The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

58. EP 16: Exalted Hunt

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 3: The Divine Realm

Chapter 16: Exalted Hunt

It was an extremely rare feeling for the CATTs to be returning home after a successful mission and yet still feel like they'd completely failed. Yet that was the sensation going through all the CATTs' hearts as they returned to Zachael's Landing. They had disabled the Union Pillar of the Tail Bone, their forces had largely escaped unscathed (though they had suffered their first losses from the Distraction Team, with the Wings of Rani, Titan Trappers, and newly upgraded Abomaton Knights managing to capture a few of their numbers), and all their leaders and strongest members had managed to escape largely unharmed. The Red Galdorstone they were sent to destroy was successfully brought down too, Matt had achieved his Palisman Fusion, Steve and Katya had become Supreme Dragons (at the cost of Katya being forced to give up her Palisman, Rumba), and they had even succeeded in capturing and sealing up Azazel; the Archivist known as the Scribe. They'd even secured a few new recruits, as Raine and the other BATTs had recruited some of the Construction Coven Members that had evacuated Cocytux Island while the others were fighting, and of course, Matt had brought Bria into their number. But the few captured allies from the Distraction Team weren't the only ones they had lost…

King had also been captured and sent away to an unknown destination by Azazel, and the whole mission turned out to be a trap to lure in the CATTs, as the Galdorstone they destroyed was actually a back-up that was used as bait, while the first one the Divider had built was hidden in an unknown location. So in a sense, while they'd technically completed their objectives, half of them had been pointless and they had lost King, whilst capturing Azazel.

Raine had freaked out when the CATTs reconvened and began returning to the In-Between Realm, and the rest of the CATTs council who'd been in the field were also suitably horrified… no one was eager to see what Luz and Eda would say upon returning home, especially as they were on break from the mission to save Camila. And of course, Samael's reaction would be unpleasant too… Lilith was practically drowning in guilt, and while the others comforted her that there was nothing she could have done, it didn't help. And to make matters worse, as they would be passing through the In-Between Realm to get back to Zachael's Landing, they would have to face Orion and Cassiopeia's souls too!

It was with a great deal of reluctance that they levitated Azazel's Seal Orb into the Portal Gate at Bonesborough and passed through it, finding a frantic Orion and a somewhat calmer Cassiopeia waiting for them.

"Lady Cassiopeia-" Steve began, only for the Titan to raise her hand to silence him.

"I know what you're going to say, Steve. It is unnecessary; we know you all did what you could, and will go on to save our son." she said benevolently, obviously having watched the battle through her bond with her new Priests, since the Divider had found a way to blind the Portal Seeds to the Sephiroth.

"We are worried, and we feel powerless…" Orion confessed, "…but the CATTs have never let us down. You were caught unawares today, but we know you'll get King back! In the meantime…"

He lumbered over to the Seal Orb, causing the shadow of Azazel to whimper in fear as he grew large enough to pick it up and hold it in one hand; "… Cassiopeia and I will question the Archivist and see what we can learn."

He and Cassiopeia both gave sour looks to the Archivist, who continued to huddle in her prison out of fear and no small amount of shame. The Titans had no intention of tormenting her, but they were reasonably miffed, especially Orion who had not forgiven the Archivists for sealing Cassiopeia.

"It's probably best for you to guard her here anyway. If we take her home and she manages to escape somehow, it'd be bad for us. She'd cause a lot of damage then probably flee and tell the Divider where we are hiding." Matt said. He wasn't 100% confident in the strength of their seal, seeing as he, his brother, and his (inevitable) sister-in-law weren't up to the level of a Titan.

Orion and Cassiopeia weren't so worried; the Titan Magic in the seal completely nullified her Archivist Magic, and the nature of the seal prevented her from casting any spells anyway, leaving her trapped. Still, they accepted Matt's idea readily and wished the CATTs luck as they returned to Zachael's Landing. Azazel clearly didn't want to be left behind, but she wasn't in a position to argue and so stayed quiet and accepted her fate.

Arriving back at their base, they found Luz in the town square nearby, sitting outside a small cafe with Amity and a male High Angel that the others didn't recognise. He had short golden hair and matching golden eyes, and had a lean muscular build. He was dressed primarily in dark red, but with brown boots, silver gauntlets, and a blue cloak around his shoulders, with a similar blue and gold sash hanging from the middle of his belt. A spear with a lightning bolt-shaped blade was propped up against the side of his chair too, which Matt DID recognise as a weapon wielded by many members of Crest Diligence. The man looked a bit nervous as he drank tea with the girls, who were treating him like a welcome guest, at least until they noticed the returning group and rushed over to greet them, the High Angel following behind somewhat awkwardly.

"Guys! You're back! Whoa!" Luz gaped at Steve and Katya's new forms; "What happened to you guys!? I know Matt figured out his fusion because that whole bonding light show happened to me a while back, but what's going on with you two!?"

Katya, still feeling a little down about having to give up Rumba, gave a tired smile; "That's a long story…"

Luz frowned and noticed Rumba was resting on the shoulder of Bria (the Palisman wanted to give his old wielder some space to adjust to their new reality), making her wonder just what had happened. She also noticed Bria herself, which made her tilt her head.

"Wait a minute, I know you… Oh! You're Bria! The girl from the Looking Glass Graveyard!" Luz gasped in recognition.

"Uh yeah…" Bria gulped; "S-Sorry about that…"

"It's cool! It was months ago, and I hear you and Matt cleared things up at Glandus. If you're here, it must be because you need a place to stay or you're joining up!" Luz smiled kindly, offering her hand; "Either way, welcome aboard!"

Bria shyly took the hand and shook it; "Thanks. And yeah, I want to join up! I've got a big debt to repay to Matt, and I don't really have a home to go to any more…" she shook off that maudlin thought; "…but I'm eager to help!"

"It sounds like you've had a tough time." Amity greeted; "Well, you're welcome here. I see some other new faces too."

Luz eagerly scanned the crowd and sure enough, she spotted many of the new Construction Witches who were joining up with them. There were about two dozen of them and the eager young Seraphim, cheered up and energised by her spa day of rest and relaxation, scurried around them and greeted them all, introducing herself eagerly. She brought such a cheer to the crowd that the somewhat dour mood they'd all been in was lessened a great deal, and soon all the new recruits were welcomed gleefully. Luz then rushed back over to Amity's side, as well as the new High Angel.

"It's so great to have you all with us! We've actually had another recruit! This is Daniel, a High Angel formerly of Crest Diligence!" Luz greeted.

The man, Daniel, nervously bowed his head; "Good day to you all. I know I don't look like the usual Diligence Angels; my bloodline is actually from Crest Chastity, but I was earmarked from a young age for combat and defence. I came here today with the assistance of Lord Camael and Lord Barachiel, who approved my decision to leave the Crest Union and join Lady Luciel here in the Demon Realm."

Mason blinked; "A defector from the Union? You folk normally end up with the Divider."

Daniel nodded, looking a little upset at the very idea; "Yes, so I've noticed. I've seen many people defect to them or flee the Union… things are not as they should be. I've had friends, acquaintances, and even those I've felt… close to… all leave the Union, and many now fight you and your people. I myself left the Union because I could no longer tolerate its flaws after that disgrace of a trial!"

The CATTs looked briefly confused, so Luz chimed in; "Daniel here was one of the few High Angel guards at my trial. He was all armoured up so you wouldn't have seen his face, but he was there! I guess my little break down made him want to help me out." she explained, a bit embarrassed by her breakdown. Amity wasn't having that though and pulled her into a side hug, whilst Daniel just smiled.

"It was the last in a long list of incidents, and definitely the most egregious. Thankfully Lord Barachiel sympathised and accepted my resignation, while Lord Camael helped me come here." Daniel said, straightening a little; "I am eager to serve and help the person trying to change the Union and the Wings of Rani! I have taken all my oaths; Lady Luciel and Lady Amity were very accommodating."

Amity giggled; "Well Eda decided she wanted some private time with Vee to teach her trickery, while Camila is showing Samael and the rest of the "Nexsquad" how to play some human games, so we had some time to kill!"

"Speaking of King, where is here?" Luz asked, looking around at the group; "I'm pretty sure there are some others missing too. Did they stay behind to talk to Tio Orion and Tia Cassie?"

Immediately, the somewhat pleasant mood of the conversation dropped and everyone returning from the Isles looked very worried. The fact Luz was in such a good mood made what they were about to reveal even harder! Luz and Amity also noticed the drop in mood immediately and began to worry, with Luz looking around frantically to see if any of her other close friends were missing, while Amity looked to her Mom.

Lilith gulped and stepped up to break the news; "We're sorry… we had some casualties. No deaths of course, but several of our people were captured from the Distraction Team… and well… King was captured by Azazel the Scribe. We don't know where he is."

There was a solid second of complete silence and terrible tension as Luz's eyes widened, before she growled and promptly transformed into her Titan Form; "Where is she!? Where is the one who stole my little brother!? I'll rip his location out of her!" Luz snarled, her golden eyes flashing as Stringbean coiled around her wrist and hissed angrily.

"Whoa there, Luz!" Raine stepped up, already playing their violin in a soothing song; "Relax a bit! I know this is a really bad situation, but the Divider isn't a killer and he wouldn't let King get hurt. He loves King too, as misguided as he is."

Mason nodded; "Raine's right. And thanks to Matt, Steve, and Katya, we caught Azazel! She's back with the Titans, being interrogated right now."

That helped calm Luz's ire, but it didn't reduce her fear at all. Thankfully Stringbean and Amity could both sense her preparing to fall into a bad downward spiral, so Stringbean transformed into an otter and curled up around Luz's neck and left shoulder, while Amity held her hand tightly and summoned Ghost to help her. Ghost sat on her right shoulder and began gently grooming the Titan Angel, helping her calm down and relax a little bit.

"Ugh… thanks guys." Luz sighed, still not feeling good; "I think we need to hear the full story and prepare a rescue! Mom is gonna be so mad! Let's get going now!"

Luz didn't give any room to argue and raced off to the Council Chambers for the meeting she was calling as she left, her scroll making a lot of urgent calls and messages. Amity was naturally taken along with her, leaving Mason to talk to their new recruits, as well as Daniel, and send them off to see the other Construction Coven members of the CATTs so they could be set up with homes. Daniel went with them so he could try to help anyway he could, whilst Bria was asked to accompany Matt and the others to the meeting since she was involved in the fight with Azazel.

Within minutes, the entire council had been assembled in the council chambers to hear what had happened, and there was a major tension in the air as Luz's frantic messages had set everyone off worrying. The first thing everyone noticed was the changes to Steve and Katya, the latter of whom had already had Raine, Amber, and Derwin all gushing over her new form, amazed by it. They had also commiserated over her having to part ways with Rumba, with their Palismen similarly commiserating with Rumba over the hard choice to give up his bond with Katya for the sake of her love with Steve. The second thing most people noticed was Bria (who got a pleasant greeting from Gus, as well as Hunter and Lyra), but for Eda, the second thing she noticed was that King was absent. Samael noticed this too and began to look around frantically, before turning to Luz with fear in his eyes.

"Luz… where's King?"

Luz sighed heavily; "He was captured by Azazel the Scribe, and sent to an unknown location."

The entire CATTs Council descended into an immediate uproar over this. Not only was one of their own kidnapped by an Archivist, but it was King! The little brother of their leader and one of their aces in the hole! Without King and his Titan Power, the plan to seal the Divider was over before it began! Samael looked especially horrified and guilt-ridden over the fact it was his big sister who had kidnapped him, whilst Eda was absolutely livid.

"That little space brat stole my kid!? Where is she!? I'll smack the daylights outta her!" Eda snarled, leaping to her feet and preparing to march out of the chamber. Luz (still in Titan Mode herself) snagged her wrist gently and held her back.

"Mom, please! Azazel has been captured and the Titans are working on her! But we need to be smart about this! I'm really worried too, but we can't help King if we rush off recklessly! Believe me, I want to help him too, but he won't thank us if we get ourselves caught too, or become monsters to save him!" Luz argued.

Eda growled, but she couldn't bring herself to snatch her hand away from her upset daughter, nor could she yell at her… so instead she yelled at Lilith.

"What were you doing, Lily!? You were right on that island with him! How could you let King be kidnapped like that!?" Eda demanded, utterly furious and taking out her rage (somewhat unfairly) on anyone in her field of view.

Lilith wilted; "I'm sorry, Eda. We were all taken by surprise! I tried my best, and stopped her getting away after the fact!"

Steve came to her defence too; "It's not Lulu's fault! We were all caught off-guard, and she sacrificed her health to erect an Anti-Magic Barrier that kept Azazel from escaping, allowing us to capture her! Without Lulu, she'd have gotten away!"

Eda growled and looked to be on the verge of going Owl Beast Mode out of sheer fury and fear, but it was also clear that the anger wasn't truly pointed at Lilith, and more a case of her venting. Lilith understood that and with Steve coming to her defence and Amity coming over to hold her hand and give her a loving (if concerned) look, the elder Clawthorne Sister found her confidence again and spoke up.

"I know how you feel Eda. When the Mandragoras kidnapped Amity, I felt the same. But unlike me, you will be able to help us save your kidnapped child." Lilith said, comforting her sister by putting a hand on her shoulder.

Eda huffed, but then began to calm down a little, especially as Luz gave her an imploring look. The fact she was in Titan Mode just made it more effective, as it made Eda feel like King was asking her to stop too. Taking a deep breath, Eda backed away from Lilith and mumbled; "Sorry Lily. I shouldn't have blamed you."

"It's fine. I understand; if Amity had been kidnapped while away on a mission with you, I'd probably have yelled at you too. I forgive you, sister." Lilith said, intentionally playing up the smug big sister act a little to further ease Eda's mood.

However while Eda's was calming down a little, Samael was not; he looked utterly heartbroken that his Big Little Brother had been kidnapped by his Big Sister… and the only Archivist he still wasn't sure how to feel about. He was never close to the Watcher, the Keeper had treated him like an employee or asset, and the Huntsman was… well, he was the Huntsman, so the only relative besides his Mama that he actually got along with was Azazel. As such, this whole event came as a huge, gut wrenching betrayal for him. In fact, he actually began to sniffle and tear up a little, causing Camila to pick the boy up and cradle him to her chest.

"Oh you poor thing. This must be hard for you." Camila said sadly.

"S-She took King away! What if he disappears like all the other Titans!? What if they lock him up in the Archives and I never see him again!?" Samael sobbed; "Tomorrow was supposed to be his birthday! You taught me and the others all those fun party games and stuff so we could have fun!"

"I know sweetie. Don't worry, we WILL get him back!" Camila promised.

"Mami's right. It'll be okay, Samael. If Matt, Steve, and Katya were able to beat Azazel with just the three of them, then surely the rest of us can work together to seal up the rest of the Archivists too and end the threat to King, whilst also weakening the Divider!" Luz smiled.

Samael sniffled and looked at her with big wet eyes; "You think?"

"I know. Trust me; we'll save King! It may take us a lot of effort, but we'll do it!" Luz declared; "I promise I'll bring him home in time for a birthday party this weekend!"

That was probably a rather difficult thing to promise, especially as "this weekend" literally meant the next two days since it was currently Friday, but Luz wasn't about to back down on it! Her own birthday had started with a disaster, but it had ended amazingly! King's could be the same!

Darius, ever the voice of reason and calm, cleared his throat; "I think we should hear a full report from everyone first, so we aren't operating on incomplete information."

"Good idea. Okay; let's hear how the Distraction, Pillar, and Island Teams did!" Luz agreed, before getting everyone settled in their seats for a full conversation. Bria wasn't sure where to sit, so Matt had her sit with him, with Mason sitting on her other side and patting her back to calm her nerves.

The reports began with a brief recounting of the Distraction Teams, which had the unfortunate task of reporting the first losses the CATTs had faced. This wasn't the first time they'd lost a battle, and they had lost useful supplies and even Digale Island in the past, while back in the Belos days, several of their people had ended up arrested by the EC, so it wasn't too devastating, especially as even when divided, the oaths the captured CATTs took would keep them from spilling any secrets to their enemies. Though even though the captured CATTs would likely be treated very well by the Wings of Rani, the Council still balked at their capture and made notes on them to plan rescue missions whenever possible. They would likely be low priority to guard, so getting them back wouldn't be too hard if the CATTs played it smart.

Then there was Raine's Pillar Team. Infiltrating the Tail Bone Union Pillar with Severin and the BATTs hadn't been too tough thanks to the secret tunnel they'd used, and Matt's Toad Tank. They had used both to their advantage and shut down the pillar and destroyed the Divided Orbs, before splitting up to aid the Distraction Teams, with Katya obviously going to help the Island Team.

Finally, there was the events on Cocytux Island; sneaking in, Matt's meeting with the Divided Rostone and reuniting with Bria, the brief scare of her running to turn him in, her change of heart, the evacuation, Matt knocking out Rostone, the destruction of the Red Galdorstone, Azazel's arrival and reveal of the trap, King's kidnapping, and then the subsequent battles that saw Mason knocked out, Lilith forced to maintain a barrier, and the others fighting Azazel, culminating in the two Dragon Ascensions and Matt's Palisman Fusion, and then the sealing of Azazel.

Bria had gotten both sympathetic and impressed looks from the other CATTs, with Luna and Hettie both giving her warm smiles after hearing of her doing her best to heal Mason, as well as taking down one of the Zodiac Constructs. Steve and Katya similarly got a lot of gasps of amazement, which helped boost their confidence for when Steve would have to tell his parents about what happened, and also made Katya feel a little better about Rumba. Everyone in the room sympathised with her; she'd rushed into the ritual to be with her love, but neither had known of that consequence… Still, at least Rumba was still around and able to spend time with his beloved former Partner! For now, he seemed content to stick close to Bria. Lastly, the Council were all ecstatic that Matt had achieved his Palisman Fusion (he and Pebbles performed the fusion so everyone could see it), as this meant that only Hunter and Lyra were left to unlock theirs! Even with the (temporary) loss of King, they had still gained another piece that they'd need for the Ultimate Sealing Spell!

Still, when the story was over, Luz immediately got things moving.

"Good job everyone. I thank you all for the hard work you've put in today! Our next order of business is three-fold: find and rescue King, destroy the real Red Galdorstone, and rescue our other captured allies. To this end, I'm gonna go have a word with Azazel! The rest of you guys should stick around here, I'll need to call a new meeting once we have more information." Luz said, hopping to her feet.

"I'm coming too!" Samael declared; "I wanna talk to Azazel! I might be able to get her to tell us the truth about where King is!"

"I am too. That's my son she kidnapped; I want to have words!" Eda said with a scowl.

Luz didn't argue, but she did ask her mother to let her and Samael do the talking at first, which the Owl Lady begrudgingly agreed to. The three then left the room, leaving the rest of the Council (plus Bria) to linger in the Council Chambers and either rest from the day's missions or talk with the people who'd gone on those missions about their new powers.

Katya found herself roped into some Bard Talk with her fellow BATTs, Raine, Severin, Skara, Viney, and Jerbo (the latter two still practicing their own budding Bardic skills). Boscha also joined them, more intrigued in the more Draconic aspects of the new Wind Dragon. Steve and Matt were instead swept up in a talk with pretty much everyone else, who wanted to know more about their new abilities and Matt's new inventions, with the Bowcaster and Bria's modified sword being big hits with them all, especially Gus and Hunter (and Boscha, who kept stealing glances at them from the other conversation). Matt wasn't used to being the centre of attention, but since it WAS positive attention, he and Pebbles revelled in it for a bit.

This had the side effect of Bria slowly edging away to the side, feeling awkward with the CATTs. They were all so friendly with her, but she didn't feel like she deserved it after some of her past antics, especially as her interfering with Matt had put his mission in jeopardy for the third time now, if one counted the Looking Glass Graveyard AND Glandus. Though thinking of the graveyard did make her wonder about the old Keeper; Hudin. He had disappeared after the evacuation… Bria suspected he'd fled back to the graveyard.

The girl's only company was Rumba, who seemed keen to stick with her, but a new person soon joined them. Bria was surprised to find the large form of Hettie Cutburn sitting beside her… or at least who she assumed was Hettie, given that the woman's face was uncovered and unscarred.

"You are Miss Rostone, yes?" Hettie asked politely.

"Uh, I used to be. I don't think I can be a Rostone now. Pretty sure Nothor has disowned me by now, and if he hasn't then I've disowned him." Bria said with a sardonic smile. "I'm just Bria now."

"Well, it's nice to meet you "Just Bria." I would like to talk to you about your healing talent." Hettie smiled.

"What talent? It took me forever to wake up Mason after his fall, and I ended up needing a Power Glyph… I suck as a healer." Bria sulked.

Hettie snorted; "Oh yes, you totally suck; that's why you were able to heal complex skull and spinal fractures with no serious side effects, all without much in the way of formal education."

Bria's eyes widened as she turned to stare at the large woman; "I-I what!?"

"That fall of Mason's was not a simple fall. He is half Merrow, half Witch. But his Witch side has some Gnomish ancestry. Merrow have special, porous bones that become sturdier and denser in the water, but are lighter when out of the water, so they can survive the pressures of the deep sea and still move safely on land. However Gnomes are naturally frail boned creatures; a trait Mason inherited to a degree. When in water, he can be as tough as iron, but in the air he needs to use magic and his muscles to defend against attacks. He wasn't able to use those in this instance, and according to the medical scan I performed on him as he walked in…" Bria's eyes widened a little, suddenly remembering Hettie shooting spells at all of the Mission Team, including Bria, "…Mason suffered some serious skull fractures and damage to the vertebrae in his neck, not to mention his collarbone and shoulder blades. And yet, the scan also showed that these injuries were almost fully healed, and correctly too!" Hettie finished.

"I had no idea it was that serious! I just focused on fixing him and cast Healing Magic throughout his whole body!" Bria explained.

"No wonder you needed a Power Glyph! That was inefficient. Your skill with diagnosis and stamina preservation definitely need some work, but when it comes to mending broken bones, you are a natural!" Hettie smiled, giving her a firm pat on the back. "I don't know how you'd fare as a general Healer, but I imagine you'd do quite well as a physical trauma specialist. Would you be interested in some Healing Tutelage?" Hettie asked.

Bria couldn't believe it, and very nearly jumped to say yes. However she hesitated, suddenly worrying if she actually deserved this or not.

"Why are you offering me this?" she asked, full of self-doubt.

Hettie gave her a warm look; "I have three reasons. The first is practical; we need more Physical Trauma Healers and you need something to do now that you've joined the CATTs. The second is personal; you remind me a little of myself as a young girl, and after hearing of your sperm donor's backward opinions on Healers, I find myself wanting to build you into a powerful Healer like myself. And the third is… somewhat romantic." Hettie leaned down to whisper; "Your actions may very well have saved Mason's life, or at least his higher cognitive functions. Seeing as I have developed some… feelings… for him, I can't help but want to repay you."

Bria was surprised by that, and while she thought it was weirdly cute that Hettie and Mason were a potential item, the answers brought more questions.

"I remind you of yourself?"

"Indeed. I was a rough and tumble tomboy as a child, one who struggled to embrace my femininity even while not wanting to become a male. Though mine was more a result of growing up with more male friends than female ones in my little village." Hettie smiled with nostalgia.

Bria shifted uncomfortably; "Nothor tried to take me to get a Gender Transition Potion once… but the Healer wouldn't give me it without my consent too, and I refused. Nothor was NOT happy."

Hettie nodded in approval, glad her trained Healers still acted responsibly. Gender Transition Potions were simple in function; they turned Biological Males into Biological Females and vice versa, rebuilding the body from the ground up to make it as if it had always been that gender. Some people used them recreationally, some used them out of curiosity, and some took a single potion once in their life and then lived as their preferred gender for the rest of their life. Hettie had once experimented with making herself a man, due to those childhood memories and some body dysphoria over her scarred face, but she had felt profoundly uncomfortable and returned to her birth gender soon after. Therapy cleared up the dysphoria, and the Angels' healing eventually cleared up the scars, ending the problem altogether.

"I'm glad that man didn't succeed in changing your body against your will." Hettie said.

"Me too." Bria smiled; "But he made the rest of me into what I am… a bully. It's why I don't feel like I deserve to be taught by you."

Hettie scoffed; "Nonsense. You've repented for that and become a better person! Why deny yourself a skilled vocation and deny patients a great healer over something as trivial as being a brat and bully whilst you were still immature?"

"But shouldn't healers be better than that?" Bria asked.

Hettie snorted and pointed over to Lyra, who was watching her brother and sort-of-boyfriend squabble over who got the next cool weapon that Matt made; "See that young Angel? I tried to murder her despite her having done nothing to me, all because of improperly treated mental trauma… which I am still working my way through, using exposure therapy." Hettie explained.

"W-What!? You really did that!?" Bria gasped.

Hettie nodded, shame on her face; "Yes. I'm not proud of it… but the point is, a Healer isn't some paragon of goodness. We are just people and we do our best like everyone else. So what do you say? Are you interested in learning some proper Healing Magic with me?"

Bria nodded; "I am! But I also want to learn more Construction Magic! I'm good at fixing things, so maybe I can be that kind of Witch? I fix people, buildings, machines, tools, all sorts of stuff! Do you think I could do that?"

Hettie grinned and slapped her on the back; "Of course! If you're willing to put in the work, I don't see why not! A Repair Specialist sounds like a wonderful thing to be! And I bet you can ask Mason to teach you more about Construction Magic too!" she then leaned close with a wink; "And I'm sure that young Matt will be thrilled to teach you too."

Bria blushed, then nodded and said; "Okay, I've made up my mind! I want to be your Apprentice!"

"Excellent! Darius!" Hettie called out, making the Abomination Expert (and most of the room) turn to her. "I've spoken to Bria and she's agreed to become my Healing Apprentice."

Darius nodded; "Good for you, Miss Rostone. I'll make sure you get what you need for your apprenticeship; we have a lot of medical supplies thanks to Camael, so you'll be well stocked. However, I'm not sure where you'll live." he began to rub his beard; "You're still only 14, so I'm not sure about you living on your own in an apartment, but you have no family here. I guess you could live in the School with the orphans."

Bria wasn't sure how she felt about that, but it proved a moot point anyway, as Hettie shook her head; "She can move in with me. If she is to be my apprentice, then looking after her is my responsibility."

"Really!?" Bria gasped.

Hettie nodded with a wide grin; "Of course! Besides, I ended up with a two bedroom apartment anyway since I'm a large woman and the only larger apartments in the city had at least two. It's not a bother for me."

Bria beamed and hugged her out of gratitude, while Matt and the others congratulated the girl on her new apprenticeship. Rumba buzzed happily for her too, still present on her head. Seeing this, Katya came over and smiled sadly at her; "Hey Bria, it seems you and Rumba really get along."

"Oh, um… yeah, I guess so." Bria said nervously.

"I'm glad. Would you mind taking care of him for a while? Until he finds a new partner to bond with?" Katya asked. In truth, she suspected Bria would soon end up being that new partner; Rumba was a sucker for love and people who stand up against abusers, and Bria's issues with her father, as well as her blatantly budding feelings for Matt had Katya convinced Rumba had locked onto her as a new partner, and was just waiting for Bria to open her heart to the little beetle.

It was why Katya wanted him to be with Bria; he deserved a partner to love him! He wasn't to blame for her ignorance in rushing into the Rite of Ascension.

Bria's face lit up at the idea of taking care of Rumba, and she hastily agreed to it. Rumba also buzzed his approval and gently bopped Bria on the head with his horn as a sign of affection. Steve came over and gave Katya a side hug and a kiss on the cheek, while Matt went to congratulate Bria on her apprenticeship and fostering Rumba, as the entire council ended up converging into a huge single conversation, discussing anything and everything that came to mind as they waited for Luz and the others to get back.

[Meanwhile]

Luz, Eda, and Samael arrived in the In-Between Realm and were immediately greeted by the sound of quiet sobbing as Orion and Cassiopeia (in their enlarged forms), held Azazel's Seal Orb in their joined hands. Based on their expressions, it didn't look like the Titans were being cruel to her at all, but the girl was still crying softly, which immediately made Luz and Samael feel bad for her; the former was very empathetic and weak to tears, while the latter was obviously a little kid who didn't like to hear his sister cry. Eda was definitely not sympathetic, but she wasn't going to act cruel in front of her daughter and nephew.

"Oh, everyone. You're here. We've talked to Azazel a little bit. I think she is ready to talk to you." Orion said as he and Cassiopeia lowered the orb to the ground. The sight of it made Samael shudder and he held Luz's hand as Stringbean, in the form of a Carbuncle, sat on his shoulder.

They walked up to the orb and saw the shadow form of Azazel on its surface. She looked at them miserably and said; "Samael… I'm so sorry."

"Azazel… you need to tell us where King is! Please!" Samael pleaded.

"B-But if I tell you, you'll all be in huge trouble! You can't hope to save him! Please; the Divider isn't going to let him get hurt or be treated badly, so just let him go! I don't want to see you and your new friends suffer, Samael!" Azazel pleaded.

Luz stepped up; "Azazel, we already ARE suffering because we're afraid of what's happening to King! Can you say with certainty that nothing bad will happen to him under the Divider's watch?"

"I-I know the Watcher and Keeper wouldn't do anything, and the Titan Trappers aren't allowed where the little one was sent. Only the Huntsman could be a threat and the Divider is keeping an eye on him! He is safe!" Azazel cried. She didn't sound convinced of her own words.

"Look kid, you don't seem as much of a jerk as your other siblings. We heard from the guys you were fighting that you never killed a Titan or even hurt them unless they went for you first." Eda said, trying a different tactic; "But you're on the wrong side here, taking King's family from him AGAIN. Do the right thing and let us get him back! Besides, you said back in the forest that you only signed up with the Divider because he promised to free Sammy here." she patted Samael's head; "But he didn't. KING is the one who freed him, and we provided him a home and new family! If anything, you should be siding with us!"

Azazel looked deeply conflicted; "I-I would like to… but I swore an oath to the Divider before I knew Samael was free! And even if I hadn't, I can't disobey the Keeper!"

Luz seized on that; "If she is controlling you somehow, then we can save you! You just need to tell us!"

Azazel shook her head; "It's not like that! It's just… when Mama left, the Keeper is the one who took care of us! She's the one of us who is most like Mama, and was left in charge by her so… I guess I just can't bring myself to disobey her."

Luz gave her a sympathetic look, and even Eda felt herself softening a little. Perhaps it was because she was a mother herself now, but seeing Azazel so clearly pining for her mother just as Samael still did at times, and latching onto her oldest sister as a replacement for her made Eda feel sorry for her. Azazel may be thousands of years old chronologically, but like Samael, she was still a child at heart… a lonely little girl doing her best to hold together her broken family whilst serving at the whim of a madman.

"Kid… Azazel." Eda said gently; "I'm new to the whole being a Mom thing, but I do know that as a Mom, the thing I want most is for my kids to be happy. And I've gotta ask… do you think the Celestial or the Keeper would look at you these past few days and think you're happy?"

Azazel went silent, then shook her head. Eda continued; "Do you think they would want you to be happy above all else?"

"I-I don't know… Mama always loved us so much, and the Keeper… she loves us too in her own way. But if there was a choice between us and the Archives, I'm not sure what she'd pick." Azazel confessed.

"Then you should come and be with us!" Samael yelled; "Like I said to the jerk Huntsman; if Mama cared more about us doing what she wants than us being happy, then I don't care what she thinks! And if she doesn't care more about that than us, then she'd be happy for us to not go along with the Keeper! So either she'd support us, or she's mean and it doesn't matter! So you should do what you want!"

Azazel's eyes widened a little; "Are you… are you saying I should join you? The CATTs?"

"If you want to." Luz agreed; "We can't release you until the Divider is beaten; not with that oath you swore to obey him. We won't torture you by making you go against it. But we're going to do our best to make you comfortable, and if you help us by telling us where King is, we'll forgive you and we can begin working on a better future for all of us."

Eda nodded; "You aren't evil; just a little girl being used by bad or misguided people. You did wrong because of their orders. But you can end this now! Please, tell me where my son is. Do that, and I'll personally give you a home when this war is over."

Azazel bit her lip; "I-I don't know… I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"It's my son's birthday tomorrow. Spending it away from his family will hurt more than anything else the Divider will do. Please, Azazel." Eda pleaded, throwing away her pride.

That seemed to get through to the middle child of the Archivists, and she looked up at the two Titans, who'd watched silently thus far. They both gave her imploring and gentle looks, and despite what she'd done to their son and Cassiopeia, both had been nice to her. Their talk before had largely been them telling her that they understood she wasn't one of their race's killers and hadn't wanted any of what happened. Cassiopeia had even forgiven her for her part in cursing her, especially since Azazel had done it to try and save her life, even from herself.

With the Titans, Luz (still in Titan form), Eda, AND Samael all imploring her kindly, Azazel found that she could no longer keep her silence. She didn't want to hurt anyone, so if staying quiet hurt them, then she had no choice.

"A-Alright… I'll tell you where King is, or rather, where he'll soon be." Azazel finally confessed; "I sent him to Rani's Eden. Whilst there, the Divider is going to use his connection to Lady Cassiopeia to link her soul to the real Red Galdorstone currently stored there. Once the link is established, King will be sent to the Archives, which is currently orbiting around the moon of this world."

"The Archives!?" Luz and Samael both exclaimed. Rani's Eden was one thing; it was heavily guarded, to the point of being nigh-impenetrable now, but at least it was reachable! If the Archives were out in space, then they'd be doomed! Getting to space last time, when going for the temple of Pulvoltary, required them to use a Primordial Wellspring and then return with a barrier full of air and a lightning fast dragon to ride on! Such a thing would be borderline impossible… at least it should have been.

After Luz took a moment to calm down and think, she actually wondered if they had a way into space. Matt had been making a lot of his MTH-Series Mechs, and he was a Cosmic Frontier fanatic! He'd also been interested in human space travel back in the Human Realm; if anyone knew how to get them there, it would be him! Plus, they now had Lyra and her ability to scry on Angels! If she used it on the Divider while he was still within the Boiling Isles, they might learn more!

"Okay, we're seriously going to need to think this through. Luckily it's not a totally lost cause." Luz said, before looking to Eda and Samael; "I'm going to head back now. There is another ace up our sleeve that might help, and if we're gonna get King back tomorrow, we need to be prepared!"

Eda nodded; "I'm with you, Owlet." she then looked to Azazel; "Thanks Pigtails. I'll keep my end of the bargain; once this is all over and we let you out, I'll give you a place to stay at the Owl House. So long as King is cool with it."

Azazel smiled weakly and gave a little wave as the two ladies headed off, while Samael put his hand gingerly on the seal, where she had put her own hand. The two Celestial Children looked at one another for a bit, and Samael had to ask;

"Azazel… you really made that oath for me?"

"I did. I've wanted to save you for 5000 years, but Mama's protections stopped us leaving while injured." Azazel swore; "I'd pinky promise if I could."

Samael's lip wobbled; "And… you really didn't kill any Titans? You didn't make them disappear?"

"I swear on my name, Azazel the Scribe, and on the love I have for my mother and for you, that I did not ever knowingly and/or willingly take, or attempt to take, the life of a Titan. I didn't want any of this Sammy… I truly didn't. I was happy to sit in our little corner of the universe collecting stories and history with my family. I didn't want any part in any of of these conflicts."

That was enough for Samael, who began to cry softly; "So… you can be my big sister again?"

"I want to! More than anything! What the Huntsman did all those years ago is unforgivable, and while the Keeper and Watcher tried to be peaceful, they still killed Titans when the fighting started, and from what I can see, they don't even care! I just… I don't feel happy with them any more. You're the only one in our family, besides Mama, who always made me happy." the girl promised.

Samael smiled; "You were too. I hope you and King can become friends too! But now I've gotta go and help save him! He's my Big little brother! And it's his birthday tomorrow! Will you be okay here with Uncle Orion and Aunt Cassie?"

Azazel nodded and the two Titan Spirits smiled kindly; "We'll take care of her. She won't get bored or lonely with our help." Orion promised.

"You do your best to save King! So long as he's near an Archivist, we won't be able to watch with the Portal Seeds, but we'll keep trying anyway." Cassiopeia added.

Samael nodded and then gave his sister one last goodbye, before flying off through the open Portal Gate back to Zachael's Landing. Upon arriving through, he found Luz talking animatedly with Eda, who'd waited for him.

"Luz!" he cried, flying over to her; "Um, I know the Archives will be super tough to get to, but I know a lot about it! I might be able to help get us onto it!"

Luz smiled and ruffled his hair; "I figured as much. We have another ace in the hole now! Samael can help us, but so can Lyra!"

Samael looked confused, so Eda reminded him of her ability to spy on the Angels now. Shade could now ignore the holy power of Angels when using his own powers, meaning his only weakness now was salt! So as long as King and the Divider were still within the confines of the isles, she could find them. Last time Lyra had used this power, she'd taken a short trip to old Clawthorne House via the Portal Gates, as Shade couldn't leave Zachael's Landing due to the sea.

"Ooh!" Samael grinned; "That's really good! Come on! Let's go find her now!"

He grabbed Luz and Eda by the hands and flew off, forcing the two ladies to use their Seraph wings and Harpy Mode to fly with him all the way back to the council room, where they found everyone still chatting and keeping calm. Luz gave them all a very brief rundown of what Azazel had told them, as well as the fact Azazel would be remaining imprisoned for now (something Samael still didn't like, but did understand; given all of Azazel's oaths).

Everyone was suitably horrified by the idea of having to invade the Archives around the moon (something none of them could see thanks to the still distorted sky), but Matt's horror faded into a grin.

"I can get to work on space-faring vessels! It's not actually too different from making submersibles; I just need to make them endure exiting and re-entering the atmosphere, provide some kind of propulsion system, and a more advanced life support system! With my new Palisman Fusion powers, I bet I can take the airships we already have and get them turned into space ships!" Matt grinned. He wanted to show off his Palisman Fusion more, as he hadn't gotten to do it too much against Azazel, as his personal magic wasn't the kind that was good in direct combat, but rather in creating complex machines and devices!

"Great! Can you get working immediately? You and the Island Team are taking tomorrow off to rest, so put your all into it today and tonight! Mason, Steve, Bria; can you help him?" Luz asked.

The three immediately nodded and headed off, with Alador going to join them too, since he rarely went on field missions anyway. He invited Jerbo to come help him too (he didn't bother inviting Amity, knowing she'd choose to stay with Luz), but Jerbo politely declined; the twins were eager to go on a major mission and so he wanted to stay and support Edric.

Once the Construction Crew had left, Luz revealed her plan for Lyra, and the Dark Angel girl smiled broadly.

"I can do it! If we have a safe place back on the Boiling Isles that I can hide in while I work with Shade to scry on them. I just need to find King, right?" Lyra asked.

"That's right. Him and any defences and guards around him." Eda replied; "You used my parents' house last time, right? Then we can use it again! But we shouldn't all go there. Owlet, Sammy, and I are a given, and I'm guessing Goldilocks and Darry-Boy are gonna want to come along too. You in too, Goops?"

Gus smiled; "Sure! I'm always up for seeing Lyra save the day!"

Lyra blushed, and Hunter and Darius also agreed that they would be going too. The others chose to stay behind for now and get to work preparing for tomorrow's mission, with Katya especially planning on paying a visit to the Dragon Priests to see if there was a way to get hers and Steve's full power without a Wellspring. She wasn't getting her hopes up, but it was the best she could do right now.

After that, the team of Luz, Eda, Samael, Lyra, Hunter, Darius, and Gus all headed together to the Portal Gate and paid a visit to the Clawthorne House near Bonesborough. Eda and Darius scoured the place for signs of traps, enchantments, or alerts, but aside from her parents' own enchantments, they found nothing. So long as no one tried to get into the alarmed cookie jar, everything would be fine! Certain that it was safe, they all retired to the living room and cleared the furniture so there was a wide open space in the middle of the room for Lyra to sit in as she prepared to scry on King.

As Lyra cast the spell, Luz was fascinated to see how it differed from conventional Oracle Magic. Normally when using a spirit to scry on someone, the Oracle would either create a crystal ball with their own magic, or use one that already existed. They would then channel their Oracle Spirit into the crystal ball, which would contain the Spirit's core or "soul" whilst its consciousness moved invisibly beyond the soul, transmitting all it saw and heard back to its core, and allowing it to be displayed on its crystal ball. Lyra's worked in fundamentally the same way, but she clad Shade entirely in Darkness before placing him inside a crystal ball of her own making. This made Shade look like a literal shadow version of himself, and when he entered the crystal ball, the entire thing turned black and began to drip an ominous black liquid into the floor, which disappeared into the shadow cast by the crystal ball itself. Lyra's eyes glowed purple, and her wings glowed faintly too as her vision became that of Shade, allowing her to see (and hear) what he did.

The downside to this was that the black crystal ball meant no one else could watch the scrying alongside her… but Lyra was growing skilled with illusions thanks to some one-on-one tutoring with Gus (which was just tutoring no matter how much Willow and Hunter teased them about it), so she cast a simple illusion on her own wings, causing them to become like mirrors that displayed whatever she saw, while an audio illusion allowed everyone to hear what was being said.

The vision began with them all seeing themselves in the Clawthornes' living room, looking out from the shadows of the room. There was a bit of a strange fuzzy sparkling effect around Luz, but beyond that, she showed up in the vision just fine. From there, the vision shifted rapidly as Shade's consciousness was moved through the shadows at high speed, reaching Manubrium in a matter of seconds, and then up into Rani's Eden. Shade headed into Rani's Throne, clueless as to where King was but blindly following the call of his soul; an Oracle could scry on anyone they had met or knew a decent amount of information about, allowing their spirit to find them on their own, and since Lyra and King were close, being adopted cousins, Shade was able to home in on him fast.

The spirit moved through the upper levels of Rani's Throne, where just about everything had the same strange fuzzy aura that Luz did in Shade's vision, until he finally arrived at a heavily guarded pair of large golden doors. The doors were engraved with a tableau of Rani, Civa, Nilam, and Mancal, and was guarded by four heavily armoured Arch-Angels, each of who was supported by two Abomaton Knights, which appeared to have been hybridised with the Knight Golems; they were essentially the heavy armour of the knights but filled with the Abomaton's core and goop. They would inevitably be a problem in the future.

Shade passed this security though and arrived in an obscenely grand bedroom. It had white carpeted floors, the finest wood and marble furniture, walls covered in golden filigree and complex woven tapestries, and a massive four poster bed that was fit for King, if not a God! It was a beautiful room with crystal windows that looked out over the rest of Rani's Eden, giving it an almost idyllic look… which was somewhat ruined for Luz, who felt a shudder go up her spine as she realised this was very similar to how she'd woken up in Belos' castle when Lilith captured her. It didn't help that the main tapestry in the room showcased the CATTs, with the Clawthorne family in the middle, with Luz herself depicted flying above them all alongside the Divider, the two circling each other almost like a yin-yang symbol.

Luz had the strange feeling this bedroom might have been intended for her… It certainly hadn't been the Valkyrie's, as Eda looked unfamiliar with it.

Shaking that feeling off, Luz focused back on the vision and saw King in the middle of the bed. He seemed to be sleeping soundly, likely having been put to sleep to keep him pacified right after he was sent to Rani's Eden. Unfortunately, the CATTs had no idea when he would be waking up, and according to Shade, neither the Divider or the Archivists were in range of his senses, meaning they were beyond the sea. As such, they instead had Shade search out the Red Galdorstone, which they found in the Divided Orb Chamber of Rani's Eden.

The Red Galdorstone was literally just a very big Galdorstone made of red crystallised blood instead of blue, reflecting that it was made with normal Witch and Demon Magic instead of Titan Magic. It was about the size of Orion's heart, and a similar shape too, and was currently floating in a strange apparatus that looked like it could be slid into the beam of magic shooting up into the core of Rani's Eden. Beyond that, there was not much that could be gleaned from the appearance of the stone, so Lyra had no choice but to send Shade back to King so they could all keep an eye on him until he awakened. They hoped it wouldn't be long, though as Luz and Eda got to watch King sleep (admiring his cute little snores and habit of kicking his legs like a dog), they also noticed that a golden feather had been pinned to his Witch's Wool Neckerchief, which they suspected was why the Titans couldn't use the Portal Seeds to see King, despite no actual Sephiroth being around.

"Well, I guess we've got no choice but to wait until he wakes up or something happens." Gus sighed, sitting back and getting comfy.

"Unfortunately, yeah. If I knew where the Archivists were, we might have been able to launch a quick in and out rescue mission, but I can't see them. I'd wager they're out there assembling Lady Cassiopeia's body…" Lyra groaned, having a feeling she'd be exhausted by the time this was over.

Luz and the others all got comfy too, and the young Seraphim said; "Nothing for it; we just have to wait! Anyone bring a pack of cards or something? Uh, not including Lyra's Tarot?"

Eda grinned; "I could probably find a deck of Hexes Hold 'Em cards!"

She was met with a resounding NO! Looks like they'd be passing the time some other way…

[Later]

It was late afternoon to early evening before King found himself slowly waking up. He felt well rested, but seeing the sun very slowly beginning to set through the crystal windows had the little Titan pouting angrily; now he'd struggle to sleep tonight!

"Stupid jerk Divider!" King grumbled as he got to his feet and began to look around at the room he'd been placed in. The last thing he remembered was being launched away from Cocytux Island by Azazel's Ritual Altar, and then landing on an identical altar on a rooftop garden of Rani's Throne, surrounded by Angels. The altar had disappeared a moment later, and King had been dog-piled by the Angels, leaving him utterly unable to escape as they bound his mouth with soft cloth and confiscated his glyph notes and writing materials. He'd then been hauled into this room and held tightly (yet gently) by a very burly Arch-Angel as a much nicer lady Arch-Angel spoke to him softly and told him that he would not be harmed or handed over to the Archivists and their servants; the Titan Trappers, and would instead be an honoured guest of the "Lord Divider".

Unsurprisingly, that had not soothed a very angry King, so the Lady Angel had cast a sleeping spell on him!

"At least they took the gag off." King muttered darkly. He flapped his little wings and flew to the closest window and unleashed a Titan Roar to try and break it, only for the roar to hit an invisible barrier around the windows.

"Guess it couldn't be that easy." he complained.

He was about to try using his sharp claws to draw a glyph combo on the walls in hopes of escaping, but his roar had caught the attention of the guards outside, and the door soon flung open as four Arch-Angels and a bunch of strange new Abomaton Knights charged into the room. One of the Abomatons shot a globule of purplish slime at King, making him cry "WEH!?" as it wrapped around his wings and torso, leaving only his head, feet, and tail free.

"Hey! Let me go you feathery tin-cans! WEH!" King roared at them, but the Abomatons erected a barrier around them all to stop his attack.

"My Lord, we ask that you refrain from attacking us further. We mean you no harm." said one of the Arch-Angels; a dark skinned female that likely started life in Crest Diligence. She bore a strong resemblance to Barachiel after all; more so than the normal "same Crest Order" resemblance.

"That's easy for you to say after kidnapping me, knocking me out, and tying me up! You mean no harm? Then let me go home!" King commanded.

"And what home would that be?"

King suddenly went still as the Arch-Angels parted ways and the Divider entered the room, wearing an easy smile and being followed by the other three Archivists; the Keeper, the Watcher, and the loathsome Huntsman, who sneered at the young Titan.

"YOU!" King growled at the Divider. He wanted to roar, but the Abomaton barrier was still keeping him from the rest of the room.

"Me." the Divider smiled; "Now, what home would you be referring to? Digale Island is mine once again, and I've been keeping close eyes on just about every known associate of yours still in the Demon Realm. I can only assume you CATTs are either taking refuge on another continent, or in the Divine Realm. Care to tell me?"

"Bite me." King snapped.

The Huntsman growled, but the Divider raised a hand to silence him. "Cute, King. But you must understand that Luz and the others cannot win. If they are still in the Demon Realm, we know they are somewhere to the west… do you really want to bring another nation into this war by hiding there?"

King narrowed his eyes; the Dragon Graveyard Island wasn't well known, and Gus and the Illusionists of the CATTs had found a way to create a massive illusion to hide the island, using the heat of the volcano to create power and fuel the enchantments, so it wouldn't be possible to find simply by flying over it…

"What makes you think we're to the west?" King asked, playing up his confusion to make it seem like a strange idea.

The Divider walked forward, the Abomaton letting him pass, and King immediately tried to roar at him. The Divider's glyph markings glowed and he created a barrier glyph combo by using the ice and earth glyphs, stopping the roar. He then used the wind glyph to levitate King, and when the little Titan tried to roar again, he ended up making himself spin head over heels, much to his displeasure. To make matters worse, while this second roar HAD hit the Divider (he'd dropped his barrier to catch King in his wind), the man had merely staggered back with a nose bleed, which he'd swiftly healed.

"Please don't make me gag you, King. Besides, do you REALLY want to defeat me with the likes of them waiting behind me?" the Divider asked, gesturing to the Archivists.

King scowled; the Divider had a point… His chances of actually beating the Divider was nil, and even if he DID miraculously win and it caused the Divider's Anti-Archivist Barrier to come down, he'd have three full power Sephiroth Seeds to deal with! Perhaps it was better to wait for a more subtle escape attempt.

"Fine fine. But seriously, why do you we're in the west?" King asked again.

