" she mused.

"It's also apparently where the inspiration for using Galdorstones in Grimwalkers came from." Boscha piped up; "Normal Galdorstones were used as ancient Heart Transplants, allegedly anyway."

"And in less good news, it's also what inspired the magic that the Archivists used on Cassiopeia in the first place, trapping her soul inside the her own crystallised heart." Eda finished.

Luz grimaced, definitely not liking that part of all this. "So the Divider is having a bunch of people sacrifice their blood and magic to make this giant Red Galdorstone? I know the Divider well enough to know he's not letting anyone die or be seriously harmed, but what are the conditions of the workers, and are they being given a choice?"

Raguel actually smiled; "Don't worry; the crew constructing the stone are all volunteers. Some are divided, but they were asked if they'd like to help by those who have no control over them. Each person simply wants to help restore the heart of "The Mate of the Titan". Assuming the Divided Overseer wasn't supplanted like Overseer Deamonne was by that Vespan woman, he will be assuring each donator does not give more blood or magic than is healthy. We were not taking risks with the project."

That was a great relief, and honestly what Luz and the CATTs expected; the Divider was their enemy but he still had strong morals and no desire to hurt any innocent person. Or even most non-innocents for that matter.

Shaking that off, Luz then asked; "Probably a dumb question, but I assume that once the stone is completed and properly connected to Tia Cassiopeia's other body parts, it will develop a mini-Wellspring inside it, like Tio Orion's Heart?"

"Yes, that is my understanding of it. That is the whole reason a new heart is needed after all." Raguel said.

"Right, dumb question. Still, covering all my bases here." Luz said; "Okay, next question; where is the Red Galdorstone being constructed, and by whom?"

"Cocytux Island. It is being made by the Overseer of the Tail Bone; Overseer Rostone. He is doing this with the Construction Coven, of whom he is the current interim Head Witch." Raguel answered.

Luz frowned and looked over to the others, who silently answered her unasked questions.

"Cocytux Island is a small island between Orion's legs, south-east of the Metatarsal Reef and west of the Left Ankle." Eda said; "It's the tip of Orion's tail, poking out from the water. The rest, connecting to his actual tail bone, is under the ocean and partially buried in the sea floor. The Wellspring and Union Pillar are in the pelvis of the mainland, where the tail bone connects to the hip bone."

"The island is also the Construction Coven HQ." Luna added.

Luz raised an eyebrow; "The Construction Coven's HQ was built on an island in the middle of the Boiling Sea and not on the mainland itself?"

Luna smirked; "My son Talis moved it there from the throat. Belos had designs on the valley of the throat, for Unity Plaza it turned out, and Talis was happy to move the place so he could have a hideout as far as possible from Belos. And Cocytux Island may be smaller; barely a quarter of the size of Bonesborough at its widest, but it was like a mini-mountain of Titan Bone, taller than any of the Titan's fingers, and thicker too, so you can bet he made something good there."

The young Seraphim tried to imagine it, and the more she imagined a small bone mountain turned into a factory-like HQ for an army of Construction Experts, the more she thought of Dwarves and their mines! As a Fantasy Girl, she was very excited by the prospect!

"Okay, Mason and Matt are definitely gonna want in on this one!" Luz chuckled; "Now, is there any kind of significant security we should know about?"

Raguel shrugged; "A bunch of burly Construction Witches, some Abomaton Knights, a few Angelic Knight Golems and Knight-Jars as surveillance, and probably some Wings of Rani members too? I wasn't overly involved in the project. The Lord Divider oversaw it personally. I only know what I do because he tasked me with watching his responsibilities while he was away dealing with the Archivists."

Boscha narrowed her eyes; "Oh yeah, fine job you did too! You let Odalia take over Bonesborough, you let Carnar victimise the Demons on Digale Island, almost getting two little girls murdered, and you did nothing to stop Terra and Arboriel from turning people into Mandragoras and enslaving them against their wills."

Raguel wilted; "Listen, aside from Odalia, I had no idea about any of that!"

"Because you were busy driving my daughter to either personality execution or personality suicide." Eda growled viciously.

Once again guilt filled the man's eyes, and Luz gently raised a hand to silence her friends and family; "Leave it for now guys. The past is history. We won't forget it, but if we spend all our energy focusing on revenge or evening out past slights, we'll end up just like the old Arcane Realm. I'm putting that aside… but when we win and the Lord Divider is beaten, I expect you to honour that and start helping me make a truly better world, Raguel."

The treacherous Seraphim eyed her for a moment, then nodded and said; "If you can somehow pull that off, then you'll be worth following. I pledged my service to the Lord Divider; I won't follow anyone who can't at least conquer him."

Luz chuckled, then asked a few minor questions to squeeze as much useful information out of Raguel as she could. Some of it was more useful than others, and most of it was fairly minor, or stuff they'd since learned on their own, like the Divider's intent to forcibly recruit the Archivists and the full details of his Project Paradise. If they'd figured out his scheme earlier, they could have gotten a jump on the Divider, but there was no value in what could have been, only what was.

When the interrogation was done, Luz turned to the Knights and said; "I think we're done for now. Take him back to his cell. We'll be heading off soon."

The knights gave a salute and reattached Raguel's chains to their staves, then began escorting him away. He yelled; "Give my regards to Amity! And the Lord Divider too, when you see him!"

"I'll try to remember to give him your regards as I'm stopping his plans." Luz grinned cheekily. Raguel just tutted and laughed, and was soon dragged away out of sight. Once he was gone, Luz looked to her friends with simple looks, silently asking if they were all content with how things had gone. Eda looked amused to have tormented Raguel, Boscha was as smug as usual after a success, and Luna just looked glad to be back in the saddle again.

Ismael and Sasaniel, who'd been watching the whole affair from the sidelines, just looked completely taken aback by everything they'd just seen. It was like nothing they'd ever imagined living inside the Union! It had been chaotic, scary, and honestly… kind of exciting! They both felt they might enjoy this assignment a lot more than they'd initially thought!

The two Angels were given a fond farewell by Luz and the CATTs, who also sent Camael on his way too. The three Potioneer Ladies didn't miss the increased affection that the Nocedas seemed to have for Camael either, and resolved to find out what happened later. Finally, with their mission complete, the CATTs returned triumphantly to Zachael's Landing, where they immediately convened another Mission Council to plan how to use the information they'd just gathered.

The Council were surprised to learn that Camael had pledged to get them the Seraphim they needed when the time came, even if it meant breaking the law, but they were also happy to learn he had started to turn himself away from the rigid programming of the Union towards true morality. The news about the Red Galdorstone was met with a mixed response though; it was great since it meant they now had a target, a location, and an idea of the security, but it was also a harrowing thought for King, who not only had to live with the idea the Divider was making another crystal heart for his Mama, but that they'd need to destroy it just like the first one in order to stop the Divider's plan, or at least delay it for a long time.

Ultimately though, an irritable King declared; "I want to go on the mission to break this Galdorstone!"

Eda frowned; "You sure you want to do that, King? This isn't like last time. I don't think linking this big rock up is gonna trap your Mama. We can always ask her directly of course, but when we passed through the In-Between Realm earlier, she seemed completely unconcerned by what we just found out."

"I know… but I barely got to do anything in the last few missions, and my power alone isn't able to undo Divisions, but Luz is able to use it to do that! I'm supposed to be King! I can do this!" the little Titan insisted.

Eda sighed; she felt like she should probably say no, but King HAD been going on dangerous missions from the start and he WAS powerful. It didn't feel like she had a fair reason to refuse him after everything he'd already done.

Luz, on the other hand, actually did come out and say; "Actually King, I'm not sure it's a good idea. I've been thinking of passing a new order forbidding people from going on consecutive high risk missions. I myself have gone on mission after mission after mission with barely a day's break between them! I'm still exhausted despite resting, and if not for Mami, Vee, and my Titan Evolution yesterday, I'd have lost to Vitimir even though I know I had enough power to outlast and outwit him if I'd rested properly! And if a Seraphim like me feels that way, then I know a lot of you guys do too!"

In response, Boscha actually did wilt a little, having handled Godric AND the Ash Moth desert back to back, as well as the retreat from Digale AND the Plant Temple. Most of the others were in similarly worn out states, especially Mason, Samael, and the Zachael's Landing and Bazamet Estate teams from the last couple of days. It was currently Thursday, and since last Thursday they had all; moved to Digale Island, fought in Manubrium and the surrounding areas, gone through Plantamania, fled Digale Island after holding it for only 4 full days, settled on Zachael's Landing, then gone to rescue Camila… that was a lot for one week!

"I actually agree with Luz." Darius declared; "We are running ourselves far too ragged. We need to carefully decide a plan of action, then pick a team of the most rested fighters we have."

"Well I'm not tired, so whatever the plan, I'm going! I'm not letting the Divider do weird stuff with my Mama! Especially stuff with crystal hearts!" King declared stubbornly; "Besides, it's my Birthday soon! If you let me go, I'll call that my birthday present!"

The entire Noceda-Clawthorne family exchanged looks; King's 9th Birthday was on Saturday and they'd had some tentative plans for a big fun party with the whole family and Hexsquad, as well as King's "Nexsquad" and even his parents in the In-Between Realm. King had also agreed to not wanting presents yet, since they were in a war and he didn't want to waste resources on stuff like that… better to save it all for another day when he could really get the toys, sweets, and cool stuff he really wanted.

But if going on this mission was what he wanted…

Luz sighed; "You will have a medical exam with Hettie AND your Mama and Dad. If all of them agree you are healthy and rested enough, then I'll agree to let you go tomorrow. Deal?" she offered a pinky to her little brother.

He beamed and returned the gesture with his pinky claw; "Yes! Deal! Thanks Sis!"

That left King mollified for the time being, allowing them to actually begin the plan itself. Mason, being the former leader of the Construction Coven, stepped up and created a sand and clay replica of Orion's Tail Bone to show the way it ended in Cocytux Island.

"We actually have a stroke o' luck here, with our objective being my old stompin' grounds on Cocytux Island, I know exactly how to breach the island and its security." Mason declared with a smile. He pointed to the island itself, and then to a small replica of the Titan's Left Ankle; "Normally, we access the island through airships or ferries sailin' from the Left Ankle. But I chose Cocytux as the new HQ for a reason; as a Merrow, I have my own secret access."

He pointed to the rest of the tail bone as it snaked beneath the waves and connected to the pelvis of the Titan. Some of it was underwater and some was under the sea floor, but all of it seemed inaccessible… unless one was a Merrow or had submersibles; a technology that only Mason really had until recently.

"As ya'll can probably guess, I picked this island 'cause it was remote, easily defended in a siege, and had a built in escape route! There is a naturally occurrin' tunnel and cave system in that tail and it is the perfect way in and out of the island. Plus, it connects right to the base of the tail where the Union Pillar is." Mason grinned, pointing out the pillar's location on his miniature. He also pointed out the small area where the tunnel opened to the air, less than a minute's flight from the exist of the tail.

Raine looked delighted; "This is perfect! We can send in two teams by taking a submersible underwater! We go to the dead centre of the tunnel and send one team north to the Union Pillar and one team south to the Island! If Luz is sitting this mission out, we'll need to take the pillar to cure the Divided all at once, and the other team can find and destroy the Red Galdorstone!"

"That sounds good, but what do we do about security? Or the Divider and the Archivists?" Severin asked.

"I doubt going for the Ash Moth again will work. The Divider probably took Ashi's orb away after dividing her again." Skara said sadly.

"Um, actually…" Lyra piped up, raising her hand; "The Divider left the Boiling Isles this morning, along with all four Archivists. They're off scouring the Demon Realm for the rest of Lady Cassiopeia's body parts. They're far enough away that calls for help will take too long to reach them, and if we use our old plans of launching minor attacks on the areas around the real targets to draw away security, we might give ourselves an edge."

Everyone turned to stare at her in shock, except for Gus who just smiled proudly.

"Lyra… not that I'm not grateful or anything… but how do you know that!?" Luz asked, fearing the spying situation with Vee may have repeated itself with Lyra.

Thankfully it hadn't, as Lyra shyly held up the Oracle Sphere. The crystal ball had been repaired and polished, and the tarnished golden snake on it had been polished to a proper shine, even as its eyes glowed a faint purple.

"The Oracle Sphere is supposed to show your best self, and it showed me a vision of Shade being able to fight Angels. After working on it a bit, the broken visions became just clear enough to give me a clue! Shade can't use his powers on Angels because their natural magic will exorcise him… so to protect him, I just have to use MY magic to create a second skin made of shadows around him!" Lyra explained, summoning Shade and putting a hand on him, giving him an ominous black aura.

"It still isn't complete yet; I'm missing something, because the shadows only stick if I'm touching Shade or he's already in the Shadow World. But by keeping him in the Shadow World, I can use him to scry, and even bypass bodies of saltwater by using the Shadow World!" Lyra explained; "I tested it by spying on the Divider and Archivists yesterday in the desert! They have no idea, and we can spy on them now!"

A brief stunned silence filled the room, before the CATTs council burst into a loud round of applause and cheers. Darius leapt from his seat and laughed joyously as he picked Lyra up and spun her around in the air like a proud father whilst she giggled happily. When he finally put her down, Hunter immediately hugged her too, followed by the rest of the Hexsquad, King, Vee, and Samael. The adults all just clapped and beamed, though Eda gave a wolf whistle when Gus used the tight group hug as an excuse to sneak a kiss to the girl's cheek.

"This is amazing work, Lyra! Osran would be incredibly proud of you!" Darius declared.

"We know we are!" Hunter grinned; "You're amazing!"

Lyra beamed; "T-Thank you, Dad! Hunter! That means a lot to me! But I couldn't have done it without Shade or Gus's support!"

Everyone turned to the spirit, who descended into the shadows and then emerged from them in front of Luz, keeping his spectral tail in the shadow world so his coating of protective Darkness Magic would stop Luz's natural light and magic from hurting him. He then reached out and gently poked Luz's cheek with the tip of a spindly finger, shocking everyone further. The fact Shade, an Oracle Spirit, had just willingly touched a Seraphim was a BIG deal!

Luz responded by playfully batting Shade's hand away from her cheek, then taking it and shaking it in greeting; "Nice to finally have a chance to meet you properly, Shade!"

"A-Ah… yes… Um… this is still scary, but… I am safe with you, and with my Mistress. Oh, um… Sorry about stealing the Portal Key that one time." Shade said awkwardly, his raspy voice sounding guilty.

Luz grumbled a little, but then sighed; "I forgive you. Just keep those sticky fingers in the pockets of our enemies from now on. Good job, Lyra!"

Lyra grinned and recalled Shade to her side; "Thanks Luz. Like I said though, I can't take all the credit. Gus helped me fix the orb up a little, and helped me figure out what the visions meant! Now I can scry and spy on Angels! Even fight them with Shade if I'm careful!"

"Can you teach the other Oracles how to do that too?" Amity asked, obviously a little eager to be able to do that herself. Her own spirits barely got anything to do with all their big foes being Angels. She mostly just used them to help her command her Homunculus Armies.

Sadly, Lyra shook her head; "I tried with one already. It seems only Angelic Darkness Magic can shield them from other Angelic Magics. Witch and Demon Darkness Magic isn't enough. Even Titan Darkness Magic wasn't effective when they used glyph notes…"

That was very disappointing, but not at all surprising. The CATTs weren't lucky enough to have figured out a way to overturn one of the biggest advantages the Angels had over them. Still, Lyra was powerful and really the only Combat Oracle the CATTs had anyway, so it was no big deal.

"Okay, so now we know we have a window to act! We attack first thing tomorrow! Myself, Mami, Vee, and Darius will all be sitting it out to rest after yesterday. What about the rest of you? Who feels 100% up to this?"

Most of the Hexsquad and adults raised their hands. Amity started to raise hers, but suddenly thought better of it and lowered it again; she wasn't actually at full power again yet. But that did leave the rest of the CATTs, so Luz said; "Okay, then everyone raising there hand here will be going; either on the Distraction Team, the Island Team, or the Pillar Team!"

"The Pillar Team will likely face the most defences. We need Bards; both to bust through barriers and control the battlefield, but also sneak in through the shadows." Raine said; "I volunteer to lead that team, with Katya, Amber, and Derwin backing me up!"

The BATTs cheered; "Heck yeah! We're teaming up with Mops again! It's been too long!" Amber declared happily; "I'll get you all through the Shadow World!"

"And I'll make sure our enemies remember our songs even when they're done!" Derwin grinned, pumping his fist happily.

"And I'll… be there too, I guess? I don't really have a unique Bardic Magic like those guys…" Katya said, her enthusiasm suddenly taking a bit of a hit.

"You're kidding, right Babe?" Steve asked, "You can make your songs carry on the wind for miles! And no offence to Derwin or Amber, but you're totally the best bard of the BATTs! You make a tambourine sound as impressive as a whole orchestra!"

The words of her supportive boyfriend made Katya blush and kiss his cheek; "Oh fine then, you big sweet talker! Maybe I am pretty good. Not sure if carrying my songs on the wind is great for a stealth mission, but I'll take it."

Severin raised his hand; "I'd like to go too. When it comes to busting down barriers, I'm still the best of the Bards. Besides, it's been too long since I was out in the thick of things."

Luz smiled and jotted this all down on a piece of paper, complete with little chibi doodles of each person's face; "Okay! The Pillar Team will be Raine, Severin, and the three BATTs! Now we already have King for the Island Team, and I'm guessing Mason will be going along too…"

King and Mason happily nodded, especially her bouncy little brother, making Luz smile as she continued; "… but who else? If this is a quiet infiltration and sabotage, we probably shouldn't send in more than five members total? So who would be the remaining three?"

Matt raised his hand immediately, which Luz had expected so she immediately added him to the list; "Got the Hexsquad's own Construction Expert going along! Nice!"

Matt grinned and puffed out his chest; "I've got some new gear I want to try out too! Besides, if I want to unlock my fusion, I've gotta go on a bunch of adventures with Pebbles! Right little buddy?" he asked, looking to Pebbles on his shoulder. The Palisman responded by puffing his chest out too and mimicking Matt's flexing, which was an adorable sight.

Steve immediately began bawling with pride and love for his little bro and former Palisman, then looked to Luz and said; "Steve wants in on this too! Katya is going to the tower, so I want to go with Matt to the Island!"

Luz smiled; "Of course! I'll put you down for the Island Team!"

"Aw yeah, Brotherly Adventures for Steve!" Steve grinned, looking supremely proud of himself. Matt looked happy about it too, and the brothers exchanged a high five.

"That leaves one spot for the Island Team! Any takers?" Luz asked.

Luna was tempted, but she still felt pretty rusty from her time as a brainwashed Overseer. Eber also thought about it, but decided that she'd rather go on the Distraction Mission so she could actually fight and not need to worry about stealth; after all, after months under the Divider's control, Eber felt like she could really do with a blood-pumping battle! That was when Lilith raised her hand.

"It's been a while since I've gotten to work with Steve, and having an Anti-Magic user could be useful. I'd like to volunteer for the island mission." Lilith smiled.

Steve cheered and threw an arm around her shoulder; "Heck yeah! All hail Lulu!" The others laughed at his usual exuberance, and Luz wrote Lilith's name down.

"Awesome! So the Island Team will be Mason, King, Matt, Steve, and Tia Lily! Everyone else who wants to be a part of this mission will join the Distraction Team! I'll leave you guys to go out and build your own teams and pick your own targets, just talk to Mason, Darius, and Mom about good spots in the area to go for!" Luz smiled, finishing up the meeting.

There was a chorus of people yelling their acknowledgements or saying they'd see each other later as they began to file out of the room again, leaving only the Noceda-Clawthorne family and Amity. Darius briefly stopped to say that he and Alador were planning a nice family dinner at the Blight and Deamonne Home with the entire extended family and Hexsquad to celebrate Lyra's new achievement, then headed off with his adopted daughter to spend a bit of time spoiling her alongside Hunter. Luz watched them leave with a big smile, glad that Lyra now had a parent to actually spoil her for doing well.

"Well, it's not a full party like yesterday, but that suits Lyra. She'd like something with family and friends more than a big blow out!" Luz mused as she and her family and girlfriend began to head out for the afternoon.

"I've gotta say, that kid sure has come a long way. All you kids have!" Eda grinned.

"Oh yeah, we've all gotten super strong!" Luz giggled, flexing her arms. Long gone were her old nerdy noodle arms; now she actually had lean muscle, and if she flexed properly, she even had a six pack beneath her shirt. Amity had yet to see it, but she'd felt it and that had made the beautiful cat girl turn redder than Boscha's hair!

"Not just in power. You've matured a lot too." Raine praised; "I wish it wasn't the case, but you've all become a bit more like grown-ups! Enough so that I'm worried you might not be able to go back to acting as kids when this is all over."

"I'm not sure I was ever good at being a kid. Odalia wasn't exactly good at encouraging it." Amity mused; "Though with Mom, I can probably get away with it."

"Oh, I insist! Independence is good, but as soon as this war is over, I'm putting you into a proper "How to be a Kid" crash course!" Lilith chuckled, making Amity blush and lean into her as they walked.

Everyone smiled at the little display, while Eda couldn't help but tease and say; "I'm guessing you'll get me to teach that course, since you were a little grown-up even as a kid!"

"Well you would be the expert on childishness, Edalyn." Lilith teased right back; "And I think we've already established that I was somewhat forced to grow up fast, given Mother's attitude at the time."

Eda winced; "Right… Sorry for bringing that up."

Lilith smiled and waved her off; "Oh it's fine, I'm long since over it. Mom and I get along great now, and I can't wait to finally tell her that I've adopted Amity. She's been waiting eagerly for "My little Kitten" to become her Granddaughter!" Lilith chuckled. "Besides, I did curse you Eda; I think you've earned a few jabs at me."

"Eh, no point. You had Belos' bad advice in your ears. Besides, for all the trouble it was at first, I can't really imagine life without the ol' beastie any more! Call it Stockholm Syndrome or whatever that human thing was, but I'm fond of her now!" Eda grinned, preening as the Owl Beast made affectionate noises in her head and rubbed up against her soul.

"Wouldn't it be the Owl Beast who has Stockholm Syndrome, since she's the prisoner?" Raine asked cheekily. Eda pouted, but they pre-emptively shut up her retort with a kiss. "But whatever, I actually agree with you. My part of the curse is different, but it helped me come to terms with myself! I feel a lot more confident and happy now." Raine said, a spring in their step.

Lilith and Eda agreed heartily, and Luz couldn't help but beam; "I'm so glad for all of you! You seem so much happier now than when I first met you! In fact, I can sense Tia Lily and Titi Raine's magic slowly coming back, even without me blessing them!"

"They must have gotten the curse under control. I figure either I'm too far gone or the Owl Beast's presence means I don't get that benefit, but meh; who cares!" Eda cackled; "And you're doing a lot better too, Owlet! I mean, you're actually volunteering to skip a mission for the first time ever!"

Luz chuckled nervously; "I'm still a little nervous about that. But a day of rest isn't enough any more with how much power I'm throwing around. I haven't had more than one day off at a time since after Cartilia! Coming home from the Knee and the following rest day before we retook Digale was the last true break I had that lasted more than a day! Even the two days between retaking Digale and the fight in Manubrium was full of work to set up the island again and get my halo back!"

Her family and girlfriend immediately approved; Luz had been getting progressively worn down over the last several adventures! Stopping Titan Hooty from destroying Digale Island, fighting Raine in Manubrium, fighting Arboriel and then keeping Dragon Terra contained, fighting the Divider and Huntsman on Digale whilst getting everyone to safety, and then fighting Vitimir's mutated Sephiroth form, all with barely a day between them at MOST really had tested Luz's power! It spoke volumes of her will and determination, and her new Seraphim reserves, that she was even able to function after all that!

"Oh yes, I think you have earned a day off! In fact, I think you are long overdue for one of our old Mother-Daughter pampering days!" Camila smiled.

Luz cheered happily, and immediately grabbed Vee and Amity's hands; "Alright! Those days were great! Vee, Amity; you're gonna love them!"

They had once been an excuse for Camila to secretly bless Luz and keep her alive, so they'd not been repeated since she didn't need blessings, but now it was time to bring them back for a more traditional kind of reenergising! Vee was naturally excited, while Amity looked unsure.

"I don't want to intrude…"

Camila scoffed and hugged the girl with one arm; "Nonsense! Your Mom is going to be away on a mission, so I'll take care of you for a day! You can kick back and relax with your future Mothers-in-law!"

Eda cackled louder; "HA! My niece AND my daughter-in-law! This adoption stuff is turning our Family Tree into a Family Forest!"

"Tell me about it! Poor Percival the Robin Palisman is still trying to keep track of it all! I keep dreading the day he gives up and decides to just peck my brain whenever I get a new relative!" Luz giggled, as the Robin Palisman Soul within her just tweeted in agreement (albeit jokingly).

"So… what will we do for the day tomorrow? Lounge on the beach? A Spa Day? Something like that?" Vee asked.

"Not sure. Hey Boots, ever had a Spa Day before?" Eda asked.

"I've been to one, but it was with Odalia. She mostly just had me attend to her and her business partners and fellow nobles. I was more a maid than her daughter at the time…" Amity grumbled.

Lilith began silently counting to ten to stop herself going out and mangling a corpse, while Eda and Camila tutted and Luz swept Amity into a Princess Carry; "Okay, then the decision is made! We are getting pampered! We've worked hard and deserve the break!"

"We can't really ask the CATTs to do this for us, so it'll be kind of DIY, but I'll make sure it's extremely fun and relaxing." Camila promised. Luz had been too little for the Spas around Gravesfield, so they'd done their own home-style thing instead. It was bound to be fun with all of them together!

Even Samael, who'd been pretty quiet today (he was trying to think up a gift for King's Birthday) had asked if he could join in, which he'd naturally been allowed. Luz had then tried to coax King into joining them too, but he was determined to go on the mission and since his Tia Lily was going along, as well as Mason, Steve, and Matt, Luz didn't really have an argument to discourage him, especially since she didn't want to repeat the issue with Vee. King was determined to do this, so Luz would sit back and let him… though she wished her horrible feeling about it would go away. Who knows; maybe if she wasn't there, her terrible luck wouldn't strike and the plan would go off without a hitch?

Luz really hoped that was the case…

[Meanwhile]

While the Noceda-Clawthorne family, the Blight-Deamonne family, and the rest of the Hexsquad were spending their afternoon and evening celebrating Lyra's massive breakthrough, others in the CATTs were taking care of their own business and preparing their teams for the next day's mission. To this end, Steve, the BATTs, and Severin had sat down together with Mason for a bit of a drink and chat, as well as to come up with some ideas and strategies for combination moves and attacks. The Angels were strong even without the Divider behind them, so they wanted to be as prepared as possible to deal with their threats. They came up with a few ideas, especially the BATTs who were used to working together, but as the night grew late, Severin and Mason headed off to bed, not wanting to be drunk for the next morning's mission. Being younger, Steve and the BATTs had lingered for a while longer, though only Amber and Katya did any real drinking, since Derwin was responsible for his sister and Steve for Katya. When they too decided to hit the hay shortly before midnight, Steve and a tipsy Katya decided to take a walk along the beach outside the city, so the sea air could help sober Katya up a bit.

The two held hands as they slowly walked along the sandy path, keeping just out of reach of the boiling tides, and Katya happily sang whatever song came to her mind, serenading Steve as he chuckled and kissed her after each song.

"Y'know Steve…" Katya began, her singing coming to an end as she felt a little more sober; "...you are a really good guy!"

Steve chuckled; "Steve thanks you!" before kissing her cheek yet again.

"Nah but like, for real though. You are a really, really good guy. You're so sweet and gentle and loving, but you're also strong! You're a great big brother and if I do say so myself, you are an awesome boyfriend." Katya grinned, a light blush on her cheek as she captured him in a full on kiss.

"I definitely do my best. I've made my mistakes too; Pebbles being one of them. But I like to think I learned from them! And you're amazing too, Katya. You're the best girlfriend a guy could ask for; talented, loving, caring towards others, passionate… you're the full package!" Steve replied.

"E-Even with my weird fanfics?" Katya asked shyly.

"Hey, we all love those weird fanfics! Literally! Do you know how much money we raised for the CATTs by selling your newest chapters! Last time we had to do three reprints to cover demand! When Potato served his ex, Corn, up to that Rhubarb that she cheated with as a plate of cornbread, I'm pretty sure you caused a small riot! Luz says she still can't eat cornbread any more after reading it!" Steve chuckled, remembering the little Angel's face growing green as she read, but being unable to put it down anyway.

Katya beamed; "I guess you're right! I still don't know what Cornbread actually is though; I'm not sure my interpretation of Corn having her kernels ripped out and replaced by loaves of Bread was the right one… But the shock extra death of Rhubarb's new lover, Bread, definitely moved copies!"

"Poor Bread, taken before her time…" Steve sniffled at the memory, before the two lovers began to giggle childishly.

"But seriously Katya… I love you. You are just… you're perfect in my eyes. It's like, I know you have flaws like any other person, but my mind just skips over them whenever I try to think about it. You're the woman I want to be with for the rest of my life!" Steve said earnestly, gently holding Katya's hands as he looked her in the eyes lovingly.

Katya blushed a darker red and mumbled; "Dummy! Don't say stuff like that, especially before a big mission! Don't you know how many death flags you just raised!? If destiny was a real thing, words like that would be like daring it to mess with us!"

Steve looked bewildered, then laughed uproariously; "Don't be silly, my Kitty-Kat! Steve ain't gonna die! He's gonna live a long full life, with you by his side! I've even got contingencies in place if I might die!"

"No! More death flags! Shut your adorable mouth before I shut it for you!" Katya cried, half serious (due to her tipsy state) and half joking.

"Oh yeah? How you gonna shut the mouth of the great Steve?" the man asked daringly.

As he'd expected and hoped, Katya shut him up with a big kiss… which lasted for as long as the two of them had breathe. After coming up for air and repeating the process a few times, Katya was almost asleep, so Steve carefully picked her up and took her back to their shared apartment. The two of them moving in together had caused a bit of a stir from Steve's Dad and the other BATTs, but they were adults and trusted, so it hadn't been too much of a fuss… heck, his Dad had been more happy for him than anything, though also a little worried about how Matt would feel without his big bro in the house. It turned out that was an unfounded fear; Steve's little brother had done a lot of growing up and was a lot more sure of himself, so even though he still looked up to his big brother, the boy had other friends too now.

Getting into the apartment, Steve gently placed Katya on the bed and went to grab a blanket from the closet so he could crash on the couch, but Katya caught his hand before he could get far.

"No… stay here with me tonight. I want you with me…" Katya mumbled a little.

Steve shook his head; "No Babe, you're still a little drunk. It wouldn't be fair on you, or right morally."

"Don't want that." Katya said sleepily; "Just want you. For cuddles."

Steve ummed and ahhed for a bit, before ultimately agreeing. When Katya was in a cuddles mode, that was all that happened and there was no consent issues with drunken cuddling, so Steve nodded and gently lay down beside his girlfriend and let her cuddle into his back. She was smaller than him, but always liked to be the big spoon; being surrounded by someone bigger and stronger when she first woke up would always freak her out due to bad memories, but she loved to be cuddling such a person herself. The two lay like that for a bit, and Steve was just beginning to drift off when Katya's soft voice spoke up from behind him. Her face had been pressed between his shoulders so her words were a bit muffled, but Steve was still sure to listen carefully.

"Steve…? I really love you too, you know?"

"I know, babe." Steve smiled, putting a hand on top of hers as they snaked around his midriff and held him tight.

"You're not gonna die, okay? Promise me." she said, even more softly.

"I promise, Katya. Until I'm an old man and you're an old lady, I won't die. You don't need to be scared." Steve assured her.

Katya sniffled; "I AM scared… you're so kind, Steve. I'm scared you'll die to protect someone… or worse, you'll die for me… I don't want that. I don't want you to disappear…"

"I'm not gonna disappear." Steve assured her, touched by her feelings.

"You promise? Promise you won't go anywhere I can't follow you."

Steve took one of Katya's hands and pressed the back of it to his lips, then said; "I promise. I'll be with you for as long as you want me to be, Katya."

He received a contented sound in response, followed by silence as Katya's breathing slowly quieted down as she succumbed to sleep. Steve waited a bit until she was deep in slumber, then slowly slipped out of her arms so he could change into his Pajamas. As he did so, Katya's Beetle Palisman Rumba came and landed on his head, buzzing a little to make him smile, before going to land on Katya's legs, where the little fellow curled up almost like a faithful dog.

"Thanks, Rumba." Steve whispered, finishing getting changed and petting the Palisman's shell. Now more comfy, he slipped back into Katya's arms after giving her a kiss on the cheek. He really did love the woman; their flirtations had always felt so natural to him, while he'd never been good at taking similar kinds of flirting from other people. She was also the only person he'd ever felt a strong attraction to, besides a small crush on Lilith, but Steve didn't think that countered! Everyone into women had a crush on one of the Clawthorne Sisters at one point or another! There was a reason Eda had so many ex-boyfriends (and ex-girlfriends too)!

"I don't know what a guy like me is doing in all this, fighting Angels and Godly Beings. My own little bro has surpassed me even if he doesn't realise it. But like it or not, for the isles, my family, good ol' Lulu, the Owlet Girl, and most of all; you Katya… for you, I will do whatever it takes to fight for you and go the distance! Steve may just be a normal Witch, but he's got spirit! And one heck of an ace up my sleeve…" he glanced over to his bedside table, were a certain scroll lay hidden. He wasn't really supposed to have it, but as he'd given a scroll to Matt, Luz, and Gus back before the Looking Glass Graveyard misadventure, Steve felt he was kind of entitled to borrow it for a bit. He knew Luz would forgive him for it, and the scroll didn't actually belong to her anyway if he was being technical, so he was sure it'd be fine.

Especially since Steve was certain it would be the key between life and death, victory and defeat, at least once. Still though, Steve really hoped he never had to use the magic sealed inside that scroll.

[The Next Day]

It was a very well rested Steve who assembled with the rest of the Island Team at the docks the next day, alongside the Pillar Team. Luz had already sent the Distraction Teams through the Portal Gate and back to the Boiling Isles, where they would soon be beginning their various assaults around the isles. However, thanks to the hard work of Alador, Darius, Edric, Jerbo, and Matt, as well as the assistance of Luna and the Alembics, a special surprise awaited Mason at the docks; a surprise that would be very useful to the two teams that would be infiltrating the Tail of Orion.

Upon arriving at the docks, Mason was surprised to find Luna and Alador holding a pair of small brass orbs with purple gems on the front and pipes of glowing pink liquid flowing from the gem to the contents of the orbs.

"What have you got there, Ma? Somethin' to help us keep the land folk from boilin' or drownin' I reckon." Mason smiled warmly, still so happy to have his Ma back again, especially since she seemed to really like Hettie!

Luna grinned; "Indeed! We have a bit of a surprise for you! In fact, a choice of surprises!"

Matt stepped up between Alador and Luna; "I know you're pretty bummed about losing your ship, Ol' Bessie, back in the fall of Digale Island. It's even more upsetting since she'd have been the ideal vehicle to get us into the Tail today! But thankfully, Alador, Edric, and Jerbo were working on a new design together while the rest of us were out dealing with the Ash Moth or Vitimir."

Alador tossed one of the orbs into the air and caught it again, grinning; "We made the full designs, then with a combination of mine and Darius' genius with Abomination technology, Jerbo's burgeoning scientific mind, Edric's animal and biology know-how, and Matt's MTH-Series experience and Integration Magic, we were able to build TWO of our prototype submersible designs in just a day!" he held up the brass orb.

Every other member of the Island and Pillar Teams all gaped in shock, as Mason exclaimed; "You're tellin' me you fit a new submersible in one o' them newfangled doodads!?"

"Yep! A combination of Abomination Tech and Miss Luna and the Alembics work on improved Shrinking Solutions! We fit these things with miniature Alchemy Engines that continuously synthesise a Shrinking Solution that works on inorganic matter!" Jerbo chimed in happily; "Barcus would understand better than me, but the solution doesn't normally work on inorganic matter because it can only be incorporated into someone or something's cells, and that it would only work on inorganic stuff for an instant before wearing off because they have no cells to infuse. So the Alembics and Miss Luna found an alchemical formula with Boscha's help that continuously applies the potion, then breaks down the inert potion and remakes it in an active state, keeping the affected ships shrunken! We also figured out how to incorporate the Alchemy Engine into the Abomaton Tech we used!"

