The angel of the owl house

In an instant, pandemonium descended upon the Conformatorium. The CATTs disguised as scouts threw down their disguises and attacked the real scouts, while those hidden in the crowd came charging out to do battle too. The audience screamed and those unrelated to either the CATTs or the Emperor's Coven began to flee to the edges of the courtyard to avoid being dragged into the battle. Amity, Willow, Gus, and the rest of the Hexside kids began their own parts, playing the roles of frightened children by running around and getting in the Emperor's Coven's way, grabbing them whilst "begging for help" so they were restrained and easy to knock out. Spells began to fly everywhere, and thanks to the news crews, the battle was being broadcast to the entire Boiling Isles!

"Call for reinforcements from inside!" one scout cried.

"We can't!" a guard cried right back, "The prisoners just started rioting! The cells are open and the Warden is nowhere to be found!"

Rasiel, who was subtly tripping scouts whilst pretending to flee, smirked. Steve, Katya, Derwin, and Amber must have started their parts when they heard the commotion from outside! Now a battle was waging both in the Conformatorium and the courtyard!

Up on the viewing platform, the Coven Heads glowered down at the battle happening below them. They'd already sent the Scout Captains guarding them to quell the riots inside the prison itself, but seeing as neither side of the battle was getting any less intense, it didn't look like that had helped much.

"This is precisely what I meant when I said these rats never work alone." Adrien sneered.

"They completely infected our forces with their own! We should have declared a lockdown as soon as we captured Whispers!" Vitimir complained, brandishing a bottle of corrosive poison.

"That would have just triggered the riot early, before we could get Whispers in the cage." the Golden Guard countered, "Now at least we don't need to worry about them getting out and helping the fight. Emperor Belos has said that Whispers is annoyingly powerful…"

Darius scoffed; "A wonderful idea in theory, but they'll be free regardless once the rioters storm the scaffold." he said, looking at the battle happening at the base of the scaffold. The scouts were doing a good job keeping people away from it and shooting spells at any attempting to fly up with a Palisman, but at their current rate, they'd be overrun eventually.

"Why is that fool Kikimora not beginning the petrification already!?" Terra snapped, glaring at the Emperor's assistant.

"It begins when the Emperor orders it so." the Golden Guard replied. "I expect he's still waiting for the angel."

"Well while he's waiting, the prisoners may very well escape! It looks like we'll have to join this battle ourselves." Terra said, preparing go grow a plant to transport her down to the courtyard. However before she or any of the other Coven Heads could make their move, there was a loud screech from the sky. They looked up and paled as they saw the Bat Queen swooping down on them, alongside various flying beasts like Griffins, Hippogriffs, and Gargoyles. They carried other beasts on their backs or in their talons, and began dropping them on the battlefield and onto the Coven Heads.

"Go friends! Fight against the Defiler and his minions!" the Bat Queen screeched. The beasts she'd brought along were all residents of her forest and owed her their allegiance. They'd been no help against the Mandragora, as they truly were just beasts of limited intelligence and no spell-casting abilities, but in large numbers and with witches and demons as back up, they were an effective fighting force. The Bat Queen and the strongest flying beasts focused on the Coven Heads, keeping them busy and out of the main battle.

As Terra saw some of her plants turn to ash under the fire breath of the Bat Queen, she snarled; "Where is Emperor Belos when we need him!?"

[Meanwhile]

The battle in the courtyard and inside the Conformatorium itself could be heard down in the dungeons, making Luz, Lilith, and King very nervous as they raced for the lift that would take them to the scaffold. The battle had meant the scouts and guards stationed in the dungeons had raced upstairs to help fight, and the few that hadn't were swiftly knocked out by Luz after letting their guard down at the sight of Lilith.

"Sounds like things are getting exciting up there, hoot!" Hooty said, cheerful as always.

"We're running out of time! Plan D was only supposed to start when Raine or I gave the signal, or the Petrification Statue appeared! Since I haven't gotten a message from Raine, it's got to be the latter." Luz said urgently, picking up the pace.

"We're almost to the chamber!" Lilith replied, finding it awkward to run with her hands bound behind her back.

When they finally arrived, they found that the Petrification Statue's chamber was largely empty, since the statue had already been sent up, with the only contents being a collection of giant, eery statues. They were partially covered in fleshy tendrils, but their features could still be made out. These were statues of angels; each having wings and a hood over their heads, and wielding golden weapons and shields.

"Belos had these statues constructed when he built the Conformatorium." Lilith said as she noticed King staring at them. "This was his castle before he conquered the isles."

"Creepy…" King frowned.

"I suppose with Belos being an angel, it's not surprising for him to have statues of them. The fleshy stuff wrapped around them is kinda gross though." Luz commented.

Lilith's eyes almost popped out of her head; "I'm sorry, but Belos is a what!?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know. It's a long story; once we're all safe and if Eda decides to trust you, I'll fill you in." Luz replied.

Lilith dearly wanted to protest and push the issue, but decided to just keep her silence for now. It would do no good to push Luz and King, especially since they hadn't forgiven her and didn't trust her. Instead she led them through the statue filled hallway until they reached the end, where a large round stone platform waited.

"We can use this to take us up to the scaffold, where Edalyn is being held. With all the commotion we've heard, I doubt they'll have started the petrification yet." Lilith said.

Luz nodded, then undid the vines binding the woman's hands. Lilith's eyes widened in surprise, and King looked cagey; "Is that smart, Luz?"

"Maybe not, but we'll need her help if we're going up into a battle. The Coven Heads are here, so we need someone on their level to help us fight." Luz answered, before looking Lilith in the eyes; "I don't trust you, but I believe that you love your sister enough to want to save her from petrification."

Lilith nodded immediately; "Of course I do! Thank you, Luz. I promise I won't let you down."

"Oh Lilith, don't make promises you can't keep."

Luz, Lilith, and King all felt a spike of terror in their chests at the sinister voice coming out from the shadows. Suddenly, a pair of torches ignited and revealed Emperor Belos, lounging on a large, fleshy throne seemingly made from the jawbones of some large creature.

"You!" King snarled, before immediately screaming "WEH!" and firing a sonic roar at the Emperor. Belos casually blocked it with a red magic barrier, while Lilith brandished her staff.

"Consider this my resignation!" she cried, firing a bolt of blue magic, which shook Belos' barrier but could not penetrate it.

Luz assisted by firing a blast of light too, and after a blow from all three of them, Belos' barrier was cracking. Hooty then finished it off by extending from his birdhouse on King's back and smashing into it face first, shattering the barrier completely.

Belos chuckled; "Impressive; you broke my barrier. And it only took my treacherous Head Witch, a bizarre Demon Dog, a misguided angel, and some kind of… bird… worm?" he said sarcastically, becoming confused by the sight of Hooty.

"Eat fire!" King snapped, slapping together a pair of fire glyphs to shoot an x-shaped blast of fire directly at Belos. The Tyrant casually produced another barrier to defend himself, and before Lilith, Hooty, and Luz could do anything against him, he waved his finger. A little ball of red magic appeared on the end, causing flesh tendrils to rise up from the ground and wrap around Lilith and King, binding their arms to their torsos and then pulling them up into the air. Hooty was knocked off King's back and held by another tendril, before magic chains wrapped around his birdhouse in such a way as to stop him from extending out of it. The trio were then hoisted over to Belos, and left to hang helplessly around him.

"It's never wise to fight someone in their own home; you never know what surprises they have waiting for you." Belos said.

"Let them go!" Luz demanded, dismissing her illusory disguise and tossing aside her scout mask and cloak. She took a step forward, but then clawed hands made from the same fleshy magic as the tendrils emerged from the ground and grabbed her limbs, forcing her to her knees.

"Must we again have a discussion about making demands of our hosts, Luz?" Belos said ominously, his staff crackling with red lightning.

Luz instinctively flinched and whimpered, her heart beating wildly out of fear. The things Belos had done to her had left emotional scars that still lingered (unsurprisingly, seeing as it hadn't even been 24 hours yet), leaving Luz terrified of him. It was enough to make her feel weak at the knees, but she grit her teeth and forced herself to struggle against the hands binding her.

