The Angel of the Owl House - Chapter 51 - OwlHouseAngel (2024)

Chapter Text

As the sun rose on the day after the successful Knee Campaign, and the aurora returned to the eternal night sky that still lingered around the Knee, the CATTs and their allies awoke bright and early, ready for their return journey to the Ash Moth Desert and their HQ. The morning brought a few changes and revelations for the CATTs, as well as some fond farewells. Healer Dorothea and the Healing Coven would be taking over the administration of the city, alongside members of Kyrie’s staff at St. Epiderm, and a collection of elected officials from each district, to ensure that the city didn’t fall back under despotic noble rule. The nobles who were awake earlier enough to learn of this were not happy, but immediately began feuding with each other to see who would be the officials elected from the Diamond Dust District.

Not only that, but while it was decided that Hettie, her Combat Healers, and Kyrie Crane would be joining the CATTs, Zara and Lars would not be. Zara had argued that her dragon form was too conspicuous and would not do well in the desert anyway, and so she would be better served protecting the Knee and keeping it safe with the power of the eternal night. Lars would remain with her, and the two would act as the new Overseers, ensuring the Knee didn’t fall back under the control of either the Wings of Rani or the corrupt nobles. They would ensure the democratic process was exercised and serve as the new peace keeping force, along with a local militia. In addition, Ruby and Vorpelle Leonis had opted to stay behind too, not being the fighters that their sister and cousin were.

While it was disappointing to lose those valuable allies, it was understandable and so the CATTs hadn’t complained. Their airships, which had been docked lower down the mountain, had also received several crates of rare potions ingredients, food, enchanting supplies, and other valuable and useful goods, courtesy of House Kaimal. Viney had been shocked to receive them, but she was certainly not disappointed. She’d asked her cousin Ruby to deliver a note to Falco Kaimal thanking him for the donation, and while she still offered no forgiveness for his past cruelties, she was still grateful for his help.

And so, after some fond farewells and well-wishes, the CATTs boarded their airships and took to the sky with their new supplies and allies, including Snowball the Carbuncle, whose temporary name had stuck. Gus decided to flex his new powers of Palisman Fusion to take on his Emmiline-based form and cast an illusion over the entire convoy of CATTs airships, infusing his magic into the water in the air itself and manipulating it to create a mirage over them that made them invisible and undetectable by sound from outside of the mirage, allowing them to safely travel back to the Desert.

The trip was slower, since the CATTs were taking it easy and resting, so they took the opportunity to fill each other in on everything that had happened. It had begun with Lilith revealing what little she knew about the Divider’s plans and the locations of their allies, confirming that her parents Gwendolyn and Dell were indeed with the Beast-Keeping Coven. However, she did not know where Hooty was, which was a source of great concern for her, considering the odd little Owl Tube was her best friend! Apparently, shortly after being divided, the Divider had spoken with Hooty for a bit, then taken him away somewhere, apparently concerned by what he’d learned. This was allegedly because Hooty had been harder to divide than he should be, which the CATTs chalked up to be just another aspect of the inscrutable existence that was Hooty. That did leave Hooty as missing though, and the only theory anyone had on his whereabouts was Luz speculating that the Divider might be keeping Hooty with him.

This put Lilith in a sombre mood, which didn’t help much when the gang from the Human Realm recounted their side of the last 4+ months, namely; the truth of Cassiel and Luz’s fathers, the time that King and the Hexsquad spent in the Human Realm, the return of Subject Zero and Belos, the trial in the Divine Realm, Luz’s ascension, and the battle of Bonesborough.

Unfortunately, they didn’t even get to the battle at Rani’s Eden, as all the feelings these stories stirred in Lilith began to take their toll.

“Of all the blasted, foolish, infuriating-!” Lilith snarled, beginning to pace around the airship as they travelled back to the Desert. “I knew Odalia was an evil, monstrous wretch! But for her to go so far!? To enslave an innocent soul and use her to brainwash Alador and Darius!? To forcibly divide them again and make them her lackeys!? And to try and do the same to my d- to Amity!? That woman’s death was far too merciful!”

Amity didn’t miss the near slip, which made her heart flutter, but that good feeling (and the amusem*nt the others felt at Lilith venting her anger over Odalia) didn’t last long as the effect on Lilith began to get a lot more physical. Feathers were beginning to emerge from her wrists and neck, and the diamond shaped jewel she’d taken to using as a bile monitor was darkening considerably as blackness creeped at the edge of her eyes.

“Lily, I know you’re mad but I think you need to calm down!” Eda said, pre-emptively taking on her Harpy Form so she’d be ready to restrain Lilith if anything went wrong. She also reached into her hair and pulled out an Elixir, while Luz did the same.

“Tia Lily, it’s okay. It all ended for the better! Amity the First got to have a heartfelt farewell with her big brothers and give her love to Amity, while passing on a message for the Twins and her parents. She found peace, and Odalia is gone forever!” Luz said soothingly.

“That’s not good enough!” Lilith roared, her voice gaining an unnatural echo as her body began to swell. Luz immediately rushed to try and force the Elixir into Lilith’s mouth while the others braced themselves, but Lilith’s transformation into the Raven Beast came a lot faster than they expected, and as the woman fully transformed, she swept her head to the side, dodging Luz’s hands and knocking the girl away, making Luz stagger back hard enough to fall from the airship, which began to tip due to the extra weight of the Raven Beast.

“Luz!” the others cried, with King, Lyra, Camila, and Vee all flying to catch her, though this proved unnecessary as she easily caught herself. The Elixir had been knocked out of her hand though, but Amity turned her hand into Homunculus slime and extended it out to catch the bottle.

Alador, who was piloting the airship and struggling to keep it on course with the extra weight, shouted; “Can one of you do something about her!? We’ll crash at this rate!”

“I second that!” cried Gus, who was struggling to maintain his balance and concentration. If his concentration broke, the entire aerial convoy would be exposed!

“Working on it!” Eda yelled, now wrestling with Raven Beast Lilith. She had the Raven Beast in a headlock and was desperately trying to get the Elixir bottle into her mouth, but like a stubborn toddler, the Beast refused to open her mouth, instead keeping her teeth clenched and growling menacingly. The rest of the Hexsquad, who were riding this particular airship too, were doing their best to keep the Raven Beast still and stop her from hurting anyone; Willow used vines to bind the Beast’s wings, while Matt, Boscha, Hunter, and Skara each grabbed one of her legs and tried to weight her down, with Matt using Construction Magic to increase his weight, Hunter using a Bestial Blessing to give himself the muscular arms of a Slitherbeast, Skara whistling a soothing tune that she used Wind Magic to carry directly to Lilith’s ears, and Boscha used some Abominations that had been hybridised with a numbing poison to further weaken the Raven Beast.

The only one present who wasn’t helping was Samael, as he feared that being an Archivist like the Huntsman might further trigger the vestiges of the Owl Beast within the Raven Beast, causing the whole problem to be way worse, leading to him staying out of sight.

They struggled for a few seconds, as Luz, Lyra, Camila, Vee, and King rushed to dog pile the Raven Beast, but she suddenly rolled over, flattening Harpy Eda and knocking the others away, causing a few to fall overboard and need rescuing, while the others staggered around as the airship rocked. Lyra was forced to rush over to help keep Gus steady so their illusory cover wouldn’t break, and Amity shifted into her Fused Form and began to hover.

“Enough is enough! Stop this right now and open up!” Amity hissed, her fur puffing up just like an angry cat’s.

Surprisingly, the Raven Beast actually froze, her body language slowly going from aggressive to defensive, as if recognising Amity as something, or rather someone she shouldn’t be fighting with. The Raven Beast backed away as Amity slowly stalked towards her, a low growl rumbling out from both of their throats. Eventually, the Raven Beast reached the edge of the airship and couldn’t back off any more, but before she could try and fly away, Amity’s paw turned into Homunculus Slime and lunged forward, turning into a pink and lilac tendril that wrapped around the Raven Beast’s neck like a collar and leash. With surprising strength, Amity yanked the Raven Beast back towards her, causing the creature to growl as she staggered forward. Amity then released her grip around the Raven Beast’s throat and instead used her slime arm to force open the beast’s maw and dump the Elixir into it. The potion splashed down the transformed woman’s throat, but without waiting to see if it would work, Amity turned her other arm into a tendril too and grabbed the bottle of Elixir from Eda’s hand, then dumped that into Lilith’s mouth too.

With two Elixirs in her system and the Raven Beast pacified by Amity, the creature had no choice but to turn back, her body glowing brightly as she moulted her feathers (which all disappeared shortly thereafter). When the light faded and the feathers were gone Lilith was laying face down on the floor of the airship, groaning as she tried to groggily sit up.

“Mo-! I mean, Lilith!” Amity gasped, cursing the way her chest felt tight whenever she tried to say the word “Mom”. She dropped her transformation and helped Lilith into a seated position while the others checked on each other. Alador got the airship back under control now that he didn’t have the extra weight to deal with, and Gus was able to take a deep breath and properly refocus, maintaining his concentration on the illusion around their convoy.

“Well that was rough. It’s been a while since we’ve had to deal with a ticked-off Raven Beast! Come to think of it, the last time was back in the Human Realm, right?” Luz smiled nervously, hoping to ease the tension by reminiscing about the past. She was weirdly tired all of a sudden too, though that passed quickly as she was back to normal again almost immediately.

“Yeah, that was back when Mom set her off with her crazy schemes.” Eda nodded, “You okay there, Sis?”

Lilith sighed; “I’m fine. Is everyone okay? Did I hurt anyone?”

Everyone looked around, but aside from Eda, who’d been flattened in Harpy Mode (which she’d now dropped), no one had been harmed in any way; those who’d been sent flying had been easily caught or rescued themselves with their Palismen, and there was only some minor cosmetic damage to the airship.

“Everyone is fine, Lilith.” Amity said softly, “But are you really okay? I’m sorry our story upset you so much.”

“No! Don’t apologise, please! It’s my fault; I should have had better control over my emotions!” Lilith was quick to reassure the girl, “I’m out of practice… with the Divider removing all my negative qualities, even my curse was gone too. This is one part of myself that I could have done without…”

Eda and the others frowned; “Come on, Sis! You’re better whole! Warts and all!”

“Eda’s right. Besides, I’m not so sure the curse WAS divided from you. When you were divided, I saw some signs of the Division glitching out, like how Luz and King described it had with Eda! And that only happened because the Owl Beast was still inside Eda and wasn’t divided too.” Gus said, his keen eye for detail having spotted the moments of odd behaviour from the Divided Lilith.

The current Lilith didn’t look convinced however, and Eda added; “If that’s true, then maybe your problems will go away if you do what I did and make friends with the Owl Beast! If me and her can become pals and partners after all the trouble we caused each other, then surely you and the Raven Beast can work things out.”

“That’s a great idea!” Luz gushed, “You and the Raven Beast could make an awesome team! Think about how strong Mom is with her Harpy Mode, and imagine what you could do with that kind of power! And besides, this was only your second full transformation, right? And you didn’t hurt anyone or cause much trouble, so there shouldn’t be much resentment between you, right?”

The rest of the Hexsquad agreed, with Lilith’s family especially nodding and trying to encourage her.

“Give it a try, Tia Lily! You’ll be able to kick butt like Mom!” King urged.

“I’m no therapist, but trying to find a healthy middle-ground with the Raven Beast is bound to be better than worrying about transforming all the time.” Camila added.

“I think you should give it a go.” Amity nodded along, “You’ve got nothing to lose, and we can be on standby with Elixirs to help if things go bad.”

Lilith sighed and averted her eyes from everyone as she stood up and walked to the side of the airship, putting her hands on the rail that ran around the edge of the ship. “It’s a nice thought, but I don’t think it’s possible.”

“Why the heck not? Don’t tell me this is just you looking down on yourself again.” Eda said, crossing her arms.

“No, it’s nothing like that. If the Raven Beast was like the Owl Beast, I’d agree to try and talk to them. But it isn’t. The Raven Beast is just a manifestation of the curse piece that I took from you. It’s literally just a chunk of the Owl Beast’s magic that mixed with my magic and became a wild ball of frenzied instincts. There’s no intelligence, nothing to reason with. It’s basically like my own wild side, turned into a feral monster thanks to the Owl Beast’s magic and the Huntsman’s curse.” Lilith explained.

The truth was, Lilith and Raine had both looked into the matter after Eda gained her Harpy Mode and made friends with the Owl Beast. However neither had been able to make contact with the beasts within them… they’d only been faced with wild, formless magic that tried to consume them. When they transformed, they didn’t experience being chased or struggling with their beasts, but rather raw fury and emotion as they tried to swim out of a black abyss, with only the light of the Elixirs and Luz’s Angelic Blessings to help them. Occasionally they’d find their beast forms within the abyss, but they were feral, mindless monsters with empty black eyes and not the slightest hint of intelligence. They’d both come to the same conclusion; there was nothing to make friends with… their curses were true curses without a soul, just constructs of corrupted magic and dregs of the Owl Beast’s feelings left within it.

Most of the group looked disappointed to hear that, though both Eda and Luz looked doubtful too. There had to be some kind of intelligence there, as why else would the Raven Beast have refused to show aggression to Amity? If that was just Lilith’s emotions somehow acting on the Raven Beast, then there had to be a connection they could use to come to an understanding! And if the Raven Beast truly had no consciousness, then surely Lilith could overpower it through sheer force of will and gain it’s power that way!

Getting an idea, Eda called out to Samael; “Hey Starlight, your jerk of a big brother is responsible for sealing the Owl Beast into a cursed scroll with Sephiroth Magic, right? Do you know anything about how it works?”

Samael frowned and shook his head sadly; “Sorry, but I’ve got no idea at all! The Huntsman was a real mean person! He liked hunting people and creatures! If he enjoyed hunting something, he’d seal it up into these special scrolls so he could release them and hunt them again later, whenever he wanted. If he didn’t enjoy a hunt, then he might use those scrolls to curse someone, putting his captured beasties into them and making them like beasties too! He’d then do something mean to rile them up, and the not fun hunt would become like the fun hunt, but more! Sometimes he’d combine his fun hunts too, to make extra fun hunts!” the young Collector explained, shuddering.

“So that’s why the Owl Beast was turned into a curse! The Huntsman must have enjoyed the hunt, probably because of her Anti Magic powers, and sealed her up in a scroll!” Luz exclaimed.

“Yeah, but he lost the scroll. Probably during the fight with my Mama or the Titans that first drove him away.” King added.

“And I found it and cursed Eda with it, ruining both her life and the Owl Beast’s…” Lilith sighed dejectedly. “I guess I got what I deserved in the end.”

That brought down the mood even further, causing Amity to edge a little closer to Lilith’s side; “You were just a kid and didn’t know any better. You thought it was a temporary magic draining curse! You’d never have done it if you’d known the truth.” Amity said.

Lilith gave her a sad smile, appreciating the attempt at reassuring her, but it didn’t really work; “I appreciate the thought, Amity. But it doesn’t change the reality that I am at fault for this.”

“Yeah, just like Odalia threatening me to abandon Willow doesn’t change the reality that I became a bully to her afterwards.” Amity retorted; “We’ve all done bad things. But beating yourself up over the past instead of moving on and trying to make things better in the future doesn’t do anything other than hurt you. You shouldn’t do it.”

Once again Lilith smiled, though this time it was a tad more genuine. “You’ve grown up a lot since you first became my apprentice. I’m proud of you… I shall try to do what you’ve said too, though it’s hard to do that when I feel like dead weight to the CATTs. Without Corvanc and Luz’s blessings, I’d be useless.”

The curse still crippled her magic, and even Eda bonding with the Owl Beast hadn’t solved that issue truly, as Eda still needed Owlbert or Luz’s blessings to cast conventional magic. Though both Clawthornes still had the glyphs, and Eda had her Harpy Mode.

“Actually, that’s something I’ve been wondering about.” King suddenly thought, looking to his bestie; “If you took Tia Lily or Mom out of the Demon Realm so you can get your full powers back, would you be able to remove the Owl Beast from them?”

Lilith immediately snapped around to look intently at Samael, while Eda (who wasn’t as worried since she’d made peace with the Owl Beast) also looked curious. Unfortunately, Samael just hunched his shoulders with a wince.

“S-Sorry, but I don’t think I can. I mean, I’ll try! But the Huntsman is stronger than me, so I can’t normally stop him. I know, since the last time I asked him to play with me before he first came to the Demon Realm, he took me on one of his hunts so I could see how he played. I felt bad for this poor animal he hunted and sealed up, and tried to let it out, but it didn’t work… I just made things worse and accidentally cursed another animal. They were from the same species, so it wasn’t so bad, but the Huntsman just laughed at me…” Samael recounted.

The others grimaced or scowled at the thought of the Huntsman’s grim form of entertainment, while Lilith sighed once more. King looked at her apologetically; “Sorry, Tia Lily… I thought it might work.”

Lilith pet his head, and then reached over and pat Samael on the head too; “It’s alright, you two. It was a smart question, and we can still try it later if Luz doesn’t mind taking us to Bonesborough and through the gate to the Divine Realm or Human Realm. But I won’t get my hopes up; it’s probably for the best that I don’t get out of this too easily anyway. This is the consequences of my own choices.”

While that was true, no one else particularly liked that mindset, especially those who’d been involved in the whole Divine Realm Debacle. It reminded them a little too much of Luz’s self-deprecation.

Sensing that the mood was dropping again, Lilith smiled and said; “Well enough of the doom and gloom; I still want to hear the rest of your stories! And you can bet I have some questions about your new Homunculus Magic, Amity! I am extremely proud!”

That immediately got Amity blushing and cheering up, as she began to explain the new magic in finer detail. This explanation, as well as the story of the mission to Rani’s Eden and Eda’s rescue, took the rest of the trip to the Ash Moth Desert to recount. The majority of the convoy landed at CATT’s Cradle, while the Hexsquad and their family and friends remained on one airship for the trip to the Union Pillar itself, with them landing on the roof of the pillar and then a staircase made by Mason down into the Overseer’s office, where they were immediately met by Mason, Valtora, and Meesha. The latter two hugged their daughter in greeting, while Mason welcomed the others back.

“Well done everybody. Another successful mission under our belts! And a fine welcome back to you, Miss Lilith.” Mason bowed his head to the lady.

“Thank you Mason. It’s wonderful to be back! You’re looking well.” Lilith smiled.

“My thanks, Ma’am! Now look at you!” he said, glancing towards Gus. The boy was still in his fused form, since its inherent ice magic made it easier to deal with the heat of the desert as they flew through it in what was essentially the midday sun. “I reckon your Pa is gonna be mighty interested to see his boy being the second to get this new power!”

“I reckon you’re right!” Gus grinned, subconsciously copying Mason’s accent (which was a lot stronger now that he wasn’t trying to hide his identity from Belos). “Can we call him up here?”

Mason nodded and made a call to another CATT in the basem*nt of the tower, telling him to send Perry Porter on up. While they waited for that, Mason turned his attention on the other newcomers; Hettie and Kyrie. The rest of the Combat Healers had gone to CATT’s Cradle to get settled in with the others and begin doing full health checks on all the children, so only Hettie had gone with the Hexsquad and Elites to check in with Mason.

“Well well, it’s been a long time Miss Cutburn. You’re lookin’ mighty fine, if you don’t mind me sayin’. I’m glad to see you’re not gunnin’ for the heads o’ our Grimwalker friends.” Mason smiled kindly, bowing his head to Hettie.

The Half-Minotaur woman actually blushed a little in response, and bowed back; “I’m glad to see you too, Mason. Honestly, of all my fellow Coven Heads, you were the one I pegged most as a Rebel. You were too kind-hearted and hard working to be taken in by Belos without him promising something you couldn’t refuse.”

Mason chuckled; “Those keen eyes o’ yours never missed a trick now, did they? We didn’t get to talk much when you were our “guest” after the Day o’ Unity. I’m greatly lookin’ forward to makin’ up for lost time.”

Everyone else in the room watched the display with varying degrees of bewilderment and joy. There looked to be something between Hettie and Mason! Darius noted that the two had always gotten along well when they had to work together for the Emperor, and they’d often spoken on friendly terms, while Luz idly remembered that Mason had looked rather disappointed after hearing what had happened during Luz’s first encounter with her, and had been quiet for a very long time after she’d been apparently petrified and shattered. At the time, everyone had just assumed it was because Mason had serious bad feelings regarding petrification, but upon seeing the two practically flirting as Mason gave big smiles and Hettie’s eyes sparkled… well, they were starting to see an alternate possibility!

Eventually, Mason tore himself away from his pleasant chat and greeted Kyrie too, though it was obvious to her and everyone else that he was just trying to be polite and welcoming, which Kyrie really didn’t mind.

A few moments later, the elevator opened up and revealed Perry Porter, who was accompanied by the Parks and Tholomules (namely Matt’s parents, Bart and Marie), as well as Emiliel and Simi, who immediately ran over to King and Samael. Simi giggled impishly as she picked King up, hugged him, then tossed him to Emiliel, who squealed happily as she cuddled the adorable little Titan, relishing in the feel of his fur while Simi moved on to doing some kind of childish secret handshake with Samael, that looked more like them playing Patty Cake whilst Samael tried to avoid getting bopped in the face by Simi’s tail.

As the children were having their own little reunion, the Parks and Tholomules hugged their children in greeting, with Marie fussing over Matt (who insisted he was fine and didn’t need to be babied) and Bart slapping Steve on the back proudly, whilst also taking the time to make sure Katya was okay, as the Tholomules were quite taken by the young lady. Of course, none of this held a candle to Perry’s reaction to Gus; the moment he laid eyes on his son’s fused form, he gasped in a mix of shock and amazement, then rushed to pick Gus up…

… only for his hands to pass right through him, as the Gus he’d gone for was just an illusion.

Almost everyone blinked in surprise as that Gus disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke, as no one but Lyra had noticed him switching out with an illusion.

Perry rolled his eyes with a good-natured smile, especially when he felt the real Gus landing on his back. His son loved playing this particular trick on him, so Perry was used to it, letting him reach back as he always did and grab Gus’s leg, then pull him off his back and hold him upside down like he was a fish Perry had just caught.

“Wow, looks like I caught a big one this time! A chilly one too! Those new scales of yours are ice cold!” Perry commented as Gus giggled and swung back and forth in his Dad’s grasp. The man eventually let him down (it was getting harder to carry the boy now that he was getting older and bigger), and Gus quickly hopped back to his feet and gave his Dad a real hug.

“I’m pretty sure these scales ARE ice! Comes with being bonded with the ice glyph! So what do you think of my new look?” Gus asked, making some heroic poses to show off his new form.

“It’s incredible! I’m not entirely sure how this new form works, but it looks amazing! Considering what I heard Amity could do with hers, I just know you’ve got some amazing new powers too!” Perry smiled, extremely proud. “I’m a little jealous too! I wonder if I could one day learn to do this with Julius.”

Julius was Perry’s own Palisman; a dark purple frog with huge glassy eyes. Julius was a bit of a sleepy creature, and as the Palisman of an Oracle, had some Oracle Magic of his own, which he mostly used to nap inside one of Perry’s empty crystal balls.

“How exactly does this fusion work anyway?” Harvey asked; “It seems safe, but I’m a little nervous about it.”

“This is uncharted territory.” Bart Tholomule agreed.

“Well, it seems to be a combination of Luz’s and King’s powers.” Amity explained. “Ghost said that when Luz ascended to a Seraphim and bonded with King’s incomplete glyph, she bestowed her other eight glyphs on the eight members of the Hexsquad. I think that happened partly because of King and the linking power of his new glyph, since he’d used it to link to all our Palismen a little while before Luz ascended.”

King nodded, remembering how he’d gotten into the Time-out/Nightmare dreams that Belos had tricked the Collector into making.

“From there, it looks like each person has to bond with the glyph I gave them in the same way I did originally. Amity needed to understand purification, positivity, and caring; an easy feat for my awesome girlfriend.” Luz gushed, shooting an adoring look at a blushing Amity.

“And Gus needed to understand fluidity and adaption, change, and protection! A creative guy like him who protects his friends had no trouble!” Lyra added proudly, making Gus blush a little too. The two hadn’t talked about what had happened between them the previous night; it had obviously changed things between them a bit and made them closer, but neither were willing to put labels on it yet. They were comfortable just continuing to be best friends who’d crossed into the nebulous area between that and something more.

“So bonding with a glyph is all it takes? But then how does that lead to fusing with a Palisman?” Marie Tholomule asked.

“We’re not totally sure, but we think it’s because of King’s linking power. When the bonding happens, there is some kind of light show that connects me to the person bonding with a glyph, and whenever they fuse with their Palisman, the glyph we share appears on my skin without me willing it too, and it connects to King’s incomplete glyph on my chest. The linking power is channelled to them through their link with me, and then onto their Palisman.” Luz theorised, “But since Palismen and their partners are already bonded souls, the linking power takes it one step further and links their bodies and minds too, creating the Palisman fusions.”

The group exchanged looks, with the likes of Lilith and Hettie looking intrigued and eager to investigate this phenomenon and how it effected both the Witch and the Palisman involved in the fusion. None of them were sure if Luz was right or not, but since King seemed to agree and no one else understood these new powers better than those two, they opted to just consider it fact.

From there, the rest of the day was spent with the CATTs helping Hettie, Kyrie, and the Combat Healers get settled in, while Gus experimented with his new powers under the watchful eyes of his father, Lyra, and Luz.

Gus’s new form came with a bevy of natural abilities just like Amity’s had. His new form’s scales were hard and tough enough to block physical blows from Witches and most Demons of similar strength, and also proved mostly impervious to blades (though Gus believed that a blade swung with enough force could still slice through him). They were also icy cold, providing Gus with heavy resistance to heat, while his new control over Ice Magic rendered him utterly immune to the cold. He was quite comfortable even at subzero temperatures, and while he could be frozen, so long as he was conscious, he could move through ice as if it was water, just as he’d done with the Sapphice that Zara had created. The scales were also excellent as mediums for his Illusion Magic; he could use them to project illusions of any kind, attaching them directly to a person’s nervous system or close enough to certain sensory organs (such as the eyes, the inside of the nose or ears, and the tongue) allowed Gus to connect to their mind and use his Tactile Illusions. The scales could also be used as the core of his ice golems, making them a bit more effective, and if he made the scales clear, he could turn them into lenses for his friends, letting them see through his illusions and even others, similar to the Magic Amplifier.

Besides his scales, Gus also had his horns, clawed feet, webbed hands, and long tail. His tail was fully prehensile, just like Amity’s was, though it was notably longer and thicker at the base, giving it more strength (enough that it could easily lift him, and Gus could sit cross-legged in the air while using his tail like a stool). His horns were short, but sharp and sturdy, and his hands and feet allowed him to climb all but the sheerest of surfaces without issue, be it glass, stone, bone, or even another person. Luz likened it to Spiderman, and his webbed hands also made him an excellent swimmer, and seemed to provide him with the ability to “kneed” water as if it were dough, turning it into a gel-like substance that he could shape as he pleased. Then there was his tongue, which he could extend for up to 12 feet, which was more than twice the length of his body. The tongue was sticky, and Gus could use it to pull things to him, or if the target was heavier than he was, pull him to it. It made for both an effective grabbing method AND a useful grappling method tool! Combining that with his natural swimming abilities and the Palisman Fusion’s signature flight ability, and Gus had near perfect three dimensional movement in any circ*mstances.

Finally, there was his magical abilities. Besides his Tactile Illusions, Gus was able to create regular visual, auditory, olfactory, and even gustatory (meaning taste) illusions with ease using the icy vapours he could release from his body. He could generate water and ice at incredible volumes, walk on water or freeze it and skate on it with incredible grace, and even turn himself “invisible” by turning his body completely clear. This was in part due to his ability to turn himself into ice and water, though even in a liquid state, he couldn’t shape himself freely and would still feel pain if he was struck; it would just enable him to regenerate at the cost of a huge amount of magic. This was something they discovered when learning of another of Gus’s lizard-like abilities; the ability to detach his tail and regenerate it within minutes. Gus’s final new additions were his own sensory abilities, which were mostly just a mild enhancement of his regular senses and certainly not a patch on Amity’s enhanced senses, with the sole exception of eyesight, which Gus found to be utterly flawless, making his already sharp eye for detail even sharper.

Once she’d gotten settled in at the CATT’s Cradle, Hettie had begun her physical analysis of what the Palisman Fusions did to those using them. Her findings were shocking, as the fusions gave Amity and Gus bodies that were somewhat similar to Grimwalkers, having Palistrom Wood infused into them. They were like a mix of Witch, the animal their Palisman was modelled on, and pure Palistrom Wood. Hettie had also found some preliminary signs of crystallisation in Amity and Gus’s hearts; small enough that it was only noticed because Hettie was looking for them, but enough to prove a hypothesis she’d been building based on Luz’s own theory.

The Palisman Fusion did indeed involve Titan Power, which was causing the hearts of those effected to slowly turn into Galdorstones, like all the Titan Blessed. There was no medical risk to the teens; even if their hearts fully crystallised, they would still function and beat like normal hearts, and would only completely harden after their deaths, which would hopefully not be for a long time to come! This revelation brought a wave of new hope to the CATTs too; because if Palisman Fusion gave the user Titan Magic, then they would be resistant or potentially even immune to the Divider’s Sephiroth Magic! If the entire Hexsquad was able to unlock their Palisman Fusions, then combined with Luz and King, they’d actually stand a chance against the Divider!

Beyond the newcomers getting settled in with the CATTs, Lilith spending some quality bonding time with Luz, King, and Amity, and Hunter spending some time with Viney, Valtora, and Hettie to discuss his use of the Wild Heart spell (which was being carefully tested by the Healer), the only other thing of note to happen had come from Snowball the Carbuncle, who despite coming from a cold region, had become quite comfortable in the desert. In fact, she’d also become quite comfortable with Emiliel, and the old instincts that Angels had bred into Carbuncles to make them good pets for them had been reawakened by the little Cherub, leading to Snowball deciding Emiliel was her new owner, something the Cherub was dearly happy about! Samael, Steve, and Katya were all a little jealous, but they accepted the decision and still got to play with Snowball anyway, so there were no hard feelings. Camila, being both a Vet and an Angel, took care of showing Emiliel how to care for the little Carbuncle, and Snowball soon become something of a mascot to the CATTs.
________________________________________________________________________________

[The Next Day]

Unfortunately, with a new day came new problems, and Luz found herself once again listening to a familiar argument. The previous day had been a day of rest and recovery from their last mission, so today was a day of rest and planning for their next one, which meant everyone was now debating which target to hit next, and with the exception of those who’d voted the Knee last time, everyone was once again voting to go to the places they knew or suspected their family members to be.

Willow was still arguing for the Left Hip to try and investigate Terra, and had some unexpected support from Boscha, who advocated for going after Terra or Vitimir in the Left Shoulder. Matt was fully in on the Left Palm, wanting to get the last of the Supreme Dragons back on their side so the Wings of Rani lost the last of their most powerful weapons. Gus was in agreement with him too, pointing out that Zara had been incredibly tough and had nearly won against them with her freezing powers.

King voted for the Right Hip, which Darius and Eda seconded, wanting the Clawthorne Parents back as well as Eber. Naturally Samael sided with King again, though he also voted for the Left Palm because he wanted to get Godric back on their side and reunite the Dragons. Simi and Emiliel (who’d mostly gotten involved in the meeting because they were playing with King and Samael when it was called) also said they should get Godric back, while Hunter agreed with King and Darius that they should go for Eber and the Beast-Keepers.

Skara advocated for the Heart again, wanting to get back her Dad, and received some support from King and Eda, who wanted Raine, and Kyrie Crane, who wanted her Uncle Scooter. Amity and Alador, along with the Blight Twins, all threw their support into the Left Foot again, and while Lyra agreed with her brother and Dad about going to the Right Hip and getting Eber back, she also finally voiced her desire to get back Osran from the Left Knee, and argued that retaking both Knees would also make it easier to retake both feet too, meaning they’d be getting back Luna Miphari and the Blights. Naturally that got the support of Mason, and Hettie too, but started a whole new debate.

The only ones not arguing or voting now were Camila, Vee, and Lilith; the former two trusting Luz to make the best decision she could, and Lilith being too bewildered by all the arguing and not feeling like her voice would (or should) be heard anyway.

“Was it really this bad last time?” Lilith asked in amazement.

“Yep. They’ll debate like this for a while… I’d stop them, but as they debate, the come up with new arguments, pros, and cons that I hadn’t even thought of. I want to make an informed decision after all.” Luz replied with a slightly tired smile. She’d had several strange episodes the previous day, where she’d been suddenly hit by a wave of fatigue, and that had interfered with her ability to rest properly. Luz was trying to take her health and self-care more seriously, so she’d gone to her Mami and Hettie about it and been examined, but they’d found no biological reason for the sudden fatigue, and the episodes would fade and she’d be reenergised only a short time later. The general prescription from both Camila and Hettie had been to take it easy and let them know if the episodes didn’t pass.

“You’ve really started coming into your own as a leader. You’re very different from the young girl I first met back at the Covention.” Lilith smiled.

“We’ve both changed a lot since then! It’s weird to think that it’s almost been a year since I first stepped foot in the Demon Realm… it was May 31st, and it’s now May 6th of the next year!” Luz smiled back, feeling nostalgic.

Lilith opened her mouth to reply, when an increase in volume caused her attention to shift back to the debate.

“Boscha, I keep telling you this isn’t just about our family members!” Amity scowled; “The Wings of Rani only have so many members, but they can keep making more Angelic Sentinels and Abomaton Knights! We cut production in half when we took Bonesborough, but they’re still being mass-produced at the Abomination Coven HQ! Taking that place and the Left Foot back would make future towers easier to capture, so we should take it before they have time to build even more forces!”

“And I keep telling you, that’s easy for you to say when you’ve got most of your family back already! You’ve got your Dad, you siblings, your Dad’s boyfriend and his kids, and your girlfriend and her family, not to mention your “mentor” Lilith!” Boscha yelled back, putting air quotes on the word mentor since she obviously meant something else. “Skara and I are the only ones in the Hexsquad who’ve got no family here! Can you blame us for wanting to go after the Heart or Left Shoulder!?”

“We can’t be selfish here!” Darius snapped back, “Stop acting like a petulant teenager! We need to do what is best for the CATTs and the Boiling Isles!”

Boscha growled and Skara put an arm on her shoulder to calm her, while frowning at Darius; “That’s not fair, Darius! You’ve got most of your family! And can you really call us selfish when the two options you voted for involved getting back your best friend and adoptive parents!? Can you honestly look us in the eye and say their relationship with you isn’t a driving factor for you?”

Sure enough, Darius averted his eyes with a frown and the others looked conflicted. The only ones not voting to save their families were those who had no family left to save, and they were instead voting for their friends’ families. They were all looking for objective reasons to justify their choices, but that didn’t change the fact they were largely voting for personal reasons.

Luz didn’t blame them for this, but as the one who’d have to make the final decision, she decided to put an end to this.

“Enough, guys. We can’t let this divide us, or else the Divider will finish the job! We’ve gotta stand united! Like Azura and the Three Armies of Tan-o-Brig in Book 4 of the Good Witch Azura!” Luz declared, taking what she thought was an inspirational pose. It was a little silly, but it at least got the others to stop arguing and either smile at her or exchange bewildered looks.

Boscha, who was one of the latter, asked; “Does this mean you’ve made up your mind?”

Luz nodded; “Yes. I think we should go for the Heart and Manubrium. It’s going to be the next toughest place to take, so taking it now before they up security even more is super important! Plus Raine and Severin are super valuable allies and if we go ahead with the plan from the Day of Unity and either capture or destroy Orion’s Heart, won’t that stop the Divider’s plans completely in its tracks? He needs all the Wellsprings and if we destroy one, then it’ll definitely stop his plan!”

Eda, who was obviously happy to go after Raine, nodded enthusiastically before suddenly frowning; “Actually, we might not be able to destroy Orion’s Heart… I’m pretty sure that the magic the castle is drawing from it is what keeps Rani’s Eden in the sky. If we destroy it…”

“Then down comes Rani’s Eden. Dang it… do you think we could convince them to evacuate first?” Luz asked. It would be a shame to destroy Rani’s Eden or Belos’ remodelled castle, but Luz could live with that. She couldn’t live with killing all the people living in those places though!

Unfortunately, warning them to evacuate the place would obviously give away their plan, and also reveal that they aren’t willing to just bring Rani’s Eden down regardless of the consequences, so they might actively refuse to evacuate to prevent them destroying Orion’s Heart. Lilith and Eda said as much, making Luz sigh.

“I guess I should have known it would be too easy to just destroy the heart. I guess we’ll just need to focus on rescuing our allies and destroying the Divided Orbs.” she said.

The others accepted the decision readily, with Skara being ecstatic over the decision, which also made Boscha a little less surly (though the completion of this mission would mean she was the last member of the Hexsquad without any rescued family). Mason then began to point out good places for their secondary teams to attack and draw attention away from Manubrium, while Hunter discussed who should lead the strike teams, as they’d need two; one for the city and one for the castle. This lead to some more civil debating about who should go where, though sadly it didn’t last long.

About ten minutes into the planning for the Heart Campaign, Hettie received a scroll call and excused herself from the map table so she could take it, though her exclamation of; “What!? Are you absolutely certain!?” drew everyone’s attention to her regardless.

Turning back to the table, Hettie set her scroll to speaker mode and said; “Apologies everyone, but Head Witch Dorothea has some important information for us.”

“Yes, good day everyone. I apologise for disturbing you so soon after you left us, but I’m afraid I have some unfortunate news.” Dorothea said, sounding both tired and worried.

“It’s fine, Head Witch. Please, anything you can tell us will be helpful.” Luz said kindly.