"After the Third Battle of Digale Island, a fleet of Titan Trapper ships…" the Divider briefly sneered, "… led by Godric sailed off to the west. They returned hours later in a state of confusion, with no memories of what happened, covered in wounds, and with no sign of Godric."

"Well, if that's what you're gonna think, I won't argue!" King said, giving an unsubtle smirk to make it seem like the Divider was blatantly wrong.

The Divider ignored this and asked; "Speaking of Godric, I noticed his Divided Orb was missing from the Pillar in the Left Palm. Not only that, but I saw that Eberwolf was undivided back at Vitimir's estate. I know there was no attack on the Right Hip, so Eber's Divided Orb was not attacked, yet it is missing too. It seems you have found a way to undo my Division remotely. Care to explain how?"

"How about no?" King replied.

The Sephiroth shrugged; "I figured as much. Well it's no big deal; we'll find the CATTs soon enough, and Luz will be captured. The True Day of Unity is only a maximum of two weeks away after all."

That caught King's attention; was the Divider's plan really so close to being completed!? He didn't get a chance to question him further though, as the Divider waved his finger and made King hover behind him as he walked out of the room, followed by the Archivists.

"Hey! Where are you taking me, you big jerk!?" King snarled.

"Oh calm down, you know I won't hurt you. And dividing you would take more power than I'm willing to spend right now. You're just going to help me with a little project." the Divider replied as he casually made his way to the lower levels of Rani's Throne, and then descended into the bowels of Rani's Eden itself.

As they walked, King glared at everything and everyone, and the Huntsman did the same, focusing his ire on King especially. The Keeper was wearing a worried frown as she kept an eye on the Watcher, who was floating along with a disconcerted expression. When they were almost at their destination, the Watcher sighed.

"It is no use. I cannot see the Scribe no matter what I do. She must still be in close proximity to the Boiling Isles or some other source of Titan Power." the Watcher said.

"But didn't the trappers report that she wasn't at Cocytux Island any longer? Where else could she be!?" the Keeper fretted.

"The Wings of Rani would have reported a battle happening elsewhere on the island. Since it has been silent, we can assume the Scribe has either deserted us or been captured by the CATTs." the Divider said gravely.

King smirked at that, and the Huntsman growled; "That weakling! I bet she got herself captured! She's too much of a coward to betray us willingly!"

The Keeper glared at him and replied sharply; "Mind your tongue, Huntsman! She is still our sister! I won't tolerate your verbal abuse of her. That same attitude is what cost us the Collector!"

"His name is Samael! Maybe if you remembered that and didn't use him like a tool, he'd still be on your side!" King snapped.

The Keeper grimaced but refused to look at King in response, while the Huntsman looked like he REALLY wanted to hit him, but didn't dare do so. The Divider just ignored them all together until they finally reached their destination; the Core and Divided Orb chamber that was responsible for keeping Rani's Eden flying in the air.

The room was similar to how it had been during King's last visit, but it now featured protective barriers around the Divided Orbs, and a giant red crystal was attached to some kind of mechanical arm that was poised to place the crystal into the beam of light connecting the pyramid on the ground to the core of the island's magic. King eyed the crystal angrily; that was the Red Galdorstone! He was sure of it!

King opened his mouth to roar at it and try to break it, but the Divider was clever and knew him well, so the man's hand shout out and grabbed King's snout, forcing his mouth shut. King thrashed and squealed, but the Divider didn't release him until he'd drawn a spell circle that wrapped golden magic chains around his snout, ensuring King could barely open his mouth enough to breath, but not enough to roar.

"We'll have none of that." The Divider said dangerously; "The CATTs have caused enough delays."

He then turned to one of the Angels who'd been walking with them and said; "Summon the Oracles. We need to begin the ritual immediately."

The Angel he spoke to ran off, while the Archivists moved to the edges of the room, along with every other Angelic Guard. King, wondering what use Angels would have for Oracles and what kind of ritual the Divider was going to perform, found himself being placed inside some kind of barrier that was then placed into the beam of magic shooting up into the core. The barrier seemed to absorb some magic but the vast majority seemed to flow across the surface of the barrier and then shoot out the other side, still hitting the core while King was left unharmed. King had no idea what was happening, and the Divider began drawing a complex web of Glyphs in a large ring around the room, using some kind of black chalk to write with. The combo contained all six glyphs on the Divider's skin, as well as a light glyph King didn't recognise and his mother's darkness glyph.

Once this web of glyphs was drawn, the Divider finally drew a final circle of four glyphs right beneath King, around the source of the magic beam. These four glyphs were the ones belonging to Cassiopeia, making King even more curious. With the combo completed in record time, the Divider snapped his fingers and the chains around King's mouth were dropped, allowing him to speak. He naturally tried to roar again, but the barrier kept it in and just made King's ears ring for a moment at his own volume.

"That didn't work the first several times, what made you think it'd work this time?" the Divider asked.

"Shut up!" an embarrassed King yelled, rubbing his skull. "What are you doing to me!?"

"Nothing invasive or painful, I promise." the Divider replied; "This ritual will use you and your link to your mother to connect her soul to this Red Galdorstone. Once that is done, it will serve as her heart and function as a new Primordial Wellspring, completing the set for Lady Cassiopeia."

King's eyes widened; "Completing the set? Don't tell me you already found all of Mama's parts!?"

The Divider shook his head and cast an illusion, creating an image of the Boiling Isles, or as the Divider called it, the New Boiling Isles. Orion's body looked the same as always, albeit with his arms now closer to his body rather than spread out, but beside him was the 80% complete body of Cassiopeia. Her body had been moved, bit by bit, using Teleportation Circles and now resided in the Boiling Sea directly beside Orion. Their hands were close enough that a person could physically jump from the tip of one of Orion's right fingers to one of Cassiopeia's left ones, and the rest of Cassiopeia's body was in a similar pose to Orion's, though without her knee being propped up like Orion's was. Aside from Digale Island and Titan Trapper Island though (which had all of its fingers restored somehow), there appeared to have been few residents on the other parts of Cassiopeia before she was moved, and large parts of her were covered in aquatic foliage of some kind, indicating that they'd mostly sunken beneath the waves before being found. The sole exceptions were small villages and a shockingly large and flashy looking city on his mother's hip bone, reminding King of the human city of Las Vegas (as he'd seen in pictures). However there were two things King noticed immediately; the first was that his mother was still missing her tail and her right leg, and the second was the presence of a new facility in the centre of her ribcage, paralleling Belos' castle in his father's ribcage. Similarly, a flying fortress that resembled Rani's Eden was under construction too, directly above this new facility.

King didn't know what was going on, but he did know that way more of his mother had been assembled than he thought. Samael and the others had said it was about a third before, but it was clearly way more than that! The Divider and Archivists had clearly been busy these last couple of days. Or perhaps the wings were missing too and King just couldn't tell because they'd be underwater.

"Welcome to the view of the New Boiling Isles. I call the old isles "The Orion Archipelago" and the new isles; "The Cassiopeia Archipelago", with their combined mass being the New Boiling Isles. Nice, right?"

"Not the word I'd use!" King snapped; "What's that crud you built on my Mama!?"

"That is the Red Galdorstone Facility, and Rasiel's Mausoleum. When the process of reunifying the Arcane Realm is complete and the Perpetual Division is in place, creating my paradise, that Mausoleum will be the site of my White Tomb, where a part of me will slumber and take in all the negativity of the world, so the Arcane Realm can live peacefully, free of evil and without fearing disruptions to the natural order." the Divider explained, looking very proud.

"You really are nuts!" King growled; "And if you think I'm gonna help you do seal my Mama up again-!"

"The linking process is not a seal. It will not hurt Lady Cassiopeia or make her suffer in the slightest! You have my word." The Divider interrupted.

King continued to growl like an angry puppy, but didn't argue. Despite all of the Divider's flaws and trickery, King didn't think he'd outright lie about something like this. He didn't get a chance to further question the Divider either, as the Angel from before returned at that moment, escorting with him a series of Oracles, all clad in the uniform of their coven, with the sole exception of their leader, who was a very welcome sight for King.

"Osran!" King yelled.

The old Blue Claw Oni looked up as he hovered into the room atop his floating book, and smiled pleasantly at King, though King ended up shuddering as he saw the usual ring of gold around the man's eyes, indicating he was divided.

"Good evening, King. It is has been a long time! Are you well?" Osran asked pleasantly.

"I'm locked in a cage, you tell me!" King snapped.

Osran's face went blank; "Well technically it is a barrier. But I am sure you will be free soon." he then turned to the Divider and bowed; "Myself and many of my top Oracles, summoned as requested Lord Divider. How might we serve?"

"It is time for the ritual. The Scribe is missing and I believe she has been captured, so we have little time before she squeals and reveals where she sent King, and my plan to send him on to the Archives…" King gasped in horror as the Huntsman grinned; "…so we need to get the Linking Ritual underway. I have already drawn the ritual circle and created a seal around it that will fully prevent Angelic Power from crossing it, allowing you to use your spirits safely. Are you prepared?"

Osran nodded; "It is a surprisingly simple ritual; your circle and the magic sent up from the castle below does most of the work. We and our spirits only need to guide it along."

"Good, then please begin." the Divider ordered, moving to the edge of the room with the Archivists, activated the glyph combo ritual circle as he went.

The entire thing began to glow with iridescent light, and the four glyphs of Cassiopeia began to glow in their signature colours and fire beams of elemental magic right at King's barrier prison. King gasped and found himself suddenly floating within the barrier, tingling all over as an aura of silver, bronze, yellow, and dark purple coated him.

"Weh!?" he yelped in surprise as the eight Oracles (including Osran) took up positions in the four cardinal directions around King, as well as the four directions between the cardinal ones. Osran took up the space to the north as the iridescent light of the ritual circle stretched out across the floor and created a small plain circle around each of the Oracles' feet as they summoned their Oracle Spirits. The spirits looked nervous, but the light of the ritual circle seemed to numb them to the presence of the Angels, allowing them to complete their task without concern. Every scrap of unoccupied ground within the ritual circle then began to glow, before suddenly being replaced by blackness and stars, creating a giant window into the night sky.

The Divider then snapped his fingers, and the strange magic arm holding the Red Galdorstone moved it into the ritual circle and directly into the beam of magic that had already shot around King's barrier and was continuing into the core of Rani's Eden. Once this happened, King suddenly saw wisps of magic emerging from his glowing body and wafting up into the Red Galdorstone, which itself began to sparkle like it was full of stars. As this happened, King's eyes glowed white and he suddenly found himself in the white void that was so often associated with the world of dreams and connections. His mother was there too, floating nearby in her Avatar form, which was unusual for visions like this.

"Mama!" King cried out to her, as he began flapping his wings to fly towards her.

Strangely, she turned to him and looked shocked and horrified, and as he reached for her, she actually recoiled for a moment, which stung for poor King. However as his face fell, his Mama seemed to realise what she'd done and softly shook her head, before taking King into her arms without a word. The instant she did though, King felt something strange as red mist poured out of his chest and into his Mama's, whose eyes flashed red too for a moment.

"Huh? What was that?" King wondered aloud.

"That was the link… I don't understand it fully, but I think the Divider just used you and this space to link me to his creation. I can already feel the link taking hold…" Cassiopeia sighed.

King was horrified; "That's why you were going to avoid me at first! You sensed what would happen! Oh Mama, I'm so sorry! You should have kept avoiding me!"

Cassiopeia smiled and shook her head; "What mother could resist taking their child into their arms after seeing such a look on their face? Besides, if this was part of the Divider's plan, he would have likely locked you in here until the link was made, and time moves at a fraction of its true speed here."

"I guess… are the others okay? Tia Lily and the others beat the Scribe, right?" King asked.

Cassiopeia nodded, feeling a tug on her soul as she felt them both being pulled back to where they belonged. "Azazel has been captured and sealed; she is with us. Luz, Eda, and Samael are coming to your rescue, just hang in there!"

"I will! If you see them again before I do, tell them I'm fine!" King cried, also feeling himself being tugged back to the waking world. The white void was getting brighter, and to his chagrin, King couldn't hold on any longer and was pulled from his mother's arms as she yelled words of love and encouragement right up to the last moment.

When the white void faded and King opened his eyes again back in the waking world, he found that the ritual was already over. He was being gently held and petted by Osran (the man's four arms made him wonderful for pets) while the Divider looked at the Red Galdorstone, which had been removed from the beam of magic. It was slowly pulsing, just like a real heart, or like the Galdorstone heart that still resided in Lyra's chest. It was strange to see a mass of crystal beating like a normal heart, but it was also rather impressive… it showed that the heart was now "alive" and linked to his Mama just as the heart in Belos' castle was linked to his dad. King idly wondered if his heart would keep beating long after his death some day.

King immediately prepared to roar (his body was still bound in abomination goo, but his mouth was free), but before he could, he found his mouth once again being gently held shut, this time by the Keeper. She looked at him with a small, sympathetic smile, and King's fur stood on end as he growled viciously, hating that this woman dared to touch him with the same hands that undoubtedly slaughtered thousands of Titans! This wasn't like Samael who'd been an innocent kid, or Azazel who'd refused to kill; the Keeper was a monster in his eyes!

Hearing the growl, the Divider (who'd been admiring the Red Galdorstone), snapped his fingers and had the Keeper release King's mouth, before warning King; "Be careful King. Destroying the core or the Galdorstone will have dire consequences. The core would drop Rani's Eden on the castle below and kill thousands of innocents, and destroying the Galdorstone now that it is linked to your mother could cause her to be forced to move on to the Afterlife."

King's eyes widened and his growling grew angrier, but it was clear by the look in his eye that the fight had gone out of him. He had no intention of endangering so many lives or his own Mama! He wasn't ready to say goodbye yet!

Seeing that King was going to behave himself for the moment, the Divider summoned some Abomaton Paladins (the name given to the upgraded Abomaton Knights) and had them take the Red Galdorstone to the new facility under construction in Cassiopeia's ribcage, mirroring Orion's heart in Belos' castle. Once that was done, the Divider smiled happily to himself.

"Now we just need to complete construction on the Mausoleum, the last few Union Pillars, and gather the remainder of Cassiopeia's body! We are so close!" he said giddily, for a moment almost reminding King of the Rasiel he knew, and how the man had gotten so excited whenever he solved some little puzzle or discovered the answer to something that had made him curious. Seeing aspects of the Rasiel he cared for in the Divider hurt in a way that King was too young to properly articulate, and that hurt became yet more anger in his young chest.

King opened his mouth to speak, not actually sure what he was about to yell, but he was cut off by the Huntsman, who now marched forward with a cruel smirk.

"Your usefulness is at an end now, Little Titan. You'll be going to your new home now; the Archives!" he said smugly, arms crossed.

King looked horrified, but the Divider swiftly came to his rescue. "No; King will not be going to the Archives."

Relief flooded King, whilst anger flooded Huntsman. Disappointment appeared on the Keeper's face, while a confused tilt of the head was the Watcher's only reaction.

"Forgive me, Lord Divider. But you told us previously that after the young Titan was captured and used to link the Red Galdorstone to the second Titan, he would be sent to the Archives to keep him safe." the Keeper said, maintaining a respectful tone while also making her displeasure clear.

"Yes, that IS what I said. It was also a lie; a bit of misdirection for the CATTs." the Divider said, rubbing his neck as he remembered the pain of the burns that lie had caused him.

King and the Archivists all looked at him in shock (and fury in the Huntsman's case), and the Divider chuckled as he walked over to King and plucked him from Osran's arms. "I told the Archivists that you would be given to them and the Archives, with the anticipation that the Scribe's soft heart would once again cause her to reveal the truth, if only to dissuade the CATTs from coming after you. I didn't predict her likely capture, but that works out for me all the same; the CATTs now believe you are in the Archives and they will waste all their time in trying to rescue you from the most secure location in the Demon Realm! A place still full of the magic of the Celestial. But in reality…"

The Divider popped King back into the arms of Osran; "… you will instead be living comfortably in the home of the Oracle Coven; Laptela Necropolis, in the Left Knee of the Orion Archipelago."

"What!?" King and Huntsman both yelled a the same time (much to each other's chagrin).

"Why send him there!?" the Huntsman demanded; "The Archives would be far safer, as you yourself admit! There's no point in this subterfuge!? Why bait a trap with fake bait when it's foolproof with the real thing!?"

The Divider gave the Huntsman an unimpressed look; "Do you genuinely think I trust you enough to put King in the Archives? The magic of the Celestial was used to make that place, and she is as powerful as I am! If I give you King, I may not get him back! I refuse to allow that! Besides, do you think I'll reward you with a Titan for your Archives after you spear-headed a genocide of them!?"

The Huntsman was forced to back down as the Divider continued to glare at him, before looking to King and adding; "Besides, Luz's luck may be awful at times, but she always seems to worm her way out of whatever trouble she gets into. I have a sinking feeling that if push comes to shove, she and the CATTs might actually be able to pull off breaking into the Archives and rescuing you. Better to hedge my bets and ensure that even if she pulls off a miracle, she won't achieve a total victory."

That made King smirk; his big sister really was the type to pull off the impossible, especially when it came to family! As he remembered the events of the Petrification Ceremony, King reiterated; "Okay, I'm glad you're NOT actually sending me there, but why the Oracle place?"

"It strikes a balance between the most heavily guarded place on the isles with the least likely place Luz is likely to look for you. Osran and the Oracles are low priority for them since Oracle Magic doesn't work on us Angels, and Luz would never suspect I'd hide you in a place that I can't even send my people to without disabling half the security!" the Divider explained with a broad grin.

King was surprised; the Divider truly did know Luz and the CATTs quite well, as they had specifically put a low priority on the Left Knee for the precise reasons mentioned! Under normal circumstances, they'd never look for King at the Oracle HQ, especially with Azazel truthfully (as far as she knew) reporting that he was in the Archives! It would be the perfect scheme… if not for Lyra.

It took all of King's willpower to not grin maniacally; the Divider didn't know about Lyra's ability to scry on Angels now! If she went looking for King using her new power, she'd find the truth immediately, and the Divider's clever trick would backfire tremendously and lead to an easy rescue, plus give the gang a reason to rescue Osran too!

"Fine." he grumbled; "It's not like I can stop you anyway! But I swear on the name of King Clawthorne-Noceda, you aren't gonna win! And if I'm gonna be your prisoner tomorrow, then I want a birthday present!"

The Divider chuckled at King's intentionally bratty behaviour; "Of course. I'll be sure to give you something, my little friend. Now…" he looked to Osran; "A Teleportation Circle has already been prepared for you up on the surface. Take King there and remember, he is your guest of honour. Treat him well and meet as many of his desires as you can without actually freeing him."

Osran nodded; "Of course, Lord Divider."

Next the Divider looked to one of his guards; "Go with them, to ensure there is no chance of Lyra scrying and finding King. We can't rule out her trying, and if there are no Angels near King, she'll find him. Better safe than sorry."

"Yes, my lord!" the female Arch-Angel agreed. King noted she was the one that resembled Barachiel. He intended to ask her if she was related to him on the trip to Laptela, but the Divider decided he was truly not going to give the little Titan a chance to escape in-transit, so he placed an Angelic Sleeping Spell on King, putting him out like a light.

The last thing King thought before he drifted off was; "At least now I'll sleep through the night!"

[Meanwhile]

Back in the Clawthorne house, the mood of the CATTs was practically jubilant; thanks to Lyra's new ability, they had completely evaded the Divider's big trap and would now be able to rescue King from Laptela without any issues! It was perfect!

"I can't believe it! I wonder if my luck is finally starting to turn around!" Luz gushed excitedly, all her prior apprehension fading away. "Lyra, I could kiss you!"

Lyra, who was looking a little pale and clammy from overusing her magic so much, smiled weakly as she allowed her spell to end. Almost as soon as she did, she nearly collapsed and needed her Dad, Brother, and Sort-of Boyfriend to catch her. "I-I'm glad I could help!"

"Whoa there Blackbird! Are you okay? You look kind of sick." Eda frowned, summoning a towel that Gus moistened and cooled with Water Magic before dabbing Lyra's clammy forehead.

"S-Scrying on Angels is hard… I have to maintain the shadow coating on Shade and keep feeding him my magic so he's able to do his job. Between waiting for King to wake up and everything else that we saw, this session took a while… I've been scrying for over an hour and my magic was tapped a while ago. I slipped on a Power Glyph to keep me going, but now that's gone too." Lyra confessed as Darius cradled her.

"I think you pushed yourself way too far, Princess! You should have stopped when you needed to." Darius gently scolded.

"Sorry… but we needed to know that stuff! Now we know about the Red Galdorstone AND where King really is! And Grandpa Osran too! We can go save him." she smiled weakly.

"WE can go save him." Luz corrected; "YOU are taking tomorrow off! There is no way you'll be fully rested and in top shape for tomorrow. You'll need 24 hours of rest, minimum."

"But…!" Lyra tried to protest, only for Hunter to shush her.

"No buts, Little Sister." Hunter said; "I know you want to be part of saving Osran, but you've already done your part. You're the one who pointed us in his direction AND helped us see past the Divider's trick! That's enough; you can rest."

Lyra still didn't look convinced, so Gus held her hand and said; "Come on Lyra, please stay back and rest tomorrow. No one would be able to forgive themselves if you left with us tomorrow and got hurt because you're not fully rested!"

"Yeah!" Samael chimed in, holding out his hands to reveal Waffles perched on them. He'd been cuddling the little Blue Jay Palisman ever since the spell ended, and Waffles was just as exhausted from providing extra magic to Lyra. "Look at Waffles here! She's tired too! You've gotta rest so she can rest, right?"

That tactic was more effective and Lyra began to waver, so Luz delivered the final knock out blow to her argument; "But I'll meet you half way on this. If you can convince your Dad, my Mami, AND Hettie that you're healthy enough to go with us tomorrow, then I won't stop you."

Lyra immediately pouted; there was no way any of them would agree unless a miracle happened and she really did get her full power back in the span of a single night's rest… somehow she didn't think they'd tolerate her using potions and power glyphs either…

"Okay fine… but I still want to go out on missions in future! I know my scrying is gonna be helpful, but please don't just lock me up on Zachael's Landing and make me the intel girl!" Lyra pleaded.

Luz and the others all nodded and promised; Lyra was also a fiercely powerful combatant, especially with her Divine Tarot! Losing her in the field would be a big hit to the Hexsquad! Luz didn't even like leaving her behind on the King rescue mission, but she couldn't risk her health by sending her into danger without her being in peak condition.

With Lyra now agreeing to stay safe at home during the Laptela Necropolis Mission, the gang all headed back to Zachael's Landing and called the Council together to share what they'd learned. This time however, the Council had four guests sitting in with them; the Supreme Dragon Triad, who were sitting with Steve and Katya, and Daniel the new High Angel member of the CATTs, who had been working with Lilith for the last hour to get to grips with Zachael's Landing and the way the CATTs operated.

Once everyone was seated again (though everyone was noticeably concerned with Lyra's exhausted state), Luz gave everyone a rundown of what they'd seen. The sighs of relief were immense as just about everyone relaxed a bit, knowing that the near-impossible suicide mission of attacking the Archives was no longer their objective! Saving King from Laptela was way easier, and since Lyra had been there before when she was studying under Osran, the worn out girl had a lot of intel she could give on the place. Laptela Necropolis was the largest graveyard on the Boiling Isles, and the home to many family plots, crypts, and mausoleums, as well as being the Oracle Coven's HQ. It was also unique in being the only Coven HQ that was completely open to the public at all times, since it was both a public graveyard and also took up the entire Left Knee, meaning people had to travel through it to get up and down Orion's Left Leg.

"I'm glad we got a lucky break for a change, but I'm also a little disappointed my new ship design won't get to be used!" Matt sighed, Pebbles chirping on his shoulder; "My Palisman Fusion has boosted my Integration Magic to such a high level that I actually had a 1/10th scale working replica already completed and was just getting started on the full thing! If I'd pulled an all-nighter with Alador's and Darius' help, I bet I could have made a decent sized fleet that'd be good for at least one trip!"

Luz gaped at that; "Magic really is amazing! I can barely believe you could do something so amazing in such a short time!"

Alador killed some of her wonder by adding; "A lot of the things we made for the Submersibles and other equipment can be repurposed. It seems quick and easy, but its actually the end result of multiple years of research, trial and error, and intense study from all involved. If we were truly starting from scratch, we'd take years. Not only that, but the Prototypes are still inefficient and not practical; they'd be good for two or three trips through the atmosphere, but not much more. Long term, true space travel is still a ways off for us."

Camila, Gus, Boscha, and Hunter all looked a little disappointed, but they were still very impressed by what the others had accomplished. And the creations may not go to waste after all, as Raine raised their hand to get everyone's attention.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things might not be as easy as we hope. The moment we attack Laptela Necropolis, the Divider will know we're there. They're bound to call for help after all!" they pointed out.

Amity frowned; "Raine's right… security is still going to be high too, since it's a Union Pillar. We'd likely need to use the usual redirection tactics just to get in safely. But that'd still clue the Divider in on what we're doing."

"Then maybe we should take a page from his book; Divide and Conquer. We attack a bunch of different places at once, to disguise our real target!" Willow suggested.

Daniel raised his hand; "I might be able to help with that. The Union has been unable to send any forces to help you because of the attacks from the Distorted Shadows all around Gran Seraphia, and the forces of the Wings of Rani attacking from outside the city too. But Lilith tells me that the Union Pillars, your main targets, are also the source of these Distorted Shadows. I think I could convince Lord Barachiel to lend a portion of Gran Seraphia's Domestic Defence Force to assist us in attacking them and trying to shut them down, taking some of the pressure off of the CATTs. If we explain that it's to save the young Titan, who is crucial to the CATTs' sealing plan, then I'm sure Lord Barachiel will agree, especially if it also stops the Distorted Shadows for a while."

The CATTs all lit up; "That's a great idea!" Severin grinned.

"If Angel Alpha accepts, big help for CATTs!" Eber barked.

"It's definitely a great idea, and I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but this doesn't solve the core problem." Viney surprisingly piped up; "If the Divider hears of all these attacks, I'd wager he'd think its a redirection, to get as much security away from the Archives as possible. But if no attack on the Archives happens, he's going to get suspicious and I bet the first place he'll go looking for us is Laptela. If we DON'T go after the Archives, he'll know something is up!"

That was a good point; if Union Pillars were being attacked, he'd go for the most important place to protect; namely the Laptela Necropolis and King. But if the Archives were attacked at the same time, he'd probably stay there to help capture Luz, assuming she'd be there. The moment he realises no attack is coming, he'd go after King… and who knows if the CATTs would be able to get him out of Laptela in time? Sure there were no Angel guards (besides the one meant to throw off Oracles looking for King), but there would still be those new Abomaton Paladins!

"So… does that mean we should launch an actual attack on the Archives? To keep the Divider busy?" Amber asked, kicking her legs curiously; "'Cause not gonna lie, that's probably a suicide mission."

"Well no one would actually die, but it would be bad for them. They'd be captured…" Derwin added with a small frown.

The CATTs Council went quiet as they all tried to figure out what to do. Luz, with her new Titan Power, might be able to stall the Divider and exploit his care for her to make him less of a threat, but considering he'd already promised the "stick" of his Carrot and Stick approach, no one was confident he wouldn't crush her in battle just to prove his point. And of course, there was the other Archivists to consider… Azazel had been stronger than the average Seraphim and the other three remaining ones were supposedly stronger than her AND would have the home field advantage! Not to mention they had no idea what the Archives' defences were like, nor could they safely scry to find out with Lyra in such a weakened state, and the Archives in space likely being out of her range anyway.

Once again, Daniel raised his hand; "I'd be willing to lead the attack if there are any volunteers from the rest of the CATTs to fight alongside me."

Luz balked; "We can't ask you to do that! You've only just joined up and already been a big help! We can't send you on a suicide mission on your second ever day with us!"

Daniel smiled; "You didn't, I volunteered. I spent far too much of my life sitting on the sidelines, wishing I had stood up and done what I believed was right. When I joined you, I promised myself I would never do that again! I want to do this, for the sake of the CATTs and the new world that you all stand to create! Please, Lady Luciel! Allow me to lead an attack on the Archives! I'll keep the Divider busy even if I end up divided!"

The High Angel's spirit was admirable and had the CATTs all feeling fired up. So much so that Gus actually stood up and declared; "I'm going to go too. With my illusions, I can help us survive the attack and make it seem like a bigger deal, so the Divider doesn't realise we're only a diversion! Plus the attack on Digale proved that my Tactile Illusions work on him, so I'm the best shot of keeping the Divider from just decimating us!"

"I really don't know about this… I don't like sending Daniel out, but losing Gus would be even worse! We need him for final Sealing!" Luz fretted.

"Technically, you just need a powerful Witch of each element. If the absolute worst happens and Gus is captured, then Zara could substitute." Godric pointed out; "It doesn't make sending the lad out any easier, but it does mean we can do it without dooming the plans you made."

There were some murmurs of agreement; no one was happy with this decision, but they had no idea what else to do! The Divider needed to be distracted and like it or not, Gus was the only other person whose power they knew worked on him!

Luz looked to Eda, Raine, Darius, Eber, and Mason; the five people who were basically the other leaders of the CATTs. Each of them looked back at her with a grim expression, before nodding; they all agreed with Daniel and Gus's plan.

"I hate to say it, but it may be our best bet. I can prepare an army of lesser Abomatons that we can disguise with Concealment Stones to bolster our forces…So long as Amaranth is up for helping me." Darius said.

"And I'll pull an all-nighter with Matt and Alador to get the fleet ready for a space flight!" Mason nodded along.

"And I'm sure I can rally some other CATTs who'd be willing to go too. We are ALL fighting to save our homes and every CATT signed up with the expectation that there could be losses. But unlike Belos, we don't need to fear death." Raine said, standing up and putting a hand on their heart; "We can do this."

Luz bit her lip and looked down at the desk in front of her; being a leader in a war sometimes meant sending people into battles they wouldn't be coming back from… she knew that deep in her heart. She also knew that the people she sent out would be okay in the end, but that didn't make it any easier!

Sighing heavily, she looked back up; "Matt, Steve, Mason, Darius, Alador, Amaranth; do all you can to make the ships we need by sunrise, as well as all the Abomatons you can muster. Gus, please work with the illusionists to make Concealment Stones, but get to bed early. Daniel, go with Raine and recruit as many willing CATTs as you can… do not downplay how serious this is, or the danger they'll face. Everyone else, we'll work out assignments for tomorrow's attack now."

Luz's words left no room for argument; if she was going to make the hard choice as a leader, she was going to go all the way. The Council, even her own family and friends, nodded obediently out of respect.

It was decided that the team going to Laptela would be Luz, Eda, Samael, Viney, Jerbo, and the Blight Twins, with the former three disguising themselves with Concealment Stones. The Divider would never expect the Magic Mixers (who suspected Barcus would be with Osran, since he hadn't been with Vitimir) and Blight Twins to be members of the main rescue party, so he'd dismiss their team as just attacking a random pillar. The rest of the Hexsquad (sans Gus, Lyra, and Matt, the latter two staying on Zachael's Landing) and the rest of the Council Members not working on the fleet would be leading smaller guerilla attacks on Union Pillars all over the isles, focusing on the Orion Archipelago. Everyone was going to be taking part, with only those who need rest being asked to sit out.

Once the teams and assignments were decided, Luz dismissed everyone to get prepared and/or rested for their roles. Viney, Jerbo, Edric, and Emira decided to spend the evening hanging out with Luz and Amity, hyped that they'd be going on a serious mission with their "fearless leader" for the first time. Eda decided to leave it to the kids to have a bit of fun to take their minds off the next day, and instead went with Raine to rally support for the Archives Attack… something that yielded a shocking number of volunteers. Luz and the CATTs Council had earned a LOT of good will from the rest of their organisation, and so the people serving under them were eager and willing to jump in and help!

That just left the last of the King Rescue Team; Samael, who went to see the Nexsquad and finally break the news to them. They knew King had been captured, but nothing else, so Samael had to go and explain the situation.

Samael found the rest of the Nexsquad in their secret base; a small cave hidden behind the school, which had been concealed by a very old illusion and lead into the base of the volcano a little. The cave was just about big enough to fit the Owl House (sans the tower) and the entrance was too small for an adult to get through without crawling, so it had proven an ideal place for the Nexsquad to hide out and play their games without being disturbed by grown-ups or other kids. The only people besides the Nexsquad who knew about it were Luz (because King insisted on telling her), Amity (because all the kids loved her), and Eda (because King knew she'd be cool with it and they really should have ONE adult in the know, just in case), and they'd only found the illusory wall hiding the entrance because Asher had been playing with a Tincture of True Sight that Boscha had brewed with his help, allowing him to see the illusion.

Entering into the Nexsquad's base, Samael frowned when he found the others all just sitting around looking dejected. Poor Emiliel looked to be almost in tears as she was sat next to Marama the elder Dryder sister on an old beanbag chair, and Simi was unenthusiastically swinging on the appropriately named monkey bars that they'd constructed as part of an obstacle course. Ramari, the young Dryder Sister, was idly making patterns with her webs with a sulky expression, while Asher lay on the ground in some grass Luz had grown for them, just staring up at the pink crystal lights that Amity had set up for them.

As soon as they saw Samael enter, they all hopped to their feet and ran over to him though, their expressions eager and desperate.

"Is there news!? Did they find King!?" Emiliel asked, her little Cherub wings flapping frantically.

Samael nodded; "We know were my big sister sent him, and where that meanie Divider sent him afterwards! He's in a place called Laptela Necropolis. Lyra said it's a big graveyard, where Demons and Witches bury dead people."

"No! They killed King!?" Ramari screamed, almost bursting into tears.

"No! He's alive!" Samael quickly comforted her, using his magic to levitate the scared little spider girl onto his back, where she used her eight fluffy legs to hold onto him like a backpack and wrapped her arms around his neck like a hug to comfort herself. "They sent him to the Oracle Coven Headquarters. Lemme explain it properly."

So Samael spent the next ten minutes giving a rambling and slightly chaotic recounting of everything that had happened with Azazel and the following meeting, including all the big missions that were being prepared. The kids were all very relieved that King was going to be rescued, but they also felt a little frustrated.

"Hey… so King was part of the mission to Rani's Eden. That's how Emi and I met him." Simi began, before pointing out; "Asher, didn't he go to Manubrium when you joined us too?"

The little half Cait Sith nodded; "Yeah, but he was at the Bard HQ, not the castle where I was, so I only met him on the trip home."

Simi nodded and looked to Marama and Ramari; "And he fought in the big battle to save Digale Island, where you guys got saved, right?"

The Dryders both nodded, Ramari still glued to Samael's back. Simi then looked to Samael; "And obviously, King is the one who freed you from that prison mirror thingy!"

"Yeah…?" Samael said, wondering what the monkey girl was getting at.

"Well then, why don't the four of us…" she pointed to herself, Emiliel, Marama, and Asher, "…go along to save King too! I mean, he's the same age as us and we have magic too, plus he taught us his glyph combos! If he can go on missions, I don't see why we can't! Let's go with Luz and rescue King!" Simi declared, puffing her chest out proudly.

Ramari raised a shy hand; "What about me?"

"You're still little!" Simi explained.

The Dryder girl pouted; "No fair! I'm six, but Asher's only five! He's younger than me!"

"Yeah, but you're a Dryder! You grow up slower!" Simi retorted. It was true too; Dryders lived an average of 200 years, ageing at half the rate of Witches, so a six year old Dryder would be like a 3 year old Witch. On the reverse side, Cait Sith lived only an average of 80 years and were considered full adults at 16, so a Half Cait Sith like Asher, whose Demon side was a lot more prevalent than a fellow Half Cait Sith like Viney, aged a little faster, hence why he looked to be six or seven despite only being five.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Asher immediately agreed with Simi; "I want to go save King too! I say we do it! Daddy already said I was good enough at Construction Magic to skip to like the second year Beginner Class straight from the Baby Class! I bet I can help a ton!"

However Emiliel and Marama weren't so sure; "I don't know… this seems really risky. We're not Titans or super Angels like King and Sammy!" Marama argued; "We might just get in the way."

"Yeah, and Luz will NEVER let us go! I really want to go save King too, but there's just no way we'll ever be allowed." Emi pointed out.

Simi wasn't perturbed and merely shrugged; "Sammy is going and he can bring us along! We can either stowaway on an airship with Luz's team or we can get Sammy to hide us with invisibility and follow through that Portal doodad! And we don't need to be super strong! We just need to be fast and sneaky! And if Sammy gives us those Angel Blessing things, we'll be fine!"

Emi and Marama still didn't look convinced, while Simi and Asher had their hearts set on it, wanting to save their friend and go on an adventure! Ramari was disappointed she'd be excluded, but she was also kind of scared (especially considering the last time they had a brush with danger, thanks to Carnar), so she didn't argue too much. That left just Samael as the tie breaker.

The Nexsquad had become surprisingly close in recent times, and just as Luz was the heart of the Hexsquad, King was the heart of the next generation! Samael naturally loved him as a brother, and saw him as his saviour, whilst Simi and Asher saw him as a fun best friend who was also proof that the almighty Titans could be kids like them, making them seem less scary and more approachable. Marama was the most neutral towards King, but still cared about him a fair deal, partly because he took special care of the "Baby" of the Nexsquad; Ramari, who looked up to King and always trailed after him during their games. Then there was Emiliel, who adored his fluffy self and how brave he was, as well as how shockingly gallant he could be, despite the fact he still liked to play up his "Monarch" side from time to time.

In fact, while Emiliel would never admit it (and likely didn't realise it herself), Simi suspected that the Cherub had a little crush on King!

Weighing all this up inside his head, Samael tried to decide if the potential help the Nexsquad could offer would be worth the risk and the anger of Luz and the others… Ultimately, he made the childish choice.

"Luz and Auntie Eda do crazy stuff too, especially when they were kids! They'll understand! I say we do this!" Samael grinned. His number one priority was helping King, and if he could do that with his friends and have some fun at the same time, then that was the ideal for Samael!

And so, as the twilight hours gave way to the darkness of night, the children plotted and schemed together until it was time to go home, though each of them made plans to meet up again before the mission so they could complete their plan and sneak off with Luz's team!

Little did they know, but they weren't the only ones scheming to go after King…

[Meanwhile]

Up in the Archives, the remaining three Archivists were sat together in the central control room; a place that was used by the Watcher to observe the Universe and by the Keeper to manage and control the Archives. It was a bit like a large planetarium, and aside from the giant central crystal sun that the Watcher rested on, and the grand desk that the Keeper worked at (it had once been her mother's), the room also had a lounge off to the corner that was messy and full of Animal pelts; trophies from the Huntsman's hunts, and a place for him to laze about while waiting to be sent out again. But the Huntsman wasn't lazing about right now; instead he was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, fuming with anger and hatred over the Divider's decision.

"That bastard! He strung us along with the lie that we'd get the last Titan, just so he could use the Scribe to feed false information to those blasted rebels! If not for the Divider, we could just glass this pitiful realm and take the Titan and every other thing we needed for the Archives right away!" the Huntsman seethed.

"Do not act like a brat, Huntsman." the Keeper scolded, not looking up from the papers she was reading. "If you think I'd allow you to destroy an entire realm; one that was once half of Mother's own birth place for that matter, then you have another thing coming! Let us not forget that it was you and your pride that got us into this mess in the first place!"

"What!? You're blaming me!?" the Huntsman yelled.

"It IS your fault." the Watcher said, matter-of-factly. "You tried to hunt a young Titan instead of negotiating for the corpse of one that died naturally, drawing the ire of the only other race that can harm us. When rightfully chased off and we had to come clean up your mess, you antagonised the Titans and invoked their ire, again, and started the war between us! It was you elevating those Titan Trappers and whipping them into a frenzy that turned the war into a genocide, and it was you who killed more Titans than anyone out of sheer pride."

The Huntsman flushed as the Watcher turned to their little brother and raised their hood just enough to pierce him with their eyes; "That is what led to our defeat, and the Divider's enmity for us. We are all but enslaved to the Mad Sephiroth now, and it is your fault… had it not been for Mother, I personally would have left you as the prisoner of the Titans, and saved us all this trouble. So pardon me if I have no sympathy for your childish whining."

"Why you…!? Come down here and say that!" the Huntsman challenged, summoning his weapon.

He was promptly knocked to his knees as a tiny sun, courtesy of the Keeper, hit him in the back of the legs. He tried to get up, but the Watcher's eyes flashed purple and gravity around the Huntsman suddenly intensified to the point that it took all his strength not to face plant into the floor.

"Do not think to threaten us, Huntsman. You may have surpassed the Scribe, but you are still not a match for the Watcher or I. Take your tantrum elsewhere while I try to devise a way to convince the Divider to let us find the bones of another long-dead Titan for our Archives." The Keeper said, still not looking up from her work.

The Huntsman looked ready to explode, his face turning gold as it flushed to the point that his markings could no long be seen. He wanted to curse and scream and attack his siblings for daring to treat him like a child, but the gravity spell on him kept him trapped, so he swallowed his pride and waited silently for the Watcher to release him from his "time out". As soon as his elder sibling let him go, the Huntsman surged to his feet and received dual warning looks, but he didn't attack; he merely threw down his weapon and cursed his siblings before stalking out of the room, kicking over the empty fort of books that the Scribe usually occupied. He knew the Watcher would wave their hand and restore it a second later, but it still felt good to destroy something.

Feeling underappreciated and ignored by his family, the Huntsman decided to go back down to the Demon Realm and visit the Titan Trappers; they were always good to him and treated him with the respect he deserved! They understood their place, and that the Titans had to die! As far as the Huntsman was concerned, no one should exist with power over the Sephiroth; they were the peak of evolution, not a bunch of overgrown hairballs born in the image of a superior, extinct race.

The Archives, which resembled a gigantic cathedral of overlapping rings, which enveloped the Demon Realm's moon, had a series of Teleportation Circles to different parts of the New Boiling Isles, so the Huntsman took the one that led down to the Left Arm of the Cassiopeia Archipelago, topped by what had once been called Titan Trapper Island. The instant the Huntsman appeared, atop an ornate altar in the centre of the Titan's palm and the settlement built there, he immediately found himself surrounded by offerings of fine meats, animal pelts, bone weapons and tools, and even alcohol spiked with Titan Fool's Blood, which had just enough power to it to keep the Huntsman's Sephiroth body from nullifying the alcohol, allowing him to experience getting drunk.

"Ah, now this is what I deserve!" the Huntsman muttered to himself as his arrival was noted and he received a grand welcome from his adoring devotees. The Titan Trappers worshipped the ground he walked on, and seeing their faces clad in Titan skulls brought a smile to his face. He noticed several of them had golden markings on their masks; something he'd added recently to the tribe of Titan Trappers that originated on the palm. It was a mark to show his pleasure that they'd been the only tribe to actually fight the Titan that still lived, and while they had lost, it still pleased him. The Huntsman would have honoured them more if their leader, Bill, wasn't an annoying old fool and they hadn't been tricked into thinking his runt of a brother was him!

Honestly, how could they believe the Collector of all people was him, the Grand Huntsman!? They were lucky he valued the hunt over all else.

"Welcome back, Grand Huntsman." said a kneeling Tarak. "How may we serve you?"

The Huntsman regarded Tarak with suspicion; the man's devotion to him was strong, but didn't seem as fanatical of late. The Huntsman suspected it was because of his memory loss from the recent incident, as the Bone Shaman Denasu had been less reverent too, and the man's son and Denasu's apprentice, a runt whose name the Huntsman forgot, also didn't worship him at all! He was respectful, but offered no gifts… if not for the Divider, his head would be mounted on a plaque somewhere.

"Have someone bring my gifts to my grand temple on the wrist. I wish to have some time to relax." the Huntsman ordered, walking towards the temple as the Palm Titan Trappers frowned and another tribe smiled, since they were the ones who'd been allowed to live on the wrist.

Every Titan Trapper in the Demon Realm, all seven tribes, had answered his call and come to serve him upon his return, but the Divider hated them and only allowed them to live on the Left Palm of Cassiopeia at first, since they'd already built a village there. Once the rest of the left arm had been found, the Divider had relented and allowed the Trappers to build their settlements over the entire arm, as well as maintain a flotilla around the palm. The Titan Trappers were outnumbered by the Boiling Isles residents by 10 to 1, and unlike the Wings of Rani, no one wanted the Trappers around for blaspheming against their "Sacred Titan" and proudly announcing their desire to hunt and kill the last one.

The Titan Trapper Island Tribe led by Bill, Tarak, and Denasu was the (appropriately named) Bone Hand Tribe, but there was also the Demon Dust Tribe from the deserts of Osiris (the Central Southern Continent), the Rock Digger Clan from the tunnels beneath the Great Sea Spine (a mountain range to the east of Osiris), the Bloody Fang Tribe from the fringes of one of the Titans of the Eight Fang Titans, the Silver Skulls that sailed the seas in a flotilla and had no land to call home, the Leather Wings that lived in the forests of the Elum Continent to the west of the Boiling Isles, and lastly; the White Pelts, who lived in the tundra of the Demon Realm's South Pole, using a frozen adolescent Titan as their city.

When they moved, the Divider had magnanimously given them enough material to make simple homes for themselves, but as the Silver Skulls lived on their ships, they instead used the material and land they were granted to build a temple for the Huntsman, giving them his favour. It was a simple temple, made of wood and stone (the Divider wouldn't let them have quarried Titan Bone), but it was still a fine temple designed more like a manor house and similarly sized to one too, giving him his own glorified vacation home. The entire place was also staffed with the most beautiful and handsome members of the tribes, and while the Huntsman preferred aesthetically pleasing minions to serve him in his leisure time, he didn't understand the obsession with giving him attractive mortals… as if a being like him could fall for such a lowly being?

By the time he was in his inner sanctum (a room full of soft furnishings and surrounded by animal trophies, with a scroll and crystal ball for entertainment), the Huntsman's mood had improved a bit, and he spent the rest of the evening indulging in eating and drinking. But as Archivists were not normally able to get drunk, the specially prepared brew hit the Huntsman hard and he began to get emotional… which unfortunately meant he got angry, as he didn't have many other emotions in his repertoire.

"Bastard Divider, Bastard CATTs, Bastard Siblings, Bastard Titan… they're all damned fools! The Divider wants us to play nice with the inferiors, the CATTs dare to capture a Supreme Being like us, my siblings are utterly worthless and dogs to the Divider, and that little Titan… Urgh, I want to wring his neck and mount his head on my wall! If I didn't need him for the Archives, I'd take my time and really mess him up!" the Huntsman shook his head; "Oh Mother… if you could see how your other children have failed you."

The Huntsman took another swig of the fine (and strong) wine he'd received, and upon draining the bottle, he threw it at the wall and shattered it. He muttered quietly to himself about finding another bottle, when he heard a woman's voice coming from the door.

"Grand Huntsman? Are you alright?" asked the voice.

The Huntsman ignored her; he didn't like that woman. She'd thrown herself at him, promising to do "whatever he wanted" but when he'd asked for hunting stories, she'd had none to tell, so he'd told her to take a hike.

Silently continuing his search for more wine without actually getting up or moving from his comfortable seat in the dark room, the Huntsman noticed the door to his sanctum begin to open and the woman to sneak in. Seeing him seemingly prone on his throne of pillows, the woman crept closer, obviously taking his silence for slumber. She must have assumed the sound of glass breaking had been him passing out and dropping the bottle. Curious, the Huntsman wondered if she was prowling around on a hunt for something herself… in his mildly inebriated state, the idea intrigued him so he watched her approach while pretending to be asleep.

The woman approached, but as the light of the glowing Crystal Ball crossed her face, the Huntsman was shocked to see strange slime covered scars all over her. What's more, as the woman reached him, she held out a hand and a tendril of vile greyish green goop began to emerge from her and stretch towards his mouth. In a flash of movement, the Huntsman was on his feet, smelling the rot and sensing the corruption in that slime. He kicked the woman away and then promptly trapped her in a pale green barrier.

"Okay, you have got exactly 30 seconds to explain yourself, or I'll fill that barrier with gas and watch you choke to death on your own liquefying organs!" the Huntsman threatened viciously, his weapon summoned to his hand as he paced around the trapped woman.

"Hold there, Huntsman!" the woman cried, her scars disappearing as the Huntsman waved his hands to light the torches in the room; "I cannot harm you even if I tried! I simply wished to speak with you! I intended merely to wake you!"

The Huntsman snorted, not believing that for an instant. This slime entity was clearly capable of possession, and had likely been hoping to possess HIM in his drunken state. With the Titan Fool's Blood in the wine, it might have even been possible… if he'd drunken another few gallons; the trace amounts in him now were nowhere magically potent enough to render him THAT weak!

Still, using poison to weaken a foe then slipping in while they're sleeping? That was a worthy tactic… perhaps this possessing creature was a better source of hunting stories than the wench he was controlling.

"Who are you? And don't lie; I won't hesitate to hurt you, even if it means killing your host."

The woman went still, then sighed as the scars returned; "So you realised… you're much sharper than your little brother. The Collector stupidly fell for my trap and then tried to hug me into submission. Before I blew a hole in his chest."

The Huntsman's eyes widened as the woman gave a sinister grin, her eyes glowing blue; "You managed to wound the Collector?"