"I-I won't let you hurt my family any more!" Luz cried.

"We shall see about that, my defiant young friend." Belos countered. He pointed his staff at her and Luz braced herself, but before he could hit her with a spell, King once again shot a sonic roar at him, forcing him to instead produce a barrier to protect himself.

"Annoying mutt." Belos muttered, snapping his fingers and causing another tendril to wrap around King's snout and tie it shut, effectively muzzling him.

"Release him, Belos!" Lilith demanded, struggling as hard as she could. Corvanc, whose staff was bound to Lilith's side, turned back into Palisman mode and tried to claw at Belos' masked face, but the Emperor merely swatted him to the ground. He tried to follow this up by shooting a blast of green flame to incinerate the Palisman, but Luz was able to move enough to draw a pair of spell circles. One blocked Belos' attack with an ice barrier, and as it wouldn't last long against the flame, Luz's second circle used plant magic to make a carnivorous fly trap that swallowed Corvanc whole, before burrowing back underground and emerging beside Luz, who took the stunned Corvanc and stowed him safely inside her cloak.

Belos shook his head "Honestly, such effort to save the pet of a woman who betrayed you. Lilith has become quite adept at betraying people; almost as adept as she is at disappointing and failing them."

He snapped his fingers and the tendrils holding King, Hooty, and Lilith began rising into the ceiling, making them disappear into the darkness.

"No!" Luz cried, releasing a blast of light from her entire body to destroy the tendrils binding her. She tried to shoot at the tendrils taking the others away, but she was a second too late and they disappeared completely.

"What did you do with them!?" she roared, brandishing a light sword in one hand and channelling light through Owlbert with the other, turning his staff into a light-infused spear.

Belos chuckled; "They are quite safe… for now." he answered, snapping his fingers. A ring of red magic appeared beside Belos, and on it appeared an image of the outside world, allowing Luz to see that Belos had spat King, Hooty, and Lilith out right beside Eda's cage up on the scaffold, where they were immediately dog-piled by the scouts and tossed into Eda's cage. Luz also saw Raine in there, and gasped.

"Yes, it seems Whispers was caught too, masquerading as a Scout Captain. I'm quite disappointed by his betrayal; I'd hoped he'd make a good replacement for that senile old Scooter Crane, but I suppose anyone who has anything to do with the Clawthornes was doomed to disappoint me." Belos shook his head ruefully.

Luz grit her teeth, angered by his way of referring to Raine, his insult of Eda's family, and his imprisoning of her friends. She briefly watched as Eda, enraged at the sight of Lilith, tried to maul her, only to be stopped by a reluctant King and Hooty. The transformed Owl Lady then looked ready to cry as she held her son and House Demon, though whatever words she said to them went unheard by the young angel.

"Let them go!" Luz growled, taking a threatening step forward. Any fear she'd felt was overpowered by her desire to protect the people she loved.

Belos clenched his fists to show his own anger, but decided to speak softly; "They are safe, for the moment. Kikimora will not begin the petrification until I give the order, no matter how much the little rebellion outside stirs up trouble. I would have us deal with this whole affair peacefully; as I've said before Luz, it truly torments me to have to hurt you."

"I don't believe you!" Luz snapped; "You've lied to me before! I don't know what happened to you to make you like this, but I'm not the corrupted angel here! You are!"

Belos stood; "Oh, but you do know what happened to me. I didn't lie when I told you that I lost my only family to wild magic and its corrupt practitioners. It was also wild magic that scarred me, and led to the rot in my wings."

He took a step towards Luz, who brandished her light weapons again, making him instead choose to begin pacing around the room, circling Luz as he wove in and out of the angel statues. Luz made sure to keep him in her line of sight.

"If that really is true, then you have my sympathy. But it doesn't justify what you've done! Wild magic isn't evil just because some wild witches did evil things! You're forcing your order on people and punishing innocents! Eda may not be a flawless paragon of a person, but she hasn't done anything deserving petrification!" the young angel yelled.

"Did you know that about 200 years ago, there was a place called Radia Town. It was on the Titan's thigh, right before the incline to the Knee." Belos said, seemingly randomly. Luz blinked in surprise, completely derailed by the unusual statement. "That town was where I began my crusade to unite the Boiling Isles into my empire. Would you like to know why?"

"I'm sure you're about to tell me anyway." Luz replied warily.

"When I first visited the place, in disguise after the loss of my family, I found a statue in the town square. A statue depicting a local "hero" from the past, whose "heroic" deed was slaughtering a group of angels who had once settled nearby. I read the town's history, and discovered that wild witches and angels had lived in the area together for a while." Belos spoke wistfully for a moment, before his voice turned ice cold; "But then news of a different conflict between angels and the Demon Realm natives reached the town, and the residents decided to drive out their angel neighbours. The angels had lived peacefully, not wanting to spread order or do anything but live their lives… but the townsfolk, lead by that "hero" had slaughtered them all the same. Because they were angels and so had to be "villains" to those twisted monsters. When I heard that story… I destroyed that statue. I destroyed that town, and I made sure that the "hero" was wiped from history. You and I are now the only people alive who knew he ever existed, and his name is long forgotten."

Luz paled, feeling sick as Belos began walking towards her; "Awful, isn't it? And not an isolated incident. Half the towns in the Boiling Isles had at least one event where they massacred angels. A few were purged in turn by other angels, seeking justice for their brethren. Many stories I found told of angels as the aggressors, but seeing as there are no other angels left here… well, History is written by the victor."

Belos pointed his staff at the statues; "The Conformatorium was my first castle; a fortress I built while conquering the isles. This chamber was once a place of mourning; a memorial for all the angels whose lives were stolen by the evil of this realm. I swore that I would avenge them and my family. I would do my duty, and bring true order and goodness to this godless place. This chamber now houses the Petrification Statue; a device that takes the evil of this realm and seals it in stone, just like these memorials. If all that is good and holy is consigned to cold stone… then that which is evil and corrupt must be too."

He offered his hand to Luz; "I will give you one final chance, Luz Noceda. Accept your place at my side and bring about an end to the evils of this world. Allow Edalyn Clawthorne to face her rightful punishment. Do that, and I will grant amnesty to the rebels and the rest of your friends. Whispers and Lilith will remain in custody, but will be comfortable. The rest may go home, forgiven of any crimes they committed today or in the past. But if you refuse…"

The Emperor's eyes seemed to shine like blue hellfire; "Then I will create a new memorial for you out of their stone bodies, and you will do penance amongst the petrified all while knowing you chose their fate. Make your choice, young angel; you may rise to be the princess of these isles, or become a fallen angel."

His words struck Luz like blades of ice; he really wasn't playing around or exaggerating. If Luz refused him, he would see every single one of Luz's friends encased in stone, while she was bound to his coven forever. Three months ago, if he had made her the same offer, Luz may very well have taken it… and that thought made her angry.

"The things that were done to our people were horrible. Many innocent angels were probably killed by ignorant witches and demons…" Luz admitted, remembering the likes of Zachael, who'd lost his family too. But then she looked at Belos with fierce eyes; "But I know that many innocent witches and demons lost their lives to angels too; many of them to you. You justify the evil things you do by pointing out the evil things other people have done. You're not solving the problem, you're just flipping the script!"

She pointed her light sword at the Emperor; "Well I'm not gonna play by that script! I'll make my own! I'm saving Eda, and everyone else too! No one is being petrified today or ever again!"

Belos and Luz stared each other down for a moment as the air between them simultaneously grew thick with tension and cold as ice. Luz was already preparing to summon her ice barrier to defend against an attack, and almost flinched when Belos silently reached into his robe and pulled out his Comm-pact. He opened it, and Luz saw Kikimora, who was still visible in the image he'd summoned previously, pull out her own Comm-pact and open it.

"How may I serve you, my Emperor?" Kikimora asked, Luz hearing her voice through the Emperor's Comm-pact.

"Negotiations with the angel broke down. Begin the petrification." Belos ordered.