Boscha wasn't present, having gone with the Diversion Teams, but her parents were so Morel added; "Put simply, so long as the potion is active and submerging the vessel, said vessel will stay shrunken down. The Alchemy Engine just keeps the potion active. The battery that powers the engine is made from Luz's blood and Seraphim power, so it has a battery life of three months! And it only drains the battery while shrunken!"

Mason barely understood, and chuckled loudly; "If ya'll are tryin' to make a sale, you've already done so! Quit jerkin' my chain and show me these beauties you made!"

Matt looked to Luna and Alador, then grinned and nodded. They grinned in return too and then pressed the orbs' purple stones, which began to flash. They tossed the orbs into the water just off the dock, each picking a different side, and Mason saw the pink tubes turn grey as they were emptied of liquid right before hitting the water and sinking beneath the waves. There was then a bright pink flash from beneath the water before two semi-familiar shapes began to slowly grow and form, like embryos inside an egg growing into a full sized creature. Finally, the two creations broke the surface and revealed themselves.

They appeared to be mechs in a similar style to the Abomatons and Matt's own MTH-Series creations, being animal-based vehicles with a large amount of brass making up their solid parts and Abomination or Homunculus Slime making up the flexible parts. The one Alador had released was based on some kind of Frog; it had a bathysphere like form for its torso, a small frog head cockpit that looked big enough for only the pilot, and two powerful legs for jumping and swimming, as well as two small legs for balance and to serve as landing gears. The one Luna had released was based on a Newt, and had a longer, more cylindrical body akin to a subway car, with a slightly larger head than the frog, a long slimy tail, and four small legs. Both were clearly designed to fold up their brass parts into as compact a form as possible, while the slime likely retreated into some container within it when they were stored again.

"Allow me to introduce our "Capsule Collaboration" series!" Matt grinned broadly; "These are the C.C. Aquatic Toad Tank and the C.C. Aquatic Newt Carrier!"

"ROBOTS!" King cheered at the top of his lungs as he bounced around excitedly; "I want one!"

"That might be a little tough for you." Edric chuckled nervously; "They're designed to be piloted by someone taller… and also with a Palisman to serve as their Co-Pilot."

King gasped, then growled; "No fair! Discrimination! I'm telling Luz!"

"King, think of it like when you tried to drive Camila's car back in the Human Realm. The Palismen are like the license you need to make it work, and the bond between you and the Palisman is what lets you have fine control over these things." Matt told him; "They're not easy to pilot on their own. Turns out giant robots are tough without magic, which is why Humans don't have real ones yet."

King pouted; "I wanna Palisman and a Giant Robot… Think I can convince Mom to get me one for my birthday tomorrow?"

The others chuckled, and Raine patted the top of his skull and said; "Probably not, but knowing your Mom, I wouldn't want to bet on it either way. Maybe you can talk to her tonight after the mission."

King pouted a little more, but the reminder of the mission got him focused once again. Everyone turned back to Matt, who turned back to Mason; "Okay, so these two models are both compact enough to fit inside the tail bone tunnels you told us about, and are fully amphibious, so they can travel safely in the Boiling Sea, so long as you don't take them into one of the deeper trenches where it's even hotter. The Toad Tank is sturdier and better if you value defence and bursts of erratic speed, or the ability to move at high speed on land too with its legs. Fast and tough, but a bumpy ride that ain't for the faint of heart. The Newt Carrier is a smoother ride and faster in the water, but pretty slow on land and nowhere near as durable. It's also better for stealth though since it doesn't kick up the water as much. So Mason, take your pick! Which one do you want for your team and which do you want for the Pillar Team? You can keep whichever one you pick." Matt explained, before hastily adding; "Sorry but there are no weapons. We haven't figured out how to get the Shrinking Solution to work safely with any of my weapon systems."

Mason smiled broadly as he stroked his bead and examined the two models. They were both very cool and very sleek looking, and he honestly wished he could take both, but he didn't want to be greedy. After a few moments of consideration, he made his decision; "Alright! I'll take the Newt! I don't plan to use it in battle, so its better to leave the Toad Tank to the team going to the more dangerous location!"

Steve and Lilith both looked relieved, while Matt and King looked a little disappointed, hoping for the more fun ride in the Toad Tank. For the same reasons, Severin, Amber, and Katya looked excited to be getting to ride in the tank, while Derwin and Raine looked like they'd have preferred the smooth ride.

With that, Matt produced two small tablets of clay, then said to Mason; "Can you summon your Palisman and have them press their interlock onto this tablet? I need to quickly whip up your key and the Interlock for the Newt Carrier. Also, who is gonna pilot the Toad Tank? I need the same thing from them."

Severin immediately volunteered, and he and Mason summoned their Palismen and had them tap their Interlocks into the clay, creating a perfect impression. Matt then treated everyone to just how quick and effective his Integration Magic was.

It began by using illusions to create a hologram blueprint of the keys and interlocks, then Matt pulled out the basic models for both sets of items alongside some brass bars and pink stones that somewhat resembled tiny Abomaton Cores. Matt handed the stones to the Palismen; Carabace and Nodis, and asked them to put them in their mouths so the stones could imprint their magic, then he used his Integration Magic to melt the brass bars into liquid and create a perfect replica of the interlocks for the Palismen. Once that was done, he was left with two little devices that resembled a hybrid of an ignition on a Human Car and the top of a Palisman Staff. He then took back the stones from the Palismen and slotted them in before handing the odd devices to Mason and Severin.

"Okay, your keys should be ready! Get your Palismen to connect to them and if they start to make a soft beeping noise, then they work." Matt said.

Mason and Severin obeyed and sure enough, the beeping sounded as the Palismen locked into place. Matt gave a big grin then briefly took the devices back and removed the ignition section to reveal a pair of small keys that resembled Luz's Portal Key, only with the Interlocks in place of the eyes.

"Okay! When you get inside, there will be a slot in the centre console! Put the key in the slot and the Interlock will fold down, then your Palisman can bond with it! The mechs won't activate without your magic and your Palisman in place, so no hijacking!" Matt explained.

Mason and Severin were very impressed; "That's ingenious! How did you come up with this!?" Severin asked.

"The Human Realm! They all have these four wielded mechs called Cars, and they all have special keys that turn them on! I just added the Palismen." Matt explained. "I also used a bit of the enchantments in Luz's Portal Key as a base for the enchantments on those keys, but Alador and Darius did most of the work there."

Alador smiled; "My fellow Inventor here is being modest since the enchantments were his idea; he just needed help actually doing the enchanting. The Interlocks on the top of the key also work like buttons and dials. See the red marking?"

The men looked at the keys and sure enough, saw a red mark on side of the protruding interlock. "That shows you what the button will do when you press the interlock. Twisted so it is facing away from the key and it'll activate or deactivate the Alchemy Engine. Try it out." Alador said.

The men did as they were told and sure enough, the two mechs began to shrink as their slime components retreated into the brass body that began to fold up. A second later and two hand-sized orbs were bobbing in the water.

"Pressing it again will turn off the Alchemy Engine and make them grow again. Now turn the dial to either side and press the button." Alador instructed.

Mason did so immediately and the ball actually disappeared and returned to Mason's hand in a flash warp similar to Hunter's. Severin gasped and followed suit, making everyone look on in amazement.

"That one is a short range teleport, based on a Glyph Combo made by King." Alador nodded to the little Titan, who was getting more and more excited by the minute. "It IS sadly short range though, so it'll only warp a maximum of 15 feet and it DOES need at least a somewhat unobstructed path."

Jerbo chimed in; "Yeah, I have a theory of using Titan Blood and Titan Bile to give it true limitless teleportation, but the amount needed to warp the Mech Capsules makes it a little tough at the moment. It might also need Palistrom Wood like Luz's Portal Key, so we're not testing that yet."

"This is so cool!" Severin grinned, holding the Capsule; "So if the up position toggles the shrinking feature and the side positions summon it, what does the down position do?"

"It locks down the Mech." Matt answered; "It means pressing the button on the Capsule won't cause it to grow, and no one will be able to open or get inside the mech when it is active. It also provides a barrier to protect the mech. Be careful with this thing though; you can't shrink it if there is someone inside; I didn't want it to crush anyone by accident."

Severin immediately tested it and noted that the purple gem on his capsule turned red, and wouldn't do anything if he pressed it. He then tossed the capsule into the sea, unlocked it, then made it grow back into the Toad Tank, fully testing the key and its full range of abilities.

"Okay, this thing is REALLY freaking cool!" Severin said giddily; "How much would one of these normally cost?"

"These models? Well with our time and materials factored it, about 100,000 snails?" Alador answered, "But once we refine the manufacturing process, we can probably mass-produce them for maybe 2000 snails?"

Severin's eyes sparkled; "Think you could make a turtle themed one for me and a Cricket themed one for my Symphony? Skara would love her own flying Cricket Mech for her 16th Birthday!"

Matt grinned and said; "I've got designs based on the Hexsquad's Palismen already. We'll talk about it later, after the mission. But anyway, you guys like your surprise?"

Mason nodded enthusiastically; "I do! I'll miss Ol' Bessie, but maybe I can name this fella in honour of her. Maybe Ol' Nessie? Since she's a Newt?"

Matt burst into giggles alongside King, but refused to explain why they were laughing when everyone looked at them oddly. Either way, with the gifts handed out and the teams ready for the mission, the two teams put their Capsule Mechs away and then headed to the Portal Gate, passing through it to reach Bonesborough. King briefly stopped to hug his parents and promise Cassiopeia she wouldn't be trapped in a crystal heart again, though Cassiopeia wasn't too concerned and trusted her son to do what he had to!

After this, they emerged from the gate near Bonesborough and immediately made their way to the closest cliff, where they flew down with their Palismen (Steve hitched a ride with Matt and King flew down on his own) and then watched as Severin and Mason released their Capsule Mechs into the water, had their teams load into them, then got in themselves and took their seats in their cockpits to begin piloting the mechs. They hit the first hurdle when they remembered neither actually knew how to pilot the darned things, but that was resolved quickly after a moment of looking around, during which they discovered that the seat in the cockpit was modelled like a saddle on a Palisman Staff, with an array of controls in front of them that perfectly resembled an Airship's controls. Not only that, but a DCM was build straight into the controls, so Matt was able to use his own DCM (which Luz allowed him to take from those given by the Angels) to speak to them both and walk them through it. It was basically the same as manning a normal airship, but their Palisman helped out and they steered the mech as if they were steering a staff. Thanks to this, they were able to get the mechs diving under the water, whereupon Mason led the way in his Newt Carrier and Severin followed in the Toad Tank.

It was a fairly long trip beneath the waves, as they had to travel all the way down from the Titan's elbow to his ankle, where the city of Talus still stood, then around it into the Bay of Laprest, which was the name of the large stretch of the Boiling Sea that existed between the Titan's legs. Cocytux Island was smack in the middle of this bay, and both teams briefly stopped to take a look using periscopes that had been enchanted with illusion glyphs so they remained hidden. From the outside Cocytux Island looked almost like one of the Titan's fingers, only made up of many small layers of vertebrae that gave it a look akin to the human legends of the Tower of Babel. As this was the very end of the Titan's tail, each layer or vertebrae was a bit smaller than the one it was resting on, creating an almost layer cake effect. From the outside, not much could be seen; it was just a mini-mountain of bone, but there were numerous mine-like entrances all over it, mine carts zipping around the outside on enchanted tracks, an Airship Port near the top of the island, and a traditional port near the base.

"Only 60% of the island is visible from the surface. We sealed about 2 more large vertebrae off and made them water tight, so there is a pretty big underground section. When we sneak in, we'll be coming up through that part." Mason explained to his team.

"It must have been hard to seal off two vertebrae and then drain out the water!" Matt commented.

"It was no walk in the park, especially since I had to hide my heritage back then to trick Belos." Mason replied. "But we did what we had to."

"Cocytux Island IS one of the biggest feats of engineering since the dawn of Belos' empire." Lilith said; "But putting that aside; are you okay King?"

The little Titan had been quiet due to being deep in thought about the Red Galdorstone, so when he heard his name, he just went; "Huh?"

"Is talking about this sort of thing hard for you? After all this IS your Dad. and we're talking about how we use his body." Lilith pointed out.

The rest of the Island Team suddenly looked guilty as they realised what they were doing, and that they had all (especially Mason and Matt) taken to using parts of Orion's body in their inventions. It may only be small slithers of bone (for the most part), but it was still potentially upsetting for King.

Thankfully for them though, King just shrugged; "This is normal for Titans. We grow big and when we die, people live on us. It's kind of cool actually; even though my Dad is long dead, like a million people rely on him to live their lives! I don't want to die for like, a billion years, but the idea that one day people will use me to live and start families on and junk… it's kinda nice, you know?"

Steve, Matt, and Mason all smiled at the young Titan, while Lilith pet his head; "You've grown up a lot too! To think that less than a year ago, I saw you as just my sister's garbage eating pet!"

King snorted; "And you were some lackey of Belos, while Steve was YOUR lackey, Matt was a bullied jerk, and Mason was on the bad guy's side, or at least pretending to be. This year has been crazy! And I only turn 9 tomorrow! It feels like I should be turning 13 at least!"

"Don't be in a rush to grow up now, ya hear? Once you're grown, the world only gets colder. We shield you young'uns from a lot… too much if ya ask me!" Mason told him.

"It doesn't have to though!" King replied; "Me and Luz and Samael, and Vee now too, are all gonna make the world better! Like a ton better! I still want to be "King" after all!"

It was a childish proclamation, but it was also earnest and rather cute, so the rest of the team smiled along; especially Lilith. The world as she saw it had already changed a lot thanks to Luz and King, so she had no doubt he was right!

Soon after this, they lowered the periscopes and dove deeper, both Mechs sinking to the sea floor where they observed the tail of Orion sink into the sand. A good distance to the north, they saw the semi-buried pelvis bone of Orion, where the other end of the Titan's Tail Bone connected and the Tail Bone Union Pillar was. Upon finding it, Mason piloted the Newt Carrier over to a well hidden trench where a lot of air bubbles were emerging. Most people would assume it was a volcanic vent and no one on the surface would notice it amongst the boiling sea, but it was actually caused by the Titan's Tail Bone being broken open and letting out oxygen from his bone marrow.

"Okay, this is the way into the tail bone. The inside is a hollow tunnel, but it's all submerged. These mechs will get us most o' the way through, but we'll wanna leave them before reaching the exit o' the water. That way no one peekin' into the pools on either end of the tunnel will spot 'em." Mason said.

Speaking over the DCM from the Toad Tank, Raine said; "We've got some Potions to help us tank the Boiling Sea for a bit. We'll split up here; our team will take the north route through the tunnel and come out near the Union Pillar, while your team will take the south path to the Island. We won't be in contact again until we evacuate, but if you're having trouble, hold out until we finish our job and save the Divided. That'll give you some reinforcements!"

"We'll be fine. I know how the Construction Coven operates, so I can sneak us in. We might be done before you are!" Mason grinned; "But good luck!"

The two teams exchanged yells of good luck to one another over the DCM, and Katya and Steve exchanged messages of love too, before the connection was finally cut and the two teams prepared to enter the tunnel. They were closer to the island, so Mason stood aside and let Team Raine and the Toad Tank go into the tunnel first, and then as soon as they were on their way, he piloted the Newt Carrier in and began the long, dark trip through Orion's tail bones and towards the Island. They were keeping the mech's lights off so they wouldn't be spotted by anyone hanging around the exit of the tunnel (since it was a public area of the island) and thus had to rely on the sonar and Mason's own eyes, which were thankfully adapted to the dark of the deep sea. It was pitch black inside the mech though, and King found himself a little scared as he snuggled into Lilith's lap for comfort. She made no comment on this so as not to embarrass him though.

Finally, they began to get a bit of light from the end of the tunnel, and Mason brought the entire mech to a stop.

"Okay, I think we're at the end. Up ahead is the Sauna Chamber." Mason said quietly, just in case the sound carried.

"The Sauna Chamber?" King blinked.

"It's just a massive cavern at the base o' the island base." Mason explained; "This passage will soon split into dozens of little pools that cover the ground o' a huge cavern, and fills it with steam in some places and hot air in others. My guys and I used it as a place to soothe our muscles after a hard day o' work. A lot o' my people take their breaks here. Incense is also boiled in some o' the pools for calmin' and relaxin' scents. If we pick the right pool to climb out of, no one will see us through the mist and steam, especially with Matt and Lilith providin' illusion cover! Then it's just a quick dash to a changin' room. We can find people on break to knock out and replace. The Changin' Rooms also have stairs leadin' up to the next floor. Take 'em up and ya'll will see a water fountain. That's where we'll meet up. Oh, and be sure to take the small metal and glass tags everyone wears. That's your work assignment; you'll need it to blend in."

The rest of the team nodded, and Matt, Steve, and Lilith all reached into their pockets and pulled out Heat Resisting Potions, chugging them down in a few mouthfuls, giving them the ability to survive and swim in the Boiling Sea without being hurt. They were deep enough that the heat was higher than average, so it would still be like swimming in an uncomfortably hot bath, but they aimed to be in and out as fast as possible. As for King; he'd matured enough that his Titan Hide now nullified all but the deepest parts of the Boiling Sea, and could resist the rain effortlessly, so he only needed a potion to let him briefly breathe underwater. Once the team was potioned up, Mason gave them slightly more specific instructions; the men were to follow him to the male changing room so they could pick off and replace a trio of workmen of similar size and weight, while Lilith was trusted to take care of herself, with King sticking with her so she wasn't totally alone.

Disembarking, the Island Team left the Newt Carrier and entered the water, with Mason returning the mech to its capsule form and storing it inside his beard, which was enchanted with Eda's Hair Storage Spell. The team then swam to the pool that emerged into the steamiest part of the underground sauna, and emerged under the cover of Matt's illusion spell, which made them look like thick wisps of mist, blending in perfectly well with the steam wafting around this part of the room.

The Sauna Cavern they arrived into was huge (about three times the size of the Conformatorium courtyard) and actually split into four segments; the steam area had incense added to small heat vents made from Bone Marrow, which was what caused all the steam, and had a lot of wooden benches and panelling on the walls and floor to hide the cavernous nature of the room. The second area was a more traditional sauna area, with special grates placed over the pools to keep people from falling in (and explaining why Mason hadn't wanted to emerge from there) and tiled floors like those at a swimming pool. Different parts of the sauna and steam areas were also roped off with signs saying that only certain types of Demons were allowed into them, as they were either hotter or colder to accommodate the preferences of different Demon species. The third area was actually some kind of forge, where the heat of the hottest vents and pools were used to melt down metal and shape it into something new, though this section was much more heavily guarded and roped off since it was a work area. Lastly, the fourth and final area was actually a traditional swimming pool style affair, with the largest pool of water and several smaller ones to serve as hot tubs, for those few species that could actually survive and enjoy the Boiling Sea. Matt assumed Mason himself had used these a lot when he'd been in charge of the island. He, Steve, and Lilith were all impressed with how far Mason had gone to look after his Coven too; Lilith especially now understood why he was usually voted the most popular Coven Head by his own Coven, having a 98% approval rating, while none of the others surpassed 95%.

Whilst hidden as mist, the team briefly split up as they headed towards the changing rooms, which were built into a series of large pillars that supported the hollowed out vertebrae that became the Sauna Cavern. There were changing rooms for men, women, non-binary citizens, and even non-gendered citizens, and all were equally nice and well-kept. Lilith (with King hidden on her back) snuck into the ladies changing room and found a woman who was just about finished changing back into her work clothes after a relaxing soak, so she subtly walked up behind her, then put a hand over her mouth and nose to muffle her screams as King jabbed the hapless woman with a shocking glyph note, which knocked her unconscious. Lilith then scanned her with a concealment stone to copy her appearance, disguised King as her hard hat so she could carry him on her head, then subtly stuffed the unconscious woman into a large basket of used towels so she wouldn't be found any time soon. An extra illusion cast on the woman to make her invisible too helped ensure this, and a satisfied and disguised Lilith confidently walked out of the changing room and into the stairwell that spiralled around the pillar changing room, all while King giggled quietly atop her head.

Exiting from the stairwell, Lilith found herself in a large hall that acted as a kind of entrance hall for the Construction Coven HQ. The entire place was made of polished white bone marble, and one wall of the room was replaced with pillars and an open path to the extensive exterior of the HQ, which was a massive open air quarry in the middle of the island. Lilith and King couldn't see much from the hall besides many tunnels, scaffoldings, and quarrying operations going, all overseen by various high-skilled Construction Witches. Besides this, the Entrance Hall largely just connected to other interior parts and featured a path up to the docks (since they were technically still below sea-level, being on the second lowest vertebrae of the Headquarters). The room was also lined with statues of prior Coven Heads and legendary architects, with Lilith recognising most of the faces, while King only recognised Mason's and a man that looked like Mace Secuna, though was likely his father or grandfather; whichever one had gotten famous.

Finishing their brief look about, Lilith headed over to the decorative water fountain Mason had mentioned earlier, and was surprised to see that it was made from crystal and featured a figure of a female Merrow producing water from her hands. The face was different, but since Mason had designed this place, Lilith was sure this stature was modelled on his mother… and since she'd have been petrified at the time, she suspected Mason had chosen crystal for his sculpting medium, so as not to bring back bad memories. Lilith and King didn't have long to admire it though, as they was soon approached by three unfamiliar men, who gave a short Angelic Salute to show they were Mason, Steve, and Matt in disguise.

They had all impersonated men of similar heights, but Mason was disguised as a red-headed dwarf with a very large nose and an intricately braided beard, Steve was disguised as an Androgynous Illithid Demon (the ones with squid heads), and Matt was actually disguised as Satyr Demon Boy wearing a Hexside Construction Coven Uniform. Lilith's own disguise was simply a young blonde woman with extremely long ear-lobes from some kind of Demon Ancestry, and King was of course disguised as her hard hat, which they were all wearing.

"Matt, how come you're disguised as a student?" Lilith asked softly as they approached.

"Apparently this kid is top of his class in the year below me. In the class I would be in if I hadn't skipped a grade. The best Construction Students from each year group in every school on the Isles is being given the chance to work here on the Divider's big projects. It's like a prize for doing so well in school." Matt answered, fishing through his pockets for the letter he'd taken from his victim before stuffing the kid in a locker (he put a clay lock on the door that was covered in an illusion to look real, but which would decay after Matt left the island or dropped his disguise for more than five minutes, so the kid would be let out. He'd sleep soundly until then).

"Lucky you!" Steve laughed quietly, "So what do we do now? Search around for the Red Galdorstone?"

"Chances are, if it's as big as I reckon it's gotta be, it'll be in the central quarry. That's where the biggest, high priority projects are constructed before they're shipped to the final construction site." Mason explained.

"Wait, you build everything here and then ship it out!?" King gasped.

Mason chuckled; "Sorta. Noble and wealthy places don't like Construction Sites; too many commoners and too much dirt for them soft sorts. So when they want somethin', we build it here in chunks and then transport the chunks to the final destination, stick 'em all together, and get outta there before the rich locals get whiny."

King responded with a scoff of derision; was there anything good about the Isles' nobility? Heck, what made them noble in the first place? Because as far as King could see, they were all either rich, served Belos, or coasting off the achievements of ancestors!

"Getting back on topic…" Lilith said; "What do we do? Just head to the central quarry, find the Red Galdorstone, blow it up, and then run away?"

Mason shook his head; "It won't be that easy. Something that important will be swarming with guards, and probably have a lot of workers building it. We need a distraction so we can plant some form of explosive or get a clean shot at the stone, and we need a way to force an evacuation so the workers on the stone don't get caught up in the destruction. We can also use the evacuation to cover our escape."

Mason then took out the metal and glass tag he'd taken off the man he was now impersonating; the one containing the man's work orders. Looking at it, he smiled and said; "Okay, this guy was supposed to be working on a new Safety Inspection Course over in Site 2-N. Looks like the Divider has finally approved the course I've been pushing Belos to implement for years! But that's perfect. What are your orders?"

Lilith and Steve pulled out their tags too, and Lilith was slated to be working on the "Heroine of Paradise Marble Statue Commission" in Site 3-S. Steve was assigned to be working on "General Refinery" in Site 1-E.

"Okay, this is perfect! The HQ is split into the North, East, West, and South Wings, as well as the Central Quarry. There are also three different levels where work assignments are doled out. Our safety system is designed to keep everything segmented so that if something goes wrong, we only need to evacuate a single segment or level. In order to trigger a full evacuation of Cocytux Island, we need to trigger an evacuation alarm in all four segments AND on all three floors, as well as the Central Quarry." Mason explained.

Matt nodded; "Okay, so I'm guessing Site 2-N is the Second above sea-level vertebrae and the north site of that vertebrae? And 3-S is the third level south site, and 1-E is the first level east site. That still leaves us with the west sites and the Central Quarry."

"And how do we trigger the alarms anyway?" Steve asked.

Mason looked to Matt; "Don't you have a work order tag too?"

Matt shook his head; "No. The only thing the kid had on him was that letter. I'm supposed to report to Foreman Rostone."

"Huh, you haven't been assigned yet." Mason mused, making Lilith do a double take.

"The kid he's impersonating hadn't even been given a work order yet and was already on break!?"

Mason laughed; "Decontamination. All Construction Coven members start their shifts with a trip to the Sauna Room. It promotes health and alertness, and cleans off any contamination that could cause a problem for some of the refineries."

Lilith hummed; "I definitely joined the wrong Coven…"

Mason laughed again, then turned back to Steve; "As for how we trigger the alarms, all the sites have both a Seismic Whisker Fish and a Cream Canary, to track for signs of earthquakes or poison gas. Set one of them off screaming and the whole segment will start evacuating."

"Leave the west side to me." King then said; "I don't need to be babysat by Tia Lily! I can handle myself!"

Lilith looked like she wanted to protest, but she quickly changed her mind and nodded; "Alright, King. Just be careful!"

King gave a little "Weh!" of acknowledgement, then used an Illusion Glyph Note to make himself invisible and make it look like Lilith was still wearing her hard hat. Before he could scurry off, Mason said; "The alarms from other segments can be heard clearly anywhere on the island; I'll be the first one to trigger the alarm, so don't trigger yours until you hear one go off!"

King gave an invisible nod, which Mason obviously didn't see, but Lilith and Steve nodded too and began heading to their own work assignments, where they would blend in until they heard an alarm. That left Mason and Matt, with the former saying; "You're in luck; the Foreman is always in the Central Quarry. I'm gonna hold off on triggering the alarm until we see the Divided turning back to normal, to maximise the chaos and give us the best chance of success. Hold out until then, okay Matt?"

The boy nodded and grinned, revealing a pair of brass and copper bangles he wore on his wrists and ankles; "Don't worry Mason; I'm prepared for anything!"

Mason wasn't sure what kind of newfangled Magi-Tech that Matt had stuffed into those devices, but he was sure it would be impressive. Matt, like the rest of the Hexsquad, was tough after all! The bearded man simply nodded and gave Matt a pat on the back, then headed off to his own assignment, secretly kind of excited to be working on Coven Construction Projects again, and even more so to see what the Divider had made of his safety course idea! Once Mason had headed off, Matt slowly made his way out to the Central Quarry, which was a massive open air section of the facility in the dead centre of the island, with the rest of the construction sites and smaller facilities being built like rings around this central area.

Matt walked out into the morning sunlight and gazed around at the Central Quarry; since it was massive and open, it wasn't split across three floors in the same way as the rest of the Construction HQ, but rather had numerous smaller sites built on platforms attached to stone pillars, and bridges connecting these platforms and pillars. The dead centre of the quarry was where the largest of these sites could be found; taking the form of a huge iron and stone scaffolding shaped like a round based tower. Different important projects were on different floors of this central scaffolding, but Matt could see that the top few floors had been opened up and filled with what appeared to be a huge, stone heart. The heart was made of dull grey stone and Titan Bone, and appeared to have a red glow peeking out from the top… Matt suspected this was the mold being used to cast the Red Galdorstone. It was certainly bigger than the Heart of Orion that he'd seen at the Emperor's Castle, but also far smaller than the Wailing Star or the "fresh" heart of a full grown Titan.

"I wonder how they decided the size for this thing." Matt mused as he wandered around out of people's way. He got a few looks from other Construction Witches (many of whom were Divided), and noted that there were not very many Angels, but quite a few Abomaton Knights (which had been a rare sight recently) and Angelic Knight Golems. That was likely a sign that the distraction team was doing their job well and drawing the Wings of Rani away from the island.

He looked in his pocket at the paper the boy he was impersonating had. It listed the boy's name; "Luke Landswimmer? This guy has a weird name… Come to think of it, isn't Leia in my class also a Landswimmer? I wonder if they're related." Matt mused, nonetheless remembering the name. He didn't think Luke looked much like his classmate, but he'd also heard there was some drama surrounding Leia's Dad, so maybe that was why?

Putting it out of his mind, Matt began looking around for the Foreman, searching for a man in white and gold clothing since Rostone was also supposed to be Overseer of the Union Pillar. He had no luck until another student, an older boy from St. Epiderm who'd been invited under the same scheme, noticed his hapless look and came over.

"Hey Hexy. Looking for the Foreman?" the boy asked, a hint of friendly teasing in his voice.

"Uh, yeah. Know where he is?" Matt asked.

"At the top of the Central Scaffold, working on the Red Heart. Head on up and get a good look! It's pretty cool; we're supposedly building the heart for that new Titan appearing to the west! Don't get your hopes too high though; the Wings of Rani aren't letting any kids work on it. You'll be assigned down here with the rest of us." the boy replied.

Matt took a look around and sure enough, there were about 45 students in total, most of which were kids of all non-Baby Class ages from the three big schools as well as several from smaller schools with decent Construction Tracks. The beginner class kids (equivalent of Elementary School) were being shown how to cast simple refining spells and how to shape loose materials into a desired shape, the intermediate class kids (equivalent of Middle School) were being allowed to help with some of the simple tasks being done in the Central Quarry, and the advanced class kids (equivalent of High School) were actually helping with the work projects of the full Coven Members, flexing their more advanced skills.

The person he was disguised as was in the last year of the Intermediate Class, where Matt would have been if he hadn't skipped a year, so he'd likely end up down here too. Shrugging that off, he thanked the boy and began heading for the nearest set of stairs that led up a nearby pillar, then reached the top and crossed a bridge to the central scaffold, making his way up from there to the very top. Arriving at the top of the central scaffold allowed Matt to look around and see the entire Coven Headquarters, allowing him to see that it was actually build a little bit like a termite hill, with complex tunnels and various alcoves and caves that were turned into rooms for different construction projects. He saw the third floor first, which was being used to construct pieces of what appeared to be the Union Pillars, as well as statues of various heroic figures, with Matt recognising a large statue of Luz (which Steve would be working on) as well as busts of the rest of the Hexsquad. The second floor was being used more for the construction of other facilities like Wings of Rani Bases; likely being built here so they could be erected quickly in the field and without being sabotaged by the CATTs. The first floor was almost entirely refineries and forges, where raw materials were turned into more advanced and complex components that could then be used elsewhere. Several Alchemical Labs had been constructed there too, where the Wings of Rani showed the Coven how to create numerous new materials, like the black marble-like stuff used to make the Union Pillars, or the alchemical gold known as Aurum.

Matt would kill for a set up like this; if he could combine this kind of facility with Alador and Darius' labs, he'd be able to make amazing technology! Maybe he'd even be able to figure out how to make real Zords for the Neo Magi-Rangers! The Hexsquad having colour-coded animal mechs that turned into a giant Angel Megazord would be so cool!

Snapping himself out of his day dream once again, Matt turned to see what was actually on the top of the Scaffold, and was fascinated to find what looked like a hybrid of a soup kitchen, a forge, and a blood donation centre. The centre of the scaffold had a giant stone well that led into the mold for the Red Galdorstone, and which was having sparkling, glowing blood slowly poured into by Construction Witches, while others used long pizza paddle-like objects to stir the contents of the mold and make sure everything forms properly. The north east corner of the scaffold was taken up by people napping after donating blood in the north west corner, while the south west corner had people cooking nutritious food to help the donators recover faster and get their energy up. The final corner, the south east one, was the entrance to the top floor and also where the Foreman was getting everything organised.

Foreman Rostone was hard to miss; he was a tall man of a similar height to Hettie, and an even more muscular build. He was a Witch with no visible Demon features, and had a severe face with short and dark inky blue hair, and a matching goatee with no moustache. His face bore a few scars, and his eyes were yellow with a conspicuous golden ring around them, pointing him out as one of the Divided. He mostly had a blank expression, but occasionally smiled when talking to a fellow Construction Witch or one of the rare Angels who was actually donating some golden blood to the project, and Matt was struck by how odd his smile looked. It didn't look natural on his face at all! His outfit also looked odd on him, as it was the clothing of a labourer; loose pants, work boots, thick hide gloves, a sleeveless shirt, and suspenders to keep his pants up, along with a hard hat, but it was ALL white and gold, as was tradition for the Overseers. It just looked like a perversion; like a rich man cosplaying as a Construction Coven Member whilst showing off their gold and wealth. Matt had felt the same about Mason's old overseer uniform, but Mason had a kind of nobility to the way he carried himself that made it kind of work. On top of all that, there was something distinctly familiar about Rostone, but Matt couldn't quite pin it down.

Matt was caught so off-guard by the outfit that he almost didn't realise the man that Rostone was talking to; it was the Old Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard! The man's hair and beard were as wild and crazy as ever, but the dark bags under his eyes were gone and his robes had been cleaned and repaired, making him look more like the respectable sage he really was. The sight of him also made Matt nervous though, as if anyone could see through his illusory disguise, it would be him! The boy tried not to catch is attention, but one of the Construction Witches waiting a turn to talk to the Foreman spoke up.

"Hey kid, what are you doing up here? None of your lot should be this high up." the man said, causing both the Foreman and the Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard to turn around and look at Matt. "Did you get lost kid? I'll call for your Team Leader to come escort you back to your assignment."

The Construction Witch sent off his Palisman, who took the form of a giant Crane Fly, and Matt hastily made excuses; "N-No, I'm not lost! I'm actually new! I came to get my assignment from the Foreman!"

Foreman Rostone looked at him for a long moment, as did the Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard (whom Matt now noticed was divided), then said; "Oh, you must be the Landswimmer boy, right?"

Rostone's voice was deep, gruff, and lacking warmth or emotion, making Matt flinch a little before nodding. "Yes sir."

"I was made aware you'd be delayed. You came down with the Fire Flu, right? Have the symptoms fully abated? We can't have you sneezing fire on any of the projects." Rostone said.

"No symptoms here, sir." Matt assured him.

Rostone looked him up and down, then grunted and walked over, offering the boy his hand. Thankfully Matt's disguise included gloves, which he was actually wearing, so when he accepted the handshake, he wasn't exposed. "Good. Nice to meet you, boy. You seem like a strong lad if you shrugged off the Fire Flu symptoms completely. I'm Nothor Rostone, Overseer of the Tail Bone and Interim Head Witch of the Construction Coven while Mason is off with those rebel friends of his."

"Nice to meet you too sir. So what is my assignment?" Matt asked.

"Straight to business, eh? I like you, boy. You'll be down with the carving team, making some secondary crystal components for the new Union Pillars the Lord Divider commissioned. He's paying us top snail and proving the materials on his own, so take your time to get it right. The leader of you junior Constructors will be here any second now that she's been called. In fact, I think I hear her thumping along now." Nothor said, closing his eyes and listening for the sound of rapid footsteps on the wood of the scaffold.

Matt, having trained his senses for his illusion work, closed his eyes and listened carefully too, almost immediately hearing the steps of someone running up from the floor below. That person soon appeared with a loud and cheerful cry of "Dad!" as Nothor smiled that strangely unnatural smile of his.

A girl in a Glandus Uniform ran right past Matt without paying him any mind, then jumped into the arms of Nothor, who was apparently her father. In an instant, Matt realised why the name Rostone had seemed so familiar when he'd first heard it a couple of weeks ago, and why Nothor himself looked somewhat familiar to him too despite Matt never meeting him… and the answer came to him thanks to the girl now being twirled through the air in Nothor Rostone's arms.

A girl in a Construction Track Glandus Uniform with a sword at her hip, a short purple hair style, orange eyes, and cute freckles… a girl Matt knew as Bria Rostone.

"That's why the name is familiar! It's Bria's surname! It's been so long since I heard it, I'd forgotten completely!" Matt thought in a panic. He hadn't heard her surname used since the last time he was in class at Glandus, listening to the teacher taking attendance.

"Haha, Bria! You came running quickly. I heard your thundering footsteps the instant you got onto the scaffold." Nothor said, putting his daughter down and patting her head.