"Yes, right after he buddied up with that Titan Brat." the creature replied.

A grin stretched across the Huntsman's face; "You managed to trick and wound a Sephiroth… I'd be angry if that brat hadn't betrayed us for that Titan! You impress me with your cunning, mortal. What is your name?"

"I am Philip Wittebane; a Witch Hunter." the possessed woman replied, bowing theatrically.

"A Witch HUNTER? Oh, now you have my attention! But that name is familiar…" The Huntsman scratched his chin, then snapped his fingers; "Oh right, you're Belos! I've heard of you since coming here! You tried to wipe out all life from this realm."

Belos' eye twitched a little at being called by his old moniker yet again, but he shook it off and nodded; "Indeed. I came here to hunt these inferior, unclean monsters in the name of God and the Heavens! As a superior Angel yourself, you must understand my desire! In fact, pardon my eavesdropping, but I heard you muttering about glassing this entire realm while you were drinking earlier. I think we can help each other!"

That was audacious, especially since the Divider had made sure to inform the Archivists of the conniving former human. He had betrayed the Huntsman's little brother, stolen the Divider's wings, and nearly succeeded in killing the entire Demon Realm, using that abomination of an Angel with the Titan Magic inside her. The Huntsman could actually respect his dedication to his craft; Belos wanted to wipe out Demons and Witches, and he wanted to wipe out the Titans… perhaps this slimy little man was useful for the time being.

"Alright, Belos. You've peaked my interest; what exactly do you have to offer me? And what do you want from me?" the Huntsman asked. Perhaps it was because he was partly drunk, but he was feeling amenable at the moment. Plus he wanted to keep Belos close; he was a unique creature now, and so he needed to be added to the Archives!

Of course, Belos was inwardly thanking God for his luck managing to turn around. Ever since escaping back to the Demon Realm by the skin of his teeth, and in the form of a glorified glob of rotten spit on the side of an Angel's boot, Belos had been slowly rebuilding his strength. He lured in birds by pretending to be some kind of insect, then possessed them and consumed their life force, gradually growing his slime body back to a decent enough size that he could begin possessing people. As much as he wished he could though, Belos only possessed people for a short time, and didn't actually control them, so he wouldn't be discovered… the Wings of Rani were on high alert looking for him after all! Eventually, he'd managed to hitch a ride on one of the Titan Trappers that now served the Huntsman, and got all the information he needed on the CATTs, the baby Titan, and his personal target: Luz. He needed to find her and purge her from the world! She had already fallen too far and led the entirety of Heaven's Angels into a rebellion against God, fighting to save the Demons rather than condemn them to their rightful demise!

But Belos knew he needed a powerful body for that, and knew the Huntsman liked to spend time being fawned over by his minions, so Belos had positioned himself close, and over the last three days, he'd learned the Huntsman's routine, and his taste for wine spiked with Fool's Blood. Belos had prepared several of the bottles with extra large doses of the decayed blood, hoping that by weakening the Huntsman enough, he could finally possess a Sephiroth and have the power needed to get his revenge and destroy the Demon Realm! Of course, that hadn't worked out, but the little Titan still allowed him to go for his original plan.

"I would like to suggest a partnership. I have great respect for your kind, sans your defective brother, and I have a strong desire to see the last Titan dead, along with the rest of this realm. So I suggest we work together so we both get what we want." Belos said, making his host smile a horrifyingly wide smile; "I can help you get everything you want; the Divider subjugated to YOUR will, the last Titan dead, and you able to take your pickings of this world, before I destroy it once and for all!"

"And what do you offer that I cannot do for myself?" the Huntsman asked.

"I know how to manipulate people and use their sins and flaws against them. I can help you get your hands on the last Titan!"

The Huntsman leaned close to the barrier, staring at Belos closely; "How? I can go hunt him in a heartbeat if I wish, but the Divider would divide or seal me up in the next heartbeat! No hunt is worth losing everything I am or being locked up for eternity!"

"Are you aware of how Humans often hunted? They would use dogs to bring them their prey… you have quite a few willing hounds, so simply have THEM hunt the Titan and bring him to you, or kill him outright. So long as I am allowed to borrow his body for a bit, I'll be happy to assist." Belos explained.

"I wouldn't be against it, but the Divider will capture my hunters and then interrogate them, and I'll STILL catch the blame." the Huntsman grumbled.

Belos' grin grew wide again; "Then don't order them to do it… tell them where the Titan is and drop hints. Give them all the pieces to the puzzle and let them solve it themselves!"

That made the Huntsman smile darkly; "I see! I imply that I want the Titan killed and his corpse brought to me, and the Trappers will jump to fulfil my desire even without a direct order! Then when the Divider asks, I can honestly swear I gave no such orders and the Trappers acted on their own! I'd be throwing them under the comet, but I'm sure they'd accept that with a smile for their Grand Huntsman!"

He then smirked at Belos; "And you're a delightfully conniving little creep! I suppose borrowing the Titan's corpse is the price you'd charge for your "consultation"? So long as you return it in usable condition, I have no problem with that!"

Belos smirked right back, and the two cruel men found a strange sense of camaraderie with each other. Both were fully aware that the other was using them, and that the other was aware that they were using them too, yet strangely, there was a degree of respect between them. At least as much respect as could exist between such awful people… the Huntsman still intended to throw Belos into the Archives when he was done with the slime monster, and Belos in turn intended to use the Titan Power of King's corpse to try and possess the Huntsman, overcoming his Sephiroth resistance with Titan Magic! Then it was just a case of getting close to the Divider, and Belos would finally be able to take the power of the Ultimate Angel and divide the entirety of the Demon Realm from their lives!

With a few snaps of his fingers, the Huntsman made the barrier around Belos' host float into the air, then move into a corner of the Inner Sanctum, before the barrier became opaque so Belos couldn't see out of it and the Huntsman couldn't see into it, just so he wouldn't need to keep looking at the ugly creature possessing the woman. "I'll leave you in here for now, as an insurance policy! I will try your little scheme tomorrow, and if it works or at the very least doesn't get me in hot water with that Bastard Divider, I'll let you out."

Belos, not really in a position to argue or escape, simply replied; "Very well. I am confident in my ability to predict the actions of the evil and corrupt; I am sure our plan will work just fine."

The Huntsman smirked and lay down to sleep in his throne of pillows, his mood now much better than it was before. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day; he was sure of it!

[The Next Day]

Dawn came to Zachael's Landing, and for quite possibly the first time, every single person on the island was awake and preparing for the day, even the orphans and other children who would be doing nothing but playing or staying out of the way. Everyone was excited and apprehensive for what was going to be the biggest mission the CATTs had ever gone on, with virtually every single combatant of the CATTs going on it. The sole exceptions were Matt, Steve, Alador, Mason, and a handful of Construction and Abomination Witches, who were going to be sleeping after working themselves to the bone through an all-nighter. These people also included Lyra, who was predictably NOT healthy enough after draining herself the night before, and Bria, who'd also worked all night to help.

Their hard work had paid off however, and with the additional power of Matt's fused form, Steve's Dragon Rebel form, and small blessings from Luz (which she was able to recover over night), they had successfully created a fleet of the Demon Realm's first ever space-faring vessels. The model of vessel was the MTH-Series Moth; modified airships that had been altered based on the design of space-fairing sail ships in an animated movie Matt had seen in the Human Realm; Treasure Planet.

The MTH-Series Moth had the basic body of an Airship with a figurehead (and emergency barrier generator) shaped like a Moth's head, while it's landing gears were shaped like the moth's legs. In addition, the air balloon atop the ship had been replaced by two smaller ones beneath the specially made Solar Sails, which would work like magic solar panels and absorb Celestial Energy from the Sun, Stars, and even the reflected light of the Moon, and channel it all into the airship's engines, providing propulsion and powering the life support systems and the barrier that would cover the deck and allow people to survive even in the cold dark of space. Each Moth had just enough power and structural integrity to exit the atmosphere and survive re-entry at least once, and was equipped with a barrier that would keep the people inside it alive through the entire process. They were basically one time use ships meant to get people out to space and hopefully latch onto the Archives, as the ships had no weapons and the barriers that kept people alive would also keep them from shooting spells from the deck of the ships.

Matt and his crew had managed to cobble together a whopping 20 of these MTH Moths, and while they didn't have the shrinking technology of his Capsule Mechs and appeared to be very mismatched, they were still fit for task. In addition to the Moths though, Matt had also personally created a single large flagship for the fleet; the MTH-Series Goliath Ash Moth. This one was custom built to resemble the Ash Moth (though much smaller) and was roughly three times the size of the regular Moths, with the extra size being used to add cannons to the figurehead and underbelly, and an invisibility system that would hide the ship. Gus and Daniel would be riding on this ship, using it to command the others using short-range radios of Human design, so Gus could create the illusions of a bigger fleet.

Besides the ships themselves, two other inventions had been hastily made to help with the mission; one by Alador and the other by Mason, who worked with Hettie and Bria. Alador's creation were a new type of Abomaton he'd been creating, which was designed to remain fluid and moveable even in the coldest of climates, thus making them ideal for use in space. They were still very early prototypes, so were basically just normal Abominations that wouldn't freeze in space and had simple magic thrusters that would allow them to move around in a gravity free vacuum. The creation of Mason, Hettie, and Bria was a sort of space suit made for Witches and Demons, and using some of Alador's new abomination tech as a base. The core of the "suit" was a medallion inscribed with glyph combos, and was attached to a belt with two small cannisters, and then to a pair of boots and gloves. When activated, abomination slime would emerge from one of the cannisters and form an airtight body suit over the wearer, allowing them to survive in space while the glyph combos allowed the specially made boots and gloves to produce propulsion blasts to move in a vacuum. The second cannister would provide air to let the wearer breathe for up to 3 hours, and when inactive, the glyph combos on the medallion would instead power a gravity enchantment on the boots, ensuring the wearer could walk around normally on the MTH Moths once they were in space, as the ships didn't have any gravity systems of their own. The medallions also had a healing combo, and the intelligence of the Abominations in the suits only had a single independent command; activate automatically when the wearer is unconscious, and get them back to the MTH Ash Moth.

Luz was incredibly impressed; sure, most of this stuff had already been in the works, but to get it all cobbled together and repurposed in a single night was incredibly impressive!

"You guys have really outdone yourselves!" Luz said in amazement as she watched Gus and Daniel show off the functions of their Abomi-Space Suits.

"I was already working on cold weather Abomatons, since I noticed a decrease in efficiency in the cold weather, that stressed their cores. It was easy to make it work for the suits and these space Abomatons." an exhausted Alador said. He looked like he used to when working for Odalia, so Darius, Amity, and the Twins were eager to see him put to bed before they headed out.

The Tholomules were feeling the same about Steve and Matt, the latter of whom yawned as he said; "Yeah, and I've been dreaming up this space travel stuff since Camila introduced us to Cosmic Frontier. A lot of it was already designed and just needed some tinkering to get it ready for a larger scale."

Steve nodded sleepily; "A bunch of devoted helpers, some abominations, the supplies sent by the Angels, the Angelic Alchemy equipment, and a full night of work using magic… that's what it took to pull this off."

"You did amazing, my love." Katya said, kissing him sweetly; "But I think it's time we get you to bed. Lyra will be in charge of watching you all so you get some rest."

Lyra (still tired herself) gave a little salute, and Hettie bustled over and gathered up everyone who wasn't going on the mission for sleep reasons: Matt, Steve, Alador, Mason, Bria, and herself, along with roughly half the Construction Crew and a third of all their Abomination Experts. Hettie then turned to Luz; "Your Mami will be leading the Healers and Support Team this time."

Camila nodded along; "That's right! Leave it all to me and Vee! We'll both be flying around as high as we can, so if and when our new Star Fleet has to retreat, we'll be there to immediately help them out."

"I'll do my best to keep everyone safe!" Vee promised, hugging a worried Luz.

"Thank you both. Now, I guess now it's time to arrange the teams!" Luz said, turning back to the massive gathering of CATTs.

The remaining CATTs Council would be splitting into teams of two, given a squad of CATTs and a target, and then sent on their way, with the only orders to be retreating back to the Bonesborough Portal Gate if they needed to. Hooty would be waiting in the In-Between Realm with Orion watching over a scout who'd hide near the Portal Gate, and when the scout saw people retreating to the gate, Hooty would open it so they could come through.

"Okay, so the Laptela Necropolis Team will be led by me and Mom, and will have Samael, Edric, Emira, Jerbo, and Viney. The Archive Attack Team will be led by Gus and our newest recruit and volunteer, Daniel." Luz informed everyone.

She then turned to the side and saw a sizeable squad of about 500 Angels of Crest Diligence; sent by Lord Barachiel after Daniel had convinced him that this would help reduce the attacks on Gran Seraphia. Luz was sure to have at least 10 Angels on each team, along with 10 CATTs.

The Teams were: Amity and Willow, Skara and Boscha, Hunter and Eber, Darius and Raine, Lilith and Katya, Amber and Derwin, Hanu and Treble, Amaranth and Severin, Godric and Lars, and Zara and Luna. The inclusion of the Supreme Dragons was a bit of a surprise, but after seeing the devotion of Steve and Katya, who'd become dragons to serve the CATTs and protect their homes, they had been inspired to join the CATTs too! Luz had then assigned the Angels and regular CATTs somewhat at random, but had made sure family members stuck together, such as putting Callisto and Morel on Boscha's team and so on.

Once everyone had received their teams, they moved to join their teams and leaders for a short introduction while Luz addressed the remainder of their forces. The ones not assigned to teams were the ones who'd volunteered to join the borderline suicide mission to the Archives.

"If any of you want to drop out, this is your last chance." Luz said to them seriously; "There is no shame in it. I won't judge you for not wanting to risk everything on this."

One of the CATTs, who'd already put on the parts of their Abomi-Space Suit, stepped up and shook his head; "No way! I'm not backing out now! We need to save the Titan, and if this helps do that, then I'm on board!"

Another yelled; "We know the danger. We're all facing it together, same as you guys! We won't let you down!"

Daniel himself stepped up; "For the sake of the future, we need to keep the Divider busy. Don't worry Luz; no matter what happens, I'll make sure Gus gets back safely."

"And I'll try to make sure as many of us get back as possible. I'll use illusions to make the fleet look bigger, and if the Divider comes out, I'll try and trick him with a Tactile Illusion!" Gus smiled determinedly.

Luz smiled, even as her heart filled with worry. "Okay, but please be careful! Here." she handed over her Portal Key; "Use this if the worst should happen. You'll need it more than I will if you're dealing with the Divider!"

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better for you guys to keep it?" Gus asked.

Luz shook her head; "No, you're the ones in the most danger. Worst comes to worst, our team can get the heck out of the Necropolis at top speed."

Gus wasn't totally convinced but he still accepted the key and then shared a hug with Luz. When the two pulled away, Lyra replaced Luz and hugged Gus again, giving him a tired kiss on the cheek and making him promise to return to her and the others. Similarly, Gus's father wished him luck and hugged him, while Matt came over to see him off too, and tease him that thanks to the Wailing Star mission and Matt testing one of the Moth's earlier that night, Gus would only be part of the third expedition into space, and that Matt had beaten him there. That led to some good natured bickering between the two while Luz turned back to Daniel.

"Well, this wasn't what I had in mind for your first mission with us, but thank you for your sacrifice, Daniel. This means a lot to us." Luz told him.

"You are welcome. You were willing to face Reformation to save your loved ones and do what you felt was right… I am willing to face Division to do the same. I hope to see you again when this mission is over, but if I am captured, then I know you'll stop the Divider and save the world, and fix the problems with the Union!" Daniel declared, giving an Angelic Salute; "I, Daniel, formerly of Crest Diligence, put my faith in you, Lady Luciel. Let's both do our best."

Luz returned the salute, then gave the man a hug.

Finally, when all the farewells were over, the Land-Bound Teams watched as the Volunteers (and Space-Faring Abominations) boarded the fleet of MTH Moths, with the lions' share of CATTS and Angels joining Gus and Daniel on the Flagship Goliath Ash Moth. As one, the fleet of ships took to the air like any other airships, flapping their wings to generate some extra lift along with their air balloons, as well as to build up kinetic energy to be transformed into magic by the solar sail wings. Then as they began flying directly upward, the barriers activated and concealed who was on the ships as they flew into the sky. A moment later, everyone on the ground watched as they rocketed up through the atmosphere, using magic to help them break through without causing any damage to the ships. It looked almost like a collection of golden stars bursting free from the planet. Finally, they streaked across the sky at high speed towards the moon, which would be on the opposite side of the Demon Realm at the moment.

Watching them go, Camila, Matt, Hunter, and Boscha (as well as a shocking number of Mandragoras) performed the Cosmic Frontier salute, before Camila said; "Titanspeed, comrades."

With their team now departing and predicted to reach the Archives within 30 minutes, the rest of the teams headed to the Portal Gate, performed a last minute gear check, and then began heading out in staggered shifts, with those going to the furthest Union Pillars leaving first, so all the attacks could begin at roughly the same time. Each team had been gifted a single regular airship that Matt and Alador had made compatible with their collaborative Capsule Mech Technology, and they would be using them to fly to their destinations stealthily.

The teams going to the Feet would be heading out first, but the Knees, including Laptela Necropolis, would come right after, so Luz's team didn't have a lot of time to get ready. However with only a few minutes left, Luz, Eda, and the other teens found themselves getting a bit worried, as Samael had run off a short time ago with a promise of "Be right back!"

"Where is that cheeky little imp? With us rescuing King today, I figure he'd be climbing the walls with impatience!" Eda commented, keeping an eye out.

"He'll be back before we leave Mom, I'm sure." Luz said confidently, "Samael would never let us, or King, down."

Sure enough, Samael came flying over a few seconds later, a nervous smile on his face. Though whether it was truly just nerves or anticipation was anyone's guess.

"Sammy! Are you ready? It'll be our turn to head out in a minute." Luz greeted, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Uh huh! I'm all set! Let's go!" Samael bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet.

The rest of the Rescue Team nodded, and waited the last minute until their scheduled time, then immediately headed through the Portal Gate, exchanged well-wishes with the Titans, the trapped Azazel, and Hooty, and emerged into the area outside Bonesborough, where they immediately released their capsule airship and got onboard, with Samael insisting on being the last one on, so he could make sure everything was okay. As soon as he was on and waited a moment or two, he cheerfully proclaimed they were ready to go, then rushed below deck, since their airship had a small cabin under the main deck. The others were a little bewildered, especially as Samael declared that below deck was now his "Secret Base!" and no one could go down there without his permission. It was rather strange, but the quirky former Archivist was known for his odd tangents and habit of turning everything into play, so Luz just shrugged it off and the others followed her lead. They promptly turned on the invisibility barrier and then took flight and began heading for the Left Knee of the newly dubbed Orion Archipelago: the Laptela Necropolis.

The flight was quiet and mostly uneventful, but both Edric and Viney kept hanging around the hatch leading below deck, sniffing around it curiously.

"What's up, Ed?" Jerbo eventually asked his boyfriend.

"Sammy put up a silencing spell. I wonder what he's doing below deck?" Edric replied, Orthie sat beside him and grooming Batric.

"Yeah, and I couldn't smell anything when he was boarding or rushing past me earlier. It was weird." Viney added.

Eda chuckled; "The kid doesn't normally stink, so it ain't weird not to smell him! I think Cammie made him take a bath last night too."

Viney shook her head; "No no, I mean I couldn't smell ANYTHING! For a moment, I couldn't smell any of you, or the forest, or the general stink of the Isles at all! Nothing. It was like my nose was clogged."

That WAS strange, and Emira suggested; "Maybe he was gassy and didn't want us to notice? Ed's done that before!"

"EMIRA!" Edric protested, flushing as his sister and her girlfriend giggled. Jerbo just patted him on the shoulder, and Luz hummed with a smile.

"Maybe that IS the case. He IS silencing the room as well… I wonder if his stomach is feeling okay… I'll ask him when he next comes out." Luz said. She didn't want to get in his space if he wanted alone time, especially as he was still processing the fact his sister was in the same kind of prison he'd rotted in for 5000 years, and his little big brother was in the enemy's hands. As such, they continued the flight to the Necropolis, and soon arrived in the skies above it, giving them their first look at it.

The Laptela Necropolis was once known as the most haunted place on the Boiling Isles, and was actually the remains of an ancient city from the very first civilisations that settled the Boiling Isles thousands of years ago. The city had been home to a tyrannical warlord who relished death and was in fact a Necromancer so reviled that his name was actively stricken from history. It was said that his soldiers never stopped serving, as he'd raise their corpses upon their deaths. If a soldier got close to "ageing out" of the army, they would be executed in a grand and gruesome ceremony, then brought back to life as a skeleton soldier, their old bodies literally being torn open like flesh cocoons. All crimes were punished by execution, and all those who died by any cause would be reanimated. The grimmest rumours said that every adult skeleton served his army, while his castle was a borderline mausoleum staffed entirely by the bones of children. Age was no excuse to escape the King's "justice" either, and it was said that every day would have an execution. If no crime had been committed, the King would make one up and have someone put to death… It was a hellish place to live and while historical records said that the old kingdom was finally destroyed by the Faith of the Titan and the other early settlers of the Boiling Isles, with the Necromancer King being bloodily executed afterwards, the darker rumours stated that the Necromancer eventually executed every last person in the city, and there was no one left to run the city for him, causing him to eventually die alone of old age, leaving behind a Lich that would haunt the city for centuries to come.

Luz didn't know what was true, but the Lich of Laptela HAD been real, and was destroyed by the Blue Claw Oni Clan, specifically by Osran's ancestor, who'd found and destroyed the Lich's Phylactery before putting an end to the evil creature. Before that though, the dead city had fallen into ruin and was so haunted by the spirits of his undead army, who were enslaved by the Lich even beyond death, that the very stones of the city were poisoned and turned black and purple. The soil was almost impossible to grow anything in or on, with only death-related weeds growing there, and naturally with it being so haunted, there had been no hope of traversing the Left Knee. When Osran's ancestor destroyed the Lich, he and the rest of the clan at the time exorcised the rest of the spirits and made Laptela liveable again, though almost no one dared to live there, so it was instead made a Necropolis, as the Oracles had cleansed the place so efficiently that the dead buried there almost always rested peacefully.

As a result, the king's old castle was turned into the home of the Oracles, Crypt Keepers and Grave Singers (practitioners of an old Bardic Tradition related to Funeral Songs, and music-based purifications and exorcisms), who watched over the Necropolis and kept it pure and maintained, turning some of the few surviving houses into mausoleums, and built many others too, though the magic of the place seemed to turn all stone purple after a few days. Then, when Belos came about and the Coven System was formed, the Oracle Coven took over and absorbed the old Oracular Order and the Crypt Keepers, while the Grave Singers were outlawed due to mixing magic. Interestingly, some of the statues in the Necropolis resembled the Petrification Statue Belos had used, and a monument had been erected by Belos at the site of the old execution grounds (which had still been used until Belos' reign) that looked like the statue and pledged that no one would be put to death under his rule.

The irony of that made Luz scoff when Lyra had told her about it. The fact the monument perfectly resembled the Petrification Statue didn't help either! It gave Luz and Eda the creeps!

Luz brought the airship down to land in the sea on the west side of the Necropolis, where a dock had been set up. They landed a little ways north of the official dock so their ship wouldn't be seen, then disembarked onto the cliffs, being mindful to avoid the sight of the patrolling guards, which seemed to be made up entirely of Divided Oracles and Abomaton Knights (specifically the older models). Luz was the last one off as she stopped to inform Samael.

"We're here, Sammy! Come on up!"

She heard nothing for a second, then the voice of Samael, sounding slightly panicked; "Err, I'll be up in a second! You go on ahead!"

Luz frowned; "Sammy, we need to stick together on this! It's important! Besides, I need to shrink the ship again before it's discovered!"

"I-I'll shrink it! Just gimme the key thingy!" Samael said, the hatch to the lower deck opening just enough for his little hand to pop out.

Luz hesitated; since the regular Capsule Airships weren't some big "Capsule Collaboration", the keys didn't have interlocks for Palismen, so she didn't need to hand over Stringbean too, but she still had a bad feeling about this.

"Fine, but please don't take long!" Luz told him, dropping the key into his hand, which then disappeared as the hatch was shut again.

"Thanks Luz! Be there soon!" Samael said.

Luz turned and left the airship, jumping up onto a narrow passage along the side of the cliff, where Eda, the Twins, and the Magic Mixers awaited her. She quickly told them that Samael would follow after them in a moment, as well as handle the ship, so they began to creep forward to scout out the area. They slipped on Concealment Stones to hide their identities, since the Necropolis was technically still open to the public and so non-CATTs could roam it freely, and snuck over to the main docks, then walked up the public staircase into the Necropolis itself, remaining on the purple cobblestone path as they went in deeper.

The Necropolis was always a quiet and sombre place, but with the Abomatons and Divided Oracles roaming about, as well as the travel restrictions, fewer people were visiting, so the disguised CATTs largely had the entire place to themselves.

"Man this place is eerie… to think Odalia was the boss here for a while after Osran joined the CATTs. I bet it suited her, being this creepy." Emira commented, withholding a shudder.

Viney held her hand, and Jerbo did the same for Edric; the two boys really not liking this place. Edric was all about Animals, and Jerbo was a Plant Witch as well as an Abomination one, so a place of death and sorrow was not a good match for people all about life and emotion. Luz was a bit more at ease thanks to her understanding of the aspect of Death, and Eda wasn't shy about death either, so the two of them led the other four onward as they eventually found a large plot of graves. It belonged to the Oshi family, which had died out 200 years ago. Lyra had told them about this plot, saying it was in an isolated spot on a raised plateau within the Necropolis, providing a great view of the Castle HQ, it's surrounding grounds, and the old execution ground, which just so happened to be built over the Primordial Wellspring, so the Wings of Rani had destroyed it and Belos' creepy monument to build the Union Pillar in its place.

"It looks like security is pretty light here… I guess the Divider didn't see the point in guarding this place that much before, and couldn't post more guards when bringing King here without raising suspicions." Luz whispered, pretending to be praying to the graves (after she had actually done so) as she scanned the area beyond it.

The Laptela Castle was a large gothic castle of purple stone, stained glass windows, and blackened wooden fixtures and black roof tiles and statues. It was curiously unadorned, but there were places for gargoyles and the like, making Luz think the old Necromancer's décor had been ripped out and not replacing, leaving the castle to look a little unfinished.

"I'd wager King is in the old royal chambers, probably guarded by Old Osran himself." Eda whispered, also pretending to prey. "Hey Blight Boy, can you send your bat friend to go scout?"

Edric, pouting at Eda's unimaginative nickname for him, nodded and took a sip from a small orange potion, then gave the rest to Batric, who'd been roosting on his shoulder. Both their eyes glowed orange (though Ed's was hidden by his illusion disguise) and Batric flew off, the potion allowing Edric to see and hear everything the little Muddle Bat did. Bats of various kinds weren't unusual in this place, so Batric could fly about uninhibited and look in all the windows of the castle, starting on the upper floors.

It didn't take long after that before Edric beamed; "I found him! He IS in the royal suite, or Coven Head's room! Osran isn't with him, but Barcus is!"

Viney and Jerbo gasped with delight; "He really is here!?" Jerbo asked eagerly.

"What's he doing!?" Viney added.

"He's definitely here, and he seems to be playing with King." Edric answered. "My best guess? He got brought here because he's an awesome Oracle and Osran asked him to babysit King, since I bet King doesn't want to beat him up to escape."

"Well, now we get to rescue him too! Your trio is gonna be complete again, Kitten." Emira smiled flirtatiously as she kissed Viney on the cheek. Viney responded by giving a wide grin and kissing Emira right back as Edric had Batric continue to fly around in search of Osran, since he was the other major person they wanted to rescue.

After a minute, Batric failed to find Osran near the castle and instead flew over to the Union Pillar, where he found Osran in the office on the top floor, doing paperwork of some kind. Edric reported this back to the others, and Luz grinned.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We try to sneak into the castle first to get King. We're almost certainly gonna get caught or trip some alarm with my luck, so when things get bad, we'll attack full force! We bust our way towards King, save him, I'll undo the division on Barcus, then we all go attack the Union Pillar! I'll undo as many divisions as I can on the way, and we should be able to overcome the Abomaton Knights with Mom's Anti-Magic!" Luz declared.

"We're on board with that, Owlet! Let's kick some tail!" Eda grinned.

The Magic Mixers (which Jerbo declared really should include the Twins, since they multi-tracked and mixed magic too) all nodded in agreement, each feeling excited to get to work. They stood and began making their way to the castle, but just as they were casually walking along, they noticed some of the Oracles receiving scroll calls and getting antsy, then running off towards the docks. Fearing Samael was in danger or had been discovered, the Rescue Team turned on their heels and rushed back, no one paying them any mind whatsoever. Once they reached the docks again, the entire gang paled as they realised what was causing so much distress… a fleet of Titan Trapper ships were sailing their way!

"What's going on!? Why are they here!?" Jerbo asked, panicking.

Viney looked around urgently and saw that the Oracles had no clue what was going on either, and were clearly not expecting this. They had summoned a battalion of their Abomatons to act as a defensive line against the Trappers, but as the battalion was marching up, there was a sudden booming noise from the fleet, and a dozen magical blasts came shooting at them, arching through the air like an artillery strike. Luz panicked upon seeing it, sensing a lot of familiar magic in those blasts, which happened to be black and speckled with stars like the night sky, but with an aura of sinister green magic.

"That's the Huntsman's magic!" Luz cried, as the Abomatons raised a barrier together… only for the barrage of Archivist-enhanced blasts to tear through the barrier like it was nothing and destroy the Abomaton Battalion, leaving only a crater and some loose slime splattered everywhere. The Oracles screamed and began rushing about screaming.

"It's an ambush!"

"The Titan Trappers are attacking!"

"Call for reinforcements!"

"We can't! The Scroll signal won't go beyond the Necropolis! The Signal Termites are active!"

"Then knock them out!"

"Get the Angel guarding the Young Titan to call for help!"

Luz and her crew began to panic; if word got to the Divider that the Titan Trappers were attacking Laptela Necropolis, he might abandon the Archives battle to come stop them! Clearly the Huntsman, or perhaps just his trappers, had gone rogue! Luckily, Jerbo kept his cool and reached into his pocket to remove a small brass cannister, which he opened and released a small Abomaton-like creature that resembled a mix of Signal Termite and Honey Pot Ant. The pink slime in its abdomen began to softly glow as Jerbo smiled.

"Remember this fellow? Alador made it back for the Recapture of Digale!" Jerbo reminded them.

"The Jammer! The one that blocks even Comm-Pacts and Divine Communication Mirrors!" Luz beamed, suddenly remembering it.

"You're a genius, Beau!" Edric grinned, using his pet name for Jerbo (a pun on the "Bo" part of his name).

"With that little fellow, there's no way for the Titan Trappers OR the locals to call for help, so we've bought some time. But we should still get a move on." Eda said urgently, shifting into Harpy Mode beneath her illusory disguise; "Those Trapper freaks are after King! We need to either crush 'em or get King out of here first!"

Luz nodded; "Samael hasn't caught up to us yet either, let's go grab him."

The gang rushed over to the cliff-side trail leading down to where they'd secretly moored their airship, stopping briefly so Luz could open a hole in the cliff to hide the Signal Jammer Abomination, then seal the hole again. But as they reached the area with the ship and passed through the barrier making it invisible, they were suddenly able to see the ship again… along with Samael and a pack of four very guilty looking children.

The Rescue Team gaped in open-mouthed horror as they saw Samael staring back with a guilty expression as Emiliel, Simi, Asher, and Marama all stood with him, having suited themselves up with hodgepodge armour they'd made from scavenged materials (likely pilfered from the junk pile at Alador's and Mason's workshops) and armed themselves with notepads full of glyph combos and some old training wands that were glowing faintly with Samael's magic. In fact, Emiliel, Simi, and Asher were all glowing with faint auras of powerful Angelic Magic, and Samael's hand was on Marama's shoulder, him being discovered had interrupted the process of giving her his blessing.

"S-Samael!? The kids!? What the hell is going on!?" Eda exclaimed.

"It looks like we had some stowaways!" Viney growled, crossing her arms; "That explains his "Secret Base", the silencing spell, and that weird smell-nullifying smell!"

"And why he took so long to meet us before the mission, and had to be the last off the ship!" Emira scowled; "Oh, you kids are in so much trouble!"

"B-But we just wanted to help save King!" Simi protested, wearing a cobbled together breastplate and some metal bracers and ankle guards; "We have Angel Blessings from Sammy, so we're strong now! At least as strong as a grown up!"

Luz could sense the magic in them, and they truly had gained power equal to that of a High Angel! If it weren't for the fact that blessings from other Angels couldn't trigger evolutions, Emiliel would have been the youngest High Angel in history!

"Your power isn't the point!" Luz yelled frantically; "Not only do those blessings make Samael weaker, but none of you four have combat experience! You're kids! The oldest of you is 9! You can't be here!"

"King was only 8 when HE went into battle!" Asher pointed out stubbornly.

"King is a TITAN! And he has experience from my less than good parenting days…" Eda admitted. If he hadn't been wrapped up in so many of her early scams, before their bond had grown so much, she might have kept him out of things more, but she couldn't change the rules on him after all this time! It would have felt unfair to him for him to be held back now that he's stronger!

"Skara is gonna kill both of us for this!" Luz groaned, face palming.

"Can we get them out of here?" Jerbo asked. "Use your portal?"

"I can't! I gave the key to Gus! I thought he'd need it more than me! I never imagined we'd be getting stowaways!" Luz scowled; "And with the Titan Trappers attacking, I can't even have us retreat and come back after dropping the kids off again!"

As if punctuating that point, another salvo of blessing-enhanced magical artillery strikes smashed into the docks and cliffs, destroying a firing line of Abomatons that had been shooting at the encroaching fleet, as well as destroying all the ships there, ensuring there was no escape by sea. The CATTs' airship was still fine though, being invisible, but seeing the Trappers cut off escape via the sea made them suspicious.

"Edric!" Luz said.

"Already on it!" the boy replied, using Beast-Keeping Magic to send his orders to Batric and have him check out either side of the Left Knee. The east side didn't have a dock like the west, but to his horror, Edric saw an army of beasts and some more Titan Trappers attacking from the south. A quick look to the north confirmed the same thing there… the Necropolis was being surrounded and cut off!

"There are Beast Demons blocking off all escape by the land, and quite a few are winged too, so an aerial escape is likely out too. The Trappers really want no one getting out!" Edric reported, before scowling; "But that's not all! The Beast Demons are wearing strange collars… I think there is Titan Bone on them, and it looks like they're control collars! And… I think I recognise some of the more distinctive ones."

Being an overly eager Beast-Keeping Student, Edric tended to remember any remarkable creatures he met, and he was sure he'd seen some of these before! "I think some of them are from the Bat Queen's forces!"

Luz felt like tearing her hair out a she turned to Eda; "Mom, did you ever learn what happened to the Bat Queen and her Palisman Strays?"

Eda shook her head; "I heard the Bat Queen and her beasties were relocated, but I assumed they were moved back to Titan Cradle Island, where the Stray Palisman Sanctuary was built. When King's scouting team went to check it out and reported the Palismen weren't there, I figured the Divider moved them."

"I have a REALLY bad feeling about this!" Luz groaned, before looking back to the five children (including Samael); "Now what are we supposed to do with you?"

The children, all looking confused, guilty, and afraid, could only look back at Luz with wide eyes as she tried to juggle the multiple catastrophes that just befell their mission.

Emira raised a hand; "Maybe one of us should take them back in the airship?"

"At top speed, that's still at least an hour round trip." Jerbo shook his head; "That airship is our only safe way in and out. If we rescue King, we can't risk hiding out in a war zone for an hour for it to return."

They'd fly back on their staves, but after a potentially troublesome fight, they'd be slow and tired, making it a very dangerous prospect. Plus Luz wanted to try and save the Beast Demons as well as her brother and friends.

"And we can't call ahead for another airship to come here and pick them up, because of the Signal Jammer! And if we turn it off, the Oracles will call for help!" Edric added.

Viney groaned; "And the range was meant to be big enough to encompass the Titan's arm, so getting out of range to make the call would waste time! The Trappers and their enslaved beasts are closing in and we can't afford to wait or else people are gonna get hurt!"

Jerbo could only shake his head and add; "I'm pretty sure there aren't any airships left to come meet us anyway! A lot of them got scrapped and turned into the Moth Ships, and the remaining ones are being used by other teams!"

Now it was Eda's turn to face palm; "So in short, the only way to get these troublemakers out of here is to abandon King or be trapped behind enemy lines and waiting for a rescue? Great; we've not even done anything yet and things have gone to hell!"

Luz nodded bitterly and turned back to the kids; "I am very disappointed in you! You've jeopardised this mission and put all of us, and yourselves, in grave danger! This is NOT a game or a grand adventure! We aren't doing this for fun!"

"W-We're sorry!" Emiliel sniffled as all the kids began to tear up, the gravity of what they'd done hitting them. "We just wanted to help save our friend!"

The tears of the kids were effective against the soft-hearted Luz, who empathised with them, but that didn't change the fact the kids had acted incredibly dangerously! Some of the blame lay with the Rescue Team for not being more vigilant (though they never predicted something like this could happen), and part of it was the fault of the usual childish lack of foresight that plagued almost all kids. But now wasn't the time to scold them properly, so Luz turned to a tearful Samael and said;

"This is your responsibility Samael, so YOU are in charge of protecting this lot! You're all going to stay here by the ship and not leave unless you absolutely have to! I want promises from all of you!" Luz demanded, kneeling down and holding out both hands with her pinkies extended for pinky promises. Each kid, still sniffling, joined their pinkies to one of Luz's and nodded in agreement.

"Good. Now protect them well, Samael! Remember, they cannot heal like you can! And if they are hurt badly enough, they WILL die and there is NO way to bring them back! They aren't even Titan Blessed, so even Orion and Cassiopeia's one-time Titan Resurrection would be useless. Do you understand me?" Luz asked, her expression deathly serious.

Samael was extremely pale and looked like he'd be sick as he nodded; "Yes! I'll protect them! I promise! I'm so sorry!"

Luz sighed and pet his head; "I know, Sammy. I'm mad, but I still love you as my little big brother. We'll talk about this more at home. For now, just behave and protect yourselves."

Samael and the children all agreed and huddled together on the cliff side path, while Luz turned back to the others and said; "Let's continue the mission ASAP! Mom, you and I should go for Osran and the Union Pillar while the Magic Mixers go for Barcus and King."

Eda agreed; she'd rather be saving King, but the Union Pillar was the bigger issue right now; shutting it down would liberate the Oracles and allow Osran and Luz to rally them against the Titan Trappers!

With their plan of action adapted to the situation, Luz and the Rescue Team rushed up the path to the docks, keeping their disguises just in case; no need to cause a greater panic after all! Unfortunately, the talk with the kids had run long, so the Titan Trapper Fleet were mere seconds away from docking by the time the Rescue Team got to the stairs leading from the dock to the rest of the Necropolis. From the greater elevation, Luz was able to look over her shoulder and get a look at some of the Titan Trappers attacking; there were a lot of different looking groups, but the ones leading the expedition seemed to be the same ones from the Titan Trapper Island incident. The mere sight of them still made her chest twinge sometimes, and made her idly wonder if Tarak and Denasu were on one of those ships.

The two halves of the Rescue Team soon split up and raced off deeper into the Necropolis; the Magic Mixers heading for Laptela Castle and the Clawthornes heading for the Union Pillar. However neither would fully get to their destination before a giant illusory figure emerged from the Titan Trapper ships now docking to the west. Luz was the only member of the CATTs (besides Samael) to recognise the Trapper that the illusion depicted; Bill the Elder, leader of the Titan Trapper Island Tribe. He was still a short man and dressed in the same style of clothing as before, but rather than being King-sized, he was now roughly the same height as Luz, and his Titan Skull mask was now decorated with intricate gold and green war paint featuring a prominent crescent moon motif. His eyes now matched rather than one lacking an iris, and the blue and gold of his outfit was more vibrant, and the fur of his Titan disguise was darker, being pitch black. His hair was now white, and the candle burning atop his Titan Skull had black wax and a gold and green flame.

"People of the Laptela Necropolis! We, the Titan Trappers of the Grand Huntsman, have learned of your grave sin! Not only do you worship the corpse of this evil monstrosity, but you now harbour its son within your walls! As such, I, Elder Bill of the Bone Hand Tribe, have gathered a Hunting Party to punish you for your sins!" Bill declared, his voice projected across the Necropolis, though it was a little deeper and more regal than it had been before. Then suddenly, Bill reverted to his old voice as he screamed; "Denasu! Bone Shamans! Do the thing!"

Luz and the CATTs watched in horror as there was a monstrously large explosion of magic from the fleet of Titan Trapper ships, as well as the Trapper Tribes attacking from the north and south. The explosion of magic formed into a rain of purple and black flames, each one of which seemed to contain the skull of a Witch or Biped Demon.

"The Bone Shaman's Geas!" Luz screamed, recognising it from the Battle of Zachael's Landing; "They're going to raise the dead buried in the Necropolis!"

Without missing a beat, the Oracles around her all created barriers of Oracle Magic over the graves and mausoleums around them, blocking the magic from reaching the bones within. Similarly, Eda coated herself in Anti-Magic and began flying around as fast as she could, destroying the projectiles whilst Luz unleashed a huge blast of silver light, splitting and bending it into a rain of silver that destroyed many of the Geas. Unfortunately, the Necropolis was huge and Luz had realised what was happening a moment too late, as she'd only seen a bit of the spell's activation on Zachael's Landing, so it had taken her a moment to recognise it. This ensured that while the area immediately around Luz and Eda was unaffected (a space about the size of Hexside's main building), but the rest of the Necropolis was caught up in the spell.

All over Laptela, the magic struck the ground or mausoleums and found their way to the bones of Witches and Demons long dead. Those who were more freshly buried, enough to still have flesh, were not reanimated by the Geas (since it was strictly a BONE Shaman's Geas and the flesh interfered), but that didn't matter… the vast majority of the dead in Laptela were skeletons, and each suddenly sprang to live, the magic of the Geas connecting their bones with purple magic, which also filled their eye sockets as they smashed out of their coffins, burrowed out from the ground, and in some cases, moved to help others break free from the mausoleums and sarcophagi that they didn't have the strength to escape on their own.

It was like a scene out of a horror movie; the Necropolis housed over five million graves, including deeply buried mass graves from it's bloody history, and almost all of them were now unleashing hordes of skeletons from every species of Biped Demon as well as the Witches, some of which were incomplete and yet still dragged themselves along. Luz and Eda both summoned their staves and prepared for combat, but strangely enough, the skeletons didn't actually attack anyone, and instead began to converge with each other and combine their bones, trying to build something. It was hard to tell what they were making at first; they seemed to just be constructing a large wall around the area that they had been prevented from entering, but there were multiple passages out of the enclosure, and those passages seemed to be enclosed in walls of bone too.

"What the heck is…?" Luz began, starting to fly up so she could see over the ten foot tall walls and try to see what was going on across the Necropolis. However as she was about to fly over, the skeletons that made up the top of the walls began rapid firing blasts of corrosive purple and black magic at them, using Darkness Magic to force her to retreat. She tried to outfly the blasts for a bit, but there was just too many, leading to her instead trying a barrier. This failed too, as the barrier was rapidly corroded by the sheer amount of Darkness Magic, causing Luz to take a hit directly to one of her wings, making her scream and fall out of the sky. Eda was quick to catch her, and to the surprise of everyone, the skeletons stopped shooting once Luz fell beneath the top of the walls.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" Eda cried, ripping off Luz's concealment stone so she could see her injured wing. The wound was rather nasty looking, but Luz was a master of Healing Magic, so she was quick to purify and heal the wound, ignoring the way the Oracles stared in shock. The Divided among them began making moves to try and apprehend her, but the Undivided Oracles convinced them to stand down.

"Well that sucked…" Luz grumbled; "But I'm okay Mom. I'll need to adjust my barrier to resist that magic if I try that again. I think I can do it though."

"Ha! That's my girl! Nothing keeps you down for long!" Eda grinned with relief; "Did you see anything while you were up there?"

Luz nodded with a dark expression; "Yeah, a labyrinth. The skeletons have formed themselves into a massive labyrinth that covers the entire Necropolis."

Eda blinked in surprise and was about to ask why, when Bill's illusory form began speaking again.

"Our hunting ground is now set! Now naturally, that loathsome Titan Brat is the main prey we'll be hunting today, and whoever brings him, alive or as an intact corpse, to the ships wins the grandest prize and greatest honour, but that doesn't mean we can't all have some fun! So we're going to have a little game! Nab the core of one of those Abomatons? You win one point! Grab a mask from an Oracle and you win two points! Bring the wings of an Angel and you get five points! Whoever has the highest points from each tribe wins, and the one with the most overall will have their tribe be considered the masters of this hunt! Now, let the Grand Hunt begin!"

A thunderous roar echoed from the north, south, and west, and Titan Trappers began swarming into the labyrinth, with some flying above it with Winged Boots, Titan Wings sown onto their robes and animated with magic, and even the occasional Palisman staff! Luz saw several from the Bone Hand Tribe flying at her, recognising her from Titan Trapper Island, but Luz swiftly opened fire on them with silver light and drove them off (though she did manage to destroy the boots on one, causing him to fall into the maze somewhere to the west.

Luz then shot a blast at the nearby skeletons, blasting a hole through the wall… which immediately regenerated just as the Draco Lich had before. What's more, the skeletons of the wall all bombarded her with magic blasts for a second, forcing Luz to hide in the shadows to evade them. It seemed the only way through without solving the labyrinth would be to vaporise the bones, but Luz was hesitant to do that to so many of the dead… It felt like desecration, and while Luz would do it if she had to, she REALLY didn't want to.

"This is really bad. The Trappers are aiming to hurt people!" Luz fretted; "What do we do!?"

"Kick the butt of every Trapper we can as we complete the mission! We'll make sure the Divider is on his way here as we're on our way out! That's the best we can do! At least the Oracles will be able to defend themselves since you and the lady guarding King are the only Angels around."

Luz grimaced, and as Eda saw her expression, she knew they wouldn't actually be leaving until the Trappers were driven off; even if it was the practical thing to do for the war effort, it wasn't in Luz's nature to leave people in need without helping them. All she could do was hope the day ending with them successfully finding and rescuing King!

The two of them told the Oracles to try and bunker down out of sight, potentially using one of the mausoleums in the clearing as a hiding spot, sealing it off with their Oracle Magic once Luz was gone. They all agreed, including the Divided (they realised they had bigger issues to worry about than the CATTs), and rushed into one of the Mausoleums, which Luz then placed an illusion over to make it look like it hadn't been opened at all. Once that was done, the two Clawthorne ladies briefly considered flying out of the labyrinth with modified barriers and some Anti-Magic defences, but instead decided that if they couldn't go over the labyrinth; they'd go under… specifically through the shadows! Luz took them under the walls and as close as she could get them to the Union Pillar, only to find that Anti-Shadow Travel Barriers were up around the Pillar, forcing Luz and Eda out right in front of it. Thankfully that didn't matter too much, and the two ladies were able to immediately break through the other defensive barriers put up around the pillar by using Eda's Anti-Magic.

As they stepped into the execution grounds and approaching the Pillar, a small army of Abomaton Soldiers and a few dozen Oracles came charging out of the Pillar to face the ladies, with Osran standing at the top of the small staircase leading to the open gates of the pillar.

"Good day, Luz. Eda." the Divided Osran smiled, looking the same if not for his gold and white robes. "I don't suppose you'd surrender peacefully and accept the Lord Divider's Blessing?"

Luz sighed; "We've had this whole song and dance before. Let's just get to the part where you attack us, we beat you, and shut this thing down, okay?"

Osran chuckled and began to ascend into the sky atop his giant book, wielding a glowing crystal ball in one set of hands, and his staff and a quill in the other. "You make it sound like it will be easy. Do not think I will roll over and be beaten just because I cannot use my Oracle Spirits. As Head of this Coven, I know full well that there is more to Oracle Magic than spirits!"

With that, the Oracles and Abomatons charged the two ladies, who promptly counter-attacked, very much aware of the Titan Trappers flying around outside, trying to find a way through the barrier. What followed was, at least initially, not worthy of even being called a fight; most Oracles weren't great fighters, and those that could fight were pretty dependent on their spirits still, so the forces with Osran were almost entirely relying on conjuring crystal balls to throw at Luz, to the point that Luz simply created a barrier around herself and acted like a giant bowling ball, ramming into the helpless Oracles and sending them flying all over the place, helpless to stand against her. At the same time, the Abomatons focused on Harpy Eda, whose Anti-Magic was one of the few things that they just had no defence against, allowing her to shred through their barriers and destroy them one at a time. Eda made it look skilful too; she'd use her swift Harpy Form alongside Owlbert to zip around the Abomatons and ensure they weren't packed too tightly together and were generally stood in teams of two, at which point she would position herself so a pair of Abomatons were between her and the others before coating her fists in Anti-Magic and going full Owl Beast Mode as she thrust them towards the Abomaton's Cores. With the strength of the Owl Beast and the Anti-Magic enhancing her talons, Eda was able to efficiently kill two Abomatons with no real effort.