"NO!" Luz screamed, using Owlbert to fire a large light beam at Belos. It struck and destroyed his Comm-pact, but Luz was too late. She watched through the conjured image as Kikimora pulled one of the levers beside her, causing the eyes of the Petrification Statue to light up and a green beam of magic to shoot at the occupants of the cage, passing straight through the null-magic protections thanks to their matching magical resonance. Eda threw her large body in front of the beam to protect King, Hooty, Lilith, and Raine, but it was clear that the process was painful.

"I won't let this happen!" Luz roared, leaping onto the lift platform. Belos summoned clawed hands to hold the platform down, but Luz didn't need to ride it; she just needed to use it to line herself up properly.

With a mighty battle cry, Luz fired a massive blast of light directly upwards, vaporising everything between her and the open sky and leaving a wide hole leading directly to the scaffold. Belos tried to have his conjured clawed hands grab her, but Luz sliced them apart with a sword of light, then took flight and rocketed upwards, reaching the top of the scaffold in seconds and immediately conjuring an ice barrier to block the petrification beam.

"Luz!" King and Eda cried.

Luz turned to speak to them and tell them it was going to be alright, but she was suddenly hit by a blast of red lightning, making her scream and fall to her knees. Belos appeared from the hole she'd made, flying up with his own wings (concealed by an illusion). He shattered her ice barrier with a casual wave of his staff, allowing the petrification beam to once again strike Eda and continue the process of slowly turning her to stone.

Luz forced herself to her feet and rolled out of the way of another burst of red lightning, then decided that if her barriers could be broken so easily, it would be better to destroy the source of the beam; the Petrification Statue itself. She spun Owlbert in her hand to create a large spell circle, then used her other hand to draw the symbol of the light glyph inside it and fire a massive beam of light straight at the statue. It would have been enough to completely erase it, but Belos erected a red barrier around the statue. The barrier prevented magic from entering it, but not leaving it, so his protection didn't impede the petrification at all, making Luz grit her teeth angrily.

Belos then swung his staff at her, causing flesh tendrils to emerge from the scaffold and attack her, forcing her to take to the sky where Belos swiftly followed, beginning an aerial duel above the battle already raging. In fact, the sight of the Emperor and the young angel battling in the sky above them actually slowed the fighting, if only because many of the rebels and coven scouts wanted to look up and watch.

Luz fired off an Aurora Beam to try and freeze Belos, and when he blocked it with his barrier, the ice formed around it to trap him in a frozen sphere. Luz then tried to use Owlbert to fire another large blast of light at him while his vision was obscured by the ice, but before the blast could hit, her ice sphere cracked from the inside, then promptly shattered and sent shards of ice flying in all directions, freeing Belos. He casually flew to the side to avoid her light beam, then waved his finger, causing a red aura to coat the ice shards that had been sent flying. He then flicked his finger at Luz, and the ice shards flew at her like a rain of knives. Luz tried to outfly the ice, using both her wings and Owlbert's staff for an extra burst of speed, but the knives were relentless, so Luz instead grabbed one of the pre-drawn fire glyphs King had given her that morning and activated it, sending a fireball at the ice and melting it. Belos didn't stop his manipulation of it however, so Luz found herself getting suddenly smacked hard in the face with a torrent of water, which knocked her out of the sky.

The girl heard the screams of her friends as they watched her fall, but she recovered long before she hit the ground and swooped back up, avoiding a stream of red lightning as she did so. Back in the air, Luz used her own water magic to remove the water and dry herself, but the sudden soak resulted in the healing patch over her eyebrow growing soggy and losing its adhesive, so she pulled it off. It had done it's job anyway, closing the wound she'd gotten from Eda's claw. However the healing magic was also weak, so it had left a scar, something Belos couldn't resist commenting on as he pressed his attack.

"Why fight so hard for a woman who scarred you?" he said, spinning his staff and causing a ring of red flesh tendrils to appear around him and stretch their way towards Luz.

"This only happened because Eda lost control to the Owl Beast! It never would have happened if you hadn't captured me!" Luz countered, coating her wings in light magic and using them like blades to shred the tendrils as she flew at Belos. She put up her ice barrier right before slamming into Belos, but his body just seemed to melt at the impact and then reform behind her, where he blasted her in the back with green fire that destroyed her ice barrier. Luz dodged the flames themselves by putting away her wings and letting gravity drag her down and out of danger, before she brought her wings out again.

"It also never would have happened if the Owl Lady had surrendered and chosen to abandon her wild ways; the same ways that led to the extinction of your people in the Demon Realm! Can you even heal that cursed scar, or is it full of the same corruption that infects the Owl Lady. The same evil wild magic that infects my body?" Belos asked, conjuring some kind of giant green worm monster out of thin air.

The worm monster crawled through the air at high speed, and Luz yelped as it swallowed her whole. But the light, ice, and plant glyphs appeared all over its body, before bursts of burning light, razor sharp icicles, and sturdy tree roots shot out through its flesh, causing the creature to disintegrate and allowing Luz to fly out, shuddering with disgust.

"I could have healed the wound in an instant if I wanted! The reason I didn't was…"

Luz hesitated to continue her answer, even as she clapped her hands together and then pulled them apart, creating a wave of frost between them. She condensed this frost into a series of ice spears, which she then fired at Belos. He casually melted them with another stream of fire, then cast a spell that turned the water into acidic mist and sent it back in Luz's direction.

Luz managed to fly out of the way of the acid mist, but suffered a few acid burns as it clipped her side, forcing her to conjure her healing lotus to restore herself. She could have used this same power to heal the scar the Owl Beast had given her through her eyebrow, but she hadn't because to her, the scar was a mark of strength. Like the glyphs that marked her skin, it was proof to Luz that she had faced a harrowing experience and come out the other side alive and stronger than ever. It was a reminder to her that no matter what Belos did to her, she would survive, thrive, and come back better! She wouldn't be stopped or cowed by his corruption or delusions.

"… let's just say this scar means something to me. But if you're so interested, how about I give you one of your own!" Luz declared, conjuring a trio of plant glyphs around her. The glyphs began producing leaves, and Luz grinned as she made light glyphs appear on each one. The light glyphs coated the leaves in light, allowing Luz to then send them flying at Belos like little razor sharp spinning blades.

Belos tried to incinerate them, but the light that coated them made them resistant (though not immune) to his flames, allowing the sheer number of them to overpower his attack and reach him. He put up a barrier to defend himself, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and a single one managed to reach him. He turned his head enough that it slashed across the side of his masked cheek, leaving a shallow crack beneath his right eye. Luz cheered at finally landing a scratch on him, but this left her open for a quick blast of red lightning that had her screaming and nearly falling out of the sky again. Thankfully her Witch's Wool cloak absorbed a lot of the damage, allowing Luz to power through enough to avoid hitting the ground.

The Emperor chuckled darkly; "Despite the choice you've made, I really do like your spirit. I'd warn you not to try that again, but you've proven deaf to my words already."

"It's easy to tune you out when you're always saying the same things!" Luz panted, "You're like a broken record!"

Belos sighed and waved his staff, casting an illusion that multiplied him over and over, until Luz found herself in a ring of Belos clones. They began to spin around her, moving quickly enough that Luz couldn't keep track of which one was real, then all of them began firing different spells; some shooting green flame, some shooting red lightning, and others producing flesh tendrils or more of those bizarre green worm monsters. With no idea which attacks were real and which were fake, Luz was forced to throw up an ice barrier to defend herself and pray that the real attack wasn't fire. Luckily it wasn't; the real spell was one of the green worm monsters, which wrapped around her ice barrier and held her in place.

The Emperor then dismissed his illusions and cast a new spell with his staff, and to Luz's horror, both her barrier and the conjured monster began to turn to stone. Luz was shocked that Belos could cast petrification magic too, and soon found herself sealed inside her own barrier, now turned to stone. Belos raised a pillar of earth from the courtyard below so that the girl's stone prison wouldn't fall, then used telepathy magic to speak to her inside her head.

"Enjoy your cosy little cell. It's remarkably less tight and more temporary than your mentor's will be, but it should give you a good idea of the fate your decision has earned for the rest of your friends. Would you like to hear their screams?" Belos asked, transmitting the sound of Eda's pained groans to the trapped angel.