They heard Dorothea take a deep breath, before she began; “I’ve been in contact with Healing Coven Outposts throughout the Isles using Comm-Pacts, to inform them that we will now be neutral in the affair between the CATTs and Wings of Rani. However whilst doing this, the hospital in Phalagia, down in the Swampy Toes, reported that the Wings of Rani were now doing inspections of all the Union Pillars.”

“What!?” everyone exclaimed in shock.

“Do they suspect we’re hiding in one!?” Lilith yelled.

“No, I don’t think so. I called around some of the other hospitals to confirm it, and the ones in Shin-on-Shingles on the southern slope of the Knee, as well as Nailic at the tips of the Left Toes have also reported that Construction Witches were being brought in for the inspections. I think they’re trying to find and close secret tunnels.” Dorothea replied.

“Like the ones Katya and I used to get to Eclipse Lake. Since that’s how we snuck past their lines, they must be worried the same thing will happen at other places.” Steve frowned.

“The Wings of Rani sure are proactive about countering our tactics… since this also happened because Lilith was called away from the Union Pillar, I bet they’ll assign more guards to the Overseers or even limit their movements.” Darius said, “That’ll be a problem for Mason’s cover.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have more information for you. All I know is that the Wings of Rani are using the Construction Coven to begin inspecting the Union Pillars. If you really are hiding in one, I’d suggest evacuating sooner rather than later.” Dorothea said.

The others frowned, but nodded. “Thank you for the warning, Head Witch. We’ll get out of here as soon as we can!” Luz said gratefully.

Hettie then gave her own thanks to Dorothea before ending the call. At the same time, Mason gave a call to one of his trusted lieutenants in the Construction Coven, using a Comm-Pact. He was still officially the Head Witch, even if Nothor Rostone had been made the interim or acting Head Witch due to Mason’s self-imposed exile.

Upon his call being answered, Mason spoke; “Obidais, I’ve got a question. I heard tell that the Construction Coven is doin’ inspections o’ the Union Pillars with the Wings o’ Rani, looking for secret tunnels and ways in to the Primordial Wellsprings. Anything more you can tell me?”

“So you heard? Yeah, Ol’ Rostone sent out an order to all the Construction Coven members outside of HQ, and told them to help the Wings of Rani with these inspections. I figured you were up to something at the Right Palm, so me and the guys are dragging our feet and making the inspections real slow. We’re only investigating one Pillar per day, starting with the Left Foot. It’ll take us a while to get to the Right Palm, so you should have time to fix up the place and relocate anything you don’t want them to find. Gotta warn you though, I think your pillar is a high priority so we might get rushed there. I’d move fast if I were you. We can guarantee at least three days, but after that, it’s up in the air.” Obidais replied.

Mason hummed, then nodded; “Thanks Friend, that’s a big help. Delay them as much as possible and if you do find some secret passages, maybe try and hide them for me? They could be useful for us later.”

“I’ll do what I can. Give my best to Bart and Steve, and the rest of the CATTs. And tell that little lady Luz that we’re still rooting for the real Saviour of the Isles to take the Divider down!”

Since this was a Comm-Pact call, everyone in the room had heard Obidais speaking, so Luz promptly blushed and gave a confident smile; “I’ll do my best!”

With that, Mason ended the call and said; “Well, we’ve got a few days at best. Now we need to find a whole new HQ.”

That dropped a huge amount of pressure on everyone’s back. The only other places on the Isles they could think of were Bonesborough and Cartilia, but both came with their own problems. Cartilia would be a lot harder to resupply even if it was more defensible, and the Wings of Rani could easily blockade the place. Bonesborough would be able to accommodate the hundreds of CATTs and Orphans without supply issues, but the city was harder to protect… worst of all, both were already going to be under assault by the Wings of Rani trying to take them back! Splitting their attention and having the Abomatons of Bonesborough and Zara in Cartilia were all that kept them from taking back those cities already!

“This is going to be a problem. We need somewhere that’s either totally secret or next to impossible to invade, or else the Wings of Rani will send ALL there forces there. If we’re attacked by the full force, we won’t get out unscathed even with Luz and Samael.” Darius frowned.

“Going to Bonesborough or Cartilia will be impossible to keep secret.” Alador added; “Both will be watched too closely by the Wings of Rani, so they’re bound to notice hundreds more people suddenly showing up.”

Skara frowned; “Can’t we just hide in the CATT’s Cradle? They’re only investigating the pillar, not the fort.”

Mason shook his head; “There’s no way they won’t search there too. It’s be the perfect entrance spot for tunnels through the desert.”

“I guess digging underground and hiding there until they’re gone would also be a bad idea since they’re looking for things hidden underground.” Vee sighed.

Amity looked to Luz; “Do you think the Divine Realm or Human Realm could be good hiding places? Just temporarily?”

Luz shook her head; “The Divine Realm closed its borders; I can get away with taking one or two people through, but even I haven’t been allowed outside the hallway of the Divine Crossroads that holds our gate. Taking hundreds of people through would be out of the question.”

“And taking them to the Human Realm is just asking for trouble. The gate isn’t far enough away from town that a lot of people emerging from it won’t be noticed.” Camila added.

“What about Neo Haven? Or would that be too small?” Willow asked.

Camila nodded; “WAY too small. It’d be suitable for the Hexsquad and a few others, but it’s meant to house only about 15 people. If we really cram people in, we could get a lot more, but not enough.”

A few other ideas were suggested too, such as splitting them all up and having some go to Bonesborough, some go to Cartilia, some go to the Human Realm, and some go to Neo Haven, but there were enough of them that no matter how they divided themselves up, there would be a substantial risk of discovery. Plus, Luz was worried that the Wings of Rani were watching the gate back to the Divine Realm.

King also suggested his island, but it was too far away from civilisation, making it a horrible place to resupply. Plus building a new hideout there would take a lot of precious time too. They needed somewhere that was already either built up, or near somewhere built up.

“Well, what about Digale Island?” Lilith finally suggested. “Digale Town is already supplied and equipped to house our numbers and then some, it has natural resources so supplying the place and keeping people fed won’t be an issue, and I bet Luz and Samael’s Seraphim Magic could get us through the Maelstrom Strait. Then we can create new Teleportation Circles that only Luz and Samael know the tune for, stopping the Wings of Rani from getting there. We know an Arch-Angel’s powers can’t get through the strait since Luz’s couldn’t, and until the Divider returns, it’ll be safe.”

That was an idea that made everyone pause. It was a good one too; only the Divider could force his way inside, and no one knew when he’d return!

“He’s going to want to make more of his big pillars on Mama’s Arm, ‘cause of the Wellsprings.” King frowned, “But he’ll be focused on the pillars we’ve already shut down first.”

“And this is also a chance to take down two more Overseers!” Eda grinned, liking the idea more and more; “The Overseer of the Head, Carnar Vanily, is supposed to be doing something on Digale Island, along with this woman who was made Overseer of the Throat. No idea who she is or what they’re doing, but if we capture them and take over the place, we could make the Wings of Rani think they’re still in control of the island with fake reports and check-ins!”

The others began to get more into it too, all of them missing Digale Island and the second home they’d made for themselves there.

“I have been working on a way to jam the connection between Comm-Pacts, so if I can make it work, we can shut off communication from the island to the Boiling Isles. That’ll ensure there’s no chance of the Wings of Rani being warned, and we’ll have two more Overseers defeated and two more Union Pillars that we can take over and shut down at any point.” Alador smiled. “From what I’ve seen of Luz’s Angelic Mirror Communication Device, it works on a similar principle. If Luz let’s me borrow it, I might be able to make the jammer work for those too.”

Luz nodded in agreement, immediately handing the mirror over so Alador could use it for his research; it wasn’t like she could do much with it at the moment anyway.

“I seem to remember a lot of folks from the CATTs still lived there too. Mostly folks who had no other home to return to. That’ll give us some new recruits too.” Mason agreed.

“And even if the Divider knows about it, taking back Digale Island will at least buy us some time to find another place to live and set it up. Like Titan Cradle Island!” Lilith added.

Luz looked between everyone present, and found all of them looking either excited or determined by the idea. Only her Mami, Vee, Hettie, and Kyrie were neutral, having no personal stake in Digale Island, since they’d never been there (except Hettie, who’d been a prisoner). Aside from the Divider knowing about the place, the only downside they knew about was that the lack of Union Pillars meant the people there were probably not divided, and so the Wings of Rani likely had a very strong presence there. However that could also be a good thing; they’d not bothered capturing any Wings of Rani in the past, but this was the perfect opportunity to grab one and interrogate them for more information!

“So, are we all in agreement?” Luz asked. She received a round of nods and agreement, then grinned; “Then it’s decided! We’re taking back Digale Island! Let’s warn our people and get them all ready! We’ll take as many combatants as we can to the island first thing tomorrow, and capture it! Once it’s secure, I’ll set up a temporary Teleportation Circle at CATT’s Cradle to begin moving everybody over. We’ll worry about setting up a permanent one some place safer right after.”

Everybody gave a cheer of agreement, then hurriedly began getting prepared for the next day’s attack. All the leaders and Hexsquad members would be taking part, so they would all need to be well-rested. Darius took care of going to CATT’s Cradle and informing the people there of the current plan, while Mason told the people in the Union Pillar. They also organised who would be joining the assault and who would remain behind to protect the orphans and other children. Eda took care of organising transportation, which would primarily be through airships, including Mason’s famous Ol’ Bessie, and Alador got to work on finishing his Comm-Pact Jammer with some help from Amity.

As these preparations were underway, Luz decided to confirm whether or not Samael really was unable to lift the fragment of a curse that was on Lilith. She took him and Lilith on a short trip back to Bonesborough and through the Portal Gate back to the Divine Realm, while King decided to accompany them alongside Simi and Emiliel, who wanted to see the Divine Realm again. Sadly, the trip proved to be for naught; even with Samael restored to full power while outside the Demon Realm, he couldn’t break the curse of the Huntsman, even with King and Luz using their Titan powers to help, leaving Lilith stuck with the Raven Beast inside her. She wasn’t too disappointed, since she’d been warned, but it was still a wasted trip, as they still weren’t allowed to leave the Divine Crossroads, so Simi, Emiliel, and Lilith didn’t get to see much else of the Divine Realm.

Upon returning to the Demon Realm and going all the way back to the Desert, Camila saw the downcast expression on the children’s faces and roped them into some lessons that she could turn into games, teaching the young quartet some important healing and first aid skills. Lilith decided to go off and help Amity and Alador with their work, leaving Luz to search for another way to help out and fill time. Most people chased her off and told her to go get some rest, so she ended up deciding to go find Vee, whereupon she found her hanging out with Treble and Hanu.

“Hey Vee. You guys up for some more company? Everyone else is busy and refusing to let me help.” Luz said with a slight pout.

Her little sister smiled and used her tail to pull Luz over and hug her, before reaching to scratch Stringbean’s head as the little Palisman hissed playfully, demanding pets of her own.

“Good! You still work too hard, Luz!” Vee smiled.

Luz huffed playfully and gave Vee a gentle and playful noogie; “Hey! Who’s the big sister here?”

“Being older doesn’t make you more mature! You’re notorious for not taking care of yourself!” Vee retorted with a giggle, using her shape-shifting power to turn into an adult version of her usual humanoid disguise so she could wrestle the now-smaller Luz into a bear hug.

The two girls giggled and wrestled, until Camila (who wasn’t even watching, since she was helping the children with their lesson) loudly said; “Don’t rough-house too much, girls!”

“Yes Mami/Mama!” they chorused back, stopping their game (but each keeping an arm around the other).

Hanu and Treble chuckled at the two, then Luz said; “So, what were you guys talking about.”

“The trip to Digale Island tomorrow.” Treble said, “That place is my home, so I’m looking forward to having it back! But I’m worried about what that Vanily guy is doing to it!”

Vee nodded seriously while Hanu’s face fell. “We’re all a little worried. Darius warned the three of us to stay back here in the desert until he’s taken care of.” Vee said, “He supposedly loved hunting Demons, and Basilisks like Treble and I would be in big trouble. Mama already forbade me from going.”

“Probably a good idea.” Luz nodded, “I never met the guy, and I’m sure we could protect you, but it’s better to not take the risk.”

Hanu shifted a little as she said; “Actually… I want to go with you tomorrow.”

That earned her some shocked looks from all three of her fellow teens. Hanu had obviously helped in the past, mostly with the Basilisk situation in the Human Realm and then the fight with Belos in the Divine Realm, but it was clear she preferred to stay out of battles ever since losing to Willow and being abandoned by Terra. Willow had privately told Luz that she thought it was because Hanu was afraid of losing or failing and then being abandoned again, and no amount of convincing her otherwise had done any good.

“Okay, I’m not against it. You’re really strong and I’m not gonna turn down a helping hand. But why do you want to do this?” Luz asked.

“I just… I want to feel helpful, and Digale Island was my home too, you know? The CATTs took me in even after all I did for Snapdragon, and it’s Treble’s home too. I’ve got a lot of reasons to fight for it! Plus I feel kinda useless here, and anything to get me out of the desert is good in my book.” Hanu explained, rambling a little.

Luz and Vee exchanged looks; they were sure everything Hanu was saying was true, but they weren’t sure it was the real reason Hanu wanted to go. Treble, on the other hand, knew exactly why Hanu wanted to go. He wasn’t going to reveal it to Luz and Vee without his girlfriend’s permission, but he also wasn’t going to let her go… at least without him!

“If you’re going, then so am I.” Treble said, his voice making it clear he would accept no arguments; “That’s okay with you, right Luz?”

Luz nodded, but Hanu shook her head; “Treble, no! If Vanily sees you-!”

“I’ll be perfectly safe. I have you and I have the others. Besides, if he is a racist old geezer who hunts Demons, you’re no safer than I am! Those adorable and fluffy monkey features don’t come from your Witch side!” Treble retorted.

Hanu went pink, never being able to object to anything Treble did when he called her cute. Thankfully he never abused this power! Luz and Vee giggled, while the latter said; “Aw, if you both go then I’m gonna feel like a coward…”

“You’re not a fighter, Vee. And that’s okay! You’re my adorable little sister! If you want, I could even take you back home to the Human Realm until we finish taking back Digale Island? You could spend time with Masha!” Luz offered.

Vee considered it, but ultimately shook her head. “No, I’d feel too anxious and guilty that I was having fun while you guys were off fighting. I’ll just stick around here with Mama and make myself useful.”

Luz accepted that readily, while Hanu tried once more to convince Treble to stay; “Vee is staying behind too. You don’t wanna leave your favourite cousin all alone, right?”

Treble snorted; “Vee is a big girl who can look after herself. I’m going too and that’s that.”

Hanu pouted, but knew there was no point in arguing further. Instead she dragged Treble off somewhere so they could talk privately, or perhaps just enjoy some time as a couple; the Noceda Sisters had no idea, but they weren’t going to get involved in their personal affairs.

Following this, Luz and Vee hung out together for a while, discussing the latter’s thoughts about joining the school baseball team when everything was over. Eventually, Vee was called away by Camila, who wanted her help cooking dinner for everyone, while Darius prevented Luz from helping too, instead having her come with him and Lyra to the CATT’s Cradle, where she was tasked with constructing a new Teleportation Circle. Darius wanted Luz to teach Lyra how to make one too, so the pair of them got to work. Aside from a brief break for dinner, they worked diligently and not only had Luz made a new circle, but Lyra had successfully made two of her own; one on the roof of the Union Pillar and one on the roof of the CATT’s Cradle main fort, allowing easy transportation between them (though it wasn’t that practical, as Lyra wasn’t going to hang around all day to make the circles work).

Finally, the CATTs spent a pleasant evening together, before turning in for an early night, wanting as much sleep as possible ahead of what they were sure would be a challenging night.
________________________________________________________________________________

[The Next Day]

As per usual, the CATTs were early to rise and get themselves ready for the day, with the sun barely having fully risen before they were all taking airships from CATT’s Cradle to a hidden dock hidden amongst the Titan’s Fingers, where Mason has moored his famous Ol’ Bessie, along with the rest of their airships. As they landed their ships in the water, Darius had explained that they’d be sailing most of the way rather than flying, as it would conserve their airship’s magic, which wasn’t easy or economical to refuel with their current resources. Thankfully all but the cheapest, most low-end airships were also designed to sail on water too, so the CATTs’ airships would be able to make the journey easily.

The Hexsquad was also met with a pleasant surprise in the form of a familiar face; Salty! The old Sea Demon and his crew was waiting for them when they arrived, sailing aboard Valtora’s ship, the Loving Leopard.

“Salty! It’s been so long!” Luz beamed, hugging the man.

“Yarr, that it has. ‘Tis good to see ya, Lassie! You’re lookin’ hail and hearty as ever! And ye got some new plumage too! They be an impressive set o’ wings, Lassie!” Salty grinned, accepting the hug and patting Luz on the head with his lobster-like claw.

Luz grinned and quickly introduced him to Hunter and Lyra, the only ones coming along on the mission that Salty hadn’t met before… at least in their current positions. Hunter had awkwardly greeted Salty in return, and the old sailor immediately recognised Hunter as the Golden Guard, loudly announcing; “So ye were the one to blow me last ship to smithereens! I never forget a voice, lad. Ye may not have the shiny mask, but I know ye are still the same lad that blew me last ship to kingdom come!”

Hunter gulped; “Uh, sorry about that. It wasn’t on purpose!”

“Aye, I know that lad. We wouldn’t be talkin’ civilly if ye’d meant to do it! I heard ye broke away from the Emperor and became more than just his unlucky sprog! Glad to see it were true.” Salty reassured him. He then looked to Lyra; “Now, I’m no genius, but I reckon ye must be the quiet lass with the silver mask. Lyra, ye say your name was?”

“A-Aye, Cap’n!” Lyra squeaked, straightening her back nervously.

“Easy there, lass. Ye be among friends! If ye be with the CATTs, then ye be a pal o’ ol’ Salty! Nice to meet you both.” Salty finished, smiling as he shook each of their hands.

The two were relieved that there were no hard feelings from Salty (or his crew, based on their expressions), and Luz said; “I hadn’t heard you guys were undivided. Where have you been all this time?”

“Out to sea, o’ course! Been tradin’ with ol’ Mason’s flotilla. Me crew and I didn’t take kindly to being told to only sail under the Wings o’ Rani’s colours, but me new ship was impounded when we protested, and we ran before we could have our brains torn asunder. Lucky that Cap’n Valtora was willin’ to lend us her ship when her family fled too. Now we take week long voyages out to sea for fishin’ and tradin’ with the flotilla. Speakin’ of…” Salty turned to Mason, who was escorting the group to the docks but not joining the mission; “The flotilla is on the move a lot more now, and is going further out to sea from the Isles. The Wings o’ Rani have been a lot more active in the skies, and the flotilla have been tryin’ to stay hidden.”

Mason nodded; “That’ll be our fault. The price o’ success. If today’s mission is a success too though, then we won’t need to rely on the flotilla as much, so it’ll be fine for them to move on.”

“Then let’s hope it goes well. Right then! Who be sailing with Ol’ Salty and this crew of hardened sailors?” the Sea Demon grinned.

The CATTs began to board the various ships docked at the fingers. The entire Hexsquad, King, Samael, Eda, Lilith, Darius, Alador, the Twins, Steve, Katya, Hettie, Treble, and Hanu were all going on this mission, while Mason, Camila, Vee, Kyrie, the Leonis Family, and all the others were going to be waiting behind and preparing for the inspection of the Union Pillar, as well as getting everything ready to move from CATT’s Cradle to Digale Island. Pretty much the entire upper echelons of the CATTs were joining Salty on the Loving Leopard, while the rest of the CATTs (about 200 of them) would be sailing in the other ships, forming a mini-flotilla of their own. Once everyone was onboard, they waved goodbye to Mason and began to sail westward, heading towards Digale Island.

Aboard the Loving Leopard, Salty’s crew did most of the work of sailing, but there were still a few jobs that needed doing and which were now easier with more crewmembers, so Salty recruited Hunter and Lyra (who wanted to make up for their past encounter with him) and King and Samael (who just wanted to play pirate) to do those jobs, and soon they were shovelling coal into the engine, swabbing the deck, serving as lookouts in the Crow’s Nest, or generally just helping out, leaving the rest of the passengers to enjoy the voyage in peace. Samael had even temporarily given them all little pirate outfits, much to King’s (and secretly Hunter’s) delight. Hettie observed the Grimwalkers and made research notes, while Darius observed her and made sure she didn’t fall back into old prejudices. Willow and Boscha ended up having an arm-wrestling contest with each other and several members of the crew, while Skara and Eda cheered them on. Alador spent some quality time with the Twins, showing them how the new jammer he’d made worked, while Gus and Matt hung out with Steve and Katya, telling them all about Cosmic Frontier. Hanu and Treble sat below deck, the former feeling a little seasick, and spoke in hushed voices to each other, and lastly Luz and Amity spent time together with Lilith, just talking and catching up.

For Luz, this experience was fun but also somewhat sad, largely due to an awkwardness that had cropped up between Amity and Lilith. Her awesome girlfriend kept trying to finally take the final step and call Lilith “Mom”, but she kept choking at the last moment, frustrating herself greatly. Lilith also seemed to be feeling a bit down and got a self-deprecating look on her face whenever Amity tried and failed to call her “Mom”, as if she felt it was somehow her fault… like Amity wasn’t able to bring herself to take the final step because of some failing of Lilith’s. It made things very awkward, to the point that even the obvious familial love they felt for each other was becoming less obvious as their moods dropped and their frustration with themselves grew.

Eventually, Lilith politely excused herself to talk to Eda for a bit, and almost as soon as she was gone, Amity groaned and just about threw herself over the guardrail around the ship’s bow. Luz rubbed her back sympathetically.

“You doing okay, Hermosa?”

“No! I feel like a total idiot! Why can’t I spit out one single word!?” Amity groaned again, sliding to the deck and laying there, sulking.

Luz lay down beside her; “Wanna talk about it? Maybe I can help?”

Amity smiled sadly and held her hand; “Maybe. Could you tell me how you were finally able to call Eda Mom? Maybe if I know how you felt, I’ll be able to figure out what I’m doing wrong.”

Luz nodded and looked up at the sky wistfully; “Well, I guess it started with me starting to think of her as like a Mom. You’ve already got that part down!”

“That’s true. I’d already decided that I want to have Lilith as my Mo-” Amity found her chest clenching again, making her growl before she sighed and continued; “…my maternal figure. I know she feels the same way about me, seeing me as her daughter… we both know how the other feels, so why can I not just spit it out? Every time I try, my chest feels tight, like I’m trying to breath through a straw! I don’t get what’s wrong with me!”

Ghost, who’d been playing with Stringbean (in the form of a little kitten), chose that moment to come trotting over. She meowed at her partner and lay on her stomach, comforting her in her own way. Amity smiled and pet her with her free hand, while Luz did the same to Stringbean (who’d briefly flopped over her face) before saying; “Sometimes feelings are just easy to feel but hard to talk about? I remember how hard it was to tell you I loved you before we finally confessed to each other!”

“But we weren’t sure about how the other felt! I know Lilith wants me as a daughter, she knows I want her as a-” Amity hesitated, “-you know what. I just don’t get it! Is something wrong with me?”

“Of course not! I’ll bet anything that this is partly related to trauma involving Odalia. She’s the only other woman who you ever called Mom. Maybe she subconsciously tainted the idea for you? Like you don’t want to call Tia Lily the same thing you called Odalia? Or maybe deep down inside, you’re scared that if she becomes your Mom for real, she’ll change somehow?” Luz suggested. “I’m not a psychiatrist or anything, but I heard that abused children often start blaming themselves for their abuse. Maybe some part of you is afraid that it’s your fault Odalia became what she did, and you’re afraid you’ll “corrupt” Tia Lily too.”

Amity went quiet, considering Luz’s words. She didn’t think she felt that way… but then again, she didn’t really understand what she was feeling. She certainly didn’t feel responsible for Odalia’s actions; the woman had committed heinous acts long before she was born, and while the foul woman had been very good at making Amity feel like all the bad things she had done to her were her own fault, Amity was now adamant that the blame was solely on Odalia!

“Ugh, this should be so much easier! Odalia is dead! I put a hole in her myself, even if Darius finished her off! I shouldn’t be having this problem! You were able to call Eda your Mom even though you still had Camila as your Mami, and you were able to love them both without losing the other! Why can I not do the same with only one maternal figure who actually wants me!?” Amity covered her face and groaned loudly into her palms. “Why am I such a mess!?”

Luz leaned over and kissed her cheek; “You’re not a mess. Feelings are just… hard. And I mean, Mom did basically need to get petrified before I called her Mom. Maybe you just need a proper emotional moment? Something that gets you pumped up and speaking from the heart without your brain coming in to overthink things!”

Amity smiled; “Maybe you’re right. I had no trouble saying it in front of Odalia before, when my blood was running hot! I guess I’ll just have to try! I bet once I rip the band-aid off, it’ll be way easier!”

“That’s the spirit!” Luz beamed, as Stringbean and Ghost both made happy noises of agreement; “You’ll do great, Hermosa! Believe in yourself like we believe in you!”

Amity giggled and kissed Luz passionately, then held her and stroked her hair, making the young Seraph trill. “Thank you, Batata. As helpful and adorable as always!”

The two lay like that for a while, before Lilith eventually returned from chatting with Eda (where Luz would bet every snail she had that Lilith had been asking her younger sister for similar advice to what Amity had asked of her), and while Amity still couldn’t say the word, she wasn’t allowing herself to get frustrated, and instead just smiled and laughed with her mother figure, preventing the earlier awkwardness and tension from returning. It made the rest of the trip go by a lot faster.

Finally, they arrived at the Maelstrom Strait, and the entire mini-fleet of ships stopped a safe distance away from the massive hurricane wall and the whirlpools that formed around it. The members sailing on the Loving Leopard with Salty’s crew then came together to reaffirm what they would be doing.

“Okay, Samael and I are going to use our Seraphim Magic to try and open a safe passage through the Strait. I’ll use Wind Magic on the hurricane wall, and Samael will use Water Magic on the whirlpools. We don’t need or want to get rid of them completely, just create a safe passage through them.” Luz said, making sure Samael was very clear on that fact.

“As soon as you start doing that, I’ll activate the jammer to make sure there is no communication from Comm-Pacts or those Divine Mirrors. Since scrolls need my upgrade to be compatible with the signal tower I built and I haven’t added those upgrades to any scrolls outside the CATTs, they shouldn’t be able to contact the isles at all.” Alador added, holding up the device he’d made. It was a strange form of abomination that had been designed to look like a cross between a giant Signal Termite and a Honey Pot Ant, and it’s abdomen was full of homunculus slime, using the positive energy to interfere with the magic of the Divine Mirrors.

Darius nodded, then said; “Now our priority is cutting off escape from the Island. Luz’s old Teleportation Circle was destroyed, but there is a good chance the Wings of Rani made their own! If even one of them escapes through it, then the enemy will know we’re here. It won’t be a complete failure since destroying the circle would keep them from being able to launch a counter attack, but it will mean the Divider will come for us immediately after he returns. Our number one priority should be finding and destroying any circles we find.”

“Leave that to me.” Hunter declared; “I’ll use a Bestial Blessing to give myself the hearing of a Reverbat. It’ll let me hear everything on the island. If any Angel starts singing, I’ll flash over to them and stop them, then destroy the Teleportation Circle.”

“Good idea, but I actually just thought of something else; we’re safe out here, as the Wings of Rani can’t see us through the hurricane wall. So why don’t we send some scouts in first? Send some people in with Goops, travelling under the water. They can sneak onto the island, gather intel, sabotage the Wings of Rani, and destroy any Teleportation Circles they can find. Then if the alarm is raised or they need back up, Luz and Samael can open the way through the strait and we continue with the assault.”

Gus nodded; “I can do it! I can breathe underwater, and since Luz’s ice glyph was enough to cool the sea when she first awakened it, I’m sure I can do the same! My control over water could be enough to get us through the whirlpools underwater too. I just need people to come with me.”

“I’ll come along, so I can work on scouting the teleportation circles if we’re discovered.” Hunter volunteered immediately.

“I will too. I’ve made ointments to resist the heat of the Boiling Sea.” Boscha said, “Plus I’ve got Blabber Serum for interrogations.”

“And me too. I can get people in and out with ease using the shadows. If Luz and Samael can’t make a passage through the Strait, I’ll be the one to get us inside.” Lyra said, stepping forward.

Luz nodded; “Good point. Best not to put all our eggs into one basket; our plans rarely go off without a hitch! Here.” she reached into her hair and pulled out the emergency Power Glyph that Mason supplied to her, “Use this as well as your own; we’ll need it if you end up having to move everyone through the strait.”

Lyra accepted the Power Glyph, and then two more from Darius and Lilith, the former being worried for Lyra’s health if she had to use that much magic, and the latter having little need for it since her magic was limited to what she could muster with her curse, and what Luz had given as a blessing.

With their plan prepared, Boscha gulped down a Cooling Concoction and got Skara to help rub some Heat Resisting Ointment into the exposed parts of her skin, while Hunter gave himself three Bestial Blessings; the ears of a Reverbat and the scales and tail of a Selkidomus, so he could swim in the Boiling Sea without issue. Finally, Lyra dove into the shadows, and Gus fused with Emmiline, causing Luz’s ice glyph to appear and link to her chest glyph.

“Okay everyone, follow me!” Gus said, before shooting some icy mist at the Boiling Sea and jumping into it, finding it was now pleasantly warm, like a mild hot tub. Hunter and Boscha jumped in with him, the latter holding onto the former since she couldn’t swim as effectively as Gus and Hunter with their tails. They dove under the water, Gus manipulating the sea away from his companions’ faces so they could breathe, then swam down to where the current of the whirlpools were weaker. The whirlpools actually went all the way down to the seafloor, but the vortex lost a lot of strength after a few dozen metres, making it easy for Gus to safely get their small party through them. Once they were through the whirlpools, and passed safely underneath the hurricane wall, they remained at the same depth as they approached Digale Island, only swimming up as the seabed began to rise up towards the island. Just before they breached the surface of the water again, Gus cast an invisibility spell on them all and then used some secondary illusions to hide their footprints in the sand as they emerged onto the beach of Digale Town.

Now making landfall on the island, the group hurried off the beach, while Gus used his water magic to instantly dry them all. They took cover behind some palm trees with red leaves, then peaked out at the town. From what they could tell, things on Digale Island were largely the same; several people they recognised from the CATTs were going about their normal days like it was any other town, with the only real noticeable difference being the presence of the Wings of Rani. Only a couple dozen Angels appeared to be roaming about the town, acting more like fellow citizens than guards. They also seemed strange, wearing pleasant expressions and frequently dropping whatever they were doing to help another citizen who appeared to need help. Yet despite them being servants of the Divider, there was no tension; the people of Cartilia and Bonesborough had largely gotten along with the Wings of Rani, but there was always a subtle tension in the air, as both sides knew that the Angels were occupiers and had power over the Witches and Demons, no matter how kind and benevolent they were.

But here on Digale? It was more like the CATTs pitied the Angels. Combining that with the Angels’ constant smiles made Gus’s party exchange dark looks.

“Are the Wings of Rani here divided?” Boscha whispered.

Gus narrowed his eyes and focused on one of the Angels, while Hunter switched his Selkidomus Tail blessing for the eyes of a White Hawk so he could do the same. It wasn’t easy to tell with the golden eyed Angels, but those with differing shades of blue eyes all had very obvious golden rings around their irises.

“It looks like it. I wonder if they volunteered, or if Vanily pulled an Odalia and somehow caused this under the Divider’s nose?” Hunter whispered back.

The mention of Carnar Vanily made both Gus and Boscha frown as they turned back to observing the town. They spotted several Angels, a lot of Angelic Sentinels, Knight-Jars, Abomaton Knights, and a ton of witches… but they didn’t see a single Demon. Considering Vanily’s reputation as a Witch Supremacist, that observation had all of them frowning severely.

“We need to investigate properly! Lyra, peek through the shadows and try to find a house that only has one person home. We’ll sneak in and talk to them, and hopefully get some answers. If Vanily has done something to all the Demons who live here… the battle to retake Digale is going to be a lot more violent!” Gus frowned. If the Demons had been harmed, or Titan forbid, killed? The rage of the CATTs would be cataclysmic!

Lyra obediently began using the shadows to peek inside houses, taking the opportunity to see Digale Town for the first time. Eventually, she managed to find a house with a single young man reading in his bedroom, and informed Gus, Hunter, and Boscha. Hunter then asked her to transport them through the shadows into the young man’s room, where Gus was quick to put up a silencing barrier in case the man reacted poorly.

Thankfully, while the man was startled, he recognised Boscha and Hunter immediately, and briefly mistook Lyra for Luz, before noticing the differences.

“It’s you guys!” he gasped, keeping his voice down. “The Hexsquad! And… is that Augustus!? Since when were you a Demon!?” he exclaimed, not fully recognising Gus in his fused form.

“That’s a long story sir. The short version is that I fused with my Palisman.” Gus answered, undoing the fusion to show the man what he meant.

“Whoa! That’s crazy! So, are you guys here to help take back the Island?” the man asked.

“We are.” Hunter nodded; “A small army of the CATTs, including Darius, Eda, Lilith, and Luz are waiting just outside the hurricane wall. We have a couple of ways in, but we’re here to do recon first.”

The young man grinned excitedly; “Excellent! It’s about time someone finally put “Lord” Vanily in his place! That guy is seriously creepy! He’s got a wife and two daughters, but openly goes around with his mistress!”

The teens all grimaced in disgust, though all but Gus were sadly familiar with situations like that. Among the nobility, where arranged marriages for prestige were common, it wasn’t unusual for Nobles to have mistresses, beaus, or illicit lovers of some kind. It was an open secret, but it was still considered very poor form to openly gallivant around with these lovers, so for Vanily to keep his mistress in the public eye would be both scandalous and insulting for his wife (who undoubtedly had a lover of her own on the side).

“Okay, putting aside the fact Vanily is now both disgusting AND a Witch Supremacist, what can you tell us about what’s been going on here? What’s with the Angels, and where are all the Demons who lived here before?” Boscha asked.

The young man gestured for them all to sit down around his room as he began to recount the important events of the last few months; “Well since you’ve got the Owl Lady with you, you must know what happened up until Rasiel, I mean, the Divider showed up and took over. After he divided those who fought against him and took them and the prisoners back to the Boiling Isles, he also took anyone who had a home back on the isles, only leaving Wild Witches like me along with his Angelic Sentinels. For a long time after that, things were pretty normal, but then about 6 weeks ago, the Divider showed back up with Vanily, his family, his mistress, and a bunch of Abomaton Knights and Angels. He announced that Vanily was going to be “proving himself worthy of a second chance” by acting as the Governor of the Island. He was supposed to be searching for the dormant Primordial Wellsprings up in the palm and in the elbow. The Divider gave him some Construction Witches to help as well, and for a while, everything was weirdly normal…”

“This is where we get the “but” right?” Lyra frowned.

“But…” the young man nodded, “… it didn’t last long. For about a week, Vanily was actually a decent Governor. He made sure everyone was taken care off and the Construction Witches were hard at work finding the Wellsprings. I heard they even found the one in the palm and began constructing something there. But then word reached us that the Divider had left the Demon Realm for some reason, and I guess Vanily began to feel bolder. The Wings of Rani had built a pair of Teleportation Circles and Vanily started using them to take trips back to the Isles only for him to return with some of his old cronies and hunting pals from the Beast-Keeping and Emperor’s Covens, as well as a few nobles he’d been friends with. He also began replacing the Wings of Rani with new ones, who were all Divided. No one thought anything of that at first, but once all the Wings of Rani had been replaced by the Divided Volunteers, Vanily started slipping back into his old ways…”

The teens exchanged dark looks; it sounded like Vanily had taken the Divider’s absence as a sign that he could start taking over, just as Odalia had. He’d been able to bring more of his friends to the island to solidify his power, and had likely either overpowered the Angels at his Union Pillar at the skull, then Divided them and made them replace the Angels the Divider had left him with, or had found actual Divided Volunteers for the same purpose. Perhaps he’d even secretly divided the Angels he would have taken with him on his trips back to the Isles.

“The Divided can’t disobey the Divider or people those who hold his feathers, and since Vanily wasn’t Divided himself, the Wings of Rani didn’t take his feather like they had Lilith’s.” Gus mused.

Lilith had mentioned how the Wings of Rani took her own feather after Eda and Lars were rescued, so she wouldn’t be able to command Zara to stop her attack if Lilith were rescued. There wouldn’t be much point in moving Zara’s orb if Lilith could just tell her to stand down after all.

“Which means even if Vanily became a despotic ruler, the Wings of Rani would still be forced to support him.” Boscha growled.

The young man gave a wave of his hand; “Not quite. The Wings of Rani can’t violate the Divider’s laws; they swore oaths not to, and the Abomatons and Angelic Sentinels won’t disobey them either, so Vanily can’t do too much. And the Wings of Rani still occasionally do inspections of the island to make sure Vanily is behaving himself. Though they haven’t shown up for about a week.”

The teens exchanged looks; that would line up with the Hexsquad’s return to the Isles. Their antics had likely kept the Wings of Rani too busy.

“So Vanily has started consolidating power but still can’t go too far.” Hunter reasoned, “So he couldn’t have done away with the Demons living here; there’s no way that would be allowed by the Divider’s laws. So where are they?”

“They were all moved to another town. Vanily had those Construction Witches build a second, smaller village at the very edge of the Titan’s upper arm, about as far as possible from the Palm Jungle where Vanily likes to roam. Officially, he justified it by claiming different species of Demon need different environments to be at their happiest, so they were all moved to the new village so they could customise their living spaces as they want, without inconveniencing us Witches. The Construction Witches are still there, helping them out even now.” the young man explained.