Within two minutes, half of the Union Pillar's defences were knocked out or destroyed, and two minutes later, the Clawthorne Ladies stood along amidst a sea of inert slime and unconscious Oracles, with a blank-faced Osran staring them down.

"For the record, just because I know how to use Oracle Magic to fight without a spirit doesn't mean my subordinates do… to be honest, I don't imagine I can beat the two of you, but for the sake of the Lord Divider and Paradise, I have no choice!" Osran declared, pointing his staff at Luz.

Luz responded in kind, making Osran blink in surprise as he finally took note of her Palisman. As he was noticing that, Luz whispered to Eda; "Mom, I'll keep Osran busy. You rush down to the Ritual Chamber and destroy all the Divided Orbs. It they've got the updated security like on Rani's Eden, your Anti-Magic will bust right through it."

"Got it! You know, you've gotten good at giving orders and being a leader! My little Owlet has become a dyed in the wool Rebel General!" Eda chuckled, half teasing and half genuinely proud of her baby girl.

Luz blushed and huffed; "I have a Mom who's a terrible influence! Now go! I want to see what Osran can do in the meantime!"

She then flew up at Osran, transforming her staff into a snake themed whip to lasso Osran and try to get him off his book. Osran managed to parry the end of the whip with the edge of his book, but the green ball on the end of Stringbean's tail, which was also the end of the whip, suddenly turned gold as the light glyph appeared on it and promptly unleashed a blinding flash, causing Osran to cry out in shock as he covered his eyes. As he did so, Luz nodded to Eda, who winked and flew silently into the Union Pillar, while Luz made a simple illusion of Eda over a Homunculus to make Osran believe she was still present.

Since Osran's old eyes took longer to recover, Luz still had time to try and take him out quickly, and shifted her Snake Whip so Stringbean's tail was the handle instead, allowing her head to keep track of him even if he tried to evade, which he instinctively did, even if he couldn't see yet. This meant he was moving at random, which made it harder for Luz and Stringbean to track him, so Luz aimed some silver light beams at his book, wanting to bring him down without hurting him!

Osran's book seemed to have a mind of its own as it dodged and weaved, and when Osran finally rubbed the blur out of his eyes, the end of his quill (which happened to have a black feather) flashed as he suddenly drew a rune in the air, making it appear with purple light, similar to when Luz manifested her darkness glyphs. Luz was no expert in Runic, but she was fairly certain the word meant "Patience". That seemed to be confirmed when the rune suddenly shot at Stringbean like a projectile and became inscribed on her forehead, causing her to stop chasing after Osran and instead simply watch him as he flew away from her again, evading Luz's light beams by conjuring crystal balls to take the shots. The balls shattered and the shards were launched at Luz, who also felt strangely calm and still. The shards were aimed to piece her clothing while a crystal ball aimed at her chest was meant to knock her down, likely so the shards could pin her to the ground by her clothes. It was an unusual feeling, but Luz was able to act at the last moment to dodge the attacks, and the rune vanished from Stringbean's head at the same moment.

"What the heck was that!?" Luz exclaimed, recalling Stringbean and having her wrap around her neck for safety and comfort.

"Beanie felt weird! Funny purple thing got Beanie's noggin and then I didn't wanna chase him no more!" the little Palisman said inside Luz's mind.

"It looked like he used some kind of Rune Magic in the same way we use Glyph Magic!" Luz theorised.

She didn't get long to keep theorising though, as she suddenly saw stars following a crystal ball smacking her in the back of the head. "Gah! What the-!?"

Luz spun around, wondering where the attack had come from since she hadn't seen the crystal ball being launched by Osran, who was now moving to the very top of the Union Pillar. As Luz was looking around, she was suddenly hit in the stomach by another crystal ball. The blow winded her, but this time Stringbean had seen where it came from.

"The Shadows!" Stringbean cried, making Luz frown.

"He's conjuring the crystal balls and sending them through the shadows!? Did he learn from Lyra at some point while he was training her?" Luz wondered, illuminating her body with a light glyph so there were no shadows directly around her for the crystal balls to come from.

Seeing this, Osran's expression went blank and he conjured several crystal balls in a ring around him, then shattered them all into needle-like shards, which he infused with Oracle Magic to turn them pink and allow him to fully control where they flew as he fired them at Luz. Luz, still holding back to avoid hurting Osran, blocked the attacks with a barrier, which was filled with her light to the point that it looked like a mini-sun… or at least, that's what Luz's illusion made it look like. In reality, Luz dropped her light altogether so she could leap into the shadows herself and re-emerge behind Osran.

Luz came within a hair of placing her hand on him, already channelling the power of Osran's glyph, but Osran was more alert than she'd expected and he suddenly turned at the last minute and pointed his Palisman staff at her, before unleashing a machine gun-like barrage of crystal balls that he conjured from the end. Luz was hit by the first few and smacked backward a few feet before Stringbean (whom Luz had shielded with one of her wings) was able to raise a barrier on her own. However, almost as soon as the barrier was up, another Rune spell was shot towards them, mixed in amidst the crystal balls. Luz barely saw it before it impacted, reading a rune that she didn't recognise, but was about to learn the meaning off as it slipped through the shadows of one crystal ball and out of the shadows at Luz's feet, hitting her in the leg and making her suddenly flop over as she lost all feeling in that leg.

"Ugh! That rune!? Did it mean "Paralyse" or something?"

"It meant "Numb" in fact. All nerves it touches will loose all sense of feeling." Osran explained, beginning to approach her now that one of her legs wasn't working. He sank into the shadows and re-emerged within Luz's barrier, but Luz promptly turned Stringbean into a keyblade again and shot a beam of red light from the end of the keyblade towards Osran's quill. He blocked the attempt with a crystal ball and shot another "Numb" at Luz's sword arm, managing to numb that too.

"Dang it! Why can't I fight a bad guy? It would be way easier!" Luz groaned in frustration. She dropped her barrier and snapped her fingers, causing a spell circle to appear and disappear around her fingers for a moment, before she rolled backward to avoid a staff smack from Osran and sink into the shadows again.

Osran was about to follow her when he was suddenly blind-sided by Luz's homunculus that she'd disguised as Eda. The Oracle had forgotten about Eda in all the chaos of the fight, and now the homunculus was trying to suck him into its body and bind him there, while Luz emerged from the shadows and flexed her now working arm and leg.

"Either "Numb" wears off fast, or something else is going on. My two body parts got hit at different times, but both started working again at the same time." Luz mused. Resolving to ask Osran about it when they were on the same side again, Luz once again went to touch Osran with her glowing hand, only to once again be stopped.

This time, Osran was able to keep one hand free from Luz's homunculus slime and used it to conjure a swam of crystal balls that forced Luz to back off for a moment. However instead of attacking her full force until they broke, the crystal balls began to float around Luz, before they turned as black as the shadows and began unleashing a massive barrage of crystal darts charged with pink magic from within. Luz yelped in surprise and began to dodge the barrage, coating her self in stone skin made from the earth glyph in order to protect herself since she wasn't sure her barrier would be as effective with the shadow portals.

All her dodging gave Osran a chance to pull free from the homunculus slime and begin firing "Numb" and "Patience" runes at her again, his quill moving like lightning, all while he pointed his staff at Luz and began firing bolts of actual lightning. The Lightning Element was also an aspect of Oracle Magic after all, and Osran was great at wielding it. Purple bolts rained down on Luz alongside the crystals, and as she evaded, she saw scenes of violence happening outside the Union Pillar's barrier as the Titan Trappers clashed with the Oracles. Knowing she didn't have time to waste, Luz decided to stop holding back, and hoped Osran would forgive her later.

Using a little wind and darkness magic mixed together, the next time a bolt of lightning hit the ground near her, Luz whipped up a black smokescreen that completely covered the rooftop of the Union Pillar. Osran coughed and choked, trying to cover himself with his crystal balls as he went to fly out of the cloud of smoke, but this proved fruitless as before he could escape, he found thick tree roots suddenly shooting out of the ground and binding his book, then further binding him. A gust of wind cleared the smoke and revealed Luz down below, the plant glyph in one hand as she had the ice glyph glowing in the other.

"Sorry Osran, but this is gonna be a little chilly! Freeze-Dry!" she declared, placing her ice glyph onto the tree roots and causing them to freeze in an instant, with Osran quickly being frozen too below the neck. The old man struggled a little, but he simply couldn't move and was soon forced to give up.

Luz took the opportunity to shoot light beams at the shadow crystal balls to destroy them and stop their barrage. Once that was done, she simply flew up to Osran and placed a hand on his unfrozen head, finally using the power of King's glyph to undo the division. The usual colourful light show happened, followed by the gold ring fading from Osran's eyes as he returned to his normal self. He was disoriented for a few moments, during which Luz thawed him out and released him from the roots, lowering him safely down to the ground beside the Union Pillar.

"Are you okay there, Osran?" Luz asked gently, warming him with some gentle fire magic.

"I-I am now. Luz! You're a sight for sore eyes! I can barely believe you're here! Did you come all this way to rescue me and Barcus? Because if you did, you have a nice surprise waiting for you!" Osran smiled wearily, feeling exhaustion from his fight. Luz was barely even winded, but he felt like he needed a nap.

"If you're talking about King, then I know. We came to rescue him too." Luz smiled, giving Osran a chance to catch his breath.

"You know? The Divider thought he was being rather clever when he set up his little misdirection, but it seems to have failed. Though it seems those loathsome trappers are here too, and they have a lot of Necromancers."

"Bone Shamans." Luz corrected; "They can animate skeletons, but there are no souls, at least according to Denasu. It's supposedly a grey area…"

"Bah! All Oracle Magic that uses spirits can be considered a grey area! But disturbing the graves of five million souls is not what I call a grey area!" Osran protested.

"Good to see your the same as ever, you old curmudgeon."

Luz and Osran turned and saw Eda marching out of the Union Pillar, looking pleased with herself. Luz looked up and saw the pillar was still active, making her wonder what was going on. Eda was quick to explain herself.

"I figured if the Union Pillar here went down, then the Divider might notice, so I only destroyed the orbs belonging to people, not wild animals in the area. The Wings of Rani divided a lot of dangerous beasties too after all. That's why it took so long." Eda explained.

"Good job Mom. Let's take a moment to catch our breath and then focus on taking out some of these trappers." Luz said, noting the Titan Trappers and their enslaved beasts, which were trying to tear down the barrier and get at them.

Eda and Osran agreed and shared a brief reunion as Luz pet Stringbean, Tanngnostic, and Owlbert. She then turned to Osran with a question: "By the way Osran, what was that weird Runic Magic you used earlier?" Luz asked.

Osran grinned; "Oh, that! A little trick of mine that I originally came up with to counter you, back when we were on different sides. You see, Oracles can control spirits by binding them with magic or writing compacts that they sign. This allows us to assert our will on them! I used Oracle Magic and a specially prepared Compact Quill to draw runes in the air and hit you with them, temporarily forcing your still living soul to obey the terms of the contract. It only lasts for a few seconds and you can break free with enough effort and will power, but it's effective for evening the odds!"

Luz gaped; "Seriously!? Oracles can do that!?"

"Normally no. Most Oracles don't possess my skills! It takes a fair bit of magic and skill to do it too! It also takes a long time to write out the commands normally, which is why I used the Runic Language. Why write out eight characters when I can write one?" Osran explained.

Eda looked equal parts impressed and unnerved; "And since it doesn't use spirits, you can use it on Angels!"

"That's right! It's harder to use on them though, as our Compact Magic really isn't designed for them… or at least it was harder until I got this!" Osran held up his black quill, before suddenly giving the kind of smile one would expect from a kindly old man; "It's a feather from my Granddaughter! I picked it up on the Day of Unity, before the Divider whisked her away! By the way, is she doing well?"

A feather from a Dark Angel was probably just about the perfect thing for making Compact Quills, and the fact Osran was so proud of it coming from his adoptive granddaughter made Luz and Eda beam at him.

"She's doing well. She and Hunter were adopted by Darius officially, and are now Deamonne-Clawthornes. She also has a thing with Gus where they're not officially dating but are TOTALLY boyfriend and girlfriend." Luz began, counting things off on her fingers.

Osran smiled; "Ah, Darius finally nutted up and asked them! Good for them! The girl and her brother needed a father. And Gus was always a nice lad; he treats her right, yes?"

"Oh trust me, those two are the definition of Puppy Love. It's almost sickening. And they think we don't notice!" Eda cackled.

Luz giggled; "It's cute! They'll sneak cheek kisses and hold hands! But that's not all! Lyra has practically revolutionised Oracle Magic with TWO huge breakthroughs! One is something called Divine Tarot, and the other… is using Spirits on Angels!"

Osran's jaw dropped, before he cheered loudly; "HA! That's my Granddaughter! My biological descendants could learn a thing or two! See what happens when you learn from Grandpa! Oh, that girl has got one heck of an allowance waiting for her! Oh, and a birthday present! I missed her 13th one, so I need to get her something big!"

"You'll have plenty of time to think it over once we get out of here. For now, stick with us and try to stay back. Fight if you want, but if you're not up to it then we'll handle it." Luz told him, before turning to face the barrier where the Titan Trappers were thickest. She took Eda and Osran into the shadows, then burst out in their enemies' midst and began beating the Trappers and destroying the collars on their beasts. The first part of their mission was a success; now they just had to get to King.

[Meanwhile]

Up in Laptela Castle, King growled furiously to himself, his claws slowing carving into the stone of the windowsill as he stared out at the Necropolis that had been turned into a labyrinth of bone. Seeing the descendants of his people's murderers was already bad enough, but knowing that they'd come for him and fully intended to hurt anyone and everyone in the area to do so made his fury even worse! And to make it absolutely the worst it could be, the message had been delivered by that psychotic monster Bill! King still remembered seeing his sister bleeding out in front of him after being stabbed by that man!

Behind King, in the regal bedroom he'd been kept in, decked out with purples and blacks in fine and expensive styles, was a small team of six Oracles, his Arch-Angel guard, and Barcus, who was divided and had been asked to stay with King as a playmate.

"This is getting really bad!" King growled, before turning to yell at his guards; "Why aren't you out there helping with the fight! The other Oracles and people visiting the necropolis are getting hurt!"

"I'm sorry Lord Titan, but we have our orders. We are to protect you at all costs and not let you out of our sight." replied the Arch-Angel, who was actually divided too, though likely by her own choice.

"But if this keeps up, people might die! They're coming for your wings too, or didn't you hear that part!?" King demanded.

"I am aware, but I swore to protect you, Lord Titan. My own safety must come second." the Arch-Angel replied.

King stomped his little foot; "Then call for help!"

"We've tried, Lord Titan." one of the undivided Oracles said, sounding terrified; "The local Signal Termite Tower stops our scrolls, but for some reason even those Angel Communication mirrors and Comm-Pacts aren't working!"

King was about to let loose a squeak of rage, but suddenly stopped himself and thought about it; the only person he knew who could jam Comm-Pacts and DCMs was Alador, with his weird little jamming Abomaton! If one of those was in the area, then perhaps the CATTs were too!

Taking a deep breath to keep his temper, King turned back to the window and looked out of it to try and catch a glimpse of any of the CATTs. He could see plenty of small skirmishes breaking out throughout the labyrinth, and was relieved to see that the Trappers and their beasts were mostly ignoring the civilians who'd been visiting the Necropolis. It was as he was watching this that he saw a sight that brought joy to his heart; a set of eight distinct and familiar wings were flying around in the sky around the Union Pillar, seemingly doing battle with Osran.

"Luz!" King whispered to himself, grinning widely. With her here, he'd be saved for sure! Maybe this birthday wouldn't turn out to be a bust after all. "I just need to wait for the perfect moment…"

While he continued to look out the window, his eyes were actually focusing on the reflection of Barcus in the window. If Luz was at the pillar, he would surely be freed from division soon, so he needed to act fast… the prismatic shade returning him to normal would be impossible to miss and would tip off the guards, so King had to deal with them first.

Closing his eyes, King tried to think up a plan; he hadn't been allowed any drawing supplies and he was watched too closely to carve something into a surface in the room. He was watched wherever he went too… except for-!

"Bathroom!" King suddenly yelled, having a sudden idea; "I'm going to the bathroom!"

His guards couldn't argue with that and showed him to the door leading to the Royal Suite's personal bathroom. Everything in there was black marble, purple tiles, and heavily tarnished gold. But King didn't care about any of that! All he cared about was what he found on the holder beside the toilet; a roll of toilet paper, or as King liked to see it, emergency glyph notes! Scurrying over and fumbling the paper off of the holder, King now had half of what he needed, but still needed something to write with. He briefly considered using his own blood, but that might have nasty side effects, and he didn't like the idea of leaving his blood lying around… plus it would hurt and he didn't want that!

Thinking fast, King remembered something Willow had once shown him; a plant called the Lillithid, which looked a bit like a squid and produced ink to drive off predators. He'd watched her use it a few times to refill his ink pots back in the Human Realm and was sure he could imitate it, but he first needed a way to draw a single plant glyph! The tiles and marble surfaces were all scratch resistant, and the last time he'd tried drawing a glyph on glass, it had made a horrible screeching noise that was sure to get the guards' attention.

"Maybe I can do this…" King whispered to himself, turning on the sink and using droplets of water to try and draw the glyph. Unfortunately he couldn't make it work, as the water was hard to work with. But that soon gave him another idea as he looked at the mirror above the sink; the one at home in the Owl House usually had a picture of Hooty on it, drawn with Luz's finger in condensation she'd made with her own breath.

"That's it!" King gasped, flying up onto the bathroom counter and breathing warm air onto the mirror, fogging up the glass. As it was fogging up, he quickly drew a plant glyph and activated it, creating a Lillithid just as he'd hoped… while also breaking the glass in the process as the flower pushed its way out from the sheer surface.

Immediately, King leapt at the bathroom door and made sure it was locked as the Arch-Angel tried to open it. "Lord Titan!? What was that!? Are you alright!? Please unlock the door!"

The door rattled as she tried to open it, but when that didn't work, she began trying to force it. There wasn't anything in the bathroom to barricade it with, but King still tried by grabbing the towels and stuffing them under the door. The door's handle began to glow as the Angel began melting it from the other side, so King hastily grabbed the cup of toothbrushes beside the sink and emptied it out, then stuffed the flower of the Lillithid into the cup and shook it into the flower shout a good cup full of ink. From there, King stuck his hand in it and used his inky hand to draw a glyph combo on the ground; one he'd only seen once but could still remember clearly, thanks to a Titan's memory for glyphs and combos. He'd just barely gotten it done when the door was finally opened and the Arch-Angel and Oracles charged in. They saw what King was doing and yelled for him to stop, unaware of an iridescent shade entering the Royal Suite behind them and fusing into a stunned and confused Barcus.

Most of them would never find out however, as just before the Arch-Angel grabbed King, the little Titan activated the combo and everyone on the circle; namely the Arch-Angel and half the Oracles, were suddenly warped away in a flash of golden orange light. The only ones left were Barcus, who was recovering from being reunited, and the last two Oracles.

"W-What just happened!? Where did the others go!?" one of the Oracles cried.

"D-Did the Titan grow angry and vaporise them!?" the other yelped in terror.

King scoffed; "Of course I didn't! I just sent them to my Dad's skull! Never thought Belos' weird transportation glyph combo would turn out to be useful!"

The two Oracles were relieved to hear their fellows were fine, and recovered swiftly from their shock. "So… what happens now? We were ordered by our superior to guard the Titan, but he was divided and now he's gone… should we just let him go?" one asked.

The other nodded; "That's probably for the best. Should we try and get him out of here?"

"I'm right here! Stop talking like I'm not!" King snapped, crossing his arms angrily.

The two Oracles gulped and stood at attention; "S-Sorry, Lord Titan! What would you like us to do?"

"Open the castle gates and get as many people as you can inside! Those trappers will have a harder time breaking in here! I'll go and try to find the CATTs!" King said.

"Yes sir!" the two Oracles declared, turning and fleeing the room to complete King's orders. The little Titan still wasn't sure how he felt about people jumping to follow his orders as a Titan, but he was glad to see that as soon as the Wing of Rani was out of the picture, the undivided went back to working against them. He couldn't blame the Oracles for being cowards around the one kind of person their powers didn't work on!

Putting that out of his mind, King rushed back into the bedroom proper and found a confused looking Barcus looking around at everything. He seemed to be struggling to pull himself together more than other people King had seen, though he suspected this was a combination of his bloodline and Oracle speciality.

"Hey Barcus! Are you okay?" King asked gently as the half Direwolf, half Lycan boy looked at him with wide eyes.

Barcus barked his answer, and King cringed, realising he couldn't understand him! He'd learned a bit of the Direwolf tongue, but not enough to understand a fluent speaker. Thankfully, King had his own personal super glyph power, which he used to connect to Barcus' mind as he touched the boy with a glowing hand.

"Okay, just try thinking it! Even if I don't understand your words, I should be able to understand your feelings!" King told him.

Barcus barked again, but this time King felt like he could understand him; "I think I'm okay… I've been missing bits of my soul for months now and getting them all back all of a sudden feels so strange!"

"Yeah, I heard it can be disorienting, but I guess you've got it bad! I wanna know how you got divided, but we need to get out there and find Luz and the others! I know my sis is here, and I bet my Mom is too, but I dunno about anyone else. Are your parents here too?" King asked.

Barcus shook his head negatively, then lay down and said; "Get on my back. We can talk on the move as we get out of this castle. I don't think it's safe to fly out with those labyrinth walls shooting people, so we should go out on foot."

King beamed and told Barcus to wait a moment as he rushed back to the bathroom and quickly washed off the Lillithid's ink whilst gathering some more in his cup. Barcus gave him a strange look, then woofed, causing his Palisman to appear. Duno, being a four-armed spider monkey with Barcus' Oracle Spirit sealed in the Oracle Stone on his chest, did an adorable little dance and hugged Barcus, before obeying his barked request to reach into the pocket of Barcus' hoody and pulled out an empty glass vial that had a little robe tied around the neck.

"Use this. It'll be safer than carrying a cup." Barcus said.

King thanked him and took the phial, filling it with ink and then wrapping the rope around his waist tightly. He then plucked out the Golden Tracking Feather that the Divider had placed in his neckerchief, so he could use it as a quill. With that done, King hopped onto Barcus' back and Duno held onto him as he began writing glyphs on the stolen toilet paper and Barcus galloped through the halls of Laptela Castle.

The entire interior of the castle was like a temple to the occult and the dead; it was all black marble and purple stone, like everything else in the Necropolis, and the architecture really was akin to a temple, with tableaus of murderous scenes carved right into the stone, and skull carvings decorating the pillars. There were also paintings and tapestries of famous Oracles, Mediums, Soothsayers, and other such people all over the place, and glass cabinets containing various treasures and relics were everywhere. In fact, it seemed the place was more like a museum and memorial now, and there were even walls dedicated to the people who'd died in various battles, wars, and atrocities, starting with the Laptela Genocide and going up to the more modern conflicts, like Belos' "Unification" War and the Rebellion against him. As King saw the memorial for the former, he saw that a lot of new names had been carved, as those who fought against Belos had been initially left off the memorial and had since been added on the Divider's orders. The latter memorial was entirely new, and included the name of every life taken by Belos' regime even before the official rebellion, and also seemed to include the names of the Palismen he'd devoured.

King recognised a ton of the names from Luz telling him about the souls within her; Amber the red dragon, Amethyst the purple draconic cat, Archimedes the ringed octopus, Chilly the phoenix of ice, Fenrir the winged wolf, Hedgie the purple hedgehog, Kendra the musical marmot, Kneesocks the black and white cat, Orville the purple ant, Rhee the metal winged-snake, Runith the flowery gold amphithere, Sushi the flying penguin, and even Percival the Robin (who had the habit of trying to keep track of Luz's growing family), and Shelly the colourful turtle (who had coined the name "Huntlow" and cheered on Plantamania) were among them. There were even more that he recognised, but those were the only ones he got a chance to read as Barcus trotted through the memorial hall, his pace slowing due to having to weave around all the Oracles rushing about.

Turning his attention back to his rescued friend, King asked; "So Barcus, how'd you end up divided in the first place? Viney escaped with her parents and Jerbo got divided when his parents protested the Divider and Wings of Rani, so what about you?"

Barcus woofed; "My family were initially sent to the Beast Keeping Coven, since the Wings of Rani who brought us back to the Isles from Digale were confused and assumed me and Mom were Beast Demons. Luckily Dad is in the Beast Keeping Coven, so he was sent back there with us. Even though Mom and I don't get along with the old pack, we were still seen as potential invaders to the territory by the local pack; the West Ilium Direwolves, Mom protested that a mistake was made and we needed to be sent back to Bonesborough. The Angels didn't believe us at first and a fight ensued. Dad stepped in and so did I and it all became a mess. We were carted off and divided before Rasiel, or I guess the Divider, could come along and fix things."

"And he just left you divided!?" King exclaimed in surprise.

"He did." Barcus growled; "He seemed weird though… like he was arguing with himself. In the end though, he kept Mom and Dad at the Beast Keeping Coven and decided to send me here with Head Witch Osran. Not sure what he was thinking really, all I know is that he said he didn't want to send me to Vitimir after he kidnapped me."

King snorted; "I bet that decision came from the Rasiel half of him…"

"Rasiel half?" Barcus repeated.

"Yeah, long story. I'll tell you later. But good news: Vitimir is dead, along with Terra, Flora, Odalia, and Carnar." King said.

"Carnar Vanily is really dead!? Mom will be howling with joy! Who offed him?" Barcus asked.

"Believe it or not, Hooty! Hanu, who is Carnar's daughter by the way, kicked his butt and then Hooty ate him!" King explained cheerfully.

Barcus gave a literal bark of laughter; "Mom always said he'd meet his end in the belly of a beast he'd picked a fight with. So how are my friends? Viney, Jerbo, and their lovers?"

"They're still good! We rescued Jerbo from the capital like a week ago, and Viney and the Twins were safe when we got back to the isles from the Divine Realm."

"Wait, the Divine Realm? I thought the Divider tossed you into the Human Realm."

King sighed; "He did. That is another long story…"

Barcus had a feeling that the CATTs had a LOT of long stories for him to hear when they finally got to safety. But of course, they had to get to safety first!

Finally reaching the entrance hall of the castle, King and Barcus found the Oracles and the Abomaton Knights struggling to hold the castle gate shut as the Titan Trappers and their enslaved beasts howled and roared outside, trying to get in. It was clear they weren't going to be able to hold the door for long though, and several Oracles were having to maintain barriers around the windows too, as the glass had been broken by Trappers trying to get in. A few of the Trappers saw King through the window and began screeching.

"The Titan! I found it!"

The pounding on the gates and barriers grew louder, and Barcus' sharp ears heard windows elsewhere in the castle being broken, followed swiftly by the sounds of battle in the floors above. King grimaced as Barcus reported this, then turned to the Oracles and yelled at the top of his lungs; "USE YOUR SPIRITS! LUZ IS ALL THE WAY AT THE PILLAR! YOU CAN USE THEM!"

The Oracles looked confused, wondering what had happened to the Arch-Angel, and their hesitation might have cost them if Barcus hadn't acted. He swiftly turned Duno into staff mode and wielded him in his mouth, then unleashed his own Oracle Spirit from the stone in the Palisman's chest and had it phase through the gate to attack the Titan Trappers and beasts on the other side. Seeing this made the other Oracles spring into action too, now realising they could use their full powers, which turned the tide for the defenders of the castle. Suddenly, the Titan Trappers found themselves being swarmed by hundreds of spirits, which attacked them with full force while they struggled to get through the castle gates. This was excellent for the defenders, but not enough; the castle needed to be open if the people were going to get in, so they needed to drive the Trappers and their beasts out of the castle grounds and back into the labyrinth… something that was about to become very hard as King heard a very loud roar from outside.

One of the Oracles peeked out the window, then screamed; "Peridor Lizard incoming!"

King paled and slapped a barrier glyph combo on Barcus to protect him from what he was about to do, before roaring at him to blast him out of the entrance hall and into one of the antechambers. He then flew up to the chandelier as the Oracles screamed and scrambled out of the way right before the gate (and a good chunk of the wall around it) suddenly got smashed in and a massive Demon charged right through, blowing through wood, stone, and even the barrier and Abomatons like they were nothing.

This monster was a Peridor Lizard; a Beast Demon that was occasionally mistaken for a breed of Dragon, but was actually simply a very strong and heavily armoured lizard. They were technically bipedal lizards with thick bodies akin to a long-armed, heavily muscled T-Rex mixed with some kind of reptilian rhinoceros, and they had blood red leathery skin with rugged plates of stone-like armour all over them. As well as this armour, they were covered in spikes on their joints that had spiral grooves in them to allow the blood of its foes to run down the spikes and hydrate its skin, which uses the iron in the blood to reinforce its armour. The most prominent of these horns were on its nose, which actually could spin like a drill, as well as two retractable spinning horns that were hidden in special orifices on the backs of its forearms. Finally, it's tail had a massive spiked ball on the end; enabling it to smash things as well as pierce and grind them.

Peridor Lizards were not natural demons either, but bred specifically for siege warfare by an ancient, largely forgotten kingdom from another continent. Only the name of that kingdom; Peridor, remained in history.

This particular lizard had a collar around its neck, which had a crescent moon shaped symbol glowing on the latch in an ominous green, which matched the glow in the creature's eyes. King guessed that was what was controlling the beast, and moved to attack it, only to immediately have to evade a series of Titan Trappers wearing robes and armoured plate that somewhat resembled a mix of Chinese and Japanese armour from the Human Realm, which King had become familiar with thanks to his sister's anime. They attacked with spells, razor sharp swords that looked like straight bladed katanas, and heavy wooden bats that were banded and studded with heavy iron bolts.

"WEH!" King roared, blasting the first wave of them back, before using a shocking glyph combo on the Peridor Lizard. He slapped it on the red skin between the armour, but the shock was far too weak to do more than make the Lizard roar and try to buck him off, causing King to fly back up to the chandelier and use a Titan Roar to break the chain holding it up, causing the heavy mass of black iron and purple crystals to come slamming down on the Lizard's head. This was enough to daze it for a bit, and make it stop to try and free itself from the twisted metal stuck to its head, which in turn allowed King to focus back on the Titans Trappers.

"You're mine, you little monster!" screamed one, flying up with winged boots and trying to smack King with his bat. King evaded and roared to blast him away, but then had to dodge backwards to avoid a series of offensive spells tossed his way. He kept dodging, but the Trappers were crafty and figured out his pattern, using it to lure him into position where he couldn't dodge without getting hit. King instead put up his glyph barrier and began frantically using his parents glyphs to blast back the other Trappers who were gunning for him, but they soon began to overwhelm him with numbers.

That was when Barcus came charging back into the fight, finally managing to break out of King's barrier and fly in on the back of Duno. He howled and his spirit returned and began attacking the Trappers too, which caused the other Oracles' to let out a battle cry and join in too. Not only that, but many of the Abomatons had been splattered by the Peridor Lizard's charge, but their cores still remained intact, so they reformed and began attacking the Trappers too, giving King a moment to catch his breath and plan his next move.

The Peridor Lizard finally managed to get free off the remains of the chandelier, using its spinning horn to grind away at the metal and break it open. It then began trying to attack, but it was ordered not to harm the Titan Trappers and the Entrance Hall was too tightly packed with them for it to charge properly. So instead, it reared up onto its hind legs and released the drill horns form its forearms and began using them to shatter the barriers of the Oracles. King knew he needed to deal with the lizard, but didn't know how; the collar was hard to hit within the crevices of its stone armour, and unleashing it might be a bad idea in an enclosed space. Peridor Lizards did NOT have a pleasant temperament and releasing the control on this one without the Bat Queen or another Beast Keeper to calm it down was a seriously bad idea, at least while it was in a tight space surrounded by innocent people. King couldn't care less if the Titan Trappers got crushed, but the Oracles weren't bad guys!

King flew out of range, hiding behind his barrier, and tried to think; how would his parents or siblings deal with his? He didn't have Samael's Puppet Spell or shockingly powerful squeaky hammers, nor did he have Luz's precision, or his Mom's Anti-Magic and his Titan Parents' strength… they could just pick the beast up and toss him like he was nothing.

"That's it!" King suddenly grinned, grabbing a Monster Combo from his stack. He flew down into the midst of the fight again and unleashed a Titan Roar into the left side of the Peridor Lizard. The lizard was unmoved, as were the spirits, but the Titan Trappers on the other side of the lizard were blasted away by the shockwave. King then repeated the process on the other side to make sure there were NO Trappers around the monster, before flying so it was between him and the gate. The Peridor Lizard saw him and began to charge, so King used one Monster Combo to summon a giant Titan Arm that almost filled the Entrance Hall, and had it smash its fist down on top of the lizard. This caused its legs to buckle beneath it and stopped it's charge, allowing King to then use another Monster Combo to summon a second giant hand and have it pick up the lizard and toss it outside, where it slammed down into the middle of the courtyard outside the castle.

The Peridor Lizard was stunned, but King knew enough about this particular species to know it would bounce back soon; it was just that tough! As such, King flew out to meet it, and immediately got onto its back before it could recover, allowing him a clear shot at the control collar.

"Weh!" King cried, unleashing his roar in beam form, destroying the Huntsman's sigil on the collar and causing it to spark and then click open before falling from the lizard's neck.

Immediately, the beast went into a wild frenzy and began charging around in the courtyard, attacking and destroying statues that it mistook for people, all while trying to buck King off. He flew off on his own, smirking as he heard the Trappers in the castle screaming in shock and horror that their best Demon was now against them. His smirk didn't last long though; he flew too high and the labyrinth walls that surrounded the castle grounds began taking pot shots at him, forcing him to fly lower and making his escape harder. He considered just flying off into the maze and forgetting the Lizard, but he couldn't just leave a dangerous monster blocking the way into their safe zone! He needed to defeat it!

"My best bet is to knock it unconscious and then tie it up! So I need a way to put it to sleep!" King thought aloud, preparing another Monster Combo. This time he conjured an entire mini-Orion to help him fight by basically wrestling with and man-handling the Lizard, who was a similar size to the fake Orion while it was stood on its hind legs. The construct didn't last long though, as the Peridor Lizard headbutt it and destroyed it with its horns. King was a bit surprised, but he didn't let that stop him! He flew to one side of the courtyard and placed a Monster Glyph on the wall, before evading the lizard's charge to place another glyph on the other side. Once both were in place, King flew up high and used light glyphs to shoot and activate them both, causing massive Titan Fists to spring out and crush the Peridor Lizard between them, like a fly caught in a fist bump.

The Peridor Lizard roared in pain, and drilled through the fists with its spinning horns, but when they were dispersed, King saw that the fists had done substantial damage; the Lizard was now limping and much of its armour was either cracked or flaking off from its body. King pitied it, but this was the perfect chance to finish it.

He took a lightning glyph and placed it over his mouth before softly apologising and roaring, using the beam variant of his breath, empowered with the lightning glyph, to deliver a massive shock straight to the exposed flesh of the Demon's neck and torso. The electricity pulsed through it, causing the poor beast to spasm as it let out one final roar, before collapsing on its side unconscious.

King panted for a moment, then went down to cautiously check on the beast, pleased to see that it was indeed still alive and not too badly hurt. He used some healing glyphs to fix it up, then conjured some chains with another combo and tied it up tight, before using a final Monster Combo to conjure a big arm to move the demon out of the way. He had just gotten that done when he once again heard the shouts of a Titan Trapper, declaring that they'd found him. King spun around just in time to see some Trappers riding a pair of large griffins that were gunning right for him, making him yelp in surprise and dive out of the way, narrowly missing their talons by a hair's width. However the Trappers had fired spells too, and one of them managed to hit King in the back, making him cry out in pain and fall to the floor, unable to fly thanks to the burns the magic bolt had dealt to his wing joints.

Prone on the ground, unable to fly, and trying to hold in whines of pain, King was helpless to retaliate as the Trapper that shot him cackled with joy and swooped back down to have his Griffin scoop him up. King tried to roll over and roar at him, but rolling over meant his wound touched the ground and he yelped in pain, stopping him from roaring in time.

"You're mine, Titan!" the Trapper cackled.

"No he's not!"

There was a leopard like roar, before Viney leapt out from the labyrinth entrance to the west and used her Wild Heart Form to pounce on the Trapper, knocking him off the Griffin. The Trapper was big and burly, and wearing similar armour to the tribe that had attacked the castle before, so Viney couldn't exactly savage him the way she'd wanted to, instead getting him into a chokehold with her tail around his neck as she wrapped herself around his shoulders and held one arm with her arms and the other with her legs. The Trapper was slowly choked out, and his Griffin and Griffin-riding comrade swooped to attack Viney, only to find she wasn't alone.

Edric, riding on the back of Orthie, who'd been grown to the size of a Direwolf with his partner's Beast-Keeping Magic, had his Palisman leap up and grab the riderless Griffin's left wing in his jaws, causing the poor thing to squawk as it was dragged down to the ground by the Palisman's weight. Edric them leapt from Orthie to the Griffin and pulled out a rather large hunting knife, which he used to stab the Huntsman's sigil on the control collar, destroying it and freeing the Griffin. At the same time, the other Griffin and its rider were swatted out of the sky by the sudden appearance of a giant hound made of mud and vines, with purple glowing veins running throughout its body. The construct, which happened to be a perfect likeness of Jerbo's Palisman; Baskerville, had knocked the Griffin down with a swipe of its paws, then held it down on the ground with its jaws as the rider fled, allowing the real Baskerville to leap out from inside the construct (which it had been using like a suit of armour) and use his horn to stab the second Griffin's control collar.

All this happened just as Viney finished choking the Titan Trapper unconscious, and King found himself being picked up gently by Emira, who'd come running in on Russ (who'd been grown just like Orthie, except by Viney's magic instead).

"King! Don't worry, I'll have you fixed up in no time!" she said, gently holding him as if she were burping a baby as she began casting healing spells on his back. King sighed with relief as the pain faded immediately, and soon the feeling returned to his wings. It only took a moment to heal him up, and Emira did such a good job that even his fur was fully grown, leaving no signs of damage. She even went a step further and used a kind of medical cleansing spell to erase all signs of his blood from around the wound AND the ground where he'd fallen (there hadn't been much since it was a burn, but it was better to be safe than sorry with Titan Blood).

"Thanks Emira!" King said as he and Emira hopped off Russ and went to meet the rest of the team. Edric and Viney were tending to the Griffins and fixing them up (the Trappers hadn't been gentle with them), and Jerbo was using his unique Plant Abominations to tie up the Trapper that Viney had knocked out. "You guys are here with Luz right?"

"Yep! And your Mom." Viney said, petting one of the Griffins. "She's off with Luz at the Union Pillar. I guess they must have finished up there, since we saw all those rainbow coloured shades flying out from the ground."

"You're lucky we got here just in time! That could have ended nastily." Edric added. "We've run into a few Trappers since this bone maze popped up, and they've not been holding back! When the Divider hears about this, he's gonna pop a blood vessel."

"Got that right." Jerbo agreed, shuddering as he imagined the wrath of the Mad Sephiroth. "Samael is here too, but he's stuck watching the ship. He helped a bunch of your friends stowaway and join the mission."

King winced; "Oof… I hope Mom and Luz weren't TOO mad at them."

"I think it's safe to say they're all gonna be grounded for a while. But our objective now is getting back to them." Emira said.

"I grew one of those Restraining Rafflesia Plants at the spot in the maze where we were when it first formed, which isn't too far from the docks. We can grow another one here and get back there faster. But first, where is Barcus?" Jerbo asked.

King was about to answer when he saw the Titan Trapper that Jerbo had knocked off his griffin earlier was rushing at the boy, a spear in his hand that looked like the katana-style blades with an exceptionally long handle.

"DIE TITAN LOVER!" the Trapper screamed, lunging at Jerbo. The boy gasped and was about to dodge out of the way (these Trappers were stupid to keep screaming and letting their presence be known), but before the Trapper actually got close, an Oracle Spirit suddenly emerged from the ground between the man and his target and grabbed the spear, snapping it in half like a twig and causing the blade to fall to the ground at Jerbo's feet, allowing the boy to scramble and pick it up.

"What!?" the Trapper exclaimed, before a glass bottle impacted with the back of his head and a suddenly explosion of Lightning Magic had him screaming before falling to the floor unconscious.

King looked to where the potion had come from and giggled, saying; "There's Barcus!"

The rest of the Magic Mixers turned to the entrance of the castle and saw Barcus stood there, panting a little and wagging his tail happily as Duno stood on his back, having been the one to throw the potion on his partner's orders. The Boy's spirit returned to the stone on his Palisman and Barcus woofed happily.

"Viney! Jerbo!" he barked, leaping down the castle steps and rushing to his best friends. Viney and Jerbo both beamed with delight and ran to meet him half way, the three of them colliding and falling to the ground in a big group hug.

"Barcus! I've missed you! Whose my favourite furry boy!? It's you!" Viney giggled, tears in her eyes as she kissed the Half-Lycan on the top of his head.

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt right?" Jerbo fretted, checking over his best friend as he hugged him.

Barcus gave a canine laugh and licked both of their cheeks before woofing; "I'm fine. Osran and the other Oracles have treated me well while I was divided. It was a little strange, but otherwise no big deal. What about you two? King says you were divided too, Jerbo."

"Oh I'm fine. I was with my Dad, so it wasn't so bad. And I got to work in the newly refurbished Emperor's Castle. So you know, not all bad if you look on the bright side!" Jerbo replied.

"You were always good at that. What about you, Viney? Are you well?" Barcus asked.

"Are you kidding? I've been living with my girlfriend, got to yell at my childhood bully, and even got an apology from him! If it weren't for the Wings of Rani and Titan Trappers, I'd say my life was peachy!" Viney grinned.

The three friends continued to hug and catch up a little as the Twins and King watched on, happy for them and happy to take a breather for a few minutes. When they were done with their reunion, Barcus shared a briefer reunion with the Twins, who were happy to have their lovers' best friend back.

"Okay, we've got King and Barcus, so let's high tail it out of here! Jerbo, grow another one of those fancy Plant Portals." Emira said, taking charge.

Jerbo nodded and did as he was told, growing a large Restraining Rafflesia that was big enough for them to all stand on together. He then had the plant close its petals around them and prepare to transport them to the other plant Jerbo grew earlier… only for nothing to happen.

"Huh? What's going on?" Jerbo questioned, trying again. For a second time, it failed to work, but there would be no third time; before he could try again, the flower began to wither and die, slowly turning purple before decaying around the six of them.

"What!?" Jerbo exclaimed; "My plant died! Is that why I couldn't make it work? Did the other one die too!?"

Barcus sniffed the decayed plant, then barked; "Plants don't grow well in the Necropolis. This is a place of death; life does not flourish here. It's a miracle you're able to use Plant Magic here at all."

Jerbo scowled, and Edric put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, while Viney rubbed her chin; "Come to think of it, it's pretty impressive Jerbo can mix Plants and Abominations at all, especially since one involves the Life aspect and the other involves the Death Aspect." she mused.

"Oh yeah!" Emira gasped; "How DO you do that?"

"I focus more on the Earth Element than the Darkness one in my Abominations. It's why I make them with dirt instead of traditional slime." Jerbo replied; "But that's not important right now. If we can't use my plants, we'll just have to find our way back through the labyrinth on our own. Viney and my Ed used Scent Marking Spells to mark the path too, so that should help get us out."

The rest of the Rescue Team agreed, while King and Barcus exchanged looks; "Wouldn't it be faster to dig?" King asked.

"We can't fly, but surely we can dig under the walls." Barcus agreed.

The others shook their heads; "We tried. We had our Palismen all digging together, along with Viney and Ed." Emira sighed; "The skeletons in the walls started blasting us… we can't go over, under, or through."

King scowled; his next suggestion would have been shadow travel, but he mistakenly believed that if the Trappers had stopped the other methods of getting through the labyrinth, then surely they'd have stopped that one too, especially since Darkness Magic must have been a big part of the Bone Shaman's art.

With no other choice but to do this the (relatively) hard way, the gang began heading back into the labyrinth via the western entrance from the castle grounds. The twins and Jerbo rode on their canine Palismen (made larger thanks to Edric and Viney) while Viney rode on Regant, and King rode on Barcus, who didn't seem to mind the little Titan's extra weight as they made their way, sniffing out the scenting spells. The walk together as friends was almost fun, but the sounds of battle going on around them, and the occasional run in with the Titan Trappers, made it a lot more depressing and nerve-wracking. The fact people were getting hurt made them tense and nervous, and King feared for Luz and his Mom, knowing they would be major targets for the Trappers, second only to him. The only bright side was that the Trappers they fought tended to be either stupid or overzealous, making them easy to defeat for the six of them, and their beasts were easily freed and tamed by Edric and Viney, who sent them back along the path the CATTs had taken so they could get to the castle and help defend it, which is something they also did with any Oracles or fleeing Civilians they found.

Things were going well for a time, but they couldn't shake the idea that they were being watched somehow. All of them were keeping their eyes peeled, their ears focused, and their noses sharp; they weren't picking up anything unusual through their traditional senses, but they were all sure SOMETHING was stalking them… a feeling that didn't go away until a shadow flitted through the air overhead, making them all stop and look to the sky.

"What was that?" Emira asked worriedly.

"No idea. It moved too fast and I didn't catch its scent." Viney scowled.

"Ed, can you send Batric up to take a look?" Jerbo asked.

"No can do. The skeletons shoot anything that isn't a Titan Trapper or under their control. Batric will get killed!" Edric refused.

There was sudden high pitched shriek, followed by several more shrieks that sounded similar, but even more high pitched, as the shadow darted across the sky again, though this time it dropped something… or rather, launched something. It was a white spherical rock glowing with an ominous pale green aura, which came slamming down on the group like a meteorite aimed right at their centre. The team scrambled to evade it in the narrow passage, with King roaring at it to try and destroy it. His roar destroyed the green aura, but the rock itself still smashed into the ground.

Before anyone could question what had happened though, there was another flyby from the shadow, and a second rock was launched at them, this time focused on King, Barcus, and Emira, who'd dodged to one side of the last attack while the other three had dodged the opposite way. This time King didn't roar at it, still catching his breath from the last one, and Barcus dodged away with him on his back, while Emira and Russ leapt over the first rock to reunite with the others. When this second rock hit the ground (with far more force than the first one), it unleashed a powerful explosion of light green magic that struck Barcus and Duno, knocking them both backward. King was sent flying too since he was riding Barcus, but the magic itself hadn't effected him at all, making him realise it must have been the Huntsman's Archivist Magic!

Now that he'd made that connection, King realised the round white rocks were likely mini-moons and launched by someone with a blessing from the Huntsman! King didn't want to make assumptions, but the only Trapper he knew for a fact to have such a blessing was Bill, the Trapper he hated above all others.

However, his assumption was proven very true when more of the mini-moons were blasted down into the labyrinth, blocking off King's escape and stopping the others from reaching him. All these mini-moons were launched by the dark shadow, which was finally revealed as it hovered above King. As he had expected, the person he was faced with was the wretched leader of the Bone Hand Tribe; Elder Bill, now looking significantly less elderly. However, he was not alone; he had his mount and three additional guests, the sight of which made King's fury nearly erupt.

Elder Bill was stood on the back of the Bat Queen, using strands of her long black hair like reins to hold onto her and make her fly where he ordered her too. One of the Huntsman's enchanted bands was wrapped around her face, since she had no neck, and sat inside her mouth like a gag as the enchanted collar controlled her and made her eyes glow a sickly green. If that wasn't bad enough, King saw that all three of the Bat Queen's babies had similarly been enslaved with these collars-turned-gags; Prince and Princess were chained to the back of Bill's belt, and Heiress had been forced into staff mode, with Bill's Blessed Dagger affixed to the hilt and his Cursed Dagger placed inside her mouth and turned into a giant jagged red scythe blade.

"Finally got you alone, you little brat! Be glad I want to give you to the Grand Huntsman alive and in one piece, or I'd be carving you up in revenge for what you and your scumbag friends did to my island!" Bill sneered, before his smile turned wide and vicious. "But by all means, struggle! I AM allowed to kill you if I have to!"

"You call me scum, when you're enslaving an innocent Palismen and her babies!?" King demanded, furious beyond belief. He would have roared Bill out of the sky already if he didn't want to avoid hurting the Bat Queen. "What are they even doing with you!? How did you get them!?"

Bill smirked cruelly; "Easy! After you trashed our island, I sent some spies to track you down back to this carcass kingdom! Immigrants are rare here since every adult is forced to join a coven on arrival, but we had my people join the Beast Keeping Coven! Their goal was originally to find and hunt you down, but your little rebellion got in the way! Lucky for us though, when the Divider took over, he placed this big beast and all her little strays into the care of the Beast Keeping Coven! From there it was just a matter of slapping these collars on them in secret and then ordering them to come to us!"

King snarled at Bill's boasting, and both Edric and Viney looked furious and borderline feral at the horrible abuse of the Palisman. To enslave a Beast was reprehensible, and to do so to a Palisman was even worse! The fact that Bill had even enslaved the Bat Queen's Children and forcibly turned Heiress into his staff (undoubtedly without actually bonding with her) was so disgustingly reprehensible that it was almost unbelievable! Forcibly using a Palisman without their consent was one of the most serious taboos there was, since it amounted to manipulating a person's very soul!