Bria giggled a little; "Sorry Dad! I just got excited! So, the last of the Junior Constructors are here now?" she turned around and saw the disguised Matt, giving him a pleasant grin; "Hey there! You must be Luke, right? Good to have you with us finally! You're a little behind the others, but I guess being sick will do that to you. Don't worry though, as the Foreman of the Junior Constructors, I'll get you all set up with your assignment!"

Matt was a little blown away to see Bria acting so… chipper! She looked happy, well-adjusted, and confident, without any of the manipulative streak Matt usually associated with that behaviour from her. However she was also not divided judging by her orange eyes, so this was just the real her! Maybe being free of the usual Glandus Bullying had helped her come out of her shell and embrace her real self more? Matt also secretly wanted to think the advice he'd given her back when Adrian invaded Glandus had helped cause this change.

The Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard then chuckled and said; "You should probably try introducing yourself properly, Miss Junior Foreman! The poor lad looks overwhelmed!"

Bria blinked, then giggled nervously; "Oops, sorry! I got ahead of myself. Thanks Hudin!" she said, talking to the Keeper. She then looked back to Matt and said; "I'm Bria Rostone, Top Construction Student of the First Year of the Glandus Advanced Class, and one appointed by the Lord Divider himself to be in charge of this Junior Constructor Initiative!"

That was another surprise; so Bria had reached the top of her class… AND the Divider put her in charge!? Matt wondered why he'd pick her and not the Top of the Advance Class Fourth Years? Was it somehow because of her relationship to Rostone?

Matt's continued silence made Bria frown, and she waved a hand in front of his face; "Uh, hello? Boiling Isles to Luke Landswimmer? You in there?"

"Uh, yes. Sorry, I zoned out for a second there. This place is just so impressive, you know? It's hard not to get hypnotised by it all." Matt lied.

Bria grinned; "You're kinda spacey, huh? Well that's fine; I'll get you woken up! Follow me! You Intermediate Class Hexies are working on Secondary Crystal Systems for the Union Pillars!"

Without another word, Bria waved to her Dad and the Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard (who was apparently named Hudin) and then marched off, making her way down the scaffold and then off of it entirely. Matt hurriedly followed her down to the ground floor of the quarry, then towards an open air refinery where other kids aged 11-13 were shovelling a special quartz sand out of sacks and then into smelters, after which an adult would remove and cool the resulting crystal and give them to other kids the same age to begin carving with magic. Some kids were being taught the spells for removing and cooling things from the smelter, but only an actual Adult Witch was permitted to use the spells practically. Bria nodded to the adults supervising the Intermediate Class Students, then upon seeing that the sacks of quartz sand were getting low, decided to take a detour.

"Little change of plans, Hexy! We're gonna go get some more of that sand from the storehouse. Two sets of hands can lug more than one! Hope you're good at strength boosting spells!" Bria grinned cheekily, before marching off yet again, with Matt following her closely. They went to a nearby metal door built into the bone of the first floor vertebrae, and it opened as Bria flashed her Work Assignment Badge, allowing them in. The inside was a well-organised storehouse full of raw materials in clearly labelled sacks, crates, and barrels, which were in turn stacked on shelves that lined the walls. The sacks of quartz sand (which were marked by the sigil of the Wings of Rani) were in the back left corner and on a high shelf, making Bria sigh and grumble a bit as she conjured a ladder out of stone and climbed up.

"Over here, Hexy! I'll toss the bags down. They're heavy, so brace yourself." she ordered.

Matt obeyed, casting a strengthening spell on himself that allowed him to catch the first bag of sand the moment he was in place. Bria was mildly surprised and impressed to see him catch it so easily. "Wow Hexy! You know what you're doing! I figured a kid outside the Advanced Class would struggle more with strength-enhancing."

"What can I say? I'm ahead of the curve." Matt replied, before asking; "Why do you keep calling me Hexy? Is it because I'm from Hexside?"

"Yup!" Bria replied, making the p-sound really pop. "The Lord Divider didn't like the old names we Glandus Kids used for you. A few kids got his blessing early to fix them and stop them from using the old names, after they kept doing it when he told us to stop. The rest of us came up with Hexy in response. It's kinda more cutesy than I would like, but I don't actually want to insult you guys any more."

"Glad to hear it." Matt said, catching another bag of sand and stacking it with the other one.

Bria smiled at him, which made him feel warmer inside, then she said; "Hey, you're name is Luke Landswimmer, right?"

"That's what it says on my invite!" Matt laughed. He didn't really want to lie to Bria, though he didn't know why.

"So, you're older sister is Leia Landswimmer, right? The Rep from the Hexside Advanced Class First Years?" Bria asked.

"I guess so. Why?" Matt frowned.

"I was just wondering if she's still sore about the whole invite thing? She didn't want to talk to me about it when I tried to bring it up on her first day here." Bria sighed, looking a little sad.

Matt blinked; "Something is up with Leia? First I've heard of it!" he said without thinking.

Luckily Bria didn't seem to find it strange that Leia's brother would be ignorant of her problems; "Guess she didn't tell you. When she first came here, she was kind of mad about being the "second choice" in her words. Since she's technically the only Junior Constructor who isn't the top of her class."

Matt went a little pale; he had surpassed Leia in those final months before the Day of Unity. She'd been a good sport about it and had competed with him on friendly terms, but she was also proud. The fact she was invited to the Construction Coven like this whilst only being second best likely upset her. She'd have probably preferred to refuse, so Matt guessed she'd either had no choice or she'd come to support her little brother Luke.

"Leia is proud. I don't think she likes winning a prize that isn't rightfully hers." Matt said honestly.

Bria nodded in understanding; "That was my read on her too. Still, she would be top if anyone but Matt was in her class."

Matt froze for a moment, especially as he realised the almost wistful way she had said his name. "M-Matt?" he repeated. He didn't know why he wasn't just dropping this subject before he was exposed, but he was incredibly curious to hear what Bria thought of him. Perhaps it was his ego, or perhaps it was just something about the way Bria had looked as she'd said his name, but he really wanted to hear more.

Completely unsuspecting, Bria smiled wistfully and said; "Yeah, Matt Tholomule. He was a Glandus Kid before he ended up transferring to Hexside. He SHOULD be in your class, but he skipped a grade."

"O-Oh yeah?" Matt said, catching another bag of sand thrown down by Bria. He was trying to sound interested enough to keep her talking, but not so interested as to be suspicious. "Is this guy a friend of yours?"

Bria's cheeks pinkened a little; "I like to think so… I was kind of a jerk to him in the past though. A real bully… but he saved me from a real bad situation and showed me that being strong didn't mean pushing around weaker people, and that ordering your friends around isn't real friendship. Thanks to him, Glandus itself changed a little… after the Day of Unity ended and the Lord Divider came and started fixing things, I was able to use what Matt taught me to work hard and stop being a victim as well as not being another bully! I worked really hard and got to the top of my class!"

Matt gasped softly, seeing Bria's smile grow so bright and hopeful as she thought of what he'd done for her, and hearing how much she'd turned herself around. Just as Luz and Gus had helped him, Matt had in turn helped Bria! Though the parts about the "Lord" Divider were a little worrying too.

"It sounds like you really like this Matt guy." Matt commented casually.

"Well he is kind of the only real friend I ever had. I heard he was lost in the Human Realm for months but is back now! But he and his other friends are all confused about what the Lord Divider is doing, so they're fighting him! But I'm sure that now that the Lord Divider is home again, he'll help them realise the truth and I can start hanging out with Matt again!" Bria said, tossing down the last bag of quartz sand, then climbing down the ladder and dismantling it.

That was unfortunately not what Matt had hoped to hear. While he was honestly delighted that the new and improved Bria saw him as her friend, he was also horrified to hear that she fully believed in the Divider! She wasn't divided herself, but Matt guessed seeing the Divider "fixing" things at Glandus and making people be nice to each other was enough to convince Bria that he was a hero. It was an easy thing to think for a guy like him after all; the Divider was charismatic and genuinely wanted to help, in his own twisted way… if not for Luz and Gus and the rest of the CATTs, Matt could have seen himself falling for the Divider's charms too.

Still, he couldn't stay silent; "Bria, don't you think it's a little messed up though? I mean sure, the Divider is doing a lot of good stuff, but isn't the brainwashing going too far? He's taking away people's true feelings and free will!"

Bria frowned; "You're starting to sound like those rebels, Luke! I heard Hexside didn't take to the Lord Divider like Glandus did, but I figured that was an exaggeration. The Lord Divider is only turning bad people into good ones. No one he's given his blessing too is worse off! They're all better and happier!"

"Yeah, because they CAN'T feel sad or angry or anything negative! And they can't disobey him either! It's like he's enslaving people's souls! Do you want that to happen to you too? I mean, how is that any different than pushing around your "friends" for their own good, like you said you did before?" Matt asked.

Bria flushed; "It's not the same at all! I was being dumb and mean; he's stopping people being mean! Sure they can't disobey him, but it's not like he's forcing anyone to serve him or do bad stuff."

"He's not forcing them to serve him? Because that's not how it looks to most of us. I get that he's not making the Divided do anything too bad, but he's still using them! I have a friend whose divorced parents were made to stick around together in the hopes they'd get back together, even though one of them had remarried! Another friend had her Mom divided and had to fight her! The same with another friend and her Dad, and another one and her cousin! Don't you see how messed up that is?" Matt argued.

Bria looked horrified; "T-That can't be true! U-Unless those friends were bad guys or something…? N-No, I don't believe it. You must have heard bad rumours."

"I heard directly from the source." Matt crossed his arms.

The girl in front of him grew anxious and defensive; "T-Then they're lying! Stuff like that wouldn't happen! He turns bad parents into good ones! The Lord Divider is helping!"

Suddenly, Matt felt a shot to his heart as memories assailed him. Back at Glandus, during Adrian's invasion, Bria had said something that had worried him a little, but had been forgotten in all the chaos;

"Because of what happened there, Angmar's parents transferred him out and now he pretends I don't exist! Gavin's dad suddenly started helping him out and now he's "too good for Bumbling Bria!" And my Father, he…" she bit her lip and refused to say more, though it's clear whatever happened with her father was distressing.

Matt began to feel a little sick as he thought back to how Bria had greeted her father a short time ago. The loving embrace and playful spinning didn't seem like natural behaviour from Foreman Rostone, and didn't seem to be compatible with the truly haunted look in Bria's eyes when she'd referenced her Dad back at Glandus. Come to think of it, Bria had never before spoken of her Dad and had disliked whenever Gavin had gone on about feeling ignored by his… Then there was Mason himself had said about Nothor Rostone;

"Nothor? Never heard nobody call that guy "Nice". He's as mean as a Cockatrice and just as ornery. If he weren't Divided, he'd be right insufferable."

Now it all made sense. Matt believed in Bria's ability to change and turn her life around, but he'd never believe she'd suddenly agree with the Divider of all people… not unless he'd done something for her that made her extremely loyal, and dividing her father (who may have been abusive, if not just a mean and distant man) and making him into a loving dad as a result may well be the perfect thing to make Bria loyal to him. After all, what kid doesn't want their parent to be kind and loving? Matt had always felt blessed that his own Mom and Dad, and even Steve's Mom Dana, had always been really kind to him and raised him well, even if he'd been a brat sometimes. But other kids didn't have that… Bria's past behaviour definitely made it seem like she was one of them.

Before he could stop himself, Matt blurted out; "Bria… was your Dad a good father to you, before the Divider's "Blessing"? Was he as loving as he is now?"

Bria stepped back as if struck; "H-How could you possibly know that? Ugh, I mean; how could you possibly think that!?"

Matt smiled sadly; "You know Bria, now that you've become a nicer, kinder person yourself, you've become a much worse liar. You were always able to trick me before, but not now."

Bria's face became one of confusion, and then anger; "W-Who are you!? Why are you talking like you know me!?"

Matt silently cast a spell, causing a sheet of stone to rise out of the ground in front of the storehouse door, sealing them both in. He then used a weak audible illusion on the stone to ensure no sound escaped the room. Bria gasped and stepped back, drawing her sword and preparing to defend herself, but it almost fell from her hand as Matt reached up and removed his Concealment Stone, revealing his true self.

"Hey Bria. It's been a while." Matt said, smiling somewhat awkwardly.

"M-MATT!?" Bria exclaimed; "W-What!? It was you the whole time!? Where is Luke!?"

"Taking a nap in a locker down in the changing rooms. Sorry for the disguise and the lies; I'm here on really important business." Matt replied.

Bria's face went through a series of different expressions; excitement at seeing Matt, embarrassment at what she'd said about him, anger at his deception, sorrow over them now being on opposite sides again, and fear… fear that he was about to do something to make everything worse for her.

"W-What are you doing here!? What is this important business!?" she demanded shakily.

Matt smiled sadly; "We're here to undo the Division of the people here, and destroy the Red Galdorstone the Divider is making. It'll be used on his grand plan to divide everyone in the world! We can't let that happen!"

"No! You can't do that!" Bria cried, dropping her sword and rushing to grab Matt's shirt. It wasn't an aggressive act, but she was clearly very desperate.

"I have to, Bria! For the sake of everyone's freedom! I mean, do YOU want to end up divided too? Because the Divider won't spare anyone in the end!" Matt told her.

Strangely though Bria wasn't surprised; "I know! B-But isn't that a good thing!? Without all my bad parts, won't I be a better person and a better friend? Won't I be the kind of girl you actually want to be around? To be friends with?"

"What!? No!" Matt yelled; "Being a nicer person is meaningless if you've been brainwashed into it! I mean, you're awesome Bria, and it's because you changed on your own! You went from both a bully and a victim to someone who seems really kind and helpful, and all because you chose to change! That's incredible! But if you were only like this because of brainwashing, then it wouldn't be impressive, you know?"

Bria blushed; "You think I'm awesome?"

"Well yeah, of course! I know how hard it is to turn over a new leaf after being a jerk for so long, so I know how hard you must have tried. That's awesome Bria! And I'm glad you and I got to be friends! I'm proud of you!" Matt smiled earnestly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

The girl looked overjoyed for a moment, before she suddenly frowned again; "I-I'm glad, Matt. Thank you… but please, you can't undo the Lord Divider's blessing! I-I won't try to get in your way with the other stuff, I swear; I know I can't beat you in a fight after all… but please don't stop the blessings!"

Matt frowned; "I can't do that, Bria. The people who've been divided need to be given their true selves back!"

Bria shook her head desperately; "Please! If you do that, then Dad will…!"

She stopped mid-sentence and shut her mouth tight, though her lips quivered and she refused to make eye contact. Matt felt his heart go out to her, and said; "Bria… I know that being divided must make your Dad a nicer guy, but it's not real. You might as well replace your Dad with an illusion or something!"

Bria flinched back and turned her back on Matt, shaking as she rubbed her arms; "You don't know what it's like! To have a Dad who thinks you're weak and pathetic! Who hates you! Who wishes you were never born! If it weren't for the fact I'm his only heir and no one since my Mom would marry him, he would have gotten rid of me!" Bria spun around, tears in her eyes as she began to yell at Matt; "Am I so wrong to want him to be different! To want him to love me and care for me!? To want him to hug me and not hit me for a change!?"

Matt shook his head; "No Bria, you're not wrong or bad to want that. But it's not real. Do you really want a Dad who only loves and cares for you because he's brainwashed? Don't you deserve someone who'll love you for real?"

"Oh yeah, and where am I gonna find that, huh!? Where am I gonna get someone to love the mess of a person I am!?" Bria cried.

Matt through his arms up in the air in frustration; "There are tons of people who'd love you! Heck, join up with the CATTs and I guarantee you'll have a family in like a week tops! We're full of strange, messy people and misfits! I mean Luz's family tree situation got so complicated we call it a Family Forest now! And there's me of course!"

Bria blushed crimson; "Y-You'd love me?"

Now it was Matt's turn to blush; he'd said that without thinking, but it wasn't exactly untrue either. He did feel fond of Bria, especially after understanding why she was a bully before and seeing her change. Still, he was still only a teenage boy and Bria was a girl his age that he certainly felt was attractive, so he almost immediately began to stutter.

"I-Um, well… I-I guess I could say that- um, that is to say I could sort of-!?"

The stuttering made Bria smile a little; it was kind of cute and he clearly wasn't acting disgusted by the idea… but his stuttering was also a helpful distraction. He was totally flustered and trying to find the right words, and was notably not on guard or even looking directly at her. Realising this was the best chance she was going to get, Bria mentally apologised to Matt before running past him, shoving him hard as she did so and dropping a bag of quartz sand on his back to hold him down as she turned his stone wall into sand and escaped the storeroom with a cry of sorry. Matt was shocked, but he recovered fast and easily tossed the sand off of himself, before summoning Pebbles and covering him in soft clay to act as a cushion before tossing him as hard as he could at the retreating Bria's back. It splattered against her back and Pebbles held on tight, knowing Matt couldn't just go chasing Bria around in public without drawing attention.

"Just gotta stop her warning anyone, little buddy." Matt whispered, knowing Pebbles would hear him in his head. If anyone could stop Bria without outing the whole mission, it was the little Axolotl Palisman!

As for Bria, she was running so fast and so hard that she didn't notice Pebbles hitting her back at all, instead making a rush for her Dad on top of the scaffolding, so she could warn him of the infiltrators in their midst! She felt rotten inside that she was turning in Matt and any friends with him, but she couldn't bear the idea of things going back to the way they were! She wanted to keep her loving Dad, who supported her own changes! If he turned back to his old self, he'd hated the new Bria; she was "soft" and "girly" compared to the hardened child he'd tried to raise. Heck, if he saw what she'd become since he was Divided, he might do to her what he did to her Mom! Bria didn't want that! She didn't want to be left forgotten by everyone, with no one to care that she was even gone!

"I'm sorry Matt… but I need to do this!" Bria whispered to herself, wiping away the tears of shame that had begun filling her eyes.

She reached the top of the scaffold were her father was and called out to him; "DAD!", causing him and the old man from the graveyard; Hudin Harris, to stop their conversation and rush over to her.

"Bria? What's wrong? Did something happen?" her father asked with concern.

Bria was panting hard from her frantic run and so couldn't immediately answer, which also gave Pebbles a chance to crawl around her torso and cling to her chest instead of her back. She gasped softly, recognising him, while her Dad and Hudin just looked confused.

"Is that a Palisman? Who do they belong to?" Hudin asked curiously.

Bria didn't immediately answer, as she stared down into the adorable face of the little Axolotl. She remembered Pebbles from back at Glandus, when Matt had come to her rescue… she'd thought the little fellow was adorable! It made her wish that she could have a Palisman too, but Glandus didn't have an adoption day like Hexside did, and there was no way her Dad was paying to get her wood to carve one, or willing to help her find and bond with a second-hand one.

Pebbles squeaked adorably at her, holding onto her shirt with one hand and making adorable little grabby hands motions with the other as he looked up into her eyes. Bria had to resist the urge to coo as she stared back, but the thought of a Palisman of her own made her remember more of her past with her Dad.

"A Palisman!? What would a waste of space like you do with a Palisman!? They're nothing but crutches for the weak anyway! You don't see me swinging one around, so you can bet no child of mine needs one, especially with how much they charge for the damn wood!"

Bria shuddered at the memory, and absent-mindedly touched her cheek, where a phantom sting briefly made her flinch.

"This is why I need to keep Dad like this!" she thought; "Everything is better with him divided! It's fine!"

Unbidden, Matt's words flashed through her mind "Bria… I know that being divided must make your Dad a nicer guy, but it's not real. You might as well replace your Dad with an illusion or something!"

Bria bit her lip, and another memory of her Dad's old self flashed through her mind.

"Of course they bully you, you little pest! Glandus makes you strong, and until you man up and stop being a weak little crybaby, you'll always be treated like scum! If you want me to do something about it, then I'll just have to toughen you up more!"

"Quit you're blubbering, or I'll really give you something to cry about!"

"You little brat! What did you think would happen, ratting on me to the Emperor's Coven!? Did you think they'd actually care about you or your waste of space mother!? You're damn lucky I don't put you a hole right next to hers! Listen up, you worthless layabout; you're only in my house because I'm not having the Rostone name die with me! But push me again, and I'll take you to the woods and leave you there!"

Bria shuddered and tears began to build up in her eyes, making both her Dad and Hudin's expressions go blank. She hated those blank looks… the downside of the Lord Divider's Blessings. However Pebbles looked up at her with sad eyes, then gently used his little paw to try and wipe the tears away, making Bria smile. Another, more pleasant set of memories then filled her mind.

She remembered Matt coming to her rescue when those Illusion Scouts were trying to brand her with a sigil. She remembered him protecting her, and asking to swap contact info so they could be real friends. She remembered kissing him on the cheek, and how stunned he'd looked. She remembered the joy she'd felt when "Luke" unmasked himself to reveal Matt underneath… and she remembered what he'd said;

"Do you really want a Dad who only loves and cares for you because he's brainwashed? Don't you deserve someone who'll love you for real?"

"There are tons of people who'd love you! Heck, join up with the CATTs and I guarantee you'll have a family in like a week tops!"

And of course, he'd ended that with the words "And there's me of course!"

Was Matt right? Did Bria deserve a love that was real? A family that would praise her, love her, laugh with her, and when the situation called for it, even cry with her? Was she truly allowed to wish for something like that after being such a brat for so long? And would Matt really be a part of that? Not as family, but as a loved one all the same?

Somehow, without a word or even a squeak, Bria felt that Pebbles' was telling her that yes, she was entitled to that. That she DID deserve it…

"Bria? Seriously, what's gotten you into such a panic? And whose Palisman is that?" Nothor asked again.

"Uh, I-" Bria gulped; "I-I just wanted to ask how much of that Quartz Sand has been set aside for the secondary crystals? We needed to get more and I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to take. Oh, and the Palisman is Luke's. He's cute, right?"

Nothor gave her a blank look, then shrugged; "I suppose so. And the Quartz Sand in the ground floor storehouses are all set aside for the secondary crystals, so use as much as you need. Just don't make too many mistakes. The Lord Divider himself made that stuff, and until he returns from his business elsewhere in the Demon Realm we can't easily get more."

Hudin nodded; "A lot of the Wings of Rani have flown off too. The CATTs are apparently using the Lord Divider's absence as an excuse to launch wide scale attacks again. Recent reports even say there is some trouble around the Union Pillar."

Bria gulped; if there was trouble at the Union Pillar, and Matt was here on Cocytux Island, then the Division might very well be undone on this region soon… a haunting thought for poor Bria. Still, she stuck by her decision; Matt had believed in her to change and said she deserved REAL love and affection, not love conditional on brainwashing or meeting her Dad's obscene expectations of strength and toughness. Bria wanted that too! For all the love and affection her Dad had given her since he was divided, she couldn't forget the man he'd been before! The pain he'd caused her, both physically and emotionally.

No… Bria had enough. She'd put up with him for years, thinking there had to be some part of him that loved her, since he never actually threw her out, but knowing how important his legacy was to him, Bria knew now that it was that legacy that made him keep her after he got rid of her mother… nothing more, nothing less.

"Um, s-sorry for bothering you Dad. I'll go get back to work." Bria said softly, hugging Pebbles to her chest. Her father responded with a blank faced nod, then went back to discussing the security of the island with Hudin as Bria walked away. Only Pebbles saw the tears trickling down the girl's face, and squeaked quietly as he lapped them up, tickling her face and getting a little giggle from her.

Bria walked down to the ground floor of the quarry, rubbing her face to hide the evidence of her tears, then began heading back to the storehouse where she'd left Matt. Before she got more than a few steps towards it though, Pebbles squeaked and turned into a staff, flying between Bria's legs and then picking her up before slowly flying her to where he could sense Matt. A few Constructors looked up, but most just smiled and waved; Bria wasn't the only one flying on a staff, as many others used theirs openly too, especially now that Belos wasn't around. Pebbles flew Bria over to the top of the Alarm Tower; a small wooden watch tower that housed the cages of the Seismic Whisker Fish and Cream Canary.

Upon reaching it and being let off, Bria found nothing atop the tower besides the large cages; one was occupied by the Whisker Fish; a creature that looked like a Cat Fish with a chubby round body and bear-like legs, which it used to support itself as it sat like a panda bear, its very long rubbery whiskers swaying happily. The other was occupied by the Cream Canary, a giant phoenix-like bird with its tail favours replaced by pale smoke. The Seismic Whisker Fish could predict any kind of seismic activity with its whiskers and would go crazy if it detected something, making a ton of noise. Similarly, the Cream Canary would screech like a banshee if it detected poison, so combined with their extremely refined sensory abilities (a Cream Canary could sniff a whiff of poison from up to 5 kilometres away) and the speakers in their cages, the two creatures would alert the whole area if something was wrong! And as an added extra, the broadcast singing of the Canary was rather beautiful and helped ease the fatigue of the builders.

Looking around for signs of Matt, Bria soon found them as a puff of cyan smoke appeared and Matt walked out of it, once again removing his concealment stone to reveal his true form. It appeared he was disguised even while invisible.

"Bria…" he said, looking at her with sad eyes. He could see the redness around her eyelids; a testament to his own growing powers of observation.

"Hey Matt. I… I didn't rat you out. You're right; all this is just fake." Bria said, sounding utterly miserable.

"I'm sorry, Bria." Matt said, putting a hand around her shoulders as she kept cuddling Pebbles. Previously, his problems with Division had largely been around the people the Divider chose to divide… while Matt had never felt comfortable with taking people's free will, he'd never felt too bad about the idea of genuinely evil people being divided. If the likes of Odalia, Terra, and Vitimir were allowed to go around undivided, then good people should be spared too! But seeing Rostone's state was the first time Matt felt like even the division of a bad person was immoral. It created false hope in his victims; an illusion of change and redemption… but it was all fake. The Divider wasn't "fixing" people at all; he was masking their faults and villainy by controlling them! And as soon as that control was gone, they would be evil once more. Without even the ability to feel guilt or remorse for their sins, there was no hope of them becoming better either!

Good people or bad, Division came with no happy ending for anyone. It was all just an illusion.

Bria sniffled, and Matt hugged her without thinking and repeated himself; "I'm sorry Bria."

"S'okay." Bria whispered, not trusting her voice. "It's not your fault… it was always fake, I just let myself get carried away with the illusion. It was nice… but it was never real."

"No, it wasn't… but it will be someday. I'm sure of it! You'll see!" Matt promised.

"I'm glad. But what happens now? From what Mr. Hudin said, there is trouble at the Union Pillar. That's you guys, right?" Bria asked.

Matt nodded, letting her keep Pebbles for a bit longer. "That's our partner team. It's unfortunate they've been seen, but if I know those guys, they'll still get the job done. In fact, I think the division will be undone in this region any minute now… especially with how many Angels have left."

Bria looked up at the sky; she'd been used to seeing like 30 Angels flying around, but there were only 4 still present, and the highest ranking one was just a High Angel. "What happens after that?" she asked.

"The leader of our team will trigger the Alarm Animals in their section, then the rest of us will do the same. Once everyone is evacuating, we'll destroy the Red Galdorstone. That's why we're here." Matt explained.

"Huh, really? Is the stone so bad? I figured the Lord Divider was gonna use it to power all the pillars on the new Titan." Bria said.

"Not quite. It's a replacement heart for the new Titan, whose name is Cassiopeia. She's the Mate to Orion; the Titan of the Boiling Isles." Matt explained.

Bria's eyes widened; "What!? Really!?"

"Yep! Luz freed the soul of Cassiopeia by destroying her old heart, which was turned to crystal by the Archivists; those four weird Super Angels that are serving the Divider now." Matt said, grinning at Bria's shock and excitement; "You know, I met the Titans. Their spirits still exist between the realms, so I got to talk to them! A little bit anyway."

"No way! You're lying to sound cool!" Bria accused with a pout, though she didn't look totally convinced of that either.

"No lies, I swear! It really happened! In fact, I'll introduce you to them! And I'll get Luz to repeat the story! You know Angels can't lie!" Matt said.

Bria began to bounce on the balls of her feet excitedly, so Matt decided to keep telling her stories, sticking to things he could say without giving away too much about the CATTs, so as not to trigger his oath. He told her primarily about his adventures on the Day of Unity, in the Human Realm, and then in the Divine Realm, which fascinated Bria greatly. He was just finishing the tale of Luz's ascension and Belos being driven back yet again, when he suddenly noticed the Angels in the sky above panicking about something. Then, in a rain of iridescent light, the divided parts of people began shooting across the isles, with many landing on Cocytux Island, where they found and merged with their other halves.

Bria watched it all with sparkling eyes; "What is this?"

"Those are the pieces of the divided, returning to them." Matt explained.

"So it's over now? Everyone is gonna go back to normal? Including Dad?" Bria asked, suddenly feeling very apprehensive.

"Well everyone in the Tail Bone Region of the Isles." Matt nodded, watching as the Divided began to return to their senses. It took only a few seconds for the island to descend into pandemonium as the Divided either fled or began aggressively attacking the Knight Golems and Abomatons, while many of the non-Divided joined them in their fight or flight. The remaining Angels flew to the top of the central scaffold of the quarry to try and salvage the Red Galdorstone, but a massive illusion of the Looking Glass Graveyard Guardian suddenly appeared and began whipping up a fake storm, and the "Donators" working on the Galdorstone began launching attacks at the Angels, causing them to flee and leave the island entirely.

A moment later, the northern segment of the island suddenly erupted with a cacophony of noise as loud shrieking and screeching from the Whisker Fish and Canary echoed across the island. It was followed swiftly by more noise from the other segments too, and Matt turned to trigger the Alarm Animals himself. He used an Olfactory Illusion mixed with some very fine brick dust to make the Canary believe there was poison around, causing it to begin shrieking, then he cast a mild tremor spell on the cage containing the Whisker Fish, making it scream loudly at the fake earthquake.

In response to ALL five segments of the island now giving off evacuation alarms, everyone began making their way to the docks around the exterior of the ground floor vertebrae, and in the chaos it was easy for the members of the Island Team to reassemble atop the scaffold in the middle of the quarry. Matt was the first to arrive there with Bria, the two of them flying up with Pebbles, finding that Hudin and Nothor were gone already too, along with everyone else there, leaving the whole scaffold empty. King was the next to arrive, flying in on his little wings and greeting Matt.

"Hey Matt! Who's the girl?" he asked.

"This is Bria Rostone, my old friend from Glandus. She discovered me, but didn't rat me out. She's coming back to the CATTs with us." Matt introduced; "Bria, this is King Clawthorne-Noceda; son of the Owl Lady AND Orion and Cassiopeia."

King preened as Bria gaped; "W-Wait, then that makes him-!?"

"A titan, yes. Hold your applause; I'm not into the whole worship thing." King said, nipping that in the bud before it could start.

"But he's still very into his offerings!" yelled Lilith jovially as she flew over on Corvanc. "Especially offerings of sweets."

This was obviously a joke and King pouted while playfully stomping his feet in a faux tantrum, but a nervous Bria still reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of candy, which she offered to King.

"Oh! Thanks! Matt, I like your friend." King said approvingly, chomping down the candy and making Bria sigh with relief.

Mason was the next to arrive, and the man smiled at the girl too; "G'day Little Miss. You're the Rostone Lass, am I right?"

"Y-Yes sir!" Bria replied, before turning to Matt and whispering; "An Angel, a Titan, and TWO Coven Heads!? Do you have any other surprise guests showing up today!?"

"Well there's Steve, my big brother! I think you'd like him." Matt chuckled.

Bria scowled at him and swatted his arm, but Matt just kept laughing until Mason cleared his throat; "Not that I'm not pleased as punch that you two kids are gettin' along and all that, but we need to hurry up and destroy this here Galdorstone. The security golems and Abomatons are all focused on fightin' or evacuatin' so now is our best chance."

"It shouldn't be too hard. King, do you want the honours?" Lilith asked.

King didn't need to be asked twice; he reached into his neckerchief and pulled out a series of Explosive Glyph Notes; "I'm on it! Help me out and stick all these along the outside of this thing! Then I'll roar and blast it to bits!"

Lilith, Matt, and Mason took some of the Glyph Notes and hopped back on their staves, with Matt inviting Bria to ride with him and help him out. King focused on putting glyphs around the very top of the mold, so the others flew down and put them on all the lower parts. Bria was a little bit confused by the odd symbols and how oddly good the paper was at sticking to things (Matt explained that King's note paper had a lot of static to help them cling to flat surfaces with ease), but she still helped Matt put them up while focused on flying with Pebbles. Matt was, unfortunately, the worst staff flier in the Hexsquad since he was more of a solid ground or machinery kind of guy, so he wasn't as confident on his staff. Once the job was done, the gang all landed down in the central quarry and made sure they were between the still evacuating people and the scaffold so no one would be caught in the blast when King used his roar. It was at that moment that Steve finally caught up with them, having no Palisman to fly with and thus needing to run down the old fashioned way.

"Phew! Made it just in time! You guys ready to blow that thing up?" Steve asked, a little out of breath.

"You got it! We just finished adding the Explosive Glyphs." Matt grinned, pumping his fist.

Lilith nodded and looked to King; "We're all here and no one is in the way. Fire away Nephew!"

King smirked impishly and slapped a Light Glyph Note to his snout, before inhaling and then releasing a colossal roar, which resonated with the glyph note to turn his roar into a much larger beam of rainbow coloured light magic than he could manage on his own. The beam blasted right through the scaffold and mold, triggering all the explosive notes at the same time, creating a chain reaction that utterly devastated the mold and the Red Galdorstone forming inside. The magic also resonated with the Galdorstone, which was had taken on a gel-like consistency since it had yet to be completed and fully hardened. The explosion cracked the mold and turned it to dust, as well as vaporising most of the scaffolding and blowing the remainder away in a cloud of debris, while the incomplete concoction was splattered against the entire north eastern side of the Central Quarry and the adjacent segments. However, instead of a weird gel-like ooze made of blood and magic, the incomplete stone reacted even more with King's magic and the Titan Bone it splattered over, causing it to suddenly react like ferrofluid under a magnet, reaching up into the air with strange goopy spikes, before the whole thing suddenly hardened.

In a flash, a quarter of the island was encased in red crystal, making it look almost like it had been hit by a blood storm that had then frozen over!

"Mission complete!" King cheered triumphantly; "That was actually pretty easy!"

"It definitely worked out a lot easier than I expected." Lilith commented.

"Careful not to jinx it, you two! Let's not count our victory until we're home, safe and sound." Steve told them, still on guard.

"Steve's right. I've got a feeling this isn't over yet…" Matt frowned, feeling a little twitchy; something was going to happen. Luz's luck wasn't solely to blame for all their troubles, so Matt was sure something was still going to go wrong!

Bria shot the boy a worried look, while Mason regarded all the red crystal with a sigh; "I hope this stuff is good for somethin', else all this crystal is gonna be a real pain to clear up later. I still hope to run this place when everythin's over."

"Well if it can be used as a weird Galdorstone, I'm sure it's got some use." Steve commented, before finally turning his attention back to Bria. "Hey there Miss. I'm Steve Tholomule, Matt's big bro. We met for a real short time back at Glandus, when the Illusion Coven attacked? How're you doing?"

He offered her his hand with a big smile, and Bria accepted it with a small smile. This handsome man was quite charming; she wondered if Matt would look like him when he grew up more! The boy had already grown into his features more since he was a runt at Glandus, and Bria would actually consider calling him cute now.

"I'm okay, Steve. A lot happened, especially with my Dad being divided… I don't think I'm gonna be welcome back home as a Rostone anymore… though I wasn't exactly welcome before." Bria said, blushing with embarrassment; "But Matt invited me to stay with the CATTs. I hope that's okay?"

Mason hummed and stroked his beard; "That'll be Luz's call, but I bet she'll agree. If not, I'll convince her. You seem like a nice young lady, and anyone like you being raised by Nothor Rostone must have had a hard time." he stepped forward and ruffled her hair gently, making Bria blush and feel warm inside.

"Y-You'd really put in a good word for me?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course, little lady. A good girl like you deserves a home! It's not gonna happen, but if Luz DID say no, I'd take you in myself." Mason chuckled.

Bria smiled a little brighter, but sadly her happy moment couldn't last forever.

"Girl!? What the hell are you doing!?"

The sudden yell made Bria flinch and let out a quiet shriek, which in turn made her cover her mouth in humiliation and terror as she turned around to see her Dad marching towards her, his eyes free of the gold ring and his face like thunder. The CATTs all went on guard, and Matt tried to pull Bria behind him, but the girl was sadly well-trained by her father, so when he snapped his fingers and pointed to the ground in front of him, she flinched again and rushed to obey him, slipping out of Matt's grasp.