Gus snorted; “So he dressed up segregation as something helpful, so people couldn’t claim it was prejudice and that it broke the Divider’s laws.” he shook his head, then sighed dejectedly; “I just know that when the Divider hears about this, he’ll use it to justify what he’s doing… he gave a bad person a chance to be good, and they immediately started abusing the chance they were given, therefore he shouldn’t try and let people be good, but rather force them to be…”

Hunter, Lyra, and Boscha all gave nods of agreement, feeling dejection and annoyance by the fact Gus was definitely right.

“So, is there anything else you can tell us about Vanily’s actions? His forces, his hideouts, anything?” Boscha asked, eager to get to the butt-kicking.

“Not really. Vanily doesn’t let us or the Demons go into each other’s towns, and apparently that’s legal since the Abomatons and Wings of Rani don’t care. Other than that, we only have rumours, like Vanily and his goons having the Abomaton Knights transform into the form of beasts, then hunting them up in the Palm Jungle. Honestly, we don’t see a lot of him around town; his wife and kids hang out down here, but he and his goons live in a lodge the Construction Witches built up in the jungle, and his mistress likes to hang out in the tunnels accessed from the elbow, apparently looking for the wellspring there.” the man finished.

The teens nodded in understanding, and wondered if Vanily’s Mistress was the mysterious Overseer of the Throat, who was also supposed to be here on Digale Island. If she was still looking for the Primordial Wellspring, then it would make sense!

“Thanks sir, you’ve been a great help.” Gus smiled, “One last thing; where are the Teleportation Circles?”

“In a stone courtyard just outside of town, to the north. It was built behind the CATTs HQ, where Vanily’s family now live with their servants.” the man answered.

With all their questions answered, the teens thanked the man again and told him to go for a walk around town and try to position himself behind some Angelic Knight Golems or Abomaton Knights, so he could easily jump in and help the fight when the invasion began. He was also asked to subtly tell the people of Digale Town about the impending invasion/rescue by their allies. Once he’d eagerly headed out to his task, the rest of the Recon Squad split up to complete their own self-appointed roles; Boscha was taken into the shadows by Lyra so she could go and destroy the Teleportation Circles, Hunter used his flash spell to go to the Digale Demon Village and inform the people there of the coming rescue, and rally them to their side, while Gus was going to scout out the CATTs HQ and the hunting lodge built up in the Palm Jungle, so he could locate Vanily, his family, and any Witches likely to fight against the CATTs.

Lyra and Boscha completed their mission first, as Boscha provided Lyra and Shade with a pair of powerful explosives that could destroy the two Teleportation Circles they’d found (which they were certain connected to the Union Pillars in the Skull and Throat). The two were then poised in the shadows, ready to use them once Hunter and Gus sent their Penstagram messages.

Hunter was the next one to complete his mission; the Demon Village was surrounded by Abomaton Knights to ensure people didn’t enter or leave, but they didn’t venture into the village itself, so Hunter was able to appear right in their midst and rally them all for battle. They were all furious and raring for a fight against Vanily, especially as some of them had Witch family members they’d been forcibly separated from.

Gus was the last one to send his confirmation message, having to carefully scout out two places one after the other while invisible. His knowledge of the CATTs HQ allowed him to navigate the place quickly and found that aside from some Angelic Sentinels, the only people present in the fortress were some servants, Vanily’s wife, his two daughters, and a particularly well-dressed maid that seemed to be Lady Vanily’s own mistress. He’d then taken a trip up to the Palm Jungle, moving as fast as his new flight abilities would let him, and found Vanily’s hunting lodge. It was a large mansion built like an oversized log cabin, and it had been filled with various Beast and Bug Demon trophies hung up on the walls, as well a copious amounts of alcohol and weapons of both mundane and magical design all over the place. The majority of the mansion was made up of a huge foyer, a fancy drawing room and dining room, an armoury, a simple kitchen, and a series of grand bedrooms. The place was also a complete mess, looking a little like Frat House the day after a huge party, and there were several servants roaming around cleaning up, as well as a few rich looking Witches who were either passed out drunk, or severely hung over and whining about something.

Noticeably, Gus did not find any sign of Vanily or his mistress, though he did hear one of the hungover nobles complaining that Vanily and the rest of his hunting party had gone off to the caves without him.

“Vanily must be having his next Abomaton Hunt in the caves instead of the jungle today.” Gus thought as he crept back into the foyer of the lodge. “Should I try and find him? Or signal for the attack to begin? If they’re in the caves, they’ll have to find their way back to out again to fight us, so it might be a better idea to leave him in there.”

“I say we take this island right out from under his pompous, overly large nose! He can come out of the caves after his hunt to find his little kingdom has been conquered!” Emmiline replied inside his mind, thoroughly offended by the tacky décor inside the lodge, and repulsed by the large portrait of Carnar Vanily that hung above the fireplace in the drawing room. She wasn’t normally one to judge based on appearance, but since Vanily wasn’t winning any awards for his personality, it was all she had left and the portrait made it clear he was winning no awards for his looks too…

Gus softly snorted at the comments Emmie muttered in their shared head and decided to begin his work by silently casting an illusion over the servants he came across. His illusions mesmerised them and urged them to return to the kitchen, and once they were all inside, Gus sealed the doors shut with a thick sheet of ice to keep the servants out of the way, as he had no idea if they were good people or not. He’d then taken advantage of the drunk and hungover nobles hanging around by sneaking around while camouflaged like a chameleon, channelling the spirit of Batman from Luz’s Arkham games as he used his tail and water tendrils to ensnare the conscious nobles and knock them out, before hanging them by their legs from the various gaudy animal trophies on the walls. Once all of the conscious nobles were sleeping off their hangovers, Gus had finished up by tying up the remaining unconscious nobles and stuffing them all in the dining room, which he sealed shut with more ice.

With his stealth mission complete, Gus pulled out his scroll and sent the final Penstragram message to Luz and the others. It was time to begin the recapture of Digale Island!
________________________________________________________________________________

[Meanwhile]

Luz and the rest of the CATTs waited anxiously for signs of trouble or messages from the Recon Team, with only Samael able to relax enough to do anything but wait. He was instead practicing his Water Magic on the whirlpools of the Maelstrom Strait, and thanks to his Seraphim level magic, he was able to twist the currents back the other way, reversing the whirlpools and even stopping them. This was just what they’d all hoped for, and now the only thing left to do was see if Luz could open the Hurricane Wall with her Wind Magic.

The CATTs all went deathly silent as Luz’s scroll appeared in front of her to show she’d gotten a new message, and after taking a brief second to read it, Luz flew up into the air and cried out; “The Recon Team have given the go ahead! Prepare for battle! It’s time to take back our Island!”

There was a thunderous battle cry from everyone, who began preparing for a fight as Luz allowed the wind glyph to appear on her right foot, before darting at the Hurricane Wall. She coated herself with a powerful barrier of wind so that she could safely fly straight into the middle of the swirling gales, then channelled all her magic through her wings and Stringbean, giving them both a silver aura of powerful Wind Magic. With a twirl of her staff and a flap of her wings, Luz was able to bend the winds of the colossal hurricane around her, causing a massive tear to appear in the wall beneath her, successfully creating a pathway through it for the airships. A whooping and cheering Samael them joined her, flapping his wings and creating a huge spectral crescent moon of blue magic above him, which bent and controlled the water just like the real moon, causing the whirlpools around the tear in the hurricane to disappear, and calming the waves.

“Owlet and Starlight have gotten us through! Full speed ahead!” Eda cried, turning into her harpy mode and standing on the bow of the Loving Leopard as she pointed her staff forward towards Digale Island.

The mini fleet of ships immediately sailed into the Strait, and as soon as they were through the hurricane wall, the airships took flight and began to circle Digale Island, so they could drop the CATTs wherever they wanted or needed to go. Once the last of them were through, Samael flew through as well, and Luz finally dropped her spells and darted in before the hurricane wall fully reformed, and the whirlpools with it. The two landed on the Loving Leopard (the only ship in the mini fleet that wasn’t an airship) and were handed some rejuvenating potions by Hettie to help them recover the magic they’d just used.

As they sipped, they watched the first stages of the battle for the island; there was a plume of dark smoke coming from behind the CATTs HQ in the north part of Digale Town, where Lyra and Boscha had blown up the Teleportation Circles, and there was a large commotion to the south-east, where Luz spotted what appeared to be a smaller village. It appeared there was a battle going on there too, and judging by the lightning she saw shooting everywhere, as well as the blasts of pink magic, Luz assumed Hunter was facing off with some Abomatons. As for the battle in Digale Town itself; it was already beginning to turn into a one-sided crushing by the CATTs!

The townspeople, already quietly riled up by the Recon Team, had immediately attacked the Wings of Rani the instant they saw the hurricane wall open up and they hear the explosions that destroyed the Teleportation Circles. This surprise attack decimated the Angelic Sentinels and destroyed every Knight-Jar in the town, while also throwing the Wings of Rani off balance. Only the Abomatons were still a threat after the first wave of CATTs stormed the town, and through sheer numbers, the expertise of Darius, Alador, and Amity, and the liberal use Eda’s Anti-Magic, even they were beginning to fall.

Luz wondered if she’d even need to do anything, but decided that even if she didn’t need to, she would jump in and help anyway! She was the leader after all, and a good leader led from the front!

“Samael, I’m going to help out here in Digale Town. Can you go help Hunter over to the south-east? I don’t know what that new village is all about, but I bet they could use some help.” she said, already flying on her staff (since Stringbean rarely got to fly for her and she was resting her wings).

“Okay! The Abomatons are just fancy toys, right? So I can do whatever I want with them, right?” Samael asked excitedly.

“You got it! Go have fun! Just make sure to focus on protecting people! Use that buff brain I know you’ve got!” Luz encouraged.

“Buff brain!” Samael cheered, before giggling as he flew off to help Hunter. Luz smiled as she watched him go, then darted towards the centre of Digale Town.

The instant Luz arrived in the centre of town, the atmosphere changed as the Digale Island residents gaped at what their favourite Angel had become. That only became more shocking when Luz unleashed her magic, drawing a large spell circle above her head that conjured a miniature sun-like orb of white and gold light.

“People of Digale Island, I’ve got a big present for you all! Get ready, it’s gonna be a doozy!” Luz beamed, before yelling out: “Seraphic Owl Blessing!”

The large orb of light then shattered, revealing it to be the egg-like shell around a light construct Luz had created. It was a giant light replica of the Owl Beast, created through Luz’s signature Light Magic, some Beast-Keeping Magic, and an overpowered Seraphic Blessing. This Owl Beast Construct let out a “roar” that sounded more like the product of an Angelic Choir, and began flying around the town, shooting its feathers at the CATTs and Digale Island residents. When the feathers hit them, they would be briefly engulfed in white and gold flames, giving them a minor Angelic Blessing that magnified their magic by a surprising amount. Not only that, but the light construct worked like any other golem, meaning it could attack the enemy with its claws, wings, fangs, and even fire light beams the same way it fired feathers.

Eda was a giddy as a school girl upon seeing her daughter’s golem kicking butt, and began promptly cackling as the Owl Beast within her was cheered up by a huge margin, prompting the Harpy Woman to fight with renewed vigour. Lilith was amazed by it too, especially when Amity decided to take inspiration from her Batata and begin making a special homunculus.

“If that’s the Seraphic Owl Blessing, then I’ll create a Demonic Raven Blessing! Or maybe it’s better to call it a curse, since it’s not gonna be fun for you Wings of Rani!” Amity declared, fusing with Ghost and promptly summoning a large wave of homunculus slime, which she shaped into the Raven Beast. She then grabbed the metallic parts from a few defeated Abomatons and rapidly reworked them via their shape memory magic, allowing her to create armour for the Raven Beast Homunculus, along with a modified Abomaton Core, which her Homunculus could use as a power source to fire beams of pink Light Magic from it’s mouth, similar to the Owl Beast Construct’s light beams.

That made Lilith feel flattered, and the Clawthorne Sisters flew over to their daughters and began fighting side by side with them against the onslaught of Abomaton Knights, who were swarming them upon realising they were the biggest threat. The Wings of Rani were quickly defeated and captured, being unable to fight anywhere near as effectively due to being Divided (which came as a shock to the CATTs), while the Angelic Sentinels had been wiped out in record time since the villagers had gotten a head start. The CATTs were truly steam-rolling the enemy, especially as Gus, Lyra, and Boscha fully joined the battle too among the rest of the gang.

Luz felt herself having another one of her exhausted episodes, so sat on Stringbean’s staff and flew around the battlefield, helping coordinate people and shout to Hettie and the Combat Healers when she saw someone who needed treatment, since she felt too tired to heal them herself. Boscha and Skara battled together, flying around atop their staves and raining potions and bolts of sonic magic down on the Abomatons from above, while also using Skara’s Wind Magic to create wind currents to catch the potions and blow them directly where they needed to go, or to feed Boscha’s Fire Magic and produce even larger and more potent fireballs. Gus and Matt were teaming up to create their own Demonic Sentinels made of water and mud inside metallic shells of armour that Matt produced, while Matt also produced localised tremors to make the Abomatons unsteady, making it easier for Gus to get close enough to blast their cores with Ice Magic to freeze them. Lyra and King were working together by having them drag Abomatons into the shadows, where Lyra’s Divine Tarot and King’s Glyph Combos made short work of them. Darius, Alador, and the Twins were fighting by having Darius turn into his slime form and then get outfitted with Abomaton Armour that was fully operated by Alador, while the Twins rode around on Orthrus, who was not only given a set of specially prepared Abomaton Armour of his own, but was also transformed into a much larger, wilder version of himself thanks to Edric’s Wild Heart spell. Then there was Steve and Katya who were practically dancing together to the tune of a song Katya was playing with her tambourine, the former using a form of Magnetism Magic to force the Abomatons to stagger towards them, while the latter’s tambourine slaps blasted them back again with bursts of sonic magic, enhanced by Katya’s affinity for wind magic. Over in the Demon Village, Hunter and Samael were also making short work of the Abomatons with the help of the local Demon population; Hunter becoming indistinguishable from a Demon due to transforming himself with Bestial Blessings, giving him the wings of a Griffin, the muscles of a Slitherbeast, and the scale-like plate armour of a Boiling Pangolin (so chosen since its armour was magic resistant). The scales and muscles made him bulky and slow, but by compensating for this with his lightning flash spell, he was easily able to dart around the battlefield, acting as both a shield to the Demons and a hammer against the Abomatons. And of course, Samael was having the time of his life; he drilled through Abomatons with conjured spinning tops, smashed them into the hurricane wall in the distance using a giant squeaky hammer, lassoed them with a skipping rope and then tossed them at each other, and even demonstrating some of the lessons he’d learned from the Hexsquad by casting Healing Magic on any Demons that got hurt.

The last group to be fighting together consisted of Willow, Hanu, and Treble, and they were shockingly effective. Hanu, who’d previously been wearing an outfit similar to the cobbled together outfits worn by the CATTs (since she refused to wear the dresses that Terra had liked to dress her up in), had torn the outfit off to reveal her new battle garb; a green tank top that came down to her the top of her abdomen and was decorated with a black leaf emblem, a brown skirt and shorts combo made to resemble the skirts found on armour (known as faulds), a pair of red MMA style combat gloves that she’d recovered from Eda’s Human Junk when passing through the Owl House the day of the Bonesborough battle, and nothing else. Her feet were left bare, allowing her to use them just like her hands, taking full advantage of her Macaque Demon aspects.

She produced Iron Iris pollen and inhaled it to make her body as hard as iron, then begin punching and kicking with wild fury, doing a shocking amount of damage while using the pollen of Cushioning Cotton to protect herself from physical blows, and adding the explosive powder of Flashing Fairy Dusters to her punches, causing her iron skin to set off the powder and give her explosive punches. At the same time, Willow was fighting beside her, using her Grafted Plant: the Artillery Seed Pod to rapid fire explosive seeds from her wooden bangles, taking out the Abomatons who were opting to attack from afar. And while Hanu handled close-range with her fists and Willow took on long-range with her explosive seeds, Treble was darting back and forth between the two. He’d used his Forest Siren Basilisk abilities on the Wings of Rani, making them become temporarily infatuated with him and unwilling to fight, then began using his Druidic ability to travel through plants to dart around the town, emerging from the wooden parts of buildings and rapidly consuming magic from the Abomatons, doing huge damage to their numbers.

The battle for Digale Island raged for about half an hour, but after all that effort and only a few easily treated injuries, it ended in a decisive CATTs victory! The Abomatons, Knight Golems, and Knight-Jars had been wiped out, while the Wings of Rani were all rounded up and tied up (which thanks to them being divided, they didn’t seem to mind too much). The moment it became clear that the enemy was defeated, Luz flew up on her staff (still feeling exhausted for some reason) and announced to the CATTs;

“People of Digale Island and my fellow CATTs, through the combined efforts of everyone here, we have won! Digale Island is once again ours!” Luz cheered, throwing a fist in the air.

Everyone promptly erupted into loud cheers and victory cries, and there was an even bigger commotion when the Demons who’d been segregated out of town came rushing back in, using staves to fly or hitching rides on the CATTs’ airships (since the distance between Digale Town and the Demon Village was only a little shorter than the distance from Bonesborough to Latissa). The Witches and Demons reunited with joy and laughter, as families rushed to reclaim the members they’d been separated from, and friends who’d missed each other could finally hug one another again.

It was a joyous sight, and as the Hexsquad and other Head CATTs met up together in the town square, they got to enjoy the entire show while Gus (who’d dropped his fused form now that the battle was over) filled everybody in on what he’d seen at the lodge, as well as what the Recon Team as a whole had heard from the young man who’d helped them earlier. Luz’s fatigue had passed again, so she was back at a reasonable level of energy (though still a little weakened after the hurricane wall and her now-dismissed Owl Beast Construct), and she was livid to hear what Vanily had been up to.

“What a total scumbag!” Luz fumed, “What the heck was the Divider thinking, making a guy like him an Overseer or Governor!? Eber and Darius told us what Vanily had done back when Rasiel was still himself! Did he just forget!?”

“I wonder if the Divider was trying to see if Luz’s way of helping change people actually worked. She helped people like Boscha, Amity, Matt, and I to change and become better people, so maybe the Divider was trying to do the same with Vanily?” Skara theorised.

“Or maybe he was setting this whole thing up to prove to us that some people are just not possible to redeem?” Boscha added, more cynically.

“It could be either. Considering Raguel said the Divider could be influenced by Luz, and from what I remember before he divided me all those months ago, I’ve got a feeling that the Divider isn’t the most mentally stable… I mean, his plan is crazy already so it’s not surprising that he’d do some crazy things!” Eda agreed.

Everyone else nodded in agreement; without talking to the Divider himself, they wouldn’t understand the true method behind his madness (if there even was a coherent method), so they decided to put that aside. Hanu looked strangely on edge, with Willow and Treble watching her worriedly, while Lilith was also struggling, having used a lot of magic from Luz’s blessing. The elder Clawthorne sister was nursing an Elixir, and feathers were slowly shrinking back into her skin after she’d come close to transforming once or twice during the battle.

“Tia Lily, let me give you another blessing and Elixir.” Luz said, conjuring some of her Blessed Fire and pulling an Elixir from her hair storage.

Lilith accepted both, though frowned; “Are you sure you should be giving blessings so freely? You were exhausted a moment ago.”

“Yeah, it was just a temporary episode of fatigue. I’ve been getting them for the last few days. Mami and Hettie already have me taking it easy and can’t figure out what’s causing it, but I think it might be because I’ve been overusing my new Seraphic magic. I’ve only had it a week or so, so I don’t think my body is fully used to it yet.” Luz theorised, wiggling her body a little to show she was feeling fine again.

Lilith didn’t look totally convinced, but since she didn’t have any better ideas for why Luz might be getting these episodes, she put it out of her mind. Meanwhile, Darius spoke to some of the CATTs and sent them on their way to the north-west, where the entrance to the caves were.

“I’ve sent a group of our forces to blockade the entrance to the caves; if Vanily and his pack of scumbags try to leave, they’ll find our people waiting for them! Now, let’s pay a visit to Lady Vanily and finally take the HQ back for ourselves!” Darius declared, brandishing his own staff and grinning; he was quite eager to take down Vanily’s goons after all the grief they’d caused Eber in the past.

The CATTs cheered, and Gus said; “There weren’t many guards inside the fort, and most of them were Angels. I think they were probably defeated already, so we should be able to just march in.”

With that, the Hexsquad and Head CATTs headed into their fortress HQ while a contingent of their rebel allies surrounded the fortress to ensure there was no escape. The inside of the fortress hadn’t really changed at all since the CATTs had built the place, with only the presence of maids and butlers being new. Strangely enough, while a few of the servants looked nervous to see the CATTs come marching in, most of them actually seemed happy to see them! They offered no resistance, and one helpful butler even told them that the Vanily family had barricaded themselves into their family’s sitting room (which was actually the CATTs’ meeting room). They headed straight to this room and after trying to open the door and finding it locked, Amity and Darius used their slime forms to melt into puddles of goo and squeeze in through a crack under the door.

Luz and the others heard shocked screams and indignant yelling, followed by Darius’ bellowing “SHUT UP!”, successfully silencing those hidden in the room. The CATTs outside then heard the sound of heavy furniture being shifted, before there was a click and the door opened, revealing a smiling Amity.

“Come on in. Don’t mind the décor; it seems the squatters decided to redecorate.” Amity said jokingly, inviting everyone into the meeting-turned-sitting room.

Hanu took one look at the fancy room, and without even stepping in, she said; “I’ll wait out here. Rooms like that bring back bad memories.”

The others eyed her curiously, with Willow looking sympathetic, knowing that between Terra and her rich noble father, Hanu likely had very few positive experiences with such wealthy looking surroundings. No one stopped her from staying outside, and Treble opted to stay out there with her while the others headed into the room.

It was less gaudy and creepy than Vanily’s lodge and looked more like the sitting room of a noble manor, with expensive sofas and coffee tables, as well as cabinets with very expensive alcohol and crystal glasses. Eda oohed and ahhed as she went over to them and began inspecting the bottles and carafes of fine liquor.

“These stuck-up rich types sure have some fun night juice! Aged Apple Blood, Grape Bile, some Sparkling Sulphur Sauce… Mama’s liver is gonna be getting a work out!” Eda grinned, rubbing her hands together.

“Eda, no.” Lilith deadpanned.

“Eda, yes!” the Owl Lady replied, going to open the cabinet. Darius slapped her hand away, making her grumble at him, while a giggling Luz pulled her away from the cabinet.

“Behave, Mom! That stuff doesn’t belong to us.” she said, making Eda pout.

“Fine… I’ll just swipe some later when no one’s looking.” she said shamelessly.

The others rolled their eyes in amusem*nt, then turned back to the quartet of ladies who’d been hiding in the room. The four of them were huddled together in the corner of the room; two teenage girls of around the Hexsquad’s age were quivering in fear as two other terrified women protected them. These were undoubtedly Lady Vanily, her two daughters, and her mistress, who appeared to be one of the maids.

Lady Vanily herself was a very bony and thin Witch, who looked incredibly gaunt. Her face was somewhat pretty, but she was so thin that her cheeks were sunken and she looked half-starved, which seemed to be a personal choice, given the abundance of food set out on tables around the room. Her hair was a chocolate brown colour and reached her hips, while being styled with long elaborate curls, that looked a little like an extra large powdered wig. Her eyes were a dull green, and her outfit was a fancy and overly embroidered dress that Luz felt would have been more at home in a gaudy Victorian Historical Drama, while also appearing to weight more than Lady Vanily herself. She was also dripping with expensive jewellery, to the point her outfit alone was probably worth more than most of the Hexsquad’s family homes!

Her two daughters, being 15 and 14 respectively, looked a lot like their mother, though they appeared to be a healthier weight (with the shorter one actually appearing to be a tad overweight for her age). The older girl had wild red hair that formed an almost lion-like mane around her head, and had green eyes like her mother, as well as the rather unfortunate large nose of her father, while the younger girl had a shorter crop of brown curly hair, a little longer than Lilith’s current hairstyle, and had her father’s brown eyes and pointed chin. They were wearing matching cream coloured dresses that looked just like their mother’s, only less expensive.

Lastly, there was the maid and Lady Vanily’s mistress judging by the way she was held close by the woman. She was dressed in the same style of Victorian Maid outfit worn by many of the other servants, but it was noticeably more expensive and featured jewellery that a normal maid would never be able to afford. She was an astoundingly beautiful Witch, with long golden blonde hair, vibrant amethyst eyes, and a body type that was similar to Eda’s; being curvy and very appealing. She was bravely holding onto her Lady and putting herself in front of her and the girls, while holding a carving fork out like a weapon.

“C-Come no closer! I’m warning you!” the Maid demanded.

The CATTs weren’t threatened though, and Matt marched over and snatched the weapon away after coating his hand in stone to protect himself. The ladies all shrieked in terror, but Matt had then stepped back and Luz was gently pushed forward alongside Lyra, since they were the best at being kind and gentle.

“It’s alright. We promise that if you don’t try to hurt us, then we won’t hurt you. We came here to take back our home, not terrorise you or your family.” Luz said reassuringly.

“That’s right. The two of us are Angels too, so you know we’re telling the truth.” Lyra added.

The four women began to calm down a little, though they were still scared. Luz gestured for her friends to back off a bit, which they did, so the two Angels could step back too and give the women some space.

“Please, take a seat and we can talk all this out calmly, okay?” Luz said.

Lady Vanily nodded stiffly, and slowly edged towards the sofa that Luz had indicated, sitting in the centre with her daughters held on either side of her, and the maid standing behind the sofa with her hands on Lady Vanily’s shoulders.

Luz sat on the sofa opposite them and smiled kindly; “Okay, let’s do introductions! That’ll make things easier! Would you like to go first? Or should I? I’ll leave it up to you!”

“I-If it is up to me, then I want you all to leave! Get out of our home!” Lady Vanily demanded, her tone as cold as it was frightened.

“This is our home.” Darius shot back. “And if you won’t introduce yourself as a lady of your station should, I shall do it for you. Luz, this is Anja Vanily, formerly Anja Prediti of the minor noble house of Prediti. Those are her daughters; the eldest is Jana, and the youngest is Mana. I don’t know the name of her latest “special friend”, but given Anja’s proclivities, I suspect she has at least some noble blood.”

The Maid flushed as Darius hit the nail on the head, while Anja scowled furiously; “That is Lady Anja Vanily of the Great Noble Houses Vanily and Prediti to you, Lord Deamonne! Surely slumming it with these people hasn’t addled your brain entirely!”

“On the contrary; I am as sharp as ever, Lady Vanily. Now I suggest we keep speaking civilly; I am sure you are complicit if not outright supportive of your vile husband’s xenophobic nonsense and Anti-Demon actions, but the fact I have no proof is the only reason we are treating you neutrally. Give me cause, and I will personally dose you with Blabber Serum and have you spill your every nasty little secret, so that I may make sure you pay for them!” Darius threatened. He really didn’t like the pompous nobles, and the Vanily family were a sore spot for him.

Anja paled, undoubtedly having at least some secrets she didn’t want revealed. Luz was sure they’d have to dose her at some point, and she would likely face trial once this whole mess was over, as Darius was almost certainly right that she was at least involved in her husband’s actions both before and after the Divider took over, even if only by refusing to report it. Still, since Darius was taking the role of Bad Cop, Luz decided to take the role of Good Cop.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let Darius dose you just yet. But you need to help us out a little. Your husband’s crimes are serious and we’ve got evidence that he’s done some pretty bad stuff under the Divider too. He’s probably gonna go down… but you seem like a smart lady; you don’t need to go down with him!” Luz smiled kindly, channelling all those old crime dramas that she’d sometimes watch with her Mami.

Lyra, who was sat beside Luz, also smiled serenely and put a hand on Darius’s hand, which was on her shoulder. She looked to the Maid and said; “And we don’t know your name either. Could you introduce yourself?”

“Jade. Jade Lian.” the Maid said softly, her voice shockingly youthful for a woman that appeared to be in her thirties.

Alador leaned his head down between Luz and Lyra to whisper; “The Lian family were minor nobles for a few decades, but lost their power when Belos took over. They’re supposedly a branch of a royal family from the Eight Fang Titans; a huge continent sized mass formed from eight different titans on the far eastern side of the Demon Realm. They lost their noble title because Belos branded them heretics.”

Luz’s eyes lit up with excitement; a whole Titan Continent to the far east!? She’d definitely have to explore there one day! But that was something to think about later. Lyra, who was interested but not as excited to explore, smiled at Jade. “Nice to meet you, Miss Lian. Perhaps you would be able to help us too. And maybe Lady Jana and Lady Mana could as well? I understand not wanting to tell on your father, but we already know some his friends did bad things. Anything you can tell us about them, or his mistress, will be very helpful.”

The mentions of Carnar’s mistress immediately changed the expressions on all four women’s faces.

“Father acts disgracefully with her!” Jana scowled in a nasally, pompous voice. “She’s not the first Mistress that he’s misbehaved with!”

“Yes.” Anja growled; “I don’t begrudge him taking a lover; I have Jade after all, and it means I don’t have to look at him more than necessary. But he treats her like she is his wife! It’s embarrassing for the family!”

“That must be awful for you.” Luz sympathised.

“It’s worse than that! He acts like SHE is the noble! She’s just some floozy that the big shot Angel took pity on after she begged him not to divide her!” Mana sneered. “She was made Overseer of the Throat and is always bossing Father about, and even took the funny little pet that the Angel told him to look after!”

The mentions of this pet had the other three women shuddering.

“With all do respect Lady Mana, I think you’re the only one that can stand that thing! Keeping it away from the rest of us is the one good thing that woman has done!” Jade said with a frown of disgust.

Mana pouted, while Luz and Lyra turned around to look at the rest of the CATTs, who were all intrigued. Darius eyed them suspiciously; if this “pet” was some poor creature being abused by Vanily, he was going to be furious.

“What kind of pet are we talking about it?” he asked.

The women exchanged looks, apparently not sure how to answer that question. Eventually, Anja said; “I think it’s some kind of Demon?”

Darius narrowed his eyes; “What kind!?” he asked again, beginning to lose his temper a little.

Anja gulped and put up her hands; “I don’t know! It wasn’t a person though, at least as far as I can tell! I know my husband hates Demons, but the four of us don’t follow the same belief! In fact, we find it reprehensible and pointless!”

Lyra squeezed her adoptive father’s fingers, and Hunter put a hand on his back to calm him, which made Darius sigh and relax a bit. Luz then took over and asked; “Can you describe this Demon? If the Divider asked Carnar to look after it, then it must be important.”

“Well, it was less that he wanted Carnar to look after it and more that Carnar happened to be made Overseer of the Skull. The Divider wanted this Demon kept at the Skull for some reason and apparently had trouble dividing it, though he must have managed it in the end. We weren’t supposed to bring it to this island, but that rotten woman convinced Father to let her keep hold of it after the Divider disappeared.” Jana explained. “As for what it looks like… I think it’s some kind of Bug Demon? It’s a long brown worm thing, put it lives inside this funny wooden box.”

That immediately got everyone’s attention, especially those who’d lived in the Owl House. Lilith nearly leapt over the sofa in excitement; “Did the box look like a bird house? And did the “worm” have an owl face?”

“Yes!” Mana smiled, “And the box part had cute little chicken legs! The funny Demon was always running about, hooting away.”

Lilith beamed; “Hootsifer! It’s him! He’s here!”

“Oh Titan, Hooty is gonna be a sight for sore eyes! I’ve missed that crazy bird!” Eda grinned.

“Me too! Oh man, Samael; you’re gonna have a blast with Hooty! He might even be too much for you to handle!” King laughed, making the Collector jump up and down excitedly.

“Ooh, I wanna play with the Owl Tube!” Samael cheered.

Luz giggled; “I guess this must be fate! We came here to take back our home, and we might just be getting back the most important part of our other home too! It’s not the Owl House without Hooty!”

The Vanily family (sans Mana) looked horrified that someone could be excited by the presence of the creepy little Bird Tube, and the rest of the CATTs either smiled happily, or at least tried to appear supportive, even though they weren’t as keen on Hooty and his… eccentricities.

However this did raise a couple of questions; why did the Divider want him kept at the Titan’s skull specifically, and why did the Overseer of the Throat, Carnar’s mystery lover, want him? Did she just seem him as an exotic pet? Plus, why had the Divider supposedly had more trouble dividing him? It was yet another thing they’d need to investigate!

With the revelation of Hooty being on the island though, Luz could see her Tia Lily getting antsy and eager to rush off to the caves to find and get him back, so she decided to wrap up this meeting/interrogation by getting back on topic as quickly as possible.

“Thank you for telling us about our friend. We’ll find somewhere comfy for you all to stay while we deal with Carnar Vanily. Is there anything else you can tell us about what he and his gang are currently doing? Any help you give us will be rewarded.” Luz offered.

Anja shrugged; “I don’t know much, but apparently they plan to release a couple of beasts into the caves to hunt them, since his precious mistress had already marked off several tunnels while searching for that wellspring thing. And before you ask; no, I don’t know what kind of beasts. I assume they’re just more of those ghastly abominations that he had transform into animal forms.”

Her daughters remained silent, having nothing more to add, while Jade softly piped up; “It might be worth asking some prisoners in the cells downstairs. They were arrested for breaking the law and the arrest made Lord Vanily very happy, but he refused to say why.”

The CATTs all nodded gratefully and stood up, with Luz turning to Darius; “Is there a good place to keep these four and their servants? I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them stay in the HQ.”

Darius hummed; “Aside from the cells, which I assume you don’t approve of, the only places for them would be the empty houses of some of the CATTs we haven’t found and rescued yet. Though I was planning to have our new recruits stay in those…”

“We can have new places built; there was a squad of Construction Witches working in the Demon Village, and they were pretty quick to join us against the Abomatons there.” Hunter brought up; “They could help expand Digale Town, and in the meantime, the Vanilys and their servants could stay in the Demon Village itself.”

The others quickly agreed; the Demon Village was nice and quaint, consisting mostly of log-built cabins or cottages with clay walls and thatched roofs, but it didn’t measure up to Digale Town proper, so the Demons living there would be returning to their real homes, leaving the empty cabins and cottages of the village available for the Vanilys. The three noble women gave disgusted looks, at the idea of staying in such a humble place, but a fierce glare from Darius and a daring smirk from Eda kept them quiet.

“Then the Demon Village it is!” Luz chirped, happily hopping back to her feet and marching out of the room. The rest of her friends followed her, making sure Lady Anja, her daughters, and her mistress followed them and remained totally surrounded, just in case they tried any funny business. Once they left the room however, Anja and her daughters laid eyes on Hanu and immediately went wide-eyed, before Anja sneered and Jana and Mana looked on in shock.

“YOU!? You have a lot of nerve showing your face in front of me and my family, Vayuska!” Anja snarled, trying to march towards Hanu. She was immediately grabbed by Willow and yanked back, with the buff young Plant Witch glaring furiously at her.

“Hey! Watch how you talk to me friend!” Willow demanded.

“You’re friends with this wretch!?” Anja growled, “She’s as bad as that hussy my idiot husband is gallivanting around with right now!”

The CATTs’ expressions of anger became confusion as they looked to Hanu in hopes of an explanation. The young Macaque Demon looked both shaken and resigned as she took a deep breath and met Anja’s eyes, holding Treble’s hand for comfort.

“I’m sorry, but you are mistaken Lady Anja. I am not Vayuska. I am her daughter, Manuella.” Hanu said, cringing a little as she said her hated given name. Hanu was technically her surname, but she vastly preferred it to the name her father had given her.

Anja’s hateful expression faded into a milder look of disdain, while Jana and Mana looked torn between excited and cautious. The rest of the CATTs were surprised however, their eyes briefly looking to Treble, who continued to grip Hanu’s hand with a grim expression. Those looks switched back to anger at Anja’s next words though.

“I see… now that I look again, you actually have a pretty face, unlike that disgusting woman! Though you may not be the hussy herself, you’re still the bastard child! What do you think you’re doi-!” Anja was suddenly cut off by a globule of abomination slime slapping over her mouth, sealing it shut and ensuring she couldn’t speak again, as Darius gave her a thunderous look.

“Insult one of our people like that again, and you can forget staying in the Demon Village! I’ll stuff you into one of the cells myself!” he spat.

Anja’s eyes filled with fear as she began to quake, while Jade grabbed her and held her close, trying to both comfort and protect her. None of the CATTs looked interested in calming Darius’ fury though, at least until Hanu sighed and spoke up again.

“It’s fine, Darius. She wasn’t technically insulting me…” Hanu said softly, averting her eyes from her comrades.

They were all a bit confused, until Willow suddenly remembered what Hanu had told her about her family on the day they met, back when the Macaque girl was still a loyal servant of Terra Snapdragon.

“You said you were the child of a noble and his mistress, then got sold to Snapdragon by your mother after your father’s wife found out and made him kick you both out… Does this mean…!?” Willow gasped, covering her mouth in horror.

The others quickly grasped the implication and looked back at Hanu once again, all of them stunned into silence. Hanu wilted, but Treble stepped a little closer, brushing his shoulder against hers and squeezing her hand, making her smile and giving her strength. With this, Hanu took a deep breath and nodded.

“Yes. My mother was Vayuska Hanu, a full-blooded Macaque Demon and a former mistress to Lord Carnar Vanily, who is my biological father.” Hanu confessed, before going silent and waiting with bated breath for the explosion of anger from the CATTs, especially Darius. She was the daughter of their hated enemy, and Darius had never been totally trusting of her (though his earlier defence of her had come as a pleasant surprise), so she was expecting at least him to be furious with her for not telling them all about this connection.

“Oh Titan…” Eda muttered, the first to find their voice.