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my sister AND them!" King roared, flying up to attack Bill.

The man just smirked beneath his bone mask, and Emira screamed out; "Wait King! It's a trap!"

King didn't stop though, and as soon as he got close, Prince and Princess both let loose sonic shrieks. They were nothing like King's roars, but the two sonic attacks hitting him from either side made King and his sensitive ears freeze in place, pain wracking through them. King groaned and fell from the sky, but before he hit the ground, he was caught in one of the Bat Queen's claws.

"Got you! Let's continue this back at the fleet, without the peanut gallery to get in the way." Bill cackled.

"Give him back!" Jerbo screamed, conjuring vines from beneath the Bat Queen to tie her down so the others could get at her and Bill. Before he could drag her beneath the top of the labyrinth walls though, Bill swung down on the Bat Queen's hair and severed the vines with his scythe. The instant the restraints were gone, and before the rest of the Magic Mixers could get close, Bill ordered the Bat Queen to fly high into the air at high speed. She did so obediently and he swung back onto her head, ignoring the struggling and childish insults of the young Titan in her grip.

The Magic Mixers fired some low-powered spells, afraid to use anything stronger in case they hit King or the Bat Queen and her kids, and unable to fly after them thanks to the Skeletons making up the labyrinth. As they cursed impotently, Bill cackled and yelled;

"Sorry to steal your thunder, Seliere! But if you snooze, you lose! Better luck next time!" and with that final taunt to a person none of the Magic Mixers recognised the name of, Bill flew off to the west, taking King with him.

"Dang it!" Viney snarled; "He got away AND he's got the Bat Queen!"

"At least now we know where they got all these beasts…" Jerbo scowled.

"Yeah, but do you think that other Titan Trappers are gonna have stolen Palismen too!?" Edric asked in a panic.

"Who cares!?" Emira snapped; "We need to get him back!"

The others agreed immediately, though Barcus also couldn't help but ask; "What was that name he yelled? Seliere? I don't know who that is…"

"He was talking about me." came a mildly irritated voice from atop the bone wall. The air shimmered and a man suddenly appeared there, and a single glance was all it took for the Teens to know he was a Titan Trapper, and likely a high ranked one.

He was a somewhat dark-skinned Witch with a lean, muscular build, somewhat messy black hair, and a purple left eye. He right eye was strange and hollow looking, and seemed to be swirling with a strange orange and purple ooze that looked sickly and disgusting. Like most Titan Trappers, he had some symbol from the Huntsman tattooed onto himself, with a pale yellow crescent moon taking up most of the right side of his face. His clothing was also meant to emulate the Huntsman; he wore a base layer of light, short sleeved purple scale armour, which appeared to have been peeled from a Dragon's hide and polished to a metallic sheen, over which he wore a sleeveless robe that was two tone just like the Huntsman's, being blue on the left side and green on the right. His robe opened at the waist to reveal his armour continued down to his legs, and like many Titan Trappers, his boots were designed to look like the feet of a Titan. These boots were the only Titan-based clothing he wore, as the man lacked a Titan Skull Helm like the other Trappers, and had no Titan Fur besides the small amount on the outside of the boots.

That didn't mean he had no other Titan trophies on him however…

"Since Bill blew my cover by acting like a spiteful old man, I might as well reveal myself fully and have a bit of fun with this hunt. The Grand Prize was stolen, but I can still get some joy from hunting you Titan Lovers. Especially you two beasties…" he pointed to Viney and Barcus, both of whom paled and looked close to throwing up.

This wasn't because of fear though; it was because the arm pointing at them was NOT the arm of a Witch, but rather the skeletal arm of a Titan Avatar, which was fused to the flesh of his shoulder and oozing the same disgusting looking orange and purple gunk that filled his hollow eye. The bones were a little bit thicker and longer than his other arm, making it look oversized on top of being disgusting.

The man performed a mocking bow and introduced himself: "I am the Chief of the Leather Wing Tribe, Seliere the Bone Taker. Now if you don't mind… I'll be adding some of your bones to my collection!"

Without another word, Seliere drew a spell circle with his real hand and caused the skeletons that formed the walls directly around them to begin moving again, disassembling and then reassembling themselves to reconfigure this part of the Labyrinth, turning it into a large circular area that was about the size of the duelling ring at the Covention Hall. There were no ways in or out of this circular area; no passages the teens could take to escape it without risking being shot at. As soon as the bone arena was formed, Seliere chuckled and spoke once more.

"Please do make this fun! I want an excuse to play with my new toy!" he said with a cruel smile as he snapped his fingers and caused a Palisman to crawl out from behind his back, a green control collar around its torso. The original trio of Magic Mixers all recognised the nightmarish Palisman; a spider for a lower body, a centipede like torso, jellyfish stingers twisted together to form legs, and the head of a Lamprey Eel to top it off. It was Hugs; the Necrotic Abyss Crawler Palisman. Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus remembered him from back during the Palisman Adoption Day; he was kind of hard to forget after all, especially since they had been some of the rare few to not be scared of him.

Hugs transformed into a staff at Seliere's will, after which the man laughed loudly and snapped the fingers of his bone arm, causing something strange to happen. The ooze rapidly formed into a strange misshapen circle with a symbol etched into it, right before there was an eruption of light that blinded the five Teens and forced them to close their eyes. Thanks to their Palismen, the Teens were able to stand back to back in a circle, ready to defend themselves against an attack even in their blinded state, but no attack came… Instead, they eventually opened their eyes to find that their enemy was gone without a trace.

"Oh that cannot be good…" Edric gulped.

"I can't smell him. Guess that's to be expected from a freaking hunter!" Viney growled, feeling extra on edge because of her Wild Heart form and Seliere's threat.

"Just keep your guard up! Who knows where he'll appear?" Emira warned, keeping Russ in staff form and maintaining a spell circle in her free hand.

"Where indeed!" Seliere's voice whispered in Emira's ear. He had appeared in the middle of their circle, managing to get behind all of them in one swoop, and leaned over to Emira, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke.

Emira screamed in surprise and spun around, using her spell circle to cast a scalpel spell to try and cut the man, only for him to duck under her wild swing with a laugh, before punching her hard in the gut with his bone fist. The blow was so vicious that Emira actually lost consciousness as she flew into the wall of the bone arena.

"EMIRA!" Viney screamed, dashing towards her beaten lover as the skeletons of the wall began to drag the girl in, making Emira a part of the wall.

Seliere smirked and went to point his stolen staff at the girl, but Barcus and Jerbo leapt at him as Edric ran to help his sister. Jerbo used his own staff to conjure some vines and pull Seliere's flesh arm to the side, making sure he wasn't aiming at any of his friends, while Barcus jumped up and sank his teeth into Seliere's bone arm. This was supposed to be part of one of Barcus' tried and true tactics; biting his enemy and holding them in place as his Oracle Spirit pummelled them, but the instant he got his mouth around the man's Titan Bone Arm, Barcus suddenly found his mouth filling with that disgusting orange and purple gunk, making him let go of Seliere and begin retching. He'd bitten down so hastily that he'd swallowed some of the gunk, and now the poor boy's stomach was practically turning inside out to try and purge the disgusting substance.

"Barcus!" Jerbo cried, totally distracted. This caused him to not notice as the corrupted soil caused his vines to rot and decay, allowing Seliere to pull free and backhand the boy hard, before looking at the retching Barcus with cruel amusement.

"Aw, did the puppy eat something he wasn't supposed to? This'll make it all better!" Seliere said mockingly, before delivering a fierce kick to Barcus' stomach, actually sending him airborne for a few seconds, during which Seliere spun around and roundhouse kicked Barcus, hitting him in the stomach once again and sending him smashing towards the bone wall. He almost hit it, but Duno had pulled Barcus to the side, causing the pair of them to hit a gravestone instead. Upon impact, Barcus immediately vomited violently, making Seliere wrinkle his nose in disgust, even as the cruel glint never left his eyes.

"Now doesn't that feel better?" Seliere asked rhetorically.

"You'll pay for that!" Jerbo growled, conjuring another of his Soil Abominations and causing it to grow thorned vines around its arms and fists, which it then began to attack with. Seliere ducked dodged and weaved, all the while acting like he wasn't even trying, before finally growing bored and pointing his bone arm at the abomination. The bone arm had no feeling, so it blocked a swing from the thorny arms without Seliere feeling a thing, at which point the ooze formed another misshapen circle, only this time with a different looking symbol inside it that promptly unleashed a blast of black fire, which consumed the abomination and turned it to ash.

Jerbo gasped in shock, and then coughed as the smoke from the burning plant matter got to him. When the smoke cleared, the Trapper was once again gone.

"Beau! Are you okay!?" Edric asked, still guarding Viney as she tried to extract Emira from the wall.

"I'm fine. Barcus, are you alright?" Jerbo replied.

The Direwolf Boy whined as he got up, his stomach hurting on both the inside and outside; "I'll be alright… but this is bad. That guy is definitely a necromancer!"

The other three conscious CATTs all paled; "A Necromancer!? Not just a Bone Shaman like that Denasu woman that Boscha talked about!?" Edric cried.

Barcus nodded darkly; "I'd know true Necromancy anywhere! That guy's arm has souls sealed up inside! He's using them to animate the arm! That putrid liquid is the result of Necrotic Magic putrefying flesh and melting it down! It's poisonous too, so don't let it get in your mouth." Barcus warned, before grimacing; "Hate to say it, but that jerk might have done me a favour when he kicked me in the gut!"

Viney let out a leopard like snarl as she tried one more time to break Emira free of the bone wall, only to snap a single one of the skeletons' arms and be promptly bombarded with blasts of purple magic for her trouble, sending her skidding back with a hiss. She slumped to the floor and the boys rushed to help her as Regant stabbed his stinger tail into the side of her neck, delivering an anaesthetic to soothe the pain as she weakly began to heal herself. Once she was done, she stood up and sighed.

"I don't think I'm getting my Emmie free until we kick this creep's butt!" Viney scowled.

"I think you're right. He DID reform this part of the maze, so I bet he's one of the crooks who made it!" Edric declared; "Fine then; we'll beat him to a pulp and rescue my sister! Orthie! Russ!"

Orthie and Russ (who wasn't trapped with his partner) rushed to Edric's side, still enlarged by his spell. He then cast a spell on them that caused them to fuse together into Orthrus, only a fair bit bigger thanks to Orthie and Russ already being as big as Orthrus in their enlarged form. The giant twin-headed hound howled and began sniffing around as Edric leapt onto his back, keeping an eye out for the sneaky Seliere. The Magic Mixer Trio grouped together again, standing back to back with abominations made from necrotic soil (which made them stronger, but incompatible with his Plant Magic). It helped them avoid being snuck up on like before, and as they waited for a sign of the enemy, Viney began to heal Barcus a bit while Barcus subtly used his Oracle Spirit within Duno to scry for Seliere. The tactic actually worked, and pinpointed the man directly beneath Edric and Orthrus.

"Edric! Beneath you!" Barcus suddenly barked.

Edric's eyes widened and he had Orthrus jump to the side, managing to dodge right before Seliere ripped his way out of the ground beneath them, surrounded by stalagmites of putrefied stone. Seliere was surprised he missed, but then flashed his eyes over towards Barcus.

"I see… the Dog is a better Oracle than I thought… Tell me boy; can you hear the screams of the souls inside me? They make for quite a wonderful lullaby! And before I'm done today, I'll be adding your little Angel friend's screams to that symphony!" he declared, before making yet another strange misshapen circle, with yet another new symbol on it that produced black lightning that darted towards Barcus at high speed.

Barcus surprised him by opening his mouth and firing back a stream of yellow lightning, revealing the he could use Lightning Elemental Magic too! The two lightning bolts clashed and caused an explosion that kicked up plenty of dry dust, concealing everyone in the bone arena. However Edric and Orthrus could still smell Seliere and lunged at him in the cover of the dust, with Orthrus firing two streams of red and blue flame at him while Edric fired a stream of orange and yellow flame. Not only that, but Edric used his free hand to cast an illusion, making it look like five different duos of Edric and Orthrus were attacking Seliere from different angles, forcing him to duck and dive to evade all of them. He was eventually forced to use a fourth of those odd symbols to raise the earth up around him to shield him from the flames, though the Magic Mixers knew this would mean him being baked like he was in an oven, so Barcus used his Oracle Spirit to continue scrying on him, confirming that the man had indeed tunnelled underground again.

Barcus tracked his movements and saw him preparing to dig his way up beneath Viney, likely aiming for her next since she was the second biggest physical threat after Orthrus and he seemed to most enjoy going after the stronger foes. Barcus used silent gestures to alert Viney and Jerbo to be ready, while Edric used an illusion to make a whole crowd of illusory clones of all of them, hoping to confuse Seliere. While this was happening, the real Edric made himself invisible and began whipping up a potion; an Ice Magic Bomb, to throw at Seliere when he next appeared.

A tense silence followed, before Seliere suddenly appeared from beneath Viney, just like they'd suspected. She back-flipped with feline grace to avoid the attack from the man's claws and stalagmites, though as she was now airborne, she found herself unable to dodge as the man fired a beam of corrupting purple light from his bone arm. The beam would have pierced her heart and killed her if it had been allowed to hit, but luckily Regant was able to yank her out of the way with his stinger. Seliere frowned, and was suddenly punched by one of the Soil Abominations, knocking him to the ground. He quickly got up and shot a jet of black fire at the Abomination he thought had struck him, only for it to poof into cyan smoke. He was then blind-sided once more, this time by Barcus' Oracle Spirit, who wielded Duno's staff like it was his own and began firing bolts of lightning at him.

Seliere dodged nimbly, using a technique similar to Hunter's Warp Flashes, only black instead of yellow. He warped into the air above the crowd of illusions and began to rain down black fireballs from his bone arm and shards of pale purple ice from his stolen Palisman Staff. The attacks destroyed many illusions and kept Barcus on his toes as he dodged with help from his spirit and Palisman, but Jerbo and Viney were not so distracted. They both used their magic to create protective layers around their Palismen, then had Baskerville and Regant rush to attack Seliere. Regant was able to chase him into the sky, forcing him back down with a swing of his tail, then as soon as Seliere hit the ground, Baskerville charged with his head down and his horn up, ready to impale the evil man. The horn was aimed low, since they didn't want to kill him, and Seliere attempted to dodge with a Warp Flash, but thanks to another illusion cast by Edric, Seliere misjudged how close Baskerville actually was, resulting in him being impaled through the shin and then driven into the bone wall of the arena.

Seliere grimaced, but noticeably didn't cry out in pain as he tried to get free. He went to shoot a fire ball at Baskerville, but Jerbo had a Soil Abomination charge forward and grab his arm, while Viney conjured some bandages to tie up his flesh arm and pull Hugs away from him and into her hand instead. Finally, Edric dropped the illusions to reveal himself brewing his potion on the back of Orthrus.

"Eat this!" he declared, removing the completed product from his Combat Potioneer Belt and tossing it at Seliere. It shattered against his chest and the Ice Magic exploded outward, freezing him. As the ice began to creep down his legs, Jerbo summoned Baskerville back to him to keep him from being frozen too. In the end, Seliere ended up frozen against the bone arena wall, causing the Magic Mixers to all sigh with relief.

"We got him! Finally!" Edric grinned, hopping down from Orthrus and petting the dog's two heads. "Now we just have to free Emira and get out of here! Barcus, do you think you can use Oracle Magic to undo the magic on these skeletons so we can get through?"

Barcus shook his head; "The geas used by those Bone Shaman people are too strong. I'm not strong enough to break it. If I could, I'd have done so back in the Labyrinth."

That was a fair point, and made Edric and the others sigh; it was a reminder that they were still technically just kids, and unlike the Hexsquad with their new magic types and Palisman Fusions, they didn't have near-prodigious talent. They were strong kids; the tops of their class, but that wasn't enough to counter the combined power of numerous Adult Titan Trappers! However that also meant they were trapped; how were they supposed to escape if going over, under, or through the walls would get them shot at? There were no normal passages out of the bone arena, so they began to debate what they should do, wondering if it'd perhaps be best to just try and hop the walls. If they did it fast enough, then they'd get shot at for only a brief moment… though if the skeletons didn't stop blasting them until they were back on the side they'd started on, then they could end up getting killed. Plus they still had to save Emira without hurting her!

"Hey Ed, you think you can make an acid that melts bones but not flesh?" Viney asked as she looked between the Blight Twins.

Edric shook his head; "Acid doesn't really work that way. I could try to make a new potion… or maybe we can give one of our Power Glyphs to Barcus! With that boost, he might be able to break that geas thing!"

Jerbo and Viney looked to Barcus, who gave his equivalent of a shrug. He was willing to try though, so Edric pulled out his own Power Glyph and went to hand it to Barcus… only to suddenly feel the ground beneath him crumbling a little, causing his left leg to sink into it up to his knee. Edric yelped in surprise, and that surprise became terror as a normal skeletal arm shout out of the ground in front of him and punched Edric hard in the face, stunning him. Then before he or anyone else could react, a torrent of the putrid slime shot from the palm of the skeletal hand, hitting Edric hard enough to rocket him out of the ground and into the sky, where he flew high enough that the skeletons making up the walls began shooting at him, landing several nasty blows. Edric cried out in pain, and Orthrus jumped up to shield him, though ended up blasted too.

The two fell to the ground, Edric unconscious and Orthrus seriously hurt by both the blasts and the impact with the ground. Jerbo tried to catch them both by conjuring a bed of vines right before they hit the ground, only for his plan to fail as the skeletal arm from before shot him with a spike of ice, which pierced his shoulder, missing his heart by only about an inch. Barcus rushed to help Jerbo by putting up a barrier with his spirit, while Viney rushed to heal Edric and Orthrus, but before she could reach them, she was suddenly shot in the back by a stream of black fire, which had come from the Titan Bone Arm of Seliere, which emerged from the ground nearby.

As Viney writhed on the ground and the witch bone arms kept firing ice spikes at Jerbo and Barcus to keep them pinned down, Seliere dragged himself fully out of the ground, acting like a reanimated corpse. His expression was vacant and slack-jawed, making him appear like a real zombie as he raised his bone arm to make one of those odd symbols appear, which in turn created a diagonal pillar of rock beneath Orthrus, launching him (and thus Edric) into the bone wall and causing them to be completely trapped, just like Emira.

Viney rolled around enough to put out the fire on her back, and Regant once again anaesthetised her to stop the horrible pain as she sat up.

"You!? How is that possible!?" Viney screamed, looking over to the still-frozen Seliere… or what she believed to be the still-frozen Seliere. As she did, a purple wraith that looked almost like a skeletal Titan emerged from the frozen man and flew over to the zombie-like Seliere, dragging along another wraith, who unlike normal wraiths, was covered in chains and still had a normal face, being the face of a horror stuck old woman. The wraiths flew into the zombie Seliere and caused him to suddenly sigh with relief and straighten up, his posture returning to normal.

As the man straightened up and grinned, Barcus looked over to the frozen version of him and saw that its flesh had begun to melt into that putrid necrotic ooze.

"A fake! He used Necromancy to possess a skeleton with his own soul!" Barcus barked in horror, almost unable to believe such a thing was possible. The Titan Bone Arm of the fake was revealed to be a fake made from necrotic magic too, and the reason Seliere's real body had been zombie-like was because it was being controlled with Necromancy!

"How!? How can he just possess other bodies!? Is Necromancy that powerful!?" Viney exclaimed.

Seliere, thoroughly amused by the confusion and horror on all their faces, just laughed and declared; "To a true Necromancer like myself, the connection between our original bodies and souls might as well be made of rubber with how far we can make it stretch! It's child's play for me to possess soulless corpses! And even if you manage to kill me, I can always possess another vessel permanently. Your chances of beating me are basically nil."

He spoke so smugly that it infuriated the Magic Mixers, with Jerbo being the most furious since he'd just seen Edric being knocked out and defeated. Jerbo was not the kind of boy who got angry often, and it was almost always due to attacks on his friends, so it was no surprise to his friends to see him red faced and seething at how happy Seliere was at hurting his boyfriend! However, it also hadn't escaped their notice that a second spirit had been dragged back into Seliere's real body along with him. His own soul being in the fake body was why Barcus' scrying magic had failed to see the real body, but it seemed another soul had been with him, and likely possessing his real body too, since the Bone Shaman's Geas only worked on skeletons.

Barcus went to silently scry to see just how many souls were in the bone arena, but before he got a chance to, Seliere lunged at him, his hand crackling with electricity from the same weird symbol as before. Right before the electricity was due to hit him, Barcus had a sudden horrible realisation that made him freeze in place, causing Jerbo to come to his rescue by growing a tree in the way of the lightning bolt. The tree died right away due to the necrotic soil, but it still blocked the lightning bolt.

"Don't space out, Barcus! This guy is too tough for that!" Viney yelled, baring her teeth and claws as she got between Barcus and Seliere.

"Sorry, but I just noticed something… those extra souls he has. I bet he has at least four! One that was chained to him in the fake, one that possessed the real body, and two to possess those two skeletons that attacks from underground." Barcus growled.

"Wait, he has four souls bound to him?" Jerbo asked, confused. His words made Seliere pause and hold his attack, wondering just how clever and observant his prey really was.

"The soul I saw chained to him was not a normal Wraith or Oracle Spirit. That means they still remember their identity and were enslaved by him. But not just that, those symbols… I think those symbols were corrupted Titan Glyphs!" Barcus revealed.

Jerbo and Viney both gasped in horror; "Titan Glyphs!?" Viney exclaimed; "Impossible, how could a Titan Trapper use those!?"

However Jerbo had already pieced it together with what Barcus had said; "The souls! Oh Titan! He stole the souls of people who'd been blessed by Titans and bonded with their glyphs! By enslaving them, he is able to force them to use their glyphs like Luz does!"

Seliere grinned maliciously and Viney looked ready to puke; "T-That's what the weird symbols were!? And why he wanted to add Luz to his collection! He wants to steal her glyph power too!"

For a moment, there was horrible silence, before Seliere began to cackle and clap his hands mockingly; "Well done! Well done! Most of my prey never figure it out! While my title is The Bone Taker, in truth I am also a bit of a Heart Taker too!"

He pointed at his chest; "Within me beats FIVE hearts. I found, hunted, and killed four Titan lovers and stole their hearts, binding their souls to their flesh! I then used necromancy to possess a skeleton and performed surgery on myself to implant those hearts! So long as even one continues to beat, I can survive almost anything!"

As if to demonstrate his point, Seliere's smile grew wider and his hollow eye swirled with necrotic power as he snapped his Titan Bone fingers and summoned the spirits of the four Glyph Bonded people he'd murdered and enslaved. One was an old woman, one was a teenage boy, one was a skinny looking woman, and one was a rotund man, and all of them were twisted, tormented, and bound in spectral chains, bound to serve this evil man. The only way to free them would be to destroy what they were anchored too; namely their hearts.

Viney narrowed her eyes as Jerbo and Barcus's faces both hardened; "So… you're saying that so long as we leave at least one of your hearts alone, we can destroy the others without killing you."

Seliere blinked in surprise, not expecting that response to his intimidation tactic. "Uh… yes?"

Viney used her tail to secret cast a Beast-Keeping Spell behind her back, giving herself a Bestial Blessing of the eyes of a Boom Bat; a species of Bat that could see sound waves so accurately that they could literally see a person's heartbeat. Thanks to his, she spotted the five hearts; one was in the proper place for a witch, one was on the right side of the chest instead, one was beside his stomach, and the last two were intertwined with his intestines.

Seeing this, Viney whispered under her breath so quietly that only Barcus could hear her. "Which heart is his and which ones belong to the spirits?"

Barcus narrowed his eyes, drawing a spell circle in his mouth with his tongue, allowing him to see the connections between spirits and their vessels. He saw the chains connecting from the tormented souls to the hearts, and was somewhat surprised to find that the heart in the proper spot on the left was actually connected to another soul! Seliere's real heart was on the right.

He barked softly to let Viney know, and she smirked, her medical expertise making her suspect that already; "So you've got Dextrocardia… your heart is on the wrong side. Though that's far from the most serious problem your heart has got."

Seliere blinked in surprise once more, then began to laugh; "Oh, I like you! They say leopards are great hunters! Let's see who here is the better one!"

The man then pointed his bone arm at Viney, using the corrupted light glyph (an oxymoron if ever there was one) to form an arrow of light in inside the arm, peeking out through the bones of the hand, while his necrotic ooze formed a bow-like shape. The bow fired, aiming the light bolt towards Viney, only for Seliere to smirk cruelly and change his aim at the last moment, instead shooting towards Emira's face. Viney screamed out in horror and began dashing forward on all fours, despite knowing that she couldn't get there in time to save her girlfriend. But thankfully, Jerbo was sharp-eyed and did something no one had expected; he began playing a flute.

The flute, made from wood, brass, and abomination slime contained within a wooden shell, had been crafted by Jerbo for use in his personal Bardic Magic performances. While he was nowhere near a real Bard's level, his multi-tracking had paid off and he was able to use the flute and his Plant Abominations to make a seed grow in the putrid soil (purifying it a little) and form a vine that shot out from the ground to catch the arrow. The seed itself had been launched from the flute like a blowpipe, meaning no one had seen it until it was too late.

Seliere frowned upon seeing his demoralising trick failing, but that frown soon became an open-mouthed scream of agony as Viney, already running in that direction, slammed her clawed fist into his body, allowing her to grab and rip out one of his hearts; namely the one in his stomach. The instant it was pulled free, Viney looked at the heart and grimaced at the half-decayed, blackened husk of an organ. She imagined that if Belos still had a heart, this would be what it looked like. Without hesitation, she crushed the decrepit organ and burned the remains in an orange flame within her palm, as Seliere staggered backward in pain, healing the wound by covering it with some necrotic ooze and letting his Necromancy do the rest.

The instant the heart was destroyed, the spirit of the rotund man became untethered and starting flying around in a maddened frenzy, at least until Barcus managed to wrangle it with his own spirit, and conjure a crystal ball to contain it. The now healed Seliere, realising these kids were a lot less willing to hold back than he expected, found he could no longer use his earth glyph, so he used the lightning glyph to perform a black lightning flash to warp him towards Barcus. He then thrust his bone arm, coated in black fire, towards the Demon's chest, aiming to take his heart in payment for the one Viney just destroyed, but Jerbo wasn't about to allow that. Using his flute once again, Jerbo shot a wad of abomination-infused soil directly at the man's bone arm, causing the gunk to rapidly spread across it and essentially give Seliere a giant oven mitt made of goop.

With this goop covering his bone hand, Seliere couldn't use the magic on it, or the claws either, so his burning gouging attempt became more of a fierce punch to Barcus' sternum, which succeeded in at least smacking the boy and hurting him. Barcus yelped just like a dog as he was smacked aside, and both Jerbo and Viney were furious. With barely a look passing between them, the two best friends were in sync as Jerbo manipulated the soil beneath Viney to launch her at Seliere's back. She flew into a drop kick, but Seliere saw it coming and ducked, only for Viney to grab his head as she flew over him, digging her claws into his scalp, and yanking him to the ground.

"Kitten's got claws! I guess I should remove them!" Seliere declared, the corrupt light glyph suddenly appearing in his hollow eye and firing a purple light beam right at Viney's face. She dodged to the side but wasn't quick enough, so the beam made a hole in her ear, making her scream in pain. The pain also loosened her grip, allowing Seliere to grab her by the injured ear before twisting it, making her scream more as he grinned cruelly and pulled Viney off of him. He got back to his feet, but didn't stay there for long as Jerbo and Barcus both leapt at him along with their Palismen.

Baskerville stabbed him in the thigh with his horn, while Barcus bit into his staff-wielding arm (the man kept forgetting he had it, not used to having such a weapon) and Jerbo played his flute to activate the abomination self-destruct spell on the goo he'd placed on Seliere's arm. The resulting explosion made the Titan Trapper scream in pain as most of his right side received mild burns, but shockingly the arm itself remained intact; a testament to the strength of Titan Bones!

Still, the explosion had stunned Seliere long enough for Viney, now completely seething, to thrust her claws into his back and rip out another stolen heart, destroying it even as she cast healing magic on herself. This time, she managed to free the spirit of the young boy, whom Barcus immediately wrangled into a second crystal ball. If he'd had time, he'd have performed a proper exorcism to send them on their way, but that wasn't practical in the heat of battle, forcing him to either wait for Luz or wait until Seliere was taken care of.

Speaking of Seliere though, he had now lost the power of earth AND fire, leaving him with only light and lightning, and while he respected the kids for their skill, he was done losing his hard-earned trophies! It was time to stop playing with them.

His corrupted light glyph once again appeared in his hollow eye, causing the Magic Mixers to brace themselves for an attack. Instead of an attack though, what followed was a bright flash of light, blinding the trio and allowing Seliere to back off and hide underground to heal his wounds. Since he was essentially all but undead and possessing his own corpse, he was able to heal the damage done by Viney's claws and Jerbo's explosion, then prepare his killer move. It was one that he liked to use to both torment and paralyse his foes, before ripping the hearts from their still-living bodies; a bit gruesome for three uppity children, but they'd done more harm to him than most adults (albeit only because Bill had exposed his presence), so Seliere didn't feel too bad for them.

Emerging from the ground in full view of the trio, using his own Earth Magic (with some help from his stolen staff), Seliere gave the teens a very unnerving smile, before declaring; "You know, this entire labyrinth was MY idea. The other Bone Shamans, who aren't true Necromancers, balked at my plan. They're so squeamish about raising the bones of non-beasts. But me?"

He gave an even more disarming smile as he raised his bone arm and conjured his corrupted lightning glyph; "I prefer the bones of people. So much more useful, wouldn't you say?"

At that moment, six skeletons shot their hands out from under the ground and grabbed the legs of the teens; with two holding each of them and leaving them unable to move. Immediately, the teens began thrashing and trying to escape, but before they could ready their spells or call their Palisman for aid, Seliere was already twirling his staff, drawing three spell circles almost too fast for the teens to see the movement. The circles were sent to hover over each of them, before they turned into numerous purple icicles. Every icicle was about three inches long and razor sharp, and with a wave of the stolen Palisman, Seliere sent the icicles falling down onto the teens, aimed specifically at their extremities and away from vital organs and major blood vessels.

Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus all cried out in pain as the icicles pierced them all over, making them look like pincushions trickling blood into the soil at their feet. The icicles hadn't fallen with much force; just enough to pierce about an inch into them in a way that maximised pain and minimised actual serious damage. However that was not the end of the attack, for Seliere's lightning glyph had not simply been a distraction to keep the teens from reacting to the skeletons in time.

"You've robbed me of two of my screaming souls, and now my little choir is rather lonely sounding. Let's add some new screams to the mix!" Seliere grinned maniacally, before firing his black lightning at the trio. The lightning focused on the icicles, arcing between them as the current was continuously sent into the bodies of the teens, making the three of them scream in complete agony until the icicles finally melted from the heat of the current and the trio fell to the floor. Barcus was barely conscious and his body was spasming a little, the icicles having been closer to his vitals since Seliere wasn't as familiar with his anatomy. Jerbo and Viney were better off, but only by a little; the former having struggled enough that several icicles had missed him, while Viney was just plain tougher than her male friends.

"Ah, now that was a wonderful symphony! But I'm surprised two of you can still move!" Seliere smirked, watching Jerbo and Viney force themselves back to their feet, using their Palisman as supports. "But I doubt you're in any position to fight. Lay back down and accept your fate, and I'll make the pain go away!"

He raised his bone arm, the claws glinting ominously as his hollow eye gained the light glyph in it.

Viney snarled viciously, but as she prepared to take a step towards him, her pain being numbed once again by a sting from Regant, Jerbo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You heal Barcus. I'll take this guy." Jerbo said, extremely serious.

"Are you sure? Fighting him alone is gonna be tough!" Viney frowned.

Jerbo just nodded, his eyes never leaving the smirking Titan Trapper; "I can do it. Now that he's lost his fire and earth glyphs, I can use my ace in the hole without worry!"

Viney blinked in surprise, but nonetheless accepted Jerbo's words. She had known him since they were little and he had never let them down; when he got really serious and really mad, he could pull off quite a few impressive feats of magic! It just took a lot to get the mild-mannered boy worked up to that level.

"Alright. I trust you! Kick his butt back to whatever creepy cave he crawled out of!" Viney declared, releasing her Wild Heart Form so she could focus all her energy on healing. She had Regant give Jerbo a quick sting to numb the pain he was feeling, then did the same with Barcus as she knelt beside him and began healing.

Seliere, amused by the desperate attempt, created a pillar of ice beneath him to launch himself at Viney, aiming to pierce her chest with his bone claw. Before he could reach her however, a series of hounds emerged from the soil beneath him and bit into his bone arm and dragged the Trapper to the ground, shocking him. He took a good look at the hounds and found that they were hornless replicas of Baskerville made from soil with veins of abomination slime running through them, and some wood serving as bones, claws, and fangs to keep the creatures sturdy. However unlike other plants, these ones weren't decaying, as Jerbo had grown them from the wood of the Grim Elm Tree, also known as the Coffin Tree; the wood of which was used to make the coffins that were buried in places like this precisely because they were resistant to necrotic magic, being in an undead-like state.

The Titan Trapper scowled and used his corrupt lightning glyph to create an explosion of lightning, but the wood and earth that made up these abominations resisted it, forcing him to instead use his hollow eye to shoot light beams instead, managing to free himself. Jerbo narrowed his eyes and began playing his flute, causing yet more of his Grim Hound Abominations to spawn from the soil and lunge at Seliere. The man frowned, accurately shooting and "killing" dozens of them, only for them to just reform and get back up, with some fusing together to form Grim Orthrus Abominations, and even Grim Cerberus Abominations! The hounds were quick and their jaws were strong, forcing Seliere to stay on the move to avoid them, which was thankfully no issue for an experienced hunter like himself. However it was becoming bothersome and he knew that if the Cait Sith Girl managed to heal the Direwolf Boy before he took out the Skinny Boy, he'd be in a lot of trouble.

"Guess I have no choice!" Seliere scowled, spinning his stolen staff and creating a dark purple spell circle, which he used to take control of several of the skeletons making up the surrounding walls. The walls closed in a little so the arena would be smaller, and the skeletons that had been part of the bigger walls came running in to help Seliere by attacking the Grim Abominations.

This was a minor annoyance to Jerbo, who simply moved onto his final move; "Baskerville, I hope you're ready! We might not have a true fusion like the Hexsquad guys, but we've got something all of our own! We'll show off what we learned from Darius!"

Baskerville woofed in agreement, and Jerbo drew a pair of spell circles, causing his and Baskerville's sclera to turn black and their irises to turn forest green. The soil at their feet then seemed to melt and rise up, becoming a mud-like slime with veins of abomination goo running through it as it wrapped around the two of them, fusing into their bodies. Seliere watched in shock as the two masses of mud and slime completely enveloped the boy and his Palisman, right before the two masses fused together into a single one, which continued to grow until it was about three times the size of Seliere himself. It then began to shape itself into a large, well-muscled sculpture of Jerbo, with purple leaves from a Grim Elm forming his hair and bark covering his arms and most of his torso, leaving only a small gap in the centre where the wooden armour met without overlapping. In addition, two canine heads that resembled Baskerville perfectly emerged from the shoulders of the giant abomination, with Grim Elm leaves forming their fur and the wood forming their fangs and horns.

The final product was Jerbo's own unique abomination form, learned from Darius and modified with his Plant Magic and the special soil concoction he'd formed, with Baskerville added into the mix to create a well-muscled, almost Cerberus style form. Seliere's eyes widened in surprise, and that surprise only grew when several small holes opened in the arms of Jerbo's abomination form, from which came flute music, as Jerbo had turned his giant arms into flutes on the inside. More holes then appeared in the palms of the abomination, which Jerbo pointed at Seliere and began firing seeds at rapid speed. The seeds were the purple, walnut-like seeds of the Grim Elm, and each felt like being hit with a rock, so Seliere used his bone arm and his own natural ice magic to block the seeds as he took to the air with his stolen staff. The barrage of seeds kept coming however and he was forced to fly around to evade them whilst blocking those he couldn't.

Seliere appeared to be in a bad spot, but he wasn't concerned; the boy appeared to be rooted to the spot and even with his new trick, he couldn't land a winning blow! Even when the two Baskerville heads opened their mouths and began spewing blasts of hail, Seliere casually avoided them and even decided to turn them to his advantage! He used his Ice Magic in conjunction with his staff to overpower Jerbo's own Ice Magic, taking control of the hail and launching it back, aiming at the arms of the abomination. The ice sank into the arms and began to weigh them down, eventually forcing them to the ground, where Seliere used a beam of purple ice magic to freeze them solid and trap them. Abomination Jerbo's face became one of panic as a grinning Seliere flew in at top speed to destroy the head of the abomination… only for him to fail to notice that Jerbo's panic became a grin at the last second.

At the apex of Seliere's speed, the horns of the two Baskerville heads fired from them like little wooden missiles, controlled by Jerbo's Bardic Magic. They were so fast, and Seliere himself was moving so fast, that dodging was impossible, allowing them to be locked on to their targets. While Jerbo was still new to Bardic Magic, he HAD gotten some tutelage from Severin, Amber, and Derwin while he'd been divided at Belos' castle, and he'd learned how to use Bardic Magic to make projectiles move with sound, and more importantly, how to lock onto certain sounds too. Thanks to this (and Baskerville's keen hearing), Jerbo locked onto the sounds of the two beating hearts inside Seliere that were NOT his own, and the horns flew and did the rest, piercing the left side of his chest AND his gut, hitting the hearts. They weren't destroyed immediately, but before Seliere could react and pull out the wooden horns piercing his flesh, a sharp whistle from Jerbo had the horns suddenly releasing roots into the organs, shredding them and rendering them unusable.

Seliere screamed as his last two enslaved spirits escaped, and were promptly sealed up inside two crystal balls by Barcus, who had now fully recovered thanks to Viney (though she'd had to use her Power Glyph to give herself the strength). Seliere saw this and cursed, flying away from the abomination only to be further shocked when the ice freezing the abomination's arms began to melt and become consumed by the soil.

"What!?" he exclaimed, unable to help himself as his composure was broken.

Jerbo grinned; "Abomination and Plant Magic both use the Ice Element as a component! I'm pretty good with it! All I need is a little power to melt your ice, and then my soil and plants can drink it all up!"

"Tch, you're one damn annoying brat! I'll give you my respect, but I'll take your life!" Seliere snarled, using his staff to fly directly at Jerbo. As an experienced hunter and necromancer, he too could listen for the heartbeats of his prey, and found Jerbo's to be right in the dead centre of this monster of mud and bark! In fact, his heart was right where the gap in the armour was, making Seliere grin. The boy likely thought he'd never bother to strike such an obvious area, unaware that his own heart would give him away!

"This is the end!" Seliere snarled, coating his Titan Bone Arm in purple ice as he thrust it into the chest of the abomination, right where Jerbo's heart was… or rather, where he'd thought it was. As it turned out, Seliere felt nothing but sludge as his arm sank in it up to his shoulder. In fact, the sludge seemed to be sucking him in, right until the plates of wood pressed against his arm, pinning it in place.

"W-What!?" he exclaimed, struggling to pull free. "A trap!? But how!? I sensed your heartbeat!"

Jerbo laughed, making the entire abomination rumble; "Nice try, but I figured a hunter that specialised in bones and hearts would be able to listen for a person's heartbeat! So I made sure to create a fake heart right where I wanted it to be! It's got nothing on Willow's grafted masterpiece, but with a little Abomination Magic and some Bardic Magic to get the beat right, it could at least be a worthy piece of bait!"

In reality, Jerbo's abomination transformation was a true transformation, making this abomination his actual body. He had no heart in this form; it had become part of the mixture like everything else! It was also the only way Jerbo could fuse with Baskerville without the power of Luz, King, and the glyphs! Albeit it only boosted his magic a little since he hadn't ironed out the kinks, but it was still very effective!

Seliere hissed and tried to pull his arm free, but the suction on the slime and the wooden armour clamping onto his arm meant he couldn't escape! He tried to use Ice Magic, but as soon as he did, Jerbo overpowered the ice and melted it down, leaving Seliere helpless.

"Viney! I've got him held down! You can finish this!" Jerbo yelled.

Viney (who'd taken the most damage thanks to Seliere) grinned viciously and switched her Wild Heart Form back on, and even gave herself a Bestial Blessing of a Lacquered Sickle Weasel tail on the end of her leopard tail, resulting in her gaining a long thin blade. She than ran on all fours, running up the back of Jerbo's abomination form and spinning her entire body like a buzz saw as she jumped off his shoulder towards Seliere.

The man tried even harder to escape, but it was fall for naught; with a cry of "Glaive Rush!" Viney's bladed tail slashed through Seliere's right shoulder, severing his Titan Bone Arm completely. The man roared in pain as a result, his wound oozing a lot of necrotic slime, and the now freed man pointed his staff at Viney in a fit of rage, only for it to be yanked out of his unsuspecting grip by Barcus' Oracle Spirit, right before Jerbo's fist slammed down on top of him, squashing him flat and knocking him out completely.

Almost as soon as he was knocked out, the skeletons making up the bone arena began to shimmer before becoming inert, causing the entire thing to collapse into piles of bones. While the Bone Shaman Geas could continue to function with its creator unconscious, the active magic of a Necromancer was a bit more delicate and needed to be handled carefully to keep them functioning without their maker, so taking down Seliere was enough to undo what he'd done with his Necromancy, but not the Geas.

"I guess it was too much to hope the whole maze would come down. There WERE other people making it too after all." Viney sighed as she undid the spells on herself. She was pretty exhausted now, and had to drink her Bile Booster potions to get her strength back to a reasonable level as Jerbo reverted to his flesh and blood form beside her, holding Seliere's now-disembodied arm. He covered it in his soil abominations, then used Baskerville in staff form to launch it into the sea to the west, making sure it would never be found and used for evil purposes ever again. He then tied up the unconscious Seliere, before sighing with relief and sitting on the ground.

"I'm exhausted… think we can afford to rest for a bit before moving on?" Jerbo asked, his Palisman now laying with his head in the boy's lap.

Viney and Jerbo smiled; "You've earned it, Brother." Barcus replied.

"In fact, I insist on it. You need some healing." Viney said, sitting down beside him so she could begin healing the damage he'd taken from Seliere's ice spikes and lightning earlier.

"Thanks guys… Let me just…" Jerbo made a pair of abominations to carry Edric and Emira, now free from the bone walls, over to him and the others, before going back to drag the giant Orthrus over too. After that, he kissed Edric on the cheek, then promptly lay back against Orthrus' side and passed out.

Viney and Barcus watched him for a moment, then chuckled to themselves; Jerbo was fierce when he needed to be, but he didn't have a strong constitution. When pushed into combat, he would fight hard and could be downright terrifying, but as soon as the danger was over and the adrenaline faded, he would shake like a leaf and pass out. Viney smiled and pet the boy's head a little as Regant, now shrunk back down to his normal size, floated over with Seliere's stolen Palisman, Hugs, held in his mouth.

Without any fear, Viney cradled Hugs and broke the collar controlling him, causing the little Palisman to chitter gratefully and hug her, making her smile as she got to work healing Jerbo's wounds. At the same time, Barcus took the rest time to begin an exorcism ritual to send the spirits Seliere had tormented on to the after life.

"Honestly, Jerbo is always like this… I've never known such a timid guy jump into fights so quickly." Viney commented.

"The last time was when he almost got in a fight with Skara, the day we met Luz." Barcus reminded her.

"Oh yeah! Skara was being a real brat back then. Though Jerbo didn't exactly look too good either. But he's always like that… you can bully and insult him as much as you want, but the moment you pick on his friends too, he's suddenly a Papa Wolf! He's a good guy." Viney smiled.

Without either knowing what the other was thinking, Viney and Barcus both began to reminisce about when they'd first met Jerbo, way back when they'd each transferred to Hexside. Viney had been the first to transfer, back in the Baby Class when she'd been chased out of St. Epiderm following the Tail Cutting Incident with Falco Kaimal. She hadn't fit in from the start, as she insisted on keeping her true ancestry a secret, and a combination of her past trauma and her secrecy meant she came across as jumpy, weird, and unapproachable, so she'd been an outcast almost from the start… But then Jerbo had come over; shy, awkward, and the victim of bullying just like Viney was, only he offered his hand in friendship. Viney had been suspicious of him at first, but as soon as someone saw them together and began teasing them, Jerbo had flown to her defence, all his shyness lost in a temper tantrum over the teasing aimed at his new friend. Viney had accepted the boy as a friend after that, and eventually he became like a brother to her.

By the same token, when Barcus had come to Hexside after dropping out of Glandus and trying to shed his bullying ways, his new meekness made him a target to new bullies, which he refused to fight back against even though he easily could have. As another outcast in their age group, Jerbo had naturally gravitated to him, and like Viney, he'd been suspicious and cold at first. At the time, Viney hadn't liked Barcus at all; possibly due to a cat and dog style reaction, or due to the unusual way he'd transferred into Hexside without explanation in the middle of the year. But unlike her, Barcus had eventually confessed his reasons, wondering if it would scare Jerbo off… it hadn't, and had actually made Viney respect him a little too, leading to a proper friendship between them.

Jerbo truly had been the glue that brought the Magic Mixers together, and he never stopped wanting to improve himself, help others, and improve the world he lived in too. He was a good person, plain and simple, and so long as they lived, Viney and Barcus would support him and believe in him. They were siblings in all but blood, and with Jerbo getting his adorable Himbo boyfriend, who was the sister of Viney's own gorgeous girlfriend, at least two of them would become siblings-in-law at some point, assuming they stayed with their high school sweethearts. Barcus often joked it was a shame the Blight Twins weren't actually triplets, so there'd be someone for him too. Viney had jokingly brought up Barcus trying to put the moves on Amity, but the idea of competing with Luz had the poor boy running away with his tail between his legs.

The silly thoughts made Viney and Barcus smile, and as the latter's ritual was a success and the four spirits fled to the afterlife with whispers of "Thank you", they felt relaxed and happy. The mission had taken a bad turn, and King had been snatched away, but they knew in their hearts that the CATTs would win the day!

[Meanwhile]

Samael sat on the deck of the CATTs' hidden airship, feeling miserable and guilty. He'd insisted on coming on this mission so he could help save his big little brother, but because he'd helped with the stowaway plot, he was now stuck keeping the other kids of the Nexsquad safe, so not only was he not able to help King, but he was in big trouble! He hated feeling like he'd disappointed Luz and Aunt Eda, and he knew the others felt just as rotten. Since the Trappers' ships had docked and there were no more blasts coming at them, they'd felt safe enough to go back on the ship, but that just meant they had more room to split up and sulk by themselves.

Simi was hanging by her tail from one of the balloon supports, Emiliel was sat in a corner of the lower deck, Asher was pacing nervously at the bow of the ship, Marama was anxiously using her webs to make pretty patterns between her fingers, and Samael himself was at the stern, looking back at them all with guilt and annoyance. He was a little mad at Simi for proposing this whole hair-brained scheme, but they had ultimately all agreed to it… the one saving grace was them leaving Ramari at home; Samael shuddered to think how angry Luz and the others would have been if they'd brought her along too! It was also lucky that they'd been discovered before they'd gone and gotten stuck in that awful bone maze…

Samael was snapped out of his sulking by Emiliel emerging from below deck. Her eyes were red from crying, as she felt guilty for failing to help and getting in the way, as well as letting down Luz, whom Emiliel looked up to greatly. If Luz hadn't always been so busy, she would have followed her around like a lost puppy, wondering how she could grow up to be like one of her heroes.

"Emi… are you okay?" Simi asked, jumping down and slowly approaching her best friend.

"N-No. I feel stupid and bad… what are we gonna do now? No one at home is gonna trust us again! And King might be mad and not wanna be our friend any more!" Emi sniffled.

"No way! King wouldn't do that! I bet he'd think what we did was cool… though he'd probably still be mad at us." Asher admitted.

"Nothing more we can do about it though. We messed up… my Dads are gonna be SO mad at me." Marama sighed defeatedly; "I only just got them to stop hovering over Ramari and me after that hunting incident. Now they're never gonna let me out of their sight! Probably won't let Ramari out of their sight either, so she's gonna be doubly mad at me!"

The kids all sighed and looked down dejectedly. They knew they messed up and it was their own fault, but they had meant well! Sadly that didn't mean a whole lot for them now… With the attack happening, they couldn't deny that their presence complicated things for the CATTs.

"This sucks… I'm sorry I came up with this dumb idea guys. I just wanted to help King and go on an adventure, but I ruined it for everyone." Simi sighed.

"It's not your fault… we ALL messed up here. You didn't force any of us to come." Asher said, patting her on the back with a forced smile to try and make her feel better.

It didn't truly work, but Simi smiled gently, appreciating the attempt. At that moment, they all heard a heart-stopping sound… a very familiar sound…

"WEH!"

All of the kids' heads shot up and they spun around, looking up to the sky for the source of the distinctive cry. Samael narrowed his eyes on the sky, then manually used his fingers to widen them again, allowing him to magically zoom in his vision. He saw a dark shadow flying from the labyrinth to the Titan Trapper Flagship docked just south of the hidden CATTs Airship, and upon a closer look, Samael saw an unfamiliar bat-like creature being flown on by a scythe-wielding Bill, and carrying a struggling King, who kept trying to roar and get himself free, but had his head pressed too hard by one the bat creature's claws, keeping him trapped and unable to move his head to roar at Bill or the bat creature itself.