Luz gasped as she heard Eda in pain; the Petrification Statue's spell wasn't a fast process, especially compared to Belos' much quicker version. The Statue was designed to be slow, painful, and punishing; to really make an example of the victim. Eda's large Owl Beast body was also slowing the process, and she was enduring it well for the sake of her family, but she was running out of time!

"Eda!" Luz cried; "I won't let you get away with this, Belos!"

Focusing her light magic, Luz roared and released a huge blast of it in all directions, vaporising the statue she'd been trapped in, then flying at Belos. She coated her entire body in light, becoming like a little shooting star, and nearly blasted right through the Emperor, but he once again used his melting and reforming trick to dodge out of the way. Luz came to a stop, panting from the exertion; she'd used a lot of magic and Belos barely seemed winded.

"His magic doesn't feel as strong as I'd expect from a ten-winged Seraphim, or even a normal Seraphim, but its still way more than I've got! Think Luz! You need a plan!" she thought desperately.

Belos wasn't going to give her a chance to think however, and conjured a block of stone directly above Luz. It fell down on her, nearly slamming her into the ground of the courtyard, but Luz was able to shatter it by growing roots through it. Luz then manipulated the roots to make them throw chunks of the rock at Belos, but he just waved his hand and turned the stone into sand, which he then whipped up into a miniature sandstorm and sent back to Luz. The young angel blocked with another ice barrier, then used a small light blade from one of her fingers to carve the symbol of the fire glyph into the ice. Drawn glyph magic was slow and clumsy compared to her bonded glyphs, but it was still too useful to just ignore, so Luz activated the fire glyph while also using the plant glyph to coat her barrier in vines. The fire ignited the vines and turned her barrier into a rapidly melting fireball, which Luz sent flying at Belos while slipping out through a gap she'd left in the vines.

The mini-sandstorm obscured Belos' vision of what Luz was doing, so he was taken by surprise when the giant fireball came flying at him. This left him with no time to do anything fancy or prepare a counter attack, instead opting to just vaporise the attack with a beam of red magic from his staff. He then dismissed the sandstorm himself so he could see Luz once more, and found her stood on the pillar he'd risen before. Her wings were glowing green as she channelled as much plant magic as she could into the stone, growing a massive amount of vines and tree roots. Luz twisted these roots together until they took on the vague shape of an Ice Wyrm, downsized to be roughly the same size as Belos' conjured worm monsters.

Luz then sent the plant construct directly at Belos, who predictably responded with green flame. Since Luz had expected this, she'd prepared for it by combining plant and water magic to create a water spewing flower inside her construct's mouth, similar to the ones she used against Godric in Volcarpalis. The water jet was intense enough to almost nullify Belos' flame, creating a massive plume of steam. Belos intensified his flame to counter the water, but by that point the vine dragon was directly in his face and he ended up being soaked to the bone, shortly before being swallowed by the vine dragon. Luz then tried to constrict her creation to totally bind Belos.

"Please let this be enough!" she begged, already beginning to fly to the scaffold to save her family.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. Belos turned his body into some kind of liquid again and seeped his way out through the smallest gaps in the vines, and the instant he reformed behind the construct's head, he blasted it with flame to incinerate it. The green flames spread quickly and Luz's creation was quickly reduced to ashes.

"Nice try. You've become quite creative with the Titan's blessings. But someone using them to defy His will can never match someone who serves Him loyally." Belos declared.

He spun his staff just as Luz had before, and blasted a huge beam of red magic directly at Luz. The young angel responded by spinning Owlbert and doing the same with a huge beam of light magic. The two beams collided and released a shock wave that destroyed the stone pillar Luz had been standing on moments before. The blast was enough to force the people on the ground to brace themselves to avoid falling over, while the Bat Queen and her flying allies were nearly knocked out of the sky.

Luz struggled with all her might, her beam of light magic blasting against the red magic of the Emperor, but no matter how hard she pushed, she couldn't gain any ground. She had to use Owlbert's magic in combination with her own just to keep up as Belos just floated there, casually blasting magic from his staff! It was like he was barely using any magic at all! Luz's fatigue was beginning to worsen as well, and before long she'd run out of strength to fight back!

"You are weakening. A High Angel should surely be stronger than this. It is further proof that the corruption of the Owl Lady has diminished you!" Belos said, before tilting his head to look past Luz and down at the scaffold. "Not that it'll be a problem any more."

He said those words so smugly that it made Luz's heart lurch. It then almost stopped entirely when she heard King's anguished scream of "LUZ!"

Luz panicked and her control wavered, while the magic she was receiving from Owlbert suddenly stopped, allowing Belos' magic to finally overpower hers and blast her, making her scream as the red magic sent jolts of pain through her body. The force of the magic blast sent her careening backward even as she fell from the sky, causing her to crash land painfully on the scaffold. With a pained groan, she slowly sat up and saw that Eda was completely hidden behind the beam of green magic coming from the Petrification Statue, but she could still hear King's voice from behind the light.

"LUZ! STOP THAT THING!" he begged.

Knowing full well that her light magic wouldn't get through the barrier Belos had placed around the Petrification Statue, Luz used the fact that she'd been smacked onto the scaffold to her advantage to channel plant magic through the ground, causing thick tree roots to burst out of the ground inside the barrier and wrap around the statue. Luz clenched her fist and the roots tightened, crushing the statue to pieces and finally ending the Petrification Spell. Luz then used the same roots to smack Kikimora and her scout reinforcements aside, causing them to fall off the scaffold with loud yelps. She then used a root to pull the levers within the barrier until she found the one she wanted, causing the cage containing the others to disappear in a flash of magic.

Luz then spun around to see her freed family, only to freeze as her heart almost stopped. King, Lilith, and Raine were all on their knees, expressions of horror and heartbreak on their faces as tears streamed down their cheeks. Owlbert wasn't responding, his staff form like cold dead wood, and even Hooty was crying silently, as they all looked at Eda.

Eda, who had completely turned to stone.

A dreadful silence fell over the entire Conformatorium as everyone registered what had happened. The petrification had been completed while Luz was fighting Belos, leaving Eda as a statue. Her expression wasn't frozen in fear or pain however, but determination as her body was reared back, wings spread wide to defend the rest of her family from the petrifying rays. Even in stone, Eda was a picture of defiance.

Luz took a slow, clumsy step towards Eda. "E-Eda? N-No, this isn't right. This can't be happening! EDA!"

Tears streamed down Luz's face as she ran to her mentor, putting her hands on the stone woman. She tried to shake her, and slammed her little fists on the stone, as if trying to break Eda out from inside it. "No no no no! Eda, please! This can't be over! It can't be! We didn't come all this way just to fail!"

But she had failed. Eda was petrified in stone, and in Luz's mind, it was all her fault.

A murmur fell over the watching crowds as Luz fell to her hands and knees and pounded on the ground, releasing a cry of such sorrow and anguish that even the watching Coven Heads, Scouts, and the Emperor himself were given pause. King, Lilith, and Raine began to sob in earnest, each embracing the stone Eda.

"Please! Let this be a nightmare!" Lilith cried.

"Eda…! Why did this happen!? Why couldn't I save you!?" Raine sobbed, clenching their fists so tightly that their nails pierced the skin and sent crimson blood trickling from their palms.

"Mom! Please wake up! I-I won't complain about collecting trash any more, a-and I won't keep asking for expensive candy! I-I'll be good! So please wake up!" King wept, desperately clawing at the stone that bound the only mother figure he'd ever known.

Down in the crowd, Amity and the rest of Luz's friends from Hexside watched with heartbreak of their own. They'd come so far only to fail! Amity began rushing forward to try and scale the scaffold and give comfort to her girlfriend, but Rasiel held her back and hugged her from behind.

"Let me go!" Amity cried, tears already leaking from her eyes. "Luz needs me!"

"If you go up there, you'll be labelled a criminal. Luz wouldn't want that… and there's nothing you can do." Rasiel said, voice thick with grief, "I'm sorry…"

Amity struggled weakly for a moment more, listening to Luz's agonised cries, before breaking down herself and being embraced by her siblings, while Rasiel watched on in misery.