“Oh Titan indeed.” Darius frowned, before giving Hanu a look of sympathy; “Hanu, you know that you don’t have to be a part of this mission if you don’t want to, right? We wouldn’t have objected if you’d opted to stay behind with the others.”

Hanu blinked; “Wait, what?”

“This has got to be hard for you! You’re basically fighting to take down your own Dad! Even if he’s a terrible person, that’s got to still cause some complicated feelings.” Willow said sympathetically, before looking to Luz; “You didn’t know about this, right?”

The others looked to Luz too, since it had been her who’d told them all that Hanu and Treble were coming with them. They had trusted her and not asked for details, but they’d also assumed it was because Luz wanted one of the Basilisks to come along to help deal with the Abomatons, and Vee had already been forbidden from going by Camila, so Treble had been asked instead and Hanu volunteered to join her boyfriend.

“No! Hanu asked to join! She said it was because Digale Island was her home! Though I’m guessing that wasn’t the only reason.” Luz frowned, “Hanu, did you ask to come along so you could settle things with your bio Dad?”

“Or with the woman who made him kick you and your mother out?” Amity added with a scowl as she glanced at the still silenced Anja.

Hanu gaped at the CATTs; she’d expected them to be mad, but instead they seemed more understanding and even a little concerned for her!

“I-well, yes. I wanted to settle things with that man. I know I should have told the truth from the start, but I was worried you’d be angry with me or refuse to let me help.” Hanu confessed. “I was also afraid that being his daughter would… I don’t know… taint me in your eyes?”

The others exchanged looks, before Willow giggled; “Taint you? Having an awful bio parent doesn’t make you awful! If we forgave you for what you did while working for Snapdragon, we’re not gonna hold your bloodline against you!”

“Yeah! I mean, look at us! Mom and King tried to exploit me and make me cry on my first full day on the isles, Boscha threatened to sell me out to the Emperor, Amity and Skara were kinda jerks, Matt threw me in the Detention Pit at Hexside, Hunter and Lyra fought me while working for Belos, Treble was a spy for Kikimora, and Amity’s Mom literally threatened to cut my throat once, and tried to murder my little sister. And let’s not forget that I am biologically Belos’ niece and at least partly responsible for the Divider being loose!” Luz smiled, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head; “Family stuff gets complicated, but we can only judge you for who you are and what you do, not what the people who share your blood did.”

“That said, it would have been better for all of us if you’d told us the truth. We could have made sure you were more closely involved in the planning and had you be central to taking Vanily down.” Darius said. He seemed to have picked up on Hanu’s wariness of him, so he was keeping his tone even, but he was a little frustrated that potentially useful information hadn’t been divulged before the invasion plan!

Hanu smiled, feeling touched by everyone’s concern and acceptance. She looked to Treble, who gave her a reassuring look, before she said; “I’m sorry. I guess I was scared over nothing. It’s just… I thought I had found my place with Snapdragon only to have it ripped away from me. I didn’t want to risk it happening again. Thank you for accepting this, even with how awful my father is.”

“You’re welcome, Hanu. You’ve become a good friend to us! But now that we know the secret, can you tell us the full details?” Willow asked, “We’re going to be dealing with Vanily soon, and it’d be good to know everything first.”

Hanu nodded; “Of course, though there isn’t much else to know. My biological mother Vayuska met Vanily whilst they were both members of the Beast-Keeping Coven. He decided to take her as a mistress and so she was employed as a field cook for his hunting trips, and a taxidermist for his trophies. My mother then lied about using contraceptives so she could get pregnant, which was a big deal for a mistress. She refused to get rid of me, and Vanily didn’t want to lose her or me, so I was brought to term and was born, though my lineage was kept secret. I was just the daughter of a servant, and grew up alongside other servants’ children, and even became a playmate to Jana and Mana over there.”

The Vanily sisters nodded with wistful smiles, remembering those pleasant days. Their cheeky and playful half-sister had always been so fun! Not that they’d known who she was at the time.

“I knew Vanily was my father, and Jana and Mana were my sisters, but I was always told to keep it a secret. I didn’t know this until after everything fell apart, but my mother’s plan was to wait for Vanily to die, either naturally or in a “hunting accident” then reveal I was his firstborn biological child in order to steal his wealth.” Hanu continued.

Anja’s eyes lit up, and while she still couldn’t speak thanks to Darius’ slime, she looked vindicated, as if Hanu’s words had confirmed a long-standing theory of hers. Jana and Mana looked upset, but considering how things turned out, they didn’t complain.

“Unfortunately, Mother dearest spent too much time plotting and not enough time raising me, so I ended up stupidly telling Jana that I was actually her big sister. Naturally Lady Anja found out and accused my mother of doing exactly what I said she was doing, and convinced Vanily to fire my mother and send us both away. He sent us off with a stipend, but mother’s name was tainted; people either hated her for being Vanily’s mistress, or for the accusations Lady Anja made. So she cut her losses and left the Isles. She sold me to Snapdragon when the woman happened to see me cast a strong plant spell to grow an apple for food, then took the money and bought passage out of the Isles. That was the last I saw of her. I doubt I’ll ever see her again, so getting justice from her is impossible, but I at least want justice against Vanily! He knew where I was all this time and didn’t care… I was just some half-Demon bastard that he fathered, and who no longer mattered. I could have lived with that, but after every other evil thing he’s done? I had to be a part of whatever brought him to justice.” Hanu finished, her eyes burning with determination.

The CATTs regarded her with sympathy and a little bit of respect; it took a lot to be able to go through things like that and still be a decent person, which she’d proven to be after being removed from Snapdragon’s influence.

“That’s extremely admirable, Hanu.” Lilith complimented.

“Yeah, and totally understandable.” Willow added, “I wish we could drag your mother back to face some justice too; selling your kid is illegal by any stretch of the imagination! But at least we can bring down your bio dad for being a deadbeat on top of everything else.”

“Though I’m a little confused.” Matt piped up; “Vanily is like a notorious Demon Hater and Witch Supremacist, right? Why would he take a Demon as his mistress.”

Most of the teens had no answer to that question, while the adults looked uncomfortable with the topic too. Katya ultimately answered by saying; “Honestly, it was probably some kind of twisted power thing. Taking one of the “Inferior” race as his personal concubine and using them for his own ends. To make matters worse, if he believed his wife’s accusations about Vayuska, true or not, he might have actually become more prejudiced. After all, he’d see it as his “toy” from the “inferior” race trying to steal what was his.”

The teens all went a little green in the face, while the adults looked thoroughly disgusted. Only King and Samael were still largely clueless due to their age and innocence respectively, but they both saw the reactions of the others and decided they didn’t want more details.

“Getting away from that… Vanily’s actions do constitute Child Abandonment, which is a crime. He knew Hanu was with Snapdragon and despite likely knowing the circ*mstances, he made no effort to retake custody of her despite being able to.” Darius said, looking to Hanu for confirmation. She nodded; Vanily had indeed known and done nothing from what she could tell, “Anything extra we can nail that monster with is a win in my book. Naturally, you will be a part of the team to head down into the caves and bring him down.” Darius continued.

Hanu beamed, feeling the acceptance of the CATTs. She was a little bit tearful as she said; “Thank you all! After what I did for Snapdragon, I wouldn’t have blamed you for refusing to help me, so I’m so happy that you support me!”

“We’re all in this together, Hanu! We are the Covens Against the Throne, AKA the CATTs!” Luz declared, before every one of them meowed playfully alongside her. Even Darius did it, though with the air of someone resigned to his fate and whilst being egged on by his children.

Hanu was nearly overcome with emotion, and placed her free hand over her heart; “All of you… this is more than I could ever hope for. I’ll be honest; I still don’t want to fight any more after this, but for as long as you need me, this Monkey Girl is a CATT!”

The others cheered, and even Jana and Mana seemed happy for their half-sister. Willow and Luz both insisted on hugging Hanu, and Darius patted her on the back to show that he fully supported her and had no more reservations about her, while both Lilith and Amity smiled and felt inspired by the girl’s dedication. After a round of congratulations (and some cooing as Treble and Hanu shared an adorable kiss), things turned back to business. There wasn’t a lot of urgency now that the CATTs had conquered their home once again, and with Carnar and his cronies oblivious in the caves beneath the island, but they still wanted to tie up the loose ends so they could start getting their allies on the main land to safety too.

“Okay, so we still need to apprehend the people that Gus caught at the lodge, as well as move the servants there and here to the Demon Village along with the Vanilys. Plus check out the prisoners and then go finally deal with Carnar himself, and rescue Hooty.” Lilith said, summarising things.

Luz nodded; “Right, then let’s split up and get this done faster. I’ll go down to the cells with Mom, Tia Lily, Darius, Amity, Hanu, and Treble. Gus, you go with Samael, Steve, Katya, Alador, the Twins, and Hettie to get the servants at the lodge, as well as move the cronies Vanily had there back here. Hunter, you take King and the rest of the Hexsquad and escort the Vanilys down to the Demon Village and get them settled. Once we’re all done, we can rendezvous back in the old Survey Team HQ outside the caves, then go in and finally catch that creepy jerk and get back Hooty!”

The others readily agreed, and Darius finally removed the gag from Anja since they were about to split up. The woman scowled at the man, then looked to Hanu with an appraising look; “You know, I always found Vayuska to be a manipulative, vain woman… she’d have fit in just fine as a noble if she’d had the pedigree. And of course, I was fully justified in my accusations and demands for Carnar to be rid of her! However…” she looked Hanu up and down, then said; “… you don’t seem very much like her at all. It seems the only thing you inherited from her were some of her looks. You’re not much like my idiot husband either…”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Hanu said neutrally.

Anja nodded stiffly, then looked to Luz and Darius; “Am I going to be treated poorly due to my decision to send this girl away?”

“No.” Hanu answered for them, giving them both a pleading look; “I do not hate Lady Anja for her part in all this, and unlike our father, she actually does care for my sisters. For their sakes at least, please be merciful.”

Sure enough, Anja had shielded her daughters earlier… Luz was inclined to agree with Hanu. “As leader of the CATTs and Seraphim of the Demon Realm, you have my personal vow that your past actions towards Hanu won’t effect our treatment of you. Be warned though, if we discover you committed crimes, there is only so much mercy we can show. If you’re guilty of something major, I suggest you confess sooner rather than later.”

Darius and the other adults felt this was a mature and reasonable response from Luz, so didn’t question her decision, instead nodding to Anja to show Luz was correct. Anja nodded back stiffly, and while she looked a little paler after Luz’s warning, she didn’t seem too scared, likely due to the “guilty of something major” part. Whatever skeletons she had in her closet were likely smaller than that.

With that done, Jana and Mana hugged Hanu and whispered some words of support and well-wishes to her, clearly having some affection for their half-sister. They also reassured her and wished her luck in the coming encounter with Carnar, who was clearly unpopular with his own wife and daughters. Hunter and the escort team then urged the Vanilys and Jade onward, escorting them out of the CATTs HQ and towards the Demon Village (which would be mostly empty by the time they arrived, as the inhabitants took their their original homes in Digale Town). At the same time, Gus led the others up Cassiopeia’s Forearm to the Palm Jungle and Carnar’s hunting lodge, so they could begin moving the servants there to the Demon Village too, and move the prisoners to the cells. This left just Luz, Eda, Lilith, Amity, Darius, Hanu, and Treble to go down into the basem*nt of the fortress where the cells were.

The basem*nt (which the CATTs didn’t like referring to as a dungeon) had soundproofing spells on the doors and the high up windows that opened up about an inch above the ground above, so no one could hear the prisoners if they made a lot of noise, and this became immediately apparent when Luz opened the door and heard a young couple screaming and begging for help.

Fearing the worse, Luz and her group charged towards the cells at top speeds and burst in, but thankfully found no signs of anything untoward; just a couple of Witches locked in separate cells, who were calling for help. That made Luz curious though; the windows were too high for them to see out of, and the soundproofing would keep them hearing the sounds of the battle outside, so they shouldn’t know what was going on out there, yet they were still calling for help… where they just that desperate?

Luz rushed over to the cells and looked at the two relieved looking Witches; one was a young man of maybe 30 years old, and the other was an androgynous Witch of the same age. They appeared clean and well-kept, so either Vanily took good care of his prisoners, or they hadn’t been present for long.

“It’s you! The Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles!” the man cried, smiling with tears of relief falling from his eyes.

“I’m a Seraphim now, but that’s neither here nor there.” Luz said, opening the cells by shooting light blasts at the locks, since she had no idea where the keys were “What were you arrested for? We were also told you might have information for us on Carnar Vanily.”

“Never mind that now! That monster took our daughters! They’re only children, 9 and 6 years old! They’re a pair of Dryder Demons that we adopted!” the androgynous Witch cried.

Dryder Demons were beings with Witch-like upper bodies and an entire spider as a lower body, something like a spider centaur. They also tended to have eight eyes, four arms, and dark grey skin, as well as white, silk-like hair. Their spider halves tended to vary too, with some people being hairy and muscular like a tarantula, or sleek and chitinous like a black widow, and Luz personally thought they were adorable; as they usually has very pretty faces (regardless of gender) and their primary eyes were big, black, and shiny, and their six secondary eyes looked like a line of little black jewels beneath the main ones, making them quite appealing to look at if one didn’t mind spiders.

“Vanily took your daughters!?” Amity exclaimed in horror.

“Yes! They were forced into the Demon Village but we weren’t allowed to go with them! We were so worried that no one would take care of them that we snuck out of town to check on them! We were all caught though, and Vanily threw us in here for breaking the laws around unauthorised travel! That was a few days ago, but he came back a few hours ago and took our daughters away!”

A sense of dread filled the CATTs as they all had the same thought; Carnar had taken two young Demons away, and was now on a hunting trip in the caves, where there were no Abomatons or Wings of Rani to object!?

“Oh Titan! We need to move!” Luz cried, before turning on her heel and bolting from the room. The others were right on her trail as they headed for the entrance to the caves, with Hanu and Treble hitching rides on Lilith’s and Darius’ staves.

“That sick monster! He’s going to hunt those two children! With all the Wings of Rani here divided, and the inspections from the mainland stopped, he must have felt emboldened!” Darius growled, pushing his staff as hard as he dared.

“He left hours ago… w-we aren’t going to be too late, are we!?” Amity cried. They’d wasted so much time, thinking they had already won and had no need for urgency, having no idea of the dire situation two innocent children were trapped in!

Hanu was quick to nip that in the bud; “There’s still a chance! Vanily is sad*stic; he’d prolong the hunt for his own enjoyment! Given his old MO with Beast Demons when my Mother was his camp cook, he and his entourage would spend hours chasing and toying with the same prey! If it was a beast they’d bought to hunt, they’d release it an hour before, then begin the chase! If he left with the girls only a few hours ago, there is a good chance they’re still alive!”

“The fact he hasn’t come back yet is another good sign.” Lilith added; “I can’t imagine they’d hang around in the caves for long if they’d already caught their prey! Besides, Dryders are crafty and fast, and excellent at hiding in the dark! Even a Beast-Keeper should have trouble finding them!”

“And the caves are massive! With an hour head start, they could have gone in pretty deep!” Eda said, starting to feel a bit more at ease.

They soon arrived in the Survey Team’s base camp, which still remained outside the entrance to the caves, and found a contingent of CATTs waiting for them, guarding the entrance just as they’d been ordered.

“Has there been any signs of people inside?” Luz asked hastily.

“Yes Ma’am!” one CATT said. “We’ve heard some shouting echoing from deeper in, but that’s it.”

“The hunters sound like they’re not having a lot of fun. They keep complaining about webs.” another CATT said.

That brought a smile to Luz’s group; the young Dryder girls were doing well to keep the hunters frustrated! Amity pulled out her scroll and rapidly sent Penstagram messages to Gus and Willow, informing them of the situation and urging them to join them as soon as they completed their own tasks, while Darius looked inside the cavern and frowned.

“Finding them and the girls is going to be hard. We’ll need to split up! But we can’t rush or we’ll get lost ourselves!” he fretted.

“Don’t worry.” Luz said, casting a quick spell on each of their group; “This is a simple tracking spell; it’ll let me find you if you get lost! We’ve all got scrolls, and with Alador’s signal tower in town, we should still get reception down there!” she then cast the same spell on one of the CATTs guarding the entrance; “Please don’t leave this spot unless you absolutely have to, and don’t go into the caves under any circ*mstances! You’re now the marker for our way out!”

“Yes Ma’am!” the CATT agreed.

Luz smiled, then asked; “Can you all cast this spell too?”

Eda, Lilith, and Amity immediately nodded, but Darius, Hanu, and Treble shook their heads. However Darius did say; “I can create tiny abominations that I can track instead.”

“And I can grow flowers and follow the scent; my sense of smell is very sharp.” Hanu added.

“I can probably do the same now, and can sniff out the magic of anyone I recognise.” Treble finished.

“Good. Everyone cast your own tracking spells on this guy.” she pointed to the CATT she’d cast her own spell on; “That way we all have a way out. Cast them on me too, so you can find your way to me if you need help or healing.” Luz instructed.

The others immediately obeyed, getting antsier by the moment but knowing they couldn’t run into the caves recklessly. Darius made a pair of tiny abominations from his hair, making his sideburns a lot shorter, and handed one to Luz and one to the Guard CATT, while Hanu grew a pair of potent smelling Hermetic Holly flowers and handed them over too.

“Alright, now split up! Show no mercy to the hunters; take ‘em down hard and fast, then tie them up and leave them where you found them with a tracking spell or something so we can find them later. If you find Hooty or the girls, grab them and get out immediately! Find me if you or they need healing, and remember your emergency healing potions, bile boosters, and Power Glyphs!” Luz ordered, channelling her Mami.

“Got it!” the others yelled, impressed by Luz taking charge but not willing to waste time voicing it. As soon as those words left their mouths, they darted into the caves and immediately split up, with all of them taking different tunnels. Eda remained in her Harpy Mode and Amity remained in her Fused Form, allowing them to dart silently through the dark tunnels without light, while using their superior senses to find any signs of life. Lilith used an invisibility glyph and flew on Corvanc to catch any hunters by surprise, while Darius darted around the shadows in his slime form, sticking close to the walls and ceilings and using simple fire spells to light the way since he couldn’t use Light Magic. Treble shape-shifted into a Hotfooted Cheetah; a kind of desert cat that looked like a miniature version of the Human Realm cheetahs and could run just as fast. He also used his shapeshifting to make himself see-through, giving him some stealth as he dashed through the tunnels, following his nose to the closest unfamiliar magic scent. Lastly, Hanu grew and inhaled the pollen of some Swift Saffron and Chameleon Camomile as she too darted into the tunnels.

Using her sense of smell, Hanu quickly detected a horrible musky smell and darted towards it, finding a lone female hunter who was accompanied by a Patdreg. Patdregs were relatives of the Marrdregs and had been specially bred as hunting companions; they had skinny but muscular bodies like a Greyhound, but with longer, more gangly legs, wide eyes that stared off in opposite directions and were fairly blind, huge pointed rabbit-like ears, and a gaping maw with two massive yet thin and sharp fangs protruding from their bottom jaw, which was larger than the top. They were not pleasant or natural creatures, and were bred to be vicious beasts that would maim but not kill, so their masters could deliver the final blow. Eberwolf had forbidden the breeding of them and ordered the existing ones to be neutered and spayed, then handed over to be kept secure in a quiet and isolated sanctuary, where they would be cared for until they died out naturally… Hanu wasn’t shocked to see that Carnar and his cronies had gotten their hands on some; his old Titan’s Wrath Hunting Party had probably kept them in secret, with Belos’ permission no doubt.

Come to think of it, Hanu narrowed her eyes on the female hunter and noted she wore a red scarf… the Titan’s Wrath Hunting Party were given white scarves upon being initiated, and would need to hunt and kill a Demon and dye the scarf in their blood before being accepted as a full member. Hanu wondered if the Divider had actually spared these people, or if her father had turned them back to normal; it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility if he was an Overseer and his Wings of Rani allies appeared largely divided themselves.

Putting all that aside, Hanu immediately jumped in and attacked the pair before they could notice her. The Patdreg caught her scent at the last moment, but a swift smack to the back of the head knocked it unconscious before it could so much as bark, and its master was soon hit in the chin with an iron uppercut, courtesy of some Iron Irises Hanu had grown. The blow was so vicious that the woman cracked her head against the ceiling of the tunnel and then crumpled to the floor unconscious. Hanu then conjured some Iron Vines to bind the two, and left one of her Hermetic Holly flowers behind so she could find them later, before racing off, following the next closest scent she could detect.

For a short while, Hanu continued this pattern over and over, running into lone members of the Titan’s Wrath Hunting Party, or occasionally pairs of them, and swiftly knocking them out alongside their beasts. They thought they were just hunting some defenceless little girls with some annoying web-making skills, so they weren’t expecting to suddenly be ambushed, meaning Hanu had a great time putting the fear of the Titan into them. Eventually, it reached the point where Hanu was several kilometres deep in the tunnels and could no longer smell any new scents, leaving her with no trail to follow. She considered back-tracking, but dismissed it; if she wasn’t smelling anyone new, then she was likely now dealing with the more skilled hunters, who were removing their scents with magic. That would make finding them before they found her a simple matter of luck, so Hanu decided to shift tactics and prioritise finding the Dryder girls.

Looking around at the three tunnels she’d not yet gone down, Hanu noticed that two of the tunnels had copious amounts of spider webs all over them, while the third were free of webbing. Of those with webs, one had clearly had the webs disturbed by the hunters pushing through them too, meaning they must have gone that way or the empty way. But it struck Hanu as odd that two tunnels from the same crossroads had webbing and one didn’t… had the girls split up? She looked back the way she’d come and noted that she didn’t remember seeing other webs on the paths she’d taken.

“How smart are these girls? They’re only little… but if it were me, I’d put webs on a tunnel and then backtrack and hide down a tunnel without webs… Like leaving a false trail.” she whispered to herself.

The more she thought about it, the more likely she felt it was; the fact two different tunnels were webbed while one wasn’t being the clue that cinched it for her. She didn’t think for an instant that the girls had split up; they’d probably be too scared to go alone and the older one would want to protect her little sister! Plus Dryders were often thought of as cunning people with a penchant for traps, much like actual spiders.

With this in mind, Hanu hurried down the path without webs, and soon came to another crossroads with one webbed path and one clear path, so she again chose the clear path. This repeated a few times, and Hanu soon became convinced she was on the trail of the girls; they had webbed every path except one at every crossroads! On the surface this seemed like a clever move, but it would only weed out the stupid hunters since it was obvious after so many repetitions, so Hanu picked up the pace and soon heard a noise that made her blood run cold; a childish shriek and the laughter of several people. She took another dose of Swift Saffron pollen and ran as fast as her legs could carry her, dropping down on all four limbs and running like a wild beast.

It didn’t take her long to arrive in a huge cavern, which looked to have formed completely from solid blue crystal, which looked a little like Fool’s Blood (though it formed like traditional crystals rather than rounded, goopy looking stone). The entire cavern was large enough to fit half of Digale Town, and was full of vein-like tendrils that glowed a soft cyan blue, and which had crystals growing from them in clusters, illuminating the place beautifully. The caves and tunnels of Digale Island were the fossilised veins and blood vessels inside the bones of Cassiopeia, and this particular cavern was the site of a minor Titan Blood Clot. Hanu had once been inside one such Blood Clot back on the Boiling Isles, as one had been discovered and dismantled beneath Spriggan Manor when Terra had wanted to expand the basem*nt to accommodate more of her servants. The surveyors from the Construction Coven had explained that when a Titan’s Blood Vessel is clotted, it expands and swells up, then crystallises in a similar fashion to Fool’s Blood, losing most of its magic. It was safe, unlike Fool’s Blood, due to the pressure that formed it, making it almost the equivalent of a diamond. The vein-like crystals were caused by the clotting of the smaller blood vessels that often ran through the big ones, but as their contents were crystallised, the vessel itself rotted away, leaving just the crystal formed inside, like a mold being broken off a forged ornament.

It was a beautiful sight, but Hanu couldn’t enjoy it for long as she saw the cause of the commotion she’d heard seconds ago; a pack of about seven hunters alongside an equal number of Patdregs, all being led by Lord Carnar Vanily, who was currently leaning on his rapier as the point was stabbed into the ground, using it like a cane. In front of the hunters were a pair of little Dryder girls that were huddled together. Their upper bodies looked like they belonged to dark grey skinned Witch girls, complete with pointy ears, but they also had large glistening eyes and three much smaller ones beneath each large one. The older sister had long hair in a ponytail, which looked like it had been messed up, and was dressed in a simple white tank-top with a teddy bear embroidered on it, while the younger sister had a messy bob cut and wore a green dress with long sleeves, which had received a few cuts. Both girls had the lower body of a fluffy jumping spider, and despite the older sister’s roughed up hair and the cuts on the younger sister’s sleeves, they didn’t appear to be hurt.

“Come now, is that all? You led us on a merry little chase and got some of my good friends quite confounded with those webs of yours, yet you can’t even muster some proper defiance!” Carnar scoffed, speaking in an overly posh tone of voice, as if he was actively trying to sound pompous. “I say my dears, this is quite disappointing! A proper hunt should end with a good, worthy fight! If we wanted to just put you down like the beasts you are, we would have never bothered letting you out of your cages!”

“P-Please! Don’t hurt Ramari! She’s only little!” the older girl cried, looking utterly terrified.

Carnar sighed irritably, and in a flash he pulled his rapier out of the ground and swung it at the girl. Hanu gasped in horror, but thankfully his swing only took off a few hairs from the side of the girl’s head, making her shriek in terror, which made her little sister shriek too, and caused the rest of the hunters to laugh mockingly.

“What a pathetic little brat! Not even hurt and squealing like a stuck orc! Why couldn’t we have just grabbed an adult Demon from the village and hunted them instead?” one bulky male Witch complained.

“Because, my good man, if we’d taken a Demon without just cause, the programming on those ghastly Abomatons would have arrested us!” Carnar told him, once again using his rapier like a cane as the two girls shook like leaves. Hanu sneered viciously and began creeping closer, climbing up onto one of the sturdier looking crystal veins so she could sneak as closes as possible to the group without alerting the Patdregs. Luckily for her, her body was constantly bathed in a floral scent, so the beasts didn’t recognise her as a person until she got close enough for them to smell her real scent beneath the perfume, and since she was sneaking high above the bored and mocking hunters, known of them picked up the scent either.

“Truly, it was quite a stroke of luck that those traitors decided to break the law to visit these little pests!” a skinny male Witch chuckled.

“Yeah, and lucky them rebels are causing trouble and making them feathery freaks forget about us for a while.” a drunken female Witch slurred, leaning heavily on a rather rotund Witch whose gender Hanu couldn’t figure out.

“I still think we should have just had the Patdregs chase a Demon out of the village and have them arrested then.” an annoyingly pretty female Witch said.

Carnar raised his hand to silence them all; “Yes yes, I’ve heard all this before my good people. But alas, the hunt is over and with a bit of an anticlimax! What do you say we do with these little creatures to get some final entertainment out of them?” he asked.

“How about we feed them to the Patdregs? They’re the only ones having fun with this hunt, so we might as well let them finish it up for us.” said a disinterested looking male Witch.

“Capital idea, old boy!” Carnar grinned, as the two Dryder girls looked utterly petrified.

Hanu, who’d finally gotten into position directly above the hunters, had to think fast. She needed to take down seven hunters, seven Patdregs, and Carnar all without letting them hurt the girls! That ruled out poison, and in an enclosed space with no ventilation like this, attacking with any kind of powder was liable to get her caught up in the effects too, so even sleeping pollens could be dangerous!

Coming up with a plan and positioning herself above muscular man who looked to be the biggest physical threat, Hanu took a deep breath and created an Iron Iris, then jumped in the air and inhaled the pollen as she fell. The result was her turning into iron as she fell, smashing into the muscular hunter with a full body weight and making him hit the ground with a nasty crunch. The Dryder girls shrieked in surprise, and Hanu went to release some mundane spores to act as a smokescreen, but as she lifted her hand from the hunter’s neck to draw a spell circle, she found that she’d definitely broken his neck.

Hanu swallowed hard; she hadn’t intended to kill the man, but she’d needed to take him out before engaging in a physical fight with the rest of these scumbags! But now he was dead, and the shock made Hanu struggle not to vomit. Unfortunately, the shock also made her freeze up, giving the other hunters a chance to recover from their own shock and react.

“That Demon killed him!” the rotund Witch screamed.

“Sic ‘em, boy!” the pretty woman snarled, setting her Patdreg on Hanu. The others did the same, and seven Patdregs were soon sinking their teeth into Hanu… or rather, gnawing impotently on her metal body, as the Iron Iris pollen was still in effect. Thankfully, the gnawing snapped Hanu out of her shock and she swallowed thickly, then spun her body to knock the Patdregs off, then dart over to stand between the hunters and the Dryder Girls, whom were terrified but smart enough to realise this newcomer was protecting them.

“You won’t lay a hand on these children!” Hanu roared, her fur flaring up as she prepared a spell circle in each hand.

The hunters glared and pointed their own spells at her, while getting the Patdregs to surround her and the girls. It looked like there was about to be a blood bath, but then Carnar finally managed to make out her face through the metallic sheen and the blue light of the glowing crystals.

“By the Titan… Manuella!? Is that you!?” Carnar exclaimed, his monocle popping out of his eye as his face went slack with shock.

“Little Ella? Your kid with the mistress?” the drunken Witch slurred.

“I thought she got killed by Snapdragon or something! Or kidnapped by those rebels and locked up somewhere!” the skinny man yelled.

“Who cares!? She just killed Aurelius! She’s just a Demon Spawn, so gut her like the re-!” began the last of the seven witches, who’d been silent thus far. He was a young man in his early twenties, whose scarf was still white to show he was new… though that changed as Carnar viciously slashed his throat with his rapier, staining the scarf crimson and causing the young man to fall to the ground, choking to death on his own blood.

Hanu gasped while shielding the children from the view of the grizzly murder, and Carnar cleaned off his rapier with the now-dead man’s coat.

“I’ll hear no insults to my Manuella! She is the finest trophy I’ve ever collected!” Carnar said sternly, confusing his cohorts and disgusting Hanu.

“Trophy!?” she growled, not sure if she wanted to scream abuse at the man or vomit.

“But of course! No doubt many of you remember Vayuska! A proud Demon who nonetheless knew her place! She was more talented than pretty, but look at the child we made together!” Carnar declared, gesturing to Hanu; “She is beautiful! My concrete proof of the superiority of Witchkind! A drop of my blood ensured she grew into a beauty, instead of a mere ape!”

Hanu went pale, while the oldest members of the group looked at her appraisingly, literally treating her like a side of beef that had been bred to perfection. She shuddered with revulsion as her anger grew; she was going to make Carnar pay for all of this!

“Don’t treat me like a thing! And don’t use me as an example for your stupid prejudiced was!” she demanded; “I’m no different from the girls behind me! I’m more Demon than Witch! And I’m proud of it!”

Carnar just scoffed and shook his head; “Oh Manuella, if only I’d ignored Anja and kept you by my side, I might have been able to raise you to properly understand your place! You may never be a proper Witch, but with the right bloodline, your child could be passable, and your grandchild would be indistinguishable! Proof positive that the blood of Witches will always overcome the blood of Demons, who are naught but beasts given intelligence by the power of the Titans! That a mere three generations of proper Witch stock is all it takes to correct that evolutionary mistake!”

Hanu growled; “You killed one of your own people because he insulted your little eugenics project!?”

“My people? Him? Please, he was unblooded! Nothing but a Whelp riding his father’s coattails. I doubt he’ll even care, if he stays sober enough to comprehend the news. And I do not allow insults to my trophies! You should know how proud of them I am! Speaking off, stand aside Manuella; I will take the heads of these ghastly beasts, and then we can be on our way.” Carnar ordered.

“W-With all do respect…” began the pretty witch, “she DID kill Aurelius. Should we really not do something about that?”

Carnar shrugged; “Aurelius’s family was barely noble, so it’s no great loss. He was literally dumb muscle. But if you insist, she can watch as we put down the brats. And I’ll be sure to punish her properly later.” he then sighed dramatically and shook his head; “Damn that Snapdragon… if she hadn’t figured out that I wanted you back and set the price to an exorbitant amount, this would never have happened!”

So Carnar HAD wanted her back, but hadn’t been willing to pay Terra’s price. That was a surprise, but not one Hanu cared to think about after the rest of what she’d just seen and heard. She took a deep breath as she struggled to contain her emotions; “I’m not going anywhere with you! I’m going to save these children, and if you try to stop me… I’ll make the hunters into the hunted!” she growled, her fur standing on end completely, making it look like she was covered in iron needles. She also flexed her fingers while maintaining her spell circles, making each one crack menacingly.

The hunters were all on edge, and Carnar actually pointed his rapier at his daughter; “Be careful now, dear Manuella. I can make this painless for everyone. A quick stab through the heart will end those creatures without them suffering. But if you make me fight and I am forced to mark you, I really will let the Patdregs rip them apart.” he threatened.

The poor Dryders whimpered in terror, and Hanu bared her teeth; “You monster! They’re just children!”

“They’re Demons. And their fates are in your hands.” Carnar replied with disinterest.

Hanu’s tail flailed angrily, but this was actually just a cover to pull the Power Glyph that she’d been given before coming to the island out of the pocket of her shorts.

“You’re right, Father. Their fates are in my hands… and so are all of yours!” Hanu suddenly declared. She used her tail to slap the Power Glyph onto the back of her neck, causing her magic to skyrocket to huge levels, resulting in a green aura bursting out of her and sending Carnar staggering back while the hunters obscured their eyes and the Patdregs whimpered and backed off.

Hanu then slapped her two spell circles together, combining them into one, then flooded it with magic and expanded it to the biggest size she could, before casting the spell. The spell condensed down into a green, palm-sized orb of green magic, which Hanu then slammed into the ground, sending a huge pulse of green magic throughout the entire cavern, making the walls and floor briefly pulse with green light, which clashed with the soft cyan glow of the crystallised Titan Blood. Hanu then turned and grabbed the two Dryder girls before whispering into their ears.

“Keep calm and as quiet as possible, I will protect you both!” she promised, making the little girls nod and cling to her; the older one wrapping her soft spider legs around Hanu’s abdomen from behind, while the younger one did the same to her sister’s abdomen, both then using some spider silk to really tie themselves down. They weren’t super heavy, so Hanu was able to jump up onto one of the crystal veins as her spell finally began to take effect.

The entire cavern shook like it was experiencing an earthquake, causing Carnar and his party to stumble around, before an entire forest of different trees, giant flowers, and giant mushrooms began growing from every flat surface. Hanu’s spell had basically conjured a tightly packed orb of tiny seeds and spores, which had then spread throughout the ground and walls and been supercharged by her Power Glyph-enhanced magic, causing them to begin rapidly growing and turning the entire cavern into a lush jungle, overflowing with enormous plants of all kinds. Carnar and his party screamed and yelled as the plants forced them to run and dodge and stagger around through the shaking cavern, trying to avoid being crushed by any of them, ensuring they were thoroughly separated. At the same time, Hanu had used her monkey-like movement to effortlessly leap and dive around the growing trees, making sure she remained in full control of where she was. When the shaking finally stopped and no more plants were growing, Hanu finally came to a rest atop the side of a giant tree trunk growing out of the side of the cave wall.

“Alright, that will keep them busy for a bit!” Hanu said, breathing slowly to keep herself under control as the Power Glyph still exerted its power over her. She turned back to the girls and smiled; “You’ll be safe now; I’ll beat up all those bad guys.”

“Thank you, Miss.” the older sister whispered, shaking a little from the fear she still felt.

“Who are you?” the younger asked, recovering a little more than her big sister.

“I’m Hanu. What about the two of you?” Hanu asked in return.

“I’m Marama, and this is my little sister Ramari.” the older sister, Marama, introduced.

Hanu smiled; “Those are nice names. Listen, your parents are waiting for you outside, so I’m going to save you and get you to them, but I have to beat up the bad guys first! I’ll be fast though, so don’t be afraid.”

Marama nodded, while Ramari innocently asked; “But isn’t the mean moustache man your Daddy?”

“Yes, but he’s a bad guy. I don’t like him.”

“Mommy was a bad guy too. She ate our first Daddy and tried to eat us too!” Marama said sympathetically.

Hanu was horrified, but guessed the two hadn’t likely been adopted under the best of circ*mstances; “Well then, let’s beat up some bad guys! Just stay very quiet and I’ll get this done fast.” she said.

The girls nodded and mimed zipping their lips, making Hanu smile and look back down; this jungle-like space was her domain, and now it was time for the hunters to truly become the hunted!

The first step was to take out the seven Patdregs, who’d smell her if she got too close to them and their masters, so Hanu used her own keen sense of smell and a renewed dose of Chameleon Camomile to hide herself and the Dryder girls as she hunted down each of the Patdregs. As soon as she found one, she would conjure a simple vine from the tree she was perched on, then have it dart down and grab the Patdreg before yanking it into the sky. Then Hanu would use the vine to tie up and muzzle the whimpering beast, almost like a spider wrapping its prey up in silk. With her Power Glyph still in play, she did this rapidly and efficiently, taking out all seven Patdregs in the space of about three minutes. The cavern echoed with the shouts, curses, and threats of the hunters, as well as the whimpering of the Patdregs as Hanu once again found a secluded perch to begin planning the second step of her assault; taking out the hunters themselves.

The muscular one and the young one were dead, but that still left the pretty one, the drunken one, the rotund one, the disinterested one, and the skinny one. That was five foes, plus Carnar who made six, and who Hanu would leave for last.