"It's King! He's been captured!" Samael exclaimed in horror.

"What!? How!?" Emiliel screamed as the others gasped.

"I don't know! A big bat looking thing has got him! But the one riding the bat thing is Bill! He's the old weirdo who controlled the Titan Trappers that had one of my old mirrors! He's a big jerk and bad guy!"

"What do we do!?" Marama cried.

"What CAN we do!? We promised we'd stay put! We can't leave this area unless we REALLY need to!" Asher reminded them all; "We pinky promised!"

"Okay, I know it's my fault we're in this mess, but I'm pretty sure that "Our friend was kidnapped by a psycho who wants to murder him just a few feet away from us" is a good enough reason for us to say we REALLY needed to leave the boat!" Simi argued.

Emiliel fidgeted in discomfort and looked to the sky, then looked back to Samael; "Can you fly up and see if Luz is anywhere around here? Maybe she's on her way with King's Mom?"

Samael shook his head; "Don't need to. I can sense Luz's magic, and Aunt Eda's Owl Beast friend. They're both far away in that direction." he pointed east, "She might be stuck in the maze and might not even know King got caught!"

"Then what do we do!? We can't call her! Everything is jammed!" Asher pointed out.

Samael bit his lip; "I-I should go on my own to save him. I was meant to be on this mission anyway, so Luz will understand! There's no reason to bring you guys too and put you in danger."

Simi and Asher both opened their mouths to argue, but quickly thought better of it and shut them again. They knew it would only cause trouble for Samael if they rushed in, and anyone tough enough to capture King would be too much for them… all they could do was stay hidden on the invisible airship and watch what was happening. Emiliel and Marama made no moves to dispute Samael either, and instead all four of the young ones hugged Samael and wished him luck, which he accepted gratefully before casting an invisibility spell on himself and flying off from the ship and over towards the Titan Trapper Fleet.

There were about fifteen ships with seven different designs on their flags and sails, and each one was manned by a small crew of Titan Trapper Sailors, all of them low-ranking by the look of their robes and weapons, likely forbidden from joining the hunt so they could instead guard the ships. Samael eyed them a little, wondering if he should sabotage and sink them. However before he could, he remembered something Hunter had told him; it wasn't wise to prevent a large force from escaping unless you could outnumber and/or crush that force, as if you take away their ability to retreat, they'll have no choice but to fight when things get bad, and they'll do so desperately. If Samael destroyed the Trapper Fleet, the Trappers wouldn't be able to run away and would go down swinging, fighting to their last breath rather than lay down and be captured.

It was Fight or Flight; if they can't flee, they're left with one option only! Better to leave that until he knew the worst of the Trappers had been beaten up!

"Okay, no blowing up bad guy ships! Gotta do strategy like Hunter showed me!" Samael whispered, before flying to the flag ship of the fleet. This ship was where Bill and his bat creature had flown; it was fairly nondescript besides being bigger and having a huge sail with a symbol on it that resembled a crudely drawn skeletal hand with a Titan Skull in the palm. Samael didn't like the symbol and glared at it as he flew down silently to see what was happening on the deck of the ship.

He witnessed the bat creature perched upside down on the mast of the ship, while Bill was stood on the deck and pacing in front of King, who had now been bound and gagged by two other Titan Trappers. Samael narrowed his eyes on this and crept closer whilst blocking out Bill's words. The wretched man was boasting of how he was the Huntsman's favourite, the eldest of the Trappers, the one to capture King, and a whole bunch of other stuff Samael didn't care about. He was doing his "Villainous Monologue", as Luz called it, and Samael knew this was the best time to gather info and launch a sneak attack! Now that he was closer, he saw the bat creature that made up part of Bill's scythe, and the other two that were chained to him, making Samael realise who they were; he'd never met them of course, but King had told him about the Bat Queen, her children, and his old pal Prince.

As well as the Palismen, Samael recognised two other faces (or rather, masks) from the battle at Zachael's Landing; the big guy, Tarak (who was Bill's second in command), and the Bone Shaman Denasu. Neither looked comfortable with what was happening in front of them; Bill's bragging seemed to be uniquely annoying them, while the other Trappers were cheering on their creepy elder. There were three other Trappers besides Tarak and Denasu that seemed less than thrilled too, and were stood together at the back of the small crowd of Trappers cheering for Bill.

One of these Trappers was a bit familiar; she was the big woman that carried around Denasu and was on Zachael's Landing, so Samael vaguely recognised her. The other two were completely new; one was a tall, thin woman with a similar build to Aunt Lilith, with clothing made from silver Titan fur, dark blue robes, and a Titan Skull Helmet with short antelope-style horns. This woman had her hand on the shoulder of a very uncomfortable looking boy that couldn't have been older than Luz or her Hexsquad friends; he was dressed in a similar fashion, but his Titan fur was dull grey, his robes were blue and less fancy, and his Titan Skull had deer-like antlers. While the large woman watched the scene blankly, the woman was holding her son firmly as the boy looked ready to pounce forward, clearly NOT okay with what was happening. Samael wondered if he could use that, but then he heard Bill say something extremely unsettling.

"And well, we all know how to end a hunt! The hunt ends when the hunter brings down their prey! It doesn't end just you caught 'em in a snare! It ends when you sink in the knife! And since the Grand Huntsman said he wouldn't care if someone killed this Titan Brat, I think I'll take that honour for myself!" Bill declared.

The excited Titan Trappers cheered, thrilled that they were about to see the demise of the last Titan, completely uncaring of the fact he was just a child, only turning nine years old that very day. Samael felt his rage beginning to build, at least until Tarak stepped up.

"Elder Bill, surely the Grand Huntsman said that because he didn't want us holding back! Since you caught the Titan, wouldn't it be better to hand him over to the Grand Huntsman unspoiled? Surely that would make him happier?" the large man said.

The other Trappers eyed him a little, unwilling to boo or deride him since he was technically second only to Bill in their tribe, but they definitely didn't seem to like his idea much. Denasu stood up for him though; "Tarak is right. Surely the Grand Huntsman would in fact be angry to learn you caught the Titan, only to take his prize from him out of pride."

Bill scoffed, his cruel grin never wavering as he pointed to the intricate gold and green war paint on his skull mask, particularly the crescent moon on his forehead. "Do you not see this mark, Tarak? The Grand Huntsman blessed me to be his instrument of the hunt! His spear for slaying the Titan! His Divine Blessing has imbued me with so much of his power that I have been made young again!"

He lifted his mask from his face, revealing that he was now as youthful as a twenty year old; his once wrinkly, raisin-like visage replaced by that of a somewhat homely young man with wild and mess white hair, and eyes similar to the Archivists, only with blue irises. Even the way they glowed subtly was similar, and his face was heavily tattooed; Samael remembered he'd once had a forehead tattoo in blue of Samael's on four pointed sun and crescent moon, but that had been replaced by a large green crescent with the other phases of the moon forming a smaller band around his forehead, and lines of green stretching form the crescent (which was inside a ring) down his face through his eyes, cheeks, and lips, until they met at his throat, where another ring of symbols that represent the moon's phases were tattooed. Bill gently placed his mask in the hands of a waiting attendant, then twirled his scythe in the air to create a green spell circle, which he leapt up through and emerged on the other side with ten wings made of magic emerging from his back. They were heavily stylised and made of the pale green light of the Huntsman's magic, with each "feather" being made of a stretched and misshaped crescent moons.

Seeing this made the Titan Trappers gasp, especially as a crescent moon halo (similar to Luz's, but without the orb part and with the open part facing to the left instead of upward) made of the same pale green light appeared behind his head. Samael could scarcely believe what he was seeing; the Huntsman hadn't just given some of his power to Bill… he's given him almost all of it! To Samael's immense horror, Bill was now stronger than he or Azazel!

"Behold! This is the level to which the Grand Huntsman has blessed me! I am essentially his Avatar! His essence bound to mortal flesh! Am I not magnificent!?" Bill declared, grinning with manic delight.

The Titan Trappers were indeed amazed, and even the bound and gagged King stopped his near-feral struggling to stare wide-eyed at the crazy man. It reminded him a little of what Vitimir had done to himself the other day, only less drastic and with the Huntsman actually granting his power willingly. King and Samael both suspected the Huntsman had done it due to wanting to kill King, but also being afraid of the Divider's rightful wrath if he were to do that.

But while the lesser Trappers were impressed by Bill's new power, Denasu was suspicious; "What nonsense is this, Bill!? You look like one of the Angels! Wasn't it you who told us Angels were servants of the Titans!?"

That caused a stir among the other Trappers as they muttered to each other, remembering the same. After all, half the reason for the chaos on their island all those months ago had been because the sick girl they helped was revealed to be an Angel.

Bill looked annoyed, but to his credit, he did have a good excuse; "I was tricked by that Angel Bastard that served this brat's father back in the day. But apparently that Angel was just an abandoned and orphaned whelp that the Titans turned into a pet, just like they've done with the eight winged one currently wreaking havoc in the labyrinth, and who once lay waste to our homes! But in truth, the Grand Huntsman himself is the son of a benevolent Angel that ascended to godhood; The Divine Mother known as the Celestial!"

The Titan Trappers gasped in shock; their own God was the son of an Angel-turned Goddess!? It was almost unbelievable, but the angelic nature of the Grand Huntsman's blessing was undeniable, so they really couldn't argue with it. King thrashed harder in his restraints though, utterly furious that his godfather Zachael was insulted in such a way, but he was held tightly by his foes, who soon turned their full attention back to him.

"And as an instrument and vessel to the Grant Huntsman's will, I shall be the one to end this Titan's life! The only question is… how should I do it? Ideally, I'd skin you alive and lop off your head, and offer up your skull and pelt to the Grand Huntsman! But he has expressed a desire for you to be as intact as possible, likely for those Archives of his siblings. So I think the best method would be this…"

He marched up to King, handed his scythe to one of the men holding him, and then yanked King into the air by his throat. "I'll strangle the life out of you! Be sure to keep your eyes open, brat! I want to see the life of the last Titan vanish from his eyes!"

King, his claws bound in front of him, his snout tied shut, and only his wings and legs free, desperately began to wiggle and thrash as his airway was squeezed. Thankfully, he wasn't choking for long as Samael had seen enough; he wasn't going to get any more useful intel and he certainly wasn't gonna let his big little brother suffer more on the off-chance Bill would taunt him with something juicy as he died!

He flew at the man, secretly conjuring his giant squeaky hammer weapon to knock him into next week, but right before Samael was in range to actually hit him, one of the Bat Queen's children suddenly detected him, their bat-like hearing managing to pinpoint him despite him being invisible. The mind-controlled Palisman screeched and Bill spun around and shot a spell in the direction she shrieked in, causing Samael to almost be sliced in half by a crescent moon blade made from magic. Samael had managed to dodge at the last moment, but the blade had still cut through his hammer, cutting the head from the hilt. Because of the traits of the hammer though, it began to ricochet around the ship, bouncing hard off every surface it hit, which immediately sowed chaos in the ranks of the Trappers. It bounced off the ground and hit them, then bounced off them into others, doing very little damage but knocking them around. Bill was distracted by this and only loosely holding King by one hand, so Samael smacked his wrist with the hilt of the hammer, making the man yelp in pain and drop King. Samael immediately caught him, dropping his invisibility as he did so that King would know it was him.

The former Collector removed the little Titan's restraints, and King immediately took deep breathes then exclaimed; "Sammy!"

"Hi King! Happy Birthday!" Samael smiled brightly; "Sorry I didn't bring a present with me!"

"Ha! You saved my life! I'll take that as a present!" King replied with a giggle, before flying with his own wings. "I knew you'd be here as soon as I saw Luz and Mom!"

"Of course! I had to come save my Big Little Brother! But, uh… I'm not sorta supposed to be here… I kinda messed up and got in trouble." Samael confessed.

King look confused, but he didn't have time to ask, as Bill recovered from his shock and promptly blasted the still-bouncing hammerhead to smithereens. He then conjured a giant moonstone meteorite, which he launched at them, forcing the two of them to split apart so it could pass between them. Bill wasn't done yet though, and waved his hand in a beckoning motion to make it come flying back towards him, allowing him to summon it back to try and hit Samael from behind. King saw it coming and roared at it, causing the magic of the moonstone to fade, resulting in it plummeting out of the sky and into the deck of the Titan Trapper's ship, putting a hole in it that the other Trappers scrambled to fix. The two children then looked down at Bill with a glare, as he glared right back, snatching his scythe back from the Trapper he'd handed it too.

"So, you came to get in our way, did you False Huntsman!?" Bill growled, pointing the scythe at Samael. "The true Grand Huntsman told me everything you! You are a fake, corrupted child that abandoned your family to play with tyrants! And you lied and tricked my tribe into believing YOU were the Grand Huntsman!"

"Titans aren't Tyrants you big jerk!" Samael snapped back; "Aunt Cammie says its just a phase that they grow out of!"

Bill scoffed; "Oh, and is that why they installed themselves as Gods to be worshipped by just about every culture in the Demon Realm!?"

King rolled his eyes; "The Titans who are worshipped are all dead! They get worshipped because people literally live and thrive off of them! I mean, your whole tribe literally survived by living off the palm of my Mama's hand!"

"Shut your mouth! We feast and thrive on the dead, as all hunters do! We conquered that hand!" Bill screamed, taking back his skull helmet and putting it on.

"You didn't hunt my Mama though! My Mama blew herself up and hurt your precious Huntsman so bad that he had to run away with his tail between his legs, not coming back for 5000 years! And you parasites just came along and scavenged off of her!" King taunted; "You're not hunters! You're just ants!"

That pushed Bill even further into a rage, and he screamed with his voice magnified by magic; "KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!"

His voice carried only to the fleet, and all the Titan Trappers left behind on the ships eagerly picked up their weapons and began hopping from ship to ship, some wielding stolen Palismen controlled with collars. Those that could began to fly up to attack the two children, primarily aiming for King, but they found that they weren't fighting mere children, but the offspring of two of the Universe's strongest beings! Inexperienced they may have been, but they were still more than a match for a horde of Titan Trappers that had been deemed too weak or low-ranked to join the hunt in the Necropolis!

"WEH!" King roared, unleashing a shockwave that blasted a big chunk of them off their feet, with Samael then using one of the Archivists' signature spells; the Puppet Spell, to turn many of them into his own minions. Once he had them under his power, Samael made the puppets stand and begin attacking Bill, who was forced to waste some of his strength defending against them. At the same time, those who'd evaded King's roar and had gotten close to them began swinging their weapons and casting a whole plethora of spells, from cutting winds, to energy blasts, to nets, and even poison gas clouds and other such things. King blocked it all with his Glyph Barrier, then showed Samael how to use his finger to draw on the inside of the barrier, creating functioning glyphs that he and King could use to fire attacks from the safety of the magic shield.

Samael drew a wind glyph, and the resulting gale blasted back the nets and gas, which in-turn hit the Titan Trappers and infected them, making them sick and causing them to fall out of the sky. Their fellows rushed to catch them, thinning the herd enough that King could drop the barrier and use his light glyph notes to fire beams of light at the few Trappers who hadn't fled, all while he and Samael easily wove around them with their small size and superior aerial skills. King's aim wasn't perfect, but thanks to Luz's tutelage and a bit of help from Samael, King was able to hit either the winged boots of the Trappers, or simply hit their centre mass hard enough to knock them off their stolen Palismen, allowing Samael to rescue them. All it had taken was King applying a wind glyph to his light beams to mimic Luz's homing silver light beams, and Samael making mirrors to redirect beams that were about to be blocked by something.

Within a mere five minutes, the entire group of Titan Trappers had been either rendered unconscious by being knocked to the ground from a decent height, or straight up turned into dolls by Samael while they were distracted or getting up from their own falls. Samael, feeling generous, also made his Healing Teddy Bears to tend to the more seriously injured Trappers, so just he and King weren't responsible for any deaths. As for the Trappers turned into dolls, they were focusing on attacking Bill, who was fighting them off fairly easily, slashing them this way and that with no regard for if he killed any of them.

Bill didn't fight alone either; Tarak, Denasu, Denasu's burly friend, and the two blue-clad Trappers had not obeyed Bill's order to attack, instead watching from the sidelines. They DID however jump in to help defeat the dolls, though it appeared they did this more as an attempt to stop Bill from killing them! If the dolls weren't, well, dolls and thus a bit more sturdy than people, King and Samael was sure he'd have killed half of them! Heck, Samael had to use his magic to stick a few back together after they'd been broken, hoping that they'd be okay when they were turned back to normal.

"Elder Bill, you need to stop this! These are our people, and members from the other tribes! If you kill them, you invite war with the other tribes, and risk civil war within the Bone Hands!" Tarak scolded, surprising King a little. Tarak had seemed to have hero worship for Bill when they'd last seen each other on Titan Trapper Island.

Now that King thought about it, the teenager was the one who'd helped heal Luz when Bill stabbed her; Rakusa, if he remembered right; Tarak's son. And based on the way she held him and protected him, the woman with him was likely his mother and Tarak's partner.

Bill didn't listen to Tarak's criticism, and when he swung to decapitate one doll (whose robes showed they were from a different tribe), the larger man was forced to grab the scythe hilt to stop the blow before it could land, pulling the weapon AND Bill away before using a conjured Bo-Staff to knock the dolls back a bit, allowing Denasu's bodyguard Galeh to jump in and begin punching the dolls to defeat them without destroying them.

"What do you think you're doing, Tarak!? You dare disobey my order to attack AND get in the way!?" Bill screeched; "You've not been behaving right since you got back from that trip where you and Denasu lost that Dragon!"

Tarak growled, but it was Denasu who spoke up; "We don't know what happened back then; our memories are gone, but we remember feelings! And I remember the gratitude I feel towards some of those CATTs and Titan Lovers! I don't know what's going on there and what happened between us, but I DO know that none of us here are going to let you kill our comrades, even from other tribes!"

Denasu's words sounded like an old woman scolding her annoying grandchild, but in reality, Bill was much older than her and quick to remind her of that fact; "Don't get high and mighty with me, Denasu! I still remember when you were a little brat digging through mud to find bugs to throw at boys you didn't like!"

"Bah! You're old, but you're not wise Bill! And besides, if you had any sense, you'd know Tarak and I have been furious with you ever since the Titan came to our island! You almost got Rakusa killed AND you dared to call him a traitor!" Denasu snapped back.

Rakusa, for his part, shrank in on himself as his mother spoke up; "That's right. You know my husband and I have always been loyal to you! And we both also know that our Rakusa is a… softer child, ill-suited for fighting. But to accuse him of being a traitor after all our family has done for you is galling for us."

King snickered a little, knowing that Rakusa HAD in fact betrayed Bill and the Titan Trappers by healing Luz when she was hurt AND helping them escape. Of course, that may well have been because Rakusa knew that those actions were needed to keep an enraged King and Amity from wiping out the Trappers, so he might not have been betraying his tribe exactly, but trying to save them in an unconventional way. King didn't know, but Bill certainly felt Rakusa had betrayed him and wasn't shy about saying as much.

"Galling!? You call that galling!? He DID betray us by healing that Angel after I stabbed her! He allowed her to stab ME and almost kill me with my own Blessed Dagger! If your family hadn't served me for so many generations, I'd have mounted his head on my wall for that! As it is, I should have banished him, but my soft, kind heart listened when you whined that your weakling of a son was forced into it!" Bill said, mocking Rakusa and his mother with a rude tone imitation as he said those last few words.

Rakusa shifted uncomfortably, while his mother and father both narrowed their eyes furiously, their knuckles cracking as they clenched their fists. King and Samael could see they were on the verge of hitting Bill for his disrespect and cruelty, their loyalty to him completely strained by his callousness. The Huntsman's blessing had clearly gone to his head, and the kids were sure they could use that. They turned to each other and King used his unique glyph to mentally tell Samael his plan. Samael then used an illusion and one of his feathers to secretly connect King's mind to Rakusa's, informing him of their plan too. It was a gamble, but they were both sure Rakusa would agree with them if only to get Samael to remove his spell on the Trappers-turned-Dolls.

The young Trapper subtly looked up to the two, forgotten by the adults due to their argument, and gave a very small nod, unnoticeable if one wasn't looking for it. Rakusa had met the Huntsman now, and seen what Bill and the other Titan Trapper Leaders were like… they were ALL worse than anything they'd said about the Titans! The nicest of them were stone cold killers, and Rakusa had no desire to be like them.

To this end, Rakusa made himself look extra small and pathetic as he gripped his parents hands and said; "Mother, Father; please don't fight with the Elder. I know I'm a shame on you and our family… perhaps it would have been better to banish or kill me like he wanted… I can't shame you then."

The boy felt a bit scummy, as he was manipulating his parents who loved him dearly, and playing on Bill's pride. The old parasite was bound to push his luck and boast how he was correct and even Rakusa agreed, which combined with Rakusa's self-deprecation, would be like the perfect match to set off his parents' tempers.

"Ha! You see? Even the boy knows he's worthless! You should have just taken him out to sea and let the waves have him, then come back and made another child!" Bill cackled, feeling like he'd won. Even King and Samael felt angry upon hearing those words, and Rakusa's parents went ballistic; they'd struggled very hard to have their one and only son, so that comment was like a red flag to a bull for them.

The two began screaming at Bill with ferocity, spouting curses and foul words that made even Denasu blush like a school girl, all while Bill tried in-vain to re-establish dominance, something he failed at as everyone around him was either a doll, injured, or angry at him.

As this happened, King and Samael made their move, to complete the task that was also the real reason they hadn't fled while the Trappers were distracted; freeing the Bat Queen and her babies. With Prince, Princess, and Heiress all chained to Bill or in his hands, getting them would be tough, but if they could free the Bat Queen first at least, they'd have someone extra to help them!

Unfortunately, it was not going to be that easy; King made them both invisible with a glyph combo and Samael went to cast his Joy Illusions on the Bat Queen, completely trapping her in pleasant dreams so she couldn't sense them and alert the Trappers… however without Samael even realising at first, his spell had failed somehow. As such, when the two got close and King reached out to destroy the lock on the control collar, the Bat Queen suddenly became alert and started shrieking, causing King to cry "Weh!?" as Samael yelped in shock.

Their cries, along with the shrieking, caused Bill and the Trappers to spin around to see what was going on, with Bill's eyes flashing a pale green, using the Huntsman's magic to try and see them. Since the invisibility was Titan Magic, Bill's Archivist Magic wasn't able to see through it, but he COULD smell the two of them and launched crescent moon-shaped waves of magic in their direction, forcing the children to fly up to evade them. Bill then snapped his fingers and summoned the Bat Queen to his side, creating a spectral chain to connect him to her collar in a similar way to what he'd done to her babies.

"Did you think you'd get away with stealing my new pet that easily?" Bill demanded, before sneering back at Tarak and his family; "Was this your ploy!? Arguing with me to help them!? Are you all traitors!?"

"No, you old fool!" Tarak snapped, all his prior respect long since gone; "We only wanted to stop you from insulting our son! Who likely saved YOUR life too! If the Angel had died, the others with her would have gutted you!"

"Lies! You're just after the leadership of the tribe!" Bill decided, taking to the air with his spectral wings. "That's why you buddied up to me so much, right!? You were hoping to put a knife in my back! You got your son in with Denasu too! She's in on this!"

"WHAT!? Are you mad!?" Denasu cried, looking up from where she'd been helping Samael's Teddy Nurses stabilise the injured and unconscious Trappers.

"You're in on it! With the Angel too I bet! You didn't lose your memories of that voyage a few days ago! It's all just a plot!" Bill declared, fully succumbing to paranoia. It seemed that getting the Huntsman's Blessing really had set him off the deep end; maybe he couldn't handle the power? Or maybe he'd just let it go to his head.

Either way, it was of little surprise when Bill raised his scythe into the air, then swung it hard to send a cutting wave of black, red, and pale green magic right at Rakusa, who was close enough to his parents for it to kill all of them… if it had landed. Samael had rushed over in the nick of time to block it with a barrier, before King roared at Bill's back, causing his wings to fluctuate and disappear for a moment, requiring the Bat Queen to catch the crazy man.

"Damn Titan! Come here and give me your head!" Bill screamed, ordering the Bat Queen to fly after King, who began evasive manoeuvres around the masts of the various ships of the fleet, successfully drawing Bill away for a moment.

As he was doing this, Samael turned the remainder of the Titan Trappers into puppets, sans Tarak's family, Denasu, and Galeh, and ordered them all to get up and go into the maze to stop their allies without hurting them. Once they did that, Samael turned to the ones he spared and said; "I'll let you guys go 'cause you don't like Bill! But if you're mean to King again, I'll beat you up!"

Samael then prepared to fly off, but Rakusa stopped him with a cry of; "Wait! You can't beat him like this! He has the power of the Grand Huntsman AND those Palismen! I've never seen someone so strong! If you fight him, you'll die! He won't hold back because you're the Grand Huntsman's brother!"

Samael was a little surprised Rakusa recognised who he was, but suspected the Divider had told people and that he looked enough like the Huntsman for it to be obvious. "I can't die, no matter what that jerk does! And as long as I can protect King, I don't care! Now get out of here before there's trouble!"

Without another word, the former Archivist flew back into battle, conjuring another squeaky hammer and using Joy Construction Magic to transform the entire fleet into a massive soft play area that was pirate themed. As soon as this happened, King saw one of those large nets with big enough gaps between the ropes for him to fly straight through, but that Bill and the Bat Queen couldn't, so he flew directly at it and tucked his wings and legs in so he could shoot through it like a furry rocket. Predictably, Bill and the Bat Queen was so close behind them that they couldn't stop or evade in time, causing them both to crash into the net with enough force to pop it out of the frame it was in, resulting in them getting tangled up in the net and struggling to fly or escape. That was when Samael flew in and clubbed Bill over the head with the squeaky hammer, causing him and the Bat Queen to smash into a ball pit, sending little colourful balls in all directions. King then tried to finish the fight immediately by using all his ice glyph notes at once to freeze the entire ball pit solid, trapped Bill and the Bat Queen in a gigantic ice cube, using the ball pit as a mold like the kind Camila kept in her freezer at home.

King and Samael then landed on one of the upper levels of the play area and eyed the giant ice cube warily, neither believing for a second it could have been THAT easy for them. And of course, they were right; steam began to emerge from the pit almost immediately as Bill's Archivist Magic turned up the heat and began to melt the ice away, slowly allowing him to escape.

"We need a strategy!" King decided; "I want to break those chains and free the Bat Queen and her babies! I just don't know how to do that! It would mean getting pretty dang close to him and that scythe of his!"

"It's a little mean, but can't you just roar at 'em? Those bands have the Huntsman's magic, so a Titan Roar should make 'em fail, like when you made that creep's wings fail!" Samael pointed out.

King shook his head; "I don't think it'll work. That jerk made the bands stronger, but he didn't make the bands themselves. It might make them freak out a bit, but that's probably it. Plus I really don't wanna hit the babies with roars! They're my friends! Especially Prince."

They didn't get a chance to keep planning, as that was the moment Bill broke free from the ice and flew up, his faux wings finally reforming and allowing him to fly at incredible speed as the Bat Queen was dragged out of the ice by the chain, still with chunks of ice frozen to her. Bill flew right at Samael with his scythe blade raised high, so King tried to roar at him to stop his wings again, but Bill wasn't stupid enough to fall for such a blatant attack again and twisted through the air to evade it. He kept dodging King's successive roars as Samael tried to hit him with a squeaky hammer, then right when he was in the kids' faces, he grabbed Samael and used him as a shield to block King's roar, making Samael cry out in pain and fall out of the sky, allowing Bill to grab his squeaky hammer and use it to smack the Bat Queen. This knocked the last of the ice off of her and launched her at King, hitting him hard enough to knock him out of the sky too. From their height, hitting even the soft ground of Samael's play area would deal some hefty damage, but thankfully Samael caught himself and then rushed to catch King.

"King! Are you okay!?" Samael cried as King was dazed. His skull had a visible crack near the base of one of his horns, and to King's distress, he saw a crack up on the Bat Queen too, from where his horn had hit her during their impact.

"Ugh, I'll be fine…" King slurred his words a little, fighting a concussion. Thankfully a healing glyph combo and one of Samael's conjured Teddy Nurses would have him feeling good again within seconds, but that came with problems of its own, as Bill wasn't going to let them rest.

"Take this, brats!" he cackled, swinging his scythe around like a mad man, conjuring a ton of black, red, and pale green crescent moon blades that flew right at the pair. Samael summoned the balls from the ball pit to fly up and try to block the blades, solidifying them so they were more like iron than plastic, however the blades of magic didn't care and flew right through them, forcing King to put up a Glyph Barrier instead. The blades couldn't get through the barrier, but did cause it to go flying into the side of the Necropolis Cliffs and then fall into the ocean, where with some quick thinking from King, it began to sink beneath the waves to give him and Samael a chance to heal and catch their breathes.

"Hey Samael, can you make a REALLY BIG version of that Squeaky Hammer? Because I've got an idea." King said, his cracked skull now fully healed.

Samael thought about it, then nodded; "I can do that. It's gonna take a bunch of magic though! All those Doll spells, the Nurse Bears, and turning their boats into something fun used up a lot too, so I don't know how long I can keep fighting for." Samael warned. His face then fell; "I'm still not very good at fighting, and that creepy Bill has got almost all of the Huntsman's power! He's definitely stronger than us… if it was the two of us and Luz fighting together, we could outmatch him, but on our own…"

The boy's confidence was waning a bit, especially as he still felt bad for bringing the rest of the Nexsquad along and getting them in trouble (even if it wasn't his idea). For someone whose personal style of magic revolved around fun, joy, and playfulness, feeling so down weakened him a good deal.

King shook his head and hugged Samael; "Don't worry about it! Luz is here somewhere and she and Mom will get here to help us soon, I'm sure of it! In the meantime, I believe in you! Let's go and free those Palismen; the rest can be just keeping Bill busy!"

Samael perked up; "You believe in me? Promise?"

"Pinky promise!" King declared, sticking out his pinky claw; "We're brothers and besties, right? So let's do this!"

Samael accepted the pinky promise and beamed, before saying; "Okay! So how big do you want this hammer! I'll make it big enough for Uncle Orion!"

King snickered; "We don't need it that big! After all, the Titan wielding it isn't gonna be that big."

He winked at his brother, and the two boys giggled as they got to work making their counter attack.

Meanwhile on the surface, Bill was trying to see where the Titan and False God had disappeared to. He'd been swinging his scythe so frantically that he hadn't been able to see where the blades had knocked the barrier, but since he hadn't seen the skeletons of the bone labyrinth going crazy and shooting things, he assumed he hadn't knocked them that way. He wouldn't get his answer until a few minutes later, when there sea around the dock suddenly got extremely choppy and a bright light shone from beneath the waves, before what looked like an adolescent Titan began to emerge from the water. The Titan resembled Orion, so Bill recognised it as the Titan of the Boiling Isles, only without wings and a fair bit smaller, being as tall (head to toe) as the width of the Boiling Isles Titan's knee.

Bill gaped as he looked up at this giant Titan, having a flashback to the day he'd seen Orion from a distance and had his eardrums blown out by his roar. This time there was no roar however; just a glowing orb in the Titan's chest and an obscenely large squeaky hammer in his hand, which the Titan brought down on Bill. The Trapper looked around frantically, knowing he had no chance of flying out of the way in time and had no cover to use to evade the crushing blow, so he instead made a barrier around himself and had the Bat Queen stand over him to defend him, ensuring that if he went down, so would she.

However the Titan (made by King's Monster Combo, and controlled by him from inside the barrier within the fake Titan's chest) was actually wielding a fake hammer; a glorified balloon that popped once it hit the Bat Queen's claws atop her wings. The resulting bang was almost deafening and made Bill scream in fear, while the rush of air knocked the Bat Queen away. When Bill opened his eyes and realised what happened, he was fuming and dropped his barrier, only to suddenly have Samael jump on his back from behind. The former Archivist had hidden under an invisibility spell so he could sneak up on Bill when he was distracted and the Palismen were freaked out by the bang from the balloon, letting him catch them unawares.

Bill thrashed and struggled to get Samael off, but the boy was holding him tightly enough that he couldn't get his arms back to reach him, so he called for the Bat Queen. However the bang of the balloon had temporarily deafened her, so she couldn't hear him to obey. Worst for Bill, King made his giant fake Titan throw a mean punch right at him. Growling, Bill began spinning his scythe, creating a mini-tornado of red, black, and pale green magic that fired towards the fake Titan's fist, shredding it before it could make impact. Seeing how effective this was, Bill aimed at the torso and damaged the fake Titan enough to make it disperse, exposing King inside his glyph barrier. The cruel man grinned and moved to attack directly, ignoring the small child on his back, but Samael grabbed his helmet and twisted it around so the eye holes weren't aligned any more, keeping Bill from seeing. This allowing King to drop his barrier and fly at Bill, delivering a horned headbutt straight to his gut.

Bill howled in pain as one of King's horns actually pierced his fur armour and went about two inches into his flesh, before King came to a stop and pulled himself out, leaving a bleeding wound for Bill to deal with. To make matters worse, Samael then stole the skull helm right off the Trapper's head and stabbed him in the back with the horns on it, aiming for his belt, where one of the Bat Queen's babies were chained. Samael's stab not only wounded Bill, but it broke the chain like he'd hoped, allowing Bill to grab the baby (it was Princess) and quickly escape just before Bill screamed in absolute fury and unleashed a massive wave of magic. Samael didn't escape in time and so he was blasted hard, flying all the way from the fleet-turned-play area and into the hard stone steps leading from the docks to the Necropolis proper.

King, using a light glyph to destroy the latch on Princess's collar, hugged the little Palisman and then immediately rushed to Samael's side. "Sammy! Are you okay!?" he asked hastily, Princess mewling and nuzzling him the whole time.

"Ugh, I'm okay… mostly." Samael groaned, his wounds already healed. Still, getting slammed that hard had stunned him and left him feeling a little off.

King slapped a healing glyph combo on the older boy, even knowing it wasn't needed, and Samael took the moment to pet Princess and introduce himself, while promising her that they'd save her Mama. All three children then had their attention drawn back to Bill, who was now stalking towards them with utter rage, stopping at the edge of Samael's play area, which had begun to revert to its old form thanks to Bill's explosion of Archivist Magic countering Samael's own magic. This resulted in Bill standing on the stern of his flagship, bleeding from his two wounds and glaring with pure hatred at the children as the Bat Queen finally came to his side as ordered.

"You worthless brats! I'm going to make you both hurt for this!" he snarled, before shocking them both and stabbing the Blessed Dagger on the end of his scythe straight into the side of the Bat Queen. The poor Palisman screeched in pain and Princess screeched too, while King and Samael looked on in horror as the magic of the dagger drained some of the Bat Queen's vitality, spilling her glowing green essence in the process and allowing Bill to regenerate.

"You monster!" King yelled, flying forward without thinking to try and save the Bat Queen. However before he got close, Bill pulled his scythe blade free and swiped the Blessed Dagger at King, who was going too fast to suddenly stop. He barely evaded a killing blow, but the blade still scraped across the top of his skull, creating another crack and making King scream in pain. Samael gasped and rushed to save him, but as soon as he caught King and prepared to put up a barrier, he found he was too late and the elongated blade of the Cursed Dagger was now too close to avoid. Samael instead turned around to shield King with his body, leading to him screaming in agony as the wings on his left side were cleaved in half.

"SAMAEL!" King yelled in horror, especially as some of the Cursed Dagger's spikes got stuck in the wound, preventing Samael from immediately regenerating. It was all King could do to create a Glyph Barrier to stop a follow up swipe and carry his best friend back onto the dock so he didn't just plummet into the Boiling Sea.

King gently lay Samael down on his front as the boy tried his hardest not to writhe and scream, all while tears of pain spilled down his face. King panicked, his healing glyph combo not working on the cursed wounds, and his hands shaking so much that he couldn't pick the fragments of the cursed blade out of the remnants of Samael's left set of wings without hurting the boy even more.

"No! No no no! Not again!" King cried, his paws coated in golden blood and shaking profusely. His mind kept flashing back to Titan Trapper Island, and the image of Samael in front of him kept being replaced by Luz as she was slowly dying. King knew that Samael was suffering, but not dying, but that didn't help calm him as old traumas flashed through his mind, not helped by poor Princess still sobbing and crying beside the two of them, deeply scared and upset by her mother's own injury. That of course added another wrinkle to the situation; how was King and Samael supposed to beat a guy who could just heal by hurting others!? If they were reckless, the Bat Queen would die!

"What do I do! I-I need Luz and Mom! I can't do this on my own!" King cried, tears filling his eyes. He'd never felt so small, so weak, so childish… this wasn't even like Titan Trapper Island where he could just rage and defeat the bad guys; he was outmatched here and he had no idea what to do.

Drinking in the little Titan's fear, Bill grinned maniacally and looked around for his skull helm, only to not see it anywhere. He suspected it had ended up in the sea… he'd have to get someone to fish it out before they returned home. "Do you see the folly of defying me now, brat? You Titans are all evil to the core, acting like tyrants and monarchs that think they have a right to rule us! You aren't a God, little brat! The only true Gods are the Children of the Divine Mother, and even one of their number was corrupted by your touch! Just give up and die, knowing the world is better without you!"

With those words, Bill leapt at King with his scythe blade raised high, but before he could reach King or his barrier, a new voice rang out.

"Leave King alone!"

Bill blinked in surprise, before suddenly being struck by a barrage of tiny sparks of light. They didn't hurt much or do a lot of damage; it was like being stung by regular Bees and being left with tiny burns, but the barrage had so many of these sparks that the pain built up and the force was enough to knock him off course, causing him to hit the dock and look around for the source of the attack.

King felt a mix of joy and horror as he saw Emiliel running towards him, following a narrow path along the cliff side. "E-EMI!? What are you doing here!?"

"M-My fault…" Samael whimpered in pain.

"Not your fault!" Emiliel yelled, reaching the docks; "I wanted to try and save you, King! So I came along! I messed up and got in trouble… but I still want to save you!"

King found his face warming up a little, while Bill's did the same for a very different reason; "An Angel Brat!? I'll mount your wings to my helmet once I find it!"

Emiliel gulped and shuddered in fear, and Bill conjured a pair of Full Moon projectiles that he shot at her, only for King to growl and roar at them, destroying them by using the sonic roar to strip the Archivist Magic from it, then using the very same breath to transition to a beam roar that vaporised them. Bill was stunned by King's sudden fierce retaliation, and Emiliel blushed a little as King snarled; "I won't let you lay a finger on her!"

As Bill was reeling in shock, Samael managed to choke out through his tears; "Emi, you weren't supposed to come here! You pinky swore!"

"Yeah, I pinky swore to stay back unless I really had to leave, and I think I really had to!" Emiliel countered; "No one knows how to use exact words like a Cherub! Besides, I know a bit of Healing Magic thanks to Mrs Noceda and Luz! I can help!"

King opened his mouth to argue and tell Emi that her magic wouldn't help here, when his attention was suddenly drawn to Bill, who was thrashing and screaming in pain, his hair being pulled in all different directions by something invisible. Bill screamed for the Bat Queen and Prince to do something, but Prince had been tied up in spider silk without Bill noticing, and the Bat Queen tried to take flight only for abomination goo to bind one of her wings and glue it to the deck of the ship, stopping her from immediately flying away. King wasn't sure who was doing all this, but he had a good guess and as he saw Bill's temper rise and his magic flaring, ready for an explosion, he yelled.

"He's gonna explode! Get off him!"

Bill's hair suddenly stopped being pulled, and the man's belt was undone and pulled away by an invisible person, resulting in Prince being pulled away too. A moment later and Bill screamed and unleashed his explosion of pale green magic, just as a barrier glyph combo was used to protect whoever was fleeing. When the explosion faded, the barrier did too and revealed Simi (who'd been pulling Bill's hair) and Marama, with Asher also being revealed over on the ship, though he soon used a lasso of abomination goo and some wind magic to blow him back onto the dock.

"You guys too!? You're all here!?" King exclaimed, before he looked to Samael; "Is this the bad thing you said you did earlier!?"

"S-Sorry King…" Samael whimpered as the rest of the Nexsquad hurried over to him.

"I-I'm not mad… okay, I'm a little mad, and also really happy to see you guys, and really worried and maybe a little bit hungry? I feel a lot of things right now!" King ranted, his emotions as chaotic as his family.

The other kids smiled briefly, before looking to Samael and frowning. "Is he gonna be okay?" Asher asked; "I thought Sammy healed from everything!"

"It's that cursed blade." King explained, quickly dropping and raising his Titan Barrier to get the other kids inside it, before a panting Bill could pull his pants back up (they'd fallen when his belt was stolen) and free the Bat Queen. "You need to remove all the little bits of it from the wound or it won't ever heal!" King explained.

The other kids gasped, but Marama narrowed her main eyes and looked closely at the wounds. "I think I can help. My threads are super tiny and accurate; I could use them to find and pull out the shards."

King's eyes lit up; "You can? Then please do! And hurry, this barrier should keep us safe, but if that monster thinks to tunnel under it, we could be in trouble."

Marama nodded and immediately got to work, whilst handing the still tied up Prince to King. A few deft flicks of his claws and a bit of glyph magic was all it took for King to free Prince from both his physical bindings and the control of Bill, causing the little fellow to blink in surprise before noticing King and squeaking happily, flapping around King and hugging his face with his little wings.

"Ha ha! Nice to see you again too, Prince! We've already saved your sister, Princess, and next is your Mom and other sister, Heiress!" King told him, petting his hair and gesturing towards Princess, whom Emi had picked and was comforting, since the poor little Palisman was still sniffling after seeing her Mama hurt. Prince flew over to Princess and comforted her, making them both squeak happily, feeling a bit better to have another of their number with them.

The children all smiled, even Samael, who was feeling a little better as Marama's skilful fingers and webs found the shards stuck in her wounds and pulled them out. That didn't last long though, as Simi suddenly yelled; "Guys, that jerk is coming back!"

King whirled around and looked up to see Bill, now tying his pants up with a conjured rope, flying beside the Bat Queen, whom had been freed. The man didn't bother with any more taunts or screams, despite the fact his face had gone red from sheer rage (and perhaps a bit of humiliation), and instead simply snapped his fingers, causing the ground of the docks to begin disintegrating into quicksand. This included the sand beneath the kids inside the barrier, who began to sink in it. At the same time, the Bat Queen began to scream at the top of her lungs, and since the barrier blocked attacks but not sound, the children found themselves covering their ears, which meant they weren't casting spells to get themselves to safety. The only ones not sinking were King and Emiliel, who were being held up by Prince and Princess respectively. King used that moment to create a fake Titan Arm with his Monster Combo, allowing the kids to stand on the palm to avoid sinking. Emiliel was then able to put her hands over Asher's sensitive ears, which allowed him to in turn cast a soundproofing spell on the barrier, to block out the Bat Queen's screams.

"I hate that guy!" Simi growled, shaking some sand out of her fur; "Let's beat him up already!"

"It's not that easy! If we hurt him, he'll hurt BQ so he can heal! And we still need to rescue BQ and Heiress!" King told her.

At that moment, the sand beneath the fake Titan Arm suddenly shifted, and Bill leapt out from it, revealing that the Bill outside the barrier was actually just an illusion. Naturally, having a scythe-wielding maniac suddenly appearing inside their safe space had all the children screaming in terror, which included the Bat Queen's kids. Their shrieks made Bill flinch as he went for a swing, which gave King a moment to drop his barrier and have the Titan Arm fling them all to the side, right before the scythe blade hit the palm and destroyed the arm.

Luckily, Marama caught Samael and landed on her eight legs, while Asher landed on all fours like a cat, Simi landed on Asher, and Emiliel and King still had the Bat Kids, so they all avoided harm.

"Run for it! Into the labyrinth!" King ordered, not wanting to risk his friends in a full on fight. Unfortunately that failed immediately, as yelling the order so hastily meant Bill heard it and flew up into the air before blasting a stream of pale green flames across the top of the steps leading away from the docks, trapping the non-flying members of the group.

"No more running! No more interruptions! I will kill every single one of you Titan loving brats, and choke the life from the last Titan with my own hands! Then I'm going to offer his corpse to the Grand Huntsman, and grind these disgusting and useless bats down to woodchips! So make it easier on yourselves and DIE!" Bill declared, darting at the children with his scythe. He looked to be aiming at King, but suddenly changed trajectory at the last moment to attack Marama, dodging King's Titan Roar in the process.

The Dryder girl was focused on helping Samael and so wasn't in a position to defend herself, but her friends were still with her! Emiliel jumped in the way and used her limited magic as a Cherub to make a barrier, which shattered immediately on impact from Bill's scythe, but at least managed to knock his weapon back a moment. At that exact moment, Simi used lightning magic to electrify herself; her usual preferred magic type was Beast-Keeping, but she was still a novice and so couldn't use summoning spells, Bestial Blessings, or the Wild Heart Spell, so lightning was her only offensive option. It was still enough to stun Bill as she leapt onto him though, causing his body to seize up for a moment, which in turn allowed both King and Asher to act. Asher grabbed the shaft of Bill's scythe with his abomination lasso, while also using his limited Construction Magic to lift some of the bricks of the stairs they were on so he could launch them at Bill's hands, hoping to make his grip fail. Meanwhile King shot Bill in the back with a lower powered Beam Roar, before having to spin around and use a wind glyph and Titan Roar to blast the Bat Queen back after she'd swooped in for a sneak attack.

The combination of attacks shocked Bill in more ways than one; he'd assumed the children would cower and be terrified, so he'd been totally unprepared for any but the Titan to actually keep fighting now that he knew they were present! His mistake cost him dearly, and his scythe was yanked from his hand and into Asher's, with the little boy then throwing the scythe to King. The young Titan wasted no time in slicing off the control collar from Heiress, freeing her from Bill's control and causing her to immediately revert to her animal form, spitting out the Cursed Dagger (which was more like a Cursed Curved Sword now) and shaking off the Blessed Dagger too. Prince and Princess flew over to gather up their sister and fly her to safety over by Marama, Emiliel, and Samael, and Simi lunged off of Bill in an attempt to pick up the Blessed Dagger and maybe break it or use it on Bill.

Simi succeeded, and Asher similarly succeeded with the Cursed Sword, dragging the heavy thing over to the water and dropping it in to ensure Bill couldn't use it. However, Simi's lightning magic was weak and so it had only kept Bill stunned for as long as it was actively running through him, meaning the instant she jumped off, the current quickly faded. Now free and with a pain in his back from King's attack and bruised hands from Asher's thrown bricks, Bill snarled and flapped his spectral wings, releasing waves of little crescent moon blades made of magic, which were aimed at his three attackers. Simi shrieked like a monkey, evading most of them but getting nicked by a couple, leading her to begin crying as she suffered a handful of shallow bleeding wounds, which stung a lot for a child like her, who wasn't used to fighting. Asher managed to defend himself at first by using some bricks he hadn't thrown yet, but they were soon overpowered and shredded, leading to him taking a few serious cuts. The sight of his own blood gushing out of him caused the poor boy to faint before the pain hit him though, so he had at least that small mercy. Meanwhile King had been forced to put up a barrier that only protected himself, as the attack had come too fast and he couldn't make the barrier big enough to protect either of his friends.

Marama and Emiliel gasped as they saw Simi crying and Asher fainting, an act that looked more like he'd died with the way he was bleeding. Samael looked furious and tried to get back into the fight, ignoring his own pain and tears, only to be held back by Marama as her threads had yet to finish their work. And then there was King, who was once again forced to look at his bleeding friends, who were only children like him, and have flashbacks of Luz nearly bleeding out in front of him.

Bill smirked; "Looks like I got myself a nice black fur pelt. I'll show you all how to skin a Cait Sith; it'll give you some idea of what I'll do to you next, monkey brat!"

Simi whimpered and the foul man snapped his fingers, causing both his Cursed and Blessed Daggers to warp into his hands, rendering half of the kids' efforts completely useless. He then looked back to Asher and hummed; "Still breathing. The cut is a good one, but not lethal on its own. Guess I'll finish him; skinning the heads is always a pain anyway."

With that, Bill slowly raised his foot and hovered it over Asher's unconscious face, before raising the appendage high and preparing to crush the boy's skull. That was the final straw for King; seeing Samael, Simi, AND Asher hurt, on top of what Bill had done to his friend Prince, and Prince's family, caused King to see red, making his power boil over into an eruption. Rage and Hatred caused waves of white and purple magic to radiate off of King's body, and his smaller nine year old form began to grow and swell, just as it had on Titan Trapper Island.