High above the crowd, Belos' voice echoed; "The sentence of Edalyn Clawthorne has been carried out, as is the Will of the Titan. May this be a lesson to all who defy His order and bring corruption to His people!"

Luz was deaf to his words however, as she continued to sob and punch the ground at Eda's feet.

"This is all my fault! If I hadn't given into revenge and fought Lilith, I would have had more time! If I'd been stronger, I could have beaten Belos and stopped this! If I'd never come to this world, Eda wouldn't have been captured!" she sobbed.

"NO!" King suddenly screaming, running at her. He leapt into her surprised arms and knocked her onto her back, before sitting on her chest and looking down at her with tears in his eyes; "Didn't you listen to what Eda said!? You became family to us! To all of us! If you hadn't come here, I wouldn't have a big sister and Eda wouldn't have a daughter! Eda and I became even closer because of you! Amity became a better person, Willow found her strength, Gus found his confidence, Rasiel was revived, Raine came back into Eda's life, and so much more!"

He grabbed the front of Luz's shirt and pulled her up with all his strength, then hugged her tightly; "Did you forget all the people whose lives you've made better!? You were a miracle to us, Luz! A-And you're the only hope we have left! So please don't give up! Eda didn't give up right until the very end! She believed in you, and I believe in you too! So please…" he pressed his tear-stained skull against Luz's chest, right over her heart, "Please… don't you give up either!"

Luz stared down at her little brother, and for an instant, she felt something stir within her. Something deep and immense; a well of emotion within her that she didn't know she had. A fierce, burning determination began to spread through Luz's veins as her tears slowed and golden fire filled her eyes.

What the heck was she doing, sitting there and throwing a tantrum when she hadn't even done all she could yet!? Hope would continue to exist so long as she refused to give up! Eda had been strong in the face of what she believed to be her demise, so Luz could be strong now! She was an angel, and angels were supposed to be able to pull off miracles! So that is what Luz would do!

"You're right." Luz said, wiping her eyes and standing up, putting King on her shoulders; "I'm still alive, so I can still act! And Eda may be stone… but petrification isn't death! I won't give up until the very end!" she declared, spreading her angelic wings wide behind her.

Luz had only one idea that could potentially turn the tides and save Eda, so she snapped her fingers to summon her satchel, then pulled out the Panacea Mirror within. Holding it firmly in her hands, she pointed it towards Eda and began channelling her magic into it with everything she had.

"If I can't use this to cure your curse, then I can at least use it to save your life!" Luz yelled, as the mirror began to shine a bright gold. The reflection of Eda's stony face appeared in the mirror and a bright beam of magic shot from the mirror's surface and struck Eda. The silvery magic coated the Owl Lady in a powerful aura, making her stone body shine brighter and brighter until finally, the magic suddenly dissipated as Luz felt herself be pushed back a step back magical backlash. The aura faded from Eda… revealing she was still encased in stone.

It hadn't worked.

Luz's friends and allies gasped; they knew what the mirror was and how it worked thanks to Luz and Rasiel telling them, so they knew that if it had worked, the mirror would have fused into Luz's body after it was done with its task and Eda would be back to normal. But the mirror was still held in a panting Luz's hands, and Eda was still petrified.

"No! Why didn't it work!?" Amity cried down in the audience.

Rasiel grimaced; "A Panacea Mirror is designed to cure any kind of magical malady or curse, but Petrification isn't like a normal malady! It's a full body transfiguration, turning flesh into magically inert stone, with the soul trapped inside. The mirror isn't working because it doesn't even recognise Eda's statue form as being a person! It's just cold dead stone!"

High above, Belos shook his head; he hadn't acted to stop Luz, as he wanted the hopelessness of the situation to fully sink in; for her to realise the weight and consequences of her sins. The mirror had briefly concerned him, wondering if it was some tool he didn't know about, but it had failed. The Will of the Almighty was absolute; Eda's soul was consigned to an eternity in stone, or hellfire. No other fate would be allowed.

The brief hope that had filled King, Lilith, and Raine shattered, but Luz was still not ready to give up. King's words had lit a fire in her, and she wasn't going to let it go out!

"I'm not done yet! More magic!" she cried, once again activating the mirror, this time pouring in even more of her magic.

The result was the same, leaving Luz panting and frustrated. "N-Not yet! A little more!"

Again and again she tried, and each time the mirror's power would fail to take hold and Luz would lose a little more strength. With every failure, Luz would be disheartened, then force herself to try again, refusing to give up and surrender. She wouldn't stop! She would save Eda no matter what!

Finally, after another failed attempt, Luz was so drained that she fell onto her hands and knees again, panting hard.

"Luz!" King cried, "Are you okay!?"

"I-I'm not finished! I can keep going!" Luz said, forcing herself back to her feet. Still, as determined as she was, Luz knew she was almost totally out of magic, which was probably why Belos still hadn't bothered to capture her or send his lackeys at her; he was waiting for her power to run out entirely for an easy capture.

"If this doesn't work…" she whispered to herself, not even wanting to think about the consequences if she failed. "I won't fail! I can't fail! Come on you stupid mirror, I went through so much trouble to make you! You have to work!"

One final time, Luz thrust the mirror in Eda's direction and activated it, channelling every last scrap of magic she could muster into it and firing the beam of silvery light from its reflection. The aura once again appeared around Eda's statue form, then once again began to flicker and wane as it failed to take effect.

"No! Work dang it! Work!" Luz growled, pushing herself even more just to keep the spell from stopping again.

Belos shook his head; "You are fighting against the inevitable, Luz. Accept reality and acknowledge that this is the Titan's will! Your place is at my side, not beside that glorified gravestone. Just give up, and I will allow the others to live."

Luz grit her teeth and kept pushing; "Never! I won't ever give up! After all Eda did for me… with how much she matters to so many people… I won't ever stop! So long as there is life in my body, I will never stop, just like Eda didn't!"

But determination alone was not enough. She couldn't just stubbornly refuse to accept reality, and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew she was running out of time and magic!

In need of more strength and out of sheer desperation, Luz cried out to the one being who had allowed her to become as strong as she was. The one who had awakened her angelic powers, shown her the glyphs, and allowed her to ascend to higher ranks; the Titan himself.

"Titan, if you're really there then please hear my prayer! Give me the strength to save Eda! She's done so much for me and King and everyone else! We all love her so much! Please, just let me save her!" Luz whispered.

There was no answer, and the struggle to keep the mirror activated grew worse.

"Please! I'll do anything! I'll become your most devoted Priestess, like Zara and Godric! I'll serve you loyally for all time!" she said louder as tears began to build in her eyes once again. "I'll protect your legacy! I'll protect the Boiling Isles and its people!"

There was no answer, and the magic wavered further.

"I'll give you everything I am! My tears, my feathers, my blood… I'll give you every single scrap of it! I'll give up my heart, my body, even my soul! I'll give you my life! Just please…" Luz's voice grew louder, until she was screaming to the heavens.

There was still no answer, but a familiar burning sensation began to form in Luz's heart.

"Please give Eda back! Give her back to me! Please…" Luz clenched her eyes tight, then opened them wide as they shone with golden light and the burning sensation overflowed from her heart and surged through her body.

With one final, mighty cry, Luz felt power surge through her wings and her right arm as she let loose one last, desperate cry; "GIVE ME BACK MY MOM!"

Luz's wings began to glow a brilliant white, and to the surprise of everyone watching (either with their own eyes or through their crystal balls and scrolls tuned in to the live stream of the scaffold), red markings appeared on Luz's right arm. King and her friends gasped at the familiar sight of the fire glyph appearing on the back of her right hand, etched into her skin in a vivid red hue. As with the ice glyph, the fire glyph had long lines in its signature colour that stretched up Luz's arm and around her shoulders to her back, where it joined the other coloured lines in connecting to her wing joints.

Through her desire to destroy the corruption and evil of Belos, the warmth she felt for the Boiling Isles and all her friends, and the deep passion she felt for both her girlfriend Amity and her found family of King and Eda, Luz had bonded with the fire glyph, and the infusion of Titan magic it came with allowed Luz to absolutely flood the Panacea Mirror with magic, screaming out a battle cry as she gave everything she could to save her Mom.