First, Hanu followed her nose to the first scent that she knew wasn’t her father (his distinct cologne was etched into her mind since childhood). This turned out to be the rotund Witch, who’d conjured a machete made of Demon bones and was hacking away at a gigantic mushroom that was blocking their path forward. Doing this was coating the rotund Witch in the mushroom’s spores, so Hanu only had to create a tiny bolt of green Plant Magic and shoot it at them to make the spores begin growing, quickly engulfing them as they screamed in terrified panic. The mushrooms only grew on their back, where Hanu’s spell had hit them, but the added weight made them topple over and scream even more, making the whole cavern echo with it, until Hanu leapt down and knocked the Witch out with a hard stomp to the head (the Iron Iris had worn off, so the blow wasn’t lethal this time).

“That’s one down. I hope the rest of you are prepared!” Hanu called out, before cackling and silently slipping back into the trees. She could hear the other hunters begin to panic and freak out, while Carnar shouted at them to calm down and take Hanu alive no matter what.

The second hunter Hanu found was the skinny one, who was jumpy and jittery as he crept through the jungle cavern. Slowly, Hanu lowered herself down on a vine like a spider, until she was right behind the hunter. She then screamed “BOO!” right in his ear. The terrified witch screamed in extreme terror and bolted, but Hanu cast a quick spell to make a tree root trip him up, causing him to fall face first into the trunk of another tree, knocking himself out and abruptly ending his screams.

“That’s two! You know, I’m starting to see the joy of this hunting thing!” Hanu mocked.

One of the witches screamed a very offensive slur at her, and Carnar responded with a demand that the fool keep his mouth shut. Hanu didn’t let the slur bother her though… it had just told her where the fool was after all! It was the disinterested man, who was suddenly a lot more alert and afraid. Hanu grinned as she created a small Fire Melon Cactus and tossed it like a grenade directly at the ground in front of him, causing him to step on it and scream in pain as the needles pierced him. The cactus then exploded, making him scream even louder as he fell back on the ground and writhed around, clutching his now burnt and needle-riddled foot. Feeling playful and wanting to give the girls on her back a part in taking down their would-be murderers, Hanu created a pair of coconuts and handed them to the girls, then mimed throwing them at the man’s head. The little Dryders didn’t need telling twice, and giggled as they tossed the coconuts right at the screaming witch, resulting in a resounding “CLONK!” and a funny little grunt from the man as he was knocked out, abruptly ending his screaming.

“Three down, three to go… who should I go for next…?” Hanu announced, laughing ominously. The little Dryder girls giggled too, the sound adding to Hanu’s ominous laughter and terrifying the two remaining female witches, and further angering Carnar.

“We’ve gotta get out of here!” screamed the pretty witch, who’d previously been helping the drunken witch.

In her terror though, she abandoned her, leaving the drunken witch to stagger about as she tried to find a way out. Hanu ignored the scent of alcohol and cologne, leading her to the pretty witch instead, finding her conjuring a large ball of fire. Seeing this made Hanu panic, and she screamed out; “DON’T!”

This proved to be a mistake though, as this startled the witch and made her scream, resulting in her losing control of the fire and promptly igniting the nearby foliage. In a flash, the fire spread rapidly through the cavern, filling the air with smoke and making the trapped Patdregs bark and howl in terror. The fire even spread to some spore clouds produced by the giant mushrooms, resulting in a large powder explosion that shook the cavern and caused it to begin caving in. If not for the trees (which were now on fire), the cavern would have collapsed completely and buried them all alive!

“Idiot!” Hanu snarled, roundhouse kicking the woman and knocking her to the ground; “There’s no ventilation down here! The smoke will fill the cavern and suffocate us all, and possibly do the same to the whole tunnel network!”

The pretty witch didn’t listen though, just screaming in terror and casting another fireball at Hanu. The monkey girl ducked beneath it and then slapped the woman, who just fled in terror, disappearing into the flames as she tried to find a way out. Hanu scowled; she could smell clean air in the opposite direction, so the woman was fleeing deeper into the flames and further from the exit! If she got to the other end of the cavern before the flames consumed her, the smoke suffocated her, or the cavern finally collapsed completely, then she might survive… but Hanu wasn’t going to concern herself with a murderous huntress who ran into danger!

Deciding to forego the rest of the hunt so as to protect the children, Hanu turned and bolted in the direction she could smell clean air, soon finding the exit. However, she could also still hear the whines and yelps of the Patdregs, and despite their cruel origins, Hanu didn’t have it in her to just abandon them to their deaths whilst tied up, so she snapped her fingers to dismiss the vines she’d grown to bind them. This at least gave the Petdregs a chance to escape, as they would be smart enough to flee towards clean air, just like her.

Hurrying out of the burning cavern, Hanu darted back the way she’d come as quickly as she could, until she eventually reached one of the larger crossroads where the smoke had yet to reach, giving her and the girls a chance to catch their breath. As they panted and filled their lungs with clean air, they heard a noise behind them and turned to see the full pack of Patdregs running towards them, having all managed to escape the flames. Thinking fast, the two Dryder girls shot webs at the ceiling and pulled themselves and Hanu up to the top of the crossroads where they would be safe, but the Patdregs didn’t so much as glance at them, instead opting to just keep running as fast as they could towards the outside, following their noses. Once they were gone, the three girls lowered themselves back down to the ground, then looked back in the direction they’d just come from. Just as they were doing so, the entire tunnel network shook and there was a huge rumbling and crashing sound from the direction of the cavern, making Hanu gulp; the cavern must have fully caved in.

The young woman frowned guiltily; she’d left three of the hunters unconscious, so if their allies hadn’t found them and gotten them out before the cave in, then they’d have died from the smoke, flames, or being crushed.

Seeing her expression, Ramari patted Hanu’s shoulder; “Don’t be sad, Hanu!” she said childishly, “The bad guys beat themselves up!”

That made Hanu snort and smile; she wasn’t totally wrong! That idiot had tried to use fire in a heavily wooded underground area! Even if Hanu hadn’t surprised her, it was a disaster waiting to happen. If those monsters died as a result of their own ally’s mistake, then that was no concern of Hanu’s! She’d only knocked them out after all! And aside from the man murdered by her father, they were all bloodied members of the Titan’s Wrath Hunting Party and had murdered a Demon to get that “privilege”, so Hanu refused to feel bad for them.

“You’re right, Ramari. They earned their fates. I just wish I could have dealt with my mean dad myself.” Hanu said, reaching up to pat the two girls’ heads.

Their happy moment was cut off by a sudden glint of steel from the tunnel leading towards the collapsed cavern, and Hanu acted quickly, slapping her hand out to deflect what had just been shot towards Marama’s face. Hanu yelped in pain and found that a long metal spike, about six inches long and as thick as a rapier blade, was the projectile she’d tried to deflect, only to get it impaled through her palm.

Hanu quickly dodged to the side when she saw more flashes, and more metal spikes shot out from the tunnel and embedded themselves in the cave wall. She then used her teeth to yank out the metal spike in her hand and then grew a series of flowers on the cave wall, before inhaling the pollen of all these flowers to use her Aromatherapy Healing Technique to heal the wound. She then conjured some Iron Irises and had the girls inhale the pollen before inhaling it herself to make sure they were all sturdy enough to deflect the metal spikes without being pierced. Unfortunately, the added weight of the two now-metal Dryders slowed her down, making escaping the source of those spikes more difficult. Using up the last of the Power Glyph’s strength to also grow some more Chameleon Camomile and Swift Saffron to turn herself and the girls invisible, and speed herself up, Hanu dared to peak out and see the source of the attacks, scowling upon seeing who it was.

Carnar Vanily.

The man looked a little singed, with one side of his handlebar moustache burned off, several burn marks on his outfit (which was his usual hunting outfit, and identical to what he wore at the Day of Unity), and a thunderous expression on his face as he marched towards them, in search of his prey. Unaware that she was still present and hiding while camouflaged, he grit his teeth and bellowed; “MANUELLA! Cease this foolishness immediately! Surrender those brats and return to being my loyal child, or I will treat you like the Demonic Beast you are behaving like! Do not think my fondness for you will save your life if you continue this behaviour!”

The hidden Hanu sneered and prepared to attack him, aiming to smash him in the back of the head with her iron foot and finish this. However, as Vanily walked a little further down the path to the next tunnel, Hanu saw he wasn’t alone, but rather had a pair of summoned creatures with him; a pair of very dangerous Beast Demons at that.

The first was a large humanoid monster known as a Radtodon; a blue-skinned Oni-like Demon that was about seven feet tall, had a muscular, humanoid body with mossy green fur covering its legs, and arms that ended in massive fists. It’s head was huge and Orc-like, with massive tusks and pointy ears, with a horn on its forehead and beady little green eyes that lacked pupils or irises. They were unintelligent Beasts despite resembling Biped Demons, but had the strength and hardiness of a Slitherbeast, as well as the bizarre ability to freely breath underwater, due to evolving from the union of Sahagins and Orcs. A punch from Hanu, even with metal fists, would scarcely do a thing to a Demon like that!

The second was an extremely bizarre creature that was only called a Beast Demon because it couldn’t justifiably be called a Bug or Biped, despite having only two legs. This Demon was known as a Mukhambu, and it resembled a ceramic pot in varying shades of blue. It had legs like a chicken’s, with oversized purple talons that were highly poisonous, and tiny vestigial wings that resembled withered and featherless chicken wings. They ended in purple claws too, but couldn’t be moved by the beast. Finally, it’s “head” was nothing but a black mass of gel-like liquid with two glowing red orbs inside it that acted as eyes, and a huge spike-like cone that looked something like a cross between a giant beak and a horn, and could almost pass as a bizarre lid for the “pot” that made up the body. Mukhambus, aside from being highly poisonous, could also breathe underwater, could walk on water, and could even produce and absorb a near infinite amount of water inside it’s pot-like body. Not only that, but it’s horn was sharp enough to punch through steel and Titan Bone, and it could “see” by using a strange form of sonar that involving tucking its liquid-like head inside its body, using its horn to seal the liquid inside, then shaking vigorously to release a sonar pulse.

Individually they were tough Demons, but together? They could very well kill Hanu even in her metal form! Their abilities with water also explained how Carnar had managed to escape his fate in the burning cavern; he’d summoned Mukhambu and forced it to produce water and put out the flames, then had Radtodon smash his way out of the cavern and the burnt plants that blocked his path. That was likely what hastened the collapse of the cavern!

Hanu began trying to sneak way, but unfortunately that wasn’t going to be possible; the Mukhambu used its sonar pulse to detect them, as her camouflage was useless against it, and promptly released a high pitch screech that had Carnar turning around.

“Found them, have you? Bring them to me! I want the large one alive, but you may kill the little ones.” Carnar ordered.

Immediately, the Mukhambu made a strange squeak and blasted water out from a tiny hole in the base of its pot, launching itself like a rocket at the spot Hanu was hiding. The girl cursed and leapt out of the way, leading to the Demon stabbing into the stone wall behind where she’d just been. Hanu then tried to kick the Mukhambu and wound it, but the creature spun its body independently from its head and horn, nearly nicking her with its poison talons, forcing her to dodge back. At that moment, Carnar shot a spell at Hanu, causing her body to glow faintly even while invisible. This was a beacon spell, often used by hunters to mark their prey, and so long as it was active, Hanu had no chance of hiding from her father. Worst still, the spell effected the Dryders too since they were caught in the radius, meaning they couldn’t even safely split up.

“There you are! You can’t escape me now, my girl!” Carnar grinned maliciously, then snapped his fingers. In response, the Radtodon suddenly lunged forward and punched Hanu hard in the face. Her metal skin meant it didn’t hurt her, but the force still knocked her head over heels, and she had to use her monkey-like acrobatics skills to turn her backward fall into a somersault to avoid landing on and crushing the children. She then transitioned into a dash and leapt up, punching the Radtodon with her metal fist, successfully knocking it down but doing little more than lightly bruising its cheek.

“This thing is too sturdy!” Hanu scowled, then looked back to the Mukhambu, which pulled itself from the wall and shot a jet of water at her. It was so high pressure that it actually cut her shoulder as she tried and failed to completely dodge, despite her metallic body. “And this one is fast, and can’t be effected by my pollens!”

Carnar drew a spell circle with his free hand then flicked his rapier blade at his daughter, sending another metal spike at her thigh, though it bounced off harmlessly. Hanu tried to throw a punch at her father, but the Radtodon got in her way and backhanded her away from him, then the Mukhambu launched itself at her again. Hanu then tried to smash the Mukhambu whilst hoping her iron body could stop its poison claws, but as she raised her fist, the Radtodon got in her way and smacked her again, this time nearly causing her to fall and land on the girls on her back. Hanu caught herself, but then instinctively staggered back to dodge some metal spikes launched by Carnar from his enchanted rapier.

Hanu grit her teeth as she found herself in a tight space against three enemies and with her options limited. The Mukhambu was immune to her pollens since it had no form of breathing, the Radtodon was immune to her limited physical options, and any dosage of pollen that worked on the Radtodon would be dangerous to herself and the Dryder girls, and using them in a place with poor ventilation like the enclosed tunnels was just asking for trouble! Plus, just about every other Plant spell she knew was either too weak, or had a risk of bringing down the tunnels!

“Fighting here like this is going to get me killed! I need an open space, a place I can safely stash the kids, or back-up!” Hanu thought, before conjuring a cloud of harmless mushroom spores that filled the air with a pungent (but harmless) green cloud, which obscured her from Vanily and the Radtodon. The Mukhambu could still detect her though, so she quickly shifted the Dryder girls so she was carrying them in a sling of vines on her chest, before dashing away down the tunnels, running as fast as she could on two legs (since she couldn’t run on all fours with the girls on her chest, and couldn’t leave them on her back in case they were hit from behind while running away).

Carnar coughed and spluttered as he waved away the spores, then saw that his daughter was fleeing. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, Carnar couldn’t help but grin widely; “It looks like I’m going to get the worthy hunt I’ve been longing for! Run as fast as you can, my Manuella! Daddy’s coming!”

With that, he leapt onto the back of the Mukhambu and began riding it down the tunnels after Hanu and the Dryders, with the Radtodon running after them like a gorilla.

The hunt was on!
________________________________________________________________________________

[Meanwhile]

Elsewhere in the caves, Lilith found herself panting a little as she flew down the empty tunnels in search of Carnar, the hunters, the Dryders, or any sign of Hooty. She’d had some bad luck so far and twice been ambushed by hunters and their Patdregs, leading to her taking a few minor injuries. The hunters were low class, but Lilith felt out of practice and they’d managed to sneak up on her as she flew through the tunnels, despite her invisibility spells, leading to her needing to waste magic on healing and becoming frustrated enough to lose her cool and go a little overboard when fighting back against the hunters. As a result, she’d wasted over half the blessing Luz had given her and had already needed to drink another Elixir to keep her cool.

“Focus, Lilith…” she whispered to herself. “I’ve got to set a proper example for Amity and Luz! What will Luz say if she sees her Tia wasting her blessing on temper tantrums? And how will Amity find the confidence to finally move past Odalia and call me her mother if she sees me acting so petulantly over these small fry hunters? I need to be better than this!”

She felt a hot flush of shame at the thought of the two girls reactions, then another when she reminded herself that she was the older sister between her and Eda, so she had to be at least as reliable as the younger woman. She couldn’t keep being second best! She had to be better than this!

Sipping another Elixir to quiet the turmoil that was beginning to bubble out of her in the form of feathers, Lilith refocused on the task at hand and silently flew through the tunnels, finding no signs of Carnar, Hooty, or the Dryders. However she did find a pair of hunters examining an indentation in the floor and arguing with each other on if it was a Dryder foot print or natural erosion.

Lilith carefully and silently examined the area for signs of Patdregs, and even cast one of her few Beast-Keeping spells to create a silent magical pulse that revealed all heartbeats within a 10 metre radius. Upon seeing no signs of Patdregs, she darted at the pair and fired a bolt of white lightning at one of them, zapping him unconscious before he could even scream, then leaping off Corvanc and smacking the second hunter in the head to knock them out too. They both crumpled to the floor unconscious, and Lilith smiled a little.

“Swift and precise! That’s more like it! Now keep it up Lilith!” she whispered to herself.

Egging herself on, Lilith continued forward, keeping a meticulous mental map in her head to judge exactly where she was. By her reckoning, she was reaching the dead-centre of the elbow, where the Primordial Wellspring should lay dormant, and the location that Vanily’s mistress and the Overseer of the Throat was currently searching for. That would be where she found Hooty; Lilith could feel it in her bones!

Hurrying on, Lilith soon found herself arriving exactly where she expected to be; the Primordial Wellspring of Cassiopeia’s Right Elbow. Emerging into it, Lilith found a nearly snow-white cavern of pure bone, which had dried up blue lines all over the walls, forming a kind of natural tapestry. The patterns were formed from dried Titan’s Blood, which had lost its magic but hadn’t been in a large enough amount to form Fool’s Blood. The centre of the room was dominated by a huge dry lakebed, just like Eclipse Lake had supposedly been before Amity and Lyra’s battle had stirred it back to life, and Kikimora’s interference had fully awoken it. The only differences were strange stalagmite-like mounds of white minerals, which had holes running up and down them, and which Lilith recognised as vents that had expelled Titan’s Breath once upon a time. The breath emerging form the wellspring would push up the earth and bile, forming a bizarre muddy clay like material that gradually hardened and formed stalagmites that somewhat resembled termite hills and served as proper vents for the Titan’s Breath. In ancient times, Lilith knew that Witches and Demons would stuff incense into some of the openings and burn them, mixing the fumes with the Titan’s Breath to create a powerful hallucinogen that supposedly let them speak to the Titan’s spirit… Though Lilith thought it was more likely they were just incredibly high and imagining it.

While the dormant wellspring was an oddly beautiful sight, it wasn’t that which caught her attention, but rather a hooded figure stood directly in front of it; a figure who was dressed in a white and gold hooded robe, which went down to their knees and had long, loose fitting sleeves. The robe hugged the wearer smugly, revealing they had a feminine body shape with wide hips, and appeared to be a bit shorter than average. Their head was concealed by their hood, and their hands were clad in white and gold leather gloves, which matched their high-heeled boots, leaving not a single bit of visible skin, so Lilith couldn’t tell anything about them besides their apparent gender and height. However, she didn’t care about the Witch in front of her; she cared about what the Witch had on her back… or rather, who.

It was Hooty!

Lilith nearly wept with joy, feeling almost as relieved as she’d been to see Amity! Her best friend was currently in his Porta-Hooty form and being worn like a backpack by the woman in front of her, and his eyes were closed as he snored, hooting softly with every exhale. Lilith had to stop herself from calling out to him, as she didn’t want to alert the woman in front of her. She wasn’t sure if this woman was a threat or not, but the fact she had wormed her way into being Carnar’s Mistress and supposedly had an interest in Hooty did make it suspicious, and Lilith definitely wanted her best friend back!

Creeping forward whilst riding her staff, Lilith prepared a simple binding spell to trap the other woman so she could be identified and interrogated. Then, when she was certain she had no chance of missing, Lilith cast the spell and sent three large rings of white magic descending down on the woman, then tightening them around her knees, waist, and upper arms, binding her legs together and trapping her arms against her torso with thick bands of magic. The woman jolted in surprise, then sighed and shook her head.

“You know, it’s quite rude to just attack someone whilst they are enjoying a pleasant view. It’s rare to find a Primordial Wellspring that is both dormant and untouched by those who’d strip them for their natural resources!” the woman said, sounding surprisingly nonchalant for someone who was tied up.

And also surprisingly familiar, to Lilith’s ears.

Eyes widening, Lilith marched forward and pulled Hooty (who was still napping) from off the woman’s back and gently set him on the ground, then grabbed the woman herself and spun her around. The movement was fast enough that the woman’s hood was knocked off, revealing her full appearance as she came face to face with Lilith.

“Flora D’splora!?” Lilith gasped, horrified and angry to see the woman.

Flora sneered back at her; “You. I should have known that the first of the rebels I’d run into would be you!”

Lilith stepped back, looking her one-time mentor up and down in shock. Aside from her clothing (which beneath the robe was the usual white and gold, Angelic version of her previous attire, worn by all Overseers and Coven Heads under the Divider), she looked almost exactly as she had on the Day of Unity! Her hair was a little longer, her glasses had their round lenses replaced with oval ones, and she’d gained a rather nasty scar on her right cheek, which looked far older than it should do, but otherwise she looked identical!

“So, you really are alive!? The Divider said he couldn’t find your body, but since Subject Zero had been left locked in the Growling Grotto too, many people suspected she’d eaten you.” Lilith scowled.

Flora raised an eyebrow; “Oh? Didn’t think the fall would kill me?”

“The others did, but I suspected you’d survived that. But since they never found your body and the Divider had those caves locked down tightly, I assumed you’d met some other nasty fate. Considering you sold out the entire Demon Realm to a genocidal maniac for your own selfish desire to explore other realms, I can’t say I’m overjoyed by your survival.” Lilith deadpanned.

“Oh spare me the self-righteousness, Lilith. You cursed your own sister to get what you want, and served the Emperor like a loyal lapdog. You’re just like me, only inferior in every way.” Flora said smugly. “You didn’t even defeat me in our little scrap down in the Grotto! It was this Hooty Demon that won that battle for you.”

Lilith growled; “Don’t compare us. I was an idiot and a selfish brat as a child, but at least I worked to correct my mistakes!” she pointed her staff at Flora’s throat; “Now, you’re going to answer some questions, starting with; how did you survive that fall and wind up here, as an Overseer in service to the Divider!?”

Flora, annoyingly not intimidated, replied; “Oh, it was just another of my daring little adventures! I was mortally wounded by that fall and really would have died if not for my Palisman. I devoured Glover and retook the piece of my soul that went into making him, which restored my body massively. While his sacrifice wasn’t enough on its own, it did also restore enough magic for me to heal the rest of the damage with my magic. From there, it was simply some fancy footwork to escape the pit, followed by sneaking down some hidden tunnels to freedom. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay free for more than two weeks before the Divider’s toadies found me and delivered me to him. He was going to divide me as soon as he realised who I was, but I managed to negotiate with him until he spared me.”

Lilith snorted; “In other words, you murdered your own Palisman and then begged the Divider on bended knee to spare you.”

Flora flushed, and Lilith could tell that her statement was close to the truth. If it was only a couple of weeks after the Day of Unity, then the Divider had likely been in that unstable state he’d been in after divided Eda and most of the CATTs leadership.

“The point is, he spared me and had me show my devotion to changing my ways by doing menial labour around the Throat. It was basically community service, doing odd jobs in the villages in the valley. But I worked my way up and was eventually entrusted with the new Union Pillar built directly into Unity Plaza, making me an Overseer! I now had loyal Angels to do that menial labour for me while I tried to convince the Divider to let me explore other worlds, since Belos turned out to be a scum-sucking liar!” Flora said, her temper flaring as she thought of the man she’d once considered a friend.

“You’re an idiot for not seeing that coming. You knew Belos wanted to genocide the world and hated Witches but despite being a Witch yourself, you thought he’d actually spare you and let you go to his precious home? Or even the Divine Realm?” Lilith said mockingly.

“I knew him long before he came up with those plans! I thought we were kindred spirits, and he knew I had no interest in having children! After so many centuries of devouring and remaking Glover, I don’t actually have the power to bear children anyway, so it wasn’t like I was going to repopulate the Witch race! I never felt a strong connection to people anyway; their past creations were far more interesting!” Flora declared.

Lilith frowned; so Flora really was some kind of sociopath. That wasn’t exactly a big reveal, and the fact she failed to connect with people also explained why she’d been willing to see them wiped out, and why she’d been so easily fooled by Belos. It was almost pitiable.

“Putting aside your ridiculous priorities and disregard for life, how did you come to be Vanily’s mistress!? And why did you want Hootsifer!?” Lilith demanded.

Flora wrinkled her nose; “Oh please, I’m not actually Carnar’s Mistress. At least not in the perverse sense. I let him shower me with gifts and affection, then when we retire for the night, I make sure his drink is spiked and cast a few spells to give him pleasant dreams. He wakes up the next day thinking they’re real and that I am a goddess of a Witch that he should be worshipping! As for your “Hootsifer”, he is the reason I put up with Carnar in the first place! The Divider insisted on keeping him at the Union Pillar in the Skull, and since I knew Carnar was easily swayed by a pretty lady showing him attention, I decided to get close and take the divided Demon for myself! A little revenge on you, for using him to defeat me.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes dangerously, and moved Corvanc a little closer to her throat. Flora was undeterred though, and continued speaking; “But it wasn’t until I got to talking with Carnar about that bizarre Bird Tube that I finally learned why the Divider was so interested in him! He is a Primordial Demon!”

In a flash, Lilith’s mind began racing as she immediately replied; “That’s ridiculous! Primordial Demons are nothing but a myth! I would have thought a Historian of your calibre would know that!”

Primordial Demons were the stuff of legends on Titan Landmasses, and were said to be the Apex of Demons, much like the Goliath Ash Moths. Normal Demons of the modern era were either descended from the Proto-Demons of the Ancient Era (whom were known simply as “Demons” at the time, or Malakhim by the Angels), or were the result of some other form of fauna or flora being influenced by the magic of a Primordial Wellspring, causing them to evolve while effected by the Titan’s power. Generally speaking, regular animals became Beast Demons (or in some rare cases, gained intelligence and spell-casting abilities, becoming Bipeds instead) while insects became Bug Demons. There were even cases were flora that grew near the Wellsprings evolved into flora-fauna hybrids that became known as Botanical Demons, the rarely thought-of 4th “B”.

But Primordial Demons were Demons that were supposedly born from the Wellsprings themselves, rather than being evolved from a prior creature! They were Demons that sprang forth from the Titans themselves! It was a somewhat unpleasant way of thinking of them, but it was thought of as being like a cancer; the Titan’s body producing a living mass that couldn’t be considered their child.

While Hooty being a Primordial Demon would explain his mysterious past and origins, it couldn’t be true, as Hooty distinctly remembered his mother! His mother was no longer with them, but she’d allegedly been just like Hooty, but significantly larger! Hooty had told his best buddy Lulu all about it, talking about how his Mama taught him how to be the adorable little chaos worm that brightened their days and darkened their nightmares. Aside from the existence of this mother and Hooty deciding to fuse himself into Eda’s house one day about 8 years ago (something Hooty had never given a reason for, instead claiming it had felt right), nothing else about his origins was truly known. Still, Primordial Demons did not have mothers and could not produce children as far as Lilith knew, so Hooty couldn’t possibly be one!

Flora scowled; “Don’t dismiss me as some hack! Carnar heard the Divider directly refer to this “Hooty” as a Primordial Demon! And I’ve spoken to this Demon often since I convinced Carnar to let me have access to him, and he told me about his mother! She was the Great Forest Leviathan!”

Lilith scoffed; “More fairytales! There is no way the Great Forest Leviathan ever existed!”

This was another legend of the Boiling Isles, and a creature that was often considered to be a Primordial Demon due ancient depictions of it showing it emerging from the Titan’s Skull. The Leviathan was supposedly a colossal serpentine Demon of some kind that lived inside the Titan’s Skull and roamed the forests of the throat and chest, yet was long enough to never have it’s tail leave the Titan’s eye-socket, from which it allegedly emerged. It was a fanciful legend, but no evidence of its existence were ever found! No droppings, no bones or remains, no anything! Modern historians just chalked it up to illusions or exaggerated claims. There had been a Leviathan that was worshipped by the cult that occupied the Alchemist’s Atelier centuries ago, but that was a regular Grand Dragon Leviathan and certainly wasn’t large enough to stretch from the Skull to the Chest! Even a Supreme Dragon like Zara couldn’t do that!

“Don’t be so short-sighted! The Leviathan DID exist! I found evidence of something excessively large and coiled having lived in the Titan’s right eye-socket! The bone in there was eroded in a way that matches the bizarre material of this Hooty creature! And he remembers her! When she passed away, she disappeared into an eruption of light that pierced the sky! An event which matches the Titan Glare Incident!” Flora snapped back.

Now that gave Lilith pause; Hooty’s body was a distinct and odd material; it seemed to be part feathers, part flesh, and part wood and places he rubbed against when scratching himself did tend to have unique patterns to it… there was a rock beside the Owl House that had a very distinct erosion after 8 years of being Hooty’s scratching post… and the Titan Glare Incident, while unconfirmed, had been said to have been the result of a beam of light shooting into the sky from the Titan’s eye socket…

That did provide at least some evidence that Flora was correct in her theory. Though it was nowhere near enough to be conclusive or even totally convincing. “I think you’re taking facts and trying to fit them to your theory instead of fitting your theory to the facts.” Lilith said dismissively, “And it no longer matters. I will be taking Hootsifer back, and once the CATTs finish dealing with your fake lover, we will destroy his Divided Orb and free him to be the real Hootsifer!”

For some reason, Flora’s scowl turned into a cruel smirk; “Oh, I think you’ll find that a bit harder to do than you might think.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes, felt found herself staggering back a bit as a strange pulse of black magic emerged from Flora. This pulse also seemed to finally awaken Hooty, whose eyes snapped open as his little chicken legs popped out from his bird house so he could stand on his own. He extended out of the bird house and began glancing around, noticing Flora and then Lilith. Upon seeing his best friend, he gasped in delight and screeched: “LULU!” before wrapping himself around her and nuzzling her face.

“I’ve missed you so much!” Hooty beamed, wiggling happily even while wrapping around Lilith. He squeezed her tightly, making her drop Corvanc, who turned back into his Palisman form and began flying around the room, keeping an eye out for hunters.

“I’ve missed you too, Hootsifer!” Lilith smiled widely. It truly was good to be hugged by him again, though she was a little put off by a strange golden ring in his eyes; evidence of him being divided.

“I was hoping I’d get to see you again soon, Lulu! Lord Raspberry said I had to stay in the Skull because that’s where Mother came from, so I couldn’t come visit you! If I wasn’t divided, I’d have been SO sad! But I can’t feel sad now thanks to him, so it’s all okay! I can still feel happy though and oh boy, I’m feeling it now! Yes siree! Hoot!”

Lilith giggled; being divided had made Hooty a little more unhinged, but he was such a positive fellow that his behaviour had hardly changed! Though his words did twig something in her mind.

“Hooty, did you say your Mother came from the Skull?” Lilith asked.

“Oh yes, Hoot! Mother was a super big and strong Demon, just like Hooty! But even bigger! When I was a baby Hooty, we lived there together! Lord Raspberry was nice and helped me remember everything! It was all so fuzzy before; being alone for 2000 years will do that to you, but now I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday! Hoot!” Hooty smiled, twisting his head around as part of him became like a spring, purely for his own amusem*nt.

Lilith gaped as Flora looked smug; “So you really are a Primordial Demon!? Your mother was born from the Wellspring in the Titan’s Skull!?”

Hooty hummed, then bobbed a part of his coil as if trying to shrug; “I don’t know! Mother grew out of the big guy’s eye! People took it away a long time ago, and Mother popped out of the hole! Then after 2000 years, she made me! Like a big mama tree growing a new baby branch!”

“Um, Hootsifer? Branches are extra limbs, not the tree’s children.” Lilith corrected him.

“They are, Hoot? Does that mean Hooty is a big part of Mother!? Mind blown, Hoot!” Hooty said, wiggling around and making Lilith confused. Did that mean Hooty had grown from his mother’s body and didn’t become separate until later?

“I have so many questions…” Lilith mused.

“Me too! Hoot! We can ask Lord Raspberry later! He’ll give you a special blessing that’ll make you happy forever and ever! It’ll be great, Hoot!” Hooty, well, hooted.

“I think I’ll have to pass on that.” Lilith frowned.

“And I think you have no choice.” Flora smirked; “Hooty dear, since you’re having fun hugging your old friend, why don’t you keep a good grip on her until the Divider returns. In fact, consider it an order.”

The rings around Hooty’s eyes flashed, and he nodded cheerfully whilst tightening his hug around Lilith, ensuring she couldn’t escape but also wasn’t being hurt; “Your wish is my command, Dora!”

“It’s Flora.” she corrected irritably. “Now free me from these restraints!”

Hooty went to do so, and Lilith struggled in his embrace as he extended around her to bite and tear away the restraints with surprising strength. Lilith gasped, seeing Flora now free while she was trapped, and by her own friend.

“Hooty, no! You don’t have to obey her! She’s a bad guy! Her fake lover is down here hunting a pair of children and plans to kill them! You can’t let her go free!” Lilith argued.

Hooty’s expression went blank, and the sight made both Lilith and Flora shudder at how twisted and unnatural it looked. Hooty looked eerily at Flora and asked in a very un-Hooty like tone; “Is this true?”

“I don’t know.” Flora answered honestly; “Carnar is psychotic and has a superiority complex around his racial identity. He views Demons as little more than animals, so I wouldn’t put it past him.” she then smiled and pet Hooty’s head condescendingly; “But if he’s guilty, the Lord Divider will punish him properly, so don’t worry your pretty little head over it.”

Hooty stared at her for a long moment, then beamed; “Okay! What do we do now, Dora?”

“It’s Flora.” she corrected once again; “And since I found the Primordial Wellspring and completed the mission the Divider had for me, I am free to do as I please! Let us return to my camp here in the caves; we’ll be able to hold up there until the Divider comes and deals with the rebels retaking the island.”

With that, she opened her cloak and pulled out her Palisman, Glover, who had been remade yet again following Flora eating him to survive her great fall on the Day of Unity. Lilith suspected Flora must have a stash of Palistrom Wood somewhere on the isles, if she was able to remake him so frequently. Glover was already in whip form, so Flora tied the end of the whip around Lilith’s neck to serve as a leash, then ordered Hooty to bind her mouth and keep her from making any noise as she was escorted to Flora’s camp. Hooty obeyed without question even as Lilith protested and struggled, and soon Flora was dragging her away by the whip around her neck, while Hooty’s birdhouse trotted along behind them both. Thankfully, Flora had forgotten about Corvanc, who’d been flying high above them this whole time, giving the Raven Palisman a chance to fly away in search of help for his mistress.

As they walked, Lilith cursed herself; she’d been so happy to see Hooty and so distracted by Flora’s story that she hadn’t even stopped to question if Hooty would be under her control as an Overseer! Nor had she paid proper attention to how nonchalant Flora had been about being captured! Once again she’d allowed herself to become focused on the wrong thing and made a massive mistake! But then, that was the story of her life… she let her priorities become skewed and it made everything worse! She’d focused on joining the Emperor’s Coven instead of loving her sister, and ended up cursing her! She’d focused on fixing her mistake with Eda instead of respecting her wishes, leading to falling deeper under Belos’ sway. She’d focused on getting Luz on her side instead of respecting her choices, leading to Belos’ abuse of her during her brief captivity. And she’d focused on grooming Amity into being a perfect apprentice instead of being a properly supportive mentor, and it had led to Amity turning away from her.

In a sense, she’d acted a bit like Odalia by trying to dictate aspects of Amity’s life! Was it any wonder Amity couldn’t bring herself to call Lilith “Mom”!?

And now she’d done it again and just made things way harder for her friends and family!

“Idiot… why can’t you get the simplest things right!? Is it any wonder my younger sister is so much better at everything!?” she thought bitterly, her self-deprecation getting worse and worse.

Still, as bad as she felt, Lilith refused to give up and remain a burden to her loved ones, so even while held captive, she was trying to help. Her hands were bound to her sides by Hooty, but she could move them enough to pet him (which he greatly enjoyed), which also meant she could subtly pull out some of his feathers and let them drop to the cave floor. She’d often helped Hooty by plucking out old feathers that hadn’t fully come off on their own, so the Divided Hooty paid it no mind as Lilith did the same now, instead just humming happily whilst Lilith left a subtle trail of feathers.

After only about 10 minutes (and after hearing a loud explosion elsewhere in the tunnels, followed by rumbling), Lilith’s trail paid off.

The explosion and rumbling had made Flora pause, forcing Lilith and Hooty to do so too, all three of them looking around. “It sounds like fighting between the rebels and hunters have caused a cave-in somewhere back there… They better not have caved in the Wellspring; I need that intact if I’m going to convince the Divider to let me study Hooty properly.” Flora complained.

Lilith rolled her eyes at the woman’s one track mind, but then noticed something on the ground, creeping through the shadows of the rocks. It was some kind of liquid… a pink liquid.

The instant Lilith comprehended what it was, it suddenly shot up in a series of tendrils and grabbed Hooty, wrapping around his birdhouse and face to stop him from moving, seeing, or hearing what was going on around him. He could still extend his neck, but with his birdhouse now anchored to the ground by gunk, he couldn’t move that far from the spot, and the slime also stuck to his feathers and bound together his coils, making it painful for him to extend and flail too much. His panicked flailing drew Flora’s attention, and as she turned to see what was happening, two figures emerged from the shadow that her light spell cast on the wall of the cave.

These figures were Luz and Eda, the latter still in Harpy Form and both of them wielding their staves. Flora didn’t see them until it was too late, as Luz transformed Stringbean into a small snake-themed cudgel and smacked her over the head to knock her out, while Eda leapt on the flailing Hooty and held him down long enough for the pink slime to move away from his beak, allowing Eda to pour a sleeping potion down his gullet and put him to sleep. It was just like when she had to pacify him so she could give him his booster shots.

“Phew! That is a lot easier with someone around to make it hard for him to move!” Eda grinned. “Good job, Boots!”

The pink slime melted off of Hooty and reformed together as a single mass that soon took the form of Amity Blight in her fused form, revealing it had been her transformed into homunculus slime the whole time. “No problem Eda!” she smiled, before turning to Lilith and helping uncoil the sleeping Hooty, as well as removing the Palisman leash from her neck. “Honestly, it was pure luck we ran into each other right before finding Lilith! Speaking of; are you okay?” Amity asked, looking concerned for her.

Lilith smiled sadly; “I’m fine. My only wound is to my pride… I had Flora in my grasp but allowed her to trick me.”