"F-Father! I-!"

"Shut up!" Nothor roared; "I heard everything! So, after all I've done for you, keeping your worthless backside alive, trying to make you strong enough to survive in this world, and forgiving you for blabbing to the Emperor's Coven, you immediately turned around and ratted on me to the CATTs too!? Filling their heads with your pathetic sob stories! Going behind my back to my boss!"

He towered over her and Bria froze, her eyes filling with tears no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

"N-No! That wasn't… I mean I… I didn't mean…!"

"Hey!" Matt yelled, stepping forward; "Leave her alone!"

"Shut it brat! This is between me and my own brat!" Nothor snarled, causing the rest of the CATTs to glare viciously and begin stepping forward to. Bria gave them all a desperate look that had them stopping in their tracks, though none looked happy about it.

Bria then turned back to her Dad and said; "I wasn't trying to rat you out or anything! It's just… now that you're not Divided any more, it's clear you don't want me any more! So I'll just get out of your hair and-"

The poor girl didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Nothor's hand lashed out and backhanded her hard across the face, sending her flying back. The CATTs gasped in horror and Matt cried out; "Bria!" as he dashed forward to catch her. He slid beneath her just before she hit the ground, cradling her with his body as she whimpered, tears streaming down her face as her cheek swelled and a trickle of blood went down her chin from her lip.

Nothor sneered and screamed at his beaten daughter; "You dare tell me what I want!? If I wanted you gone, I'd have abandoned your worthless backside in the woods years ago, or buried you next to your mother! Hell, maybe I should do that anyway! I bet you ratted me out to that Angel Freak and got me brainwashed on purpose so you could make me play weak, happy families with you!" he stomped forward and raised his foot; "You wretched little br-"

He tried to stomp on Bria's face, but Matt caught his foot and held it with shocking strength. Nothor gaped in surprise; he was a heavy, muscular man and Matt looked like a twig compared to him, yet the boy was holding him with a rock solid grip; a grip that was starting to get painful on his foot. Matt slowly looked up from Bria, and Nothor flinched upon seeing his irises glowing orange. The only thing keeping him from exploding into a full Bile Overload was a desire to keep Bria safe.

With a shove of the man's foot, Matt sent Nothor hopping back, causing him to land on his backside and then immediately scramble to his feet, cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

"Why you little-!" the man growled, trying to save face. Matt was paying him no attention though and instead barked out to Lilith and King.

"I need a Healing Spell or Glyph Note. NOW!"

The rest of the CATTs stormed forward and Steve gently took Bria from Matt and held her comfortably as Lilith began a healing spell, while King put up his glyph barrier. The barrier kept both Nothor and Matt away, but also kept the rest of them trapped together with Bria; the little Titan had no desire to let an abusive parent or a Bile Overloading friend anywhere near someone with a head injury, even if that injury was just a really bad slap.

Mason took one look at the girl's swollen cheek (which was rapidly shrinking as Lilith healed her), and then glared at Nothor with pure hatred; "You absolute scum! I always knew you were a rotten bastard, but to lay a hand on your own daughter!? I reckon it ain't the first time either! Mark my words, Boy, when I get out of here, I'm going to make you pay for this!"

Nothor took a step back in terror, the ground beneath his feet shaking a little at Mason's anger. If there was one thing that would always ignite Mason's ire, it was abuse from a family member; it was able to enrage him so much that even his accent faded for a bit!

However Nothor would be wiser to fear another threat that was a lot closer, as Matt began slowly walking towards him. Nothor's attention went to him, and in a pathetic attempt to reassert himself and establish dominance, he decided he would work out some anger on what he assumed was just some cocky kid…

"You wanna go, huh Punk!?" he growled, throwing a punch. Matt tilted his head to the side and dodged it easily, but he did stop moving. The boy said nothing and continued to glare hatefully, while a shocked and embarrassed Nothor threw another punch.

"Take this!" he roared, but this time Matt tilted his head the other way, and the punch missed again. Nothor then went for a high kick, but Matt just crouched. A sweeping kick followed, but Matt just jumped over it, then weaved through a rapid flurry of blows. Nothor grew more frustrated as Matt evaded his attacks effortlessly, always returning to his starting spot and never once breaking eye contact with the abusive adult. After a series of wild, animalistic attempts at hitting the boy, Nothor finally tried magic to conjure a stalagmite beneath Matt's spot, but the boy merely raised his foot and stomped it flat before it could fully form.

Nothor gaped, then grit his teeth; "Coward! If you want to fight me, then fight! Throw a Titan damned punch!"

Matt tilted his head, his eyes still glowing; "You want me to throw a punch? With how I feel right now, I don't know if that's a good idea… I might not be able to stop at one!"

Magic began to roll off of Matt's body in an orange aura, and the ground beneath him began to shake, making Nothor feel more like he was facing a giant than a small boy. Still, his pride wouldn't let him back down, so he growled and said; "If you don't, I'll just keep swinging until you do!"

He threw another punch to prove his point, and Matt dodged it by jumping high into the air, his legs strengthened with Construction Magic.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Matt declared, his voice carrying a magical echo as he cocked his fist back. The bangle on his right wrist began to glow, and a liquid metal concoction began emerging from it and fully coating Matt's arm from the tips of his fingers to the end of his elbow. It left his arm totally immovable, but also coated in a metal armour that was as strong, heavy, and indestructible as Matt could make it; an alloy that was weak only to heat due to its very low melting point. However with Matt's hardening magic, the room temperature liquid became harder than titanium, and as Matt plummetted from the sky, he threw his fist forward in a devastating punch right to the centre of Nothor's face.

Seeing the strength and speed of the blow coming at him, Nothor coated his arms in stone and strengthened himself with Construction Magic as he threw his arms up in an x-formation to block the blow, however he was completely ignorant to the fact that Matt had used a simple illusion to make him think the blow was coming from a different angle, stopping Nothor from adjusting himself to block the real blow.

"GIGATON HAMMER!" Matt roared at the top of his lungs as he delivered the most devastating punch of his life right to Nothor Rostone's face. His enhanced strength, his metal-coated arm, and the sheer ferocity of his attack combined together to create a blow that was like being hit in the face with a literal war hammer, with Matt pulling his punch just enough to avoid a killing blow. Still, since Nothor had strengthened himself, Matt still attacked hard enough that any normal person would have had their head punched clean off their shoulders!

The result was Nothor hitting the ground hard enough to make a small crater, as his nose was broken so badly it basically became concave, his front teeth being reduced to a cloud of blood and bone dust, and his jaw being so badly broken that it was a miracle it was still attached! The blow was so vicious and brutal that for the first few seconds after it, Nothor couldn't even feel the pain, as the shock to his system was just too much, leaving him laying there, looking up at Matt with wide eyes, unable to comprehend what just happened.

Matt glared down at the man with pure hatred and slowly lifted his foot, which also became coated in metal from his anklet, ready to crush the man's skull once and for all. This was an act caused by his anger though, and his friends called out to him.

"Matt, that's enough!" Steve yelled; "Don't sink to his level!"

"You've proven your point and protected Bria! You can relax now!" Lilith told him.

"Yeah! Come on man, do you really want your first kill to be that guy!? Have higher standards!" King chimed in, trying to help in his own childish way.

Mason nodded; "Don't stain your soul with the likes of Nothor, lad. You did well and defended your friend; there's nothing else that needs to be done."

Even Bria shouted out to him, giving him a desperate look; "Matt, please! This isn't worth it!"

Matt actually paused and looked back at her; "You ARE worth it."

That made her blush, and she gave a little smile as she said; "T-Thank you… But he isn't!"

Slowly, Matt began to calm down. Pebbles squeaked comfortingly on his shoulder, and Matt took a deep breath and sighed, before lowering his foot to the ground and dismissing the metal coating. "Fine… you're all right." he said softly, before glaring down at Nothor, who was on the verge of unconsciousness, his cheeks now swelling horribly from the impact.

"Be thankful, Rostone… you get to keep your life. Because you were so damn weak."

That final cutting barb eviscerated the remainder of Nothor's pride, and Matt's contempt filled face was the last thing he saw before passing out completely. Matt regarded him for a moment, then scoffed and created a clay golem that picked him up and began running off to find someone else to evacuate him from the building, before Matt himself took another deep breath to calm down and walked back to his friends and brother.

"Hey Bria. Are you okay?" he asked, looking at her face. The slap mark was gone, thankfully, so there was no evidence of Bria's abuse besides their memories and the tear stains still around her eyes.

"I'm okay, Matt. Thanks for defending me… and I'm sorry." Bria said quietly, looking down in shame.

The others looked surprised at her, and Matt frowned as he asked; "You're sorry? What the heck for? Don't you dare blame yourself for anything that man did! He was an abusive scumbag who got what he deserved!"

Bria giggled and shook her head, before sighing; "It's not that… I broke my promise to you."

"Your promise?" Matt blinked, not sure what she meant.

"Yeah… after what happened at Glandus, I promised you wouldn't need to save me next time. Guess I was wrong about that…" Bria said, her eyes watering; "I didn't want to be another Damsel in Distress! I thought I was better than that!"

Matt shook his head vehemently; "Bria, you're not a Damsel in Distress and you didn't break your promise! This was… this was just a friend backing you up! I'm sure if he'd have smacked me first, you'd have kicked him where the sun doesn't shine!"

"But-" Bria began, only for Mason to put a gentle hand on her shoulder and shake his head.

"No Little Lady, Matt is correct. There is no shame in needin' help sometimes. It doesn't make ya'll weak or pathetic, and certainly don't make you a Damsel in Distress. It can be hard to stand up to an enemy… it can be even harder to stand up to friend, or worse, family. Rostone is a horrible man, and ya'll deserve better." Mason told her.

"Matt said that too…" Bria said, feeling strangely comfortable. Steve's arms on her back, King on her lap, Lilith's hand on one shoulder and Mason's on another, and of course Matt holding her hands… they all made her feel so at home. Mason and Matt were making her feel especially warm, though in very different ways; Mason set her heart at ease like no one before ever had, while Matt made it go wild in a very different way than anyone else too.

"Forgive me for asking you this after such a harrowing experience Bria," Lilith began; "but the things Rostone said about your mother… Well they paint a very unpleasant picture. I understand she had passed, but could you tell us more about the situation, and about what growing up with him was really like? He will face justice for his crimes and I want to make sure we have a full story."

Bria looked down; "It's fine, just… I sound kind of pathetic whenever I talk about it."

"A survivor of abuse is never pathetic. You're incredible to endure it and still have some kindness in your heart." Steve reassured her.

"Yeah, but I "survived" by turning into a bully too! I was a horrible jerk to my friends, especially Matt!" Bria argued.

King scoffed; "So what? You had a jerk phase; so have most of us! Matt was a bully, Steve worked for the Emperor's Coven, Tia Lily was literally the Emperor's head lackey and kidnapped Luz for him, Mason was one of his Coven Heads, and I had a tyrant phase where I proudly declared myself to be the King of all Demons! Some people are jerks sometimes, and then they grow up and get over it! Are you STILL a jerk?"

Bria blinked; "I-I'd like to think I'm not…? I mean, I've tried to be nice like Matt showed me."

"And she didn't turn me in when she found out I was sneaking in here, even though our plan turned her Dad back to normal." Matt chimed in with a smile.

King nodded; "Thought so. Well kid, you're not a jerk any more, so quit acting like you deserved to get beat up on by a bad guy! Let us know what he did so we can throw him in jail! Otherwise I'm feeding him to Hooty!"

"King, no." Lilith frowned.

"King, yes! Mom will let me do it!" the little Titan grinned impishly.

"I really wish I could dispute that…" Lilith sighed, before giving Bria a tired smile; "He's a little terror, but he IS right. You deserve justice."

Bria felt warm inside again, especially as Mason and Matt both gave her comforting looks. Finally, she sighed and nodded; "Okay… you're right. I'll tell you everything I remember… there isn't a lot though, at least not about my Mom."

"Anything you can tells will help, dear." Mason promised.

Bria nodded and said; "Well I don't remember much about my Mom. She died when I was seven. I remember she and Dad fought a lot, and he didn't like the fact I was a girl and Mom didn't want another child. I remember Mom saying she was leaving Dad, and then Dad punched her. She fell awkwardly and hit her head on the wall… she had some kind of fit and there was blood coming from her temple, and Dad just froze. She died right after that; Dad finally called for some Healers but they showed up too late."

"Oh Titan! He murdered her!?" Matt gasped.

"Technically it'd be manslaughter, since he hadn't intended to kill her. At least according to current laws." Steve frowned.

"The Scouts who investigated talked to me and my Dad. Dad said she fell by accident, and I don't know if he bribed them or his good standing in the Construction Coven helped him out or not, but they believed him. They didn't care that Mom had a bruise on her cheek, or that I told them what really happened. Maybe they just didn't want the fuss, or to deal with sending me to an orphanage… we lived in Manubrium at the time and there had recently been some runaways and accusations surrounding the local orphanage, so people didn't really want to deal with it." Bria shrugged.

Steve paled, realising this was likely the same orphanage that Katya ran away from. If this was seven years ago, then the incidents Bria mentioned lined up with Katya's situation. Lilith also looked distraught; she was still head of the Emperor's Coven back then, and her own Scouts had done nothing after hearing Bria tell them that her father murdered her mother!? And they'd left her there with him!? Even Mason was fuming, as Nothor had been highly ranked in his coven.

"Dad didn't like that I'd told the scouts the truth… he got real mad and real mean. He beat me up, but I don't remember much… After that, he stayed mean for a long time. He ignored me before, but now he wanted to "toughen me up" so he yelled at me a lot, put me through a ton of training, and whenever he asked about my social position at Glandus, he'd get furious and "train" me some more… After what happened at the Looking Glass Graveyard, I was really afraid he'd kill me. For a little while afterwards, I wished he had…" Bria said, her voice becoming impossibly small.

Rage and sorrow filled the hearts of everyone present except for King, who was still horrified that a parent could be so cruel to their own child!

"Oh Titan, this happened under my watch! Those Scouts were under my command, and they left you with an abusive murderer after telling him you'd reported him!? Were they just stupid or outright cruel!?" Lilith cried, utterly disgusted.

Bria shook her head; "No, they interviewed us together. So Dad heard me say it himself."

Lilith just about slapped herself in the face; "That is a complete violation of protocol! Between this incident and Katya's, I clearly didn't have as much control or influence over my scouts as I'd thought! Ugh…" she ran a hand through her hair with a stress groan; "I'm really starting to think I wasn't very good at my job."

Steve chuckled bitterly and patted her on the back; "Right there with you, Lulu. I handed Bria over to her Dad after the Looking Glass incident, and told him what she'd done! I didn't pick up on him being abusive at all! Looking back, I remember how mad he was and how scared Bria was, but I assumed that was normal kid stuff! Matt had been just as scared and Dad just as angry after the Detention Pit Incident! It never even occurred to me!"

He looked at Bria with tears in his eyes; "I am SO sorry! You were hurt and abused because of me!"

"And me too. If it'd only done better at commanding the scouts…!" Lilith grit her teeth.

Mason nodded sombrely; "I share some blame too. I knew Rostone was a mean bastard, but I always thought he was honest. But to beat on his own daughter and spread that toxic style o' strength? I shoulda done somethin' from the start. I'm sorry, Bria."

The poor girl looked utterly shocked and confused; she was used to being the one "in the wrong" so having others apologise to her was a new feeling! And honestly not one she particularly liked.

"Please don't apologise! It's none of your faults! Besides, the graveyard thing was my own fault… I deserved it." she argued.

Steve was having none of that though; since she seemed back to her old self a bit, he stood and set Bria down on her feet, then put his hands on her shoulders as he looked her in the eyes; "No, Bria. You did wrong that day, and you did deserve to be disciplined for it, but what he did to you was NOT discipline! He abused you, and under no circumstances did you do anything to deserve it! There is nothing you could do that would justify his abuse of you!"

Mason nodded seriously; "Steve is correct, Little Lady. You're still a young'un, so you made a big mistake. But beatin' you black and blue ain't right! Had I known about it, I'da called him out in front o' the whole coven and made sure they knew what he was, 'fore I challenged him to a proper Witches' Duel!"

"Wouldn't beating him up be hypocritical?" Bria asked.

"Nah, 'cause I'da given him somethin' he didn't give you; a fair shot at fightin' back and defendin' himself." Mason said gruffly, a small smile beneath his beard as he imagined how that fight would have gone. It wasn't uncommon for the Construction Coven to have someone act up, and get called out by someone else, leading to a duel. If the one acting up lost, they'd apologise and take things down a notch, and past sins would be forgiven and forgotten. If they won and got cockier, someone stronger would challenge them until they finally lost… or until Mason turned his attention to them. No one in the Coven wanted a challenge from their Boss; not only was loyalty towards him high so no one wanted to disappoint him, but he was also famed for his strength.

Bria blushed again, especially as Matt put an arm around her shoulders and King decided to perch on her head imperiously. It seemed that she'd already found people to care for her with the CATTs… maybe a real family wasn't so outlandish after all! She felt especially good about Mason, who was now muttering to himself about what he'd have to do to get Nothor charged for child abuse and murder.

Turning to Matt, Bria smiled; "Hey Matt? Thanks… for all of this. Despite all I did to you before, you're still looking out for me."

"Of course. We're friends, right?" Matt smiled, giving Bria a warm look.

For a moment there, Bria couldn't help but think that Matt looked really cool. The awkward little dork he'd always been was gone… Little Matty truly had become Man Tholomule! Feeling an urge to show her affection and gratitude physically, but also mindful of the little Titan on her head (which was just too much to process right now), Bria pressed herself against Matt's chest and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah. We are friends… you're my ONLY friend… so it means a lot to me." Bria said softly, an adorable blush on her cheeks; "But I really promise that next time, I'll be the one defending you."

Matt said nothing in reply, just nodding as he returned the hug and tried to ignore the fact that King was now basically being worn as a hat by the both of them, the little Titan looking vaguely grossed out but didn't want to ruin their moment.

As the two were sharing this moment, and Mason was plotting the downfall of his Interim Coven Head, Steve and Lilith had stepped back a bit and were now talking quietly. It probably wasn't the wisest move to just stand around in enemy territory, but the Angels had all fled and the golem security was designed to prioritise the evacuation order, so they were relatively safe. Besides, unless they flew out of the island, they couldn't actually leave anyway; the path back down to the sauna area was blocked off by the evacuating people.

Lilith was sighing heavily as she sat on a now vacated work bench; "How much of what the Emperor's Coven was doing was I ignorant of? This is the second case of my scouts ignoring the testimony of a child and it leading to abuse! First Katya, and now Bria! How many others must there still be that I don't know about!?"

"It's not your fault, Lilith." Steve said, sitting beside her; "You were running a whole Coven, keeping up with Belos' increasingly ridiculous demands, trying to deal with your wild sister, and so much else! Not to mention dealing with "office politics" with Kikimora and Hunter."

Lilith chuckled; "One good thing I had to say about that boy even before we joined the CATTs was that he hated the politics as much as I did, and genuinely just wanted to help people. I gave him a hard time too often too…"

"Maybe, but you weren't the type to be cruel or sabotaging, right?" Steve asked.

"Of course not! If I showed him up with my hard work then fine, but I wasn't about to rub his nose in it or hurt his standing! I didn't even do that to Kikimora, and that little devil was a real pain in the backside!" Lilith declared, clenching her fist as she remembered some of Kikimora's subtle little attempts at sabotage. The only reason Lilith wasn't wondering if she was the reason for these incidents of scouts ignoring testimony was because for all her faults, Kikimora despised familial abuse. Family was very important to the Red Claw Oni Clan… though Lilith did hear rumours of Kiki and her mother having a bad relationship.

Steve smiled, then asked; "And as soon as you found out about Katya's situation, didn't you immediately investigate and throw the book at everyone involved in the cover-up?"

"Definitely! I wasn't about to let injustice slide!" Lilith said, looking furious.

"And what about this new incident?"

"I'm going to make sure Nothor Rostone spends the remainder of his days in rehabilitation, while those scouts are gonna pray for mercy by the time I get my hands on them! Their ears will be ringing for the rest of their lives when I'm done yelling at them!" Lilith declared, making Steve chuckle.

"Then honestly, I think you were pretty good at your job. You were well liked and kept order despite Kiki's sabotage, Belos' demands, and the general chaos of the coven; I know I looked up to you! But you're still one witch; you can't be everywhere at once. I think things would have been way worse without you." Steve comforted her.

Lilith smiled and gave Steve a side hug; "Thank you, Steve. And for the record, you were always my favourite subordinate. I'd argue you were the best scout in the coven!"

Steve smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes; "Thanks, but I'm not so sure. Steve is beginning to regret his choices…"

"What? What do you mean? Is this about telling Bria's Dad what she did? Because as horrible as that turned out, without already knowing about the abuse, you did what you were supposed to!" Lilith told him.

"Did I? Sure, Bria being scared and him being angry didn't seem out of the ordinary, but how closely I was I really watching? Did I give Bria's reaction a fair shot?" Steve asked, looking down at the ground; "I like to think I've got a good sense for people. I'm good at reading them; it's part of why Belos always unnerved me, and why I liked you so much! But when it came to Bria, I let my bias colour my perspective. She had just got done fighting with my little bro and I knew she'd bullied him in the past… I was angry at her! And in my anger… I'm afraid I didn't give her a fair shot and blocked out warning signs and red flags! Even now, I can't remember if she really was just scared like a normal kid who'd done something bad, or if she was genuinely terrified of being harmed for her actions! If I'd given her a fair shake, would I have exposed the abuse then and there, and been able to save her? She suffered for months in that house after I told her Dad on her… Considering her Mom's fate, she could have DIED because of me!"

Lilith gasped softly as Steve looked heartbroken and guilt-ridden; "Steve… I don't believe that is true. You're too good of a person for that. You've got a pure, open heart; you wouldn't ignore obvious signs. That is the truth."

Steve wasn't so sure; he knew he wouldn't ignore any signs, but could his personal distaste for a person's actions make him more likely to just not notice them? He couldn't be sure.

Before any more words could be said though, a strange red glow began to shine down from the sky. The CATTs all looked up and saw a figure flying in the air with ten white wings on their back, tinted pink due to the red light they seemed to be giving off. The figure was that of a young woman, and as they all registered who and what the figure was, their voice echoed across the island.

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, bind together and form mine power: shield this land from all! Scutum!"

Suddenly, four golden orbs of light emerged from the figure's wings and formed a giant formation in the sky directly above Cocytux Island, before red lines of light connected the orbs in a vaguely diamond like shape. A spectral image of a giant shield then appeared over the formation, before a gold and red barrier appeared over the entire island, effectively trapping everyone on it. The barrier even went out to sea a little and descended all the way down to the sea floor, completely preventing escape. Coincidentally, this happened right after the last of the evacuating people passed beyond the line that the barrier had formed.

Mason looked around in shock, wondering if the barrier had gone down deep enough to seal off the tunnel too. If it had, they'd be in big trouble!

Finally, the figure slowly descended and landed atop one of the red crystals made from the destroyed Red Galdorstone, her aura fading a little to reveal the youngest female Archivist; Azazel the Scribe. Despite easily being older than everyone present, she seemed almost like a shy teenager as she gave them a polite and nervous smile, as well as a little bow.

"Good day, Agents of the CATTs." Azazel said; "Forgive me for sealing you all here on the island, but I have been given strict orders by the Lord Divider. I am afraid I need to place all of you under arrest."

"Just freaking try it!" King snarled, flying at her in a rage; "I'll avenge my people!"

He unleashed his Titan Roar in beam form and shot it right at Azazel, who quickly flew out of the way. King kept attacking though, so Azazel flew in front of Lilith and Steve, knowing King would never risk firing in their direction. However she underestimated the trust that the Clawthornes had for each other, as King attacked anyway, as Lilith had a barrier glyph note ready in her hand to stop the attack if Azazel dodged. The young Archivist didn't actually see this until after the attack though, and she shocked everyone by not dodging and instead using Angelic Magic to conjure a barrier to stop King's blow.

"She… she didn't avoid it?" Steve gasped; she could have done so easily! Had she been afraid Lilith would be hurt?

King was surprised too; "Huh!? Why'd you stop dodging!?" he demanded it.

Azazel briefly looked angry with the little Titan, but then noticed Lilith's glyph note when she turned to check the woman was alright. "Oh… you would have been safe either way… I guess my bluff backfired."

"So it WAS a bluff!" Steve gasped; "You didn't want us getting hurt?"

"That attack from the young Titan could have been lethal. I have no desire to see you any of you killed. I don't even want to hurt you, which is why I hope you'll just surrender." Azazel replied.

"Never! You murdered tons of my people and sealed my Mama's soul so she suffered for thousands of years!" King roared.

Azazel opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of it and silenced herself. Instead, she drew a pair of spell circles that fired chains of white magic at King, aiming to capture him painlessly. King flew away to avoid them, but the chains tracked him, at least until Matt flew up on Pebbles and smashed them away with his metal-coated fists. Azazel frowned and went to redirect the chains, but Steve suddenly grabbed her in a bear hug from behind, while Lilith entered her Harpy Mode and grabbed her spell circles, decaying them with Anti-Magic. The Harpy Woman then turned one of her feathers into a long blade that she enchanted with Anti-Magic and held to Azazel's throat.

"That's enough of that, little Archivist. I appreciate you not wanting me to be hurt, and I'd honestly rather not hurt you either, but I will always protect my nephew no matter what!" Lilith declared.

The Scribe wiggled a little, but while her magical power was currently Seraphim level (and was normally far above that without the Divider's restraints), her physical strength was low. She was basically only as strong as a dainty young woman.

"Hugs are nicer when they aren't as tight." Azazel commented, kicking her feet a bit as Steve kept her off the ground.

"I'm sure they are." Mason said; "But while we've got you here, I think we should ask some questions."

"And you better answer, if you know what's good for you!" King growled viciously.

Azazel shot him a guilty look and looked around, her face falling when she caught no sign of Samael. She sighed and relaxed in Steve's embrace; "Very well. I owe you that much. Ask away."

"Why are you here? We were under the impression that none of you Archivists would be on the Isles today." Mason asked, not revealing how he knew that.

The Scribe looked curious about where he got his info from, but answered truthfully; "I was ordered to search for the missing pieces of Lady Cassiopeia's body, and teleport them back to the Boiling Isles. However I was also ordered to keep an eye out on anything happening in the South Side of the Isles. I have a mirror that triggers an alarm if one of the Union Pillars goes down or one of our priority projects is attacked. I came here as soon as I realised the Tail Bone Pillar was down, as was the Red Galdorstone Project. Though in truth, I really hate that the Lord Divider assigned me here…"

"And why is that?" Matt asked suspiciously.

Azazel gave them all a dead-eyed look; "Because this facility is now a trap."

The CATTs all stared at her with wide eyes, while Bria (who was way out of her depth) just shivered and asked; "A-A trap!?"

"Yes, young one." Azazel nodded; "That is why I placed a Scutum Spell over the island. It is the Shield Constellation of the Human Realm and is nigh-unbreakable. I was granted the ability to cast a single full power Sephiroth Spell for purpose of summoning the power of Scutum to seal you all here."

"So the Divider set back his own plan with the Galdorstone on purpose, just to catch some of the CATTs?" Lilith frowned.

"No." Azazel said in a monotone (though she was not divided); "The Red Galdorstone you destroyed… was merely a back-up and bait. The first one was completed before the Lord Divider left the isles to fight us."

The CATTs gasped; "Bait!?" King snarled.

"Yes. The Lord Divider knew that the situation was similar to the destruction of Cassiopeia's Crystal Sealed Heart, and thought for certain that yourself and Young Luz would come to destroy it, allowing me to trigger this trap. He will be disappointed that he only caught you, Young King."

"He hasn't caught me at all! We've got you now, so we can force you to bust down the shield! Besides, I'm a Titan! I bet I can break it myself!" King declared.

Azazel actually smiled; "You are strong, but you're still very young. Your powers have not developed enough for this yet. Not even all six of you working together could break the shield."

Steve chuckled; "Don't underestimate us CATTs! We caught you pretty easily, didn't we?"

Azazel blinked in surprise and then said; "Oh, did you think you'd caught me? I was under the impression you were holding me simply to comfort yourself that I wouldn't attack as we talked."

Once again, the CATTs looked on in shock, but then they all acted fast. Steve and Lilith both tried to cast numbing spells on her, whilst King prepared to zap her with a glyph combo and Matt pointed one of his bangles at her, producing the metal liquid in hopes of encasing her and trapping her. However all their attempts were immediately thwarted by Azazel suddenly releasing an explosion of magic from her body. The CATTs were all sent flying, though they caught themselves and landed on their feet (with Bria actually showing her own improved skills by doing the same), and thanked their lucky stars that the blast was just raw force and not an attempt to actually hurt them.

Azazel the Scribe then floated a little higher in the air and said; "I am only under orders to capture the young Titan King and the Seraphim Luz; if you surrender and let me take the little one to the Lord Divider without a fight, I will let the rest of you leave."

"Not a chance! If you want my nephew, you have to go through me!" Lilith declared, pointing her staff at the Archivist.

Mason and Matt did the same, while King subtly handed a stack of Glyph Notes to Bria and whispered how to use them. Meanwhile Steve, who had no staff, instead let his hand drift to the pocket of his black leather jacket for a moment, before changing his mind and instead conjuring a pair of stone gauntlets. Azazel regarded them all sadly, then raised her hands, causing red star-like sparkles to emerge from them; "None of you are as powerful as a Seraphim. I am sorry, but if I have to fight, I will defeat you. Please forgive me!"

Without another word, Azazel thrust her hands towards King and Lilith, identifying them as the biggest threats. A stream of red stars went towards each of them, but King blocked them with his Titan Glyph Barrier while Lilith decayed them with Anti-Magic. Lilith then flapped her wings, sending a series of Anti-Magic feathers shooting towards Azazel before using her staff to cast a powerful wind spell at the same time she used her hand to draw a spell circle. The spell circle was a Gravity spell focused on Azazel, and was designed to pull her forward as the wind blew the feathers into her at high speed. King then used his Titan Roar as well, wanting to maximise the damage done.

Azazel was smart though, and had powers neither Clawthorne were prepared for. Before the attacks could hit her, she cried; "Blow away these attacks: Antlia!"

Three gold stars appeared from Azazel's chest and formed a chevron formation, which then conjured some kind of Bellows-like contraption that blew the feathers away with a wind blast that outpaced Lilith's. The fierce wind also collided with Lilith's, creating a mini-cyclone that caught Azazel, overpowering the Gravity spell. The Anti-Magic attack was avoided, but King's roar still hit her and Azazel was sent flying, her spell destroyed in the process. The girl hit her own barrier and bounced off, panting a little as her nose bled from the attack.

"Child or not, a Titan is still a Titan…" Azazel coughed, wiping her nose. "I don't want to fight! The Lord Divider isn't going to hurt you! Please, let's just stop this!"

Her plea was answered by Matt and Mason both suddenly appearing beside her, their approaches hidden by Matt's illusions. Matt threw a punch from his steel-coated fist and Mason attacked with his signature hammer, both blows hitting Azazel's forearms as she suddenly defended herself. The attacks cracked the bones in her arms (though they promptly healed) and Azazel grabbed their wrists and then slammed them together, before conjuring another of the Human Realm's Constellations.

"Will to fight, be burned away! Columba!"

This time, six stars in a vague bird formation appeared and turned into a golden Dove, holding an olive branch in its beak. The Dove struck Mason with the branch and suddenly, Mason found his desire to fight disappearing. It wasn't like he was scared or even feeling lazy; he just suddenly really didn't want to fight any more. Seeing this, Matt managed to dodge the Dove before it hit him too, then destroyed it by conjuring a spike of earth with an Earth Glyph Note. The same spike of earth then hit Azazel, who cried out in pain as it pierced her leg. Azazel then unleashed another explosive wave of magic, knocking Matt and Mason to the ground, where they were caught by Lilith, who'd been on her way to back them up alongside King.

"Ugh…" Azazel groaned, removing the spoke of rock from her wound and casting an Angelic Healing Spell; as the rock had been made by a glyph, she couldn't regenerate the wound on her own and so needed a non-Archivist Healing Spell. Seeing this, King unleashed another Titan Roar, and Azazel actually dodged by banishing her own wings, making her fall out of the sky to avoid it. She summoned her wings again a moment later to stop herself hitting the ground, and King was disappointed to see that his roar had made the barrier ripple, but not crack.

"So it really does take more…" he mused, before hearing a shout from below.

"Columba!"

More Astral Doves suddenly appeared and moved to attack the CATTs (save the pacified Mason and the immune King). Lilith destroyed a few with Anti-Magic, but couldn't stop them all and ended up hit by one, losing her desire to fight. Matt was in her arms still and so wasn't able to wriggle free in time to avoid being hit too, leaving him also pacified. That left Steve and King as the only CATTs left to fight, and the Astral Doves all went for Steve.

"Oh boy! No Doves for Steve!" the man yelled, throwing up a Barrier. However the doves actually passed through it completely, leaving Steve trapped in a confined space with the doves. He began to dance around frantically to avoid them, only to find help coming from an unlikely place; sword blades suddenly leapt out of the ground beneath him and pierced the doves, destroying them without difficulty and not even touching Steve.

Everyone turned to Bria, who had thrust her sword into the ground and cast a Construction Spell to produce the extra blades from the ground. It was actually a complex spell that impressed Matt greatly, as it was basically a version of the Stalagmite spell but enhanced by shaping the stone more carefully and refining it into metal. Bria really had been training hard if she'd mastered that spell and could aim it so accurately!

"Thanks Bria!" Steve yelled, dropping his barrier and rushing over to her, then putting up another barrier with a Glyph Note, certain that this time they'd be safe.

Sure enough, when Azazel sent more doves at them, they popped like balloons the moment they touched the barrier, proving they couldn't get through. King saw this and began trying to snap the others out of their pacifism, only to get no results. Azazel used this opportunity to launch another attack;

"Antlia!" she cried, conjuring the air pump again and blasting King to the ground with wind. Since the pump was made with Archivist Magic but the wind it kicked up was natural, King wasn't immune to it, but he still roared as loud as he could to send a huge sonic shockwave up to destroy the pump. It turned out his roar was larger than he thought too, as it struck Matt, Lilith, and Mason, who were just floating around unsure of what to do. They were knocked out of the sky (and Azazel was too as her Antlia spell was destroyed) but King uses his Monster Glyph Combo to summon giant Titan arms to catch them safely.

"Phew, that was close! Thanks for the catch King!" Matt yelled, before glaring over at Azazel; "I feel ready to fight again!"

"King's roar broke the spell on us! And might have also broken a talon…" Lilith commented, looking at a mildly cracked talon on her foot. A healing spell had it back to prime condition in short order.

"Those doves will be a problem." Mason frowned as he watched Azazel stand up again and use a Healing Spell to repair the damage she took from King's roar.

"I've got something that could help with that, but it needs someone with a good eye. I'm okay with it, but ideally would need someone better." Matt said, King's Monster arm placing him, Mason, and Lilith back on the ground.

Steve smiled; "What about Bria? She was able to accurately hit those doves with swords out of the ground! I bet she'd rock at using whatever it is!"

Bria blinked and squirmed a little, feeling bashful all of a sudden as everyone turned to her again; "I think I'm way out of my league here! But I AM a pretty good shot. Slingshots and rogue spells were a problem at Glandus and after the Adrian thing and I started training harder, I started shooting their gum wads and spells out of the air with conjured rocks."

She demonstrated by scooping up a pebble from the ground (to conserve magic), carved a little fire glyph on it based on the Explosive Glyph Note she'd seen earlier, then flicked it at Azazel. The Scribe raised her hand to catch it, but the stone slipped through her fingers and hit her in the forehead before exploding, burning her and making her shriek and rush to dunk her head in a trough of water in a nearby forge. The CATTs looked very impressed.

"Holy Titan! Good shot? You're an amazing shot Bria! Forget swords, I think a bow would suit you better! Or maybe a Crossbow!" Matt grinned, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bangle.

Matt slipped it onto Bria's wrist then pressed a button, causing it to tighten to fit her perfectly, then expand over her forearm to create a kind of bracer. Pieces of the bracer then expanded and moved around, until a wrist-mounted crossbow had appeared on the back of it. The string was attached to a small automated track, and a small crystal appeared at the top of the bracer, right behind where the string stretched back to, which seemed to be the source of ammo about to be shot. Lastly the arms of the crossbow and a targeting reticle appeared on it too.