The silver light shooting from the Panacea Mirror intensified and began to turn a brilliant gold as Eda's entire stone body was coated. The aura surrounding her grew larger, and waves of warmth and positive emotions were blasted in all directions, filling the audience with renewed hope. Eda's stone body began to glow as slowly, the stone itself turned white, then crystalline… before a large crack appeared across her torso. Everyone at the Conformatorium watched as the cracks spread across the Owl Lady's now-crystallised form. Then there was one final eruption of light as the sound of shattering crystal filled the air.

Luz staggered back a step as the Panacea Mirror in her hands began to disintegrate, and a blinding light filled the scaffold. Luz was barely conscious of the particles of the disintegrated mirror fusing into her chest, as she was too busy staring into the golden light in front of her, tears filling her eyes once more.

But as these tears spilled down her cheeks, joining the ones being shed by King, Lilith, and Raine, Luz felt no sorrow or grief. She felt only pure, unadulterated joy. A huge smile spread across her cheeks, as stood before her was Edalyn Clawthorne…

… in the flesh.

Eda, still transformed as the Owl Beast, panted and gasped as the light faded, revealing her to the entire Conformatorium.

The Coven Heads and the members of the Emperor's Coven all gaped in shock, while Belos nearly dropped his staff as he uttered; "I-Impossible…!"

"L-Luz?" Eda said, eyes wide with surprise; "I-Is this real? Am I alive, or did I die and this is just a happy dream?"

"MOM!" Luz and King cried together, leaping at their currently oversized mother figure. Eda squawked in surprise as she was knocked down by her delighted kids, and ended up flat on her back with the kids on top of her, hugging her with all they had. Owlbert, reawakening along with his partner, hooted with joy and dived into Eda's mane, while Hooty began crying noisily and wrapped himself around her too. Eda was terribly confused, but she was also beaming with joy! Luz and King had called her Mom!

"Kids! What happened? I-I was petrified, right? The last thing I remember was being cold and unable to move. It felt like some hazy nightmare, but then I heard your voice, Luz!" Eda said, shifting back to her feet while cradling her children to her chest. "Then I felt this wonderful light, and suddenly I was looking at you both again!"

Lilith and Raine both joined in the hug; "Luz saved you! She used the Panacea Mirror to turn you back!" Raine said, laughing with joy even as they cried.

Eda gaped; "N-No way!"

"She did!" Lilith cheered loudly, her ecstatic voice echoing across the Conformatorium, which had been stunned to silence, "It looked like it wouldn't work, but then she prayed to the Titan and that glyph appeared on her hand! The Titan gave her the power to save you!"

That declaration spread across the entire Conformatorium, and thanks to the news people recording the event, it also spread across the Boiling Isles as a whole. Almost every witch and demon on the isles had watched Luz cure the petrification, a thought-to-be impossible task, and receive that power after praying to the Titan.

There was a beat of silence, followed by the entire audience erupting into ecstatic cheers. No one but the Emperor's Coven members and the Heads of the other Covens could do anything but scream with happiness and relief, with the loudest among them being Amity, Willow, Gus, Skara, and Matt.

"She did it! She did it! Luz cured petrification!" Willow and Gus yelled together, doing a little dance of joy together.

Amity squealed with absolute delight; "That's my awesome girlfriend! Look at her! She's the best!"

The twins laughed and lifted Amity onto their shoulders so she could wave excitedly at Luz, proudly proclaiming to the entire crowd that Luz was the woman of her dreams. Luz herself blushed crimson, and shouted back; "I love you Amity!"

Shouts of "Aww" were added to the cheering, while Rasiel stood there, stunned and wearing a big dopey grin.

"She actually did it… the Panacea Mirror alone couldn't have done it, but with the Titan's power added on… it's a miracle. Luz truly pulled off a miracle…!" he whispered to himself. He felt a huge amount of pride for the child.

The Bat Queen and the CATTs that had kept fighting instead of watching Luz and Belos, all finally stopped; their opponents too stunned or demoralised to keep going, especially as the rebels' morale had just skyrocketed.

Up on the scaffold, Raine and Lilith moved from hugging Eda to hugging Luz, both thanking her profusely while Eda, still processing everything, looked on with a stunned smile.

Eventually she managed to choke out; "Luz… you saved me. You really did the impossible and saved me!"

Luz sniffled; "I didn't do it alone. If not for King, I would have given in to despair and given up. It's thanks to him that I was able to save you."

King looked surprised; "I-I just said what you needed to hear! You'd have snapped out of it on your own eventually."

"Oh no, don't go downplaying your part little brother! I never would have been able to do this without you!" Luz countered.

The two siblings began to playfully bicker, and Eda felt her heart swell at the sight. She hugged the two against her once again; "Thank you! Thank you both so much! Whatever did I do to deserve to be loved by such amazing kids?"

"You took us in when we needed you…" King answered.

"You cared for us even when we screwed up…" Luz added.

"You loved us. So we loved you." they said together.

Eda could no longer keep it in; she erupted into noisy sobs as she hugged her kids with everything she had. The little family sat there, crying and embracing as all the love they felt for each other overflowed.

But in the sky above them, another heart was filled with hatred. Belos glared down at the Clawthornes and his fallen angel. The child who'd performed a miracle with some manner of evil magic. Not only had she done the impossible, but her act of praying to the Titan had sent a very dangerous message to the crowd below and the entire Boiling Isles; to the empire… his empire. Even now, high above them all, Belos could hear them talk.

"That angel reversed the Petrification!"

"She prayed to the Titan and the Titan answered her!"

"Angels really are servants of the Titan!"

"But didn't the Emperor say it was the Titan's will for Eda to be petrified?"

"Maybe the Emperor was wrong?"

"Was he lying!?"

Belos clenched his fists; he was losing control. He could not afford to lose control! Not with the Day of Unity so close!

Thinking fast, he spoke; "People of the Boiling Isles! Do not be deceived! What you have witnessed today is no miracle or blessing of the Titan! The Owl Lady's rightful punishment was not undone by the Titan's will, but by the machinations of the corrupt and vile Wild Witches!"

His words were met with silence, and a mix of confusion and scorn from the crowd. "The Owl Lady's curse corrodes all magic that it comes into contact with; that is the cause of her escape. The curse corroded and corrupted the petrification spell, weakening it enough that the young angel's Titan-given powers were enough to break the shell she was encased in. I have seen it first hand, as have the Coven Heads who loyally fight to ensure justice is done! Only yesterday, I witnessed as her corrupted bardic magic burned the very angel she has twisted against the Titan."

Belos felt some vindication as he looked down at the expressions in the crowd and saw many of them become worried and doubtful. Many still clearly distrusted him and believed him a liar, but so long as their was enough doubt to maintain his control and complete his holy mission, he didn't care.

He pointed his staff at the little family on the scaffold; "Edalyn Clawthorne; as the tendrils of your corruption run deep in not only this young angel, but also this community and magic itself, I have no choice but to carry out your sentence myself!"

Eda snarled; "Bring it on bonehead! I never wanted anything but to live my life freely, but after all you've done to Luz, now I just want to tear your head off!"

"I will assist you, sister." Lilith said, now able to summon Corvanc from where Luz had stowed him inside her clothes, then switch him into his staff form.

"As will I. It's been a while since we performed a proper duet, Eda." Raine grinned, summoning Rena in violin form.

"We won't give up either!" shouted Katya from the crowd, having emerged from inside the Conformatorium at some point in the battle, along with most of the prisoners she and the others had busted out, "For freedom!"

The other CATTs in the crowd cheered loudly, while the Coven Scouts began readying for battle again. Rasiel, seeing which way the wind was blowing, began herding the Hexside kids to the edges of the courtyard so they would be safe, and the rest of the audience were doing the same. The Bat Queen shrieked angrily as she and the forest beasts she'd brought with her prepared to attack the Coven Heads again.

Luz separated from her little family so she could stand between them and Belos, her wings spread wide. Her glyphs on her body were glowing softly, and her wings were shining brilliantly as Luz felt her heart beat faster and faster. She felt so much strength building in her chest that she could stare up at Belos without the usual tremor of fear; she had her family behind her, she had her friends ready to fight to help protect them, and she had the blessings of the Titan on her skin!