“Eh, don’t beat yourself up over it. She used to be you mentor and you’ve always been weak to authority.” Eda smirked; “And this freaky Palisman Eater has over 400 years of practice manipulating people! It’s no wonder she thought she and Belos were friends.”

“I’m sorry, she’s a what eater!?” Luz gasped.

“Oh right, I didn’t tell you that part. D’splora has been eating and remaking her own Palisman to prolong her life for centuries. She’s the one that told Belos about it.” Eda replied.

Luz went green as she hugged Stringbean to her face; “Eating Palisman is already evil, but eating your own Palisman!? How many twisted monsters are we gonna have to fight!? Don’t you ever fear, baby; Mami won’t let anyone eat you!” Luz said, kissing a frightened looking Stringbean.

“Bizarre soul cannibalism aside…” Amity shuddered, “I found Corvanc flying around in search of help and followed him right to you.”

Corvanc, who appeared from behind an illusion on Amity’s shoulder, cawed and returned to his partner, while Amity took Glover and handed him to Luz, who decided to test her growing homunculus magic skills by making a container to store him in… she opted for a barrel, much to Eda’s amusem*nt.

“As for Luz and I, we ran into each other by chance whilst following tunnels with a bunch of webs, trying to find the little Dryders. Then Stringbean spotted a Hooty feather and we followed it until we ran into Amity, then you.” Eda explained.

Lilith smiled; “I’m glad I did something right at least! Flora’s guard was down thanks to capturing me.”

“And hey, you did also find her and Hooty! Speaking off, let’s get them to the surface then continue the search!” Luz declared. “I’ll handle Hooty! Or, part of him at least.” she added, noting how long and unwieldy his body was.

Lilith ended up tasked with carrying Flora, while Amity kept a hold of the barrel of Glover, and Luz and Eda worked together to carry Hooty. They ended up wrapping his long body around Eda’s staff like a spaghetti strand around a fork, while Luz carried his head and Eda carried his birdhouse, leaving Owlbert to carry the middle part. They then began heading to the surface, using the tracking spells on the CATT outside to do so. They only managed to get about halfway there before they found Darius and Treble, who were heading towards them with worried frowns on their faces.

“Oh, it’s you guys! And you find that strange Owl friend of yours.” Treble smiled. He looked a little tired and roughed up; he wasn’t used to fighting like the others, so he’d taken some hits while searching.

“And Flora D’splora. Judging by the robes, I’m going to guess she’s our mystery Overseer and Vanily’s mistress?” Darius asked. He looked irritated as well as worried, but was otherwise in fine form.

“Yes. She confirmed it to me herself.” Lilith replied.

Darius hummed in acknowledgement, then took Luz’s place in holding Hooty’s head so the young Seraphim could heal Treble. As she worked, she asked the grateful Treble; “No luck on your ends?”

“No. I found a lot of hunters, and weird dog things, but nothing else.” Treble replied; “I was just on my way to meet up with Hanu; I could smell her scent coming from the direction of that loud rumbling earlier, so I wanted to check and make sure she’s okay.”

Darius then smirked at Luz; “I assumed that was either you or your mother?”

Both shook their heads; “Nope, nothing to do with us. I’ve barely seen any action at all!” Eda complained.

“I’ve not had any fights either. The few hunters I found ran away when they saw me, so I knocked them out fast. No booms or rumbles. I assumed it was one of you guys.” Luz commented, before her wings (which she’d shrunk to better fit in the tunnels) began to droop as she fretted; “Knowing my luck, that rumble happened where the kids were.”

“So should we head towards it? Mo- Lilith and Treble could take Hooty and D’splora to the surface with some abominations and homunculi to help them out.” Amity suggested.

Lilith frowned, thinking it seemed an odd choice for her to go with Treble. Shouldn’t the weakest combatants be sent to the surface? Why would Amity suggest she go back-

The elder Clawthorne Sister suddenly froze as realisation hit her; she was one of the weakest now! Luz was a Seraphim, Eda had Harpy Mode, Amity’s magic was halfway between Arch-Angel and Seraphim level in her fused form thanks to the Titan Magic involved, and Darius was a plain stronger fighter than Lilith… By contrast, Lilith was cursed, her blessing was half gone, and she’d already proven to be a liability by needing to be rescued. Aside from the inexperienced Treble, she really was the weakest.

Amity saw her stricken expression and panicked; “A-Are you okay? Did I say something wrong? Did you want to come too? It’s okay, I can make some extra homunculi and then only one person needs to guide them out.”

“No, it’s… it’s fine. If anything, let me be the only one to go; I’m sure Treble wants to make sure Hanu is safe. I can get these two out of the caves.” Lilith said, forcing a smile even though she looked clearly miserable.

Amity, Luz, and Eda dearly wanted to say something, but time wasn’t on their sides with the children still missing, so they kept their mouths shut and created some homunculi and abominations with Darius, each of them making one of the slime creatures to help Lilith carry Flora and Hooty out of the caves. Even Luz had made her first successful full body homunculi, though it was hard to feel as proud when her Tia looked so sad. Lilith left in silence with the goo monsters and their charges, leaving Luz’s party to continue forward to find Hanu.

They were not looking for long.

Only a few minutes into their search, they head a terrified yelp and frantic panting coming from one of the tunnels and raced towards it, arriving just in time to see Hanu rushing towards them with the two young Dryders crying as they were held safely to her chest. The girls weren’t hurt, but the reason for their crying became obvious when Treble and the others noticed almost a dozen thin metal spikes sticking out of Hanu’s back, shoulders, and calves. One had even pierced through her tail, yet the monkey girl had kept running with all her might to protect the children. Behind her, the party saw a maliciously grinning Carnar Vanily, who looked to be completely blood-drunk and having a grand old time, while he was accompanied by a Mukhambu and Radtodon.

The instant Hanu laid eyes on the party, she beamed with pure joy and relief, but they looked back with horror, and then pure fury. When Carnar finally noticed who was up ahead too and saw the expressions on their faces, he went ghostly white and actually skidded to a stop, before bolting back in the other direction, leaving his beasts to fight for him and cover his escape.

Luz and Treble rushed to Hanu, while Luz yelled to the others; “Take him down hard!”

Immediately, Harpy Eda flew over Hanu’s head and darted at Vanily, while Amity and Darius melted into their slime thoughts to wrap around the two Beast Demons. Amity effortlessly suffocated the Radtodon into unconsciousness, while Darius immobilised the Mukhambu completely before creating a large abomination mallet and smashing it in the head, ensuring it was knocked out completely. Neither were gentle, but seeing the state Hanu was in meant their mercy was at its end… besides, it had nothing on what Eda did upon catching up with Carnar.

The foolish man had realised the futility of fleeing and spun around, trying to cast a spell with one hand while stabbing at Eda with the rapier in his other hand, but she effortlessly smacked the blade out of his hand before he could even fully turn to face her, allowing her to catch it and stab it through his shin, making him screech in agony. Whatever spell he was preparing was consumed by Eda’s Anti-Magic, before she kicked him hard in the chin, sending him flying into the tunnel roof and smacking his head against it. As he fell back down, Eda grabbed his arm and used it to fling him around like he was a flail, smashing him against the floor and walls until he was dazed and barely conscious. Eda could have knocked him out easily, but the oblivion of unconsciousness would spare him the pain of his wounds, and Eda wasn’t going to give him that mercy! Instead, she left him to whimper and whine pathetically as she began dragging him back to the others via the sword in his leg.

When Eda returned to the others, she found two unconscious monsters being carried off by Amity and Darius, with the help of some of their creations, leaving Luz and Treble behind to help care for Hanu. They’d already begun removing the spikes and healing her wounds as all three teens chatted casually to try and ease the worries of the two little Dryder girls.

“How are they doing?” Eda asked softly when she reached them.

“The little ones are fine. Terrified and in need of some serious hugs and love, but uninjured. Hanu’s wounds look worse than they are; Carnar was aiming to torment her rather than actually debilitate her.” Luz explained as she gently healed a wound on Hanu’s shoulder with one hand and used the other to create a little light show for the terrified girls. Luz couldn’t wrap her head around why anyone would want to hurt the adorable little things! Sure some people were scared of spiders, but these two were cute as a button!

“The wounds looked small too… I don’t think they’d have scarred even without the healing.” Treble added, cuddling Hanu and stroking her hair.

Hanu purred at the contact, then said; “Not surprising. My “father” likes his trophies and tries to cause minimal damage to them before they can be stuffed and mounted. He may have wanted me alive as proof of his creepy eugenics beliefs, but he also wanted me unmarked… I bet he’d have sold me as a concubine to one of his creepy friends, to continue his little project.”

Eda scowled; “Kid, your parents both completely suck.”

“Tell me about it!” Hanu smirked. She then looked at the whimpering Carnar with regret; “I wish I’d been able to finish things with him myself… if only that idiot woman hadn’t set fire to the forest I made in the cavern.”

“It can’t be helped. You found Marama and Ramari, and saved their lives; thanks to you, they weren’t hurt at all. You’re a hero, Hanu! No one could ask for more!” Treble said lovingly, kissing her cheek.

Hanu smiled bashfully and the two entwined their tails. A moment later and Luz was finished healing the girl and turned her attention to Carnar. She was reluctant to heal him, and Eda tried to convince her not too, but the man was bleeding a lot and he could die if not treated. Luz wasn’t going to weep for him if he did perish, but she didn’t want it to be while he was a prisoner at their mercy; she wasn’t going to be an executioner, or let the CATTs become like that either. If they needed to kill in defence of themselves or others, then Luz wouldn’t judge them; but allowing a prisoner to die wasn’t something she’d accept.

As such, Luz healed Carnar (and slapped him when he tried to cast a spell on her during the process), then bound him in spider silk made by the Dryders, who then got the honour of walking the man out of the tunnels, each holding onto a thick rope of spider silk attached to one of his shoulder blades, while his hands were tied behind his back. Hanu and Luz also held these ropes, to ensure Carnar couldn’t just pull free. The man whined about the indignity, but then Eda poked him hard in the right buttock with his own rapier, and he shut up after that.

Finally, almost an hour after Luz and her group entered the tunnels, they emerged with their prisoner and the two rescued Dryders. They found the rest of the Hexsquad and Elite CATTs waiting for them, having been preparing to enter the tunnels too when Lilith showed up with Hooty and Flora. Both were now conscious, but Flora was being kept on her knees and closely guarded, while Hooty was being held by Luz’s homunculus and had been rendered deaf to orders from Flora via a pair of headphones that Skara had put on him, and the odd little Demon was now vibing to some children’s TV songs as he bobbed his head up and down and kicked his little chicken feet in the air.

Also with the group were the two Witches that had adopted the Dryder girls, and as soon as the girls saw them, they burst into happy tears and skittered towards them as fast as their little legs would carry them, screaming “DADDY! POP POP!”, while the Witches screamed their names in response and ran to meet them halfway. The little family soon ended up in a big group hug, all of them smiling even as they sobbed in each other’s arms, so overwhelmed with relief. Hanu watched the scene with a smile, holding hands with Treble and feeling warm and fuzzy inside, seeing the loving family reunited.

After a moment, the Witches stood up, each one holding one of the girls and approached Luz; “We wanted to thank you! You saved our girls!” the androgynous Witch said gratefully.

Luz grinned and shook her head; “Don’t thank me; thank Hanu!” she said, pointing to the girl.

The Witches turned to Hanu, who waved bashfully as Marama and Ramari excitedly told their adoptive parents of how Hanu had saved them when Vanily caught them “even though he’s her Daddy!”. That particular reveal made the Witches look between Hanu and Carnar, who was being forced to kneel beside a sulking Flora. They looked almost disbelieving as they searched for some resemblance between Hanu and Carnar, but found nothing at all.

“If it weren’t for the fact it’d be silly to lie about such a thing, I wouldn’t believe it.” the male Witch said; “You’re nothing like him, in looks or behaviour.”

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.” Hanu smiled.

“You’re welcome. But more importantly; thank you! We can never do enough to repay you for saving our daughter’s lives, so if you ever need anything at all, you can come to us.” the male Witch promised, his partner nodding in agreement.

Hanu was touched, and when the Witches decided to finally take the girls home and let them have some rest and cuddle time, she gave each girl a hug and a fond farewell, promising to play with them some time. She also promised to introduce them to some fun friends, winking over at King and Samael, both of whom looked intrigued by the idea. Ramari was still younger than their usual friends, but Marama was a little older than King, Emiliel, and Simi, so it might be fun to add her to their games.

Once the little family left for their home, the Hexsquad and Elite CATTs reconvened to report what had happened. Gus’s group, who’d been in charge of locking up the hunters from the lodge, reported that they’d completed their task with only a few minor hiccups (namely keeping the prisoners contained when transferring them and finding the cell keys and repairing the locks Luz had blasted earlier). At the same time, Hunter reported that the Vanily family and their servants had been relocated to the Demon Village and were settling in under guard.

Carnar had loudly protested, but he’d been gagged a moment later to shut him up.

“It looks like the Digale Island Campaign has been a success! We just need to clean up the last of the hunters in the tunnels and drag them all out, along with their bizarre beasts.” Luz said.

“Well, there are probably a few dead hunters to recover too…” Hanu confessed. “I accidentally killed one when I landed on them while turned to iron, and Carnar killed another. Plus there were five more in the cavern that was set on fire and collapsed, and I don’t think they escaped.”

The Hexsquad all gulped, while the adults looked resigned. This was war, and people died in war… there had been some losses in the Civil War against Belos too, but the teens had been mostly shielded from that; now they couldn’t afford to stay naive and protected.

“We’ll retrieve the bodies.” Alador volunteered, conjuring some abominations. “Both the dead ones and the unconscious ones.

“And I’ll make sure it’s clear who is really dead and who is just playing.” Hettie volunteered.

“Let me handle the beasts. It’ll be nice to put Eber and Aunt Camila’s lessons to work on real beasts for a change.” Hunter smiled. Lyra declared she would be following him, deciding to help back him up, and Darius quickly volunteered to join them too, making it a family expedition. Since their father was going too, Edric and Emira decided to accompany them with Orthrus, giving them a party of seven just like the last one.

Once the group headed into the caves, the rest turned to Hanu and gave her some comfort and reassurance over her accidental killing of one of the hunters. The fact she’d done it by landing on them as she jumped down to save the girls made it all the more obvious that her actions weren’t immoral, so while Hanu did still feel guilty for it, she wasn’t going to drown in guilt and depression, and no one was exactly sad to hear of the death of a man who’d been happy to see children hunted, tormented, and killed.

However, as they were discussing what to do next, their attention turned away from Flora and Carnar, who were just left kneeling with their hands bound behind their back, with only a pair of homunculi flanking them; one of which was holding the barrel with Glover in it, while the other was holding Hooty. The CATTs had yet to search them, but Flora knew that the moment they did and inevitably confiscated her possessions, it would all be over for her! They’d never let her out of a cell again, and then she’d never get her revenge on Belos for trying to abandon her! She’d thought about trying to negotiate with the Seraphim of the Demon Realm, but with her considering Lilith to be her aunt, and still containing the souls of the Palismen Belos had consumed with the technique Flora had taught him, she didn’t think the young Seraph would be overly interested in listening to her! Still, she was a resourceful woman, and having her hands bound behind her back whilst kneeling meant she could still reach the knife hidden in her boot.

With a bit of subtle wiggling and drawing a tiny spell circle with one finger, Flora was able to summon the hidden blade from inside her boot and begin cutting away at her restraints, until there was only a few sinews of slime left to keep it together, letting her easily pull it apart when she was ready. She did the same to the restraints on her ankles, then cast a spell to make the blade hover behind Carnar and cut his restraints as well. He gave her a loving, grateful look, but Flora only intended to use him as a meat shield; she could handle the likes of Lilith and probably a couple of members of the Hexsquad, but against the full powers of the Owl Lady, the Seraphim of the Demon Realm, and a whole group of the Hexsquad? She wouldn’t stand a ghost of a chance! Better to be clever and get herself some cannon fodder while she prepared to use her final resort; one she’d been prepared for since finding the Primordial Wellspring. She caught Carnar’s eye and gave him a meaningful look, then looked pointedly at his pets; the Mukhambu and Radtodon, who were restrained and unconscious a few feet away, trying to signal to Carnar to go for them and use them the instant he was free. The man smiled and subtly nodded in response, making Flora grin; this was going to go perfectly!

Ever so slowly, so the movement wouldn’t be noticed, Flora edged towards the homunculus holding her Palisman, while angling her body towards the one holding Hooty. Once she was perfectly angled, Flora burst into a flurry of action. She ripped free of her weakened restraints and stepped back behind the homunculus holding Glover, using it as a shield against spells launched by the CATTs as they realised she was escaping. She then slammed a palm against the homunculus and used one of her patented survival spells; the Water Extraction Spell. It was designed to extract pure drinkable water from anything containing it, be it plants, mud, and even living things in emergency situations, and since homunculi still contained water just like abominations, her spell was able to drain all the water out and cause it and the barrel containing Glover to become chalky and frail, then begin to collapse under its own weight. At the same moment, Carnar broke free with a roar and charged at the CATTs holding his two bestial minions, snatching his rapier back from the ground where Eda had left it.

The CATTs split their attention, with the Hexsquad gunning for Flora alongside the Clawthorne family, while Hanu, Treble, and the rest of the CATTs (elite or otherwise) went for Carnar. The former wasn’t interested in a fight though, and used the water she’d pulled from the homunculus to create an ice barrier that shielded her as she dashed over to the second homunculus, which she promptly destroyed in the same way as the first, freeing Hooty, who dropped to the ground in confusion.

“Oh! Hiya Dora! What’s going on now? Are we playing a new game?” Hooty asked in all his divided innocence and naivete.

“Something like that.” Flora smirked, “Now protect me from the CATTs!”

“Okay! Hoot!” Hooty said cheerfully, beginning to wiggled around in front of her with his long body, ensuring none of the CATTs’ spells could hit Flora instead of him.

“Hooty! Stop! Just go back into your birdhouse! Flora is a bad guy!” Eda yelled.

Hooty shook his head with a dopey smile; “It’s okay, Eda! Flora is friends with Lord Raspberry! That means she has to be a good guy! Hooty has to listen to the good guys!”

“But that means you have to listen to us too, Hootsifer.” Lilith smiled, spotting a loophole. She put on a fake sad pout and said; “Unless you think we’re bad guys…”

Hooty’s expression became blank and he stopped moving as he tried to parse what had just been said. Hooty was a very emotionally minded creature, so it was hard for him to fathom things without the right emotions, leaving him kind of stunned and unable to comprehend what was going on. This was annoying for Flora, who also saw that Carnar had been dog-piled by the CATTs with ease, meaning her first plan had gone up in smoke.

“Honestly, good help is so hard to find. Good thing I have a back-up.” she grinned, reaching into her coat after summoning Glover to her side. She pulled out a syringe that was full of an ominous black ichor, which Luz immediately recognised.

The young Seraph gulped and instinctively stepped back as an old trauma resurfaced within her; “That’s Titan Bile!”

The rest of the CATTs gasped, and Eda and Lilith both looked furious, remembering how much that stuff had hurt Luz when it had been used on her. The others had heard about the incident, but as the only two present who’d seen it first hand, the Clawthorne Sisters had a powerful hatred for it.

“Flora, stop! You can’t use that stuff on Hootsifer!” Lilith pleaded, it never even entering her mind that Flora meant to use it on herself.

And sure enough, Flora hadn’t… she’d intended to use it on Glover. She’d done it in the past to get her out of tight spots in other countries, turning Glover into a massive, raging beast with Pseudo-Titan powers, which she could control thanks to their bond. However, Lilith’s panic had given her a terrible idea.

“Using it on Hooty… what an inspired plan, Lilith! I wish I’d thought of it myself! Let’s see what the concentrated bile of a Titan does to a Primordial Demon!” Flora grinned, making Lilith pale as she realised her mistake. The CATTs immediately launched spells, but they either missed because they feared hitting Hooty, or they were too weak. Luz and King tried to flash towards Flora too, but the former hesitated due to her fear of the bile, and the latter was a moment too slow as he fumbled in his neckerchief for the Warp Glyph, allowing Flora to stab the needle into Hooty and inject him. She was rewarded for this by King roaring at her and sending her flying right into Luz, who in turn grabbed her and forced her to the ground, where she twisted Flora’s arms back behind her back. Flora grimaced in pain as her ears rang from King’s roar, but then she grinned.

They had been too late, and a now empty syringe fell out of Hooty’s back.

To the horror of all the CATTs watching, Hooty began to scream in pain, his body writhing around like a dying snake, while the part still inside the birdhouse seized up and flopped lifelessly to the ground. Lilith and Eda rushed to cradle him and try to hold him still.

“Hootsifer! Hang in there, we’ll get you some help! Edalyn, do you have pain nullifying potions!?” Lilith cried.

Eda grimaced with a shake of her head, but Boscha dashed forward with some of her own; “Give him these. I’d normally say only one, but Hooty is weird so he’ll probably be fine!”

Lilith took them gratefully and began pouring them down Hooty’s throat, but while this eased his pain, it didn’t counter the problem causing the pain; namely the bile. Instead, as the pain faded, Hooty’s screams became furious snarls and caws, like the cry of a bird of prey, as his body began to warp, change, and grow… and grow and grow and grow!

Hooty’s body began to pulsate, and with every pulse it grew larger and larger, soon becoming too big for Lilith or Eda to wrap their arms around. Not only that, but black magic began burning out from inside him like fire, and it was so intense that everyone could feel it. It filled them all with a sense of incredible dread, especially as Hooty lifted his rear end and slammed it into the bone wall above the cave entrance, destroying his birdhouse and embedding himself into the bone, fusing into it. The entire island then began to shake like it was being struck by an earthquake that registered an 8 on the Richter Scale. Not only did this shake the island hard enough to knock most people off their feet, including those restraining Carnar, but the quake also stirred up the sea around the island pushing the water away from Digale in such a way that it’d be devastating when it came back! Not only that, but as the rumbling went through the tunnels, there was a very real chance of a cave in and catastrophic damage to the island!

Luz flew into the air and shouted to her friends and the CATTs; “Give your Power Glyphs to Samael and I! We’ll need them!”

Everyone struggled to grab their glyphs and hold them up into the air, while Samael and Luz sped around and grabbed them all. Luz then said; “Samael, when the quake stops and the sea rushes back, it’ll be a huge tsunami! Use half these glyphs to power yourself up and stop it! I’ll use the other half to stabilise the tunnels and stop the whole island from caving in and collapsing!”

Samael nodded and immediately began sticking his half of the stack all over himself, while Luz did the same. Suddenly, both of them were releasing an overwhelmingly powerful aura of gold and white magic, which easily rivalled and even surpassed the magic being given off by the transforming Hooty. Samael then flew up into the sky directly above the centre of the island and cast a spell to conjure a series of small magical moons, with which he could control the tides of the sea around the island and keep the displaced water from suddenly rushing back and flooding it. At the same time, Luz yelled an order to the rest of the CATTs.

“Get out of here! If I fail and Cassiopeia’s arm collapses, you’ll all be crushed! Get into an open area near the middle of town, where it’s safest! I’ll try to stop the shaking so you can move more easily!” she declared, before flashing up to Cassiopeia’s palm. She found the spot in the dead centre of the palm and then removed her own halo, planning to use her Seraphic Art. Focusing on her halo with all the magic provided by the Power Glyphs, Luz turned it into a radiant golden spell circle, then drew the earth glyph inside it, turning the circle bronze along with her aura. With a scream of determination, and feeling the power of the Titans surging through her along with her own Seraphic power, Luz cast the spell, coating her hands in bronze magic as she then slammed them into the ground beneath her, her finger tips gripping it tightly. Her spell radiated through the ground and soon, all of Digale Island stopped shaking as Luz used every drop of magic she had, along with the power of the Power Glyphs to keep the island still.

Since the island was now being held still, the others were able to make a run for it as Hooty himself now began to shake and thrash even more, his colossal size causing him to destroy the old survey team base camp just by moving. At the same time, the island going still allowed the water to come rushing back, and as Luz predicted, it was coming back in the form of a colossal tsunami that would surely drown everything below the Palm Jungle. Thankfully, Samael’s protections worked just as he’d hoped, and the ocean’s water was caught under the power of his conjured moons, keeping it from flooding into the island, but also forcing Samael to maintain the spell, lest the water come rushing back in again. Essentially, Luz and Samael had saved Digale Island and every soul on it, but were now forced to stay in position until someone helped them out by easing the water back to normal safely, and stopping Hooty.

Speaking of Hooty though, his transformation had been fully completed as the CATTs (plus Flora and Carnar) had fled the shadow of the Titan’s Arm, revealing his new Titan-empowered form. The sight of it horrified all of them, with only Lilith being able to vocalise anything.

“By the Titan…!? Hootsifer!?” she gasped, staring up in horror as Hooty’s transformed state began to encircle the Titan’s forearm.

Hooty had become massive, easily the size of the Great Forest Leviathan of legends. His proportions were the same as before, but he was now as long as the entirety of Digale Island, and as thick as Cassiopeia’s ulna bone. However his size alone wasn’t the monstrous thing about him… his Titan Form was a lot more nightmarish than Luz’s had been. His body had swollen so much that the feathers had become spread out, making him look blood red and very fleshy, like a massive length of intestines, and since he’d gained a full layer of bone armour, it looked almost like Hooty had been turned inside out! He had a skull shaped like a conventional owl skull around his head, with the addition of two long, branched horns that looked like Cassiopeia’s antler-style horns. He then also had a long bone spine running down his back, with ribs wrapping around him from just below the skull and then down his whole length. The other end of him had grown even as it was attaching itself to the bone of Cassiopeia’s forearm too, so it was almost like Digale Island itself had become his new birdhouse (thankfully without the legs).

Titan Hooty then opened his beak, causing his skull mask to open up too, and released a massive screech that sounded like it was halfway between a Titan Roar and the screech of a barn owl. Everyone on the island had to cover their ears (except for poor Luz and Samael, whose hands were occupied), but that didn’t stop the massive gout of fire that emerged from his throat. The fire thankfully didn’t hit any one, but it was sucked into the hurricane wall, which promptly ignited thanks to the large amount of flammable sediment mixed up in the winds, resulting in it becoming a colossal cyclone of fire. Even with the sediment though, the hurricane shouldn’t have been able to ignite like that, making it clear the fire was magical.

“Um, guys? How do we beat that!?” Skara asked, freaking out.

“When I fought Luz in her feral Titan form, I had to wait until her magic was totally exhausted. This is basically a Bile Overload, so all we can really do is survive until the magic runs out!” Eda replied, already dreading what was to come. She’d definitely need to use a lot of Anti-Magic to speed up Hooty’s magic drain…

“Do you think he can still be controlled by one of those Overseer Feathers? He’s still technically divided.” Willow pointed out.

Matt shrugged desperately; “Only one way to find out! Vanily and D’splora should each have… where are they!?”

The CATTs began to look around urgently, but the two enemy Overseers had snuck away during the run back to Digale Town! Everyone had been too concerned with the earthquake, the town, and not being crushed by Hooty’s flailing to pay attention to where the two enemies ended up, and were definitely more concerned with saving themselves and their allies over them. This was coming back to bite them however, as the two were now completely missing!

“They have to be around here some- LOOK OUT!” Katya cried, as Titan Hooty darted his head towards them, aiming to smash them and all of Digale Town. Amity, still in her fused form, was able to rapidly conjure a huge amount of homunculus slime and raise it up into a giant fist to punch Hooty in the face before he could touch them, but the result was him flailing all the way back, his colossal length resulting in him landing in the boiling sea and the flaming hurricane beyond it. There was another screech in response, and Hooty sat back up, coiling himself around Cassiopeia’s forearm like a snake, before spitting a huge amount of water onto the town. Thankfully, Digale Town had a weather barrier that Luz had made (using Angelic Magic Rasiel had taught her back when they first built the town, ironically), and the barrier kicked in to keep out the boiling water. It was a close thing; the barrier only held back a certain volume; enough to keep out torrential rain but not tsunamis, meaning Hooty’s attack came dangerously close to overpowering it.

As the water ran down the outside of the barrier and back into the sea, where it was caught in Samael’s magic, Amity yelled; “We need to evacuate the town! The place already took a beating from the earthquake, and Hooty is gonna destroy it completely at this rate!”

Sure enough, many of the buildings looked worse for wear after the tremors, though they’d held up better than Human Realm buildings thanks to the magic in their construction. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to evacuate people too! The whole island was in danger from Hooty, the sea was a no-go, they couldn’t get beyond the Maelstrom Strait without Luz and Samael, and they had no portals or active teleportation circles! They were all trapped, something Boscha was quick to point out.

“I guess destroying those circles was a bad idea after all…” she scowled.

At that moment, Titan Hooty screeched and shot lightning bolts from his beak, forcing Matt and Steve to work together to create a huge lightning rod to catch and stop the lightning before anyone could be hurt.

“At the very least, we should split up and begin attacking Hooty from the sides.” Steve declared; “The most we can do is keep his attention off the town until this overload wears off!”

“I’ll help by draining as much magic as I can.” Eda declared, already darting off to begin hitting Hooty with Anti-Magic.

“I’ll help! I’ve got my Bile Draining Glyph Combo! It’ll be great for this!” King declared, before handing a couple to the rest of the gang. It was a complicated combo and had niche uses though, since their main enemies at the moment didn’t use Magic Bile, so he only had a handful. “I’ll work to make more! Hold Hooty down as much as possible!”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement and jumped on their staves, while Amity used her fused form to fly normally. “I’ll try to restrain him with homunculus slime! But something this big is gonna need a ton of magic!”

Lilith quickly handed Amity a series of Bile Boosters and Ambrosia; “Use this! Just be careful not to give yourself an overload!”

“You need Angel Feathers to make that stuff faster, right?” Boscha noted; “I’ll go pluck a few of those Wings of Rani; a few feathers from each of them should help you make seas of that goop!”

Amity nodded in thanks and got to work, while Boscha flew off to begin gathering feathers, and the rest of the gang began to fly around Titan Hooty, peppering him with weak spells to get his attention on them. Once he was focused on one of them, the others would use their Bile Draining Glyph Notes to begin draining the Titan Bile flooding his system, and they all coordinated to make sure focus was never on Eda, so she could keep using Anti-Magic to drain Titan Hooty’s magic AND create Anti-Magic barriers to stop his elemental attacks. King remained in town and was hard at work making more of the glyph notes alongside the other CATTs, whom he’d recruited into helping him mass-produce the glyphs, which Hanu (riding on Treble as she grew tall trees for him to travel through, since she had no staff and he couldn’t eat Titan Magic) delivered to the others. Unfortunately, since they were made by amateurs and there was no time for quality control, only one in five of these notes worked, and those that did lacked some of the oomph to make them completely effective.

During all this, Lilith was desperately trying to get to Hooty’s head so she could try to speak to him and maybe get the real him inside the wild instincts to come out. The giant Demon was flailing too much to let her approach properly, so she was forced to land on a relatively stable spot on Hooty’s spine and then climb up to his head the hard way. This was a massive pain in the behind, but Lilith persevered for the sake of her best friend, and finally managed to reach the top! She was suddenly grateful to the Emperor’s Coven and its ridiculous training, that involved being abandoned on a mountain and needing to climb to salvation.

Reaching the top of Hooty’s skull, Lilith tried to reach the area she knew Hooty’s ears were, but found she wasn’t the first one to arrive. Flora D’splora and Carnar Vanily were also present, riding on their staves. Carnar’s Palisman was a Hiralco; a Demon Realm Bird that resembled a feathered pterodactyl with ears like a fox instead of a head crest, and a beak like a shoebill. It’s feathers were a bloody crimson with tips that were the colour of yellowing bones; a suitably sinister appearance for such a man’s Palisman. Lilith peaked out and saw that both of them were staying attached to Hooty’s skull through some conjured chains, and Flora was angrily yelling orders that Hooty was ignoring, whilst holding a golden feather in one hand and a black orb in the other; an orb Lilith realised must be Hooty’s Divided Orb!

“Titan damn it all! Why won’t you obey!?” Flora fumed, “The Divided are unable to disobey one who wields either the feather of the Divider, or the orb that contains their sealed free will! Holding this means their free will is literally mine, so why is he still ignoring me!?”

“Maybe he can’t hear us through all that bone? Or maybe he’s just given in to feral instincts and lacks a conscious mind? The reports of what happened with the Owl Lady at the Angels’ HQ prove it’s possible for the Divided to go haywire.” Carnar reasoned. “It would also match what happened to the Angel Girl that Belos was obsessed with. I heard all about the events at the castle before the Petrification Ceremony.”

Flora grumbled; “You might be right… in which case, we’ll just leave him to rampage!”

“But won’t we be at risk too!?” Carnar cried.

“Not if we use him to get us out of the Maelstrom Strait! He passed through it a moment ago, if we hide inside his maw, we should be able to make him spit us up on the other side! I know some poison spells to ensure it.” Flora suggested.

Lilith narrowed her eyes; she’d heard enough! Conjuring her own chain and wrapping it around one of Titan Hooty’s horns, she held on to it tightly and then swung towards the two rogue Overseers, firing blasts of silver magic at them. Flora caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and dodged to the side, but Carnar was hit in the back and the chain binding him to Hooty snapped, sending him flying with the Demon’s next flail.

“You really are getting annoying!” Flora yelled, but Lilith wasn’t willing to listen. The woman was almost out of magic and didn’t have enough of a blessing to be fancy, and she could feel her curse growing stronger inside her by the moment as her stress grew. She needed to act fast, because it wouldn’t be long before she ended up useless again!

“I won’t let you hurt or control my friends and family any more!” Lilith roared, swinging Corvanc at her. Since Flora had Hooty’s Divided Orb in one hand and the Divider’s feather in the other, she had no choice but to dodge, only for Lilith to prove craftier than she expected, as an invisible blade of magic slashed through both items, destroying them. Lilith had used the last of her magic to create a short blade of magic on the end of her staff, and kept it completely invisible with an illusion, meaning that when Flora moved back just enough to avoid the swing, the blade still hit their mark!

The Divider’s feather was sliced in half and lost its golden glow, becoming a dull white, and the Divided Orb shattered into a million pieces, making Flora yelp as shrapnel was lodged in her hand. This also released the rest of Hooty’s mind, causing an impossibly long prismatic spectre of the Primordial Demon to come spiralling out and fusing into the Titan Hooty. Being reunited while in the middle of a rampage caused the giant Demon to stop and shudder, seemingly confused… right before he screeched and unleashed another torrent of fire down on the people he was fighting. Unlike Eda and the Owl Beast, restoring his missing parts didn’t remove the reason for his rampage; the Titan Bile Overload, so all it did was ensure Hooty would be himself again when he calmed down. That was enough for Lilith, who soon found herself being stabbed by a spear conjured by a furious Flora.

Lilith yelped in pain as the spear hit her shoulder, though it didn’t pierce all the way through as the woman grabbed it before it could go that deep and yanked it out. Flora kept a grip on it though, so Lilith used it to pull the evil woman closer and smack her in the face with Corvanc as she tried to ignore the raven feathers beginning to sprout from the back of her neck. Flora groaned in pain and let go of the spear, allowing Lilith to grab it and launch it like a javelin at the chain that was keeping Flora tethered to Hooty. The chain broke and Flora was immediately sent flying by the next flail of the Titanic Demon, while Lilith untethered herself too and flew after her. Her blessing may have been virtually extended (the dregs were enough to delay her curse, but not cast spells), but Lilith wasn’t going to give up until she was put down!

Flora righted herself before she could fly too far away and conjured a swarm of poison darts, but Lilith allowed herself and Corvanc to drop out of the sky to avoid them, then catch themselves and dart at Flora again. The unexpected tactic shocked Flora, leaving her open to punch to the face from Lilith, but before the blow could land, Carnar came flying back with a vengeance.

“I’ll protect you, my love!” he cried, shooting metal spikes from his rapier that forced Lilith to dodge around them as much as possible.

Flora grinned and conjured a gigantic circular saw blade, which dripped with green and purple poison as she launched it at Lilith. The Elder Clawthorne dodged the first wave of metal spikes, then slammed her foot down on the top of the saw blade, flipping it downward and turning it into a makeshift shield against the second wave, as well as the poison darts launched by Flora straight after the disk. This foot slam did get poison on her boot though, and Lilith’s eyes widened as it began eating through her boot, so she quickly removed it before it could get to her skin. Thankfully it was just a part of her old Overseer uniform, so Lilith wasn’t too attached to it!

Unfortunately, the distraction of the boot resulted in Lilith being a bit too slow to react to the third wave of spikes from Carnar, resulting in her getting a spike embedded in her thigh. She grimaced, then gasped as she saw Flora create a poison cloud that quickly surrounded her, but Lilith found herself being rescued when a massively tall tree suddenly shot up beside her and Treble phased out of the bark at the top, before inhaling the entire cloud and devouring its magic without being harmed, while Hanu rode on his back. At the same time, Titan Hooty screeched and was suddenly tied down and restrained by dozens of giant homunculus arms conjured by Amity, who used her Palisman Fusion, a massive pile of feathers plucked from the Angels by Boscha, and a large amount of purified seawater to create the goo. It wasn’t enough to hold Hooty down completely, but it was enough to at least slow him down and give him something to focus on that wasn’t a person!

“Lilith! Are you okay!?” Amity cried, flying over to the woman.

“I am now that you’re here! Excellent work with those restraints, Amity! And thank you for the save, Treble and Hanu.” Lilith smiled tiredly.

“More of these annoying brats… Carnar, be a dear and deal with those Demons.” Flora said with faux sweetness. She could feel a migraine building…

“Of course, my love.” Carnar smiled, before shooting a disgusted look at Hanu; “Manuella, come over here and stop touching that filthy creature immediately! If you want to ride a Demon, I will find you a properly trained mount once you’ve stopped this pointless rebellion.”