"Whoa! I think I saw kids with toy versions of this before!" Bria murmured, examining it.

Matt nodded as Mason, Steve, and King looked at the device with sparkling eyes; "Wrist-mounted crossbows are common weapons, especially among Demon Hunters. Slingshot variants are a favourite of bullies too; we should both know!" he said, making Bria shudder and nod emphatically. "This is the MTH Class Boltcaster. The crystal on the back is engraved with light glyphs to generate shaped bolts of light that are then fired by the crossbow. You can press six different buttons on the side of the bracer to case a special lens to appear on the end of the crossbow, between the arms. The lens are engraved with all the elemental glyphs, except light and shadow, and when the light bolts pass through them, they gain the power of that element, like Luz's elemental light beams! You can use blue freezing, red disintegrating, green healing, yellow stunning, silver homing, and even bronze petrifying bolts! Fair warning, they're low-powered and take three seconds to recharge after each shot."

King was just about bouncing up and down now, as Bria aimed the Boltcaster at different areas around the quarry and pushed buttons, making the different lenses pop up and then sink back down into the body of the crossbow. The trigger mechanism seemed to be a small handle that folded down into her palm and had a button beneath her thumb, almost like a detonator. With no lens in place, Bria shot a bolt at the ground… only to discover that she shot about 10 bolts in the space of a second!

"Ah! What the heck Matt, you said it'd take three seconds between shots!" Bria cried in surprise.

"Yeah, three seconds for the lenses to recharge! The light crystal itself can keep firing until it runs out of juice! It's made with Titan Bile and Angelic Alchemy, so it can get about 10,000 bolts per crystal. That's 1000 seconds, or about 17 minutes of uninterrupted firing! And there are three crystals loaded in that thing." Matt explained

King giggled manically; "Matt, I know what I want for my birthday!"

Before Matt or the others could reply, they heard Azazel once again shout; "Columba!" before a swarm of Astral Doves came flying at them, though this time they used ranged attacks of their own by swinging their olive branches hard enough to dislodge some olives, which seemed to still carry the pacifying power, as Mason used his body to block some flying towards Bria (most of the flock was gunning for her) and was promptly pacified again. This didn't last long as Bria used the Green Healing Beam and shot Mason in the back, using the Titan Magic in the beam to break the spell.

"Good thinkin', Bria!" Mason praised as Bria then began rapid firing at the doves, hitting 9 out of 10 shots and soon destroying the whole flock. However, the flock had kept the CATTs busy as they dodged and blocked the Astral creatures, allowing Azazel to fully recover from the explosion to the face and begin chanting again.

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, bind together and form mine power: unleash the hounds of the hunt to hold back mine foe! Canes Venatici!"

Two golden stars connected by a single line of red magic appeared, and from them emerged a pair of Astral Hounds, which barked and snarled as they ran at the CATTs. They were soon followed by dozens more, as Azazel continuously used the spell to create a whole pack of them, which went tearing after her foes with gnashing teeth.

"Making us fight dogs!? Not cool!" Steve yelled, reluctantly punching one of the Astral Canines with his stone clad fists as it barked at him.

"They aren't real! Just magic constructs! Don't hold back!" Mason yelled, turning his Palisman into a mace and duel-wielding him and his hammer. He spun in a circle, both smashing away several hounds and drawing a spell circle, which he prepared to activate. "Get off the ground!"

Lilith grabbed Steve in her talons and flew up, while King flew away, and Matt swept Bria off her feet and placed her on the back of Pebbles as he too hopped on, taking to the air. This allowed Mason to activate his spell circle and cause the island to begin tremoring, making the Astral Hounds flail and wobble around on their unsure footing. The CATTs and Bria were amazed by the display of magic, then noticed the Power Glyph on the back of his neck; clearly he'd slapped it on the instant he'd seen an Archivist descending upon them.

Taking a page from his book, Matt and Steve both did the same, while Lilith handed her own Power Glyph to Bria in case she needed it (Power Glyphs weren't as useful to her, as her Anti-Magic interfered with them). Azazel saw the sudden rush of power and used another Columba Spell, though this time she added a twist:

"Wings of darkness, conceal thy brothers; Corvus!"

A new constellation, this time made of five stars forming a misshapen box with a tail on one corner, began unleashing a murder of Astral Crows, and since they and the Doves both appeared to be made of the night sky itself, with a golden aura, it became very hard to tell them apart at a glance, especially with them all flying around and the Doves throwing their branches.

Bria shot a hail of light bolts at them, then drew a spell circle and created a sandstorm around Azazel, blinding her for a moment. "Not that shooting these things isn't fun, but shouldn't we be stopping her? Let me and Matt go on the defensive, and you other guys can go on the offensive!"

"She's got a point! I'm going in! Cover me!" King yelled, slapping some wind glyphs to his wings and flying at Azazel, who was now being guarded by all her remaining Astral Hounds.

"Antlia!" Azazel suddenly yelled as he opened his mouth to roar, blowing away the sandstorm and hitting him in the open mouth with a burst of wind that knocked him to the ground. For a moment, King was terrified as the Astral Hounds swarmed him, but they just formed a circle around him whilst barking and snarling. A few made aggressive moves, but none of them actually bit him or attacked no matter what he did.

"Wait… what the heck?" King muttered, confused.

A series of light bolts shot by Bria swiftly destroyed the Astral Hounds, and at the same moment, Matt, Lilith, and Mason landed around Azazel and launched attacks; Matt using a rare Petrifying Glyph Note (the painless, Luz variant) and Mason manipulating the leftover sand from Bria's sandstorm to trap Azazel's legs to stop her escaping as Lilith shot feathers burning with Anti-Magic at her arms. A swift explosion of magic knocked their attacks off-target, and Matt's attempt to petrify her actually resulted in him catching Lilith's foot. It spread to her knee before Lilith pulled off her entire leg, thanking her lucky stars that her "curse" still allowed her to do this even now that she'd mastered it.

Matt gasped and began to apologise, but found Azazel's hand closing around his mouth as she gripped her face, then spun him around and tossed him at Bria and Steve back down on the ground floor. Bria tried to catch him, but Steve luckily got their first, setting his brother back down without a fuss or mark on him. At the same time, Mason (who'd been knocked back the hardest since the explosion knocked him from the second floor down to the first) managed to use the sand he'd been controlling to cushion him and get back to his feet… whereupon he found that Lilith's stone leg was now next to him, while the woman herself was flying around in the air, being pursued by Astral Doves, while King was now once again being menaced by Astral Hounds.

Mason wasn't as sure of a shot as Bria, so instead turned the sand into glass darts and shot them at Azazel while Bria once again began shooting the doves. As this was happening, King bravely stared down Azazel, who'd blocked the glass darts easily.

"I don't know what you're playing at, but you can't fool me!" King declared, stepping forward and ignoring the hounds; "These things won't even touch me! The crows from before didn't either! You're trying to beat us without actually hurting us! Even those explosive blasts are just meant to knock us back!"

Azazel didn't deny it; "I told you, I don't want to hurt any of you! Please just surrender and let me take you to the Divider. He won't do anything bad to you; he has sworn it!"

King sneered; "And why should I believe you, Murderer!?"

"BECAUSE I'VE NEVER KILLED ANYONE!"

That sudden, heartbroken, guilt-ridden scream echoed across the entire island, making all the CATTs (plus Bria) freeze in their spots. This did cause a distracted Lilith to be hit by an Astral Dove, but she'd kind of already had the will to fight knocked out of her by Azazel's cry.

King stared at Azazel in shock as real tears trickled down her face. He knew Archivists COULD lie without pain, but also knew they still found it uncomfortable… and here was Azazel openly saying she'd never killed someone! Did that mean she'd never killed a Titan, or was it some exact words nonsense and she didn't consider it a lie because she didn't consider Titans to be people?

"What!? You're trying to say you never killed a Titan!?" King snapped.

"No! Never!" Azazel swore; "I-I fought Titans, and I even h-hurt them… but I only ever fought to defend myself or my siblings, and I only ever hurt them to make them stop fighting! I held back too! I HATE fighting and hurting people!" Azazel swore.

The young Titan's first instinct was to scoff and call her a liar, but he just couldn't; the look on her face was so earnest, so much like Samael's, that King couldn't help but believe her. The sheer guilt in her eyes was just like the guilt in Samael's when Belos tricked him into using those nightmare illusions on him and the others, and King found his hatred for Azazel beginning to lessen slightly.

"You really didn't kill my people…? You didn't want to hurt them?"

"No. My idiot little brother, the Huntsman, picked a fight and started a war between us and the Titans! We only came back after he was driven off to apologise on his behalf and try to make amends, while salvaging the Archives project! But because of him, things broke down and before I knew it, we were at war! But I remember how Mother loved a Titan once, and would never want them hurt! I also knew Samael was friends with the little ones like yourself! But then the war started and it was chaos! I couldn't do anything but try to protect my family!" Azazel cried.

King frowned, his ire lessening even further. He flew so he was right in front of Azazel's face, ready to blast her with a roar if she made a hostile move, then asked in a voice full of sorrow and anger; "And my Mama? What about her? You and your siblings cursed her and turned her heart to crystal so she was trapped for thousands of years after she died! She suffered a lot because of that! Are you gonna say you didn't have a hand in that!?"

Azazel bit her lip and looked down in shame; "No, I had a hand in it. Your Mama was, as far as we knew at the time, the last adult Titan. Aside from the Huntsman, we all wanted her alive! Even the Keeper and Watcher didn't want to kill her, since they still needed to complete the Archives, and didn't want to kill the last Titan. I agreed to use that spell because I was hoping it would stop her from sacrificing her life! When we cast it and she went to explode anyway, I tried to leave and take the others with me so she would stop! But we didn't get away fast enough, thanks to the Huntsman."

Now King was extremely conflicted; Azazel was in part responsible for all his mother's pain and suffering, but she had also tried to stop it! The curse had been an attempt to discourage Cassiopeia's sacrifice and keep her alive! The other Archivists may have had ulterior motives, but Azazel really seemed to have just wanted to avoid a pointless death!

But despite knowing all that, King was still angry! He was still hurt! Sure, he understood now that while she wasn't 100% innocent, Azazel was also far from evil, but that didn't make the pain he felt go away. Good intentions or not, King's Mama suffered because of her! Samael felt abandoned by her, and she hadn't stopped her siblings either! Had she even tried? King didn't know and was almost afraid of how he'd feel regardless of the answer.

King was only eight (almost nine) so he had no idea how to verbalise or even internalise these feelings. Unfortunately for him, his moment of internal struggle left him open, and a guilt-ridden Azazel reached out as if to pat his skull, only for a barrier to suddenly appear around King, trapping him in a ball of pink energy. He gasped, and the others (who'd been watching the discussion closely) looked on in shock as a spell circle appeared in Azazel's palm, previously hidden by an illusion. King looked at her with shock and betrayal, and she looked back with guilt as she began to chant;

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, bind together and form mine power: bring forth the altar for the ritual of sending! Ara!"

Seven golden stars emerged from her heart and formed a vague hourglass shape as they were connected with red lines of magic, before an Astral altar appeared beneath King's prison… an altar that had what looked like a Teleportation Circle carved into it.

"SHE'S GONNA WARP ME AWAY!" King cried out to his friends, who couldn't see the circle. In an instant, Mason and Matt flew up at Azazel, rapid firing rock spikes to try and stop her, while Bria tried to stop her with a Freezing Light Bolt, and Steve used Construction Magic to craft a catapult to hurl boulders at the Archivist. Sadly all of their attempts failed, as Azazel blocked the ranged attacks with a barrier of Angelic Magic, similar to the kind trapping King. Lilith tried to save King too, but as she was still pacified, she instead went to decay his prison instead of attacking Azazel. The Archivist saw this and used another Constellation spell.

"Bind, bite, and paralyse! Hydra!"

Over a dozen gold stars emerged and formed a vague snake-like shape, which then created a giant Astral Serpent to attack Lilith, forcing her to dodge and escape, much to her annoyance as the pacifism kept her from fighting back. The Hydra was decapitated by Matt, who shaped his liquid metal armour into a guillotine blade and slashed it down, but as expected from the name, two new heads emerged from the Hydra's neck, giving the CATTs a bigger problem to deal with, especially as the original severed head reconnected itself, giving the Hydra three heads.

King watched in horror for a moment, before turning to glare at Azazel, who still looked as miserable as before; "You tricked me!" he accused.

"I did not. I haven't said a single false word since I arrived today. I had not intended to use those words to fool you, but I didn't want to hurt you. You wouldn't surrender, so I took the only chance I had." Azazel confessed; "I truly am sorry…"

"If you're sorry, then don't do this!" King yelled; "Samael is with us too! If you really want to make amends for my Mama, and be with him, then join with us!"

Azazel looked so very tempted, but ultimately she shook her head; "I cannot. I swore an oath when I entered the Divider's service. The oath may not kill me like it would a mortal, but the pain is enough to make me fear it; I learned that the hard way when I disobeyed the order to divide your friend's mother."

King's eyes widened; even though the Divider had known she'd disobey his order to divide his Tia Cammie, and had in fact counted on it, Azazel had still been punished!? Then again, if it was an oath then he might not have chosen to punish her, and the oath acted alone. The fact Azazel had defied an oath for Camila's sake DID endear her to King a little more, but it also made him desperately cry; "I'm sorry it hurts, but isn't it better to join with us anyway!? I mean, we can help you!"

"Perhaps… but I also cannot defy my older sister. The Keeper is in charge and wills that I obey the Divider. I am sorry young King; from the bottom of my heart, I am sorry… but I have no choice. I won't disobey my Mother's final words to me."

With that final, heartbroken sentence, and with King and the CATTs powerless to stop her, Azazel went to activate the circle, humming a soft and melancholic tune. Bria, wanting so badly to prove herself, managed to leap onto the Astral Hydra's head as it lunged at her, using her sword to stab it and hold on tight as it reared up, giving her a clear shot at Azazel from other her barrier. She fired a stunning yellow light bolt from the Boltcaster and managed to hit Azazel and stun her for a moment, seemingly stopping her song…

…only for it to be too late. The circle began to activate literally milliseconds before the light bolt impacted, and in a flash of light, King disappeared to an unknown location.

"NO! KING!" Lilith cried in horror.

She tried to fly towards the altar that King had just disappeared from, but the Hydra wouldn't let her escape it that easily, and she couldn't even fight back against it. Steve, seeing that Bria was still clinging to the Hydra and in shock that her last shot had failed to stop King being abducted, knew she was in no state to cure Lilith's pacifism, so he instead pulled out a light glyph note and used it to shoot a bolt at Lilith's stone leg. The beam damaged the stone a little, but Lilith didn't feel it thanks to the petrification, however since the leg was still part of her, the Titan Magic in the beam broke the pacifism spell, allowing a now much angrier Lilith to coat her claws in Anti-Magic.

"Unkindness of the Raven!" Lilith snarled, naming her move for the first time as she grabbed the Hydra's central head and caused the entire thing to ignite with Anti-Magic flames. The Hydra couldn't regenerate under the power of the flames and so was promptly destroyed, allowing Lilith to shoot off towards Azazel while Bria was caught by Matt.

Azazel was still a little bit stunned from Bria's shot, so she wasn't able to defend herself immediately as Lilith smashed into her and decked her hard in the face with a fist coated in Anti-Magic. The Archivist yelped in pain, but the damage to her face was healed before she even hit the wall, though Lilith then towered over her and grabbed her by the throat, before pulling her forward and smashing her into the wall again, this time making sure Azazel was completely off the ground. The Scribe winced and yelped with the impact, but again the damage was healed and she just stared at Lilith with an expression of shame. Matt flew up with Bria, and Mason briefly stopped to get Steve (along with Lilith's stone leg), and they all surrounded the girl.

"Where did you send my nephew!?" Lilith roared, squeezing Azazel's throat tightly. The girl wasn't struggling for breath though, and while she showed plenty of shame, she didn't seem afraid, which only angered Lilith more. "Talk!"

"Uh, Lilith? I don't think she CAN talk… you're squeezing kinda tight." Steve winced, noting the Lilith's claws were actually digging into the back of the girl's neck enough to draw blood.

Lilith looked shocked and let go, instead grabbing Azazel by the front of her shirt while Bria used the recharged Petrifying Light Bolt to turn one of Azazel's hands to stone to stop any funny business.

"Now, TALK!" Lilith demanded. "Where have you sent my nephew!"

"I won't tell you. For your own safety." Azazel said, the marks on her neck healing immediately. She didn't actually need to breathe, which was why the strangling didn't bother her too much, but she did find it hard to talk when her vocal cords were constricted like that.

"Our safety!? What do you mean by that!?" Lilith growled, clearly not doing a good job of staying composed. Not that anyone could blame her.

"The place I have sent him to, per the Divider's orders, is the most impenetrable place in the Demon Realm. Getting to him is impossible now, but I know you'd attempt it anyway. I don't want to see you doomed, so I will not tell you where it is." Azazel said in a monotone.

Lilith growled, but the others (sans Bria) exchanged looks. It sounded like he'd been sent to Rani's Eden, but surely Azazel was smart enough to know they'd think that and attack there first. Then they thought of Titan Cradle Island, a place that had been surrounded by a massive homestead and staging area for the Wings of Rani, and which would serve as an ideal spot for King to be contained; back in his old tower. But the CATTs couldn't see the Divider being willing to tell the Archivists about the final refuge of the Titan child, especially as it seemed the island was specifically hidden from them, so they didn't think Azazel would be able to send him there.

"How about you let us worry about our own safety." Matt said; "Tell us where he is. You wouldn't want Samael to hate you for taking away his best friend and big little brother, right?"

Azazel winced and looked deeply upset, but she still shook her head; "I will not. He will only hate me more for leading you all to your dooms. I have come to terms with the fact my baby brother will forever despise me for my sins… but I will still protect him however I can."

Lilith growled deeper and her form began to grow larger as her composure was put to the test. The others weren't sure if Lilith and Raine could still use their old cursed forms now that they'd fully bonded with their repressed, cursed selves, but if Lilith got any angrier, a Bile Overload could lead her Harpy Form to becoming a full Raven Beast again as her feral instincts took over.

Mason stepped forward; "Miss Azazel, I really think you should tell us. I don't think we can hold Lilith back much longer. You can't keep a Clawthorne from her family without catching some claws to uncomfortable places."

"You have Titan Magic in those glyphs, but your regular magic is useless against me. Though this Anti-Magic is a new phenomenon for me, I can still heal it given time. There is nothing you can do to me that I cannot recover from." Azazel replied.

She was rewarded for this comment by Lilith pulling her forward and then slamming her into the wall again; "Good, then I can keep beating on you until you tell me what I want to know, and I don't have to worry about holding back!"

Azazel grit her teeth, but as her non-petrified hand twitched, Bria was quick to shoot and petrify it too, pre-emptively stopping another spell.

"Uh uh! I don't really get exactly what's going on, but you kidnapped Matt's friend! I'm not letting you get away!" the girl declared, making Matt beam at her.

Azazel scowled, but was soon yelping as Lilith hit her against the wall again; "Talk now, brat! Or we'll see how many parts I can take off you!"

With her guilt and shame slowly being overpowered by annoyance, Azazel decided it was time to remind these mortals that she was not some child they could intimidate. She was still a Daughter of the Celestial, and though her oaths and loyalty to her siblings kept her on the wrong side of this conflict, she was still not about to be treated like some weakling!

With a growl and an explosion of magic that sent all of the CATTs flying off the edge of the second floor and down to the ground floor of the Central Quarry, Azazel freed herself and then promptly began to chant;

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, bind together and form mine power: burn away all that ails me! Phoenix!"

Eight stars formed a very loose bird shape, and then an Astral Phoenix emerged from them and unleashed jets of fire onto Azazel's hands, reverting the petrification. As it was not complete, strong Healing Magic was able to undo its effects with a bit of effort, and the power of a Phoenix made from Celestial Magic certainly qualified. As soon as it was done healing her, the phoenix erupted into a vaguely bird-shaped projectile of Astral Fire, which then shot towards the ground between the CATTs, who were still recovering from the sudden blast back. Steve saw it coming and used a Barrier Glyph Note to save them from the explosion, but by the time the smoke cleared, Azazel was already flying high into the air, stopping just beneath her massive Scutum barrier.

"She's getting away!" Steve yelled, using a Construction and Abomination spell to turn the ground beneath their feet into bouncy purple clay, which he jumped on after using a gravity spell on himself to increase his weight, resulting in his friends all being launched into the air. Once in the air, their Palismen caught them and allowed them to begin flying after Azazel, while Lilith decided to lend Corvanc to Bria, since she had no Palisman of her own and she'd proven a deft shot. That turned out to be a wise move too, as Bria launched a series of accurate light bolts at Azazel, interrupting her attempts to take down her own barrier and escape. It appeared the barrier trapped her as well as them, and since it had been made with an Archivist's full power, it was actually hard for even the caster to bring it down.

The Scribe began to dodge Bria's shots, before growling and conjuring a barrier of Angelic Magic to stop the shots. She began to chant again, but this time Matt yelled for his friends to cover their ears, then used an Auditory Illusion to create a deafening sound, making Azazel scream and cover her ears, allowing Lilith and Mason to reach her and decay her barrier, then smash her back down to the ground with a double blow from the former's foot and the latter's hammer. Azazel hit Steve's rubbery ground and bounced back up, allowing Steve to quickly grab her in another bear hug.

"MATT! BIND US WITH YOUR LIQUID METAL!" he yelled up to his little brother.

Matt nodded and removed the coating from his arms and sent it down to coat both Azazel and Steven below the neck, but Azazel roared in anger and blasted Steve away with an eruption of magic, which also blasted away the liquid metal, forcing Matt to recollect it. Steve hit his bouncy ground and was thankfully unharmed, but Azazel then raised her arms and began firing dozens of little golden orbs of magic, which bombarded all the CATTs.

Steve, Lilith, and Mason all yowled in pain as they were the focus of the attack, while Matt and Bria both yelped and winced, though noticed Azazel holding back on them, likely due to them being kids. Devastatingly, some of the shots even homed in on the Palismen, resulting in both Corvanc and Nodis being hit and knocked unconscious, causing Mason to fall and hit the ground hard, and Bria to fall and be caught by Matt. Pebbles was also hit, but thanks to Matt, the little fellow had been coated in liquid metal at the last second to protect them.

Unfortunately, Mason was knocked out by the fall since he'd hit the ground outside Steve's bouncy clay, and with two of the three Palismen knocked out too, Azazel's shooting stars homed in on the remaining CATTs, meaning Matt was kept busy evading to protect himself and Bria, Lilith was being pummelled even harder, and Steve could barely protect himself by manipulating his bouncy clay into a shield. This allowed Azazel to once again make a move to escape.

"I am sorry, but my power is still just above the average Seraphim, even with the restrictions of the Divider. You never stood a chance." Azazel said, genuinely sounding sad. However her job here was complete now that King was captured, so there was no more need for her to fight.

The CATTs and Bria watched on in horror as the Astral Shield disappeared from around the island, revealing the distorted sky of the Demon Realm once again… along with someone Azazel had not expected. The Scribe looked back up, preparing to fly away at top speed, only to come face to face with Katya, who'd been flying on the other side of the barrier and trying to get in.

"Huh!? Who are-!?" Azazel began, only for Katya to suddenly grab her collar.

"You don't need to know who I am, you just need to…" Katya grinned, before beginning to sing; "HERE ME ROAR!"

The words, from a Katy Perry song from the Human Realm, caused Katya to unleash a vicious sonic roar very similar to King's, only lacking the Titan Magic and the colours. Still, the sheer force of the roar was enough to send Azazel flying almost all the way back to the ground, and though she stopped and recovered a few feet before hand, she was quickly sent into the ground completely by Matt and Bria, who'd flown down to catch Lilith's petrified leg, before Bria used it as a stone club to smack Azazel with.

The stunned Archivist groaned and rubbed her head as she stood up again, and Katya flew down to help out the CATTs. Azazel's distraction stopped her star attacks, giving the CATTs a moment to regroup. Matt and Bria rushed to help the unconscious Mason, while Lilith flew up into the air and began constructing an Anti-Magic barrier of her own, so Azazel couldn't escape again. Meanwhile Katya smiled at Steve.

"Hey there Handsome. Looks like I arrived at a good time! What's the Scribe doing here though? And where is King?" Katya asked.

Steve smiled and kissed her; "Hey yourself, Beautiful. You're a sight for sore eyes, especially with how things have been going! This whole mission was a trap! The Red Galdorstone was a back up, the main one was finished weeks ago, and Azazel showed up and kidnapped King! Now we're just trying to stop her from running off without telling us where she sent King!"

Katya gasped; "Oh no! No wonder Lilith looked so mad…" she said, looking up to where Lilith was making the barrier with a furious scowl.

"Yes, it's not going great… What about your side? It seems like it went well!" Steve smiled.

"We had some resistance, but between Amber's Shadow Travel and Selective Songs, Derwin's Ear Worm, Severin's Magic Tuning, and Pops' Anti-Magic, we cleared the hurdles easily enough. We all split up after finishing our mission to go back up different groups; some of the Distraction Team were having trouble with the Wings of Rani and Titan Trappers, so the others went after them while I volunteered to come here so I could help you out." Katya explained.

Steve sighed; "Thank the Titan you did too! Azazel was about to escape! She is tough, as expected of an Archivist!"

The two turned and looked at Azazel, who seemed to be checking herself over carefully. She'd been fully healed by her own regeneration and a healing spell (since Lilith's leg had been petrified by Titan Magic, she couldn't regenerate the damage it did on her own) but seemed to suspect there was more to Katya's Bardic Spell than met the eye, since it resembled a Titan Roar.

"We need to restrain her, but anything shy of Titan Magic is useless." Steve frowned.

Katya looked up to the barrier Lilith was making, then over to the teens watching over an unconscious Mason, whom Bria seemed to be trying to heal. "I can probably use some Wind spells and songs to keep her from trying to get to Lilith, but I don't know what else I can do. What about you?"

Steve fished out what appeared to be some kind of old scroll; "I have this… it's my ace in the hole. With the spell inside this scroll, I can probably match Azazel's power and defeat her, but I need time to set it up and cast it. Do you think you, Matt, and Bria can buy me time to cast it? I can get Mason to safety in the mean time."

Katya eyed the scroll with uncertainty; she could have sworn she'd seen it before recently, but didn't remember where. "I can do that, but what does this spell-"

Before she could finish the question, Azazel suddenly shot up and went to attack Lilith, who had to maintain the barrier to keep the Archivist from escaping. Realising she had no time for questions, Katya flew up with Rumba, using wind to speed up and reach Azazel before she reached Lilith.

"You're not going anywhere!" Katya cried, before whistling a tune as she drew a spell circle, causing bars of music to physically manifest from her hands and shoot towards Azazel, wrapping around her ankles and allowing Katya to pull her back. Azazel scowled in frustration and tried to shoot golden stars at the Bard to blast her back, but the stars were themselves shot and destroyed by Bria and the Bowcaster.

"You're really getting good with that thing!" Matt grinned as he flew up with Bria on the back of his staff. Steve had told Matt the gist of his plan, and now he'd dragged the unconscious Mason, Corvanc, and Nodis to a safe location down in the Sauna room, while Steve himself stood in the epicentre of the destroyed Red Galdorstone, using an illusion to hide amongst the red crystals, and began preparing his big spell… whatever it was.

Bria smiled proudly at the compliment; "It's so easy to use! Just point and shoot! But this is all you, Matt; I wouldn't stand a choice against this crazy lady without your invention! I can't believe I'm wielding Titan power!"

Azazel scowled, noticing the bowcaster; so that was the source of so much of her frustration! "Maiden of chains, bind my foe! Andromeda!" she cried, conjuring a series of stars that formed the vague image of a woman wrapped with chains. This created an Astral copy of the mythical figure; Andromeda, who in turn sent the chains around her wrists towards Bria. Matt turned Pebbles back into animal mode to make both him and Bria drop out of the sky to avoid the chains, then turned him back into staff mode to catch them both again and fly away, once again avoiding the chains as they came at them.

Seeing this, Katya (who still had Azazel's ankles tied up), swung the Archivist around and smacked her against the Astral Andromeda, causing them both to be tangled up in the musical bars and Andromeda's chains, forcing Azazel to dismiss the latter with a snap of her fingers, then slice apart Katya's magic with a simple blade of pink light from her hand.

"I am growing sick of this! Please just let me leave! King is gone, even if I told you where he was, you'd never be able to reach him! You'd doom yourselves in the attempt! I don't want to fight or hurt you, but I need to return as I was ordered to! Just let this end peacefully!" Azazel pleaded. She had been ordered to return after her mission was complete, and if she stayed much longer, she feared the oath would punish her. She had no desire to be further hurt by it, especially when she was strong enough to knock out this band of rebels easily if she stopped playing nice.

Matt scoffed; "You think hearing it's impossible is gonna stop us!? Try asking how many times we've done the impossible! We're not giving up no matter what! So if you want us to stop this and "let you go", then tell us where you send King!"

Azazel grimaced and looked away, an actual tear slipping down her cheek. She hated fighting and hurting people so much… but she had to obey.

"Then you really leave me no choice…" Azazel whispered, before she released a powerful wave of magic that caused Matt, Bria, and Katya to be blown back a little. The Archivist rose into the air a little and spread her wings as an aura of pink and red came over her, while her body briefly shone before becoming totally pristine, as if she'd never been injured or fought at all. The aura she gave off was intense, even for a Seraphim, and despite her appearing as a young woman that even Katya would call her junior, all three young people suddenly felt as if they were faced by something far worse than even a Dragon.

"Protect me from reprisal; Scutum!" Azazel declared, waving her hand and creating another instant of the powerful Astral Shield, though this time only around herself as she began to chant in earnest.

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, shine with the light of the Holy Sun, and ignite the Power of Ancient Legends! O Archer of the Golden Arrow, defeat the purple-haired maiden: Sagittarius! O Bull of the Golden Horn, defeat the metal-armed knight: Taurus!"

In a flash, Azazel waved her arms and summoned two entire mini-galaxies of stars, which began melding together and forming the Constellations of Sagittarius and Taurus, from which spawned an Astral Centaur with six angelic wings on its humanoid torso and a massive golden great bow in its hands, as well as an Astral Bull with six angelic wings on its own back and long golden horns on its head. The two Astral Beings focused their attention on Bria and Matt respectively, with the former taking aim with its great bow and beginning to fire huge, spear-sized arrows of light, while the latter charged through the air as if it was running on solid ground and began chasing Matt, who tried to use a barrier spell to stop it, only for the barrier to be shattered immediately, forcing him to fly away at top speed to avoid the Bull.

As this was happening, Azazel lowered her barrier as she chanted one final spell; "Give me the gift of music; Lyra!", resulting in the conjuring of a lyre made of Astral Magic. Lyra's namesake constellation allowed Azazel to take up a lyre and begin strumming it, sending golden notes of Astral Magic firing straight at Katya, who countered with notes of her own Bardic Magic. She had to play fast though, as note of Azazel's magic needed two of her own to counter, and Katya soon found herself struggling to keep up, allowing Azazel to begin slowly making her way back to Lilith, albeit more slowly since she had to keep Katya at bay.

Unfortunately for Katya, the situation was about to get worse as she was forced to come to the rescue of Matt and Bria. It turned out that Sagittarius and Taurus were a deadly combination, as Taurus' charge controlled where Matt and Bria could fly, funnelling them in the exact direction that Sagittarius wanted them, allowing him to fire an Astral Great Arrow and snipe Bria in the stomach, launching her right off Matt's staff. The arrow hadn't pierced her but it HAD burned a hole through her shirt and left a circle of burnt skin on her stomach that made Bria wince in pain, on top of the feeling of being punched by a golem. They were high enough for a fall to hurt and knock her out, but not kill her, and Matt wasn't able to fly to save her thanks to Taurus chasing him, so Katya was forced to do it.

Snapping her fingers, Katya summoned her back-up instruments; a pair of crescent moon shaped tambourines without the drum section, allowing her to play them one handed. She shook them in rhythm and began playing a song of her own composing; The Fanfare of Flight, which bent the wind currents around her and allowed her to fly on her own, which in turn allowed her to send Rumba to catch Bria right before she hit the ground.

"Rumba! Stay with the kid and help her out! I'll fly on my own for now!" Katya yelled as a stunned Bria awkwardly sat herself on Rumba's staff. The little beetle buzzed in response, and Bria shouted her thanks too as she finally began healing the burn on her gut. She'd barely gotten it healed before Rumba was jerking her out of the way of another shot by Sagittarius, who began galloping into the sky the same way Taurus did, pursuing Bria as fast as it could.

What followed was a chaotic three vs three duel in the sky, in which the teens tried to evade their pursuers and strike back when possible, and Katya tried to keep Azazel from escaping.

Bria, not having a staff of her own, really didn't know how to fly properly, so she instead shifted herself so she was sitting backwards on Rumba and asked the little beetle Palisman to fly at his own discretion, trusting him to get them all to safety as she tried to fight Sagittarius. The Astral Archer fired another great arrow at her, aiming for her shoulder this time, but Bria was able to grip Rumba tightly and then flip herself around so she was hanging upside down beneath the staff, dodging the arrow and allowing her to begin returning fire with Matt's Bowcaster Gauntlet. She managed to clip one of the Archer's wings with a shot, but while this slowed Sagittarius down, it didn't stop it and she soon had to hoist herself back up to dodge another great arrow. Sagittarius seemed to have expected this though, as the moment she righted herself, an arrow struck her in the shoulder, having been timed and aimed perfectly. Bria barely managed to hold on to Rumba with her now injured arm, which thankfully wasn't her shooting one. She didn't have time to stop and heal it, so she used her shooting arm to draw a spell circle whilst rapid firing at Sagittarius to make it dodge and evade. The circle was used to conjure a sand storm, which she used as cover to fire light bolts AND steel spikes at her foe, refining the spikes out of the sand she could conjure.

Sagittarius dodged the light bolts, but didn't even bother with the spikes, which seemed to pass right through it without issue. Bria frowned; where Astral Constructs immune to non-Titan Magic? Or at the very least immune to regular magic? Or perhaps it was unique to these Super Constellations? Either way, this gave her an idea; she prepared one of her needles, hollowing it out before she loaded it onto the light caster, then fired a light bolt, hoping the bolt would go into the spike and launch it, whilst using the spike like a sleeve. Her hope was that Sagittarius would not dodge it, thinking it was a simple metal spike, and thus would be hit by the light bolt and destroyed. It was a good plan in theory, but unfortunately it failed; the light bolt went into the spike like she planned and launched it, but the moment it made impact, it dissipated and only the spike passed through Sagittarius without issue. Bria scowled and wondered if she could coat the light bolt in metal as it flew through her mini-sand storm (which was allowing her to avoid arrows much more easily), but found that the bolts just moved too fast; either too fast for her to coat in time or too fast for the metal to fly, meaning even if she got the coating on in time, the bolt would hit the inside and still disperse.

Instead, she decided to try and use a trick with the different glyph lenses Matt had made. First, she switched to the green lens and nervously shot herself in the burnt soldier with a healing green light bolt. It stung a little on impact, but the pain of the burn really did end up numbed, and the wound healed a little. She then took aim at the Sagittarius and began rapid firing the regular light bolts, trying to trick it into dodging in specific directions so she could predict where it moved (all while she continued to dodge and renew her sandstorm to evade the Astral Archer's counter attacks). Eventually she found a window and aimed a freezing blue light bolt directly into that window, managing to hit one of the Archer's legs and causing it to freeze and then crumble away as it continued to gallop. However even though it looked like it was galloping on air, it was still actually flying with its wings, so it wasn't impeded still, it showed Bria that her plan worked.

Unfortunately, it would only work once.

Sagittarius adjusted to the tactic immediately, and when Bria attempted to repeat it with a stunning yellow shot this time, she received a nasty surprise. The Archer didn't simply respond to her bait by dodging into the shot; it dodged into it at the same time it fired a shot of its own, firing a great arrow that was destroyed by Bria's light bolt, but also blocked it, allowing a second immediate follow up shot to the same spot to blast through the sandstorm. Bria's repeated attacks had unfortunately also revealed her position to her opponent, so now it could track her through the sand and took advantage of this to return fire, it's shot smacking into her shooting hand.

Bria screamed as not only was she burnt and one of her fingers broken by the shot, but Matt's Bowcaster was also badly damaged. It still functioned, but half the lenses had been broken as had the compartment containing the two spare crystals, which had also taken with it a chunk of the current crystal, which took most of Bria's ammo with it. The pain in her hand was bad, but Bria grit her teeth and bore it; she refused to be the Damsel in Distress again! She would be the one helping to save Matt this time!