Belos may have taken Eda from her for a brief moment, but Luz was determined to never let that happen again!

"I won't listen to any more of your lies, Belos! I know now that no matter what you say, you're not serving the Titan at all! I don't know if you're insane or just a tyrant using lies to control the people of this land, but I do know that so long as there are people who stand up to you and your tyranny, I will be standing with them! You tried to take my family from me Belos! I will never forgive you for that!" Luz declared, her words followed by a cheer from the CATTs. The young angel was channelling The Good Witch Azura, but the words still came from her heart.

Feeling the power inside her swell once more, and her glyphs and wings shine more brightly, Luz placed her left hand over the plant glyph on her stomach, and her right hand over the light glyph on her chest as she closed her eyes to give a prayer of thanks to the Titan.

"Titan of the Boiling Isles… Orion… thank you for what you've done for me. I will use the power you've gifted me to protect your son, our family, and the people who call you home. So please, keep watching over us!" she prayed.

Belos, having enough of this defiance, snarled and blasted red lightning from his staff at Luz. It moved so fast that there was no way for Eda, King, Hooty, Lilith, or Raine to intercept it, and Luz's eyes were still closed. But right before the lightning was about to strike her, her eyes flew open and revealed that they were glowing with white magic. A crystal barrier sprung up around her, resembling her normal ice barrier, but with the properties of light mixed in to turn the ice into diamond-like crystal.

Luz's family gasped in surprise, and within Luz's head she heard a quiet voice.

"The sister of my child is also my child. All magic comes from the heart, and yours, young angel, beats to the rhythm of a Titan!"

Luz gasped softly as she briefly felt a presence within her, and felt her heart beat a little faster. Her wings were tingling like crazy, and her glyphs were now shining so brightly that the light and plant glyphs could be seen through her clothes. Her body moved on its own, flying up until she was high above the Conformatorium, still protected from Belos' spells by her new Crystal Barrier. When the barrier finally disappeared, Luz clasped her hands together in prayer as an immense light overcame her. Everyone in the Conformatorium was mesmerised by this light, while Belos had to shield his eyes. Then, within that light, Luz began to change.

Her Witch's Wool cloak began to glow white and seemingly unravel into white and gold threads that floated around Luz in thick rings. The threads then knitted themselves back together, merging with the rest of Luz's clothes to transform them into an entirely new outfit, while her wings grew slightly larger… and more numerous. When the bright light died down and Luz's form once again became visible to the entire Boiling Isles, everyone gasped at what they saw.

Luz now sported a new outfit; her upper body wore a white tank top that cut off just above her stomach, allowing the plant glyph to be seen, while the light glyph was visible as it shone through the material of her new shirt. Her arms were partially covered by long, loose fitting sleeves that started below her shoulders and connected to Luz's top beneath her armpits, and had rings of gold at the top and bottom of the sleeves. Her lower body was covered in loose white shorts that stopped just above the knee, and had two extra pieces of pure white cloth attached at the waist. One was a kind of half-skirt/lower body cape that fluttered in the breeze and reached below her knees to the back of her shins, while the other was a kind of thin sash that went down in between her legs. Oddly, the bottom of this sash was torn and ragged, but the "tear" seemed to move and change shape, almost like it was some kind of white flame. Luz was also now bare foot and sported golden bangles around her wrists and ankles, resembling looser versions of what Rasiel had worn. But while the new outfit was one surprising change, the biggest ones were also the only parts of Luz herself that had changed… Firstly, while her four glyph markings were still present and glowing, the coloured lines that had connected them to her wings had now disappeared, leaving just the glyphs themselves. And then there were her wings themselves…

Her four shining wings had now become six.

Luz's family, friends, and fellow members of the CATTs all gasped, knowing just what this meant.

The glow in Luz's eyes slowly faded, once again revealing her golden irises, though the pupils had now become white. She looked down at herself with a stunned expression, noting her new wings, and her clothes.

"I… I ascended. I've become an Arch-Angel!" she gasped. She ran a hand over her new outfit; "This is my Holy Raiment!"

A Holy Raiment was a unique set of protective clothing that formed from an angel's magic when they ascended to the rank of Arch-Angel. It used an item of immense personal importance to the angel in question (Luz's Witch's Wool cloak in her case) as the base material then transformed it into something equally personalised. Every Arch-Angel had a unique Holy Raiment designed based on what their hearts desired, and it offered protection from all manner of harmful spells. There was a limit to its power, so Belos' magic could likely still hurt Luz through it, but weaker/common spells would just be absorbed by the Raiment and the magic within fed into Luz to rejuvenate her own supply.

"Incredible…! Bonding with the fire glyph must have been the final push she needed to ascend again!" Eda laughed with joy; "Looking good up there, Luz!"

"I-I'm not sure what just happened, but I can feel Luz's magic from here! It's on the same level as the Emperor!" Lilith cried, completely blown away. She didn't know what Eda, King, and the CATTs knew regarding Luz, so she was terribly confused. It still looked like a good thing though!

"Looks like Eda's little girl is all grown up. She's become as fierce as her Mom." Raine grinned, nudging a beaming Eda with their elbow.

King was jumping up and down with joy, so happy for his sister that he was even hugging a delighted Hooty; "Heck yeah Luz! Show these jerks whose boss! Nothing can keep our family down.

Down in the audience below, the CATTs and Hexside kids were all cheering again, while the audience was stunned by the evolution that had taken place. Many of the coven scouts and guards threw down their spears, refusing to battle against an Arch-Angel; especially one that had ascended so soon after publicly calling to the Titan for help and then calling out Belos.

"Luz ascended again!" Rasiel yelled, completely blown away. He knew that the Titan's power and glyphs were giving Luz a healthy boost in magic, but for it to be enough to turn her from a Cherub to an Arch-Angel in just three short months was insane!

Amity's jaw was hanging open as a fluorescent pink blush coated her face; her girlfriend looked so dang amazing that she was torn between trying to cover her face to make her blood pressure go down or continuing to stare. Emira smirked and used a finger to shut her little sister's mouth.

Her mouth didn't stay closed for long though; "LUZ! I LOVE YOU! SHOW EVERYONE ON THE ISLES WHAT A REAL ANGEL IS LIKE!"

Luz looked down at Amity and beamed. Trying out her new crystal magic (which was ice magic blended with the properties of light magic to create a kind of crystalline hard light, making it the inverse of her aurora magic), Luz created a crystal heart with little wings and a halo, then used a simple spell to make it fly down to Amity's hands. The youngest Blight squealed and held the gift to her heart with joy, while Luz made a heart shape with her hands, before turning back to the matter at hand; namely Belos.

For the second time in one day, the Tyrant was stunned to silence as he looked up at Luz, whose ascension had once again spread doubt among the people of the isles, and this time he couldn't think of a believable lie to cover for himself. "I-Impossible! How could you ascend further!? Why would He allow you to grow stronger when you are defying Him!" he demanded, losing his usual composure. Luckily for him, only Luz could hear his words.

"You mixed up your will with the Titan's Will. Now stop this Belos; our power is about equal now, but I'm fresh and desperate to try out my new fire magic, and all the combinations I can think of! You may not be exhausted from our earlier fight, but you're still not at your best! Give it up and let Eda and my friends go! Tell your coven to stand down!" Luz demanded.

Belos grit his teeth behind his mask; "I will not! This rebellion ends here and now!"

Luz shook her head; "Then I'll have to take you down! Hear me! I am Luz Noceda, Angel of Crest Kindness-"

She paused. No; that introduction was all wrong. That was the name and title of the little powerless Cherub who'd first came to the Demon Realm. She had a new introduction to give now!

"No… I am Luz Noceda-Clawthorne, Arch-Angel of the Boiling Isles! And I challenge you, Belos, to a witch's duel!"

Her declaration rendered the entire place silent once more. Challenging the Emperor himself to a duel was unthinkable… but then again, so was curing petrification!

Belos, perhaps out of pride or anger, accepted in a heartbeat. "Very well, Luz Noceda. If you desire more pain added to your penance, then I shall oblige you!"