“Not gonna happen, Father. Besides, Treble here is my boyfriend, not my mount!” Hanu retorted.

Carnar went completely red in the face; “No daughter of mine will gallivant around with some filthy beast! You may have Demon Blood too, but your Witch Blood makes you too good for something like that!”

Treble snarled and tried to inhale Carnar’s magic, along with Flora’s, but the latter was a little too far away, and he only managed to suck out a little of Carnar’s magic before Flora acted, suddenly tossing fruit into Treble’s mouth. He devoured it without thinking, assuming it was some magical projectile being tossed at Hanu, but this proved to be a mistake. The fruit had been a purple citrus that the CATTs realised too late was a Newtangerine, AKA Glamour Rot AKA Basilisk’s Bane! The instant its juice went down Treble’s throat, he began to shiver and lost the ability to use his magic, making him grimace.

“I was tasked with controlling Subject Zero on the Day of Unity! Did you think I wouldn’t have precautions against a Basilisk?” Flora asked smugly.

The CATTs glared at her, especially when she conjured yet another massive poison cloud to try and poison all of them at once. Amity dealt with it by created a large mass of homunculus goo and then having it surround the gas and trap it in a bubble, which she then condensed and launched back at Flora and Carnar. Flora put up a barrier to block it, but Amity suddenly shot the goo with a pink light beam, causing it to explode as the gas was ignited. It created a huge pink and purple firework, and while Flora was mostly protected by her barrier (though the flash and noise stunned her), Carnar was hit by the edge of the explosion and was singed yet again.

Those final two spells caused Amity to finally hit her limit; all the homunculi she’d created to hold down Hooty had expended her magic and those final spells used up the dregs she had left, causing her to defuse from Ghost, whom Amity immediately turned into a staff to fly on. As Lilith checked to make sure her daughter-figure was alright, Carnar hurriedly tried to put out the small fires smouldering on his puffy pantaloons from the explosion, and Hanu used her monkey-like acrobatics to leap off of Treble and land on her father’s back, creating a burst of pollen like it was a gust of wind to fully close the distance. She then created two new forms of pollen; one of which was Iron Iris pollen to turn her into metal (which weighed her father and his Palisman down), and the other was the pollen of a Flashing Fairy Duster; which rapidly ignited and exploded when it came in contact with the small smouldering flames on Carnar’s clothing. Since the pollen wasn’t very concentrated and the flames were small, the resulting explosion was fairly mild, doing some painful but otherwise not debilitating damage to the rotten hunter, while Hanu’s iron body protected her from the damage.

Hanu grinned, but her moment of vindictive joy was short-lived as a loud screech filled the air, and she and her fellow CATTs realised something… Now that Amity had lost the strength to maintain her fusion, she could no longer control all the homunculi she’d created to bind Titan Hooty, allowing him to rip himself free of their grip and flail around, screeching and releasing a huge wave of wind that blew almost everyone away, only leaving those who were high enough for the wind to pass under them. This included Lilih, Amity, Hanu, Treble, Carnar, and Flora, and thanks to the explosion of the gas that Amity set off, and the explosion Hanu had just caused, Titan Hooty’s attention was completely on them! With a terrible screech, he lunged up at them with his maw wide open, revealing that the inside of his body was full of spikes and rows upon rows of teeth, with no one being sure if it was a normal trait of Hooty or something caused by his transformation.

Whatever the reason for it though, this was just what Flora and Carnar had been waiting for! They flew directly into Hooty’s gullet, the latter dragging his daughter with him despite her struggles and his burns. Treble screamed Hanu’s name as the poor girl disappeared into the darkness within Hooty, but the Titanic Primordial Demon wasn’t done yet; he’d eaten the source of one of the explosions, but not the other, so he next went gunning for Amity. The girl was shocked to see Hooty racing towards her, and despite trying to fly away with Ghost, she was too slow; Ghost was as exhausted as Amity and couldn’t fly fast enough! Amity stared up in terror as the jaws of Hooty enclosed around her, her friends down below firing spells at the Demon in a vain attempt to get his attention back on them, but none were able to do enough damage and it was too late regardless, as Amity was already inside Hooty’s maw.

At least, all but Lilith was too late.

“NO! I WON’T LET YOU TAKE MY DAUGHTER!” Lilith screamed, launching herself into Hooty’s mouth towards Amity. She reached the girl in the nick of time, then pulled Amity and Ghost onto Corvanc before darting towards the exit of Hooty’s beak. Since Hooty had kept rising, they’d ended up a good distance down his throat before he began closing his mouth, so they flew hard and fast, but it quickly became apparent they wouldn’t be fast enough… Corvanc could easily fly quickly enough to escape, but not while carrying two passengers.

Realising this, Lilith smiled sadly and kissed Amity’s cheek, then whispered; “You make me so proud, Amity. Remember that.” before throwing herself off of Corvanc’s staff, mentally ordering her Palisman to keep flying no matter what.

Amity, her heart both swelling and breaking from Lilith openly calling her her daughter and then sacrificing herself for her sake, screamed out to Lilith and tried to make Corvanc turn, but the Palisman refused, and Ghost (now in cat form again) also refused to turn back into a staff so Amity could invalidate Lilith’s sacrifice by going back for her. Doing so would just get them both trapped in Hooty’s stomach, whilst the current situation would at least let Amity escape unscathed.

All this happened in the space of only a couple of seconds, though it felt like an eternity for Amity as she saw Lilith disappear down Hooty’s throat, his real beak and his skull mask beak closing behind her, just milliseconds after Amity, Ghost, and Corvanc had escaped. Amity could do nothing but stare numbly, desperately praying that Lilith was okay.

Meanwhile, Lilith found herself landing on the surprisingly soft interior of Hooty’s throat, bouncing off the flesh and muscle inside him, then sliding down his throat as the entire world began to twist and warp around her, due to Hooty’s continued writhing and flailing. Loathe as she was to hurt her best friend, Lilith ended up needing to pull out her survival knife and stab it into Hooty’s body to try and slow her fall as she slowly descended down. Eventually, she reached a part of his body that wasn’t moving, due to it being part of the coil that he’d made to support himself, like a snake. Landing in this relatively still section (which did still rumble and vibrate as Hooty breathed and moved, Lilith found herself able to see fairly well as veins of different coloured light pulsed through his flesh from all the magic inside him. Everything was dyed strange colours, but at least she could see!

“I was afraid I’d end up in Hootsifer’s stomach and be melted by his stomach acid, but it looks like I’ll survive… but that means Hanu will too. I need to find her.” Lilith whispered to herself.

She began to head deeper into Hooty’s body, moving slowly due to the shaking and the fleshy floor making it hard to maintain balance and keep standing. The inside of Hooty was basically the same through most of its length; occasional spikes, strange pulsing growths (some of which featured the glowing veins), remnants of Owl Pellets that likely predated Lilith herself, and a few odds and ends that ranged from mundane, to curious, to disturbing. Lilith saw the plastic wrapper of some treat that Luz had bought from the Human Realm, some empty potion bottles, a Bad Girl Coven T-Shirt, and the rather ominous skull of a small, orc-like creature, which Lilith definitely did not want to know the story behind!

After only a minute of walking though, Lilith heard the sounds of a battle going on deeper inside Hooty, so she rushed towards it, darting from spike to spike and using it as cover. She was tempted to try and summon Corvanc, but she didn’t think she had enough magic for even that simple spell, and she didn’t want to risk making Amity fall from the sky if she was still riding him, meaning she was going forward by herself, armed only with her simple survival knife and with her curse pushing against the inside of her heart and mind, trying to break free. Thankfully, Lilith still had a single Elixir left, but she was saving it for the perfect moment.

Lilith soon arrived at the source of the sounds, and found Hanu engaged in a rather fruitless battle with Flora and Carnar. The latter’s injuries from the earlier explosion had largely been healed by Flora, while both Overseers were easily using their Palismen to shoot spells at Hanu, who was panting hard as she struggled to dodge them, as her iron body had worn off and she was almost out of magic after the fight against the Wings of Rani, then the hunters, then her father, and then Hooty. Just as Lilith arrived (hiding behind one of Hooty’s interior spikes to avoid being spotted), Flora turned Glover from a staff to a whip, and lashed it out and Hanu, catching one of her ankles and pulling on it had, making the girl stumble and fall to the ground, where Carnar was able to finally hit her with a blast of orange lightning that made the poor girl scream. Lilith winced in sympathy; that was a similar spell to Belos’ red lightning, as it was a Beast-Keeping spell designed to cause the victim pain without physically damaging them, as a cruel way of taming and punishing unruly beasts. It was frowned upon by most of their Coven and forbidden by Eberwolf, and yet here Carnar was using it to pacify his own daughter!

When he let up the spell, Hanu was left panting and wincing on the ground, barely able to move due to the pain in her muscles. Her father shot a spell at her, creating a collar of orange magic around her neck and then making a long leash that connected it to a similar orange magic band that appeared around his wrist, making sure the poor girl was tethered to him.

“There! Now all we need to do wait for this Hooty creature to be knocked beyond that flaming hurricane that surrounds the island, and we can get ourselves out!” Carnar smiled, using the leash to pull Hanu over so she was kneeling on the ground in front of him, too weak to resist.

“That’s just a matter of time. This creature is a Primordial Demon, made from the raw materials of a Primordial Wellspring. The bile I infused him with is from a different Titan so the reaction still works, and the magic already inside him will keep replenishing it… at least if my theory is correct. Once the sounds of battle from outside have calmed down, we’ll try attacking him from inside to make him move beyond the hurricane.” Flora said, then casting a spell on her glasses that provided an X-Ray effect, letting her see through Hooty’s flesh and bone to see what was happening outside.

Lilith heard all this and frowned; if Hooty was a Primordial Demon (or was a child of one), then he’d have been made from Orion and thus contained his bile in some capacity. Cassiopeia’s would be different though, explaining why it still triggered an overload and transformation. However if Flora was right and the bile already inside Hooty from Orion was replenishing the power of Cassiopeia’s bile, then he’d never calm down! The Elder Clawthorne doubted Eda’s Anti-Magic and the Bile-Draining Glyph Notes were doing enough to counter this replenishment too, since Hooty showed no signs of stopping! They’d need to come up with another plan! But first, Lilith needed to take out these two monsters and rescue Hanu!

Using her knife, Lilith carved a pair of glyph combos into the spike she was hiding behind, then another into the bone of some small woodland animal that Hooty had eaten at some point. Once she was done, she activated one of the glyph combos, creating a huge cloud of mist and steam that filled that section of Hooty’s insides, blinding all four of its occupants and putting the Overseers on high alert. Lilith then used the cover to throw the bone at Flora after activating both it and the other glyph combo. The combo she activated was King’s Monster Combo, which summoned a giant Titan Arm to grab Hanu and pull her to safety as Lilith darted through the mist to cut the leash, while the bone she’d thrown had a light glyph engraved on it, causing Flora and Carnar to see the light flying through the mist and assume it was an enemy, making them turn their attention to it and blast it. With them distracted, Lilith freed Hanu from her collar by carefully cutting it with her knife. However Carnar immediately detected the collar being removed and spun around to where he’d last felt the magic and shot orange lightning. He struck Lilith, making her scream in both pain and rage as her curse surged and feathers began sprouting from her neck and wrists.

“Lilith!” Hanu cried.

“I-I’m fine.” Lilith said through gritted teeth, grabbing her Elixir and preparing to drink it. She then paused; Hanu was basically out of magic, Lilith was totally tapped, and their enemy was still gunning for them, with Flora and Carnar now approaching them with smirks, seeing the state she was in. There was no way that Lilith and Hanu could handle them as they were now, and drinking the Elixir wouldn’t help her… but it could help Hanu, since it had a magical restoration effect to counter the drain of the curse. It wasn’t enough to help Lilith’s curse-stunted magic, but it might give Hanu a final edge. Besides, Lilith hadn’t been able to defeat Flora by herself last time so the best she felt she could do was be a proper distraction!

In a flash, Lilith uncorked the bottle and suddenly pressed it to Hanu’s lips, forcing it down her throat. Hanu’s eyes widened, though she felt warm inside as her magic was restored a little and the sedative effect of the Elixir removed the residual pain from her father’s shock, as well as some of her battle fatigue.

When the bottle fell from her mouth, Hanu spluttered; “L-Lilith!? But what about your curse!?”

“If I’d drunk that potion, we’d both be useless… at least this way you stand a chance! And besides; if Lilith the Witch can’t stand up to her enemies…” Lilith’s eyes began to turn completely black as the feathers grew thicker and faster; “… then maybe Lilith the Raven Beast will be able to do it!”

With those final words, Lilith fully gave in and succumbed to the curse, causing her body to warp and swell, transforming into the full, gigantic form of the Raven Beast. Hanu gaped in shock at the colossal beast, having heard all about it and what happened in the Human Realm from Willow, whilst Carnar was equally surprised to see that the beast was bigger and more threatening than even the Owl Beast! Flora was also a bit taken aback by the beast, but she recovered fast and smirked co*ckily.

“The little fool! Transforming to fight us when we have a skilled Beast-Keeper on our side and one of her own allies in the line of fire? How the mighty have fallen, Lilith.” Flora mocked.

The Raven Beast snarled, but initially ignored her, instead sniffing around at the fleshy, earthy smell inside Hooty’s body, confused by it. In the beast’s mind, she was surrounded by food that also smelled like something familiar, confusing her a little. Meanwhile, Carnar gulped and backed up a step.

“Flora my love, I don’t know if I can help with this thing! The Beast-Keeping Coven were called to deal with the Owl Lady when she occasionally went wild and transformed, but we never stood a chance! Only that little beast Eber was ever able to drive her off, and even he couldn’t capture her!” Carnar panicked.

“Don’t be a coward, my dear.” Flora said, rolling her eyes; “Lilith only possesses one third of the curse and is only a third as powerful! We can easily handle her! In fact, allow me to demonstrate!”

Flora cast a spell that caused her Palisman whip to glow orange, then cracked it at the Raven Beast, causing her to snarl again as the blow hurt her. The Raven Beast roared and leapt at Flora with surprising speed for such a large beast. Flora raised a barrier to stop her attack, then conjured some poison darts and launched them at the Raven Beast, only for her thick hide to deflect them all without difficulty. Flora scowled and then tried to conjure the poison edged saw blade, as well as a massive spherical boulder, but the Raven Beast easily grabbed the latter and showed shocking intelligence by hurling it back to block the former, whilst also forcing the two Overseers to dodge.

Carnar recovered first and aimed his rapier at the Raven Beast’s head to begin firing metal spikes, but Hanu leapt at him and punched him hard in the face, stunning him and letting her wrestle the rapier out of his hand. She then used some Iron Iris pollen to turn herself into metal again, giving her the strength to bend the rapier and twist the blade up like a pretzel, much to Carnar’s frustration. He growled and shot more orange lightning at Hanu, but she dodged and the lightning instead hit the inside of Hooty, causing the Titanic Demon to feel the pain and begin writhing more, shaking the ground beneath their feet and throwing them off balance. Hanu was able to recover and acrobatically swing around one of Hooty’s inner spikes, then launch herself feet first at her father, delivering a double iron kick to his leg that promptly snapped his femur like a twig, making him scream in agony and forcing him to use his staff like a walking stick. Hanu smirked; her father’s magic primarily revolved around controlling his tamed monsters, but since they were stuck outside and he couldn’t summon them (unwilling monsters could only be summoned if they were stored in a dormant state within a pocket dimension), he was limited to the magic he used to kill and torment, and since he still wasn’t willing to destroy his prized creation and the “proof” of his eugenics beliefs, he was severely handicapped against Hanu!

Still, a part of her did feel regret that she couldn’t defeat him while they were both at full power, but she wasn’t about to let her pride get in the way of doing the right thing, which is why she conjured some simple vines to bind her father, then turned her attention back to Flora and the Raven Beast.

Their battle was a rather odd one to watch, as Flora dodged and danced around, occasionally using her Palisman to grapple around or swing from the ceiling by grabbing Hooty’s inner spikes, all while flinging spells at the Raven Beast. She’d tried poison spears since the darts didn’t work (and pure poison gas was too dangerous in an enclosed space), but the Raven Beast had beat its wings and the resulting wind had stopped the spears in their tracks. Flora had then considered conjuring oil and setting the beast on fire, but once again ran into the issue of spreading dangerous substances inside a confined area… plus she didn’t want to set Hooty on fire from the inside. Instead she’d gone for conjuring a swinging pendulum blade from one of Hooty’’s inner spikes, but the Raven Beast had caught it between her claws and yanked it down with her powerful jaws, before pouncing on Flora. The woman was knocked flat, but was able to use a point blank concussive blast to knock the beast off again before she could be mauled.

“Okay, maybe this thing is tougher than expected! But I can still do this!” she declared, conjuring a much larger, heavier poison spear and then casting a lightning spell on it to electrify it before launching it at the Raven Beast. However to her disappointment, the Raven Beast simply roared on top of flapping its wings, managing to deflect the heavy spear and make it hit the ground, where the electricity promptly shocked Hooty and made him spasm and screech, which impeded everyone’s footing, except for the four-legged Raven Beast. Flora grimaced; she’d underestimated the Raven Beast’s intelligence, which was superior to the Owl Beast’s, much like a mundane raven was smarter than a mundane owl.

In that moment, Flora staggered and the Raven Beast saw an opening and leapt at her, slashing at her with her long talons claws. Flora quickly tried to raise a barrier with one hand while using her Palisman whip to drag Carnar over with the other, aiming to use him as a meat shield before the Raven Beast’s claws could touch her. However Hanu, who’d fallen to the floor not far from Flora due to Hooty’s spasming, acted first and got revenge on Flora for earlier by wrapping her tail around her leg and yanking on it, knocking Flora off balance and interrupting her barrier spell. She’d still managed to drag Carnar over though, but this just meant both of them were in the line of fire, and the Raven Beast slashed her claws through both of them, dealing a mild flesh wound to Carnar and a brutal, potentially lethal wound to Flora. Both of them screamed in pain as the force of the blow knocked them back, and Flora’s Palisman bounced out of her hand and returned to his animal form, along with Carnar’s Palisman. Carnar writhed around, screaming in pain (despite the wound not being that bad), while Flora gripped her own bloody wound with wide-eyed panic, realising this was more than her limited healing abilities could fix!

This was not enough for the Raven Beast though, who hungered to devour the woman. The beast screeched and lunged once more with her jaws wide open, but Hanu got in the way and protected Flora, not wanting to see the woman devoured by the Raven Beast. She didn’t want to know what psychological effect that’d have on Lilith! The Raven Beast’s jaws clamped down on Hanu’s shoulder, but since the girl was still made of metal due to the Iron Iris, the Beast’s couldn’t get through and released a deafening roar of pain and fury.

A roar that echoed out from inside Hooty, and reached the ears of those fighting outside; namely Amity.

Amity’s eyes widened as she heard the distinct roar of the Raven Beast, and with help from Corvanc (who could sense his partner’s location), she flew to the patch of Hooty that the Raven Beast was trapped inside. As Amity arrived there, she heard another pained roar (this time from the Beast trying to slash Hanu and chipping a claw against her, and a flood of feelings raged through the lavender haired girl.

She remembered how she’d felt when Lilith had taken her as an apprentice, how she’d felt when Lilith had accepted her decisions even when she disagreed back in the Bat Queen’s forest, and how she’d felt when Lilith had apologised and strived to make it up to Amity for her mistakes at the Covention and outside Volcarpalis. Amity was reminded how despite being an authority figure, Lilith had listened to Amity and valued her opinions, nurturing and caring for her, and helping her grow past her failures instead of berating her for them. Amity was reminded of how Lilith had stood up to Odalia for her despite how cruel Amity had been in the aftermath of Lilith’s tragic mistake in taking Luz to Belos. She remembered how much it had hurt to hear how poorly Lilith thought of herself during the incident with Gwendolyn…

… And most importantly, Amity remembered mere minutes ago, when Lilith had called her her daughter, and told her how proud she was of her. It was undeniable how Lilith felt, and how Amity felt too; the face she saw in her mind when she thought about mothers was the face of Lilith Clawthorne.

With all these feelings, along with the fear and sorrow Amity felt for Lilith’s current predicament, she finally found the courage and strength within herself to say what she wanted to say.

“MOM!” she cried, yelling the word at the top of her lungs, letting the word echo through to the Raven Beast within Hooty.

Inside Hooty, the Raven Beast went completely still, and Hanu blinked and whispered; “Is that Amity?”

The Raven Beast began looking around for the source of the voice, and Amity continued to shout out to her.

“Mom, I don’t know if you can hear me, or even understand me while transformed, but I’ve got some things I need to say! I’m sorry I didn’t say them sooner; I was terrified of making mistakes and changing things between us! Before all this, I couldn’t bring myself to call you Mom because I was terrified that some part of Odalia’s actions were because of me being a bad daughter, and I didn’t want you to become like her too because of me. Then when I moved past her… I became afraid of what it would be like to let another person become a mother to me. I’d finally gained independence, and as much as I cared for you, I was afraid that accepting someone as a mother again would make me regress. But I was wrong!” Amity cried.

“I should have known you’d never let that happen, because it was you who first gave me a taste of that independence! It wasn’t Dad or Edric and Emira! It wasn’t Grandma Nelle or Grandpa Colas! It wasn’t Darius or Willow! It wasn’t even Luz! The person who first made me feel like I could achieve anything was you, when you first took me on as an apprentice! You’ve supported me ever since, and even if you made mistakes or I made mistakes, you kept supporting me! Just like Luz, you let me make my own choices and decide my own life, and loved me even when I was a brat to you! You are Lilith Clawthorne, and you are my Mom! So please…” Amity took a deep breath with tears in her eyes; “… if the Raven Beast truly is just a part of you, then it’s still a part of someone I love, and that Luz and Eda and King and Hooty all love too! Accept yourself Mom, just like we all accept you! Love yourself like we all love you! And come back to me! I just got you back, so don’t make me lose you again, Mom!”

The Raven Beast looked towards where Amity’s voice was coming from, and to the shock of Hanu, Flora, and Carnar, tears began to streak down the beast’s face as deep within her mind, Lilith began to stir.

The instant she’d transformed, Lilith had found herself falling into a deep abyss just like the last time she’d transformed, leaving her unable to see or hear anything as she descended. However, that changed the instant she heard Amity screaming “Mom”. That one word had the falling sensation come to an abrupt stop, leaving Lilith floating in the abyss and listening to the rest of Amity’s words. Each word caused a tiny white feather to appear in the abyss, glowing brightly like a shimmering star in the night sky, and as these feathers illuminated the abyss, Amity’s words brought light to Lilith’s heart, making it feel hot and warm.

“Amity… she really called me Mom. After all this time… she loves me as her mother! She really does!” Lilith whispered, her heart feeling so full as joyous tears leaked down her face. By the time Amity had said those final words declaring the Raven Beast to be a part of Lilith and thus something Amity and the rest of Lilith’s loved ones cared about, enough feathers were illuminating the abyss that Lilith was able to see the Raven Beast floating opposite her, its face concealed by its hair.

Egged on by Amity’s words, Lilith floated closer to the beast and began to talk to herself; “When Eda described her transformations, she told me she’d see the true face of the Owl Beast as it chased her… but with you…” Lilith brushed the long black hair away from the Raven Beast’s face, revealing Lilith’s own face, just like the version in the outside world. “… it really is just me. There’s no one else in here; just parts of myself effected by the curse fragment I took from Edalyn.”

The Raven Beast growled at her but made no attempt to attack her or flee, and just floated in one spot. As Lilith regarded the beast, she noticed a small white blob sitting on its back, and reached out to it, remembering Eda’s description of her own vision back in Spriggan Manor. The white blob, which looked vaguely like a baby made of pure white light, accepted Lilith’s hand, which caused all the white feathers to fly into the baby’s back, causing her to grow until she took the form of a little Cherub Luz, with eight shimmering white wings on her back (though they remained Cherub sized). This was the manifestation of Lilith’s blessing from Luz; even with most of its magic expended and only dregs remaining, the spirit imparted by Luz still remained. However, the Cherub looked a bit different than the one Eda described, having more wings and with the purple snake on her dress now taking the shape of an Ouroboros on her chest.

“Luz’s Blessing… are you helping me have this vision? Trying to bring me and the Raven Beast together like you did Eda and the Owl Beast?” Lilith asked.

The Cherub tilted her head, then pointed at Lilith’s chest, where the light from the Cherub revealed a black chain that emerged from Lilith’s heart and dangled down to her waist, with a small black key on the end. She then gestured towards the Raven Beast, where Lilith was now able to see black chains binding the Beast, all connected to a padlock over the Beast’s heart.

Seeing this, Lilith took the key and inserted it into the padlock, assuming this would unlock something. However while the key fit perfectly, it wouldn’t turn.

“I’m still missing something… the act itself isn’t what’s important, it’s what it represents.” Lilith said, her keen mind working fast. “I won’t be able to turn the key if I don’t understand what the gesture means… I would assume that since it comes from my heart and the lock is on the Raven Beast’s heart, my key would serve as me showing I understand the Raven Beast, thus letting me into its heart…” she mused.

However, the fact the Raven Beast had her face reminded Lilith that this was her… just a manifestation made by the curse.

“No… not just the curse.” Lilith realised as she thought back to when she’d been divided and the way she’d felt when that had been reversed. Had the Divider actually removed the Raven Beast from her like she’d thought? Or had it simply gone dormant within her, since she couldn’t feel the stress that brought it back out? In which case, the Raven Beast had to contain parts of her that came out when she was stressed… parts of her she’d still felt some echoes of while divided. She’d felt these things in fleeting moments, like dreams that she forgot moments after waking.

As Lilith remembered these feelings, she realised with a gasp that they were the feelings that had led to Lilith creating the Raven Beast in the first place! The feelings that led to her cursing Eda and then taking some of the curse back!

“You are all the parts of myself that I tried to repress.” Lilith whispered. “The parts I hate myself for… the inferiority complex and jealousy felt towards Eda… my reckless ambition and desperation to achieve it… my blind obedience to authority and the obsession I had with pleasing those I respected… my need for approval…”

The woman began to cry as her face went slack with shock; “To accept you is to accept all those things back as parts of myself.” she then shook her head; “No, they’re already parts of myself, just like you are. Accepting you is just coming to terms with that and facing these problems, instead of stuffing them into you…”

Lilith once again put her hand on the key that was still in the Raven Beast’s lock, then hesitated. “No more running away. What kind of role model am I to my daughter or my niece and nephew if I run away from my own flaws instead of fixing them? Amity moved past her blind obedience to authority, Luz moved passed her feelings of inferiority, and King moved past his ambition to be a Tyrant. Heck, even Eda moved passed her habit of running away from her problems! I refuse to be the weak link any longer! I am Lilith Clawthorne and you, Raven Beast, are a part of me. And it’s time we became one again.”

With that declaration, Lilith turned the key and the lock opened, causing it and the chains to turn white and then disappear. Luz’s Blessing beamed, and the Raven Beast let out a long breath of relief, before a blinding light filled the abyss, transforming it into a white void. The Raven Beast then disintegrated into a swarm of black feathers, leaving Lilith facing herself in Witch form. The version she now faced, with black feathers swirling through the void, was a perfect replica of how she’d looked as Head of the Emperor’s Coven, with her old dress, long black hair, and dour expression. It was a painful reminder of the past, but despite herself, Lilith embraced her mirror image. As the woman hugged herself, her mirror image glowed gold and began expelling even more black feathers as she shrank in size, until Lilith found herself hugging and holding her childhood self, with her long frizzy and curly red hair and her big round glasses.

At that moment, the two versions of Lilith locked eyes, and all the black feathers turned iridescent and shone in all the colours of the rainbow, turning the void into a beautiful tableau. It was so beautiful that Lilith almost didn’t notice the way the snake on the chest of Cherub Luz began to glow white, looking like King’s incomplete glyph.

“You and I are one. My inner Raven… and as much as the feelings wrapped up within you caused me grief, they also gave me the drive to keep working harder and becoming better. For better and for worse, I am glad to have you back.” Lilith beamed, once again hugging her little self, before both she and her little self brought Luz’s Blessing into the hug. The light grew brighter and brighter until Lilith couldn’t see anything any more, but she did feel it as Luz’s Blessing and her little self disappeared, becoming completely one with her.

With a sudden gasp, Lilith found herself opening her eyes and finding herself back in the waking world, with Hanu, Flora, and Carnar all gaping at her in shock and amazement. Lilith didn’t understand the reason why at first, but she did feel different… her head was a little fuzzy on the inside, but she otherwise felt amazing! Like everything had snapped back into place within her and she felt as right as rain once again. Feeling curious, she looked down at her hands and gasped, finding that her arms were now coated in fluffy brown feathers, and her fingernails had grown into long black claws.

“What is this!?” she gasped, her eyes widening further as she heard her own voice, which now had a magical echo. Ignoring the stunned Overseers, Lilith marched over to one of the spikes inside Hooty’s body and carved an ice glyph on it, which she used to create an ice mirror with which to see herself. The result shocked her into silence just as it had the others.

Lilith had seemingly only transformed halfway back to her normal self from Raven Beast Mode, giving Lilith her very own Harpy Mode, just like Eda’s! Her clothes had been replaced by a dress of dark brown feathers that were curlier and fluffier than Eda’s, and came down to just below her hips, with an extra layer of lighter brown feathers below that which went down to just above her knees in the front and to the back of her shins in the back. Her arms, shoulders, and sternum feathers were this lighter brown colour, while the tops of her thighs were light grey, and the rest of her legs were covered in thick feathers that were an almost orange-brown colour. Her feathers and limbs weren’t as sleek as Eda’s, and her legs were noticeably thicker, while still having the digitigrade legs with thicker talons on her feet. However, her hair had not grown as thick as Eda’s Harpy Mode hair and she lacked the massively long ear hair that Eda had, instead having her ears grow a bit larger and with spiked nubs along the lower shell of the ear. Her eyes had turned black with green irises (her prior silver eye regaining its original colour just as Eda’s did in her Harpy Mode), and the feathers on her shoulders extended up her neck and encroached on the sides of her cheeks a little, though the rest of her face looked the same, if a bit younger. Lastly, Harpy Lilith had a pair of large Raven wings on her back, with black feathers along the top of the wings and lighter, orangish brown feathers on the lower half. The transformation was a complete change for Lilith, who only retained the blackened Bile Monitor on her chest and her spectacles.

“Look at me…! I’ve become a Harpy just like my sister! I really did it! The Raven Beast and I are one! Oh Amity, Luz; I owe this to the two of you… your encouragement and your blessing!” Lilith beamed, taking flight and enjoying the strength of her new body. She hadn’t felt this good since she was young! She couldn’t wait to show her daughter and the rest of her family!

Hanu looked utterly amazed by her too, and smiled brightly; “You look amazing, Lilith! But can you do what Eda can? Because if you have that Anti-Magic power too, then your powers combined could be enough to drain Hooty of his Titan Bile!”

Lilith smiled; “Only one way to find out! Eda said that this is technically the Owl Beast’s magic, but I took some of that along with the curse, so it should work…” she said, concentrating on the feeling of a foreign magic within her. Besides her own magic, she could feel two distinct magics; Luz’s Blessing and the Curse, so by channelling the magic of the curse, Lilith found herself able to cast Anti-Magic just as Hanu had suggested.

“Perfect, it works!” Lilith grinned, before suddenly wincing as the stinging sensation got to her. “I need to practice with that! But I think I already have an idea! My sister really has been using this power inefficiently! But if I do this…” Lilith channelled some Anti-Magic to her wings, specifically focusing it on the ends of her feathers, which she then shed and shot into Hooty’s body, causing the Anti-Magic to slowly spread and begin infecting him, rotting away his magic and causing the glow of his veins to fluctuate.

Hooty promptly screamed and began thrashing harder, and even stretched himself out completely into the sky, causing the section of his insides that contained the two CATTs and Overseers to go from horizontal to vertical. The occupants would have fallen into the abyss of Hooty’s stomach, but Lilith caught the back of Hanu’s shirt with one of her feet, while Carnar managed to use his staff to fly. Flora screamed as she fell however, and slammed into the side of one of Hooty’s inner spikes, worsening what was already a mortal wound and causing blood to splash out of her, making the woman groan and turn deathly pale. Her Palisman, Glover, used his own monkey acrobatics to deftly land on the same spike, just beside his mistress.

“G-Glover… come here. I need to heal! Give yourself back to me!” Flora cried, reaching for him. The little Palisman was just out of her reach though, and she couldn’t move on her own… however Hanu and Lilith saw the look of terrified resignation on his little face as he began to move into his mistress’s grasp.

Lilith darted forward and allowed Hanu to snatch Glover away before he could be grabbed and devoured.

“No! Little guy, do you really want this to keep happening!? To be constantly devoured by your own partner and then remade!? Isn’t it awful? Painful? Traumatic?” Hanu questioned, gently holding Glover.

“Shut up! I made him! Glover was made from my soul and carved with my own two hands! I carved him hundreds of times and I’ll carve him hundreds more! He’s mine!” Flora spat, trying to snap her fingers to summon him back to her, but failing as blood made her fingers to slick too snap.

Hanu shook her head; “He may have come from you, but that doesn’t give you the right to use, abuse, and destroy him!” she looked the little Palisman in the eye; “Glover, it doesn’t have to be this way! I know what it’s like to be created by a monster, just so they can use you for their own ambitions and twisted beliefs! But you don’t have to accept that fate! Sure she made you, but that doesn’t mean she can abuse you! Don’t you want to live? To be free and choose your own life, where you aren’t exploited? To find a partner who’ll care for you like a proper partner should?”

Glover stared at Hanu with large, shiny eyes. He was a cute little fellow, taking the shape of a purple Capuchin, and perhaps it was just because Hanu was half-Macaque Demon, but she found him to be absolutely darling! The idea that a monster like Flora could just destroy this little guy to save her own sorry hide was horrible! She couldn’t bear to see another, so similar to herself, be used and discarded by someone who was supposed to care for them… it reminded her too much of the mother who’d made her to steal the Vanily fortune, the father who’d made her to prove his xenophobic beliefs, and the adoptive mother who’d tried to feed her to a monster for failing in battle.

“You deserve better, Glover. Just like I did.” Hanu said earnestly.

Flora screamed in pain and fury, rubbing her bloody hand over her face to get off some of the excess blood so she could finally snap her fingers and summon Glover to her hand… only for his eyes to flash and Flora to feel something snap within her. She successfully snapped her fingers, but Glover was not summoned to her, and he instead turned to look at her with sadness and a hint of betrayal, while Flora gaped in disbelief.

Glover had just broken their bond! He was no longer her Palisman!

Flora stared up at her former Palisman in abject shock and horror, feeling an emptiness inside her as she felt the absence of a bond that had been present for centuries. That shock turned to profound sadness, before being eclipsed by incandescent rage.

“You stole my Palisman!” she screeched at Hanu, before using the last of her strength to conjure and launch a poison spear at the monkey girl. This was in vain though, as Lilith easily tossed Hanu (and by extension, Glover) up into her arms and then caught the spear with her foot, before launching it back. It didn’t hit Flora, but it did hit and crack the spike she was leaning on, causing it to snap off.

Flora gave one last scream of rage as she plummeted down into the abyss of Hooty’s stomach. Carnar made no attempt to rescue her, remembering how she’d used him as a living shield against the Raven Beast, and then tried to murder his prized trophy, so Flora fell deep into Hooty’s stomach, where her centuries long life finally came to a bitter end. With no Palisman to sacrifice, mortal wounds before the fall, and no one heading down to get her out, there would be no chance of survival for Flora D’splora.

Lilith spared her one-time mentor only a single sad sigh, before moving on and immediately flying up towards Hooty’s mouth. She shouted to Carnar as she went; “Unless you want to share your Mistress’s fate, I suggest you follow us out!”

Carnar didn’t need to be told twice and flew after the ladies, though not without subtly picking up Lilith’s survival knife, which had been embedded in Hooty’s flesh when she transformed. The group flew all the way up Hooty’s massive length until they reached Hooty’s beak, where Lilith used her experience and understanding of her best friend’s anatomy to tick the inside of his throat with her feathers, causing him to start coughing and hacking, and then finally sneezing the three of them out, shooting them back down at Digale Island like a meteorite. Carnar was barely able to make his staff pull up enough to avoid a lethal collision, though he did still suffer a crash landing, while Lilith was able to catch herself and land safely on the edge of Digale Town, where she put Hanu down as Glover sat on the girl’s shoulder.

As Hooty continued to cough and sneeze thanks to the feathers, and writhe from the Anti-Magic still eating at his power from the inside, the others who’d been fighting him took the opportunity to rush over, all of them gaping at Lilith’s new Harpy Form.

“MOM!” Amity cried, rushing straight into her arms without a second thought. Lilith caught her with ease and spun her around, before bringing her in for a tight hug.

“Amity! Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Lilith gushed, rubbing her cheek against Amity’s, nuzzling her.

“I’m fine! But look at you! You’ve bonded with the Raven Beast!” Amity said, absolutely beaming as Corvanc returned to his partner and began excitedly preening her new feathers and cawing happily.

“Man, you look pretty dang awesome Lily! I figured you’d unlock this form sooner or later!” Eda grinned.

Lilith pet Corvanc and gently put Amity down, but never took her hand off the girl; “It was touch and go at first, but I was able to connect with the parts of myself that I’d rejected and locked away within the curse. Accepting them back let me bond with the Raven Beast I’d created and achieve this new form. And it’s all thanks to you, Amity.”

Amity blinked in surprise as Lilith smiled at her; “Me?”