And saving really was something Matt could use right now, as he was having as much trouble with Taurus as Bria was with Sagittarius!

[Meanwhile]

After trying to outfly the Astral Bull for a little while, Matt and Pebbles had learned that in a straight line or with slight curves, Taurus would inevitably catch up to them, being able to run just a little faster through the air than they could fly. They were able to gain distance by taking sharp turns, but unfortunately Pebbles was better at casual flying, and Matt was definitely not confident on a staff, so the same turns that saved him from those razor sharp golden horns also carried the risk of getting him VERY close to them!

To make matters worse, nothing Matt did seemed to damage the Bull! He'd tried a few of his smaller gadgets but none of them had Titan Magic or Glyphs, so they were useless, and his normal magic wasn't working either! Not only that but he couldn't even try and create something new in the field, since he needed a sturdy surface and time to concentrate! He couldn't even make a barrier to protect himself, as Taurus ran through them like they weren't even there! He needed a glyph barrier or to make an earth wall with an earth glyph, but Matt had slipped all his glyph notes to Bria, thinking she needed them more than he did!

"Oh Titan, please don't tell me that chivalry is actually gonna get me killed!" Matt cried.

"Matt! Can't we do that thing with the red flag? The one we saw on TV in the Human Realm? That worked on bulls!" Pebbles asked childishly inside Matt's head.

"The Matador thing? But didn't Luz say that was really cruel in real life? Oh who am I kidding, this isn't even a real bull!" Matt said, shaking himself. He thought of conjuring himself a sword and red cloth, but suspected the cloth itself wouldn't matter as Taurus was focused on him… not only that, but Bria's sword was still on the ground from when she dropped it after the Hydra died. Why waste the magic when one was already available!

Mentally telling his idea to Pebbles, Matt had him fly down to the ground, then Matt jumped off and sent Pebbles off to Bria to back her up and offer support, as well as keep the Palisman safe, since his magic wasn't helpful to Matt right now. As expected, Taurus descended to the ground to chase him and Matt used Construction Magic to harden his body and soften the ground as he ran over it, making it sloppy and swamp-like, only for Taurus to rush across it without being effected. It wasn't actually running on the ground still, and Matt couldn't reach Bria's sword in time!

"Dang it! No time! Guess I'm taking this bull by the horns!" Matt cursed. He stopped running and actually softened the ground at his feet so they sank into them a little, then hardened it again to root him to the ground. He then used his Power Glyph to massively overpower a strength-enhancing spell, as well as coating his legs, hands, forearms, chest, and throat in his liquid metal concoction, leaving only enough flexibility in his hands to let him grab Taurus' horns while protecting his vital areas.

He finished in just enough time to brace himself, as Taurus crashed into him, his golden horns being grabbed by Matt's metal clad hands. The boy, even with all his incredible strength, couldn't hold out against the unbelievable power of the Astral Bull, resulting in his Power Glyph burning out immediately as his strength-enhancing spell failed to keep up with the power of the bull. Due to this, Matt was slowly pushed back despite having anchored his feet to the ground, causing the stone beneath him to crack apart as his feet carved tracks through it. Eventually he hit the wall of the ground floor and came very close to being crushed, but Taurus wasn't trying to kill him, but rather pin him, which it did by using its head to hold him in place while the creature's horns were driven into the bone wall of the ground floor vertebrae.

"Oof, dang it! Budge you giant steak!" Matt growled as he struggled to try and force Taurus back so he could escape. Bria's sword was only a short dash away, but now he was stuck and had a 1000 pounds of space cow between him and it! He looked up at the others and saw Katya struggling with all her might to keep Azazel from escaping, while Bria was still fleeing Sagittarius, shooting it through a sand cloud she'd whipped up. Poor Pebbles was trying to get to her for back-up, but he couldn't keep up with Rumba, and it looked like Bria and Rumba were so focused that they hadn't even notice the little fellow. Matt was just about to call Pebbles back to him when he witnessed one of Sagittarius' arrows managing to hit Bria's arm, damaging the Boltcaster and making her scream.

"BRIA!" he cried out, before growling furiously; "Damn you! Get out of my way you discount sack of burger meat!"

Matt began trying to pummel Taurus, but strangely, whenever he threw a punch that should damage the Astral Bull, his hands would just pass through it like it wasn't even there, while trying to touch it normally worked fine. It seemed these Zodiac creations had some clever defences of their own!

"Think Matt! I need glyphs and titan magic for this! But I'm out of paper! Should I try carving a glyph in the wall with my metal finger?" he thought, looking down at his metal hands. Suddenly, he had a brainwave; his liquid metal coating! If he could shape it however he wanted, couldn't he shape it like a glyph!?

"Nothing to lose here! Eat this, cow!" Matt declared, manipulating the liquid metal on his left hand to create a light glyph shape on his palm. Triggering it with his fingers as if he were Spiderman shooting a web, Matt was able to fire a light beam directly into the middle of Taurus' head. The Astral Bull released a noise of pain and began to thrash, recoiling backwards and freeing Matt, who sadly now had a frantically raging bull between him and the sword he was after. The light glyph he'd tested his theory with had been small, so the beam it made had only burnt Taurus' astral flesh without piercing it, so Matt needed to do a little more!

"I don't approve of bullying, especially with animals, but if this is the difference between victory and defeat, then I'm gonna have to do some old fashioned cow-tipping!" Matt yelled, slapping his hands together as he manipulated the metal on his palms into the shape of earth glyphs. He then slapped the ground and caused two pillars of rock to emerge beneath Taurus' left side, tipping the raging bull over and allowing Matt to make a break for Bria's sword. Once he was close enough, he used the liquid metal like a whip to grab the sword and bring it towards him. With it in hand, Matt prepared to use his liquid metal to place glyphs on the sword, but as he started the work (whilst desperately using the liquid metal from his anklets to draw glyphs on the ground and keep Taurus at bay), he suddenly had a thought; these liquid metal glyphs were good and all, but he had to keep making them after each use as the glyphs consumed the soft material, and that meant he'd run out before long. The special liquid metal concoction wasn't something Matt could easily make in the field, so he decided to instead try a different tactic, and as much as he hated that Bria had been hurt, the damage done to his Bowcaster might turn out helpful for a change!

With a new plan in mind, Matt scanned the ground and soon found what he was looking for; the damaged parts of the Bowcaster that had been knocked off, including the back up crystals. Using liquid metal to grab the broken components and drag them over to him, Matt then used it to create a large barrier glyph combo beneath his feet, which allowed him to create a Titan Magic barrier around himself. Taurus smashed against it impotently, and then ran off so it could build up momentum for a full-force charge. This charge actually made the barrier ripple, so Matt had to work fast!

"I hope Bria is cool with some modifications!" Matt mumbled as he put his new signature ability; Integration Magic to work. He started by trimming down the two light glyph crystals, then cutting a small hole in the very bottom of Bria's sword, which he slotted the first crystal into, welding it in place with liquid metal. He then carved thin channels into the surface of the blade, as well as the hilt, and attached the second crystal to the pommel of the blade, constructing a housing for it with more liquid metal, which he refined into a sturdier but unmoving alloy. Finally, he used a mix of refining magic, his liquid metal, and some quartz sand that he'd pocketed earlier when Bria ran off, which he used to create a cover for the hilt of the sword, which incorporated a switch and some crystal circuitry shaped like a light glyph on the inside.

"Moment of truth!" he said, activating the switch. The two crystals flashed gold for a moment, then the one embedded in the blade channelled its magic through the grooves and the crystal wires Matt had put into said grooves, causing the entire blade to be coated in golden light, becoming something akin to one of Luz's light sword constructs, or a lightsaber. Matt dropped the barrier just as Taurus was coming charging at him again, and with some liquid metal coating his vitals just in case, Matt rolled forward, managing to roll between Taurus' horns and under its chin, whilst slashing through its underbelly with the light sword. The Astral Bull let out a roar, then as Matt reached its tail end, he spun around and held the blade above his head with both hands, tapping the crystal in the pommel as he did so. This caused the light blade to grow much longer and larger, exceeding the size of the metal sword and the boy himself.

"Eat this! Behemoth Blade!" Matt roared, bringing the blade down on top of Taurus. The Astral Bull, already damaged, stood no chance; the colossal light blade slashed right down through its body, cutting it in half down the middle. The creature gave one last forlorn roar, before it's two halves flopped over and disappeared into sparkles of gold and black.

Matt panted with relief as he fell to one knee, but sadly he would not be able to rest; his victory had not gone unnoticed, and Azazel ordered Sagittarius to redirect its focus to him. Matt didn't realise this until he had a scream of "MATT! LOOK OUT!" before a warm body suddenly slammed into his side and threw him to the ground.

The boy was shocked by the sudden shove, and even more so when he heard a pained yelp a split second later. He looked up and saw that it had been Bria, who'd flown in to shove him out of the way from one of Sagittarius' great arrows. She'd managed to save him, but the arrow had ended up hitting her in the side instead, and while it didn't pierce her, it did burn her and knock her off Rumba, causing her to hit the ground hard.

"BRIA!" Matt cried, picking himself up and scrambling over to her. Rumba, turning back into beetle mode, turned and flew to her too, while Matt summoned Pebbles to his side, the poor Palisman never managing to catch up on his own. The boy quickly used his liquid metal to make a Barrier Glyph Note to protect him and Bria, causing Sagittarius to continue launching a stream of golden great arrows at them, pinning them down.

"Bria, are you okay!?" Matt cried, seeing the girl's injuries.

Bria, exhausted, managed to grin and say; "I've been better. I finally managed to pay you back and save you for a change! That arrow would have hit your head if not for me!"

She was pretty proud of that too, and Matt was quick to thank her, while fussing over her injuries. Bria preened under the praise, and blushed a little as both Rumba and Pebbles nuzzled her to comfort her, but she couldn't rest now! She had an enemy to take down, and while it irked her to ask for help from Matt, she needed his expertise.

Whipping out the Power Glyph she was given earlier, Bria slapped it on and used her enhanced magic (which had an orange and blue aura) to cast empowered healing spells on herself, restoring her body to full health (minus the fatigue she'd built up). Matt was shocked by her proficiency.

"Healing again… you used it on Mason too. I never knew you were so good at it!" Matt commented.

Bria shrugged; "I actually wanted to go into the Healing Track when I left the Baby Class. Dad, I mean, Nothor refused to let me." she said, choosing to stop considering that man her father; "He said it was "for girls" and no child of his would be a Healer."

Matt just blinked; "Huh? I don't even know where to start with how wrong that is! Also, sorry if I'm wrong on this, but you ARE a girl, right?"

"Of course I am! Nothor wanted a son though, and decided that even if I was a girl, he'd raise me like I was a boy. Still, I kept practicing my healing whenever I could. He and the bullies at Glandus gave me a lot of stuff to practice on." Bria said, looking almost wistful.

Matt glowered, feeling faintly murderous. But before he could say or do anything, Bria continued; "Forget all that though! I want to take that brat down! Her and her dumb Centaur thing! I've got an idea for how, but I need your help! I want to make an illusion!" she then held up the glyph notes she'd gotten from him earlier; "Which of these things lets me do that?"

"Uh, I can just make it for you? If it's an illusion, I don't think it needs to be Titan Magic to work." Matt said.

Bria shook her head; "I want to do this myself! You beat your guy, let me beat mine!"

"Oh! Okay…?" Matt said, blinking in surprise as he pointed to the correct note in the stack he gave Bria. She took a look at it and memorised the pattern, then grinned.

"Okay! Just stick close to me Matt! Tether yourself to me or something!" she ordered. Matt did so, using a chain of his liquid metal to loosely connect their wrists together right before Bria used the illusion glyph note to hide the two of them behind an illusion of them just standing in the barrier and planning something. In reality, Bria (taking back her upgraded sword with a grateful smile) tunnelled down and out of the barrier, descending all the way down to the first below sea-level floor. From there, Matt pointed out the invisibility glyph combo, and Bria used it to sneak them both back up to the ground floor via the stairs, arriving to find that Sagittarius had upped its game, now firing arrows into the air and causing them to split apart and rain down on their barrier as a hail of smaller golden arrows. Bria didn't care about this though, and used almost every illusion glyph combo in the stack to create a HUGE cloud of mist that filled the entire interior of Lilith's Anti-Magic barrier, meaning it concealed Azazel and Katya (saving Katya in the process, as she was NOT having a good time) and also concealed Sagittarius, though both Azazel and her creations were faintly visible through the mist thanks to their glowing bodies.

Bria then ran around the edge of the ground floor, taking advantage of her Power Glyph to create golems in the stone walls. The golems were shaped like her upper body emerging from the wall, equipped with her own copy of the golden great bow Sagittarius wielded, complete with quivers of stone arrows that she refined into steel.

Once she was finished making them, she was almost entirely out of magic from the Power Glyph, so snapped her fingers to use up the last of it and have her golems fire an onslaught of stone arrows at the golden glow of Sagittarius. It worked, and Sagittarius was soon dodging like crazy… until it realised that the arrows were mere stone and couldn't hurt it. That was when Bria began her real plan; she used the red lens of her Boltcaster to prepare a disintegration bolt and aimed right for Sagittarius' heart, the mist around him having cleared away a bit thanks to all the arrows whizzing through him. She then used the last of her illusion glyphs to conceal the bolt as just another stone arrow, before making one of her golems stop shooting and stand in front of her so her disguised bolt would come from the same angle and Sagittarius wouldn't spot anything wrong.

Bria and Matt both held their breath while Pebbles and Rumba rested on the girl's shoulders to help calm her and stop her arm from shaking with nerves. Finally, Bria took the shot and the red bolt, hidden within an illusion of stone, flew right towards Sagittarius. It didn't even react, assuming it was another dud… right until it pierced its heart. The Astral Archer didn't have chance to react, as the Titan Magic of the shot caused the bolt to take root and the disintegration power of it immediately activated and caused its entire torso to melt away into stardust. With the torso destroyed, the rest of the body fell apart and the construct was officially destroyed, giving the victory to Bria.

"YES! Take that! Whose a Damsel in Distress now, huh!?" Bria cheered with joy. Matt cheered too and was about to offer his congratulations when Bria, caught up in her moment of triumph and joy, suddenly grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in for a victory kiss. Bria herself wasn't entirely sure why she'd done it; she liked Matt a lot, especially the person he had become, she found him to actually be kind of handsome (seeing his older brother also gave an extra hint of what a future Matt might look like), and the feeling of her victory had also gone to her head a little, so she'd kind of acted on impulse.

When the two finally pulled apart, both breathless and blushing, Bria almost shoved Matt away out of embarrassment. The poor girl was beet red, giving Amity's tomato blushes a run for their money, and she began stuttering and babbling, trying to find the words to explain or excuse what she'd just done, all without being insulting to Matt or making herself look stupid (or stupider) in the process. Matt, feeling just as stunned but honestly having massively enjoyed the experience of his first kiss, decided to do the chivalrous thing as well as what he really wanted to do anyway…

"Hey Bria? When this is all over, do you wanna go out some time?" he asked.

That gave Bria something to latch onto, and she replied; "Y-You're asking me out? Now!?"

"W-Well, I'd have asked you out before the kiss, but… well I'm not an Oracle so I can't see the future." Matt forced a chuckle, trying to make a joke; "And honestly… I like this new side of you. The side that's strong but also nice. I really respect that; I know how hard it is to change sometimes, and you had it especially hard since you didn't have support like I did. So… I guess I'm saying; I like you! Um, would you like to go out with me?"

It was a bit rambly, and not as cool as he wished, but Matt felt like he got across what he wanted to. In response, a panicked Bria gave a squeak of embarrassment and punched Matt in the arm. It hurt a little, but Matt was sturdy and honestly felt more pain in his chest as he felt a spike of disappointment; "I guess that's a no!"

"No! I-I mean yes! I mean…!? Ugh, I DO! I DO wanna go out some time!" Bria yelled, completely flustered.

Matt beamed; "Really!? Great! But then why did you punch me?"

Bria squirmed; "I-I don't know. I got embarrassed and I panicked! I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you did I?"

Honestly, seeing this side of Bria was actually pretty adorable in Matt's opinion, so he smiled and reassured her that he was fine, then kissed her on the cheek, returning the favour for the kiss back at Glandus too. He wasn't brave enough (nor did he feel it was appropriate) to kiss her on the lips again just yet to repay the second kiss they'd shared, but he did grin and gently flick her forehead to repay the punch.

"There, now we're even." he smiled.

Bria's heart swelled and Pebbles squeaked and wagged his tail with joy from her shoulder, while Rumba was flying in circles above her head, looking so happy. Like Katya, he was a fiend for love and love stories, and the awkward puppy love of these two teens was like ambrosia for the beetle.

Sadly, that happy moment couldn't last forever as Azazel still flew overhead, dominating the "battle" with Katya.

Poor Katya was a powerful Bard for a Witch her age, and her ability to perform complex songs with just a percussion instrument like a tambourine was considered nearly prodigious… but she was up against an Archivist with magic just a little above average for a young Seraphim! The "battle", if one could call it that, had thus far been almost exclusively made up of Azazel attempting to get to Lilith and defeat her so the Anti-Magic barrier would come down, all while Katya continuously chased her and tried to stop her. Up until now, Azazel hadn't made more Astral Constructs since she couldn't maintain more while those two Zodiacs were in play, so Katya had used her Fanfare of Flight to keep up with her in the air and used wind and shockwaves to knock the Scribe back down, since nothing else she did had any effect whatsoever. Katya had already used her Power Glyph, which had at least allowed her to shoot a lucky wind blade that had knocked the lyre from her opponent's hand, but Azazel healed from her offensive spells in an instant, the songs Katya tried to perform at the same time as the Fanfare of Flight had to be simple since playing one song with a tambourine in one hand and a different one with another tambourine in the other hand was just too difficult, and thus they didn't have much effect either, and to make matters worse, even using Glyph Combos was failing to do much as Azazel could still use Healing Magic to fix herself up from any damage done, or use normal Angel Magic to counter the effects if needed!

It had taken every scrap of Katya's willpower and magic to keep Azazel from getting away, and she was just about tapped.

Azazel actually paused in her attempts to flee to look down at Matt and Bria, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Those children… I sense they hold weapons with Titan Magic, and the boy has the seed of Titan Power deep inside him, but I never imagined they'd defeat two of my Zodiac Creations!" Azazel muttered to herself.

She was distracted for only a moment, but this was enough for Katya to slap a light glyph to her own face and sing out "Here me ROAR!" once again, now mixing the magic roar with the glyph to create a pseudo-Titan Roar that succeeded in smashing Azazel into the ground with a scream. Now that the kids weren't preoccupied, Katya didn't need to worry as much about letting Azazel get near them! If anything, now they could help her!

"Matt! Can you and your friend tag in for a bit while I recharge? I'm running on fumes!" she yelled.

The two teens looked to were Azazel was picking herself up and healing her wounds, then they both nodded; "Got it! We'll handle her for a bit! But find out what's going on with Steve! We really need all of us here!"

Katya nodded, and with that, Matt and Bria's short respite ended and they jumped to attack Azazel. Matt used his remaining liquid silver and Bria's upgraded blade to attack her at close range, while Bria used Matt's Bowcaster and Rumba to help her keep fighting too, as Katya refused to take the Palisman back yet, in case Bria desperately needed to fly. Azazel was shocked by how well the two fought together, and with their Titan-enchanted weapons, she actually had to focus on blocking instead of just tanking damage, and soon the two had her pinned down as she considered if she was willing to hurt these kids badly enough to knock them out or trap them.

As the teens were fighting, Katya whistled so she could use a Sonar Spell to find where Steve had hidden himself, then promptly used an illusion glyph combo to hide herself as she rushed over to his spot over on the red splattered region of the island that had been hit by the remains of the Red Galdorstone. Stepping on it felt a little like stepping on ice or glass, and it was hard to find traction as she rushed to where she'd detected Steve. As she passed by a giant red crystal, she wandered through an invisible boundary and entered the illusion Steve had hidden himself with, only to be shocked to find him now stood in the middle of a very complicated ritual circle. He was shirtless and just putting the finishing touches on the innermost layer of the circle, which he was copying from the scroll he'd shown earlier.

Katya wondered just what the spell he was preparing was; was it some kind of Sephiroth Sealing Spell? Something he'd learned from Luz or a scroll he'd borrowed from her? Katya certainly thought the scroll looked familiar… though she didn't finally realise what was going on until Steve turned in her direction and she gasped, seeing the earth glyph of Cassiopeia engraved on his chest. It had been tattooed there using a special metallic ink that Steve was good at making, and which he could magically infuse into a person's skin. He'd used it many times leading up to the Day of Unity to cover Coven Sigils with the CATT's emblem (though the sigil still functioned underneath the tattoo).

"S-Steve!? What are you doing!?" Katya cried.

The man froze for a moment, before his shoulders slumped and he kept working; "I had hoped you wouldn't see this…"

"You'd hoped…!? Steve, please don't tell me this is what I think it is!" Katya pleaded.

"It is." Steve sighed, refusing to look at her out of shame; "The Rite of Ascension."

"Your big plan is becoming a Supreme Dragon!?" Katya exclaimed.

"Yes. It's the only way I can think of to get us out of this and stop Azazel from escaping! We need information on where King was sent and where the real Red Galdorstone is. None of us are strong enough to stop her and our glyphs aren't enough! You're exhausted, I'm exhausted, Mason is out cold, and the kids are fighting their hardest while Lilith keeps that barrier up! But as soon as the kids go down, Azazel will take out Lilith and escape, and there goes our only lead! But with this ritual, I can gain the Titan Power needed to defeat her! A Supreme Dragon is on the same playing field as the weakened Archivists, and with all of us working together, we can beat her! Taking out one of the Archivists will be a HUGE boon!" Steve explained.

Katya could scarcely believe it; "B-But what if it doesn't work!?"

"Then I'll become a Draco Lich. Not as good, and it'll mean my death, but so long as you avoid me and set me on Azazel, you'll all have time to have Lilith bring down her barrier and remake it from the other side, trapping Azazel until you can get back up. Besides, I think a Draco Lich still has SOME Titan power, so it might be able to beat her if I'm lucky." Steve replied.

That was a straw too far for Katya, who stalked up to Steve and grabbed his wrist. She was tempted to slap some sense into him, but she hated the idea of someone slapping their lover for upsetting them and she refused to be that kind of person. Still, she pulled Steve off of the ritual circle and then grabbed his shoulders.

"Steve Tholomule, have you really lost your mind!? I know it's important to learn where King has been sent, but can't Lyra use her new Oracle skills to find him!?" she cried.

"Only if he's on the Boiling Isles! Remember, Oracle Spirits can't cross salt water! If he's not on the isles or Rani's Eden, then we're in big trouble! Besides, we still can't waste this shot to defeat an Archivist while she's alone!" Steve countered.

"But is that worth risking your life!?" Katya suddenly screamed; "If Cassiopeia rejects you, you're dead! And if she accepts you, you'll outlive your whole family! You'll outlive me!" she began to tear up; "You promised! You promised me you wouldn't die or go anywhere I can't follow!"

Steve looked guilt-ridden, but he stuck to his guns; "Katya, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone! But I need to do this!"

"Why!?" she demanded.

"To repent."

Those two words made Katya's eyes widened as she let go of Steve's shoulders and gently lifted his chin, making him look her in the eye; "Repent? You? B-But what do you have to repent for!? You're the best man I've ever met!"

"You know about what I did to Pebbles; I abandoned him to joint he Emperor's Coven. And that's where more of my sins lie…" Steve began to tear up as shame filled him; "I was so stupid. I thought I was helping the isles and its people… I thought I was being a hero and making a peaceful world for my little brother! But I was so, so wrong! I arrested innocent people for being Wild Witches! I confiscated property I had no right to, all on the orders of my EC superiors… I helped enforce laws I knew were unjust, and kept telling myself I just didn't understand the Emperor's wisdom! My sins are beyond counting… people like you suffered because of people like me. How many of your fellows in the Conformatorium were put there thanks to me? Because I obeyed orders…?"

Tears began to spill down his cheek and Katya's hand cupped his face and wiped them away; "You've been really beating yourself up over this… this whole time?"

Steve nodded and sniffled; "I keep thinking; if I had been there the day you were arrested on trumped up charges, would I have obeyed the order and arrested you? Would I have helped arrest Luz back when Callisto did what she did? Or helped Lilith take her to Belos? Would I have fought you and your found family for Belos? Every fibre of my being wants to say no… but I don't know if that's true. So I have to make it right; I have to do something to make it all better, or at least make it so I've done more good than bad! I-I want to be the Hero that my little brother sees me as!"

Katya stared into his eyes, and knew for a fact that any argument was already lost; Steve was determined to make things right in his own way, to repent for his past sins, and help the CATTs even if it cost him his life. She didn't like it, but seeing the look in his eye left Katya unwilling to stop him… but she still intended to make him keep his promise!

"You promised you wouldn't go anywhere I can't follow. So… I hope this ritual circle is big enough for two!" Katya declared.

Steve gaped; "What!? You want to go through the rite with me!?"

"Why not? Lars, Zara, and Godric are all Supreme Dragons and Mates! Not only that, but Zara told me that they shared their rite and ascended together! Heck, if we both try to bond to the same Titan, we don't even need a second set of humours or another Dragon Heart!" Katya said with a wide grin; "Face it buster, you're stuck with me! We do this, we do it together!"

Steve looked briefly unsure, but deep inside he was truly happy. No matter what happened, he'd be with his beloved forever! What more could he possibly ask for? Still, this was a big step that he'd been thinking over ever since learning of what Terra did back in the Navel Woods. He wanted Katya to be sure!

"I would love to have you with me forever as my Mate, but you realise the risks too, right? We could be rejected and die! And if we succeed, our families will die long before we do. As long as a Cassiopeia is in the In-Between, we won't be able to die of old age, and Lars says that when she moves on, our lifespan will still be 10,000 years from that moment! That's a really long time! Would you be okay with potentially not seeing your Pops, Amber, and Derwin for that long?" Steve asked.

"It would hurt, but no more than a departure would hurt anyone else. You'd not see your parents and brother for just as long! So I'm with you to the end, lover boy!" Katya promised, kissing Steve deeply.

When they finally broke apart, Steve said; "Then let's do this. But first, I need to mark you with one of Cassiopeia's glyphs, since the humours I have came from her."

He held up five test tubes to show that he did in fact have samples of Cassiopeia's blood, bile, bone, breath, and earth. Katya looked at them in surprise, so he answered her unasked question; "They were in Flora D'splora's possessions back on Digale. I cleared out her room in the fortress after Hooty ate her."

"Morbid… but anyway, I choose the element of Wind." Katya declared; "Desire, Freedom, Faith? I think a rebel like me who believes in her boyfriend enough to follow him into dragon-hood can be compatible with that! Besides, wind is my best element!"

"Wind and earth; opposites attract in our case!" Steve smiled, holding up his finger with his tattooing spell ready to go. He used his other hand to pocket the humours and pull out a pain numbing potion, since even the spell form of tattooing could be painful. "Take this and I'll begin."

Katya obediently drank the potion and felt her body tingle a little as she then began unbuttoning her shirt to reveal the top of her chest. She intentionally winked and allowed her cleavage to be in full view, teasing Steve a little, much to his pleasure and mild frustration. He kept his cool though and began to gently and very carefully tattoo the wind glyph onto Katya's body, using one of King's drawn wind glyphs as a template. Katya felt nothing but a VERY mild sting as he worked, and when he was done, the skin was slightly inflamed but the wind glyph was now engraved in silvery metallic ink on the top of her chest, matching the earth glyph on Steve's.

"Alright, are we ready?" Steve asked, pulling out the humours once again, as well as a small Galdorstone that Katya recognised as being the former heart of Terra Snapdragon. It felt oddly appropriate that the heart of that old dragon would be used to give the CATTs their own shot at becoming dragons!

"Okay, we have the humours, we have the dragon heart, we have the ritual circle, and we have the glyph tattoos… now all we need is a huge amount of magical power!" Katya declared, wondering what Steve had in mind for that. The man grinned and pointed down at the ground, specifically the remains of the Red Galdorstone! They would be using the Divider's own bait against him! After all, all the magical blood and actual magic poured into making it would definitely be enough to give them what they need to complete the transformation!

"We have everything. No second thoughts?" Steve asked.

"Not a one. Let's do this, my beloved." Katya smiled, giving Steve one more kiss to motivate him. He smiled brightly, then handed the scroll to Katya and had her hold it open so they could recite the ritual words together.

"Upon this day, in time of Spring, we do hereby make our communion! O Titan on high, Great Mistress of Shadow, Lightning, Wind, and Earth, we do call upon thy soul! May this circle rouse the magic from this world and give intent to our call!" they chanted. The ritual circle began to glow a mix of silvery grey, orangey bronze, bright yellow, and dark purple; the colours of Cassiopeia's elements.

"O Magic, here our words! Be born from our bodies and our offerings! This great field of crystal, born of blood and magic freely given; let its power give strength to our call!"

The red remains of the Red Galdorstone began to flash in the colours of the Cassiopeia's elements, then slowly turn black and crumbly as the magic was funnelled towards Steve and Katya, giving them an aura in the same colours.

"Almighty Titan, roused from thy slumber; we offer our flesh as a vessel for thy blessing and power. As we partake of thy flesh, thy bone, thy breath, thy bile, and thy blood, we divest ourselves of all bonds and offer up our souls to your judgement and your judgement alone!" they incanted, Katya almost fumbling as she wondered just what it meant by divesting all bonds. Steve opened each sample of Cassiopeia's humours one by one and consume half of what was there, then sharing the other half with Katya. They opened the breath vial together and inhaled deeply, before moving onto bile and blood. They felt a bit sick from eating dirt and drinking bile and blood, but the feeling passed quickly, and was replaced by a mild pain in their chest that felt more like their hearts were hammering a little too hard. Their eyes began to glow; Steve's glowing bronze and Katya's glowing silver as the power they'd consumed gave them a Bile Overload, though the ritual circle kept them calm.

"With thy earthly blessings consumed, and our souls laid bare, we implore thee: Almighty Titan, give unto us the blessings of thy sacred body. May our skin become as scales, our nails become as claws, our teeth become as fangs, and our breath become as power. Let the blood within our hearts carry the strength of the Dragon, as it once flowed through this offered vessel."

Steve lifted the Galdorstone of Terra Snapdragon and Katya briefly wondered how they were going to break and share it, but Steve surprised her by placing the whole thing in his mouth and using his powerful jaws to crunch it up, before kissing her and giving her half the heart in an easy to swallow form. The two swallowed the remains and then began the second to last chant.

"Almighty Titan; our flesh and our souls stand ready to receive thy blessing. Upon us has been carved thy marks; the Glyph of Wind, representing dominion over Freedom, Faith, and Desire, and the Glyph of Earth, representing dominion over Strength, Endurance, and Determination. May these marks be the channel that binds our souls to yours."

The glyphs began to glow in the same colours as their eyes, and despite being tattooed on themselves rather than earned through a blessing, they glowed healthily, showing that Steve and Katya had Cassiopeia's favour and/or understood their respective elements. The slight discomfort in their chests from earlier faded, and the ritual circle now flashed between bronze and silver every second.

Finally, the couple completed the ritual with the final words: "Circle carved, give form to our will. Magic channelled, give power to our will. Humours consumed, connect our flesh to thy master. Heart consumed, connect our blood to thy master. Glyph blessed, may your power be ours! We summon thy soul, Almighty Titan! We beg your audience and your blessing! So mote it be!"

As they spoke those final words together, Steve and Katya found the light of the ritual circle suddenly erupting up from beneath them, engulfing them both in a spiral of bronze and silver light. The beam actually blasted up and tore a hole through Lilith's Anti-Magic barrier, and became like a beacon for the entire Boiling Isles, with the group already on Cocytux Island naturally seeing it too. Steve and Katya were oblivious to this though, instead embracing as they felt their souls connect to Cassiopeia and the world around them fading into white.

When the colours of the ritual circle finally faded, they both found themselves in the white void that Luz and Vee had described from their meetings with Orion, with an infinite silver sea stretching out in all directions. They were floating without the need for flight, and Katya was shocked to find that Rumba was with her, having had his soul brought here thanks to their connection. But they all soon ended up perched on a colossal, tan furred paw that had emerged from the sea. The rest of the hand's owner emerged and the two Witches were faced with the mighty form of Cassiopeia.

They had both met her in the In-Between Realm, but seeing the pyjama clad Titan with a ducky sock on one horn was a far cry from what appeared before them this time. She was colossal, only a bit smaller than the Boiling Isles, and she had no clothing and a much more intense aura, as expected of a god-like being. She also, strangely, had a sad and worried look in her eye as she lifted the two CATTs up so they were on her eye level.

Immediately, Steve and Katya dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. Cassiopeia had requested no worshipping behaviour before, but somehow they felt this was different.

"Something dire has occurred, hasn't it?" Cassiopeia asked, noting the glow of her glyphs on the Witches' chests; "For you to mark yourselves and appear before me after what happened with my mate and that defiler… I also cannot help but notice that this happened after you were with my son, and after the Portal Seeds stopped showing him to me. That can only mean an Archivist or the Divider is near him."

"Yes, my lady." Steve said, his head bowed; "We were ambushed by Azazel the Scribe. The mission to the Construction Coven Headquarters was a trap by the Divider. In the struggle, the Archivist captured King and sent him away somewhere."

Cassiopeia's hand trembled beneath them, and Katya quickly said; "We are deeply sorry for failing to protect him! But we have managed to hold the Scribe in place for now! We want to defeat her and remove her from this war, as well as get her to tell us where she sent King! He must be with the other Archivists or the Divider if you still can't see him!"

"I see…" Cassiopeia said, her voice deep and full of emotion; "… I need no apologies from you. You are but mortals facing off with a creature close in power to us Titans. Even weakened, the Scribe is slightly above the average Seraphim. And aside from Samael, who is on par with the average Seraphim, she is also the weakest of them. It's a miracle you've held her in place at all."

"It is. My brother and our newest ally, Bria, are fighting like champions to hold her back while Lilith is working hard to keep her sealed within a barrier." Steve said formally; "But they cannot hold her for long and we are all almost drained. So we beseech you, Lady Cassiopeia; accept our service and devotion and give us your blessing! We both swear to use your power to make you proud!"

Cassiopeia looked at him with sympathy; "You know, I never thought I'd see another ritual performed in my name. I never wanted anyone in my service, with Lars and their predecessors being the only ones I accepted. You are aware that if I reject you, you will both suffer a horrible fate."

Katya nodded; "We understand, and will accept that if you wish it. Even as Draco Liches, we can help defeat Azazel."

"You speak earnestly, and I can sense the love between you both. I can also feel that the elements within my soul are heeding the call of your marks. If I bless you both, you will bond fully, unlike that defiler with her false plant glyph. Yes… I am willing to accept you both." the Titan proclaimed.

Steve and Katya looked up with joy and excitement, but Cassiopeia's eyes were still full of sadness and worry. "I fear for my son, but I know the Divider will not see him harmed and my god-daughter will rush to his rescue on the morrow. But I fear for the two of you too, and for your brother, young Steve."

"Us? Matt?" Steve frowned.

Cassiopeia nodded; "I fear you two, even upon a successful transformation, will not be able to win against the Scribe."

"But even if she's stronger than an average Seraphim, shouldn't two Seraphim-level Supreme Dragons be strong enough to beat her?" Katya asked.

"Yes… but that is not what you will be. A Supreme DRAGON is Seraphim-level, but a Dragon Priest or Priestess? You would be closer to an Arch-Angel. A high-ranked Arch-Angel mind you, but still a far cry from your Dragon forms." Cassiopeia informed them.

The two Witches frowned; "Wait, we won't be able to get Dragon Forms? Why not?" Katya asked.

"The temples are usually built near Primordial Wellsprings for a reason. Only they channel enough magic to create a physical body of that size for you. My power and that of the ritual are enough to transform your bodies into those of Dragon Priests, but not create the full-sized Dragon Forms. The Defiler was only able to get her form because she had a skeleton of her predecessor and a lot of extra magic to use. Sadly your only hope is to destroy a Union Pillar and hope the Wellspring doesn't react badly, or find one of mine on a piece of me that the Divider has yet to conquer." Cassiopeia said, sighing.

"So even after all this, we won't be able to win!?" Steve exclaimed, beginning to panic.