Bill noticed none of this, at least until he tried slamming his foot down on Asher's head, only to find King's jaws (now similar in size to a large dog) clamping down around his raised ankle, the fangs sinking in deep. The man screamed in surprise and pain, but King didn't care; his eyes glowing purple. He lifted Bill into the air by his ankle and then swung him back down hard, smashing him into the stairs… then he did it again, and again, and again; creating indents and even small craters in the stone steps using Bill's body. If not for the Huntsman's blessing, such a violent act would surely have killed Bill, and to make matters worse, King was not stopping! He just kept thrashing his head back and forth, and when Bill tried to launch a spell at the Titan to make him stop, King would thrash harder, evading the blow and further punishing Bill. In the end, Bill opted to save himself by using his Blessed Dagger and some of the Huntsman's power to slice through his own leg, just above where King had bitten down. The pain was intense and Bill still ended up being sent flying as he was suddenly cut loose, but thanks to his wings he was able to catch himself and quickly stem the bleeding.

The brutal attack and even more brutal escape had horrified the children, excluding Marama who had kept her eyes on her task, nearly getting the rest of the fragments in Samael's wound. Emiliel was especially horrified, not seeing any of the cute and cuddly King that she admired in the beast in front of her. King's rage had caused his magic to go haywire and warp his body, causing him to become almost like a large wolf (sized just a bit shy of a teenage Direwolf) and stand on all fours, with his upper body being more muscular than his lower body, and his fangs and horns growing longer and sharper, and the entire skull becoming an almost eerie shade of purple due to the light emerging from his mouth (around Bill's disembodied leg), and his hollow glowing eyes. King's wings had also grown larger too, but the pale colour had darkened to a more silvery grey shade, and patches of the membranes looked thinner, almost as if they were going to tear and become holes like in full-grown Titan Wings.

King's Feral Form growled and chomped on Bill's leg some more, and Emiliel was briefly terrified he was about to eat it, but he instead spat it out and it sank into the still-present quicksand that had once been the docks. At the same time, a fuming Bill flew over to the Bat Queen and stabbed her in the back with his Blessed Dagger, making her babies scream, the children yell in outrage, and King roar once again, this time firing a beam of intense white, gold, purple, and yellow magic right at Bill, whose leg began to regenerate. Bill ducked behind the Bat Queen, and King still had enough self-awareness not to attack and hurt the giant Palisman, allowing Bill the time to fully regenerate his leg. Unfortunately, this left the Bat Queen in a VERY bad state, and she fell out of the sky and into the quick sand, bleeding green essence from both her stab wounds.

"Useless creature! Even with the band on her, she's been resisting! She should be stronger than this!" Bill muttered bitterly. It had apparently taken an entire horde of Trappers to get the collar on her, so the fact she was suddenly so weak could only mean she was fighting the collar even now.

He solidified the ground beneath her again and turned some of it into heavy metal chains to keep her tied down, ensuring his emergency health pack wasn't going to escape. He then turned his attention back to King, who snarled and flew at him with his maw wide open and still firing blasts of light. Bill evaded and flew away, duel-wielding his two blades and using them and the Huntsman's magic to create crescent moon blades and full moon meteorites to throw at King.

As the two were fighting, Emiliel got Simi to help her drag Asher over to a safe place so the former could start healing him. It took a moment, but Emiliel managed to heal his wounds enough to ensure he was in no danger of bleeding out, then used a healing glyph combo she'd made to finish him up, before turning her attention to a sniffling Simi.

"I really was dumb to think we should come here! We've barely helped at all, and this hurts!" Simi cried.

"It was a bad idea, but we HAVE helped! We pulled King and Sammy out of a bad spot earlier, and saved Prince too!" Emi countered, then pointed over to Marama; "And without us, Sammy would have been out of the fight entirely! At least now we all stand a chance of getting out of this alive! Even though…" she looked up to see the fight between King and Bill.

The battle was brutal, with King clawing at Bill and unleashing blasts of light and even lightning, shooting the former from his eyes and mouth and the latter from between his horns. Not only that, but King was conjuring portals made out of the shadows and jumping out of them in Bill's blind spots to attack him, doing quite a bit of damage and keeping Bill from getting to the Bat Queen, forcing him to either drain some of his magic to use healing magic (which he appeared to be awful at, leading to massive magic wastage), or to use his Blessed Dagger on King, which he could never get stabbed into the Titan. Still, small slashes and cuts WERE enough to heal a bit of damage, and King was being hyper aggressive in his rage, focusing everything into attacking and nothing into defending. As such, King was slowly beginning to take many cuts and bruises, doing the bare minimum to dodge and evade blows that would be serious if they landed, and outright tanking attacks that wouldn't be too debilitating. It was getting to the point that his fur was becoming streaked with blue blood, and drops of it were falling into the Boiling Sea, causing those patches of water to begin getting hotter.

"King is getting so badly hurt! He's totally out of control!" Emiliel said, biting her lip; "I need to do something, but I don't know what!"

Simi frowned and looked over to Marama; "How much longer do you think it'll take to get Samael back up and flying again?"

Marama grimaced, not looking away from Samael's wound. It was lucky she'd seen worst when her birth mother had killed and devoured her father, or else the bloody golden wound would have been very disturbing.

"Ugh, not sure! I thought I got all the pieces out of his wings, but Samael says he still can't regenerate and his healing spells aren't working!" Marama replied, as the young former Archivist kept his mouth sealed shut to stop himself from whining. He wanted to go out there and help King, but the pain in his wings was so great that he couldn't power through on his own. He WAS still a kid himself after all!

"I think a shard or two managed to worm their way deeper into his wound while he was struggling and writhing about. I'm not sure how to find them! I hate to say it, but it might be faster to chop off all five damaged wings and let him regenerate them from scratch." Marama finished, making Samael whimper at the idea. That was bound to hurt a lot!

Simi bit her lip; "Then I guess Sammy's not up for giving you a ride, Emi. I don't suppose you want to be like Luz and pull a miraculous ascension? You know, suddenly grow big wings and fly on your own?"

"If I could, I already would." Emi said, beginning to actually cry as she saw the blood dripping from King. Bill seemed to have noticed the blood too, and was grinning cruelly; he was going for a "Death of a Thousand Cuts" style victory now, hoping his magic would last longer than King's vitality… a gamble he stood a good chance of winning, as King was already slowing down and getting sloppy.

"I want to help save my friend! King has been so nice to me, to all of us! He's like our leader! I've gotta save him! No matter what, I want to save him!" Emiliel declared, using her light magic to begin carving a giant wind glyph into the steps beneath her. If she couldn't fly, she'd blow herself into the air and use her little wings to glide, which she could just barely pull off. As soon as the glyph was drawn, Emiliel threw caution to the wind and jumped on it, activating it whilst using her hands to keep her dress down and spreading her little wings as wide as they would go. The giant glyph created a gale force wind that easily caught her wings, and as she gave another little hop to help the wind along, she was sent rocketing into the sky, actually overshooting King and Bill by a good margin. She then began to descend, gliding as best she could out of the wind current and down towards King.

"King!" she cried, reaching for him.

Bill saw this and kicked King away just long enough to fire a crescent moon blade at the girl, which would slice her down the middle if it landed. Emiliel gasped and tried to use her limited magic to put up a barrier, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. Thankfully, Simi was more cunning that her friends realised, and as soon as Emi had shot herself into the sky, Simi had pulled a slingshot out of her overalls and wrapped a paper wind glyph around a marble, which she then shot at Emiliel. It had been intended to give her an extra gust of wind to correct herself with if she messed up the trajectory of her glide, but it ended up striking her side and blowing her out of the way of Bill's attack, much to the latter's surprise. Of course, being hit in the side by a marble launched by a slingshot still hurt, but Emi considered it worth it to avoid being sliced.

The miss frustrated Bill, but he couldn't try again before King smashed into him again and began to maul him, getting his teeth into Bill's right arm, which held the Cursed Dagger. Bill cursed and thrashed, and went to stab King with the Blessed Dagger only to have it blasted out of his hand by Emiliel shooting a small light beam as she finally landed on King's back. Emiliel then wrapped her arms tightly around King's neck and shouted into his ear while holding on for dear life.

"King! You've got to stop! You're hurt!"

The enraged Titan didn't listen though and continued to thrash, making it harder for Emiliel to hold on. Bill snapped his fingers and summoned the Blessed Dagger back to his hand yet again, then thrust it at Emiliel with the intention of healing off of her. She screamed and rolled to the side to avoid it, ending up hanging around King's neck.

"King! Please! Asher and Simi are okay! We need you to stop this! If you keep going, you'll die!" Emiliel pleaded.

Again, King didn't listen and instead thrashed his head harder to make Bill's next stab at him miss a little, instead scraping the edge of his horn. He then released Bill's arm and blasted him point blank with a huge beam of magic, actually destroying his right arm and a good chunk of his right shoulder, wings, and even a part of his torso too. An ordinary person would have died immediately, but with his Archivist Blessing, Bill clung to life even as he fell from the sky… at least until he grabbed hold of Emiliel's leg on the way down.

Emiliel screamed and held on even tighter, through her grip was rapidly slipping. "I-I won't let you die King! No matter what! You're my friend! I-I care about you! So please…"

Bill raised his Blessed Dagger, intent on stabbing Emiliel in the back. But Emiliel just looked up at King with tears in her eyes.

"… go back to being the real you… the kind King. You're not the monster this guy says you are."

With those final words and her grip failing her, Emiliel let go and caused both herself and Bill to fall out of the sky. The sudden fall made Bill flail around and stop winding up his stab, but he still held onto Emiliel and stopped her from being able to glide thanks to his extra weight, leading to them both plummeting towards the Boiling Sea.

In that instant, King's rage and hatred was completely overcome by a new emotion; concern for his friend. Emiliel had put her life on the line to get through to him, and as the haze of rage left his brain, a warm filled his chest. He was King Clawthorne-Noceda, a Titan, and a proud member of the CATTs… and he was also the leader of the Nexsquad! And just like his big sister before him, he knew that protecting his family and friends always had to come first!

"EMILIEL!" King cried, flying down as fast as he could, his eyes losing their glow as his body began to shrink back to its original size (albeit a tiny bit bigger, as if he'd gone through a mild growth spurt). Unfortunately, this meant his wings were smaller and he couldn't fly as fast, meaning he didn't think he could catch Emi before she was dragged beneath the Boiling Sea by Bill. It didn't help that he was in pain from the numerous cuts and bruises that riddled his body (and thankfully shrank with him), but King refused to give up.

"I won't let it happen! I will protect my friends! I refuse to let them die!" King declared, his magic flaring around him. In that moment, a yellow glyph ring appeared in front of him and lightning began to crackle within until it formed the pattern of an entirely new lightning glyph; similar to, but distinct from his Mama's.

The power of King's very own lightning glyph pulsed through him, and King suddenly used Hunter's Lightning Flash Warp to zip down and grab Emiliel just fractions of a second before she hit the Boiling Sea. Bill had already hit the water, though only to his waist, so his Titan Fur armour protected him. But when Bill raised his Blessed Dagger once again, King conjured his lightning glyph and shot a bolt of lightning with it, knocking the dagger out of his hand. Then before Bill could snap his fingers and summon it back again, he was suddenly hit in the face by a brick, tossed by Asher, who'd woken up after fainting.

Bill let go of Emiliel so he could grab his broken nose with his one remaining arm, which of course meant he fell into the water, screaming as he did because of the boiling water reaching his face. King didn't care though, and immediately flew over dry land so he could gently set his friend down, then land beside her and hug the daylights out of her.

"Emi! I'm so sorry! I almost got you killed!" King cried, before remembering his cuts and pulling away. He cringed when he saw he'd gotten most of Emi's clothes covered in his azure blood. "Ugh, sorry for this too Emi!"

Emiliel just giggled and hugged him again, not caring about the blood; "It's okay, King. You were protecting us! I just didn't want to see you die doing it! Now hold still Mister!" she demanded, "I'm going to heal you up a bit."

She began to gently pet King's fur, her hands bathed in healing magic as she searched for the cuts beneath the fur and healed them up. King blushed and allowed her to do her work, all the while feeling comforted by her gentle hands running through his fur. It reminded him a little of when Luz or his Mom would pet him, but for some reason it felt kind of different with Emi. He liked it just as much, but in a different way. The fact Emi had a sweet smile and an adorable blush on her cheeks as she healed him only making the warmth in King's heart grow warmer still.

Meanwhile, Simi checked that Asher was okay (he felt good, even if the blood on his clothes unnerved him), then the two rushed over to King.

"That was so cool, King! The glowy part was scary, but the new glyph thing you did was awesome!" Simi beamed.

"I only woke up for that last part, but the glyph WAS cool!" Asher agreed; "How'd you do it?"

King raised his hand and made his new lightning glyph manifest; it was the first time he'd managed to make one of his personal glyphs fully form, and he had no idea how he'd done it, though now it felt as easy as breathing. "I don't know… maybe because I was running on feral instincts, then snapped back to intelligence thanks to Emi? Plus all the emotions I was feeling… it's all aspects of the Lightning Element, so maybe that's what pushed it over the edge?"

The children didn't know either, but King thought that his idea was right; it felt like it was right after all! The Bat Queen's children, especially Prince, flew around him happily too, with Prince eventually settling onto his head and squeaking adorably, making King giggle and reach up to pet him, especially as his wounds had mostly been healed. It was as he stretched that his friends realised he had grown more than they'd thought; he was now about the same height as Samael and Asher, making him a tiny bit taller than Emiliel, Simi, and Marama.

Simi opened her mouth to comment, but before she could, Prince suddenly started shrieking in terror, causing everyone to spin around and see Bill, his face badly burnt, crawling out of the Boiling Sea and onto the hardened chunk of the dock that he'd kept the Bat Queen on. He had regenerated his spectral wings and used enough healing magic to grow back the bones in his right arm, as well as just enough muscle and nerves to let him move it and drag himself up with it. He was near-mad with pain and rage as he plunged his Blessed Dagger once again into the Bat Queen's body, draining more of her power and vitality in order to heal.

"NO! BQ!" King screamed, flying forward with his new glyph's flash warp ability. He reached Bill just in time to stop him draining the last of the Bat Queen's life force, but only just, and he promptly roared at the man, who'd fully regenerated his lost body parts, but was still badly burnt. The roar sent Bill flying backwards, but he'd managed to use a shield spell to prevent the Titan power of King's roar from disrupting his own Archivist power. The foul man then flew up into the air and snapped his fingers to summon the Cursed Blade back to his hand again, before drawing two massive spell circles with his blades; a red and black one with the Cursed Blade, and a radiant blue one with the Blessed Dagger, which was within the black circle. Once the two circles were drawn, he drew two more spell circles, this time using his fingers and the power of the Huntsman, creating a pale green circle between his existing circles, and a cyan circle that he activated immediately, causing a wave of cyan magic to spread out and coat the entire Laptela Necropolis.

King and his friends eyed this magic warily, suspecting it to be an illusion of some kind, but they didn't notice anything different, which only further unnerved them. Before they could try and figure out what had been done though, Bill activated his three concentric spell circles and conjured another Full Moon Meteorite… one that was big enough to destroy the entire Left Knee of Orion.

"H-He's gone completely insane!" King gasped, eyes wide with horror.

The others nodded in terror, then Asher looked over to the labyrinth and raised his sensitive ears. He could hear the same sounds of battle as he'd heard all day (if perhaps a little quieter as the fighting began to reach its end), and no signs of any additional panic. "Guys, I think that illusion was to stop people inside the labyrinth from seeing what's happening!" he warned.

"Wait, does that mean we have to stop that thing ourselves!?" Simi gasped. She then yelled over to Marama; "Hurry it up over there! We REALLY need Sammy now!"

Marama was working frantically; "I'm trying! I'm 9, not a surgeon!" she cried.

Samael tried to get up, but as he did, a fresh wave of pain hit him and made him yelp and flop down again, tears building in his eyes; "No… I need to get over there! I need to help!"

His friends felt for him, but they were too worried about the massive moon meteor to focus on their injured friend right now. Bill was cackling in insanity as he held it above him, preparing to drop it down on them; an act that would likely kill EVERYONE in the Necropolis, including King and the kids. In fact, the only likely survivors would be the immortal Samael, Bill, and Luz, who'd most likely be revived by either of King's parents, since she was the only one around with a glyph marking to connect her to them.

"You idiot! You're going to kill your own people! Aren't like all the Titan Trappers here, including your own tribe!?" King yelled.

"I don't care! I am the eldest of the Trappers, the only one to have lived in our golden age, and I will finally complete my family's ambition and bring an end to the Titans! All those fools are a worthy sacrifice!" Bill yelled back.

Samael, still unable to move much, nonetheless shouted out; "B-But didn't the Huntsman say he wanted King's body intact!? He won't be intact if you smush him! A-And if you kill King and all my friends, I'll make YOU disappear forever!"

Bill shook his head violently; "I don't care! All day I have been second guessed by my own tribe and humiliated by you brats! I don't care what happens to me any more, so long as the last of the damn Titans are dead! I do this in the name of Belial the Huntsman!"

Samael gasped; Belial… that was the Huntsman's name!? Had he told it to Bill when blessing him? He wouldn't get an answer to his question though, as Bill roared and threw down the colossal meteor, ending it blasting downward. Thankfully, keeping the madman talking for a few minutes had bought King the time he needed to create some Monster Combos, allowing him to zip over to the sea and throw them down to create a giant Titan Arm that reached out from the sea and grabbed the falling moon. This alone wasn't enough though, so King made more as fast as he could, causing three more giant Titan Arms to rear up and catch the falling meteor.

Still, these four weren't enough and King wasn't sure what else he could do, so he flew up to the meteor and roared at it, causing some of the pale green aura to vanish, allowing him to put his paws against it and fly with all his might in a vain attempt to stop the rock from landing.

"Ugh… I won't let you!" King cried, before roaring over and over into the massive projectile, firing beams that he hoped would destroy it or at least damage it enough that his giant fake Titan Arms could hold it back. Of course, this was like a mosquito biting an elephant; his attempt was basically unnoticeable due to the sheer size of Bill's attack. He considered flashing around behind the moon meteor and blasting Bill again, but he had simply dropped the thing and left it to fall, so taking him out wouldn't help!

Simi, Asher, and Emi tried to help; Asher had no long range attacks that could reach the moon meteor, so he hastily scrawled various glyphs and destructive glyph combos (what few King had shown them) and handed them to Simi, along with rocks he'd used his Construction Magic to turn into small round pellets. This allowed Simi to use her slingshot to launch the glyphs and pellets, while Emiliel used regular blasts of light magic. None of this did any good though; the power of a nine year old Titan and a gang of little kids was nowhere near enough to counter such a monstrous attack… but still they kept going. It was do or die, and they did NOT want to die!

Even the Bat Queen's children flew up and helped King, sticking their little claws into the rock and flapping their wings as hard as they could while screeching, doing anything they can to stop it. Their combined efforts were still useless, but seeing Prince at his side galvanised King's resolve even more!

"Come on, you stupid rock! I won't let that monster kill a single person! I swear it on the name of King, Son of the Owl Lady and the Boiling Isles! Brother of the Seraphim of the Demon Realm and the Best Kid the Celestial ever had! I've got a lot to live up to… and I refuse to let anyone down! If I'm really going to be "King" then I have to take care of all my people!" King declared, pushing himself to the absolute limit both physically and magically.

Those words, spoken with complete heartfelt honesty, reached Prince beside him, and the little Palisman felt something deep within his own being… an invitation; a connection between his soul and King's, which was laid bare before him. All it would take was Prince's acceptance… and he willingly gave it.

"King!"

The young Titan gasped, hearing an unfamiliar voice in his mind. It was the voice of a child; like a little boy sounding even younger than Samael and Asher. It took him a moment to realise the voice belonged to Prince, with whom he had forged a new connection. King briefly thought this was a result of his unique glyph, which had still not fully formed, but it felt different… it was something far more deep and personal, connecting his very soul to Prince's.

No, that wasn't right… this wasn't a mere connection; this was like a piece of his soul had fused into Prince, and a piece of Prince had in turn fused to him.

"Prince!? D-Did we just bond!? Are you my Palisman!?" King exclaimed, shocking Princess and Heiress too.

Prince gave a little smile and nod; "I felt your soul calling out to me! Mama said that a Palisman feels an invitation; the "resolve" of a person, and we can answer that invitation if we want, becoming that person's Palisman! I felt yours and I wanted to be with you! You're my best friend! And I've got two sisters, but I wanted a brother too! A big brother! And that's you too!"

King gasped softly; "You wanted me as a partner?"

"Yes! You named me Prince! Mama said we'd get new names from our partners if we ever get them, but I don't want a different one! We're King and Prince! And we're gonna win!"

The little Palisman pulled his claws away from the moon meteor and flew closer to King, before transforming into a staff for the first time ever. King stopped his pushing to grasp the staff, feeling an entirely new rush of power course through him as he held and admired it. In staff form, Prince hadn't really changed; his wings were spread, his mouth was open to bear his fangs, and his eyes were solid red, while his little hair spikes were both sharper (like a Bident) and the hair itself stretched down his back and then lengthened to form the staff. Like the Bat Queen had shrunk so her staff form fit Luz, Prince had also shrunk so his staff form was perfectly sized for King, being more like a wand when compared to a grown adult. Still, there was nothing small about the power King felt as he held his new staff.

"Oh, I can get used to this! A King needs both his crown and his scepter!" he declared with a grin, activating the enchantment that Luz had put on his medallion all those months ago, giving himself a crown of light (that resembled a halo) as he then spun his new staff like it was second nature. The result was a large yellow spell circle, which King then drew his new lightning glyph within using the head of his staff.

"GIGAVOLT HAVOC!" King cried, blasting magic through the glyph from his new staff, creating a MASSIVE stream of yellow lightning that carried enough force to actually stop the Moon Meteor in its tracks. Of course, while this meant the Necropolis and everyone in it was safe for the moment, it was only a stopgap measure; the meteor was being kept in place but the lightning wasn't damaging it nor was it pushing it back towards Bill, meaning that as soon as King and Prince ran out of power, they'd be back to square one.

Still, seeing this had inspired the other children; Simi, Emiliel, and Asher were giving it their all to try and push the meteor back too, using slingshot pellets and Angelic spells, while Marama and Samael were both more determined to get back into the action too. It was Samael who felt the majority of this enthusiasm though.

"King is fighting so hard to protect everyone! And so are the others! Even though all of them were hurt or scared, they're still fighting for their lives! All while I'm stuck here, whining like a baby!" Samael huffed, forcing himself into a seated position even as the pain in his wings brought a tear to his eye. As a Sephiroth Seed, he'd rarely felt pain and most injuries he took healed before the pain could even truly set in, so he wasn't used to it! But that wasn't an excuse for leaving his friends and brother to solve everything on their own!

Unbidden, a distant memory of his mother's voice came to him.

"You needn't be in such a rush to grow up, Samael. You are my little boy, and like all of your siblings, I love you just the way you are. One day, you will be just like them; you'll wield fragments of my power like they were your own. The Sun, the Planets, the Stars, the Moon… your siblings have quite a bit of power! You'll find your own some day, my Joy. But you need to find your niche first; one picked by you, for you."

Samael remembered that conversation; he'd been very little and not yet fully stable with his magic, and had feared his Mama would start to hate him if he wasn't useful like his siblings, and so he was impatient to develop his own power. Of course, the Celestial had held him and eased his worries, but even after so long, Samael hadn't truly found his own niche. He'd become the Collector at his sister's will, and all he'd done since was what he was told, unless he was playing a game or something else that took his fancy… he hadn't truly thought about what he wanted to do or be. But now, inspired by his friends trying so hard, he had a good idea!

"I'm done sitting back and doing nothing!" Samael cried, "Marama, do you know any Lightning Magic? Or any kind of Numbing Magic?"

Marama thought for a moment, then nodded; "I can use Ice Magic pretty well. But I don't think it'd be enough to freeze your wings and make them stop hurting."

Samael nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a Power Glyph; "Then use this! Freeze my left set of wings until they're totally frozen solid around the wound!"

"A-Are you sure!?" Marama exclaimed.

The boy responded by conjuring one of his Toy Warriors with Joy Abomination Magic, and had it line up its sword to cleave off more of his injured wings. Marama gulped, but obeyed; she put the Power Glyph on her cheek and felt an overwhelming aura of power that was almost too much for her to control. With her mind focused on her task however, she remained in control enough to unleash a beam of ice magic directly at her target. For someone like Gus or Luz, this level of magic would be child's play, but for an inexperienced child like Marama, it was an extremely impressive display of power that ended with Samael's entire left set of wings frozen.

Without giving himself time to freak out or panic, Samael snapped his fingers and had the Toy Warrior slice through the ice of his wings. The entire left side was snapped off close to the joint, and thanks to the ice, Samael only felt a very distant ache. Bracing himself, Samael then melted the ice and felt the pain began to rapidly build, bringing a tear to his eye, before his regeneration finally kicked in now that the cursed fragments were gone and his cut off parts were destroyed with another snap of his fingers.

"Finally! I am BACK!" Samael declared, his ten little wings spread out behind him as he leapt to his feet, an aura of gold and silver coating him.

"Thank the Titan! We need to get back in there! With your help too, I bet we can stop that giant rock!" Marama declared, still surging with power. "In fact…"

Marama whipped her hands towards the giant Titan Arms struggling to push the meteor back, causing her threads to emerge from her finger tips and shoot out to these constructs, which she then grappled herself onto, before using her Power Glyph to rapidly generate webs and make a massive net beneath the meteor to further keep it from falling down. The effect was minimal, but King DID feel like he needed to use less power to keep the meteor stuck in the air.

Samael grinned at this and began to fly up, his aura intensifying as his resolve grew.

"I have friends and family who care about me now! I'm not some tool meant to fill out the Archives! I'm going to fix my original family's mistake and protect the Titans! So long as I can, I won't let any more of my friends disappear! I'll make my siblings' powers disappear instead!" Samael declared.

Deep within him, a very old, very distant connection to his mother, the Celestial, suddenly awakened and all new Celestial Magic flooded him. He had always had access to the power of the Celestial, but unlike his siblings, he didn't have his own unique power that formed from their connection to their mother, but now that had changed. As this new Celestial Magic awakened within Samael, his body and clothes (which were a kind of Divine Regalia) began to undergo very minor changes. The outfit itself remained mostly the same, but gained a few new or altered details, and a new colour scheme that matched his biological siblings. The right side of his outfit turned gold and gained a silver crescent moon on the right breast, while his right sleeve turned silver and the sun marks on it turned gold, along with the edge of the sleeve. The left side was the opposite; it turned silver on the body with a gold sun mark appearing on the left breast, and his sleeve turned gold while the crescent markings and edge of the sleeve both turned silver. His shoes had turned silver with gold soles, and the pom pom on the right shoe turned gold, while the one on the left shoe was replaced by a silver crescent moon. Then there was his cap, which retained the white stars, but gained a gold edge and a silver body, with a new bauble appearing on the end; it depicted a golden sun with three triangular sunbeams and a golden crescent moon overlapping it. Similarly, his medallion had lost the old, somewhat creepy smile design and was now a golden sun overlapped with a silver crescent moon, and the entire altered outfit was capped off by a cape like his siblings, only his was silver. His physical changes were less pronounced, but still obvious; his once unnaturally pale yellow skin had become a peach colour (which, unknown to him, was the skin colour of his mother) and the blue patch on his face had turned gold, along with the other blue skin under his clothes. Even the freckles on his left side had changed, becoming little silver stars that now matched the golden star freckles beneath his right eye.

Samael looked down at himself as Marama gasped, shocked by his new change. It wasn't an evolution or ascension like Luz or Vee had gone through, but more like an awakening of his true power as a child of the Celestial. He could feel power flowing through him that felt connected to his siblings, but also diametrically opposed to it. Not only that, but based on his medallion and cap bauble, it appeared his power was related to the concept of the Eclipse.

"This power feels so different! I wonder how strong it would be without that meanie Divider and his barrier!" Samael mused, before snapping his fingers and creating a tiny black and purple speck in his left hand, which began to suck in the air around it, revealing itself to be a tiny black hole. He gasped at the sight of it; "A Black Hole… and Eclipse? That means I can counter Solar, Lunar, Planetary, AND Astral Magic! I'm not just a former Archivist any more!" the little boy cheered; "I'm like an Anti-Archivist!"

"That's amazing, Sammy! Let's help King and the others, and put that power to the test!" Marama grinned beside him.

Samael nodded excitedly and took to the skies after inviting Marama to cling to him like a backpack. He shot up so he was flying beside King, whose eyes widened in amazement at Samael's newly awakened self.

"Samael!? You too!?" King yelled, a smile breaking out across his face.

"Me too! You inspired me, King! Now we get to grow stronger together! My magic hasn't gotten that much stronger, but with its new Anti-Archivist power, the two of us can beat this guy!" Samael declared.

King felt even more motivated as Samael drew a large spell circle, which was filled with the emblem of an eclipse. The spell circle unleashed a gold and silver aura of magic that encompassed the entire Moon Meteor, slowly countering and destroying the Huntsman's Lunar Magic, almost like the Cursed Trio's Anti-Magic power. As the Huntsman's Magic left the meteor, Bill found that he could no longer exert his magic on it to push it down, and worst still, the Titan Arms and King's Titan-infused, Staff-enhanced Gigavolt Havoc was now pushing the meteor back at him. Bill tried again and again to make the meteor push back down, but nothing he did worked, causing him to grow more and more frustrated.

"WHY! WON'T! YOU! JUST! DIE!" He screamed, finally deciding to coat his two blades in as much of the Huntsman's Magic as he could, before slicing them at the meteor to create a giant crescent moon blade to slice it in half. The entire thing was cleaved in two, though the blade carried on through it until it hit King's beam of electricity, which held it in place long enough for Samael to counter with an eclipse-like discus of magic, which destroyed the crescent moon blade like it was nothing, leaving Bill sweating and gaping in shock and horror, seeing his biggest attack completely failing to achieve anything.

Of course, King and Samael had no time to focus on the withering Bill, who was ageing again now that he'd used most of the Huntsman's Blessing up. The two halves of the moon were still present, so King zipped around so he was above the Necropolis (Samael using a mini black hole to absorb the magic bolts being fired at him by the skeletons of the labyrinth), and created a glyph barrier around himself, before taking the time to carefully make himself the perfect monster combo on its surface. The result was a colossal Titan Skull forming around the barrier, which perfectly resembled his own but as an adult, and as the Skull opened its mouth, King absolutely covered the inside of the barrier with light glyphs, intending to use the skull to funnel all the light out through its mouth as a single straight beam. Once he was ready, King then drew a spell circle with Prince and thrust his staff through it, firing a light beam and triggering the glyphs, which added to his attack and eventually created a single laser breath attack that was strong enough to pierce both halves of the moon and promptly disintegrate the lion's share of both halves, since the Huntsman's magic was no longer shielding it, leaving only a few tons of loose rubble.

This rubble was then grabbed by Samael's magic, coating each one in his gold and silver aura and stopping them from falling. The young Sephiroth Seed then launched the rubble into the fleet of Titan Trapper ships, which were still unmanned from earlier. The ships were crushed, destroyed, and sunk to the bottom of the Boiling Sea, with a few even exploding as their cannons and stores of gunpowder were set off by the meteorites. The kids all whooped and hollered, celebrating the destruction of the fleet; they no longer cared if the Titan Trappers had no way of escaping, as with Samael and King's new power, combined with the likes of Luz and Eda, the entire swarm of them wouldn't stand a chance!

King and Samael (and by extension, Marama) landed back on the ground and were immediately greeted by Emiliel, Simi, and Asher, who were quick to praise them and gush over the former's new Palisman and the latter's awakened power. Prince turned back into his Palisman form and his siblings squeaked and flapped around him happily, overjoyed for him too. Even Bill had been largely taken care of, as without his Huntsman Power, which he'd mostly depleted, he had begun to rapidly age back to his real age, causing him to fall out of the sky and be caught in the web Marama had made between the giant Titan Arms. Seeing this, King decided to have the arms lower the bound Bill to the ground before being dismissed, leaving the webbed and defeated Titan Trapper dazed and helpless on the steps.

He was groaning pathetically and trying to weakly drag himself down to where the Bat Queen was still bound and on the brink of death, likely intending to use his Blessed Dagger to kill her and take what was left of her life. He was far too weak to get there of course, but the kids weren't taking any chances; Simi grabbed his face and zapped him with a weak pulse of lightning, making him cry out as Marama then wrapped him in more webs and Emiliel snatched up the Blessed Dagger while Asher took the Cursed Blade, which had shrunken back to a normal dagger too. Asher then took the blade to the edge of the steps and used a brick to shatter it into countless pieces, before Samael used his new magic to Eclipse the Lunar Magic the Huntsman had used to make the blades, rendering the Cursed Dagger broken and forever useless, its pieces then being dropped into the sea. Samael didn't remove the enchantment from the Blessed Dagger though, merely focusing on the hilt of the blade to remove the summoning spell that had been used to warp it back to its owner's hand every time they snapped their fingers.

It was now official; Bill had been utterly defeated and there was nothing left for him to do but weakly curse them… and curse them he did.

"Damn you… damn you worthless brats! Do you know how many of our people died, trying to bring down the Titans, that hold our fellow Witches and Demons enthralled!? You are siding with a monster that will make slaves of you! And you, false child of the Divine Mother! You are siding with the monster that defies your family's rightful place as Gods!"

Samael scoffed; "I'm not a God! The Huntsman; Belial isn't either! He's just a jerk! The Titans don't enslave people; Belial just lied and tricked all your ancestors into joining his war against them by lying to you!"

"Don't waste your breath, Sammy. This guy is a few indescribable meats shy of a Not-Dog. Just forget him; we know that the Huntsman is a big fat liar and that's all that matters!" King scoffed.

Bill shook his head; "No! That's not true! I swear when I get out of here, I'll kill you! In the name of Belial the Huntsman, I'll take your life just like he want-urk!"

The Titan Trapper's tirade was brought to an abrupt end as the Huntsman's markings around his neck, which were still present despite his withered state, began to emit Toxic Magic, which infected Bill's system. He began to choke on the poison, bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth as the Toxic Magic ravaged his insides, leading to King and Samael blocking the view of the others, so they didn't have to watch as the rotten man slowly died of poison. It was rather uncomfortable to watch, especially for Samael who still didn't fully understand death. Bill's passing came quickly, which was a small mercy for all involved, and as soon as the life left his body, the Huntsman's markings began to glow again and Bill's body disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only his now empty clothing.

"W-What happened!?" Emiliel whimpered; "That wasn't either of you, right?"

King shook his head; "We didn't even attack him. It looked like the Huntsman's own blessing took him out."

"It was weird… he was trying to say something about Belial, but then the marks activated! It was almost like the Huntsman wanted him silenced. The fact his body vanished too is probably part of that." Samael added, looking through Bill's clothing by gingerly kicking it over and levitating it with magic. Aside from some mundane weaponry and hidden jewellery made from gold and jewel-encrusted Titan Fangs, there was nothing to be found; no secret instructions or messages whatsoever.

It seemed that whatever secret that the Huntsman had given to Bill had died with him…

"Well that was tough. What do we do now? Should we get back to the ship? If Luz comes back and sees we're not there, she might get mad again." Simi said.

All the kids (sans King himself) looked worried that they might get in trouble regardless of their reasons for leaving the ship, but King reassured them; "You guys saved my butt. I'd be dead if not for all of you. I'll talk to Luz and make sure she's not mad! As for what's next…"

King looked over to the still trapped Bat Queen, who was still controlled by the collar as well as on the verge of death after having so much of her essence stolen by Bill. As soon as attention turned back to her, Prince, Princess, and Heiress all flew over to her and began trying to help her, though they didn't actually have the power to. Asher solidified the dock back into basic rock; it was still fragile, but it was at least possible to walk on, allowing the non-flying members of the Nexsquad to rush over with King and Samael to try and help the Bat Queen. King made short work removing the collar, but all that did was remove the control of the now-dead Bill, but left the Bat Queen still writhing around on the ground, her other restraints broken by Asher.

Emiliel began casting healing magic and King used a healing glyph combo, but only the latter actually worked, and it only sealed up the stab wounds the Bat Queen still had. The healing didn't restore her stolen life force and since Bill was dead, they couldn't even find a way to force him to give it back!

"What do we do? Healing won't work here!" Emiliel frowned.

"I've got an idea, but no one is gonna like it…" Samael sighed; "Why don't we put that fancy healing knife in the Bat Queen's claws then have her stab me with it? That way she can drain some of my life force to be healed! It's not like it could kill me either."

The Nexsquad looked at him like he was mad, and Emiliel hesitated to hand over the knife when he held out his hand for it, but as much as they disliked the idea, Samael DID have a point; there was no other way to restore lost life force that they knew of, and no one else they could use the knife on without risking that person's death. Even if they were willing to kill some evil Titan Trappers (a pretty big IF for a pack of mostly 9 year olds), they didn't have any to hand and the Bat Queen was suffering the longer they waited. In the end, Emiliel let Samael take the knife, but Marama froze Samael's leg while Simi and King both used some electricity to ensure the leg was totally numb and unable to feel pain for a bit, much to Samael's gratitude.

As carefully as he could, Samael placed the hilt of the Blessed Dagger between two of the Bat Queen's claws and then had King help him gently force the blade into his thigh. The blade only went in by about a centimetre before the enchantment activated, and Samael felt his energy being drained away into the Bat Queen. As this was happening, the Bat Queen's sunken cheeks and eyes popped back out, the bloodshot look in her eyes vanished, her breathing became less laboured, and her skin regained a healthy pallor.

It ended up taking a full ten minutes before the Bat Queen was back to full health, while Samael was feeling a little woozy and sleepy. As soon as the Bat Queen was coherent again, she gasped and yanked her hand away from the knife, and King promptly pulled the knife free while Emiliel healed the damage to his thigh and Asher lifted him onto Marama's back, letting her repay the favour from earlier.

"Children! My babies! What is happening? Confused is I!" the Bat Queen exclaimed, looking between the relieved children, her babies that were crying with joy and nestling into her hair already, and the general surroundings.

"It's a long story, BQ. We're just glad you're back to your old self!" King beamed, patting the Bat Queen on the side.

"My old self, yes I is. Oh, my poor babies!" BQ reached up and pulled her babies from her hair and into the crook of one of her wings, nuzzling all three to her cheek and kissing them on the top of the head. Prince was the last one to get a kiss, and when BQ's lips pulled away from the top of his head, her expression became… strange. It was a complicated look of pride, joy, worry, and resignation.

"A bonding has happened. My baby boy is no longer mine alone." she said, a hint of melancholy in her voice.

Prince nodded and flew over to King, perching on his head between his horns. "Yi Yi!" Prince said, unable to speak more in the Common Tongue. He then began squeaking energetically, and while no one but BQ and his sisters could understand him through words alone, King did feel like he got the gist, thanks to their new bond.

"You bonded with Baby Titan? A great honour… but still, so young! Both so young! Two little boys, you are!" BQ exclaimed. She didn't seem upset with the bonding, but she DID look conflicted. King couldn't blame her either; her baby boy was literally leaving the nest to come and be his Palisman Partner! For a parent, that must be a big step.

The Bat Queen then spread her wings reluctantly, putting her daughters back into her hair and then staring King down; "I must see your strength! We will have challenge!"

"Now isn't the time for that, BQ! We're kind of on the edge of a war zone here!" King argued.

"Nonetheless, a challenge is required! A trial! A Titan's Palisman… it fills me with strange feelings! I cannot allow my child to leave with you, not without proof of your worthiness!" BQ demanded.

King groaned; he REALLY didn't want to have to fight the Bat Queen! Prince was of the same mind too, squeaking rebelliously. There was no way King could make him fight his own Mama either, so he HAD to find another solution. That was when he had an idea; he didn't need to beat BQ, he just had to make her understand that he and Prince were good partners and could protect each other! With that in mind, he channelled the power of his personal unique glyph and reached out to touch BQ, intending to let her see his memories of their time together in the desert, as well as their bonding just a short time ago.

The Bat Queen sensed no hostility and so she didn't resist as King touched her wing, causing the aura to spread to her too. However, King's magic reacted in a way he hadn't expected; it had grown stronger thanks to his bonding with Prince and the awakening of his lightning glyph, and rather than simply showing the Bat Queen his memories, King found himself thrust into HER memories, and breaking through to some deeply repressed ones.

A series of short memory snippets flashed through King's mind; he first witnessed a young Titan, a little older than him, carving a log of Palistrom Wood into a bat-like creature that strongly resembled the Bat Queen's babies. The little Titan spoke to the Wooden Palisman and it suddenly came to life, signalling a bonding. Time then seemed to fast forward, as King watched the Titan and his Palisman grow larger and larger, until the Titan was almost the height of Orion's Right Knee and the Palisman had grown into the Bat Queen that King knew today. A third memory began, showing the Titan sitting on a mountain beside the sea, where a congregation of full-grown Titans were yelling and shouting at something that resembled four tiny lights; a gold one, an orange one, a red one, and a green one. The green one suddenly flashed brighter and one of the full-grown Titans was struck through the head with a colossal spike of conjured crystal, which caused the stabbed Titan to die instantly, falling over into the sea and causing a huge wave. The other Titans soon went into a rampage, and while the other three lights seemed to be trying to avoid a fight, the green one kept attacking, until the lights were forced to retreat. The Bat Queen's Titan forlornly looked at the deceased Titan, murdered in front of them, and then looked defiantly in the direction the lights had fled.

There was no question in King's mind; those lights had been the Archivists, and the Huntsman had murdered a Titan at what had likely been some attempt at a peace summit between their factions. King was a bit surprised that the Huntsman could do such a thing, but the attack he'd used had likely been normal Angel Magic rather than his Sephiroth Magic, and since the attack had been unexpected and gone right into his unsuspecting victim's eye, he'd been able to hit their brain and kill them. It made King wonder if what he'd just seen had been the start of the Titan-Archivist War…

That thought seemed to be confirmed with the next memory, which showed numerous Titans, Supreme Dragons, and Witches and Demons of all kinds fighting a battle out at sea with an army of Titan Trappers, most of who were blessed with Archivist Magic; primarily the Huntsman's, though there were orange and gold auras among them too (and noticeably none of Azazel's red aura). The Titans included the Bat Queen's Titan, and while they remained in their full form, attacking the distant Titan Trapper Ships, several of their brethren had taken on Avatars so they could send them into the battle without risking hitting their own allies. This didn't end well, as while the Avatars were just as offensively powerful, their defences had taken a hit and several of them were brought down, bringing down their true Titan forms too. The Supreme Dragons were also shockingly brought down with hails of Archivist-empowered arrows, as even the strongest of them couldn't stand up to 10,000 spikes of magic, each as long as a javelin. Through sheer numbers, underhanded tactics, and cruel tricks, the Titan Trappers turned what should have been a sure victory for the Titans into a running retreat, with the Bat Queen's Titan signalling their forces to flee, with him lagging behind to shield their escape.

Catapults, trebuchets, and other large siege weapons on the Titan Trapper ships fired on them as they retreated, and it was during this assault that the adolescent Titan found themselves pierced over and over by ballista bolts, each one radiating with Angelic Magic. It was clear the Titan wasn't going to get away, yet they didn't falter as they shielded their retreating allies. Then, a rogue shot from a catapult managed to hit his staff, knocking the Bat Queen off of the top and damaging her quite badly. Seeing this, the Titan's eyes filled with tears as they whispered something to the concussed Palisman, before suddenly breaking their bond, freeing the Bat Queen from sharing in their fate. The Bat Queen, even dazed and confused, was heartbroken and tried to argue, but the Titan ignored her and banished her, causing the tearful Palisman to flee. She did not see the fall of her partner, but King did; he crumpled and fell into the ocean shortly thereafter, though he'd been sure to fall onto the Titan Trapper ships at the same time, crushing the majority of them.

From there, the memories showed the Bat Queen roaming, her mind and memories fading slowly due to her injury and trauma, and even as the old injury healed on its own due to the Bat Queen's incredible strength, her memories did not return. She roamed for centuries, flying from Titan Landmass to Titan Landmass, continent to continent, and war zone to war zone, until the Titan-Archivist War seemed to come to an end. The final moments of the war came with two colossal explosions of magic; one was a literal explosion in the far distance, which shook the world and sent meteorites across its surface, being the sacrifice of Cassiopeia, while the second explosion was more of a massive spike of magic as Orion mistakenly sealed Samael away for his siblings' sins. The Bat Queen had gone to the site of the first explosion and found nothing but a colossal trench that was slowly filling with water (actually lowering global sea-levels by a few feet), so she instead flew the opposite way, to the site of the second explosion, where she found Orion's newly fallen body. Exhausted, the Bat Queen rested there, and over the next 5000 years, she watched the Titan being settled, becoming the Boiling Isles, be conquered and reconquered several times, and eventually fall under Belos' sway. Finally, the memories showed the Bat Queen, having grown three large spikes from her back, snapping these spikes off to be used as logs from which she carved her three children, each of which came to life almost as soon as they were finished. The final memory King saw was of the Bat Queen talking to Prince at Titan Cradle Island after the incident in the desert, hearing everything about her son's adventure with King.

Once King had gone through all those memories, he suddenly snapped awake and staggered away from the Bat Queen, his eyes wide and his expression haunted as he tried to accept what he'd just seen. The Bat Queen was in an almost identical position; staring at King with wide eyes as her own long repressed and forgotten memories came flooding back.

"I-I remember… I remember it all." she whispered as her children flew around her head and then nestled onto her to comfort her; "I was Palisman to a Titan! I was carved by my partner, Eridanus! We bonded over his deep desire to be a parent and start a family of his own some day. A dream I shared as his Palisman Partner."

"Whoa! The Bat Queen is the Palisman of a Titan!? Just like Prince!" Simi exclaimed.

"Yeah… but it ended badly when the Archivists showed up." King said miserably.

The Bat Queen's eyes filled with tears; "War was everywhere… many died on all sides. Eridanus was hurt, and so was I. He order me to flee, but I refused… so he broke our bond and told me to fulfil our dreams. I flew away and over time, memories faded away."

King reached out and patted her wing; "I bet that only happened because you were hurt. You were alone and confused, healing for centuries! Anyone would forget after taking a head injury like that, so don't feel too bad. Besides…" he gestured to the three concerned Bat Children; "…you DID fulfil your partner's dreams! You had children and made a family for yourself! I bet Eridanus would be proud!"

The Bat Queen smiled and lowered her head so she could gently butt her forehead against King's; "You are wise beyond years, little one. Perhaps… perhaps you truly are worthy partner to my baby boy."

"Does that mean you accept me?" King asked excitedly.

A smile stretched across the Bat Queen's face; "I do, King. You and my son are bonded partners; a Titan and his Palisman… I not get in your way. You have my blessing."

King and Prince both cheered, while their friends looked on in relief, glad they didn't have yet another fight on their hands; the battle with Bill had been more than enough! King hugged the Bat Queen's leg, while Prince did the same to the side of her face, making her giggle before the two of them separated from her and hugged each other.

"Yes! I am the King of Partners! Come on Prince! We beat up Bill, now it's time to go and save the rest of the Palismen!" King declared happily. "Samael's still kinda pooped, and my friends can't go into the labyrinth without getting in big trouble with Mom and Luz, so I'll go in alone! BQ, you should stay and look after them!"

The Bat Queen didn't look too sure about that idea; "It would be wiser for you to stay out here, young King. Danger lurks within the maze… I remember other Titan Trapper leaders from when I was slave to that degenerate Bill. A Scylla Demon with weapons in every hand, a strangely quiet and polite man with a blade dripping in deathly poison, a woman with weapons hidden all over her, and even a man whose arm is that of a Titan's Avatar, oozing with necrotic magic. Not threats to be taken lightly."

King gulped; those DID sound pretty intimidating. If they were leaders of their tribes, they likely also had Blessed and Cursed Blades, and a great deal of cunning. Bill had a lot of power, but he'd been arrogant and flashy, wanting to throw that power around… a TRUE hunter would likely pose more of a threat with far less power, and King wasn't feeling at the top of his game even with his new powers and partner.

"O-Okay, maybe you have a point, BQ." King conceded; "I wouldn't want to put Prince in danger."

It was a childish and transparent attempt to save face, but the Bat Queen wasn't going to call him on it.

"Wise choice, young King. Though I should tell you one more thing; the Bat Queen is what I am, but for so long, I knew no other name. Thanks to you, my memories return and I recall the name Eridanus gave me." she smiled broadly; "I am Chiro. I be honoured if you call me this."

"Then you're Tia Chiro now!" King declared happily.

The other children chirped their agreement, and the newly dubbed Chiro smiled and hopped over to hug them all, wrapping her wings around them. It was shockingly cosy for all the kids, though they didn't remain there for long. About ten minutes after they cuddled up with her, there was a loud rumbling from the Necropolis, and they all peeked their heads out to watch in shock as the skeletons that made up the labyrinth walls began to untangle themselves from each other and dismantle the walls. Confused and curious, King flew over to take a look, while the Bat Queen scooped up the rest of the Nexsquad and her babies and flew over look too, giving all of them a shocking look at what was going on.

The five-man team of Tarak (looking rather battle damaged), Galeh (also appearing battle damaged), Rakusa, Tarak's wife, and Denasu were all stood at the top of the steps leading down to the docks, facing into the dismantling labyrinth, with Denasu holding aloft a string that had dozens of bone amulets hanging from it, all similar to her own. The amulets were glowing with purple magic, and seemed to be controlling every skeleton that had been animated by the Bone Shamans. King expected them to be used as an army against the CATTs or Oracles, and was prepared to launch a sneak attack on Denasu to stop her, but to his surprise, the skeletons began to harmlessly return to their graves and mausoleums. Each and everyone of them ignored whatever was going on around them and marched back to their final resting places. Once every skeleton was back in their graves, a huge number of little purple lights emerged from the ground and shot towards Denasu, sealing themselves within her string of amulets. After they were all sealed up, Denasu dropped the string to the ground and stomped on the amulets, crushing them and causing purple sparks to fly everywhere for a moment. Once she was done, the amulets were no more and the Titan Trapper's skeleton army was gone, exposing the full Necropolis.