“Yes, you. I achieved this form because of you. You called me your Mom and made me feel so happy, I was able to stop and think, and accept myself. This is all thanks to you, Amity… so thank you! Thank you for letting me be your mother!” Lilith said earnestly, with tears in her eyes as she stooped to kiss the top of Amity’s head.

Amity blushed and once again hugged her Mom; “I-It was nothing. Thank you for letting me be your daughter, Mom!”

The others all smiled at the interaction, but a loud screech from Hooty brought their attention back to the beast. The presence of Glover on Hanu’s shoulder as she was being hugged by a relieved Treble also caught everyone’s attention for a moment.

“I’d love to watch you guys being adorable, but we need to deal with Hooty! Luz and Samael can’t stop the quakes and tsunami forever, but they won’t stop until Hooty is dealt with!” Willow said with a frown.

“And speaking of threats, where is D’splora?” Boscha asked.

“Dead.” Lilith said grimly; “She was mortally wounded by the Raven Beast, then fell into the depths of Hooty’s stomach after Glover broke their bond. I’ll explain fully later, but right now we need to stop Hootsifer. He is a Primordial Demon made from Orion, or at least a second generation one whose mother was made from him, so he already contains Titan Bile, but Cassiopeia’s was added to cause this reaction. We need to drain the magic of his bile completely, and I know how.”

She pulled a feather from her wings and caused the very tip to be ignited with her black and gold Anti-Magic. “If Eda and I riddle him with these, we can spread the Anti-Magic Aura over him as much as we want, and eventually drain all his magic!”

Eda grinned; “I’m all for that! But using it this much is dangerous! The Anti-Magic could spread to the island and the people! That’s why I’ve been using hit and run tactics.”

Lilith shook her head; “Edalyn, this Anti-Magic is ours! We control it! It acts like flame because we perceive it as flame, similar to Luz’s Blessings. But we decide how it spreads! Watch!”

The Raven Lady poked Amity with the Anti-Magic on the end of her feather, but the girl didn’t feel anything besides the feather. It was like the Anti-Magic wasn’t even there! “If we ignite our feathers with this power, then give some to the CATTs to use as weapons, then fly around Hootsifer and riddle him with more feathers, like arrows, we can overwhelm him! Just make sure that you will the Anti-Magic to only effect Hooty and not anyone else, including ourselves!”

Eda gaped; “B-But how do you stop it stinging your body!”

“Don’t ignite your body, silly little sister!” Lilith grinned; “We’re covered in feathers! Ignite those only!”

Eda nearly slapped herself; “Dang it, why didn’t I think of that!?”

“Because ravens are smarter than owls!” Lilith teased. In reality, it was because Eda was more instinctual with the way she used her magic, while Lilith was more studious. Eda may have worked harder physically, by practicing her spells vehemently, but Lilith had been meticulous in her studies, meaning each often found different solutions to the same problems.

Eda rolled her eyes, but smirked all the same. She was glad to see her sister had gotten her childhood spark back again! Luz and King would be thrilled when they saw their Tia’s new form! But that was for later, it was time to deal with Hooty!

“Okay, let’s do this!” Eda declared, igniting several of her feathers with Anti-Magic, then plucking them out and handing them to Amity, Willow, Gus, Matt, Skara, Boscha, Steve, Katya, Treble, and Hanu. Lilith then did the same, giving each of them a feather from both sisters. Seeing the others gathered together, King also came flying over from the middle of Digale Town and gaped at the sight of his Tia’s new Harpy Form. However there was no time to ask questions, as the Titanic Hooty screeched and came baring down on them, blasting flames from his mouth. Lilith immediately shot several feathers burning with Anti-Magic into the flames, causing them to be overtaken by the black and gold curse flame, and erasing the attack long before it could do any damage.

“Everyone who can fly, do so! Corvanc, stay with Amity and help her! Treble, you and Hanu grow and use trees to get to higher ground! King!” Lilith darted over to the little Titan and handed him a couple of her feathers; “Use this and hit Hootsifer! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the Anti-Magic doesn’t hurt you!”

King didn’t need to be told twice and took the feathers, then joined the others in flying around Hooty, roaring at the giant Bird Tube to draw his attention away from the others or to disrupt his attacks as Hooty began unleashing breath attacks of all eight elements. Eda and Lilith focused on essentially deleting these breath attacks with their Anti-Magic, but even with Lilith’s work around, they couldn’t do this infinitely as the curse only had so much strength, as did the Owl Beast, so they had to work quickly and efficiently. During this, Hanu rode on Treble again, who could once again use his magic thanks to Boscha giving him a special stomach pumping potion that completely erased the contents of his digestive system, scrubbing him clean of the Glamour Rot and allowing him to once again warp himself and Hanu through the trees that Hanu and Willow grew, stabbing their feathers into spots right beside Hooty’s exterior rib cage, so they couldn’t just be removed or crushed by Hooty flailing around.

The plan worked quickly, as the flames of the Anti-Magic rapidly spread from the spots the feathers had been placed, until soon the entire length of Hooty’s body was ignited and burning with black and gold magic. The Titanic Demon screeched and flailed, but as the Anti-Magic engulfed his head too, he couldn’t even fire his elemental breath attacks any longer, leaving the CATTs to sit back and watch as the Anti-Magic ate away at the Titan Magic flowing through Hooty. Even while totally engulfed, it still took a solid ten minutes before Hooty began to slow down and shrink, his outer skeleton decaying into dust and blowing away in the wind, where it burned up in the still flaming hurricane wall. Once the bone armour was gone, Hooty seemed to deflate like a giant balloon animal, complete with an extremely long “HOOT!” that sounded almost like air being let out of something inflatable. The CATTs followed his head until Hooty had shrunk all the way back down to his normal size, and hung limply from where he’d attached himself to Cassiopeia’s elbow, just above the cave entrance.

As soon as he was back to normal size, Lilith and Eda both dispelled the Anti-Magic before it could hurt him any more, and Eda produced her last emergency bottle of Ambrosia, which she fed to the unconscious Demon, making him slowly come too.

“Hoot! I don’t feel so good… Hoot!” Hooty said, sounding as exhausted as he looked.

“Hootsifer! Oh thank goodness you’re okay! I was so worried about you for a moment there!” Lilith smiled, kneeling down to cradle her best friend.

“Lulu! Oh wow, you look so cool! Just like Eda! Speaking of; hi Eda! Long time no see!” Hooty said, bouncing back incredibly quickly. The CATTs didn’t question it; Hooty operated on his own laws and logic, and nothing could be done to change that.

Eda just chuckled and patted her old friend’s head; “Hi Hooty. It’s good to see you again.”

“It is? Hooray! Or should I say, Hoot-ray!” Hooty joked, absolutely beaming.

Steve and King both laughed, while Katya and the present Hexsquad members just sighed and shook their heads good-naturedly, and Treble and Hanu looked moderately disturbed by the strange demon. At that moment, a large pool of purple abomination slime began to ooze out of the ground beside them, then swelled up to the size of a huge bubble, which them popped to reveal Darius, Alador, Hettie, Hunter, Lyra, and the Blight Twins, all looking a little rough.

“Whoa! You guys look like you got put through the ringer! Are you alright!?” Skara cried.

“We took some scrapes and bruises, but we’re luckier than the hunters.” Darius sighed, “I don’t know what caused that massive earthquake, but it collapsed the section of the cave system with us still inside! We barely managed to save ourselves by huddling together under several barrier spells. Unfortunately, Lyra was hit in the head by a rock and knocked out, so we’ve been struggling to get out without shadow travel.”

Hettie, who was carrying the unconscious Dark Angel, nodded and knelt down so a worried Gus could get a proper look at her. “I treated her and she’s healthy, but after a head wound like the one she sustained, I didn’t want to wake her up. It’s better to let people wake naturally after extensive healing to the head and brain.”

“Which means we needed to use Mom’s slime warp, but the range isn’t so good, so we’ve been slowly warping from air pocket to air pocket until we got close enough to the surface to re-emerge.” Edric explained. “We’re lucky the entire tunnel system didn’t collapse!”

“At least you’re alright.” Amity sighed with relief. She’d been worried, but since Hooty’s body had covered the entrance to the caves while in his giant form, they hadn’t been able to reach them and so she’d forced herself to focus on something else. “Still, Mom was able to find a strategy to stop the threat, and D’splora is gone now.”

As if to punctuate that, Hooty suddenly coughed up Flora’s glasses, which were broken. That was a slightly morbid sight, considering it now meant that whatever was left of Flora was crushed up inside Hooty, but none of them were going to weep for her… in fact, Amity’s father and siblings were more interested in the fact Amity had finally called Lilith “Mom”!

“It looks like we missed something major!” Emira smirked teasingly.

“Indeed.” Darius agreed, noting Lilith’s Harpy Mode.

“It was a long time coming, but I’m happy to call Amity my daughter, and even happier to be considered her mother. I hope this is alright with you too, Alador.” Lilith said, looking to the man.

Alador just smiled happily; “You make Amity happy; that’s all I care about. You’ve probably been a better mother to her than I’ve been a father! So long as you keep making Amity happy, I will always back you as her mother.”

That made Lilith beam, and the two parents of Amity Blight shook hands, while the girl herself gratefully hugged her father. The twins then smiled at Lilith, giving their own congratulations and subtly warning her to be a good parent to their baby sister.

After all that, attention turned to the clean up of Digale Island. They needed to go check on Luz and help Samael ease the sea back into a calm state, as well as do something about the flaming hurricane wall. Then they had to work on repairing the damage to the island caused by Titan Hooty and his earthquake, AND finish dealing with the aftermath of the battle and getting the rest of the CATTs from the mainland out to Digale, which would mean Luz or Lyra recovering enough to make the other half of the Teleportation Circle. It was a lot of work to do, especially as it appeared that all the hunters who’d gone into the caves had failed to make it out, likely dying in the collapse or becoming trapped with little hope of reaching them before air ran out. No one was overly sad about their demise, considering they were all either complicit in the murder of innocent Demons if not actual murderers themselves, and their deaths did mean the CATTs had fewer prisoners to feed, but it was still a pain to deal with. They knew Luz would want to mount a rescue too, so they’d need to either convince her it was pointless or prepare to add that to the to-do list.

To get it all done, the group split up again and got to work. Lilith remained with Hooty to help him detach from the island and put him back in his birdhouse, which Matt, Willow, and Edric would be helping take care of; Willow would make the wood for it, Matt would refine it and construct the box, then Edric would give him back his little chicken legs to help him move around. The rest of the gang would head back into Digale Town and begin making repairs, while Eda headed up to the Palm Jungle with Amity to get Luz, and King went to help Samael, with Gus promising to aid them after helping Hettie and Hunter put Lyra down somewhere safe to rest. This left Hanu and Treble the final job, which was taking care of Carnar Vanily, who’d disappeared after escaping Hooty’s stomach.

Hanu, with Glover still sitting on her shoulder, walked alongside Treble as he followed Carnar’s scent. He’d last been seen on the edge of Digale Town right after escaping from Hooty’s stomach, and with a broken leg, mild claw wounds, and not a single friend left alive and free on Digale Island, the duo knew he couldn’t have gotten far, so they carefully found and followed his scent as it skirted around the edge of the town and then towards the long, steep incline of the forearm, leading up to the Palm Jungle. Hanu figured that he wouldn’t dare fly, as it would expose him too easily, so she kept her eyes on the sparse trees that still grew from the forearm. The damage Hooty’s flailing had done was extensive, so a lot of the original trees were crushed, but it was nothing Hanu and Willow couldn’t repair given time.

As they were searching, they were suddenly distracted by Samael’s giant magical moons slowly moving further away from Digale Island, causing the colossal waves they held back to do the same and actually merge into the giant hurricane wall, using the water to douse the flames and return it to normal, though it produced a huge amount of steam that blew across the island like mist. As this happened, Darius’ voice echoed across the island, projected by Skara’s Bardic Magic.

“Attention all CATTs and occupants of Digale Island; please remain where you are for a short time as the mist clears. The mist is hot but not scalding, so simply brace yourself and avoid moving around in it until it dissipates, so as to avoid accidents caused by low visibility. I thank you for your patience.”

Treble frowned; “That’s annoying. Still, at least it looks like that’s one major problem solved.”

“Yeah. It’ll take a while for this mist to clear up though. We don’t get a lot of natural wind inside the hurricane wall…” Hanu mused, though unbeknownst to Treble, she was extremely on-guard. The low visibility was the perfect cover for her father to escape with or attack in, and as an experienced hunter, something like this wouldn’t keep him from acting.

“Treble, can you still smell my father through all of this?” she asked.

Treble took a sniff, then snorted and shook his head; “All I smell is smoke and seawater.”

“Figures. Keep your guard up.” Hanu warned, then gently took Glover and created a little pouch for him on her waist, using large leaves and some pieces of bark she created. “Here, this’ll keep you safe. My father liked your former partner, so may try to hunt you in revenge for abandoning her.”

Just as she was saying these words, Hanu’s large ears heard a rustling behind her, then heavy footsteps. They couldn’t be her father, but she turned just in time to see her father’s Radtodon charging out of the mist towards her. Hanu gasped but acted fast, creating a barrier of cotton-like spores to absorb the heavy punch it launched at her head, then unleashed a cloud of mushroom spores onto the beast. The spores grew rapidly, especially in the humid and moist air caused by the mist, resulting in the Radtodon being covered in mushrooms that soon sealed up its movement and even grew over and inside its airways, suffocating it. The beast fell to the ground immediately, and Hanu cast a spell to kill her own plants to get rid of the mushrooms and ensure the beast didn’t die.

Treble saw all this and correctly guessed that if Carnar had retrieved one of his beasts, he’d have retrieved the other too, so waited until he heard either footsteps or the sound of rushing water. He heard the latter, then immediately used his Forest Siren powers to merge into the grass beneath him, disappearing just as Carnar’s Mukhambu came shooting towards him, aiming to impale him on his spike. The creature was confused by the Basilisk’s disappearance, but it’s confusion didn’t last long as Treble re-emerged behind it and immediately jumped on its back, using his tail to choke it while using his arms to grab its legs and prevent it from fleeing. The Mukhambu struggled and shot water from both ends to try and shake Treble off, but he held on tight and began devouring the Mukhambu’s magic, soon draining it until it was unconscious.

“Got you! That’s the minions down, now we’ve just gotta deal with the- ARGH!” Treble suddenly screamed, feeling a blade slashing across his back.

Hanu spun around and just barely saw her father through the mist, having slashed his stolen knife across Treble’s back. The wound was shallow but the sight of it still made Hanu’s blood run cold as her hatred for her father intensified.

“You’ll pay for that, Vanily!” Hanu growled, rushing at the man.

Carnar sneered and grabbed the back of Treble’s head by his hair, then pulled him up, pressing the edge of the stolen knife against his throat. He then released Treble’s hair, holding in place with the knife, and used his now free hand to point his staff at Hanu. He shot some orange lightning at the ground in front of her feet, forcing her to come skidding to a halt.

“Not one step more, my dear. I don’t know why you’re so attached to this creature; your little lie earlier was clever but unconvincing, but if you defy me again then I shall kill it.” Carnar threatened, using Treble like a crutch to keep him upright.

“You kill him, and I will skin you alive and feed you to your beasts!” Hanu threatened, baring her teeth at him.

The man was undeterred, and just shook his head disappointedly; “Look at you! Acting like an animal! At least with Snapdragon, you dressed and acted like a lady! But now look at you! You’re dressed like a common brawler, and talk like one too! Don’t you see that this is what happens when you lay down with the filth!?”

Hanu grit her teeth, and made eye contact with Treble through the mist. He winced, unable to eat the magic of a man behind him, and unable to twist or turn his head because of how closely the knife was held against his throat. He wouldn’t be able to free himself, so Hanu needed to think.

“This tactic failed against Raguel… but dear old dad is no Seraphim. This might be my only chance!” Hanu thought, using her tail to subtly draw a spell circle behind her back, growing plants that she began to subtly weave through the ground to bloom just behind her father and Treble. It would take a moment for her plan to come to fruition though, so she needed to stall him.

“Why do you even want me back so badly!? Just so you can have your “trophy”? Your “proof” that Witch DNA improves Demons?” Hanu demanded angrily.

“Of course! I can’t let proof of my triumph and the living confirmation of my beliefs go gallivanting about with the inferiors! I aim to find you a suitable husband among the proper stock! You’ll live the life of a proper lady, with all the luxury you could want! That’s the best life a Demon can hope for!” Carnar declared.

“But that isn’t what I want! Am I supposed to just become some miserable socialite, being kept as breeding stock by a husband that shares your disdain for my kind!? To be mocked and sneered at behind my back for the rest of my life!? To pop out little Witch babies that you and my rotten husband can sell off, all for the sake of breeding the Demon out of my bloodline!?” Hanu yelled.

Carnar growled; “Oh, then what do you want? To roll about in the muck with the likes of these creatures!?”

“They aren’t creatures! They’re people! And for your information, Terra tried to feed me to a monster, which is why I’m with the CATTs in the first place! And as for what I want…” Hanu blushed a little; “I-I want to become a Perfumer! I want to make amazing perfumes that people would kill to wear, and which can help them with magical effects! And I want to make up for the things I did whilst under Terra’s thumb! And most of all, I want to rid the world of your evil, and redeem the wicked blood in my veins!”

The look on her father’s face became one of shock upon hearing of what Terra did, then it morphed to confusion at Hanu’s ambition, and then rage as she described the blood he’d given her as wicked. Fuming, he decided to punish his wilful daughter; if she was going to act like a beast, then he was going to punish her like one!

“Ignorant brat! I will teach you to spit on what your father gave you!” Carnar snarled, blasting orange lightning at her.

Hanu braced herself for the pain, needing just a little more time before her plan was complete, but surprisingly she felt no pain. Instead, the instant she’d finished talking, she’d felt something shift inside her, and a staff suddenly appeared in her hand and blocked the lightning shot by her father, making both her and Carnar gape in surprise. When the lightning faded, Hanu stared at the staff in her hand and recognised the familiar form of Glover atop it, his staff form resembling a simple crouching capuchin monkey with his tail forming a hook-like shape over his head.

“W-What!? Glover!?” Hanu gasped.

Within her head, she heard Glover’s voice; it was the voice of a very shy little boy, and it made Hanu’s heart melt. “It’s me, Hanu. Um, I hope it’s okay, but I bonded with you!”

“With me!? You want to be my Palisman!?” Hanu exclaimed, shocking Treble and Carnar too.

“Yes! You showed me that I didn’t need to be Flora’s life support any more. That I didn’t need to be torn apart and remade whenever she wanted. I felt a connection with you! And when I heard your dream, I felt it even more! Your creator is as mean as mine was, so I’ll help you break free from him like you helped me break free from Flora!” Glover declared.

Hanu smiled, then nodded happily; “Okay! If you want to be my Palisman, then I’ll happily accept you! And I swear, I’ll never intentionally or willingly hurt you like Flora did! Now, let’s work together to crush my deadbeat dad!” she grinned, spinning her new staff like it was second nature, then pointing the end at Carnar.

He grimaced and snarled; “You cast a single spell as me and your little pet dies!”

Undeterred, Hanu just grinned; “Go ahead and try! But I think you’ll find it hard to cut someone without a blade!”

“What are you talking about, brat!? I have a knife right-!” Carnar went to cut the side of Treble’s neck to show he meant business, only for the blade to disintegrated into reddish brown dust as he moved the knife. He gaped in shock; the knife had turned to rust!?

“What did you do!?” he screamed, only to be suddenly elbowed in the stomach by Treble, who then smacked him hard between the legs with his tail. The man crumpled to the ground in pain, and Treble darted away and prepared to drain the man’s magic, but a gesture from Hanu made him stop, and he instead rushed to her side, where she used her new staff to grow the flowers needed for her aromatherapy healing magic.

At the same time, Carnar had fallen to his knees after the blow to the crotch and found himself kneeling in a patch of strange flowers, which resembled several red blooms that formed together into clumps. The pollen they were giving off was thick, but hard to see in the mist, and as Carnar tried to make sense of what had just happened and get back to his feet, he squealed like a stuck pig as the metal clasp of his pantaloons rusted away and caused them to fall to his knees, revealing his underwear, much to his mortification.

Hanu laughed uproariously; “Ha! Rusting Rhododendrons! Their pollen eats away at metal faster than a thousand years in the sea could do it! Now, let’s see how much of a threat you are without minions, hostages, and other trickery!”

Spinning her staff once again, Hanu shot a blast of pure green magic directly at her father, while he screamed in apoplectic rage and returned fire with a blast of orange lightning. The two blasts collided and despite Carnar being older and having more experience, he was also significantly frailer, having learned to use his magic to hurt, dominate, and control, whilst Hanu had honed her magic to nurture, strengthen, and grow. As such, Hanu had also trained her body and her reserves, and while she didn’t have the insane levels of experience that the Hexsquad had gained through their adventures, she did still have significantly more magic. In a straight clash of spells, no amount of experience was enough for Carnar to overcome Hanu’s strength, allowing her to push the blast all the way back at him. Carnar found himself being struck by his own deflected spell, making him scream and once again crumble to his knees. His staff was also hit by Hanu’s spell, breaking the shaft and causing the Hiralco Palisman to go flying off. The little Palisman, suffering a crack to his beak from the rough landing, hopped over to try and comfort his partner, but Carnar was so enraged and humiliated that he backhanded the poor thing, making it bounce away and whimper miserably, something that drove Hanu and Treble to growl furiously.

Hanu blasted her father once again, then conjured a vine to pull his Palisman over to her. “You really can’t create anything without abusing it! I bet you’d have even laid hands on Jana and Mana if Lady Anja didn’t stop you.”

“You ungrateful brat! I made you! I’m the reason you exist! You are Manuella Vanily!” he snarled.

“Actually, it’s Manuella Hanu.” she countered, before frowning and correcting herself; “No. I always hated that name… the name you gave me. I think I’ll choose a new one! From now on I will be Hanu… Grove. Hanu Grove.”

Treble smiled; “You took your old family name as your new given name?”

“I like my family name, and everyone calls me Hanu anyway.” his lover replied with a shrug.

“I see. And the Grove part?”

Hanu smiled; “It was inspired by the one to open my eyes and make me realise what I had become while serving Terra. She’s a Park, so I’ll be a Grove.”

Treble grinned, knowing Willow would get a kick out of that, but Carnar snarled; “Shut up! You are mine! I created you! If you’re not going to do as you’re told, then you’re nothing but a bad investment! I’ll gut you and that freakish pet of yours!”

Hanu snorted; Carnar had finally lost it. She then smirked and decided to give him another little push, grabbing Treble and pulling him into a passionate kiss. The sight of his daughter kissing a “disgusting creature” caused Carnar to completely lose himself in his fury, screaming incoherently and spitting vile, half-formed insults and threats, most of which culminated in having his friends put a baby in Hanu, before taking the child and having Hanu’s head mounted on his wall beside Treble’s. It was a truly vile tirade, delivered at the top of Carnar’s lungs… which unfortunately for him, meant it was overheard.

A shadow loomed out of the mist directly above Carnar, and as he panted to get his breath back after his tantrum, he noticed the shadow and looked up, only to find himself staring into the gaping maw of Hooty. He let loose a scream of terror before Hooty’s mouth enclosed around him, and began to slowly choke him down like an owl eating a mouse. He screamed and screamed, and his Palisman’s eyes flashed as it severed its bond with Carnar, knowing the man’s fate and refusing to share it. Finally, Hooty closed his mouth and the sound of screaming stopped, as the rather ominous humanoid shape in his throat suddenly disappeared as Carnar was fully consumed.

And thus ended the life of Carnar Vanily, a monster to the very end.

Despite not being the one to deliver the final blow, Hanu felt satisfied with what had happened; she’d said what she’d wanted to say and had thoroughly crushed her evil old man. Now she could move on, with Treble, Glover, and her new friends. She had no parents, but she didn’t really desire them either; she was happy with the found family of friends she’d amassed. That thought brought a smile to her face, and she was still smiling as Lilith appeared, flapping her wings hard to clear some of the mist and create an open space around Hanu and Treble. Accompanying Lilith was Willow, Matt, and Edric, as well as Hooty of course. Hooty’s birdhouse had been perfectly restored by Matt, and Edric had decided to flex his magic by animating the chicken legs that Matt carved and attached to Hooty’s birdhouse, as well as a matching pair of wings. Hooty couldn’t fly like with them, but that was his next planned home renovation.

“Hey guys. Looks like we came at a good time!” Willow grinned; “We finished up with Hooty and thought we’d go find Eda and Luz up in the jungle, but heard you and Vanily shouting at each other.”

“We didn’t expect Hooty to eat Vanily, but he seemed to really dislike what that creep was saying. No great loss in my opinion! And hey, it looks like you made a new friend too!” Matt smiled, seeing Hanu with her new staff. Glover turned back to normal and sat on her shoulder, gently holding on to her by wrapping his tail around her neck.

“It has definitely been an eventful day. I’ll tell you all about the parts you missed later, but Glover here is now my partner.” Hanu smiled, petting the monkey Palisman.

Lilith smiled; “He couldn’t ask for a better owner. You are a better person than Flora, Vanily, or even Snapdragon could ever hope to be.”

That made Hanu beam, and Treble gave her a proud side-hug. Edric then noticed Carnar’s Palisman on Treble’s shoulder and asked; “Have you bonded with that little guy?”

“No.” Treble said, shaking his head. “I’m going to return him to Vanily’s daughters. They seemed like decent people, so I’m sure they’ll look after him. Perhaps one will even become his new partner?”

Hanu nodded in agreement; “I’m sure they will. They can be a bit stuck-up and rude, but they’re more sheltered than malicious. Overall, they’re good people despite our unfortunate father.”

“He didn’t even taste good either.” Hooty complained, before looking oddly pensive; “Um, is it bad that I ate that guy? He was saying bad stuff and then my brain started saying he was a co*ckroach, so I got hungry and ate him. Did I do bad, Hoot?”

“No, Hooty. You did… I hesitate to say good, considering you did kill him and I don’t want to praise that, but he was also a jerk so… I guess you did not bad, Hooty.” Hanu agreed.

“Hoot-ray!”

As the others chuckled at Hooty’s odd new cheer, Willow gave Hanu a coy grin; “Speaking of not bad… “Hanu Grove” eh?”

Hanu blushed; “Y-Yes. I take it you have no complaints?”

“None whatsoever.” Willow smirked, before her smile became a softer one; “It suits you. It’s nice to meet the new you, Hanu Grove.”

Willow thought back to the first time she met Hanu; she’d been dressed up like a doll and acting like a noble scion, putting on a show to please Terra. Now she was dressed in combat gear, looking battle-worn with a new Palisman and a Basilisk boyfriend, and a truly radiant smile.

Manuella Hanu had been a sad little girl, treated like a doll. Hanu Grove was a happy young woman, clearing her own path through the wild jungle of life. It made Willow feel exceedingly proud to have been a part of that.

The little group stayed together for a bit longer, until the mist finally began to pass with the help of wind spells whipped up by the people of Digale Island working together. Once the mist was cleared, a text message sent by Eda called for the Hexsquad and Elite CATTs to reconvene at the CATTs HQ, so they all returned to the meeting-turned-sitting room where they’d found Vanily’s family, and sat down. Lyra had regained consciousness naturally and was fit as a fiddle, while poor Samael and Luz were both basically exhausted and barely conscious. The absence of Luz’s halo had surprised most of the group, but then Amity (who was sat between Luz and Lilith) explained the concept of the Seraphic Art, which eased their worries.

“Well, there are still repairs to be made in the aftermath of Hooty’s Titanic episode, but I’d say today went pretty well.” Eda smiled.

“Indeed! We were even able to rally everyone who could cast water magic and barrier spells to shield the island so Samael could release the tsunami without flooding the place. The Maelstrom Strait and the ocean around the island has been returned to normal.” Darius declared happily.

Everyone cheered and applauded Samael, who was sleepily sitting on Eda’s lap, being held by his Auntie as he held onto Hooty’s head, as the Bird Tube had wrapped himself around Luz in a big hug, then had his head commandeered by Samael for cuddles. The little Collector was too tired to really speak, but he seemed fascinated by Hooty.

“It’s a shame about the cave-in. All those hunters were bad guys, but it still sucks that they died like that. What about the animals though?” Luz asked sleepily.

Hunter answered; “You mean their hunting beasts, right? Well they sensed what was about to happen and fled the caves before the cave-in. There are packs of Patdregs roaming the coast now, but Dadrius already asked the Beast-Keepers in the CATTs to round them up and take care of them until we can return them to the sanctuary on the Boiling Isles. Carnar’s two pets have also been sedated for now and penned in at the Blight House, so Edric and I can try and undo Carnar’s conditioning.”

Luz smiled sleepily; “That’s good. But what happened to Carnar himself?”

“Uh, Hooty kinda ate him.” Hanu explained.

“He did not taste good, Hoot!” Hooty chimed in.

“Okay… gonna need to process that later.” Luz mumbled as the others shared her look of surprise. “What about Flora?”

“Hooty ate her too.” Lilith said simply. “Hanu got her Palisman though!”

“And Lilith got her Harpy Mode!” Hanu added.

Luz’s eyes widened, but only a little; “Okay, I need to hear this story when I’m fully awake! In the meantime; Hooty, it’s great to have you back! You’re still my favourite eldritch abomination!” she said fondly.

“And you’re my favourite Angel!” Hooty hooted happily; “But I hope we get Raspberry back soon. He was my second favourite!”

The mention of Rasiel reminded Lilith of her earlier discussion with Flora, back at the Wellspring.

“Speaking of Rasiel, or more accurately, the Divider; Flora seemed to think that he insisted on keeping you at the Union Pillar in the Skull, because you’re a Primordial Demon.” Lilith said. “Can you tell us more?”

Hooty’s eyes brightened; “Ooh, I can finally share my backstory!? Thank goodness! It used to be so foggy, but the scary Raspberry did some stuff to my brain and now it’s all clear!”

“Meaning that when he divided you, the new mental state let you recall the past.” Lilith said knowingly; she’d experienced something similar. Darius, Alador and Eda all nodded along too.

“That’s right! Scary Raspberry wanted me to tell him who Hooty really was, so I did! Hooty is Mama’s son! A looooong time ago, some witches who lived on the Titan took away one of his eyes to worship it! Mama told me that this made Uncle Titan worried about what people would do to a whole Titan like King! So he decided to make a friend and protector for his Titan Baby! He was still dead back then, but he was more powerful too! The wellsprings drying up made Uncle Titan weaker! But anyway, Uncle Titan used the wellspring inside his head to make a super big, super powerful Demon! My Mama! She wiggled out of the open eye socket of Uncle Titan’s skull, and was told to protect Uncle Titan’s baby and be his friend!” Hooty explained.

Everyone gaped, especially King; “S-So your Mom was made to protect me!?”

“That’s right, Hoot! But Uncle Titan couldn’t make Mama want to do it, and she didn’t. She felt that she was too big and too scary for a little Baby Titan! People at the time called her the Great Forest Leviathan after all, but Uncle Titan called her Cawla!” Hooty said, confirming that his mother really had been that legendary monster. “So Mama decided to make a baby of her own and grew me from the side of her, like a baby branch from a mama tree! I was small enough to be a good friend of a Baby Titan, and Mama raised me to be the big boy House Demon that I am now!”

“It sounds like Cawla raised you to be fun and playful; the perfect protector and playmate for a young Titan!” Eda grinned; “And it matches up too! You suddenly appeared on my house just after I brought King home! I practically force-fed you Blabber Serum to find out what you wanted, and you just said it felt right to bond with my house and that you’d protect everyone living in it. You never mentioned the rest of this though!”

“I didn’t remember, Hoot! I was born 2743 years ago. I forgot most of it; I just lived in a hole in the woods and ate bugs, until I felt King come back to the Isles!” Hooty explained.

Lyra tilted her head in confusion; “But then what happened to Cawla? She’s obviously not still in the Titan’s eye.”

Hooty’s expression became a bit sombre; “Once I was a big boy who could live alone, she removed me from her body and found me a hidey-hole. She told me to wait for the Baby Titan, then said she wanted to be with Uncle Titan, who made her. She turned her body into tons of seeds and planted the forests south of the Titan’s throat, and passed away.”

Lilith, King, and Eda all pet him sadly; it must be bittersweet to finally have his full memories of his Mama, but also her choice to leave everything to him and pass on. However that only lasted until Luz gasped and began flapping her arms excitedly.

“The thing! That was the thing!” she cried, smiling brightly.

“The thing? What thing?” Amity asked.

“The eye socket thing!” Luz replied.

Gus chuckled; “I think you’re still half-asleep.”

Luz pouted; “Yes, but no! I’m talking about Cawla! I saw her! Or at least I think I did… it was only for a second, but I could have sworn that when I met Orion in my visions, I saw something in his empty eye socket! I thought it was a worm at first, but I could have sworn I saw a face like Hooty’s once!”

Everyone’s attention snapped to her, and Hooty even swung his head around so he was beak to nose with Luz, his eyes bright and shining.

“Really? You saw Mama!?” Hooty cried.

“I think so!” Luz replied, beaming at Hooty’s hopeful expression.

“Why didn’t you mention this before?” Lilith asked curiously.

“With everything else going on whenever I had these visions, it just slipped my mind!”

That was a fair response; Luz’s meetings with Orion tended to happen during life-threatening situations. However no one had any doubt that Luz was right about what she saw being Cawla, which brought smiles to all their faces, especially Hooty’s.

“That means Cawla got her wish, and her soul is now with Orion’s in the In-Between Realm… which she must be watching over Hooty too!” Eda exclaimed happily.

That revelation made Hooty promptly burst into loud, happy sobs as he wrapped around Luz, then King, then Eda and Lilith too; all his closest friends and family with whom he shared the Owl House.

“I’m so happy! Mama is okay and got her wish to be with Uncle Titan!” he cheered, beginning to get Lilith’s lap wet as his tears kept coming. She didn’t mind though, and his family hugged him.

The others watched the odd hug for a moment, before Alador cut in; “Forgive my interruption of this emotional moment, but we never got an answer to the original question; why did the Divider want to keep you at the Skull Union Pillar specifically? I assume it has to do with the fact your mother was spawned from the connected Wellspring, but what was the purpose.”

Hooty hummed, then said; “That Wellspring is still connected to the Primordial Demon, and through her, Hooty. When he’s nearby, the Wellspring reacts and produces more power for Project Paradise.”

The eloquent way he spoke shocked the group, but then it became clear that he was just repeating the Divider’s words. It made sense too; the Union Pillars were powered by the Wellsprings and the Divided Orbs of those living nearby, but the Skull had been forbidden by Belos, so no one lived there and the Divided Orbs of Wings of Rani volunteers just weren’t enough to get the power the Divider wanted, so adding Hooty to the mix as an extra power boost was his solution.

“Well, that explains it. But it doesn’t matter any more. Hooty is back where he belongs; with his family.” Luz smiled.

“That’s right! We can’t have the Owl House without you, Hooty! So welcome back! I owe you something tasty once things settle down!” Eda grinned.

“And you know, if Dad is your “Uncle Titan”, then that makes you Cousin Hooty to Luz and I! And Samael too!” King proudly declared.

Hooty gasped; “Cousin Hooty! Can I be Cousin Hooty Clawthorne!?”

“Nope.” Luz smirked; “You’re Cousin Hooty Clawthorne-Noceda! I can’t wait for you to meet Mami and Vee!”

Hooty looked just as excited by the prospect, and Lilith chuckled and kissed his head; “Well Hootsifer, it looks like you found your own family too.”

“Yep! And they were right in front of my face! I’m so happy! And hooty! Wait, I’m always Hooty! HOOT-RAY!”

The bizarre, primordial, incomprehensible, yet utterly loveable bird tube cheered and hollered, filling the room with joy and mirth as even those who were still disturbed by him (pretty much everyone who wasn’t a Clawthorne-Noceda), couldn’t help but smile.

While there was still a lot of work to do, they could all sit back and bask in their achievements. Lilith and Amity had finally shared their true feelings, Lilith had awakened her Harpy Mode, Hooty was back with his family, and Hanu had grown as a person too.

The Battle for Digale Island had ended in a tremendous success!

FAN ART SHOWCASE

Hello everybody! For the third chapter in a row, we have some fan art to show off!

We have some from the returning artists: Aeiou, Fantasma Arana, and TFeathersB, as well as two pieces from some new talent; DangerousDice and Hellhound Havoc!

We'll start with Aeiou, who actually made this piece a while back! It wasn't posted sooner because I stupidly put it in the wrong folder on my computer, but now we'll get a good look! This is my story's take on the Eda and Owl Beast meeting scene, with the addition of an adorable Cherub Luz!

Next, in keeping with Aeiou's previous funny Amity and Luz pics, we have Gus's fusion! Watch out for the high speed Emmiline!

And a love heart variation to go along with the Aeiou's latest rendition of Lyra!

Next up is a hand-drawn piece DangerousDice! It shows Luz as a new High Angel after her Grom ascension!

Next we have Fantasma Arana's latest work; Lilith Clawthorne looking like a real badass! Suitable for this chapter, right?

Speaking of Lilith and this chapter, here's TFeathersB's third piece of art for this story, depicting a moment from the end of the Blight Ball Chapter, showing Amity and Lilith's reconciliation! This art was made by TFeathersB on the request of StevenTheTurtleWeiner, so a big thanks to him too!

And finally, to close us out, here is the amazing rendition of Wild Heart Hunter, as drawn by Hellhound Havoc! While it isn't identical to the version in my mind when I created him, it has replaced my own image so as far as I'm concerned, this is his canon appearance now!

And so ends our third Fan Art Showcase! I hope to be able to have more of these in the future; maybe even one every chapter! Please join me in giving a huge thank you to Aeiou, DangerousDice, Fantasma Arana, TFeathersB, and Hellhound Havoc!