Luz flew down so she was at the same altitude as Belos. Owlbert, still nestled in Eda's mane, prepared to fly over to act as her staff again, but to his surprise, Corvanc flew over instead, allowing Luz to use Lilith's staff instead of Eda's. Luz blinked at the unexpected ally, but since Owlbert was probably tired, she didn't question it.

"Good to be working with you, Corvanc. Let's kick the butt of this jerk who mistreated your partner!" Luz said, causing Corvanc to caw determinedly.

"Enough stalling!" Belos snarled, conjuring a trio of giant green worm monsters to attack Luz.

The young Arch-Angel just casually pointed her right hand at one of them and unleashed a torrent of flame, which reduced it to ash in an instant. Grinning at her new power, Luz then decided to try out a new combo on the other two, and combined fire and ice magic to produce icy blue flames. Luz blasted both remaining worm monsters with this blue flame, and watched as it spread like normal fire, but froze the worms instead of burning them. Once both were fully frozen, they fell from the sky and Luz shot them with light beams, shattering them into tiny pieces so they didn't crush anyone in the courtyard below.

"Woo! Now that is a fun combo! Let's try fire and light!" Luz said, like a child playing with a new toy. She created a fireball and infused it with the power of light, causing it to turn white and gold, then prepared to throw it at Belos, who was already making a barrier to defend himself. However before actually throwing it, she paused and frowned; this fire didn't feel like the others… in fact, it felt just like how Rasiel described an angelic blessing. Luz certainly didn't want to bless Belos and give him any of her magic, so instead she dismissed the flame and flipped the elements, producing a light sword infused with the power of fire. The result was a blade of burning red light, which Luz sliced at Belos' barrier.

Before, it had taken successive attacks from Luz, Lilith, King, AND Hooty to break Belos' barrier, but Luz's Red Light Sword left a crack in it on the first swing, then shattered it with the second. Not only that, but every swing sent a wave of fire at Belos, forcing him to fly out of the way to avoid the second after his barrier was destroyed.

The Emperor then made himself melt and reappear behind Luz, ready to hit her with some red lightning, but Luz once again combined ice and light magic to make her Crystal Barrier. She then shot a blast of red light through the barrier, using it like a magnifying glass to focus the beam into an intense laser that succeeded in hitting Belos' staff as he dodged, and sliced off the wing ornament. Luz then dropped her barrier and pointed Corvanc at Belos, channelling light and ice magic through him.

"Aurora Beam!" she yelled, sending the freezing light at Belos. He blocked it by conjuring some flesh tendrils, then countered with powerful green flames. Luz avoided it by swooping down to the ground below, which had been left clear as the audience fled to the edges of the courtyard. As soon as she was on the ground, she grinned widely.

"I've been wanting to try this!" she declared, slamming her hands into the ground and causing a large ice glyph to appear on the ground beneath Belos, while an equally big light glyph appeared right above it. Luz activated her conjured glyphs, and a gigantic crystal Hooty Golem emerged from the ground and raced up towards Belos. It was a mimicry of Eda's Hooty Golem spell, though it sadly wasn't as easy to manipulate since hard crystal couldn't be moved as easily as earth, but Luz had still filled it with enough magic to make it shoot up at incredible speeds and swallow Belos. Thanks to the transparency of the crystal, everyone could still see Belos trapped inside the golem. Luz quickly melted the head of the golem with her fire-empowered light beams, leaving Belos no way out.

The Emperor growled and began to crackle with red electricity; "Don't think this will hold me!" he snapped, casting a spell at the golem to begin petrifying it. He couldn't easily break the crystal, but he could at least manipulate stone, so as soon as Luz's crystal Hooty was fully petrified, he turned it to dust to free himself, and stepped out onto the ground of the courtyard. However Luz hadn't been idle while he was trapped, and he emerged to find that there were now hundreds of Luz's, flying around in the air and standing in a circle around him, all preparing different combinations of her elemental magics.

Belos began firing small bolts of red magic from both his hand and staff to disperse as many illusions as possible in hopes of finding the real one, but when that proved too slow, he simply erected a barrier around himself in preparation for Luz's attack. This was a mistake however, as while on the ground, his barrier had one glaring weakness; the ground itself. The real Luz, who'd made herself invisible with an illusion, used the plant glyph to summon tree roots beneath Belos that bound his ankles and wrists before he could retaliate, forcing him to use his bizarre melting ability to escape it again.

"I'm getting tired of this game of cat and mouse!" Belos growled, flying high into the air and then shooting red lightning down on all the illusory Luz clones, destroying them all. When he saw no real Luz appear, he cast a spell to create a snow cloud above him, and then watched as the snowflakes fell to the ground. The snow fell on the invisible Luz and revealed her position, causing Belos to immediately shoot at her with a red blast. Luz blocked it with a barrier, but the crystal cracked under the force of the impact; Belos was turning up the heat in his anger.

A second blast shattered her barrier, and Luz dodged a third by sending a light blast at the ground to create a tunnel back to the dungeons, which she promptly fled down. Belos cast a new spell which created flesh tendrils and twisted them together into a blind, writhing mass of red flesh with dozens of clawed hands and just as many toothy maws. It shrieked and groaned as its claws dragged it into Luz's tunnel to pursue her, while Belos cast another spell to cause a single giant eye to appear on the creature's body, through which Belos would be able to see and direct the monster.

Down in the dungeons, Luz thought over her plan. Defeating Belos at the moment would likely be nigh impossible; their strength was about equal but he had a lot more experience and access to every kind of magic, while Luz was still largely limited to what she'd learned in the last three months. Her new glyph had given her great power, but she hadn't had time to practice it yet, and no matter how strong her ascension had made her, that power was useless if she couldn't use it effectively. Still, she didn't need to defeat Belos to win their duel… she just needed to show the Isles that he wasn't the invincible Emperor he styled himself as.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Belos' flesh abomination. It shrieked at her and lunged forward, aiming to grab her in one of its maws. Luz darted out of the way, using her wings to fly and shooting flames from her feet to boost her along at high speeds. These booster flames also hit the creature and burned it, making the beast scream, but it promptly regenerated.

"Great, it's like the golems at King's tower!" Luz thought. That meant she had to destroy the whole thing in one spell!

She said a mental prayer as she put a hand on one of the angel statues in the dungeon, then focused on the fire glyph as she prepared to use Construction Magic. Construction Magic used both fire and earth elements; one to build and one to destroy, and fire was the part that allowed destruction! That destructive power was the secret to her Red Light Magic, which worked like a disintegration spell, and Luz cast that on the base of the angel statue just as the creature got close enough, causing it to topple onto the beast.

The monster was briefly pinned by the fallen statue, but it began to wriggle free, so Luz turned up the heat and bathed the statue in fire, melting it into magma and coating the screaming flesh construct. Even that wasn't enough to kill it though, but Luz had another idea for that! She ignored it and flew back to the tunnel she'd made earlier, when first blasting out of the dungeons to save the others. She emerged from the top of the scaffold and shouted a warning to her family.

"That monster's gonna come up from there in a second! Get clear!" she ordered.

Eda, King, Raine, and Lilith all nodded, the latter three getting on Eda's back as she flew into the air to avoid the flesh beast that emerged from underground a second later. Belos fired a blast of magic at Eda to make sure she didn't escape the Conformatorium, but Raine blocked it with a blade of magic from their violin.

"Your opponent is me, Belos!" Luz growled. She used Corvanc to draw a huge green spell circle and then drew the plant glyph inside it, causing the circle to transform into a giant green ball of magical energy, which promptly exploded into a massive torrent of green leaves. Luz then repeated her earlier move by infusing them all with light magic to make them into little blades, then sent half of them at Belos and half of them at his abomination.

"Have a taste of Razor Leaf!" Luz declared.

King, Gus, and the HAS all grinned, recognising the reference. Pokemon had become popular with them ever since King had found old video tapes in Eda's trash piles, and Luz had shared her own love of it with the HAS. Her Aurora Beam wasn't named that for no reason! In fact, King had spent many an afternoon with Luz, using their glyph magic to mimic various Pokemon moves.