"Alone, not likely… but I have another boon I CAN offer you, along with a message that will lead you to the last bit of power you need." The Titan replied. She waved her other hand and conjured a monstrously huge glyph combo; one that was obscenely complex and which used several of her Mate's glyphs too (as mates, they were blessed with each other's glyphs).

"This is the Glyph Combination needed to perform the same sealing spell that my Mate mistakenly used on poor Samael. Now, against a Sephiroth Seed like him, my Orion had to surrender his life, but against a weakened version like Azazel, all you need is magic stronger than hers." Cassiopeia explained.

"So this is how we'll take Azazel out of the equation!" Steve smiled as the combo flashed and became embedded in his and Katya's minds. "But if the two of us are weaker than her without our Dragon Forms, how do we cast it?"

"What message has the clue?" Katya asked.

Cassiopeia winked; "It is not a message for you, but rather for your little brother." she nodded to Steve.

"Matt?" Steve questioned, only to gasp; "The Palisman Fusion! That's how we'll get the power to complete the seal! The Fusions are on par with lower level Seraphim, at least according to Luz, so while he wouldn't be strong enough on his own, the three of us working together with your power and that spell will be able to seal Azazel!"

"Indeed!" Cassiopeia smiled; "As young Matt is blessed with one of MY glyphs, I can feel how close he is to bonding with it. The power of Earth is flourishing within him; he is extremely close! When it comes to Determination and Endurance, he has a true understanding! But Strength eludes him."

"He's not strong enough?" Katya frowned.

Cassiopeia once again gave Katya a very sympathetic look, which was beginning to freak her out a little. "No, young one. He does not need strength, he needs to understand and accept his own strength. Luz did not need to be dead to understand death after all! But that said, he is plenty strong already. You must make him realise that."

Katya still looked confused and worried, but Steve seemed to understand, nodding with a sad smile; "I know what to do. He's my little brother after all."

"Good. Then there is only one thing left to do before we can complete the process… and for this, I am deeply sorry Katya." Cassiopeia sighed. "But you cannot yet complete the ritual."

"What? Why? What's wrong with me?" Katya asked fearfully, Rumba landing on her shoulder.

"Remember the ritual? You must divest yourself of all bonds and devote your soul to me… You may have also noticed that despite their honoured positions, the Supreme Dragons you've met do not possess their own Palismen."

Katya went pale as the truth sank in, and Steve covered his mouth in horror beside him. The poor girl grabbed Rumba and held him to her chest; "No! No, I won't abandon him! Rumba was already abandoned once by his last owner, I refuse to abandon him again!"

"You have no choice… if you do not, you will become a Draco Lich as the ritual will fail." Cassiopeia sighed sadly, shaking her head with pity.

"But why!? If you've already accepted me, then shouldn't it be fine!? Why do I need to abandon Rumba!?" Katya cried.

"I have accepted you, but I cannot complete the bonding process. Becoming a Dragon Priest means devoting a piece of your soul to your Titan Patron; the same way you devote a piece of your soul to your Palisman. You cannot do both." Cassiopeia explained; "I am truly sorry, if I'd known what you were planning, I'd have warned you, and if I could accept the bond without you giving up your Palisman, I would."

Steve, feeling his heart breaking for Katya as it overflowed with guilt, began pacing as he wracked his brain for those details in the scroll. No matter how hard he tried though, he couldn't remember anything about it! And he'd read the scroll front to back!

"Why wasn't this in the scroll!? I'm one thing; I already lost my right to a Palisman when I broke my bond with Pebbles, but Katya and Rumba shouldn't suffer!"

Cassiopeia gave the two Witches pitying looks; "I am deeply sorry. That scroll was meant for the Priests of the Titan, who historically only took Palismen AFTER their local temple already had a Supreme Dragon. Titans can only have one Dragon Priest of each of their elements at a time, so once one was created, the other priests of the temple could safely get Palismen. Because the Priests who performed the rite weren't supposed to have Palismen, they likely thought there was no need to write that in the ritual instructions."

Steve felt a rock drop into his gut as he looked over to Katya, who was now sobbing and cradling a strangely quiet Rumba to her chest. She was going back and forth between whispering; "I won't abandon you!" and "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Is there truly nothing we can do?" Steve begged, desperate for any hope.

Sadly, there was none; "I am sorry." Cassiopeia said grimly; "The ritual cannot be stopped now; if Katya does not complete it, she will become a Draco Lich and the connection with Rumba will either poison him or break anyway. If I could do anything about this, I would."

"No no no! This isn't fair! I was the one to rush into this! Rumba shouldn't be punished because of me!" Katya cried, snuggling the little beetle more.

Rumba, who'd been eerily quiet this whole time, eventually buzzed and wriggled out of her arms, then hovered in front of her face.

"Katya…" he said, his voice clearly audible in this realm of the mind and soul; "… you had no way of knowing, just as Steve had no way of knowing, and Lady Cassiopeia had no way of warning you. This is nobody's fault; you are not abandoning me like my last owner."

Rumba's previous owner had been an author, much like Katya, but his wife and daughters were disgusted by him and his insect body. As such, his owner had broken the bond and tossed him aside without so much as a second thought, not even acknowledging that Rumba was a living being with his own feelings. He'd just said that Palismen were tools anyway and he didn't really need one for his job. It was because of this that Rumba wanted to bond with someone who truly felt love for him, and the fact Katya was an author too just made it better! She was like an idealised version of his original owner!

And now, it was time to let her go. Rumba had once been abandoned because his owner loved his family but not him, and while Rumba couldn't fully blame him for that, he still felt bitter; however now Katya had followed her own love into a situation where she had to cast him aside, and even though refusing meant her death and the loss of her love, she still refused to do it.

"You, Katya of the BATTs, are the person I love most in this world. You loved me when my own maker didn't… your love and passion is what made me choose you in the first place. I would not have you betray that love, or sacrifice yourself, for me." Rumba told her.

"B-But Rumba!" she sobbed.

"But nothing, my dear one. You love Steve and you followed him on this path with pure intentions. I won't let you die for me, because that too is a form of love; protecting the one you care for no matter what. Besides, even if we have to end our partnership, that does not mean we need to stop loving each other. Like Pebbles and Steve still care for one another, you will always be my dear one." Rumba said, booping his horn against Katya's nose.

Katya smiled weakly and sniffled; "I didn't deserve a Palisman like you."

"Oh my dear, you deserved far better. Now… farewell for now. I will see you once again in the waking world." Rumba said, pressing himself to Katya's chest one last time as they embraced. Steve and Cassiopeia both cried in silence as they watched, before finally, Katya felt a distinct snapping feeling inside her; like a taut rope within her heart had just broken.

It hurt like she'd been stabbed, but the pain faded fast as she heard whispered words of love from Rumba, before his body turned silver and disappeared. Without his bond to Katya, he could no longer stay in this Vision with her, so his consciousness returned to the Waking World.

Katya fell to her knees and let out a heart-wrenching scream of guilt and sorrow, feeling a hollowness where the pain of before had once been. Steve knelt beside her, and even though he was crying too, he said; "I know how this hurts, my love. But you will see Rumba again! The two of you will always be friends, and now you may both live long and happy lives."

Cassiopeia nodded; "Sometimes, if you love someone you must let them go. Rumba truly loved you…" she wiped her eyes with her free hand; "… now let's send you both back to see him! I will complete the ritual and accept you both as my new Dragon Priests! And while I don't have the power to give you your full Dragon Forms, I CAN give you something else as a gift. It breaks tradition somewhat, but it's all I can manage with my current power; you can also thank Luz and King for it too; it's only possible thanks to them and the power of that mystery glyph that this gift is possible."

Steve and Katya both dried their tears and stood up straight, standing side by side in front of Cassiopeia and holding hands; "We are ready." Steve said.

"We will make this sacrifice worth it and help find and save King." Katya declared.

"I know you will; I have faith in you all." Cassiopeia said, suddenly moving her hand out from beneath the pair and leaving them to float where they'd just been standing. She then made her left palm glow bronze and her right one glow silver as she prepared to gently press them together around the pair. Orion had "blessed" Terra by plunging a claw into her, but Steve and Katya received a far warmer blessing in the form of a gentle embrace between Cassiopeia's paws.

"I will see you soon, my Dragons. May you love endure as mine has." Cassiopeia whispered, before completing the blessing. "Awaken: Steve the Terra Kirin and Katya the Aero Amphithere!"

Steve and Katya felt as if their bodies were melting as their consciousnesses returned to their real bodies in the waking world. The others on Cocytux Island (including Rumba, who remained in staff mode with Bria riding her) watched as the intense beam of bronze and silver light from the ritual circle began to shrink until it was just big enough to contain the two young adults. The beam then split into two; one bronze and one silver, with Steve curling in into a ball in the former and Katya doing the same in the latter. The light then bent around them and formed egg shapes, which eventually stopped glowing as the light faded and revealed their egg forms. Steve's Egg was seemingly made of metal and rock scales, while Katya's was actually a swirling silvery tornado shaped like an egg. The two floated in the air as they slowly pulsed, readying to hatch.

"Dragons? I must stop them!" Azazel exclaimed, suddenly darting for the eggs.

Rumba suddenly flew after her at high speeds all on his own, dragging Bria with him. Matt naturally followed too, declaring; "Stay away from my bro!"

He jumped off of Pebbles' staff and coated his feet in metal before screaming to Bria, who rapidly fired at the soles of his feet with her Bowcaster, launching him at Azazel. He caught her just before she got in range of the eggs, so he grabbed her wing joints and twisted, making Azazel shriek and fall from the sky, face-planting into the dirt with Matt still on her back. It would take her a moment to heal and shake Matt off, which was enough time for the eggs to hatch.

A metal scale from Steve's egg fell to the ground and Steve's now draconic arm emerged from it, while the wind of Katya's egg began to slow down until it stopped spinning altogether, revealing Katya's full Dragon Priestess Form.

The majority of Katya's body hadn't changed, but she had gained some new additions as well as a Ceremonial Dragon Priestess Robe, which she knew from Lars was actually a manifestation of her natural fur and scales taking a shape she preferred. Starting from the bottom up, Katya's physical changes included having silvery grey scales on her legs from the knee down and draconic feet, with four clawed toes on each foot and a fifth such claw on her heel. Her tail bone sprouted a draconic tail that was covered in very fine, downy silver fur that was almost velvet-like to the touch, and ended in a soft tuft of white feathers. Her arms, starting at the elbow, were also draconic and covered in silvery grey scales, and her still humanoid hands now had claws atop each finger, while a wing-like tuft of feathers sprouted from the underside of each wrist, matching a similar tuft that sprouted from the upper arm beneath the shoulder. Like other the other Dragon Priests, Katya's priestess form had horns on her head, though her horns were actually little white wings that almost blended in with her hair, which had become silver like her fur, while her hazel eyes had also turned silver. However unlike the other Dragon Priests, Katya had the wings of her Dragon Form on her back; they were almost Angelic, but had a draconic skeleton, making them look like the wings of the Elohim that Luz had described in the past. The draconic skeleton of the wings (which included a set of secondary hands and claws) was silver and covered in fine, leathery scales that were smooth like snakeskin, while the membranes were covered in white fur-like feathers. Finally, there was her Priestess robe; it was a white robe cut in a similar shape and style to her favourite purple dress, the one she'd been wearing when she first met Luz, only with no sleeves and some altered additions. The hem of the dress now had silvery grey scales along the bottom, and a belt shaped like two duelling silver hurricanes wrapped around her wrist. Silver straps went around her upper arms, and the wind glyph was clearly visible through the fabric on her chest. Lastly, her old choker was replaced by a silver one, and her hairband had been replaced by a white one, completing her look.

Matt and Bria both gaped in amazement, but they didn't get long to look at her before the rest of Steve's egg crumbled apart, revealing his true new form as a Dragon Priest of Earth.

Like Katya, most of his physical changes were limited to his limbs, with the addition of horns and a tail, as well as his new Priest Robe. Starting at his feet, Steve's form was immediately unique compared to the other Supreme Dragons. Others had conventional draconic feet, but as his Dragon form was a Kirin; his feet were more like hooves. Kirin were quadrupedal dragons that somewhat resembled draconic horses and were closely related to the Giraffes, who had evolved from a sub-species of the Kirin known as the Nightmare Kirin. Steve was obviously the Supreme Variant known as the Terra Kirin, but he still had their signature hooves on his feet. His legs from the knee down were covered in hard armoured rings of natural armour that appeared to be made of bronze, and his feet were normally shaped with his toes replaced by cloven hooves, making it likely he was supposed to walk on the tips of his toes, but he instead opted to stand as if his feet were still human. His arms were more conventional; he had bronze scales covering them from the elbow down, and his fingernails were replaced with orange coloured claws. For a tail, he had a lighter, almost golden shade of orangey bronze scales covering the entire serpentine limb, which was also smooth like snakeskin and ended in an orange spiked fan that almost resembled a caltrop. Then there was his head; his hair kept its original brown shade, but his canines were now large enough that the upper ones poked out beneath his top lip (Katya's had grown too, but her fangs always poked out), and his already present horn had grown larger and turned orange. A second smaller orange horn (the same size as his original had been) now grew from the left side of his forehead, and atop his head was a pair of curved orange horns that matched his now orange eyes. As for his Priest Robe; it was unique from the others in that it didn't include any white at all; his lower half was clad in golden brown shorts with a spiky orange hem around the bottom of each leg, and he wore a black belt with an orange mountain-like buckle in the middle. On his upper half, he wore a yellow v-neck vest with orange along the neckline, and over that he wore an open sleeveless vest of golden brown with orange trim, and with shoulders that flared up into spikes like the shoulder crests of the Kirin. Completing his look were a pair of bronze bangles around his wrists, which had a yellow diamond pattern too, and the earth glyph shone in orangey bronze from his chest.

"W-What!?" Matt exclaimed, finally snapping out of his shock; "Bro!? Katya!? Did you two just become Dragons!? That was the spell you were preparing!?"

"Yeah. Sorry for springing this on you, little bro." Steve said with a small smile.

"I am so confused!" Bria said, just looking between the two with utterly a stunned expression. She landed beside Matt, who was still trying to hold down Azazel, and Rumba returned to his insect form and buzzed around Katya's new form.

Katya had tears in her eyes as she pet the beetle Palisman, then kissed the end of its horn before saying; "Hey Rumba… you should stick with Bria for now. She could use your help to fly, while I have new wings of my own now."

Rumba buzzed in response, and both he and Katya felt a sting in their hearts, knowing Katya could no longer here Rumba's voice. Still, they didn't have time to talk for long, as Azazel released an explosion of magic and blasted Matt off her back, before flying up and yelling: "Dragon or not, I cannot let you stop me!"

With that, she once again darted off towards Lilith, who was struggling to maintain the Anti-Magic Barrier after all this time and after the Rite of Ascension had briefly blown a hole in it. Matt scrambled to his feet and he and Bria prepared to pursue, but Steve stopped them and nodded to Katya, who smiled in response.

"You're not going anywhere!" she declared, before suddenly launching herself after Azazel. With her new dragon wings and her power of wind, she beat Azazel to Lilith with ease, creating wind resistance to slow Azazel and blow her off course, while Katya herself sailed on the wind right into Azazel's face.

As she reached the Archivist, Katya felt her glyph pulsing on her chest as she received the gift from Cassiopeia. A powerful silver wind emerged from the glyph and blew around Katya before forming itself into a physical object in her hand; a silver staff with a matching figurine of an Aero Amphithere on top of it. The dragon was solid silver and the details were harder to make out, but it resembled a limbless dragon with a long tail and two draconic wings in place of arms. It also appeared to be made of bone; such staves were normally crafted from the bones of a Dragon Priest's first transformation, but without a Primordial Wellspring, there wasn't enough magic to make a full skeleton for the transformation… however Cassiopeia did have enough power to just construct the staves herself, and did so as a gift for the two new Priests.

The new staff didn't fit quite as well into Katya's hand as Rumba had, and while it did grant her power, it didn't feel as strong as Rumba had either, but it was more than enough! Katya wasn't going to spend forever regretting her decisions! She'd kick Azazel's butt out of this war and create the world Rumba needed to find a new partner!

"You can consider yourself grounded, Azazel!" Katya declared, waving her staff and causing a huge gust of wind to smash into Azazel and send her careening into the ground again. Thankfully for the Scribe, her body was damaged by the impact and not the wind, so she regenerated immediately… only to suddenly be sucker-punched by Steve.

The man, now wielding a bronze bone staff with a small Kirin figure on top, smashed his scaled fist into the side of Azazel's head the moment she stood up, causing the girl to crash into the far wall. He was a little shocked by his own strength, then shouted up to Katya; "Hey Babe, you doing good up there?"

"Better than good!" Katya smiled; "Also, I just noticed but all signs of my old Coven Sigil are gone! I can feel the full power of my magic!"

"Great!" Steve grinned, waving his staff and creating an orange aura around him that caused the chunks of ground beneath his feet to break away and lift into the air, forming a floating platform for him to ride on. Like the Arbour Lindwurm; Terra Kirins had no wings or ability to produce them like Fire Drakes, so they instead "flew" by manipulating chunks of earth to lift them through the air. It was effective and allowed the normally slow, steady, and graceful creatures to move at breakneck speeds. "All signs of my sigil are gone too! It didn't stop any of my magic, but I'm still glad to be free of it! Now, let's soften Azazel up a little more and test out these new powers!"

Katya agreed with a grin; she was still upset over having to separate from Rumba, so she was going to take out some frustrations on the Scribe!

Speaking off the Scribe, Azazel pulled herself out of the wall and healed herself with a quick spell after taking Steve's punch. She knew full well that these two were now fresh and recharged, and while they couldn't match her power, that hadn't stopped them so far! She needed something powerful to defeat them!

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, shine with the light of the Holy Sun, and ignite the Power of Ancient Legends! O Bearer of the Golden Urn, defeat the Terra Kirin: Aquarius! O Maiden of the Golden Crown, defeat the Aero Amphithere: Virgo!" Azazel incanted, conjuring a massive swarm of golden stars, which formed two new Astral Constructs. They both took the form of humanoids, though the former was a merperson and the latter was a young girl that resembled a 16 year old Witch. The merperson was clad in armour that resembled the waves of the ocean, and she bore an urn made of solid gold, which was filled with an unending supply of water. The maiden was clad in only a simple white dress that sparkled like the stars, while a golden tiara rested on her forehead, holding back her long platinum hair from her face. As ordered, the merperson Aquarius charged at Steve, using its urn to create a jet of water to swim across, while the maiden Virgo waved her hand and began conjuring fields of golden wheat, which grew out to try and bind Katya.

But while Sagittarius and Taurus had proven tough for a pair of (admittedly clever and decently skilled) teens who needed to rely on glyph notes, these two new Zodiacs were facing Supreme Dragons!

Aquarius flew at Steve with its water jet, then as it got close, it created a ring of water hovering in the air for it to swim on as it used its urn to shoot high pressure water blasts at Steve. The tactic used against him was clever on the surface, as a Terra Kirin's scales were hard as rock, but could be pierced by high pressure water attacks, but Steve was not a one trick pony! He began evasive manoeuvres with his rock platform, intentionally allowing some of the attacks to just barely skim him, shaving off some of the excess rock and refining his ride without him needing to waste magic on it. Once he was satisfied with how it looked, he began his counter attack!

Inhaling deeply, Steve unleashed his new breath attack, creating a stream of sand that he quickly whipped up into a sandstorm to blind Aquarius. The merperson tried to blast away the sand storm by creating a huge bubble of water around itself and then rapidly expanding it in an aquatic explosion, but the sand getting mixed in to the liquid made this a lot less effective! In addition, the ring of water Aquarius was using to stay a float became full of sand, which absorbed the water until it eventually fell from the sky entirely, taking the Astral Merperson down with it. Aquarius barely saved itself from hitting the ground by using water from its urn as a jet to slow her descent. Steve then took the remains of his sand storm and condensed the sand into a series of sharp stalactites, each as hard as solid rock, which he then rained down on his foe. Aquarius shockingly used its urn to make a puddle beneath Steve, then at the last moment she dove into the puddle that formed beneath it (which should have been too shallow to enter) and reappeared from the puddle beneath Steve.

Immediately, Aquarius pointed their urn up at Steve and rapid fired jets of water at him, but Steve just grinned and inhaled, then spat back with another form of his earth breath. This time it came out in the form of soil, which combined with the water to become a thick and sticky mud that Steve used his staff to mold into a barrier… before breathing out more mud on his own to reshape the whole thing into a giant Kirin's hoof, which he then sent smashing down on top of Aquarius. The stomp came so fast that Aquarius had no choice but to retreat back through the puddle it'd made, but this resulted in it appearing in the puddle full of Stalactites, essentially sandwiching the Astral Water Bearer in place. It wasn't able to move its arms to manoeuvre its urn, but Steve took no chances and blasted sand into it, filling the vessel and preventing it from generating more water, right before he defeated Aquarius once and for all by charging a final breath attack; an orange beam of light that promptly petrified the Astral Construct, which then crumbled to dust.

Steve wasn't the only one who was having an easy time with his new powers of course; Katya was having just as easy a time. At first, she simply glided around far above the ground, watching as Bria and Matt kept Azazel from escaping as Virgo tried to capture them all with the wheat she'd grown, using the golden plants like tentacles and ropes. Whenever they got close to the teens, Katya would whistle sharply and the wind would form a blade that reaped the wheat like it was the harvest season, shredding it with ease. Katya was still taking a bit of time to grow accustomed to her new wings and her non-Palisman staff, but after a minute or two, she'd decided to move things to the next level!

Snapping her fingers, Katya summoned the two tambourines she'd wielded earlier and allowed them to float around her, then waved her staff and conjured a series of bells and chimes from raw magic, focusing on her desire and what she knew of Construction Magic, learned from Steve's passion for it. With her magic unsealed, Katya wasn't restricted to Bardic Magic, and was quick to prove it. However it was still Bardic Magic that made up the core of her preferred style, so Katya had the bells, chimes, cymbals, and other percussive instruments she'd conjured float around her with the wind, before taking a page from Skara's book and playing them all with the wind, using her staff to conduct a new song.

While Derwin had his Magic Earworm and Amber had her Targeted Songs, Katya had a talent of her own; creativity and improvisation, allowing her to create new songs on the fly by infusing her playing with the desires in her heart. In this instance, the song she performed was one she called "The Allegro of the Aero Amphithere", which created a construct of her would-be dragon form out of silver wind, and manipulated it like a puppet to attack Virgo.

The Astral Maiden did her best to try and stop the creature; when wheat proved inefficient, she conjured giant trees instead and had their vines and branches stretch up to snare the Wind Dragon Construct, but naturally it easily slipped through even the tiniest gaps thanks to its body being literally made of wind, often slicing apart of the trees in the process, and all while Katya hummed along to the song she was conducting. It soon became very clear that Virgo was best suited to be a supportive Astral Construct rather than an offensive one, and as Katya reached the finale of her song, she had her Wind Dragon swallow Virgo whole, spinning her around at high speeds inside its body before spitting her back out into the air.

Virgo was launched right up to Katya, who finished up with a reprise of "Here me Roar!", only this time using her new breath attack to unleash a blast of cutting silver wind that shredded Virgo to pieces, destroying the Construct.

Azazel could only look on in frustration as two more of her Zodiacs were defeated; she had now seen a third of her options defeated, and two of them were taken down by the kids who were currently fighting her! This was not going how she'd hoped it would! Who knew just escaping would be so difficult!? She couldn't even use Columba to pacify the Dragon Priests, since their Titan Magic would counter the enchantment immediately. The only thing she'd achieved besides capturing King was knocking out Mason and wearing out the two teens she was currently "fighting", and that wasn't exactly going well either. Bria and Matt were tenacious, with Bria being egged on and supported by Matt, Pebbles, and Rumba, while Matt was just full on refusing to fall to exhaustion, showing a level of endurance that even an Archivist had to respect.

With Virgo and Aquarius defeated, both Steve and Katya flew at Azazel, ready to fight together to pacify her. Katya flew at her first, using a single tambourine in one hand and her dragon staff in the other to continue the Allegro of the Aero Amphithere, forming the wind dragon construct around her in order to charge into her and catch the Scribe in her silvery jaws, before dive-bombing to the ground again, taking her prey with her. At the same time, Steve took the teens and flew them over to the second floor of the Central Quarry, placing them down near a shed of tools.

"You kids okay?" he asked.

"We are now! You look awesome, bro!" Matt grinned; "You're so powerful now!"

"Y-Yeah! I'm still totally lost, but you kicked that weird fish person's butt really easily! Do you think you two can beat that girl now?" Bria asked, eyes full of hope.

"Not quite. We've got all the tools, but we can't fully use them yet since we need more power. We can't go full Supreme Dragon without an unoccupied Wellspring." Steve explained, before suddenly using his breath attack to produce a large sheet of mud over the ground beside the shed. He then manipulated the dirt to form the incredibly complex glyph combo for the Celestial Sealing Orb that Orion had once used to seal Samael. It was so hideously complex that when scaled down so the combo was about the size of a circular dining table, the individual glyphs were each no bigger than a finger print.

"We need this combo to seal her, but we need to fill it with more magic than she possesses. Katya and I aren't enough on our own." Steve explained.

Matt looked at the combo, then used a modified Concealment Stone of his own making to scan the combo and memorise it as a pseudo-blueprint. "I can make something with this. I bet we can get Lilith and Mason to help us too! Bria, do you think that if you work with Rumba, you can wake up Mason?"

Bria nodded; "I'll get him up if its the last thing I do!"

She then hopped on Rumba's staff and politely asked him to fly her down to the sauna room where they'd stashed their KO'd friend, eager to put her healing to the test now she had a borrowed staff to help her. Matt and Pebbles watched them go with a smile, then turned back to Steve; "If all of us work together, do you think we'll have the power to use this combo on Azazel?"

Steve grimaced and shook his head; "It needs TITAN power that exceeds her own. While Lilith, Bria, Mason, and yourself may join with us and exceed her magic, she'd still be able to shrug off anything you guys bring to the table."

Matt looked stricken; "B-But then how do we even use this combo!? Do we need to call for back-up!?"

"We have everything we need, right here." Steve said, kneeling down and putting his hands on Matt's shoulders.

"Me!? Wait, you're talking about my fusion with Pebbles, right? But I haven't yet figured out how to do that!" Matt exclaimed. If the fate of the mission was now on his shoulders, then he really did NOT like their chances!

"Little Bro, listen to me." Steve said, putting his fist against Matt's heart; "Cassiopeia spoke to me herself and said you were so, so close! You've proven how durable you are and you've got determination like nobody's business! And you understand Endurance and Determination too!"

"But I'm not strong enough… Strength is an Aspect of Earth too…" Matt's face fell.

"No Matt, you ARE strong enough, you just need to believe in and accept your own strength!" Steve declared.

Matt blinked in confusion and opened his mouth to ask what his brother meant, but before he could Katya was suddenly launched into the sky, nearly hitting Lilith's Anti-Magic barrier. The cause was a powerful blast of astral fire, shot at her by a large Astral Dragon; the Draco Constellation given form and sent against her by Azazel. The Dragon then attacked Katya again, and Azazel made a break for it, almost reaching Lilith before Steve blasted himself at her and used a hard smack from his tail to knock her away.

"Dang that was close! You doing good, Lulu?" Steve asked, looking to Lilith.

"I've got one leg, the other is petrified, and my magic is on the verge of running out! This barrier won't last much longer!" Lilith grimaced, before forcing a sardonic grin; "But besides that, I'm peachy!"

"Well don't worry, we have a plan! We just need Matt to realise his own strength and then this is in the bag!" Steve laughed, before flying at Azazel and using his stone board to effectively perform a kickflip off her back, making her squeak in surprise and pain as she was knocked down to the ground once again.

Lilith grinned; "Oh, is that all? I guess this is in the bag then!"

Matt heard this conversation clearly, and initially thought Lilith's comment was teasing or sarcastic, but the more he thought about it, the more legitimate it sounded! Did she really believe in him too? He guessed it made sense; she likely saw him as the little brother of her best ever subordinate and one of the EC's top scouts, so it made sense that she would think more highly of him in comparison!

"Yeah… that has to be it." Matt mumbled, before going into the shed behind him and finding a few tools. He grinned as he noticed some of these tools included a magnifying lens for one of his eyes and some precision carving tools! With those and some of the Quartz Sand he still had, he could perhaps craft a smaller medallion or disc with the sealing glyph combo on it!

He took a seat at the work bench and tried to block out the sounds of battle from outside as he got to work. He placed the magnifying lens over his right eye and promptly frowned, finding that the magnification was lacking, and the carving tools were similarly not up to snuff. To make the combo small enough to wield by hand, the glyphs would have to be near microscopic… and that didn't leave a lot of room for error on his part!

"If Humans can make microchips with way more fine detail than this, then I can do it too! Limited by the technology of my time? To hell with that! If I'm limited, I'll invent something to bypass those limits!" Matt declared, using his liquid metal, the tools, and the Quartz Sand in his pockets to begin working on first creating superior tools. Quartz Sand could be used to form new light glyph crystals, using careful refining magic to form the crystals with the light glyph directly built into the lattice. From there, he could craft new carving tools that actually served as laser carvers, releasing needle thin beams of light to carve the most miniscule of targets! He could even use Quartz Sand to form new, superior magnifying lenses, using the technology he'd learned off in the Human Realm. Human Opticians were far better at making corrective lens than Witches (who usually used expensive potions instead to correct certain types of impaired eyesight), and Matt had been intrigued enough to make new glasses for Camila and Willow, in part to thank them for taking him in and looking out for him at school. But he was always looking to improve, and had made his own magnifying lenses for his workshops in the Human Realm AND the Demon Realm, so now it was time to see if he could make microscope quality lenses!

"Hold on out there, Bro! I'll prove my strength in my own way!" Matt declared to himself, getting to work.

[Meanwhile]

As Matt worked on finding his strength and Bria worked on healing Mason with her limited remaining magic, Katya and Steve used their new Dragon Priest forms to unleash their full power and might against Azazel and her own Dragon Construct. Or rather, Constructs.

Katya had already shredded one of them with her Allegro of the Aero Amphithere, and since returning to the battle a few minutes ago, Steve had promptly destroyed another one by coating himself in rock armour and shooting himself through its heart like a meteorite. Azazel just sighed when she saw this; "Are we really still going to keep doing this? You can't beat me and I can just whittle you down over time. Just let me leave so we can end this farce."

"Not a chance! Do you know what I had to sacrifice for this!? I swear that before the sun sets, you will be a "Guest" of the CATTs for the rest of this war!" Katya declared, before seemingly spitting at the girl. Nothing visible came out of her mouth though, and Azazel assumed it was just a gesture of anger, until an invisible blast of air slammed into her gut and winded her.

"Ugh! Fine then… If this is to be a battle of Dragons, then I'll give you what you're asking for!" Azazel declared, rubbing her stomach. She hastily summoned Scutum once again to defend herself from all attacks, and while the Titan Magic of the two new Dragon Priests could crack and damage it, they couldn't bust through it in time to stop Azazel's newest chant.

"O Golden Stars shining in the Firmament, bind thy radiance to mine flesh and clad me in the power of the Cosmos! I call upon the Stars of Draco to armour me!" Azazel declared, spreading her wings and creating a series of golden stars to form the shape of the Draco constellation, which resembled a long serpentine dragon. Despite this though, the Astral Construct of Draco usually appeared as a True Dragon with four limbs and two wings, but this time the Constellation shrank down and fused into Azazel's flesh, changing her Archivist's dress into an altered version.

Her new Draco Dress had the upper half resembling a breastplate shaped like a Dragon's face, with its claws forming the pauldrons and the clasp of her belt, while her lower half was clad in a dress of scales. A pair of draconic wings attached to Azazel's back, and white horns grew from her head, blending in with her hair, while her pupils became slitted. Her feet were bared and both her fingers and toes were topped in claws. The metallic parts of her armour, as well as the scaly parts of her wings, appeared to be rose gold, while the scales and wing membranes were pure white, as were her claws. It was ALMOST like Azazel had become a Dragon Priestess herself, but aside from the longer claw-like nails and her slitted pupils, none of her draconic changes were actually a part of her body; they were all just armour. Even her wings and horns were not truly a part of her, and were instead attached to the back of her breastplate and a hidden hairband respectively. Draco had literally become Azazel's armour, making its power her own, and magnified to her level.

"Come then, Dragons of Cassiopeia! I was ordered to return to the others after this, and if you expect to make me disobey that order, I am going to make you work for it!" Azazel declared, before suddenly inhaling and shooting a blast of Astral fire directly at Steve.

Steve conjured a barrier of dense sand using his breath attack, while Katya tried sucking in the air to starve Azazel's flames. However the Astral flames (which appeared to be black and full of stars, like the night sky) didn't appear to need the air, so kept burning anyway, slowing turning the sandy barrier into Glass. Steve wasn't too worried though, and suddenly used normal Witch Magic to shoot a stream of cold water from his hands at the glass, rapidly cooling it and then allowing him to shatter it with a spell and launch it back at Azazel. Some of it melted again as it passed through her flames, but that just meant it would hurt more if it hit her! Azazel covered her face and arms with her armour's wings, which didn't take so much as a burn or a scratch from the glass. Instead the molten glass remained attached to her before she flapped her wings and launched it back, this time using Wind Magic of her own to direct it at Katya.

Katya whistled sharply to disperse the wind and make the Molten Glass drip to the floor, then spun around to whip her tail at Azazel, sending a powerful wind blade. Azazel blocked it with another Scutum Shield, which she this time turned into an actual Astral Shield and bound to her left arm for use as a permanent defence. Steve immediately put it to the test with his own tail, conjuring ore with his breath attack and coating the end of his tail with it, then refining the ore into the form of a steel axe, which he slammed toward Azazel by doing a forward roll, causing his axe tail to slam down on her. Azazel dodged swiftly to the side and used her free hand to fire a barrage of golden stars into Steve's side, hitting him were there were no scales to protect him so she could still deal some damage. Steve grunted a little at the impact, but they didn't keep hitting for long as Katya began to sing.

The young woman had a nice voice (though she'd never been confident with it) and with her new wind powers, she was able to edit the sound even as it left her mouth. Rather than a song though, she used the edited sound to mimic the voice of the Divider, and scream: "Scribe! What is taking you so long!?" in a bitter and angry tone.

Immediately, Azazel shrieked in terror and spun around, expecting to see the Divider but finding nothing at all, allowing Katya and Steve to fly at her from behind and grab the draconic wings on her armour. Steve used his tail axe to slice one of them off entirely, while Katya held tightly to one and then unleashed a banshee-like scream that was focused entirely on Azazel. Katya went so far as to control the sound waves so ONLY the Archivist heard it, making the girl scream in pain as she struggled to get away from the deafening noise. She eventually resorted to the same explosion of magic as before, but this was what Katya wanted.

Since the start of the fight, Katya had noticed that Azazel used that explosion as a "Keep Away!" move whenever she was getting stressed and needed to make some distance in order to compose herself or deal with the fight going on. But what would happen if the force of that explosion had nowhere to go? Well Katya decided to find out, as her Banshee Scream was not just to deafen her foe; it was also a way to surround Azazel completely in a membrane of Katya's own Wind Magic, forming an invisible barrier. As such, when Azazel made her explosion to drive the Dragon Rebels away, the explosion hit the barrier and was stopped, causing all that force to remain within it and making Azazel inadvertently blow herself up.

"GAH!" she cried as her own magic blasted her around inside the barrier, making her slump over. Katya dropped the wind barrier and Azazel fell from the sky and hit the ground hard, looking dazed and hurt. It seemed that Sephiroth Seeds like her could be injured by the magic of others like them, even themselves, so she actually had to raise a shaking hand to try and heal herself. Steve wasn't about to make it that easy for her though, and he used the ultimate power of his Terra Kirin breath to fire a beam of orange petrifying light directly at her. Unlike the combo version, this wasn't quite as effective (nor did it hurt or leave the victim conscious) and it would eventually wear off with how little power Steve was putting into it, but it was enough to encase Azazel's hands and legs in stone once again, leaving her unable to complete her healing spell.

"Sorry Azazel, but this'll go easier for all of us if you just stand down and surrender. We don't enjoy hurting you any more than you enjoy hurting us." Steve said, hoping to make her just stop. He didn't think it would actually work though, and he was correct about that too, as Azazel growled and actually smashed her own stone limbs against the ground, causing them to shatter. She then flew into the air with her Angelic wing and coated herself in an aura of gold and pink.