King looked at the place with a sad frown; the Titan Trappers and their mind-controlled beasts had defiled the placed with their attack… most of the graves and mausoleums had been unearthed but not broken, but there were a few tombstones that had been shattered in the fighting, which filled King with anger. Even more so was the sight of a few dead Oracles… from what King could tell, the death toll among the Oracles had been fewer than 20, but since killing them wasn't necessary to take their masks for the disturbing hunting game that Bill had suggested, each one was proof of a Trapper who was willing to murder without reason. There were actually almost double that number of dead Trappers though; the Oracles had not been gentle about fighting back, and several of the bodies appeared to have been mauled; likely by their own beasts that had escaped their collars somehow. Tragically, there were a few dead beasts too; thankfully only a couple (most had been restrained by ice or abomination slime), but the sight of these innocent creatures dragged into battle against their will and then killed made King and his friends all tear up a little. The ONE saving grace to everything was Chiro taking a deep breath to catch the scents of her Palisman charges, and being overwhelmingly relieved to sense that of the ones brought to the Necropolis, they were all still present and alive.

As that moment, there was a flash of magic from the centre of the Necropolis as Luz suddenly appeared from the shadows, having been using them to navigate the place without needing to solve the maze. She took a look around and saw the same things as King, causing her expression to become thunderous; not including the likes of Odalia, Flora, Carnar, Terra, and Vitimir, nobody had actually died in this war yet, and to suddenly have numerous innocent Oracles and Beast Demons be murdered by the out of control Titan Trappers filled Luz with a rage that King could barely fathom. She immediately transformed into her Titan Form; an act that none of the Titan Trappers missed (Tarak's group beneath them gasped in amazement at the sight of her), and began to scan the Necropolis with her eyes.

She found the Magic Mixers (Edric, Emira, and Orthrus had awoken by this point) somewhat close to the cliff side, and then she found Eda and Osran over by the castle, before finally spotting King and his group by the docks. She noticed the lack of ships, King wielding Prince as a staff, the Bat Queen, Samael's new appearance, AND the presence of the children riding on the Bat Queen, causing her expression to flit between pure joy and relief, to surprise, to pride, to annoyance, and then to resignation and pride once more. She then looked away from King and reached for her halo, taking it into her hands and moving it in front of her, where she turned it into a golden spell circle.

King gasped; "Luz is going for a Seraphic Art! I think she plans to take all the Titan Trappers out at once!"

Cassiopeia's lightning glyph appeared inside the circle, which Luz then raised above her head and expanded so it almost completely covered the sky. Before Luz completed the spell, she drew a second smaller spell circle with one finger, then shot it towards King, where it hit him and formed a barrier around his skin. King didn't know what the purpose of this was, until Luz finally roared out the name of her completed spell; one she'd come up with entirely on her own;

"DIVINE RETRIBUTION OF THE TITANS!"

In a flash, powerful bolts of lightning began to rain down from the colossal spell circle and glyph, with each and every bolt homing in on a Titan Trapper, striking them via their skull masks or fur robes, as if using the Titan aspects of them to specifically find and target them without risking anyone else getting hurt, and since the defenders of the Castle had made sure all Trappers within it had been pushed outside already, Luz's Divine Retribution was able to reach all of them, using the Intelligence Aspect of Lightning to hit their targets. One bolt even hit King, homing in on his own fur and skull (since it seemed Luz was limited in how intelligent she could make the lightning), but the barrier she'd put around him kept him safe. That was also when King realised that Tarak's team was in danger too, since Luz hadn't excluded them.

With only the tiniest bit of reluctance, and telling himself that he was only doing this to repay Rakusa's help on Titan Trapper Island all those months ago, King flashed down to the midst of Tarak's group and created a glyph barrier around them, protecting them from harm, much to their surprise. They had been stood still, Tarak embracing his wife and son as they waited for the inevitable, only to be saved by the one person in the world who had the most right to hate them.

The lightning continued to rain down like a literal Divine Storm for several more minutes, until finally the circle in the sky vanished and Luz fell out of the sky, no longer having the strength to fly now that she'd used her Seraphic Art. King and the others watched as she spread her wings to glide and slowly descend, before Eda shot over and caught her safely. As the Clawthorne Ladies continued their descent, Luz said something to Eda, and the Owl Lady nodded and sent Owlbert over to where the Magic Mixers were, before flying towards the docks, where Luz had seen King. The Bat Queen flew down to meet him too, and the kids riding her noticed that every single Titan Trapper (besides those rescued by King) had been knocked unconscious by the powerful storm of magic.

By the time Luz and Eda reached the docks and the kids, Luz had returned to her now halo-less Seraphim form and she was now exhausted as a result, but she still mustered the strength to run over to King alongside Eda.

"KING!" they both cried with joy, as King dropped his barrier and rushed to them too.

"MOM! LUZ! I'm so glad to see you both!"

He leapt into their arms and all three were soon crying with joy and relief, with Eda and Luz checking King over for signs of injuries, while he giggled and tried to playfully escape from their hugs and kisses.

"We're so glad you're okay, King! We were worried when we heard Azazel had nabbed you! Though you'll be glad to know that Matt and the others nabbed her too!" Eda grinned.

"She's now our "guest". Your parents are watching her!" Luz explained.

King grinned; "Great! That's one Archivist down, and with the Huntsman using up most of his power on blessing that creep Bill, I bet he'll be out of our hair for at least a little while."

Luz and Eda looked intrigued, and their interest was peaked even more when Prince decided to turn himself into staff mode again and rest in King's hands, making the Clawthorne Ladies gasp in amazement.

"You have a Palisman!?" Luz exclaimed.

"And he's one of the Bat Queen's kids!? Dang King, you're one impressive nine year old! Speaking of which…" Eda began with a big toothy grin.

She and Luz squeezed King between them and cried; "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

King giggled, and Prince turned back into his Bat form so he could flap along and squeak happily, soon joined by Stringbean who turned into a regular looking Bat and squeaked too, causing her to soon be dragged into a game by Prince and his sisters. Chiro also greeted Stringbean with a pleased smile, and told Luz that she was proud her Palisman had come out so powerful, wondering if the girl's Titan power was why Stringbean had been born with rare magical abilities, similar to Chiro herself.

Attention then turned to Samael and his own new awakening, as well as the kid's presence on the battlefield. Needless to say, Luz was NOT happy.

"I seem to remember there being a pinky promise that you guys would be staying on the ship." Luz said, crossing her arms. Her exhaustion was making her a little less patient than usual, though thankfully her joy for King evened it out a little.

"W-We were gonna stay on the ship! Promise!" Emiliel quickly explained; "But you said not to leave "unless we really needed to!" Well Sammy had to go because that weird Titan Trapper guy had caught King and was gonna choke him to death! Then the fight got really bad and we had to come help!"

Simi nodded frantically; "We totally saved King's life! Honest!"

"We did Luz! I swear!" Asher added, giving his best kitten eyes.

Marama also meekly added; "I know you don't trust us because we messed up really bad, but please believe us!"

Luz looked each one in the eye, then without even looking to King or Samael, she nodded slowly. "Alright; I believe you… you're good kids after all. But I want the FULL story on the way home! Because Emi, you are COVERED in King's blood, and Asher, you are also covered in blood, and going by the cut in your outfit, I have a horrible feeling it's yours."

The kids all beamed, overjoyed that Luz believed them. Emi even hugged Luz, before realising what she was doing and backing off sheepishly, only for Luz to laugh and grab her in a proper hug again, much to Emi's joy.

As Luz was cuddling a very happy (and trilling) Emiliel, Eda turned to Samael and ruffled his hair; "Looks like you got a new look too, Starlight. But I saw a big gold splatter on the steps over there; care to explain?"

"Long story. I kinda had to chop off some wings… Bill was a real jerk, but he's gone now. The Huntsman's magic made him disappear; literally! He turned to dust!" Samael explained.

Eda chuckled wryly; that answered no questions and actually gave her quite a few more, but she decided to drop it for now; they could talk about what happened as they were escaping. Luz had the same thought too, as did the others who arrived a few moments later. The Magic Mixers came riding in on their Palismen alongside Osran, all of them carrying several Palismen that they'd rescued from the unconscious Titan Trappers along the way.

After some more short reunions, during which Osran and the Magic Mixers wished King a happy birthday and congratulated him and Samael on their new powers, and the swarm of freed Palismen had been checked over by Luz, attention finally turned back to Tarak's group, who'd been quietly watching everything from nearby. Luz had noticed King protecting them, so she wasn't making any hostile moves (not that she could do much right now, with her magic depleted) but she did give them a warning look that running off would end badly for them.

"Alright King, so what's the deal with these Trappers?" Eda asked, crossing her arms.

"The old lady is the one who brought down the labyrinth, and they all argued with Bill, who was willing to kill them." King explained.

"Old lady! I have a name! It's Denasu!" the old Trapper snapped, before looking to Luz; "Well glad to see you're looking better than last time we saw each other. Though something tells me I've seen you more recently than I think…"

Luz nodded; "We met a while ago, but Boscha took out your memories."

Rakusa smiled at her; "I'm very happy to see you've made a full recovery, Miss Angel. It's been a while."

"It has. You're… Rakusa, right? Amity told me about you. I owe you my life. So, would you care to explain what's going on? Because by the sounds of it, you betrayed your Tribe to help us out." Luz said, being polite still but also remaining suspicious of them.

Rakusa nodded, and gestured to his father Tarak, who stepped forward to talk. "As you are no doubt aware, Lady Angel; the Titan Trappers worship the Grand Huntsman; a God from beyond the stars! As you are also aware, he has since returned from his long absence and has descended to live among us. My family has loyally served him, and believed in the gospel of the Huntsman, that describes Titans as monsters that we are tasked with killing, to save Witch and Demon Kind from their cruel yoke!" Tarak declared, briefly behaving a bit like an overenthusiastic preacher, before remembering who he was speaking too.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Tarak then continued; "However, since the Grand Huntsman has returned and we became his hosts, my family and I have felt… doubts. He is not what we expected."

King snorted, while Samael nodded knowingly; "I bet he kept bossing everyone around, and being mean to them!" the man's little brother said.

Tarak's wife, the only person present whose name wasn't known, nodded; "That is correct, Grand Collector."

"No! Not the Collector any more!" Samael protested; "I'm Samael!"

"Oh, please forgive me Lord Samael-"

"JUST Samael! I don't want to boss people about! That's not nice!"

The woman's eyes softened, and Luz got the impression she was smiling; "Samael, then. Please allow me to introduce myself too; I am Toruna, Daughter of the Bone Hand Tribe, Wife to Tarak, and Mother of Rakusa."

"And my little whippersnapper of a Grand Niece!" Denasu chimed in.

"So, the Grand Huntsman proved he wasn't what you thought he'd be, and your faith faded. Not a big surprise there." Eda said, reminded of how faith in Belos tended to decline in those who worked closest to him. Dictators and Despots were terrible at hiding their true natures when they stated getting comfy.

Tarak nodded; "Yes, Mother of the Titan. He demanded everything we had; our people had little in the way of surplus food and few luxuries, and he took them all and more. Each family must ration their food so the rest can go to him… Those who have interesting Hunting Stories draw his attention and become his favourites, but he grows bored of us quickly when our stories run dry, and he is not a fan of repeats."

"No one likes a Re-Run. But still, for him to take your food… He doesn't even need to eat!" Luz exclaimed, disgusted by what she'd heard.

Denasu nodded; "Not only that, but his favourites can basically do whatever they want! Lording it over everyone else! Bill was the worst, since he kept riding on the "glory" of nearly killing you and leading the only hunt against a Titan since the Huntsman was banished."

The old woman spat on the ground in disgust, while Tarak's eyes flashed with hurt. King remembered how much Tarak had looked up to Bill, considering him his best friend… having that friend become a tyrant on top of their God turning out to be a jerk must have been a couple of rough blows. He remembered the argument from earlier, and also how Bill was willing to wipe out the entirety of the Titan Trappers, including his own tribe, in an attempt to kill King.

"Okay, so what happened today? After you left the ship I mean? I know what happened before that." King said.

"We hid our injured brethren somewhere safe, and Denasu spoke with my beloved and raised a good point; there was no honour in what we were doing. Enslaving Palismen, disturbing the graves of countless Witches and Demons, and murdering the Oracles of this place, all to kill a Baby Titan who had only hurt us after we attacked first. We knew that our tribe and the others were all in too deep to be reasoned with, but my son has always been gentle, my wife is the most intuitive woman I know, and Galeh always follows Denasu's lead. That just left Denasu and I, and we…" Tarak trailed off for a moment; "… we didn't trust our people any longer, but for some reason, we trusted yours. We have no idea why, but something deep within us was telling us to believe in you. We think it has something to do with our faded memories from several days ago…"

Luz and Samael exchanged looks; it seemed that working with them to defeat the Draco Lich, and going out of their way to protect them and save Denasu had paid off! Even though they didn't consciously remember what happened, their souls still felt a respect for them.

"… and so we came to a decision. We needed a new purpose in life and as the ones who inspired this desire, we thought we should come to the two of you." Tarak finished.

"Of course, we couldn't come empty-handed after all we'd done. So we did what we felt was right; bringing down the maze!" Denasu said; "As the Bone Shaman of the Bone Hand Tribe, I was ordered by Bill to work with the Bone Shamans of the other six tribes, including a rather nasty Necromancer, to make the maze. When we came to the decision to go against the others, we went through the labyrinth and hunted down the other shamans, taking them out and stealing their amulets. We cheated a little by using my magic to move through the walls of course, otherwise we'd still be lost in there! In fact, we got lucky; that wretched Necromancer was defeated before we got to him, and his tacky bone arm was missing!"

The Magic Mixers exchanged looks, and Jerbo asked; "Was his name Seliere by any chance?"

"It was! So you lot took him down?" Denasu asked gleefully. She received some nods, making her cackle; "Good on you! You lot just keep proving you are worthy of our respect! But anyway, with all of them beaten, we could bring down the labyrinth. And now we're here, offering to pledge ourselves to your service."

The CATTs exchanged looks for a moment, then Luz stepped forward and offered her hand; "Your story is believable, but if you want us to trust you, you must swear an oath or take Blabber Serum."

Eda flashed a bottle of the serum to the Trappers, who didn't look too comfortable about taking the potion. Instead, each one offered their own hands to Luz, removing their Titan Fur gloves in the process. Every single one took the oath Luz required from them; swearing they were telling the truth and had no intention of hurting the CATTs so long as they didn't hurt them first. Once they finished with that oath, Luz, Eda, King, and Samael huddled together to whisper how to handle things.

Their story had made them consider accepting the Trappers; their sins involved attacking them on Titan Trapper Island and Zachael's Landing. They hadn't actually succeeded in hurting them either time, with Bill being responsible for hurting Luz, and the Draco Lich being unleashed by accident. Not only that, but they hadn't killed anyone else or committed any other grave sins. They'd been against the Palismen enslavement and the bone maze, and their parts in both had largely been repaid by them dismantling the maze. Plus, Luz did feel like she partly owed Rakusa for keeping her alive after what happened… in fact, Denasu had saved her life too when she was sick from the Mold.

Denasu had as many sins as redeeming factors, Toruna had done nothing wrong to them at all, Galeh had only fought them once on her mistress's orders, and Rakusa had outright helped them at every turn! The only iffy one was Tarak, but Mason has reported that he'd been honourable in their short fight. In the end, Eda and Samael were both willing to concede the decision to King and Luz, who whispered to each other before coming up with a compromise they agreed with.

King then turned back to the Trappers and said; "Alright, you want to redeem yourselves and join the CATTs?"

"More specifically, we wish to join you and the Angel Lass." Denasu corrected; "Bill and the Huntsman are duds and all they ever said were "Titans are evil" and "Angels that side with Titans are evil." Since Bill's a dirty scheming scumbag and the Huntsman is another tyrant, we guessed maybe the other side are the real ones to be following."

Luz nodded in understanding; these five were lost souls whose entire way of life had been called into question and were looking for redemption and a chance of something new. "Alright. We're prepared to give you a second chance, as thanks for Rakusa and Denasu saving my life, and you guys coming to your senses. But there are conditions."

Tarak and his fellows nodded; "We expected as much."

"First, you don't have to join the CATTs, but you still need to take the oaths so we know you're not gonna turn spy on us." King began. "Second, no worshipping me or Luz! We don't like it! Sammy too, but he already told you that part."

"Of course. We will do our best to be good citizens of your society." Toruna agreed.

"Good! Because there is still two more conditions! Third, you have to help us gather up the last of the Palismen your old buddies enslaved, 'cause we're getting them ALL out of here safe and sound!" King declared.

"We can do that! I'd be happy to! But what about the other Trappers themselves?" Rakusa asked.

Luz shrugged; "We'll leave them. We're not killers and we've got no way of keeping them all captive, so the Divider is gonna have to keep them. I bet he's gonna be mad though!"

Everyone shuddered as they imagined the Divider's wrath; the fact that a faction that was supposed to be under his control had disobeyed him, enslaved the Palismen, killed several innocent Oracles (and thankfully none of the visiting civilians), and tried to kill King was sure to drive him into an incandescent rage.

"I think we're all eager to get out of here before he shows up. So King, give them the last condition!" Eda said, having a feeling that she knew what it was.

King nodded and said; "Even if you guys never managed to kill a real Titan yourselves, you're all wearing skulls and furs that come from Titans that your ancestors murdered. It wouldn't be fair to judge you for them being monsters, but I still want you to make it right! So you're gonna take the skulls and bury them here in the Necropolis, with a proper grave and memorial! And you'll burn the furs! Deal?"

The former Titan Trappers exchanged looks, then one by one they took off their skull helmets. Tarak's face had already been seen by Luz and Samael, but it was a new sight for King and the others, while no one present had seen the other former Trappers unmasked before. Denasu was an old woman, with a wrinkled face, white hair tied up in a bun, and a band of dark blue tattooed across her eyes almost like a mask, with a dark blue star on her forehead above it. Galeh's face was shockingly young and cute looking for such a strong and burly woman, and her only markings were a mole beneath her left eye and a red star tattooed on her right cheek, while her hair was golden blonde and tied into a short ponytail. Toruna was a beautiful woman with a scar on her lip, and long black hair that now cascaded down her back, while she had an orange ring tattooed on her chin. Lastly, Rakusa's face was that of an adolescent boy who was just growing from cute to handsome, and he had the same tanned skin colour as his father, and messy black hair that ironically looked a bit like King's human disguise. He had no tattoos or markings though; he was either too young or he'd yet to earn them.

"We'll need a place to chance clothes. We can take the clothing off the top of the fur layer and put them straight on; it'll be a bit loose, but better than nothing. We just don't want to do it in public." Toruna said.

That was a reasonable excuse, so Samael made some stone cubicles for them to change in, with illusions to cover the entrances. After a few minutes, all five former Trappers emerged from these cubicles in loose fitting clothing and carrying a pile of Titan Furs with their old skull helmets on top. The were all barefoot too since their shoes were made from the feet of Titan Avatars, but they didn't seem to mind. A shy Marama then skittered over to Luz and whispered something in her ear, which led to Luz smiling and nodding.

"Marama here says she is good with thread and would be willing to help you make your clothes more fitting if you'd like." Luz said.

The Former Trappers all smiled, with even the stone-faced Galeh smiling for the first time; "That's nice of you, young miss." Tarak said; "We'd appreciate it."

And so, Marama helped them fix their clothes a little, using threads to tighten seams and webs to help keep things stuck to the right places, ensuring no accidental slips or unintended exposure. Once this was done, everyone headed up from the Docks together and began a hasty clean-up operation; Tarak dug the graves and prepared the pyre for their Titan Skulls and furs (including Bill's, which King fished up since he could go in the Boiling Sea), while Denasu performed funeral rites on the ancient trophies, and Rakusa, Toruna, and Galeh went into the Necropolis with the Bat Queen to find the rest of the enslaved Palisman, as well as free the still enslaved Beast Demons. Luz remained with the children and Magic Mixers as they watched the funeral arrangements, and Eda took Osran with her as they went deeper into the Necropolis; the Oracles had all congregated at Laptela Castle, and the duo intended to recruit any of their old CATTs allies again, as well as a few others too. They wound up with about a dozen old friends rejoining them, and a handful of only five new recruits, with the rest being too scared to fight against an army of Angels, whom nullified their powers. It was unfortunate but on the bright side, at least now they didn't need to worry about not having enough space on the airship!

The CATTs and their new recruits once again congregated near a small plot of graves close to the docks, where a small ceremony was held for the Titans slain by the ancestors of Bill and the defecting Trappers. The furs were gathered together and burned on the pyre, while the Titan Trappers knelt and begged forgiveness for their ancestors' sins. Denasu performed a Shamanic Dance to ease the souls of the departed (surprising everyone how well her aged body could dance), while Osran gave last rites in the tradition of the old Boiling Isles Titan Faith (from before Belos' rise), and Luz gave Angelic Last Rites, causing the flames of the pyre to turn gold. King also offered some words of comfort to his departed people, and Chiro prayed that they would pass along her apologies and thanks to Eridanus for giving her life and then protecting her, while Samael prayed that his old playmates were resting easy and having fun in the Afterlife.

Once the prayers were said and the pyre had fully consumed the Titan Furs, each of the former Titan Trappers placed their old Titan Skulls into the graves Tarak had dug, and each filled the graves themselves, with Samael choosing to fill the grave of Bill's Titan Skull. Once this was done, Asher used some Construction Magic and earth glyph notes to make a simple headstone for all of them, and Eda did her part by carving a simple message into the stone:

HERE LIES THE REMAINS OF SIX TITANS, LAID TO REST BY REPENTANT HANDS

With the funeral over and the Oracle Coven and their visitors emerging from Laptela Castle to tie up all the Trappers and keep them prisoner until the Divider's forces returned, they also began to clean things up, whilst keeping the Abomaton Knights from going near the CATTs and former Trappers. Their final act before leaving was to have the five former Trappers swear new oaths of secrecy, ensuring there was no way they could be used as spies. They then all piled on to the CATTs invisible airship and took off, keeping the invisibility on and taking the Signal Jammer Abomination with them.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze with everyone together on the ship, but it still managed to be airborne (with the Bat Queen opting to fly alongside them, under an invisibility glyph combo), and they got away at a decent speed, albeit slower than Eda and Luz would have liked. As they travelled, Luz and Eda, the Magic Mixers, and the Nexsquad exchanged stories to let everyone know what had happened, earning some mixed reactions. Denasu had cackled with glee to hear that a bunch of teenagers had defeated Seliere and destroyed his macabre trophies, while hearing how much the kids had gotten hurt was NOT something that Luz and the others were happy about! Luz was almost afraid that Skara would be furious with her over what happened with Asher, even if it wasn't her fault.

"I guess we should just focus on the bright side… King got his second glyph and his Palisman partner, Samael awakened his power, and we got Osran and Barcus back, as well as our old pals from the Oracle Coven! Bill also bit the dust!" Luz smiled briefly, before sighing; "But the cost…"

Eda nodded; "Yeah. Some of the Oracles lost their lives, but as awful as that is, they may not have died for nothing. I bet that is gonna be a BIG blow to the Divider and the Huntsman is gonna be in seriously hot water too. I think it'll be a while before the enemy start making more big moves! The Divider's "Stick" completely failed."

"But if the "carrot" and "stick" both failed, then he'll either try something else, or go for a bigger "carrot" and bigger "stick"! Who knows what the man could be planning next, especially since he is so close to the end of his plan!" Osran added.

"If I might interject." Tarak began; "Most of the second Titan; the Cassiopeia Archipelago, has been completed and Union Pillars have been build all over. With the Red Galdorstone being completed and connected, it would seem that once the last of Lady Cassiopeia is found and the pillars built and activated, the Divider's plan will be ready to go."

Luz gulped; "At his current pace, that likely leaves us with a few days to just over a week at most… We need to stall him, but the CATTs are pretty exhausted after today. I'll need to think up a scheme with Darius and Titi Raine."

"Speaking of them, you should probably contact them." Eda said, before looking to Edric and Jerbo; "One of you nerds turn off the Jammer. We don't need it any more."

"Got it Boss!" Edric said with a teasing salute.

As soon as the jammer was deactivated, Luz's scroll appeared and began playing the theme song from the Azura TV show, making Luz smile; "Oh! It's Amity!"

She opened the scroll and moved so no one else was behind her as Amity's face appeared on the screen. The background appeared to be Zachael's Landing, so her group must have gotten back already.

"Hey Hermosa! How are things going on your end!" Luz asked with a smile.

"Good! You're the only group not to get back yet! We've been trying to get a hold of you for a few minutes now! You worried us a little, Batata." Amity replied, her relieved smile lighting up her face.

Luz blew her a kiss; "Aw, don't worry about us, Hermosa! Stuff got crazy, as always, but we pulled through. King is safe and sound. But if we're the last to show up, does that mean the Archives Assault Team is back too?"

Amity's face fell, which made Luz's expression fill with dread, in turn making the rest of the CATTs panic a little. "Hermosa?"

"Y-Yeah. They're back too. A-And Gus is with them! He's banged up and exhausted, but he's alive and well! And the Portal Key and Door are safe too, and came in really handy!" Amity chirped, trying a bit too hard to be cheerful.

"How did it go? Don't sugar coat it, Amity. I can take it." Luz said softly, steeling herself.

There was a moment of silence, followed by Amity's soft voice replying; "The fleet was totalled. No ships survived… two thirds of the CATTs and Angels onboard were captured by the Divider's forces. Daniel was among them. No fatalities though, thank the Titans, and the remaining third escaped. B-But we also suffered some losses at the other Union Pillars… about a fifth of the people we sent out were captured. We lost a lot of people today…"

A heavy silence fell on the airship, and Luz struggled hard to keep her self-hating habits from returning again. She whispered "It's not my fault." to herself a few times as Stringbean comforted her, then sighed heavily and said; "That's not good. Thank you for telling me, Hermosa. By the way, I didn't notice any Palisman Fusions, besides Gus's. Were any of our friends among those captured?"

Luz had felt Gus's fusion activate while she was fighting Titan Trappers in the labyrinth earlier, and thought nothing of it. But after what Amity said, she was surprised to not have felt the others activate too.

"We didn't need to for the most part. The enemy seemed to be avoiding targeting us… I'm not sure why though." Amity said; "Will you be back soon? We could really all do with having a proper play by play of what happened."

"We're on our way and shouldn't be long. Love you, Hermosa." Luz smiled, the wind taken out of her sails a little.

Amity flashed her a sad smile; "I love you too, Batata. See you soon."

Luz hung up the scroll and exhaled, while the others sat around feeling conflicted; they had technically achieved everything they wanted to, and the risks had been well known… the fact they'd only recently started to take losses was a small miracle in and of itself! But it still weighed heavily on them, especially Luz, who took the role of leader seriously.

Eda and King were quick to sit beside her as she slumped onto the deck with a tired groan; her lack of halo making her even more lethargic.

"It's okay, Owlet. We'll get 'em all back! And it sucks, but so long as we don't lose any of the ingredients needed for the Super Sephiroth Sealing Spell, all this will be undone eventually. Unlike those Trapper Scumbags, the Divider doesn't kill! So it'll be okay in the end." Eda comforted.

"Mom's right. We'll win in the end! The good guys always win in the end!" King declared.

Luz chuckled; "Maybe in story books, King. But real life isn't so certain… but even so, none of us are giving up. We have to honour our comrades sacrifice! So let's get home and rest up, so we can do just that!"

That quickly got everyone's spirits up again, and the rest of the trip home was quiet and mostly uneventful, with only a minor hiccup to their peaceful trip, which came in the form of a Scroll Call from Skara, who was frantically looking for Asher and his friends, and were hoping Samael might know where he was. The awkward silence that followed Luz telling her that Asher and the rest of the Nexsquad had stowed away on the mission had been terrifying to the kids, and Skara's cold "I see. We'll be talking about this, Asher." had the poor boy squirming before she hung up.

They finally got back to the Portal Gate outside Bonesborough and disembarked, shrinking the Airship back into a capsule (which just about blew the minds of those who hadn't seen this magic before), and sending the signal to have the gate opened. They all passed through, as did the scout watching the place, and after King shared a brief reunion with his parents, who hugged and kissed him, and wished him a happy birthday (while Azazel meekly apologised to him), everyone headed back to Zachael's Landing together.

Immediately upon arriving, they were met by quite a large crowd; Amity, Lyra, Alador, Darius, Lilith, Hooty, Raine, Camila, Vee, Skara, Mace Secuna, Amaranth, the Leonis and Nelumbo families, and the parents of Marama, as well as her little sister Ramari were all present, and most shockingly of all, Lazuliel was present too! The instant the Portal Gate opened, the crowd began to surge forward and gather up their family members; Amity kissed Luz, then went with Alador and Darius to check on the twins. Lilith, Hooty, and Raine hugged Eda, the latter kissing her as Lilith then stooped to pick up King and cuddle him, talking about how happy she was to see him again, while Hooty then went to ensnare the children and deliver them to their own parents and guardians. Camila hugged Luz and kissed her cheek, then turned her attention to Samael as Vee playfully greeted her sister with a secret handshake they'd been developing together. The Nelumbo and Leonis families greeted their children, and also greeted Barcus, sharing a happy reunion with him too. Skara, Mace, and Amaranth naturally went to hug the daylights out of Asher, taking turns hugging him, fretting over the blood on his clothes and the cut in the fabric, and scolding him angrily for his actions. Marama was in the same spot with her parents, and Camila was both praising and scolding Samael for his own actions.

That left Emiliel and Simi, who had gotten some comfort and scolding from Hooty, but also keenly felt their positions as orphans when they saw no parents waiting to hug them. The downcast looks on their faces were obvious… at least until both of them felt firm hands grip the backs of their shirts and hoist them into the air. They then turned their heads nervously and were met with the unimpressed face of Lazuliel of Crest Chastity.

"Thought you'd get away without a real scolding, did you? Too bad, Munchkins! Lady Uriel asked me to work part-time with the CATTs to help look after all you poor mites without parents, which means I'm the one scolding you two naughty little imps!" Lazuliel said sternly.

Emiliel and Simi gulped fearfully, but their fears were eased when Lazuliel then smiled and embraced them; "But that can come later. You've both had a long, hard day. So you can have cuddles now, and we'll save the scolding for later! But expect to be making some sincere apologies very soon!"

With that, Lazuliel cuddled them both to her chest, wrapping an arm and a wing around each one. Simi felt a little nervous, but soon relaxed and was happily purring in the High Angel's grasp, while Emiliel was doing the same while looking up at the woman with admiration. She looked so much like an adult Luz, with a motherly vibe that made Emiliel want to curl up on her lap and fall asleep. The fact she looked a lot like the Angel she respected most was a nice addition too!

The final reunion was that of Lyra and Osran, and the young Dark Angel approached slowly, a big smile on her face as tears filled her eyes.

"H-Hello, Grandpa!" she said nervously, this being the first time she'd gotten to speak to him as "Lyra the Dark Angel".

Osran looked her up and down, then smiled lovingly; "Hello, my lovely granddaughter. You've grown up a fair bit, both in maturity and beauty."

Lyra blushed; "T-Thanks, Grandpa. And, um, my name is different now! I'm not Lucy any more. I'm now Lyra Deamonne-Clawthorne! Dadrius adopted me and Hunter, and then Eda adopted us as her niece and nephew, so we're proper Clawthornes now too! A-And a lot has happened since I last saw you!"

Osran chuckled at his flustered granddaughter; "Of that, I have no doubt. I also heard you've become a true prodigy of Oracle Magic, discovering many wonderful new applications for it! But you can tell me all about it later; for now, I think I would like a hug!

He didn't need to ask twice; an ecstatic Lyra rushed forward and fell to her knees so she could embrace the elderly Demon, tears of joy spilling from her eyes as she held him as tightly as she dared. Osran chuckled jovially and rubbed her back as they hugged, whispering; "I'm proud of you, Lyra. You've grown up to be even better than I could have hoped for."

Of course, that made Lyra's composure break completely, and the girl sobbed with happiness until a chuckling Osran was able to calm her down, and get her to start talking about her Divine Tarot and Angel Scrying abilities, which blew his mind.

Finally, with all the reunions complete, the children (sans King and Samael) were handed off to Hooty and the Dryder girls' adoptive parents, then sent on their way to the CATTs hospital, where they would all get a thorough check-up to ensure they were okay. The attention of the greeting crowd had then turned to the former Titan Trappers, and without their masks and furs, no one recognised them at first, though their tattoos were unnerving. However Amity DID recognise the robes that Rakusa, Denasu, and Galeh wore, having an eye for fashion and not having seen other people were that style of clothing before.

"Wait a second… are these five Titan Trappers?" Amity asked, eyes widening a little.

The crowd was immediately on guard, and the five former Trappers put their hands up to show they weren't hostiles, giving Luz a moment to hastily explain the situation. "They were, but they defected! They swore oaths and everything! I made sure they're safe."

While no one was eager to trust a Trapper, they DID trust Luz, so they accepted the situation tentatively.

"I guess they're safe then." Amity murmured, still eyeing Denasu and Rakusa closely.

Denasu chuckled; "It's been a while, Lass. Still as much of at tigress when it comes to your lady love, I see!"

Amity's eyes widened; "Wait, now I know you! You're the one who helped Luz recover from the Common Mold!"

"The very same. I look a little different without the mask, huh?" the old woman smirked; "No doubt you'll remember Rakusa and Galeh too." she gestured to the two in question, who both smiled and nodded politely.

"Hello, Miss Blight. Nice to see you again." Rakusa greeted politely.

"Uh, hi. Sorry, I'm still getting my head around all this." Amity mused, as Camila and Vee looked over the Trappers.

"None of these are the ones who stabbed you, right Luz?" Camila asked.

"Nope! That one is dead. Bill apparently got poisoned to death by the Huntsman's Blessing turning into Toxic Magic." Luz said, her overactive sense of empathy making her feel a little sorry for him. Being betrayed and murdered by the one you devoted yourself too was just too cruel…

King nodded; "I think he was about to say something the Huntsman didn't want him to. Don't know what though."

The CATTs all looked at each other curiously, before deciding to table that conversation for later. Darius then said; "We could all do with some rest, but let's get the debrief out of the way first. The rest of the CATTs Council is already assembled."

Everyone agreed, and they all went to the meeting room together. The sole exception was the Oracles they'd brought back with them, who were directed by Darius to go and speak with civilian assistant who'd been tasked with assigning homes on the island to new arrivals. They then arrived at the Council Chamber and received the usual rapturous welcome from everybody present; and with the exception of some sleepiness, everybody seemed to be in good health.

Matt even seemed TOO comfy, being dressed in pyjamas, squeaky slippers, and large mittens that bunched his fingers together like oven mitts. Luz gave him a deadpan look and her Mami whispered in her ear; "He was SUPPOSED to be resting today, but he woke up from a nap with some kind of epiphany, and ran for the workshops. I got tired of chasing him back to bed, so I stuck those on him so he can't work."

That got a snicker from the girl, and after everyone had a chance to welcome back Osran and Barcus, they all took seats and began the meeting.

"I guess we should get started! I heard we suffered some losses…" Luz frowned.

Darius nodded grimly; "The Divider has begun deploying the "Abomaton Paladin" units all over the place. They are a LOT tougher to make, since they fully combine Abomination Technology with Angelic Magic."

"How is that possible!?" Jerbo asked, horrified.

Amity pouted; "Those jerks stole my formula for Homunculus Magic! They recovered a vial of the new goop from the workshop on Digale Island. I thought I destroyed it all before we left, but it seems one vial must have survived."

"They've reverse engineered it. I think my mother was tasked with doing it…" Alador sighed, still exhausted from his all-nighter.

"And those things are incredibly annoying to fight!" Boscha pouted. "Skara and I managed to get our team out before we lost anybody, but the others weren't so lucky."

The team from Laptela cursed; no Abomaton Paladins had been stationed at the Necropolis, likely because the Angelic Magic inside them without have messed with the Oracles, so Luz and her crew hadn't had to face them. Though if they HAD been there, then perhaps the Titan Trappers would have failed in their attack much faster, and there would have been no fatalities…

"Well that's a major problem. We'll need to focus on getting those things out of the way next. But the biggest losses by far were from the Archives Assault Team. Gus… I know you and the others escaped using my portal, but what the heck happened?"

Gus sighed heavily; "Things went bad right from the start. We arrived at the Archives and found an army of Wings of Rani Airships, a ton of Angels, and those Abomaton Paladins. The Divider had made a barrier full of air around the entire moon, so once we got close enough to fight, we were able to breathe even without our suits. We used that to our advantage at first and attacked from outside the air zone, knowing the Angels couldn't follow us and wouldn't attack us in return because damaging our suits would kill us. But then the Abomatons got involved and it became a slaughter… I had set up illusions on Homunculi made by the others to make people think there were more of us and that the entire Hexsquad was present. But that blew up in my face since the Archivists came out and attacked as soon as they saw us."

The boy shuddered, and Luz and the others could only imagine what it was like facing three Archivists all at once!

"It was brutal. The Keeper had golden flames and light blades like yours, Luz. And the Watcher could control gravity and conjure mini-planets! They did a LOT of damage and let the Abomatons capture a ton of our people. My illusions kept it from being a total defeat, but I had to get creative and basically cover the fleet and surrounding area with a big illusion just to keep us going! It did help that the Huntsman seemed to prefer picking people off from the sidelines… I figured he didn't feel good in a fight where he couldn't kill."

King and Samael exchanged looks; they felt it was more likely that he was trying to disguise that he wasn't at full power after blessing Bill.

"But after a while with the illusion of Luz not being defeated, the Divider himself came out. He attacked and, well… we didn't last much longer after that. I kept trying to use my Tactile Illusions on him, but he kept seeing through my tricks so I could never get him with it! Eventually, Daniel disguised himself as me and managed to hit the Huntsman with one of my scales, making him attack the Divider." Gus explained; "He lost of course, but it bought enough time for us to escape. Daniel kept pretending to be me so the enemy would go after him, letting me gather up the rest of our un-captured forces, get them below the deck of the Ash Moth Flag Ship, and then use the portal to escape. We had to close it and summon the portal door back here before it was discovered. And that's pretty much what happened…" Gus finished.

Silence filled the room as everyone registered what they'd been told; they had lost a lot of people, a ton of resources in the form of the materials used to make the Moths and Ash Moth, as well as the Abomi-Space Suits of the captured CATTs, AND Daniel had sacrificed himself. They had succeeded in rescuing King and Osran, so their ultimate plan HAD been a success, but the sacrifices made were steep and Luz did NOT feel good about them.

"I guess we're really getting into the endgame of this war. The Divider's plan is getting closer to fruition, and so is ours. We have the Sephiroth we need in Samael, the Titans we need in me and King, 6 of the 8 elemental powers we need with the Hexsquad's Fusions, the seven Seraphim that Great-Grandfather had pledged, and most of the coven heads we need to get the people of the Isles to side with us when it's time." Luz said, going over everything in her head.

They had Darius for Abominations, Raine for the Bards, Eber for Beast-Keeping, Mason for Construction, Hettie for Healing, Osran for Oracles, and Luna for Potions. They had no Plant Coven Head, but Willow's victory over Terra and liberation of her Coven had ensured they were already on the CATTs' side, leaving only the Illusion Coven left to get some influence over.

Today had been a mixed bag for the CATTs; they had completed their objective and had been prepared for the losses, yet that didn't make them easier to take. As the others began to go other their own reports, Luz found herself closing her eyes and sinking deep into her thoughts.

"Rasiel… We're getting so close now. It'll be time to face each other again soon, and I still don't know how to save you… I wonder what'll happen now.

[Meanwhile]

The Divider couldn't quite remember the last time he'd felt quite as angry as he did now. Not since he'd found the Archivists spying on Luz and King, perhaps. But somehow, even that felt insufficient to describe his current feelings. His plans had been carefully made, yet they had blown up in his face catastrophically.

It had all started so well… he'd gotten the Red Galdorstone completed and safely hid King away where Luz would never think to look for him, all while luring her into a trap at the Archives. He had it all set up perfectly, even creating a barrier full of oxygen, which would also secretly block the magic of DCMs, ensuring that once Luz was in his grasp, she'd have no way of calling for more help. He knew her tactics by now; she'd send people to other places to try and draw his attention away from her, but the Divider had been laser focused on Luz and the Archives!

And at first, it had appeared to work! A fleet of CATTs' ships showed up and the battle had begun! Sure, he'd gotten reports from various Union Pillars of the CATTs attacking there, but he'd ignored them; there'd been no call from Laptela, so he wasn't concerned. The Huntsman's performance had also been lacking, but the Divider dismissed it as the overgrown child pouting like a spoiled brat again… Now though… now the Divider felt that was a mistake.

It had all been a farce…

Half the CATTs' fleet had turned out to be illusions, most of the CATTs were just Abomatons in disguise, including Luz and the Hexsquad, and when he'd thought he'd at least captured Gus, he'd been blind-sided by the Huntsman, who'd been tricked with one of the boy's clever illusions! The Huntsman hadn't been hard to deal with, but by the time the Divider had put him back in his place and slapped some sense back into him, a third of the CATTs had disappeared without a trace! The only possible solutions had been Gus's illusions hiding their escape or Luz's Portal Door being completed; the Divider would need to check and see if that was still stored away in the Owl House shed.

Still, there had been a moment where he felt certain he'd at least captured Gus, only for the boy's visage to melt away in cyan magic and reveal a High Angel he didn't recognise. The Divider had been so shocked that the sight of the man's smile, which basically screamed "We win!" had driven him to knock the man out and hand him to one of his Wings of Rani, before he did something worse. Then, to make a bad day even worse, he dropped the barrier around the Archives and immediately got a DCM call from Orion's Skull of all places. It had been King's Angelic Guard, banished by the little Titan… but not before seeing the Titan Trappers attacking Laptela.

Immediately, the Divider had grabbed the Huntsman and ordered the rest of the Archivists and Wings of Rani to follow him through a portal to the Necropolis… arriving to the scene that the Divider was now facing. Dead Oracles; murdered by Titan Trappers… and King was gone, rescued by Luz, who'd gotten around his scheme some how. The only thing stopping the Divider from screaming in rage was the sight of the Titan Trappers, bound and gagged by the surviving Oracles after they'd been knocked out by the CATTs.

A short conversation with one of the Oracles confirmed everything; King, Osran, and Barcus were gone, and about half the total Titan Trapper Forces had been involved in the attack. The only leaders involved though had been Bill of the Bone Hands, who was now dead after a blessing from the Huntsman took him out, and Seliere of the Leather Wings, who'd been asked to join by Bill.

The Divider looked between the Huntsman (who was pretending not to be nervous), and Seliere (who seemed resigned to death after being defeated and losing his arm) then spoke in a low, cold voice.

"I want an explanation. Speak, Huntsman; your servants were behind this! Did you order this attack!?" the Divider demanded.

The Huntsman gulped and shook his head; "N-No! I did not! I admit, I gave Bill my blessing, as he was old and I wanted to reward him for his loyal service over the last 5000 years, as well as to apologise for my brother making a fool out of him. I m-might have also let slip where the Titan was being kept, but I was merely voicing my frustrations at not being able to do my job! I swear I didn't order this attack!"

The Divider narrowed his eyes; the Archivists COULD lie, but they were uncomfortable when doing so, and the Divider didn't detect that particular kind of discomfort from him here. So it appeared he was telling the truth… still, the suspicions didn't leave the Divider's mind.

He turned to Seliere and pushed the kneeling man down, so his head was stooped as if on a chopping block. "Your turn, worm." the Divider growled, summoning his blade; "Who gave the orders?"

"Bill did. He was riding high on the Grand Huntsman's blessing and announced he was leading a great hunt. He wanted all the Bone Shamans to join up, and so I agreed to join, along with the entire Leather Wings Tribe. I believe only the shamans and half of each other tribe joined the Bone Hands here. Half of us believed the quarry would be the last Titan, but the other leaders didn't think it'd happen without the Grand Huntsman's order, so they declined to join such a nebulous hunt. I wish I had done the same…"

The Divider sneered and brought his blade down as if to decapitate the beaten man. However instead of cleaving off his head, he cleaved out his negative traits, leaving the man quiet and subdued as his Divided Orb disappeared into a portal. The Divider then turned to the Huntsman.

"So, you didn't give the order… it appears Bill acted alone. Is that why your blessing killed him? Did you sabotage it somehow?" he asked. He was still furious, and the fact Bill was dead didn't make him any happier, but it at least appeared that the Huntsman had tried to do the right thing by restraining his more fanatical followers.

The Huntsman gulped and nodded; "P-Perhaps killing was too far, but I wanted it to be a perfect deterrent. Bill was punished for disobeying and betraying me."

Which was true; Bill would only die if he tried to reveal that Belial had strongly hinted at what he wanted. But the misleading comments and evidence seemed to be enough to convince the Divider, who glared at Belial for a moment longer, before dismissing him and turning to the horde of bound Titan Trappers, all watching him fearfully, on their knees and bound in spectral chains.

"As for all of you… you will be divided for your sins, and spend the rest of your lives in repentance! Your Divided Orbs will power the Union Pillars on the Cassiopeia Archipelago." the Divider declared, handing down the sentence like an executioner.

He wasted no time and got to work; the Wings of Rani and Oracles dragged each captured Trapper forward, forced their heads down as if they were to be beheaded, then the Divider swung his blade and the job was done. It took him almost ten minutes to divide each of the captured Trappers, and when he was done and handed them over to the Wings of Rani for work assignments, he turned his attention to the last person present who'd been captured and not divided; the High Angel from the battle. They'd left so hastily that they'd brought his unconscious form along, and he'd since stirred awake and watched everything in grim silence.

"I suppose this is the last one. The rest of the CATTs we captured are still at the Archives, being held there." the Divider mused, feeling a little calmer now that he'd punished the Trappers. "What is your name, brother?"

"Daniel, formerly of Crest Diligence." the man replied; "And I am not your brother. After what Raguel did in your name, I want nothing to do with your group."

The Divider frowned; "Understandable. Are you a true Oath-Bound CATT?"

"I am. You'll get nothing out of me." Daniel said firmly.

"With those oaths, I suspected as much. Very well; you will be divided." The Divider said, raising his blade.

Before he swung it however, he was interrupted; "Wait!"

Turning around, the Divider was surprised to see Zirael stood there, her eyes focused fully on Daniel. Daniel's eyes widened in response.

"Zirael!?" he exclaimed.

"It's me, Daniel. I feared we'd be on opposite sides someday, but not THESE opposite sides!" Zirael said, rushing forward to grab Daniel's arm.

"You know this man, Zirael?" The Divider asked.

"Yes, my Lord. When I was still in the Union, he often commiserated with me over my experiences. I had thought of trying to get him to join me when I left, but he'd always been so firmly attached to the laws that I figured he'd never leave." Zirael said.

"I thought the same… but I grew tired of standing by and doing nothing while good people suffered under the Union. Luz's Trial was the final straw for me." Daniel revealed.

Zirael bit her lip, and the expression made Daniel blush, causing the Divider to look intrigued. This man seemed quite fond of Zirael, and he suspected it was mutual. Zirael then turned to the Divider and implored him; "Please, don't give Daniel your blessing yet! Let me talk to him! If he left the Union after all, I might be able to convince him to join us! Just give me a few days to talk to him!"

The Divider sighed and accepted; Zirael was a good follower, so he decided to give her a shot. The woman cheered and bowed in thanks, then pulled Daniel completely into her custody so the two could leave and begin their long overdue catch up, while the Divider arranged burials for the Oracles murdered by the Trappers, along with the beasts who died in the fighting and, reluctantly, the dead Trappers too.

That would end up taking the rest of the day, and it was an irritated Belial the Huntsman who returned to the Titan Trapper Settlement that night. He dismissed the other Trapper Tribe heads who tried to speak with him and marched through to his temple den. As soon as he was alone, he waved his hand and revealed the invisible bubble containing the possessed Trapper woman.

"You're back… did my plan not work?" Belos asked, hiding his nerves.

Belial sighed; "No, but that's because those idiot Trappers failed! The Titan Brat's Angel Sister somehow knew what was going to happen! Still, your plan DID ensure I avoided any blame. The Divider still doesn't trust me, but at least he's not on my back over this."

He snapped his fingers and Belos and his host were freed from the barrier.

"So, you've proven crafty so far. A worthy trait that I can respect." Belial said, eyeing the grinning monstrosity before him; "How would you deal with getting back the strength I lost today?"

Belos grinned just a little wider; "Well, first you wait a while for the heat to die down. Then, you find pawns to replace the ones you lost. Luckily for you, I cultivated an entire Coven of hunters before my plans were interrupted!"

It was Belial's turn to smile, and the spring evening became a little colder as the two monsters began to plan for their next hunt.