"Enough! I hate fighting! I want no part in any of this!" she cried, her temper finally boiling over. Her anger was pointed at the CATTs, at the Divider, and her siblings (sans Samael), and at herself; all the people she blamed for this conflict. She wished she could just sit it all out and hide away in the Archives with her books and scrolls, but instead she was stuck here fighting in a war she wanted no part of, knowing that it didn't matter who won; there was no happy ending to the conflict for her. For her part in the war with the Titans, she felt a happy ending was an unfair thing for her to expect anyway… but that didn't mean she could endlessly tolerate being pushed around! She'd been trying to run this whole time, but the CATTs hadn't let her… so if they wanted a real fight, she'd give them one!

"I'll end this fight! O Swirling Gathering of Stars, come forth and unleash thy power! Asterism of the Infinite Skies: rain down on all foes before me!" Azazel incanted, her teeth gritted and her eyes glowing red as her magic swirled out form her wings, which seemed to release an entire galaxy of tiny stars, each no bigger than the eye of a needle.

The sight of the swirling mass of stars had both Steve and Katya suddenly gulping; with each one being so small and the total group being large enough that it filled a good portion of the upper levels of the Central Quarry, there must have been billions of the things, and if they hurt like the larger ones, then even having them be smaller wouldn't help much! With a final cry of anger and frustration from Azazel, the swarm of tiny stars flew at the two Dragon Rebels like a sandstorm of little burning lights. Katya tried to counter them with her Aero Amphithere Wind Construct, while Steve tried to stop them with a barrier of hardened obsidian that he conjured, but the stars tore both to shreds, making the Wind Construct erupt in flames as the air within it was consumed by the little burning stars, and the Obsidian disintegrate as if hit by one of Luz's red light beams!

"Uh oh!" Steve yelped, dodging under the swarm and unleashing Iron Sand via his breath attack. The stars melted the iron sand rapidly, but also consumed it so Steve couldn't use the material, much to his frustration. To make matters worse, his attempt to go beneath the swarm of stars meant he was far too close to it now, whilst Katya had gotten some distance, resulting in Steve actually having his arms and legs burned.

Steve cried out in pain at the burning sensation in his scales; unlike a full Titan, he was only resistant and not immune to Archivist Magic, and his resistance wasn't that strong. Still, he endured and Azazel held back, not wanting to hurt him more than necessary. At the same time, Katya levitated her mini-orchestra of instruments again, including Lyra the Lyre; a constellation that Azazel had dropped earlier in their fight, and which had laid forgotten on the quarry floor. Strumming the strings of the lyre while using wind to play the other instruments, Katya began playing Myla's Requiem, creating a massive cloud of pink dust that rivalled the mini stars. She sent this dust at the stars, and just as she hoped, rather than being completely consumed, the powder drained the magic of the stars and exploded into little pink crystal clusters that resembled caltrops. It was almost like watching pink popcorn being made, as each speck of Myla's dust hit a tiny star and made it pop into a tiny crystal caltrop.

"Yes! Magic is consumed by these crystals, so as long as there is a single speck of something solid for the dust to grow on, I'm all set!" Katya grinned.

Azazel scowled as Steve gasped in realisation; the stars shouldn't have anything solid on them, being balls of burning astral energy, but thanks to Steve's iron sand, a tiny core of iron now existed inside most of the stars! Matter couldn't be completely destroyed after all, so some part of the sand had to still exist in the tiny stars that absorbed it! And while not every star had this core of iron sand, they DID all contain magic, and as the pink crystals consumed the magic of any star they touched, they grew bigger and got a bigger reach… and to make it even better, the crystals were technically minerals that could be manipulated by both Steve's Earth Magic, as well as his gravity spells and Katya's wind!

Yet Azazel was still powerful, and Katya had used one of her own Astral Constructs to perform Myla's Requiem, so she was able to dispel Lyra the Lyre with a click of her tongue (since she was still limbless), causing Katya's playing to be interrupted. She caught herself and continued quickly, but that brief moment was enough to make the pink crystals lose power for a moment, letting Azazel turn the remainder of the stars into mini-supernovas, making them grow from pin head-size to golf ball size, consuming the crystals before Katya could continue the song and the magic absorbing effect. She then unleashed all the tiny stars in a second bombardment, forcing Katya to turn her focus to using sonic blasts to destroy them and protect Steve, who had gotten free but needed a moment to cast some first aid spells on his limbs.

As the Dragon Rebels did that, Azazel once again summoned the Constellation of Phoenix to heal herself, undoing the petrification on her stumps, as well as restoring her limbs with powerful Healing Magic. Immediately after, Azazel bonded the Phoenix Construct to her Draco Armour, replacing the remaining dragon wing with ten phoenix-like wings. Steve saw this and cursed, but at least Azazel looked tired now.

"These Archivists are no joke, even when weakened! If only we had our full Dragon Forms! We'd be so much stronger!" Steve grumbled.

"Something to consider later!" Katya said, panting hard. Through constant sonic roars (which was another form of her Wind Dragon Breath Attack), she was able to stop the full galaxy of exploding stars that Azazel had set on them, but now she was getting worn out too. If Azazel did the same thing again, they'd be in trouble! "We need to buy more time for Matt to find his strength! Or do something else to give him the kick in the pants he needs!"

"That sounds ominous!" Steve frowned.

"Yeah, but think about it! Amity was facing Raguel, Gus was facing Zara, Skara was facing her Dad, Willow was trying to save Hunter's life, and Boscha was trying to save that Titan Trapper and fighting a Draco Lich! Matt needs something active to give him the motivation to find his strength!" Katya declared, flapping her wings to summon blades of wind to shoot at Azazel.

The Archivist casually weaved through them and flew at Katya and Steve, unleashing a shotgun blast of Astral Magic at Steve to knock the sturdy man back as she then grabbed Katya by the throat and threw her to the ground. Katya gasped at the impact, and Azazel summoned another pair of constellations.

"Bind this woman in thy slithering embrace: Serpens! Chain this man to the rocks he controls: Andromeda!"

In a flash, an Astral Snake resembling a boa constrictor appeared and wrapped around Katya, making her shriek in fear; she hated these things! At the same time, an Astral Woman bound in chains appeared and captured a stunned Steve in chains, binding him to the very rock and bone of the island itself.

"This will knock you both out! Fall upon them with enough force to render them unconscious: Mensa!" Azazel cried.

This time, her Constellation created a small ball of gravity that sucked in loose gravel, stone, and Titan Bone from around the island and tightly piled it together into a small Mountain that was still large enough to fill most of the ground floor of the Central Quarry. It was falling just fast enough that impact would knock out even the sturdy Dragon Rebels, but slow enough that it was clear the rock wouldn't actually be able to crush their sturdy bodies.

Of course, the Rebels weren't going to just let themselves be crushed, and their mouths weren't bound by their restraints, so they both inhaled and shot beams of raw magic from their mouths, drawing the spell circles with their tongues. The silver and bronze beams smashed into the mini-mountain and managed to break it apart… which led to a whole new catastrophe.

The battle thus far hadn't exactly been easier on Cocytux Island; Azazel and the CATTs had been smashing each other into the walls and floors quite a few times, leaving craters and cracks everywhere. Any attack that missed, like light beams, launched rocks, wind blades, and so on had all hit some part of the island and done some kind of damage, and of course, Azazel's Constructs were a huge culprit; the Hydra, the Dragon, the arrows of Sagittarius, the cutting water jets of Aquarius, the charges of Taurus, and even Virgo tearing up the ground with the roots of the plants she grew, all of which led to Cocytux Island becoming unstable. To make matters worse, Mensa's gravity core had pulled up a lot of the rubble and boulders that had been knocked loose by the battle, and having it all pulled out of the walls and floor only further destabilised things. To then have that colossal rock blown up, and its heavy rubble sent smashing down all around the lower levels of the already unstable island was the final push that sent the island over the edge. A tremendous series of tremors began to shake the island as it started to collapse, the tip of Orion's tail slowly falling back into the sea.

The whole island began to slowly tilt as it shook, and Steve, Katya, and Azazel all cursed, realising what had happened. It was a small miracle that the other people on the island had already evacuated, but that left the CATTs trapped, unless Lilith was willing to drop her barrier and risk Azazel escaping.

"Katya! Keep Azazel busy! I'll try to stop the collapse!" Steve declared, using his Dragon Magic to enhance his abilities and rapidly enchant a Power Glyph. He then slapped it onto the back of his own neck and was coated in an aura of intense orange and bronze magic, which took on a shape similar to that of a Terra Kirin. Taking a page from Luz's book back back during the Digale Conquest, Steve then used his enhanced magic and power over the Earth Element to hold the entire island together as best he could. He was a lot weaker than a Seraphim using her Seraphic Art, but Cocytux Island was also significantly smaller than Digale Island, so he managed to just about stop the collapse, though small tremors still shook the island, especially as Katya and Azazel continued to battle (though noticeably with both using smaller scale attacks, as neither wanted to see the island destroyed).

During this chaos, Matt burst out of the shed he'd been working in, his craft interrupted by the tremors. He took one look at what was going on, then saw Steve and hopped onto Pebbles so he could fly down to help his brother.

"Steve! What the heck is going in!?"

"Our battle destabilised the island! The Titan's tail is about to straighten out, but that means sending this facility, and us, into the Boiling Sea! I'm holding it back for the time being, but we really need to finish this fast! Are you close to doing what we need!?" Steve asked through gritted teeth, struggling to hold his spell.

"I was able to get a single one of those glyph combos completed!" Matt held up a small crystal disk, which he'd encased in some easily soluble stone to keep it safe. "I almost had a second one as a back-up, but the tremors made my hand shake and I broke it by mistake."

"One is enough! Now listen, Bria and Mason are still down in the Sauna Room! Who knows what the tremors are doing down there! You need to go get them!" Steve ordered.

Matt nodded; "I'm on it!"

He then flew towards the entrance to the island's interior and headed down to the lower floor. As Matt flew though, he and Pebbles had to dodge small parts of the ceiling that cracked and came loose from all the shaking, and as he got close to the bottom floor Sauna Room, he could hear the sloshing of the water and yelps from Bria.

"BRIA!" he cried, flying faster and bursting into the room. The entire place was in chaos: the ceiling had begun collapsing in places and the boiling water was sloshing out of the pools and beginning to coat the floor of the room, all while Bria huddled over the still unconscious Mason and desperately tried to keep a flickering and cracking barrier up around them, keeping the water out along with the rubble. Bria was almost totally tapped out of magic, which was why she'd yet to be able to wake up Mason with her Healing Magic, and now her powers were being further drained maintaining a barrier on the verge of breaking.

Hearing Matt call out to her, Bria looked around desperately, and upon spotting him she yelled; "MATT! I can't hold this much longer!"

Almost the instant she said those words, a massive chunk of the ceiling began to crack and come loose; large enough to easily shatter Bria's barrier and crush her and Mason. There was no way they'd survive something like that, and to Matt's horror, they were just a little too far away for him to grab them and escape in time. Still, he cast strength-enhancing spells on himself and used a true emergency Power Glyph of his own creation to give his strength and magic just a little more of a boost as he pushed Pebbles as hard as the little Palisman could take. The chunk of ceiling fell down onto Bria and Mason, and the girl screamed and threw herself over Mason in an attempt to shield him, but thanks to Pebble's hard work, Matt was just barely able to fly under the chunk in time to jump off Pebbles, brace his feet against the ground, and catch the chunk of ceiling.

"UGH! GAH!" Matt screamed as his legs creaked and cracked in protest, his knees bending and almost buckling as he used every ounce of strength he had to hold the boulder up. He was in bad shape; his arms and legs shook and he couldn't even hope to move whilst the chunk of the ceiling was stuck on him, and as his magic slowly faded, he knew his strength would fade with it, leading to him being crushed.

"Damn it… Bria! Drop your barrier and drag Mason out from under this thing! Pebbles, help Rumba and Bria please!" Matt ordered through gritted teeth.

Bria didn't argue; she dropped her barrier, then grabbed an abandoned towel from a nearby pool and tied it between Pebbles' and Rumba's staves to make a stretcher, then carefully pulled Mason onto it and had the Palismen fly him out to safety. As soon as he was safe and Bria scurried out from under the boulder too, Pebbles flew back and turned into animal mode on Matt's back, using his own little arms and tail to try and help hold up the massive slab of bone. Naturally this wasn't really helpful, but Matt was touched by his spirit.

"Pebbles, I love you man, but you need to go! I can't hold this for much longer, and when my strength gives out, I'm a goner! I don't want you going with me!" Matt pleaded, sweating hard as he pushed his magic to the limits. His personally made Power Glyph burned out and he winced, feeling his strength slowly declining.

"Matt! H-Hold on!" Bria cried; "I-I'll make supports beams to hold up the slab! What's the design for that earth making glyph again!?"

She began to desperately look through Mason's pockets for his glyph notes, but couldn't find where he'd stashed them.

"No time for that Bria! I'm not strong enough to keep this thing lifted for long, and I can't move! I guess this is all my strength amounted to…" Matt felt tears of frustration in his eyes; "Damn it, I'm proud I was even able to come this far, but I don't want this to be the end! I don't want to just give up, but I don't have anything else in the tank! I'm just not strong enough to bond with the Earth Glyph!"

"W-What!? I don't get what you're talking about, but you're plenty strong! You're the strongest guy I know!" Bria protested, still trying to figure out what she could do with barely any magic.

"But this isn't enough!" Matt grit his teeth as his struggle got harder. "I need to be stronger than this! Unless I'm missing something… is it because so much of my strength comes from other people and their support? Maybe I can't master the glyph because I've relied too much on Luz and Gus, not to mention Steve and Pebbles! M-Maybe not getting this strength for myself is why I'm not bonding with the aspect?"

Suddenly, Bria's eyes widened as she finally realised what was holding Matt back! He truly believed every good thing he'd done was because of others helping him! He wasn't bonding with the aspect of strength because he wasn't acknowledging his own strength, showing a lack of understanding! Well, she was going to set him straight!

Bria shook her head as she forced herself under the slab of rock and used her own, not insubstantial, strength to ease his burden; "That's not it! Look, I know I haven't been there for you through a lot of what you dealt with, unlike how you've been there for me… but from my point of view, it's not that you're not strong! It's that you don't recognise your own strength! Every time you do something cool or amazing, you claim it was all because of Luz or Gus or your brother or Pebbles! I get it; when others give you a helpful push, it can be easy to believe its their strength and not yours that is shoving you forward…" the girl looked Matt in the eyes imploringly; "… but it isn't! They're behind you, backing you up, but it's still your strength! They gave you motivation, but you took every step and pushed against every bit of resistance all on your own! It's all your own strength, Matt! You didn't give me strength to solve my problems; you showed me the strength I already had! It's the same for you! No one gave you strength! They just showed what you already have! I mean, look at what you're doing right now!"

Matt chuckled and grimaced as he continued to hold up the massive chunk of bone. He may need magic to have the strength to lift it, but he had still done it! He'd still come in at the nick of time to save Bria and Mason. This was something he'd done on his own, with only Pebbles beside him… this was the result of his own strength.

"This is my own strength? I'm not just relying on others all the time?" Matt asked, looking a little surprised by the concept.

"Of course, you big dumb adorable idiot! You made my sword into a freaking Titan Light Blade! You gave me this Bowcaster that let me take down that crazy Star Centaur! Sure you got help and support from others, but you give help and support TO others as well! Come on, Matt! You've got strength! Inside, outside, emotional and physical; you're a strong guy! Everyone else can see it! Right Pebbles?" Bria yelled.

Pebbles squeaked on Matt's shoulder, and his adorable voice filled Matt's ears; "Matty is super strong! Matty became Pebbles' new partner! Pebbles loves Matty, who protects everyone and supports everyone! Matty is a good partner! Pebbles believes in him!"

Almost immediately, a burning sensation filled Matt's heart as a tear came to his eye. Steve believed in his strength, Bria believed in his strength, and so did Pebbles! Heck, all his friends did! Luz and the others had no doubt he'd bond with the Earth Glyph and prove himself!

"You're right… I've been putting myself down this whole time, acting like my strength isn't my own! Like I could never do all this on my own… well I may have needed help to get on this path, but like you guys said, I'm still the one walking it! I am strong, I am determined, and I can take anything this world dishes out! I am the man, Matt Tholomule! And I…!" he forced his willpower and determination to the max, powering up his magic with pure will and allowing him to slowly unbend his knees, straightening up and lifting the slab of bone higher.

"… I refuse to give up!"

With that, Matt let out a roar of determination and actually managed to throw the slab of bone away, launching it into nearby pool. The splash thankfully didn't reach Matt or his comrades, and the young man thrust a fist into the air victoriously, as the burning in his chest overflowed and the feeling of power swelled within him. Pebbles squeaked with joy and hugged the side of Matt's head as Bria cheered, then gasped as the earth glyph suddenly appeared on Matt's chest, shining brightly enough to be seen through his clothes.

Far away on Zachael's Landing, Luz smiled as a beam of orange light suddenly shot from her chest, where King's glyph had connected to her own earth glyph. The beam shot into the sky and disappeared, reappearing in the sky above Cocytux Island miles away. It slammed down through the island, ignoring the Anti-Magic barrier and even the bone of the island in order to connect to Matt's new glyph, causing him to be enveloped in light alongside Pebbles. The light was bright enough to nearly blind Bria, who had to cover her eyes, but it also reached out to other parts of the island too.

Up on the surface of the island, Steve and Katya saw the bright flash of light coming from down below and grinned, while Azazel couldn't help but blink in surprise.

"What is that?" she wondered aloud.

"That, Azazel, is my little brother becoming a real man!" Steve smiled broadly, overwhelming pride burning in his chest.

As for Matt and Pebbles, the two found themselves appearing in the white void, and Matt could barely stop himself from jumping up and down like a giddy child out of pure delight.

"I did it! I did it, I did it, I did it!" he screamed. He spun Pebbles around as he squeaked adorably, then gave him a big kiss atop his head before cuddling him proudly. "No, WE did it! Thank you Pebbles! Without you and your support, I'd never have come this far!"

"Pebbles is happy too! And proud of Matty! He kept his promise!" Pebbles declared childishly, wagging his little tail

"My promise? Which one do you mean?" Matt asked, curious all of a sudden.

"The bonding promise! When Matty and Pebbles became partners!" the Axolotl answered with a happy chirp; "Matty wanted to be a better person, and someone that Steve and his friends could be proud of! Matty wanted to be the best person he could be, even if he wasn't the strongest or best person over all. Matty wanted to be a great man that people look up to! Matty succeeded!"

Matt gasped; Pebbles was right! He'd undeniably become a better person, and he'd definitely made Steve and his friends proud! He was strong and doing his best at all times, even if other people were better than him at different things, and he definitely had Bria looking up to him! That was especially important to him, considering their prior relationship, how Bria used to be, and how much she'd changed thanks to a little bit of his help!

"You're right; I really did keep my promise! Well then, guess I need to make a new one! I'll keep getting stronger so I can protect my friends and be someone they can always rely on! And I don't want that kiss with Bria to be our last either, so I've gotta learn the second part of being a proud man; how to woo ladies!" Matt grinned, making Pebbles giggle. Matt them pet the Palisman and said; "You know, you changed a lot too Pebbles. When we first bonded, you were an adorable little scaredy cat! But now look at you? Charging into battle with me and even trying to lift huge boulders beside me!"

"So Pebbles is strong now too?" the little fellow asked.

"The strongest, right alongside me! That's why we're in-sync enough to be able to fuse!" Matt told him, playfully giving Pebbles a noogie. "And speaking of fusion, I don't know how time works with these visions, but I do know that my bro and his girl are both waiting for us outside! Let's get out there and kick some Archivist butt!"

Pebbles cheered along with Matt, and gently butted his head against the boy's chest as they embraced. Slowly, the light around them grew brighter as the two melted together into a single entity, their mutual feelings of love and respect blending with their determination, their endurance, and their strength to finally give birth to a brand new Palisman Fusion.

In the real world, Bria blinked a little as the blinding light began to subside, then gaped in amazement at what she saw.

"Matt…!? Pebbles…!? Oh Titan!" she breathed, eyes wide as she looked at the now single being.

Matt's fused form stood strong in front of her, his lean build hiding just how much muscle was there beneath his clothing. Matt's eyes had become orange (not unlike Bria's, to her secret pleasure), and his hair hadn't really changed at all, but his ears had been completely replaced by the orange frills of Pebbles the Axolotl. Matt was still able to hear perfectly fine with them, and in fact had even keener hearing since his Seismic Sense allowed him to pick up the smallest vibrations and interpret them as sound. On his back was a series of earthy brown spines connected by an orange membrane, resembling the fin on Pebbles' head, and he also had matching fins on the side of each wrist and forearm. His feet were also now brown, three-toed, and webbed with orange webbing to match the fins, and give him a true amphibious look that was completed by his long tail, which resembled an Axolotl's. It was brown with orange frills on the side, matching most of Pebbles' physical changes to his body. Then there was Matt's actual clothing; he was clad in a pale yellow bodysuit that clung to him tightly, and had brown fingerless gloves and long anklets that connected his webbed feet to his knees, making his feet look almost like they were just boots. Over his torso he wore a brown tunic with an orange y-pattern on his chest, and an orange mountain pattern on the bottom half (the two halves separated by a yellow band around his waist), with the pattern somewhat resembling the letter M, for Matt. Lastly, his outfit was completed by the earth glyph shining in orange on his sternum, as clear as day.

Matt stretched and flexed his new body, then briefly took to the air to test his new Palisman like flight. "Whoa…! Now I see why Gus and the others like this so much!"

"M-Matt!? What just happened!? You were all glowy and then you transformed!" Bria gasped in shock.

"This is Palisman Fusion! A power that Luz and King unlocked for us. It's a long story that I'll tell you later, but for now…" Matt suddenly frowned as more rocks fell from the ceiling. At this rate, the whole island really would collapse, with Steve only managing to slow it down. He saw some small stones about to fall on Bria and shot them with his magic, causing them to flash orange and then hit Bria… whereupon they slide down her face like they were made of silly putty or play dough, having been softened with Matt's Softening Magic.

Bria was shocked, but Matt then showed off his full power by waving his hand and causing a large earth glyph to appear on the ceiling of the Sauna Room. This allowed him to control and hold in place the entire bone ceiling whilst using his softening magic to make it loose and liquid like. Such a thing would normally be counter intuitive, but Matt used the softened substance to weave complex and sturdy supports that when hardened again would allow the place to suffer heavy tremors without collapsing, thus keeping at least the ceiling from caving in on them.

"Whoa… Why do I feel like I was just surpassed by a huge margin?" Bria commented as Matt flew back down beside her.

"My power in this form is on par with a Supreme Dragon or Seraphim. If Azazel out there is a little stronger than a Seraphim, then I'm probably only a little weaker than her now. These fusions are no joke!" Matt explained to her, all while weaving his new and upgraded Earth Magic into some paper to create a Power Glyph. Unlike Mason's glyphs, which used the Construction Coven Emblem as the design, Matt used a picture of Pebbles (he considered using his own face, but felt it was too arrogant). Once he was done, he handed the glyph to Bria and said; "Here, try this. It's kind of slap dash since I made it in a hurry, so it won't last long. But the power it gives should still be pretty good! Enough to finally heal Mason."

Bria took the note without question and used it immediately, feeling an aura of blue and orange swirling around her. It was far stronger that the glyph she'd used earlier, but also felt like it was burning out faster, so she acted fast and soon managed to awaken the unconscious Mason, who sat up with a groan as he rubbed his head.

"Ugh, my head… how long was I out?" Mason grumbled.

"A while. You had a concussion that was tough to heal." Bria told him as she handed him his Palisman, Nodis. Nodis and Corvanc were still unconscious after the damage they took earlier, but Bria couldn't heal Palismen like Luz could, so had to wait for them to awaken naturally.

Mason took his Palisman with a smile and gave his thanks to Bria, patting her head; "You did good, my girl. I owe you one. And you too it seems, Matt." he looked the boy up and down; "You look good. Palisman Fusion really suits you kids. What's the situation."

Matt was about to answer when another bad tremor shook the island, and all three Construction Magic Users were able to sense that some of the island's bone foundations were breaking apart. Something needed to be gone.

"Sorry Mason, but I need to go and help Steve and Katya. We've got a plan to beat Azazel, we just need to stabilise the island and then keep the place from falling apart!" Matt said urgently; "Mason, protect Bria!"

"No worries, Lad. I'll keep her safe." Mason promised.

Matt smiled and nodded, then gave Bria a wink that had her blushing, before flying away at top speed, leaving the others down in the Sauna Room. Another tremor hit them hard, but thankfully the ceiling stayed firm thanks to Matt's reconstruction, giving Bria the chance to take the towel from before and make a sling to hold Corvanc, since he was still out cold, while Mason carefully put Nodis into his beard. The two then hopped onto the back of Rumba, who followed Matt and flew them out of the underground and out into the open air of the Central Quarry.

Matt got there just before them (he was still a slow flier, while Rumba was a very fast one) and immediately saw Katya holding off Azazel (largely by playing an avoidance game) and Steve trying to limit the tremors and collapse of the island as much as possible. Thinking through a solution as quickly as he could, Matt decided that if the island was in danger of falling apart, he'd just need to hold it together with his new power!

He began by conjuring a large sandstorm, but instead of attacking Azazel or blinding her with it, he used the sand to create a giant earth glyph that filled the quarry. From there, he activated the glyph and harnessed it with his bonded Titan Power, allowing him to reach out and spread his magic throughout the tail, as well as through the sand beneath it, which he then began to raise up to create colossal stone pillars, fusing them together in the process. The pillars formed something akin to a massive scaffold around the island, which Matt then used his Integration Magic on; softening parts of the island and his colossal scaffold so he could meld them together and then harden them again. The whole process took him no more than two minutes, and when he was done, all tremors had stopped as Cocytux Island and the tip of the Titan's tail were fully stabilised. The stone scaffold was vast and strong; and despite the scale of what he'd done, Matt had barely broken a sweat! Such simple magic was a lot easier to perform than Gus's Tactile Illusions or Willow's Grafted Plants after all!

"Phew! Island secured!" Matt sighed with relief. He then turned to Azazel; "Now it's time to secure her!"

The Archivist narrowed her eyes, sensing the difference in power between the boy and his original form. It wasn't quite on her level, but the gap between them had shrunk enough that acting carelessly could allow him to close that gap despite her superior power.

Matt pulled out a small crystal medallion, which had the Sealing Glyph Combo engraved on it, and handed it to Steve as the Dragon Rebel caught his breath after holding the island together.

"This is gonna be our ace in the hole! I made it smaller so it would be easier to wield, but the smaller the glyphs, the weaker the spell. You and Katya need to spend some time charging it up! Maybe five minutes?" Matt explained.

Steve (and Katya, who flew down to stand with him) grinned; "Only five minutes? You sure you won't have wiped the floor with her by then?"

Matt chuckled; "I'll do my best not to rough her up TOO much. Now on my signal, we need to form a triangular formation around Azazel and use the medallion. Be prepared for that!"

"Do we have a signal?" Katya asked.

Matt nodded; "You'll know it when you see it!"

Without a further word, he flew at Azazel, eager to finally put his new powers to the test against a stronger opponent. He started off by immediately hardening his own body, giving his flesh a rocky texture and near-diamond level hardness at the cost of his manoeuvrability.

"Accelrock!" he yelled, slamming into Azazel's armoured body at high speed. The Archivist hadn't expected this and was hit hard, actually breaking an arm as she tried to catch his tackle. She whimpered as the bone snapped, but she healed it immediately and began pelting Matt with small stars, managing to chip away a little at his hardened skin. Still, Matt barely felt it and instead used Softening Magic to melt himself almost like when Amity used her Homunculus Transformation Magic. Of course, unlike that magic, Matt was still in one piece even as he was softened, but it was enough to wiggle and worm his way through the attacks. Whilst wiggling around, he subtly created an illusion of himself, using his liquid like form to secretly make pieces of himself invisible whilst replacing them with illusions in different spots without Azazel noticing. Finally, when his whole body was invisible and Azazel's stars were trying to attack an illusory enemy, Matt was able to get above Azazel and prepare his next big move.

"Continental Crush!" he bellowed.

Without realising it, Matt actually copied what Azazel herself had done a short time ago with the Mensa Constellation, only instead of using pre-existing rock, Matt conjured stone with raw magic and formed a huge slab of rock that he slammed down onto Azazel. She yelped in pain and surprise as it hit her and almost flattened her against the ground below, but she was able to blow it up with a stream of stars before that could happen, though the panic made her waste a lot more magic than she needed to. To make matters worse, since she merely blew up the slab instead of disintegrating it, she ran into the same problem Steve and Katya had run into earlier with Mensa; the rubble was still a threat, especially with Matt around to use it!

"Sandsear Storm!" Matt declared, turning several pieces of rubble into burning hot sand that whipped around Azazel quickly, both scratching and trying to burn her (though her Draco Armour left the latter ineffective), making her hiss in pain as she gathered several stars together into her palms.

"You want to use fancy attacks? Fine! Have a Supernova!" she screamed, forcing the stars together and then causing them to erupt into mini-supernovas, each almost as big as Matt himself. She launched them right at the boy, and he was forced to dodge and evade, but this was no trouble; Azazel still didn't want to hurt him, and so was doing this more to scare him off than actually do damage.

Sadly for her, Matt didn't feel the same!

"Splintered Stormshards!" Matt cried, using the rest of the rubble from his Continental Crush to create a swarm of razor sharp rocks to fly at Azazel and weaken her armour. The effect was limited, as Azazel vaporised many of them and dodged the others, diving to the ground for a moment (though notably not landing, since she knew Matt controlled the earth). But flying close to the ground was enough for Matt, who launched yet another attack by softening the ground and then forming blades of earth with it, hardening them as they thrust up at Azazel.

"Precipice Blades!" the boy grinned, watching as one of the blades hit Azazel's chest and dealt enough damage to leave a sizeable crack in her armour. The same blow also sent her skyward, where Matt was able to quickly fly up to attack her again.

Growling, Azazel held up her Scutum Shield and made it produce a barrier around her to defend herself, but Matt had no need to pierce the barrier; he just needed to trap Azazel for a few minutes!

Conjuring some Iron Sand, Matt forged and refined it around himself to create a giant sculpture of a metal Axolotl. It was similar to his Axolotl Mech in appearance, but it was just a huge clump of shaped metal that formed a shell around him, and crafted a huge metal kite shield around its face in place of its normal gills. Azazel saw this and fired a jet of flame using the Phoenix Wings on her armour, passing them through her barrier like it wasn't even there, but this merely heated the metal that Matt was keeping solid using magic.

Finally ready to end this long fight with the Scribe, Matt charged forward within the Metal Axolotl, sending it down on top of Azazel at high speed. It's hardness, weight, and speed meant it crashed into her shield with remarkable force, actually cracking it. However Matt didn't stop his charge, intent on hammering Azazel fully into the ground.

"Behemoth Bash!"

With that final roar, Matt slammed Azazel straight into the ground in the dead centre of the Central Quarry, where the now-destroyed scaffolding had once been. The impact shattered her barrier and left a stunned and broken Azazel groaning in a large crater in the ground, while a dizzy Matt emerged from his sculpture. He gathered his wits before his opponent did and quickly cast a spell, softening the crater and making it fill with the metal of his sculpture, which then blended with it. Azazel wasn't able to totally slip free in time and was instead forced to use another magic explosion to let her escape, and while this did work, it also wore her out further and left her slow and sluggish, not to mention dazed and trying to heal.

Seeing this as the signal Matt had meant, Katya and Steve dashed forward, the former using a mini-tornado stop Azazel from flying away while Steve shot a petrifying breath attack at her feet, leaving her to flop over as she lost all feeling in them.

"Matt, the medallion is charged!" Steve declared, holding up the small crystal disk.

"Then it's read! Triangle Formation, now!" Matt ordered, rushing over. He grabbed one of Steve's hands and one of Katya's as the two Dragon Rebels joined hands too, with the medallion held between Steve and Matt's hands as they all channelled their magic through each other and into the medallion.

The crystal shattered and the Glyph Combo suddenly exploded out of it, forming a gigantic ring with the CATTs trio surrounding Azazel in the dead centre. A black hole-like void appeared directly beneath Azazel, and an immensely powerful vortex began trying to suck her in, causing her to scream in panic and try to fly away, only to find that the spell was locked in on her and trying to drag her down into it. Azazel had no idea exactly what this spell would do to her, but she was not eager to find out!

Thinking of a potential way out of the sealing spell's vortex, Azazel abandoned her Draco Armour, causing it to return to its Astral Dragon form and become the new target of the seal, since it was closest to the centre of the vortex now AND was the larger target. Matt, Steve, and Katya looked on in horror as Azazel was about to escape, as they were locked in place by the spell they were casting and unable to stop it without cancelling the spell and wasting the glyph combo Matt had worked so hard to make. Free of the vortex now and preparing to escape, Azazel flew up… for all of about three feet before she was met by someone else.

Bria, exhausted and still flying on Rumba, appeared in front of her just in the nick of time and pointed her Bowcaster at the Archivist, firing a disintegrating shot with the red lens, which she'd salvaged after it was broken off by Sagittarius. Azazel tilted her head to the side and dodged it, but that caused the beam to hit Draco and destroy it, once again making Azazel the target of the vortex. She yelped as she began to get pulled in again, but thanks to the distance she'd made, it looked like she might actually get away! But that was when Bria cocked back her first.

"Hey, you CATTs guys! Consider this my application to join!" Bria cried, before slamming her fist hard against Azazel's cheek. It was the blow of a normal Witch, and a teenage girl of only 14 without an ounce of Titan Power… but while the damage it did was restored in a blink of an eye, the force of the blow was still enough to stagger Azazel back a little, and right into the inescapable pull of the vortex.

Azazel screamed in shock and terror as she was once again plunged into the swirling vortex, and this time she had no ace up her sleeve. She was caught right in the dead centre and trapped, whereupon the glowing glyphs formed a circular shell around her, before their light and elements fused together to form a perfect sphere of iridescent magic around her. Rings and lines of white light covered the sphere, and two thick bands of brass appeared around it in an x-formation, before the seal was finally completed with a crystalline disc, made from the remnants of the Glyph Combo Medallion that had housed the spell.

Finally, the iridescent light faded and the orb became almost black, resembling the night sky. Azazel the Scribe was visible within it too, but her body looked different now thanks to the magic of the seal; she appeared almost like a shadow puppet, just like Samael did back when he was sealed up! The only real difference was that her head had the shadow of her pigtails, and instead of a crescent moon-like divide, she had a shooting star around her right eye, the trail of which framed her left eye.

"No! No no no! Let me out! Please let me out!" Azazel cried, pounding on the glass-like crystal of the seal. "Please! Oh, my magic isn't working!"

She couldn't summon her wings, snapping her fingers did nothing, and she couldn't draw spell circles either! She was completely and totally trapped, and utterly powerless just as Samael had been all this time.

Matt, Steve, and Katya all breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto their backsides as they took some moments of much needed rest, while Bria hurried over to help Matt, with Rumba on her shoulder. Mason instead checked to see how powerful the seal was, and ignored Azazel's pleas to be released.

"I-Is it finally over down there!?" yelled an exhausted sounding Lilith, who STILL only had one leg since the other was petrified.

"Yeah, it's over!" Matt yelled back up to her.

Lilith sighed with immense relief and dropped her Anti-Magic barrier, then flew all the way down to join the others, then left her Harpy Form. She looked around for Corvanc, and Bria politely pulled the white Raven out of her sling and handed him over, albeit still unconscious. She then revealed she had Lilith's leg, that had been unpetrified by Bria's Healing Magic, which worked since the process wasn't completed.

Lilith thanked her profusely and reattached her leg (which felt a little stiff, giving her a limp) before turning to glare at Azazel; "Finally got you! Now, you'll tell us everything we want to know about King and the Divider's plans!"

Matt, recovering enough strength to stand again, smiled and nodded; "Your war is over now, Scribe. But if you behave yourself, I'm sure Luz and the others will agree to free you when everything is over."

Azazel whimpered; "I have to stay here until the war is done?"

"Yes. Sorry about this, but you didn't give us much choice! Now let's get you back home…" Matt said, lifting the Seal Orb with some gravity magic. "… but man, I am NOT looking forward to seeing Luz and Eda's reaction!"

The others shuddered too; one of the four enemy Archivists had been finally defeated and sealed, taking her off of the board, but she had succeeded in kidnapping King before that! Now they would need to launch a rescue, and everyone present had a very bad feeling that today's difficult mission was just the prelude to something far worse.